Chapter 543: Beginning the Prototype Refinement

Mid-October.

Inside the dormitory.

Zhang Yu had just ended his cultivation and returned from the Supreme Purity Realm when he saw a congratulatory notice from Wanfa University.

Looking at the contents, he thought, “So the Top Ten League has ended?”

“This year’s tournament finished earlier than usual.”

“The Dao Techniques Department’s Dao Qiankun placed second in the Spell Duels. Jiutian Liu from the Finance Department took first in the Fortune Matches. As for our Artifact Refinement Department, Yan Qianji ranked second in the Artifact Duels, and Senior Sister Ye Xingli placed tenth…”

Zhang Yu mused, “Senior Sister Ye’s artifact design skills are formidable—strong enough to reach the top five across a hundred universities—but when it comes to the combat potential of her artifacts, she’s still a bit behind the best from other schools.”

That only made him admire her even more—and all the more determined to copy her Dao Seed someday.

He continued reading. “Yan Qianji is already a Nascent Soul disciple and the face of our Artifact Refinement Department, yet even he lost a match this time and didn’t get first?”

Glancing further down the rankings, Zhang Yu summarized, “This year’s champions for Spell Duels and Artifact Duels were taken by Heavenly Demon University and Netherworld University.”

“Heavenly Demon, Netherworld, and Wanfa… the top three of the Ten Great Academies, indeed.”

As he scanned the leaderboard, Zhang Yu couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. “The Top Ten League really is filled with monsters.”

To surpass all these geniuses and win an Immortal Sect Technique—he felt both nervous and thrilled at the thought.

Then his eyes caught another familiar name—Bai Zhenzhen, ranked seventh in the Sword Duels.

“Ah-Zhen did great this time. She’s only a senior and already reached that rank…”

Zhang Yu sent her a congratulatory message, then thought for a moment and sent another to Ye Xingli.

Ye Xingli replied: “Thanks! I got lucky this time. Still need to work harder.”

Reading her message, Zhang Yu sighed inwardly. “Huh, she used to send transfers whenever she texted me… why hasn’t she sent any spirit coins lately?”

He even had the odd feeling that chatting with Ye Xingli these days felt like talking with people from his Songyang hometown group.

Just then, a projection from Bai Zhenzhen appeared.

With Zhang Yu’s consent, his consciousness crossed layers of spiritual realms, arriving in a private room—the secret meeting space Seven Sentiments Lord had opened for the two of them. It was where they met almost daily before.

The moment they saw each other, Zhang Yu embraced Bai Zhenzhen tightly.

Feeling his arms around her, Bai Zhenzhen whispered softly, “Yuzi, I’m sorry I didn’t reply to your messages. Mom wouldn’t let me contact you.”

Holding her close, Zhang Yu smiled gently. “It’s fine. You’re safe, that’s all that matters.”

She asked, “What about you? Did you run into any Demon Sect members?”

They held each other, recounting their recent experiences.

Of course, in this room created by Seven Sentiments Lord, Zhang Yu couldn’t possibly talk about his real battle to the death with a Demon Sect Golden Core cultivator. He simply repeated the version he had already given the Righteous Gods.

When they spoke of the Top Ten League, Bai Zhenzhen also mentioned news about the tournament’s reformation next year.

Zhang Yu’s eyes widened. “So the results of next year’s League will determine even more of the academies’ resource distribution—and the competition will be fiercer?”

“And there’s also the ‘Choose Your Own Immortal Sect Technique’ reward,” Bai Zhenzhen said gravely. “That prize is too tempting.”

“It might even be the only year such an opportunity exists.”

She sighed in awe. “The Dao Canon Directory was compiled by the Ten Major Sects to rebuild the modern Immortal Dao system. It supposedly contains every cultivation technique in existence.”

“Even if that’s an exaggeration—even if they restrict the selection pool—it still means access to countless Immortal-Class Techniques…”

“If expert-grade techniques are considered powerful, and military-grade ones defy logic, then Immortal-Class Techniques reshape entire worlds. They utterly crush anything below their tier.”

Zhang Yu nodded repeatedly, his heart burning with yearning.

But then Bai Zhenzhen’s tone grew heavy. “It’s just a pity… time is too short.”

“Will the format change?” Zhang Yu asked.

She nodded. “Not finalized yet, but according to rumors, all combat-related events will merge into a single category.”

“A single category?” Zhang Yu was stunned. “You mean… students from Spell Duels, Artifact Duels, Fortune Matches, Sword Duels—all competing together?”

“Exactly.” She sighed. “If it were two or three years later, we might have had a shot.”

“Next year though…”

Thinking of this year’s top-ranked duelists and the other champions from each category, Bai Zhenzhen sighed again.

Even now, she knew her strength was still behind those senior prodigies. But given more time, she was confident she could catch up.

Unfortunately, a year was far too short. Especially with tensions rising among the academies and the self-selected Immortal Technique as bait, those senior students would surely receive every form of support from their schools and Nascent Soul mentors.

That would make the gap even harder to close.

Zhang Yu nodded slightly—but deep inside, his determination burned brighter.

“No matter what,” he said firmly, “it would be a waste not to try.”

“Let’s give it everything we’ve got this year.”

Seeing the seriousness in his eyes, Bai Zhenzhen nodded back.

Just then, the calm voice of Seven Sentiments Lord echoed around them. “In this year’s League, eleven students died across all combat divisions. Every one of them was stronger than you.”

“Next year’s League will be even bloodier.”

“The average strength of the contestants will likely be the highest in history.”

“Zhang Yu—if you rush in, you may die.”

“And your death could trigger a backlash from Bai Zhenzhen’s Extreme Sentiment Swordsmanship.”

Zhang Yu froze for a moment, then looked at Bai Zhenzhen and said, “Ah-Zhen, don’t worry. I won’t die. None of you can kill me—not you, not anyone else.”

She nodded softly, though her thoughts whispered otherwise: “If Yuzi is ever in danger next year, I’ll intervene—disqualification be damned.”

After a while longer of quiet conversation, Bai Zhenzhen finally warned him before leaving, “Yuzi, try to avoid outside projects this year.”

“With the recent financial storm, the Demon Sect’s influence has surged. They’ve even mastered hijacking the Spiritual Realm itself. There’ll be more attacks.”

“And with tensions among the universities rising, the year leading up to the League will be full of open and hidden strife.”

“The wilderness will only get more dangerous…”

…

After parting with Bai Zhenzhen, Zhang Yu focused entirely on his studies and cultivation.

There was less than a year before the next Top Ten League—a short time even for someone with his monstrous talent. Every second counted.

Days later, as he had planned, Zhang Yu succeeded in pushing his Artifact Production Skills for over ten different treasures to Level 20 through simulated training in the Supreme Purity Realm.

These included all the techniques needed to forge the Heaven-Sun Radiance Divine Prototype.

Finally, Zhang Yu could begin the prototype’s actual refinement.

But this time, he wouldn’t just bury himself in the simulation realm.

“The refinement of the Heaven-Sun Radiance Divine Prototype must be done step by step. Every improvement, every test, every upgrade—I’ll record them all.”

“That way, my review process will go smoothly.”

If he simply maxed out his refinement level in the simulation and then, in reality, produced a Level 20 artifact on his first try—

“It’d look impressive, sure—but with no traceable learning curve, they’d think I faked it. That would cause endless trouble.”

“Even if I proved my innocence later, it would only draw unwanted attention. Everyone would wonder how I managed such perfection on the first attempt.”

And this Heaven-Sun Radiance Prototype… could not easily be explained as something built on Divine Lord Nectar’s old Law Husk remains.

“So I’ll let everyone witness it for themselves—that I climbed to the top through pure talent.”

With his mind made up, Zhang Yu prepared to craft the first version of the Heaven-Sun Radiance Divine Prototype—Level 1.

He would then improve and reforge it repeatedly in the lab, gradually advancing it to Level 20.

At the same time, each refinement would help him fully master the design schematics through his Feathered Tome interface.

Before starting, however, Zhang Yu did some quick math.

Because of the financial crisis, his income had plummeted. Apart from the forty spirit coins from his lab stipend, he had almost no other earnings—and had even dipped into his savings to pay his company employees.

Thankfully, his cultivation over the past weeks had been done entirely in simulation, costing him nothing—unlike his earlier, resource-heavy refinements.

Even so, his account balance was now under 120 spirit coins—far from enough to fund the prototype.

“The refinement will cost at least 300 spirit coins,” he estimated. “To be safe—considering trial costs, material overages, and repeat testing—it might reach 400, even 500 spirit coins.”

“Of course, that’s for ordinary people. With my talent, I can save a lot.”

“But still… I’m short.”

“I need to make money.”

Yet despite the shortfall, Zhang Yu was confident.

For one, 120 coins were enough to start the first phase—he could earn more while refining.

And secondly… with the crisis ending, the university city was once again full of opportunities to make a profit.