Chapter 278 - 252: The Name of the Martial Saint_2
Chapter 278 - 252: The Name of the Martial Saint_2
This teacher was worried that the news of Xiao Hong’s elevation to Golden Core would reignite the demons’ shared hatred.
"Fear is utterly useless!"
"Whether or not I have achieved the Golden Core, the human clan must face all the demon clans if they wish to rise!"
Xiao Hong said, "If the hordes of demons dare to attack, it will be a good opportunity to show them the power of a Golden Elixir True Monarch!"
"We will follow the headmaster’s command to the letter!"
The teachers bowed deeply to accept the order. Xiao Hong was already the most powerful among humans, and now he was blessed by heaven and earth, his prestige even surpassing that of the alliance.
A Foundation Establishment Grandmaster could still be considered mortal, and technological weapons could threaten their lives.
But a Golden Elixir True Monarch had completely shed their mortality!
Zhou Yi reminded, "Headmaster, do you still plan to use the name ’Golden Elixir True Monarch’ now that you practice the new arts?"
"This is indeed an issue..."
After pondering for a moment, Xiao Hong said, "Elevating through elixirs is vastly different from the ancient methods, and I don’t possess the longevity of a true monarch. I should indeed change my title. Do you have any ideas?"
The teachers were inexplicably excited upon hearing this. Naming a new realm was a supreme honor.
Once adopted, every practitioner of the new arts in the future will chant that name!
"Since it’s the second elixir, how about naming it based on steps, to imply stages and ranks?"
"That sounds good. Starting from zero step, we can add one step with each boundary we break through!"
"That won’t do, that won’t do. It sounds too frivolous. It would be better to divide them by the characteristics of bloodline evolution, such as Coagulating Blood, Transforming Shape, True Spirit..."
"..."
Each person gave their opinion and it all made sense.
"Taking elixirs requires practicing martial arts first. Even after integrating with the elixirs, one still needs martial practice to strengthen and hone the Qi-Blood, to suppress the backlash of the bloodline. Why not continue with the martial arts realm?"
Zhou Yi said, "The ancient texts call Innate and Foundation Establishment ’Grandmaster’, which corresponds perfectly with the zero elixir. Afterwards, the first and second elixirs can be named ’Great Grandmaster’ and ’Martial Saint’, and later the one who takes the third elixir can be called ’Martial God’."
"That sounds very good, it doesn’t forget the old methods yet breaks new ground!"
Xiao Hong started as a mortal without any Spirit Root, and his foundation up to now had been in martial arts.
Using a name related to martial arts fit his intentions perfectly!
Hearing Xiao Hong say this, everyone else nodded in agreement, bowing deeply in respect.
"Congratulations, headmaster, for becoming the first Martial Saint of the human clan!"
"From this moment forth, may the human clan prosper. Generations will chant the name of Martial Saint!"
"..."
Zhou Yi noticed that the most sycophantic were the Martial Barbarians who practiced the new arts, while the old practitioners, known for their sharp tongues and witty debates, did not speak such blatantly flattery.
Today, the practitioners of ancient methods had lost twice!
Xiao Hong walked on air as he departed, and the teachers, following his instructions, spread the news through various channels.
Very soon.
Martial Arts University became an ocean of joy. All students and staff looked to the sky and cheered. That heartfelt joy, the unstoppable tears, could only be alleviated with a long howl!
Since their birth, they had lived with the crisis of racial extinction, living a life of constant fear.
Most had family or friends who died at the hands of wild beasts. The territory of the human clan shrank year by year, and that despair for the future had been suppressed for twenty to thirty years!
Xiao Hong was like the dawn of day, giving everyone a glimmer of hope.
Now, with Xiao Hong’s rapidly growing prestige, at his command, countless members of the human clan were willing to serve him, even charging to the front lines without a second thought!
In just half an hour.
Terms like Heavenly Tribulation, Martial Saint, Golden Core, and Xiao Hong dominated all the hot searches.
Tens of millions of people left messages congratulating "Xiao Martial Saint," while also growing enormously confident in the human clan’s resurgence.
Only the majority of the old practitioners remained silent. It was not that they were dissatisfied with Xiao Hong, but rather they started to doubt their own paths. Perhaps the elixir arts were the "true path" of the new era.
The old practitioners were inherently proud. The Martial Barbarians born of the new techniques focused only on fighting and killing, hardly engaging in productive activities.
They truly believed that once the Spiritual Energy grew denser, the human clan would inevitably be dominated by the path of immortals!
Yet Xiao Hong had achieved Martial Saint first, and he was also blessed by the heavens and earth...
"I must give my peers more confidence lest the path of immortals be lost. After all, compared to the precarious future of elixirs, the system of immortality is more complete. The human clan should walk on two legs, allowing both those with and without Spirit Roots to cultivate, in order to thrive endlessly!"
Zhou Yi took out numerous Array Plates from his cave abode, pondering how to arrange the Thunder Tribulation Formation so that it appeared indistinguishable from the real Minor Forty-Nine Heavenly Tribulation.
"I still need to find a suitable location..."
"White Cloud Peak would be perfect. Using the power of Heavenly Tribulation, we can open the ancient palace from the past!"
"An ancient sect’s palace, with a garden of elixirs and a hall of pills—it makes sense, doesn’t it?"
...
Qing City.
Located at the southernmost tip of the alliance, it withstood the beast invasion for sixteen years.
The city had long since lost its civilians, only battle-hardened troops and newly arrived armies remained.
That day.
The piercing sound of the alarm rang out.
All soldiers rushed towards the city walls, the citywide alarm had only one cause, the monster tide was coming.
The Eastern City and West City’s numerous barracks also received the alarm, decades of building bunkers and fortresses formed a line, like an iron chain across the river, quietly waiting for the monster tide to wash over.
They would either hold until the tide receded or perish together with the beasts.
Aerial beasts, appearing first on radar, were dense and oddly shaped, gathering in the sky like dark clouds.
Swish swish swish...
One after another, combat aircraft took off, weaving a net of fire, constantly shredding flying beasts.
On the ground, rocket artillery fired in volleys, the sky lit up with bursts of fireworks.
Corpses fell like raindrops, but for the dark clouds above, it was merely a scattering of small clouds, not even a gap of clear sky to be seen.
Regardless of the combat aircraft and rocket artillery’s carnage, there was no sign of the beasts halting their assault, as the dark clouds rapidly approached the city.
Atop the city walls.
Golden Old Nine used his binoculars, looking at the carnage in the heavens, his expression grave.
"This monster tide is different."
"Brother Nine, what do you mean?"
The speaker, Li Hai, was a new recruit, having arrived at the frontlines only two years ago. He usually witnessed only small-scale beast incursions and was now trembling with excitement.
"The numbers, the momentum!"
Golden Old Nine, a native of Qing City, had survived four monster tides and, while speaking, took out an odd amulet from his bosom, holding it in his palm and murmuring words.
Li Hai, puzzled, said, "Brother Nine, you still believe in gods?"
In these last days of rampant beasts, faith had long since collapsed, and people now only believed in weapons, in force.
"The Golden God’s blessing got me through four deadly ordeals,"
Golden Old Nine spoke, "Today I shall return to the embrace of the Golden God, and once I arrive in the divine realm, I will report to the Golden God on mortal affairs. Surely divine grace will descend to annihilate these brutal beasts!"
"The Golden God... seems like something recorded in history books, a deity worshipped by the Faith Alliance, which was destroyed by the beasts."
Li Hai shook his head and said, "If there really were gods, why didn’t the Golden God appear when the Faith Alliance fell?"
"Either their faith wasn’t devout enough, or the Golden God is asleep!"
Golden Old Nine didn’t argue or get angry at Li Hai’s skepticism. The divine nation had been in ruins for two hundred years, and there were hardly any followers left in the world.
At that moment.
Cheers erupted from the positions, sounding like those reserved for Martial Saints or headmasters.
The oppressive, desperate atmosphere was swept away in an instant, the morale surged like a rainbow, and many soldiers leapt out of their trenches, cradling heavy machine guns and firing bursts at the heavens.
They looked as if urging the beasts to hasten their onslaught!
"What’s going on?"
Golden Old Nine picked up his binoculars and looked towards the situation in the sky, realizing that the beasts were beginning to retreat.
"The monster tide has never retreated once it started, even if they died to the last creature. In the eyes of those monsters, they were just cannon fodder!"
Li Hai, exhilarated, shouted, "Brother Nine, your phone, quick, look at your phone!"
Golden Old Nine took out his phone and saw dozens of message notifications. He opened one at random and immediately understood what had happened.
"We have a Golden Elixir True Monarch?"
"It’s the Martial Saint, the Martial Saint!"
Li Hai yelled hoarsely, "Humankind has a Martial Saint, those beasts hear the name and are so scared they piss themselves. Brother Nine, back in the day, I exchanged martial arts insights with Xiao Martial Saint!"
"Just you?"
Golden Old Nine raised an eyebrow and bluntly stated, those fighting the beasts on the frontlines were mostly human "cannon fodder."
How could someone over thirty with poor martial arts aptitude have had the opportunity to exchange insights with the Martial Saint?
Li Hai laughed loudly and said, "Don’t disbelieve me, Brother Nine. Ten years ago, when Xiao Martial Saint lectured on martial arts in Immortal Capital Square, I was in the audience, nodding in agreement several times!"
"..."
Golden Old Nine rolled his eyes, too lazy to listen to his boasting. He placed the Golden God amulet on the city wall and followed the ancient rites handed down by his ancestors, bowing three times and kowtowing nine times.
"Thank you for the Golden God’s protection!"
Li Hai already regarded Xiao Martial Saint as the ultimate idol and couldn’t help retorting, "The divine nation has been in ruins for two hundred years, how could Xiao Martial Saint possibly be related to the Golden God?"
Golden Old Nine carefully put away the amulet, his expression devout as he spoke.
"It must be the Golden God’s intervention that enabled Xiao Martial Saint to ascend!"