At that time, with a Spiritual Pressure far surpassing Xia Feng's, he naturally could easily surpass him.
So, the strategy he had set now was—first, to seize the Wisdom Fruit, consume it to ensure his safety, then quickly find the Life Fruit, and finally, conveniently kill Xia Feng to easily end the contest.
*
"Delicious, exquisite, delicious!"
The black-haired young man, wearing a standing-collared coat, stood on a tree branch, his arms wide as he looked up at the moon, muttering words unknown, looking like a deranged cult leader.
After venturing deeper into the forest, he didn't head straight for his destination but sneakily found a secluded place to start experimenting with the abilities of the Evil Demon Heart.
He reached forward, the seemingly empty air seemed incredibly compressed, emitting a wisp of light gray mist and a large pool of blood-red mist.
Under the light, the gray mist faintly shimmered with a golden glow, exuding a sweet fragrance; Xia Feng sniffed, it was like vanilla ice cream, sweet and chillingly refreshing, penetrating to the heart.
As for the blood-red mist, he sniffed it too, a horrible stench almost made him gag, he quickly tossed it aside.
"Sizzle—"
The blood-colored mist collided with the bushes, which incredibly quickly began to wither,
but in the next moment, they rejuvenated wildly, yet the leaves turned blood-red, followed by the blossoming of a few glamorous flowers, ten eyes suddenly opening from within the flowers, bubbles forming as they ominously gazed at Xia Feng.
"...." Xia Feng was silent for half a second, chopping it several times with the back of his hand, "What are you looking at!"
The newly grown flowers: "..."
According to knowledge learned from the textbooks, Evil Power comprises "Blood Beast impurities" and "Evil Spirit Liquid."
This blood-red mist must be the "Blood Beast impurities," which can cause mutations in organic beings, something that the Evil Demon Heart cannot absorb.
As for the gray mist with the scent of vanilla and a chilly aura, it was the "Evil Spirit Liquid," which could be absorbed by the Evil Demon Heart.
People often talk about the concentration of Evil Power, referring not to its proportion in the air, but the proportion of Evil Spirit Liquid within the Evil Power.
Essentially, the Evil Demon Heart relied on absorbing the "Evil Spirit Liquid" within the Evil Power to repair the heart and enhance vitality.
And that wisp of gray mist had just added—a whopping 30 seconds to his life....
Damn, it was like throwing a cup of water on a burning cart of hay.
His heart still pounded intensely, seemingly dissatisfied with the paltry amount of Evil Spirit Liquid, Xia Feng pondered, raising his eyes towards the dark depths of the forest.
"It seems, to significantly extend the time, I must enter a region with a high concentration, or even, find the legendary Evil Dragon that has slept for ten thousand years!"
As the most terrifying presence in this forest, the Evil Dragon's surroundings must naturally have an absurdly high concentration; just thinking of this made him feel somewhat thirsty.
That would indeed be a delightfully insane delicacy!
"Charge, charge, charge!"
Having set his goal, Xia Feng wasted no more time and sprinted into the depths of the forest.
As he ran, he pondered how best to utilize the strength he had synchronized from Mu Qingtong.
[Spiritual Pressure Rank: First Rank]
[Combat: Master level (sense of smell, hearing, vision, neurological reaction, combat premonition....)]
[N-grade Spiritual Clothes (6): Lighting Clothes, Fireball Flash, Ice Blade, Messenger Elf, Eye of Reconnaissance, Bronze Mask]
[D-grade Spiritual Clothes (2): Concealment Clothes, Triple Waves]
[Spiritual Artifact: *Awaiting Awakening*]
Among the eight Spiritual Clothes, Lighting Clothes could emit light for illumination, Bronze Mask was used to reduce presence.... all with self-explanatory, supplementary functions.
As for Fireball Flash and Ice Blade? The former could throw fist-sized fireballs, the latter, an ice blade; together with the Eye of Reconnaissance, they were dubbed the rookie trio.
These were the three Spiritual Clothes that first-year students must learn and were easiest to master.
This showed just how lazy Mu Qingtong had been since entering the school; if not for accidentally learning Triple Waves yesterday, she had never actively learned any attack skills.
Wait, she didn't even actively learn Triple Waves!
Speaking of which, why didn't that woman learn the many D-grade Spiritual Clothes and instead only learned Concealment?
According to Mu Qingtong's personality, she would never waste energy to learn a Spiritual Cloth with little use to her...
Xia Feng thought for a moment, then suddenly a light flashed through his mind, an epiphany—
Concealment combined with Bronze Mask and Ice Blade, my, isn't that just the perfect backstab technique of Lanling King?
It's worth mentioning that, although Bronze Mask was an N-grade Spiritual Cloth, it was actually an original creation by Mu Qingtong!
Utilizing a very simple Spiritual Particle structure, she had created this odd Spiritual Cloth that could reduce her own presence.
"It's just so Mu Qingtong..."
Though Spiritual Clothes are called 'concealment,' one can still vaguely see an outline—they're not truly invisible. But combined with the Bronze Mask, it's a different story.
Even if Spiritual Clothes still have an outline, the presence was diminished by the Bronze Mask, enabling real stealth mode, making it hard for enemies to detect her approach!
"Very good, learned it all in vain!"
But—
Unfortunately, for him now, speed-focused Spiritual Clothes were the key.
And Mu Qingtong, that arrogant fanatic, likely memorized the 'D-grade' Spiritual Particle Structure Diagram for "Shadow Step," but was too lazy to analyze it.
Such a drag.
Regarding the One-tail Spiritual Clothes, progress had reached 98%—just a bit more...
"Roar!!!"
Suddenly, a ghastly roar echoed from afar, making the nearby forest tremble three times, and unknown red-eyed birds frantically flew towards the sky.
"Is that... an Evil Beast's roar?"
Xia Feng paused, doubtful, and glanced down at the map in his hand,
"According to the map, this is still the Light Evil Zone, so why are there Evil Beasts around?"
Light Evil Zone environments aren't ideal for Evil Beasts, which reside in the Evil Dragon Forest, mostly in the heavy evil area and rarely enter the Light Evil Zone.
While pondering, he leaped onto a treetop and looked out into the distance.
He saw that a huge black hole had torn open in the sky, and an Evil Beast that looked like a gryphon was frantically trying to escape, desperately fighting against the immense suction of the black hole.
"Roar!!!"
It was futile; enraged and powerless, it was swallowed bit by bit by the black hole.
"A black hole... Is this Sanamu's power?"
Xia Feng recalled that Evil Beasts were divided into evil, misfortune, disaster, and void types.
Sanamu was one of the disaster types, randomly releasing black holes that devoured everything around it and then spewing them out from another black hole.
Thus, the disasters caused by Sanamu were also called Black Hole Disasters.
"Time to slip away..."
Xia Feng jumped down from the treetop, turned, and walked away. Since this path was blocked, he would find another route.
According to the map, there was a Wisdom Tree bearing fruit to the northwest. Although his main purpose was to delve deeper into the Heavy Evil area to find the Evil Dragon, completing the competition en route wasn't a bad idea either.
Qi Xiao should be close to his destination now; he had to hurry.
*
"Heh~heh~~"
Qi Xiao was pale, leaning on a tree, gasping heavily. He was somewhat delirious, shook his head, and gritted his teeth as he waved his hands wildly, "Get away—get out of here!"
Unidentifiable murmurs tinged with sharp, noisy muttering surrounded him in 720 degrees, as if countless insects and wild beasts were roaring at him.
Snap—
A knife plunged backward into his forearm, blood spattered, and Qi Xiao abruptly regained clarity. However, his eyes were still bloodshot, and the veins on his forehead and neck were gruesomely bulging, as he gasped like a deranged beast.
"Damn! I still underestimated the density of the evil power in the Light Evil Zone!"
He pressed his temples, striving to keep his sanity and clarity.
Eventually calming down, he looked down at the map, a corner of his lips curling up with excitement, "It's just ahead!"
He quickly got up, scrambled forward, and within a few steps, the area opened up!
A huge tree over ten meters tall, laden with dark red small fruits, came into view—it was the Wisdom Tree!
And beyond the Wisdom Tree, there was a small grassy clearing in the forest, with a lone pale-leaved giant tree standing in the middle. The tree bore a single pear-shaped Life Fruit, its surface translucent and shiny.
"Heh~~"
Qi Xiao, with a crooked smile, staggered toward the Wisdom Tree. By consuming just one Wisdom Fruit, he would regain his sanity and escape the lethal threat of transformation!
And then—
He could then pluck all the Wisdom Fruits and leisurely wait for Xia Feng's arrival.
Even the proudest genius, in the face of death, a single Wisdom Fruit was enough to make him grovel at his feet, begging for mercy.