Amid the fierce clash on the tournament fieldâŠ
The group chat buzzed with ongoing analysis. Zhang Yu, Shi Huaiyu, and the others continued discussing the situation.
Shi Huaiyu: Zhang Yu, you guys have definitely slowed their progress.
Shi Huaiyu: But Su Yanyangâs construction ability is overwhelmingâtheir Spirit Vein share has already exceeded 50%.
Che Yufei: Then why hasnât he launched his offensive yet?
Shi Huaiyu: Knowing Su Yanyang, heâs probably stockpiling the arrayâs power. Heâll wait until the final seconds of the match to unleash a cataclysmic strikeâ
Shi Huaiyu: One that maximizes damage while giving us zero time to repair.
Xiao Qingxuan: Heâs trying to drag our completion rate below 20%. Maybe even under 10%.
Xiao Qingxuan: After all, the outcome of this battle will indirectly determine who makes the top seven.
Yu Xinghan, sitting on the bench, was puzzled by Xiao Qingxuanâs comment and turned to Ying Xin beside him.
Ying Xin explained, âThe strongest teams among the top ten are obviously Mo Shangjinâs and Xuan Liangtianâs. Theyâve mastered the Heavenly Kunlun Mountain-Moving Might, and every team member is a monster.â
âBut their opponents drew the short stick. Their scores this round are going to tank.â
âAmong the remaining matchups, the biggest power gap is between our team and Su Yanyangâs.â
âIf our completion rate gets pushed below 20%, thereâs a high chance weâll join Mo Shangjin and Xuan Liangtianâs opponents in the bottom three.â
Yu Xinghan immediately got it. âSo once the bottom three are set, the other teams automatically make the top seven. That means Su Yanyangâs team locks in their reward from the Civil Engineering Seven Absolutes.â
Ying Xin nodded. âWhich is why Su Yanyang will go all out to crush us.â
The regular team members had either figured this out already or were clued in during the match.
Everyone knew Su Yanyang was channeling the array, absorbing spiritual energy, and storing it like a spring being wound tighter and tighter, waiting to unleash a devastating final attack.
Zhang Yuâs side wasnât just waiting for doomâthey were making their own preparations to resist.
As the final three minutes of the match arrived, the entire arena began to tremble.
Shi Huaiyu sensed the quaking of the simulated Spirit Veins below and his eyes sharpened. âItâs here!â
The earth surged like a tidal wave. At the crest of that wave stood Su Yanyang, hovering midair with the aid of his Law Husk, standing atop the rising mudflow like a war god.
At that moment, he had complete command of the grand array. At his will, the built-up spiritual energy roared forth. The underground Spirit Veins shifted according to his commands, and the terrain morphed under his control.
He intended to flatten the opposing bunker completelyâdrive their completion rate under 10% and cement his teamâs place in the top seven.
âShi Huaiyu, Zhang Yu, Xiao QingxuanâŠâ
Gazing toward the opposing worksite, Su Yanyang declared coldly, âYour defeat today isnât to meâitâs to new technologies in intelligent construction and financial innovation.â
âYour loss is a loss of techniqueâand a loss of vision.â
Zhang Yu darted toward the worksite at full speed, thinking to himself, âHeâs saying this because he knows half the faculty is watching the livestream, isnât he?â
âŠ
In the Spiritual Realm projection spaceâ
Some faculty members nodded in agreement.
âSu Yanyang is right,â one professor commented. âInterdisciplinary innovationâintegrating smart tech, IT, and financial techniquesâis the key to revitalizing traditional industries.â
Wei Huai nodded repeatedly. âWithout financial innovation and smart tech support, how could intelligent construction or next-gen civil engineering be possible?â
As the peace-faction and neutral-faction professors praised each other, Tu Lishan sneered inwardly.
He remembered how, back when True Lord Lingyue was still hands-on, heâd pushed for cooperation between the Civil Engineering Department and the Sigil Department to promote smart construction across multiple city layers.
But once True Lord Lingyue grew preoccupied with longevity, that initiative fell by the wayside.
Though related courses still existed, very few projects saw real application.
Meanwhile, the Finance and Sigil Departments had always maintained deep cooperation, constantly launching new financial innovations and Spiritual Realm finance tools.
âCould it be that the peace and neutral factions have teamed up again and dragged the Sigil Department into this? Trying to push smart construction even further?â
With that thought, Tu Lishan frowned, looking at the duel between Zhang Yu and Su Yanyang as if watching a lone warrior fighting the entire peace and neutral faction front.
Just then, Su Yanyang abruptly paused mid-cast.
âWhatâs going on? A malfunction?â a professor asked in surprise.
âDid the array overload?â another speculated.
True Lord Lingyue replied calmly, âNo need to worry. Intelligent buildings have self-diagnosticsâitâll detect the issue soon.â
Indeed, Su Yanyang soon located the problem using the buildingâs self-check. Multiple spiritual energy circuits had malfunctioned.
Lang Yougong used the replay function and narrowed his eyes. âHeh. Turns out Zhang Yu digested the stolen construction materials and spat them back out. Then Tian Yang used the byproduct to block some of the key energy nodes.â
âFine during normal operationâbut at full output, it triggers failures.â
As the feed showed Su Yanyangâs site littered with digested materialâZhang Yuâs handiworkâmany teachers thought the same thing:
This kid can really eat. If he ever works on my site, Iâll have to monitor him 24/7.
Wei Huai shook his head. âA momentâs delay at bestânot much value.â
Sure enough, after brief repairs, Su Yanyang had the system back online with two minutes remaining.
âŠ
Though interrupted, Su Yanyangâs expression didnât waver. He resumed his previous actions without hesitation.
Raising both arms, he forcefully drew on the Spirit Veins. The entire field shook violently.
Shockwaves traveled through the earth like surging magma, roaring straight toward Zhang Yuâs bunker.
The land cracked. Mud and sand erupted. Everything in the arena seemed on the verge of annihilation. Even Zhang Yuâs bunker quaked violently.
Inside and outside the structure, Zhang Yu and his team members flew about, stabilizing the bunker with torrents of Martial Qi.
âŠ
In the Spiritual Realmâ
Lang Yougong nodded. âSome of the high-density materials Zhang Yu created were hauled in by Tian Yang to reinforce the bunker.â
âThey even used bone ash in a blood-ritual to enhance the structure.â
âAnd theyâre constantly repairing during the assault. This quake alone shouldnât be enough to topple it.â
Wei Huai said coolly, âThatâs just the prelude.â
Twenty seconds later, the quake ebbed. One hundred seconds remained in the match.
And Su Yanyangâs real offensive began.
After the terrain shift and Spirit Vein draw, vast torrents of mud and debris transformed into howling floodwaters. They surged toward the bunker with world-ending momentum, aiming to swallow Zhang Yu and his team whole.
From a distance, the mudflow looked like a pack of black dragons charging in with claws bared.
With a series of roars, Zhang Yu and his five teammates flexed and transformedâmuscles bulging, bones shiftingâgrowing to heights of six to ten meters.
As giants, they unleashed waves of Martial Qi, blasting into the oncoming sludge.
Under their cover, the force of the mudslide weakenedâbut the aftershocks still slammed into the bunker, causing tremors.
Wei Huai said, âTheir mana reserves are already drained. They wonât last long under this.â
As the attacks sapped their strength and more of the mudslide broke through, the bunker trembled harder.
Che Yufei shrank his aura and dove into the bunker.
Lang Yougongâs eyes flashed. âFake-Death Foundation Stake? Heâs putting himself into a near-death state to temporarily act as a Foundation Stake and stabilize the structure.â
The professors nearby raised their brows but didnât comment.
Tu Lishan knew this methodâusing near-death workers as fake Foundation Stakes to pass inspectionsâwas a shady trick never taught in class, but quietly acknowledged among civil engineering circles.
Despite their combined efforts, the relentless flood buried one and a half stories of the three-story bunker.
Su Yanyang sneered. âLook at your methods.â
âStealing materials, eating materials, defecating all over my siteâand now youâre even using fake stakes.â
âYou really think these underhanded tactics can stand against me?â
âNo money, no techâand you think outdated tricks can beat state-of-the-art intelligent construction?â
His words earned approving nods from many non-War Faction professors.
With 60 seconds remaining, Su Yanyang launched his final assault.
The terrain beneath the bunker began to deform.
With a deafening
boom
, massive sinkholes opened around the bunker. The ground had begun to collapse.
Shi Huaiyu roared, âRise!â
Activating Small Threefold Harmony, the mud and sand loosened from the bunkerâs foundation.
Simultaneously, Shi Huaiyu and Zhang Yu unleashed the Xuanhuang Mountain-Suppressing Seal, channeling waves of Xuanhuang Qi into the structure, reducing its effective weight.
Then, with a unified shoutâ
They began to lift the entire bunker into the air.
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