Old Magneto Is on His Way

At the end of the battle between Sea King and Thor Peter last time, Zhan Liu suddenly appeared and kicked Namor, sending him flying.

He had originally come down because he saw that Peter was injured and wanted to take a look. He had casually kicked Namor while he was at it, but the scene was broadcast by the television stations.

When the Great Flood was raging, no one was in the mood to watch television, but people outside New York City were especially interested in this superhero battle.

After the Great Flood receded, those who had suffered in the disaster also wanted to know exactly who had caused their families to suffer such an undeserved calamity and whether that person had been punished in the end, so they went back to watch the reruns.

Thor Peter covered in blood and seriously wounded was certainly moving, the revelation that the mysterious Iron Man was actually Tony Stark was naturally shocking, but the powerful hunk who appeared at the end and kicked the enemy flying was sure to win countless fans.

Moreover, some martial arts school disciples posted photos online showing Namor’s head mounted outside the main hall.

Although this move drew a great deal of criticism, the families of local victims felt extremely satisfied.

Quite a few of them even came to the martial arts school in person to thank Zhan Liu.

The Ultimate Limit Hall had originally been just a small martial arts school in Chinatown, but after this incident, it became famous, and more and more people came to apprentice under its master. Most of them, however, were stopped by the hurdle of Chinese.

Still, with so many people coming, quite a few managed to pass the first hurdle and successfully join the martial arts school.

The earliest batch of disciples had already fallen at the second hurdle, the three-month initiation test. After all, although they had become disciples early, the overall quality of this batch was rather ordinary. Most of them were residents from around the martial arts school.

Zhan Liu directly eliminated those who failed, freeing up places for the new disciples without showing them the slightest mercy. The disciples who had assumed they could also pass simply because Tony and Peter had entered successfully were now completely dumbfounded.

Ultimate Limit Qigong was a divine art and an ultimate technique. It really was not something just anyone could learn.

Without Zhan Liu’s Magnetic Field Acceleration and the system’s enhancement, ordinary people normally would not even dream of touching the threshold of Current Drive without ten or eight years. But even with the acceleration, anyone who was lazy, unfocused, or insufficiently devoted would still find it extremely difficult to enter the art within three months.

Jimmy Yang had originally had a chance of succeeding. After awakening as a Mutant, all aspects of his physical condition, aptitude, constitution, and more had clearly improved.

But what made him a Mutant also brought about his defeat.

After becoming a Mutant, Jimmy spent too much time developing his ability to control wind, and in turn neglected his martial arts training.

In the end, he failed the assessment and was taken away by Professor X.

Although Jimmy was desperately unwilling to leave and wept bitterly as he begged for another chance, once an opportunity was missed, it was gone forever. Ordinary people had never been able to afford regret.

Although these expelled disciples had not mastered Current Drive, their physical potential had still been greatly developed during these months of practicing Qigong.

Keen senses, strong and sturdy bodies, flexible muscles and bones—these were all basic improvements. Some of them had even begun to display the rudiments of superpowers.

The eyes of an eagle, the ears of a wolf, the speed of a leopard, the strength of a bear—these were originally signs that appeared before Current Drive.

Although these disciples had been expelled from the martial arts school, the Qigong they had learned was genuine, without the slightest falsehood. If they continued cultivating, they could still reach the Current Drive Realm.

It was just that without Zhan Liu’s Magnetic Field Acceleration, when they would reach that level would probably have to wait until several years later.

By then, the superhero era would already have reached its peak, with superheroes everywhere. They would not be particularly outstanding among them.

There was nothing Zhan Liu could do about that.

The master leads one through the gate; cultivation depends on the individual. He had given everyone a chance, but none of them had taken it seriously.

The three-month period had been carefully calculated by Zhan Liu.

As long as a person’s aptitude was not too poor and they worked hard, studied diligently, and trained relentlessly, then with his Magnetic Field Acceleration and the system’s enhancement, they would definitely be able to enter the Current Drive Realm within three months.

Most of those who failed were either lazy and careless, or their Chinese was too poor. Although they had no problems with everyday conversation, they found concepts such as meridians and acupoints extremely difficult to understand, resulting in learning efficiency that was too low.

People like Tony, who took less than a month, and Peter, who took a little over a month, were special cases, not typical examples.

From a certain perspective, they had entered the art too easily, creating the illusion among the other disciples that if they could do it, I could too.

Especially that Tony fellow. As the senior apprentice-brother, he had not fulfilled any of his responsibilities. Instead, he invited his junior brothers and sisters to parties every few days, doing nothing but drag them down.

Zhan Liu knew this. He had issued several verbal warnings, but no one had paid attention, so he stopped saying anything.

After all, someone without even the ability to control himself could never become a War God.

Besides ordinary people coming to apprentice, quite a few Mutants came as well.

They were not Mutants sent by Professor X for enhanced training, but Mutants who had traveled from all over the world.

Zhan Liu had a third eye. No matter how one looked at him, he appeared to be a Mutant.

Although the television stations and newspapers repeatedly emphasized under the government’s suggestion that he was an extraterrestrial and not a Mutant, many Mutants still regarded him as one of their own and worshiped him as a hero.

The clearest result was that Mutants began arriving at the martial arts school one after another to study under its master.

Zhan Liu accepted everyone and taught without discrimination. He did not care whether they were Mutants. As long as they came and were willing to become disciples, he treated them all equally.

The old rule applied: first ask whether they knew Chinese. If they did not, they could get lost. If they did, they would first serve as registered disciples for three months, and then they could talk.

There really were quite a lot of Mutants, and some of them were ethnic Chinese who knew the language.

In just over a month, three Mutant disciples had joined Zhan Liu’s martial arts school. Those Mutants who had failed to become disciples, meanwhile, were taken away by Professor X, who had been watching this place all along.

This was truly an unexpected delight.

Professor X had previously needed to use his powers to search the entire world for Mutants, but that ability consumed too much energy and could not be used constantly. Moreover, with Earth being so vast, it was inevitable that some would be overlooked.

Now he only had to keep an eye on this one martial arts school, and he ended up finding dozens of Mutants to bring back.

Although not all of these people would necessarily stay in the end, they would at least leave behind contact information. Whenever they needed help in the future, they would naturally seek out the X-Men.

As they came and went, a bond formed. Sooner or later, most of them would probably join the X-Men.

Magneto naturally learned about this situation as well. After all, he and Professor X were constantly locked in a love-hate struggle and paid close attention to each other’s movements. Any stir on one side would never escape the other’s notice.

Old Magneto was naturally envious of these Mutants, but while Professor X could send his students to the martial arts school to study, Old Magneto was a standard Mutant supremacist and racist. How could he possibly allow such a thing to exist?

In Old Magneto’s eyes, Mutants were the most perfect species in the world, the direction of humanity’s future evolution. They were far superior to ordinary people, who could never catch up no matter how much they fawned.

But Zhan Liu had suddenly appeared, allowing ordinary people to develop superpowers through cultivation—and he could even control magnetic fields. This was practically a blatant provocation against him, the "Magneto."

Therefore, Old Magneto decided to find time to go to New York and teach this junior brat exactly how magnetic fields were supposed to be used.