Chapter 1187: The Broke Support Martial Artist

“At that time, he applied to the government to establish a Support-type Wuda. Even if it was just a Tier-B Wuda, Master was willing to be the principal himself. He just wanted to preserve the legacy of the Support-type martial arts.

“You can probably guess the outcome. Master’s application was flatly rejected.

“Once Divine Land gained the upper hand in the Wet Realm, Support-type Martial Artists were basically seen as a waste of time and resources.”

Lu Xiliang sighed, explaining the history to Su Yue.

Su Yue nodded in understanding. In truth, neither Divine Land nor the Support-type Martial Artists were to blame. It was simply the evolution of the times. As a Support-type Martial Artist himself, Su Yue understood better than anyone how useless their combat techniques could be.

On the offensive, Martial Artists had to be ready to attack or retreat at a moment’s notice. They acted with lightning speed, allowing no room for hesitation, which placed immense demands on their speed and defense. If they brought a Support-type Martial Artist along for a charge, they would most likely be dragged down and killed. Saving them was a liability; not saving them was unacceptable. Training a Martial Artist was a heavy financial burden, and they couldn’t just throw lives away to the alien races for nothing.

There was a saying in Divine Land: There were no useless Martial Artists, only useless battlefields.

Back when Divine Land was fighting desperate defensive wars, every inch of land was paid for in blood. Martial Artists couldn’t take a single step back. Agility was useless then because the Martial Artists and soldiers had nowhere to retreat and nowhere to run. Although Support-type Martial Artists had poor mobility, their reliable performance played a crucial role.

But the tides of war had changed. One could only say that the era no longer needed Support-type Martial Artists. The government wasn’t to blame for being aloof. Ten years ago, Divine Land was rebuilding from the ground up. It was truly impossible to let Lu Jianghao establish a Support-type Wuda.

Many people knew that establishing a Wuda was by no means a simple task that could be settled with a few words. First, the chosen location had to have Spiritual Qi fluctuations. On Earth, such plots of land were exceptionally expensive and often priceless. The government was extremely cautious every time they approved a parcel of land. Moreover, running a Wuda required an endless stream of funding. Any official with a modicum of intelligence would have definitely rejected the application.

“But who knows what got into the government this time. They recently decided to launch a nationwide pilot program for private Wudas, so they approved Master’s application.

“Master had long given up hope on a Wuda. After hearing this news, he racked his brains for three days and three nights, ultimately falling severely ill. He was probably genuinely overwhelmed by the shock.”

Lu Xiliang let out a heavy sigh.

“A private Wuda?

“The requirements to establish a private Wuda must be extremely strict, right?” Su Yue asked with a frown.

The government’s policies were truly full of surprises. He hadn’t expected Divine Land to have expanded to the point of allowing private Wudas.

“It’s not just strict; it’s practically impossible.

“First, we have to buy a plot of land with Spiritual Qi fluctuations, and the auction price for such land exceeds four billion.

“As for building the teaching facilities, that’s just small change.

“We can provide the teaching staff ourselves, since there are still quite a few people in the Support faction.

“But that four billion in startup capital is enough to drive Master to despair.”

Lu Xiliang looked distressed.

“Xiliang, let’s just treat this whole Wuda preparation as a joke.

“A private Wuda needs to turn a profit, otherwise it can’t survive. But looking at the entirety of Divine Land, who would come to learn Support-type martial arts?

“Never mind that we don’t have four billion. Even if we bankrupted ourselves to scrape it together, it would just be a farce. Nobody would joke around with four billion,” Sima Lingling said coldly.

Su Yue swallowed hard. Four billion just to buy a plot of land. That was indeed an astronomical figure. And that wasn’t even counting the subsequent investments. It truly was despair-inducing just thinking about it.

He had participated in the war to slay absolute peak experts, captured an Eighth-Rank Heiye alive, brought back countless spoils of war, and saved the civilians of Divine Land time and time again. But even so, he only received a reward of nine hundred million. Su Yue had checked, and his nine hundred million reward was actually a record-breaking high. In the future, no matter how great someone’s achievements were, nine hundred million would be the absolute ceiling. It couldn’t go any higher.

Su Yue was young, and his reward carried a portion of Su Qingfeng’s merits as well, which was why it was so massive. If anyone else had the same achievements as Su Yue, they wouldn’t receive that much money. Divine Land belonged to every one of its citizens. While meritorious contributors deserved to be rewarded, there was ultimately a ceiling. Any achievements beyond that simply became one’s duty.

“Lingling, to be honest, I’m truly unwilling to just give up.

“I also want the quota for Divine Land’s first private Wuda.

“It’s a pity we just don’t have the means. Everyone has tried their best,” Lu Xiliang added.

“Mr. Lu, did you actually try to raise funds?

“How much did you raise?” Su Yue was taken aback.

Listening to Lu Xiliang’s tone, it seemed he had genuinely tried to scrape together that massive sum of four billion. This wasn’t a joke. Martial Artists were inherently poor, after all!

“My initial plan was to exchange equity in the private Wuda for startup capital.

“Over a decade ago, our Support faction helped many Martial Artists, and we even saved the lives of quite a few experts. Because of that, we did manage to raise a significant amount of money.

“Combined with some loan quotas, the final estimate was that we could pull together 2.3 billion.

“While it’s a massive sum, it’s still completely out of reach of our goal.” Lu Xiliang shook his head.

“If you knew it was out of reach, you shouldn’t have pulled any more stunts. You’re a renowned Martial Artist, for goodness’ sake! Going off to endorse things like 8844 mobile phones, magnetic bracelets, and even infertility ads—don’t you find it humiliating?!

“Endorsing that kind of garbage is just immoral.” Sima Lingling glared at Lu Xiliang in exasperation.

There were even sleazier things that Sima Lingling chose not to expose. Lu Xiliang had actually negotiated with agents in the entertainment industry, wanting her to persuade Su Yue to cash in on his current popularity and endorse some trashy commercials. Sima Lingling had taken one look at them. They were all for low-quality web games featuring ridiculous taglines like “Max level gear drops with one hit,” “Zhazha Hui is coming to slash you,” and “Where is my oily senior sister?” Apparently, these ads paid incredibly well, were quick and easy to shoot, and wouldn’t interfere with Su Yue’s cultivation.

He even wanted Su Yue to star in a movie, supposedly called *Sea Fortress*. This movie required zero acting skills and zero dedication. Su Yue would just need to show his face, wouldn’t even have to cut his hair, and would painfully fake a romance with an actress.

The problem was that Su Yue wasn’t even twenty years old yet. While the actress was good-looking, she was over forty. No matter how well she maintained her appearance, she was old enough to be Su Yue’s mother. Romance, my foot. It was complete nonsense.

It was practically an insult to Su Yue. Sima Lingling had nearly blown up at Lu Xiliang right then and there. Just for some dirty money, Lu Xiliang had lost his mind. But even going to such extremes, he couldn’t scrape together four billion in a short time. Even selling his kidneys wouldn’t be enough.

“Sigh, there’s no point in talking about it. The gap is too large. We can only let this quota go to waste.

“What a pity!” Lu Xiliang sighed again.

Su Yue didn’t know what to say. With his capabilities, he obviously couldn’t be of any help either.

“To be honest, a Support-type Wuda might really lose money.” Though he didn’t want to crush Lu Xiliang’s confidence, Su Yue couldn’t help but offer an objective analysis.

“It’s actually not that pessimistic.

“Su Yue, let me ask you. What kind of warfare is most suitable for our Support-type Martial Artists?” Lu Xiliang asked.

“Defending a city, of course. Especially those desperate defensive battles where you can’t yield a single inch of land,” Su Yue replied.

“You go down to the Wet Realm often, so you should know that humanity struggles to take even a single step forward there. The biggest dilemma is our inability to control Spiritual Springs, which makes it impossible to establish a Wet Realm City.

“But once Divine Land establishes a Wet Realm City, will it need defensive forces then?

“Will an isolated Wet Realm City deep in enemy territory be in constant danger?

“I believe the future of Support-type Martial Artists isn’t that bleak. And it certainly won’t go extinct, because eras are always cycling.

“Forget it, there’s no use talking about all this.

“Oh, Master is awake.”

Lu Xiliang abruptly stopped mid-sentence and rushed toward the hospital room with Sima Lingling.

Lu Jianghao was already out of danger.

Meanwhile, Su Yue lowered his head and fell into deep thought. Establishing a Wet Realm City and controlling a Spiritual Spring—how could it be as simple as it sounded? It was as difficult as ascending to the heavens. Even Yuan Longhan didn’t have the slightest confidence in pulling it off.