While Qian Duoduo was still giving Qin Feng a detailed analysis of potential powerhouses, a grand, emotionless, synthesized voice—like a divine decree—suddenly resounded through every corner of the prep area, broadcast simultaneously to viewing channels across billions of star systems.
[Ultramarines Chapter K-739 Star Zone Selection Trial, Ninth-level Martial Artist Division. The Open Qualifiers have now officially begun!]
[Randomly matching all participants with opponents and arenas...]
[Matching complete.]
VMMMM—
Qin Feng’s and Qian Duoduo’s personal terminals both vibrated faintly.
Qin Feng looked down to see a concise message pop up on his screen.
[Competitor: Qin Feng]
[Arena Number: C-9527]
[Opponent: Carl Anderson (from the Storm Star Realm)]
[The match will begin in three minutes. Please proceed to the designated arena immediately.]
"Arena C-9527,"
Qin Feng stood up and nodded to Qian Duoduo. "I’m heading over."
"Go get ’em! Go for a clean sweep!"
Qian Duoduo pumped his fist enthusiastically.
Qin Feng smiled, then turned and merged into the massive throng of people heading toward the designated area.
At that moment, the entire prep area transformed into a giant ant colony. Tens of thousands of Martial Artists rose from their seats and followed the holographic arrows lighting up the floor, each hurrying to their own battlefield.
Arena C-9527 was a standard hundred-meter-square alloy platform. It was enveloped in a pale blue Energy Shield and equipped with a powerful gravity field, designed to limit the competitors’ destructive power and enhance the viewing experience.
When Qin Feng stepped onto the arena, his opponent was already there, having waited for some time. He was a tall, slender, blond youth with a stern expression, holding a silver Two-Handed Giant Sword.
Carl Anderson.
His gaze was sharp as a hawk’s, locked tightly onto Qin Feng as he tried to find even the slightest opening.
He was disappointed, however.
The black-clad youth before him had an aura as contained as a deep, bottomless well. His calmness sent an inexplicable shudder of unease through Carl.
The red-and-white skull hanging from the youth’s waist, in particular, radiated a sinister aura that made him instinctively tense every muscle in his body.
[Countdown: 10, 9, 8...]
The cold countdown echoed in their ears.
Carl took a deep breath, tightening his grip on the hilt. Surging Spiritual Energy coursed through his body, and a blinding electric light flared to life along the sword’s blade.
He cultivated the Level 6 Killing Technique, "Thunderous Slash," renowned for its extreme explosive power and destructive force.
[...3, 2, 1! Begin!]
The instant the announcement ended, Carl moved!
BOOM!
The alloy floor beneath him cracked instantly. He transformed into a thick bolt of lightning, bringing his blade down on Qin Feng’s head with the force of a thousand thunderbolts!
He intended to end the match with his single strongest blow!
Faced with this earth-shattering strike, Qin Feng’s reaction was simplicity itself.
He didn’t even move.
Just as the edge of the blade was about to touch his head, his right hand gripped the handle of the gun at his waist. He drew and thrust forward.
There were no flashy techniques, no dazzling special effects.
Though he moved second, his gun struck first.
To Carl’s eyes, time seemed to slow to an infinite crawl.
He could only watch, helpless, as the pitch-black tip of the gun simply ignored the raging lightning on his blade. It ignored the force of his slash, a blow powerful enough to rip through Warship Armor. With unerring precision and casual grace, it tapped against the spine of his Two-Handed Giant Sword.
TING.
It was a sound as crisp and clear as a pearl landing on a jade disc.
Then came annihilation.
An indescribable, terrifying force, focused to an absolute extreme, erupted from the tip of the gun.
Carl felt as if he’d been struck head-on by a colliding planet.
His prized "Thunderous Slash," the ferocious power of his lightning-wreathed sword, was as fragile as a soap bubble before that single point of the gun’s tip. It was instantly vaporized, erased from existence.
Next, the force surged into the blade itself. His Two-Handed Giant Sword let out a pained shriek as it buckled under the strain and snapped in two.
The force continued, undiminished, and slammed into his chest.
His Protective Light Armor... disintegrated into dust before he even realized what was happening.
[Arena C-9527. Victor: Qin Feng!]
A one-hit kill.
Expressionless, Qin Feng stepped down from the arena. The notification for his next match had already arrived on his personal terminal.
Without even looking at it, he walked straight toward the next battlefield.
For Qin Feng, the matches that followed were merely a simple repetition of his five-year career in the Imperial Arena.
Another victory.
Yet another victory.
...
Victory after effortless victory.
Qin Feng’s opponents hailed from various Star Realms, and their Level 6 Killing Techniques were wildly diverse.
There were Assassins with unpredictable Body Techniques and elusive footwork; he ran them down with absolute speed and pierced them with a single strike.
There were Heavy Armor Warriors with astonishing defenses and massive shields; he smashed them to a pulp, shield and all, with a single blow.
There were ranged attackers who unleashed a storm of flying daggers, yet his gun was faster still, piercing their throats before their blades ever reached him.
There was no spectacle to speak of in Qin Feng’s battles.
They were simply the most direct, most efficient form of domination.
His opponents would often just unleash their ultimate killing move, only to be ended by his gun in the very next second.
Within just a few short hours of the open qualifiers beginning, Qin Feng had carved an unstoppable path of victory, successfully breaking into the top one hundred thousand.
His name, Qin Feng, began its slow ascent up the internal data leaderboards for the Ninth-level Martial Artist division.
...
As Qin Feng reaped one victory after another on those distant cosmic battlefields, like a precision killing machine.