Chapter 455: Level 2 Taiqing Talisman

In the spirit realm.

Zhang Pianpian, who was busy cracking the Nascent Soul yin artifact, suddenly raised an eyebrow.

Just now, a full 100 spirit coins had been transferred into her account, the sender being her good little brother, Zhang Yu.

"This kid..."

Zhang Pianpian was slightly startled. Just as she was thinking about whether to transfer the money back, Zhang Yu sent a message: My project payment came through—use this money without worry.

Reading Zhang Yu's message, Zhang Pianpian shook her head helplessly, but a faint smile unconsciously bloomed at the corner of her mouth. "Is it that obvious that I'm short on cash?"

Zhang Pianpian recalled the time when Zhang Yu was a high school freshman, buried in online loan debt and nearly bankrupt.

She never imagined that in the blink of an eye, not only had he become a junior at Wanfa University, but he could even come up with a hundred spirit coins to support her.

Still, many people in this world could produce a hundred spirit coins, but the kind who would transfer it directly into her account without a contract and without any demands… that would only be her little brother.

"So this is family?"

"No—most families in the Kunxu Realm couldn't even manage this."

"My little brother is truly a person of deep emotion and principle."

Zhang Pianpian sighed inwardly, "He's also too kind."

"If he had been born five hundred years earlier, he might have become a great righteous hero, a pillar of the Daoist sects, only to… die a violent death."

Zhang Pianpian shook her head. "The Kunxu Realm of today… might be even less tolerant of such a person."

Though these thoughts ran through her mind, a faint smile lingered on Zhang Pianpian's face.

"But if there is a chance, I hope this bond between us as brother and sister can last a while longer."

…

On the other side, Zhang Yu looked at the contract Zhang Pianpian had sent him and thought, "A contract to pay back 5 spirit coins every month?"

Zhang Yu wasn't surprised by this. He knew that in his sister's eyes, his willingness to lend her the money and her willingness to pay him interest were what truly made them family. This repayment contract was the bond between brother and sister.

Zhang Yu fully understood his sister's intentions.

Moreover, he could sense that given her cultivation level, her income shouldn't be low. But she seemed to have a money-sucking black hole that swallowed all the money she had earned over the years, to the point that she couldn't even upgrade her Supreme Pure Realm.

"Could sis be gambling?"

Shaking his head, Zhang Yu dismissed the ridiculous thought and began looking forward to the upgrade of the Supreme Pure Talisman.

That evening, when he saw that the Supreme Pure Talisman in the Dao Seed Register had been upgraded to level 2, Zhang Yu immediately put on his spirit realm mask and activated the power of the Supreme Pure Talisman.

The next moment, as his consciousness raced through the spirit realm, countless dazzling colors flashed before his eyes.

When Zhang Yu came to his senses, he had already arrived at a Daoist temple surrounded by veils of mist and overlapping mountains.

Only today, the temple seemed somewhat larger than usual, and the gate as well as the plaque above it appeared more solid and real.

Upon entering the temple, Zhang Yu discovered that besides the original main hall, there was now an additional side hall.

At that moment, Zhang Pianpian was standing in front of the side hall. Hearing the footsteps behind her, she turned around and said to Zhang Yu, "So you sensed the change in the Supreme Pure Realm too?"

Though Zhang Pianpian didn't understand why Zhang Yu could enter the Supreme Pure Realm, since he could, it wasn't surprising that he could sense the realm's changes.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yu nodded and asked, "What is this new side hall for?"

"You came at just the right time—let's go in and take a look together." Zhang Pianpian pushed open the side hall's door and led Zhang Yu inside.

Once inside, Zhang Yu noticed that compared to its exterior size, the interior real space of the side hall seemed several times larger.

What surprised him even more was that the hall was completely empty—nothing at all.

But in the next moment, Zhang Pianpian waved her hand, and streaks of incantations appeared in her palm as something materialized.

It seemed to be a corner of a statue, but as soon as that corner was generated, the entire side hall trembled slightly and could not continue generating anything further.

That corner was part of the spirit realm projection of the Nascent Soul yin artifact that Zhang Pianpian had been busy cracking lately.

Looking at that corner, Zhang Pianpian thought, "So this is the current limit?"

Noticing Zhang Yu's curious gaze, Zhang Pianpian explained, "This side hall can be considered a kind of illusory realm, capable of simulating and recreating all sorts of things in the world…"

Zhang Yu's heart stirred, and he said, "Just like the Spirit Realm simulation service outside? Can it simulate artifact crafting experiments?"

Zhang Pianpian nodded. "No problem."

"However, the simulation isn't without limits."

"Although the Taiqing Realm is a Spirit Realm cave dwelling opened by ancient masters and can draw on an astronomical amount of Spirit Realm computing resources, it still has realm requirements for its users."

"Given our current Dao Heart at level 20 and our Foundation Establishment realm, the ceiling won't be too high..."

Through Zhang Pianpian's explanation, Zhang Yu came to understand the setup of this side hall.

In his own words, the simulation capability here had an upper limit of computing power.

Suppose the total computing power available in the entire side hall is 100, and simulating an apple requires 10 points of computing power. Then, in the same period, Zhang Yu could simulate at most ten apples in the side hall.

Zhang Pianpian continued, "The more complex and powerful something is, the more computing power it consumes." "At your current Dao Heart, if you want to simulate artifact crafting, magic tools and magical remains below the Golden Core realm should be no problem."

"Besides the computing power limit, you can only simulate things you have actually seen."

"The longer you have been in contact with something and the better you understand it, the higher the simulation fidelity..."

With Zhang Pianpian's introduction and guidance, Zhang Yu gradually figured out how to use this side hall.

Despite all sorts of restrictions, there was no doubt that this side hall was a tremendous help to him.

"After all, I can use the Taiqing Realm for free. If I can simulate all my future artifact crafting experiments here, how much money will that save?"

Zhang Yu's spirits were high, because ever since he started learning artifact crafting again, he had spent quite a few spirit coins each month on artifact crafting simulations in the Spirit Realm.

"And the simulation efficiency of the Taiqing Realm is even higher."

"Using the Dharma Body within the Immeasurable Heart to run experiments with fourfold consciousness, combined with the Taiqing Realm's original 20× acceleration — that's about 80× acceleration, right?"

"Compared to the ordinary Spirit Realm's 10× acceleration, that's a full eight times faster."

Zhang Yu knew that truly wealthy people could get more than 10× acceleration in the Spirit Realm by spending enough money.

But the Taiqing Realm cost nothing.

Next, Zhang Yu tried to see if he could cultivate techniques here, and the result was...

"It doesn't work?"

Zhang Yu thought to himself, "Simulating all kinds of materials and magic tools to level up my artifact crafting skill is no problem."

"But technique cultivation involves my physical body. It seems this place can't fully simulate my physical body's state. Is the computing power still insufficient?"

Although he couldn't figure out the reason, Zhang Yu wasn't discouraged. After all, being able to conduct free, highly efficient artifact crafting experiments here was already a huge help.

"The Grade 2 Taiqing Talisman is a tremendous help. I wonder when I can upgrade it to Grade 3."

According to Zhang Yu's later observations, upgrading the Grade 3 Taiqing Talisman required a full 1,000 spirit coins, which was far beyond what a Foundation Establishment cultivator could afford.

While Zhang Yu was making various attempts, on the other side, Zhang Pianpian was surrounded by a constant flow of talismanic runes. She was analyzing and studying one corner of that Nascent Soul Yin artifact.

Zhang Pianpian thought to herself, "Even though I can only simulate a corner of it, it's not completely useless. At least for the part of the cracking work I'm assigned, I can now do things I wouldn't have dared to try before."

Inside the classroom.

Ying Xin glanced at the empty seat beside her and thought, "The senior apprentice brother hasn't come to class for a long time now."

She turned to look at Ji Yuanshu, who was sitting in the last row. He was now fully equipped with Extreme Tiger brand magical remains, coming to class on time every day, no longer showing the high spirits of his freshman year.

She sighed inwardly. Ji Yuanshu now attended class punctually every day, while Zhang Yu and Gongshu Jin often skipped class, busy with various worksites, studies, and cultivation, replacing real-world classes with accelerated online lessons in the Spirit Realm.

In particular, Zhang Yu — as the chief accountant of his company, Ying Xin knew exactly how busy he was.

Not only did he have to run around worksites every day and oversee construction, but he also had to keep an eye on the company's financial work. He almost always replied to her messages instantly and could always give her guidance on her work, pointing out any oversights.

She thought, "I never imagined the senior apprentice brother was not only good at civil engineering but also so familiar with finance and taxation."

"He must have prepared for this long ago, never intending to be an ordinary worker on the worksite."

Thinking that she herself had found an opportunity to break out of the worksite because of this, Ying Xin felt secretly encouraged.

Just then, she received another message from Zhang Yu.

Zhang Yu: Where's yesterday's report?

Zhang Yu: Ying Xin, I feel that your work performance hasn't been ideal over the past two days.

Ying Xin quickly replied: The final exams are coming up, so I've been quite busy.

Zhang Yu: Don't make excuses.

Zhang Yu: I hope you can grow together with the company.

Zhang Yu: For example, you need to have the ability to take initiative in your work, not just work when I assign you tasks.

Ying Xin: I'll hurry up and get the report out in a moment.

…

On the other side, at a construction site in the wild.

Fuji looked at Ying Xin's reply and thought to herself: "Really, these employees still get paid too much."

"They can't even finish their overtime work, how dare they go to class?"

"Sigh, Zhang Yu is still too green. If we followed my suggestion and lowered the base salary, then combined it with performance-based bonuses, their motivation would immediately increase."

At the same time, the nearby Zhang Yu was sitting cross-legged wearing a spiritual interface mask, his consciousness entering the Taiqing Realm.

During this period, Zhang Yu had been busy launching the company's second project.

Whether heading to the construction site or staying in the university town, Zhang Yu carried the spiritual interface mask with him every day.

Even when at the construction site, as soon as he had a free moment, he would put on the mask and slip into the Taiqing Realm, hurrying to conduct simulation experiments.

After all, he had been busy back and forth with Mount Kunlun's mountain-moving divine power recently, and his artifact refining skills had not improved for a long time.

And as the opponents he would face in the upcoming civil engineering competition grew stronger, he needed to upgrade his magical treasures one by one to keep up with his current combat pace.