“Yes.”
Jiang He admitted it brightly and openly. “I was left tossing and turning in bed after Yu Yuan left yesterday and couldn’t sleep the entire night, afraid that he would try to get back at us for losing face after you and I turned down his invitation. That is why I was about to discuss things with him.”
“…”
Wang Hou was not actually surprised about that.
Jiang He actually would do something like that.
However…
What does that have to do with you ascending up to Grand Luo?
Moreover, judging from the Dao presence around Jiang He, the man clearly had frightening control over his own cultivation. He was perhaps no Grand Luo novice, but as for how powerfully he was, specifically…
Wang Hou could not fathom.
“What do you mean, it does not have anything to do with it?”
Jiang He appeared a little surprised and exclaimed in surprised, “Aren’t you usually quite smart, Minister Wang? Why are you being confused now?”
“Yu Yuan is a veteran Grand Luo and the disciple of the Golden Spirit Saintess, one of the four great disciples of the Jie Sect. Leaving aside his moves and combat ability, he must possess terrific treasures—would a newbie cultivator like me, who started out less than a year ago, be able to speak to him as equals if I did not ascend up to full-fledged Grand Luo?”
Wang Hou had no comeback, and actually found that Jiang He’s words…
Made sense.
But the problem here is that it is the tier of Grand Luo… how could you ascend at a moment’s notice?
His expression darkened even as the thought crossed his mind and he appeared to be at a loss of words. “Jiang He, I know that you had started cultivating for a very short time only, but now that you are Grand Luo and having reached the level of legendary superior beings, could you not keep saying that you’re a newbie cultivator?”
It was weird even listening about it.
The two men started chuckling as their joked around.
Jiang He then said, “Incidentally, I have something to talk to the immortals about… You should come with me to the Ten Thousand Swords Sect tomorrow.”
***
Later, Wang Hou did not return to Jingdu City after having lunch at Jiang He’s house. Instead, he instead went to the Martial Arts Academy for an inspection before heading to Lingzhou City.
The city was developing rapidly—with elites guarding the city from within and a garrison stationed outside, the Martial Arts Academy was progressing rapidly. There were thousands of students and over twenty local grandmasters who ascended upon the Second Revival of Qi.
Duan Tianhe, the chief of the Lingzhou City Martial Arts Department (MAD) had reached divine-tier in martial arts himself a few days ago after he survived the Four Lesser Retributions of the Nine Heavens.
That was only because the foundation at Lingzhou City had been too weak before. However, with the strong progress of Martial Dao, there would definitely be another new wave of elites ascending in a few years.
Even the abandoned towns and villages around Lingzhou City were seeing human activity.
The villagers who had evacuated to avoid Ferals were gradually returning.
After all, there were precious few high-ranked Ferals around Lingzhou City.
As for low-ranked Ferals, various towns and villages had martial artists or superpower users, who would turn the Ferals that dared to attack villages into delicacies on the villagers’ dining table.
It was not just Lingzhou City either. The entire country was developing by leaps and bounds.
The environments of some of the city bases were too dangerous and the citizens were unable to return to their village. Still, considering the prospects of future developments, those city bases began to establish satellite cities around themselves, where farms and factories were built around it.
The satellite cities would keep the city base protected at the middle, with no more than thirty kilometers between them.
It was walking distance for elites, and they could promptly head out to offer assistant if there were any surprises.
Of course, that did not have much to do with Jiang He.
Jinyintan Village belonged to him alone now.
While the other villagers wanted to return, since the eastern end of the village had substantial farmsteads…
And yet, all of Jinyintan Village except Jiang He’s house was now in ruins. The fertile grounds on the eastern end of the village were filled with explosion craters as well as lingering spirits of Divine-tier and martial artists of other tiers, meaning that it can’t be used at all.
***
“Oh… I would be done planting all the immortal crystals I have by tomorrow.”
At night, Jiang He harvested immortal crystals while thinking to himself, “I’ll talk to those immortals tomorrow about purchasing another batch of immortal crystals. I could plant more of those before upgrading my farm…”
“Moreover, I had promised Wang Hou to summarize and break down Martial Dao into finer details…”
“It’s time to create a Martial Dao cultivation method. After all, I still have one slot to plant cultivation manuals and it must not be wasted… I should use it before I level up my farm.”
Jiang He had a headache at the thought of creating that. Even if he believed that he was gifted when it comes to creating cultivation manuals, he was unsure where he should start when he really needs to do it.
“Creating cultivation manuals is too difficult!”
He breathed a long sigh.
Leaning on his cane chair beneath the Old Tea Tree of Enlightenment, enjoying Tea of Enlightenment brewed from Origin Fluid as well as mutated grapes Boa Hancock peeled with her delicate fingers, he took out a tablet computer amidst that leisurely state of mind and started searching the web.
A thought shot through his mind.
“Since I’m creating a Martial Dao cultivation method, I would have to study wuxia novels… Eh? This novel…. Instant One-Man Army?”
“The title is weird, but let’s take a look at the summary… hmm, lower martial arts?”
Jiang He shook his head. Since the summary revealed that it was a low-martial arts novel, there was no need to study it further… but Jiang He could not help scanning through it out of curiosity.
He was hence left speechless.
How is this supposed to be low-martial arts?!
In the end, even the eternal divine spirits were destroyed. The hero could blow up cities, mountains, and even stars with his fist… and that is low-martial arts?
“Martial God…”
“Ruling the World with Your Fist…”
“The Chronicles of the Nine Cauldrons?”
“The Intercourse of the Divine Eagles… why does this title sound so weird?
Jiang He found himself a pile of wuxia novels to find inspiration from their creativity.
“Still, they set their limits too low.”
“Blowing up stars is already the best they could do, while here, any existing Grand Luo would be playing around with planets like they were glass marbles… maybe I should study higher fantasy novels to combine both for a profound martial art.”
There were much to choose from high fantasy.
Others aside, the cultivation techniques such as the Six Paths of Reincarnation Fists or the Art of Binding Divines, which Jiang He read about in several of those books, were repeated in countless other novels…
“The Six Paths of Reincarnation Fists is merely a fist technique, while the Art of Binding Divines is a little outrageous…”
“Perhaps I could first set up a cultivation system, and then expand on the techniques based on the system…”
At the, mention of cultivation systems, Jiang He could not help remembering a science fiction novel which included martial artists and cultivation. The hero would cultivate their physique when he was weaker as well as his genes, and become so awesome when he became stronger that he would name his cultivation realm according to planets, planetary systems and universes.
“I could work on that.”
Soon, it was already night.
Jiang He had a general idea on how he should develop a cultivation manual.
After dinner and harvesting another batch of immortal crystals at the farm, Jiang He had a bath in his swimming pool and went to sleep with his maids.
He slept all the way until noon next day before heading off to the Ten Thousand Swords Sect with Wang Hou.
The Ten Thousand Swords Sect was already decorated with splendor and caught in a celebratory mood.
While it was nothing much for the sect to have a Heavenly Immortal added to the sect since Heavenly Immortals were merely bottom feeders in the celestial battlefield, it was quite different since Jin Sidao was the second person become immortal through Earth’s Revival of Qi.
To be precise…
Jin Sidao was the first person who ascended to immortal after the Revival of Qi.
Jiang He did not count, given his circumstances.
In fact, Jin Sidao might well be the last person who ascended to Heavenly Immortal on Earth. With Martial Dao now buoying upon Earth’s Fortune Qi, Mahayana-pinnacle immortals could hardly draw retributions to them for ascension even if their cultivation reached their limit.
That said, a person like Jin Sidao who embodied Fortune Qi would definitely not be low in accomplishments.
Fortune Qi was quite a mysterious thing, though it truly existed—Wang Hou was one such example.
“Minister Wang, Mister Jiang!”
The Ten Thousand Swords Daoist turned into a streak of sword light and flew out from within the Ten Thousand Swords Sect, landing before Jiang He and Wang Hou to personally receive them. All smiles, he said, “Congratulations, Mister Jiang.”
Understanding what he was talking about, Jiang He smiled. “It’s just Grand Luo—nothing worth mentioning.”
The Ten Thousand Swords Daoist smiled bitterly and said, “If word gets out, Mister Jiang, there’s no telling how many Golden Immortals you’ll leave seething to death.’
“But I’m telling the truth!”
Jiang He was shocked.
Speechless, the Ten Thousand Swords Daoist did not want to keep talking about that and so said, “Gentlemen, please come in…. the various Golden Immortals have arrived and the banquet would start upon your arrival.
The Trio hence entered the Ten Thousand Swords Sect, where they found numerous True Immortals and Heavenly Immortals walking around a huge square while Golden Immortals were seated at the guest table.
Those Golden Immortals all rose, speaking out to greet Jiang He upon seeing him.
Jiang He waved them off, gesturing for them to be at ease, and took the main seats alongside Wang Hou while the Ten Thousand Swords Daoist showed them the way.
