No technique involved!

Europe, Paris Base City.

Of the Six Great Base Cities in Europe, Paris Base City was arguably the wealthiest. It was home to a vast number of Europe's rich and served as the headquarters of the HR Alliance.

Before the Great Nirvana Period, powerful families had stood behind certain Western nations, controlling their political parties. Back then, they had held more than half the world's immense wealth and power.

However, the sudden arrival of the Great Nirvana and the ensuing monster attacks had given governments with armies unprecedented control over their nations.

To protect themselves and preserve their glory, some of the world's ancient, powerful families had joined forces to establish the HR Alliance, also known as the Human Rights Alliance or the Underground Alliance.

Inside a spacious, spire-roofed hall in Paris Base City, nine solid-black chairs covered in intricate carvings stood around a long conference table patterned with gold.

Six of those seats were currently occupied by five elderly men and one elderly woman.

Suddenly-

Footsteps echoed through the hall, drawing all six people's attention toward the main entrance.

"Everyone, there's no need to wait!"

An elderly woman in lavish clothing entered, took a seat, and said, "The chairwoman has made it clear that she won't attend this meeting. Let's discuss the changes in the Wang Family ourselves."

The seven people present were the heads of seven of the HR Alliance's nine core families.

As for the chairwoman's family, it had close ties to Ister, the Fourth Speaker of the War God Palace. Even changes within the Underground Alliance would not affect its interests. Instead, the possible involvement of the Limit Martial Hall gave it reason to stay clear.

"The changes in the Wang Family probably have something to do with Yang Zheng!" said a silver-haired elderly white man seated at the table. "The First Speaker might be involved, so it's perfectly normal for Isadora to have reservations."

The HR Alliance's governing body was the Alliance Council, the legendary Underground Council. Its chairperson held supreme authority over the council, and the current chairwoman was Isadora.

Although they were the alliance's core families, competition existed alongside their cooperation.

And while the HR Alliance retained the services of several councilors, that was all it did. Even if those councilors obeyed the alliance unquestioningly, they would not dare provoke Hong, the strongest man in the world.

"Becoming a High-level War God in a month... could he have stumbled upon some extraordinary opportunity?" speculated a tall, thin elderly man in another seat, a barely perceptible flicker of greed flashing through his clouded eyes.

"So what if he did? Could you actually touch him? Never mind the First Speaker backing him-with his strength as a High-level War God Spirit Reader, how many people in the world could match him?"

The silver-haired elderly white man who controlled the Polenas Family spoke disdainfully. Information about Yang Zheng was hardly top secret, and the HR Alliance could easily obtain it.

He had become a High-level War God in a month. Even with treasures provided by the Limit Martial Hall, he first had to meet its requirements before he could use them.

Clearly, the Limit Martial Hall was sparing no expense in nurturing him because Hong had acknowledged his talent.

Among all the talented recruits the Limit Martial Hall had signed over the years, not even Luo Feng, the prodigy from a year ago, had progressed this quickly.

"That old bastard Wang Qingnian certainly acted decisively. He stepped down from that position without the slightest hesitation."

Another elderly man, this one bald, could not help speaking up, making no attempt to hide the admiration in his voice.

The taste of power was enough to corrupt a person's heart.

Once someone reached such a position, it became difficult to stay true to their original intentions. They would resort to ever more measures to maintain their grip on power. Things were somewhat better in the current world, where martial strength ruled, but before the Great Nirvana, it would have been different.

The head of a great family would generally hold power until death before passing it on to an heir.

Knock, knock, knock!

"Everyone... let's first discuss how to respond to the changes in the Wang Family and keep our own interests from being affected." The lavishly dressed elderly woman who had arrived last tapped the table, her gaze inscrutable.

The entire conference hall fell silent, and the meeting finally began in earnest.

The changes within the Underground Alliance did not affect Yang Zheng's cultivation.

After helping his father settle the Wang Family's affairs, Yang Zheng returned to Northwest Base City and his private training grounds.

He had already tapped into his latent spiritual force. Without special resources, further growth in his spiritual power would depend on honing it day after day.

He had already unlocked the introductory progress bar for the object-control technique, the Heavenly God Atlas. Now he needed to unlock the mental attack technique, Spirit Thorn. Combining physical and mental attacks would make a Spirit Reader's offensive power even stronger.

Time passed.

In the blink of an eye, more than twenty days had gone by.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three dull impacts rang out in succession through the spacious Martial Arts Training Hall, and three readings quickly appeared on the Punch Strength Tester's screen.

214752 kg! 214760 kg! 1503264 kg!

The first two punches measured only his base punching strength, while the final punch measured the explosive power produced by his body's force exertion.

Over those twenty-odd days, his base punching strength had risen from 213,210 kilograms to 214,752 kilograms. The increase was modest; accumulating energy on his own was still far too slow.

However...

Yang Zheng had long since mastered the entire Nine-Layered Thunder Blade, and his bodily force multiplier had reached sevenfold. In terms of bodily force exertion alone, his mastery was even more comprehensive than what Thunder God had developed.

Strength, speed, and defense were all amplified.

Unfortunately, his Golden Finger, the Cultivation Progress Bar, currently could only correct his cultivation, not extrapolate further. The Nine-Layered Thunder Blade ended at a sevenfold force multiplier.

[Nine-Layered Thunder Blade] (100%)

[Artistic Conception Level movement technique] (100%)

[Spirit Thorn] (100%)

[Heavenly God Atlas] (15%)

Deep within his Sea of Consciousness, four illuminated progress bars floated in the air. Yang Zheng had fully mastered the mental attack secret technique, Spirit Thorn, in just over a week.

As for the Heavenly God Atlas, his progress had reached only 15%. That thing truly was difficult to train, even with his Golden Finger's progress bar.

Tedious and difficult...

Only after actually unlocking its progress bar and continuing his training did Yang Zheng realize that there was practically no technique involved. No wonder it had taken him just one morning to unlock it and grasp the basics.

It turned out that his talent was not exceptional; the Heavenly God Atlas simply had a low entry threshold.

With his progress at 15%, his previous ability to perfectly control six throwing knives

had increased to ten throwing knives, bringing his mental power amplitude to tenfold.

On all of Earth, only Thunder God and Yang Zheng had achieved a sevenfold bodily force multiplier. Yet four or five people had a mental power amplitude exceeding tenfold.

Among those Yang Zheng knew of were Luo Feng, who was still trapped in the Ancient Civilization Ruins, and Ister, Earth's current strongest Spirit Reader.

Hong had derived the Heavenly God Atlas through the Intelligent System. Yang Zheng's Golden Finger had confirmed that its cultivation approach was sound. After all, its core principle was "practice makes perfect."

By controlling throwing knives and other objects to repeatedly reproduce the atlas's diagrams, practitioners constantly pushed the limits of their throwing-knife control, thereby improving their control ability.

There was no technique involved.

He could only put in vast amounts of time practicing.