Chapter 351: Dark Technique

Inside the Spirit Realm office of Hammer Heart Residence.

You Chuan spoke up and said, "Zhang Yu's simulation scenario this time suits him well."

"Activate deep connection for him, then at the critical breakthrough moment, slow it down to 0.3x speed and loop it ten times."

Hearing You Chuan's instructions, the customer service frowned and said, "This simulation scenario has a very high pain index. If we perform a deep connection, I'm worried the simulation memories will affect his mental state."

You Chuan naturally knew that once deep connection was activated, the likelihood of breakthrough would greatly increase, but the residual memories, sensations, and emotions from the simulation would be even more intense.

Yet he said indifferently, "He's already agreed to the user manual, and even if something goes wrong, it won't be for at least a few months. Who can pin it on us?"

The customer service said again, "But spending all this computing resources and letting him suffer for free... isn't that too generous for him?"

You Chuan sighed, "There's no helping it."

"Guaranteed success for 30 spirit coins is exactly the selling point of this package. We're betting that the student's talent is strong enough and their breakthrough effort fierce enough, so most can reach the Unity of Flesh and Spirit realm within five attempts."

"When we hit a student like this who keeps stalling on breakthrough, we just have to take the loss."

Meanwhile.

After Zhang Yu opened his eyes in the Spirit Realm, he remembered his identity.

He was Zhang Yu, a worker at a construction site.

But due to physical injuries, his work efficiency was too low, and gradually no construction site was willing to hire him.

Fortunately, with technological advancement and the emergence of Dharma Prostheses, he saw hope.

"Dharma Prosthesis! The epoch-making product of Tiangong Group, leading the world with cutting-edge immortal cultivation technology, allowing everyone to achieve higher work efficiency."

"In the future, everyone equipped with Dharma Prostheses will only need to work 2 hours to complete the workload that currently takes 12 hours."

"Tiangong: let immortal cultivation technology better serve Kunxu."

Watching the advertisement in the video, Zhang Yu made a painful decision: he sold everything he could, including his hands and feet, and also borrowed a large sum of money. Finally, he got the Dharma Prostheses installed, immediately regaining his ability to work.

He was placed on a construction site, swallowing raw materials every day and then spitting out high-quality concrete. His technical skills skyrocketed, and his salary instantly multiplied several times.

But the good times didn't last long; the Dharma Prostheses, which had been on the market for only a short time, triggered a severe rejection reaction in his body.

And because of a lack of funds, Zhang Yu had no money for weekly Dharma Prosthesis adjustments, let alone monthly maintenance.

These first-generation Dharma Prostheses on him gradually began to age, failing to adapt to his body's natural changes, and started causing structural imbalances in his body...

All of this ultimately led to a continuous decline in his Dharma Prosthesis synchronization rate.

"Your synchronization rate is too low, causing your regulatory nerves to overwork, which eventually leads to abnormalities in the cerebral cortex..."

Listening to the company personnel's analysis, Zhang Yu murmured, "So this is the cause of my phantom pain?"

The other person said, "You should go pay the bill first, and then we'll immediately perform the Dharma Prosthesis adjustment for you."

"You need to understand that your body changes every day. The current Dharma Prosthesis cannot actively adapt; it must be adjusted once a week to perfectly match your body."

"If you go too long without adjustment, your body structure will become abnormal, and your flesh, blood, and nerves will undergo compensatory changes..."

Zhang Yu could no longer hear the rest of what the other person said, because he was deeply in debt and had no money.

He could only endure the phantom pain in his body, repeatedly circulating the Remnant Ox Self-Sacrifice Heart Art.

But this pain became more frequent and more intense as his work hours increased.

The pain of severed limbs and peeled internal organs kept hitting him. Zhang Yu opened his eyes, seeming to see his own bloody wounds again.

Under the frantic circulation of the Remnant Ox Self-Sacrifice Heart Art, he was about to step into the realm of Unity of Flesh and Spirit.

But just then, a thought suddenly surged in his heart.

"Why? Why can't my wounds heal themselves?"

Meanwhile.

Inside the dormitory.

Under the influence of the deep connection, the Residual Bull Self-Sacrifice Heart Technique in Zhang Yu's mind spontaneously began to operate, and the physical activation of his hands and feet was elevated to its peak.

With the constant surging of flesh and blood, it was as if they were trying to heal the wounds at the severed limbs in his mind.

…

Along with Zhang Yu's intense reaction in reality,

Zhang Yu in the simulation environment also trembled violently.

The flesh and blood of his hands and feet surged, and his heart technique broke through, seemingly undergoing some kind of activation change.

At that moment, a voice seemed to tear through the simulation space, coming from deep within the spirit realm into Zhang Yu's heart-mind.

"Find me…"

Zhang Yu instinctively said, "Who are you?"

"Find me…"

But the other party seemed not to hear Zhang Yu's reply, only continued, "Find my spirit…"

"Find my physical body…"

"Find my mana…"

…

When Zhang Yu came back to his senses, he found that he had been disconnected from the spirit realm connection.

He took off the spirit realm mask, recalled everything that had just happened in his mind, and murmured, "Me?"

Zhang Yu felt his heart technique operate naturally, and without realizing it, he had stepped into the realm of unity of spirit and flesh.

But before he could be happy, he found a strange URL appearing in his mind.

"Was that transmitted to me by that voice?"

"Who exactly is he? He could even… call out to me in the spirit realm environment of Hammer Heart Residence?"

"Could it be someone from Hammer Heart Residence? Secretly watching me all along?"

Just as Zhang Yu was full of doubts, a communication connection request appeared on his eye prosthetic.

After the communication opened, the figure of Manager Youchuan appeared before Zhang Yu.

"Zhang Yu… classmate?" Youchuan's eyes flickered. "Are you okay?"

Just at the critical moment of the breakthrough, the moment before Zhang Yu's flesh and blood activated in the simulation environment, Youchuan discovered that the entire simulation environment had suddenly disconnected.

Then, after a few seconds, the entire simulation environment collapsed.

This phenomenon immediately gave Youchuan a big fright.

He had the customer service quickly block the news and intercept the logs and related data, then Youchuan immediately contacted Zhang Yu.

Seeing that Zhang Yu seemed fine, Youchuan breathed a sigh of relief inwardly: "Good, good."

Although if something happened to Zhang Yu, it wouldn't mean much to Hammer Heart Residence, for Youchuan personally it would be a major mistake.

Seeing Youchuan's strange expression, Fuji suddenly asked, "What happened?"

Listening to Zhang Yu's account, Fuji smiled slightly and said, "Don't worry. If it were really a big problem, it wouldn't just be a communication contact."

"This incident that happened to you, from their perspective, might be their operational error."

"Otherwise, the people from Hammer Heart Residence wouldn't contact you privately outside of company channels… I think we can bluff him."

Zhang Yu raised an eyebrow and looked at Youchuan. "What's wrong with your Hammer Heart Residence? Such a serious mistake! I almost died in there?"

Youchuan's heart sank. He silently acknowledged it was bad, outwardly refusing to admit there was a problem, but inwardly he was uncertain.

Because he truly didn't know what happened in the few seconds after the disconnection.

Zhang Yu said, "You don't want to take responsibility, do you? I want a refund, and I'm going to sue you. I've already saved the problematic spirit realm data…"

Upon hearing this, Youchuan's heart sank again. Thinking about the simulation environment parameters he had adjusted, he sighed inwardly and had no choice but to haggle with Zhang Yu.

After some bargaining, the two sides gradually reached an agreement.

Youchuan: "As long as you don't go through the company's refund process, confirm that the service was successfully completed, and don't pursue this matter, I will personally give you 2.5 Spirit Coins every month for 12 months."

Youchuan thought to himself: "It's also good to let this Zhang Yu stop his Spirit-Flesh Integration journey. It wastes computing resources, ruins our group's data, and if another accident happens..."

Zhang Yu's eyes lit up: "What about the interest?"

After another round of bargaining, Youchuan finally agreed to cover the interest, paying Zhang Yu 3.3 Spirit Coins per month to cover the monthly installment loan for the Spirit-Flesh Integration journey.

Although Zhang Yu had also thought about squeezing more benefits, he understood that he had actually completed the Spirit-Flesh Integration.

Moreover, regarding what happened in the simulation environment—whether it was that voice or the activation of his own body—he was unwilling to expose it.

So Zhang Yu knew that he couldn't really make a big fuss about this matter.

"Right now it's like poking a wolf with a straw—both sides are afraid, but I've managed to bluff him for now."

Shortly after both parties signed the agreement, Zhang Yu hung up the communication. Thinking about how he had gotten the Spirit-Flesh Integration journey for free, he couldn't help but laugh: "This was a huge win."

Fuji, however, was more concerned about the URL Zhang Yu had received.

But Zhang Yu didn't log in immediately. Instead, after thinking it over, he sent the URL to Zhang Pianpian, asking her if there was any problem with it.

"Where did you get this URL?" Zhang Pianpian asked suspiciously. "This URL points deep into the Spirit Realm, almost at the edge of Layer 2."

"It doesn't look like it's been around for long—more like... it was just generated recently."

"But the outer layers of this URL are encrypted and sealed. I can't check its contents, and forcing my way in might destroy the information inside."

So, under Zhang Pianpian's protection, Zhang Yu logged into that site.

After a long while, Zhang Pianpian couldn't help but ask: "What did you see?"

"A... mental cultivation method?" Zhang Yu said in confusion. "And it's a method not found in the Grand Library."

At the same time, he thought to himself: "It's also a method that can be classified into the Chain Method Diagram set, belonging to the Great Sage's Inheritor set."

Zhang Pianpian raised an eyebrow: "What specific method is it?"

Zhang Yu reported the content of the method. After searching extensively in the Spirit Realm, Zhang Pianpian slowly said: "There is no information about this mental cultivation method in all the data I have."

"This means... it's a Black Art."

Zhang Yu asked in confusion: "Black Art? What does that mean?"

Zhang Pianpian explained: "A cultivation method not listed in the Daoist canon catalogs of the Ten Great Sects, unregistered for copyright, and without any records."

"Most people believe that Black Arts are methods that have been banned and had their data records erased by the Ten Great Sects."

"They might come from some long-extinct sects."

"Or they might have been created by people who have been blacklisted."

"Then, senior sister..." Zhang Yu asked curiously, "Do you think I can cultivate this method?"

After a moment of silence, Zhang Pianpian said: "Judging from its content, I don't think it's dangerous."

"In fact, I believe the quality of this method is at least pre-military grade, if not military grade."

"The danger of this Black Art is probably its own origin."

"And the person who gave you this method might also set their sights on you."

"But a mental cultivation method of this quality would be a waste not to cultivate."

Zhang Pianpian seemed to weigh the options, then looked at Zhang Yu and said: "The choice is yours."

"But remember, if you want to cultivate it, you must hide yourself well. Second, every time you enter the Spirit Realm network, do not circulate this Black Art, to avoid being targeted."

Shortly after Zhang Yu began cultivating this Black Art, time quickly turned to the end of August—the final deadline for the end-of-term exams.