Chapter 148 - Lv. 5

Translator: CKtalon

Liu Hai looked up and waved his hand. Endless space appeared above him, and it was dazzling.

“As you said, when a Lv. 9 expert is roped in by a major faction, they are willing to compensate them with ten administrative stars and the accompanying stellar systems,” Liu Hai said. “This means that under normal circumstances, it’s very difficult for humans on the ten administrative stars to produce a Lv. 9 expert.”

If it was that easy for a Lv. 9 expert to appear, it was impossible to pay such a huge price just to invite them.

“It will definitely be difficult.” Xu Jingming nodded. “Lv. 9 experts can easily destroy a star with a single strike. Compared to those with this strength, we’re far inferior. Lv. 9 are considered dragons, and we aren’t even ants now.”

“It’s already so difficult to break through from Lv. 4 to Lv. 5. Breaking through to Lv. 9 will definitely be a million times harder,” Liu Hai said. “But no matter how difficult it is, we have to continue down this path.”

“Yes, we have to continue no matter how difficult it is.” Xu Jingming looked up at the cosmos.

In the vast universe, a planet like Earth was inconspicuous in space. Only if everyone on Earth worked hard would they have a chance of becoming strong.

Become Lv. 9.

Liu Hai and Xu Jingming looked at the cosmos in silence.

The master-disciple duo had more contact than ordinary people, and they also felt the urgency in the face of the times! As the top experts who had emerged from fair competition after the virtual world’s launch, they felt a sense of responsibility.

If the two of them didn’t work hard to break through to Lv. 9? Who would?

No matter how difficult it was, they had to clear one obstacle after another and work hard to reach that goal.

******

Days passed as all the experts around the world worked hard. The top experts such as Akinov, Merritt, Halu Singh, Zhao Fan, Miyagawa Meishin, and the others gradually reached the limit of Lv. 4.

For example, Xu Jingming, Liu Hai, Tejano, and the others had been stuck at the limits of Lv. 4 for a long time.

In the blink of an eye, it was March 18th.

“Jingming, look. Look.” Just as they finished dinner, Li Miaomiao pulled her husband to the sofa in the living room, and a livestream appeared on the projection screen.

“This is Korea’s Lee Moonsoo’s livestream?” Xu Jingming was surprised.

“Watch it quickly,” Li Miaomiao said.

Xu Jingming watched.

“Perhaps many people think that I’m arrogant and conceited,” Lee Moonsoo said with a smile. As an expert who had always been in first place in Korea, he had countless domestic fans. However, the number of viewers in his livestream exceeded 500 million.

“There are so many people in his livestream?” Xu Jingming was surprised. “He’s ranked 38th on the fourth level’s Cosmos Ranking. It’s usually very difficult to have more than 100 million viewers on a livestream, right?”

After all, there were so many experts. It was impressive to be ranked 38th on the fourth level’s Cosmos Ranking, and he was definitely number one in Korea, but there were many livestreams that were more attractive than his in the world.

“You’ll know when you continue watching,” Li Miaomiao said with a smile.

In the livestream, Lee Moonsoo was still chatting. “Actually, I’m not arrogant and conceited, but I know my limits very well. Liu Hai, Xu Jingming, and Tejano are indeed the best in the world, but breaking through to Lv. 4 is a very, very difficult hurdle. I believe they should be stuck at the limit of Lv. 4.”

“As for me, I’ve also reached the limit of Lv. 4,” Lee Moonsoo said. “My strength is actually about the same as theirs. Everyone is now on the same starting line, so it’s difficult to say who will become Lv. 5 in the future and become world champion!”

“I’m publicly challenging the three of them to hone myself and the three of them. Only with sufficient honing will we have a greater chance of breaking through to Lv. 5.”

“I also hope that Liu Hai, Xu Jingming, and Tejano will accept my challenge. Lee Moonsoo looked at the number of viewers in the livestream exceeding 600 million, and his smile deepened.

When had his livestream become so popular?

“Liu Hai, Xu Jingming, Tejano Xire!” Lee Moonsoo said seriously. “If you have the guts of a warrior and have the determination to break through to Lv. 5, please accept my challenge! If you don’t have the guts, afraid that you’ll be defeated by me—ranked 38th on the Cosmos Ranking—afraid of embarrassing yourself… I don’t blame you either; I will only feel disappointed.”

Xu Jingming looked at the program in surprise.

“He publicly issued a challenge in the livestream during dinner just now,” Li Miaomiao said. “Therefore, I pulled you over to watch the livestream immediately.”

“What the hell is this?” Xu Jingming shook his head. “Shouldn’t we contact each other privately before announcing a battle?”

For example, Miyagawa Meishin’s challenge was through a connection with the Life Evolution Bureau. Both parties agreed before the battle began.

Lee Moonsoo didn’t contact Xu Jingming, Liu Hai, or Tejano at all. He directly challenged them in the livestream and even challenged all three! If an ordinary person did this, everyone would treat it as a joke.

However, Lee Moonsoo was also ranked on the fourth level’s Cosmos Ranking after all. He was the number one person in Korea and had reached the limits of Lv. 4.

“On the one hand, the three of you might ignore him if he contacted you guys in private,” Li Miaomiao said. “On the other hand, it might be for the sake of popularity. He’s doing this for the sake of popularity, and once there are enough eyeballs—be it the livestream income or the Martial Arts Center’s lectures, more people might attend his course. They are now preparing to compete for this year’s best overall score.”

Xu Jingming understood.

The Martial Arts Center’s overall score was re-evaluated once a year. For those who had been evaluated previously, the data before this year wasn’t counted. Only the new year’s data was counted.

Xu Jingming, Liu Hai, and the others had received an astonishing amount last year. To get new paid subscribers? It would definitely be much less. After all, the number of people on Earth who hadn’t bought their martial arts course were few and far between.

“For popularity?” Xu Jingming understood.

Huh? Li Miaomiao looked at the news she had received and immediately looked up to switch to Fang Yu’s livestream.

Xu Jingming watched in surprise.

Fang Yu was sitting there and facing countless audience members as he said, “I just heard that Lee Moonsoo from Korea has publicly challenged Liu Hai, Xu Jingming, and Tejano. Haha… It’s ridiculous. He clearly knows that the three of them would ignore him, but he still live-streamed an open challenge!”

“This is called racketeering!” Fang Yu smiled. “Since Xu Jingming and the others won’t talk to me, I’ll talk to them.”

“Everyone knows that I only broke through to Lv. 4 thanks to Xu Jingming’s nine martial arts classes,” Fang Yu said with a smile. “I also just reached the limit of Lv. 4 not long ago. Lee Moonsoo, defeat me first… before talking about challenging Liu Hai and Xu Jingming.”

“Lee Moonsoo, do you have the guts to challenge me?” Fang Yu smiled and was very relaxed.

He was very relaxed and casual.

His halberd technique had reached Lv. 4 96%, so it could be considered the limit of Lv. 4. Meanwhile, his physique had completely exceeded that of other Lv. 4 99% experts.

“Fang Yu has recently won every match in Global Crossfire,” Li Miaomiao said. “His body is too strong; he can defeat ten opponents with his strength alone! At the limit of Lv. 4… it’s too difficult to defeat Fang Yu.”

Xu Jingming smiled as well. “This Fang Yu is interesting.”

“Indeed. He always talks about how you gave him pointers,” Li Miaomiao said with a smile.

“Actually, my nine martial arts classes are for everyone around the world. He also paid to watch,” Xu Jingming said. To be honest, Xu Jingming had a much better impression of Fang Yu from how grateful the latter was.

Li Miaomiao said, “Him touting your course has also helped with the number of payments and the improvement of your reviews. Without his and Miyagawa Meishin’s flattery, it’s difficult to say who will ultimately be first between you and Master Liu Hai.”

Xu Jingming nodded.

The flattery from these two top experts had indeed increased the payments to a certain extent, and it was also helpful with the reviews.

“Alright, I’ll continue cultivating.” Xu Jingming got up.

…

When he entered the virtual world again, the martial arts arena in his personal space was set to be a modern city building in the middle of the night.

“Begin practicing Beam Transformation.” Xu Jingming tapped gently.

In the modern city at night, Xu Jingming walked alone on the silent street.

Swish!

A sniper bullet streaked across the sky.

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!

A large number of bullets attacked from all directions in the dark night.

As it was nighttime, he couldn’t see clearly from afar. Xu Jingming could only rely on his senses to sense the disturbances in the air in a 50-meter radius.

If it were a small number of sniper bullets, Xu Jingming could easily dodge them even at close range. However, there were too many of them. Many of them shot over from the blind spots behind him!

He could only rely on his perception of the air fluctuations. With more bullets, the air fluctuations became even more chaotic, and the difficulty of blocking them increased greatly.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Xu Jingming’s figure was like a ghost as he relied on his footwork to dodge. At the same time, he used his spear and stabbed out repeatedly like lightning to block the bullets.

I have to stab a bullet with the spear tip to count as a success. Xu Jingming set the training mode very strictly.

As time passed, the bullets’ speed slowly increased. From 800 m/s, 900 m/s, 950 m/s to 1,000 m/s…

The faster it was, the harder it was for Xu Jingming.

Huh?

A bullet approached his side, but Xu Jingming was too late. He instinctively swung the spear in his hand and stabbed out with the back of his hand, but the spear’s speed was clearly much faster.

Clang—

The spear tip accurately stabbed the bullet again, and the bullet turned ethereal and dissipated.

At this moment, Xu Jingming’s personal combat strength interface—

In the personal skill column, ‘Beam Transformation Spear Technique (Lv. 4 99%)’ became ‘Beam Transformation Spear Technique (Lv. 5 1%)..’