The past

To be honest, Luo Feng was very curious about War God Dongguan.

Although there was plenty of information about War Gods and those beyond them, this was the first War God he had seen in person.

Half a year ago, he had still been a student.

History, especially history after the Great Nirvana, was a compulsory subject for every student of this era.

The deeds of heroes such as Dong Nanbiao had deeply inspired him.

Although his original reason for becoming a martial artist had been to earn money and improve his family's lives, with curing his younger brother's legs as a somewhat more distant goal.

Deep down, he still believed in humanity's righteous cause against the monsters, and believed that humanity would one day reclaim Earth.

The ordinary internet restricted some information about martial artists, so Luo Feng opened the martial artist forum.

Search: War God, Dongguan.

After he entered those keywords, several results were immediately filtered out.

There were only a four-digit number of War Gods worldwide. Besides, "Dongguan" was an uncommon name, and no one else shared it.

He soon came across a post.

"The mysterious lone War God, Dongguan."

He opened it and found War God Dongguan's public record.

On December 30, 2021, a young man entered Northern Frontier Base City with a group of refugees, becoming one of its first residents.

During identity verification, he called himself Dongguan, but no records of his past could be found.

Note: his identity was considered questionable at the time, but many records had been lost during the Great Nirvana, and many people had changed their names, so such cases were common. However, Dongguan's surname was not "Dong." He stated that he had forgotten his surname and that "Dongguan" was his given name.

The following year, after tests showed that his physical fitness had reached martial artist standards, the young man joined the Dragon Shadow Squad, a martial artist squad under the Limitless Martial Arts Hall.

In 2025, the squad encountered an outbreak of lord-level monster activity. The resulting monster tide inflicted heavy casualties, and the captain was killed.

That same year, Dongguan, now at the warrior general level, became captain of the Dragon Shadow Squad.

In 2034, having attained War God-level physical fitness, Dongguan single-handedly killed a lord-level monster, avenging the squad members who had fallen years earlier. He was certified as a War God and joined the War God Palace.

In 2035, the Dragon Shadow Squad disbanded. Dongguan declined invitations from other War Gods and began hunting monsters alone.

In 2043, War God Dongguan single-handedly killed the high-level lord "Long-Armed Demon Ape" in City 004 and was certified as a high-level War God.

In 2056, after returning from his travels around the world, War God Dongguan took up temporary residence in Jiangnan Base City.

By the time he finished reading, Luo Feng's heart was filled with yearning.

A martial artist's rank had strength requirements, but it was still determined by combat achievements.

Even if someone possessed War God-level physical fitness, they were still not a War God unless they had killed a lord-level monster.

Most martial artists formed squads to fight, but this War God Dongguan had slain those monsters all by himself.

Everyone knew that monsters moved in packs. Having a squad and having none were entirely different matters.

Naturally, Jiangnan Base City's leadership welcomed a War God taking up residence there.

Every additional War God gave them greater confidence when facing monsters.

Jiangnan Base City, main urban district.

In a quiet room inside the Limitless Martial Arts Hall's main headquarters, Dongguan sat on a sofa with an azure helmet on his head. It was a consciousness sensor, connecting his mind to the virtual network.

This was an enormous, peaceful room, five meters high and a full thousand square meters in area.

A bed, swimming pool, desk, dining table, and training area furnished with yoga mats-it had everything.

Although it was a virtual space, Earth currently possessed no such technology of its own and relied entirely on equipment recovered from ancient civilization ruins. Space was limited, making even this place extravagantly luxurious.

The War God Palace!

This was Dongguan's personal space within the War God Palace.

For the War Gods, this was a place to enjoy themselves.

He clenched his fists a few times, adjusting to this strength.

Everyone had the same standardized body in the virtual space: ten thousand kilograms of strength, a speed of a hundred and fifty meters per second, entry-level warrior general reflexes, and no spiritual power.

He touched the space between his eyebrows. His forehead guard had not come in with him, and he could not feel the fissure there either.

I wonder how this is configured. He was rather curious about the virtual space.

The servers were controlled by the eight major powers. Although he had joined the Limitless Martial Arts Hall, he was essentially still an independent martial artist. He held no position and merely used its platform to purchase technique manuals, treasures, and the like.

Before regaining his memories as a transmigrator, something had been missing from his personality, so others had seen him as withdrawn and self-absorbed.

Only because his talent was so exceptional had they considered him "aloof."

He had to admit that, back then, despite his incomplete personality and obsession with martial arts, he had built a solid foundation in combat techniques and footwork.

Footwork, perfect level.

Blade technique, perfect level.

"Ninefold Thunder Blade," eighth fold, a 6.3-fold power multiplier.

Unfortunately, he had failed to break through to the artistic conception level all these years. Now he knew it was because his soul had been clouded.

He opened the door and followed the corridor, making his way naturally to the walkway along the War God Palace's outer wall.

The walkway was a full nine meters wide. Below it lay an enormous plaza with nine arenas.

Beyond the plaza stretched an endless, dark ocean, its waves surging.

Of course, that was merely a designed backdrop.

Still, Dongguan could imagine that the setting was probably meant to convey a warning: beware the dangers in the ocean.

Perhaps the darkness, mist, and starry sky also symbolized the cosmos.

Those were all guesses.

"You came." Lu Gang leaned against the walkway railing, turned sideways toward Dongguan.

"I came."

"You shouldn't have come."

"Then forget it." Dongguan smiled faintly.

"Don't forget it!" Lu Gang looked at Dongguan, his eyes lighting up. "You smiled. You actually smiled."

"Is it so strange for me to smile?"

"In all these years, you've never smiled," Lu Gang said with a sigh. "Everyone's been saying you don't know how."

"Really?" Dongguan paused.

That did seem to be true. His former self had apparently never smiled.

"Come on. Let's get into the arena." Dongguan had no intention of continuing this topic.

"Really, you should smile more."

Dongguan shook his head and headed toward one of the arenas in the middle of the plaza.

Watching his retreating back, Lu Gang followed him while sending a message.

"Dongguan smiled."

Northern Frontier Base City.

In the training room of a detached villa, a burly giant of a man, bare to the waist, swung two enormous hammers as he practiced a series of movements over and over.

The "Windbreaking Hammer Technique" was a manual similar to the "Ninefold Thunder Blade." Though a tier lower and focused on different aspects, it suited him better.

When he finished, a light sheen of sweat covered his body. Yang Bei merely wiped himself down with a towel, then assumed the five centers facing heaven posture and began absorbing cosmic energy.

After he finished absorbing it, he checked his martial artist communication watch.

"A message." He opened it. "From Lu Gang?"

Yang Bei did not know Lu Gang well. They had only been in contact recently.

Lu Gang wanted to spar with Dongguan but had no idea how to get him to agree. Yang Bei had offered a suggestion: keep pestering him and never give up. When Dongguan was in a good mood, he would agree.

As one of the only two survivors of the original Dragon Shadow Squad, he knew its second captain, Dongguan, very well.

Yang Bei and Dongguan had joined the squad at the same time. Back then, the Great Nirvana had just ended, Northern Frontier Base City had been established, the Limitless Martial Arts Hall had opened a branch, and numerous martial artist squads had been formed.

He and Dongguan were both at the Warrior level and were assigned together to the Dragon Shadow Squad under Captain Zhang, who was at the Warrior General level.

Afterward, Dongguan's physical fitness had quickly risen to the warrior general level, though he had not sought certification.

Under Captain Zhang's leadership, their squad of warrior generals had been brimming with confidence.

Then they had encountered a monster tide. Captain Zhang had died, leaving only him and Dongguan alive.

On their return journey, Dongguan had killed a beast general, earned warrior general certification, inherited the position of Dragon Shadow Squad captain, and recruited replacement members.

Later, Yang Bei had also broken through to the warrior general level.

A few more years passed, and he noticed that Captain Dongguan was already approaching the War God level.

From that point onward, the squad had begun to become something of a burden.

Finally, in 2034, once Captain Dongguan was confident enough, he went to kill that "Sandsea Mad Lizard."

Yang Bei had not witnessed the battle himself, but Captain Dongguan had ventured deep into the desert and killed the monster lord on its home ground-something an ordinary War God could not accomplish.

Another year passed. Captain Dongguan took their squad on numerous monster hunts, then disbanded the Dragon Shadow Squad and left.

Later, Yang Bei heard that Captain Dongguan was traveling the world and killing monsters, but he never returned to Northern Frontier Base City.

It was not until a few years ago, when Yang Bei killed an invading lord-level monster himself and joined the War God Palace, that he began following news of his former captain again.

The current Dongguan was a high-level War God, extremely close to becoming an invincible War God.

"Captain Dongguan agreed to an arena match with Lu Gang, and he smiled?"

Yang Bei read the message, somewhat astonished.

From their first meeting to their parting, a full ten years had passed, and he had never once seen Dongguan smile. Back then, Dongguan had even been nicknamed "Cold Face." People had simply stopped mentioning it after he became a War God.

"I have to go take a look," Yang Bei decided. "And I need to tell him about that matter."

At the thought of "that matter," Yang Bei's expression grew rather odd.

Before learning about it, he had never imagined that the cold-faced Captain Dongguan had actually experienced something like that.