Looking at the changing position in his palm, Zhang Yu couldn't help but wonder, "What does this mean?"
"Won't I die after it's filled up?"
Unfortunately, no one could answer Zhang Yu's anxiety.
After finishing his morning physical education class, Zhang Yu dragged his half-dead body to lunch with Bai Zhenzhen and Zhou Tianyi. After a short rest, he faced his afternoon classes.
The first class in the afternoon was history, taught by an elderly man with a full head of white hair.
The old man entered the classroom, sat down at the podium, opened his book, and began to lecture casually.
He seemed oblivious to whether the students below were taking advantage of the time to rest, practice breathing exercises, cultivate, or even leave the classroom to refine their bodies.
Zhang Yu wasn't interested in listening to the history teacher's lecture either. He simply flipped through the textbook quickly, constantly recalling the content in his mind and trying to understand it by combining it with his own memories.
"Kunxu has no nations; everything is monopolized and controlled by the ten major sects. Kunxu has thirty-six levels on the ground. The first level is roughly the size of two Chinas, composed of cities of varying sizes, each governed by a municipal government built by a major sect."
"Aside from anything related to immortality, the technology level in the first level seems similar to my previous life, but the lives of ordinary people seem much harder."
"The first level of Kunxu is where Zhang Yu has always lived. As for the higher levels… he's only ever seen them in TV shows and movies."
According to Zhang Yu's memories, only by passing the university entrance exam can one enter the second level of Kunxu, and only by graduating from university and joining a major sect can one ascend to higher levels.
It can be said that in Kunxu, only by mastering stronger immortality power and higher authority can one climb the ranks step by step.
And the higher the level, the more abundant the spiritual energy, the more advanced the immortality technology, and the richer the resources.
Thinking back to this, Zhang Yu couldn't help but turn back to look out the window, feeling the sunlight streaming in.
"Such a realistic sky and sunlight... Is this really inside some colossal building?"
"The first floor is twice the size of China, so how much space would the entire Kunxu take up? It must be somewhere beyond Earth, right?"
"How did I even get to this world?"
His mind unconsciously recalled the scene when he first arrived in this world, the bizarre ritual, and then he felt a wave of dizziness again.
Zhang Yu quickly shook his head. For him right now, compared to these important matters, his high school grades, living expenses, earning money, physical education... these immediate issues demanded his attention.
And thinking about grades and cultivation gave Zhang Yu another headache.
Besides the morning physical education class, the immortal cultivation grades included four subjects: Dao Heart, Mana Power, Martial Arts, and Dao Techniques.
Dao Heart accounted for 150 points, Mana Power for 150 points, Martial Arts for 100 points, and Dao Techniques for 100 points.
According to Zhang Yu's memories, his ranking had recently plummeted across the board; every subject was declining.
At this rate, it seemed only a matter of time before he was expelled from Songyang High School.
But another question arose in Zhang Yu's mind.
"Now it seems Zhang Yu's family isn't wealthy, and he doesn't possess any outstanding talent in immortal cultivation. His interviews in both his first and second years weren't very successful. How did he even get into Songyang High School?"
Zhang Yu racked his brains, only remembering that the original owner of this body had entered Songyang High School with less-than-ideal interview results.
Thinking of the original owner's family, his eyes flickered slightly, and he took out his phone and opened his contacts.
"Right, should I contact Zhang Yu's parents and sister after school?"
During the afternoon classes, Zhang Yu spent his time reviewing and organizing his memories, which deepened his understanding of the knowledge in his mind, the world, and Zhang Yu's identity.
Before he knew it, it was six o'clock, time for school to end.
School classes for the day had ended, but for most students at Songyang High School, only half the day was over. They still needed to attend their respective tutoring sessions and then study until late into the night before they could rest.
Unlike the students rushing to their tutoring classes, Zhang Yu was sitting in the empty cafeteria.
Having run out of savings and loan limits, he hadn't attended any tutoring classes for two weeks.
So, after finishing dinner, he thought for a moment and then turned on his phone.
"Let's try."
First he called Zhang Yu's mother, then his father, but both calls went unanswered.
Recalling his memories of Zhang Yu's parents and sister, he finally called his sister out of desperation.
"Zhang Yu?"
Hearing the slightly cold voice on the other end of the phone, Zhang Yu forced a smile and said, "Sis, could you lend me some money?"
After a moment of silence, just as Zhang Yu thought the other person was going to hang up, a voice came from the phone: "When you were in first grade, I told Mom and Dad that you didn't have the talent for immortality, and going down that path was a complete waste of time and money."
"After we separated, Mom believed your delusions and insisted on supporting you through high school alone. She even recently came to us to borrow money, trying to use my tutoring fees."
"Ha, and now you, this overconfident fool, are even borrowing money to cultivate immortality. To pay for your high school studies, you're already drowning in debt, aren't you?"
Faced with the accusations, Zhang Yu was speechless, because according to the memories he processed, what the other person said was true.
After his parents separated, each taking one of them, Zhang Yu and his sister, knowing his mother's income was insufficient and the family was poor, Zhang Yu, in his youthful recklessness, stubbornly took out small loans to pursue his studies, continuing a cycle of borrowing to pay off debts.
His mother, after repeatedly helping him repay his debts only to see the hole grow ever larger, finally left him.
The voice on the other end of the phone continued.
"This is the last time we'll contact each other. You'll have to pay off your own debts."
"One more piece of advice: drop out of school and work to pay off your debts."
"For the sake of our past family, I'll transfer 500 to you in a bit. That's enough to find a job before you starve to death."
Hearing the call end, Zhang Yu sighed helplessly: "At least I've got 500."
With the 500 from Bai Zhenzhen, Zhang Yu's savings finally exceeded 1000.
But walking home, the other person's advice kept echoing in Zhang Yu's mind.
"Drop out of school to work?"
Lying back on his bed in his rented room, Zhang Yu stared blankly at the slightly moldy ceiling.
His grades were plummeting, he was penniless, burdened with huge debts, and his body was breaking down… He had to admit that dropping out of school early to work seemed like a rational decision.
Just then, a sharp pain shot through his palm, and the symbol that only he could see was finally filled with black.
At the same time, a clear female voice rang out from beside him: "Kid, the invocation ritual is complete. It's time to grant three wishes."
Zhang Yu turned his head sharply and found a rag doll sitting beside his bed.
Looking at the yellowed, faded fabric, the crooked stitching, and the rag doll that looked like it might tear at any moment, he suddenly realized—wasn't this the rag doll he had seen during the strange ritual on the rooftop after arriving in this world yesterday?
The rag doll: "Hey, did you hear me? Three wishes, not one less."
Faced with the bizarre scene before him, Zhang Yu only wanted to leave.
He was no longer a naive newbie, completely ignorant of this world.
After sorting through his memories, he knew that gods in this world weren't some vague, ethereal belief, but rather administrators overseeing countless affairs, large and small, throughout Kunxu.
But these righteous gods were not something a useless cultivator like Zhang Yu could casually summon. The deities summoned by Zhang Yu's so-called invocation ritual were likely the legendary evil gods who wreaked havoc, disregarded human life, and were severely punished by the ten major sects and various righteous gods.
The stories of mortals making deals with evil gods, ultimately dying and their souls dissipating, were tales the common people of the first level of Kunxu had heard since childhood.
"Zhang Yu, having nowhere else to turn, actually went to the Evil God?"
"No wonder I get dizzy just thinking about those memories; was this also one of the Evil God's methods?"
Zhang Yu sensed danger immediately and wanted to flee, but then he stopped his trembling body.
The reason Zhang Yu sought out the Evil God was simply because he was truly desperate.
Would he spend his life toiling at the bottom of society to pay off his debts, or risk his life for a chance to continue cultivating immortality?
"Evil God! My first wish is for you to grant me 100 wishes!"
After saying this, Zhang Yu swallowed hard, nervously looking at the other party and asking, "Can you do that?"
"Heh, of course I can do something so simple."
Seeing the smile on Zhang Yu's face, the rag doll let out a sneer: "But my choice is... not to."
"Because after the invocation ritual is completed, you are the one who will grant me three wishes."
"If you choose to refuse to grant my wishes, or deliberately delay or even fail during the process, then under the backlash of the ritual, your flesh and blood will explode and your soul will be scattered."
"Alright, my first wish is for you to grant me another 1000 wishes."
Hearing this, Zhang Yu was slightly stunned, cursing inwardly: "Wait... you went through all this invocation ritual just to grant your wishes? Is this Zhang Yu an idiot? 1000 wishes? Is that even possible?"
After the rag doll finished stating its first wish, it smiled slightly, its empty eyes made of black buttons continuing to stare straight at Zhang Yu.
"Ready? I'm going to tell you my next wish."
Zhang Yu's heart tightened upon hearing this: "What kind of wish does this thing want now?"
"If I really have to grant her a thousand wishes, wouldn't I become her slave?"
"Or... a wish I can't possibly fulfill... wouldn't I be doomed?"
The doll slowly said, "I've thought it through. My next wish is... for you to help me collect a batch of antiques."
Zhang Yu swallowed hard: "Antiques?"
The doll giggled and said, "Don't worry, I've already found them for you. Just buy everything in your shopping cart."
Zhang Yu paused slightly, then took out his phone and opened his shopping cart from memory. He found it filled with various Buddha statues, altars, incense burners, wooden swords... all quite expensive, each costing tens of thousands of yuan.
And if he couldn't afford these antiques, it seemed he couldn't fulfill his wish, couldn't fulfill the evil god's wish, wouldn't he then die under the influence of the ritual?
Thinking this, Zhang Yu quickly asked, "Could you perhaps change your wish?"
"I'm afraid I can't afford so many antiques."
"Stop making excuses..." The doll's gaze sharpened, its dark eyes seeming to radiate endless malice: "Are you trying to renege on your debt? If you can't afford it, borrow it. If you can't borrow, sell your heart, liver, kidneys, spleen, and lungs. There's always a way you'll raise the money."
Zhang Yu looked at the doll seriously and slowly said, "If I do that, then I'll die to fulfill this one wish, won't I?"
The doll chuckled, "So what?"
Zhang Yu: "You choose to immediately lose someone who will help you fulfill a thousand wishes in the future."
"Or give me some time, let a future disciple of a major sect buy these antiques for you, and then go and fulfill those thousand wishes one by one..."
"Hmm?" The doll seemed... She glanced at Zhang Yu with some surprise: "Continue."
Zhang Yu: "I did the math. Even if I worked for decades on the first level of Kunxu, I probably wouldn't be able to save up that much money to buy all these antiques."
"But if I could join a major sect, I could save up that much money in just a few years."
The doll: "So?"
Zhang Yu: "It means... as long as I study hard, cultivate diligently, constantly grow stronger, get into a prestigious university, and then join a major sect after graduation, I can fulfill your wish through the sect's salary."
The doll was silent for a moment, then suddenly said: "You mean you have to study hard, then work and earn a salary, and that's how you fulfill my wish?"
"Are you kidding me?"
An overwhelming malice washed over her; the doll's eyes were like two giant black holes, threatening to suck in all the surrounding light instantly.
Zhang Yu clenched his fists, struggling to suppress his trembling legs, and stared at the rag doll before him, saying each word slowly and deliberately, "Your first wish is for me to fulfill a thousand wishes for you. Your second wish is to collect the antiques in your shopping cart."
"If I die of poverty while collecting antiques for you, how can I fulfill a thousand wishes?"
"If I know this, yet still attempt to fulfill the second wish in a way that will surely lead to my death, wouldn't that be deliberately preventing me from fulfilling the first wish?"
"Deliberately preventing myself from fulfilling the first wish would violate the requirements of the ritual, and I'm afraid I'd be killed by the ritual's backlash before even fulfilling the second wish, wouldn't I?"
"Therefore, studying hard, getting into university, and working diligently to earn money is the only feasible plan I can think of right now to achieve the first and second wishes."
After Zhang Yu finished speaking, the room fell into a deathly silence.
A moment later, the rag doll's voice rang out.
"Let me see your balance."
After seeing the balance in Zhang Yu's account and the various overdue loan notifications, the rag doll remained silent for a long time.
"This kid..." The rag doll's mind raced. "Normally, this wouldn't happen. After all, the ritual's targets are usually wealthy people; buying those antiques is just a matter of a flick of the finger."
"But this kid... this kid is too poor. So poor he can't even fulfill his first wish, creating a loophole."
"Damn it, didn't I say I was going to find a rich person?! How did I get this piece of trash?!"
After a long silence, the rag doll looked at Zhang Yu and said, "What you said... isn't entirely unreasonable."
"Fine, go study hard. I'll come back to you when you've earned enough money."
The doll sneered again, "But remember, all of this is to fulfill my wish."
"From now on, if you slack off even slightly while fulfilling my wish, you will die from the ritual's backlash."
Watching the rag doll gradually disappear, Zhang Yu let out a sharp breath, his body going limp as he collapsed onto the bed.
Suddenly, he remembered something and shouted, "Wait, this ritual... what did I get from this ritual?!"
Although he suspected his transmigration might be related to this ritual, he dared not reveal the secret directly, choosing instead to probe indirectly.
Unless absolutely necessary, he decided to keep the secret of Earth buried deep in his heart, never to be revealed again.
The rag doll vanished completely, leaving only a voice in Zhang Yu's ear: "Your potential has been unleashed, but everyone's potential is different. What exactly it is... you'll have to experience it for yourself."
Outside the room, the rag doll walked along, thinking, "This kid's aptitude is terrible. Unleashing his potential is nothing more than increasing his magic power or physical strength, right? I doubt he can even get into university, let alone join a major sect. How can he fulfill my wish?"
"But his improvisation skills are quite interesting... let me see how far you can struggle."
Inside the room, Zhang Yu watched as the black symbol in his palm gradually began to change.