After resting at home for two days, Fang Ping felt unusually relaxed.

　　While Fang Ping was relaxed, Fang Yuan was so busy she could choke.

　　Sometimes Fang Ping wondered, between him and Fang Yuan, who was the real president of the company?

　　Fang Yuan’s phone never stopped ringing!

　　“Sister Yuanyuan, it’s time for the meeting!”

　　“Sister Yuanyuan, please help me look through this proposal. I’m planning to put up a stall over the new year…”

　　“Sister Yuanyuan…”

　　As the lady boss, Fang Yuan was incredibly busy!

　　As soon as one call ended, the next one came in immediately.

　　…

　　Lying on the couch watching television while watching Fang Yuan busying around, Fang Ping was starting to doubt about his life.

　　“Fang Yuan, isn’t this business of yours a little too much?”

　　Fang Yuan was busy accepting phone calls. She did not have time to chat with her older brother. She simply waved a hand as if she was too busy to answer him.

　　“Oh ho!”

　　Fang Ping was amused. This brat had an attitude!

　　When her phone call ended, Fang Ping was just about to put on his “big brother” look and teach her a lesson when her phone rang again. The members of Yuan Ping Club had called to greet their boss and wish her a happy Little New Year!¹

　　Fang Ping felt like he could cough up blood. That was right, today was the twenty-third day of the twelfth month of the lunar calendar. They were celebrating Little New Year here in Sun City.

　　Fang Yuan had people wishing her a happy New Year, yet he did not have any!

　　He picked up his phone and looked at it for a moment. After some consideration, Fang Ping made a call to Fang Yuan. The call went through and was ringing, so clearly, his credit had not run out.

　　However, just the thought of Fang Yuan having people wishing her while he had none made Fang Ping frustrated. He could not continue living like this.

　　Feeling helpless, Fang Ping could only take the initiative to send a few new year’s greeting texts himself. He sent them to his instructor, to Old Wang, to Tan Zhenping…

　　After sending a few texts, Fang Ping finally received a response.

　　The one who replied was Tan Zhenping, who texted, “Check out Nanjiang’s news.”

　　“Watch the news?”

　　Fang Ping was slightly confused, but he still switched the channel to Nanjiang’s Satellite TV.

　　“Recently, Governor-General Zhang inspected every county and city and made some evaluations…”

　　In the news, the fairly attractive news anchor was reporting about Governor-General Zhang’s inspection.

　　In the past few days, Governor-General Zhang had begun to lead a team in an inspection of the Nanjiang Province. He had visited every county and city, even here in Sun City, but Fang Ping was not home at that time.

　　According to the news, Governor-General Zhang was not very satisfied with the martial arts environment in Nanjiang.

　　He made some evaluations.

　　The most important point was that a local martial artist combat team was to be established in every county and city.

　　Based on Fang Ping’s understanding, it was a martial artist militia.

　　For a prefectural-level city, a combat team of not less than 30 martial artists would be established.

　　For a county-level city, a combat team of not less than 5 martial artists would be established.

　　Ever since the year 09, every county and city would host regular martial arts championships, along with an allocation of funds for education, infrastructure…

　　In the future, all kinds of government financial subsidies would depend on the outcome of the championships.

　　There would also be an additional assessment for the local officials, which was the results of the local combat martial artists team.

　　“This means… Combat martial artists are really going to be pushed forward?”

　　After watching the news for a while, Fang Ping wrinkled his brows lightly. Was this just a Nanjiang reformation, or was it a national one?

　　If it was just the Nanjiang area, then it probably had something to do with Governor-General Zhang.

　　However, if it was for the entire nation, for them to select combat martial artists among the civilians in advance to replenish the depleted manpower meant that the situation in the Catacombs was not good.

　　However, to issue a command for there to be a local martial artist combat team—it had to be known that there were not many martial artists in the local area.

　　For instance, in Sun City, there were about twenty or thirty martial artists.

　　Half of them were in the government, while the other half were doing commercial businesses. How many of the martial artists would volunteer to be in a combat team?

　　Now, the higher-ups were forcefully implementing this, even going so far as to tie it to government fund allocations.

　　No matter how much you had wanted to protest, you still would have to establish a martial artist combat team.

　　It was still fine at county-level places, with a minimum of 5 people as the standard, but a prefectural-level city required 30 people and above.

　　Nanjiang Province alone had over a hundred county-level cities and more than ten prefectural-level cities.

　　With all of this coming together, Nanjiang might have over a thousand battle-ready martial artists just like that.

　　Upon seeing this, Fang Ping dialed Tan Zhenping’s number.

　　The moment the call went through, Tan Zhenping asked, “Have you seen the news?”

　　“Uh-huh, I saw it. Uncle Tan, you wanted me to see the news…”

　　“Before the new year, Sun City must also establish this martial artist combat team.

　　“But how many martial artists are there in Sun City?

　　“Moreover, most of them are just casual martial artists like me. Even if they joined, it’s obvious that they would just be mucking around, waiting to die.

　　“We received the documents earlier, and we’ve already discussed it here in Sun City.

　　“There are very little martial artists in Sun City, and most of them are in their old age. Our intention in Sun City is to see if we’re able to recruit some martial artists from the outside to be a part of the combat team.

　　“Fang Ping, are you interested?”

　　“Me?”

　　Fang Ping laughed abruptly. “Uncle Tan, I still have to attend classes…”

　　“It wouldn’t take up too much of your time. When there’s a tournament, you just have to come back to represent Sun City in battle.

　　“It’s just some fellow sister cities. Their strengths are also all average…”

　　“Uncle Tan, this might not be possible. School classes are rather intense, and the time is packed rather tightly…

　　“Here at Sun City, it can’t be that impossible to even find 5 martial artists, is it?”

　　“The crux of it is… Not a single one of them can fight…”

　　Tan Zhenping spoke a sentence of reality, feeling a little helpless.

　　As big as Sun City was, to-date, there were not any martial artists who could fight.

　　It could be seen from the Department of Investigation Services—when the opponent was Rank-2’s Huang Bin, they immediately sought help from the martial arts university.

　　A county-level city that could not go up against a mere Rank-2 martial artist. It was clear how depressing it was.

　　“Not even a single combat martial artist?”

　　Fang Ping was a little shocked. Embarrassed, Tan Zhenping said, “It’s not that there aren’t any… It’s just that… It’s just that it’s been too long since they’ve used their Combat Techniques, so in all this haste…”

　　“This… Isn’t this too slack!”

　　Fang Ping thought this was a little inconceivable. No wonder Governor-General Zhang wanted to enforce and establish a local combat team!

　　Were they still even martial artists?

　　In any case, Sun City had twenty or thirty martial artists, yet now they could not even gather enough people for a combat team of 5 members.

　　Tan Zhenping felt a little embarrassed. The Department of Education and the Department of Investigation Services—even the city government all held a large responsibility in this issue.

　　After a long period of peace, the martial artists really had slacked off.

　　Back then, they only looked at ranks and nothing else. No one cared too much about all of these.

　　However, that would not do now. Not only did they have to establish a combat team, but they also had to completely redo the way they determined the ranks. This was to force the Vitality martial artists to learn Combat Techniques.

　　Luckily, the higher-ups had given them some time and had not requested immediate execution.

　　However, Tan Zhenping could see that in the future, perhaps only the combat-worthy martial artists would be in power.

　　Although the current situation was similar, Vitality martial artists currently still held a large number of important positions. In the future, there might be great changes to this situation.

　　Groaning slightly, Tan Zhenping said suddenly, “Fang Ping, do you think there’s hope for Sun City to invite Wang Jinyang back to teach Combat Techniques to the combat team?”

　　“He…” After a moment of thought, Fang Ping continued. “There’s not much hope for that. He’s already entered Rank-3, so it’s practically impossible now.”

　　“Then what about you?”

　　“What?”

　　“You’re also a Peak Rank-1 martial artist on the verge of entering Rank-2. In terms of Combat Techniques, you’ve cultivated them very well, and you’re also a student of MCMAU. You turned a lot of heads in the championship… I think there’s no problem for you to be the Combat Techniques coach.

　　“Fang Ping, do you want to consider it?”

　　This was Tan Zhenping’s true purpose.

　　As for Wang Jinyang, it was a joke. For a Rank-4 martial artist to come back and coach a bunch of pure Vitality martial artists, and to top it off they were all Rank-1 and Rank-2 martial artists, how could Wang Jinyang agree to that.

　　More importantly, if he had agreed, how large of a price would Sun City have to pay?

　　On the contrary, Fang Ping seemed to be a much more suitable choice.

　　Currently, Fang Ping was only at Peak Rank-1, but one did not have to be very powerful to teach Combat Techniques. Sun City’s gathered combat team would mostly consist of Rank-1 and Rank-2 martial artists, while there may not be any that were Rank-2.¹

　　For a team like this, it was enough to get an elite student from MCMAU to guide them!

　　The price would also presumably be not too expensive.

　　“Uncle Tan, you’ve overestimated me. Me, as the Combat Techniques coach? What a joke.”

　　Fang Ping rejected it immediately. What kind of joke was that? Who had the time to delay here?

　　What price could Sun City give?

　　A hundred thousand was an overestimation!

　　For just that little bit of money, Fang Ping would have to be stupid to waste such a large amount of time.

　　Fang Ping was not very concerned with this. What he was considering now was that to establish such a combat team, was the government situation so bad that they had no choice but to build up a martial arts militia?

　　Upon hearing Fang Ping’s rejection, Tan Zhenping felt helpless, finally saying, “After the New Year, Sun City wants to host a one-time gathering of Sun City martial artists. Fang Ping, would you be interested to come and take a look?”

　　“A Sun City martial artists gathering?”

　　“The city wants to establish a Sun City Martial Artist Mutual Benefit Association, so we just wanted to get everyone’s opinions.

　　“Recently, life hasn’t been easy in Sun City. We were hoping that the martial artists who have left Sun City could put in some effort for their hometown.”

　　Having rejected the first invitation, it would be slightly inappropriate to reject it again.

　　After pondering for a while, Fang Ping said, “If I have not returned to school by then, then I’ll join.”

　　“That’s fine. I’ll let you know when the time comes.”

　　“…”

　　After hanging up the phone, Fang Ping was still in deep thought when Fang Yuan popped over out of the blue, asking curiously, “What combat team? Did they want you to be an instructor?”

　　“Such a busybody!”

　　Fang Ping rolled his eyes at her. Did she not know that curiosity killed the cat!

　　However, neither was this thing a secret, so Fang Ping said casually, “In the future, there will be a martial artist combat team established in every county and city in Nanjiang. There may be regular martial arts battles held.

　　“Also, you should be a little more obedient. There’s some unrest going on now, so don’t go running around outside.”

　　“Nanjiang is also going to have a martial arts grand battle?”

　　Fang Yuan thought it was odd. “Fang Ping, there seems to be a lot of fights going on lately. Why is that?”

　　“For martial artists to not fight, are they supposed to grow fat instead?”

　　Fang Ping gave a huff. The Vitality martial artists were just growing fat now!

　　Since the government had given these people special treatment, there was no way they would let go of them now.

　　In the martial arts universities, in the Military Department, in a lot of places, everyone had to abide by a simple rule. Effort equaled reward!

　　Now, these Vitality martial artists were just taking the benefits without putting in any effort.

　　It did not come as a surprise that after just a few years, the living freedom that the Vitality martial artists had would be suppressed even more. This trend was now very obvious.

　　The only unknown point now was whether or not the Vitality martial artists themselves had realized it.

　　It was most likely that they probably had. Recently, Tan Zhenping showed signs of anxiety—maybe it was because he knew his secure days were over.

　　“Just hope they don’t create any trouble…”

　　Fang Ping vented in a low voice. Now that the government was forcing these Vitality martial artists to change, it could lead to some chaos. It was best if they could make it not too big of a deal, and not make too large of a wave.

　　With this in mind, Fang Ping suddenly turned to Fang Yuan, his brows wrinkled slightly as he asked, “Has your pole-standing entered the stable stance state yet?”

　　“It has!”

　　Fang Yuan frantically nodded her head, her face full of pride. “When you didn’t ask me earlier, I thought you could see it and knew already. I already entered the stable stance before I went to Magic City!”

　　“Spending half a year on that, and you still feel proud?”

　　Fang Ping rolled his eyes at her. After a moment, he added, “Having a little strength to protect yourself is better than lacking the strength to truss up a chicken.

　　“Even though I am reluctant for you to enter the martial arts circle, this circle might not be so obvious in the future.”

　　Fang Yuan did not understand the meaning behind his words and looked at Fang Ping with a confused expression.

　　Fang Ping smiled as he pulled on her cheeks. “Just practice your martial arts well. You can start to cultivate the Methods of Honing as well. In that case, tomorrow I’ll ask Liu Ruoqi to come to guide you in cultivating.

　　“Till now, your Vitality is just this little…”

　　Fang Yuan said indignantly, “My Vitality is high. Just a few days ago, Dad took me to the Department of Education to do a check and it’s 120cal!”

　　For a Year 3 student in junior high to have a Vitality of 120cal was indeed very high.

　　Still, Fang Ping was not satisfied. “Don’t compare with others!

　　“You need to know that a lot of people are already martial artists during the Gaokao. In fact, they’re twice-honed martial artists.

　　“The lowest Vitality needed for twice-honing is 180cal. You only have three years before you take the Gaokao.

　　“Based on how you progressed, would you be able to have a 180cal Vitality in three years?

　　“Moreover, they don’t just have 180cal Vitalities. Some of them have undergone honing and honed tens of bones in their bodies!”

　　When Fu Changding and the others arrived at the school, they were not only martial artists, he had also honed 31 bones.

　　This was all completed in high school!

　　At the rate Fang Yuan was progressing, there was a chance that she might not that stage by Gaokao.

　　It was too slow!

　　There was still a little over three years, and who knew what the situation would be like in three years.

　　Fang Ping’s improvement was not slow, but he would not always be home. Should any trouble arise, he would not be able to save them even if he wanted to.

　　Fang Yuan pouted, expressing her disappointment as she said, “Isn’t it good? Here I thought I was really good. Back then, those who took the Gaokao and got into martial arts universities also had this much Vitality…”

　　“That was back then. Plus, those were just normal people.

　　“In any case, your brother is a Rank-2 martial artist. Don’t embarrass me, alright?”

　　“Oh… Rank-2?”

　　Fang Yuan was a little slow in her reaction. Fang Ping said coolly, “Rank-2. Got any problems with that?”

　　“Weren’t you… You broke through?” Fang Yuan’s mouth gaped wide open in astonishment.

　　Fang Ping was actually at Rank-2!

　　“Now, do you know what genius means? Your brother could have achieved Rank-2 ages ago. If it wasn’t for the martial arts championship, I would have broken through in December.

　　“Think about it. In 8 months, from a normal person to enter Rank-2, what level of genius is that!

　　“And you?

　　“From your pole-standing stance till now, it has been over 6 months, and your Vitality is 120cal!

　　“When you go out next time, don’t say you’re Fang Ping’s younger sister. What an embarrassment…”

　　Fang Yuan was once again feeling indignant as she thought, ‘Am I really that embarrassing?’

　　But…but, Fang Ping seemed like a true genius!

　　After a moment of indignation, Fang Yuan suddenly said delightfully, “Brother, you’ve become a Rank-2 martial artist. If my classmates knew about it…”

　　“Don’t spread this. Keeping it to yourself is enough. You must be humble in life.”

　　Fang Ping scolded his sister before giving a call to Liu Ruoqi to request for help in guiding her.

　　Liu Ruoqi agreed enthusiastically while feeling very envious. Fang Ping had the means to support his sister’s cultivation. There was no way to compare.

　　…

　　Just as Fang Ping was starting to make plans for Fang Yuan, the news about every land establishing a martial artist combat team had started to spread.

　　Other than Nanjiang, many other provinces had chosen the same policy.

　　When Fang Ping saw the news, he felt his heart tightened slightly. It seemed like the situation had taken a turn for the worse.