What’s the point of cultivating immortality if you don’t have money?.

Chapter 768 A young man who just joined the company already wants a promotion?

Kunxu, 11th floor, Zhongjitian, Wanfazong area.

Standing before the gates of Shuntian Hall, Xinghuo Zhenjun sighed inwardly, "Finally... I'm back in the sect."

"Who would have thought that my trip down there would turn out to be a blessing in disguise, and I would be admitted to the Shuntian Palace?"

True Monarch Xinghuo understood that, given his past experience and position in the sect, being transferred to Shuntian Hall would be an extremely difficult task.

Their own rank and career advancement are also limited, and their future prospects in this life are already restricted.

On the contrary, after going down to the sect and then returning, it's as if he's been reborn, and his future has been completely opened up.

"When I reached the Golden Core stage, you called me Old Deng, and I didn't hold it against you."

"But after reaching the Nascent Soul stage, even at over three hundred years old, I am still just a young man."

"A young man who has been admitted to Shuntian Palace and has a bright future."

……

Outside the office of the Martial Arts Pavilion.

Yu Xinghan, exuding an air of unbridled scholarly confidence, was walking down the corridor.

Thanks to the manipulation of Kao Zong's clone, he, who has just completed the onboarding process, is now filled with fighting spirit.

"Now that I've joined the sect, the lower realm has nothing to do with me."

He knew in his heart that the first day of his official registration was very important; it was the starting point of his new life.

Here, no one knows the poor things he did in the mortal world, the shameful things he did, or the ugly things he did.

To his colleagues, he was like a blank sheet of paper, and the first day was an opportunity to redefine his public image.

But he also has a huge flaw.

"I must completely sever ties with the past and erase the label of being from the lower class from my life."

He knew in his heart that the sect disciples might not actively despise him, a lower-ranking person, because of their emotions.

But rationally... he would be labeled as a lower-class person.

This method of quickly defining a person based on their past background is time-saving and labor-saving, saving a lot of money in understanding people, and it is also his most frequently used method.

At this moment, Yu Xinghan's friends list has been divided into four groups by Kao Zong's clone: ​​seniors, peers, scum, and blacklist.

He believed that his soon-to-be colleagues would also use similar methods.

"Once you're labeled as a lower class and assigned to the scum group in their contact list, or the blacklist group, you'll never be able to hold your head up in the department again."

"If I make even the slightest mistake, I will inevitably be told, 'So you're just a lower-class person after all,' or 'So you're just a lower-class person, no wonder.' After this concept is reinforced, I will become the undisputed scum of the department and be trampled underfoot by everyone."

"At that time, all the dirty and hard work will be thrown at me, and I will never get the good things. Promotion will have nothing to do with me."

"If it really comes to that, I'll never have a chance to rise again."

"And to get away from all of this, the first step... is to establish my persona and completely shed the label of being from the lower class!"

"And it has to be fast! This persona has to be established before my colleagues and I even add each other as friends for the first time!"

In his view, there is a very simple way to achieve this.

"True Lord Starfire!"

"Become their son-in-law? Not enough!"

As the office door drew ever closer, Yu Xinghan sent a message directly to True Monarch Xinghuo: True Monarch, I want to be your son!
He thought to himself, "If I become the son of the veteran Starfire True Lord, then I can be considered to be half from an upper class!"

"If we can also win over Li Xuelian, whose birthplace is in the sect, we can become even closer and completely become a member of the upper class."

……

As the cultivators finished registering, Zhang Yu also arrived at his office and sat down.

As Zhang Yu's gaze swept around, the outsourced employees around him came into his view.

The way to identify outsourced employees is also very simple: all outsourced employees who step into the office area look somewhat transparent.

Even in the eyes of Zhang Yu, a Level 1 clan affairs officer, he could adjust the transparency of these phantoms to 99% whenever he needed to.

The next moment, all the outsourced employees became almost transparent, leaving only faint shadows in the air.

In Zhang Yu's view, if one did not pay attention, it seemed that only a few administrative staff could be seen in the huge office area.

Zhanxian said, "Outsourced employees are like air in the sect, constantly running, but they should be kept as unnoticed as possible. This is the requirement that many sect disciples have for them."

Zhang Yu turned to look at where Ye Xingli was standing. As he lowered the transparency again, his senior sister's figure reappeared in front of him.

In Ye Xingli's eyes, Zhang Yu, a Level 1 Sect Affairs Officer, was like a fireball, shining brightly in her eyes, just like the other Sect Affairs Officers, illuminated and marked by the Dharma Realm.

When Zhang Yu looked at each of the outsourced employees, he could directly see their names, superiors, realms, outsourcing ranks, and what tasks they were currently performing through the Dharma Realm.

Of these tasks, a small portion involves document processing, while the majority involve learning, practicing, testing, and verifying martial arts techniques.

It can be said that these outsourced personnel of the Martial Arts Group 3 have to constantly read, study, and analyze various martial arts techniques every month.

If you can't do it, or if you don't meet the requirements of your superiors, then you need to spend money to buy experience, memories, or even rent cultivation in the Dharma realm, just to assist your work and improve its efficiency and accuracy.

Zhan Xian said calmly, "That's the hardest part about outsourcing. If you want to stay, you have to keep paying to do the work."

"In addition, the outsourced wages are lower than those of the sect affairs staff, resulting in unequal pay for equal work. This means that most of the immortal coins earned each month have to be invested in the work. Some cultivators who are not capable even need to borrow money to complete their work."

"They were squeezed out of all their potential little by little, just for that one sliver of possibility of climbing the path to immortality."

"However, the final result was that after completing one task after another assigned by the higher-ups, the sect became stronger and more entrenched, and the lineage of the immortals became more and more unfathomable."

Looking at the information of these outsourced employees, Zhang Yu knew that it was not that these outsourced employees were actively projecting their information, but rather that he, as a Level 1 Clerk, had the authority to easily see this.

At this moment, Ye Xingli also embodied the same information in his eyes.

There was even a bright red warning pop up, telling Zhang Yu, "Your outsourced employee is doing nothing. Please assign her a task immediately."

Seeing this, Ye Xingli also tensed up, her eyes filled with longing for her work as she looked at Zhang Yu.

"Junior brother, hurry up and assign me some work."

Having gone through the examination and onboarding training, Ye Xingli knew perfectly well that work... was the lifeline of outsourcing.

Outsourced employees without work or tasks are like stray dogs that no one wants; they simply cannot survive in the sect.

Ye Xingli thought to herself, "I can no longer be my junior brother's dual cultivation tool. If I don't get any more opportunities, I'll be expelled from the sect... Sigh, what exactly is the difference between me and Le Mulan?"

A burning desire for enlightenment ignited within Ye Xingli, making her even more eager for the work ahead.

Zhang Yu knew that after Ye Xingli was brought into the Imperial Law Pavilion by him, she also completed her employment at the Imperial Law Pavilion with him, and could receive 400 immortal coins after tax every month.

As a formal outsourced employee, if there are no tasks for a long time and there is nothing to do, it will soon trigger a higher-level warning message, which will also be considered a dereliction of duty by Zhang Yu and will be reported to a higher level.

After thinking for a moment, Zhang Yu said to Ye Xingli, "Senior Sister, could you take charge of the initial review for me? Please check these 24 documents to see if they are complete, if the format is correct, and if there is any illegal content..."

Before Ye Xingli arrived, she already knew about the work of the Imperial Law Pavilion and understood that the initial review was basically all document work.

Upon hearing this, she was slightly taken aback: "Junior brother, is it only up to me to complete the paperwork?"

Before coming here, Ye Xingli had already made preparations to assist Zhang Yu in verifying various cultivation techniques.

She already had a plan in mind: how much to borrow to buy knowledge memories, cultivation memories, working memories, and even lease cultivation power...

Especially after seeing Zhang Yu take on the task of mastering 24 different martial arts techniques, Ye Xingli felt even more that Zhang Yu needed her help.

But at this moment, Zhang Yu simply smiled at her and said, "Senior sister, you only need to take care of the paperwork from now on."

"Are you kidding me? There are only 24 cultivation techniques. I don't even have enough for myself to practice. How could I possibly share them with you?" Zhang Yu thought to himself. "Besides, Senior Sister, you're only at the Golden Core stage. I can't expect you to buy knowledge or memories or rent your cultivation to help me, can I?"

Ye Xingli looked at Zhang Yu with some emotion, thinking to herself, "Junior Brother... he's always like this, silently shouldering all the responsibilities." At that moment, Ye Xingli made a decision that went against her principles, and that was...

She thought to herself, "If my junior brother can't complete the mission in time, I'll take out a loan to help him."

While handing over the initial review work to Ye Xingli, Zhang Yu lightly tapped his finger and assigned an initial review task to her through the work platform.

The warning that had been flashing just moments before vanished without a trace, allowing Ye Xingli to breathe a sigh of relief.

Besides outsourced cultivators, Zhang Yu also knew that there were various uses for soul cultivation within the sect, which reminded him of Zhao Tianxing and the others who had come up with him.

However, unlike outsourcing, soul cultivation is more like the cultivator's own equipment. The cultivator needs to pay for the maintenance, upkeep, use and upgrades himself. At the moment, he was not well-off and could only put Zhao Tianxing and the others to sleep for the time being.

Only when he himself has a sufficient amount of immortal coins will he be able to rent the sect's calculation pool for Zhao Tianxing and others.

Just then, a message appeared before Zhang Yu.

Chu Wangji: Are you the new Zhang Yu?

Chu Wangji is a long-time employee of the Imperial Law Pavilion. His many years of experience as a Level 2 Clan Affairs Officer have given him a deep understanding of everyone in the Imperial Law Pavilion.

But he still felt extremely curious about the newcomer, Zhang Yu.

After all, he was selected through the first selection examination for lower-level clan affairs officials, which made Chu Wangji somewhat unsure of his background.

"Under normal circumstances, people in the lower realms, regardless of their background, funds, or future prospects, are all bleak and should be placed in the 'incompetent group' in my contacts. They are people who do not need any social resources."

Chu Wangji thought to himself, "But... to be able to climb up from this first examination strongly promoted by the Heavenly Court, he might be someone with a powerful background."

At this moment, Chu Wangji wanted to learn more about Zhang Yu in order to choose his future social strategy with him: ignore him, treat him as a stranger, a competitor, a friend, family, or a sycophant.

At the same time, after Chu Wangji, the other employees of Martial Arts Group 3 also greeted Zhang Yu one by one, showing politeness and enthusiasm, and even added Zhang Yu to the Martial Arts Group 3 group chat.

Upon entering the group, the first thing Zhang Yu saw was the performance ranking of Martial Arts Group 3 for this month.

Zhang Yu knew that the martial arts groups one, two, and three of the Imperial Law Pavilion's review department were mainly responsible for reviewing the Nascent Soul realm, as well as the basic, advanced, and expert-level techniques below the Nascent Soul realm.

As for martial arts above the Nascent Soul realm, as well as military-grade and immortal-level techniques, they cannot be reviewed by a single martial arts team. Often, it requires leadership to mobilize personnel and coordinate across teams or departments to complete the review of the entire technique.

What Zhang Yu was seeing at that moment was the group's performance ranking, which was the ranking of the members' scores after different techniques were scored.

Of course, this ranking does not include the team leader.

Although the group leaders also participate in the review, they do not compete with their group members for rankings. Instead, they compare the overall effectiveness of the group they lead.

He Yiwen, ranked first, scored 89 points this month.

Chu Wangji ranked second with 72 points this month.

As for Zhang Yu, who recently joined, he has completed zero martial arts technique reviews at this moment, so he is naturally ranked last.

Looking at the score and scoring criteria, Zhang Yu thought to himself, "My 24 basic cultivation techniques for the Nascent Soul stage are worth 4 points each. If I complete the review within a month, that will be 96 points."

"It seems that with just Ye Xingli and me, we should be able to beat the other group members and their outsourced employees and take first place in the group."

Thinking of this, Zhang Yu asked Chu Wangji curiously, "Are there any rewards for this performance ranking?"

Chu Wangji said, "Of course there are. What kind of performance ranking is it if there are no rewards?"

"In order to improve the work efficiency of the Imperial Law Pavilion, the performance appraisal system of each department and group has been further deepened."

While working, Chu Wangji, a veteran employee, spared a moment to reveal to Zhang Yu, "The monthly champion of our Martial Arts Group Three gets 500 Immortal Coins and 10 Dao Skills."

"And if you can get first place in the rankings of the first, second, and third groups of martial arts, you can get another 1500 immortal coins and 20 Dao merits."

Zhang Yu then asked, "This ranking should also help with promotion, right?"

Chu Wangji smiled and said, "That's natural. The better the performance, the more tasks completed each year, and the higher the chance of being promoted..."

Zhang Yu continued, "When do the higher-ups usually arrange for promotions?"

Chu Wangji smiled and said, "Leaving aside special circumstances, generally speaking... there is an evaluation every March, but it's already the end of December, so you won't have time this time. Try harder next year."

Seeing Zhang Yu's curious expression about how to get promoted, Chu Wangji thought to himself, "He's only just joined, and he's already thinking about promotions? Does this kid really have some kind of background?"

At the same time, he sighed inwardly: "Promotion from level 1 to level 2 can be achieved solely through performance evaluation. But to promote to level 3, one has to wait for a vacancy to open up."

"But even if a position becomes available, there are still many people in line... I don't know if I'll have a chance to reach the third rank within the next 30 years."

As for the fourth or even fifth rank, Chu Wangji doesn't even need to think about it in the short term.

After all, within a sect, the higher the rank of a cultivator, the wealthier and longer they live, and the less likely they are to leave their position vacant.

"Those old guys would love to lie up there for thousands or tens of thousands of years."

Meanwhile, Zhang Yu looked at the overall ranking of the martial arts assessment team and found that the first place belonged to a level 2 sect affairs officer in the martial arts group, who had already completed 108 points this month.

Zhang Yu thought to himself, "108 points? If I practice a few more martial arts in a month, or use the Formless Martial Arts to simulate a few more martial arts to pass the skill assessment... I should be able to surpass this score."

"Whether it's for immortal coins, Dao merits, or job rank, I have to push for this performance ranking."

Zhang Yu, who had just entered the sect, knew that he was currently in dire need of immortal coins and even more so of Dao cultivation.

The sect provides cultivators with incredibly favorable cultivation conditions, but all of that must be exchanged for immortal coins and cultivation merits.

Immortal-level magical treasures, magical artifacts, elixirs... as well as immortal cultivation techniques, are all channels through which Zhang Yu can continue to improve after reaching the peak of the Nascent Soul stage in various basic data.

Especially the cultivation techniques of immortal sects...

"If I can complete a chain diagram composed of immortal cultivation techniques, it will definitely be of great help to my work ability and enhance my competitiveness in the sect."

Since entering the Dharma Realm and gaining access to the purchase catalog of various immortal cultivation techniques, Zhang Yu has been like a mouse that has fallen into a rice jar, constantly browsing through it and clicking to bookmark each technique.

At that moment, Zhang Yu's eyes flickered, and the various immortal cultivation techniques he had collected appeared before his eyes.

Some can be added to "Overturning Kunlun", some can be added to "Formless Martial Arts", and there is even a set that can be added to "Great Sage Successor". Some can form chain diagrams called "Primordial Qi", "Desire Heaven Demon Lord", "Empress Nuwa's Creation" and so on, which sound very powerful.

Without exception, almost all of the cultivation techniques selected by Zhang Yu were of the Immortal Sect level, with the cheapest costing over 100,000 Immortal Coins and hundreds of cultivation points.

Zhang Yu thought to himself, "My monthly salary is more than enough to survive. But if I want to climb the social ladder... it's definitely not enough."

After finishing his conversation with Chu Wangji, Zhang Yu continued to review the basic cultivation techniques at hand.

Regardless of how well Ye Xingli's paperwork progresses, Zhang Yu intends to cultivate all 24 basic cultivation techniques and transform them all into resources for his Nascent Soul Saint Body.

……

Just then, Qu Yizhi, the leader of the third martial arts group, came to Zhang Yu's side.

The other team members were all surprised to see this, thinking to themselves, "The team leader came in person? This Zhang Yu seems to be someone important."

After all, thanks to the powerful Dharma Realm, all kinds of tasks and dialogues can be arranged and completed remotely. Chu Wangji and the others haven't seen their team leader come to them in person for a long time.

Chu Wangji thought to himself, "Looks like it's time to switch to friend mode."

Just then, team leader Qu Yizhi, with a slight smile on his face, looked at Zhang Yu and said calmly, "Xiao Yu, I have something I need to trouble you with..."

As he spoke, he sent Zhang Yu the review materials for an advanced martial art, saying, "Give me a preliminary report on this technique before you leave work today."

Seeing Zhang Yu obediently accept the task, Qu Yizhi nodded and then left without looking back, leaving Chu Wangji and the others somewhat puzzled.

Chu Wangji thought to himself, "Just to assign a task? Then why did I have to come all this way in person?"

But in the following days, as Qu Yizhi repeatedly added more responsibilities to Zhang Yu, Chu Wangji and the others gradually came to understand.

"With this workload, will Zhang Yu be able to finish his own work?"

"Is this targeting Zhang Yu? Are they trying to bankrupt him?"

But when it comes to the leaders, naturally no one will stand up for Zhang Yu.

Even after noticing Qu Yizhi's actions, no one spoke to Zhang Yu anymore, and Chu Wangji stopped sending him any messages. It could be said that under Qu Yizhi's influence, everyone had unknowingly isolated Zhang Yu.

(End of this chapter)