Chapter 41

“Lu Ming, be careful!” Feng Wu’s expression shifted as she cried out.

Yuan Lang’s cultivation had reached the Third Grade Master Realm and was not something a First Grade Master could compare against. She was afraid that Lu Ming was no match for him.

“Flame Dragon Fist!”

Neither did Lu Ming dodge nor back down. He delivered a punch instead.

Bam!

As Lu Ming’s fist and Yuan Lang’s clawed hand collided, energy surged in all directions. Both of their figures glowed and they fell back three steps. In that exchange of blows, they were evenly matched.

‘A Third Grade Master is powerful indeed!’ Lu Ming’s eyes gleamed as he thought to himself.

With a massive gap between each level, the Master Realm was difficult to surmount. It was not something the Warrior Realm could rival.

For instance, back when Lu Ming was on the Sixth Grade Warrior Realm, boosted by three divine meridians, his True War Dragon Qi was twice as condensed as ordinary Essential Chi. In addition to his refined martial arts, he could rise above three levels and battle against Ninth Grade Warriors.

However, in the Master Realm, this was not possible.

The additional power of the three divine meridians was still rather obvious on the Warrior Realm. Nonetheless, in the Master Realm, this power did not appear to be as useful.

The main function of a divine meridian was exhibited through one’s talent and potential instead of one’s direct physical strength.

Therefore, now that Lu Ming’s cultivation was at Second Grade Master Realm, based on his own Essential Qi, he could rise above one level at most to battle against a Third Grade Master. With his refined martial arts, suppressing or even killing a Third Grade Master was not a problem. However, he would be in trouble if he encountered a Fourth Grade Master.

Of course, this was assuming that Lu Ming’s blood meridian had not exploded.

When both of them drew back, the people around them were startled.

Feng Wu was delighted. She never thought that Lu Ming could actually exchange equal blows with Yuan Lang.

‘Just how strong is Lu Ming really? He must have been hiding his strength, yet Big Sis Mu Lan asked me to protect him? It’s more like he should protect me!’ Feng Wu thought to herself, somewhat flabbergasted.

By one side, Yin Kai and the rest were gripped by surprise. They had never heard of Lu Ming before. Where did he come from? He had such a formidable cultivation level!

Yuan Lang’s expression darkened, twisted by a murderous desire. He roared, “Lu Ming, take this – Eighteen Hawk Claws!”

Zing zing!

Yuan Lang’s hands drew something out from his waist. In an instant, he was wearing metal gloves.

His clawed hands struck out rapidly and in succession, hitting nine times in a flash. The nine claw attacks targeted the nine vital points of Lu Ming’s body.

Driven by Essential Qi, the sharp metal gloves sliced through the air, whistling piercingly as they did so.

“That’s a Superior Yellow Level martial arts technique. Too bad his cultivation is lackluster. He’s barely broken through to the Third Stage.”

A cold smile tugged at Lu Ming’s lips, then he unsheathed his longsword and wielded the Lustrous Sword Technique.

Zing zing!

The blades of sword light whipped through the air as Lu Ming slashed twelve times in an instant.

Clink! Clink! …

The longsword and the metal gloves collided time and again as the two figures crossed each other midair.

At last, the sounds suddenly stopped as they separated.

Pffft!

Suddenly, Yuan Lang’s body shuddered and he spat a mouthful of blood out.

Defeated, a wound had appeared over his chest, deep enough to reveal his bone. If Lu Ming had not restrained his own strength at that crucial moment, Yuan Lang would have been dead.

“You can scram now.” Lu Ming cast an indifferent look at Yuan Lang, then started to walk forward.

Clang! Clang! …

Weapons were unsheathed successively. Following that, a girl dressed in white cried out, “Lu Ming, there are so many of us here with Senior Brother Yin Kai. Did you think that you can leave?”

“Yin Kai, what are you doing? All of you are really going to stop us?” Feng Wu said with an unhappy look.

Yin Kai stared at Lu Ming gloomily without speaking.

“You may try and see if you can stop me, but I guarantee that the subsequent losses aren’t something you can endure.” Lu Ming lifted the longsword with a placid gaze which contained an unflinching will. His icy voice caused them to shiver involuntarily deep in their hearts.

Yin Kai stared at Lu Ming for a long while. His eyes flashed brightly and he suddenly laughed. “Haha, this is all a misunderstanding. Junior Brother Lu Ming, you are impressive indeed. I’ve learned so much from this. I hope that we can be friends in the future.”

“Senior Sister Feng, let’s go!” Lu Ming did not even glance at Yin Kai as he turned to leave.

“Lu Ming, I was careless this time. Next time, you’ll pay for my disgrace today many times over.” Yuan Lang’s cold voice rang out from behind them.

“Next time? You’d better wished that there’s no next time,” Lu Ming said casually. After that, he and Feng Wu vanished into the mountain woods.

After both of them left, the white-clothed girl asked Yin Kai, “Senior Brother Yin, are we letting them go just like that?”

“Lu Ming possesses great fighting powers. Moreover, our main target now is to compete against three other halls for the 500-point metal piece. We mustn’t lose any manpower!

“After this test is over, I’ll have a plan to deal with him. I’ll make him sorry.”

As Yin Kai glared at the direction in which Lu Ming and Feng Wu had left, his eyes glittered dangerously.

A thousand meters away.

“Junior Brother Lu Ming, Yin Kai is a petty person. After you’ve insulted him like that, he won’t forgive you so easily,” Feng Wu expressed somewhat worriedly.

“He’d better not come looking for trouble with me!” Lu Ming smiled faintly. He was not fazed about someone like Yin Kai.

Feng Wu’s pretty eyes shimmered. Although she had known Lu Ming for quite some time, she realized that she could not figure him out completely. From her point of view, he seemed unfathomable.

“Lu Ming, what will you do next?” she asked.

“What should I do next? I don’t wish to miss out on the 500-point metal piece.” A smirk flitted over Lu Ming’s lips.

Feng Wu widened her eyes as she exclaimed, “Are you thinking of snatching it from the jaws of danger?”

“Why not!” With a grin, Lu Ming then climbed up a tree that was over 20 meters tall. From this distance, he watched Yin Kai and the rest. He was going to track Yin Kai’s group and snatched the 500-point metal piece from them.

‘This guy sure is interesting!’ Feng Wu looked at him, then climbed the tree and sat on the branch as well.

The darkness dissipated, and the light of dawn emerged over the horizon.

Far away, Yin Kai and the rest had extinguished their bonfire and were heading into the depths of the Midnight Hills.

Lu Ming and Feng Wu followed them from a distance.

They traveled for more than ten kilometers. After that, Yin Kai’s group stopped below a large mountain. Beneath this peak was a gigantic cave. It was terrifyingly pitch-black inside.

A crowd of over a hundred people had already gathered before the cave.

“Those from the White Tiger Hall and the Azure Dragon Hall have arrived,” Feng Wu said softly to Lu Ming.

“Mm!” Lu Ming nodded.

“Lu Ming, if you fight later, there are a few people you must be wary of.” Feng Wu pointed to a youth who was wearing white robes with green embroidered sleeves and a purple jade belt. “That guy is Duanmu Jue. He’s the strongest amongst the new batch in the White Tiger Hall.”

After that, she pointed at another youth in green robes. “That one’s called Huang Yu. He’s the foremost expert amongst the Azure Dragon’s new apprentices.”

“Mm!” Lu Ming made a soft, affirmative sound again.

Feng Wu rolled her eyes. Surely he was being too calm. These were all top geniuses who were strong contenders for this year’s Apprentice Champion.