A Change of Actors

Inside the same room, the doctor was fiddling with a complex instrument. At that moment, the instrument's antenna emitted a light, belatedly sensing Si Ming's presence, and emitted a beeping sound.

"The absolute threshold was broken; the psionic wave reached between the first and second peaks, and certain neural electrical activity could be observed. The amplitude variation was extremely large, and a hump wave appeared, which was significantly different from normal brain waves."

The doctor excitedly operated the instruments, recording rows and rows of dazzling data.

Si Ming glanced at it and then looked away. It wasn't that he looked down on the scientific side, but given the current level of technology in Su State, it was estimated that it would be difficult to analyze the principles of such a mystical Law Treasure. Technological advancement is a slow and cumulative process; it cannot be achieved overnight by simply obtaining a divine skill manual. Even if one obtains a certain black technology, it can only be applied to a single area and cannot improve the overall level.

"Master, time is of the essence, please forgive me for not having time for pleasantries. Let's get straight to the point. After arriving in the Barbarian Continent by accident, I established a martial arts alliance there..."

Si Ming used a 500-word diary to briefly summarize his actions since arriving in the Barbarian Continent.

After listening, Yan Jinghong nodded and rarely praised him, saying, "You did a very good job. Although you did not promote Mohism, you truly practiced the Mohist School principles, benefiting the world and bringing benefits to the people. You have the spirit of the ancient Mohists."

Si Ming hurriedly replied modestly, "This disciple only did what he could."

The phrase "the spirit of ancient Mohism" is a very high compliment in the Su State. When the Mohist School disciples served as officials in various states, they would do their best to promote the political doctrines of Mohist School. If it was not feasible, they would rather resign than think about enjoying themselves first. The Confucian School says "when poor, one should cultivate one's own virtue." Even when the Mohist School were poor and destitute, they would stick to their ideals until their death.

As for the idea of "letting some people get rich first," it is a typical example of "political incorrectness" in the Su State. Anyone who dares to propose such a thing will be overthrown and discredited in no time and subjected to ideological re-education.

In the eyes of the Mohist School, the protagonists in traditional martial arts novels who gain unparalleled martial arts skills through fortuitous encounters, and then reap the rewards of beautiful women, wealth, and status, reaching the pinnacle of life, are nothing more than useless parasites. Such people are of no benefit to the world; their presence or absence makes no difference.

Therefore, if Si Ming that he had made great progress in his cultivation in the Barbarian Continent, had also practiced Buddhist School martial arts, possessed unparalleled divine power, and could easily defeat Monster Race at the Nascent Spirit Transformation stage, Yan Jinghong would only grunt and comment, "Well done." However, after hearing that Si Ming had established the Heavenly Martial Alliance, emulated the Mohist master in publicly revealing his martial arts, changed the landscape of the Barbarian Continent's martial arts world, and ushered in a new era, Mohist School Grandmaster was immediately moved and proudly praised him for having the "style of the ancient Mohists."

In Yan Jinghong's view, his disciple had already surpassed him, and establishing a Heavenly Martial Alliance was far more valuable than Yan Jinghong's daily efforts for national affairs.

Although Si Ming did not promote Mohism, Mohism is merely a superficial concept. The core of Mohist School is "universal love and mutual benefit." As long as it benefits the people and promotes the progress of civilization, the presence or absence of Mohism is irrelevant.

After listening, Yan Jinghong pondered for a moment and said, "I didn't expect you to have built such a vast empire over there. Originally, I wanted to ask the Holy Maiden to use the Sacred Sword to cleave the spatial barrier and bring you back. But now I think it's a pity. Without someone with foresight to oversee it, the Heavenly Martial Alliance can easily become corrupt and degenerate into an organization that seeks personal gain. It seems that you cannot return yet."

Si Ming hurriedly said, "Actually, we can have someone trustworthy from above come over and hand over the reins to me. He can then manage the Heavenly Martial Alliance on my behalf. As long as the system remains unchanged, the Heavenly Martial Alliance can continue to operate."

He didn't want to spend most of his life in the Barbarian Continent. Having grown accustomed to modern civilized society, returning to ancient times would be a very torturous thing. It wasn't that there were no games to play or entertainment; he could pass the time by practicing martial arts. Si Ming himself wasn't a playful person. Rather, it was the many inconveniences of daily life.

For example, there are no Toilet toilets here. Excrement is piled up and disposed of all at once. For people with a sensitive sense of smell, going to the outhouse is a torment every time. There are also problems with washing up. There is no running water or soap and shower gel. Moreover, due to the low level of industrialization, mosquitoes are everywhere, making daily life very inconvenient.

Of course, these inconveniences can be overcome with martial arts, and are not enough to make people unable to live, but they are not enjoyable. Although the level of civilian technology in Su State is not as good as the world before Si Ming transmigrated, it has at least reached the level of America in the mid-20th century, which is enough to be called a modern society. Si Ming naturally prefers this kind of "civilized world" life.

Many Chinese people claim to like green living and advocate returning to nature, believing that such a life is healthier. However, a quick look at the data reveals that the places with the highest average life expectancy in China are provinces with high urbanization rates, such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Zhejiang, while the three provinces with the lowest average life expectancy are precisely places full of natural beauty, such as Guizhou, Yunnan, Tibet. The difference in life expectancy can be more than ten years.

From this perspective, even if it's just to live a few more years, one should move to big cities. Compared to environmental pollution, increased productivity has a greater impact on lifespan.

On Earth, technology is the primary productive force; here, martial arts is the primary productive force. That's why Yan Jinghong highly praised Si Ming's approach—promoting martial arts is promoting productivity, driving social development, and advancing civilization.

However, Yan Jinghong disagreed with Si Ming's suggestion not to cling to power. After pondering for a moment, she said, "You haven't been in the country, so you don't know how many major events have happened here in the past six months... Your Martial Uncle Xiao publicly denounced the crimes of high-ranking officials in the country, and not in a general way like listing a few major crimes, but in much more detail. For example, on a certain day, month, and year, how much bribe someone received, what the evidence was, the reason for the bribe, the middlemen, the introducers—every clue was listed clearly. The political situation in the country is in chaos right now. Some people say that everyone on the list should be imprisoned, while others say that they should be treated leniently, otherwise half of the government agencies will be paralyzed."

Si Ming could imagine that Xiao Xuan's move was no less powerful than dropping an atomic bomb. In the past, everyone knew that nine out of ten officials were corrupt, and few with power were clean. But as long as it wasn't exposed and there was no evidence, you couldn't do anything about it. You even had to hypocritically argue that a capable corrupt official was better than an incompetent honest official. At least the former could get things done after taking money, while the latter couldn't get anything done at all.

However, this situation exists only if one can feign ignorance. Once the lid is lifted and all crimes are exposed to the light of day, no one will stand up to defend corrupt officials anymore. This is because whether a corrupt official or an incompetent official is worse, and whether a corrupt official should die, are two different topics. No one will think that a corrupt official is better than an incompetent official and therefore should not be punished.

What's worse, if the same thing happened on Earth, the higher-ups could simply abandon their shamelessness, discard the facade of rule of law, block information channels, prevent the spread of news, and drag it out until the heat died down, thus minimizing the problem. Ordinary people, without guns, couldn't do anything about it. But things are different here.

"The Mohist Knight Guard has already taken action, killing high-ranking officials who appeared on the list but had not yet been arrested and brought to justice. They left behind eight characters at the scene: 'Acting on behalf of Heaven' and 'Evil officials should be punished.' This action made those officials whose crimes were announced feel insecure, and some even proposed disbanding the Mohist Knight Guard organization—the person who made the proposal was found murdered in his home the next day."

At this point, Yan Jinghong couldn't help but slap his forehead, saying with annoyance, "You want the higher-ups to send someone trustworthy? Let's not even talk about how they're too busy to handle their own affairs. Even if they could find time to discuss this matter, it's hard to tell who's trustworthy and who's not. I don't want the foundation you built to be stolen by scoundrels. So you should take care of this matter yourself. Even if you need help, you can only ask someone you trust."

"So, I have to stay here forever?" Si Ming lamented.

"Even without this incident, since you promised the Glazed Temple, you should have seen it through and helped them eliminate the King of Monsters."

Although the Mohist School advocated universal love, they wouldn't extend that to enemies. Feeding one's own flesh to an eagle is something only Buddha would do. At least Yan Jinghong's attitude has always been to eradicate evil completely, and criminals have no human rights.

"Speaking of this matter, since Master was able to ask the Holy Maiden to break through the spatial barrier, why not invite a few more friends to come and help? The Purple-Pupiled Spirit King's strength is equivalent to that of Void Returning Great Grandmaster. This disciple really has no confidence in dealing with such a powerful figure."

If we could bring in help from within the country, that would be wonderful. No matter how strong the Purple-Pupiled Spirit King is, ten Spirit Transformation experts could gang up on him and each of them could be equipped with a set of Mohist School Profound Armor. Even if he were immortal, they could still make him suffer.

"I'm afraid that won't work," the professor said, pouring cold water on the idea. "Even if the Holy Maiden were to cleave space with her holy Sacred Sword, it would only create a spatial rift, not a spatial tunnel. It would likely only last a short time. Furthermore, the higher one's cultivation level, the stronger their spiritual energy fluctuations, making it easier to disrupt spatial order. Therefore, I don't recommend that Spirit Transformation Grandmaster traverse space. If the spatial rift closes the instant they traverse, the consequences would be unimaginable—and by the way, you should also be careful to suppress your cultivation speed and avoid suddenly advancing to the Nascent Spirit Transformation, otherwise you might never be able to return."

Upon hearing this, Si Ming's heart tightened. In terms of strength, he could already defeat many Spirit Transformation Grandmaster. The only fortunate thing was that he relied more on his Jing Essence rather than his Qi Essence. The Vajra Demon-Subduing Divine Ability, the Brahma Sea Asura Art, Tathagata Dharma Body were all body-refining methods. Their essence was to train the physical body and stimulate the bloodline, which had little to do with Internal Cultivation. The Vajra Demon-Subduing Power and the Asura Divine Power were not internal energy either. The Tathagata Dharma Body was a kind of external martial arts.

Theoretically, spiritual energy fluctuations are only related to Internal Cultivation level and have little to do with Jing Essence. However, this means he has to be more careful and cannot allow his cultivation level to increase too quickly. The danger of Spirit Transformation Grandmaster does not mean that those below Spirit Transformation are safe. It only means that the safety level is relatively high. However, as he continues to devour Monster Race to increase his cultivation level, this danger will also continue to increase.

"... Forget it, I'll focus on the Purple-Pupiled Spirit King. He must have a way to open a spacetime tunnel, otherwise how could he have invaded Sea Continent half a year ago?"

In the end, he still had to fight the Purple-Pupiled Spirit King to the death and couldn't escape this danger. Si Ming sighed deeply.

Yan Jinghong comforted her, "Although I can't help you in person, I will find someone to help you. Also, I want to give you something."

Just as Si Ming was about to say that his physical body was not here and that he could not take the item away with his mind alone, he saw a sword imprint fly out from the scabbard on Yan Jinghong's back, land in his mind, and merge with it.

"Once this sword seal is activated, the Holy Maiden will cleave space with the Sacred Sword. Sacred Sword's Sword Qi is indestructible; nothing can stop its penetration. Therefore, you must seize the opportunity and release the sword seal at the crucial moment. Furthermore, your journey to this other world will be counted in the Grandmaster Trial. Establishing the Heavenly Martial Alliance, promoting a martial arts revolution, eliminating the alien king, and benefiting the people of the continent—with these two achievements, you will be qualified to compete for the position of Grandmaster upon your return."

Compared to the small-scale operations of touring various countries, what Si Ming is doing now is undoubtedly pioneering and of great significance, enough to leave his competitors far behind.

Yan Jinghong had already done everything he could to help, so what could Si Ming say? He could only say, "Thank you, Master. I will not let you down."

"Just do your best, safety comes first."

Due to time constraints, Si Ming could not linger any longer. After a hasty farewell, his consciousness was pulled back to the Barbarian Continent.

After a moment of disorientation, Si Ming readjusted to his body. As soon as he opened his eyes and put down the Aniruddha Heavenly Eye, he heard Abbot Fahong say, "A message came from the Xilai: 'Heavenly Sound Temple in two days.' It should be the Purple-Pupiled Spirit King ordering him to submit his pledge of allegiance."

Si Ming, now aware of the layout of Glazed Temple, replied knowingly, "Understood. I will go to Heavenly Sound Temple to exchange identities with him."

Fahong and Faji bowed simultaneously and said, "We are deeply grateful for everything thanks to the Alliance Leader."

Chapter 382 Actors Replaced

You're saying Heavenly Sound Temple is deserted?