The moment Qin Feng walked into the private room, the once-lively atmosphere fell silent.
All eyes, as one, focused on him.
At that moment, Shi Dang was sitting at the table, his face flushed and his eyes shining with excitement and pride. He was clearly in the middle of an impassioned story.
Beside him, Xiong Yanfu, Lei Meng, and the others were gathered around, their faces a mixture of lingering fear and admiration.
"The situation back then was a real close call! That Believer of Khorne was a total madman. He wielded a Blood-colored Giant Axe like a windmill, and in front of him, Tie Mu’s and my defenses were like paper—they shattered at the slightest touch!"
The bald Lei Meng’s voice was loud, yet tinged with a hint of residual fear. He forcefully slapped Shi Dang’s thick shoulder.
"If it wasn’t for Brother Shi Dang stepping up at the most critical moment, using his Stone Race’s Rock Body to tank that madman’s three axe swings, the rest of us would’ve probably been chopped into meat paste by now!"
"That’s right, that’s right!"
Xiong Yanfu nodded repeatedly, his face etched with the relief of having survived a disaster. "Tanking the hits was just the first step. The most incredible part was Brother Shi Dang’s final move! His timing was absolutely perfect! He struck right at the Believer of Khorne’s opening and took off the guy’s leg with a single swing! It was so clean!"
"Yeah! That one swing! It was crucial! It turned the whole battle around!"
Everyone chimed in with praise, their words filled with admiration and gratitude for Shi Dang.
These words, this scene... how familiar it all was.
Qin Feng couldn’t help but recall the time in the Silent Deep Valley, when he had led his own team to slay the Mechanical Race and rescue Qin Lan and the others.
Back then, Zou Yun, Shanyang, and the rest had spoken of him with the same tone of worship and trust.
Only now, the one surrounded by the crowd, basking in the glory of victory, was Shi Dang.
And Shi Dang was clearly enjoying the feeling.
Although he said things like, "It was all thanks to my brothers’ good teamwork," the slight curl of his lips and the unconcealable pride and satisfaction in his eyes clearly showed that he relished the feeling of being relied upon by his teammates and worshipped by his comrades.
Qin Feng’s appearance brought this "awards ceremony" to a temporary halt.
"Brother Feng!"
"Qin Feng!"
"Brother Qin, you’re finally out of seclusion!"
Xiong Yanfu, Lei Meng, and the others immediately shot up from their seats, their faces full of pleasant surprise as they came forward to give Qin Feng a solid hug.
Even the perpetually cold Shi Potian stood up and gave Qin Feng a firm nod, his eyes filled with the unspoken joy of a long-awaited reunion.
"Twelve years in seclusion! Brother Qin, you’re too cruel!"
Xiong Yanfu looked Qin Feng up and down, clucking his tongue in amazement. "We all thought seven or eight years would be your absolute limit. We never expected you to stay in for a full twelve years!"
"Yeah, Brother Feng, how did you endure being in seclusion for that long? It must have been so monotonous and boring."
Lei Meng scratched his bald head, a look of disbelief on his face. "If it were me, forget twelve years—I’d go stir-crazy in three, tops!"
Listening to their questions, filled with concern and curiosity, Qin Feng just said calmly, "It was fine. Cultivation is actually pretty fun for me, so I didn’t find it monotonous or boring."
He was telling the truth.
For him, with his "Celestial Dao Rewards Diligence" system, every session of seclusion, every time he felt his power rapidly increasing, was an unparalleled and addictive pleasure.
Hearing this, they all gave him a look that said, ’Yeah, right,’ assuming Qin Feng was just joking.
Qin Feng didn’t bother to explain further. His gaze passed over the others and landed on Shi Dang, who had been silent ever since he entered, merely watching him with a complicated expression.
...
Qin Feng smiled and asked, "So, you all went on a mission together?"
"Yeah! Brother Feng!"
Before Shi Dang could speak, Xiong Yanfu jumped in again. He excitedly slung his arms around Shi Potian’s and Shi Dang’s shoulders as if showing off his prized possessions.
"Let me tell you, Brother Qin, that Morning Star planet you come from is a real den of fucking hidden dragons! How does it produce so many badasses? You’ve got Brother Shi Potian, who’s as cold as a block of ice, but his blade work is so fast you can’t even see a shadow! Then there’s Brother Shi Dang, who’s as fierce as a prehistoric beast—a natural-born warrior!"
"The few of us have formed a regular team now. We call it the ’Shuangshi Combination’!"
Xiong Yanfu said proudly, "And I’m telling you, these two brothers—one on offense, one on defense—are incredible when they work together! They’re way fiercer than us old-timers who enrolled three or four years earlier!"
His tone shifted, becoming tinged with fear. "For this mission, we took a job to clean out some traitorous warlords. We thought it’d be a piece of cake, but who would’ve known there was a Believer of Khorne hiding among them!"
"A Believer of Khorne?!"
Hearing those words, Qin Feng’s gaze instantly sharpened.
"Yeah!"
Xiong Yanfu shuddered just thinking about it. "That guy was a literal killing machine! His vitality index had to be at least six hundred! The rest of us combined were almost wiped out by him alone! Thankfully, at the very last second, Brother Shi Dang had an epiphany mid-battle and successfully pushed his axe technique into the Control Realm. That’s how he seized the opportunity and crippled that Believer of Khorne in one fell swoop!"