267: Chapter 267 A Different Kind of Human Race! A High School Intensive Competition That Crushes the Fu Clan!

"The high-level leaders of the Human Race... are they all freaking crazy?!"

Ji Ruxue watched the City Lord, Shen Youchu, who was sporting a large belly and holding a wooden sign that read [The Human Race Welcomes You], her mouth twitching violently.

This scene was too bizarre; a dignified Golden Immortal powerhouse was actually acting as a greeter at a roadside stall?!

However, before she could regain her composure, Shen Youchu had already walked toward her step by step with a smile, holding the wooden sign, and skillfully shoved a Jade Slip map into her hand.

Ji Ruxue swept it with her Divine Sense and found that it was actually a detailed [Tianshu City Tourism and Investment Attraction Guide].

Not only were the major commercial districts marked on it, but there was even a striking line of large red characters: "Any foreigner with special skills who settles in the Human Race's territory can enjoy a special subsidy from the Great Qin Chamber of Commerce!"

"What on earth are you humans up to?" Ji Ruxue asked subconsciously.

However, in the face of her question...

Shen Youchu simply maintained that perfect, dignified smile and then turned around stiffly, without uttering a single word throughout the process.

Shen Youchu's internal monologue at that moment: "I'm dying from holding it in!!"

Holding the Jade Slip in a daze, Ji Ruxue decided to take a good look around this Tianshu City, which was filled with oddities everywhere.

As she went deeper into the city's inner ring, the shock in her rebellious eyes grew more and more intense.

This was completely different from the cultivation world cities in her memory, which were strictly hierarchical and filled with slaughter and exploitation!

Here, there were no high-and-mighty Immortal clans or noble families that monopolized all resources.

On the streets, whether it was an Immortal Cultivator or a novice newbie, everyone was busy in their own orbits.

She saw a Cultivator at the Guixu Stage actually using fire-element Spells to finely control the temperature of something called a "Spiritual Energy Boiler."

She saw several Formation Masters at the Nascent Soul Stage laying out a "Short-distance Teleportation Formation Network" that could cover an entire street, and there were even little Golden Cores nearby helping to carry bricks!

All of this seemed inconceivable, yet it was filled with an indescribable, vibrant vitality.

"Could this be the work of that human, Su Feng?" Ji Ruxue frowned.

In fact, what she didn't know was that this advanced order system, which integrated "sustainable development strategy" into the cultivation world, was mostly the result of the internal political maneuvers of the Grand Princess of Great Qin, Ying Yue'e.

Ying Yue'e knew well that if the Human Race wanted to thrive indefinitely in the Three Thousand Upper Realms, relying on Su Feng alone to fight and kill was far from enough.

They had to destroy the old Immortal clan system, break resource monopolies, and let every human—and even the foreigners who came to seek refuge—find their place in this massive machine and exert their maximum value.

Unwittingly...

Following the guidance of the map, Ji Ruxue arrived at a vast area in Tianshu City: [Great Qin Royal First Cultivation Academy].

Looking at the two Academy-Guarding Stone Lions at the entrance, which exuded the pressure of a Grand Unity Golden Immortal, Ji Ruxue swallowed hard.

This academy did not have any strict security at the gate.

On the contrary, the outer area was completely open, even allowing tourists of all races to visit and audit classes.

Ji Ruxue walked in curiously.

She found that the teaching model here completely overturned her understanding.

There were no old, rigid men in the academy who spent all day in closed-door meditation and spoke in cryptic terms.

Instead, there were specialized departments that were subdivided to an extreme degree!

"[Space Domain Leap Department]? [Ancient Formation Micro-manipulation and Demolition Department]?"

Ji Ruxue looked at those unfamiliar departmental plaques with a face full of bewilderment.

Soon, she was drawn to a large building not far away that occasionally erupted with various colors of light, accompanied by the sound of slight explosions.

On the building's gate, seven large characters were written wildly: [Rune Application Development Department]!

Seeing the word "Rune"...

As the sole descendant of the ancient Rune Clan, the pride and disdain belonging to a Rune Clan Goddess immediately surged within Ji Ruxue.

"Hmph! Mere humans dare to claim they are researching runes? When my ancient Rune Clan was playing with runes, you humans were still playing with mud in the Lower Realm!"

Ji Ruxue stepped into the building indignantly.

She wanted to see what kind of tricks these humans could come up with; she would definitely point out their errors on the spot later and give this human academy a hard slap in the face.

However...

When she stepped into a spacious public laboratory, the scene before her left the Rune Clan Goddess completely stunned.

In the massive laboratory, not a single person was sitting in meditation to Cultivate.

Hundreds of human students were gathered around a large jade testing table.

Their hair was messy, and their eyes were bloodshot, like a group of fanatical madmen.

"Quick! Deconstruct the lines of this Grade Two Gale Talisman! Try to integrate the core nodes of the Grade Three Explosive Flame Talisman!"

"No! The spiritual power circuit will conflict and blow up the furnace!"

"Who cares! Add an ice-element neutralizing array and force the branding! For the credits! To enter the Inner Academy! Give it your all!"

"Boom—!"

Accompanied by a dull explosion from the furnace, a cloud of black smoke rose from the testing table, and several students were left covered in soot.

But instead of being discouraged, they jumped up excitedly and pulled out notebooks from their Storage Pouches to record frantically:

"Quickly write it down! The explosive yield has increased by thirty percent! As long as we improve the pressure-resistant Materials of the spiritual power circuit, this Explosive Flame Gale Composite Talisman can be mass-produced!"

Standing at the door, Ji Ruxue stared blankly at this scene, even forgetting to chew the Spiritual Plant Chewing Gum in her mouth.

If viewed with her [Innate Primordial Talisman Physique]...

These so-called "composite runes" the students were researching were crude to the extreme, and the arrangement logic of the runes was full of loopholes, not even as good as the doodles she drew when she was three years old.

But after a brief moment of disdain, a shock that made her Soul tremble surged uncontrollably from the bottom of her heart!

"These people... are they not afraid for their lives?!"

Ji Ruxue looked at those human students who, even if they were blown to the point of spitting blood, would take a Medicinal Pill and immediately rush back to continue their deductions.

She thought of those so-called favored children of the Rune Clan far away in the Heavenly Talisman Realm.

Those people, relying on a bit of ancestral shade, shouted about revitalizing the Rune Clan all day while playing around more than anyone else behind the scenes, fighting like dogs over a bit of ready-made resources; no one was willing to settle down and truly deduce the mysteries of runes.

This was perhaps the real reason why the ancient Rune Clan had fallen to its current state, even needing to rely on her, the only remaining descendant, to enter a political marriage just to survive!

"No wonder..."

Ji Ruxue clenched her fists tightly, a complex light never seen before flickering in her deep blue eyes.

"No wonder the Human Race could pull the God Race off their pedestal and dominate the Three Thousand Upper Realms in just a few decades..."

"This deep-seated involution, this fanatical attitude of being able to go without sleep or rest just to become stronger, like a pack of mad dogs. As long as they are given time, even with the most inferior talent, they can deduce a path to the heavens with this terrifying collective cohesion!"

"By comparison, those pieces of trash from my Rune Clan are simply a joke!"