136: Chapter 136 Closed Beta Countdown?

This message made Tang Long's pupils constrict sharply.

Closed beta countdown... twenty-four hours?

The players are about to descend!

And it's happening tomorrow night, on Christmas Eve!

Setting everything else aside, the players' arrival is the greatest opportunity for his strength to take off!

There's no time to mess around with the Wei Family; he must go back immediately and prepare for tomorrow night.

His strength had basically stagnated over the past few days, first to lay a solid foundation, and second, because he lacked resources.

Now that he happened to have acquired a large amount of resources, even if he only had one day, at the very least... at the very least, he had to gain another attribute rank and boost his Legend Value.

If he remembered correctly, even though it was a closed beta, there were fifty million accounts being distributed globally; he couldn't afford to have too few quests available when the time came.

Seeing Tang Long looking like this, Wei Zhuang assumed he was afraid.

"It's good that you know fear. Now get out of here, and don't let me see you again."

A trace of imperceptible coldness flashed through Tang Long's eyes. Without a word, he got out of the car, sent a message to Mad Dog and Shang Yuqing, and left directly.

He needed to seize the time to cultivate tonight, and since he couldn't let anyone see the spirit stones in his hands, he had to act alone.

Given the bounty on him yesterday, the fact that he was tracked by Ye Qingzhou's people earlier, and that Fei Shan had been ordered to eliminate him, tonight might be troublesome.

Golden Scorpion could be considered reliable, but the Jinyue Martial Arts Hall was not an option, and even the library might not be safe.

He considered it for a moment, then sent a message to Jiang Xiaolan.

"I need a place where I can be completely alone without any disturbances. Do you have anywhere?"

————

Jiang Family, private training ground.

Jiang Xiaolan kicked the fluid target hard, and a string of red numbers suddenly popped up on the force-measuring screen beside it.

2.56, 1.22.

This fluid force-measuring device was the latest testing instrument developed by the Jiang Family.

2.56 Ka was the real-time force of her strike just now. 1.22 was the calculated amplification from her Guidance Technique.

That strike was the 517th strike of her training session.

This meant that throughout a training session of over five hundred strikes, she had consistently maintained a Guidance Technique amplification of over 1.2.

At the second stage of Qi Manipulation, this was a sufficiently excellent result, yet she was still very dissatisfied with it.

Because previously, her attack power had consistently remained above 2.6 Ka, and her guidance amplification had always been above 1.24.

This strike, however, had dropped.

So this was her limit. If she continued training, the decline would only become faster and larger.

With results like this, to say nothing of facing a fourth stage, she probably had no chance of winning against a third stage.

Yet, how did Tang Long manage to defeat opponents of higher stages?

She took off her measuring vest, washed off the sweat in the adjacent bathroom, and then walked out of the training ground, wanting to find someone to answer her confusion.

But at this moment, she felt even more lost.

In the two-story building to the east, her father, Jiang Hanwen, was surely still researching potions day and night.

In the twelve-story building to the west, her second uncle, Jiang Hanwu, was surely researching his mechs.

After her mother passed away, the mansion to the south became her residence, but she increasingly felt that it was empty and cold.

And to the north... was the residence of her grandfather, Governor Jiang Shiqi. Although her grandfather loved her dearly, he was usually busy researching strange and odd things all day long.

Hopefully, he wasn't busy right now.

Arriving at her grandfather's small courtyard and seeing the old man sitting in a rattan chair, smoking and drinking tea, Jiang Xiaolan felt a sense of relief, but immediately, a wave of grievance welled up in her heart.

She couldn't help but kneel before the old man, bury her head in his lap, and weep silently.

Elder Jiang was startled and hurriedly stroked her head to comfort her.

"Oh my, what's wrong, my dear granddaughter? Who made you feel wronged? Tell Grandpa, and Grandpa will go vent your anger for you!"

Jiang Xiaolan asked while crying, "Grandpa, am I very useless?"

"Useless? How could you be useless? My dear Xiao Lan is the Jiang Family's precious gem, a one-in-a-thousand genius."

"You're lying~~" Jiang Xiaolan cried even harder. "The seniors from the White Clothing Society are all more excellent than me, the new students from outside the city are more excellent than me, and even the people from Sangyu are more excellent than me. Compared to them, I'm basically trash."

Governor Jiang Shiqi coughed a few times and continued to comfort her, "My dear granddaughter, this, this... whether a person is excellent or not doesn't necessarily depend on their martial path stage."

"Your father is only at the Blood Refining stage, but the potions he researches are rare treasures. In the near future, he alone could influence the structure of the entire world."

"Of course, he has spent too much energy on these aspects and neglected his family; that is his shortcoming."

"But can you say he isn't excellent?"

"Your second uncle... your second uncle is a fool, holding onto outdated technology and wasting his time every day. But if his intelligence were applied in the right place, he would certainly be able to achieve great things."

"I, your grandfather, am even more impressive. Although I haven't reached the Spirit Map Realm, there isn't a technology in any industry, big or small, in this city that I am not proficient in. Without the seeds I developed, Song City's grain production would drop by at least half."

"If I had put all my energy into cultivation, even if I weren't as good as Ye Baiqiao, I certainly wouldn't be worse than the High Priest."

"So don't worry, my dear granddaughter. There are no inferior genes in our Jiang Family. The reason you feel you aren't as good as others right now is just because you haven't found the field you excel in yet. With our family's strength, it's not like you must cultivate the martial path."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Xiaolan's expression finally cleared up.

But she still asked, "The problem is, the gap between me and them is too large. There is a Senior Lu in the second year who was able to defeat a third-stage opponent upon just entering the school, so he joined the White Clothing Society."

Governor Jiang Shiqi smiled and waved his hand, "There has never been a shortage of geniuses in this world. But of these so-called geniuses, how many can truly grow up?"

"Back when Ye Baiqiao was a student, there were one or two who could keep pace with him, but what happened later?"

"Xiao Lan, having talent alone is useless. Do you know how many of the current Spirit Map powerhouses in Song City have Spirit Bodies?"

"Let me tell you, actually not a single one. Everyone is piled up with massive amounts of resources. From Qi Manipulation to Spirit Map, it takes at least tens of thousands of spirit stones. Can those so-called geniuses get their hands on such a large amount of resources?"

"But Grandpa can guarantee that if you are truly so persistent about the martial path, you will definitely be able to reach the Spirit Map Realm in the future. If ten thousand isn't enough, then thirty thousand; if fifty thousand isn't enough, then one hundred thousand. Our family doesn't lack that."

"And as for those so-called genius classmates of yours, it would be a rare occurrence for even one or two of them to step into Open Origin."

"If you really must show your face at the exchange tournament, go to your dad... uh, never mind, it's best not to take medicine randomly. Go to your second uncle, get one of his prototype mechs out, and winning first place would be a piece of cake."

Jiang Xiaolan had already gradually regained her confidence, but hearing him talk about fifty thousand, one hundred thousand, and mentioning potions and mechs, her expression quickly darkened again.

"If one can only rely on these external forces, what is there to talk about regarding excellence? There is a classmate in our class who, at the first stage, defeated a third-stage opponent, and their true strength might even be able to rival a sixth-stage Spirit Body."

"That's impossible!" Elder Jiang's beard stood straight up immediately. "Even Ye Baiqiao back then wasn't this exaggerated."

"Especially in the early stages of cultivation, spirit energy and means are pitifully scarce. No matter how strong one's natural talent is, crossing two or three minor stages in combat power is about the limit."

"My dear granddaughter, don't believe everything you hear and get deceived by others..."

Before the old man could finish his sentence, Jiang Xiaolan's phone rang.

She took it out, looked at it just once, and her eyes immediately lit up. Then she stood up and ran outside immediately.

"Granddaughter! Granddaughter! Where are you going! I haven't finished speaking yet!"

Before the words had even finished, Jiang Xiaolan had already stepped onto a motorcycle and sped away.