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

Chapter 543 Begins the Production of the Prototype Machine
mid-December.

In the dormitory.

Zhang Yu, who had just finished his cultivation and returned from the Taiqing Realm, saw the good news from Wanfa University.

Looking at the contents, Zhang Yu thought to himself, "Has the Top Ten Leagues ended?"

"This year seems to be ending sooner than in previous years."

"Dao Qiankun from the Daoist Arts Department won 2nd place in the Combat Skills Competition. Jiu Tianliu from the Finance Department won 1st place in the Combat Luck Competition. Also, Yan Qianji from our Weapon Refining Department won 2nd place in the Treasure Hunt Competition, and Senior Sister Ye Xingli won 10th place in the Treasure Hunt Competition..."

Zhang Yu thought to himself, "Although my senior sister's ability to design magical artifacts is impressive, enabling her to rank among the top five in the top 100 schools, it seems that in terms of the combat capabilities of her magical artifacts, she is still a step behind the top students from other schools."

However, this also made Zhang Yu realize his senior sister's talent in designing magical artifacts, making him even more eager to replicate her Dao Seed.

Zhang Yu then thought, "Yan Qianji, as a Nascent Soul disciple, is already the face of our weapon crafting department. How could he have lost a match this time and failed to take first place?"

Zhang Yu then looked at the remaining rankings and concluded in his heart: "The first place in the magic combat and the first place in the treasure combat this year have been taken by Heavenly Demon University and Netherworld University respectively."

"Tianmo and Youming, as expected of the three strongest schools among the top ten, just like Wanfa."

Looking at the names on the leaderboard, Zhang Yu sighed inwardly, "The top ten leagues are truly full of experts."

The thought of having to overcome so many top students and defeat them one by one to obtain the immortal sect's cultivation technique filled Zhang Yu with worry, tension, and excitement.

Just then, he also saw Bai Zhenzhen's ranking of 7th in sword fighting.

"Ah Zhen did well this time too, getting such a ranking while only a senior..."

Zhang Yu sent a congratulatory message to Bai Zhenzhen.

After thinking for a moment, he sent another congratulatory message to Ye Xingli.

Ye Xingli: Thank you! I was lucky this time, I'll keep trying.
Looking at Ye Xingli's reply, Zhang Yu thought to himself, "Sigh, Senior Sister used to always mention money transfers when she talked, why hasn't she transferred any spirit coins lately?"

Zhang Yu even had a strange feeling that talking to Ye Xingli lately felt like talking to people in the Songyang hometown group.

Just then, Bai Zhenzhen's invitation appeared.

With Zhang Yu's consent, his thoughts traversed countless spirit realms and arrived at a room.

This was the secret room that the Seven Emotions God Lord opened for him and Bai Zhenzhen in the spirit world, and it was also the place where he and Bai Zhenzhen met every day for a period of time.

The moment they met, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen embraced tightly.

Feeling Zhang Yu hug her tightly, Bai Zhenzhen said softly, "Yu Zi, I'm sorry I haven't replied to your messages. It's all because Mom won't let me contact you."

Feeling Bai Zhenzhen quietly leaning against his chest, Zhang Yu smiled and said, "It's good that you're alright."

Bai Zhenzhen asked, "And you? Did you encounter any cultists?"

The two embraced and shared their experiences over the past period.

Of course, in the room that Qi Qing had booked for them, Zhang Yu could not recount his true experience of fighting to the death against the Golden Core cultivator of the Demonic Sect. He simply repeated the story he had already told the True God.

When the topic of the top ten leagues came up, Bai Zhenzhen also mentioned the news that the top ten leagues would be restructured next year.

Hearing Bai Zhenzhen's news, Zhang Yu was shocked and said, "So, starting next year, the results of the Top Ten Leagues will determine the distribution of more benefits among the top ten universities, and the competition will become even more intense?"

"There's also the option to choose your own cultivation technique from the Daoist Canon," Bai Zhenzhen said solemnly. "The reward of being able to choose your own cultivation technique from the Daoist Canon is incredibly attractive."

"Moreover, it's hard to say whether there will be such a good thing in the next top ten leagues. It is very likely that this is the only time we will have this opportunity."

Whenever she thinks of this, Bai Zhenzhen can't help but sigh: "The Daoist Canon Catalogue was created by the Ten Great Sects to record all kinds of immortal cultivation information in the world in order to create a new immortal cultivation system. It is said that it contains all the cultivation methods in the world."

"Even if we take that statement lightly, and not all cultivation techniques are recorded, or the ten major sects might impose some restrictions on the selection, there are still far too many cultivation techniques to choose from, and they are all at the immortal sect level..."

"If expert-level techniques are just powerful techniques in a conventional way, and military-level techniques are starting to be unreasonable, then immortal-level techniques can change the landscape and can deliver a dimensional blow to techniques below the immortal level. They belong to a completely different level of techniques."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yu nodded repeatedly, a sense of longing rising in his heart.

But when Bai Zhenzhen said this, her voice lowered again: "Unfortunately, next year... there's too little time."

Zhang Yu asked, "Will the competition format be changed?"

Bai Zhenzhen nodded: "The specific details haven't been released yet, but according to rumors, all military competitions will be combined into one event."

"One project?" Zhang Yu was shocked: "Wouldn't that mean... students from all sorts of projects, like magic battles, treasure battles, luck battles, and sword battles, would all have to compete in the same arena?"

Bai Zhenzhen nodded, then sighed softly, "What a pity. If it had been two or three years later, we could have had a chance to compete."

"Next year..."

Thinking of the top three students who made it to the top of the sword competition, as well as the other geniuses from different tracks, Bai Zhenzhen sighed again.

Given her current abilities, she was already at a disadvantage compared to these senior students.

However, Bai Zhenzhen was confident that as long as she had more time, she would definitely be able to catch up with these senior students in the future.

However, a year is still too short, especially with the conflict between the top ten universities this time, and the bait of choosing immortal cultivation techniques next year. These senior students will definitely receive the full support of the school and various forms of assistance from the Nascent Soul Divine Lord.

This makes it even more difficult to catch up with these upperclassmen within a year. Zhang Yu nodded slightly upon hearing this, but a fighting spirit ignited within him.

He looked at Bai Zhenzhen and said, "No matter what, it would be a shame to give up such an opportunity."

"In the coming year, we will do our best to compete."

Sensing the seriousness in Zhang Yu's eyes, Bai Zhenzhen nodded in agreement.

Just then, the voice of the Seven Emotions God Lord rang out from all around: "In this year's top ten leagues, a total of 11 students died in all the military competitions. Any one of them was stronger than you."

"And next year's top ten leagues will only be more intense and more brutal."

"At the same time, the level of the next batch of participants will be even stronger, and it is very likely that it will be the strongest batch of students in terms of average strength since the establishment of the Top Ten League."

"Zhang Yu, if you participate rashly, you might die."

"And your death may trigger a backlash from Zhenzhen's Extreme Emotion Sword Dao."

Zhang Yu was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, then looked at Bai Zhenzhen and said to her, "Zhenzhen, don't worry, I won't die. Neither you nor any of the top students from other schools can kill me."

Bai Zhenzhen nodded slightly, but thought to herself, "If Yu Zi is really in danger during next year's competition, even if I am disqualified, I will intervene in the competition to protect him."

The two then had another conversation, and before leaving, Bai Zhenzhen reminded Zhang Yu, "Yu Zi, try to take on fewer off-campus projects in the future."

"After this economic crisis, the power of the demonic cult has greatly increased. In particular, as you know, these demonic cults have mastered the technology to hijack the spirit world, and they will definitely take more actions."

"And there are serious conflicts between the schools, so there will likely be a lot of open and covert struggles in the coming year surrounding the top ten leagues."

"The wilderness will definitely become more dangerous..."

……

After ending his contact with Bai Zhenzhen, Zhang Yu focused even more on his studies and cultivation.

After all, there is less than a year until the next Top Ten League. Even with his unparalleled talent, the time is very tight, and he must make the most of every minute and second.

Several days later, just as he had originally predicted, Zhang Yu finally advanced the production skills of more than ten magical treasures to level 20 through simulated cultivation within the Taiqing territory.

The various refining techniques contained in these magical artifacts cover the refining techniques needed to create the prototype of the Heavenly Sun Divine Machine.

At this point, Zhang Yu could finally begin the formal forging of the prototype machine.

As for this process... Zhang Yu no longer intended to immerse himself in the Taiqing Realm for simulated practice.

"The forging of the prototype of the Heavenly Sun Divine Machine must be done step by step, and every process of forging, upgrading and improving it must be fully recorded."

"This way, it will be easier for me to get approved."

If the production technology of the prototype Heavenly Sun Divine Machine were directly advanced to level 20 within the Taiqing territory, and then it were to achieve remarkable success in reality by refining this magical artifact to level 20 on the first attempt...

"It is indeed amazing, but if reality leaves no trace, it will probably be considered a fabrication, which will cause me a lot of trouble."

"Even if, after many twists and turns, it is proven that I did not fabricate anything, it will probably arouse unnecessary interest among many people who will wonder why I was able to reach level 20 on my first attempt at crafting a prototype machine."

Zhang Yu thought to himself that this prototype of the Heavenly Sun God... was not a good fit for the Dharma body of the Jade Nectar God.

"So that everyone can witness and understand that I used absolute talent to improve the prototype step by step."

Zhang Yu made up his mind to first refine it into a level 1 Heavenly Sun God.

Then, through repeated refining and improvement in the laboratory, the Heavenly Sun God was upgraded to level 20.

During the repeated refining process, one can also use the Feather Book to improve their mastery of design blueprints to level 20.

However, before starting the refining process, Zhang Yu did some calculations.

Due to the disruption caused by the economic crisis, Zhang Yu's income has plummeted recently. Apart from the 40 spirit coins subsidy from the laboratory, he has almost no other income. Instead, he used his own savings to pay the salaries of the company's employees.

Fortunately, Zhang Yu completed his cultivation during this period entirely through simulations in the Taiqing Realm, without spending a single penny of his own money, unlike the previous cultivation of weapon-refining techniques which consumed a great deal of resources.

Even so, he only had less than 120 spirit coins in his bank account at the moment, which was obviously not enough to complete the refining of the prototype machine.

Zhang Yu thought to himself, "The crafting of the prototype machine will require at least 300 spirit coins. Considering the risk of overspending, as well as the costs of repeated modifications and crafting, it would be safer to use at least 400 spirit coins, or even 500 spirit coins."

"Of course, that applies to others. For someone like me who is a prodigy in weapon crafting, it might save me a lot of spirit coins."

"But overall... I definitely don't have enough spirit coins right now."

"We need to make money."

Although the total number of spirit coins was significantly lower, Zhang Yu remained confident.

On one hand, there are 120 spirit coins, which is enough for him to start working and make money while refining weapons.

On the other hand, it's because... with the end of the economic crisis, there are now plenty of opportunities to make money in the university town.

(End of this chapter)