Chapter 496: Great Sage’s Heir 4
Early March.
Celestial Monsters University.
Xiang Shan, a student from the Civil Engineering Department, walked through the Breeding Ground of the Department of Reproduction.
His massive frame resembled a small mountain, each step shaking the ground and sending the surrounding younglings into a panic.
However, upon seeing the Academic Overachiever from the Department of Reproduction ahead, Xiang Shan curled his trunk and slightly restrained his imposing aura.
The Academic Overachiever before him was a pig monster over eight meters tall, his body a mountain of flesh.
A string of Buddhist prayer beads hung around the pig demon’s neck. His vital energy surged powerfully, and beneath his skin, countless struggling demonic faces seemed to writhe, emitting mournful cries.
The pig monster opened his mouth and spat out a mass of fresh younglings, coated in mucus, into the Breeding Ground. The creatures squirmed and immediately began feeding.
Xiang Shan knew this pig monster was named Zhu Mianseng. He was not only a Heavenly Chosen of the Department of Reproduction at Celestial Monsters University but also a veteran of multiple Ten Great Leagues, mastering three Military-Grade powers.
Zhu Mianseng exhaled heavily several times before slowly speaking, “Xiang Shan, why aren’t you preparing for the competition? What brings you here?”
If it were an ordinary Civil Engineering student or even an Academic Overachiever, Zhu Mianseng might not have bothered acknowledging them.
Xiang Shan wasn’t just an ordinary academic overachiever in the Civil Engineering Department; he was a rare Heavenly Chosen who had mastered two Military-Grade powers and had already qualified for the Ten Great Leagues.
For instance, in the recent Civil Engineering Finals, Zhu Mianseng knew that if Xiang Shan could single-handedly defeat Zhang Yu and Mo Shangjin, both practitioners of Military-Grade cultivation techniques, he would be granted an exception to join the school team as a Civil Engineering student.
To countless Monsterfolk at Celestial Monsters University, this was nothing short of defying the natural order, a groundbreaking event that shattered the barriers of academic specialization and racial lineage.
But Zhu Mianseng understood that this was part of a broader racial reform being pushed by the Monster Race’s upper echelons, aiming to dismantle the tradition of students choosing majors based on their clan affiliation and further unlock their potential.
Zhu Mianseng remained indifferent to this, his mind already focused on the Ten Great Leagues in a few months. If Xiang Shan could prove his strength was worthy of being his teammate, he wouldn’t mind him joining the school team.
Xiang Shan said calmly, “I want to borrow your Bionic.”
Zhu Mianseng’s pig-like nose twitched. “You want to defeat Myriad Laws and simultaneously breed their bloodline offspring on the spot?”
Xiang Shan said, “I know our school has been secretly operating Human Race Breeding Grounds, breeding humans for production and research, just like they breed monster races.”
“The Department of Reproduction must have extensive experience with this by now, right?”
Zhu Mianseng curled his lip. “I can lend you my Mimetic Bionic, but Divine Monarch Jade Nectar’s techniques reportedly involve multiple Immortal Dao technologies, including Bionics, bloodlines, reproduction, and cultivation arts.”
“It’s hard to say how much useful data we can extract from just one Zhang Yu.”
Xiang Shan smiled faintly. “At least there are plenty of buyers for the raw materials. They can breed his offspring and immediately use them as Living Stakes, complying with the Human Cultivation Act while still profiting from the materials.”
“Besides…”
Xiang Shan’s trunk curled back, and his tusks erupted from his mouth. “Unless I thoroughly crush these two, how will the Myriad Celestial Monsters Clans recognize my strength? How will they willingly let me break their outdated customs and join the school team?”
After leaving the Breeding Ground with Zhu Mianseng’s Mimetic Bionic, Xiang Shan’s gaze suddenly sharpened. He had received further details about the Finals in a few days.
Amidst the various arrangements, his attention focused on the champion’s prize.
“Blue Water Golden Crystal Armor?”
At the simulated construction site in Myriad Laws University City, a vast expanse of sand and mud hung suspended in mid-air, tightly bound by the invisible Earthly Fiend Gravity.
Simultaneously, the three Golden Jade Walls behind Zhang Yu glowed like three suns. After flashing once each, the left and right walls emitted crimson rays that converged into the central Golden Jade Wall.
The central wall’s crimson glow intensified explosively, unleashing an arm-thick Blazing Sun Ray that slammed into the suspended sand and mud.
Instantly, the sand and mud crystallized under the extreme heat, transforming into glassy, translucent shards.
Next, Zhang Yu channeled Profound Cold Magic Power into the Golden Jade Walls, releasing a Profound Cold Ray to rapidly cool the crystallized material.
He then tested the effects of his Level 2 Profound Cold Meridian, attempting to transfer heat from his body.
Watching the three Golden Jade Walls flash in sequence, followed by the Profound Cold Ray repeatedly chilling the sand and mud, Zhang Yu thought, “As expected, by combining the Profound Cold Meridian with the Golden Jade Walls, I can remotely transfer heat from my body.”
“In combat, continuously activating the Profound Cold Meridian and Golden Jade Walls would allow me to simultaneously cool myself and heat up my opponent.”
Zhang Yu realized this was akin to continuously applying buffs to himself while inflicting debuffs on his opponent. The cumulative effect of increasing his own power while weakening his enemy would gradually widen the gap in combat strength.
In recent days, besides increasing his Golden Jade Walls to three, Zhang Yu had also begun cultivating the third cultivation art from the Artifact Refinement Prodigy’s Chain Method Diagram Set.
This art, called the Fire Control Divine Mirror, required purchasing various Fire Seeds to condense a strand of Fire Control True Qi. This True Qi allowed him to manipulate various True Fires, significantly improving the efficiency and quality of material refinement during artifact crafting.
Combined with maintaining his other magical artifacts and cultivating his Artifact Refinement Technique, Zhang Yu’s savings had dwindled to less than ten Spirit Coins.
Fortunately, he regularly deployed his three Golden Jade Walls for his workers to use, which generated a passive income of approximately 0.03 to 0.04 Spirit Coins per day.
“Good thing the more magical artifacts you have, the more production resources you control, and the higher your passive income. Otherwise, a multi-artifact strategy would be impossible for someone as poor as me.”
Of course, Zhang Yu’s upgrade of the Golden Jade Walls wasn’t solely for financial gain. He was also considering tactical coordination for the Finals.
“In my Mountain-Moving Warrior state, channeling the Nine Heavens Cloud Void Force to unleash the Double Heaven Kunlun Mountain-Moving Divine Power… While its destructive power is unparalleled, it’s unsustainable.”
“Against opponents weaker than me, it’s fine. But in a direct confrontation with someone stronger, this approach would put me at a disadvantage.”
At that moment, Zhang Yu’s mind flashed back to Mo Shangjin and their conversation.
This reminder came from Mo Shangjin during a training session with Zhang Yu shortly after his recovery and discharge from the hospital.
“Zhang Yu, while the Heavenly Kunlun Mountain-Moving Divine Power is formidable, its true strength lies in environmental manipulation.”
“The greater the area of effect, the more potent the Heavenly Kunlun Mountain-Moving Divine Power becomes.”
“Conversely, when the area of effect is small, the Earthly Fiend Gravity becomes more difficult to utilize effectively.”
“Therefore, against individual opponents, if raw power isn’t enough to overwhelm them, the Heavenly Kunlun Mountain-Moving Divine Power can serve as an excellent crowd control technique.”
Mo Shangjin sighed. “Take Xiang Shan, our next opponent, for example. To defeat him, we’ll need to combine our Heavenly Kunlun Mountain-Moving Divine Power for coordinated control and restraint, gradually wearing him down.”
Zhang Yu was surprised. “Xiang Shan is that strong? We can’t defeat him head-on, even with both of us?”
Mo Shangjin nodded. “Besides the Civil Engineering Department’s military-grade cultivation technique, the Mount Sumeru King Sutra, Xiang Shan likely possesses a Military-Grade Bionic this year.”
“Military-Grade Bionic?” Zhang Yu asked.
Mo Shangjin sighed. “Rumor has it that shortly after obtaining his Military Certificate, he won the design blueprint for a Military-Grade Bionic in a lottery.”
Zhang Yu couldn’t help but curse. “A lottery? Winning the design blueprint for a Military-Grade Bionic? Fucking hell… this backroom deal is so blatant it’s shameless.”
Mo Shangjin said quietly, “Ever since acquiring the blueprint, Xiang Shan has been constantly earning money to hire someone to refine the Bionic for him.”
“When I fought him last year, the Bionic wasn’t fully completed, yet it was still enough to overwhelm me in a direct confrontation.”
“Over the past year, he’s been desperately earning money everywhere. He’s likely completed the Military-Grade Bionic by now.”
With that, Mo Shangjin proceeded to detail Xiang Shan’s combat style, Cultivation Art, and the various capabilities of his Bionic to Zhang Yu. He also sent Zhang Yu a recording of their match from last year, urging him to thoroughly study Xiang Shan’s strengths and weaknesses.
The more Zhang Yu learned about Xiang Shan’s power, the clearer it became why even Mo Shangjin, with his formidable strength, had lost to him last year.
“Two Military-Grade cultivation techniques? That’s practically cheating in the Civil Engineering Department.”
“Still, with Mo Shangjin and me teaming up against him this year, our chances of winning aren’t slim.”
As Zhang Yu muttered to himself, further details about the Finals arrived.
His gaze swept over the time, location, participants, and other arrangements before finally landing on the prize: the design blueprint for Military-Grade Armor.
Initially, Zhang Yu didn’t pay much attention to it. Although he had embarked on the path of artifact crafting, his focus remained primarily on refining magical artifacts, and he lacked expertise in Armor.
“Azure Water Golden Crystal Armor?”
But as he clicked on the blueprint and read the description of this Military-Grade Armor, a line of small text suddenly appeared before his eyes.
“Great Sage’s Heir?”
Zhang Yu froze momentarily, then reread the line, exited the Armor description page, and reopened it several times.
“Is it really the Great Sage’s Heir?”
“Why would a design blueprint for Military-Grade Armor… trigger the appearance of a Chain Method Diagram Set?”
Zhang Yu knew that Chain Formation Diagram Sets were always created through combinations of Cultivation Arts.
For example, the Great Sage’s Heir set included three Mental Cultivation Techniques: the Desolate Ox Soul-Quelling Heart Art, the Crippled Ox Body-Sacrifice Heart Art, and the Immeasurable Heart Inner Dharma Body.
“Could the blueprint for the Azure Water Golden Crystal Armor… also contain a set of Cultivation Arts?”
Zhang Yu wasn’t certain, but a faint hope stirred within him.
After all, for a long time, he had only managed to collect the Desolate Ox Soul-Quelling Heart Art and the Crippled Ox Body-Sacrifice Heart Art from the Great Sage’s Heir Chain Formation Diagram Set.
The Immeasurable Heart Inner Dharma Body had later been discovered as a Black Art deep within the Spirit Realm.
Beyond these, Zhang Yu had never found any clues about other Cultivation Arts that might complete the Great Sage’s Heir set.
He had always suspected that either the related techniques had been lost to time, or like the Immeasurable Heart Inner Dharma Body, they were Black Arts not recorded in the Dao Repositories of the Ten Great Sects.
Zhang Yu thought to himself, “The blueprint for the Azure Water Golden Crystal Armor was also passed down from ancient times. It’s likely that even Myriad Laws University never possessed it until this Civil Engineering Finals… when it reappeared in the world.”