January 15th, the time had officially entered the twelfth lunar month.
On this day, Fang Ping had finally completed the final honing of the internal organs.
Middle-stage Rank-5!
When all the internal organs were completely honed, Fang Ping once again felt that he had transcended the human race!
With a glance through his Mentality, his inner organs had assumed a translucent crystal-like state.
His bones were golden in color.
The inner organs were translucent and in a crystal-like state.
His blood was not pure red but had a crystalline hue to its color.
Was he human?
Wealth: 8.73 billion (conversion)
Vitality: 4000 Cal (4800 Cal)
Mentality: 750 Hz (839 Hz)
Bones Honed: 177 pieces (100%), 26 pieces (90%), 3 pieces (30% +)
Storage space: 4 cubic meters (+)
Energy shield: 10,000 wealth value / minute
During these past few days, Fang Ping had been to the Celestiality Cultivation Room to infuse Celestiality several times and this had consumed a portion of his Wealth Value.
However, Fang Ping was not bothered since the funds from the school had not been allocated yet.
Once the funds of 600 million a month were available, he could increase his wealth by another 600 million.
“Middle-stage of Rank-5!”
Fang Ping had a happy look on his face, this time the cultivation rate had been extremely fast!
It had only been 20 days since he left Nanjiang’s Catacombs. The reason why it had been so fast was undeniably tied to the Life Essence that he took last time.
Next, to breakthrough to the upper-stage of Rank-5, Fang Ping needed to hone the meridians. The body had 14 major vessels and 206 minor vessels. After the reconstruction was completed, then he would enter the upper-stage.
For many martial artists, at this stage, the progress would be extremely slow.
Would reconstructing one of the 220 meridians every three days be considered fast?
To take 660 days, which was nearly two years, was considered as gifted.
To take two years to go from middle to upper-stage of Rank-5 was nothing to sneeze at.
However, for Fang Ping, it was too slow.
Two years to breakthrough to the upper-stage of Rank-5?
That would be near to his graduation!
He had to find a way to speed up the honing process.
Although Fang Ping could infinitely replenish his Vitality Force, the honing speed of the Vitality Force was limited. Even if it’s one meridian per day, Fang Ping could not accept the fact that he would need 220 days to breakthrough to the upper-stage of Rank-5.
“It’s best if it is 10 meridians per day, then it would be completed in 22 days!”
Of course, this was Fang Ping’s beautiful fantasy. Rebuilding 10 meridians a day was not possible even if he was in the energy mine.
Unless... he was soaked in the Life Essence.
...
While Fang Ping was caught up in the fantasy of taking a bath with the Life Essence.
In the energy cultivation room of MCMAU’s Southern Area.
Qin Fengqing’s face was full of joy. He was now at Peak Rank-4!
He had broken through Rank-4, a few days earlier than Fang Ping at the beginning of July.
And now, only half a year had passed.
Considering that he had attained the peak of Rank-4 within half a year from the time he entered Rank-4, this rate... was even faster than Wang Jinyang and the rest!
It was not that Qin Fengqing was more talented than they were, but he was willing to pay the big price.
He had gone down to the Catacombs several times and had earned a lot of money.
Especially with Fang Ping, the two times that he had gone down, each time he had earned an ample amount of income.
With so much money collected, he stayed in the energy room longer, and so his cultivation speed was definitely not slow. Wang Jinyang and the rest had not been as extravagant as him.
If they were to go down to the Catacombs, sometimes the earnings were not much. Even if they had earned big, they might not have been as lavish as Qin Fengqing.
With unrestrained extravagance and waste, Qin Fengqing had finally managed to break through to the peak of Rank-4 in half a year!
“I’m almost Rank-5!”
Qin Fengqing grinned. Now that he was at the peak of Rank-4, after taking some time to stabilize, he would think of ways to break through to Rank-5.
Once he entered into Rank-5, he would be the same grade as Fang Ping and the rest.
“No... I seem to have no money anymore!”
Qin Fengqing’s expressions suddenly changed slightly. Staying in the Energy Room like it was his house, although it was pleasurable the cost was quite high.
The previous income that he earned in Nanjiang had been exhausted by his last uncontrolled splurging.
“So how am I going to break through Rank-5?”
“I was prepared to use a large number of energy stones to release energy, up to the point of liquefaction, to hit Rank-5. But it would involve a huge consumption!”
Qin Fengqing suddenly had a headache.
He was prepared to be like Fang Ping, and attain a mutation in his Celestial Bridge, but now it seemed that the capital required involved a huge sum of money.
His money was all spent. Where could he get more?
“Don’t tell me... that I have to let that brat into my mine?”
The mineral vein that he had found had only a Rank-7 guarding it.
With Fang Ping’s strength, and his ability to conceal his aura, even if discovered by the Rank-7 demon monster, the probability of being able to escape was still high.
If they were to bring Old Man Li along, who knows, they might be able to kill the Rank-7 demon monster.
But... Qin Fengqing had always regarded this mine as his private reserves and intended to use it upon reaching Rank-6.
If this was made known, with Fang Ping’s character, he would count himself lucky if he was able to get one-tenth of it.
Qin Fengqing’s expressions were changing non-stop. Should he bring that guy along?
If he did not tell Fang Ping and went by himself, with his strength as a Rank-4, if he were to encounter the Rank-7, he would be sending himself to his death.
But if he were to tell him... he was somewhat unwilling.
“It’s annoying!”
Qin Fengqing felt a bit of a headache and suddenly felt that the fact that he had broken through to the peak of Rank-4, was not so exciting after all.
However, very quickly Qin Fengqing soon thought of another matter.
“I had submitted a curriculum vitae to the House of Governors in Nanjiang. I haven’t gone out for the past few days. I don’t know whether there is any reply from them.”
Thinking of this, Qin Fengqing left the Energy Room and went straight to the dormitory.
Halfway, coincidentally, he met Fang Ping again!
Qin Fengqing was afraid of seeing him now. When he saw Fang Ping, his face turned black with anger and wanted to ignore him.
However, after some thought, Qin Fengqing could not refrain from showing off and said, “Finally, I am at the peak of Rank-4. It seems like I can reach Rank-5 very soon. Fang Ping, Rank-5 is not an exclusive privilege for certain people only.”
Fang Ping was about to speak, but having heard this, he said, “Congratulations. Finally, you are nearly at Rank-5. I am only at middle-stage Rank-5. It looks like you will catch up with me soon.
“Rank-5... middle-stage?”
Qin Fengqin’s face changed expression, how come it took him so fast?
He was in the Rank-4 level, yet his progress rate at such a small stage was not even as comparable to Fang Ping’s at the Rank-5 level!
Qin Fengqing’s expressions shifted rapidly. Without another word, he accelerated his pace and hurried back, not wanting to chat anymore with Fang Ping.
Behind him, Fang Ping said slowly, “Qin Fengqing, consolidate yourself in these few days. It’s already the twelfth lunar month, strive to hone your vital organs to the limit within a month. After the New Year, I will bring you to breakthrough to Rank-5.”
“Humph!”
Qin Fengqing snorted heavily, he was still trying to target him!
Fang Ping laughed and said, “Don’t snort, this time I don’t want those mines, those are nothing. I want to kill a Rank-7 monster, and get MCMAU a Divine Weapon.”
“Those mines will be given to you when the time comes. No one wants this stuff. If you want mines, there are plenty to go around. But killing a Rank-7 demon monster without a good cause is not worthwhile. Killing a demon monster that guards a mineral vein, however, would be akin to killing two birds with a stone. Do you understand me?”
Qin Fengqing’s footsteps slowed and he turned his head. “Really?”
Fang Ping said with a smile, “Really. It is not that Rank-7 demon monsters cannot be found. Think about it, killing demon monsters by itself is meaningless, your mine could be sucked dry by that demon monster any day. These demon monsters show no inclinations of furthering their growth.”
Qin Fengqing struggled for a bit, and after a while, he asked, “The mine will belong to me?”
“Of course... but...”
Fang Ping had not finished speaking, Qin Fengqing’s expression changed and said, “At most 20%, the demon monster and 20% of the mine belong to you, the rest is mine!”
Fang Ping chuckled lightly. “Qin Fengqing, what are you thinking? I don’t want it. If I wanted, I could just find a Royal City for my needs. What I mean is to kill the Rank-7 demon monster, you need to ask for help from a Grandmaster. Grandmasters would not possibly help you without a good cause am I right? You should at least give a portion to the Grandmaster who helped, shouldn’t this be the case?”
Qin Fengqing struggled again and nodded. “Alright, but... but at most half, no more than that!”
Fang Ping nodded and said, “Then I will help you to bring it up, it is not a problem.”
Qin Fengqing let out a sigh of relief and looked at Fang Ping again. He felt that Fang Ping was not so kind. Did this guy not want it?
Fang Ping saw him looking suspiciously, and said with a smile, “Why are you looking at me. I don’t care about these now. If I cared, I will not lend my energy stones to the school.
“Qin Fengqing, don’t push your poor man’s ideology on me.”
Qin Fengqing’s face turned purplish, but he did not say a word. Alright, he had money, he was determined, and this was the best outcome!
Not wanting to say anymore, Qin Fengqing quickly left.
Fang Ping waited for him to leave, and stared at his back with a twinkle in his eyes.
“I will not share it with you. When I know where the mine is, I will dig it clean, and leave some leftovers for you. I don’t need you to share with me.”
Thinking about this, he also thought of the curriculum vitae that Qin Fengqing had submitted to Nanjiang.
“Aspiring to be the commander of Auspicious Sun!”
Fang Ping curled his lips. Nanjiang was his hometown.
Zhang Dingnan and the rest of them were in contact with him now.
Qin Fengqing was a student of MCMAU. The fact that he wanted a position in Nanjiang, they let Fang Ping know the moment the application arrived.
Auspicious Sun was a prefecture-level city where Sun City belonged to.
With Qin Fengqing’s strength, if he broke into Rank-5, although he lacked experience, he might not be able to be the commander, but no one would deny him becoming a deputy of Auspicious Sun.
Whether it be commander or deputy commander of Auspicious Sun’s Military Region.
Or simply letting him be the commander in name, and leaving the actual work to be done by the deputy was also possible.
Nanjiang now needed a large number of powerhouses to serve. Qin Fengqing’s strength was not weak, so there was still hope.
Zhang Dingnan was tempted!
However, Fang Ping would naturally not let this happen. He spoke a few words, such as Qin Fengqing’s mother urging Qin Fengqing to stay in MCMAU and even threatened to kill herself. He also said that if Zhang Dingnan dared to accept Qin Fengqing, his mother would go to Nanjiang’s House of Governors and blockade the entrance.
With these words, Zhang Dingnan should understand what Fang Ping meant.
Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, he put an end to such intentions.
Now that the two sides were cooperating more often, there was no need to let one Qin Fengqing affect the relationship.
When Qin Fengqing went to check the reply, there would probably only be rejection waiting.
“Poor thing, nobody wants you, I shall see where you can go to.”
Fang Ping laughed while walking, Qin Fengqing’s strength was still good, after entering the Rank-5 level, stepping into the Rank-6 might not be long after.
This guy was also very courageous. It would be quite appropriate to get him to carry out the more dangerous tasks in the future.
...
In January, not only Fang Ping and Qin Fengqing broke through.
Chen Wenlong, who was training in the Military Department, also officially entered Rank-5 in January, becoming the second Rank-5 student of MCMAU.
After a short period of lacking in Rank-5s, MCMAU once again gave birth to two Rank-5 students.
Good news came one after another. With the allocation of a large number of subsidies and concessions, there were once again students of MCMAU who entered the Rank-4 level, and many others entered the Rank-3 realm.
When Fang Ping took over the reins at the Martial Arts Society at the beginning of the semester, there were 9 Rank-4 students and 51 Rank-3 students.
At the end of the second Martial Arts University Championship, there were 14 Rank-4 students and more than 150 Rank-3 students.
Now, MCMAU had 2 Rank-5 students, 15 Rank-4 students, and more than 200 Rank-3 students.
Also, a lot more Rank-2 students.
The total was close to the 2,000 mark!
The remainder were very few aspiring martial artists. The freshman students that were still in the aspiring martial artist stage were less than 500 people. In fact, it would all go very fast. After the New Year, MCMAU would enter an era where all students were martial artists.
This was almost impossible in the past.
In previous years, even when the freshmen were enrolled, some students were still aspiring martial artists.
Because the aspiring martial artists couldn’t take on missions, it was difficult for them to obtain extra resources, so they could only sharpen their skills with time.
Under the leadership of Fang Ping, the loan system was opened, and more daily assignments were available, which greatly reduced the difficulty of obtaining credits.
Many aspiring martial artists had chosen to borrow some credits to breakthrough. Regarding paying off their debts, naturally, they could take on more tasks when they become stronger.
MCMAU at this moment had entered into a period of rapid growth.
Not only was the strength of the students growing, but the strength of the instructors was also increasing steadily day by day.
The number of Rank-6 powerhouses had officially broken through the 30-person mark.
The Rank-5 instructors were also close to 300 people.
The Rank-4 instructors were now a hundred people.
The remaining Rank-3 instructors used to be instructors who mainly taught cultural studies, foundation studies, or other courses. Now, many of them were pushing towards Rank-4.
The energy room was overcrowded every day and things were not the same as before when Song Yingji could sit at work and doze off.
The change of MCMAU was seen by many people.
Fang Ping was overseeing the growth of MCMAU over the years, and many people had seen it.
However, in connection with the changes in the situation today, even if they knew that he was consuming MCMAU’s resources and was borrowing future resources, no one in MCMAU’s upper management, including the Education Ministry, protested.
Because Fang Ping himself did not seem to profit from it, in fact, he had been subsidizing MCMAU.
He did not pocket these resources and was still constantly paying out from his own pocket. Although MCMAU said they were loans, it would obviously not be returned in the short term.
Based on this, even if some people felt that it was inappropriate, they could not say anything.
With the support of MCMAU’s upper management, the transformation of MCMAU was also continuing.
...
On January 16, the day after Fang Ping’s breakthrough, a major event happened in the world!
A very major event!
At least it seemed so to ordinary people!
On this day, it was not known what kind of agreement the upper management of mankind had come to. The World Martial Arts Federation had announced a brand new rankings list!
A Global ranking!
This day, everyone was shocked!
There was a very long list, the Rank-9 Grandmaster Rankings, the Rank-8 Grandmaster Rankings, and the Rank-7 Grandmaster Rankings!
The Rank-9 list had a total of 212 powerhouses on the rankings!
Nobody would have thought that there were so many Rank-9 powerhouses among the humans!
Even if previous rankings of Sino Nation showed that there were 33 Rank-9 powerhouses, that was internal, and the outside world did not know. Many people only knew the incomplete list from the Internet.
On that incomplete list, there were fewer than 10 Rank-9 powerhouses!
According to previous judgments, there were at the most forty or fifty Rank-9 powerhouses in the world, since Sino Nation was after all the country with the most number of martial artist powerhouses.
As there were many Catacombs, it also represented the existence of many powerhouses.
If there were not many powerhouses, they would not be able to guard so many Catacombs’ entrances.
However, this time, people including some insiders in the martial arts community were shocked.
More than 200 Rank-9 powerhouses!
The Rank-8 ranking was also shocking!
The world’s Rank-8 powerhouses who made the rankings were more than 500!
The Rank-7 list was extremely terrifying, surpassing a thousand people, with the last one being 1600th!
This was the first time that the upper management of mankind had announced such a ranking to the public. The rankings jolted everybody into disbelief.
Global Grandmaster powerhouses reached more than 2300 people.
And this, as far as Fang Ping knew, was not all.
Of course, this time there were not too many hidden ones. The powerhouses that Fang Ping knew and recognized were all on the list.
Even if there were few still hidden, there were not many, and most of them were concentrated on the Rank-9 or even the paragon Rank-9. There were probably no hidden Rank-7 or Rank-8, even if there were, the numbers should be extremely few.
Fang Ping was considered alright. Some low-ranked martial artists were more shocked than ordinary people.
Only by becoming a martial artist could one know what the Grandmasters’ implications were.
In the past, in everybody’s impression, Grandmasters were rarely seen.
But now, the facts showed them that it was not that Grandmasters were rarely seen, but rather they were only unaware of them.
...
MCMAU.
With the announcement of this ranking, some people were shocked, some people had their hopes raised, some people felt that they had seen the new world.
Of course, there were also people flying into a rage!
In the Rank-8 golden body rankings, the Rank-8 imposter was also on the list.
They probably had a hard time judging the specific situation of this man, yet his golden body was also genuine.
So, in the end, this man was on the Rank-8 rankings, but in terms of ranking... 525th.
And the total number of people on the Rank-8 rankings... 525 people.
“I am definitely not the weakest!”
“My Mentality power can already be discharged externally, even if I am not a real Rank-8. Combat power does not depend on the level. It was not difficult for me when I was a Rank-6 to kill a Rank-8, now I could kill a few Rank-8s! How dare they put me last in the rankings!”
“This is intolerable bullying!”
“It would be better to put me first in Rank-7!”
“Such a lousy ranking, and the World Martial Arts Federation? This garbage organization is only an agency that transmits information. In total, there is only one Rank-7 who is in charge, where did they get the qualification to publish such a list!”
“Did they ask for my opinion?”
Old Man Li was exploding with anger. Yes, he was a fake, but they might as well not put it onto the record, what did they mean by putting him at the last position?
Of course, these three rankings were not official.
There were even words written in the front, that this was not a ranking in terms of strength, and the names were all placed randomly.
But the fool also knew that such randomness is all nonsense!
That was definitely a ranking of strength!
If it was done randomly, there would be one name from this country, and the next name from another country. Also comparing it to the list from Sino Nation, everybody could see that it was clearly in order of ranking!
The last in the Rank-8 was not as famous as the first in the Rank-7, not even the top ten in the Rank-7.
Who would look through the entire ranking of more than 500 till the last!
Old Man Li was stomping with rage, and Huang Jing beside him was not good-tempered either. “Enough with it, you are a fake Rank-8, it should be good enough for you to be up and yet you have so many requests!”
Old Man Li had slashed a Rank-8 powerhouse, otherwise, according to his situation, he would probably not be included.
“Who is a fake Rank-8? Mine is semi-Rank-8, do you understand?”
Old Man Li was enraged. Being called a fake was so unpleasant, was it too much for him to be called a semi-Rank-8?
Fang Ping was too lazy to pay attention to him, at the moment, he continued to read the list.
The first of the Rank-9 was not Commander Li of the Military Department.
Commander Li ranked third, and there were two in front.
Scanning through, Fang Ping asked, “There are 30 people out of the 212 Rank-9s who are at paragon Rank-9?”
He also saw the rankings of others, Zhao Xingwu, ranked 48th in the Rank-9.
Wu Chuan... 98th in the Rank-9!
Before, one was the eighth and one was the ninth position, it seemed like the gap was extremely small.
When it came to the global list, Old Wu ranked 98th. Fang Ping was ashamed on his behalf.
Sino Nation’s other Rank-9, most of them were out of 100.
But the low was low, the high was extremely high.
Commander Li was at third, the others, among the top ten, the fifth, eighth, and ninth were all Sino Nation’s powerhouses. In the top ten, Sino Nation had four positions.
Among the 10th to 20th positions, Sino Nation also had two people on the list.
The Grandmaster of Sino Nation who was formerly ranked seventh now ranked 35th, then followed by Zhao Xingwu.
The biggest difference in the ranking was Wu Chuan, from 48th Zhao Xingwu to his 98th position. The gap between both of them was not small.
Huang Jingwen said, “There may not be... The top ten being paragon Rank-9 shouldn’t be a big problem. But I saw that Director Nan of the Detective Department is ranked 14th, and he should not have reached paragon Rank-9.”
That director of the Detective Department, who was previously ranked fifth in Sino Nation, was also a top-notch magnate.
However, Huang Jing had met with the other party before. From the perspective of aura, he was far inferior to Zhang Tao of the Education Ministry.
Zhang Tao’s strength was still very strong, second only to Li Zhen from the Military Department on the list. This time he was also ranked fifth in the world, showing that he was truly a top-notch character.
After all, the Education Ministry had jurisdiction over all the martial arts universities, and if their strength was not strong enough, they would not be able to control the field.
The powerhouses of the universities, in terms of quantity, not counting the Rank-9s, just the Rank-7s or 8s alone, the Military Department would not necessarily have more than the universities.
“There is only so little?”
Fang Ping raised his eyebrows slightly, only the top ten was paragon Rank-9?
After all, this was the global list!
Sino Nation had 4 people in the top ten, was it possible that Sino Nation had only 4 paragon Rank-9s?
It seemed that this list was not too complete.
Fang Ping did not look at the Rank-9 rankings anymore but looked at the Rank-8 and the Rank-7. Wu Kuishan was in the Rank-8 list, ranking much higher than Old Man Li, at 129th.
Since this was a global list, it was considered not too low, Wu Kuishan was only the vice-chancellor of a university in Sino Nation.
There were 1600 people in the Rank-7 rankings, Huang Jing and Liu Poru were also on the list. Liu Poru ranked 390th while Huang Jing was 725, which was neither high nor too low.
However, in the Rank-7 rankings, Fang Ping saw a close acquaintance with a higher rank.
Chen Yaoting, 3rd in the Rank-7 rankings!
In the global list, Chen Yaoting ranked third among the Rank-7 and was also the strongest Rank-7 in Sino Nation. This was surprising, it seemed that the old man was really strong.
Old Man Li... Probably was not his opponent.
Old Man Li should not have any major problems against the ordinary Rank-7, but if he were to encounter Chen Yaoting, he would be defeated in all likelihood.
Fang Ping pointed to Chen Yaoting’s name, and then looked at Old Man Li, his face turning red with anger!
He was sure that he would be able to defeat him, what was he looking at!
Although he was swearing in his heart, Old Man Li had to admit that he was probably not a match of Chen Yaoting currently. Not to mention Chen Yaoting, against the other top tens of the Rank-7s, they were probably also not worthy opponents.
He had to say that this was shameful and miserable.
He, a Rank-8, even had no status compared to a Rank-7. In his heart... he felt pretty distressed.