Chapter 728

"Huh? Already upgraded my permissions so fast?" Xu Jingming was surprised.

Although the Director's Meeting of Lei Ting Martial Arts Gym had ended, the official appointment notice posted on the website wouldn't be released until tomorrow.

He had assumed his permission upgrade would also wait until tomorrow, but unexpectedly it was already possible now.

"What's wrong?" Ling Shuang asked, puzzled as she placed the Phoenix Tail Flower into her space ring.

"Sister Shuang, my permissions have been upgraded to Deputy Director—check yours."

Xu Jingming replied with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Ling Shuang also logged into the Lei Ting Martial Arts Gym website to check her own permissions.

"Mine's been upgraded to Director level too," Ling Shuang nodded slightly, then smiled and said:

"Take a look at your new benefits after the upgrade—it'll definitely surprise you."

Although Ling Shuang had held no official position, merely serving as a mentor in the Heavenly Talent Training Camp,

in reality, Su Qingli had assigned her benefits equivalent to Deputy Director.

Now that she's been promoted to full Director, her permissions haven't changed much.

"Oh? Then I'd better take a close look."

With a touch of curiosity, Xu Jingming logged into the website and carefully reviewed his new benefits.

He didn't realize it until he saw it—then he was stunned.

With Deputy Director permissions, he now received twenty thousand credits per month—that's 400 million Daya currency!

In addition, the exclusive Director Shangcheng had been unlocked.

It contained not only various heavenly treasures and earthly essentials, but also rare equipment.

Even protective talismans, unavailable anywhere else in the outside world, were displayed in the Shangcheng.

Though the prices were quite steep.

Moreover, as a Deputy Director, he gained one annual privilege: a one-tenth discount on any single item!

More crucially, he could now directly control the allocation of resources within the Mo Ben branch.

For example, rare flowers, exotic herbs, and ferocious beast flesh collected could all be assigned buyers by him.

Just this single point offered enormous room for manipulation.

If handled well, it could yield massive profits!

"Deputy Director permissions are this powerful? What would full Director permissions be like?"

"No wonder Liu Shan disliked us ever since he guessed we wanted to seize power."

Xu Jingming sighed.

Cutting off someone's livelihood is like killing their parents—especially since Liu Shan was on the verge of breaking through from eighth-stage to ninth-stage, a critical moment requiring massive resources.

"Do all Lei Ting Martial Arts Gym branches get these benefits?" Xu Jingming couldn't help asking.

If every branch operated like this, each a local emperor, wouldn't Lei Ting Martial Arts Gym be drained dry long ago?

"Of course not—it's just that overseas branches have slightly looser management."

Ling Shuang shook her head. "And overseas branches aren't unmonitored either.

There are dedicated Inspectors who conduct surprise inspections at regular intervals.

If any issues are found, Inspectors can report directly to the Director and have the branch head removed immediately.

Of course, as long as things aren't too extreme, Inspectors usually won't cause trouble."

"Inspectors..." Xu Jingming had already met several Inspectors during the meeting hall session.

All of these Inspectors, without exception, were at least mid-eighth-stage.

Their aura was sharp and piercing—clearly combat-oriented adepts with formidable battle strength.

Their authority was also immense, allowing them to supervise all branch gyms.

In short, Lei Ting Martial Arts Gym's Inspectors ranked above every branch Director, second only to the Director-in-Chief and Deputy Director-in-Chief.

"Deputy Director is just a transitional position. Once you grow stronger, Director Su can directly appoint you as an Inspector—then your permissions will surpass mine."

Hall Master Su can directly appoint you as an Inspector, and at that time your authority will be even higher than mine."

Xu Jingming blinked. Inspectors supervised all branches.

And Ling Shuang was a branch Director—so the referee was also the player? What chance did anyone else have?

"Guess I still need to work harder."

Xu Jingming smiled, then began carefully examining the items in the Director Shangcheng.

"Huh? There's a Chi Xiao-class combat aircraft?" Xu Jingming's eyes lit up, and he immediately added it to his cart.

His space ring now had ample capacity—fitting one flight aircraft was no problem.

As for the price, it wasn't an issue either.

1.5 million credits—he couldn't afford it outright, but he could pay in Daya currency.

The price was slightly higher: 32 billion Daya currency, or 3.2 billion Blue Star currency.

To Xu Jingming now, this amount meant nothing.

With an aircraft, returning to Daya would be convenient no matter where he went.

"S-class! I spotted damaged energy modules! Quick, buy them all!"

At that moment, Eva suddenly emerged from her smart bracer, excitedly exclaiming.

Xu Jingming glanced over—and sure enough, damaged energy modules appeared in the Shangcheng.

Energy modules could power Golden Flow Guardians or activate relics of ancient civilizations.

Back in Zhen'an City, he had exchanged for thirty-three modules, all of which Eva had fully repaired.

Previously in Zhen'an City, he exchanged 33 pieces using military credits, all of which Eva had repaired.

Two of them were given to Song Qiuyun and Jiang Chuxuan, letting them recharge the Flowing Gold guards.

He still had 31 on him, and in the martial hall shop, there were 24 damaged energy modules in total.

Each one cost 30,000 credits; buying them all would require 720,000 credits, which is 14.4 billion Daxia coins.

"Eva, I remember you said last time you only needed 19 more to open a civilization relic?"

Xu Jingming asked.

"That's right, but that can only open the lowest-grade civilization relic I know of.

The excavation value may not be that high — the more energy modules I have, the higher-grade the relic I can open."

Eva replied.

"Jingming, does Eva have a way to open an ancient civilization relic?" Hearing Ling Shuang was shocked.

One should know that nowadays, the way Blue Star ability users search for civilization relics is still purely by luck.

As for opening civilization relics, most are done by brute force.

But who would have thought, this Eva seemed to have another way!

"It's not everything, I can only open the portion that I know of."

Eva shook her head.

"That's already very impressive." Ling Shuang's tone was full of wonder.

"Sister Shuang, stop praising her, keep going and Eva's tail will be wagging up to the sky."

Xu Jingming said with a smile, then added all the damaged energy modules to his cart.

He then clicked purchase, paying a total of 4.64 billion Blue Star coins.

He did not use the ten-percent-off item purchase opportunity now.

Using it now would be too wasteful; better to wait until the shop has some rarer heavenly materials and earthly treasures before using it.

"Jingming, when are we heading back to Modu?" After Xu Jingming finished buying items, Ling Shuang asked.

"We'll leave once the fighters and energy modules are delivered." Xu Jingming replied.

With a Chixiao-class fighter, going from Ningnan City to Modu only takes an hour and a half.

After all, the straight-line distance between the two is only 1,800 kilometers.

And the Chixiao-class fighter's normal flight speed is already one times the speed of sound.

"But before that, I still need to say something to Song Qiuyun and the others, so the two of them can be mentally prepared."

Xu Jingming said with a smile.

"Mm." Ling Shuang's Bai Xi cheeks flushed slightly red.

This time she was going to Modu mainly to meet Song Qiuyun and the other one.

Thinking about how her former student at Modu University had become her sister, she couldn't help feeling a bit shy and nervous.