Chapter 448: Seven Absolutes Opportunity, Anti-Intelligence Wave

669th floor. In a corner of the construction site.

Shi Yunxiang called out to the white-haired Che Yufei with a puzzled expression. “Old Che, why do you look even older again?”

“And recently on the site, why does it feel like you've been avoiding me and Zhang Yu?”

Che Yufei paused, turned around, and gave a helpless smile. “I just... don’t have the face to see you all.”

As Che Yufei slowly explained, Shi Yunxiang finally understood—Che Yufei had invested in Nectar Coin.

Shi Yunxiang couldn’t help but curse. “Didn’t I tell you to dump it? You agreed too!”

Che Yufei sighed. “But I kept seeing the price climb… and climb…”

“I just made a bit selling my competition team spot, and in the end, I couldn’t help but throw it in.”

“I only meant to ride it for three days…”

“You used leverage?” Shi Yunxiang asked.

Che Yufei gave a bitter nod. “It rose for so long, but the moment I got in, it tanked.”

“Yunxiang, the Immortal Path is really hard.”

“I’ve cultivated for almost thirty years. I held on this long, dodging all those calamities, resisting all those temptations… and then, just one time—one temptation I didn’t resist—and everything fell apart.”

Hearing this, Shi Yunxiang opened his mouth but didn’t know what to say.

He also recalled his own path—sleepless nights, extreme frugality, devoting everything to cultivation.

Why is it that someone like this, just because he gave in once, now has to watch his Immortal Path vanish? No more chances to climb upward?

Che Yufei patted Shi Yunxiang’s shoulder. “Yunxiang, don’t be like me.”

“The Immortal Path—you either hold on to the end, until your soul is scattered, or don’t walk it at all. Don’t give in to temptation halfway like I did.”

In the next moment, a divine light suddenly descended.

Looking up at the descending radiance, Che Yufei sighed. “A Righteous God has come to take me.”

As Che Yufei vanished into the divine light, Shi Yunxiang stood silent for a long time, then finally let out a sigh.

Not long after, everyone in the competition group chat heard the news and attended Che Yufei’s Spiritual Realm memorial service.

…

Shi Huaiyu stared at the price chart of Nectar Coin and sighed helplessly.

“Sigh… all the profits are gone again.”

“Good thing I didn’t use leverage.”

Shi Huaiyu planned to keep investing—but not in Nectar Coin. Her gaze shifted to other coins, particularly those backed by Nascent Soul cultivators from Wanfa University.

“Better to speculate on something stable.”

Suddenly, she came across the news about Che Yufei on EyeNet. She paused, then shook her head. “Leverage really is a death trap.”

“If I hadn’t been burned badly before, I might’ve gone in with leverage this time too… and ended up like Old Che.”

…

Su Yanyang watched the discussion in the competition group chat about Che Yufei but said nothing. After all, he barely knew the guy—he felt nothing.

Still, glancing at the chat and recalling Nectar Coin, he couldn’t help feeling a bit of relief.

He had listened to Zhang Yu and cashed out early, netting a decent profit. Later, when the price kept rising, he’d tossed a little more in—then lost it.

He’d been secretly annoyed about that, but seeing what happened to Che Yufei… suddenly he was just grateful it wasn’t worse.

…

Watching the news of Che Yufei’s bankruptcy and transformation into a soul cultivator, Gongshu Jin muttered to himself, “Whew, good thing I spent almost everything to buy that Seven Absolutes slot.”

Ying Xin sighed. “Good thing Father, Grandfather, Great-Grandfather, and even Ancestor all stopped me from investing.”

Meanwhile, others who didn’t make money off Nectar Coin were still in good spirits.

“Lucky I’m too broke to speculate,” Li Xiao laughed. “That’s a few less opponents in the exams—moved up two places in class rank already!”

…

In the days that followed, Zhang Yu studied and cultivated every day. Occasionally, he trained with Mo Shangjin’s team, preparing for next month’s inter-university tournament.

Before he knew it, it was early December.

That day, Zhang Yu was using his 30 reimbursed spirit coins to place a fake order on himself and refine a new Taiyi Liquid Gold Pill.

Suddenly, he got a message from Zhang Pianpian.

Zhang Pianpian: Mo Shangjin from your department, along with one of his teammates, got seriously injured out in the field.

Zhang Yu (startled): Wasn’t Mo Shangjin out on a site project? He’s trained in military-grade martial arts—how could he get seriously hurt?

Zhang Pianpian: A conflict broke out between captains. A Gold Core cultivator got involved. Mo Shangjin got caught in the crossfire.

Zhang Pianpian: There’s signs another university is involved. Mo Shangjin might’ve been collateral damage in some kind of payback.

Zhang Yu (frowning): Payback?

Zhang Pianpian: You’re definitely going to become a core member of the Civil Engineering team now.

Zhang Pianpian: Be careful.

Zhang Pianpian: But this is also your chance.

Sure enough, days later, Zhang Yu heard more details. Mo Shangjin and another teammate had been gravely injured—it would take at least two or three months to recover.

Just like that, the Civil Engineering team lost two members to Nectar Coin and two more to injury. In the blink of an eye, only Zhang Yu and one official teammate remained.

…

In the Spiritual Realm.

True Lord Qiyun faced Director Gao, Director Lin, and the Old Director, and said flatly, “Mo Shangjin won’t recover soon. What’s the plan?”

Seeing none of them respond, True Lord Qiyun snorted coldly. “No one wants to talk? Then I’ll assign people myself.”

“Besides Zhang Yu, have Xiao Yunji and Su Yanyang from the recent Military License Exam join the team too. Fill in the rest yourselves.”

“No more talk about factions or politics.”

“If you can’t even field a team and get eliminated by one of the thirty-six other universities, you might still save face—but I’ll be humiliated before the three Divine Lords.”

The Old Director smiled faintly. “As long as Old Gao agrees. I’m just worried he won’t let our students get the bonus points.”

Director Gao snorted. “Principal, now that Mo Shangjin is out, and Zhang Yu hasn’t yet mastered Heavenly Kunlun Mountain-Moving Might, he won’t last on his own.”

“I think we should accelerate his training.”

Director Lin raised an eyebrow. “Heavenly Kunlun Mountain-Moving Might is no small matter. Every one of the Civil Engineering Seven Absolutes has a strict process.”

Director Gao flared. “Is now the time to talk about procedure? For the university’s honor, for the Civil Engineering Department, shouldn’t we act boldly in desperate times?”

Director Lin countered, “Zhang Yu is just a third-year, and he’s already mastered five Absolutes.”

“I heard you’ve lined up the sixth for him already?”

“If he gets the seventh too, that’s four Absolutes taught in half a year. People might say the Civil Department should just be renamed after him.”

Director Gao snapped, “Lin! My conscience is clear doing this for the department. But you—always obstructing things. Do you even care about our department anymore, or are you in bed with Finance?”

Director Lin was furious. “Gao Chongguang! Don’t start deflecting! What’s this got to do with Finance? Your disciple stirred up trouble and got hurt. That’s on you.”

The Old Director remained still, his thoughts drifting deeper into the Spiritual Realm to manage something else entirely.

Just then, a soundproof sigil lit up. The argument cut to silence.

Gao and Lin both turned to look at True Lord Qiyun.

Retracting the sigil, he said coolly, “Granting four Absolutes in such a short time does bend the rules.”

“But the tournament’s restructured this year. It’ll last several months starting in December, right?”

“Old Lin, schedule Zhang Yu to take your Civil Engineering Seven Trials in January. Give him the Seventh Absolute then.”

“That way, he’ll have received two Absolutes in each of two calendar years. No problems, yes?”

Director Lin opened his mouth, but upon seeing the crackling thunder in the cloud aura surrounding True Lord Qiyun, he nodded. “No objection.”

Director Gao let out a quiet sigh of relief. If Zhang Yu learns the Sixth in December and the Seventh in January, he’ll soon master Heavenly Kunlun Mountain-Moving Might.

…

Mid-December.

A flying vessel launched from Wanfa University City, piercing the skies and soaring into the distance.

Inside the vessel, Zhang Yu sat in the training chamber, quietly practicing the Sixth Absolute, Soil-to-Gold Transmutation.

He didn’t need to fully master it. Even botched attempts counted as practice in the Feathered Tome.

Soon, the vessel arrived at its destination—Golden River University, one of the thirty-six military academies and Wanfa’s first opponent in the Civil Engineering inter-university tournament.

Unlike the structured spires of Wanfa’s campus, Golden River looked like a normal city: dense buildings formed square blocks across a flat plain.

But seeing the demolished teaching buildings below, Zhang Yu frowned in surprise. “What happened here?”

Xiao Qingxuan beside him explained, “The last financial storm hit level 3 over here.”

“I heard a lot of property and areas had to be sold off.”

Zhang Yu was stunned. “A level 3 financial storm?”

Xiao Qingxuan nodded. “Probably because Golden River has a Dual Cultivation Department. Their crash hit harder.”

He looked at the ruins below and sighed. “Level 3 is manageable. At level 8, even Nascent Soul cultivators could fall.”

As the vessel descended, more of Golden River’s interior came into view.

“So many missing limbs…” Zhang Yu muttered.

At that moment, Mo Shangjin’s Spiritual Realm projection appeared beside him. “A level 3 financial storm—it’s normal for body parts to get repossessed and sold.”

“Look over there!”

Zhang Yu looked toward a crowd gathered in the distance, burning something. “What are they doing?”

“Smashing Yin Artifacts,” Mo Shangjin said.

Zhang Yu blinked. “Smashing what?”

“After the Nectar Coin fiasco, a wave of anti-intelligence sentiment hit universities with Dual Cultivation programs.”

“Some students started rioting—burning and smashing intelligent Yin Artifacts and Yang Artifacts.”

“Others took advantage, falsely accusing people of using them, demanding public removal ‘for inspection,’ and then seizing them…”

Zhang Yu exclaimed, “No one’s doing anything?”

Mo Shangjin shook his head. “The anti-device movement? Probably being pushed by some soul cultivator companies. The waters run deep.”

Zhang Yu asked again, “When we enter Golden River University, we’re not gonna get inspected down there, are we?”

At that, Mo Shangjin burst out laughing. “This busted school? They wouldn’t dare check us there.”