Chapter 256: Snatching the Guluo Bell! Guluo King Inheritance! Weapon Refining Secret Method

Chapter 256: Seizing the Ancient Luo Bell! The Inheritance of the Ancient Luo King! Secret Forging Techniques! A King-Sealing Treasure!

Another decade slipped away in silence.

For galaxy-level powerhouses who often endure monotonous voyages across the boundless universe measured in centuries or millennia, ten years is but a fleeting instant.

Yet within this Ancient Luo King Ruins, a place steeped in death and opportunity, every minute and every second brimmed with extreme peril and unpredictability.

For Qin Feng, these ten years felt as long as passing through several reincarnations.

He strictly followed the map left by the ancient sages, treading as if on thin ice through the labyrinthine palace clusters.

The closer he drew to the core main hall, the heavier and more tangible the kingly majesty pervading the surrounding space became, as if the entire spacetime had turned to amber, trapping everything within.

The forbidden formations inadvertently left behind during past cultivation had multiplied in density and complexity geometrically. They were no longer isolated points but interconnected, weaving an invisible net that covered heaven and earth.

More than once, at some corner, Qin Feng spotted the lusterless bones of alien races or the withered remains of peculiar life forms.

Without exception, they had taken a single misstep, triggering a chain of forbidden formations, and in an instant, every trace of their existence was erased, leaving only these silent warnings.

Relying on his evolved golden-red mental power and his terrifying computational ability far surpassing his peers, Qin Feng navigated past one deadly trap after another with narrow escapes.

Finally, after exhausting a full decade of effort, a colossal, ancient temple far more magnificent and primitive than all the side halls combined appeared at the edge of his perception.

The main hall had arrived.

He halted, concealing himself behind a broken pillar that touched the sky, not rushing to approach.

Out of habit, he silently tallied the gains from this journey in his mind—both to consolidate his own strength and to reaffirm his resolve and goal before the final contest ahead.

The greatest harvest was undoubtedly two invaluable black-hole-level secret techniques.

The first was the forging method recorded on the inheritance stele—[Ancient Luo Hammer].

This secret art was not purely a killing technique but elaborated in detail on how to use mental power as a hammer and cosmic energy as fire to temper rare treasures and forge supreme divine weapons. The Ancient Luo King was renowned among myriad races for his forging skills, and the core value of his inheritance was self-evident.

The second was a enslavement secret technique called [Master Seal].

Once he successfully broke through to the black-hole level, he could immediately begin cultivation, transforming knowledge into tangible combat power.

Beyond that, the harvest of various rare treasures was also abundant.

Even the withered Bodhi Flower alone, with its residual medicinal power, could push his progress toward the "Eternal Singularity" a significant step forward.

Combined with other precious resources collected here and there, Qin Feng had full confidence that after leaving the Ancient Luo King Ruins and undergoing a period of seclusion, he could push his foundation to the limit of the galaxy level, or even knock on the door of the black-hole level!

"Black-hole level…"

Qin Feng's gaze was deep and resolute, silently mouthing this realm title that represented the backbone of the universe.

"Once I achieve the black-hole level, I can truly begin to dabble in formation knowledge constructed from billions of runes, learn spatial theory, and attempt to tear space for faster-than-light travel. Speed is the foundation of everything in the boundless universe."

"By then, going to the 'Thunder Phase Sea' to rescue the descendant of the old friend of Pavilion Master Sun will have more than ten times the chance of success.

And that 'cosmic oddity' of great importance—I will have the qualification and confidence to truly contend for it."

Each goal's realization depended on the completion of the previous one.

The interlocking path of martial arts allowed no slack or luck.

Gathering his mind, Qin Feng cast aside all distracting thoughts.

His gaze pierced through layers of space, landing on the majestic main hall silently standing amidst the ruins.

According to the final mark on the map, the mission item—the largest fragment of the king-sealing treasure "Ancient Luo Bell"—was inside.

He took a deep breath, his form turning into a barely perceptible stream of light, silently merging into the shadow of the main hall's entrance.

Unlike the myriad clan prodigies who would spend decades or even centuries groping through countless forks and dead ends, Qin Feng, possessing the map, was the first living being to arrive here.

In theory, he had an unparalleled time advantage.

If all went smoothly, he could calmly dismantle the forbidden formations, take the Ancient Luo Bell fragment, and complete this cosmic will mission.

Yet reality was often crueler than the worst expectations.

The moment Qin Feng cautiously stepped inside the main hall, a kingly majesty a hundred times more vast and pure than outside surged like a tangible tide.

This majesty was no longer just an aura diffused in space but had transformed into an invisible prison of will, instantly enveloping his body and mind.

His breath caught, the surging energy within him seemed frozen, and even the indestructible tower in his mental sea, spanning ten million light-years, emitted a strained hum under this onslaught.

His bones, flesh, and even soul felt the absolute suppression from a higher life level, like an ant gazing at a divine dragon—insignificant beyond measure.

Qin Feng struggled to circulate the *Canaan Sutra*, golden-red mental power flowing through his body, barely resisting the pressure and stabilizing himself.

He raised his head, his gaze immediately drawn to the scene at the center of the hall.

There, a giant bell with a diameter exceeding ten thousand kilometers, its body a chaotic ancient bronze color, hung silently beneath the hall's dome.

Yet this supreme treasure, meant to suppress eternity, was now shattered.

The bell's surface was covered with terrifying cracks like a spiderweb, large fragments long broken and lost, scattered somewhere in the universe.

What remained was only the core fragment, less than a third of its original volume.

Even so, this fragment still shimmered with billions of flickering, profound runes, each seemingly containing a complete law principle.

They slowly revolved, emitting a terrifying pressure that chilled the heart—the very source of this pressure.

Directly beneath the ancient bell fragment, a white skeleton sat cross-legged, silently narrating the horror of this place.

It was a human skeleton.

From the faint energy fluctuations remaining on its bones, it had been at least a galaxy-level peak powerhouse, one step away from the black-hole level.

Yet his indestructible immortal projection had completely shattered, and his physical vitality had utterly perished.

As endless ages passed, flesh dissolved, Dao resonance dissipated, leaving only this jade-like white skeleton, forever frozen here.

Without doubt, this human predecessor, while attempting to obtain the Ancient Luo Bell fragment, had carelessly triggered the forbidden formations here, ultimately perishing in regret, his soul scattered.

"Here… there is great terror!"

Qin Feng's mind instantly heightened to the extreme, his golden-red mental power cautiously extending like a tide, only to retract like an electric shock the moment it touched the space ahead.

In his mental perception, the entire interior space of the main hall was not empty but filled with dense, overlapping layers of invisible forbidden formations.

These formations were far more subtle, more obscure, and more lethal than those outside.

They were no longer single lines or runes but interconnected and nested in a profoundly mysterious manner, forming a massive, despair-inducing three-dimensional forbidden matrix.

Their number, roughly estimated, was at least several hundred thousand!

Each formation contained a faint yet pure trace of kingly power.

To dismantle them required an immense investment of time and mental effort for precise calculation and erosion.

Qin Feng noticed that a small portion of these formations showed signs of having been dismantled—clearly the "legacy" left by the fallen human predecessor.

"So that's it…"

Qin Feng instantly understood.

These formations were not defensive measures deliberately set by the Ancient Luo King.

No powerhouse would lay such a complex killing array in his own daily cultivation chamber to trouble himself.

These were merely the unconscious emanations of power and law fluctuations from that King-level powerhouse during his endless years of cultivation, artifact forging, and enlightenment of the Great Dao, which naturally merged with the surrounding space to form these creations.

Precisely because they were formed unconsciously, their might was infinitely weaker than a true King-level killing array, granting a faint hope of resolution to Star-level martial artists.

Yet even so, faced with these hundreds of thousands of interwoven and tangled restrictions, the sheer scale of the task was enough to make any living being's scalp tingle with dread.

"I thought arriving first would give me the upper hand. I never imagined such a chasm would lie before me."

Qin Feng's brows knitted tightly. "Breaking these restrictions requires painstaking, time-consuming effort. With that, my greatest advantage—time—is utterly lost."

He knew full well that the myriad-race prodigies without maps, though slower, would eventually find this place.

In as little as ten years, or as many as several decades, when they arrived one after another, he would likely not have cracked even one percent of this restriction matrix.

By then, the situation would revert to square one, perhaps even more disadvantageous for him, alone.

With this thought, Qin Feng hesitated no longer.

Rather than waste time fretting over gains and losses, it was better to act immediately.

He found a relatively safe corner, sat cross-legged, and half-closed his eyes. His vast, sea-like golden-red mental power instantly split into billions of thoughts, beginning a frenzied analysis and deduction of the nearest restriction before him.

Time slipped away in this tedious yet perilous process of unraveling.

One year, two years, five years...

Within the main hall, silence reigned, broken only by the occasional glint of light flashing across the ancient bell fragment, illuminating Qin Feng's motionless, statue-like figure.

In the blink of an eye, ten years had passed in haste.

On this day, at the entrance of the main hall, space rippled faintly, and a figure exuding biting cold appeared silently.

It was a fluid lifeform composed entirely of liquid metal—none other than the prodigy of the Sacred Spirit Water Tribe, Shui Mo.

The moment he entered, he too felt that terrifying kingly pressure, his form twisting violently before he barely managed to adapt.

His gaze swept across the hall, immediately spotting Qin Feng seated in the corner and the fragment of the Ancient Bell suspended at the center.

A flicker of surprise crossed his eyes, quickly replaced by solemnity.

Clearly, he too sensed the terrifying restrictions pervading the entire space.

Shui Mo chose neither to attack nor to make a sound.

He merely cast a deep glance at Qin Feng, then sat cross-legged in another corner, beginning his own attempt to break the restrictions.

In the years that followed, new figures arrived one after another.

A skeletal undead wreathed in ghostly green soul-fire, wielding a massive scythe, each step seeming to tread on the heartbeat of all beings—this was the undead prodigy known on the Hidden Dragon List as "Death Knell."

A mechanical warrior dozens of kilometers tall, built from countless precision components and divine metals, its cold electronic eyes gleaming with red light that analyzed everything—this was Qin Feng's archrival, the mechanical prodigy "Wild."

...

Finally, when the last of the myriad-race prodigies arrived, counting Qin Feng, there were exactly thirteen beings gathered in this main hall.

Besides Wild, Shui Mo, and Death Knell—all three on the Hidden Dragon List—the remaining nine were none other than the top geniuses of their respective races.

As for those who never made it, they had vanished forever into the endless restrictions and mechanisms of the Ancient King's Ruins, becoming part of this relic.

Thirteen top prodigies from different races, natural mortal enemies, now eerily maintained an unspoken understanding.

No one struck first; no one made a rash move.

The reason was simple.

First, within this restriction matrix teeming with lethal traps, any violent energy fluctuation could trigger a catastrophic chain reaction.

If battle erupted, it was highly likely that none would leave alive, ending up like that human predecessor.

Second, and most importantly, the restrictions before them were far too vast and complex.

Everyone knew in their hearts that relying on any single individual to break them in a short time was nothing short of a fool's dream.

It would be an astronomical number measured in "hundreds of thousands of years."

And none of them had that much time to waste here.

Thus, a delicate, fragile peace settled over the entire hall.

Shui Mo, the prodigy of the Sacred Spirit Water Tribe, twisted his liquid metal body into a tiny form resembling a human figure, and slowly spoke, breaking the years-long silence.

"Everyone."

His voice was not loud, but through precise mental fluctuations, it clearly reached the minds of every being present.

"The intensity and complexity of these restrictions here must be clear to all of you.

If we continue to fight alone, each on our own, none of us will be able to break this restriction array within an acceptable time."

Shui Mo's gaze slowly swept across the hall, from Wild's cold mechanical body to Death Knell's burning soul-fire, finally settling on Qin Feng.

"Time is precious to all of us.

Rather than waste thousands or tens of thousands of years here in this meaningless internal strife, why not... temporarily set aside our positions and grudges, and work together?"

His proposal was startling, yet also reasonable.

"I propose that all beings present pool their efforts, concentrate all wisdom and power, and focus on breaking this restriction matrix.

Once the path to the Ancient Bell is fully opened, we can each rely on our own abilities to contend for the final ownership of this opportunity. What say you?"

As his words fell, the hall fell into another deep silence.

The many prodigies exchanged glances, their eyes filled with scrutiny.

Cooperate? Cooperate with these mortal enemies who might stab them in the back at any moment?

It sounded like a joke.

Yet no being could deny that this was the only, and most effective, solution at hand.

Wild's massive mechanical head turned slightly, the red light in his eyes flickering at high speed, clearly conducting a complex cost-benefit analysis.

Death Knell remained silent, but his dancing soul-fire burned even brighter than before, as if pondering the feasibility of the proposal.

Finally, a few prodigies from powerful races, accustomed to navigating complex situations, were the first to respond, nodding slightly in agreement.

The risks were indeed enormous, but compared to being trapped here and wasting hundreds of thousands of years, this risk was worth taking.

With the first to lead, the remaining prodigies quickly made their decisions.

They were all resolute, decisive individuals, quick to grasp the crux of the matter.

Before the restrictions were broken, the risk of a sneak attack far outweighed the reward; no one could guarantee they would escape unscathed from the chain reaction of triggered restrictions after a successful strike.

But after the restrictions were broken, everyone could go all out without worrying about the risks posed by the restrictions.

Thus, a temporary alliance based on absolute rationality and mutual interest became possible.

Finally, all eyes converged on Qin Feng.

Qin Feng slowly opened his eyes, his deep pupils calm and unruffled.

He had shown no objection from the start, because he knew better than anyone that Shui Mo's proposal was correct.

Qin Feng gave a slight nod, signaling his agreement.

Seeing that everyone had reached a consensus, Shui Mo spoke again: "Then let us begin. We shall each take a sector according to our positions, advancing simultaneously to avoid energy conflicts."

Thus, the thirteen peerless prodigies from the pinnacle of all races reached a temporary accord within the bedchamber of the King-Sealing powerhouse.

They dispersed, each finding their own position, and with an unprecedented harmony, their vast mental strength and energy surged simultaneously toward that prohibition matrix, vast as a sea of stars.

...

Within the main hall of the Ancient Luo King’s Ruins, time lost all meaning.

Here, there was no alternation of day and night, no rotation of stars—only the broken ancient bell suspended at the hall’s center, and the hundreds of thousands of prohibitions that surrounded it, flickering densely like a river of stars.

The concept of time stretched into a monotonous, prolonged torment, its sole measure being the glow of prohibitions slowly worn away.

A thousand years passed in the blink of an eye.

For the dozen or so prodigies of all races within the hall, whose lifespans often spanned tens of millennia, this millennium was but a tiny ripple in their cultivation careers.

Yet, it was an exceedingly oppressive and eerie thousand years.

No communication, no words, not even unnecessary eye contact.

Thirteen figures scattered across every corner of the hall, like thirteen silent statues.

Between them, they maintained a fragile and dangerous balance—a temporary alliance forged from shared goals and mutual wariness.

Each being pushed their mental strength to the utmost, carefully extending tendrils to merge with the powers of the other prodigies, collectively analyzing, dismantling, and dissolving the tangled King-Sealing prohibitions.

It was a process of extreme precision and extreme tedium.

Every prohibition contained the Dao resonance unconsciously emitted by the Ancient Luo King during his cultivation; even a single thread was an insurmountable chasm for them, at the galactic level.

They dared not make the slightest mistake—any loss of control over their power could trigger a chain reaction across the entire prohibition cluster. At that point, forget seizing the treasure; leaving a complete corpse here would be a luxury.

Qin Feng sat cross-legged beneath a broken stone pillar, his eyes tightly shut. His gold-red mental strength moved like the most precise engraving knife, weaving through the complex runic structures of the prohibitions.

In a thousand years, he had never relaxed for a single moment.

This millennium of cooperation was also a millennium of observation and speculation. He could clearly perceive the mental fluctuations of the Holy Spirit Water Tribe prodigy, “Shui Mo”—seemingly gentle, yet pervasive and imbued with a terrifying power of assimilation.

He could also detect the mental strength of the Undead Tribe’s “Death Knell”—cold, dead, as if it could strip away all vitality, each contact sending shivers through the soul.

And the Mechanical Tribe’s “Wild”—like an unflagging supercomputing hub, his mental strength manifested as an absolutely rational matrix structure, breaking down prohibitions with optimal efficiency, devoid of any emotional fluctuation.

The other nine prodigies of all races also displayed means and foundations far beyond the ordinary; none were weak.

Qin Feng’s mind was on high alert.

He understood that this seemingly peaceful cooperation was merely the final calm before the storm.

Everyone was like a hunting machine wound tight, waiting only for the moment the last shackle was undone.

A thousand years had reached their end today.

“Hum—”

Accompanied by a soft chime that seemed to come from the ancient wilderness, the last glimmer of prohibition light coiled around the fragment of the Ancient Luo Bell flickered violently like a candle in the wind, then finally dimmed and dissipated entirely.

In an instant, the suffocating pressure of the King-Sealing that had enveloped the entire main hall was released abruptly, like a punctured balloon.

All the prodigies felt a lightness throughout their bodies; the power suppressed for a millennium surged and boiled within them once more, and a long-lost, overwhelming sense of control returned.

The relief lasted less than a ten-thousandth of a second.

“Kill—”

A furious roar tore through the millennium-long silence of the main hall.

A prodigy resembling a wild bull, its body covered in a lava-like carapace, eyes bloodshot, made the first move.

Without a hint of hesitation, his golden mental strength condensed into a solid shockwave, carrying an aura of utter destruction, hurtling straight toward the Ancient Luo Bell fragment a hundred miles away!

Yet, as fast as he moved, someone moved faster!

“Crash—”

Out of nowhere, the vast hall resounded with the roar of towering waves.

Shui Mo of the Holy Spirit Water Tribe—that amorphous, fluid body—instantly expanded and burst, transforming into a boundless deep-blue ocean that filled every inch of the main hall in an instant.

Domain!

Qin Feng’s heart sank heavily.

This was no mere water-element killing technique; it was a higher-level embryonic domain!

Within this deep-blue oceanic domain, space grew viscous and heavy. All non-water beings found their movements greatly hindered, as if trapped under the terrifying pressure of a ten-thousand-meter deep sea.

Yet Shui Mo’s form could manifest instantly at any point in the domain, using any droplet of water.

He trapped all his competitors in place, while his true body turned into a deep-blue streak of light, moving with impossible speed and silence through the ocean he had created, darting toward the Ancient Luo Bell.

This move alone strangled the schemes of most prodigies in their cradle.

But just then, a shrill sound of something tearing through the air rang out.

The Undead Tribe’s “Death Knell”—that withered skeletal frame—had somehow grasped a massive scythe forged from pale bones and solidified souls.

With a single, light swing, a crescent of stark white, solid as reality, swept outward.

Wherever this crescent passed, Shui Mo’s deep-blue domain was forcibly cleaved in two, as if Moses had parted the sea! The dense death laws within the crescent caused the domain’s seawater to hiss and evaporate, temporarily unable to heal.

Then, the soul-fire in Death Knell’s hollow eye sockets blazed up. Several obscure, complex mental-strength runes shot from his fingertips, landing precisely on the ground around the Ancient Luo Bell.

“Necromantic Summoning!”

The ground trembled. Several giant skeletal warriors, a hundred meters tall, burst forth from the earth. Their hollow eye sockets burned with soul-fire of the same origin as Death Knell’s. With heavy strides, they crossed the sundered sea, overtaking Shui Mo and charging toward the Ancient Luo Bell!

On the other side, the Mechanical Tribe’s Wild, the moment the domain appeared, had countless defensive runes light up across his massive mechanical body, countering most of the water pressure.

He did not rush forward. Within his head, composed of a super crystalline brain, countless data streams refreshed at billions of times per second, calculating every variable on the field, seeking the optimal solution.

For him, this kind of competition relying purely on individual burst speed was indeed not the Mechanical Tribe’s strength at the galactic stage.

Only upon advancing to the black hole level, mastering spatial knowledge, and being able to open a portable mechanical space to deploy billions of mechanical legions at will—only then would the Mechanical Tribe become a true calamity on the frontal battlefield.

The other prodigies of all races also revealed their trump cards: bizarre secret arts, devastating killing techniques, some burning their bloodlines, others unleashing rare treasures, all furiously assaulting Shui Mo’s domain, trying to claim a share before the dust settled.

The entire main hall, after a millennium of silence, instantly transformed into a hellscape of rampant energy and seething killing intent.

Yet, amid this chaos, a single, most dazzling, most swift light erupted without warning!

“Crimson Gold Wings!”

Qin Feng’s low shout still rolled in his throat as the limit power armor on his back extended a pair of wings—gorgeous to the extreme, of crimson gold!

These wings were not physical but formed from the energy of a strange artifact containing black-hole-level laws. Molten golden light, like the core of a sun, flowed over them, and each feather shimmered with profound spatial runes.

This was one of the many treasures bestowed upon him by his master, the “Swallowing Sky King,” during the “Empire’s First” coronation ceremony—a genuine black-hole-level secret treasure, specializing in speed!

Hum!

The instant the wings unfurled, the surrounding viscous seawater domain seemed to evaporate and be pushed away by an invisible force!

Qin Feng’s form transformed into a pure, uncatchable streak of crimson gold light, ignoring all spatial barriers, tearing through the battlefield in a manner akin to teleportation!

Too fast!

Every being present, including Shui Mo and Death Knell who had seized the initiative, could only capture a fleeting golden afterimage in their dynamic vision.

Qin Feng’s speed had completely surpassed the limits of their comprehension and reaction!

The skeletal warriors summoned by the death knell, those that seemed closest to the ancient Luo bell, moved before Qin Feng as slowly as snails.

The speed boost from the black hole-level treasure was a dimensionality-reducing strike.

Though the main hall's space was vast, the straight-line distance from where they had broken the prohibition to the ancient Luo bell was no more than a hundred li.

For Qin Feng, who had spurred his crimson-gold wings, this distance was not even an "instant"—it was a process that required a more microscopic unit of time to measure.

By the time Shui Mo's consciousness barely detected that golden light, Qin Feng's hand had already touched the cold, rough surface of the ancient Luo bell fragment.

"Not good!"

On Shui Mo's face, formed of flowing water, there appeared for the first time a violent fluctuation akin to "terror."

"Qin Feng! He's got the ancient Luo bell!"

This sharp mental roar made all the prodigies locked in fierce battle freeze in their movements, then erupt with fury and panic far beyond before.

They feared not Qin Feng himself, but his identity, and the human marquis-level powerhouse currently guarding outside the Ancient Luo King Ruins!

If the ancient Luo bell had been seized by any other prodigy from the myriad races, there would still be room for contention and plunder among them.

But once it fell into the hands of Qin Feng, the legitimate human chief, it meant this contest was already over!

If Qin Feng took the treasure and fled, leaving the Ancient Luo King Ruins, who would dare to chase the empire's chief under the watchful eye of a human marquis?

That wouldn't be seeking fortune—it would be courting death!

At that moment, the marquis would undoubtedly strike without hesitation, slaughtering them all on the spot!

Forget the mission rewards—the ancient Luo bell fragment alone, as a former king-level treasure, held value enough to drive any galaxy-level powerhouse mad!

"Stop him!"

"He must not take it away!"

In an instant, all the prodigies reached a new tacit understanding.

The twelve figures that had been slaughtering each other moments ago now turned all their attacks in one direction, unleashing their strongest killing techniques without reserve upon Qin Feng, who had just touched the ancient Luo bell!

Beams of light, runes engraved with venomous curses, soul blades slicing through space...

The enraged strike of twelve prodigies converged into a multicolored torrent of death, instantly sealing off all of Qin Feng's escape routes.

Facing this concentrated fire that could vaporize a peer in an instant, Qin Feng made a decision that stunned everyone.

He did not dodge, did not block, did not retreat!

Qin Feng chose not to turn back, knowing that any delay would cost him the opportunity.

He poured all his faith and power into his foundational path!

"Indestructible Tower!"

A roar from the depths of his soul, and a vast, ancient tower phantom, a million light-years tall, suddenly emerged from within Qin Feng, shielding him firmly at its center.

This tower was no longer pure gold.

Baptized by the Bodhi flower, its body now bore a noble, golden-red hue, as if forged from divine blood and gold.

On its surface, countless arcane runes swirled endlessly, radiating an aura of eternal immortality.

Boom—!

The torrent of death and the golden-red Indestructible Tower collided head-on.

Crack... crack, crack, crack...

A crisp sound, like shattering glass, echoed unceasingly in Qin Feng's soul.

His proud, unbreakable Indestructible Tower, under the combined strike of twelve top-tier prodigies of the same rank, instantly sprouted a web of dense cracks across its surface!

An unimaginable force of rebound, penetrating the Indestructible Tower, struck Qin Feng's body directly.

"Pfft—"

Qin Feng spat out a mouthful of golden blood mixed with fragments of his organs. His face turned deathly pale, and his aura withered to its extreme.

But his eyes, burning with flames, stared fixedly at the ancient Luo bell before him. The determination and madness in his gaze made even the distant prodigies of myriad races shudder.

He had withstood it!

Relying on his golden-red quality foundation, elevated by the Bodhi flower, he had forcibly endured that fatal blow!

Just as the tower was about to shatter, Qin Feng's fingers suddenly exerted force, instantly storing the immensely heavy ancient Luo bell fragment into his subspace storage unit.

Treasure secured!

"Go!"

Only one thought filled Qin Feng's mind.

Suppressing the soul-tearing pain, he frantically drove his crimson-gold wings, nearly depleted of energy, and turned to flee along the path he had come, charging out of this trap-laden main hall.

Yet, at that moment.

Rumble—

The entire space of the Ancient Luo King Ruins began to tremble and shake violently!

The main hall's dome, walls, and floor simultaneously lit up with countless long-dormant prohibition patterns, like ancient chains awakened, erupting with destructive light.

The hall began to collapse; space shattered like a broken mirror, fragmenting inch by inch.

An immense, boundless, irresistible force, like the maw of a colossal beast, instantly enveloped and pulled at Qin Feng's body.

The scene before him twisted and spun violently, finally dissolving into a pure, blinding white light.

When the other prodigies of myriad races recovered from the shock, Qin Feng's figure, along with the terrifying force that had triggered the spatial collapse, had vanished from the spot.

Only a main hall accelerating into ruin remained, along with the complex expressions on their faces—a mix of helplessness, resentment, and relief.

...

White.

A pure, utterly unblemished, boundless white.

Here, there was no up or down, no passage of time, not even the concept of matter or energy.

It was a strange space between existence and nothingness, as if within the depths of some great being's mind.

Qin Feng's consciousness awoke from a brief chaos.

He found his body completely unharmed, the severe injuries he had suffered seeming like nothing but a dream.

But he could clearly sense that the ancient Luo bell fragment he had stored in his subspace unit lay quietly within, proving that all that had happened was no illusion.

As he warily surveyed his surroundings, the white space before him shimmered, and a faint humanoid silhouette slowly took shape.

Qin Feng could not discern the face of this phantom, as if an eternal mist shrouded it.

But he could clearly see, behind the silhouette, a pair of enormous wings formed of holy radiance, spread wide.

An aura of majesty, far surpassing galaxy, black hole, or even domain lord levels—vast as the primordial cosmos—emanated from the phantom.

This majesty was not aggressive, yet it made Qin Feng's soul instinctively feel awe and insignificance.

"Human..."

An ancient and serene voice resounded.

This voice did not propagate through vibrations, but echoed directly within Qin Feng's consciousness, deep in his soul.

"I am the Sovereign, King Guluo."

The phantom spoke faintly, each word seeming to carry the weight of an entire world.

"This is the last vestige of my spiritual imprint left in this world, and soon... it will be utterly exhausted."

Qin Feng's heart trembled violently. He forcibly suppressed the turmoil within and listened in silence.

"Human,"

the phantom of King Guluo seemed to "gaze" at Qin Feng, a look that appeared to pierce through time and space, seeing through all his past, "I can sense that you have performed acts of kindness toward the Featherfolk civilization.

A trace of goodwill from the Featherfolk clings to you."

Featherfolk?

Qin Feng's thoughts raced. He recalled a long time ago, when he had once aided a Featherfolk civilization, slaying a Featherfolk cultivator who had been corrupted into a Khorne daemon, and afterward leaving behind some cultivation knowledge.

That had been a trivial matter in his long martial career, long forgotten, yet now, here and today, it was brought up by this fallen Featherfolk king-level powerhouse, who had perished countless years ago.

"Are you willing to accept my legacy? All my Guluo Artifact Refining techniques?"

In the phantom's voice was a faint, barely perceptible hint of expectation.

"If you are willing, avenge me, and I will entrust to you all my remaining resources and the complete legacy.

I have sealed them somewhere in the universe."

"Moreover, I can grant you the method to use this remnant fragment of the Guluo Bell, allowing you... to briefly activate a portion of its power."

The phantom quietly "watched" Qin Feng, awaiting his answer.

Qin Feng fell silent.

The complete legacy of a king-level powerhouse, along with the resources amassed over a lifetime!

What an earth-shattering opportunity!

It would drive any domain lord, even a marquis, to madness!

But in contrast, there was the enemy of a king-level powerhouse.

The being capable of slaying King Guluo must possess power that transcends heaven and earth, far beyond what Qin Feng could currently imagine.

This was a choice where opportunity and risk coexisted to the extreme.

After a moment, Qin Feng raised his head, the hesitation in his eyes turning into resolve.

The path of martial arts was inherently defying the heavens; without the determination to cut through thorns and press forward, how could one ever reach the summit?

He faced the phantom and nodded solemnly: "I am willing."

"Hmm..."

King Guluo seemed to let out a satisfied sigh.

"He who killed me is Golden Emperor. He is a cosmic beast of the Golden Armor Beast clan."

"If you one day attain the Dao and become an emperor, you may take my token and avenge me. If... you truly lack the strength, then give up. But you must deliver my complete legacy to the Featherfolk Empire."

"Furthermore, all my remaining resources and the artifact-refining secrets I devoted my life to are sealed deep within the 'Furnace Homestead.'

The coordinates of Furnace Homestead are..."

King Guluo's voice slowly spoke an immensely complex cosmic coordinate spanning several universe quadrants.

After speaking, a faint light gathered at the tip of the phantom's finger, and a golden page shimmering with the light of profound laws materialized before Qin Feng.

It was the cosmic artifact he had seen before—the "Contract."

Without hesitation, Qin Feng immediately separated a strand of his original spiritual imprint and deeply engraved it onto the golden contract page.

The contract instantly burned, transforming into a streak of light that merged into his body, signifying that an agreement witnessed by the origin of the universe was formally established.

"Good."

The phantom nodded, then once again extended a finger and pointed from afar at Qin Feng's brow.

A dazzling streak of light shot forth, transforming into an indescribable, vast torrent of information that surged into Qin Feng's mind.

It was the detailed structural diagram and activation runes of the Guluo Bell fragment.

"With your current strength, you can activate the Guluo Bell for an instant..."

"Remember our agreement..."

Having done all this, the phantom of King Guluo grew even dimmer and more transparent, as if it might dissipate in the wind at any moment.

His majestic figure, with a hint of release and a hint of expectation, cast one last deep look at Qin Feng.

Then, like snow under sunlight, it turned into billions of specks of light, slowly dissolving into this pure white space, leaving no trace behind.

A king of his generation had thus completely vanished.

(End of this chapter)