Dark Moon Era

Chapter 344: Trigger The SSS

Was Tang Ling’s performance rather average?

When Boss Huang commented on Tang Ling’s performance, even his all-time ‘good’ friend, Gu Dao, believed that the boss was being egoistic.

Madam Qing voiced her reminder to Boss Huang, “Huang Dao, remember you shouldn’t take a stand in this. Back then, you insisted on taking Tang Ling in…”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it, I get it…” Boss Huang waved his hand impatiently. His gaze toward Madam Qing seemed to contain deep complaint.

Perhaps, standing in Boss Huang’s position, he could afford to be misunderstood by everyone but not by Madam Qing.

As a matter of fact, Boss Huang’s comment on Tang Ling was not as simple as his ego acting up. He seemed to be very confident in Tang Ling to the point that he claimed the boy would shock the audience later.

Unfortunately, the one who shocked the audience at the moment was not Tang Ling but Tang Long.

He had broken the record on his first attempt and it was not just any scenario. It was the most difficult scene of the Hell level challenge, the Bloody Tower. It was difficult to imagine what scenario would he run into next. Would it be something even more difficult than the Bloody Tower?

Probably not.

Contrary to expectations, Tang Long was very calm after his challenge. He was sitting on the chair in the restroom, with one of his cheeks propped up in his hand, yet he emanated an indescribable elegance from the simplest of postures.

He was watching the others! He was also able to watch the competitions on the 10 big screens from inside the restroom.

Tang Long did not care about the others, and even though his heart told him to ignore Tang Ling, his eyes uncontrollably focused on the screen that showed Tang Ling’s performance.

At first glance over Tang Ling’s scene, Tang Long came up with a comment, “It shouldn’t be.”

Tang Ling’s fight might be filled with artistic movements and power in other people’s eyes, but in Tang Long’s eyes, his Precise Instinct was able to easily see through it all.

Strength, overpowered! Speed, overpowered! Reflexes, overpowered! Stamina, overflowing!

With all his stats at his peak, Tang Ling’s killing speed could be twice as fast with his Precise Instinct fully operational. He should not be like what he was now, killing only 17 killer demons after 2 minutes and 7 seconds on Gray Mist Street.

“If I were in his shoes, with the Precise Instinct fully operational while conserving my stamina, I could’ve ended the fight in less than 4 minutes.” Tang Long quickly got the numbers on Tang Ling’s kill count, and also came up with a deduction based on his own condition.

He never thought he could widen the distance between him and Tang Ling during the first level because both of them had saved up a lot of trump cards, yet even under such circumstances, 4 minutes was a very reasonable range.

“What is he trying to do?” The calmness on Tang Long’s face slightly changed, and in the next moment, he realized that Tang Ling did not fight with Precise Instinct. Instead, he was searching for a form.

Such a form would be…

How can I apply the spirit visualization method perfectly to my battles? The iron blanks are inanimate objects and their structures are relatively simple, but when I have to face a living being with heartbeats, blood flow, and breathing rate, everything else will be a hindrance to the spirit visualization. How should I overcome the hindrance?

Tang Ling grabbed a killer demon by the neck with his left hand. Swiftly, the sharp grade A dagger swirled along his fingers and softly slashed one of the veins at the killer demon’s neck.

After the skin was cut, blood gushed out ceaselessly!

Hot, fishy blood splashed all over Tang Ling’s chest.

Tang Ling tossed the dead body away and swung his grade A alloy sword backward, slicing off a claw that tried to grab him.

The battle felt like a show of instinctive moments. Tang Ling was covered in blood, contradicting Tang Long’s clean and elegant image at the end of the battle.

With every step he took, the mist in the street seemed to fluctuate, but Tang Ling’s eyes were still blinded by doubts.

How should he focus his spirit? Where should he look for the form that allowed him to see the internal structures of things, like how he did in smithing? The form was similar to another form that he once had, which allowed him to see the flow of energy in people’s bodies. As long as he could apply the spirit visualization method in his battle, Tang Ling believed he would be able to return to that old form soon.

No, I can’t be any faster. I must slow down!

Three more enemies jumped out from the mist. They were not giving him a breathing window.

It was then that Tang Ling leaned against the wall and kicked one of the killer demons away. At the same time, he swung the sword in his hand at the second killer demon without a second thought.

It was indomitable. That astonishing sword intent was showing again!

The second killer demon that jumped on him widened its eyes in shock. Its ape-like face was in disbelief as it watched a line of blood roll down from its forehead before its body fell apart in half.

With the sword intent on display, even if he was only using a grade A alloy longsword, he could simply end the battle even quicker and achieve an SS rating to trigger the SSS rating.

People with a little insight into the situation finally realized what he was doing. Tang Ling was able to perform outstandingly even when he was holding his strength back. Evidently, he had other intentions in mind!

On top of that, how could he possibly have done it?

Insightful people knew that the astonishing sword was effectuated during Tang Ling and Han Xing’s match in the Desperado Ring. It was nothing more than coincidental swordplay. His sword already possessed the roughest sword intent.

Things that were related to intents were not something one could master after a single use. One must repeatedly practice and feel the condition of the sword at that specific moment to truly master it!

The two shocking discoveries sent the audience in the colosseum into a strange and quiet state.

Was the world about to go through another drastic change?

First, the astonishing Tang Long surpassed the elite geniuses of the previous generation, and now Tang Ling did exactly the same.

Other than the two of them, the others performed very well too! The dark, hulking teen with the braided ponytail, the seemingly weak teen, Ling Yu of the Dark Nine Feathers…

All the 10 teenagers on the 10 respective screens should be in the highest of positions in any of the Purple Moon era generations.

After experiencing the apocalypse, people’s hearts tend to be more sensitive. Geniuses showing up at the same time would probably cause the era to be shaken up violently. Similar to the old civilization, during that time when genius physicists were all over the place, what followed was the painful memories of war!

At that very moment, the only comfort the people had in their hearts was the fact that both Tang Ling and Tang Long were not as amazing as Tang Feng from the previous generation, and that was how it should be!

Amidst the strange silence, only Tang Long remained calm.

In his opinion, Tang Ling being able to display the sword intent was nothing but normal. The reason why Precise Instinct was scary was because of its precision.

After using any technique once, Precise Instinct would mark down every detail of the technique. Even the thoughts and consciousness when using the technique would be recorded down. Tang Ling would be stupid if he could not use the sword intent again, and if he failed, he did not deserve Precise Instinct.

As for what Tang Ling was trying to do, Tang Long had a vague suspicion.

Is he trying to accomplish the second phase of Precise Instinct, the Mind’s Eye? If that’s the case…

Tang Long put his hands together while a complicated feeling rumbled in his heart. His own Precise Instinct barely reached the second phase, and throughout the Bloody Tower run, he did not expose the technique at all because he did not think it was necessary.

It seemed like Tang Long’s little brother was improving at tremendous speed and was catching up with him, but it did not matter to him before the two of them had the blood of the man named Tang Feng.

Even if Tang Ling really achieved the second phase, Tang Long was confident that he could reach the third phase, the Mind’s Eye Telepathy, even quicker.

At that phase, the flow of energy would be visible.

A plethora of thoughts came from the audience, but Tang Ling did not know about any of them. Even if he did, he would not have cared.

Two of the three killer demons were destroyed, so there was one more left.

While the audience was in awe, Tang Ling tossed his sword, curled up his fist and punched the last killer demon that sprang at him.

The nose, neck, temples, back of the neck, heart, and belly…What would happen to those weak spots if every single one of them was hit?

How would the breathing flow change? How would the blood flow change? What would happen to the heartbeat? How would every strand of muscle react? How tightly would the muscles retract?

It was probably the stupidest way, collecting data to rectify his own knowledge and using the result to assist the precision of his spirit visualization! Nevertheless, Tang Ling did not care about achieving an astonishing rating since SS rating was enough for him and the most important thing was his own growth!

The audience was introduced to a new fighting method from Tang Ling: tossing the weapon away and punching the enemy with his bare fists.

He was fleeting and his punches were precise. The heavy blows were as aesthetic as before as if he was a mixed martial artist from the old civilization.

Other than Tang Long, no one knew that Tang Ling was actually collecting data. Because of that, he got slower in clearing the challenge, yet no one dared to look down on him. Everyone was even more serious than before because they knew Tang Ling could simply clear Gray Mist Street faster and with an even more astonishing performance!

3 minutes 17 seconds had passed. Tang Ling had completed 20 slashes.

5 minutes 29 seconds had passed. He had completed 30 slashes.

6 minutes 46 seconds had passed. He had completed 37 slashes.

All the slashes landed on the killer demons with utmost precision, wiping them out, and he was already at the end of Gray Mist Street.

It was then that the voice entered his ears again.

“Killing mission completed within 8 minutes. SS rating achieved. Triggered SSS rating event, the last demon of Gray Mist Street.”

Tang Ling came back to his senses. Even though he had intentionally slowed down, he had exterminated all the killer demons without even realizing it.

What a pity. If there’re a dozen more killer demons for me to test, I might be able to collect more data and the analysis result might be closer to the actual thing.

However, it was not a big deal because numbers and data were not the determining factors to master true spirit visualization. The data was just a supporting tool for him to use spirit visualization on living beings.

Tang Ling believed he already had a general idea on how to apply spirit visualization in his battle.

With that in mind, the mist on Gray Mist Street started to rumble fiercely. The mist scattered away and a giant figure appeared at the other end of the street.

Some of the audience cried out in shock.

“Is this against the rules? Why is that thing there?”

From a certain perspective, it was against the rules.

A real demon from the real world appeared in Gray Mist Street. It was a special type of monster whose name would frighten kids.

These monsters were generally known as zombie beasts!

The zombie beast that appeared before everyone’s eyes was a very well-known one—the Black Shroom Zombie Ape!