Chapter 442: The Curious Leng Yuexi! Encountering the Rat Tide Again!

"An ordinary Green-Horned Lei Xi is a General-class fierce beast, only equivalent to a B-rank ability user.

Even a mutated Green-Horned Lei Xi is nothing more than a Lord-class fierce beast equivalent to an A-rank ability user.

My Heaven Thunder Art is an S-rank battle technique; killing them instantly is nothing surprising."

After spending ten days together, Xu Jingming and Leng Yuexi had gradually become familiar with each other.

Faced with her teasing, he replied with a smile.

"Easy for you to say. When I was at your level,

being able to kill a Lord-class fierce beast one minor stage above me was already impressive. How could I possibly skip an entire major stage and kill one instantly like you?

Speaking of which, your SS-rank ability really is freakishly overpowered.

At the same level, you only need to release your ability simply, without using any battle technique, and you can kill directly..."

Although she had heard of the name of SS-rank abilities, in reality, this was Leng Yuexi's first time seeing one.

That resplendent golden lightning, which would make ordinary ability users feel extraordinary just from its release, had a terrifyingly astonishing killing power.

During this period, she had no idea how many times she had been shocked.

"If only I could be as lucky as you and have my ability evolve.

I don't ask for much—just evolving from A-rank to S-rank would be enough."

On her beautiful mixed-race face was boundless longing.

Ability evolution was something ordinary ability users could only hope for by chance, yet she never expected Xu Jingming to have encountered it twice in a row!

It was simply inconceivable.

Of course, she also knew clearly that the probability of her own ability evolving was very low, almost infinitely close to zero...

"Do you still remember what happened when your ability evolved? If I get the chance, I'll try it too."

Leng Yuexi's pretty face was filled with intense curiosity.

She had read Xu Jingming's file, but as for how his ability had achieved evolution,

some said it was caused by a rise in primal energy concentration, others said it was driven by emotional power that pushed him to break his body's limits.

In short, everyone had their own theory, and to this day there was still no definitive conclusion.

If this were when they had just met, she really wouldn't have been able to ask such a question.

But now that they were so familiar, naturally there was no big problem.

Still, to be on the safe side, she added another sentence:

"If this involves your privacy, just pretend I never said anything."

"There's nothing to hide."

Xu Jingming said with a smile, "When my ability evolved, natural thunderclouds gathered in the sky.

My lightning ability evolved only after being struck by natural Lei Ting."

The fact really was like that, only the cause and effect had been reversed.

His ability evolved first, and only afterward did the dark clouds appear.

"So that's how it was..."

Leng Yuexi didn't doubt it in the slightest. Her eyes even lit up as she said excitedly:

"Your lightning-type ability evolved after being struck by natural Lei Ting. Doesn't that mean if I soak myself in volcanic magma,

my fire-type ability could also have a chance of evolving?"

"I was just lucky. Sister Xi, you absolutely must not act rashly."

Xu Jingming nearly choked and hurriedly tried to dissuade her.

For elemental ability users, in places with high elemental concentration, it was indeed possible for ability evolution to occur.

For example, in a Lei Ting Secret Realm where thunder struck constantly, a lightning-type ability user staying inside for a long time

might have their ability rank improved.

But the probability of that kind of evolution was extremely low.

He didn't want a single sentence from him to make Leng Yuexi actually go attempt something so dangerous.

If Leng Yuexi really got hurt in volcanic magma, the sin would be enormous.

"What? You're worried something will happen to me?"

Leng Yuexi's willow brows lifted slightly, and scorching flames swirled around her body.

Her originally Bai Xi skin suddenly turned a pale red, and a noble, majestic pressure faintly spread outward with her at the center.

Even her clear, pleasant voice carried a faint sense of oppression:

"Don't forget I'm an ability user who cultivates body-tempering battle techniques and walks the martial artist path.

With body-tempering enhancement activated, the thousands-of-degrees high temperature of volcanic magma is like a hot spring to me."

"Fair enough. Sister Xi, if you want to go, then go. Just do what makes you happy."

During these days together, Xu Jingming had also learned from Leng Yuexi that the body-tempering art she cultivated had a physical-body enhancement state similar to his Indestructible Lei Ting Body.

He just hadn't expected that, after this enhancement, her flesh could even withstand magma of thousands of degrees.

"That's more like it."

After showing off her strength, Leng Yuexi smiled smugly, exited her enhancement form, and stretched somewhat lazily:

"Where are we heading next? Are there any fierce beasts nearby you want to kill?"

Since entering the Kanda Wilderness Zone, she had basically not made a single move.

All the fierce beasts had been killed by Xu Jingming, and sometimes he would suddenly sense a group of fierce beasts and deliberately come over to kill them.

For instance, this group of Green-Horned Lei Xi had been led here by Xu Jingming a few minutes ago for her to kill.

However, what struck her as strange was that Xu Jingming's lightning-type ability was terrifyingly powerful.

One blast of Heavenly Thunder Art, and the corpses of vicious beasts below fifth-tier turned to charcoal — there was simply no way to collect materials.

But Xu Jingming remained utterly tireless of it, never letting a single vicious beast within his line of sight escape.

As if he simply enjoyed killing vicious beasts, that was all.

Still, Leng Yuexi was, after all, a seventh-tier Grandmaster, and had encountered no small number of ability users in her time.

Knowing that some people simply had certain "quirks," she didn't press the matter further.

"Nothing left. Once we finish collecting the vicious beast materials, we'll head straight out."

Leng Yuexi's figure was already quite good to begin with; stretching at this moment suddenly revealed the curve of her slender waist, and the astonishing fullness of her chest.

Xu Jingming swept a glance, then immediately shifted his gaze away and replied.

This group of Green-Horned Lei Xi — he had only come to kill them after his Heart Web passively sensed them.

At this moment, within his perception range, there were still some vicious beasts.

But these vicious beasts were too low in tier, and there were only one or two of each — truly not worth his making a special trip to kill them.

"Alright." Leng Yuexi gave a slight nod, took out her own dagger, crouched down on bent knees, and began collecting the vicious beast materials.

Her dagger was forged from SS-grade alloy, far sharper than Xu Jingming's S-grade dagger.

Her speed of collecting materials was also faster — it took her less than ten minutes.

To completely finish collecting all the materials from this sixth-tier mutant Green-Horned Lei Xi.

As for the other six Green-Horned Lei Xi, since they had already turned to charcoal, there was no way to collect materials from them.

Sliiick—

The dagger, stained with bright red blood, sliced across the corpse of the mutant Green-Horned Lei Xi.

A strip of flesh and blood, roughly a meter or so long and still steaming with heat, was cleanly carved off.

"This 'tenderloin' will count as our dinner tonight — should be enough to eat, right?"

Leng Yuexi's beautiful eyes turned toward Xu Jingming as she asked.

"Enough."

Looking at this strip of flesh and blood weighing at least over ten kilograms, Xu Jingming smiled and nodded.

In order to use as much time as possible on the road, lunch had been sacrificed — they went straight to dinner.

After finishing collecting the vicious beast materials, the two continued on their way.

However, barely two minutes later, under the passive sensing of his Heart Web —

Xu Jingming discovered that in the forest ahead, vicious beasts were madly charging toward them.

And it wasn't just one — it was several dozen!

They seemed to be fleeing from something; some vicious beasts had even directly activated their innate skills to speed their escape!

"What's wrong?" Seeing Xu Jingming stop in his tracks, Leng Yuexi stopped as well and asked in confusion.

As an ability user walking the martial-artist path, although she was a seventh-tier ability user —

Her spiritual force couldn't be considered formidable, and her perception wasn't as strong as Xu Jingming's either.

Usually, it was always Xu Jingming who sensed the situation first, and only then would she react.

"There's a group of vicious beasts up ahead charging toward us — seems like they're fleeing from something..."

Xu Jingming said, musing.

This scene — he felt as though he'd seen it somewhere before.

"Back in the Source Water Wilderness Zone, when I ran into the rat tide with Jiang Chu Xuan, it seemed to be the same commotion."

Just as he was thinking, within the perception range of Xu Jingming's Heart Web, a tide-like surge of vicious beasts suddenly appeared in their charge.

These vicious beasts looked like rats in shape, but were far larger — about the size of ordinary cats!

And in their eyes, a bloodthirsty, cruel glint flickered!