Chapter 72: 7 Days! Distress Signal!

Encountering other psychics in the wasteland isn't uncommon.

Previously, when he was still in Ping'an County, Xu Jingming had encountered more than one psychic squad.

Among Jiang Chuxuan's group, apart from Jiang Chuxuan herself, whose aura was at Second Rank Mid-Level,

the other five men and women, resembling bodyguards, all had auras resembling Third Rank Mid- to Upper-Level.

According to the Great Xia Nation's Adventurer Accord, psychics in the wasteland are forbidden from attacking other psychics.

If caught attacking another psychic, they face extremely harsh penalties and are also looked down upon by other psychics.

Thus, most psychics abide by this rule.

But one must guard against others; facing Jiang Chuxuan's powerful Third Rank psychic squad,

Xu Jingming naturally dared not continue attacking the Windstorm Wolf, his gaze sharply watching them.

Yet this powerful Third Rank psychic squad seemed unaware of Xu Jingming, chatting and laughing among themselves.

"This Windstorm Wolf's surrounding wind power is strong—it should be Third Rank Mid-Level."

"A beast of this level is perfect as a kill target for Young Lady Jiang."

"Standard procedure: block its escape routes first."

"......"

In the wasteland, whichever psychic first discovers a beast owns it.

If another psychic steals it, they are seen as provoking a challenge.

But this group clearly didn't regard Xu Jingming, a Second Rank Upper-Level psychic, as worthy of notice.

They continued laughing, preparing to attack the Windstorm Wolf ahead.

Seeing this, Xu Jingming immediately frowned, before he could speak out,

Jiang Chuxuan, standing gracefully to the side, spoke first:

"Captain Wang, this beast was discovered by someone else—we should find another one."

Her voice was clear and melodious, like a skylark.

"Young Lady Jiang, this is a Third Rank Mid-Level beast.

Leaving it to this Second Rank Upper-Level kid seems inappropriate.

I fear that as soon as we leave, this kid will be devoured by the Windstorm Wolf."

The middle-aged man at the front, wielding sword and shield, said half-jokingly.

"Captain Wang, don't you remember I said last time that I dislike taking others' prey as filming material?"

Jiang Chuxuan's delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly.

Hearing such blunt words, the middle-aged man at the front instantly froze.

A faint, almost imperceptible cruelty flashed in his eyes, then his expression quickly returned to normal, smiling as he called to the other team members:

"Since Young Lady Jiang isn't satisfied, we can just go find another beast."

Soon, Jiang Chuxuan's group vanished from Xu Jingming's sight, disappearing into the forest.

A potential conflict was thus averted.

"This Jiang Chuxuan has a rather decent personality—she actually thinks of others."

Xu Jingming rubbed his chin.

Of course,

it's also possible she's a net celebrity deliberately cultivating her image in front of bystanders.

"Still, no matter what, her control over her team seems weak."

From Jiang Chuxuan's words, it was clear her team had stolen prey from other psychics more than once.

Moreover, Xu Jingming had been close to the middle-aged man just now and noticed the flicker of cruelty on his face when Jiang Chuxuan stopped them.

"But none of this concerns me much." Xu Jingming's gaze sharpened.

He paid little attention to the internet; if not for his high school buddy Zhang Hao, he wouldn't even know who Jiang Chuxuan was.

Besides, Jiang Chuxuan had passed the entrance exam for the Metropolis Psychic University

and become a video blogger with millions of followers—her intelligence must be high.

She probably knows full well the problems within her team...

"Roar—"

At this moment, seeing the powerful psychic squad depart,

the Windstorm Wolf, which had been hiding behind trees and ready to flee, leapt out again.

It roared, opening its bloodied maw.

Its eyes filled with hunger for fresh human flesh as it charged toward Xu Jingming!

Simultaneously, two pale green wind blades shot from his body.

"Oh, you're even more eager than I am."

A flash of lightning.

In the blink of an eye, Xu Jingming's figure vanished from his spot, appearing before the Windstorm Wolf after crossing over thirty meters.

The A-Rank combat technique "Lightning Flash" had been raised by him to Advanced Proficiency.

Combined with Xu Jingming's Second Rank Upper-Level strength, his maximum dash distance reached 54 meters!

"Roar—"

Surprised by the sudden appearance of the human, the Windstorm Wolf froze.

Before it could trigger another wind blade, Xu Jingming's low voice rang out again:

"Lightning Wind Break!!"

The Dark Cloud Gale Spear, filled with Purple Heaven Divine Thunder, was already gripped in his hand, empowered by the wind ability inherent to the spear's own body.

Lightning flashed— the spear thrust out like a bolt of lightning!

Puchī~~~

The next instant, the hard skull of the third-rank mid-tier Gale Fear Wolf was pierced straight through, as fragile as a watermelon.

Then, with a loud bang, Lei Ting exploded—the entire head shattered apart!

"Ding, slain one third-rank mid-tier Gale Fear Wolf, Ability Points +34."

A pleasant system notification sounded.

"Is the Ability Points reward for slaying a third-rank beast only thirty-something? Not bad."

Xu Jingming shook his spear, flicking off the residual blood on the tip.

Immediately, a faint glow flashed from the space ring on his hand, and a small dagger appeared in his left hand.

This dagger was forged from B-grade alloy, extremely sharp.

Because the dagger was light, even one made of B-grade alloy wasn't expensive—it had cost Xu Jingming only 790,000 Daya Coins.

And such a sharp dagger was naturally used for harvesting beast materials.

The most valuable part of the Gale Fear Wolf was its smooth pelt, an excellent material for making coats.

A complete wolf pelt could even sell for 500,000 Daya Coins.

This was why Xu Jingming chose to destroy the Gale Fear Wolf's head outright.

The dagger scraped close to the skin; it took over ten minutes to fully peel off the pelt intact.

"First prey slain. Next, find the second prey."

He casually tossed the pelt into his space ring, then gripped his spear and swiftly left the place.

Seven days later, 5:00 PM.

The summer sun poured freely down, the sky vast and cloudless.

In the mountain forest area, seven or eight Mighty Ape Monkeys moved through the jungle.

This was a group of Mighty Ape Monkey beasts.

They walked on all fours, their eyes scanning the surroundings with hungry hunger.

Clearly, they were hunting for prey, preparing to feed.

Suddenly, the leader of the Mighty Ape Monkeys at the front halted, sniffing the air warily.

Sensing something amiss, it opened its mouth to roar a warning.

But at that moment—swoosh! —a blue-purple Lei Mao shot out from the jungle!

Boom—rumble rumble!!

The Lei Mao flew at incredible speed, striking the leader in an instant.

Then, blue-purple lightning erupted violently!

As electric arcs danced and flickered, a thunderous mushroom cloud slowly rose.

The Mighty Ape Monkey leader, a third-rank upper-tier beast, was reduced to charred flesh and collapsed, gravely wounded by the Lei Mao's explosion.

"Hou hou—"

"Sī hǒu—"

"......"

The remaining Mighty Ape Monkeys panicked, roaring threateningly in all directions.

Then, a tall human figure emerged from the jungle, wielding a dark-gold spear,

his body wreathed in lightning, resembling Lei Shen.

"That Lei Mao didn't kill it outright—Mighty Ape Monkeys truly live up to their reputation as third-rank beasts famed for defense."

Xu Jingming shook his head; the Mighty Ape Monkey leader would still need a finishing blow.

"But for now, let's deal with you little pests first! Lei Yu!!"

Crackling—

Amidst piercing thunder, a lightning prison twenty meters in diameter engulfed Xu Jingming and all the beasts.

One Mighty Ape Monkey tried to break out—but the instant it touched the prison, its skin turned instantly charred black!

Overcome by searing pain, it hastily retreated.

"None of you will escape!"

Xu Jingming's eyes flashed—Lei Guang shimmered—and he charged into the Mighty Ape Monkey group, spear in hand.

"Lei Shan!"

"Lightning Gale Break!"

"Chain Lightning Spear!"

"......"

Xu Jingming's spear technique had now advanced to Master level, reaching a realm of divine mastery.

Combined with multiple A-grade combat arts, his power was terrifying!

Thus, the third-rank Mighty Ape Monkey group—enough to frighten most Ability User squads—

was entirely slaughtered by Xu Jingming, one by one, with his Dark Cloud Gale Spear, in less than five or six minutes.

"Hu—"

Xu Jingming stood tall on the grass, spear in hand, slowly exhaling a breath of stale air.

Around him lay the corpses of Mighty Ape Monkeys; their blood had dyed the once-lush green forest grass a deep crimson.

"Deep Blue."

Xu Jingming opened his system panel:

【Name】: Xu Jingming

【Level】: Second-Rank Upper Tier

【Ability】: Purple Thunder Doushen Shenlei (S)

【Physique】: 1317 Qi (+)

【Spirit】: 981 He (+)

【Skills】: Spear Technique (Master), Fist Technique (Intermediate+), Lei Mao (Advanced+), Chain Lianhuan Lei Qiang (Intermediate+), Thunder Flash (Advanced+), Thunder Prison (Intermediate+), Lightning Gale Break (Advanced+)

【Body Cultivation】: Thunder Indestructible Body (Third Stage)

【Ability Points】: 3267

"Another two hundred Ability Points added. Not bad."

Xu Jingming nodded in satisfaction.

The efficiency of gaining Ability Points in the mountain forest zone was indeed much faster than in the city ruins.

In just seven days, he had accumulated over three thousand Ability Points.

"But I already have over three thousand Ability Points—why hasn't the plus sign appeared after my level?"

Xu Jingming frowned slightly.

When he advanced from First-Rank Upper Tier to Second-Rank Lower Tier last time, it cost him over twelve hundred Ability Points.

The two subsequent advances—to Second-Rank Middle Tier and then Upper Tier—cost fifteen hundred and eighteen hundred respectively.

He had assumed that three thousand Ability Points would be enough to reach Third Rank.

But it still wasn't enough.

"To advance from Second Rank to Third Rank, I might need four thousand Ability Points."

Xu Jingming silently estimated.

Even if he had enough Ability Points to level up, he wouldn't choose to raise his level.

He would keep this batch of Ability Points to learn combat techniques once he returned to school.

"S-rank combat techniques available to Second-Rank Ability Users—I've been looking forward to them for a long time..."

For Ability Users, level doesn't always mean everything.

Only when level and combat techniques are combined can maximum combat power be unleashed!

Why do outstanding students from the Metropolis Ability University often kill beasts or other Ability Users of higher ranks?

Because they master stronger combat techniques and possess superior battle skills!

With only level but no suitable combat techniques, it's like a baby holding a sharp dagger—unable to maximize one's true strength.

This is why Xu Jingming never wasted all his Ability Points solely on leveling up.

Instead, he improved them alongside combat techniques and spear skills.

After all, with a solid foundation, the path to becoming a true powerhouse can be walked much farther.

"Hum~~"

"Hum~~"

At that moment, the smartwatch on Xu Jingming's wrist suddenly vibrated.

He instinctively tapped open the map on his smartwatch.

Besides the green dot representing his own position, a white dot was now emitting signals continuously.

"This is... a distress signal?"

Xu Jingming's eyebrows lifted slightly.

The smartwatches issued by this supply base, besides their built-in maps, had one crucial function: sending out distress signals.

At this moment, the hidden location information would be exposed to all Ability Users' smartwatches within a two-kilometer radius.

It was up to each Ability User to decide whether to rescue or ignore.

Of course, most adventurer teams receiving the distress signal would go to investigate the area before deciding.

"The distress signal doesn't seem far from me—I might as well go check the situation first..."

After a moment's thought, Xu Jingming set off toward it.

If it was merely a weak Third-Rank beast, lending a hand wouldn't hurt.

But if it was a powerful Fourth-Rank beast, he could do nothing.