Every battle has a winner and a loser.
The Golden-Haired Monkey's Eighth Grade strength was indeed formidable.
Even nearly a hundred Green Locusts had only managed to inflict a few severe wounds on it.
The turning point came when a Seventh Grade Green Locust King launched a sneak attack, using its powerful mouthparts to bite off the monkey's left arm.
Although it had killed the Green Locust King in retaliation and slaughtered all the remaining Green Locusts, its grievous injuries had left it incredibly weak.
The Golden-Haired Monkey was intelligent, but it did not know how to staunch the bleeding. It could only lean helplessly against a peach tree, gasping heavily as it waited for death to arrive.
Death had not yet arrived, but the god of blades had!
An Eighth Grade existence was powerful, but an Eighth Grade creature missing an arm and clinging to its last breath posed no threat at all.
Experience packages littered the ground, presenting an immense temptation for Lu Qing.
What lucky Mantis could refuse experience packages scattered everywhere?He just had to dig in!
After emerging, Lu Qing did not approach the Eighth Grade Golden-Haired Monkey.
Although it was heavily injured and clinging to its last breath, a desperate deathblow would still be more than enough to make him suffer!
It was much safer to take care of the Green Locust corpses on the periphery first.
The Peach Woods housed many strange creatures, and naturally, Lu Qing was not the only one to notice such a massive commotion.
Shortly after he emerged, a Blade Swallow descended from the sky.
The Blade Swallow had tail feathers like actual blades. It was about half a meter long and possessed Seventh Grade strength.
Since they were both at the Seventh Grade, Lu Qing did not bother driving it away. Instead, he minded his own business and started gathering experience.
He never felt full, so naturally, he ate incredibly fast.
The Blade Swallow elegantly pecked at a Green Locust leg. When it raised its head, it realized that nearly half of the scattered Green Locust corpses were simply gone.
The Blade Swallow felt a bit annoyed. It had barely taken a few bites out of one leg, yet he had already polished off over a dozen whole locusts?
"Have you never eaten before? Do you know nothing of elegance?"
Elegance my ass!
This was a competition, a scramble for loot. Who cared about elegance?
"You just take your time being elegant." Even as he replied, Lu Qing shoved an entire Green Locust leg into his mouth.
The Blade Swallow was stunned by the sight.
Wait, a whole leg in one bite...
...
A few Red-Footed Lizards also wanted to come over and get a share of the spoils.
However, fearing the strength of Lu Qing and the Blade Swallow, they did not dare approach. They could only wait to scavenge whatever was left over after those two finished.
To their surprise, however, that Mantis had an unimaginably massive appetite.
In just a short time, he had already wiped out more than half of the Green Locusts.
The Red-Footed Lizards were shocked.
Was it really this hard to scavenge a single bite of food these days?
With so many Green Locust corpses around, how could a single Mantis have such a huge stomach...
"Don't worry, there are still plenty left..."
A small lizard scrambled forward, its tail swaying. "How can we not worry, bro? In just the time it took you to speak, that Mantis swallowed another whole bug..."
"Is its stomach a bottomless pit? It never gets full!"
The largest lizard remained composed. "Stay calm. He's too strong. If we rush out recklessly, we might just become a side dish to cleanse his palate!"
...
Lu Qing farmed with surging enthusiasm, completely clearing the battlefield.
Meanwhile, the Blade Swallow hadn't even finished eating a single locust.
It was a good thing the Blade Swallow's appetite wasn't very big, otherwise it definitely would have jumped up and started cursing.
Lu Qing glanced at his status panel.
His Experience Value had already reached 457/500.
He only needed forty-three more points!
He shifted his gaze to the corpse of the Seventh Grade Green Locust King!
Only existences of the same grade could provide more experience.
This Green Locust King should easily be able to provide those forty-three experience points!
However... it was too close to the Golden-Haired Monkey leaning against the large tree.
Lu Qing looked at the Golden-Haired Monkey and noticed that it had already closed its eyes.
Was it dead?
Or had it simply passed out from massive blood loss?
Or was it faking it?
Lu Qing advanced a few paces, his eyes locked firmly on the Golden-Haired Monkey.
He walked forward cautiously, extending a Blade Leg to hook the Seventh Grade Green Locust King's corpse.
Only when he saw the Golden-Haired Monkey give no reaction did he pull the prey over.
Fearing that the Golden-Haired Monkey might suddenly spring up, he dragged the Green Locust King's corpse dozens of meters away before preparing to eat it.
A Seventh Grade Green Locust King!
Everyone knew it was prime meat, and the Blade Swallow was naturally no exception.
It drew a little closer. "I say, brother, could you spare a leg?"
Lu Qing shot it a look of disdain.
You didn't dare approach the Golden-Haired Monkey, but now that I've dragged the Green Locust King out, you want a share?
As if things were that easy!
"The leg is right here. Nice and meaty. Come over and get it."
The Blade Swallow possessed some measure of intelligence.
It had barely hopped a single step forward when it noticed those two large Blade Legs.
They had never met, and they were from completely different species. If it went over and caught a blade to the face, wouldn't the loss outweigh the gain?
"Toss it over."
Lu Qing chuckled.
This little guy was quite vigilant.
"If you don't dare come over, then just sit there and watch. Or..."
Lu Qing pointed his Blade Leg toward the Golden-Haired Monkey. "...there's an Eighth Grade Golden-Haired Monkey over there. Go eat that instead. It's much better meat!"
Everyone knew that Eighth Grade creatures contained much denser energy, and eating them provided massive benefits for leveling up.
However, it still didn't dare.
If the monkey wasn't actually dead, the one dying next would be itself!
The Blade Swallow grew annoyed.
"Why don't you go eat the Eighth Grade Golden-Haired Monkey! You've eaten so many Green Locusts, yet you won't even give me one of the Green Locust King's legs. Aren't you being far too stingy!"
Great, another moral guilt trip!
I'm a fucking Mantis now. Does this crap even work on me?
"If you want leg meat, come get it, otherwise piss off! In a little while, you might not be able to leave even if you want to!"
The Blade Swallow scoffed coldly.
If you won't share, fine, but why blow so much hot air!
Do you really think a mere Mantis can stop me?
If I wasn't at a disadvantage in a head-on fight, would I even ask? I would have just snatched it directly!
Do you really think my bladed tail is just for show?
The Blade Swallow cursed a few times in its heart, then walked toward the final Green Locust corpse.
I'll bear with it for now. I'll beat him up once I'm full!
The Blade Swallow snorted coldly and began to peck at its food methodically once more.
...
The four lizards were thoroughly disappointed.
Seriously? So many Green Locusts, and he didn't leave a single one?
How the hell did your one-meter body fit nearly a hundred Green Locusts?
This made no sense at all!
"Where did this Mantis spring from? How does it have such a massive appetite!"
"Stop looking. If we keep watching, it'll get dark. Let's just catch a few Peach Worms to fill our stomachs!"
"I'm so sick of Peach Worms I could puke..."
"Then don't eat."
The Red-Footed Lizards left, filled with reluctance and resentment.
Most of the other animals that had been preparing to scavenge also dispersed in disappointment.
Only a few stayed to watch, seemingly hoping to get a bite of the Golden-Haired Monkey.
...
Lu Qing began devouring the Seventh Grade Green Locust King.
'Flesh Value +0.2 gained.'
'Flesh Value +0.2 gained.'
As expected, prey of the same grade provided much more experience.
It looked like there would be no problem leveling up once he finished eating this Green Locust King!
Lu Qing gorged himself, and soon enough, he had devoured the entire Green Locust King.
'Energy accumulation complete. Upgrade?'
'Yes!'
The energy stockpiled by the System began washing through Lu Qing's body.
The surging energy was warm and comfortable.
In just a few imperceptible seconds, the breakthrough was complete.
When Lu Qing regained his senses, the first thing he noticed was that the black color of his Blade Legs had grown even darker, and fine silver lines had appeared along both sides of the blades.
His body had rapidly surged to one and a half meters in length.
The biggest change was in his four secondary legs.
Before, his secondary legs had hardly changed at all, but after this grade upgrade, the barbs on them had become incredibly sharp, resembling small, curved sabers.
With this reinforcement, his secondary legs could also be used as hidden weapons.
He opened his status panel.