Chapter 563: College Enlightenment

This was Bao Biao, a freshman in the Security Department of a vocational college.

As a student of a technical institute, Bao Biao carried himself with a confidence different from most of his peers when facing the camera crew.

During filming, he even insisted that the crew address him as a university student.

“Legally and by school regulations, we vocational students also count as university students.”

“Do you know that? We’re officially allowed to call ourselves university students—even the Heavenly Court recognizes it.”

“My dream? To work at a company with great benefits.”

“At the very least, it should have bottled water, a spiritual-network data subsidy, and 24-hour overtime with potion provisions—so I can stay awake for free.”

“I want a job where I can walk around freely, and if possible, one with access to toilets. That way, I can save on modification costs.”

“I know finding a job like that—one with clean water, a toilet, and sleepless shifts—isn’t easy. People say I’m asking too much… But hey, I’m a university student, not from a vocational high or trade school. We university students have to have some ambition, right?”

To land his dream job, Bao Biao trained diligently every day on campus. In his first year, he even signed up for the Foundation Establishment exam.

He didn’t pass, but his confidence remained unshaken.

When the director asked how he felt, Bao Biao replied that he simply hadn’t been prepared in his first year—he was sure he could earn his Foundation License within the next few.

But when the crew revisited a month later, the once bright-eyed vocational student had turned hollow and disheartened.

“I’ve been sleeping for seven days straight,” he muttered before the camera, voice filled with doubt.

He complained to the crew again and again, suspecting that the nearby pharmaceutical factory had polluted the school’s water supply, making students sleepier—so they’d need to buy more potions.

Yet when the topic turned to coursework, his enthusiasm returned.

“Last exam, I knocked out the tenant in three seconds, chased off the delivery guy in five, and could retreat unharmed from an armed robber in half a second.”

“The teacher said I was like someone with ten years of security experience.”

A month later, when the film crew returned to his dorm, his roommate told them Bao Biao was gone.

“Gone? What do you mean?”

“He ran into a senior from the Officer Academy, damaged her artifact, and got caught. They turned him into a living soul…”

Because of Bao Biao’s disappearance, the crew had no choice but to pause filming. They knew how fragile the lives of vocational students were—one clash with a university student, one corporate mishap, one school oversight, or even a market fluctuation could lead to their sudden demise.

The crew sighed and moved on to the next student.

…

Zhang Yu closed the file and glanced at the script title: A Hundred Ways for College Students to Die.

“This is supposed to be a documentary?”

Thinking about having to act out over a hundred ways to die as a college student, Zhang Yu couldn’t help but frown. “That’s… kinda masochistic.”

He shifted his gaze to the next simulation script.

This one even included short video clips.

The protagonist was a vocational student majoring in logistics management.

…

In high school, the family could only afford tutoring for one child.

Between his elder brother and A Ming, their father chose the brother.

Without tutoring, A Ming’s grades plummeted, landing him at the bottom of the social hierarchy—eating in the restroom, kneeling in class, having his homework stolen… enduring endless humiliation.

After the college entrance exams, A Ming took his vocational college admission letter and left home.

On the road, his father called out with a complicated look, “A Ming…”

“A Ming’s going to college! Your choice, Dad!”

“Do you have any idea what those three years were like for me?”

He didn’t look back. He just walked away, telling himself again and again that he would move up to a bachelor’s degree, that he’d find a better job than his brother, that he’d prove his father had chosen wrong.

On the way to school, A Ming remembered every face that changed upon learning he was a vocational student—the restricted gates he couldn’t pass through, the areas he wasn’t allowed to enter, the warnings visible only to vocational students, the flying vessels that wouldn’t carry them alongside university students.

Every slight, every humiliation, he etched into his heart.

He told himself over and over—vocational college wasn’t shameful. Technical school was.

He reminded himself that vocational students earned their place through the college exam—it was a fair path. Unlike university students, many of whom got in through backdoors and dirty tricks.

Through eight years of study, A Ming surpassed one opponent after another.

Each vocational student he outperformed was just as hardworking, just as buried in debt, just as desperate.

As he climbed over them one by one, he began to lose track of who was who. They all seemed carved from the same mold.

And each time he overtook one, he’d see countless more ahead of him.

It was an endless road—no matter how fast he ran, the finish line never came into sight.

When graduation came, he still hadn’t managed to transfer to a bachelor’s program.

So he decided to find a job.

He polished his résumé, prepared answers for every possible interview question—

—only to discover that the jobs available to him required no interview. If he showed up early, he could start that very day.

A year passed. His debt hadn’t decreased, but his savings hadn’t increased either. Every day at work felt like running on a treadmill—forever in place.

“Heh… vocational college. Useless for life.”

He thought that would be his fate—forever chasing the university students’ shadows—until one day, a file download error changed everything.

He accidentally downloaded a remnant soul of an immortal.

…

Zhang Yu paused, eyes narrowing slightly as he looked at the next episode titles:

Episode 2: Fallen Immortal, Starting from Construction Work

Episode 3: Slapping the Job Agency, Shocking the Worksite

Episode 4: Switching to Delivery Sorting—Ranked First, Foreman in Shock

Episode 5: Challenge from a Full-Time Worker! Third-Rank Regular—So What?

Episode 6: Fortune Favors the Bold—Taking Out a Loan for a Flying Sword

Episode 7: Becoming a Top-Tier Delivery Man with Unlimited Potential

Episode 8: 300 Deliveries a Day—The Stationmaster Is Stunned

Episode 9: Humiliated, He Fights Back—The Report Begins

Episode 10: The Dark Side of the Delivery World Strikes Back! Crisis Looms

Episode 11: The Immortal’s Transmission—Mastering the Sword

Final Episode: Special Permission from the Immortal Emperor! Degree Upgrade! Finally a University Student!

Looking at the titles, Zhang Yu twitched his mouth. “A vocational power fantasy, huh?”

“I’m supposed to be gathering real data on vocational students, not binge-watching fanfiction.”

“Also, it doesn’t even sound that satisfying.”

He shook his head, flipping through the rest of the scripts—titles like Vocational Love Story,Non-Standard College Life,Call Me University Student, and Millionaire of the Vocational Dorms.

The more he read, the more he felt something was off. “Too much entertainment, not enough realism.”

He flipped back to the start, deciding to try the most authentic-looking script.

It was the story of Xiao Ming and Xiao Hong, both studying in the Department of Emotional Cultivation at a vocational college.

Putting on the Spiritual Realm Mask, he linked his mind to the Spiritual Realm—

A moment later, Zhang Yu removed the mask, eyes filled with age-old melancholy, wisdom gleaming like that of one who had seen through the mortal world.

Fu Ji asked curiously, “Well? How was it?”

Zhang Yu sighed. “I finally understand. In ancient times, there was a sect called the Supreme Dao. They practiced the Path of Transcending Emotions—one had to abandon family and love, viewing all beings as mere straw dogs.”

“But the method was too hard. The ancients were bound by their times, unable to truly sever worldly attachments. Few succeeded; most failed.”

“So, a certain master reorganized the teachings of the Supreme Dao, breaking the path into gradual steps—making emotional detachment achievable.”

Zhang Yu spoke like a scholar giving a lecture: “Step one—watch someone else cultivate with your partner right in front of you.”

“Next level—watch someone cultivate with your father.”

“And so on, one step at a time. When you can calmly watch your entire family cultivating together and feel nothing, when your heart is dead, you’ve reached the pinnacle of emotional transcendence.”

“This system of cultivation was revolutionary—step-by-step detachment, from easy to hard, allowing anyone to attain the Supreme Emotionless Dao.”

“But that was only the beginning…”

Zhang Yu continued, “Later, the Pleasure and Harmony Sect merged with the Supreme Dao. They took the essence, discarded the flaws, and further refined the method.”

“Using one family for one person’s cultivation was inefficient—the cost-to-benefit ratio was terrible.”

“But if the entire family practiced the Supreme Emotionless Path together?”

“Then every family member would become another’s cultivation resource.”

“Each act of dual cultivation would benefit everyone equally.”

“With this change, the Pleasure and Harmony Sect multiplied its talent output tenfold—and from it, they created a new path: the Path of Profound Affection.”

“Only after gaining emotion can one truly forget emotion; only after forgetting can one become profoundly affectionate. That is the philosophy of the Nectar Divine Lord of Pleasure and Harmony University—the Supreme Path of Deep Affection.”

Fu Ji blinked. “Didn’t expect you to learn this much just by simulating a vocational student’s life.”

Zhang Yu chuckled softly. “That’s only the beginning.”

“Even though the Supreme Path of Deep Affection greatly improved training efficiency, it still had flaws. After all, not everyone’s Dao Heart is firm. Even with a gradual process, many still fail along the way…”