“Yeah, don’t exaggerate.” Long Zaitian’s brows came together.
“You don’t need to test me. I’m serious.”
Long Zaitian may appear rash, but try deceiving him. I guarantee your chances were next to zero. I had no intention of a holding longwinded debate with him, either.
“Since everyone is present, I shall cut to the chase. Even with our lineup, our chances aren’t favourable. The risk of being completely wiped out still exists.”
I didn’t go out of my way to emphasise myself with intonation, but everyone piped down. Whether that was due to agreement or a desire to hear more would be up to them to elucidate. Be it Divine Realm or the ancient six evil beasts, both were mysterious topics that people in the martial arts community wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to learn more about.
“I shall start with clarifying the extent of Divine Realm’s combat capabilities.”
“Hmph.”
I rolled my golden ring. “What now?”
“Who doesn’t know Divine Realm martial artists are at the top of the chain? You’re the least qualified person to be speaking here, but I doubt even they can provide any information not already known.”
Long Zaitian wasn’t wrong. Because Divine Realm adepts were practically people from another realm to those who never reached it and Divine Realm adepts lacking understanding of it themselves, there was a lot to uncover. It was hard to study since it could neither be imparted nor analysed. Nevertheless, it wasn’t a completely foreign topic.
One of the consolidated principles was that those in the same realm could inflict damage on each other. If two people were equals in the realm department, their physical attributes would still likely differ. For instance, although Luo Ming regressed at one point, he was able to make a comeback and exceed his past limit. Abels and Luo Ming had different experiences as well as developed their bodies to the peak. Even so, Luo Ming had decades on Abels. It wasn’t easy to compensate for a gap of decades. Thus, they could determine who was superior in an experience and technical finesse contest. Luo Ming had more time to polish his skills, so he had the advantage over Abels.
“Despite the numerous difficulties with analysing Divine Realm, there is a method for measuring a Divine Realm adept’s strength.”
“And that is?” Abels inquired.
Even though Luo Ming remained composed and Uncle Feng Xue kept smiling, I could see both of them asking the same question with their gazes. Rather than say they were perplexed, they were eager to learn. If others were to think, “This guy seems more incredible than Divine Realm adepts,” then I would understand.
“There are even ways to measure the capacity of martial artists who haven’t reached Divine Realm, and it’s quite simple: Void.”
Void refers to when a martial artist first develops internal energy and their body; it’s the first level. The imperial guards are Void martial artists.
Luo Ming understood without further elaboration. “You are speaking of one versus ten?”
“Exactly. I believe you have all heard that saying. The ten refers to ten Void martial artists. Once you can defeat ten of them simultaneously, you have ascended a level.” Seeing the disagreement Uncle Feng Xue showed, I expanded, “Of course, there are many factors that make levels worthless when push comes to shove, such as internal energy that naturally counters each other and technical proficiency. For the sake of this conversation, let’s work on the premise of all else being equal.
“People often say ‘patriarch-level’ or ‘founder-level’ martial artists can solo a hundred Void martial artists. Once there are more than a hundred, the one fighting solo will be swarmed to death.
“I assume we all know what Quasi-Divine is. It’s a realm attained through maxing out human physical potential or thorough comprehension. Using brute force alone, they can kill around two hundred people. As for the mysterious Divine Realm adepts, they can singlehandedly kill a thousand people.”
Emperor Yuansheng gasped. “A thousand?”
Most likely, Emperor Yuansheng had the most vivid image of a Divine Realm adept’s abilities because he frequently saw what would be thousands of imperial guards in the deeper interior of the imperial palace. No adept without a death wish would challenge all those guards head on. In other words, whether or not he’d be assassinated in his sleep was if there was someone of the same calibre present.
“Now that we have established a base, it’ll be easier for me to get my point across. To kill one dragon, two Divine Realm adepts are needed.”
The only ones who didn’t bat an eye were the Divine Realm adepts. The reason was simple: Lai Jingzhen had to guard Emperor Yuansheng, which meant that we’d be fighting a losing battle in Nieyao should there be three dragons. I had already confirmed that there were four dragons.
“The point I want to make today isn’t strategy but to mentally prepare yourselves.” I faced the three Divine Realm adepts. “If you have any unfulfilled wishes, please be sure to fulfil them all in the next seventeen days because we may not have another chance to say our goodbyes, see our loved ones again or do our loved ones a favour. Even if we do return to them, there’s a chance we won’t be back in one piece.”
Luo Ming’s heart sunk when he caught me stressing “we”. Young Shiyi and Boss both kept silent.
“Please make the most of these seventeen days.”
Emperor Yuansheng queried, “Why seventeen days?”
“Because we will march into Nieyao seventeen days from now.”
