C21 Devouring Crazily

"Boom!"

In the courtyard, a seemingly predictable fight unfolded. Jiang Yutong watched as Xu Ming's body was effortlessly pierced by a fist.

"Afterimage!"

Jiang Yutong instantly sensed something amiss. His fist had punched through Xu Ming's body without the expected sensation of flesh; it was as if he had struck thin air.

"Watch your back!"

A voice called out a warning, and Jiang Yutong, taken aback, realized that the "Xu Ming" he had hit had vanished into thin air.

"It really was an afterimage! Such incredible speed!"

Jiang Yutong was no slouch himself. Though his speed couldn't match Xu Ming's, who was at his peak with the Gale Divine Soul Enhancement, his reflexes were still remarkably quick.

Without dodging, he launched a backward kick with his right leg.

"Hmm?" Jiang Yutong's face fell as his foot met empty space.

Without a moment to spare, he spun around, only to find nothing there.

"Where did he go?"

Jiang Yutong's heart raced. Xu Ming's formidable speed had erased any trace of underestimation from Jiang Yutong's mind, his expression turning grave.

He was facing a formidable opponent!

"To the left!"

There's strength in numbers. Xu Ming's speed was so great that Jiang Yutong could just catch glimpses of him, yet Xu Ming was still darting around the courtyard, within the sight of twenty to thirty onlookers.

"Despicable!"

True gentlemen don't speak while watching a game of chess, and the same principle applies in martial arts. In a duel, it's frowned upon for bystanders to give away hints to the combatants.

Xu Ming was seething with rage, yet he had no outlet for it. He came to an abrupt halt.

After a quick assessment, Jiang Yutong realized that his opponent was formidable, showing no obvious weaknesses.

"In the world of martial arts, only speed is unbreakable!"

Suddenly, Xu Ming realized that his extreme speed might just be the key to exploiting his opponent's vulnerability.

His lips curled into a slight smile as he locked eyes with Jiang Yutong, who had turned to face him.

A shiver ran down Jiang Yutong's spine at that smile; it was as if he was the target of a venomous snake's gaze.

"Mr. Jiang has lost..."

As the onlookers assumed Xu Ming was simply too cowardly to face Jiang Yutong, using only his elusive footwork to dodge, the most formidable among them, Ling Yun, furrowed his brow and regarded Lee Zhen with a profound wariness.

On the Martial God Continent, cultivation techniques varied widely in grade, yet agility remained an irreplaceable weakness. Only when one's cultivation reached a certain level would their speed naturally increase. Despite the intricacy of agility skills, they couldn't achieve such fearsome velocity.

"He's lost?"

The entire courtyard was astounded.

"We've barely started. How could that guy, weaker than the Ninth Young Master and only good at dodging, have defeated the Ninth Young Master?"

Aside from Ling Yun, this was the consensus, and there was skepticism about Ling Yun's statement. The Ninth Young Master's superiority seemed evident; the other man scurried like a frightened mouse, too terrified to engage in direct combat.

But then, Xu Ming made his move.

Like a specter, he left a series of afterimages as he lunged at Jiang Yutong. At his peak speed, Xu Ming's arms swelled, radiating a luminous jade glow.

"Ready to confront me at last..."

Jiang Yutong, though wary of Xu Ming's blistering pace, dismissed his opponent's strikes. Confident he could prevail as long as Xu Ming didn't evade, Jiang Yutong's face turned a shade of purple. With a slight bend in his arms, he unleashed a torrent of formidable energy. One hand formed a fist, the other shaped like a blade, as he struck a peculiar pose. One arm was set to block Xu Ming's assault, the other thrust towards Xu Ming's chest.

In less than a heartbeat, Xu Ming had closed the short distance. He deftly sidestepped Jiang Yutong's blocking arm, crouching low. In the blink of an eye, he was nearly upon Jiang Yutong. At that instant, Xu Ming's right fist brutally struck Jiang Yutong's abdomen.

Jiang Yutong maintained his attacking stance, his complexion turning deathly pale in an instant.

"The speed is terrifying! It's even faster than before!"

Jiang Yutong had just enough time to register this thought before feeling as if his stomach had exploded.

"Boom!"

He was sent flying, his body folding forward, legs nearly touching his chest, like a cannonball ejected from the courtyard.

"Jiang Yutong is defeated!"

In such a brief moment, he hadn't even grazed his opponent's clothing!

"Brother!"

"Mr. Jiang!"

Jiang Yuyan and Ling Yun rushed out, heading straight for Jiang Yutong, who had landed more than ten meters away.

The remaining onlookers in the courtyard watched the slender youth with mouths agape and eyes wide with awe. They all thought to themselves, "To fight against the strong and emerge victorious—what a formidable young man!"

Meanwhile, Xu Ming remained unfazed, addressing the crowd with a chilly tone, "You may all leave now."

"Thud!"

From deep within the Vast Sea Forest, a dull sound echoed.

"A Grade One Rank One Spirit Beast."

Xu Ming extracted the Spirit Beast Inner Core, a hint of fatigue crossing his otherwise stoic face.

Without hesitation, he swallowed the Spirit Beast Inner Core.

"Devouring a Rank One Spirit Beast, the Striped Leopard's Inner Core. Beast Soul: None. Gene Points acquired: 13."

"Devouring a Grade One Spirit Beast Inner Core. Gene Points acquired: 12."

"..."

"Acquired 7 Gene Points..."

"With only 68 Gene Points gained, how long will it take for my cultivation technique and bloodline to advance?"

Looking around at the terrain with a touch of disappointment, Xu Ming abandoned the Striped Leopard's carcass and quickly set off in a new direction.

Seated cross-legged in a cave, Xu Ming took stock of his recent gains.

"One month and three days, and yet the harvest is so meager. I've obtained fewer than five thousand Gene Points in total."

A wry smile crept across his lips. He had thought that with the system, he would quickly become invincible, but nearly a year later, it seemed he was still treading water, only slightly better off than before.

"This is like throwing money into a bottomless pit."

Using the system to enhance his bloodline initially cost Xu Ming just 100 Gene Points for a minor increase in Bloodline Level. Even a God Level Bloodline upgrade was a mere 1,000 Gene Points. But after those initial upgrades, each subsequent minor level increase required a whopping 10,000 Gene Points!

During his month in the Vast Sea Forest, Xu Ming battled Spirit Beasts nearly every day, slaying at least one daily. He didn't spare the wild beasts either. Yet, after thirty-three days, he had amassed just over four thousand Gene Points, not even enough to raise his Bloodline Level by one.

To upgrade from a God Level Gene to a Holy Level Gene, the system demanded an astronomical 100,000 Gene Points.

Xu Ming's spirits were further dampened by the fact that the nearby Spirit Beasts, particularly the Rank One Spirit Beasts, had all but vanished. It seemed that even the wild beasts had migrated, perhaps driven away by Xu Ming's relentless hunting.

His only options were to cross the mountain to another forest for hunting or to venture deeper into the current forest.

But the deeper regions were a paradise for Rank Two Spirit Beasts. Entering there was akin to signing his own death warrant. Even if he penetrated further into the forest to the domains of Spirit Beasts above Rank One and Grade Five, Xu Ming had no confidence in his ability to prevail.

The forest appeared to be a world where one's location was determined by strength—the higher the level, the deeper into the forest one could venture. Conversely, the forest's edge was populated by weaker Spirit Beasts and wild beasts.

"To reach the other side of the mountain with my current strength is simply out of the question."

Xu Ming had attempted to cross to the other side over the past month, but upon reaching the mountain's summit, he was met with sheer cliffs that blocked the way—a single misstep could send him plummeting to his death. Bypassing it meant a futile journey of five hundred miles.

Time was a luxury Xu Ming couldn't afford, with the family's year-end test looming just two months away.

"It seems I have no choice but to take a gamble and venture deeper into the forest."

With a heavy sigh, Xu Ming opened his Attribute Page, his heart filled with an even deeper sense of bitterness.

Xu Ming: Human.

Strength Level: Martial Artist Grade One.

Gene Grade: God Grade Gene, God Grade Bloodline Grade Seven

Gene Points: 100,000/78,418 available for upgrade

Gene Evolution: 100,000 Gene Points required for evolution to Holy Level Gene.

Beast Soul: The Gale Divine Soul grants the host a tenfold speed enhancement, while the Thunderbolt Divine Soul bestows the Thunderbolt Attribute, tripling the host's attack power when utilized.

"After a month of strenuous effort, I'm still a long way from my goal."

Enhancing my bloodline requires Gene Points, as does leveling up my cultivation method, which is a formidable challenge. "To elevate the cultivation method from Acquired Middle Level to Advanced requires 10,000 Gene Points. Advancing from Acquired to Innate demands a staggering 100,000 Gene Points! The Gene Points I have now are simply insufficient."

Xu Ming knew all too well that to achieve greater combat prowess, he needed not only martial skills but also a higher Cultivation Method Level. The more advanced the Cultivation Method, the more enduring the combat strength. During his battle a month ago with Jiang Yutong, Xu Ming realized the shortcomings of his low-level cultivation method; he quickly ran out of steam after a few forceful moves.

"Now I understand why my mother reduced her Bloodline Level to Grade Two in the end—the allure of such advancement is irresistible!"

His mother possessed a Holy Level Bloodline, which, in a few short years, she depleted to a mere ordinary Grade Two in her quest to enhance her Cultivation Method Level. By Gene Point calculations, a Holy Level Bloodline is worth at most a few hundred thousand points. Xu Ming surmised that the highest Cultivation Method Level his mother achieved was likely only Innate High Level—a level considered quite mundane among the major families.

Back then, my mother was too young to withstand the temptation of leveraging her bloodline to upgrade her Cultivation Method.

"And now, I find myself unable to resist that same temptation."

Xu Ming, having lived two lives, was still fervently hoping to advance his Cultivation Method, and that's not even considering his mother, who was merely twelve or thirteen years old at the time.

"Just the enhancement of the Cultivation Method and the bloodline are like two bottomless pits—I have no idea when they'll be filled. The journey is arduous, yet I believe that once the Cultivation Method reaches its pinnacle and the bloodline ascends to the highest tier, will there be any difficulty in reaching the summit?"

Recalling his mother's earnest hopes and his own future, Jiang Yuyan's voice before her departure was laced with allure: "I will come for you."

It wasn't a promise but a veiled threat. The power of the Jiang family was not something to be taken lightly by just anyone.

All of this, it all boiled down to one thing—power.