This trip to the Nanjiang Catacombs, even though this was the first time that both parties came in contact with each other, the powerhouses were also able to stand firm, so they were relatively safe.
However, after entering the Catacombs, there was no promise of safety.
This time, the situation where the number of participants had decreased still happened in the end.
When one instructor with one student was mining the mineral vein, they were attacked by a Peak Rank-4 monster beast. The others were quite far away from them and did not arrive in time to save them. Both of them were almost instantly killed in the mines.
When faced with this sudden situation, it was hard to blame anyone.
Luo Yichuan who was leading the team was patrolling the perimeter at the time. As the monster beast was well hidden from the start, and Luo Yichuan’s Mentality had not reached the stage where it could be externally discharged, thus he could not sense it.
When they arrived, the two of them were already dead.
When faced with this situation, they could only accept it.
They were used to seeing death, and with the death of these two people, although everyone could feel a sense of sadness, but not to the extent of being heartbroken.
It was the martial artist’s creed to go into the Catacombs every single time like it was their last journey.
If they suffered heavy casualties, then it would be hard for everyone to accept it, but if the casualties were within reason, aside from the mourning from their family and friends, the others would only feel a passing sadness that would go as well.
Because many had suffered from injuries, Fang Ping and those who were in school did not make it too big of a formality.
Those who needed treatment were treated, those that needed cultivating was already cultivating. This trip down to the Catacombs had plenty of returns.
After some time, after processing what they had gotten, this group of instructors and students would also have an increase in strength.
This time, everyone had also experienced plenty of fighting, many students looked more mature and steady compared to before.
...
The others also were the same, those that required treatment sought for treatment, and those who needed rest rested.
After they left, Fang Ping looked at Chen Yunxi who stayed back. He rubbed his temples, laughed, and said, “Congratulations.”
Chen Yunxi had only broken through to upper-stage Rank-3 during mid-December, yet this time she broke through again to Peak Rank-3.
This speed was amazingly fast.
Chen Yunxi smiled brightly at him, and said with unconcealed excitement, “It is all because of the Life Essence that you...”
Fang Ping coughed lightly and cut her off. He felt that he needed to use the phrase Energy Essence to define that thing. He would lose it with whoever used the word Life Essence next.
However, the fact that Chen Yunxi could breakthrough, did indeed have a lot to do with the Energy Essence.
Even though Fang Ping did not give much the last time, Chen Yunxi was still Rank-3, from upper-stage Rank-3 to Peak Rank, she did not need to hone her bones, she only needed to achieve collective punch.
With the help of the Energy Essence, and Chen Yunxi also fought with plenty of enemies in the Catacombs, very quickly she stepped over the threshold, and entered the Peak Rank-3 level.
“From the look of things, maybe you could breakthrough to Rank-4 even faster than Han Xu...”
Before Fang Ping could finish speaking, Chen Yunxi interjected softly saying, “Don’t talk about other people anymore. Fang Ping, we’re going to celebrate the New Year soon, how are you celebrating the New Year?”
Fang Ping was stunned as he said, “How else am I supposed to celebrate, just celebrate as usual.”
“No... that’s not what I meant...”
Usually, Chen Yunxi would be a little shy, but just then she became bolder and said softly, “What I said was, if you are celebrating the New Year... after the New Year, I would go to Nanjiang for a trip, is that alright with you?”
Fang Ping coughed and said, “After the New Year I will return to Magic City, I still have some matters to settle. Since you just would be coming home, you should go back earlier to rest.”
“Alright, does uncle, aunty and Sis Fang Yuan have any hobbies? I am going to get them some presents, can you help me pass it to them?”
When Fang Ping heard this, he suddenly laughed and said, “Hobbies... Fang Yuan likes money, do you want to give her some?”
Chen Yunxi was shocked, she met Fang Yuan before, and Fang Yuan had also been to MCMAU twice already.
However, the hobby that Fang Ping spoke of... how unique!
That’s not right, that was not unique, because previously Fang Ping loved money as well.
Fang Ping was teasing her, and instead, Chen Yunxi thought about it for a while, she blinked, nodded her head and said, “Got it, then what does uncle and aunty like?”
Fang Ping looked at her deeply for a while, and said gently, “Don’t worry about these things, just work hard on cultivating. Now the situation is worsening, you just came out from the Catacombs, you probably don’t understand it well.
“If we follow as per expectations, the war is going to erupt within these next few years.
“And when the time comes, any martial artists who are below the high-ranks would only be sacrificial pawns.
“If you and I were normal people, then we have the luxury of not thinking about these things. When the world ends, those who are strong would hold it up.
“But you and I are not, at the very least, I will not sit around and wait for disaster to strike.”
Chen Yunxi bit her lip and after a while, she nodded her head and said, “Alright, I understand, it is just me being too capricious. Fang Ping, I won’t distract you from your cultivation.”
Fang Ping was resigned. Women, as Qin Fengqing said, were troublesome.
Fine, he was tired of saying anything else anyway.
What would happen, let it happen then.
...
Fang Ping did not bother about Chen Yunxi anymore, and as she said herself, Chen Yunxi did not take things too far.
At that moment, she was making good use of her time to cultivate, preparing herself to breakthrough to Rank-4.
When these people returned, it was already 14th of the twelfth lunar month.
At that moment, the normal universities had already begun their winter break.
According to the class schedule, MCMAU had also begun their holidays, but not many of them left yet earlier this year.
Both the energy cultivation chamber and the Vitality Pool were chock-full of people every day. There were even some students who had no plans to go back for the New Year.
Although most were not going home, Fang Ping was still prepared to go home.
He was preparing to enter the Magic City Catacombs after the New Year.
Throughout the year, it was difficult to go home even for a bit. Even during the summer break, he would also be on the northbound road. Every trip back home was rushed though.
When it came to time to celebrate the New Year, Fang Ping would rather spend that time at home, and not rush about outside, worrying about his family.
On February 1st, the 18th day of the twelfth month of the lunar year.
Fang Ping was already done with the matters at school, regarding the problem of the unified platform, the rules and regulations were already decided, and would be in place at the start of the next semester.
After doing all these, Fang Ping packed up and prepared to go home.
In the end, when he was in the middle of his preparation, a call from Li Chengze, gave Fang Ping no choice but to delay his schedule, to go to the company to settle some matters.
At Distance Company, although the benefit that the company provided for Fang Ping now was not as much as expected.
However, Fang Ping was not prepared to give it up, as of today, Distance was expanding all over the nation.
Express delivery, food delivery, and delivery platforms, from what Fang Ping could see, these existed side by side and worked together. Until the time when the e-commerce platform had completed its expansion, there might come a time when it would be useful.
At that moment, Fang Ping had a clear understanding.
Following the worsening of the situation, with the advancements in technology, if the nationalization of martial arts came to pass, then everyone’s time would be even tighter when that happens, it would be the best opportunity for food delivery services.
Some people, because they needed to cultivate, might not even have the time to go out and eat.
Meals were always necessary.
As long as they had not reached the middle-ranks, then food was still essential to them.
Even Fang Ping as he was now, would not completely give up the notion of eating, even though he would not feel hungry even if he did not eat for a month.
In January, the school gave Fang Ping six hundred million as fees for his supply of Celestiality.
This time, Fang Ping did not waste it and gave it all to Distance.
He sold the shares for the food ordering platform before, but no one else had the shares to the food delivery system and the express delivery system.
Fang Ping was rich now, he did not have much need for money, so he pumped it into the company to see what would happen.
If it did expand and grow, in the future, it may provide for him wealth worth tens of billions of Yuan and that was no small sum.
The next time there was an upgrade in the system, it would probably be a hundred billion worth of wealth.
Fang Ping felt that it would still be very difficult for him to gain a hundred billion worth of wealth.
Even if he were to mine... and it was not as though there were mines everywhere for him to excavate. To go to the Royal City to mine, it was easier said than done, the security in the mining veins of the Royal City was really good, it would be like walking a tightrope on the risk of being discovered by a Rank-9.
If he was not careful, he would throw his life away just like that.
Until the time when he had no other choice, or if he had a foolproof plan, Fang Ping would not go digging around hastily.
...
After settling the matters with the company, it was already February 3rd.
On this day, Fang Ping had decided to go home.
Before going home, Fang Ping was prepared to meet up with Qin Fengqing, to remind him to come back to school earlier after celebrating the New Year.
In the end, he could not find him.
After asking around then only did Fang Ping found out that Qin Fengqing was hiding out who knows where.
Tang Feng was back!
Not only Tang Feng, but Luo Yichuan was also back at school.
During the freshman final exams, Qin Fengqing assumed that he had all the authority, and had enjoyed being an examiner.
Once he had power in his hands, this guy almost forgot his own name.
During the assessment period, Qin Fengqing caused trouble many times for the freshman students.
Among them was Tang Wen, who was the main target for his retaliation.
The freshman final examinations were only supposed to assess their Vitality, the progress with pole-standing, and a few basic combat techniques.
This, to Tang Wen who was already a Rank-2, was all just a child’s play.
However, Qin Fengqing wanted to add a combat assessment, which was just a nicer way of saying he wanted to beat everyone up.
This shameless guy decided to do the assessment himself.
He, who was a Peak Rank-4 martial artist, even if he stood there and allowed Tang Wen to beat him up, Tang Wen might not be able to do anything to him.
Naturally, Qin Fengqing was not the kind of gentleman to just stand there and let someone else beat him.
This guy used this opportunity and beat up Tang Wen. At that moment he was enjoying himself to the fullest, he felt that he had settled old scores.
At the same time, he also beat up a few other genius freshman martial artists.
He had always felt that these genius freshmen were very arrogant and needed to be polished a few more times.
Since he had changed the assessment according to his fancy, and even beat up a few of the low-ranked martial artists, even if Chen Zhenhua had not made him pay, Tang Feng and Luo Yichuan would come for him one after the other.
After knowing that Qin Fengqing, that shameless guy, bullied the younger ones just because he was stronger, took advantage of others, those two were angry now and looked for him everywhere to make him pay.
Qin Fengqing was not foolish this time, he knew that there would be trouble, so he ran away first. No one knew where the guy went, he might have already peacefully gone back to his home for the New Year, they could not even reach him on his phone.
Fang Ping already expected this to happen, but what he did not expect was that Qin Fengqing would beat people up on his own.
He thought that Qin Fengqing would increase the difficulty of the assessment for Tang Wen, and put her into a difficult spot. He never thought that Qin Fengqing would just take the straightforward route and beat them up. Fang Ping did not know whether to laugh or cry, this guy... he really was slow-witted.
As they could not find him, Fang Ping did not continue looking, he would try the phone again later, this guy would not be able to hide for long.
Without the resources to cultivate, he would be even more anxious compared to Fang Ping, he would show his face sooner or later.
...
Before leaving, Fang Ping met with Chen Yunxi on the ground floor of the hostel.
Chen Yunxi who had not gone back was intentionally waiting here for him, and she came with some gifts.
There were three gifts.
Two were for his parents, they were not very unique gifts, just something that they could use in daily life.
The third gift was for Fang Yuan, this gift was truly from the heart.
It was a cute crystal doll, with a small round face. However, that was not the point, because the doll was holding a huge gold ingot!
Fang Ping weighed it in his hands, only after a moment did he ask, exasperated, “Is this real gold?”
That gold ingot was indeed made from pure gold.
Chen Yunxi laughed and nodded her head. “Don’t you think that it is really cute? I think that Sister Fang Yuan would surely love it...”
Fang Ping laughed bitterly and said, “I think that she would like it.”
It might not be the cute doll that she would like, because the point was that the ingot was made out of pure gold, and the doll itself was made from natural crystal.
This cartoon doll must not have been cheap to make.
Of course, to a martial artist, especially to Chen Yunxi who had someone in the family who was going to be a Rank-8 Grandmaster soon, this was nothing.
Not only was the family background rich but Chen Yunxi herself had earned quite a bit in the Nanjiang Catacombs.
Fang Ping placed the doll back in its box, laughed, and shook his head. When Fang Yuan gets this, she would be extremely happy right?
He did not reject her, and stuffed everything into the car, and thought before saying, “I have nothing to give you, please send my greetings to Vice-chancellor Chen and your parents for me...”
“Alright, be careful on the road.”
Chen Yunxi did not mind, she waved and watched Fang Ping get in the car.
Once Fang Ping was in the car, he quickly drove away.
...
Not long after Fang Ping drove away from MCMAU.
Somewhere in Nanjiang.
In a normal residential building, in a house that was not very big, a few men and women were gathered there.
Among them was a middle-aged guy, he hung up the phone and said coldly, “Fang Ping has left MCMAU.”
“Sir, do you really intend to make a move against Fang Ping?”
As the middle-aged guy finished speaking, an old man at the side frowned slightly. As he saw the middle-aged man looking towards him, he bowed slightly and said, “Fang Ping is just a Rank-5 martial artist, it does not change the overall situation. If we make a move against him rashly, we might provoke the few Grandmasters from MCMAU, I think that the loss would outweigh the gain.”
The middle-aged man replied coldly saying, “Fang Ping’s existence is crucial to them, because of him, a few Holy Defenders from my Divine Sect were killed!
“The Divine Sect will not forget this enemy!
“And Fang Ping, this time he played a huge role and greatly affected the Nanjiang Catacombs.
“Li Changsheng and Liu Polu were from MCMAU, if Fang Ping did not pull any strings, these two might not have helped Nanjiang.
“In the end, Li Changsheng killed a Rank-8 martial artist, causing a reversal in the situation in the Nanjiang Catacombs...”
The old man hesitated, but after a moment, he still said, “I am worried, that after killing Fang Ping, it will cause us to be mortal enemies with MCMAU. Now MCMAU only cares about Magic City, and the Grandmaster powerhouses in the school do not usually care about those other things.
“Besides that... sir... our... our aim is not to cause such great casualties among the human powerhouses, but...”
The old man had yet to finish speaking when the expression of the middle-aged man turned frosty and he said coldly, “What are you questioning? The Divine Sect and the Catacombs are not working together, the aim of the Divine Sect is also to defend against any intrusion into from the Catacombs!
“But as of today, a few stubborn diehards are hindering us from completely eradicating the threat against the Catacombs!
“It was because of these people, that there are more and more passageways, and there are more and more territories that are connected!
“If the strategy of the Divine Sect was carried out earlier, with one of the territories as our target, we would completely connect the barrier between earth and one of the territories, then the suppression of the law would not exist!
“We definitely could use one territory to enter the world of the Catacombs and slaughter the powerhouses in the Catacombs, completely destroying them!
“Then we would not be like how it is now, continuously being devoured by others...”
Everyone else had nothing to say, the old man that hesitated was quiet for a while before saying, “Sir, the Patriarch once said that humans’ life energy and Vitality Force are being absorbed by the passageways in huge quantities, then only are these passageways between the worlds able to connect fully, and completely fused...”
The old man did not have any more questions, but the meaning was explicit and obvious.
The middle-aged man glanced over coldly and said, “It is true, if we sacrifice some people, then it would be possible to completely go through the barriers between the worlds.
“Are you questioning the Patriarch’s words?
“Do you know why there is a higher possibility of the passageway appearing in a place with a higher population?
“Because as long as humans live, then they will continuously exude their Vitality Force, and this is the catalyst that causes the passageway to open.
“In the beginning, the passageways between the worlds did not exist, but when the human population increased, the Vitality Force that is produced was too great, and it overflowed into space. That triggered the opening of the passageways.
“So, a certain number of people need to be sacrificed, not only to completely pierce the barrier between the worlds but also to reduce the chances of other passageways opening.
“Maybe you would think this too cruel, but when compared to the survival of humankind, it would be better to kill a certain portion of the people for the others to survive.
“To thoroughly open up a territory, and allow martial artists and normal people to be at war in this territory only, the deaths would only affect this territory and not affect the whole world!
“All of this is unknown to those diehards. Yet they have chosen the most foolish plan, and allowed the world to be continuously devoured!
“If this continues, humankind would be destroyed by their hands sooner or later!
“Li Changsheng and the others are called the heroes of humankind, what they don’t realize is that because of the existence of these idiots, humankind’s situation has steadily become worse!
“Since these idiots are so willing to sacrifice for humans, then they should just die in the Catacombs and be done with it!
“And Fang Ping, he did his part in worsening the situation. Not only did he join together with Zhang Ding Nan and the others, killing the Holy Defenders of our Divine Sect, he is also a steadfast diehard!
“No, the instructors and students of the martial arts universities are all diehards!
“And because of them, although their sacrifices looked great, they were only then fishing for fame, they had caused the humans to be in greater danger, to be in a more and more difficult situation.
“Today, while war has not broken out over the world yet, there is a need to open one or several passageways fully, to connect the territories.
“And to move the humans from other places all into these territories.
“Maybe if there were no humans... those passageways would collapse on their own!”
“Maybe?”
The old man murmured, this meant that there was some level of uncertainty.
This was gambling with the future of humankind!
The murmur from the old man caused the middle-aged man’s gaze to turn even colder.
Even they had doubts now, and were beginning to feel uncertain?
Sooner or later, they would all understand, the Divine Sect is the only savior of mankind!
For the sake of mankind, why could they not sacrifice a portion of them?
Were those diehards not also preparing to sacrifice a portion of the people so that the humans could gain some time?
Those idiots had not learned their lesson even until now, the normal people were the ones who should be sacrificed. If ninety percent of the humans were to die, and ten percent of the elite remained, they would all have a better life than they had now!
As what they were doing now, to sacrifice the elite martial artists would be the most ridiculous policy that they had come up within a hundred years!
A huge amount of the hope of humankind was sent by these idiots to meet their deaths in the Catacombs.
For those that were left, what kind of humans would they be?
They were only mediocre people who only knew the routines of daily life, who enjoyed the peace and stability, and yet would still complain about the injustice of society. If someone had to die, it should be these people to die first, instead of them!
A thought flashed in the mind of the middle-aged man, and in the end, his indifference dissipated and he said softly, “No matter what, we have to kill Fang Ping! We can’t make our move easily in Magic City.
“But in Nanjiang, there aren’t many powerhouses there.
“Of course, it would not be convenient for the Holy Defenders to make their move as it would be easy for them to be spotted.
“So the task of killing Fang Ping would rest on our shoulders.
“Fang Ping is very strong, this is evident in the Championships. After breaking through to Rank-5, he might be even comparable to a Peak Rank-5 martial artist.
“So, this time, I will personally take action. Protector Zheng and Mei, both of you shall come together with me.”
When he said this, everyone in the house was shocked.
The middle-aged man was a Peak Rank-6 powerhouse.
The two protectors who were called by name, one of them was the old man, both of them were Rank-6 powerhouses.
They had sent to kill a young man who just entered into Rank-5, one Peak Rank-6, and two Rank-6s. In other similar situations where they did not dispatch high-ranked fighters, they showed they had placed extreme importance on this.
The last time, when they attacked Fang Ping, they sent out a high-ranked person. In the end, it caused a lot of other high-ranks to die.
Nowadays, the upper management of humankind was watching, and any move made by a high-ranked person would easily gain attention.
Under this premise, sending out three Rank-6 people to kill a martial artist who just entered Rank-5 was thinking highly of Fang Ping.
The middle-aged man had already come up with the final conclusion. Since he was taking action personally, the old man did not say much anymore. He was just slightly hesitant as he asked, “Will we make our move in Sun City?”
The middle-aged man nodded his head.
At Sun City, Fang Ping would not run, at least before he had given up all hope, he would not run.
Because his family was there!
At any other place, if a Rank-5 martial artist wanted to run, a Rank-6 might not be able to kill him as easily.
Of course, Fang Ping’s family better not die easily.
If they died, then Fang Ping would not have any restraints anymore, and it would be difficult to kill him then. If he escaped back to Magic City, it was not part of their plan to kill Fang Ping in Magic City.
After thinking about it, the middle-aged man said again, “We’ll make our move on New Year’s Eve!”
That day, many powerhouses would be entering the Catacombs to guard it. After they killed Fang Ping, they could maximize safety and escape swiftly.
This time, Fang Ping must die.
After causing the death of many Holy Defenders, even the Patriarch hated him to the bones. After killing Fang Ping and returning to the Divine Sect, the Divine Sect would not hold back in rewarding them... Maybe then, he could even use this opportunity to step into Rank-7!