Chapter 267: Chapter 24: A Powerhouse’s Leeway and the Prelude to Turbulent Times
As a great nation with a long history, Zhengguo had preserved its Extraordinary Inheritances well. In theory, it possessed seventeen Paths of Divinity that could lead one to become a Deity, and a full twenty-two Paths of Ascension of an equivalent tier.
However, within the Thirty-Six Saints Central Committee, some of the Holy Seats were held by pure researchers. For them, Extraordinary cultivation was merely a means to enhance their intellect and maintain their physical health, allowing them to sustain their peak mental faculties for longer periods.
Even the combat-proficient Daoist Saint, Zhang Qingyun, was a prime example. His true profession was that of a professor specializing in maglev technology. In fact, he had designed the high-speed maglev trains currently operating in Zhengguo.
Now that the Daoist Saint had advanced as a Transcendent, his grasp of electromagnetism had grown even more profound. He might bring about more theoretical breakthroughs in the field in the future, and the potential gains from this were simply immeasurable.
Every High Tier Extraordinary was a true treasure, capable of driving the entire civilization of their race forward—the value of their intellect far outweighed their martial might.
That may be true, but if a nation were comprised entirely of scholars, how would it protect itself?
That was why there were armies, and Transcendents who specialized in combat.
For example, Su Zhou.
To be honest, Su Zhou himself was well aware of this. Both his professorship and the vast resources Zhengguo invested in him were because his abilities and personality were naturally suited for adventure and battle. This trend had become even more pronounced after he annihilated the Shepherd of Spirits. His titles of Dragon King and Thunder Lord had made him a globally recognized symbol of Transcendent might, drawing the cautious vigilance of countless Mysterious Organizations and the Transcendents of major powers.
He was the banner of Extraordinary martial power that Zhengguo had intentionally raised.
This wasn’t exploitation—who could say that a civilization using an army to protect itself was exploiting the army’s might? Su Zhou had already received many hints that if he grew a little older and maintained his current rate of advancement, a Holy Seat would undoubtedly be his.
’I should just keep up my cultivation. That’s what I’m supposed to do.’ With that thought, Su Zhou turned and went back to the library. There, he browsed through the Zhengguo government’s official database, looking for information he wanted and needed to keep an eye on, all while silently gathering the power to reconstruct the Heart of the Thunder Marsh.
「Another half a month passed.」
At Qinxing Academy, the new student training camp was halfway through. Su Zhou made an appearance as a professor and accepted a challenge from students of the combat and exploration tracks. After putting on a display of overwhelming strength and satisfying the masochistic desires of those talented students, he became the target they all gritted their teeth and yearned to defeat.
During this time, Su Zhou was also dispatched to Zhizhi Academy in Modu. Coordinating with the fleet, he used his Thunder Technique to lure and capture a giant Thunder Marsh Jellyfish in the coastal region, one that was a full seventy meters in diameter.
The Thunder Marsh Jellyfish was classified as an A-Class, super-ancient, giant Spiritual Qi creature. The power generated by a single mature individual was comparable to an entire large-scale thermal power plant and could supply electricity to a whole city.
The Thunder Runes formed from its fossils were the source of all of Zhengguo’s Thunder Techniques, and the Thunder Marsh Inheritance originated from it as well. Although the Thunder Marsh Inheritance had been refined over thousands of years and now differed significantly from the original Thunder Marsh Way, witnessing its Spiritual Power-generating organs firsthand was still highly enlightening for Su Zhou.
However, just as Su Zhou had a moment of insight and was preparing to begin condensing the Heart of the Thunder Marsh, he received some unexpected and catastrophic news.
Although the incident had not occurred in Zhengguo, it was so tragic and dangerous that Zhengguo, as a fellow nation on Earth, was put on high alert.
"The European Union was attacked by swarms of Magical Beasts of unknown origin? Three cities destroyed, with a death toll exceeding one million?"
When this news reached him, Su Zhou was in a massive coastal enclosure, observing the Thunder Marsh Jellyfish up close. He had been attempting to communicate with it by discharging electricity to disguise himself as one of its own kind.
But when he heard the death toll, he was so stunned he let out a stream of bubbles underwater. "Local Extraordinary Influences speculate that a spatial passage to an Otherworld has opened in the Slovenia Mountain Range, and the Magical Beast swarms emerged from there?!"
"Yara, what’s going on?"
