Master Yu Han’s grave warning about the "number of failures" seared itself into Qin Feng’s mind like a brand, finally pulling him back from that tranquil, transcendent sea of clouds and bamboo.
It unveiled a hidden, bloody, and cruel truth about the future path to higher echelons of life.
He took the guidance to heart, letting every warning and lesson settle deep within him.
With a flicker of his form, Qin Feng returned to the Canaan Newcomer Cup arena, which was still roaring with the clamor of the crowd.
The matches in the Fourth Level Division had already concluded, but the duels for the Fifth and Sixth Levels were just starting to heat up.
When Qin Feng’s figure reappeared in the spectator section where his friends were, the atmosphere of the entire arena was completely different from when he had left.
This time, he was no longer the center of attention.
He was just an ordinary spectator, lost in the crowd.
And this time, his mindset had also undergone an earth-shattering change.
He put away all thoughts of his impending seclusion and immersed himself completely in the matches before him.
His focus was absolute, his observation meticulous.
The last time he had sat here watching the Newcomer Cup was thirty years ago.
Back then, he had only been enrolled for ten years, his life force index had barely broken 20, and he just scraped by the threshold of a third-year senior.
At that time, when he looked up at the battles in the Fifth Level Division, it was all a confusing blur, like watching a battle between Immortals.
The torrents of Spiritual Energy summoned by the every move of those Fifth-level Martial Artists, the unpredictable trajectories of their killing techniques—in his eyes, it was all so fast that it became nothing but a blur of light and shadow. He couldn’t comprehend the profound mysteries they contained.
But now...
As Qin Feng’s gaze once again fell upon the battle platform of the Fifth Level Division, where an intense duel was underway, the entire world looked different in his eyes.
On the platform, two Fifth-level Martial Artists, each with a life force index exceeding 1,000, were locked in a life-and-death struggle.
One wielded a heavy axe, his movements grand and sweeping. Each strike kicked up a violent gale, as if it could cleave the platform in two.
The other’s movements were phantom-like as he wielded dual blades, weaving through the gaps between the axe’s afterimages. The flashes of his blades were like slivers of moonlight, ruthless and deadly.
To the average student, it was a heart-pounding, dazzlingly fast, top-tier duel.
However, to Qin Feng’s eyes, everything became... incomparably clear. Even a little slow.
He could clearly see that when the axe-wielding Martial Artist swung his third strike, forcing a change in his technique caused the muscles in his right shoulder to stiffen for a fleeting 0.003 seconds.
He could clearly see that on his seventh dodge, the dual-blading Martial Artist’s left foot landed at a 0.5-degree deviation, weakening his subsequent burst of power by at least ten percent.
He could even clearly deduce that if the dual-blading Martial Artist had seized that opening—abandoning the attack on his opponent’s torso and striking his axe-wielding wrist instead—the battle would have been over ten seconds ago.
Countless openings, countless mistakes, countless better choices...
It all appeared in his mind, clear as day, like correct answers circled in a textbook.
The feeling was bizarre.
It meant that his current combat skill and insight had already surpassed these two Fifth-level Martial Artists.
’Most Fifth-level Martial Artists only cultivate Upper-grade Acupoint Opening Techniques,’ Qin Feng silently analyzed.
’They open all 108 Acupoints, and their foundation is set. Even after they complete their subsequent meridian union, their starting life force index is merely 1,080 points. Mine is 3,600. This gap of more than three times the life force brings about an all-around superiority in neural reaction speed, dynamic vision, and mental processing power.’
With this sense of looking down from a higher dimension, Qin Feng watched the rest of the Fifth Level Division’s matches with great interest.
Soon, on the roster for the top-100 advancement matches, he saw a familiar name—Shi Dang.
Shi Dang’s opponent was a Martial Artist who also cultivated an Upper-grade Acupoint Opening Technique and possessed a Control Realm Killing Technique no weaker than Shi Dang’s.
The battle began.
With a furious roar, Shi Dang pushed the powerful physique from his Stone Man Bloodline to its absolute limit, his assault like a surging tide.
However, his opponent was more composed, and also more powerful.
After more than a hundred rounds of fierce exchanges, a moment of carelessness from Shi Dang created a tiny opening. His opponent seized it, striking an Acupoint on his chest with a sharp sword-finger. Spiritual Energy erupted, and he was defeated in an instant.
The moment the referee announced the result, Shi Dang froze in place.
He lowered his head, his fists clenched, his entire body trembling slightly.
Shi Dang’s original goal had been to win the championship.
After all, he had already completed his meridian union and even mastered several First-level Control Realm Killing Techniques.
And yet, he had been eliminated in the top 100.
When the cruel reality of being eliminated in the top 100 truly sank in, an immense wave of disappointment and resentment completely overwhelmed him.
His Stone Man Bloodline, which he had been so proud of, didn’t seem to give him much of an advantage here.
Converted to the Empire’s standards, Shi Dang’s physical constitution was only equivalent to a "Gold Standard Human, Level 1."
And the Control Realm Killing Techniques he had mastered were hardly a rare ability in this gathering place of true geniuses.