Chapter 145 - Valuable Commodity

“You are not as powerful and experienced. Mr. Lin, do you think you can compare to them? Besides, there are tens of millions of such middle-aged martial artists in the country. Mr. Lin, what kind of good project do you think you can take on?”

Seeing that Lin Yao was speechless, Qin Ya continued to speak. “You can’t take on big projects for now, but Mr. Lin, you are talented, handsome, and young. You will be loved and admired by ordinary young people, and you can become a young star. It’s the best way for you to earn money in a short time.

“Some parents don’t like juvenile stars, but they like powerful children and will try their best to train their children so that they will have a brighter future. Therefore, you will have the opportunity to be a spokesperson of the dojos.”

Lin Yao nodded, as he agreed with Qin Ya. However, he also had some requests.

“I won’t spend all my time on publicity.”

“Of course, I won’t ask you to do that. Mr. Lin, what you need to do most now is become more powerful. Everything else is secondary. What I value is your future.”

In order to reassure Lin Yao, Qin Ya even talked about the initial investment.

“I can’t provide Water of Life and Blue Dream every day, but it is not hard to provide them every two weeks. As for the teachers, you should know your own situation better than me. I wonder what kind of teachers you need, Mr. Lin. Let me know and I will find suitable teachers for you.”

“I will need two teachers. One of them must be proficient in combat skills and be a martial artist skilled in the Sword-Drawing Technique. The most basic requirement is that they know the profound meaning of the Sword-Drawing Technique. The other teacher must be a Physics teacher proficient in electromagnetism.”

“Huh?”

Lin Yao finally smiled upon seeing the stunned expression on Qin Ya’s face.

He had spent a long time with Qin Ya, but this was the first time she was surprised.

Qin Ya was indeed stunned. She was not surprised that Lin Yao needed a teacher who was proficient in the Sword-Drawing Technique. However, why would he need a Physics teacher?

Fortunately, she had years of experience in this society. Although she might be stunned, she quickly recovered.

“I understand. One will be a Sword-Drawing Technique teacher, and the other will be a Physics teacher. What else?”

“That will be all for now… Can you help me collect information about the orphanages in the city to see what those children lack and how we can help them properly? It would be best to make a list and an account book to show me what I could do with a different amount of money.”

As soon as he said this, Qin Ya could no longer maintain her calm expression. She stared at Lin Yao with an incredulous gaze.

While she’d been preparing to sign a contract with Lin Yao, many thoughts had run through Qin Ya’s mind. She had thought that Lin Yao might be very greedy and have many requirements or be too stubborn to go along with her arrangements. She’d even thought of the possibility that he might be attracted by her good looks and considered ways to deal with it.

However, in any case, Qin Ya had never thought that Lin Yao would actually make such a request.

“I understand why you would need a Physics teacher. After all, you have a talent for thunder and lightning. There is no harm in studying electromagnetics, but what role does the orphanage play here? Are you going to hype up your kind personality?”

This was Qin Ya’s only guess. Otherwise, she could not understand why Lin Yao would be concerned about the orphanages.

This question silenced Lin Yao. After a few moments, he opened his eyes and made a decision.

“You should know that I have a light talent.”

Qin Ya nodded and suddenly seemed to think of something as she stared at Lin Yao with wide eyes.

“Do you mean that…”

“Yes, you are right. Doing good deeds improves my light talent.”

Of course, doing good deeds would not benefit Lin Yao’s light talent. However, he was not a fool. He would not share his deepest secret with others. Therefore, the light talent had become a good cover.

Plus, Lin Yao was not worried that others would stop him if they learned about this.

‘What’s wrong? Are you stopping me from doing good deeds? Hey, Mr. Policeman, there are criminals who are anti-humanity and anti-society. They threaten and try to seduce me so that I won’t do good deeds but will only do evil…’

Contributing to the country and mankind was perfectly in line with social morality. If Lin Yao was not allowed to do this, he would not need to do anything to stop them, as the country would teach these people how to behave.

‘What are you trying to do? How can you stop people from doing good deeds? Recite the core values of socialism now!’

Therefore, Lin Yao was not afraid of sharing this with others. Besides, light talent was related to all kinds of good things, such as kindness, justice, hope, etc. There was nothing wrong with doing good deeds to enhance the power of light.

He could tell that Qin Ya, who was initially very confused but was now nodding her head, understood what he meant.

After pondering over her identity and how highly she valued him, Lin Yao had a bold idea.

“Is there anything you would like to ask to do during this youth competition?”

“This is what I was going to talk to you about. You are powerful, but your development time is too short. Although I wouldn’t say that there are hidden geniuses in this competition, at the very least, there are still some geniuses. I only have one request for you. It’s alright to lose, but don’t give up on your special feature.”

“Special feature?”

“One Sword is the title given to you on the Internet. It stems from the fact that you only use one sword move against the enemy. I hope you will only use one sword move no matter what kind of enemy you face. Leave the arena if you do not win after using one sword move. Don’t make other attempts to win.”

Qin Ya hurried to explain, as she was hoping that Lin Yao would accede to her request.

“Most people only remember the winner of the competition, and the second place and third place are not widely known. Given your capabilities, you won’t be able to rank first or even enter the top ten. In this case, you have to use an unexpected winning move if you want to be famous. You have a very good special feature. You can survive or die with one sword move. This is the cool, dashing style that young people like the most. Keep this special feature of yours. Even if you fail, you can get a lot of exposure.”

After thinking briefly, Lin Yao had to admit that Qin Ya was right. He would only use one sword move against his enemy. Regardless of whether he won or lost, this special feature could indeed garner more attention than others.

Of course, Lin Yao was the only person who was qualified to do this. He could integrate all his powers within one blow and also temporarily unleash the ultimate combat power, using all his power in one sword move. This would allow him to defeat enemies of the same rank or even beyond that rank with one sword move. This was the only way to maintain the title of One Sword.

As for other people, if they only used one sword move or one punch, people of the same rank or even one rank lower could easily resist their attacks. It would be a joke if they imitated Lin Yao’s style.

“You are right.”

Qin Ya nodded upon hearing Lin Yao’s reply. However, she narrowed her eyes at his subsequent comment.

“But what if the final victory is mine?”

“This is impossible.”

This time, both Qin Ya and Jiang Rong nodded.

“Ah Yao, you might be powerful, but don’t underestimate the heroes in this world. Forget about the warlords. Even potential warlords whose Iron Body exceeds 100% are already not easy to deal with. I know you have hidden trump cards, but so do those warlords.”

“I know I can’t defeat them with my current ability, but if you help me, it will not be impossible.”

Qin Ya noticed that Lin Yao was staring at her. She thought about what he had said just now and, because she was experienced in the ways of the world and was very smart, she very soon seemed to understand something. “Do you mean the children in the orphanages?”

“Yes, if you can find out the most important needs of those children as soon as possible and purchase supplies for me to distribute them, I will become powerful in a short time.”

Upon thinking of this, Lin Yao looked at the Sea of Consciousness. The Celestial Tree was emitting a white light, and among the treetops was an egg-shaped fruit shining brightly. On top of the tree was a huge golden ball of light shining brightly like the sun.

They were the Celestial tree, the angel (in egg form), the remaining angel power from when the Celestial Tree had transformed last time, and the talent given by the Celestial Tree—Angel’s Descent.

These four items gave Lin Yao the confidence to fight for first place.

Of course, due to the lack of energy points, he was not fully confident about winning. However, all this would not be impossible with Qin Ya’s help.

While thinking about this, Lin Yao looked at Qin Ya.

“By doing these things, even if I can’t rank first, my ranking will go several ranks higher. Besides, I won’t take those supplies for free. I will borrow them from you like money. You can deduct them from my profits. Our contract will be valid for 10 years. You don’t have to worry that I won’t repay the money.”

“Of course I wouldn’t worry about that. Let’s not talk about you borrowing from me. This is my early investment.”

“I have to borrow money from you. Although I haven’t tried it, I feel that I must spend money in order to improve my light talent.”

Upon hearing these words, Qin Ya no longer insisted. “Alright, we will do as you say.”

Qin Ya was a successful career woman, and she was very efficient.

Since they had reached an agreement, she quickly made the necessary arrangements without deliberating over it further.

“Tonight, I will do research on the orphanages and get the supplies ready for you. Tomorrow morning, after signing the contract, you can take the supplies to the children.

“There is the competition as well. I will spend money to manipulate it… It is not illegal. I just want to ensure that you will fight against weaker opponents to buy time for you to become more powerful. However, there is not much time left for you. As the competition progresses, the remaining players will have stronger family backgrounds, and I won’t have control over them.

“From now on, even if you become more powerful, you can only use one strike in battle.”

“I understand.”

After speaking, Lin Yao stretched out his hand toward the other party.

“May we have a pleasant cooperation.”

“May we have a pleasant cooperation.”

The two of them shook hands, and the negotiation was over.

Soon, Lin Yao, who felt tired, had a short conversation with Jiang Rong and then returned home to rest properly.

Since the previous orphanage no longer needed Lin Yao’s help and he would go to other orphanages tomorrow, Lin Yao did not go out and decided to rest well tonight.

…

While he was recharging, many people in Ninghai City could not calm down.

In the Yan Family’s residence, Yan Yu’er, who had taken a bath, looked at the bruise marks on her body in the mirror and was unable to fall asleep for a long time. She wrapped her hands around her knees, hiding under the blanket.

In the orphanage, Yan Yan looked at the children, who were dismayed because their big brother was not here, biting her lips lightly without realizing it.

In the Qin Family’s residence, Qin Ya was collecting information about the orphanages as well as Lin Yao. Her eyes lit up when she saw a piece of information.

“Qin Xue, cousin, this is really fate.”

Qin Ya tapped on the table while she looked at the pictures on the computer, lost deep in thought. Apart from the computer on her desk, there were many books around, most of which were books on modern finance and interpersonal communication. However, there was also an ancient book among them.

The light in the room shone on the book, and its title was… ‘Master Lü’s Spring and Autumn Annals'[1].

[1] This is an encyclopedic Chinese classic text compiled around 239 BC under the patronage of Qin Dynasty Chancellor Lü Buwei.