Chapter 45

“Come on then!” Facing the joint attack from those three, Lu Ming grinned and did not back down. Instead, he rushed forward like the wind.

“You’re asking for it!”

“Die!”

The three of them huffed maliciously, each wielding their best technique. Their longswords surged with Sword Qi, carving through the air and emitting an ear splitting whistle.

The Sword Qi converged upon Lu Ming.

Just then, Lu Ming’s body glimmered bloodily and his blood meridian exploded. Immediately, he twisted his body to evade the sharp tips of their swords, ignoring their Sword Qi.

“Die then!”

Duanmu Jue and the other two had icy, murderous expressions in their eyes. Duanmu Jue, in particular, broke out into a satisfied smirk, as if the 500-point metal piece was already in his hands.

Still, in the next moment, his expression transformed because he sensed that when his Sword Qi landed on Lu Ming’s body, it was like cutting through a bottomless abyss.

Instantly, his hair stood on end, and a frosty, savage aura enveloped him.

‘Retreat, retreat now!’ he howled in his heart.

However, it was too late. A beam of sword light appeared like a celestial angel, impaling his throat.

A fountain of blood spurted out while Duanmu Jue choked out an animalistic howl with both hands grasping at his throat as he fell back.

Nonetheless, after a few steps backward, he collapsed to the ground.

In one slash, Lu Ming pierced through Duanmu Jue. He drew out his sword smoothly and cut the throat of the other youth.

Swiftly, Lu Ming had exploited the uniqueness of his blood meridian to quickly slay two experts.

There was only one person left.

The final youth felt stifled in a cloud of death. He was scared witless and recoiled in wild panic. Still, how could he be as fast as Lu Ming? Lu Ming caught up with him in a few steps. After a few moves, the guy was biting Duanmu Jue’s dust.

Lu Ming slayed Duanmu Jue’s group of three.

‘This time, I’m really unscathed. That’s much better than the last time,’ Lu Ming checked himself all over and thought to himself.

His blood meridian had devoured 50% of the Sword Qi from Duanmu Jue and the rest. The remaining half was mostly blocked by his protective Essential Qi, so Lu Ming was not harmed much.

Of course, this was also thanks to the cultivation level of Duanmu Jue and the other two.

Duanmu Jue’s cultivation was on the Fourth Grade Master Realm, only two stages above Lu Ming. If he was three stages, four or even five stages above Lu Ming, the end result would be different. Although Lu Ming could also devour 50% of the attack impact, the remaining 50% would be enough to grievously injure or even kill him.

‘Let me see how many point-worthy metal pieces Duanmu Jue has gathered.’

Lu Ming frisked Duanmu Jue’s body but did not even find a single metal piece.

‘How could this be? How could Duanmu Jue not even have a single point-worthy metal piece? No, he must have a storage ring!’ Lu Ming’s eyes lit up as he examined Duanmu Jue’s fingers. As expected, he spotted a ring.

After he took the ring off, Lu Ming sent his consciousness into the ring.

In the next moment, a space popped up in his mind. It was not large with a volume of around one cubic meter. It was lacking by leaps and bounds compared to the Supreme Shrine.

This was the space within the storage ring.

In this space, there was a pile of point-worthy metal pieces, a stack of silver notes, and some clothes.

Lu Ming did not take inventory. After that, he gathered a pile of point-worthy metal pieces from the other two bodies. Along with the storage ring, these were all kept within the Supreme Shrine. Following that, he devoured their blood essences before his figure darted off and left.

In a short while, he could see the first entrance of the cave. There was still a large crowd standing guard, but Yin Kai, Huang Yu, and the rest had not come out yet. Lu Ming promptly charged out and scaled a large tree nearby.

He did not look for Feng Wu at once. Instead, he decided to cultivate the blood essence of Duanmu Jue’s group first and take stock of his harvest before joining her.

Lu Ming sat cross-legged between the branches of the tree and began to cultivate.

The vital energy contained within the blood essence of a Fourth Grade and two Third Grade Masters was refined and abundant. This was something First Grade or Second Grade Masters could not compare to. Lu Ming’s cultivation swiftly advanced.

From peak mid-Second Grade Master Realm to top Second Grade Master Realm until finally, after processing all of their blood essences, Lu Ming broke through in one step, reaching the Third Grade Master Realm.

Even so, the level of his blood meridian still did not progress.

Upon the Spirit-devouring Worm blood meridian, the three blood-red meridian focal points were incomparably deep. Evidently, they were reaching their limit, but they just had not leveled up to become a Fourth Level blood meridian.

‘Can my blood meridian only reach the Third Level at most?’ Lu Ming thought, frowning. ‘Forget it. I’ll just continue to consume blood essence. I don’t believe it can’t advance any further.’

Following that, Lu Ming took out Duanmu Jue’s storage ring and started to take stock. The combined points from the two Third Grade Master Realm youths were 130 points.

Still, Duanmu Jue had the most with an incredible 520 points. Indeed, he had assembled so many people by his side, so his points were impressive, exceeding 500 points.

Right then, Lu Ming had collected an awesome 1,224 points. With points like these, surely first place was in the bag. Lu Ming did not believe anyone else could surpass his score.

Moreover, there were over 80,000 silver notes in Duanmu Jue’s storage ring. That was an unexpected loot.

Duanmu Jue was truly a prodigy from the Duanmu Family. His background was astounding.

Putting the rest aside, even the storage ring itself would cost at least 100,000 taels of silver. Even then, its demand exceeded its supply, and that was a conservative estimate.

After taking inventory, Lu Ming’s figure flashed and he arrived at the meeting place that he and Feng Wu had agreed upon.

When Feng Wu saw him, she asked hurriedly, “Lu Ming, you’re already out! How’s the situation?”

“Splendid!” Lu Ming smiled gently.

Feng Wu’s pretty eyes shone. “Lu Ming, is the 500-point metal piece in your possession?”

“Of course. Otherwise, wouldn’t I have wasted a trip?” He grinned, brimming with confidence.

“Oh, you devil! You’ve actually obtained the 500-point metal piece. It looks like you’ve made a fool of Yin Kai, Duanmu Jue, and the rest!” Feng Wu exclaimed and stared at him, her eyes wide with matchless surprise.

“Let’s go!”

Both of them turned to leave, disappearing in the woods.

Soon enough, two days passed. The 20 days of the test were up.

A lot of people had gathered outside the Midnight Hills, including Xie Kuang and the other guidance elders of the four halls, as well as a few Silver-robed Elders. In addition to that, there were attendants from various halls who were tasked with tallying the points.

Other than these people, there were also many youths who were the senior apprentices of the four halls.

Every year, the new apprentices who just joined would receive extra attention because new blood represented the future as well as endless possibilities.

The guidance elders of the four halls stood in front. At the moment, the elder from the White Tiger Hall was asking the other three, “In your opinion, how many will qualify this year?”

The guidance elder from the White Tiger Hall was a short, stout middle-aged man named Duanmu Jin. He was from the Duanmu Family.