Chapter 156: The Might of the First Rank, Zhenwu Battles the Gods (76K)

"You might care a lot about winning or losing, but I still have to say, don't let the outcome weigh on you."

After the speech ended, Qin Xiang specifically sought out Wang Wu alone and offered him a few words of comfort.

As for the fact that the other party fell asleep during his own speech, he actually didn't mind. Because there were more than just him sleeping below, such incidents were quite common.

It was like when he was in elementary school; every morning during the flag‑raising, the principal would give a long speech, and a bunch of students would fall asleep as they listened.

He was naturally among those students who were struck hard by the principal for falling asleep.

One can only say that now, grown up, Qin Xiang has become the person he hated most as a child, but there's nothing to do; perhaps that's life?

"Although winning brings rewards, they're just sect souvenirs or the like; you probably don't need those attractive resource prizes that appeal to others."

"But if you're interested, you can give it a try," Qin Xiang said with a smile to Wang Wu.

"Understood, master." Wang Wu nodded at Qin Xiang, and must admit that Qin Xiang truly is an excellent master.

He had previously looked up Qin Xiang online; the encyclopedia said this guy was a super murderer, nicknamed 'Jitian Zhenmo'. Wang Wu didn't care about the nickname, but being called a murderer seemed like slander against his master.

Speaking of it, now that he's reached Fourth Rank, Wang Wu has obtained the transformation skill "True Warrior". This skill can be stacked with his Heavenly Demon Vajra Body…

First he uses Heavenly Demon Vajra Body to become a Heavenly Demon, then activates True Warrior, which is more than a tenfold power boost.

Wang Wu himself is a monster; when the timing is right, he will also reveal his identity to everyone, especially humans.

After all, although he deals with humans all day, he enjoys considerable prestige and reputation in the human world.

But it's not like those depictions in some movies, novels, or comics where being accepted by another group makes one forget who they are.

He could never do such a thing; from start to finish, Wang Wu will never forget his "monster race" identity.

Of course, he's not a nationalist. He naturally doesn't discriminate against humans, nor any other races; everyone is equal, no hierarchy.

The sect Grand Competition is scheduled by time; it officially starts on the first afternoon, with several Direct Transmission Disciples of Qin Xiang and the elite among the First Rank disciples beginning the bouts to boost viewership and sect reputation.

Yes, the main purpose of the Grand Competition is to promote one's sect, gaining higher fame and more disciples.

At the same time, if the live battles attract more viewers, more companies will want to advertise with the sect, and advertising revenue will naturally rise.

"First round of matches! Direct Transmission Disciples Tianjie versus Tianmie!!"

Tianjie is Wang Wu's senior sister Li Ronglan, the one Wang Wu once thought his master had died and posted a video to his moments, after which she changed her name to "Apprentice Master Recruiting".

She ranks first among Qin Xiang's Direct Transmission Disciples, being everyone's senior sister, and her strength should reflect that.

As Qin Xiang's true transmission, aside from Wang Wu, the other three Direct Transmission Disciples all have a chance to surpass First Rank and reach the Peerless Realm.

They are all top‑level masters of the Complete Realm within First Rank; at their tier, to break into the Peerless level they must at least reach 0.6 times the speed of light.

A strong First Rank Complete Realm entrant can reach twenty thousand megahertz per hour; at this level, using megahertz as a metric is clearly insufficient.

This speed is 22% of light speed, which in the past belonged to the "Star‑Crushing Martial Saint" realm, a title then reserved for those above First Rank.

But now, with the martial path update, First Rank warriors also qualify for that title.

0.22 times light speed means that for a strong of this tier, destroying a planet is simple: just ram into it.

No need to trigger a stellar core, no need for any "high‑level" technique, just pure brute force.

In space, striking a star at 0.22 times light speed would pierce it outright.

For a Star‑Crushing Martial Saint, that's all they need to do.

When the shout announcing the start rang out, the place where everyone stood changed; the original plaza and surrounding peaks vanished, replaced by a sky of blazing, glittering stars.

"Hehe, junior brother." Tianjie Li Ronglan looked at her junior brother Tianmie, Zhang Ting, Wang Wu's senior brother, and said cheerfully:

"I don't think you'll be my opponent; why not surrender? After all we're from the same sect, and I don't want you to lose disgracefully."

This guy and Wang Wu aren't very close; they've only had a bit of interaction.

Compared to the senior sister, he's much more straightforward, not easy to get along with; his days are all cultivation, with virtually no leisure time.

Yet despite such effort, his strength still ranks a tier below senior sister Li Ronglan. So in terms of talent, senior brother Zhang Ting may still be weaker than senior sister Li Ronglan.

"You filthy slut, are you here to harass your mother?" Zhang Ting glared at Li Ronglan, hurling an unceremonious insult.

"Damn your mother's impotence, you beast, you're looking for death!!!!"

The words triggered Li Ronglan to instantly flush red, and she charged straight at him.

The speed of a First Rank master's combat is invisible to ordinary eyes, so great commentary and slow‑motion are naturally required, even for someone like Wang Wu, a Fourth Rank…

…rank, which is still far from being a master in the world of Killer Brother.

So he consciously sat down at a table with the lower‑rank disciples.

"Wow! The Extreme Heaven Vajra Sect's technique is truly unmatched! Joining the Extreme Heaven Vajra Sect was definitely the right choice!!!" In a tavern, excited voices from a neighboring table of disciples could be heard.

Because of privacy settings, others can't see Wang Wu's table; it's not that Wang Wu refuses, but… well, it's just inconvenient now.

Wang Wu isn't sitting alone; the girls beside him are also here.

Though people crowd around, those few monsters clearly don't care about that.

And after learning that outsiders can't see inside, the three—or rather four—humans there also became restless.

Still, Wang Wu restrained himself fairly well; after all this isn't his simulated human space nor Master Yin Shenli's simulated human space. So his actions now are limited to so‑and‑so, so‑and‑so, and so‑and‑so.

In short, this is unimportant.

At this moment, on the big screen before them, Li Ronglan and Zhang Ting had already turned into two golden comets, massive high‑energy rays raging behind them, tearing space and leaving indelible scars.

A supernova is the brightest celestial body in the universe, the most brilliant flash when a star explodes at its end.

Yet the battle between these two shines even brighter than an exploding supernova in the cosmos.

"Damned impotent scum! Die for me!!! Baxian Heavenly Demon Finger!!!" In the silent universe, Li Ronglan's voice roared like the primordial sound of creation.

In an instant, golden light blazed; the massive golden radiance even surpassed light speed, instantly enveloping a range of several light‑years.

The two chased each other among the stars; even the slightest collision between them could shatter a star with that immense force.

A white dwarf is a star's final life stage, and in this system, when Li Ronglan's seemingly universe‑piercing fingertip struck the burning star, everyone present observed that:

That star, that massive star, at that moment began to shrink rapidly and cool.

Within a few seconds it completed a process that would normally take hundreds of millions of years, ultimately collapsing into an extremely dense, massive celestial body.

"Die!!!"

Then, countless radiant lights burst forth; whether it was this star that had already become a white dwarf, or all the celestial bodies within this star system, they were all engulfed by that vast golden light.

"Boshun Tianmo Finger, such chilling evil aura, such ferocious and brutal force—truly the foremost finger technique of the age!!!"

In this matter, although Wang Wu's body was busy, his eyes were equally filled with shock.

Listening to the exclamations of the people at the next table, Wang Wu couldn't help but tremble, body and soul. At this moment, he was already captivated by the battle between Li Ronglan and Zhang Ting.

"Eh!! Wu Lang, Wu…!!"

Finally, he could no longer bear it, slammed his head down and bit his own toe in front of him.

"This is it, this is…"

"Earth martial arts, huh!??"

Wang Wu felt a shock in his heart.

As the opening first match of the Jitian Jinguangmen Sect Grand Competition, the battle between Li Ronglan and Zhang Ting was naturally a visual feast.

Various grand scenes, myriad special effects, and the opponent's superb martial skill and combat techniques made the audience exclaim in delight, waves of cheers rolling like tides.

Wang Wu's side was the same, wave after wave of cheers, and they were extremely intense.

Unlike his relationship with Zhang Ting, Wang Wu and Li Ronglan still chat from time to time, after all they know each other.

The two occasionally team up for games, so their relationship is fairly good. This woman's taste in games is quite similar to Wang Wu's; they both like hardcore survival‑building games.

Come to think of it, it's interesting: although their master's Earth is a transcendent Earth, their 'hardcore survival‑building games' mostly feature ordinary people as protagonists.

And even among ordinary people, they're the kind considered weak.

That said, playing them is truly fun and immersive, not to mention they're virtual‑reality games; Wang Wu had only seen such things in novels before.

"Well played! Senior sister! Well played!!!!"

Soon, the first round between them ended, and Li Ronglan claimed the victory, not without effort.

During the intermission, Wang Wu called his senior sister Li Ronglan.

"Hehe, it's okay." In the void, Li Ronglan, seated on an asteroid, stared intently at Zhang Ting ten light‑years away, took a sip of the endorsed mineral water, and replied to her junior.

This asteroid originated from a planet; during their earlier fight, many planets were affected, and now the entire Heng Star System has only a few intact worlds left.

After finishing a bottle of mineral water, Li Ronglan rose from the asteroid and turned her gaze toward a spot in the void.

At that moment, the coldness on her face vanished, replaced by an exceedingly bright and friendly smile:

"Rongguang brand mineral water, I only drink this for training!"

Of course, the competitors in the arena can take advertisements, and they don't have to give a cut to the sect.

"Stinky bitch! Advertising again? You still think you can train?"

However, as soon as the ad ended, Zhang Ting's insults from ten light‑years away already reached them.

But this time, Li Ronglan didn't turn red; she merely glanced over lightly and then sneered:

"It's damn ridiculous, you useless, impotent man, how dare you say anything? You spend all day cultivating, yet I never saw you beat me?"

"You train so hard, work so hard, and you still can't? You're still useless?"

"What's wrong with me doing ads? Do you have ads you can take? Can you get ads, you waste? Here you're barking at your mother?"

A call went out, and this time the flushed person was the opposite side's Zhang Ting.

At this moment he was truly flushed, his face swollen red like a monkey's rear, his eyes bulging far out of the sockets, heat constantly spewing from his crown.

But it was still intermission, so he couldn't do anything.

He could only rage impotently, venting wildly in place.

And the hardest part was that the big screen, which had been showing the ad, suddenly switched the view to the two of them as their verbal duel began.

As a result, all the audience watched Zhang Ting's flushed state, directly triggered Zhenwu, and his speed surged to 0.5 times the speed of light.

Because his body's tolerance had reached its limit, cracks began to appear across his flesh.

"What, what is this!???"

At this moment the call with senior sister Li Ronglan was still ongoing; Wang Wu, seeing Zhang Ting's condition on the screen, stammered a question to his senior sister.

"Haha, that idiot's defenses broke." Li Ronglan, who was on the same arena as Zhang Ting, naturally also saw his current disgrace. Seeing his impotent rage, she laughed:

"The state he's using now is called 'Dou Shen'; it's the second transformation after the Zhenwu state, but unlike Zhenwu, Dou Shen continuously burns your life."

"If it's not a life‑or‑death battle, do not invoke Dou Shen lightly."

"In the Sect Grand Competition, activating Dou Shen during a duel has many restrictions, because it's not real combat, and the massive side effects of Dou Shen cannot be fully manifested."

After explaining to her junior, and hearing faint sounds from the other side, Li Ronglan smiled and asked:

"What's up, busy?"

"Um, can't help it, after all I…" Hearing his senior sister's teasing, Wang Wu felt a bit helpless.

After all, he is a monster; such things are normal for him.

"Haha, you never forget this, do you?" Li Ronglan shook her head. "But you kid is indeed handsome; if you have time later…"

"Um, okay, senior sister. If there's a chance later, uh…"

"Haha, just kidding." Li Ronglan laughed and hung up.

On this side the battle raged, on the other side it did too. The fight between Li Ronglan and Zhang Ting ultimately wasn't unexpected by the crowd, yet Li Ronglan herself was somewhat surprised.

Because Zhang Ting had indeed improved, and by a considerable margin.

After the world‑shaking battle ended, the site of their clash was a void. Nothing remained, nothing existed; everything had been erased.

And this was still only a 'first‑rate master' in Master Qin Xiang's world.

A first‑rank master certainly counts as a master; in fact, once a cultivator reaches the upper third rank, they can be called a 'master'.

After reaching that level, a warrior has forged a diamond‑hard body and possesses a 'super brain'.

Remolding the flesh and recreating the brain is what a fourth‑rank warrior must do for the 'complete realm', also preparation for advancing to the upper third rank.

Brain restructuring, bone forging, flesh refining.

Throw oneself into the blazing celestial body, scorched by flames that never extinguish, plunge beneath the corona, straight to the Sun's core, where the warrior completes the "Diamond Unbreakable Body".

When this step is completed, it signifies the warrior's total transcendence. It means the mortal body has wholly surpassed the stars.

Without that Diamond Unbreakable, how could one merely rely on brute force to shatter stars with a flesh body?

If one wishes to forge a Diamond Body, the Sun, as a star, is naturally the best choice—gradually delving into the Sun, constantly being burned yet constantly recovering, constantly strengthening, until reaching the deepest Sun core.

Of course, at the very beginning, a gas giant is more suitable than the Sun.

Because it needs to be gentler, most warriors do it this way. They start by adapting to a gas giant, then later switch to the Sun.

Penetrate a gas giant's atmosphere, descending continuously until the light completely vanishes, until no heat can be felt.

In the extreme cold of minus 150 °C, body refiners will continue onward.

But the darkness is only temporary; as depth increases, within this boundless darkness, dense clouds will begin to flash with lightning.

These flashes will illuminate the surrounding world, revealing this layer's appearance: towering layers of white ice clouds.

At this depth, cultivators must endure a pressure of ten standard atmospheres while also withstanding raging thunder far more powerful than Earth's lightning.

And that's not all; cultivators must go deeper, passing through ultra‑dense air, continuing downward:

Until the pressure reaches roughly two million atmospheres—a liquid hydrogen ocean.

This boundless, intensely bright metallic hydrogen sea that illuminates the entire deep interior of the giant star is the source of the gas giant's powerful magnetic field.

The temperature here even exceeds the Sun's surface; once cultivators fully adapt, they will resume their plunge, going deeper.

Until they completely pierce this liquid hydrogen sea, reaching the planet's deepest core—ten times Earth's gravity, twenty‑five million standard atmospheres, a sphere of rock and ice.

Sink, then rise, and next comes further training inside the Sun.

The same process repeats, delving deeper within the Sun—from the corona to the chromosphere, photosphere, and finally the core's nuclear fusion zone.

It sounds hard, and indeed it is extremely hard to do.

The upper third rank is not easily attained; for most, a fourth‑rank warrior within the middle third is already sufficient.

Fully mastering atomic power and possessing a fragment of "Annihilation" power, if one merely seeks fashionable cultivation, this level is enough.

At this stage, you have surpassed over eighty percent of ordinary practitioners. Even the elite of elites, the ultimate practitioners, are merely at the entry level of a third‑rank warrior.

The path to the upper third rank is arduous, even fatal.

From lower third to middle third, cultivation continuously upgrades you, raising your life tier and vastly extending your lifespan.

If you stop after reaching fourth rank before attaining the ultimate realm, cultivation is merely a "strengthening the body" exercise.

Only benefits, no drawbacks, only positive gains, no side effects.

But if you aim for the ultimate realm, it means embarking on a completely different, endless path.

That is the infinite pursuit of the concept of "strength".

In this respect, the New Humans and the Old Humans are the same.

That is what they eternally pursue:

Power.

The Old Humans ultimately perished on this road; the New Humans born from their corpses inherited their creator's will and kept moving forward, ever onward.

Until they too meet a fate similar to their creator's.

Only power; nothing else is sought.

Of course, such a thing is too heavy for the world of the assassins, so normally this plot does not occur.

"Not bad enough."

On the battlefield, Li Ronglan stared at the lone skull of Zhang Ting and said coldly,

"God… God…"

Even with only a skull left, Zhang Ting still possessed life force more vigorous than the stars. Yet any discerning eye could see that he was now spent.

His mouth opened and closed, emitting a faint sound.

The remaining skull was riddled with cracks; as his mouth moved, chunks of flesh peeled off, turning into countless fragments that drifted through the cosmos.

Li Ronglan before him was the same, her body covered in fissures, with fragments constantly shedding and shattering.

But her condition was clearly far better than Zhang Ting's.

"I didn't expect you could force me to unleash the Dou God, hm…" Li Ronglan grabbed her junior brother's skull and stared at him quietly.

"Unfortunately, what use is praying to the gods?"

"They are already dead, and they were merely losers of the old era, the old world."

"And we, the New Humans, the final crystallization of the old world's creator, are the true gods they once dreamed of."

"You pray to a non‑existent god—how can you contend with me, a true deity?"

"That is why you lost."

"Go back and practice again, junior brother."

Finishing, Li Ronglan clasped her five fingers, and Zhang Ting's skull instantly turned to bone dust.

"Li Ronglan, victory!!!"

As a voice echoed through the void, Li Ronglan snorted coldly, her cloak billowing in the windless cosmic void. Then she slowly vanished, and the entire universe space was sealed at that moment.

Virtual Space, atop the Extreme Heaven Vajra Gate Plaza.

Li Ronglan, as the Direct Transmission Disciple's first battle victor, wore a radiant smile, held a bottle of mineral water in her left hand, raised a smartphone in her right, and kept waving to the audience.

"Thanks to Rongguang Group! Thanks to Tianlong Group! I only drink Rongguang brand mineral water, and only use the Tianlong G25 phone!"

The first match was a duel between the sect's strongest disciples, naturally maxing out spectacle and intensity.

So boosting strength is indeed useful; after all, endorsements fit perfectly.

The second match featured the sect's third Direct Transmission Disciple, the Second Demon of Heaven, against another first‑rank disciple; since the opponent wasn't a Direct Transmission Disciple, the outcome was unsurprising.

The next day, Second Demon crushed that first-rank disciple with overwhelming force. Although the opponent was the number one among the non-Direct Transmission Disciples, compared to the sect's Direct Transmission Disciples, his strength was still far too lacking.

The maximum speed of a first-rank martial artist was 0.22 times the speed of light, but the speeds of Qin Xiang's few Direct Transmission Disciples were basically around 0.3 times, with the senior apprentice sister Li Ronglan being a heavyweight, directly reaching 0.4 times the speed of light.

Moreover, this was her speed in her normal state. After activating True Martial and War God, she could even push her speed up to 0.65 times, which was practically on par with her master Qin Xiang's normal speed.

Second Demon's opponent should have been Wang Wu, strictly speaking, but with Wang Wu's cultivation realm...

So after easily finishing off his own opponent, Second Demon looked at Wang Wu, gently shook his head, and let out a sigh.

Among the four Direct Transmission Disciples, three had strength at 0.3 or even 0.4 times the speed of light, yet this abstract disciple Wang Wu was merely a fourth-rank within the middle three ranks.

Of course, others might think Wang Wu was exceptionally gifted, which was why Qin Xiang had taken him in so early. But as Wang Wu's senior fellow apprentices, these few naturally knew Wang Wu's cultivation speed.

It could only be said... well, he counted as decent, probably about the same as the cultivation speed of those first-rank and second-rank disciples.

But he was clearly far, far too distant from true 'geniuses' like them, and was not even as good as the top performers among the first-rank disciples.

Wang Wu took drugs, and he took a lot of them, to be able to reach the fourth-rank realm within a year or two.

However, this wasn't really anything shameful; everyone used medicine. It was just that the road ahead, even if you mindlessly upped the dosage, was still not an easy one to walk.

It could only depend on this little junior disciple's own efforts.

With that, the Direct Transmission Disciples' exhibition matches all ended. Just like World Li Ronglan, Second Demon also frantically blasted a wave of advertisements after the matches ended.

After the matches, Second Demon also came over to Wang Wu's side. He didn't say anything, just gently patted him on the shoulder, telling him to work hard in the future.

After the Direct Transmission Disciples came the battles among the upper three-rank disciples, and only after that came the middle three ranks. By then, several days had already passed in the virtual space.

It could only be said that the three female monsters had been having too good a time these past few days, but there was no helping it—Wang Wu still spoiled them too much.

Five days later, the competition for the middle three-rank and fourth-rank disciples.

"Extreme Heaven Vajra Sect's Wang Wu, versus Extreme Heaven Vajra Sect's Xie Tianli!! The match begins!!!"

With the referee's announcement, the two also appeared on an incredibly desolate plain.

"Hehehe, boy, you think you're worthy of being Lord Qin Xiang's disciple?"

The two sides were separated by several hundred kilometers. Xie Tianli floated in the air, his body already transformed into a demonic form, and he spoke cruelly to Wang Wu in the distance:

"Today, I will utterly crush and destroy you, and let Lord Qin Xiang know that I am the perfect candidate to replace you!!"

"Your motherfucking ass, you want to become a Direct Transmission Disciple without spending a single cent, why don't you just go die?"

Looking at Xie Tianli's sinister expression in the distance, Wang Wu cursed expressionlessly.

Then, the two figures vanished in an instant, and lightning flashed in the sky. The air ionized from the high temperature, turning into a blue ocean.

"Die for me!!! Demon-Piercing Star!!!"

Evil light blazed, golden radiance flared, and the sky in that moment became vast and majestic, yet also eerily enchanting.

Accompanied by Xie Tianli's unbridled laughter, the entire world seemed to fall into madness.

"Hmph, ridiculous."

And following closely behind was Wang Wu's still calm mockery, betraying no discernible emotion.

(Chapter end)