When September was finally right by the doorstep, Chen Fan was finally ready to leave Lin City.
When he first arrived Lin City, he was all by himself save for Lu Yanxue and Miao Xiaoqian who he had picked up along the way. However, on the day he left, a large crowd gathered to see him off. There were the higher-ups of the Lu family, Medicine God Valley Sect and Yu Qin who represented the military headquarters.
Since he had to travel with Tong Shan, he decided to take a ride in one of the Lu family’s Mercedes-Benz. ahead of him was Yu Qin and her Jeep with a military issued plate and many other luxury cars trailed behind Chen Fan’s Mercedes-Benz. Many pedestrians paused to marvel at the sight and tried to guess which big wig these people were accompanying.
Lu Yanxue stood by the door and watched the convoy disappear into the distance. Even after the last car had disappeared from sight, she stood still and didn’t want to leave. Lu Yanwu came over to her and heaved a sigh: “He is gone now.”
“I know.” Lu Yanxue lowered her head and tugged the jade pendant hanging by her chest lightly, tiring to overcome the sadness in her.
“I wonder when I will be able to see you again, but I promise you that I will surprise you next time you see me.”
She rubbed the tears off her cheek and pulled herself together. “Sister Yanwu, let’s get back to work now. There are many things we need to change in this family.”
Chen Fan’s victory over the former family lord of the Lu family, Lu Tianfen had breathed a new life into the Martial arts community in China. Many incredible events quickly followed suit.
Three months later, Romon and challenged all large sects and renowned martial arts families for nineteen days and was undefeated.
August 3, Romon challenged Tai Chi Sect’s Grandmaster Chen Jiuyang. After three hours, the match ended in a draw.
August 15, the Young Grandmaster Chen Beixuan fought with the Grandmaster of the Hong Sect on the West Lake. This battle was considered one of the most spectacular fights in ten years since both combatants had reached to the peak of the Transcendent state. The battle was as exhilarating and visceral as everyone had expected. They had stirred up huge waves that were as high as ten meters. In the end, after Lei Qianjue was dealt a blow by Chen Beixuan, the match finally ended, and so did Lei Qianjue’s life. Chen Beixuan used Lei Qianjue’s life to prove his power and claim the throne of martial arts in China.
August 13, Chen Beixuan killed an elite member of the infamous assassin group The Blood Skull: Blacksnake. The event spread his fame outside of China to the entire world.
August 25, a few days after Chen Fan left Lin City, two Grandmasters sparred near Lin City. Although their battle lasted less than a minute, their presence was registered by many other martial artists. Many believed that one of them was Grandmaster Du from the Miao’s Land and the other was a Grandmaster from Northeast China.
August 27, Chen Jiuyang challenged the family lord of the Hua family, Hua Yunfeng.
The Chinese Martial arts community had never been so lively and full of activity. Many Grandmasters who had been dormant since this point all seemed to come out from their reclusion and start to communicate and exchange ideas with each other.
Nearly all of the Grandmasters had to deal with challenges and victory was not always guaranteed. Therefore, most of the Grandmasters learned very quickly to hide in seclusion among the mountains and streams to stay away from trouble.
The ranking of the Grandmasters was based on their fighting records. So far, only three Grandmasters had never been challenged once.
Two of them were Chen Fan and Ye Nantian.
“Great-Great Uncle-Master, Uncle-Master Mu, Senior Brother Gao, Look! the new Heaven Roll is out!” Guo Xiuxiu stormed into the room, carrying her laptop.
“Heaven Roll? What the heck is that?” Mu Shan was a taken aback.
Gao Baisheng also paused his exercise and looked confused.
The scrawny old man piped up with a booming voice: “I have never heard of anything like that. Heaven… Humph! Sounds pretentious to me.”
“Great-Great Uncle-Master, Uncle-Master Mu, didn’t you know that youngsters like me talk to each other online? We have built a forum online for all the young martial arts to exchange information with each other.” Guo Xiuxiu announced mischievously. She then said quietly: “When we put so many martial arts together, it wasn’t long before we started to rank the martial artists around the world.”
“A bunch of youngsters trying to rank Grandmasters?” The scrawny old man snorted. “Grandmasters were dragons and divine beings. Only a fellow Grandmaster could have fully appreciated the power of another Grandmaster. What does a bunch of fledglings know?”
“Well, that’s why we just couldn’t figure out the ranking for so long. After a while, someone called Kunlun finally posted this Heaven Roll that ranked the Grandmasters based on their battle results and their level of attainment.” Guo Xiuxiu’s eyes lit up at the mentioning of Kunlun. “He is often right about things, and knew a lot of information that I had never heard of before but all turned out to be true.”
“Kunlun?” Mu Shan was taken aback by the unfamiliar name.
However, the scrawny old man furrowed his brows and his face looked troubled.
“Yes. Here is a section of the Heaven Roll. Number fifteen, Chen Jiuyang, sixty-three years old and is from that Tai Chi sect. An expert at Tai Chi Qi Energy and had mastered the soft force technique. He had proven to be able to cast ten meters long Four True Righteousness Protection Aura. He is able to change and reshape qi energy at will and has exceptionally powerful True Qi compared to other Grandmasters. He is at the early stage of the Transcendent State. He lost a fight against Lei Qianjue seventeen years ago with a small margin. One month ago, his match against Lei Qianjue’s disciple, Romon had ended in a draw. However, it was evident that his combat skill and experience put him above Romon…” Guo Xiuxiu read on.
“Chen Jiuyang was indeed an expert at Tai Chi Qi Energy. and I agree that despite Romon’s physical strength and skills, he would not hold up in a prolonged fight, especially if Chen Jiuyang used his Soft Force on him.” The scrawny old man nodded in approval.
Mu Shan and the others were all shocked by the generous compliment from the old man.
They didn’t expect their Great Uncle Master would have been so impressed by Chen Jiuyang. After all, the scrawny old man used to be a semi transcendent master and was not any less powerful than those Grandmasters in their younger years.
“Yet, Chen Jiuyang was only able to rank number fifteen. Who are ahead of him?” Gao Baisheng asked.
“There are plenty. The eleventh, for example, is called Du San from the Miao’s Land. He is an expert at insect controlling and deploying poison. He has a giant snake that he keeps as his mount. That snake was extremely poisonous and strong, its power was on par with a Physique Refinement Grandmaster. Du San’s infamous Thousand Venom Force was a headache for even most Grandmasters…” Guo Xiuxiu went on with the illustrative achievements of Du San and many of his opponent’s names were unheard of by Mu Shan and the scrawny old man.
“Kunlun was impressively resourceful! He knows a lot!” Mu Shan nodded and said.
“The eighth on the Heaven Roll is the family lord of Wu family from northwest China: Wu Shenhe. His martial arts technique is called the Fist of Dragon Fury and he used it to defeat Chen Jiuyang twice using that technique. When he used the Fist of Dragon Fury, he could reshape his Fist Qi into the likeness of a dragon that was over ten meters long. His punch was able to pierce through a steel plate. He is said to have reached the mid-stage of the Transcendent State and no one knows where he resides as of now. Some say he is living with a large family in Yan Jin.” Guo Xiuxiu said.
“There is a Grandmaster in the Wu Family?” Mu Shan was taken aback.
“Wu Shenhe was a martial arts genius. He and your Junior Sect Brother Zhentang were called the Twin Champions. However, both of them have gone missing a few years ago, and this is the first time I have heard that Wu Shenhe was living in Yan Jin.” The scrawny old man lamented. “This is the Wu family tradition. They like to subjugate powerful families and force them to serve their needs. Because of their incredible ability to manipulate other factions, they were able to hole up in North West China for so many years.”
“Ah! Great-Great Uncle-Master! Uncle-Master is also on the list!” Guo Xiuxiu suddenly shouted.
“Really?” Mu Shan and the scrawny old man were both caught by surprise.
“Number seven of the Heaven Roll is Huo ZhengTang from the Ba Ji sect. He is a tan martial arts genius and had achieved Grandmaster level at the age of forty. His physical strength is able to split open mountains and crush a diamond. He had an excellent performance on the battlefield and therefore was called the Little War God by his fellow soldiers. He is currently missing, but rumor has it that he has joined a special unit in the military…” Guo Xiuxiu paused and gave the scrawny old man an incredulous look. “Uncle-Master is serving in the military?”
The scrawny old man closed his eyes and thought about it for a long time before he nodded and said: “It makes so much sense now. He has always wanted to be like Ye Nantian to serve the country. This was also the mission of our sect.”
Mu Shan nodded. There were many members of Ba Ji sect currently serving the military.
However, they wondered why they had never heard of anything from anyone if Huo Zhengtang was working for the government.
“It appears that everyone that made it into the top ten all had reached the mid-stage of the Transcendent State and starting from the fourth spot, everyone was of late-stage of the Transcendent State.” Guo Xiuxiu announced.
“The number four of the Heaven roll was Hua Yunfeng from the Hua family of Zhong Hai. He is ninety-nine years old and had been a renowned Grandmasters for decades. He controlled the entire Zhong Hai area. He was born as the son of the biggest mafia in China at the time and brushed shoulders with many big criminals when he was young. He had fought many battles in his life and never lost once. On the 27th of this month, he had defeated Chen Jiuyang from the Tai Chi set. Even Lei Qianjue had challenged him seventeen years ago but was not able to defeat him.”
“Hua Yunfeng was indeed one of the most powerful Grandmasters in China. He was well versed in nearly all forms of martial arts in China.” The scrawny old man praised. “He has been renowned as a Grandmaster ever since I was a teenager. Most of the Grandmasters used to train under him.”
“The number two on the Heaven roll was Ye Nantian, age forty-nine and hailed from the Ye Family of the Yan Mountain. He is considered the War God of China. He had reached the Transcendent state when he was only thirty-seven and never has lost a battle ever since he started training as a martial artist. He was considered the unprecedented talent in fifty years and was the most likely candidate in China to enter Immortal State. As a general in the Chinese military, he commanded the invincible Dragon’s Fang unit fought battles all over the world. The first big battle of his life was with Lei Qianjue and he defeated Lei Qianjue while many others failed. He had reached the peak of the Transcendent state many years ago and his current power is unknown. He very likely had already reached the Immortal State.” Guo Xiuxiu read on as her eyes lit up with surprise.
Before Chen Fan’s rise to fame, Ye Nantian was considered the most powerful martial artist in China, if not the world. Only another War God of another country could be Ye Nantian’s worthy opponent.
“Huh? Where is Chen Beixuan on the list?” Gao Baisheng asked abruptly.
Mu Shan kept his silence, pondering.
Guo Xiuxiu gave Gao Baisheng a knowing look and said: “The number one of the Heaven Roll is the Young Grandmaster, Chen Beixuan. He is eighteen years old and is from Jiang Bei. Not a lot was known about this young man. He didn’t practice Martial arts until he was sixteen and then suddenly he became a rising star. He defeated Lu Tianwu with ease and used the hypersonic punch to kill Lei Qianjue. He also killed the King of Assassins, the Blacksnake using a Blade like a weapon.”
Guo Xiuxiu paused and then continued under her breath: “Transcendent Grandmaster… Peak Level Dharma Cultivator, Physique Refinement Grandmaster. His power is… inexplicable and his real age is also highly questionable. Many called him ‘Curmudgeon Chen’ due to his demeanor. He is the most powerful Transcendent Grandmaster in China and the most powerful fighter in the world.”
A pin-drop silence suddenly fell over the room.
Gao Baisheng’s face turned dark and his eyes were devoid of any hope.
As a teenager, Chen Fan had dominated the Martial arts landscape in China and claimed the seat of power.