Chapter 529: Soul Rings and the Encyclopedia of Celestial Technology
Within the Supreme Clarity Realm, as everything accelerated, Zhang Yu, in his four transformed states, tirelessly refined magical artifacts within the Illusionary Realm.
Good Fortune Relic - Level 20
Seeing the magical artifact finally reach Level 20, Zhang Yu let out a small sigh of relief and immediately began studying and practicing the next artifact.
Regardless of the cataclysmic conflicts between the Spirit Transformation Divine Monarchs shaking the outside world, Zhang Yu remained secluded in his dormitory, immersed in the Supreme Clarity Realm, quietly honing his artifact refinement skills.
The affairs of Spirit Transformation were far beyond his reach. Even if the heavens were to shatter, the earth to crumble, and Wind, Water, Earth and Fire were to be reforged, it was not something he could influence.
All Zhang Yu could do was silently accumulate his strength, increasing his chances of survival no matter what future challenges awaited him.
Back in his dormitory, Zhang Yu removed his Spirit Realm Mask after emerging from the Supreme Clarity Realm. He twisted his stiff body, which had remained motionless for over a dozen hours, and circulated his vital energy.
At the same moment, Yu Xinghan tossed him a bottle of pills. “The medicine’s here. This is your share.”
Yu Xinghan grumbled, “The prices have gone up again! These profiteering merchants are really exploiting the school’s crisis. I heard even shit is getting more expensive now. Fucking hell… Too bad I didn’t join the Dark Dung-Pilfering Realm.”
Zhang Yu swallowed the entire bottle of pills, feeling the medicinal power surge through his body. He thought to himself, “Ah, just enough to feel seven-tenths full.”
Uncertain about how the situation would develop, Zhang Yu had been deliberately saving Spirit Coins each day to prepare for any unexpected circumstances.
A moment later, Le Mulan returned to the dormitory with a large bag of medicine. “The department is starting to ration medicine,” she said. “This is the last time I can get so many discounted pills from them.”
Having taken his medicine, Zhang Yu didn’t immediately return to the Supreme Clarity Realm to continue practicing artifact refinement.
While digesting the medicinal power, he reviewed the streams of messages appearing in his Bionic Eye, gathering information about the current situation.
Though he spent most of his days immersed in the Supreme Clarity Realm, he still dedicated time each day to staying informed about external events, ensuring he remained aware of the outside world.
“Are the Spirit Transformation cultivators still clashing?”
“In addition to Myriad Laws University, Heavenly Sword University, Joyful Union University, and White Bone University, the Spirit Transformation cultivators from Netherworld University and Vajra University have also joined the fray.”
“This is truly… a tangled mess.”
Zhang Yu shook his head helplessly and noticed a flurry of new messages in the hometown group chat.
Looking at the row of dimmed avatars in the group, Zhang Yu sighed.
Logically speaking, as long as the Bionic Eye remained active, users should be online 24/7.
In the past, many members of the group had stopped posting, but their avatars remained lit up.
Now, however, many Soul Cultivators, unable to find work due to the unemployment crisis, had frozen their accounts to maintain basic cognitive functions at the lowest possible cost, their avatars turning gray to indicate they were offline.
Immortal Armaments University - Song Hailong: “Selling a high-end Extreme Tiger Bionic, 90% new. DM if interested.”
Celestial Monsters University - Xiong Wenwu: “Anyone need a mount? I have experience, underwent mount modification surgery, and come equipped with a spine-interactive saddle Bionic.”
Hu Yuntao: “You lost your job?”
Celestial Monsters University - Xiong Wenwu: “(╯▽╰) Boss’s assets shrank, so they cut half the mounts.”
Mountains and Rivers College - Lan Ling: “Sigh, when will this crisis end?”
Lan Ling: [Photo]
Lan Ling: “Just lost my job and came back to find my dorm demolished.”
Lan Ling: “If this keeps up, I’ll just kill myself and refuse to let the Righteous God claim my soul. I won’t repay a single debt.”
Joyful Union University - Lian Tianji: “Don’t talk nonsense! Do you want to get the group shut down?”
Zhang Yu saw a photo of Lan Ling living in the ruins.
Suddenly, his brow furrowed as he noticed something odd about Lian Tianji’s profile picture. Clicking on it, he realized she had gained a significant amount of weight.
Zhang Yu: “Are you okay?”
Lian Tianji: “What could be wrong?”
Lian Tianji: “Oh, you mean the pregnancy?”
Lian Tianji: “I passed the selection process and was chosen for the college’s pregnancy experiment. Now I get free medication every day and a substantial stipend. This crisis hasn’t affected me much at all (∩_∩)”
Sensing the joy in Lian Tianji’s tone, Zhang Yu thought to himself, “These First Layer natives… they’re becoming more and more like Second Layer locals.”
Meanwhile, Lan Ling, who had just been complaining in the group chat, received a message from Zhou Chechen of Tianhai College.
Zhou Chechen: “Lan Ling, what do you think about Dual Rest?”
Lan Ling stared at the message from his former high school student council president and furiously retorted: “Are you fucking insane? You’re even considering Dual Rest?”
Zhou Chechen: “Just a little won’t hurt.”
Lan Ling: “Old Zhou, hang in there! The Ten Greats League is almost over. Once it’s done, the Spirit Transformation cultivators will stop.”
Lan Ling: “If you touch Dual Rest, your life will be ruined forever.”
After scanning the group chat messages, Zhang Yu checked the message from Director Gao.
Director Gao: “Xiao Qingxuan has no place to stay recently. Could you accommodate him in your dorm for a while?”
Zhang Yu naturally had no objections.
His current luxurious 30-square-meter dorm had been arranged by Director Gao himself.
The director hadn’t revoked the dorm even after Zhang Yu transferred to the Artifact Refinement Department, so he wouldn’t refuse a temporary roommate.
The next day, Xiao Qingxuan arrived at the dorm, looking travel-worn and dusty.
Seeing the debt figure on Xiao Qingxuan’s status screen, Zhang Yu was shocked. “15,000? How did your debt increase so much?”
Xiao Qingxuan replied nonchalantly, “It’s the economic crisis. A minor calamity sweeping through Kunxu’s Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Layers. Many companies in the Civil Engineering Department are failing, so they’ve assigned me to take on their debts.”
Xiao Qingxuan sat cross-legged, performed a few cycles of the breathing technique, and felt his Magic Power gradually recovering, a wave of relief washing over him.
Hearing this, Zhang Yu was filled with curiosity. He wondered how exactly this “debt-taking” worked and what benefits Xiao Qingxuan received for acting as such a debt-taker.
What kind of benefits would Xiao Qingxuan need to willingly become a debt bearer?
From Zhang Yu’s perspective, he couldn’t see any remarkable advantages Xiao Qingxuan had gained. In fact, now that Xiao Qingxuan was facing a financial crisis, he didn’t even have a place to live.
Over the next few days, Zhang Yu noticed that Xiao Qingxuan was constantly looking for work.
“I’ve already graduated,” Xiao Qingxuan said. “If I can’t find a job after graduation, it’ll be a huge stain on my resume.”
He frowned. “I probably won’t ever be able to find a proper job again.”
Zhang Yu glanced at the debt figures on Xiao Qingxuan’s profile and thought that someone with such a heavy debt burden would already have difficulty finding employment, the current wave of layoffs would only make it worse.
“Why don’t you take a nominal position at my company?” Zhang Yu suggested casually. “I can only offer you a symbolic salary of 0.0001 Spirit Coins, just to keep your resume from being empty.”
Xiao Qingxuan’s face lit up. “That works! As long as my resume isn’t blank, I’m good.”
After a moment’s thought, Xiao Qingxuan looked at Zhang Yu earnestly. “I can’t offer you much help, but if your company ever needs someone to take on debt, you can count on me. I’ve got nothing to lose anyway; a little more debt won’t make a difference.”
Shortly after Xiao Qingxuan moved in, Zhang Yu received a message from Tu Lishan.
Tu Lishan: “Zhang Yu, could you help Shi Huaiyu out for a while?”
Tu Lishan: “She lost badly in crypto trading and then her rent went up. She’s been homeless for almost a week now.”
Tu Lishan had always been supportive of Zhang Yu, and Shi Huaiyu was his former competition teammate. Naturally, Zhang Yu couldn’t refuse.
Following Tu Lishan’s instructions, he descended underground and arrived at the entrance of Converging Dragon Garden.
From a distance, he saw a crowd of refugees gathered outside the cemetery, huddled together and practicing breathing techniques to absorb the spiritual energy leaking from within.
“Zhang Yu?” Shi Huaiyu looked up at him. “You’re homeless too?”
She shoved aside the people next to her. “Come on, there’s still some space here.”
Seeing Shi Huaiyu’s disheveled appearance, Zhang Yu felt like he was looking at a stray cat that had been wandering for too long. He said, “Teacher Tu Lishan sent me to pick you up. If you don’t mind, you can squeeze into my dorm for now.”
Shi Huaiyu immediately jumped up, happily following Zhang Yu.
“Zhang Yu, don’t worry,” she said. “Once the coins I bought recover, I’ll be able to pay you back the rent.”
Zhang Yu replied casually, “It’s fine, no need for rent. Times are tough, we should help each other out and get through this together.”
Shi Huaiyu stared at Zhang Yu in shock, as if she couldn’t believe someone would actually refuse rent.
Fu Ji grumbled, “It’s one thing for Xiao Qingxuan to be so poor he can’t even afford to shit, but why are you refusing rent from Shi Huaiyu?”
Zhang Yu glanced at Shi Huaiyu’s worn-out arm Bionic, its paint peeling in patches, and mentally told Fu Ji, “Let it go. The rent isn’t much anyway.”
“That’s because you haven’t raised the price!” Fu Ji retorted. “If you charged rent now, you’d have to charge the current market rate. Even if you don’t collect it, you should at least get her to sign an IOU.”
Zhang Yu ignored Fu Ji, who seethed with frustration at his stubbornness.
After Shi Huaiyu followed Zhang Yu back to his dormitory, she immediately sat cross-legged and began practicing her breathing technique. As she felt her Magic Power gradually recover, a faint sense of relief spread across her face.
Meanwhile, Zhang Yu had already donned his Spirit Realm Mask and resumed his cultivation.
Within the Illusionary Realm, four illusory figures of Zhang Yu flickered back and forth, refining the Self-Transformation To Control Others Soul Ring.
This magical artifact originated from Celestial Monsters University and was commonly used in the human body rental market.
Once the Self-Transformation To Control Others Soul Ring was implanted into a person’s body, it allowed remote control of their physical body via the Spirit Realm. It also enabled precise perception of all sensations transmitted from the body, including sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch, and even consciousness.
It was said that many Soul Cultivators used this artifact to inhabit temporary physical bodies, while numerous cultivation art laboratories employed it to conduct experiments on subjects, observing the effects of cultivation art techniques on their bodies.
The Soul Ring itself held little value for Zhang Yu, but the Spirit Realm communication technology it contained — particularly the techniques for remote Magic Power control and five-sense communication — were essential for the Heavenly Sun Radiance God.
With these technologies, Zhang Yu could remotely control the Heavenly Sun Radiance God through the Spirit Realm Network, even manipulating it like an external avatar.
As Zhang Yu diligently cultivated, he suddenly sensed an anomaly within the Feather Book’s Dao Seed Register.
His gaze sharpened, and he immediately checked the register, discovering that he had just copied True Monarch Magnetic Pole’s Dao Seed, the Encyclopedia of Celestial Technology.
Zhang Yu’s heart surged with joy. “It’s done!”
“Has Master finally upgraded the magical artifact we refined together to level 30?”