Chapter 55: Chapter Fifty-Seven: Emergency Meeting

Ji Heng suffered defeat.

If it had been a month ago, perhaps it would have caused a not-small disturbance.

But over the past month, Jiāng Jiāng has basically instantly defeated everyone except the top ten newcomers; hearing that Jiāng Jiāng defeated Ji Heng would make people a little surprised, but it's still far from being truly surprising.

A month's buildup has already let most people accept Jiāng Jiāng's strength, so the result of this battle no longer has a stunning effect.

And this is also Jiāng Jiāng's 'soft low-key' plan devised after much thought.

Jiāng Jiāng came to Dragon Gate for two reasons: one is to increase strength to help Chén Chén escape the trouble of the World Tree; the other is to develop and rely on powers to help Chén Chén get rid of the World Tree's trouble.

As for increasing strength, it has been proceeding step by step; two months have passed, and Jiāng Jiāng has already become a War God powerhouse once thought unattainable.

Although judging by the current situation, a War God powerhouse might at any time fall into the category of the weak.

For now it's impossible to have the strength to protect oneself and Chén Chén, so Plan Two must be activated; this is also why Jiāng Jiāng has to accept so many challenges.

Perhaps it's because the Thunderbolt Martial Hall has been suppressed too harshly by the Extreme Martial Hall for years; here at Dragon Gate, the senior brothers and sisters of the Thunderbolt Martial Hall seem especially solicitous toward this little junior sister.

Since such resources are available, Jiāng Jiāng naturally does not waste them; she accepts the senior brothers' and sisters' small classes and some gifts that are quite helpful for the current stage.

This approach is also learned from Chén Chén.

There are two quick ways to build good relations with others: one is to give others goodwill, the other is to accept others' goodwill.

Jiāng Jiāng also roughly guessed the means Ji Heng used; in terms of information, Jiāng Jiāng will definitely not lose to a 'martial idiot' who only knows cultivation all day.

Dragon Gate Dao Hall.

One of Dragon Gate's most important treasures, it can help War God-level beings gain the opportunity to break through to the planetary level, and it is also the most important training ground for planetary-level powerhouses.

Because the place is precious, every second spent inside consumes contribution points.

Jiāng Jiāng has not left Dragon Gate to hunt during these past two months, so her only contribution comes from the rewards of the Challenge Tower and the Gravity Abyss.

Passing the first layer of the Challenge Tower yields a hundred contribution points; the second layer's planetary-level boss is not something Jiāng Jiāng can easily handle right now.

The Gravity Abyss, likewise, grants a reward of a hundred contribution points upon entering the central area of its first layer.

Two hundred contribution points, after deducting Dragon Gate currency expenses, are roughly enough to buy two copies of the 'World-Extinguishing' Secret Manual; but if used in the Dragon Gate Dao Hall, they only last two hours, showing how precious it is.

According to the senior brothers and sisters of the Thunderbolt Martial Hall, even the masters of the Two Great Martial Halls would need to spend the same amount of contribution points to enter the Dao Hall.

Likewise, according to the senior brothers and sisters, the true benefit of the Dragon Gate Dao Hall lies in training after the planetary level, which is also why entering it can assist in breaking through to the planetary level.

Two hundred contribution points require slaying two hundred Initial Lords; converted to outside currency, that amounts to hundreds of billions, already a considerable sum. Jiāng Jiāng, who suffers from 'bankruptcy phobia,' immediately consulted Chén Chén's opinion.

Chén Chén still needs to conceal his identity, so Jiāng Jiāng is not in a hurry about this minor matter.

They finally decided to store them together for use when breaking through to the War God stage.

With sufficient resources and the foundation of good living these past years, Chén Chén and Jiāng Jiāng's genetic primal energy progressed quickly, with Chén Chén reaching the High War God first.

Jiāng Jiāng's physical condition has also reached the limit of the Initial War God, and her mental power is nearing the High War God; breaking through to the planetary level is not far off.

After this, Jiāng Jiāng's strength was beyond question, and not long after, she voluntarily initiated her first challenge at Dragon Gate, but was defeated by Luofeng.

Of course, that's a story for later.

……

As the true protagonist of this book, the protagonist Chén Chén, who has been idle for many chapters, now truly controls his primary alternate identity and convened a general meeting in the War God Palace.

This is the highest-level emergency meeting; according to the rules, such a high-level conference is convened only when it concerns major affairs of the human race.

In the top hall of the War God Palace, nearly a hundred 'Senator-level' powerhouses gathered, among whom were also leaders from various large and small nations.

Seated in the center was not the founder of the War God Palace, Hong and Leishen, but merely the sixth-ranked Sixth Chairman, who is also the foremost publicly known power of the World Tree—'Qian'.

If anyone else stood in that position, whether from the Two Great Martial Halls or other powerful individuals worldwide, they would surely feel dissatisfied.

But only 'Qian'—even if he behaved out of line—would not provoke too much dissatisfaction.

Over the past five years, Chén Chén, using Qian's alternate identity, traveled around, saving many War Gods or Senators, and helped one city or nation after another that lacked the ability to cope with beast tides.

Among the War Gods present, some had been saved by Chén Chén, some had fought side by side with 'Qian,' and some had even broken through to become Senator-level powerhouses thanks to Qian's guidance, carrying a master-disciple bond.

Although Qian lacks the titles of first and second strongest like Hong and Leishen, no one would think his strength is inferior to theirs.

As early as four or five years ago, rumors spread that Qian had clashed with the world's strongest, Hong; the outcome was unknown, but over these years, the only one deemed worthy to exchange blows with Hong has been Leishen alone.

Leishen's subsequent third, fourth, and fifth chairmen are all considered Hong's juniors; in terms of strength, they naturally lack the qualification to contend with Hong, at most being Hong's one-sided guidance.

But Qian's clash with Hong was clearly not like that.

According to rumors, after Qian and Hong clashed, Leishen instead took the initiative to challenge Qian, which is quite thought-provoking.

Originally, the five chairmen of the War God Palace were roughly ranked in order of strength, but examples like Qian rising later have gradually appeared, the chairmanship rankings have slowly shifted and lost their solemnity, and the absolute authority of Leishen and Hong over the War God Palace was weakened without anyone noticing.

Moreover, Chén Chén's active presence over the years, without regard for appearance, may not surpass Hong and Leishen, but is roughly enough to earn equal respect from most War God Palace powerhouses as they do.

In the War God Palace's top hall, many have already gathered, because in recent years the Senator-level powerhouses emerging from Dragon Gate have begun to disperse the influence within the War God Palace with fresh blood.

Little A Yun's seeds planted through the illusion trial are also gradually taking root and sprouting in the hearts of these children.

Everyone waited a long time in the meeting room, but the five chairmen made no sound, and naturally the audience remained silent as well.

Everyone was waiting for Chén Chén, the convener of this meeting, to speak, while Chén Chén was waiting for the audience's emotions to brew a bit.

Until one person finally spoke, but it was not Chén Chén; it was a white senator with blond hair and blue eyes from the audience.

"Your Excellencies, the three chairmen, if you are waiting for the third, fourth, and fifth chairmen, I think they won't come."

All eyes in the conference gathered on this senator.

This white senator is named Tangji·Luotuoluomu, who also rose to prominence in the post-Great Nirvana era, considered one of the earliest powerhouses in North America, and is quite renowned among North American Senator-level powerhouses.

"Not only will they not come today, but from now on, they will not attend any of the War God Palace's meetings."

"Because they have decided, effective immediately, to withdraw from the War God Palace's Human Alliance and face the monsters alone."

The audience erupted in an uproar.

"What?"

"How is that possible? Are they trying to betray humanity?!"

"Impossible..."

Silence.

Chén Chén finally spoke, his voice low and solemn, and everyone fell silent at once.

He had not responded to Tang Ji's topic.

This emergency meeting was convened because of a major matter concerning humanity's future.

Since the Great Nirvana ended, the war between humanity and monsters has dragged on to this day without ever stopping.

And everyone present should also be clear that the reason this relative peace has lasted these past few decades is because both humanity and monsters feel that such a stalemate benefits them.

Both monsters and humanity believe they can win.

Thus this rhythm of mutual peace and mutual development has not been broken.

And now, this so-called period of peace is about to end.

Chén Chén brought up a map; it clearly corresponded to maps of the world, with numerous red dots scattered across land and sea.

A technician standing beside Chén Chén rose, gave a brief salute to the other councilors, and began to explain:

What is being displayed now is a rough distribution map of monster Beast Generals and above worldwide, based on satellite and Nature Spirit surveillance.

Human cities and the areas near them are mostly green; these regions have few Beast General deployments and no discernible pattern.

Inland monster gathering points are mainly abandoned human cities and complex terrain of massive mountains and hills; each gathering point accumulates many red dots, turning into deep red.

But in the oceans where monsters hold absolute dominion, sea beasts have a strong hierarchy and territorial awareness, and their deployments are relatively regular.

Vast expanses are uniformly covered with red dots, and every inch of this ocean will be humanity's enemy.

Seeing the green dots surrounded by red on the map, the councilors present all drew a sharp breath.

As humanity's top combatants, we all had a rough idea of the war against monsters, but the impact of seeing this distribution map is obviously much stronger.

Of course, there are also some special places where the entire landmass is surrounded by green seas.

In the decades since the Great Nirvana ended, monsters, constrained by laser weapons, have only been able to reach a stalemate with us.

Relying on their vast living space, the number of Lord-level powerhouses appearing each year among monsters is 7.2 times that of humanity, and the probability of King-level appearance is 3.7 times that of humanity.

The monster base is huge, with a vast ocean as backing, and the weak‑strong elimination mechanism conducts massive screening; if humanity did not rely on large amounts of alien technology from ancient civilizations as support, the breakthrough multiplier would rise to an even more terrifying figure.

Such a multiplier means that, aside from technological progress, monsters are accumulating strength at a multiple of humanity's speed.

And this is merely the value humanity can detect; the actual multiplier is surely even higher.

(Chén Chén: Of course, that's what we say outwardly.)

Such a desperate fact, in the past Hong and Leishen had never spoken of it openly in the War God Palace, for it would be too damaging to morale.

Just as everyone was holding back a breath,

But we are not sitting idle; in the past four years, the number of councilor‑level powerhouses has exceeded three digits, and War God‑level breakthroughs may soon reach ten thousand.

Last year, the number of War God‑level breakthroughs worldwide caught up to the monsters' rate of producing Lords… and the number of Planet‑level breakthroughs has already achieved a reversal.

The apparent birth rate of human powerhouses has already overtaken, and this is still on the biological front; humanity's technological development over these years has also been increasing its threat to monsters.

Since the appearance of the World Tree, in this arms race between humanity and monsters, humanity has gradually begun to overtake.

Having said that, the councilors at the meeting all looked better, their spirits more uplifted.

But many also had a bad premonition, for this is an emergency meeting concerning humanity's safety, the highest‑level emergency meeting.

As the topic continued, many could guess what the technician on stage would say next.

Although monsters are not very intelligent, their information‑gathering ability is not weak; humanity's flourishing development and rising odds of victory are the worst news for them.

Following this trend, perhaps in a few more decades humanity could annihilate the so‑called monster race without effort.

The balance is gradually breaking, which also means the decisive battle will come sooner than anyone expected.

What was just shown was the previous distribution; the next map shows the recent changes in the distribution of Beast General‑level and above monsters over the past month.

The technician spoke and released a new map.

On land, many of the original small dots have converged toward major cities or large mountain‑range gathering points, and spark‑like flames from all directions have wrapped together into a blazing fire.

Originally evenly distributed red dots in the ocean have slowly moved, gradually gathering at the edges of the continents.

The ocean near the land has gradually become shallower; along the coast, especially near human seaside cities, the red turns dark red and finally becomes a mass of black.

Chén Chén, seated in the center, spoke at the right moment.

Fellow compatriots.

War is coming.