Chapter 217: Rebirth, Seven Treasures Ancient Tree! Beheading Bator Again! King-Class Inheritance

Chapter 217: Rebirth, the Seven Treasures Ancient Tree! Slaying Barto Again! The Power of the King's Legacy!

The wait was long and agonizing.

Another ten-odd days passed, and the depths of this once relatively spacious asteroid belt had become overcrowded.

When Qin Feng and Huo Yuan first arrived, there were barely a hundred martial artists here.

Now, the number of planetary-level prodigies gathered here had surged to a terrifying figure—over fifty thousand!

More than fifty thousand top-tier geniuses from every corner of the 117th Star Domain, like a school of sharks drawn to the scent of blood, had surrounded the void where the three Heaven-Reaching Vines stood, leaving no gap.

The atmosphere had grown oppressively tense.

Among this massive crowd of over fifty thousand, the vast majority were merely ordinary geniuses lured by the rumor of "direct access to the Lake Realm." But among them were also a few presences of extraordinary power.

They stood out like cranes among chickens; merely floating there in stillness, they naturally created a vacuum zone where no one dared approach.

Even Qin Feng, confident as he was, felt a hint of gravity when he sensed those few auras.

He even had an intuition that if it came to a life-or-death struggle, he might not be able to decisively defeat them.

"The Limit Warrior Battle Group has a king-level killing technique inheritance; other top battle groups naturally have theirs too."

Qin Feng understood in his heart.

His gaze locked onto one of them.

It was a martial artist clad in a gray wolf pelt and a ferocious red-and-black power armor.

He wielded no conventional weapon; instead, on his hands, he wore a pair of enormous power claws shimmering with a ghostly blue energy light. He floated silently atop a meteorite, eyes closed in meditation, yet the aura emanating from him—like that of a lone wolf, filled with deadly menace—sent a shiver through Qin Feng.

"That's a prodigy from the 'Shadow Moon Gray Wolf' battle group, named Wolf Seven."

Huo Yuan's voice sounded in Qin Feng's ear at just the right moment, thick with caution. "They say he too has comprehended the legacy of some king-level powerhouse. This man is extremely strong, ruthless, and is recognized as one of the top predators in our area."

Qin Feng nodded slightly, imprinting the name "Wolf Seven" and his distinctive image deep in his mind.

This was an opponent worthy of his full effort.

Time trickled away, second by second, amid this tense standoff.

Finally, when the last wisp of purple radiance surged from the depths of the Heaven-Reaching Vine's tendrils and converged to its peak—a sudden change occurred!

The three giant vines, each a light-year long, burst forth with an unprecedented, dazzling purple-red glow!

So brilliant was the light that it turned this dark cosmos into a magnificent purple ocean!

The Heaven-Reaching Vines had finally borne fruit!

One, two, three...

Fist-sized fruits, crystal clear, as if carved from the finest purple-red crystal, slowly emerged from the vine nodes, detached, and floated silently in the deep void of space.

If left undisturbed, these fruits, brimming with immense life and spiritual energy, would drift into the boundless distance under spatial fluctuations.

Until one day, they would take root in some void, absorb the primal spiritual energy of the universe, and grow anew into Heaven-Reaching Vines.

But now, there were far too many martial artists coveting them!

The moment the first fruit appeared, the taut string in this void snapped abruptly!

"Attack!"

Someone let out a hysterical roar.

The next instant, over fifty thousand planetary-level prodigies, like sharks catching the scent of blood, erupted simultaneously!

Martial artists of all kinds unleashed their most powerful forms.

The light of spiritual energy, like a supernova explosion, instantly illuminated this dark starry sky!

The entire universe seemed to become a giant meat grinder.

Blade light converged into a dazzling river spanning the heavens!

Sword qi tore through the void, leaving behind pitch-black cracks!

Fist imprints, like meteorites, shattered one massive asteroid after another!

Light and shadow shifted; energy surged.

One after another, talented martial artists of considerable strength, before they could even approach the fruits, were torn apart in the chaotic torrent of energy, reduced to cold corpses.

Some martial artists, relying on bizarre movement techniques, managed to snatch a fruit.

But before they could warm it in their hands, several fatal attacks struck from all directions simultaneously, blasting both them and the fruit into cosmic dust.

Of course, there were true powerhouses who displayed absolute dominance amid the chaos.

They were like tigers among sheep; every move they made was accompanied by the withering of life.

They seized fruits, then, with even more ferocious momentum, relentlessly slaughtered any who dared covet them.

Qin Feng and Huo Yuan joined this bloody battlefield at the first moment.

Back to back, they formed a balanced offensive-defensive pair, charging madly toward those purple-red fruits!

Qin Feng wielded his "Star-Swallowing" spear; each swing brought a darkness that devoured everything.

Any enemy daring to block his path was crushed, armor and all, by the terrifying intent of [Heaven-Swallowing]!

Soon, the thick smell of blood had completely transformed this once-silent cosmic vacuum into a hellish battlefield.

The number of martial artists dwindled at a visible rate.

This brutal battle lasted a full month!

When the last fruit found its owner, the chaotic battlefield finally began to calm.

...

A month later.

This void was now a mess.

Everywhere floated fragments of broken power armor, shattered weapons, and frozen limbs and torsos.

Of the over fifty thousand prodigies, after this bloody baptism, only three still dared to stand in the center of the battlefield.

Qin Feng.

Wolf Seven.

And another, named Tiemuer, a burly martial artist bare-chested, wielding a ferocious broadsword.

As for the other participants, they had either fled or been personally slain in the melee.

Now, a tripartite standoff.

Qin Feng's black power armor was already coated with a dark red crust of blood.

He held the "Star-Swallowing" spear, its tip still dripping blood.

At his waist hung a blood-jade skull.

Wolf Seven's condition was equally grim.

The gray wolf pelt on his shoulder was completely soaked through with blood, turned a deep brown.

Upon his massive power claws, the ghostly blue energy light waxed and waned fitfully, meat and blood still clinging to the clawed blades.

As for the warrior named Timur, his bronze-colored, towering frame was covered in a crisscross of intersecting scars, and one of the pointed horn ornaments atop his head had been snapped clean off.

Yet the aura he exuded did not diminish but rather intensified, like a ferocious beast that had just drunk its fill of blood, brimming with a wild and violent will to battle.

In the hands of all three men, no more and no less, each held ten of the purplish-red fruits of the Sky-Reaching Vine.

"Gentlemen."

Qin Feng was the first to break this suffocating silence.

In a deep voice, he said, "The three of us are of equal strength, and the fruits in our hands have been divided evenly. Why not stop here? Each returning to digest these ten fruits—would that not be a beautiful outcome?"

This was no display of weakness, but rather the most rational judgment.

After a month of bitter, fierce fighting, the exhaustion of all three men was immense.

Moreover, their strength was indeed evenly matched, and their killing arts were of the highest caliber.

If they truly continued to fight, it would be exceedingly difficult to predict who would win or lose; the most likely outcome would be mutual destruction, or even dying together.

More importantly, Qin Feng could clearly sense that whether it was Wolf Seven or Timur, their spiritual power realms were both a significant notch higher than his own.

That was a massive foundation already infinitely close to the 'Lake Realm', while he possessed a mere three thousand cups.

If it truly came to a life-or-death struggle, the probability of his own defeat was far greater.

However, Qin Feng's proposal was met only with Timur's unbridled, wild laughter.

"Hahahaha—"

"You fellows from the Ultramarines Chapter, didn't your masters ever teach you how to handle this sort of situation?"

Timur hoisted the massive broadsword onto his shoulder, looking at Qin Feng with a gaze full of aggression, before shifting his eyes to Wolf Seven on the side, grinning as he spoke:

"Wolf Seven, you and I join forces to slaughter this Ultramarines fellow first, and then we split the ten fruits in his hands evenly, how about it?"

"Naturally, we can."

Wolf Seven licked his lips, revealing a cruel smile as he chimed in, "The geniuses raised by the academy model are always the weakest in true strength."

In truth, these two had already reached a consensus in secret through their spiritual power.

They both saw that Qin Feng was the 'weakest' link among the three, and both harbored the exact same intent—to first join forces to eliminate Qin Feng, the weakest, and then hesitate not for a moment to backstab each other, thereby sweeping all thirty fruits into their own pockets!

Ten fruits could lead directly to the Lake Realm; thirty fruits were enough to expand that lake to an astonishing scale.

With their strength ascending to heaven in a single step, neither would ever let such a chance slip away!

The very instant Wolf Seven’s contemptuous words fell, this bloody battlefield, which had only just fallen still, was ignited once more!

The great battle was on the verge of breaking out!

"Kill!"

A beast-like, murderous light erupted from Timur's eyes.

He was the first to move! His bulky frame burst forth with a terrifying speed completely at odds with his size, the void beneath his feet shattering inch by inch as he flew forward like a cannonball fresh from the bore, the broadsword in his grip churning up a violent, raging torrent of waves as it hacked straight toward Qin Feng's face!

Simultaneously, Wolf Seven's silhouette abruptly blurred where he stood, turning into an elusive gray afterimage hanging between the ethereal and the real.

He did not choose a frontal assault, but instead silently circled to Qin Feng's flank and rear; those power claws, gleaming with ghostly blue light, tore through the void to leave five pitch-black rifts in their wake, striking straight for Qin Feng's psionic core like the bite of a gray wolf!

One in front, one behind; one hard, one soft—the cooperation was seamless and flawless!

Two torrents of spiritual pressure, vast as the sea and infinitely close to the 'Lake Realm', bore down heavily upon Qin Feng from two directions like two invisible mountains, attempting to crush his resolve beforehand!

"Come then!"

Faced with this lethal, enveloping assault, Qin Feng's eyes held not a shred of fear; instead, a roaring fighting spirit burned within them!

He knew full well that his greatest disadvantage lay in the realm of his spiritual power.

A head-on clash was by no means a wise move.

He did not choose to fight to the death with either individual, but instead brought the essence of the Heaven-Swallowing Fist Technique to its absolute peak.

The 'Star-Swallowing' spear in his hands was no longer a weapon of violent attack, but had transformed into a defensive black hole capable of devouring all things.

The shadows of the spear danced, laying down layers upon layers of forcefield vortexes before him like ripples upon water, continuously redirecting and dissolving Timur's ferocious blade momentum.

At the same time, his figure shifted like a phantom within the span of inches, twisting and turning continuously to evade Wolf Seven's cunning and fatal ambushes by the absolute skin of his teeth.

Relying on his far-beyond-ordinary, profound understanding of the Heaven-Swallowing Fist Technique, as well as the combat instincts honed across millions of battles in the Imperial Arena that had practically become second nature, he forcibly found that single thread of life under the siege of these two top tier powerhouses, swiftly retreating toward the depths of the asteroid belt!

Yet, how could Wolf Seven and Timur be easily dealt with?

The two of them were like the most experienced of hunters, pressing closer with every step, biting doggedly at Qin Feng's heels without giving him the slightest room to breathe.

Three figures, amidst this deep cosmic void filled with wreckage and debris, unfolded a thrilling and breathtaking chase and battle!

Timur's broadsword opened and closed with grand sweeps; with every slash he delivered, it seemed as though he could stir up a sea of stars, grinding all the asteroids ahead into finest dust.

His offensive was overbearing and matchless, forcing Qin Feng into a continuous retreat, unable to pull away to an effective distance.

And Wolf Seven was even more lethal.

He was like maggots in the bone, always roaming within the blind spots of Qin Feng's perception.

He would not strike lightly, but when he did, it was invariably at the moment when Qin Feng's defenses were at their weakest, just as old momentum expired and new strength had yet to be born.

Those incomparably sharp power claws left one deep, bone-deep scratch after another upon Qin Feng's black power armor!

Qin Feng's predicament grew increasingly perilous.

He could clearly feel that the enemy's two continuous, tide-like waves of spiritual pressure were incessantly eroding his will, making his every movement and strike feel incomparably heavy.

"It cannot go on like this!"

Amidst this crazed, life-risking battle, Qin Feng's heart grew calm as never before.

He made an incomparably bold decision—to seek a breakthrough in the midst of combat!

He partitioned a portion of his mind, beginning to frantically circulate his foundational cultivation method—the Canaan Scripture—within his body!

At the same time, the vast spiritual pressure that Wolf Seven and Timur exerted upon him, which was nearly enough to crush him entirely, was no longer treated merely as something to resist, but was instead taken as the ultimate grindstone!

He actively endured it, guided it, and utilized this external pressure to hammer, squeeze, and temper his three thousand spiritual 'cups', attempting to wring out every drop of his potential amidst this crisis of life and death!

In this manner, what was originally a simple hunt and slaughter evolved into a bizarre, fighting-while-retreating cultivation of life-and-death stakes!

...

Time flowed slowly away amidst this protracted hunt.

This pursuit lasted for a full year!

During this year, Qin Feng's situation grew grandly more difficult.

For those looking to find trouble with him were not limited to Wolf Seven and Timur.

There were also many contestants whom he had personally slain before, who had then luckily won their 'revival matches' during the 'hunting period' by killing other weaklings.

Once they learned from the public channel that the 'Madman Qin Feng' was being hunted by two great powerhouses, they converged from all directions like hyenas catching the scent of blood.

The vast majority of them dared not face Qin Feng's sharp edge directly.

However, they could act like flies, constantly harassing and blocking the essential paths of Qin Feng's flight.

Perhaps a single ambush, a single sniper shot, could not inflict a fatal wound on Qin Feng.

But countless harassments could greatly delay his escape progress and drain his already meager reserves of energy.

Take, for example, the frenzied-boned Bato, whom Qin Feng had brutally slain, or the golden-haired, blue-eyed Nikel—they would fly in on their craft, blast him with a psychic beam, then flee; though it caused no real harm, it was utterly infuriating.

Wolf Seven and Tiemur also had their enemies, but with the two of them allied and riding a wave of momentum, their foes dared not come forward to harass them.

...

Another year passed.

Qin Feng’s power armor was already battered and tattered, with many core joints exposed to the cold vacuum of space.

His aura had become chaotic and unstable, clearly reaching its limit.

Two full years!

For two entire years, he had never found a single opportunity to safely open a warp-space portal.

Wolf Seven and Tiemur, like two tireless hounds, had clung to him relentlessly, sealing off every possible retreat.

Finally, in a vast, empty void, Qin Feng was driven into a true dead end.

He stopped in his tracks and ceased his flight.

For he knew that running had become utterly meaningless.

“Kill!”

Tiemur’s beast-like roar came from behind.

Wolf Seven’s figure, like a phantom, appeared before him.

“Rend the Heavens!!”

Wolf Seven’s eyes gleamed with cruel, excited light.

His enormous power claws gathered the full force of his life and killing intent; five pitch-black claw marks seemed poised to tear apart the entire universe before him!

“Raging Waves!!”

At that moment, Tiemur’s broadsword delivered his most supreme strike!

Violent energy coalesced on his blade into a tidal wave of power that threatened to drown the stars, roaring deafeningly!

From front and back, two ultimate killing moves from the King-Sealing inheritance hurtled fiercely toward Qin Feng, who was already at the end of his strength.

“Devour the Heavens!”

In Qin Feng’s eyes, there was no despair, only surging battle intent.

He poured all his will into the “Star-Devourer” spear, and facing those two world-shattering attacks, he thrust out his own strongest strike!

Yet the gap in mental strength was far too vast—especially after two full years of high-intensity combat.

His “Devour the Heavens” spear intent, upon contact with those two more immense and condensed killing moves, crumbled layer by layer like a reef shattered by giant waves.

“Wolf Seven… Tiemur…”

“I will remember you!”

In the final moment before death descended, a roar burst from Qin Feng’s mouth.

With a thought, he stowed the “Star-Devourer” spear that had accompanied him so long, along with his already ruined power armor, into his warp-space storage unit.

The next moment.

The claws that could tear the sky and the broadsword that could drown the stars slammed violently into his unprotected flesh.

Rip—

Qin Feng’s body was instantly torn apart by those two savage forces, then utterly consumed and annihilated by the raging torrent of energy.

—

When Qin Feng’s consciousness re-coalesced, he found himself standing on a barren land.

Beneath his feet was cracked, dark-red earth.

Above his head was a gray, cloudless sky.

This was a completely lifeless, utterly dead planet.

He lowered his head and looked at his hands. The skin was intact, brimming with strength.

He could clearly feel the psychic core within him operating smoothly and powerfully at its peak.

Within his mental sea, those thousands of psychic “cups” were also intact, even more solid than before his death.

It was as if that two-year-long, brutal chase and death had been nothing but an illusory dream.

But the jade token mark on the back of his hand, now greatly changed, reminded him that everything had truly happened.

[You have been reborn in the ‘King-Sealing Domain’]

[Note: This death will not cause any substantial damage to your cultivation, mind, or body. All your states have been restored to their peak before this death]

[Your power armor has been repaired; all personal assets are retained in the warp-space network storage unit]

[Warning: You have lost all spoils obtained in the war zone: ten ‘Heavenly Vine’ fruits, 100 kg of ‘Psychic Mushrooms’, 1 ton of ‘Water-Cloud Grass’…]

[Warning: All your points have been reset to zero]

[Status Change: You have entered the ‘Hunting Period’]

[Hunting Period Rules: During this time, you can see the exact coordinates of all martial artists within the galaxy cluster.

The time limit is ten years.

If you successfully kill a martial artist within this period, you can plunder all their points and regain formal competition eligibility.

If you fail to complete a kill within the time limit, or are killed again during the hunt, you will be formally eliminated and lose all competition qualifications]

Qin Feng stared at the cold streams of information on the jade token, silent for a long time.

After a while, he slowly exhaled a turbid breath.

He did not wallow in the anger of defeat; instead, he immediately opened the warp-space network, entered the private forum of Galaxy 117, and began carefully browsing the latest information.

On the forum, posts about the “Heavenly Vine” contest had already been pushed to the hot list.

Among them, the most discussed was the post about “Madman Qin Feng” being hunted down by two strong fighters and ultimately falling.

“Wolf Seven, Tiemur… it seems those two are basically the current ceiling of strength in our Galaxy 117. They might even rank among all contestants in the entire war zone.”

“That means, in this ‘Universe Genius Tournament,’ just over a hundred years into the competition, the top-tier fighters have likely already reached the threshold of the ‘Lake Realm,’ or even entered it.”

“Of course, this is just a side inference based on the various battle descriptions in these posts. So far, there’s no highly credible power ranking list.”

“But with five million war groups, if each group has even one person who comprehended a King-Sealing inheritance, then there must be five million genius opponents like Wolf Seven.”

Qin Feng also saw some posts titled “The Madman Dies with Honor” and “Fighting Two Alone, Bloody Battle for Two Years, Qin Feng’s Defeat Is No Disgrace,” and he smiled wryly.

Wolf Seven and Tiemur were no weaklings.

Their strength had always been above his.

Add to that the countless respawners, like vermin, who had constantly harassed and intercepted him over those two years.

That he had managed to hold out for two years under such circumstances before being forced into a corner and killed was, from an objective standpoint, already a fairly impressive feat.

Besides that, Qin Feng opened his private mailbox.

Inside, it was crammed with private messages from friends.

Huo Yuan, Jin Mu, Shi Potian, Ning Jing... most of them had clearly learned of the news that he had been 'killed'.

The contents of the letters were much the same: they all encouraged him, comforted him, and at the same time denounced the joint siege by Wolf Seven and Tiemuer as an unworthy victory.

Qin Feng did not reply immediately.

He closed the forum and began to calm his mind, summing up this failure and his current true strength.

"Moreover, during these two years of desperate pursuit, I have not... come away empty-handed."

A glint of sharp light flashed in his eyes.

"For those entire two years, in that extreme high-pressure, life-or-death combat, I never stopped taking the 'Spirit Mushroom' for a single day. I also kept using the mental pressure of those two fellows as a whetstone, frantically circulating the 'Canaan Sutra'."

"Now, my mental power has successfully condensed four thousand 'Cups'. This gain is truly not bad."

"If it had been a one-on-one fight back then, whether against Wolf Seven or Tiemuer, I would have had a high chance of winning.

After all, we are all inheritors of King-level powerhouses, but my 'Heaven-Swallowing Fist Technique' is infinitely close to the 'Great Completion' realm. Their killing techniques, judging from the battle, should still be only at the early 'Minor Completion' stage.

Furthermore, I have consumed many blood crystals, so my physical strength is somewhat higher than theirs."

Qin Feng pondered these things not to find excuses for his failure.

Rather, he was conducting the most objective and comprehensive assessment of his own strength.

A true strongman always maintains the clearest awareness of his own power.

He knows his strengths and understands his weaknesses.

"As for those lost resources, if they are gone, they are gone."

Qin Feng's face regained its calm, and even revealed a hint of a carefree smile.

"I'll just find them again."

He raised his head and looked again at the map on the HUD interface.

Qin Feng discovered that his current location was extremely remote.

On the map, this belonged to the outermost edge of Galaxy 117, an area marked as 'Death Wilderness', and had even left the outermost spiral arm of Galaxy 117.

Yet, in this godforsaken remote place, a gigantic resource point shimmering with multicolored light was conspicuously marked on his map!

Without any hesitation, Qin Feng immediately activated subspace teleportation.

...

When his figure emerged again from the spatial ripples, the sight before him left him completely stunned.

In the boundless void, there floated an ancient tree of unimaginable size.

This ancient tree was entirely of a warm, jade-like white color.

Its root system was extremely developed, like countless horned dragons rooted in the void, even draining all the light and heat from a nearby star system that should have been extremely bright!

Around it was an absolute, lightless dead silence.

Only the ancient tree itself emitted a soft and sacred glow.

[Warning! Warning! Detected ultra-high-level life form and resources!]

The prompt tone of the intelligent assistant Hammer became unprecedentedly urgent.

[Species Name: Seven Treasures Ancient Tree]

[Life Level: Stellar (Developmental Stage)]

[Species Description: A cosmic wonder, blooms once in ten thousand years, bears fruit once in ten thousand years.

Every ten thousand years, it produces one 'Treasure'.

Only after seventy thousand years can it bear the complete 'Seven Treasures'.

Taking the 'Seven Treasures' together can provide a comprehensive, fundamental, and enormous enhancement to all basic abilities of a planetary-level martial artist!

Including but not limited to: mental power, strength, speed, endurance, comprehension, psychic energy absorption and conversion efficiency, and mental power absorption and conversion efficiency!]

Qin Feng was completely dumbfounded.

He never dreamed that missing the fruit of the 'Heavenly Vine' would turn out to be a blessing in disguise, and that in this forbidden land he would encounter the Seven Treasures Ancient Tree, which even stellar-level powerhouses would covet!

In his field of vision, on the branches of the huge ancient tree, seven fruits of different shapes and emitting different halos were quietly floating.

Clearly, he had arrived just in time!

This ancient tree had just completed its seventy-thousand-year gestation and produced the complete 'Seven Treasures'!

However, just as he was about to step forward to claim this heaven-sent opportunity, a loud laugh full of ecstasy and greed suddenly rang out from the void not far away!

"Hahaha! It's actually the Seven Treasures Ancient Tree! And all 'Seven Treasures' are present!"

"I've made it! I, Bato, this time, I'm really going to make it! Hahaha!"

Along with the laughter, a familiar figure arrived at this place via subspace teleportation.

The newcomer was none other than that barbarian giant who had been instantly killed by Qin Feng in one move and later ambushed him with a psychic energy beam while he was being pursued — Mad Bone Bato!

He still had the same appearance, bare-chested and holding a huge bone club.

But now, the aura on his body was much stronger than before.

Clearly, after resurrection, he had also obtained considerable opportunities.

His mental power intensity was estimated to have reached the level of around three thousand 'Cups'.

Hearing that laugh full of ecstasy and greed, Qin Feng slowly turned around, a curve forming at the corner of his mouth.

He looked at Mad Bone Bato, who had just teleported here and was still immersed in the great joy of discovering an extraordinary treasure, not even having had time to carefully observe the surroundings, and asked with a tone full of mockery, smiling:

"Bato, what have you become?!"

"Could it be... that the psychic energy beam of your starship was so powerful that you accidentally achieved divine mastery?"

Qin Feng's voice was not loud, but it was like a wind from the nine underworlds, clearly reaching Bato's ears.

Bato's deafening laughter came to an abrupt halt.

The ecstasy on his face instantly froze.

Only at this moment did he finally notice the figure quietly floating before the Seven Treasures Ancient Tree, like a ghost.

When he clearly saw Qin Feng's face with that hint of a playful smile,

the expression on Bato's face shifted from ecstasy to shock, to disbelief, and finally turned into an extremely awkward smile that was uglier than crying.

"M-madman?! How... how did you resurrect here?"

Bato's voice was even a bit stuttering.

He never dreamed that by casually picking a remote coordinate point to teleport to, he would run headlong into this evil star who had just fallen!

"How would I know."

Qin Feng shrugged, but the smile on his face grew even brighter. "Still, I think this is pretty good."

"Perfect timing—I'll take your points!"

As the words fell, Qin Feng grinned, revealing a mouthful of stark white teeth.

He wasted no more words.

With a thought, that dark, light-devouring "Star-Swallowing" spear instantly materialized from his subspace storage unit into his palm!

Boom—

The psychic core within him erupted without reserve, unleashing its peak might!

His figure vanished from its spot, instantly crossing tens of miles of cosmic vacuum, appearing before the still-dazed Bato like a teleport!

"Ah—"

Only when the spear tip, brimming with destructive power, was about to touch his brow did Bato snap out of his extreme shock and terror.

He let out a terrified shriek and, without a second thought, turned to flee!

At that moment, all thoughts of coveting the "Seven Treasures Ancient Tree" had vanished from his mind.

His only thought was to escape!

The farther from this demon, the better!

"Damn it! Why is my luck so rotten!"

He cursed wildly in his mind, "Why did I have to run into this monster! And my 'Seven Treasures,' so close yet so far!"

How could Bato, as he was now, be a match for Qin Feng?

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

Qin Feng's form, like a clinging shadow, caught up to the desperate Bato in mere breaths.

For Qin Feng, facing such an ordinary genius who hadn't fully grasped the legacy of a King-level powerhouse was no different from slicing through melons and vegetables.

He didn't even use the essence of the "Heaven-Swallowing Fist Art." He simply poured his physical strength, enhanced several times by the "Blood Crystal," and the vast mental power of his four thousand "Cups" into the "Star-Swallowing" spear, then thrust it forward!

Simple, direct, yet overwhelmingly domineering!

Feeling the unstoppable, universe-piercing terror behind him, Bato's eyes filled with utter despair.

He roared, spinning around to make a final block with his massive bone club.

But it was all futile.

"Crack!"

The bone club, honed from the bones of some unknown giant beast and incredibly hard, shattered inch by inch like rotten wood upon contact with the "Star-Swallowing" spear.

The next moment, the spear pierced through Bato's chest, which he had thought impenetrable, without any resistance.

...

After killing Bato, Qin Feng floated silently in the void.

The jade token imprint on his wrist flickered with a soft white light, and lines of new information appeared.

[Detected: You have successfully killed a formal participant during the 'Hunting Period']

[Congratulations: You have been revived and regained formal participant status]

[You have successfully plundered all of their points: 193]

[Your current total points: 193]

[Your current overall rank has risen to: 3,001,234,567]

[Your rank in Galaxy Region 117 has risen to: 29,876,543]

Watching his reappearing points and rank, Qin Feng felt no ripple in his heart.

He withdrew his spear and returned to the "Seven Treasures Ancient Tree," which radiated a sacred light.

Carefully, he plucked the seven fruits—each of a different shape and containing distinct primal energies—one by one, storing them in his subspace storage unit.

As Qin Feng harvested them, the massive, multicolored red dot on the map vanished completely.

Clearly, the red markers on the map represented the Seven Treasures fruits, not the tree itself.

Qin Feng did not linger there.

He activated subspace teleportation and returned to the barren, lifeless planet that had been his respawn point.

Then, he found a hidden valley, sat cross-legged, and without any hesitation, took out all seven "Seven Treasures" he had just obtained and swallowed them one by one.

The surging energy and terrifying medicinal power of the Seven Treasures exploded within Qin Feng, causing his strength to skyrocket!

He quickly activated the Canaan Sutra to digest the overwhelming potency.

(End of this chapter)