Chapter 208: China isn’t Normal
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
There was a bit of admiration on her usually cool and aloof countenance at the moment.
“Not bad.”
Di Baijun said with a bit of an approving smile at the corners of her lips.
“Thank you for the compliment, my Queen.”
Ling Shuang replied serenely.
The approval and admiration in Di Baijun’s eyes intensified.
Satisfied, she said, “Out of the many Second Realm cultivators here, you’re the first to break through. Very well, I shall impart to you a special ability and some tips on how to stabilize your cultivation realm as a reward.”
“Thank you, my Queen.” Ling Shuang’s voice became a few notches more serious.
With a wave, Di Baijun transmitted some information to her.
Ling Shuang took a quick look at it, upon which her frosty countenance became more solemn. Then, she bowed seriously to Di Baijun.
Di Baijun didn’t say anything. w.a.n.g Hu, however, became rather curious.
Did Silly Girl know even the leopards’ special abilities?
However, he let go of the issue right away. After all, this was very normal, given Silly Girl’s status in the past.
No matter how much she knew, w.a.n.g Hu would only show some short-lived curiosity at best.
“Alright, you can go and stabilize your cultivation realm,” said a smiling w.a.n.g Hu.
“Okay,” replied Ling Shuang. Then, she turned and walked into the cave.
w.a.n.g Hu and Di Baijun didn’t pay any attention to the animals that had gathered around to see what was going on either. Instead, they turned and went toward the Tiger King’s Cave.
When they returned to the cave, at the sight of the happy expression on Silly Girl’s face, an amused w.a.n.g Hu commented, “You’re surprisingly happy about this.”
It was as though she was even happier about it than he was.
Di Baijun cast a haughty glance at w.a.n.g Hu before she said somewhat mirthfully, “Of course, I’m happy now that the first Divine Body Realm cultivator groomed by the Tiger King’s Cave has appeared.”
There was something else she didn’t say, however.
In the Tiger King’s Cave, it could be said that there were too many more males than females. There weren’t many outstanding females at all.
The ones who were the most talented were none other than Ling Shuang and Su Ling.
No further explanation was needed in the case of the cowardly fox; Di Baijun simply despised her. On the other hand, everything about Ling Shuang was to her liking.
Coupled with how she had also beaten all the males to become the first person to break through to the Third Realm, she felt that Ling Shuang had brought her great honor.
With that, she had also managed to one-up the rascal. This delighted Di Baijun who had been constantly suppressed by the rascal all this time.
w.a.n.g Hu didn’t think of that for the time being. Neither did he mind. With a smile, he agreed with her and said, “The first one has already appeared. Very soon, the second one will also appear. With the first and the second, there’ll be more very soon after that.”
He paused for a moment. Then, he thought about it and said, “Ling Shuang isn’t a tiger. On top of that, she’s even female, so she’s naturally a little weaker. Yet, she could still outs.h.i.+ne all the other animals to become the first person to break through to the Third Realm. Moreover, she even achieved seven rounds of metamorphosis.
“Considering how outstanding she is, shouldn’t we reward her?”
“Haven’t I already imparted to her a special ability and some tips?” replied Di Baijun with a slight frown.
“What you’ve given her is a personal reward from you; it represents your fondness for her. What I’m giving her, however, is a reward on behalf of the Tiger King’s Cave. It can also be seen as a form of encouragement to the rest of the animals,” said w.a.n.g Hu.
Di Baijun blinked. It surprisingly made sense.
Suddenly, she thought of something. She raised an eyebrow slightly, and then, as though nothing was out of the norm, she said, “Giving her a reward can certainly act as a form of encouragement to the other animals.
“I’ve got it. Since she’s so outstanding and so beautiful, why don’t you transfer her over to you and have her follow you around at all times?
“This way, all the animals will be able to see how much you value her. Moreover, you can also provide her with even more guidance.”
After she spoke, as though she felt like she had thought of a wonderful idea, her bright eyes watched w.a.n.g Hu closely as though she was waiting for his reply.
w.a.n.g Hu instinctively thought of that icy-cold visage and that long pair of legs.
She was indeed very beautiful.
Suddenly, an inexplicable sense of danger welled up in his heart. Alarm bells rang in his head as he stared at Silly Girl’s expression that didn’t seem out of the norm in any way.
Did Silly Girl… really think that way?
No, there’s a 90% chance that she’s just setting up a trap for me.
Given how petty she is, will she allow a beautiful woman to stay by my side? On top of that, will she allow the beautiful woman to follow me around everywhere?
Hmph, she’s picked up some bad stuff, hasn’t she? To think she has actually started to set up traps for me…
It took only the span of a breath for those thoughts to run through his mind. His brows furrowed together as though he was giving the suggestion some thought. Then, he slowly said, “That’s a pretty good idea, Baijun.”
At once, Di Baijun’s slender brows rose even higher.
“Ling Shuang’s apt.i.tude and level of combat power are top-notch even in the Tiger King’s Cave. We certainly should give her proper guidance and set an example for the other species.
“Moreover, she’s quiet and carries out her tasks well. She’s very suitable for me to bring her around everywhere.”
His contemplative words slowly rang out. Underneath Di Baijun’s sleeves, a pair of graceful, jade-like little fists instantly balled up tightly. An approving smile, however, formed on her face, and she continued to watch w.a.n.g Hu closely.
As though he hadn’t noticed anything at all, w.a.n.g Hu went on. He said, “Why don’t I get her to follow me around everywhere? This way, she can also carry out my orders anytime.”
When he finished, Di Baijun’s eyes had even widened a little.
w.a.n.g Hu laughed inwardly and decided to stop teasing her. With a frown, he sighed and added, “Let’s not do it despite things.”
“Why not?” Di Baijun suppressed her impulsiveness and asked right away.
“There’s a distinction between men and women. No matter what, I’m ultimately still a man, while Ling Shuang’s a woman. Once she stays with me for too long, I’m afraid negative rumors will start flying among the animals.
“Let’s just forget about it,” w.a.n.g Hu said seriously.
Di Baijun’s brows drew together slightly, and she said bossily, “What kind of rumors can there be? Who would dare to spread them?”
“Even if they dare not say anything on the surface, there’ll definitely be some in the shadows. Wouldn’t that tarnish my reputation for nothing?
“Considering how I have only you in my heart, Baijun, how can I let people slander me like that?” w.a.n.g Hu’s expression turned a little sterner as he spoke righteously.
Di Baijun felt rather embarra.s.sed right away. However, it had already been some time since the two of them became husband and wife. Besides, the two of them were the only ones present in the room. Thus, apart from her eyes darting about here and there for a while, she didn’t show much of any other reaction.
She urged him a little, “So, do you agree to it or not?”
“No, let’s not. I’m not suitable for this. We should pay attention to the impact now instead. In any case, I’m not interested. If you’re interested, you can transfer her over to yourself and bring her around with you instead,” w.a.n.g Hu said seriously.
Di Baijun’s clenched fists loosened. Somewhat satisfied, she said dispa.s.sionately, “Let’s discuss this again in the future instead, then.”
w.a.n.g Hu nodded and changed the topic. He sounded more serious as he said, “Now that Ling Shuang has reached the Third Realm, it’s time that we give some proper thought to what kind of benefits a Third Realm cultivator should receive.”
Upon hearing what he said, Di Baijun also nodded.
There were quite a few Third Realm cultivators under the Tiger King’s Cave’s command. However, all of them were people whom they had conquered, so none of them were loyal subjects.
Including Hei Fan, none of them were given any benefits at all. All of them were providing free labor.
However, Ling Shuang, Jun Wen, and the others weren’t to be compared to them at all. Thus, they naturally should receive their corresponding amount of benefits, so that they could grow, develop, and become stronger even faster.
After that, the married couple started to discuss the issue, though it was mostly w.a.n.g Hu talking and Di Baijun expressing her approval after a moment’s thought.
A few days later, Jun Wen also came out of seclusion. He had also successfully broken through to the Third Realm.
w.a.n.g Hu came forward to deal with the matter again, whereas Di Baijun ignored it. She made no move to hide the obvious difference in treatment.
Jun Wen wasn’t bothered, however. He knew very well that the Queen had disliked him ever since that incident back then.
It didn’t matter, though. He didn’t really care anyway.
“Seven rounds of metamorphosis? Not bad. You didn’t disgrace us tigers,” w.a.n.g Hu said with a smile in the hall. He was evidently very pleased and satisfied.
Just like Ling Shuang, he had also undergone seven rounds of metamorphosis.
From this, one could tell how talented both of them were. Given how the world had only just experienced an awakening of spiritual energy, their condition was very unusual.
However, there were simply too many unusual things happening on Earth. Relatively speaking, this was nothing.
“It’s all thanks to the King’s grooming that I could achieve what I have today,” Jun Wen said seriously with an incredibly stern expression on his face.
As he spoke, he maintained his Dao form, which looked like a man in his thirties, and bowed again.
With a frank and upright-looking squarish face, he had an honorable and upright aura—as well as respect that came from the bottom of his heart—around him.
At the sight, w.a.n.g Hu became even more satisfied.
“Alright, you’ve only just broken through, so you should focus on stabilizing your cultivation realm for now. You can go now.”
“Yes. I’ll take my leave.”
Jun Wen bowed respectfully and exited the hall.
w.a.n.g Hu’s lip corners curled upward into a smile as he watched Jun Wen from the back.
Then, he returned to the room to cultivate.
For a while after that, tension soundlessly pervaded the atmosphere in the Tiger King’s Cave.
All the peak-level Transformation Realm animals started to cultivate even more diligently with a certain aura around them as though they would never stop until they broke through to the Third Realm.
There was no doubt about it. Ling Shuang and Jun Wen’s breakthroughs had become a huge stimulus for them.
Even w.a.n.g Shan stopped wandering about everywhere, and he practically stayed in his cave all the time. It was as though he had gone into seclusion and would never come out until he had broken through.
By this point, news of how some alternate worlds would be making camp on Earth had already caused an uproar in the various human alliances.
This was because some alternate world experts had really officially entered Earth.
Everyone could tell that the humans’ circ.u.mstances had worsened again.
There were all kinds of speculations and theories on the Internet.
In real life, the cultivation trend became even stronger.
On the third day since some alternate worlds set up camp on Earth…
In the Hu County alternate world…
The Huis that had stayed quiet for several years seemingly took action without any prior warning and invaded again.
A huge war began.
A brief period of gunfire later, within the short span of half an hour, the number of Third Realm cultivators standing guard there spiked dramatically from the original 100 to over 200.
A huge war with the Hui army started in the area around the world pa.s.sage leading to the Hu County alternate world.
In the capital of China…
A cabinet meeting was held the moment the invasion began.
“Leader, based on the Huis’ invasion so far, we’ve discovered creatures from other species were mixed among their troops. They are a powerful species with Fourth Realm existences among them in Hu County.
“We can a.s.sume that the Huis have teamed up with other species,” an elderly official said grimly.
“How’s the current situation?” Dong Pingtao asked in a deep voice.
“We’ve already been making preparations for this. So far, it looks like their invasion attempt isn’t very intense, so we’re still able to resist them.
“However, if that’s the case, our cultivators’ level of combat power will be exposed,” said the elderly official solemnly.
“Should we ask the Tiger King for help again?” An elderly official asked hesitantly.
The meeting fell silent for a few seconds. Then, Dong Pingtao said seriously, “If it becomes exposed, then so be it. It’ll eventually be exposed one day anyway.
“Besides, China—as well as the China Alliance—needs heroes and experts right now.”
All the elderly officials nodded. None of them raised any objections.
“In that case, do we still inform the Tiger King about it?” Li Aimin asked with a frown.
Dong Pingtao contemplated the question for a moment. Then, he said steadily, “Yes, we can inform him about it. It’ll be our final wall of defense.”
No one objected to it. All of them chose tacit agreement instead.
A few minutes later, Li Aimin dialed w.a.n.g Hu’s number and reached a simple agreement with him.
w.a.n.g Hu stayed in the Tiger King’s Cave, intending to use Ji’s satellite to watch a live broadcast of the war.
Beside him, Di Baijun asked somewhat dubiously, “They’re asking you to wait and help only when they can’t hold them back anymore? How long has it only been? Yet, China dares to face the Huis by themselves now?”
Evidently, she didn’t believe that China would have gained that sort of combat power within such a short amount of time.
China’s current spiritual energy density level had reached the tenth stage of the Third Realm. The Huis’ invasion this time would undoubtedly be fiercer than the one that took place a few years ago.
w.a.n.g Hu didn’t say anything. He was also rather puzzled.
Going by what Li Aimin had said, China would not be using nuclear weapons this time.
Yet, if they didn’t, where else would they get the confidence to resist the Huis by themselves?
While China did have a lot of Third Realm cultivators, in terms of quality…
Could they be intending to let their soldiers do some training first?
That didn’t make sense either. Doing that would be no different from sending them to their deaths for no reason.
However, even though he was perplexed, w.a.n.g Hu didn’t say anything.
The humans had cheats, and China was even the king of cheats. He couldn’t help but always feel that they weren’t unreasonable existences.
It didn’t seem like… the truth would be that hard to accept even if they really did have that sort of combat power.
As he mused over it, he switched on the satellite live broadcast and said, “Let’s just watch what happens for now. Don’t underestimate China. They may just give us a surprise.”
w.a.n.g Hu didn’t have any intention to hurry over for now either. Given his speed, he could rush over to the Hu County alternate world very quickly whenever necessary.
Since even China themselves weren’t anxious about it, then why should he be?
When Di Baijun thought of all of China’s peculiarities, she didn’t refute him either. Instead, she started to watch the live broadcast.
A fierce battle entered their sights.
Boom!
Deafening gunfire mixed with the growls of beasts. An infinite amount of blood splashed through the sky.
A huge war was already completely underway in the vicinity of the Hu County alternate world.
The dozens of Third Realm Huis and the 100-odd Third Realm beings from the other species made up a total of nearly 200 Third Realm experts.
They led the 30,000-strong Second Realm army and charged toward the Chinese troops.
The Chinese troops fought back with cannons and gunfire first. Their gunfire range covered the whole area within 50 kilometers of where they were.
Under the attack of an infinite amount of gunfire, the Hui army immediately started to suffer terrible losses.
When the invaders got out of the gunfire range, China’s Third Realm cultivators started to clash with them.
In this instant, w.a.n.g Hu—as well as the senior officials of the seven other alliances—widened their eyes.
“How can that be? F*ck! Look at those soldiers’ combat power!”
Incredulous voices rang out among the India Alliance’s senior officials.
“How can that be? How can that be China’s level of combat power?”
“A clash of that scale! a.n.a.lyze the invaders and the Chinese experts’ level of combat power immediately.”
…
Several disbelieving voices rang out among the seven alliances. In the Tiger King’s Cave, w.a.n.g Hu and Di Baijun’s eyes were also widened and full of disbelief.
“There are at least several Fifth Floor cultivators, more than ten Fourth Floor ones, and dozens of Third Floor ones. Those two over there have likely already reached the Sixth Floor—or the Seventh Floor even.
“How did China’s level of combat power suddenly increase that much?” Di Baijun’s brows were drawn into a slight frown, and there was astonishment and perplexity in her voice.
w.a.n.g Hu shook his head. He continued to watch the battle without even blinking at all.
Silly Girl was right. That was exactly the Chinese cultivators’ level of combat power.
However, how could that be? How long had it only been?
China’s combat power could practically be said to have increased by more than just several-fold. This increase wasn’t in quant.i.ty; rather, it was in quality.
An improvement in quality was even more astonis.h.i.+ng than an improvement in quant.i.ty.
If someone were to tell him that China now had 1,000 Third Realm cultivators, even though w.a.n.g Hu would be surprised, he would still be able to accept it.
After all, the population count in China was there for all to see.
However, how could anyone even achieve such a fast rate of improvement in quality? Moreover, there wasn’t just one or two of them; rather, they had achieved such a fast rate of improvement as a whole.
This was obviously very abnormal.