Under One Person: The End of Technique, Company Building

As the old celestial master finished speaking, the grand Luo Tian Ceremony, a once-in-a-century event in the world of extraordinary beings, officially began.

At nine o'clock in the morning, the sun had completely crossed the ridge on the east side of Longhu Mountain and poured down on the training ground without any obstruction.

Sunlight filters through the gaps in the leaves, casting bright, dappled shadows on the bluestone slabs.

As the draw results were announced, the atmosphere in the stands gradually reached its first climax.

Zhuge Qi still stood in the shadow of the old pine tree at the edge of the training ground.

This location is excellent. It overlooks the entire arena, cleverly avoids the line of sight of most people, and is also situated in a ventilated area. The mountain breeze dissipates most of the late summer heat.

"Section Chief, the sun is scorching. Have some water to soothe your throat." Xiao Li took out a stainless steel thermos with the "NaDuTong" logo from his black briefcase and handed it over with both hands.

Zhuge Qi nodded slightly and took the thermos. He steadily unscrewed the lid, and a wisp of steam carrying a faint aroma of goji berries and chrysanthemums rose up.

He gently blew on a few plump goji berries floating on the water's surface and slowly took a sip.

"The first match is on the Shiratori arena, right? Zhang Chulan is going to go up there." Ma Hong crossed his arms and stared intently at the second secondary arena below, which had already been cleared out.

"Hmm, let's see what tricks this kid can pull." Zhuge Qi put the thermos back on, handed it back to Xiao Li, put his hands behind his back, leaned forward slightly, and struck a standard pose of an old leader inspecting work.

On the stage below, the four contestants of the first round of elimination have taken to the stage one after another.

According to the rules, the first round is a four-person free-for-all, and only the last person standing on the stage can advance.

This not only tests an individual's absolute strength, but also their ability to adapt to changing circumstances and their cunning in forming alliances.

The other three contestants all appeared to be ordinary sect disciples or independent cultivators. They each occupied a corner of the arena, looking tense and as if facing a formidable enemy.

Zhang Chulan's appearance instantly attracted the attention of most of the audience.

He specially wore a black overcoat today, the hem fluttering in the mountain wind.

He lowered his head, his hands in his trench coat pockets, his steps slow and heavy, as if each step carried the weight of the world's vicissitudes.

His deep eyes and tightly pursed lips, combined with his illustrious identity as a "Qi Body Source Transmission Person," truly gave him the aura of a supreme master who lived aloof and secluded life.

The murmurs in the stands gradually subsided, as many of the young superhumans were stunned by his demeanor.

"Is this Zhang Chulan?"

"He looks so profound, there's not a trace of Qi emanating from him. Could it be that he has returned to his original, simple self?"

"Nonsense, his grandfather is Zhang Huaiyi! His Qi Body Source Flow is something we ordinary mortals can't possibly understand!"

The other three opponents on the stage were sweating profusely. They exchanged glances and took a half-step back in unison, forming a three-on-one formation to fight against Zhang Chulan.

Zhang Chulan walked to the center of the arena and slowly stopped.

He slowly raised his head, looked up at the sky, then took a deep breath and, in a low voice filled with sorrow and determination, slowly uttered a sentence:

"What I'm going to destroy... is this very sky!"

The room fell silent as soon as those words were spoken.

Even his three opponents, who were originally preparing to attack him, were stunned and dared not move, intimidated by his words, which were extremely childish yet inexplicably matched his current aura.

"The three of you, are you going to attack all at once, or take turns?" Zhang Chulan coldly glanced at them. "But let me give you a piece of advice: once the Qi Source Flow within me is activated, even I can't control it. If you don't want to die, you should settle your differences among yourselves first. Only the strongest one will be qualified to take a single blow from me."

The three men looked at each other in bewilderment.

The influence of a person's reputation and the power of the Qi Source Flow were too great; none of them dared to be the first cannon fodder to test Zhang Chulan's true strength.

After a brief exchange of glances, the three of them actually believed Zhang Chulan's lies, and they took up defensive stances against each other. Then, with a loud shout, they immediately started fighting.

The wind howled and the energy scattered as the three fought fiercely, each punch landing squarely.

And what about Zhang Chulan?

He turned around with great flair, walked to the edge of the ring, lifted the hem of his trench coat, and sat down cross-legged.

He even pulled a tissue from his pocket, wiped non-existent sweat from his forehead, then rested his chin on his hand and watched the three men's brawl with a bored expression, even yawning exaggeratedly in the middle of it.

Seeing this, Liu Yanyan, standing under the pine tree, was completely dumbfounded, almost dropping the half-empty bottle of mineral water in her hand: "This...that's it? He didn't even have to lift a finger?"

Ma Hong was also dumbfounded, his lips twitching as he said, "This is too... too damn unsportsmanlike! Those three idiots really started fighting amongst themselves?"

A few minutes later, the melee on the stage finally came to a conclusion.

Two of them were lying unconscious on the ground, their faces bruised and swollen. The last one, a tall, thin man, was also covered in blood, kneeling on one knee, panting heavily. His vital energy was completely depleted, and he could barely stand up.

The tall, thin man, panting heavily, looked at Zhang Chulan, who was sitting cross-legged on the edge, and gave a bitter laugh: "Zhang Chulan, I defeated them. Now... I'll experience your Qi Source Flow..."

Zhang Chulan sighed, slowly stood up, dusted off his trench coat, and walked step by step to the tall, thin man.

Then, under the watchful eyes of thousands of people in the arena, Zhang Chulan unceremoniously raised his right leg and, with a "bang," kicked the tall, thin man who was already powerless to fight back, sending him flying off the stage.

"Referee, I won." Zhang Chulan turned his head and showed a set of bright white teeth to the Celestial Master's Mansion referee who was already stunned.

silence.

A deathly silence.

Immediately afterwards, as if a drop of cold water had fallen into a boiling oil pan, the entire training ground erupted in chaos. A tidal wave of angry curses and boos swept in.

"shameless!"

"Shameless! Utterly shameless!"

"Go to hell! You shameless bastard!"

"This is a cover-up! Give us our money back! Get this shameless bastard off the mountain!"

A deluge of debris was thrown down from the stands—mineral water bottles, banana peels, even half-eaten meat buns—all rained down on Zhang Chulan.

Zhang Chulan, however, acted as if nothing had happened. He covered his head with his trench coat and scurried away like a nimble mouse amidst the hail of bullets, not forgetting to turn back and give the audience a triumphant peace sign.

"This is shameless... I've never seen such a brazen person in my life." Liu Yanyan covered her face, feeling that her values ​​had been greatly shaken.

Xiao Li stammered, "Section Chief, is this the kind of person our company has been keeping an eye on? If word gets out, what will become of our Extraordinary Persons Affairs Section's reputation?"

However, Zhuge Qi's expression remained completely unchanged.

With his hands behind his back, he looked down at Zhang Chulan, who was scrambling for his life, and a smile of amusement crept onto his lips.

"Xiao Li, Xiao Liu, you two are still too young. You're too easily swayed by your emotions when you look at things." Zhuge Qi turned around and began his on-site teaching mode in the calm and authoritative tone of an old leader.

"Section Chief, does he really deserve praise for this?" Ma Hong scratched his buzz cut, puzzled.

"Of course it deserves praise, and it deserves serious study." Zhuge Qi pointed a finger into the air and said earnestly, "In our unit, we judge an employee's work ability not by how much sweat they shed or how many slogans they shout, but by whether they can complete tasks efficiently. That's called 'results-oriented'."

He pointed to the arena below: "Look at Zhang Chulan. First, did he violate the rules of the Luo Tian Grand Ceremony? No, the rules allow for a free-for-all between four people."

Secondly, was he injured? Did he deplete his Qi? No. He successfully divided the enemy camp, stirred up internal conflicts, and self-depleted his resources with just a trench coat and two lines of dialogue. Do you know what this is called in management?

The three of them shook their heads in unison, as if they were listening to something incomprehensible.

"This is called 'cost reduction and efficiency improvement'," Zhuge Qi said, enunciating each word clearly, his tone filled with undisguised admiration. "To obtain the greatest benefit with the least cost. As for the audience's criticism? That's called sunk cost."

"Face is for others to see; substance is what truly matters. He's the one who got promoted, and others are the ones who got eliminated—that's enough. In the future, when you go out on cases, if you can act like him—getting the Quanxing members to fight each other without firing a single shot, just with a couple of words, and then bringing them back to me tied up—I won't just call you shameless; I'll apply for a first-class merit award from headquarters!"

These shocking yet logically consistent remarks left Ma Hong, Xiao Li, and Liu Yanyan completely stunned.

Especially Liu Yanyan, who originally thought that running away from home and joining Quanxing was rebellious enough, but after listening to the young section chief's "philosophy of survival within the system", she realized how shallow her understanding of the world was.

"Section Chief, I've learned a lot," Ma Hong exclaimed sincerely, even wanting to take out his notebook to write it down.

"Take a look. This kid is far more terrifying than you see. He can refrain from showing off his strength and is willing to bear the infamy to achieve his goal. He is far more terrifying than you see." Zhuge Qi chuckled and turned his gaze back to the main stands.

On the main stands, the reactions of the ten elders varied.

Wang Bing sat in his armchair, spitting out a contemptuous spittle: "What kind of thing is this, daring to call himself a Qi Source Stream Master? He's nothing but a clown trying to attract attention."

Lu Ci crushed the walnut in his hand and let out a cold laugh: "This kid's skin is even thicker than his grandfather's back then. However, the more shameless a person is, the harder they are to deal with."

Lu Jin, enraged, bristled and glared, pointing below and cursing, "Zhang Huaiyi, Zhang Huaiyi, how could you, with your illustrious reputation, have given birth to such a scoundrel as your grandson!"

Meanwhile, Zhang Zhiwei, the old Celestial Master sitting in the very center, was experiencing uncontrollable, slight twitching of his facial muscles.

Although he had known for a long time that Zhang Chulan had been biding his time for the past ten years, he never expected that this kid could win the competition in such a refreshing and unconventional way.

He's over a hundred years old, what storms hasn't he weathered? But today's scene really made his old face lose face.

"Grand Tutor, please don't get angry. Have some tea to soothe your throat."

Just then, a clear, childlike voice rang out beside the old master.

A young Taoist boy, dressed in a clean little Taoist robe, with rosy lips and white teeth, who looked no more than twelve or thirteen years old, obediently handed a blue and white porcelain teacup to the old Taoist master.

The old celestial master took a deep breath, suppressing the helplessness in his heart, took the teacup and took a sip: "Little Yu, you are the most sensible one."

The young Taoist boy, "Xiao Yu Zi," laughed innocently: "Grandmaster is in good health; how could he be upset by such a trivial matter? But Uncle Chu Lan's style of doing things is truly unique."

Standing at a distance, Zhuge Qi's gaze seemed to casually sweep across the main stands, but in that instant, a highly restrained glint flashed deep within his eyes.

The fourth realm, "a state of detachment and purity," brings not only absolute control over emotions, but also a keen insight into the surrounding energy and causality.

With the added boost of the golden attribute "Dragon and Tiger Qi", Zhuge Qi's perception ability has reached an extremely terrifying level.

In his perception, the seemingly innocent little Taoist boy "Xiao Yuzi" did not have any powerful Qi fluctuations, but his attempt to completely blend into the environment and his desperate attempt to pretend to be innocent appeared as a drop of ink on a blank sheet of paper under Zhuge Qi's clear and mirror-like mind, which was so abrupt that it was startling.

"Gong Qing, acting leader of the Quanxing Sect."

Zhuge Qi silently recited the name in his heart.

He had known for a long time that Gong Qing was lurking by the side of the old Celestial Master, and he even knew the secret that Old Master Tian Jinzhong had hidden.

But when he saw this young man who controlled the Quanxing gang of lunatics, humbly lying beside the strongest person in the world of supernatural beings, he still secretly praised him in his heart.

Such forbearance and such courage—if he hadn't gone astray, he would indeed have been a formidable and ruthless leader.

"Section Chief, what are you looking at?" Ma Hong followed Zhuge Qi's gaze but only saw the Old Celestial Master and a few Taoist boys, without noticing anything unusual.

"It's nothing, just enjoying the scenery," Zhuge Qi said casually, withdrawing his gaze.

He did not choose to expose Gong Qing on the spot.

Firstly, he had no substantial evidence; secondly, the Quanxing sect could only generate its greatest political value if it were detonated within the Old Master's scheme.

What Zhuge Qi needs to do is to act as a bystander, a player who, at the moment the illness strikes, step in as a savior and let everyone see the company's power.

This is his philosophy as the "second brother".

The following matches were much more conventional compared to Zhang Chulan's earth-shattering farce.

It wasn't until nearly noon that it was finally Zhuge Qing's turn to appear.

Facing three eager opponents, Zhuge Qing didn't even take his hands out of his pockets. He stood there, a signature foxy smile on his lips, and casually took a half-step.

"The character '巽' (xùn) and the wind rope."

"The character 'Li' (离) and the character 'Chi Lian' (赤练)"

As he casually chanted, the entire arena was instantly enveloped in a whirlwind and flames.

His three opponents didn't even get a touch of his clothes before being blasted off the stage by a perfectly controlled spell.

The whole process was so smooth and fast that it was dazzling.

The entire stadium erupted in deafening cheers, especially from the young female supernatural beings in the stands, whose screams almost pierced the sky, a stark contrast to the treatment Zhang Chulan had received earlier.