Demigod.
A milestone on the transcendent pathway.
Because from that moment on, a transcendent possessed the ability to fly.
However, becoming a Demigod was extremely difficult.
Especially the promotion ritual; every pathway required 【Severing Mortality】!
This step alone was an obstacle many could never cross in their entire lives.
Because it required a highly intense emotion to act as a medium, and only when that medium was stripped from your body would divinity be born from within.
Of course, this was only one method of promotion.
Clever humans had long since devised another method: a bestowal from someone of the same pathway.
This was also the most common method used by the great families to nurture Demigods.
However, this method had a major drawback: the recipient would find it nearly impossible to make any further breakthroughs for the rest of their life, as their upper limit was permanently capped.
The sacrifice of Black Feather and White Feather back then was in the hope of receiving a wisp of divinity from a True God, which would have allowed for a much higher ceiling.
Unfortunately, they failed.
Aside from these, there were other shortcut methods, all designed to avoid 【Severing Mortality】 as much as possible.
Because with other promotion methods, failure was simply failure, but if one failed at 【Severing Mortality】... they would die!
Inside the cafe, Yin Yang sat at the counter, reading a book.
Ever since he became famous, he rarely visited the library.
Every trip there would result in him being cornered and mobbed. The cafe was significantly better, as entering it required a certain cost.
For instance, one had to buy a cup of coffee.
Such a small cost was enough to filter out over eighty percent of the crowd—such was the fascinating nature of humanity.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. You really love learning, don't you? Every time I run into you, you're reading a book.”
Mr. Ma's voice rang out. Yin Yang glanced up at him and smiled.
“The more I read, the more I realize how little I know. And the less I know, the more I want to read.”
“It seems to have become an endless cycle.”
Mr. Ma gave him a thumbs-up and chuckled.
“The higher-ups have verified it. Wannian Platform is indeed alive.”
Yin Yang nodded.
“Did they find out what its true form is?”
Mr. Ma shook his head.
“Just knowing it's alive was hard enough. Do you really think the people inside Wannian Platform are useless?”
“True.”
From Mr. Ma's words, Yin Yang gleaned some information. For instance, the True Knowledge Society was stronger than he had imagined.
After all, even though it concerned Wannian Platform, they were completely unfazed and simply sent someone to verify it, which spoke volumes about their strength.
As they chatted, Mr. Ma asked curiously,
“With your vast reservoir of knowledge, why didn't you become a transcendent?”
“If you had chosen the Scholar pathway, you would be at least a Sequence 8 by now.”
Yin Yang smiled.
“Everyone has their own path to walk.”
Hearing these words, Mr. Ma seemed to recall something, and his expression grew somewhat melancholic.
“By the way, are you always this free? Why aren't you recruiting new members?”
Yin Yang closed his book and looked at Mr. Ma with curiosity.
Ever since he joined the True Knowledge Society, Mr. Ma had been coming over almost every other day. Yin Yang highly suspected he was slacking off.
“I am recruiting, of course I am.”
“But I need my personal downtime too. Otherwise, wouldn't I just be working myself to the bone like a beast of burden?”
He stretched lazily as he finished speaking.
“Oh right, how did you find the ancient script annotations I gave you earlier?”
“I finished them.”
“How much did you grasp?”
“About seventy to eighty percent.”
“In that case, do you want to do some grunt work? The society recently discovered a lot of literature in Great Qi that needs translation, and we're short-handed.”
“Huh?”
Yin Yang looked at Mr. Ma in surprise.
“Short-handed? Doesn't our True Knowledge Society have plenty of talent?”
“We do, but there's also a gap between generations. The big shots are all busy researching high-level stuff, so nobody really cares about these documents. Otherwise, would a chance like this ever fall to you and me?”
“You and me? What do you mean? You're translating too?”
“Of course.”
Mr. Ma sighed.
“This is considered the most stable way to earn promotions within the society, so I translate some in my spare time to accumulate points.”
“I see. Sure, then.”
Yin Yang agreed. His current life was quite leisurely anyway.
Every day, he just read books, researched treatments, and fed the heroic spirits.
In his spare time, he would wander around the vicinity of Wannian Platform to see if he could make any new discoveries.
“Alright, I'll bring you the materials tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
As the two were chatting, they suddenly heard someone nearby yell out a loud, “Holy shit!”
“Hmm?”
Yin Yang looked over, slightly surprised. Although there was no explicit rule, most people kept quiet in the cafe, and it was rare for anyone to make such a scene.
Then, they heard the person shout:
“Great Wei was defeated!”
“Great Qi has taken another city! Over ten thousand of our soldiers have fallen!”
At these words, the entire cafe erupted into an uproar. Several people immediately turned their gazes toward the counter.
They remembered that the cafe owner had previously declared on television that Great Wei was bound to win, and they wanted to see how he would react now.
However, when they looked over, they found that the cafe owner was gone, and even the man who had been chatting with him had vanished.
...
Wannian Platform.
“Tell me, what do we do now?”
Qin Qian sat at the head of the table, his expression so dark it looked like it could drip water.
“I told you so! Peace is of the utmost importance! Peace is key!”
An elder with snow-white hair and beard was the first to jump up.
“For so many years, our Great Wei has been recovering and rebuilding. What we desire is peace! Peace!”
“Yet you warmongers insisted on starting a war! Look! How many cities have we lost now?”
Before he could even finish, a robust elder stood up and cursed:
“Fuck you! Did we want to start a war? Great Qi was the one who attacked us!”
“Oh, so according to your logic, when they beat down our door, we should just shamelessly crawl over and beg for peace?”
“Bullshit!”
The argument inside Wannian Platform grew increasingly heated, continuing until the doors of the conference room were pushed open from the outside.
The people inside were in the middle of a fierce shouting match, and almost no one noticed.
Only Qin Qian, sitting at the head of the table, saw it. Yet he said nothing, letting the bickering continue.
Wan Tianqing walked into the conference room with Su Baadao. His steps were unhurried, and his aura was not imposing at all. He did not look like a Sequence 3 expert in the slightest, lacking even a shred of oppressive pressure.
Yet, it was this very elder who made everyone who saw him fall silent, watching as he walked over to his seat and sat down.
As for Su Baadao, he could only stand behind him.
“Mr. Wan, you were also in favor of going to war. Great Wei has already lost four cities, and even Huangyan City has been occupied by Great Qi.”
“Now that our Great Wei is completely on the defensive, what do you suggest we do?”
Wan Tianqing did not even raise his head, but Su Baadao behind him sneered.
“Our Great Wei is completely on the defensive? Then why are you still staying in Wannian Platform? Why don't you prepare in advance to wag your tail and curry favor with your new master?”
Hearing this, the man was instantly enraged.
“How dare you, brat!”
“A tyrant's dog barking at a sage.”
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