In an instant, public opinion on the entire forum did a complete one-eighty.
Doubt, confusion, shock... All these emotions ultimately coalesced into a fanatical adoration and devotion toward an absolute powerhouse.
And at the center of this storm, the name discussed, worshipped, and even deified by countless people—Qin Feng—was still standing in the Virtual Space of the Imperial Arena, his focus absolute.
The clamor of the outside world was of no concern to him.
All he could see was the path to becoming stronger.
Time flowed by silently within the Imperial Arena’s eternally unchanging Virtual Space, a world filled with the smoke of battle and streams of data.
As the clamor and fanaticism of the outside world gradually settled down due to the subject of their attention having "disappeared," Qin Feng remained completely focused, immersed in his own grueling and frenzied training regimen.
「Three months passed in the blink of an eye.」
For over ninety days, he had practically welded himself into the combat spaces of the Imperial Arena.
Like a tireless, emotionless fighting machine, he engaged in over five hundred high-intensity battles every single day.
Every battle was a dance on a razor’s edge.
He no longer sought simple victories. Instead, he treated every duel as a whetstone to sharpen his Qian Yuan.
He experimented wildly, executing this ultimate killing technique at different times, from different angles, and with varying levels of power.
He greedily absorbed the experience from every success and failure, gradually bringing the wild, uncontrolled power born from his epiphany under his Control, bit by bit.
Sometimes, a single punch was all it took to obliterate his opponent.
Other times, a slight stagnation in his Spiritual Energy or a misjudgment of timing would create an opening for his opponent to exploit, and a single combo would take him out.
Victory and defeat.
Life and death.
Through these tens of thousands of high-intensity cycles, his understanding of Qian Yuan had become a world apart from what it once was.
When he finally emerged from the virtual world of the Imperial Arena, where he had spent three months battling experts from the Endless Star Sea, his entire aura had undergone another subtle yet earth-shattering transformation.
If the Qin Feng of three months ago was a newly forged Divine Weapon—unbearably sharp and revealing its full edge...
...then the man he was now was an ancient Battle Blade, resting quietly in its sheath.
All of its sharpness, all of its killing intent, was perfectly restrained and contained, not leaking out in the slightest.
Only in his eyes, as deep and still as an ancient well, would a heart-stopping glint of cold light flash, bright enough to dim the very stars, whenever he blinked.
He casually pulled up his Imperial Arena panel. A wry, helpless smile touched his lips as he looked at his rather embarrassing record, which hadn’t changed in a long time.
[ID: Qin]
[Total Matches: 98,532]
[Wins: 54,192]
[Losses: 44,340]
[Overall Win Rate: 55%]
[Rank: 3 (500/500)]
[Self-Evaluation: Thousand Army Spear practitioner (unchanged)]
[Opponent Evaluations (999+)]: "A worthy opponent," "What happened to the Thousand Army Spear?" "Sneaky bastard, GG."
"..."
Qin Feng just smiled as he read the comments, which were a mix of Resentment and amazement, before closing the panel.
Although he had fought nearly fifty thousand battles over the past three months, his win rate hadn’t improved steadily because he was constantly testing his new killing technique.
This was especially true in his promotion matches for Rank 4. Every opponent he faced had mastered a Fourth-level Killing Technique, causing him to fail over a dozen times in a row and preventing him from ranking up.
He now understood how the Imperial Arena worked. The first three ranks covered killing techniques up to the third level. Rank 4 and above was the realm of Fourth-level Killing Techniques, which required mastery over Mental Power.
He didn’t care about the ranks, though.
His objective had been achieved.
He could now wield the killing technique, Qian Yuan, at will.
Just then, his personal terminal, which had been silent for three months, suddenly chimed with a rapid series of crisp notifications.
A flood of system announcements from Canaan officials, all in bold, red text, spammed his screen and filled his vision.
[ANNOUNCEMENT: The current "Warband Ranking Point Tournament" officially concluded at 00:00 on XX/XX/XXXX, Canaan Standard Time.]
[ANNOUNCEMENT: All special tournament rules, including "Triple Reputation Rewards," "No Penalty for Mission Failure," and "Emergency Rescue Exemption," are hereby rescinded.]
[ANNOUNCEMENT: The exclusive tournament mission board is now closed.]
[ANNOUNCEMENT: The final rankings for this tournament have been posted. For details, please log in to the Canaan Private Realm forums or visit the Warband Hall of Glory.]
’It’s over...’
Qin Feng read the announcements, a sense of understanding dawning on him.
He casually clicked the forum link. Just as he expected, the massive final ranking list, a symbol of supreme glory, was displayed prominently at the very top of the forum.
First Place: Fearless Warband
Second Place: Iron Blood Warband
...
A relieved smile graced Qin Feng’s face when he saw the results.
He hadn’t let down the Warband, nor had he betrayed the trust of Dragon Jade and his two companions.
He closed the noisy forum and turned his attention to his private message list, which was nearly bursting at the seams.
He first opened the most familiar conversation: the group chat with Shi Potian, Xiong Yanfu, and Tie Mu.