“Excellent!”
The emaciated middle-aged man laughed heartily, “A Grandmaster at the initial Realm at forty-five years old, and one who created his own Cultivation Technique to achieve it—this is something that will be recorded in history!”
In response, Zheng Beihong merely smiled faintly, straightened up, and said leisurely:
“Master, as the saying goes, there is always a higher heaven and a more capable person. Beihong does not feel that he can surpass all living beings.
There will always be stronger individuals appearing in this world.”
“Beihong.”
The emaciated middle-aged man chuckled, “As the top Prodigy in our Western Military Region, you don’t need to underestimate yourself. In my opinion, your chances of winning this time will be very high.”
“Hmm, I hope so.”
Though Zheng Beihong’s eyes were full of pride, he still said lightly, “However, Beihong still wants to encounter an opponent worthy of a fight; otherwise, this Tianjiao Ranking will be too uninteresting.”
“Hmm, speaking of opponents—”
The emaciated middle-aged man’s expression became serious, “Beihong, in this Tianjiao Ranking, you might have a strong rival.”
“Oh, are you referring to—” Zheng Beihong squinted slightly, “He Shengtian of the Eastern Military Region?”
“Although the Eastern Military Region has kept information about him very secret,”
the emaciated middle-aged man said in a deep voice, “from various clues, the possibility of He Shengtian having already achieved a Breakthrough to the Grandmaster Realm—I think is very high.”
“Very good.”
Zheng Beihong smiled coldly, “I have fought He Shengtian three times, but all three times ended in a draw. I have always suspected he was holding back.
But this time on the Tianjiao Ranking, he won’t hold back anymore, will he? I want to see how strong his true power is.”
As he sneered, Zheng Beihong looked out the spaceship’s porthole.
And in the direction he gazed, a thousand li away in the azure sky, a strangely shaped spaceship, resembling a skull, was also flying at extreme speed.
“Shengyi.”
Inside the cabin, at the tightly closed door of a Cultivation room, a burly man in thick armor asked a tall, thin young man, “The Sky-Boat is almost at its destination. When will your brother come out?”
“General Wang, don’t worry.”
The tall, thin young man He Shengyi smiled faintly, “My brother is currently integrating his two Cultivation systems. As you know, he just had a Breakthrough and still needs to adjust.”
“Phew, I know that’s why I’m anxious.”
General Wang said with some excitement, “Your brother He Shengtian is truly a Reincarnation of a celestial being. To be able to advance to a Martial Dao Grandmaster before the age of fifty, and at the same time, break through the demonic martial Dao to the Demonic Reincarnation Realm, which surpasses the Body Tempering into Demon Realm—it’s truly incredible!”
“Hehehe, General Wang, you flatter him.”
He Shengyi smiled proudly, “However, my brother often easily accomplishes things that many people consider incredible. After so many years, I’ve grown accustomed to it.”
As the two chatted, the door to the Cultivation room suddenly opened, and out walked a black-clad man whose physique was as robust as a giant beast, whose wild hair flared like flames, and whose deep eyes were like cold pools.
This was He Shengtian himself.
“Brother!”
“Shengtian!”
As soon as they saw him emerge, General Wang and He Shengyi immediately walked up to him and asked, “How is it? How are the two systems integrating?”
“Perfect, flawless.”
He Shengtian laughed wildly, “Hahahaha, the ultimate victor of this Tianjiao Ranking—I’ve got it locked down. Not even the Old Heaven can stop me, I said it!”
“Good!” General Wang gave a thumbs-up and praised loudly, “That’s the kind of confidence you need!”
“Brother, isn’t Zheng Beihong your sworn enemy?”
He Shengyi suddenly said, “I heard he’s also participating, and according to intelligence from our informant, he might have—”
“Also had a Breakthrough to Grandmaster.”
“Zheng Beihong? A Breakthrough to Grandmaster? Hahahaha, so what?”
He Shengtian first gave a cold smile, then scoffed, “That hypocritical faker doesn’t even know that in our previous three duels, I was just toying with him. And this time—I won’t need to.”
Saying that, he also looked out the spaceship’s porthole and coldly stated:
“This time on the Tianjiao Ranking, I will—beat the shit out of him—in front of everyone!”
At the same time, in another serpent-shaped spaceship a thousand li away, a short-haired young man with a concave circle on his chest, blue light flickering within the hollow, and metal shoulders, arms, and feet, suddenly opened his eyes and said faintly:
“He Shengtian has achieved a Breakthrough to Grandmaster, and has also broken through the demonic martial Dao to a quasi-Grandmaster level, a Realm called Demonic Reincarnation.”
As he spoke, a large number of strange symbols constantly flashed in his eyes.
“What? That He fellow is a Dual Grandmaster?”
A short-haired woman, also semi-mechanized, frowned and asked, “Xiuran, then—what about the other departments?
You installed electromagnetic worms on those Sky-Boats, right?”
“Except for the Demon Slayer Division and the Lotus Continent people, I installed them on the Sky-Boats of the other sections,”
The short-haired man Shan Xiuran said indifferently, “From the intercepted intelligence, Gong Lida of the Southern Military Region, Zhen Lianbiao of the Northern Military Region, and Lan Yuanwu of the Military Intelligence Division, these three are still hovering around the Thousand Army Grade, some higher, some lower.
As for He Shengtian, Oriental Smile, and Zheng Beihong, these three have all achieved Breakthroughs to the Grandmaster Realm, but He Shengtian’s strength is probably the strongest at the moment.”
“I knew it!”
The short-haired woman said coldly, “Although that monster He is sinister and overbearing, and makes people dislike him, when it comes to Martial Dao talent—he is indeed Heaven-Defying. In fact, throughout the Great Jing over the past few hundred years, he could probably rank among the top.”
At this point, she asked in a low, worried voice, “Xiuran, for this Tianjiao Ranking, are you confident in dealing with He Shengtian?”
“Absolutely confident.”
Shan Xiuran smiled indifferently, “The ancient divine weapon recently unearthed by the Division possesses tremendous, earth-shattering power!”
“Hmm, that’s good then.”
The short-haired woman nodded, but then asked doubtfully, “Oh, right, why didn’t you install mechanical worms on the Demon Slayer Division’s Sky-Boat? What if they unearth some peerless Genius from somewhere—”
“No what-ifs.”
Shan Xiuran interrupted, “Since the Tianjiao Ranking began, the Demon Slayer Division has never won a single time, and has been beaten to death in the arena every time, with not even one surviving.
This department, which has never received resource or financial support for thousands of years, can only maintain basic operations with the small amount of annual funding it receives.
Without money or people, wanting to develop on this foundation is pure fantasy. Mechanical worms are already scarce in number and must not be wasted on such a completely fallen department.”
“Indeed.”
The short-haired woman nodded in agreement, “Xiuran, what you said makes a lot of sense. But that Lotus Continent person, is there really no chance to put a worm on his ship?”
“I did.”
Shan Xiuran’s expression suddenly turned ugly, “I put one on when the Lotus Continent envoy delegation first arrived in the Great Jing a while ago, but I don’t know if their Sky-Boat is toxic. The worm had barely snuck in for half a quarter of an hour before its structure collapsed and it self-destructed.”
Upon hearing this, the short-haired woman was immediately dumbfounded.
