“!!” Feng Luotian’s smile froze at the notification as he thought: “I should have traded the monster cores before coming here. But who would know that they are needed in a simple entrance exam?”

More than half of the hidden benefits would be wasted if Feng Luotian were going to refine it like this, so he asked Mei Hongyi in the strongest clone: “Second Elder, can you give me a few moments? On the second thought, this pile was too much to part with.”

Not waiting for any response, he sat down and began to select ones with the highest levels which hidden benefits were not compatible with his current skills and put them into the spatial rings, keeping to trade later.

Not only Mei Hongyi, but also everyone witnessing this was all dumbfounded at Feng Luotian’s action. Mei Hongyi senselessly stared at Feng Luotian who was now completely defenseless, not knowing what to do. Everyone thought that the clone would strike at the sitting figure without holding back, but opposite to that, Mei Hongyi actually waited until Feng Luotian finished his business. Mei Hongyi was curious about what Feng Luotian was planning to do next. And in his mind, there was nothing these younger generation’s brats could do to avert the end result.

Feng Luotian finally stood back up and presented the monster cores in the same manner as before, but with considerably less amount compared to the previous stash. Anyone would become extremely embarrassing to redo the show with less impact; however, there was not the slightest hint of redness on Feng Luotian’s face.

No one said it out loud but all of them concomitantly said it in their mind: “This guy’s skin is very thick!!”

After sorting out the unnecessaries …

388 monster cores detected.

Energy: +74% at Six Fangs

Benefit:

Non-element skill proficiency +54

Lightning skill proficiency +32

Attack skill proficiency +37

Defense skill proficiency +31

Speed skill proficiency +27

Attack +28%

Defense +23%

Speed +16%

Vision range +15 meters

Skill Theríon cost -27%

Healing Efficiency +44%

Lightning resistance +9%

All durations +4 minutes

Mei Hongyi: “Luotian, you brat!! You talked about shame, but you yourself are not any better. Do you not feel anything when presenting me with monster cores much less than what I’ve rejected?!”

Feng Luotian gave a teasing smirk, not recognizing that his action was embarrassing at all: “Who said I’m going give these to you?”

Mei Hongyi was annoyed to his limit as he roared: “Stop with this farce!! If you’re not planning to give them to me, then what are you plan to do with it?!”

Feng Luotian did not answer. Instead, he raised his hand and tapped at the word [Yes]. Suddenly, the bag full of monster cores disappeared like magic.

“!!” Mei Hongyi, everyone at the scene, along with all of the people watching from the screen outside the exam site, were all astonished at the disappearance of the mountain of gold.

However, what came after had struck their mind even more as Feng Luotian raised his finger once again to tap the air in front of him. And all of a sudden, with an explosive burst of sound, Feng Luotian’s aura had unexpectedly been raised from those of Six Fangs to Seven Fangs.

“WHAT?!”

The same word was coming out of everyone who was witnessing this unbelievable moment. Even the top-tier figures on the stage had all stood up in shock.

Feeling the intense aura first hand, the clone stumbled two steps back, denying what actually happened before its eyes.

Well, everyone’s reaction was understandable as this was heaven-defying just by thinking of it … breaking through in the middle of the battle and in an instant!!

As for Feng Luotian, he happily smiled at his new stat.

STATUS

Name: Feng Luotian

Level: Seven Fangs (4%)

Skill 1: Pinnacle Flash Lightning Level 3 (256/2,000)

Wrap the user’s body in lightning. Speed +400% (+51%). Lightning Resistance +40% (+22%). Attack +40% (+28%). Defense +20% (+23%).

Skill 2: Underworld Physique Level 2 (143/400)

Multiply the weight of the user’s body by 50 upon activation.

Ability 1: Last Dance Curse Level 7

Increase the user’s power level by 1 for 11 (+6) minutes. However, the user has to collect 10 souls within 11 (+6) minutes, otherwise, the user’s level will be decreased by 2.

Ability 2: Momentum Eyes Level 7

The user can see the momentum and projectile of every object within 50 (+35) meters.

Ability 3: Evil Cyclone Level 7

Every time the user’s melee attack hits the target, one cyclone will be generated and can be used to either attack or heal the user’s injury at a maximum of 7 Evil Cyclones at a time.

After Feng Luotian finished reading, he held out his right hand and beckoned at the clone: “Now, Second Elder, let’s have a second bout, shall we?”

“You!!” Mei Hongyi was both enraged and afraid as nothing was making any sense around Feng Luotian.

“But before that, I’d like to equip some weapons.”

Following that, Feng Luotian retrieved a pair of [Bone Claw Gauntlets] and wore them to both hands.

Mei Hongyi’s complexion changed upon noticing the weapon.

Catching that change, Feng Luotian’s eyes squinted: “Do you happen to know this high-grade weapon, Second Elder?”

Mei Hongyi sternly replied: “Yes, that pair of gauntlets and probably the tonfa that petal-hopping lass was using too, they were both one of the gifts we, Mei Clan as Divine Bird City’s representatives, prepared and transported them to the Vermillion Kingdom as support to alleviate their current problem. Did you attack the carriage and steal it?”

Feng Luotian: “Is that so? But yes, I did steal it.”

Mei Hongyi turned more serious: “If you stole it, then return it to me!! Do you know the crime you’ve committed and its punishment?”

Feng Luotian shook his head: “No, no, Second Elder. I’ve not finished yet. I said I did steal it but I didn’t steal from your carriage. Instead, I stole it from the corpse of a certain bandit leader.”

Feng Luotian continued: “If what you said about this being a gift for the Vermillion Kingdom is true, then the ones robbing the royal carriage would be those bandits, not me. But I don’t think it’s true because your story didn’t match with the evidence I have here.” He touched his spatial ring and a piece of the document appeared in his hand. It was a letter written by someone in the Alchemy center and sent to the bandit leader: Jiu Hao. He spread it out and showed it to Mei Hongyi.

“!!” After listening to Feng Luotian, Mei Hongyi’s expression changed again and again, from serious to shock, from shock to confused, and from confused to flabbergasted upon seeing the document.

Noticing every reaction from Mei Hongyi, Feng Luotian already got the gist of the situation: "As I thought, the Second Elder knew something about this conspiracy."

Feng Luotian asked: “Do you know anything about this, Second Elder?”

It took a couple of moments until Mei Hongyi collected himself and denied: “No, I don’t. And since it’s the matter of Alchemy Center, hand it over!! I will investigate this personally!!”

Feng Luotian refused and rolled the letter and put it back into his ring: “No, the one who will be investigating this matter personally will be me!!”

Mei Hongyi turned solemn and prepared to attack Feng Luotian: “You want to choose the hard way, then.”

Golden streaks of light emerged from the ground and caught the clone before it moved. Mei Hongyi could not do anything but bellowed: “Damn it!!”

It was the [Gold Lock] casted by Wei Ci. Feng Luotian’s show had bought him enough time to reload his skill, and also Feng Luotian’s interrogation had distracted the target’s attention much enough for him to deliver his skill.

With three consecutive detonating booms, Feng Luotian instantaneously burst out his full Theríon, then activated his [Pinnacle Flash Lightning], followed by the activation of [Underworld Physique].

Currently, not only his body was covered by a purple flame together with a golden lightning aura, but his skin was also turned darker with a crimson shade under the effect of [Underworld Physique]. As his weight was multiplied by 50, the ground started to crack into a thousand black snakes spreading away from him as an epicenter.

Following a stomping bang, Feng Luotian launched himself towards the strongest clone, forming crossed fists to an X shape with his [Bone Claw Gauntlets] in front.

Although Feng Luotian’s weight was multiplied by so much, [Underworld Physique] did not interfere with his mobility. Under the skill’s effect, Feng Luotian’s body was reinforced to the point where his immense weight was of little consequence, however, that was not including his opponent who had to bear the brunt of his attack.

A four-tons human-sized bullet traveling at half of the sound speed tore away all [Gold Lock]’s binding light and crashed the clone away with its unstoppable force, causing the clone to slam onto the ground and skipping like a tossed stone.

Not even allowing it to stop moving, Feng Luotian flashed and appeared before its bouncing path. When the clone reached him, Feng Luotian hit it up high with his ruthless uppercut. Receiveing the ruthless attack from Feng Luotian, the clone showed no sign of stopping.

However, after an explosion of stomp, Feng Luotian vanished again, creating a huge crater in the process. A streak of lightning flashed past the rocketing body of the strongest clone.

Feng Luotian manifested himself again at the highest point of his momentum waiting for the incoming target. The hand was pulled ready to give an ultimate attack. Perfectly timing it with the clone’s stomach, the claw strike landed on its target.

Accompanying the dynamic hit, the clone's body expeditiously brushed past the wind heading straight to the ground.

BOOOOM!!

The clone was sent down and buried deep into the ground. The impact and aftermath of this attack were even more devastating than Sun Wuji’s [Avalanche] at their opening move.