Chapter 170 - 169: So, when are we going to get the certificate?

The ten thousand members under Li Jing’s charge were made up of eight exploration teams of a thousand people each, and four elite squads of five hundred each.

All twelve teams, twenty-four leading and assistant captains, were all from the Four Realm.

Each of the four elite squads includes five leaders of hundred-man groups, adding up to twenty people who were also from the Four Realm.

The rest of the members are from the Three Realm.

All the members of the elite squads are from the later stage of the Three Realm.

It is worth mentioning that Tong Gaojie and Jiang Wenqian started with nothing.

Both of them used to lead elite squads under the command of another tactical advisor. Their teams weren’t transferred along with them during the personnel shuffle.

Including these two, Li Jing’s Heavenly King Group had a total of forty-six strong individuals from the Four Realm.

This force was formidable.

Thanks to the numerical advantage, these ten thousand could directly face at least three individuals from the Fifth Boundary.

Against the Fifth Boundary, someone from the Three Realm couldn’t be considered a combat power.

However, under a wild punch, the one who is destined to die still dies.

If given ample time to set up battle formations, even five wouldn’t be a problem.

However, no matter the wild punch or battle formation, confronting the Fifth Boundary, even a single person would inevitably lead to a lot of casualties.

Under the introduction of Tong Gaojie and Jiang Wenqian, Li Jing and Liu Sisi met the other forty-four team captains and group leaders from the Four Realm one by one. After that, they dismissed all members of the ten-thousand-person team.

These two came originally for their induction and did not make any special preparations.

Even if they had to give a speech, they didn’t know what to say.

After leaving the martial arts field, Li Jing and Liu Sisi went to their own office.

Liu Sisi’s role as a secretary in operations at the Management Bureau was not merely nominal.

Starting tomorrow, she would formally begin her job here.

Working in the office wouldn’t conflict with her seclusion routine.

If there were no Secret Realms to explore or sudden events to address, all the Management Bureau would be idle, and there wouldn’t be much to do.

Practicing at home for a night and then handling a day’s work in the office before practicing again wouldn’t have much of an impact.

Given the free time today, she wanted to get a handle on some things she needed to become familiar with, to avoid wasting time later trying to grasp them.

Spending extra time was no concern, but delaying her practice was.

Chasing after Li Jing was an idea Liu Sisi had entirely abandoned.

The man is already at the Fifth Boundary, what was she chasing after?

She might as well just lie low, wait to marry and have children.

No matter how powerful her Cold Heart Physique was, it couldn’t elevate her to the Fifth Boundary in an instant.

However, since she had joined the Management Bureau, she had to get her cultivation level up. Otherwise, any random person selected from within the ten-thousand-member team would have a higher cultivation level than hers, which would not be right in the long run.

...

Liu Sisi wanted to get a head start on her new job, so Li Jing naturally had to accompany her. In their shared office, Liu Sisi sat at her desk to start becoming familiar with the Management Bureau’s system. Meanwhile, she casually asked Li Jing.

"Li Jing, did anything happen between you and Deputy Team Leader Jiang?"

?

Li Jing, planning to do nothing and taking it easy on the couch, was taken aback.

The deputy team leader? Jiang Wenqian?

Li Jing blinked a couple of times.

"I only ever saved her life in the Secret Realm, we’ve barely interacted."

Just as he wondered what this was about, Liu Sisi exclaimed.

"Oh, so you play the hero and saved the damsel in distress?"

Playing the hero and saving the damsel in distress?

Li Jing scowled.

"What do you mean, Sisi?"

"Deputy Team Leader Jiang obviously has a crush on you, didn’t you notice?"

Liu Sisi hummed in response.

?

Li Jing.

What the hell?

Jiang Wenqian has a crush on me?

Seeing Li Jing was totally perplexed, Liu Sisi clicked her tongue and said.

"From the moment we met, she kept staring at me, paying extra attention to me, haven’t you noticed that?"

"Well... "

Li Jing looked perplexed.

He had indeed noticed Jiang Wenqian sneaking glances at Liu Sisi.

But to him, that didn’t prove anything.

As if knowing his thoughts, Liu Sisi sighed deeply and said earnestly.

"You, it’s about time you start paying attention to the gaze of others. The way Vice-Captain Jiang looks at me, she’s clearly comparing me with herself. When a woman compares herself with another woman, there’s only one possibility—she’s calculating her chances of winning and what she lacks."

With that, she asserted confidently.

"Jiang and I have only just met; we can’t really say we have a formal relationship. She compares herself with me; what else could it be if not that she has feelings for you?"

"..."

Li Jing fell silent.

He couldn’t quite grasp Liu Sisi’s logic.

Mainly because he never considered these things.

With Liu Sisi already in his life, why would he care about these things?

He has never cared about the opinions of others.

If he did, he wouldn’t have agreed to be Chen Yuran’s shield in the first place.

"Vice-Captain Jiang has feelings for you. Have you considered how you’re going to respond?"

Liu Sisi nonchalantly spoke, sneaking a glance at him, then continued.

"You should know that once someone reaches the ’Fifth Boundary’, Hua Country no longer enforces monogamy?"

Li Jing was momentarily speechless.

Liu Sisi’s sudden mention Jiang Wenqian had left him clueless.

Whether she liked him or not, he had no interest in figuring it out.

And even if she did, so what?

It had little to do with him personally.

How was it?

Just because someone liked him, he was supposed to reciprocate?

Now that Liu Sisi had brought up Hua Country’s lack of restrictions on the number of wives for those who reached the Fifth Boundary, he had understood.

So Liu Sisi felt a crisis without reason?

Chuckling and shaking his head, Li Jing said.

"I know that, but there’s no rule in the Hua Country saying that those who reach the ’Fifth Boundary’ have to have more than one wife, right?"

"Yes, that’s true. But don’t you want to?"

Liu Sisi bit her red lips lightly as she stared back at him.

Li Jing met her penetrating gaze, tilted his head with interest.

"If I say I don’t want to, would you believe me?"

At first, Liu Sisi did not respond, burying her face into the computer screen to hide her face, and only spoke after a while.

"Personally, I don’t care much about this. I don’t know about other families, but in the Liu family those who reached the ’Fifth Boundary’ usually had three or four wives or concubines, I’ve seen it so many times that I just got used to it."

As she spoke, she started to murmur softly.

"Now that you are already at the ’Fifth Boundary’, you will inevitably have higher achievements in the future. It’s going to be quite difficult for me to keep you to myself. Vice-Captain Jiang is only one of many, and there will be more like her in the future. Maybe you don’t care or think much about these things now, but people change. So I think it’s better to clarify some things sooner rather than later."

Li Jing listened to her words and smiled.

"Can’t you wait until I’ve changed before saying this?"

"If we wait until then it’ll be too late, who knows how many you will end up getting involved with?"

Liu Sisi made a slight "tsk" sound as she replied, leaned over from behind her computer screen and said,

"Promise me, at most you can only have three. Moreover, before we get our marriage certificate, there can’t be a second one."

"..."

Li Jing.

Joking aside.

He could tell, Liu Sisi was serious.

What is this?

Permission to have no fewer than three in his harem?

Rubbing his brow, Li Jing said nothing.

"Actually, you don’t need to worry about these things, I..."

Before he could finish, Liu Sisi interrupted him.

"Don’t say useless things, just promise me."

"..."

Li Jing stopped talking.

He couldn’t quite understand why Liu Sisi was so persistent.

Did he look like someone who’s inconstant in love?

Thinking it’s better to have one less trouble, Li Jing nodded.

"Alright, I promise you."

Before Liu Sisi could say anything, he laughed and said,

"So, when are we going to get the marriage certificate?"

"..."

Liu Sisi’s mouth twitched a bit, feeling somewhat exasperated.

Compared to his usual non-responsive attitude, it seemed that Li Jing had indeed been making a few breakthroughs.

To some extent, this was a progress Liu Sisi was happy to see.

She yearned for simplicity.

But even in simplicity, there should be some fun, right?

However, for some reason, every time Li Jing made a breakthrough, he always gave off a smug vibe. This, combined with his disregard for timing and venue, was a little annoying.

Grinding her teeth, Liu Sisi hummed out loud.

"Behave well, and you can go when you hit the legal age next year."

Li Jing was slightly confused by her command.

He just made a little joke, but Liu Sisi actually responded seriously.

Next year?

It was already December, and in less than half a month, it would be next year.

So...

As long as he works harder, by this time next year, they could even have a baby, right?

Wasn’t that...

a little fast?

Li Jing pondered while lowering his head.

Liu Sisi wasn’t aware of what he was thinking.

However, seeing his thoughtful expression, she started to feel restless.

Next year was definitely going to be soon.

But she had said that in a rush, shouldn’t she acknowledge that?

Feeling somewhat panicked, Li Jing got up.

"You work on your own first, I’ll go over to the logistics department to exchange some things."

"..."

Liu Sisi was speechless.

What the hell...

What was Li Jing pondering just now?

Was he thinking about getting a marriage license next year, or about exchanging something?

Having been through many hardships, Liu Sisi believed that her mental strength was tougher than most girls.

However, at this moment, she had to admit that she felt a little overwhelmed.

Seeing Li Jing’s amused look, she couldn’t help feeling that he was deliberately messing with her, but she had no evidence.

Taking a deep breath, reminding herself that no one is perfect, she finally got someone that even in all of the seven great families in the Hua Country, one would not find. Liu Sisi spoke with a weary face.

"Go ahead, feel free to roam around on your own, just remember to pick me up at six."

"Ok."

Li Jing chuckled softly and left.

...

Leaving the office, Li Jing took the elevator to the ground floor and went straight to the logistics fourth office.

He had long planned to use his merit points to exchange for something.

With two spiritual weapons waiting to be nourished, his merit points would be eventually used up.

It was inevitable to nourish Qingfeng — turned into a spiritual weapon this afternoon — once more.

The Logistics Department of the Management Bureau is a huge department with four different offices.

The first office is located on the first floor of the Human Resources Building, responsible for issuing documents, badges, and other routine supplies.

The second to fourth offices, are located in a warehouse.

The second office is in the military equipment warehouse, responsible for managing the military supplies needed by all departments during operations.

Items such as tents used by the Management Bureau when stationed in the Secret Realm, are acquired from the second office before any operation.

The third office is in the gadget warehouse, responsible for managing strategic weapons, Array Eye needed for formations, and various types of mechanical equipment, etc.

The last one, the fourth office, is the place to exchange various items with merit points.

Unlike the second and third offices, which only have one warehouse, the fourth office has as many as nine warehouses of all sizes with all sorts of items.

From spiritual objects to spiritual materials, to all kinds of precious items, strange objects, even spiritual weapons.

Its regularly available supplies can even compare to the total inventory of all the merchants in the entire spiritual objects market.

Anything you can think of, the fourth office probably has it.

If not, the fourth office can obtain it from other controlling bureaus or the national treasury.

Because of the no-flying zone in the Management Bureau compound and the central location of the Logistics fourth office, it took Li Jing about twenty minutes to arrive.

Upon entering the office of the fourth office, he went straight to the supplies exchange counter and handed over his credentials.

"Could I exchange for ten of your highest quality yin energy crystals, and then another ten quite economical high-quality wind attribute materials for nurturing spiritual weapons, please?"

The one sitting at the counter was a very attractive girl.

Sure, she didn’t pay much attention when Li Jing arrived.

The badge on Li Jing’s chest was engraved with the number 42.

This represented a historical cumulative merit point total of 420,000.

Earning 420,000 merit points all at once was absolutely noteworthy.

However, having a cumulative merit point total of 420,000 wasn’t considered extraordinarily high within the Management Bureau.

Were any of the elders in Management Bureau not sitting on one or two million merit points?

Those with good luck had several millions.

"Our logistics department doesn’t sell goods, I don’t know which wind attribute materials are more cost-effective for nurturing spirit weapons. I recommend you figure it out yourself."

She lightly said that, then reached out to take Li Jing’s credentials.

She changed her expression as she idly opened the credentials, suddenly standing up to salute, "Good day, Commander!"

Not to mention Li Jing, who was standing at the counter, even the rest of the staff in the Logistics Department were startled by her reaction.

Seeing the pairs of eyes turning to look at him, Li Jing coughed.

"I’m just here to exchange some supplies, don’t make such a fuss. Sit down and help me exchange the Yin Qi Crystals, I’ll look up on which wind attribute materials are suitable for nurturing spirit weapons."

As he spoke, he took out his phone to send a message to Xia Ai who was at home.

Li Jing is a sensible person.

The Management Bureau isn’t a place where people look down on each other because of their cultivation level.

Anyone you run into could be in the Third Realm, who would dare to look down on others?

When someone says they don’t know which wind attribute materials are cost-effective, they really don’t know.

Without Xia Ai, searching for information would be a hassle.

But it was not a problem,

a simple message would solve it.

As for searching on his own, Li Jing didn’t even consider it.

The search engine of this world wasn’t much different from before he transmigrated.

The first few pages were filled with keyword-related ads trying to rip people off before finding anything useful.

And even then, you’d have to flip through several pages to find truly useful information.

The search then still required your judgement to determine trustworthiness.

Setting aside these trivial matters.

Not long after sending the message, Xia Ai replied.

"Master, the most cost-effective wind attribute materials for nurturing spirit weapons are the Wind Demon Stone, followed by the Wind Spirit Treasure. If you want the best nurturing effect, you can choose the rarer Wind Spirit."

As Li Jing was viewing the message, the conveyor belt behind the girl at the counter began to operate, delivering ten yin qi crystals of terrifyingly high quality.

The girl behind the counter picked up the yin qi crystals and placed them in front of her, speaking respectfully.

"Commander, these are the ten highest quality yin qi crystals you requested, each one costs eight thousand merit points, that will be a total of eighty thousand."

"Ok, now help me get ten high-quality Wind Spirits."

Li Jing responded indifferently on the surface, but he was bleeding inside.

That’s already eighty thousand merit points gone!

The feeling of heartache was too real!

But you cannot deny that the Management Bureau’s stock is of excellent quality.

In terms of the highest quality, what Xu Jiayi’s family had to offer couldn’t compare to the ten yin qi crystals in front of them.

The ones from Xu Jiayi’s home were at best cool to touch.

These ten crystals lowered the surrounding temperature just by sitting on the counter and each one gave off an extremely ominous aura.

Even if their price had depreciated, ten such yin qi crystals would still be worth far more than eight million on the spiritual object market.

He reached for a yin qi crystal, but before he could examine it, Linglong’s voice rang in his ear.

"Master, I want it!"

"..."

Li Jing’s lips twitched as he responded mentally.

"Stop messing around, it was gotten for you in the first place, I’ll give it to you in a moment."

"Good, I want all ten!" Linglong puckered up her lower lip.

Li Jing rolled his eyes at the sound, ignoring the greedy little foodie.

Just then, the conveyor belt next to the girl at the counter started up again, bringing over ten gemstones approximately the size of glass beads, all in a green hue.

She picked up the ten gemstones and placed them on the counter with a sweet smile.

"Commander, these are the highest quality Wind Spirits you requested. Each one costs twelve thousand merit points, that will be total of one hundred and twenty thousand."

Her sweet smile and words, in Li Jing’s view, were no different from a devil.

These Wind Spirits, were damn expensive!

Adding the yin qi crystals, 200,000 merit points were gone in the blink of an eye.

Managing to keep his face blank, Li Jing nodded with a slight smile,

"Thank you."