Chapter 609: Everyone Envies! The Arrival Halts!

Following the same method, Xu Jingming placed another water element essence above the water-element pool.

This time no one spoke up to stop him—after all, even Katherine on the light side hadn't said anything.

And these few water-system ability users weren't particularly strong fighters to begin with.

Not a single one of them was even a top-32 contestant; combined, they weren't even a match for Xu Jingming one-handed.

"Two element essences! Lei Di is way too extravagant!"

"So envious—if only I could have just one."

From time to time, envious exclamations rose from the surroundings.

An element essence capable of evolving an ability was absolutely a treasure every ability user dreamed of.

An SSS-rank resource wasn't even fit to carry its shoes in comparison!

For an ordinary ability user, getting even one would be a stroke of great luck—no one expected Xu Jingming to actually have two.

Xu Jingming paid no heed to their envious voices and spoke with Eva in his mind.

"How long will this water element essence take to repair?"

"The water element essence will repair a bit faster—about 27 days to restore it to a perfect 100% state."

"Oh? Why is that?" Xu Jingming was somewhat puzzled.

"On the light-element pool side, because Katherine is there—even though she hasn't done anything, her body is still absorbing light elements.

It's essentially competing with the element essence for light elements, which is why it's slower over there."

Eva explained.

As the wielder of the SS-rank ability 'Sacred Angel,' Katherine was innately attuned to light elements.

Just like Xu Jingming—ordinary lightning was useless against him; it would even be absorbed into his body.

"Katherine? So it's because of her?" Xu Jingming frowned.

After thinking it over, he still decided not to make a move.

The light-element pool was shared by everyone; placing an element essence in it to absorb wasn't an issue.

But if he were to act to drive other contestants away, the nature of it would change.

Norton was right there—the other party would never agree to it.

"Brother Yu, will you be staying at the primal energy pool during this period?"

Xu Jingming called out to Su Yu on the other side.

At this moment, Su Yu was sitting cross-legged in the primal energy pool, having just finished a stretch of cultivation.

Upon hearing Xu Jingming's question, he suppressed his aura and turned to look:

"What? Something going on?"

"There is something I'd like to ask Brother Yu to help with."

Xu Jingming smiled and said, "I'm heading to the forest area during this period—please keep an eye on these two element essences for me."

Although given his prestige, probably no one would dare use the element essences while he was away.

Still, caution is the sail that lasts ten thousand years—having someone watch over them is naturally safer.

"It's fine, I can do it, but aren't you planning to stay at the primal energy pool?"

Su Yu nodded first, then asked with some puzzlement.

The ability training method only allowed four hours of cultivation per day.

But even without cultivating, soaking in this primal energy pool brought great benefits.

He wasn't an element-system ability user, so the element pools were of little use to him.

So he planned to stay here cultivating for the entire month.

Most people shared the same idea.

The Clear Peak Secret Realm wasn't easy to enter—seizing every moment to improve was always for the best.

"The primal energy pool isn't really suited for me—I don't like sitting still. I feel like hunting fierce beasts will help me improve more."

Xu Jingming replied with a smile.

The other prodigies nearby were all somewhat surprised to hear this.

What's going on?

This was an opportunity equivalent to half a year of bitter cultivation, and Xu Jingming was actually willing to waste it for nothing.

Could hunting fierce beasts really be more important than cultivation?

Although Su Yu was also somewhat puzzled, he knew Xu Jingming wasn't foolish—there had to be a reason for doing this—so he nodded:

"Alright, go ahead with peace of mind. I'll keep watch here—no one will dare touch your element essences."

As an SS-rank ability awakener, an element essence that could only evolve into an S-rank ability held no appeal for him.

Moreover, he wasn't even an element system—he was an enhancement system.

"Thanks for the trouble."

After thanking him, Xu Jingming unfurled his Thunder Dragon Wings and was about to take off, when a quiet, clear female voice rang out from beside him:

"Why didn't you come to me? What, you think this second-place finisher isn't reliable?"

He turned and looked—it was none other than that girl Katherine.

Today she was wearing a pale-gold battle outfit; the figure wrapped within it was delicate and alluring, extremely tempting.

A head of golden hair cascaded like a waterfall down to her slender waist.

Paired with the sparkling light elements in the element pool, she looked both beautiful and sacred.

Unfortunately, her pretty face carried a faint hint of displeasure.

Xu Jingming hadn't expected that this girl Katherine was not only chuunibyou and airheaded, but sometimes even a little competitive.

He even cared about such a trivial matter.

Since the other party had brought it up themselves, he naturally wouldn't refuse:

"No, no. Since the Goddess my lord is interested, I'll leave this Light Element Essence to you then."

He couldn't have wished for more than to have another person help him keep watch.

Double insurance made it safer.

"That's more like it." Catherine's displeased expression eased slightly, and she gave a light snort.

"Eva, where is the place you mentioned where we can find plant lifeforms?"

After leaving the Element Pool, Xu Jingming flew slowly through the sky, the smart bracer on his left wrist already activated.

The projected light display showed the map of the Clear Peak Secret Realm that had been distributed to each contestant during the gathering the day before yesterday.

"Right here!"

Eva circled an area in the northeast direction on the map:

"There's a sea of plant flowers there, all plant lifeforms cultivated by the Flower God."

"Alright, I'll head over to take a look first."

The Clear Peak Secret Realm had been opened as a reward to the top 100 contestants during the very first Genius Competition a hundred years ago.

So much time had passed since then — even if there really were plant lifeforms, they would probably have been scavenged clean long ago.

But that didn't stop Xu Jingming from trying his luck.

If by some chance he could find a single surviving plant lifeform, that would be a huge windfall.

Whoosh—

The resplendent Thunder Dragon Wings fluttered slightly, golden Lei Guang flickering, and terrifying air currents surged outward.

Xu Jingming instantly broke through the sound barrier, transforming into a golden streak of light as he flew toward the northeast.

He had assumed that this Clear Peak Secret Realm, apart from contestants like themselves, shouldn't have anyone else in it.

But as Xu Jingming approached the northeast direction, he spotted an entire cluster of buildings below.

On the roads, scattered pedestrians walked along, each moving at extreme speed — at the very least, all of them were Tier-7 ability users.

"Looks like the Flower God's spatial relic has even been remodeled into a small city."

Eva clicked her tongue in wonder.

As a Supreme Being, in her era, the entire space had belonged solely to the Flower God.

Without her invitation, no one else could enter at all.

But by the Third Civilization era, it had been freely studied by others.

"Halt, who goes there!"

Just as Xu Jingming was curiously surveying the city ahead, a gust of violent wind swept in.

A middle-aged man, his entire body wreathed in sharp swift winds and his expression stern, rose up from the city below and shouted loudly in Daxia language.