Apophis was born in the Cangmu family—a family of Ancient Martial Arts that had been in decline for a hundred years, focusing more on integrating Ancient Martial Arts with modern combat, and more so on Mecha operation.

Since the advent of mobile warriors, this family had been transitioning from a pure Ancient Martial Arts family into a civilian Mecha school, in a bid to survive and thrive in the gaps of society. Every Ancient Martial Arts school inevitably had to choose to transform.

The developments and changes of the era were driven by the flow of time, talents were needed everywhere in the world, and the design of mobile warriors was almost entirely based on human biomechanics. To a certain extent, being skilled in Ancient Martial Arts meant having an innate understanding of Mecha, since Mecha combat was essentially an amplified version of Ancient Martial Arts. The military boxing learned by the forces is also part of the basic Mecha syllabus, but mastering Mecha requires a unique combat system.

This was known as "specialization in skills" in ancient times. Those families from the Ancient Martial Arts school often understood the essence and vital points of combat much clearer than ordinary people, giving them a much higher starting point.

War is an extension of politics, power is a symbol of ambition, and under the drive of desire, nations unsatisfied with the status quo began to mass-produce Mecha and widely recruit talents.

A new sect was thus born, this new sect dubbed 'Ancient Martial Arts Mecha,' was holding the reins of power in the entire Mecha era.

In fact, Ancient Martial Arts schools had been gradually coming into the spotlight and attracting widespread attention since the early days when mobile warriors replaced tanks.

Otherwise, the Jade Clear Sect wouldn't possibly cooperate with the Military Department; most of the federal super soldiers came from families within the Ancient Martial Arts schools. For example, the super soldier candidate Kuang Qi from the Cangmu family has a sister named Cangmu Ling who is honored as an almost Martial Deity.

Dovir's Phantom Double Sword Strike is also the secret heritage of a particular Ancient Martial Arts family. Of course, the matter that people are more familiar with is Revenge Shadow Rider's indirect guidance to Dovir in a battle.

Then there's the Haier Brothers from the Charles family, who inherited their ancestors' honors and were acclaimed as the Twins of Fate—of course, if Roland were also considered one, then her status would definitely be higher than the former, being a descendent of Augustins, her signature Augustins' Army Breaking Kill was world-renowned.

Compared to these, factions belonging to the Military Department were few and far between, with Angelina being one, Sky Shadow another. As for Hugo, Ophelia, and even Mu Tou, these individuals had truly grassroots origins.

It's not to say that grassroots individuals can't be powerful; there's a saying, "The rich rely on technology, the poor on mutation." With effort, one can actually reach a certain level; Zhang Xiaobo and Elvis are typical examples.

But you have to admit that their ceiling is pretty much limited to that extent. They can't possibly reach the elite Red Cloak standard, let alone ace level. Maybe one day the two would barely touch that tier through luck, but talent limits had already pretty much determined their true potential; they could at most reach the Red Cloak standard.

Even top-tier entities like the Soaring Sword Dragon in Blue Thunder Rain, who had spent some time in the civilian Mecha world, had remarked on its profound depth, which indicated that the civilian Mecha world wasn't as simple as it seemed.

However, true Ancient Martial Arts schools and half-transitioned families like Apophis that integrated modern martial arts had certain disagreements, and both forces had been disputing for many years without a clear winner.

Take the Apophis family as an example; these independently developed Ancient Martial Arts families were legal on the Icebird star, recruiting students broadly, somewhat similar to Gandalf's small dojo.

On the other hand, there were wandering loners from uncertain origins, whose activities were brazen and could be traced across various national borders. This group of unregistered individuals not only trafficked and smuggled, crossed borders without permission, but sometimes even engaged in armed conflicts in remote lawless areas. Due to the special location of border areas, the military actually carried out strikes each year but with little effect.

It was rumored that among these people, a small portion came from real hermit Ancient Martial Arts families, with the majority being from the Nangong Family's Jade Clear Sect. Whether this was true was unclear, but the Jade Clear Sect was known for ruthless killings among Ancient Martial Arts families, making it one of the most feared threats by other hermit sects.

After all, once the Holy Hall and the Tianyin Sect were involved, they could no longer mention their schools, and the Yanhuang Soul remained completely neutral, indifferent to worldly conflicts. In contrast, the Jade Clear Sect and the Nangong Family often carried out obscure special missions.

Although these hermit schools were unknown to ordinary people, as a member of an Ancient Martial Arts family, one would know some rumors about them. It was said that the Nangong Family cooperated with the Silver Alliance's Rekart, and the Jade Clear Sect had dealings with the Zana Republic. Beyond that, little was known about their activities.

It's said that there were instances of inside disciples revealing sect information, but the sect could trace this person through special means. Whether it was Spirit Communicating Technique, Round Light Technique, Hidden Witchcraft, astrology, or various eye techniques, if any inside disciple was found leaking important information from the sect, they would be secretly eliminated by the elders unless they possessed strength surpassing that of the various sect elders, which was almost impossible.

Conversely, these hermit schools not only executed disciplinary penalties on their disciples but also carried out little-known assassination operations, such as assassinating important leaders of certain nations. The titles of the elders, like hidden assassins and deadly pursuers, Zhui Hun, were well-founded.

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