The war in the Wide Forest City wiped out most of the intelligent beings on the southern continent. However, as with many things, mortals are quick to repopulate. With a simple boost to fertility, within a few hundred years, the population of mortals returned to its original numbers.
For Mike, the death of Master Green turned out to be a positive development. The new successor, Master Black, didn't care much about collecting debts, so Mike stopped paying back the money he owed. Even better, he approached Master Black and took out a massive loan of one hundred trillion RM.
With just a hundred trillion RM, over the course of 300 years, Mike managed to reach the peak of the Martial God realm. But, like every other martial artist, once he hit the peak of Martial God, there was no clear path forward. Yet, Mike had anticipated this problem. His original goal was to expand the realm of martial arts beyond the Martial God level.
However, advancing martial arts to the next level would require a vast amount of money. Mike approached Master Black again and applied for a grant to fund his research into inventing the next martial arts realm. To his surprise, Master Black eagerly agreed, granting him a hundred quadrillion RMs as if he had been waiting for Mike to ask.
Mike was shocked when master black agreed and granted him such massive money; obviously, Lana was the one pulling the strings, probably she is the one who instructed master black to do this; 100 quadrillion is no small number; there is no way master black do this without an order from the queen.
"Maybe she also wants me to uncover the martial arts realm?" he thought as he gladly took the money.
With the funds and his knowledge, Mike embarked on his research.
...
As Mike conducted his research, the southern continent continued to evolve. The mortal population was spread out across various locations throughout the continent. After all, nearly everyone had been concentrated around the former Wide Forest City, which wasn't ideal, so master black ordered his subordinates to find suitable places and relocate the mortals.
Regarding the Wide Forest City itself, Master Black purchased large amounts of soil to fill the massive hole left behind after he consumed everything with his black fog ability. With a perfection-level queen believer personally overseeing everything, nothing was likely to go wrong.
Lana slowly began to decrease fertility rates to normal levels.
The previous boost, which had increased fertility rates by an astonishing 10,000 times, led to many difficulties and mutations. Lana could have modified the world's settings to fix these "bugs," but she chose not to. In her opinion, these issues were amusing. Even as she reduced fertility rates, she deliberately altered the world's local settings to preserve the mutations and decided to eventually spread them globally.
From her twisted perspective, what could be funnier than a man growing a womb and becoming pregnant or a virgin woman becoming pregnant for no reason? To her, these occurrences were both hilarious and entertaining.
"Let's build on this!" she decided, modifying the southern continent's local settings to make mutations even more common. She dubbed this experiment "Fun World – Beta," with plans to apply it globally if successful.
...
A muscular man sat on the ground, eyes closed in deep concentration. It was Mike. The realm beyond Martial God had remained undiscovered for countless years, but now Mike aimed to pave the way forward.
Many geniuses had been born and died throughout history, some backed by powerful forces with limitless resources, yet they all failed. Clearly, the realm beyond Martial God was no easy feat to uncover. Mike considered himself a genius, particularly gifted in martial arts, but he wasn't arrogant enough to believe he was the most talented person ever born.
His most significant advantage was his Big Demon Physique. With it, he believed he might reach heights no one else ever had. After all, the Big Demon Physique was quasi-rank 10, and even though its power was sealed, Lana hadn't, for some unknown reason, sealed its essence and talent.
Still, after thinking deeply, Mike shook his head. There were many ranks 10 or quasi-rank 10 masters in the world. While those at such high levels had little incentive to waste time cracking the mysteries of martial arts beyond Martial God, over billions or even trillions of years, it seemed impossible that no one had tried.
Mike concluded that even rank 10 entities had likely attempted this breakthrough but failed. He acknowledged that his Big Demon Physique was powerful but doubted it was superior to a rank 10 physique, which was a law body.
"Maybe I'm underestimating my Big Demon Physique?" he thought. After all, it was granted to him as a cheat by the Transmigrator System. Perhaps it had more potential than ordinary rank 10 or 11 law bodies.
"It would be amazing if my Big Demon Physique is superior to a law body," he sighed. Either way, he didn't have much choice.
He saw three possibilities:
No rank 10 or quasi-rank 10 being had ever tried to crack the mystery of martial arts beyond Martial God. Mike ruled this out. The world was too old and too strong. Over trillions of years, indeed, many would have tried. After all, while the benefits of unlocking the next realm weren't vast for immortals, there were still some valuable perks. A complete martial arts cultivation technique could produce armies of rank 8 and 9 powerhouses, which, while not particularly useful in battles for rank 10 immortals, could serve as strong servants and soldiers. No quasi-rank 9 or rank 10 beings existed in the world. Mike dismissed this as absurd. Despite their efforts, everyone, even immortals, had failed. This seemed the most likely explanation.
"As for why they failed, it probably has to do with Lana," Mike reasoned. "She likely made it impossible to break through intentionally." Of course, he wasn't sure. Maybe everyone else had failed because they didn't have the Big Demon Physique.
"Let's assume my Big Demon Physique is so powerful that even immortals' law bodies are inferior," he decided, choosing to remain overly optimistic.
There is another piece of information that makes Mike hopeful: the 100 quadrillion grant that was most likely given to him by Lana's instruction; that means that even Lana doesn't know the next martial arts realm and plans on supporting him; if she was the one who blocked the path, she would have never given him any support.
Of course, there is another possibility, that is, the next realm is already discovered, just not spread widely; but for simplicity, Mike didn't consider it; he just assumed the next realm hasn't been uncovered.
...
"Martial arts, huh?" Lana mused as she observed Mike sitting cross-legged in deep meditation.
The reason no one had been able to surpass the Martial God realm was simple: talent. Lana hadn't intentionally blocked the path. She simply raised the talent bar so high that almost no one could succeed. As long as one possessed enough talent, breaking through to the next realm was easy.
In fact, the realms beyond Martial God were already included in the world's settings. These realms, from weakest to strongest, were Martial Sovereign, Martial Celestial, and Martial Transcendent.
A Martial Sovereign controlled a domain of thousands of kilometres, and within their domain, they could easily defeat those without one. Martial arts cultivators beyond the Martial God realm were significantly stronger than those from other paths. An early Martial Sovereign was as powerful as an early rank 7 mage, and a peak Martial Sovereign could withstand a casual hit from a rank 8 mage.
Martial Celestial practitioners possessed domains covering tens of thousands of kilometres. An early Martial Celestial was comparable to a quasi-rank 9, and a peak Martial Celestial matched peak rank 9 in power.
A Martial Transcendent, upon breaking through, was as strong as a quasi-rank 10. At their peak, they were the strongest beings below immortals in this world. Even other quasi-rank 10s were weak chickens in comparison. Their domains could cover hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of kilometres.
Despite their immense power, Martial Transcendents remained mortals. Against an actual rank 10, even the weakest one, they wouldn't stand a chance. The difference between mortals and immortals was so vast that it couldn't be bridged by cultivation techniques alone.
"Mike will definitely break through to Martial Sovereign!" Lana concluded.
When Mike first arrived, Lana had immediately noticed the abnormality of the Big Demon Body. It had an aura that reminded her of Rachel. The reason she hadn't sealed its essence was not due to a lack of desire but rather because she couldn't. That extremely diluted, almost unnoticeable trace of Rachel's aura was strong enough to resist her rank 13 universal laws.
One couldn't compare rank 13 to rank 14. Lana was powerful even among rank 13 beings, but in front of Rachel, she was nothing. Rachel could kill infinite versions of Lana if she so desired.
Though Lana couldn't seal the abnormal body, she could have killed Mike. Killing was much easier than sealing. But she chose not to. She suspected it was related to the transmigrators, though she wasn't sure. She had never encountered transmigrators with cheats carrying Rachel's aura before.
Lana had teleported Mike to the south to keep him busy while she attempted to contact Rachel.
She has a Rachel with her, but the pill container with her just didn't know anything the main body would do.
Lana sealed Mike's power to steer him toward martial arts. The plan was simple. With the essence of his abnormal body intact, any rational person would use it to gain strength through martial arts. It was easy to predict that Mike would end up on this path; she ordered master black to provide him with a loan, which solved the problem of lack of resources.
Lana watched Mike closely, hoping to uncover some clues about his strange body.
"Maybe I can gain something from this," she thought. Though she usually cared only for entertainment, anything related to Rachel commanded her full attention.