Chapter 848: Xu Jingming! Shanghai Inspector?

Ryan acquired quite a few items 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 Association, which began with rare flora, but held little use 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 ability, 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 thought.

"Two months is enough," Eva replied cheerfully.

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

An S-rank Adept requires at least a decade to advance from awakening to ninth-rank.

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

Yet with plant life and Plant Holy Water, just two months suffice to complete what an Adept spends 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 advancement requires absorbing sufficient Yuan energy to break the lock before ascending to the next tier.

But plant life has no such restriction—given enough energy, breaking through to Supreme rank within a year is no problem."

Seeing Xu Jingming's awe, Eva smiled and explained, "Of course, plant life's breakthroughs aren't without limits.

Each breakthrough raises the energy required for the next exponentially.

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

But to push it from ninth-rank lower to ninth-rank middle, even feeding it all remaining two cubic meters may not suffice.

While humans find breaking genetic locks difficult, the difficulty doesn't rise exponentially.

Otherwise, there wouldn't be a single Supreme on Blue Star today."

"I see."

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

Since pouring all the Plant Holy Water into one plant might not even push it to ninth-rank middle,

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

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

Alone, he'd 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 larger than the one we seized last time.

Once back in Great Xia, Jingming, test its maximum teleport distance—it should exceed two hundred kilometers."

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

Space-type abilities are rare not only among human Adepts but among beasts as well.

Space-infused bones are rarer still—most beasts with space abilities produce at most one such bone.

"Two hundred kilometers of teleport distance? In a pinch, it could save your life."

Xu Jingming nodded with a smile.

Come to think of it, Tianming Cult really is his good omen—every encounter yields him plenty of benefits.

While Xu Jingming and Ling Shuang flew back to Great Xia, the appointment of Shanghai Inspector was posted simultaneously on Lei Ting Martial Arts' official website.

The news sparked a storm. Instantly, the martial arts forum flooded with discussion.

"Shanghai 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. A little favoritism isn't surprising."

"Not surprising? Xu Jingming is the headmaster's student—he shouldn't be given this! Liu Shan is far more suitable!"

"..."

Xu Jingming had walked a path bathed in countless lights.

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

Yet many also disliked—or even hated—him.

Under Hu Jinyu's orders, Zhao Ling mobilized all resources to question the appointment and stoke the controversy behind the scenes.

Soon, a storm of debate erupted within Lei Ting Martial Arts over who was more fit to be Shanghai Inspector.

Xu Jingming's loyal fans raised no objections.

But some neutral members, neither aligned with Su Qingli nor Hu Jinyu, inevitably began questioning Su Qingli's decision.

Appointing someone lacking virtue and strength was not the act of a good headmaster.

And Hu Jinyu wanted exactly this effect...

"Next, Great Xia will launch a full-scale purge of any Tianming Cult members within its borders.

No Tianming Divine Envoys will be tolerated. All martial arts academies, military units, and guilds must fully cooperate."

In the virtual world, beneath an endless, boundless starry sky,

Great Xia's National Assembly convened. Each seat held a ninth-rank powerhouse radiating extreme danger.

The meeting had lasted over five hours. As chair, Cao Jun announced the final resolution on the Tianming Cult.

Total annihilation!

Not a single Tianming Cult member shall be spared!

Also, locate the new Divine Blood technique granting Tianming Divine Envoys ninth-rank combat power.

"Any other questions?"

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

"I have one: if there was a ninth-rank entity in the Ye'er Realm,

how did the eighth-ranks from other nations survive—and how did Great Xia secure the most rare flora?"

A ninth-rank councilor clad in white battle robes, with faint white flames flickering around him, spoke curiously.

His words instantly drew attention from the other councilors.

Though the Global Martial Arts Exchange results were out—Lei Ting Martial Arts crushed all others—

no one knew exactly how they did it.

Especially after learning a ninth-rank Tianming Cult member had appeared in the realm.

"It was Xu Jingming. He killed the Tianming Cult's ninth-rank and seized the other nations' rare flora."

Cao Jun had anticipated this question. "As for how he did it, I can't elaborate now. You only need to know he possesses A-rank ninth-rank combat power."

His tone was calm, but the effect was like dropping a boulder into a still lake—instantly, the entire assembly erupted in stunned, thunderous uproar.