In the martial arts arena in the personal space.
Xu Jingming looked at his personal combat strength interface and nodded slightly. It's as I expected. Fighting Senior Lei Yunfang under extreme pressure was quite helpful for my spearmanship and footwork.
His spearmanship increased to Lv. 3 48%, and his footwork to Lv. 3 9%.
I'll try Cosmos Tower again. Xu Jingming's heart burned with fighting spirit because the seventh expert to clear Cosmos Tower's third floor had appeared.
Moments later, Xu Jingming returned to the martial arts arena.
Although my performance is slightly better than last time, it's still not enough to kill the tiger king. Xu Jingming also gained a better understanding. There's still a clear gap between these experts on the rankings and me.
With a tap, he tapped open the video of his battle in the semi-finals.
He watched the slow-motion replay of his battle with Lei Yunfang in detail, studied every move and stance, found his flaws, and tried his best to improve himself.
...
Time passed.
Although he had won the semi-finals, Xu Jingming clearly didn't celebrate. Instead, he immersed himself in cultivation and pursued better and stronger combat techniques.
Night fell, and it was past 8 p.m.
Xu Jingming and Li Miaomiao were in the living room, eating fruits and watching a program on the projection. They chatted casually—this was also the time for them to enjoy each other's company.
"So many people are talking about the Cosmos Ranking for today's program." Xu Jingming switched to the program's main page and couldn't help but sigh with emotion. "The Firestarter Cup's finals are tonight. The number of programs discussing the Cosmos Ranking is no less than those discussing the finals."
Li Miaomiao nodded. "After all, the Cosmos Tower has been open for so long, but only seven people in the world have cleared the third level. Every time someone clears it, it's a grand occasion worldwide."
"Being on the Cosmos Ranking is what makes the world aware of your existence," Xu Jingming said.
The Firestarter Cup was only a domestic competition. Just like how he didn't watch the competitions held by the countries around the world, the other countries didn't watch the Firestarter Cup either.
"Riven Gullit's two sledgehammers are each slightly larger than a person's head. They're practically two smaller shields." The host dissected the video in the program and sighed. "All he needs to do is wear heavy armor and protect his head. With the two sledgehammers working together… Nobody can threaten him. When he uses his sledgehammers, he's much more ferocious than Xu Jingming's shield techniques."
"Xu Jingming is tough, but no matter how tough he is, there's a huge difference between weapons. Shields are mainly for defense, while sledgehammers are the real heavy weapons," the female host said.
Sledgehammers had a tip. Slash, smash, stab, sweep—all kinds of moves had extremely terrifying might.
"There are also Lv. 3 sharpshooters in the EU, but Riven Gullit defended flawlessly. He even used his flying ax technique to finish off that sharpshooter with a single swing of his ax," the male host praised.
In the video, Riven Gullit held a sledgehammer in one hand to block the arrow. He took out a hand ax from his waist and quickly swung it. The ax spun and produced afterimages as it flew out—its speed was probably at the speed of sound.
"His strength isn't inferior to Fang Yu's," Xu Jingming said to his girlfriend. "He's even better than Fang Yu in terms of combat techniques."
After all, Riven Gullit was a veteran who had participated in the World Martial Arts Tournament for many years. Although he was only three years older than Xu Jingming, he had participated in many more competitions than him.
"As expected of someone who cleared Cosmos Tower," the male host praised. "It's almost flawless. His dual hammers work together to put up an excellent defense. If Xu Jingming's defense was that strong, he wouldn't have been suppressed by Lei Yunfang."
"Xu Jingming isn't bad. He managed to hold on for at least that long," the female host said. "It's precisely because he held on for so long that there was a twist in the competition."
"He failed defending with his spear many times and only managed to barely hold on using his bracers as tiny shields," the male host said. "Xu Jingming's spear techniques have to be improved. Otherwise, he won't be able to defeat these world's strongest experts."
"He's on the Cosmos Ranking after all, so he's naturally better than Xu Jingming," the female host said with a smile. "Don't keep saying that about Xu Jingming. He's already very outstanding."
"I'm anxious! Xu Jingming is probably second only to Liu Hai and Lei Yunfang in our country. He's also the one with the highest chance of clearing Cosmos Tower," the male host said. "I'm anxious to see experts from other countries enter the rankings while no newcomers from our country have stepped up the ranks."
"Regardless, it's impressive that China has two of the world's top five," the female host said.
"We shouldn't rest on our laurels. Of the two on the rankings, one is in his seventies, while the other is in his fifties," the male host said. "What about the youngsters? Tejano Xire is only 20, and Riven Gullit is only 32. What about the youngsters in China? Youngsters haven't cultivated for long, but that's how we can detect their potential."
The female host nodded slightly. "The more eye-catching youngsters in the country are Xu Jingming and Fang Yu."
"I wonder when a young Chinese person will make it onto the Cosmos Ranking." The male host looked forward to it.
They watched the program.
Xu Jingming also felt the anxiety of the Chinese.
"Three days!" Xu Jingming said. "If I improve my spearmanship and footwork in three days, I should be able to clear the Cosmos Tower."
Li Miaomiao hugged her boyfriend's arm and comforted him. "Don't worry too much about the social pressure; just follow your own pace. You're already very hardworking. You also said that cultivation is something that should be done naturally and should be something that you enjoy the most. Don't let something you enjoy turn into something stressful."
Xu Jingming looked at his girlfriend and nodded with a smile.
He loved martial arts and took this path because he enjoyed it.
...
Late at night, viewers kept pouring into China's official livestream in the virtual world.
Xu Jingming and Li Miaomiao also came to the livestream.
"Captain."
"Old Xu."
The other team members were all smiles.
"Sister Yi, you're here early?" Xu Jingming saw Wang Yi and thought that she would be the last to arrive.
"After practicing for an entire day, it's time I relax," Wang Yi said with a smile. "I didn't let everyone down. I just broke through in my evolutionary method an hour ago."
"Sister Yi is amazing." Li Miaomiao's eyes lit up when she heard that.
"You broke through in a day after reaching Lv. 3?" Xu Jingming was impressed. "Impressive."
It took him more than a day to break through with his spearmanship. Of course, he didn't have the pressure from the finals, so he was relatively more relaxed.
"Captain, your experience was very useful. I tried to mobilize my body to practice the evolutionary method at a deeper level time and time again before succeeding." Wang Yi was also happy. "This way, you and I can cooperate and fight Coach Liu Hai well."
"If we win the championship without doing anything…" Heng Fang was delighted.
"Either we win the championship doing nothing—" Li Miaomiao said with a smile, "—or Uncle and the others will win the championship doing nothing."
Xu Jingming laughed when he heard that.
Yeah, his father was on the other team.
"Our Xu family will definitely have a champion today," Xu Jingming said with a smile.
"Son!" Just as he mentioned his father, Xu Hong and his wife appeared together. Xu Hong grinned happily. "Both of us—father and son—are appearing in the finals. Haha, I really didn't dare think of it before."
Xu Hong was very happy that his son had such achievements.
As parents, they yearned for their children to succeed the most.
"Son," Mrs. Xu immediately said, "just bash up your father when the time comes. It's the virtual world anyway, so it's fine."
"Bring it on," Xu Hong said confidently. "I may be down, but your master, Liu Hai, will be there!"
"You are really winning without doing anything." Mrs. Xu shook her head.
"Only with a good son can I win doing nothing." Xu Hong smiled. "If it weren't for my son, I wouldn't have gotten to know Liu Hai."
...
As time passed, all kinds of people came to the livestream.
Xu Jingming has made it to the finals? My career has soared after the virtual world's launch. Why do I feel like he's rising faster than me? Cheng Zihao sat in the stands, feeling a little awkward.
Sun Li also came to the stands alone. He didn't gather with any friends and watched silently. Xu Jingming's team is already in the finals… Can he become champion? I was clearly a member of the team!
He didn't feel anything when the other teams won, but the more Team Pearwood won, the more he felt that he had missed out on too much—his fame, prize money, and even his future development.
...
Director Zhou of the Life Evolution Bureau and the four deputy directors were also in the stands, watching the finals that were about to begin.
"Director, China is a little behind for the younger generation," the female deputy director said. "The young prospects we pay attention to are a little behind the other countries."
Director Zhou said, "You have to be patient."
"Old Wang, Liang Qian, the two of you get ready." Director Zhou read an update. "The emissary delegations from the various member countries of the Earth Alliance are arriving. The two of you will follow me to welcome them."
Soon, in the stands.
A delegation of dozens of people from the Earth Alliance arrived. They were from the other 31 member states.
"Welcome to China." Director Zhou led two deputy directors and was in charge of welcoming them.
This wasn't a public visit; just having Director Zhou receive them was fine.
In fact, the emissary delegation attended all the competitions held by the five council members of the Earth Alliance.
"Hello, Zhou." The caucasian elder in the lead smiled and said, "I heard that China's finals have the world champion, Liu Hai, on one side and two experts from China's younger generation on the other. The emissary delegation was talking about it when we gathered. We're also looking forward to the strength of your younger generation."
"The stronger China's younger generation is, the stronger our entire Earth Alliance's younger generation is," an envoy from Japan said with a smile.
