Chapter 848: Xu Jingming! Inspector of the Demon Capital?

Lyen acquired quite a few things from the Flower Goddess ruins.

But the vast majority were records and books related to cultivating rare flowers, exotic plants, and plant life.

These items would likely interest the Silver Moon Trading Guild, which rose to prominence through rare flora, but held little value for Xu Jingming.

The most useful among them were still the eleven seeds of plant life.

Plant life is divided into three tiers: Common, Rare, and Top-tier.

Thornsword Grass is a Rare plant life, and nine of these eleven seeds are Rare!

The remaining two are even rarer Top-tier plant life!

Compared to an adept's abilities, they are equivalent to S-rank abilities!

Ironline Lotus is one of these two Top-tier plant life seeds.

The other is called "Purple Blood Vine," and like Thornsword Grass, it leans heavily toward offense.

"If I want to cultivate the Ironline Lotus from seed to ninth rank, how long will it take?"

Xu Jingming asked after a moment of contemplation.

"Two months is enough," Eva replied cheerfully.

"Only two months..." Xu Jingming murmured in awe.

An S-rank adept, from awakening to ninth rank, requires at least a decade.

Along the way, they must endure countless dangers; if they perish midway, everything is lost.

Yet with plant life paired with Plant Holy Water, it takes merely two months to complete what an adept would spend over a decade to achieve.

It truly is astonishingly unnatural.

Even he, with the Deep Blue System, cannot match it.

"Plant life differs from humans; humans are bound by genetic locks.

Each ascent requires absorbing sufficient Yuan energy to break the lock before advancing to the next tier.

But plant life has no such restriction—given sufficient energy, breaking through to a Supreme-tier in a single year is no issue."

Seeing Xu Jingming's awe, Eva smiled and explained, "Of course, this breakthrough for plant life isn't without limits.

Each breakthrough raises the energy required for the next by an exponential factor.

For example, Thornsword Grass needs less than one cubic meter of Plant Holy Water to advance from seventh rank to ninth rank lower tier.

But to push it from ninth rank lower tier to ninth rank middle tier, even feeding it all over two cubic meters of remaining Plant Holy Water may not suffice.

While humans find breaking genetic locks difficult, the difficulty does not rise exponentially.

Otherwise, Blue Star could never have produced any Supreme-tier beings."

"I see."

Xu Jingming nodded, thinking: "Then save the remaining Plant Holy Water for the Ironline Lotus and Purple Blood Vine."

Since giving all the Plant Holy Water to one plant life might not even push it to ninth rank middle tier,

it's better to cultivate three ninth rank lower tier plant life instead.

Then you'd have three ninth-rank combatants: one A-rank, two S-rank.

Alone, he would rival some top international factions.

"Besides plant life, the other loot came from Tianjian."

A flash of light from the space ring revealed a white bone, roughly fist-sized, in his hand.

It was the Space Bone Tianjian used to seal space.

"This Space Bone is even larger than the one we seized last time.

Once we return to Daya, Jingming, you can test its maximum teleportation range—it should exceed two hundred kilometers."

Sitting beside him, Ling Shuang smiled faintly, "Space-infused bones are exceedingly rare—once lost, they're gone forever. Tianming Sect has suffered a heavy loss this time."

Space-affinity abilities are rare not only among human adepts but among beasts as well.

Space-infused bones are rarer still; a single beast with space ability might produce only one such bone at best.

"A two-hundred-kilometer teleportation range can save your life in a critical moment."

Xu Jingming nodded with a smile.

Come to think of it, Tianming Sect truly is his lucky star—every encounter yields him plenty of benefits.

As Xu Jingming and Ling Shuang flew toward Daya, the appointment of Magic Capital Inspector was simultaneously posted on Lei Ting Martial Arts' official website.

A stone thrown into a pond stirred countless ripples; the forum erupted with discussion.

"Magic Capital Inspector? Holy shit! Lei Di is awesome!"

"I recall this position requires immense strength, right?"

"Of course—at least ninth rank peak!"

"Ninth rank peak? But Lei Di hasn't reached that level yet, has he?"

"Heh, what can you do? He's the headmaster's student—some favoritism is inevitable."

"Inevitable? Xu Jingming is the headmaster's student—he shouldn't be given this! In my opinion, Liu Shan is far more suitable!"

"......"

Xu Jingming has walked a path bathed in countless lights.

Within Lei Ting Martial Arts, many regard him as a role model.

Of course, there are also many who dislike—or even hate—him.

Under Hu Jinyu's instructions, Zhao Ling mobilized all resources to question the appointment, stoking the fire from behind.

Soon, a storm of debate erupted within Lei Ting Martial Arts over who was more suitable for the role of Magic Capital Inspector.

Xu Jingming's diehard fans naturally raised no objections.

But some neutral individuals, neither siding with Su Qingli nor with Hu Jinyu, could not help but harbor doubts about Su Qingli's arrangement.

Virtue does not match one's position; appointing someone lacking sufficient strength is certainly not something a good hall master should do.

And Hu Jinyu wanted exactly this effect...

"Next, Great Xia will launch a full-scale investigation into any possible Tianming Sect members within its borders.

No Tianming Divine Messenger is permitted to exist; all martial academies, military legions, and guilds must fully cooperate."

In the virtual world, beneath an infinite expanse of starry sky.

The Great Xia National Assembly convened here, each seat occupied by a ninth-rank powerhouse radiating an extremely dangerous aura.

The meeting had already lasted over five hours when Cao Jun, as chairperson, announced the final resolution on the Tianming Sect.

Total annihilation!

Not a single Tianming Sect member shall be spared!

Simultaneously, locate the new Divine Blood technique granting Tianming Divine Messengers ninth-rank combat power.

"Do any of you have other questions?"

With the Tianming Sect issue resolved and the meeting nearing its end, Cao Jun asked his final question.

"I have a question: if there are ninth-rank beings in the Yer Secret Realm,

how did the eighth-ranks from other nations survive—and how did Great Xia acquire the most rare flowers and herbs?"

A ninth-rank delegate clad in a white battle suit, with faint white flames flickering around him, spoke up curiously.

His words immediately drew the attention of the other delegates present.

Although the results of the Global Martial Academies Exchange Competition had been announced, Lei Ting Martial Academy had crushed all others with overwhelming superiority,

no one truly understood how they achieved it.

Especially after learning the secret that a ninth-rank Tianming Sect member had appeared in the secret realm.

"It was Xu Jingming—he killed the Tianming Sect's ninth-rank and seized the rare flowers and herbs from other nations."

Cao Jun had anticipated this question and replied, "As for how he accomplished it, I cannot elaborate for now; you only need to know he possesses A-class ninth-rank combat power."

His tone was utterly calm, yet the effect was like hurling a massive boulder into a still lake—instantly igniting a storm of shocked murmurs throughout the assembly.