NovelYeni Chapter 95 : Chapter 95
Chapter 95 : Chapter 95
Chapter 95: Zhang Qing’s Past
With the matter of awarding merit brought to a close, Su Qianyuan dismissed everyone else and kept only Li Mu behind in the Major Categories Cultivation Art Department.
After all, the main reason they had come this time was Li Mu.
Those old professors had all been holding themselves back, waiting for a chance to speak with him alone.
These old professors were just like Professor Xu.
When it came to Li Mu, “unable to put him down” was no exaggeration at all.
Quite often, while they were talking, they would grow so excited that they grabbed Li Mu’s hand or arm.
It was as if they wanted to understand everything in his mind through physical contact alone.
They were the foremost figures in the field of cultivation arts.
Yet in front of Li Mu, they often felt a deep sense of frustration.
And that was with Li Mu still holding a great deal back.
In truth, Li Mu had a bottom line of his own.
He needed to improve cultivation arts in order to earn Merit Points.
But at the same time, he could not let them feel that he was capable of anything and everything.
The Battle Triumph System determined that Li Mu had to kill Abyss monsters.
What Li Mu feared most was being forced to spend all day improving cultivation arts and being forbidden from entering the Abyss.
If that happened, where would he obtain Triumph Points?
He could not let those old men in the cultivation arts world think that he could improve any cultivation art as long as they handed it to him.
So when those old professors actually brought out several Major Categories cultivation arts and asked Li Mu to try again, Li Mu pretended that he had gained no insight at all.
Those old professors were all shrewd old foxes.
Whether Li Mu was pretending or not, none of them brought up the matter again or tried to press him further.
Because if Li Mu truly had gained no insight, then that meant his ability to improve cultivation arts depended on chance. He could only revise the techniques that happened to suit him, when inspiration struck.
And with cultivation arts, the more one studied and the more varied they became, the harder it was to achieve anything meaningful.
They could hardly force Li Mu to stuff eight hundred cultivation arts into his head in a single day, then sort through them to see which ones could be improved.
Even a beast of burden from the production team would not be able to endure that.
And if Li Mu actually had gained some insight but simply did not want to say it,
then they could pressure him even less.
If he had already refused, that meant he was starting to feel annoyed. If they pushed him further and he simply dropped everything and refused to work, that would be even worse.
Even so, those old professors from the Cultivation Art Research Bureau still came away with quite a lot.
They invited Li Mu to the Bloodsea Military District several times, and Li Mu only said that he would think about it.
In truth, inviting Li Mu to the Bloodsea Military District was already crossing a line a little.
Those old men were simply too impatient, which was why they did something like that.
If Liang Huajun and Wang Longcheng had been there, and they had dared say such things, Liang Huajun would definitely have been displeased.
Li Mu— just like something like the Living Mother Crystal— was a treasure.
He was the Pearl Military District’s most cherished possession.
Not stealing another district’s most cherished possession was an unspoken rule among the various Military Districts.
Take the Living Mother Crystal, for example.
Since it had appeared in the Pearl Military District, then the Pearl Military District had to be the one to develop it!
Even if they did not know how to develop it, as long as they wished to, the higher Research Institute would have to send people down to provide technical support.
Only then would everyone accept it.
Otherwise, if some treasure appeared in a Military District and was handed over immediately without rhyme or reason, then who would still risk everything for treasure in the future?
Only if the thing truly could not be developed there, or if they were willing to hand it over of their own accord, would it be different.
They did not let Li Mu leave until late afternoon, when it was almost dark.
Naturally, Li Mu first went back to report to Wang Longcheng and see what the current situation was.
The moment they met, Wang Longcheng seemed to be in good spirits.
He took the initiative and told Li Mu, “Zhang Qing is gone.”
Li Mu was taken aback.
“To the Bloodsea Military District?”
“That’s right. At noon, he already submitted a request to be transferred out of the Pearl Military District.”
“He voluntarily accepted a demotion of three ranks and went to the Bloodsea Military District to serve as Deputy Minister of the Exploration Department, leading teams in blind-zone exploration work.”
“Blind-zone exploration” referred specifically to Blind-Zone Exploration.
It was often the most dangerous kind of mission, though naturally it was also the easiest place to distinguish oneself through meritorious service.
For a Deputy Commander-in-Chief of a Military District to put his armor back on and return to the front lines, going into the Abyss to carry out blind-zone exploration— Zhang Qing had truly been severely demoted this time.
Only then did Li Mu fully understand.
Earlier, when he had heard the things Su Qianyuan said, it had not been difficult to tell that the words were aimed at Zhang Qing.
But to fully grasp everything implied in them, Li Mu’s experience was still somewhat lacking.
Now, however, he understood.
Su Qianyuan had used Zhao Han as a stand-in for Zhang Qing.
Then he had told Liang Huajun that the war situation in the Bloodsea Military District was more severe and that Zhao Han and Zhang Kang should be transferred there.
The meaning was naturally that Zhang Qing should request punishment himself and go to the Abyss to earn merit.
And by transferring Zhang Kang there as well, they were also dangling him in front of Zhang Qing so that Zhang Qing would have no choice but to follow.
After all, in an unfamiliar Military District, if Zhang Qing stayed too far away, he would be even less able to look after his own son.
“All of Zhang Qing’s claws and fangs are in Ironhand City.”
“Now that he’s been transferred there out of the blue, it’s basically the same as making him start over from scratch.”
“That brat Zhang Kang will definitely suffer through plenty as well. Even his father won’t be able to shield him. You can rest easy about that.”
“In fact, now that I think about it, Zhang Qing being transferred away was probably also one way Su Qianyuan was protecting you.”
“If Zhang Qing can truly change his ways under Su Qianyuan’s watch, then Su Qianyuan will probably let him off.”
“But if Zhang Qing refuses to repent, then Su Qianyuan will be in a good position to take him down on the spot.”
“No matter what the outcome is, Zhang Qing is no longer a threat to you.”
That was what Wang Longcheng said.
“And the position of Deputy Commander-in-Chief...?”
Li Mu looked at Wang Longcheng and asked meaningfully.
“The meeting’s over. The Deputy Commander-in-Chief position is mine, and I’ve also been promoted to Junior Tiger Marquis.”
Wang Longcheng nodded.
But after saying that, he drew a deep breath and slowly sat down in his chair.
He seemed a little absent-minded.
“And yet, there really isn’t that much to be happy about.”
Seeing the trace of loneliness on Wang Longcheng’s face, Li Mu quietly waited for him to continue.
Wang Longcheng sighed.
“Ever since Zhang Qing became Deputy Commander-in-Chief, he’s grown greedier and greedier.”
“And his appetite has only grown larger.”
“The harm he caused has become greater and greater too.”
“You probably don’t know this, but the Ye Group relied on Zhang Qing as their towering backer.”
“They forced far too many people into ruined homes and broken families.”
“On the surface, Zhang Qing kept his hands very clean. It’s hard to trace anything back to him.”
“But the sins the Ye Group committed are simply too many.”
“The reason the Zhang Group has been able to grow all these years is entirely because the old master of the Zhang family has been there to keep watch.”
“Otherwise...”
“Ah...”
“You have to understand, weapons and cultivation arts concern the life and death of martial artists. More than that, they concern the safety of our entire human race.”
“That is why I was determined to bring Zhang Qing down.”
“These words are something you should remember as well. If you get the chance, you should also speak with Zhang Zhiwei about them.”
“I will not become a second Zhang Qing.”
“And I will not allow the Zhang Group to become a second Ye Group.”
“As long as the Zhang Group truly focuses on running a good enterprise, I will not stand in the way of them making money.”
“There are some things where I can close one eye and open the other.”
“So long as this does not change.”
As he spoke, Wang Longcheng pointed at his own heart.
Li Mu nodded in deep agreement.
Wang Longcheng could not be called a perfect man.
But he was absolutely an exceptionally upright one.
Although he sometimes played favorites, using a few tricks at his own celebration banquet to help Li Mu establish his authority, and stood behind him to support him, he had still never resorted to illegal methods to help Li Mu destroy the Li family.
That was Wang Longcheng’s principle.
After he said all that, Wang Longcheng seemed to fall into a quiet melancholy.
“In truth, Zhang Qing was not like this in the past.”
“He used to charge into battle and fight through bloodshed, just like you.”
“He rose from being an unknown foot soldier and fought his way up step by step until he became Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Military District.”
“I even heard an interesting story about him.”
“They say that on the day Zhang Qing came to enlist, the clothes on his back had several holes in them.”
“And at his very first meal in the army, when he found out the food was free—”
“He ate forty steamed buns!”
At that point, Wang Longcheng held up four fingers, a faint smile at the corner of his mouth.
“Perhaps... he was simply too afraid of being poor again.”
“Right now, you’re still in that stage of swift vengeance and youthful chivalry.”
“When you grow older, perhaps you’ll gradually come to understand.”
“Why it is that the people above clearly know everything, and yet in some matters they still choose to close one eye and open the other.”
“This world was never purely black and white.”