Chapter 1397: 9 Ting Tian Pavilion [Three updates complete.]

Chapter 1397: Chapter 9 Ting Tian Pavilion [Three updates complete.]

Jia Yan never thought that when he was a Dignitary, he wasn’t considered a top-level genius. Yet now, draped in the Conceptual Ship, he is deemed as a top-tier genius of the Secondary Level.

Having fought geniuses from outside forces, Jia Yan believes that his current strength, while wearing the Conceptual Ship, is at most the peak of a High-Level Talent Secondary Barrier Level. Not quite at the level of a top-tier genius.

Of course, he doesn’t know what a true top-tier genius even looks like, but Jia Yan is firmly confident: should a top-tier Secondary Powerhouse appear, he dares to fight them. Even if he temporarily falls to a disadvantage, relying on the evolutionary powers of his Evolved Beast Body combined with the Conceptual Ship’s energy advantage, the final victor is still uncertain!

“What I said earlier isn’t wrong. Since I’ve already arrived in the Dark Realm, no matter what brought me here, I must now focus on finding ways to grow stronger. Besides, in this realm, I can feel a sense of life-and-death tension I haven’t felt for a long time. Not taking on mercenary-like work here would just be too dull.”

Jia Yan and his Avatar have once again entered Subspace. Previously, he flew through the Universe slowly to conceal his rapid recovery speed from the female monster. Now, after entering Subspace, the speed of the Conceptual Ship skyrocketed, with Jia Yan moving faster than the super-speed ships while advancing forward.

Jia Yan understands that the strength he currently possesses is formidable. The battle he just fought against a Semi-permanent Star powerhouse is proof of that. With such power, he fears nothing now.

“The name I’m using now is Mo Ke. This name will surely become renowned throughout the Dark Realm in the future.”

Jia Yan chuckled at the thought, but he couldn’t help wondering what the real Mo Ke’s reaction would be upon discovering that his name was being used to forge legends across several regions of the Milky Way.

After flying for half a day, Jia Yan exited Subspace and checked the Star Chart.

“This is fairly close to the edge of this Dark Realm. If I continue flying, I’ll leave the realm. So, I’ll stop here.”

Scanning the surrounding Starry Sky, Jia Yan noted that the Genius Battlefield lacked nothing—in particular, the interstellar matter obstructing space routes was so abundant it became nauseating.

He chose a piece of interstellar matter about a hundred kilometers in diameter and landed on its surface.

“This will be my starting point in the Dark Realm. Let’s first establish my dwelling here.”

His eyes sparkled with a hint of joy. Nothing exhilarates him more than building a home with his own hands.

It reminded him of his days as a tiny Larva, fashioning a home with pebbles in a filthy pond. Even now, Jia Yan still holds a special sentiment for the concept of “home.”

Using his sharp forelimbs and the muscle fibers of his Avatar, he started cleaning up the interstellar matter piece by piece.

Two terrifying Secondary Level geniuses working together to tidy up a hundred-kilometer-diameter celestial body felt excessive. Yet it took Jia Yan less than three days to strip it down to a clean state.

On the flat terrain, he constructed a massive building five hundred meters tall, spanning five kilometers in circumference, using rubble from the celestial body.

Admittedly, everything was still rudimentary, with little attention to detail.

But having a framework was enough for now. This was the best Jia Yan could achieve at the moment.

After some deliberation, Jia Yan used rubble to carve a large sign adorning the building’s entrance. On it was inscribed: “Ting Tian Pavilion.”

The text wasn’t written in the commonly used interstellar language; instead, it was written in Huaxia characters from Earth—and in regular script at that.

Though Jia Yan hadn’t returned to Huaxia for a long time, his exceptional memory retained many things from his previous life. His foot control was deft enough to replicate authentic regular script.

“Not bad.”

Jia Yan gazed at the inscription on the building, satisfied, but abruptly fell silent.

Memories from the distant past resurfaced, stirring feelings within him and leaving his emotions complex and mixed.

The name “Ting Tian Pavilion,” imbued with Huaxia essence, awakened thoughts of ancient Huaxia philosophies in his mind.

“Principles from ancient Huaxia thinkers, along with Zen rituals and manners—they seem to have some relevance to me now.”

Jia Yan entered Ting Tian Pavilion. The coarse stone style surrounding him seemed to gain a trace of charm, thanks to the sign written in regular script by the entrance.

Laying sprawled on the ground, Jia Yan focused on recovering his body while contemplating high-level matters.

“If seen through the lens of Huaxia philosophers, despite my current strength, capable of crushing Earth people with the flick of a hand, my behavior thus far has been somewhat shallow. My approach lacks the depth and steadiness of their ways. I need to improve in the future.”

Inspired by the reflection on Huaxia traditions, Jia Yan quickly identified shortcomings in his personality and conduct.

Of course, such changes don’t come easily and require prolonged time and introspection.

After much contemplation, Jia Yan felt as though he gained knowledge, and the restless energy he often carried within him dissipated. He then retrieved his Smart Brain.

Opening the Smart Brain’s map, Jia Yan reviewed the surrounding Star Zone forces.

“Just as I suspected, this border region acts as a buffer zone for the regular area of the Genius Battlefield. There’s no way any powerful force would establish a base here. Only minor factions—some so small they can’t even be termed ‘forces’—exist around the region.”

After analyzing the map, Jia Yan felt satisfied with his choice of location.

Following this, he accessed some communication message boards.

Even in the Universe, where creatures possess unimaginable power and technology far surpassing Earth’s, some universal aspects remain unchanged, such as communication and places for discussion. These platforms persist regardless of technological advancements.

So, it wasn’t surprising to find message boards in the networks of the Dark Realm.

“Ting Tian Pavilion takes on a variety of tasks: assassination, looting, rescue operations, material gathering, technological construction. As long as you can pay the price, Ting Tian Pavilion is happy to assist.”

Jia Yan boldly typed one line after another and sent it out.

That’s right—Jia Yan was advertising!

As for whether Jia Yan’s abilities matched the claims of the tasks offered, this was a simple matter. Before accepting any mission, he would carefully assess whether he was capable of completing it. If not, he would decline.

Of course, boasting too much could draw unnecessary hatred.

“Heh, what a peculiar advertisement. Is this seriously a task-oriented agency?”

“Looting and killing, huh? I want someone to take out a Semi-permanent Star powerhouse from a major faction—dare to try?”

“The network doesn’t even show any records for this so-called Ting Tian Pavilion. Everyone, beware of scams.”

Once Jia Yan posted Ting Tian Pavilion’s advertisement, replies poured in rapidly. Posted on the relevant sections of the platform, many professional entities jumped in to criticize—some of them engaging in smear campaigns for competitive reasons.

However, if those in the same field truly understood the current state of Ting Tian Pavilion, they might not even bother to smear it. It was a ragtag operation, with only Jia Yan himself—a lone operator lacking even the minimum recognition by the Dark Realm forces—a proverbial “wild store” in industry terms.

Such entities would seem laughably unreliable, hardly likely to win much trust from anyone. Certainly, they couldn’t compare to the well-established, legitimate agencies of their trade.

Jia Yan wasn’t concerned about any of this. He continued spreading his advertisement across message boards and forums. Unsurprisingly, just like Earth’s online forums, some of his accounts were banned due to suspicion of spam advertisements.

Quantity leads to results… or rather, brings in customers.

It wasn’t until several days later, after countless postings and still no business, that a single communication request reached Jia Yan’s number.

“Is this Ting Di Pavilion? I’d like to hire you for something.”

When Jia Yan answered the communication, his mood instantly lifted, and he replied with a smile, “This is Ting Tian Pavilion, sir. We’re happy to serve you. What kind of assistance do you need?”

Of course, Jia Yan wouldn’t object to the caller using the word “you”—task-oriented agencies typically had multiple members. He, being completely alone, didn’t quite fit the term “you.”

“It’s like this… I’m from a minor force in a regular Star Zone. Recently, while transporting some goods for my faction, I tried taking a shortcut through the Dark Realm border. As expected, the cargo was stolen by a roaming gang from the Dark Realm. I barely managed to escape with my life. I’d like to know how much it’d cost to have your agency recover the goods.”

From the appearance of the individual—a monster with Intermediate Talent at the Secondary Barrier Level—his expression was visibly anxious.

Indeed, the situation was dire. This creature belonged to a small faction not far from the edge of the Dark Realm. On this occasion, he was transporting essential external resources back to his faction. He had originally planned to avoid the Dark Realm border but opted for the shortcut to save energy and pocket some savings—only to be targeted.

He barely escaped with his life, but the lost cargo was impossible for him to reclaim on his own.

“Your cargo was stolen? Tell me more—what’s included in the shipment, and what sort of strength does the opposing force possess? That way, I can evaluate,” Jia Yan said with a slight frown and an increasingly serious tone.

After all, any force daring to plunder external resources must possess strength that ranges from negligible to terrifying. Should they include High-Level Semi-permanent Star powerhouses, Jia Yan would have no choice but to avoid them entirely.

“I’m not sure about their specific capabilities, but when they attacked me, there were only a few monsters at the Secondary Level—otherwise, it’s impossible I’d have escaped. As for the cargo, it’s just some ordinary supplies for my faction. If your agency can help, I’m willing to pay a tenth of the cargo’s value as compensation.”

The monster’s gritted teeth reflected his agony, delivering his plea through the video call with a desperate expression.

In reality, he had already approached several major agencies before this.

But once those agencies learned the nature of the small-scale job—especially the fact that it involved the Dark Realm border and the client was from an external faction—they showed no interest in helping him.

Left with no alternative, this Secondary Level powerhouse searched the networks and stumbled upon Jia Yan’s advertisement flood. Unaware of the nuances regarding agency distribution in the Dark Realm, he mistakenly assumed that any agency actively advertising must possess real strength—and decided to reach out.

Now, he couldn’t help but feel pleasantly surprised upon discovery: although he believed he was speaking to just a Flying Monster Dignitary, this entity’s Talent was clearly revealed to be at least High-Level Talent!

An agency with such geniuses couldn’t possibly be weak, he reckoned!

Three updates completed. Sorry it came a little late~~~ Seeing as I’ve written tirelessly until past 1 a.m., please support me with subscriptions to the original content!