A gentle smile appeared on Dragon Jade’s face. He clapped Qin Feng on the shoulder, and the power armor’s gauntlet let out a dull "THUD."
"Good. I’ll look forward to our next mission together. Go on, get some rest and digest what you’ve gained from this battle. We’ll head out again in seven days. How does that sound?"
"Sounds good. Until next time, senior."
Qin Feng gave a slight bow, then turned and walked away from the Teleportation Platform with a steady gait.
Dragon Jade’s gaze was profound as he watched Qin Feng’s straight, spear-like back disappear down the corridor.
The tranquility following the bloody battle lasted only a brief seven days.
For those seven days, Qin Feng was almost completely immersed in the Cultivation Room.
He silently circulated the > to repair the minor, hidden injuries accumulated in battle, while also practicing the > to forge his increasingly powerful Mental Power and Will.
On the morning of the seventh day, a communication request from Dragon Jade appeared on his personal terminal, right on time.
"Qin Feng, how’s your recovery coming along?"
Dragon Jade’s gentle voice came through the communicator. "There’s a new ’Hell-grade’ mission. The coordinates are on the edge of the Broken Star Belt. The objective is to wipe out a group of gene-thieves who take pleasure in modifying alien creatures. Intel suggests they may have followers of the God of Joy behind them, so it won’t be easy. Interested? Same team as last time—Nissan and Wen Muyun are in."
"In."
Qin Feng’s reply came without the slightest hesitation—a single, crisp word.
"Good. Same place."
The communication cut off.
Qin Feng opened his eyes, and a sharp glint of battle intent flashed deep within them before vanishing.
He stood up, expertly donned his black power armor—which, despite numerous repairs, remained as menacing and reliable as ever—and teleported to the Fearless Zone.
Peaceful cultivation couldn’t satisfy his thirst for resources. Only in the crucible of blood and fire, on the knife’s edge between life and death, could he seize what he needed at the fastest possible rate.
This mission was far more difficult than the last one to eliminate the Blood Saber gang.
The gene-thieves’ nest was located inside a small asteroid with chaotic gravity and a violent magnetic field.
They had forcibly spliced the genes of countless alien species, creating monstrous, powerful creatures that were unafraid of death.
The battle lasted for an entire year.
In the sunless depths of the planetoid, within countless twisted and narrow tunnels, the four-person team faced several near-death situations.
While covering the others, Nissan was hit head-on by a stitched-together behemoth that combined the carapace of the Insect Race with acid-spitting abilities. Half his body was corroded into a bloody pulp, and he nearly perished on the spot.
During one breakout attempt, Wen Muyun was severely injured by a demon from the Joyful Sect who wielded a bizarre Spirit Secret Skill. Something almost happened between her and Qin Feng. Afterward, her Mental Power was damaged, and she fell into a prolonged coma.
In the end, Dragon Jade paid the price of severe injury to forcibly execute the Demon Leader. Meanwhile, Qin Feng used his [Golden Throne] finishing move, trading injury for injury, to brutally smash the head of the most powerful stitched behemoth into its own chest. Only then did the brutal mission conclude in a pyrrhic victory.
When the light of teleportation flared again and they returned to the platform at Cannan Star Martial Arts University, the four of them were limping, supporting one another.
Nissan and Wen Muyun were sent to the Warband’s highest-grade medical pods. Dragon Jade and Qin Feng, both deathly pale and their energy depleted, collapsed in the lobby of the medical department after seeing the other two off. Their willpower had completely crumbled.
Behind the two words "Hell-grade" lay the true, heavy weight of death.
...
「Time flew by.」
In the days that followed, Qin Feng completely transformed into a mission fiend, constantly walking the line between life and death.
He and Dragon Jade developed an unspoken understanding.
After every mission, following a brief period of rest, recovery, and dividing the spoils, a new mission invitation would arrive as scheduled, as long as his body could handle it.
Scene after scene flashed by in the river of time.
On the ruins of a city destroyed by War, Qin Feng wielded [Carp Becomes Dragon], standing back-to-back with Dragon Jade. They faced a tide of mechanical undead whose eyes flickered with Soul Fire.
A spear struck like a dragon, and a blade flashed like snow. The two figures fought a bloody battle amidst a tide of steel.
...
On a Primitive Planet covered in towering ancient trees and viscous swamps, the four-person team lay in wait, holding their breath in concentration.
Not far away, deep in the swamp, a massive flower bud giving off an alluring, ethereal glow was slowly blooming. Guarding it was a terrifying behemoth over a hundred meters long and clad in bony armor.
...
Inside the dead-silent wreckage of a space station, the gravity system had failed.
Dragon Jade’s chest plate had been pierced by a bizarre beam of shadow energy, and his life force was fading to a critical low.
Half of Nissan’s power armor was torn away. He was roaring as he swung his broadsword, holding off a Chaos Demon of indescribable form, a being that seemed composed of pure malice.
Qin Feng’s eyes were bloodshot. He poured all his strength into a single punch. The Will of his [Golden Throne] condensed as never before, and he ruthlessly slammed it toward the demon’s core...
In the end, the mission was a failure. The four of them used an emergency Teleportation Beacon to make a desperate escape back to Canaan. Dragon Jade spent a full three months recovering in a medical pod.
...
In an asteroid belt thick with meteoroids and dust, the four of them piloted an assault craft, using precise cannon fire to turn an Interstellar Pirate flagship into a brilliant firework display.