Stock Dividends

There was no denying that the Luo Family's ancestral "cure" really did work wonders.

After a night's rest, Tang Ping felt the restlessness and emptiness that had been lodged in his heart vanish completely. His eyes had grown sharp and bright again, and he felt as if he had endless energy. His determination to break through to a higher level blazed anew.

What made him even happier was that early the next morning, his Optical Computer received a transfer notification from Luo Xiaoyu. After she had broken through to Star Rank, her family had given her the "First Prize for Star Rank Breakthrough"—a full 10 million Black Dragon Coins.

Looking at the sudden increase in his account balance, Tang Ping didn't hesitate for a moment. He opened the Virtual Universe stock-trading interface and invested all the money in shares of Galaxy Liquor and Galaxy Tea.

Although the prices of both stocks remained steady at 100 Black Dragon Coins and hadn't risen, they had happened to qualify for the annual dividend, and the 10% payout was quite substantial. Including the shares worth 22 million he already owned, the total in his account instantly became 22 million × 1.1 + 10 million = 34.2 million Black Dragon Coins.

As the figures ticked upward, he felt the reassuring satisfaction of building wealth.

As for the 1 million Black Dragon Coin reward Babata had given him earlier, he had already spent it on cultivation resources: a few bottles of Purple Marrow Fluid to accelerate Origin Force condensation, and a small piece of Stardust Crystal to hone his spiritual power.

Watching the string of numbers in his account keep growing, Tang Ping clenched his fist, his fighting spirit burning ever brighter. "With resources in ample supply, I'll break through to Planetary Rank Level Five as soon as possible this time!"

In the days that followed, Tang Ping's life settled back into a regular, peaceful routine. Each day, he cultivated according to schedule and took care of various affairs.

There were a few minor complications along the way, though. The Luo Family's legal department worked with remarkable efficiency, and before long, it had taken Zhang Min and Li Feifei to court. In the end, the two sold off all their valuables and even had their parents help raise money, but they still couldn't repay the debt in full.

Taking into account that they were still university students, the court ruled that the two had to sign a loan agreement and repay 3,000 Silver Blue Coins per month, including interest. It would take them a full ten years to pay it off.

After the lawsuit ended, Zhang Min and Li Feifei remained bitter. They turned to their class group chat to sob and embellish their story, accusing Tang Ping of being "heartless" and "kicking them while they were down."

The chat immediately erupted. Quite a few classmates who didn't know the whole story joined in, accusing Tang Ping of making a fuss over nothing.

Tang Ping found the chat's toxic chatter both ridiculous and tiresome. He tapped the screen and left the group. Out of sight, out of mind; he couldn't be bothered wasting his breath on people who couldn't tell right from wrong.

A few days later, good news arrived from the Weidi Family: the first profits from the mining operation had finally been paid out. The amount was a staggering 1 million Black Dragon Coins!

Tang Ping did the math. At this rate, the annual returns would likely reach 4 million Black Dragon Coins. Even after giving half to the Luo Family as agreed and letting the Weidi Family retain another 20%, he would still get 1.2 million Black Dragon Coins a year. Converted into Silver Blue Coins, that came to a full 1.2 billion!

The figure made Tang Ping's heart jolt. Back when the Luo Family had managed this mining region, they had received only 1 billion Silver Blue Coins over ten years. Now, the profits from a single year far exceeded that. No wonder the Luo Family had always encouraged its younger members to go out and manage things themselves.

Still, Tang Ping had no intention of keeping all the money for himself. He knew very well that the mine's smooth operation depended on patrols by the guard team. The energy cores and equipment of the space fortress also needed regular maintenance. Funds for all of that had to come out of the profits.

Even after deducting all the expenses, he could still take home 500 million Silver Blue Coins a year—roughly 500,000 Black Dragon Coins. That alone would be more than enough for him and Luo Xiaoyu, who had already advanced to Star Rank, to cultivate in peace without worrying about resources.

"Life here is a lot better than it was on Earth!" Tang Ping couldn't help exclaiming.

Back on Earth, he had wanted to improve his strength but had been restricted at every turn. Here, he not only earned money and had all the cultivation resources he needed, but could also do whatever he wanted without anyone telling him what to do. It was practically an ideal cultivation haven.

Of course, he hadn't forgotten the dangers here.

This star system was isolated in the sea of stars and didn't lie along the Black Dragon Mountain Empire's main fleet patrol routes, so it could be attacked by Star Pirates at any time.

Although the Luo Family had once joined forces with the Black Dragon Mountain fleet to sweep the area clean a few years ago, those desperate criminals were all bold as brass, risking their lives for a chance at profit. If there was anything to gain, they'd dare take the risk.

That was why the family's rewards were so generous, yet so few of its younger members were willing to take up a post here. If they could lounge comfortably at home and still get cultivation resources, who would want to come all the way out to this remote place and risk their lives?

Tang Ping, however, wasn't too worried. After all, the star system fell within the Weidi Family's business territory, and the overall profits weren't especially high. The Star Pirates probably wouldn't be interested in such a godforsaken place. It wasn't worth risking their lives for such a small gain.

He shook his head, pushed thoughts of the dangers aside for the moment, finished sorting out the financial statements, and headed into the Cultivation Room.

Right now, he had an even bigger problem!

Ever since Luo Xiaoyu had broken through to Star Rank after their "deep exchange" the last time, she seemed to have discovered a "shortcut" to improving her cultivation. Now, about once a week, she would find all sorts of excuses to come see him. One moment, she would say, "I've hit a cultivation bottleneck and feel restless"; the next, "My spiritual power feels chaotic and needs adjusting." Every time, she would drag him into "facing the challenge head-on."

The problem was, after advancing to Star Rank, Luo Xiaoyu's strength had surged. She was more than ten times stronger than someone at Planetary Rank, with a base strength of 90 million jin (about 45,000 tons). Tang Ping, meanwhile, was only at Planetary Rank Level Four, with a physical strength of no more than 4 million jin. He was utterly powerless against her and quickly lost every time.

If not for the rapid recovery of Origin Force at Planetary Rank, along with the Nutrient Solution and pills he kept on hand to restore his stamina, he wouldn't have been able to withstand such "exertion."

"This can't go on..." Tang Ping rubbed his aching lower back and fell into thought.

He could keep improving his strength through cultivation, but Luo Xiaoyu was a higher level than he was, and her strength was growing faster too. If things continued like this, the gap between them would only widen.

Suddenly, inspiration struck. He spread his hands, releasing his pale-purple Thunder Domain and pale-blue Wind Domain at the same time. The two Domains rapidly fused around him, forming an energy shield charged with both wild power and fluid grace.

Feeling the power to control everything and dominate all things within the Domain, Tang Ping immediately regained his confidence. "Even if my cultivation level is lower than hers, I have the Wind-Thunder Fusion Domain! Next time, I'll definitely be able to... at the very least, hold my own and go seven rounds out of eight!"

After a moment of excitement, he calmed down.

If the battle got too intense, he might not be able to maintain the Domain for long. The safest solution was to study secret techniques that worked in tandem with it.

Besides, he was a Spirit Reader! Was Spiritual Telekinesis only useful for fighting? Maybe he could put it to use in other ways!

Once he'd worked that out, Tang Ping immediately took out the Wind-Thunder Secret Canon and began reading it carefully.

At his current strength of Planetary Rank Level Four, creating his own secret techniques would be a waste of time. He was better off looking for moves in the canon he could learn from, then adapting them to work with his Domain and Spiritual Telekinesis.

Luo Xiaoyu, just you wait. Next time, I'll be the one on top!

Heh heh heh~