Although the Great Grandmaster and the Grandmaster were only one realm apart, they had essential differences.
When he had heard about the Great Grandmaster years ago, he had wondered if there were several realms in between?
Unfortunately, reality had told him that after becoming a Grandmaster, the next step was the Great Grandmaster, and no other realms existed.
He wanted to ask the Great Grandmaster what it was exactly like, but the Valley Master simply refused to explain, claiming that once one reached that level, one would naturally understand.
However, the Valley Master did share with them the destructive power of a Great Grandmaster level.
"Swordsmen Great Grandmasters can easily create a slash hundreds of meters long, and Sword Masters Great Grandmasters can shatter armor three thousand strong with a single sword strike, while those who wield staves can split heaven and earth with one swing... and these are said to be just casual attacks. A full-force attack would be even more terrifying, not quite destroying heaven and demolishing earth, but it could overturn seas and rivers."
This was why it was said that Great Grandmasters and Grandmasters were not the same species. Taking Sword Masters as an example, Grandmasters could freely move among three thousand armored soldiers in common armies, but against elite armies capable of deploying top military formations, let alone three thousand, even three hundred could restrict a Grandmaster using their formation.
But Great Grandmasters were different; even the most elite military formations could only manage to contend with a Great Grandmaster.
Yue had shared with Wang Sheng what he knew about the abilities at the Great Grandmaster level.
"Great Grandmasterā¦ so strong!"
Wang Sheng seemed to be marveling.
He was sure of one thing, he had not yet reached that standard.
A single sword shattering armor three thousand strong, he couldnāt achieve that even with all his strength.
But it didnāt matter; his cultivation journey had only just begun. Even though he couldnāt break armor three thousand strong, three thousand armored soldiers wouldnāt be able to harm him either. Given time, those three thousand soldiers would also perish.
His realm of Blood Qi Smoke wasnāt afraid of any siege, without real strength, under the engulfment of Blood Qi Smoke, they couldnāt even lift their weapons.
Yue didnāt know what Wang Sheng was thinking, but he agreed with his words.
"Iāve never seen a Great Grandmaster, but if what the Valley Master described is true, then a Great Grandmaster is truly powerful, completely different from a Grandmaster."
As a Grandmaster, he knew very well how powerful a Great Grandmaster described in such terms would be.
Wang Sheng, upon hearing about the Great Grandmaster, thought of something else, the previous Human Emperorās Decree, so he asked, "What about the Master of Destiny?"
Yue fell silent for a while before he said, "As the Valley Master said, the Master of Destiny is like a god! The gap between a Great Grandmaster and a Master of Destiny is much greater than the gap between a Grandmaster and a Great Grandmaster. As long as the Master of Destiny exists, no one dares to rebel, and Great Grandmasters must strictly obey the rules."
"Yet King Yong Nian directly attacked Shuzhou." This was a fact, if the Master of Destiny had been present, such things wouldnāt have occurred logically, "Or does the royal family not care about this?"
"The royal family, of course, cares. The situation has been changing for several years because it was still unclear what the condition of the āgodā in Zhou was, all forces were holding back, none daring to make rash moves.
But King Yong Nianās attack on Shuzhou went unpunished, which made the already volatile situation more dangerous, almost ready to explode at a touch. Now, King Yong Nian is being watched by two forces at the Great Grandmaster level, and he simply canāt afford to divide his attention."
Yue was responsive and explained the situation very clearly, but each time he explained, it brought up new information, which also interested Wang Sheng.
He needed to visit the branches of various forces across the world.
"So, which forces or Great Grandmasters exist in the world? Can you elaborate?"
He knew of Great Grandmasters, but the only Great Grandmaster he knew of was King Yong Nian.
"As you wish!"
Yue cleared his throat and then talked about the Great Grandmaster forces of Zhou.
"There are nine renowned Great Grandmasters in the world, each leading one of the nine transcendent forces, apart from the royal lineageās Master of Destiny. Thereās not much to say about that; the main focus is the nine transcendent forces.
First are two particularly unique forces among the nineāStargazing Valley and the Border Army.
Stargazing Valley has existed since the earliest dynasties appeared, passing down through thousands of years and is the force with the fewest members, being Great Grandmaster Valley Master Huangtian, me, and Xing.
If our Stargazing Valley holds the record for the fewest members, then the Border Army holds the record for the most, established no shorter a time than us and long existing. Currently, the Great Grandmaster is Fu Cang, then numerous Grandmasters, and a million-strong army, the number of Martial Artists incalculable.
These two forces are special because, no matter how dynasties change, they never participate, and Great Grandmasters never cease, so no one dares provoke them."
Wang Sheng was actually a bit stunned.
"If you say Stargazing Valley is special, thatās one thing, but this Border Army, clearly a frontier-securing force, how can that be special, possessing a million soldiers without the royal family balking?"
"This isnāt really a secret. The Border Army guards the borders aside from warding off other nations, they also guard against some unknown threats, almost every nationās dynasty has a Border Army, and every dynasty willingly provides resources."
"Guarding against unknown threats? It canāt be that Zhou is just a weak dynasty, or there are overpowering Demon Beasts?"
Wang Sheng half-jokingly said, it seemed like a typical trope.
But Yue shook his head.
"Although the Border Army appears to be an openly established force, in reality, itās even more mysterious than our Stargazing Valley, but itās well recognized that, while Demon Beasts can be troublesome, any dynasty can easily eliminate them if they spare the effort.
And the Zhou dynasty is one of the strongest nations in the world, with equals and even slightly stronger nations, but none completely surpassing it."
"These are publicly known information within some forces, so the credibility is very high."
Having explained so much, Wang Sheng could see that the Border Army was very strong and also very mysterious, so mysterious that even Stargazing Valley, a calculating force, was not particularly clear about it.
So Wang Sheng did not ask further. If there was a chance, he might go and see for himself in the future.
"Are there seven more forces?"
Yue was relieved inside when Wang Sheng did not dwell on these issues. Calculations werenāt invincible after all!
"The other seven forces are mostly those that became Great Grandmasters during the establishment of the Great Zhou Dynasty, with only a few being remnants from the previous dynasty.
The list includes:
Yangwu Stateās Heavenly Saber City, with its Great Grandmaster being Sword Master Jiang Dao!
Spirit Sword Valley in the Sword State, with its Great Grandmaster being Sword Master Wu Qingfeng!
Divine Lady Mountain in Beihua State, with its Great Grandmaster being Goddess Zheng Xueyue!
Yuelai Inn in Chi State, with its Great Grandmaster being Store Manager Zhu Xiao!
Lihai City in East Sea State, with its Great Grandmaster being City Lord Sun Qing!
In Imperial City, Zhongzhouās Literary Palace, with its Great Grandmaster being Literary Sage Shen Xuan!
Lastly, there is King Yong Nian, Zhou Wutong!"
With nine grandmasters and nine transcendent forces in the world, as long as the Great Grandmasters were alive, these were nine unshakable forces.
"Apart from Stargazing Valley and the Border Army, the other seven Grandmaster Level transcendent forces all want to compete for that position. Currently, targeting King Yong Nianās forces are Spirit Sword Valley and Heavenly Saber City, both neighboring Shuzhou. However, more detailed intelligence is unclear. Grandmaster Level forces are not so easy to predict."
Wang Sheng thought that this was already quite impressive.
According to Yue himself, having never left Stargazing Valley yet knowing so much information was no small feat.
Besides the royal family, Great Zhou also had nine Great Grandmasters.
This was the first time he heard about this, and it made him quite excited.
Then, he could only think of returning to diligently cultivate.
After all, those were Great Grandmasters, opponents he was currently no match for.
He even heard news that three of them were operating in Shuzhou.
He would just go back and honestly cultivate!
But meeting Yue this time really opened his eyes and taught him a lot, having reviewed the entire situation of the worldās forces and understanding Great Zhouās framework.
"Now, which force is the strongest?"
"Is it strong? Iām not exactly sure, but before this, it should have been King Yong Nian. As a royal Great Grandmaster capable of commanding troops, his power naturally isnāt something other forces can contend with. However, due to the war with King Jiang He, his strength has greatly diminished. Even so, his power is not to be underestimated.
Then it would be Yuelai Inn. Although itās just an inn, it also possesses great strength. Zhu Xiao is indeed an extraordinary woman."
Wang Sheng had not expected that King Yong Nian, whom he knew was in a difficult situation, was still the strongest.
But it made sense, being part of the royal family, even if not from the main lineage, the power and resources he could mobilize were substantial, far beyond what ordinary people could compare.
Take the military, for example, only the royal family would dare to control the military. If any other force tried it, even with a Great Grandmaster, it wouldnāt end well.
After all, Great Zhou had a Master of Destiny. The assets they could utilize were not something any random force could challenge.
Now, without confirmation whether the Master of Destiny had perished, those forces, even if they made moves, could only do so sneakily.
However, listening to Yue talk about these matters gave Wang Sheng a new idea.
"Yue, why didnāt the Master of Destiny of Great Zhou, before his own death, eradicate all other Great Grandmasters and then support a new one to become the Master of Destiny, and so on, to ensure the royal familyās rule?
Or is it that the Master of Destiny couldnāt defeat the combined forces of the Great Grandmasters? But those Great Grandmasters canāt possibly be together all the time, right?"
This was an interesting inference.
Unless Great Zhou itself no longer cared, otherwise, according to Wang Shengās reasoning, it would be the best method.
By directly annihilating the other Great Grandmasters, even if the Master of Destiny died, Great Zhou would still remain Great Zhou.
Yue was silenced by this question.
It seemed... indeed it was so.
For Yue, entering the worldly affairs for the first time, this was a challenging dilemmaā¦