Martial arts ascend to the gods

Chapter 594 Heart to Heart
After connecting to the Tree Man Base's network, Li Shenkong glanced at Wu Xin's chat messages.

Upon seeing the "Xu Ming's Face" group, Li Shenkong's eyes darkened.

The group was originally named "Xu Ming's Good Buddies," and it was created by Xu Ming.

After Xu Ming's message to Zhou Leng was published, the administrator changed his name.

The people in this group are all comrades-in-arms who have fought alongside Xu Ming over the years.

Li Shenkong is called Little Li in the group, and only a few of Xu Ming's old friends know who he is.

Li Shenkong glanced at the comments.

It turns out that the company under the Demon City Army Martial Arts Brigade, which Xu Ming led back then, was officially renamed "Xu Ming Company".

Xu Minglian's men received a mission from above and came to the Tree People World to conduct cooperation and exchanges.

Although the Tree People world refuses to use its resources to obtain aid from Earth and has remained stagnant, small-scale cooperation has never ceased.

Back then, Li Shenkong was in Xu Minglian's company.

Recalling those familiar faces, Li Shenkong used the Demon Spirit Ring to slightly disguise himself, changing back to his previous appearance, and strode towards Xu Minglian's base at the Treant Base.

During the journey, I sent a message to an old comrade-in-arms.

Just as they arrived at the door, a group of young cultivators and a few innate cultivators rushed over excitedly.

"Little Li, it's been a long time!"

"You're also at the Tree Man Base?"

"Master!"

Li Shenkong looked at Erhuzi, whose face was full of innocent smiles and still had a childish look.

"How is your martial arts progressing?" Li Shenkong asked with a smile.

"Master's guidance is excellent. I am now in the late stage of the Vitality Realm and my progress is quite rapid."

One of the Innate Realm cultivators chuckled, "Your eldest disciple is a bit slow-witted, but his efforts are unparalleled in the company. He'll probably advance to the Innate Realm next year. You personally said that once he advances to the Innate Realm, you'll formally accept him as your disciple."

Li Shenkong glanced helplessly at everyone and said, "Of course."

"Thank you, Master!" Erhuzi bowed deeply.

"Don't call him yet!" Li Shenkong was quite helpless. He had no way to deal with such a silly and strong subordinate, and in the end, he was forced to become a nominal master for no reason.

"Let's go back to the company and take a look."

"Can we go in?" Li Shenkong asked.

"It's just normal cooperation and exchange, not some secret operation. Most of the people in the company are here; they're all family. Besides, the old company commander..."

The innate ability to speak suddenly stopped.

The air freezes.

"Let's go."

Xu Minglian and Li Shenkong rejoined the team.

Li Shenkong has always been an honorary member of this martial arts brigade and has not left yet. Apart from the new recruits, everyone knows him.

After chatting for a while, he learned that the purpose of this exchange was to go to the Flute Forest and engage in a small-scale battle against demons and giant insects.

The people in the company all hoped he would stay, because the current company commander was only a muscle-based innate master, and there was a big gap between him and a great innate master, so they were a little unsure of his future.

Li Shenkong hesitated at first, but he couldn't resist his comrades' persistent persuasion, and he also realized that he hadn't had any training for a long time.

Importantly, Li Shenkong's fighting spirit was ignited after watching Zhou Leng's video.

He watched Zhou Leng's videos repeatedly. He was confident that he was at a similar level, but in one aspect, he was worlds apart from Zhou Leng.

He had never experienced a desperate battle where he was alone in the fray and had to fight to the death.

Zhou Leng's deeds ignited a fire in his heart.

To use the crude but reasonable words of my comrades, how many dicks do I, Li Shenkong, have?

Zhou Leng can fight alone and risk his life, so why is he always well protected when he participates in battle?

Because he is the grandson of the Martial Saint?
Xu Ming, who protected him, has already died in another world. Does he really need another Xu Ming to protect him?
I am already a grandmaster.

I should learn to protect those who deserve protection, just like Xu Ming did.

A giant baby is destined never to become a saint.

"I'll go back and pack my things, and I'll officially rejoin the team tonight!"

"it is good!"

Everyone was overjoyed.

Li Shenkong returned to his residence, finished tidying up, and explained the situation to the people he had brought with him.

Just as I stepped out of the tree root cave, a group of people came towards me.

The procession was extremely grand, with guards leading the way and guards bringing up the rear.

Apart from those wearing camouflage uniforms, most of the people in the group were wearing jackets or suits.

The leader was wearing a black jacket. He looked to be around forty years old, with a square face and broad ears. He was dignified and had a calm demeanor, yet he exuded an air of authority without anger, like a high-ranking official.

"Brother Cong?" Li Shenkong looked at Zhao Cong in surprise.

Zhao Cong had seen Li Shenkong's disguise before, so he first gestured for the others to leave, then walked over and patted Li Shenkong on the shoulder like an older brother.

"Good lad, it's been a year, and your cultivation level is almost catching up with mine." One of them was a high-level grandmaster, and the other was a great grandmaster.

Li Shenkong was taller, while Zhao Cong was wider. "Why are you here?" Li Shenkong asked.

"It's a necessary procedure to inspect the various bases of Water Continent Demon City and communicate with the various races after taking office. In addition, I also wanted to visit you on the way. I still have some time to cultivate in the Tree Root Cave, so I came to cultivate for a few days. It's a win-win situation."

"So, are you going to work now?"

"Let them wait. Our business is more important. Come on, I know a place to talk here."

Zhao Cong led Li Shenkong to a tree-man hotel and entered a private room.

The two ordered food and began to chat.

The two have known each other since childhood, and even if they haven't seen each other for many days, they quickly regain the feeling of being friends for many years.

Halfway through the conversation, Zhao Cong sighed and said, "The Zhao family has produced scoundrels, and I cannot shirk my responsibility. I came to Liangjiang this time with one mission: to eliminate those scoundrels. The Dragon Kingdom has been infiltrated too deeply by the Demonic Cult; even my Zhao family has not been spared. Isn't that laughable? Isn't that pathetic? Do you know why I'm bringing this up?"

Li Shenkong shook his head.

“I have a distant cousin who was born and raised in China. He was very well-behaved when he was young. After joining the Eagle Alliance, he launched a massive attack on our Martial Academy. I simply couldn’t understand his hateful remarks. I had someone investigate and found out that he was turned by the Eagle Alliance and became a member of the Demon Worship Cult. My dad was furious with him.”

Zhao Cong continued, "These kinds of things are countless. My father and I, after much painful reflection, secretly investigated and the results were shocking. In the next few months, our Zhao family will first cleanse ourselves, and once the results are in, we will report to the Supreme Court to completely eradicate the remnants of the Demon Worship Cult!"

Thinking of Zhao Cong's status and their past relationship, Li Shenkong's doubts vanished. He exclaimed, "As expected of the Zhao family, which is good at self-reflection. They immediately reformed themselves after the incident. To be honest, brother, I used to suspect that your Zhao family had changed, but now I don't."

Zhao Cong said earnestly, "We can't condemn everyone with one blow. Our martial arts community aims to heal the sick and save lives. We are all human beings, fellow martial artists, and we all grew up eating grains. How can we not get sick? Who doesn't make mistakes? If you make a mistake, correct it, and you'll still be a good martial artist!"

"indeed."

Li Shenkong had a pure upbringing and spent most of his time cultivating. He was simple-minded, but after hearing Zhao Cong's explanation, he still had doubts, though he couldn't bring himself to say them.

"It seems that Zhou Leng's matter has nothing to do with your family," he said vaguely.

Zhao Cong sighed, "It's not that it's unrelated, it's just a misfortune for our family. Gao Tianlong is my cousin. Did he rob Zhou Leng's mine? He did, there's no denying it. The first thing I did when I arrived in Rucheng was to confiscate the mine. That's the Zhao family's stance."

"I see," Li Shenkong said.

"As for the matter of the Sixteen Families and Zhou Leng, this is a legacy of history. You probably know it's about the Sixteen Families and Ma Xingkong. Did Ma Xingkong do anything wrong? No, he was upright and refused to compromise his principles. He did nothing wrong. What about the Sixteen Families? Take the Lou family, for example. Not only were they kicked out of the Martial Academy, but the young were killed, and the old were angered to death. Such a large family almost couldn't survive. They were wrong, but tell me, is it too much to exterminate their entire clan?"

Li Shenkong nodded, as if he genuinely agreed.

Zhao Cong continued, "To put it bluntly, it was just that the younger generation of the sixteen families were sulking and wanted to teach Zhou Leng a lesson. As a result, the misunderstanding between the two sides escalated and eventually couldn't be resolved. If the sixteen families really wanted to harm Zhou Leng, would they have needed to make a false accusation? They would have just sent someone to kill him. Some people talk about our Zhao family, but they don't even remember that our Zhao family didn't get involved with Ma Xingkong back then. Is it really worth it for Zhou Leng?"

"I believe that your Zhao family wouldn't go so far as to target Zhou Leng. Or rather, if you really were to make a move, Zhou Leng would indeed not survive."

“That’s it. But to say that the Zhao family is completely innocent is impossible. I can’t tell others, you’re my own brother, who doesn’t have some dirty secrets? But can it be completely eliminated? It can’t be. We can turn a blind eye to the small ones, but we have to take action against the big ones. Ordinary people don’t understand the difficulties of the country and the difficulties of powerful families, but you and I, who come from military families, naturally understand.”

Li Shenkong sighed. He had heard about some of his family's problems, and even his grandfather was helpless, let alone Zhao Cong.

The two brothers opened up to each other, and their relationship seemed to have returned to normal.

After eating and drinking their fill, the two went to the martial arts hall and sparred with their bodies, without using internal energy.

A genius who had risen to the rank of Grandmaster, and a Grandmaster who had served for many years, were evenly matched for a time.

After their sparring session, both of them were flushed and panting heavily.

"Old ginger is spicier. You've been in the Martial Academy for so many years, and your skills haven't declined at all," Li Shenkong said admiringly.

Zhao Cong laughed and said, "No way, the younger generation surpasses the older generation. I estimate that you will surpass me in a year at most."

Li Shenkong laughed and said, "Don't be modest. You clearly still have hidden power within you, and you're obviously letting me win."

Zhao Cong's eyes flashed, but his expression remained unchanged. He smiled and said, "Who doesn't have some hidden skills?"

The two exchanged martial arts techniques until they parted ways the next day.

Li Shenkong joins Xu Minglian and heads towards the Flute Forest.

Zhao Cong and members of the Liangjiang New Area visited Shuren World and stayed for several days.

Three days later, the Battle of the Flute broke out.

Calamity descends, and demons and giant insects surge forth like a tidal wave.

After three days and three nights of continuous fighting, the combined forces of the tree-men and humanoids retreated.

The group fled for five days and five nights before successfully escaping back.

Li Shenkong was also in the retreating team, and eventually returned to the Shuizhou base with the team.

He didn't sleep for three days and three nights, he just sat there blankly.

Because of the constant leaks of intelligence, the Tree Man army was on the defensive at every turn.

Xu Minglian's army was almost completely wiped out, with only ten survivors, all of whom were seriously injured.

His apprentice, Erhuzi, was killed in action.

He had always had a question in his mind.

Why did you see Zhao Cong that night when you and your comrades raided the demon camp?

Even if it's just a side profile, even if it's from a great distance, a master's eyes won't be mistaken.

He stared blankly ahead, at the world before him, which was both upside down and collapsing.

After the monster alliance occupied the Flute Forest, they marched north.

Beneath the old fertile land.

Zhou Leng finished his cultivation in the Earth Chariot and took a nap.

I woke up to find myself on the ground.

Ahead, the giant insect army surged forward like a dark cloud, countless scarlet eyes fixed on them.

(End of this chapter)