Chapter 284: Dao Seed Spectrum

The Feather Scroll automatically turned its pages without a breeze. Following Zhang Yu's intention, it naturally opened to the second chapter, the Dao Seed Register.

On the page, a human figure modeled after Zhang Yu appeared. However, the surrounding area was completely blank, devoid of any text, patterns, or symbols.

"What does this mean?"

Zhang Yu fell into deep thought, looking at the simple figure on the page.

He pondered over it repeatedly but couldn't figure out how the so-called Dao Seed Register worked or what its effects were.

Suddenly, Zhang Yu's gaze shifted to Yu Xinghan, who was beside him.

Previously, when Zhang Yu practiced the Seventy-Two Forms of Foundation Establishment and Body Refining, he had to go outside his dorm room due to its small size.

However, ever since he advanced the Seventy-Two Forms to Level 20 and began cultivating the Foundation Establishment Heart Refining Method, he had been practicing inside the dorm with the others.

Now, looking at Yu Xinghan, Zhang Yu noticed something appearing on him that he had never seen before.

"Three-Eyed Divine Ability? What is this?"

Three-Eyed Divine Ability (Spiritual Root)

This line of text was like a label, affixed to Yu Xinghan's chest.

As Zhang Yu focused his attention on this label, he perceived an abstruse, indescribable sensation or, rather, information from it.

"This is a Dao Seed?"

Zhang Yu tried to mentally describe what he perceived: "All beings in heaven and earth possess varying potentials and talents on the path of immortality."

"A 'Dao Seed,' so to speak, is the essence of a cultivator's inherent potential, symbolizing their talent for immortal cultivation, though it's often not yet fully awakened."

"By assisting others in developing their Dao Seeds, the Dao Seed Register can copy and record them, then apply them to me."

Zhang Yu thought to himself, "In short, a Dao Seed can be considered a person's talent for immortal cultivation. If I help develop it, I can eventually copy one for myself."

At this thought, Zhang Yu's heart filled with anticipation. While mentally summarizing the function of the Dao Seed Register, he also looked toward Le Mulan and Zhang Pianpian.

He saw that Le Mulan had: Deep Cold Dharma Vein (Mana).

However, Zhang Pianpian had nothing discernible, showing no information about a Dao Seed.

Zhang Yu wondered, "Given my sister's performance, how could she not have immortal cultivation talent? No Dao Seed?"

"It must be that certain conditions need to be met to see another person's Dao Seed."

"And I haven't yet fulfilled the requirements to see my sister's Dao Seed."

Unable to immediately grasp the full implications, Zhang Yu temporarily set it aside and focused on observing the Dao Seeds on Yu Xinghan and Le Mulan, sensing the profound aura contained within them.

As he observed, he gradually comprehended more information.

"Dao Seeds are categorized by type. Yu Xinghan's Three-Eyed Divine Ability is a Spiritual Root-type Dao Seed, while Le Mulan's Deep Cold Dharma Vein is a Mana-type Dao Seed."

"Only one Dao Seed of the same type can be active at any given time."

At this thought, Zhang Yu smiled: "But that means different types of Dao Seeds can be active simultaneously."

Zhang Yu continued to sense the mysterious aura emanating from their Dao Seeds and realized: "To develop Yu Xinghan's Three-Eyed Divine Ability, I need to help him increase his spiritual root's integration level to at least 90%."

"For Le Mulan's Deep Cold Dharma Vein, I need to breathe in spiritual energy with her and circulate mana into her body, using high-quality mana to help her improve her own mana quality."

Recalling the instructions from his mana class, Zhang Yu estimated that his own mana quality needed to be sufficiently high before he could inject it into Le Mulan.

"If her mana quality increases to over 150, this Deep Cold Dharma Vein can be developed."

Despite learning this, Zhang Yu didn't immediately rush to cultivate with Yu Xinghan or Le Mulan. Instead, he closed his eyes and first calmed the surging emotions in his heart.

"The Dao Seed Register effectively adds a new dimension to my growth, allowing me to collect numerous immortal cultivation talents for myself."

The thought filled Zhang Yu with an unspeakable excitement; he could almost see his path to immortality broadening and his own figure continuously ascending to the peak.

"But... don't rush, Zhang Yu."

In fact, while learning about the Dao Seed Register, impulses constantly surged within Zhang Yu, making him wish he could start experimenting immediately, ideally developing Yu Xinghan's and Le Mulan's Dao Seeds on the spot and then copying them to himself.

"However, cultivation is not something to be rushed."

"Besides, with my current abilities, I'm not capable of developing their Dao Seeds."

Zhang Yu gradually calmed the turmoil and impulses in his heart, and his mind regained its composure and rationality.

"Given the current situation, my top priority is to first cultivate foundational techniques, master the University Saint Physique, and improve my future cultivation efficiency. Afterward, everything I do will yield twice the results with half the effort."

When Zhang Yu first acquired the High School Saint Physique, his biggest regret was that it came too late.

Therefore, he was determined not to repeat the same mistake this time. He would first master the University Saint Physique to enhance his cultivation efficiency before embarking on other forms of training.

"As the saying goes, 'sharpening the axe does not delay the chopping of wood'..."

Having made up his mind, Zhang Yu cast aside all distracting thoughts and once again dedicated himself fully to cultivating the Foundation Establishment Heart Refining Method.

For the following period, Zhang Yu devoted himself entirely to cultivating foundational techniques for the Foundation Establishment stage, outside of his daily class hours.

As for Zhang Yu's daily meals, the synthetic food he brought gradually ran out, and he transitioned to medicines from the second layer.

One day, at mealtime again, Yu Xinghan asked, "Who has a discount today?"

Le Mulan replied, "I drew a coupon."

"Three-month installment payment, with no handling fee."

Stores appeared one by one in Yu Xinghan's mind's eye. "Which one should we order from?"

Zhang Pianpian, standing nearby, suggested, "Let's go with 'Capsules Betting a Pharmacist's Career.' Their medicines are factory-produced and not reprocessed after reaching the store; they aren't handmade, so the quality is guaranteed."

Moments later, a knock echoed at the door, followed by the delivery person's shout: "Your compounded medicine has arrived!"

Yu Xinghan quickly opened the door to get the delivery and saw the delivery person, moving like lightning, dropping packages of compounded medicine at the surrounding dorm room doors.

He didn't mind, as the compounded medicine, paid in installments, was indeed very cheap.

Yu Xinghan thought to himself, "University students, it's the age when they should use their bodies to earn money and feast on compounded medicine."

Opening the delivery package, he first took out the edible cement provided by the store as a bonus, then began distributing the medicine.

Zhang Yu received a handful of stamina capsules, nutrition capsules, and vitality capsules, swallowing them all in one go.

The stamina capsules restored physical energy consumed during cultivation, the nutrition capsules provided various nutrients the body needed, and the vitality capsules were more comprehensive than nerve fillers, restoring mental energy while completely eliminating the need for cultivators to sleep.

After swallowing the medicine, Zhang Yu remarked, "It's certainly cheap."

"Even with the huge physical consumption from daily cultivation, requiring six doses of medicine per day, it only costs about 0.02 spirit coins a month, or 0.24 spirit coins a year."

On the other side, after taking his medicine, Yu Xinghan felt its power gradually dissolving in his stomach, sending warm currents throughout his limbs and bones.

However, during this process, Yu Xinghan felt his gastrointestinal digestion intensifying, like a ravenous beast greedily consuming everything within, even threatening to digest his own stomach and intestines due to a lack of food.

Yu Xinghan quickly popped a piece of cement into his mouth and swallowed it with a frown, only then feeling his digestive tract gradually calm down.

Having done all this, he felt the cement weighing in his stomach and looked enviously at Zhang Yu beside him. "It must be great not having to eat cement like this guy."

Meanwhile, Le Mulan, hearing Zhang Yu's comment about the low cost, cautioned, "But long-term consumption of these will burden your internal organs, easily leading to liver and kidney damage, immune system suppression, and cardiovascular problems. Crucially, the longer you take them... the more likely they are to induce cancer."

"Any money you save will then be lost to medical expenses."

Le Mulan knew this wasn't related to drug or elixir toxicity but rather the side effects of prolonged medication use on the body, information passed down to her by elders from the Le family on the second layer.

Zhang Pianpian nodded. "Remember, after at most five years of taking these, you should switch to Grain Abstinence Pills, otherwise the risks will start to outweigh the benefits."

Upon hearing this, Fu Ji remarked, "If you can't earn enough money in your youth to afford Grain Abstinence Pills, you'll gradually develop a host of ailments. The money you saved will go towards treatment, and to save for treatment, you'll continue taking medicine... Heh heh, these pharmaceutical companies on the second layer really profit both ways. That's why people from the first layer can't stay there."

She told Zhang Yu, "After you achieve success in cultivation, you still need to earn money quickly and strive to start taking Grain Abstinence Pills as soon as possible."

After taking the medicine, Zhang Yu continued his cultivation without a moment's pause.

Days later, he not only raised the Foundation Establishment Heart Refining Method to Level 20 but also elevated the Foundation Establishment Breathing Method to Level 20 and advanced the Martial Arts Force Guide to Level 12.

Zhang Yu thought to himself, "Once this Martial Arts Force Guide is fully cultivated, I'll have completed four of the techniques required for the University Saint Physique, with six more to go."

Seeing Zhang Yu's deep immersion in foundational techniques, Yu Xinghan couldn't help but remind him, "Classes have been ongoing for over a week, why are you still only cultivating foundational techniques?"

"Your stats haven't really increased, your overall score is stagnant, and your ranking has already dropped one spot."

The so-called 'overall score' was Universal Law University's comprehensive evaluation of a student, based on factors such as academic credits, exam results, competition achievements, and projects, which also included foundational data like the student's Dao heart, mana, and physical strength.

For the freshmen in the Foundation Establishment class, basic data temporarily accounted for the majority of their overall score since the semester had just begun.

Zhang Yu glanced at his ranking, which had dropped to 14th in the class, but said nonchalantly, "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

He thought to himself, "If I can't even accept temporarily falling behind for the sake of accumulating strength, then what kind of immortal cultivation am I pursuing? What kind of Dao heart am I refining?"

He stood outside the dorm room, his hands and feet twitching rapidly, creating afterimages as he performed distorted and contorted movements.

It was as if any technique in his hands would become warped and deformed, giving off an impression of extreme perfunctoriness and laziness.

"It's fast... but it's also incredibly sloppy."

Yu Xinghan, watching this scene, secretly shook his head, truly unable to understand what Zhang Yu was doing.

Zhang Yu's intense focus on foundational techniques was already perplexing, but practicing them in such a perfunctory manner made it even more incomprehensible.

"Never mind, do as you please."

Zhang Pianpian also observed Zhang Yu's cultivation but chose not to interfere.

She thought to herself, "My brother's mysterious talent is not to be underestimated. There must be a reason for his approach."

Instead of trying to manage Zhang Yu's ideas, Zhang Pianpian grew curious about the outcome of his cultivation method.

On the other hand, Le Mulan had not yet reached Foundation Establishment, so she had even fewer thoughts on the cultivation arrangements of a Foundation Establishment Ancestor.

That very night, Bai Zhenzhen's package finally arrived.

When Zhang Yu opened the package and smelled the rich aroma of meat emanating from it, he noticed Yu Xinghan, Le Mulan, and Zhang Pianpian all turning their heads towards him.

Yu Xinghan exclaimed excitedly, "Is that jerky from Bai Zhenzhen?"

Zhang Yu nodded slightly, then looked at the three and said, "Come, let's eat some together."

After taking and eating the jerky, a hint of happiness and joy appeared on all three of their faces.

After eating, Zhang Yu also felt an indescribable sense of joy.

That night, when he reconnected with Bai Zhenzhen, he curiously asked about the origin of the jerky. Bai Zhenzhen simply smiled and said, "If it tastes good, I'll send you more."

"This is 'Joy Jerky.' Eating it boosts your mood, counteracts negative emotions, and makes you more proactive in studying and cultivating."

"This is precious stuff. Just the four of you should eat it. Make sure no one else sees it."

In the following days, Zhang Yu continued his deep immersion in foundational techniques. In the blink of an eye, several more days passed, and he finally accumulated six techniques at Level 20 for the University Saint Physique.

Junior University Saint Physique (6/6): Medicine tolerance, absorption, and metabolic capabilities enhanced to Foundation Establishment Peak.