War God Long Ao

Everyone burst out laughing at Long Ao's words.

It was as if they'd heard the funniest thing in the world.

"Long Ao, how about a wager? Do you dare?" Huo Lang's face was a mask of ridicule. In his eyes, a mere Fusion Martial Artist would be killed in the first exchange of this battle.

A plot to have another do the killing.

The nineteen of them knew full well that no matter what, Long Ao was still a representative of the Thunder Empire. If they were to kill him themselves, it would be a great disservice to the Empire. This was exactly why Huo Lang had come up with this scheme.

"Fine. I'm only afraid you won't have the guts."

"Good. In this war between the Two Great Empires, if you lose—and if by some miracle you make it back alive—you will kneel before us and declare to the world that you are trash."

"And if I win?"

"You? Win?"

Waving a hand to silence the men behind him, Huo Lang said with a sinister smile, "If you win, the nineteen of us will kneel before you and declare to the world that *we* are trash. How about it?"

"Deal. As a Martial Artist, I expect you to honor your end of the bargain," Long Ao agreed without a moment's hesitation. He turned and swiftly departed, vanishing without a trace in the blink of an eye.

"Boss, are we really just letting him go like this?"

"Shut up. No matter what, he's still an envoy of the Empire. We can't act against him personally. But if an envoy from the Flame Empire kills him, it will have nothing to do with us."

"Boss, but what if he..."

Before the man could finish, an icy aura erupted from Huo Lang, pressing down with overwhelming force and frightening him into silence.

"A pathetic Fusion Martial Artist who gets a little lucky and thinks he's invincible. I'd like to see just how he plans to defeat the envoys of the Flame Empire."

As Long Ao left, he didn't give the matter a second thought. To him, those nineteen were nothing more than stones. They might be in his way, but they were hardly worth worrying about.

In truth, Long Ao didn't completely despise the nineteen. After all, they hadn't been shameless enough to gang up on him. For that reason alone, they could still be considered proper Martial Artists.

「Thunder Battlefield.」

The battlefield arranged by the Thunder Empire wasn't particularly large.

Because of this, Long Ao soon ran into an envoy from the Flame Empire. He didn't know whether to call it good luck or bad, but the first person he met was Bing Hun—one of the top five strongest among the Flame Empire's twenty envoys. She was a Unity Martial Artist, ranked twentieth on the Celestial State's Hundred Battles Ranking.

The War Between the Two Great Empires.

The Flame Empire and the Thunder Empire had a clear rule: upon entering the battlefield, all participants must disperse. Large-scale brawls were forbidden.

The forty participants from the Flame and Thunder Empires in this war were all Unity Martial Artists. The pride of these experts led them all to disperse; even if they met, they wouldn't gang up on an opponent.

Long Ao was quite satisfied with both the agreement between the Two Great Empires and the pride of the Martial Artists.

"Long Ao?"

'Long Ao?'

Long Ao was surprised to hear the other person call out his name, but on second thought, it made sense. 'Both sides must have studied the profiles of their twenty opponents before entering the battlefield. I was no exception.'

Bing Hun. A super-genius from the Flame Empire's Bing Family. At only twenty-eight years old, she had already reached the Unity Realm and was ranked twentieth on the Celestial State's Hundred Battles Ranking.

Long Ao had never fully understood the Hundred Battles Ranking.

There were nine Hundred Battles Rankings on the Celestial Martial Continent, one for each of the nine states. Young Martial Artists under the age of forty could compete for a spot on the ranking, and every single person who made the list was an individual of immense talent.

'Bing Hun is just a disciple from the Flame Ice Family, yet she's ranked twentieth on the Hundred Battles Ranking. So what about the disciples of the Six Great Sects?'

'I know perfectly well that the Six Great Sects are powers that stand above the Two Great Empires. Their disciples must be far stronger than anyone from the Empires or the countless Kingdoms. So why aren't any of their names on the Hundred Battles Ranking?'

Eventually, Long Ao found out why: the disciples of the Six Great Sects didn't compete for the Hundred Battles Ranking at all.

The Six Great Sects were the supreme powers of the Celestial State.

The Six Great Sects were filled with genius disciples who received Cultivation Resources that far surpassed anything available in the Mortal World. As such, their disciples didn't pursue the Hundred Battles Ranking. They aimed for another list: the Wind and Cloud Ranking.

The Hundred Battles Ranking—there were nine of them across Kyushu.

The Wind and Cloud Ranking—similarly, there were nine of these across Kyushu as well.

The Wind and Cloud Ranking was similar to the Hundred Battles Ranking, but with key differences.

Disciples of the Six Great Sects were barred from competing for the Hundred Battles Ranking. However, *everyone* could compete for the Wind and Cloud Ranking, even Mortal Disciples.

In other words, if someone reached the top ten—or a similarly high rank—on the Hundred Battles Ranking, they would automatically qualify for the Wind and Cloud Ranking. Once a Mortal Disciple made it onto the Wind and Cloud Ranking, they would immediately be scouted by the Six Great Sects.

"You're Bing Hun, a disciple from the Bing Family of the Flame Empire?"

Long Ao had already done his homework on the twenty envoys from the Flame Empire, paying special attention to two of them. Bing Hun was one of those two. At just twenty-eight years old, she had already secured the twentieth spot on the Hundred Battles Ranking.

"Long Ao. Ten years ago, you were the number one genius of Red Fire Town. You failed a Realm breakthrough and fell from grace, becoming a nobody. For ten whole years, you were mocked, ridiculed, and looked down on. Yet you persisted, never giving up for a full decade. Then, for some unknown reason, you suddenly rose again, making a powerful comeback. Long Ao, I'm very curious: after ten years of failure, how did you suddenly succeed?"

Bing Hun wasn't conventionally beautiful. From a distance, with her buzz cut and tall, sturdy frame, she could almost be mistaken for a man.

"My affairs are none of your business. If you want a fight, we'll fight. If not, you can leave."

One had to admit, Long Ao was truly imposing. Even facing a Unity Martial Artist ranked twentieth on the Hundred Battles Ranking, he showed no fear, carrying himself as if he feared nothing in heaven or on earth.

Nodding in appreciation, Bing Hun said in an icy tone, "You and I both serve our respective masters. Since we have chosen to represent our Empires, a battle between us is inevitable. However, Long Ao, if I win our fight, I would like to befriend you. If you win, you will not only take my place on the Hundred Battles Ranking, but you will also have the choice to befriend me."

Long Ao was surprised by her words. 'An interesting woman,' he thought. Because of this, he found himself having a rather favorable impression of the genius woman before him.

Long Ao nodded. "Win or lose, I've already decided to call you a friend. Please, after you."

Both Bing Hun and Long Ao were true Martial Artists. Regardless of their mutual appreciation, the moment the battle began, their fighting intent erupted. Their auras clashed violently in the air between them, sending sparks flying and stoking their boundless will to fight.

"Long Ao, to avoid unnecessary injury, how about we fight bare-handed?"

"No problem."

And so, the two stared intently at one another. In the next instant, both moved simultaneously, their speed incomparably fast. In a flash, they were locked in combat. In the blink of an eye, they had already exchanged three rounds, neither gaining the upper hand.