Xu Jingming didn’t have any distracting thoughts when cultivating mental tempering; he appeared to be thoughtless.

In fact, he was least afraid of sneak attacks. In this state, the range of his senses reached its broadest and sharpest levels. Even his biological clock was accurate to the second. Any trace of hostility would result in Xu Jingming’s counter-attack!

Now that he was buried under the collapsed city wall, Xu Jingming couldn’t see the outside world. With a thought, he entered a mental tempering state, and his senses were immediately magnified a thousand times. Every piece of gravel remained crystal-clear in his senses, and he also sensed the vast boundary walls. He also sensed the air flow outside the ruins and the most intense aura—Tejano’s life force.

Tejano’s life force was like a torch.

Huh? Tejano stood outside the ruins and frowned slightly. With Xu Jingming’s control over his strength, even if he crashed into the city wall, the resulting impact would be significantly reduced. At most, he would suffer minor injuries. Yet, he’s hiding inside? Is he trying to ambush me?

Although his cultivation speed was slow and his talent wasn’t high, Tejano had traveled the virtual world from a young age and had experienced countless battles. He was rich in combat experience.

I’ve locked onto his location. Tejano immediately magnified the surrounding aura fluctuations through his sensing. Soon, he locked onto a concealed vital aura!

Over there! After Tejano confirmed it, he smiled to himself. You want to ambush me?

Whoosh.

Tejano leaped onto the ruins and pretended to search carefully.

…

“Xu Jingming crashed into the city wall and was buried by it. Why isn’t he out yet?”

“Perhaps he’s too seriously injured and wants to recover from his injuries.”

“That collision caused the city wall to collapse completely. The recoil from the collision must be ridiculous; even Xu Jingming could be seriously injured.” Countless people guessed; they didn’t know Xu Jingming’s current state.

Countless viewers around the world held their breaths and watched the battle proceed.

…

Atop the rubble, Tejano carefully observed as he walked. He held a staff and looked like he was ready to attack at any moment.

When Tejano arrived above Xu Jingming and was less than ten meters away from the latter, Xu Jingming—who was in a mental tempering state—felt the threat increase. He followed his instincts and suddenly charged forward. At the same time, the spear projection erupted like a volcano and stabbed out.

Boom!

The ruins suddenly exploded when Xu Jingming moved.

The distance of less than ten meters was too close, and Tejano couldn’t dodge in time. However, he sneered and stabbed down! This strike easily pulverized the gravel and stabbed at Xu Jingming’s body with indomitable force.

Bang!

The upward charging spear projection collided with the staff, and its momentum immediately plummeted. Tejano immediately blinked away, while Xu Jingming completely rushed out of the ruins and landed on the empty ground beside him.

“How cunning. You actually started to use sneak attacks.” Tejano looked at Xu Jingming. “Unfortunately, it’s useless against me.”

“You sensed it pretty fast.” Xu Jingming looked at his opponent.

…

At this moment, the official livestream was playing a slow-motion replay of the battle. Tejano was walking on the ruins, and when he was less than ten meters away from where Xu Jingming was buried under the ruins, Xu Jingming suddenly tore out and thrust forward like a bolt of lightning! It was terrifyingly fast!

Tejano seemed to have known all along as he stabbed down with his staff, hitting the spear.

“Xu Jingming’s weapon and spear are three meters long, and Tejano’s staff is 2.6 meters long,” Secretary General Angus said with a smile at the commentary platform. “When Xu Jingming charged up, he stabbed out with one hand. If the two of them didn’t defend and instead attacked each other… Xu Jingming would’ve stabbed Tejano first. However, Tejano clearly predicted it and deflected this strike with his pole.”

“How harrowing.”

“Less than ten meters away and blocked by the rubble, it’s impossible to see with the naked eye. One side is attacking while the other side neuters the threat?”

“The two of them are too terrifying.”

Countless people around the world watched the slow-motion replay before understanding how terrifying the battle between the two was.

…

Tejano and Xu Jingming observed each other and knew that the opponent wasn’t easy to deal with.

Very good. The stronger Xu Jingming is, the better. Tejano’s eyes burned. I’m only afraid that he’s not strong enough.

In terms of strength, speed, and perception, I can’t find his flaws at all. Xu Jingming frowned slightly. If there are no flaws, I’ll create them.

He immediately moved and tore through the air, causing a shockwave to blast out as he arrived with his spear.

Clang!

Tejano had already advanced and met the attack with his staff.

Both parties unleashed their full strength and speed, releasing their various moves to their heart’s content.

The ground rumbled from the strikes, and sand and rocks flew everywhere. Large craters appeared in the ground, and some flying rocks crashed into the distant city wall, pockmarking it.

My staff technique has reached Lv. 5 53%, but my speed is actually lower than his? Tejano thought to himself.

What a terrifying Tejano. Other than having a slight advantage in speed, I’m inferior in every other aspect. Xu Jingming also sensed that the other party’s staff technique contained immense strength and was extremely agile. He only had a slight advantage in speed thanks to his focus on Beam Transformation.

Tejano had the advantage in their clash. He mostly attacked, and Xu Jingming was forced to defend most of the time apart from the occasional counter-attacking.

Out of ten moves, he only counter-attacked twice or thrice.

How many ultimate moves is this Tejano good at? Xu Jingming felt pressured. He’s good at at least ten staff techniques; I can confirm at least 19 ultimate moves!

During the competition with Liu Hai, Tejano didn’t reveal much of his strength and only used one ultimate move.

He only unleashed it to his heart’s content at this moment! When all kinds of ultimate moves were combined, Xu Jingming felt suffocated and was forced to defend most of the time.

Whoosh.

A ghostly sneak attack that was like a venomous snake.

Boom!

It was like an earth-shattering onslaught! There were also three-hit combos, staff techniques attacking across space… Every bizare move placed immense pressure on Xu Jingming.

As he constantly defended, Xu Jingming suddenly swept his spear!

Boom!

He controlled the countless cells in his body and collectively commandeered his strength. At this moment, his entire body was like a huge divine bow. The spear in his hand was like an arrow on a bowstring as he swept out with force.

The spear struck out like an arrow, and the air instantly turned into a vacuum, producing a terrifying rumble.

Mountain Style—one of the five ultimate moves.

Mountain Style was also a move that combined offense and defense. Of the five ultimate moves, it was the move with the greatest strength. It was just that this move required an extremely short period to channel the strength, giving the opponent time to respond.

At this moment, Tejano struck out with his staff, and like a huge snake, he blocked the terrifying spear that came sweeping over. Using softness to counter hardness, Tejano was sent retreating the moment he came into contact with it.

Tejano stood in the distance and praised, “Xu Jingming, I’m really impressed. Your spearmanship has reached this level just ten months after the virtual world’s launch. How impressive.”

“You flatter me. I’m inferior to you in terms of physical control,” Xu Jingming said.

Through this battle, he could vaguely sense that his spearmanship skills had improved, but it was probably only Lv. 5 40%. In terms of explosive strength and agility, he was much inferior to Tejano. According to Xu Jingming’s guess… Tejano’s staff technique was probably about Lv. 5 50%.

“You also cultivated evolutionary methods after the virtual world’s launch. You’re younger than me, but your control over your body exceeds mine. You’re truly impressive,” Xu Jingming praised from the bottom of his heart.

Tejano didn’t feel happy when he heard that. Instead, he felt his face burn. Younger? I’m about the same age as your grandfather!

“Xu Jingming, I’ll use one of my secret techniques next. If you can’t block it, you’ll die,” Tejano said out of goodwill. He had seen many so-called staff techniques and had learned dozens of them, but the strongest of his staff techniques… were three secret techniques!

These were the three secret techniques his father had tailor-made for him. Not only could he unleash extreme strength at the planetary lifeform stage, but it was also a very important foundation for moves during the cosmic lifeform stage. With this foundation, one had a chance of reaching Lv. 9 in the future.

Tejano had also spent some effort on the three secret techniques, but his improvement was slow. He was still at Lv. 5 now.

Secret technique? Xu Jingming thought to himself and became more cautious. This Tejano sure is confident. He even warned me before using the secret technique.

From this point of view, Xu Jingming thought well of Tejano.

“Be careful!” The moment Tejano said that, he leaped out like a stream of light. At the same time, staff after staff appeared in the world!

Every staff afterimage was like a huge python, and instantly, more than ten staff afterimages enveloped the sky and Xu Jingming.

One of the three secret techniques passed down by Tejano’s family—Heavenly Python Series..