Chapter 344: Eight Primordial Secret Techniques! [Kill]! A Corner of the Divine Array!

Chapter 344: Eight Primordial Secret Arts! [Kill]! A Fragment of the Divine Array!

Time, within this tomb of gods that isolates the universe’s space and time, seemed to have lost its inherent measure.

It was at once a static scroll stretched to infinity and a cinematic stream compressed to the point of collapse. Qin Feng was the sole traveler through this scroll and film.

Since stumbling into this teleportation array and arriving in this forbidden land, saturated with the lingering Dao-rhyme of fallen deities, over a thousand years had passed.

To the Marquis-level powerhouses of the outside world, this millennium might have been but a slightly extended period of seclusion, but for Qin Feng, it was a long, lonely, and profoundly rewarding journey of arduous cultivation.

The map gifted by the Will of the Universe, once inverted, became the only key to unlocking the god-level restrictions of this place.

Yet, this key was no panacea for every lock; it was more like an obscure and profound manual of arrays, pointing out the "Gates of Life" and "Gates of Death" for every divine restriction, marking the fragile nodes where their laws operated.

To truly break them, Qin Feng still had to do the work himself.

For the first hundred years, his progress was agonizingly slow.

The restrictions laid down by gods, even after eons of decay, possessed power beyond imagination.

A seemingly simple spatial folding restriction could evolve thousands of false coordinates within; one wrong step would result in being banished into unknown spatial turbulence, and even with his formidable physical body, he would be ground to dust.

As for a killing restriction, even a brush with the outermost ripples of its laws, carrying the "Will" of a god, was enough to shatter a Marquis’s Dao-seal.

Qin Feng was forced to immerse his entire consciousness into the task, using his "pure black quality" spiritual power as a brush and the inverted map as ink, performing billions of simulations in his mind for every single restriction. His spiritual quality, far superior to his peers, became his greatest reliance.

His pure black spiritual power seemed to possess an innate insight into all laws, allowing him to perceive the flow of restrictive patterns with clarity and pinpoint the fleeting "nodes" marked on the map.

Breaking each restriction was like performing a delicate surgery that took years, sometimes decades.

He had to remain utterly focused, condensing his spiritual power into needles ten thousand times thinner than a hair, gently nudging that crucial link amidst the torrent of laws.

The process was monotonous and fraught with lethal peril.

Yet, Qin Feng’s heart, through these thousand years of solitude and concentration, was polished until it became transparent and resilient.

He had once confronted the will of Khorne, the Blood God, in an illusion for one hundred and fifty thousand years; this millennium of loneliness was but a trifle by comparison.

His Dao-heart was already as firm as divine iron. Far from being eroded by solitude, it had instead shed the restlessness and bloodlust accumulated from the Island of Death, the ten-thousand-year struggle against the Blood-Slaughter Marquis, and the encirclement by the Golden Emperor and eighty thousand Marquises.

His pace, from the initial trepidation to later composure, and finally to a state of effortless mastery, saw his understanding of laws and control over power rise imperceptibly throughout this process of breaking restrictions.

One thousand two hundred and thirty-seven years later.

Qin Feng finally traversed the labyrinthine layers of the god-level outer restrictions and arrived at the first core area of the tomb—a burial chamber.

The portal to the chamber was not gilded or magnificent, but a stone gate crafted from an unknown grey rock.

There were no carvings on the door, only the mottled traces left by the erosion of time, and a heavy aura, restrained to the extreme, yet seemingly capable of crushing the stars of the universe.

Before the door lay the final, and most powerful, defensive restriction.

It was no longer merely space, slaughter, or illusion, but a fusion of all three, evolving into a "micro-universe."

Before it, Qin Feng felt as insignificant as a speck of dust.

He sat cross-legged before the restriction, eyes closed, simulating for fifty full years.

Fifty years later, his eyes snapped open; in the depths of those pitch-black pupils, one could see the reflection of a universe from birth to destruction.

He extended his right hand, and the [Primordial Furnace] Dao-seal manifested on his index finger. The ancient furnace spun rapidly, its mouth aimed at a specific point within the "micro-universe" ahead.

"There!"

There was no earth-shattering roar, nor any phenomenon of laws collapsing.

Qin Feng pointed, his pure black spiritual power merging perfectly with the power of the Dao-seal, transforming into an intangible ripple that struck precisely the node he had spent fifty years calculating.

"Click..."

A sound, faint as cracking ice, echoed out.

The churning "micro-universe" suddenly stalled, and then, like a scroll stripped of its frame, it collapsed with a roar, dissolving into pure energy particles that vanished into nothingness.

The heavy stone gate slowly creaked open.

Qin Feng straightened his robes, calmed his slightly exhausted mind, and stepped inside.

The burial chamber was equally austere.

The four walls were bare, the floor level; there were no funerary objects, no remains. Only in the center of the chamber, silently suspended, was a fist-sized orb of light, radiating a seven-colored, misty glow.

Within the orb, it seemed as if a newly born world was contained, with countless embryonic laws being born, evolving, and intertwining, exuding the primordial aura of the "Dao."

At a mere glance, Qin Feng felt his cognitive speed accelerate several times over; many obscure points he had encountered while practicing the "Nine Tribulations War Canon" suddenly began to clear.

"This is... the Essence of Enlightenment!"

Qin Feng’s breathing grew ragged.

The Essence of Enlightenment, a legendary wonder said to be born only at the dawn of the universe, when the Great Dao first manifested.

It was not a physical entity, but the tangible condensation of the "Dao" at a single moment, a highly concentrated form of laws.

For any cultivator, this was a treasure of dreams. A single Essence of Enlightenment was enough to grant a mediocre practitioner the possibility of reaching higher realms, and for a genius, it could clear countless obstacles from their path.

Without a doubt, this was a heaven-sent opportunity!

Just as Qin Feng prepared to step forward and study how to harvest this Essence of Enlightenment, a violent throb came from a corner of his subspace storage ring.

Hum—hum—hum—

It was a seed, one flowing with seven-colored light, which had remained dormant ever since he acquired it in the Blood-Colored Forbidden Land—the [Seven-Colored Bodhi Seed].

Qin Feng affectionately called it "Little Seven."

At this moment, Little Seven was vibrating at an unprecedented frequency, sending waves of extreme longing, excitement, and even a hint of instinctive pleading across space, clearly into Qin Feng’s mind.

It felt like a child who had been starving for eons, suddenly seeing the most delicious food in the world.

Qin Feng’s heart stirred.

He could feel that Little Seven’s longing was not mere greed, but an instinctive drive for the evolution of its life level, an evolutionary impulse like a fish seeing the Dragon Gate or a moth darting toward the light.

"You want to consume it?"

Qin Feng tentatively asked through his mind.

The intent Little Seven sent back became even more agitated, its vibrations intensifying.

Qin Feng pondered for a moment.

This Essence of Enlightenment was of immeasurable value.

If he refined it himself, it might greatly accelerate his progress in the "Nine Tribulations War Canon," perhaps even allowing his understanding of the "Path of Extremes" to reach a new level.

Yet, Little Seven’s reaction was equally important to him.

The Seven-Colored Bodhi Tree was a legendary object in the universe; if it grew, its utility would be infinite.

He had always struggled to find a way to nurture it; perhaps this Essence of Enlightenment was the key catalyst for its growth and transformation.

This was an investment.

Investing in himself was a guaranteed win.

Investing in Little Seven, however, might yield an even greater opportunity.

"So be it!"

A flicker of resolve flashed in Qin Feng’s eyes. "My cultivation, the path of Qin Feng, relies on the self. It is the reward of diligence, the path of the extreme; external objects are, in the end, merely auxiliary. Since this opportunity has presented itself today, I shall cast my lot and see what kind of surprise you can truly bring me!"

Having made his decision, Qin Feng hesitated no longer.

With a shift of his intent, he summoned the seven-colored Bodhi tree seed from his subspace.

The moment Xiao Qi left the storage space and touched the aura emanating from the Essence of Enlightenment, it erupted in a dazzling, brilliant seven-colored divine light.

It transformed into a streak of light, and before Qin Feng could even react, it let out a "whoosh" and plunged headlong into the fist-sized orb of the Essence of Enlightenment.

The orb surged violently, as seven-colored radiance and the misty vapors of the Essence intertwined, collided, and fused.

Qin Feng could clearly feel a majestic, unimaginably vast primordial energy of the "Dao" being frantically devoured and absorbed by Xiao Qi.

Qin Feng did not interfere; he merely set up layer upon layer of defensive barriers at the tomb entrance, then sat cross-legged to quietly stand guard.

He sat there for a hundred years.

Over that century, the orb of the Essence of Enlightenment dimmed and shrank at a pace visible to the naked eye.

Meanwhile, Xiao Qi, suspended within, underwent a world-shaking transformation.

It was no longer a seed, but was gradually stretching, sprouting, and growing.

First, it became a miniature seven-colored seedling, then grew into a small tree a foot tall.

The trunk was crystal clear, as if cast from seven-colored glaze, while the leaves were condensations of Great Dao runes, each one shimmering with the radiance of different laws.

When the very last glimmer of the Essence of Enlightenment was completely devoured, the tree’s growth came to an abrupt halt.

Its entire body shuddered, and a tyrannical, peerless aura of life and fluctuations of law erupted with a boom!

The intensity of that aura had clearly surpassed the limit of a black hole, stepping firmly into the "Marquis" level!

A Marquis-level seven-colored Bodhi tree!

Just as Qin Feng was struck with awe, an even stranger scene unfolded.

The little seven-colored tree swayed its branches gently, and the two topmost leaves slowly detached, transforming in mid-air into two round, longan-sized fruits that radiated a refreshing and soul-soothing Dao rhyme.

Immediately after, a crisp, youthful, yet profoundly mysterious consciousness resonated directly in the depths of Qin Feng’s soul:

"Mas...ter..."

This was no longer the vague, instinctive transmission of emotion from before, but a clear self-awareness possessing the capacity for independent thought!

Xiao Qi had gained sapience!

Joy surged in Qin Feng’s heart; he could feel a sense of intimacy and attachment emanating from the little tree, rising from the depths of its soul.

At the same time, an invisible contract seemed to form naturally in the void, tightly binding his soul to Xiao Qi’s.

It was an equal soul contract, born of Xiao Qi’s complete willingness and gratitude.

From this moment on, they would share in each other’s glory and suffer in each other’s ruin.

"Xiao Qi, you..."

Qin Feng attempted to communicate with it.

"Master, I... devoured the origin of the 'Dao' and gained a new life. These are the 'Enlightenment Fruits' I have borne, containing a vast amount of the Essence of Enlightenment’s power. Please, Master... enjoy them."

Though Xiao Qi’s intent was still somewhat unrefined, its meaning was crystal clear.

Under its mental guidance, the two seven-colored fruits floated lightly before Qin Feng.

Qin Feng reached out to take the fruits, sensing that they contained the most refined energy of the Essence of Enlightenment, transformed and purified by Xiao Qi.

This energy was gentler and far easier to absorb than the original Essence.

"Good, Xiao Qi, thank you."

Qin Feng said with heartfelt sincerity.

This high-stakes gamble had paid off!

Not only had he not lost the opportunity of the Essence of Enlightenment, but he had also gained a sentient plant-life ally with Marquis-level strength, along with two even more potent Enlightenment Fruits!

He returned Xiao Qi to a subspace storage unit to allow it to stabilize its realm.

Then, Qin Feng looked at the two fruits in his hand, his eyes blazing with intensity.

"Nine Tribulations Battle Codex, it is time to conquer you!"

He did not hesitate, placing one of the Enlightenment Fruits into his mouth.

The fruit melted upon contact, transforming into a clear spring beyond description that flowed down his throat and directly into the origin of his soul.

Boom—!!!

In that instant, Qin Feng’s entire sea of consciousness was stirred into a towering tempest.

Countless mysteries regarding the first layer of the Nine Tribulations Battle Codex—the Marquis Chapter—those laws and truths that had previously felt like they were behind frosted glass, visible but untouchable, were washed clean by this spring, becoming clearer than ever before.

The core of the first layer of the Nine Tribulations Battle Codex lay in "Forging the Tribulation Seal."

The so-called "Tribulation Seal" was a fundamental rune that used one’s own body as a vessel to simulate the power of a cosmic tribulation.

It required the complete and homologous "Tribulation Seal" to be inscribed simultaneously in three places: the sea of spirit, the origin of the flesh, and the core of the Dao Seal.

With the three seals united and resonating with one another, one could invoke the power of "Tribulation" to amplify every aspect of oneself.

The process was unimaginably complex and perilous.

The "Tribulation Seal" of the sea of spirit required one to outline it stroke by stroke with spiritual power.

This seal contained nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine basic runes, each representing a change in the laws; a mistake of even a hair’s breadth would cause the entire seal to collapse, or worse, backfire on the spirit, causing irreversible damage.

The "Tribulation Seal" of the fleshly origin required the use of blood and life force as ink, with the entire body’s sinews, bones, and flesh as paper, to be branded into the deepest parts of the body.

This demanded a physical body of inconceivable toughness; otherwise, it could never withstand the erosion of the "Tribulation" power.

Qin Feng’s [Silver-White Body] was the perfect vessel.

The "Tribulation Seal" of the Dao Seal core was the most critical of all.

It needed to fuse perfectly with the [Primal Furnace], becoming part of the Dao Seal and serving as the energy hub for the entire amplification system.

Previously, Qin Feng had estimated that even with his aptitude, it would take at least a hundred thousand years of hard work to complete this first layer.

But now, with the aid of the Enlightenment Fruit, everything was different.

His consciousness was immersed in a wondrous state of "enlightenment," his speed of thought increased by more than a thousand, ten thousand times.

Those basic runes, once so complex they made his scalp tingle, now appeared to him as simple as counting one, two, three.

He began his long seclusion.

Time flowed on, ten thousand years in a blink.

Within this isolated tomb of gods, Qin Feng forgot time, forgot everything, and devoted himself entirely to the cultivation of the Nine Tribulations Battle Codex.

In the first three thousand years, with his pure black-quality spiritual power, he successfully outlined the first complete "Spiritual Tribulation Seal" within his vast, star-sea-like consciousness space.

The moment the seal took form, his spiritual perception became instantly and incomparably sharp, as if he could pierce through illusions and point directly to the origin.

In the second three thousand years, he channeled his entire body’s blood and energy, using his [Silver-White Body] as a furnace, and enduring pain akin to ten thousand ants gnawing at his heart, he successfully branded the second "Fleshly Tribulation Seal" into his limbs, bones, internal organs, and even the deepest reaches of every cell.

The instant the seal was completed, his [Silver-White Body] shone with brilliant light, and his defense and strength underwent another qualitative leap beyond their original foundation.

In the third millennium, he immersed his consciousness entirely into the Dao Seal, using the Primordial Furnace as his foundation to carefully integrate the third Tribulation Seal.

This process was the most perilous; the slightest misstep could have shattered his Dao Seal and uprooted his very foundation. Yet, bolstered by the transcendent insights granted by the Enlightenment Fruit, he navigated this final step without mishap.

With all three Tribulation Seals forged, the remaining millennium was dedicated to linking them, weaving them into a state of perfect resonance.

On the final day of his ten-thousand-year seclusion.

Qin Feng, who had sat cross-legged like a statue of stone, suddenly shuddered.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three distinct yet kindred surges of formidable energy erupted from his sea of consciousness, his physical form, and his Dao Seal, soaring toward the heavens.

Between his brows, a phantom mark, complex and brimming with the essence of both destruction and rebirth, flickered and vanished.

Across his skin, silver-white veins of the Tribulation Seal pulsed, lending his Silver-White Body an even greater sense of sanctity and majesty.

Within his dantian, the Primordial Furnace Dao Seal spun violently; upon its walls, a clear Tribulation Seal emerged, imbuing the furnace with an aura of profound, tempestuous power.

The next moment, as if drawn by a mysterious force, the three seals bloomed with brilliant light, echoing one another to form a perfect cycle of energy.

"The Nine Tribulations War Canon, First Layer, complete!"

Qin Feng opened his eyes, and a gaze sharp enough to rend the cosmos shot forth, sending ripples through the void before him.

He stood slowly, feeling the explosive power surging within, his face lit with irrepressible joy.

"Activate!"

With a thought, he invoked the Nine Tribulations War Canon.

In an instant, the three seals synchronized, and a profound, esoteric power of "Tribulation" flooded his limbs, his bones, the depths of his soul, and the core of his Dao Seal.

He could clearly feel his spiritual strength doubling in an instant.

His original million-kilometer range of perception surged to two million kilometers.

And this was while suppressed by the Divine Tomb; in the outside world, his consciousness could instantly shroud the territories of thousands of cosmic nations.

The quality of his spiritual power had become infinitely more refined.

He clenched his fist, feeling the torrent of strength within his flesh.

Strength, speed, defense—every attribute related to his physical form had likewise doubled.

This meant his raw physical power alone was now enough to contend with some newly ascended King-level powerhouses.

He simulated the execution of his killing techniques; whether it was Inch Radiance or other secret arts, their potency, speed, and efficiency in driving the laws had all doubled.

Spiritual power, physical body, killing techniques—all had seen a hundred percent increase.

This was not a simple case of one plus one equaling two. For someone like Qin Feng, whose foundation was terrifyingly deep, the doubling of each attribute resulted in an exponential explosion of overall combat prowess.

"Too terrifying... and this is only the first layer."

Qin Feng murmured, his eyes filled with shock. "The power of a divine art is truly extraordinary. If I were to face that King Luetian now..."

He felt confident that while he might still struggle against the other's inscrutable array-based divine path, he would at least no longer be left helpless, forced to flee in disgrace as he had before.

He now possessed the mettle to meet him head-on.

One Enlightenment Fruit and ten thousand years of bitter cultivation had yielded a heaven-defying transformation.

Qin Feng exhaled a long, stale breath, calming his turbulent emotions.

He stored the second Enlightenment Fruit in his sub-spatial unit for future use.

Then, he turned his gaze toward the deeper darkness of the tomb.

"If this first chamber holds such fortune, what might lie ahead?"

Filled with immense anticipation, Qin Feng once again set out on his path of exploration.

With the first layer of the Nine Tribulations War Canon, his doubled spiritual strength allowed him to dismantle restrictions twice as fast as before.

Several hundred years passed.

He successfully arrived at the second chamber.

This chamber was significantly larger than the first. Suspended in its center was a piece of metal the size of a human head, dark gold in color and covered in natural, intricate Dao patterns.

It hung in silence, yet it felt like the center of the universe, radiating a terrifying aura of eternal, indestructible suppression.

Its mass seemed to transcend physical limits; merely by existing, it caused the surrounding space to warp ever so slightly.

Qin Feng recognized it instantly as a cosmic rarity—a divine metal.

Its grade might even surpass the Heavenly Derivation Alloy he had previously obtained.

He approached cautiously, reaching out to touch it.

It felt impossibly heavy; even with his augmented strength, comparable to a King-level powerhouse, he found it difficult to lift the head-sized mass.

Its durability exceeded his wildest imagination. He channeled the power of his Silver-White Body, dragging his fingernails across the surface, yet not a single mark remained.

He summoned the Primordial Furnace, breathing out the true fire of the Dao Seal capable of melting gold and iron, but after burning for half a day, the dark gold metal only glowed faintly red, showing no signs of melting.

"What an astonishing divine object!"

Qin Feng marveled.

He probed it with a strand of spiritual energy, hoping to analyze its internal structure.

However, the moment his energy touched the metal, it was like a clay ox entering the sea, instantly consumed by the metal's immortal properties.

Refusing to yield, Qin Feng channeled his strongest, pure-black spiritual energy.

This time, there was a reaction.

As the pure-black energy touched the metal, he felt a faint "softening," as if ice were meeting the first rays of dawn—slow, yet undeniably merging.

"So that is it."

Qin Feng realized in an instant. "The durability of this divine metal transcends the ordinary; common power cannot shake it. Only spiritual energy of my quality, or perhaps the power of a 'Saint-level' powerhouse or higher, could refine it."

To be "Saint-level" was to exist in a legendary realm far above that of an Emperor.

That this metal required such a being to refine it spoke volumes of its value; it was likely one of the seventy-two divine metals of the universe, or at the very least, a top-tier rarity.

Qin Feng's heart burned with fervor.

This was a treasure tailor-made for him.

If his Limit Body could integrate this metal, what terrifying level would his defense reach?

If his Primordial Furnace were reforged with this, what power would it wield?

Alas, refining it would be an agonizingly long process.

"No need to rush."

Qin Feng quickly regained his composure. "At the rate my pure-black spiritual energy can refine it, I will likely have to measure the time in 'millennia'."

He expanded the main body of the Primordial Furnace, its maw opening wide to generate a terrifying suction, swallowing the dark gold metal whole.

Boom!

As the metal entered the furnace, the entire Primordial Furnace shuddered violently, as if struggling to bear its terrifying weight and immortal nature.

"Refine!"

Qin Feng whispered, driving his Dao Seal to its absolute limit.

Within the heart of the furnace, the Void Black Flame roared, enveloping the divine metal and beginning a process of calcination that would continue, day and night, without a moment’s respite.

Simultaneously, he channeled a portion of his pure black spiritual energy, weaving it around the divine metal to refine it from both the inside and the outside.

"With the power of my Dao Seal’s fire combined with the unique properties of my spiritual energy, attacking from both fronts... I estimate it will take at least one hundred thousand years to fully refine this divine metal and integrate it into my Limitless Body and my Dao Seal."

One hundred thousand years!

It was a span of time that would make any mortal recoil in despair.

Yet, in Qin Feng’s eyes, there was no trace of impatience, only endless patience and ironclad resolve.

His path was the Path of the Limit, the Path of the Gods; it could never be measured by conventional standards.

One hundred thousand years of tempering in exchange for the ultimate transformation of his foundation—it was a bargain of the highest order.

After settling this nameless divine metal into his furnace Dao Seal for warming and refinement, Qin Feng’s gaze turned once more toward the deeper reaches of the God’s Tomb.

The opportunities he had found here had already granted him a rebirth.

He waited with bated breath to see just how far he could go in this place where gods had fallen.

...

Since refining the Enlightenment Fruit and completing the first layer of the Nine Calamities Battle Canon, Qin Feng had trekked alone for another ten thousand years through the corridor leading deeper into the tomb.

These ten thousand years had not been without incident.

Along the way, he discovered two more sealed burial chambers.

Unlike the chamber where he had found the Essence of Enlightenment, the stone doors of these two rooms were wreathed in far more complex and potent prohibition seals.

These seals were not merely for defense; they were something else—a preservation.

A final, desperate effort to defy the crushing weight of time and seal everything within.

It took a monumental effort for Qin Feng to break them.

His pure black spiritual energy acted like a precision chisel, following the prohibition patterns deduced from his map, peeling away and disintegrating those ancient, formidable seals bit by bit.

Each successful breach was accompanied by a dissipation of energy—the final remnants of divine essence leaking away after eons of dormancy.

When the first stone door groaned open with a dull, heavy thud, a scent of absolute decay rushed out to meet him.

Qin Feng held his breath, shielding his body with the Primordial Furnace Dao Seal, and stepped inside.

It was an armory.

The walls had once been lined with weapons, and the floor was filled with racks.

Blades, spears, swords, halberds, axes, polearms, hooks, and forks—it covered nearly every mainstream weapon form in the universe.

Each piece had once been a masterpiece of world-shaking renown. Even across the endless passage of time, Qin Feng could still sense, from their lingering silhouettes and the faint, sharp aura in the air, the supreme power they once held to cleave stars and shatter the void.

These were, at the very least, treasures of the Universe Venerable level, and a few even radiated the obscure, terrifying aura of the divine.

A flicker of heat ignited in Qin Feng’s eyes. He reached out, carefully extending a hand toward the nearest war spear.

The shaft had once been coiled with dragon-shaped runes, vivid and lifelike, brimming with the spirit of power and beauty.

Yet, the moment his fingertip was about to touch the metal, a sudden change occurred.

As if a fast-forward button had been pressed on the process of decay, the war spear, which had appeared so cold and gleaming, instantly lost all its luster from the point of his touch.

The dragon runes dimmed rapidly, crumbling into gray-white powder. Then, with a soft, shuddering hum, the entire spear disintegrated before his eyes, collapsing into a pile of fine gray dust that drifted to the floor, stripped of all its divinity.

Qin Feng’s hand froze in mid-air. The heat in his eyes cooled instantly, replaced by a deep sense of shock and realization.

Time.

Time had erased everything.

Even the supreme divine weapons that had once tasted the blood of gods and shattered galaxies, when left unheld and unnourished by divine power, sealed within this tomb that cut off all things, could not withstand the most ruthless and impartial baptism of the ages.

Their divinity, their laws, their very essence had been ground away by the river of time, leaving behind only an immortal-looking "form" that shattered at the slightest touch.

Refusing to believe it, he walked toward a giant axe.

The result was identical; the moment his spiritual energy brushed against it, the axe turned to fly ash.

The entire armory, filled with divine weapons, had not a single survivor.

Qin Feng retreated from the chamber in silence, his heart filled with awe for the sheer power of time.

He did not lose heart, instead pinning his hopes on the next chamber.

After another few hundred years of effort, he opened the second stone door.

This time, it was an alchemy room.

Jade medicine bottles were arranged neatly on shelves crafted from unknown divine wood.

A refreshing, medicinal fragrance seemed to linger in the air.

From the labels remaining on some of the bottles, Qin Feng could even identify legendary elixirs long thought extinct—the Nine-Turn Soul-Returning Pill, the Indestructible Golden Body Pill, the Law Dao Fruit Pill... Any one of these, if leaked to the outside world, would drive a Sovereign-level powerhouse to madness, even to the point of sparking a war between races.

With a final shred of hope, he used his spiritual energy to carefully lift one of the jade bottles.

The bottle felt warm and smooth to the touch, seemingly untouched by the erosion of time.

Qin Feng felt a surge of joy and slowly removed the stopper.

There was no expected burst of fragrance, no dazzling glow.

From the mouth of the bottle, only a wisp of black, deathly air emerged, signaling the total annihilation of its spirit.

He peered inside to see that the pill, once round and full, had completely carbonized, reduced to a black, lifeless husk.

He opened a dozen more bottles, but the result was the same.

All the divine pills had lost their medicinal potency; their divinity had perished, leaving behind only useless, mundane waste.

Finally, Qin Feng placed the bottles back in their original positions and retreated from the chamber in silence once more.

Two consecutive failures taught him the law of this God’s Tomb: in the face of time, only that which is truly "immortal" can survive.

"It seems my hypothesis was correct."

Qin Feng sat cross-legged in the middle of the empty corridor, lost in deep thought.

His gaze was profound, as if piercing through the barriers of the tomb to behold the vast, boundless universe.

"Ordinary treasures, divine pills, and cultivation manuals—no matter how high their grade, their essence remains an aggregation of energy and laws. As long as it is an aggregate, there will come a day of decay and disintegration.

To resist the wear of time, the object must either be an embodiment of the universe’s fundamental laws, or its material must transcend the scope of conventional laws."

In his mind, legends of the universe’s supreme treasures surfaced unbidden.

"Universal Wonders..."

He whispered softly.

"The Thirty-Six Primordial Fires, the Seventy-Two Immortal Divine Metals, the Sixteen Eternal Treasures, the Eight Great Primordial Arts, and the legendary, supreme Seven Thrones of God..."

Every one of these names represented a path leading to the ultimate mysteries of the universe.

They were not "manufactured," but rather "born" alongside the fundamental rules at the very dawn of the universe.

They are, in their essence, a constituent part of those rules.

The Void Black Flame is one of the Primal Fires, just as the divine metal obtained earlier must be one of the Immortal Divine Metals.

They endure through eons precisely because their "priority" of existence is equal to that of the universe itself.

"Therefore, within this divine tomb, aside from these treasures of cosmic rarity, I fear everything else has long since crumbled into dust."

Qin Feng reached this conclusion. "Perhaps the fallen deity foresaw this, which is why the true inheritance was preserved by other means."

At this thought, he could not help but look toward the end of the corridor, the direction where he had calculated the main burial chamber to lie.

Once his thoughts began to wander, they were difficult to reel back in.

From the cosmic rarities, his mind drifted to the brilliant yet cruel era that was fast approaching.

"The Golden Age..."

The term echoed in the sea of his consciousness like the tolling of a great bell.

"Master Heaven-Swallower mentioned it, the predecessor Forging King spoke of it, and Master Sanruo even revealed the brutal laws of the Golden Age through the interrogation of Marquis Zhu Wu... Now, it seems, all the omens have become undeniably clear."

Qin Feng recalled the experiences of his journey thus far.

Since stepping out of the Canaan Starry Sky Martial Academy, the trajectory of his life seemed inextricably linked to that ethereal yet omnipresent existence known as the "Will of the Universe."

The drastic changes to the Genius Tournament rules, the death mission of the "Road to the End," the ultimate purge of the Blood-Colored Forbidden Land, and now, for the sake of the [Primal Fire], the Will of the Universe had even stooped to intervene personally, issuing a public mission that pitted him against more than sixty thousand of the universe's top powerhouses...

In the past, these might have been dismissed as mere coincidences or trials.

But now, connecting all the threads, Qin Feng saw a far grander picture.

"The intervention of the Universal Will is becoming increasingly frequent and direct."

"This, in itself, is the strongest signal that the curtain is about to rise on the Golden Age!"

His gaze sharpened.

"Hidden prodigies like the Heaven-Plundering King have already emerged, and heaven knows how many monsters as old or even more formidable than him are lurking in the corners of the universe. They are all waiting—waiting for an unprecedented shift, waiting for an era where all cosmic rarities manifest at once."

"And I, having obtained the [Void Black Flame] and the [Divine Metal] ahead of time, am already standing at the crest of the era's wave, becoming prey and... sustenance in the eyes of every prodigy on the path to godhood!"

At the thought of the Heaven-Plundering King’s undisguised look, treating him as nothing more than a "supplement," the sense of urgency in Qin Feng’s heart erupted like a volcano.

"Once I leave the Seven Heavens Abyss, the Golden Age will likely descend in full force. When that time comes, with demons dancing and monsters running rampant, an era where 'King-ranked' is no longer a legend, where 'Marquises' are as common as dirt, and 'Lords' are as plentiful as dogs, may truly arrive."

"By then, my current strength will be far from enough!"

Qin Feng clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white from the force.

"I must improve my strength as quickly as possible, I must!"

"If... if only I could ascend to become a King."

Once this thought took root, it burned in his heart like a wildfire.

Between a Marquis and a King, there is but a single word of difference, yet it represents an insurmountable chasm.

A Domain Lord governs a star field and is thus a "Lord."

A Marquis carves out territory and guards a region, and is thus a "Marquis."

But a King is a being who has truly inscribed their own "Dao" into the fabric of the universe.

Their "Law" becomes a part of the universal order; their words command reality, and with a single thought, they can alter the rules of space and time.

They are among the true authors who hold the copyright to the grand epic of the universe.

Qin Feng felt a surge of heat at the prospect.

But he quickly calmed himself, beginning to examine his own state.

He still had a long and arduous road ahead before he could reach the rank of King.

From Dao Seals to Laws, this is not merely an accumulation of power, but a leap in the level of life and the dimension of cognition.

The core of it lies in the need to highly refine and sublimate one's own knowledge system, martial insights, and even the imprint of one's soul, ultimately creating a "Law" that belongs solely to oneself—one that is recognized by the Will of the Universe and capable of enduring for eternity.

It is a process of transitioning from a "learner" and "user" to a "creator" and "legislator."