Xu Jingming had experienced some humanistic illusory realms during his time on the virtual world network.

He had also passed the life-and-death test in the mysterious land. In the process of studying *The Eight Directions Chart*, Xu Jingming had spent a lot of effort, even watching the evolution of humans on tens of thousands of life-bearing planets for a long time, researching the influence of desire on humanity. He was theoretically very knowledgeable!

However, he was still stuck at the sixth level of *The Eight Directions Chart*: the Life and Death realm.

According to some learning requirements of the virtual world network, Xu Jingming's understanding of life and death was qualified.

Even after experiencing the torment of pollution and cultivating for more than ten thousand years, Xu Jingming's understanding of life and death was still unqualified according to the requirements of *The Eight Directions Chart*.

This was because Xu Jingming had never truly felt the threat of death.

Later, when he learned to become a Source Lifeform in the virtual world network and fought in the extraterritorial battlefield, he did encounter a lot of danger. But even if he died, the three Supreme Realms could resurrect him.

So, he didn't have a sense of crisis at all. For the first time since his birth, Xu Jingming had experienced such a strong, palpable threat of death!

At this moment, images of his wife, daughter, parents, and many others flashed through his mind. The instinct of life, a strong desire to survive, was erupting.

"I can't die! I can't die!" Xu Jingming felt his head buzzing, his eyes turning red, unprecedented excitement, and his consciousness thinking faster than ever before.

Driven by the desire to survive, he did not hesitate to tap into his potential.

It was over.

"Die!" The small, thin giant ape showed no mercy, slamming its fists at Xu Jingming. The two huge fists were like sledgehammers, wanting to smash Xu Jingming into mincemeat.

*Boom!*

The fists slammed into the center of the original pit, but Xu Jingming had avoided being hit in that instant.

"Hmm?" The small, thin giant ape looked at Xu Jingming in surprise.

"After receiving a palm strike with 60% of my strength, you can still remain conscious?"

Xu Jingming stood not far away, his whole body surging with fiery white aura, his red eyes staring at the small, thin giant ape: "Thank you, for letting me truly experience the threat of death."

No amount of theory, no matter how many times he experienced it in the illusion, could compare to the real thing.

That feeling of the thrill of life and death!

His brain was about to explode! The potential hidden in his body was like a cosmic explosion! He didn't need to care about the body's ability to withstand it; he only had one goal: to live, to live.

The potential of life erupted to the extreme!

"Feeling the trembling of life." Xu Jingming closed his eyes, experiencing the feeling of life trembling. His body seemed like a bottomless pit, now erupting with potential crazily.

His whole body, like muscles and bones, was constantly becoming stronger. On the first day of descending into this world, Xu Jingming had discovered that everyone's body in this world contained infinite potential.

What he had to do was to unearth that potential, to force it out with life and death. This was actually quite common.

The life and death that Xu Jingming understood was different from the Life and Death realm of *The Eight Directions Chart*.

Clearly, after truly mastering the secret techniques of the Life and Death realm in *The Eight Directions Chart*, it stimulated a deeper level of potential in this body.

The Life and Death realm of *The Eight Directions Chart* required one to explode the desire to survive to the strongest degree and to control it!

The power of the desire to survive also became a part of the power of the mind. At this moment, Xu Jingming fully understood that the physical body carried the mind, and the mind controlled the physical body.

A more powerful mind unearthed a deeper level of potential. Xu Jingming's state was unprecedentedly great.

However, the small, thin giant ape sneered: "An eruption at the critical moment of life and death? Even if you erupt, you will still die."

A foot as fast as lightning swept over. *Whoosh*, the small, thin giant ape vaguely saw a divine bird flying with outstretched wings. The wings left behind thousands upon thousands of afterimages. It kicked at nothing.

"It actually affected my mind?" The small, thin giant ape was shocked. "The power of the mind has become stronger?"

Although Xu Jingming's *Mind Tempering Combat Art* had previously shaken the giant ape's mind, it couldn't affect the small, thin giant ape.

But now, after reaching the Life and Death realm, the power of the mind had become even stronger! Using the Flying Crane Stance already had a slight effect on the opponent.

"Useless, I only used 80% of my strength!" The small, thin giant ape became serious. It suddenly lunged forward, a pair of hairy hands waving over, the speed reaching an astonishing level, fully exploiting the advantage of speed.

Although Xu Jingming's footwork had improved and he had influenced the other party's mind to a certain extent, he still found it difficult to avoid the continuous stream of palms.

*Bang!*

He was slapped again, and Xu Jingming was sent flying, directly smashing into a nearby hill.

The small, thin giant ape immediately flashed forward, wanting to follow up with a kick, but Xu Jingming, while being struck, still maintained his clarity. He dodged away with a tap of his foot.

"100% strength." Light flickered in the eyes of the small, thin giant ape. "Die." It had run out of patience.

With its speed fully unleashed, a pair of earth-shattering palms repeatedly sent Xu Jingming flying, striking him again and again. From the beginning, every time Xu Jingming was struck, he would fly away, vomiting blood.

Gradually, even when Xu Jingming was struck, although there was still a little blood at his mouth and nose, he was already able to step on the ground and change positions.

"His body is getting stronger." The small, thin giant ape could sense it. "When I first struck him with 60% of my strength, although he looked a little dazed, his physical injuries weren't serious."

"It seems this is the advantage of being small. Being smaller than him and being able to erupt with such strength and speed, the toughness of the body is too high."

"And now, a palm strike with my full strength can't even send him flying. Even if he's hit, it's only a minor injury, and it completely heals in the time it takes to breathe," the small, thin giant ape knew very well.

In this world, the stronger the individual, the higher the recovery power.

Therefore, to kill the opponent, one must completely destroy them in one go, without giving them a chance to breathe.

"In the beginning, he was at level 52, now he is already at level 53, and he can also influence my mind, making me weaker." The small, thin giant ape vaguely felt uneasy.

Although Xu Jingming was being slapped again and again, he could feel that in the process of being beaten, when he tapped into his physical potential, the toughness of his body increased the fastest, becoming more and more resilient.

He was like a piece of refined steel! The giant ape's palm was like a sledgehammer, repeatedly hammering him, making him more and more tenacious.

Finally, the eruption of potential slowed down, and the improvement of the body also slowed down.

"Are you enjoying slapping me?" Xu Jingming suddenly said.

The small, thin giant ape, who was continuing to attack, was stunned.

"Next, it's my turn." As soon as Xu Jingming finished speaking, he made his move.

At this moment, the small, thin giant ape seemed to see a fierce tiger exuding an extremely fierce aura, and even heard the sound of a tiger roaring. It was the third stance of the *Mind Tempering Combat Art*, the Violent Tiger Rending the Heavens. Xu Jingming had only perfectly mastered the first two stances. The power of the subsequent moves was insufficient, but after the transformation of his mind power, reaching the Life and Death realm, Xu Jingming's avatar far away in the outside world had already deduced the Violent Tiger Rending the Heavens hundreds of times. It was already extremely mature.

Now, his mind power was sufficient to perfectly unleash this move. The small, thin giant ape vaguely heard a tiger's roar.

"Not good, my mind has been affected." Relying entirely on instinct, the small, thin giant ape frantically waved its arms, a pair of huge palms suddenly striking out hundreds of times, enveloping every corner of the surroundings.

However, Xu Jingming flickered around the small, thin giant ape, and a claw as fast as lightning landed on the small, thin giant ape.

The small, thin giant ape instinctively lowered its head, and a claw brushed past the small, thin giant ape's forehead. Xu Jingming's five fingers were extremely sharp, tearing through the skin and flesh in five bloody wounds, leaving claw marks on the skull.

The small, thin giant ape then unleashed hundreds of palms, forcing Xu Jingming back.

The small, thin giant ape also broke free from the influence and stared at Xu Jingming. The injuries on its forehead completely healed in the time it took to breathe.

"I didn't expect that I couldn't even defeat a human," the small, thin giant ape said, looking at Xu Jingming. "What's your name?"

"Ming!" Xu Jingming also looked at the other party.

"I am Jialuo." The small, thin giant ape said, "You have such strength after descending among the humans for only a hundred years. I believe that in the future Ten Thousand Race Arena, you will definitely stand out."

"Among the powerful races, the human race is fast and small. The small body has great speed, but not much strength." Jialuo said softly, "But in a real fight to the death, the toughness of our bodies is far inferior to you small-bodied ones."

"I can hit you a hundred times, and your body is tough enough to withstand it. But if you hit me a few times, you might kill me."

"Perhaps being fast is for us to escape." Jialuo mocked himself, "The longer it drags on, the more advantage the smaller bodies have."

"In the Ten Thousand Race Arena, we powerful races still have a chance in the early stages. In the middle and late stages, I'm afraid your weaker races will dominate." After speaking, the small, thin giant ape turned and left.

Xu Jingming did not chase after him, because he was not confident of defeating his opponent right now. Even if he could beat him, he couldn't catch up if the other party was determined to escape.

The black-furred giant ape in the distance was still in a daze.

"Remember this human expert, Ming." The small, thin giant ape said, "If you sense his aura, run away quickly."

The black-furred giant ape nodded and sighed, "I can't even beat him now. What hope is there for the weaker races in the future? I'm ranked outside the top ten in the Giant Ape race. There's no hope for the Ten Thousand Race Arena at all."

"This life in the Ten Thousand Race World may be the last days of my life."

"As long as you live, there is hope." As Jialuo spoke, a large aircraft slowly descended above the two.

The giant apes entered the aircraft, and it quickly flew away.

Xu Jingming watched the large aircraft fly away, and glanced at the spherical monitoring devices in the sky.

"I'm only at level 53 now, relying on mental influence to be able to compete with him," Xu Jingming thought.

"Those half-step third realm heart realm experts will not be affected by mental influence, and in terms of body size, there are large bodies such as the Giant God race, Dragon race, etc., and small bodies such as the Yi race, Bee race, etc."

"So I don't have an advantage in terms of race, and I must seize the time to improve myself." Xu Jingming also felt a sense of urgency, after all, only the first place in the Ten Thousand Race Arena could leave. Whether it was the early, middle or late stages, it was very difficult to take first place.

*Whoosh!*

Xu Jingming quietly left, and the video of this battle gradually spread over time, and like many other battle videos, it was watched by the high-dimensional beings who had descended.