"Brother, I wish to join the military," An Jing came in front of An Tianzuo and said firmly.
"Why?" An Tianzuo asked.
"I've already advanced to the Epic stage. What I can learn in school is very limited. I need a place where I can improve faster."
An Jing hesitated for a moment before saying, "I know this will put you in a difficult position. Mom will definitely not agree, but you will help me, right, Brother?"
"Have you really thought it through? The military isn't a school. Although it also deals with dimensional zones, those unknown dimensional zones will be hundreds or thousands of times more dangerous than the dimensional zones you've come into contact with before," An Tianzuo stared at An Jing and asked sternly.
"I've thought it through," An Jing answered seriously.
"Alright, you are my precious sister after all." An Tianzuo stood up and patted An Jing's head. He said with a smile, "Tell me, where do you want to be deployed?"
"Chess Mountain," An Jing answered.
An Tianzuo's expression changed slightly. "Why choose that?"
"Because it's the most dangerous place," An Jing answered.
"You can go anywhere other than Chess Mountain." An Tianzuo firmly rejected An Jing.
"Apart from Chess Mountain, I'm not going anywhere else." An Jing looked at An Tianzuo without backing down.
An Tianzuo's gaze softened. He could be ruthless to anyone, but he could do nothing to An Jing and Ouyang Lan.
"I can let you go to Chess Mountain on one condition." An Tianzuo paused before continuing, " Little Dao must go with you. During this period of time, she needs to be by your side at all times. You can't shake her off."
"Alright." An Jing knew that this was An Tianzuo's biggest compromise. If she didn't agree, An Tianzuo definitely wouldn't let her go to Chess Mountain.
"How long do you plan on being there?" An Tianzuo asked again.
"I'll return after my Life Soul advances to a Perfect Body," An Jing said.
After An Jing left, An Tianzuo called An Sheng over and told him about her going to Chess Mountain before getting him to make the arrangements.
"Isn't Chess Mountain too dangerous? Although Little Saber is following Miss Jing, no one can guarantee her safety if a large-scale break-out happens at Chess Mountain," An Sheng said worriedly.
"Don't underestimate my sister. Besides, Chess Mountain shouldn't have any major problems in a short period of time. Just do as I say." An Tianzuo paused before saying, "Have you investigated the origins of the Companion Beasts that have recently been listed?"
"The various factions of the Federation are investigating. We can roughly confirm that most of the Companion Beasts come from overseas. There's also a few that have been secretly nurtured by various local bigshots," An Sheng replied.
With a large number of Mythical Companion Beasts listed, Zhou Wen's Six-Winged Guardian Dragon ranking had been demoted to seventeenth. As for the hundred ranks, it had already reached 99, leaving only one empty spot.
The number one spot on the ranking board was still firmly occupied by the Primordial Sword Immortal. The Death of the Underworld was still second. The other top ten rankings had suffered some drops.
Many of the Companion Beasts on the rankings had never been heard of by the Federation.
That night, the black cubes around the world lit up again.
As the black cubes had recently lit up more frequently, people were somewhat numb to it. Only people who passed by on the streets would pay attention to which Companion Beasts would appear on the rankings. It wasn't like the past where many people would especially get up in the middle of the night to take a look.
A peacock appeared on the cubes' screens all over the world. It was gorgeous and elegant. Soon, this Companion Beast named Thousand-Eyed Peacock was ranked in the top twenty. It happened to be in front of the Six-Winged Guardian Dragon, pushing the Six-Winged Guardian Dragon back one spot.
The hundred spots were completely filled. The people who were watching in front of the cube believed that it was about to end. This was what had happened in the past.
However, the cubes didn't turn black again. After the ranking screen disappeared, a new image appeared on the screens.
The scene revolved like countless stars were swirling. As the "camera" zoomed in, the screen seemed to shuttle through billions of light-years before gradually turning black.
Everyone was puzzled as they looked at the cube screen, unsure of what was happening.
When the screen lit up again, it had already turned into an emerald-green grassland. There were colorful flowers embellishing it. All the plants emitted a gentle divine glow as though they were protected by a deity.
On the grassland, there was a huge tree. The tree was like a divine tree, also emitting a divine glow as it produced resplendent fruits.
Every fruit was crystalline and seemed to have billions of stars swirling inside. Through the screen, one could sense the terrifying might emitted by the fruits.
As the camera zoomed in, the screen froze under the tree. There was a handsome man with white hair and a white robe sitting there. On his head was a pair of crystal-like dragon horns.
He sat cross-legged under the tree with his eyes closed. He was like a deity that no one could desecrate. It was as though looking straight at his face was an act of disrespect to a deity.
"So handsome… Who's the man under the tree? Is he human? Or a Companion Beast?" Many women's eyes lit up when they saw the man sitting under the tree.
However, the faces of those who knew that man changed drastically, especially the members of the six families. Their expressions were so ugly that they were about to freeze.
An Tianzuo stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows on the top floor of a skyscraper. His gaze passed through the night sky and landed on the large square screen in the distance. An Sheng stood beside him and said with a strange expression, "Wang Mingyuan… Could it be that these cubes were his work?"
"I'm not sure if it's his work, but it looks like something is about to happen," An Tianzuo said indifferently as he looked at the screen.
The members of the six families began to gather in front of the cubes, including the Special Inspector Bureau.
The originally silent night became rowdy. Countless people who were sleeping were woken up by their ringing phones. The lights that were constantly switched on illuminated the cities' night sky.
Shen Yuchi, Qiao Siyuan, and company were all staring at the screen. Many of the inspectors were busy with their work. This was the first time Wang Mingyuan had truly appeared since he charged into the dimensional zone.
Although they had not seen Wang Mingyuan in person ever since that fateful night, the bureau had fought Wang Mingyuan for a long time on an intellectual level. Now, there were quite a number of high-level experts in the Federation who had secretly entered a dimensional zone after undergoing mutation. This was clearly Wang Mingyuan's doing.
Although the bureau had been trying their best to prevent this from happening, the results were minimal.
The citizens around the world also began to focus on the cube's screen. Although many people didn't know Wang Mingyuan's identity, they also felt that something was amiss.
"Do you want to become a god? Then fight." Wang Mingyuan sat under the tree with his eyes closed. His expression was calm and composed as he slowly extended his right hand that emitted a divine glow. A fruit dropped from the divine tree and landed in his hand.