Xu Jingming was cultivating the Mind Refining Technique with a completely clear mind. Seemingly without thought or contemplation, he was actually at his least vulnerable to sneak attacks.

In this state, his perception range was at its widest and most acute. Even his biological clock was accurate to the second. The slightest hint of hostility would trigger Xu Jingming's counterattack!

Now, completely buried by the collapsed city wall and unable to see the outside world, Xu Jingming's mind flickered, and he entered the Mind Refining state. His perception immediately amplified a hundredfold, a thousandfold. Each piece of rubble was clear in his perception, as was the vast edge membrane. He also sensed the airflow outside the ruins, and the most surging and intense aura—Di Yano's life aura.

Di Yano's life aura was like a torch.

"Hmm?"

Di Yano stood outside the ruins, frowning slightly. "With Xu Jingming's control over his power, even if he crashed into the city wall, his body could naturally dissipate most of the impact, resulting in, at most, minor injuries. Yet, he's hiding inside, refusing to come out? Is he trying to ambush me?"

Although his cultivation speed was slow and his talent wasn't high, Di Yano had roamed the virtual world network since childhood, experiencing countless battles and accumulating rich experience.

"Lock onto his position." Di Yano used his sensing technique, and the surrounding fluctuations in the air immediately amplified in his perception. He quickly locked onto the hidden life aura!

"There!"

After confirming it, Di Yano smiled inwardly. "Still trying to ambush me?"

Whoosh...

Di Yano leaped, jumping onto the ruins, pretending to search carefully.

...

"Xu Jingming crashed into the city wall and was buried. Why isn't he coming out?"

"Probably his injuries are too severe, and he wants to stabilize them."

"That crash caused that section of the city wall to collapse completely. The force of the impact must have been incredibly strong. Even for Xu Jingming, he might be seriously injured." Countless people speculated, unaware of Xu Jingming's physical condition at the moment.

Billions of viewers around the world held their breath, watching the progress of the battle.

...

On the rubble-strewn ruins, Di Yano walked, observing carefully, holding his long staff, appearing cautious and ready to attack at any moment.

When Di Yano reached the spot directly above Xu Jingming, with a distance of less than ten meters between them, Xu Jingming, in his Mind Refining state, instinctively sensed a greatly increased threat. Acting purely on instinct, he suddenly charged upward. As he charged, the spear shadow erupted like a volcano, thrusting out with a thunderous roar.

"Boom!" The moment Xu Jingming moved, the ruins exploded violently.

The distance of less than ten meters was too close. Di Yano couldn't dodge in time, but he smirked and thrust his staff downward! This strike easily shattered the rubble, heading towards Xu Jingming's body with irresistible force.

"Bang!"

The rising spear shadow collided with the staff, its momentum immediately reduced. Di Yano quickly retreated, and Xu Jingming completely burst out of the ruins, tapping his foot and landing on the open ground to the side.

"How cunning, he actually started to ambush me," Di Yano said, looking at Xu Jingming. "Too bad it won't work on me."

"Your senses are quite fast," Xu Jingming said, also looking at his opponent.

...

At that moment, the official live broadcast was showing a slow-motion replay of the battle scene. Di Yano walked on the ruins, and when he was less than ten meters from Xu Jingming beneath the rubble, Xu Jingming suddenly erupted, launching a lightning-fast upward spear thrust! It was swift and terrifying!

Di Yano seemed to know it all along, and thrust his staff downwards, precisely hitting the spear.

"Xu Jingming's weapon, the spear, is 3 meters long, while Di Yano's staff is 2.6 meters long." On the commentary desk, Secretary-General Angus said with a smile, "When Xu Jingming charged upwards, he was using a one-handed spear thrust. If neither of them had defended, but instead attacked head-on… Xu Jingming would have definitely struck Di Yano first. But Di Yano clearly foresaw it and deflected the spear with one strike."

"Too dangerous."

"A distance of less than ten meters, with rubble blocking the view, invisible to the naked eye, one ambushing, the other countering?"

"They're both too terrifying."

Billions of people around the world watched the slow-motion replay, finally understanding the terror of the exchange just now.

...

Di Yano and Xu Jingming were both observing each other, both understanding that their opponent was not easy to deal with.

"Excellent, the stronger this Xu Jingming is, the better," Di Yano's eyes grew even more fervent. "My only fear is that he isn't strong enough."

"Strength, speed, senses, I can't find any openings," Xu Jingming frowned slightly. "If there are no openings, then I'll create them." Immediately, his figure moved, tearing through the air, the airwaves exploding, man and spear already arriving.

"Clang!" Di Yano had already stepped forward, his staff meeting the spear.

Both completely unleashed their own strength and speed, and fully displayed their many techniques, causing the earth to rumble, sand and stones to fly. Large pits appeared across the land. Some of the flying stones struck the distant city walls, leaving many holes.

"My staff technique has reached fifth-order 53%, yet my speed is still slower than his?" Di Yano thought to himself.

"This Di Yano is terrifying. Besides a slight advantage in speed, I'm inferior in all other aspects." Xu Jingming also felt it. The power contained in the opponent's staff technique was immense and incredibly agile. Because he was focused on the *Hua Hong* spear technique, he only had a slight advantage in speed. According to Xu Jingming's estimation… Di Yano's staff technique was probably around fifth-order 50%.

In the exchange, Di Yano had a slight advantage. His moves were mostly offensive, and Xu Jingming was forced to defend most of the time, only occasionally counterattacking.

Only two or three out of ten moves were counterattacks.

"How many ultimate techniques does this Di Yano actually know?" Xu Jingming felt the pressure. "The staff technique styles he's proficient in are at least ten, and I can identify at least nineteen spear techniques!"

When competing with Liu Hai, Di Yano had not shown much of his strength, only using that one ultimate technique.

Now, he was displaying his full power! The combination of various different ultimate techniques, with their frenzied attacks, made Xu Jingming feel suffocated, and he was forced to defend most of the time.

"Whoosh!"

Like a venomous snake's ghostly sneak attack.

"Boom!"

Like a heaven-collapsing, earth-shattering smash! There was also the staff technique's triple strike, the staff technique's air strike... One bizarre move after another put great pressure on Xu Jingming.

While constantly defending, Xu Jingming suddenly unleashed a sweeping strike with his spear!

Boom!

Controlling countless cells throughout his body, unifying his power, at that moment his entire body was like a giant divine bow, the spear in his hand like an arrow on the bowstring. The sweeping strike was released, the spear shot out like an arrow, the air seemingly emptied in an instant, creating a terrifying boom.

One of the five ultimate techniques, ‘Mountain Style.’

Mountain Style was also a move that combined offense and defense. Among the five ultimate techniques, it was the one with the greatest power.

However, this move had a very brief period of charging, giving his opponent time to react. At that moment, Di Yano sent his staff forward, like a large snake, blocking the terrifying spear strike, using softness to overcome hardness. At the moment of contact, Di Yano was forced to retreat.

Di Yano stood in the distance, admiringly saying, "Xu Jingming, I really admire you. In the ten-plus months since the virtual world opened, you've cultivated your spear technique to this level. It's truly remarkable."

"You flatter me. I'm not as good as you in terms of body control," Xu Jingming said.

In this battle, he could faintly feel that his spear technique skill should have improved somewhat, but it was probably only at fifth-order 40%. In terms of explosive power and agility, he was still inferior to Di Yano. According to Xu Jingming's guess... Di Yano's staff technique was probably around fifth-order 50%.

"You're cultivating the evolution method in the virtual world as well. You're even younger than me, yet your body control surpasses mine. You're the truly remarkable one." Xu Jingming said genuinely admiringly.

Di Yano didn't feel any joy upon hearing this. Instead, he felt his face flush.

Age?

I'm about the same age as your grandfather!

"Xu Jingming, I'm going to use a secret technique next. If you can't block it, you'll die," Di Yano kindly said. He had seen many so-called ultimate staff techniques, and learned dozens of them. But the strongest among his staff techniques…

Were the three secret techniques!

These were the three secret techniques that his father had created specifically for him.

Not only could they unleash extremely strong power in the Planetary life stage, but they were also very important foundation techniques in the Star-level life stage. With them as a foundation, he had a chance to reach the ninth order in the future. Di Yano had also put some effort into the three secret techniques, but his progress was slow. He was only at fifth-order now.

"Secret technique?" Xu Jingming muttered to himself, becoming even more cautious and vigilant. "This Di Yano is really confident, reminding me before using his secret technique."

From this perspective, Xu Jingming admired Di Yano somewhat.

"Be careful!" As soon as Di Yano finished speaking, he leaped out like a ray of light. At the same time, countless staff shadows appeared in the world! Each staff shadow was like a large python, and in an instant, more than a dozen staff shadows covered the sky and Xu Jingming.

One of the three secret techniques passed down through Di Yano's family, ‘Heavenly Python Sequence.’