Chapter 3 The Third Level of the Starry Sky Tower

The third level of the Starry Sky Tower was a tropical rainforest.

Xu Jingming carefully observed his surroundings. The rainforest was dark and humid, with thick trees and rampant vines. It was silent, as if there were no other living creatures.

"Hmm?" Xu Jingming suddenly felt a pair of dark yellow eyes in the distance. He shuddered and looked carefully.

A large feline was staring at him. It had light yellow fur with black stripes across its body. Its large head and dark yellow eyes seemed devoid of emotion as it scrutinized its prey. Above its eyes, thick black stripes formed the character ‘king’. It was two meters tall at the shoulder and six meters long, its massive size causing Xu Jingming’s heart to tighten.

"What a fierce tiger. It's slightly smaller than the Bear King, but its imposing presence feels even more terrifying." Xu Jingming was very vigilant.

If the bear was strong in terms of physique and power, then the tiger was an all-around threat! Physique, strength, speed, agility, attack, technique… it was strong in every aspect. This massive tiger simulated by the virtual world 'Starry Sky Tower' far surpassed tigers in reality. With Xu Jingming's current strength, he could kill a real tiger with a single shot, and even take on a group of them. But facing this large tiger, he felt a threat of death.

The large tiger stepped forward, walking gracefully and almost silently. Its four huge paws gently padded on the ground as it observed the prey before it.

"Whoosh!"

Xu Jingming held his spear and charged straight at it.

The tiger, feeling provoked, roared and pounced.

Man and tiger, vastly different in size, both charged head-on at each other!

As they neared, Xu Jingming stepped on a large tree, abruptly changing direction. Suddenly, he thrust his spear at the tiger, the spear becoming a blur as it aimed for the tiger’s neck.

"Pfft."

The tiger’s eyes were cold as it swatted its paw at the spear.

Boom! Xu Jingming felt a terrifying force transmitted to him, and he tumbled and scrambled onto a tree.

"It's too agile, and its reactions are terrifyingly fast." Xu Jingming had a headache.

Whoosh.

The tiger instantly leaped onto the tree, continuing to hunt Xu Jingming.

"Clang."

"Pfft."

Xu Jingming was forced to dodge and flee constantly. Even when he managed to find a chance to counterattack, the tiger easily blocked it.

"How is it that its physique, strength, and speed are already so high, but this tiger is even more agile than me?" Xu Jingming was only barely holding on, thanks to his smaller size, the rainforest environment, and the threat posed by his spear.

But after five minutes of being chased…

"Hmm?" Xu Jingming’s expression changed.

From all directions in the forest, one after another massive tiger appeared. Some were five meters long, while the largest were over seven meters long. The largest tiger remained in place as the others slowly closed in.

"The third level of the Starry Sky Tower requires me to deal with so many tigers?" Xu Jingming was dumbfounded. "I can't even beat one ordinary large tiger, let alone dozens of them."

As the pack of tigers surrounded him, six large tigers suddenly pounced at once.

Xu Jingming charged forward, actively迎向one of the tigers.

"Roar!" The tiger roared, its claws reaching for Xu Jingming.

Xu Jingming was extremely valiant. Relying on the advantage of the spear's length, he thrust the spear into the tiger's neck before its claws could reach him.

"Mountain Breaker!" (Po Shan)

The most powerful spear technique. The spear pierced deep into the tiger's neck, but the tiger's claws landed with inertia, tearing through Xu Jingming's armor and body.

Both the tiger and Xu Jingming vanished into thin air, and the remaining five tigers roared in anger.

"It's really difficult."

After failing, Xu Jingming reappeared outside the Starry Sky Tower. "Trading my life for its, and only managing to kill one tiger. And even when I used 'Mountain Breaker', it only pierced halfway into the tiger's neck. If I used 'Shadowless Thrust' (Wu Ying Ci), it probably wouldn't even work."

******

Viewing Platform.

Li Miaomiao was sitting in the stands, watching a live stream of a Divine expert attempting the second level of the Starry Sky Tower.

"Miaomiao." Xu Jingming appeared beside her. "Watching a live stream?"

"Mm."

Li Miaomiao nodded. "The Starry Sky Tower is too difficult. I can handle two or three wolves, but I can't fight against a hundred of them. I can't even get through the first level, sigh… Look, this is Sun Yuting's live stream. She's attempting the second level of the Starry Sky Tower. After struggling to kill five large bears, she encountered this Bear King. It looks like she can't beat it."

Xu Jingming looked over.

In the live stream, the massive Bear King was chasing Sun Yuting. Sun Yuting's footwork was excellent, and she constantly used the mountains and forests to dodge. Her shield had long been thrown away, and her left arm was drooping. Her only weapon was a sword in her right hand.

"Sun Yuting is ranked 16th in Xia Country according to Wang Xianggu. Now that there are nearly eight hundred Divine experts in Xia Country, Sun Yuting is definitely among the top tier!" Li Miaomiao said.

Xu Jingming nodded.

It had been just over seven days since the virtual world opened, and with Xia Country's population of over a billion, there were indeed nearly eight hundred Divine experts. The male and female members of the national team from the past thirty years, added together, numbered more than three hundred. There were also many professional players competing in A-level and B-level events, experts from other martial arts styles, and even hidden masters. Nearly 800 Divine experts in just over seven days was within Xu Jingming's expectations.

"Sun Yuting's shield and sword combination is a good mix of offense and defense, and she's definitely skilled. But against the Bear King, her shield is useless… In fact, it's hindering her movements! The Bear King swatted away her shield with one paw, breaking her arm bones in the process. She can't even pierce the Bear King's skin with just a single-handed sword! She could stab the eyes and heads of the five large bears she killed earlier, but this Bear King is clearly faster and more agile. She can't even get close."

"Even if she could get close, it would be difficult to stab its eyes," Xu Jingming commented. "Even if she did stab its eyes, it's unlikely that she could penetrate deep into its head."

Even he, using Shadowless Thrust, couldn’t penetrate deeply even when stabbing into its eyes.

"The Bear King is too fast."

In the live stream, Sun Yuting, who was fleeing and dodging, said, and all the viewers could hear, "Its fur is ridiculously thick. My sword can't even pierce through its fur and fat, so I can't hurt it at all! I'm too injured, I can't hold on any longer."

A large tree was shattered by the Bear King's paw, and the splintered wood struck Sun Yuting. She dodged clumsily and immediately chose to exit. Her body couldn't hold on any longer.

"There are many Divine experts streaming, but not a single one has made it to the third level of the Starry Sky Tower." Li Miaomiao browsed other live stream channels. "Many Divine experts can't even beat five large bears. Only those ranked at the top of Xia Country can even fight the Bear King."

"Many Divine experts only reach Divine after reaching 50 stars in the Sunwheel level. Their base combat strength might only be a little over a thousand," Xu Jingming said. "Dealing with a single large bear is indeed very difficult. By the way, how many people have fought the Bear King?"

"Sun Yuting, Zhang Qian, Fang Yu, Niu Hao, these are the only four Divine experts in the live streams, and they are all among the top fifty in Xia Country," Li Miaomiao said. "They all fought the Bear King, but they all lost. The Bear King is too OP. Its defense is ridiculously high, its speed is fast, and its strength is unbelievably great."

Xu Jingming nodded. "The Bear King is very strong."

"What about you, Jingming?" Li Miaomiao asked.

"I made it to the third level of the Starry Sky Tower, but I failed," Xu Jingming said.

"You killed the Bear King?" Li Miaomiao was surprised and delighted. "The Bear King is such a monster, how did you kill it?"

"I fought it for eighteen minutes, and the Bear King bled to death," Xu Jingming said with emotion. "Its bear hide is too thick, so I couldn't kill it with a single spear strike. I could only make it bleed continuously."

Li Miaomiao's eyes lit up. "As expected of my Jingming, you're amazing! Tell me, what's on the third level of the Starry Sky Tower?"

"Tigers."

Xu Jingming said, "Tigers that are even stronger than the Bear King."

"Stronger than the Bear King?" Li Miaomiao was shocked.

"And there are dozens of them." Xu Jingming shook his head. "It's impossible to fight dozens of large tigers at the same time. The difference in strength is too great."

Li Miaomiao clicked her tongue. "No wonder the Blue Star Alliance's rules state that there's a bonus for clearing the third level, and there's no time limit… According to what you said, it might take a long time before a hundred people globally clear the third level."

"Hmm?" Li Miaomiao noticed that something was off with the numerous live stream channels on the viewing platform. Having studied the viewing platform for a long time, she noticed that some streamers had even changed their live stream titles.

"Jingming, quickly go to the mission space," Li Miaomiao said.

"What's wrong?" Xu Jingming hadn't noticed yet, after all, there were too many live stream channels.

"The first person in the world has been born." Li Miaomiao urged, and immediately went to the mission space herself.

…

Mission Space.

Whoosh.

Xu Jingming descended from the sky, landing in front of the Starry Sky Tower.

Beside the Starry Sky Tower, a huge leaderboard appeared in the night sky, hanging high and as tall as the Starry Sky Tower.

Currently, there was only one line on the huge leaderboard—"Global First: Liu Hai (Xia Country)"