Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
By the second day, the whole school knew what had happened on the night of the 1st.
When they came to class in the daytime, the students all had odd looks on their faces.
“Rank-3!”
Fang Ping had achieved Rank-3 before the end of his freshman year. This sort of cultivation speed made a lot of people feel inferior.
Currently, there were not many Rank-3 martial artists in all of MCMAU.
When the seniors graduated at the end of this semester, there would be even fewer of them.
Right now, many of the Rank-3 martial artists were students in their senior year, not just in MCMAU but in other universities as well.
At the end of the semester, every university would hit a temporary low.
When the time came, except for a limited number of Rank-4 martial artists, there would not be more than 50 Rank-3 students in MCMAU.
The number would only start climbing next year.
In other words, Fang Ping would be a big name within the student body by next semester.
This was exactly what happened during the period when Fang Ping was newly enrolled in university. At that time, Qin Fengqing had just achieved Rank-3 and was considered one of the big shots among the students. Otherwise, he would not have become vice-president of the Martial Arts Society.
In reality, things were more obvious this time.
Right now the junior students in Qin Fengqing’s batch were not as good as the current seniors; there was plenty of talent among MCMAU’s senior students
Whether Qin Fengqing’s batch could outperform the last depended on the number of powerhouses that emerged in their final year.
…
Fang Ping ignored the stares thrown at him.
He paid attention to the lesson but felt like dozing off.
He really was looking forward to the basic Catacombs knowledge classes at night.
Bai Ruoxi had covered some material on the Catacombs before, but not a great deal, and most of it was not in-depth.
As he thought about Bai Ruoxi, Fang Ping suddenly turned around and asked, “I haven’t seen Instructor Bai recently. Is she in the university?”
Chen Yunxi’s mind was wandering, so she jumped, startled, when Fang Ping turned to her all of a sudden. She took a quick breath and replied, “She’s off-campus.”
“That’s too bad.”
Chen Yunxi looked rather doubtful. Fang Ping lamented, “Instructor Bai won’t be teaching the class tonight then. I hope it’s not going to be Old Tang.”
If one had to take classes, it was better to have a teacher who was easy on the eyes.
If Tang Feng was the one teaching tonight’s class, Fang Ping would be extremely disappointed.
After further consideration, it might not be too bad. Peak Rank-6 Tang Feng was not too boring.
…
The students in the special training classes all looked forward to their night classes.
Everyone knew about the Catacombs.
None of them knew any specifics however; all they had was a vague understanding of things.
…
During the daytime, these Rank-2 martial artists dozed off in their classes.
After dinner though, every single one of them was full of energy and high spirits, dashing towards the Classroom Block.
…
In the classroom.
Everyone was seated obediently, notebooks in hand as they prepared to take down notes. Others were holding their phones, ready to snap pictures. Right now, the atmosphere finally seemed a bit more like that of a university.
Before this, everyone looked like they were gangsters.
Yu Xianghua and Zhang Ziwei came as well, both of them still somewhat pale. They did not bother to look at Fang Ping but headed for their own group when they entered the classroom.
Fang Ping did not have any intention of talking to them anyway. He sat earnestly in his seat and waited for the instructor to come through the door.
Not too long later, an elderly instructor with a head full of white hair entered the classroom.
“Hello, students. My name is Yu Bo.”
The elderly instructor’s demeanor was gentle as he beamed and introduced himself. He continued, “From now on, I will be teaching you about the history and culture of the Catacombs.
…
“The history of the Catacombs dates back to a distant era…”
The instructor’s opening words managed to pique everyone’s interest. Someone could not help but ask, “Instructor, is it the year 1920…”
The old professor grinned, “1920 was the year the third entrance to the Catacombs opened up, not the first.
“If we trace things back, it’s clearly recorded that the first entrance to the Catacombs was actually discovered in the year 1303, perhaps even earlier than that.
“In 1303, there was a great earthquake in West Mountain Province. According to The History of the Yuan Dynasty, ‘The earth split into channels. The number of people crushed was almost impossible to calculate’.”
“What! 700 years ago?”
Everyone was completely nonplussed. Bai Ruoxi did not tell them that the first entrance to the Catacombs was discovered more than 700 years ago.
The old professor grinned, “This is mere speculation which might not be true. After all, this is something that had happened more than 700 years ago. We’re not very clear on what actually transpired.
“However, our speculations are well-founded.
“There is a sect called the Guangsheng Temple in West Mountain, which has continued its traditions for thousands of years.
“According to the Guangsheng Temple’s sect records as well as transcripts from former venerable ancient sages, more than 700 years ago, a sage from Guangsheng Temple discovered a fairyland!”
Everyone’s attention had been attracted.
“Fairyland?”
“Yes. According to the words of the Guangsheng Temple sages, this discovery happened by accident. A master from Guangsheng Temple stepped into this fairyland.
“He then returned…
“Not long after his return, a great earthquake befell them!
“The sage who discovered the fairyland was critically injured during this calamity. He could not stop repeating the phrase, “mortals must not covet, immortals will punish the human race”. He died of fear and terror after that.
“We can deduce from this that the Guangsheng Temple’s sage had discovered the entrance to the Catacombs. Following that, a great tremor expanded the entrance, which triggered the earthquake.
“Besides that, the fact that the first known Catacombs entrance is located in West Mountain Province is yet more proof.
Fang Ping asked curiously, “Instructor, so the beings in the Catacombs have not attacked us in these 700 years?”
The old professor chuckled, “That is nothing out of the ordinary. The Catacombs are exceptionally large. The place is so huge that we find it impossible to explore.
“When the entrance to the Catacombs first appeared, the beings in the Catacombs might not have known about it.
“Changes within the Catacombs result in catastrophe. Man-made and natural calamities aren’t the only things that befall Earth; as long as the Catacombs entrance expands, disaster is the result.
“Therefore, earthquakes are not triggered solely from Catacombs creatures attacking the entrance. It’s that the Catacombs entrance itself is expanding.
“When the first entrance appeared initially, the beings in the Catacombs did not discover it. This is nothing surprising. Their social system is similar to that of our own dynasties in history.
“Their failure to discover the Catacombs entrance in that era is excusable.
“Besides, even if they had discovered the entrance, it’s hard to say whether or not they could have broken through to the surface.”
The old professor continued, “The reason why the beings in the Catacombs want to attack the Catacombs entrance is because they are under containment. There is a void separating Earth from the Catacombs. You could consider it a time travel tunnel or a teleporter.
“After many years of research, we think that this might be a one-way passage.
“Human beings can enter at will. However, when the beings in the Catacombs wish to come to Earth, they need to shatter the void in between before they can set foot here.
The old professor gave a self-deprecating laugh, saying, “Perhaps this is how the universe compensates the weak. The weak can enter the domain of the strong because this will not affect anything. However, if the strong enter the domain of the weak, they must pay a price to prevent the weak from becoming extinct.
“When the first entrance appeared, it could be that the beings in the Catacombs lacked the ability to break this boundary. We suspect that in the last 700 years, this isolation barrier has been gradually weakening. It was probably much stronger 700 years ago.
“So strong that even Rank-9 powerhouses were unable to break through!
“Right now, however, it has come to the point where even Rank-3 martial artists can surmount it !”
Fang Ping’s expression changed slightly and he asked once more, “Instructor, are you saying that the barrier will continue weakening to where even Rank-1 martial artists can break through in the future?”
“I think so.”
The old professor sighed and said, “Actually, this phenomenon is already very obvious.
“It has something to do with the irregular Catacombs shifts that have been happening constantly for the past few years.
“The isolation barrier was previously extremely strong. Many beings in the Catacombs were not too enthusiastic about attacking the Catacombs entrance, since they all needed to attain abilities higher than Rank-3 to exit the Catacombs.
“Currently though if the isolation barrier weakens any further, it means that the main Catacombs forces can storm right in!”
Not many of the students were affected by this revelation. Someone even asked curiously, “Aren’t Catacombs entrances opened up by the Catacombs beings?”
The old professor shook his head and answered, “I’m not sure about that. Perhaps not in the beginning. However, right now, according to the powerhouses, it has something to do with the beings in the Catacombs.
“At the very start, this type of void passage might have appeared inadvertently.
“Once the Catacombs beings learned that the passage opens out to a whole new world, the powerhouses in the Catacombs may have taken the initiative to expand the passage further.
“The reason for that is because the entrances have been cropping up too fast in the last few years. Furthermore, there is a pattern to their appearances and they seem to be planned!”
Fu Changding asked with great surprise, “Does this mean that there are powerhouses in the Catacombs who are in charge of breaking through the void?”
The old professor chuckled, “There’s no need to frighten yourself. All of you have no concept of what breaking through the void means. That would require power so extreme it cannot be achieved. Even the center of a nuclear bomb explosion would not shatter the void.
“If powerhouses like that appeared, wouldn’t the human race be extinct already?
“We speculate that the entrance to the Catacombs is a void passage that has long been in existence, merely hidden. When it was discovered, the other party took advantage of it to start using, and then slowly expanding the existing passage. Finally, it became the entrance to the Catacombs.
“If this is the case, the powerhouses in the Catacombs are not invincible powerhouses who bring devastation.
“This is because our Grandmaster powerhouses also can make some small use of the entrances to the Catacombs as well.
“When many Grandmaster powerhouses join forces, they will be able to seal the passage temporarily.
“Tiannan’s entrance is currently sealed.
“Of course, there’s a huge price to pay. The Grandmasters will not do this if it is not an emergency. Besides, it’s only a temporary closure. If there are powerhouses on the other side who are pushing against the barrier, it will be broken through in no time.
“The reason why I am telling everyone these things is because our Grandmasters are able to perform temporary closures, while the Catacombs powerhouses are able to do expansion. In this case, the outcome might be a catastrophic one.”
The old professor made it very clear that if the Grandmasters could seal off the entrances, and the beings in the Catacombs could expand the void passages, then they were most probably at a similar rank as the Grandmasters.
As the old professor continued the lesson, Fang Ping and the rest did not ask any more questions. They listened attentively.
The first entrance to the Catacombs was discovered in West Mountain and probably appeared much earlier than 700 years ago.
The second entrance to the Catacombs was discovered in Xi Wei and probably appeared more than 450 years ago.
Next was the third entrance in West Field Province in the northwest region. There was a massive earthquake in 1920. This was the most detailed record of one of the Catacombs entrances appearing.
The first few entrances were discovered in the west. After that, they started appearing one after the other in the north and the east.
Under current circumstances, based on inference, the next entrance would appear in the south.
This was what could be traced of the Catacombs’ history. The old professor even mentioned a few insider speculations.
“Some people have determined that this is actually an indication of worlds fusing.
“Before the fusion process, there is turbulence in the void. Each passage that opens up results in natural disasters caused by fluctuations in various levels of the void.
“Of course, no one can confirm these predictions for now. According to some theories, if this continues, there will be no more entrances to the Catacombs when both worlds are finally fused. It will be like the various continents now which, joined together, make up the world.”
Everyone could not help but reflect on how scary it would be if both worlds were to merge into one!
It was obvious that the Catacombs world was much stronger than the human world…
As they were thinking about this, the old professor chuckled again, “Actually, many people are eager to witness this fusion. If it is successful, a few laws might be broken; for example, the Catacombs creatures might lose their immortality once they enter Earth.
“The Catacombs is not in a technological era.
“Once that immortality is lost, do you think that the Catacombs will defeat mankind?
“Of course, this is all mere speculation. Don’t go taking unnecessary risks. Those who take risks like that are evil sects!”
The old professor’s tone turned cold and stern. “Many evil sectarian martial artists have this kind of mentality. They open up the entrances and allow the beings in the Catacombs to enter Earth at will!
“Perhaps when the number of beings from the Catacombs has increased, the fusion between both worlds will speed up!
“These evil sect members don’t deserve to be called humans!
“Don’t they know how many humans will die once the entrances have been opened?
“All this to fulfill their illusions. Must they use human survival as an experiment for their predictions?
“The beings in the Catacombs have invaded us before. In the end, it became a massacre. A massacre with no limits…
“Someone once came up with an idea on a whim. If several billion people die, the release of such mass amounts of Vitality is the prerequisite for opening up a void passage.
“According to these theorists, if billions of people are dead, all the passages will open up, and both worlds will start to fuse!
“A few wildly ambitious people have even considered using technology to conquer the Catacombs once this fusion is complete. How ridiculous and how pathetic!”
Fang Ping could not help but shudder. At this moment, he finally understood what kind of people evil sectarian martial artists were!
“Instructor, are you saying that the sects’ objective is to allow the beings in the Catacombs to invade at will so that they can massacre humans, and watch the fusion of both worlds happen?
“Not all of them. Nonetheless, this is the objective in most evil sects.”
Someone could not help but say angrily, “They must be crazy. If the human race is extinct, even if they conquer the Catacombs, what meaning will it have?”
The old professor shook his head and remarked, “They have always been lunatics. They do not care if everyone else in the world is dead.
“There are lunatics, ambitious people, and cowards in sects like these…
“No matter what, there may be innocent ones if you massacre the entire sect. Out of ten, you might only be able to kill nine—there will always be a fish that slips through the net.
“Do not mourn for these people if they are dead. If you meet them outside these walls in the future, there is no need to be remorseful even if you kill a great many of them.”
Many of these Rank-2 martial artists had completed missions before. Most of them had met martial artists from evil sects.
Departments like the Military Department had the legal authority to kill evil sectarian martial artists. Hardly any of them requested to make arrests.
Before this, everyone had thought it was too cruel. Now though, after they had learned about the evil sects’ objective, everyone instantly felt that those people deserved to die!
Many soldiers and martial artists were at the frontlines defending against an invasion from the Catacombs.
These sects actually wanted to bring such creatures to Earth. Even if the laws of the world were really broken and the beings from the Catacombs could be killed, how many people would have to die before all of that happened?
Hundreds of millions? Billions? Perhaps even at the cost of mankind’s extinction!
…
In that one hour, the old professor talked about the origin of the Catacombs, the evil sects, and listed out the locations of 22 entrances in Sino Nation currently.
He even covered many insider speculations, conclusions, and a few things about various sects!
For example, the Guangsheng Temple was the first sect to discover the entrance to the Catacombs and was still in existence. There was even a Grandmaster powerhouse overseeing Guangsheng Temple in the West Mountain. They were one of the mainstays among other sects.
Everyone was so engrossed in the lesson that the hour was up before they knew it.
The old professor chuckled, “We will continue tomorrow.”
Everyone thought it was a pity. This was much more interesting than cultural studies; alas, it was only an hour long.
“Before I forget, we still have a voting session. Everyone cast your votes right now. We’ll distribute today’s reward credit.”
The old professor suddenly recalled this matter and made the announcement.
Fang Ping sprang into action at once. He took the initiative to go forward and collect the votes.
After collecting the votes, Fang Ping looked through all the ballots. He could still remember all the faces when he was collecting the votes earlier.
“Fang Ping, 42 votes, the highest number. Zhang Ziwei, 17 votes; Yu Xianghua, 8 votes…”
Fang Ping beamed and threw a glance at both the seniors in question. They ignored him anyway. Those were votes cast by other people and had nothing to do with them. They could only constrain their own friends.
Fang Ping did not look at them anymore. The main thing was that he was always in the lead. If one day he was no longer in the lead, then he would treat both of them to a drink.
…
After the lesson ended, everyone started to discuss quietly as they walked.
Whether it was the time of the Catacombs’ initial appearance, or the theory about world fusion, or the existence of evil sect martial artists, these were the central topics of everyone’s discussion.
Fu Changding chatted a bit before saying suddenly, “Actually, I’m more interested in the sects. Guys, what do you think sectarian martial artists are really like?”
Up until now, no one had ever come in contact with a sectarian martial artist.
Fu Changding’s words piqued everybody’s interest. In their eyes, the noun “sect” was synonymous with being ignorant and backward.
However, it also symbolized mystery, and everyone was still very much interested in mysterious sects.
