Chapter 134: Official Gathering
Translator: CKtalon
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Xu Jingming and Li Miaomiao were kissing when they heard a notification chime. Only then did the two of them stop and smile at each other.
“I’ll take a peek.” Xu Jingming tapped open the projection and looked at it. “The Virtual World officials are gathering the top ten people in the world.”
“Since it’s a gathering by the officials, go over quickly,” said Li Miaomiao.
“There’s no rush. It’s in half an hour.” Xu Jingming hugged his girlfriend. “The most important thing for us now is tomorrow’s wedding. Let’s do a thorough check. Is everything ready?”
Li Miaomiao also tapped open the projection and read the preparation list. “Invitation letters to our relatives and friends, our clothes, the feast at the banquet…”
Xu Jingming also did a line-by-line check.
As the wedding was being held in the virtual world, the requirements were definitely higher.
…
Half an hour later.
“Accept invitation.” Xu Jingming tapped lightly and accepted the virtual world official’s invitation.
Whoosh.
He arrived at a large conference room with a huge circular conference table. Everyone had their seats.
Huh? Xu Jingming sat in his seat and found his master, Liu Hai, beside him while Tejano Xire sat on his other side.
“Hi there.” Tejano Xire smiled brightly, greeting Xu Jingming and Liu Hai with a smile.
“Tejano.” Xu Jingming and Liu Hai looked at the young man.
Tejano Xire was younger than the two of them, and his improvement speed was terrifying.
“I never expected China to groom two great experts like you.” Tejano Xire held a beverage in one hand and smiled. “Especially Liu Hai. Although you aren’t young, your strength has grown so quickly. You bested me for months. It’s just that… you’re slowly falling behind. The competition for the strongest on Earth will probably be between Xu Jingming and me.”
Liu Hai glanced at Tejano and smiled. “Young man, your courage is commendable.”
“I’m also very strong,” Tejano Xire said smugly. At the same time, he looked at Xu Jingming with curiosity and anticipation in his eyes. “Xu Jingming, your improvement is much faster than your master’s! You were so much weaker than me on the third floor of Cosmos Tower, but you’ve caught up to your master and me by the fourth floor. I’m looking forward to fighting you.”
“We can have a match at any time,” Xu Jingming said.
“There’s no rush.” Tejano Xire shook his head. “There’s no point fighting now. Let’s fight after we break through to Lv. 5.”
As they spoke, the other experts in the overall top ten gathered—Akinov, Tiger Fussen, Jon Pierre, Miyagawa Meishin, Halu Singh, Zhao Fan, and Merritt—also observed the conversation between the world’s three strongest people.
“Hello, sir. You were the martial artist I admired the most when I was a child. Your perseverance toward martial arts despite all the hardships you went through has always inspired me,” Halu Singh said to Jon Pierre with a hint of admiration.
“Haha…” Jon Pierre laughed. “The suffering I’ve suffered is nothing compared to yours.”
“After I was paralyzed, I didn’t dare to have any extravagant hopes for martial arts, nor did I have to persevere. I just lived through my days meaninglessly every day.” Halu Singh shook his head and said, “It was thanks to the evolutionary method that I changed my fate. But sir, your persistence in martial arts is admirable despite your repeated injuries and making a comeback several times.”
Jon Pierre smiled and said, “That’s all in the past. Countless people around the world are working hard, and the competition is much more intense than back then.”
Xu Jingming also noticed the middle-aged caucasian man.
Jon Pierre was a legendary martial artist from the United States of America. His achievements in the past were inferior to the three kings of the martial arts world, and he could even be considered worse than Tie Lianyun. He led a troubled life, and his experiences had also inspired Xu Jingming.
Xu Jingming had broken his leg before, but Jon went through even more tumultuous experiences. His injuries were much worse than Xu Jingming’s.
Jon Pierre grew up in the slums of the United States of America. Back then, there still wasn’t universal welfare in the Earth Alliance, so life was difficult for the young Jon. He was extremely talented, and he became world champion at the age of 25. He later suffered a broken leg and was forced to retire for three years to recuperate. After his comeback, he entered the world’s top four. This time, he suffered a left arm fracture and was forced to retire.
He had retired three times in a row, and he had dozens of injuries all over his body. He had three injuries that were enough to put any professional gladiator into retirement, but he persevered. He had spent most of his career recuperating, making a comeback with his scarred body time and time again.
What impressed the people in the martial arts circle the most was that Jon Pierre had never blamed anyone for all the hardships he had gone through. He also didn’t hold back on giving pointers to his juniors in the martial arts world. He could be considered a kaleidoscope of martial arts, and he had mentored many professional gladiators in the United States of America. He was now in his fifties.
He had just barely cleared Cosmos Tower’s fourth level recently and had lost to Fang Yu in a match. However… Jon Pierre’s martial arts course had a very high score. With the support of the United States of America, his total score placed him at eighth! Many contestants who were stronger than him had a lower overall score.
Master Liu Hai is proficient in all kinds of martial arts, Xu Jingming thought. Jon Pierre is just a weaker form of Master! He’s also proficient in all kinds of martial arts and is also good at teaching.
“Jingming.” Liu Hai also looked around and sighed. “I originally thought that there would be very few professional gladiators in the world’s top ten in half a year, but it looks like I was wrong. You, me, Jon, and Tiger Fussen are all professional gladiators.”
“The further one goes in martial arts cultivation, the focus moves toward the tempering of the mind.” Xu Jingming nodded and said, “Professional gladiators spend most of their lives on martial arts. Having invested so much emotion in martial arts, they can only become more devoted, right?”
“Professional gladiators who are sufficiently devoted to martial arts are also rare.” Liu Hai shook his head. “Many professional gladiators only treat it as a profession and a means of earning money.”
He clearly knew this from teaching so many disciples.
“Although the devoted are rare, there will still be some,” Xu Jingming said. “Countless people around the world focus on martial arts every day, so there are definitely many who will end up devoted. There are also many talented people, so most professional gladiators will be surpassed! However, the few professional gladiators who are talented and have shown decades of devotion will probably stand at the apex for ages.”
“For example, you, Tiger Fussen, Jon Pierre,” Xu Jingming said. “They are all sufficiently devoted to martial arts.”
Liu Hai nodded. “Only those who are truly focused on martial arts will have great achievements.”
Focus was only one aspect; talent and perception were also very important.
Tie Lianyun was also very focused and crazy, but in the era of Global Crossfire, his growth was clearly slow.
“Everyone.”
At the meeting table, other than the ten people in the top ten, there were 12 of the virtual world’s officials. The 12 people were of different races, and the person presiding over the meeting was a black middle-aged man.
He smiled and said, “First, I thank you on behalf of the entire Earth Alliance for your contributions to Earth.”
“You will receive contribution points for that,” the black middle-aged man said. “First place gets 100 contribution points, second gets 60, third gets 50, fourth gets 40, fifth gets 35, sixth gets 30, seventh gets 25, eighth gets 20, ninth gets 15, and tenth gets 10.”
“If you want to obtain contribution points, you have to contribute to the entire Earth Alliance,” the black middle-aged man said. “Every contribution point is very precious. Please cherish it.”
“This is the exchange list.”
As the black middle-aged man spoke, forms flew to Xu Jingming and the others.
“You have to think carefully about what resources you want to exchange for. After all, it will be very difficult to obtain contribution points again,” the black middle-aged man said. “There’s no time limit to exchanging contribution points for resources. You can exchange them now or in a couple of years.”
“But there’s one rule—the resources exchanged can only be used by you,” the black middle-aged man said.
2
Xu Jingming and the others were now looking at the exchange list.