Chapter 8

At the moment of breakthrough, Wang Xu felt his entire aura begin to rise, and every cell in his body seemed to be able to breathe, continuously absorbing intangible energy and undergoing transformation.

Wang Xu could clearly feel that his skin was becoming more like steel, the density of his blood had greatly increased, and the strength of his muscles was gradually growing. Once the transformation was complete, his skin would be comparable to steel, and even a B-level cannon would not be able to harm him, except for A-level technological weapons!

The leap from third stage to fourth stage was a huge watershed. To cross this gap, one needed either a large amount of cultivation resources or a gradual accumulation, followed by a qualitative leap and transformation.

Wang Xu did not expect that just because the mysterious flame had devoured the corpse of the wire beetle, he would advance to the fourth stage!

This mysterious flame was terrifying. It could sneak into his body unnoticed and devour the corpses of insect beasts. What if one day this flame decided to devour him?

Wang Xu broke out in a cold sweat, but then he thought, since the flame was in his body, it was like a part of him and wouldn't harm him, right?

What made Wang Xu's eyes light up was that the flame could devour insect beast corpses and provide him with powerful energy.

"If I had enough insect beast corpses, wouldn't my strength rise like a rocket?" Thinking of this, Wang Xu didn't hesitate and took out a few insect beast corpses from his spatial ring.

Contrary to Wang Xu's expectations, the flame did not appear again.

Wang Xu put away the insect beast corpses and thought for a while, coming up with a possibility.

He took out the corpses of two third-stage insect beasts he had hunted and placed them on the ground.

Sure enough, after just a moment, the flame emerged from Wang Xu's body, enveloped the two third-stage insect beast corpses, and gradually devoured them before returning to Wang Xu's body.

A wave of heat spread through Wang Xu's body, just like before. This time, Wang Xu could clearly feel that the warm current was energy, but the amount of energy was much less.

"Fourth stage is different from third stage. The energy provided by third-stage insect beast corpses is not enough to enhance my strength at the fourth stage." Realizing this, Wang Xu felt a surge of joy.

If it came to cultivation, Wang Xu was not lacking in talent; the only thing he lacked was cultivation resources!

Now, with a mysterious flame that could convert insect beast corpses into cultivation resources, Wang Xu could imagine his strength steadily rising.

The flame only devoured corpses of insect beasts above the third stage, so Wang Xu needed to hunt third-stage insect beasts.

However, third-stage insect beasts were not easy to encounter. Wang Xu had been there for almost a day and had only met seven third-stage insect beasts, with the eighth one being the wire beetle.

Of course, there was another way to obtain insect beast corpses—buying them from the black market.

Insect beast corpses were extremely valuable, used to forge battle armor and technological weapons, and were essential materials. In the outside world, the price of insect beast corpses was very high, so powerful gene warriors would venture outside the safe zones to hunt insect beasts and bring back their corpses.

The government did not prohibit this, but whether one could successfully hunt insect beasts was another matter. The areas outside the safe zones were much more dangerous than the trial zones, with fourth-stage, fifth-stage, and even sixth-stage insect beasts appearing, making the difficulty of hunting insect beasts unimaginable.

"The price of black market purchases is too high; even if I sold myself, I might not be able to afford it. The only option now is to participate in the trials," Wang Xu thought. "For the next trial, I will apply to go to the B-level area. There are many third-stage insect beasts there, and a majority of fourth-stage elite insect beasts, which will allow my strength to improve faster."

Third-stage insect beasts were now on a different level compared to Wang Xu. If the wire beetle were to appear again, Wang Xu could cut it in half with a single strike.

The gap between fourth stage and third stage was not ordinary.

Of course, Wang Xu wanted to hunt fourth-stage elite insect beasts even more, as this would allow his strength to improve even more rapidly. With his current strength, dealing with fourth-stage elite insect beasts was not a problem.

While thinking about future issues, Wang Xu picked up his long knife and began practicing the "Nine Lightning Saber Techniques." It was already late, and Wang Xu had just advanced to the fourth stage, so he didn't want to encounter the thousand-legged soft worm. The cave was quiet and spacious, making it a perfect temporary training room.

After advancing to the fourth stage, Wang Xu found that the previously incomprehensible "Nine Lightning Saber Techniques" suddenly became clear, and many previously obstructed areas were now unblocked.

The third sequence: Thunder Strike.

The fourth sequence: Thunder Rush.

The fifth sequence: Hundred Saber Thunder.

Wang Xu practiced up to the fifth sequence before feeling the difficulty. He then realized that the "Nine Lightning Saber Techniques" was not a low-level ancient martial art but a high-level one, surpassing the intermediate level. The fact that even a fourth-stage practitioner couldn't understand some of the techniques was enough to show that the power of this ancient martial art had not been fully unleashed.

Thinking of this, Wang Xu did not hesitate and began practicing in the cave.

...

The next day, Wang Xu stood up from the ground, full of energy. The cave was covered with various knife marks, gullies, and cutting traces, with large areas of broken stones, a mess from his night of practice.

After advancing to the fourth stage, Wang Xu's progress in ancient martial arts had advanced by leaps and bounds, and he had even broken through to the fourth layer of "Basic Body."

Logically, even after advancing to the fourth stage, Wang Xu should not have made such significant progress, but he realized that this leap was probably due to the mysterious flame!

The mysterious flame could convert the energy from insect beast corpses into his own energy, which was already unbelievable, so it was not surprising that it could also significantly enhance Wang Xu's strength.

"Phew~" Walking out of the cave, Wang Xu absorbed the fresh air and felt the warmth of the rising sun.

Wang Xu did not linger, taking a large step and moving at a speed of dozens of meters per step toward Xu Yuan and the others.

Now that Wang Xu had advanced to the fourth stage, he was no longer afraid of Xu Yuan and the others. After the trial, Wang Xu could directly take the elite title exam and move his parents to the protected area. Even if Xu Yuan had great power, could he still reach into the protected area?

"Huh? Where are they?" Wang Xu arrived at the base in just a moment, but he found that the energy barrier had been removed, and the prepared living quarters had been destroyed.

The radiation level here was within standard, making it a superior temporary safe zone. Why would Xu Yuan and the others abandon it?

Wang Xu couldn't figure it out, but he didn't need to. With Zhang Xinglin around, Tang Yan, Song Zhen, and the others were all third-stage gene warriors, making it difficult for Xu Yuan to act.

Putting aside his thoughts, Wang Xu took a step and continued on his trial journey.

The trial lasted one day and one night. Now, his points were 202. To compete for the top of the points list, he needed at least 300 points. Wang Xu's lips curled slightly; 300 points were no longer a challenge for him. As a fourth-stage gene warrior, as long as he wasn't surrounded by fourth-stage elite insect beasts, he wouldn't die and could sweep through the entire C-level area.

"Thud! Thud! Thud!" A single strike split three second-stage insect beasts in half, blood and flesh splattering everywhere.

Collecting the three insect beast corpses, Wang Xu lightly probed and smiled.

After hunting all morning, Wang Xu had already killed over a hundred second-stage insect beasts, and breaking 400 points was not a problem. During this time, he had also encountered three third-stage insect beasts, all of which he had cut down with a single strike, and then let the flame devour them, converting them into his own energy.

"It's almost noon; I need to head to the 'central point.'"

After the trial, the gene academy would transport the students back to the academy, but the teleportation point was at a fixed coordinate. Students had to arrive before the specified time, or they would be considered dead and left in the insect beast area.

...

On the other side, in a vast radiated area, a group of students was already waiting for the teleportation.

Each student's face showed signs of fatigue, their battle armor stained with blood, and some were even injured, with blood still seeping from their wounds.

"Monkey..." A female student collapsed on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably.

The other students sighed. Monkey was a male student's nickname, and he was the girlfriend of the female student. Both were third-stage, but they had encountered a powerful third-stage insect beast. Monkey had protected the female student by leading the insect beast away... the outcome was predictable.

Similar incidents had occurred in several teams, but the students' eyes were red, and they did not cry.

At this moment, a few people walked over, led by Xu Yuan, who had a smile on his face.

Xu Yuan was in a great mood. Not only had he removed the thorn in his side, Wang Xu, without a fight, but he had also recruited Zhang Xinglin, a ruthless person, and even Tang Yan was always by his side. The feeling of being supported made Xu Yuan feel great from head to toe.

The only one who was very uncooperative was Song Zhen, who always gave him a bad attitude. So Xu Yuan had someone break his leg, and now Song Zhen was limping and could not walk normally, let alone fight alone.

"Zhou Ge, you traitor, Brother Wang trusted you so much, and you actually..." Song Zhen gritted his teeth and said to Zhou Ge.

Zhou Ge's body trembled, his eyes full of guilt. He lowered his head and said, "Song Zhen... I'm sorry, I never thought Xu Yuan would do this. I'm sorry..."

Zhou Ge was the weakest in Wang Xu's three-person team, and he always hunted the fewest insect beasts, so he received the least resources, which slowed his progress.

Xu Yuan found him and offered him 100,000 Earth coins, asking him to provide Wang Xu's location during the trial and secretly sprinkle "Green Flavor Liquid" on the insect beast corpses. This liquid would attract third-stage insect beasts, and with over ten third-stage insect beasts attacking, Wang Xu would definitely be injured, allowing Xu Yuan to teach him a lesson.

Zhou Ge saw that this was not difficult, and 100,000 Earth coins was a huge temptation, so he immediately agreed.

However, Zhou Ge did not expect that what Xu Yuan gave him was not Green Flavor Liquid but "Purple Scale Liquid," which attracted fourth-stage elite insect beasts!

Purple Scale Liquid had a strong attraction to fourth-stage elite insect beasts. Once they appeared, Wang Xu and the others would have to flee. At this point, Xu Yuan would build an energy barrier in the radiated area... the plan was perfect.

A few people arrived at the central point, and Zhang Xinglin immediately sat down, silent. Tang Yan sat beside him, resting quietly.

"Song Zhen, to save your other leg, hand over the insect beast corpses in your spatial ring," Xu Yuan said to Song Zhen with a cruel look.

"You... you dream!" Song Zhen was furious.

"Hmph! I'm not here to negotiate but to inform you. And you, Zhou Ge, hand over your insect beast corpses as well," Xu Yuan said, looking at Zhou Ge, whose face immediately turned pale.

Zhou Ge was embarrassed. He never thought that after helping Xu Yuan, Xu Yuan would turn on him. But thinking of Xu Yuan's ruthless methods, Zhou Ge shivered and transferred all the insect beast corpses to Xu Yuan's spatial ring.

"It's your turn," Xu Yuan said to Song Zhen, his voice cold.

Zhang Xinglin, who was sitting, opened his eyes, looked at Song Zhen, hesitated for a moment, and then closed his eyes again.

Zhang Xinglin's actions did not go unnoticed by Xu Yuan, who was relieved. If Zhang Xinglin had spoken up, he would have had to give in, but now that Zhang Xinglin didn't want to get involved, it was for the best.

Tang Yan wanted to speak up but thought of how every time she spoke up for someone, that person would be targeted by Xu Yuan, so she remained silent.

"Do you want insect beast corpses? I have many. Just take them if you have the strength," a cold voice said. Wang Xu, with a grim expression, slowly walked over from a distance.