Chapter 270 - 856-867

Chapter 856: You People Are Making A Mess

In the Battlegod Tomb, Qin Feng started to prepare things for Bai Li, taking out countless expensive elixirs, spirit herbs as if money did not matter in treating her wounds and feeding her!

With such a splurge, Bai Li's injuries became minor cuts. After resting up for one week, she would be alright.

"Qin Feng, what are your plans? Are we going to just let that He Tianxing go?" Bai Li was absolutely infuriated, as a beast deity, she had an extremely great amount of arrogance.

"No, we're going to kill him!" Qin Feng said with absolute certainty.

He sat cross-legged in a meditative posture, but in his mind raced those violent and manic thoughts.

Killing He Tianxing as soon as possible.

In theory, if Qin Feng had reached A-tier, using the assasination tactics he had learned from Guan Jinhau, who was to say he would not be able to kill an S-tier.

After all, Guan Jinhau succeeded, who was to say Qin Feng would not?

Of course, Guan Jinhau specialized in this kind of thing. Qin Feng had more methods of subterfuge compared to him, more power, but less experience in assassination.

However, experience could be made up for with raw power.

While it was naturally impossible for him to become an S-tier immediately, it was not impossible to become an A-tier.

He looked internally at his dantian. Due to that battle, the internal force in his dantian had been exhausted but the capacity was still at 500 pools worth in terms of pockets.

He was halfway through with ranking up, but this definitely would not be easy to accumulate.

The easiest way to do so was to kill.

How much did he need to kill?

For ancient warriors B5-tier and above, it would have to be around three hundred.

However, for ancient warriors A5-tier and above, he only needed to kill thirty people!

Was the opportunity not right in front of him?

When the Blood River Realm appeared, S-tier powerhouses appeared again and again and an S-tier powerhouse usually had more than ten A-tiers as subordinates.

In the Blood River Realm, taking down these people, let alone thirty, even three hundred or three thousand was possible!

Of course, Qin Feng would not indiscriminately kill innocent people, but those from the Dark Coalition, especially Ayshan and He Tianxing's subordinates, did not need to think about it.

As long as he had reached A-tier and his internal force had become a sea, he would not hesitate to take action and kill He Tianxing.

After he revealed his plan, Bai Li was ready to set out immediately.

"Calm down, let's wait a few days. We'll talk once your injuries have been properly healed," Qin Feng said.

"I can go to the Flowing Realm to rest," Bai Li immediately said, "A gentleman's revenge can be best served cold, but a woman's revenge is best served piping hot!"

Qin Feng was amused by Bai Li's play on words.

"Where did that come from?"

"From this eager vengeful heart."

"Alright, alright, don't you worry," Qin Feng's expression turned cold and filled with murderous intent. "Even if you want to kill He Tianxing now, we need to get our stepping stones together first!"

Qin Feng said, opening up the Bounty Hunter Network

This time, he was going to scroll through the battle.net.

The Bounty Hunter Network was established by the S-tiers. Previously in Niumeng City, the C-tiers would not be wanted but on the international scale, even S-tiers were likely to be on there, as it was a death list.

Otherwise, why would Guan Jinhau assassinate an S-tier, just for the fame?

Rewards, the things left behind after killing an S-tier, were all powerful temptations.

So now, Qin Feng would do this too.

He began to search based on his memory and some of the latest news secretly announced by the Bounty Hunter Network, quickly locking onto thirty people.

These thirty A-tiers would not know what was coming in the future. They were even very happy that they were able to follow their S-tier powerhouses to explore the Blood River Realm, and even reap huge benefits there.

Of course, some people had also noticed the blow the Fengli Organization suffered.

Secretly, there were already countless rumors being passed on.

"Have you heard? The Fengli Organization has withdrawn from the Blood River Realm!"

"I heard, it's because someone provoked an S-tier aptitude user!"

"What? Isn't that a death sentence?"

"This Qin Feng, his journey was so smooth, he was bound to stumble eventually!"

"Yeah, now it depends on whether he can make it through. If not, then…"

There were already quite a number of people who had begun to stare at the plump lamb that was Qin Feng.

From the looks of things, Qin Feng was just about to receive a death sentence.

***

Meanwhile, at the top of Dragon Capital, a majestic female voice called out with a harsh, steely tone.

"You people are making a total mess of it all!"

Behind this woman was a three dimensional image of mountains and rivers. She was wearing a typical military uniform. The frame of her badge on her chest depicted a soaring golden dragon.

What was more noticeable was the letter and number on this woman's badge!

S. 8!

At present time, this was Huaxia's strongest.

The S8 ancient warrior, the City Duke of the Dragon Capital, the first ever in Huaxia, Long Ting!

Long Ting had a majestic face, she maintained the appearance of a thirty year-old woman without a trace of wrinkles on her face and corners of her eyes. She was very beautiful, but she did not pass off as too young for it to be convincing.

Her eyes were sharp, she had a gaze that made people want to surrender if she casted her glance on them.

Long Ting's voice continued to ring. "Qin Feng incidentally helped Hu San. You didn't support him, but you want his company to abandon the great prospects of the Blood River Realm. What would the others say? Wouldn't people start having ideas about his company? Just because of the leader of the Dark Coalition, wouldn't you as the strongest ones in the Human Alliance fight against He Tianxing? At least try to deter him?"

"You actually wanted Qin Feng to leave? Have him keep a low profile?"

"Didn't you think he'd feel terrible about this?"

"Just, just what were you all thinking? He is a member of the Huaxia Alliance. He gets bullied and seriously injured, he didn't even have anyone to support him. He just needed some of your things and then up and left?"

Long Ting got more and more aggravated as she spoke.

Qin Feng, as last year's prodigy, naturally had everyone's attention. This young man was really extraordinary. After all, they had never had a C-tier participate in the Prodigy Tournament under the age of twenty.

However, Qin Feng did.

After that, the Huaxia Alliance had been keeping tabs on Qin Feng. While Long Ting knew about the news surrounding him, she did not care too much.

But now, she was absolutely shocked!

He managed to survive He Tianxing's Sky Shadow Sword. Would that not be worthy of attention? So who should the future of the Huaxia Alliance be entrusted to?

"Hu San made a mistake, are you making a mistake too?" Long Ting scolded again.

While she did respect her elders, but on key issues she was going to be resentful that people were not able to meet her expectations, and was impatient when it came to improvements.

On the other end of the communicator, Long Yue and Long Yunyi were embarrassed by Long Ting.

While Long Ting was indeed much younger than them, she was stronger than them. What was more, there was always bound to be a leader in the family.

They were all born with a kind of decision-making ability, not like Long Yunyi's frivolous sloppiness, nor was it rigid like Long Yue's.

Mang of Long Ting's decisions were extremely appropriate, and it was also because of her existence that Dragon Capital and the Long family could exist until this day.

"Then, what should I do now?" Long Yunyi said somewhat hesitantly.

This great granddaughter of his was really amazing.

"It just so happens that I and the Fengli Organization have an agreement. This time, I will personally go there and I will send the Fengli Organization to the Blood River Realm!"

Long Ting made up her mind and announced her views!

She wanted to go there in person!

This sentence shocked the two people on the other side.

Long Ting had not left Dragon Capital for eight years!

Chapter 857: Long Ting is Here!

Long Ting's outrage caused both Long Yunyi and Long Yue to blame themselves, they indeed felt that they had done something uncalled for.

However, in Qin Feng's mind there were no such thoughts. That was because he did not feel like he had to rely on certain S-tiers.

In his past life, he became a mercenary lord all by himself.

After his rebirth, even when he had become a member of the Huaxia Alliance, his contribution was definitely far more than the resources the Huaxia Alliance had used to cultivate him.

Therefore, he had always believed that the Huaxia Alliance and he were only mutually beneficial and did not have that relationship where either side was a subordinate.

What was more, Qin Feng knew some basic principles!

Between S-tiers, if you were not able to make a move then you should not make a move or else it would just be chaos.

In the Blood River Realm, the S-tiers had only fought a few times and spatial rifts had been torn open as a result. After a few more times, that realm would implode.

Therefore, Qin Feng understood what Long Yue and the others were thinking.

However, Long Ting made her decision because she was afraid that Qin Feng would think too much of it.

***

In the Battlegod Tomb, Qin Feng sat cross-legged with the Magical Tesseract floating in front of him. At the same time, he merged items one after another into it.

The S-tier metals previously given by Long Yue and Hu San were added to form the primary alloy.

A pair of combat boots appeared in the Magical Tesseract.

Due to being made of a special material, these boots had a different kind of shine to it, and the bright flaming light made it look like it was about to fly off at any time.

These were S-tier god armor-like boots, which would definitely increase Qin Feng's speed.

However, with this dazzling color, even if Qin Feng added some other materials, when he infused it with energy there was no way of hiding its shine.

And if Qin Feng was going to assassinate He Tianxing, it was best he made a suit of armor suited for stealth.

Qin Feng took out the leather from the Glutton Leviathan.

The Glutton Leviathan, as an A-tier beast that almost advanced into beast deity level, was not weak. The defensive power of its skin was even more powerful. He compressed the leather and straight up made a set of beast king-level combat uniforms, but this was in no way able to compare with god armor. The difference was still too big.

It should be enough!

As Qin Feng rested in Fengli City, there were even more rumors from the outside. It seemed that everyone was starting to look down on the Fengli Organization.

After offending an S-tier, it made the Fengli Organization uneasy. Some people also started to have some thoughts about the company.

They were like a pack of sharks, peeping at the large ship that was Fengli from below the water's surface, waiting for it to sink so that they could feed on its crew.

On the third day of Qin Feng's return.

In Fengli City, twenty kilometers away from the end of the construction zone of a huge road, a large circular spatial passage suddenly appeared.

The legions stationed here were all unsurprised. This was Fengli City, it was the seat of the company that studied airships that could spatially travel. They often saw rifts like this.

It was soon that they noticed something strange, because this passage was a little bigger than what the airships used to open up. Not only that, it was a dragon boat that emerged from the dark spatial passage.

While the Fengli Organization, which belonged to Qin Feng, was indeed the leading group in promoting spatial warping, it was not the only one.

There were some people who had their own airships thirty years before Qin Feng did.

This was a symbol of Huaxia.

Many people recognized it.

On that dragon boat, the character for 'Dragon' was depicted on it with a flourish!

Dragon Capital, the Long family!

It was known that as the top family of China, this family, due to having too many S-tiers, even had their own different realms where they lived in, in order to prevent some people from retaliating on them.

Therefore, everyone in the Long family who appeared in the outside world had S-tier levels of strength.

And the Dragon Boat represented the Long family. Once it appeared, it was likely to carry a powerful person.

As soon as the Dragon Boat appeared, the garrison immediately reported it. Qin Feng, who was originally resting, carried doubts in his head as he also came out to greet this person.

When Qin Feng arrived, he found that Xue Xingfu was personally receiving a lady in a military uniform, paying her respects with a rather indescribable expression of excitement on his face.

Xue Xingfu rarely showed such an unprofessional expression.

At this moment, the woman seemed to sense Qin Feng's arrival and then smiled at him.

"General Qin, this is our first time meeting. I presume I'm not interrupting anything?"

This woman had grace yet was an intimidating force, she was trying to manage a gentle attitude toward Qin Feng.

He also recognized the other person at this moment.

It was actually Long Ting.

"Premier Long!" Qin Feng said, "Premier Long, you shouldn't be presuming. Your presence brings light to my humble dwelling at Fengli!"

Long Ting smiled, but did not pay much heed to Qin Feng's polite remarks.

"I'm here this time mainly to let your Fengli Organization upgrade the Dragon Boat!"

Qin Feng raised his brows, only to upgrade the Dragon Boat. Did Long Ting need to go out of her way to do it? Everyone knew that Long Ting seemed to have not left Dragon Capital for many years.

However, he did not try to pry and asked Xue Xingfu to follow as he personally took Long Ting to upgrade the Dragon Boat.

As for information leaks and things like that, would an S-tier even care about such things?

Even if he let the other watch, they probably would not bother trying to figure it out!

"I didn't expect Premier Long to personally come. Mr. Xue, let's take Premier Long for a visit in person!" Qin Feng said.

"It just so happens that the previous design blueprints and transformative blueprints have already been prepared, I can enter the factory for the upgrade immediately!"

This transaction had been received two months ago, and cooperating with Dragon Capital's Long family was the equivalent of raising the prestige of the Fengli Organization.

However, it was unexpected that Long Ting would come in person.

Xue Xingfu naturally did not think that the other person was here to keep an eye on the Dragon Boat, in fact, all this was because of Qin Feng.

Sure enough, afterward, Long Ting spoke to the two in a gentle manner.

"The technology the Dragon Boat used was very successful in its time, but every time it jumped through space it consumed a lot of energy. It requires a lot of manpower and aptitude users inside to operate. It's not something a C-tier aptitude user could ride! Though, in these past years there hasn't been a war so we haven't used it frequently!"

"It's still Fengli's technology that is good and relatively stable!"

"Oh, is this a newly-invented energy cannon? It looks so powerful, very impressive!"

Xue Xingfu worked hard in introducing Long Ting to all the things, she did not care about his lower strength and the two of them were fond of chatting with one another. The transformation of the Dragon Boat only took about two days.

After the visit, Xue Xingfu did not try to make random arrangements because he did not know what Long Ting's next thoughts were but it was obvious that she had something in mind.

"General Qin, you suffered injuries before, are you alright now?" Long Ting asked.

Qin Feng's injuries were healed by the time he returned. Now that Long Ting was inquiring, he had no intention of concealing it.

"I'm fine!"

"That's good. Now, the situation about the Blood River Realm relates to a matter of arranging new resources. There aren't many people under Long Yue and Long Yunyi. If the Fengli Organization wants to hold on to this realm, I will be very supportive of it!"

Qin Feng looked at Long Ting in the eye as she regarded him calmly. It was easy to understand what these two were thinking from just a glance!

Chapter 858: Making A Comeback

Not much explanation was needed when talking to intelligent people.

Qin Feng looked into the other's eyes and said, "If that's the case, then I'll head out again."

Long Ting also said, "Don't worry, He Tianxing and Ayshan can't touch you. These two people, I will have someone remove them from the Blood River Realm!"

The words from Huaxia's top leader were never in vain.

When she said that, what it meant was that she would literally use everything in her power to shove out He Tianxing's power.

Sometimes, an S-tier was indeed the tyrant of it all, but in regards to allocating resources, one always needed subordinates.

If Long Ting issued the order to completely block out He Tianxing and Ayshan's people. These two people would not be able to gain a foothold unless they killed everyone else. Even if they could stay, they would only have control over remote places with less resources.

Long Ting's words were a promise to Qin Feng.

"I will also join the clean-up crew, after all, this is a feud I caused!" Qin Feng said.

Long Ting did not care how he would react, but looked at him with admiration.

"With you, I believe this will be finished soon!"

The two had a pleasant exchange in the afternoon. Long Ting only stayed for three hours before returning to Dragon Capital. The Dragon Boat was left behind for its modification.

It was just that Long Ting's arrival had already caused an uproar in the world outside!

"Is this news for real? Long Ting went to Fengli City?"

"What? She actually stayed in Feng li City for three hours? Long Ting, that woman hasn't left Dragon Capital for many years! What kind of high profile thing is this?"

"Premier Long seems to support Qin Feng!"

"What for?"

Others always felt that this was simply overkill.

Qin Feng was not too bothered by it, but there were a lot of rumors that there was actually someone strong like Long Ting making a headway for Qin Feng!

That was incredible!

Originally, there were some people who had thoughts about the company and they dropped their ideas of trying to take on the Fengli Organization!

A storm ended before it had even begun.

Qin Feng looked as if he was not returning to avoid the limelight, but was just injured and resting. Now, he was making a comeback.

Two days later!

Outside the Styx, one team after another was blockaded. If it was not a team with an S-tier leader, it was impossible for them to rush in. Even those with A-tiers were intercepted by the North African Republic Alliance.

Cleaves occupied the entrance to the Styx, joining forces with more than a dozen A-tier leaders. In front of him were seven to eight A-tier aptitude users.

The two sides were in conflict, there might be fighting at any moment.

"Cleaves, don't be outrageous, this isn't your secret realm!"

"The entrance to the Styx is in my home. What can you do about it? This is my territory, fine I'll let the S-tiers masters in, but you people? Who do you think you are?" Cleaves said coldly.

He had brought people from the North African Republic Alliance to seal it all down.

The items inside the Blood River Realm were indeed very tempting. While this blockade could not prevent people from entering, it would at least stop those low-level aptitude users from entering to take advantage of the situation. The fewer people that were participating, the more people would get as a whole.

Of course, the number of people entering the place was not as low either.

Cleaves had the innate advantage, with people from the North African Republic Alliance, they were stuck here. They did not charge any fees, they did not open up and they were not allowed to enter.

This kind of selfish behavior was bound to arouse people's anger.

At this moment, in the dark, some men in black robes wearing necklaces decorated with fangs flashed bloodthirsty grins.

The Slaughterspears were a top Dark Coalition group in the North African Republic Alliance's territory, and even their boss was an S-tier ancient warrior. In this case, these people were as powerful as Ayshan's subordinates.

"Get ready, this is a good opportunity for us!"

A man stuck his tongue out and licked his teeth, showing a hideous expression.

Then, the energy from his dantian was infused into the spear in his hand before he violently attacked.

At the same time as the attack, the man also roared. His internal force vibrated as the voice came from all directions.

"To hell with this nonsense, we're going in!"

Whoosh!

The spear flew out through the dark, piercing the air as it fell into the entrance of the spatial rift and slammed down in front of Cleaves and the others.

All of a sudden, as if kicking a hornet's nest, Cleaves also roared, "You sons of b*tches, how dare you?"

Those who had the ability to fight them were also caught off guard by this sudden change, but when Cleaves and the others attacked them they naturally had to resist. In an instant, everyone fought in a chaotic clash.

The Slaughterspears hid in the dark, killing one person after another. For a while, the entrance to the Blood River Realm was in total chaos.

At this moment, a dark spatial passage emerged in the sky.

The passage expanded in the blink of an eye and was unprecedentedly large.

This kind of spatial passage was, in fact, something many people had seen once or twice.

As many people had obtained airships from the Huaxia region, they all had such functions. Every time he saw these people, Cleaves felt like he was going to get a migraine.

However, Cleaves could not take care of either situation at the same time!

However, after the spatial passage appeared, it was not the usual ovular airship that came out, but a bright yellow Dragon Boat.

As for the Dragon Boat, perhaps a low-level aptitude user would not know what it meant but aptitude users A-tier and above knew what it was

In an instant, their expressions changed.

The Dragon Boat!

That was the Dragon Boat that represented the strongest power in all of Huaxia.

However, it was not over yet!

After the Dragon Boat came through, the spatial passage did not close yet. One after another, airships flew out of the passage.

One, two, three…There were actually seven in total.

Moreover, these airships all showed the logo of a particular company.

It was due to these airships, at the very beginning, that incited the mad rush into the Blood River Realm. These people all knew which company it was!

"Fengli!"

Cleaves stared at the airships.

What's going on? Why did Qin Feng come back again?

It was at this moment, a figure leapt out from the Dragon Boat.

"Phantom Shift!"

Countless dark shadows quickly spread out and rushed toward a spot on the ground.

"Aaaah!!!"

"What?!"

"Who?"

A group of people panicked, but in the blink of an eye, a sharp blade pierced through their internal force shield.

Not only that, a terrifying aura surrounded the area.

"Asteroid Assimilation!"

Among these seven people, it was as if the dantians of the four ancient warriors had a hole punctured into them and something was wildly absorbing their internal force.

In the blink of an eye, these four people slumped to the ground.

Chapter 859: He Tianxing in Anger

Qin Feng's attack was out of the blue, and those from Slaughterspear were definitely unprepared.

Four ancient warriors slammed on the ground, only three ability users were left in shock.

"Let's go!"

They were unable to determine what sort of trick Qin Feng had used. Although they knew Qin Feng was a B-tier aptitude user, they were still afraid to take the risk!

One of them was even a dark ability user, and it had allowed this ability user to remain undetected and continue to stir up the chaotic situation from behind!

Unfortunately, he did not know that Qin Feng was also a dark ability user.

That ability user released masses of dark clouds to hide his escape from the vision of the crowd. However, as he was escaping from the dark clouds, a flashing sword ray appeared, and the dark ability user was stabbed in the stomach.

"How…could this…"

The A-tier dark ability user could not comprehend the reason for his failed escape!

Dark abilities began to deteriorate along with his heavy wound, only then he noticed the unexpected dark shadows around, and they were all embedded with dark runes that were more intense than his.

It was a sudden realization for him; however, it was also the moment when he realized the cause of his own death.

"Poof!"

A hollow shadow dashed across, while the skull of the dark ability user was tossed up, separated from his body and falling onto the ground!

The remaining two ability users also let out their miserable shrieks as they were beheaded.

Hundreds of hollow shadows began to slowly disappear and consolidate as one, followed by Qin Feng revealing himself to the crowd.

Cleaves saw him and he opened his eyes wide again.

"Qin Feng, damn it, why is he back again?"

Knowing that Qin Feng had already returned to Fengli, there should be nobody else to contest their resource loot. Unexpectedly, in less than a week, the person that had benefited from the initial bloom had returned again!

Although Qin Feng had only been away for a week, he was undoubtedly the first to enter into the spatial rift and had profited the most from it. The reason was because, at that moment, countless numbers of dead ultra beast corpses were accumulated within the rift.

Now, most of the corpses were dredged from the surface, while those corpses that were at the bottom of the Blood River required careful exploration.

Ultra beasts that appeared within the rift would still need to be hunted down. Fengli would still eventually be able to easily profit from it, while the others were required to work hard to compete.

Therefore, resources that they had accumulated for a week were being pressured by countless numbers of aptitude users that contested in the Blood River Realm. Not to mention, with the suppression from the S-tiers, Cleaves' accumulated profit was not even one tenth of the total amount that the Fengli Organization had obtained.

Now that Qin Feng had returned again, Cleaves would definitely be livid.

"Cleaves? Am I not welcomed? If it was not because of me, all of you could have been killed by them today!"

Qin Feng conveyed the message via his consciousness as he picked up a Slaughterspear necklace and tossed it over.

The others instantly saw the logo of the necklace, and they were shocked.

Recalling the moment of the battle earlier, was someone secretly inciting chaos?

Being part of the Human Alliance, Cleaves' people were still behaving appropriately. But those that were part of Slaughterspear would definitely not hesitate to wipe them out.

"This… hmph, killing everyone from the Dark Coalition, isn't it normal? Don't assume that you will be appreciated, I will still not let you in!" Cleaves amplified his harsh response.

"Is that so?"

Qin Feng gave a casual answer, and he actually did not care about Cleaves stopping him.

Qin Feng had only lightly touched his Verdant Emperor Saber, and four ancient warriors were already paralyzed on the ground with all of them beheaded.

Then, intense flames were blasted out in seven paths, incinerating all beheaded corpses of the Dark Coalition aptitude users from Slaughterspear. Certainly, Qin Feng was planning to keep the seven remaining skulls to claim for reward from the bounty hunter network. Some of them were evil crime figures that were hated by many, and perhaps they were also on the assassin wanted list. Qin Feng could easily claim for double rewards.

However, the seven skulls that were floating around him looked horrifying.

Cleaves had a difficult time calming himself down, and he was already sweating.

Qin Feng placed the skulls into his spatial rune equipment. Then, eight massive aircrafts were already closing in from the sky. They were led by the Dragon Boat that came with its pressuring and intimidating presence.

"Cleaves, I am here to deliver aircrafts for the S-tier master, are you sure you want to stop me?"

Cleaves's lips twitched as he clenched his teeth, and reluctantly said, "All of you can enter!"

Aptitude users that fought with Cleaves were also making a fuss, they obviously also wanted to enter.

Cleaves felt that if he were to continue to stop them, the crowd would only grow larger. Hence, he decided to let all of them in!

"All of you are allowed to enter, but each of you will have to pay one billion power credits!"

Although the A-tiers could afford the amount, it was obvious that the price that Cleaves had asked for was too much, and unreasonable. Also, they A-tiers were unable to bring along their subordinates, and they could only explore the region by themselves.

However, when thinking of the life-extending blood concentrated crystals, all of them were tempted!

Qin Feng did not care about the trades, he stepped up to the sky and flew into the Dragon Boat. All seven aircrafts then flew into the giant rift.

Qin Feng sat down cross-legged in the aircraft as he devoured and absorbed the excessive internal strength within his body.

Among those A-tier ancient warriors from Slaughterspear, two of them were A2-tier ancient warriors, one of them was an A4-tier, and the remaining one was an A5-tier.

Upon the completion of internal strength absorption, Qin Feng had gained extra forty pools of internal strength.

Now, Qin Feng had already accumulated five hundred and fifty pools of internal strength within his internal strength dantian.

Qin Feng's urge to kill was exposed, while the smell of blood began to intensify in the surrounding air. Perhaps, it was an indication for Qin Feng to unleash a massive slaughter at that place.

The Dragon Boat travelled through the broad space, while many aptitude user witnesses were shocked by the presence of the airship. They thought that the most powerful woman from Huaxia had come!

Some of the S-tiers were even informed.

***

In an earth fortress within the Blood River Realm, a tall and well-built man suddenly threw a cup in hand and broke it.

Crack!

The crystal cup shattered and broken pieces scattered everywhere.

"How dare he come back?"

He Tianxing was consumed by his burning urge to kill.

Fire Phoenix was shocked and kneeled down before him, she was afraid that the treacherous man would harm the innocent.

"Go, gather up ten top-tier assassins for me, and assassinate Qin Feng!"

He Tianxing gave his command.

Qin Feng had returned with the Dragon Boat, it had indicated Long Ting's stance in the case, and He Tianxing could no longer take matters into his own hands!

However, he could still hire someone else to do it on his behalf!

Qin Feng had to be eliminated!

"Yes, Duke!" Phoenix received the command and quickly left in fear.

Chapter 860: Gong Ge Seeking Refuge

On the other hand, as soon as Qin Feng returned to the Blood River Realm, he had immediately received reception from Long Yue who was stationed there.

"Qin Feng, looks like you have recovered from your injuries?" Long Yue asked.

"Hmm, much better now!"

"Not bad, you are still young and recovering fast. Now you can be assured that if He Tianxing comes for you again, I will definitely not allow him to threaten you anymore!"

"Then, I shall first thank you, Battlesaint Long!"

Both of them clearly knew what had happened, and Long Yue did not explain much about him asking Qin Feng to step back either.

Those were already unimportant to talk about.

The Blood River battlefield had already been divided by major influences, and the Dark Coalition had even infiltrated into their own region. However, as soon rifts begin to appear, they might probably swarm in altogether to hunt down ultra beasts or prey on Gorefiends.

Within a week, the number of Gorefiends had plummeted significantly.

Qin Feng did not know the exact location of the Gorefiends either. He only knew some of those places that had a high probability of rifts occurring and they were still undiscovered by others.

Therefore, Qin Feng led his people from the Fengli Organization to maintain a constant distance from the Blood River battlefield. It seemed to be a little far away from the target location.

"Get down from the airship, establish earth walls, spray around the blood coagulant!"

"Yes, President!"

Aptitude users began to come down from the airship. Not only had Qin Feng brought along B-tier aptitude users, he had also led a bunch of C-tiers that totaled up to about two hundred people.

All of them would not take part in the battle, but they were all required to perform intelligence gatherings and loot collecting.

Of course, there were risks associated with them, but Qin Feng did not have much choice due to his limited manpower availability.

Soon, earth ability users had established a fortress and secured the initial simple defence measure, while the airship remained floating in the air to pose as a battle threat.

"President, an aptitude user master is looking for you! Although he is wearing a B-tier badge, I feel that he is most probably an A-tier." A subordinate approached and reported.

"A-tier aptitude user?" Qin Feng did not know who that was, but his consciousness scan had immediately noticed that it was indeed a familiar acquaintance.

Qin Feng walked out from the earth fortress and looked toward the person that was wearing combat fatigues, he was holding a communicator and had even cut his hair short.

"A rare visitor, Elder Gong!" Qin Feng mocked.

This person was the first batch of elders that had officially come into the Blood River Realm.

"Mister Qin, I am finally able to meet you!" Gong Ge saw Qin Feng and his eyes were brimming with tears of excitement.

He had indeed suffered a lot the past few days.

The aftermath of the battle between Qin Feng and He Tianxing had affected the natives that had travelled via the rift, and they had absolutely lost their ability to defend themselves. They had no choice but to stay away from the battle of the S-tiers so they had moved further away and settled down at the other end of the Blood River battlefield.

However, as the newcomers began to grow, Gong Ge's position as an A-tier was being threatened. He was neglected by others and his living space had become smaller.

Initially, Cleaves was planning to render his help as he was also a light ability user. But in a blink of an eye, Gong Ge was targeted by a Dark Coalition group. During the night, five A-tiers had worked together to annihilate all two to three hundred people that were saved by Qin Feng earlier.

Only Gong Ge alone was able to escape, and he had realized the difference of the humans that had newly appeared. He then directly killed one victim for the badge and put it on himself. He had even searched the victim's spatial rune equipment for clothes and other stuff.

Only then Gong Ge was able to completely escape from his fate of being killed. Also, everyone had begun to keep an eye on those collapsed regions. Even the Gorefiends would definitely not care whether he had hidden his true identity or not.

Gong Ge wailed desperately as he forced Qin Feng to listen to his pitiable encounters for the past few days.

"Elder Gong, although I feel sorry for your encounter, please allow me to be direct. Seems like I am unable to help with your current situation!"

"No, dear mister, I clearly know about your capability. Perhaps you might need another helping hand, I am willing to serve you!" Gong Ge immediately began to promote himself.

Compared to the others, Gong Ge definitely had faith in Qin Feng. Initially, he was about to collaborate with Cleaves but he was immediately rejected.

Gong Ge was too ambitious for Cleaves to work with, and collaborating A-tiers would not necessarily mean equality. Most probably the reward would remain the same, but the profit would have to be halved.

Hence, it was impossible for Cleaves to agree to it.

But Qin Feng did not have the same concern, he could already resist a S-tier with his own capability. Even Gong Ge and Cleaves that were both A-tiers would not be qualified as his opponents.

Such a person would not be an ideal partner, but would definitely be a loyal servant!

Qin Feng instantly became interested in the proposal; Gong Ge was definitely an ambitious person. But Qin Feng was totally unafraid of such a person, he could just control this person by letting him know the dire consequences of betraying him.

Also, Qin Feng was looking exactly for an A-tier to be stationed at the location.

"Considering your pitiful situation, I'll take you in temporarily. As for those Dark Coalition users that killed your people, let's go, let me get revenge for you!" Qin Feng answered.

Regardless of whether the humans that appeared in the collapsed region were tied to Qin Feng or not, he had already saved them before.

They could be killed by any unfortunate event, but being slaughtered mercilessly and robbed of their wealth was greatly despised by Qin Feng.

Those who murdered shall be killed by others.

Killing those murderers was the most effective way to stop them.

Furthermore, Qin Feng would have to kill to advance his Asteroid Assimilation skill. It would not cost him anything to kill those Dark Coalition users.

"Ah? No, forget about getting revenge!" Gong Ge immediately weakened his tone. There were five of them, four ancient warriors and one thunder ability user. If Gong Ge did not run fast enough, he would have certainly been killed.

Why would he still go back to them?

How could Gong Ge act in such a dumb way?

"You don't believe in me?" Qin Feng mocked with a grim laugh, "You don't even have the basic trust in me, how will you prove your loyalty to me?"

"Mister Qin, not like this. To me, I don't think we need to take this risk!"

"To you, it is a risk. To me, it's just getting revenge!"

"Well…"

"Lead the way!"

Qin Feng became harsh with his tone, while Gong Ge trembled as he realized that he had reacted in such a contradicting way. He then made up his callous mind and directly led Qin Feng there.

'It's not me who is sending you to die, don't blame me for it. Is this really happening, it was so difficult for me to find this refuge. Why would he still send himself to die, is Qin Feng a brainless person?'

Gong Ge mocked deep down, but it was impossible for him to voice out his thoughts.

Qin Feng did not use his airship, and he instructed Bai Li to be stationed at the same location. He then took an aircraft and led Gong Ge to head toward the location of the Dark Coalition group!

Chapter 861: Gate of Fear

The Dark Coalition group that had annihilated Gong Ge's people was none other than Ayshan's henchmen, and they were from the Gate of Fear.

Ayshan was a mad villain that had his own corporation, but he often acted on his own and would only care about his subordinates whenever he needed them. Else, he would totally disregard them.

Furthermore, it was normal for them to operate illegally as they belonged to the Dark Coalition. Being a Hellfire Ifrit himself, it was absolutely normal for Ayshan to eliminate any of his people without any valid justification.

Which was why Gong Ge was terrified of him as he had further strengthened his presence at the Blood River Realm. As the number of people from the Gate of Fear grew higher, nobody was sure whether there were only five A-tiers with them.

Both of them were indeed seemingly sending themselves to seek for their own death!

However, Qin Feng did not care about that, he even hoped that more people from the Gate of Fear would be there!

Now that Qin Feng no longer needed to protect Hu San, he even had the confidence to escape from Ayshan's attack.

The aircraft glided across the sky above the mainland of the Styx, while the fresh blood river and blood-red coloured plants were seen below.

Every corporation distanced themselves far away from each other, as it was the best way to avoid conflicts.

However, whenever profitable opportunities arose, they would immediately gather up for fights and killings.

Suddenly, a small patch of rift appeared on the calm orange sky.

"Pow!"

Spaces were then shattered.

"Beep beep beep beep, spatial rift detection, alert…"

Qin Feng was alerted by the signal from his aircraft.

Spatial collapse began to occur ahead and was almost formed into shape, a giant rift then expanded across the entire sky.

It was another appearance of a giant spatial rift.

Followed by collapsing pieces of land that fell off from the sky, crashing into the Blood River Realm and forming into mudflows.

Ultra beasts surged and rushed out violently, while those that could not fly dived from the sky and instantly slammed to death on the ground. Those were absolutely fortunes that had descended from the sky.

The reason for people from the Gate of Fear to occupy the space was because of its ease of access to the spot of loosened up space. Despite the danger of the location, it was definitely a favourable spot to be at.

"Coming, treasures are coming!"

"Be prepared, hunt down any Gorefiends!"

"Be patient, wait for a little longer!"

But not everyone was willing to wait any longer, some of those that had identified the spatial rift had already gathered around. Those from the Gate of Fear would definitely not allow them to claim their share, and all of them stood up with their fierce and threatening looks.

"Get lost, don't you know who owns this territory? Do you wish to talk to our Hellfire Ifrit, he would be more than willing to tear all of you into pieces!"

One of them shouted and warned.

The others from the Gate of Fear burst into laughter.

Aptitude users that had gathered around were obviously fearful of the presence of their opponent. They could only remain at their initial spot and wished for those ultra beast corpses to flow along the river to a distant location for them to scoop them up.

From the sky, Qin Feng sneered as he looked at those people that were strutting arrogantly.

"You stay here and wait for the battle to end, then you can get someone over to clean up the battlefield!"

"What?" Gong Ge did not understand what Qin Feng was about to do. But by the moment he had figured it out, Qin Feng had already jumped down from the aircraft.

The crowd had grown larger by that time, people from the Gate of Fear did not even notice the person that had jumped down from the aircraft.

Qin Feng landed on the ground and he was instantly shrouded by dark runes, his shadows then faded into the blood-red coloured trees.

A person from the Gate of Fear was standing on a hill that was stacked up by an earth ability user. He was amplifying his voice with internal strength while instilling fear to scare people from other corporations or organizations away.

He was pleased with complacency, and even portrayed a villainous look that would irritate and leave the others with no choice but to beat him up to teach him a lesson.

But everyone was afraid of Ayshan and would not risk going against the S-tier. The insignificant peanut from the Gate of Fear had definitely taken advantage of it to curse the others without any fear and threaten them to fall back.

Of course, Ayshan was not actually there. S-tiers would definitely be exploring regions that were more dangerous. Only his name was being used to intimidate the outsiders, and he would only appear when the corporation faced any threats.

Usually, their corporation would not receive any threats. Or else, the S-tiers would go after those who threatened them for revenge.

Those were unspoken rules that were widely known. However, people from the Gate of Fear would never expect that it was the day where someone would come by to break that rule.

Qin Feng secretly rushed up to the hill!

"Phantom Shift!"

Qinggong skills were initiated, but it did not cost much of Qin Feng's internal strength. His shadows split into ten duplicates and circled around the person from the Gate of Fear, and his opponent could not even reach to the edge of his sleeves!

"Who is it?!" The A5-tier ancient warrior that stood on the hill shouted out loud. In the next moment, his heart thumped.

Phantom Shift was a famously known skill among those people.

The S-tier qinggong skill that was acknowledged by researchers belonged to another legendary figure, a person that had managed to escape from He Tianxing—an S-tier ancient warrior that was equipped with top-tier ancient warrior skills.

"Qin Feng!!!!" The spooked out A5-tier ancient warrior mentioned Qin Feng's name with unease. But the following moment, he was met with flickering fury blades.

"Poof poof poof poof poof!"

Five slashes flickered and internal strength formed into ghost shadows, while simultaneous attacks embedded with dark rune presence were launched. Those were the attacks that would definitely paralyze its victims.

"Ding!"

The A-tier ancient warrior instantly released his internal strength shield to block the invasion of all five blades.

However, the hollow shadows launched their attacks and immediately dispersed.

They were originally non-physical matter.

"Ah! Be careful!"

"No!"

"Master Director!"

People from the Gate of Fear cried out to alert the situation, but Qin Feng's speed was too fast.

Qin Feng had already phantom shifted behind the A5-tier ancient warrior, only then the real Verdant Emperor Saber appeared and instantly shattered the internal strength shield of the aptitude user.

That person was definitely adequately experienced as he was able to sense the vibrations from the internal strength shield and immediately escape.

Unfortunately, Qin Feng was already prepared for it.

"Asteroid Assimilation!"

Horrifying absorption force exploded and forced the victim's body to remain at the same spot, and he even began to fall back.

The victim could only feel his own body that was uncontrollable. Even internal strength within his veins were reversing and the intense pain was unbearable.

"Ah ah ah ah! Save me, quickly!"

The person shouted at those that were around, people from the Gate of Fear were furious and consumed by their own rage. They had no qualms at all and rushed forward as they held onto their internal strength embedded weapons on hand and waved toward Qin Feng.

Qin Feng was entangled with the A-tier aptitude user and definitely could not spare his attention to care about them. If they were able to succeed in killing Qin Feng, it would definitely be a massive achievement for them!

However as soon as they entered into the hundred-meter perimeter around Qin Feng, they then lost control of their own bodies. A massive field of internal strength was amplified and formed into a swirling vortex. All of their internal strength was drained out by the reversed flow of internal strength, and their veins were hurting in extreme pain!

All of a sudden, more than twenty ancient warriors stood still on the ground with their bizarre poses. None of them could regain control of their own bodies, and they were tumbling everywhere!

Chapter 862: A Gory Battle Royale

Qin Feng smirked as he saw all these people who were there to provide free internal energies. He activated his Asteroid Assimilation and pulled these people toward him.

"Pch! Poosh! Poosh! Pch! Poosh!"

His enemies' internal energy shields could not handle the force of Asteroid Assimilation and were broken one by one.

Then, their internal energies began to flow out of their bodies freakily at a maddening speed.

They had no idea what was going on. All they knew was the internal energies that they had trained for years to harness and acquire were now leaving their bodies like water in the gutter.

The A5-tier ability user who was standing in the middle was grabbed by Qin Feng on the waist and his entire dantian was being drained like crazy.

"Repulsion!"

Qin Feng activated his internal energy and created a massive repulsive force, which then tore the A-tier ability user to pieces.

The other men too were sent flying away as they threw up blood. They were already dead when their bodies landed on the ground.

These people from the Gate of Fear were so boastful and prideful earlier; yet, they could never predict that they would lose twenty men in one hit. They were stunned when they saw Qin Feng kill their men—this young man seemed to not fear Ayshan at all.

"Qin Feng, you better behave! If you keep on attacking, I'll ask the Hellfire Ifrit to destroy your Fengli Organization!"

One of the A-tiers from the Gate of Fear started to shriek out in panic.

"Sure, tell him to come!"

A blink of murderous intent flashed in Qin Feng's eyes as he replied to the man. His body flew up to the air, having activated the Phantom Shift, as soon as he finished his words.

"Stay… Stay away!!!"

The ability user yelled out loudly, trying to warn Qin Feng to not come any closer. However, that did not stop Qin Feng one bit.

Seeing that his warnings were not yielding any results, the ability user quickly activated his powers as a last ditch attempt to save his own life.

"Electric Wall! Electric Lake!"

He quickly formed a barrier that was made of electric currents, trying to stop Qin Feng from reaching him.

Smirking, Qin Feng activated his consciousness.

"Fire Wall!"

"Boom!!"

Qin Feng's Fire Wall burst out in front of everyone's eyes.

Bzzt!!!!

The two energy walls clashed onto each other.

In a split second, the violet electric barriers were torn open as a gush of lava flowed into the ability user's safe space before morphing into a raging fire dragon, which was carrying Qin Feng on its back, and lunging at the man.

"Pffft!!"

The ability user was instantly beheaded!

As soon as his head was cut off, the violet electric barriers were dissolved!

The other members of the Gate of Fear started to flee for their lives when they saw this.

It was then, a loud roar could be heard from the dimensional rift. Then, several massive ultra beasts walked out of the rift—they were all at least B-tier and above.

"Crowww!!!"

An ear-piercing bird shriek could be heard in the air before a black-crow-like ultra beast flew out of the dimensional rift. This ultra beast was about a dozen meters' long and had a really loud voice.

As soon as the crow flew out, its body began to expand and become larger. In less than a minute, the crow had grown into a five-hundred-meter long massive bird. It spread out its wing in the air, blocking the sun from view!

This ultra beast had an overwhelmingly threatening aura. It was so frightening that one would think it could devour them if the beast merely gave them a look!

This ultra beast was a beast deity! A flying-type beast deity!

"Croww!!!"

The Black Crow Deity let out another ear-piercing shriek. It was so loud that the combat hover copters' electronics were severely affected and led to them starting to shake around uncontrollably before crashing to the ground.

Gong Ge was standing rather far away. As such, he was not quite as affected as the hover copters. Besides, he was riding on a hover-ride, which was an equipment that was much more technologically advanced than the hover copters. He quickly moved away in panic, trying to flee away from the terrifying Black Crow Deity. In fact, he was so terrified that he quickly looked for a secure place to land before cowering in hiding. This was actually a smart move because as soon as the Black Crow Deity showed up, countless black crows flew out of the dimensional rift and flocked to the sky.

The Black Crow Deity seemed to not want to do any killing though. After shrieking out loudly again, it just zoomed high up to the sky and led its black crow flock to another location far away.

Qin Feng was surprised to see this flock of black crows too.

"These crows are probably the infamous Blood Crow Flock. These creatures are not even native to the Blood River Realm… and damn, they even have a beast deity leading them too!"

Thankfully the Black Crow Deity did not seem to have a blood lust yet. Perhaps this was due to it not having eaten anything in the Blood River Realm yet.

At the very least, for now, everyone in the vicinity was spared their lives.

Regardless, due to these men having now landed on the ground, they were now faced with not only the copious amount of ultra beasts and mutant plants but also the people from the Gate of Fear.

Then, the ability users started to act!

"So what if you're from the Gate of Fear? Let's see just what you're made of! Fellas! Let's get'em!"

"You dare to attack us?! Are you not afraid of the great Hellfire Ifrit?!"

"He's just bluffing. Even if you're killed, there's no way for the Ifrit to know who killed you. If he wants to avenge you, he would most likely seek revenge on Qin Feng, not us!"

"Yeah! Kill them! Then, these ultra beast corpses will belong to us!"

"Kill'em!!"

Then, a fearsome battle erupted.

After seeing Qin Feng attack the Gate of Fear, these people had been emboldened to take on these criminals. Right now, they could kill all these people from the Gate of Fear and get a lot of loot. The best part? They did not have to worry about retaliation because Qin Feng would be the one who takes all the blame.

Qin Feng, of course, did not expect things to turn out this way.

"If you want to use me as a meat shield, then don't blame me." Qin Feng spoke coldly as his body was enveloped in dark runes.

The ability users kept on killing and killing—they were now not just killing the members of the Gate of Fear but also the people who were trying to compete for the ultra beasts' corpses.

A B-tier beast emperor was struggling in the Blood River as countless Ichotoids emerged from the water and strangled it. In just minutes, the beast emperor had died.

A B-tier ancient warrior, who was already waiting nearby, quickly lunged out of their hiding and shot his gun at the beast emperor. It did not take long before every drop of the beast emperor's blood began solidifying, killing the Ichortoids.

The ancient warrior quickly approached its corpse in joy. However, as soon as he got close, eight other ability users unleashed their powers on him and murdered him in cold blood.

After killing him, the others then started to fight amongst themselves to decide who should claim the beast emperor's corpse.

As the fight was going on, a black shadow walked out of the woods and moved near the B-tier ancient warrior's lifeless body and absorbed the residue internal energy in it.

Qin Feng moved around the battlefield out of others' sights using his dark runes and absorbed the dead ancient warriors' internal energies.

If there were living ones that belonged to the Dark Coalition, Qin Feng also killed them without batting an eye.

Still, even if every single one of the Dark Coalition's members were killed, the fight was not going to end!

Right now, everyone in the scene only cared about the wealth that they could reap from this battlefield.

They had completely forgotten about their duty to the alliance.

They only cared about themselves right now!

Chapter 863: Seas of Internal Energy

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Due to how chaotic the battle was raging on and the dark runes, no one noticed Qin Feng at all. Moving around the battlefield, Qin Feng's internal energy got stronger and stronger.

600 pools of internal energy!

650 pools of internal energy!

700 pools of internal energy!

Five ancient warriors from the Gate of Fear had given Qin Feng 200 pools of internal energies. Topping that up with other small meager internal energies that he could pick up here and there, Qin Feng's dantian was now brimming with internal energies!

"Devour!"

Qin Feng started to compress his internal energy. Before this, he only had 550 pools of internal energy—the ones that he had already completely devoured and digested.

Now, he was attempting to compress the newly acquired internal energies. Hence, his overflowing dantian now contained around 630 pools of internal energies.

However, Qin Feng's Asteroid Assimilation was still running and he kept on absorbing the dead ancient warriors' internal energies around him.

And there were too many of these dead ancient warriors. Qin Feng did not think that just one dimensional rift could solve his need for more internal energy.

And this dimensional rift came very suddenly too.

And these people here were too greedy for their own good.

Thus, Qin Feng's internal energy kept rising.

After a few rounds of absorbing and compressing, his internal energy had risen to 700 pools.

Meanwhile, the battle was still going on. The ultra beasts' number had now grown larger than the humans who were present there as more and more Gorefiends snuck into the crowd, increasing human fatalities.

Qin Feng could feel that his dantian was about to burst from absorbing internal energies. He needed to stop now.

"You can come out now." Qin Feng used his consciousness to communicate to Gong Ge.

Hiding cowardly, Gong Ge could sense Qin Feng's presence. It would not be that difficult for him to locate Qin Feng due to him being a light ability user while Qin Feng was a dark ability user. However, he could only do that if Qin Feng revealed himself.

Despite that, Gong Ge was able to realize that Qin Feng had killed several men from the Gate of Fear with ease and collected a lot of beast kings' corpses. Every time there was a battle, Qin Feng would participate in them, resulting in him collecting not just their powers and internal energies but also their equipment.

Gong Ge felt that Qin Feng was such a mysterious, powerful entity. He was now more fearful of Qin Feng than ever before.

"Yes, coming!"

Gong Ge commandeered his hover-ride and moved to Qin Feng to pick him up.

Qin Feng then activated the hover-ride's defense and communication system before telling Bai Li to send some people over to collect the left-over resources on the battlefield.

After that, Qin Feng began to meditate on the hover-ride.

It had been a long time since he last felt his dantian being so full. As such, he needed to spend some time properly not just compressing but digesting them.

Seeing that Qin Feng was not commandeering the hover-ride, Gong Ge did not dare to have any funny ideas too.

"Asteroid Assimilation!"

Qin Feng activated his internal energy.

Then, he could feel as though his dantian was swirling like a massive whirlpool, mixing all the internal energies in it. It was like whisking all these internal energies that he had collected like whisking butter and dough in a bowl.

This was not an easy feat for any ancient warrior.

Ten pools of internal energy could be converted to one sea of internal energy. If one had not accumulated enough internal energy in his dantian, he might not be able to convert every one of them into seas of internal energy—instead they might all be dispersed into pools of internal energies again, resulting in his dantian not only not improving in power but also reversing in its potency.

Qin Feng, however, did not have this problem. He had too much internal energy accumulated in his dantian right now. Hence, he could just convert them right away with no problem.

Splash!!!

The pools of internal energies clashed and mixed together violently before turning into a wide view of an ocean.

In an instant, Qin Feng could feel that his power had risen up to another height!

On the outside, he seemed to be the same B7-tier ancient warrior. However, on the inside, he was now someone who carried an obscene amount of internal energy for a B-tier.

Gong Ge was so shocked to see Qin Feng's presence grow stronger and stronger. He was standing so close to Qin Feng that he could feel himself getting pulled in by Qin Feng every time he activated his Asteroid Assimilation.

If Gong Ge was an ancient warrior, he would be completely sucked dry.

Even though he did not actually get harmed by this, Gong Ge was overwhelmed by fear—the fear of this young man.

'Could this Qin Feng be ascending his ancient warrior's powers? How could he be this strong?'

'What? He's ascending again?!'

'Phew… glad that's over… whoah?! He's doing it again?!'

'And again?! Just how many times is he going to do this?!'

Gong Ge's jaw was rolling on the ground. Qin Feng had assimilated and digested his internal energy at least sixty times now! Not knowing just what was happening to Qin Feng, Gong Ge felt as though an invisible mountain was crashing on his shoulder as minutes went by.

If it was possible, Gong Ge wanted to flee far away. Yet, he also noticed that Bai Li was already standing nearby. He and Qin Feng were now inside a sealed off dimension that Bai Li created!

Qin Feng's overpowering presence was not detectable by others; Gong Ge, however, was able to feel every breath of it!

After some undetermined amount of time later, Qin Feng's raging presence finally started to settle down before his dark runes enveloped his body, concealing that terrifying, violent internal energy that was raging in his body. Now, Qin Feng looked just like any ordinary B7-tier ancient warrior.

And now, only Gong Ge knew just how dangerous this young man was!

700 pools of internal energies were now completely converted to 63 seas of internal energy.

Qin Feng's internal energy was now so powerful that it would give him a fighting chance against He Tianxing.

'Even though I used the gaea crystals to expand my dantian, I might only be able to contain about 100 seas of internal energy in it. Huh, pools and seas of internal energy are so different.'

Qin Feng beamed up a relaxed smile after giving it some thought.

Right now, he had achieved something that not many were able to do.

Most A-tiers would need to spend an unspoken amount of resources to acquire just 1 sea of internal energy. However, Qin Feng had mastered the Asteroid Assimilation—he could rob others' internal energy with ease. As such, he did not have to go through that kind of difficulty to acquire the same amount of internal energy.

Right now, Qin Feng had a hundred times more supply of internal energy than other A-tiers.

Even though this was not like how he had thousand times more than the B-tiers and C-tiers back then, this was already more than enough. He should feel content.

Chapter 864: The Traceless Assassin

Even though there was no concrete data to prove it, most people would assume that a twenty-year-old young man who had become a prodigy, reaching Emperor-tier when he was at D-tier, would eventually ascend to be an A-tier in the future.

As for the ones who reached King-tier when at D-tier, they would easily reach B-tier.

As for D-tiers who had about the same achievements would definitely reach C-tier.

This was the common consensus in the public.

Qin Feng was now harnessing not just a powerful physical body but also a potently dominant consciousness. Right now, he was stronger than the ability users who were in the same tier as him. His internal energy was about several dozen times more powerful than his fellow B-tiers!

"With this much internal energy, it should be enough for me to kill He Tianxing!" Qin Feng said to himself as he observed the overwhelming amount of internal energy in his dantian.

Qin Feng was not sure just how much more powerful he had become; but right now, he was not planning on taking on He Tianxing head on—he wanted to assassinate the man. With the aid of Bai Li's spatial powers, it should be enough.

Right now, if Qin Feng could find out where He Tianxing was staying, he could act right away.

Of course, Qin Feng did not intend to let go of the great reaps of benefit staring at his face. Thus, he ordered the Fengli Organization to start working—killing the Gorefiends and grabbing the ultra beasts' corpses.

And by the time the Gate of Fear's reinforcement came, Qin Feng and his men would have harvested everything they could and left. Well, these Dark Coalition's cowards would not dare to take them on to rob the loot too if given the chance.

As for Ayshan, at this point of time, he did not have time to come to handle this B-tier boy. This B-tier was, after all, a really tough nut to crack.

However, He Tianxing was already plotting a scheme to take Qin Feng down.

***

In the middle of the night, at a tightly defended fortress under an evil-looking blood moon, ten shadows loomed over a throne.

These shadows were top-ranked assassins!

They had one reason to gather together here—it was to assassinate Qin Feng!

All of them were top-ranked assassins. So, naturally, every single one of them was prideful. They thought they could take any life with ease if they wanted to.

To assassinate a person was not the same as fighting a person head on.

"This time the client is going to give us an S-tier treasure for killing this target. The client would bestow the treasure to whoever brings back his head. So, to avoid us killing each other to take out the target, perhaps we should take turns to kill him?" One of the assassins suggested.

This man was quite a formidable assassin. Everyone in the room knew how to conceal their own presence, or at least make themselves seem as harmless as a civilian.

Yet, this man knew just how strong he was—he was an A8-tier ancient warrior. He believed that no one was stronger than him.

Despite that, he still tried to provide a peaceful way to resolve this situation. After all, the "target" was not some weakling this time.

As an assassin, any careless oversight would be fatal. As such, it was wiser to play it safe. This was a mindset that any assassin should have.

"Then, how are we going to decide who acts first? Do we have a quick friendly spar right here right now first to do that?" A cold voice replied.

"Or maybe we can decide this by throwing a dice?"

"Sure!"

"I'm okay with that."

"Fine by me!"

"Agreed!"

The ten men agreed with the method. In fact, all of them wished to act alone. Assassins rarely worked in a team. Indeed, when their target was drowning in waves of battle and chaos, it would make it much easier for them to take him down. However, right now it was backstabbing a fighter when he was taking on a dozen of opponents—it was competing to kill him first when there were nine other assassins trying to do the same! This would make this task tremendously more difficult than their previous missions!

As such, it would be best if they could take turns to kill this man!

"Each person gets 10 minutes. If you can't kill him in less than 10 minutes, it would mean you've failed and the next person gets his attempt. Whoever kills the target will get to leave with his head!"

"Sure!"

Everyone nodded in agreement before activating their communicator.

Then, they threw the digital dice in their device!

"89!"

"56!"

"19!"

"Sh*t! I threw a 2!" One of them cursed silently before switching off his communicator. The others did not pay much attention to him—even if he said he got a 99, they would still need to take a look at his screen to check. Since he had thrown a 2, this would mean he was going to be the last to attempt.

The A8-tier assassin was lucky enough to be the first one to attempt. Although he was not one to underestimate his target, he was confident enough that he could kill the target with no problem.

He thought he had it in the bag!

"I'll be off then! See you guys later."

"He's a top-ranked assassin, man. He's the 5th on the ranking. Geez, that man is as good as dead now."

"Who knows? Maybe the dude can stay alive for 5 minutes when facing him."

"Yeah, I think the target's not gonna make it."

Everyone except the assassin who threw a "2" earlier smirked. He muttered to himself, "Hehe, so long Wu Hen. Don't worry, mate. These 8 other morons here will accompany you to hell soon enough. Well, of course I'm not going to attempt to kill this man. I'm no idiot!"

If Qin Feng were here, he would definitely recognize this man—it was Guan Jinhao!

Guan Jinhao was a top-ranked assassin. He had worn different kinds of masks, donned countless kinds of disguise and had several dozens of aliases as an assassin.

This was why Guan Jinhao's alter-ego was able to be on the top of the assassin ranking.

This was why Fire Phoenix sought him out for this mission.

Guan Jinhao did not want to come at all. Thankfully, this mission had only 1 reward. As such, he could just feign interest and make sure the others went ahead and attempted on Qin Feng's life first. And if things went bad, he could always admit to his client that he could not do it and forfeit the mission.

However, Guan Jinhao did not inform Qin Feng about this.

He was an assassin. It was a courtesy to stick by the rules and not spoil the fun.

As for these men… could they kill Qin Feng?

Guan Jinhao smiled and shook his head.

No way. There was no way anyone of them here could kill Qin Feng!

Meanwhile, Qin Feng was meditating in a stone-made fortress, studying the Godwill Atlas and training his consciousness.

Then, his consciousness locked onto a humanoid silhouette.

It was an assassin!

"Heh!" Qin Feng smirked coldly.

There were not many people from the Fengli Organization in this fortress. Regardless, to protect his underlings, Qin Feng raised up a layer of dark runes to shield them.

This "shield" was formed by countless small dark-rune threads, enveloping the area by thousands of meters. It was night time; so, it would be quite difficult to detect these threads.

Naturally, Wu Hen, being a top-ranked assassin, had already noticed these dark-rune threads.

However, he did not seem to be aware of just how powerful Qin Feng was.

And he had also underestimated just how far these threads covered the area.

Being a cautious assassin, Wu Hen did not touch these threads at all; yet, there were other two assassins behind him who had already stepped on them!

Qin Feng, of course, had also locked his consciousness onto them too.

Right now, Wu Hen zoomed neared his target without activating his internal energy shield. He had completely concealed his presence.

As soon as he reached the fortress, he quickly leaped to the air and snuck into it.

He was now one with his own shadow. His body was as light as a paper, as nimble as a cat, as quick as the wind! There was no trace of movement left from every step he made!

Wu Hen*, much like his moniker, was someone who left no trace in his actions!

In seconds, his target was already in sight, merely a few steps away from him. The target was not protected by any internal energy shield too. His defenseless neck was so bare that it seemed like an invitation to slice it open.

Calmly, Wu Hen swung out his weapon!

Translator note: "Wu Hen" means "traceless" in Chinese

Chapter 865: One Prey after Another

The blade met Qin Feng's neck and sliced through it with zero resistance.

It came and went in a flash, leaving almost no trace behind. Wu Hen did not show himself during the ambush. His weapon was the only thing that was briefly revealed.

His blade resembled that of insect wings and was named rightly so—an A-tier god weapon called Dragonfly's Blade.

Yet, Wu Hen did not express joy after the successful assault. Instead, he felt a knock in his heart.

'Sh*t!'

He was an experienced assassin. Though the Dragonfly's Blade was amazingly sharp, he could tell whether the knife had cut through its target or not.

The cut felt eerily empty. Wu Hen closely glanced at the meditating Qin Feng and it suddenly crumbled into earth runes.

'A mud clone?'

It was an earth ability.

'When did he cast it? Was he expecting the ambush and had the clone set up from the beginning?'

Wu Hen would never know the answer. Darkness swelled around him without warning and robbed his vision away.

The abrupt change in less than 0.1 second would be enough to claim his life.

Wu Hen was aware of that and tightened his senses. He immediately felt an incoming attack, probably that of a knife, and evaded it agilely. His A-tier qinggong skill made him almost uncatchable.

Almost.

After his internal force had been upgraded to A-tier, the area where Qin Feng could cover with his internal power was bizarrely huge. He quickly caught up to Wu Hen's movement.

They confronted heatedly within the limited space. Dazzling skills erupted ceaselessly inside the small room.

The fight was even after ten minutes had passed.

Wu Hen grew restless. Qin Feng was tougher than he thought. He might be the one who gets killed if he lingered any longer. As such, Wu Hen decisively turned to the window and wanted to flee.

He was surprised to hear the soft voice of a lady.

"This is not a place where you can come and go as you please."

Wu Hen tried to jump out the window but it did not feel right. Though it was late outside, the darkness he peered into was definitely not the shade of a night sky.

'This is… Spatial Seal!'

"It seems that you did not come alone. I shouldn't waste too much time on you!" Qin Feng said.

"Asteroid Assimilation."

The irresistible pulling force disrupted Wu Hen's perfect motion.

An assassin rarely built up internal energy shields.

Qin Feng's Verdant Emperor Saber struck as soon as Wu Hen stopped moving.

Poof!

Wu Hen's head dropped to the ground.

This marked the fall of an elite assassin.

The Asteroid Assimilation was still running. Wu Hen's internal force was gathered by Qin Feng before it dissipated into the atmosphere.

In the blink of an eye, eight seas of internal force materialized in Qin Feng's dantian.

"This guy is actually an A8-tier ancient warrior."

The A8 assassin might still be a threat if Qin Feng had not broken through. But since his internal force had reached the next level, A-tier ancient warriors with lesser internal force than him were no longer a danger. He could now easily overpower them using his Asteroid Assimilation.

Before he could digest the internal force completely, another figure appeared in front of him.

Here came the second assassin. However, he did not enter the sealed dimension voluntarily but was instead brought in forcefully by Bai Li.

The assassin was clearly in shock. He could hardly conceal his own aura. A moment ago, he was still surveying where Qin Feng might be, and the next instant he was brought straight to face his target. It had completely caught him off guard.

Not only that but there was a fresh corpse on the ground. He immediately recognized the beheaded Wu Hen.

Qin Feng gave him no chance to collect himself and brandished the Verdant Emperor Saber mercilessly.

Poof!

Another clean swoop.

Now, Qin Feng had grasped what their strategy was.

One assassin after another, they were trying to wear him down successively.

'So, this is how you guys wanna play this out? Cool. I will be here waiting for you, one by one.'

Qin Feng sneered and once again placed his palm on his latest victim.

The internal force in his dantian increased by another three seas.

Qin Feng took his time and compressed the still volatile internal strength.

He waited patiently for the next assassin that came knocking.

In a small plain outside the earth fortress of the Fengli Organization, another assassin rolled out after the previous one had been gone for some time.

Ten minutes…

Twenty minutes…

Thirty…

Seven rounds later, only three remained.

"I have not heard any commotion in there."

"That's right. There's even hardly any sign of fighting. Perhaps Wu Hen succeeded? So, the others just left after they went in?"

"Probably."

"If Wu Hen failed, I still pity the target. One elite assassin every ten minutes, and he needs to fight seven of them straight with little intervals in between. Hehe…" The man gloated as he imagined the frustrated yet helpless look on Qin Feng's face.

It was certainly rare to have so many elite assassins against a single target.

"Hehe…" Guan Jinhau chuckled listening to their ignorance. Naively, the other two thought he was laughing at Qin Feng.

The less fuss there was, the more cautious they should be.

Guan Jinhau felt that this was oddly familiar. Similarly, he was once trapped inside the sealed room and could not leave. Outsiders had no idea how the fight was going in there.

Time passed by quickly. Another ten minutes was gone.

"Let's go together. I think the target has long been exterminated. I don't want to waste another ten minutes."

"Sure. Grey-haired Guan, you want to come along?" The other man asked Guan Jinhau. Grey-haired was the code name used by the latter in this mission.

"I am a man of integrity. I will wait as promised."

The other two were scornful of him but did not say anything else. They entered the Fengli territory quietly.

A minute later, Guan Jinhau came out from hiding and left without much hesitation.

'Only morons would go in now.'

Guan Jinhau decided to abort the mission.

Inside the fortress, another two corpses were added to the pile. Qin Feng was seen meditating calmly beside the casualties. His internal power had reached 80 seas.

"The last one has escaped."

Bai Li came out from nothingness and informed Qin Feng.

"Oh?! A wise choice."

"He was the one who sold you Phantom Shift."

Qin Feng did not expand his consciousness to avoid startling the enemy. But Bai Li had seen Guan Jinhau while hiding inside another dimension. Though the assassin had disguised using a different face and body shape, Bai Li had no trouble figuring out his true identity.

Qin Feng was first stunned when he heard the name, then laughed bitterly, "That's more cunning than wise." He had no intention to chase after him.

He had gained enough today. Guan Jinhau could live and deliver the news to the man who wanted his life. Qin Feng hoped the person would send more internal power sources his way.

The more, the merrier. This way, Qin Feng could amass enough internal force to fill his dantian in no time.

Chapter 866: The Prodigies of Feng Li

The days following that were relatively monotonous. The battle against the beasts continued as new rifts kept emerging every other day. Besides that, other corporations were also still wrestling with Fengli for resources.

Nonetheless, it was still a dull routine for Qin Feng due to the lack of a worthy opponent.

To him, only the S-tiers could be considered a woeful threat now.

He Tianxing had not pursued him after what happened in the Blood River Realm. The Gate of Fear did mount all kinds of assault but Qin Feng trampled over them effortlessly. For some reason, Ayshan did not attack personally.

Qin Feng did not know when Ayshan might lose his mind and come for revenge, but he was certain that He Tianxing would curb his wrath for now.

Out of the ten assassins he had hired to kill Qin Feng, only one had survived because he himself fled. This inevitably unnerved He Tianxing.

It was not that he had given up on killing Qin Feng, but that he had run out of viable means.

He Tianxing had failed twice himself. If he were to strike again, Long Yue would not sit by and watch. Without much of a choice, he could only swallow his pride for now.

'I shall have my revenge after I cure my persistent wound.'

Since Hu San could recover from it, He Tianxing believed he could too. The most pressing matter at hand was to find the blood concentrated crystal. He would deal with other stuff later.

As such, one month passed peacefully in a flash. Qin Feng's Fengli Organization had secured a firm footing inside the Blood River Realm within that time. Peculiarly, though they were the only corporation with the highest proportion of C-tier aptitude users, nobody dared to touch them.

This was how the prestige of an elect was established.

The elects might not need to do much. Their names itself was a deterring factor.

In the blink of an eye, December once again arrived quietly.

Qin Feng had failed to locate He Tianxing's whereabouts. Though he wished to continue searching for the opportunity to assassinate him, he had to put it to a halt.

The Prodigy Tournament was just around the corner.

"I would need to go to Dragon Capital. Guard the Blood River Realm for me. I will return within half a month."

After all, the Perished Land would only open for half a month.

The humans in Qin Feng's dimension were considered feeble on average. Technology was the quickest way to develop powerful soldiers and strengthen Fengli's position.

Breathing the fresh air outside of Blood River Realm lightened Qin Feng's mood.

He checked the messages in his communicator, then contacted Shang Han.

Shang Han's face immediately came onto the communicator's screen.

"Regent, regarding the Prodigy Tournament, should I go alone or go along with my team?" Qin Feng asked.

"You plan to attend?" Shang Han asked in bafflement.

"Of course!" Qin Feng replied.

Shang Han had underestimated Qin Feng's persistence over the Prodigy Tournament. Then, she thought about the hidden techs and immediately understood.

The Fengli Organization relied heavily on technology for its business development. As such, it was only natural for Qin Feng to be allured by the undiscovered technology found in the Perished Land.

"It didn't cross my mind that you would leave your Blood River empire behind and come to Dragon Capital."

"Bai Li would keep watch for me in Blood River Realm."

"Ah! I actually forgot Bai Li is skilled enough to hold down a fort now." Though Bai Li was certainly a creature that no one would easily forget, her overpowering consciousness would subconsciously influence others to ignore her presence. That was why it slipped Shang Han's mind for a moment there.

"In that case, just come along with your team as the mentor. Save me the trouble of sending someone over to escort them," Shang Han answered Qin Feng's earlier question.

"Me? Mentor?" Qin Feng asked puzzlingly.

Prodigies were important assets. As such, they were normally escorted by an A-tier aptitude user.

Shang Han smirked. "Haven't you heard? The North Sea has taken up seventy entries in this year's tournament. I will not be going this year. I will send you the pass and assign you as the team mentor slash leader."

Shang Han would not easily dispatch any mission to Qin Feng now. Especially after learning that Qin Feng had secured a strategic position in Blood River Realm, she would not force the task into Qin Feng's hand.

The Blood River Realm would always be the priority.

Nevertheless, since Bai Li would be guarding the realm and Qin Feng was going to Dragon Capital anyway, Shang Han conveniently passed on the escorting task to him.

More importantly, the best interest during every Prodigy Tournament was the reward that would be given to the qualified prodigies. However, since seven out of every ten participants were from the North Sea, with most of them under the Fengli Organization, what was there to buy?

Everything would eventually be collected by the Fengli Organization.

Hence, Shang Han decided to save her time and breath this round.

Qin Feng knew it too. Thus, he accepted the task with no complaints. He could not think of any excuse to shirk from the responsibility.

After clarifying the details, Qin Feng used a spatial stone and headed to Beihua immediately.

The aircraft from Fengli that had delivered the participants to the qualifiers was currently parked at Beihua. Unlike last year, Qin Feng did not ask for a spatial tunnel this time. Instead, he informed the participants to board the aircraft.

He waited for two hours until all the prodigies had rendezvoused.

Qin Feng immediately recognized them.

The strongest among them was no doubt Zhou Hao.

Zhou Hao was now a C1-tier ancient warrior. The C1-tier badge on his chest proved that he had passed the certification mission.

Unfortunately for Jin Fei, who was one of the top prodigies last year, had passed the age limit to take part in the tournament despite being a C-tier now.

Other than that, Qin Feng was shocked to find Lu Meng among the participants. She was only at D2-tier but every accessory on her, from the equipped weapon to her teeth, was the latest technology developed by Fengli. This made her one of the top prodigies.

Fengli City had undergone drastic advancement this past year too. The Glittering Gold Sand had propelled the talent and strength of those living there.

Five other prodigies that caught Qin Feng's eyes were descendants of Fengli's high-ranked officers.

They represented the future of Fengli City. This generation had exhibited immense talent at a young age. That coupled with the ample resources and dragon blood supplied internally through the Battlegod Tomb built them a solid foundation. They might not necessarily reach the emperor-tier but would definitely be king-tier one day.

Laudably, they did not show the slightest arrogance despite their status quo.

Then again, how could they be when the true prodigy of Fengli was standing right in front of them?

"President!"

"President!"

"Good to see you!"

They greeted Qin Feng admirably.

Qin Feng nodded back, then talked to Zhou Hao. "Now that you are a C-tier, no one would stop you this time. Remember to bring back as many rewards as you can. Don't forget to carry a few more spatial equipment with you," Qin Feng reminded him.

With Zhou Hao around, Qin Feng no longer needed to spend time collecting the less significant technological pieces. He could concentrate more on exploring the Perished Land and look for things he had missed out last round. The best would be if he could find a way to manufacture sacred armor.

Though the sacred armor was very durable, his armor was long broken. Besides, the more powerful Qin Feng got, the less useful the sacred armor became to him. However, Qin Feng thought that he had not tapped into its full potential.

"Don't worry about it. I have great help too." Zhou Hao looked at his comrades and said confidently.

This was when the other three prodigies showed up.

Chapter 867: They are All From Feng Li

One of the three was someone that Qin Feng knew well.

The young master of Hanchuan State, Han Jun.

Han Jun had picked the right birth date. He was still two months short before reaching twenty years old. This would be his last opportunity to join the Prodigy Tournament.

After being beaten up by Qin Feng last year, he did not manage to pass the final challenge despite recovering in time. He attempted again this year but his overall strength had not improved much. He was still just a D5-tier.

But that was sufficient to rival the prodigies from Dragon Capital. However, they did not expect they would face another strong competitor in Fengli. The organization seemed to have focused a lot of their capitals in nurturing prodigies.

In fact, Fengli was simply overloaded with wealth and resources.

The benefits given by the organization were a lot better than other organizations or even local governments. The richness of supply meant that individuals' talents could be fulfilled with less hindrance.

The two followers accompanying Han Jun were rather ordinary. They survived the qualifier perhaps by luck, or perhaps due to a favorable matchup. All in all, they were fortunate enough to avoid being kicked out by Fengli's abundant participants.

"I will be the one leading the North Sea Prodigy Team this time. My current position is the Northern Region General of the Human Alliance. You can just call me General Qin."

The two new guys looked at each other in confusion. They had just heard him being called president. 'Why is he a general now? Who is this guy?'

Qin Feng continued, "I will be in charge of your escort during this tournament, as well as brief you through the details regarding Dragon Capital. Let's board the aircraft first. If you have any guardian that wishes to follow, they are welcomed too."

The two guys were dark horses that did not expect to qualify, so they did not have anyone accompanying them. Han Jun signaled and called for his hidden protector to follow them into the aircraft.

The aircraft departed and jumped straight through the dimension. A moment later, it appeared above the Dragon Capital's spatial waymark.

Thanks to Fengli's rapid development of spatial and avian technology, more and more users now owned their personal aircrafts. Thus, the guards at the waymark were not too surprised when the aircraft emerged out of the blue. However, aircrafts were not allowed to enter the capital center.

Qin Feng had the aircraft parked right outside the capital. They still needed the vehicle to transport the prodigies back after the tournament.

The transit from the entrance right up to hotel check-in was well arranged.

But Qin Feng hardly had time to rest. As soon as he set foot into Dragon Capital, invitations from the family elders in Dragon Capital had come bombarding.

Numerous elects wanted to book Qin Feng for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or even supper.

"President Qin, Fengli has another C-tier representative this year. I guess you will be the ultimate winner again this time."

"President Qin. Congratulations in advance! Are you still interested in my proposal for collaboration?"

"President Qin! We had a great collaboration last time. Should we discuss the details of what to do next?"

In the past, Qin Feng was forced to set up treaty contracts with these family elders to protect Fengli. He had no choice but to share part of Fengli's revenue with them. Now, these elders would naturally wish to continue reaping benefits from him, seeing that Fengli had grown into a conglomerate.

Qin Feng remained reserved to their requests. He, of course, had no intention to share profits with them for free.

It was different now. Qin Feng had become strong enough to fear nothing.

Hence, these people could no longer bully him into obedience.

Behind him, prodigies from other families were concerned about yet another C-tier that had emerged from Fengli and exchanged comments feverishly.

"What happened in the North these past years? Another C-tier? After Qin Feng, now Zhou Hao? This is absurd!"

"Wait a minute, Qin Feng still qualifies as a prodigy as well!"

"I don't think he should participate this time. Isn't he a B-tier now? That's unfair!"

"According to my dad, Qin Feng is probably invincible among the A-tiers too."

"Luckily he is not competing. Otherwise, we would not stand a chance!"

They had no idea. Indeed, Qin Feng would not be climbing the Tower of Dragon Gate with them. But he would be waiting for them at the peak.

***

The preparation period passed quickly. It soon came the day for the opening of the tower.

At the top of the tower, Qin Feng was chatting leisurely with the tower guard. Last year this time, the guard was still a senior to Qin Feng. He had praised Qin Feng then and wished to convince Qin Feng to sell him the tech he brought back.

Now, they talked as equals. They were discussing who among these prodigies would be the first to conquer the tower, while who had the greatest potential in the future.

In a year, Qin Feng had reached the tower guard's level.

"C-tier Zhou Hao. He is from Fengli, right? Seems promising!" The guard said.

Qin Feng nodded. "He is like a brother of mine!"

The guard nodded, then changed to another prospect. "This girl is interesting too. She has mastered the machines brilliantly. What are those guns she is carrying? It's pretty powerful!"

Qin Feng agreed. "Lu Meng has improved a lot."

"You know her?"

"Ya. She is Zhou Hao's future wife."

The guard was astonished. He continued to observe the climbers.

"This guy is pretty good too. Wait, he is from the North as well?"

"Oh, that one. He is from Fengli too."

"This ability user is good."

"He is the son of my officer. His improvement is commendable."

"How about that one?"

"Fengli…"

The guard was silenced. Why did everyone that he pointed out came from Fengli? How many prodigies had Fengli actually produced?

Qin Feng was no doubt showing off. He was a prodigy himself and his organization had just been set up two years ago. Nevertheless, they had spent a lot in developing next-generation talents.

The outsiders might not understand but the insiders of Fengli knew how filthy rich Qin Feng was. Even if the number of prodigies doubled up, Qin Feng would still have no problem sustaining them.

Soon, the first aptitude user that reached the tenth level had appeared.

Without any surprise, it was Zhou Hao.

"Ah? Why are you here, lunatic!?" Zhou Hao looked at Qin Feng in shock. "Is this the end? I thought we are going to another dimension?"

Qin Feng glared at him. "I have special treatment. I will be entering the dimension too. But climbing the tower? No thanks."

Zhou Hao was speechless. "You will go into Dragon Gate? Please don't. You are just crushing others' confidence. But since you did not join the tournament, I guess I have clinched the first place in this tournament then."

The guard coughed as he heard that. He announced, "Congratulations, Zhou Hao from the Northern Region. You are the champion of this year's Prodigy Tournament."

"Thanks! But this no. 1 is rather undeserving." Zhou Hao admitted big-heartedly.

He would not have beaten Qin Feng if the latter participated.

After that, a few more participants succeeded in the Dragon Gate challenge. As compared to last year, they were a lot more who passed this year—a total of thirteen prodigies.

Those Qin Feng met last year were not seen this time.

This was entirely normal. Being a prodigy did not automatically mean that one could pass the Tower of Dragon Gate test. The ones that could overcome it must possess the strength of a king tier.

These were the ones who would become A-tier or even S-tier in the future. The disparity of power also existed even among the most elite group of teenage aptitude users.