Chapter 416: Air Congeals, Seven Pieces of Divine Gold!

Chapter 416: The Air Congeals, Seven Divine Metals!

Terra Calendar, Year One of the New Era.

The Morning Star, Qin Feng’s former residence.

The air within the room seemed to have frozen solid. Qin Feng sat upon an old sofa, his fingers tapping rhythmically against his knees as he awaited the answer that would change everything.

Standing before him was Wang Xiu, the newly appointed Chief of Intelligence and lead diplomat of the human race.

This iron-willed statesman, who could trade witty barbs at interstellar negotiation tables and remain unflinching before the gods of alien races, now found his forehead slick with a fine, cold sweat. The quantum projector in his hand trembled, as if it held not data, but an exploding star.

"Exalted One."

Wang Xiu drew a ragged breath, his voice raspy. "The Eye of Truth, retrieved from the God-Chosen Battlefield, has been operating at full capacity for seventy-two hours. By synthesizing it with the fragments of the Great Archive left behind by the Emperor, we have finally deciphered the locations of those seven substances."

"Speak."

Qin Feng’s command was concise.

Wang Xiu pressed the playback button.

Hum—!

A massive holographic star map unfolded within the cramped living room. On the map, seven crimson light points flickered like the eyes of demons, scattered across the most perilous reaches of the universe.

"The situation... is far worse than we anticipated."

Wang Xiu pointed to the first red dot, located on the outer edge of the Perseus Arm, in a region of absolute, pitch-black void.

"The first, the Primal Myriad-Manifestation Prison Gold."

Wang Xiu pulled up a blurred gravitational wave detection map. "It lies at the event horizon of the Great Attractor. The gravitational coefficient there is ten thousand times that of a standard black hole. Our probes were crushed into two-dimensional sheets the moment they entered within three light-years. Analysis suggests this metal possesses the property of 'infinite density'; it is the cornerstone of the universe's mass."

Qin Feng nodded slightly. "The perfect material for forging a skeleton. Continue."

Wang Xiu’s finger moved to the second location, a region of brilliant yet shattered nebulae.

"The second, the Void-Flowing Star Silver. It is located deep within the temporal turbulence of a fractured dimension. There are no fixed coordinates; space is constantly rearranging itself. We sacrificed three thousand drone scouts just to capture a fleeting trace of it. It is the embodiment of 'space,' but that also means it could vanish at any moment."

Qin Feng’s expression remained unchanged. "It won't escape. Next."

Wang Xiu swallowed hard and pointed to the third location, a sea of raging fire.

"The third, the Eternal Undying Crimson Copper. It lies at the heart of a newly exploded supernova remnant. The temperature there reaches a hundred billion degrees and never cools. This copper has drifted in that sea of fire for eons; no one has ever been able to approach it."

"The fourth, the Nirvana Cold-Abyss Iron Mother."

Wang Xiu’s voice began to quiver. "At the heat-death zone on the edge of the universe. It is a realm of absolute zero, where even light is frozen solid. Any living being that enters is instantly reduced to scattered fundamental particles. It represents 'entropy' and 'stillness'."

Qin Feng remained calm. "And the others?"

Wang Xiu pulled up the fifth image, a cluster of eerie green light points.

"The fifth, the Genesis Green-Wood Divine Gold. It is located at the intersection of the Elven and Zerg battlefields, rumored to be buried beneath the withered roots of the legendary World Tree. It is the source of 'life,' but the area is currently a meat grinder for the two warring races, and a land of lethal toxins."

"The sixth, the Causality Profound-Yellow Copper."

Wang Xiu gestured toward a phantom river. "This is the most mysterious of all. It does not exist in three-dimensional space, but downstream in the River of Time, at a node of entangled causality. To claim it, one must endure the backlash of the Laws of Time."

When he reached the final one, Wang Xiu paused for a long time, his hand trembling as he pointed to the darkest, most chaotic corner of the star map—the Warp.

"The seventh... the Chaos Indeterminate Lead-Mercury."

"It lies deep within the Warp. Intelligence suggests it is currently located... on the dining table of Tzeentch, one of the four Chaos Gods. It is the source of 'chaos' and 'possibility,' and the favorite plaything of the Dark God."

The report concluded.

Wang Xiu knelt, his forehead pressed against the cold floor.

"Exalted One, these seven locations are all death traps with no hope of survival. Furthermore, according to our intelligence, each is guarded by a terrifying entity..."

"The human fleet, I fear... cannot provide you with any substantial support."

Qin Feng gazed at the seven crimson dots.

After a long silence, he suddenly laughed.

His laughter carried a hint of long-lost excitement.

"Death traps with no hope of survival?"

Qin Feng stood up, walked to the holographic map, and passed his finger through the light point labeled "Great Attractor."

"To me, those are not death traps."

"They are my private mines."

He turned to look at Wang Xiu.

"No need for the fleet. I will go alone."

"It is just as well; my body has been idle for too long. I need to find somewhere with a bit more weight to loosen my bones."

The first primal divine metal—the Primal Myriad-Manifestation Prison Gold.

Infinite density, absolute gravity, suppressing all things.

Qin Feng chose it as his first stop because his path to ascending as the "Lord of the Universe" required him to first forge a skeleton capable of bearing the Big Bang.

Without extreme density and mass, his body would collapse the instant the singularity detonated.

The Myriad-Manifestation Prison Gold was the perfect material for his bones.

The gravitational center of the Laniakea Supercluster—the Great Attractor.

This was a dark region from which even light could not escape.

It was not a black hole, but a mass anomaly so vast it defied imagination.

Tens of thousands of galaxies were being pulled toward it like moths to a flame, only to be torn apart and devoured.

Qin Feng’s figure appeared three light-years outside the Great Attractor.

Even from such a distance, he could feel that terrifying pull.

Space here was like a taut drumhead, ready to shatter at the slightest movement.

"A fine place."

Qin Feng rolled his neck, his bones popping with the sound of thunder.

"This gravitational environment is ten thousand times stronger than the hundred-fold gravity of the God-Chosen Battlefield."

He activated the Eye of Returning Void, his gaze piercing through layers of galactic debris and cosmic dust to stare directly into the core of the Great Attractor.

In the center of that twisted darkness floated a piece of golden metal no larger than a fist.

It looked ordinary, even rough.

Yet, the remnants of thousands of stars orbited it, ground into powder bit by bit by the gravitational waves it emitted.

It was the king of this place.

The Primal Myriad-Manifestation Prison Gold.

"Found you."

Just as Qin Feng prepared to move, his eyes suddenly narrowed.

Beside the divine metal, a colossal behemoth lay coiled.

It was a stone giant standing over ten thousand zhang tall.

He was no creature of flesh and blood, but a rare silicon-based lifeform—a Star Spirit.

His entire body was composed of collapsed neutron star matter, every inch of his skin radiating high-energy beams. He sat cross-legged by the divine metal, arms held in a hollow embrace, attempting to refine the treasure using his own gravitational field.

Rival Intelligence:

Name: Star-Crusher Moja.

Realm: Universe Venerable, half-step Universe Master.

Race: Star Spirit.

Combat Record: Once crushed three medium-sized galaxies with his bare hands; feeds by consuming neutron stars.

"So, it is already claimed."

A cold sneer curled the corner of Qin Feng's mouth.

"Since you refuse to leave, I shall refine you along with it."

In the core region of the Great Attractor.

Star-Crusher Moja snapped open his massive, singular stone eye, which held three distinct pupils.

"Who?!"

His voice did not travel through air, but vibrated directly through gravitational waves, triggering a tidal wave of gravity across the void.

He had sat in this desolate place for thirty million years.

To refine this [Myriad Phenomenon Prison-Suppressing Gold], he had even restructured his body into that of a neutron star. Just as he was a mere ten million years away from shaking the divine metal, someone dared to disturb him?

"Get out!"

Moja roared, raising his hand to unleash a "Gravity Collapse."

The surrounding remnants of several stars were instantly snatched into his grasp, kneaded into a high-density energy sphere, and hurled viciously toward Qin Feng.

Qin Feng stood in the void, facing the energy sphere capable of obliterating a galaxy, neither dodging nor parrying.

He did not even employ any laws of power.

In this domain where gravity reigned supreme, the best response was gravity even greater.

"Your strength is far too meager."

Qin Feng extended a hand.

Physical Divine Ability: Covering the Heavens with One Hand.

It was the body of a Venerable, baptized by the fortune of the human race and fused with the power of the Chaos Core.

Bang!!!

The high-density energy sphere slammed into Qin Feng's palm like an egg against a boulder, instantly shattering into a sky full of fireworks.

Not even the skin on Qin Feng's palm was broken.

"What?!"

Moja’s stone-like face displayed a shock that was unnervingly human.

"A carbon-based lifeform? Impossible! How could such soft, carbon-based flesh survive in the core of the Great Attractor? And how could it possibly catch my 'Star Meteor Burst'!"

Qin Feng took a single step, crossing tens of thousands of kilometers to appear directly before Moja.

Before the giant ten thousand zhang tall, Qin Feng was as small as a speck of dust.

Yet his aura was like a sharp blade, piercing through Moja’s gravitational field.

"I have taken a liking to this gold."

Qin Feng pointed at the Myriad Phenomenon Prison-Suppressing Gold behind Moja.

"You may crawl away now."

"Arrogant worm!"

Moja erupted in fury. As an ancient god of the Star Spirits, when had he ever suffered such humiliation?

"I will crush you into a sheet of paper!"

Rumble—

Runes lit up across Moja’s body—the "Gravity Runes" unique to the Star Spirits. The space around him collapsed instantly, forming a miniature black hole in an attempt to swallow Qin Feng.

Facing the devouring pull of the miniature black hole.

Qin Feng did not resist; instead, he charged straight into it.

"A black hole?"

Qin Feng’s voice drifted from within the event horizon, calm enough to chill the soul.

"When I was still in the Ascension Realm, I practiced my punches beside black holes. Who are you trying to scare with this?"

The next second.

Rip—!

The miniature black hole was torn apart by a pair of bare hands!

Qin Feng emerged from the rift, his body radiating golden divine light.

He leaped high, driving a fist toward the center of Moja’s brow.

"Get down!"

Moja raised his arms to block. His limbs were forged from the highest-density neutron degenerate matter, known as one of the hardest shields in the universe.

Thud—!!!

A muffled, thunderous roar echoed as gravitational waves swept across the entire Great Attractor.

Every meteorite within several light-years was pulverized into dust in that instant.

Crack.

A horrifying fissure appeared across Moja’s arms.

Following that.

Boom!

This ancient Star Spirit god, ten thousand zhang tall, was forced to his knees in the void by Qin Feng’s seemingly tiny fist! His knees shattered the spatial barrier, splashing a sky full of spatial fragments.

"Impossible... your mass... why is it greater than mine?!"

Moja roared in terror.

He could not comprehend it. How could a carbon-based human contain the weight of a universe within his fist?

Qin Feng hovered above Moja’s head, looking down from on high.

"Because you are burdened only by stone."

"And what I carry upon my back is the spine of an entire race."

Qin Feng ceased all idle talk.

He clasped his hands together and brought them down like a heavy hammer.

"Perish!"

With this strike, Qin Feng channeled a sliver of power from the Chaos Core within him.

Gray currents of chaos swirled around his fists, the very embodiment of the end of all things.

Bang!!!

Moga’s indestructible neutron-star skull shattered completely under the force of the blow.

The colossal body, stripped of conscious control, crumbled into countless fragments, captured by the Great Attractor’s gravity to become part of this stellar graveyard.

A peak Venerable, an Astral Ancient God.

Three strikes.

Fallen.

Having dealt with the meddlesome "watchdog,"

Qin Feng finally stood before the Primordial Myriad-Phenomena Prison-Suppressing Gold.

The fist-sized piece of golden metal hovered there in silence.

The gravity it exuded was a hundred times more terrifying than that of Moga.

Qin Feng reached out, intending to touch it.

When his fingertips were but a centimeter away, the skin began to split.

It was a laceration born of the gravitational gradient.

"A fine prize."

Qin Feng was not alarmed, but delighted.

"The heavier it is, the harder my bones shall become."

He sat cross-legged in the void, choosing not to grasp it with his hands.

Instead, he opened his mouth.

"Swallow!"

Madness.

Utter, unadulterated madness.

He intended to swallow the divine metal whole, using the Chaos Core within him to refine it!

Gulp.

The divine metal entered his throat.

Even for Qin Feng, his face turned deathly pale in that instant.

His body plummeted downward, as if he had swallowed ten thousand stars.

His skin began to crack, his veins burst, and golden divine blood sprayed out, only to be pulled back by the gravity before it could drift away.

"Yield to me... refine!"

Qin Feng gritted his teeth, the Chaos Core deep within his soul spinning wildly to unleash gray flames of chaos, enveloping the metal in his stomach.

"I am the Master of the Universe... a mere piece of metal... thinks it can crush me?!"

Time lost all meaning in that moment.

Perhaps it was a second, perhaps a year.

In the depths of this pitch-black Great Attractor, Qin Feng’s body underwent cycle after cycle of disintegration and reconstruction.

His bones were crushed, only to be reborn fused with golden liquid.

With every rebirth, his skeleton grew denser, more radiant.

Finally.

After nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine fractures.

Qin Feng opened his eyes.

Reflected in his pupils were two golden vortices.

He stood up.

The terrifying gravity of the Great Attractor now felt to him like a gentle breeze against his face.

He clenched his fist slightly.

Clack, clack, clack.

The bones within him emitted the sound of metal striking metal.

Every single bone had turned a dark, burnished gold.

These were the Prison-Suppressing Divine Bones, fused with the Myriad-Phenomena Gold.

"The first piece, complete."

Qin Feng felt the surging power within him.

Now, by the weight of his physical form alone, he could collapse a star.

"The skeleton is forged."

Qin Feng looked toward the second red dot on the star map.

"Next, it is time to fill in the 'flesh and blood'."

The commotion Qin Feng caused at the Great Attractor was far too great.

The fall of the Star-Shattering Venerable Moga had triggered the collective shattering of the Astral race’s life tablets.

Coupled with the anomalous tremors of the Great Attractor’s gravitational waves, the news could not be concealed.

Deep in the universe, the Astral race’s home planet.

Within a massive crystal palace, several Astral elders stared at the shattered tablets, their bodies trembling.

"Moga is dead... he was a peak Venerable! Who could have done this?"

"According to the analysis of the residual gravitational waves... it is... it is that human! Qin Feng!"

"What?! Did he not just return to the human race? How could he appear at the Great Attractor? And kill Moga?"

"He is collecting Primordial Divine Metal... Heavens, what is he doing? Could he be trying to..."

A terrifying conjecture surfaced in the minds of the elders.

"He seeks to ascend as the Master of the Universe!"

The God race, the Supreme Heaven.

The God-Emperor studied the intelligence, a flicker of gravity crossing his golden eyes.

"The Myriad-Form Prison Gold... he has claimed its mass."

"If he gathers all seven fragments, there will be no sanctuary left for us in this universe."

"Proclaim my oracle."

The God-Emperor’s voice pierced through countless dimensions.

"Notify the Machine Race, the Zerg, the Monster Clan... all beings above the Venerable tier."

"Initiate the 'Twilight of the Gods' protocol."

"Intercept him at the location of the next Divine Gold. Spare no cost; even if you must shatter that entire star sector, ensure his fall!"

A cosmic net, woven specifically for Qin Feng, was quietly unfurling.

As for the conspiracies brewing in the outside world, Qin Feng may have sensed them, but he did not care.

A hunter never fears the desperate thrashing of his prey.

The second Primal Divine Gold—[Void-Flowing Star Silver].

Spatial folding, absolute velocity, etherealization.

Here, there is no up or down, no left or right, not even the concept of distance.

Countless shards of space drift like mirrors, reflecting grotesque lights and shadows.

Take a single step forward, and you might emerge a hundred million light-years away, return to your starting point, or even slice yourself in two.

Qin Feng’s figure appeared at the edge of the rift.

With a skeleton forged from [Myriad-Form Prison Gold], his body remained as steady as an anchor, unmoved by the turbulent currents of space.

"Flowing Star Silver... this little thing is a master of evasion."

Qin Feng activated his Eyes of Return to Nothingness, searching through infinite dimensional slices for that streak of silver light.

Suddenly.

A silver flash vanished to his left.

Its speed was so immense it transcended the velocity of light itself.

"Trying to run?"

Qin Feng sneered.

He lunged, but his hand grasped only emptiness. The silver light passed straight through his palm—it was phased into the void.

At that same moment.

The surrounding space shuddered violently.

Dozens of terrifying auras descended from every direction.

Space was torn asunder, revealing powerful beings of diverse forms.

Leading them was a Machine Race Venerable composed entirely of liquid metal—the Spacetime Walker, Zero.

Behind him stood two six-winged Seraphs of the God Race and three Void Great Demons of the Monster Clan.

Six Venerables in total!

And all of them were masters of spatial laws.

"Qin Feng."

The Spacetime Walker Zero emitted a frigid electronic tone.

"This place shall be your tomb."

"To ensure you cannot flee, we have locked down this dimension."

Hum—

The six Venerables joined forces to manifest a cosmic artifact—the [Dimensional Cage].

The space for a million miles instantly solidified, transforming into an inescapable iron box.

Watching this, Qin Feng did not panic; instead, he smiled.

He slowly drew the God-Slaying Spear from his back.

"Locking down the space?"

"I thank you most sincerely."

"I was worried this [Flowing Star Silver] would dart away and be impossible to catch."

"Now that you have closed the door, things have become much easier."

Qin Feng’s gaze sharpened, his killing intent erupting like a tidal wave.

"Close the gates, and slaughter the dogs!"