Longxiu.
In the land in the east, a young man stood tall, looking at the massive monster corpse in front of him.
The monster was a serpent, around twenty feet tall, with dark green scales and countless wounds all over its body.
It was known as the Mountain Devouring Serpent, a peak-level Tier III Beast!
The young man swept his gaze indifferently, as if the serpent in front of him was of no importance.
His appearance wasn't anything exceptional; one could even consider him average-looking.
But he had an unusual temperament, making people take a second look at him, and then instinctively they would feel that the man was special.
But special wouldn't even begin to describe the young man.
With his heroic figure and immortal-like gaze, the young man was universally known in the previous timeline as—
Emperor Ye Fang!
Swoosh!
Ye Fang waved his hand, cutting a large part of the Mountain Devouring Serpent's stomach using spiritual energy.
There, he retrieved a massive dark green Spirit Orb.
"It's a pity this isn't compatible with me…"
Ye Fang muttered, shaking his head. But he wasn't too disappointed. After all, he didn't kill it for its Spirit Orb.
In his previous life, the Mountain Devouring Serpent was one of the strongest Beast-class monsters in the First Era Ending Calamity.
Longxiu had suffered immense casualties and many losses due to it.
"My strength is already invincible within the Awakener stage…"
Ye Fang pondered. Plus, his talent [Absolute Strengthening] gave him an advantage against others in equipment.
"Right now, the only ones that can compare to my progress should be Shadow King, Beyond, and… Zold."
Thinking of Zold, a complicated expression emerged on his face.
Among their team, Ye Fang considered only two to be his equal in strength.
Zold wasn't one of them.
'After all, he's…'
At that moment, a middle-aged man with a rough appearance suddenly appeared from the trees.
The man straightened up and saluted:
"Young Hero Ye! Report!"
Ye Fang turned around and glanced at him, recognizing him immediately. He smiled slightly.
"Gui Han. What is it?"
"The General has come back from the council meeting. He sent me to tell you the council's response." Gui Han bowed respectfully, not showing the slightest bit of arrogance. "Young Hero, they approved of you joining the Global Summit."
Ye Fang wasn't much surprised. But regardless, he nodded slightly. "I'll visit the General later to thank him in person."
"The General would be happy," Gui Han nodded as well. He hesitated for a moment before asking: "... The General also asked if you have other requests?"
Ye Fang didn't respond immediately, thinking quietly.
'Eager to reward me, huh? Are they worried that I would feel dissatisfied?'
But after a brief moment, he replied. "I don't think I deserve to be rewarded so much. Joining the Global Summit is enough for now."
Then, he quickly added, "Just make sure you distribute the Expression Path system to the excellent talents in the nation."
"Naturally!" Gui Han straightened up. He smiled wryly, his eyes shining in reverence. "But I have to correct you, Young Hero Ye, you do deserve to be rewarded that much. You're a young hero of the motherland!"
To be honest, it was a strange sight.
A middle-aged man with a terrifying appearance that could scare toddlers to tears was being respectful, even reverent, to a young man who seemed to be still studying in high school.
But to Gui Han, it was just natural!
Gui Han's gaze shone in awe, remembering what happened in the past few days.
When the nine mysterious beings descended and announced the calamity, Longxiu was significantly affected, causing nationwide chaos and disasters.
When everyone was still figuring out what was happening, a high school student suddenly went viral on the internet.
He called himself Ye Feng!
In the viral video, Ye Feng killed several monsters in the province. His heroic and powerful figure had left a deep impression on everyone's mind!
But if that was all, then the middle-aged man didn't need to be so amazed.
It was Ye Feng's next actions that truly made everyone, especially Gui Han, admire him.
Ye Fang shared his own understanding of Awakeners on the internet, posting a survival guide and a thorough analysis.
Upon seeing it, the military immediately invited Ye Fang to help them.
With his help, Longxiu was able to quickly control the chaos of the disasters and immediately established the Awakener's Association.
Furthermore, Ye Fang had a thorough long-term development plan proposal for the Association and Longxiu!
Gui Han had only heard of it from the General, but when the council had read Ye Fang's proposal, they were all speechless.
Truly, the case of a hero emerging from the young!
Thinking of this, Gui Hand sighed.
"Without you, plenty of people would've died, and the nation would have continued suffering losses for who-knows how long…"
"It's my duty." Ye Feng smiled slightly, shaking his head. He changed the topic and asked. "Speaking of Expression Paths, how's everyone's progress in the Four Foundation Martial Scriptures going?"
"This…" The middle-aged man hesitated for a moment. "It's going well, but only a few could get past the so-called 'Introductory Basics', sir."
"Tell them to keep working hard." Ye Feng nodded, unsurprised. "Is there anything else?"
Gui Han shook his head.
Ye Fang said. "Leave me alone for now, I'm going to explore deeper."
"Yes, sir!"
Gui Hand bowed deeply, then left.
After a while, Ye Feng went deeper into the mountains, thinking about the Global Summit.
"The Global Summit… the Queen has put a lot of thought into this. Since we share the same goals, there's no problem in accepting her alliance request."
Just two days ago, a message reached him from an unknown contact.
But when he read the message, he quickly recognized the person.
Queen of Fantasy Morgana, one of the fifteen Regressors, and the Queen of Crownreach.
She had invited him to form an "alliance" for the upcoming Global Summit.
As both of their goals aligned, Ye Feng accepted her proposal.
But even if he did accept her invitation, he was certain about one thing.
"But an alliance? This would just dissolve the team further. Not to mention, a discussion? Heh."
Ye Feng wryly smiled, shaking his head.
"Impossible. Tigers cannot share the same mountain… Morgana. Just because we were a team once doesn't mean we can agree with everything."
"To us who survived until the final calamity, there is only one iron-clad law to decide something: whoever has the bigger fist will decide everything!"
In terms of strength, only three people were in Ye Feng's eyes.
But only one among them could make him feel unsure.
Zold Starks!