Chapter 283 - 1012-1023

Chapter 1012: Human Peace Contest

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Regarding Qin Feng's promotion into S-tier, it was truly explosive news. The North Sea state, the Northern Region and the Huaxia Alliance all broadcasted a wave of grand announcements that publicized much of his mission history and achievements!

These things were something many civilians, even the people who were not on the same level, would not know. Therefore, when an S-tier aptitude user appeared, many were happy to witness it. They could see, from the city that imprisoned them, the wonders of the outside world as well as its many terrors.

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In recent years, he had killed plenty of beast emperors and beast deities. When the information was released it added onto the publicity of his title as Marshal. Due to his previous merits, he was only A-tier in strength and not many people actually wished to recognize him as such.

And now, he absolutely deserved that name.

While the publications were going wild, Qin Feng was not influenced much by it.

Fame is fame, power is power, even if you are famous, what's the point of it if you did not have the power to back it up?

He would not get blinded by external prosperity. After resting in Fengli for three days, he checked up on the progress of the organization and had Bai Li stay behind. He planned to go to the Human Alliance realm and look for a suitable realm that he could rank up in.

His rank up on Omnesflores was completely accidental, but he sort of missed the feeling of hunting down Insectoids. Perhaps he could go to the frontlines of Omnesflores, that would be suitable for him to rank up.

What he did not expect was that after he arrived, when he took out his communicator to start searching he noticed that there was a notification about news from the inner circle.

[ Human Alliance Aptitude User Qin Feng, greetings, honor to you for having received the invitation letter to be selected to enter the Human Peace Contest. If you are interested in participating, please select 'Enter Tourney' to participate in the selection! ]

"Human Peace Contest? What's this?"

The name was way too plain and tacking on the word 'peace' makes it feel like it was some kind of a friendly match.

If this was the peaceful times before the Great Rift Age, it would have been considered as a spam notification but when in the Human Alliance, Qin Feng would have to pay attention to it.

Afterward, he searched online for 'human peace contest' and the info he saw surprised him.

Humanity was a race with the ability for unlimited expansion. As long as they had no enemies, the speed of their expansion was unfathomable, even always wanting to have more space and territory. They would conquer all the realms if they could.

Even with such ambitions, their strength was not enough, not to mention, there were two opposing factions that made up humanity. The Human Alliance and the Dark Coalition.

If both of these factions discovered a realm, it was possible that they would come to blows and that might damage any cordial ties as well as the strength of some S-tiers.

So gradually the Human Alliance and the Dark Coalition organized something that was called 'peace contest' in name but in actuality was a life-and-death event that decided whom the realm they had found would belong to.

During these times, if Immortals fought it would surely cause a fuss. SSS-tiers were a precious resource and could not be used, SS-tiers were in the middle-tier of importance and would rather avoid such things.

As such, the participation fell onto the S-tiers. Those who were considered to be deity-like in the eyes of those below them, and at the same time considered as negligible by those above them.

If they fought it was not like the important ones were getting hurt, one of them dying would not be an issue either.

"Over 300 contests have actually been held? Isn't that over a thousand years?!" When Qin Feng looked at the history of this he had a moment of surprise which settled into a sigh.

These years were counted based on the time of the realm that Qin Feng was currently on. The flow of time on each realm was not necessarily the same, but the feeling of time passing was not much different for realms that could house humans.

Therefore, according to the average days on the realm, a peace contest would be held every one thousand realm days but for Qin Feng that meant one every three years, and that had gone on for a thousand years.

The people in the realm knew about this contest but nobody had ever entered it.

There just was not enough qualification.

Qin Feng was very interested in this competition because the reward issued was very valuable.

"The final contestant would receive a realm based on everyone they've defeated!" Qin Feng's eyes glinted with interest.

He immediately checked on the numbers of explored realms.

In the past three years, in the past one thousand realm days, there were up to four thousand five hundred twenty nine S-tier and above realms that had been discovered by the Human Alliance.

Of course, this did not represent the total number of realms that humanity had discovered. That was because when some realms were discovered, if they were not found together by the Human Alliance and Dark Coalition then the information was carefully passed on behind closed doors.

In fact, nobody knew that the realm that Qin Feng was in was a realm among those 'undiscovered realms'. The amount of 'undiscovered realms' was immeasurable!

The main thing was, when both sides discovered a realm and controversy arose then a peace contest was called for distribution.

Moreover, the principle of this distribution was very violent.

One S-tier represented the authority to distribute one hundred realms, once an opponent was killed or defeated, then the victor would gain the authority.

In this peace contest, twenty three people would be sent from either side, and from two sides it added up to being forty six people. As for how a number fewer than four thousand six hundred realms would be distributed, that was for upper management to deal with.

"23 enemies, if I kill 5 then I gain 5 realms. Even if I don't kill anyone, as long as I survive, a realm discovered to be S-tier would be mine. This is a tempting reward indeed!"

A realm said to be S-tier did not necessarily mean it had S-tier creatures living in it but it was a realm that could give birth to an S-tier.

Just like the realm Qin Feng was in, it was not like any small hidden realm, its surroundings were brimming with energy.

As long as it checked that category, there would always be resources there.

With that in mind, Qin Feng had no reason to not participate.

As such, he clicked participate.

After accepting participation, he saw that the conditions of the contest were very simple. In fact they were just like the trials Qin Feng had gone through when he first came.

They were tests of combat strength, the top twenty-three would be able to participate in the peace contest.

When he looked at the deadline he saw that there were only three hours left!

The time to go was now!

Qin Feng immediately jumped into the central area through the spatial gates in the residential sector before entering the trial grounds.

While there were three hours left, those who wanted to get tested had already been tested. However, there were still some who were untested grouped up in a bunch, and there were many onlookers.

Due to the fact that these trials were to select the top twenty three, nobody would know the results of who had won until the end of it.

Qin Feng looked at the results of the final trial.

Ming Tianhao: Combat power 95239!

He was shocked!

In the beginning, with his Asteroid Assimilation and the combat prowess of having nine frozen stars, plus the body of an A1-tier beast deity, it had given Qin Feng the combat power of 28531 the last time he was trialed. From how he saw it, that was already the limit of the S-tier.

"There's always going to be someone stronger!"

Qin Feng could not help but let out a rueful sigh.

And the last top twenty three humans all had combat power measuring more than 80000, which was terrifying.

Chapter 1013: Trial

Everyone knuckled down in observing the participants of the trial.

"Will anyone surpass Ming Tianhao?!"

"It is impossible to surpass Ming Tianhao. He has mastered seven solidified internal energy stars, and achieved the rare physical capability of beast-king-tier. Rumor has it that his internal energy should not be belittled, as he is capable of outputting sixfold of his combat energy. Not many aptitude users are able to surpass such capabilities!"

"That's right, Ming Tianhao is definitely the first. But the others can still try their luck!"

"The peace contest is too dangerous, the first-place title might only be valid for now. Nobody knows whether they can return alive, and a true prodigy will not participate in this!"

The crowd was in a long-winded bull session, while Qin Feng had also harvested a lot of intelligence.

Humans had been reproducing and transforming for years. Most of the matters related to combat energy were already documented in statistical data.

According to statistics, combat energy of S-tier aptitude users from S-tier to SS-tier would range from one thousand to five thousand basic combat energy. Of course, the numbers were recorded with reference to the Human Alliance.

Combat energy of ultra beasts varied from beast soldier, beast general, beast king, beast emperor to beast deity. When combined with the humans, they would then be categorized into elites, generals, kings, emperors, and deity class.

When further broken down, combat energy could be differentiated by factors of two, four, six, eight, and ten to determine individual combat energy.

Then, the number of internal energy frozen stars would affect the multiplication of combat energy. The higher the ranking of neigong cultivation method, the greater the multiplication of combat energy.

In other words, the combat energy of ancient warriors was affected by three aspects. Namely, internal energy starglobe, physical capability, and neigong level.

It would be easier to achieve growth in physical capability at the lower tiers, and the difficulty would increase along with the tiers. Even some powerful figures that aimed to be perfect in it had to give in.

Ming Tianhao had seven solidified internal energy starglobes, physical capability of king tier with sixfold amplification and overlapping internal energy of at least sixfold of an S-tier. He was considered a destined talent class from the Human Alliance.

However, he was not supported by any prominent families. Else, he could just excuse himself from joining such a competition. Despite the peaceful labelling of the contest, it was filled with extreme danger. The fatality rate was as high as eighty percent!

But the absolute control over several realms was very enticing.

Qin Feng was trying to figure out his combat energy.

"My physical energy was initially measured at A1 beast deity tier, but now I already have the capability of an S-tier beast deity. Basic combat energy will be ten thousand, if combined with ninefold amplification from my internal energy frozen stars and tenfold amplification from Asteroid Assimilation, it will then be 190000 combat energy!"

It was twice Ming Tianhao's combat energy.

Consciousness of the beast deity tier would also provide an additional tenfold amplification, not to mention his massive dark core and SS-tier ability.

However, when compared to ancient warrior internal energy, computation of ability was more extensive and visible.

But dark ability users were not always welcomed by the Human Alliance, and it was because of the horrifying effects from their combats.

Since ancient warrior skills would be enough to serve the purpose, Qin Feng did not have to expose too much of his capabilities.

There were still many ahead of Qin Feng waiting to take their tests. Actually, not every one of them were there to compete for the twenty three slots. It was too risky and associated with a high fatality rate. Instead, they were there to showcase their impressive performance to some of the major clans or corporations. They would then earn themselves opportunities to join them and secure a better future.

Especially at the end, many headhunting companies would be there. It would drive them to showcase themselves more.

Hence, Qin Feng only had five minutes left for his turn before the trial ended.

The person behind Qin Feng became a little anxious. Not every aptitude user would immediately strike during their turn, some of them needed to activate their greatest internal energy for the hit. Five minutes might seem to be plentiful, but it was not sufficient at all!

"Huh, you're just a S-tier? You might as well give way for me; you are absolutely hopeless in this! Didn't you see that everyone here is an S9-tier aptitude user?" That person urged while pushing with quite some energy in his hand, wanting to push Qin Feng away.

However, Qin Feng was unruffled by the push.

Qin Feng raised his eyes and looked at the man. Then, he stood frozen still on the ground, like he was struck by a spine-chilling moment.

"I'll just get one hit and I'll leave!" Qin Feng's answer was as calm as a toad in the sun.

Before that person could answer, Qin Feng had already taken a step forward and thrown out his fist.

His movement was squeaky clean and was held back by nothing. It was exactly just one hit, like he was just there to fulfil his participation.

But at that moment, the numbers displayed on the machine before Qin Feng ran wild.

Qin Feng did not use his Asteroid Assimilation and he had only activated nine frozen stars to strike the normal punch. But his S-tier deity physical capability would scare someone out of their wits.

The numbers that ran wild arrived at more than ninety thousand in a blink of an eye.

Finally, Qin Feng's combat energy numbers were fixed at 91245.

Beep beep beep

The machine rang.

"Please verify your identity and confirm if you wish to submit the data!"

Qin Feng connected his communicator with the machine and entered his name. Despite different writings being used in the realm, consciousness was still readable and deciphered into understandable words. It was even associated with its unique serial number.

Qin Feng verified his identity and confirmed his data submission.

"Congratulations, your combat energy is ranked fifth in the trial, please wait for the other participants to complete!"

Although the results shown on the communicator were just temporary, there was not much time left for the trial. With the result, it was safe to say that Qin Feng had nailed it.

Qin Feng knew that he was entitled to participate in the peace contest.

Meanwhile, Qin Feng's machine alerted everyone that was paying attention to changes on the ranking. They were all struck by the shocking moment.

"Someone has ranked up to fifth. Oh my, I can't believe someone waited until the last minute to take action."

"Qin Feng? Who is this person? I have never heard of this person before."

"This serial number seems to belong to someone that has just joined the Human Alliance. It has only been months."

Everyone dished out to one another as they scanned across hundreds of machines to trace Qin Feng down.

Meanwhile, Qin Feng kept a low profile and stepped down, like it was not him who owned the record that had squeezed into the fifth rank.

Some would favor fame, but some obviously despised it. Hence, it would depend on the mood of the record holder whether to announce the results or not. From the external view, nobody would know who was behind it.

However, there was still someone that knew who it was. Obviously, it was the aptitude user that wanted to cut Qin Feng's queue.

As Qin Feng stepped down, his S-tier badge on the chest was clearly visible. That person immediately broke out in a cold sweat upon realizing that even with the forceful push earlier, Qin Feng was unmoved by it.

Chapter 1014: Human Alliance Training

Qin Feng was not bothered by him. Aggravating the others would only display him as a narrow-minded person.

Qin Feng left quietly and it had already been five minutes. The ranking was still unchanged. At the end of five minutes, the list of names was finalized.

The only change was the twenty-third place that was forced down to the twenty-fourth place and disqualified from the competition by Qin Feng's advancement.

Then, Qin Feng was also notified by his communicator that his spot was secured.

The timing seemed to be just right.

The grand finals were set to be held in half a month after the trial. For the next half a month, the twenty three of them would have to go through training.

Qin Feng received a spatial waymark. He had to input the waymark for the spatial entrance of his location to disable the restriction from the other end. Qin Feng would then be allowed to enter into it and go through his training.

Qin Feng paused for a moment and informed Bai Li via their soul bond before entering the glowing entrance of the central city of the Human Alliance realm.

The spatial waymark was interconnected and it immediately changed its colors. The moment Qin Feng stepped in, it was like the surroundings immediately sank as countless amounts of adhesive energy merged into his body within just a couple of breaths.

Qin Feng looked at the surroundings and noticed that it was an empty white space. The soil under his feet was similar to some sort of white jade material. However, Qin Feng was assured by his feelings that they were all energy.

Energy compressed within them was more intense than energy stones.

However, Qin Feng was not the only one there. There were others, about four to five of them were already there.

All of them were S9-tier aptitude users, with only one SSS-tier aptitude user that stood in front and seemed awkwardly unfit.

That person seemed to have noticed that Qin Feng was staring at him, he looked back and said, "I will begin to explain once everyone is here!"

Qin Feng nodded. Actually, he knew that all of them were there to join the contest.

Then, eight more people joined in. There were twelve ancient warriors in total. Finally, the SSS-tier aptitude user began to speak again.

"I am Shao Dongfeng. Congratulations to everyone who is shortlisted to participate in this peace contest. Some of you were previously cultivated from here, while some were unexpected candidates that joined in suddenly. For the next half a month, all of you will be practicing at the core of this realm to improve further. Of course, it is unnecessary for those who have achieved S9-tier to advance further as an SS-tier aptitude user. Even if you wish to, you have to wait until the grand final is over."

That person then summoned a massive object that seemed like a ship, and it was all made from white jade. Even Qin Feng could feel the horrifying energy that was on it.

"Get onto the ship!"

Some were at loss and some were confused. But some were shrewd enough to react in joy.

Qin Feng was able to guess from the brief explanation of the SSS-tier aptitude user that some of these people were seeded players cultivated by the Human Alliance.

But it was normal for that to happen in the peace contest that divided realms discovered by humans in the past three years. How could the Human Alliance not secretly cultivate their candidates for such an important event?

For example, Ming Tianhao who ranked first had beast king tier physical capability, seven solidified internal force starglobes and internal energy of a powerful S-tier that differentiated himself from the others. If he really had risen to where he was all by himself, he would definitely need to fight his way through by hook or by crook.

But yet, why would the S9-tier aptitude user that had such a bright future take part in such a risky competition?

There was only one possible reason, and it was because he was cultivated.

Qin Feng's consciousness and senses were much stronger than those people. He secretly looked across and noticed a youth that had a significant difference in capabilities from the others. Most importantly, he definitely had the physical presence of a king tier.

It was most probably Ming Tianhao.

Meanwhile, Ming Tianhao stepped onto the giant white jade ship without any hesitation.

It seemed to be safe to do so and Ming Tianhao knew where the ship was heading. Furthermore, Qin Feng was on another ship before and it looked very similar to this one.

Certainly, it was the ice ship that he had encountered at Dragon Island.

Hence, Qin Feng followed those participants that knew what they were doing and stepped onto the ship.

The others also felt no threat from the ship and followed suit.

Although Qin Feng was careful enough to hide his secret from the other participants, it could not be hidden from Shao Dongfeng. He looked at Qin Feng and found out about his true identity.

But he still kept it a secret for the moment. Once everyone was in, he raised his hand and the jade ship then flew up.

As soon as the jade ship was activated, a giant rift cracked open on the ground. The ship dropped in and sank into a countless number of rifts.

Those who had witnessed it before remained silent. But the others were excited and amazed. Finally, an aptitude user could not resist the curiosity and asked, "Master Shao, is this your ship? This is unbelievable!"

Although it was their first encounter, judging by the course of direction, the S-tier aptitude users knew that the ship was heading toward the core region of the realm. But surprisingly, the small ship was already capable of reaching such a secretive location. It even broke through the ground directly and continued to move forward. They were shocked and gasped in amazement.

Despite his arrogance, Shao Dongfeng was indeed a powerful figure that had control over hundreds of realms. However, even with such capability, it was still impossible for an SSS-tier to pull it off.

"This jade ship is a unique treasure and I am not capable of creating this by myself. I am just authorized to use it!"

If it was not created by Shao Dongfeng, and he was just authorized by someone. Then, the answer to it was already as clear as day.

"So, this jade ship was made by an Immortal?" That aptitude user was obviously shaken up by the unexpected outcome.

Although Qin Feng already knew the answer earlier, he was still amazed by it. Also, the Immortal would most probably still be alive to authorize the use of the jade ship. Meaning to say, it was as easy as taking candy from a baby for the Immortals to arrive at the core of the realm.

"This seems to make more sense. With such capabilities, perhaps there is no need to look into cores from other realms for capability enhancement. There will be unknowns everywhere. Until one has actually achieved it, it will still seem like a far-fetched level to be at, no matter how hard they look up to it!"

Just like when A-tier aptitude users and those who were below looked up to the S-tiers. They could never imagine the formation of solidified internal energy and massive enlargement of the ability core.

As Qin Feng was still thinking about it, the jade ship had already penetrated the land's surface and entered into the core region. Surprisingly, that place was filled with congealed liquid in translucent milk white color.

Undoubtedly, that place was filled with energy.

Qin Feng also noticed that the jade ship travelled much faster than the ice ship that he was on before.

The obvious reason was because the ice ship was not controlled by anyone, while the jade ship travelled at full speed under Shao Dongfeng's control.

In less than three hours, they were then able to see a massive starglobe.

As white as jade, and as solid as moon rock. It was a starglobe with five hundred meters in diameter, and also the first internal energy starglobe that Qin Feng had ever seen.

Chapter 1015: Strengthened Asteroid Assimilation

Actually, the internal energy starglobe was not an accurate representation. It was just named after the human's perception.

Every ultra beast that was incapable of controlling runes and consciousness cores would still advance to become an Immortal. Upon their deaths, they would then form into starglobes.

Meanwhile, the jade ship floated quietly in the area. Although the translucent and milk white colored liquid was outshined by the glaring light, Qin Feng knew it was exactly the purest form of energy. With its purity, it could even build up an explosive force within the human body.

"All of you have fourteen days to practice here, try your best!" Shao Dongfeng told everyone as he also sat down with crossed legs. For him, it was also a precious location to practice.

The others heard the advice and immediately sat down without making any noise. They began to turn up their neigong.

Qin Feng did not want to stand out among the others, he followed the others to sit down with crossed legs. But he still secretly lingered his senses around to observe the others.

It was a shocking scene to look at.

Every ancient warrior was absorbing internal energy at a horrifying pace. Especially when they were in the dedicated place, where they were allowed to activate neigong. The top of their heads, nose tips and surroundings were covered by a layer a white smoke. It was transformed into a sea of clouds and rolled into their bodies.

However, all of them were not as powerful as Ming Tianhao.

Ming Tianhao sat down with crossed legs and activated his neigong. He was then surrounded by liquified intense energy that flowed into his mouth and dripped into his dantian.

The liquid droplets then formed into the shape of a flowing pipe of water and merged into his body.

'No wonder he could congeal seven starglobes!' Qin Feng was enlightened.

He only took a quick look at it, and he was not jealous of it at all. Compared to their neigong, Qin Feng believed that his Asteroid Assimilation was much more powerful and horrifying.

He was caught up in the moment because the realm that he was from was way too underdeveloped, and it was his opportunity to finally open up his eyes for greater things.

'Asteroid Assimilation is powerful indeed, but it is better to not expose the skills that seem to be structured from the Dark Coalition mindset. But since I am recognized as a shortlisted S-tier, many of them already have their eyes on me. If I still perform moderately with my neigong, I might even draw unwanted attention from them. I should just be straightforward about this!'

With that in mind, Qin Feng began to sit down with crossed legs, and he activated his Asteroid Assimilation.

Asteroid Assimilation performed by an S-tier would no longer circulate internal energy throughout the entire body, but churn the internal energy frozen star and draw in energy from heaven and earth.

"First cycle!"

Qin Feng aimed to do it gradually, and the first frozen star was activated.

At that moment, energy was suddenly robbed away from Qin Feng's surroundings. A ring of water then instantly formed around him!

If Ming Tianhao's energy congealment was measured at about the size of a thumb, Qin Feng's energy congealment would be measured at the size of a wrist.

Also, it was not channelled vertically, but circled around Qin Feng and entered directly into his dantian.

Such a massive momentum would definitely draw attention from the others. Everyone then looked toward Qin Feng.

"Is this Qin Feng the one ranked at the fifth place? That S-tier earlier."

"Phew, his internal energy is surprisingly stronger than Ming Tianhao's."

"What type of neigong is this, is this SS-tier? This little kid is so lucky, so jealous of him."

The crowd reacted differently, but all of them were being cautious as they sensed the surroundings. Energy from the surrounding had not been reduced by Qin Feng's great energy demand. Meaning to say, the energy source from the surroundings was limitless.

Hence, the others' progress in practicing were not delayed by Qin Feng's powerful presence. Some of them even forgot about being jealous and were thinking of maintaining a close relationship with Qin Feng.

It was unwise to offend Qin Feng at that moment. Despite having the lowest capability, Qin Feng's combat energy was still a threat to them. Even if he were to output half of his combat energy during the peace contest, it would still be a great help to them.

With that in mind, they closed their eyes and resumed with energy absorption.

Except for Shao Dongfeng that seemed bothered as he looked at Qin Feng, like he was planning something else. Only after two hours, he had no choice but to close his eyes.

He wanted to talk to Qin Feng. But Qin Feng kept his eyes closed throughout his practice. Therefore, he had to wait until Qin Feng was done with it.

Nobody knew that when those people were amused, Qin Feng was also struck by a frightening moment.

"Previously when I was practicing, Asteroid Assimilation did not absorb energy from heaven and earth as fast as it is doing now. How could it be so powerful?"

It was the first time where Qin Feng felt he did not know Asteroid Assimilation well enough.

Also, it was an inappropriate circumstance for him to reflect on that. Energy that had entered into his dantian had to be quickly absorbed.

From the external view, Qin Feng's dantian was being fuelled by the liquid flow of energy that was about the size of a wrist. It was like a giant rift had formed in the sky and horizontally slammed down energy that could even drown the frozen star.

The energy shrouded around the spinning frozen star and fuelled its rapid expansion.

It was not in its purest form, but mixed with impurities that were in milk white color.

If the energy were to transform into internal energy, it would lower the quality of Qin Feng's internal energy. For the others, it might be the purest form that they could ask for, but not for Qin Feng.

Hence, the dark starglobe in Qin Feng's conscious realm began to spin as well.

Qin Feng used to absorb internal energy into his conscious realm during his previous practices. It would circulate around his body structure and strengthen his veins and physical body. Only then, it would roam into his conscious realm and leave the essence part of it in his dantian.

But now, the dark starglobe had directly descended into his dantian realm. The dark Absorption Ability circulated and instantly evaporated one third of the milk white colored liquid, leaving a limpid river behind.

Aptitude users could never pull off this move before they achieve S-tier. Of course, nobody was as special as Qin Feng to be able to achieve two S-tier advancements for both of his dantian abilities, and summon his ability core to his dantian.

Meanwhile, the horrifying starglobe with ten meters in diameter was way too massive when compared to the nine other frozen stars.

Although one third of the energy had evaporated, it could still cover the entire frozen star. In less than three hours, the frozen star had doubled in size and reached two centimeters in diameter.

Qin Feng pondered for a while. He stopped the spinning of the frozen star and continued his practice with the next frozen star.

Then, the frozen star began its wild spinning. Three hours later, its diameter doubled.

Qin Feng used the same method again.

Within just one day, Qin Feng upscaled his entire internal energy structure to another level!

As the frozen stars grew larger in size, the growth became less significant. Most importantly, Qin Feng was afraid to go all in with his absorption.

It was definitely an unpleasantly suppressing feeling!

"Wait until the peace contest is over and the realms have been distributed. I will open up my Asteroid Assimilation entirely and feel this horrifying neigong myself!" Qin Feng could only comfort himself and continue with the absorption.

However, despite slowing down his pace of absorption, it was still a horrifying scene for the others to look at.

Chapter 1016: Only the Powerful Win

Ten days had passed. Every ancient warrior kept on training non-stop, wanting to make themselves stronger than others.

On the surface, they looked the same as they were before. However, in reality, their strength had already improved by a lot.

Qin Feng was able to make all nine starglobes to be as thick as four centimeters by now. After all, the Runic Galaxy Realm was the kind of place that could give birth to an Immortal at any given time. It was a realm unlike the other lower tiered realms.

"Time's up. Let's go back!"

Shao Dongfeng's voice woke all the participants up. Glares of brilliant light beamed up in their eyes before shying away into the depths of their irises.

Shao Dongfeng, on the other hand, began sailing the jade ship back to where they came from.

Three hours later, all thirteen of them were finally back.

"There's still one day's time. Rest well, everyone. Tomorrow will be your tournament. As for whether you are able to live to tell the tale, it's all up to you."

"Thank you, Sir." Everyone thanked him graciously.

Shao Dongfeng's eyes were fixed on Qin Feng before opening his mouth, "Qin Feng, come. Let me have a word with you."

Shao Dongfeng raised his hand and opened up a spatial door for the others to leave. Seeing this, they kept quiet and left, not making any unnecessary inquiries.

Qin Feng waited until the others had left before asking, "What is it, Master Shao?"

Shao Dongfeng forced up a friendly smile. "Qin Feng, you have great potential. However, you're still too weak. I'm afraid you won't be able to survive in the tournament."

With a tick of intuition, Qin Feng could guess what Shao Dongfeng had in mind.

Shao Dongfeng continued, "I have a potion here. It can boost one's power tremendously. This should be enough to boost an S9-tier to become an SS-tier. Although you're not S9-tier yet, I suppose this potion should be able to help you to ascend to great heights. When you've gotten enough power, you'll not have to worry about other participants' attacks anymore."

"Thank you, Master Shao. But I can't accept this. It would be too unfair for the other participants if I were the only person who accepts aid."

Shao Dongfeng smiled, thinking that Qin Feng was an easy-to-fool, naïve, young man.

"Oh, no. It's totally fine. This is a norm in tournaments like this. Do you think you're the only one who'd use it? Well, you're wrong. The others would use it too. In fact, it'll be unfair to you when the others have aids when you don't. Think about it. The only S-tier will be you while the others are going to be SS-tier. You'll die, you know?"

Shao Dongfeng thought that Qin Feng would panic and complained about how unfair the tournament was upon hearing this. This should lead to Qin Feng asking Shao Dongfeng to help him, which would then give Shao Dongfeng the chance to take advantage of him.

Thinking of that, Shao Dongfeng smiled brightly before letting out a sigh, "I don't blame you for being here though. You were deceived by that advertisement. Nonetheless, it would not change the fact that you could die tomorrow. Fortunately, there's still time. You could still learn a few tricks to stay alive… I have a few tricks up my sleeves that I could…"

Shao Dongfeng stopped as he waited for Qin Feng to beg for his help.

However, Qin Feng beamed up a smile. "Only SS-tier? Well, if they want to defeat me, it's not going to be an easy feat either. Even if it's an SSS-tier, they should also expect an excruciating struggle to take me down."

Qin Feng then looked at Shao Dongfeng intently.

If it was three months ago, there was no way Qin Feng would say this. However, Qin Feng was a different man than who he was three months ago. With the behemoth of a dark starglobe he had in him, Qin Feng had gained the strength and guts to take on anything.

"So, Master Shao… I understand and appreciate your concern. But I still think I should handle this myself. If there's nothing else, I'll be taking my leave."

After finishing his words, Qin Feng turned and walked through the spatial door.

Shao Dongfeng did not expect this to happen. Qin Feng did not act according to his plan at all. Not only that, Qin Feng seemed to also think very lightly of his aid.

"Qin Feng, do you have a death wish? I could very well kill you here right now if you are so eager to die! And I could find some other people to participate in the tournament in your place too!"

"Sure! You can try right now if you want." Qin Feng smirked as he activated his dark starglobe.

Shao Dongfeng did not expect Qin Feng to taunt him.

A surge of anger raged in him.

A prodigy? A participant?

He could just replace this brat any time he wanted!

Thus, a massive star appeared behind Shao Dongfeng as he charged up his internal energy.

Then, suddenly, darkness clouded Shao Dongfeng.

He could not feel anything. His sight, smell, hearing… all his senses were gone!

"What… What is this?!" Shao Dongfeng yelled out in shock in his mind.

It had been so long since he felt a terror like this—it was a long time ago, when he was taking on a dark ability user. Back then, he had to use all his might to be able to flee with his life.

"Is this… Dark Shroud?"

Shao Dongfeng was so shocked that he was starting to doubt himself.

Dark Shroud was just a simple dark ability. As one grew stronger, a simple dark-rune trick like that would not work on them.

Unless their opponent was significantly stronger than them, or that this was an improved version of Dark Shroud.

Still, this should not be something that Qin Feng, a mere ancient warrior, could do.

As Shao Dongfeng was thinking to himself, his senses had recovered. He was only under the influence of Dark Shroud for 0.1 seconds.

When he opened his eyes again, Qin Feng was nowhere to be found.

Shao Dongfeng was tricked!

"Qin Feng!!" Shao Dongfeng yelled out furiously.

However, Shao Dongfeng still felt a shiver crawling up his back. He felt as though his life was spared.

If this was some other dark ability user, that person could very well assassinate him without leaving a trace of evidence.

Just what was that ability?!

Shao Dongfeng's face was as white as a sheet. "Damn you, Qin Feng! Do you think you can escape me? Heh, so long as you come back alive, there will always be people after you!"

In this world, only the powerful would win. Qin Feng was merely a participant. As such, it was rather impossible for him to safely secure all his prizes after the tournament.

Meanwhile, Qin Feng had already returned to the Central City of the Human Alliance safely. He was now safe—Shao Dongfeng, despite being an SSS-tier, would not dare to do anything here.

Chapter 1017: The Human Peace Contest has Begun!

"How many times had I done something like this back then?"

Before he was reborn, Qin Feng had to resort to something like this to get away from trouble. He was too weak to put up a fight, so he had to flee.

After he was reborn, Qin Feng was very strong—which led to him getting a lot of treasures that others yearned to have too.

Still, after his rebirth, Qin Feng had almost always given his opponents a huge slap in the face whenever they tried to demean him and rob his treasures.

Qin Feng was not afraid of Shao Dongfeng one bit.

"Welcome. Are you Mr Qin Feng? I'm assigned to escort you to your accommodation in the hotel. The tournament will begin at 12 PM sharp tomorrow. So, it's best for you to get enough rest and preparation by then." A woman approached Qin Feng meekly.

Qin Feng took a look at the woman—she was an S-tier and was being quite respectful to him. She was most likely someone sent from the Human Alliance.

Shao Dongfeng was not the authority. Things that he was trying to do were probably something others often did under the table. As such, Qin Feng would not have to pin the blame on the authority.

"Sure, let's go. It's such good timing too because I'm so tired."

"Alright, sure. This way, Sir!"

The woman led Qin Feng to the "hotel". Well, it looked more like a massive estate and manor. His accommodation was one of the over fifty beautiful villas that were situated on the land.

Qin Feng could feel some familiar presence in his surroundings. They were the participants that were with him earlier. Other than the ancient warriors, there were also ability users nearby too.

Qin Feng did not care much about all these—he needed to relax and take a break.

Suddenly, his communicator began to beep. A vast amount of unreceived calls and messages kept flooding in.

"Qin Feng, I don't know what you're thinking. But this tournament isn't like the one in our realm. It's a vicious competition. And you went straight up without giving it much thought! Do you have a death wish?!" It was Hu San's message.

"Marshal! Your strength is well beyond my reach. I give you my greatest salutation." This was from Tung Yang.

"If you're going to do it, then give it your best. But don't expect me to wipe your ass if you mess up." This was from Long Ting.

There were also other messages from people like Nangong Zeming.

Qin Feng did not know that right after he entered the tournament, the SS-tiers in his homeworld had already seen his name on the result. They did not expect him to be able to dish out such power in combat.

None of them were able to do something like that.

They all knew just how scarce the resources on Earth were. As such, how could their realm produce a monstrosity like Qin Feng?

Even Seinakawa, Rick and Singhnar were shocked to see his combat prowess. They finally understood just what kind of people were worthy of visiting the Runic Galaxy Realm.

At the same time, they could not bring themselves to praise Qin Feng. They still thought that Qin Feng was an impulsive, idiotic brat who had a death wish. Nonetheless, they still kept their eyes on him, wondering if he could pull it off.

There was only one day left before the contest began. As such, Qin Feng should be back by now.

Many were curious about just what kind of man Qin Feng was; they wanted to get to know him. Some of them even wanted him to coach them a little, or perhaps teach them some of his secret techniques.

Meanwhile, Qin Feng did not care about all these. Instead of replying to the messages, Qin Feng muted his communicator.

What he needed now was a good night's sleep before taking on other participants and winning the realm.

The protocol of the tournament had already been announced. After 12 PM the next day, they would need to enter an encased realm that would allow them to fight one another. They would be given seven days to complete the fight.

Of course, anything could happen in those seven days. Not once in the last three hundred Human Peace Contests did it end peacefully.

Due to this being a clash between prodigies, there were always cases where a whole group of people was completely slaughtered.

As such, after ending the contest, there would always be one side that had their prodigies completely wiped off, disgracing them completely. This would, in turn, escalate conflicts—contradicting what the Human Peace Contest was attempting to do.

Qin Feng was also contemplating whether he should kill everyone the moment he entered the ring.

"Well, I guess I'll improvise as things change." Qin Feng gave it a final thought before snoring away on his bed.

The next day, the participants gathered at 10 AM before heading to the arena in Central City.

The arena was an enormous sight to behold. On the opposite side of the arena, there was a gigantic structure that looked like a bird nest, almost as big as a city.

Thankfully, all the spectators who were there were S-tiers and above. As such, they could use their sharp consciousness to sense and view the fight.

The twenty three participants had entered their own side of the arena.

There were twenty three spatial doors located in the middle of the field. Qin Feng was assigned to the fifth door.

Now, all they needed to do was wait for 12 PM to come.

At a corner of the arena's spectator seats, about a hundred people were silently watching the scene. They only started talking when the participants entered the field.

"I see him. It's Qin Feng."

"Huh, so it is him. I did not expect our realm to have someone this powerful."

"Powerful? What use is there? Now, he's just going to be cannon fodder for these other stronger chaps."

Eight SS-tiers were sitting in the front row of these hundreds of people. One of them frowned, "Ting, do you think he can make it?"

"Sixth Grand Uncle, I assure you. He's strong. But just how strong he is… I have not the faintest clue. Nonetheless, one thing is clear. He's already stronger than any of us in our realm." Long Ting said respectfully.

The man Long Ting addressed as "sixth grand uncle" looked only about thirty five to thirty six years old. He did not look like an old man at all.

This man was the SS-tier of the Long family—Long Kong.

At his side sat another SS-tier, Li Yuan of the Li family.

Both of the Huaxia Alliance's SS-tiers had come out to witness this fight.

"So what? When he's there, all he's got waiting for him is being torn to pieces. Hmph. This is what hubris will bring him."

Long Ting raised her head and noticed that this consciousness voice came from Seinakawa.

As an S-tier, Long Ting could not win this woman in a fight, so she could not say much to retaliate.

"Let's pray that he's going to be lucky." One of them began to say prayers for Qin Feng.

It was then, the spatial doors in front of the participants were lit up!

It was time!

Qin Feng charged up his internal energy to form a layer of barrier around him before walking through his spatial door.

The Human Peace Contest had begun!

Chapter 1018: Stygian Abyss

In a blink of an eye, Qin Feng found himself teleported to the middle of a jungle. There was a stutter of unique energy around him, shrinking Qin Feng's consciousness and scanning abilities.

"Hmm, I only have about ten thousand meters of scanning range. That means the others are probably going to have about a few thousand meters of scanning range then."

Qin Feng knew that this was a "Secret Territory" or a "Sanctuary" type realm. It was not a complete one—making it only about a thousand kilometers wide.

Still, the geography in the area seemed quite abundant in features. As such, even though it would not be difficult for one to detect an opponent here, it was also equally easy for one to keep themselves hidden.

Right now, it all depended on who was stronger when facing an opponent.

Usually, in this seven-day period, when a participant saw someone stronger coming for them, they would do their best to hide. All they needed to do was to protect their badge given to them and make their alliance reach top 100 in the ranking. This would win realm-wide resources for their world.

And the best way to stay alive was to team up and work together.

Meanwhile, a gigantic eye emerged in the sky to monitor the fight between the two sides behind the clouds and relay back what it was seeing to the Human Alliance.

It was then, a cry of surprise could be heard from the Human Alliance.

This Human Peace Contest was like the Prodigy Tournament. There were hosts that would narrate what was happening on the field.

The eye had locked onto two persons. One of which was Qin Feng.

The S-tiers from Earth began to tense up as they paid attention to the scene. Even Seinakawa anxiously rubbed her own fingers as she watched.

About a thousand meters away from Qin Feng, an ability user had emerged—an ability user from the Dark Coalition!

A thousand meters. Even though it seemed rather far away, it was already too close a gap for one to escape from an ability user.

"Oh, participant number 5—Qin Feng has now gotten him in a pinch. He's just an S-tier ability user. So, if the field has suppressed his consciousness, he only has about hundreds of meters of scanning range. In this situation, there's a high likelihood that he would get caught by his opponent. Now, let's take a look at just who he is up against."

The host quickly swiped through the data before sending it up to the holographic screen in the sky.

Everyone was sitting on the edge in their seats.

Shao Dongfeng, who was sitting amongst the crowd, smirked as he looked at the scene with a fling of joy.

"Oh, no. That's Sakyaey. He's number one in the Dark Coalition, with a combat power of 124,125!"

Everyone widened their eyes as they heard this, feeling dread for Qin Feng.

Shao Dongfeng beamed up a smile.

'I wonder if this kiddo likes this little present I prepared for him.'

Yes. This was Shao Dongfeng's doing. That spatial door was what he left for Qin Feng.

Usually, the coordinates of where one appeared in the Secret Territory was chosen randomly by the participants via drawing lots. This was to avoid participants from teaming up too early.

Still, it was rather easy for organizers to put someone they wanted on certain spots. Qin Feng had no one powerful enough to back him up; so he had to endure the same fate as the people who had refused to work with Shao Dongfeng—being put on the most dangerous spot in the field.

Sakyaey was powerful. He was, in fact, much more powerful than Ming Tianhao. In fact, Ming Tianhao could very well die if he were the one standing where Qin Feng was right now.

Compared to Ming Tianhao, Qin Feng was a nobody. And nobody would care if he died in the first round.

This was why Qin Feng had to face such injustice.

From the holographic screen, everyone could see that the wood and soil were beginning to change and morph. Sakyaey was pulling something and it was not good for Qin Feng.

He opened his mouth and swallowed a massive, black worm. Then, energy swelled up in his body, giving him tremendous strength.

Seeing this, the host reported loudly, "Look! This is the fabled Giganum Marrow Devourer! Oh, how terrifying! After consuming this bug, Sakyaey's strength would be boosted all the way to SS-tier! This would mean…"

Everyone knew what this meant—it meant that there was no escape for Qin Feng.

"Let us see how Qin Feng would deal with his peril. Right now, he still has a chance to flee!"

Unfortunately, Qin Feng did not run away. Instead, he walked straight toward Sakyaey's direction.

"Oh no! Qin Feng's scanning range is too weak. He can't detect Sakyaey's presence! If he keeps on going forward, he will be dead!"

In everyone's eyes, Qin Feng was as good as dead.

Not one person thought highly of Qin Feng. This was not unexpected—Qin Feng was the only one who had not ascended past S9-tier. And as of the moment, Qin Feng had no means of ascending himself in a short time.

However, they got it completely wrong.

It was not that Qin Feng did not detect Sakyaey—in fact, it was Sakyaey who could not detect Qin Feng.

Qin Feng's dark abilities had completely hidden him. As such, seeing that there was no one around him, Sakyaey took out the Giganum Marrow Devourer and ate it. So long as he had ascended to SS-tier, he could kill everyone—including the ones from the Dark Coalition, and grab the prizes for himself.

Qin Feng had already reached about hundreds of meters away from Sakyaey while he was trying to swallow the worm's tail.

Qin Feng was so close to him.

This close of a distance was fatal.

Murderous intent flared up in Qin Feng's eyes as dark runes swarmed around the area, masking him into the shadows—specifically, Sakyaey's shadows.

Then, Sakyaey's shadow began to distort into a black whirlpool, one that extended to hundreds of meters wide.

Sakyaey did not seem to notice any of this yet.

And just like that, he lost all his senses as he stood in the middle of the dark whirlpool.

He could not see.

He could not hear.

He could not smell.

He could not feel anything at all!

"Stygian Abyss!"

Qin Feng's dark starglobe had already evolved so much. As such, there was no way he would not have mastered a new ability. And this was something he mastered in the Runic Galaxy Realm.

Stygian Abyss—an SS-tier ability!

Qin Feng had actually used this once—to block Shao Dongfeng from striking at him.

Now, he had unleashed it completely on Sakyaey.

Sakyaey had not even ascended completely to SS-tier yet, seeing that he was in the middle of eating the worm.

Shao Dongfeng, an SSS-tier, had lost all his senses for 0.1 second. This meant that this ability would work even more effectively on Sakyaey.

Qin Feng pulled out a saber and…

Whoosh!

A glaring rainbow curved out of the saber's blade as he slashed forward, crushing everything hundreds of meters in front of him.

What a devastating slash!

Sakyaey just stood there without any reaction as the Giganum Marrow Devourer's tail was still dangling from his lips.

Then, a whiff of wind blew his way.

Sakyaey's head and the worm in his mouth both dropped off from his neck and to the ground.

There was complete silence in the jungle.

No one made a sound in the Central City's streaming center and arena.

Chapter 1019: Precious Stimulant

Time seemed to have been frozen at that moment. Everything went silent.

Qin Feng was the only one not constrained by the stagnated time. He walked over to Sakyaey's lifeless body, not too rushed, not too leisurely either.

Someone in the audience finally snapped out of the silence, and an uproar ensued.

Shao Dongfeng's face stiffened.

The lips of Seinakawa and Rick curled unpleasantly.

Long Ting, in stark contrast, cheered with her fist high up in the air. She could not believe that Qin Feng, a teenager, was the one who qualified from their realm.

The commentator finally found his voice too. "Unbelievable! He really made it. Qin Feng, who is ranked number 5 in this tournament, has defeated Sakyaey, the highest-ranked user in the Dark Coalition! Not only that but Sakyaey was killed in a split second before he could react. What's that dark vortex? I have never seen anything like that in my life. Indisputably, there's one commanding winner in this battle—Qin Feng!"

The battle only lasted for a few seconds, but the audience was captivated. None was complaining that it had ended too abruptly. This was because almost everyone on the spectator seats was highly skilled. They understood just how amazing Qin Feng's prowess was.

"Is this Qin Feng a dark-type ability user? Wait, he was introduced as an ancient warrior earlier. He was using ancient art as well."

"A dual-aptitude user. He must have mastered both. He is far superior to Sakyaey in terms of perception and conscious power. The lad must have covered himself in runes that could mask his presence. That explains why Sakyaey failed to detect his movement."

"The young man activated a dark-type ability which probably blocked his opponent's perception ability from the beginning. When he was close enough, he caught the opponent off guard and killed him decisively."

"Amazing! Absolutely brilliant! He is no doubt a generational prodigy!"

Most audiences applauded Qin Feng's exceptional skills. Those with better eyes could roughly retrace what happened in that short period. As for the S-tiers that could not immediately grasp the quick action, they also understood how terrifying Qin Feng was based on the emcee's comment.

In the arena, Qin Feng had sheathed his Verdant Emperor Saber. After it was fused with the spatial beast's crystal core, the laceration created by the saber became very powerful. Whenever he brandished the saber, it would inadvertently create a spatial rift. Despite being very useful in a battle, unsheathing it out of battle was a burden.

Then, Qin Feng pulled in the internal force.

"Asteroid Assimilation!"

Sakyaey was an S9-tier ancient warrior. His internal force nebula was at least nine centimeters wide. Being able to bypass Ming Tianhao was a testament to his power.

Indeed, six orbs landed on Qin Feng's hand when he placed his pulling palm near Sakyaey's dantian.

Crack! Crack!

The orbs shattered and fused into his palm, entering Qin Feng's meridian. His meridian was unusually wide. The pieces immediately turned into an immense internal force that went straight into his dantian.

"Absorption!"

The ability went to work and assimilated the internal force. In the end, one-third of the force was expelled and the remaining was integrated into Qin Feng's nine frozen stars. As a result, the nine stars had expanded by a total of half a centimeter.

'Killing another aptitude user is still the fastest way.' Qin Feng murmured. He did not stop there. Watching through the huge eye on top of the arena, he seemed to be looking for something.

It did not take him long. Qin Feng found the badge and claimed it. He also took Sakyaey's spatial equipment.

When he was prepared to leave, he remembered something and raised his hand. Instantly, a dark light shrouded the black worm on the body's head.

Qin Feng had neither seen nor heard about it before. However, after observing what Sakyaey had done with it, he knew that it must be very beneficial.

If it was beneficial, then Qin Feng would absorb it.

The worm was called the Giganum Marrow Devourer. This creature lived through multiple universes and realms. It fed on marrow but not human bone marrow. Instead, the worm consumed the "marrow" of a planet, which could be usually found in the primary energy stratum.

After hundreds of millions of years, the energy retained by the worm was gargantuan.

A precious stimulant.

Qin Feng absorbed the creature with his ability. Instantaneously, his physique's strength skyrocketed.

Without any warning, Qin Feng's physique had broken through S1-tier.

Based on his current strength, he would have to kill numerous powerful creatures to advance his physical level. Surprisingly, he had done so by absorbing the Giganum Marrow Devourer.

'Great stuff!' Qin Feng rejoiced.

After absorbing the worm, Qin Feng picked a direction and moved on.

Qin Feng probably would not come across anyone soon on his current path. As such, the giant eye turned in another direction. He could still be seen on one of the screens, but the center stage had to be reserved for the fiercest battle at the moment.

The ability users who had witnessed Qin Feng's battle envied his gain, especially those from the Blue Star. They began to lament.

"What a waste! He absorbed the Giganum Marrow Devourer just like that," Seinakawa lamented with strong jealousy. The worm was not something they could get in hand easily in their realm.

"The stronger he gets, the better his chance of survival in this match. I acknowledge his decision to upgrade quickly. The problem is whether he could get out alive seven days later. Once he captures an unexplored realm, I wonder what kind of gems we could find in there," the newly joined SS-tier earth ability user, Arus, chimed in.

This man was the new SS-tier promoted in the Runic Galaxy Realm. He was the twentieth SS-tier on Earth. That was what was generally believed. None of the SS-tiers knew that Endo had already been killed.

"Hehe. Even if he does capture a realm, it belongs to Qin Feng alone." Long Kong knew what these people were plotting. Thus, he sneered and warned them to erase that idea.

Should they not be clear of Qin Feng's strength now? They should hold back on their little plot. Snatching meat from a tiger's mouth was simply suicidal.

Seinakawa and Rick had no comments. They had witnessed first-hand how powerful Qin Feng was. They lamented because they disliked Qin Feng's dominating presence as a newbie.

Arus had zero ideas. He had just upgraded and this was the first time sitting in the top echelon. As such, he was a little too full of himself.

"If he is willing to contribute the resources, we can push through SSS-tier faster. Wouldn't it be better for our realm?"

Long Kong smirked. "Why do you think he has to give up the resources to others? Can't he work toward SSS by himself? Don't tell me you actually believe he is weaker than any one of us here?"

Arus did not dare to talk back this time. He silently cursed Long Kong and others for being cowards. He believed that the rest of them should be ashamed of themselves for not daring to claim some resources from Qin Feng's hand.

Qin Feng was unaware of the conversation centered on him. Even before he had gotten anything, someone was already targeting his pocket.

He marched on determinedly. Qin Feng was currently not on the path to rendezvous with his ally, but get closer and closer to the enemy's base

Although Qin Feng had broken the deadlock, other users from the Human Alliance were not as lucky. In the three battles after Qin Feng's victory, two Human Alliance participants were forced to flee, while another one suffered grave injuries and died not long after.

Consequently, the atmosphere in Central City subsided rapidly from the euphoria after Qin Feng's battle. The audience watched on nervously.

"This is bad. Qin Feng would soon come across the Dark Coalition. This time, there are three of them!" The commentator announced suddenly. The already tensed crowd was strained as they stared at the scene that was now switched to the largest screen.

They were already within ten kilometers of each other. The audience held their breaths as the two would clash soon.

Chapter 1020: The Savior

Inside the arena, Qin Feng had actually detected the movement from afar.

The location Shao Dongfeng had dropped Qin Feng was near the central region of the battle arena. If Qin Feng had picked a different direction, he would have a higher chance to meet contestants from the Human Alliance. However, his current direction led him straight into the enemy's base.

At this stage, the opponents had already gathered in small groups while Qin Feng was still venturing solo.

However, being outnumbered meant little to Qin Feng.

The three approaching opponents appeared to have upgraded too. Qin Feng could sense that two of them were now SS-tier. His opponents would not forever remain in S9-tier as the competition progressed.

The same could be said about Qin Feng. His power might not have enhanced significantly, but Qin Feng was no longer the same person when he first met an SS-tier at Bahamut.

Qin Feng could sense the opponents ten thousand meters away, but the three enemies could not feel his presence at all.

Qin Feng strolled on confidently. He stopped when they were only about a thousand meters away from him.

The three Dark Coalition members were moving too. They still did not seem to notice Qin Feng.

This distance was close enough for Qin Feng.

"Sovereign Roar!"

Qin Feng summoned a formidable amount of runes. Above his head, a giant black star rose, which was followed by the emergence of a giant dragon.

The black dragon opened its maw. In the next moment, a dark flood splashed out from the dragon's giant mouth.

A loud, deafening roar sounded.

The flood submerged the forest and slammed on the three approaching aptitude users. It happened too suddenly for the three users to react in time.

As such, they summoned their internal force shield and executed defensive charms to resist the flood.

However, that was worse than fleeing.

The dark runes squashed them. Charms were dispelled immediately and internal force shields on them were eroded rapidly. They did not even have the time to gasp or scream.

The waves swallowed them alive.

Even though they had the physique of an SS-tier, the turbulent dark runes destroyed them thoroughly. Not long after, three bodies swayed lifelessly among the waves.

"Retract!"

The runes subsided back through the vortex between Qin Feng's brows. Three new badges appeared in his hands. The number of the corresponding realm was engraved on the badge.

Each badge had its own unique mark, which symbolized a specific realm. At the end of the competition, the owner of the badge would be gifted the realm as carved. This was planned ahead upon the agreement of the alliances.

These badges could not be stored in spatial equipment. Qin Feng placed them in his backpack and continued to look for other contestants.

Since he was now on the arena side belonging to the Dark Coalition, he came across another three-man party not long after. Without a doubt, he annihilated them too.

On the first day alone, Qin Feng had taken care of seven opponents. If he could stay alive until the end, he would be awarded seven realms.

Qin Feng was not particularly thrilled. Rather, the audience in Central City was more excited than him.

Many doubted him when he killed Sakyaey. Some believed Sakyaey was too consumed in absorbing the energy from the worm. That was why Qin Feng managed to assault him with ease.

Those doubts had completely vanished now.

Everyone watching recognized that Qin Feng's supremacy was real.

His prowess was out of this world.

Aptitude users from the Blue Star Realm had largely turned from being anxious and excited into silent and thoughtful.

"After this, maybe we should consider inviting Qin Feng into the meeting," Long Kong said. He was obviously referring to the one meeting that involved only the highest-ranked users of Blue Star.

The eleven SS-tiers at present were the usual attendees. Qin Feng would be the twelfth if he joined.

With his strength, perhaps a lot of unsolvable problems in the past could be solved now.

"Why don't we wait until he reaches SS-tier?" Seinakawa was the first to raise an objection.

The others remained silent as well. They were hesitant too. The resources on Blue Star were fairly limited. They would receive a smaller part of the cake if another user joined them.

"Besides, no matter how great he is now, he is still only an S-tier. If you have anything that needs his help, just give him an order! There's no need to pamper him like a king!" Seinakawa wanted to make her stance clear.

Li Yuan sneered mockingly. "Judging by his power, I would be embarrassed to ask for his favor using lame motives like 'for the greater good'. Don't ask for help if you can't even provide the most basic remuneration. If one day he becomes an SS-tier or someone even greater, you will face two times the humiliation."

Li Yuan's words slapped those who silently agreed with Seinakawa.

The atmosphere suddenly became a little awkward.

The contest kept moving forward. At this tier, it was entirely normal for them to not sleep for a few months. Seven days were not considered long. The contestants inside the arena hardly rested too. They were engaged in battle after battle.

Later, Qin Feng met and exterminated another member of the Dark Coalition. He had accumulated eight kills on the first day.

Besides that, three other aptitude users of the Dark Coalition had also fallen to the Human Alliance. But none was being killed as fast as those terminated by Qin Feng.

The other contestants of Dark Coalition had no idea that such brutal fights had taken place. They were also unaware that they had lost so many comrades in a single day.

The remaining twelve Dark Coalition members were scattered around the arena; some had grouped up while others continued to move alone.

On the Human Alliance's side, the casualties were less severe. Only five prodigies were killed on the first day.

Ming Tianhao was unscathed. Not only that but he was joined by two other Human Alliance members. Their survival chance was boosted greatly as a three-man party.

But the sense of security was immediately challenged the next day.

They bumped into a group of five Dark Coalition members.

A tough battle was inevitable.

"Run. We can't fight them now."

Even though Ming Tianhao was pretty strong, the Dark Coalition also had a few tough nuts in this year's contest. As far as he knew, at least three possessed battle powers greater than 100,000. If Sakyaey were in the group, Ming Tianhao did not have the confidence to defeat him.

Hence, he decided to run instead of fight.

Ming Tianhao might be overmatched, but nobody could stop him if he put all his mind on fleeing.

As a result, the three Human Alliance users were being chased breathlessly by five enemies inside the battle arena. None of them tried to conceal their aura as they were dashing at full speed. One did not need great perception to sense the fluctuation of energy resulting from the pursuit.

'Oh!? Someone's there!'

Qin Feng stood on top of a hill. He powered his eyes with internal strength and saw several human figures flashing past rapidly.

'Finally found someone so lively.'

Qin Feng grinned and chased after them.

The aptitude users in Central City gazed at the screen closely.

The commentator was especially animated.

"Ming Tianhao and co. are going to be saved now. Qin Feng is on the way! He is moving unbelievably fast!"

At this moment, everyone placed their hopes on Qin Feng. He was the hero, the savior!

Chapter 1021: The Decision of Those Being Saved

In such a contest, each death equaled a huge loss of advantage. As such, contestants from the same side were tightly knitted.

The audience would grimace if a member of the Human Alliance was killed, while cheering jubilantly when someone from the Dark Coalition was exterminated.

Among the Human Alliance's participants, Ming Tianhao was ranked first in this year's match. He carried the greatest expectation at the beginning of this competition. But right now, his limelight had been completely taken away by Qin Feng.

After all, Ming Tianhao had not exhibited any meaningful battles on the first day. He had only met one enemy and did not manage to finish off his opponent after a prolonged battle.

On the second day, though having gained two allies, he was faced with even greater opponents. The lady of luck seemed to have abandoned him in this realm.

Even though the Human Alliance had a better chance of winning thanks to Qin Feng, the audience did not wish to see more deaths of their future prospects. Everyone prayed that Ming Tianhao could get out of this pursuit alive.

They turned to prayer because the pursuers were not easy opponents. The strongest among the five was called Arsha.

An aptitude user with a battle power of more than 100,000, Arsha was more infamous than Sakyaey.

Ming Tianhao could not shake him off.

Luckily, Qin Feng was nearby and spotted them.

That was enough to flame up the audiences' suspense.

The commentator said hurriedly, "I was thinking whether Qin Feng would spot them. Then, would he help if he sees them? After all, there are too many of them. But my concerns were proven pointless. Maybe to Qin Feng, the more the merrier!"

No doubt, the more enemies there were, the better his loot would be.

"Rampage Influx!"

Qin Feng was too quick. Extreme speed required a strong body to sustain inertia and momentum. He was probably the only one that had his physique honed into S-tier deity level.

That was why he was much faster than Ming Tianhao and Arsha. Qin Feng caught up to them about seven minutes later.

No matter how powerful the masking effect of his dark ability was, Qin Feng was exposed when he was within a hundred meters of them.

The two groups were equally stunned by his sudden entry.

Qin Feng had perfectly concealed his aura before that.

"Who's that?"

"Which team does he or she belong to?"

Both groups had the same question.

In comparison, the pursuers were calmer in face of the uncertainty. Even if the interrupter was from the Human Alliance, they still had the number advantage.

In contrast, those from the Human Alliance had already been pushed to the limit. Adding another pursuer would spell their doom.

Ming Tianhao searched frantically for a survival possibility. He did not manage to recognize Qin Feng's aura immediately because the latter's dark ability was too powerful.

"Stygian Abyss!"

Without anyone noticing, the last man in the pursuer group was caught by Qin Feng's ability.

In an instant, the ability user was put to a sudden halt. Darkness spread under his feet, while his eyes were shrouded by confusion. He had clearly lost his sight.

Sensing the anomaly, Arsha turned his head back and saw his comrade being swallowed by darkness.

"Be careful, it's a foe!" Arsha shouted and vented his fire ability. The flame ignited the Stygian Abyss.

Rune collision could indeed be used to dispel an ability.

Arsha believed that his ability was sufficient to oust the opponent's ability. He soon found out that his flame was too timid to diminish the darkness.

It was simple math. His fire runes were outmatched by the dark runes after the collision.

Stygian Abyss was neither glamorous nor dazzling. It befell silently, and that was the scary part.

From within the darkness, a figure emerged behind the trapped Dark Coalition member.

It was none other than Qin Feng.

He shook off the dark runes and unsheathed the Verdant Emperor Saber. He brandished the saber toward the pursuers without hesitation.

Two other men of the Dark Coalition group had turned around and lunged at Qin Feng. The powerful force finally broke through Qin Feng's abyss and woke the trapped member.

Even though the Stygian Abyss was pretty influential, the victim could easily be woken up if the disturbance was strong enough.

The man immediately sensed the enormous power behind him. Without a second thought, he retaliated.

First was his internal force shield. Then, he turned around as his fist burst into punches.

Qin Feng displayed great resilience and sustained their attacks calmly.

One against five.

Ming Tianhao and co. who were busy escaping finally realized that the disruptor belonged to the Human Alliance.

Hope rose in their eyes but their minds were wavering.

'Should we turn back and help?'

Even if they joined the battle, they would still be at a disadvantage. They did not have absolute confidence to defeat the Dark Coalition group.

The three of them focused their conscious energy on the new guy. They immediately identified him.

"It's him!"

Knowing that the user was Qin Feng, Ming Tianhao and his allies hesitated.

If it were other aptitude users, they might consider throwing themselves back into the battle. But what could the weakest Qin Feng do? To the three of them, this was an unwinnable battle.

'What should we do?'

"If we turn back now, we would have no chance of shaking them off. The outcome would be dire. I suggest we flee now. In that case, we could at least protect three hundred realms for the Human Alliance. The others would not blame us for making the wiser decision."

"He is right. Qin Feng is too hot-headed. His actions are no different from suicide. Maybe he knows he has little to contribute, so he decided to sacrifice himself and buy time for us."

"It's too late to save him now. Let's go!"

They consoled each other and sugar-coated their cowardice. None of them wanted to turn back now. Not long after, they disappeared rapidly from Qin Feng's perception range.

Of course, they were aware that their action was caught through the huge eye above them. But such was the cruelty of this peace contest. Every contestant's ultimate goal was to protect the badge in their hand at all costs. Retaining the benefit of the Human Alliance was the topmost priority.

Hence, Qin Feng was left behind to face the five enemies alone.

'No one can escape my abyss.' Qin Feng murmured coldly and raised his finger.

"Finger of Death!"

A dark shadow appeared above Qin Feng. Following that, a destructive beam shot out and landed on the aptitude user just freed from the abyss.

After being locked on by the Finger of Death, the aptitude user could not think of anything else other than the end of his life. His mind and body were incepted with the idea of death, which made him unable to evade the beam.

Death arrived as he anticipated when the ability hit him.

Instantaneously, the once-powerful S-tier stiffened on the spot. His body aged insanely and turned into withered bones rapidly.

"Die!"

Chapter 1022: You Survived?

The Dark Coalition contestants that besieged Qin Feng were dazed by Qin Feng's ability.

Qin Feng's concealed aura would be exposed during the battle, no matter how well he had kept it hidden. To their surprise, he was truly just an S1-tier ability user.

That matched with the intel they had collected on Qin Feng. The Dark Coalition had long noticed someone as special as Qin Feng.

When he first showed himself, the five of them thought that Qin Feng was seeking suicide.

What happened next greatly traumatized them.

The ability released by the S1-tier was like a death sentence. Even witnessing it sapped the living desire out of them.

If even their fighting spirit was stripped, then they completely understood why the one being targeted did not move an inch when facing the death beam.

Still, they were bewildered by the fact that such a dreadful skill was coming out from the hand of an S1-tier user. He should not be this powerful.

They had no idea about the true terror of Qin Feng's dark starglobe.

Qin Feng did not conserve his strength. He finished off the rest of the group quickly. Those that remained rooted were killed instantly by his ability, while those that charged at him fearlessly were killed as soon as Qin Feng brandished his formidable saber. The entire battle did not last for more than half an hour.

The fleeing Ming Tianhao would never have guessed the outcome. Neither did he know that the audience in Central City had begun to chastise his conduct.

If Qin Feng were killed in the battle, the audience might not hold too much of an opinion against Ming Tianhao. Such a scene was common in this arena. The fallen comrade would be regarded as an honorable warrior willing to sacrifice for the greater good of the Human Alliance's future. The audience would then move on quickly and continue cheering for the remaining contestants.

However, Qin Feng had unexpectedly triumphed with his otherworldly strength. That completely changed the tone of the story.

If Ming Tianhao turned back and helped Qin Feng earlier, it would turn into a perfect counter move. The audience would sing praises for his bravery, while he could share the loot with Qin Feng.

Nevertheless, there were no "ifs" in the real world. Ming Tianhao had indeed run away and left Qin Feng behind. Theatrically, the man they thought unsalvageable had single-handedly defeated five Dark Coalition participants.

Ming Tianhao's reputation in the Human Alliance would certainly depreciate after this incident.

Qin Feng could not understand why the three Human Alliance users had run away after he showed himself. But he did not really care. He could keep all the badges to himself now.

In the end, he found eight instead of five badges on the enemies. Apparently, they had killed three contestants of the Human Alliance before Qin Feng found them.

Right now, Qin Feng probably owned the most badges among all contestants.

With the most recent deaths, only seven contestants from the Dark Coalition were left. The seven survivors also began to grasp the dire situation they were in.

Despite moving constantly, they always came across the Human Alliance contestants wherever they went. The Human Alliance group had grown larger by time, too.

In contrast, the seven Dark Coalition members had failed to get in contact with their comrades, no matter how hard they looked.

There was only one possibility—The disparity in contestant number had become too large.

Such a situation was not rare. It had happened numerous times in the history of peace contests. The balance had tilted heavily toward the Human Alliances. That would explain the scarcity of the Dark Coalition members in this realm.

Hence, the remaining contestants of the Dark Coalition tacitly decided to go into hiding.

Meanwhile, the Human Alliance members had gathered up and begun to search for them thoroughly in the realm. They wanted to wipe the rest of the enemies off and snatch the remaining badges from them.

In the end, the blanket search uncovered several more contestants from the Dark Coalition. Qin Feng only managed to kill one more too, but failed to find any target after that.

Soon, seven days had passed and the contest was officially over.

The Dark Coalition was utterly crushed in this peace contest. Only three members survived the cleansing. One of them was pretty good and managed to hold onto three badges until the end.

They only obtained five hundred realms out of the pool. The remaining more than four thousand realms were distributed among the users of the Human Alliance.

Inside the arena, the badges on Qin Feng's hand gleamed in silver light. The light then turned into a spatial tunnel.

Qin Feng stepped into it and figured that it must be the return portal.

As the contestants were shown leaving the arena, the audience in Central City was looking forward to their return. At the center stage of the battle arena, a light portal was expanded. One after another contestant came out from it.

Soon, the audience spotted the participant they were eagerly waiting for.

"Qin Feng, that's him! He's back!"

The first audience that spotted Qin Feng shouted exuberantly. Even though he did not amplify his voice with conscious power or internal strength, about half the stadium could hear his excited cheer.

The cheer was infectious. It appeared to have flipped a switch as louder and louder cheers began to pour into the arena.

"Qin Feng, well done!"

"Qin Feng, you are a hero! You deserve the No.1 spot of the S-tiers!"

Gradually, the cheering converged into a uniform, rhythmic repetition.

"Qin Feng! Qin Feng! Qin Feng!"

Qin Feng walked out of the tunnel and did not expect such a heroic welcome.

He remained calm and quietly enjoyed the hurrah.

Actually, Qin Feng was not too excited about being cheered. Humans needed a hero. They also idolized them. But what a hero truly needed was not just a few words of encouragement and compliment from the crowd.

He understood that such worship was temporary, so he was not consumed by it.

But it did come with some benefits.

'It seems that my performance in the peace contest has won me a lot of recognition. With better influence, it would be easier for me to deal with someone like Shao Dongfeng.'

'But at the same time, it's troublesome to be this famous. I don't like to be overly eye-catching.'

Another contestant was perhaps more surprised than Qin Feng when he heard the cheer.

That person was none other than Ming Tianhao.

'Why is everyone cheering Qin Feng's name?'

The arena was too vast. After escaping the pursuit, Ming Tianhao had not met many aptitude users, let alone Qin Feng.

He scanned around the arena and noticed the unfamiliar figure.

"Qin Feng, you are alive?"

Qin Feng glanced at Ming Tianhao. The latter was clearly blurred about the predicament he was currently in.

"Yes, I am still alive. Do you want me dead?"

"Hey, of course not. What are you talking about? Thanks to you, we can escape without harm. How about you? How did you manage to slip away? Haha! You must have something up your sleeves. Otherwise, you wouldn't show up and rescue us!" Ming Tianhao laughed big heartedly as if what he did to Qin Feng was nothing to be ashamed of.

Qin Feng sneered. "You don't have to apologize to me. I won't blame you for running away. However, you do owe the audience an explanation."

Chapter 1023: Inferior Resources

If it were any other place, Ming Tianhao would not have needed to explain anything to the audience, but here in Central City there were too many aptitude users.

They might not have the contestants' level of strength but everyone here was not weak.

These people might be Ming Tianhao's comrades or even friends in the future.

What would they think if they had seen his actions? If he drove friends away, then there might be a possibility that he would never get a chance to find a partner to cooperate with again.

The explanation Qin Feng gave was an explanation to those that he would meet in the future.

Ming Tianhao's complexion was grim, but how his mood was did not affect the contest's proceedings.

When the contest ended, everyone started to add up their brands of authority before randomly drawing the stones to the explored realms.

Qin Feng was now number one and the first one to start drawing.

He obtained seventeen realms, the largest number, but these realms did not have specific names, only their numbers. He did not even have any information about them.

After the drawing, the already created spatial stones were delivered to him. From that day onward, he was the only human in those realms. He could collaborate with other human organizations to develop the realm, even open up the realm and charge fees and so on.

Following that was a lively celebration banquet, it was a kind of banquet where the strong came with their olive branch offerings with their intention of collaboration in the obtained realms. Qin Feng did not even think much about that before immediately leaving, not planning on cooperation.

As such, as the celebration banquet went on Qin Feng, the Number One, was nowhere to be seen, fouling the moods of many aptitude users.

"What kind of guy is this Qin Feng? Zero manners!"

"It's some brat from a lower realm, you expect him to know etiquette? Though, next time he's seen he can be contacted. With so many realms he has in his grasp, he's bound to look for people to help out."

"Send someone to contact him, this is something you should get a hold of before others do!"

The distribution of realms, the meaning behind the peace contest, was so that the Human Alliance and the Dark Coalition could prevent humanity from getting consumed by infighting.

However, after the peace contest ended and the Dark Coalition was curbed, what could not be curbed was humanity's avarice and desire for adventure.

As the master of the realms, Qin Feng no longer had opponents in the Dark Coalition, but there were also Human Alliance members who wanted a peep at his resources. Just like Shao Dongfeng before, there was always going to be someone who wanted to come over to take a bite out of him.

However, something like this had never happened after his rebirth.

Who would dare try to take a piece of him? Would that not just be throwing their life away?

Perhaps these people had not found Qin Feng, otherwise, death would have been at an arm's length away.

Qin Feng had already gone back to Fengli City.

It had been more than half a month since he entered the Human Alliance and until now he still had not told Bai Li about what happened. However, due to him having joined the contest, some S-tiers who knew Qin Feng had approached her with the news.

Bai Li was not worried about Qin Feng at all, with his strength, victory was only a matter of time.

And now the current issue the two would be trying to figure out was what to do with the seventeen realms they had just gotten.

"Let's go and have a look!" Bai Li said enthusiastically. Without Qin Feng even activating a stone, she just glanced at it and knew where the seventeen realms were.

"I don't know the meaning of these numbers, let's go to this one first!" Bai Li said as she opened up a spatial doorway.

Qin Feng followed after her.

After the two stepped through, the first thing they felt was shock.

The surrounding energy here was too thin.

Not only that, they were standing on barren ground, you could directly feel the violent oppression coming down from the cosmos, and the gravity under their feet was extremely light, as if they would soar with just a step.

Spreading out his consciousness, he immediately understood what the realm was like.

It was an inert plane, lifeless, and the only thing of value here were minerals. However, these things could be used to produce S-tier items. Qin Feng thought that if it were not for the fact that this place had a central core, it would not have even been considered as an S-tier realm to be worth fighting over by the Human Alliance and Dark Coalition.

What was there to even fight for here?

"Next one!" Qin Feng said immediately.

Bai Li was also not very optimistic about the realm and she would rather go to the next realm, taking Qin Feng along. However, this realm was much smaller than the previous one and there were spatial rifts everywhere. It was likely to collapse soon.

This time Bai Li did not wait for Qin Feng to say anything before taking them to the next one.

Among the seventeen realms, twelve of them were barren and had no practical uses whatsoever, and the three realms that did have life on them did not have very powerful creatures on it. The resources there were ordinary and were not even comparable to that of the Blue Star Realm.

The last two realms finally surprised Qin Feng.

One of them was very similar to the Cinderclast Realm, with scorched earth all over and some places that were very rich with fire element based resources. This was a young realm, no different from the Divine Realm.

The next realm that Qin Feng and Bai Li had just entered, they discovered that it was surrounded by countless Insectoids. With their strength, they were able to clear it up and discover that this was a base camp for Insectoids capable of traveling through the cosmos.

The resources in this realm were already quite abundant.

"Looks like this random realm drawing deal's got a bit of a twist in it." Qin Feng did not know if it had Shao Dongfeng's involvement or not but he knew that sometimes the Human Alliance would not be so generous.

To sum it up, there were twelve inferior realms, three low-level ones, one intermediate realm and one high-risk realm.

"Places like these would not be good for development." That was the issue Bai Li found with them.

Qin Feng did not have any manpower, so places like these offered him too little benefit.

His thoughts flickered for a moment and he smiled. "Why would I need to develop them? I'd rather just consume them all and increase my body's power. Wouldn't that be even better?"

What he said was what he did. Qin Feng asked Bai Li to return to the first realm they arrived at before activating their abilities.

"Dimensional Shift!"

Qin Feng and Bai Li shifted into an altered dimensional space as their surroundings became permeable, and they began to traverse through the ground.

Within an hour of phasing through ash grey earth, Qin Feng found that his surrounding aura had changed.

There was only a pale-greyish liquid that seemed to flow extremely slowly. The energy here was not anything significant, as if it had lost all vitality.

Bai Li continued forward until they found the core of the planet.

The core of the planet was only eight meters in diameter, half the size of the Blue Star Realm's and without any lifeforce, and it was grey.

Still, it was a core composed of compressed energy. Using their perception, they could sense its vastly oppressive force.

At this moment, there was a bold person that wanted to tamper with it.

Whooom…

Qin Feng unleashed his powerful internal force, pulling free from the Dimensional Shift.

His internal force pushed away the surrounding liquid and then there was a pulling force that began to madly absorb the surrounding energy.