Chapter 558: A conversation with old Zhang
The Ministry of Education.
This was Fang Ping"s first time at the Ministry of Education, one of the most core departments in Hua country.
The three ministries and four houses were the core of the Chinese government.
In the past, in Fang Ping"s imagination, the Ministry of Education should be similar to the inst.i.tutions in his previous life.
When he really went to the Education Department, Fang ping finally realized that things were different.
The people from the Education Department were very busy, so busy that no one even looked at Fang ping when he walked into the building.
Similarly, this place was also very strict!
There were guards at the door. They were not in military uniforms but martial artist guards in combat uniforms that belonged to the Education Ministry. Four rank-4 martial artists were guarding the door. This was considered a big move!
These rank four guards could even become the commander of a city when they arrived at their local places.
Fang ping had come with old man Li. The guard checked their ident.i.ties and was serious. As Fang ping walked inside, he asked,""Teacher, does the Department of Education ... Have its own combat Department?"
"Of course."
Old man Li said matter-of-factly, smiling."The three ministries and four prefectures all have their own combat organizations. Of course, the military department is the main force, so in everyone"s impression, only the military department is stationed in the catacombs.
However, you should know that there are city guards in the house of guardians. In fact, they are the external Combat Organization of the house of guardians.
In the catacombs, the city-stationed emissaries actually led a group of martial artists from the house of guardians and the Governor-General.
"Of course, under normal circ.u.mstances, when fighting in the catacombs, it"s impossible for multiple parties to be the leaders. That"s easy to cause chaos. So, when the people from the three ministries and four prefectures arrive in the catacombs, they have to follow the orders of the military department."
"Then the central government ..."
"The military department is the spokesperson agency directly under the central government ..."
Old man Li looked at Fang ping in surprise, then continued,"Under normal circ.u.mstances, we treat the central government and the military as equals. Strictly speaking, the military is half a rank higher than the three ministries and four prefectures.
The military department had the power to issue military orders to the other two ministries and four prefectures, and they could even take charge of the military when needed.
However, the other departments have no right to interfere in the military"s matters. Of course, if the Paragon really wants to meddle in other people"s business, they can"t stop it. "
"The combat unit directly under the Education Ministry is called the Wu "an Army," old man Li continued.
"That"s an inauspicious name!"Fang ping frowned.
"To bring peace to the country with martial arts is also the purpose of the Education Ministry. Martial arts will spread across the world, bringing peace to the country and the people ..." Old man Li said in surprise.
Fang ping said softly,"since ancient times, people who use the name" Wu an "have never had a good ending." Baiqi and Li mu were both heroes of their time, but in the end, they both ended up ..."
Just as he said this, someone beside him said indifferently,""The cave of battle death can"t be considered a bad ending."
"What?"
Fang Ping"s expression changed. He immediately turned his head and said,"Minister, you mean ..."
"There"s a break in martial arts. Some things have disappeared in history." Zhang Tao said faintly,"but are some things and historical records true?" "All of you know that the catacombs were truly made public to martial artists in 1920.
However, the catacombs had actually appeared a long time ago.
"That"s not all. Now that you"ve been to the precinct in the catacombs, you should know some things and have found some clues.
"Humans ... Have been active in the catacombs for a long time.
"The era of martial arts, we"re currently defining it as four or perhaps five eras.
From near to far, the first era was the current neo martial era. From 1920 until now, it was still in the neo martial era.
"The second era can be traced back to 300 years ago. From 300 years ago to 1920, it can be understood as the age of Saturn ..."
"The era of Saturn city?" Fang ping could not help but ask.
"Right!"
Zhang Tao answered,"it"s the era of Star Town City. From the beginning of Star Town City to 1920, the whole country launched a military campaign. This period is actually the era of Star Town City."
Of course, Star Town City is not in the world. You can think of it as the source of the peach blossoms. In the past 300 years, they have only appeared a few times. "
Zhang Tao didn"t say much about what happened in Star Town City, but continued,"And 300 years ago to 1000 years ago was actually an era of a gap in martial arts. "In this era, the sects are respected. We call it the era of sects, but in reality, the sects of this era have already declined.
For nearly 700 years, although sects had always existed and dominated martial arts, it was actually the fastest decline of martial arts in China.
If we trace it further back, it would be the era of ancient martial arts ..."
Speaking of the ancient martial era, Zhang Tao pondered for a moment and said,""The reason why I said four to five eras is that even the ancient martial era should have differences in our division. Above the sect era should be the immortal G.o.d era.
I think it"s only before the immortal G.o.d era that we can call it the ancient martial era.
From the first day of the emergence of martial arts to the emergence of the later legends, this should be the true era of ancient martial arts.
The beginning of the era of Immortals and G.o.ds was just a group of powerful ancient martial arts masters who were unwilling to remain unknown and started a period of rule ..."
Zhang Tao explained briefly for a while and smiled.""I"m only telling you this because some of the historical records might not be true. Whether people like Baiqi and Li mu were generals among ordinary people or powerful martial arts experts, no one knew.
He had already pa.s.sed away and could not be traced back.
"However, I"d rather believe that these people died during the catacombs expedition back then.
"The catacombs ... Have run through the history of Earth"s civilization!
"It can only be said that since 1920, the pa.s.sageway between the catacombs and earth began to recover. Before that, it had always been in a semi-closed period."
"Minister, there should be a pa.s.sageway in Star Town City, right?" Fang ping asked with a smile.
"No, I didn "t,"
"What?"
Fang ping was stunned for a moment. He said with a surprised look,"No way? If there was no pa.s.sageway, how could the people of Star Town City go to the catacombs? We were told that there are 24 pa.s.sageways in China, but we only see 23 of them now. "
"You know quite a lot."
Zhang Tao smiled and said,"you can say that there"s one in Star Town City, and you can also say that there"s none." It was true that they didn"t have a pa.s.sageway to the outer domain, but they did have a pa.s.sageway to Mount Royal sea. Or rather, it was just a path.
"You must know that the so-called catacombs pa.s.sageways all correspond to a region.
The one in Star Town City didn"t belong to the same region, so the entrance they controlled wasn"t a pa.s.sage.
There are 24 pa.s.sages in China, but the last one is not the one in Star Town City ..."
"In the hands of the evil sect?"
Fang Ping"s gaze changed slightly. Zhang Tao could not help but laugh."How is that possible? "If the evil sect had really controlled a pa.s.sageway, they would have probably wreaked havoc a long time ago. Would they still be like they are now, like rats on the street?
"It"s impossible for us to control a pa.s.sageway for the evil sect. Once these people decide to let the catacombs martial artists invade, won"t the world be in chaos?
Don"t make wild guesses, the evil sect doesn"t have control over the pa.s.sageway ... Of course, some of them have a public ident.i.ty in reality.
"Therefore, the evil sect martial artists might be able to obtain some resources from the catacombs.
It was even possible that ... The evil sect might have one or several storage rings.
"That"s why, sometimes, these people enter the catacombs and take away some important supplies. We don"t know about it.
There"s no pa.s.sageway, but there"s a high chance that there"s a storage ring. "
Fang ping wanted to ask where the last pa.s.sageway was, but after some thought, since it was not in Star Town City or in the hands of the evil sect, it was hard to say whose hands it was.
Including the tens of thousands of Wu "an Army and the troops from the other departments, he had not seen many of them. They probably had other plans.
Fang ping did not ask further. He said in a low voice,"Minister, China ... Really doesn"t have any information on evil cults. Can"t we completely annihilate them? You and the commander are the powerhouses among paragons, yet you can"t even deal with these jumping clowns?"
"No rush."
It was impossible for a Utopia-like country to exist. Even if it existed, it would soon be destroyed.
"Don"t say that it"s useless with the catacombs "great enemy in front of us.
There would always be some people who would rather kneel, wait for death, or extend their heads and invite others to cut off their heads in a flattering manner than rise up and resist!
A cult was a collection of evil thoughts, a congregation.
"The evil sect can"t be annihilated, and it"s impossible for it to be annihilated."
Zhang Tao sighed softly."Whether it"s peace or chaos, evil thoughts will never end. You"ve eliminated this batch, but a second, third, and even more secretive batch might be born soon ...
"Therefore, the policy of us and the other countries is to exterminate but not exterminate!
They wouldn"t give the other party a chance to grow, but they wouldn"t really go out of their way to annihilate them.
Moreover ... The evil sect has existed for so many years, and it"s hard to explain some of the deeper things to you. "
After Zhang Tao spoke for a while, he finally smiled and said,""Of course, evil sects are just scabies and are of no importance. "All these years, the low-ranked martial artists that have been returned to us have served the purpose of training our soldiers, letting the rank-1 and 2 martial artists see some blood.
"In the catacombs, rank-1 and 2 martial artists are not just blood.
"Now that society is stable, middle and high-ranked martial artists are fighting in the catacombs. Low-ranked martial artists commit very few crimes. Why?
"Logically speaking, martial artists are all troublemakers. But in reality, how many low-ranked martial artists have you seen breaking the law?
He wanted to give them a way to vent their anger, but at the same time, he wanted to give them some shock!
Those who dared to cause trouble must be killed!
Everything has its own value. "
Fang ping nodded. Zhang Tao glanced at him and suddenly laughed."The Wu an Army now has 38000 martial artists, and almost all of them are graduates from martial arts universities.
Kid, after graduation ... No, you can actually consider joining the Wu an Army now.
In the Wu an Army, a thousand people form a Regiment. If you come, I will give you the position of Regiment commander, how about it?"
Fang ping was not interested at all. He said perfunctorily,"Department head, you think too highly of me. I"m only about to reach rank-7. I can only hack to death early-stage rank-7. How can I be qualified to be the regiment commander of a thousand people ..."
"Hahaha!"
Zhang Tao laughed and said playfully,"are you looking down on the position of general Wu an?" Do you think you"re very powerful? "You must know that I became the Minister of Education when I entered rank-9 30 years ago. It has been 30 years since then.
" 30 years ago, I formed the Wu an Army.
In the past 30 years, there had been people from the Ministry of Education who had partic.i.p.ated in the first nine youth compet.i.tions. There were one or two people who had been shortlisted each time. Of course, there were not as many people as this year.
In the youth tournament alone, 15 people from the Ministry of Education had entered the restricted area. Although there had been casualties over the years, there were still 10 people who survived.
"This is just the youth tournament. After 30 years, do you think the number of high-ranked martial artists that the Education Ministry has cultivated will be much less than the number of martial arts universities?
"There aren"t many soldiers in Wu an, less than 40000, but in a Regiment of 1000 people, which Regiment commander isn"t a high-ranked one!"
Fang ping was shocked. After a while, he said,"Minister ... Are you ... Planning to rebel?"
"Bang!"
With a casual wave of Zhang Tao"s hand, Fang ping was smacked like a flatbread!
At the side, old man Li was like a statue. I didn"t see him!
Fang ping, this kid, was crazy. He dared to slander a Paragon. Even if he was beaten to death, he would not partic.i.p.ate. Because if he partic.i.p.ated, he would be beaten to death too.
Zhang Tao waved his hand casually, beating Fang ping into a daze. He then laughed."Watch your mouth. The Wu "an Army isn"t a private army, and they don"t need it.
To us, all power and authority are insignificant.
Just like now, I"m asking you to be the princ.i.p.al of a middle school. Do you think it"s fun to do whatever you want in the middle school?"
Fang ping shook his head as he got up. He mumbled a few words, then immediately shook his head and said, "I"m not interested,"
"Then isn"t it clear?"
Zhang Tao smiled faintly."The reason why we set up a large-scale Army for battle is actually to gather everyone"s strength, or to make the martial artists less scattered. Once there are many people, martial artists will be everywhere. It"s easy to get into trouble.
This was a form of control and also a form of suppression, not allowing martial artists to spread out and destroy everywhere.
Of course, it was also a kind of cultivation. The collective strength of a martial artist would grow faster than a martial artist"s individual growth.
"Take you, Fang ping, for example. Without the existence of martial arts universities, you wouldn"t have been able to reach where you are so quickly. Even if you have your own secrets, without the collective strength to support you, you would have died a few times in the catacombs."
"Let"s get back to the main topic," Zhang Tao said with a smile."I"m not forcing you to join the Wu an Army. In fact, I"m not expecting you to cause trouble. Are you here today to deliver a divine weapon?"
"Minister, you"re too ruthless. Five divine weapons ..." Fang ping said gloomily.
"A divine weapon is only called a divine weapon if it can be used." "Weapons are meant for people to use," Zhang Tao said seriously. "You keep them in your hands but don"t let people use them. What"s the use of keeping so many divine weapons?"
"Right now, some strategic resources are in short supply. Many high-ranked martial artists have fought with the enemy and died in the catacombs because they lack divine weapons ...
"Since you, Fang ping, want to be a leader, you should pay an appropriate price. Why do you have to be so calculative?"
After saying that, Zhang Tao smiled again,"besides, I"m not asking you to pay for free!" Let"s not talk about the Yang family, you and your family can live in peace and stability because of these people who silently support you.
"Fang ping, when you"re not capable, no one expects you to contribute to others. It"s your greatest fortune to be able to take care of yourself.
When one had the ability, the greater the ability, the greater the responsibility. This was no joke.
If you don"t care and I don"t care, can the ordinary people in this world still survive?
Perhaps you would ask, why am I the only one giving? "In fact, everyone"s paying a price. It just so happens that you"ve been caught this time, so naturally, you have to pay a little more. Otherwise, it won"t be easy for you to get through this."
For a Paragon powerhouse to say so much to Fang Ping, he was already giving him face.
Fang ping actually understood this too, but he was still not very straightforward. He said drily,"Then, the Grandmaster who has received my divine weapon ... Must write me a letter of thanks and send it to mcmau with great fanfare. Minister, is that okay?"
Zhang Tao was stunned!
This request ... Was really F * cking unexpected!
After a long while, Zhang Tao came back to his senses and said with a smile,"Are you sure?"
"Ahem ... Well, at least I want to prove that I actually had a lot of divine weapons back then ..."
"Sure!"
"If you give me a rank-9 divine weapon now, I"ll write you a thank-you letter personally and send it to mcmau. That"s fine too," Zhang Tao said with a smile.
Fang ping pursed his lips. "Come on, I"m not doing it."
I"ll lose a lot of face, but I won"t do it if it"s such a big loss.
But then again, Zhang Tao"s skin was really thick. If it were me ... I would probably do it too.
Of course, it was hard to say.
In Zhang Tao"s eyes, a rank-9 divine weapon might be similar to the alloy weapons in Fang Ping"s eyes, which were A-grade alloys.
Now that someone had given Fang Ping An A-Cla.s.s alloy weapon, Fang ping might not even personally go to thank them. He would not think much of it.
Fang ping thought for a while and asked,"Minister, it should be easy for people like you to kill rank-7 demons, right? even if you don"t kill them in the mountain of the Imperial sea, you can just kill them in the forbidden Sea ..."
"It"s not that simple!"
Zhang Tao frowned and said,"we can"t kill the demons in the defensive Sea Mountain, and we can"t kill them in the forbidden Sea either!" "People like us won"t go to the forbidden Sea so easily. In the catacombs, the strongest aren"t the catacombs humans, but the catacombs demons!
If we go deep into the forbidden Sea, there"s also the risk of death. If it was during peaceful times, when we only cultivate martial arts for the sake of becoming stronger, we would definitely explore deep into the forbidden Sea.
The forbidden Sea is full of dangers and opportunities. Perhaps it can help us find a new path. Everyone is curious about the depths of the forbidden Sea.
"But we are not ... We can not die, at least not in such a meaningless way!
We can"t do those risky things easily. If we die in the forbidden Sea, we"ll be in big trouble. "
"Just like the one from the Yang family?" Fang ping mumbled.
Zhang Tao scolded,"don"t talk about the top behind their backs, watch your mouth!" You can be hostile to the Yang family, you can also go against the Yang family, you can even look down on the shortsightedness of the Yang family"s descendants!
However, you can"t deny the achievements of an old senior who has guarded Mount Royal sea for hundreds of years!
Whether it was for personal or public reasons, his sacrifice for humanity was something that you couldn"t imagine and couldn"t surpa.s.s at present!
Any Paragon, before he betrayed humanity, was a hero of humanity!
Fang ping, this was his first warning, and also his last!
"Senior yang is not on the same level as people like Yang He. Even if he were to head to the precinct, that"s his freedom. We"re only angry that he didn"t inform us, causing the Tiannan catacombs to be captured ... However, no one can deny his contributions!
"You, Fang ping ... Don"t have the right to do that!"
Zhang Tao"s tone was a lot more serious and no longer as kind as before.
"I know, I didn"t mean it that way ..." Fang ping said softly.
Zhang Tao"s expression eased a little and he continued,""You must show a certain amount of respect to your seniors. It doesn"t matter if they"re on good terms with you or not. As an adult, you must be polite!"
"Yes, I respect senior martial artists very much."
"Oh, really? Respect is to call a Paragon "old Zhang" behind his back? Does respect mean speaking rudely to an old man who is even older than your grandfather?"
Fang Ping"s face was blank!
Old Zhang, you"re really giving face to the Paragon by eavesdropping on people"s conversations every day. Is the power of the Paragon for you to eavesdrop on walls?
Zhang Tao said with a half-smile,"you"re not a Paragon yet. You"re not even a high-ranked one. I"ll wait for you to beat me up when you"re a Paragon." However, before you reach this level, you should act like a grandson in front of me. In fact, my grandson is older than you, so I don"t care if you have one more grandson. "
The corner of Fang Ping"s mouth twitched. It sounded like he was scolding someone ... But there was no way to refute him.
Old Zhang"s grandson was indeed older than him!
At the side, old man Li was sighing. Fang ping had already profited from pretending to be his grandson. He was almost Fang Ping"s grandfather, and old Zhang was even prepared to be his father.
Zhang Tao did not continue. He was very busy. If it were not for the five divine weapons, he would not have had the time to bother with Fang ping.
After a while of digressing, Zhang Tao quickly said, "You"ve brought the divine weapon? You"re still so polite, give me a few more?"
At this moment, Fang ping was carrying many divine weapons on his back.
In addition to the boots that old man Li had left behind, he had brought all eight divine weapons. He wrapped them up in a big bag.
Hearing Zhang Tao say this, Fang ping was shocked. He said immediately,"Minister, just five! I want you to help me modify that eighth-grade saber, modify it into an eighth-grade magic weapon suitable for me!
"As for the other two rank-7 weapons, help me modify them as well. Merge them into one and make a stronger rank-7 Magic weapon ..."
Zhang Tao"s eyebrows twitched.
Now that he had smacked this kid to death, wouldn"t he have earned a fortune?
After thinking about it, Zhang Tao pondered for a moment and said,"Actually, there"s no need to prepare two offensive weapons. I can help you modify that pair of boots to suit you and increase your speed.
Once you wear the G.o.d weapon boots, your speed will no longer be slower than a rank-7. The current you, in terms of explosive speed, should not be as fast as a rank-7. "
Fang Ping"s eyes twitched slightly."That won"t work as one. Department head, can you modify a pair of boots for me? a rank-7 saber, a rank-8 saber ..."
"This is a very laborious task, as for the handling fee ..." Zhang Tao said with a faint smile.
Fang ping was stunned once again!
You still want to charge me a handling fee?
……
After more than an hour, Fang ping walked out of the Ministry of Education.
Turning back to look at the Education Department, Fang ping mumbled, "He"s eating people without spitting out the bones! It"s just a little modification, and you"re taking 1 Jin of life essence from me ..."
"It"s not a loss," old man Li said lazily."It"s not that easy to modify three divine weapons. If it were someone else, they wouldn"t be able to do it either."
Fang ping sighed. "Forget it. If I don"t reach the peak in the future, I"ll stay away from old Zhang. This old man is too black-hearted."
Without further ado, Fang ping was wearing a pair of extremely handsome combat boots. He stared at the combat boots and laughed."Teacher, I"ll try my speed and see if it can really increase my speed ..."
As soon as he finished speaking, only an afterimage was left on the spot!
Fang ping, on the other hand, had already appeared hundreds of meters away in an instant!
At this moment, Fang Ping"s face was full of excitement!
So fast!
Of course, the consumption was also great. A lot of mentality and vitality were consumed in an instant!
However, the speed just now had exceeded the speed of sound!
At this moment, Fang ping could be considered to have truly experienced the speed of a high-ranked powerhouse. However, with such a huge consumption, it was no wonder that those high-ranked powerhouses would not continue to burst out.
They could not, but Fang ping could, as long as his body could withstand the pressure of such high speed.
However, this kind of speed that exceeded the speed of sound placed a lot of pressure on the body. If it was maintained for a long time, the internal organs would not be able to withstand it.
Other than his boots, Fang ping also wore a saber that was similar to the chaos saber at his waist.
What outsiders did not know was that he had a rank-8 saber hidden in his vitality gate. That thing was used as a trump card.
Fang ping had already thought it through. Rank-7 sabers would be used for daily combat, and rank-8 sabers would be used to nurture sabers!
He was looking forward to the rank-8 saber that he had been nurturing in the vitality gate. Would he be able to kill a rank-8 with one strike like old Li when he drew the saber?
"A rank-8 saber has to be nurtured continuously. It lacks everything but vitality and mentality!"
Fang ping had made up his mind. Now, even old man Li no longer kept swords.
There was no way to raise them. The stronger they were, the more effective they might be in raising their swords for many years.
However, Fang Ping"s strength was not considered strong. To him, nurturing sabers was still helpful.
Furthermore, ordinary martial artists could not afford to raise them.
Three divine weapons ... Fang ping was the only one left. Even if a rank-7 martial artist obtained three divine weapons, he would not really use them all. Divine weapons needed to be nurtured. If he could not afford to nurture three divine weapons, he would not have time to cultivate.
However, to Fang ping, it was nothing. He would only consume tens of thousands of Cal of vitality and thousands of Hz of mentality every day.
" 11 million worth of wealth a day ... That"s only a few billion a year. It"s nothing."
Fang ping did some mental calculations and felt that it was not a big deal.