Gao Wu insists on cultivating immortality.

Chapter 138 Trading Life for a Curse
Gao Wu told Song Mingyue about the Elite Ranking Trial, and Song Mingyue actually knew about it.

"The trial will take place at the end of September."

Song Mingyue said, "I heard from my master that the competition this year will be very fierce because Beizhou University has specially hired Li Xuanyang, a military grandmaster. This grandmaster also brought a very young genius disciple named Li Chunyi. He is said to be a high-level warrior, but he has the strength of a martial arts master. He has been in battle for a long time and has killed countless alien beasts. He is very strong."

"What a place where heroes emerge!"

Gao Wu was actually quite excited, but he wasn't very interested in Yan Shanyue and the others, even though they were also geniuses.

The main problem is that these three so-called geniuses could only reach the sixth level in the Nine Limits of Heaven, which is a bit weak.

Of course, using the Nine Limits of Heaven to measure combat strength is definitely inaccurate.

The strength of the giant tiger in each of the Nine Limits of Heaven doubles, but the giant tigers in the first six levels are designed to retain some obvious weaknesses.

For example, it might not be fast enough, turn slowly, or have poor perception. It takes multiple attempts to find the giant tiger's weaknesses.

The problem with these talented martial artists like Yan Shanyue is that they have to start from the first level every time they enter.

By the time they reached the sixth level, they were exhausted and could only attempt it two or three times at most. This meant their success rate was extremely low, requiring them to experiment repeatedly over a long period of time.

However, thanks to the Azure Dragon Divine Qi Mantra, he could quickly recover his condition. More importantly, he had a super-strong physique that made him immune to injury and gave him an extremely high margin for error.

Even if others possessed superior martial arts skills, they would never dare to be as bold as him in making such probing attempts. After all, one wrong move could mean death inside, and that was no joke.

Gao Wu was well aware of this, and he would not underestimate Yan Shanyue and his group because of it.

That being said, the fact that they couldn't quickly reach the ninth limit of the Heavenly Realm proves that Yan Shanyue and the other geniuses were just average. At least they hadn't reached a level far surpassing his.

Gao Wu chatted with Song Mingyue for a while, and then took the initiative to resonate with Song Mingyue and cultivate spiritual power together.

Having received instruction from the Grandmaster, Song Mingyue's Frost Serpent became noticeably more agile. Although its spiritual power did not increase, the Frost Serpent seemed to come alive, and its resonance with the Azure Dragon became even more profound and indescribable.

By resonating with the Frost Serpent, the Azure Dragon can absorb the serpent's deathly chill and invigorate it. In doing so, the Azure Dragon also refines itself, perfecting its martial arts spirit.

Through spiritual resonance, Gao Wu discovered that martial arts masters were different. After only half a day of teaching, Song Mingyue's Cold Netherworld Serpent had made great progress.

He was very happy for Song Mingyue. Song's progress was his progress!

Back in his bedroom, Gao Wu did his daily practice and glanced at the Book of Boundless Merit. His merits had increased by hundreds of thousands, which made him even happier.

The next morning, Gao Wu first read the Book of Immeasurable Merit. His merits had exceeded ten million, and he breathed a long sigh of relief.

With these merits in hand, he could try to activate new divine spells. No matter how severe the injuries, as long as he wasn't torn to shreds, these merits would allow him to survive...

Gao Wu brought a backpack, mainly containing some Raptor Energy Drinks and intermediate-grade Ginseng Oral Liquid, among other supplies.

After greeting Yang Tielin, Gao Wu entered the Heavenly Limit Nine Secret Realm.

With yesterday's experience, he reached level seven in just two hours.

The environment is the same in each of the Nine Limits of Heaven, the only difference being that the giant tiger will continuously grow stronger.

The giant tiger in the seventh level has already taken on some of the original appearance of a level seven beast. Its body surface has grown layers of orderly dark gold scales, which look like well-designed armor that fits the giant tiger's body perfectly. It has both a heavy texture and smooth lines, giving it a very powerful aesthetic.

In this state, the giant tiger's impact speed reaches 100 meters per second, and it can even suddenly change direction and switch positions multiple times in the air, making it exceptionally agile.

A tiger's claw can exert at least 20,000 kilograms of force with a casual slap, which is terrifying.

Adding to the thick golden armor on the giant tiger's body, even the exceptionally sharp Heavenly Fate Sword was powerless to break through the golden armor after breaking through the giant tiger's source energy field.

Gao Wu pondered for a long time and discovered that there were only two places on the giant tiger's body where the scales were relatively thin: the back door and the throat.

Due to their body structure, neither of these areas can grow very thick scales.

Today, Gao Wu came prepared to try his best to pass the test. He first drank two bottles of energy liquid inside the red line at the entrance, and then activated the Azure Dragon Divine Qi Mantra to enter a meditative state.

Gao Wu only woke up from his meditation when his pager flashed. He turned off the pager, got up and stretched his body a little before entering the battlefield.

The dark gold giant tiger pounced head-on, traveling at a speed of 100 meters per second, as fast as a high-speed train, and its impact was at least ten times stronger than that of the giant tiger in the first level.

Although Gao Wu wanted to activate the divine spell, he was also a little nervous about facing the giant tiger's charge directly. If he wasn't careful, he might be crushed to death by the giant tiger!
He actually tried to stab himself, but aside from suffering, he gained nothing.

Clearly, such self-harm is ineffective; he doesn't feel any sense of crisis, nor does he experience the intense stimulation of a life-or-death situation.

Facing the ferocious, charging tiger, Gao Wu felt an intense surge of excitement. Suppressing his instinctive fear and urge to retreat, he drew his Destiny Sword and slashed directly at the tiger. The difference in size was immense; Gao Wu's figure, though valiant in his sword strikes, appeared incredibly small, like a goat trying to use its horns to resist a tiger…

The giant tiger was not only exceptionally large, but more terrifyingly, it could also control a powerful source energy field. According to Gao Wu's estimation, the source energy value generated by the giant tiger should be over five thousand.

Even if he unleashed all eight layers of the Azure Dragon Divine Qi Curse, the maximum source energy he could generate would only be around three thousand. Even with the Heavenly Fate Sword in hand, it wouldn't be able to bridge the enormous gap in strength, speed, and source energy between the two sides.

Gao Wu didn't dare use the Azure Dragon Divine Qi Curse at this moment; he was saving it to save his life.

In the blink of an eye, the giant tiger arrived. Its claws reached out and grabbed Gao Wu. Five dark gold tiger claws, each about a foot long, emerged from its paws, sharp as blades, with a sharp edge formed by condensed source energy.

As the claw descended, five dark golden blades appeared in the void, and a sharp whistling sound followed, reaching Gao Wu's ears simultaneously.

Gao Wu used the Stone-Splitting Sword technique to swiftly slash at the Heavenly Fate Sword. His original intention was to exchange the sword for the claws, since he wanted to use the tiger's claws to hurt himself and take the opportunity to inflict some damage on the giant tiger as well.

Therefore, he used all his strength and source power in this sword strike, and the cold sword light was exceptionally fierce and sharp.

The clash of sword and claws unleashed a brilliant light. The terrifying power of the tiger claws was directly transmitted to Gao Wu through the Destiny Sword. Gao Wu's protective energy field almost collapsed on the spot. Just as the sword was about to fly out of his hand, he naturally pulled back his sword and stepped back, following the unparalleled power of the tiger claws.

At the critical moment, Gao Wu suddenly remembered the "Regretful Dragon" technique taught by Lu Yuan.

When one reaches the pinnacle of power, one must relinquish it; this is the essence of the proverb "the dragon that soars too high will regret it." But who among those who have truly reached the pinnacle of power would ever regret it?

If one truly possessed such extraordinary wisdom, one would not have ended up in that situation.

However, the martial arts world has already offered multiple interpretations of the "Regretful Dragon Soaring" story.

Having received instruction from Lu Yuan, Gao Wu had been diligently practicing the "Regretful Dragon" technique for the past two days. Faced with the giant tiger's overwhelming power, he naturally thought of retreating to deflect the force, which also aligned with the essence of the "Regretful Dragon" technique.

Having grasped this point, the Heavenly Mandate Sword naturally shifted from hardness to softness, its rotating blade transforming into a fan-shaped, radiant sword light—the very change that arises from the "Regretful Dragon" phenomenon.

The bright sword light was dense and resilient, and it actually managed to temporarily block the tiger's claws.

The giant tiger was far superior to Gao Wu in every aspect. With another burst of force from its claws, the resilient and bright sword light shattered instantly. Unparalleled power surged down, and the Heavenly Fate Sword was blasted away amidst a humming tremor.

Although Gao Wu had grasped the essence of the "Regretful Dragon" technique and used all the subtleties of the moves, he was still overwhelmed by the giant tiger's brute force and had no way to respond.

The tiger claws, sharp as blades, continued to penetrate deeply into Gao Wu's chest, the dark gold tiger claws even revealing their tips on Gao Wu's back.

However, Gao Wu's body was exceptionally strong, and the tiger claws were unable to cut him apart; instead, they were locked in place by his body.

The giant tiger didn't care. It raised its claws to tear Gao Wu apart in one bite. Just then, Yin Shen, holding the Heavenly Fate Sword, activated the Sixfold Vermilion Bird Divine Light Spell.

Under the blessing of the Vermilion Bird Divine Light Mantra, the Destiny Sword blazed with crimson flames, its temperature instantly reaching at least three thousand degrees...

The invisible and shadowless Yin spirit thrust its sword straight forward, and the Heavenly Fate Sword, engulfed in flames, instantly pierced through the giant tiger's protective energy field and penetrated deep into the tiger's rear entrance...

The severely injured giant tiger instinctively flung Gao Wu away with a swipe of its paw, then leaped more than ten meters into the air, screaming wildly!

Its body is enormous, and it could actually withstand being pierced through the back door by a sword. However, the Heavenly Fate Sword, enhanced with the Vermilion Bird Divine Light Mantra, is too powerful. No flesh and blood body could withstand a single strike.

Not to mention, Yin Shen's swordsmanship was superb; as the Heavenly Mandate Sword pierced through, it twisted and turned, inflicting maximum damage on the giant tiger. Even more vicious was that Yin Shen did not withdraw the sword, leaving the Heavenly Mandate Sword, still engulfed in boiling crimson flames, inside the giant tiger's body.

This thing is just a mimicked energy entity; it doesn't have much intelligence. It knows the backdoor is wrong but can't fix it, so it can only scream and jump around wildly.

Gao Wu held the Destiny Sword, and with the Yin Spirit controlling the Destiny Sword, he was quickly dragged into the red line.

Once they reached safety, Gao Wu breathed a sigh of relief. It was only because the giant tiger lacked intelligence that the Yin God was able to easily launch a sneak attack.

If it were a true level seven beast, Yin Shen with his sword would have no chance to sneak up on it.

After all, it was just a simulated level. The giant tiger roared for a while and then its body dissipated and turned back into a ball of spiritual light. The Destiny Sword that was stuck in its body also fell to the ground.

A door to the next level opened on the opposite wall.

Gao Wu didn't rush over, nor did he pay attention to the other Destiny Sword; he was currently very, very badly injured.

The five tiger claws, each about a foot long, carried terrifying kinetic energy. With the added support of powerful source energy, his body appeared intact, but most of his internal organs had been destroyed by the kinetic energy.

It was only because of his exceptionally strong physique that he survived the injury. Even a martial arts master like An Ziru couldn't withstand such terrible damage.

Gao Wu was so angry he could hardly breathe, but he didn't activate the Azure Dragon Divine Qi Incantation. He was waiting for the Book of Boundless Merit to trigger a new divine incantation...

(End of this chapter)