There had not been an instance when he had wanted something so strongly.
However, without the side effects from the engulfing souls, he still held the last bit of his rationality at the bottom of his heart although he was almost being drowned by his greedy desire.
'My current self is still not his match.' The corners of Grade's lips curled up into a hint of a smile. 'But that's alright. Once I seize all of them, I'll be able to take back my sword.'
The image of the 13 colored rings flashed in his mind, and the greed in his eyes grew even more intense.
While Grade was silently increasingly his powers, a beam of gray light flashed past the highest level of the Heaven-Connecting Tower—the world's tallest building that was situated in the extreme north and symbolized the Gray Army's rule. Hui He's ring had traversed several thousand lis and returned to him.
Looking at the ring before him, Hui He's countenance was extremely grim. Compared to how Grade had used the engulfing souls to fend off the disastrous situation, Hui He was not as lucky. He had taken on the Panwei Sword's attack forcibly.
Although his actual physical body had not gone there, his will had borrowed the ring's energy and traversed a distance of several thousand lis. The attack from the Panwei Sword had dealt his will with a serious blow.
Majority of the 13 armies' warriors still had their mortal bodies and merely circulated the rings' energies. Or they could be like Grade, left with only their consciousness while using the rings' energy to form their bodies. This would allow them to be unafraid of physical harm dealt to their bodies.
The circulation of the rings' energies was dependent on one's character and will.
It did not matter how the energies clashed, what kind of attacks were used, or how much of rings' energies were depleted. It was because these energies came from different rings, and they would recover the next day.
Only damage to their will would cause their strength to be reduced significantly. It was because after the will was damaged, the amount of energy one would be able to draw out from the ring would be reduced. Furthermore, the recovery of one's will was extremely slow.
Grade was lucky. He had used the engulfing souls to negate the damages from this sword attack. Although he had depleted a tremendous amount of energy, his will was unharmed. Additionally, this was a blessing in disguise, and he was now able to have all the energies from the Black Army's rings to himself.
Hui He was not as lucky. Right now, his will was severely injured, and his brain was throbbing like someone had stuffed in a nail. The amount of energy he could draw out from the ring was reduced at least by half.
After sensing his body's situation, Hui He's countenance turned even more grim.
"Fang Xingjian, this round is your win, but the next round won't be that easy." With that, he waved his hand to beckon to his secretary, saying, "Inform the Commanders from the other armies. I'm going to call for a meeting for a DEFCON 1 situation."
The secretary was stunned for a moment before saying hesitantly, "Is this taking the situation too seriously?"
A DEFCON 1 meeting was something that only Commanders could call upon to gather all the other Commanders for a meeting when they discovered a danger that concerned the entire Earth's survival.
This was the first regulation that the 13 Heroes had set after the first onslaught. However, this DEFCON 1 meeting had only been called for once till now.
Hui He smiled coldly and said, "Fang Xingjian violated the One-Three Agreement and killed an important member of our Gray Army, stirring up an internal war amongst the armies.
"Don't you understand what it means for there to be internal war amongst the armies?
"If this isn't considered a danger that concerns the Earth's survival, then what is?"
...The news of Fang Xingjian defeating the joint efforts of Grade and Hui He spread through the entire planet like a passing tornado. Yet, what followed was an extreme state of tranquility, like the calm before the storm.
However, almost everyone understood and knew that it was impossible for the Gray Army to back off like this. It was also impossible for Hui He to end it here with Fang Xingjian.
Therefore, everyone held their breaths. Everyone—ordinary humans and extraordinary humans alike—were all waiting for the impending storm.
Within a mere couple of days, the international price for food provisions surged up, and all sorts of rumors about chaotic wars and global war kept on spreading. Countless ordinary humans started to stock up on food, water, electricity, and petroleum. It was as if they were waiting for the world's end to come, followed by the arrival of an era of wastelands.
Large groups of wealthy people boarded their private airplanes and flew toward the military bases in various countries just like flocks of migratory birds.
However, no matter how ignorant a person was, they seemed to gradually become conscious of the fact that a great upheaval was approaching.
The many warriors in the respective armies trained hard day and night. They were all in the highest state of alert. All of the troops were gathered together, and numerous missions were forcibly halted. Even the lowest ranking private soldiers were gathered and placed on standby. It was as if everyone was preparing to participate in a war.
The governments of all the countries were also on a high state of alert. Many aircraft carriers and tanks were mobilized, and almost all the countries were armed to the teeth.
"J Country's Special Forces are training for battle in extremely cold environments..."
"The international price of food provisions have once again reached new heights. The government is calling for citizens to purchase food provisions rationally and not be incited by rumors."
"Over 200,000 people have arrived in the Kun Lun Mountains for a demonstration, protesting against the terrorist actions the White Army's Commander Fang Xingjian committed previously."
"C Country's replicas of the T98S submarines have been exposed. They are now having a joint military exercise with A Country in the Pacific Ocean..."
The atmosphere across the entire Earth seemed to be becoming increasingly tense. Yet, in the Sacred White Crevice deep in the Kun Lun Mountains, everything remained orderly like no one was caring about the solemn atmosphere in the outside world.
Fang Xingjian floated in midair in the great hall. Before him, a page of the Book of Wisdom was floating there. Countless data and words seemed to be flashing on it.
After a very long time, the page dropped down, and Fang Xingjian slowly let out a breath.
'I've finally finished another page.'
During these few days in the Sacred White Crevice, Fang Xingjian had been decrypting the contents of the Book of Wisdom. After all, the White Army had a total of 12 pages from the Book of Wisdom, including the one page that Jessica had.
After decrypting one page, he put out his hand and beckoned, and another page floated before him.
Under Fang Xingjian stare, rows of words started to appear.
'A row of soldiers who formed a line of 100 meters are advancing on. The soldier that passes on the command walks from the end of the row to the front, and then walks back to the end. This row of soldiers had advanced for 100 meters. It's known that the speed of both the troops and the soldier passing with the commands is constant! How many meters did the soldier passing by with the commands walk?'
"Mathematics?"
When Fang Xingjian was analyzing the many pages of the Book of Wisdom, he discovered that each page seemed to require him to solve questions from different domains. Then as he solved the questions, they would get increasingly difficult. Almost all of the first questions on each page were the most simple.
After solving all of the questions, one would be able to obtain the content of this page from the Book of Wisdom.
As the questions appeared, Fang Xingjian's brain started moving at high speed. His brain—that could be compared to a supercomputer—allowed him to resolve these questions easily. Fang Xingjian's eyes squinted slightly, and the answers appeared on the page from the Book of Wisdom. Then the next question appeared.
As the questions became increasingly difficult, Fang Xingjian's gaze became increasingly solemn.The defense readiness condition (DEFCON) is an alert state used by the United States Armed Forces.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DEFCON