Chapter 561: Enlightenment at Vocational College
This is Bao Biao, a freshman in the Security Department at Vocational College.
As a Vocational College Student, Bao Biao seemed to possess a confidence before the film crew’s cameras that set him apart from his peers.
Throughout the filming, he insisted on being referred to as a University Student.
“Whether by law or school regulations, Vocational College Students are a type of University Student.”
“Did you know? We’re allowed to call ourselves University Students — even the Heavenly Court permits it.”
“My dream? To work for a company with excellent benefits.”
“At the very least, they should provide bottled water, Spirit Realm data subsidies, and 24-hour overtime with potions to let me stay awake for free.”
“I want to be able to move around freely at work, and ideally, they’d have restrooms so I can save on renovation costs.”
“I know it’s not easy to find a job these days where you can drink clean water, use the restroom, and not have to sleep. Many people say I’m asking for too much… But I’m a university student, not a vocational college student or a technical school student. I believe university students should have higher aspirations.”
To find his dream job, Bao Biao diligently practiced and studied on campus every day. He even signed up for the Foundation Establishment exam in his first year at vocational college.
Although he didn’t pass the exam, Bao Biao remained confident.
When the director asked him about it, Bao Biao explained that he simply hadn’t been prepared in his first year and still had several years to obtain his Foundation Establishment Qualification Certificate.
A month later, when the film crew met Bao Biao again, they found the once-spirited junior college student utterly dejected.
“I’ve been sleeping for seven days straight,” he lamented to the camera, repeatedly suggesting that the nearby pharmaceutical factory was polluting the school’s water supply, making students more prone to falling asleep and thus driving up demand for their potions.
However, when the topic shifted to his studies, Bao Biao’s enthusiasm returned.
“On the last exam, I took down a tenant in three seconds, chased away a food delivery in five, and escaped a mugger in half a second.”
“The teacher said I’m practically a ten-year security veteran.”
A month later, when the film crew returned to Bao Biao’s dorm, his roommate informed them that Bao Biao was gone.
“Gone as in…?”
“He bumped into the Upper College Senior Sister, damaged someone’s magical artifact, and was captured to be refined into a Living Soul…”
The film crew felt helpless at Bao Biao’s disappearance, but they understood that this was the reality for Junior College Students. A clash with an Upper College Student, a company’s mistake, a school’s oversight, or even a stock market fluctuation could lead to their rise and fall.
The crew had no choice but to suspend filming Bao Biao and move on to recording the next Junior College Student.
Zhang Yu withdrew his gaze and glanced at the script’s title: One Hundred Ways for a Junior College Student to Die.
“Is this really a documentary?” he muttered.
The thought of having to embody over a hundred different ways for junior college students to die made Zhang Yu hesitate. “This is a bit masochistic,” he mused.
His gaze shifted to the next simulation script.
This time, there was not only a written synopsis but also video clips.
The protagonist was a junior college student studying logistics management…
During his three years of high school, the family’s money was only enough for one child to attend tutoring classes.
Between his brother and A’Ming, their father chose his brother.
Without tutoring, A’Ming’s grades plummeted, relegating him to the bottom of the social hierarchy. He was forced to eat in the bathroom, kneel during class, and had his homework stolen — enduring constant humiliation.
After the college entrance exam, A’Ming left home with his vocational college admission notice.
On the way out, his father watched him with a complex expression. “A’Ming…”
“A’Ming is going to vocational college! You chose this, Dad!”
“Do you even know what I went through these past three years of high school?”
He left without looking back, constantly reminding himself that he would transfer to a bachelor’s degree program. He would get an undergraduate degree, find a better job than his brother, and prove his father had chosen the wrong son!
On the way to school, A’Ming remembered every change in expression on people’s faces when they learned he was a vocational college student. He remembered the restricted access points, the off-limits areas, the warnings only vocational college students could see, and the fact that they couldn’t ride the same flying boats as university students.
He etched each humiliation… firmly into his memory.
He repeatedly told himself that attending vocational college wasn’t shameful — only attending vocational high school was.
He convinced himself that vocational colleges admitted students based on merit alone, requiring a perfect score on the college entrance exam. Unlike universities, which were rife with backdoor admissions and students who got in through shady means.
During his eight years at Vocational College, he surpassed one opponent after another, each ranked higher than him.
These Junior College Students were all so diligent, constantly taking out loans, all burdened with the same crushing debt.
As A’Ming overtook them one by one, he sometimes couldn’t tell them apart, as if they were all cast from the same mold.
And each time he surpassed one of them, he would discover countless more similar Junior College Students looming ahead, like an endless road with no visible end, no matter how hard A’Ming ran.
By graduation, A’Ming had failed to transfer to a Bachelor’s Degree Program.
He resolved to find a good job.
He meticulously prepared his resume and rehearsed for every possible interview scenario.
Then A’Ming discovered that the jobs he could find didn’t even require interviews; those who arrived early could start working the same day.
In just one year, A’Ming’s loans remained unchanged, and his savings hadn’t grown. His daily work felt like running on a treadmill… constantly going nowhere.
“Heh… Go to Vocational College, and you’ll be a failure for life.”
He had resigned himself to this stagnant existence, forever inferior to University Students, when a file download error led him to download the remnant soul of an Immortal.
Zhang Yu paused, then glanced at the episode titles and summaries below the script.
Episode 2: The Fallen Immortal Venerable: Starting with Bricklaying
Episode 3: Slapping the Broker’s Face, Shocking the Construction Site
Episode 4: Switching to Express Delivery Sorting: Top Sorter, Foreman’s Doubt
Episode 5: Challenge from a Regular Employee! A Third-Tier Regular Employee? Nothing Special
Episode 6: Fortune Favors the Bold: Taking Out a Loan to Buy a Flying Sword
Episode 7: Becoming a First-Rate Deliveryman: Limitless Potential!
Episode 8: 300 Orders in a Day: Shocking the Station Manager
Episode 9: Humiliated and Enraged: The Reporting Begins
Episode 10: The Dark Side of the Delivery World Strikes! The Situation Turns Critical
Episode 11: The Immortal Venerable Imparts Magic: Mastery of Sword Flight
Grand Finale: Immortal Emperor’s Special Approval! Junior College to Bachelor’s Degree Program! Finally a University Student!
As Zhang Yu scanned the episode titles, he tugged at the corner of his mouth, muttering to himself, “A Junior College Student’s wish-fulfillment drama, huh?”
“I’m here to gather real intelligence about junior college students, not to play around.”
“Besides, it doesn’t even feel that satisfying.”
Zhang Yu shook his head and continued browsing the scripts: Junior College Romance Story, Non-Standard Junior College Life, Call Me a University Student, Millionaire of the Junior College Slum…
The more he looked, the more uneasy he felt. “These are all too focused on entertainment and lack authenticity.”
He scrolled back to the beginning, deciding he should experience the most realistic junior college student script first.
Watching the story of Xiao Ming and Xiao Hong studying in the Emotion Cultivation Department at a vocational college, Zhang Yu felt this one seemed more genuine.
He put on the Spirit Realm Mask and mentally connected to the Spirit Realm…
Moments later, Zhang Yu removed the mask, a hint of world-weariness in his eyes. His gaze now carried an unprecedented maturity and wisdom, like that of a sage who had weathered countless storms and witnessed the vicissitudes of human existence.
Fu Ji asked curiously, “How was it?”
Zhang Yu sighed, “It turns out there was an ancient sect called the Supreme Path Sect, which followed the Supreme Path of Emotionless Detachment. They required practitioners to abandon their families and ultimately view all living beings as mere straw dogs.”
“However, the sect’s cultivation methods were exceedingly difficult. In those ancient times, people’s thinking was constrained by the era, making it nearly impossible to abandon their families. Less than one in ten practitioners succeeded, resulting in an extremely high failure rate.”
“Then, a senior expert reorganized the Supreme Path Sect’s cultivation methods, structuring them from simple to complex. This allowed practitioners to gradually progress along the Supreme Path of Emotionless Detachment, step by step.”
Zhang Yu continued, “The first step is to calmly watch as others forcibly cultivate with your Dao Companion.”
“The next level of difficulty is to calmly watch as others forcibly cultivate with your father.”
“By steadily advancing in this manner, until you can remain indifferent even when your entire family is cultivating before you, your heart as cold as ashes, you will have reached the supreme state of Emotionless Detachment.”
“This comprehensive cultivation method progresses step by step. Instead of demanding immediate abandonment of family, it starts with simple challenges and gradually increases in difficulty, allowing practitioners to slowly cultivate the Supreme Path of Emotionless Detachment. It’s considered a major innovation in the Immortal Dao World.”
“But this was just the beginning…”
Zhang Yu sighed. “Later, the Joyful Union Sect merged with the Supreme Path Sect, taking the essence and discarding the dross, further refining this cultivation method.”
“Using an entire family to cultivate a single individual was too inefficient, with a poor ratio of consumption to output.”
“But what if every member of the family, young and old, cultivated the Supreme Path of Emotionless Detachment?”
“Then every person in the family would become sustenance for the others’ cultivation.”
“Each intense cultivation session would nourish the Immortal Dao of all family members.”
“This single modification by the Joyful Union Sect caused the talent output of this cultivation method to skyrocket more than tenfold, and it was through this method that they pioneered the Multifaceted Affection Path.”
“The principle is: only by experiencing affection can one transcend it; only by transcending affection can one attain profound affection. This is the path taken by Divine Monarch Jade Nectar of Joyful Union University, known as the Supreme Path of Profound Affection.”
Fu Ji remarked, “I wouldn’t have guessed you’d learn so much while simulating the life of a junior college student.”
“Is that all?” Zhang Yu smiled faintly. “There’s more.”
“Though the Supreme Path of Profound Affection greatly improved the efficiency of talent cultivation, it still had its flaws. After all, not everyone possesses an unwavering dao heart. Even with a path progressing from simple to difficult, not everyone can successfully navigate it…”