Chapter 773: 340,000 Ability Points! Return!

"I only wanted to test my combat technique; never expected to run into a ninth-rank beast emperor."

Xu Jingming frowned deeply.

A flash of light from his space ring revealed a blood-red pill emitting a medicinal aroma in his hand.

Grade-eight Blood-Explosion Pill!

One of the pills he purchased before entering the wilderness, specifically for situations like this.

"I'm about fifty kilometers from Nixi; with the Blood-Explosion Pill, I should have enough speed to escape."

With unprecedented calm in his dragon pupils, Xu Jingming swallowed the Blood-Explosion Pill in one gulp.

BOOM!!

His seventh-rank mid-level aura surged instantly, his entire body wreathed in swirling blood qi.

The might of the All-Heaven Thunder also skyrocketed!

The golden Thunder Dragon Wings turned slightly crimson; his flight speed leapt from 1. times the speed of sound to 2. times!!

WHOOSH—

His body wreathed in lightning, he darted through the forest like a phantom.

At this point, he no longer needed to slash through trees with his blade.

Merely the shockwave from his flight was enough to snap every tree along his path.

Even trees not shattered by the shockwave were instantly melted and severed the moment they touched the All-Heaven Thunder surrounding his body.

BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—

Vast swathes of trees toppled; Xu Jingming reached within ten kilometers of the super-city Nixi in less than a minute.

At that moment, the Wind-Blade Black Eagle let out a frustrated screech and finally turned away.

"Phew, finally gave up."

Feeling the terrifying mental lock vanish, Xu Jingming halted his movement.

Heat rose from his skin; an unhealthy flush spread across his face.

That was the side effect of the Blood-Explosion Pill.

In no more than ten minutes, once the pill's effect faded, he would fall into extreme weakness.

"Little Sword! Dig me a hole."

The Thunder Dragon Wings retracted; Xu Jingming descended slowly to the ground.

Simultaneously, the Thorned Sword-Grass vines whipped through the air, swiftly excavating a pit over fifty meters deep!

Xu Jingming leapt down into the earth.

Then he ordered the Thorned Sword-Grass to refill the soil above, while expanding the underground space to the size of a bedroom.

"S-Class, why did you suddenly think to use the Wan Leitian Lock in the wilderness?"

The twin-tailed little girl Eva emerged from his smart bracer, puzzled.

"I just wanted to test my combat technique; I was careless this time."

Xu Jingming exited Thunder Storm Mode and shook his head slightly.

He could never admit he'd done it to gain more ability points.

Exiting Thunder Storm Mode was also to reduce the negative effects of the Blood-Explosion Pill.

The more power he used while the pill's effect lasted, the worse the side effects became.

"The Dayangzhou wilderness is the beasts' territory; though beasts don't build cities like humans,

they still have their own domains, with a ninth-rank beast emperor guarding nearly every dozen kilometers.

Ordinary human ability users don't attract their attention.

But high-risk energy fluctuations are instantly sensed, triggering pursuit.

Luckily you had the Blood-Explosion Pill, and Nixi wasn't far—otherwise this would've been trouble."

Eva whispered a warning, "Next time, test your techniques in the virtual world—the wilderness is too dangerous."

High-rank beasts possess intelligence equal to humans.

Humans know ability users grow gradually, so they protect low-rank ones.

Beasts naturally protect low-rank beasts too.

Stationing a ninth-rank beast emperor every so often is their way of protection.

Otherwise, low-rank beasts would've been hunted to extinction by ninth-rank ability users long ago.

After all, for a ninth-rank Law Sage,

even a wilderness spanning over five million square kilometers is merely a few days' work to clear.

"Understood," Xu Jingming replied with a bitter smile.

This was a lesson learned—Wan Leitian Lock can't be used in the wilderness anymore; the risk is too high.

"Once I become a Supreme, I'll use it however I want!"

Xu Jingming thought fiercely to himself.

For now, I'll play it safe—once my strength rises, I'll kill you all!

A seventh-rank mid-level ability user can only consume grade-seven Blood-Explosion Pills.

If he swallowed a higher-grade eight, the side effects wouldn't just be temporary weakness.

After the effect kicked in, he might explode outright.

Xu Jingming dared to do it only because his physique was exceptionally strong.

The final cost was brutal: after the Blood-Explosion Pill, his extreme weakness forced him to use an S-Class Heaven-Spirit Spring to recover.

Even then, he rested underground for two full days before regaining peak condition.

And that single Wan Leitian Lock only granted him 90, 00 ability points.

He could've earned those 90, 00 points in three days of normal beast hunting.

Now he got them in two days—seemed like a profit.

But he spent one grade-eight Blood-Explosion Pill worth 500 million Star Coins, plus a bottle of S-Class Heaven-Spirit Spring.

And he risked his life.

In short, this impulsive, greedy move left him severely in the red.

But it served as a warning: before possessing absolute strength, never draw attention in the wilderness.

So, in his subsequent beast hunts,

he no longer unleashed the noisy Wan Leitian Lock—instead, he hunted steadily and methodically.

Soon, it was May 14th—only one day remained until his date with Leng Yuexi on May 15th.

That afternoon at six, Xu Jingming hid in a cave, tallying his haul.

"One eighth-rank beast, six seventh-rank beasts, plus..."

Sitting cross-legged on the ground beneath a golden thunderball, roughly the size of a ping-pong ball, serving as light,

his originally pitch-black SSS-Class Black Soul Battle Suit had been stained dark red by beast blood over these battles.

Even his black hair carried a tinge of crimson.

"These beast materials will fetch about 2. billion Star Coins when I return."

Xu Jingming thought silently.

His luck had been good on the day he arrived in Nixi from Mocheng—he'd stumbled upon a group of eighth-rank Thunder-Horn Black Monkeys.

Since then, his luck hadn't been great—he'd only encountered one eighth-rank beast.

But beast materials were secondary; what mattered most were ability points.

【Ability Points】: 346, 00

More than ten days ago, his ability points had been depleted from upgrading his Soul-Refining Art—now they were replenished to 346, 00.

But there were few options left to upgrade; only combat technique proficiency could be enhanced.

His Body-Building Art, Soul-Refining Art, and Thunder Domain could not be upgraded further.

"My Thunder Domain is still only at the first level—340, 00 ability points still aren't enough to upgrade it.

Clearly, advancing the Thunder Domain is far harder than I thought."

Xu Jingming took a deep breath, then rose from the ground.

Tomorrow was the day he'd agreed to meet Leng Yuexi—he had to return tonight.