On a desolate planet, a circular white beam suddenly lit up on the ground, and then Wang Xu’s figure appeared within it.
"This must be Jade Burning Star." Wang Xu stepped onto the barren land, the fierce wind blowing, stirring up waves of dust. The wind carried scorching heat, making the surrounding air so hot that plants couldn’t grow here.
Jade Burning Star is the home of the Jade Burning Flame Tiger. Next to it is Biya Star, where the Jade-toothed Steel Mosquitoes reside. Surrounding Fallen Dragon Star are many stars, each inhabited by countless Star Giant Beast groups.
Cosmic Martial Artists rely on hunting these Star Giant Beasts, selling their carcass materials to survive.
Therefore, a teleport point for commuting to and from each star has been specifically established on Fallen Dragon Star.
"Hmm?" After walking a few steps, Wang Xu saw a gigantic tiger-shaped beast lying on the ground, resting soundly in the distance.
This was an adult Jade Burning Flame Tiger, with fiery red fur covering its body, enormous in size, as large as a small mountain.
The Jade Burning Flame Tiger breathed lightly, making a sound akin to distant thunder, its body rhythmically rising and falling, from afar looking like a thunderous mountain surging up and down.
As Wang Xu approached, the Jade Burning Flame Tiger’s breathing paused, the rise and fall of its body stopped, and then it opened its flame-breathing eyes, slowly getting up and looking at Wang Xu.
"Roar!" The Jade Burning Flame Tiger roared, baring its gruesomely large fangs, a bloody wind blowing, its gaze extremely unfriendly.
Wang Xu smiled lightly, and the White Jade Long Saber suddenly appeared in his hand: "The first one."
Dealing with the Jade Burning Flame Tiger was easy. Wang Xu could kill even an extreme Void Level Cosmic Martial Artist when he was at the Star Level. Now, after breaking through to the Void Level, handling it was simplicity itself.
The mission stated that the integrity of the tiger’s pelt needed to be over 60%. To avoid damaging the pelt, after maneuvering around the Jade Burning Flame Tiger for a moment, Wang Xu beheaded it with a single stroke, sending the massive head flying, blood flowing everywhere, and he immediately stepped up to peel off the pelt.
"The first tiger pelt is in hand." After securing the pelt, Wang Xu sat down directly, and the Mysterious Flame flew out, converting the body of the Jade Burning Flame Tiger into his own energy.
Wang Xu came to hunt Star Giant Beasts, first to collect task items to complete the mission and obtain Cosmic Crystals.
The second point is to use the Mysterious Flame to devour the bodies of Star Giant Beasts, allowing himself to advance more quickly.
Without the aid of Cosmic Crystals, Wang Xu’s cultivation speed greatly decreased, and only by devouring the energy of Star Giant Beasts could he break through faster.
With energy surging inside him, Wang Xu stood up and continued deeper into Jade Burning Star.
On Jade Burning Star, there are not only Jade Burning Flame Tigers but also Jade-Scorching Cyan Wolves, Jade Burning White Leopards, and others, all life forms born on Jade Burning Star.
Along the way, Wang Xu encountered many other life forms, but did not see another Jade Burning Flame Tiger.
"Huff!" As Wang Xu killed his way through, whenever he saw a Star Giant Beast, he slaughtered them all, devouring their bodies, transforming them into energy, and absorbing it completely.
To Wang Xu now, anything below the Black Hole Level posed almost no threat. All Star Giant Beasts couldn’t withstand even a single move from him. Light streaked past, and all the Star Giant Beasts roared down, blood flowing freely.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~
Surging energy rolled inside Wang Xu, who absorbed it freely, swimming in the sea of energy.
"I’ve killed so many life forms on Jade Burning Star, why haven’t I seen another Jade Burning Flame Tiger?" Wang Xu wondered. Aside from the first Jade Burning Flame Tiger he encountered, he hadn’t seen another one.
However, Wang Xu wasn’t in a hurry, as there were plenty of Star Giant Beasts here. He would eventually come across one.
Wang Xu continued forward, seemingly like a streak of light flying through the sky. After becoming Void Level, his speed increased several times, now reaching fifty times the speed of sound.
What does fifty times the speed of sound mean?
Within one second, he flew dozens of kilometers!
In one breath, Wang Xu could fly a hundred kilometers!
"Hmm?" Wang Xu suddenly stopped his body; he had already seen it. In the distance, earth and stones shattered, flying up, the resulting loud noise heard clearly even from a thousand miles away.
"Jade Burning Flame Tiger!" Wang Xu approached and took a closer look, his eyes immediately lighting up.
At this moment, five figures were rapidly moving up and down, besieging a Jade Burning Flame Tiger. The blades glistened sharply, sword shadows flickering, the Jade Burning Flame Tiger’s body was torn, letting out furious roars. Its massive tiger claws struck out, hitting a burly giant at the front. However, this burly giant just swayed slightly, then continued to bear the brunt.
This burly giant was over ten meters tall, with unique mysterious patterns on his body. Every time he received an attack, the patterns glowed red.
The burly giant held the front in check, while the four figures behind launched a frenzied attack on the Jade Burning Flame Tiger. The Jade Burning Flame Tiger wanted to confront the four figures, but the burly giant blocked it in front, preventing it from advancing.
This coordination was perfect, and under the heavy offensive, the Jade Burning Flame Tiger was severely wounded. Ultimately, it let out an unwilling howl and collapsed with a crash, losing its breath.
The five figures cheered jubilantly, the burly giant panted heavily, swallowed a few recovery potions, and then approached to tear open the Jade Burning Flame Tiger’s body.
"Hold on!" Wang Xu came flying in, shouting loudly.
The five were startled; they had been too focused to notice someone in their vicinity.
On such a star, without the rules of Fallen Dragon Star, killing, plundering, and robbing happen frequently.
Sometimes a cosmic martial artist, having painstakingly killed a Star Giant Beast and just about to claim the spoils, gets suddenly ambushed by another cosmic martial artist, who, taking advantage of their weakened state, kills them and snatches all the loot.
The cosmos is that cruel; to gain wealth and become strong, one must climb over others’ corpses!
To gain power and everything, any means is possible, and one would never forgo treasures at hand for mere pity or laughable fairness.
"Friend, what do you want?" The five readied their stance, the burly giant stood in front of the four and shouted loudly.
Clearly, he was the leader of this cosmic martial artist team.
"I want this Jade Burning Flame Tiger’s pelt, can you let me have it?" Wang Xu landed on the ground, smiling as he spoke.
The burly giant frowned, while the other four slightly relaxed.
Turns out it’s just an Initial Void level.
Among these five, the burly giant is an Upper Void level, and the other four are all Upper Void level too; dealing with an Initial Void level kiddo couldn’t be simpler.
"If you want it, I can give it to you, but you need to exchange something of equal value," the burly giant said.
Wang Xu slightly smiled, suddenly producing a snow-white leopard skin in his hand, skinned from a Jade Burning White Leopard, worth thousands of Cosmic Crystals, equivalent to the Jade Burning Flame Tiger’s pelt.
The burly giant thought for a moment and said, "The pelt can be exchanged with you, but the ’Star Core’ inside it must be mine."
Star Core? Wang Xu was puzzled, but since the other party agreed, Wang Xu naturally had no extra conditions: "No problem."
Immediately, Wang Xu used a piece of Jade Burning White Leopard skin to exchange for the Jade Burning Flame Tiger skin from the burly giant.
Transaction completed, the burly giant grabbed the Jade Burning Flame Tiger’s body with both hands and forcefully tore it apart! With a crash, the entire Jade Burning Flame Tiger’s body was instantly split into pieces. The burly giant searched inside for a moment, and soon his eyes lit up as he slowly pulled out a fire-red core from the Jade Burning Flame Tiger’s blood-stained body.
"Friend, can I ask what value does the Star Core in your hand hold?" Wang Xu asked.
The burly giant was stunned, and the four others all froze: "You don’t know about the Star Core?"
Wang Xu shook his head.
The burly giant looked at Wang Xu as if he were a freak and said, "No harm in telling you, the Star Core is the energy core born inside a Void level Star Giant Beast. Any Void level Star Giant Beast has a chance to have a Star Core."
"Star Core can be used to temper warrior armor, to manufacture warships, as a power source... many uses, just the one in my hand is worth about 3000 Cosmic Crystals."
Cosmic Crystals? Upon hearing this, Wang Xu felt a pang of heartache.
Earlier, he had hunted many Star Giant Beasts on Jade Burning Star, all devoured and converted into energy by the Mysterious Flame, among which some surely had Star Cores inside, meaning he missed out on a big haul of Cosmic Crystals?
"Thank you for the information, friend. Goodbye!" Wang Xu, feeling frustrated, waved goodbye to the burly giant.
"Wait." Suddenly, the burly giant spoke, "Friend, seeing that you, an Initial Void level, are venturing on Jade Burning Star alone, it could be dangerous. Why not join my ’Red Flame Squad’?"
"Captain!" The four team members were puzzled, an Initial Void level is too weak, completely useless, why ask him to join?
Though the burly giant spoke of the dangers of Wang Xu venturing alone, he actually understood that being able to roam Jade Burning Star alone implied something extraordinary, especially for an Initial Void level, managing to reach here from the teleport point is nothing short of a miracle!
Such a person could not possibly be ordinary!
"Red Flame Squad?" Wang Xu’s thoughts suddenly drifted back to when he was part of the Genius Battle Group, where he joined the "Red Flame Battle Group."
"Alright, I’ll join," Wang Xu agreed directly.