Chapter 874: ATTRIBUTE SURGE! NEXT TARGET!

Deep underground, Xu Jingming was wreathed in black lightning, his aura dangerous and lethal.

"This is what an eighth-rank Grand Master feels like..."

Xu Jingming slowly opened his eyes.

The entire underground space flashed with light, as if a bolt of lightning had sliced through his pupils.

He could feel an endless stream of power surging up from within him.

Every gesture, every movement, seemed to carry astonishing destructive force.

"Congratulations, S-Class, you've successfully broken through to the eighth rank—closer than ever to the ninth-rank Martial Saint."

In midair, the twin-tailed little girl Eva chirped her congratulations with a playful tone, then bowed mockingly.

"For an energy user, reaching the eighth rank is indeed a crucial step. We can celebrate properly once we get back in a couple of days," Xu Jingming smiled.

For the past month, Xu Jingming had stayed entirely within the Outlands of Dayangzhou, never leaving.

Although he hadn't used any large-scale lightning techniques, his daily energy point increase of over 100, 00 must have come at the cost of countless ferocious beasts' deaths.

High-rank ferocious beasts possessed intelligence equal to humans; such a terrifying rate of death among them had surely drawn their attention.

In recent days, he had clearly sensed the beasts beginning to shrink their territories, retreating into concentrated areas.

Even seventh- and eighth-rank ferocious beasts were patrolling and sweeping through their own domains.

This forced him to act with extreme caution—kill and leave immediately.

While this ensured his safety, it also meant a sharp drop in efficiency for harvesting energy points.

So he planned to return to Daxia first, then come back to the Dayangzhou Outlands after some time—or find another outland area as an alternative.

"Finally going back? That's amazing!"

The little girl Eva blinked her big eyes, her adorable face brimming with excitement.

The outlands consisted only of forests, mountains, and endless ferocious beasts.

At first it was fine, but staying too long became boring.

More importantly, she had no physical form and couldn't connect to the outside network while in the outlands.

Without Xu Jingming keeping her company, it was practically like prison.

"By the way, has your mother contacted you again recently?" Xu Jingming asked.

Communication between intelligent life forms relied on special psychic energy, not signals.

Thus, even in the outlands, Da Eva could reach out without issue.

"No," the little girl shook her head. "After sending us that last warning, she fell back into slumber."

"Understood," Xu Jingming nodded slightly.

Even without Da Eva's intelligence, it didn't matter.

A month had passed; he could now piece together some details about the Second Civilization's Seed Project.

He had just broken through to the eighth rank, giving him sufficient strength to handle any changes that might come.

"Deep Blue."

Without further speaking to Eva, Xu Jingming silently murmured the name—immediately, a pale blue virtual interface appeared in his mind.

【Name】: Xu Jingming

【Rank】: Eighth Rank, Lower Tier

【Energy】: Chaos Divine Thunder (SSS)

【Physique】: Blood Qi (+)

【Spirit】: He (+)

When he noticed his Physique and Spirit attributes, Xu Jingming paused in surprise.

Had these stats increased too much?

His Physique had broken past 100, 00 blood qi points!

His spiritual energy had also surged dramatically—just over five thousand points away from reaching the 100, 00 threshold!

"So breaking from seventh-rank peak to eighth rank boosted both my core attributes by over thirty thousand points!"

Xu Jingming's eyes gleamed.

No wonder he felt vastly stronger—such a dramatic stat increase couldn't help but make him powerful.

Recall that

when he previously broke from seventh-rank middle to seventh-rank upper, his stats had only risen by seven thousand points.

"No wonder it gets harder to fight across ranks as energy users climb higher—this gap in stats is simply too vast."

At this moment, Xu Jingming gained a deeper appreciation for the absurdity of an SSS-tier energy.

It allowed him to fight across ranks even at eighth and ninth rank.

"If I faced that ninth-rank Sabertooth Tiger Emperor again, I could kill it completely within one minute."

Xu Jingming raised his right hand.

About ten centimeters above his palm, the SSS-tier Chaos Divine Thunder coalesced into a black lightning sphere.

The black sphere was no larger than a ping-pong ball, yet the aura it emitted

was stronger than the SS-tier Thunder Dragon Art he had unleashed at seventh-rank upper!

And this was merely a basic application of his lightning energy.

Imagine the power unleashed if he activated a full lightning technique.

"Too bad I'm about to leave the outlands—otherwise I could've hunted a ninth-rank Beast Emperor to test my current strength."

"Not necessarily. With my power surge now, I can head straight to the edge of the Dayangzhou Outlands, kill a Beast Emperor, and teleport out immediately."

Xu Jingming mused inwardly.

He had now penetrated over a thousand kilometers into the outlands.

Even the 600-kilometer teleportation range of his Space Beast Bone couldn't get him out of the outlands in one go.

A ninth-rank Beast Emperor's energy points were at least 150, 00—still very valuable to him now.

"Eva, open the map."

Hum—

Eva waved her small hand, and the map of the Dayangzhou Outlands reappeared before him.

Dozens of familiar glowing dots marked Beast Emperor-level ferocious beasts.

But this time, his position was far deeper.

A quick scan revealed a suitable target—Storm Wrath Dragon!

It was a ninth-rank lower-tier Beast Emperor.

Though also a Lord-class beast, its strength far surpassed that of the Sabertooth Tiger Emperor.

The Storm Wrath Dragon's territory lay less than three hundred kilometers from the edge of the Dayangzhou Outlands.

Killing it would allow him to teleport out immediately.

"The Storm Wrath Dragon's territory is vast, and it can fly—it won't stay in one place."

"Search for two hours within its domain; if I don't find it, leave immediately."

Xu Jingming no longer dared use the same tactic that lured the Sabertooth Tiger Emperor before.

Back when he was seventh-rank upper, his Ten Thousand Thunder Prison technique already covered 175 square kilometers.

Now that he'd reached eighth rank, the range would be even more terrifying.

If he unleashed Ten Thousand Thunder Prison and failed to lure the Storm Wrath Dragon, he might instead alarm even stronger Beast Emperors—that would be disastrous.

With that thought, Xu Jingming made no further hesitation.

His alloy blade once again spiraled around him, violently spinning to excavate the soil above, breaking upward.

Once free of the underground, he unfurled his Lei Long Wings and flew toward the Storm Wrath Dragon's territory.