The Almighty Ring

Jiang Fei contacted the Martial Artist Alliance and informed them the location to meet before departing. There were going to be people in charge of escorting the martial artist to the military-used harbor.

“We are all ready. We can depart at any moment,” said Ding Tianqing. He was elected as the spokesperson to liaise with Jiang Fei. It was a moment of bliss for him.

The reason he was so happy was due to his position in the alliance. The man was only the master of a lowly second-rate sect. However, he was selected to be the man to liaise with Jiang Fei because of the previous incident where Jiang Fei and Ma Xuantong had a fallout at his own turf. The result of the fight was bad as many of his sect’s structures and buildings were destroyed. As compensation, Ding Tianqing was elected to take on the important task.

Since the alliance was informed earlier about having to go to war, each sect had already selected a number of their students. When Jiang Fei had contacted them to depart, everyone proceeded to arrive at different small military bases around the country. Han Tianyu had made transport preparations for everyone. Even though it was the government military base, the location of the secret harbor was kept tightly. There were special Humvee tinted with black inside and outside the vehicle to prevent anyone from knowing about it.

After Jiang Fei was done with Ding Tianqing, Ariel and he made their way to the harbor by themselves. Even though Si Tuying and Shang Guanqi were martial artists, he did not want them to participate in this war. Si Tuying was only a Level 3 fighter. Even though she was capable of fighting, she lacked proper training and actual fighting experience. Shang Guanqi, on the other hand, was more than capable of taking care of herself as well as others in a fight. However, he needed someone strong to stay with his parents.

When Jiang Fei and Han Tianyu both arrived at the harbor, they saw the other martial artists that had departed earlier. When Jiang Fei saw the crowd of martial artists, standing at one corner away from the military men, he could not help but sigh. They were all purposefully ignoring the military men since they looked down on normal humans.

“There’s nothing I can do now…” said Jiang Fei to himself.

He understood that the mindset of looking down on normal humans was hard to just throw away. Even so, if they did not change their attitude about normal humans, they would be digging their own graves sooner or later. Perhaps sooner…

Jiang Fei greeted the rest of the martial artists first before heading into the administrative building near the harbor.

“Hey, who is the person of the highest rank in this harbor?” Jiang Fei asked Han Tianyu.

“It was Colonel Lu Ze. Now, I’m not sure,” said Han Tianyu.

“Well. Let’s just go inside first,” said Jiang Fei. He understood that Han Tianyu was not someone high in ranks. It was hard for him to obtain information about the military.

“Excuse me, are you Mr. Jiang Fei?” said a military officer wearing a uniform with Major General insignia on his uniform.

“That is correct. Who am I speaking to?” said Jiang Fei politely as he reached out for a shake. It was obvious then that someone of higher ranks had taken over this facility since the martial artists were involved in this mess.

“My name is Qin Tian. I am a Staff Officer of the Special Navy Force,” said Qin Tian as he stood up straight and shook Jiang Fei’s hand.

“A pleasure to work with you,” said Jiang Fei. When he heard the term “Special Navy Force”, he immediately understood that it was a newly-formed branch of the military force that operated the alien machines that Jiang Fei had just given them. It was only natural for them to incorporate a few members of the Navy Force into this new branch. Jiang Fei did not care about that since everything about operations should be handled by the military.

“Mr. Jiang Fei, I am responsible for all operations for this coming war. If you have anything that needs an inquiry, please ask without reservations,” said Qin Tian politely.

“I will. We will be in your care,” said Jiang Fei.

“Mr. Jiang Fei. If you and the martial artists over there are ready, we can proceed with boarding,” said Qin Tian. The conversation was over and serious matters came into play; the man’s tone changed immediately then.

“Yes. After docking in Japan, I hope that the Navy will be cooperative with the martial artists to fight against the Mutants,” said Jiang Fei.

“Likewise, Mr. Jiang Fei,” said Qin Tian.

“Very well then, please start the boarding procedure,” said Jiang Fei before leaving the building. He then made his way to the martial artists to talk to them.

At that moment, transport airships that were ferrying other martial artists had arrived and landed safely at a nearby landing zone. Large groups of martial artists came out and gathered before starting to talk aloud. It was rare for martial artists to gather in such a large number since the alliance was not a rigid and tight organization.

“I can’t remember the last time we had such a large gathering. If my memory serves me right, it should be the previous Wulin Gathering!”

“That’s more than ten years ago… Look at these young folks. They are nothing like us. So uncivilized… I’m not even surprised if these young ones had forgotten about us!”

“You’re right about that one, brother. You know what we should do after this commotion? We should organize more Wulin Gathering or there will be less of those who could truly appreciate Chinese martial arts.”

“Heh. I’d like to see that. Youngsters these days can’t even spar properly. We used to walk away with broken bones and could still fight until we pass out… Sigh…”

…

The older generation was greatly disappointed when they recognized the younger lots that were chatting loudly with each other. It was truly inevitable. As time went by, fewer and fewer would be willing to pay the cost to learn martial arts. People of the current generation were not willing to wake up at the crack of dawn just to go through a hellish training session. The motivation to learn was just one minor factor. The greater factor was that there were very few humans born with the knack to learn martial arts. Jiang Fei was one of them. He was born with Qi points sealed since birth. Without the ring, it was impossible for him to learn martial arts. Each day, few humans were born with Qi flow and even fewer that had a natural talent for martial arts. It was not a mystery as to why there were lesser martial artists as the years went by.

There were about 600 to 700 martial artists gathered that day. More than half of them were Level 2 and 3 fighters. There were only over a hundred Level 4 fighters.

“Are there any Level 5 fighters here?” said Jiang Fei to 0541.

“No Omega level beings detected in close proximity,” said 0541.

“Mhm…”

It seemed that the Level 5 masters were not involved. It could mean that they did not deem this war as worthy enough to make an appearance. Perhaps they would show up if it meant that their entire sect was at stake. Although he could only hope for it, it did not come as a surprise that there were no Level 5 masters then.

Jiang Fei did not really mind it since the Mutants shared the same mindset. Unless it involved the likelihood of their nation or the entire world getting destroyed, no Level 5 Metahuman would want to get involved. To them, it was nothing but child’s play.