Chapter 937: Awareness! Breaking Through Eighth-Stage Middle!

Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—

In the sky above the ice plain, three figures—two white, one black—flashed past like phantoms.

They were Nawa, Kent, and Nila of the Sect of Destiny.

One S-rank Ninth-Stage Lower, two A-rank Ninth-Stage Middle.

They had been in the seventh layer of the Void-Piercing Tower for nearly ten hours and still had not found the passage to the next level.

But they had gathered plenty of Void Stones; all three now ranked within the top thirty.

Boom—boom—boom!!

A muffled thunder rolled in from the right horizon.

Dark clouds gathered, and bolts of black lightning surged like furious dragons within them.

“Lightning?”

Nawa, the lead white man, suddenly halted and turned toward the direction; Kent and Nila behind him also slowed.

“It’s the aura of a lightning ability—and it’s strong.”

Kent, the Ninth-Stage Middle Law Saint, sensed carefully and spoke thoughtfully.

The storm was at least several hundred kilometers away.

But because of its sheer scale, they had detected it.

“The seventh layer of the Void-Piercing Tower is an ice world—there can’t be any lightning-type ferocious beasts here.

That means someone with a lightning ability is casting there.

And... this scale of lightning? At least an Eighth-Stage Grand Master, possibly even a Ninth-Stage powerhouse.”

Nawa narrowed his eyes and licked his lips with excitement.

“Should we go take a look? That might be the Divine Son’s target.”

Nila, the slightly shorter black woman among them, asked.

“Of course.”

Nawa’s face twisted into a bloodthirsty grin. “Whether it’s Xu Jingming or not—kill them all.”

As members of the Sect of Destiny, killing had become instinct.

Along their path just now, over a hundred ability users had already fallen to their hands.

“Right. Let’s go.”

Kent nodded with a smile; the three immediately turned and flew toward the storm.

‘Ding! Slain one Seventh-Stage Lower beast, Ice Plain Demon Spider. Ability points +10,000.’

‘Ding! Slain one Fourth-Stage Upper beast, Ice-Armored Iron Boar. Ability points +832.’

‘Ding! Slain one Fourth-Stage Middle beast, Frost White Snake. Ability points +746.’

‘......’

Beneath the black sea of lightning, Xu Jingming was surrounded by swirling black thunder.

System alerts chimed continuously in his mind; his ability points surged on the interface.

Tall and standing firm, Xu Jingming gazed at the ability points column, silently pondering.

After breaking through the Divine Spirit Art, his spiritual force reached an utterly terrifying level.

The Wan Leitianlao Yin, though a group attack technique, could severely injure even a Ninth-Stage powerhouse if caught off-guard.

Below Ninth-Stage? Instantly obliterated.

This beast aggregation zone was sizable—over a thousand square kilometers—with a massive number of beasts.

In just those five or six seconds, he’d gained over 400,000 ability points!

But the weakest beasts were already dead; future gains would drop sharply.

As he predicted, when the Wan Leitianlao Yin reached the tenth second, the rate of ability point gain began to slow.

By the fifteenth second, the increase had nearly halted.

“Looks like I’ve killed all the beasts in this area.”

Xu Jingming shifted his spiritual force; the sky’s black lightning vanished instantly, and the dark clouds dissolved.

The once-beautiful glacial landscape before him was now a wasteland, pockmarked with craters.

Residual black lightning still flickered and darted through the ruins.

This devastation stretched for over a thousand square kilometers...

“This is the power of lightning ability—utterly devastating.”

Watching the apocalyptic scene before him, Su Qingli murmured in awe.

Though she too wielded lightning ability, the gap between S-rank and SSS-rank was immense.

Her own Wan Leitianlao Yin, even if cast over the same area, could never inflict damage on this scale.

Xu Jingming said nothing; his focus was entirely on his system interface, his face alight with excitement.

【Name】: Xu Jingming

【Level】: Eighth-Stage Lower (+)

【Ability Points】: 2,013,400

Two million one hundred thirty-four thousand ability points!

That single burst had granted him 800,000 ability points!

More crucially, the points had reached the threshold for level advancement.

“Teacher, I’m breaking through. Guard the surroundings for me.”

Xu Jingming spoke softly.

At this moment, his system interface also allowed point allocation to his Lightning Domain.

But for ability users, level was the most critical parameter after ability rank.

Advancing level came first; the domain could wait.

“Break through? Break through what?”

Su Qingli, still stunned by the destructive power of his technique, blinked in confusion.

“Level. I’m breaking into Eighth-Stage Middle.”

Without hesitation, Xu Jingming clicked the plus sign beside his level.

Ability points -1,980,000!

Eighth-Stage Lower → Eighth-Stage Middle!

The moment the allocation began, he felt boundless power surge within him.

Thump! Thump!...

His heart, strengthened by the Thunder Dragon King’s blood, beat with renewed force, echoing like a great bell!

His internal organs, countless tiny meridians, and blood vessels strengthened in unison.

His spiritual force, pushed by the sixth layer of the Divine Spirit Art to 120,000 Hz, surged upward rapidly!

Whoosh—Whoosh—

Invisible yuan energy coalesced into a tangible storm ten kilometers in diameter.

Swallowed by Xu Jingming like a whale drinking the sea, fueling the dual rapid growth of his body and spiritual force.

“This... he actually broke through?”

Su Qingli, standing gracefully beside him, stared wide-eyed at the spectacle.

It had only been a month since Xu Jingming last broke from Seventh-Stage Peak to Eighth-Stage.

“S-ranks are always like this—break through whenever they want, never fail.”

Eva giggled.

“It can really be this easy?”

Su Qingli whispered in amazement.

For ability users, even a minor stage breakthrough after reaching high rank was extremely difficult.

Failing two or three times was common—hence why so many remained stuck at a certain level, known as a bottleneck.

But for Xu Jingming, such a concept seemed nonexistent.

“Still... this disturbance is far too great...”

Su Qingli tore her gaze from Xu Jingming and looked up at the yuan energy storm in the sky.

Ability users absorbing vast amounts of yuan energy during breakthroughs was common knowledge.

But Xu Jingming’s absorption was absurd—bordering on a celestial phenomenon.

“If this continues, it will attract ferocious beasts—or human ability users.”

Su Qingli frowned slightly and ordered softly: “Eva, deploy the Crimson Flow Gold Guards to scout the perimeter.

Xiao Lian, send out some vines to probe the surroundings—notify me immediately if anything’s amiss.”

The Iron Vine Armor could offer maximum protection for Xu Jingming.

So Su Qingli had not let it reveal its true form—only sent out tendrils.

“Eva understands.”

Eva nodded and swiftly raced forward.

The Iron Vine obediently sent out thousands of vines, burrowing into the ground to sense the environment.

“Mind Net!”

Su Qingli’s beautiful eyes were wreathed in cyan lightning, her long hair fluttering behind her, lightning flickering all around her body.

She too had activated her perception-based combat technique, entering a state of alertness.