Chapter 523: Situation
Translator: Yukidaruma Translations Editor: Yukidaruma Translations
Fang Qian smiled bitterly and said, "Your sword intent has become even more terrifying. It seems like your trip this time around to Demonic City was smooth sailing."
Fang Xingjian nodded and responded, "Li Shuanghua has committed suicide. Right now, Fang Yuehe is the Fang Clan's clan head."
From there, Fang Xingjian briefly shared the events that had happened. Fang Qian looked at Fang Xingjian as her eyes filled with astonishment. She never would have expected that Fang Xingjian had handled things on such a large scale. Not only had he forced Li Shuanghua to commit suicide, he had also taken over the Fang Clan, killed the Despot, and gotten the Thunder Monarch to submit. Within such a short period of time, he had defeated three Divine level experts.
Although this was also related to the environment on Earth, as well as with Fang Xingjian's immunity to diabolic energy, things had still gone far beyond Fang Qian's expectations.
Thinking of this, Fang Qian looked at Fang Xingjian with a hint of anticipation and asked, "Xingjian, if Fang Xingchen comes to look for you, can you save my younger brother's life?"
"Your younger brother?" Fang Xingjian recalled how he had been intended to be Fang Xingchen's apostle. Then after he escaped, Li Shuanghua had chosen a child from the branch family to become Fang Xingchen's apostle. That boy was Fang Qian's younger brother.
Fang Xingjian nodded. "If he comes to look for me, I'll spare your brother's life."
"Thank you," Fang Qian said. "You just came back and must be very concern about the situation in the Great Western City, right?"
"That's right. How's the situation here?"
Although Fang Qian had been staying in the Sacred Land all this time, it did not mean that she was unaware of the situation in the outside world. As a magic prints Warrior of the gray faction, she had been able to summon lifeforms from alternate worlds to help her investigate the situation in the outside world.
"It's not optimistic," Fang Qian said, shaking her head. "Three months ago, the First Prince was successful in his attempt to strive for the Divine level. From then onward, the entire central government started to have a change of blood, and the First Prince's people started to take on important positions. Two months ago, the important positions in all eight major regions also started going through changes.
"Right now, the Deputy Governor of the Great Western Region is Benjamin. With the backing of the First Prince's influence, he has already supplanted the Great Western Region's Governor Devitt. Rather, it can be said that all personnel related to the Second Prince's faction in the Great Western Region have either been supplanted or marginalized."
Tyrant, who was standing beside them, said, "Although First Prince George's aptitude isn’t the best, it's true that he is in fact very lucky. Not only has he received the full nurturing of the Ancient Path of Hell, but he has also gained the advantage of the world's metamorphosis. By the look of things, even the Empire's King has chosen him to be the successor.
"He has both favorable geographical and human conditions. Furthermore, he became a Divine level expert on the path of the Knights and did not have to borrow even a bit of diabolic energy. The physical bodies of Knights are much stronger than those of magic prints Warriors to begin with. He probably won’t be as easy to deal with as Li Shuanghua."
Fang Xingjian nodded. In his view, Divine level experts on the path of Knights were much more amazing than Divine level magic prints Warriors. Moreover, the First Prince had access to the royal family's resources and had strived for the Divine level as a Demigod with four tiers of perfection. He would probably be much stronger even when compared with other Divine level Knights.
Thinking of this, Fang Xingjian asked, "Tyrant, do you know the difference between the strong and the weak amongst those in the Divine level?"
Tyrant replied, "There are definitely differences. But I'm not a Divine level expert of the Terrene Shrine, so I have no idea of the specific details. I only know that the Divine level can be segregated into ten tiers. The difference between Divine level experts of different levels are beyond one's imagination.
"However, before the world went through a metamorphosis, people could only reach the first tier Divine level at most. It's only after the world's metamorphosis that they can now attain a further breakthrough."
In the past, the Divine level experts in the entire Miracle World had only been able to reach tier one of Divine level. However, when the world's metamorphosis started, the density of ether particles and diabolic energy had increased wildly, causing Miracle World's entire magnetic field to go through changes. It was only then that the tiers beyond tier one of Divine level could be attained.
Fang Xingjian suddenly thought of Li Shuanghua's performance. From being able to materialize her will, she reached a level where she could turn her will into her blood and flesh. Had this been because she had attained a breakthrough, moving from tier one of Divine level to tier two of Divine level?
Was it because the changes in Miracle World had resulted in the changes to Earth?
Fang Xingjian asked another question, "Then what about the National Selection? Has it ended?"
Fang Qian shook her head and said, "It has been decided that this year's National Selection will be postponed to three months later."
...
Elsewhere, in the Great Western Region’s Regional Academy, a young man with a pair of upward slanting brows, who was wearing a Knight’s attire, headed in the direction of the Sacred Land. He exuded a sharp aura, as if he were an unsheathed sharp sword. The young man seemed like he would not cower in the least, regardless of what would happen before his eyes.
Behind him, the academy's Superintendent quickly said, "Sir... Sir... Please wait... Fang Xingjian is still training in seclusion. Why don't we wait for a few more days?"
The young man came to a stop and turned to look toward the academy's Superintendent, saying coldly, "I'm Lord Benjamin's Chief Assistant, and I'm now left to be in charge of the Regional Academy’s matters. Fang Xingjian is merely a student without even any official post. What right does he have to turn me away?
"Moreover, his right to use the Sacred Land has long expired, yet he has still been hogging the spot all this time. It has affected the resource distribution throughout the entire academy. This is something I can definitely not tolerate."
Fang Xingjian had been allocated one year of use of the Sacred Land by Governor Devitt. One year had already passed since the Regional Selection last year. So, of course, the limit for his use of the Sacred Land would already have been up.
With the world's metamorphosis, the density of ether particles had soared tremendously. The density of ether particles in the Sacred Land had also soared to even greater heights due to the increase of the ether particles’ density in the outside world. Therefore, the value of the Sacred Land was now even higher than before.
Hearing what the young man said, the academy's Superintendent just felt he had a great headache.
This young man was not an ordinary person. His name was Asto. He had the title of Swordless Sword and had been ranked number three in the previous National Selection. Right now, he was also Deputy Governor Benjamin's Chief Assistant, and for the last month, he had held control over the entirety of the Great Western Region’s Regional Academy.
This young man, the Swordless Sword, was most well-known for having been able to stand up to The School of Sword Arts' Supreme Chief, Heng Tianxiao, for a total of 3,000 moves. In the end, the young man had lost because he had been too tired to keep up. He then became a renowned Demigod in the Empire.
Considering the moves the First Prince had been making during the last three months, his next move would be to have a great reformation, splitting up the roles of the Regional Academy's Headmaster and the region's Governor.
In the past, the positions of the Regional Academy's Headmaster and the region's Governor had both been assumed by the same person. This was a drawback left behind by the eight Divine Continent experts who had founded the country. Right now, the First Prince's reformation was clearly to further weaken the power held by the Governors of the various regions.
With how each region's Conferred Knights emerged from the Regional Academy, and with the Headmaster being the Governor of the same region, how immense would the Governor's influence be?
The First Prince wanted to make use of the news that he had successfully attained Divine level and that both the Empire's King and Ancient Path of Hell's Sect Master, who had been Divine level experts for a very long time, were supportive of him. Furthermore, he had numerous experts under him. These allowed the First Prince to have an overwhelming influence.
Relying on his current overwhelming prestige and influence, the First Prince wanted to completely reform this drawback in the system.
From there, the Great Western Region, being the Second Prince's important base, was given special attention by the First Prince.
Right now, even the blind could tell that the future Governor of the Great Western Region would probably be the current Deputy Governor, Benjamin. Meanwhile, the future Regional Academy's Headmaster would probably be the current Chief Assistant, Swordless Sword Asto.
The academy's Superintendent would suffer from bad headaches each time he thought of all those chaotic and dangerous conflicts.
Regardless of whether they were the previous Governor, Head of Department, and the others... or the future powerhouses backed by the First Prince in his plan for the reformation... The Superintendent did not want to offend any of them.
The Superintendent could only sigh and continue to follow Asto, as they headed toward the Sacred Land.