Martial Ascent to Divinity-Chapter 605 - 585: Duel Challenge

By the bridge by the Longyou River, Hu Yi held a take-out red packet and ordered a burger war, two dollars, two big burgers plus a cup of cola, and a box of fries.

Slowly finishing, he stuffed the remaining trash into the garbage bin.

Walking over to the taxi, he shook his neck.

Ever since he took the three Replenishing Essence Pills sent by Zhou Leng, his health had been improving day by day.

With just a little cultivation every now and then, he inexplicably broke through the Qi Refining period and entered the Blood Transporting Period, and his Qi Blood grew quickly, far surpassing the young talents from his school before.

After asking around some friends, he realized that he was the type who was both unlucky and fortunate.

Unlucky because his body was likely damaged, perhaps from long-term drinking of polluted water, ingestion of microplastic particles, heavy metal poisoning, illness, and so on, which led to underlying health issues.

These problems affected the operation of his cultivation techniques, which was why Hu Yi’s strength had been average in the past.

The fortunate part is that after taking the three Replenishing Essence Pills, those underlying issues were eradicated, the negative factors affecting his cultivation techniques were removed, and once everything returned to normal, he regained his original strong aptitude, progressing rapidly in cultivation.

Hu Yi suspected that many classmates were actually like him, with various talents, but unfortunately, during their growth, they were worn down by external forces.

Another important reason was the new National Divine Technique, "Body of Tenacity," which gradually strengthened his body.

Thinking of Zhou Leng, he heaved a sigh.

He knew Zhou Leng was more upset than him now, so he occasionally asked about him but didn’t want to disturb too much.

Because he had experienced shutting himself off too, wanting to stay quietly alone, rejecting communication with the outside world.

If it were him, having reached such a glorious peak only to end up with a severed martial path, he would probably have jumped into the river by now.

However, ultimately, he couldn’t let go, so he sent a message yesterday asking if they could visit if there was a chance.

Just then, Feng Wenhao sent a message.

"Hu Yi, have you found your dad?"

Hu Yi was stunned for a moment, glancing around.

Last year, right here, by this river, on this bridge.

Feng Wenhao asked if he’s found his mom, and today, he’s asking about his dad.

It’s like a loop, a repetition.

Hu Yi’s hand trembled for a long time before he replied, "Not yet."

"There’s definitely still a chance, take it slow, you will find them. I’m always keeping an eye out for you at the Martial Guard Bureau, and will contact you at once if there’s any news related to the Demon Worship Sect."

"No need, the Demon Worship Sect already took my mom and sister, my dad and brother, they were probably refined into Demon Spirit Artifacts. They’re gone, I’ve given up."

"There’s still a chance."

"I know you’re trying to comfort me, but after realizing both my mom and dad were gone, I suddenly found out that I should grow up and must grow up. I must accept certain realities. By the way, don’t tell Zhou Leng about this, I don’t want him to worry about me."

"Rest assured, I have told our classmates and friends not to tell him about this, he’s going through tougher times than us, sigh."

"How’s he doing?"

"No news yet, but someone is framing him for colluding with the Huang Meng Sect and exposing the list of Supreme Court members."

"Has the Demon Worship Sect not retreated yet?"

"The Demon Worship Sect never rests."

"You guys at the Martial Guard have your hands full, be careful and stay safe."

"Safety? Safety isn’t the most important thing, our biggest fear is getting heart-weary. Nobody knows which beast above is part of the Demon Worship Sect, leaking bits of information or creating incidents, and our efforts go to waste. With Zhou Leng’s situation, do you think those above are blind? They know better than anyone, but when their own hand makes a mistake, can they punish it? They can only put up with the dust on their heels."

Hu Yi asked, "I’ve heard, the assets of human Legends are being moved abroad, and the assets of human Demigods to the Demon Purgatory in the Otherworld? Upgraded?"

Feng Wenhao naturally understood that Legend and Demigod were code words, saying, "This indeed is happening, just a repeat, not something new."

"This time, in the disclosed information, it says that the things they’ve done were one of the core reasons for the economic collapse in recent years?"

"Sigh... On this matter, I dare not speak much. I can only give a simple example, how did so many people, so much land, so much money and grain, so many soldiers in the Ming dynasty lose to tens of thousands of Manchus? Isn’t it because from the Emperor to the civil and military officials to the gentry, they collectively courted disaster and defected? Just like your parents, do you really think it’s... cough cough..."

Feng Wenhao suddenly paused, coughed gently.

"You rarely spoke of these things before." Hu Yi noted.

"Before, I was in school and didn’t interact with society. Recently, I’ve been running around everywhere as an Apprentice Martial Guard and after getting provoked by the incident with Zhou Leng, I suddenly realized, if even Zhou Leng can’t protect himself, what about me? It’s like a mortal Demon Purgatory. Nowadays, many people are more and more miserable, worse off than in past years, the situation has accumulated to a certain tipping point. The old methods aren’t working anymore."

Hu Yi suddenly laughed, "But they will still use the old methods, and so will we."

"Let it go, lately I’ve run into a lot of distressing stuff, just talking a little more, I’ll speak less of this in the future."

The two chatted idly for a bit more.

Hu Yi leaned against the car, smoked a cigarette.

In the drifting smoke, he thought of many things.

Lately, he heard a rumor.

They say the reason the Demon Worship Sect captures children, women, and men isn’t because the Demon wants to eat people, but because the Zhao Family is hungry.

The headquarters of the Demon Worship Sects in other countries can be found, but the local headquarters has never been exposed.

Guoyun Exploration Company.

For the past few months, Li Linhan felt like he was dreaming.

At first, everything seemed normal.

But ever since going with Zhao Lianshuo and Xue Chengsong to visit Gao Tianlong’s company, a slew of unfortunate events came pouring in.

Colleagues made things difficult, higher-ups knocked him down, eventually assigning him to the waste processing workshop.

That’s the dirtiest, most smelly, hardest workshop in the entire factory.

After entering that workshop, Li Linhan, carrying the title of "Specialist," left early and returned late every day, exhausted and reeking.

Thankfully, he took the pill given by Zhou Leng, otherwise, his already disabled body would have certainly collapsed.

The whole company knew that certain departments were "Cold Palaces," leading some people to gradually cut off contact with him.

Strangely, not long after, for some unknown reason, Li Linhan was transferred to the quarantine department and promoted to deputy manager.

From the Cold Palace, he was directly promoted to a department that was neither too laborious nor devoid of benefits and authority.

Li Linhan was confused himself; he inquired around but couldn’t understand what had happened.

Later, the Niu family from Xiong City approached him; after talking for a long time, they realized that Li Linhan couldn’t understand and finally expressed their hope for reconciliation with Zhou Leng, then he started to understand the situation.

He didn’t know what to do, so he discussed with his comrades to maintain the status quo without making changes.

He now often visits Zhao Lianshuo’s home to comfort the old platoon leader.

After the Zhao family borrowed the Broken Sword, it has yet to be returned.

Recently, Zhao Lianshuo started to grasp what was happening; it wasn’t about borrowing the sword for exhibition, the Zhao family actually intended to reclaim the sword, otherwise, they wouldn’t have sent such a generous gift.

Zhao Lianshuo was so angry that he couldn’t sleep for several days, but he was helpless against the Zhao family.

Gao Tianlong was actually right; in the eyes of the Zhao Palace, if one doesn’t make it to the Grand Council list, they aren’t worthy of the Zhao surname, at most they are small-town Brahmins.

Yet, those little-town Brahmins always felt that they carried the Zhao surname, but in the eyes of the Zhao Palace, they were less than dogs.

The reason Li Linhan often went to Zhao Lianshuo’s house was because he discovered that the old platoon leader was behaving strangely.

Initially, he merely mumbled about the Broken Sword.

Later, he started to repeatedly read the East Monarch’s Collection, sometimes even uttering something completely unpredictable.

"Saint Zhao once said something quite baffling to me that if one day the Broken Sword was taken away, then we should abandon illusions and prepare to struggle."

Now in his sixties, Zhao Lianshuo resumed cultivation, working very hard.

He said he was once a warrior under Saint Zhao, and he still is now.

Li Linhan felt that Zhao Lianshuo was mentally disturbed due to the loss of the Broken Sword and being mocked as unworthy of the Zhao surname, so he could only accompany him more.

Xiong City.

The undercurrents were surging.

Chen Shouhu and Wang Boxiong, two upper-rank Grandmasters, challenged the sixteen families to a Grandmaster Life and Death Platform.

Each side brought nine Grandmasters, three each from the lower, middle, and upper ranks, to engage in a ring battle at Shuizhou Demon City.

Life and death are irrelevant.

Initially, the sixteen families evaded, rejected variously, and pressured them, filing complaints to the Demon City Army.

But the Demon City Army’s answer was straightforward; not only were they members of the Demon City Army, but they were also Martial Artists.

Human Martial Artists have the right to challenge Martial Artists, and the Martial Mansion could not intervene.

Then, Chen Shouhu and Wang Boxiong destroyed the sixteen families’ mines in various Demon Cities and plundered their caravans.

In just a month, they lost over tens of billions.

The sixteen families employed all sorts of tactics, using both hard and soft means, even inviting Zhao Hao himself to visit the Chen family behind Chen Shouhu and the Zhu Shiji family behind Wang Boxiong.

But they returned without success.

This marked the first time in years that the Zhao Palace officially intervened but returned empty-handed.

This was an extremely unusual signal.

Afterwards, rumors about the Zhao family began circulating among major powers.

The god, bled.

It’s said that Zhao Hao flew into a rage over this, ordering the sixteen families to resolve things themselves.

After procrastinating for a long time, both sides finally set a date, March 15, at Shuizhou Demon City, on the Grandmaster Life and Death Platform.

Life and death are irrelevant.

The sixteen families agreed to the life and death platform, but with one strict condition.

The information must be kept confidential, and parties are not allowed to spread the news.

Inside Zhao Palace.

The sound of splashing foot bath water reverberated.

"Uncle, don’t be angry, don’t look at how they are causing trouble now, in the future, the world will still have to rely on you."

"A long journey tests the strength of a horse, time reveals a person’s heart. Someone was always talking in front of me about how arrogant you and your brother are, especially you, throwing your weight around, not considering others. I never understood, how could such a delicate girl, gentle and sweet, be like that. Now, some people avoid suspicion as they see a shift in the wind, but you are still so obedient, how could you possibly be like what they say."

"I don’t care about what happens outside, no matter what others say, you are my uncle, and I’m your niece, that’s a fact you must accept."

"Haha, you..."

"Chen Shouhu and Wang Boxiong, are too rampant. This time, on the surface they are seeking justice for Zhou Leng, but in reality, they have become strong enough to avenge against Ma Xingkong from back then. I heard people say, they still resent our Zhao family for protecting the sixteen families, this time, they came directly for us."

"They are still too young. Do they really think that after opening the life and death platform, they can rise up there?"

"Huh? Can you prevent them from getting on the platform?"

"You’ll know by then."

"Since you are personally intervening, the outcome is already determined."

Fierce Beast World.

Zhou Leng returned to Mammoth Lake, cultivating under the Frost Tree for a while, fully adapting to the Grandmaster Realm, he left the Fierce Beast World, running towards Shuizhou Demon City.