Chapter 728

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

Although the Director's Meeting at Lei Ting Martial Arts Pavilion had ended, the official appointment notice would only be posted on the website tomorrow.

He had assumed his permission upgrade would also wait until tomorrow, but he didn't expect it was already done.

"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 Pavilion website to check her permissions.

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

"Take a look at your new benefits—definitely a surprise."

Ling Shuang had originally held no official position—she was merely a mentor in the Heavenly Talent Training Camp.

But in reality, Su Qingli had assigned her Deputy Director-level benefits.

Now promoted to full Director, her permissions hadn't changed much.

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

Curious, Xu Jingming logged into the website and examined his new benefits in detail.

He didn't realize it at first, but once he did, he was stunned.

With Deputy Director permissions, he now received 20, 00 credits monthly—that's 400 million Daya currency!

Additionally, a dedicated Director's Mall had been unlocked.

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

Even guardian talismans, unobtainable anywhere else in the world, were displayed there.

Though the prices were steep.

Moreover, as Deputy Director, he gained one annual opportunity to purchase any item at a 10% discount!

More crucially, he could directly control resource allocation for the Mo Ben branch.

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

Just this alone offered massive room for manipulation.

If handled well, he could earn enormous profits!

"Deputy Director permissions are this powerful? What about full Director?"

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

Xu Jingming remarked.

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

"Do all branch pavilions 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 Pavilion be drained dry long ago?

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

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

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

If they find any irregularities, they can report directly to the Director and have the branch head removed.

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

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

All of them, without exception, were at least mid-eighth rank.

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

They also held considerable authority, overseeing all branch pavilions.

In short, Lei Ting Martial Arts Pavilion's Inspectors ranked above all branch directors, second only to the Director and Deputy Director.

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

Ling Shuang said softly.

Xu Jingming blinked. Inspectors supervised all branches.

And Ling Shuang was a branch director. So the referee and the player were the same person—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's Mall.

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

His space ring now had ample capacity—fitting a single fighter jet was no problem.

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

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

The price was 32 billion Daya currency, or 3. billion Starworld currency.

For Xu Jingming now, this amount meant nothing.

With a fighter jet, returning to Daya would be convenient wherever he went.

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

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

Xu Jingming glanced over and indeed saw the damaged energy modules listed in the mall.

Energy modules could power Golden Guardians or activate ancient ruins.

Back in Zhen'an City, he had exchanged 33 of them through military channels—all repaired by Eva.

He gave two to Song Qiuyun and Jiang Chu to charge their Golden Guardians.

He still had 31 on him, and the pavilion mall had 24 damaged ones.

Each cost 30, 00 credits—buying them all would require 720, 00 credits, or 14. billion Daya currency.

"Eva, didn't you say last time you needed just 19 more to activate an ancient ruin?"

"Eva, I remember you said last time you only needed 19 more blocks to unlock the civilization relic?"

"That's right—but that would only activate the lowest-level ruin I know of.

The discovery value might be low. The more energy modules, the higher the level of ruin I can unlock."

"The excavation value might not be that high—the more energy modules I have, the more advanced the relics I can unlock."

"Jingming, Eva has a way to unlock ancient civilization ruins?" Ling Shuang was stunned.

Nowadays, Starworld adepts found ruins purely by luck.

Most opened them through brute force.

Yet Eva seemed to have another method!

"Not all of them—I can only unlock the ones I know."

Eva shook her head.

"Still incredibly impressive," Ling Shuang said, full of awe.

"Sister Shuang, don't praise her—Eva's tail will be sticking up to the sky."

Xu Jingming teased, then added all damaged energy modules to his cart.

He clicked purchase, paying 4. 4 billion Starworld currency total.

He did not use his 10% discount opportunity now.

It would be wasteful—better to save it for when something rarer appears in the mall.

"Jingming, when do we return to Mo Du?" After he finished purchasing, Ling Shuang asked.

"We leave once the fighter jet and energy modules arrive," Xu Jingming replied.

With the Chi Xiao-class jet, traveling from Ning Nan City to Mo Du would take only an hour and a half.

After all, the straight-line distance was only 1, 00 kilometers.

And the Chi Xiao-class jet's cruising speed was already Mach 1.

"But before that, I need to tell Song Qiuyun and the others—to prepare them mentally."

"But before that, I still need to let Song Qiuyun and the others know, so they can prepare themselves."

"Mm," Ling Shuang's pale cheeks flushed slightly.

This time, she was going to Mo Du mainly to meet Song Qiuyun and the others.

Thinking that her former student from Mo Da had become her sister, she felt a mix of shyness and nervousness.

Thinking that she had once been a student at Magic University and now became her sister, she couldn't help feeling shy and nervous.