Chapter 45: Great Tang Artifact!

Jiang Xincheng did not deal harshly with the beautiful young woman and the middle-aged man like he did with Liu Yifeng and the others. They were just small-time thieves who tried to extort money from him, relying on a bit of strength. He felt it unnecessary to use deadly force against such minor troublemakers.

For people like these, the law of Shenxia Alliance would naturally punish them. Even if the Department of Public Security didn’t take action, the Flourishing Tang Empire would issue some tasks to deal with these rogues.

Of course, given the authority of the Flourishing Tang Empire, unless it was a major case, it generally wouldn’t issue tasks aimed at petty thieves.

The Flourishing Tang Empire was an independent department within Shenxia Alliance, and one with immense power, not inferior to the government, and even surpassing it in some aspects. It operated outside all alliance organizations, and its military strength was capable of rivaling Shenxia Alliance’s army.

Looking across the entire Earth, the Flourishing Tang Empire was a top-tier superpower. The ruler of this empire was not a person but an intelligent system, one that was responsible only to all citizens of Shenxia Alliance. It was also the world’s first intelligent system, with technology advanced by over a thousand years.

The emergence of such an unusual intelligent system was the result of an accident. A few years ago, during the Fourth World War, nations around the world launched an unprecedented surprise attack on Hua Nation in an attempt to seize the Primordial Ultimate Art. Millions of troops invaded Hua Nation’s territory.

To resist the invading armies, Hua Nation secretly developed an independent intelligent weapon system, intending to use it to control the nation’s thermal weapons and destroy the invading forces.

This intelligent weapon system was eventually created and played a crucial role in defeating the surprise attacks from nations worldwide, leading Hua Nation to an unprecedented great victory. Just when it seemed Hua Nation would dominate the world with this system, the once-in-a-thousand-years phenomenon of nine stars aligning occurred.

The alignment caused a meteorite to fall, which happened to strike the headquarters of the intelligent weapon system, smashing it to pieces and halting Hua Nation’s global dominance.

It was initially thought that the intelligent weapon system had been unfortunate to be destroyed by the meteorite, but it turned out it was not destroyed. Instead, it merged with the meteorite from an unknown part of the universe, forming an even more terrifying intelligent system—the Flourishing Tang Empire!

Serving Hua Nation, upholding justice for citizens, and protecting the interests of all people—these were the purposes of the Flourishing Tang Empire and the highest principles of this intelligent system. It was said that this was because the Flourishing Tang Empire inherited some behavioral rules from the previous intelligent weapon system.

After several years of evolution, the Flourishing Tang Empire independently established a vast and rigorous organization. With the full support of Shenxia Alliance, it became the alliance’s hidden Guardian Deity, wielding power and influence that almost surpassed all major organizations within Shenxia Alliance.

The formation of Shenxia Alliance within just a few years was largely due to the Flourishing Tang Empire. With its help, Shenxia Alliance was established, centered around Hua Nation and encompassing the former entire Asia and Oceania, as well as parts of Europe and Africa.

Well-organized, immensely powerful, terrifying in influence, filled with experts, and operating in a semi-hidden state—most importantly, fair and impartial—this was the world’s first intelligent system, accidentally born from the meteorite and leading the world by over a thousand years.

Most importantly, according to later speculations by experts from the Flourishing Tang Empire in the New Era year 60, if one joined the Flourishing Tang Empire and made sufficient contributions to Shenxia Alliance, they could rise in status, power, and even permissions within the empire. Upon reaching a certain level, one could control the Flourishing Tang Empire and become the master of this intelligent entity that was millennia ahead of the world.

With the assistance of the Flourishing Tang Empire, a Divine Artifact-like intelligent system, practitioners would receive unprecedented help. Their strength would increase faster, they would understand their internal conditions more clearly, and their cultivation speed would advance by leaps and bounds.

It was even possible to achieve a god-like floating-point operation speed of 99,999,999 quadrillion times per second. At that level, with the Flourishing Tang Empire’s help, practitioners could easily master any Origin Force Cultivation Method and Origin Force Combat Skill.

For Primordial Warriors, the Flourishing Tang Empire was a treasure even more powerful than a Divine Artifact. Therefore, after his rebirth, Jiang Xincheng had already made up his mind to join the Flourishing Tang Empire, quickly rise in its ranks, gain higher permissions, and ultimately control the empire to possess this Divine Artifact.

And the opportunity to join the Flourishing Tang Empire was coming soon.

Nanhai City, located in the southern sea area of Shenxia Alliance, consisted of several dozen islands of varying sizes. It was an extremely beautiful place, known worldwide as a tourist destination.

After getting off the train and taking a boat and a taxi, Jiang Xincheng arrived at his destination the next evening—Huihong District in Nanhai City, a well-known slum area in this first-tier city.

Jiang Xincheng changed into some cheap clothes from a street stall to avoid standing out and began searching for his target.

Based on his memories from his previous life, Jiang Xincheng headed to the poorest area of Huinong District. Soon, he reached a neighborhood that was almost in ruins. There were traces of bullets everywhere, and some places even had unexploded duds that could go off at any moment. If someone happened to be there, they would be in serious trouble.

Dangerous and impoverished—this was Feilei Street, the poorest street in Nanhai City’s Huinong District, formed as a result of the Fourth World War.

Looking at the people walking back and forth on the street with blank expressions, their clothes, though not completely ragged, were not much better. Their outfits cost only a dozen Credit Points from street stalls, similar to what Jiang Xincheng was wearing, so he did not stand out at all.

On the filthy Feilei Street, a few boys around thirteen or fourteen years old were fighting, causing chaos and noise.

Jiang Xincheng frowned. The Fourth World War a few years ago not only changed the world’s situation, causing hundreds of countries to disappear and forming a new Earth dominated by three major powers, but it also brought deep disasters to people worldwide.

Many cities from former nations vanished during the Fourth World War, especially after Hua Nation invented the intelligent weapon system. In just one day, it destroyed hundreds of major cities globally, altering Earth’s urban layout.

For example, Nanhai City was built on the ruins of a once more beautiful city called Hainan City, which was destroyed in the Fourth World War. There were many such examples all over the world.

“Little girl, do you know where Zhao Gen’s home is?” Jiang Xincheng stopped a pretty little girl who was eating an ice pop and asked with a smile. The boy who obtained the Mutated Yuan Crystal was named Zhao Gen, and he lived on Feilei Street, the poorest street in Nanhai City’s Huinong District.

Hearing Jiang Xincheng’s question, the pretty little girl smacked her lips, licked her ice pop, and pointed with her small finger toward a dilapidated building at the end of Feilei Street. “Big Brother Zhao Gen lives there, but he went out to collect scraps and isn’t home right now.”