“Mingze, are you looking down on me by saying that?”
Seeing Zhang Tuling’s determination, Fang Mingze felt helpless. After a moment of silence, he said, “In that case, please don’t blame me for being rude!”
Then, he cupped his hands and smiled. “Mingze greets Old Brother Zhang!”
Although he had changed how he addressed Zhang Tuling, his attitude was still very humble.
“Haha! Good, very good. Brother Mingze, please take a seat!”
Zhang Tuling smiled again at the change in greeting. Then, everyone took their seats.
Fang Mingze was arranged to sit to the right of the main seat, which showed how much importance Zhang Tuling placed on Fang Mingze.
After sitting down, one of the slightly fatter Rank-4 teachers suddenly stood up and smiled at Fang Mingze.
“I wonder if Young Master Fang is prepared to participate in the ‘Young Dragon Gathering’ of the 13 Southwest Cities half a year later?”
Zhang Tuling did not speak, but he pricked up his ears, waiting for Fang Mingze’s reply.
He was the one who had asked the chubby instructor to ask this question. This was also why he needed his help.
This country was built upon martial arts, and martial arts were flourishing. Thus, martial artists naturally had a superior status.
Because of the dangerous environment outside, it could be said that they spared no effort in nurturing martial artists.
Many cities used dojos and Daoist temples to nurture a steady stream of martial artists.
Furthermore, the road of martial arts was difficult. Not only did it require great talent, but it also required endless resources. However, there were so many martial artists that they were as countless as a school of carp moving down a stream.
Thus, resources were limited, and it was impossible to distribute them fairly to everyone. Only the fittest could survive and the strong would have priority over the weak.
The more resources were allocated to the stronger experts, the stronger they would become. Only with more and more experts would they be able to obtain more resources.
Cang City was only average in the entire Langya County. It could even be said to be the weakest city.
After all, as long as one reached the Grandmaster Realm, one could assume the role of the Guardian of the city. As for the Guardian of Cang City, Fang Yuan, he was merely a grandmaster who was at the peak of Rank-7.
Meanwhile, some of the extremely powerful city guards even had the strength of a Rank-9 grandmaster. In comparison, Cang City’s strength was indeed not that great.
Furthermore, there was not much that Cang City could distribute in terms of martial resources relative to other cities.
As a result, the Young Dragon Meeting was born in accordance with the situation and gave some hope to the giant cities that were ranked towards the bottom.
As the name suggested, this was a distinguished meeting of young people.
Every dojo, Daoist temple, or person in every giant city could send the members of the young generation to participate in the Young Dragon Meeting.
If one could obtain good results in the meeting, not only would they be able to bring more resources to the giant city they were from, but they could also show off in front of others.
Perhaps one would catch the eye of a certain expert and be accepted as a disciple. Then, they would truly be lucky. From then on, their future would be smooth sailing. It would not be an exaggeration to say that they would reach the heavens in a single step.
Zhang Tuling’s idea was simple. He wanted Fang Mingze to represent the Tuling Dojo in the Young Dragon Meeting!
As the absolute overlord of Cang City, it didn’t matter whether the Guardian’s Residence sent people to participate in the meeting or not.
However, Fang Mingze was also a student of the Tuling Dojo. Thus, there was a high chance that he could represent the Tuling Dojo to participate.
The requirement of the Young Dragon Meeting was that the participant could not be older than 25 years old.
Fang Mingze was only 20 years old this year, which was in line with the requirements of the meeting.
Although there were some exceptional geniuses in the 13 Southwest Cities who had stepped into the Battle Warrior Rank before the age of 25, they only formed the minority. The barrier between the Battle Soldier Rank and the Battle Warrior Rank wasn’t even enough to be described as a heavenly chasm, and it wasn’t so easy to make a breakthrough.
Thus, Fang Mingze would definitely be the biggest dark horse in the Young Dragon Meeting!
With his current strength, it would be an overestimation if one said that he would win more championships. However, it would definitely not be a problem for him to increase Cang City’s ranking by a few places.
If he could squeeze into the top five, he would definitely obtain some spiritual treasures.
If Fang Mingze could represent the Tuling Dojo in the meeting and achieve results, the Tuling Dojo would definitely be given more resources as the main force supporting Fang Mingze.
If these resources could be allocated to Zhang Tuling, perhaps he would have a chance to enter the realm he had always dreamed of and become the only two grandmasters in the entire Cang City.
In Cang City with a population of tens of millions, he would truly be below only one person and above tens of thousands of people. Even the Guardian Fang Yuan, a peak Rank-7 expert, would treat him with great respect.
Of course, what he did not know was that Fang Yuan was no longer the strongest person in Cang City.
There was an unremarkable young man in Cang City who was the true top expert in this city. His strength was so terrifying that it far surpassed that of a Rank-9 grandmaster. He was already at the pinnacle, and his strength was still increasing at a terrifying speed.
Furthermore, that young man even had a crippled Rank-9 ‘cat’ that was at the level of a great Beastmaster. Just his pet alone could slaughter the entire Cang City in a matter of minutes.
However, the thought of becoming a Grandmaster excited Zhang Tuling.
After all, that was a chance to become a grandmaster!
How many people wanted to achieve this goal but could not do it? Now that a chance to do so was placed in front of him, how could he not be excited!
When he looked at Fang Mingze again, the fervor in his eyes intensified.
His breathing had become slightly heavy, and he was almost completely focused on Fang Mingze, afraid that Fang Mingze would say no.
Fang Mingze suddenly realized that something was wrong.
Although he had already broken through to the Battle Warrior Rank, he was still just at the elementary stages after all. There was still a huge gap between him and Zhang Tuling. Even if Zhang Tuling had a good relationship with his father, there was no need for Zhang Tuling to be so polite.
Then, Fang Mingze finally understood. It was said that when others were polite to a person, they definitely had a request. Fang Mingze silently thought that this saying was indeed true.
Then, he thought again. The Young Dragon Meeting?
Fang Mingze’s thoughts began to stir as well. Previously, he had been prepared to participate in the Young Dragon Meeting. After all, with his strength at Rank-3, he wasn’t considered weak. However, he hadn’t thought about who he should represent.
He had unexpectedly broken through to Rank-4 and became a Battle Warrior Rank. This gave him even more reason to participate.
First, he could make the Guardian’s Residence known and meet the young experts from various cities.
Second, with his current strength, he could also obtain more martial resources for Cang City.
As for representing the Tuling Dojo, it was a trivial matter to him.
Although Cang City was not very powerful, everyone in the 13 Southwest Cities knew that he was the son of the Guardian Fang Yuan.
Fang Mingze looked at Zhang Tuling’s nervous and expectant face. Zhang Tuling had completely lost the composure expected of an expert at the peak of the Battle Warrior Rank. As a result, Fang Mingze felt like laughing, but he held back.
He was well aware of Zhang Tuling’s request. To be honest, the fact that he was able to obtain what he had today, a huge opportunity that could allow him to ascend to the heavens in a single leap, had also benefited him greatly.
If it weren’t for the fact that he was at Zhang Tuling’s dojo, he wouldn’t have had the chance to meet Wang Yi.
If he had not met Wang Yi…
Would he be able to challenge the Connate Realm? Would it be possible for him to not encounter any bottlenecks before reaching the Connate Realm? Would he have the hope of becoming a grandmaster?
All these would have nothing to do with him.
