Settling Down and Secret Techniques

"Teacher!"

After Warren led the others away, Hogus looked at Lu Qingshan and said respectfully, "Your disciple is not strong enough yet, so I could only find a way to arrange for you to join the company's transportation department! As for those assignments within Chaos City, there was simply nothing I could do!"

"I understand."

Lu Qingshan nodded slowly, then said, "Hogus, you've already done very well. This job suits me quite well!"

Hearing Lu Qingshan's words, Hogus felt greatly relieved.

Without Teacher Lu Qingshan's guidance and help back then, there was no way he could have risen from an ordinary life planet and eventually joined the core echelon of the Virtual Universe Company, becoming an undying being.

And this arrangement was the first time Teacher Lu Qingshan had asked him for help. Naturally, he wanted to satisfy his teacher.

But although he was already a high-ranking army lord, he was still merely a small figure within the Virtual Universe Company. There was truly no way for him to arrange the most suitable assignment for Lu Qingshan.

Even this transportation department assignment had only been secured after he learned that Black Peak King was overseeing the allocation of assignments and had Warren deliver a gift to Black Peak King.

"Teacher, rest assured!"

Hogus immediately said, "The benefits in our transportation department are quite good. The only downside is that most of the working hours are spent traveling through the universe aboard spacecraft. Of course, we can also enter seclusion and cultivate while riding in a spacecraft. We can simply leave the spacecraft under the control of an auxiliary intelligence!"

"According to company rules, Teacher, you are now a junior army lord. For every hundred thousand years you work for the company, you may take a thousand years off! During your leave, you can also use the F-class spacecraft issued by the company. You just can't modify the spacecraft, and the company will not reimburse energy expenses incurred outside of work!"

Listening to Hogus's introduction, Lu Qingshan could not help but find it amusing.

Those genius figures, after becoming undying, would slaughter in all directions and dominate the Extraterritorial Battlefield. Yet when it came to him, he would be riding a spacecraft as a deliveryman and driver, with even his vacation days clearly prescribed.

Still, Lu Qingshan had already worked at the Yan Feng Branch for many years. He was quite familiar with these internal procedures of the Virtual Universe Company, so he was not overly surprised.

At this moment, Hogus continued, "Teacher, although our transportation department has relatively short vacations, the rewards are also extremely generous! According to company regulations, a junior army lord can receive at least three thousand points for every hundred thousand years of work. If you render meritorious service during your work, such as repelling an interception by alien experts, you can receive astonishing rewards!"

"Points can be exchanged for all sorts of precious secret techniques and cosmic treasures. They are extremely valuable within our Virtual Universe Company! Under normal circumstances, one chaos element is needed to exchange for a single point within the company!"

"At least three thousand points every hundred thousand years?" Lu Qingshan was slightly stunned.

Not because the reward was too little, but because it was too high!

For undying beings with eternal lifespans, time had almost lost all meaning.

The entire fortune of an ordinary undying being in the universe was likely only worth several tens of thousands of chaos elements.

Yet in the transportation department of the Virtual Universe Company, one could accumulate such an astonishing fortune after working for only a little over a million years!

What if one worked for tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions, of years?

"Teacher!"

As Lu Qingshan pondered this, Hogus looked around and continued introducing the area to him. "Thunder Island is where the powerful experts within our Virtual Universe Company gather!"

"So many palaces!"

With a single glance, Lu Qingshan saw dense clusters of palaces everywhere in the distance. At the center stood an enormous mountain range.

"The super experts of our Virtual Universe Company lineage all live on that huge mountain range in the central region of Thunder Island!"

Hogus looked toward the gigantic mountain range. "Universe Venerables reside midway up the mountain, while the super experts of our Virtual Universe Company lineage live at its summit. As for those living at the foot of the mountain, they are all undying beings!"

"Undying beings like us have clearly different statuses and privileges within the company. The closer a residence is to that mountain range, the stronger its owner is!"

"Generally speaking, king-level undying beings can build residences covering an area ten kilometers across at the foot of that mountain range. Marquis-level undying beings can build residences five kilometers across in the middle region. Undying army lords like us can only build residences one kilometer across in places far from that mountain range!"

Following Hogus's explanation, Lu Qingshan soon discovered the distribution pattern of residences on Thunder Island.

The residences of undying beings on Thunder Island spread outward in circles around the central mountain range. The inner residences occupied larger areas but were fewer in number, while the outer residences were the most numerous but much smaller in size.

As he introduced the situation on Thunder Island, Hogus soon brought Lu Qingshan to a stretch of high ground beside a river. He then pointed at a building in the distance and said, "Teacher, that is my residence on Thunder Island. Many undying beings from our transportation department have also built residences nearby. You should build one here as well. Then, as master and disciple, we can look after each other in the future!"

"Alright." Lu Qingshan nodded slightly, quickly selected an empty plot, and began designing his residence according to his own preferences.

Whoosh!

A massive square courtyard suddenly appeared before Lu Qingshan and Hogus. Inside were cobblestone paths, with all kinds of flowers surrounding them. At the center of the flower beds was a pool of water.

The courtyard's architectural style resembled the Jiangnan gardens Lu Qingshan had seen in his previous life, with the pool being its crowning feature.

Over the pool were stone bridges, pavilions by the water, artificial hills...

In a Jiangnan garden, the pool was the essence.

Although the garden spanned only one kilometer, it encompassed all the finest aspects of the Jiangnan gardens Lu Qingshan had once seen.

"Come on, let's go in and take a look together!" Lu Qingshan said with a smile, then led Hogus inside.

After briefly looking around the manor, Lu Qingshan and Hogus sat down in the manor's living room once more.

"Teacher!" Hogus quickly asked, "You cultivated in Chaos City before and also passed the tenth level of the Heavenward Bridge. You should have received more than a hundred thousand points, right?"

"Yes." Lu Qingshan nodded slightly. "But in order to comprehend the complete law of the origin of lightning, I spent some points buying several secret technique inheritances within the Virtual Universe Company!"

Although Luo Feng and the others in the original work could receive tenfold point rewards for passing the Heavenward Bridge while cultivating in Chaos City, that benefit was intended for young geniuses of the human race.

When Lu Qingshan and the others entered Chaos City, they had already reached the peak of the World Master realm, so they definitely could not enjoy the benefit of tenfold point rewards!

Even so, they had made a huge profit!

After all, entering Chaos City had cost them only a little over thirty thousand chaos elements, but passing the ninth level of the Heavenward Bridge would earn them around fifty thousand points. It was simply an enormous gain.

And that was precisely why joining the core echelon of the five great powers had required such strict assessments beforehand.

"Teacher, points are extremely important within the company!"

Hogus continued to remind him, "Now that you've just broken through, you'll surely need to prepare new weapons, equipment, and all kinds of cultivation secret techniques. These things all require a large number of points. You can browse the company treasury yourself later!"

"Also, since you have just broken through to become undying, you are entitled to a thousand years of leave according to the rules. During this time, you can return to your hometown and properly arrange your family matters!"

"After returning to your hometown this time, it would be best to leave behind several tokens infused with your divine power. That way, if anything urgent happens in the future, you can arrive directly through divine kingdom teleportation! I'm currently completing a transportation assignment for the company, so I won't accompany you back to your hometown!"

"I understand." Lu Qingshan nodded slightly.

And so, Lu Qingshan and Hogus chatted for a while longer. Hogus introduced several of his friends from the transportation department to Lu Qingshan before finally taking his leave.

After Hogus departed, Lu Qingshan quickly returned to the cultivation room within his residence.

He was just about to spend some points purchasing treasures when he suddenly received a new email.

"Lu Qingshan:

Congratulations on becoming an official member of the transportation department of the Virtual Universe Company. Official members of our transportation department are entitled to numerous internal company benefits, including but not limited to the right to use an F-class spacecraft, one thousand years of leave, and so on...

The spacecraft registered under your name within the company is Blood Red Three. You are hereby reminded that, unless you have received a company assignment, you must never leave the territory of the human race aboard Blood Red Three. Otherwise, it will be regarded as betraying the race!

The next one thousand years will be your leave period. After one thousand years, you must report punctually to the all-universe headquarters of the Virtual Universe Company and await orders!

Virtual Universe Company Transportation Department."

After reading the email, Lu Qingshan gained a deeper understanding of his upcoming work. He then quickly opened the internal treasury of the Virtual Universe Company.

Ding!

The treasury opened, and eight main categories immediately appeared on the illusory screen before Lu Qingshan: "Secret Techniques," "Weapons," "Materials," "Tools," "Lifeforms," "Technological Weapons," "Rare Treasures," and "Other Special Categories."

Each major category also contained many subcategories. For example, the lifeforms category included classifications such as "plant lifeforms" and "metal lifeforms."

The treasury truly contained everything imaginable.

As Lu Qingshan browsed through the vast amount of information in the treasury, he had the auxiliary intelligence Deep Blue continuously memorize it.

After all, his permissions in the Virtual Universe had been very low before, and Deep Blue had very little information in its memory. Now that he had the opportunity, he naturally had to learn everything he could.

While having Deep Blue memorize information on all kinds of treasures, Lu Qingshan also pondered in secret.

According to my original plan, once I became undying, I could completely lie low. Naturally, I should exchange these points for more life-preserving items!

Lu Qingshan thought to himself, but now that I've joined the Myriad Heavens Chat Group, and Han Li possesses the Heavenly Palm Bottle, I can try continuing to comprehend the law of the origin of time!

Although comprehending origin laws at the undying stage is somewhat slower than at the World Master stage, with the mysterious green liquid from the Heavenly Palm Bottle and the long years ahead of me, I still have a chance to master the complete law of the origin of time!

With that in mind, Lu Qingshan immediately opened the cultivation secret techniques under "Secret Techniques."

There were many kinds of secret techniques: auxiliary secret techniques, combat secret techniques, cultivation secret techniques, and more...

What Lu Qingshan wanted to purchase now was naturally a secret technique that could assist in comprehending the law of the origin of time.

After Lu Qingshan began his search, a large number of secret technique descriptions soon appeared on the screen—

Chaos Principles, price: 100 billion points...

Spacetime Notes, price: 100 billion points...

Flame Refining the Starry Sky, price: 1 billion points...

At a glance, there were countless cultivation secret techniques. The highest-grade secret techniques were uniformly priced at one hundred billion points, while the cheapest cost only a few hundred points.

In the end, after some careful selection, Lu Qingshan quickly chose three secret techniques.

He spent ten thousand points to purchase the first two volumes of Heavenly Thunder Primer. This was a secret technique created by the creator of the Heavenly Thunder Chaos Stele and was of great help in comprehending the Heavenly Thunder Chaos Stele;

He spent thirty thousand points to purchase the first three volumes of Heavenly Thunder Analysis. This was a precious secret technique created by Thunderclap King, a grandmaster of the Heavenly Thunder Lineage, and was of great help to cultivators of the Heavenly Thunder Lineage in comprehending the law of the origin of time;

He spent eight hundred points to purchase the complete cultivation secret technique First Understanding of Time. This was a foundational secret technique created by a peerless genius in human history while comprehending the essence of the law of the origin of time. It perfectly analyzed the 108 essences of the law of the origin of time through 108 sword forms.

"Now that I've broken through and become undying, it's time to return to my hometown for a visit!"

With that thought, Lu Qingshan immediately returned his consciousness to reality. After submitting an application, he soon boarded Blood Red Three and departed from the all-universe headquarters of the Virtual Universe Company.

The chat group permissions earlier were corrected: Lu Qingshan was the group owner, while the other four were administrators.

The earlier outline did not include the matter of the golden finger loading into the protagonist's mind for eight million years, so I forgot about it...

I was rather busy today, and this chapter was nearly four thousand characters. The next chapter will be a little later.