Chapter Twenty-Nine: Admiration

Gazing at the IOU for nine hundred thousand in his hand, Ling Tian let out a cold snort. Yuan Li, that second-generation playboy living off his father’s name, really had no concept of money. Ling Tian had fought tooth and nail for years to save up five million, every cent earned at the risk of his own life. As a mercenary, each mission was a bloodbath, and every departure was made with the resolve to die, because no one ever knew if they’d return alive.

All the hard-earned money Ling Tian scraped together had already been donated to the orphanage. Fortunately, he now had a hundred thousand in cash and an IOU for nine hundred thousand. At some point, he’d have to pay Yuan Li a visit to collect. Money only truly belonged to you once it was in your own pocket—this was a hard-earned lesson Ling Tian had learned over the years.

Packing up his things, Ling Tian left the Baolan Market.

He didn’t return to the orphanage. After these past few days, the spiritual energy in the bamboo grove had grown thin and was no longer much help to his cultivation. Now, with a hundred thousand in hand, Ling Tian wanted to find a secluded place to focus on his training and recover from his injuries as quickly as possible.

He drove to a nearby jade shop and bought several pieces of jade. The quality wasn’t great, but it was the best the money could buy for now. Ling Tian planned to use these stones to construct a simple spiritual gathering array, to speed up his cultivation and healing.

Yunhai City was once said to be the site of a dragon vein. Legend had it that when the First Emperor of Qin toured the country, he discovered the signs of a dragon vein here and had it broken by a master. This was also why Zhu Yuanzhang, the first Ming emperor, chose to establish his capital here, only for his grandson to lose the throne to Zhu Di, who later moved the capital to Beijing. Though these were merely legends, Yunhai City was indeed a place where talents flourished and spiritual energy was more abundant than anywhere Ling Tian had been.

It took him over an hour to find an ideal training ground: an old residential district of single-story houses, each with its own courtyard and convenient access.

He found a house with a “For Rent” sign, contacted the landlord, and paid three months’ rent—just fifteen hundred yuan.

Inside, the amenities were complete. The spacious courtyard was filled with flowers, plants, and several crooked trees, reminding Ling Tian of his childhood days at the orphanage.

He first regulated his breathing, then took out the jade stones he had bought—ten thumb-sized pieces, decent enough to emit a faint spiritual aura.

Given his current strength and these crude materials, it would have been almost impossible for Ling Tian to arrange a proper spiritual gathering array. But he had a clever idea.

He would first craft the jade into spirit-gathering talismans, then use these to form the array. The combination, though not as powerful as a first-grade formation, would be more than enough for his current needs.

After two hours of effort, he successfully made eight spirit-gathering beads. With his experience in crafting talismans, every attempt was a success. These beads weren’t one-time use—they could be used indefinitely.

Next, Ling Tian used the eight beads to set up a simple gathering array. Then, with the leftover jade, he spent another hour adding a refining array within the formation to purify the spiritual energy and accelerate absorption.

Within just a minute, Ling Tian could clearly sense the shift in the courtyard’s spiritual energy—it had doubled and was still slowly increasing. He hurriedly sat in the center of the formation, absorbing the energy with abandon...

By dawn, all the true energy he had expended was fully replenished, and he felt himself advance a step further. Upon waking, Ling Tian took out the exquisite white jade the old man had given him, fashioned it into an amulet, and added a small gathering array inside.

After each use, the amulet would continuously draw in spiritual energy from the array, making it endlessly reusable.

At that moment, Ling Tian marveled at the power of his cultivation technique. He could arrange such an intricate formation and succeed on the first try—clearly, the Primal Chaos Art was not only formidable for cultivation, but also enhanced the practitioner’s comprehension.

At eight-thirty in the morning, Ling Tian drove to Allure Group, parked, and strolled languidly into the building.

As soon as he entered the General Affairs Department, he sensed something was off. Colleagues who usually barely acknowledged him now looked at him with awe—even Xue Kun from PR and Zhang Ming, the department manager, regarded him with deep respect.

Some of the more uninhibited female colleagues even stared at him with fiery eyes.

What’s going on? Has everyone gone mad?

Just then, Wang Yong approached with a fawning smile, bowing and scraping, “Boss, do you prefer coffee or tea?”

Ling Tian immediately guessed what had happened. Wang Yong had clearly embellished the story of the incident at Nest Bar for the others.

Ling Tian returned to his seat, laid his head on the desk, and sent his consciousness into his jade slip to study spirit talismans.

Sleeping at your desk in front of the boss on your first day would have been the act of a madman for anyone else. But for Ling Tian, everyone thought it was perfectly normal. In any place, the strong always enjoy privileges—this was no exception.

“Brother Wang, you didn’t finish your story just now—go on!” A flirtatious female colleague threw him a seductive glance.

Wang Yong shook his head. “Can’t you see my boss is resting? Let’s talk over there.”

A crowd of dozens shuffled into the next room, and Wang Yong, seated at the center, began to regale them, spittle flying. “I’ve lived all these years and never admired anyone before, but Boss Ling is truly something else—I can’t help but respect him.”

“Get to the point,” urged the listeners.

Wang Yong shot them a look. “What’s the rush?”

“You guys weren’t there—the Black Bear from Nest is notorious, right? Boss Ling sent him flying with a single kick. The guy didn’t even dare squeak. Sun Yibin came in all menacing, but after Boss Ling showed his skills, Sun Yibin was subdued—not only did he not fight back, he even threw in an extra four hundred thousand!” Wang Yong was animated, gesturing wildly.

The crowd grew even more curious, eager to know what Ling Tian had done to cow even the infamous Sun Yibin.

Under their expectant gaze, Wang Yong grinned, “Boss Ling just slid his finger across the money and—poof—the bills caught fire…”

With Wang Yong’s storytelling, everyone finally understood: the new colleague was a hidden master, a true expert among experts.

“What’s everyone doing? Don’t you have work?” With a crisp reprimand, HR manager Wang Ling entered, accompanied by President Mu Qingcheng.

The president’s arrival sent everyone scattering back to their desks.

When the room had cleared, Mu Qingcheng said to Wang Ling, “Tell me, how did Ling Tian come to know Nangong Ye from the Nangong family?”

“I’m baffled too. I’ll go get him now.” Clacking across the floor in her high heels, Wang Ling hurried over to Ling Tian’s desk and found him asleep. She knocked on the desk, saying, “Handsome, time to wake up. The sun’s already shining on your back.”