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The ancient golden tree shook violently, and the entire space seemed to shift, becoming blurred.
From the nine purple-black light gates, hordes of demons poured out, rushing through the gates and landing on Sea God Island.
The inner court students gathered on Sea God Island, watching as the demonic creatures emerged from the gates. Their eyes gleamed with excitement.
Demons?
At this moment, the inner court students who watched the demon legion descend appeared to be the true demons, their eyes glowing green as if they were staring at treasures.
The academy had already announced beforehand that killing demonic creatures would earn merit points, and these merit points would form the academy's second currency system—a level higher than contribution points, granting direct access to exchange for internal academy resources.
To put it simply, merit points could directly be used to request soul bones from the academy.
The academy would select suitable soul bones from its inventory for students to choose from.
This was the new merit point system.
The exchange ratio between merit points and contribution points was an astonishing 10,000:1!
In other words, one merit point could be exchanged for 10,000 contribution points.
Just this fact alone made the value of merit points self-evident.
And hunting demonic creatures was one of the fastest ways to earn merit points.
Moreover, the academy had explicitly stated that this defensive battle was a special opportunity to quickly accumulate merit points. In the future, even if the academy might expand its territory in the Demon Plane, the distribution of merit points wouldn't be as generous as it was now.
Simply put, the academy didn't yet have a standardized measurement.
Thus, this time, they were being extremely generous.
Once they studied the various uses of demonic creatures and understood them thoroughly, the distribution of merit points would become more standardized.
The creatures emerging from the Demon Gate were massive.
This was truly an army.
However, Sea God Island had limited space.
"Go ahead and clear out these demonic creatures," Yun Ming spoke, his voice reaching the ears of the inner court students and also Xu Yuan's group of eight.
The eight of them exchanged glances and charged into the legion of demonic creatures.
As they surged forward, the demonic creatures finally noticed their presence.
With the Heavenly Origin Five Elements Spear in hand, Xu Yuan swept across, and the power of the five elements surged in all directions, striking a large group of hellhounds with the spear's radiance.
"Hmm?"
Xu Yuan's heart stirred.
He activated the Heavenly Origin Five Elements Spear, and a powerful devouring force immediately emerged, swallowing the energy left behind by the dead hellhounds.
Xu Yuan's gaze sharpened.
He quickly turned his head and looked up at the golden ancient tree in the sky.
This...
He felt a faint connection. The energy from the hellhounds he devoured was rapidly refined into pure energy under the assistance of the golden ancient tree, nourishing his body while a portion of the energy was also extracted by the tree.
"This..."
Xu Yuan's eyes flickered as he quickly realized what was happening. Without holding back any longer, he rushed into the area with the densest concentration of demonic creatures.
Wherever his spear went, whether it was hellhounds or massive demon warriors, none could withstand a single strike.
He activated the Heavenly Origin Five Elements Spear, continuously devouring the life energy of the demonic creatures. With the aid of the golden ancient tree, he refined it into surging essence, strengthening himself.
"Where's Tang Wulin?" After killing hundreds of demonic creatures, Xu Yuan diverted some of his attention to observe Tang Wulin.
Tang Wulin was also devouring the life energy of the demonic creatures, but it seemed he hadn't established a connection with the golden ancient tree.
Xu Yuan's gaze focused on the long spear in Tang Wulin's hand. The spear was five meters long, golden all over, with faint dragon-shaped patterns etched into it.
The Golden Dragon Spear!
Tang Wulin had obtained the Golden Dragon Spear after breaking the sixth layer of seals within his body.
The devouring ability of the Golden Dragon Spear was naturally stronger than Xu Yuan's Heavenly Origin Five Elements Spear.
However, Xu Yuan's current devouring power was enhanced by the golden ancient tree.
"The raw devouring power isn't particularly impressive, but Elder Shu is clearly amplifying the spear's devouring ability. The key to this enhancement lies in the living metal originally condensed within it?"
Xu Yuan had previously explored this aspect but hadn't been able to fully develop it.
Now, under Elder Shu's support, he experienced the process of the living metal devouring the life energy of foreign creatures and quickly digested it.
After this battle, Xu Yuan was confident that he wouldn't need much time to master using the spear to unleash its current devouring potential.
Seeing Xu Yuan rush into the densest cluster of demonic creatures, even Yun Ming couldn't help but feel a bit nervous.
However, upon noticing that Xu Yuan's condition wasn't deteriorating but instead rapidly improving with the battle, his aura growing stronger and stronger, Yun Ming relaxed.
Soon, Yun Ming discovered the root of Xu Yuan's transformation.
"He's devouring the energy of these demonic creatures!" Yun Ming's gaze sharpened.
Then, as if sensing something, he revealed a look of joy.
Good!
"The power of the golden ancient tree is recovering!"
Yun Ming's control over the surrounding space was exceptionally high. At this moment, the golden ancient tree acted, shielding interference from the plane's ruler. It could be said that the heavens and earth where the inner court was located were completely under Yun Ming's control.
Therefore, he quickly noticed the changes in the golden ancient tree.
"Xiao Yuan is the intermediary." Yun Ming swiftly analyzed the principle.
He abruptly turned his gaze toward Tang Wulin.
Unlike Xu Yuan, Tang Wulin was also devouring abyssal creatures, but on a much smaller scale.
The Golden Dragon Spear could nourish him with dense life essence after devouring, but Tang Wulin's capacity to handle it was limited.
Thus, Tang Wulin's efforts appeared somewhat minor in comparison.
In reality, Tang Wulin's efficiency in hunting was already extremely high. Compared to ordinary inner court students, what he was doing could be considered a massacre.
However, Xu Yuan's actions were on another level entirely—harvesting.
Wherever his spear passed, demonic creatures fell dead, and then a terrifying devouring storm erupted from the tip of the spear, transforming the corpses of the demonic creatures into pure energy and devouring them.
No concealment whatsoever.
"Doesn't Brother Xu need to digest anything?" Tang Wulin thought to himself, unable to comprehend.
At this moment, life essence had begun to settle within his body, making him feel slightly uncomfortable.
Yet Xu Yuan continued to devour recklessly.
Gritting his teeth, Tang Wulin once again wielded his spear, swiftly slaughtering the abyssal creatures before him, devouring their life energy while diverting most of his focus to refining the energy within his body.
"Could Brother Xu's Heavenly Origin Five Elements Spear devouring ability actually surpass my Golden Dragon Spear?"
It didn't make sense!
Little did Tang Wulin know, Xu Yuan simply possessed a secret method for faster digestion.
The Devouring Heaven and Earth Technique was an ultimate skill specifically designed for active digestion.
Moreover, Xu Yuan had studied the abilities of multiple evil soul masters, continuously improving the Devouring Heaven and Earth Technique. Before today, his efficiency in devouring external energy might still have had some flaws, but his ability to digest already-refined life essence had reached its peak.
Of course, after today, his efficiency in devouring external energy would also reach its peak.
The inherent ability of living metal to devour life energy, combined with the power of the five elements to decompose all things, had finally brought his spear's devouring attribute to perfection.
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