Zhang Yu stared at the changes in the palm of his hand, unable to suppress his thoughts.
"What does this even mean? Am I going to die once it’s completely filled?"
Unfortunately, no one could answer the unease brewing in his heart.
After finishing his morning physical education class, Zhang Yu dragged his half-dead body to have lunch with Bai Zhenzhen and Zhou Tianyi.
After a short rest, the afternoon classes began.
The first class of the afternoon was history, taught by an elderly man with a head full of white hair.
The old man entered the classroom, sat behind the podium, and began lecturing without much care for whether the students were resting, meditating, cultivating, or even leaving the classroom to train their bodies.
Zhang Yu had no interest in the history teacher’s lecture.
Instead, he quickly flipped through the textbook, recalling its contents and combining them with his own memories to gain a deeper understanding.
"Kunxu has no nations. Everything is monopolized and controlled by the ten great sects. Kunxu has thirty-six layers above ground. The first layer is roughly twice the size of China, composed of cities of varying sizes, each managed by a city government established by a major sect."
"Aside from matters related to the immortal path, the technological level of the first layer seems similar to my previous life, but the lives of ordinary people seem much harder."
"The first layer of Kunxu is where Zhang Yu has always lived. As for the layers above… he’s only seen them in movies and TV shows."
From what Zhang Yu could recall, only by getting into university could one ascend to the second layer of Kunxu.
And only after graduating and joining a major sect could one climb even higher.
In Kunxu, only by mastering stronger immortal path powers and gaining higher authority could one rise step by step.
The higher the layer, the more abundant the spiritual energy, the more advanced the immortal path techniques, and the more abundant the resources.
As he thought about this, Zhang Yu couldn’t help but look out the window, feeling the sunlight pouring down from the sky.
"Such a real sky and sunlight… Is this really inside some supermassive structure? The first layer alone is twice the size of China. How much space does the entire Kunxu occupy? It must not be on Earth anymore, right?"
"How did I even end up in this world?"
Unconsciously, his mind drifted back to the moment he first arrived in this world, recalling the strange ritual, and then a wave of dizziness hit him again.
Zhang Yu quickly shook his head.
For him right now, compared to these grand questions, things like high school grades, living expenses, making money, and physical education class were far more pressing.
Thinking about his grades and cultivation, Zhang Yu felt another headache coming on.
Aside from the morning physical education class, his immortal path grades were divided into four subjects: Dao Heart, Mana, Martial Arts, and Dao Techniques.
Dao Heart was worth 150 points, Mana 150 points, Martial Arts 100 points, and Dao Techniques 100 points.
From what he could recall, his grades had been slipping across the board recently.
Not a single subject was improving.
At this rate, it seemed only a matter of time before he was expelled from Songyang High School.
Another question popped into Zhang Yu’s mind.
"Looking at it now, Zhang Yu’s family isn’t wealthy, and he doesn’t have any outstanding talent in the immortal path. Neither his first nor second-year interviews seemed successful. So how did he even get into Songyang High School?"
Zhang Yu racked his brain but could only remember that the original Zhang Yu had entered Songyang High School despite less-than-ideal interview results.
Thinking about the original Zhang Yu’s family, his eyes flickered slightly, and he pulled out his phone to check his contacts.
"Should I contact Zhang Yu’s parents and sister after school?"
Throughout the afternoon classes, Zhang Yu spent his time reviewing and organizing the memories in his mind.
This allowed him to gain a deeper understanding of the knowledge in his head, this world, and Zhang Yu’s identity.
Before he knew it, it was 6 PM, and school was over.
While most Songyang High School students still had to attend tutoring sessions and study late into the night, Zhang Yu sat alone in the empty cafeteria.
Having run out of savings and borrowing limits, he had stopped attending tutoring sessions two weeks ago.
After finishing dinner, he pondered for a moment and decided to make a call.
"Let’s give it a try."
He first called Zhang Yu’s mother, then his father, but both calls went unanswered.
Recalling the memories of Zhang Yu’s parents and sister, he reluctantly called his sister.
"Zhang Yu?"
Hearing the cold voice on the other end, Zhang Yu steeled himself and said, "Sis, can you lend me some money?"
After a moment of silence, just as Zhang Yu thought she would hang up, her voice came through.
"Back in first grade, I told Mom and Dad that you had no talent for the immortal path. Pursuing this path is a complete waste of time and money."
"After the separation, Mom believed in your delusions and stubbornly tried to support you through high school on her own. She even came to us recently to borrow money, wanting to dip into my tutoring funds."
"Hah, and now you, this overconfident fool, have taken out loans to cultivate. To study in high school, you’ve already racked up a mountain of debt, haven’t you?"
Faced with her accusations, Zhang Yu had no retort.
From the memories he had sorted through, she wasn’t wrong.
After their parents separated, knowing full well that their mother’s income wasn’t enough and the family had no money, the original Zhang Yu had been overly ambitious, taking out loans to cultivate and now drowning in debt.
And after repeatedly helping him pay off his debts, only to find the hole growing larger each time, their mother had finally left him.
The voice on the phone continued, "This is the last time we’ll be in contact. The debts you’ve accumulated are yours to pay."
"Here’s some advice: drop out and go work to pay off your debts."
"Out of consideration for the fact that we were once family, I’ll send you 500. That should be enough to find a job before you starve to death."
Hearing the call end, Zhang Yu sighed in resignation.
"At least I got 500."
Adding the 500 Bai Zhenzhen had given him, Zhang Yu’s savings had finally surpassed 1000.
But as he walked home, his sister’s advice kept echoing in his mind.
"Drop out and go work?"
Lying back on the bed in his rented room, Zhang Yu stared blankly at the moldy ceiling.
Falling grades, penniless, buried in debt, his body on the verge of collapse… He had to admit that dropping out early and finding a job seemed like a rational decision.
Just then, a sharp pain shot through his palm.
The symbol that only he could see had finally been completely filled with black.
At the same time, a clear female voice rang out beside him.
"Kid, the summoning ritual is complete. It’s time to fulfill three wishes."
Zhang Yu turned his head sharply and saw a ragdoll sitting on the edge of his bed.
Looking at the faded, threadbare doll with crooked stitching that seemed ready to fall apart at any moment, he suddenly realized—this was the same doll he had seen during the strange ritual on the rooftop after arriving in this world.
The doll spoke, "Hey, did you hear me? Three wishes, not one less."
Faced with this bizarre scene, Zhang Yu just wanted to leave.
He was no longer the clueless newcomer to this world.
After sorting through his memories, he knew that gods in this world weren’t some abstract belief but actual beings who managed countless affairs across Kunxu.
But these true gods weren’t something a talentless cultivator like Zhang Yu could casually summon.
The so-called summoning ritual he had performed must have called upon one of the evil gods—those who wreaked havoc, disregarded human life, and were fiercely suppressed by the ten great sects and the true gods.
The stories of mortals making deals with evil gods, only to meet gruesome ends, were tales every child in the first layer of Kunxu grew up hearing.
"So Zhang Yu, in his desperation, turned to an evil god?"
"No wonder I feel dizzy whenever I think about those memories. Is this the evil god’s doing?"
Zhang Yu immediately sensed danger and wanted to leave, but then he stopped his trembling body.
The original Zhang Yu had turned to the evil god because he truly had no other options.
Should he spend his life toiling at the bottom to pay off his debts, or risk his life for a chance to continue cultivating?
"Evil god! My first wish is for you to grant me 100 wishes!"
After saying this, Zhang Yu swallowed nervously and asked, "Can you do that?"
"Haha, of course I can do something so simple," the doll chuckled.
"But my choice is… not to."
"Because after the summoning ritual is complete, it’s you who must fulfill my three wishes."
"If you refuse to fulfill my wishes, or if you deliberately delay or fail in fulfilling them, you will suffer the backlash of the ritual, your flesh exploding and your soul scattering."
"Alright, my first wish is for you to fulfill 1000 wishes for me."
Hearing this, Zhang Yu was momentarily stunned.
"What the… So this summoning ritual is just for me to fulfill your wishes? Was Zhang Yu an idiot? 1000 wishes? Is this even possible?"
After stating her first wish, the doll smiled slightly, her black button eyes staring straight at Zhang Yu.
"Ready? I’m about to state my next wish."
Hearing this, Zhang Yu’s heart tightened.
"What kind of wish is this thing going to make next?"
"If I really have to fulfill 1000 wishes for her, wouldn’t I become her slave?"
"Or… what if she makes a wish I can’t possibly fulfill? Wouldn’t that mean certain death for me?"
The doll spoke slowly, "I’ve decided. My next wish is… for you to collect a batch of antiques for me."
Zhang Yu swallowed hard.
"Antiques?"
The doll giggled, "Don’t worry, I’ve already picked them out for you. Just buy everything in your shopping cart."
Zhang Yu paused, then took out his phone and opened his shopping cart.
He found it filled with various items—Buddha statues, altars, incense burners, wooden swords… all of them expensive, with each item costing tens of thousands.
If he couldn’t afford these antiques, he wouldn’t be able to fulfill the wish.
And if he couldn’t fulfill the evil god’s wish, wouldn’t he die from the ritual’s backlash?
Thinking this, Zhang Yu quickly asked, "Could you… change the wish? I probably can’t afford all these antiques."
"Making excuses…" The doll’s eyes narrowed, and an endless malice seemed to pour out from her black button eyes.
"Are you trying to renege? If you can’t afford it, borrow. If you can’t borrow, sell your heart, liver, kidneys, spleen, and lungs. There’s always a way to get the money."
Zhang Yu looked at the doll seriously and said slowly, "If I do that, wouldn’t I die trying to fulfill this one wish?"
The doll chuckled, "So what?"
Zhang Yu replied, "You’d be losing someone who could fulfill a thousand wishes for you in the future."
"Or you could give me some time, and let a future disciple of a major sect buy these antiques for you, and then one by one… fulfill those thousand wishes."
"Hmm?" The doll looked at Zhang Yu with some surprise.
"Go on."
Zhang Yu continued, "I’ve calculated that even if I worked for decades in the first layer of Kunxu, I probably still couldn’t afford these antiques."
"But if I can join a major sect, I could save up enough money in just a few years."
The doll asked, "So?"
Zhang Yu explained, "What I mean is… as long as I study hard, cultivate diligently, grow stronger, get into a prestigious university, and then join a major sect after graduation, I can use the sect’s salary to fulfill your wishes."
The doll fell silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "You’re saying you’ll study hard, get a job, and earn a salary to fulfill my wishes?"
"Are you messing with me?"
An overwhelming malice surged forth, the doll’s eyes like two massive black holes, threatening to suck in all the light around them.
Zhang Yu clenched his fists, trying to suppress the trembling in his legs, and stared at the doll as he spoke word by word, "Your first wish is for me to fulfill 1000 wishes for you. The second wish is to collect the antiques in my shopping cart."
"If I go broke trying to collect these antiques, how can I fulfill 1000 wishes?"
"If I knowingly choose a path that leads to certain death in fulfilling the second wish, wouldn’t that be deliberately failing to fulfill the first wish?"
"Deliberately failing to fulfill the first wish would violate the ritual’s requirements, and I’d likely die from the backlash before even completing the second wish, right?"
"So studying hard, getting into university, and working diligently to earn money is the only feasible plan I can think of to fulfill both the first and second wishes."
After Zhang Yu finished speaking, the room fell into a deathly silence.
After a while, the doll’s voice rang out.
"Let me see your balance."
After seeing the balance in Zhang Yu’s account and the overdue loan notifications, the doll remained silent for a long time.
"This kid…" The doll’s thoughts raced.
"Normally, this wouldn’t happen. The ritual is supposed to target wealthy individuals. Buying those antiques should be as easy as lifting a finger."
"But this kid… this kid is too poor. So poor that he can’t even fulfill the first wish, creating a loophole."
"Damn it, wasn’t I supposed to find a rich person? How did I end up with this guy?"
After a long silence, the doll looked at Zhang Yu and said, "What you’re saying… does make some sense."
"Fine, go study hard. I’ll come back to you once you’ve earned enough money."
With that, the doll chuckled again.
"But remember, all of this is to fulfill my wishes."
"If you slack off at any point while fulfilling my wishes, you’ll die from the ritual’s backlash."
Watching the doll gradually disappear, Zhang Yu let out a deep breath and collapsed onto the bed.
Suddenly, he remembered something and shouted, "Wait, this ritual… what did I even gain from it?"
Though he suspected his transmigration might be related to the ritual, he didn’t dare to reveal this secret directly and instead chose to probe indirectly.
Unless absolutely necessary, he decided to keep the secret of Earth buried deep within him, never to be revealed.
The doll vanished completely, leaving only a voice in Zhang Yu’s ears.
"Your potential has been awakened, but everyone’s potential is different. What exactly it is… you’ll have to find out for yourself."
Outside the room, the doll walked away, thinking, "This kid’s talent is terrible. Awakening his potential probably just boosted his mana or physical strength a bit. I doubt he’ll even get into university, let alone join a major sect. How’s he supposed to fulfill my wishes?"
"But his quick thinking was interesting… Let’s see how far he can struggle."
Inside the room, Zhang Yu watched as the black symbol in his palm began to change.
(End of Chapter)