What’s the point of cultivating immortality if you don’t have money?.

Chapter 292 Poor Exam Performance, Construction Site Invitation

During the Dao Xin class.

The students in the Foundation Establishment class were all sitting upright, looking at Feng Jiu on the stage.

Feng Jiu said calmly, "Willpower is the most direct manifestation of one's Dao heart. The content of your next test is very simple: being burned by raging fire."

As the students put on the spirit interface masks, their consciousness instantly entered the spirit world.

Unlike the eye-shaped corpses that saw a projection of the spirit world in reality, at this moment they felt that their spirits had truly entered the spirit world.

The next moment, as flames engulfed their bodies, many students let out screams of agony.

At the same time, Feng Jiu, as the spirit of the artifact, has also descended upon the examination hall in the spirit realm, her gaze fixed on the students who have turned into fire figures.

Her first focus was on Ji Yuanshu, who was ranked first in the class.

The only student in the class who has reached the Dao Heart Level 12, even though he was engulfed in flames, remained calm, as if what was burning him was not flames but just a gust of hot wind.

Ji Yuanshu's gaze remained calm as he thought to himself, "I undergo similar spirit realm training for more than two hours every day. What is this level compared to that?"

Feng Jiu's spirit, observing Ji Yuanshu, silently recorded: "Ji Yuanshu has extremely high potential in his Dao heart and is tentatively designated as a contestant in next year's Spirit Realm Competition."

Then Feng Jiu looked at Gongshu Jin, who was second in the class.

This student, whose Dao Heart was closest to Level 12 in the entire class, frowned slightly at this moment, but was still able to grit his teeth and endure the burning flames.

Gongshu Jin thought to himself, "Now that this exam is over, I'll have to invest more spirit coins in training in the spirit realm."

"I'll get a membership card when I get back, to keep myself motivated."

On the other side, Feng Jiu recorded: "Gongshu Jin, second in the class in terms of Dao Heart, is tentatively selected as a contestant for next year's Spirit Realm Competition."

After observing a few more people, Feng Jiu saw Zhang Yu and noted: "Zhang Yu, suspected to be due to his early Foundation Establishment, high level of cultivation technique, and remarkable talent in Dao Heart, is still a step away from meeting the standards of the Spirit Realm competition, so he is temporarily listed as a candidate."

……

In a magic class.

Li Mingbo watched as everyone was inputting their mana into the detection device in front of them, his gaze mainly fixed on Ji Yuanshu and Gongshu Jin.

"Judging from Ji Yuanshu's mana purchase records, he purchased large quantities of both high-quality and low-quality mana."

"It looks like they're infusing the body with high-quality magic to improve the quality of the magic."

"Low-quality magic is used to manipulate the Dharma Body through a plugin of the spirit world network."

“He uses his magical powers almost nothing except for cultivation… what a waste.”

Although Li Mingbo was filled with emotion, he was mostly delighted.

After all, the other party purchased a large amount of magic power on the Magic Power platform, which earned him a lot of commission.

"Gongshu Jin is also quite good. I heard that he lives in the most luxurious upper-class dormitory. Every day after returning home, he first changes his magical body, which is specially used for magical cultivation. No wonder his magical cultivation is progressing by leaps and bounds, and he is only lagging behind Ji Yuanshu."

"Hmm, Li Xiao's progress has improved again. It's a pity that the students from the first floor may not have enough stamina."

Li Mingbo's gaze swept over Zhang Yu again, and he thought to himself, "This Zhang Yu is also good. If he can continue to maintain this performance, it shouldn't be a problem for him to break into the top 100 of the Civil Engineering Foundation Establishment program in a few years."

"But the hard part is maintaining it."

The top 100 in the Civil Engineering Department includes foundation-building students from all grades in the department. In Li Mingbo's view, for a first-level student to reach this level, it is only possible to achieve it through years of accumulation in their later years.

……

In the examination room of the body training class.

Looking at the students, Lang Yougong said, "Physical strength isn't something you can judge by just looking at numbers."

"After all, the body's tolerance to drugs, your control over your bodies, as well as your reactions, agility, and skills... these can only be truly demonstrated in specific practice."

"The three-month basic course has come to an end. Today is the day to test the results of your efforts over the past three months..."

Just as Lang Yougong was speaking, Zhang Yu looked around at the students and thought to himself, "Hiding data is relatively easy to do with the anti-detection ritual."

"How should I perform in the upcoming practical test?"

"The actual performance can't far exceed the data, can it? That would be too glaring."

Thinking of this, Zhang Yu looked at Li Xiao: "This guy seems to be ranked one place lower than me."

"So all you have to do is perform a little better than him, right?"

During the strength test, shortly after Li Xiao shouted and struggled to lift the force gauge, Zhang Yu shouted in the same way and lifted a weight that was slightly heavier than his.

In the sensitivity test, when Li Xiao did his best to dodge the increasingly fast ball and lasted for a minute, he saw that Zhang Yu, who was not far away, lasted 3 seconds longer than him.

Before the final speed test, Li Xiao accepted the package delivered by the deliveryman, thinking to himself, "Zhang Yu... he really does consider me his biggest competitor."

He could sense that Zhang Yu had been paying attention to him from time to time during the last two tests, and that every time Zhang Yu confirmed that he had surpassed him, Zhang Yu would soon reach his limit.

"It was clearly my threat that provoked and motivated him, leading to a better performance."

"Perhaps... in order to defeat me, he even took some harmful drugs that could damage his body."

"But just like you, Zhang Yu, just like you... you also greatly inspired me."

After taking the newly purchased potent drug, feeling his body gradually heat up and become increasingly hot, Li Xiao thought to himself, "Even if I have to stop cultivating for a few days, I will definitely defeat you in the next match!"

On the speed test track, Li Xiao shot out like lightning, accompanied by the sound of air exploding, rushing forward like a bolt of lightning... closely following behind Zhang Yu.

His heart pounded faster and faster, and his limbs swung wildly, propelling him forward relentlessly. But as Li Xiao accelerated, Zhang Yu accelerated as well, making it impossible for Li Xiao to overtake him no matter how hard he tried.

Looking at Zhang Yu's back, Li Xiao felt as if he were looking at the gate of a construction site. He could have stepped in with just one step, but he was always just a little bit short.

"Damn it...why! Is it so hard for me to get into the construction site?"

Controlling his speed throughout, Zhang Yu led Li Xiao to the finish line. He thought to himself, "This should be fine now."

Sensing Li Xiao's indignant gaze, Zhang Yu thought to himself, "I'm only one place ahead of you, why are you so angry?"

But the next moment, as the test scores appeared, Zhang Yu thought to himself, "Huh? I ranked fifth in the physical test?"

Zhang Yu frowned as he looked at Li Xiao, thinking to himself, "This kid... could he be hiding his strength all the time? I should have known better than to choose him to suppress him."

"But thankfully, my physical performance wasn't bad before, so it's reasonable that I 'performed exceptionally well' this time, right?"

Lang Yougong looked at Zhang Yu in front of him and smiled, "Keep up the good work. If you continue to cultivate at this pace, you should be able to participate in the Civil Engineering Department's competition next year."

On the other side, several high-ranking people had been watching the competition between Li Xiao and Zhang Yu.

Some people remarked, "Are those two secretly competing with each other? They're certainly stimulating and encouraging one another."

Some people exclaimed in surprise, "They're ranked so high in the physical exam?"

Ying Xin laughed and said, "If Li Xiao wants to maintain this performance, he may not have enough money. Let's see who among these two first-tier players runs out of money first."

"After all, some people are not used to university life and spend money extravagantly. They make rapid progress in the early stages but plummet in the later stages... There are quite a few examples of this."

It turned out that Yingxin had long seen through Li Xiao's scheme of borrowing money to follow them in their cultivation, and she had always harbored a sense of schadenfreude, waiting to see when this person would be unable to repay his debts.

Seeing Li Xiao walk over looking somewhat lost, Ying Xin greeted him with a smile, "Old Li, let's go practice in the training room together after the exam."

Li Xiao nodded with difficulty and forced a smile, saying, "Okay."

……

During the professional course exam.

Courses such as engineering formation drawing, martial arts, and construction techniques include both written tests and skill examinations.

Zhang Yu had already mastered techniques such as the Digging Palm, Crane Claw, Car Car Leg, and Elevator Leap, and had even trained them all to level 10.

However, Zhang Yu simply didn't have time to diligently practice some of the specialized techniques of the Civil Engineering system, such as Condensed Qi, Lifting Force, and Mountain-Backing Swift Walking. He could only barely get the basics down through classroom practice.

After all, he devoted most of his time and energy to the cultivation techniques related to the Earth and Wood Sacred Body.

However, in three months, the teachers didn't expect the students to master these professional skills to a high level, so Zhang Yu's performance wasn't particularly outstanding.

Looking at Zhang Yu's performance, Gongshu Jin thought to himself, "My friend's martial arts talent is really not good, but in terms of basic data, although the growth rate can't keep up with mine, it can still be considered excellent."

"It seems they've spent a lot of resources on it."

……

That evening, all exam results had been calculated.

6th place, Zhang Yu, with a total score of 688.
7th place, Li Xiao, with a total score of 682.
Looking at the final rankings after these three months, a sense of bewilderment flashed through Li Xiao's mind.

Just when he thought Zhang Yu had snatched away the opportunity at the construction site, a communication from Tulishan brought him back to life.

“Li Xiao, not every student can go to the construction site as soon as school starts. This is the only opportunity for one person, and I specially fought for it for an outstanding student.”

"Sigh, I know you've been working really hard lately, and I truly admire you."

"Your grades are a bit worse than Zhang Yu's, but I have high hopes for you. The first time I saw you, I knew you were a construction worker."

"Here's what we'll do: transfer 20% of your monthly earnings from the construction site to my account, and I'll pull some strings to make sure you get in."

……

in the dormitory.

Zhang Yu showed off his 6th place ranking and asked Zhang Pianpian, "Sister, I didn't perform well. Was 6th place a bit too high-profile?"

Zhang Pianpian said helplessly, "A little bit, but it's alright. Why did you underperform in this exam?"

Zhang Yu said helplessly, "Sigh, I was just unlucky and chose the wrong reference."

"The Li Xiao I chose probably hides his true strength all the time."

"He probably chose me as a reference point, and wants to follow in my footsteps."

"But I chose him as my benchmark, because I wanted to get ahead of him."

"As a result, we chased each other and ran, and before we knew it, we had improved our ranking again."

Zhang Yu exclaimed, "The top ten are indeed full of hidden talents; I'm not the only one with exceptional abilities."

Zhang Pianpian nodded slightly upon hearing this: "Since that's the case, there's nothing we can do about it. Fortunately, sixth place isn't too bad. For now, just maintain this ranking and don't try to improve it too much."

Just then, as the dormitory door opened, Yu Xinghan, ranked 11th in the class, walked in with an arrogant expression.

Yu Xinghan asked, "Zhang Yu, did Teacher Tu talk to you about the construction site?"

Zhang Yu nodded: "Tell me to report for duty in a few days."

Yu Xinghan: "Did he tell you about transferring money?"

(End of this chapter)