735 Joining a Force 2 in 1

The old man closed his eyes in pleasure and pursed his lips tightly as if afraid the heavenly taste would disappear. He seemed very into it.

The fish tasted average, but the wine was Samsara wine made specially by Mu Zi. It was spicier than the strongest alcohol Wang Zhong had ever tasted. Most people didn't dare to consume it; they would be knocked out until the next day if they even drank one mouthful on an empty stomach.

Wang Zhong had already tried this combination of grilled meat and Samsara wine during the bonfire party at Katchirda Village. The greasy meat and the Samsara wine's unique spiciness were a match made in heaven, and now, the combination of grilled fish and Samsara wine tasted even more sensational but in a different way.

"Utterly splendid!" The old man let out a long breath, complimenting the wine as soon as he could speak. His eyes were sparkling when he looked at the small wine bottle again. "Little fella, what is this?"

"It's called Samsara wine." Wang Zhong smiled. "Pretty interesting, eh?"

"It's extremely interesting, this Samsara wine. I felt like I took a journey through time indeed!" The old man laughed heartily and was full of praise for the wine. "Nice name! Good alcohol! I thought my Hinami was being wasted, but it's an awesome combination with this wine! Come, don't just stand there. Let's eat together!"

The old man passed Wang Zhong the wine bottle, and both of them devoured the fish and the wine together. It was not long before they finished everything.

"The Holy Land has everything, but it's hard to find such good alcohol. The chefs here are only concerned with food that will help to increase one's power. Ugh, how can you be considered a professional foodie if you only care about healthiness!" The old man wasn't satisfied and wanted more wine. He toyed with the empty bottle in his hands, looking like he wanted to lick the last few drops off the bottle. "Little fella, you made this wine yourself? It shouldn't have such a strong aftertaste though? Is it an alchemy product?"

"A friend of mine from Earth made it. I still have some of this wine in my dorm. I'll treat you to more next time."

"Haha." The old man instantly took a liking to Wang Zhong. "I still don't know your name after you treated me to such exquisite wine."

"I'm Wang Zhong. What's yours?"

"Me? I'm an idle person that's semi-retired, the guard here." The old man smiled. "A long time ago, my surname was Zhang. You can call me Uncle Zhang. If you keep calling me 'senior,' it sounds like I'm trying to take advantage of you."

"Uncle Zhang it is then." Wang Zhong was rather happy that he got this free meal today. He had been eating at the cafeteria for a few days, and although the standard of the food was not bad, the meal he had today was way better. Fresh and wild Hinami from the lake was definitely superior to that of the grilled-food stalls. After eating the Hinami just now, he already felt immense energy spreading from his stomach to the rest of his body. It made him feel warm and comfortable; he could even feel his cells being nourished. This was different from the nourishment you got from consuming medicine with side effects and was by no means inferior to the power you obtained from cultivating the normal way. No wonder this was called the holy place for cultivation: if you ate like this every day, you could reach the Heroic Soul Stage even if you were an idiot.

Wang Zhong was still hungry. He cast a side glance at the old man's fishing rod, thinking that he could eat more.

"Look at you drooling." Uncle Zhang didn't have any intention of fishing anymore, flossing his teeth in a leisurely manner. "You need to know when to stop when fishing. Three fish are the maximum. If you continue fishing for more, it will be harder to fool them next time."

Wang Zhong was not embarrassed by the fact that the old man saw through him. He smiled and said, "When is the next time we'll meet then? Let's book a date. I will bring wine and you'll be in charge of fishing. Hehe, good things should be shared."

Uncle Zhang laughed and stood up. "Sure! I come here to fish every weekend. You can drop by and chat with me when you're free. With such great food and wine, I'll make some more side dishes. Ah, it'll taste perfect…"

Uncle Zhang carried his fishing basket and disappeared into the distance. "Remember to bring the wine this weekend!" His voice could be heard remotely.

The official competition to join the three supreme forces had started. When Wang Zhong arrived, there were already a few hundred people gathering there. It was obvious that the newcomers had separated themselves into two distinct sides.

On the left side, there were around a hundred dimensional humans, all with golden hair and eyes. They were burlier than the Federation newcomers, but the one who stood out the most had a buzz cut and prominent facial features. His upper body was naked, and he was unusually tall. Even among the dimensional humans who had an average height of 1.9 meters, he was a head taller than them. He was Hyde Alexander, who had obtained first place in the dimensional humans' competition. Wang Zhong had seen him once at the Tyrants' zone, and he seemed to be valued by the teachers there.

On the Federation side, Solomon and Scarlet were already Successor Disciples, so they didn't need to participate in this. Most of the others were led by Carolyn. It must be said, this extraordinary goddess was equally outstanding here in the Holy Land as she was on Earth. There was a slight tension between the two sides. There were also many other 'loners,' like Wang Zhong and Grai. They were also from Earth, but they did not come here through the CHF. Additionally, there were alien races. They remained inconspicuous, seemingly used to how humans judged them.

Humans started research on alien races around 300 years ago. At that time, human beings had just mostly solved their own problems on Earth and welcomed a relatively stable and peaceful post-dark age. However, experts were always unable to bear loneliness. They began to channel their enthusiasm and energy to exploring the secret realms in the Dimensional World. These secret realms had many names, but they were generally referred to as 'secret realms.' Other names included 'projection worlds' or 'foreign dimensions.' More challenges and greater dangers existed there, which was undoubtedly even more tempting to these experts. Conquering these realms was also the goal that the Holy City has been committed to, a goal that had never changed over the past 300 years. In the conquest of various Dimensional Worlds, they conquered a considerable number of Dimensional lifeforms other than their enemies. These conquered Dimensional lifeforms were referred to as the 'alien races.'

Unlike the mutated creatures on Earth that still retained their beastly nature, the alien races came from different worlds and possessed wisdom no less than human beings. Perhaps they were limited by population, race, or history, but most of them were not as powerful as human beings, nor did they have populations as large as humans. However, almost all of them had strong secondary attributes which were of great help to human beings. This showed that humans had benefited from conquering them. Among them, two kinds of alien races were the most common.

One was the metal alien race from the Titantuka world. They were different from bodies of flesh and blood in the sense that their bodies were completely made of metal, which accounted for their powerful defense and moldability talent. This race was quite amazing as it possessed human-like attributes. The so-called 'metal' was an interpretation by humans; another name for it was 'Bio-gold,' which could be converted between liquid state and solid state. It had magical effects, especially for alchemy. This was the Tyrants' favorite race.

An example of how the Tyrants benefited from this race would be Russell, the Holy Ambassador previously. A large part of his body's modification was done using the Bio-gold from the Titantuka world. Except for the luster of the metal, those metal parts were very compatible with bodies of flesh and blood. It could even imitate the texture of human muscles perfectly.

Conquering the metal world was one of the greatest achievements of the Holy Land, and the Holy Land was widely accepted by this metal alien race. Since they had strong defense power, they could serve as auxiliary soldiers. At the same time, they were good assistants in alchemy, so the Holy Land welcomed the metal aliens. They would serve as a help in the Holy Land's future conquest of other dimensions too.

Basically, the metal aliens all chose to join the Tyrants. It was extremely important to have a metal alien partner in the Tyrants.

The other alien race looked less human. The water ripples on their bodies made them look like summoned water elemental spirits. They had ghost-like figures — as their bodies appeared to be a state of nothingness — resembling that of a Spiritual Soul, yet they were not. At the part of their body where their heart should be, there was a lump of blue star-like solid matter, which constantly supplied energy to their body. They had two blue flames, that looked like will-o'-the-wisps, for eyes. If they appeared on Earth at night, they would definitely scare a bunch of people to death.

They were from the Hermes race. Before the Hermes world was conquered, it was a holy place for water attribute users to cultivate in. The people there were very good at healing, which was very useful in battle. The average Dimensional Exploration team always had a basic battlefield medical professional, who was highly respected in the team. The Hermes race may not be skilled in physical fighting, but all of them were experts among battlefield medical professionals. Thus, even though this race had a small population, they were very sought after in the Holy Land. That was also why many Hermes aliens left the Hermes world for the Holy Land, and the Hermes race became one of the two most prosperous alien races in the Holy City.

There was a reason why the Holy Land especially welcomed and gave better treatment to these two alien races. When the Holy Saint Teacher conquered their worlds, he found out that these two races had a highly dependent nature; they would not betray humanity, and they would become very good partners to humans. The Holy Land needed to constantly strengthen their relationship with these two alien races, as the stronger you were, the more threats you would be exposed to. The Holy Land had been following this teaching of the Holy Saint Teacher for the past 100 years.

Except for these two alien races, the other races weren't so lucky. They had a lower status, only slightly better than slaves. They had to prove their worth in the Holy Land, which came with a lot of conditions. It was normal if they suddenly disappeared one day.

The Holy Land was a holy place for humans. Although black holes had caused colossal changes to Earth, it did open the possibility of conquering the whole universe to mankind, freeing mankind from its shackles. Souls were the foundation of the universe.

Wang Zhong, Grai, and the others found seats closer to the back, away from attention. Grai didn't change much, even though he was in the Holy Land. The Tyrants invited him as they had a special branch dedicated to studying bloodlines, but Grai wasn't interested in becoming a 'monster.' This was also the reason why many didn't want to join the Tyrants, so Grai was puzzled by Wang Zhong's choice.

"Senior Brother, is the Sparta Clan not a good choice?"

Wang Zhong smiled. "Joining the Tyrants is more suitable for me currently, as my physical body is pretty weak."

Grai nodded thoughtfully. In reality, he could feel how different Wang Zhong had become now, so he didn't believe the rumors. Wang Zhong was steadier and more confident than before. Grai would be the last to believe that such a person would become vulnerable, especially because he knew Wang Zhong too well. There was a type of person who would never fall, no matter what; you just knew it from his aura.

Wang Zhong's Dharma Idol absolutely wasn't weak, since he had gone to the cursed lands and even got promoted to the Heroic Soul Stage in the vast desert. If anything, it would be even more terrifying than imagined. As a wise man, there really was no need to have a high-profile in the Holy Land. Grai was skeptical as he felt that there were times the Holy Land would miss out on their judgment.

In the CHF circle, a few people were rueful after seeing Wang Zhong. The former No. 1 expert of the CHF was the center of attention no matter where he went. However, his successive encounters in the Holy Land had already caused him to fall from his No. 1 place. In the end, he wasn't the final winner.

Sitting at a secluded corner, Wang Zhong still seemed pretty lonely although he had two or three good friends with him. His former glory was gone, making people marvel at the speed things could change. Carolyn saw Wang Zhong too, but she didn't feel anything toward him; this led her to understand her own true feelings.

Unwillingness and loss took up most of her emotions, as these were mainly the fragile emotions she felt after her loss in the CHF. As Stuart City's future leader, Carolyn needed to prove herself here. This was crucial in stabilizing Stuart City's status in the Federation; and after being here, she understood why the elders didn't tell her too much about the Holy Land.

To put it bluntly, the 10 Great Families were nothing more than pawns; they existed solely to serve the Holy Land. If they had told her earlier on, it might have been unbearable news to her. However, at this juncture, her excellent potential made Carolyn harbor hope and look forward to the future, igniting her fighting spirit.

Several people in the 10 Great Families had gossiped about Wang Zhong these past few days, from his Flaming Spirit King Dharma Idol to how he got beaten up. Except for a few people such as Gui Hao, most of them laughed it off and no longer considered Wang Zhong a threat; whether he's dead or alive didn't really matter much anymore.

The hall was full of murmurs for a while. After waiting for about half an hour, the teachers in charge of hosting came late. At first, most people thought that ordinary teachers from various forces would be hosting today, but they did not expect the three who came to be Great Teachers. The hall became silent immediately. The appearance of the Great Teachers during the selection of newcomers meant a lot of things; that this selection process might be different. This was also a form of recognition to the Holy Apprentices, showing that this batch of newcomers was of high quality.

The first person who came in was an elegant man who looked rather young. As he walked into the hall, even his slight footsteps seemed to follow an invisible rhythm that was captivating. It caused the crowd to stop chattering and stare at him.

There was a clear hierarchy between teachers and Great Teachers. Even though the former were already teaching, they were still considered as the ones being ruled. Only the Great Teachers at the Heavenly Soul Stage were the real ruling class, wielding power and authority.