World’s Best Martial Artist

Fang Ping had returned to his dormitory and was about to sit down to look at the club application forms when suddenly, there was a knock at his door.

Upon opening the door and seeing Fu Changding and the others, Fang Ping asked rather impatiently, “Now what do you want? I’m busy.”

“Fang Ping, tell us the truth. Why did you establish the club?” Fu Changding asked in genuine curiosity. He added, “Don’t worry, we promise we won’t say a word to anyone else.”

“I’ve already told you, it’s because everyone has a common dream that we can fight for. What else do you want to know?”

“I’d be a fool if I believed you!” Fu Changding declared, then winked and added “Honestly, the abilities of your club are too weak. I took a look just now. There are only a few martial artists, and they are small fry, all things considered.

“If you let us join, we can at least help you keep up appearances.”

“Don’t you have better things to do?” Fang Ping asked pointedly.

Fu Changding ignored him. Zhao Xuemei was a little more sincere in comparison. Quietly she coaxed, “Fang Ping, we have spent too much last semester. Our families find it hard to support us now. We are all just trying to look for ways to earn money.

“If you know a way to go about it, how about giving us a helping hand?”

These students had indeed spent a hefty amount the previous semester.

Even when the university gave them rewards, the credits they gained were used up far too quickly in achieving Rank-1 and Rank-2, not to mention being exchanged for weapons.

The only way to forge ahead was to be self-reliant.

A large family sometimes had more troubles. Would Fu Changding’s grandfather really be able to will all the Fu family’s resources to this one grandson?

Fu Changding had seven to eight uncles and aunts, and about forty to fifty cousins altogether.

If one cousin spent a billion a year, that would amount to a quite few billion. Even the wealthiest of persons would not be able to keep a fortune intact with that sort of expenditure.

Fang Ping was left speechless. He then protested, “You are over-thinking things. I’ve already explained that this is a club established on the basis of mutual aid. Where are you getting all these crazy ideas?”

“Really?”

“It’s up to you whether you believe it or not. I’m busy, I can’t see you out.”

Although Fu Changding and the others were still extremely doubtful, they considered for a moment and thought the better of asking any further questions.

Just as they were leaving, Fang Ping said suddenly, “Actually, it’s not like I can’t recruit you into the club. However, you’ll need to contribute something once you’re part of it. Are you able to do this?”

“What sort of contribution are you talking about?”

“You’ll be responsible for handling any future challengers or troublemakers.

“You can also help to clear up certain doubts from the new students as well.

“When the club is formalized in future and things are on the right track, all of you will be major contributors and founding members. Who knows, perhaps like the Martial Arts Society you may even earn the privilege to obtain resource allocation from the school!!

“I actually had this idea when I established the club.

“The Martial Arts Society right now is completely dominated by the seniors.

“When do new students like us get the chance to prove ourselves?

“That’s why I decided to make a fresh start…”

Fang Ping’s words rang hollow to Fu Changding’s group, no matter what. Did he really think they were fools, prattling on like that about fresh starts?

However, as the proverb says, curiosity killed the cat and after brief consideration, they nodded in agreement.

Once he had seen them out, Fang Ping curled his lips and muttered, “Fools. I’m not turning down free labor delivered straight to my doorstep.”

After this comment, Fang Ping continued to study his gathered data.

…

9th of February. Lantern Festival.

Fang Ping was in the Building of Clubs and Societies’ office holding the inaugural meeting of the Ping Yuan Club!

The office was much cleaner now compared to the first day. Some computers and chairs had also been installed.

“Fellow students, today is our first general meeting after the establishment of our club!

“There are altogether 108 people here today, including myself! This is an auspicious number. In future, we will be the 108 Ping Yuan Club founding members, as well as the future 108 Grandmasters!”

“All of us must not forget our dreams. Becoming a Grandmaster is not out of the question.”

“The Ping Yuan Club has very few rules. Everyone is equal, coming together for the sake of martial arts.”

“However… it is the rules that define who we are!

“Ranks will always be there!

“In martial arts universities, everyone focuses solely on one thing—martial arts ability. This is what we are constantly striving for, the basis for our motivation to keep on improving!

“I, Fang Ping, am the club president. In the future, if there are candidates who are stronger and more suitable, then I will step down and hand the position over.

“In the Ping Yuan Club, I hope that everyone can abide by some rules that I have set. Only then will we be able to help each other and improve together.”

Some people in the group were smirking. Fang Ping shot them a sidelong glance. Not surprisingly, it was Fu Changding and the rest of the group—the proverbial thorns in his side.

Fang Ping did not really know whether it had been a wise decision to let them into the club. Nonetheless, he made a mental note of their reactions, and promised himself he would sort them out later!

“Right now I have a piece of good news. Recently, the university has been pushing for reforms, and I’ve managed to secure an excellent opportunity for us all!

“The university has decided to adopt an online system for distributing resources. This means that students do not need to physically go to the logistics department for such exchanges anymore. Instead, they can use the online e-commerce platform to do so.

“With that being said, we require some volunteer students to help out with the distribution of these resources…”

“Isn’t that the job of a courier?” someone muttered.

Fang Ping immediately berated them, “Nonsense. Use your brains and think about it. The seniors who have credits to exchange for resources, are they weak?

“Those are Rank-3 or even Rank-4 seniors who have completed missions!

“Would you be delivering goods to a martial artist’s home daily if you were merely a courier?

“This will be carried out on campus, it’s only a matter of a few short steps. So many people have been fighting for this opportunity, but none of them got it!

“The dean agreed to let us try because I personally went to him and asked if he could give new students like us some opportunities.

“Not everyone has this chance.

“The university doesn’t need so many helpers at the moment. Only 50 people from our club will have the chance to be a part of this.

“You must understand, it isn’t just students but instructors as well who exchange resources. They too will place their orders online.

“Just imagine how rare it is to get such an opportunity. If an instructor takes a fancy to a student who brings something over and gives you a few pills as a reward, you’ll have it made!

“Think about it. Don’t you think this is possible?

“If you’re having any doubts right now, think about this. Under normal circumstances, students are not even allowed into the Educator Dormitory Area. Once you’re at an instructor’s place though, you can ask the instructor any questions you might have. Do you think the instructor would refuse to answer you?

“Initially, the university was worried that students might cause work delays, or succumb to the lure of temptation when faced with so many valuable resources. Therefore, they wanted participating students to pay a 5 million security deposit!

“I have asked my mentor, Instructor Lu Fengrou, to personally guarantee that we as MCMAU students are not like that!

“To have a Peak Rank-6 instructor standing as guarantor for us—do you know how much effort the club has expended in order to obtain this opportunity?

“Right now, there are people who still think that this opportunity is insignificant. Those who think it’s embarrassing are welcome to say no. I am still deliberating what to do if our numbers increase.

“50 people, divided into five teams. Make arrangements based on your class schedules and set one day aside to do a shift. You will work one shift every five days.

“For the rest, all I can say is that you may join us only if there are openings in the future.

“Grab the chance while you can right now!”

MCMAU students were not fools. Even if what Fang Ping had said was not entirely accurate, they had to admit that it was still a possibility.

They were all aspiring martial artists but honestly speaking, they were viewed as insignificant in MCMAU.

Instructors did not pay any particular attention to them and other students could not be bothered with them.

Taking one day out of a week to try their luck was not impossible.

Fu Changding and the rest exchanged glances. Online orders?

What role did Fang Ping play in that?

Was he really fighting for opportunities for everyone?

Surely there were not that many foreseeable benefits in this scheme, were there?

Sending pills to the seniors was just a matter of walking a short distance. It really was not that much effort, what more if they sent pills to the instructors. Anyway, it was more usual to see students fail when they tried to fawn over their instructors.

Not everyone could be like Fang Ping and his ilk, achieving Rank-2 in just a semester.

Fang Ping ignored Fu Changding’s group and continued, “Another thing—besides just working shifts once every five days, everyone is welcome to come to the club in your free time. If there are matters related to cultivation or anything else you have difficulties with, we will help you find an answer.

“For students who help out with resource delivery, even if you can’t directly gain benefits from the students or the instructors, the club will reward you and offer you incentives for a good job done.

“For example, the club might be able to introduce a few incentive discount programs in future.

“Other people normally exchange 30 credits for a Body-honing Pill, but club members might only need 28 or even 27 credits.

“A Normal Vitality Pill is 3 credits. We might be able to give everyone here a special rate of 30 credits for 11 pills.

“These are the benefits that I am trying to bring to the table!

“Don’t turn your noses up at this. Ask yourself, how much can we save in the long run?

“I wasn’t making empty promises when I said that we would grow and improve together…”

By now there was already a slight stir in the crowd.

If what Fang Ping said was true, they would receive a great many benefits by being in the club, which was really fantastic.

Fang Ping was already trying to figure out how much of a discount in credits the university might give him from this mass recruitment of members and buying pills in bulk.

The university might not prohibit such activities, but they certainly did not give out credits for the fun of it.

Credits could mean many things in MCMAU.

Retrieving existing credits from students and forcing them to earn more credits was also something the university had been doing all this time.

Only by spending all their credits would students be motivated to complete missions and strive to become stronger.

Therefore, if there was a tremendous flow of credits back to the university, they would not mind giving some discounts as well.

The way Old Man Li had been trying to empty Fang Ping’s credits was actually a covert way of compelling Fang Ping into accepting missions so he could become stronger by working harder.

These actions were carried out so subtly, the students hardly noticed, if at all.

Now, even Fu Changding and the others were starting to be convinced. Yang Xiaoman asked, “Fang Ping…”

“Address me as the president!” Fang Ping ordered.

Yang Xiaoman was exasperated. Was this boy already putting on airs and graces?

“President, can we really obtain pills at a discounted price?”

“Yes, you can. However, as I’ve mentioned, it is an incentive for students who do their jobs well. If you join the club solely for its benefits, then I’m sorry, the answer is no!”

Yang Xiaoman rolled her eyes. Why was Fang Ping staring at her anyway, and what was he making all these oblique accusations for?

“But the delivery…”

Before she could finish, Fang Ping interrupted, “Martial artists like you are not responsible for the delivery of goods. Let’s give that opportunity to our aspiring martial artist brothers and sisters.

“Your performance will be evaluated based on these three points.

“First of all, two of you will take shifts at a time. There must be two martial artists on duty in the club every day to answer questions or concerns that anyone might have.

“Secondly, you will be in charge of handling other clubs and societies that are trying to cause trouble. If you find they’re a bit too much to handle, inform me and I’ll deal with it.

“Thirdly, when everyone’s abilities have become stronger further down the road, we may be able to assign some club missions.

“Club missions will be mainly targeted at seniors who are away from the university.

“Some of them are doing their practicums locally; others are doing them in companies. There are also some who are completing missions in various places.

“When they order resources online, we can arrange for martial artists to send the resources over if we can figure out a way to do it.

“Those are missions that will help you gain experience. They will not be too difficult. Plus, you can gain valuable knowledge from these high-ranked seniors.

“There will also be credit rewards for these missions!”

Fang Ping had thought everything through very thoroughly. In the future when he started accepting off-campus orders, he would not take commissions. Instead, he would collect extra credits as courier fees.

Fang Ping could personally obtain these credits and change them into cash to give to martial artists who went on such missions.

He did not need to interfere or take commissions; the martial artists themselves could complete the missions voluntarily.

Of course, the entire enterprise was just in its beginning stages. Later on, there would need to be a definite plan, as well as restrictions. He could not expect these students to do it all.

Already there were some students who were making conjectures as to Fang Ping’s role in all of this.

The plan sounded great, yet no matter what, they were still assuming the role of couriers.

Could it be that Fang Ping had something to do with this website? Was he drawing some sort of payment from the running of it?

No matter how they thought about it, this was indeed an opportunity. Aspiring martial artists would ordinarily never have the chance to earn credits from completing missions.

Even Rank-1 and early-stage Rank-1 martial artists were not qualified to contact the network that handled missions.

…

Through careful persuasion, Fang Ping had managed to get everyone present to accept the upcoming main mission of the club.

Barring a few, the majority of the members had signed up to do express delivery.

Fang Ping did not choose everyone who had put down their names. He eliminated a number of them who looked neither presentable nor reliable. He needed to create an impression for the admissions policy, showing people that opportunities were difficult to come by and that not everyone was guaranteed participation.

Only after that did Fang Ping begin nominating the club positions.

“Zhou Yuehong, you will assume the role as the Head of the Club Office. Pick a few people who will be responsible for managing orders received.

“The actual task of fulfilling the orders will be carried out by the Distance E-commerce Platform. They will send us the completed orders, and we will then arrange for someone to deliver them.

“Right now, we need to assign staff for the office.

“This will be another chance to gain experience. At the very least it is a rare opportunity for the ladies who are looking forward to entering firms and the government sectors.

“Usually, firms will not allow you to make your own decisions in managing certain matters.

“Guo Sheng, you will be the Director of the Public Relations Department.”

The Public Relations Department was actually the express delivery department. This job required a person who was honest, reliable and capable of getting things done.

Chubby looked honest and reliable; furthermore, his abilities were acceptable among non-martial artists. He would make a good example.

“Fu Changding, you will take the role of Vice-president. You will mainly be in charge of communications between the club and the university, and other clubs as well.

“Besides that, you will also be responsible for heading a group of martial artists who will go with you to collect pills and weapons, in case of any trouble. Do you have any thoughts on this?”

Fu Changding thought for a moment and asked, “Is it busy?”

“It’s not too bad. Plus, you won’t be alone in shouldering the responsibility either. Gaining more experience right now will do you no harm.”

“Alright then. I’ll accept it.”

Fang Ping continued, “Zhao Xuemei, you will be the Director of the Department of External Warfare!”

“Department of External Warfare?”

Everyone looked utterly confused. Why was this department necessary in the club?

“Of course. Haven’t I already mentioned it that the club might accept some missions from off-campus in future? This requires that we select martial artists with strong abilities to participate in these missions, and that will constitute the Department of External Warfare!”

“In a nutshell, the club has just been established. The set up for the departments is simple; we have the office, the Department of Public Relations and the Department of External Warfare.

“The office will be in charge of internal business…I mean, internal missions.

“The Department of Public Relations will be responsible for external missions related to the university.

“The Department of External Warfare will be responsible for…”

“What about me?” Yang Xiaoman interrupted, unable to bear it any longer. Was Fang Ping not planning on giving her any position at all, even if the position was not worth much?

“You?”

Fang Ping frowned slightly and gave the matter some consideration before saying, “In that case, you will be in charge of the Department of Internal Supervision.

“This is a very important department. You are responsible for evaluating the efficiency of each department, their service attitude, and instructors and students overall.

“Once you evaluate the members, the club will hand out the rewards. This is the sign of a thriving club. Everyone is here because they sincerely want to improve instead of wasting time!

“Other than that, you will also function as the internal martial arts professor. That can also serve as a retrospective of your own experiences in martial arts.”

“What about you?” Yang Xiaoman enquired.

“Me?” Fang Ping returned testily, “I am responsible for overseeing the whole operation and trying to obtain benefits for everyone. Isn’t this enough?

“A club requires team spirit. It also requires powerhouses to set an example for everyone—a spiritual pillar!

“If not me, who will we rely on? You?

“My responsibilities are heavier than any of yours. However, I proceed without hesitation so that everyone will progress together!”

Fang Ping’s mouth was dry from so much talking. He was even slowly beginning to believe his own deceits.

‘Yes, I am fighting for everyone’s benefit!’ he argued to himself. ‘I don’t have any selfish motives!’

He might not pay everyone wages, but what were wages when a group of students was talking about contributing to the cause?

At the very worst, everyone would be treated to a meal weekly. Money matter discussions among students would only damage their friendships with one another.

“Does anyone have any concerns?”

Everyone indicated that there were none.

“If there are no concerns, then let’s start allocating people. Choose the department that you would like to join, and remember that this is all on a voluntary basis. Those who can’t join the Department of Public Relations right now can join other departments. Together, we can all contribute to the betterment of our club!

“I want everyone to know that powerhouses are powerful because they work hard and are self-motivated. They also do not depend on their families!”

“The president is right. If we work hard enough, we can definitely surpass those rich ne’er-do-wells!”

Chubby Guo Sheng was all fired up, unable to believe that he had been given an important post in the society. In a sea of martial artists, an aspiring martial artist like him had actually become a director!

The president was right. Human beings should rely on their own hard work!

Fang Ping gave Guo Sheng a thumbs-up. At the very least he had successfully deceived this chubby young man, which was not bad at all. Making him the leader of the express delivery had certainly not been in vain.

Fang Ping drank a cup of water as his mouth was parched.

He was absolutely over the moon. Not only had the company’s various branches…no, the club had started to form gradually, he had even managed to draw over a hundred martial artists and aspiring martial artists to his side.

If he were to actually employ these people to work for him, their annual salary would easily run to more than ten million.

Right now, just a few words from him sufficed.

Fang Ping definitely could not afford to hire Rank-2 martial artists like Fu Changding and the others in that group, but now even they were his hatchet men. This was absolutely fantastic!

Fu Changding and the rest shivered a little. Despite everything, they still had a hunch that something was off —like they had been tricked.

However, at this point, quite a few students were stirred by the passion and sense of honor that came from establishing a new club.

Enthusiasm motivated many students to work for the university’s various enterprises, even before they thought to calculate how it might benefit them.

As far as wages were concerned, what did it matter?

When he saw that the office was full of youthful spirits discussing their next course of action, Fang Ping experienced a host of mixed emotions once more.

He just needed to sit and wait for the money to come in!

Most importantly, he needed to make sure that his own abilities kept on progressing. Trivial matters could be left to others to handle. As long as no one else surpassed him, the club would do whatever he wanted.