Chapter 149: Zhang Yu, Valuation ??? (Seeking monthly tickets)

Inside the office.

Not long after Deng Bingding recorded Yun Jing's valuation.

A lesser god beside her said, "Lord Deng, Ye Lingxiao is causing some trouble here."

Deng Bingding looked over and saw that Ye Lingxiao in the illusion was almost unmoved by any temptation.

Whether it was superior cultivation conditions, the success or failure of his family's honor or disgrace... none seemed able to stop him from passing the high school foundation establishment qualification exam.

If she had to evaluate him, she would say he was selfish enough, single-minded enough in his ambition, possessing the courage to keep climbing the path of immortality.

But Deng Bingding also believed that as long as she kept raising the price, he would eventually agree.

After all, as long as one is human, there is always a price.

However, what Ye Lingxiao demanded was beyond Deng Bingding's expectations.

In the illusion, Ye Lingxiao said, "Since you are so powerful, do you know how to use a likability talisman on a person?"

Deng Bingding frowned: "How does Ye Lingxiao know about such a thing?"

The lesser god beside her said, "Lord Deng, what should we do now?"

"The secret of using a likability talisman on a person is significant; it cannot be lightly revealed."

"Although it's just an illusion, we could simply deceive him."

"But in the foundation establishment exam's illusion, all memories and records must be preserved."

"In that case... if the valuation is too low, wouldn't we be deliberately giving the student a low score? If the valuation is too high, wouldn't we be letting Ye Lingxiao know there's a big secret here?"

"This is really... hard to get right."

Hearing this, Deng Bingding also felt it was troublesome, and she realized something.

"For someone to make such a request amidst all these temptations in the illusion... it shows that subconsciously he already knows this secret is of great value, and even realizes what it represents."

"Hmph, but this Ye Lingxiao's curiosity is too strong, and his appetite too big."

"Yet selfishness, audacity, and greed—are these not also signs of a seed for the immortal path?"

With these thoughts flashing through her mind, Deng Bingding decided to take a different approach and asked, "Where did he learn this? Did he hear it somewhere, or did he actually see it?"

The lesser god said, "He says he saw it with his own eyes, used by a high school student named Zhang Pianpian. I've already looked at that student's records. She is excellent, but she doesn't seem like the type to know such a skill. Could she have been fooling Ye Lingxiao?"

Deng Bingding closed her eyes, and countless scenes from the spirit realm appeared before her.

Arriving in front of a row of massive bookshelves, she casually opened Zhang Pianpian's data. Her divine power swept through quickly, and the girl's life story appeared before her.

This was an archive library on the first floor of the Ministry of All People, which theoretically recorded everyone's information on that floor.

Quickly flipping through Zhang Pianpian's information with her divine power, Deng Bingding felt a sense of strangeness.

"This Zhang Pianpian is indeed outstanding—she even served as the deputy captain of the patrol team in Songyang City—so outstanding it's almost excessive."

"And from Songyang City again..." Deng Bingding frowned. "Why are all the students from Songyang City a little off?"

As she pondered, this sixth-rank roaming god suddenly sensed something off.

"Zhang Pianpian's file... has someone tampered with it?"

The thought that someone had tampered with the archive library startled Deng Bingding. When she tried to uncover the truth hidden behind the file, an unprecedented sense of crisis stopped her.

"None of my business. I don't want to know anything."

After thinking it over, she directly withdrew and then reported Ye Lingxiao's situation. As for Zhang Pianpian's file issue, she did not mention it at all, pretending she knew nothing.

What surprised her even more was how quickly the higher-ups responded.

"A direct instruction from the Ministry of All People?" Deng Bingding's heart skipped a beat. She thought to herself that Zhang Pianpian was indeed problematic, and she had no idea what plans or schemes this involved at the upper levels.

The instruction from the Ministry of All People was to directly suppress Ye Lingxiao's valuation to 5.5 billion.

Watching this scene, Deng Bingding sighed inwardly.

Many Kunxu citizens—especially the poor—believed that the rules of the Ten Great Sects and the laws of the Eight Ranks of Gods were heavenly decrees, unbreakable.

But Deng Bingding knew clearly that... sometimes they weren't.

Like the current Foundation Establishment exam, it wasn't that no one dared to have crooked ideas from the very beginning.

It's just that anyone—whether human or spirit—who dared to have such ideas was sent off to enjoy themselves in the Spirit Realm, and gradually, no one dared to think about it anymore.

But even in this high school Foundation Establishment exam, where no one in the entire Kunxu Layer 1 dared to act recklessly, if some big shot up above wanted to make a move—like suppressing Ye Lingxiao's evaluation right now—they could just do it.

"Everyone has a price, and the rules of Kunxu also have a price."

"As long as you can pay the price, many things are not impossible."

"It's just that for some people, that price is the entirety of their clan. And for others, it might only require a single directive..."

Deng Bingding cleared the stray thoughts from her mind, buried this matter deep in her heart, and never thought about it again.

She turned her gaze to the last person in the Dao Heart test—Zhang Yu.

Or rather, in the current office, whether it was her, the Roaming Spirit of the Four Directions, or the four other Minor Officials of Merit, all of them now focused their attention on Zhang Yu's illusion.

Deng Bingding said in confusion, "This Zhang Yu actually managed to hold out until now."

But Huang Zichou, somewhat nervous and excited, said, "Lord Deng, Zhang Yu's illusion is on the verge of collapse."

"What did you say?" With a hint of intense curiosity, Deng Bingding swept her divine power and examined the other's illusion records.

Within the illusion.

Unconsciously, more and more things had piled up in front of Zhang Yu.

Things like a Heavenly Spirit Root, a Dharma Skeleton, and a citizen's identity in the Immortal Capital...

All kinds of valuable items were placed before Zhang Yu, yet he always refused to give up the Foundation Establishment exam.

Even when the other side offered company shares, Zhang Yu's face showed temptation, yet he still clenched his teeth and refused to abandon the Foundation Establishment exam.

Because the moment that thought arose, a chill surged from the depths of his heart. "This stupid ritual—can't I just accept the terms and take the exam next year?"

"No, this ritual is stupid, but it shouldn't be like this. What's wrong here?"

And as the illusion kept probing and kept raising the price, Zhang Yu's consciousness gradually sensed something off.

"Wait... isn't this worth tens of billions?"

"Are you guys offering too much?"

"Is my giving up the Foundation Establishment exam really worth this price?"

When Zhang Yu started thinking about these things, everything before him seemed to grow stranger and stranger, giving him a dreamlike feeling.

Inside the office.

Deng Bingding frowned: "How did the price get so high? What are you doing?"

She had already begun to suspect that Huang Zichou was arbitrarily raising the price.

Please... bookmark... 6...9... Books...!

Huang Zichou said, "Lord Deng, you can check the records. I really didn't raise the price arbitrarily. The illusion operated according to the rules, increasing bit by bit. I tried everything, but he just wouldn't give up."

Frowning, Deng Bingding flipped through the records repeatedly and found that this Zhang Yu was truly impervious to all temptations.

And Deng Bingding knew that while the illusion could make students subconsciously overlook many incongruities, this oversight was not without limits.

When a student kept refusing and the offered price grew higher and higher, the entire illusion would become more and more illogical, making the test taker feel an increasing sense of dissonance.

And when this sense of dissonance reached its limit, it would also signify the collapse of the illusion.

For instance, just now, Ye Lingxiao and Yun Jing, being wealthy enough and strong enough to be winning candidates for the Foundation Establishment qualification, had the price rise steadily under the illusion's effect, and they could subconsciously ignore the dissonance.

But Zhang Yu's level was nowhere near that of a winning candidate, and he was poor himself, so as the price skyrocketed, it was easier for him to sense something wrong.

Watching this, Deng Bingding suddenly had a thought she hadn't had before: "The poor actually have an advantage in this test—if they can tough it out, they are more likely to break through the illusion and reach the limit than the rich?"

Shaking her head, she temporarily set aside the extraneous thought and asked again, "Didn't you ask him what he actually wanted?"

Huang Zichou hurriedly replied, "I did ask! You'll see if you keep watching!"

……

Inside the illusion.

Zhang Yu felt that everything before him was increasingly like a dream.

How could anyone offer so much money for him to give up the Foundation Establishment exam?

Especially the reaction of the ritual made him feel that everything was very wrong.

"Could it be that I am now…"

At that moment, the other party's question interrupted his thoughts.

After hearing this, Zhang Yu asked curiously, "What do I want?"

Thinking that under the coercion of the ritual he bore, what he truly wanted most was to remove the power of the ritual and give himself real freedom.

But he did not dare to say anything related to the Evil God. Even though he felt as if in a dream, he still did not dare to speak of it.

Thus, the only thing he could say was his other goal: to pass the entrance exams for the Top Ten, enter a sect, and complete that path of wishes.

And now, combined with the condition of giving up the Foundation Establishment exam…

Zhang Yu organized his words a bit in his mind, and felt that the request he was about to make was one the other party simply could not agree to.

But that dream-like feeling suddenly made him smile and speak his mind somewhat recklessly: "I want to climb the path of immortality, all the way upward."

"So if you want me to give up, you'll have to give me a better opportunity."

"An opportunity that is better than passing the Foundation Establishment qualification certificate on the first try—a better chance to enter university, a better chance for better treatment after entering the Top Ten, a better chance to enter a sect… Only then would I give up the Foundation Establishment qualification certificate."

"Oh, and this matter also has to include Bai Zhenzhen."

……

Inside the office.

"Everyone has a price."

This was something Deng Bingding had confirmed countless times.

But this time, upon hearing Zhang Yu's demand—even if it was an extreme price due to the illusion—Deng Bingding was still shocked.

"This guy… does he know what he's asking for?"

"A poor wretch from Kunxu Level 1 actually dared to ask for such an outrageous price?"

"Is this something Level 1 can encounter? Treatment better than successfully passing the Foundation Establishment certificate exam in the first year of high school?"

"Not to mention Level 1, even the rich of Level 2 or even Level 3 might not be able to snatch the kind of opportunity he wants."

"And he wants to bring someone along…"

Looking at Zhang Yu in the illusion, Deng Bingding momentarily didn't know whether to say that the other's ambition to climb the immortal path was inflated enough, or that under the influence of the illusion, he had released his own insatiable greed.

Huang Zichou beside him said, "Lord Deng, what do we make of this? He must know such a demand is impossible, right? He has no intention of giving up the Foundation Establishment exam at all."

Deng Bingding said, "Continuing the test is meaningless. The temptation for him has already exceeded the limit of temptations he might face."

"If the illusion actually fulfills such an unreasonable demand, Zhang Yu would likely fully wake up from it, and the illusion would collapse."

"Or rather…" Deng Bingding said indifferently, "He might already be about to wake up."

"Let's end this Dao Heart test."

Huang Zichou said, "Then what about Zhang Yu's results?"

"What else can we do?" Deng Bingding sighed. "At least this illusion couldn't measure his limit."

After speaking, she recorded: "Zhang Yu, valuation unknown ???, Dao Heart test failed to test the limit."