Chapter 1485: The Despairing Dominance! Number One!

"Want to escape? Impossible!"

Seeing Eric try to flee, Xu Jingming let out a cold snort and raised his left hand.

He spread his five fingers, aiming at the direction where the remaining four stood.

With a thought, a point of extreme darkness suddenly appeared in his palm, then rapidly expanded!

It was not pure black, but filled with countless flickering black lightning serpents.

The surrounding air began to twist and wail; light was swallowed by that point of darkness, and the entire forest seemed to dim instantly.

Immediately, a black lightning pillar over thirty meters in diameter erupted violently from his palm!

Where the beam passed, space groaned under unbearable strain, visibly warping and cracking!

The ground was effortlessly plowed into a trench dozens of meters deep by escaping energy.

A blackened gorge nearly a hundred meters wide formed; the soil and rocks on both sides vaporized instantly!

Thunderous Light Annihilation Cannon at T4 Perfect Proficiency!

But the Thunderous Light Annihilation Cannon unleashed now was worlds apart from the one used against Chi Huang!

The demonic energy boost from the fourth layer of the Purple Nightmare Demon Body, combined with the perfect integration of the Origin of Destruction.

Transformed the already devastating Thunderous Light Cannon into something of qualitative change!

"No good!!!"

The instant Louis sensed that destructive energy fluctuation, his scalp went numb.

His Dark Origin and Spatial Origin simultaneously boiled, coalescing into a profound barrier before him, as if capable of swallowing all light.

Silver spatial energy surged rapidly across the barrier's surface.

Kate roared, his muscles bulging, golden light surging skyward.

The Metal Origin and Life Origin intertwined, instantly forming a massive golden shield before him!

"Damn, no time to escape! Ela, full defense!"

Eric and Ela reacted just as swiftly, each activating their Origin forces for defense.

Boom—!!!

The black lightning pillar slammed violently into the four defenses!

In an instant, heaven and earth fell silent, all colors vanished.

Only that jet-black thunder, like a monstrous beast from the abyss, brutally tore through all resistance.

Louis's dark barrier, capable of absorbing the full-force strike of an ordinary Star Peak cultivator.

Twisted violently upon contact with the lightning pillar; silver spatial energy on its surface flashed wildly, trying to deflect the terrifying attack.

But it shattered into fragments in less than half a second, like fragile glass!

Darkness was drowned by a purer, more violent black lightning.

Kate's golden shield emitted a piercing metallic wail.

The invincibility granted by the Metal and Life Origins proved pitifully weak against the Thunderous Light Annihilation Cannon fused with the Origin of Destruction.

The shield exploded into shards; he himself was blasted backward, his arm bones cracking under the overwhelming force.

His entire body was thrown like a meteor strike.

Eric and Ela's defenses were even weaker, shattered instantly.

"No—!"

"How could he be this strong?!"

The four's terrified screams were swallowed by the deafening explosion.

The residual waves of the Thunderous Light Annihilation Cannon did not cease after shattering the defenses—they surged forward, completely engulfing the four!

Brilliant purple demonic energy and destructive black lightning interwove and flashed.

Forming a terrifying energy sphere over a hundred meters in diameter, annihilating everything in that region.

Hum! Hum! Hum!

Almost simultaneously, three milky-white emergency shields activated automatically.

Barely protecting the severely wounded, near-dead bodies of Kate, Eric, and Ela amid the chaotic energy currents.

They lay at the bottom of the charred crater, their breaths weak.

Their faces bore not only pain, but more so bewilderment and stunned disbelief.

Just one strike!

Xu Jingming raised his hand once—and simultaneously reduced three of the top four competitors in this year's Beast Hunt, excluding Louis, to near-death, triggering emergency shields!

And Louis, the only one not yet eliminated, was clearly far from unscathed.

His left arm had been completely obliterated.

His battle robe torn, his body drenched in blood—he was utterly battered.

Xu Jingming slowly lowered his left hand.

Faint electric arcs still flickered in his palm, then vanished.

The coldness in his purple vertical pupils showed no sign of weakening.

His gaze swept over the three struggling figures within the shields, and Louis, the sole remaining competitor:

"Looks like you're not that impressive."

His voice was flat—but more lethal than any mockery.

Upon hearing this, Louis's body trembled violently.

Humiliation! Endless humiliation!

As the top-ranked competitor of the God-Slaying Martial Temple this year, leader of the points leaderboard.

When had he ever been so disdained? When had he ever suffered such a crushing defeat?

Yet, the absolute gap in strength was like a bucket of ice water, dousing all his rage.

All that remained was the cold reality and a trace... of despair he himself refused to acknowledge.

"What the hell! How did the academy produce such a monster?!"

Eric the Bloodblade of the Cosmic Mercenary Alliance was equally stunned.

True, his combat experience was abundant.

But no matter how abundant, it was useless!

When Xu Jingming unleashed a single Thunder Cannon, he couldn't even block it—he was eliminated outright.

There was never a chance to close in for hand-to-hand combat.

But Xu Jingming paid no attention to their emotions.

In that very strike, he clearly felt the terrifying enhancement granted by the Source Core Secret Scripture!

Body, soul, origin, elemental control...

Universal enhancement allowed every ounce of his power to be nearly perfectly expressed and amplified.

"This is still only the power without practicing the Spirit Cultivation Art.

Once I enter the Cosmic Stage and master the Spirit Cultivation Art, my elemental strikes will be even more monstrous than those of my peers."

For Xu Jingming at present, close-quarters combat was his strength; elemental strikes were his weakness.

Yet now, merely unleashing his weakness was already enough to crush these prodigies.

"Too bad no one lets me test my close combat."

Calming his thoughts, Xu Jingming's gaze locked again onto Louis.

This top scorer on the points leaderboard was indeed a step above the others—he had survived the previous Thunder God Annihilation Cannon.

But that was all.

"Now, you're the last one. Join the rest."

Xu Jingming spoke calmly.

He raised his right hand, extended his index finger, and lightly pointed at Louis, who stood on guard like a cornered beast.

Ssssssshhhhhh—!!!!

A jet-black lightning bolt, as if piercing heaven and earth, suddenly crashed down from the sky!

Severely wounded, Louis watched helplessly as the black lightning tore through the heavens, descending upon him with an aura of total annihilation.

His battle armor, already shattered from resisting the Thunder God Annihilation Cannon, disintegrated like paper before this strike.

Immediately, a soft hum sounded as a milky-white emergency shield flared to life.

Thus, the top five scorers on the Beast Hunt Competition leaderboard were all eliminated by Xu Jingming.

He activated his smart bracer and opened the points ranking.

The name "Louis (Slaying God Martial Temple)" instantly dimmed and slid downward.

Meanwhile, the name "Xu Jingming (Eternal Star Alliance)" rose like a monarch crowned.

Carrying a skyrocketing pile of points that had surged to astronomical numbers, it blazed with golden radiance and ascended to the very top of the leaderboard.

Number One!

Almost simultaneously, in the Virtual Universe's Central Arena.

The massive circular arena, housing hundreds of millions of spectators, erupted into a near-ferocious roar of clamor and discussion.