With Su Ye's help, the subsequent techniques of Tai Chi True Martial Arts were quickly developed.
Although Su Ye was not a professional cultivator, he knew a lot—ninjutsu, ghost arts, and more. By drawing parallels between different fields and adding Zhang Sanfeng's exceptional talent in Daoist arts…
The two of them took only seven days to deduce the techniques from the Golden Core stage all the way to the Tribulation Transcendence stage.
However, techniques are just techniques. To truly reach the Tribulation Transcendence stage and become a legendary immortal, it would require Zhang Sanfeng and countless successors to continue their inheritance and research.
But this was beyond Su Ye's concerns.
He didn't have the time to spend hundreds or even thousands of years in seclusion, cultivating to become a god or practicing some emotionless Daoist detachment.
If he wanted to cultivate, he could just project a Zhuxian Sword, a Heaven Mastery Bottle, or an Emperor Destruction Sword—wouldn't that be much simpler?
Anyway, for Su Ye, following the traditional cultivation path was no longer an option—nor was it necessary.
Seven days later, Zhang Sanfeng emerged from seclusion, laughed three times towards the sky, summoned a treasured sword, and then flew westward.
"If one hears the Dao in the morning, they can reach the Dragon Kingdom by evening!"
Watching Zhang Sanfeng leave laughing, Su Ye was dumbfounded.
"Wait, Grandmaster, where are you going? Didn't we agree that you'd be the head of my martial arts department? Why are you leaving just like that!"
From a distance, Zhang Sanfeng had already reached the Golden Core stage in just seven days. Gathering Qi into threads, transmitting voices through the wind, and long-distance communication were no longer a challenge for him.
"I'm going back. The spiritual energy here is too scarce, not suitable for cultivation. I'm returning to the China!"
"..."
Su Ye was speechless.
You endured a tribulation here, became a cultivator here, and even developed the path of cultivation here—now you're complaining that the spiritual energy is lacking?
This is simply… absurdly reasonable!
If Old Su hadn't held me back, I would have left a long time ago too.
This damned place should have been handed over to aliens to mess with ages ago.
But…
"What about my martial arts department students?"
From afar, Zhang Sanfeng's figure had already disappeared over the ocean. His flying speed was no less than a commercial aircraft—if not faster.
However, their communication remained uninterrupted.
"You said it yourself—your students just want a martial arts department. But I'm an immortal cultivator now! I'm not qualified for the job anymore!"
"..."
Su Ye was speechless again. Was this a case of shooting himself in the foot?
But what Zhang Sanfeng said made complete sense.
"But don't worry! Your grandmaster won't abandon you. Otherwise, I'll be cursed to remain celibate for 100 years!"
"..."
Su Ye was at a loss for words.
You've already been single for over a hundred years, and now that you're cultivating, each seclusion will last decades or even centuries. Is staying celibate for 100 years really a punishment?
"Once I get back, I'll send a few of your senior uncles over to teach these foreigners. Those useless guys will be enough!"
"..."
Su Ye fell silent. Useless—those were your words, not mine!
However, if those senior uncles were the same ones from Heaven Sword & Dragon Saber, calling them useless wasn't really an insult.
Bringing a few useless guys to teach these foreigners?
Forget it. Let's go with that for now.
With Zhang Sanfeng ascending into the realm of immortal cultivation, Su Ye no longer had any interest in helping Wang Chongyang or Xiong Ba achieve Void Shattering. He was tired.
"Alright then, Grandmaster, I wish you a safe journey!"
Flying on a sword is similar to flying in an airplane, so the proper blessing should be "safe journey" rather than "smooth sailing". After all, if an airplane flies with the wind, things could go terribly wrong.
That's just a little knowledge tidbit.
After sending off Zhang Sanfeng, Su Ye spent half a day trying to establish the martial arts department but still couldn't get it running. His enthusiasm suddenly waned.
Forget it, let's just leave it like this for now. Take things slow, no need to overthink.
Just as Su Ye was preparing to take a few days off to relax, a sudden piece of news caught his attention.
"Boss, in the past few days, a possible superhero has appeared in Los Angeles, and…"
The one speaking was Sharon Carter. Ever since she became the female version of Captain America, she had also become one of the superheroes and was usually extremely busy.
But in her free time, her favorite job was still being Su Ye's secretary.
As she spoke, Sharon placed a tablet in front of Su Ye.
"This person has a rather unique ability, so I thought it was necessary to show you."
Sharon now spoke to Su Ye in Chinese, so the distinction between casual "you" and respectful "you" was quite obvious.
"Special ability? How special?"
Su Ye didn't take it seriously and directly took the tablet. Then, he saw a figure in a red and blue tight-fitting suit—not very tall but extremely agile.
As Su Ye looked at the screen, the figure suddenly shot a strand of white sticky substance into the air and swung away like a pendulum.
"Is this… Little Spider?"
Su Ye couldn't help but exclaim.
The timeline of this world had already collapsed, and New York was gone. Su Ye thought that Little Spider had been wiped out by the butterfly effect and wouldn't appear again.
But unexpectedly, he still appeared right around the timeline before Avengers: Infinity War, almost identical to the Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline.
So… was this the great inertia of the world?
"Do we have any information on this?"
Su Ye turned his head and asked. Although the Little Spider in the video was wearing a mask, if S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted to find his identity, it would be a piece of cake.
The current S.H.I.E.L.D. was no longer the same as when Su Ye first entered the scene. Now, they were incredibly powerful—to the extent that they could even track down how many times an obscure figure went to the restroom in a day.
"Yes, we do!"
Sharon tapped a few times on the computer, and soon, a young baby-faced individual appeared on the screen.
"Peter Parker, originally from Queens, New York. After New York became a wasteland, he moved to Los Angeles with his guardian, May Parker. His abilities appeared about half a month ago, but the exact cause is unknown."
"However, over the past half month, this kid has been actively protecting the city, even without any contact from our people."
"Peter Parker, huh?" Su Ye rubbed his chin and sighed.
Sure enough, what was meant to come still arrived. The Holland Spider-Man version didn't just show up—he was actually early.
"Alright—since he has Spider-Man's powers, I'll handle him myself."
"Oh, by the way…"
Seeing Little Spider, Su Ye suddenly thought of another thing—the Civil War.
Spider-Man's first appearance was due to the Avengers' internal conflict, which eventually led to a battle between Iron Man's faction and Captain America's faction.
Now that Little Spider had appeared, would the Civil War also happen as scheduled?
"Have the Great Wall Guardians shown any… unusual emotions lately?"
"Emotions?"
Sharon thought for a moment, then shook her head.
"Everyone is doing great! Plenty of meat, good wine, riding trains, singing songs—everything is wonderful!"
Su Ye frowned. What kind of response is that?
"What about the White House? Have they been causing any trouble?"
Sharon nodded.
"Yes. Recently, they proposed a new requirement—forcing our heroes to register under the name of the UN, attempting to control and monitor us."
"Now that makes sense."
Even though this place had already been wreaked havoc upon by superheroes, Aldrich Killian, and the Joker, the people in the White House had been conditioned by their habits for so many years—they couldn't change their mindset.
They wouldn't be at ease unless they could control the Great Wall Guardians.
"What do they think about it? Especially Steve…"
Steve Rogers—Captain America, a WWII veteran, the embodiment of American spirit. His stance should naturally align with the White House.
But in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America was on the rebellious side, and Iron Man was the firm supporter of registration.
"And what about Tony? What do they think?"
Hearing Su Ye's question, Sharon thought for a moment before answering.
"When the White House first proposed this, Captain America and Stark called a meeting. They discussed it, and in the end, everyone reached a unanimous decision."
"Registration is acceptable—but not under the White House. It will be within our Great Wall Guardians."
"As long as one joins the Great Wall Guardians, registration is reasonable. That way, we can organize tasks and operations more effectively."
"Also, the Great Wall Guardians are relatively independent and won't be easily manipulated by the power-hungry people in the White House."
Look at that phrasing— "power-hungry people in the White House." That was Sharon, a true American girl, saying it. It had nothing to do with Su Ye.
And this view had already become the consensus within the Great Wall Guardians.
Su Ye hadn't done anything during this process.
It could only be said that Zheng Xian was a true master of political work. His ideological and political classes were too effective.
"Alright, since everyone's in agreement, let's just ignore them and let them mess around. As for Little Spider, I'll go meet him."
After saying this, Su Ye prepared to get up and head into the city to find Little Spider, Holland 's Peter Parker.
But before he could stand up, Sharon suddenly jumped on him.
"Boss, we haven't…met in a long time…"
Su Ye sighed, "Haven't met in a long time? Or haven't…screwed?"
"What do you think…?"
"Then you better be mentally prepared. It's not even noon yet, but you might want to request tomorrow off in advance!"
"Can't I take off the day after as well?"
"Only if you can handle it…"
On the third day, a few shady-looking men swaggered into a bank in the city.
"This is a robbery!"
The men stood boldly in the middle of the bank lobby, completely ignoring the security guards armed with guns. Their expressions were filled with arrogance… extremely arrogant.
Seeing how fearless they were, the bank customers instinctively shrank into the corners, while the security guards quickly drew their guns, trembling as they aimed at the robbers.
It was as if the ones holding guns weren't the security guards, but rather the robbers themselves.
Yet no one seemed to find this abnormal, as if this situation was just the natural order of things.
The security guards couldn't hold back any longer and pulled their triggers before the robbers could make any further moves.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The bullets hit the robbers, creating bursts of blood on their bodies.
But instead of collapsing in pain, the robbers didn't disappoint the onlookers. As blood splattered, they merely grinned, and soon, their skin turned a fiery red, like molten iron.
These men were, without a doubt, Extremis Virus soldiers—ones who had already wreaked havoc on this land.
Unaffected by bullets, immune to blades, possessing immense strength, and even capable of releasing fire-based attacks—these Extremis Virus soldiers were virtually unstoppable for ordinary people.
Even with guns in their hands, the security guards felt no sense of security at all.
"Hmph! I said this is a robbery!"
"Men stand to the left, women to the right, and anyone in between, stand in the middle. You guys over there—"
The robbers turned to look at the security guards who had just fired their guns, their expressions full of disdain.
"You guys—go die!"
As they spoke, they moved. In an instant, like leopards, they dashed forward. Their fire-red fists sliced through the air, aimed directly at the security guards' heads.
Just as one of the guards' heads was about to explode like a watermelon, a white strand of webbing shot out from the side, latching onto him and yanking him away in an instant.
Though the guard's waist nearly snapped from the pull, at least his head remained intact—so overall, it was something to be grateful for.
More webs shot out, quickly pulling all the security guards to safety.
The fiery red Extremis Virus soldier turned in fury toward the source of the webbing.
"Who are you? A Great Wall Guardian?"
Though the Great Wall Guardians were renowned across the world—even throughout the universe—to these Extremis-enhanced criminals, they were nothing to be feared.
Each of them possessed power that rivaled that of superheroes.
If three thousand Extremis Virus soldiers were gathered, they wouldn't even fear taking on the entire Great Wall Guardian team.
Opposite them, Little Spider, who had rushed to the scene, awkwardly shrugged.
"Sorry, I'm not a Great Wall Guardian… yet! But I'll work hard, and one day, I'll meet the standards to join them and become a real Guardian. If that day comes and you still remember me, I'll even give you an autograph!"
"Really! I may be young, but I always mean what I say. You can trust me!"
"Also, you guys—being all red like that—doesn't it hurt? Isn't it uncomfortable? Wouldn't you rather deactivate this state, sit down, and have a nice chat over a drink?"