Martial Ascent to Divinity-Chapter 512 - 495: National Identity

Ruan Xiangnan suspected Zhou Leng and tested him with words, while Zhou Leng did not hide his suspicion of the two Southern Ocean people.

Yu Xiao glanced at Zhou Leng and said, "This Ruan Xiangnan once cultivated at Innate Mountain in Dragon Country. As for this Hain, it’s our first time meeting him."

As soon as these words were spoken, the five people instantly understood each other’s intentions.

Though the Southern Ocean peoples are nominally dependent on Dragon Country, they have been controlled by other nations for nearly a century. Coupled with interest conflicts, many people have their own little schemes.

Moreover, the Demon Worship Sect is prevalent across the Southern Ocean, and Dragon Country’s relationship with the South is not as good as its relations with the Demon Spirit World.

Most of the time, martial artists from Dragon Country assume that the Southern Ocean martial artists are Demon Worshipers.

That Hain was a little old man; he chuckled but said nothing.

The group ran for a while and gradually encountered some demons, giants, or giant dragons, even in groups.

Seeing that there were five people here, they all kept their distance.

All five of them were focused on the Bone of the Broken Sky, pressing forward.

As they got closer to the Bone of the Broken Sky, the eyes of all five filled with blood, resembling goblets of red wine.

"What do you think the red in our eyes is?" Wang Yunbo asked.

Yu Xiao said, "I’ve seen some documents about the Great Battlefield outside, but strangely, no one mentioned this. I suspect that the information is sealed by the power of the Mad God, and can’t be disseminated."

"Yes, so we can only make wild guesses. After getting this thing, our emotions are all more agitated than usual, perhaps it’s an emotion-triggering power."

"It could also be some kind of status symbol."

"However, everyone be prepared. Our country once had a genius who reportedly fell here more than ten years ago and hasn’t emerged."

"Didn’t advance to Grandmaster?"

"The Great Battlefield has a mysterious force suppressing it, making it impossible to advance to Grandmaster here."

"It’s a pity, to this day we still don’t know what the Celestial Ladder means. In theory, every appearance of the Celestial Ladder is supposed to indicate something."

"Not every time, in some special places the Celestial Ladder appears similarly and emits strange sounds. Some guess it’s the Divine Text pronouncing, but it’s never been deciphered."

"If there’s no hint, we can only guess ourselves. Unexpectedly, the Bone of the Broken Sky seems the most likely."

"Treat a dead horse as if it were alive."

"The Great Battlefield itself is extremely dangerous, the Bone of the Broken Sky within it is even more perilous."

"Now with the addition of a three-layer Celestial Ladder, the subsequent Great Battlefield is virtually indistinguishable from hell."

"Therefore, for this Great Battlefield, we must join forces. One person may find it impossible to survive."

Wang Yunbo looked at Zhou Leng and said, "You are too young, from now on, do not act on impulse. When something happens, fall back. Yu Xiao and I, have Stone-man Body of Wonders and Tree-man Body of Wonders, our talents may not be as good as yours, but after years of accumulation, we all possess the power to rush into becoming Grandmasters, typically not a match for ordinary opponents."

Zhou Leng said, "I’ve seen the two of you display great strength before, even overpowering Demon’s Great Innate one-on-one."

"Oh? You’ve got sharp eyes, haven’t you?" Wang Yunbo laughed.

"The two of you clearly haven’t used your full strength. At full tilt, you should not be far from Xu Ming," Zhou Leng said.

"No, no, teaming up, we can barely draw with Xu Ming. You must know, Xu Ming is essentially a younger Chen Shouhu, having joined the Ancient River Sect early, his future achievements are likely not to be weaker than Tiger and Bear." Wang Yunbo said.

"Xu Ming is that strong?" Zhou Leng didn’t expect he had underestimated Xu Ming’s strength.

"You’re not at his level and haven’t fought him in actual combat. Let’s put it this way, among the Great Innates in the last Shuizhou battle, Xu Ming securely held second place. When the twenty of us Great Innates besieged the Undying Knight, we each were seriously injured, recuperating for a week, while Xu Ming didn’t rest a single day and joined the pursuit battle the same day," Wang Yunbo said.

At this point, Ruan Xiangnan couldn’t help but interject, "If Xu Ming ranks second, then what about the three heroes of Shuizhou?"

Wang Yunbo said, "That’s different. Great Innates approaching Grandmaster have a sort of strategic nature, they don’t venture out lightly, only appearing for major actions. The three heroes - Arrow Bearer, Demon Slayer Warrior, and Mist Breaker - are Bone Forging tier Innate, top tactical level...but it seems they all achieved strategic-level results."

Ruan Xiangnan sighed, "Your Dragon Country truly produces talented people. Not to mention, just the three heroes of Shuizhou overshadow the Southern Oceans. You don’t know how popular they are on the Southern Ocean’s internet. Including all the Bone Forger Innates from the Southern countries, none can compare, yet your one country has three."

Hain said, "Our country’s young people, aside from envy, many are frightened. Especially those so-called geniuses, after watching videos of the Three Heroes, all fell silent."

"Yes, the Southern Ocean countries are under great pressure now. Before entering the Great Battlefield, all parties urged me to fight for our country’s honor," Ruan Xiangnan muttered quietly.

Wang Yunbo and Yu Xiao smiled upon hearing praise for their countrymen, but also picked up on the barbs in their words.

Yu Xiao earnestly said, "Dragon Country and the Southern Ocean countries have been friendly for generations. Over a hundred years ago, you were bullied by the Seagull and Eagle countries, and in recent decades, again plagued by demons and Demon Worship Sect. We, the whole of Dragon Continent, should unite like the five fingers into a fist, to jointly face external threats."

Ruan Xiangnan said, "What about the earlier thousand plus years?"

Wang Yunbo waved his hand and said, "Well, so let’s give up hatred, set aside disputes, and progress together." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Ruan Xiangnan and Hain exchanged a glance.

The Southern Ocean countries, in the last hundred years, have indeed been under the shadow of the Seagull and Eagle Alliances.

But in the much longer years before, they all lived under the shadow of another great empire.

The impression that great empire left in the hearts of the Southern Ocean countries far surpasses other major powers.

Zhou Leng glanced at the two Southern ocean people.

Yu Xiao slowly said, "As humans, it is our duty to defend Blue Star and fight against demons. I hope that friends from the Southern Ocean also have this awareness."

Ruan Xiangnan and Hain remained silent.

Wang Yunbo, sensing Yu Xiao’s stern tone, laughed and said, "I’ve heard that you Southern people aren’t very interested in fighting demons?"

Ruan Xiangnan hesitated for a moment and said, "It’s not that I’m uninterested, for example, I am a main battle advocate, but most people are not uninterested, nor are they not pro-war, rather, there are various reasons why they do not want to fight."

Hayin said, "If you were born in our Southern Euro Countries, you would understand."

The atmosphere subtly changed, and the five of them stopped speaking.

Zhou Leng pondered in his heart.

Earlier, when chatting with people from the Demon City Army, it was mentioned that once the Ten Worlds War started again, all countries would be listed as potential enemies.

The reason is simple: most of the rulers of the Southern Euro Countries are either deeply connected with the Demon Worship Sect or are members of it.

Moreover, these countries have never truly been loyal to anyone throughout history.

They side with whoever is strong.

Their spine has been broken again and again, and has not been straight for a long time.

An old warrior once said, from the day the Ten Realms appeared, Dragon Country was prepared to stand alone against all Demon Spirit Worlds.

And the fact is exactly as Dragon Country anticipated; every country has been infiltrated by the Demon Worship Sect, including Dragon Country itself, which ultimately lost the last Ten Realms War.

This time, Dragon Country, deeply reflecting on its defeat, no longer places any hope in any other country on Blue Star.

In fact, most countries on Blue Star are ready to side with the Demons.

Most of them are not preparing to resist to the end; they are waiting for the final result.

In their view, the worst outcome is just that Blue Star becomes the newest nineteenth layer of Demon Purgatory, with Blue Star People transforming into a new kind of Demon.

Whether being a Demon in Demon Purgatory or being a human on Blue Star, there’s not much difference.

Zhou Leng, Wang Yunbo, and Yu Xiao glanced at each other, with a hint of seriousness on their faces.

Ordinary Qi Blood Realm and ordinary Innate Realm don’t need to worry about national affairs.

But reaching Great Innate or even Grandmaster level, there are more things to consider.

Because Grandmasters will indeed be involved in national or even major Blue Star plans and events, including secret multinational operations.

For years, everyone thought Dragon Country’s enemies were the Demon Alliance and the domestic Demon Worship Sect forces.

In reality, foreign Demon Worship Sect forces have consistently used other countries against Dragon Country.

In areas surrounding Dragon Country, special battles at the Grandmaster or even Martial Saint level occur frequently.

It’s just that the sides don’t report it, or if they do, it’s only in extremely brief words, and it takes a long time to declassify.

Zhou Leng only gained a clear understanding from Li Linhan’s often mentioned stories of such matters.

Li Linhan has a catchphrase; whenever he mentions people from any country, he likes to add "demon brat."

Eagle Alliance demon brat, Seagull Alliance demon brat, Southern Euro demon brat, Elephant Country demon brat...

Because his comrades have really fought against demon brats from these countries.

When Zhou Leng was a child, he thought all countries on Blue Star cooperated wholeheartedly, but as he grew up, he realized that the real world is far more complicated than imagined.

The Ten Realms seem to all be like this.

The Demon Spirit Masters of the Demon Spirit World openly and secretly compete, the Demons of the Eighteen Layers of Demon Purgatory fight each other bloodily every day, and the Sea Demon World is filled with continuous internal conflict.

The Steel Dwarves and Tree-men don’t engage much in internal conflict, but they are also incompetent in external conflicts.

Zhou Leng remembered Xu Ming specifically reminding him outside the Great Battlefield entrance that apart from Dragon Country people, he should be wary of people from all other countries.

Zhou Leng glanced at Ruan Xiangnan and Hayin.

Statistically speaking, both of them could be Demon Worshipers.

"We’re here, looks like there are quite a number of people over there..." Wang Yunbo said.

Everyone looked over.

There was a peculiar forest, different from ordinary trees; the trees there all seemed to be cast from black iron.

Outside the black iron forest, there were various camps.

Giant Dragons, Giants, Demons, and the Humanoid Alliance’s forces were distinctly segregated, spread all over the place.

Zhou Leng gazed toward the Humanoid Alliance’s camp, and a familiar face happened to look back.

"Hahaha..."

The man laughed heartily, striding over.

His square face was covered in scars on one side, eyes as sharp as an eagle’s, his stature like a mountain, though smiling, his aura was as fierce as a cold wind, oppressing all directions.

Compared to outside the Great Battlefield entrance, there was less breadth and more dominance.

"Zhou Leng, really don’t know if you’re lucky or not." Xu Ming said with a happy laugh.

"Xu Ming, we safely delivered this junior brother to you." Wang Yunbo said.

"Thanks, Yunbo. Did he show you the message I sent him?" Xu Ming asked.