Chapter 738: Honorably Welcome! The Martial Arts Hall

Dayangzhou, one of the two supercities of Mo Ben.

North District, aviation port.

Although it was already past two a. m. on April 20th, numerous aircraft continued to take off and land at the entire aviation port.

Most passengers boarding the planes were powerful psychics.

Yet, these psychics, upon boarding or disembarking, would glance curiously at a certain spot, then quickly look away.

There, in the restricted area normally forbidden to those picking up passengers, a crowd of figures stood lined up.

They wore uniformed martial arts hall attire, each back bearing a large blue lightning emblem emitting a faint glow.

They stood tall and straight, their gazes sweeping across the area as if terrifying energy flowed around them.

Especially the two at the front—even with their energy suppressed, one could still sense the latent, lethal danger they radiated.

"Fourth, fifth, sixth grade! Even a sixth-grade psychic is here!"

"Those standing in front of the sixth-grade psychic—could they be seventh-grade Masters?"

"It feels like it, especially the two at the front—the pressure is overwhelming, like eighth-grade Grand Masters."

"Eighth-grade Grand Masters? What faction is this? Why are they here?"

"Look at that emblem—it's the Lei Ting Martial Arts Hall from Great Xia!"

"Lei Ting Martial Arts Hall? I know that one—but who's coming to Mo Ben that even their eighth-grade Grand Masters are being sent out?"

"......"

A chorus of curious whispers rose, with more and more passengers casting glances toward this group.

Yet the Lei Ting Martial Arts Hall members remained solemn, eyes straight ahead, standing rigid as if in military posture.

Thus, another half-hour passed.

The burly man at the front suddenly brightened his gaze and looked up at the sky.

"They're here!"

Boom—

A piercing sonic boom rang out, then gradually faded.

Beneath the dark night sky, a fighter jet slowly descended onto a runway at the aviation port.

Under the bright beams of high-energy spotlights, the jet's futuristic form was fully visible, resembling a predatory bird.

"Let's go!"

Under the lead of the burly man, the group hurried to a spot just ahead of the jet and lined up neatly.

Hiss—

The jet's hatch opened.

A tall young man and a beautiful woman with a tear-shaped mole beneath her eye stepped out.

"Honorably welcoming back Director Ling Shuang and Deputy Director Xu Jingming!"

A unified voice rang out.

Amid the slightly astonished glances of onlookers, the Lei Ting Martial Arts Hall psychics bowed in unison, their expressions deeply respectful.

"Oh? Didn't expect returning to Mo Ben would come with a show."

Xu Jingming chuckled.

Four months ago, when he and Teacher Ling arrived in Mo Ben, no one came to greet them.

Now, four months later, these people stood neatly lined up before him.

"I didn't expect it either," Ling Shuang said, equally surprised.

"Huh, where's Deputy Director Gan Gui?"

Xu Jingming scanned the crowd but saw no deputy director who had once been refuted by him in the meeting.

"Deputy Director, Gan Gui hasn't appeared at the hall for two days," replied the burly man.

The slightly thinner man beside him added: "Rumors say he went with Deputy Director Liu Shan to Nixi."

The slightly thinner man beside him continued, "Rumors say he went with Vice Director Liu Shan to Nixi."

Logically, Gan Gui, as deputy director of the Mo Ben branch, shouldn't have been moved so casually.

But Liu Shan had Hu Jinyu as his backer; taking Gan Gui along to Nixi wasn't difficult.

Still, it's better this way—Xu Jingming never liked the guy anyway.

"Who are you two?" Xu Jingming asked, looking at the two before him.

"Enhancement-type A-class Eighth-grade Lower-tier Master Zongshi, Lü Zheng."

The burly man spoke first; the other immediately followed: "Elemental Earth-type A-class Eighth-grade Lower-tier Master Zongshi, Han Li."

"Lü Zheng, Han Li—got it. I'll remember you."

Xu Jingming grinned, stored the jet in his space ring, and said to Ling Shuang beside him: "Sister Shuang, let's go."

Xu Jingming grinned, stowed the fighter into his space ring, and said to Ling Shuang beside him, "Sister Shuang, let's go."

Spatial energy spread, and the two vanished instantly from their spot.

"Looks like we've successfully made our presence known."

After Xu Jingming and Ling Shuang left, Lü Zheng exhaled in relief, and Han Li's face lit up with joy.

Although Director Ling Shuang hadn't spoken a single word to them the entire time,

Xu Jingming's approval was enough.

After all, the two were essentially one and the same...

After all, the two were originally one entity...

Whoosh—

The power of space spread out, and when the teleportation ended,

what appeared before Xu Jingming was not the living room scene of his East Lake District villa, but an enormous alloy door standing five meters tall and three meters wide!

"This place is...?" Xu Jingming asked in confusion, looking toward Hearing Ling Shuang.

"The treasure vault of the Ink Branch."

Hearing Ling Shuang said softly, "Didn't you want energy modules? I brought you straight here."

Beep beep beep—

As she spoke, an urgent electronic tone suddenly sounded, and extremely intricate virtual light patterns lit up across the entire alloy wall.

"Identity scan in progress..."

"Scan complete. Welcome, Director Hearing Ling and Vice-Director Xu. What do the two of you need?"

The mechanical electronic prompt sounded.

"The martial hall's treasure vault stores a massive amount of resources. Any items you purchase through the branch's Shangcheng have to be picked up here.

The vault's artificial intelligence is responsible for retrieving the items, and dedicated delivery personnel will deliver them to you.

This is the same as when you were at headquarters.

Of course, now that we're branch directors, our authority is extremely high, and we can enter the vault directly."

After a brief explanation, Hearing Ling Shuang said softly, "Open the vault."

"Understood."

As the electronic voice fell, the heavy alloy door slowly opened to both sides.

Whoosh—

A thick wave of air rushed toward him. There was none of the stale, stuffy smell Xu Jingming had imagined; instead, it carried a faint, elegant fragrance.

It seemed to be the blend of many kinds of heavenly materials and earthly treasures.

What came into view was a colossal alloy warehouse!

The left side of the warehouse was filled with all kinds of equipment — battle suits, battle boots, as well as battle sabers and shields.

Judging by their texture, these were at least Grade S equipment!

On the right side of the warehouse sat row upon row of wooden cases; the faint medicinal fragrance drifting over came from them.

"So many treasures — we can just distribute them freely, right?" Xu Jingming's eyes lit up.

"You sure dream pretty."

Hearing Ling Shuang pouted playfully, pointed at the pale blue glow on the ceiling, and said:

"Whoever takes anything out of the vault is recorded by the vault's artificial intelligence — even us, no exception.

And the items ultimately taken out will be deducted as points from our martial hall's account according to their sale price."

"I see. What a shame." Xu Jingming felt a bit regretful.

He had originally been thinking of 'borrowing' a few pieces of Grade SSS equipment from here.

PS: The company's been busy these past two days, I've been pulling overtime. Give me a bit to recover and I'll get back to three updates a day. Thanks for the support, big shots!