Chapter 373: Interstellar Void Desert! Remnants of the Old Era?! Today

Chapter 373: The Interstellar Void Desert! Remnants of a Bygone Era?! No One Leaves Today!

The hull of the Oracle, like a bolt of pitch-black lightning, tore silently through the dark curtain of the cosmos, gliding smoothly into a vast star field bathed in an ominous, blood-red hue.

This was the Red Disaster Sector.

An outlaw territory in the universe, where chaos and order achieved a bizarre, fragile equilibrium.

Countless pirate fleets, fugitives, intelligence brokers, and ascetics seeking enlightenment converged here, forming a complex, treacherous ecosystem where the only rule was the law of the strong.

Qin Feng sat enthroned upon the bridge. Within the eyes of his mechanical avatar, Vanguard, a cold, golden light flickered. The terrifying processing power of the Primordial Singularity hummed in the background, parsing the billions of public data streams flowing through this sector. It had been one hundred thousand years since he left the Heavenly Profound Pass.

In these long, drifting years, he had traveled the Golden Age as Vanguard, refining his own path and absorbing the twelve ancestral divine arts smelted from the Mechanical Race’s holy site, the Library of God, turning them into his own foundation.

Simultaneously, he searched for the ultimate opportunity that would allow him to strike the final blow and ascend to the rank of Emperor: the Primordial Fire.

Information from the Listening Wind Pavilion, the most critical lead gathered through a vast intelligence network built at great cost over his ten-thousand-year journey, pointed definitively to the manifestation of the Primordial Fire within this chaotic Red Disaster Sector.

As the exclusive vessel of a Mechanical God-Child, the Oracle was itself a mobile, top-tier Emperor-class war fortress, possessing unparalleled stealth and information-processing capabilities.

It slipped silently into a belt of abandoned mining asteroids, blending into the darkness like a ghost, unnoticed by any faction.

Qin Feng chose not to reveal himself.

He linked the Oracle to the underground network of the Red Disaster Sector, and as an anonymous top-tier buyer, issued a request to the three largest intelligence organizations in the sector to purchase all information regarding the Primordial Fire.

He spared no expense, paying a deposit of three complete, top-tier King-level mineral veins.

Such a staggering display of wealth immediately caused the three organizations to elevate his request to the highest priority. Just half a cosmic hour later, three encrypted, highly overlapping intelligence reports were transmitted to the Oracle’s main control system.

"The Interstellar Void..."

Qin Feng’s fingertips traced the void, pulling up the core of the intelligence.

All three reports explicitly stated that the trail of the Primordial Fire led to a highly peculiar interstellar void within the Red Disaster Sector, known as the Desert.

The universe was not uniformly distributed; between galaxies lay vast regions of extremely low matter density—these were interstellar voids.

The Desert was the largest and oldest such void in the Red Disaster Sector. Its scale was vast enough to contain thousands of cosmic nations, yet it held only a handful of long-dead, ancient galactic remnants.

More terrifyingly, the spatial structure within the Desert was chaotic; gravity and spatial reference points were virtually non-existent, creating a realm of absolute, true nothingness.

Standard interstellar navigation failed here. Even experts below the rank of King would lose their way within moments, eventually consumed by the endless loneliness and void until their life force withered away.

None but a King may enter. This was the consensus among all the powerful figures of the Red Disaster Sector.

"The location is clear."

Qin Feng closed the interface, his eyes as still as an ancient well.

To him, the treacherous environment of the Desert was no obstacle.

With the Oracle and his own understanding of spatial laws, he was more than capable of handling such a challenge. What truly caught his attention was an additional note attached to the intelligence.

"King God-Silkworm, King War-Martial, King Ancient Void... these three prodigies of the new era’s Divine Path have already entered the Desert."

Qin Feng pulled up their dossiers.

These were the peak figures of the new generation born from the Golden Age. Each had embarked upon the Divine Path, with combat power approaching the peak of the King rank—monstrous talents on par with his own original self before his fall.

"The Golden Age, it truly lives up to its name."

Qin Feng’s consciousness sank into the virtual cosmic network; he wanted to see the current state of the King Ranking.

When that golden list unfurled before him, even with a mindset tempered over hundreds of thousands of years, he could not help but feel a ripple of emotion.

The names on the list shifted with dizzying frequency; every few years, the top hundred would undergo a violent reshuffling. Most of the familiar, veteran Kings had vanished, replaced by sharp, unfamiliar names representing the rise of a new era.

The update logs of the King Ranking were filled with bloody records: "So-and-so Divine Path prodigy ascends the list," "Veteran King defeated," "New King fallen."

The entire list had transformed into a cruel meat grinder; hardly any King could remain securely on it for a century.

Either they were defeated by someone stronger and cast down, or they were slaughtered in the brutal competition and their names erased forever.

This was an unprecedentedly brilliant age, and an unprecedentedly bloody one.

Qin Feng’s gaze swept slowly over the list, searching for the name that once belonged to him.

Vanguard.

He found it quickly, buried in the dust of historical records. His identity as the Mechanical traitor, the "Holy Son," who had slain an Emperor with a single finger at the Martial Fighting Mountain, had long since made his status as a mere King a thing of the past.

But long before that, he had carved out a legendary feat of eight million consecutive victories under the name Vanguard, leaving a heavy mark on the King Ranking.

Yet now, that name had been pushed down into obscurity, vanished entirely from the current list.

"Has even my name been swallowed by the tide..."

A cryptic curve tugged at the corner of Qin Feng’s mouth.

It was not self-mockery, but a cold, grim satisfaction.

The more turbulent the waves of the era, the more new powerhouses emerged, the more it proved the potential of this Golden Age.

It also meant that the enemies he would face in the future would only grow stronger, and the "Path of Extremity" he walked would face its true test.

He closed the King Ranking, his heart calm once more.

The shifting winds of the outside world were, to him, merely the movements of pieces on a chessboard. And he, as always, remained the player hidden behind the curtain.

"Target: The Desert interstellar void."

The cold command was issued. A ripple of space, invisible to the naked eye, washed over the hull of the Oracle, and it slipped silently into the void, racing toward the vast, forbidden wasteland.

...

At the edge of the Desert, space took on a bizarre, twisted quality.

Viewed from the outside, it was not a pure darkness, but an "absolute nothingness" that seemed to devour both light and perception.

The Oracle glided smoothly into this void. The external view on the bridge instantly dissolved into chaos; all starlight and reference points vanished in a heartbeat.

In their place was an eternal loneliness and deathly silence, enough to drive the weak-willed to madness in an instant.

Qin Feng ignored it all.

He had long since tempered his Dao heart to be indestructible through fifteen thousand years of mental warfare in illusions.

This level of environmental influence was, to him, no more than a breeze against his face.

The Oracle’s navigation system had switched to "Beacon Mode," relying on the spatial laws Qin Feng had inscribed into the ship’s core and the simulated deductions of the Primordial Singularity, steering firmly toward the coordinates indicated by the intelligence through this sea of absolute disorientation.

The journey was monotonous, but the Desert was not truly empty.

As they ventured deeper, Qin Feng began to encounter other explorers.

These individuals were, without exception, experts of the King rank.

Some piloted specialized star-ships, others traversed the void with their own powerful physical bodies. Each radiated a formidable aura, their goal clearly the legendary Primordial Fire.

To meet was to invite conflict.

In this lawless Desert, every stranger encountered was a potential rival for the treasure, and a walking "vault" of resources.

"Hum—"

A hideous star-ship, crafted entirely from bone, blocked the Oracle’s path with arrogant defiance.

Above the star-skiff, three Corpse-Clan kings radiating a thick, deathly miasma "gazed" with hollow sockets at the strangely shaped black vessel.

"A vessel of the Mechanical Race? Leave your star charts and all your resources, and you may be spared."

The lead corpse-king projected a dry, imperious mental ripple.

He was a ruthless bandit who had roamed the Red Disaster sector for years, a mid-stage king who believed himself invincible within this "Wasteland."

Qin Feng did not even rise from his throne.

He merely lifted his eyelids, casting a cold, indifferent glance at the three kings on the external projection.

In the next instant, a golden beam, so fine it was nearly invisible to the naked eye, flashed from the prow of the Oracle.

The Ultimate Divine Light.

This peerless technique, which he had refined to the level of an Imperial-grade secret art, was now as fluid as an extension of his own limbs, leaving no trace of its origin.

The mental ripples of the three Corpse-Clan kings were still lingering on their "threat," their consciousnesses failing to even register the concept of "danger" before their royal forms, along with their hideous bone-ship, were erased—wiped away from the very core of their life imprints by that golden light.

No explosion, no energy shockwave, not even a wisp of smoke.

They simply vanished into thin air, as if they had never existed in this universe at all.

The Oracle did not alter its speed, gliding smoothly over the void where they had been, as if crushing an insignificant speck of dust.

Qin Feng’s consciousness stirred, drawing the spatial artifacts left behind by the kings into the ship.

A brief search yielded not only a wealth of cultivation resources but also a more detailed star chart and a vital piece of intelligence.

"The Universal True Fire..."

This was the new name the seekers had bestowed upon the Primordial Fire.

According to the intelligence gathered by the corpse-kings, the Universal True Fire possessed a bizarre property: it did not wait in one place for the fated, but instead performed erratic spatial jumps throughout the vast void of the Wasteland.

Each jump covered a staggering distance in an unpredictable direction, turning the pursuit into a massive, grand-scale "hunt."

Countless cultivators, like hounds chasing a phantom, exhausted themselves across the vast Wasteland, desperate to lock onto the fire's next manifestation.

"A flame capable of constant spatial leaping..."

A flicker of contemplation crossed Qin Feng’s eyes.

Such a characteristic did not resemble a natural cosmic wonder; it felt more like... bait.

He did not jump to conclusions, merely tucking the suspicion away in his mind.

Throughout the ensuing voyage, he encountered over a dozen waves of enemies.

There were greedy star pirates, solitary ascetics, and squads of alien kings.

For these provocateurs, Qin Feng’s response remained identical.

A single strike of the Ultimate Divine Light.

No king could survive a single breath under his hand. Having already slain renowned Emperors with a flick of his finger, dealing with these kings was easier than crushing an ant.

Through constant slaughter and soul-searching, his intelligence grew increasingly comprehensive and vivid.

He learned that while the jumps of the Universal True Fire seemed random, top-tier masters had deduced that its destination pointed vaguely toward the very center of the Wasteland—a special zone known as the Abyss of Annihilation.

Consequently, nearly all the powerhouses seeking the fire were converging, intentionally or otherwise, in that direction.

The Divine Silkworm King, the War-Martial King, and the Ancient Void King—those three prodigies of the Divine Path—had already reached the outskirts of the Abyss.

A storm was brewing there.

Qin Feng adjusted the Oracle’s course, setting his sights directly on the Abyss of Annihilation.

He had a premonition that this pursuit, which had lasted for tens of thousands of years, was about to reach its conclusion.

Only, this conclusion might not be what everyone expected.

...

The closer one drew to the Abyss of Annihilation, the more violent the chaotic energy in the space became.

Even the Oracle was forced to slow down to contend with the spatial rifts and energy tides that could erupt at any moment.

Along the way, Qin Feng witnessed an increasing number of battle scars.

Shattered star-skiff wreckage, lingering ripples of laws, and even the immortal royal blood of fallen kings cast a faint, haunting glow in the empty darkness.

The competition here had clearly entered a white-hot stage.

Finally, after several months of travel, the Oracle’s detection system captured an extremely anomalous energy fluctuation.

It was a vast, majestic source of energy, brimming with the contradictory aura of both life and destruction, located at the very heart of the Abyss of Annihilation.

"Found it?"

Qin Feng’s gaze pierced the endless void, looking toward that direction.

Yet, when the Oracle silently crept near the source of the fluctuation, what he saw was not the Universal True Fire.

It was a colossal super-array constructed from countless divine metals and formation disks.

At the core of the array floated an energy nucleus the size of a human head, radiating infinite light and heat—the source of the fluctuation.

It was not the true Primordial Fire, but a lifelike, simulated energy camouflage.

Surrounding the array lay the corpses of hundreds of kings, scattered in disarray.

Their faces still bore the greed and fanaticism of their final moments. Clearly, they had been ruthlessly erased by the array’s power the instant they approached the "True Fire."

It was a trap.

A heaven-shaking slaughter trap, using the Primordial Fire as bait to lure the powerhouses of the entire universe to their deaths!

The moment Qin Feng grasped the truth, the dormant super-array erupted with blinding light.

Visible chains of laws surged from the edges of the array, instantly piercing the boundaries of the entire Wasteland interstellar void.

"Hum—hum—hum—"

The entire Wasteland, this vast and boundless void, trembled violently at that moment.

Space had been sealed.

Qin Feng immediately sensed that the Oracle’s connection to the outside world had been severed; even his attempt to analyze the spatial structure via the Primordial Singularity to find a weak point for teleportation was forcibly blocked by a more grand and overbearing power of law.

This Wasteland had been transformed into an isolated, absolutely sealed cage.

The outside world would never know what happened here.

Unless... one killed the master of this array, no one would ever leave!

"Hahahahahaha!"

A wild, arrogant laugh echoed in the ears of every living soul within the Wasteland.

"Welcome, everyone, to the hunting ground I have meticulously prepared for you—the Tomb of Ten Thousand Kings!"

The source of the voice came from the center of the array.

A figure slowly stepped out from behind the energy nucleus disguised as the Universal True Fire.

He wore a void-daoist robe, his features handsome yet sinister, his eyes seemingly containing the birth and death of stars. His aura was as deep as an abyss; he was, unmistakably, a peak king who had embarked upon the Divine Path.

It is none other than one of the three prodigies of the Divine Path, the King of Ancient Void!

"King of Ancient Void! Was it you who set this trap?"

Another cold voice rang out.

On the other side of the battlefield, a youth clad in golden silken robes, possessing a noble and indifferent air, hovered calmly in the air, his body wreathed in countless fine threads of spatial laws.

The Divine Path prodigy, the King of Divine Silkworms!

"And me!"

Accompanied by a roar filled with boundless fighting spirit, a burly man with knotted muscles, wielding a massive axe capable of cleaving the heavens, tore through the void and stepped out.

With every step he took, the void beneath his feet trembled, as if unable to bear the weight of his terrifying physical strength.

The Divine Path prodigy, the King of Martial War!

Both of them had clearly been lured by the illusion of the Universal True Fire, but thanks to the keen intuition and formidable strength of Divine Path prodigies, they had not rushed in like the other kings, thus escaping the catastrophe.

Yet, at this moment, they too were trapped within the formation of the Tomb of Ten Thousand Kings.

The King of Ancient Void looked at them, his smile growing increasingly cruel: "King of Divine Silkworms, King of Martial War, I have long wanted to taste your methods. I only did not expect you to be so cooperative, walking into my trap of your own accord. Very well, today, let your origin Divine Paths serve as a gift for my ascension to the rank of Emperor!"

His ambition was laid bare for all to see.

He had set this earth-shattering trap not merely to plunder the treasures of ordinary kings; his primary targets were his fellow Divine Path prodigies, the King of Divine Silkworms and the King of Martial War!

He intended to hunt those of his own caliber, seizing their Dao fruits to pave his own path to supremacy!

"Arrogant!"

The King of Martial War roared, his giant axe erupting with terrifying divine light. "You, a rat hiding in the shadows, dare to spout such nonsense? Watch as I cleave your pathetic formation in two!"

Before the words had faded, he had transformed into a streak of light, carrying the power to split heaven and earth, and struck the law-chains sealing the world with a savage blow.

However, the axe light, capable of cleaving a universe, merely stirred ripples upon the chains, failing to leave even a single crack.

For the first time, the expression of the King of Martial War turned grave.

"Do not waste your energy."

The King of Ancient Void mocked, "This Tomb of Ten Thousand Kings is the ultimate formation I spent one hundred thousand years of heart's blood to craft, centered upon a broken world-relic. Unless your attacks can instantly transcend the level of a top-tier Emperor, it is utterly impossible to break."

The hearts of the King of Divine Silkworms and the King of Martial War sank.

A trap meticulously prepared for a hundred thousand years—its power was beyond imagination.

"It seems the only way is to kill you."

The voice of the King of Divine Silkworms remained cold, but his eyes were now burning with grim murderous intent.

Three of the new era's top Divine Path prodigies stood in a three-way standoff within this sealed cage, their terrifying auras colliding in the void, causing the surrounding space to twist and wail. Yet none of them noticed that in a dark corner far from the center of the battlefield, a pitch-black ship hovered silently, like the deepest of shadows.

Inside the Oracle, Qin Feng watched the scene, his eyes calm.

His arrival was an accident.

He had intended to remain hidden, watching the tigers fight from the mountain, waiting for these three prodigies to exhaust each other before seeking a way to break the deadlock.

However, the King of Ancient Void clearly did not intend to grant him that opportunity.

"Heh, I almost forgot, there is another guest here."

The gaze of the King of Ancient Void, like two sharp swords, pierced through the endless darkness and locked onto the position of the Oracle with pinpoint accuracy.

"You have hidden for so long, it is time to show yourself, is it not?"

As his words fell, the power of the Tomb of Ten Thousand Kings was invoked.

A beam of pure law-energy descended from the sky, like a massive spotlight, pinning the Oracle in its glare.

Under the suspicious gazes of the King of Divine Silkworms and the King of Martial War, the darkness was dispelled, revealing the cold, metallic hull of the Oracle.

"Hmm? Another one?"

The King of Martial War frowned.

"To be able to lurk here without a sound, evading the perception of the three of us... this person is not simple." The eyes of the King of Divine Silkworms also turned vigilant.

The King of Ancient Void examined the Oracle with interest. A moment later, as if recalling something, a trace of surprise appeared on his face: "The style of this ship... are you... the traitor of the Machine Race who vanished over a million years ago, 'Vanguard'?"

At the mention of this name, the King of Divine Silkworms and the King of Martial War were stunned.

Though they were prodigies of the new era, they had heard rumors of legendary figures since the dawn of the Golden Age. The name "Vanguard" in particular, having set the record of eight million consecutive victories on the Martial Fighting Mountain, was once considered the ceiling of combat power for the King realm of that era.

Yet, he had been gone for too long.

So long that everyone assumed he had fallen in some forgotten corner or had been swept away by the tides of time.

They never expected to see him reappear here, in such a manner.

Under the gaze of the three Divine Path prodigies, the bridge hatch of the Oracle slowly opened.

Qin Feng, clad in Vanguard's signature black armor, stepped out and hovered in the void.

His aura was perfectly restrained, appearing no different from an ordinary peak-level King, but those indifferent golden eyes seemed to contain an ancient universe, deep enough to chill the soul.

One, two, three, four.

Four of the world's top-tier King-level powerhouses.

Three were Divine Path prodigies birthed by the Golden Age, one was an undefeated legend from the previous era.

Within this death-trap known as the Tomb of Ten Thousand Kings, they had become each other's hunters, and each other's prey.

The situation had become increasingly treacherous and dangerous.

...

Within the death-trap formed by the Desert interstellar void, the atmosphere froze to the point of absolute zero.

The King of Ancient Void, the King of Divine Silkworms, and the King of Martial War—three Divine Path prodigies representing the peak combat power of the new generation of this Golden Age—formed a triangle, surrounding the black ship that had abruptly intruded and the mysterious figure who had stepped from it.

Their auras entangled and collided, causing the surrounding void to ripple under the unbearable pressure.

Yet, Qin Feng, the center of the storm, seemed to stand apart from it all.

He hovered calmly before the Oracle, his mechanical armor reflecting the cold, deep luster of the Tomb of Ten Thousand Kings' light.

His aura was restrained to the extreme, like a stone cast into the deep sea—it stirred no waves, yet radiated an indescribable weight born of existence itself.

"Vanguard..."

The King of Ancient Void chewed on the name with amusement, his evil eyes, which seemed to contain the birth and death of stars, scanning Qin Feng unscrupulously, attempting to see right through him.

"A name long forgotten by time. I am somewhat curious: what gave you the courage to intrude upon the hunting ground I have laid? Do you truly believe that relying on an old legend from a million years ago, you can stand on equal footing with those of us walking the Divine Path of the new era?"

His words were filled with undisguised contempt and arrogance.

In his eyes, the so-called "Vanguard" was merely a remnant of a bygone age. The tides of the Golden Age were fierce; a million years was enough to turn oceans into mulberry fields. A king of the past, in this era of countless prodigies, would likely not even stir a ripple.

On the burly frame of the King of Martial War, fighting spirit burned like tangible flames.

He gripped his giant axe, his gaze sweeping between the King of Ancient Void, the King of Divine Silkworms, and Qin Feng, his voice booming like a bell: "Enough talk! King of Ancient Void, you set this trap to wipe us all out.

And you, King of Divine Silkworms, stop putting on airs. Plus this old antique who crawled out from who knows where! Today, in this place, among the four of us, only one will walk out standing! Come and fight!"

He was a pure warrior, disdaining schemes and tricks, believing only in the axe in his hand. In his eyes, these three were all whetstones for his path to the pinnacle of martial arts.

Compared to the sinister nature of the Ancient Void King and the wild ferocity of the War Martial King, the Divine Silkworm King appeared far more composed. His gaze remained locked onto Qin Feng, his brows furrowed in a way that was almost imperceptible.

He could discern nothing.

From Qin Feng, he could sense no threatening aura, nor could he fathom the depths of his laws.

The man simply stood there quietly, as if he had merged with the void itself, yet he remained distinct, standing apart from this universe with startling clarity. This contradictory sensation stirred a sense of indescribable vigilance within him.

This was by no means a simple "remnant of the old era."

"War Martial King, you are as impatient as ever."

The Ancient Void King sneered, then refocused his gaze on Qin Feng. "However, he is right. Before I properly 'converse' with the two of you, I must first clear away the irrelevant small fry."

He raised a hand, pointing at Qin Feng with the posture of a god pronouncing the fate of a mortal.

"Vanguard, I will grant you one chance. Kneel, surrender your soul essence and that vessel, and become my slave. I will let you live to witness how I, the Ancient Void King, step upon the corpses of the Divine Silkworm King and the War Martial King to ascend to the rank of Emperor."

His voice was filled with temptation, yet carried an unquestionable arrogance. This was no recruitment; it was a condescending act of charity.

Qin Feng finally reacted.

He slowly raised his indifferent golden eyes, calmly observing the "King" of the Ancient Void.

No anger, no fear, not even a flicker of emotion. That gaze was as if he were looking at... a dead thing.

"Noisy."

Two words, softly exhaled from his lips.

The voice was not loud, yet it reached the ears of every powerhouse present with absolute clarity.

"You court death!"

The Ancient Void King was instantly enraged. As a prodigy of the Divine Path and the master of this heaven-shaking trap, when had he ever been treated with such contempt?

"I intended to spare your life, but since you are so eager to die, I shall grant your wish!"

The moment the words fell, the [Tomb of Ten Thousand Kings] array behind him roared into motion.

Endless void energy was summoned, coalescing into a massive hand that blotted out the sky, descending upon Qin Feng with crushing force.

This strike fused the Ancient Void King’s own Divine Path laws with the supreme power of the array; its might approached, and in some aspects surpassed, that of an ordinary top-tier Emperor!

He intended to crush this ignorant old antique, along with his vessel, into cosmic dust in a single blow!

Facing this world-destroying strike, the War Martial King and the Divine Silkworm King instinctively retreated, their expressions grave. They asked themselves: if they were the target, they would have to exhaust every effort and perhaps even reveal their trump cards to survive such an onslaught.

This man called "Vanguard" was as good as dead.

Yet, the very instant before the void hand touched Qin Feng’s body.

Qin Feng moved.

He made no defensive gesture, nor did he unleash any earth-shattering secret technique.

He simply... raised his right hand, joined his index and middle fingers, and pointed gently at the crushing void hand and the Ancient Void King, who wore a cruel smile behind it.

The movement was as casual as brushing dust from one’s shoulder.

The moment his fingertips extended, a speck of golden light bloomed.

That light was so tiny, so restrained; before the world-obliterating void hand, it seemed as insignificant as a firefly vying with the moon.

But, this trivial speck of gold, the moment it ignited, seemed to become the only thing in the entire universe.

Time, in that moment, seemed to slow infinitely.

The Divine Silkworm King’s eyes, capable of perceiving the essence of space, contracted to the size of pinpricks.

He saw that the golden light was not stationary; it was extending forward at a speed that transcended the limits of his understanding.

It was not a beam of light, nor an energy blast; it was more like a line of "absolute" law.

The War Martial King’s battle-hardened instincts sent out an unprecedented, bone-chilling alarm.

His muscles tensed instantly, and from the depths of his soul surged a primal, uncontrollable tremor. It was not awe of power, but the purest fear of "death" itself.

[Ultimate Divine Light].

The golden line of law flashed and vanished.

It did not collide with the sky-covering void hand.

It passed straight through.

It pierced through the violent energy, pierced through the layered space, pierced through the barriers of time.

And then, with absolute precision, it landed on the brow of the Ancient Void King, who still wore his cruel smile.

The expression on the Ancient Void King’s face froze.

The sinister madness in his eyes was instantly replaced by a state of utter bewilderment and emptiness.

He seemed to want to say something, but his mind could no longer command his body.

The next instant.

"Pop."

A sound, so faint it was almost inaudible, like a bubble bursting, echoed out.

The body of the Ancient Void King, starting from his brow, vanished without a sound.

Not an explosion, not a disintegration, but the most thorough "erasure" from the level of existence.

His divine body, his soul, his origin path, every trace he had left in this universe... in that moment, they turned into the purest "nothingness."

As he vanished, the void hand that had been about to strike Qin Feng, like a phantom that had lost its source, suddenly collapsed and dissipated into nothing.

And the [Tomb of Ten Thousand Kings] super-array, which had locked down the entire [Wasteland] interstellar void, lost the control of its master; its radiance dimmed sharply, and countless complex patterns began to crumble and dissolve.

The once-impenetrable cage was failing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The entire world fell into a deathly silence.

Absolute silence.

The War Martial King remained in his retreating posture, frozen in place; for the first time, his hulking frame trembled with an uncontrollable tremor.

The giant axe in his hand felt as heavy as a billion stars.

His mind was a blank slate, save for that single, insignificant golden line flashing repeatedly.

What was that?

What was that thing?

One strike...

A mere single strike...

A Divine Path prodigy of his own caliber—even more troublesome in some respects—a mastermind who had plotted for a hundred thousand years and toyed with them all... just like that... gone?

Not even a scream, not a struggle.

Just like that, "wiped" away?

The Divine Silkworm King fared slightly better than the War Martial King, but his face, too, had turned deathly pale.

The mastery of spatial laws he had once taken such pride in was, in that fleeting instant, rendered utterly useless.

He watched, helpless, as the golden light emerged, extended, struck, and erased; his mind could track the process, but his body and his laws lacked the time to make even the most rudimentary response.

Fast?

No, that word was no longer sufficient to describe it.

It was a strike from a higher dimension, a "truth" that ignored the process and arrived directly at the result.

The way he looked at Qin Feng had changed entirely.

There was no longer any vigilance or scrutiny in his eyes, only the deepest awe and terror one feels when facing an unknown, incomprehensible, and magnificent existence.

Remnants of the old era?

Ancient relics?

Small fry?

The mocking words King Guxu uttered before his death now sounded so absurd, so laughable.

What kind of monster had they provoked!

"The... the formation is fading!"

King Zhanwu was the first to snap out of his profound shock; the fighting spirit suppressed by his fear was instantly replaced by the instinct for survival.

Without even glancing at Qin Feng, he roared and transformed into a streak of light, fleeing frantically toward the crumbling boundary of the Tomb of Ten Thousand Kings!

Only one thought occupied his mind: Escape!

Escape as far as possible!

Get as far away from that black-armored mechanical being as possible!

King Shencan reacted at almost the same moment.

Spatial laws surged wildly around his body, and he seemed to dissolve into a phantom shadow, darting away in an incredible angle toward another direction.

His speed was even a fraction faster than King Zhanwu's!

They were both the top prodigies of their age, their resolve forged in iron.

But after witnessing King Guxu’s inconceivable death, all their pride and confidence had been shattered.

They could no longer summon the courage to even raise a hand against Qin Feng.

The Tomb of Ten Thousand Kings was collapsing, the cage was opening—this was their only chance!

Watching the backs of the two men fleeing for their lives, Qin Feng’s expression remained unchanged.

He simply raised his left hand slowly, spread his fingers, and gave a gentle squeeze toward the vast void.

"I said, this place is a hunting ground."

He spoke in a flat tone, as if stating a simple fact.

"Prey may not leave without the hunter’s permission."

As his words fell and his palm tightened, the impossible occurred.

"Hum—!"

Golden divine light, thicker and more brilliant than the previous Ultimate Divine Light, erupted from Qin Feng’s palm.

These rays did not strike anyone; instead, they shot toward every corner of the vast, hollow desert at a speed surpassing light itself.

They reached the boundaries of the collapsing Tomb of Ten Thousand Kings in an instant, then, like living golden vines, they took its place.

Golden chains of law manifested out of thin air!

Engraved upon these chains was Qin Feng’s supreme understanding of the "Ultimate" path, flowing with the most perfect and solid structural laws deduced by the Primordial Singularity.

A brand-new, vast, and tyrannical super-formation, constructed from pure golden laws and impossible to shake, took shape in a single breath!

The Ultimate Formation!

This formation directly covered and replaced the original Tomb of Ten Thousand Kings, sealing the entire interstellar desert void once more—and far more thoroughly than before.

"Clang!"

King Zhanwu’s sky-splitting axe, imbued with infinite power, slammed into the newly formed golden wall.

Yet, this time, it did not even stir a ripple.

An irresistible, terrifying force containing the essence of the "Ultimate" rebounded from the wall.

"Pfft!"

King Zhanwu was struck as if by lightning; he vomited a mouthful of royal blood, flying backward like a kite with a broken string, his axe nearly slipping from his grasp.

On the other side, King Shencan attempted a spatial shift, but just as he was about to pass through the thin wall, he slammed into it as if hitting a wall of "concept" that no spatial law could transcend. He groaned and tumbled out of the void, a trace of blood spilling from his lips.

The two stabilized themselves, faces ashen as they stared at the golden wall that had stained the entire world, feeling the vast, absolute, and unyielding will emanating from it.

Four words surfaced in their minds simultaneously.

No path to heaven, no door to the earth!

The two turned their heads slowly, stiffly, toward the black-armored figure still suspended in the center of the void, lowering his left hand.

Fear, like an endless abyss, swallowed their spirits whole.

What had they done?

They had watched like spectators as King Guxu provoked an existence they could not comprehend.

They had thought that with King Guxu dead, they could escape.

They were wrong.

Terribly wrong.

King Guxu, the man who thought himself the hunter, had been nothing more than a slightly larger piece of prey, just like them, from the very beginning.

They hadn't escaped the tiger's mouth; they had delivered themselves into the dragon's den!

This wasn't escaping a trap—this was inviting the wolf into the house! No, this "wolf" was billions of times more terrifying than anything they could have imagined.

Qin Feng turned around, his indifferent golden eyes sweeping calmly over the faces of King Shencan and King Zhanwu, which were etched with horror and despair.

He spoke slowly, his voice not loud, yet it echoed through the golden cage like a final judgment.

"Now, no one is leaving."