Chapter 242: Illustrious and Fierce Name! Eighty-Eighth on the Combat Power List! Qin Feng's Name

Chapter 242: A Fearsome Reputation! Rank 88 on the Combat Power List! Qin Feng's Name Resounds!

"He... not only completed the 'Foundation of the Eternal Singularity,' but has already tempered his Dao Foundation to such a degree?!"

The warriors of the Shadow Battle Group and the Deep Sea Battle Group, who were attacking with all their might, finally understood why Lei Zhan had turned and fled without hesitation the moment they sensed that golden pagoda.

A fear, born from the deepest recesses of their souls, instantly seized their minds.

But it was all too late.

Boom—

That primordial divine mountain, imbued with infinite martial truth, descended with Qin Feng's spear.

The two couldn't even hold on for a single instant.

The Shadow warrior's eerie footwork and long blade, under the mountain's suppression, were ground down into the most basic particles along with his flesh.

The undying projection of the Shadow Crown atop his head let out a mournful cry, shattering inch by inch.

The Deep Sea warrior's projection of the Sacred Trident, before that divine mountain, was as fragile as glass, crumbling at the slightest touch.

His burly body, along with his terrified scream, was utterly erased, turning into cosmic dust.

According to the rules of the Grand Battle Zone, shattering an undying projection once counts as being slain. Though the two could be reborn, they had entered the hunting period; one more death would mean elimination.

With their deaths, all the resources stored in their personal terminals instantly turned into two streaks of light, flying into Qin Feng's jade token.

[You have slain contestant... Obtained Iron Tree Flower x62...]

[You have slain contestant... Obtained Iron Tree Flower x63...]

A series of information prompts flashed by.

"Oh? Not a bad haul. Each of these two had over sixty Iron Tree Flowers."

"Plus some other miscellaneous resources—an unexpected windfall."

Qin Feng glanced at the loot list on his jade token, a satisfied smile spreading across his face.

"I almost forgot—in a place like this, why bother painstakingly gathering resources when killing others is so much faster?"

"Plunder is the fastest and most effective way to obtain resources!"

Before his words faded, he abruptly turned his head, his gaze like two golden lightning bolts, instantly locking onto the distant streak of lightning frantically fleeing.

"Lei Zhan! Where do you think you're going!"

A thunderous roar, like a bolt from the blue, echoed across the starry sky.

Qin Feng's figure vanished in an instant through subspace teleportation.

The next moment, he appeared like a ghost ahead of Lei Zhan's escape route, blocking him perfectly.

At the same time, his already golden, immensely powerful spiritual energy, like invisible chains, tightly bound Lei Zhan, preventing him from making any further subspace jumps.

"Qin Feng! Don't push me too far!"

Seeing Qin Feng appear before him as if teleported, Lei Zhan's soul nearly fled in terror. He hastily halted, shouting with a bluster that masked his fear.

"Back when I saw you in seclusion near the Eye of Tzeentch's Chosen, I didn't dare disturb you in the slightest! There's no enmity between us!"

As he explained, his heart was filled with shock.

He couldn't fathom how Qin Feng's strength had soared to such an incomprehensible level!

He knew that the Grand Battle Zone's competition had now lasted over eight hundred and sixty years. All prodigies had stopped hiding their true power.

For the final sprint, everyone was pulling out their ultimate trump cards.

The Combat Power List's credibility had reached an all-time high.

According to intelligence from the forums, most top-tier warriors were still striving to forge the "Foundation of the Eternal Singularity"—that is, frantically expanding their undying projections to the scale of ten million light-years.

Only the top thousand monsters on the Combat Power List had roughly completed this step.

And even the current number one on the list had only progressed a mere one-millionth of the way in tempering his golden spiritual energy—barely starting.

But Qin Feng?

His undying pagoda—the golden portion was visibly a full tenth of the whole!

What did that mean?

It meant Qin Feng's strength had far exceeded what the current Combat Power List could measure. He was in a league of his own, crushing everyone else by a landslide!

Lei Zhan had a thousand curses stuck in his throat.

How could he possibly fight this?

"There is indeed no enmity between us."

Qin Feng looked at Lei Zhan's terrified face, a gentle smile on his lips, but his tone was icy, devoid of any emotion.

"But I've taken a liking to your resources."

With that, Qin Feng wasted no more words. He raised his Devouring Star Spear once more, and the phantom of that ancient divine mountain, which had suppressed countless ages, coalesced again.

"You...!"

Lei Zhan, both shocked and enraged, knew there was no peaceful resolution today.

With a despairing roar, he pushed his power to its absolute limit.

His undying projection, which had reached the scale of ten million light-years—a "Thunder Spear" entwined with billions of lightning runes—erupted with blinding radiance as he fought back, meeting the slowly descending divine mountain.

But it was all futile.

The moment his Thunder Spear touched that primordial mountain, imbued with infinite martial truth, it began to shatter inch by inch from the tip, like paper.

"...His killing technique is perfected... He's even comprehended martial truth... A monster..."

Those were Lei Zhan's last words.

With a bitter curse, his body and his proud undying projection were utterly crushed by that vast divine mountain, exploding into a brilliant burst of fireworks before completely dissipating into the cold cosmos.

...

[You have slain warrior Lei Zhan. Obtained resources: Iron Tree Flower x93, Thunder Core x12, Fractured Thunder Pattern Armor x1, Stellar Energy Crystal x43...]

Qin Feng's personal terminal flashed a notification, clearly displaying the rewards for killing Lei Zhan.

As a former alliance leader, Lei Zhan's accumulated resources were still considerable.

Qin Feng casually pocketed the spoils.

"Not bad."

He murmured, his gaze sweeping across his surroundings.

The deep cosmos remained vast, but now, within the domain of the "Starry Iron Tree," it was filled with turmoil and vitality.

Countless warriors darted among the enormous iron tree's branches, vying for the flowers that bloomed once every ten thousand years, brimming with immense spiritual energy and life force.

These flowers, like brilliant stars, adorned the giant tree, radiating an alluring glow.

Qin Feng did not pause.

"Continue."

He transformed into a streak of light, plunging once more into the scramble for the flowers.

His figure moved like a specter, weaving through the dense throng of martial artists; each time he appeared, he effortlessly plucked over a dozen blossoms.

Half a month slipped away, silent and unnoticed.

During this time, Qin Feng encountered no more martial artists who actively provoked him.

The fates of Lei Zhan and the two star-level warriors before him had already deterred the vast majority.

Those who had witnessed Qin Feng instantly slay Lei Zhan and his companions with his "golden psychic power" and "consummate killing martial intent" harbored deep wariness toward him.

They chose to give him a wide berth.

Even when Qin Feng flew past them, they merely watched from afar, daring not to make the slightest move.

Yet the complexity of human nature was laid bare on this battlefield of resource contention.

These martial artists, aware of Qin Feng's strength, did not broadcast his terrifying combat prowess.

On the contrary, they delighted in seeing new arrivals, ignorant of the situation, provoke Qin Feng and be slain by him.

Each such incident meant fewer competitors and a potential reshuffling of resources.

Under this brutal law of survival, information could sometimes determine fate more than martial power.

Qin Feng understood this well, but he paid it no mind.

No matter how others schemed, it would not hinder him from harvesting resources at maximum efficiency.

In these half-month days, he not only amassed a vast quantity of iron tree blossoms but also, with divided focus, pushed the golden section of his own [Indestructible Tower] up another level.

Every inch of growth in his strength filled him with profound fulfillment.

Just as he prepared to delve deeper into the iron tree to explore richer resources, his personal terminal suddenly pulsed with a fluctuation.

It was a message from Caesar.

"Qin Feng, lend a hand!"

Caesar's voice came through the subspace friend channel, slightly rushed, carrying a hint of urgency but more excitement. "I'm at the very top of the ancient tree. Found a martial artist ranked over 700 on the combat list. He just obtained a star-level resource and hasn't had time to digest it yet.

I've got him pinned down, but it's hard for me to kill him. Come quick, we split fifty-fifty."

A faint, almost imperceptible smile curled at the corner of Qin Feng's mouth.

Caesar rarely asked for help; when he did, it meant he'd encountered a troublesome opponent and had his sights set on something big.

"Alright!"

He replied briefly, then with a thought, ripples spread through the space around him.

Complex and arcane runes coalesced beside him, forming a temporary subspace teleportation channel.

The next instant, his figure, as if wrapped in starlight, vanished on the spot, teleporting directly through subspace to the very summit of the "Starry Iron Tree."

The moment he set foot in this area, Qin Feng sensed an energy fluctuation several times fiercer than below.

This was the core zone of the Starry Iron Tree, the most fiercely contested ground.

Looking around, over a hundred formidable auras lurked nearby—all elite star-level warriors—their gazes fixed on the two figures locked in combat at the center.

One of them was Caesar.

He wore the distinctive golden light armor of the Blood Angel Battle Group, wielding a golden holy sword radiating a sacred aura; each strike tore through the void, leaving visible spatial fissures.

Behind him, his indestructible projection [Indestructible Holy Wings] unfurled, billions of light feathers weaving into a sacred barrier; every flap stirred an endless storm of psychic power.

Opposing Caesar was another martial artist clad entirely in golden armor.

He was burly, his armor engraved with ancient runes, and behind him, the indestructible projection of a giant axe blazed with dazzling light—each beam seeming capable of splitting heaven and earth.

He wielded a real axe identical to the projection, clashing with Caesar's holy sword in a thunderous metallic roar; the residual energy waves instantly annihilated nearby planetary fragments.

This was a duel between top-tier star-level warriors; each attack carried the power to destroy stars.

The surrounding martial artists watched from a safe distance, their psychic forces interwoven into an invisible network, whispers passing through subspace channels.

"A warrior from the Golden Battle Group..."

"Ranked 703, Jin Sheng—a top prodigy who has built his indestructible projection to ten million light-years! Unmatched in combat!"

"Who's that?"

"That one's called Caesar, from the Blood Angel Battle Group. Very unique, because he's the only one from that group here, so I remember him well. Didn't expect that after years of silence, his strength has advanced so fast—he's also completed the foundation of the Eternal Singularity."

"What a brutal fight. Caesar has the upper hand, but he can't defeat Jin Sheng quickly, just because Caesar's killing technique is stronger."

"Heh, best if it goes on like this—both sides wounded, then I'll finish them off, absorb all the resources, and rake in plenty of points."

"..."

The murmurs among the martial artists were filled with awe at the warriors' strength, speculation about Caesar and Jin Sheng's backgrounds, and anticipation for the battle's outcome—they hoped to swoop in and claim the spoils.

In the midst of the fierce combat, Jin Sheng's heart was seething with impatience.

"Caesar! Are you insane?! You can't kill me, so why cling to me?!"

He bellowed, his giant axe sweeping horizontally, a blade of light tearing space and forcing Caesar back half a step.

In his view, though Caesar was slightly stronger, truly slaying a warrior with a ten-million-light-year indestructible projection among the same rank was no easy feat.

Especially in this core resource zone, every second was precious.

He had just risked great danger to obtain a star-level resource from a perilous site and urgently needed to go into seclusion to digest it.

But passing by this Starry Iron Tree, he'd wanted to snatch a few flowers on a whim, only to be stuck to by Caesar like a stubborn plaster, impossible to shake off.

This made him frantic.

"I can't kill you, but someone else can!"

A glint of cunning flashed in Caesar's golden eyes. He sensed a familiar and powerful aura descending through subspace teleportation.

A mischievous smile spread across his lips, and his attacks suddenly grew even more ferocious, pinning Jin Sheng down without giving him the slightest chance to escape.

The moment Caesar's words fell, Qin Feng's figure appeared at the edge of the battlefield.

His arrival was unadorned, as if merging into the void, yet instantly he became the sole focus of this battlefield.

Qin Feng gripped the Star-Swallowing Spear, and without any hesitation, he charged straight at Jin Sheng.

"Kill—"

A low, explosive roar burst from Qin Feng's mouth, like an ancient war song, shaking the surrounding space.

Behind him, the phantom of his [Indestructible Tower], woven from silver and gold, silently emerged.

The golden part of the tower occupied one-tenth of its height, radiating a holy, solemn, and supremely majestic aura, as if a divine mountain suppressing the ages, standing proudly in the cosmos.

At the same time, a vast, ancient, and overbearing martial intent—one that crushed with sheer force—spread outward from Qin Feng, filling the space for tens of thousands of kilometers.

This "intent" was not mere energy fluctuation; it was a psychic force field refined to the extreme, making everything around it feel weighed down by a heavy pressure, even causing spatial particles to tremble.

"Vast Mountain Range—"

Qin Feng thrust his spear; the tip of the Star-Swallowing Spear spat out terrifying energy light.

Yet more astonishingly, his spiritual force evolved in that singular instant into a tangible, primordial mountain of the gods.

The phantom of that divine peak condensed at the tip of his spear, bearing an unparalleled, devastating weight that crashed down upon the projection of Jin Sheng’s giant axe.

Jin Sheng’s pupils contracted sharply as a crisis unlike any he had ever known washed over him.

The suffocating aura of that true martial intent instantly crushed his offensive doctrine, rendering all his resistance pale and utterly futile.

Boom—

Without suspense, Qin Feng’s primordial mountain collided violently with Jin Sheng’s giant axe projection.

Before the all-crushing martial intent of the Vast Mountainous Range, Jin Sheng’s axe projection—which spanned millions of light-years—shattered instantly like flimsy paper, dissolving into a sky filled with scattered specks of light.

Immediately following, that unmatched, terrifying force rushed onward without losing momentum, smashing directly into Jin Sheng’s physical body.

Jin Sheng did not even have time to utter a single scream before his golden armor disintegrated, and his flesh shattered like porcelain struck by a massive hammer, breaking piece by piece until it turned into a mist of blood that filled the sky.

A single strike!

Merely a single strike!

Ranked seven hundred and third on the combat leaderboards, Jin Sheng, a top-tier prodigy possessing an immortal projection millions of light-years in scale, had been instantly obliterated by Qin Feng!

The whispering among the surrounding warriors ceased abruptly, and the entire battlefield fell into a deathly, absolute silence.

They stared at the raining blood fragmenting across the sky, their eyes wide with unbelievable shock and terror.

“What just happened?!”

Someone finally broke the silence, their voice trembling uncontrollably.

“Slaying Jin Sheng in a single strike? Where on earth did this monster come from?!”

“A tenth of his immortal projection has already been refined into gold, what a terrifying level of cultivation.”

“He already possesses a true martial intent, and he has mastered an eighth-rank offensive law to perfection, while I don’t even have an eighth-rank law yet and am still using a King-tier legacy that I have only understood eighty percent of.”

“The one alongside Caesar, could it be Qin Feng?”

“Highly likely, the Qin Feng-Caesar alliance was the earliest galactic alliance established, though it fell silent for a long time afterward, perhaps because they were busy hunting down the Machine Race?”

“It must be Qin Feng, who else besides the Limitless Battlegroup’s flawless executioners could advance this quickly? He is leagues ahead, leaving even the first tier far behind, unable to catch a glimpse of his back.”

“...”

The warriors discussed fervently, yet neither shock, nor fear, nor wild speculation could mask the deep, overwhelming awe they felt toward Qin Feng’s strength.

That sheer disparity in power had already transcended the boundaries of what they could comprehend.

[You have slain Warrior Jin Sheng, you have obtained resources: Sky Feather x1928, Diamond x342, Stellar-level Energy Crystal x88...]

[You have obtained points: 1288347]

The notification chimed once more on Qin Feng’s personal terminal, clearly displaying the spoils and points gained from killing Jin Sheng.

He glanced over it, a satisfied smile gracing his face.

As a top-tier prodigy, Jin Sheng had accumulated resources that were indeed far more bountiful than those of Lei Zhan and the others.

As for those Sky Feathers, they must have been the galactic-level resources he had seized earlier.

With a shift of his thoughts, he gathered all of Jin Sheng’s spoils.

Qin Feng then separated half of the plunder and sent it to Caesar through the hyperspace network channel.

“Half each, just as we agreed,” Qin Feng said with a smile, a trace of ease in his voice.

“Haha, magnificent!” Caesar laughed heartily, his gaze brimming with sheer satisfaction.

Jin Sheng was indeed a troublesome opponent, and had Qin Feng not arrived in time, even a victorious outcome would have cost him a vast amount of time and effort.

As their laughter faded, both of their gazes turned simultaneously toward the surrounding crowd of onlookers.

At this moment, these warriors were caught in a state of profound shock, some still unable to recover from the sheer terror of Jin Sheng being instantly killed.

The warriors capable of spectating atop the Starry Iron Tree were by no means weak, all of them being stellar-level powerhouses who had completed at least one-tenth of the Foundation of the Eternal Singularity.

Though they paled in comparison to Jin Sheng, they had undoubtedly accumulated large amounts of resources and points.

There were roughly over a hundred such warriors gathered around them.

As Qin Feng and Caesar’s gazes swept over them, an invisible pressure instantly enveloped the entire space.

Two vast spiritual forces intertwined like twin invisible mountains, locking down the surrounding space completely.

To their horror, the spectating warriors discovered that their hyperspace teleportation had completely failed!

“Wait, no...”

A spectating warrior’s eyes widened, his face etched with disbelief and terror as he spoke with a trembling voice, “Are you going to kill us too?! We were only watching the show!”

His voice sounded exceptionally piercing in the quiet of the cosmos.

“Heh.”

Caesar sneered, his golden eyes flashing with unmasked murderous intent, “Just moments ago, you were waiting for both of us to suffer mutual destruction so you could strike us down, and now you claim you were only watching a show?”

His words laid bare the hidden desires of the onlookers, causing unnatural embarrassment and panic to surface on many of their faces.

Qin Feng’s smile grew colder as he spoke slowly, each word carrying an unquestionable, imperious authority, “We are taking your resources!”

The moment those words were uttered, the last shred of hope within the hearts of the spectating warriors shattered completely.

They realized this was no empty threat.

“Please, I am willing to give you all my resources, just don’t kill me, my respawn point has already been seized by the Machine Race, if I respawn there, I won’t stand a chance against them and will easily be eliminated.”

Among the crowd, a warrior could no longer endure the creeping terror and began to beg openly.

As it turned out, most of these spectating warriors belonged to rogue alliances that had already disintegrated.

After the issuance of the eight-hundred-year mandatory elimination task of the competition, their alliance leaders had betrayed them, causing the factions to shatter and dissolve, while their respawn points, lacking organization and power, were overrun by the formidable Machine Race.

If they were killed now, they would have no choice but to respawn on planets occupied by the Machine Race.

Faced with a powerful Machine Race that held several star systems and manufactured countless mechanical horrors, they possessed no strength to resist, and the final outcome would be absolute elimination.

Death was not to be feared here.

But elimination meant losing everything, forfeiting all subsequent opportunities within this Cosmic Genius Competition, which was an unimaginably massive loss.

“Qin Feng, Caesar, we truly harbor no malice!”

“We will leave all our resources behind, we beg of you to spare us!”

“Just do not eliminate us!”

The warriors spoke out in heavy tones.

“Well, had it been at the very beginning of the tournament, I might have let you go,” Caesar said in a deep voice, his eyes entirely devoid of pity, “But now, the elimination process must be accelerated.”

His words were cold and resolute, reflecting the brutal reality of a race against time in the later stages of the grand competition.

Eliminating the weak and plundering resources was the most efficient law of survival at this moment.

"Kill—"

Caesar let out a low shout and struck first.

The golden holy sword in his hand slashed out a blazing light, instantly cutting toward the nearest martial artists.

Qin Feng did not hesitate either. The Star-Swallowing Spear in his hand transformed into a golden lightning bolt, imbued with the martial truth of 【Vast Mountain】, charging straight into the crowd.

Behind him, the phantom of the 【Undying Tower】 also released a terrifying suppressive force, slowing the fleeing martial artists as if they were trapped in quicksand.

Flesh and blood flew, and screams were instantly swallowed by the endless surge of energy. Under the combined assault of two top-tier stellar-level powerhouses like Qin Feng and Caesar, these onlooking martial artists had no chance to resist.

In less than half a minute,

the roar gradually subsided. In the starry sky shrouded in blood mist, not a single living martial artist remained.

Over a hundred stellar-level martial artists were all slaughtered by Qin Feng and Caesar.

[You have slain a martial artist... Gaining resources...]

[You have slain a martial artist... Gaining points...]

Within Qin Feng's jade token, resources and points kept jumping, skyrocketing wildly!

His and Caesar's personal point rankings and combat power rankings were climbing at a visible speed, rapidly ascending!

...

"Not bad."

Caesar's golden eyes flickered with a rational light.

"According to my calculations,"

he spoke, "the batch of martial artists we just cleared had an average strength at the mid-to-upper level of the war zone, and each had accumulated a considerable amount of resources.

Adding the legacy of a top-tier prodigy like Jin Sheng, and our subsequent harvest from the iron tree itself..."

His mental power, like the most precise computational light-brain, rapidly constructed a data model at the subspace level.

"...We can draw a preliminary conclusion.

Each galaxy-level resource point has a fixed output, but the 'mobile resources' that gather here due to competition—that is, other martial artists—are worth even more than the resource point itself.

We split the fixed output equally, then by hunting and clearing the area, we convert those mobile resources into our reserves..."

Caesar's gaze fell on Qin Feng, his tone carrying a hint of certainty: "We only need to use this model to clear three galaxy-level resource points of the same tier, and we'll have enough resources to advance to the galaxy level!"

"Three."

Qin Feng savored the number, calculating in his mind, and reached a similar conclusion.

The main reason was the overwhelming amount of mobile resources gained from slaying martial artists.

This efficiency far exceeded his expectations.

In this lawless jungle, martial artists themselves were the finest, most concentrated resources.

Of course, not all martial artists had a wealth of undigested resources; among those Qin Feng had just slain, some were utterly destitute.

"Then let's begin."

Qin Feng's words were concise. The Star-Swallowing Spear in his hand trembled slightly, letting out a light hum eager for battle.

Without hesitation, without a moment's pause,

a bloody storm that swept across the entire Star Iron Tree resource point officially began.

Qin Feng wanted both the iron tree blossoms and the resources of the martial artists drawn by those blossoms!

...

The storm began with those onlookers who harbored a glimmer of hope.

In a meteor belt several astronomical units away from the iron tree's main trunk, a temporary squad of seven stellar-level martial artists lay in ambush.

They had been distant witnesses to the massacre atop the mountain earlier. The terrifying strength of Qin Feng and Caesar kept them from approaching, yet the immense allure of the Star Iron Tree made them unwilling to leave.

"Those two killers are still active in the iron tree's core zone. We'll stay here on the outskirts, pick up some scattered petals, and accumulate little by little. It's better than going back empty-handed."

The squad leader, a martial artist whose undying projection was the "Lava Shield," issued orders to his team through an encrypted mental channel.

"The captain is right. As long as we don't provoke them, they wouldn't bother chasing us all the way out here for scraps, would they?"

A team member echoed, greed flickering in his eyes.

They moved cautiously, like scavengers in the shadows, constantly collecting resources of relatively low value.

But they underestimated Qin Feng's resolve to clear the area.

Just as they pocketed a piece of "Iron Tree Heart Fragment" the size of a millstone, an icy gaze devoid of any emotion seemed to cross endless time and space, locking onto each of them with precision.

The next moment, the space before them rippled violently, like a lake disturbed by a thrown stone.

Qin Feng's figure stepped out from within. He didn't even look at the seven, his gaze still fixed on the distant iron tree trunk, as if merely passing by.

But he raised his left hand.

In his palm, the phantom of the 【Undying Tower】, fused with a million light-years of resplendent gold, flickered and vanished.

Then, an ancient divine mountain, spanning the void and exuding an aura of primordial vastness, condensed with overwhelming force and pressed down upon this meteor belt without explanation!

Martial truth, 【Vast Mountain】!

"No!"

"It's Qin Feng!"

"How could he..."

The seven martial artists' horrified screams couldn't even fully transmit before being utterly crushed by that brutal and domineering martial truth.

Their undying projections—whether the sturdy lava giant shield or the sharp star blade—were as fragile as bubbles before that divine mountain, which seemed to bear the weight of all creation since the universe's dawn.

Boom—

No explosion, no blaze.

The meteor belt, the seven stellar-level martial artists, and all their auras and traces were instantly "erased" by that mountain.

Like an eraser across paper, everything turned into pure nothingness.

Subspace teleportation, lock-on, strike, annihilation.

The entire process was fluid, taking no more than three seconds.

Qin Feng's figure didn't even pause for a moment before vanishing back into the spatial ripples.

Only the cold universe remained, witnessing this silent slaughter.

...

As time passed, Qin Feng's fearsome reputation began to spread within a small range.

But the war zone was too vast; information transmission always lagged.

Still, an endless stream of newcomers, drawn by the immense resources of the Star Iron Tree, arrived at this place.

One day, an exceptionally flamboyant blade light tore through the star sea, landing on one of the iron tree's main branches.

The newcomer was a burly man clad in dark crimson battle armor, wielding a grotesque bone blade; his immortal projection was a "Lord of the Abyss" towering millions of light-years, exuding an aura of chaotic slaughter.

He hailed from a notorious frontier war band—the Abyss War Band.

This war band was neither wholly righteous nor utterly evil, and it was fearsome indeed.

"Hahaha, no one has plucked the iron tree flowers here? Looks like my luck is good!"

The man burst into wild laughter, utterly oblivious to the eerie silence that pervaded the area.

His name was Ricky the Slaughterer, a renowned warrior of brutal ferocity, his rank on the power list stable around 1200—a formidable force.

He reached out to grab a huge iron tree flower still in bud.

Just then, a flat voice sounded behind him.

"Put it down."

Ricky spun around and saw the black-haired youth floating not far away, his aura restrained like that of an ordinary mortal—Qin Feng.

"Who are you to command me?"

A savage red light flickered in Ricky's eyes; he could sense Qin Feng's strength, but that only stoked his bloodthirsty battle lust.

Qin Feng did not answer, merely watching him calmly.

That look utterly enraged Ricky.

"Courting death!"

With a thunderous roar, Ricky's "Lord of the Abyss" projection behind him let out a howl, and the bone blade in his hand was instantly wrapped in boundless negative energy, transforming into a blood-colored blade beam capable of splitting stars, slashing toward Qin Feng.

Facing this heaven-shaking strike, Qin Feng's movement was simplicity itself.

He raised his right hand, index and middle fingers together, and pointed through the air at the blood-colored blade beam.

Hum—

There was no earth-shattering collision.

From his fingertip, a strand of martial true intent, condensed to the extreme, burst forth.

The phantom of that vast divine mountain was compressed into a tiny singularity, yet the forces of "suppression" and "annihilation" within it multiplied geometrically.

The blood-colored blade beam, upon contacting that strand of true intent, melted like snow thrown into a blazing sun, silently dissolving from the blade's tip, crumbling until it completely dispersed.

"What?!"

The arrogance on Ricky's face was instantly replaced by boundless terror.

His proudest full-power strike had been so effortlessly neutralized!

He wanted to flee, but his body felt as if crushed by billions of mountains; even moving a finger became a luxury.

"I was waiting for a hothead like you—why else do you think no one dares come here?"

As the words fell, Qin Feng chuckled, thrust out his spear, and struck Ricky between the brows.

Ricky's massive, solid flesh, along with his millions-of-light-years-tall "Abyss Fiend" projection, burst like a punctured balloon, instantly exploding into a mist of blood and motes of energy.

Another strongman had fallen.

From then on, every warrior who newly arrived at the Star Iron Tree would learn a bloody lesson from the terrified telepathic messages of the survivors: on this tree, there was one being absolutely not to be provoked.

Yet some still refused to believe.

When one person completely rewrites the rules of a region, it inevitably draws challenges from even stronger beings.

That day, three divine lights arrived together, descending upon the area where Qin Feng was.

The leader, clad in platinum holy armor with a handsome face, had an immortal projection of a "Solar Furnace" radiating endless light and heat; its overwhelming might made the entire Star Iron Tree tremble.

"Rank 198 on the power list—Opel, the Son of the Sun!"

"The two beside him are also top-five-hundred experts!"

"They're the three leaders of the 'Holy Light Judgment' alliance—finally, a top-tier force has come to punish that demon!"

In the distance, some surviving warriors prepared to seize the chance to gather resources.

"Qin Feng,"

Opel's voice was grand and majestic, like a god's judgment, "Your slaughter ends here.

Surrender all the resources you've plundered, and I, on behalf of Holy Light Judgment, can grant you a dignified exit."

Qin Feng slowly opened his eyes, lifting his head from a freshly plucked iron tree flower to gaze at Opel and his two companions, a trace of... weariness in his eyes.

In the past three months, he had endured scenes like this too many times.

"Raucous."

He uttered only two words.

"Arrogant!"

A strongman beside Opel, wielding a thunder warhammer, roared and launched the first attack.

"Thunder Fury!"

The millions-of-light-years thunder warhammer projection, wrapped in billions of lightning serpents, smashed down toward Qin Feng's head.

At the same time, the other expert attacked, unleashing countless "Chains of Judgment" formed from mental energy, sealing off all of Qin Feng's escape routes.

Opel raised his hands high; the "Solar Furnace" behind him began to spin wildly, birthing a "Judgment Sun" capable of evaporating stars.

The three coordinated seamlessly, unleashing a killing formation from the start—clearly rehearsed countless times.

Yet before an absolute disparity in strength, all tactics proved futile.

Facing the cataclysmic assault, Qin Feng fully activated his golden mental energy.

The next moment, he thrust his spear.

This thrust was soundless, breathless, lightless.

The killing move—Swallow Heaven!

Striking after the enemy's attack yet arriving first.

The thunder warhammer, with its immense momentum, upon contact with the spear tip, began to crack inch by inch from its center, turning to dust.

The strongman wielding the warhammer couldn't even let out a scream; his immortal projection and flesh annihilated together.

Countless "Chains of Judgment," as if meeting their bane, unraveled of their own accord under the spear tip's edge.

The expert who had laid the chains stared wide-eyed, a tiny black dot appearing between his brows, then his entire form turned to ash.

Finally, the Star-Swallowing Spear, its momentum undiminished, precisely struck the core of Opel's still-forming "Judgment Sun."

The "Solar Furnace," which had been furiously accumulating energy, seemed instantly drained of all power, let out a mournful cry, and exploded with a boom.

"Pfft—"

Opel spat a mouthful of blood, his handsome face etched with disbelief.

A top prodigy ranked in the top two hundred, joined by two five-hundred-ranked companions in a killing combination—had it been broken by a single spear thrust?!

And instantly slain two, leaving him on the brink of death?

The undying projection shattered, and his physical form could not hold much longer.

Originally, they had heard of seizing the vast resources of this star-system-level resource point and came to kill Qin Feng for them.

But now, they themselves were about to be slain, and would soon lose a massive amount of resources.

“You…”

Just as he was about to say something, his physical form exploded into pieces.

Thus, no one dared to challenge Qin Feng’s authority any longer.

The entire Starry Iron Tree had completely become his and Caesar’s private resource.

A few days later.

When the last Iron Tree Flower was collected by Qin Feng, this colossal wonder spanning several star systems had become bare, with not a trace of energy fluctuation left.

This star-system-level resource point, which had once attracted countless powerful beings, was thoroughly drained.

Qin Feng hovered atop the withered Iron Tree, sweeping his divine sense over his subspace storage unit.

[Iron Tree Flowers]: one hundred three thousand four hundred twenty-seven.

Besides that, there were also countless resources of varied types and astonishing quantities looted from over a thousand stellar-level martial artists.

In these three months, the number of stellar-level martial artists he had slain reached a staggering one thousand seventy-four.

Among them, exactly ten were ranked in the top thousand of the combat power list.

Including the “Son of the Sun” Opel, these once-dominant prodigies had all become stepping stones on his path to greater strength.

“It’s about time.”

Qin Feng murmured to himself, “I can go into seclusion now.”

All preparations were complete; next, he would convert these vast resources into tangible combat power.

However, just as he was about to leave, a doubt quietly surfaced in his mind.

“Strange, why haven’t the myriad-race prodigies come for me?”

He moved his divine sense slightly and called up the personal panel of the great battle zone.

Under the “Combat Power Ranking” column, his rank had already jumped to eighty-eighth place.

This ranking had firmly entered the top hundred.

According to the competition rules and previously obtained intelligence, martial artists in this range were considered “prey” for the myriad-race prodigies.

Yet in these three months, despite causing such a commotion, not even a single ordinary myriad-race prodigy had appeared, let alone an opponent of Yan Sheng’s level.

Qin Feng had already formulated several contingency plans for encountering powerful enemies, even mapping out escape routes.

Now, it seemed they were completely unnecessary.

“Could it be…”

Qin Feng thought to himself, “They think I have the potential to enter the top ten, so they’ve temporarily listed me as a ‘long-term observation target’ and aren’t in a hurry to hunt me down?”

He muttered to himself.

This was not impossible.

Because many rumors had confirmed that the myriad-race prodigies needed to kill martial artists high on the combat power list to gain points, and it seemed not to be a simple ranking assessment but a comprehensive evaluation of combat power, strength, and so on. If points were insufficient, they would be killed by the Nine Spirit King.

“Forget it, then.”

After a brief moment of thought, Qin Feng cast the matter aside.

Whatever their scheme, it was irrelevant to him.

The enemy’s absence only gave him the most precious time to develop.

“Not coming to annoy me now is for the best.

It lets me focus on seclusion.”

Qin Feng’s mind returned to planning his own strength.

“The resources plundered this time far exceed expectations.

If fully digested, they will be enough to push the golden part of the [Undying Tower] from one hundred floors straight to five hundred floors!”

A gleam of unprecedented brilliance and battle intent flashed in Qin Feng’s eyes.

The current one-hundred-floor golden tower already gave him the confidence to fear no participant in the great battle zone.

In a few months, after breaking through to five hundred floors?

He would no longer fear the myriad-race prodigies!

Instead, he could clash head-on with them, understand them, and even slay them!

“Five-hundred-floor golden tower…”

In Qin Feng’s mind, the arrogant figure that had brought him thirty years of humiliating flight resurfaced, “Perhaps… I will truly have the chance to kill Yan Sheng!”

At this thought, the battle intent in Qin Feng’s heart blazed fiercely.

Without any further hesitation, after a brief exchange with Caesar, Qin Feng moved his body, activated subspace teleportation, and returned to the Ice Cavern Planet.

This seclusion, his goal was the five-hundred-floor golden tower!

When he emerged, if he encountered Yan Sheng, Qin Feng would surely kill him!

(The chapter ends)