106: My Zhenwu Pavilion has millions of members!

Zhenwu Pavilion, second floor.

The second floor was still somewhat different from what Jiang Lan had imagined.

Immediately upon entering the second floor, there was a large open space with sandbags and stone locks hanging around.

The hall on this second floor was quite similar to the martial arts gyms Jiang Lan was familiar with.

However, the man did not linger with Jiang Lan in the hall but led him directly to a slightly ajar door.

The man knocked on the door.

“Old Man Huang.”

“Come in.” A resonant voice sounded from inside the room.

The man pushed the door open, signaling Jiang Lan to enter.

Jiang Lan stepped into the room.

The furnishings in the room were very simple.

So simple, in fact, that there were almost no furnishings.

Besides a long wooden table, there was only a grand armchair behind the table.

If one had to add anything, it would be a colorful, indecipherable painting hanging behind the grand armchair.

A gaunt Old Man Huang was seated in the grand armchair.

Seeing Jiang Lan enter the room, the Old Man Huang casually looked up and observed him.

Then, he frowned slightly and began to scrutinize Jiang Lan carefully.

For a moment, the room was so quiet that a pin drop could be heard.

After a dozen breaths, Old Man Huang frowned slightly.

“Little friend, have you learned a method for concealing Qi?”

“I’ve learned a bit.”

As Jiang Lan spoke, he also reacted and disengaged his body from the state of the Hidden God Art.

Instantly, his entire aura underwent a subtle change.

If before, others could tell he was a Martial Artist but not his specific Realm, now, he was sharp and unreserved, exuding the aura of a Peak Gathering Yuan expert.

The moment he withdrew the Hidden God Art, Old Man Huang’s eyes flickered repeatedly.

“Peak Gathering Yuan… only one step away from Mortal Shedding?”

“Yes.” Jiang Lan nodded.

After he and the man entered the room, Old Man Huang had not asked any questions.

So, Jiang Lan’s Realm was something he had perceived.

He was not surprised that Old Man Huang could discern his Cultivation Technique Realm at a glance.

After all, he was a Senior presiding in the Zhenwu Pavilion; he had been unable to peek earlier due to the Hidden God Art.

Now that Jiang Lan had withdrawn the Hidden God Art, if he still couldn't detect it, then the Zhenwu Pavilion would be too childish.

Old Man Huang was silent for a moment, then suddenly waved his hand and said to the man who had entered with Jiang Lan:

“You may go down first.”

“Yes, Old Man Huang.”

The man bowed respectfully, then turned and left, closing the door behind him.

With the door closed, only Jiang Lan and Old Man Huang remained in the room.

“Little friend, where do you come from?”

Jiang Lan paused, then answered truthfully: “Great Yan.”

“Great Yan?” Hearing Jiang Lan’s words, Old Man Huang was somewhat curious.

He continued: “Then you came here specifically to join my Zhenwu Pavilion?”

“I was passing through on a demon-slaying quest.” Jiang Lan continued truthfully: “However, a Senior at the Miao Fa Pavilion mentioned it earlier, so I thought I’d come and see for myself.”

Old Man Huang grinned, a smile spreading across his face.

“You want to Breakthrough, but you don’t have a suitable Cultivation Technique, do you?”

Upon hearing this, Jiang Lan twitched his lips.

Was he that obvious?

Seeing Jiang Lan’s reaction, Old Man Huang continued to smile:

“I’ve been to Yan Country; it’s just a remote small country. Where would there be any suitable Cultivation Technique? Those Taoist Priests at the Miao Fa Pavilion do have some, but looking at you, you’re certainly not a Taoist Priest, so even if you got their methods, you wouldn’t be able to use them effectively.

“However, little friend, you can be called a heaven-sent genius. From your bone structure, you appear to be only in your twenties, and to be able to cultivate to the current Peak Gathering Yuan in such a remote place… tsk tsk…”

Jiang Lan said:

“Old Senior, your Wisdom Eye is truly discerning.”

“Joining the Zhenwu Pavilion is easy to say, and getting a Cultivation Technique is also easy to say, but for you to want this Mortal Shedding Cultivation Technique… that’s not so easy to say.”

“This…” Jiang Lan was a bit confused by Old Man Huang’s words, “I hope Old Senior can explain it clearly.”

Old Man Huang chuckled.

“Since you’ve heard of my Zhenwu Pavilion, do you know how many members my Zhenwu Pavilion has in total?”

Jiang Lan shook his head.

Regarding the Zhenwu Pavilion, he had only heard Yao Banxian mention it once before; how would he know how many people there were?

Not only did he not know how many people there were, but apart from the name, Jiang Lan knew absolutely nothing about the Zhenwu Pavilion.

“A million strong.”

Jiang Lan: “?”

“How many?”

A million strong?

Jiang Lan suspected his ears might be playing tricks on him.

“You heard right, a million isn’t much. During Zhenwu’s heyday, there were even tens of millions of members.” Old Man Huang said this, a look of reminiscence appearing in his eyes.

Ten million?

Jiang Lan was truly dumbfounded.

Although he already knew that Chihong Province was vast, he had no concept of just how vast it was.

As far as he knew, within the entire Yan Country, there were fewer than a thousand Martial Artists in total.

Even if Chihong Province had over two hundred countries, calculating by this proportion, a total of two to three hundred thousand Martial Artists would be the absolute maximum.

But now, this Old Man Huang actually said that the Zhenwu Pavilion alone had a million Martial Artists?

One must know that the Zhenwu Pavilion was just one organization within Chihong Province.

Although it was very large, it definitely didn't dominate everything.

And just this one organization had so many Martial Artists.

Then how many would all the forces in Chihong Province combined have?

Seeing the astonished expression on Jiang Lan’s face, Old Man Huang had a “I knew it” look.

“No need to be surprised. Yan Country is too small; it’s normal that your perspective hasn’t reached that level.”

Jiang Lan fell into thought.

Too small?

Even if it was a small country, this number of Martial Artists seemed a bit off.

Even if Yan Country had a thousand Martial Artists, and other countries were ten times larger than Yan Country, with ten thousand per country, that would only be a total of just over two million three hundred thousand Martial Artists.

Rounding it up to three million, it was still too far from the tens of millions Old Man Huang mentioned.

Seeing Jiang Lan still with a puzzled expression, the Old Man Huang stood up and pointed to the colorful diagram behind him.

“Come and look at this, then you’ll understand.”

Jiang Lan immediately looked up, following the direction of the Old Man Huang’s finger.

He had noticed this diagram when he first entered the room.

However, it was so strangely shaped that he couldn't understand it at all; it looked somewhat like a terrain map.

The Old Man Huang beckoned:

“Come.”

Jiang Lan stepped forward as instructed.

The Old Man Huang said: “This diagram is the map of the entire Chihong Province.”

Jiang Lan’s pupils constricted.

Map?

He quickly focused his gaze but found that only about a third of the diagram was filled with various strange shapes, while the remaining two-thirds were uncolored, retaining the original color of the paper.

Jiang Lan’s gaze swept over it for a while.

After a long look, he still couldn't figure out what was drawn on the diagram.

Although the Old Man Huang said it was a map, it was completely different from the maps he had seen in his previous life, a world apart.

Jiang Lan couldn't help but ask.

“Old Senior, I don’t quite understand, can you tell me where Wu Country is?”

Old Man Huang came to the diagram, extended his hand, and pointed to a rice-grain-sized spot in the furthest corner.

“This is Wu Country.”