Chapter 809: The Might of the Ninth-Tier Psychic! Bear Martial Arts Hall!

"The gap between high-level psychics is already enormous; the difference between eighth and ninth tier is nearly a transformation of life itself."

"You're only seventh tier upper, so even with an SS-class psychic ability, it's normal you can't beat a ninth tier."

At that moment, Ling Shuang walked up with a graceful sway and softly comforted him.

In fact,

Xu Jingming is already monstrous; a normal SS-class psychic awakening would never reach Xu Jingming's current strength.

"Powerful reaction speed and an invincible physique are merely two of the most trivial basic abilities of a ninth-tier Wu Sheng."

"The most monstrous thing about a Wu Sheng is regeneration—no matter which part of your body you shatter, it heals within one or two seconds."

"To defeat a ninth-tier Wu Sheng with an S-class ability, you'd probably have to wait until eighth tier at least."

Eva, in her sprite form, floated in midair and giggled.

"Even the head can regenerate?" Xu Jingming asked curiously.

"Of course."

Eva shook her head and said, "Thus, for a ninth-tier Wu Sheng, the head is no longer a fatal wound."

"That monstrous?" Xu Jingming was stunned.

He knew ninth-tier Martial Saints had tremendous regeneration, but he hadn't expected even the head could regenerate.

"Exactly that monstrous."

Ling Shuang smiled lightly in agreement, "A ninth-tier Wu Sheng with an enhancement-type A-class psychic ability has at least five hundred thousand units of blood qi."

"Their body is like a furnace, having transcended the ordinary concept of 'human,' almost another species."

"But if we're talking about monstrous, elemental psychics are the most monstrous."

"Once they break through to ninth tier, they gain the ability to elementalize their bodies, rendering ordinary physical attacks completely ineffective."

Hearing this, Xu Jingming couldn't help but smile.

Elementalization was indeed a terrifying ability only ninth-tier Law Saints could master.

And this was precisely why ninth-tier psychics towered above all others.

Because lower-tier psychics couldn't threaten them in the slightest.

Of course, elementalization didn't mean invincibility—ninth-tier Martial Saints could still injure elementalized Law Saints by burning their blood qi.

"S-class, Blood Sword has sent a teleportation invitation; they probably want to discuss the Yer Secret Realm."

Eva suddenly spoke up to remind him.

"Alright, teleport us there directly."

Xu Jingming nodded.

The next instant, he and Ling Shuang vanished from their spot.

When the teleportation ended, Xu Jingming and Ling Shuang appeared on a vast square.

Above their heads stretched an endless, boundless starry night sky.

Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh...

On the square, figures continuously teleported in one after another.

"Good day, Director Ling."

"Director Xu."

The Thundering Martial Arts Hall had six members entering the Yer Secret Realm: besides Xu Jingming and Ling Shuang, there were four others.

After being teleported in, these four approached with smiles and greeted them warmly.

Xu Jingming nodded in return, yet felt puzzled.

At the last Thundering Martial Arts Hall council meeting, he had met nearly all the eighth-tier Weida Masters.

This included the top eighth-tier peak and eighth-tier upper Weida Masters.

Yet among these four, apart from one eighth-tier peak and one eighth-tier upper, the other two were merely eighth-tier middle.

Recall that in the last hall exchange tournament, Thundering Martial Arts Hall's lineup consisted of one eighth-tier peak, four eighth-tier upper, and only five eighth-tier middle.

Why, now that only six are going, is the lineup weaker?

Shouldn't it be entirely eighth-tier upper?

As if sensing Xu Jingming's confusion, Ling Shuang transmitted a mental message:

"It's Hu Jinyu's doing—we only have five eighth-tier upper Weida Masters in Thundering Martial Arts Hall."

"Four of them are Hu Jinyu's people; last time, Hu Jinyu at least only kept Liu Shan from joining the exchange tournament."

"This time, he's lost all shame—he's pulled every single eighth-tier upper Weida Master away."

Ling Shuang's tone carried a hint of helplessness.

Su Qingli was the hall's director, but she truly had few usable people.

Even the sole eighth-tier peak Weida Master was originally under Deputy Director Gu Ming.

"Again, Hu Jinyu."

Xu Jingming frowned, then quickly relaxed, "Forget it, let it be. Losing two eighth-tier uppers doesn't matter—Hu Jinyu probably can't guess my combat strength is already equal to an eighth-tier peak."

Being short two upper-tier eighth-stage fighters doesn't matter—Hu Jinyu probably can't even guess that my combat power is already on par with a peak eighth-stage.

This time, their team had three combatants with eighth-tier peak strength; though the ranking system for the Yer Secret Realm hasn't been announced yet,

Just these three alone would be enough to handle most situations.

"Director Ling, long time no see. Since last time, your Thundering Martial Arts Hall's lineup seems to have gotten worse."

At that moment, a condescending voice rang out as a group of six approached from afar.

These six wore uniform attire, each with a badge on the left chest: a bear's head with jaws wide open, as if brimming with fury.

The six of them wore matching uniforms, with a bear-head emblem on the left side of their chests, its jaws gaping wide as if brimming with fury.

The one who made the sound was a burly, bald man at the head of the group.

"No matter how weak my Lei Ting Wu Guan's lineup is, our results still consistently outpace your Violent Bear Wu Guan by a notch — you don't need to worry about that."

Seeing the man at the head, Hearing Ling Shuang's gaze turned cold, and she shot back without the slightest courtesy.

Chen Yang, a core figure of Violent Bear Wu Guan, possessed a strengthening-type S-rank ability, his rank reaching as high as eighth-order mid-tier.

His true combat power was even far stronger than an A-rank eighth-order peak grandmaster!

In recent editions of the Wu Guan Exchange Tournament, it had always been Chen Yang who led the team to participate.

"Heh, before is before, now is now — in this Wu Guan Exchange Tournament, my Violent Bear Wu Guan absolutely will not be weaker than yours!"

Having his past results brought up by Hearing Ling Shuang, Chen Yang likewise showed not the slightest sign of backing down.

After tossing out that confident line, he led the others toward the other side of the plaza.

"It's people from Violent Bear Wu Guan and Lei Ting Wu Guan."

"Tsk tsk, both sides look like they're spoiling for a fight."

"Obviously — in recent years Violent Bear Wu Guan has been suppressed by Lei Ting Wu Guan.

Now Violent Bear Wu Guan has newly added an eighth-order peak grandmaster, and Lei Ting Wu Guan is caught up in internal strife, so naturally they want to regain face."

"......"

All thirty eighth-order grandmasters who were to enter the Yell Secret Realm had already been teleported over.

These people were either men of high standing, or the patriarchs of certain ability-user clans.

They were very familiar with the situation of both Violent Bear Wu Guan and Lei Ting Wu Guan.

In truth, as far as lineup went, this time Violent Bear Wu Guan was indeed a notch better.

The S-rank eighth-order mid-tier Chen Yang could be counted as an eighth-order peak combatant.

Besides that, there was also another eighth-order peak.

As for the remaining four, they were all uniformly eighth-order upper-tier grandmasters.

But on Lei Ting Wu Guan's side, not only were there two eighth-order mid-tiers, there was even Xu Jingming, a seventh-order, tagging along — it didn't look very reliable.

"Hearing Ling Shuang, long time no see."

At this moment, a tall, gorgeous woman walked over from the other side.

She first greeted Hearing Ling Shuang, then looked at Xu Jingming and said with a smile:

"Xu Jingming, we meet again. You completed the last mission very well — we found quite a few useful things from Lu Wenliang's corpse."

"Director Zhou?" Xu Jingming was somewhat surprised.

This woman was precisely the director of the Magic Capital Public Security Bureau, Zhou Yu.

So when she had said they would meet again soon, she meant at this time.

Compared with Xu Jingming's surprise, Hearing Ling Shuang instead seemed a little delighted:

"Sister Yu, you're going to the Yell Secret Realm too?"

"Yes, staying in the Magic Capital all the time is rather boring — just right to go to the secret realm and have a look."

Zhou Yu replied with a light laugh, then began chatting and laughing with Hearing Ling Shuang.

This could not help but leave Xu Jingming somewhat puzzled.

Did Zhou Yu and Hearing Ling Shuang seem very familiar with each other?

But on second thought, he felt it was normal.

Hearing Ling Shuang had after all served as principal of Magic University for three years — if she didn't even know the director of the Magic Capital Public Security Bureau, that would be the real problem.

Besides, the two of them looked about the same age, so having common topics of conversation was perfectly normal.

"By the way, Sister Yu, do you know how the rankings for this Wu Guan Exchange Tournament will be determined?"

Hearing Ling Shuang asked softly.

The Public Security Bureau belonged to the Great Xia official organization, so its information was naturally more well-informed than their Lei Ting Wu Guan's.

"Most likely it'll be based on the quantity and quality of the rare flowers and exotic herbs collected."

Zhou Yu replied.

"Oh? Then is it based only on the rare flowers and exotic herbs collected by the martial hall's people, or on everything collected by all of us from Great Xia?"

Xu Jingming was somewhat curious.

"All the Great Xia powerhouses who enter the Yell Secret Realm."

"Although on the surface this trip to the Yell Secret Realm is still under the name of the Wu Guan Exchange Tournament,

in reality it's a contest of strength and heritage among the major nations of Blue Star."

Zhou Yu lowered her voice and said with great seriousness: "I hear that the leader for Great Xia this time is my lord Blood Sword."

"my lord Blood Sword? It seems the country really does attach great importance to this Yell Secret Realm." Xu Jingming nodded slightly.

Blood Sword was a ninth-order powerhouse who had only risen to prominence in the last ten-plus years.

He was known for his vicious, ruthless strikes, and had slain quite a few foreign powerhouses.

Ordinary diplomatic activities would never arrange for Blood Sword to appear.

The fact that they had Blood Sword lead the team this time showed they had already anticipated possible clashes with other countries.

"The hidden threat of the dire beasts hasn't been resolved yet, yet the nations of Blue Star have already begun showing signs of infighting."

Xu Jingming shook his head inwardly.

Ever since humanity and the dire beasts signed the armistice treaty decades ago,

while the human population had seen a great explosion, the friction and conflicts between nations had also grown increasingly severe.

Of course,

with the dire beasts as an outside enemy, the nations of Blue Star couldn't possibly truly come to blows.

Places like the Yer Realm, where elites from all nations enter, become the perfect stage for countries to show off their strength.

"Ladies and gentlemen!"

Just as Xu Jingming was silently pondering, a voice like a great bronze bell rang out.

At the very front of the square, a man of slender build suddenly appeared, radiating an aura of endless mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

Seeing this man, those who had been whispering fell silent at once and bowed respectfully:

"My lord Xue Jian."

"I heard Xue Jian successfully broke through to the Upper Ninth Rank not long ago; now that I see him, it's clearly no lie."

Xu Jingming was secretly startled.

The aura emanating from Xue Jian was dozens of times stronger than that of Su Qingli!

"The Yer Realm is about to open. You thirty will represent Great Xia as you enter the realm to collect rare flowers and herbs."

Xue Jian wasted no time and got straight to the point: "The last time the Yer Realm opened was five years ago.

During that journey, Great Xia collected 1,132 tons of rare flowers and herbs below Grade B.

Rare flowers and herbs above Grade A exceeded thirteen tons, even including one SSR-grade rare flower and herb.

Our total collection of rare flowers and herbs ranked first among all nations, surpassing even America by hundreds of tons!

All these rare flowers, herbs, and heavenly treasures have been used solely for the people of Great Xia.

It is precisely because of this harvest that Great Xia has seen so many strong individuals emerge in recent years.

This time, you will remain in the Yer Realm for one month. I expect you to maintain the advantage of the previous generation."

Xue Jian's voice was deep and powerful, yet Xu Jingming listened with quiet amazement.

Holy hell—he had never heard rare flowers and herbs measured in tons before.

"After leaving the Yer Realm, you must surrender all rare flowers and herbs you have collected to me.

Of course, you won't labor in vain: the rare flowers and herbs you collect will be exchanged for corresponding Contribution Points."

As he finished speaking, Xu Jingming turned to Hearing Ling Shuang with a puzzled look. "What are Contribution Points?"

"Contribution Points measure your contribution to Great Xia; the higher your Contribution Points, the more potential benefits you can receive.

More importantly, you can use Contribution Points to exchange for resources from Great Xia's Resource Repository!"

Hearing Ling Shuang's fair, delicate face showed a hint of excitement.

Five years ago, she had just broken through to the Eighth Rank and thus did not enter the Yer Realm.

She never expected the reward from the Yer Realm would be Contribution Points!

"Great Xia's Resource Repository?" Xu Jingming's interest stirred.

After all, the Spirit Fox Guild was merely a Peak Eighth-Rank faction.

Even their warehouse held no shortage of valuable items.

What kind of immense reserves must the Resource Repository, gathering all of Great Xia's resources, possess?

"Additionally, the Martial Arts Academy Exchange Competition will also be held within the Yer Realm.

But unlike before, this time the final rankings will be determined by the total quantity of rare flowers and herbs collected."

Xue Jian looked at Hearing Ling Shuang and Chen Yang. "Thunder Academy and Violent Bear Wu Guan, you are Great Xia's two strongest academies."

This journey, whichever academy collects the greater total quantity of rare flowers and herbs

will receive our full support in the overall ranking against foreign academies."

As soon as he finished, both Hearing Ling Shuang and Chen Yang's eyes flashed.

Xue Jian's meaning was clear.

The stronger academy will represent Great Xia in the final ranking against other academies!

Although the Martial Arts Academy Exchange Competition is not as famous as the Global Talent Exchange Competition,

it still draws considerable attention.

If you can represent Great Xia in the end, it will be the best possible publicity.

"This time, Thunder Academy must win!"

Hearing Ling Shuang silently resolved within herself, yet her expression remained calm as she bowed respectfully:

"Understood, my lord Xue Jian."

"Hmm."

Xue Jian gave a slight nod, then added: "Also, do not attempt to hide any rare flowers and herbs you collect from the realm.

After leaving the realm, we will use specialized spatial ring detection methods.

If you are found to have concealed rare flowers and herbs without surrendering them, your Contribution Points will be revoked."

This seemed somewhat unfair—why should the rare flowers and herbs you collected yourself be surrendered to the state?

In truth, the Yer Realm was secured by Great Xia's supreme experts; you are merely laborers.

Had Great Xia no supreme experts, you would never have been granted entry to the Yer Realm.

Yet the one thing that puzzled Xu Jingming was: if you cannot hide the rare flowers and herbs, why not just use them inside the realm and not bring them out at all?