This Is Which Nangong Wentian?

Jiang Feng was delighted. Yahiko had said his nickname was Heavenly Flying Immortal.

The seeds he had planted back then had finally borne fruit. After years of cultivating his image, he had finally made the nickname "Heavenly Flying Immortal" stick. He didn't want to roam the martial world saddled with some common title like "Mad Monk Lei Dao Mang Jingang," "Black Flash," or "Lightning Sword."

Yahiko and Nagato were delighted, too. After two or three years apart, their old friend had become a powerful ninja famed throughout the world, with not only a fine reputation but a fearsome one as well.

Konan was happy, too, because Jiang Feng had said he would stay in the Land of Rain for three to five days.

The Akatsuki group cheerfully went to prepare food for the feast. It was a joy to have a friend come from afar, and being reunited with friends was a pleasure in itself. It was all the more cause for celebration when that friend was a renowned and powerful hero.

Tsunade didn't ask how Jiang Feng had met Nagato and the others. The answer was either that Jiraiya had introduced them or that they'd met by chance.

What mattered was that Jiang Feng was willing to be friends with Yahiko and the others—and that Jiang Feng was someone people wanted to be friends with.

If either side wasn't willing, then no matter how many times an acquaintance introduced them, or how often they happened to cross paths, they would remain strangers who knew each other, not friends.

Cups clinked, and hosts and guests alike had a wonderful time.

Jiang Feng talked a lot at the feast. He chatted with Yahiko, the others, and the Akatsuki's nameless members about life, friends, women, ideals, and everything else...

The Akatsuki members who were meeting Jiang Feng for the first time were surprised. The legendary Uchiha Jiang Feng was actually this kind of person!

Their three founding leaders often told them that Uchiha Jiang Feng of Konoha was an extraordinary man, a like-minded friend of theirs...

They had assumed that anyone who could be friends with their leader Yahiko must also be devoted to peace in the Ninja World, share ideals like Yahiko's, and possess a similar personal charm.

But after the feast, they hadn't seen a single trait in Jiang Feng that resembled Yahiko.

He was cheerful and optimistic, but not especially driven. He would share his ideas and opinions, yet never tried to impose them on others. That was the biggest difference between him and Yahiko: Jiang Feng wasn't as "aggressive."

Yahiko, Minato Namikaze, Naruto... They were all the same kind of person: positive, sunny, and cheerful. To those who agreed with them, they were like warm suns.

But to those who disagreed with them or stood on the opposite side, they were black suns radiating a cold light every moment of the day.

That was because they were so eager to change things—whether the world or a particular person.

Jiang Feng was different from them. He really was like a passing breeze. He had killed many people, yet his personality had none of that "aggression."

After their initial surprise, the Akatsuki members decided that Jiang Feng really ought to be that sort of person. It seemed that only someone like him could become friends with their leaders—and with so many other people.

After the feast, Jiang Feng and Tsunade were assigned neighboring rooms in the village.

Lying on his bed, Jiang Feng went over what he'd gained in the past few days. "Went over" was generous; he was really just taking a casual look. Whether the templates the system rewarded him with were third-rate or first-rate made little difference to him.

His strength had grown by stacking dozens of templates together, a process of gradual accumulation. Unless a template was especially cool, it only meant a few decades' worth of Internal Energy and an increase of 0.5 Ninja World physiques.

First up was the first template: Lei Zhenyu.

He was a skilled fighter from Wen Ruian's Say Hero Who Is Hero series. He barely appeared in the story, but was very strong.

He had once been the chief protector of the Capital City's Liufenban Hall. Good-natured by nature, he had been friends with the founder of the Hall. Later, Lei Sun conspired with members of the Mitian Alliance to ambush him, leaving him crippled. He became a monk, and his story came to an end.

His most impressive feat was fighting Guan Qi, who was known as the "God of War," until they both suffered serious injuries. His strength was terrifying—far greater than Bai Choufei's.

But that was all. As a minor character, he had no signature, flashy martial arts. To Jiang Feng, he was merely "filler."

Jiang Feng casually used the Lei Zhenyu template. His martial arts foundation grew a little deeper, the Internal Energy from his Bright Jade Technique increased by thirty years' worth, and his physique improved by about 0.6 Ninja World physiques.

Not bad, not bad. It might not be exciting, but at least it was filling. Ordinary templates only gave Jiang Feng around twenty years' worth of Internal Energy, so this one was worth one and a half.

Next was the second template: Nangong Wentian.

Nangong Wentian!?

The moment he saw the name, Jiang Feng perked up. Finally, a big red pull!

So far, most of the templates he'd drawn had come from low-power martial arts novels. No matter how strong they were, they were at most on the level of Yaoyue and Lianxing—neither of whom could necessarily beat a Konoha Jonin.

But Nangong Wentian was a Hong Kong manhua character!

Wind and Cloud, Divine Weapons and Strange Tales, Dragon Tiger Gate, Sea Tiger, Legend of the Emperor... To break it down, the power levels of Hong Kong manhua worlds generally ranged from high martial arts to super martial arts, even divine and immortal martial arts.

Take Divine Weapons and Strange Tales, for example. Its world could be traced back to the creation war between Yuanshi Tianzun and Yuanshi Tianmo, fought tens of billions of years ago.

Nuwa, Zeus, Brahma, Indra, Athena, Loki—gods from the mythologies of various nations all appeared, whether in the background or as part of the main plot. In short, it was an utterly outrageous mash-up of an immortal-martial-arts world. It was insanely powerful.

Nangong Wentian was the central character of the classic Hong Kong manhua series Divine Weapons and Strange Tales. He was the protagonist of parts one through five of the prequel, the first two parts of the main series, and the late Qing and World War II arcs of the F series. He also appeared in other arcs, even crossing over into the neighboring Legend of the Emperor series. His power could reach the heavens and shake the earth.

In other words, as long as he hadn't drawn a template of Nangong Wentian from when he was just starting out, he'd be able to take off like a rocket and see a huge jump in strength!

Let's see which version of Nangong Wentian you are.

Jiang Feng was filled with anticipation.

Jiang Feng's eyes suddenly widened.

Shenbing Xiaojiang 2?

Which Nangong Wentian are you!?

[Nangong Wentian]

Jiang Feng suddenly remembered that Divine Weapons and Strange Tales had also been adapted into a children's cartoon. In fact, the child-friendly adaptation, Little Soldier, was even more famous than the original Divine Weapons and Strange Tales, which was full of cuckoldry and bitter tragedy.

The problem was, this template wasn't much use to him.

The animated Nangong Wentian was undeniably strong, but most of his power came from the Sky Crystal Sword, which was the Sky Crystal Beast transformed. That was the whole premise of Little Soldier: it placed more emphasis on all kinds of Divine Beasts.

Kid, they don't hand out Sky Crystal Beasts here.

Jiang Feng would rather have had the template of Nangong Wentian's father, Nangong Yi. Even without a Divine Weapon, he could take on the Heaven and Earth Alliance Leader, who wielded Tiger Soul. His martial arts were genuinely impressive.

Or he could have had the template of Wentian's younger sister, Nangong Wenya. Whoever Nangong Wenya touched turned dumb. She could even turn a corrupted, round-headed, senile Tiger Soul into a cute kitty. That was seriously awesome.

Oh, well. At least it was a template. Looking on the bright side, if he could draw templates from Little Soldier, then Hong Kong manhua templates were surely within reach, too. The best was yet to come.

Jiang Feng casually slapped the Nangong Wentian template into himself.

His Internal Energy increased by thirty years, officially breaking the 1,300-year mark. That proved the quality of the inner cultivation technique Nangong Wentian practiced in Little Soldier was very high, since he was still young. When high-quality Internal Energy was converted into low-quality Internal Energy, a small amount became a much larger amount.

His physique increased to 1.5 times that of a Ninja World person, worthy of an anime protagonist. He also gained some techniques for turning abstract concepts like justice, courage, friendship, and confidence into tangible power.

Huh!?

Jiang Feng's eyes widened again. It seemed the animated Nangong Wentian wasn't entirely useless after all.

Did this mean that one day, he could shout lines about justice and friendship, charge at someone in a sudden burst of power with a soundtrack like "I Chase the Light of My Dreams..." playing, too?