About half an hour later, the group arrived at the outskirts of the mountain range.

"You have all received your respective Jade Talismans. Now, you must venture deep into the mountain range to hunt at least a thousand Tier Two Middle-Level Demon Beasts, or a hundred Tier Two High-Level Demon Beasts. Additionally, you must seize ten Jade Talismans to pass this round of assessment."

Ouyang Ling glanced at the crowd and spoke slowly.

During the journey, Ouyang Ling issued each person a palm-sized Jade Talisman.

A total of 17,600 people passed the first round of assessment, meaning there are 17,600 Jade Talismans in total.

Besides hunting enough Demon Beasts, they also need to seize ten Jade Talismans to pass the second round, which means only 1,760 people have the chance to enter the Celestial Sword Sect.

"One in ten, truly cruel."

Wang Ruoxie thought to himself. Over 17,000 people entered this mountain range not only needing to hunt Demon Beasts but also to guard against attacks from others.

As such, the danger increases significantly, and death could occur at any moment.

"In the second round of assessment, life and death are disregarded. Even if you are killed by someone, your faction cannot retaliate, or they will become enemies with the Celestial Sword Sect."

As Ouyang Ling said this, his commanding gaze swept over everyone.

"The assessment period is three days. If after three days you haven't hunted enough Demon Beasts and seized ten Jade Talismans, you will be directly eliminated."

"Alright, the assessment now officially begins."

As Ouyang Ling's words fell, everyone didn't hesitate, raising their steps and heading toward the depths of the mountain range.

"Three days, a hundred Tier Two High-Level Demon Beasts, is not too difficult."

Wang Ruoxie smiled faintly and muttered to himself.

"Brother Wang, it's not that simple. Although we human Martial Cultivators, with the aid of Martial Techniques and Weapons, can easily hunt beasts of the same tier, the Demon Beasts in this mountain range are constantly hunted by disciples of the Celestial Sword Sect, and with their mutual strife, those that survive are far stronger than common beasts of the same tier."

Song Qing walked beside Wang Ruoxie and said, "You could say that any Tier Two Middle-Level Demon Beast encountered here has strength not inferior to the Sixth Layer of the Energy-Introducing Realm, or even stronger. If you encounter a Tier Two High-Level Demon Beast, it would be difficult for someone even at the Eighth Layer or Ninth Layer of the Energy-Introducing Realm to achieve victory alone."

Listening to Song Qing, Wang Ruoxie's eyes slightly narrowed. He wasn't worried about Tier Two Demon Beasts; even the strongest Tier Two High-Level Demon Beast would be manageable for him.

With his current strength, unless he encounters a Tier Three Demon Beast, nothing else poses a threat.

However, since the beasts in this mountain range are much stronger than usual, encountering a Tier Three Demon Beast, even just a Low-Level one, would be equivalent to facing the Thunder Bat King he encountered previously.

It should be noted that he managed to kill the Thunder Bat King mainly thanks to Zhao Huang and Xia Yuan's help, but here, he must rely on himself entirely, and if he truly encounters a Tier Three Demon Beast, it could be difficult for him to escape unscathed.

"Looks like I must first refine those Essence Blood to enhance my cultivation."

Wang Ruoxie thought to himself, considering that his Storage Pouch still holds over ten thousand drops of ordinary Thunder Bat Essence Blood, as well as dozens of Thunder Bat King's Essence Blood; it was time to refine them.

After all, he not only needs to hunt Demon Beasts now but also to guard against attacks from other contenders like Yang Hongwu and Leng Ao, who surely won't miss this legitimate chance to kill him.

...

After entering the depths of the mountain range, Wang Ruoxie parted ways with Song Qing.

He then found a fairly concealed cave where he took out the Essence Blood from his Storage Pouch to begin refining it.

Ordinary Thunder Bats are merely Tier Two Middle-Level Demon Beasts and offer little auxiliary effect to him now.

However, fortunately, there's a large quantity. Over ten thousand drops of Essence Blood should at least elevate his cultivation by one level.

Not delaying, Wang Ruoxie activated the Nine Transformation Primordial Scripture, cultivating while refining the Essence Blood.

After refining a thousand drops of Essence Blood, his cultivation showed a trace of breakthrough.

Wang Ruoxie did not stop, refining the Essence Blood continuously.

Two thousand drops... three thousand drops.

"Boom!"

With a dull sound from within Wang Ruoxie's body, the Fifth Layer of the Energy-Introducing Realm broke through.

He continued refining, five thousand drops... seven thousand drops... ten thousand drops.

"Boom!"

Another dull sound erupted, and Wang Ruoxie's aura surged dramatically, many times more powerful than before.

"These three thousand drops of Essence Blood, I'll save for Song Qing and Zheng Yuan."

Wang Ruoxie opened his eyes, directly refining the remaining three thousand drops of Essence Blood into ten Blood Pills.

Although Song Qing and Zheng Yuan can't directly consume and refine Essence Blood to enhance their cultivation like him, they can still use Blood Pills to nourish their Qi and Blood and accelerate their cultivation speed.

These Blood Pills, refined from Essence Blood, are far beyond ordinary Blood Pills in effect.

The ten thousand drops of ordinary Thunder Bat Essence Blood elevated Wang Ruoxie's cultivation by two small realms, reaching the Sixth Layer of the Energy-Introducing Realm, which is the last small realm of the Mid-Stage Energy-Introducing Realm.

Even with the remaining three thousand drops of Essence Blood, further significant improvement was unlikely, so he intended to save them for Song Qing and Zheng Yuan.

Subsequently, he prepared to refine the dozens of Thunder Bat King's Essence Blood.

The Thunder Bat King is a Tier Three Low-Level Demon Beast, and the Essence Blood contains vitality far exceeding that of ordinary Thunder Bat Essence Blood.

He was quite eager to see what level these Thunder Bat King's Essence Blood could elevate his cultivation to.

Without further hesitation, Wang Ruoxie took out the dozens of Thunder Bat King's Essence Blood and began refining and absorbing them sequentially.

In the cave, strands of pure Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi swiftly converged toward Wang Ruoxie, and then poured into his body with fervor.

Behind him, three blue halos surrounded the Sword Blood Soul, which suddenly manifested.

Instantly, the aggregation speed of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi increased by at least thirty percent.

Clearly, Wang Ruoxie's Blood Soul, though a Sword Blood Soul, could also enhance his cultivation speed.

After a long while, a dull sound emerged again from Wang Ruoxie's body.

And with it, his cultivation broke through to the Seventh Layer of the Energy-Introducing Realm.

From the Sixth Layer to the Seventh Layer of the Energy-Introducing Realm, though only a small realm difference, the gap between the two was a significant Tier.

The Sixth Layer belongs to the Mid-Stage of the Energy-Introducing Realm, while the Seventh Layer belongs to the Late Stage, and the increase in strength was even more marked than his previous two small realm breakthroughs.

After some time, the aura emanating from Wang Ruoxie rose to a peak.

Unfortunately, after refining the last drop of Thunder Bat King's Essence Blood, his cultivation still couldn't break through further.

"Peak of the Seventh Layer of the Energy-Introducing Realm."

Wang Ruoxie slowly opened his eyes, a faint smile on his lips.

Although it took dozens of Thunder Bat King's Essence Blood for his cultivation to breakthrough from the Sixth Layer to the Seventh Layer, he was still very satisfied.

Because he knew the reason for his inability to continue breaking through was that while increasing his cultivation, he also refined his body.

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