It was a clear day on the sixth of November, 2020, at the Martial Arts Academy of Lingzhou City.
Since it was late autumn in Xibei, the sun had already set around six in the evening. Most students and teachers would be resting or having dinner at this hour, which was why the academy would usually be very quiet at this time.
Even so, the Martial Arts Academy was unusually lively today.
Thousands of teacher and students were gathered at the Martial Arts Academy stadium.
There were countless parents present, citizens here to join in the liveliness, the media, as well as Martial Arts Department (MAD) personnel there to maintain order. The scene was absolutely crowded, reaching dozens of thousand heads…
Most frightening, the crowd was still increasing in size, and there were still people pouring toward Lingzhou City Martial Arts Academy, jamming the traffic nearby.
MAD’s Duan Tianhe and Cheng Dongfeng were personally visiting the Martial Arts Academy as well and actually felt a little headache at the sight of the crowd.
Wu Yueru then jogged toward them, saying, “Chief Duan, Master Cheng, you’re here…”
“How could we not be here?”
Duan Tianhe was between laughter and tears, saying, “Director Wu, you should have given us a head’s up with something so important. There are so many people here that even the entire MAD is shorthanded. It’s too dangerous if something were to happen, like a stampede or someone simply up to no good.”
Wu Yueru was smiling apologetically.
To tell the truth, she did not expect this either.
When she returned from Jiang He’s house, she had immediately called for a meeting among every teacher to inform them about the matter. After that, the teachers then passed the word to the students that Jiang He would be having a talk at the Martial Arts Academy.
The students would then relay the word to their parents, relatives, friends, who would in turn pass the word to their parents, friends and relatives. As word continued to spread, almost all of Lingzhou City learned about it in half a day.
After all, who was Jiang He?
He had killed multiple Feral Kings and the two Feral Emperors—the Golden-Winged Roc and the Dragoncroc Emperor—as well as wiping out the Sky Demon Cult that plagued multiple nations across the whole world… all by himself!
Then, he went on to repel the Sky Demon legion of five hundred thousand strong all by himself, preventing a dire crisis for the Hua Nation entirely.
As Wang Hou publicized Jiang He’s various feats at the press conference two days ago, Jiang He had turned completely to a myth legend now. How could the civilians of Lingzhou City not feel emotional that the very Jiang He hailed from Lingzhou City as well?
To be honest, the event itself was organized out of the blue, with noontime being the notice and seven o’clock being the event itself. All of Lingzhou City would have come if it had been announced two or three days ago.
Meanwhile…
Jiang He was feeling a headache too!
Traffic was stuck!
No car could make it into the Martial Arts Academy as well.
There was a long trail of cars that extended all the way to the front. Jiang He was about to wait and see if the traffic would flow again, when…
Some of the drivers in front of him abandoned their cars and started running toward the Martial Arts Academy, yelling as they did, “Hurry up, it’s almost seven!”
“The talk is starting soon. I’m getting a little thrill to think that we would soon see a legend from Lingzhou City…”
“Haven’t you heard? Not only is Jiang He powerful but he’s very handsome too!”
“Hehe, how could I not know? To tell the truth, I’ve met him a few times… my aunt’s cousin brother’s daughter-in-law’s uncle’s daughter married his brother, who is now an Awakened too…”
Jiang He heard several young wives having that exchange.
What the hell!
In his sports car, Jiang He’s face was turning green.
Were rumors that frightening?
Still, after thinking about it… they were not actually exaggerating.
If that was so, there was no need to pursue the matter… such rumors could be allowed as is.
Nonetheless, Jiang He was forced to get off his car and put his sports car in his System Backpack with a wave of his hand. The people who were just walking past his car gaped at them just then—in fact, one of them pointed at Jiang He with an utterly shocked look and was about to scream, but Jiang He was already gone in a flash.
Whoosh!
With a sway of his figure and reaching the skies above the Martial Arts Academy, Jiang He panicked when he saw the crowd beneath.
There must be dozens of thousand people down there, right?
Was that necessary with just a talk? If he misspoke later…
Jiang He had to use divine mind to send word to Wu Yueru and ask about the situation and the follow-up.
“Mister Jiang, our people have prepared a simple speech for you and you could just read it later… I’ve also spoken to the media, and their journalists would mainly ask about your personal situation. You just have to answer as is.”
Jiang He breathed a sigh of relief, and only then did he step out from behind the cloud and begin his descent.
He clasped his hands behind his back as he came down step after step, as if there was an invisible flight of stairs.
“Look, it’s Jiang He!”
There was no telling who cried out among the crowd just then, but in the next instant, the bustle in the Martial Arts Academy turned to silence. Everyone was looking up above at the skies.
The journalists were all clicking their shutters as well.
Soon, as Jiang He landed at the platform, a large group of them promptly swarmed him, all of them competing to get a question in. Wu Yueru had to promptly rushed forward to control the scene, saying, “Ladies and gentlemen, there is no rush. Any questions you have can wait…”
The journalists eventually calmed down.
Only then did Wu Yueru take the microphone to announce, “Teacher, parents, and students from the Martial Arts Academy, as well as citizens of Lingzhou City. It is our fortune today to have Jiang He, legend of our Lingzhou City, grace us with his presence…”
She spoke for up to five minutes and introduced Jiang He’s heroic feats after some courteous preamble.
It was only after that that she passed the mic to Jiang He.
“Hey, hey, hey…”
Jiang He did a mic check after taking the mic, drawing kind laughter from the crowd.
Then, after a look at the script on the table, Jiang He smiled and said, “Having accepted Director Wu’s invitation, I’ve come to meet everyone…”
More preamble…
But after a few lines, Jiang He stopped following the script.
How was this script different from the usual headmaster’s script?
Moreover, speaking through this mic was rather disappointing, and there was the occasional hum of an electric feedback. Jiang He therefore threw away the mic and, driving his qi thunderously, braced himself to finish reading the script of preambles.
Then, it was the turn of the media outlet that Wu Yueru had readied beforehand, with one of the journalists asking, “Mister Jiang, everyone is actually very curious… how did you accomplish your cultivation?”
“According to our information, you are less than twenty-five, but you already possess a cultivation that could change the world itself. Could you reveal to us how you usually cultivate?”
Jiang He was dumbstruck.
What…
How I cultivate?
Who the hell would know how I usually cultivate? I just got stronger as I kept farming.
Still, he certainly could not say that. Jiang He was aware of the thing known as the ‘idol effect’, and it would be a grievous sin if a whole bunch of youths ran off to farm instead of cultivating.
That was why Jiang He decided to hide the information that farming helps strengthening, and promptly said, “To tell the truth, I don’t usually cultivate because I’m very weak on that front. I wouldn’t achieve anything even if I cultivate for dozens of minutes, so I eventually decided that I won’t cultivate. So, I would either be farming, eating, drinking, or sleeping.”
The atmosphere instantly turned weird just then.
The journalist clearly did not expect such an answer from Jiang He either, but she quickly recovered her senses thanks to her professionalism, and smiled, “You’re
Then, she hurriedly changed the subject and asked, “Mister Jiang, you’ve consecutively slain many Feral Kings and even had a hand in clearing the plague of Ferals on Mount Dadong. Moreover, being a martial elite, you must often travel through the wildlands, don’t you?”
“Actually, there are a lot of martial artists who have come aside from the Martial Arts Academy’s teacher and students, most of whom have yet to travel through the wildlands where Ferals roamed. Could you share with us some of your experiences and things of note out there?”
The journalist moved her mic closer to Jiang He.
The other martial elites present had their interests piqued as well, though among the crowd, Cheng Dongfeng had a weird look on his face…
Experiences and things of note out at the wildlands?
Why Jiang He? You could have asked any martial artists who often travel through those places. The man acts as if the wildlands was a tourist spot, and there is just no referential worth from his experiences.
Are you really not afraid that the kid would say something like ‘you must bring along a barbeque rack and grill condiments’ when traveling through the wildlands?
