Gratitude for Recognition?

Li Qingshan stood before the chunks of corpses with a blood-dripping longsword in hand, waiting quietly.

The corpses of the previous three Fierce Beasts had already vanished, turning into Statues at the edge of the platform.

But You Qingya was different.

Li Qingshan had not forgotten that disgusting tentacled monster.

Yet the red light did not appear for a long while. The corpse chunks and blood on the ground rapidly faded away, and a humanoid statue appeared at the edge of the platform.

"She didn't transform?" Li Qingshan frowned, thinking of two possibilities.

The first was that the transformation involved the Evil God's power and had not been recorded by the Martial Arts Space.

The second was that the transformation ability was not without limits either. He had chopped You Qingya's head into several pieces just now, so she had been unable to transform.

"To the Martial Arts Space, even an Evil God is only a monster. There's no reason it couldn't record it."

Li Qingshan personally leaned toward the second possibility. Verifying it was simple—at a thought, You Qingya appeared again.

"Sorry, but I'll have to kill you one more time."

Li Qingshan grinned and swung his longsword.

Before long, severed limbs crashed down, while an intact torso lay sprawled across the ground. A faint bloody glow surfaced from the mangled corpse.

"Sure enough, I guessed right."

Li Qingshan stood with his blade in hand, calmly watching the tentacled monster take shape.

A moment later, ashes drifted through the air, and the humanoid statue returned to the edge of the platform.

Li Qingshan tossed aside the Thunder Pattern Blade and spread his limbs.

"Time to test how proficiency grows after The Stars Are Calling reaches Great Accomplishment."

The Martial Arts Space ignored physical exhaustion.

Li Qingshan did not pause for a moment, practicing again and again.

Only after a full seven hours did he finally stop.

[The Stars Are Calling 1/3000 (Great Accomplishment) → The Stars Are Calling 2/3000 (Great Accomplishment)]

Li Qingshan looked at the Status Panel and calculated inwardly.

"I practiced once in reality and seven times in the space—eight practices in total for one point of proficiency!"

"It really did double!"

Having reached that conclusion, Li Qingshan was not particularly surprised.

At the entry level, one practice gave one point of proficiency. Mastery took two practices per point, while Proficiency took four.

Now it took eight practices per point. In other words, if he cultivated nonstop in the Martial Arts Space for twenty-four hours—

He could gain three points of proficiency a day. Three thousand proficiency would take a thousand days, nearly three years.

"Thankfully, I'm flush with cash now. Even adding another year for rest, it'll still be enough."

Li Qingshan swept his gaze across the [available time] section, his expression relaxed.

With a 1:10 Time Flow Rate, it would take only a little over half a year in reality to grind The Stars Are Calling to perfection.

That was the fifth layer that even Wan Keshan had never mentioned!

"Maybe I can ask Teacher Wan in class tomorrow."

As a genius who had attained insight into the fourth layer, it was perfectly reasonable for him to look ahead to the fifth layer.

Early the next morning, on Bus No. 72.

Since it was the weekend, the bus was not crowded. Most of the passengers were elderly men and women heading out to buy groceries.

The old people, who had been chatting away, gradually fell silent and turned their gazes toward a corner in the back.

A young man was there, speaking into his Communicator.

Making calls was nothing strange. What was strange was that in the mere ten-odd minutes since he boarded, the young man had answered and hung up more than twenty calls.

"Are young people these days really this busy?"

"I see he's carrying a blade. Maybe he's a student from the Martial Arts Class..."

"Could be. He keeps talking about signing contracts. Maybe he's a third-year Martial Arts Class student?"

"Definitely. Years ago, Old Wang next door had a grandson. That lad did well enough to stay in the Martial Arts Class until his third year, and all sorts of companies chased after him to sign contracts too. Not long after, the whole family moved to Wu Yi City to enjoy the good life."

Once the subject was opened, the old people naturally began gossiping.

In the corner—

"Manager Lin, thank you for your company's kindness, but I truly have no plans to sign a contract."

Li Qingshan forced out a smile. Without waiting for the other side's response, he decisively ended the call.

"Whew! These companies reacted way too fast, didn't they?"

Li Qingshan let out a long breath and lightly pinched the bridge of his nose.

From the moment he woke up until now, he had already taken more than thirty calls, all invitations from various companies to sign contracts.

Some of those companies were local to Luoying, while others came from several nearby cities.

Familiar names and unfamiliar ones alike had all crowded in at once.

"This can't go on, or they'll annoy me to death!"

Li Qingshan lowered his head and tapped his Communicator, directly enabling Do Not Disturb and rejecting all unfamiliar calls.

The Communicator's Light Screen unfolded, revealing dozens of new emails, all contracts sent by those companies.

Li Qingshan casually opened several and looked through them.

Those emails were largely the same.

Basically, they offered him around fifty thousand a month in sponsorship while he was still in school, for martial arts cultivation.

The sponsorship would double with each passing year and continue until he graduated from the third year of the Martial Arts Class.

If he could go to the New Continent, it would rise to five hundred thousand a month.

The sponsorship looked generous, but for martial arts cultivation, it was nothing more than a drop in the bucket.

The Intermediate Nutrient Solution he needed now alone cost two hundred and forty thousand a month at one bottle per day.

Not to mention—

At their core, those contracts were all Contracts of Indenture!

After graduation, he would have to work for the company for at least twenty years!

"They talk about sincerity, but the contract treats me like a beast of burden?"

Li Qingshan's face darkened. With a flick of his finger, he deleted all the emails.

Then he leaned back against his seat and closed his eyes to rest.

A moment later—

Bzz! Bzz! Bzz!

His wrist vibrated. Li Qingshan opened his eyes in confusion and looked at his Communicator.

"Manager Zhou?"

The Light Screen unfolded. The Bald Middle-Aged Man wore a broad smile—it was the HR manager from the Yinghai Flagship Store.

Li Qingshan spoke helplessly.

"Manager Zhou, Yinghai isn't trying to sign me too, is it?"

Manager Zhou froze, then asked nervously,

"Have you already signed with someone?"

Li Qingshan shook his head.

"No. I don't plan on signing any contract."

"That's good!" Manager Zhou sighed in relief, his smile returning.

"Yinghai has always been committed to discovering talent and supporting their martial arts path. A genius like you is naturally someone we cannot afford to miss."

Li Qingshan was even more helpless and could only refuse again.

"Manager Zhou..."

"Don't rush to refuse. I've sent you the contract. Take a look first."

Manager Zhou interrupted him and said confidently,

"Yinghai is a major chain brand. The terms we offer are absolutely beyond comparison with those small companies."

The call ended, and a new email appeared on the Light Screen.

Li Qingshan casually opened it and swept his eyes over it.

"D-Class Investment Contract."

The contract's terms were indeed much better than those offered by the previous companies. Nearly all the sponsorship amounts had doubled.

But that was all.

Li Qingshan quickly scanned the final thirty-year term of employment and tapped the × in the upper-right corner.

Investment was naturally for the sake of returns. Li Qingshan could understand that.

But understanding was one thing. There was no way he would sign a Contract of Indenture like this.

Li Qingshan opened his contacts list, his finger pausing slightly over Manager Zhou's profile picture.

"It wouldn't be good to refuse right away. I'll talk to him when I go to the store tonight."

Recalling Manager Zhou's confident smile just now, Li Qingshan gave up on calling him.

Rejecting him immediately would undoubtedly be a slap in the face.

Yinghai Flagship Store, General Manager's Office.

In the boss's chair sat a long-haired young man in casual clothes. His fingers tapped lightly on the desk as his languid gaze swept toward the Bald Middle-Aged Man before him.

"Did you send the contract?"

"I did, I did."

Manager Zhou looked nervous and answered cautiously.

A new official always lit three fires upon taking office. The young man before him was Fu Wen, the general manager who had just been transferred to Luoying City three days ago.

More importantly, the person in charge of Yinghai's Wuyi Province region was also surnamed Fu.

"Good thing I came this time. Otherwise, you people really would have let a talent slip through the net."

Fu Wen's tone gradually sharpened. The laziness vanished from his eyes, replaced by a cutting gaze.

Sweat beaded on Manager Zhou's forehead as he explained,

"General Manager Fu, news of Li Qingshan killing the Fierce Beast only spread last night. Our response wasn't slow."

"Wasn't slow?"

Fu Wen sneered twice and casually pressed a button on the desk. A Light Screen Projection appeared.

The Projection showed the battle between Li Qingshan and Yu Zhuo from a month ago.

"Last night? Open your eyes wide and look at what this is. You were there at the time. Were you blind?"

"This... General Manager Fu, Yu Zhuo was only at the Body Tempering Third Level. Although Li Qingshan defeated the strong while weak, that shouldn't be enough for a D-Class Contract, should it?"

"You're not just blind—you're deaf too!"

Fu Wen slammed his palm onto the desk and pointed at Yu Zhuo in the footage.

"That Yu Zhuo already said Li Qingshan's Mizong Step had reached Great Accomplishment. Do you know what that means?"

"Among all the First Year students in Wuyi Province's Martial Arts Classes, you couldn't find a second person who could do it!"

"He's that impressive?"

Manager Zhou blanked out for a moment. It was something he had never considered before.

But now, he had no mind to care about being reprimanded. Excitedly, he said,

"General Manager Fu, then doesn't Li Qingshan have a chance to go to the New Continent?"

"We still don't know how long it took him to bring the Mizong Step to Great Accomplishment, but based on the current information alone..."

Fu Wen tapped his fingers on the desk and pondered.

"If his Body Forging Realm cultivation doesn't fall behind, then three years from now, he truly has a sliver of a chance."

"A sliver is enough!" Manager Zhou clenched his fist excitedly.

Every year, only two or three martial arts students from Wuyi Province could go to the New Continent. Who dared claim absolute certainty?

But he quickly thought of another issue and cautiously asked,

"General Manager Fu, haven't geniuses with a chance to go to the New Continent always been given A-Class Contracts?"

The gap between A-Class and D-Class was as vast as heaven and earth.

"A-Class?"

Fu Wen glanced at Manager Zhou and let out a mocking laugh.

"A-Class Contracts are signed with those geniuses who have begun to stand out before the yearly Final Battle."

"If I gave him an A-Class Contract, how would that show my skill?"

Fu Wen leaned back against the sofa, interlaced his fingers, and said smugly,

"The earlier the investment, the greater the return. That return is what I deserve."

"General Manager Fu, that's true." Manager Zhou carefully glanced at Fu Wen and hesitated.

"But... isn't a D-Class Contract too low?"

Though contracts were binding, that did not mean everything would be settled once and for all.

Especially for speculative contracts like this—if mishandled, they could end with both sides turning against each other.

Fu Wen saw what Manager Zhou was thinking and shook his head with a smile.

"Don't worry. Li Qingshan comes from a Publicly Supported Background. He's a poor student who still has to work everywhere just to buy Nutrient Solution. How much money has he ever seen?"

"A D-Class Contract alone gives him a hundred thousand per month in the first year. That will save him from worrying about Primary Nutrient Solution."

"Besides..."

Fu Wen looked at Manager Zhou meaningfully and said,

"Only with a gap could there be surprises."

"A D-grade contract was merely a way to keep Li Qingshan steady, so he wouldn't be short-sighted and fall into the trap laid by some small local company."

"Once he arrived at the store, I would show up when you signed the contract and personally raise it to C-grade for him."

"From D-grade to C-grade, the benefits more than doubled. Such 'Gratitude for Recognition' would be enough for Li Qingshan to remember for the rest of his life!"

"General Manager Fu is wise and brilliant." Manager Zhou forced a smile as he flattered him.

"Hahaha!"

In the spacious office, only Fu Wen's smug laughter echoed...

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