Promise!

Chapter 225, Entertainment

Cangzhou City, Third Ring Road.

Ding!
Chu Jing's token trembled as she received the message. As if remembering something, she entered the quiet room, opened the light screen, and saw an order for a private chat with the Ascension Pavilion. She then opened the other party's information.

"Zhuang Jin?"

She recognized him; then she remembered that they had met once before. Her first instinct was to refuse, just like the previous times, but she hesitated again just before ordering.

The women of the first rank on the ninth floor of the Ascension Pavilion enjoy extremely relaxed and free lives. If they do not wish to do so, they only need to complete a minimum of three negotiation orders per year to enjoy the background, resources, and various benefits of the Suspended Heaven Bureau.

But there are always three guaranteed returns a year. It's already August, and we haven't received any yet. If we don't take the offer, we'll be in a difficult situation as the year draws to a close.

Moreover, there is an annual rating, and if the overall score is too low, the rating will be downgraded, and the current freedom and relaxation will be lost.

—Above the seventh floor of the Immortal Ascension Pavilion, those on the list will receive a certain amount of vouchers and contribution points every month. However, there are also rewards and high commissions for each order taken. This is especially true for first-class individuals like Chu Jing, where the more you work, the more you earn.

“This Zhuang Jin…”

Chu Jing judged Zhuang Jin's age to be no more than twenty-seven, not forty or fifty, or even seventy or eighty, as she had seen him before. Moreover, he was handsome, so it was not that she found him unattractive.

She silently scrolled through Zhuang Jin's messages, her gaze falling on the two options at the bottom: accept and reject. After hesitating for a long time, her slender white fingertips finally clicked.

Ding!
……

Dengxian Pavilion, ninth floor.

A carpet made of solid-colored, bone-forging beast hides was pieced together. Zhuang Jin stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling glass window and looked out.

Tonight, the stars twinkle, and the Milky Way seems to be drawn down, transformed into a light curtain by the celestial mirror. Each star seems within reach. Below, the three ring roads are brightly lit, and people come and go like ants. Being here feels like being an immortal looking down on the human world from above.

jingle!

At this moment, someone swipes their token and enters. Dressed in a flying fish robe and with long legs, who else could it be but Chu Jing?
When Chu Jing saw Zhuang Jin looking at her in the official robes of the state government, she nodded slightly, her eyes filled with admiration. In her heart, she felt both disgust and a little smug.

As the first-class woman promoted by the Immortal Ascension Pavilion, she is still a virgin, but she has already been taught a lot of experience and naturally knows what men like.

"I remember when we first met, Constable Chu captured the notorious womanizer, and he was wearing this flying fish robe too. There was a bit of an unpleasantness at the time, and the way he looked at me... Constable Chu, could you please change your ways?"

"Yes, that's it, Constable Chu, keep it up."

"By the way, I've heard that many people admire Constable Chu but cannot have him. Constable Chu, why don't you tell me who the famous ones are? I might have heard of them."

"Among the three great families, there is Cen Huajun, ranked 51st on the Hidden Dragon List; Ge Mingxuan, ranked 73rd on the Hidden Dragon List; Ge Minghui, ranked 92nd on the Hidden Dragon List; and Lu Chuan, the Swift and Divine Constable of the Prefecture..."

"Oh, so there are people from the three major families?"

"Your Excellency..."

When Chu Jing met Zhuang Jin's gaze, she regained her haughty expression: "You overestimate them. The internal workings of the three great families are actually much more brutal."

Among aristocratic families, those who do not reach the Innate Realm and have no hope of martial arts are nothing more than spoiled brats. Is it necessary to care whether these brats are being fooled? In the end, they are nothing more than a bunch of pathetic worms.

As for losing face, these powerful families are very similar to Zhuang Jin in one aspect: they value practical benefits over empty fame.

Those who are destined for innate talent, after truly breaking through and coming into contact with 'reality,' will also have their character tempered. If they receive elite education from aristocratic families from childhood and are still worn down like those lucky ones, then so be it. Even an innate venerable one is enough to become the mainstay and foundation of an aristocratic family.

More importantly, the high-end resources at the innate level within aristocratic families—such as rare and precious materials that broaden and strengthen meridians, rare treasures and fruits that have no side effects on breaking through the bottlenecks of subsequent innate realms, and beast cores of beasts at the five internal organs level or above—are extremely limited and insufficient to support too many people to continue breaking through to the next level. It is just right for the great wave to sift out the sand and refine the true gold.

"Your clothes are quite nice, so there's no need for that..."

……

After half an hour of conversation, Chu Jing was quite tired, and her face was a little pale. After washing up, she came out with a slightly faded heroic spirit and a somewhat lazy demeanor.

Zhuang Jin now understood why the game in her previous life had released sets of costumes; they could indeed increase attributes.

"This is indeed your first time having a casual conversation with someone."

"Is Your Excellency quite pleased with yourself? I, a divine constable revered by all, have managed to..."

Upon hearing this, Zhuang Jin nodded slightly, then shook her head: "The sense of pride or conquest you mentioned is indeed there, but it's not very ethical to build one's own happiness on the suffering of others."

"But then again, the path we take in this world is always one we choose ourselves."

"Yes!"

Chu Jing nodded slightly, not denying it, but pretending to be helpless, wanting both the benefits of the Suspended Heaven Division's background and the innocentness of a white lotus: "People like us are like sparrows in a glass cage. From afar, we can't see the cage. They are high above, bright and beautiful. Male sparrows want to get close, female sparrows want to become... Only when they are qualified enough to come close will they find the cage that imprisons them."

"Many people envy this luxury and want to go in without hesitation; some, after entering, see the sky outside and then want to leave."

She paused for a moment, her expression resolute: "In my opinion, no matter what, it's just a matter of gain and loss. That's always been the way of the world; you gain some things, and you lose others."

"You're quite clear-headed. This place... looking beyond the surface, it's just another entertainment industry!" Zhuang Jin sighed.

"The entertainment industry? A circle for entertaining and having fun, that's not entirely wrong. However, ordinary people are not worthy of our entertainment. Only a great figure like you, who stands tall in the city, is qualified!"

Chu Jing's arrogance was merely a facade in front of outsiders, meant to satisfy Zhuang Jin's need to "recover." She spoke with an air of superiority, yet secretly flattered him, providing ample emotional value, and many of her words were quite insightful.

This is only natural. Every woman selected by the Ascension Pavilion is the best of the best, the cream of the crop among hundreds of millions of people in the state. How can those vulgar beauties compare?
The night of pleasant conversation needs no further elaboration.

……

The next day, at the Ji family's residence.

Zhuang Jin arrived and got straight to the point: "I have already obtained the Xuan Snake Token. The Ji family played a significant role in this process. As agreed, I will give the Ji family the recommendation quota for this year's Bailu Martial Academy... How about this, when Bailu Martial Academy starts this September, I will bring my little brother Tongxiu... Is his name Tongwei? I will take him to participate in the test."

"Thank you, Venerable One! Thank you, Venerable One!"

Upon hearing this, Ji Gongji was overjoyed. His old face trembled slightly with excitement, and his eyes were glistening with tears.

Zhuang Jin was not a native of Cangzhou City, so it was hard for him to imagine the obsession these first, second, and third-rate families in the city had with the only super-grade martial arts academy in the city—Bai Lu Martial Arts Academy. In their minds, Bai Lu Martial Arts Academy held an extremely sacred position. Entering it meant a bright future and a promising future. It was the hope for the family to transcend social classes!
Seeing Zhuang Jin's slightly surprised expression, Ji Tongxiu explained from the side, "In Mr. Zhuang's eyes, Bailu Martial Academy is nothing special. It may not even produce a single Innate Venerable in a single year. But in our eyes, Bailu Martial Academy is indeed a sacred place."

"Once you get in, there's a good chance you'll be listed on the Hidden Dragon Ranking, and your family will have a chance to advance further... If it weren't for Mr. Zhuang, I would have had to settle for a top-tier martial arts academy."

A first-rate martial arts academy must have at least one lecturer who is a Nascent Soul cultivator on the Hidden Dragon Ranking, or one or two Innate Venerables on the honor roll, and must be a resident of the fourth ring of the state capital to be eligible for admission. A second-rate martial arts academy must have at least one lecturer who is a Nascent Soul cultivator, and must be a resident of the fifth ring of the state capital to be eligible for admission. A third-rate martial arts academy must have lecturers who are at most at the Meridian Opening Realm, but most of them are at the fifth or sixth Meridian Opening Realm, and must be a resident of the sixth ring of the state capital to be eligible for admission. Zhuang Jin suddenly thought of something and asked, "A first-rate martial arts academy has lecturers who are Nascent Soul cultivators on the Hidden Dragon Ranking, and at most one or two Innate Venerables on the honor roll. Below the White Deer Martial Academy but above the first-rate academy, are there any martial arts academies in between that are run by Innate Venerables, or even jointly run by several Innate Venerables?"

"This... there isn't one in the state capital. It's rumored that this matter is related to something that happened many years ago... about three hundred years ago, a Xiantian Venerable named Feng Yunyang spearheaded a group of Xiantian Venerables to establish a martial arts academy by Taiyuan Lake. It was very prestigious and once became quite large, but later..."

Ji Gongji shook his head and didn't continue.

Obviously, that was the end of it.

Zhuang Jin nodded slightly upon hearing this, her eyes flickered, but she didn't continue talking about this sensitive topic.

"Now that I have the Xuan Snake Token, I plan to move to the house in the Third Ring Road. I will go there today. The Xuan Snake Token comes with two shops in the Third Ring Road. I plan to hand over one of the shops to the Ji family to manage. As a reward, 20% of the profits will be given to the Ji family. What do you think?"

"Thank you for your guidance, Venerable Zhuang!"

Upon hearing this, Ji Gongji became even more excited, his knees buckled, and he almost knelt down and kowtowed.

Once a martial artist with the Fetal Breathing skill obtains the Golden Carp Token, they are eligible to rent a shop within the Third Ring Road. However, with more people than shops available, people are slowly queuing up to make reservations, and it's unclear when their turn will be reached.

The Ji family has been in business for generations and has many connections in the Fourth Ring Road, which is why they have been leasing a shop for a long time. This is the true foundation of the Ji family. Now, another opportunity has been delivered to their door. They can get 20% of the profits by letting the Ji family run the business on their behalf. It's like a huge pie falling from the sky, the kind that can make people dizzy.

At this moment, Ji Gongji was excited, overjoyed, and somewhat uneasy. He felt that having only Ji Tongxiu as his daughter was far from enough to demonstrate the Ji family's sincerity and maintain the relationship. He also thought of Ji Tongxiao and sighed that this daughter was not like her sister and therefore did not have this blessing.

"Hmm!" Zhuang Jin raised his hand to stop Old Master Ji, who looked like he wanted to kowtow several times.

……

"I don't have much stuff here, so it will be convenient to move it over. It's better to keep it from bothering two people. Tongxiu, you can have the servants go and take care of it. You can have these things too!"

Zhuang Jin watched as Ji Tongxiu saw him off and gave him an item.

"This... sir!"

Ji Tongxiu looked at the Xuan Snake-level secondary card, and even with her usually generous and open-minded personality, she didn't dare to accept it for a moment.

The Xuan Snake Token comes with a Xuan Snake-level secondary card. Apart from the overdraft limit of the Xuan Snake Token, a Xuan Snake certificate generated monthly, and access to places like the Ascension Pavilion that are not open to the public, it has most of the privileges of the Xuan Snake Token, far exceeding those of the Cloud Pattern Golden Carp Token on the Hidden Dragon List. For example, it can enter places like the Heavenly Clothing Workshop, the Delicacies Workshop, the Hundred Fruits Workshop, the Thousand Vegetables Workshop, the Poultry Workshop, and the Star-Picking Tower... places that many women in the state capital dream of, and can move freely between the nine floors.

If the Xuan Snake Token is the symbol of a man's entry into the highest level of power in the state city, then the Xuan Snake-level sub-card is the ultimate glory for a woman in the state city, representing the highest level of nobility and dignity.

There is only one Xuan Snake-level secondary card in the Xuan Snake Token. In ordinary innate families, this Xuan Snake-level secondary card is usually in the hands of the principal wife. Even the most favored concubine of the innate venerable, or even the secondary wife and legitimate son, cannot get it. She really did not expect Zhuang Jin to give it to her.

"It's just a supplementary card. You've been doing well lately, consider this a reward," Zhuang Jin waved his hand and said indifferently.

Upon hearing this, Ji Tongxiu, being as intelligent as she was, immediately understood Zhuang Jin's meaning: material comfort was not a form of compensation that would involve emotional investment or the granting of a formal title.

However, she was already content. She had received a treatment that even the wife of the Innate Venerable did not have. This was a real benefit without a formal title, and she was filled with gratitude and emotion.

"Ok!"

Zhuang Jin nodded slightly when she saw that Ji Tongxiu understood.

It was just a Xuan Snake-level secondary card, which was of little use to him and not worth mentioning. However, it could give Ji Tongxiu enough glory and avoid a lot of gossip for her. Moreover, Ji Tongxiu went to places like Tianyi Fang and dressed and took better care of herself, which also benefited him.

Furthermore, this cooperation with the Ji family has established initial trust between them. In the future, they can deepen their relationship by entrusting a shop to the Ji family for management, allowing the Ji family to earn contribution points and provide them with cultivation resources. Ji Tongxiu serves as the link between the two parties. Keeping him by their side and treating him well can put the Ji family at ease.

As the two were talking, they ran into Mu Bai. Unlike before, when he was respectful and fearful of Zhuang Jin, he was no longer like a mouse encountering a cat. He would always avoid Zhuang Jin from a distance, or if he couldn't avoid him, he would awkwardly and stiffly call him "Lord Zhuang." Today, he hesitated for a moment, but then boldly stepped forward and called out to Zhuang Jin in a flattering tone, "Brother-in-law!"

The title "brother-in-law" originated from Mu Qing. Although Mu Bai is a distant nephew of Mu Yuantu, the relationship is quite distant. For example, before leaving Yunnan Prefecture, neither Mu Yuantu nor Mu Qing mentioned anything to him. This time, it was clearly Mu Bai who "got it" and shamelessly insisted on being called "brother-in-law."

Zhuang Jin glanced at the man and guessed that the kid had probably been beaten up by the outside world.

Indeed, it was only after Mu Bai went out that he realized how hard life was. As a beast hunter, he worked hard all day long, busy and preoccupied. After deducting food, drink, cultivation supplies, and the occasional visit to the brothel in the outpost outside the city, he found that he actually owed the 'Tongshan Five Righteous Men' team contribution points. After checking the accounts and confirming that there were no problems, he was dumbfounded.

After this beating, he finally understood himself, reflected on his experience, and discovered his advantage: his connection with the Ji family and Zhuang Jin.

When Ji Tongxiu saw Mu Bai, she said she would go and make arrangements, which also implied that she wanted to avoid Mu Bai and keep her distance.

Zhuang Jin looked at Mu Bai and asked, "Last time I saw you, weren't you with the 'Five Heroes of Tongshan'?"

"Brother-in-law, the 'Five Heroes of Tongshan' have disbanded."

Mu Bai's face was full of an indescribable expression: "It was in the first ten days of the month. They were going to do the last Silver Carp-level promotion mission. They said they were worried about the danger, and since my strength was the lowest, they thought I might not be able to handle it, so they didn't let me go. Sure enough, this time something bad happened."

"My second brother, Wu Xiyong, and my third brother, Xue Kui, both died at once. My fourth brother, Jiang Quansheng, was also seriously injured and broke his leg. Only my fifth sister, Gongsun Ping, is alright."

"The other day, my fourth brother, Jiang Quansheng, invited me for drinks. While we were drinking, he started crying. I asked him what was wrong, but he didn't say anything. However, I suspect there's more to the story..."

As he spoke, he whispered his guess: "The sworn brothers and sisters-in-law had been treating their eldest brother, Lu Taixian, with great respect. Just when they were about to reap the rewards, suddenly some of them died or were injured. There must be something fishy going on here."

Zhuang Jin nodded slightly.

"Brother-in-law, aren't you surprised?" Mu Bai asked in surprise.

Zhuang Jin glanced at him and said calmly, "The lower one's social class, the more difficult it is to survive due to the harsh environment. The closer one gets to animalistic instincts, the more one is filled with self-destruction and mutual harm."

Therefore, it is often seen that those who climb up from the bottom are the most ruthless in their character and methods.

"Brother-in-law is wise!"

Mu Bai flattered her, then changed the subject, saying shyly in a low voice, "Brother-in-law, I was out of my mind before. I don't miss my cousin anymore. The other day when we arrived, I saw that goddess constable, and I just felt..."

Zhuang Jin: ...

"You can choose another one."

Upon hearing this, Mu Bai glanced at Zhuang Jin, suppressing the turmoil in his heart: "Oh, yesterday Lu Tai insisted on inviting me to Tongfu Teahouse on the fifth floor of Zhenxiufang. I saw Manager Yu Linglong there, and she was truly..."

"Cough cough!"

Zhuang Jin coughed twice, his eyes twitching slightly. Thinking of Yu Linglong's two extremely high numbers, he looked at Mu Bai's head and shook his head, saying, "Mu Bai, listen to my advice, you... can't handle Yu Linglong at Tongfu Teahouse!"

……

(End of this chapter)