Qi Cultivation Realm Fifth Layer

Zhuge Xiang was only at the fourth layer of the Qi Cultivation Realm, yet today, he experienced the might of the Body Tempering Realm ahead of time.

Previously, whether it was slaying the two-star demon bear or the two-star demonic moth, both had been exceptionally difficult because their defenses were simply too high; when you hit them, it didn't even tickle, but if they hit you, it was practically a one-hit kill. Today, Zhuge Xiang finally experienced the benefits of having high defense himself.

Like a tiger descending upon a flock of sheep, Zhuge Xiang was just like that right now. The Cleaving Blade in his hand transformed into dense blade-light, and with the Courage Medal's effect of increasing all attributes by 100%, his movement speed, attack speed, attack power, and defense were completely doubled. Coupled with the Steel Secret Medicine, Zhuge Xiang's combat power at this moment was fully comparable to disciples in the Body Tempering Realm.

Screams rang out incessantly. With his fierce attacks and the special effect of the Cleaving Blade, Zhuge Xiang's onslaught was simply not something these disciples of the Qi Cultivation Realm could compare to. After all, to disciples of the Qi Cultivation Realm, the special effect of the Cleaving Blade was an absolute killing tool.

The system prompt chimes sounded endlessly, sounding so sweet to Zhuge Xiang's ears. The EXP on his character interface soared continuously. Meanwhile, items dropped one after another within his inventory space, automatically appearing inside. Although most of them were Qi Recovery Pills and Healing Pills, there were also some other items.

One minute was not very short for a battle, but it wasn't very long either. The one-minute duration of the Steel Secret Medicine finally passed, and the defense on Zhuge Xiang's body suddenly plummeted from over 400 straight down to just over 200. Although this defense was still formidable, dense attacks rained down, and injuries finally began to appear on Zhuge Xiang's body. Gathering drop by drop, these minor injuries accumulated, making Zhuge Xiang's condition more and more severe...

On his character interface, his HP continued to drop, and the attacks from several disciples at the sixth layer of the Qi Cultivation Realm were even able to tear Zhuge Xiang's skin and cause him to bleed.

Bleeding? He's bleeding? A defense of over 400 had made Zhuge Xiang practically impervious to blades and spears, but seeing that Zhuge Xiang was bleeding now, the Green Willow Peak disciples were stunned at first, and then ecstatic. Haha, this fellow's defense has dropped, and our attacks are finally able to inflict injuries on him!

A defense of 200 was still powerful; even for disciples at the sixth layer of the Qi Cultivation Realm, a single attack could only drain seven or eight points of HP damage, and disciples at the fifth layer of the Qi Cultivation Realm could only inflict two or three points. This little bit of damage didn't amount to much originally, but they couldn't withstand the sheer number of these disciples. In the single minute Zhuge Xiang went all out, nearly half of the Green Willow Peak disciples had already been disabled from fighting. Precisely because of this, however, the remaining disciples possessed even greater strength...

Swallowing a Healing Pill in his mouth, Zhuge Xiang's HP recovered at a rate of 10 points per second. However, this recovery rate could not keep up with the speed at which he was taking damage. Although Zhuge Xiang's speed was still very fast and even coordinated with Explosive Steps, he was surrounded by disciples at or above the fifth layer of the Qi Cultivation Realm. On average, every single second, Zhuge Xiang's HP dropped by over fifteen or sixteen points. The recovery speed of the Healing Pills simply could not keep up with the rate of injury.

"Haha, let's see how many healing pills you have left to eat!" Watching Zhuge Xiang swallow Healing Pills one by one as his injuries grew increasingly severe, these Green Willow Peak disciples saw the hope of victory and burst into loud laughter.

Although his defense was still strong and he had many pills to treat his injuries, there were simply even more Green Willow Peak disciples. With so many attacks landing, his injuries were growing more and more severe—this was already a fact. Defeating him was merely a matter of time.

Glancing at his status, he saw that the Courage Medal had 2 minutes remaining. Zhuge Xiang felt his own injuries becoming more and more serious, and there were only 7 Healing Pills left in his inventory.

His injuries grew graver. If things continued this way, within a dozen seconds he would lose his combat capability. Gritting his teeth, Zhuge Xiang put away the Cleaving Blade in his hand, swept his hand across his waist, and the Blood Refinement Saber appeared in Zhuge Xiang's grasp...

Amidst a melee, although the Blood Refinement Saber's offensive capability fell far short of the Cleaving Blade, its lifesteal effect, when paired with Healing Pills, allowed him to fight with greater endurance. Relying on his defense of over 200 and the recovery speed of the Healing Pills, Zhuge Xiang slashed horizontally with the Blood Refinement Saber in his hand...

It lacked the Laceration Effect, but with double attack power, Zhuge Xiang's offensive might was still extremely formidable. Coupled with the fact that Qi Cultivation Realm disciples were typical for having high offense and low defense, every single one of Zhuge Xiang's saber strikes shaved away at least fifty or sixty points of damage from his opponents. Along with the bonus of double attack speed, the Blood Refinement Saber in Zhuge Xiang's hand similarly danced into a sheet of blade-light.

Although his damage-dealing capacity had decreased, Zhuge Xiang's injuries stabilized, and moreover, they slowly began to recover.

With the Blood Refinement Saber's 10% lifesteal effect combined with the recovery from the Healing Pills, another minute passed, and Zhuge Xiang's HP even recovered to a safe range of over 80...

He looked around. After over two consecutive minutes of slaughter, more than seventy out of the over one hundred Green Willow Peak disciples had already fallen. The remaining forty or fifty were all elites. Those seventy-odd disciples had provided Zhuge Xiang with a full six thousand-plus EXP, and coupled with his previous gains—he needed 10,000 EXP to advance to the fifth layer of the Qi Cultivation Realm—he already had 7,000 at this moment.

With an Explosive Steps dash, Zhuge Xiang pulled back and retreated, standing his ground a short distance away. He swallowed his final Healing Pill, while the remaining forty-odd Green Willow Peak disciples wore expressions carrying thick fighting intent.

Zhuge Xiang had already swallowed no less than ten healing pills. One of the disciples at the seventh layer of the Qi Cultivation Realm sneered as he looked at Zhuge Xiang. "Hehe, judging by your appearance, you've run out of healing pills, haven't you?"

"That's right, they are indeed all gone. But next up, to defeat you lot, I won't need healing pills anymore." Without any intention of hiding it, Zhuge Xiang calmly nodded.

"Arrogant!!!" Hearing Zhuge Xiang's words—his defense had dropped, and he had eaten all his healing pills, yet he was still this arrogant—the Green Willow Peak disciples roared in anger and charged forward once again.

"All of you... have lost..." Though the remaining forty or fifty Green Willow Peak disciples were all elite disciples, Zhuge Xiang wore a smile of guaranteed victory on his face. The disciples charging toward him all looked like mere bundles of EXP.

He put away the Blood Refinement Saber and once again took out his killing tool, the Cleaving Blade, issuing a low shout in his heart: Bloodthirsty Technique!

Blood-red Qi Energy emerged from Zhuge Xiang's body, and grimacing ghost faces materialized around him—some with ferocious expressions, some howling in pain, and some bloodthirsty and deranged...

"Bloodthirsty Technique?! He actually learned the Bloodthirsty Technique? And he's reached the Proficient Level?" Having fought to this point, Zhuge Xiang had actually activated the Bloodthirsty Technique, stunning both the Green Willow Peak disciples and the onlooking disciples. They hadn't expected that, even now, Zhuge Xiang still held a trump card like the Bloodthirsty Technique that he hadn't revealed.

"It's no wonder, though. The Bloodthirsty Technique—I suppose only a madman like this could learn it." Amidst their shock, quite a few people couldn't help but inwardly let out wry laughs.

With the Courage Medal doubling all attributes, and Zhuge Xiang now activating the Bloodthirsty Technique to further boost all attributes by another 50%, just how strong must Zhuge Xiang be?

Without the Steel Secret Medicine, Zhuge Xiang's defensive capability was indeed inferior to before, but with a defense of over 200 increased by 50%, it also reached the level of over 300, not falling far short of his previous state. Moreover, and more importantly, compared to before, Zhuge Xiang's attack power, speed, and attack speed had all gained massive boosts.

Kill!!!

With a low shout in his heart, Zhuge Xiang—Zhuge Xiang's speed at this moment truly transformed into a blood-red lightning bolt. Even without deploying Explosive Steps, his speed approached nearly four times the norm; in terms of pure movement speed, Zhuge Xiang was already equivalent to having Explosive Steps permanently toggled on...

His normal speed, doubled by the Courage Medal, and boosted by 50% from the Bloodthirsty Technique—this came out to three times his normal speed. Add in the 30% bonus from the Star Chasing Boots, and it reached nearly four times his speed, which was just about how fast Zhuge Xiang's Explosive Steps normally were.

The Cleaving Blade danced. Attack power and attack speed increased by 50%. If Zhuge Xiang had previously been like a tiger descending upon a flock of sheep, then right now, Zhuge Xiang was equivalent to a demonic tiger. Screams—shrill screams, a scarlet human figure, densely packed blade-light, a one-sided suppression, and fresh blood dancing in the air, never falling back down...

With a speed equivalent to infinite Explosive Steps, and that terrifying triple attack power and triple attack speed, the Green Willow Peak disciples who had still been roaring angrily moments ago were now terrified. Under the state of the Bloodthirsty Technique, Zhuge Xiang was even stronger than when the fight began; they couldn't even touch his shadow, yet his attacks were enough to instantly kill the vast majority of them in one go.

"No... impossible... Is this really a new disciple? This strength, even in the Body Tempering Realm, he would belong among the elite..." The disciples at or above the fifth layer of the Qi Cultivation Realm from Green Willow Peak possessed not a shred of retaliatory strength, an entire group being suppressed and beaten by a single person. In the rear, those disciples below the fourth layer of the Qi Cultivation Realm all widened their eyes, unable to believe everything unfolding before their eyes. Those beings who had once been hailed as geniuses were being unilaterally suppressed just like that by a newly arrived disciple.

"So... so strong..." As for Niu Geng and his group in the back, their eyes widened just as wide. Zhuge Xiang's speed, his attack power, his defense—compared to the strength he had displayed at the Grand Tournament, Zhuge Xiang was practically like a completely different person.

"Is this really a newcomer? How on earth did he pull this off?" The onlookers all dropped their jaws. Even the disciples of the Body Tempering Realm lost their previous composure; the strength Zhuge Xiang displayed right now made them all feel an incomparably heavy pressure.

The remaining forty or fifty disciples fell under the attacks of Zhuge Xiang in this state just like wheat being harvested by a sickle. In the span of a minute, Zhuge Xiang incarnated into an Asura; even for disciples at the seventh layer of the Qi Cultivation Realm, the Cleaving Blade came down and settled things in two strikes...

"Ding, defeated a disciple at the seventh layer of the Qi Cultivation Realm beyond your rank, obtained 282 EXP, obtained Clone Phantom Scroll."

"Ding, level increased, obtained 1 Skill Point, current level Qi Cultivation Realm Fifth Layer."

As the final Green Willow Peak disciple was sent flying by a slash from Zhuge Xiang, a succession of system prompts rang out.