January 1, 2010. At this time of celebration, something momentous happened across the world.
At least, in the eyes of ordinary people, it was an earth-shaking event.
An unprecedented event.
That day, everywhere in the world—whether through television, newspapers, mobile phones, or radios—every means of receiving information delivered the same piece of news.
Global Rankings!
Global Martial Artist Rankings!
Everyone was stunned by the sudden announcement.
What had been released was an extremely long ranking list. All martial artists above Grandmaster rank were included, while only the top hundred from each realm below Grandmaster rank made the list.
The Rank Nine Grandmaster Rankings contained a total of 212 people. No one had expected humanity to have more than two hundred Rank Nine Grandmasters.
The Rank Nine Grandmasters people had encountered were those famous figures on television, and there had only been a dozen or so of them.
Humanity's martial strength was actually this formidable.
Previously, ranking lists had circulated privately within the martial arts world. They listed only a dozen or so Rank Nines, with an estimated global total of merely forty or fifty.
But the truth shocked everyone. Even martial artists who knew of the Earth Cave's existence were stunned by the news. With so many Rank Nines, the Earth Cave no longer seemed like much of a threat.
More than two hundred Rank Nine Grandmasters.
The Rank Eight rankings were equally staggering, with more than five hundred people. The Rank Seven rankings were even more jaw-dropping—there were over sixteen hundred Rank Seven Grandmasters worldwide.
This was the first time every high-ranked martial artist had been made public. More than 2,300 high-ranked Grandmasters left everyone too shocked to speak.
It turned out Grandmasters were not scarce. People simply had never come into contact with them.
At Magic Martial University,