Huang Lichen and the others froze in place, their faces full of shock and disbelief.
In just ten days! Only ten days!
His Qi-Blood value had soared from 503 to 681?
Everyone present was a martial arts expert. They understood all too well what those numbers meant.
Going by the Qi-Blood scale for Basic Stance Technique, a value of 500 meant the technique had reached the minor accomplishment stage, while 700 meant it was proficient.
At 681, wasn't he almost proficient in the technique?
But with Ninth Grade Stake Standing, it took 700 Qi-Blood to reach the minor accomplishment stage. That meant the kid had nearly completed his conversion to the new technique.
Resources and time were precious to martial artists. Yet they had never heard of any rich kid who, despite having no shortage of resources, could compress the time needed to convert his technique to such an unbelievable degree.
It was absurd. Only ten days! How had he done it?
"You... really ate all sixty pounds of E-Class Exotic Beast Meat?" Ye Mei stared at Li Jinshui, her expression a strange mix of disbelief and horror.
Sixty pounds in ten days—that was an average of six pounds a day.
That was E-Class exotic beast meat. In life, the beast had been comparable to a First-rate Martial Artist or stronger. Only a true Thousand-Jun Realm martial artist could match one, which showed just how much energy its flesh contained.
Could a little martial artist who'd only just reached the Second-Rate level with Basic Stance Technique really wolf down six pounds of meat like that every day?
Even a First-rate Martial Artist who had mastered Ninth Grade Stake Standing couldn't stomach that much.
"Of course I ate it all. I even felt like I hadn't had enough."
Li Jinshui sighed. Pain and guilt appeared on his face at just the right moment as he thumped his chest with a fist. "It's all my fault. It's the fault of my Martial Dao Sacred Body. I just eat too much, but I really can't help it."
"Say what you want, but why the hell are you hitting me?" Huang Lichen pulled Li Jinshui's hand away and cursed, his face dark.
"Ahem... I couldn't help myself. I couldn't help myself."
Li Jinshui rubbed his hands together, cleared his throat, and said solemnly, "Actually, I wanted to ask you leaders whether you could arrange another sixty pounds of exotic beast meat for me—and make it D-Grade this time."
Another sixty pounds?
D-Grade Exotic Beast Meat, at that?
The four of them frowned at once.
"A-Shui, to be honest, your progress has really shocked me. But the amount of food you need to supplement your training is damn shocking too..." Huang Lichen said gravely.
He laid out the figures and did the math right in front of him.
The company provided one pound of E-Class Exotic Beast Meat each week, which amounted to eight pounds over two months.
So of the sixty pounds Li Jinshui had eaten, a full fifty-two pounds had been donated by the four of them.
One pound of E-Class Exotic Beast Meat cost 8,000 yuan. Fifty-two pounds came to 416,000 yuan.
Then there was the top-grade Ninth Grade Stake Standing technique, Wild Ox Stake, which cost 200,000 yuan.
They had also provided two additional C-Grade Supplement Potions over the past two months, worth 160,000 yuan.
Altogether, that was nearly 780,000 yuan already.
Holy crap. He'd been promised a million yuan in resources, and after only ten days, just 220,000 yuan was left?
And now he wanted another sixty pounds of exotic beast meat—D-Grade, no less, at 20,000 yuan per pound?
"Leaders, please trust me. At this point, I'm not hiding anything anymore. I'm even willing to reveal the astonishing secret of my Martial Dao Sacred Body because I want more resources so I can grow stronger as quickly as possible and better serve you leaders, even if it means going through fire and water."
Li Jinshui's expression turned serious, and intense confidence blazed in his eyes. "As long as I get those sixty pounds of D-Grade Exotic Beast Meat, I guarantee my Qi-Blood value will break a thousand next month."
"..."
His words left the four executives silent once more, their eyes filled with surprise.
A Qi-Blood value over a thousand?
By the usual ranking, that would qualify him as a First-rate Martial Artist, albeit the weakest kind.
By the Ninth Grade Stake Standing scale, a thousand Qi-Blood would mean he had mastered the technique. He'd be close to perfecting it, too. By then, he'd truly be a First-rate Martial Artist who had mastered Ninth Grade Stake Standing.
With talent like this, if he never lacked resources, it would take the kid no more than four or five years to catch up to them, break through to the First-rate level, and reach their current Thousand-Jun Realm.
How old would he be in five years?
Twenty-two or twenty-three at most. Other people would only just be graduating from university, but he might already be in the Thousand-Jun Realm.
It was simply unheard of.
Old Huang and the others instinctively glanced at Ye Mei.
After all, Ye Mei had once been the top student in her province. Her talent had already stood out among her peers. Yet after graduating from university and joining Daming Technology, she had worked there for eight years. It wasn't until last year, when she turned thirty, that she barely broke through to the Thousand-Jun Realm.
"Li Jinshui."
After a long pause, Ye Mei broke the silence. "Go back for now. We need to discuss and consider this further."
The four bigwigs needed to hold another meeting. Li Jinshui had no intention of getting involved, so he politely said goodbye and left.
The door closed again.
The four looked at one another. For a moment, none of them knew where to begin. Li Jinshui's situation had completely upended their expectations.
"Could there really be such a thing as a Martial Dao Sacred Body?" Huang Lichen scratched his head, looking baffled.
He couldn't understand how Li Jinshui had managed to eat so much E-Class Exotic Beast Meat.
"You actually believe the nonsense that kid spouted?" Zhang Li, the old woman, rolled her eyes. She took a cigarette from her pack, then smiled. "I've never heard of a Martial Dao Sacred Body, but I was lucky enough to hear some old secrets. A thousand years ago, the first Martial Saint of the human race—our Martial Ancestor—was said to have been born with an Innate Martial Fetus, with every meridian open and all ten thousand acupoints united at his core."
"Holy crap, is that for real?" Huang Lichen exclaimed, his eyes wide.
Every meridian open? All ten thousand acupoints united?
That would mean there were no bottlenecks on the path of martial arts. He wouldn't need to break through acupoints or open his meridians. As long as he took in enough Qi-Blood to nourish himself, his martial realm would rise without a single obstacle.
And then there was Li Jinshui's situation...
"Hiss!"
Huang Lichen sucked in a sharp breath. "Could that kid Li Jinshui... be the Martial Ancestor reincarnated?"
"???"
The other three turned to look at Huang Lichen, their eyes as if he were an idiot.
What kind of thought process was that?
At most, this suggested that Li Jinshui might have the same kind of constitution.
And you jumped straight to him being the Martial Ancestor reincarnated?
"No matter what, this is a good thing for us."
Ye Mei spoke, delivering her conclusion. "The stronger he is, and the more trump cards he has, the better it is for us. All we have to spend is a little money. I say we each put in another 250,000 yuan. If we win, we'll turn things around completely. If we lose... well, we'll just go bankrupt sooner."
Zhang Li and Chen Yu fell silent.
Huang Lichen lit a cigarette, his face clouded with bitter worry. "This isn't exactly a little money. Two hundred and fifty thousand each—that's nearly half a year's salary, and my entire savings."
Things were different from the old days. In this era of abundant resources, martial artists were increasingly caught up in fierce competition.
In the old days, becoming a First-rate Martial Artist by the age of thirty was an exceptional achievement. Such people were leaders and standout figures among their peers.
But today, a thirty-year-old First-rate Martial Artist was merely just good enough. At a major company, they were bottom-of-the-barrel grunts who could be laid off at any moment.
So even after climbing to their current positions, Huang Lichen and the others never dared to slack off.
They earned high salaries from the company, but after covering the expenses needed to maintain their families' standing, almost everything left had to be invested in themselves, converted into resources to improve their martial arts.
The hundreds of thousands they were putting up this time really would drain their savings.
"Let me tell you something I heard." Chen Yu, who had been silent until then, spoke up. "I got the news yesterday. The layoffs are coming from headquarters. In the national performance rankings for the past two years, Rong City came in sixth from the bottom. The delivery division was especially bad. They think the problem stems from the Youth Training Camp and that it's doing a terrible job of developing talent."
"Damn it, how can they pin that on us? Do they never think about how much protection money those local bullies from Wei Hu Security are collecting from the delivery stations?" Huang Lichen cursed immediately.
"Headquarters says that's our problem."
Chen Yu shook his head. "The trainees from Youth Training Camps in other cities can beat the local bullies into submission. Why can't Rong City?"
"Beat them into submission, my ass! Does the Inspection Bureau let us fight freely? How many times have they come to talk to me, telling us to follow the rules? Damn, why don't they go talk about rules with those Drifter Gangs..." Huang Lichen grew even angrier.
"Old Huang, there's no need to get worked up over that." Zhang Li tapped the ash from her cigarette and narrowed her eyes with a cheerful smile. "The Drifter Gangs are only allowed out after midnight. That's already a rule. What else can we do? The people upstairs have their reasons. They don't want chaos. Once they have their hands free, they'll deal with those gang scum sooner or later."
"Right, right. Your son works for the Inspection Bureau, so of course you take their side." Huang Lichen looked utterly helpless.
"Stop interrupting. I haven't finished."
Chen Yu's face was cold. "The layoff list will be finalized at the end of the year. The ten cities with the worst national performance will see their branches lay off thirty percent of their staff. Every employee at the Youth Training Camp, including management, will be replaced. Can you guess who'll be brought in to replace us?"
"Who?"
"Heh."
Chen Yu gave a cold laugh and curled his lips in mockery. "I don't know about the others. I just heard about one of them. He graduated from a prestigious university and spent two years in a management trainee program at headquarters. His uncle's son-in-law is a board member of Wei Hu Security Company."
The moment he finished, the four of them went cold.
That web of connections said it all.
Wei Hu Security Company wanted to get its hands into the Rong City Youth Training Camp—and even into Daming Technology.
"Damn, no wonder they seized on that little incident with Li Jinshui and issued a kill order."
Huang Lichen slapped the table and cursed. "They're just looking for a legitimate excuse to take over our delivery stations. Then that management trainee can parachute in, restore order, boost his performance, and get promoted and a raise."
"It's not that simple. Li Jinshui was only their first probe. I told you from the start: even if we fired him to keep the peace, they'd just find a second Li Jinshui, then a third..."
Ye Mei remained expressionless, but her gaze grew ever sharper and colder. "That's why we need to build Li Jinshui up. The stronger he is, the better for us. Wei Hu Security is using him as a foothold, so we'll use him to topple Wei Hu Security. Then we'll see who loses their nerve first, who breaks the rules first, and who loses!"
"I'm in. The 250,000 yuan will be in your account tonight. If there's no other way out, then we go all in." Chen Yu was the first to nod. Li Jinshui was the key, and Chen Yu saw in him a chance to turn things around.
"I'm in too. My children and grandchildren have all settled down. It's about time this old woman had some fun." Zhang Li stubbed out her cigarette, smiling meaningfully.
"Damn it, you've all committed, so I've got no reason to jump ship halfway through." Huang Lichen slapped his thigh and gritted his teeth. "Fine, let's gamble. I believe in that kid."
That night, Li Jinshui received a call from Huang Lichen.
"Kid, we agree to the sixty pounds of D-Grade Exotic Beast Meat. That's a full 1.2 million yuan, damn it! You'd better come through. My whole family's counting on you. If this fails, I'll lose my job and my home."
"Don't worry, Old Huang. You know me. I've got this!"
Li Jinshui hung up, beaming, and let out a quiet sigh of relief. He dropped his luggage and climbed back into his room through the window.
It seemed that taking a risk and revealing some of his talent had been worth it.
As Ye Mei had said, they were all in the same boat. At first, Li Jinshui had taken those words with a grain of salt.
But after he'd consumed more than 700,000 yuan worth of resources, he'd started to believe them a little.
After all, they had already sunk costs into him. That was why he'd chosen to show off his talent and ask for more. Without their help, he had no way to get his hands on so much money unless he turned to crime.
"♪Big girl♬..."
His phone rang again.
Li Jinshui picked it up and narrowed his eyes. The caller ID showed Captain Liu, Liu Daqiang.
"Hello? You old bastard, you still alive?" Li Jinshui answered and smoothly launched straight into an insult.
"You son of a..."
Liu Daqiang was so furious he could barely speak. But then he seemed to remember something and suddenly laughed coldly. "Heh, it's been over a month, and you've gotten more and more arrogant."
"What? You couldn't corner me last time and even got one of your guys killed. Now you think you're tough again, so you're calling me just to get cursed out?" Li Jinshui mocked him cheerfully.
"You killed him? Don't make me laugh with that pitiful level of yours. I admit I underestimated you before. You'd hidden the fact that your Stake Standing had reached the minor accomplishment stage, but you're still a long way from killing one of our security guards. That wound was clearly made by a Second-Rate Martial Artist. But it doesn't matter. If we say you killed him, then you killed him."
"???" Li Jinshui looked baffled.
I already said I killed him, and now you're trying to argue that I didn't, only to force it back on me?
Doesn't that tire you out?
"Kid, I heard you got into the Delivery Youth Training Camp. Hahaha! You don't think you're safe now, do you? Just wait. When you come out next month, let's see how you die. I've already gotten word: the security company issued a kill order on you. Heh, now both the underworld and the legitimate authorities are waiting to take you out."
"..." Li Jinshui fell silent again.
Damn, how many versions behind was this information?
"Liu Daqiang, what exactly are you calling for? To warn me to be careful?"
"Careful my ass. I want to make sure you can't live in peace. I want you scared and nervous even in the Youth Training Camp. You should be glad you're an orphan. Otherwise, I'd burn your whole family's house down first."
"Oh?"
Li Jinshui raised an eyebrow, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly. "You just reminded me. You'd better be careful, then. I don't have a home, but you do."
"Come on, I'll be waiting for you. I bet you won't even know what my front door looks like before someone chops you to pieces along the way."
"Relax. Just wait." Li Jinshui smiled calmly, said nothing more, and hung up.
Liu Daqiang, Liu Daqiang... You have no idea what the power of 1,700 Qi-Blood feels like!
"Before I run, I'll make sure to burn your house down."
Li Jinshui snorted, tossed his phone aside, washed up in the bathroom, and lay down on the bed.
Starting tomorrow, he'd be able to eat D-Grade Exotic Beast Meat. His Stake Standing would soon make another huge leap.
It was wonderful news, but as he lay in bed, he still couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned.
He thought of Ye Mei, and of how Huang Lichen and the others had invested in him.
It left him conflicted.
Sigh, they've been so good to me. When the time comes... should I take the water route or the land route? What if I choose the wrong escape route and die young along the way? Wouldn't that let them down after all they've done for me?
With his heart full of conflict and guilt, Li Jinshui went to sleep with tears in his eyes.
The next day, he rushed into the cafeteria early in the morning.
"Two pounds of D-Grade Exotic Beast Meat, to go." Li Jinshui handed his ID card over at the cafeteria counter.
D-Grade Exotic Beast Meat contained even more energy. Since this was his first time eating it, he'd play it safe and take two pounds back to try. Otherwise, wasting it would hurt. A single pound cost 20,000 yuan.
Before yesterday, he'd eaten eight pounds of E-Class Exotic Beast Meat a day and gained only 50 points of proficiency.
This time, switching to D-Grade meat was sure to work even better.
Back in his room, he locked the door.
Li Jinshui assumed his stance once again, picked up a piece of deep-fried red worm meat, and stuffed it into his mouth.
This D-Grade exotic beast meat was Blood-Spike Worm, an advanced variant of Blood-Hair Worm. Its taste and texture were much the same, but the Qi-Blood energy that spread through him after he swallowed it was clearly far more abundant.
[Weak Devouring the Strong, Heaven Rewards Diligence, Basic Stance Technique +5] [Weak Devouring the Strong, Heaven Rewards Diligence, Basic Stance Technique +5] ...
Soon, he'd eaten all two pounds of Blood-Spike Worm meat.
The value on the Heaven Rewards Diligence panel had risen by 100 proficiency points.
"Just as I thought. Weak Devouring the Strong is the real deal. Two pounds of D-Grade meat are as good as eight pounds of E-Class."
Li Jinshui immediately laughed out loud.
The best part was how cost-effective it was. Two jin of D-Grade Exotic Beast Meat cost only forty thousand yuan, while eight jin of E-grade meat cost sixty-four thousand.
He rubbed his stomach. He felt only half full and could still eat another two jin.
That meant he could gain 200 proficiency points a day. In just two and a half days, his Basic Stance Technique would reach the Mastery stage.
"Once I reach Mastery, I wonder if the D-Grade Exotic Beast Meat I have left will be enough to take my Stake Standing straight to Perfection."
Li Jinshui was in high spirits, his eyes bright with excitement. "Once my Stake Standing reaches Perfection, I'll truly be a First-rate Martial Artist. Even if I'm only at the basic First-rate level, with a Perfect Perfection-stage foundation, perhaps I can even hold my own against someone in the Thousand-Jun Realm."