[After the big kick, you gave her another hard kick to the stomach!]

With a deafening boom, the mermaid was sent flying like a rag doll, carving a furrow in the street.

[You used your elemental power to push the passersby away beforehand, preventing them from being sent flying like bowling pins, even though this was just a hypothetical future.]

"A martial artist has made a move!"

"Is he a master at the Celestial level?"

Passersby gasped and made way, some clicking the report buttons on the roadside to contact security personnel, while a few celestial beings, confident in their superior cultivation, chose to watch the spectacle.

Then your aura of dominance dissipated, and not only did they lose the courage to continue watching, they ran away faster than the others!

[You've given the mermaid a good beating; ten seconds is far from enough time for the order maintainers to arrive.]

But enough to let you hear her pleas and screams at the last second, and then crush her head!

Back to the present.

[It's like watching a short, ten-second clip from a movie, combined with the preceding plot; those ten seconds are a burst of intense enjoyment.]

[You also tried different playstyles, unlocked various story branches, and only stopped after enjoying it twenty or thirty times.]

However, the future scenario of the mermaid being killed was not materialized.

One reason is that she doesn't deserve it.

[Another reason is that you don't want to interfere with the "Martial God's Fate" opening party.]

[After all, she suddenly exploded right after meeting you. With your cultivation level, it would be too easy for you to secretly kill her. Whether you have concrete evidence or not is really not important.]

Although you could forcibly kill this mermaid in front of everyone at Liukong Tianchi and no one could do anything to you, at least this matchmaking event is ruined.

We can't let one bad apple spoil the whole bunch.

[Ta-da!]

You tapped the gold spirit ore behind you: "Did you notice that mermaid just now?"

A camera peeked out from the backpack, confirming the mermaid's identity through her appearance. Kagehara replied, "You and she have a conflict?"

"Hmm, she probably has a Golden Spirit Computer. If not, use nearby cameras to monitor her until she leaves Liukong Tianchi."

You said calmly, "Once this 'Martial God's Fate' is over, or she leaves beforehand, I'll just follow her and kill her!"

Jin Ling had no objections and sent a notification with a "ding" sound.

[It can help you eliminate people, but only if you don't kill them. If you eliminate one person and then kill the next, even if you have done Dihuang a favor, that's unacceptable; that would be going too far.]

But merfolk are not human.

Their safety...has absolutely nothing to do with Jinling's core prohibition!

[Kuangyuan has also thoughtfully compiled information about mermaids from the Yuaneng Network for you.]

"Her name is Hilla, a second-realm merman. Her most powerful backer is her father, Jiao Tianyue, a mid-third-realm merman."

[Originally, her grandmother, "Bernar," was the Queen of the Four Realms Merfolk, but she perished more than three hundred years ago. Her uncle, the Heavenly Merfolk... uh, after leaving the Merfolk Sea, he was killed by you while fighting for his cause as a sea monster in the Vast Ocean.]

[Nothing else matters. The connections Bernard left behind aren't worth the other four realms of sea creatures standing up for a second-realm mermaid with whom they have only a distant relationship.]

[(Among the Merfolk, males typically use the surname "鲛" (Jiao), while females have more flexible surnames.)]

[...]

The "Martial God's Fate" is not a free-for-all battle among all martial artists; rather, it is conducted in groups.

[The activities are divided into age groups. Seniors are prohibited from participating in the younger group, but younger people can participate in activities and competitions for the seniors.]

[Those under 100 years old form one group, those under 200 years old form another group, then those under 500 years old, those under 1000 years old, those under 3000 years old, and there is no age limit.]

[You lament that you can no longer participate in the youngest group, and can only participate in the later groups.]

"I'm almost 150 years old, too old, I can't be considered young anymore."

[In the human realm of the Azure Domain, due to factors such as the environment and the widespread availability of basic martial arts education, the standard age for most martial artists to achieve the Innate Realm is around one hundred years old.]

[Qingyu implements a tiered martial arts education system, meaning that those who would normally reach the Innate Realm at 150 years old through normal competition for resources are placed at the threshold of the "Innate Realm Cultivation Program" and receive more resources, allowing them to reach the Innate Realm at 120 years old.]

[However, the normal competitive resources required to reach the Innate Realm are 160, but only "basic martial arts training" is available, meaning one may not even be able to advance to the Innate Realm in this lifetime—unless one strives extra hard to change their fate.]

[Although it's somewhat unfair, that's how martial arts work. Geniuses can utilize resources more efficiently, and a single overlord can defeat hundreds or thousands of celestial beings. Therefore, the capable will always prevail.]

Yun Shou remained silent. He had been somewhat involved in his past life, though not as obviously.

“Starting from high school, they start dividing students into No. 1 and No. 2 schools... and not only that, some elementary schools even have 'rocket classes' and regular classes.”

[You've determined the average age for each realm in the Azure Domain.]

The innate lifespan is one hundred years, the celestial being's lifespan is three hundred years, and the hegemon's lifespan is one thousand years.

[It's important to note that these three are not the same. Those who achieve dominance at an average age of a thousand often become innate beings before the age of fifty, or even celestial beings before the age of a hundred.]

[This is influenced by a variety of factors, including individual aptitude (this was only considered before the concept of innate talent was unified), comprehension and aptitude, and martial arts resources.]

As for those with "supreme potential," meaning those who are expected to reach the fourth realm within three thousand years, they often possess a sacred body, starting with full potential. They can become a Primordial Being in their twenties or thirties, a Celestial Being within fifty, a Hegemon within one hundred and fifty, reach the peak of the Hegemon realm at one thousand five hundred, and then dedicate the remaining half of their lifespan to striving for the Supreme Realm.

But times make heroes.

[Do you remember the original version of Chu He Shang, a two-hundred-year-old overlord? But after experiencing a holy war between humans and demons, and nurturing the second Chosen One, Xiang Yang, he ascended to the Supreme Realm before he was even six hundred years old.]

"It's a pity his mentality is ruined now. I'll go back and offer him some support when I have time, and see if he can bounce back."

As time passed, the "Martial God's Fate" began.

[The first to compete are those under 100 years old; the vast majority are innate level, with very few at the Celestial level.]

"Chu Qixia, the 621st Holy Maiden of the Xuanjing Sect! She has practiced martial arts since childhood, and her journey is to find a good match."

"Hahaha, a wandering cultivator, Duanmu Jing, once slew a Celestial Demon!"

Of the million martial arts applicants, only six or seven thousand are under one hundred years old.

[However, it was also divided into dozens of areas, with each person giving a self-introduction.]

[You're making the screen of the Golden Spirit Ore display dozens of images simultaneously, requiring you to multitask.]

[Some of these people clearly aren't there to seriously look for a partner, yet they fit your taste... You're really tempted!]

"But that damn 'True Meaning Platform' has a lie detector! They make me state my real age, I can't possibly participate in this under-100 age group!"

...

(Two more chapters at noon? (ˉ?ˉ?))