Heavenly Ranking

Chapter 194 Lobbying
Today, the Red Star stands in a tripod formation with four poles.

The economically developed and vast Da Shang Federation occupies the Eastern Divine Continent.

The Black Gold Empire, with its large population and fierce fighting spirit, dominates the Southern Flame Continent.

The Griffin Republic, with its powerful military and advanced industry, rules over West Asia.

And the United States of the North, though its influence remains immense in the world thanks to its fading glory and numerous bases.

Of the four cornerstones of this world, the Great Merchant has money, Black Gold has people, Griffin has soldiers, and the Northern Kingdom has hope.

Ten years ago, the three parties secretly joined forces to drag the United States of the North off its throne as the world's superpower.

However, in the past decade, all three parties have gained considerable benefits. In addition, they have been unable to completely annex the Northern United States, and they are also worried that others will rise rapidly after swallowing the Northern Kingdom, constantly hindering others. As a result, the Northern Kingdom has not been completely destroyed.

The world order has changed from one superpower and three strong powers to a four-way balance of power.

In the past five years, having completed its industrial transformation and with its military strength growing ever stronger, the Griffin Republic is no longer satisfied with its existing territory and has once again launched an offensive against the United States of the North.

The Great Shang Federation was pleased with this and continued to provide aid to the Northern Federation, hoping to use the Northern Kingdom to weaken the Griffin's national strength.

The Griffin Republic was extremely dissatisfied and instigated the Black Gold Empire to create trouble for the Great Shang Federation, which greatly affected the Great Shang Federation's economy.

Over the course of five years, this impact spread to all sectors, resulting in a significant economic downturn.

This is also why Ji Fuyou was unable to find a job before.

In an unstable situation, the economy is the first to be affected.

This time, the Heavenly Ranking appeared, and the Great Shang, Black Gold, and Griffin each obtained one piece, but the Northern Kingdom was not recognized by the Heavenly Ranking.

It is evident that the Northern Kingdom has fallen behind the other three kingdoms, and in the future, the Red Star Kingdom will inevitably be divided into three kingdoms: the Great Shang, Black Gold, and Griffin.

……

Starlight City.

Ji Fuyou looked at the image on his phone of the prodigy from the He family, the head of the Spiritual Ability Association, and was somewhat surprised.

"I?"

He looked at He Qilin inside and said, "Don't I have some indisputable suspicion against me right now and need to cooperate with the investigation? What, even with suspicion against me, I can still participate in the World's Number One Martial Arts Tournament? Or are you planning to make me lose to them openly and fairly, so that their ascension to the throne will be more legitimate?"

At this point, he chuckled and said, "That would be going too far. Aren't you afraid that I might lose my temper and kill him?"

"No, we absolutely did not mean that. Even if Mr. Ji goes to participate in the World's Number One Martial Arts Tournament, no one will stop him! Even if Mr. Ji wants to win first place, that is his own ability! It's just that because of Xia Zheng and the others' unreasonable demands, the Heavenly Ranking Committee had some difficulty in making arrangements."

He Qilin quickly said, "However... the situation has changed now. The Black Gold and Griffin people have intervened."

He quickly described the sinister intentions of the two countries.

After listening, Ji Fuyou remained calm.

"so what?"

"We need your help."

He Qilin said sincerely.

"I'm curious, why would you come looking for me after what happened not long ago?"

"One thing is another thing."

He Qilin said, “I know that Xia Zheng and the others have disappointed you. In fact, we failed to keep your position as a member of the Heavenly Ranking Committee, which is also a dereliction of duty on our part. But this great battle is about the treatment and honor of the 108 people on the Heavenly Ranking, and even the face of the entire Federation. So, the two things should not be confused.”

As Ji Fuyou listened to He Qilin's words, he even...

You could sense the sincerity in He Qilin's tone.

This made him feel somewhat absurd.

Because this means that He Qilin himself thinks that way.

Two different things can make two people who had a falling out just a moment ago work together seamlessly in the next second.

This truly proves the old saying: there are no permanent enemies, only permanent interests.

A qualified politician should not put their emotions above their interests.

and so……

He is incapable of being a competent politician.

"You can't possibly fight against the Black Gold and Griffin people with your strength?"

As Ji Fuyou spoke, he added, "The Federation did not send its strongest group into the trial grounds, and neither did Black Gold or Griffin, nor did they send any top figures to risk their lives, right?"

"Among the Black Gold's personnel sent to participate in the trials and ascend to the Heavenly Ranking, there is a group of criminals. The highest-ranking among them is the Sixteenth Prince Lin Lun—a top-tier expert who is both a Quasi-Martial Saint and a Spirit Master! His physical strength has reached 38 points, and his spirit strength has exceeded 31 points! As for the Griffin, their team is personally led by Master Mo Fei, whose spirit strength is 32 points. Their lineup is also extremely powerful!"

He Qilin paused, then said, "We must concentrate all our strength to have any hope of defeating them."

"Quasi-Martial Saint, Spiritual Master..."

Ji Fuyou nodded.

The Martial Saint and the Spiritual Master are basically at the pinnacle of existence.

Even Zhu Long, a martial saint, who had already staged a coup, was still living well in the Ten Thousand Snake Valley area of ​​Qingzhou, and had created a huge underground market, becoming an underground emperor.

The reason is that his strength is too great, so great that even the Supreme Council finds it very difficult to deal with him.

As long as he stays put and doesn't infringe on the interests of the Supreme Council, the Federation will turn a blind eye to his existence. While a Spiritual Master is slightly less adept at self-preservation than a Martial Saint, the destructive and deterrent power of their Spiritual Storm on ordinary people surpasses that of a Martial Saint, placing them within the highest echelons of society.

Black Gold and Griffin have sent out figures of this caliber to fight...

This is equivalent to the Federation sending He Jinglan and Xia Zheng to personally lead the team.

This lineup is a level above He Qilin, Gu Yinbing, Xiao Jiuge, Feng Yulou, and Shen Jun.

"Although the lineup of quasi-Martial Saints and Spirit Masters is not small, if you hurry up and gather some red Spirit Source Crystals, breaking through to the Master level shouldn't be too difficult, right?"

Ji Fuyou calmly said, "I remember that your and Gu Yinbing's spirit values ​​are almost 30. At most, two red spirit source crystals will be enough to increase your spirit values."

"Different."

He Qilin shook his head: "Not to mention that red spirit crystals are extremely rare, even the Martial Saints and Masters might not be able to obtain one in a month or two, and even if they did, they might not give it to us. Just the nature of spirit and physique values ​​changes after they reach 30."

"Why is it different?"

Ji Fuyou followed up with questions.

"When the physical strength value reaches 30 points, the strength increases. Although this is a significant improvement, it is far less than the qualitative change brought about by the mental strength reaching 30 points!"

He Qilin glanced at Ji Fuyou, and considering that he needed Ji Fuyou's help, he said, "The qualitative change in mental strength from 29.9 to 30 is, to some extent, equivalent to a transformation of the soul. This transformation is nothing short of a rebirth, and the whole process is quite dangerous. If you fail, it will cause great damage to your spirit."

"A complete rebirth? What does that mean?"

"When you were refining the red physique source crystal, you must have experienced a kind of pain, as if your physical body was being broken down and reshaped, right?"

He Qilin said, "Soul transformation is the same; it is a process of living towards death! At the moment of transformation, the soul falls into annihilation, just like falling into death. Only by finding new life in this death and annihilation can the transformation be completed."

He said, "Gu Yinbing's spiritual scale could have been broken through with just one more red spiritual source crystal, but in reality, she not only used it, she tried twice, but both times she failed!"

"It can still... fail..."

Ji Fuyou said something.

He always believed that as long as he had Source Crystals, his mental and physical abilities could be improved indefinitely.

did not expect……

"She took more than three months to recover after her first failure, and it took her more than five months to recover after her second failure."

He Qilin said, "According to Master Gu, those who have never truly experienced death cannot understand what it means to live towards death. And without living towards death, one cannot allow the soul to transform, embrace new life, and enter the realm of masters. This is why Gu Yinbing chose to participate in the Civilization Trial when the situation was unclear."

He glanced at Ji Fuyou: "Her purpose in participating in the trial is to 'live in the face of death'."

"Experiencing death..."

Ji Fuyou recalled every moment of breaking through his mental shackles.

The soul, however, was frozen solid.

that……

It's like the feeling of "death".

But death is something...

He experienced it more than once or twice...

It's happened hundreds or thousands of times.

So that...

This "death" did not have too severe an impact on him. Relying on the "Guardian of Truth" sword intent that he had comprehended early on, he remained unchanged in the face of all changes and successfully broke through the seal, completing a step that would be extremely difficult for many spiritual beings.
"In fact, from peak master to martial saint, they will also undergo a transformation of facing death and living again. However... the spiritual master's facing death and living again is spiritual, while the martial artist's facing death and living again... is physical."

He Qilin said, "This is why, even though master-level mental energy users should be compared to master-level martial artists, many people still place mental energy masters on the same level as martial saints."

After saying that, he looked at Ji Fuyou and said, "Your spiritual level is not far from that of a master. You will inevitably face the problem of soul transformation next... In the past few years, spiritual masters have written down their experiences of completing soul transformation. If you are willing to participate in this World's Number One Martial Arts Tournament, these experiences can be made available to you."

My thoughts and experiences.

Ji Fuyou was somewhat moved.

When the fog appears, those in power block information about the source crystals, thus monopolizing this resource.

Seeing that the situation was getting out of control and could not be contained, they had no choice but to reveal the source crystal to the public, but then immediately established a second line of defense—information monopoly.

This monopoly is the transformation of both the body and the soul.

If they are not included in their circle, many people undergo physical or spiritual transformations without any preparation or knowledge...

There is only one outcome: failure.

"Mr. Ji, this World's Number One Martial Arts Tournament can almost be seen as a preview of a war of civilizations. The Federation needs you, and human civilization needs you!"

He Qilin said heavily.

"one question."

Ji Fuyou held up one finger: "If we win in the end, will I be able to get a place on the Heavenly Ranking Committee?"

He Qilin hesitated for a moment, then said solemnly, "I will do my best to fight for you."

"Fight for it?"

Ji Fuyou smiled: "So...do the Federation and humanity really need me?"

(End of this chapter)