Chapter 1314: Begin the Killing! The Envy of the Immortal Deity!

"What is that?!"

"Such terrifying lightning! No good!"

"This lightning is strange!"

"......"

A chorus of screams rose from the buildings below, but it was already too late.

Where the golden lightning passed, steel-and-concrete skyscrapers were torn apart as easily as paper.

The fireballs, wind blades, and other attacks aimed at Xu Jingming were annihilated before they could draw near.

The T6-level Haotian Shenlei, infused with the lightning dao, was no joke.

Each golden bolt carried destructive power capable of piercing through Starlight Rank Nine defenses with ease.

"Ahh—"

"No!"

"Impossible to defend! Absolutely impossible to defend!"

"......"

Within a radius of over ten kilometers, everything became a brilliant sea of golden lightning.

Piercing screams rose and fell within the ocean of lightning, only to vanish swiftly into silence.

The contestants hidden within the buildings.

Some raised energy shields, some tried to evade with body techniques, others chose to endure the strike head-on.

But without exception, all were obliterated in the golden lightning.

Ten seconds later, the lightning gradually subsided.

Xu Jingming hovered in midair, his black battle suit swaying gently in the breeze.

His cold expression revealed no emotional fluctuation.

Whoo—

His spiritual force surged out, scanning briefly.

Across the entire city, within a ten-kilometer radius, not a single life sign remained.

"Too weak."

Xu Jingming shook his head slightly, "The Haotian Shenlei spread over a ten-kilometer radius, its power greatly diluted."

"If you can't even withstand lightning of this level, how dare you enter the Talent War?"

He looked down at the points panel on his smart armband.

Name: Xu Jingming (Noah Empire)

Points: 1236

Rank: No.

Time remaining: 9 days, 23 hours, 58 minutes

A single lightning sweep had earned him 1236 points.

This meant the lightning sweep had killed at least a thousand people.

"Over thirty thousand? Looks like someone's efficiency is higher than mine, though maybe others had more contestants nearby."

Xu Jingming's lips curled slightly, "Continue."

In a flash, he became a golden streak flying toward the city's eastern district.

Since he had decided to act boldly, he would accumulate points as quickly as possible to secure the top spot in his division.

As for the over ten billion contestants in the entire division.

If he killed one per second, it would take thousands of years to eliminate them all!

But with Haotian Shenlei, one strike wiped out entire groups—he didn't need to worry about killing efficiency like ordinary cultivators.

"Got it! There's a ranking now!"

"Thirty-seven thousand! And this is just the beginning!"

"With Jingming's strength, passing the preliminary round shouldn't be a problem."

"......"

Virtual Universe, Yunhai Neighborhood Villa.

Song Qiuyun, Jiang Chuxuan, the Leng Yuexi sisters, along with Catherine and Sakuragi Rin, were gathered together.

Watching the massive leaderboard in the sky.

The number of contestants in the preliminary round was simply too vast to broadcast live—they could only track Xu Jingming's rank through this leaderboard.

Meanwhile, on Blue Star.

The changes in the Cosmic Talent War leaderboard were broadcast live across Blue Star.

"The Priestess has a ranking! At six millionth place!"

"I saw Lord Ling Shuang and Lord Su Qingli!"

"Whoa! No wonder Lord Lei Di is so powerful—he shot up to thirty-seven thousandth place in an instant!"

"......"

Watching the leaderboard shift, countless Blue Star residents flushed with excitement.

As Blue Star entered the interstellar age, they increasingly felt the distinction between themselves and ordinary native planet dwellers.

Residents of other native planets wished no one would even notice them.

But Blue Star people could walk proudly to other planets.

Even in the Virtual Universe, they were held in considerable respect.

And all of this is because of our Great Xia Empire's Lei Di!

As a Level 1 genius of the Noah Sanctuary, he has extended his influence across more than a dozen star systems near Blue Star!

Now, with Lei Di ranking highly in the Genius War, they too feel immense pride.

"Top forty thousand out of one billion people? Good heavens, just how strong has Xiao Ming become?"

In the Blue Star villa, Xu Qingwan and her family wore expressions of shock.

They did not know just how strong Xu Jingming had become now.

But they could be certain—it had reached a level beyond their comprehension.

In the Virtual Universe, within the imperial palace of the Noah Empire.

The Emperor Noah and ten "State Pillars" had gathered here.

They had only allocated a sliver of their spiritual energy into the Virtual Universe.

In reality, they remained unaffected and could continue other activities.

Before them, the Noah Empire's sentient lifeform, Lord Hei Yu, was introducing:

"The Star Torch Empire has one hundred competition zones, each with contestants from our Noah Empire.

The highest-ranked is Xu Jingming, at number 【blank】 in Zone 65.

The second-highest is Luo Ya, our Noah Sanctuary's Level 1 genius, at number 【blank】 in Zone 75.

The third-highest is..."

"Hmph! A bunch of useless wastes—not even ten people made the top 200,000!

Luckily we have Xu Jingming; otherwise, our Noah Empire would have lost all face!"

Emperor Noah's expression darkened.

The Star Torch Empire comprises nine hundred junior cosmic nations.

To reach an average level among these junior cosmic nations,

each zone must have at least twenty to thirty contestants in the top 200,000.

And these emperors do not spend all their time cultivating.

They too have social activities and personal networks.

The Genius War is a grand event among cosmic humanity; if the results are too poor,

this emperor would lose face when meeting other emperors.

It can only be said that thanks to Xu Jingming, our Noah Empire's results would otherwise have been abysmal.

"In our Noah Sanctuary, the most talented currently are Xu Jingming and Lei Meng.

Lei Meng is a Juling race member, but has yet to mature.

This Genius War relies solely on Xu Jingming to carry the banner."

Doushen Shenlei Heiguang spoke.

"Lu Wen, speak up.

Xu Jingming has no special bloodline—how did you cultivate him to be this outstanding?"

The graceful Niki spoke up.

As her words fell, all the Doushen Shenling present turned toward Lu Wen with visible envy.

Even Emperor Noah was no exception.

Lei Meng and Xu Jingming entered the Noah Sanctuary at nearly the same time.

Now, nearly two years later, Lei Meng remains at Starlight Stage Four.

Yet Xu Jingming has already achieved Starlight Stage Nine combat power!

Who is stronger, who is weaker—clear as day.

If Xu Jingming does not perish prematurely, he has even a slight chance of becoming one of us.

Though merely a slight chance, this is already an extraordinarily terrifying talent.

After all, even Emperor Noah, who founded this empire,

in these tens of millions of years, has only cultivated one Doushen Shenling within this imperial clan.

Now that they see Xu Jingming, how could they not be envious?

Yet Xu Jingming has already been taken as Lu Wen's disciple; otherwise, he would have claimed him as his own.

"I taught him nothing—he simply has exceptional talent."

Facing all their gazes, Lu Wen smiled faintly, a hint of pride on his face.

Taking Xu Jingming as his disciple was indeed his most correct decision.

According to his estimate, Xu Jingming's ranking should be within the top hundred.

Passing the preliminary rounds should pose no problem.

But the final arena battle may prove difficult.

Still, if he achieves this result, he would be more than satisfied.

After all, Xu Jingming is simply too young.

His future potential is virtually limitless!