Chapter 55

"High school students nowadays, to have such talent in artifact refinement, is truly rare! Such a talent, Deep Sea University must be determined to get, right?"

"Why would he assemble three completely different magical artifacts? You must know that the usage methods of the chainsaw sword, thunder battle knife, and burning sky battle axe are entirely different. Could he be proficient in all three? That would be monstrous!"

"Even if he could use them all proficiently, there's no need for it. All three artifacts are heavy weapons. Carrying them all would greatly reduce speed, and in jungle combat, it would be more of a burden than a benefit."

Amidst the discussions of many cultivators, the second contestant arrived at the supply point.

This was a tall and very rebellious-looking young man, with a chin covered in stubble, giving him a mature appearance.

When he saw Li Yao sitting and resting on the side, he clearly paused for a moment.

However, when he noticed that there were actually three magical artifacts laid out on the ground, he immediately became overjoyed, walking forward with a broad smile, picking up the burning sky battle axe and swinging it around with a fierce wind, excitedly roaring.

"Luck is really on my side! I didn't expect to find a fully assembled magical artifact at the supply point. With this burning sky battle axe, I can slay a hundred demonic beasts in a day!"

The rebellious young man was about to leave with the battle axe when a voice came from behind him.

Li Yao called out lazily, "Hey, classmate, this battle axe was just assembled by me. It costs 200 points. Since you're my first customer, I'll give you a 95% discount, so it's 190 points."

The rebellious young man was taken aback, then laughed, "So it was you who refined it. Thank you very much, I'll treat you to a meal when I have time!"

He had no intention of making a deal, shouldered the battle axe, and turned to leave.

Li Yao had anticipated this, his expression unchanged, and called out, "Classmate, wait a moment, let me show you a play!"

As he spoke, he extended his long arm and threw the first assembled crystal core bomb far into the jungle.

"Boom!"

A loud explosion echoed from deep within the jungle, a cloud of smoke rising, with fierce tongues of fire and rolling heat waves rushing towards them.

The rebellious young man was startled by the explosion, his face changing as he glared at Li Yao, "What do you mean by this?"

Li Yao, holding a large bomb made of over twenty crystal core boxes, smiled and said, "Nothing much, that was just the power of one crystal core box. You saw it, right? I still have over twenty crystal core boxes in my hand. If you don't want to make a deal and just want to take my burning sky battle axe, I'll have to activate the talisman array and detonate the crystal core boxes, blowing both of us out of the competition!"

"You—"

The rebellious young man hadn't expected Li Yao to do this, and was instantly speechless.

Li Yao smiled slightly, "If you don't want to buy it, that's fine. There are still many ordinary knives and swords there. You can take them, all of them, if you want. But please put down my burning sky battle axe."

The rebellious young man narrowed his eyes, glancing at the ordinary knives and swords scattered on the ground, a look of disdain appearing in his eyes.

If he hadn't tried the burning sky battle axe, using ordinary knives and swords to slay demonic beasts would still be possible.

But he had already tried the burning sky battle axe, and it was indeed very satisfying. Going back to ordinary knives and swords would be a bit reluctant!

Li Yao continued, "Slaying a low-level demonic beast gives you about a dozen points. Spending less than 200 points to buy this burning sky battle axe will greatly increase your efficiency in slaying demonic beasts. In three days, you could easily slay more than a dozen more. You might earn it back in less than half a day!"

The rebellious young man's expression was uncertain and very hesitant.

After all, the competition had just begun, and everyone's points were still low. 190 points were almost all he had.

If he made the deal, his ranking would drop to the bottom.

But what the guy said wasn't wrong. With this burning sky battle axe, his efficiency in slaying demonic beasts would indeed increase significantly, and the speed of earning points would be at least twice as fast!

Li Yao smiled broadly, like a cunning merchant who genuinely cared for his customers, "Classmate, think it through. If you don't buy this burning sky battle axe, and I sell it to someone else, their attack power will be much higher than yours, and they might even surpass you in points. This would be a significant loss for you."

The rebellious young man snorted, "What you say is true, but it's not only you who can assemble magical artifacts! I've taken related courses at school. If I spend more time, I can also assemble a burning sky battle... You, you actually mixed all the magical artifact parts together, making it such a mess? You're too shameless, classmate!"

Li Yao shrugged, indifferent, "Be quick about it. Do you want to make the deal or not? If not, please put the battle axe down, thank you."

"I don't believe you'll detonate it!" The rebellious young man stared intently at Li Yao's eyes, gritting his teeth.

"Alright, I'll count to three, and we'll both leave the competition. Anyway, my skills are so poor, I just came to see the world. I didn't plan to make it to the finals. Three... two..."

Li Yao laughed strangely, completely unconcerned.

Before he could count to "one," the rebellious young man completely broke down, shouting frantically, "Stop, stop! I'll make the deal, I'll buy this burning sky battle axe!"

The two Puchi beasts in the air lightly collided, "Ding," and the 190 points the rebellious young man had painstakingly earned from slaying demonic beasts were all transferred to Li Yao's name!

On the leaderboard, a shining name suddenly disappeared, and Li Yao's name reappeared in the top 100—soaring to 88th place!

The rebellious young man's face was full of frustration as he glared at Li Yao with intense anger, shouldered the burning sky battle axe, and left dejectedly.

"So he wanted to be a professional 'magical artifact dealer' and earn points this way!"

The many cultivators in the monitoring center suddenly understood, feeling a mix of amusement and bewilderment.

In previous competitions, there had been instances of magical artifact trading, but it was usually done occasionally after slaying demonic beasts.

Mainly because there were too many loopholes in the trading rules, which were actually disadvantageous to the artifact manufacturers. A slight mistake could easily result in the magical artifact being taken away.

They hadn't expected this monstrous young man to come up with the "mutual destruction" method, which immediately plugged the trading loopholes!

After completing the first deal, Li Yao quickly immersed himself in the assembly of new magical artifacts.

He was like an indefatigable spirit puppet, working at high speed for several hours without his hands showing the slightest tremor. Dozens of magical artifacts appeared one after another!

During this time, over a hundred contestants arrived at the supply point.

Those with enough points mostly bought a magical artifact under Li Yao's smooth talk.

In other words, Li Yao, comfortably staying in this extremely safe supply point, was equivalent to hunting hundreds, even thousands, of demonic beasts outside!

His ranking on the leaderboard soared, successfully breaking into the top ten, with only a difference of less than 100 points from Helian Lie!

Every candidate could check the leaderboard through their Puchi beast.

It's easy to imagine how shocked Helian Lie was when he saw Li Yao's name!

"This scum, clearly a complete trash, trash, trash! How could he possibly break into the top ten? And be so close to me? It's completely impossible!"

Helian Lie's eyes were bloodshot, extremely agitated, and he couldn't figure out how Li Yao had managed to do it!

Soon, all the magical artifact parts at the first supply point were almost completely used up by Li Yao, and the assembled magical artifacts had all been traded for points.

Li Yao smiled slightly, whistled, put the large bomb into his military backpack, and set off for the next supply point!