Chapter 195: Tree of Heaven Punishment – Advancement to the Gold Level

There was a shortage of 600,000 grams of energy. If he were to get it with money, according to the current exchange rate, Lin Yao would have to spend at least 180 million yuan, which was an astronomical sum of money. He could also borrow them, but he had already borrowed from most of the best investors. The remaining ones were either dishonest or too demanding, and borrowing from them would bind Lin Yao with too many conditions. He was reluctant to do that.

At the thought of this, Lin Yao felt even more dissatisfied with Qin Ya.

‘If she had been fully in charge of the foundation, although the ratio of money to energy would not have shrunk from 300:1 to 100:1, it would have been reduced to 240:1.’

Lin Yao was still very confident about Qin Ya’s abilities.

However, he soon smiled bitterly and shook his head.

‘Forget it, I’m not going to dwell on this anymore. After all, she is not my exclusive agent. Quite the opposite, I’m one of the artists under her wing.’

Just as Lin Yao thought this through, Qin Xue received a call from Qin Ya.

“Ah… Ah Yao, my cousin is on the phone.”

“Give the phone to me.”

The moment he took the call, an apology came from the other end of the line.

“Sorry, I…”

“No, I should be the one apologizing. You have done a lot for me. I am not mature enough. Sorry I caused you trouble.”

With electric light flashing in his eyes, Lin Yao calmly and politely talked to the person on the other end of the line, thanking Qin Ya for her contribution and apologizing for his impulsive behavior.

He was polite. Very polite. However, to a certain extent, being polite also meant being distant.

This was sensed by the other party.

“You are going to terminate your contract with me.”

“I will do no such thing. Don’t overthink it. I’ll still abide by the terms of the contract. Plus, if you want to, I’ll also renew my contract with you after the 10-year term. You have helped me a lot. I remember those who have helped me for life.”

There was nothing false about this. Lin Yao was indeed grateful to Qin Ya. She had dealt with a lot of trouble for him, and he was not an ungrateful person.

“The foundation…”

This question made Lin Yao fall silent. After a long time, he said, “Are you able to focus all your attention on… Forget it, I’ll resolve the issue of the foundation on my own.”

After conversing for a while more, Lin Yao ended the call with Qin Ya.

While looking at the phone in her hand, Qin Ya was somewhat silent, and this change was sensed by the others around her.

“Sister Qin, is this the kid you’ve signed a contract with in Ninghai City?”

“His name is Lin Yao, and he will be one of your companions in the future. Don’t call him a kid.”

“Okay. But Sister Qin, it’s very rude of him to talk to you in that tone.”

“Alright, stop talking about this. It’s time for you to train.”

As she looked at her own artiste, the despondent look on Qin Ya’s face gradually receded.

‘I have my own business. I am not his exclusive agent.’

The few people here had been trained and groomed by Qin Ya. As for Lin Yao, honestly, life would be easier with Qin Ya around. Nevertheless, he would also grow on his own without her.

If the two situations were compared, some people would find it easier to work only for Lin Yao. However, Qin Ya wanted to be self-reliant and couldn’t bring herself to rely solely on Lin Yao.

She wanted to bring into play her strengths and groom and train geniuses on her own.

Be that as it may, she didn’t have to leave during the launch of the foundation. However, she had been in Ninghai for too long and the few people in Shanghai had been asking for her for a long time.

After weighing the pros and cons, Qin Ya had decided she had to support the team she had groomed. At the same time, she’d also felt that she would be able to manage the foundation remotely and there wouldn’t be any major problems.

Indeed, there hadn’t been any major issues. Although there was corruption, this was inevitable due to human nature. Even if she had been overseeing the foundation personally, she would at most have shrunk the money to energy ratio to 240:1, and Lin Yao would have been able to gain an additional 500,000 grams of energy.

In her opinion, a small amount of corruption could be tolerated.

In fact, under normal circumstances, Lin Yao most likely wouldn’t have known about it.

However, she hadn’t expected Lin Yao to learn about the others’ corruption through the changes of the energy ball, nor had she expected Lin Yao’s ideal energy gain to be as much as 1,200,000 grams.

He had only gained 400,000 grams of energy, and his ideal energy gain was 1,200,000 grams. This gap was too huge, which had caused Lin Yao to suffer an emotional breakdown.

‘I will not rely on others. This is where my base is.’

While looking at the company she had worked hard to build, Qin Ya gradually felt more determined.

After looking at one another several times, the four youths in Shanghai felt hostility toward Lin Yao, who was situated far away in Ninghai.

“That scoundrel. Is he planning to monopolize Sister Qin?”

“He doesn’t deserve Sister Qin’s love. Judging from his yelling tone, he doesn’t respect Sister Qin at all.”

“That ignorant, arrogant b*stard. If he comes here, I’ll show him up. Don’t stop me when the time comes.”

“Count me in. Sister Qin looked so tired when she arrived. It’s all that scoundrel’s fault.”

The four of them were very grateful to Qin Ya, who had groomed them. The appearance of Lin Yao had made them feel a sense of crisis. They didn’t want to lose Qin Ya’s guidance. In addition, some of them had other motives. They were dissatisfied with Lin Yao for “monopolizing” Qin Ya for a long time in Ninghai. Qin Ya had to de-prioritize the foundation and return because they had been pleading with her to come for a long time.

Now, the four of them wanted to deal with Lin Yao together.

However, Lin Yao wasn’t bothered by this. He had focused all his thoughts on the development of the foundation.

‘Should I manage it myself?’

Lin Yao gave up on this idea as soon as it appeared. Managing an operation was no easy feat. In order to avoid being deceived by his subordinates, Lin Yao would need to be very well-informed. He’d also need to learn many things and deal with numerous documents every day. He could do all of this with his thinking speed acceleration. However, he had no time for management at all.

‘This won’t work. I don’t have the time, and wasting my time on this is not worth it.’

In the end, Lin Yao had a new idea.

‘I’ll find a capable agent who will work for me exclusively.’

After thinking about it for a long time, Lin Yao decided to find an agent. Of course, he was not going to give up on Qin Ya, but he would find another agent to take full responsibility for the affairs of the foundation.

‘It is not stated in the contract that I can’t look for another agent. Qin Ya, don’t blame me. If you had been fully committed to handling my affairs, I wouldn’t be looking for someone else now.’

With this thought in mind, Lin Yao also sorted out his relationship with Qin Ya. She was merely a working partner.

She had invested her time in him when he had been young and weak, and he would repay her when he became strong.

Shaking his head and shrugging off the thought of Qin Ya’s affairs, Lin Yao looked at his attribute panel to prepare for his advancement.

[Name: Lin Yao]

[Race: Human]

[Age: 17]

[Existing Natural Energy: 410,000 grams]

[Other Energy: Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, Thunder 100 grams]

[Cultivation Method: 13th Military Boxing (Profound Meaning; Gene Lock Unlocking), Paladin Body Strengthening Technique (Guardian Holy Seal), Leize Dragon God Meditation (Not Started)]

[Realm: Potential Warlord, can advance and become a warlord (809 vital energy seeds), Iron Person (799%)]

[Mental Strength Scale: 120 points]

[Combat Skill: Clear Mirror Swordsmanship (Real Success 100%), Deafening Thunder Roar (Real Success 100%), Super Electromagnetic Gun (Not Started), Thunderbolt Sword-Drawing Technique (Real Success 100%), Phantom Clone Slash (Not Started)]

[Trees Planted Now]

[1 Celestial Tree (Juvenile Stage 1,000/1,000,000)(Gold Person)]

[Talent: Armored Body Of Light LV7, Angel (Angel’s Descent, Brave Soul), Lord of Light]

[2 Tree of Heaven Punishment (Seedling 600,000/100,000 (Silver Person)]

[Talent: Good and Evil Distinguishment LV3, Heavenly Thunder Manipulation LV3 (3%), Electricity-Absorbing Physique, Electromagnetic Induction]

[Weapon: Brilliant Light Sword (Gold)]

[Protective Suit: Type VII Electric Current Stimulation Combat Suit (Custom Made)]

[Treasure: Three Blessed Beads, Electrical Energy Storage Crystal]

Since the end of the competition, Lin Yao’s life had been very dull. Except for a period he had spent on the photoshoot and filming for the Flowery Sect’s publicity, the rest of his time was spent in the research institute developing his body. After close to a month of development, Lin Yao’s physical progress had reached Iron Person 799%, and this was after Lin Yao’s suppression.

The mental strength scale didn’t increase, mainly because of the connection between mental strength and electromagnetic induction. Lin Yao was afraid that increasing his level would widen the scope of information received, and he would be a goner.

In addition to these physical and mental changes, most of the changes that occurred were related to the Tree of Heaven Punishment. As it had been absorbing electric current every day, it had gained 600,000 grams of energy without the use of any energy points.

The last change was in the combat skills Super Electromagnetic Gun and Phantom Clone Slash.

Lin Yao had no time to learn the latter. As for the former, although Lin Yao had spent some time practicing it and also met the conditions, he was only at the entry level after one week of training. The diamond-level Super Electromagnetic Gun was too hard to learn.

His physical progress had skyrocketed, his mental strength remained unchanged, and the Tree of Heaven Punishment had gained a huge amount of experience points. This was what Lin Yao had gained over the past month.

Uh, wrong. He had also gotten 400,000 grams of energy after spending 120 million yuan. At that moment, Lin Yao had sunk his mind into his Sea of Consciousness and accessed his attribute interface because he wanted to utilize these things.

‘My body has reached the Iron Person limit. It’s time to upgrade the Tree of Heaven Punishment.’

Although the effect of advancing the Tree of Heaven Punishment was not as obvious as that of the Celestial Tree, Lin Yao didn’t have money. He would have to gather another 180 million yuan if he wanted to earn another 600,000 grams of energy to make up for the shortage and reach 1,000,000 grams.

This was impossible to achieve within a short time. He would also have to adhere to countless conditions to borrow them, which he was unwilling to do. Therefore, Lin Yao had it all planned out. After upgrading the Tree of Heaven Punishment, he would elevate his hypostasis and increase his body limit. Afterward, he would rely on the in-depth electric current development to increase the physical progress to the limit before preparing for advancement again.

Upon seeing that the progress of the Tree of Heaven Punishment was 600,000/1,000,000 and he was only 400,000 grams of energy short, Lin Yao went to look for Professor Li and Senior Sister Jiang Rong and alerted them.

After doing that, Lin Yao, who had returned to the room, didn’t hesitate in the slightest. With a jolt of his mind, he filled the Tree of Heaven Punishment with 400,000 grams of energy.

The huge amount of energy pouring in made the Tree of Heaven Punishment swell greatly. At the same time, there were countless bursts of electric current.

The electric current blasted not only the inside of the Tree of Heaven Punishment but also the outside world. Endless thunder and lightning were surging on the surface of Lin Yao’s body. At the moment, his eyes had turned white, and his hair was standing on end. Terrifying thunder and lightning were circling his body’s surface, making Lin Yao look like a living Thor. It was extremely horrifying.

‘I wonder what kind of abilities the golden-level Tree of Heaven Punishment will give me.’