Chapter 394:

The Road Forward Is Difficult

Zhang Dingnan and the others left shortly.

As soon as they left, Tang Feng and the others did not stay for long either and left quickly too.

Then, only did Lu Fengrou frown and ask, “Do you regard yourself as the vice-chancellor? For these things, let others come forward. Why do you have to stand out?”

“MCMAU is my family, development depends on everyone.”

“Don’t talk nonsense!”

Lu Fengrou scolded, filled with discontentment.

He had too much time!

Asking for trouble!

Fang Ping smiled and said, “Here at MCMAU, I think our strength is still too weak currently, whether it is martial arts strength or economic strength, including our influence!”

“That has nothing to do with you!”

Fang Ping retorted, “Why does it have nothing to do with me? I am the president of the Martial Arts Society. I work together with the school leaders to manage MCMAU!”

Lu Fengrou asked grimly, “Have you considered the dangers? Don’t think that people’s hearts are very upright. It’s true that now, the humans have a formidable enemy and the martial artists are risking their lives to fight bravely at the front lines!”

“But, don’t treat everyone as a hero. A hero doesn’t necessarily mean that he is not tainted or have selfish motives! Who dares to say that we are not selfish? No one!”

“Are you selfish? Am I? What about the Grandmasters who have died in the war? Everybody has selfish motives!”

Fang Ping nodded and said, “I am not foolish, of course, I have selfish motives, but no one will dare to touch me openly, as they cannot afford to bear the risks.

“As for entering the Catacombs… To be honest, in the Catacombs, you won’t know who would be the one to taken advantage of.

“Unless they form an alliance with the martial artists from the Catacombs, otherwise if they go against me, I will destroy them!

“I am not negligent. If I entered the Catacombs, apart from close acquaintances, I would not easily trust them.

“Even with close acquaintances, I will not completely trust them to have no animosity.”

Lu Fengrou snorted, “Think more about this. Don’t blame me for not reminding you if you die.”

“Don’t worry, instructor. I am a Rank-5. The next time I enter the Catacombs, I would probably be a Rank-6, or possibly a Grandmaster.

“If I become a Grandmaster, unless they are Rank-9, who can kill me?”

“Humph!”

Lu Fengrou snorted again!

Rank-5… She felt miserable hearing that.

She was still only Rank-6 now!

Fang Ping’s progression made her felt miserable and not in the least rea.s.suring. Could he not have waited for her to become a Rank-7, then only breakthrough?

If she does not breakthrough soon, after some time, the instructor and student will both be Rank-6… When an outsider praised Lu Fengrou’s skill in teaching, and that the student had surpa.s.sed the master, could they not consider her feelings?

It was too pathetic!

She stopped her thoughts, as the more she thought about it, the more miserable she felt. Lu Fengrou had an unfriendly look in her eyes. “Is there any more Life Essence left?”

Fang Ping coughed and was about to speak when Lu Fengrou added, “Give me a hundred and eighty catties!”

Fang Ping was dazed. She dared to ask for it!

One hundred and eighty catties!

Was she treating it as plain water?

“None are left!”

“Don’t talk nonsense, I will pay for it, no, how about exchanging it with the shares of the pill company?”

“There is none left…”

Lu Fengrou’s had an unpleasant look in her eyes. This despicable boy. He could give a few hundred catties to Li Changsheng, yet he would not even sell it to her!

Fang Ping said with a distressed face, “Instructor, think about it, it’s not easy to steal this thing. What you didn’t know is that I was hunted down by so many people at that time. I had no other choice but to let Instructor Li consume such a big amount.

“If he didn’t, I wouldn’t be able to get some at all.

“How about this, next time I will grab some for you…”

Lu Fengrou ignored him with a dark expression. He thought that she was stupid, it was not possible to get it so easily.

Fang Ping had a slight headache, and he pondered for a moment. “Instructor, if you want to break through, you wouldn’t need that much?”

The Life Essence had an abundance of energy concentration. The difficulty that Lu Fengrou was facing with her breakthrough was nothing else but the inability to carry out the Mentality-Vitality Fusion.

She wanted the Life Essence to see if she could use the large quant.i.ty of energy to somehow have an impact and see if the fusion could be forced.

Lu Fengrou stared at him, and said after a while, “I don’t know, try it. How much do you have?”

“Less than 10 grams…”

Lu Fengrou did not say anything and continued to look at him.

10 grams, does he think she would believe it?

Fang Ping felt pained and said grudgingly, “Well, to be honest, I still have something around 30 grams. Instructor, it’s a lot. The energy concentration of Life Essence is extremely abundant, 30 grams is equivalent to at least 300 grams of cultivation-aiding energy stones, only better…”

“It’s not enough!”

“I really don’t have any more…”

Lu Fengrou continued to look at him, and said after a while, “Give me 500 grams to start…”

Fang Ping’s face was stiff, he did not have more!

“Instructor, I really don’t have that much left…”

“How much do you have?”

“50 grams… Okay, fine, I will confess honestly, 100 grams that’s all.”

Lu Fengrou muttered, “I have never experienced the effect of Life Essence, therefore it is difficult to say how it would be at the moment. So, let’s go back to MCMAU first and we will try it out in the Energy Room. If it is not enough, then you will continue to add more…”

Fang Ping almost vomited blood. After listening to these, she still did not believe him!

He did not have much left!

Fang Ping’s remaining Life Essence, at the most, was about 200 grams, which was not much.

While the instructor and the student were talking, someone came!

This time, it was Commander Zhou Dingguo who brought some people with him.

“Fang Ping.”

Zhou Dingguo greeted him and introduced the people with a smile. “Minister Xue of the Catacombs Intelligence Ministry has come to be briefed of the situation.”

Fang Ping felt an instant headache.

Trouble!

He knew that once the news of his Restrained Qi had gotten out, it would be noticed.

However, before using it, Fang Ping knew that he had to face all these after all this matter was pretty important.

Together with Zhou Dingguo were a man and a woman.

The man looked to be in his forties and the woman in her thirties.

They did not speak much. When they entered the door, they first looked at Fang Ping and then nodded at Lu Fengrou.

After the introduction by Zhou Dingguo, the middle-aged man referred to as Minister Xue said, “Student Fang Ping, we are here to understand the specific situation inside Nine Southern Territory…

As soon as he talked, Fang Ping’s eyebrows twitched slightly.

Nine Southern Territory!

Fang Ping dared to guarantee that among the people who entered the Catacombs this time, only he knew about this.

The others were either being hunted down or were killing others and would not have the time to find out about this.

Of course, it could not be ruled out that people like Zhou Dingguo had reported the information, or they might have arrested some Catacombs’ martial artists for questioning.

Fang Ping exhaled without asking too much. Sooner or later, he would know the whole story.

Minister Xue then looked at Lu Fengrou and said, “Instructor Lu, could you give us some privacy for a moment?”

Before Lu Fengrou said anything, Fang Ping said, “It’s not a big secret, I had also reported it to my instructor, let’s listen to it together.”

Minister Xue raised his eyebrows slightly, yet did not say much. The female martial artist beside him also frowned but did not speak in the end.

…

Everybody took a seat.

Minister Xue started by saying, “I will introduce myself first. I am Xue Ba. This is w.a.n.g Ying, director of the Southern Territory Catacombs Intelligence Department…”

After a few words of introduction, Xue Ba said, “Student Fang can now debrief us about all that had happened in Nine Southern Territory this time.”

Fang Ping was unambiguous, and soon, he talked in detail about everything that had happened in the Catacombs.

The other party did not interrupt. They kept taking down notes, and also switched on a sound recording device.

After Fang Ping had finished, Xue Ba said, “You said that you infiltrated into Gigantic Willow City and managed to deceive everyone, including the Rank-9 Plant Monster?”

“Correct.”

“If it’s convenient, can student Fang demonstrate your secret technique, the Restrained Qi?”

Fang Ping pondered for a moment and said, “The technique is not so easy to activate…”

Xue Ba frowned slightly, then smiled and said, “Just try it for a while student Fang. If anything goes wrong, you can stop it immediately.”

“Alright then.”

Fang Ping did not say much and soon the Celestial Bridge appeared. Then, everyone except Zhou Dingguo could not help but frown.

It was too ugly!

Was this the Celestial Bridge?

Even Lu Fengrou was surprised, what was happening?

Fang Ping did not care about them, and a large amount of Mentality and Vitality Force was unleashed into the Celestial Bridge, causing the emergence of a huge amount of Celestiality.

As the rest of them were dumbfounded, Fang Ping gritted his teeth, and suddenly insufflate the Celestiality into his body, and fresh blood seeped out from his mouth.

Then, a large amount of Mentality gushed out again and started to flow into his body. After that, the Bone Marrow Force emerged from within his body. This process was repeated over and over again…

Fang Ping had opened his energy s.h.i.+eld!

His aura disappeared.

Xue Ba and the others looked on with great confusion!

This… this was his method?

Mentality, Vitality Force, Celestiality, Bone Marrow Force…

Fang Ping only spoke at this time, “I was casually attempting it and only then discovered these distinctive features.

“As the various forces fuse and converge into the body, it will cause the disappearance of the aura.

“As for the principles of why and how it happened, I am also not sure.

“Guardian Wu had previously determined that it was probably because I had developed brain cores beforehand. With the mutation of the brain cores, a series of chain reactions were triggered.”

Seeing that the other party was about to speak, Fang Ping said immediately, “I had reported this to the Southern House of Guardians, the Military Department, the Nanjiang House of Governors, and the Magic City Martial Artists University. This time when I return to Magic City, I will go to the research inst.i.tute and carry out a detailed examination.

“Actually I had done it before, but nothing was found.

“If the government needs it, I can sacrifice my life for the country and cut open my head to see…”

As he said this, the few people opposite him, on the contrary, felt that it was not nice to say anything else.

Xue Ba was speechless, and after quite a while said, “Student Fang Ping, the method for Restrained Qi is of utmost importance and it could affect the entire human war situation…”

Fang Ping was extremely cooperative. “I know. That is also why I want to figure it out. This time I will go to the research inst.i.tute first to carry out an examination. If nothing can be found still, I will just cut open my head, irrespective of whether it is effective or not, at the worst I would just die. After all, martial artists of my generation should fight for mankind and the country.

“Whether it is dying in the Catacombs or on the ground, it is still a contribution to the country!”

w.a.n.g Ying could not help but say, “Fang Ping, this is not a joke, I hope you can cooperate with us to go to Capital City to carry out a detailed examination…”

Fang Ping was flabbergasted, “Why can’t it be at Magic City?”

“Is the Research Inst.i.tute of Magic City too low-grade?”

“I can go to the government of Magic City and the Military Department to make a report. It shouldn’t be a problem if I was accompanied by the officials from the government and the Military Department?”

“Otherwise, I can cut open my head now to show the two of you if there are any abnormalities, maybe you can find something.”

Having said that, Fang Ping picked up the Chaos-vanquis.h.i.+ng Saber at the side and proceeded to act like he would cut down his head.

Xue Ba and w.a.n.g Ying said nothing, did he think they would believe him?

At the side, after Lu Fengrou saw Fang Ping giving her a meaningful glance, she glared at him angrily and then said, “Stop your nonsense! After we have returned to Magic City, go and have a proper examination, who knows if you might have a problem that you are unaware of.”

“Yes, I will examine it in detail.”

Fang Ping readily followed her advice and immediately put away the Saber.

The two-man show put on by these two was too perfunctory. Xue Ba did not show his expressions but w.a.n.g Ying had a displeased look on her face.

“Fang Ping, this is not a joke!”

Fang Ping laughed and said, “Of course it is not a joke. I know it is not a joke. I never treated it as a joke. But as a unique martial artist, there are some things that I don’t understand.

“I am not being uncooperative. When I return to Magic City, I will take the steps to take a detailed examination. With the supervision of the government and the Military, would there still be a problem?

“Is it that the two of you don’t trust the Magic City’s government and Military Department?

“Did the central government send the both of you here to have me cut open and examined?

“You shouldn’t be treating unique martial artists with this kind of att.i.tude.

“I cooperate well with everyone. I also hope to contribute to humanity, otherwise, I would not have revealed all these at all. I just don’t want too many casualties among humans.

“This time, everything that I did in Nanjiang Catacombs was for humanity, for the country, for everyone!

“I didn’t s.h.i.+rk my responsibilities, right?

“I didn’t refuse to cooperate right?

“Before this, I have cooperated in examinations and researches, and you may have already obtained the data for future researches.

“Does this mean that in the future, all unique martial artists would be forced to conceal their strength?

“It shouldn’t be like this!

“At a time like this, as there is a formidable enemy ahead of us, why should we hide?

“Why should we create a situation where everyone would feel insecure?

“Uniqueness is not something we can control. The stronger we are, the greater our help to human beings. Isn’t this a fact?”

The two people opposite him did not say anything, and Zhou Dingguo at the sides also kept silent.

Fang Ping sat down with a smile and continued. “Whatever that you’ve asked, I have answered truthfully, without any attempts to hide anything.

“After this, I will go and get the examination done. If the research shows any results, I would be happy. If not, then there is nothing I can do about it.

“It’s not beneficial for me to hide all these.”

Xue Ba took a light breath and muttered, “That is to say, student Fang Ping is not willing to go to Capital City to do a cooperative examination?”

Fang Ping smiled and said, “Doing it at Magic City is enough.”

“This matter is very important.”

“I don’t need Minister Xue to remind me so many times, I know it’s important. Isn’t Magic City a territory of Sino Nation as well?”

“What are you worried about?”

Fang Ping said blandly, “I am not worried about anything, but I am too outstanding. Now, I also aspire to change some things. I am afraid that if I go to Capital City, I would not be able to come back alive.

“To put it frankly, since the two of you insisted that I go to Capital City, I have reasons to suspect that you are colluding with others. Of course, these words are too severe.

“It could be done if the two of you insist that I go. How about this, I will call upon MCMAU’s four Grandmasters and also some other Grandmasters. With their company, I could go.

“I am a man who is not afraid to display his skepticism.

“If it’s a cooperative investigation, it’s not a big deal. I have nothing to hide from the people.

“If it is made public, everything is fine.

“If it is still not enough, I can even gather the alumni of MCMAU to come back. I could gather together a dozen or twenty Grandmasters to accompany me, all this would not a problem.”

The expressions of the two people opposite him changed slightly.

Fang Ping smiled again. “Of course, I don’t think it’s necessary to be so troublesome. Otherwise, the two of you might as well accompany me to Magic City. Under your supervision, I will undergo the examination, will that be alright?”

Lu Fengrou said nothing, Zhou Dingguo looked up at the ceiling.

It cannot be said that Fang Ping was wrong regarding this matter.

He promised to cooperate, just that he chose to do it in Magic City, which was alright.

Moreover, he would be under the supervision of the Military Department, the House of Guardians, and even the government of Magic City. Fang Ping was not an unknown person. He was a Rank-5 martial artist prodigy and with the support of MCMAU, n.o.body could say that he was in the wrong.

As Xue Ba was still pondering, w.a.n.g Ying looked angry and said, dissatisfied, “Fang Ping, are you threatening us?”

Fang Ping was startled and said with shock, “How did this come about? I am being cooperative, yet you say I am threatening you. Director w.a.n.g, don’t think that just because you are a woman, you can talk nonsense and slander me!”

As he was saying this, Fang Ping suddenly laughed. “Right, I heard that Director w.a.n.g has a relation with so-and-so of the pill company, is it true? Are you luring me to Capital City to kill me?

“However you need to come with more people. You are only Rank-5. I can single-handedly fend you off, do you believe it?

“In the Catacombs, the number of Rank-5 and 6 martial artists that I have killed, are more than you have ever seen!

“Don’t treat me like a convict!

“Ask Commander Zhou, am I, Fang Ping, a convict?

“I have bled for humans, do you want me to shed tears as well?

“You can ask, if MCMAU, Magic City, or Nanjiang would agree to this!”

Fang Ping sneered and snorted. “Don’t try to put on airs and refrain from doing this. I had already consulted Guardian Wu and Leader Zhao. These two Rank-9 Grandmasters had confirmed that it is possible to conduct a cooperative examination in Magic City. Did you think that I do not know anything?

“I have seen a lot of Rank-7, 8, and 9 powerhouses. If you insist that I go to Capital City, then I have reasons to suspect that you are spies of the evil sect!”

“Fang Ping!”

Xue Ba said in a deep voice, “Speak cautiously, these words cannot be simply said.”

Fang Ping quickly apologized. “Minister Xue, forgive me, these are just words from a moment of indignation. Other things aside, I Fang Ping could be reluctantly considered a hero right? This time when I was in the Nanjiang Catacombs, I destroyed half of Royal City, don’t I get any credit at all?

“Does Minister Xue think that there is anything amiss with what I just said?”

Xue Ba pondered for a moment, and then said after a while, “Okay, you can go to Magic City for your examination.”

“Thank you so much.”

“Minister…” w.a.n.g Ying had on an indignant expression, this guy was too arrogant!

Xue Ba pressed his hands together and got up. “Then thank you student Fang for cooperating with our work this time, then we won’t bother you anymore.”

“Have a good day Minister Xue.”

Fang Ping was enthusiastic as he sent the people away.

After they had walked a distance, not very far away, Fang Ping said casually, “I knew that somebody would be coming, but I didn’t expect them to be sent by the pill company and the weapon company. That w.a.n.g Ying, isn’t her brother-in-law the vice-president of the pill company?

“Gee, my MCMAU’s intelligence is so formidable, that they could antic.i.p.ate that the other party is coming.

“Alas, human hearts are not as they used to be. Do they think that they had frightened me?

“So many Rank-9 didn’t manage to kill me. What makes them think that this small fry can? This is a joke!

“Bah!

“Don’t mention about Rank-5, even if a Rank-9 came, would they be able to kill me?

“If all the Rank-9s are like this, Sino Nation and humanity will die out!

“Sitting at the back, d.a.m.n it, not doing a single f*cking thing, just by relying on her elder sister and brother-in-law she attained Rank-5. I have been attacking the enemies on the battlefield and yet I am also a Rank-5. This is f*cking unfair!

“Reformation is imperative!

“Under the hastening of the general trend, could the individual protest?

“Even a Rank-9 is also crushed under this trend!

“I, Fang Ping am not frightened. Rank-9, even Senior Wu and Elder Zhao, try to make a move on me and see! ”

Ahead, the footsteps of the few of them were slightly slowed.

Soon, very quickly they stepped forward again and left.

As soon as they left, Lu Fengrou said softly, “Trouble came!”

Feeling strange she asked, “How did you know that there was a problem?”

Fang Ping smiled and said, “Instructor, I’m not stupid. I have already guessed that someone would be coming. As for the intel… Old Zhang was the one who informed me.”

“Old Zhang?”

“Governor-General Zhang.”

Fang Ping laughed and said, “To return a favor with a favor, Old Zhang is still counting on me to help him guard Nanjiang. When these people first came for me, Old Zhang had sent people to inform me, at the same time checked their background information. They might not want to kill me, they would probably not.

“However if I go to Capital City, there will be much trouble. They might deliberately torture me, I am not stupid.”

“Is w.a.n.g Ying really from the pill company?”

Fang Ping laughed and said, “Capital City is too much involved. It was just a random guess, it seemed that there is a distantly related cousin, who has some relation with the pill company. I was just simply talking about it, who knows if there is any relation.

“I didn’t feel like paying any attention to her, as that woman glared at me as soon as she entered the door. Her Vitality is not solid. I am displeased just by looking at her, so I deliberately provoked her.”

Lu Fengrou was completely speechless. He was something.

However, even though she was scolded by Fang Ping, as she did not retaliate, there might be some truths to Fang Ping’s a.s.sumptions. This kid valued his life. If he was unsure about it, he would not say those words on purpose.

“The negotiations with Nanjiang had just ended. We had not started anything before, how did they know?”

Fang Ping shook his head and said, “It may not be related to the present things. It could be the repercussions of the previous events. They probably knew by now that the intimidation by the ten High Grandmasters was instigated by me, so they came to put fear into me.

Lu Fengrou had a slight headache, after a while, she then said, “Come, let’s go back to Magic City. You have to stop stirring up trouble, you are already in a big mess!”

Fang Ping did not deny it this time, he nodded and said, “I know, that’s why MCMAU needs to become stronger. I also need to become stronger. There are some things that I can’t hide. If I were to hide the matters regarding the Restrained Qi, do you think that Instructor Li would have survived?

“Not only Instructor Li, but frankly, if I did not play my role, there would have been a tough battle at the pa.s.sageway entrance, we wouldn’t have it as easy as we do now.

“If I didn’t go all out, people would have died, many people would have died.

“If MCMAU is not reformed, then we will continue to have to bear the exploitation, how can we become stronger?

“How to accomplish the dream of one school against one Catacomb?

“It’s your gain to you have a student like me, how admirable am I…”

“Get lost!”

Lu Fengrou rebuked. It would be good enough if he did not look for trouble for her.