The Meaning Beyond

Heming hurried toward the warehouse, lost in thought. Who exactly was that guy? Or rather, what exactly was he?

Upon arriving at the scene, the ancient priest was still standing there, absorbing that mass of black mist.

Heming didn't waste words; he threw a punch straight at him.

A massive impact—yes, Heming's fist struck nothing but air. The ancient priest ignored him entirely until the black mist had been fully absorbed.

Heming rubbed his hand. Whew, I was too impatient just now. That full-force strike ended up hitting nothing but myself. It hurts, really.

After absorbing the mist, the ancient priest took a moment to look him over. "Chinese, you did quite well. It is a pity you arrived a step too late; that Gnat Demon has already been absorbed by me. Of course, you may tell others that you were the one who finished it off. I am Ujya Juniro of the Fourteen Imperial Officials, here by the Imperial Decree. Now that my task is complete, I must naturally depart. Your punch just now had power but no form; perhaps it was born of an urgent desire to save others, and for that, I admire you. People like you are becoming fewer and fewer. It is a pity that you are, after all, Chinese. This is all I can do for you. Young man, the road you have yet to travel is long..." With those words, he waved his hands, and a massive ball of black energy surged into Heming's body. Ujya Juniro then vanished.

Heming clutched his chest, feeling a strange power being absorbed by his body. Suddenly, a wave of dizziness hit him, and he collapsed.

In the darkness, Heming found himself in an ancient Japanese-style dojo. The dojo was vast, yet completely empty.

"Welcome to the Hall of Trials. Here, you may choose from many options to serve as your opponent. You may train for 1 day, which corresponds to 1 hour in reality. This will not improve your physical body in any way; it is merely for practicing combat techniques. Please proceed to the selection panel on the right to choose your opponent. Note that it takes at least 1 minute to switch to a new opponent. The opponent's strength can be adjusted between 'Same' and 'Reality.' That is all." A strange voice suddenly appeared, then vanished just as abruptly.

Heming stood before the black panel on the right and began to select an opponent. When he opened the selection menu, he was nearly stunned. There were tens of thousands of opponents to choose from. Even more surprising was that there were hundreds of people with the surname Guangcheng. Heming checked carefully, but the names Yaming and Ming Jian were not among them. Could it be that they had never fought outside? Kuo Ming's name was naturally there, as was his team leader, Qiming. After looking for a while, Heming decided to choose Qiming as his opponent, with the difficulty set to "Same."

Once the selection was made, Qiming appeared before him, dressed in a black suit.

Heming decided to strike first. He flashed forward, rushed in front of Qiming, and threw a punch with all his might. Qiming didn't dodge at all; he caught Heming's fist directly with his hand, then ruthlessly returned a punch of his own.

Heming went flying, feeling an intense, searing pain in his chest.

"You have died 1 time. Please reselect your opponent," the voice from before stated.

Heming felt frustrated. It clearly said "Same," so why was the opponent so much stronger than him?

Just as Heming was puzzled, a Japanese man holding a katana suddenly appeared in the dojo.

The Japanese man looked at Heming in surprise, then smiled and asked, "Chinese? You're quite weak, yet you chose such a strong opponent!"

Heming stood up and said, "Yes. Could you tell me what 'Same' means?"

The Japanese man laughed. "Haha, 'Same' means the same amount of time as you, not the same level of strength. The opponent you chose—even I might not be able to beat him right now. Watch me go once; it's been a long time since anyone came here."

Heming didn't speak, merely nodding.

The Japanese man walked to the selection panel and tapped it twice. Kuo Ming appeared in the dojo.

Heming's eyes lit up. Could this guy be even stronger than Kuo Ming?

"Heh, Seven Evil Blood Styles: Blood Dance." The Japanese man drew his sword in what seemed like an instant and slashed at Kuo Ming. Heming guessed the blade in his hand must be that legendary cursed sword.

Several blood-red shadows accompanied by a fierce gale whistled toward Kuo Ming. Heming saw Kuo Ming draw a silver-white soft sword from his waist and begin to dance wildly.

The speed of the soft sword was immense. Heming could only see white light flickering incessantly, and the Japanese man already had several wounds on his body.

The soft sword moved faster and faster until the Japanese man could no longer defend himself. With a diagonal thrust, a large gash appeared across the Japanese man's throat.

"You have died 1 time. Please reselect your opponent."

The Japanese man sat on the ground to rest for a moment before standing up. "My strength can only hold out for a dozen seconds or so. You people of Pitch Black are far too strong, and every expert among you has such high ability. Last time, Tenkan Shichiro and Guangcheng Ming An dueled; although it was a draw, many of us knew in our hearts that Guangcheng Ming An had likely held back significantly, perhaps even using only internal energy and techniques without resorting to his true abilities. Sigh..."

What would happen if Kuo Ming used his full ability? Heming couldn't even imagine.

The Japanese man continued, "If I'm not mistaken, you must have just joined Pitch Black, so you surely don't know what they did in the past. When Pitch Black was first established, the original government of Portugal was forcibly replaced. Pitch Black entered Portugal under the guise of a 'super partner' to the new government and obtained a vast territory. Because of this, a certain country prepared to invade Portugal, but a few days later, that country was unable to launch an attack because most of its military bases had been hit by terrorist strikes. Later, the world formed a powerful special task force that broke into the headquarters of the Pitch Black company in Portugal..." At this point, an expression of extreme terror appeared on the Japanese man's face.

"A month later, while the countries that had dispatched special personnel were desperately searching for them, every government received a notice of compensation. Naturally, Japan was included. Pitch Black demanded 1 billion USD in compensation from each country. If any country failed to pay within a month, the people they had sent would vanish from the face of the earth. All the countries that had sent personnel were left speechless; the special operations team of over 200 people had been completely captured..."

"My father was one of those captured at the time. Pitch Black made over 200 billion dollars for no reason because of that incident. A month after receiving the money, a plane bound for the American capital returned the 200-plus people. Clearly, those who returned never wanted to go back there again. No one knows what happened to those 200-plus people while they were with Pitch Black; even their own memories had been partially erased. Ever since that event, Pitch Black began to develop rapidly all over the world..." Having finished, the Japanese man looked at Heming and drew his katana.

"Now, why don't you come and sharpen your combat awareness as well?"