Chapter 121

Qin Ye took a deep breath and tightened his grip around the phone.

The First Academy of Cultivators’ list of outstanding instructors… Only outstanding instructors were eligible to run for the title of an associate professor. The other benefits and privileges were still a mystery right now, but even the discounts pertaining to spirit stone redemption alone were sufficiently attractive to him!

He had no intentions of staying for too long in the Special Investigations Department, and a period of eight years would already be pushing the limits. He was determined to seize the opportunity and climb the ranks as quickly as possible. This way, he would not only be able to better assess the depth of the Special Investigations Department’s strength, he would even be able to secure some privileges and benefits along the way. That said, this would only increase his visibility, and it was only a matter of time before the cat was finally out of the bag.

After all, how could an Emissary of Hell parade in front of Hellguard-class experts and Judge-class experts on a daily basis?

Did he think that the Special Investigations Department was blind?

Regardless, the list of outstanding instructors was the first thing he was determined to fight for.

He looked through his personal chat messages. There were dozens of them, including several friend requests and group chat invitations. The profile pictures were all attractive in various ways…

“Do you know just how demonic your achievements are?” Lin Han gritted his teeth, “This is a mission that the academy had expected their instructors to only complete in fifteen days time, and yet you’ve managed to demolish it in the span of a single night?! Are you trying to run us out of business? We’re here especially to consult you and seek your advice.”

Qin Ye gazed into the distance and swept his fringe to the side.

Oh foolish mortals…

How could you possibly understand the loneliness of being an Emissary of Hell with that meagre level of intelligence of yours…

“You can listen in when I speak with Professor Yu later. By the way, who is this old man anyway?”

“Old man?” Su Feng raised an eyebrow quizzically, “Heh heh… old man… Let me tell you something. This man is none other than one of the trailblazers who first posited that the balance between the mortal realm and the netherworld had gone out of balance, and pushed his case to the central government a dozen of times in a bid that the government would issue an appropriate policy response. He’s one of the three founding professors of the SRC! He’s been serving with the SRC since age twenty, and he’s seen it grow from its founding years to what it is today. You can even say that all of the future theses and findings of the First Academy of Cultivators’ must still receive his endorsement before they can be published!”

Qin Ye gasped and glanced at the old man’s back.

Bloody hell… I’d unknowingly been treading on thin ice…

Lin Han added, almost as though he were attempting to give Qin Ye an aneurysm, “As long as you receive his approval, nobody in the academia would dare say otherwise or pick a bone with you! Do you know what kind of support you’re potentially looking at? This is as big a break as it can ever get. Let me tell you something. The promotion of an instructor to associate professorship is based solely on teaching credits. But when it comes to the promotion of an associate professor to a full professor of a faculty, they look beyond mere teaching credits and consider whether the associate professor has a research topic of his own! And whether he’s got any results in that regard as well! Do you think it’s truly that easy to become a full professor of an entire faculty otherwise?”

Qin Ye’s eyes gleamed brightly. His mind had already begun to churn.

The SRC was different from the Special Investigations Department.

The Special Investigations Department was focused more on operations and combat force, while the SRC was more concerned with theoretical knowledge. As far as the First Academy of Cultivators was concerned… the focus was more akin to that of the SRC than it was to the Special Investigations Department.

After all, theories and hypotheses would all have to be first tested out by the First Academy of Cultivators before they could be published. Furthermore, all projects, assessments, papers and theses would be submitted to the SRC for their evaluation rather than to the Special Investigations Department.

In other words…

If I could be an obedient lapdog that pleased Old Man Yu… then… wouldn’t the process of rising through the ranks from an associate professor to a full professor become far smoother? Wouldn’t I be that much closer to securing all of the resources which I need for deployment in Hell?

His mind was instantly filled with all sorts of plans.

Just then, the picture frame shook again, jolting him back from his fantasies of resting in his laurels as a powerful CEO who had married a rich western woman.

“Pardon me. Could I trouble you to inform Old Man Yu that I’ve got to run to the washroom? It’s urgent.” He grabbed the picture frame and promptly shot away at top speed.

“Why the hell are you moving about so much? There are countless cultivators around right now. Are you courting death?!” Qin Ye exploded with rage as soon as he shut himself into a cubicle.

Su Dongxue’s spirit drifted out of the frame. But Qin Ye stuffed her back into the frame as quickly as she came out. She complained begrudgingly, “You murderer.”

Qin Ye rolled his eyes and breathed heavily through his gritted teeth, “Behave yourself if you don’t want to die.”

Su Dongxue responded softly, “Alright… then… my lord, could I trouble you with something?”

“Speak.”

“That handsome brother earlier… will you betroth his soul to me in future?”

Qin Ye was stunned for three full seconds, before he finally realized that she was speaking of Lin Han.

“... I say… Do you even have eyes? A world class beauty has been standing before you all this while, yet your eyes deign to drift to the bodies of other men? Let me tell you something, he’s like an embroidery needle - nice to look at, but completely useless!”

Su Dongxue responded softly, “My lord, I’ve learnt through Song Jiafang’s eyes that modern day society no longer describes these things as embroidery needles. Rather, they say that it’s a one-inch wonder… By my observations, he’s no embroidery needle. In fact, he would be a pleasing fit. His body is practically perfect.”

Holy shit, what the hell do you mean by perfect fit?! When did you learn of such euphemisms? Why don’t I know of such lingo?!

Qin Ye: “... Very good… how would you describe something big then?”

Su Dongxue responded in an incredibly coquettish manner, just like a shy black cat, “Iron shaft, big willy.”

……

Qin Ye wrapped his Yin energy around the picture frame so that it completely obscured the rest of her voice. Then, he turned to Arthis with a somber expression on his face, “I think that we’ll have to strengthen our efforts in the spiritual civilization aspect of nation building[1]. It’s not right that we just let any other Tom, Dick or Harry act as the Death Inquisitor… Well, time is of the essence. I wanted to ask your thoughts on what kind of content I should dangle before this old man to best capture his attention?”

Arthis scowled at him, “It would be best if the development of the spiritual civilization starts from you. After all, everything flows from the top. Truth be told, I’m sincerely concerned about the future morals and integrity of Hell… But coming back to the topic at hand, there are a multitude of options for you to choose from.”

She thought for a few seconds, and then explained in a deep voice, “Some of these Yin spirits might already be extinct in modern day society. You can try telling him about the nightmare spirit. The characteristics of nightmare spirits are fairly obvious. While it is incredibly rare to find one, these nightmare spirits can quickly become a Hellguard-class malevolent ghast within the span of a single year as long as they are left unchecked. Worse, three years is all it takes for them to become a fully-fledged incarnate revenant. These spirits were among the most-wanted list in Hell back then.”

She carefully explained the characteristics of the nightmare spirit, and how they manifest and appear. Qin Ye closed his eyes and absorbed everything like a sponge before repeating it back to Arthis. Then, he promptly left the washroom.

He got onto the car and rested for the next twenty minutes. The car quickly arrived at its destination.

When he opened his eyes again, he was already at the edge of the second concentric ring of roads around Mount Tai City. It was 4.40 a.m. Even a provincial capital city had begun to reveal t