Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

It was the evening of August 6th on Sunday in the fifteenth week of the semester.

The investment for the new “General Office of Strategic Deception” sect that Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal was setting up was officially agreed upon in the “Midnight Dining Hall” branch opened by Boss Tan’s younger brother.

The total investment amount was two billion immortal gold, which would be divided into five lots. Each portion of four hundred million immortal gold would be transferred to the General Office of Strategic Deception’s bank account to be used for the development of the sect.

That same evening, the Green Investment Committee, short for Green Sect Enterprise Investment Committee, also announced the news on its official website, and for one moment, hundreds of thousands of Huaxiu light force sects were hugely shaken.

No one expected a newly established sect to actually be capable of attracting such a huge angel investment. This already broke the record in the history of Green Investment Committee investments; previously, the largest investment the Green Investment Committee had pulled in was eight billion, but that was in regular HNY, and couldn’t compare with four hundred million immortal gold at all.

A hundred million immortal gold was equivalent to forty billion HNY…

Four hundred million immortal gold was 160 billion HNY, which right away was twenty times more than the Green Investment Committee’s second largest investment amount. What kind of strength was this?

The light force sects were ranked according to five levels: Sky, Earth, Black, Yellow, Dust… This rank was assigned after a sect was assessed upon its founding, and was known as the pre-evaluation.

The pre-evaluation was determined based on the line-up of core members, battle strength, the sect head’s status and influence in the cultivation circle, as well as the overall preliminary development and economic strength of the sect.

Following the sect’s establishment, Huaxiu Alliance would set the day of the sect’s founding as the annual deadline for an objective assessment of student enrollments and the sect’s operation levels. Using the pre-evaluation as a basis, the sect’s rating would then either be upgraded or lowered.

That evening, Huaxiu Alliance announced the pre-evaluation for Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal’s General Office of Strategic Deception: a Sky-level third-class sect…

A Sky-level sect from the start, and third-class to boot…

The pre-evaluation astonished everyone in the light force circle.

For a lot of people who didn’t understand, they might not have any concept of what this pre-evaluation meant, but comparing the numbers was mind-blowing.

There were 320,000 legitimate light forces on record in Huaxiu, 95% of which comprised sects at Black, Yellow and Dust levels. Earth-level sects made up 3%, and Sky-level sects occupied just 2%…

Based on these percentages, there were over six thousand Sky-level sects. Divided by class, there were less than twenty sects above fifth-class; the vast majority of Sky-level sects were between seventh- and ninth-class.

It was among the Sky-level ninth-class sects that competition was the most bitter, because if they were just a little bit careless, they might drop to Earth-level the following year.

Thus, a Sky-level sect was born after a long history of evaluations. Currently, the top twenty Sky-level sects on record were a hundred years or even a thousand years old.

But Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal’s sect which had just been set up was actually deemed Sky-level third-class… a lot of complexions changed at this formidable indication of its preliminary strength.

Plenty of light force big shots started investigating the investors behind the new sect, but according to the Green Investment Committee, it was several companies that had jointly invested in Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal’s sect.

Furthermore, these companies were all involved in different trades and had very broad networks; it was difficult to thoroughly investigate them all, and some of them were even low-profile enterprises. These enterprises typically didn’t make the news, and there weren’t any tidbits of information on them; they were the type that worked hard and quietly made their fortunes. Even the bosses were all very low-key; their names alone didn’t ring any bells.

Credit for all of this naturally had to be given to Ah Mai.

He had already achieved his aim.

“Sky-level third-class… Senior Immortal is too strong! And how did he pull in so many bigwig investments?” After seeing the news, Dharmaraja sent out a series of “damn awesome” memes in the chat group.

Cailian Zhenren: “Senior Immortal is awesome!”

Odd Zhuo: “Senior Immortal is awesome!”

Daoist Guang: “Senior Immortal is awesome!”

Loopy Toad: “Senior Immortal???!”

Immortal Toya: “Senior Immortal is awesome!”

Little Silver: “Grenade-Throwing is awesome!”

Wei Zhi: “Congratulations, Senior Immortal!”

Fang Xing: “The pattern is crooked, this OCD person can’t take it!”

Wang Ling: “…”

“It’s mainly because of Brother Ling’s reputation that things went well with this investment…” Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal was very modest. To be honest, even he himself never expected everything to happen so naturally and smoothly that it was beyond imagination.

Apart from his many years of hoarding and planning, the person he had to thank the most was still Wang Ling.

Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal wasn’t a fool. He was well aware how all this was possible.

While he did have widespread connections, how could they compare with his Brother Ling? Daoist Guang had pulled in an investor on his behalf because of Wang Ling, who was also a large reason why these bigwigs had responded to his sect’s call for investments.

“On a serious note, I just read the group announcement. If Senior Immortal has fixed the official establishment of the sect for next Tuesday, we have to take corresponding precautions.”

Cailian Zhenren said, “Tonight’s announcements by the Green Investment Committee and Huaxiu Alliance have shaken the light force circle. Senior Immortal will be sending out hero invitations, and naturally there will be friends who offer their sincere blessings. There are times, however, when it’s the reverse, and can provoke jealousy. There are already plenty of people now who are investigating Senior Immortal’s investors.”

“It’s fine, let them investigate.” Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal laughed.

In this situation, the biggest player was Huaxiu Alliance, and investigating the Alliance wouldn’t be easy.

But Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal thought that even if he didn’t say anything, it would be very clear to all the light force sect big shots once the Ten Generals showed up on the day of the sect’s establishment.

In the group, however, only Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal and Wang Ling, as well as Daoist Guang who had been responsible for setting up the connection, knew that the investment was from Huaxiu Alliance.

Because this needed to be kept secret, it couldn’t be made public for the time being, not even to the core members.

Since they didn’t understand the situation, many people in the group naturally felt worried.

“‘Don’t drop vigilance against evildoers’; don’t worry, I’m already prepared for anything. I have to ask everyone to please do your best and get ready to bear witness at the opening ceremony of our General Office of Strategic Deception on Tuesday, August 8th.”

Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal sent fist salute and good luck emojis. He then abruptly recalled that there was one thing he hadn’t mentioned yet. “Oh, by the way, I need to tell you something. After discussion with Brother Ling, he’s going to change his Daoist name, which he will use when he joins the sect as our visiting official and leader of our recreation hall.”

“???”

“Ling Zhenren’s new Daoist name???”

“What is it?”

A lot of people started to ask questions.

Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal: “Crispy Noodles Dao Monarch. This is Brother Ling’s new Daoist name. Take out your notebooks and write it down!”

Everyone: “…”