Chapter 953: What? You

"One million energy points—this Li Hao is actually worth quite a bit of energy points."

Xu Jingming raised his sword-like eyebrows, slightly surprised.

"The Divine Son is dead? Run, quickly!!"

Far away, Galca and the Heavenly Demon, who had been monitoring the battle, instantly changed expression when they saw Li Hao’s charred corpse plummet lifelessly from the sky.

Both immediately activated movement techniques and fled in the opposite direction without hesitation.

"Want to run? Too late. All of you die!"

Xu Jingming lifted his eyelids, and two thick black lightning bolts crashed down from the sky!

As a ninth-rank Martial Saint, both Galca and the Heavenly Demon had their own trump cards.

After activating their trump cards, their flight speed instantly exceeded seven times the speed of sound!

Yet, before the Perfection-level proficiency of the Heavenly Thunder Art, it was utterly useless.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Thunder roared—the ninth-rank lower-tier Heavenly Demon couldn’t even withstand a single Heavenly Thunder Art and was instantly obliterated.

Galca, a ninth-rank mid-tier, managed to survive one strike, but was killed immediately by the second Heavenly Thunder Art.

'Ding. Eliminated one ninth-rank mid-tier Divine Blood Envoy. Energy points +400,000.'

'Ding. Eliminated one ninth-rank lower-tier Divine Blood Envoy. Energy points +180,000.'

Two pleasant system alerts rang successively in his mind.

"Three Divine Blood Envoys have contributed a total of 1.58 million energy points to me."

A faint smile appeared on Xu Jingming’s rugged, resolute face.

The energy points gained from this single strike alone matched what he’d accumulated hunting beasts over the past few days.

"One Divine Son, two ninth-ranks—there must be plenty of valuable items on them."

Crack—

Xu Jingming shot forward like a black streak of light toward the spot where the bodies had fallen.

Now came the time to collect the spoils.

"Won?"

Far away, Su Qingli, who had been watching the battle through Eva’s holographic projection, was still stunned.

Too fast!

She never imagined that when Xu Jingming unleashed his full power, he’d be this strong!

Even Li Hao, who had obtained the Bloodline of the Molten Colossus, was instantly obliterated.

A-grade ninth-ranks like Galca and the Heavenly Demon were slain with just a few strikes of the Heavenly Thunder Art...

"Even if I regained my full strength, I doubt I could withstand one SSS-rank technique from Jingming at his peak."

Su Qingli couldn’t help but murmur softly.

A year ago, when she took Xu Jingming as her disciple, she expected his breakthrough speed to be fast.

But she never imagined it would be this fast!

"This is good. With him in charge of the Thunder Martial Hall, the hall will reach an unprecedented height."

She exhaled gently, and blue lightning flowed over her slender frame.

She activated a flight technique and flew toward Xu Jingming.

When Su Qingli arrived, Xu Jingming had already looted all the spoils from Galca and the Heavenly Demon and stood beside Li Hao’s corpse.

"Jingming."

A melodious voice sounded as Su Qingli arrived beside Xu Jingming.

"Teacher."

Xu Jingming nodded. "Neither Galca nor the Heavenly Demon had any Blood Healing Holy Pills in their space rings. Only Li Hao’s space ring remains unopened."

"It doesn’t matter. With you here, even if I can’t restore my strength, it’s fine."

Su Qingli smiled softly.

Tens of thousands of energy users entered the Void-Breaking Tower.

But how many ninth-ranks? Less than fifty!

A-grade ninth-rank mid-tier experts likely number fewer than ten!

And Xu Jingming already possesses power capable of crushing A-grade ninth-rank mid-tier experts.

Among these ten, fewer than five could possibly defeat Xu Jingming.

In short, Xu Jingming’s strength now places him in the top tier—he doesn’t need to worry too much.

"If you can’t restore your strength, then Teacher, you’ll just have to keep letting me carry you."

Xu Jingming teased half-jokingly.

"What? Are you complaining?" Su Qingli raised her delicate eyebrows, her voice playful.

Xu Jingming hadn’t expected her, usually so cold and aloof, to show this side—he looked at her with a strange expression.

Su Qingli seemed to realize this was inappropriate; a faint blush spread across her fair face as she changed the subject:

"The ground here... seems off."

Actually, this wasn’t even a change of subject.

When she landed, she had already sensed something unusual.

The ground’s temperature was far too high!

After standing here a moment, the intense heat radiating from the ground was already making her uncomfortable.

Remember, her SSS-rank combat boots were designed to block extreme heat.

Though she was currently only eighth-rank and her physique was weak, she could still withstand temperatures of several thousand degrees!

Yet now, even she felt discomfort.

This meant the temperature beneath her feet must be at least ten thousand degrees!

"It’s definitely off—the temperature measured by Eva has reached tens of thousands of degrees Celsius."

Xu Jingming nodded, looking at Li Hao’s corpse. "This heat is coming from Li Hao’s body."

"Oh?"

Su Qingli followed his gaze downward.

Though Li Hao’s corpse was completely charred and unrecognizable,

his facial expression still clearly revealed a fierce sense of disbelief and resentment.

This proved how utterly shocked he was when Xu Jingming killed him.

Looking lower, a faint crimson glow pulsed near his chest.

Under her spiritual sense, she could clearly detect that the temperature at his chest was thousands of degrees higher than the surrounding area.

"What is this?" Su Qingli frowned in confusion.

Energy is the ability an energy user gains upon awakening their talent.

Once an energy user dies, even if they possessed an SSS-rank ability, it vanishes completely and cannot manifest.

But Li Hao was different—he was dead, yet his fiery energy still persisted.

"I’ll take a look."

Spiritual force surged—Li Hao’s corpse, like charred charcoal, crumbled at the slightest touch.

Xu Jingming easily used his spiritual force to extract the spot where the crimson glow originated.

It was located in the heart.

Crackling—

Lightning flashed, and the already charred heart was utterly destroyed.

In Xu Jingming’s vision appeared a small cluster of crimson-gold blood.

Thump! Thump!...

The moment this blood appeared, Xu Jingming felt every hair on his body stand on end.

His heart began pounding uncontrollably.

He felt a crushing pressure from the level of life itself.

Like a low-rank cultivator being stared at by a ninth-rank Martial Saint.

No—this feeling was even stronger!

"What is this...?" Xu Jingming stared at the blood, his expression grave.