"Wang Xu, let's form a team with the three of us; it'll be safer that way."
From behind came Tang Yan's voice. Wang Xu replied apologetically, "Sorry, this time I want to act alone."
Having finally come out here, Wang Xu needed to hunt as many Insect Beasts as possible to elevate his realm. If Tang Yan and Zhang Xinglin were following, he would be restrained by the fear of exposing the Mysterious Flame.
"But if you go alone, aren't you afraid..." Tang Yan said worriedly.
The concerns Wang Xu had were also on Tang Yan's mind. In these wilderness grounds, people could kill freely if they had the strength. If Wang Xu encountered a team with sinister motives, his life might be over just like that.
"Don't worry, I'll survive." Wang Xu smiled brightly, then waved at Tang Yan, chosen a direction at random, and walked off carrying his backpack.
"I choose to go alone."
Zhang Xinglin, who followed closely, left these words behind and chose another direction to depart.
Tang Yan watched Wang Xu's disappearing figure, feeling a bit lost.
"Junior sister, come with me. I'll protect you." At this moment, Red Hair approached with a smile, inviting Tang Yan.
"Red Hair, what are you doing!" a senior sister shouted.
"Sister Yun, this junior sister is participating in the graduation trial alone; it's dangerous. We're from the same academy, so we should help her." Red Hair said.
Tang Yan wanted to refuse, but Red Hair secretly tugged at her. After hesitating for a moment, Sister Yun impatiently said, "Alright, you can follow us, but you must obey our orders and don't wander off."
"Sister Yun is the best. Little junior sister, let's go!"
...
Wang Xu ventured alone into the wilderness, searching for a safe place to temporarily stay.
"Awooo!" A giant Insect Beast roared, with two tiger horns on its head and covered in yellow fur, appearing extremely peculiar.
"Tier Three?" Wang Xu's eyes lit up, not expecting to encounter a Tier Three Insect Beast right away.
The moment the Tiger Horned Insect Beast saw Wang Xu, it planted its four feet on the ground and opened its bloody maw, lunging towards Wang Xu with the ground's momentum.
Wang Xu did not hurry to take out his Blood Bone Giant Saber. Seeing the Tiger Horned Insect Beast pounce aggressively, he slightly sidestepped, and the Tiger Horned Insect Beast swept past without even brushing his clothes.
"Awoo!"
Unyielding, the Tiger Horned Insect Beast charged again, pouncing aggressively with its insect legs opened like tiger claws, swinging them at Wang Xu.
Suddenly, Wang Xu's figure flickered, countless phantoms overlapping and shifting, leaving the Tiger Horned Insect Beast dumbfounded, unsure of which figure to attack, missing once again.
The 'Milo Body Technique,' Wang Xu's first practical application, seemingly created countless images of him, confusing the Insect Beast about his real position.
"Alright, not playing with you anymore."
Without waiting for the Tiger Horned Insect Beast to charge again, Wang Xu took large strides, followed by a long phantom shadow, seemingly slow, yet he arrived in front of the Tiger Horned Insect Beast and punched forward.
The entire Tiger Horned Insect Beast flew backward. Wang Xu moved again, catching it mid-air, and then tore it apart with both hands.
"Rippp!" Like tearing open a snack bag, the Tiger Horned Insect Beast was ripped in two, with blood and brain matter splattering all over the ground.
A Tier Three Insect Beast died just like that!
Unable to touch even the edge of Wang Xu's clothes, unable to resist, directly torn in half.
After taking one tiger horn as proof of the hunt, Wang Xu sat down. The Mysterious Flame soared, rapidly consuming the Tiger Horned Insect Beast's body, refilling some energy for Wang Xu.
Feeling the warm energy rushing through his meridians, Wang Xu smiled and continued onward.
Along the way, Wang Xu encountered several more Tier Three Insect Beasts. This time, without hesitation, he drew out the Blood Bone Giant Saber, slaying them all and consuming them to become his energy.
...
In a room filled with dozens of strong auras, the huge electronic screen no longer displayed various surveillance feeds but transformed into a real-time updating "points ranking."
The graduation trial took place in a special location where monitoring equipment couldn't enter, but the organizers had installed smart scanners in everyone's backpacks. This scanner could intelligently identify parts of the Insect Beasts' bodies to tally up the points.
This measure was unknown to all trial participants and even to the powerful figures present, who had just found out.
"Meng Ande's points have already exceeded a hundred, firmly holding the first place. As expected, geniuses from the First Safe Zone are impressive." someone sighed.
On the massive electronic screen, the top-ranked was none other than "Meng Ande," with a score of "109." The trial had just begun for less than an hour, yet such achievement was already reached, showcasing how powerful this student named Meng Ande was.
Speaking of the name Meng Ande, I'm afraid there's no one among the strong present who doesn't know him. He hails from the prestigious Meng family in the First Safe Zone, with exceptional abilities. Unexpectedly, his progeny has such extraordinary talent as well, possessing Tier Five strength at a young age, almost crushing opponents of the same tier. Even some veterans who have been at Tier Five for a long time are no match for Meng Ande.
"The second-ranked Willens isn't bad either. His points are almost breaking a hundred, nearly catching up to Meng Ande," someone said.
Willens is a Caucasian with extremely strong cultivation talent. He is the only one who can compete with Meng Ande. His family background is as powerful as Meng Ande's. They once sparred when both were at Tier Four, and ended up in a draw.
The points between the top two are closely packed, always within a margin of twenty, without trailing too much. The third place only has a little over fifty points, making it hard to catch up to the second place.
The dean silently looked at the electronic screen, searching for the names of their Seventh Safe Zone trainees. "Ying Xing" ranked 35th, "Yun Yang" ranked 57th, "Li Ming" ranked 78th, and a few others all ranked after 80th. "Zhang Xinglin" was ranked 89th, and Wang Xu, whom he favored, didn't even make it into the top 100.
"Old man White Sword, I looked back and forth twice, but didn't see the Wang Xu you invited. What's going on?" the Three-Eyed said.
"On the contrary, Ying Xing's ranking is continually rising. At this rate, getting into the top fifteen is no problem," Silver Armor said.
The dean withdrew his gaze, shook his head, and smiled, "It's just the beginning. Let's keep watching."
......
On an abandoned six-story residential building, sand and stones flew as the fierce light of blades flickered incessantly. Two black shadows rapidly clashed together.
Clang!
A cold light flashed as the Blood Bone Giant Saber, accompanied by the rumble of the wind, swiftly cleaved down, cutting towards a "Rhino-Horned Pig Beast" the size of a car!
The Rhino-Horned Pig Beast's blood-red eyes fixed on Wang Xu, emanating a bloodthirsty glow. White smoke spurted from its nostrils, its iron hooves scraped the ground, and its entire body armored like steel, flowed with a dark gleam, charging forward!
"Puff!" The Blood Bone Giant Saber broke through the Rhino-Horned Pig Beast's iron armor, stabbing into its flesh, causing the beast to emit a painful howl. At the same time, a horn unhesitatingly slammed into Wang Xu's body!
Wang Xu's clothes ripped open, revealing the Black Scale Armor beneath, which weakened nearly fifty percent of the attack's power, and Wang Xu forcefully endured the remaining fifty percent.
"It's indeed a Tier Four elite Insect Beast. Whether speed, power, or bodily hardness, it's far stronger than Tier Three Insect Beasts!"
Earlier, Wang Xu found a tall building as a temporary base, unexpectedly a Rhino-Horned Pig Beast had leaped out and charged with no words. Wang Xu reacted swiftly, drawing the Blood Bone Giant Saber to perform the "Blood Drop Strike." The giant saber struck the Rhino-Horned Pig Beast's armor, only causing a small crack, unable to break through its armor!
Wang Xu was slightly surprised to realize that Tier Four elite Insect Beasts vary in caliber. This Rhino-Horned Pig Beast likely reached "Tier Four Middle Stage"!
It was known to Wang Xu from the Extreme Ancient Hall that after reaching Tier Four, there are four sub-realms: Early Stage, Middle Stage, Late Stage, and Peak. The strength difference between sub-realms is significant, advancing one sub-realm is sufficient to crush in terms of power!
After half a year of cultivation, Wang Xu's realm hadn't progressed, still lingering at the early stage of Tier Four.
Relying on the Fourth Layer of "Basic Flesh Body" and the peculiar "Milo Body Technique," Wang Xu was locked in an intense battle with the Rhino-Horned Pig Beast.
The Rhino-Horned Pig Beast was bleeding profusely; its defense was strong, but Wang Xu had dedicated six months to sword technique practice, mastering precision, strength, and angle to perfection.
Can't break it with one blow? Then two blows!
Two blows still not enough? Then three blows!
Continuously striking the same spot with more than ten blows, no matter how strong the Rhino-Horned Pig Beast's armor was, the cracks could only widen. Finally, Wang Xu executed "Hundred Blades Thunder Strike," swinging four times in the blink of an eye, completely destroying the Rhino-Horned Pig Beast's armor!
The "Hundred Blades Thunder Strike" claims to be a hundred blades, yet its real speed limit is ten blades.
After half a year of cultivation, Wang Xu could only swing four blades during thunder movement, still a distance away from the ten-blade limit.
"Grraa..." With blood loss, the Rhino-Horned Pig Beast's body began to sway, unsteady on its feet. Yet it was still persistent, launching another charge stronger than its previous attempts!
As if knowing it was about to die, it was determined to drag the human in front with it to its grave.
Facing this collision, Wang Xu focused his gaze, deploying "Milo Body Technique" once more, conjuring countless phantoms to confound the Rhino-Horned Pig Beast's view, making it lunge into emptiness.
"Die!"
Without mercy, Wang Xu thrust the Blood Bone Giant Saber downward into the previous wound, twisting it wildly!
"Puff!" The head of the pig, adorned with a single horn, flew into the sky, blood spurting, and the headless body collapsed with a booming thud.
Cutting off the horn, Wang Xu immediately sat cross-legged on the ground, a burning sensation rising in his abdomen.
Swoosh!
The Mysterious Flame appeared without pause, descending upon the Rhino-Horned Pig Beast's corpse, enveloping it wholly, and gradually devouring it. Once the corpse completely vanished, the Mysterious Flame returned to Wang Xu's abdomen.
"What a massive amount of energy!"
The immense energy spread within Wang Xu's body, and every cell in him seemed famished for days, ravenously devouring this vast energy. Wang Xu's body slowly heated up, while his aura gradually rose.
The energy of Tier Four was over a hundred times greater than that of Tier Three. If Tier Three was a sip of water, Tier Four was a barrel, prompting Wang Xu's previously stagnant realm for half a year to begin ascending.