The Ninth Under Heaven

Chapter 1: The Fairy Star

　　March 11, 2058.

　　This day would be one that all of humanity on Earth could never forget, for on this day, a new planet suddenly appeared beside Earth. Whether in its revolution or rotation, this planet was exactly the same as Earth, and it was very likely a planet with life.

　　In other words, the solar system had abruptly gained a new planet, and this planet was much closer to Earth than Mars. Originally, Mars was considered the fourth planet of the solar system, but ever since the arrival of this new planet, Mars became the fifth.

　　After the appearance of this solar system planet, nearly every capable nation on Earth dispatched their most powerful aerospace teams and scientists to explore it.

　　A year later, after the sacrifice of many outstanding astronauts and scientists, it was finally confirmed that this planet was indeed a life-bearing planet.

　　This planet, which had suddenly barged into the solar system and become Earth's neighbor, was extremely close to Earth. To reach this new planet, one only needed to take a quantum aerospace plane and could directly pass through the atmosphere to arrive.

　　As for Huaxia's quantum aerospace plane technology, it had already fully matured four years ago, and now could even reach speeds close to sixty times the speed of sound.

　　The reason so many scientists and astronauts were lost in the initial exploration of this planet was because it was very peculiar. To enter this planet, one had to go through a specific space; otherwise, one would be instantly shredded by a special force on the planet's surface.

　　This surface force was quite strange, somewhat like magnetism, but completely different. Even though it was so close to Earth, the existence of this surface force had absolutely no effect on either Earth or the new planet.

　　The first to set foot on this planet was a scientist from Huaxia, and it was they who discovered the secret of the entrance to this planet.

　　It was said that upon entering this planet, aside from a stretch of lush greenery, the most eye-catching thing was a half-collapsed fairy statue on the ground, so this planet was named the Fairy Star.

Chapter 2: What Youth Is Not Passionate

　　At the entrance of Mingzhu Academy, a young man in casual blue clothes was staring expectantly at the academy gates. As the music signaling the end of classes played, the gates opened, and a group of boys and girls rushed out.

　　The young man in blue watched this group of students burst out of the academy, a trace of envy flashing in his eyes. Soon, he hid this envy and began searching the crowd with his gaze.

　　Moments later, his eyes lit up. He quickly strode over to a long-haired girl in a purple floral dress, handed her a bouquet of flowers, and said, “Manman, this is for you.”

　　The girl stopped. Her skin was as fair and smooth as if bathed in milk. When she looked up at the boy, her beautiful face instantly made all the other boys and girls around her lose their luster. To say she stood out like a crane among chickens would not be quite right, but just by standing there, she made the youth around her seem to lose their youthful glow.

　　Even though her face still looked a bit youthful, her perfect figure was already taking shape. One could imagine that in a few years, she would be dazzlingly radiant. Everyone in the academy knew her, the number one beauty of Mingzhu City, Megan Bennett.

　　Megan Bennett looked at the boy before her, who seemed to love her to his very bones, but did not take the flowers from his hand. Instead, she was silent for more than ten seconds before gently saying, “Jack Dawson, I just crossed into the Warrior Realm today. Soon, I’ll be leaving Jiguo. Take care of yourself. If fate allows, we’ll meet again.”

　　Jack Dawson's hand trembled, and the bouquet slipped from his grasp, scattering on the ground.

　　How could he not understand what Megan Bennett meant? He knew that with Megan Bennett's martial talent, she would have to leave Jiguo sooner or later, but he hadn’t expected it to be so soon. In martial cultivation, as long as one entered the Warrior Realm before the age of twenty, one could leave Jiguo for the Luyuan Empire.

　　He had just completed his sixteenth birthday martial test yesterday, and once again failed. Not only Megan Bennett, but probably everyone in Mingzhu City knew this by now.

　　“I'm sorry!” Megan Bennett lowered her head and softly said these three words, sighing inwardly, then walked around Jack Dawson and quickly left.

　　It wasn’t that she hadn’t given Jack Dawson a chance. She had waited for him, but unfortunately, Jack Dawson had failed his martial root test for the third time. In fact, even if Jack Dawson's third test had shown a slightly inferior martial root, she wouldn’t have left Jiguo so soon.

　　……

　　Whether in Jiguo or on the continent of Yalun where Jiguo was located, martial arts were held in the highest regard. Although the level of technology here was also very advanced, only martial cultivation was considered the true path. All technological talent served martial arts, and in every country, the ruler was always a martial powerhouse.

　　To learn martial arts on the Yalun continent, one must possess a martial root. Without a martial root, or if it had not manifested, no matter how hard you tried, you could only strengthen your body, but could never become a true martial artist.