Chapter 132 Progress

Xu Jingming devoted himself wholeheartedly to battle.

Match after match, these 'eighth-order limit' experts from various civilizations within the Hunter Cosmos Domain each possessed unique strengths, bringing different experiences to Xu Jingming.

Some excelled in footwork, their bodies seeming to traverse between reality and illusion. Xu Jingming barely managed to win by relying on the faster footwork of the *Light Beam* technique and his swift, light-like spearmanship. However, in terms of concealment and unpredictability, Xu Jingming admitted he was inferior to his opponent.

Some were masters of palm techniques, their hands transforming into thousands of arms, combining power and versatility. The force of a single palm strike could sink thousands of miles of land. Xu Jingming used his footwork advantage and the flowing light of his spear shadows to overwhelm the opponent's defenses, ultimately leading to their defeat. This made Xu Jingming secretly marvel at why Xuan pursued the limits of speed! Having an advantage in speed was simply too great in battle.

There were also those with extremely profound attainments in 'physical energy transformation', their entire being resembling a god of thunder, wielding twin spears. Wherever the spear tips passed, even mountains would turn to powder. The coordination of the twin spears was even more unpredictable. Xu Jingming was at a disadvantage using his spearmanship to defend, so he ultimately switched to dual shields. With the shields in hand, he crushed the opponent with an overwhelming, head-on force, finally defeating them.

After each battle, Xu Jingming reflected and summarized, occasionally gaining new insights into the *Light Beam* technique. Each time he had an insight, he felt endless joy in his heart.

The feeling of progress was truly wonderful!

"Thunder God Wei actually lost too."

"Wei's twin spear coordination is something many eighth-order limits can't withstand."

"This guy named Wu Ming is really fast, even faster than Wei! Because of his speed advantage, he had the chance to switch to dual shields. Holding the dual shields, he withstood Wei's twin spear attacks! With super-fast speed and fierce power, a single shield strike severely injured Wei's Thunder God body."

"His spearmanship is amazing, and his shield techniques are also amazing. In my hometown, there are only two eighth-order cosmic lifeforms in an entire star system. In the virtual world network, you can just wander around and see a group of eighth-order limits."

"Looking at his shield techniques, if he used them in reality, a single shield strike would probably wipe out half the life on a planet."

"If he dared to do that, he'd either be in a cosmic prison or sent to an alien battlefield as cannon fodder."

"We have to thank the Cosmic Human Alliance's laws; otherwise, these eighth-order cosmic lifeforms would be terrifying in their destructiveness. I feel a little terrified just watching them fight."

The audience was very excited.

Especially since some of the opponents Xu Jingming encountered were quite popular. Defeating these 'star experts' also increased the number of people paying attention to Xu Jingming.

One million, two million, five million, ten million…

The number of Xu Jingming's fans continued to increase.

"This Wu Ming is so amazing; he's been on a winning streak."

"One eighth-order limit after another falls before him."

"How many consecutive wins does he have?"

"He's already on a 19-win streak! His ranking is constantly rising."

"This Wu Ming is too aloof; he has over 300,000 viewers now, and he doesn't interact with us at all."

"He's an eighth-order limit; in reality, he's probably a high-ranking noble in some civilization. Not all eighth-order limits… will interact with the audience."

"Based on my experience watching peak battles for thousands of years, and integrated data analysis, Wu Ming's footwork and spearmanship have the style of the Yuanchu Research Institute. He might be an external member of the Yuanchu Research Institute."

"Really? From the Yuanchu Research Institute?"

"More than half of those who make it to the top ranks in the Cosmic Peak Tournament are geniuses from the seventeen top factions."

The audience was exchanging opinions.

Xu Jingming was immersed in battle and finally lost after a 30-win streak.

His opponent was named 'Craftsman A'tian.' In the 'Cosmic Peak Tournament' of the life evolution game, most of these eighth-order limits didn't use their real names. This 'Craftsman A'tian' was a four-armed man standing 2.72 meters tall.

The four arms wielded four sabers. These sabers varied in length and had their own unique characteristics.

But during the fight, Xu Jingming was completely suppressed. He was faster, but once he engaged with the opponent, he was 'entangled' and couldn't break free! He didn't even have the chance to switch to dual shields.

After barely withstanding dozens of moves with his spearmanship, he was struck and severely injured.

Once injured, the opponent naturally wouldn't give him a chance, attacking continuously! Preventing Xu Jingming from fully recovering, forcing him to admit defeat.

"Lost."

Xu Jingming sat on a rock on a desolate planet, scrolling through the timeline, slowly replaying and carefully examining the battle scene.

"Impressive." Xu Jingming watched the opponent's use of the four sabers. "The four saber techniques coordinate perfectly. Even if I can break through his long saber, I have to face his short saber. His battle strategy… has a lot of room for trial and error."

"Even if I were stronger, I wouldn't be able to break his saber techniques." Xu Jingming gradually understood in the slow-motion replay, "He's like waging a war, seizing every chance of victory, making me feel controlled, unable to escape the predicament, until I ultimately lose."

Xu Jingming opened the opponent's interface.

"Ranked 812nd in the Frost Star Alliance?" Xu Jingming's eyes lit up. There were countless experts in a star alliance, so being in the top 1,000 was already remarkable.

"Even with such strength, he can't even get into the top 100,000 in the Hunter Cosmos Domain?" Xu Jingming was somewhat moved. "There are truly heavens beyond heavens, and people beyond people. There are just too many experts in the Hunter Cosmos Domain."

People like Senior Brother Gu Shan and Senior Sister Mo Yu were all eighth-order experts from the Hunter Cosmos Domain, and they would also be ranked as long as they participated in the Cosmic Peak Tournament.

The geniuses of the Yuanchu Research Institute, as well as those of the other 16 top factions, would all try the Cosmic Peak Tournament on their path to pursuing the origin lifeform to see how their combat abilities ranked.

Therefore, there were too many experts in the Cosmic Peak Tournament.

"This Wu Ming seems to be discouraged."

"After 30 consecutive wins, he finally lost. He's probably stimulated, and he's studying the replay over and over again."

"The more consecutive wins, the more the system will automatically assign super-strong opponents. It's a pity he only got 30 consecutive wins. If he got 100 consecutive wins, I heard he could encounter some terrifying opponents, like those in the top 100 of the Hunter Cosmos Domain."

At this moment, over a million cosmic citizens were watching.

After all, continuous victories, especially after defeating several star players, naturally attracted a lot of fans. Like the previous 'Craftsman A'tian', who was in the top 1,000 in the Frost Star Alliance, normal battles would have over ten million viewers. Confronting such a star expert made it easy to increase the number of fans.

"My strength isn't as good as his."

Xu Jingming studied it several times before stopping. He glanced and saw the number of online viewers next to him: "1,053,791," which startled him.

"Over a million people are watching me? I've been studying the replay here for ten minutes, and they're still watching me?" Xu Jingming felt a little ashamed, but also pleasantly surprised.

Ashamed because he was being watched by over a million people, yet he was studying the replay, not saying a word the whole time, which was a bit disrespectful to the audience.

Surprised because when he was fighting before, many of the viewers were fans of his opponents! And the current viewers were undoubtedly his fans.

Xu Jingming clicked on the panel and lightly tapped, and in his vision, countless stands appeared in the distance, with densely packed cosmic citizen viewers, exceeding a million.

"I'm sorry," Xu Jingming said to the numerous viewers. "Today is my first time seriously playing the Cosmic Peak Tournament. I didn't have enough experience and didn't pay attention to you all. It's been several hours, and I haven't said a word to you."

"What?"

"Is he apologizing to us?"

"This eighth-order limit has a pretty good temper!"

A group of viewers was used to Xu Jingming ignoring them. Now that Xu Jingming suddenly spoke, they were pleasantly surprised.

After all, eighth-order limits were also big shots in reality. Some participated in the Peak Tournament to focus on live streaming, naturally interacting with the audience in various ways to gain greater influence and earn higher income. Others focused on combat and ignored the audience.

If it weren't for the official setting that the Cosmic Peak Tournament had to allow viewers to watch, it was estimated that many experts would turn off the live broadcast.

"I usually focus more on combat," Xu Jingming explained with a smile, looking at the viewers' information flow. "So I don't interact with everyone during battles! After the battle is over, when I'm free, I'll chat with you for a few words."

After each battle, he would reflect and summarize the fight.

With the processing speed of an eighth-order limit's brain, it was easy to multitask. It was easy to reflect and summarize while chatting a few words.

"It's good enough that you can interact with us."

"Wu Ming, add oil, I am also from the Wu Hook Star Alliance!"

"Does this Wu Ming also want to earn fans' money?"

The audience discussed, with countless streams of information flowing by.

"Everyone doesn't need to give rewards," Xu Jingming said.

Estimating that he could become an origin lifeform within two hundred years, he naturally didn't care about these things. It might earn him a billion cosmic dollars a year if he worked hard to cultivate fans, but Xu Jingming wasn't willing to spend his energy on that.

He wanted to concentrate all his energy, devote himself to battle, and pursue his own limits.

As for chatting a few words with the audience, Xu Jingming felt it was still necessary. After all, so many cosmic citizens were paying attention to him; it was a kind of goodwill.

Of course, he had to return it with goodwill.

This was basic courtesy.

Xu Jingming said, "Okay, I'll continue to the next battle." As he spoke, he had already clicked on the preparation interface.

"This Wu Ming has turned off the reward function."

"We can't give rewards anymore."

"He doesn't want rewards, and he's so friendly."

"So heartwarming. I think this Wu Ming is so handsome, even more handsome than the God of Song Bei Yu."

"You're comparing a singer to an eighth-order limit? They're not on the same level, okay?"

"According to analysis, this Wu Ming is suspected to be from the Yuanchu Research Institute and is focusing on the Cosmic Peak Tournament for the first time. He should be very young. Young, and from the Yuanchu Research Institute… his future is boundless! He might be an origin lifeform in the future!"

These viewers were all cosmic citizens, and there were also many hidden dragons and crouching tigers among them. After Xu Jingming's continuous battles of over thirty matches, they had deduced a lot of information.

******

In the blink of an eye, more than half a month had passed.

Xu Jingming's schedule was very tight. Every day, he would unswervingly study scientific knowledge, research the *Light Beam* technique, and cultivate visualization techniques. The remaining time, six hours were spent on one Cosmic Peak Tournament battle after another! The rest of the time was spent studying battle replays and summarizing gains and losses.

He had to constantly reflect and summarize in order to gradually improve.

He had very little time to spend with his wife and daughter every day, and Xu Jingming also felt somewhat indebted to them. But after refining the demon's obsession for the first time, he had an epiphany! He had to burn himself and devote himself wholeheartedly to the path of evolution.

"The battles in this half month have been very rewarding. My progress in combat skills is greater than the progress I made in the Demon Subduing World for over ten years." In just over half a month, Xu Jingming's combat skill bonus had already broken through 70 times.

Of course, this was also because the demons he encountered in the Demon Subduing World had very ordinary combat skills. There were no challenging opponents.

He hadn't spent much effort on combat skills. His focus was mainly on 'refining his heart'.

Now he had focused for more than half a month!

His understanding of the *Light Beam* technique over the past ten years was constantly integrated into his combat skills, so the improvement was naturally rapid.

"However, my ranking in the Wu Hook Star Alliance is starting to slow down." Xu Jingming looked at his current ranking.

Wu Hook Star Alliance Ranking: 1239

As for the Hunter Cosmos Domain, he still hadn't made it into the top 100,000.

"It's indeed very difficult to get into the top 100,000 in the Hunter Cosmos Domain," Xu Jingming thought. "Every 10,000 years, the Yuanchu Research Institute recruits about 500 external members in the Hunter Cosmos Domain. Apart from the three strongest factions, the other 14 factions each recruit thousands of external members in the Hunter Cosmos Domain every 10,000 years. The cumulative total for the 14 factions… is tens of thousands of people."

"So the top 100,000 in this Hunter Cosmos Domain! Are either eighth-order limits who are very old and whose combat skills are increasingly perfect, or they are geniuses from the top factions." Xu Jingming knew that none of these people were easy to deal with.

His talent might be good, but he was still young after all.

"Take it slowly."

Xu Jingming was still patient, but he also had ambition. He wanted to charge to the forefront of the Hunter Cosmos Domain, and even to the forefront of the overall cosmic ranking.

"Hmm?" Xu Jingming received a prompt and lightly tapped it.

"Senior Brother Gu Shan." Xu Jingming said.

"Haha, Junior Brother Wu Ming, the old place in Yuanchu City, I'm hosting a feast for everyone." Senior Brother Gu Shan's laughter was hearty.

"Senior Brother has broken through?" Xu Jingming said in surprise.

"Yes, I've already become an official member of the Yuanchu Research Institute." Senior Brother Gu Shan was also in a good mood. "Come quickly, I'm already waiting for everyone here."

"I'm coming."

Xu Jingming was also full of joy. The oldest senior brother of the eight people of the Yuanchu Star Conjecture lineage in the Hunter Cosmos Domain had finally become an origin lifeform. This was a joyous event.

Xu Jingming quickly went to Yuanchu City and arrived at the familiar restaurant's top floor.

As soon as he entered, Xu Jingming saw Senior Brother Gu Shan, Senior Brother Red Eye, and Senior Sister Monina. The three of them were chatting happily.