High Martial Arts: Enlightenment after Practices-Chapter 132: Summiting

Xu Wuyi fought as he retreated, intentionally luring the battle toward one side of the cave. The stalagmites there were denser, the space was relatively narrow, and the ceiling was lower.

He used the rocks as cover, constantly dodging the Feathered Person’s pounces and the jabs of its bone spike.

Every time the Feathered Person entered his attack range, he would unhesitatingly activate [Heart Fire].

That formless spiritual burn was like a cancer clinging to its bones, continuously weakening the Feathered Person’s will and aggravating its frenzy.

"KREE! KREE KREE!"

The Feathered Person’s attacks grew increasingly erratic. It stopped cautiously using its flight advantage, sometimes even recklessly charging into the low, dense forest of stalagmites to pursue Xu Wuyi.

Its fleshy wings scraped against the stalagmites, creating a teeth-grinding sound and leaving behind a series of gashes.

The yellow in its vertical pupils was gradually overtaken by bloodshot veins, filled with chaotic rage.

Like the most patient of hunters, Xu Wuyi used occasional counterattacks to provoke the aerial beast, luring it step by step toward his preset battlefield.

It was a corner in the deepest part of the cave.

Here, three sides were hard rock walls, the ceiling was less than ten meters high, and hanging stalactites nearly reached the ground, forming a natural cage.

Burned by [Heart Fire] once again, the Feathered Person shrieked in pain and fury. It brandished its bone spike and charged heedlessly at Xu Wuyi, finally trapping itself completely in the cramped space.

Its flight advantage was almost completely nullified here!

"Now!"

A fierce glint flashed in Xu Wuyi’s eyes. He knew the decisive moment had arrived.

’There’s no point in kiting it any longer. When two adversaries meet on a narrow path, only the brave one prevails!’

He stopped dodging. The "Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace" technique inside him began to operate at an unprecedented speed. His Qi and Blood boiled like a volcanic eruption as he pushed [Melting Furnace Boiling Blood] to its absolute limit!

Facing the Feathered Person’s furious bone spike thrust, Xu Wuyi neither parried nor blocked. He merely angled his body slightly, allowing the sharp bone spike to pierce through his left shoulder with a SQUELCH!

Excruciating pain shot through him, but Xu Wuyi didn’t even frown, as if he weren’t the one who was injured.

Almost at the exact moment the bone spike entered his body, the long spear in his right hand, coalesced with [Furnace Flame] and Triple Power, erupted with a dazzling crimson light.

Like a comet striking the moon, it stabbed straight for the Feathered Person’s neck!

Trading injury for injury!

The Feathered Person clearly hadn’t expected Xu Wuyi to be so ferocious. It was too late to bring its shield back to defend, and when it tried to flap its wings to retreat, it was restricted by the narrow space and the hanging stalactites.

It could only struggle frantically, the scales on its neck glowing with a faint light as it tried to tank the spear head-on.

But how could Xu Wuyi let this long-awaited opportunity slip away?

"Die!"

Along with his low shout, the crimson spear stabbed forward with unstoppable momentum!

"CRACK... SQUELCH!"

The sounds of shattering scales and tearing flesh rang out almost simultaneously!

The spear precisely pierced the Feathered Person’s vital point. The [Furnace Flame] and Triple Power exploded in an instant, destroying the life force within its body!

"KREEEE—!!!"

The Feathered Person let out a final, mournful cry. The bone spike in its right arm drooped powerlessly, and the flesh shield on its left arm fell limp.

Its massive body convulsed violently, its yellow vertical pupils filled with unwillingness to accept its fate.

Xu Wuyi’s expression was impassive. He yanked the spear back, pulling a stream of black blood with it.

The Feathered Person’s body swayed, then crashed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust before dissolving into motes of white light.

A one-hit kill.

The Feathered Person’s offensive and defensive strength was high, but its own resistance to damage was lower than other Star Beasts, similar to the Shadow Fang from the previous stage.

But the Shadow Fang was a glass-cannon assassin type, whereas the Feathered Person...

’It’s less like a Star Beast and more like a human Martial Artist?’ Xu Wuyi mused. He had a strange feeling about this eighth stage.

The wound piercing his left shoulder was restored by the Battle Network as the fight concluded, and a system notification sounded immediately after.

"Eighth stage cleared. Time elapsed: 6 minutes and 51 seconds."

"Congratulations, you have cleared all stages of the ’Star Beast Hunting Ground.’ You have been awarded an additional 100 points."

Xu Wuyi’s eyes lit up. This was a pleasant surprise!

He had cleared stages six, seven, and eight in a row, earning 210 points in completion rewards, and now he had an extra 100 points...

Adding it all up with what he had left, his total point balance had reached 490!

This was undoubtedly a huge sum.

As for the "Star Beast Hunting Ground" only having eight stages in total, Xu Wuyi had already expected that.

After all, according to the rule that a challenger’s inherent Life Energy Level increases with each stage, a ninth stage would have fixed it at Level 21.

But that was already the level of an Official Martial Artist, with a Qi and Blood Strength far beyond what a Martial Disciple could compare to.

Aside from someone like Xu Wuyi who cultivated a High-Tier Body Refining Method, the other students wouldn’t be able to challenge it at all. They couldn’t adapt to that level of Qi and Blood Strength and probably wouldn’t even be able to use half of their true power.

The designers wouldn’t create an unsolvable stage, a point made clear by the cave environment of the final stage.

After clearing three stages in a row, Xu Wuyi didn’t linger on the Battle Network. He returned to reality and continued with his daily training.

However, he had no idea what kind of waves his monumental feat—clearing three stages in less than ten minutes to reach the very top—had caused in the outside world.

...

「Hidden Dragon Garden, Villa #10.」

The clamor in the living room died down after someone cried out, "Quick, look at the leaderboard!" Shen Wei, Yu Peiling, Zhou Hao, and the seven or eight others present almost simultaneously looked down or raised a hand, operating their terminals to pull up the Freshmen Challenge Leaderboard.

Light screens flickered as the data refreshed.

As the brand-new leaderboard appeared clearly before their eyes, the entire living room fell into a deathly silence.

[Freshmen Challenge Leaderboard]

First Place: Xu Wuyi (Stages Cleared: 8)

Second Place: Qin Rui (Stages Cleared: 6)

Third Place: Zhao Qingwei (Stages Cleared: 5)

Fourth Place: Shen Wei (Stages Cleared: 5)

Fifth Place: Li Hao (Stages Cleared: 5)

...

"Eigh... eight stages?!" Zhou Hao’s voice, trembling with disbelief, broke the silence.

Zhao Lei rubbed his eyes hard, staring intently at the name at the top of the board and the glaring "8" behind it. He muttered, "I’m not dreaming, am I? He went from the fifth stage straight through to the eighth? How long has it been?"

"Eight stages is all of them! It shows his total clear time next to it!" someone else exclaimed.

Only then did everyone notice that next to Xu Wuyi’s name on the leaderboard, there was not only a note saying "All Stages Cleared" but also a display of his time for each stage.

And his clear times for the last three stages were even more astounding:

Sixth Stage: 0 minutes 37 seconds. Seventh Stage: 3 minutes 12 seconds. Eighth Stage: 6 minutes 51 seconds.

From the sixth stage to the eighth, the entire process took less than eleven minutes!

Is that even humanly possible?

What kind of monster is he!

All the chosen prodigies in the living room simultaneously began to question their very existence.