"Teacher Cao must be a Seventh-Rank Grandmaster! And one with formidable combat strength at that!" a female student declared with absolute conviction.
Qin Fengqing chuckled, turned, and left.
Teacher Cao had urged them over and over again. Who would dare keep lingering outside the city?
A group of students returned to Hope City together. Along the way, they encountered several other teams of martial artists, all of whom said they had run into Teacher Cao Ya of Magic City Martial Arts University, who had told them to return.
Their words revealed boundless envy of Cao Ya's martial prowess.
The Magic Martial University students shared in his glory.
Only after returning to Hope City did they hear the news from various quarters and see the Magic Martial University teachers who had hurried into Hope City from the outside world, including the old principal and the deans of the various schools.
"Teacher Cao... the eighth-rank realm?!"
The students' mouths fell wide open.
So they had gotten it wrong. Teacher Cao was not a Seventh-Rank Grandmaster, but a venerable master of the eighth-rank golden body realm!
Qin Fengqing was shaken. Teacher Cao was actually this strong?!
He made up his mind: once Teacher Cao returned, he would pester him relentlessly until he could seek his guidance.
Teacher Cao must have some secret to cultivation. What if it was a special cultivation art...
In an instant, Qin Fengqing's heart burned with excitement.
As for dignity... how much money was that worth?
Besides, Cao Ya was a Magic Martial University teacher. Students asking teachers for guidance was only right and proper.
As representatives of Magic Martial University, the old principal, Tang Feng, Huang Jing, Wu Kuishan, and the others held a heated discussion with the military about how to defend against a possible uprising in Heavenly Gate City, and whether other Catacombs cities might support Heavenly Gate City.
The old principal gave a helpless, bitter laugh. "Cao Ya... was too rash."
He was in the eighth-rank realm, so he understood the terror of the ninth-rank realm all the more clearly.
Cao Ya... could he really return safely?
Silence fell over the meeting room for a while before Xu Mofu was the first to recover. "Cao Ya came to me. I believe in him!"
Elsewhere.
Cao Ya headed straight for Heavenly Gate City.
To give the human martial artists time to retreat to Hope City, he did not attack Heavenly Gate City immediately.
Instead, he concealed himself in the shadows.
Heavenly Gate City was one of the cities in the Catacombs' Southern Seven Regions.
Catacombs humans... they could be called humans for the time being. They looked the same as Earth's humans, but their nature differed from that of Earth's humans.
Cao Ya was not Fang Ping.
Fang Ping could disguise himself using the abilities of the War Heaven Emperor System, but Cao Ya could not.
But he had no intention of disguising himself, either.
The purpose of this trip was to wreak havoc in Heavenly Gate City, fight the Heaven Gate City Lord head-on, demonstrate the strength of Earth's human martial arts experts, and intimidate the Southern Seven Regions!
To tell the Catacombs that humanity would not suffer humiliation!
The Catacombs had been anything but peaceful lately.
Apart from the Southern Heaven Catacombs, there had been all kinds of activity in the other Catacombs as well. Even in the Magic City Catacombs, reconnaissance suggested that Heavenly Gate City might be itching to make a move.
Cao Ya also knew that the other Catacombs cities in the Southern Seven Regions, such as Eastern Sunflower City and Demon Phoenix City, were actually hostile toward humanity's Hope City as well.
It was only because Hope City lay within Heavenly Gate City's territory that the other Catacombs cities had not interfered.
But now that Fang Ping had enrolled, this tenuously maintained peace would be broken sooner or later.
"If it's going to be broken, humanity will make the first move! The battlefield must be in the Catacombs!" Cao Ya's gaze was cold.
When martial arts experts fought, the shock waves of their battle alone were enough to destroy an entire area.
There was no way Catacombs martial artists could be allowed to fight their way onto Earth.
Since he could not disguise himself and infiltrate Heavenly Gate City, Cao Ya waited a day, then walked openly up to the front of Heavenly Gate City.
Rumble~~~~
Cao Ya unleashed his power to the fullest.
The clouds overhead tore apart. For dozens of li around, the earth quaked and the mountains shook, sand flew and stones hurtled through the air, all surging toward Heavenly Gate City.
Some Catacombs martial artists outside the city gates died instantly, one after another, their eyes wide open with lingering bewilderment and fear.
The Catacombs martial artists atop the gates also saw a little golden figure hovering in the sky. Though he was only a tiny golden dot, his almost tangible pressure nearly left them unable to breathe.
This was precisely the Indestructible Diamond Divine Art of the Cao Ya from The Masters of This World!
The immensely powerful martial arts of The Masters of This World appeared in the world of Global Martial Arts for the first time!
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
The guards atop the gates screamed themselves hoarse, their bodies trembling.
Facing an expert of this level, they would die, wouldn't they?!
For a time, Heavenly Gate City descended into chaos, and countless Catacombs humans were terrified.
"Who goes there?" an enraged, startled shout rang out from Heavenly Gate City.
Then a figure rose into the air and flew swiftly out of Heavenly Gate City.
"Heaven Gate City Lord? Heh, you're the one." Cao Ya's gaze turned cold. He formed a fist seal, like a wrathful diamond guardian suppressing heaven and earth, and punched straight at the Heaven Gate City Lord.
They were still far apart, yet the force of that punch crossed the void and struck directly. Heavenly Gate City was actually blasted into collapse!
All the Catacombs creatures nearby died, instantly reduced to pulped flesh.
A battle between top martial arts experts was deadly to ordinary people and mid- and low-level martial artists alike.
Cao Ya's power was not particularly exaggerated.
After all, The Masters of This World described how the peak exterior scenery Grandmaster, the Crying Old Man, could affect an area spanning a hundred li when he fought!
Cao Ya still had some way to go by comparison.
"You're courting death!"
The Heaven Gate City Lord was utterly enraged.
This human martial artist from Earth actually dared attack his Demonwood City?
His audacity knew no bounds!
He had no idea of his own limits!
Heavenly Gate City was Earth's name for it. In the Catacombs, it was called Demonwood City.
Deep within Heavenly Gate City stood a divine tree, likewise no weaker than the Heaven Gate City Lord.
But... Cao Ya remained fearless!
The next moment, Cao Ya clashed head-on with the Heaven Gate City Lord. He became a little golden figure with immensely strong defenses, every punch and kick carrying the power to move mountains and fill seas.
He shook the heavens and rocked the earth!
The Heaven Gate City Lord spread his mental power, yet it could not block the force of Cao Ya's punches at all. At their very first exchange, Cao Ya nearly punched him down to the ground.
Fortunately, he reacted quickly and dodged Cao Ya's fist in time.
Even so, blood seeped from the corner of the Heaven Gate City Lord's mouth, and his pupils contracted.
"This Earth human's power is so strong!" The Heaven Gate City Lord was visibly shaken with alarm. He could sense almost no qi-blood or mental power from this Earth human.
It seemed that he relied entirely on his physical body!
How was that possible?
Qi-blood, mental power, and the origin dao were three aspects that martial artists had to cultivate together.
Leaving mental power and the origin dao aside, even qi-blood was a power rooted in the physical body, yet born beyond it.
It was still distinct from pure physical strength.
"Attaining sainthood through the flesh?! How is that possible?" The Heaven Gate City Lord could not believe it.
Cao Ya's eyes were cold. As his body moved, he shattered the mental power with which the Heaven Gate City Lord restrained him.
He could not be bothered to converse with the Heaven Gate City Lord at all.
Beat the Heaven Gate City Lord into the ground... killing him would be best, if possible!
"Don't be arrogant! I'm ninth rank! How could an eighth-rank like you possibly match me!" The Heaven Gate City Lord flew into a rage. At that moment, what stood before him was no longer an intangible fluctuation of mental power. A towering tree manifested out of thin air.
The moment the enormous tree appeared, countless branches lashed toward Cao Ya, while some began binding him.
Within the city, at the center of the inner city, a towering tree that had previously seemed deathly still now swayed slightly as well. Fluctuations of mental power swiftly reached him from afar, carrying a chill as they bound, suppressed, and attacked Cao Ya.
That towering tree was the reason Heavenly Gate City was called Demonwood City in the Catacombs.
A ninth-rank supernatural plant!
Heavenly Gate City actually had two ninth-rank guardians!
Before you continue