Chapter 665

During Zhang Yu's arduous cultivation, more than three months had passed since the heavenly connection was breached and the sixth layer vanished.

Every night, when cultivators on the second layer looked up, they could see the skies of the third, fourth, and fifth layers.

And at the highest point of those layered night skies, the fifth layer's sky was always under fierce battle—streaks of lightning and blazing flames constantly erupted, like twinkling stars ceaselessly blooming in the darkness.

But at some point, the intensity of the battle in the fifth layer's sky began to decline, and the twinkling stars grew fewer and fewer, until one night, people could no longer see any trace of conflict there.

A guess surged into the hearts of countless people on the second layer… the fifth layer had been conquered.

And as if answering everyone's speculation, with the end of the fifth layer's war, a black curtain of sky descended between the fifth and fourth layers, completely blocking all observation.

From that day onward, the observers on the second layer could no longer view the situation of Kunxu's fifth layer. No one knew what the fifth layer had become behind the sky curtain, or what would happen next.

All anyone could see was that black sky curtain standing high at the top of the heavens, quietly remaining there, reminding those below of the failure of the fifth layer's resistance.

Correspondingly, the fourth layer in the night sky began to glow with the flames of war—sparkling points of battle radiance seemed to illuminate the entire night sky, telling people of the brutal fighting erupting there.

The changes in the celestial phenomena seemed to urge everyone to speed up their actions.

For Zhang Yu as well, looking at the black sky curtain in the video, he felt a torrent surging step by step, with an unstoppable momentum, toward the second layer.

He needed a higher realm and stronger power to face this torrent.

…

Though focused on cultivation, Zhang Yu still spent a minute or two each day scanning the news while cultivating, to avoid losing touch with the outside world entirely.

At this moment, pieces of news emerged one after another within his eye socket.

"Tianyao University is deep in the turmoil of a low-level demon-race uprising. Yesterday, another campus pharmaceutical factory of Tianyao University was attacked. The factory owner claimed economic losses exceeded 5,000 spirit coins, making this the 12th case this month where losses surpassed 3,000 spirit coins…"

"Tianmo University has raised taxes again, aiming to increase bandit-suppression expenditures. It is reported that Tianmo University's impoverished and unemployed population has hit a historical high, and some Core Formation cultivators have been forced to sell their golden cores…"

"Youming University experienced a mass demonic possession incident: over a thousand cultivators became followers of the demonic cult, blowing open the central corpse repository. The 'Jobless Sect' claimed responsibility for this virus incident. Three Nascent Soul Lords went bankrupt as a result of this event…"

Zhang Yu skimmed the news and could almost see the wealthy students from other schools suffering intensely, with someone seemingly going bankrupt every day.

Then he glanced at the campus news.

"Our university has once again launched special campaigns such as 'Crack Down on Specials and Suppress Bandits,' reclaiming multiple campuses. Currently, the number of normally operating factories accounts for 34% of the total normally operating factories on the second layer, ranking first on the second layer…"

"To adapt to the current economic environment and rationally regulate material distribution, our university has implemented the fifteenth round of drug price adjustments. Striving to ensure the rich have access to medicine, further strictly controlling the resource acquisition rate of Qi Refining cultivators, and cracking down on the black market. Experts claim this move will benefit the corpse export industry, and related companies may see performance growth…"

In the footage, an expert said: "The university's policy has always been to strictly protect the interests of Nascent Soul and Core Formation cultivators, and to ensure the basic survival of Foundation Establishment cultivators. Qi Refining? Through natural adjustment, once enough die, materials will be sufficient. The main reason the economy has not recovered is the excessive population of low-quality people like Qi Refining cultivators, dragging down the university…"

Watching the campus news, Zhang Yu could sense that the wealthy on campus were living in a favorable environment, with the interests of Nascent Soul and Core Formation cultivators strictly safeguarded.

Rich people are richer, more valuable—they deserve to obtain more resources, and have more right to live. The poor deserve to die—who told you to have no money? This was the common thinking among normal people in Kunxu.

Zhang Yu: "Truly speechless…"

Aside from this, as a second-generation university member, Zhang Yu knew that the four Divine Transformation cultivators at the school were like four black holes, frantically devouring massive amounts of funds and resources, constantly exchanging resources with the school, all just to improve their cultivation.

Zhang Yu thought to himself: "Divine Transformation is like nuclear bombs in various countries on Earth. All high-level members of the top ten universities understand that, to face the coming war, they must spare no effort in prioritizing the power of Divine Transformation."

The situation seemed to be deteriorating day by day.

Facing the enemies gradually descending from the sky, everyone was preparing as best they could.

…

Another month passed in the blink of an eye.

Zhang Yu's Dao Heart reached level 27 (11.47%), his mana reached 3,785 units, and his physical strength increased to level 28.01.

And now, only four months had passed since his Core Formation breakthrough, and merely three months since he completed the Sage Body of the Golden Core.

"Although, because the Dao Heart couldn't keep up, I spent nearly half the time and resources on cultivating the Dao Heart, failing to reach the original goal of boosting physical strength to level 30 within three months."

"But level 27 Dao Heart, level 28 physical strength…" Zhang Yu thought to himself, "My data for these two has already solidly reached the level of late Core Formation. Only my mana is still at early to mid Core Formation level."

Besides the improvement in basic stats, Zhang Yu's Qi transmission distance also rose accordingly, reaching 312 meters.

With the continuous injection of medicines, the physical expression factors required for the seventh and eighth layers of the Dao Foundation fully manifested.

Among them, the Dao Foundation of Primordial Unity could stabilize Qi and blood, effectively resisting various diseases, and could stabilize injuries, offsetting part of the damage with mana.

The Dao Foundation of Boundless Blood Sea could increase Qi and blood, making the physical body's endurance more prolonged, and comprehensively improving resistance to various physical attacks.

Only a loud bang was heard.