Chapter 261.2: The Final Push! Lu Changsheng Walks Across the Sea and Smashes a Ten-Thousand-Ton Warship! (II)

Time passed day by day. Lu Changsheng could feel the Martial Dao of this world growing stronger as more and more people practiced the Extreme Martial Dao.

One month, three months, six months, and finally eight months later. By then, the Martial Dao had reached nearly ninety-nine percent completion. There was just only one step before Lu Changsheng could harvest Martial Dao fragments from it.

He pulled up his Status Panel to examine his progress.

[Status Panel]

Host: Lu Yuan

Extreme Martial Dao: Third Growth (99%)

His Third Growth had also reached ninety-nine percent. But truth be told, it had reached that point three months ago and had not advanced since.

Clearly, I've reached some kind of a bottleneck... Lu Changsheng sighed.

It was hardly surprising, though. The Third Growth stage was comparable to the Qi Refining stage. If Lu Changsheng could break through his limits once more and enter Fourth Growth, his strength would rise to the equivalent of the Dao Foundation level. And Dao Foundation happened to be the highest level of power this world could support.

Reaching the very limit of an entire world's power system was naturally no simple matter, so he had remained stuck at ninety-nine percent.

Frankly, had expected this possibility long ago and knew that forcing the breakthrough through ordinary cultivation would be difficult. What he needed was an opportunity, and he believed that opportunity would come from the Martial Dao itself.

Once the Martial Dao of this world fully coalesced, he could use that moment of transformation to break through his own limits and enter Fourth Growth.

Although the progress of the Martial Dao had also stalled at ninety-nine percent, Lu Changsheng was not worried about whether it would eventually reach completion or not.

The Extreme Martial Dao had already spread throughout the world. Countless people practiced it every day, and their collective will and belief would strengthen the Martial Dao little by little. As long as that strengthening continued, it would eventually reach a hundred percent and become a complete Martial Dao.

The real problem Lu Changsheng faced was time. He had already spent more than thirty-one months in this secret world. In a little over four months, he would reach the three-year mark, so he needed the Martial Dao to fully coalesce before then.

Countless possibilities ran through Lu Changsheng's mind.

The Martial Dao is still growing, so it will certainly coalesce eventually. But how long will that take? One month? Three months? Half a year?

I have just over four months left. By the three-year mark, my true body will be able to project its power into this world. If the Martial Dao has already coalesced by then, I can use the power of my true body to shatter it more effectively and obtain Martial Dao fragments...

With this thought, Lu Changsheng made his decision. Since the natural accumulation of people's will and belief seemed to be not fast enough, he would give it another push. He needed to make the Extreme Martial Dao even more popular and deepen people's belief in it. The stronger that collective conviction became, the faster the Martial Dao would grow.

The only question was how. For the moment, he had yet to decide on the best way to make that final push.

Before he could think of more, however, a sudden call interrupted his thoughts.

Ring... Ring... Ring...

He answered it and listened for a moment. "What? A fight has broken out? They've even blockaded the port? Alright. I'll turn on the news."

The call was from Senior Sister Xiang, who had contacted him to report an urgent development.

After he hung up, he immediately turned on the television for the news.

「 Flame Dragon Federation warships have blockaded a port belonging to the Jade Dragon Kingdom and sunk several Jade Dragon naval vessels. The Jade Dragon Kingdom has condemned the attack as a serious act of invasion and has appealed to nations around the world for support...」

Nearly every station was covering the same breaking story, which had set panic across the Jade Dragon Kingdom.

The Flame Dragon Federation and the Jade Dragon Kingdom had gone to war. At the moment, the conflict had not expanded into a full-scale ground invasion. The Flame Dragon Federation had only blockaded the port, but the Jade Dragon Kingdom's navy had already suffered a crushing defeat and was now largely incapable of resisting.

Several Flame Dragon Federation warships also remained stationed offshore, and any Jade Dragon vessel attempting to leave the port risked being sunk as soon as it was detected.

Lu Changsheng stared at the television, momentarily lost in thought. Only now did he truly realize that this secret world had never been entirely peaceful.

The Flame Dragon Federation and the Jade Dragon Kingdom had a long and bitter history. Border clashes had erupted between them many times, and they had even fought several large-scale wars.

The Flame Dragon Federation had long harbored ambitions of annexing the Jade Dragon Kingdom, so this naval blockade was far more dangerous than an isolated military confrontation.

Emergency negotiations were already underway between the two governments. At the same time, the Flame Dragon Federation appeared to be watching the international response before deciding how far to push the conflict.

The situation had reached an extremely precarious point. If events continued to escalate, the Jade Dragon Kingdom could face destruction.

Over the next few days, Lu Changsheng followed the situation closely and gradually formed a clear picture of what was happening.

Then an idea occurred to him. Could this be the opportunity I've been waiting for?

His eyes settled on the television screen, where several Flame Dragon Federation warships were cruising outside the port.

The entire world's attention was now focused on this conflict, and the port had become its center. The Jade Dragon Kingdom's navy had been crippled badly enough that it could do almost nothing against the warships maintaining the blockade.

For the Jade Dragon Kingdom, those ships were an overwhelming threat, but for Lu Changsheng, it was the perfect chance to push the progress of the Martial Dao.

Extreme Martial Dao had already spread across the world, but if he wanted the Martial Dao to coalesce as quickly as possible, he needed something that would once again make the entire world witness the power of Extreme Martial Dao with their own eyes.

If I want the Martial Dao to coalesce sooner, I need to push harder. Surviving an explosion has shocked the world once, but taking on modern warships would do far more, Lu Changsheng thought inwardly.

With that, he stood up and went to find Senior Sister Xiang.

"Senior Sister Xiang, arrange a car for me. I'm going to the port."

"What? You're going to the port?"

"Yes. Notify the Jade Dragon Kingdom's senior officials and contact the major news outlets. The Jade Dragon Kingdom is facing a national crisis, and everyone has a responsibility to defend it. As for those Flame Dragon Federation warships, I'll deal with them."

"You're going to fight the warships yourself?"

Senior Sister Xiang stared at him, stunned. She held Lu Yuan in the highest esteem, but even so, the thought of him standing against warships felt inconceivable.

These were not bombs planted around a combat ring. The ships stationed outside the port were major warships of the Flame Dragon Federation, each weighing more than ten thousand tons and carrying the firepower expected of a modern naval vessel.

The idea of Lu Yuan fighting these massive machines with nothing but his bare hands was simply absurd, and Senior Sister Xiang could not wrap her head around it.

However, she also knew there was no point trying to dissuade him. Once Lu Yuan made a decision, he rarely changed it. So she immediately arranged transportation, contacted the Jade Dragon Kingdom's senior officials, and informed the media of Lu Yuan's intentions.

News of this spread fast. Lu Yuan was no ordinary martial artist. He was the founder of Extreme Martial Dao and the man credited with ushering humanity into an age of evolution. Extreme Martial Dao had already swept across the world, and countless people followed his every move.

The Jade Dragon Kingdom's government had helped publicize the news too. Lu Yuan's extraordinary influence gave them an opportunity to draw even greater international attention to the blockade, rally public opinion against the Flame Dragon Federation, and perhaps place enough pressure on it to alter the course of the conflict.

The public's reaction to the news was immediate, and Lu Yuan's decision to confront the Flame Dragon Federation's warships became one of the most discussed topics online.

"What? Lu Yuan is really going to fight warships?"

"He may have ushered humanity into the age of evolution, but these aren't ordinary bombs. Warships represent some of the most powerful weapons modern technology has produced."

"Do you think he can actually win?"

"Extreme Martial Dao against modern warships... I suppose we're about to find out which one is stronger."

"I want to go to the Jade Dragon Kingdom's port and see it for myself."

Despite the looming threat of war and the region turning into a front line, they made their way to the port anyway, determined to see with their own eyes which was truly stronger—the evolved human, or the technological might of humankind?

At this point, the original conflict between the Flame Dragon Federation and the Jade Dragon Kingdom seemed to have become secondary.