The Hidden Peril Beneath Prosperity: A Familiar Yet Unfamiliar Figure

The divine realm's system is vast and complex, yet it primarily revolves around two mainstream paths: cultivation and technology.

Perhaps it would be more accurate to describe them as "primary disciplines" and "secondary disciplines." Primary disciplines represent foundational categories, while secondary disciplines delve into specialized branches.

Take, for example, the First People's Elementary School of Cloud Summit Prefecture.

Students are divided into "tech students" and "cultivation students," representing the two major categories—akin to liberal arts and martial arts.

Cultivation students face an entry barrier: the aptitude test for cultivation. Those who fail can only abandon the martial path and turn to the scholarly one.

Although ordinary adults in the divine realm possess physical strength comparable to the Tribulation Transcendence stage, having raw attributes without corresponding abilities merely makes them slightly stronger than average—perhaps even weaker than a third or fourth-grade elementary school cultivation student.

Tech students, belonging to the scholarly path, have no entry barrier, but the demands on their talent are even higher!

Most can muddle through graduation, even if it takes a few extra years of repeating grades. Some linger into their twenties without finishing elementary school, opting instead to drop out and idle away their lives.

But to achieve greatness and advance to higher institutions, the requirements for talent become exceedingly stringent!

Chen Yi watched with a peculiar expression as a first-grade tech student boy on the playground went toe-to-toe with a third-grade cultivation student.

This kid was a prodigy!

A first-grader capable of creating what only fifth or sixth graders should be able to—wasn’t this like solving equations right after learning basic arithmetic?

"A cultivation student’s elementary graduation means becoming a genuine Tribulation Transcendence cultivator. Passing the Heavenly Tribulation exam grants entry into secondary academies. But a tech student’s graduation exam is... handcrafting a controlled nuclear fusion weapon?"

"Impressive!"

Chen Yi sighed ruefully. In a way, he was just another elementary school graduate in the divine realm—a societal drifter. Or rather, an abnormal entity.

Shaking his head, he left the First People's Elementary School and drifted toward a higher-tier institution:

Cloud Summit Academy.

Its gates stood nestled among mountain ranges, yet its main campus floated among the stars.

After all, the students here were, at minimum, pseudo-immortal cultivators or scientists capable of crafting planet-destroying weapons. The cities had no space for their experiments, so the academy naturally relocated to the boundless cosmos.

Chen Yi drifted into a lecture hall of the "Primordial Chaos Institute."

This was a cultivation student’s specialized classroom.

Thirty-six spirit-gathering lamps suspended from the dome cast a soft glow, enhancing focus and enlightenment.

Holographic screens arranged in a ring flickered to life as a white-robed alchemy professor lightly waved his horsetail whisk. Diagrams of a bronze alchemy furnace and a quantum smelter disassembled and overlapped midair, bursting with radiant spiritual light.

"Observe, students. The ancient method of refining a Nine Revolutions Golden Elixir requires forty-nine days of nurturing. Yet, the quantum catalytic chamber developed by the Science Academy reduces this to merely three hours. While speed has improved, the Dao resonance within the elixir—something a quantum entanglement energy field cannot replicate—still requires an alchemist’s infusion of Dao..."

"Last class, we covered Dao infusion. Today, your task is to practice it using the semi-finished Nine Revolutions Golden Elixir produced by the quantum smelter. In seven days, I will randomly select a few of you to demonstrate!"

The three hundred and sixty floating meditation cushions below immediately tensed as students hastily activated their techniques to begin the experiment.

Even Chen Yi, who had drifted in as an observer, was swept up in the atmosphere. He floated around the hall, inspecting the students like a wandering invigilator.

Of course, he existed outside this ancient timeline—none could see him. Otherwise, they’d be sweating bullets!

"Fascinating. Truly fascinating. Brilliant!"

Chen Yi—now self-appointed as Invigilator Yi—couldn’t help but marvel like an awestruck spectator.

This was supposed to be a cultivation student’s examination hall, yet traces of tech students’ innovations were everywhere.

A youth in the front row formed hand seals, manipulating a spirit-patterned chip to code a Dao resonance collection program into his wrist-mounted artifact terminal. This made infusing the semi-finished elixir twice as efficient...

A slacker in the back row cheated outright—his ring extended two delicate mechanical arms, slicing and refining synthetic Dao resonance stones before deftly injecting them into the elixir.

Suddenly!

A violet flame erupted from an alchemy furnace in the southeast corner, instantly triggering the surrounding Five Elements barrier!

Yet the student who caused the explosion remained unflustered. With a calm wave, he tossed out a black box that deployed a quantum barrier, compressing the out-of-control spiritual vortex into a stream of retrievable data.

In this academy, it seemed, the fusion of cultivation arts and technological inventions had long become an inseparable part of daily study!

"Tsk tsk tsk... Are these really cultivation students?"

Chen Yi made emphatic notes on his golden scroll.

Technology was undeniably useful—it could assist in many aspects of cultivation. But wasn’t this just cheating?

True cultivation required step-by-step, grounded effort. Otherwise, one might grasp the "how" without understanding the "why," resulting in a foundation as unstable as a house of cards. Such a cultivator would be useless, unable to withstand even a single move from a traditional practitioner of the same level!

How could the academy’s instructors turn a blind eye to such unorthodox practices?

"Are they so desperate to compete with the Immortal Realm that they’re ignoring the rot beneath their prosperity?"

Chen Yi murmured to himself.

The divine realm was vast, and he was merely a transient observer, detached from this ancient era. He couldn’t investigate further to confirm his suspicions.

Yet just then—

A figure both familiar and unfamiliar strolled leisurely into the classroom.

"Good afternoon, everyone! Apologies for the interruption~"

"I’m your senior, currently ranked first among all ninth-grade students!"

"Do you know why I’ve maintained this position? Why my learning efficiency doubles within the same timeframe?"

"The secret lies in this product!"

"East Sea Mermaid Brand Enlightenment Elixir! It keeps your primordial spirit in an active state, drastically boosting focus and enlightenment—with zero side effects!"

"Interested? Contact me at "

"I am the East Sea Mermaid Clan’s Holy Son, and I endorse this product. If it doesn’t work, come find me for a refund!"

Chen Yi never expected that, at this point in time two hundred million years later, the very same troublemaker who had once leaped out of the River of Time to strike his kneecaps would appear before him again.

Though younger and slightly more naive now, there was no mistaking it—this was the same nuisance who had pestered him for no reason in the future!