No Money to Cultivate Immortality?
Chapter 54: Struggle

At White Dragon High School, Song Hailong stared at the Mana Circulation Diagram in his hand while his mana naturally flowed through his body, responding to his thoughts and aligning itself with the prescribed path on the diagram.

Years of cultivating mana with a Heavenly Spiritual Root had made him so adept that now, even without the root, he could control his mana with ease.

He’d practiced questions like this many times before, which made his movements smooth and his speed several notches faster.

Boom!

A clump of mana in his dantian suddenly burst apart under intense vibration, only to be slowly gathered back together by Song Hailong.

“First mana vibration—complete!”

“Easy! Easy! Too easy!”

My parents were handpicked from thousands for the finest genes.

I stopped sleeping at age five.

Now at eighteen, I’ve consistently ranked highest among my peers in the Song family—top scores, strongest body! The only one in my generation who’s never been suicidal, never burned out, never depressed! I am the Song family’s ace!

“All you trash on the field—what right do you have to challenge me?!”

In this moment, he was utterly focused. No stray thoughts, no distractions—only the drive to master the technique on the diagram and crush the other top students from the elite academies beneath his feet.

…

Meanwhile, at Red Tower High School, Xiong Bufan was sprawled in front of his own Mana Circulation Diagram, eyes shut tight. His fluffy tail twitched rhythmically—he was clearly at a critical stage in channeling his mana.

A competition coach watching nearby thought to himself, “Back when Bufan’s cohort was still in the breeding facility, they started him on potions straight from the womb. By the time he entered high school, he had the most elite physique of them all.”

“When the school brought him in from the protected-zone breeding facility, his meridians were already more than ten times tougher than a regular student’s. No matter how he strains himself, there’s no risk of injury.”

“Since enrollment, I’ve had him drilling mana circulation speed nonstop.”

“He’s also been practicing Body-Protection Qi for a long time.”

“This round? He’s definitely going to be the first to master this diagram.”

“Hm, we really should have the principal... naturalize more monsterkin—I mean, plan for more monsterkin students.”

“One’s just not enough. I say put four more in the team and we’re golden. The leaders still clinging to all-human squads are way too conservative. I hear the city next door already has a full monsterkin-only team.”

…

Zhang Yu had to admit it: without prior training or preparation, winning a place in this round seemed almost impossible.

This competition wasn’t just about talent or aptitude. It was a clash of financial backing, factional power, and institutional heritage.

Damn it!

Is my path in the Law Tournament already over?

Zhang Yu! Are you really going to lose to money?

…

Not far away, Ms. Yan looked at Zhang Yu’s strained expression and let out a quiet sigh.

Then she glanced around at the other Songyang High students. Some were dripping with sweat, some were pale as ghosts, and others looked like they were moments away from pooping their pants.

Ms. Yan could only shake her head in resignation.

Songyang High’s students were no match for the top scorers from the Three Great Academies. After repeatedly failing to produce any Law Tournament results, the school had given up on investing in this field altogether.

With no support from the school, their results got worse. And the worse the results, the less the school wanted to invest—a vicious cycle.

Ms. Yan understood clearly: without robust support from the institution, without relevant teaching and practice, her students were never even on the same starting line.

Just then, one student suddenly raised his hand. “I need to use the bathroom.”

Ms. Yan cursed internally. So you really were about to poop.

“Go! Quickly!”

Right at that moment, Ms. Yan heard a burst of muscle and bone snapping and popping from nearby.

She turned her head—only to see Bai Zhenzhen practicing martial arts.

Had she given up? This was a mana circulation competition! Why the heck was she throwing punches?

Zhang Yu also looked over at the sound. One glance, and he sighed inwardly.

Ah-Zhen’s snapped. She’s gone off the deep end.

Hmm?

Suddenly, something about Bai Zhenzhen’s punches struck Zhang Yu as oddly familiar—like they could slot together with something else.

The martial art she was performing was simple, just six moves repeated over and over. Zhang Yu quickly watched through the entire sequence and then it hit him—

This martial technique could actually pair with the Mana Circulation Diagram?

As the Feathered Tome updated with “Limitless Cloud Hands – Level 0,” Zhang Yu almost wanted to scoop Bai Zhenzhen up and spin her around in joy.

“Ah-Zhen!”

“You’re a saint!”

“The saving saint of Songyang High!”

The diagram was a technique for circulating mana, while Bai Zhenzhen’s punches were an external martial sequence.

Combine the two, and it became a complete combat martial technique—Limitless Cloud Hands.

An advanced-grade martial technique.

Though the focus of this technique was on internal power and less on the outward forms, the key lay in the application of mana—how to transform it into Body-Protection Qi. The six martial moves weren’t really “moves” so much as illustrative examples.

The Law Tournament had extracted only the mana diagram portion as a test question.

For most people, whether or not there were accompanying martial forms didn’t matter—they could still learn how to transform mana into Body-Protection Qi.

But for Zhang Yu, having a complete martial technique—one that could be registered in the Feathered Tome—that made all the difference in the world.

He had no idea how Bai Zhenzhen figured out the external forms, but he didn’t have time to care.

He immediately switched the Feathered Tome’s specialization to Limitless Cloud Hands and began training.

Limitless Cloud Hands – Level 0 (0/1, 15.4/5 mana)

Just once!

He only needed to practice it once—even if he botched it completely, even if it was a mess—he could still master Limitless Cloud Hands!