Chapter 100: Transcending the Twelve Grades (Happy New Year!)

“It’s fine, it’s fine. Please tell me a bit about the outside world.”

Kun Sha’s eyes curved with a smile as he spoke slowly.

Li Xianyi was just about to reply when Yang Fan suddenly cleared his throat twice and then cut in first. “Senior, since your world already has records of ours, why ask us? We are juniors, and in truth we don’t know much.”

Kun Li’s eyes widened at the words. “What do you mean? My father is asking you questions and you answer with nothing but this? So much nonsense—do you want to die?”

Kun Sha frowned briefly, then quickly relaxed his brows. He waved Kun Li silent and continued, “I actually know what you little friends are thinking. It’s nothing more than fear that if we people learned how the outside world truly is, we might develop some unfavorable ideas.”

“Actually, your current evasions have already revealed far too much. You are still young. Do you wish to know the records our ancestors left behind about the outside world?”

Yang Fan, Li Xianyi, and the others looked puzzled, yet they sensed their own reactions had grown exaggerated, almost childish.

Kun Sha did not wait for them to speak and went on, “According to my clan’s records, the outside world is countless times vaster than this realm we inhabit. The people there are also overwhelmingly powerful. Even with my present cultivation, I doubt I could stir up any storm in the outside world. Countless heavenly and earthly treasures exist there, and countless heroes and talented youths overturn the heavens and reshape the earth.

But now that I see how deeply you little friends avoid the outside, I fear the outside is no longer as magnificent as it once was!”

Yang Fan stared at Kun Sha’s smug, knowing smile and felt utterly helpless.

He had only rudely interrupted Li Xianyi to dodge the subject, which made him look pretentious. He could hardly blame himself—Earth was currently at war, the Dark Realm stared hungrily from beyond the veil, and a Kunlun Secret Realm had erupted inside. With friend or foe unknown, Yang Fan truly dared not speak of the outside.

Yet he had made things worse; in trying to conceal he had exposed too much. Indeed, never treat others as fools. If they truly believed that, it could only mean he himself was the fool—an eighteen-year-old boy sparring against a tenth-pin douzhi veteran who had lived who knew how many centuries. The thought was laughably absurd!

Under Kun Sha’s teasing gaze the group felt awkward and uncomfortable.

Li Xianyi suddenly drew a deep breath, rose to his feet, and said, “Since Senior already knows roughly, we will stop pretending. Senior, ask whatever you wish; we will answer. But as Yang Fan said, we are merely some third- and fourth-pin martial artists and truly know nothing of certain confidential matters in the outside world. Still, we can share what little we do know.”

Kun Sha smiled and gestured for him to continue.

Li Xianyi glanced at Yang Fan, Hu Dao, and the others, then nodded. “What Senior said about infinite heavenly treasures and countless experts is not entirely false, yet our world has discovered another realm even vaster than this one. The two realms are now at war, locked in a stalemate. That is why we hesitated when Senior first asked about the outside—certain truths cannot be spoken in wartime.”

Kun Sha looked surprised. “An even vaster world? I never imagined another realm besides the great one outside. Truly unforeseen. The war is in a stalemate? That realm’s strength is powerful as well? How are your strongest here? The strongest are eleventh pin?”

Kun Sha fired question after question. Li Xianyi took a breath and replied, “That realm’s strength is indeed formidable, nearly on par with ours. The supreme experts of both sides are eleventh-pin masters, and their numbers are large—one side has nearly dozens.”

Kun Sha was stunned. Dozens of eleventh-pin experts? The revelation was staggering, and both sides possessed dozens. At that moment Kun Sha smothered the faint suspicions that had begun to stir. He had thought the little ones’ evasions meant the outside was not as grand as before, but now it sounded truly powerful.

He continued, “The strongest are only eleventh pin? What of twelfth pin?”

The group exchanged glances and shook their heads. “We don’t know. The strongest I’ve met is my teacher, Overlord Blade Li Tian, who is solidly eleventh pin. I’ve never heard of or seen twelfth pin.”

Li Xianyi added, “Unclear. Cultivation divides into twelve transcendence stages. We have never encountered a twelfth-pin master.”

“Have you ever heard of it?” Kun Sha asked.

“No.”

Kun Sha fell silent, his thoughts racing. Dozens of eleventh-pin experts outside—truly terrifying. And twelfth pin? The small ones did not seem to be lying, yet their lack of knowledge might simply mean they were not high-born or well-connected. The scene fell into brief, heavy silence. Kun Sha asked no more; Li Xianyi knew not what to say. Everyone retreated into their own thoughts.

At that moment Yang Fan’s mind churned. At first he had doubted Li Xianyi, believing the Dark Realm war could never be stalemate—Earth was desperately weak, and without technological weapons or internal disunity it would have fallen long ago. Yet later he realized Li Xianyi had spoken nine-tenths truth. Earth did possess dozens of eleventh-pin experts—four within China alone, perhaps another dozen from overseas. Overall strength had risen sharply. Even if Kun Sha harbored doubts, he would now think twice. As for twelfth pin, that remained true; no one could say such figures did not exist.

Whatever thoughts Kun Sha entertained now was his affair.

Kun Li watched the others gape and exchange glances, while her father frowned in deepening worry, and felt irritated.

She asked, “What status do you hold in the outside world?”

The question made Kun Sha lift his head. His eyes refocused. Of course—why had he been obsessing over twelfth pin? He had no ill intent, only wished to break through to eleventh pin and comprehend the Great Dao. Whether twelfth pin existed was irrelevant. Asking their identities would at least reveal whether they possessed the right to know.

Li Xianyi turned sharply to Yang Fan.

Yang Fan felt his heart skip. That idiot was about to sell him out?

Kun Sha studied the pair exchanging meaningful glances and smiled. These little fellows… even before entering the hall their eyes had never stopped moving. He was a tenth-pin martial emperor; he could judge truth or falsehood, yet they were making their evasions so obvious, boldly exchanging glances as if he were a fool. Did they truly look down on him?

He would have to remember this.