After resolving the most pressing problem, Zhou Zhe began considering his current situation.
He had killed Roxstar, the one-in-a-hundred-million Super Horned Demon of Sigma Star. Based on the intelligence he had gathered from other alien gladiators, Sigma Star's strongest being was a Golden Gladiator known as the "Absolute Ruler." There was a high chance the other party would come looking for revenge.
Black Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold.
There were three whole major realms between them...
Zhou Zhe simply could not imagine how strong that "Absolute Ruler" truly was.
His gaze fell upon the Black Sword Shield Brand on the back of his hand. Zhou Zhe blinked. "I want to look up information on Sigma Star's 'Absolute Ruler.'"
The diligent brand immediately gave its reply.
Wisdom Law reminded you: The target is a Gold Four-Star Gladiator. Querying complete information requires 54 Gladiator Points.
Fuck, why?
Expensive and shady!
Zhou Zhe nearly let loose a torrent of profanity.
He only had 58 points left.
If he spent another 54 points on intelligence, was he still supposed to grow stronger?
The Heart of Heavenly Tribulation was incredible, but it was only a foundation. Zhou Zhe still needed matching techniques, cultivation systems, and equipment before he could turn it into combat power.
Comprehend it himself and create a cultivation art?
Zhou Zhe was very confident. He believed that his future self would definitely be capable of such a thing!
The key was...
He knew far too little right now.
He only knew the Wind Element Body Tempering Technique and the Wind Riding Blade Technique.
The idea of creating his own cultivation art and combat style was tempting, but it was like trying to prove Goldbach's conjecture right after learning addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The difficulty...
Was just a tiny bit enormous.
Taking a deep breath, Zhou Zhe asked with a twitching eye, "How much if I only ask about things related to me? Don't tell me you can't understand what I mean."
8 Gladiator Points are required.
"That's acceptable. Deduct them."
The information was as follows—
① Bashar, Gold Four-Star Gladiator, title: "Absolute Ruler." He possessed the power to destroy a low-martial world single-handedly. He had no blood relation to the deceased Roxstar.
② His feelings toward you: A sea of blood and a hatred that could not exist beneath the same heavens.
③ Before you advance to Silver Gladiator, he cannot directly act against you due to the rules established by the Dao.
Transaction complete. Wisdom Law's free service quota has been exhausted. In the future, other brand lifeforms will handle your business correspondence.
And then...
There was no then!
That was it. Just three pieces of information.
Zhou Zhe felt that the version of himself who had praised the other party's attentive service and conscientious after-sales support was simply an idiot.
"Not bad. At least I still have 50 points left."
"Many Cosmic Gladiators only have this much wealth after two matches."
Zhou Zhe activated self-consolation mode. "Intelligence is extremely important. The most terrifying gap in the world is information asymmetry."
Naturally, Zhou Zhe had not come up with those two lines himself.
The first half came from his chuunibyou terminal-stage patient of an eldest brother, Yan Yan Yan, while the second half came from his amateur-scientist second brother, Qing An Yan.
Unfortunately, ever since that online game had shut down, he had been unable to contact either of them for many years.
Otherwise, what the hell would Zhou Zhe have to worry about?
After all, his Golden Finger had most likely been crafted by those two brothers...
If he ran into an opponent he could not defeat, he could just call his eldest and second brothers over, then stand at the side shouting 666. That would be the end of it.
What a pity... what a pity!
Those without a background to rely on could only find a way to become their own pillar of support.
"Fantasy over!"
"Now, extract the useful information from this intelligence! It cost me eight Gladiator Points!"
Zhou Zhe sighed. "Bashar, single-target world-ending combat power! That's a little exaggerated..."
Since Earth had entered the Dao's field of vision, it could barely count as having stepped over the threshold into a low-martial world now, right?
In simple terms, Earth's civilization was now qualified to be wiped out by Bashar.
Zhou Zhe did not know what to say.
Should he scatter some flowers and celebrate?
There was no need to mention Bashar's feelings toward him, his resolve to kill already set in stone.
Who knew what unspeakable relationship the Super Horned Demon Roxstar, who had died by Zhou Zhe's hand, had with Bashar, the "Absolute Ruler."
After all, judging from their names alone, those two should both be males...
As for someone who wanted to kill him, if Zhou Zhe had sufficient strength, he would absolutely kill the other party immediately.
Unfortunately, Zhou Zhe did not have that strength.
So he could only lie low.
Develop steadily and cautiously.
The critical problem was that even doing that would be difficult!
The intelligence provided by the sword-and-shield brand was essentially also explaining the Cosmic Arena's rules to Zhou Zhe.
"Golden Gladiators can't directly attack gladiators more than one major realm below them..."
"So that means they can act indirectly?"
This intelligence made Zhou Zhe's scalp go numb.
By normal logic, a Golden Gladiator should have Silver Gladiators serving as his dogs.
But Silver Gladiators were still two major realms above Zhou Zhe, so they could not directly act either.
Therefore, if Bashar, Sigma Star's "Absolute Ruler," wanted to kill Zhou Zhe in a short period of time, would he need to send his underling's underling?
The chain of logic seemed sound.
If this speculation came true...
Zhou Zhe felt as if he had eaten too much and was beginning to feel nauseated.
"When the boat reaches the bridge, it will naturally go straight!"
This trouble could be set aside for now.
When there were too many lice, one stopped itching; when there were too many debts, one stopped feeling burdened!
Those afraid of death did not become successors!
Why worry about so much!
Continuously improving his hard power was what truly mattered!
After all, Zhou Zhe also had the identity of a Cosmic Gladiator!
Even if he killed Bashar, the Dao would still be looming over his head.
Compared with the Dao, the saying that serving a ruler was like living beside a tiger was simply pathetically weak!
That bastard was moody and unpredictable. At the slightest disagreement, it wanted to thoroughly erase an entire civilization. Zhou Zhe had no idea when he might be implicated by some idiot Earthling and have hundreds of clans exterminated by association under the Dao.
Taking ten thousand steps back!
At least in the Dao's eyes, he was still a high-quality catalyst with some value to exploit.
What if he lost that value someday?
He could not keep thinking about it.
His scalp was going numb!
Zhou Zhe took two deep breaths to calm himself, then began handling the transfer of Swift Wind Pavilion's assets with the female assistant's help.
The female assistant handled most of the procedures. Zhou Zhe only needed to mechanically sign a huge stack of documents.
After turning himself into a humanoid document-processing machine through Self-Configuration, Zhou Zhe finally completed the inheritance procedures for Swift Wind Pavilion eleven hours later and regained his freedom.
From this moment onward, Zhou Zhe truly counted as the second-generation master of Swift Wind Pavilion. His status as its master gradually began receiving recognition throughout society!
"Whew... what a hassle."
"Eleven hours just vanished like that!"
Zhou Zhe canceled the configuration and let out a breath.
Because he had received an exclusive mission from the Dao, he would not be urged into the arena before the mission was completed or declared failed.
Time was not as pressing as before. Spending half a day dealing with Mentor Lin Ye's arrangements was still acceptable.
"If there's anything you need handled, you can call me directly. My phone will remain on twenty-four hours a day."
The female assistant cautiously asked, "There are some elite core members at Swift Wind Pavilion's headquarters. Should they all be transferred here?"
Zhou Zhe tilted his head and thought for a moment. "I don't understand this, and I don't have much energy to spend on these matters."
"My main business right now is finding ways to increase my strength."
"You can take charge of coordinating and planning Swift Wind Pavilion's affairs."
"Put talented people in positions suitable for them, and ensure the integrity of Swift Wind Pavilion's system, as well as its reputation."
No normal entrepreneur would make such a decision.
But Zhou Zhe had never been an entrepreneur or social elite.
Zhou Zhe's thinking was simple.
If she could do it well, let her do it.
If she could not, replace her.
Judging by the fact that Mentor Lin Ye had entrusted his will to her, she should have professional ethics and the relevant capabilities, right?
The female secretary, simultaneously shocked and delighted, immediately delivered a lengthy declaration of loyalty.
As for what exactly she said, Zhou Zhe had no interest in listening.
Not a single word entered his ears.
He was thinking about Zhang Miaoran...
Oh, no!
He was exploring the mysteries of the Extraordinary Organ, the Heart of Heavenly Tribulation.
Seeing the new boss's barely concealed perfunctory attitude, the female assistant was not discouraged. She merely smiled, hugged a stack of documents, and hurried out of the office.
From inside the office, Zhou Zhe faintly heard the employees outside discussing him.
"Eleven straight hours of high-intensity work without even resting for a minute?"
"We're doomed! The new boss is a workaholic. It feels like we're finished!"
"Really? Is he a robot? Doesn't he get tired? Doesn't he get sick of it?"
"What the hell do you know? That's called a 'mechanical mind'! An essential quality for anyone destined to accomplish great things!"
"I've met quite a few successful people, but I've truly never seen such a ruthless person! Even if you asked me to slack off in the company for eleven consecutive hours, I'd find it unbearably difficult..."
The voices were very quiet, and the room's soundproofing was decent.
However, Zhou Zhe's Wind Element Body Tempering Technique had reached the great completion of the fourth level. Combined with the Heart of Heavenly Tribulation's enhancement, it had sharpened his five senses beyond normal human limits.
Couldn't they chat in text through Penguin Financial Group's WeChat, QQ, or DingTalk?
If they thought typing was slow and wanted efficiency, they could use the Myriad Heavens Forum for telepathic communication too!
They were making it sound like awkward, forced flattery. How embarrassing!
Zhou Zhe touched his slightly burning ears, decisively put on his headphones, and opened the exchange list provided by the sword-and-shield brand.
This chapter had 2,800 words!
It wasn't short!
The second chapter was still being revised. It would be uploaded once the revisions were done~
Before you continue