Chapter 458: President Zhang (Requesting Monthly Tickets)

Chapter 458: President Zhang (Seeking Monthly Votes)

Early January.

Somewhere on a university battlefield.

This was a node of a battlefield array, but a recent skirmish had left the entire node and the fortress above it in ruins.

Several junior students were waiting here, having been notified that a team from Wanfa University had taken on the reconstruction project and required their assistance.

Just as they were growing impatient, wondering if the Wanfa team was going to be late,

the ground beneath their feet shuddered. Before them, the earth erupted, and massive slabs of rock surged skyward, floating in mid-air as if gravity had ceased to exist.

Simultaneously, piles of construction debris buried underground were pulled upward, as if gripped by invisible hands, even snapping back together into their original forms.

Watching this, one junior student exclaimed, "Is this the efficiency of a Top Ten construction team? It’s truly staggering."

Another replied, "Perhaps a professor from the Top Ten is leading them; that would explain such earth-shaking power."

In the next moment, various magical treasures were ejected from a treasure chest, descending rapidly onto the site.

The Azure Cloud Veil released a torrent of azure sand, which flowed into the formless laborers, animating them to work.

The Earth-Suppressing Seal emitted an aura, temporarily reinforcing the makeshift structures.

The Earth Fiend Bottle churned mud and sand, manufacturing concrete on the spot.

The Golden Jade Disc emitted rays of solar heat, performing welding and smelting operations.

High above, Zhang Yu trod upon the air, his palms shifting in complex seals. A surging Earth Fiend gravity erupted, dragging countless materials through the air, reconstructing the site as if assembling building blocks.

Yet, even the Heaven Kunlun Mountain-Moving Divine Power was not omnipotent.

While Zhang Yu could reshape landscapes or flip an entire building with a single palm, he could not conjure templates, cement, or steel bars from thin air, nor could he attend to every minute detail of the construction.

Thus, he relied on Zhao Tianxing and the others to manipulate their treasures, assisting him in completing the fortress project.

To facilitate this, Zhang Yu’s soul-cultivator team had expanded.

The Ying family provided several more ancestors, while Zhao Tianxing brought in Hu Yuntao and Che Yufei.

The Ying ancestors, whether through their living experience in construction or their post-mortem soul-cultivation, were seasoned experts. Under their guidance, everyone from the junior college students Zhao Tianxing and Mo Tianyi to the newcomers Hu Yuntao and Che Yufei made rapid progress.

Che Yufei, in particular, as an upperclassman at Wanfa University, had pushed his Dao heart to the 20th level. As a soul-cultivator, his accessible spiritual computing pool was vast, his potential far exceeding that of the junior college students.

Unknowingly, whether it was the early arrivals or the later ones, all had begun to look to Che Yufei as their leader.

As he worked, Che Yufei thanked Zhang Yu: "Senior, thank you for giving me this opportunity."

Zhang Yu: "Senior, I also need soul-cultivators I can trust to help me."

Che Yufei: "Don't worry, we’ve signed the contract. No matter what I see while working for you, I won’t speak a word of it."

Che Yufei: "Come to think of it, I didn't expect you to master the Heaven Kunlun Mountain-Moving Divine Power so quickly."

Zhang Yu: "Just a stroke of luck."

Zhang Yu: "My success isn't just my own effort; it’s the era of Kunxu. Wanfa University has given me many opportunities."

After chatting with Che Yufei and seeing his work was on track, Zhang Yu turned to Hu Yuntao.

Zhang Yu: "Little Hu, are you adapting to the construction work?"

Hu Yuntao: "Pres... President Zhang."

Zhang Yu: "Don't call me President, just use my name."

Hu Yuntao: "President Zhang, I studied security at the Sky Demon University; I've never worked on a construction site before."

Hu Yuntao: "But I will work twice as hard to learn. I won't let you down for giving me this chance."

Zhang Yu: "No need to be so nervous, you can learn as you go."

After a brief, casual chat, Zhang Yu asked: "What about Xiong Wenwu? How is he doing?"

Hu Yuntao: "He's doing well. He found a Seventh-Layer master and works as their mount part-time. It’s a pretty good life."

Confirming that Che Yufei and Hu Yuntao were progressing well, Zhang Yu suddenly had a thought: "Why do I feel like a boss inspecting new employees?"

Fu Ji chuckled: "Don't you think you are?"

"In Kunxu, the stronger your strength, the higher your pay. Having mastered the Heaven Kunlun Mountain-Moving Divine Power, you are no longer a bottom-tier laborer."

"With this power, you can take on large-scale projects alone, hire labor to do the grunt work, and profit from them."

Hearing Fu Ji’s words, Zhang Yu felt a strange sensation.

He shook his head and continued to work, practicing the techniques of the Heaven Kunlun Mountain-Moving Divine Power.

The Seven Absolutes General Outline summarized the techniques into the "Ten Phases of the Suppressing Star," representing ten ways to utilize the Mountain-Moving Divine Power.

These phases were not ranked by superiority but were suited for different environments. As the user's cultivation and the level of the Divine Power grew, the effects became increasingly astonishing.

Zhang Yu pointed a finger, and distorted light flickered at his tip. The transparent air rippled visibly, like an invisible vortex expanding.

The vortex shot out, swallowing the dust of the construction site and condensing it into a sphere of mud and sand.

Suppressing Star Ten Phases—Star Dust Bind.

By channeling the Earth Fiend gravity, one could condense matter into spheres of varying sizes and ranges.

Zhang Yu shifted his palm seals and struck again from a distance.

Suppressing Star Ten Phases—Chaotic Star Drag.

Under the high-speed, erratic shifts of the Earth Fiend gravity, the rock layers suspended in mid-air shuddered, then were torn into fragments.

Zhang Yu continued to practice while he worked, and hours passed in the blink of an eye.

The Ying ancestors reported the project's progress.

Ying Xin’s grandfather said: "The four soul-cultivators you hired—the two junior college students aside—the one from Wanfa and the one from Sky Demon have real potential."

"Soul-cultivator resources and lifespans are limited, so their working time is finite."

"To have a future, they must encounter more excellent projects and achieve greater growth in the time they have."

"It is best to cultivate them early; these two have just died, making it the perfect time."

Zhang Yu nodded at Ying Xin’s grandfather. With a dead master above and a living granddaughter below, he was the pillar of the Ying family and a man of his word.

Having died neither too early nor too late, he possessed both modern construction experience and deep soul-cultivation accumulation.

Zhang Yu decided to leave the management of the soul-cultivators to him.

After discussing the work, Ying Xin’s grandfather added: "President Zhang, I think it’s time you started a company."

"A company?" Zhang Yu laughed. "I’m just a university student; what kind of company would I start?"

Ying Xin’s grandfather replied seriously: "You are no longer an ordinary student, but one who wields military-grade power."

"As long as you keep taking projects, supporting a team is no problem."

"And you need a team to help you earn more."

"Besides, the taxes on personal income are much higher than those on corporate revenue."

"As far as I know, every university student who masters military-grade power either works for a large corporation or has their own small company."

He grinned: "If you start a company, Ying Xin can handle the accounting. She studied quite a bit of that to advance herself."

Zhang Yu mused to himself, "A company, you say?"

"Perhaps it is still too soon for that."

A day later, as his tasks drew to a close, Zhang Yu received his daily wages—a sum totaling just over three spirit coins.

Gazing at the fruits of a single day's labor, his heart surged with a restless excitement.

"Though, I must still distribute the shares."

He turned his attention to the construction data compiled by Ying Xin’s grandfather, meticulously reviewing the output of every soul cultivator to calculate their respective earnings.

One by one, he dispatched payments to the Ying patriarch, Zhao Tianxing, Che Yufei, and the others.

As he tallied the figures and sent the funds, he watched his own balance slowly dwindle.

In that moment, the words of Ying Xin’s grandfather and Fu Ji echoed once more in his mind.

"Am I already distributing the profits of a venture?"

"Have I effectively become... a small-time boss?"

Fu Ji had said, "You really ought to consider establishing a company."

"Only by forming a company can you conveniently hire more hands, manage them effectively, and leverage their labor to generate greater wealth."

"As your cultivation advances, whether on the construction site or in the craft of artifact refinement, your scope of work will expand, and the ripple effects will grow, requiring more people to handle the supporting tasks."

"For the powerful, the greatest utility of subordinates is not to aid in battle, but to aid in the accumulation of wealth; the greater your ability, the more profit you can extract from those beneath you."

Fu Ji chuckled wickedly, "In Kunxu, the truly formidable establish companies to ruthlessly exploit their subordinates."

"If you do not operate this way, earning little while paying exorbitant taxes, how can you hope to compete with peers of your own standing?"

Zhang Yu nodded slowly, "Perhaps. I shall study the matter and give it some thought once I return."

After distributing over 0.3 spirit coins in wages and paying more than 1 spirit coin in taxes, he resolved, "I must establish a company."

"Once personal income reaches a certain height, these taxes levied by the Celestial Court are utterly preposterous!"

(End of chapter)