Chapter 962

“Give me... to him?”

Su Qingli’s almond eyes suddenly widened, her cheeks flushed crimson like evening clouds; she scolded, “You wicked Eva, I never thought you’d be so improper!”

“Where am I improper?”

Eva puffed out her chest, speaking with perfect confidence, “You’re the one who asked me how to repay an S-rank.”

“Besides yourself, what else do you have that’s useful to an S-rank?”

Upon hearing this, Su Qingli froze.

Eva’s words, strangely enough, made sense.

“Think about it: Xu Jingming possesses a Lightning-type SSS-rank ability, and you possess a Lightning-type S-rank ability.

Your offspring might inherit an unprecedented, unparalleled talent in Lightning abilities!

It could even shatter the current SSS-rank ability rating system!”

Eva rubbed her tiny hands together, eyes gleaming.

In her eyes, Xu Jingming was pure treasure.

As long as a partner’s ability rank is above S, their offspring’s ability rank will never be weak.

The only pity is, S-ranks currently seem to have no intention of having offspring.

“This...”

Su Qingli listened, stunned.

But she was still a Ninth-Rank powerhouse and wasn’t fully swayed; she rolled her eyes and said:

“You improper little Eva, forget it—I’ll find another way to repay you.”

Though she said that, she couldn’t help but follow Eva’s train of thought, imagining further.

Add to that Ling Shuang’s earlier stories about Xu Jingming, and her fair, delicate face grew even redder...

“Alright, I’ve told you everything I know. Can we go now?”

On the ground, Qiao Lin, completely drained of information, looked utterly defeated.

This was the first time in her life she’d been interrogated like a criminal—and she couldn’t even resist.

“Not yet,” Xu Jingming mused.

He’d spent roughly three or four minutes extracting the information he wanted from Qiao Lin.

As expected, the eighth level of the Void Tower’s Lightning realm did harbor ferocious beasts.

But unlike the previous level, this one had few beasts—and they were all extremely strong.

The weakest were Seventh-Rank; the stronger ones, like the just-encountered Emperor-Rank Ninth-Rank Purple Lightning Dragon.

There were even fiercer beasts than that!

With this, the issue of ability points was no longer a concern.

Also, I need to gather more Void Stones.

“With my current strength, as long as I don’t encounter those top-tier experts, I won’t be in mortal danger.”

After carefully considering he had no more questions, Xu Jingming said: “Alright, you may leave now.”

At these words, Xina and the others clearly exhaled in relief.

“No wonder you’re an Aurora-Rank—your word still holds weight. But... could you give me another outfit?”

Qiao Lin hugged her chest, her expression mournful.

The power of the Chaos Divine Thunder was too strong—her SSS-rank battle suit was torn in multiple places.

Large patches of her fair skin were exposed; if she left like this and other ability users—especially other core members of the Ember Temple—saw her, where would she save face?

Shhh—

Xu Jingming casually pulled a battle suit from Qiao Lin’s original space ring and tossed it to her.

Crimson blood qi surged violently from her body, blocking sight and spiritual perception.

Soon after, Qiao Lin reappeared, clad in a brand-new battle suit; her earlier melancholy and embarrassment were gone.

“Xu Jingming, we’ve lost this time. But if there’s a next time, I’ll take back the Sky Dome Ring!”

After muttering a weak threat, Qiao Lin turned and fled without looking back, swiftly flying away with Xina and the others.

“Weakling, still trying to throw around threats.” Xu Jingming shook his head.

He wasn’t a killer.

From the moment they met until now, Qiao Lin and the others had shown no murderous intent—even the Purple Lightning Dragon had warned them.

That’s why he let them go; otherwise, he would’ve killed them all right after extracting the information.

“S-rank, Teacher Su has already consumed the Red Cloud Fruit and successfully removed the side effects.”

At that moment, Eva’s holographic projection appeared beside him, reminding him.

“Oh? I’ll go down and check.”

Xu Jingming’s eyes lit up as he leapt into the passage leading straight down.

Boom!

When Xu Jingming landed, he happened to see Su Qingli in a state of divine trance, her face flushed crimson.

“What’s wrong with Teacher Su?” Xu Jingming asked, puzzled.

“Perhaps she’s just excited because her bottleneck has been broken,” Eva said, avoiding the truth nervously.

“Is that so? It seems Teacher Su was truly held back by that bottleneck for too long.”

Xu Jingming smiled and congratulated Su Qingli: “Congratulations, Teacher Su—you’ve shattered your bottleneck! Your future achievements are immeasurable!”

“Jing... Jingming, you’re here.”

Su Qingli finally snapped back to reality, avoiding his gaze.

Xu Jingming merely sensed Teacher Su’s demeanor seemed odd, but didn’t think much of it; he smiled and asked:

“How do you feel now, Teacher?”

After a long exhale, calming the fluttering in her chest, Su Qingli smiled brightly:

“Better than ever—I’ll break through to Ninth-Rank Mid-Level within half a year.”

She wasn’t lying.

Perhaps because she’d been trapped in Ninth-Rank Lower-Level for so long, she now felt she’d touched the barrier to Ninth-Rank Mid-Level.

“Oh? Then congratulations, Teacher Su.”

Xu Jingming smiled, then ordered: “Xiao Lian, expand the underground space further—I’m going to release the dragon.”

Xu Jingming smiled, then ordered, “Xiao Lian, expand the underground space further—I’m going to release that giant dragon.”

The iron vine's tendrils and leaves swayed, transmitting a spiritual force.

Instantly, vines whipped wildly—and in just three minutes, the entire underground space expanded to three hundred meters long, three hundred meters wide, and over thirty meters high.

“Having a plant lifeform is so convenient.”

A faint glow from his space ring; the corpse of the Purple Lightning Dragon was pulled out.

Its massive body, the moment it appeared, filled most of the underground space.

“Jingming, what are you planning...?” Su Qingli stared, puzzled.

“I’m going to absorb divine blood and train my body cultivation technique.” Xu Jingming gazed hungrily at the Purple Lightning Dragon before him.

Though dead, purple lightning arcs still flickered and danced across its massive corpse.

Even a stray spark of lightning could easily kill a Fifth-Rank ability user.

This was the terror of an Emperor-Rank ferocious beast—even its corpse was beyond the reach of ordinary ability users.

Of course, what drew him wasn’t the lightning, but the dragon’s own blood.

Unlike the Essence Blood of the Molten Beast, he could feel his body’s desperate craving for this blood!

He had a hunch—absorbing the Purple Lightning Dragon’s blood would let him break through his physique once again.

“Absorb divine blood?”

Su Qingli’s cheeks, just now calmed, flushed crimson again.

She’d heard from Ling Shuang that Xu Jingming’s side effects came from absorbing divine blood.

Was this going to happen again?

Could it be that... the same thing will happen again?