Headquarters

Heaven and earth as the furnace, the human body as the womb—forged through a thousand tempers to become refined steel! To forge a human with heaven was to be a Heavenly Being. Once a martial artist attained a flawless true body, they could lock in their essence and qi, further nurturing and purifying their spirit intent until it underwent a metamorphosis. From there, they could replace Heaven's will with their own heart and summon Heaven's intent with human will, thereby borrowing the power of heaven and earth to forge themselves. Just like an iron hammer striking an iron ingot, temper after temper, forging after forging, their physical resilience would rise into a true body of steel, a superhuman realm. Once this major realm was completely cultivated, a martial artist... Would truly possess the ability to ignore blades, spears, swords, and artillery. Even if fired upon at point-blank range by machine guns, they could hold their head high, striding forward completely unharmed while absorbing the kinetic energy of the bullets. "In the ancient era of my former world, a Grandmaster could stand against a hundred and shatter thousands of troops; a Martial Saint could come and go freely amidst ten thousand soldiers; with spirit intent, ten thousand arrows could fly at once without a single feather touching them; and at Hunyuan Flawless, with inexhaustible stamina, one could annihilate an entire nation single-handedly..." Yaoguang's thoughts turned. Yet, whether a Grandmaster or a Martial Saint, or even a Hunyuan Martial Saint, the ancients still had the means to kill them. Ordinary arrows could not pierce a Martial Saint's flesh, but heavier ballistas, warhammers, and giant battle-axes could still slay a Hunyuan Martial Saint. Of course, that was under the most extreme circumstances. If a Hunyuan Martial Saint truly lived in the antiquity of his former world, as long as he did not go so far as to slaughter the entire world, he could easily rally countless followers and establish an empire through his terrifying power and deterrence. As long as he drew breath, that empire would never decline. Yet if a Heavenly Being were placed there... Even a seventh-rank Heavenly Being who had only just forged the furnace of heaven and earth, what they brought upon the entire world would still be endless despair. Impossible to kill! With ancient technology and production capacity, such a monster simply could not be killed! Their bone density, muscle resilience, detoxifying capabilities, and digestive power allowed them to be invincible in the truest sense. They would be a true immortal, a Buddha, a divine king, and a demon sovereign all at once. Even if they acted with utter impunity across the entire world, the myriad mortals and billions of living beings could not resist them in the slightest. Any rebellion would be completely futile before the natural disasters they could stir up with a casual wave of a hand. Thus, in many relevant records, the description for this kind of existence was... "A Heavenly Being descending to the mortal world." Yaoguang murmured under his breath. Having just ended a communication, Zong Yan heard Yaoguang's words. Looking up slightly, he smiled and said, "Heavenly Being... that is what many places call powerhouses at or above the seventh heavenly layer of fiendgod body refining. A single Heavenly Being... in our world, possesses the power to destroy and overthrow any country other than Xuelong and Chixing." "Mm," Yaoguang replied. No matter how strong weapons were, they still required people to operate them. Once a Hunyuan Martial Saint cultivated a flawless true body, completely locking in their essence and qi, they further nurtured their spirit and purified their spirit intent, thereby reaching the state of replacing Heaven's will with their own heart. And even spirit intent that had undergone purification without quite reaching the level of replacing Heaven's will could still easily manipulate the minds of a dozen or several dozen ordinary living beings, bewitching their will. A dozen or several dozen people essentially represented the entire upper echelon of a country. One needed only to control these national leaders to control a whole nation, and then pit that nation against another in a fight to the death. Finished fighting? It didn't matter! Just control another country and keep going. Therefore, Zong Yan's claim that a Heavenly Being could destroy any nation outside of Xuelong and Chixing was actually rather modest. A peak sixth-rank Hunyuan Martial Saint could already do so. Of course, considering that the royal families of various countries were guarded by Martial Saints—some even having Spirit Intent Martial Saints—if those Martial Saints were willing to risk their lives to pin down that Hunyuan Martial Saint and then have the military carpet-bomb the area with artillery regardless of casualties, they could indeed drag the Hunyuan Martial Saint down with them in mutual destruction. Yaoguang did not dwell on the thought, instead focusing his mind on the fifth-rank Dao Fruit that had already condensed. Following Perception, Formless, Star Ignition, and the Great Sun Spirit-Suppressing Diagram, this was his fifth Dao Fruit... Or rather, his fifth secret technique. "Divine Descent." Yaoguang quietly sensed this secret technique. It was a spirit intent technique of self-hypnosis. Through a powerful mental willpower, it deceived the physical body's pain and weakness, hypnotizing oneself so that even under conditions of grave injury and extreme exhaustion, one could briefly erupt once more with power rivaling their peak state. Similar to adrenaline. Yet its burst effect was far superior to adrenaline. "A true technique for turning the tables in desperate straits." ... Time slipped by quickly during the drive. As a developed nation, Dayu had fairly good traffic conditions. Although the highways were not newly constructed, their quality was decent, and combined with the lack of a speed limit... The commercial van covered the more than six hundred kilometers in under five hours with ease. Soon, the vehicle arrived at a large resort on the outskirts of the city. The resort boasted a beautiful environment, with antique-styled pavilions distinctly characteristic of Dayu standing amidst lush greenery and blossoms. Two small rivers converged within the resort grounds. As Yaoguang arrived, he could even see people drifting across the water's surface in wooden boats. "These are family members of Dayu's Martial Saint seeds." Noticing Yaoguang's gaze, Zong Yan explained, "To allow the seed candidates to cultivate with peace of mind and achieve Martial Saint as soon as possible, the Jishi Society prefers that everyone bring their relatives here—even distant relatives are fine. Food, clothing, housing, and transportation are all provided by the Jishi Society free of charge." "Cultivate with peace of mind..." Yaoguang understood what Zong Yan meant. He had previously mentioned that talented, promising Martial Saint seeds would be courted by the Star Shrine. Those who could not be recruited would be directly eliminated. If those Martial Saint seeds were willing to bring all their relatives over... Whether bribery or assassination, such underhanded methods would fall apart on their own. The commercial van pulled up beside a four-story pavilion. At the outdoor parking lot by the entrance, a middle-aged man accompanied by two young men who looked like assistants was already waiting. Seeing the group get out of the vehicle, the middle-aged man hurried forward to greet them. "Elder Yan." Zong Yan nodded, while saying to Yaoguang, "This is Liu Tong. He's responsible for managing everyday living affairs here at headquarters." With that, he glanced at the man. "Has Fang Lu arrived?" "Director Fang and several supervisors are already waiting inside for you," Liu Tong said, leading the way. Zhang Tianji was left outside the door. Zong Yan led Yaoguang into the pavilion. The resort appeared quaint and classical, but in truth, technological elements permeated every corner. For instance, in the entry hall of this pavilion hung a massive screen displaying floating names. However, these names were not particularly formal; they looked more like codenames. "This is the leaderboard." Noticing Yaoguang's gaze, Zong Yan smiled and said, "Across the various nations, the Jishi Society has over thirty headquarters and more than four hundred branches, in addition to over four thousand observation posts. Every year, dozens of members are recruited from Dayu alone, and this current cohort has over three hundred people. Every one of them has at least the cultivation of a Martial Master—veritable young prodigies of the martial world. Setting up a ranking to stimulate their competitive drive and make them realize there is always someone better is quite necessary." He did not specify the exact number of headquarters and branches, clearly maintaining a certain degree of operational security. "Once your information is entered, you'll also appear on this list—in the form of a codename, of course," Zong Yan continued. He then reiterated, "It's not that our Jishi Society fears the Star Shrine. No matter how arrogant and domineering the Star Shrine may be, their deeds cannot see the light of day. If they want something done, they can only do it in the shadows. But if they were to get hold of our roster and try recruiting everyone right down the leaderboard, it would be extremely detrimental to our development." "I understand," Yaoguang said. Through his conversations with Zong Yan along the way, he had also come to understand the nature of the Jishi Society. The various nations across the Central and Eastern Continents defined the Jishi Society as a non-governmental organization, but the funding they poured into it was comparable to front-line military units. When money was requested, money was given; when personnel were needed, personnel were supplied. Under these circumstances, unless Chixing deployed actual military forces, having their subordinate Star Shrine clash head-on with the Jishi Society left them at a severe disadvantage. And once military force was deployed, the nature of the conflict changed entirely. The Snow Dragon Federation would not sit idly by. Thus, over the past eight to ten years, the Jishi Society and the Star Shrine had fought each other to a standstill, trading blows evenly. This achievement had prompted the dozens of nations across the Central and Eastern Continents to pour even more funds and manpower into the Jishi Society. However, unable to establish a crushing advantage for a long time, the Star Shrine had grown crafty as well. They had established the Rebirth Society. Although it had not grown to a massive scale due to having been founded relatively recently, without the official label of 'Chixing citizens,' they acted with utter recklessness. Furthermore, the Rebirth Society introduced a product known as 'divine blood' to corrupt the mid-to-high echelons of various nations. Under the mindset that 'the benefits belong to the royal family, but my body belongs to me,' the Rebirth Society had expanded with frightening speed. Particularly in the East Continent, which bordered Chixing, the Jishi Society's situation had grown somewhat difficult over the past year or two under the relentless pressure of the Rebirth Society and the Star Shrine. That was also why Zong Yan had struck to kill those demon soldiers of the Rebirth Society without the slightest hesitation. While he pondered, Yaoguang followed Zong Yan to a sealed conference room. Several people stood guard outside. Yaoguang glanced at them and found that without exception, every single one was a Grandmaster nurtured at the cost of burning their life potential, just like Zhang Tianji. This sight stirred his thoughts. The Rebirth Society possessed the Ten Thousand Demons Blood Soul Banner to create demons... What about the Jishi Society? What kind of immortal weapons or demon weapons did they wield? Soon, the door opened. The conference room was completely sealed off. As Zong Yan and Yaoguang stepped inside and Liu Tong closed the heavy doors behind them, a woman in her forties sitting off to the side turned her gaze toward them. "Truly young indeed," the woman remarked. "And quite formidable in strength—something apparent from the fact that he has fought and killed monsters more than once," Zong Yan said, quietly introducing her to Yaoguang. Fang Lu. Like him, one of the three leaders of the Dayu headquarters. "According to the records, he has slain a total of sixteen monsters originating from the Ten Thousand Demons Blood Soul Banner, including three fourth-rank monsters," Fang Lu stated. "There is no shame in Little Zhou losing to him." "Which is why, Director Fang, nurturing Yaoguang as the next Revelator is absolutely the most fitting choice."