“Brother Mu Sang, add your thumbprint here.”

Hei Ying guided the last of the uncontracted permanent employees on how to sign a contract.

As soon as Mu Sang pressed his finger on the paper, he was bound by an oath of secrecy and an oath of loyalty. In return, he was guaranteed fair compensation for his work, and an assurance of his family’s well being in case of his demise while working for Ikasa.

After signing the contract, the young man in his last year of teenage gave Hei Ying a toothy grin and exited her makeshift office at the Herb Garden.

Hei Ying slowly rolled the contract and put it with other Gold Heart Guardian’s contracts. She got up from her seat and stretched.

“With this, the task Brother Ikasa gave me is completed.”

The young Human Resources manager had helped Ikasa reduce the number of uncontracted employees from 176 to 0 within a span of two months.

Ikasa had made different contracts for those in the Gold Heart Guardians, Special Talent Programme, the Herb Garden and Inner members of Yin Ying’s information network.

According to their jobs, their oaths differed. Ikasa had also added penalties according to their roles in their respective organization.

Even though his contracts were draconian and overly abusive by the modern Earth’s standards, they couldn’t be more lenient by the Cultivation World’s standards.

Except for his Oath of Secrecy and Oath of Loyalty, none of the contracts resulted in the death of the employee.

Here, where the smallest mistake could result in death, Ikasa’s clearly distinguished punishment standards made him a benevolent and a generous employer.

Hei Ying got this impression from every employee who signed a contract under her guidance. They couldn’t stop praising Ikasa after she had read them the oaths and the penalties of the contract.

“Brother Ikasa is such a kind-hearted person.”

She whispered as she put away the precious mystic blood used for signing contracts. Due to its unavailability in the third tier cities, they had to import it all the way from the tier-2 Ebony City.

The contract signing process, which should have lasted a few weeks, had thus taken them the entirety of two months!

After she had tidied up the office, she went to join the kids in the training grounds. Soon, Feng Yan and Ikasa would be sparring in the grounds to celebrate the old man’s advancement to the Advanced Sense Realm!

—–

The training grounds of the Herb Garden had been cordoned off in the anticipation of the upcoming match. Other than the few higher ups of the Gold Heart Business Group and Elder Yi, only the kids were allowed to spectate the match.

“Kids, isn’t your big brother Ikasa teaching you all sorts of nonsense? Just watch how I bully him and make him apologize.”

Feng Yan cockily said, cracking his knuckles.

“Old Man, I advanced two months earlier than you. Yet, you still have the cheek to say you will bully me?”

Ikasa ridiculed, arriving just in time to hear Feng Yan boast.

He unfastened his outer robes and faced the old man with his upper body bare. As the sun shone on his glistening skin, the contours of his muscles were highlighted.

These sleek and firm muscles were the result of his hardwork in the past few months.

Feng Yan also shed his robes. His body was in pretty good shape for a man in his 50’s.

Once they had taken their positions, Ikasa and Feng Yan looked each other in the eye. As if agreeing to start, they lunged towards each other simultaneously.

Feng Yan jabbed a punch at Ikasa’s face, going on the offensive. Ikasa put up the Peek-a-Boo defense immediately. The fist collided with the forearms and bounced back without doing any harm.

Ikasa took advantage of the momentary opening and sweeped at Feng Yan’s legs. Feng Yan managed to dodge just by the nick of a second.

Both parties took a step back and watched each other vigilantly. At this moment, Ikasa’s spiritual vision involuntarily activated.

The sudden change in the color scheme of his surroundings threw Ikasa off. Feng Yan did not miss this chance to attack.

He utilized the energy flow of the Wind the Way to increase his speed and reach Ikasa in a split of a second. His hand was already following the trajectory of Chop as it reached Ikasa’s neck.

However, things did not go as planned. In his Spiritual Vision, Feng Yan’s incredibly fast movements were slowed by a third.

Ikasa saw cyan green energy move in Feng Yan’s legs. If he moved faster, he could interrupt the flow by hitting on the weakest link in the circulating energy.

Shocked by the sudden discovery, he failed to move in time. Feng Yan was already before him charging the Chop.

This time, Ikasa saw an ominous red energy circulate through the old man’s arm towards the edge of his palm. Without thinking too much, Ikasa punched at the inner elbow of the old man’s attacking arm.

As if affected by something, the ominous red color dissipated and energy flow became transparent. Ikasa’s Spiritual Vision also deactivated at this moment.

Feng Yan held his arm with shock.

The moment Ikasa’s punch hit him, he felt a current jolt through his body. Severe pain shook him when his technique was interrupted. It passed as quickly as it had come. Nonetheless, it was a feeling he did not want to experience again.

“What was that? Were you just acting weak before?”

Feng Yan asked, unnerved by Ikasa’s reflexive counterattack.

“If you want to chicken out, just say so, Old Man. Why bother acting?”

Ikasa mocked Feng Yan, oblivious to the shock he had experienced. Even the spectators felt that Feng Yan was just feigning weakness to find a better opportunity to attack.

After all, this was not the first time Feng Yan had feigned weakness only to ferociously attack a relaxed opponent.

The pain had completely passed as if it was never there. Feng Yan wondered about this strange phenomenon. He decided to test it further.

“Fine. Let’s go for round two.”

Feng Yan spoke and attacked with a kick. His leg aimed at Ikasa’s waist.

Ikasa used the Loose Motion to twist his body out of the way. He returned the favor with a Haymaker punch.

Feng Yan narrowly dodged the punch that almost hit his chin. Feng Yan grabbed Ikasa’s outstretched arm and crouched, ready to unleash his Gazelle Punch.

Ikasa once again heard the cacophony of noises. But the one coming from Feng Yan  shook him to his core. It was as if he was standing before a speaker but he only felt the vibrations and did not hear the sound.

Closing his eyes, Ikasa quickly focused on the vibrations. In an instant, he traced a pattern. The vibrations originated from Feng Yan’s right arm, the one that was about to unleash a Gazelle Punch on him!

The background noise from various other energies interfered with his judgment, not allowing him to mount an effective counter. Ikasa’s punch hit Feng Yan’s upper arm instead of the forearm as he intended.

The technique was weakened but not dissipated. With a solid thwack, Ikasa still received a punch to his jaws.

Enduring a mid grade battle technique without preparation was no joke. His brain jumped from the impact and Ikasa lost orientation for a second. The Spiritual Hearing made things worse as he lost the ability to focus on one sound.

Many sounds assaulted his auditory senses causing him to become dizzy. He almost lost his footing and fell to the ground.

Feng Yan caught the unbalanced Ikasa by his shoulder and prevented his fall. Ikasa slowly opened his eyes. He regained his faculties after the Spiritual Hearing deactivated as suddenly as it had activated.

“Why didn’t you dodge? Or use your new high-grade move, Rock Solid Armor?”

Feng Yan asked, flustered. He did not expect Ikasa to almost faint from his single punch. Neither he nor any of the Spectators knew the real reason for Ikasa’s fall.

“Old Man! Don’t flatter yourself. Your Gazelle Punch was not that strong. It was my Spiritual sense acting up.”

Feng Yan relaxed seeing Ikasa retort. It seems he had not been punched hard enough. Still, it hurt his pride to hear his punch be called weak in public.

Feng Yan snorted at Ikasa’s explanation.

“Spiritual Sense acting up, my foot! Next, you will say you can see the energy flow with Spiritual Vision.”

The Old man ridiculed Ikasa lying on his back. Ikasa looked at Feng Yan with narrowed eyes.

“Old man, you are saying that as if you can’t use the Spiritual Vision yet.”

Feng Yan turned to immediately to rebuff his claims.

“Of Course n….”

Then he saw a small smile form on Ikasa’s lips. He immediately changed his answer.

“Of Course, I can!”

Feng Yan lied as he thought, ‘How can I be outdone by this brat? Even if I lie, he won’t find out. Hehehe’

Ikasa took his word at face value. He thought that since he himself could use the Spiritual Vision, every other Advanced Sense Trainer could do it too.

Assuming this, Ikasa asked about Spiritual Hearing.

“What about Spiritual Hearing, Old Man? Can you hear the sounds of energy?”

Ikasa asked, trying to explain his reason for losing the spar.

“Tch! Child’s play!” Feng Yan answered, his ears turning red from embarrassment.

When their conversation reached this point, Elder Yi interrupted.

“Stop boasting. Spiritual enhancement of Senses is the realm of Pinnacle Sense Realm experts. Even if you want to boast, at least have some moderation.”

He reprimanded, unable to see two respected Sense Trainers squabbling like teenagers. Also, he was annoyed by their disrespect for the abilities of a Pinnacle Sense Trainer.

“Elder Yi, what do you mean by boasting? I am not lying! Earlier, when I intercepted his Chop, my Spiritual Vision was activated. In the second round, my Spiritual Hearing activated out of the blue. I couldn’t react in time because I am not as proficient in controlling it.”

“What?!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep