178: Can I get an advance?

"Can I get an advance on the reward?"

"...Don't be ridiculous." The principal looked helpless; he alone could not make the call on such matters.

"I'm not being ridiculous." Chu Yuan looked serious.

In the spacious office, the (modified) Energy Gathering Array was running at full power, concentrating the surrounding Spiritual Qi.

The principal's name was Cai Hongkai. He was in the Eighth Realm and was one of the veterans who remained from the Early Stage of the Martial Dao revival.

Actually, as far as Shendu Martial Academy was concerned, the principal's Realm had nothing to do with teaching students. As for protecting students... how could a place like Shendu lack experts?

It was just as Qi Da had said before: Martial Artists who ran into problems and could no longer continue fighting on the Outer Heaven Battlefield would temporarily stay in the rear.

Most Martial Artists of this type chose the education sector...

Because there was less to do, and if they encountered a child they liked, they could offer some guidance and indulge their desire to play the mentor.

On the contrary, 'governing a region,' which was quite enviable in the eyes of ordinary people, was basically never chosen by Martial Artists.

A large amount of administrative work would take up time for Cultivation, and there were many tasks but no real benefits...

Originally, these positions were filled by people who were smart but lacked talent for the Martial Dao.

Everyone worked together with a division of labor: strong Martial Artists were only responsible for fighting and Cultivation, while the administrators were responsible for rear-line scheduling, coordination, and maintaining the operation of the majority of ordinary society.

Later, after being infiltrated by alien races several times, they discovered it simply didn't work...

The ones issuing orders really had to be high-Realm Martial Artists!

It wasn't a matter of dissatisfaction with being commanded by someone weaker than oneself, but rather that if the Realm wasn't high enough, it was too easy to be infiltrated!

A simple mental suggestion was enough to influence the person issuing orders, which could cause terrifying consequences!

Having no choice, the administrators were switched to high-Realm Martial Artists holding concurrent posts... What to do if no one wanted to go? Increase the benefits...

Cai Hongkai was such a Martial Artist.

He was not only the principal of Shendu Martial Academy but also the Minister of the Great Qin Ministry of Education.

It was just that he was usually too lazy to manage all that mess; anyway, he had a think tank under him...

"If I gave it to you in advance and someone later became stronger than you, what then?"

"Would you not use it after I gave it to you, and then return it when that situation arises?"

"Or, if someone was already close to your level, but because you used the myriad law source liquid, you became stronger than them again... wouldn't that be unfair to others?"

Chu Yuan did not understand. "...Is there only one myriad law source liquid?"

Cai Hongkai was stunned for a moment, then laughed and scolded, "So you brat are still thinking of using it first and worrying about future trouble later?"

Chu Yuan fell silent; he also knew his request was somewhat unreasonable.

Great Qin wasn't run by his family, after all...

But the myriad law source liquid required one to hold the first place in the ranking battles for a year to obtain it.

One year... by then, he might not even need it anymore...

He didn't claim that no one would surpass him. Before him, who would have thought that someone with his speed of Cultivation would appear?

And who could guarantee that a second example like himself wouldn't appear?

"Isn't it said that the myriad law source liquid is just a ticket to the Seventh Realm? Why is it so precious?"

"It is a ticket to the Seventh Realm, but it's not said that it's useless for Martial Artists of higher Realms." Cai Hongkai said casually, "Do you know how this stuff is made?"

"It's nothing more than some kind of refined Heaven And Earth Treasure."

"What Heaven And Earth Treasure contains such comprehensive Laws?" Cai Hongkai asked again.

Chu Yuan searched his mind for a moment but really couldn't answer...

Cai Hongkai didn't play games and directly revealed the answer: "This stuff can only be obtained in batches after a Ninth Realm expert refines a Secret Realm!"

"That's why the Laws contained within it are so comprehensive, and anyone can use it."

"..." Secret Realms were precious, but not that precious.

What was more precious was that it required a Ninth Realm expert to personally refine it...

"Furthermore, our Great Qin's Ninth Realm experts do not possess this method."

"This reward was actually purchased from the Golden Bear Clan..."

The Golden Bear Clan?

Chu Yuan's heart stirred. Was that the powerful clan that Great Qin had attached itself to when it first entered the Outer Heaven Battlefield?

It was normal for Great Qin not to have such methods; after all, they hadn't been established for long.

Those top experts were desperately trying to stack their combat power and couldn't even keep up; how could they have time to develop these supporting methods?

Chu Yuan sighed inwardly; it seemed he really couldn't get it today?

Cai Hongkai looked at his expression and chuckled inwardly.

They naturally knew about Chu Yuan's strength, so this myriad law source liquid was actually tailor-made for him!

As for what he just said about what would happen if someone surpassed Chu Yuan before the reward settlement cycle...

That would be a good thing! A huge, wonderful thing!

It would just mean spending some more resources to buy it from the Golden Bear Clan; it wasn't like they couldn't afford it...

He seemed to deliberate for a moment, then spoke again: "It's not that there's no way at all..."

"What way?"

"Your semester is about to end. According to custom, students above the Inner Breath Realm will be assigned to carry out missions."

"Some go to the Outer Heaven Battlefield, some train at the Zhenwu Bureau..."

"There is one mission; if you are willing to go, I can give you the myriad law source liquid first."

"Because this mission has an indefinite duration, it might take a long time, causing you to miss the reward settlement cycle."

Chu Yuan looked at Cai Hongkai suspiciously; he smelled the scent of a conspiracy...

"What mission?"

"A patrol mission in the Western Continent, and... the Desolate Demon Secret Realm!"

...

Chu Yuan increasingly felt that the existence of the martial academy was less like a school and more like... a Sect?

The principal was the Sect Master, and below him were a bunch of teaching Elders.

If you wanted to go into seclusion to Cultivate, you didn't have to attend classes, and if you had questions, you could ask the Elders to explain them.

You could also spend Sect contribution points... which were the academy's points, to exchange for precious Martial Dao resources, training grounds, and so on...

If any Disciple was lucky enough to catch the eye of a teaching Elder, they would be taken in as a Personal Disciple, for example... Tian Tian.

"Chu Yuan, Teacher Tao Nanling wants to take me as a Disciple... I want to ask for your opinion..."

Chu Yuan recalled, "Is that Teacher Tao who teaches the resource identification course?"

"Mm-hmm."

"That's a good thing. Why, do you have any concerns?"

"Not really..." Tian Tian lowered her head and thought for a moment. "But if that happens, I might not have as much time..."

Chu Yuan understood instantly and smiled, "There's nothing much to do here anyway, you don't need to run over every day."

"Cultivate well, don't think too much."

Tian Tian bit her lip. The point she was struggling with was that she had long considered herself Chu Yuan's follower and assistant.

If she followed a teacher to Cultivate, she always felt a sense of ingratitude and betrayal...

It wasn't that Chu Yuan's strength was high, so he didn't need her to do things; on the contrary, it was under the strong that more people would help handle miscellaneous tasks.

For example, small tasks like running errands or gathering information...

After Chu Yuan topped the ranking battles, apart from Ren Yuan and Gu Yu from his own school, the second to fifth place finishers in the ranking battles all sent people to deliver messages, wanting to challenge Chu Yuan.

If Chu Yuan were in seclusion and didn't appear to respond in time, I'm afraid some rumors would spread again;

whether it was provocation, slander, or messing with his mentality... underhanded tactics were disgusting, but they were also useful.

She could help handle them...