Chapter 103 - 102: Fury, Fighting for First Place!

Chapter 103: Chapter 102: Fury, Fighting for First Place!

"I’ll go first!"

Ji Zhixing nodded. With a thought, he activated the Fallen Feather Moon-Treading Boots on his feet.

In an instant, illusory black crow feathers flew out from the soles of the boots, buoying his body and making him as light as a feather. Gripping his Nine-Tiered Tide Rod, he charged straight at the two Tier Two Blood Wolves below.

The two Blood Wolves had been locked in a fierce battle. Sensing someone approaching, they immediately stopped fighting and turned their gazes toward Ji Zhixing. Their eyes were filled with vigilance and hostility. Though their wounds were still dripping blood, they tacitly formed a united front.

Ji Zhixing didn’t hesitate for a moment. He took a step forward, wielding his Nine-Tiered Tide Rod, and smashed it toward the dark-red Blood Wolf that had lighter injuries.

"Tidal Roar!"

The long rod swung down with heavy, howling force.

The Blood Wolf reacted extremely fast. It violently twisted its body, barely dodging the strike. Then, scrambling on all fours, it circled to Ji Zhixing’s side and lunged at him with its bloody maw wide open.

Just then, Xiao Mingyue struck from behind.

With a raise of her hand, Flame Spirit Birds flew out from her palm, flapping their wings as they soared toward the Blood Wolf. These Flame Spirit Birds were pure red-gold. Tiny flames burned on their wings as they streaked across the air at incredible speed, leaving glowing arcs in their wake.

The Blood Wolf’s pupils shrank. It could only change direction again, trying to evade the pursuing Flame Spirit Birds. But Xiao Mingyue’s Flame Spirit Birds seemed capable of homing in on their target. As soon as the wolf changed direction, the flock of birds chased after it and landed directly on its body.

"BOOM!"

The flames ignited instantly. The Blood Wolf’s fur caught fire, and the searing heat immediately made it let out a shrill howl of agony.

"Undertow!"

The moment it howled, Ji Zhixing had already closed in for another attack. Wielding his Nine-Tiered Tide Rod, he executed the Hidden Surge stance. The rod moved like a surging undercurrent—silent, traceless, and fast as lightning.

"SQUELCH!"

With a crisp sound, the tip of his rod pierced accurately into the Blood Wolf’s skull, plunging right out through the other side.

The Blood Wolf didn’t even twitch before it collapsed, dead.

Only after killing this Tier Two Blood Wolf did Ji Zhixing turn to look at the other one. The black Blood Wolf was limping backward, watching him warily. It had a deep, bleeding gash on its hind leg. Clearly, it had been heavily injured during its earlier fight with the dark-red Blood Wolf.

"No wonder it didn’t try to sneak-attack me when I struck just now," Ji Zhixing realized.

He didn’t rush forward. Instead, with a thought, he first stored the corpse of the Tier Two Blood Wolf he had just killed into his Gene Furnace. Then, he raised his Nine-Tiered Tide Rod, ready to finish off the injured beast.

"SWISH SWISH SWISH..."

Just then, a barrage of fierce water arrows suddenly shot through the air from a distance. The water arrows were incredibly fast, raining down like a torrential storm.

"THWIP THWIP THWIP!"

In the blink of an eye, the water arrows riddled the black Blood Wolf’s body with holes. The beast let out a final, agonizing yelp before dropping dead on the spot.

But it wasn’t over.

After killing the Blood Wolf, several remaining water arrows surprisingly continued their trajectory, shooting straight toward Ji Zhixing!

Ji Zhixing’s expression changed. He hurriedly executed the Vortex stance of his Nine-Tiered Tide Rod. The long rod spun rapidly, the motion whipping the surrounding air into a cyclone that sucked in the incoming water arrows and shredded them into mist.

He then looked up and saw a burly figure rapidly approaching the battlefield. The figure was tall and imposing, sporting rugged facial features and a suit of dark-gold combat armor.

It was none other than Cao Zhenxing.

Upon arriving, he didn’t hesitate to immediately store the black Blood Wolf he had just killed into his own Gene Furnace. He glanced at Ji Zhixing and Xiao Mingyue with a flat, indifferent gaze. Then, with a shift of his feet, he darted away into the distance, clearly having no intention of paying them any further attention.

He was very busy.

For some unknown reason, that Ji Zhixing from the regular class was accumulating points at a staggering pace. Originally, Cao Zhenxing hadn’t taken Ji Zhixing seriously at all. But over the past few days, Ji Zhixing’s points had kept increasing. On the current point leaderboard, Cao Zhenxing was only a mere twenty thousand points ahead of him.

Because of this, even he had begun to feel a sense of crisis. And, quite frankly, a sense of urgency. After all, he was a student of the genius class—and the only student who had fused with a Tier Five Radiant Moon-grade gene. If he were to be surpassed by Ji Zhixing, he would lose all face once he left the secret realm.

Furthermore, his luck today had been terrible. Terrible to the extreme. Sometimes, he would refine several Blood Beasts in a row without extracting a single Blood Crystal. Even up to this point, he had only earned forty thousand points today.

It was safe to say that today was the lowest point he had experienced since entering the secret realm. Therefore, after collecting the Blood Wolf, he didn’t linger for even a second before turning and sprinting away. His speed was incredible. It was as if wind and thunder churned beneath his feet, allowing him to cover immense distances with every stride—he was even faster than Ji Zhixing using his Fallen Feather Moon-Treading Boots.

"I’m furious!"

Watching this unfold, Xiao Mingyue glared at Cao Zhenxing’s receding back. Her face flushed with anger, and her fists were tightly clenched. "Don’t let me find out who you are! If I do, you’re dead meat!"

In the distance, Cao Zhenxing’s ears twitched.

He turned his head, gave the two of them an expressionless look, and casually waved his hand.

"SWISH SWISH SWISH..."

Seven or eight water arrows condensed in an instant and shot violently toward Ji Zhixing and Xiao Mingyue.

Ji Zhixing’s expression changed. He hurriedly yanked Xiao Mingyue aside, dodging the attacks.

Seeing that the two had so easily evaded his strike, Cao Zhenxing was slightly surprised. He glanced at the boots on their feet and thought, "I haven’t seen them in the genius class, so they must be from the elite class."

He immediately lost interest and turned to leave.

"I am Cao Zhenxing. If you want to cause trouble for me, come find me in the genius class."

He freely offered his name, completely unconcerned about any potential retaliation from them later.

"Cao Zhenxing!" Xiao Mingyue gritted her teeth. "So he’s *that* Cao Zhenxing," she said, her face pale with fury as she watched his retreating figure.

"No way! That jerk dared to steal our Blood Beast. We absolutely have to crush him on the point leaderboard!

"I am so mad!

"Come on, let’s go hunt more Blood Beasts. We can’t let him get his way today!

"If he thinks he’s getting first place, he can keep dreaming!"

Hearing this, Ji Zhixing sighed.

He had originally thought that second place was perfectly fine; he had never been dead set on fighting for first. He hadn’t expected that right as the secret realm was about to close, he would run into Cao Zhenxing—and that the guy would take the initiative to provoke him. Provoking him was one thing, but Cao Zhenxing had also provoked Xiao Mingyue.

This was something Ji Zhixing truly couldn’t tolerate. After all, Xiao Mingyue was his sugar mama. He had been comfortably living off her wealth these past few days. If his patron was wronged, he absolutely had to stand up for her.

He took a deep breath. "Let’s go!"

The two of them quickly resumed their search for Blood Beasts throughout the secret realm.

One, two, three...

Very soon, Blood Beast after Blood Beast fell by their hands. However, these were all Tier One Blood Beasts. Unless they were given a lot more time, it was practically impossible for them to suppress Cao Zhenxing and secure first place just by killing Tier One Blood Beasts.

"This isn’t working," Xiao Mingyue said anxiously. "If we can’t find better Blood Beasts, we really might not be able to beat him today."

Ji Zhixing was also out of options. He had already brought out a slightly larger amount of Blood Crystals during this period, but he really couldn’t afford to bring out any more.

"If only we could run into a massive herd of Blood Beasts again..."

Just as they were having this thought, they suddenly heard the sounds of combat coming from ahead.

"Movement!"

They exchanged a glance and quickly darted in the direction of the noise. Cresting a hill, the scene ahead unfolded before their eyes.

A familiar figure was locked in a fierce battle with two Blood Beasts. The figure was tall and straight, his expression tranquil. He wielded a silver longsword, its Sword Technique flashing like a brilliant rainbow.

It was Gu Zheng.

As for the two Blood Beasts, they were massive in size. Their bodies were covered in dark-red Scale Armor, their fangs jutted outwards, and their auras were terrifyingly ferocious.

"Peak Tier Two..." Ji Zhixing’s pupils shrank. "Both of them are at the peak of Tier Two."

He then swept his gaze around the area and saw the corpses of over a dozen Tier One Blood Beasts littered on the ground around the two massive beasts. They had clearly all been killed by Gu Zheng.

At this moment, Gu Zheng’s Sword Technique was sharp and ruthless, his blade light crisscrossing the battlefield. Even when facing the combined assault of two peak Tier Two Blood Beasts, he wasn’t losing ground. In fact, he subtly held the upper hand.

"It’s him!"

Upon seeing Gu Zheng, Xiao Mingyue’s eyes immediately lit up. She turned to Ji Zhixing and urged, "Finding Blood Beasts is too hard. We don’t have much time left. We have to figure out a way to snatch these two from him.

"Besides, we already have a grudge against him. We won’t have to feel guilty at all for stealing his kills.

"If we get lucky, both of these Blood Beasts will drop Blood Crystals. Combined with the corpses of those Tier One Blood Beasts, we might just be able to surpass Cao Zhenxing."

Ji Zhixing’s heart fluttered in temptation.

When it came to Gu Zheng, he naturally wouldn’t hold back out of politeness. However, after observing Gu Zheng’s strength, he knew that even with two pieces of Tier Two five-star equipment, he still wouldn’t be a match for Gu Zheng in a head-on fight.

But he had Xiao Mingyue to help him. Coupled with the fact that they were currently hiding in the shadows and Gu Zheng didn’t know they were there, they might actually have a real chance of stealing the kills.

With that thought, he nodded at Xiao Mingyue. "Alright. In a moment, I’ll find an opening to strike. You help me pin him down."

"No need," Xiao Mingyue said, shaking her head. "We don’t have time to waste. You charge straight in and attack him, and I’ll launch a sneak attack."

After speaking, she reached out and pulled out three Scrolls. The Scrolls were entirely crimson, with a flame-like radiance flowing across their surfaces. They were the very Flaming Spear Scrolls she had used previously.

Seeing this, Ji Zhixing gaped. "We shouldn’t need to use these, right?" He felt it would be far too wasteful to use them here.

Xiao Mingyue’s face was completely serious. "We absolutely must secure first place and crush Cao Zhenxing this time."

Ji Zhixing was left helpless. Seeing her earnest expression, he could only nod.

"Phew."

Ji Zhixing took a deep breath. Springing forward, he activated his Fallen Feather Moon-Treading Boots, leaping several meters in a single bound.

"Gigantification!"

After a few steps, he drew in a sharp breath as his body violently swelled in size. He grew to a towering height of two point seven meters, brandishing a grayish-white, boulder-like physique, his clothing dyed gold by the Golden Chapter, and a Nine-Tiered Tide Rod that now stretched over three meters long.

At this moment, resembling a Giant Spirit God, he charged wildly down the hillside.