Chapter 614: Sixth-Rank Middle Tier! Did Xu Jingming Have an Accident?

All an adept's power comes from competition and snatching!

This is evident both at Mo University and Lei Ting Martial Hall.

Hiding one's strength and talent is the stupidest approach.

Only by showcasing oneself and fully leveraging one's power to gain advantages is the correct path.

From the moment he began tracking Erin, Xu Jingming had already decided to take the plant life she found.

If he were stealing from a Daxia citizen, he might feel some psychological burden.

But since she's a foreigner, he won't hesitate an inch.

Blame it on Erin's excessive carelessness.

If it were him, he'd surely scatter seeds along the way and secretly use his adept power to accelerate their growth, preventing anyone from tracking or approaching...

After successfully finding the plant life, Xu Jingming resumed his hunt for ferocious beasts.

The adept points on his system panel also surged steadily.

By January 12th, it was the final night before leaving Qingfeng Secret Realm.

The adept points Xu Jingming had accumulated on his system panel had reached a staggering 510,000!

At the same time, another plus sign appeared beside his level.

"Although the density of ferocious beasts here in Qingfeng Secret Realm doesn't match the wild zones of Dayangzhou,

the advantage is that the beasts are of high rank—at least fourth-rank ferocious beasts!

And they won't actively attack humans, greatly reducing the risk of me being discovered and targeted by high-rank beasts."

In a cave, Xu Jingming silently summarized his gains over this period.

Compared to a month ago, his ruggedly handsome face was now plainly worn out.

The reason was simple: over this past month, he had slept only three times, each session under eight hours.

The rest of the time, he spent entirely hunting ferocious beasts!

Otherwise, he wouldn't have accumulated so many adept points.

"I must leave Qingfeng Secret Realm at nine tomorrow morning; before that, I still need to fight Norton.

With my current strength, I should be able to defeat him.

But for safety's sake, I'd better level up first."

With a thought, Xu Jingming decisively clicked the plus sign on his system panel!

Adept Points -510,000!

Level: Sixth-Rank Lower Tier → Sixth-Rank Middle Tier!

【Body】: Blood Qi → Blood Qi!

【Spirit】: He → He!

Boom!!

His muscles rapidly strengthened; his spiritual power surged in his consciousness sea.

These changes lasted over a minute before stopping!

Xu Jingming's body and spirit surged by nearly 3,500 points during this advancement!

"I've broken through!" Xu Jingming suddenly opened his eyes, a flash of brilliance in them.

"Congratulations, S-Class, you've successfully advanced to Sixth-Rank Middle Tier."

The twin-tailed little girl Eva floated midair, swinging her glistening little feet as she giggled in congratulations.

It had been less than two months since Xu Jingming's last advancement.

Even a prodigy like Catherine would need at least half a year, even over a year, to advance from Sixth-Rank Lower Tier to Sixth-Rank Middle Tier.

Xu Jingming's advancement speed was simply terrifying!

Fortunately, Eva had followed Xu Jingming for some time and had long grown accustomed to this monstrous pace of advancement.

Fortunately, Yiwa had been following Xu Jingming for some time now and had long grown accustomed to this monstrous rate of advancement.

The thorn-sword grass beside him also joyfully swayed its branches in celebration.

"Now that I've advanced to Sixth-Rank Middle Tier, Norton is no longer a threat." Xu Jingming slowly exhaled a long breath.

In addition to successfully leveling up,

the SS+ combat technique "Cang Lei Ba Wang Spear" and the SSS-level combat technique "Lei Tianlao Yin" had already been learned over ten days ago.

The power of "Cang Lei Ba Wang Spear" was astonishing—far stronger than the S+ level "Lei Guan Mo Sha Spear" by several times!

The activation range of "Lei Tianlao Yin" reached a full ten kilometers!

Once released, the entire area would turn into a sea of lightning.

Before entering, Norton had warned him: hunting ferocious beasts was fine, but try to avoid damaging the forest environment.

Thus, though he desperately wanted to test the power of this SSS-level technique, Xu Jingming had no choice but to abandon it.

He could only wait until returning to Dayangzhou to try it.

"Eva, I'm going to sleep for ten hours. Wake me up then."

He hadn't slept for eight days and nights straight; the continuous battles had pushed him to his limit.

Though advancing to Sixth-Rank Middle Tier had restored some of his energy,

it hadn't fully recovered—he still needed more rest.

"S-Class, it's already 10:33 PM. Are you sure you still want to sleep ten more hours?"

Eva couldn't help reminding him, "By the time you return to the Yuan Neng Pond tomorrow, you'll have less than half an hour left for the challenge."

"Don't worry—half an hour is more than enough."

"Don't worry, half an hour is more than enough."

The Thorn Sword Grass sprouted many branches, and in just a few breaths, it formed a thick, soft grass bed.

Xu Jingming lay down on it comfortably, without worrying about any fierce beasts suddenly attacking, and quickly fell into a deep sleep......

"Held on for 34 seconds, reward: one S+ grade resource."

"Held on for 10 seconds, no reward."

"Held on for 1 minute 23 seconds, reward: one SS grade resource."

"......"

January 13th — this was the final day for leaving the Clear Peak Secret Realm.

It wasn't yet six in the morning, yet quite a few contestants had already begun challenging Norton.

Although he had suppressed his rank to the lower tier of seventh rank, his combat experience as a ninth-rank Martial Saint was something these prodigies could not match at all.

More critically, the longer a contestant held on, the higher the rank of combat technique Norton would use! And the faster his strikes!

Therefore, most people could only hold on for roughly 10 seconds or so before being eliminated.

The slightly better ones could hold on for over 30 seconds and obtain one S+ grade resource.

Nine contestants held on for over a minute and obtained one SS grade resource.

Those who could hold on for 5 minutes and obtain an SS+ grade resource — only Katherine, Su Yu, and Andre were among them.

Among them, Katherine held on the longest, reaching over ten minutes.

She and Norton were evenly matched in strength; neither could defeat the other, and in the end it was Katherine who chose to end the battle proactively.

Su Yu and Andre performed slightly worse, but only by a small margin.

Just like that, time rapidly slipped away.

Soon it was 8:31, and only the final half hour remained before leaving the Clear Peak Secret Realm.

Everyone present had completed their challenge against Norton.

Yet some people noticed that Xu Jingming, the number one person of the Genius Tournament, had still not returned.

"What's going on? Could something have happened to Lei Di?"

"No idea. From the very first day, Lei Di hasn't come back."

"I heard from Lord Norton that there are eighth-rank fierce beasts in this forest — could Lei Di have provoked one?"

"......"

As the many contestants discussed among themselves, they all suspected that something had happened to Xu Jingming.

After all, although this Clear Peak Secret Realm was a reward for the Genius Tournament, it still carried a certain degree of danger.

Although the probability of a prodigy dying in the secret realm was very low, it wasn't as if it had never happened in previous years.