In the Age of Gods and Demons, I evolved into the final boss.

Chapter 58 Heroes of the World

The afternoon gathering was very relaxing.

Jiang Mo played their games, while Chen Zheng sat in the bar area chatting with Xu Hui and the others. The expenses were low, and they passed the time easily.

In the evening, after having dinner at home, Chen Zheng and Chen Ye prepared to leave. They had to go to school the next day, and the two brothers needed to rush back to school.

However, as she left, Lin Ruohua reluctantly reminded him, "Chen Ye, if you become stronger, remember to look after your brother at school and don't let anyone bully him."

Chen Ye patted his chest: "Don't worry, Mom, I'm here. No one can bully my brother."

Chen Zheng coughed lightly and reminded her, "...Mom, Jiangzhou University is a top-tier institution of higher learning with strict management. It's not as chaotic as those ordinary vocational colleges."

"Also, I've had a sudden realization these past few days, and my martial arts realm has broken through to level nine."

Lin Ruohua exclaimed in surprise, "Level nine? That's amazing! But every security guard in our company who delivers goods in the city is a level nine martial artist, and the one leading the team is a second-realm Qi and Blood expert."

Uh… Chen Zheng was speechless for a moment.

As a state-owned enterprise employee, Lin Ruohua was an ordinary person who didn't know much about "martial arts," but he did know the major distinctions between body-refining martial artists and qi and blood masters.

Arriving at the roadside in the residential area, the two waited for a while before boarding the driverless bus back to Jiangzhou University.

Because the route went to the suburbs and it was late, there were hardly any people on the bus.

In the car, Chen Zheng asked directly, "Chen Ye, in the first realm, you all pursued the perfection of your body-refining techniques, but what are the specific effects on the second realm?"

"This one?"

Chen Ye thought for a moment: "The sign of the second realm is that the qi and blood transform from the void to the solid, and can be infused into weapons or circulated within the body. Generally, the burst increase is around 30%."

Chen Zheng nodded; he knew that.

Chen Ye continued, "Our pursuit of perfect body refinement is mainly to raise the upper limit of the three stages of bone refinement, filth refinement, and blood exchange in the second realm."

"Brother, you can think of the human body as a bottle. The first stage is to lay the foundation and expand this bottle as much as possible to prepare for the second stage."

"For example, if you cultivate the three body-refining fist techniques of the first realm to the sixth level, then the upper limit of bone and visceral refining is also the sixth level."

"Of course, this is the ideal situation. Bone and body training is much more difficult. It's not like you can push bone training to the sixth level just because you've reached the sixth level of skin training."

"The second stage of bone refining also improves basic fist strength, but each turn increases it not by a specific number, but by a percentage of the current strength."

"For example, the school has three top-level bone-training techniques, each with different characteristics, but each rotation can increase the current basic punching power by 10%."

"Ten percent of the current base amount for each rotation!" Chen Zheng's gaze sharpened.

Chen Ye nodded: "That's right. For example, I'm currently at the peak of body refinement, with a basic punching strength of 3,000 kilograms. The first transformation can increase my punching strength by 300 kilograms, and the second transformation will increase it to 330 kilograms."

"Ordinary martial artists have a punching power of 1,000 kilograms at the ninth level of body refinement, and only 100 kilograms per cycle when refining bones, with a maximum of only three cycles."

"There's also the Refining Elixir, which increases the richness of Qi and Blood by 20% with each Rebirth, and the Blood Exchange increases the purity of Qi and Blood by 0.5 times with each Rebirth."

"The difference is so huge!" Chen Zheng sat up straight.

"That's about the size."

Chen Ye said seriously, "The foundation in martial arts may seem weak in the early stages, but in the later stages, the gap can be several times or even ten times."

"The school is a natural haven for us, with renowned teachers, a comprehensive education system, and ample resources."

"Therefore, everyone is pursuing the ultimate in each minor realm, refining the body and blood, to lay a solid foundation for their future martial arts path."

"Brother, don't rush to break through to the Qi and Blood Realm now. See if you can continue to temper your physical body and push your upper limit higher."

Chen Zheng nodded slowly. He was still a little short of reaching the limit in his tendon refining, and there was still skin refining to go. He definitely wouldn't break through to the Qi and Blood Realm so quickly.

But Chen Zheng immediately had another question: "Since there's such a big difference between the ninth level of Body Refinement and ordinary Body Refinement, why do those ordinary martial arts students still work so hard to cultivate?"

"Including those 'ordinary' students who broke through to the second realm after five or six stages of body refinement and were admitted to Jiangzhou Martial Arts University."

Chen Ye smiled and said, "This is the charm of martial arts. As long as you work hard, there is hope of breaking through everything."

"For example, there are many ways to make up for the gap between body refinement levels. You can use rare and precious treasures to directly replenish your foundation, or cultivate special techniques to cleanse your meridians and marrow to change your physique."

"Besides external forces, cultivators can also achieve their own success through their own efforts, such as having an innate affinity with a certain cultivation technique, which can unleash several times the power in battle."

"Even more so, some people have extraordinary comprehension and cultivate the true meaning of martial arts through body-refining techniques, suppressing those who have reached the perfection of body-refining at the same level."

"There are also people with extraordinary comprehension who comprehend the intent of the sword and the blade in the second realm. The upper limit of such geniuses is no less than that of the ultimate martial artists who have perfected the body and blood refinement."

"Furthermore, the advantage of perfecting the body refinement is only in the early stages. The later stages, such as the Qi Refining Realm and the Fiend Qi Realm, require more control over the power of heaven and earth."

"For example, there was a genius in the previous class of Jiangzhou University. He had the aptitude of a fifth-level body refinement cultivator, but he only managed to reach the Gang Qi realm after four years of university.

"But when he spent ten years training outside and stepped into the realm of evil energy, he became one with heaven and earth. He condensed the ninth-grade evil energy in a day of harmony with heaven and man, and stepped into the realm of heaven in half a year to become a hegemon-level existence."

"So even though I have a very good foundation now and I progress faster after entering the second stage, I still dare not be complacent."

A relieved smile appeared on Chen Zheng's face. Chen Ye was more composed and calm than he had imagined. No wonder he was able to soar higher and higher after entering Jiangzhou University.

"It's good that you can maintain this cautious and composed mindset."

"You must know that there are always people better than you. Jiangzhou Martial Arts University is just one of the four top schools in Jiangzhou. Geniuses are as numerous as carp crossing a river, let alone on a global scale."

"Genius, prodigy, peerless genius, there will always be someone more talented than you."

"Brother, you're right." Chen Ye nodded.

The two brothers returned to school at 8 p.m. and parted ways at the school gate.

Before he even reached his dorm, Chen Zheng's personal terminal vibrated; it was a video call from Jiang Mo.

As soon as the call connected, Jiang Mo's excited face appeared on the projector: "Chen Zheng, it's a hit! It's a hit!"

"What exploded?"

Jiang Mo waved excitedly: "At seven o'clock, the virtual world and network connection upgrade were completed, and now the entire network is overloaded."

"The government has released new regulations, and the three major groups in Jiangzhou, as well as hundreds of listed companies and groups across the country, have announced strategic adjustments. Many top executives and celebrities have come out to endorse them."

"Furthermore, the world's largest gaming company announced that its virtual game is officially in closed beta testing, and the first 10,000 people can create accounts for free..."

Seeing Jiang Mo excitedly talking non-stop for over ten minutes, Chen Zheng interrupted, "What does all this have to do with us?"

"Of course."

Jiang Mo's eyes lit up: "I've been researching the Virtual Realm Network and have discovered many opportunities to make money, but most of them require capital to operate."

"By the way, have you finished writing the rune tips you promised to give to the students?"

"I've finished writing it. I'm going to take a picture when I get back to the dorm and then upload it to the group chat."

"Don't rush to send it. Take a picture of it and send it to me first. I'll have my classmates sign a reading agreement that they can only read this note and can't share it with others."

"Then I plan to upload the file to the school network as a paid knowledge resource, so that anyone can download it for a fee. What do you think?"

Chen Zheng raised an eyebrow: "Would anyone buy it?"

"Normally, no one would buy it, since it's just some rune tips from a freshman. But what if you add your claim of two epiphanies?"

Jiang Mo blinked: "The insights gained from these two epiphanies are hard to say about other departments, but some freshmen in our Rune Department will definitely be interested."

"However, in order to avoid the classmates feeling that our labor is cheap, we can't price it too low, nor can we price it too high, otherwise no one will buy it. What do you think of two thousand yuan?"

Two thousand yuan was Chen Zheng's monthly living expenses. It wasn't cheap, but it wasn't expensive either; many of his classmates could afford it.

"It's a shame you're not in business," Chen Zheng said thoughtfully.

Jiang Mo's suggestion was somewhat appealing to him. If his rune insights could be sold, even a few hundred copies would be worth hundreds of thousands, let alone several thousand.

Moreover, this money was an unexpected windfall; not having it wouldn't have much of an impact on him, and having it meant he had made a profit.

Chen Zheng nodded: "Okay, Jiang Mo, you help me with that rune guide, and we'll split the profits 50/50."

Jiang Mo shook his head: "50/50 is too much. Let's make it 10/90. You get 90% and I get 10%. After all, this operation mainly relies on your reputation and experience. I only contributed a little manpower."

"How can this be? It's too..." Chen Zheng frowned, about to say something, when Jiang Mo interrupted him.

"If we're brothers, let's not argue. I don't want to take advantage of you, and I've also gained something, like the experience I've gained from this business operation."

Well, since Jiang Mo had said that, Chen Zheng didn't insist any further.

The two then discussed some details, but Jiang Mo handled most of it, while Chen Zheng was only responsible for personal authorization and uploading files to him.

Back in his dorm, Chen Zheng scanned and uploaded the manuscript he had written that morning.

After finishing all that, Chen Zheng took out 60 red, turbid crystal ores from his soul space, preparing to absorb the active elements of the ores to increase his physical limits.

Then, challenge the newcomer power rankings.