The results of the battle held in NMAU were all over River City shortly after.

　　“NMAU Suffers Devastating Loss!”

　　“Gu Xiong Falls Short Against Fang Ping”

　　“Fang Ping Possibly Slated to Enter Ranking At Top 10”

　　“What Secrets Does Sun City Hold? Wang Jinyang Emerges, Followed by Fang Ping”

　　“The New Generation Washes Over the Old: Is NMAU Pedagogical System Problematic? Is There A Need for Revolution?”

　　“…”

　　A lot of people in the River City martial arts circle were discussing the results of the NMAU vs MCMAU battle fervently.

　　The NMAU team was made up of Peak Rank-2 martial artists, the best of them in the game, even. They were no weaker than the average Rank-3 martial artists.

　　Nanjiang was not particularly strong in terms of martial arts prowess. The commanders of its prefecture-level cities were normally at Rank-4.

　　Governors of county-level cities like Sun City were at a mere Rank-3.

　　Although Fang Ping and the others were all students, they were far from being on the lowest rungs in Nanjiang martial arts circle.

　　Three Grandmasters had spectated the match, too; that was practically unfounded in Nanjiang.

　　Nanjiang housed more than 10 million people.

　　Five of them were Grandmasters–Zhang Dingnan, the governor; The vice-chancellor of NMAU; The commanding officer of the army, Nanjiang division; The president of the Nanjiang Associated Chambers of Commerce; and lastly, the master of the Upright Sun Martial Arts Dojo.

　　Three Grandmasters, Huang Jing from MCMAU included, came together to watch a couple of Rank-2 martial artists battle against each other. This was a rare occurrence.

　　Grandmasters were not particularly rare in Sino – the country had the most Grandmasters worldwide, in fact – but the country was way too vast.

　　Nanjiang was not quite developed an area, too, so Grandmasters were few in between and rarely seen in public.

　　Following the Grandmasters’ appearances, word of the battle in NMAU was quick to be spread.

　　With that, Fang Ping, a young martial artist from Sun City, gradually made himself known in the martial arts circle.

　　…

　　In the hotel.

　　NMAU sent the reward in exchange for their efforts soon after.

　　The crowd was stupefied at the sight of Fang Ping putting six Rank-2 vitality pills in his pocket without an ounce of hesitation.

　　Bai Ruoxi, too, could not help but ask humorously, “You… You’re really giving them to Yunxi, are you?”

　　Fang Ping replied, surprised, “She said that she’ll give them to me.”

　　Fang Ping did not understand their reactions. What, was she going to rescind her promise?

　　“…”

　　The others had nothing to say to that. Chen Yunxi said, speechless, “I said I would, but…but, you’re not even bothering to be courteous?

　　“I thought you would!

　　“Maybe pretend that you don’t want them or something!

　　“I would feel better if the pills were taken by you from my hands! This is infuriating!”

　　Fang Ping, noting that he was the center of focus, thought for a while. He then said courteously, “Thank you. I’ll give them back to you when I become a Grandmaster.”

　　“…”

　　Yang Xiaoman scolded exasperatingly, “Enough of this from you!”

　　“I’m injured! You all gonna treat an invalid like this?”

　　Fang Ping’s expression showed his indignity. ‘I’ve suffered a damn huge loss this time!’

　　Luckily, he had gotten a reward of six Rank-2 vitality pills, which served to put back 3 million into his Wealth.

　　His Wealth was close to ten million.

　　He had spent some during the NMAU battle, but not too much. Currently, he had about 9.2 million in Wealth.

　　He counted his resources again. He did not have many pills on him.

　　8 Rank-2 vitality pills, 16 Rank-1 vitality pills, 30 normal vitality pills, and 2 Rank-2 bone-honing pills.

　　They cost 15 million in total when sold in the market.

　　These, plus his hundred credits, contributed approximately ten million to his Wealth.

　　He could probably earn more Wealth points if he sold them.

　　After some consideration, Fang Ping suddenly asked, “Do you guys want to buy any pills?”

　　The others were astonished!

　　Wasn’t Fang Ping short of pills?

　　Did he not need pills to cultivate?

　　Here he was, selling pills again!

　　‘Also, you just took three pills from Chen Yunxi, and you’re selling them now? Is this appropriate behavior?’

　　This was the first time Bai Ruoxi had heard of that. She was also confused. Selling pills?

　　Fang Ping bluffed casually, “I have an agreement with Instructor Li from the logistics department. If I sell pills and buy them from him again with cash, I can profit from the price difference of about half a million.

　　“Don’t look at me like that. I told you that poor kids have to start providing for the family early.

　　“Half a million isn’t anything to you, but it’s a huge amount to me.

　　“My sister had to open a stall on the sidewalk every day after school just for her living allowance, a couple of dozen bucks. She’s only fourteen…”

　　Fu Changding snubbed him. “Your family will be Wealthy if you give a tiny part of your fortune to them. Can you not play it up for everyone’s sympathy like this?”

　　Fang Ping said sternly, “This is different. I earn money fast, but I am constantly on the verge of dying.

　　“Kids from poor families should be independent. That’s why I didn’t object to my sister opening a stall.

　　“When I was in high school, I didn’t even have the money to look for information in an internet cafe…”

　　“Stop!”

　　Fu Changding interrupted him with an exhausted demeanor. “Stop talking. Yes, you’re poor. Extremely so.

　　“Say it. How much do you want to sell them for?”

　　“8 Rank-2 vitality pills, 16 Rank-1 ones, 30 normal ones. Plus two Rank-2 bone-honing pills.

　　“The market price is 15.4 million…”

　　“Quit quoting the market price. 13 million.”

　　Fang Ping’s expression darkened. He glared at the other man and turned to Chen Yunxi with a smile. “Yunxi, there are quite a lot of martial artists in your family, am I right?”

　　Chen Yunxi was confused.

　　“I’ll sell these to you, and you only need to give me 15 million. How’s that sound?”

　　“Huh?”

　　“I’ll give you a discount of 0.4 million. Yunxi, you haven’t done business since you were little, have you?

　　“If your parents or your family knew that you earned 0.4 million during your first time doing business, they’ll be elated!

　　“Won’t they feel that their daughter has grown up and become more independent?

　　“The point is not earning money, but the fact that you’ve learned to be independent.

　　“It’s only 15 million. Your pocket money should be about that amount, right?

　　“You can surprise your family back home, tell them, ‘I, Chen Yunxi, can depend on myself’. That feeling’s really beautiful…”

　　The others stood, mind-boggled, as Fang Ping tricked Chen Yunxi into somewhat believing him.

　　Chen Yunxi was not stupid, but she had not bought pills for herself before, as her family prepared them for her.

　　Fang Ping said that the market price was 15.4 million, and he would now sell them for her at 15 million. That price he offered was not an expensive one, it seemed.

　　Involuntarily, she turned to look at Yang Xiaoman and the others. Yang Xiaoman had wanted to say something when Fang Ping suddenly interjected, “Yang Xiaoman, as a friend, you better not muck it up for her, and let her live under her family’s protection forever, just because you’re jealous of her family’s wealth!

　　“This is detrimental to Chen Yunxi’s growth!

　　“It was because of Yunxi’s inexperience that she had been snubbed by Lion Tang… Instructor Tang at school previously.

　　“When one fails, she learns from her failures. Only when she gains more experience, learns to be independent, and knows how nefarious humans can be, will she understand how complicated the world is.

　　“Kids will have to grow up one day. Should she live her whole life protected by her parents?

　　“People like this are useless, no matter how high their prowess in martial arts might be!”

　　Everyone understood what his words implied.

　　‘I’m tricking Chen Yunxi for her own good.

　　‘She doesn’t know how nefarious people can be. I, Fang Ping, would rather lose some money and be the bad cop for once to make her understand that the world is complicated.’

　　Yang Xiaoman was completely speechless. She stared at Fang Ping for a while and said, helplessly, “You win!”

　　Fu Changding, too, murmured, “Language is indeed a form of art.”

　　Zhao Lei and the others glanced at one another, then turned their gaze toward Chen Yunxi.

　　Chen Yunxi was not that gullible. She looked at Fang Ping and said, all of a sudden, “You’re lying to me?”

　　“No…”

　　Fang Ping was somewhat embarrassed under her intent gaze. After a while, he said, “Yes, okay, I lied to you. Actually, this batch of pills can be sold at around 14.5 million.

　　“I put the price at half a million higher… But you know…

　　“Fine, I’ll stop wailing that I’m broke. 14.5 million then, so be it.

　　“We lot are teammates, after all.”

　　“I’m not going to buy them anymore!” Chen Yunxi felt that Fang Ping probably had bad intentions. She shook her head.

　　Fang Ping furrowed his brow. “Fine, whatever. I’m your leader, so I hoped that you can be more independent, but now, you rather let your pocket money rot in the bank than do something more beneficial to you.

　　“Let me ask you. You should have a lot of money in your card, right?

　　“Do you have a couple of tens of millions, at least?

　　“Can they be of any use if you put them in the bank?

　　“Can they contribute to your cultivation?

　　“If you take them out and buy pills with them, they can aid you in your path of the martial arts, at least. Do you want to depend on your family your whole life?

　　“You’re almost twenty, yet you’re less independent than my sister… Fine, I’ll stop talking about this. Pretend as if I haven’t said anything.”

　　“But…”

　　Chen Yunxi was mortified. Fang Ping’s words made her feel so incompetent!

　　“Enough about this. My injuries haven’t healed yet, so I’m gonna take my leave for now.”

　　Fang Ping stood up and made to leave. Seeing that, Chen Yunxi thought for a while, and she yelled, “Then I’ll buy them! Can I?”

　　“14.5 million?”

　　“…14 million!”

　　Chen Yunxi gritted her teeth as she bargained, face blushing red.

　　“Fine. Consider it done!”

　　After he said that, he fished out a huge pile of pills from his clothes and piled them in front of her. He said with a grin, “You’ve earned 1.4 million your first order of business! Chen Yunxi, you have an eye for it. And you’re good at providing for your family too! I approve of you!

　　“You can transfer the money to me later; I’m not that kind of person who only cares about money.

　　“Okay, I’ll leave now!”

　　Fang Ping did not wait. He left hurriedly after that.

　　After he took his leave, Chen Yunxi said, face still red, “Was I… Was I tricked?”

　　Bai Ruoxi was there for the drama. When she heard the question, she said with amusement, “Not really.”

　　This was the truth. Fang Ping did not lie to her in any way. The market value of the pills was really more than 15 million.

　　If one had other ways of acquiring them, 13 million was a reasonable price.

　　Nevertheless… Chen Yunxi had bought the pills after Fang Ping’s few words of admonishment. That was thin-skinned of her.

　　Also, she never bothered to check them, even.

　　One should be careful while doing business, no matter how close they were to the other party. Fang Ping would not stoop so low as to sell fake pills to her, but she still should check them.

　　Fang Ping had said that she had lived under her parents’ protection her whole life. That was true.

　　This transaction would not be seen as a hurdle for her – it was mainly a result of Fang Ping’s more devious side – but Bai Ruoxi was inspired by that. It was time for her student to learn from her failure.

　　That was what her family wanted, probably, when they sent her to MCMAU and let her do missions with the other students.

　　She would not need to do that, otherwise; the Chen family was perfectly capable of providing for a Rank-2 martial artist.

　　Yang Xiaoman did not know how she should feel at that, too. She said ruefully, “He did not lie to you, not really, but don’t believe everything he says next time.

　　“Also, stay away from him, he’s not of good character.”

　　Chen Yunxi nodded, feeling slightly helpless.

　　At the sight of them, Fu Changding said with a smile, “Yunxi I have a couple of pills here with me too…”

　　“Get out!”

　　Yang Xiaoman cursed. Could he be any more shameless than this?

　　Fu Changding flushed an angry red. He was furious!

　　‘Damn it, why can Fang Ping sell pills but not me?

　　‘How nice would it be if I earned some hundred thousand yuan and bought a car with the money?’

　　…

　　Fang Ping had not recovered fully after resting in the hotel for two days, but the wounds left unhealed were all superficial injuries that did not affect his physicality.

　　On the 23rd of March, he visited Governor Zhang.

　　Outside the governor’s residence, Wang Jinyang chuckled, “Don’t be nervous…”

　　“I’m not,” Fang Ping denied.

　　Wang Jinyang laughed despite himself. He led Fang Ping inside the governor’s residence.

　　A middle-aged man walked toward them upon entrance. The man smiled at the sight of the two of them. “President Wang, Fang Ping, the two of you are here.

　　“Fang Ping, are your wounds healing well?”

　　Wang Jinyang introduced the man without prompting. “This is Minister Zhang of the governor’s residence. He’s also an important member of the residence.”

　　Zhang Yuqiang laughed, “President Wang, you flatter me.”

　　Fang Ping quickly thanked the man. “Thank you for your concern, Minister Zhang. I’m doing well.”

　　“That’s good, that’s good. Both of you are the future of Nanjiang. Engaging yourself in battle is fine, but please try to be more careful next time.

　　“You’ve done well in your fight against Gu Xiong, though; the governor is extremely satisfied with that.”

　　Zhang Yuqiang led the two of them inside while they chatted. “The governor is busy, especially now. He wants to meet Fang Ping this time, as he feels proud of you, a young talented man from his hometown…”

　　Fang Ping replied with a smile, “I’m flattered. I’ve occupied the governor’s time.”

　　“…”

　　Wang Jinyang did not interrupt while the two chatted.

　　It was until the group walked to the front of an office door and Zhang Yuqiang went to knock on it that he said, “You should do politics.”

　　“Ah?”

　　“Martial artists don’t speak frivolous words. So many pleasantries, but are there any constructive words out of them?

　　“I thought that you’re finding it hard to acclimate, but then you aren’t. You’re chatting with him quite happily.”

　　Wang Jinyang was also speechless. Martial artists were all quite direct; they went straight to the topic.

　　They did not exchange meaningless pleasantries when unnecessary.

　　Fang Ping was the opposite; he chatted so enthusiastically with Zhang Yuqiang that he had almost forgotten about Wang Jinyang.

　　Wang Jinyang was not angry because he felt ignored. Rather, he was relieved.

　　Wang Jinyang was also surprised at the fact that Fang Ping was able to communicate well with the other.

　　Fang Ping said, baffled, “He was so courteous to me, so I chatted with him. Is there a problem?”

　　“No. It’s fine.”

　　Wang Jinyang did not expound much on the topic. He shook his head. Fang Ping might not be a good fit for the army with a personality like this.

　　He could not say for sure what Fang Ping was thinking about regarding that, though; that would have to wait until he graduated.

　　There was another matter: would MCMAU graduate Fang Ping return to Nanjiang?

　　After their conversation, Zhang Yuqiang exited the office. He smiled at them and said, “Go on in.”

　　Fang Ping thanked him again and walked in. Wang Jinyang followed suit.

　　…

　　Zhang Dingnan’s office was spacious.

　　He was standing in front of a map of Nanjiang. When the two entered, he quit the pretense and turned toward them. “There is a high possibility that a Catacombs entrance will appear in Nanjiang. It’ll appear at around twelve to sixteen months later.

　　“You’re not Grandmasters, so you aren’t going to be of much use.

　　“I don’t expect you to be able to do so now. Wang Jinyang included.

　　“I only want to start stockpiling talent soon. Fang Ping, do you have any interest in returning to Nanjiang after graduating from MCMAU?”

　　Fang Ping had not even opened his mouth when the stern-faced Zhang Dingnan mused, seemingly to himself, “You should be able to enter Rank-4 or 5 at graduation.

　　“As a combat-centric martial artist, there’s a high possibility you’ll be able to enter the Grandmaster level. Maybe it’ll be after a short time.

　　“If you agree to return here after graduation, I can arrange for you to join the army as a military chief!”

　　A military chief was similar in Rank with the commander of a prefectural-level city. Many of the military officers of prefectural-level cities were also military chiefs.

　　The average prefectural-level city had a comprehensive governmental system, jointly helmed by the commander, the military chief, and the directors of the Department of Investigation and the Department of Education.

　　The commander and the military chief had more power than the latter two.

　　Zhang Dingnan gave him the position of a military chief from the start, which was a considerably generous offer.

　　Not every Rank-4 martial artist could be a military chief. Some Rank-5 martial artists would not have the opportunity offered to them, too.

　　Sometimes, the selection criteria were not based solely on the Rank of one person, but also other things.

　　“Governor, I…”

　　“Go back and think about it. It’s still early. Also, if the Catacombs entrance appears in Nanjiang, I hope that you can contribute some of your skills, as you’re from Nanjiang. Lu Fengrou is your mentor, so I hope that you can persuade some students in MCMAU to lend us a hand.”

　　Zhang Dingnan did not put too much hope on Fang Ping, as he was still too weak, but a genius student such as him held sway over some aspects in the school, which included his influence over his mentor.

　　Zhang Dingnan and Lu Fengrou were familiarly acquainted, but they had not seen each other in years. His words might not be as effective as her disciple’s.

　　“I’ll try my best!” Fang Ping finally had the chance to speak.

　　“That’s all I’m asking for.”

　　At that, Zhang Dingnan waved his hand and summoned a book from his desk not far away. He tossed it to Fang Ping and said, “I created Manic Explosion when I was at Rank-4. It can only be considered mediocre. This documents some of the adjustments I made to it after becoming a Grandmaster. Take it home and have a look.

　　“Also, I’m giving you a position: the vice commander of Sun City. Do you have any opinion on that?”

　　Fang Ping’s face was one of complete confusion. That was possible?

　　Wang Jinyang suddenly said teasingly from beside him, “I’m the honorary commander of Sun City!”

　　Yes, he was. The position was given to him a while ago.

　　Doling out positions was something free of charge anyway. Zhang Dingnan had given out dozens of honorary positions like that recently.

　　There was no advantage to it except for official approval by the government.

　　Also, would an alleged member of Nanjiang’s higher-ups be so thick-skinned as to not contribute at all when Nanjiang was in danger?

　　Zhang Dingnan did not care if the recipient was willing. ‘The position is yours. It’ll be fine if you don’t contribute, provided that you’ll not feel guilty at that!’

　　Fang Ping was speechless. ‘Can I even say no?’

　　He did not speak in response, which was in itself an implicit approval.

　　Zhang Dingnan was a busy man indeed. He immediately said, “That’s all for now, then. Study well and strive to enter the middle Ranks soon.”

　　This was a dismissal. Fang Ping was too weak. Peak Rank-2 was impressive, but Zhang Dingnan did not have the time to talk about pointless topics with him.

　　When he was at the middle Ranks, then they might discuss more.

　　Fang Ping grimaced. ‘You should’ve given us something as a reward. Don’t you feel embarrassed being a stingy governor?’

　　He had given him an improved version of Manic Explosion, but Combat Techniques were not all that valuable. There were lots of them stored in martial arts universities; everything was fair game provided that one had the money to practice them. Of course, a Grandmaster-level Combat Technique would require the approval of the Grandmaster in question.

　　And the vice commander position – in a county-level city, no less – was practically useless, too.

　　Fang Ping was unhappy, but he could only leave.

　　Wang Jinyang, on the other hand, did not leave. He had to discuss with Zhang Dingnan on the NMAU issue. Fang Ping did not care about what they were going to discuss, it would not be any of his business anyway.