Chapter 672: Dark Spirit Realm Cultivation Technique Open-Sourced
Zhao Ruoli was a graduate of the Finance Department.
At nearly eighty years old, she had once been full of youthful ambition.
After all, she had achieved outstanding grades to enter Upper College, become a Finance Department student, obtain her Foundation Establishment certificate during her studies, and secure a job in the financial industry upon graduation — all of which demonstrated her exceptional abilities.
After joining the Finance Department, she doubled down on her efforts. For fifty years, she never took a single day off, never slept in, never worked less than her required overtime, and never received a raise.
Yet through her relentless efforts, she continuously sold worthless investment schemes, junk stocks, and substandard products to Lower College students, Junior College students, monsterfolk, and other vulnerable groups, amassing considerable wealth for herself.
She often remarked, “While purging Kunxu of its low-quality population, I’ve also accumulated wealth, achieving a win-win for both myself and the world.”
The various social contribution awards and outstanding performance awards bestowed upon her by different companies reinforced her belief that she was indeed a successful individual making significant contributions to society.
However, she also harbored frustrations.
“Kunxu’s oppression is unbearable,” she lamented.
“The Heavenly Court and the sects… they’re constantly exploiting us, squeezing the lifeblood out of us, the very foundation of Kunxu.”
“They’re stealing the money we worked so hard to earn…”
“The world shouldn’t be like this…”
Despite these thoughts, Zhao Ruoli, merely at the Foundation Establishment stage, felt powerless to change anything.
She had resigned herself to a life that seemed like a straight road to the grave, its end visible from the start. Each day, she watched herself inch closer to her final resting place, constantly squeezed dry by the sect, until the day she would be forced to stop working and living altogether.
Then, heaven and earth connected…
The Kunlun Society raised the banner of rebellion. Led by the Eight Great Spirit Transformation cultivators, they formed the Righteous Qi Alliance with the Finance Departments of various schools, the Demonic Cults, and the Evil Gods. Together, they stormed the heavens, determined to reclaim everything that had been stolen from them.
Zhao Ruoli joined the main force of the Righteous Qi Alliance as they charged up to the Fifth Layer. Along the way, they raided factories, seized Golden Cores, and achieved breakthroughs without proper authorization.
Reaching the Golden Core Realm filled Zhao Ruoli with boundless excitement.
Later, when the Righteous Qi Alliance open-sourced all cultivation arts below military-grade, Zhao Ruoli began to worship them as divine beings.
After exchanging for a military-grade cultivation technique through the Dark Spirit Realm, Zhao Ruoli became completely devoted to the Righteous Qi Alliance, convinced it was the most successful investment of her life.
At that very moment, Zhao Ruoli was infiltrating the Second Layer under orders to carry out a crucial mission.
Watching the escalating conflict between the two factions in the distance, Zhao Ruoli asked, “Will Zhang Yu come?”
A message flashed across her Bionic Eye: “Given Zhang Yu’s previous intervention to suppress Xiang Shan at the construction site, there’s a high probability he’ll do the same again. They say he cares for his subordinates, cherishes old ties, and embodies the virtues of ancient heroes. Let’s see if that’s true.”
Zhao Ruoli knew the message was from an Evil God. It was thanks to the Evil God’s cover that she could openly operate on the Second Layer.
Her sole task was to provoke a conflict with Yu Xinghan, acting as bait to lure Zhang Yu.
According to Zhao Ruoli, at least four Nascent Soul cultivators were hidden nearby. The moment Zhang Yu appeared, they would strike with full force to capture him, then use the Evil God’s power to conceal him and transport him to the Fifth Layer of Kunxu.
“I’m more worried he won’t come,” Zhao Ruoli frowned. “If that happens, we’ll have to detain everyone here and interrogate them one by one.”
Her gaze swept over Yu Xinghan, Shi Huaiyu, and the others. “These people are said to be extremely close to Zhang Yu,” she thought. “We should be able to extract valuable information from them — perhaps even enough to help us capture him.”
University City.
Shortly after Zhang Yu sent his request for assistance to Zhang Pianpian, she forwarded a substantial amount of information.
Zhang Pianpian: “The construction team that clashed with yours belongs to Zijing construction company.”
Zhang Pianpian: “The data appears unremarkable.”
Zhang Pianpian: “The conflict erupted because…”
Zhang Yu reviewed the intelligence, which detailed how both sides accused the other of delaying their construction progress. The dispute escalated into worker brawls, violent clashes, and even resulted in one fatality. Yu Xinghan was also injured by a Golden Core True Person from the opposing faction.
Everything seemed ordinary, almost commonplace in these turbulent times.
Yet Zhang Pianpian sent another message: “There’s something odd.”
Zhang Pianpian: “I checked their Spirit Realm browsing records.”
Zhang Pianpian: “They’re minimal. It seems they rarely log into the Spirit Realm.”
As Zhang Yu read Zhang Pianpian’s message, Fu Ji remarked, “There’s definitely something fishy here. How could anyone log into the Spirit Realm so infrequently? Don’t they need to access daily information? It’s practically instinct for Second Layer citizens, isn’t it?”
“This can only mean one thing… they might be obtaining information through other means.”
Zhang Yu’s gaze shifted. “You mean?”
“The Dark Spirit Realm!” Fu Ji declared. “I bet these people are either demonic cultists or believers of Evil Gods.”
Fu Ji wasn’t truly certain of this, of course. She was merely planting the seed of suspicion and hoping Zhang Yu would agree to explore the Dark Spirit Realm with her.
Ever since the Righteous Gods vanished after the convergence of heaven and earth, Fu Ji had sensed the Dark Spirit Realm flourishing deep within the Spirit Realm, undergoing subtle yet profound changes over time.
As an Evil God, she was naturally immensely curious about how the Dark Spirit Realm had developed in the past few months.
At the same time, she hoped to leverage the Dark Spirit Realm’s power to enhance her value in Zhang Yu’s eyes, thereby increasing her influence. She longed to escape her current role as his puppet, managing his company and handling mundane tasks day after day.
And, of course, she also intended to use this opportunity to track down the other Evil Gods.
Having finally shed the shackles of oversight, Fu Ji saw this as the perfect opportunity to hunt down her colleagues and grow even stronger.
She continued, “In the current situation, the Dark Spirit Realm will inevitably be used by the Evil Gods as a crucial communication channel. It may even become a tool for countless demonic cultists and Evil God believers, just like the Spirit Realm.”
“Mastering the ability to extract information from the Dark Spirit Realm will undoubtedly provide you with immeasurable advantages in navigating future developments.”
Hearing Fu Ji’s words, Zhang Yu frowned slightly and sighed, “The tree longs for stillness, but the wind never ceases.”
Though he had tried his best to avoiad distractions, Zhang Yu understood that when avoidance became impossible, he had no choice but to face the challenges head-on.
“The Demonic Cults and the Evil Gods, then?”
Zhang Yu knew he could never abandon Yu Xinghan, Shi Huaiyu, and the others.
Whether driven by emotion, principle, or the bonds he shared with these companions, he refused to forsake them.
“Then I’ll make a trip to the Dark Spirit Realm.”
Dark Spirit Realm.
When Zhang Yu opened his eyes again, he found that the Dark Spirit Realm before him was vastly different from the one he remembered.
First, he was immediately bombarded with advertisements:
“Heavenly Demon University’s fully open-source cultivation art — only 0.1 Spirit Coin for the entire package!”
“Zhang Yu’s Heavenly Kunlun Mountain-Moving Divine Power, used in the Ten Greats League — learn it all for just 1 Spirit Coin!”
“300% annual interest! Buy early, get rich quick!”
“Joyful Union University’s ultimate secret — Great Harmony of Yin and Yang Celestial Melody — master it in three days, perfect it in seven, for only 3 Spirit Coins!”
Zhang Yu stared at the last advertisement, pausing to take a few extra glances.
With each glance, he felt strange forces surging into his Sea of Consciousness.
Fu Ji immediately warned, “Don’t look at these ads! They’re all scams and viruses.”
With that, she unleashed a burst of Evil God Power, sweeping away the incoming viruses.
Hearing her words, Zhang Yu immediately turned away, ceasing to look at the chaotic advertisements.
“What is this?” Zhang Yu cursed. “Are the Evil Gods scamming each other now?”
Fu Ji replied, “This is a layer of protection. It seems someone from the Ten Great Universities is secretly infiltrating the Dark Spirit Realm, hence the need for such measures.”
“And who told you the Evil Gods can’t deceive each other?”
Zhang Yu rolled his eyes and continued walking forward, immediately sensing a massive influx of information flooding toward him.
The original conference room had vanished entirely. Before Zhang Yu now stood a colossal city composed of countless streams of information.
Fu Ji chuckled. “Heh, those guys really expanded the Dark Spirit Realm. They’re trying to turn it into a true Spirit Realm for all their subordinates to use.”
Evil God Power surged within Fu Ji. In an instant, she automatically categorized and summarized the torrents of information, transforming them into a dense array of options that appeared before Zhang Yu.
As he read the text, Zhang Yu grew increasingly astonished.
“A Righteous Qi Alliance formed by the Finance Department, Demonic Cults, and Evil Gods?”
“Martial Hall Street: Professor Kaiyuan teaches all martial dao techniques from the Ten Great Universities, Thirty-Six Upper Colleges, and Seventy-Two Lower Colleges…”
“Cultivation arts below military-grade can be obtained for free upon reaching 100 Righteous Qi Value…”
“Military-grade cultivation techniques require 1000 Righteous Qi Value each for exchange…”
“Daoist Arts Research Institute: Open-source daoist arts manuals…”
“Magic Artifact and Corpse Zone… Exchange captured magical artifact blueprints.”
“Library, Virus Database, Dark Cult District, Mission Zone, Intelligence Bureau…”
“Is this real? Have they developed this far in just a few months?”
Zhang Yu exhaled deeply as he surveyed the scene. “Is this another elaborate deception?”
Fu Ji shook her head. “No, it’s all real. I can sense tens of thousands of people exchanging vast amounts of information here every second, learning various cultivation arts and knowledge.”
“I suspect… these guys harvested a massive amount of knowledge from the Ten Great Universities during the wars on the Fifth and Fourth Layers, then released it down here to bewitch the masses, dangling it like bait before countless Demonic Cult members and Evil God believers.”
Hearing this, Zhang Yu couldn’t help but marvel. “No wonder the demonic cultists and Evil God believers are rebelling everywhere. These guys… they’re ruthless. They’ve open-sourced the universities’ knowledge! How many people will this attract?”
“And once they join, once they cultivate pirated techniques and achieve unauthorized breakthroughs, they’ll have no choice but to pledge absolute loyalty to the Righteous Qi Alliance.”
Even Zhang Yu, the strongest undergraduate among the Ten Great Universities, was shaken by the sight of the military-grade cultivation techniques from various universities.
He was particularly moved by the Heavenly Demon Illusionary Body Technique, Heavenly Demon Void Technique, and Profound Abyss Void-Returning Art — techniques Kuang Tianqing had used against him in their bitter struggle.
“No,” Zhang Yu quickly shook his head. “My priority is breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage. I don’t have time to cultivate these daoist arts.”
Suppressing his initial greed, Zhang Yu grew curious. “What exactly is this Righteous Qi Value used for exchanges?”
Fu Ji pulled up a list. “It’s what motivates people to complete missions. You earn it by completing the various tasks assigned by the Evil Gods.”
Zhang Yu scanned the mission list, and several entries caught his eye:
Steal a flying sword from Heavenly Sword University’s Sword Pavilion: 7,000 Righteous Qi Value
Steal Divine Monarch Magnetic Pole’s Yin Artifact from Myriad Laws University: 10,000 Righteous Qi Value
Bring Zhang Yu of Myriad Laws University to the Fifth Layer of Kunxu: 30,000 Righteous Qi Value
Fu Ji chuckled. “You’re worth more than a Yin Artifact, it seems.”