Chapter 496

Early March.

Heavenly Demon University.

Xiangshan of the Civil Engineering Department was walking through the breeding grounds of the Reproduction Department. His massive figure was like a small mountain; each step caused the ground to shake and the surrounding younglings to scatter in a panic. However, upon seeing the Reproduction Department's top student, Xiangshan curled his trunk, slightly reining in his powerful aura.

The top student from the Reproduction Department who appeared before him was a pig demon, over 8 meters tall, with a body resembling a mountain of flesh. A string of Buddhist beads hung around the pig demon's neck. His entire body pulsed with immense vital energy, and beneath his skin, countless demonic faces seemed to struggle, emitting mournful wails. The pig demon opened its mouth and spat out a large number of fresh, mucus-covered younglings, which landed in the breeding ground and began to struggle to feed. Xiangshan knew this pig demon was named Zhumienseng. He was not only a prodigy in the Reproduction Department at Heavenly Demon University but also a participant in several previous Top Ten Leagues and a master of three military-grade powers.

Zhumienseng exhaled a few times, then slowly said, "Xiangshan, why are you here looking for me instead of preparing for the competition?" If it were an ordinary civil engineering student or even a top student, Zhumienseng might not have bothered with them. But Xiangshan was no ordinary civil engineering academic ace; he was a rare prodigy who had mastered two military-grade powers and was even qualified to participate in the Top Ten Leagues. For instance, in this civil engineering final, Zhumienseng knew that if Xiangshan could defeat Zhang Yu and Mo Shangjin, two practitioners of military-grade cultivation techniques, on his own, he would be exceptionally allowed to join the university team as a civil engineering student. To countless demon descendants at Heavenly Demon University, this was an unprecedented, epoch-making event that broke through professional and ethnic limitations. However, Zhumienseng knew that this was an ethnic reform that some high-ranking demons wanted to promote, aiming to change Heavenly Demon University's tradition of assigning specific majors to specific demon races, thereby further unleashing students' potential. Zhumienseng paid little attention to this, or perhaps his mind was solely focused on the Top Ten Leagues a few months away. If Xiangshan could prove his strength was enough to be his comrade, he wouldn't mind him joining the university team.

Xiangshan calmly said, "I'd like to borrow a Dharma Cadaver from you."

Zhumienseng's pig snout twitched. He said, "You want to defeat Myriad Dharma University's students and, at the same time, breed their bloodline offspring on the spot?"

Xiangshan said, "I know our university has been secretly operating human breeding grounds, breeding a batch of humans for production and research, just like we breed demons."

"The Reproduction Department must have extensive experience in this by now, right?"

Zhumienseng pursed his lips and said, "I can lend you my bionic Dharma Cadaver, but Immortal Lord Qiongjiang's techniques are said to involve multiple immortal cultivation technologies, including Dharma Cadavers, bloodlines, reproduction, and cultivation methods."

"It's hard to say how much useful information you can get just from Zhang Yu."

Xiangshan smiled faintly and said, "At least many people want to buy materials. After breeding his younglings, they can be immediately processed into 'living stakes,' which neither violates human breeding laws nor prevents us from recycling materials for profit."

"Besides..." Xiangshan's trunk coiled back, and his tusks surged from his mouth. "If I don't thoroughly suppress these two, how will the various demon clans know my power? How will they willingly see me break tradition and enter the university team?"

Carrying Zhumienseng's bionic Dharma Cadaver, Xiangshan left the breeding ground. His gaze suddenly sharpened as he had already received further news about the final competition scheduled for a few days later. Aside from various arrangements, his attention was drawn to the champion's prize.

"A design blueprint for military-grade armor. This armor is... the Azure Water Golden Crystal Armor?"

At the simulated construction site in Myriad Dharma University City.

Under the control of invisible Earth Fiend gravity, a large expanse of mud and sand was tightly bound in mid-air. At the same time, the three Golden Thread Jade Discs behind Zhang Yu shimmered like three suns. After each flashed once, the two Golden Thread Jade Discs on the left and right simultaneously shot out rays of crimson light, channeling them into the central Golden Thread Jade Disc. Immediately, the crimson light from the central Golden Thread Jade Disc surged, emitting an arm-thick Flaming Sun Ray that fiercely struck the mud and sand in front. In an instant, the mud and sand rapidly crystallized under the high temperature, transforming into a state resembling glazed tiles.

Next, Zhang Yu experimented with injecting Deep Frost Dharma power into the Golden Thread Jade Disc, releasing Deep Frost Rays to cool it down. Then he tested the effect of the Level 2 Deep Frost Dharma Meridian, attempting to transfer the heat from his body outwards. Watching the three Golden Thread Jade Discs flash in sequence, and the subsequent Deep Frost Rays continuously heat the mud and sand in front, Zhang Yu thought, "Indeed, I can remotely transfer the heat from my body by coordinating the Deep Frost Dharma Meridian with the Golden Thread Jade Discs."

"If that's the case, in battle, as long as I continuously operate the Deep Frost Dharma Meridian and the Golden Thread Jade Discs, I can continuously cool myself down while constantly heating up my opponent." Zhang Yu thought that this was equivalent to continuously applying buffs to himself while constantly applying debuffs to the opponent. With one increasing and the other decreasing, the gap in combat power between the two sides would gradually widen.

In addition to increasing the number of Golden Thread Jade Discs to three, Zhang Yu also began cultivating the third technique of the 'Chain Dharma Diagram Set Artifact Refining Genius.' The technique, named 'Divine Fire Control Mirror,' requires acquiring various fire seeds to condense a true fire-controlling qi. This allows him to manipulate different types of true fires, improving the efficiency and quality of material refining during artifact crafting. With this, plus other magical artifact maintenance and artifact refining cultivation, Zhang Yu's savings quickly dropped to less than 10 spirit coins. Fortunately, he usually let his employees use the three Golden Thread Jade Discs for work, increasing his daily passive income by about 0.03 to 0.04 spirit coins.

"Good thing the more magical artifacts I have, the more production resources I possess, and the higher my passive income. Otherwise, a multi-artifact combat strategy truly isn't something a poor person like me could afford." Of course, Zhang Yu updated his Golden Thread Jade Discs not merely for earning money, but for tactical coordination in the finals. "In my Mountain Shifting Warrior state, operating the Nine Heavens Cloud Void Force, I can unleash the dual Heavenly Kunlun Mountain Shifting Divine Power... Although its might is unparalleled, it's not sustainable."

"It's fine if I face opponents with lower raw power, but against opponents superior to me in raw power, fighting this way would put me at a disadvantage."

At this moment, Mo Shangjin's words to him surfaced in Zhang Yu's mind. It was a reminder from Mo Shangjin when he took Zhang Yu to train together, shortly after being discharged from the hospital after recovering from his injuries.

"Zhang Yu, while the might of the Heavenly Kunlun Mountain Shifting Divine Power is formidable, it primarily manifests in altering the environment."

"It can be said that the larger the area of effect, the greater the power the Heavenly Kunlun Mountain Shifting Divine Power can unleash."

"Conversely, the smaller the area of effect, the harder it is for the Earth Fiend gravity to exert its full potential."

"Therefore, against individual targets, if your power isn't sufficient to suppress them, then the Heavenly Kunlun Mountain Shifting Divine Power can be used as the best crowd control ability." Mo Shangjin sighed, "Xiangshan, our opponent in the next match, is exactly like that. To deal with him... we both must use the Heavenly Kunlun Mountain Shifting Divine Power together to control and restrict him, slowly wearing him down."

Zhang Yu was somewhat surprised, "Xiangshan is that formidable? We two combined still can't defeat him head-on?"

Mo Shangjin nodded, "Besides his Civil Engineering Department's military-grade cultivation technique, the 'Sumeru Mountain King Scripture,' Xiangshan likely also possesses a military-grade Dharma Cadaver this year."

Zhang Yu: "A military-grade Dharma Cadaver?"

Mo Shangjin sighed, "It's said that shortly after he passed his military certification exam, he won a design blueprint for a military-grade Dharma Cadaver in a lottery."

Zhang Yu couldn't help but curse, "A lottery? Winning a design blueprint for a military-grade Dharma Cadaver? Damn it... they're completely shameless with this back door."

Mo Shangjin quietly said, "Ever since he acquired that blueprint, Xiangshan has been continuously earning money to hire people to refine this Dharma Cadaver for him."

"When I fought him last year, this Dharma Cadaver wasn't completely finished, yet it was enough to suppress me head-on."

"He's been desperately earning money everywhere this past year, so he's probably nearly finished with this military-grade Dharma Cadaver." After saying this, Mo Shangjin proceeded to inform Zhang Yu about Xiangshan's combat characteristics, the various manifestations of his cultivation techniques and Dharma Cadaver, and also sent him last year's match recording, so Zhang Yu could thoroughly understand all the information about Xiangshan. The more Zhang Yu understood Xiangshan's strength, the more he realized why Mo Shangjin, despite his formidable power, had lost to him last year.

"Two military-grade powers? That's practically cheating in the Civil Engineering Department."

"However, this year, with both Mo Shangjin and me fighting him, our chances of winning are not small."

Just as Zhang Yu was muttering to himself, further news about the finals arrived. Zhang Yu's gaze swept over the arrangements for time, location, and personnel, finally settling on the military-grade armor design blueprint listed as a prize. Initially, Zhang Yu wasn't particularly concerned about this, as although he had embarked on the path of artifact refining, he was currently focused on refining magical artifacts and wasn't knowledgeable about armor.

"Azure Water Golden Crystal Armor?"

But as he clicked on the military-grade armor design blueprint and read the armor's description, a line of small text appeared before his eyes.

"Great Sage's Inheritor?"

Zhang Yu was slightly stunned. He then re-read the line, exited the armor description page, and re-entered it several times.

"Is it really the Great Sage's Inheritor?"

"Why would a design blueprint for military-grade armor... link to a Chain Dharma Diagram Set?"

Zhang Yu knew that Chain Dharma Diagram sets were formed by combining cultivation techniques. For example, the Great Sage's Inheritor set included the 'Wild Ox Soul-Suppressing Heart Art,' 'Crippled Ox Self-Sacrificing Heart Art,' and 'Immeasurable Heart Inner Dharma Body' — these three mind arts.

"Could it be that the design blueprint for the Azure Water Golden Crystal Armor... also includes a set of cultivation techniques?" Zhang Yu wasn't sure, but a slight anticipation stirred in his heart. After all, for a long time, he had only managed to collect the 'Wild Ox Soul-Suppressing Heart Art' and 'Crippled Ox Self-Sacrificing Heart Art' for the Great Sage's Inheritor Chain Dharma Diagram set. The later 'Immeasurable Heart Inner Dharma Body' was a forbidden technique found deep within the Spirit Realm. As for what other cultivation techniques composed the Great Sage's Inheritor set, Zhang Yu had absolutely no clues. He had always suspected that the related cultivation techniques were either lost or, like the 'Immeasurable Heart Inner Dharma Body,' were forbidden techniques not listed in the Daoist canon catalogs of the Ten Great Sects.

Zhang Yu secretly thought, "The design blueprint for the Azure Water Golden Crystal Armor also originated from a higher source. It's likely something that even the university didn't possess until this civil engineering final... when it finally reappeared in the world."