Chapter 1 The Lunge

"Whoosh."

Xu Jingming flew through the continuous mountain range, his flight path resembling a blurred spear image. In an instant, he swept past several peaks, much faster than the fleeing Monarch Chanming!

Even with the suppression of the ultimate grounds' rules, he possessed such terrifying speed. Perhaps only a half-step third realm powerhouse could achieve this.

"So easily, I can tear through the sky and reach this speed." Xu Jingming felt the terror of that condensed wisp of power within his body. This flying speed was already very restrained. If he wished, he could even break through the suppression of the ultimate grounds' rules and perform short-distance teleportation.

However, doing so would be too burdensome on one hand, and completely expose himself on the other.

After all, the other half-step third realm experts had to fly slowly.

"I entered the ultimate grounds three days later than everyone else. Moreover, because of my weak strength, I've been circling around the outer areas in the early stages… In terms of exploration progress, I'm already very slow. I must speed up now," Xu Jingming thought to himself.

Just then, a twisted monster appeared out of nowhere directly in front of Xu Jingming. It was extremely close and pounced on him instantly.

"Hmph."

Xu Jingming's expression turned cold, and his entire being transformed into a streak of blood-colored spear light in an instant, piercing through the twisted monster's body.

Accompanied by a shrill scream, the twisted monster fell to the side, revealing its true form. It was a spherical creature with countless small tentacles, and its three eyes were staring at Xu Jingming with furious madness. Immediately afterward, its eyes dimmed, and its body disintegrated.

With just a body impact, this native creature was killed, leaving behind three ingeniously combined different characters.

"This extraordinary item, the 'Mind Staff,' is too useful. It can change as I wish, and it can usually transform into robes that stick close to my body. With a single thought… I can even transform my body into a weapon, a long spear, to kill opponents." Xu Jingming was very satisfied.

A normal body wouldn't produce a powerful enough spear radiance.

But with an extraordinary item buffing his entire body, his body transforming into spear radiance was not far from a third-realm mind spear.

"It transforms into robes that stick close to my body, greatly enhancing my defensive capabilities. Whether it's a mental or physical attack, this extraordinary item has the effect of defense and obstruction." Xu Jingming liked it very much. When Monarch Chanming obtained the extraordinary item, the Mind Staff, he discovered that it had the effect of protecting his mind and consciousness.

In the hands of a powerhouse of the Heart Realm lineage, it could truly bring the extraordinary item's power into full play.

"It can attack, defend, and cope with complex and dangerous situations." After collecting the three characters, Xu Jingming continued to fly forward in the mountains.

Time passed, and another five days went by in the blink of an eye.

Because Xu Jingming was traveling at super speed, he passed through many places in five days. He was attacked by more than ten native creatures one after another. Although he distantly encountered a half-step third realm expert, the other party observed Xu Jingming's travel speed and avoided him from afar, without any conflict occurring.

"The extraordinary items in the mountains have indeed been almost completely searched. I only obtained one extraordinary item in these five days," Xu Jingming thought. "Moreover, it's an extraordinary item from the Yuanchu Star lineage, which is of limited help to me."

He was currently focused on the Mind Weapon and Illusory Abyss lineages.

"Rumble~~~"

In the distant, gloomy sky, there was thunder and lightning, and blood-colored flames rose up, creating quite a commotion.

"What's going on?" Xu Jingming looked into the distance.

In the area where the huge commotion was erupting, Xu Jingming vaguely saw a sphere suspended in the air. Thunder and lightning were generated in the void around the sphere, and blood-colored flames were born in the void.

"What a big commotion." Xu Jingming exclaimed, "None of the extraordinary items I've seen have caused such a big commotion."

If he had just arrived in the ultimate grounds, Xu Jingming would definitely have stayed as far away as possible.

Such a big commotion would definitely attract powerhouses!

If you were weak, going there would be suicide!

"Whoosh."

Without hesitation, Xu Jingming's flight transformed into a blurred spear shadow, heading straight for the sphere suspended high in the air.

As he approached rapidly, Xu Jingming could see more clearly. It was a completely transparent sphere, and inside the sphere was a special existence that resembled an 'ancient tree.' The dense vines were like tiny branches of a large tree.

"Abyss?" After all, Xu Jingming had studied the *Illusory Abyss* lineage for many years, and he made a judgment in an instant.

"This is a super-miniature abyss?" With one glance, Xu Jingming discovered that the model inside the sphere, which resembled an ancient tree, had countless dense branches. Many branches were even hidden, making them difficult to discern.

Xu Jingming didn't know how vast and complex a true abyss was.

The abyss permeated countless timelines and spaces. What Xu Jingming was seeing now was just the appearance of the abyss in this one space-time.

"Although *Illusory Abyss* has the appearance of an abyss, it is not as detailed as this extraordinary item." Xu Jingming's heart trembled, and a desire arose. He instantly made a judgment, "If I obtain this extraordinary item, I can immediately improve a lot in *Illusory Abyss*, and even the hope of breaking through to the third realm in *Illusory Abyss* will greatly increase."

"Whoosh."

Thinking of this, Xu Jingming charged over without hesitation!

"Get out of the way! This extraordinary item belongs to our Nightdream Legion!" Accompanied by an angry shout, a full twelve figures joined forces to kill their way over.

The Nightdream Legion was a legion under the command of the third-realm existence, 'Master Koye.' The legion was entirely composed of half-step third realm powerhouses and abyss monarchs. Under Master Koye's orders, these half-step third realm powerhouses and abyss monarchs could only send their avatars to join the legion.

The Nightdream Legion was too powerful, and during ordinary operations, they moved in small squads.

Each small squad had a total of twelve members! They were good at cooperating, and once they acted together, they were generally invincible.

Even in the ultimate grounds, the Nightdream Legion had made a great name for itself this time!

"So what if it's the Nightdream Legion? This 'super-miniature abyss' is a treasure of the Abyss lineage. Whoever snatches it, we'll kill!" A group of eighteen half-step third realm powerhouses and abyss monarchs were also going crazy.

This time, all 35 third-realm existences in the entire space-time had sent their elites.

Master Koye had the Nightdream Legion under his command, and other third-realm existences also had elites under their command.

"It's actually a miniature abyss? Just by watching, I can feel my abyss lineage improving." Another nine figures flew over from a distance, their eyes burning as they looked at the sphere suspended in mid-air.

"There are already over a hundred powerhouses around! The appearance of this extraordinary item, the 'miniature abyss,' caused too much commotion, attracting too many powerhouses. Although the nine of us have also participated in the space-time arena, we can't compete with hundreds of powerhouses of the same level!"

"These powerhouses belong to different forces and are restraining each other, making it difficult for anyone to take the lead. Whoever snatches it first will face the siege of hundreds of half-step third realm powerhouses. So for a short time… it will be difficult to determine the final owner."

"Let's be patient, find a suitable opportunity, and then snatch it in one fell swoop." The nine powerhouses transmitted their voices to each other and also joined the competition.

The extraordinary item 'miniature abyss' was suspended in the air, causing a great commotion and attracting many powerhouses to come.

This kind of extraordinary item was a true treasure.

Especially the powerhouses of the Abyss lineage, their eyes were burning with desire.

"Whoosh."

Xu Jingming was a rare loner.

For this kind of treasure, even half-step third realm powerhouses and abyss monarchs acted in groups with partners. But Xu Jingming had arrived alone.

"Rumble~~~" Various domains spread out, including space, ice, karma curse, maze, and destruction flame… Various techniques at the half-step third realm level covered the area, restraining each other.

Everyone was unable to fly to the location of the miniature abyss, because on the way, they were afraid of being besieged by various forces and losing their lives.

"What a miniature abyss." Xu Jingming was even more shocked as he watched from such a close distance.

The entire miniature abyss seemed to be alive.

Countless branches were wriggling, and countless layers of abyss space were densely packed like animal scales, with the aura of destruction, darkness, and sin spreading out.

"This is the abyss." Xu Jingming exclaimed.

"You dare to rush in alone?"

A group of eleven powerhouses on the side noticed Xu Jingming sneaking closer while fighting with other forces.

"We can't let these loners steal the benefits while we're fighting. Chase him out."

This group of powerhouses had only begun to cooperate after entering the ultimate grounds, but in a short period of time, with their speed of thought, they had already developed many combined team techniques.

At this moment, once the team's opinion was determined, seven of the powerhouses immediately made their moves. Soon, a hazy long whip slashed over, as if to annihilate everything.

The power of this hazy long whip made Xu Jingming's heart jump.

The combined power of seven powerhouses? Even with the extraordinary item robes protecting him, it was not suitable to resist head-on.

"In a one-on-one fight, I can stab one to death with two or three spears. But hundreds of half-step third realm powerhouses? I'd better hide and run after snatching it." When the hazy long whip swept past him, Xu Jingming had already disappeared out of thin air.

"Whoosh."

Instantly breaking through the obstacles of the ultimate grounds' space-time, and ignoring the domain-like techniques restrained by a large number of powerhouses, he directly appeared beside the extraordinary item 'miniature abyss.'

Xu Jingming appeared beside the extraordinary item 'miniature abyss' as if teleporting. This scene stunned the hundreds of half-step third realm powerhouses and abyss monarchs who were fighting madly. They all looked at this scene in shock.

How was that possible?

How was it possible to break through their obstacles and appear there out of thin air?

"Collect." Xu Jingming naturally wouldn't be soft-hearted. At the same time as he appeared, he instantly reached out and grabbed the suspended 'miniature abyss,' directly collecting it.

However, when collecting it, Xu Jingming noticed that the small universe he carried with him had a sense of rejection. So Xu Jingming directly put it into his stomach and stored it in his inner universe.

"The extraordinary item 'miniature abyss' has been snatched?"

"Stop him!"

"Kill him!"

The reactions of the hundreds of powerhouses were also extremely fast. In an instant, they all went crazy and stopped restraining each other. They unhesitatingly attacked Xu Jingming, who had snatched the 'miniature abyss,' at the same time. All kinds of terrifying energy instantly covered the area where Xu Jingming was.

"I'm leaving." After collecting the miniature abyss, Xu Jingming naturally ran away as quickly as possible. With one step, he broke through the obstacles of space-time and appeared in the distance. With another step, he had become an inconspicuous little dot. Taking the third step, Xu Jingming had completely disappeared from the observation range of the hundreds of powerhouses.