I became a Sword Emperor in the Martial Arts World

Chapter 154 Doing Nothing, Earning a Million-Dollar Annual Salary

"Hello, this is Gu Minghui."

"I am Ye Qingzhou."

"Oh? You've figured it out so quickly?"

"Yes, I want to join the Heavenly Secrets Research Institute, but I'm currently facing a small problem..."

After hearing Ye Qingzhou's explanation, Gu Minghui was speechless, but in the end he still agreed to help Ye Qingzhou with the cleanup: "I'll send someone over to clean the floor right away. Don't worry, you won't have any trouble."

Thanks.

"polite."

Gu Minghui then reminded Ye Qingzhou, "Keep an eye on your pet, otherwise I won't be able to explain it to the Martial Arts Association."

"Yes, I will keep them in check."

Although the two victims were members of the Blood Source Society with malicious intentions, Tang Zhuoran and Su Yi'an were, after all, citizens of the Eastern Pole Kingdom. The fact that monsters ate people was still a taboo subject and could easily cause public panic.

However, what was troublesome for Ye Qingzhou was nothing more than a trivial matter for Gu Minghui, which could be covered up with a simple greeting.

"Do I need to report to the headquarters of the Celestial Secrets Research Institute?"

"No need. I will send someone to contact you later and give you the identification documents you need. If you need anything in your cultivation in the future, you can contact me. The management of the Tianji Research Institute is quite relaxed. It's not a sweatshop where you have to clock in and out every day."

Gu Minghui was very sincere and much more reliable than Zhao Zhiyi. He not only helped Ye Qingzhou solve the identity problem of Yingyue and Youruo, but also took a cooperative approach.

Unlike Zhao Zhiyi, who received resources from the government but demanded that Ye Qingzhou be personally dependent on him.

This is practically using public funds to support their own dogs; they're really scheming.

Unfortunately, Ye Qingzhou had no interest in being someone else's dog.

Gu Minghui was so generous, yet he didn't ask for anything in return, which even surprised Ye Qingzhou: "You don't seem interested in the 'Emperor Yan's Legacy'?"

"Haha~"

On the other end of the phone, Gu Minghui laughed loudly: "The verifiable history of Dongji Kingdom exceeds five thousand years. Add to that some rare historical texts found in hidden caves and secret realms, and our civilization has continued for at least tens of thousands of years. In such a long time, do you know how many miraculous skills and techniques our ancient sages created?"

Listening to Gu Minghui's narration, Ye Qingzhou seemed to feel the vastness and grandeur of the history of the Eastern Pole Kingdom.

Gu Minghui continued, "Emperor Yan was only one of the Five Emperors. Although his cultivation techniques are important, they aren't actually that crucial. Ultimately, the power of a cultivation technique depends on who practices it. What our Eastern Pole Kingdom lacks now isn't cultivation techniques, but geniuses like you. Therefore, in my opinion, your value is higher than Emperor Yan's legacy."

"I see."

At this moment, Ye Qingzhou truly felt how much Gu Minghui valued him.

The next day, Ye Qingzhou's door was rang.

The newcomer was a woman in her late twenties, dressed in a black uniform and carrying a black briefcase. She was expressionless. "I am Li Jingshan, Dr. Gu's assistant."

"He mentioned you to me, please come in."

After confirming that the person's identity was correct, Ye Qingzhou invited them into the house. At this time, You Ruo also brought over tea, looking obedient and well-behaved.

Upon seeing this, Li Jingshan's heart pounded, and she went into a state of alert, her muscles completely tense.

As Gu Minghui's confidante, she knew You Ruo's identity before she arrived.

The seemingly adorable little girl in front of me is not human at all; in fact, she ate a living person yesterday, the kind who would gulp down a whole person if they were really close to her.

Being around such a non-human monster terrified her instinctively.

However, she did not forget her duties. Following Gu Minghui's instructions, she handed over the three completed certificates to Ye Qingzhou: "Mr. Ye, from now on you are a Red-level researcher at our Tianji Research Institute."

Red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple—these are the internal professional title ratings at the Tianji Research Institute.

Ye Qingzhou has only just joined and has yet to achieve anything, so he is currently only at the Red Rank.

Even at the Red-level, the benefits are enough to make many struggling researchers extremely envious.

They receive a monthly living allowance of 10,000 yuan, and it's easy to apply for project funding up to 300,000 yuan. They can also apply to use the research equipment of the Tianji Branch in major cities.

This is what is meant by "it's good to have a big tree to lean on."

If they achieve something significant, they'll take off from here, gaining both fame and fortune.

…………

Linjiang Wushu Association, President's Office.

Do do do~

"Come in."

"President."

"It's you, Luo Jun."

Bai Yuanhu looked at Luo Jun and nodded with a smile.

Clearly, since taking over as captain of the third enforcement team of the Wushu Association, Luo Jun has been working diligently and performing admirably, which has greatly satisfied Bai Yuanhu.

At least, Luo Jun is much more reliable than He Zhongyang; he didn't mess things up and make the situation unmanageable.

"President, something has happened to Ye Qingzhou again."

Luo Jun, with a serious expression, truthfully reported the intelligence he had gathered to Bai Yuanhu: "Just yesterday, two residents of No. 169 in Jiangshan Dijin Community mysteriously disappeared. I received the report and was about to intervene in the investigation when I was stopped by people from the city."

Bai Yuanhu remained calm and composed, saying, "I know about this. The two missing people are members of the Source Blood Society, and their identities have been confirmed. The people in charge are from the Heavenly Mystery Research Institute. It involves classified information, and the local martial arts association has no right to interfere."

"..."

Luo Jun felt suffocated: "When did Ye Qingzhou get involved with the Tianji Research Institute?"

Bai Yuanhu glanced at Lao Luo: "What, you're not convinced?"

Luo Jun, head bowed, asked in a low voice, "Is the matter of the He family's massacre just going to be left like this?"

While He Zhongyang was still alive, Luo Jun's relationship with him wasn't particularly good. In fact, Luo Jun benefited from He Zhongyang's death, being promoted from deputy captain to captain.

However, Luo Jun could not get over this matter from beginning to end; he felt a sense of shared sorrow for the fallen.

After all, He Zhongyang was the captain of the martial arts association's enforcement team. His entire family was wiped out, and when the investigation revealed that it might be related to Ye Qingzhou, it was immediately stopped by his superiors.

Luo Jun felt very unwilling, or rather, he was worried that he would end up in the same situation one day.

Bai Yuanhu, having been through similar experiences, naturally understood Luo Jun's thoughts: "Don't you think we shouldn't just let Ye Qingzhou go?"

Luo Jun nodded: "It's undeniable that he's a martial arts genius, but his actions are far too lawless. Wasn't the Martial Arts Association established precisely to manage and restrain martial artists? Moreover, Ye Qingzhou has very close ties with the Xu family of Linjiang. How can the Martial Arts Association sit idly by?"

The core members of the martial arts association have undergone a major reshuffle, and the martial arts families that used to hold power have lost control in many cities.

However, many martial artists from ordinary backgrounds have risen to prominence and taken control of the martial arts association.

This can be seen simply by looking at Bai Yuanhu, the president of the Linjiang Martial Arts Association, who is a martial artist from a humble background. With the government personally stepping in to support him, the rise of martial artists from humble backgrounds is an inevitable trend.

Even so, martial arts families remain an indispensable force in the martial arts world, and the government is unlikely to introduce policies that prohibit ordinary martial arts geniuses from contacting martial arts families.

It's like someone who has completed nine years of compulsory education, then gone to high school, got into Tsinghua or Peking University, acquired a wealth of skills, and is about to put them to good use when suddenly someone jumps out and says: "Such a genius should never work for a private or foreign company, should never go abroad, must do this and that..."

This is treating talented people like cattle and horses.

In the early days of the martial arts world, the "control faction" within the Eastern Pole Kingdom held this view, believing that the Martial Arts Association should not be controlled by a "commoner" like Qi Shengtian.

Then, the control faction trained the first batch of civilian martial artists by training henchmen, hoping to seize the power of discourse and control over the Martial Arts Association and even the entire martial arts world of Dongji Kingdom from Qi Shengtian in this way.

Even martial arts families know that when dealing with truly talented people, the key is to win them over.

But the powerful and wealthy treat martial arts geniuses with condescension, regarding them as lackeys, ordering them around and behaving arrogantly.

Obedient martial artists are given only a few bones by the control faction.

Those who disobey will be suppressed and subjected to various obedience tests, euphemistically called "tempering their character".

The final result was that Zhang Xinwu rebelled against the Martial Arts Association and led a large group of proud and talented commoner martial arts geniuses to establish the Xin Sha Liu.

This event had a tremendous impact on the martial arts world of Dongji Kingdom at the time, and even directly changed the landscape of the martial arts world. To this day, it remains a taboo that cannot be mentioned in public.

Bai Yuanhu was a firsthand witness to many of these events, and many of them remain vivid in his memory.

He looked at Luo Jun: "Law and order are built upon absolute violence. Martial arts itself is a powerful form of violence, therefore the martial arts world has its own rules. Our martial arts association didn't speak out about Ye Xiangyang's case back then, are we supposed to speak out about He Zhongyang's case today?"

"Do you think this is fair? Or do you want Ye Qingzhou to become the next Zhang Xinwu?"

Luo Jun was dejected. He finally understood that although the Martial Arts Association was nominally a constraint and management body for martial artists, its rules actually had limits.

The more powerful a martial artist is, or the greater the potential of a martial arts genius, the less they are bound by rules.

Seeing this, Bai Yuanhu sighed again: "Luo Jun, true geniuses are difficult to restrain and control. It's not that the Martial Arts Association doesn't see Ye Qingzhou's potential, nor that it doesn't want to prevent Ye Qingzhou from contacting martial arts families. It's just that they've already tried this approach, and it's completely useless, and it might even have the opposite effect."

A true martial arts master would never act like a dog, much less submit to the so-called "greater good."

Because the strong themselves embody the bigger picture.

Just like Zhang Xinwu, when Zhang Xinwu was still a master, the control faction frantically sent people to besiege him, showing that they would spare no expense to make an example of him.

As a result, Zhang Xinwu became a grandmaster while killing people.

Seeing that the situation was not going well, the control faction started trying to reason with Zhang Xinwu, trying to put a tight rein on him and make him obey the overall situation.

Zhang Xinwu refused to comply and, with sheer willpower, successfully broke through to the Martial Saint realm. He then easily eradicated the Control Faction, crushing those once high-ranking figures into dust, causing their deaths and the extermination of their clans.

If it weren't for the arrival of two of the Four Great Generals at the crucial moment, who fought Zhang Xinwu to a standstill outside the capital, this matter would likely have remained unresolved.

From then on, the attitude of the Eastern Kingdom towards martial artists changed. At least the two sides could have a more equal dialogue, instead of being treated like cattle and horses as before.

Instead, martial artists are categorized through various screening mechanisms.

Ordinary martial artists are subject to strict constraints and management by the martial arts association, and are given certain resources for training, but they are still considered high-level novice practitioners.

For example, He Zhongyang and Luo Jun are positioned in this way.

However, the official attitude towards master-level martial artists is completely different. The focus is primarily on mutually beneficial cooperation, with direct suppression being rare.

Even when dealing with martial arts families with master-level masters, the authorities only target them by supporting ordinary martial arts practitioners, rather than directly punishing them, unless the martial arts families directly raise the flag of rebellion.

After all, the influence of martial arts families within the Martial Arts Association remains strong and cannot be ignored.

Once someone reaches the Grandmaster level, even the government must show them respect, providing various benefits and preferential treatment, and using this shared interest to win them over.

Although Ye Qingzhou has not yet become a Grandmaster, he has the potential to do so. Therefore, the authorities will not treat Ye Qingzhou like a lackey or a beast of burden, but will try to bind him with shared interests.

This is why Gu Minghui and the Divine General Qinglong were so kind to Ye Qingzhou. After all, they both had the official power of the Eastern Pole Kingdom behind them.

As for the Martial Saint, at this level, he basically does everything according to his will.

After all, you can't make a "nuclear bomb" with its own thoughts obediently follow the rules and regulations set by others.

It is obvious that Ye Qingzhou's talent has surpassed that of Zhang Xinwu back then.

With Zhang Xinwu as a precedent, the authorities also know that it is impossible to completely control a martial arts genius like Ye Qingzhou.

"President, what should our attitude be towards Ye Qingzhou from now on?"

Bai Yuanhu pondered for a moment, then said, "Give them the treatment they deserve, and don't have any other ideas. Martial arts are inherently a difficult force to control, let alone a genius of Ye Qingzhou's caliber. We can't just destroy them because we can't have them, can we?"

If it can be destroyed, that would be fine. But what if it isn't destroyed and another expert even more insane than Zhang Xinwu is created? Wouldn't that be like shooting oneself in the foot?

The control faction was swept into the dustbin of history in this way. Having learned from its mistakes, the current Martial Arts Association will not repeat the same error.

After all, the existence of vital energy will continuously give rise to new martial artists.

Unless all the vital energy is eliminated, martial arts geniuses can never be killed off. Are we going to follow the example of the early days of the Western Kingdom and introduce some kind of "Martial Arts Law"?

This thing is utterly useless except for creating a crazy antagonism between ordinary people and martial artists.

Therefore, while the current national policy of the Eastern Pole Kingdom appears to be strict in its management of martial artists, its actual implementation is quite lenient.

The core principle is to live in peace with each other, develop the hidden paradise together, and share the benefits.

Finally, Bai Yuanhu specifically reminded Luo Jun: "He Zhongyang's case ends here. The perpetrator is Ghost Sword Sorrow Duan Ming. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

Luo Jun lowered his head.

"Ye Qingzhou has now joined the Tianji Research Institute, which shows that he is still willing to cooperate with the government. Such a peerless genius cannot be judged by the standards of a lackey, otherwise it will only backfire."

Bai Yuanhu was implying to Luo Jun not to cause trouble for Ye Qingzhou.

Luo Jun sighed: "President, I know what to do."

Meanwhile, back in Linjiang City, Ye Qingzhou spent several days participating in various commendation activities. First, he was welcomed by a large crowd at Linjiang No. 1 Middle School, where Principal Zhao Dezhu was all smiles. The celebration was even more grand than the school's centennial celebration.

Afterwards, Ye Qingzhou accepted the city's invitation to have dinner with the mayor and was informed that he had been selected as one of the top ten outstanding youths of Linjiang this year.

Various social honors came one after another.

The local chamber of commerce in Linjiang even sent its president to personally invite Ye Qingzhou to join as a martial arts consultant for the Linjiang Chamber of Commerce, with a monthly consulting fee of 100,000 yuan.

Earn a million-dollar annual salary without doing anything!

Successful martial artists possess this kind of social influence.

Even if you don't ask, someone will force a lot of money into your pocket.

Ye Qingzhou did not agree rashly, but first accepted Xu Yinchuan's invitation to visit the Xu family and ask for their opinion.

At the Xu family mansion, Xu Yinchuan personally received Ye Qingzhou.

"Uncle Xu, the Linjiang Chamber of Commerce wants to invite me to become a member. Do you think I should accept?"

My advice is to agree.

Xu Yinchuan smiled and explained, "Actually, most business people are very shrewd. You don't need to worry about being bothered by various mundane affairs after joining the Chamber of Commerce and delaying your cultivation. They're not that stupid. The reason they invited you is because they see your potential. In fact, they would love for you to have a higher cultivation level so that they can have fewer troubles when they go out to do business in the future."

The social order of Dongji Kingdom is certainly stable and harmonious, but wherever there are people, there is a world of intrigue. In particular, the rise of the martial arts community has brought about subtle changes to the original commercial order.

Nowadays, business disputes are no longer commonly resolved in court. Instead, people often settle them privately by holding a showdown and testing each other's skills.

Whichever side wins gets to decide.

To prevent business disputes from escalating into bloodshed, which would be far too undignified.

This is still within the country. Many Eastern capitalists who do business abroad are much more unrestrained.

By directly inviting masters or even grandmasters of martial arts, a single arena battle could potentially determine the distribution of billions or even tens of billions in profits.

(End of this chapter)