Chapter 124 Li Wenxiu's Challenge

Liu Hai looked up and waved his hand, revealing an endless, dazzling starry sky above.

"Like you said, a ninth-order expert is worth ten administrative stars and their accompanying star systems when a major power tries to recruit them." Liu Hai said, "That shows that, under normal circumstances, it's difficult for even the humans populating ten administrative stars to produce a ninth-order expert."

If ninth-order experts were so easy to come by, they wouldn't be offered such great benefits just for an invitation.

"It's definitely difficult."

Xu Jingming nodded. "Ninth-order experts can easily destroy a star with a single strike. Compared to that level of power, we're far, far behind. Ninth-order experts are like dragons; we can't even be considered ants right now."

"Breaking through from fourth to fifth order is already so difficult… wanting to break through to ninth order will definitely be ten thousand, a million times harder," Liu Hai said. "But no matter how hard it is, we have to keep going."

"Yes, no matter how hard it is, we have to keep going." Xu Jingming looked up at the starry sky.

In the vast universe, planets like Blue Star were insignificant.

Only by everyone on Blue Star striving to fight would they have a chance at becoming strong.

"Reach ninth order."

Liu Hai and Xu Jingming both looked at the starry sky in silence.

As virtual world experts who had more contact with the upper echelons than ordinary people, the master and disciple felt a greater sense of urgency in the face of the overall situation! As the top experts to emerge from fair competition after the virtual world opened, they felt an inescapable sense of responsibility.

If they didn't work hard to reach ninth order, who would?

Even if it was difficult, they had to overcome one obstacle after another and strive towards that goal.

******

Time passed day by day, and experts around the world were working hard. Top experts such as Akjinov, Merritt, Haru Singh, Zhao Fan, Miyagawa Akari, and others were gradually reaching the fourth-order limit.

People like Xu Jingming, Liu Hai, and Teano had been stuck at the fourth-order limit for a long time.

In the blink of an eye, it was March 18th.

"Jingming, look, look!" Just after dinner, Li Miaomiao pulled Xu Jingming to sit on the sofa in the living room. A live broadcast appeared on the screen.

"This is Li Wenxiu's livestream from Xinluo Nation?" Xu Jingming asked in surprise.

"Just watch," Li Miaomiao said.

Xu Jingming watched.

"Many people might think I'm arrogant and conceited," Li Wenxiu said with a smile. As the consistently top expert in Xinluo Nation, he had countless fans there, but at this moment, the number of viewers in his livestream had exceeded 500 million.

"Does he have that many people in his livestream?" Xu Jingming asked in surprise. "He's ranked 38th on the fourth level of the Cosmic Ranking. Normally, a livestream would hardly ever exceed 100 million viewers."

After all, there were so many experts. Being ranked 38th on the fourth level of the Cosmic Ranking was remarkable and definitely made him number one in Xinluo Nation, but on a global scale… there were quite a few livestreams more attractive than his.

"You'll know if you keep watching," Li Miaomiao said with a smile.

In the livestream, Li Wenxiu was still talking: "Actually, I'm not arrogant or conceited, but I have a very clear understanding of my own capabilities. Liu Hai, Xu Jingming, and Teano are indeed the top experts in the world, but breaking through from fourth to fifth order is an extremely, extremely difficult obstacle. I believe they should also be stuck at the fourth-order limit."

"And I have now also reached the fourth-order limit," Li Wenxiu said. "My strength is actually not that far from theirs, and we are now standing on the same starting line. Who will reach fifth order first, and who will be number one in the world is still hard to say!"

"I'm publicly challenging the three of them in order to temper myself, and also to temper them."

"With enough tempering, we'll have a better chance of breaking through to fifth order."

"I also hope that Liu Hai, Xu Jingming, and Teano can accept my challenge." Li Wenxiu looked at the number of people in the livestream, which had exceeded 600 million, and his smile deepened.

When had his livestream ever been so popular?

"Liu Hai, Xu Jingming, Teano Xilai!" Li Wenxiu said solemnly. "If you have the courage of a martial artist and the conviction to break through to fifth order, then please accept my challenge! If you don't have the courage, and are afraid of being defeated by me, who is ranked 38th on the Cosmic Ranking, afraid of losing face… I won't blame you, I'll just be disappointed."

Xu Jingming watched the broadcast in astonishment.

"He publicly challenged them in his livestream while we were having dinner," Li Miaomiao said. "That's why I pulled you over to watch the livestream right away."

"What's this all about?" Xu Jingming shook his head. "Shouldn't a challenge be arranged privately first?"

Like when Miyagawa Akari challenged him, it was arranged through the Life Evolution Bureau. Both parties agreed, and then the battle would take place.

Li Wenxiu didn't contact Xu Jingming, Liu Hai, or Teano at all. He just challenged them in his livestream, and even challenged all three of them! If an ordinary person did something like this, everyone would just treat it as a joke.

But Li Wenxiu was, after all, ranked on the fourth level of the Cosmic Ranking, the number one expert in Xinluo Nation, and had now reached the fourth-order limit.

"On the one hand, if he contacted you privately, none of you might pay him any attention," Li Miaomiao said. "On the other hand, it might also be for the sake of publicity. They want enough exposure, enough viewers, so that whether it's livestream revenue or martial arts lessons at their dojos, more people might take his classes. They're already starting to prepare for competing for the annual total points."

Xu Jingming understood.

The martial arts dojo's total points were assessed once a year. For those who had been assessed before, the previous year's data wouldn't be counted in the new year. It would be based on the new year's data.

Xu Jingming, Liu Hai, and the others had earned an astonishing amount in paid subscriptions last year. Would there be as many new subscriptions? Definitely fewer. After all, fewer and fewer people on Blue Star hadn't bought their martial arts courses.

"For the sake of publicity?" Xu Jingming understood.

"Mm?" Li Miaomiao looked at a message she had received, immediately looked up, and switched the livestream to Fang Yu's livestream.

Xu Jingming watched in surprise.

Fang Yu was sitting there, facing countless viewers, saying: "I just heard that the Xinluo Nation's Li Wenxiu publicly challenged Liu Hai, Xu Jingming, and Teano. Haha… it's just too laughable. He knows that those three won't pay any attention to him, but he still publicly challenged them in a livestream!"

"This is called leeching!" Fang Yu said with a smile. "Oh well, Xu Jingming and the others won't pay attention to me, so I'll pay attention to him."

"Everyone knows that Xu Jingming guided me, and it was because of his Nine Lessons of Martial Arts that I broke through to the fourth order," Fang Yu said with a smile. "I also just reached the fourth-order limit not long ago. Li Wenxiu, if you have the ability, defeat me first… before talking about challenging Liu Hai, Xu Jingming, and the others."

"Li Wenxiu, do you have the guts to challenge me?" Fang Yu said with a smile, very relaxed.

He was very relaxed and casual.

His halberd arts had reached 96% of the fourth order, so he could be considered at the fourth-order limit, and his physique completely surpassed other fourth-order limit experts.

"Fang Yu has a perfect win record in his recent global battles," Li Miaomiao said. "His body is too strong, using brute force to overcome all techniques! At the fourth-order limit level… it's too difficult to defeat Fang Yu."

Xu Jingming also smiled. "This Fang Yu is interesting."

"He is interesting, always talking about how you guided him," Li Miaomiao also said with a smile.

"Actually, my Nine Lessons of Martial Arts are for everyone in the world, and he paid to watch them too," Xu Jingming said. To be honest, being so appreciated made Xu Jingming feel a lot of goodwill towards Fang Yu.

Li Miaomiao said: "His constant praise is also helpful in increasing the number of paid subscriptions and improving the ratings. If it weren't for his and Miyagawa Akari's praise, it would be hard to say who would ultimately rank first in total points between you and Master Liu Hai."

Xu Jingming nodded.

The praise from these two top experts had indeed increased the number of paid subscriptions to a certain extent, and had also helped with the ratings.

"Alright, I'm going back to practice." Xu Jingming got up.

…

Entering the virtual world again, the martial arts training ground in his personal space was set to a modern city architecture at night.

"Start practicing the Rainbow Spear Technique." Xu Jingming tapped lightly.

In the modern city at night.

Xu Jingming walked alone on the quiet streets.

"Whoosh."

Accompanied by a sniper bullet streaking across the sky.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh! A large number of bullets came from all directions in the darkness. Because it was night, it was impossible to see from a distance. Xu Jingming could only rely on his senses to sense the disturbances in the air within a fifty-meter radius around him.

If there were only a few sniper bullets, Xu Jingming could easily dodge them even at close range.

But there were too many, and many were coming from behind, from blind spots! He could only rely on sensing the fluctuations in the air, and with so many bullets, the air fluctuations became even more chaotic. The difficulty of blocking them increased greatly.

"Clang clang clang." Xu Jingming's figure was like a ghost, dodging with his footwork, and also wielding his spear. The tip of his spear was as fast as lightning, repeatedly stabbing out to block the bullets.

"I must hit the bullets with the tip of the spear to be considered successful." Xu Jingming had set the training mode to be very demanding.

As time went on, the speed of the bullets slowly increased.

From 800 meters per second, to 900 meters per second, 950 meters per second, 1000 meters per second…

The faster the speed, the more strenuous it became for Xu Jingming.

"Hmm?"

A bullet approached him. Xu Jingming didn't have time to react, and the spear in his hand moved instinctively, stabbing out with a backhand thrust. The speed of the spear was noticeably faster, clang—the tip of the spear accurately hit the bullet again, and the bullet turned into nothingness and disappeared.

At this moment, Xu Jingming's personal combat strength panel.

In the personal skills section, "Rainbow Spear Technique (Fourth Order 99%)" became "Rainbow Spear Technique (Fifth Order 1%)".