Chapter 325: Shocking the Cloud Bat Marquis! He is Number One on the Genius List?! Once Gave

Chapter 325: Shocking Marquis Yunfu! He is the top of the Heaven’s Pride List?! Once a guardian for Qin Feng, now saved by him!

What?!

The Fierce God? Qin Feng?!

These two words seemed to carry a terrifying, reality-warping magic.

The light-speed strike of Marquis Daotang and the eternal, mountain-crushing blow of Marquis Panshi actually faltered, a hesitation so infinitesimal it was almost impossible to perceive.

A mere millisecond of hesitation!

For a Marquis-level powerhouse, such a momentary lapse might be trivial in a normal battle.

But here, in this place, before this Fierce God, this single flaw had already pronounced their death sentence.

In their pupils, almost simultaneously, flashed a look of horror and disbelief identical to that of Marquis Xiegu.

The weight of this name was simply too heavy!

Heavy enough to make any Marquis-level powerhouse, who traversed the universe and claimed hegemony over their own domain, tremble to their core and shake their very Dao heart!

It was a supreme, fearsome reputation forged over the last tens of thousands of years on the battlefields of the young generation of all races, watered by endless slaughter and blood!

It was a terrifying code name that had annihilated a million-strong army of all races on the Island of Death, single-handedly chilling the hearts of countless prodigies!

It was the legend of one who had slain the Blood-Slaughter Marquis!

It was... a monster in human skin, one who should never be measured by the "Domain Lord" realm!

However, the realization came too late.

At the very instant their composure shattered, Qin Feng made his move.

Facing the world-destroying, thunderous strikes of two intermediate Marquises, his expression remained unchanged from start to finish. Those deep eyes were like two black holes devouring eternity, calm as an ancient well, without a single ripple.

It was as if what was about to strike him was not a life-or-death blow from powerful Marquises, but two insignificant specks of dust.

He did not dodge, did not parry, and did not even adopt a defensive stance.

He simply, slowly, raised the long spear in his hand.

Hum—

A hum, so faint it was almost inaudible, emanated from within his body.

The Nine Killings Sutra, ninth level, quietly activated.

An invisible, indescribable, and terrifying aura, like an ancient beast that had slept for billions of years, awakened at this moment!

A sublimation of "quality" derived from the very essence of life, from the foundation of existence itself!

His strength, in this instant, received a ninefold amplification!

This star field, already shattered by their battle, groaned under the weight of this aura.

The surrounding violent spiritual energy turbulence, faced with this presence, acted like subjects meeting their monarch; it was instantly smoothed out, suppressed, and rendered utterly docile.

The Star-Swallowing spear in his hand did not execute any earth-shattering technique, nor did it evolve into any complex or profound moves.

It was just a simple, forward thrust.

A movement of ultimate purity.

But this simple thrust contained the ultimate speed and the ultimate power of this universe.

Ten thousand times the speed of light!

The moment Qin Feng’s spear tip moved, the concepts of time and space seemed to be thoroughly blurred and pierced by this single strike.

To Marquis Yunfu in the distance, and the terrified Marquis Xiegu, the entire world, the entire universe, all colors, all sounds, and all laws vanished at this moment.

In their vision, in their perception, and in the depths of their souls, only one thing remained.

It was a light.

A brilliant, white-gold point of light, indescribable in words and incomprehensible to the mind.

That point of light ignited from the tip of Qin Feng’s spear.

It was small, so small it seemed like a mere speck of dust.

Yet it was vast, so vast it seemed like the collection of all light and energy in the universe, a "primordial singularity" about to create or destroy the world.

The moment the light ignited, Marquis Daotang’s lethal bone blade and Marquis Panshi’s crushing divine mountain, despite being mere inches away, seemed to fall into eternal stillness.

Then, that point of light flashed and vanished.

There was no process.

It was as if the moment it lit up, it had already arrived wherever it intended to go.

Striking later but arriving first.

Its trajectory was perfectly precise, simultaneously striking Marquis Daotang’s "Lethal" Dao Seal, filled with tyranny and slaughter, and Marquis Panshi’s heavy, eternal "Suppression" Dao Seal.

The next moment, a scene occurred that would haunt Marquis Yunfu and Marquis Xiegu forever, becoming their eternal nightmare.

An "annihilation" that made one tremble and feel cold from the depths of their soul.

A silent, thorough erasure from the conceptual level.

The indestructible Dao Seals, which had condensed the life's work and Dao insights of two intermediate Marquises, were like fresh snow under the warm spring sun, or fragile ice crystals thrown into lava, before that brilliant white-gold point of light.

First, the billions of runes flowing upon them dimmed instantly, and then, the bodies of the Dao Seals, harder than the universe’s toughest divine metal, sprouted spiderweb-like cracks.

Finally, in less than a millisecond, the two powerful Dao Seals silently began to melt, disintegrate, and decompose... eventually turning into the most primal and pure spiritual energy particles in the universe, returning completely to nothingness.

Crushing and decaying!

Overbearing and peerless!

This scene completely overturned Marquis Yunfu and Marquis Xiegu’s understanding of power.

Dao Seals were the foundation of a Marquis-level powerhouse, the manifestation of their Dao, and the source of their strength!

Even for peers, wounding one was incredibly difficult, let alone annihilating it so casually in an instant?!

What kind of terrifying power was this?!

And this was only the beginning.

With their Dao Seals shattered, their masters naturally suffered unimaginable backlash.

"Puff!"

"Urgh—!"

Marquis Daotang and Marquis Panshi, these two Marquis-level powerhouses who had just been arrogant and viewed Qin Feng as an ant, were struck by the equivalent of billions of lightning bolts the moment their Dao Seals were destroyed. Their souls felt as if they had been smashed by an invisible giant hammer, and they instantly suffered irreversible, grievous wounds.

Their consciousness fell into a brief void of intense pain.

Yet, they didn't even have time to process this agony.

Because the peerless penetrating force that had pierced their Dao Seals continued unabated, still carrying the terrifying attribute of "annihilation," and precisely pierced through their physical bodies.

Their bodies were powerful treasures, tempered a thousand times over, capable of bathing in the cores of stars and traversing the edges of black holes.

But before the power unleashed by Qin Feng’s [Limit Body], all this sturdiness was as fragile as paper.

No blood sprayed, no limbs were severed.

Their collapse began from within.

From the moment the spear’s point touched the most infinitesimal particle, an irresistible force of dissolution instantly surged through their entire being.

Their cells, their genes, their soul imprints—every concept that constituted their existence was erased at the root by this single strike.

Their bodies, like sandcastles stripped of every load-bearing pillar, crumbled from the inside out, silently turning into the most primitive cosmic dust.

From soul to flesh, this was a total, irreversible, and absolute death.

It took no more than a single breath.

A single strike.

Two intermediate Marquises, capable of dominating vast star sectors and striking terror into countless lives, were annihilated, body and soul.

Following their fall, the entire battlefield plunged into a silence of eerie, absolute stillness.

The previously raging turbulence of psionic energy subsided.

The ripples of laws capable of tearing stars asunder dissipated.

Only the figure in black power armor remained, standing quietly with spear in hand, as if he had merely brushed two specks of dust from his shoulder, having performed a trivial, unremarkable task.

The tip of the dark-gold Star-Swallowing Spear hung naturally, yet in the eyes of the Evil Bone Marquis and the Cloud Bat Marquis, it no longer pointed at the void of space, but at the cycle of life and death for the entire universe.

He possessed no Dao Seal.

Indeed, from beginning to end, he had not emitted a single ripple of a Dao Seal belonging to a Marquis-level powerhouse.

Yet he himself—that frame which appeared not particularly imposing—was a presence more terrifying, more overbearing, and more unreasonable than any Dao Seal.

His "Limit Body" granted him a physical form that transcended the laws.

His "Pure Black Quality" mental power granted him a will that perceived every flaw.

His heart of slaughter, forged through ten thousand years of death matches in the blood-stained arena and tempered against the will of the Evil God, combined to form a terrifying strength that defied common logic, allowing him to crush all peers and even challenge those of higher rank!

"Gulp..."

In the dead silence of the battlefield, a strained swallowing sound echoed.

No, it was not a swallow, but the vibration of the Evil Bone Marquis’s soul, instinctively contracting and trembling in the grip of ultimate terror.

His massive, light-year-long skeletal centipede body shuddered violently, like a withered leaf in a storm, ready to be torn apart at any moment.

The compound eyes on his countless limbs stared fixedly at Qin Feng, his pupils contracted to the limit; the figure reflected within them was, to him, ten thousand, a hundred million times more terrifying than his deepest fear.

As he witnessed his two companions—intermediate Marquises whose strength matched his own—obliterated from this universe, their Dao Seals, bodies, and soul origins erased by a single strike, the last shred of hope in his heart vanished.

It was truly him!

The intelligence was correct!

The Heaven’s Pride Ranking was correct!

This monster... this monster wearing the skin of a Domain Lord... he was no Domain Lord at all!

No!

In the mind of the Evil Bone Marquis, legends flashed like a frantic slide show:

"One man breaks ten thousand troops; on the Island of Dead Meteors, he annihilated a million geniuses of all races with a flip of his hand!"

"Instant killing of five Domain Lords, his murderous aura causing the heavens and earth to lose their color!"

"Ten thousand years of bloody battle; in the Evil God’s arena, as a mere Domain Lord, he slew an intermediate Marquis!"

...

Once, he had dismissed these as stories, as legends, as the empty boasting of the human race.

Only today, only at this moment, did he understand from the depths of his soul that those legends were not exaggerated—they had, in fact, vastly underestimated the terror of the man before him!

Flee!

This was the only thought remaining in his mind, the clearest and most intense.

Without hesitation.

Without a shred of luck.

He dared not even utter a polite word, fearing it might draw the slightest bit of the man's attention.

The Evil Bone Marquis’s massive skeletal centipede body twisted violently!

"BOOM—!!!"

The origin power within him was ignited at this moment, regardless of the cost!

Blazing soul fire erupted from every segment of his white bones; this was not an attack, but a forbidden technique that traded self-mutilation for an instantaneous burst of power!

Burning a portion of his own origin Dao Seal!

For any Marquis-level powerhouse, this was a grievous cost that damaged the foundation of one's Great Dao, requiring countless years to recover.

But the Evil Bone Marquis did not even blink.

Because he knew clearly that compared to his life, compared to being erased from this universe by that man’s spear, this price was the most profitable bargain in the world!

Driven by the terrifying propulsion of his burning origin, his massive body instantly erupted with speed beyond his own limits, transforming into a distorted white streak of light that tore through space and fled frantically in the direction opposite to Qin Feng!

He was so fast that he left behind a lingering spatial afterimage.

His posture—resolute, panicked, and desperate—was as if he were being pursued not by a man, but by a god of slaughter.

...

The starry sky was dead silent; the psionic turbulence left by the collapsing Dao Seals raged and roared in this shattered asteroid belt like the jagged, brilliant wounds of a cosmic giant.

The Evil Bone Marquis’s light-year-long demonic body was currently fleeing in despair, in a manner never seen before.

His billions of bone-forged limbs paddled frantically, each stroke tearing through a layer of fragile space, performing highly unstable short-range spatial jumps.

The violent spatial turbulence, like billions of invisible blades, cut fiercely into his bone armor, sparking blinding energy and bringing pain that pierced to the soul.

Yet he paid it no mind, not even letting out a groan, for compared to the shadow of death cast by the man behind him, this pain was like a gentle breeze.

Run! Must run!

Use every means, spare no cost!

This was the only thought in his mind, driven by the instinctual fear from the deepest part of his soul.

"Explode! Explode! Let them all explode!"

The Evil Bone Marquis’s divine sense roared frantically; in his storage space, those treasures of the lower-Marquis level—once treated as precious, collected over endless years and resources—were now cast behind him like garbage, without a moment's hesitation.

A broken ancient bell, its body covered in cracks, once capable of suppressing a star sector;

A bone shield engraved with a demon totem, its light dim, once having withstood a fatal blow from an equal;

A shattered war spear, its tip still retaining a trace of unyielding killing intent, once having pierced the chests of countless powerful enemies...

Dozens of such treasures, each carrying the lifeblood and glory of a Marquis-level powerhouse, each enough to drive ordinary Domain Lords to madness and incite a bloodbath.

But now, their only destiny, under the frantic, desperate command of the Evil Bone Marquis’s divine sense, was to transform into brilliant fireworks intended to stall the footsteps of the Grim Reaper.

Boom! Boom! Boom-rumble—!

A series of explosions erupted across the silent, desolate expanse of the starry void.

A terrifying storm of spiritual energy swept outward in a display of pure devastation; laws annihilated in the collision, and the resonance of the Dao shattered amidst the blast.

Every blooming "firework" birthed a chaotic, lawless dead zone, and as they converged, they wove a vast, boundless graveyard where any living soul caught within would be torn into its most fundamental particles in an instant.

This was the Bone-Evil Marquis’s path to survival.

He had sacrificed the legacies of dozens of Marquis-level powerhouses to pave his escape, believing that even if he could stall that man for a mere heartbeat, it would be worth it!

Yet, from the heart of this destructive storm—a tempest that would make any intermediate Marquis recoil in terror—a single figure emerged, strolling as if on a leisurely walk through a garden.

Qin Feng’s gaze remained calm, a pool of still water, as if the cataclysmic scene before him were nothing more than a trivial, flickering mirage.

He took a single, simple step.

The movement appeared languid, yet it seemed to traverse the very boundaries of space and time, shrinking the distance of the world into a mere inch.

His form blurred, merging with the void itself, and in the next heartbeat, he had passed through the absolute death zone created by the self-destruction of dozens of Marquis-grade treasures, appearing silently behind the Bone-Evil Marquis.

Unhurried, steady, and composed.

His demeanor was not that of a hunter pursuing a peer, but rather a cat toying with a mouse, filled with absolute control and indifferent mockery.

The violent spiritual energy unleashed by the Bone-Evil Marquis’s detonated treasures was effortlessly repelled the moment it neared within three feet of Qin Feng, pushed aside by a faint, pale light reminiscent of moonlight.

It was the radiance naturally emitted by his Limitless Body, an absolute domain forged from pure, ultimate physical strength.

Invulnerable to all laws, repelling all evil!

Before this body that had already stepped onto the "Path of God," the storm was no different than a gentle breeze brushing against his face.

"He... he caught up!"

When the Bone-Evil Marquis’s hyper-sensitive spiritual perception once again sensed that calm, nightmarish presence clinging to his back, his face—composed of countless compound eyes—revealed for the first time a despair more terrifying than death itself.

His soul shivered in terror!

His very spirit shattered!

The desperate, self-sacrificial measures he took such pride in were utterly pathetic before this man!

This monster... this god of slaughter... just how powerful had he become?!

"Damn it! Damn it all!!!"

The Bone-Evil Marquis let out a silent, shrill roar in his heart; extreme fear and the primal urge to survive intertwined, birthing a final, desperate madness.

He knew that conventional means had lost all meaning; to survive, he had to unleash his final trump card—the one he had never dared to use, even in his darkest hour!

"Roar—!"

A bestial cry, as if echoing from the primordial dawn of time, exploded from the deepest core of the Bone-Evil Marquis’s soul.

Following this, a palm-sized metal fragment, rusted and unremarkable, appearing as though it might crumble into dust at any moment, drifted slowly from his core.

The shard looked entirely ordinary, devoid of even a flicker of spiritual fluctuation.

Yet, the moment it appeared in the starry void, a vast, ancient, and overbearing aura—as if a supreme "King" stood above all beings in the universe—erupted and expanded!

Hum—!

The entire starry sky seemed to be gripped by an invisible, colossal hand!

Space-time froze, spiritual energy stilled, and even Qin Feng, with his body moving at ten thousand times the speed of light, felt a microscopic suppression originating from a higher plane of existence, causing his speed to falter.

This was a genuine weapon fragment belonging to a "King-level" monster powerhouse! It was a supreme treasure the Bone-Evil Marquis had obtained ninety thousand years ago, having survived a nine-in-ten chance of death while raiding an ancient ruin!

A mere fragment, carrying the lingering resonance of a King’s Dao, was enough to suppress a region of space-time, rendering ordinary Marquis-level powerhouses unable to move a single finger.

At this moment, to save his life, a flash of agonizing pain and resolve crossed the Bone-Evil Marquis’s eyes.

"Explode... for... me!"

Without hesitation, he detonated this priceless treasure—a relic that could have bought him vast resources or even a glimpse into the King’s Dao!

He knew clearly that no matter how precious an object was, it was worth nothing compared to his own life.

As long as the green hills remain, there will be wood to burn. But if he fell here today, everything would be for naught!

Boom-rumble—!!!

A terrifying energy storm, billions of times more powerful than the combined detonation of the previous dozens of treasures, swept outward from the fragment!

It was not a mere explosion of spiritual energy, but the collapse and annihilation of laws on a higher plane!

The fragments of the King-level Dao resonance released their final brilliance in destruction, forming a brief, absolute zone of chaotic law.

Within this region, time, space, the five elements, and causality—everything was churned into a chaotic paste.

The Bone-Evil Marquis utilized this unimaginable recoil, frantically burning his own essence. His massive skeletal form turned ethereal in an instant, transforming into a streak of light nearly impossible for any divine sense to track, plunging into the chaotic zone and vanishing into the depths of the universe.

Qin Feng stopped outside the epicenter of the King-level resonance explosion.

He watched the direction in which the Bone-Evil Marquis had vanished, and for the first time, his calm, unruffled eyes furrowed slightly.

The detonation of the King-level fragment had indeed caused him a minor inconvenience.

Even with his Limitless Body, rushing into that zone of chaotic law would incur unnecessary obstacles. To pursue him would require a significant expenditure of effort.

He quickly weighed the pros and cons in his heart.

An intermediate Marquis, fleeing in a panic and forced to burn his essence and detonate a King-level treasure, had already lost all threat.

Wasting time and energy to hunt him down was far less practical than securing the rich spoils of war lying right before him.

"So be it."

With a flick of his thought, Qin Feng abandoned the pursuit.

His divine sense, like an invisible tide, instantly swept across the devastated battlefield.

The Blade-Mantis Marquis and the Rock-Solid Marquis, those two arrogant intermediate powerhouses, had been erased by a single strike of the "Inch-Light." Though their bodies and Dao seals had turned to cosmic dust, their storage artifacts and the remnants of their shattered Dao seals still drifted quietly in the void.

Beyond that, there were the remains of the dozens of lower-tier Marquis treasures the Bone-Evil Marquis had discarded and detonated.

For any Marquis-level powerhouse, these items represented an unimaginably vast fortune.

With a sweep of Qin Feng’s divine sense, the scattered spoils of war transformed into streaks of light, all gathered into his possession.

Having finished, he hovered in the void, his gaze calmly scanning the emptiness as he softly uttered two words.

"Furnace!"

Hum—!

As his voice fell, the space behind him began to twist and collapse violently.

A phantom furnace, so massive it defied description and appeared to be forged from the smelting of a billion stars, descended from thin air!

The furnace was a deep, ancient dark gold, its surface etched with complex, ultimate runes that seemed alive, flowing slowly; each flicker resonated with the laws of the surrounding universe.

The furnace’s mouth resembled a slowly rotating micro-black hole, emitting a terrifying suction capable of devouring all things, as if it intended to swallow the entire sea of stars.

The Primal Furnace!

Capable of refining all things, returning them to their origin!

Qin Feng’s expression remained indifferent as he waved his hand.

The two intermediate Marquises he had just slain—the Blade Mantis Marquis and the Rock Marquis—had their essence particles, which contained the distilled wisdom of their lifelong cultivation, pulled by an invisible force into two brilliant rivers of stars that poured into the furnace.

Following them were the dozens of shattered Marquis-grade artifacts, along with the fragments of the King-grade treasure detonated by the Evil Bone Marquis, its spiritual energy still lingering.

He cast everything into that Primordial Furnace, which radiated a terrifying aura, as if he were merely discarding scrap metal.

Boom!

Inside the furnace, it felt as if a true sun had been ignited.

Raging flames surged, and billions of chains of order intertwined and ground against each other, attempting to decompose everything within into its most primal energy.

Yet, for the first time, even the omnipotent Primordial Furnace encountered a moment of "sluggishness."

The physical bodies of Marquis-level powerhouses had long been tempered by their own "Dao Seals"; every cell and every inch of bone contained the indestructible imprint of their Dao.

As for the Marquis-grade artifacts, they were forged from rare cosmic materials, far sturdier than ordinary matter.

Qin Feng could clearly feel waves of immense, stubborn resistance emanating from within the furnace.

The fire roared, the chains ground relentlessly, producing a teeth-gritting, screeching sound.

Under the heat of the Primordial Fire, those high-grade materials were decomposing, but the rate of dissolution was agonizingly slow.

A minute passed... inside the furnace, the essence particles of the Blade Mantis and Rock Marquises resisted stubbornly, emitting the final radiance of their respective Daos. The remnants of the artifacts bobbed in the flames, their spiritual light dim, yet they clung to their core forms.

Two minutes passed... the resistance began to wane, the Dao imprints were ground away bit by bit, and cracks appeared in the cores of the artifacts.

Three minutes later!

With a roar that seemed to echo from the dawn of the universe, under the relentless, cost-no-object refining of the Primordial Furnace, all resistance was finally pulverized!

Every scrap of matter—be it the Dao-infused Marquis bodies or the immortal artifact remnants—was at this moment completely decomposed, purified, and restructured!

Then, it was all absorbed by Qin Feng’s Limitless Array, converted into nourishment for his own physical ascension.

Qin Feng’s divine sense stirred.

Pure black spiritual power swept through the void.

Two fist-sized, perfectly rhombic crystals drifted slowly from the raging flames, finally coming to a silent rest in the palm of his hand.

These crystals radiated a brilliance so intense that billions of star systems seemed to swirl within them, possessing a dreamlike, ethereal beauty.

These were the Marquis-grade soul crystals, refined from the absolute essence of two intermediate Marquises!

The quality and sheer magnitude of the soul energy contained within far surpassed anything he had obtained from Domain Lords.

A flicker of satisfaction crossed Qin Feng’s eyes.

According to the records of the "Intelligent Devouring Secret Art," an AI created with soul crystals of this caliber as its core would possess a growth potential and ceiling that was truly "Marquis-level"!

To Qin Feng, this was a priceless treasure!

It meant he would possess a "soul pasture" capable of growing to the Marquis level.

Once its soul reached maturity, devouring it would provide a boost to his own soul strength thousands, even tens of thousands of times greater than the Domain Lord-level AIs of the past!

This was the true cornerstone for the future explosive growth of his soul power!

With this done, the starfield returned to an absolute, deathly silence.

...

When that illusory furnace, seemingly forged from the stars of the cosmos, had completely erased all traces of the two intermediate Marquises and extracted the two brilliant soul crystals, it quietly vanished behind Qin Feng.

The shattered asteroid belt fell into a state of total stillness.

Nearby, the Cloud Bat Marquis’s broken Dao Seal continued to leak essence, and his cracked body still bled golden blood, but his eyes had lost their focus. He hung in the cold void, motionless as a statue weathered by eons.

His mind, once capable of simulating billions of formation changes in an instant, was now a void of chaos and blankness.

"In an instant... slaying two of the same rank... scaring off a third..."

These words echoed deep within his soul, and each time they resonated, they caused his Dao heart—a heart tempered over millions of years and thought to be indestructible—to tremble with a violence that threatened to shatter it.

"Is... is this something a Domain Lord can do?"

His throat bobbed, but he could produce no sound.

He had witnessed it all: from the sudden appearance of that figure, to the casual thrust of a spear, to the two powerful enemies who had hounded him for months and brought him to the brink of death, vanishing like foam under the sun.

What kind of overbearing power was this?

What kind of terrifying realm was this?

This was not a battle; this was a dimensional strike!

This was a god looking down upon ants!

A tempest raged in the Cloud Bat Marquis’s heart. He felt as if the worldview he had constructed over millions of years had been utterly shattered, trampled underfoot, and ground into dust.

He had witnessed what it meant to be "unreasonable," what it meant to "defy the heavens."

"Qin Feng..."

He struggled to search for the name in his chaotic memory.

He had heard it in the sharp, terrified, and distorted roar of the Evil Bone Marquis’s soul.

It sounded familiar.

It seemed he had heard it in the not-so-distant past.

Fragments of memory, like the wreckage of broken stars, slowly pieced themselves together in his sea of consciousness.

Scenes began to emerge: an ancient, magnificent ruin, permeated with the sorrowful aura of fallen immortal kings.

The Ancient Luo King Ruins!

Yes, that was it.

At the time, he had been one of the guardians dispatched by the Human Holy Academy, tasked with holding the line and securing opportunities for the top-tier prodigies of the clan.

In his memory, there was a young figure, also wielding a long spear, eyes resolute, standing amidst the encirclement of the prodigies of ten thousand races, his edge sharp and unyielding.

That young man was named Qin Feng.

The moment this thought surfaced, the Cloud Bat Marquis was struck as if by lightning. His entire body shuddered, and his eyes revealed a look of shock and disbelief even greater than when he had seen the two Marquises slaughtered.

"The Ancient Luo King Ruins..."

He muttered to himself, his voice parched. "That was... only forty thousand years ago, wasn't it?"

Forty thousand years!

What did this unit of time mean to a Marquis-level powerhouse who had lived for several epochs?

It might be nothing more than a brief seclusion to comprehend a secret technique.

It might just be the time consumed by a long-distance voyage across the cosmos.

Forty thousand years ago, that junior had needed him and a group of Marquis-level powerhouses for protection just to safely compete for opportunities in the King Ruins.

Forty thousand years later, at the desperate moment when he was about to perish, that same youth had descended like a god, and with a casual strike, had slain his powerful enemies and saved his life.

This rate of growth utterly subverted every understanding he held regarding the meaning of cultivation.

Not even the legendary scions born of the universe’s own will, nor the monstrous entities slumbering since the primordial age, could possess such a terrifying trajectory of growth!

“...”

Marquis Cloudbat shook his head violently, a crucial realization dawning upon him.

Ever since he narrowly escaped that ancient ruin with his life and obtained that monumental stroke of fortune, he had been hunted by the powerhouses of ten thousand races.

In the thousand years of flight and pursuit that followed, he had been severed from the outside world, his every faculty consumed by the singular struggle for survival.

Thus, he remained ignorant of how the name “Qin Feng” had, in these mere forty thousand years, stirred up such a horrific storm of blood across the entire cosmos.

“The Prodigy Roll!”

Gripped by extreme shock and doubt, Marquis Cloudbat endured the soul-searing agony of his shattered Dao Seal to project a sliver of divine sense, linking with the omnipresent will of the universe.

Within the vast torrent of information, his will precisely input the three characters: “Prodigy Roll.”

Hum!

A colossal scroll, seemingly woven from the light of a billion stars, slowly unfurled within his sea of consciousness.

Countless names shimmered upon the list, each representing the pinnacle achievement of the younger generation within a galaxy or civilization, each possessing boundless potential.

Marquis Cloudbat’s gaze bypassed the dense throng of names below, casting itself directly toward the very summit of the roll.

There, a single name radiated an unprecedented brilliance, as if a billion stars were detonating in unison.

The light was so searing, so domineering, that all the names beneath it appeared dim and lusterless, like fireflies competing with the moon.

The radiance threatened to blind his eyes and pierce his very soul.

[Prodigy Roll] First Place: Qin Feng (Human Race)

Title: God of Slaughter

The moment he read those characters, Marquis Cloudbat’s breath hitched.

His heart skipped a beat.

His soul felt as though it were being crushed by an invisible, gargantuan hand.

It was truly him!

Truly that junior from forty thousand years ago!

His gaze, as if drawn by a magnet, remained locked upon the lines of harrowing combat records inscribed in Great Dao runes below.

Combat Records:

—Dead Meteor Island: Single-handedly annihilated a million-strong army of ten thousand races, including numerous Marquis-level powerhouses.

—Bloody Arena: Engaged in a ten-thousand-year death struggle with the intermediate Marquis Blood-Butcher, stealing the enemy’s Dao from the jaws of despair, ultimately turning their own power against them to slay a Marquis.

—Confronted the descending will of the Chaos Evil God “Khorne,” resisting divine temptation within a psychic illusion for one hundred and fifty thousand years, ultimately achieving a perfect Dao heart and an immortal will.

“Hiss...”

Marquis Cloudbat drew in a breath of the freezing cosmic vacuum.

Each character struck his mind like a supreme hammer forged of divine metal, merciless and unrelenting.

Each record was enough to make any Marquis-level powerhouse’s scalp tingle and their courage wither.

Annihilated a million-strong army? With thirty percent being Domain Lords! What terrifying lethality was this!

He asked himself, even in his prime, if he were trapped in an army formation of a hundred thousand peers, he would surely meet his end.

A ten-thousand-year death match, slaying a Marquis in defiance?

What indomitable will and heaven-defying insight this required!

And that was within a desperate beast-pit set by an Evil God!

Directly facing a god’s will for one hundred and fifty thousand years without corruption?

This... this exceeded the very boundaries of his imagination!

That was a god! The most supreme existence in the universe, whose mere sliver of will could collapse a galaxy, whose mere thought could pollute a civilization.

And Qin Feng had... under the very nose of such an existence, endured for one hundred and fifty thousand years?

In this moment, Marquis Cloudbat finally understood.

He finally understood why, despite being merely at the Domain Lord realm, he could kill two intermediate Marquises with a single strike of his spear.

Any one of these records on the roll was sufficient proof that the strength of this young man could no longer be measured by the word “realm.”

Qin Feng’s power was, quite simply, too terrifying.

The prodigy who once required his protection had now grown to such an unfathomable height!

Marquis Cloudbat was profoundly shaken.