The Desire for Slaughter Is Rising

Just then, Xuan Ye's figure moved.

Bloodline ability—Demon God's Shadow!

His body suddenly blurred, not into smoke, but like a pool of ink, merging into the ground beneath his shadow.

The next moment, a flat black shadow, sticking close to the ground, shot towards the charging Rock Demon at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye, ignoring the gravel and gullies on the ground.

The Rock Demon's molten eyes were filled with confusion.

Target... disappeared?

Before it could react, the black shadow had passed between its legs and appeared behind it.

From behind the Rock Demon, from the shadows, Xuan Ye's figure burst forth from the shadow!

In his hand, [Vengeance], carrying the pitch-black "Nether Sun," stabbed directly at the Rock Demon's heart!

The dark damage added by leaving the shadow state, and the power of the Nether Sun Strike, perfectly stacked at this moment!

Boom—!

The pitch-black energy ball exploded inside the Rock Demon.

The Rock Demon's massive body suddenly stiffened, its forward momentum abruptly halted.

Its internal Earth Element Core, under the erosion of the "Nether Sun Strike," was on the verge of shattering.

But this was not enough.

The Rock Demon's massive body still stood tall, its molten eyes dimmed but not extinguished.

It wasn't dead yet!

Xuan Ye's figure completely solidified from the shadows, the sharp pain in his left shoulder and the exhaustion of his spiritual energy surging like a tide.

But the insane flames in his eyes burned even more fiercely.

The last trace of dark energy from "Demon God's Shadow" was like fuel, poured entirely onto the long sword [Vengeance] in his hand.

He took another step with Instantaneous Movement Steps!

This time, his target was the Rock Demon's head, formed from hard rock!

Kill!

The humiliation of being chased like a stray dog by Long Xingyu for days.

The pain of being forcibly separated from Cai'er.

The negative emotions that had been building in his chest found an outlet.

Puchi--!

The sound of hard objects snapping echoed!

Waves of energy rolled!

Forming a burst of white light!

The vibrating ground around trembled!

The Rock Demon's massive head shot skyward.

From its severed neck, scalding lava gushed like a fountain!

Watching the head fly into the air, Xuan Ye's eyes surged with unconcealed delight, a near-pathological sense of satisfaction washing over him.

What he had wanted to decapitate...

Was not the Rock Demon.

But before he could even catch his breath.

"Bang--!"

A dull, heavy boom erupted from the Rock Demon's headless body.

That was its final counterattack, the complete self-destruction of its Earth Element Core!

A destructive shockwave, mixed with countless high-speed flying rock fragments, instantly engulfed Xuan Ye, who was standing close by.

He was like a mosquito swatted by a giant's palm.

His entire body was sent flying backward like a tattered rag, tumbling and bouncing along the ground, plowing a long gully, and finally crashing heavily against a large rock before stopping.

"Pfft!"

A mouthful of blood sprayed out wildly.

His chest was a bloody mess.

An unprecedented, intense pain instantly numbed his limbs and bones.

However.

Xuan Ye's face showed no hint of pain.

He laboriously raised his head, looking at the pile of Rock Demon remains that had turned into Gravel in the distance.

"Heh heh..."

"It doesn't hurt."

The pain from his body smoothed over the continuous dull ache in his mind.

It gave him a morbid sense of clarity.

"Heh..."

"Heh heh..."

He laughed.

It started as a low chuckle, then his laughter grew louder, aggravating the wound in his chest, causing him to cough up blood.

[Notification: Fifth Tier Rock Demon killed. Selection complete.]

[Reward: [Vengeance] Weapon Evolution Progress +15%, Innate Dark Inner Spiritual Power +1.]

As soon as the voice fell.

The pitch-black longsword [Vengeance] in Xuan Ye's hand suddenly let out a faint hum.

On the sword body, the silver threads, like veins, began to move and spread rapidly.

At the end of the hilt, a white light spot the size of a grain of rice condensed.

The next level of Spirit Demon Equipment was Brilliant Equipment!

He had now taken one step forward.

Xuan Ye's laughter gradually subsided, and his eyes grew calm.

He leaned on the rock behind him, struggled to sit up, and activated the most basic healing skill of the Knight Temple.

Holy Light Healing.

A faint, almost extinguished white halo appeared in his palm.

He pressed this halo onto his bloody chest.

"Sizzle..."

The intense pain slightly eased, but the broken bones could not be repaired by this meager Healing Spell. He still needed some rest.

After doing all this, Xuan Ye leaned against the rock, gasping for breath.

With a thought, he summoned his system panel.

A light blue screen floated silently before Xuan Ye's eyes.

[Name: Xuan Ye]

[Tier: Third Tier Knight]

[Innate Inner Spiritual Power: Light 100, Dark 17]

[Inner Spiritual Power: 207]

[External Spiritual Power: 214]

[Spirit Furnace: Chaos Spirit Furnace]

[Equipment: Vengeance (Spirit-Demon Grade, Evolving...)]

[Techniques (Knight): Thrust (Mastered), Pure White Blade (Mastered), Light Slash Sword (Mastered), Cross Slash (Mastered), Lightning Stab (Mastered), Accumulate Power (Proficient), Sacrifice (Proficient), Redemption (Proficient)...]

[Secret Skill: Instantaneous Movement Steps]

Xuan Ye's brows were tightly furrowed.

Over two hundred points of Inner Spiritual Power.

Not far from the five hundred point threshold for a Fourth Tier Knight.

He knew very well that this rapid increase in strength stemmed from two points.

First, the initial awakening of the Demon God Emperor Bloodline, which greatly strengthened his physique and spiritual power affinity.

Second, upon entering the Devil Race Territory, the system rewarded him with ten points of Innate Dark Inner Spiritual Power.

This caused a surge in his Inner Spiritual Power.

Even the External Spiritual Power, which should have stagnated before Tier Four and relied on equipment amplification, showed a slight increase due to the advantage of his Devil Race bloodline.

This strength was already terrifying.

Relying on the conversion ability of the Chaos Spirit Furnace, the potential of the Demon God Emperor Bloodline, the [Vengeance] longsword in his hand that was about to advance, and the knight techniques he had long mastered...

Killing a Fifth Tier Devil Race member while being a Tier Three was no fluke.

Looking at the entire history of the human Temple Alliance, those who could achieve this at Tier Three were likely few and far between.

However.

There was no trace of complacency on Xuan Ye's face.

He understood better than anyone that this kind of cross-tier combat was merely an illusion in the lower tiers.

The higher the tier, the more despairing the gap, like a chasm.

Third tier versus Fourth tier: 200 points of Inner Spiritual Power versus 500 points, a gap of more than double.

Fourth tier versus Fifth tier: 500 points versus 2,000 points, a gap of four times.

And that man... Long Xingyu.

A Ninth Tier Seal Knight.

The minimum standard for Inner Spiritual Power was 100,000 points.

One hundred thousand.

Xuan Ye's current strength wasn't even a fraction of the opponent's.

"Not enough..."

"Still too weak."

He muttered to himself, his voice hoarse, with a hint of raspiness from his injuries.

His right hand subconsciously gripped the [Vengeance] longsword beside him.