Chapter 557 - 556: The Past Promise, The Endlessly Shelved Plan

The next day.

At dawn.

Li Jing is sitting at the edge of his bed, contemplating life.

Has it been the Time of the Sage?

No.

His body is too tough to easily enter the Time of the Sage state.

Not to mention, he hardly knows fatigue. He could override the logic where only dead oxen can’t plow a field.

How could he possibly stop in less than a day?

But at this moment, he has to stop.

No choice.

Yulian has gained enormous benefits from him. By midnight last night, she was already sensing the coming heavenly tribulation.

At the time, she could barely suppress it.

After a night of intense action, Yulian could no longer hold back.

Frankly speaking.

This wasn’t an accident.

Though the Dual Cultivation method that Li Jing and Liu Sisi had jointly studied didn’t apply to Yulian, it had little effect.

But Yulian didn’t need to use the Dual Cultivation method to receive benefits.

She is a fox demon.

She has the innate ability to absorb others’ vitality.

When they made love.

Even if she didn’t take the initiative, her natural racial talent still drew as much as possible of what she needed for herself.

If she hadn’t had a substantial "real skill", ordinary people, even if they had mutual affection, wouldn’t dare rashly share a bed with a fox demon, as they could potentially die in the process.

The higher the cultivation level of the target, the greater the benefits a fox demon could reap.

This does not need to be mentioned.

Besides that, the purity of the target’s vital energy also has a significant influence.

Even more than the cultivation level.

Li Jing has Body Refining.

Under the influence of his status bar, his level of Body Refining is on par with Qi Refining.

Now he’s at the peak of the Venerable Realm.

Naturally, there’s no need to speak of the purity of his vital energy.

Then...

He has also achieved immortality.

This has transformed him directly into a top-tier "cauldron" that every fox demon would envy when they see it.

Last night, Yulian realized something was wrong as soon as she lay down.

This vitality is too ridiculously strong.

She hadn’t even had a chance to prepare herself to receive favor, yet her cultivation soared dramatically.

This even made her feel that her past two hundred years of life had been lived in vain.

This rate of advancement.

Not to mention countless times faster than when she was absorbing the God Pattern.

Compared to Li Jing’s previous labored "efforts" of seven days, this was an entirely different concept.

At that time, Yulian asked.

"Li Jing, did you chew on some Immortal Medicine outside?"

Yulian asked this casually.

Mainly because she was surprised at the excessively high purity of the vital energy coming from Li Jing, it was excessively exaggerated.

But precisely.

This was the correct answer.

With a deep sigh, Li Jing looked out the window.

In the distance.

A large sheet of dense dark clouds shrouded the area, the might of the heavens kept condensing.

Yulian will be crossing the heavenly tribulation, he cannot interfere with this at all.

The heavenly tribulation is a crucial opportunity for monsters to fill their Primordial Spirit’s shortcomings despite its extreme danger.

So the question is.

What should he do now that he’s feeling unsatisfied?

Wait for the second half?

You must be joking.

Yulian has advanced to the Tenth Realm.

This heavenly tribulation, at the minimum, has to last for more than half a month.

Who could endure this?

Should he find Liu Sisi?

This...

No, that doesn’t work!

If he brings her in to see Yulian crossing the tribulation, wouldn’t that be awkward?

Even though they are already husband and wife.

But there should still be some propriety to maintain.

Moreover, Liu Sisi is now with Chen Yuran.

If he takes his legally wedded wife away and leaves the other companions behind, that certainly wouldn’t be right.

On the other hand.

The Dual Cultivation Method had great effects on Liu Sisi. With the huge gap in the realm, she might be rushing towards the Eleventh Realm after a few sessions.

With a soft sigh, Li Jing whispered via Spirit God to forcibly calm himself, then willed himself to leave the Little Universe.

What a coincidence.

The moment he returned to the top-floor office of Cangming Entertainment City, Ji Qing, humming a little tune and dressed in a standard OL uniform, walked in.

They both paused when they saw each other.

Then Ji Qing’s face took on a weird look.

"When did you come back?"

"Yesterday."

Li Jing responded subconsciously.

Hearing this, Ji Qing swiftly glanced at the empty boss chair, which Yulian should be sitting on.

"I was wondering why I didn’t see Ayu when I stopped by after work yesterday. So, you were back then?"

Saying so, she looked him up and down.

"How come it’s so quick this time? You finished in less than half a day?"

"Cough."

Li Jing choked.

Even though some matters couldn’t be hidden if he wanted to, and Ji Qing, not being an innocent little girl, understood what she should, this was ultimately a private matter.

Ji Qing just striding along made him feel rather embarrassed.

The problem was that when she asked, he found it difficult not to respond.

Otherwise, Ji Qing might think he was incompetent.

This was about a man’s dignity.

After coughing lightly, Li Jing said,

"There was a sudden change. Yulian needs to transcend her tribulations for her breakthrough."

"Ayu broke through!?"

Ji Qing was a bit stunned, then she closed the office door and stared at him unblinkingly.

"Pardon my question, but what is your...cultivation level now?"

Ji Qing is a game-addicted lazy cat, no doubt.

But her intelligence is not inferior to anyone else’s.

Yulian was only at the mid-Ninth Realm, she won’t just breakthrough so easily, right?

Quickly, she surmised that Yulian’s sudden breakthrough was related to Li Jing.

Responding to Ji Qing’s query, Li Jing was not reticent, and truthfully told her.

"Barely already at the peak of the Thirteenth Realm, almost stepping out, I still need a special opportunity to step into the Fourteenth Realm."

This casual and ordinary statement immediately silenced Ji Qing.

For a moment,

she thought she had misheard.

Peak of the Thirteenth Realm...

Isn’t this the peak of the Venerables?

When Li Jing came back last time, he had just entered the Eleventh Realm.

In the blink of an eye,

he was already in the Thirteenth Realm...

This is already the top level of the Immortal Realm!

This is hundred times more outrageous than Liu Sisi’s experience in the blessed land.

After zoning out for a bit, Ji Qing chose to stop thinking about it.

Having seen Li Jing grow to this stage, Ji Qing had a strong resistance to such situations.

The man’s monstrous growth rate had never been normal; it was just that this leap was even more outrageous than usual.

Watching Li Jing, Ji Qing’s big eyes rolled around a couple of times, then she walked over and draped herself over his arm.

?

Li Jing.

"Do you remember the agreement we had?"

Ji Qing’s voice was soft.

???

Li Jing frowned.

This is...

not only unusual for Ji Qing?

Probably, she has another weird idea in mind.

Considering that he hadn’t been with Ji Qing for a while, Li Jing chose to play along.

"What agreement?"

"Tsk, you can forget such an important thing?"

Ji Qing feigned anger.

"..."

Li Jing.

At this moment, Ji Qing clearly looked like she was playing a role.

Wondering what on earth this girl wanted to do, Li Jing said,

"Why don’t you remind me?"

"Okay."

Ji Qing answered as if it was a big deal, and then she offered a sweet smile.

"I said before, if you can feed me to the Four Realm, I’ll follow you."

Li Jing was dumbstruck.

He genuinely wouldn’t remember this if Ji Qing didn’t bring it up.

Initially, it was just a joke.

Smiling secretly, Li Jing went with the flow.

"So, are you planning to fulfill the agreement now?"

"Depends on your performance!"

Ji Qing winked at him.

Li Jing said nothing, watching her with a serious expression of contemplation.

Seeing him wear such an expression, and looking intently at her, Ji Qing started to feel inexplicably flustered.

The crucial point was,

It seemed like Li Jing was actually considering it.

Just as she hesitated about whether to back down, Li Jing shook his head.

"Forget it, we’ve been friends for many years and I would feel too embarrassed to undress you."

"..."

Ji Qing.

The bluntness of someone’s words made her want to punch him.

Flinging Li Jing’s arm away as if discarding trash, Ji Qing pouted her small mouth and threw herself on a nearby sofa.

"Ayu is going to overcome her tribulation and ascend to the Tenth Realm, and she definitely won’t be back in a short time. Our Cangming Entertainment City has just opened recently, and the position of CEO definitely can’t be left vacant like this. What are you planning to arrange?"

At Li Jing’s words, he blinked and understood that Ji Qing, the drama queen, had set her sights on the executive CEO’s position.

So the question was...

Why was she keen on the CEO’s position?

Considering the other party was Ji Qing,

Li Jing really couldn’t imagine what she was thinking.

But given his understanding of Ji Qing, it probably had something to do with gaming.

After a moment of silence, Li Jing walked over and sat down on another sofa.

"You don’t need to worry about the entertainment city. Yulian has arranged for the position of the CEO. I came out with the intention of asking Li Lingyin to act as the CEO in the meantime."

As he spoke, he looked over.

"Although I don’t know what you want to do, as long as you want to do it, I’ll definitely support you. Why don’t you simply tell me what you want to do?"

Hearing Li Jing say this, Ji Qing couldn’t help but straighten her posture and looked at him twice.

From the start of their acquaintance,

Li Jing had always pampered her.

Later on, when Liu Sisi came along, their relationship was somewhat distanced.

This was understandable.

People with families,

Have always to be mindful about their relationships with the opposite gender.

Of course, this didn’t affect their friendship.

In the Immortal Realm,

Li Jing was always busy and it was rare to see him.

Not only Ji Qing,

Even Yulian seldom got to see him.

The relationship which had initially distanced, grew even further apart with time.

Therefore, Ji Qing was a bit hesitant and didn’t dare to rashly put forward her ideas.

Although Li Jing had taken care of her for a long time, there was indeed a distance between them.

This had nothing to do with Li Jing’s cultivation level.

Rather, it was because they saw each other far too infrequently compared to the time they were in the mortal world, making her feel that Li Jing had become somewhat unfamiliar.

At this moment, facing Li Jing’s pledge, Ji Qing was inexplicably moved.

Gently biting her red lips, she softly spoke.

"I don’t want to do anything else, I just... I want to cultivate a group of software developers, develop some games in future, and build a commercial empire in the Immortal realm..."

Before she finished speaking, Li Jing tilted his head.

"Just that?"

"Yes."

Ji Qing nodded, then timidly said,

"You may think I’m joking, but... "

Before she could finish, Li Jing smiled.

"Be more confident and get rid of the ’may’. But as I just said, no matter what you want to do, I’ll support you."

With that said, he gently spoke.

"At the very least, I’m responsible for bringing you to the Immortal Realm and distancing you from your beloved worldly prosperity."

Facing such a statement, Ji Qing’s eyes inexplicably turned red, then she whimpered.

"You indeed ought to be responsible for this."

With a complaint in her voice, she said,

"Since coming to the Immortal Realm, you never appear. Ayu is constantly trying to improve Cangming Entertainment City and make it bigger and stronger, and Sisi and the others are all busy with their own things. I’m not having a good time."

Seeing Ji Qing’s about-to-cry expression, and her complaints about his and Yulian’s busyness, Li Jing couldn’t help but feel moved.

The key was...

All these were undeniable facts.

In retrospect,

Ji Qing, though she appeared mature, was actually a big kid.

This, he had always known.

As he was hesitating whether or not to draw Ji Qing over to soothe her, she looked up.

"I followed you to the Immortal Realm and you let me suffer so much. I should charge extra for this."

"..."

Li Jing.

Honestly,

His mentality was a bit shaken by this.

Seeing Ji Qing’s reddened eyes, he was genuinely panicked.

Who would have expected her to suddenly say "charge extra"?

He looked with a black face at Ji Qing, who was wearing an aggrieved expression. Li Jing took a deep breath and said:

"Money is not a problem. Cangming Entertainment City is already on the right track, and the turnover funds are abundant. I went out on a trip and gained a lot of high-quality spiritual objects, so there’s no need to draw funds from the entertainment city. I can sponsor you personally to do what you want to do."

Hearing him say this, Ji Qing’s eyes lit up.

"Really?"

"When have I ever lied to you?"

Li Jing smiled wryly and said,

"However, if you want to cultivate software developers, it won’t be so easy and it will probably take several years to see results. After all, even though most of the ascenders come from the Cangming Domain of Blue Star, people generally don’t know what the mortal world is like. It takes several years to study from the beginning of learning programming to being able to make games and software. This is also subject to the aptitude of the respective personnel."

Before the words fell, Ji Qing said,

"In this regard, I don’t think there’s a big problem. I will try my best to bring in people with high cultivation levels and similar intentions. High-level cultivators generally have strong adaptability. As long as there are materials available, they can learn anything quickly. In addition, interest is a huge motivator, so I believe that the corresponding development can get on track quickly."

Afterwards, she quickly added,

"In addition, I have a bold idea of setting up a network center in the Eastern Immortal Domain centered around Cangming Entertainment City, which would facilitate the implementation of future software applications and game industries."

At her words, Li Jing slightly knitted his eyebrows.

"Your idea is not bad, but it’s too long-term."

Having said that, he continued.

"A signal base station is achievable. Sky City has a research and development center. With existing designs and manufacturing techniques, it won’t be hard to start production. But the original materials are a big problem. Sky City doesn’t have the corresponding raw materials, so we’ll need to search for alternatives in the Immortal Realm."

"The Immortal Realm is vast, surely it has the resources needed."

Ji Qing said, speaking earnestly.

"These industrial resources may be considered worthless to those in the Immortal Realm, so they don’t care about them. We just need to train a group of professional explorers to search for them, or take an alternative route to make discoveries."

Saying this, she smirked.

"Actually, all these can be arranged. The main difficulties are money and manpower."

Li Jing nodded silently.

As Ji Qing said,

Nothing else matters except for money and people.

Training relevant talent takes time.

Money might seem like a minor issue, but hiring people in the Immortal Realm certainly won’t be cheap.

The Immortal Realm is vast and sparsely populated, and there are many dangers.

The cultivation level of the explorers definitely can’t be low.

If one’s cultivation level isn’t low, then salary becomes an issue.

Let’s use the Tenth Realm as an example.

If you ask someone to learn new things while running errands, rewarding them with only a few thousand top-grade Immortal Crystals might not be attractive to them.

Some of these things, Li Jing had already considered a long time ago.

But money and people stumped him.

In fact,

Cangming Entertainment City is his first step made under limited conditions.

The next step, Li Jing had indefinitely shelved.

The Entertainment City had only just opened not long ago. Thinking about the next step so soon is clearly unscientific.

If one’s strides are too big,

They will tear their balls.

The most deadly of all,

Even if he has all kinds of plans and calculations, without the corresponding personnel to manage, it would all be in vain.

Cangming Entertainment City has Yulian.

But if he were to implement something else, who should he assign it to?

Liu Sisi and the others?

No way!

For some things, it all depends on whether or not people are interested and have the experience.

Chen Yuran, who used to be an inspector, certainly isn’t up to the task.

Liu Sisi used to run a chicken shop.

Asking a woman who ran a chicken shop to get involved in research and development, isn’t that a joke?

As for Jiang Yini.

She might be capable of doing these things.

But from the beginning, she was designated by Li Jing to be the lord of Sky City.

If the lord is assigned other tasks, who will manage Sky City when it officially "opens for business"?

Setting these issues aside,

Ji Qing’s plan to do some "business" at the moment made Li Jing reassess the long-term plan he had shelved.

After a moment of silence, Li Jing looked up.

"One can’t get fat with one gulp, what I can offer you in the initial stage is to focus on training software developers. Things like signal base stations, finding the raw materials is a difficult issue, we will have to put this on hold. And if we really want to do it, we can’t just focus on setting up signal base stations. When we have surplus financial and human resources in the future, it will not be too late to consider these things."

Hearing what Li Jing said, Ji Qing obediently nodded her head.

"I’ll listen to you."

"That’s settled, then."

Li Jing responded, and with a thought, he took Ji Qing into the Little Universe, to the place where he stored the seafood from Endless Sea.

Upon seeing the "seafood" measured in "tons", each one larger than the last, even though they were dead, they still exuded an astonishing aura, Ji Qing was almost popping her eyes out.

The instinct of a cat demon made her swallow nervously.

"You take as much of this ’seafood’ as you can carry and sell it at Ta Xue Commercial Bank for Immortal Crystals as startup funds."

Li Jing opened his mouth to speak.

"Later, we will go to Chen Tang City to choose a place to set up the research and development center and so on. The entrance to the Little Universe is in Chen Tang City, so it will be convenient for anything needed to be moved in or out. Furthermore, the research and development industry will inevitably involve some business secrets, which are not suitable to be placed in the existing cities in the Immortal Realm. If they are placed in Chen Tang City, it can ensure security and secrecy."

Hearing this, Ji Qing nodded her head, approaching the "seafood" and began to collect it with a wave of her hand.

In no time,

She successfully filled her storage space.

When Ji Qing returned, Li Jing said,

"If you need money in the future, just come here and take the ’seafood’ to sell. When I have time, I’ll turn some of the readily available materials in my hand into tools and put them here. If you need them, you can take them to sell. But I have a suggestion for the developers. We shouldn’t recruit externally, just use the more than five hundred Ancient God’s Descendants."

Hearing such words, Ji Qing was stunned.

"Ancient God’s Descendants? Are you sure?"

"What’s there to be sure or not sure of?"

Li Jing rolled his eyes, and said,

"They won’t learn any slower than the people in the Immortal Realm, and having stayed in the Little Universe for so long, they’re more familiar with the Blue Star culture than the people in the Immortal Realm. They can’t just stay in Chen Tang City, soaking in the Zhenyuan Tower all day. It’s about time they had something to do."

Then, Li Jing shyly said,

"By using them, we won’t have to pay wages. During the initial learning stage, we can print out all sorts of relevant teaching materials and let them chew on them in Zhenyuan Tower. Isn’t this a great way to achieve more with less effort?"

"....."

Ji Qing,

Speechless at Li Jing’s capitalist face.

Not paying wages, and having them study in the Zhenyuan Tower...

He actually came up with this!

And it is indeed perfectly feasible.

If she were to select the Ancient God’s Descendants as the first batch of research and development personnel, Ji Qing would not have to worry about not paying enough and them disobeying, nor would she need to worry about them choosing to quit after completing the training.

...