When Qin Feng walked off the tournament stage from the round of 64, the entire Qiming Sports Center was still shrouded in an eerie silence.
The aftershock of that Thousand Soldiers’ Evasion still seemed to hang over everyone’s hearts.
The air was filled with the faint, scorched scent of dissipated energy, and a collective emotion—shock—so thick it was almost tangible.
All eyes involuntarily followed the steady-paced young man, who carried a Long Spear.
His expression was as calm as still water, as if he hadn’t just finished an earth-shattering, bloody battle where he crippled a top contender with a single move, but had simply ended a perfectly ordinary training session.
This stark contrast between his ultimate power and his ultimate composure was, in fact, more intimidating than any flamboyant display.
A deathly silence hung over the seats of Golden Dragon Martial High School.
Their leading figure, Chen Tian, hailed as Golden Dragon’s strongest genius in the last decade, was being carried away by an emergency medical team on an anti-gravity stretcher.
A gruesome hole was torn through the chest of his expensive, custom-made power armor, its edges flickering with dangerous electric sparks. The flesh exposed beneath was a mangled mess, and the life-support system’s alarm blared, sharp and piercing.
In stark contrast, an ecstasy that had been suppressed for far too long was about to erupt from the Qiming First High School section.
Every student from First High stared intently at Qin Feng, their eyes a mixture of adoration, awe, and a deeply felt sense of vindication.
A fifty-year feud had been smashed to pieces today by this underclassman, who had only been enrolled for a few months, in the most dominant and irrefutable way imaginable.
Qin Feng passed through the crowd and returned to the exclusive viewing area for the trio from Dorm 402.
"Old Qin, you... you’re not even human!"
Qian Duoduo was the first to greet him, his chubby face flush with excitement as he pumped his fists, his words a jumble. "I’m telling you, that move was a stroke of absolute genius! The look on the faces of those Golden Dragon Martial High School guys—they were practically black as soot. It was so damn satisfying! So incredibly satisfying!"
His voice was so loud that it drew the eyes of many students nearby.
The students from Qi Yi High School gave Qin Feng a thumbs-up, their faces beaming with shared pride.
"Great job, Qin Feng!"
"You really put them in their place for us!"
"He’s so strong!"
Qin Feng offered a gracious nod to the surrounding students in response.
His gaze fell upon Shi Potian, who was standing to the side.
Shi Potian’s expression was as cold and stern as ever, but his eyes held a complexity he had never shown before.
There was happiness for his comrade’s victory, but more than that, there was a profound gravity born from the shock of witnessing such a massive gap in their power.
’We’re both geniuses, both at the absolute limit of a Third-level Martial Artist,’ Shi Potian thought to himself, ’but even if I played all my trump cards, I could have never blocked that Thousand Soldiers’ Evasion.’
-----------------
Qin Feng sat down and opened his personal terminal.
Almost instantly, a flurry of email notification chimes sounded, like dense raindrops.
Over a hundred unread emails popped up on his screen. Each title bore the conspicuous words "S-Class Special Recruitment Contract Letter of Intent," and the sender field flashed with one illustrious name after another: Sirius Military Academy Admissions Office, Azure Sky Martial Arts University Admissions Office, Beidou Star Palace University Alliance...
Every single one of them was a Top 100 Star Martial Arts University in the Canaan Star System.
The contracts they sent were so numerous they nearly filled the entire screen.
Over a hundred of these contracts just sat there quietly in Qin Feng’s inbox.
However, Qin Feng’s reaction was remarkably nonchalant.
He didn’t bother to open a single email to look at the specific terms and conditions.
With a light swipe of his finger across the screen, he selected all unread emails and, without a moment’s hesitation, tapped the "Ignore All" button.
To him, the praise and recruitment offers from these Star Martial Arts Universities were nowhere near as important as the upcoming matches.
His goal, from the very beginning, had been singular: the General Star of Qiming.
And after that, Cannan Star Martial Arts University!
...
After a short break, the tournament resumed.
The round of 32 began soon after.
Qin Feng’s opponent was a third-year senior from Qiming Third Martial High School named Sun Yi.
His Life Force Index was 30.1, just a single step away from becoming a Level 4 Martial Artist.
He specialized in a killing art called the Raging Tide Saber Technique, which he had already brought to the Realm of Perfection. In his previous matches, he had cut a path through his opponents with his ferocious and domineering saber style, proving himself a formidable expert not to be underestimated.
Before the match began, Sun Yi stood at the other end of the stage, his expression utterly grave.
He had meticulously studied the recording of Qin Feng’s last match no fewer than twenty times.
Every viewing made his heart pound with fear.
The sheer pressure radiating from the recording was so intense that it made him feel suffocated, even through a screen.
But he hadn’t given up.
As a Martial Artist who had stepped onto the Martial Dao, he had his own pride.
’Even if I lose, I have to make it a good fight!’
"Match, begin!"
The referee’s voice rang out across the venue.
Sun Yi moved in an instant.
He exploded forward, launching himself like a cannonball. The Alloy Battle Saber in his hand sliced through the air, leaving a brilliant silver arc in its wake. Energy erupted from the blade, accompanied by the faint roar of waves crashing upon a shore.
"Raging Tide, First Form: Crashing Waves!"
He opened with his strongest killing move.
The saber’s momentum was layered and unending, as if conjuring a colossal tidal wave to swallow everything before it.
Faced with a slash powerful enough to cleave an armored vehicle in two, Qin Feng’s response was simplicity itself.
He simply extended the Long Spear in his hand in a gentle, forward thrust.