Under Fu Ji's guidance, Zhang Yu placed a half-burned candle in the center of a stool, with a phone behind it and a flashlight switched on to either side. He then picked up so electrical wire and used it to create a circle around the stool.
Once the ritual was set up, Zhang Yu still looked skeptical. "Are you sure this ritual is reliable?"
Fu Ji snorted. "On the First Floor of Kunxu, nobody knows more about rituals than I do. What could possibly go wrong?"
"If anything does go wrong, it’ll be because the ritual materials you prepared were junk."
"Enough talk. Just follow my instructions and activate the ritual!"
As Fu Ji gave directions, Zhang Yu circled the wire ring while her mysterious chant echoed in his ears.
Monts later, as the half-burned candle on the altar turned to ash, a faint thread of divine power shimred above the ritual setup.
Fu Ji shouted in a low voice, "Bug in the shadow, co forth! Divine power of Heaven and Earth, by law and decree, manifest!"
The thin trace of divine power suddenly took on a sinister aura, montarily brought under Fu Ji’s control.
Zhang Yu, listening to her voice, sensed she sounded drained.
Clearly, just like she'd said before, this weakened Evil God was in dire straits—even completing this ritual left her trembling.
In the next instant, the divine power burrowed into Zhang Yu’s shadow.
A raspy shriek erupted from within.
Then, a tiny black insect crawled out, writhing.
Fu Ji’s controlled divine power clashed with the insect for a long while before she finally growled, “Hmph, disperse!”
The black insect spasd violently, then slowly disintegrated.
From its ruptured body burst dense black script, curling into thick smoke that hung in front of Zhang Yu’s face.
Zhang Yu asked, “What is that?”
“That’s a Shadow Parasite,” Fu Ji replied wearily. “A Shadow Parasite is essentially a tool forged from Evil God power.”
She took a deep breath, inhaling the smoke of runes, absorbing every last character.
Fu Ji went on, “Whoever performs the ritual uses the Shadow Parasite to collect or transmit intel.”
“To do that, they embed commands inside the Shadow Parasite.”
“Those commands detail not just how to gather information, but how to send it out.”
“Analyze them carefully, and you can find out who’s spying on you.”
After a while, Fu Ji smiled faintly. “I’ve almost finished analyzing it. I know how the intel was transmitted.”
“The next ti you enter the Spiritual Realm, I’ll disguise myself as the Shadow Parasite and send so fake intel back. Maybe even figure out who’s behind all this.”
Another thing that pleased her was that by absorbing the Evil God power from the Shadow Parasite, she’d regained a sliver of strength.
Fu Ji thought to herself, “Now when I tag along with Zhang Yu for the exam next ti, I’ll be a lot safer.”
Zhang Yu asked, “Do you Evil Gods have any unspoken rules? Like, what do you do when you discover each other? Just fight to the death? Or is there room to talk?”
Fu Ji replied, “We Evil Gods are actually quite reasonable.”
“If we et soone weaker—we eat them.”
“If they’re stronger—we run.”
“If we’re evenly matched—find their address and send them takeout. As a warning.”
Zhang Yu twitched his mouth. “Very reasonable, indeed.”
He continued, “Next ti I enter the Spiritual Realm, don’t alert the other side right away. Just feed them false info while you figure out their strength, location, and manpower…”
Fu Ji replied, “Do I need you to tell that? Once you’re strong enough and the ti is right, we’ll swallow my little colleague whole.”
…
In a basent sowhere.
Song Xu slowly removed his Spiritual Realm Mask and muttered to himself, “The Shadow Parasite has been successfully planted.”
“Now I just have to wait for Zhang Yu and the others to log into the Spiritual Realm again.”
“Then I’ll learn what secrets he’s hiding.”
“If I can unlock those secrets, seize the Evil God behind him, and trigger another power breakthrough…”
A glimr of ambition flickered in Song Xu’s eyes. “Then my chances of getting into one of the Ten Great Academies will be over ninety percent.”
…
Early August.
During the following days, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen threw themselves into intense training, preparing for the first round of the Foundation Establishnt exam in mid-August.
One day, the two of them appeared together in a livestream studio to promote a new body-refinent surgery from Xianyun Group as brand ambassadors.
The livestream host clapped two slabs of muscle in front of the cara.
“Two pecs!”
Then tossed up more chunks of flesh.
“Add eight abs!”
“Throw in obliques, trapezius, latissimus dorsi…”
As the pile of synthetic demon tendon muscle stacked into a little mountain, the host shouted, “All of this muscle augntation—how much in the livestream today?”
“Only 299,000!”
“This is Xianyun Group’s latest Immortal Dao technology—no hospitalization required. Let say that again: no hospitalization required!”
“Just visit a clinic, have your muscle tissue removed, send it to us, we’ll culture it and ship it back. You install it, and boom—you’ve got the potential of a competitive athlete!”
“And we guarantee it—tenfold refund if even one muscle isn’t synthetic demon tendon muscle.”
“If a single piece is fake, we’ll send you ten more!”
On the way out of the studio, Zhang Yu turned to Yu Xinghan in curiosity. “That synthetic muscle today felt… off sohow?”
Yu Xinghan replied, “Seed different, right? No kidding. It’s under 300,000—of course it’s not the original tech. Just a degraded knockoff. It’s for people who can’t afford the real deal to get a little taste. Not everyone can have the best.”
Zhang Yu opened his mouth, thought of the 200,000 endorsent fee now sitting in his account, rembered his title as brand ambassador, and ultimately said nothing.
…
Back at the apartnt.
Zhang Yu was mopping up sweat from the floor.
This was Le Mulan’s rule—under no circumstances could her sweat be leaked. So after every training session, this was his job.
Le Mulan looked at him calmly. “Last month’s electricity bill was 80,000.”
“What exactly are you doing in this room? Growing herbs?”
Zhang Yu blinked and deflected, “So of the training equipnt just uses a lot of power.”
“Don’t worry. Soon, the electric bill will drop.”
He felt the turbulent Mana within him—thanks to spiritual veins and dicine, his growth was explosive, pushing toward 90 units of Mana.
Zhang Yu thought, “It won’t be long before I can stop using all that light-based breathing.”
Suddenly, a sharp pain pierced his chest.
Le Mulan frowned. “Side effects from the ds?”
“From what I’ve observed, without Super-tabolism, your drug use over the past two months has been excessive.”
“I suggest you stop for a while.”
“There’s no need to push so hard.”
She was thinking: you’re not aiming for competitions or the Ten Great Academies—why go to such extres?
Zhang Yu nodded slowly. “Don’t worry. I know my own limits. This isn’t even close to the edge.”
But in his heart, he muttered, “My body’s fine. It’s my wallet that’s at the limit. In a few days… even if I want the pills, I won’t be able to afford them.”
…
Mid-August.
The day before the first round of the Foundation Establishnt exam.
On the train to Xiandu City.
Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were quietly breathing, storing Mana, stamina, and ntal energy.
After two weeks of intense effort, Zhang Yu’s strength had once again leapt forward—Mana at 87.75, physical strength at 8.06.
His Dao Heart had finally broken through to level 6—6 (18%).
“Just half a month till September. I’ll officially be a second-year student.”
Zhang Yu thought, “But by then, at this level, I’ve already surpassed most early third-years from White Dragon High.”
Even though he’d hit his original goals, there was no joy on Zhang Yu’s face. He knew that ordinary White Dragon students were no longer his benchmark. His eyes were on the elite students of Xiandu.
And while his strength had surged, his finances had plumted—only 50,000 left.
Clearly, to pass the upcoming Foundation Establishnt exam, he’d abandoned all thoughts of saving or earning money.
After all, if he didn’t pass the exam, what good would a little spare cash do?
“But pass or fail, after this test, I’ve got to find a way to make more money.”
As the train roared ahead, the sky city of Xiandu ca into view once more.
Getting off the train and looking up at the darkened sky, Bai Zhenzhen asked, “Yuzi, how much do you have left in your account?”
“50,000.”
“I’ve got 40,000,” Bai Zhenzhen nodded. “You know what that ans?”
Zhang Yu blinked. “What?”
“It ans we’re so broke, we can’t even make next month’s loan paynts.”
“And after all the drugs we’ve taken lately, the side effects are showing too.”
“Our health and finances are both under massive stress. The risks are at an all-ti high.”
Zhang Yu nodded slightly. Under the pressure of loans, exams, low balances, and dicine side effects, as the Sacrificial Oxheart Technique surged within him, he felt his blood race and his body grow more and more exhilarated.
Bai Zhenzhen continued, “…But it also ans our Immortal Path potential has been fully awakened.” ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novel•fire
“Right now, we’re terrifyingly strong—completely different from two months ago.”
“We’re definitely passing this first round.”
With great risk ca great focus. As her Frost Abyss Technique surged through her, Bai Zhenzhen felt her muscles, nerves, and mind firing at full power.
The two of them each stepped into the n’s and won’s bathroom stalls.
As they opened their exam web pages and clicked “Enter,” a massive hole opened under their feet.
And just like that, they vanished.
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