When he heard Yu Xinghan’s question, Zhang Yu’s face darkened. “Can’t be bothered to tap it.”

Yu Xinghan urged, “Why not? You can get sigil coupons just by watching ads. You’ll need them too.”

Zhang Yu blinked. “Sigil coupons?”

Yu Xinghan nodded. “You know how expensive sigils are. If you watch a few ads every day and rack up some coupons, that’s also part of sigil cultivation. It’ll boost your sigil mastery.”

Zhang Yu sat down beside him, unable to resist asking, “Aren’t you Xinghuo Zhenren’s disciple? You still care about money?”

Yu Xinghan shook his head slowly, like a veteran giving advice. “Kunxu’s full of rich people, but the scarcest thing is money.”

“Money is cultivation. Money is potential. Money is the future. No one has enough money.”

“Even someone like me has to learn how to save.”

“Every yuan saved strengthens my foundation, my future potential.”

“If you want to walk the Immortal Path for the long haul, you have to learn how to earn, how to spend, and how to save.”

He turned to Zhang Yu and said seriously, “Otherwise, what happens when you stumble upon a crucial technique, or a Spirit Root, or a Law Husk—but you’re just short that little bit of money to afford it?”

“Money is potential. And when you run out of potential and can’t take another step…”

“You’ll regret not having saved more earlier.”

“Every bit of money saved now buys you more steps down the road.”

Zhang Yu nodded slightly. What the other guy said… actually made sense. He picked up his phone and tapped the link Yu Xinghan had sent.

After a few minutes’ rest, the two clashed again.

Two hours flew by.

But everyone walked away with something.

Song Hailong felt his martial arts experience had improved.

Yu Xinghan picked up several force-manipulation techniques from watching Zhang Yu, boosting his physical control.

Bai Zhenzhen not only gained combat experience, but also collected 20,000 yuan in tutoring fees.

As for Zhang Yu—he got 22,000 yuan in tutoring fees and a shot at learning Dragon Elephant Might and racking up a 200,000-yuan debt.

But when Yu Xinghan transferred the money moments later, Zhang Yu froze slightly upon seeing 30,000 hit his account.

Yu Xinghan smiled. “Oops, sent too much.”

“Could you transfer 8,000 back to my other account?”

Zhang Yu felt something was off but still sent the 8,000 over.

…

Time passed with Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen buried in their daily grind of school, cultivation, tutoring, and sparring.

It was now late April.

That afternoon on the rooftop—

A pitch-black shadow hovered in the sunlit air.

Even under the blinding sunlight, the darkness refused to fade.

Zhang Yu was in the middle of cultivating the Great Sun Qi Sea.

With the roar of Great Sun mana surging through him, this Expert-Grade Breathing Technique, which could only be trained in mid-stage Qi Refinement, was finally pushed to Level 10.

At Level 10, the Great Sun Qi Sea transformed Zhang Yu’s shadow into something almost bottomless, as if devouring all surrounding light.

As the radiant light poured into him, the Great Sun Qi Sea churned like magma. That blazing mana rampaged through his body, absorbing every speck of light essence and refining it into a strand of mana within his dantian.

Zhang Yu knew that by reaching Level 10 in the Great Sun Qi Sea, he had entered another phase of rapid mana growth.

Beyond that, he could feel his body growing more energetic, more agile under the sunlight.

It was as if every cell in his body was cheering, each fiber of flesh accelerating his development.

This was the hallmark of a Level 10 Great Sun Qi Sea: light-activated metabolism acceleration, enhancing body-refining efficiency.

The downside? The longer your metabolism stayed supercharged, the shorter your lifespan.

“Damn it… this Great Sun Qi Sea not only takes forever to level up—it even shortens your life.”

Zhang Yu shook his head. He cursed under his breath but didn’t stop cultivating.

In a pit-trap-ridden place like Kunxu, the flaws of the Great Sun Qi Sea were pretty mild by comparison.

Besides, he could always switch to another breathing technique later. Even if he ran this one for a year, he’d only lose a few weeks of lifespan.

A small price to pay for faster gains.

“The Great Sun Qi Sea paired with the Sacrificial Oxheart Technique—it steadily boosts my mana, Dao Heart, and body-refining efficiency.”

Zhang Yu thought to himself, “Fu Ji really does know how to pick techniques.”

And now that his Great Sun Qi Sea had reached Level 10, his mana surged to 46.8.

Still far from his goal of 70 for High School Senior Tier 1.

Just then, a loud whooshing sound erupted nearby.

Zhang Yu turned his head and saw sword aura swirling violently around Bai Zhenzhen, like invisible blades slicing the air.

Just a few days ago, she had also pushed her Piercing Sword Aura to Level 10. Now, not just her fingers—her entire body could launch sword aura attacks. It was like wearing an invisible suit of blade-armor, offense and defense in one.

With Fu Ji’s guidance, Zhang Yu had Bai Zhenzhen use her prize money to buy a sword technique called the Formless Sword Technique.

It specialized in concealing sword aura, killing intent, even sound—perfect for assassinations. Bai Zhenzhen was using it now in tandem with Piercing Sword Aura.

“That sword technique really suits Ah-Zhen and her martial path.”

Zhang Yu could feel it. Though Bai Zhenzhen hadn’t said anything, she had been training harder than ever these past few days—cycling through mana, Dao Heart, body strength, and every martial art she knew.

Though she still laughed and trained with him like always, ever since that talk with Zhang Pianpian, something had changed inside her.

Bai Zhenzhen was desperate.

“To pass the Foundation Establishment exam in four months… I need Senior Tier 1 stats. Dao Heart Level 6, Mana 70, Body Strength 7.5+... Only then will I have a shot.”

The pressure of that exam loomed like a beast chasing her.

She vowed silently, “I have to become stronger!”

“Strong enough to pass the Foundation Establishment exam.”

“Strong enough… that I’ll never again stand frozen and helpless while Ah-Yu struggles because of me!”

That pressure and desire—molded into an unstoppable drive—pushed her to chase power, better scores… and a place alongside Zhang Yu in the Ten Great Academies.

In her short life, she had never wanted anything this badly.

Even her Spirit Root seemed to stir in response, growing livelier and accelerating her progress.

Meanwhile, Zhang Yu had just bought the Sacrificial Oxheart Technique e-manual after pushing his Great Sun Qi Sea to Level 10. Another 30,000 gone.

Fortunately, he had earned decent money these past few days from tutoring and sparring. Unlike before, he didn’t need to buy Hunyuan Pills for Crimson Marrow Primordial Energy training yet.

He still had over 260,000 in savings.

As he stared at the balance on his phone, Fu Ji said, “260,000 sounds like a lot, but once you start training Crimson Marrow Primordial Energy to boost body strength, you’ll burn through it fast.”

“You’ll need Hunyuan Pills—30,000 each, one every three days. That’s 300,000 a month.”

“And if you want to pass the Foundation Establishment exam, you can’t rely on passive training alone for your Dao Heart and mana.”

“You’ll need to rent spiritual veins to boost mana, and use the spiritual realm to train your Dao Heart. Each of those can cost 100,000 or more a month.”

A spiritual vein was a place rich in spiritual essence.

In ancient times, they were called blessed lands.

Nowadays, they were ecosystem-protected zones—entry tickets were pricey, and accommodations even worse. But the mana gains far outstripped what you’d get in a city.

Fu Ji continued, “And since you’re taking the sports track in the Foundation Establishment exam, your body strength needs to shine. Besides Hunyuan Pills, you’ll need other body-refining medicines too…”

As Fu Ji rattled off the expenses, Zhang Yu smiled bitterly. She wasn’t wrong—there were still countless things he had to throw money at.

And it wasn’t just him. If Bai Zhenzhen wanted to keep up, she’d have to spend alongside him.

Watching Zhang Yu fall silent, Fu Ji thought to herself: “Sooner or later, he’ll cave and ask to go hunt Evil Gods.”

Zhang Yu mused, no matter what method he used to get stronger in Kunxu, it always came back to money.

“Once I master the Sacrificial Oxheart Technique, I’ll need even more to grow my Dao Heart, mana, and body strength.”

Suddenly, he remembered something from his friend circle—about renting a place.

He thought, “I know a lot of rich people now… Maybe I can use their connections to get discounts on spiritual veins, spiritual realms, Hunyuan Pills…”

Just then, Bai Zhenzhen called out, “Ah-Yu, aren’t you going to Purple Cloud today? Don’t forget my stuff.”

Today, Zhang Yu was headed to Purple Cloud not just to be Le Mulan’s sparring partner, but also to sign the lease on a place she’d mentioned.

As he walked off, Bai Zhenzhen reminded him, “Don’t forget to collect Le Mulan’s solution.”

Zhang Yu rolled his eyes. No way was he stooping to collecting a rich girl’s sweat.

Bai Zhenzhen repeated, “Did you hear me? I know we made some money, but we’ve got bigger bills coming. Every bit we can save matters.”

She shoved a big water bottle into his hands. “Here, take this. Use it to collect the solution.”

Zhang Yu reluctantly took the bottle, a faint look of humiliation on his face.

“Damn it… being broke… really sucks.”