Chapter 503: SS-Rank Ability This Strong? Rankings Soar!

"At this rate, the four of us' results—

are enough to pass the preliminaries and advance to the second stage of the Peak Tournament."

In Sector 73, on a city street, a group of four ability users walked along, chatting and laughing.

Some carried battle blades on their hips, others bore shields on their backs, their expressions very casual.

Of course, all four of them were fifth-rank ability users.

The tallest among them had even reached the peak of fifth-rank.

A four-person squad like this was enough to walk all over Sector 73.

"Don't let your guard down. Although the four of us are fairly strong, once we run into a sixth-rank ability user, it won't be pleasant."

The leading youth at the peak of fifth-rank said in a low voice.

"Brother Yuan, isn't the whole reason we teamed up to worry about exactly this kind of situation?"

One of the youths, tall and thin, replied, "With the strength of the four of us, although we can't kill a sixth-rank ability user—

a sixth-rank ability user can't easily kill us either!"

The preliminaries didn't forbid teaming up, so as the competition progressed into its later stages, quite a few contestants chose to move in groups.

After all, there are 100 slots for advancement, so even teaming up doesn't really create any conflict of interest.

"Besides, where would you find that many sixth-rank ability users?"

The tall, thin youth shook his head and laughed, "The average age of sixth-rank ability users in our Great Xia nation is 32.

Sixth-rank ability users under 27 are pitifully few. Our Great Xia has 100 sectors in total.

Each sector would be doing well to have 10 sixth-rank ability users."

The Global Genius Exchange Tournament doesn't assign sectors randomly, but deploys contestants according to rank.

Sixth-rank ability users can be said to be the limit that most 27-year-old ability users can reach.

Therefore, these sixth-rank ability users were almost evenly distributed among every sector.

Otherwise, if it were truly random and caused the strength gap between sectors to be wildly uneven, that would be awkward.

"That's true enough, but still, caution first." Brother Yuan nodded, a faint smile also surfacing at the corner of his mouth.

By the seventh day of the preliminaries, those still alive were basically all fifth-rank ability users.

And with the strength of the four of them, they were enough to walk all over fifth-rank ability users.

Unless they ran into a fifth-rank squad with more members.

Boom!!

Just as they were talking, a sudden enormous roar rang out, and a golden "meteor" plummeted down from a distant skyscraper!

This "meteor" fell very fast—in the blink of an eye, it smashed into the ground more than ten meters in front of them!

Boom!!

The ground was cratered into a deep pit, dust flying in all directions.

Immediately after, a tall, sturdy figure rose vaguely from the dust.

Only then did the group realize this was no meteor at all, but an ability-user contestant!

That golden glow was nothing more than the lightning crackling around the other's body.

"That skyscraper is at least 300 meters from us. With one leap, he actually jumped that far?

A fifth-rank ability user would have a hard time leaping that distance. Could it be... a sixth-rank ability user?!"

The four of them grew solemn, simultaneously activating their abilities and entering combat mode.

At that moment, the tall figure also walked out of the dust, revealing his face.

The golden lightning flickering and leaping across the surface of his body was even brighter and more dazzling.

"What the—it's just a high-tier fifth-rank ability user. Scared the hell out of me; I thought it was sixth-rank."

The tall, thin youth let out a breath of relief, then said mockingly:

"Being able to survive until the seventh day means you've got some skill, but I can't figure it out.

Why would you show up in front of us like this? Did you come here on purpose to hand over points?

Right, Brother Yuan?"

The tall, thin youth laughed and turned to look at Brother Yuan, only to find that this Brother Yuan had already gone deathly pale, his face filled with deep terror!

"Like hell it is! That's Xu Jingming! Run!"

Cursing, Brother Yuan—who had already activated his enhancement-type ability—no longer spared the others a glance and immediately turned and fled.

Rank is the most intuitive way to judge an ability user's strength.

But some ability users possess strength far exceeding their apparent rank.

These ability users either come from top-tier factions, or possess formidable abilities.

Or they possess an extremely heaven-defying combat-skill inheritance.

And Xu Jingming, who had only recently been revealed to possess seventh-rank, Master-level combat power, undoubtedly had all three!

Everyone could be certain that this opponent was a terrifying prodigy capable of reaching the top 32 of the Peak Tournament's national stage!

Ordinary ability users, upon meeting Xu Jingming, shouldn't even think about fighting—being able to escape with their lives would be considered a good outcome.

Thus, this peak fifth-rank Brother Yuan didn't hesitate for a moment before turning tail to flee.

"Holy shit! Xu Jingming is actually in the same sector as us?!"

"What a scam! Run!"

People on the outside could use the Peak Tournament rankings to determine each contestant's sector and rank.

But contestants inside a sector could only see their own points and ranking.

They had had no way of knowing beforehand that Sector 73 also contained Xu Jingming.

At this moment, reminded by Brother Yuan, the others reacted too, their faces suddenly changing as they began to flee.

They were clever — all four scattered in different directions.

"You can't escape! Doushen Shenlei!"

A wild smile on Xu Jingming's face, the violent Doushen Shenlei erupted explosively outward with him at the center!

Crackle-crackle—

Blazing golden Lei Ting spread outward; the four had already been fleeing at considerable speed.

Yet they were still caught by the Lei Ting and swiftly swallowed up!

"No!"

"I don't want to be eliminated!"

Accompanied by three screams, three people — including the tall, thin man — were directly annihilated by the Lei Ting and eliminated.

Only that peak fifth-tier Brother Yuan, though scorched black all over, gravely wounded and on the brink of death, had not yet been eliminated.

"So this is the lightning-type SS-grade ability, Doushen Shenlei? Too strong, way too strong..."

Brother Yuan stared with difficulty at the sturdy figure in the distance, a look of despair on his face.

He was the wielder of an Enhancement-type A-grade ability.

Before this, although he knew SS-grade abilities were powerful,

he hadn't expected that the opponent's mere single burst of ability would beat him into this state.

More than half his flesh and blood had already carbonized, his internal organs had stopped functioning, and even his meridians had been destroyed by the Lei Ting!

An ordinary person, with such injuries, would certainly be dead beyond any doubt.

That he was still alive was only thanks to his ability barely holding on.

"Oh? Still one alive?"

Xu Jingming lifted an eyelid and lashed out with another bolt of golden Lei Ting: "Die!"

Sizzle!

The Lei Ting struck Brother Yuan over a hundred meters away, utterly snuffing out his last breath of life and eliminating him.

'Name: Xu Jingming (Great Xia)

Competition Zone: Zone 73

Points:

Ranking: 52

......'

Xu Jingming's ranking had originally been around 100,000th.

But after slaying those four, his ranking instantly skyrocketed to 52nd!

And the outside world, too, rejoiced at his soaring ranking!