Chương 81: War God’s : — Chapter 81 - An Unprecedented Real Combat Score!

"The inner area feels simpler than the outer area." Wang Xian swept his gaze across the terrain after arriving. He thought for a long while before reaching that conclusion.

"This year's real combat exam doesn't seem that hard. And it's different from what I faced in my past life..." In his previous life, he'd teamed up with others and spent several hours in the first layer, scoring less than 200 points total before getting eliminated. But back then, the first layer didn't have those troublesome mechanical puppets. Just regular ones. He wasn't sure what came after. He'd heard it was supposedly harder. The inner area had faint Malevolent Qi. Similar to a relic site.

But this Malevolent Qi was too weak. Couldn't even compare to an F-rank relic. It affected examinees, but barely. The only real impact was the increased gravity in this layer.

"Roughly 5 to 7 times normal." At the same time, this layer had large numbers of alien beasts.

"This area is the key scoring zone! Most elite students and top students will aim for high scores here." Because the alien beasts in this layer had life force between 30 and 50 points. Most elite students, Li Zihang, Zhou Xukun, Pang Sandao, and others—all had life force in that range. Killing these beasts meant pure profit. Points equal to the beast's life force. Kill a few and that's 100. Kill 10 and you could get 300 to 500 points. Massive profit.

"There's the gravity effect... F-rank beasts with mid-to-high life force test your martial arts. You can't easily kill them using only rank techniques. Using martial arts is the true path. The higher your martial arts realm, the more you kill." Anyone who reached this layer was an elite student. Ordinary students could only scrape for points in the first layer, unless they formed large teams.

"My life force is high. I shouldn't stay in this layer too long. But the beast density here is even higher than the previous area. I'll have to kill some to get through. Especially closer to the hilltop core area, the more beasts there are." Wang Xian pinched his chin, thinking carefully. How to score high in the key area was a difficult problem.

"Let me check the difficult points first..." Wang Xian looked toward the desolate mountainside. In the decaying earth, dense Bone-Rot Rats scurried and drilled about, emitting chittering, eerie cries. They moved in packs. This was the inner area's alien beast exam question. Bone-Rot Rats. Life force between 30 and 50. Characteristics: pack behavior, toxic body surface, burrow underground to hide.

"Also..." Wang Xian looked at faint purple glows in some open areas.

"Seems like there's an electromagnetic field underground?" Wang Xian thought for a moment, then lured a few Bone-Rot Rats to a spot where the ground glowed purple. After entering, Wang Xian felt the gravity around him instantly lessen. The next second, those Bone-Rot Rats turned purple all over. Their fur stood on end like needle tips. Their blood-colored eyes gained swirling purple light.

"Bone-Rot Rats, bones conduct electricity... In the electromagnetic field, their strength skyrockets. Immune to lightning and receiving a reverse boost. But here, martial artists aren't affected by as much gravity. This is the second layer's difficulty point. Once the Bone-Rot Rats burrow here, their strength greatly increases. Combined with pack behavior, they'll catch examinees completely off guard. Either the examinee gives up, or fights head-on. Usually they choose the former..." The exam question was hellish.

But for him, everything was just right. Too simple, even. Wang Xian had already thought of a method to score high.

"Such a good opportunity. Rare!" Wang Xian chuckled and started moving.

"What does this kid want to do?" Outside Chixia Mountain, in the military camp. Chief Zhao and the others watched Wang Xian's behavior in the footage, frowning repeatedly. In the footage, Wang Xian headed toward the core area without striking. He was frantically luring surrounding Bone-Rot Rats, drawing them toward the electromagnetic field spots glowing purple. He didn't stop until he'd lured over a dozen.

"Luring so many to the electromagnetic field spot?" The deputy was dumbfounded.

"A dozen Bone-Rot Rats alone is more than one or two examinees can handle... The electromagnetic field has an electrical current effect. It will temporarily boost all the Bone-Rot Rats' life force to 50 to 70! A full 20 life force increase! What does he want to do?" An absurd thought popped into their minds.

"This kid, could he want to..." Chief Zhao's expression changed.

"Deliberately trigger these Bone-Rot Rats into a frenzy, then wipe them all out to score high?"

"That's dangerous..." Bai Hongtian frowned. The idea was crazy. But it could get a high score. Real combat scoring was based on the alien beast's life force when you killed it. Bone-Rot Rats temporarily boosted by 20 life force counted for scoring. Wang Xian had 101 life force. Killing a 70-life-force Bone-Rot Rat scored higher than killing a 50-life-force one. As an exam difficulty point, this was meant to teach examinees: when alien beasts' life force skyrockets, retreat. Love what you're reading?

Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. And he wanted to use it to grind points? The next second, after gathering 15 Bone-Rot Rats, Wang Xian slashed out with his blade. The final move of the Flowing Water Blade Technique. Wave Roars Through Heaven and Earth! Ten consecutive towering waves instantly submerged the 15 Bone-Rot Rats. Not even bones remained.

"This is the Flowing Water Blade Technique at return to simplicity realm..." The men were momentarily stunned.

"Not just that, it's my Tyrant Blade Intent!" Bai Hongtian's eyelid twitched.

"In that blade technique, there's my Tyrant Blade Intent. It instantly intimidated those Bone-Rot Rats. Zheng Changhong told me last time this kid's blade intent can already affect AI intelligent alien beasts! Didn't expect the blade intent has solidified to this extent... Even real alien beasts can be affected..." Wang Xian repeated his trick, spending nearly 2 hours clearing four waves of Bone-Rot Rats. Only then did he sweep out a path and enter the core area.

"How many points did he score in this layer?" Chief Zhao asked silently.

"Let me see... Killed 45 frenzied Bone-Rot Rats... average life force of 60 each. Total score: 1593 points." The men sucked in a breath of cold air.

"Damn..." Chief Zhao cursed.

"The score from just this area alone surpassed previous years' top scholars? Add the 438 points from earlier. Total score is... 2031 points."

"Perfected mastery Butcher's Beast Dissection, return to simplicity realm martial arts, and blade intent surpassing realm and rank..." Bai Hongtian said quietly.

"This kid's martial arts talent is too high. This year's martial exam has created a monster. The next several years will struggle to break this record." Chief Zhao remained silent. Any single one of those achievements—in an entire year, few examinees could accomplish it. Wang Xian had accomplished all of them. Bai Hongtian frowned slightly, not speaking. He felt something was odd. As a Seventh Realm Grandmaster, even through footage, he could faintly perceive clues.

When the other party executed martial arts, he purely drew upon surrounding heaven-and-earth origin force. He didn't seem to use any origin force himself. Which meant—'Could this kid not be using his own origin force? Purely relying on physical strength and drawing surrounding heaven-and-earth origin qi to execute martial arts effects? But without origin force amplification, how could his martial arts be this powerful? Has his physical strength already reached a certain degree? Or has he cultivated something else?'

"But his consumption is very great," Chief Zhao consoled himself.

"After executing return to simplicity level martial arts several times, his origin force is utterly exhausted. His body should be fatigued too. He won't have a chance at the final core area challenge." Bai Hongtian glanced at him, not speaking. He wasn't sure either.

"My body's a bit tired..." Walking into the core area, Wang Xian stretched.

"Forget it. I'll open one divine meridian to recover." No choice. After fighting this long, he wasn't made of iron. As the Primal Chaos Breathing Method circulated, cosmic energy overflowed from the divine meridian, suffusing his entire body. In an instant, Wang Xian felt his condition return to peak. The intensity of cosmic energy was highlighted here. Just a tiny bit easily restored the body's strength. Origin force had a similar effect, only far weaker than Spirit Malevolence.

At the same time, once the divine meridian opened, while restoring physical strength, the body's intensity also slightly increased. And this was just one divine meridian. He glanced at his wristband.

"Over 2000 points... Pretty high. Even counting only 30%, it should be enough to enter Tiandu Jingwu. After finishing the finale alien beast in the core area, I can go to the inner area and wait for Ye Miyue..." The core area was the mountaintop. The mountaintop was a ring-shaped depression with sheer cliffs all around. Calling it a mountaintop, it was more like entering a large cave. Except it was located at the mountaintop, so the light and visibility were okay. A message appeared on his wristband.

"You have entered Chixia Mountain, core area, Spiderheart Summit. Each examinee has only one entry opportunity. Once the challenge fails, re-entering Spiderheart Summit to challenge will not count for points." Wang Xian looked around. In the center of Spiderheart Summit was a fissure, looking quite terrifying. A giant black spider, massive as an airship, appeared at the top of the hollowed-out spiderweb. The moment it appeared, it blotted out the only light source from the hole at the top.

The interior darkened considerably.

"E-rank alien beast, Soul-Devouring Matriarch Spider." Wang Xian glanced at it and nodded. In this huge Spiderheart Summit, there was more than one Soul-Devouring Matriarch Spider.

"The Malevolent Qi here is quite heavy. After slaughtering this one, I can cultivate here a bit, replenishing the consumed first divine meridian." Because of the Malevolent Qi's influence, outside couldn't detect footage of this place through the wristband. Only the score could be detected. In that case—"Should I give you a bit of face and use the demon blade?" Wang Xian placed Cold Firmament on his back and drew the demon blade instead. The demon blade contained Malevolent Qi.

Using it, the power of executed martial arts would rise again. Plus, the demon blade's intensity rose with the Spirit Malevolence within the wielder's body. The stronger the internal Spirit Malevolence, the stronger the demon blade. But without using Spirit Malevolence, the demon blade wasn't very strong. It only had a function of absorbing life Malevolent Qi. Not much different from ordinary blades, so it couldn't be detected during earlier verification. A growth-oriented ancient equipment piece.

"Forget it. Better use Cold Firmament..." Wang Xian shook his head. The demon blade was too strong. Used, its power reached second-stage martial combat protective gear. It would violate the assessment requirements. He'd originally planned to use the weapon provided by the military. The demon blade was temporary backup. Now that he had Cold Firmament, it was just right.

"The Soul-Devouring Matriarch Spider's life force is around 300 points... There are also 7 or 8 small male spiders with life force around 70 points. Indeed, as a finale alien beast, even top students who've awakened their talent, not many can handle it. Teaming up would be worthwhile... Life force more than double my own. Then I can use the previously unused Stacking Wave Force. With Cold Firmament, one slash of Wave Roars Through Heaven and Earth should be just right.

This way, the Spirit Malevolence in the divine meridian won't have too much consumption..." Everything was calculated perfectly. Just having life force double his own wasn't worth opening divine meridians to deal with these alien beasts. After a divine meridian opened, the base values were too exaggerated. If it were a peak E-rank alien beast with life force above 900, Wang Xian might open them. Now, absolutely no need. The finale alien beast was nothing more than this.

Wang Xian curled his lip, took a deep breath, and raised his blade. Leapt into mid-air.

"Butcher's Beast Dissection!"

"Wave Roars Through Heaven and Earth!"

"Stacking Wave Force!" One slash cleaved out. In an instant, half the cave was submerged by endless blade waves. Each blade wave was deeper and more terrifying than the last. The Soul-Devouring Matriarch Spider shrieked. Countless dense white spiderwebs appeared around its body, wrapping it into a cocoon. The surrounding 7 or 8 small male spiders, controlled by spider threads, were pushed to the front like cannon fodder. Just two blade waves passed, and they turned to dust.

When the third blade wave struck the insect cocoon, the cocoon wavered. At the fourth blade, cracks appeared. At the fifth blade, the cracks expanded. At the sixth blade, the entire insect cocoon was full of cracks. When the seventh blade came out, the insect cocoon collapsed, revealing the Soul-Devouring Matriarch Spider inside. It let out a sharp screech. The intense sound wave invaded Wang Xian's mind.

"Too inferior. Can't even match one-tenth of the Crimson Blood Mountain Lord's tiger roar. Although the insect glue was used up long ago, I don't need it..." Wang Xian's blade momentum didn't pause. When the eighth blade came out, the stacked terrifying force had already penetrated the entire giant spider body. Until the ninth blade. BOOM! The spider body shattered, exploding. The corpse turned into pieces, falling into the fissure below.

"A bit weak." Wang Xian shook his head and slowly landed. The wristband immediately displayed information.

"Examinee Wang Xian successfully challenged Soul-Devouring Matriarch Spider... Calculating score... Your score is [1 + (Soul-Devouring Matriarch Spider life force - your life force) / 100] x Soul-Devouring Matriarch Spider life force = 897 points. Your total real combat score is: 2928 points." Looking at the score, Wang Xian didn't feel much. After cultivating in Spiderheart Summit for a while, he calculated the time:"It's only 3 PM now. There are still 4 hours until the exam ends from the starting point...

Not bad. I can go to the inner area and check on Ye Miyue." Wang Xian nodded. He estimated that little lady should have arrived by now. He wanted to see what was up with her sword body. Replenishing the Spirit Malevolence of the one divine meridian he'd used meant he basically had no major consumption. Leaving the core area, he arrived at the inner area and waited. Because he'd made a mark, Wang Xian wasn't afraid Ye Miyue wouldn't find him.

If she really couldn't find him, he'd just stroll around and head out early. After a while, he didn't wait for Ye Miyue. Instead, he waited for a few students from No. 1 High School. Lin Ao, Xu Rong, He Yiming, and Tan Tianze from No. 4 High School.

"Wang Xian?" Lin Ao was surprised.

"You got to the inner area this fast? Good timing. A few of us were planning to try the core area's finale alien beast in pairs of two. Interested in teaming up?" Wang Xian paused, then smiled.

"Forget it."

"So confident?" Lin Ao frowned.

"According to past precedent, the core area can only be challenged once. If you fail, there's no more chance!" Wang Xian nodded.

"Yeah."

"Then you're not teaming up? Teaming up basically guarantees a successful challenge! You have to know, if you fail, the points are gone!"

"Is it possible..." Wang Xian thought for a moment.

"That I've already finished fighting and come out?" The group was instantly dumbfounded.

"Huh?" ➤ Next: Wang Xian: I Might Need to Offend You a Little