Is that what's happening?
When Zuofo acted like he was on the verge of a breakthrough, and Yan Dingtian soon afterward actually did enter transcendence following his reawakening, Tang Yu thought that a good number of Transcendent warriors had been born in the Fourth Epoch.
Now it seems that's not the case.
Even in the Fourth Epoch, those warriors who were just "one last kick" away from breaking through to transcendence found it quite difficult to achieve success in a short period of time. Not to mention, not all reawakened Fourth Epoch warriors were that close.
Tang Yu suddenly realized that he had not thought things through previously and had missed key information.
When prophecies of the Fourth Epoch had first surfaced, Transcendents were not prominent, and being at the Thirteenth Layer Awakening was already the clear mark of the strongest, the numbers not being high, with many smaller countries not even having warriors at Great Perfection to stand guard.
Of the five Great Mages in the regional division of the Mage Alliance, only one had achieved an Awakening of the Thirteenth Layer, and after reaching Thirteen Layer Perfection, one still needed to slowly refine and weaken that bottleneck; only when the bottleneck was worn down to an extreme could they be considered at the "last kick."
It's then that the breakthrough depends on talent and opportunity.
...So, does that mean the Transcendents currently in the possession of the Ancient Spirit Dynasty may not be as numerous as he imagined? To reach a state where Transcendents were as common as dirt and Perfection was worth less than a dog, might it still take a few more years, or even decades?
Was Yan Dingtian among the Fourth Epoch warriors one of a very small elite cluster?
One of the earliest to break through and become Transcendent, if not captured by him, might Yan have been in contention for a place among the leaders riding the crest of the wave, a lucky survivor?
Tang Yu's lips twitched.
Perhaps Yan had really sinned in his past life to have encountered such misfortune... This thought had barely surfaced when Tang Yu then recalled how Yan had been happily soaking up life in the training camp and frequenting restaurants lately.
Where was there a hint of the appearance of a captive?
Yan seemed as jubilant as a 288-year-old child when his weekly salary was recently increased by a hundred Source Crystals.
He's probably so content that he wouldn't want to leave even if given the choice.
His thoughts swiftly shifted.
Lu Jianjun, looking years younger in the reflection of his tea cup, said, "The transcendent is difficult to break through, but those people from the Fourth Epoch generally possess an Awakening level from Tenth to Thirteenth Layer. They may not understand technology, yet they command numerous 'secret techniques,' it's said that at the same level, they are much more powerful than we are."
"Originally, we are all humans, not incapable of cooperation, but…" he sighed, "the people of the Fourth Epoch look down on us, the frail humans of the Fifth Epoch. Some places that have cooperated with Fourth Epoch warriors are actually enslaved and exploited by them. Only when we grow stronger ourselves, can we then have the right to negotiate on equal footing."
Lu Jianjun paused, showing a kindly smile.
It seemed to boost his own spirit, and he added, "However, our Daxia Country has now barely gained the right to negotiate with the people of the Fourth Epoch."
"Oh?" Tang Yu was puzzled.
Lu Jianjun smiled, "Just yesterday, a wise man in Beiting successfully broke through to transcendence and has announced it to all major Sanctuaries within the boundaries of Daxia."
Tang Yu was truly surprised, his mouth slightly agape, he quickly drank a couple of cups of Calming Flower tea to calm his shock.
"That was a Martial Arts Grandmaster from before the apocalypse. Before the apocalypse, there was no Source Power or Awakeners, but the Martial Path did exist, and that Grandmaster, even without Source Power, may not have been immensely destructive, but had a very high Martial Path Cultivation Level."
"After the apocalypse, with the emergence of Source Power, this Grandmaster was among the first group of people to awaken. With an ample supply of resources, his Awakening level climbed swiftly, with the bottlenecks of the Fifth Tier and Ninth Layer, the Grandmaster faced no hindrances due to his high realm and crossed them with ease."
In a nutshell, with sufficient talent and Consuming Crystals available, leveling up is naturally fast; with the resources of Beiting, the Crystal Consumption projects might not be fewer than those in the Territory, and the Territory from two or three months ago would definitely not compare.
High purity Source Crystals, Source Crops, Beiting must possess them to enable that Grandmaster to quickly pass the refining stage.
In this turbulent era, there is no doubt, Daxia Country needs such a figurehead.
"With that Grandmaster present, it is enough to make the Fourth Epoch humans take notice, and it's said that there have already been forces from the Fourth Epoch who have shown themselves intending to cooperate with Beiting, a true win-win cooperation."
The humans from the Fourth Epoch and modern humans do not look much different, and without making their presence known, it's nearly impossible to detect them. Those people are very powerful and extremely cautious, even in heavily guarded areas, they move without a trace.
Such that caretakers of Sanctuaries like Lu Jianjun feel helpless, having to guard against their looting, killing, and sabotage.
Among the 'secret techniques' that the people of the Fourth Epoch possess, some rely on methods like Blood Sacrifice to increase the chances of breaking through to transcendence.
Old General Lu, who cares deeply for Daxia, was quite delighted, having drunk several more cups of tea than usual.
All this joy over one Transcendent.
Tang Yu could not restrain himself from being a little mocking.
But with a bit of mischief, he wondered what the reaction would be if he revealed that Green Shadow had two Transcendents, one of whom was even a captive.
He kept his thoughts to himself, merely refilling Old Lu's cup with tea and taking a sip from his own.
Yet, he found it strange that Lu Jianjun had come all this way.
At first, he thought the old general likely wanted to exchange information about the "Ancient Spirit Imperial Dynasty," but instead, Lu Jianjun did most of the talking, with him playing the role of the listener... Surely Old Lu couldn't just be here for a casual chat, especially since Tang Yu had heard that the old general was too busy to even sleep or cultivate.
It was causing him a bit of embarrassment.
Yet, he still had to continue playing the role of his reclusive Lord.
After a while, Lu Jianjun finally said, "I wonder how much you know about cults, young brother?"
"Cults? Not much, I've heard that many places have cults popping up, but the overall threat doesn't seem significant."