Chapter 322: The Surprise Beneath The Martial Arts Hall
“Opening a martial arts hall in the domain city?”
After hearing this, Ling Ye and Yi Feng were momentarily stunned. They never expected the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall to operate like this.
At this moment, not only were Ling Ye and the others dumbfounded, even Yinuo, who was standing to the side, was taken aback.
Others opened martial arts halls by spending their own money, but when Lin Qi opened one, he had others pay for it.
However, Yinuo could understand this.
The Obsidian Martial Arts Hall’s equipment was extraordinary. As long as they moved into Tianhe Domain City, once the people of Tianhe Domain City obtained a training quota or joined the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, they could enjoy the equipment inside. In other words, it was a disguised sale of the Intermediate Gravity Chamber and Beginner Meditation Room, only the initiative remained in their hands.
If they directly sold the Intermediate Gravity Chamber and Beginner Meditation Room, then these sold chambers would no longer be related to the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, and Tianhe Domain City could use them however they pleased.
But if the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall only opened a single hall in Tianhe Domain City, all equipment would still be under the control of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. Tianhe Domain City would not be able to use them at will, and even force would not work.
At present, regarding the various facilities in the martial arts hall, even the daily managers did not know how to replenish the consumption of the equipment. Whenever the energy of the facilities in the hall was exhausted, they could only resume operation after requesting instructions from Hall Master Lin Qi. No one else could truly control those facilities.
If Tianhe Domain City tried to seize them by force, all they would get would be a batch of unusable martial arts hall equipment.
“If the two of you are not interested, we will not insist,” Lin Qi said calmly.
Ling Ye and Yi Feng stayed silent for a while, then glanced at each other. Ling Ye took a deep breath, looked at Lin Qi, and said, “Hall Master Lin, although we are very interested in the Intermediate Gravity Chamber and Beginner Meditation Room of the martial arts hall, if it only means allowing the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall to move into the domain city, the benefits for us are really limited. Not to mention that, according to the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall’s rules, outsiders like us cannot use the Intermediate Gravity Chamber and Beginner Meditation Room at all, unless we become advanced students or join the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall and become elite-level disciples or above. Having us pay in this situation, is that not a bit inappropriate?”
The fact that the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall could open a hall in Tianhe Domain City did indeed tempt them. After all, traveling between Tianhe Domain City and Chiyue Town was not easy. If there were an Obsidian Martial Arts Hall in Tianhe Domain City, it would undoubtedly be convenient when they needed the Intermediate Gravity Chamber and Beginner Meditation Room.
But this was also the problem. Using the Intermediate Gravity Chamber and Beginner Meditation Room required Obsidian Martial Arts Hall status. Without that status, even if the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall existed in Tianhe Domain City, they still could not use either facility. It brought them no benefit at all.
“Using the Intermediate Gravity Chamber and Beginner Meditation Room does indeed require a certain status,” Lin Qi nodded with a slight smile. “But this should not affect the two of you. Our Obsidian Martial Arts Hall is simply a martial arts hall, a place dedicated to cultivating martial artists. It is actually the same as the Martial Artist Association. Joining our Obsidian Martial Arts Hall and becoming a martial arts hall disciple does not mean you cannot join other factions or work for them. You only need to avoid becoming hostile to the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. Under such conditions, do you still feel my proposal is excessive?”
“The same as the Martial Artist Association?” After hearing this, Ling Ye could not help feeling moved.
The Martial Artist Association was a neutral organization in the Four Regions, or rather, a platform that served martial artists. Apart from requiring members to fight monsters in specific circumstances, it did not demand anything else. There was even a Martial Artist Association inside the domain cities of the Four Regions, and ninety-nine percent of domain city students would join it. After all, the association’s monster intelligence network in the wilderness was far more well-informed than that of the domain cities.
If the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall was the same as the Martial Artist Association, then joining it would indeed not interfere with anything. On the contrary, having an Obsidian Martial Arts Hall in a city would only be beneficial to its people, allowing them to grow faster.
Seeing the two of them visibly tempted, Lin Qi could not help but smile. “Now, are the two of you interested in discussing the price?”
He had long since tested what the system recognized as a martial arts hall disciple. As long as someone was acknowledged by the martial arts hall as a disciple, they would remain a system-recognized disciple unless they took the initiative to announce their withdrawal. Even if these disciples joined other factions and clashed with disciples of those factions’ martial arts halls, it would not change anything.
This was also why he had made Lightning Palm available, using the new weapon to attract large numbers of people to join the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. However, considering the limited quantity of the hall’s internal facilities and the limited resources available to martial arts hall disciples, there still had to be a certain selection process. Not just anyone could join.
“If that is the case, we are indeed interested,” Ling Ye nodded and asked in a low voice, “I wonder what price Hall Master Lin has in mind?”
Lin Qi answered bluntly, “First, you must provide a martial arts hall building constructed according to our requirements. This martial arts hall will belong to our Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. Second, the cost of installing the facilities in the hall will also be borne by you. One Intermediate Gravity Chamber costs twenty units of Energy Blood Essence. One Beginner Meditation Room costs thirty units of Energy Blood Essence. One Advanced Training Room costs twenty units of Energy Blood Essence. As for usage fees, they will be calculated separately according to the rules of our Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.”
“This price is actually quite cheap.” Ling Ye looked at Lin Qi, then shook her head. “But the martial arts hall will belong to you, and the facilities will be managed by you, while we spend our money and resources so that everyone in the domain city can use them. What benefit is there for the two of us?”
Yi Feng also nodded. According to Lin Qi’s proposal, bringing in the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall would only benefit everyone else, while the two of them gained nothing. Why would they do something so thankless?
“Please, do not be hasty. I have not yet explained the benefits,” Lin Qi said with an amused look, seeing they were about to refuse. “Although the martial arts hall and facilities we build will belong to our Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, we do not intend to interfere much with their daily management. After the two of you join our Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, you can directly become core disciples and manage all facility operations of the hall. We will only send people over for supervision, to see whether the hall is being run according to our rules.”
“The effects of the Intermediate Gravity Chamber and Beginner Meditation Room are something you both know. You should understand how important these two facilities are to martial artists. By then, how you arrange access will be entirely up to you. We will not interfere, but not a single unit of the usage fee may be missing.”
Tianhe Domain City was too far from Chiyue Town and was guarded by a Heavenly Human Realm Grandmaster. He certainly did not intend to take that risk personally, nor would he send anyone to station there. Otherwise, they might provoke a whole mess of trouble with the various factions in the domain city. So he had already decided.
As for matters in the domain city, it was best to leave them to locals. Entrusting the daily management of the martial arts hall to these two was essentially letting them run a franchise branch. All he needed to do was collect money. Compared to creating his own city to earn Energy Blood Essence, was it not better to let major powers work for the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall while he only sold halls?
After hearing this, Ling Ye and Yi Feng’s eyes lit up.
They wanted to purchase the Intermediate Gravity Chamber and Beginner Meditation Room for the sake of their teacher’s faction. Although now the chambers remained under the ownership of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall and they lost absolute control, if they could manage the facilities and handle the user arrangements, there was much they could do.
The simplest point was that, when the facilities were fully booked, they could give themselves priority. After all, it was impossible for them to use the facilities twenty-four hours a day. They still had many things to handle in Tianhe Domain City, especially completing various tasks to earn resources.
If they could now ensure they would be able to use the Intermediate Gravity Chamber and Beginner Meditation Room at the earliest possible time, that would already fulfill their original purpose for purchasing them, and at a much lower cost.
“Fine, we accept this price,” Ling Ye said, looking at Lin Qi. She found that Lin Qi was actually quite reasonable, which would also make persuading their teacher much easier, without losing any benefits. “Give me the design for the martial arts hall. I will prepare as soon as possible. Also, we will take ten Intermediate Gravity Chambers and ten Beginner Meditation Rooms.”
“No problem,” Lin Qi nodded and suggested, “would the two of you not like a few Advanced Training Rooms as well? The Advanced Combat Puppets included inside are excellent sparring partners for Bone Forging Realm martial artists, and they are quite effective even for martial artists at Initial Stage Blood Coagulation and the intermediate level of Blood Condensation Realm.”
As a building that could only be modified with Level 3 Administrator Permissions, the Advanced Training Room allowed the Advanced Combat Puppets to display the strength of an Extreme Bone Forging Realm martial artist. Even for him, defeating an Advanced Combat Puppet without using Limit Breaking Level Martial Skills or entering the Transcendent State was not easy.
In terms of technique, the high-level combat puppets had entirely surpassed the Microscopic Realm. According to the system’s description, their combat techniques could reach the initial stage of the Realm of All Things.
Below the Realm of All Things, combat was no longer merely about ultimate control over oneself, but also about influencing the external world. High-level combat puppets could already use the environment in battle; everything could be turned to their advantage. They could even make use of their opponent’s weapons and martial skills. Although they could not use many, it still made it very difficult for him to injure them, and that was only because he had coverage from his Spiritual World.
For players without a Spiritual World, even the strongest ones who activated the Transcendent State were no match for the high-level combat puppets.
Thanks to the Advanced Training Room, his combat techniques had improved rapidly during this period. While he had not yet reached the Realm of All Things, he had already taken half a step toward it.
And with just that half-step, he was confident that, without using the Transcendent State, Limit Breaking Level Martial Skills, or the Great Club, he could defeat any martial artist at the intermediate level of Blood Condensation Realm, even if they had also learned Limit Breaking Level Martial Skills.
“Combat puppets?” Ling Ye looked at Lin Qi, who had taken the initiative to recommend them. In her view, the Advanced Training Room was not really necessary. Tianhe Domain City had plenty of monsters as opponents, including even catastrophe-grade ones, so there was simply no need for training with combat puppets. Still, she did not intend to embarrass Lin Qi, so she nodded and said, “Since Hall Master Lin recommends it, we will take two rooms.”
Lin Qi then formally signed a contract with Ling Ye and Yi Feng. Once the martial arts hall in Tianhe Domain City was completed and Ling Ye paid seventy percent of the Energy Blood Essence, the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall would be required to finish all renovations within four natural days. After that, Ling Ye would pay the remaining balance.
Ling Ye then took the contract and immediately returned to Tianhe Domain City with Yi Feng, without lingering in the reception room.
“Hall master, is this pricing for the facilities a bit too low?” Yinuo could not help asking Lin Qi as she watched Ling Ye and Yi Feng leave. “They are purchasing so many at once, and they might never increase those facilities again. The usage fees, paid in Energy Crystals, will no longer provide Energy Blood Essence income. Meanwhile, their faction will be able to grow rapidly in Tianhe Domain City.”
Having experienced the Intermediate Gravity Chamber and Beginner Meditation Room herself, she knew all too well how much they helped martial artists. They practically mass-produced experts.
If not for the limitation of Energy Blood Essence, she could have used the Intermediate Gravity Chamber and Beginner Meditation Room to make a push toward the Half-Step Heavenly Human Realm, not to mention the super geniuses in Tianhe Domain City.
For just 540 units of Energy Blood Essence, Ling Ye and the others had made a huge profit.
Lin Qi shook his head slightly, watching Ling Ye and Yi Feng leave, and said with a smile, “This is only the beginning. Our Energy Blood Essence will only increase from here.”
Intermediate Gravity Chambers, Beginner Meditation Rooms, Advanced Training Rooms: anyone who used these three major facilities understood their value. There were many factions in the domain city. Once the martial arts hall model spread, if other factions found it inconvenient to use the facilities, it would only be a matter of time before they came to him to buy a martial arts hall.
Moreover, he did not believe that ten Intermediate Gravity Chambers and ten Beginner Meditation Rooms would be enough for Ling Ye and the others. After all, across his three martial arts halls, the transformed Intermediate Gravity Chambers and Beginner Meditation Rooms already exceeded twenty units each, and they still were not enough for internal use. And how many people did the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall have?
Not to mention, this deal with Ling Ye was only his first step in promoting the martial arts hall model.
Yinuo still did not fully understand, then reported, “Hall master, according to our investigation in the Mountain of the Dead, Smiling Skull and Earth Star Pharmaceuticals have been invited to the Red Moon Merchant Guild headquarters for a meeting specifically about our Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. It is very likely the three of them will join forces.”
“The three joining forces?” Lin Qi frowned slightly when he heard this.
He did not worry about facing any one of the three alone in the Mountain of the Dead, but if they truly joined forces, the experts they could dispatch would be terrifying. After all, even now the player count was still inferior to Smiling Skull.
Smiling Skull had already adopted a new playstyle to counter the players’ war of attrition. They no longer fought prolonged battles, but used absolute strength to quickly decide the outcome, then retreated swiftly into the depths of the Mountain of the Dead via Flying Transport Vehicles and the Sky Battleship. The players could not even retaliate, since they could not find them in that vast mountain range. This was why the situation had remained deadlocked.
If the three factions truly worked together to drive the players out of the Mountain of the Dead, it would not be impossible.
“Hall master, the current number of grey-robed disciples is nowhere near enough to support such battles. Why don’t we send some ordinary disciples over instead? Although these disciples cannot fight, they can assist with exploration in the Mountain of the Dead using Life Detectors. As long as we have enough people, we can discover Smiling Skull’s people first and act in advance,” Yinuo suggested.
At present, when Smiling Skull fought the hall’s grey-robed disciples, the latter were at an absolute disadvantage in both numbers and equipment. In contrast, Smiling Skull could fight when they wanted and retreat when they wanted, especially with a large number of Flying Transport Vehicles. Using Life Detectors, they could cast a huge net over the Mountain of the Dead. The few Flying Transport Vehicles owned by the grey-robed disciples were insignificant by comparison.
Moreover, as the battles continued, their Flying Transport Vehicles were constantly decreasing. Once they ran out, their situation would become even more passive.
“Increasing the number of players further, and sending ordinary disciples as well?” Lin Qi fell into deep thought after hearing this.
In the extremely dangerous Mountain of the Dead, the advantage of being the first to discover the enemy was enormous in such a meat grinder war. In this regard, the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall could not compare with Smiling Skull at all. This was the reason why, even now, players had not found a way to deal with Smiling Skull.
Their high-end combat power was weaker, their numbers were lower, and with Smiling Skull almost having full map awareness, they could be isolated and defeated. If not for the players’ ability to resurrect infinitely, they would have been wiped out long ago.
Once the Mountain of the Dead problem was resolved, all the pressure would fall upon Chiyue Town next, which was something he absolutely did not want to see.
Just then, while Lin Qi was still thinking, a system notification suddenly sounded in his ears.
System: Congratulations to players Lu Fanchen, Lin Xinyao, and Li Tianxing for triggering the special Advanced Hidden Task “Earth Vein Essence”: collect ten thousand units of Earth Vein Essence to earn Construction Permission for the Beginner Mental Secret Tower. （ Beginner Mental Secret Tower: inside, spirit can be forcibly increased by 20%. Within a radius of twenty kilometers, the Resurrection Time of fallen players can be reduced by half. ）
