In the game "High Martial Arts," players start with the blessing of the Martial God.

Chapter 85 The Final Battle

"So this is the Heavenly Demon Clan?"

Ji Ming lay on the rock wall, looking at the figures in the valley below, and found that they were quite different from those in the textbook.

The Heavenly Demon Clan is very similar in appearance to humans, except that they have a "demon mark" on their foreheads. This is a symbol of their bloodline. The simpler the demon mark, the stronger the bloodline, which is directly related to their strength.

The demon below had black hair and bloodshot eyes, with demonic patterns covering its entire forehead. Its bloodline might not be considered powerful, but its aura was extremely terrifying.

"Late stage of Tier 2".

Ji Ming thought to himself that it was difficult to sense the specific level of the second tier. His expression was very solemn. Judging from his aura, the guy below was no less formidable than the early-stage third-tier demon spirits he had encountered before.

The Demon Spirit Clan is one of the top 100 races!

"Are all ordinary members of the Heavenly Demon Clan this powerful?" Ji Ming was secretly shocked. No wonder the human race, despite having the advantages of destiny and status, was still being suppressed and beaten.

It's so powerful, how the hell am I supposed to get its essence blood?

After hesitating for a long time, looking at the demon clan in the sky, Ji Ming clenched his fists, "I'll risk it all!"

Fifteen minutes later, "Boom!"

Ji Ming stumbled out of the mountain, followed by a furious roar of resentment. His eyes remained calm as he looked back after running a short distance, a look of relief on his face.

You made the right bet!

As expected, the demons were unable to leave this mountain!

He clutched his chest, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. He had broken countless ribs and had never suffered such severe injuries before.

"Damn it, this guy really has the strength of a third-tier cultivator!" Ji Ming couldn't help but curse, and hurriedly took out a Saint Healing Pill and swallowed it.

I initially thought I had overestimated him, but I didn't expect this guy to be so strong.

What a joke! Even martial artists who have reached the first step of the Godhood realm would find it difficult to have this kind of combat power at the tenth level of the Jade Purity realm.

Ji Ming sensed something was wrong and looked up at the sky. Could this Demon Battle Arena be setting me up?

After shrinking back and feeling a little better, Ji Ming hurriedly left Tianmo Mountain, his face full of indignation, but a smile appeared in his heart.

In his abdomen, a crystal-like mass of essence blood was enveloped by source energy. He had finally succeeded in absorbing a drop of essence blood!

Thinking back to the battle just now, Ji Ming was sweating bullets. It couldn't be called a battle; it was more like one side getting beaten up.

He used all his strength to unleash the Heaven-Shattering Slash, but could only manage to cut a small gash in his opponent. It wasn't that the Heaven-Shattering Slash was ineffective, but rather that the difference in their strength was too great.

Fortunately, as long as blood flowed out, the blood-clotting spell could take effect. After struggling for a quarter of an hour, he finally succeeded in condensing a drop of essence blood.

"This beating wasn't for nothing." Ji Ming smiled, carefully wrapping the drop of blood in his source energy to preserve it. This was his biggest trump card!

It's a pity that it's difficult to obtain a second drop of Heavenly Demon essence blood, so he can't test the racial characteristics of the Heavenly Demon race, but he'll probably not be disappointed.

Now that things have come to this, Ji Ming has no choice but to take another gamble.

Looking at the bracelet, I realized the Astral Trial was nearing its end.

This is the core area, so there's no need to go through any more trouble. Ji Ming sat cross-legged on the ground and quickly began to heal his injuries.

Ye Zhou had been keeping an eye on Ji Ming in the virtual space, and shook his head when he saw that Ji Ming had been severely injured by the Heavenly Demon Clan.

"This kid must know, right? He actually dares to challenge the Heavenly Demon Clan?"

Even second-tier Heavenly Demons are quite valuable. How could the Flame Emperor Star Palace bear to let someone kill them so easily? Placing them here is just a trap!

He guessed that Ji Ming had no idea about the situation at the Battle Demon Arena, which was why he foolishly rushed up there.

The Battle Arena is a rare artifact belonging to an Immortal-level Beastmaster. How could a top-tier artifact not have any special functions?

Any race such as Heavenly Demons and Demons will experience a surge in strength and a dramatic increase in their breakthrough speed within the Demon Battle Arena.

He remembered that back then, in order to seize this rare artifact, the Yanhuang Star Palace almost mobilized its entire forces to fight a great battle against the Heavenly Demons and the Abyss Clan!

"Tsk, you idiot!"

Ye Zhou chuckled jokingly, then glanced at the time. The final stage was fast approaching, and Yan Huang was quite generous this time, willing to use that thing as a prize.

The battlefield is a place of endless day and night, where the sky is forever shrouded in blood.

Time passed quickly, and Ji Ming did not go out hunting again.

The battle outside was fierce, with countless elite trainees being eliminated, the rankings changing again and again, and his ranking also dropped to eighth place.

"drop!"

The War Demon Bracelet suddenly beeped, and a light screen was projected out.

"The final battle begins!"

A red light emanated from the bracelet, and four large golden characters appeared in front of Ji Ming.

At the same time, he saw a golden dot on the map, not far from him!

Ji Ming has now fully recovered and stood up easily. "Just a few more hours left, it's time to begin!"

The map displayed on the wristband began to shrink at an alarming speed. Soon, all the trainees who had not yet been eliminated would be concentrated in this area, and the number of people on the leaderboard would decrease significantly. This was because they had given up, so that others would not steal half of their points.

The end of the war has nothing to do with them!

Ji Ming quickly headed towards the golden dot in the picture; this was a regular feature of the annual Star Realm Examination.

Every year, in the final few hours, the organizers of the grand exam will offer a prize for all the students to compete for. It could be a rare and precious material, a divine weapon or magic artifact, or even a rare item. In any case, the prize is usually extremely valuable and is a reward for the strongest person in the five regions!

"This year, the Yanhuang Star Palace is hosting. I wonder what treasures they will bring out?" Ji Ming murmured. He didn't care about empty titles, but he was quite interested in the "prize".

"Let's go take a look!"

Ji Ming made a decision. The map was about to shrink to its smallest size, so there was no way to avoid it. He might as well take the initiative. Besides, he was lucky. The "prize" was very close to him. Maybe he would be the first one to arrive?

"Go!" Instantly, a rainbow light flashed beneath his feet, leaving an afterimage in place, and he appeared in the distance.

The summit of the Battle Arena is the highest peak in the Battle Arena's small world, and also the center of the entire small world.

Ji Ming's plan ultimately failed. When he arrived, there were already quite a few people here. These guys had probably been waiting here for a long time!

However, the "prize" was not taken away. It was a colorful fruit that looked like some kind of extremely poisonous thing, shrouded in a bloody light, and no one could get close to it.

He glanced at the group of people on the mountaintop, and one of them caught a glint of cold light in his eyes. He rubbed his shoulder, which still seemed to be aching slightly!

These people glanced at him casually, seemingly unconcerned, as if they only had eyes for each other.

"Ji Ming, it's been a long time!"

Suddenly, a familiar voice came from behind.

Ji Ming turned his head and smiled, "Where have you been? Aren't you going to prepare for the rankings?"

The person who arrived was Xia Qiwen, who still hasn't made the list yet!

"Fight! Why don't you fight?"

Xia Qiwen came to his side, pointed to the mountain peak, and said, "Look, if we just take out one of these people, they'll be straight into the top ten, right?"

Ji Ming was taken aback, then shook his head and chuckled, "You really know how to slack off!"

"What arrogance!"

They weren't keeping their conversation private when a tall, balding young man stepped forward.

"Who is this uncle?" Xia Qiwen asked with a smile, pointing at him.

"Pfft!"

A woman's laughter immediately rang out, and everyone turned to look. They saw a young woman with flowing black hair, a slender figure, and a beautiful face covering her mouth as she looked at them shyly.

"Haha, I'm fine, you guys continue!" the girl quickly waved her hand, then couldn't help but laugh when she saw the reflective spot on the boy's head.

Liu Hao clenched his fists, glanced at her warily, then at the colorful fruits, and finally vented his anger on Ji Ming and his companion, "You defeated opponents, how dare you show your face in front of me?"

"And you, with that foul mouth, don't you dare run away later!"

Ji Ming smiled, unconcerned, while Xia Qiwen laughed, "Alright! You're the biggest show-off, I'll get you later!"

"snort!"

Liu Hao scoffed dismissively and crossed his arms to wait.

Xia Qiwen remained completely calm, pointing to the fruit and explaining it to Ji Ming, "You probably don't know what this is, do you?"

"I'd like to hear the details!" Ji Ming's expression brightened.

"This is not poison, but a priceless treasure, the Heavenly Return to Origin Fruit!" Xia Qiwen said solemnly.

"What? This is the Heavenly Return to Origin Fruit?"

Ji Ming's eyes immediately lit up with fervor, and he had only one thought in his mind: he had to snatch it!

The Heavenly Returning Origin Fruit is extremely important for Jade Purity Realm martial artists aspiring to ascend to the Divine Path.

The difficulty of the Jade Purity Ascension Method lies in how to open three additional Heavenly Meridians. In fact, the human body only has ten Heavenly Meridians. Starting from the eleventh Heavenly Meridian, it is not about opening but about shaping!

That's right!

Only after the Jade Purity Realm has shaped three Heavenly Veins can one be considered to have taken the second step towards becoming a god!

Opening up is easy, but shaping is difficult. Even the divine-grade cultivation techniques of the Jade Purity Realm can only provide an introduction, rather than completely encompassing everything like the Qian Tian Yi Qi Gong.

Therefore, the second step to godhood is a major hurdle, and divine-grade cultivation techniques offer limited assistance; many martial artists who attempt to reach godhood perish here.

Ji Ming had heard of the Heavenly Origin Fruit. Its greatest effect was to help shape the Heavenly Meridian, making it a treasure coveted by countless martial artists. It was also of great help to other professions and had extremely strong applicability!

This spiritual fruit is extremely rare; it is difficult to obtain even in the four major star palaces.

Indeed, for these prodigies, the Heavenly Origin Fruit is more valuable than an ordinary rare item.

The Heavenly Origin Fruit is also useful to Ji Ming, because it can both shape the Heavenly Vein and greatly strengthen it, and it is permanent, unlike the Earth Core Spirit's protection which has a time limit.

With this, Ji Ming can open up the ten meridians of the human body as quickly as possible and begin cultivating the Jade Purity Ascension Technique. As for shaping the meridians, he can just follow the steps. Previous people have already done it, so there is a method to cultivate and there are no difficulties.

"Brother Ji, don't be in such a hurry. The Spirit of the War Demon won't let us get it so easily. There's an unspoken rule that the restriction won't be lifted until all ten of the top ten on the leaderboard are present, and then the real competition for the prize will begin," Xia Qiwen said, trying to dissuade him.

Ji Ming nodded. No wonder everyone was waiting!

"What if someone doesn't come?" he asked.

"Then let's start the final battle in the last hour!" Xia Qiwen said decisively.

He nodded, asked no more questions, and waited quietly with the others.

But the calm did not last long. A fiery meteor streaked across the sky and crashed down on the mountaintop, like the sun descending or a candle flickering. A red-haired boy emerged from the flames.

The red-haired youth scanned the entire room, finally fixing his gaze on Ji Ming. A burning glint flashed in his eyes, and a smile played at the corners of his lips.

"Yuan Dongqing!"

Ji Ming let out a breath and revealed the identity of the person who had come.

Surprisingly, he only glanced at Ji Ming and did not rush up. Instead, he closed his eyes, sat cross-legged, and began to meditate.

Ji Ming glanced at the Tianlan Guiyuan Fruit on the mountaintop and understood Yuan Dongqing's thoughts. Did Yuan Dongqing think he had him cornered?

Taking a breath, Ji Ming sat back down. Time was his best friend. With the Heavenly Origin Fruit, Yuan Dongqing really wasn't worth wasting a single drop of Heavenly Demon Blood on him.

The others keenly sensed the tension between the two, but were disappointed to see that they remained restrained and did not start a fight.

"Ji Ming, have you looked at the information? How is it? Are you confident?" Xia Qiwen asked in a low voice.

Ji Ming glanced at him and asked the question that had been nagging at him for a long time, "Why did you help me?"

Xia Qiwen paused, then said helplessly, "Ji Ming, don't doubt me. Just assume I dislike the Primal School!"

"Haha, of course I believe you, I was just asking casually!" Ji Ming suddenly laughed.

"You didn't seem to be asking casually just now. You practically had your suspicion written all over your face," Xia Qiwen thought to himself.

Changing the subject, he pointed to a gray-clad youth, "See that? That's Wan Jue, barely considered top-tier even in the central region. This shameless guy probably knew about this year's prize all along, which is why he specifically came to the eastern region."

Ji Ming turned and glanced at him. "Aren't you the same?"

"I'm different!" Xia Qiwen argued. "I'm just here to mess around. The Heavenly Origin Fruit is yours. Hmm, I'll beat up Liu Hao for you. I've disliked him for a long time; he's such a show-off!"

Ignoring the guy, Ji Ming looked at Wan Jue, who was dressed in gray and looked somewhat like a young master, but unfortunately he was expressionless. He frowned, the strength of these people seemed to be different from his expectations!

"What level are they at?"

Xia Qiwen said calmly, "Wan Jue and Liu Hao are both Jade Purity Level 6 martial artists who have taken one step towards Godhood, but Wan Jue may be a bit stronger. Zhou Youran is at Foundation Establishment Level 6. She has cultivated a True Immortal Appearance, and her strength is no weaker than that of martial artists on the path to Godhood."

"They're all only at the second tier, sixth level?"

Ji Ming was puzzled. Even with the boost from the Path to Godhood, his actual combat strength was only at the second tier, ninth level, right?

How did someone with that kind of strength manage to kill a third-tier alien?

After all, it's the third-tier realm. Having undergone another major transformation, even the weakest races below the top 1000 wouldn't be this weak!

He voiced his doubts to Xia Qiwen, who replied with a half-smile, "You don't actually think they killed the third-tier alien race all by themselves, do you?"

"Isn't that right?"

Ji Ming was taken aback. These outsiders could actually find people to team up with?

"Who said they teamed up?"

Xia Qiwen said calmly, "They've built an entire team around themselves!"

"So what if they're outsiders? Do you think those students who had no hope to begin with wouldn't be swayed if offered enough benefits?"

Ji Ming shook his head. There was no hope to begin with, so there was no reason to refuse the opportunity to earn extra money.

"These three guys have gathered a large group of people, including dozens of cannon fodder. With this kind of lineup, a weak race at the third tier could be worn down and killed."

Xia Qiwen explained, "Those three, as the main attackers, can obtain the vast majority of points. They are much more efficient than you, and in the end, they will personally eliminate all their teammates, maximizing their benefits!"

Ji Ming was dumbfounded. This works?

Indeed, there are ways to play when you're poor, and ways to play when you're rich.

No wonder he couldn't catch up with these people even with his cheat codes. They have dozens of informants. How could he possibly compete with them when he was searching alone?

"Isn't this against the rules?" Ji Ming couldn't help but ask.

"Where did you break the rules?"

Xia Qiwen laughed and said, "Forming teams is in accordance with the rules, and to get so many students to be willing to put in the effort," you should praise his personal charisma!

The charisma of a demon!

It's more about money power!

Ji Ming thought to himself, "This is what I'm thinking."

"You may think it's unfair, but it's actually quite fair!" Xia Qiwen said with a smile.

Ji Ming nodded, understanding his meaning. Being able to stand in the same examination room and compete under the same standards was already a great deal of fairness.

"Heh heh, if they really had the strength to single-handedly kill a third-tier alien race, they could be wreaking havoc in the central region. Why would they need to come here?"

Xia Qiwen curled his lip in disdain and said, "Although they have also embarked on the path to godhood, they are nothing special. They have wasted countless enlightenment treasures in their efforts to comprehend the heart of heaven and earth!"

Enlightenment Treasure?

Ji Ming was somewhat envious. The only treasure he had encountered that could be called a treasure for enlightenment was the Purple Heart Lotus, but—well, that was a beast taming treasure, so it didn't really count as a treasure.

Then that's all!

"These guys are so-so, you're the real genius!" Xia Qiwen said, his eyes filled with admiration. He knew about Ji Ming's family background; only those who had ascended to the Divine Path were truly valuable and could perhaps go further.

If one could reach the level of Senior Luo—well, that's unlikely; just completing the second step of ascending to godhood would be quite impressive!

And how many out of ten thousand can truly succeed? Taking this one step has already exhausted their potential!

Ji Ming didn't answer. Was he that good?

I just worked a little harder than others.

However, it was a good thing that these people were weaker than he had thought, as this gave him more confidence.

Time flew by, and several more people appeared on the mountaintop, but the tenth-place finisher never arrived. As the last hour approached, they realized that the tenth-place finisher had probably given up the competition.

This is actually a wise move, because once you come here, you may be eliminated. Now everyone's attention is on the "prize," and no one pays attention to him, which greatly reduces the difficulty of maintaining a top-ten position.

Ji Ming breathed a sigh of relief; this was undoubtedly good news for him as well.

When the clock struck the last hour, he withdrew his source power, and the Heavenly Demon essence blood that had been hidden in his abdomen suddenly exploded and was quickly absorbed by the identity card.

[Identity: Celestial Demon Clan]

[Realm: Second Tier, Ninth Level (Martial Artist)]

【Characteristics: Demonic Descent, Demonic Power, Demonic Language】

【Demonic Descent: After use, all attributes are doubled (stackable). The Demonic Descent state can be deactivated at any time. The maximum duration is half an hour. The weakened state depends on the duration of use.】

[Magic Power: Inflicts pressure on the enemy with your will. If the enemy's will is weaker than yours, reduce their status by half; if the enemy's will is stronger than yours, reduce their status by 20%.]

[Demon Language: Your words possess tangible power; there is a certain probability that what you say will come true.]

Steady!

This was Ji Ming's first thought after seeing these three characteristics.

The Heavenly Demon Clan is too damn strong. No wonder they are known as the strongest single race. All three of their bloodline talents are combat-enhancing!

【Demon's Descent】: Extremely powerful burst ability, which can also be combined with Stellar Transformation. He has no idea how strong he will be at that time!

【Demon Might】: A shameless skill that reduces the opponent's status regardless of whether the judgment is successful or not. Moreover, his will, after being modified by Breaking the Heavens Kill and combined with his own talent, is generally higher than the opponent's will in the second-tier realm unless he encounters an extraordinary level of will talent.

The demonic power strengthens itself, while its might weakens the enemy; it's simply invincible!

There's also the Demon Language, which is a basic version of the "Words Can Be Spoken" ability; it might have unexpected effects in battle.

All three characteristics are related to combat. As expected of the race with the strongest individual combat power in the myriad realms, if there were human populations, the myriad realms would definitely be ruled by them.

Ji Ming's expression returned to its usual calm; he didn't feel invincible and rush to step forward, but he had already loaded the [Heavenly Demon Clan]...

After obtaining the identity card, he was confident that even Wan Jue would be suppressed!

As the time was up, everyone present who was eager to compete for the Heavenly Origin Fruit stood up.

"Buzz!"

At this moment, the restriction that had been enveloping the Tianlan Guiyuan Fruit completely dissipated, emitting a clear buzzing sound, as if announcing the start of this battle.

The final battle begins!