The two examinees who had fled earlier now collapsed to the ground, their legs giving out completely as they gasped for breath. The way they looked at Su Qi could no longer be described as mere awe—it was as if they were gazing upon a deity walking among mortals.
Liu Yuan was also momentarily stunned. She stole a glance at Su Qi.
Brother… has grown so much stronger.
This was the first time she had witnessed such power.
Only Su Qi remained calm, his expression unreadable.
As if all of this was only to be expected.
He couldn’t just stand by and watch these people die one by one.
But losing a few stubborn fools who refused to listen?
That was inconsequential.
In a large group, there were bound to be a few odd ones.
No one knew that the moment Su Qi crushed the skull of the first crimson Sourcebeast, an imperceptible wave of shadow energy rippled outward from him, invisible to ordinary eyes.
And when it struck the other two Sourcebeasts, it triggered an "overflow damage" effect.
Any target harboring killing intent toward him would bear the brunt of this "excess damage."
Against opponents of the same tier or higher, it would only cause minor disruption.
But for these low-tier "ants" far beneath him?
It was the art of explosion.
Even the faintest residual energy was enough to obliterate their lives.
Without a word, Su Qi continued forward, as if the brief interruption had been nothing worth mentioning.
The terrain began to slope upward slightly.
More importantly, the density of the ash in the air was visibly thinning.
"Look! Up ahead!"
Someone shouted in excitement.
Following their pointed finger, about a hundred meters away stood a towering metal wall, and behind it, a radiant beam of light shot into the sky.
"Is that the headquarters inside the Source Realm? We’ve made it!"
"Finally… we’re finally getting out of this hellish place!"
A hundred meters wasn’t far, but for those who had teetered on the brink of despair, every step felt like it drained the last of their strength.
When they finally stepped beyond the ash-covered wasteland and took their first breath of relatively fresh air, many collapsed on the spot, gasping as if trying to replenish hours of lost oxygen in a single moment.
Yun Huang approached him, her voice hoarse. "Thank you."
No matter how it had happened, the result was that they had survived.
Su Qi shifted his gaze from the others to her and replied indifferently, "No need. It was just a small effort."
Yun Huang let out a self-deprecating laugh. "Small effort, huh…"
Su Qi didn’t respond.
He turned and walked toward the massive metal gates of the Source Realm’s official headquarters.
The gates swung open instantly.
Chen Yuan had already noticed the bedraggled group.
Su Qi stepped inside.
The interior of the headquarters was brightly lit, a stark contrast to the ash-choked world outside.
Staff in uniform hurried about, their expressions tense.
Su Qi returned to the surveillance room.
Chen Yuan stood at the front, his back to the door as he issued orders.
Hearing footsteps, he turned.
The exhaustion on his face gave way to an indescribable mix of emotions the moment he recognized Su Qi.
"You… you’ve been holding out on us, haven’t you? Damn it, I actually thought you were just coasting by…"
Clearly, someone had reported the scene of him taking down a Tenth-Tier creature with a single shot.
Su Qi skipped the pleasantries and cut straight to the point. "What’s the situation?"
Chen Yuan hesitated, as if choosing his words carefully. "Not great, but…"
"That shot of yours…" Chen Yuan began slowly.
Though he had already seen the unbelievable footage—the black spear materializing out of thin air and piercing through the Tenth-Tier Sourcebeast in an instant.
"A Tenth-Tier Sourcebeast," Chen Yuan enunciated each word, "killed in one strike."
Even the guardians of Jiangxia would have to pay a steep price, possibly even sacrifice themselves, to achieve the same feat.
A heavy silence fell over the command center, broken only by the faint hum of machinery.
"That level of attack," Chen Yuan finally voiced the question burning in his mind, his eyes alight with a mix of hope and tension, "can you do it again?"
If this power could be replicated—even just once more—it could turn the tide of their desperate battle.
A stable, repeatable method of eliminating Tenth-Tier Sourcebeasts would be a game-changer.
Su Qi met Chen Yuan’s searching gaze and answered calmly, "Yes."
He paused, then added, "But…"
That single word sent a chill down Chen Yuan’s spine.
"Not right now."
"My soul force is depleted. It needs time to recover."
Chen Yuan’s eyes brightened further.
It would have been unnatural if such a technique didn’t have a cost!
What mattered was that the spear was a skill, not a one-time consumable.
As long as it could be used again, they had a trump card capable of reshaping the battlefield.
"Good! Good! Good!" Chen Yuan repeated the word three times, the tension in his face easing slightly.
The heaviest weight pressing on his heart had been lifted, if only a little.
The two Tenth-Tier Sourcebeasts that had loomed over them no longer seemed so insurmountable…
He strode forward and clapped a hand on Su Qi’s shoulder, his tone solemn.
"Brother Su, half of Jiangxia’s future now rests on your shoulders."
"I’ll fight to the death to buy you the time you need for that second shot."
rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
ose... to cooperate with the protagonist! Shen Yuan: I have a system! Protagonist: What? System: Holy crap, you're just spilling it out like that? Shen Yuan: Let's team up, we'll split the system rewards! Protagonist: Fifty-fifty split? Shen Yuan: No way! Protagonist: What!? I'm the one getting beaten up, and I don't get half? Shen Yuan: Forty-sixty split, I get forty, you get sixty! Protagonist: Deal! Big brother, come on, hit me! As long as it doesn't kill me, beat me like you mean it! Shen Yuan: Don't worry... I will definitely protect all of you! No one but me can lay a finger on you! Guard our Heaven's Chosen Ones! I'm the only one allowed to bully them!
