Chapter 196: Starry Sky Cup Begins! Generous Rewards! Deep Universe's

Chapter 196: The Starry Cup Begins! Generous Rewards! The Shock of the Deep Universe!

Within the Iron Fist Tavern, the topic of the "Dao-Enlightenment Stele" came to a temporary close.

The fine wine in the four cups had all been drained.

"With a month left until the official departure for the Starry Cup,"

Long Yu's fingers tapped lightly on the table as he spoke first, "Everyone, what are your plans for this final month?"

"What else could they be?"

Nissan grinned, flashing a row of white teeth, though his eyes were filled with gravity. "Fight like hell, of course! My fourth-level killing technique has only just reached 'Minor Mastery,' and the killing move [Mountain Splitter] I've grasped is still clumsy. I have to polish it this month until it's as smooth as breathing!"

Ning Jingxi nodded tersely, agreeing: "Same. Practice the killing moves diligently."

The three of them were in similar situations—each had only recently managed to break through their respective fourth-level killing techniques to the 'Minor Mastery' stage, mastering their first true fourth-level killing move.

But from just mastering a killing move to being able to use it skillfully, there was still a long road ahead.

This final month was the crucial period for turning theory into combat ability.

Their gazes, as if by unspoken agreement, converged on Qin Feng.

Qin Feng's realm far surpassed theirs, so his plans naturally differed.

"Me?"

Qin Feng pondered for a moment, then stated his plan. "I intend to experiment more with those lower-third-level killing techniques I've already reached the 'Mastery' stage. I'll try to integrate the 'Spiritual Energy-Psychic Energy Aggregation Module' of fourth-level killing techniques into their killing moves."

At these words, Long Yu and the others' pupils all contracted slightly.

This was precisely the cultivation direction after the 'Perfection' stage!

Applying higher-level energy usage patterns downward, allowing lower-level killing moves to unleash terrifying power far beyond their rank!

This was already preparation for battles at a higher level.

"Good! As expected of you!"

Nissan slapped his thigh heavily, his eyes full of admiration. "Then let's each do our best, and meet again in a month!"

"Agreed."

With that simple pact, the four wasted no more time. They rose and took their leave, transforming into four streaks of light that vanished in different directions.

...

Qin Feng did not rent an expensive cultivation chamber again.

The "Void Stone" cultivation chamber he had rented for his breakthrough to the sixth level had a lease of one year.

In the end, he had spent less than two months inside it total, with the rest of the time spent on missions and trials outside.

Thinking of the vast amount of contribution points wasted—enough for an ordinary student to strive for decades—even with Qin Feng's current wealth, he couldn't help but feel a pang of regret.

He figured he had taken a huge loss and resolved that, unless he needed absolute isolation for deep meditation without any disturbance, he would never again rent a Void Stone chamber, that devourer of resources.

Walking through familiar streets, Qin Feng eventually returned to his long-unused student dormitory.

This was the room assigned to him when he first enrolled. Though far less luxurious than a cultivation chamber, it had the advantage of peace and was filled with memories.

The room was spotless; clearly, the intelligent housekeeper had been diligently maintaining it.

Qin Feng leaned his [Raging Waves] spear against the wall and sat down at the chair before the desk. The long-missed sense of relaxation allowed his perpetually tense nerves a moment of respite.

He did not begin cultivation immediately. Instead, he opened his personal terminal and skillfully dialed an encrypted communication.

The light screen flickered, and soon a familiar, slightly aged face appeared on the display.

It was his father, Qin Dahai.

"Ah Feng?"

Seeing Qin Feng's figure, Qin Dahai's face lit up with undisguised joy and pride.

"Dad, how have you been lately?"

Qin Feng looked at his father's noticeably grayer hair and the deeper wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, and his heart tightened.

"Good! Very good!"

Qin Dahai's voice was loud and full of vigor. "Your uncle has also made it—he's a third-level power armor designer now, busy from morning till night.

Your two younger cousins are sensible too, grateful for your help, and often come to see me."

His father rambled on about the family's recent affairs, and Qin Feng listened quietly, nodding in response from time to time.

"By the way, Dad, I have some contribution points here. Let me buy some psychic potions and send them back..."

"No need!"

Before Qin Feng could finish, Qin Dahai interrupted without hesitation.

A bitter smile crossed Qin Dahai's face, and he sighed. "Xiao Feng, I know your intentions, but I'm stuck at a bottleneck now. No matter how good the potion, it's useless."

"My vitality index hasn't budged in a long time. The problem lies in my psychic energy."

Qin Dahai explained, "After merging the apertures, to continue improving vitality, you have to use psychic energy to shake the 'Primordial Aperture' and trigger a psychic energy flush. But my psychic energy strength hasn't reached the threshold of 10 points, so I can't shake it at all.

And as you know, improving psychic energy is the most painstaking, grinding work—there's no shortcut with external help."

"Those so-called psychic-enhancing potions on the market, at best, make you feel like you've had an unprecedented good sleep, leaving you more refreshed.

But as for a fundamental increase in psychic energy strength, it's negligible."

Qin Dahai's eyes held a trace of unwillingness, but more than that, a resigned acceptance.

"So, whether I can break through this shackle in this lifetime and become a true sixth-level 'Soaring Martial Artist' depends entirely on my own fortune.

Don't waste resources on me anymore. Use all your contribution points for your own cultivation! Your path is ten thousand times more important than mine."

Hearing his father's words, Qin Feng fell silent.

He knew his father spoke the truth.

The threshold of psychic energy was the greatest chasm on the road from fifth-level to sixth-level for all martial artists.

Unlike vitality, which could be accumulated through resources and time,

it tested one's talent, will, and opportunity.

And his father no longer possessed the martial will of his youth.

"I understand, Dad."

Qin Feng nodded, not insisting further.

"By the way, Dad, I'm competing in the Starry Cup next month. Will you watch?"

"Mm, watch, of course I'll watch!"

...

Father and son chatted a little longer. Qin Feng noticed that although his father's words remained bold, the weariness between his brows could not be concealed.

Years of hard cultivation without progress consumed the mind far more than physical exhaustion.

The communication ended, and the quiet room fell silent once more.

Qin Feng sat in stillness for a long time, and finally he slowly exhaled a turbid breath.

His eyes regained their calm, and he tapped on a golden icon in his personal terminal, shaped like an arena.

[Imperial Arena]

In the next instant, his consciousness was drawn by an invisible force, instantly leaving his body and entering a virtual world woven from data and streams of light.

What he had to do was, within the Imperial Arena, through countless high-intensity battles, perfectly integrate the first-, second-, and third-level killing techniques he had already mastered with the fourth-level killing method's "Mental-Energy Convergence Module"!

...

A month passed in the blink of an eye.

For Qin Feng, immersed in the Imperial Arena, this month felt like an endless, unceasing day of combat.

Every day, he engaged in over five hundred high-intensity duels.

His opponents included Imperial Knights wielding lightsabers, warriors from the barbaric star domains swinging chain-axes, and scions of noble families skilled in eerie mental arts...

He won, and he lost.

His win rate stubbornly hovered around 55%.

When tired, he would fall into a deep sleep in the virtual rest area, and once his mental energy recovered, he would immediately plunge into the next battle.

Hum—

When Qin Feng's consciousness once again withdrew from that virtual world filled with slaughter and shouts, returning to his body in the dormitory, the sky outside the window was already faintly bright.

He slowly opened his eyes, and within them, it seemed as if the phantoms of countless battles flickered into being and faded away.

After this month of arduous training, his killing technique had advanced remarkably.

He called up his personal panel.

[Killing Technique: Heavy Spear (Level 4)]

[Realm: Perfection]

[Proficiency: 1512/100000]

From "Perfection" to "Mastery Realm," a full one hundred thousand proficiency points were needed.

This was an immense chasm; even with his insane training intensity, he had only accumulated a little over fifteen hundred points.

But this month, his greatest gain was not the proficiency in Heavy Spear.

Rather, it was that he had successfully, albeit somewhat stiffly yet effectively, grafted all the "Mastery Realm" killing techniques he had previously mastered—[Flowing Light Chasing Shadows], [Wind Thunder Chasing Shadows], [Dragon's Hiding], [Fierce Owl Chasing Shadows]... and so on—onto the fourth-level killing method's "Mental-Energy Convergence Module"!

These low-level techniques, which he had nearly discarded, were now reborn, transformed!

Their power had multiplied geometrically!

Especially his strongest technique, realized through enlightenment—[Qian Yuan]!

This fist technique, which fused his lifelong martial will, was already far more exquisite than others.

After this month of refinement, Qin Feng could even construct three different "Mental-Energy Convergence Modules" simultaneously in the instant of launching an attack!

One mind, three uses!

Though still far from the "one mind, ten uses" of fifth-level killing methods, this had undoubtedly brought him to the threshold of higher-level techniques!

Now, the power of [Qian Yuan] had increased dozens of times over!

"And the life force index..."

Feeling the surging vitality, Qin Feng couldn't help but sigh.

"My physical talent and 'Supreme Yuan Cavity' are truly terrifying."

"The so-called 'First Great Limit' simply does not exist for me."

He could clearly sense that the invisible shackle that blocked ordinary martial artists at the eighteen-thousand-point bottleneck was, for him, as thin as a cicada's wing.

If he wished, he didn't even need to deliberately seclude himself to break through; he could casually strike his Yuan Cavity with his mental energy during daily training, triggering a surge of spiritual power, and easily shatter it.

No wonder it was said that martial artists who forged a "Supreme Yuan Cavity" could directly advance to the stellar-level life form.

It turned out that the so-called "Four Great Limits" were truly meaningless for the "Supreme Yuan Cavity."

"These centuries of bitter training were worth it."

A genuine smile appeared on Qin Feng's face.

"Hammer, what time is it now?"

"Report, Master. There are still twenty-three hours until the assembly time for the Star Cup participating teams."

"Leaving tomorrow?"

Qin Feng nodded and stood up from the chair.

He did not engage in any further training. Instead, he pulled the blackout curtains in the dormitory and lay directly on the bed.

He would use this final time to sleep soundly, sweeping away all the mental fatigue accumulated over the past month in the Imperial Arena.

This sleep was profoundly deep.

No chaotic dreams, no phantoms of slaughter. His sea of consciousness was like an ancient, windless deep pool, slowly recovering the energy crazily expended over the past month in absolute stillness.

When he opened his eyes again, the sky outside was still dim, but his spirit had been restored to unprecedented fullness and clarity.

He leaped up from the bed, and all the joints in his body emitted a series of crisp cracks. A vast sense of power filled his limbs and bones.

He glanced at the time; less than an hour remained until the assembly.

Qin Feng wasted no more time. He quickly packed his few belongings, mainly replenishing some spare spiritual energy potions and high-energy compressed food into his subspace storage unit.

After finishing, he took one last look around the dormitory that had carried his early memories of enrollment, then turned and strode out with long, vigorous steps.

...

Canaan Main Transport Platform, Area A129.

When Qin Feng arrived, even though he had mentally prepared himself, he was still deeply shocked by the sight before him.

A sea of people.

That was the only word that came to his mind.

Centered on Area A129, the vast square stretching tens of kilometers was densely packed with Canaan students gathering.

Looking out, it was a dark, endless mass, with no end in sight. Various auras intermingled, rising to the sky, even causing slight distortions in the space above.

Qin Feng clearly remembered that when he participated in the entrance examination back then, the similarly enormous square had gathered over a million freshmen from dozens of star systems.

That scene had already been magnificent.

But compared to what he saw now, that entrance examination seemed like a small gathering.

At this moment, the number of people in this square far exceeded a million, and students were still converging from all directions.

At the forefront of the square was docked a cosmic warship whose grandeur defied description.

It was so huge.

So huge that it seemed like a floating mountain range of steel, stretching tens of kilometers in length and towering into the clouds. The cold, dark-silver alloy armor of its hull reflected a chilling gleam under the light of the artificial sun.

Countless massive spirit-energy cannon muzzles and missile launch arrays, like the silent eyes of colossal beasts, studded the hull, exuding a terrifying pressure cold enough to freeze the soul.

Merely anchored there in stillness, the overwhelming sense of civilization-destroying power it radiated made every proud celestial chosen one standing on the plaza feel a profound insignificance deep within their souls.

“This is… this is a strategic transport ship! Look at the hull number—it’s the seventh vessel of the ‘Sword of Justice’ series!”

“This is no longer within the category of ‘transport ship’… Just look at the caliber of those main cannons! The ‘Solar Storm’-class spirit-energy main cannon it’s equipped with, once it fires, could annihilate an entire star system in an instant! … Which mentor could have commissioned this?”

“The overall leader for this expedition to the competition zone is Mentor Yu Han. This warship is almost certainly Mentor Yu Han’s personal vessel.”

“Hiss—Mentor Yu Han’s? I only knew his strength was unfathomable, but I never imagined his background was this terrifying! A strategic-grade warship of this level—even within the Ultramarines Chapter, it would be incredibly hard to acquire, wouldn’t it?”

“Don’t you know? Before joining Canaan, Mentor Yu Han served in an elite company of the Ultramarines Chapter, and only retired later due to some unknown reasons.”

“…”

The students lowered their voices, murmuring among the crowd, their gazes fixed on the colossal warship, filled with shock, awe, and fervor.

Just then, everyone’s personal terminal simultaneously received a pinned message from the official Canaan Star Martial University.

【Attention all participating students: Please maintain order and board the ship in batches according to your registered competition zones.

After boarding, follow the intelligent guidance to proceed to your designated compartments.

Loud noise and private fights are strictly prohibited on board; violators will be directly disqualified.】

With the message’s release, dozens of massive boarding passages opened beneath the giant warship.

The crowd began to slowly shuffle forward.

Qin Feng quickly spotted Long Yu, Nissan, and Ning Jing among the crowded throng, who had also come to assemble.

The four reunited and, with the flow of people, stepped step by step toward the boarding passage that yawned like the maw of a giant beast.

It was worth noting that even though Qin Feng had become something of a celebrity on the school’s private forum, among the millions of students in this tide, very few actually recognized him.

He was like a single drop of water, silently merging into the vast ocean called “Canaan,” without stirring the slightest ripple.

“Damn it!”

Nissan, squeezed by an unfamiliar, bear-like senior student ahead, grimaced as he struggled to keep his balance, then couldn’t help but laugh and complain, “At least we’ve got the famous ‘Qin Beast’ sitting right here in our group—why isn’t anyone making way for us out of respect? Where’s the dignity?!”

Qin Feng chuckled at this and said, “Actually, even if you were the top student in the whole school, not that many people would know you, let alone someone like me, who’s still far from that.”

He looked at the unfamiliar yet vibrant young faces around him and remarked with feeling, “Everyone’s social circle is extremely limited.

Especially in a place like Canaan, where everyone’s time is incredibly precious—either in secluded cultivation or out on missions. Who has the leisure to pay attention to people and matters unrelated to them?”

“Take me, for example.”

Qin Feng’s gaze grew distant. “It’s been over seventy years since I enrolled.

But in this vast campus, the people I can recognize and accurately name probably don’t exceed a thousand.

And most of them were just temporary teammates I met by chance during missions.”

Only knowing a thousand people—yet Canaan Star Martial University admits around six hundred thousand new students every year! The peak student population can reach tens of billions.

Everyone is like an NPC in each other’s world.

“Haha, when you put it that way, it’s really true!”

Long Yu laughed in agreement. “I’ve been enrolled for two hundred years, and I don’t have many friends on the warp network either. Some are even from high school, but I’ve almost completely forgotten what those high school classmates look like now.

Who remembers anyone… after all, it’s been nearly two hundred years.”

Even Nissan’s rugged face showed a rare trace of nostalgia and melancholy. “Yeah… two hundred years—time changes everything.”

Ning Jing, who had been silent, finally spoke slowly: “That’s just how life is.”

The four chatted idly as they moved forward with the crowd.

When they finally stepped inside the interstellar-class warship, they were all awed by the grandeur and precision of its interior.

It didn’t feel like the inside of a ship at all, but rather a steel city lifted into the sky.

Guided by the intelligent system, they passed through countless wide corridors and eventually found their own cabins.

These were rooms like independent martial arts training halls—small in space but fully equipped with various cultivation facilities.

Each of them took a seat, and a wave of indescribable emotion surged in their hearts.

“In a few hundred years,”

Long Yu’s voice carried a hint of ethereality, “when those relatives and friends who share our blood gradually fade away in the river of time, perhaps the only meaning left for us will be to cultivate martial arts.”

Time slowly passed in the long wait.

A full hour later, when the last participating student stepped into the boarding passage, the dozens of massive hatches began to close slowly, emitting a dull, heavy metallic locking sound.

Then, a very slight, almost imperceptible vibration ran through the entire giant ship.

Qin Feng looked out through the cabin’s porthole.

The Canaan Star Martial University campus began to recede slowly.

The warship had started.

Its launch was smooth, without any jolt or lag, as if gliding on the most frictionless ice.

But its speed increased at an unimaginable, exponential rate!

In the blink of an eye, the vast first campus of Canaan Star Martial University had shrunk to a blurry outline.

Next came the magnificent Canaan Tower, which seemed to connect heaven and earth, spanning the entire galaxy.

This miraculous structure, whose top could never be seen from the ground, now rapidly diminished before the warship’s terrifying acceleration.

The tower, once stretching endlessly, receded and compressed in the field of vision, quickly turning from a sky-piercing pillar into an insignificant speck of light.

Finally, even that speck of light merged completely into the deep, brilliant starry backdrop behind them, becoming a faint pixel barely discernible with careful searching.

The Canaan galaxy was left far behind.

What followed was endless, cold darkness.

Looking out through the porthole, everything vanished.

No planets, no nebulae, not even light.

Only a pure, soul-devouring, heart-stopping deep darkness.

Occasionally, extremely distant points of light flashed by, but they were so small and far away that they only emphasized the emptiness and dead silence of the surrounding cosmos.

“Tsk tsk… I never thought the true deep space of the universe would look like this.”

Nissan pressed his face against the cold porthole, staring at the monotonous, despair-inducing dark scene, and couldn’t help but sigh: “I thought it would be bustling.

After all, just in our star sector alone, there are over a hundred million galaxies, and any random galaxy might contain over a hundred million life-bearing planets and educational planets… I imagined it would be brightly lit, with spaceships everywhere.”

“No, you’ve misunderstood.”

Long Yu, sitting across from him, smiled and shook his head, explaining:

“On a large-scale macroscopic view, the universe is indeed immensely prosperous. Countless civilizations, countless races, like grains of sand in the Ganges, adorn the dark curtain.”

“But,”

Long Yu’s tone shifted, becoming serious, “from the perspective of an individual, especially a martial artist below the planetary level, the universe is cold, dark, and filled with endless distances.”

“Without the Empire’s warp transit network covering the entire human domain, a conventional spaceship, even if it could reach sublight speed, would take decades or even centuries just to fly out of its own star system. Let alone interstellar travel.”

A trace of emotion flickered in Long Yu's eyes. "For those nascent civilizations just born on the empire's frontiers, they might need millions of years of independent development, exhausting the wisdom and resources of their entire civilization, just to build the first spaceship capable of leaving their home star system. Distance is the most cruel and insurmountable law in the universe."

"And this warship of Mentor Yu Han that we're riding now—it's no longer actually sailing through the physical universe." Long Yu pointed at the pure darkness outside the window. "Its true speed has already far exceeded the speed of light. This is subspace navigation technology. You can see the cosmic scenery, but in reality, we are at the boundary between subspace and the material universe."

Nissan listened with a mix of understanding and confusion, nodding.

Ning Jing added, his voice filled with deep reverence: "The vast subspace corresponding to the entire territory of the Emperor's human empire was forcibly seized from the prying eyes of countless extradimensional evil gods. And with His own might, He firmly holds it in human hands, making it a 'highway' we can safely traverse... This is the Emperor's great achievement."

"I see..." Nissan suddenly understood. Then, as if struck by a thought, he asked curiously, "What about us martial artists? Can we, as martial artists, surpass the speed of light on our own?"

"Yes." Long Yu gave an affirmative answer. Clearly, he knew far more about these high-level martial secrets than the others.

"I once heard my father mention it. When a martial artist's strength breaks through the planetary level, stellar level, galactic level, and finally reaches the 'black hole level,' a fundamental life transition occurs. He will no longer be a purely material life form and can condense his own 'subspace projection' within subspace."

"At that realm, the martial artist can travel between stars in the physical universe at speeds exceeding light. Even beyond the protection of the empire's territory, in the chaotic 'Battlefield of Ten Thousand Races,' they can rely on their own power to forcibly tear the barrier between reality and subspace, performing short-distance subspace teleportation without relying on the transmission network!"

Qin Feng listened quietly, not interrupting. But everything Long Yu described seemed to open a door to a new world before his eyes, filling him with endless curiosity and longing for the future martial realms. Black hole level... subspace projection... faster than light... These distant and alluring words took root in his heart like seeds.

"Actually," Long Yu smiled, summing up, "the first nine levels of our martial path, from level one to level nine, can all be considered the same major stage. The core of this stage is to continuously build foundations and accumulate the 'quantity' of life force."

"True martial arts can be said to truly begin only from the tenth level, the 'planetary level.' From that moment on, we start to truly touch the 'qualitative' transformation."

"And the first and most important watershed after the planetary level is what I just mentioned—the 'black hole level.'"

"What about after the black hole level?" Nissan pressed on like a curious child. "What realm lies beyond the black hole level?"

This time, Long Yu shook his head with a smile. "After the black hole level... to be honest, I don't know either." A hint of helplessness and yearning appeared on his face. "That is already the existence of the empire's most elite, a matter of secrecy. We ordinary students can only hear scattered, unverifiable titles from some unofficial legends."

"But one thing is certain." Long Yu's gaze became extremely firm. "If you and I can successfully join the Ultramarines Chapter in the future, the chapter will naturally guide us on the subsequent path of cultivation. But if we remain idle martial artists, not joining any official imperial chapter, then the 'black hole level' is probably the highest ceiling most martial artists can ever touch in their lifetimes."

"..."

The group fell into silence for a moment, each digesting the shock of this information and pondering their own future paths.

Just then, the warship's speed began to slow. The eternal darkness and cold outside the window gradually dissipated, replaced by a brilliant, vibrant starlight. They had arrived at their destination.

An enormous, magnificent blue-green giant planet slowly came into view. And in synchronous orbit around that giant planet, a colossal space fortress—more than ten times larger than the orbital fortress of "Meat Grinder-III," stretching across the cosmos like a star ring—hung silently. Countless spaceships and transports of all kinds, like a swarm of bees returning to the hive, converged from all directions, coming and going to and from that massive fortress. Numerous martial artists, like specks of light, shuttled among these ships, forming a breathtaking, prosperous interstellar tableau.

"Here..." Nissan's eyes widened, stunned speechless by the sight.

"Here is our destination," Long Yu said, his voice tinged with barely contained excitement. "The main arena of the 'Starry Cup' Martial Arts Tournament—Planet Arena 1."

At that moment, Qin Feng keenly sensed a powerful, unfathomably deep spiritual fluctuation sweep from the warship's bridge, briefly exchanging a massive amount of data with a certain area of the space fortress. It was the aura of Mentor Yu Han. Clearly, their mentor had personally stepped forward to handle the final registration procedures for the millions of Canaan Star Martial University contestants.

Sure enough, within minutes, the personal terminals of all Canaan students simultaneously received a group private message from Mentor Yu Han, as concise as ever: [Registration complete. All contestants, immediately leave this ship and transfer to the planetary passenger ships docked at the external port. Choose the corresponding preliminary arena according to your registered competition zone. The preliminaries are about to begin.]

With the command issued, the entire silent giant ship instantly came alive. Millions of students streamed out of their cabins, merging into the wide internal corridors, forming massive currents of people flowing orderly toward the designated exits. Qin Feng and his three companions were swept along in the crowd.

Stepping onto the cold alloy deck of the space fortress, an even grander, more bustling atmosphere washed over them. Ships of various designs, emblazoned with different academy insignias, filled every corner of the visible port. Young geniuses from different star systems, wearing combat suits of various styles, jostled shoulder to shoulder, their expressions either excited or confident. This was a true gathering of prodigies.

Guided by port staff, they soon found rows of enormous planetary passenger ships, resembling aerial trains. These ships were streamlined, their surfaces covered with energy shields, specially designed for mass transport between the space fortress and the planetary arena below—essentially like public transportation in a city.

Without hesitation, Qin Feng and the others boarded one of the ships marked [Level Six Martial Artist Arena]. Once inside, even the seasoned group was awed by the sheer scale of the interior. It was less like a "bus" and more like a moving giant plaza, with layered seating and standing areas capable of accommodating over a million passengers at once.

They followed the crowd and found a relatively open spot inside. With a steady hum of energy, the passenger ship lifted off, detached from the space fortress, and streaked toward the massive blue-green planet below.

In just a few minutes, the ship came to a smooth stop at its destination. When the hatch opened and everyone stepped out, a magnificent, boundless plaza unfolded before their eyes. The plaza was paved with pure white, unknown material, smooth as a mirror, stretching endlessly into the distance.

In the sky, several artificial suns hung, emitting a soft radiance that bathed the entire plaza in light as bright as day.

Around the plaza, colossal energy pillars soared into the clouds, with vast streams of data flowing across their surfaces—clearly the control hubs of the entire arena.

This was the venue for the sixth-level martial artist preliminaries.

Just as the crowd was stunned by the sight before them, a dignified, neutral, emotionless electronic synthesized voice rang out across the plaza, clearly reaching every ear.

"Welcome to the 'Starry Cup' Martial Arts Tournament, Sector Six, Sixth-Level Martial Artist Preliminary Arena."

"All contestants, please proceed one by one through the qualification verification gates ahead, and actively display your 'Imperial Arena' rank information, as well as your real-time life force index."

"Upon successful verification, you may enter the exclusive space for the preliminaries."

Following the voice's guidance, thousands of arches formed from light materialized ahead in the plaza.

The voice paused, then began announcing the specific rules of this tournament.

"The competition for the sixth-level martial artist sector consists of six stages: the preliminaries, the official competition, the top 100,000 competition, the top 10,000 competition, the top 100 competition, and the final championship."

"Stage One: Preliminaries.

All contestants will enter an independent virtual space to face a fixed-strength virtual puppet generated by the tournament system.

This puppet's life force index is locked at 10,000 points, and its fourth-level killing technique is at the 'Minor Success' realm.

Defeating this virtual puppet within the allotted time will allow passage through the preliminaries and qualification for the next round, the 'Official Competition.'"

"Stage Two: Official Competition.

All contestants who pass the preliminaries will enter a single, massive open battlefield simulating various complex terrains for a free-for-all melee.

In this melee, those who persist until the total number of remaining contestants is the top 100,000 will automatically advance."

"All contestants who successfully advance to the top 100,000 will receive the tournament's basic reward: one month of meditation time at the 'Enlightenment Stele.'

Additionally, based on individual performance in the melee, they will receive varying amounts of Imperial Contribution Points."

"For the subsequent top 10,000, top 100, and final championship competitions, the rewards will increase geometrically on top of the basic rewards."

As the rules were announced, the breathing of millions of young prodigies in the plaza grew heavy.

The Enlightenment Stele!

One month!

Just by breaking through the preliminaries and the official competition to become one of the top 100,000, they could obtain such a precious reward!

For the vast majority of contestants, the top 10,000, top 100, or even the final championship were too distant, like stars in the sky.

But the "top 100,000" was a seemingly attainable goal, filled with deadly allure!

In an instant, everyone's expression changed.

As they looked at the other contestants around them, who were once just strangers, their gazes now carried a hint of vigilance and rivalry.

Because they knew that in the upcoming official competition, every person here would be a potential enemy on their path to advancement!

Qin Feng and his three companions exchanged glances, each seeing a trace of solemnity in the others' eyes.

"Let's go. First, get through the preliminaries."

Long Yu said in a deep voice.

Without further hesitation, the four of them moved with the surging crowd toward the hundreds of thousands of "qualification verification gates" formed from light ahead.

Qin Feng casually chose an arch and stepped through.

The moment he passed through the light gate, he felt as if he had entered an independent small space.

All around was pure white, with no reference points. A gentle electronic voice sounded in his ear:

[Please display your Imperial Arena rank and open real-time life force index monitoring.]

Qin Feng focused his mind and called up his Imperial Arena panel.

[ID: Qin Feng]

[Current Rank: Fourth Rank]

[Current Points: 98]

At the same time, he released the concealment on his life force index.

[Real-time Life Force Index: 18000.0]

[Verification Passed.]

[Contestant: Qin Feng. Rank meets requirements. Life force index meets the standard for the sixth-level martial artist sector.]

[Generating your preliminary virtual space... Generation complete.]

The pure white world before him instantly transformed into a standard circular alloy arena, about one kilometer in diameter.

At the other end of the arena, a stream of data coalesced out of thin air, rapidly forming a humanoid creature of similar height to Qin Feng, with a blurred face and holding a standard alloy long spear.

It was the examiner of the preliminaries—the virtual puppet.

[Preliminary assessment, begin.]

The moment the system prompt sounded, the puppet moved.

Its movements were as standard as a textbook—steady footwork, a flick of the long spear, and a standard fourth-level spear technique killing move thrust straight at Qin Feng's face.

At the spear tip, spiritual energy gathered, bringing a sharp sound of piercing air.

Life force index 10,000 points, fourth-level killing technique at 'Minor Success.'

For the vast majority of contestants who had just advanced to the sixth level and whose killing techniques were still hovering at the 'Beginner' stage, this was indeed a considerable challenge.

But for Qin Feng...

He didn't even draw his [Raging Waves] long spear.

Facing that powerful thrust, he calmly raised his right hand.

Just as the spear tip was about to strike, his figure swayed slightly, and at an incredible angle, he sidestepped the spear's edge. At the same time, his right hand's five fingers spread open like an iron clamp, precisely and accurately grabbing the rapidly thrusting spear shaft!

Buzz—!

The virtual puppet's strike, containing 10,000 points of life force, was effortlessly stopped by Qin Feng with one hand. The spear shaft trembled violently in his palm but could not advance a single inch further!

The next moment, Qin Feng's fingers suddenly exerted force!

Crack!

The sturdy spear shaft, made of high-strength alloy and capable of withstanding tens of thousands of points of force, was twisted and deformed in his bare hand, emitting a grating metallic groan!

And Qin Feng had already closed in.

He condensed his pure physical strength—comparable to that of an "embryonic-stage star beast"—into his right fist and threw a punch!

[Shattered Jade]!

Bang!

The fist landed solidly on the virtual puppet's chest.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a muffled, deep sound, like striking a worn-out cowhide drum.

The virtual avatar’s data-formed body, as if struck head-on by an invisible mountain, instantly caved inward, twisted, and then exploded into a sky full of the most primal data particles.

[Target defeated.]

[Congratulations, you have passed the preliminaries.]

[You have qualified for the ‘official competition.’ Transferring you to the official competition waiting space…]

The cold electronic voice sounded again, and the arena world before him rapidly dissolved, replaced by a vast, seemingly boundless plain.

The sky above was a murky gray, while the ground was cracked, dark red earth.

This was the waiting space for the official competition.

Qin Feng looked around and saw that on this enormous plain, scattered here and there, stood some contestants who had passed the preliminaries.

There were many of them—as far as the eye could see, perhaps millions—and they seemed to have been here for a long time.

Some sat cross-legged in meditation, others practiced killing techniques.

Clearly, the million people on the passenger ship they had just taken were not all the participants.

This was only the beginning.

Sure enough, in the time that followed, new figures kept teleporting into this space.

Flash after flash of white light, and one after another, sixth-level martial artists with formidable auras appeared in every corner of the plain.

The numbers grew at a terrifying rate.

Soon, Long Yu, Nissan, and Ning Jing also teleported in one after another, reuniting with Qin Feng.

They had passed the preliminaries just as easily.

“More and more people.”

Nissan clicked his tongue as he watched the ever-increasing contestants.

“This is only the start.”

Long Yu’s expression was extremely grave. “‘Our star sector governs billions of galaxies. And this Star Cup is a tournament jointly hosted by dozens of surrounding star sectors. Just think—how many top-tier martial arts universities like our Canaan will send students? And how many from the top hundred martial academies?”

No one could calculate that number precisely.

But one thing was certain: the total number of sixth-level martial artists gathered here would reach a staggering, astronomical figure!

Hundreds of millions? Billions? Even more!

Tens of billions of geniuses of the same rank, on this predetermined battlefield, engaging in the most brutal, no-holds-barred battle royale!

Severe injury would cause the system to judge them as “eliminated” and automatically teleport them out.

Only the top hundred thousand who survived would earn the right to continue the competition!

“Hiss…”

Even Qin Feng, after grasping the horror of it all, couldn’t help but draw a sharp breath.

This Star Cup had only just begun, yet its stakes and brutality were already this high!

“This is no ‘official competition’…”

Nissan looked at the unfamiliar opponents around him, each with different expressions and powerful auras, and murmured, “Rather, the stage before the top hundred thousand is the true ‘open selection’…”

“Exactly.”

Qin Feng nodded in agreement. “Without real skill, you probably can’t even earn the right to truly step onto the Star Cup stage.”

(End of this chapter)