Chapter 608

Hu—

Hu—

Wind howled past his ears as the landscape below blurred by rapidly.

Although he had been slightly delayed due to speaking with Eva,

Xu Jingming still quickly caught up to and overtaken Catherine, who was leading.

"When did this guy get so fast in his normal form?"

Catherine's emerald eyes filled with astonishment.

As the runner-up in both the Peak Competition and the Defense-Offense Competition, she had also received two SS-grade cultivation resources.

After consuming them, her strength had risen significantly.

Back during the Talent Competition, she had always been faster than Xu Jingming in flight speed.

Logically, as a mid-tier sixth-rank adept, her current flight speed should have been faster than his.

In reality, it should have been that way.

But Xu Jingming had used Phantom Thunder Step to accelerate himself during flight, testing his maximum speed—and that was why.

Two hundred kilometers sounded far.

Yet under conditions with no threat from flying beasts and a direct flight path, Xu Jingming arrived in under ten minutes.

On the ground below lay eight circular pools: one large and seven small.

The central pool had a diameter of over a hundred meters, filled with solidified milky-white elemental energy.

It churned like an ocean.

The other seven pools were slightly smaller, each about fifty meters in diameter.

Each glowed with a different color, corresponding to wind, fire, water, earth, lightning, light, and darkness.

Every elemental pool brimmed with dense elemental energy.

Xu Jingming retracted his Thunder Dragon Wings and landed before the largest elemental energy pool.

"In normal form, the maximum speed of Thunder Dragon Wings is about 400 meters per second.

But after activating Phantom Thunder Step, it jumped to 420 meters per second!"

Xu Jingming was pleased.

He had assumed Phantom Thunder Step merely enhanced his agility while using Thunder Dragon Wings.

He hadn't expected it to boost flight speed too!

A 20-meter-per-second increase seemed minor—but this was still just normal form.

If he entered Thunder Extreme State or Thunder Storm State, with All-Heaven Thunder in peak activity, the boost would be terrifying!

"Xu Jingming, you're the first to arrive.

How about challenging me first? Each contestant gets three challenge attempts."

Not far away, Norton smiled and spoke.

The other two ninth-rank adepts had vanished somewhere.

"No, I'll challenge later," Xu Jingming shook his head.

He didn't yet have a guaranteed win; better to wait until near the end, a month from now.

Norton wasn't surprised by this answer and simply stood aside.

Xu Jingming, meanwhile, studied the elemental energy pool before him.

Elemental energy existed throughout the surrounding heavens and earth, invisible to the naked eye.

Yet now, liquid elemental energy filled the entire pool, with elemental weapons rising in steam.

The whole pool resembled a fairyland.

"Step into the elemental energy pool, activate your adept cultivation method, and you'll achieve optimal cultivation speed," Norton called from afar.

"Thank you for the reminder, elder," Xu Jingming replied, then stepped into the pool.

The water wasn't deep—barely reaching his knees.

Before he even activated his adept cultivation method, he already felt elemental energy seeping into his body through his legs.

"Let's test my cultivation speed."

He sat cross-legged in the pool and silently activated his adept cultivation method.

The elemental energy, previously seeping in, now surged into him like a whale drinking, strengthening his physique and spirit.

Soon, he sank into deep meditation, not opening his eyes until over two hours later.

By then, most of the prodigies had arrived.

Many sat cross-legged in the pool, meditating quietly, just like him.

Others sat in the other elemental pools, silently attuning to elemental forces.

They sought to improve their control proficiency while hoping for their adept abilities to evolve.

"Cultivation speed is indeed six times faster than outside..." Xu Jingming thought silently.

For other adepts, this was an ideal cultivation ground.

But for him, it was better to spend this time hunting beasts and harvesting adept points.

While flying in, he'd already surveyed the area—the density of beasts here, though not as high as in Dayangzhou, was still decent.

A full cultivation session required four hours.

Using those four hours to hunt beasts would yield faster progress than staying in the elemental energy pool.

"I've seen the elemental energy pool. Now, let's check the elemental pools." Xu Jingming first walked toward the light elemental pool.

At this moment, including Catherine, several light-adepts sat within the pool, deeply attuning.

"Let's test whether this light elemental pool can repair the elemental essence."

Xu Jingming pulled the damaged light elemental essence from his space ring.

Xu Jingming directly took the incomplete light element essence out of his space ring.

The moment the light elemental essence appeared, it blazed with blinding radiance.

The light energy in the pool ahead instantly stirred.

The next instant,

the light energy from the pool surged violently, pouring directly into the elemental essence!!

"Whoa, what is that? It's absorbing light energy!"

"I sense intense light energy emanating from it!"

"Is this... elemental essence?!"

"Could this be… element essence?!"

The agitated light energy drew attention from many, even causing Catherine to open her eyes.

Among the prodigies present, several recognized it as elemental essence—the key to evolving adept abilities.

Upon learning this, the several A-rank light-adepts stared at the glowing orb with boundless longing.

"Lei Di, will you sell this light elemental essence? I'll pay any price!"

One adept immediately called out eagerly.

"Not for sale."

Xu Jingming shook his head, ignoring the man's disappointed expression, and asked Eva silently:

"Is the light elemental essence repairing? How long until it's fully restored?"

"Yes, it's repairing rapidly. It will reach 100% integrity in about 36 days," Eva replied.

"36 days?" Xu Jingming frowned—he could only stay in the realm for 30 days.

"Thirty-six days?" Xu Jingming frowned; he could only stay in the secret realm for thirty days.

Also, the elemental essence absorbed light energy. Although Norton hadn't intervened,

if Xu Jingming wanted to extend his stay to absorb more light energy, it would surely be forbidden.

"Forget it. In 30 days, it'll reach about 90% integrity—enough."

Xu Jingming released the light elemental essence, letting it hover above the pool to absorb light energy.

As he turned to walk toward the water elemental pool, a Black man rose from within the light elemental pool and barked in Mandarin:

"Xu Jingming! This light elemental pool isn't yours alone—how dare you let that thing keep absorbing?"

"So? You have a problem?" Xu Jingming raised an eyebrow, his gaze heavy with pressure fixed on the man.

He didn't recognize him—he must be a contestant who hadn't fought him in the Talent Competition.

Under Xu Jingming's stare, the man froze, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

He hadn't fought Xu Jingming before—he hadn't expected such overwhelming pressure!

"It's not that I have a problem—it's that you're harming the interests of us light-adepts!"

The Black man forced down his fear, turning to the others in the pool, seeking support:

"You agree, right? Letting this thing absorb light energy will ruin our attunement!"

But the others in the pool looked at him as if he were an idiot.

Yes, it did interfere with their attunement.

But even Norton, the official, hadn't stopped Xu Jingming—meaning this behavior was tacitly permitted!

Under these circumstances, unless someone could defeat Xu Jingming, there was no way to stop him.

Under these circumstances, unless someone could defeat Xu Jingming, there was no way to stop him from doing this.

But the talent competition had already proven that no one present was a match for Xu Jingming.

Naturally, none of them wanted to invite trouble upon themselves.

"It seems no one shares your opinion."

Xu Jingming grinned, playing with the furious Doushen Divine Thunder in his hand: "Now, do you still have any objections?"

"N-no more." The Black man hurriedly replied.

Afraid that if he delayed even a moment, Xu Jingming would already hurl the Doushen Divine Thunder at him.

"Tsk, truly tyrannical," Norton observed with interest from beside him.

The Yuan Energy Pool and Element Pools were originally meant for these prodigies.

Who used more, who used less—entirely up to their own ability; he wouldn't interfere.

He had expected Xu Jingming's tyrannical behavior to provoke some resistance, perhaps even another fight.

But unexpectedly, Xu Jingming had merely spoken a few words and cast a single glance, and they were all cowed.

This also indirectly demonstrated the immense pressure Xu Jingming exerted.

PS: Tomorrow is the college entrance exam—best of luck to all students! May you all rank high on the merit list and get into your dream universities!