Precisely because of its massive value, the resulting harm is equally immense. To put it bluntly, this baptism is actually a procedure that serves the ruling class. If a new Inner Force Expert can be of use to the ruling class, they can use the baptism to directly join the ruling class. If they cannot be used by the rulers, or if there is some friction between them, then this baptism serves to overawe the newcomer, making them understand the terrifying power of the ruling elite. Even if a rift exists, the two sides will keep out of each other's way—neither will cross the line. Then comes the third purpose: when someone neither can be of use to the ruling class nor shares a deep grievance with them, resulting in a situation where only one can survive, this baptism becomes a true life-and-death blood feast that does not end until one side is beaten into the ground.
Reflecting on it, political struggles within the Capital Circle must have been exceptionally fierce over the past few days. Hao Qi looked at Xu Wen's trial schedule and guessed that the Xu Family initially had no intention of settling things this way. After all, a settlement of this nature would cause the Xu Family's social status to plummet significantly, casting them out of the circle of top elite families. It is likely that the Xu Family initially contacted countless other families, attempting to categorize him into the third group so that the entire ruling class could launch an absolute, fatal strike against Hao Qi through this baptism.
The transactional nature of the interests involved, combined with Hao Qi's own strength, served as heavy bargaining chips, and the Old Man Li's assistance was likely a factor as well. The ruling class are no fools. Since Hao Qi was capable of killing an Inner Force Expert, would he not drag another Inner Force Expert down to death with him if pushed into a desperate corner? Furthermore, a careful investigation would reveal that Hao Qi was not making an enemy of the entire ruling class, but rather of the Xu Family alone. Under such circumstances, no one was willing to pull chestnuts out of the fire for the Xu Family. In the end, the Xu Family had no choice but to settle for this outcome, and within the baptism, he was placed into the second category—meaning they intended to overawe him.
"Understood." Hao Qi immediately adopted a solemn expression, cupped his fists toward Old Man Li, and said, "Thank you, Senior, for the Li Family's helping hand."
Old Man Li smiled like a fox that had successfully stolen a chicken. Having accepted Hao Qi's formal greeting, he said, "I happen to be one of the four Inner Force baptism officials, representing the elite families to gauge Young Friend's strength. Therefore, for the next fifteen days, I will stay with Young Friend in this small town. If Young Friend has any questions about the Inner Force Realm, please feel free to ask me."
Hao Qi was instantly overjoyed, and he immediately expressed his gratitude once more. With Old Man Li staying here, Li Pancheng and Xue Na also remained behind, awaiting the arrival fifteen days from now of the...
Baptism!
Chapter 14: Future Plans
(Note: Two chapters today, another massive release of over 10,000 words. Once again asking for recommendations, clicks, and favorites. Thank you for the support of all my friends!)
Old Man Li's given name was Ming. According to Xue Na, eighty years ago, this same Li Ming had undergone a second-level baptism—meaning the ruling class intended to overawe him rather than offering the warm welcome experienced by most Inner Force Experts from elite families.
It was said that at the time, Li Ming was considered martial arts trash. Furthermore, because the Li Family was in decline, internal factional infighting was rampant. As a collateral-line member, Li Ming was treated poorly within the family; even the childhood betrothal arranged for him was broken off due to his poor aptitude for martial arts. In short, from Hao Qi's perspective, this Li Ming perfectly embodied the trope of the protagonist who is abandoned by his fiancée and considered trash.
At the time, an indignant Li Ming left home and traveled through more than a hundred countries surrounding the East Blue Sea Region for over twenty-five years. Later, by a stroke of fortune, he happened to witness a battle between two True Qi Realm experts. Seizing the opportunity, he saved the disciple of one of those True Qi Realm experts. In return, he was taught the Sun-Radiance Fist, and the True Qi Expert cleansed his marrow and washed his tendons. Having traveled for over twenty-five years, Li Ming was already just a hair's breadth away from the Quasi-Inner Force Realm. Through this accumulation and subsequent breakthrough, he burst forth with Inner Force within a mere five years. Afterward, he returned in glory to the Lanying Republic.
Upon his return to the Lanying Republic, the grievances Li Ming suffered in his youth naturally had to be settled one by one. Leaving aside the internal family affairs, he used his support to help his childhood brother—a half-brother from the same father but a different mother—ascend to the position of family head, followed by internal reforms and purges. As for the family that had broken off his engagement, he challenged them to over a dozen duels and martial arts spars, injuring their sole Inner Force Expert multiple times. Such actions and behavior ultimately earned him a second-level baptism, but it also made his name ring out far and wide, earning him a reputation as one of the top three strongest figures in the Lanying Republic.
For Hao Qi, meeting someone with such an experience was a cause for boundless joy. Throughout these fifteen days, he continually sought guidance from Li Ming on various matters, including the strength gradations of the Inner Force Realm and above, the countries surrounding Lanying, the sheer scale of this world, and the customs and local conditions of various nations. These were all things Hao Qi desperately wanted to know.
"I won't bother mentioning anything below the Inner Force Realm; Ordinary Persons, martial artists, and the Quasi-Inner Force Realm are all things you already know. Starting from the Inner Force Realm, there are two tiers. First is the ordinary Inner Force Realm, which includes both you and me. Next is the Inner Force Realm Great Accomplishment. Its hallmark is the transformation of Inner Force into Qi. When looking inward at your body, you can see the process where Inner Force condenses into smoke that is visible to the naked eye. However, this Inner Qi is in an illusory state and cannot leave the body; the moment it leaves the body, it immediately disperses back into regular Inner Force. Therefore, it is merely the Inner Force Realm Great Accomplishment, or what can be called the Quasi-Inner Qi Realm. Although it still belongs to the Inner Force Realm, because Inner Qi can now condense within the body, strength, speed, and cognitive reaction times are all vastly enhanced. The gap is nearly as large as the gap between a Quasi-Inner Force practitioner and an ordinary martial artist. It requires dozens of Inner Force Experts joining forces to rival just one of them. Experts of this caliber are the vital pillars of a nation. Our Lanying Republic has one such person, but they haven't shown their face in fifty years, and it is unknown whether they are still alive."
"Moving further up, we reach the True Qi Realm. The hallmark of this stage is the complete transformation of Inner Force into Qi—shifting from formless yet tangible Inner Force into gas that possesses both form and substance, visible to the naked eye and even capable of being touched by the physical body. It is no longer an illusory power. The Inner Qi of the True Qi Realm can leave the body and take on physical manifestations. When used in combat, your every move and strike can affect an area spanning a hundred, several hundred, or even a thousand meters around you. While it may not reach the level of moving mountains and filling seas, it already surpasses all modern weaponry. The most powerful True Qi Experts possess immense, heaven-shaking might with every wave of the hand. This is a realm I know of with absolute certainty. As for such figures, neither our Lanying Republic nor any of the surrounding nations possesses even one. The only confirmed True Qi Expert is the ancestral pillar of the Tieshan Republic, the largest nation in the East Blue Sea Region. There is also a rumor that an elusive True Qi Expert lives in seclusion in Baicao Country, the medical sanctuary of the East Blue Sea Region, but that remains only a rumor. Thus, it is generally believed that there is one and a half True Qi Experts in the East Blue Sea Region."
"Anything beyond that is not something I can personally confirm; these are merely legends I heard while traveling through the countries surrounding the East Blue Sea Region. It is said that above the True Qi Realm lies the Reincarnation. As for the differences between the Reincarnation and the True Qi Realm, I am unclear. In any case, those realms are far too distant from us. If the Reincarnation truly exists, they are likely confined solely to the Nine Martial Kings Under the Emperor."
"You ask about the Nine Martial Kings Under the Emperor? That is a legend, or perhaps something close to one. It is said to be the title held by the nine strongest individuals in this world. This title has been passed down for several thousand years—not because those nine individuals have lived for millennia, but because upon the death of one, another strongest warrior inherits the title of one of the Nine Martial Kings Under the Emperor, passing it down in this manner. Each of the Nine Martial Kings Under the Emperor has established their own martial group. Even the weakest members of these martial groups are at the Quasi-Inner Force Realm, and their various captains are said to be Inner Force Experts or even True Qi Experts. They are the nine strongest martial groups—or rather, factions—in this world, standing far above nations. They are forces that only superpower nations can rival and converse with. That, too, is far too far removed from us and need not be considered."
"A martial group? Speaking of which, I actually wanted to ask Young Friend: do you have money? Of course, I am not asking you for money; rather, you will need money yourself. Presumably, Young Friend already knows that after reaching the Inner Force Realm, although self-recovery, self-maintenance, and self-cultivation become extremely effortless, the financial resources we consume increase dramatically as well. Setting everything else aside, Young Friend's body has not yet reached the Quasi-Inner Force Realm. If you temper your physical body to its absolute limit and master the applications of Inner Force until it permeates your bone marrow, your strength will experience another explosive leap. However, once you reach this stage, improving any further becomes exceedingly difficult—it requires decades of slow, day-by-day grinding. Aside from this grinding process, there are only two other methods: one is obtaining the insights of a True Qi Expert along with cultivation techniques created by them that are suited for Inner Qi; the second is obtaining heavenly treasures. Such heavenly treasures possess massive amounts of free energy—the exact energy that merges with the human body's essence, energy, and spirit to form Inner Force—and of a much higher quality. Such heavenly treasures can drastically accelerate Inner Force cultivation."
"Yet where do cultivation techniques come from? Where do heavenly treasures come from? Money, power, connections, and even sheer strength can help you acquire these things, but such resources are not easily obtained by ordinary people. A martial group, however, can make it much easier for you to attain them."
"Generally speaking, the core of a martial group consists of Inner Force Experts. Below them, aside from the necessary martial artists, it is best to have a few professionals, such as physicians or alchemists. If your martial group does not plan to stay in one place, having a scholar well-versed in languages, customs, and geography is also necessary. If your martial group primarily undertakes contracts related to governments or elite family conglomerates, having a talented commercial expert is helpful as well... In short, a martial group is a miniature conglomerate, and it is best if it can handle all kinds of situations. Of course, the core must be Inner Force Experts. A martial group without an Inner Force Expert is extremely fragile; no matter how many members it has, the moment it encounters battles or missions involving Inner Force Experts, such a group will collapse or be completely wiped out. For instance, in this recent baptism targeting Young Friend, among the four individuals, the rogue Inner Force Expert was actually the leader of a martial group who had accepted a mission from the Lanying Republic—a mission targeting your baptism."
Old Man Li did not hold anything back, at least not regarding these matters. He answered almost every single question Hao Qi asked. For Hao Qi, this common-sense knowledge regarding the Inner Force Realm was truly timely assistance. Take the strength gradations above the Inner Force Realm, for example: had Old Man Li not explained them, Hao Qi likely would have had to spend a great deal of time and pay a heavy price just to find out. Information regarding martial groups was equally crucial. At present, he was practically penniless; he couldn't possibly make a living as a petty thief forever, could he? Or perhaps play for high stakes by robbing banks and government vaults? Hao Qi had not yet considered doing things that would court that kind of trouble. What he wanted was to travel across the entire world and see the sights, rather than getting caught up in things like striving for hegemony, becoming the number one person in the world, or winning the hearts of beauties as seen in those transmigration novels. He wasn't that bored, so naturally, he had no intention of courting trouble.
"A martial group..." Hao Qi muttered in contemplation for a long while before finally making up his mind. After this baptism, he would first build the framework of a martial group. Even if it consisted of just him for now, a martial group—even one with a single Inner Force Expert—would possess the most foundational credibility and guarantee of strength.
Hao Qi quickly asked, "Uncle Ming, what kind of certification does this martial group require? Is there some sort of Martial Artists Guild? Martial Group Guild? Or a similar organization that handles certifications?"
As it turned out, Hao Qi was overthinking things—or rather, having spent ten years burying himself in practicing fist techniques, he had never deeply explored the various facets of this world. Thus, he was applying tropes from the novels he had read on Earth before his transmigration.
Li Ming looked at him with astonishment and said, "A Martial Artists Guild? A Martial Group Guild? How could such a thing possibly exist? Martial artists inherently represent power, and Inner Force Experts are powerful enough to determine the survival and prosperity of an entire nation or ethnicity. If a Martial Artists Guild or Martial Group Guild truly existed, just how immense would its power be? With power like that, would such a guild content itself with merely being a guild? The rise and fall of nations, the cyclical replacement of regimes, sects, and elite families—wouldn't they all have to kneel before this guild? For that matter, the guild itself could establish a colossal, sprawling empire; the guild itself would be the state apparatus. Something like that is impossible. Aside from a tiny handful of orphans like yourself, nearly all martial artists belong to families or clans, or else they belong to the sects that raised them. Are they going to turn their backs on the families and sects close to them and instead pledge loyalty to a governing guild? What kind of logic is that?"
Hao Qi instantly realized he had overthought things. Before he could speak, however, Li Ming continued, "Although there is no Martial Artists Guild or Martial Group Guild, there is indeed a certifying body dedicated to recognizing the establishment and dissolution of martial groups: the Human Alliance."
"The Human Alliance? What on earth is that..." Hao Qi asked, looking perplexed.
"Earth? It's not some ghost. It's a loose intelligence-sharing and human mutual-aid coalition whose full name is the United Alliance of All Human National Governments, Sects, and Elite Families. It is an alliance that has existed for over a thousand years, with no specific organizational headquarters or the like. Every nation, elite family, and sect dispatches its own scions to serve within it. There is no such thing as a superior governing body; each nation's capital serves as this Human Alliance's headquarters within that country, with the nation itself providing the funding and premises. Its job is to keep statistics on the survival and demise of all Inner Force Experts and above, the establishment of new martial groups, and to provide missions for these martial groups. The compiled intelligence is shared with neighboring countries and then disseminated outward. I don't know about other places, but in the more than a hundred countries around the East Blue Sea Region that I traveled through back then, every single nation had such an organization, and they all shared the same name and functions. If you're talking about martial group certification, likely only an organization like this can provide it."
Hao Qi nodded, committing these words to memory. At the same time, it dispelled certain notions he had been entertaining—such as why he even bothered waiting for four Inner Force Experts to come challenge him to a baptism. As he had mentioned earlier, his goal was not some martial fanatic's obsession with growing stronger, nor fame and glory, nor even power and wealth; he simply wanted to travel the world and see the sights, so as not to have transmigrated in vain. So why couldn't he just leave the Lanying Republic directly? He refused to believe those Inner Force Experts would chase him across national borders!
However, upon hearing Li Ming's words, his intention to leave the Lanying Republic immediately was temporarily extinguished. After all, this was not the sort of trip where you could just pack up and go on a whim. If his goal was the entire world, laying a solid foundation first was entirely acceptable. Since he had been able to steel his mind for ten years to attain Inner Force and earn the qualification to travel freely across the globe, he didn't mind spending a bit more time now to build up his material foundation. After all, traveling the world—setting aside everything else—would involve countless nations around the East Blue Sea Region, and the expenses incurred would likely be astronomical.
He was no ascetic monk; he wanted to taste the delicacies of every nation—after all, before his transmigration, he came from a land renowned for its food culture! He wanted to stay in the finest houses in scenic tourist spots across those countries. Even if the so-called "finest houses" in this era possessed an antique charm whose comfort level couldn't truly compare to a twenty-first-century three-star hotel, he still wanted them. Beyond that, he wanted to collect various trinkets encountered during his travels: fine swords, ancient jade, antiques, famous calligraphy and paintings, and even diamonds and jadeite. Moreover, he didn't suffer from ideological squeamishness; if he happened to cross paths with a beauty he appreciated and was compatible with along the way, he wouldn't mind if something happened either.
Given all that—money, money, money! He certainly did not want to end up like he was in his previous life before transmigrating, where he ultimately became a shut-in due to the various constraints of real-world society.
"That being said... Uncle Ming, that rogue Inner Force Expert whose martial group accepted the mission to challenge me—how much was the bounty for this mission? Who paid it?" Hao Qi asked suddenly.
Li Ming paused, clearly not expecting Hao Qi to ask such a question. After pondering for a moment, he replied, "I don't know the exact figure, but back when I used to run a martial group—though the pace of technological and civilizational progress has been quite fast over the last few decades and money has suffered some inflation—I estimate the bounty for this mission is probably around three to five billion Blue Shadow Coins. I just don't know whether that martial group opted for cash or heavenly treasures..."
*(This work was compiled and uploaded by 69Shuba~~)*
"Three... three to five billion?!"
Hao Qi let out a low cry. The purchasing power of Blue Shadow Coins was by no means low; their gold content was slightly higher than the RMB on Earth. Three to five billion Blue Shadow Coins meant a conservative estimate of three to five billion in RMB equivalence—this was no small sum! Because he was overly excited, and his injuries had not yet fully healed, he momentarily failed to control his Inner Force. With that exclamation, a shockwave erupted from him as its center, rippling outward to affect the surrounding area. However, he snapped back to his senses almost instantly upon shouting. While pulling back his Inner Force, he threw punches rapidly into the surroundings. Moving in tandem with him was Li Ming, whose striking fist-force dissipated the majority of the sonic wave. Even so, Xue Na, who was sitting nearby, turned pale, and several glass vessels in the vicinity cracked with sharp popping sounds.
Li Ming cast a deep glance at Hao Qi, inwardly marveling at the condensed state of Hao Qi's Inner Force. Nonetheless, he remarked aloud, "Young Friend needs to step up his practice of Inner Force control. The combat style of an Inner Force Expert is fundamentally different from that below the Inner Force Realm. Still, judging by Young Friend's reaction time and striking speed just now, you've nearly reached the threshold of sonic speed. I imagine Young Friend already understands the tricks of the trade, so I won't say any more."
Hao Qi smiled wryly and nodded. Meeting the complex gazes of Li Pancheng and Xue Na beside him, he opened his mouth as if to say something, but ultimately said nothing at all. With the conversation having naturally wound down, the group parted ways. Over the next few days, Hao Qi did not initiate any further lengthy discussions with Li Ming. Instead, he peacefully used his Inner Force every day to temper the microscopic details of his body, heal hidden injuries, and recuperate. Time drifted by slowly in this manner, and the fifteenth day arrived in a flash. On the very day of the deadline, Hao Qi and Li Ming emerged from the hotel simultaneously, both breaking into a brisk run toward the outskirts of the town, while Li Pancheng and Xue Na followed at a distance in a car.
The first battle of the baptism—starts right now!
Chapter 15: Sky-Catching Net, Bana Palm
Hao Qi was eating dinner while reading the newspaper. As he read, his gaze locked, and he re-read a particular article in the paper back and forth several times before finally setting the paper down and falling into silent contemplation.
The newspaper reported on an article stating that a massive corruption case had been uncovered within the Capital Circle of the Lanying Republic. A large number of individuals were implicated, but ranking at the very top was Xu Wen of the Internal Affairs Department of the Capital Circle government. The article even featured his black-and-white photograph alongside a list of his crimes: aside from corruption, bribery, and drug smuggling, there was abuse of power and massive collective murder, followed by arson and the destruction of evidence. After his crimes were exposed, he had even attempted to assassinate witnesses to cover it up. However, the net of justice is wide and casts no escapes, and so on and so forth. In the end, he was arrested, tried, sentenced directly to hanging, denied the right to appeal, and stripped of his political rights for life...
(Could it be that the Xu Family has fallen? Because I killed one of the Xu Family's Inner Force Experts?)