Chapter 3: Chapter Three; Chén Chén's Daily Work

Thunder Martial Hall, the martial hall founded by the world's second strongest, Léishén.

Being called 'world second' sounds far less domineering than 'world first', as the saying goes, 'In literature there is no first, in martial arts there is no second.'

One who defeats all under heaven is called 'world first', while the notion of 'world second' is not only unworthy of praise, but also extremely rare.

Yet this 'Léishén' is publicly recognized as the world's second strongest; in truth he truly suppresses all rivals, lacking only half a move compared to the world's strongest, 'Hóng'.

Even the true strength of these two top rivals is constantly chasing each other, which is what qualifies one to be called the world's second strongest.

And the Thunder Martial Hall founded by Léishén, in terms of power, is in no way inferior to the Extreme Martial Hall openly; its influence spans the globe, to the point that even major countries dare not underestimate it.

And I, Mò Fán, am no ordinary person; at a young age I already became an advanced student of the Thunder Martial Hall, to the point that becoming a martial artist is practically certain.

All I need is to steady my efforts; within a year I can move my mother into a detached villa.

Before that, I can also earn extra money to supplement the household.

After becoming an advanced student, finding a tutoring job is not difficult.

In the civilian districts there are many white- and blue-collar workers; besides living expenses, their monthly salaries allow them to save quite a bit.

Yet these families could hardly afford to hire a martial artist as a private tutor, so the advanced students of the martial hall became highly sought after.

Becoming a martial artist is a leap to the heavens.

At least that's how it seems to ordinary people.

Compared to that, Mò Fán's household is far worse off; although his mother never let him go hungry from childhood, their furniture has been used for over ten years, and clothes are only bought new each New Year.

When Mò Fán was seven, his father died in a monster attack, leaving him and his mother to depend on each other.

In this era, civilian families have no relatives to rely on; his mother supported him solely with her own hands in a garment workshop, raising him with great effort.

Whether it was studying or practicing martial arts, his mother gave her utmost support; now it's time for him to repay her.

After finishing his daily training and leaving the Thunder Martial Hall, although it was already four o'clock, the sun on the horizon remained scorching hot.

Because his grades were average, facing the college entrance exam half a month later, Mò Fán had no confidence; since he couldn't get into a military academy, he simply took leave from school to focus on martial arts.

Mò Fán understands clearly: if he becomes a martial artist, joining the military is no problem; if he fails to become one, attending four years of university would be less worthwhile than working as a security guard with his current strength for higher pay.

The free time in the afternoon is naturally not wasted.

Mò Fán took out his phone and opened his email.

The email was a message from an agency saying a tutoring job matching his requirements had been found, with the employer's contact information and address attached.

He pasted the address into the navigation app and set off following its directions.

This was his first day on the job, and he inevitably felt a little excited.

He jogged all the way, weaving through alleys, and from afar he could already see the 'Cloud Splendor Other Shore Residential Area'.

So‑called Base Cities are built where martial artists provide protection, eliminating the need to fear monster attacks; such places are naturally extremely valuable.

Ordinary houses are not only small in area, but must be built at least thirty stories high.

Meanwhile, a slightly more upscale community like 'Cloud Splendor Other Shore' is far more high‑end; although it too consists of twenty‑ to thirty‑story towers, each floor is a detached residence of one or two hundred square meters.

The distance between buildings is also strictly designed according to lighting requirements, unlike his own home where day and night make little difference.

From afar one can already see the scenery within the community.

The open pathways inside the community are astonishingly wide—wider than roads—lined with all kinds of greenery and flowers, and the ground bricks are multicolored.

Mò Fán instinctively brushed dust off his clothes, slowed his pace, and walked toward the Cloud Splendor Other Shore Residential Area.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a ragged beggar by the sidewalk, appearing to be in his thirties or forties.

These days beggars are rare; someone with hands and feet could not starve to death even doing hard labor.

Taking a closer look, the beggar lay on the ground with his right lower leg clearly missing—this sort of person is about as unfortunate as it gets.

However, Mò Fán himself was also down on his luck; the few tens of yuan in his pocket were saved by his mother through frugality, and she gives him some pocket money each week for him to use as needed.

Usually Mò Fán is reluctant to spend it, either saving up to buy meat for home or purchasing cheap martial‑arts supplements.

Choosing to beg at the entrance of a high‑end community is smart in its own way, so naturally he doesn't need to rely on charity himself.

Just as Mò Fán was about to pretend he hadn't seen the beggar and walk past, the beggar suddenly crawled up to him.

"Little brother, save my life! I haven't eaten in two days!"

Mò Fán sighed helplessly.

His mother had taught him since childhood: 'Give roses, keep fragrance; help those in trouble, and good deeds will be rewarded.'

When such a situation arose, turning a blind eye was not something Mò Fán could do.

Moreover, starting today he only needs to do a bit of tutoring to earn over a hundred yuan per day, which counts as being able to help.

He took out a few tens of yuan from his pocket, weighed them repeatedly, and placed eight yuan in change into the beggar's bowl.

Mò Fán was about to leave when the beggar stopped him again.

Mò Fán felt a bit annoyed; while a pitiful person certainly deserves sympathy, an ungrateful pitiful person is truly aggravating.

He had thought the beggar was complaining about the small amount of money, and was about to step away, but instead the beggar produced a piece of emerald‑green leaf and offered it to him.

The green leaf was only the size of half a thumb, translucent jade‑green, with every vein and stalk clearly visible, as if carved from fine jade.

Mò Fán instinctively took the leaf.

The next moment, the ragged beggar vanished from the spot, and Mò Fán only heard an ethereal voice:

"World Tree."

……

Far away, several hundred meters down the alley, Chén Chén watched Mò Fán, who had taken the leaf, and smiled faintly.

"Alas, the talent in the resettlement areas has pretty much been recruited; all that's left is to slowly dig at the corners of the Two Great Martial Halls."

The World Tree stands as the world's fifth‑largest power, its influence in no way inferior to the super‑giants of the Two Great Martial Halls, and its master is naturally only one.

That is naturally the great Mother Earth—Chén Chén.

The resettlement areas Chén Chén spoke of naturally refer to the civilian zones worldwide used to settle the displaced.

Children who have lost their homes and have no fixed abode are the easiest to cultivate a sense of belonging, and they are also the first group that Chén Chén targets.

That said, Chén Chén actually has very strict standards for being able to join 【World Tree】.

Above all, one must have a heart that loves and protects the Earth; stepping back, at the very least, one must have a sprout of such belief.

And as a unique star spirit, one of Chén Chén's racial talents is the ability to sense how much favorability—or loyalty—Earth's living beings have toward him; they amount to much the same thing.

Take Luofeng as an example: he is someone with strong hometown sentiment, and he himself subconsciously likes Earth, so his favorability is around 80.

And the favorability of ordinary people basically fluctuates around the fifty‑to‑sixty range.

Chén Chén's screening standard is to take Luofeng as the benchmark; at minimum, one must be a good child with a favorability of at least 80.

Besides favorability, talent naturally is the most important benchmark.

According to Chén Chén's memory, Earthlings, due to a certain top‑tier Universe‑level transformation, actually have strong potential in cultivation, especially as mental cultivators.

But Earthlings' bloodlines themselves are currently weak, and bloodlines require long‑term cultivation over dozens or even hundreds of generations, so Chén Chén's talent‑selection mechanism is largely the same as humanity's own.

Third is morality; whether one's morality is good or bad determines if they might rebel after becoming strong, or cause trouble for oneself.

Regarding this, Chén Chén has also set up a compulsory moral education course within the World Tree.

Only after passing these three rounds of screening does one qualify to join the World Tree.

Relying on Earth perception, Chén Chén can sweep his gaze over every corner of this world, overlook a person's huge base city, and also see in detail the daily life of a certain couple.

After four years, with multiple avatars and aliases running about, the World Tree has only grown to become the world's fifth‑largest power.

Looking far off at Mo Fan, still in astonishment, these batch of greenhorn sprouts, hurry up and grow.

Gathering this consciousness back to his main body, he then continues to seek out suitable targets across the world to lure… recruit.

"Young man, I see your bone structure is astonishing; you are a one‑in‑a‑million martial arts prodigy…"

"This slot of mine is a priceless treasure; seeing that we have affinity…"

"Thirty years…"

Searching worldwide for talented children, or incarnating to save martial artists who would die in the wasteland, the heroes of some dying persons—clang—, this is also one of Chén Chén's daily routines.

Moreover, Chén Chén devotes a good portion of his spirit, day after day, repeating this work to develop the World Tree, which is naturally because it is closely tied to the strength of his Earthly true body; of course, all that is another story.

After all, these little greenhorns are still far from the harvest season.