484-495

Chapter 484: Behold! The Floating City!

"You… so, you were actually being serious!" Zhou Hao's jaw was rolling on the ground.

He was a C-tier and yet he wanted to participate in this Prodigy Tournament? Even Zhou Hao had no interest in taking part in this.

It would take months before one could go through all the trials.

Even though Zhou Hao was just seventeen years old, he had already ascended to E-tier and acquired some authority. And not only that, Qin Feng trusted him and gave him a lot of tasks.

He had no time to take part in this stupid tournament.

Yet, he did not think that someone as important and as busy as Qin Feng would want to participate in this. Zhou Hao was totally surprised and had no idea how to respond to this.

"Yeah, the prize is good and we could use this to scout out some good people."

'If I get to meet some strong talents that I recognize from the future, I could recruit them.' Qin Feng thought to himself.

Lu Meng, after hearing what Qin Feng said, too had her interest piqued. "Then maybe I should participate too after all. Zhou Hao, what about you? Let's take part in this together?"

Seeing that even Qin Feng wanted to take part in the Prodigy Tournament, Zhou Hao began to think that perhaps this tournament was something important, thus he nodded. "Okay, let's do it!"

However, before Deng Nian was able to jump in joy, Lu Meng opened her mouth again, "We'll register only after we reach Fengli City. We'll represent the city."

Deng Nian was so pissed that his beard almost stood up on its ends.

He thought he had finally persuaded Lu Meng to take part in the tournament, and not only that she had also roped her fiancé in! And yet, they did not intend to register here!

"Gov… Governor Qin… could you…"

Qin Feng shrugged. "This is Lu Meng's decision. I can't change that."

Seeing that there was no way to salvage it, Deng Nian sighed, "Oh well… our school has never had people participate in the Prodigy Tournament anyway. I shouldn't have thought about being a part of this in the first place."

Qin Feng smiled. "Come on, Principal. There's still a way. If you build a school or university at Fengli City, I believe you'll have some Heroes in your school right away! And then, you could send someone to represent your school!"

Deng Nian raised his head and looked at Qin Feng. Qin Feng's eyes were beaming with a radiance of reassurance. He was not joking—Qin Feng was indeed asking him earnestly.

Although Qin Feng and Deng Nian started off on the wrong foot due to their powers, as Qin Feng had gotten stronger, the less uncomfortable it was for him to meet Deng Nian.

Meanwhile, Deng Nian was now a little afraid of Qin Feng.

It felt as though he was facing his natural predator.

This, however, did not affect Deng Nian's judgement. Qin Feng was now a powerful C-tier aptitude user, and he was now asking his school to join his city.

At Chengbei Colony, both Zheng Yang and Deng Nian were E-tiers. This meant that whenever there was a need to collaborate, due to the difference in authority, Deng Nian would always be at a disadvantage.

However, Qin Feng was a C-tier. It was quite natural for anyone to bow down to someone more powerful than him. It was the norm in this world. And this was also the natural instinct of a species.

"Hahaha, I suppose… I still have some vigor in me to build one more school!" Deng Nian laughed.

"Then, I welcome you with open arms, Principal Deng!" Qin Feng smiled after hearing his answer.

***

Three days later, everyone began their migration after they were done with packing up.

Everyone was both excited and anxious. After all, every time they migrate, despite the great benefits that awaited, they would need to face various kinds of dangers on the road.

They were humans. And to the ultra beasts, their scents were like a dinner bell. After sensing this many prey, the ultra beasts would definitely come for a hunt!

"How many aptitude users are defending us? There are so many of us!"

"Indeed. But it's alright, Governor Qin is with us!"

"How long do we need to travel before we reach Fengli City?"

Many were discussing as they gathered at the entrance of the Fengli colony. Yet, after a long wait, they did not see any vehicles coming their way.

"Is the train here yet?"

"Hey, it is very expensive to ride on a train! But I heard it's quite safe though!"

"Hold on, if we are going to ride on a train, we should be at the station outside of the colony!"

"So, you're implying that we're riding the hover copters? Be realistic. Look around you. There are at least 40,000 to 50,000 of us here!"

As the man said so, he saw that his friend was looking behind him with his mouth wide open.

Then, the sky suddenly turned dark, as though something enormous had covered it up.

The man instinctively lifted his head and then he saw it. A huge, massive machine was already above him, hovering in the sky.

The trains and hover copters were really small now when compared to this thing.

It was the Floating City!

The major city descended from above the clouds; hence, no one saw it coming. As the Floating City got closer and closer, the people below were completely shocked.

"Wha… what the hell is that?!"

"Is this a machine made by us, the humans? I've never heard of this thing ever!"

As they were totally floored by the city's appearance, the Floating City had now descended so close to the ground that they could see the cannons. They were so close that they found it to be very difficult to breathe.

If this were the weapons of their enemies, they would definitely have wet their pants.

When the city was just about a hundred meters above, it stopped.

If it were to descend further, it would have crushed the buildings at the entrance.

Nonetheless, the Floating City was already covering almost half of the colony. In fact, if the Floating City wanted to cover the whole place, it could do it with ease!

Han Jian, who was handling the security, was also shocked when he saw the Floating City.

Originally, he was quite pleased and proud after hearing that Qin Feng had recommended him to be the mayor of this colony. He was so proud that he was displaying some snobbish behaviors around his fellow people in the colony.

Yet, after seeing the Floating City, that sense of superiority had now vanished!

"This… this is so unreal!!"

Even though he had ascended to E-tier, Han Jian did not have any access to any intel about the Floating City.

Suddenly, the Floating City let down its folding escalator down onto the colony. The escalator was so massive that it had completely covered the four-lane road. Of course, this escalator was still quite small as compared to the entire Floating City. It felt as though the elevator was just a tiny hair from its body.

"Please line up and get on the elevator. No pushing!"

Qin Feng's voice was sent far and wide via the speakers; everyone in the Fengli colony could hear his voice.

After hearing his voice, the people down there started to move again. Adhering to Qin Feng's words, they stepped onto the elevator one by one. As they ascended higher and higher and reached the Floating City, they felt as though they had arrived to a whole new world—a city that was floating in the sky, a world that they had never dreamed of ever.

In just a dozen minutes, tens of thousands of people had all boarded!

Then, the Floating City ascended to the skies after it had retracted its Folding Escalator. When it had finally ascended higher than the clouds, the Floating City then flew toward the Four Cities of the North Sea!

The rest of the people who decided to stay behind at the Fengli colony watched as the Floating City flew into the horizon. They could not help but to feel a deep sense of regret in their hearts!

If they knew this, they would have also chosen to go to Fengli City too!

"C-tiers… Are all C-tiers this powerful?" Han Jian thought to himself.

As he stared at the Floating City flying away, his impression of Qin Feng had become something akin to a giant.

Chapter 485: First Round

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The speed of the Floating City was quite fast. It only spent three days and two nights to zip across two states from the Fenglii colony to Fengli City.

Meanwhile, at the Four Cities of North Sea, the Prodigy Tournament was being held. Unlike the ones being held at the Three Cities along the Sun, there were at least ten spots for the event. Of course aside from that, the renowned families would still have their own booked spots.

Qin Feng had a lot of underlings today. And more importantly, those underlings were not recruited by him personally. It was those D-tier Fengli Mercenaries that recruited all these E-tiers.

Not only that, the ones who had recently joined the Fengli Organization were tough players like Jin Fei. And Qin Feng had assembled ten of them into a team.

They had heard that Qin Feng was interested in participating in the Prodigy Tournament.

Back in the days, these tournaments were held in Niumeng City. Now, Meng Lin suggested that they organize it at Fengli City.

Qin Feng did not object to this, naturally.

***

Mid September.

The weather was getting hotter and hotter. Seven hover copters were carrying ten talented youngsters toward Fengli City from different directions.

In the hover copter, a young man, aged around eighteen to nineteen years old, looked out to the surrounding areas snobbishly. "Fengli City? Heh, it's just a town. Shadong Town. It was destroyed once and lost its value. What? Just because they have a new Governor they are a city now?"

These people did not have a lot of regard for the governor. This was because this hover copter was carrying the Tiehs—a renowned ancient warrior family.

The leader of this family was a C-tier aptitude user.

Gao Yukang was indeed powerful but even he was suppressed by these renowned families and not able to expand his influence.

Hence, to these people, Qin Feng's expanding influence and popularity was like a taunt to their families.

"Tieh Chen, shut up!" the only D-tier Aptitude in the scene shouted, "I will let this slide since we are still on the hover copter. You better behave when we land in Fengli City later, or else!"

This was someone Qin Feng knew—Tieh Lei!

Back at the Battlegod Tomb, he stopped him. Qin Feng slayed Xue Jinkuang when he was still a D-tier. And now, in a rather short time, Qin Feng had ascended to C-tier. Hence, it was quite easy to imagine just how powerful Qin Feng was right now.

Holding the Prodigy Tournament at Fengli City was in a way a friendly gesture from them to Qin Feng.

Back then, when they held it at Niumeng City, the revenue that they got from selling the tickets would be split among the ancient warrior families. And it was not a fair share too—the more powerful and renowned a family was, the more dough they got.

At the same time, these youngsters had been training even before their awakening. Some of them had acquired powerful physiques long before they experienced their awakening, enabling them to train neigong. Hence, after awakening, they had even more power than before.

It was quite easy for them to ascend to E-tier before reaching twenty years old.

Of course, it was still quite difficult for them to reach D-tier in a leap. It might require the whole family to pool in their resources to push just one of them to do that.

And no family would do that. Not especially when their elders were still around.

It was not worth it for them to do that just for a Hero Class.

Originally, this season's Prodigy Tournament's biggest winner would have been the Xues—specifically Xue Yuan. Now that Xue Yuan was dead and the Xue family had gone to ruins, the other families now had some breathing room.

Now, the most talented youngster was Tieh Chen from the Tieh family. Even though he was still nineteen years old, he had already reached E3-tier. Not only that, he was also considered a prodigy.

Thus, the boy was getting a little snobbish and too prideful for his own good.

"Uncle Lei, why are you afraid of that Qin Feng? If you talk like this in front of other people, this would have disgraced our family!"

"Is your pride more important than your life? And don't mention that name like that!" Tieh Lei replied sternly.

Tieh Chen zipped his mouth and sulked. This Uncle Tieh Lei was such a boring old fart!

"What a boring trip. This place isn't anywhere near as great as Niumeng City. I might need to be careful during the fights so I don't accidentally breathe in sand!"

Tieh Lei smirked to himself as he stared out the window. Then suddenly, his face froze!

A huge wall had already been built around the city. And in between each thirty meters of the walls, there were crystal cannons installed on them. And behind these walls, there were several massive pieces of green, lush paddy fields.

To add more, the towers were installed quite tightly together near the walls. These towers too had crystal cannons, always on the watch for any ultra beast.

After a few miles of paddy fields, there was another layer of walls.

This was quite usual to see in this world. The cities and towns were always on the works to renovate and expand their walls.

However, this Fengli City had over a dozen layers of walls. This totally surprised everyone!

Just how big was this Fengli City?

They had flown across the walls for three whole minutes, and yet there were still paddy fields. And quite curiously, there was not a single ultra beast found across the massive desert.

Then suddenly, a huge city leaped into view from the horizon.

They were now inching closer to the main city entrance. And they saw it—the signboard that had on the words "Fengli City"!

The city gate was about fifty meters wide. There were also several landing zones built at the city entrance too. And on each of the hover copter landing pads had huge words printed on them—"Made by Fengli"!

Tieh Lei took in a deep breath.

"So, Fengli Organization has begun manufacturing combat hover copters now?"

"This… this is Fengli?" Tieh Chen could not help but feel that he was slapping his own face a moment ago.

Eat sand? This whole place was basically a huge oasis in the middle of the desert!

The agents that were assigned took them to check in at the hotels, showing warm hospitality along the way. And that night, in order to prevent other participants from sabotaging them, no one stepped out of the hotel at all. Yet, they were able to witness just how developed the city was just by looking out of the windows.

Then, when daybreak came, Fengli City sent Han Nuan to welcome their arrival.

"Prodigies from Niumeng, I welcome you! I'll now bring you to the arena. The combatants from Fengli have been eagerly awaiting you!" Han Nuan smirked.

The others did not pay much attention to her smirk and boarded the vehicles, going straight to the arena.

It was Qin Feng that designed this arena. He used the knowledge he had from before he was reborn to design the arena to make the arena as huge and majestic as he could. If he were going to construct a large arena, he might as well construct the biggest Colosseum in the world.

He had even constructed several smithies inside the arena, giving it ease to expand further in the future. Thus, naturally, the prodigies were totally floored when they saw the arena.

However, they were able to pull back their attention and focus on the tournament quickly.

"Combatants, please draw a ballot here to determine who would be your opponents. There would be three rounds. The ones who lose would be eliminated from the tournament immediately!"

The arena required the combatants to draw the ballots themselves so that there was no fraud in the selection of their opponents.

And Tieh Chen had drawn Number 1!

"Heh, what if I'm the first one to fight? I don't think there is anyone that can handle me." Tieh Chen smirked.

It was then, the gigantic screen in the arena showed:

"Round 1. Tieh Chen VS Qin Feng"

Chapter 486: Sent Flying In Just One Strike

Tieh Chen looked around him and realized that he did not know who this person was.

After all, he was forced to participate in the trial of the Prodigy Tournament. And Fengli City had no colonies—so there was no need to fight among themselves because there were no different factions inside the city. Every single participant was personally selected by the city. Hence, the other families did not have intel about their opponents at all.

Tieh Chen stepped into the ring as the energy shield covered up the ring, isolating the noises and energies from outside.

This was necessary to avoid meta-playing the ring. If an experienced warrior were to be allowed to instruct the participants and hint them about the enemies' weaknesses, it would not be a "competition" anymore.

Still, as the people from other families and the leaders of the four cities saw the name on the screen, they could not help but feel that something was off.

"Qin Feng? No way. Could it be a young man with the same name as him?"

"It must be a coincidence. The governor wouldn't participate in a small game like this!"

"But, the governor's age is quite young too… right?!"

Everyone looked at one another in surprise.

Meanwhile, the host of the arena started to introduce the information of the two combatants.

"First, let us look at the combatant here. Tieh Chen! Nineteen years old and an E3-tier. His specialties are Arctic Kick, Gale Palm and Plum Sword Technique. Tieh Chen is considered to be the most talented participant in this season of the Prodigy Tournament. He's the best of the best in the Four Cities of the North Sea!"

Great praises for Tieh Chen sounded over and over again via the speaker.

Then, another silhouette appeared. It was a young man, around the height of 190cm, well-built but a little thinner than Tieh Chen.

He had a white combat suit on, with two golden words printed on his back—"Fengli".

Everyone who participated in this trial all wore this uniform. As such, there was nothing unusual about the young man when he appeared in the scene.

The host opened his mouth again.

"Alright, now on to the other combatant. Qin Feng! Seventeen years old and had only just awakened his aptitude a year ago. As for his true strength… let us not spoil it for now."

The host was an experienced MC in tournaments like this. Thus, he knew how to spice things up at the right time. And of course, he knew this "Qin Feng" was the mayor of Fengli City.

Yet, when he saw the data, he was quite speechless too.

It was written that Qin Feng was a C-tier. Yet, it was quite difficult for him to mention this.

Not only that, Qin Feng had already organized a bet for this fight. The odds for Qin Feng were not really high nor low, but if you bet on him you would definitely win back your money. Yet, the ones who did not know who Qin Feng was would definitely put their bet on Tieh Chen.

This was like trying to scam these people, right?

The ones who knew Qin Feng were all from the Fengli colony. Some of them were also locals of Shadong Town. Yet, there was still a large number of the audience who did not know who Qin Feng was—most of them were mercenaries and citizens from other cities. They knew who Tieh Chen was but not Qin Feng.

Thus, the bet on each of the combatants were tied at a high number.

"Tieh Chen is going to win this!"

"That's right. Tieh Chen is a Prodigy that was specifically trained for this. He is already an E3-tier when he's this young. I don't know who that Qin Feng is but since the host isn't mentioning his strength at all… it must be because he's too weak, I think!"

"Fengli City is a newly built city. They don't have a prodigy!"

"Yeah, but you should at least have an E-tier strength. If not, you aren't allowed to participate. This seventeen-year-old is quite talented too!"

"Yeah, this Qin Feng might win this. But his odds aren't really good. There's no need to bet on him!"

As the audience debated on the matter, the ones who knew who Qin Feng was quietly put their bets on him.

The host opened his mouth again. "Now, let's put our hands together for our judge today. Mr Chen Xiang, a D3 aptitude user!"

In an instant, applause echoed in the arena.

D3 aptitude users were quite powerful.

"Then, here is Yang Mao, an elder from the renowned Yang family! A D1 ancient warrior!"

After introducing the two judges, the host said, "Now, let the fight begin! Let us see who will win this fight!"

As Qin Feng stepped into the ring, Tieh Chen looked at him snobbishly.

He frowned. "Why aren't you wearing your badge?"

Qin Feng took a cold look at Tieh Chen. "Nah, I'm afraid my badge might scare you!"

Qin Feng was right though. His badge was C-tier after all!

However, his words were like a taunt in Tieh Chen's ears!

"Hahahaha! You're an arrogant little brat, aren't you? What? You're stronger than me? I've never even heard of your name before!"

Qin Feng smiled. "After today, you will. And you will tell others about me too!"

Tieh Chen rolled his eyes, "No need. I don't need to know the name of a loser. It will be an insult to my ears!"

It was quite obvious that Tieh Chen was looking down on Qin Feng. Meanwhile, Tieh Lei was about to lose it when watching this!

'Do you not know who this man is?! How dare you show him this much arrogance?! He could murder the sh*t out of you by just lifting a finger!!'

Luckily, Qin Feng did not intend to kill the boy.

Meanwhile, the speakers started to sound the countdown.

"Counting down… 10, 9, 8…"

"3, 2, 1! Fight!"

"Eat this! Tyrant Squall Palm!"

Tieh Chen was quite prideful and snobbish. He did not intend to waste too much time on a "small fry" like Qin Feng. To him, his real opponents should be the Hous and Yangs. Only the true strong warriors qualified to fight him.

Thus, he intended to kill Qin Feng off in one strike. He did not want to waste too much internal energy on him—which led to him using a really powerful technique in the first instant he got.

He did not even use his weapon on Qin Feng!

As internal energy formed a powerful gust of wind, rushing straight at Qin Feng, the latter raised his head calmly and raised a finger.

In an instant, a small ray of potent energy obliterated the Tyrant Squall Palm's energy in a straight line!

It seemed like the potent energy had penetrated the Tyrant Squall Palm's attack and landed onto Tieh Chen's shoulder.

Tieh Chen felt a really terrifying internal energy instantly blasting him off his feet! He was lifted off the ground by at least twenty meters!

Meanwhile, Qin Feng did not even move an inch from where he stood.

Chapter 487: It's In The Details

Those not in the know kicked up an uproar.

"What, what happened? That was too fast!" The host quickly said. In fact, he knew what was going on but he had invited over two D-tier aptitude users to be judges, so naturally he wanted them to have some of the spotlight.

"A flaw. The opponent found a flaw in the Tyrant Squall Palm and defeated him in one move!" Yang Mao immediately followed up with an answer. "Of course, such flaws are difficult to find in life and death situations, the contestant Qin Feng seems to be very strong!"

Yang Mao was going to go on but there were things that he did not want to bring up..

Was this a situation where one was very strong? Or perhaps too strong?

The others watched with bright eyes and a myriad of expressions. A C-tier facing an E-tier, that was too overpowering.

Meanwhile, there were quite a number of people who knew about Qin Feng in the audience, "To be honest, fighting the governor has its benefits. At least the weaknesses in your technique could be highlighted and avoided in the future!"

"Yes! It's a great opportunity for ancient warriors!"

"That kid's so lucky to get directed by the governor!"

"Yeah!"

Everyone did not sympathize with Tieh Chen, but instead was admiring him.

On the other hand, the still en-site Tieh Chen felt like he was going to pop a blood vessel.

"A coincidence! This has to be a coincidence, we'll go again!"

Tieh Chen picked himself up, gathered his internal force again and rushed toward Qin Feng, unleashing all kinds of powerful moves. Qin Feng did not hesitate, breaking through everything that was thrown at him with one move. What was more, E-tier aptitude users did not have internal force shields, he was basically taken down with one hit over and over again. After getting knocked down four to five times, he could not stand back up anymore.

For the others, it seemed like a kind of lesson, but for Tieh Chen, it was like his nineteen years of reputation as a genius was shattered.

If he could not get up, then he would keep falling down. If he did get up, he would rocket through the sky.

It was a pity that Qin Feng indeed had not heard about any powerful individuals from the Tieh family before his rebirth. Or maybe, because of Xue Yuan, all of these astounding people were killed!

As such, he did not have any pressure when dealing with Tieh Chen, of course he had to restrain himself and control his strength appropriately or else he might fatally injure Tieh Chen with a jab.

The battle ended quickly, Tieh Chen did not even have enough strength left in him to get back up as he lay on the ground for ten seconds. When the timer quickly counted down, the match was over!

Although Qin Feng defeated Tieh Chen with only a few moves, it still made the unknown audience burst out with cheer. Of course, there were some who called Tieh Chen garbage, those were the ones that bet on him!

When the energy dome cracked open, Tieh Lei immediately rushed into the arena to check on Tieh Chen's situation.

Although there were no internal injuries, Tieh Chen had a bloodied nose and his cheeks were swollen. This kind of an embarrassment was a blow to the Tieh family's name.

While deep down he was afraid of Qin Feng, Tieh Lei still confronted him, "Governor, don't you think what you're doing is unacceptable? How is it fair to everyone else if you're participating? This is against the rules!"

"Oh?" Qin Feng was about to leave, but he turned to look at Tieh Lei and suddenly asked, "Am I under twenty years old?"

"…Yes!" Tieh Lei helplessly admitted.

Not only under twenty, he was only seventeen. He only awakened a year ago.

What kind of monster was this?!

"Am I above E-tier?"

"You… are!"

Tieh Lei had no choice but to admit it.

Qin Feng said, "Since I've met the requirements of the tournament, naturally it means that I can participate. Is there anything wrong with that?"

"Well, you can get a place directly. You don't need to compete with other people!" Tieh Lei said, especially when he had let Tieh Chen participate because Tieh Chen wanted to go to see the Dragon Capital, but ended up being taken out in the first round.

This was too much for the Tieh family's reputation!

"It's neither unfair nor against the rules. I'm also a member of the Four Cities, I'm not going to use my position for personal gain!" Qin Feng took Tieh Lei's own words and threw it back at him.

Tieh Lei was speechless.

As Qin Feng walked away, Tieh Lei could only help the helpless Tieh Chen off the ring.

When passing by the competitor's seats, everyone was fervently discussing that match.

"Sir, who is that Qin Feng guy?"

"Yeah, how could he beat Tieh Chen!"

They were looking at their senior expectantly and Tieh Lei looked back at them with mixed feelings, listening attentively as he thought about the puffed up, arrogant things he said back then and ended up coming back with a defeated warrior.

He laughed bitterly, grimacing as he said, "In the next two rounds, if you meet that guy, just forfeit the match!"

"Why? Just because Tieh Chen was defeated doesn't mean he'll defeat everyone else, right? Ability users have their protective shields when they're E-tier!"

"Yeah!"

The senior shook his head. "Even with a shield, you won't hold against him. Do you know who he is? That person is the new governor!"

The people in front of him fell silent, they thought they were hearing things.

"Governor? Wouldn't that mean he's… C-tier?"

"He's seventeen years old! How is… how is that even possible?!"

"Wait, if he's actually governor then, oh man I think I've just wasted my time!"

"Pfft!" Tieh Chen could still hear this on the sidelines, and he could not help but spit out a mouthful of blood.

He was not terribly injured, but he was so enraged that he ended up coughing up blood.

The tournament continued on. There were forty matches on the first day that took the whole day to finish.

Of course, for a normal person it might have been exciting but Qin Feng felt that this whole thing was absolutely boring.

On the second and third day, he did not even fight. Those who were randomly selected to fight him actually had the intention of going up and asking him for pointers.

Unfortunately, he did not participate at all.

But this kind of non-participation made his opponents not want to step into the ring and choose to forfeit the match in fear of offending a C-tier.

Nobody would want that to happen!

It was not surprising that Qin Feng was placed in the top ten.

Zhou Hao and Jin Fei were dark horses, directly representing the Four Cities in their battles and along with Qin Feng, the Fengli colony had selected three people.

And from the Four Cities, the three big ancient warrior families only had one person who was selected.

Among those families, every one of them had solemn faces.

"This Qin Feng. He's doing it on purpose. In the past, our families said that it was possible to gain eight places but now we only have three!"

"It's in the details, he's checking and balancing power!"

"Is he really not afraid of the family head?"

"No…I don't think that even phases him!"

In the end, they could only sigh and deliver the news to the family heads who were away.

After waiting for a few days, the news that they received made them feel helpless.

The Four Cities on the North Sea had completely changed since Qin Feng's appearance.

Chapter 488: Onward to Beihua City

However, after seeing the awards that Qin Feng handed out to the ten participants, people kept their thoughts about him to themselves.

Well, he handed it out to nine people since he naturally did not need these things.

The rewards he gave were very direct, with 5 billion per person and opening up the Fengli colony internal trade system. They could buy ultra beast energy cores with this money.

5 billion was enough money to buy an E-tier beast king energy core.

Such a reward was too extravagant for these ancient warrior family people.

And for the prodigies that came from the Four Cities on the North Sea, it felt like a golden opportunity.

They could not believe that something this good could happen to them.

Some people went ahead and bought beast king energy cores and some traded to enter the Battlegod Tomb and learn its martial techniques, such as the Third Level of the Overcast Dragon technique and so on.

Although Qin Feng's methods were stubborn and even wrathful, it could be said that he was too wealthy!

"We're so lucky to have this kind of governor!"

"Haha, I remember they only gave each person a rare E-tier spirit herb! We also got some money to trade for some techniques but the highest point of training would only take us to D-tier!"

"There's no way this can be compared to that!"

In fact, it was quite normal. In the yesteryears, the ancient warrior families were the majority but when it came to Gao Yukang handing out awards, it would be a strange moment if he were to start being generous. He also rarely cared about these things. Usually it was up to the ancient warrior families to arrange these events.

Now, Qin Feng was arranging the event. One C-tier was a completely different thing compared to four D-tiers.

After this incident, there were even geniuses from the Four Cities that came to seek refuge in Fengli City. Qin Feng's generosity had attracted quite a number of talents.

***

In the Battlegod Tomb, Qin Feng was training Zhou Hao and Jin Fei.

"An E-tier does not have enough power, you need to improve yourself as soon as possible!"

An E-tier could only function as support, even in the next Northern Region Competition they could suffer a loss and Qin Feng did not want that to happen.

"The Northern Region Competition is only a month away. If I give everything I've got during practice I can reach E3-tier!" Zhou Hao stated.

Jin Fei did not say much other than, "I can reach E5-tier!"

The fact that these two could take on others was not due to their strength, it was because the true obstacle in their way was Qin Feng. They were naturally not satisfied with their rate of growth and as a result their combat effectiveness was not strong.

It was not good to spoil things with excessive enthusiasm.

Jin Fei and Zhou Hao were physically powerful and their bodies were durable. What Qin Feng felt was not enough, were these two's tiers.

"You need to reach at least D-tier!" Qin Feng said.

The other two both furrowed their brows.

"Even if I let Xiao Huang eat D-tier energy cores, I still wouldn't reach D-tier. That's just way too much!"

Reaching from E2-tier to D-tier within a single month sounded like a terrifying idea.

The dantian had limited capacity and it was not easy to accumulate it. What was more, D-tier was a big thing, the transformation of an ancient warrior's gas-like internal force into the D-tier's liquid-like internal force was a massive gap!

An ancient warrior might never be able to achieve that breakthrough and if they were to strain themselves too hard, their training might regress.

This was an entirely different level.

Then, Jin Fei's eyes suddenly lit up, "Boss, does it mean you're going to let us use…that?"

"What's that'?" Zhou Hao asked in confusion.

Qin Feng nodded. "Yes, the gaea crystal should broaden your dantian and make advancing easier!"

He intended to give Zhou Hao and Jin Fei some gaea crystals!

This kind of thing naturally could not be given to everyone, so after plundering it Qin Feng did not mention it to everyone in the mercenary group when he came back.

Guo Guan, Guo Song and Jin Fei were the only ones who knew, and their lips were sealed.

Jin Fei had long coveted it, but he knew that he had to contribute to something before he could say he deserved it.

And the competition could be regarded as a contribution, Qin Feng would naturally issue a reward

"Thanks, Boss!" Jin Fei was extremely excited.

"Gaea crystal? You mean the stuff that the B-tiers are fighting each other for? This… the value is too high!" Zhou Hao was now hesitant.

Qin Feng patted him on his shoulder. "Right now it's a fight for survival. Last time I just happened to pick it up as I went along, it's not as expensive as you think!"

Jin Fei added, "Boss might not have some other things but he definitely has a load of gaea crystals!"

The two went to the Treasure Vault of the Battlegod Tomb, which had completely become Qin Feng's warehouse. The collection here was only one-tenth of Qin Feng's true hoard.

More of it was stored in Bai Li's space!

Qin Feng handed Jin Fei and Zhou Hao a basketball sized gaea crystal. After they absorb it, their strength would increase by leaps and bounds!

Of course, the only place they could practice in was the aircraft!

After a day off, Qin Feng set off with a group of people.

Although the aircraft was not as big as the Floating City, it was still a sight to behold. Compared to a hover copter, it was much more obvious, and the rumbling and sounds it made could be felt and heard by the startled people that it flew over.

Several teenage geniuses from the Four Cities crowded around the windows. They were looking at the scenery outside of the aircraft, and the smaller aircrafts flying behind it.

Those were commissioned by Xue Xingfu, the goods had arrived and he was going to sell them.

"My goodness, how much does this airship cost? The Fengli Organization is so strong!"

"Of course it's strong! It's the governor's organization after all, it's stronger than whatever Dacheng Organization or Leitang Organization that's out there!"

The discussion was kicked into full swing.

"Hmph, bumpkins!" A son from the Hou Family snorted.

"Who are you calling a bumpkin? Like you've ever been on this aircraft!"

"Oh keep talking! If you don't want to be here then you can ride a hover copter to Beihua City!"

"Yeah! The exit's right there, you can jump off anytime!"

The Hou Family member's face turned red immediately, but he could not say anything to refute.

Who would want to try and board a hover copter when they were this high up? This boy just did not like the other four that were talking back.

The status of the ancient warrior families in the Four Cities had dropped significantly. How could they have not sensed all these prodigies?

When the Hou Family child had nothing more to say, the four changed subjects to talk about Beihua City.

"They say that Beihua City is as big as a city that existed back before the apocalypse. You can drive a hover car and it would take you two hours before you would reach the other side of the city!"

"Such a city must be very prosperous!"

"Yeah, it's the regent's city after all. We would see a lot of strong people there!"

Beihua City was the largest city in the Northern Region. It was also where Regent Shang Han was stationed all year long!

The center of the entire Northern Region.

The Prodigy Tournament would only hold the finals in November. Before that, Qin Feng, being the organizer of the Four Cities Trials, had to fight against the prodigies of sixteen other states from more than sixty cities before ten were selected.

That was why they were going to Beihua City.

Chapter 489: Trying Your Might

The aircraft kept moving forward and eventually reached a dependent city near Beihua City.

There were eight other cities around Beihua City. It was said that those cities used to be small colonies that grew as Beihua City gradually developed. They were spread out in an octagonal shape, surrounding the main city.

This particular city was called Mingguang City and Qin Feng wanted to stop by here first.

He lowered the airship into the wilderness, where someone was already waiting for him.

"Welcome, you must be the Fengli Organization's president, Mr. Qin Feng. It seems that the youth are really promising!"

"Good day, Mr. Mu Jin!"

Qin Feng shook hands with the other person.

Mu Jin was a B-tier aptitude user. He did not have an organization but he had a powerful mercenary group, which was about the same as the one that Qin Feng remembered before his rebirth. This mercenary group was dedicated to serving him, and their most valuable asset was Mu Jin's combat prowess.

Besides that, an airship would be a good place to house his logistic staff. That was why he ordered one from Qin Feng.

Along the way, he had already sold three aircrafts. This would be the last one he was delivering!

"Mr. Mu, allow me to show you the internal workings of this aircraft!" Guo Guan said, waving his hand as an invitation to let Mu Jin on board.

Mu Jin nodded.

Just as they were moving, Qin Feng suddenly noticed a blue spot that had appeared on Mu Jin's face. His expression darkened in an instant.

This blue spot was the same as a laser guided crosshair from a sniper rifle, only that it was more discrete and radiated consciousness.

It turned consciousness into a straight line, so that it would be easier to conceal it from consciousness detection!

'Either it's here to kill me or kill Mu Jin!' The thought flashed through Qin Feng's mind.

However, when the blue spot stopped for half a second and did not shift, Qin Feng knew that the shooter was aiming at Mu Jin!

C-tier gunners were rare, but it did not mean that they did not exist and it was terrifying when a gunner had reached B-tier.

It meant that this type of gunner had at least broken past their consciousness cultivation and weapons that surpassed normal technology.

And these weapons could not be manufactured by factories at all. They could take down people from thousands of meters away.

Qin Feng subtly began to manipulate his internal force.

At this moment, an extremely powerful beam of light suddenly appeared from the top of a mountain that was thousands of meters away and was headed directly toward where they were.

However, as Qin Feng was standing opposite Mu Jin, his rising internal force expanded one meter away from its wielder and intercepted this beam of light.

It was then that Mu Jin's pupils shrank from the bright light as it impacted against Qin Feng's internal force shield.

Pop!

His internal force shield was instantly shattered with a soft pop, scattering like broken spider webs.

This attack was extremely powerful.

"Take cover!" Mu Jin realized that they had landed themselves in a bad situation and ordered everyone around him to find a place to hide.

When the distant shooter realized that nobody was hit, they sent out three missiles.

These missiles were covered in dark runes that constantly displaced their location, bringing up after images that made the missiles hard to lock on and easily hidden

Of course, it was naturally impossible to avoid Qin Feng's detection.

He raised his hand and a hand cannon appeared in his hands as he aimed it at the sky.

Boom boom boom!

Three consecutive shots were sent out, knocking down the dark rune-covered missiles but there was a cloud of darkness that also fell along with it.

"Oh no!" Mu Jin yelled abruptly.

But his words came too late.

"Looks like you're in some deep trouble!" Qin Feng said with a serious tone.

"Yes, you can go on ahead. These people are from the Dark Coalition, they've had some disagreements with me in the wild and now they keep trying to kill me. I just didn't expect them to be so bold as to attack me near a city!" Mu Jin said. He was a B-tier but he still got caught off guard, that made him a bit flustered.

Of course, the aptitude users who would dare go after him would definitely not be considered small fry, and they definitely had a B-tier among them.

"No need, when the customer is in trouble I will naturally help deal with it!" Qin Feng stated.

Soon, the black cloud rolled toward them. Mu Jin had been affected by this cloud before and instinctively backed away.

Qin Feng started to walk forward instead.

"Come back! That's a dark ability that will make you weak and useless in combat!"

Qin Feng turned a deaf ear and a whirlwind began to form around his body.

The whirlwind picked up all of the dark runes and he absorbed them into his brow.

The thing Qin Feng was least afraid of were dark runes.

When the darkness dissipated, the people within were instantly exposed.

At least three B-tier aptitude users came in for an ambush.

They were very surprised that Qin Feng actually took care of the dark cloud. Mu Jin himself had a lot of high level items but none of them would have been effective against the cloud.

Mu Jin glowered when he saw the three.

"Gu Chang, Qi Yan and Guan Xuangdong! It really is you!"

These three people were some of the strongest ones in the Dark Coalition. Their bounty stacked up to the trillions in the Bounty Hunter Net.

However, if someone did not have enough strength, they could not accept their bounty.

That was why Qin Feng's communicator did not ring.

Qin Feng frowned momentarily, then said, "The gunner's not here! Bai Li, go and have a look!"

"Okay, do you want me to grab them?"

"Yeah, grab them. Their weapons are pretty good!"

The two were speaking blatantly to one another, Mu Jin could not believe the sheer audacity that he was listening to.

The enemies, Gu Chang and Qi Yan, stood on the opposite side with dark expressions on their faces.

"Where'd this kid come from? Speaking so openly. Talks big too."

"Only C-tier? Did you think that a governor position means that you can be arrogant?"

The three did not hold Qin Feng with much regard, only considering him as an arrogant child.

At this point, even Mu Jin thought the same.

'Could it be that Qin Feng has a secret weapon? After all, his company makes guns. Maybe, he's only saying this to get their attention so he can blast them with his aircraft's cannons?' Mu Jin thought with suspicion.

But, he then saw that Qin Feng was raising his hand and generating a large dark rune from his palm.

"Excellent timing, now I can test how powerful my newly-learned ability is!"

Mu Jin was stunned, but he was already cursing in his mind.

'Damn it Qin Feng, have you lost your mind? They're B-tier!'

Qin Feng naturally could not hear Mu Jin's thoughts, even if he did, he would not have taken them seriously.

After all, his current internal force and dantian capacity was an ungodly amount, so what if they were B-tier?

Qin Feng had nothing to fear.

"Apocalypse Bloom!"

Chapter 490: That's Just Overkill

Naturally, Qin Feng had not lost his marbles. Although the newly created Apocalypse Bloom was only just a dark element rune, it suddenly became a new kind of ability when combined with all the other runes from the Hellstone.

Since the Hellstone was an S-tier item, Qin Feng still had not absorbed it until now.

That was why it was possible for him to create a new move that was more powerful than C-tier.

When he raised his hand, a lotus flower appeared in his palm. Shadows concentrated themselves onto the lotus as it began to bloom.

The surrounding light seemed to be getting drained away by this lotus.

The surrounding people's vision dimmed and they felt a terrifying aura spread out as they watched Qin Feng with high alert.

With a push of his hand, he tossed the lotus upward. In an instant, it looked as if a dark cloud had manifested above his head.

Then a petal detached from the flower and drifted down toward Guan Xuangdong, who was standing at the edge.

This man was obviously an ability user, and he realized that something was not right.

The petal looked like it was going to be slow, mainly due to its size. Something that big probably would not be very quick, but it turned out to be the opposite and came crashing down on him.

As an ability user, he was not very fast to begin with and the width made it hard for him to escape!

'I'm not buying it! He's only just a C-tier ability user!'

As this thought ran through Guan Xuangdong's mind, he mobilized his consciousness and a torrent of water suddenly appeared around him.

This wave rushed out violently, racing toward the sky as if shot from a geyser.

Boom!

The two abilities collided with one another!

While it looked like the black petal became thinner, it was still falling down and it ended up covering Guan Xuangdong's entire body.

"Huh? No effect?" Guan Xuangdong did not feel anything different and let out a laugh, "Looks like you were just trying to trick us!"

He did not feel like he was hurt, but everyone else that was looking at him had shocked expressions on their faces.

Before that, Guan Xuangdong was a thirty year old man but his facial features had changed drastically. There were more lines on his face and his skin seemed to be sagging a bit more.

To say that he looked like he had suddenly aged ten years was no exaggeration.

When two other petals fell down, Gu Chang and Qi Yan quickly backed away without saying anything.

However, it was too late for them to retreat.

Internal force warped around their entire body, but the black petals revealed their true power. Their protection was instantly burned away as the petals fell onto them.

The two did not really feel like anything was off, other than their bodies suddenly feeling weaker. When they looked at their hands, they saw that the originally muscular arms of theirs were wrinkled and had liver spots.

The two were instantly deprived of their vitality.

"No, run! Run away!"

These two could not resist Qin Feng's strange new ability and ended up using qinggong to get out of his range.

The attack on Gu Chang and Qi Yan were obviously stronger than the attack on Guan Xuangdong. To him, the other two aged twenty years in an instant, which was extremely frightening. This was the moment that he realized that something was wrong and his heart skipped a beat.

However, he was obviously not as fast as the other two.

He then had an idea and began to run toward Qin Feng's direction.

If he could kill the one controlling the ability, then the dark runes would dissipate!

Guan Xuangdong was not far from Qin Feng to begin with and he began to mobilize his consciousness again!

"Water Dragon Style!"

This was an ability that even E-tiers could learn, but with improvements in strength, increase in runes used and better control over consciousness the abilities that carry the dragon's name with them would have no limits on how powerful it could get.

As for Guan Xuangdong's ability, his dragon grew multiple heads. The five heads spread out and attacked Qin Feng from all directions.

However, Qin Feng did not run away. His internal force was still as smooth as a mirror's surface.

"Qin Feng, get away!" Mu Jin exclaimed.

Even he himself did not dare to directly take on Guan Xuangdong's water abilities.

When the water dragon was already in front of Qin Feng and collided with his internal force shield, it turned into a stream of water and flowed away.

The other heads came in one after the other but they were all met with the same fate. Qin Feng's body did not even budge.

Not only did the water dragon dissipate, Qin Feng's internal force was still holding.

It shattered itself trying to break through his shield.

"Impossible!" Guan Xuangdong could not believe what he was seeing as despair floated into his vision.

Another petal had fallen.

"Aaah!!"

He let out a loud roar, his consciousness constantly mobilizing waves of water. This was no longer a callous attack like the last one but instead a frantic all out attack.

The water ability and the dark ability clashed

Such a scene was terrifying to behold. Water enough to fill whole lakes splashed from Guan Xuangdong, rocketing into the air as people began to evacuate.

Those who had already made it to the airship were staring with wide eyes, gulping hard as they felt cold sweat drip down their backs!

"Although the main cannon of the airship can kill a B-tier, but if it gets caught off guard by one, even its size wouldn't be able to save it from being completely perforated!"

"Yeah! This is way too strong! So this is B-tier!"

"But, if a B-tier is forced to act like this then wouldn't that mean the president is…"

The thought entered everyone's mind.

Would that not mean that Qin Feng was stronger?

On the airship, the other young geniuses were even more shocked to the point of speechlessness. Even the Hou family and Tieh family's people had their mouths glued shut!

They might have been dissatisfied with Qin Feng before, but now they were absolutely terrified of him.

However, this fear was about to reach its apex.

Even though Gu Chang and Qi Yan ran away, they were still brushed by the petals from the Apocalypse Bloom. They aged twenty years again in an instant and looked like they were seventy to eighty years old, but they still had internal strength in their bodies which allowed them to escape.

Guan Xuangdong was still en-scene and he was not so lucky.

The Apocalypse Bloom began to release more petals, first one, then three, as more and more began to fall.

The lotus spread out the petals to everywhere in its range. The whole scene lasted for five minutes.

Guan Xuangdong could not even hang on for one minute.

He turned from a young man to a middle-aged man, then an old man, and finally began to start dying. Even with his immense power it still was not enough to save himself from death.

He even used several life-saving items but those prove to be useless as he eventually met his demise.

Even after he ceased to be, the Apocalypse Bloom continued. His body turned into a dried up corpse and then became a skeleton until that too turned into dust. If there were no clothes and rune equipment left behind, it would have been impossible to know that this was where a B-tier aptitude user once stood.

The Apocalypse Bloom finally stopped

Qin Feng thought about it for a while and then said, "Well, that was a waste!"

It was like killing a chicken with a sledgehammer! An absolute overkill!

Mu Jin, who was behind Qin Feng, could not believe what he just saw.

Chapter 491: Passing Through?

Mu Jin could clearly detect that Qin Feng was a C-tier, not an A-tier.

Actually managing to kill a B-tier and still retain that relaxed look on his face as if he had just wasted energy.

This was a situation that Mu Jin found to be a little unacceptable!

It was then something more despairing happened.

As soon as Qin Feng stopped, another figure suddenly appeared. It turned out to be the stunning beauty that looked soft and weak, Qin Feng's little girlfriend had returned!

Before he started fighting these three people, Bai Li disappeared. Now after Qin Feng's ability had stopped, she returned with the person she caught.

The silver whip had trapped the gunner in a space, as if he was placed inside a meter large silver box. His whole body seemed distorted.

Some of his bones might have ended up snapping in the process, it was hard to tell which ones.

"He's the one that shot at us just now! Oh, I've also taken his spatial rune equipment, there's a lot of good things in there!" A piece of rope was wrapped around Bai Li's finger. She flicked it twice, causing the silver stone at the end of it to spin.

It was definitely the spatial rune equipment of a gunner!

"Hmm, let me see. If there's anything good, I'll get Guo Guan to research something new!"

Even though the gunner was locked inside the space, he could still hear what Qin Feng was saying and he glowered at him.

Qin Feng then said, "Mr. Mu, this matter is your business after all. Consider this person here as a present!"

He waved his hand at Bai Li to signal for her to release her prisoner.

Bai Li released the gunner, revealing that his legs had been broken so he could not run away. Now that he had no machines to use, he did not seem so threatening.

"Who the hell are you? Why can't you mind your own business?" The gunner did not know who Qin Feng was at all. Right now, all he had seen was a C-tier unleashing an unexpected burst of power and he knew that they were definitely not nobodies, but he was not happy about dying without at least getting some answers.

Qin Feng looked at him with cold regard. "Since you ambushed Mr. Mu, you'd know what he's here for, right? You should have paid more attention!"

The man studied Qin Feng's appearance and the badge on his chest. It was then realization struck him, and the situation finally became clear to him.

"You're that president from Fengli, Qin…"

Obviously the gunner did not know Qin Feng's name very well.

Qin Feng did not care either way.

He ignored the shocked gunner, looked at Mu Jin and said, "Mr. Mu, let's continue, so you can see if you like this aircraft or not!"

"No need, President Qin, I owe you big time!" Mu Jin directly transferred the remaining amount to the Fengli Organization's account.

"But the inspection of goods is a necessary business affair. Guo Guan, take Mr. Mu along for an inspection!"

"Of course, President. Sir, come have a look, it wouldn't take much time. Oh right, the aircraft has cells and its defenses are quite good. Would you like to try it out?"

Guo Guan gestured in the direction of the B-tier gunner.

The gunner glared at Guo Guan. He was an official B-tier but he was getting put in a cell by a D-tier. Talk about a tiger getting bullied by a dog.

"Haha, good idea, good idea!"

Mu Jin let out a laugh before picking up the gunner with his consciousness and bringing him onto the airship.

As for Gu Chang and Qi Yin, they had already run out of sight.

Mu Jin did not really want to do an inspection as his heart was not on the aircraft anymore. Even after a lazy sweep around, he felt satisfied that he had gotten a good deal out of this.

The most important thing was not just him getting rid of a major enemy, but also making friends with someone as powerful as Qin Feng.

Obviously, Qin Feng had already been regarded as an ally. His ability to take down B-tiers while being a C-tier was simply too incredible, his power was too strong.

Of course, there was a stronger thought in Mu Jin's mind.

When he hurriedly returned from the aircraft, he made a sincere invitation.

"I don't know if Mr. Qin has any thoughts about Beihua City's Northern Abyss. If you do, I can bring you there!" Mu Jin said.

The Northern Abyss was a fairly well-known alternate plane in Beihua City. Two hundred years ago when the world began to end, the ground split open a giant hole and countless creatures with dark auras poured from it. Their strength was terrifying to behold.

Shang Han was stationed in Beihua City just to suppress this.

"Maybe I'll check it out if I have time!" Qin Feng replied, tactfully refusing Mu Jin's offer.

The other party obviously wanted to cooperate with him.

However, Qin Feng's current strength had almost reached the strength that he had as a mercenary lord in his past life, even if he was only C-tier right now.

With such power, he could make a breakthrough anywhere but he was not a suitable partner with anyone else. More often than not he found himself at odds with others when trying to share the spoils.

Mu Jin had a very good idea. He had taken a fancy to Qin Feng's power. The Apocalypse Bloom was simply a power for mass destruction, very suitable for the Northern Abyss. Unfortunately, Qin Feng was not as keen as Mu Jin.

"Hah, alright then I won't stay any longer!" Mu Jin was as sly as a fox, reacting to Qin Feng's excuse and feeling a little disappointed.

This Qin Feng really left people speechless.

The last time he took a C-tier to the abyss, they were eternally grateful to him.

Qin Feng on the other hand rejected him! Just how on Earth did he get so strong?

"Nice working with you!" Qin Feng reached out to shake Mu Jin's hand before saying goodbye, and the two went their separate ways.

Once the place had completely calmed down, drones began to quietly retreat from a distance away.

In the office building of the Human Alliance in Mingguang City, a B-tier blinked his sore eyes to relax himself.

"Who is this guy? He killed Guan Xuangdong so easily!"

Qin Feng's ability was too powerful, and they were not far from Mingguang City, which caused its alarms to sound and startle the city duke.

He got rid of Guan Xuangdong like swiping dust away, for the Mingguang City's duke this felt like a big deal.

Where did this person come from?

"That… Duke, I think I recognize that person!"

"Oh? Who is he?"

"He's called Qin Feng, from the Four Cities on the North Sea!"

"Four Cities? Why did he come here from so far away?" The city duke obviously could not figure it out.

"This guy established an organization that sells aircraft, like the one we saw in the video. Maybe he's just here to deliver it!"

"Oh, he's just passing through!" The city baron let out a sigh of relief and waved his hand dismissively. "Right right, we're not gonna worry about this anymore. The Northern Prodigy Tournament is going to be held here soon. There are going to be more aptitude users coming through. Pay attention and don't get tricked by the Dark Coalition!"

"Yes, Duke!"

The City Duke of Mingguang City thought that Qin Feng was only passing through, but he did not expect him to also be taking part in the Prodigy Tournament. When he saw that Qin Feng was participating, his jaw almost dropped off!

Chapter 492: Arriving at Beihua

They reached Beihua in less than half a day after passing by Mingguang City. Qin Feng's aircraft was too big to be allowed in the city. He parked the aircraft outside and led the contestants into the city.

Beihua City was larger than they had initially imagined. Walking through the bustling main street was telling enough about the city's prosperity.

The strength of a city could be judged based on the residents in it. Ever since they walked into Beihua, they had not seen any deserted area or slums.

This meant that the people here were living a comfortable life. There was no oppression inside the high wall, at least on the surface.

Such a scene was scarce in the post-apocalyptic world today.

It all boiled down to the amazing leadership of the A-tier elect here. Shang Han was a ruler that was very particular about regulation and discipline.

Contestants from the sixteen regions had all pre-registered for the Prodigy Tournament and they had been arranged to live in the same hotel.

"Here are the room cards. If you don't have any further questions, then you're dismissed. It's up to you whether you want to walk around or do some light training." Qin Feng passed the card to Jin Fei and the latter distributed the card to everyone else.

One of the youngsters from the Yang family chipped in, "Governor, why don't you bring us with you to tour around the city? This place sure is full of powerful aptitude users!" They would feel safer with Qin Feng around.

Qin Feng gazed at him and said, "Why don't you bring along your servants so they can pamper you?"

The young master's face reddened instantly. He thought Qin Feng would not mind showing them around the famous Beihua city since the Yang family was on good terms with the governor.

Apparently, Qin Feng did not have the slight intention to babysit them. The young master certainly had thought too big of himself. Qin Feng was treating the Yang family nicely simply because of their general ethic. It did not mean he would tolerate their childishness.

"Dismiss!" Qin Feng said sternly.

The rest of them looked at Qin Feng cautiously, then went separate ways with their luggage.

Jin Fei excused himself politely, "President, I will take my leave now."

Qin Feng nodded.

"Qin Feng, I have somewhere to go too. See you!" Zhou Hao was prepared to leave too.

"I will be at the certification hall with Bai Li. Ring my communicator anytime if you run into trouble," Qin Feng was obviously treating Zhou Hao differently than others.

"What trouble would there be? I am going into the Battlegod Tomb to practice while there's still time, unlike those brats." Zhou Hao shook his head. "Go do your things and don't worry about me."

Zhou Hao did not tell Qin Feng that while the latter was busy attending to the corporate business, he had talked to the other prodigies in hopes of broadening his network and gathering more allies. However, he soon realized there was a communication gap between him and the other young prodigies despite their close age.

These young talents were indeed excellent fighters but all they knew were theory and knowledge from the books.

On the other hand, thanks to Qin Feng, Zhou Hao had been constantly exposed to the outside world. That brought out the hidden potential in him. Not only that, he had been entrusted to look over the colony whenever Qin Feng was gone.

Simply put, Zhou Hao had long stepped into the real world fighting for survival while those youngsters were still being delicately protected inside a bubble.

Nevertheless, interacting with them allowed Zhou Hao to understand how lucky he was.

The number of resources Qin Feng had given him in the early days had already surpassed what these young masters were getting from their respective families. Not to mention that Qin Feng now possessed an ample amount of gaea crystal.

'I will never let Qin Feng down. I am willing to do anything to keep up with him. This is the only way to repay his trust. First, I am going to conquer D-tier as soon as possible!'

***

Qin Feng did not loosen up when Zhou Hao was working hard. He did not need to be assessed and was directly awarded the C-tier badge since he was appointed as a governor. However, Bai Li was not given the privilege.

Since they were free now, it was about time for Bai Li to take the qualification exam.

Inside the Beihua aptitude user certification hall.

Bai Li passed the assessment and test with ease. It was time for her to take on the mission.

"There are five sealed rifts around Beihua City. You can choose either one to enter. To pass the test, you are required to kill at least fifty normal C-tier beasts or one C-tier beast general!"

The number of beasts to be killed would become fewer the higher the tier went. This was because C-tier beasts were extremely dangerous beings.

"Hubby, which one should we choose?" Bai Li looked at Qin Feng.

"Let's go to the Northern Abyss." It was the most dangerous spot.

"Okay. I choose the Northern Abyss!" Bai Li said to the staff.

The person frowned. "Missus, I advise you to change to another rift. The Northern Abyss is extremely dangerous and may not be suitable for you."

Bai Li shook her head and insisted. "It's all the same to me. I am choosing this."

"Well…" The person was reluctant to let Bai Li through knowing how deadly the Northern Abyss could be.

An aptitude user queued up behind Qin Feng said, "Have you ever heard about that place? It's the worst place possible you could ever imagine. The abyss was only conquered after some hard-fought battle led by our old mayor."

Qin Feng and Bai Li turned to him out of courtesy.

The aptitude user was immediately captivated and locked his sight onto Bai Li. He could tell that Bai Li was pretty by glancing at her side-face but it was even more stunning when he looked straight into her face.

Moreover, both her hair and iris were silver in color. Though she might have dyed the hair, it was also possible that she adopted the color through some unique neigong.

In short, her otherworldly beauty had deeply astonished him.

"There are also B-tier monsters and B-tier beast emperors lurking around the abyss. Bumping into any of those would be disastrous. It's better to be careful!" The aptitude user was trying to look for a topic.

Qin Feng furrowed his brows and moved in front of Bai Li.

"Thanks for your advice. But we have made up our mind!" Qin Feng said and signaled for Bai Li to take the access card.

Bai Li turned and talked to the staff but the aptitude user refused to give up. He continued his babble, "Why are you putting your partner onto such a dangerous path? What are you plotting? Don't tell me you are trying to get her killed so that you will inherit her fortune!? How can you be so cruel?"

Qin Feng was slightly amused by the stranger's gibberish.

"Will you let your other half die if she is as beautiful as my wife?"

The guy looked at Bai Li's back. Even her back figure was such an eye-pleaser.

"Of course not!"

"That's right! I won't too!" Qin Feng said.

"It's done! Let's go!" Bai Li said and gave Qin Feng a smile.

"Okay!"

They ignored everyone else and walked away holding each other's hand. The aptitude user was still mesmerized by Bai Li's smile and only regained himself after the couple had disappeared into a corner.

"I am going to the abyss too!" The aptitude user slammed his assessment pass angrily on the desk.

Chapter 493: Northern Abyss

"Good day, Master Chui Yang! As you wish!"

The surname Chui was very special in Beihua City.

The family was once the dominant force in this city because they were led by a powerful A-tier aptitude user—The Fire Lord Chui Lian. It was well respected across the continent in Qin Feng's past life.

No one would have thought that Chui Lian's life would be unexpectedly taken in an accident. Ever since his passing, the family plunged from being the most prestigious family in Beihua into a declining, no-longer-relevant faction.

The reason the family was still holding a place in Beihua was thanks to their A-tier elder, who was more than one hundred years old. Thus, people in Beihua city, especially those from the middle and lower classes, would still give face to the Chui family despite them falling out of favor.

"Young Master, do you need to find more men to go with you?" A B-tier aptitude user known as Liu Yue asked. He was sent by the family to make sure that Chui Yang would pass the C-tier assessment safely.

"There's no need for that. We are not exploring deep. Just follow the couple from earlier." Chui Yang waved his hand impatiently.

"Okay. Please get into the car, Young Master. We will head out of town."

"Alright."

The two men got into a hover tank. It would take half an hour to get out of the town. Once outside, they would need to take the hover copter to reach the destination.

Chui Yang initially thought that it would be easy to catch up to Qin Feng. To their surprise, the two unknown aptitude users were driving a more powerful vehicle. They accelerated to max speed but could hardly shorten the gap.

Qin Feng's Silver Bolt and Sky Dweller were no longer the same vehicles from when he first bought them. Guo Guan had replaced the turbo and hover system with more powerful units. Their speed probably would not lose to the fastest car and chopper in the market.

Inside the Sky Dweller, Qin Feng frowned slightly as he could sense they were being followed.

"Hubby, why are those two from before following us? Should we shake them off?" Bai Li asked.

"It's fine. Just let them be."

"Okay. I don't sense any hostility from them anyway."

"Of course there isn't. They are just being curious and probably coveted by your beauty!" Qin Feng shook his head.

Sky Dweller traveled safely through the sky. The sky and the ground around Beihua City were being constantly swept. That was because it would be terrible if a war were to break out here. There were simply too many rifts around the region. To use a space stabilizer to secure this area was no longer an option.

The hover copter flew on for another twenty minutes and a hundred-meter-tall wall came into sight. The wall was painted pitch black.

"We have arrived!" Qin Feng said and descended the Sky Dweller.

The Northern Abyss was located among valleys and it was a humongous spatial tunnel that spanned about a hundred meters wide.

Till today, humans were still unable to find a spatial stone large enough to seal off this place.

As such, they opted for the only feasible alternative, which was to completely isolate the spatial tunnel. They moved mountains around it and built a large wall between the gaps. Furthermore, the sky was sealed with a special barrier to imprison the beasts inside a man-made giant fortress.

The beasts arriving from this rift were not highly intelligent. They came to Earth through the large tunnel and would soon figure out that this place was another limited habitat with scarce resources. Most of the mutated beast would thus return to their own worlds after a short while.

This method had successfully contained the abyss for fifty long years.

The massive wall was filled with dense dark runes. It was a safety measure to hinder the beast from perceiving the condition outside of the fortress.

The only entrance was being guarded by an elite army. The captains here were all B-tiers. These people glanced at the hover copter briefly and immediately got back to their duty.

Qin Feng and Bai Li alighted and walked toward the gate.

"We are here for the C-tier assessment." Qin Feng spoke and asked Bai Li to display her mission card.

"Only the two of you?" The guard looked at them curiously. He was apparently unconvinced by Qin Feng and Bai Li's capability.

"More than enough," Qin Feng replied confidently.

The B-tier aptitude user found Qin Feng's answer funny but he did not say anything.

"We just let a party through earlier. You have to wait here until there are ten candidates."

Qin Feng did not protest and waited patiently. Chui Yang and his bodyguard reached not long after. They were still short of heads. However, the B-tier aptitude user seemed to recognize Chui Yang and his bodyguard.

"Master Chui, Mr. Liu!"

"Good day, Captain Yang Pi!"

"Are you here for the C-tier mission?" Yang Pi was baffled. He quietly wondered what brought the C-tier candidates to the abyss today. 'Don't they understand how dangerous this place is?'

"Yes," Liu Yue answered. Chui Yang, on the other hand, was busy trying to strike a conversation with Qin Feng and Bai Li again. He was more courageous this time with Liu Yue by his side.

"Hey bro! What a coincidence!" Chui Yang said insincerely.

Qin Feng was not fond of a rich kid like him. It was easy to tell that the young man was a descendent of a well-known family since the B-tier guard treated them so differently.

"Coincidence or not, I think you know best," Qin Feng replied coldly.

"Haha. I am here to make sure the two of you don't throw away your life this easily. Why not tag along with us? It's safer to have a B-tier aptitude user around!"

"Thanks for the offer but no thanks."

"Don't reject me so quickly. Let's ask for the lady's opinion. I haven't gotten your name yet, too!"

Unfortunately, both of them were not enthused to talk to him.

The B-tier guard felt a little awkward, while Liu Yue was unhappy with their attitude. "Know your manners. My young master is being kind and has offered to help you. It's one thing that you don't appreciate it. But now you are just being rude. You should at least tell us your name!"

Qin Feng pulled a long face and chastised him, "You aren't worth my politeness."

Liu Yue frowned out of anger. "Watch your tongue, young man." He did not expect a C-tier to be acting so arrogantly in front of him.

Yang Pi did not want trouble, at least not in front of the gate. There were surveillance drones around this area. Besides, Qin Feng's badge showed that he was a governor. It would be extremely troublesome if something were to happen to him under his watch.

"Calm down. I will give face to Master Chui and open the gate for you all. You can settle your dispute in there." They could do whatever they wanted once they were inside the abyss. He could not care less.

"Fine!" Liu Yue was infuriated. Chui Yang, in contrast, was stiffened by the heated exchange. He only wanted to get acquainted with the beautiful lady and never thought that the situation would escalate like that.

Qin Feng did not mind since he wanted to enter the abyss as soon as possible.

Yang Pi took out four palm-sized bronze lanterns and handed it to them. "The Northern Abyss does not have much light. This runic equipment would light up to thirty meters around you. It also helps to repel the weaker beasts and keep you safe from being mobbed by the beasts. Finally, it also serves as a recorder to help you register your kill count and exchange for resources later. To rent this, you will need to first deposit 50 million. It's up to you whether you want to take it or not!"

Chapter 494: Mission Accomplished

Qin Feng had no problem with the visibility issue but he was enticed by the device's recording function. Besides, he did not wish to raise suspicion so he took two lanterns.

Chui Yang and Liu Yue took two as well.

Yang Pi opened the gate once both parties had deposited 100 million.

Every time the gate was to be unlatched, the guard needed to haul in the dark ability to first mask the opening so that the beasts inside would not notice.

But the guards could not guarantee that those who entered might not immediately bump into a beast near the entrance. They would only have luck to blame if one were killed this way.

After all, one should already be aware of the enormous risk before coming to the Northern Abyss.

The four of them went through the gate and the light in their surroundings immediately dimmed significantly.

The bronze lantern was the only source of light inside the abyss.

Nonetheless, Qin Feng was not at all bothered by the low visibility.

His ability allowed him to see clearly in the dark.

The mountains extended as far as the eyes could see. There were no tall trees around and even the ground was completely dark. No vegetation was within sight. A large fortress stood tall behind Qin Feng to enclose the entire region.

The walls were built to even the height of the surrounding mountains. A powerful force field that was usually used to shield human cities could be seen extending from the top of the wall. Instead of providing protection, this force field was used to contain the danger within this region.

From inside, even the force field was pitch black. Color was non-existent inside this dark world.

Creak! Dong!

The gate closed up and dissipated some energy resulting from the impact. The slight disturbance did not escape the heightened senses of nearby beasts.

These mutated beasts looked obnoxious. Each measured about 2.5 meters with their skin covered by slimy mucus. The beasts had tiny eyes and disproportionally large fangs. Four of their limbs crawled agilely through the ground with their back humps high.

These beasts sniffed around and suddenly dashed toward the four newcomers.

"I heard some movement. Stay alert, Young Master," Liu Yue warned his young master and glanced at Qin Feng scornfully. He wished to see how the arrogant young man would react in this situation.

To his surprise, Qin Feng seemed rather relaxed.

"Can you still see?" Qin Feng asked. The darkness might not trouble him but could still be a hindrance to Bai Li.

"Not a problem." Bai Li nodded. This was nothing to Bai Li, a formidable spatial beast.

The beasts were closing in fast as they spoke. Its nasty head appeared abruptly as soon as the beast entered the illumination range.

"Ah!!" Chui Yang exclaimed out of surprise.

Liu Yue immediately came in front of Chui Yang and was prepared to stop the beast.

However, Bai Li acted faster. A silver whip appeared in her hand out of nowhere and she lashed it right at the incoming beast.

Woosh!

The whip landed on the beast and instantly tore the beast's flesh. The whip then coiled around its head and beheaded the beast after a strong pull.

Poof!

Blood splashed out from its decapitated neck and stained the ground. But not long after, the ground would turn black again.

Chui Yang and Liu Yue were both dazzled.

They could not believe a powerful C-tier beast had just been killed with such ease. Its life ended within seconds, before both of them could even react.

More beasts appeared from the dark now.

Bai Li whipped her weapon and took care of several beasts in one fell swoop. Not only that but Qin Feng and Bai Li were also marching forward casually into the unknown darkness.

Chui Yang and Liu Yue did not think much and followed them. Qin Feng did not stop them either.

Qin Feng paced forward and did nothing. More beasts gathered around them as they went deeper. C-tier aptitude users usually navigated along the wall instead of walking straight into the beast herd.

They were almost going downhill now!

"This lady… How could she be so strong?" Chui Yang watched Bai Li and knew deep down that he was no match for her.

Liu Yue was even more embarrassed. He had mocked Bai Li and Qin Feng before, which was biting back at him now. Bai Li alone was enough to put down the flock of beasts running at them.

More so, Bai Li had killed fifty beasts within half an hour after they entered the abyss!

"I have completed my mission!" Bai Li said and turned off the recording on her communicator.

"Great!" Qin Feng nodded and turned to Chui Yang, Liu Yue. "Aren't you two here to take the exam as well? The beasts wouldn't kill themselves for you."

Chui Yang had lost his interest in Bai Li altogether. He doubted that Bai Li was only a C-tier after witnessing how she had taken care of the beasts so easily.

'This lady must be hiding her true strength. Even then, her prowess is still way beyond my league. I should not mess with her.'

Chui Yang reckoned it was best to distance himself from Bai Li. He had nothing to withstand the lady if she decided to shut him up with force.

However, his respect and fear were only directed toward Bai Li and not Qin Feng.

"That's none of your business!" Chui Yang said to Qin Feng.

Qin Feng nodded. "You are right. However, if you don't leave now, I am afraid that you may not be able to leave at all."

"What are you saying? Are you threatening my young master?" Liu Yue stepped up imposingly and questioned furiously.

Qin Feng smirked. "It's just a friendly reminder. If you don't want to listen, fine by me."

A saber came into Qin Feng's hand as he spoke.

Verdant Emperor Saber.

The fuchsia flame on it burned brightly. Qin Feng then slashed the saber upward and a blinding radiance soon ascended into the air above.

The fuchsia ray spread out and lit a larger area. beasts within three hundred meters instead of thirty meters had all become visible now.

Chui Yang was shocked by Qin Feng's reckless action. "What are you doing? Are you insane?"

"Stop wasting time with this guy. Let's run, Young Master!"

Liu Yue picked up Chui Yang by his shoulder and stomped on the ground. The reverse momentum immediately sent them backward by a few tens of meters.

"Eh! How about…?!" Chui Yang turned back to glance at Bai Li. He wished to bring Bai Li along. But it was too late. From the light of the saber, Chui Yang could see that hundreds of beasts were lunging at Qin Feng simultaneously.

Chui Yang's face turned pale and he could not muster another word, but he kept turning back to see what was happening.

The most unthinkable event unfolded in front of his very eyes.

Qin Feng did not run. He was calm like still water one second and in the next moment, he swiped his sword rapidly in a perfect circle.

Sword Glare!

Blazing fuchsia rays suddenly exploded following Qin Feng's motion and sliced all the jumping beasts in half.

Horrifyingly, the light from the saber had attracted more and more beasts toward him.

Chapter 495: Abyss, or Slaughterhouse?

It soon turned into a recurring cycle. Qin Feng kept his movements minimal while Bai Li did not get involved at all. It was like Qin Feng and Bai Li had switched roles from earlier on.

"They are the beasts here!" Chui Yang could not find any other words to describe them.

Qin Feng did not care about the two spectators and continued his massacre.

Ever since they had decided to relocate Fengli, Qin Feng had not been hunting for a long time till today. Parallel training through normal means could hardly satisfy his appetite as an aptitude user with the Absorption Ability.

Hence, he was determined to kill as many beasts as he could since such a chance was hard to come by nowadays.

Numerous beasts were continuously drawn in by Qin Feng but he kept on slaying them down. The corpses began to pile up under him. Qin Feng could feel an ample amount of energy being absorbed into his body through his legs.

'This is awesome!'

C-tier beasts were clearly different from D-tiers. The amount of energy available for absorption in the former greatly exceeded that of the latter.

The key was Qin Feng's glimmering Verdant Saber. It served as a beacon in this dark world that continuously drew more beasts to him.

'Kill! Kill them all!!'

Qin Feng's saber sliced through the air tirelessly and cut down one after another beast crawling out from the abyss.

"Howl!"

A figure clearly larger than the other beasts emerged. It was a beast general judging by the volume of its aura. That was not all, two other beast generals subsequently revealed themselves right behind the first.

Liu Yue and Chui Yang watched in horror.

Though the C-tier beast general was not as scary as a beast king, a normal C-tier aptitude user would still find it difficult to face a beast general alone.

They wanted to see how Qin Feng would fight three generals at once.

Qin Feng was not bothered by their abrupt entrance. He waited and launched his attack only after the three beast generals charged at him.

"Magma burst!"

Qin Feng triggered his conscious energy and directed a stream of magma right at those beast generals. He followed through and launched his saber.

"Burning Sword Glare!"

The flame looked more like viscous magma and instantly tore apart the general's hardened skin.

In a flash, Qin Feng's saber had cut through the beast numerous times before it could react.

For Qin Feng, it only took slightly longer to finish off one beast general as compared to a minion.

To an outsider, the powerful C-tier beast general seemed toothless in front of Qin Feng. The truth was, the beast did not become weaker. It was Qin Feng that was inhumanly strong!

As time passed, Chui Yang and Liu Yue's legs began to numb after prolonged squatting. When they looked at their communicator only then did they realize that they had watched a C-tier battle for an hour straight.

"This person must be a well-known aptitude user. He is too strong. Not even a B-tier could do what he did. Besides, his understanding of ancient martial arts is… out of this world." Liu Yue said with mixed feelings. He was envious and looked more embarrassed than ever.

He regretted looking down on Qin Feng earlier on.

Chui Yang nodded grudgingly as well. He had to admit Qin Feng was truly outrageous.

"Forget it. These two are not someone we can mess around with. Uncle Liu, let's move to another spot and work on my mission."

"Okay. Young Master, let's go this way."

"After you."

The two of them left Qin Feng's hunting ground and began to search for their prey. Probably because Qin Feng had attracted most of the beasts to him, the number of remaining beasts became scarce. They managed to found a lone beast rather quickly.

It took Chui Yang a great deal to finally kill a single beast. It hurt him to recall how dominated Qin Feng and Bai Li were against the same C-tier beast. Though his life was not threatened in the process, the time to finish one battle was extremely long in comparison.

After half a day had passed, the bronze lantern glowed differently to remind them it was night time soon.

Not only would the beasts' power grow significantly during the night, but the force field around the region would be enhanced too. It was extremely tough to withstand the growing pressure inside the abyss during the night even for a C-tier. Hence, the lantern served as a signal to warn the users, asking them to abort the abyss as soon as possible.

Qin Feng did not plan to disobey the retreat call. He sheathed the saber and used his consciousness to chase away the beasts that tried to chase after him.

Qin Feng and Bai Li were not the only ones retreating at this time. There were about fifty users at the front gate when they arrived.

Creak!

The gate opened once again and the gathered aptitude users walked out swiftly.

Surprisingly, no beast was seen pursuing the departing group like it usually would. Yang Pi remained vigilant despite the rare quietness from inside and shut the gate immediately.

"Please return your bronze lantern so we can record the kill count and point reward."

The small crowd queued up in an orderly fashion. Though most of them were B-tiers, they had no conflict with each other. Some even began to exchange information while waiting for their turn.

Everyone needed info on how to navigate safely through the ever-dangerous abyss.

The Northern Abyss was not only a place full of fallen beasts but numerous elects had also paid their lives in it.

Hence, to minimize the number of casualties, most explorers would tacitly tell each other about what they found and where they had gone on that particular day. This could also increase the chances of their body and runic equipment being found if any misfortune were to happen to them in the future.

The aptitude users submitted their scores one by one. Chui Yang was from the famous Chui family so the others let him go first.

"Nice job, Young Master. You had killed 12 beasts today!"

The beast inside the Northern Abyss usually moved in groups. If the candidate did not enter the abyss in a group, then it would spell doom for the aptitude user.

In other words, the most important thing was not how to kill the beast, but how to locate and kill a lone beast.

Chui Yang was lucky that most of the beasts he found were alone. However, he was not at all delighted because he knew the real reason behind this "luck".

"It's nothing spectacular!" Chui Yang forced a smile.

"At this rate, you would complete the C-tier mission in five days. Allow me to congratulate you in advance," Yang Pi complimented Chui Yang as he tried to fawn the influential young master.

Chui Yang paid little attention to him. 'How many beasts did he kill, I wonder.'

This was when he heard an exclamation coming from the adjacent line.

"Fifty in one day? Where did she come from?"

Everyone turned to Bai Li.

The materials gained by killing the beasts in the Northern Abyss had little market value. Yet, the reward was very lucrative.

A C-tier beast was equal to 1 point, and 1 point was equivalent to 100 million.

Cumulatively, fifty beasts were equal to 5 billion. Though it was not a big sum to a C-tier, the number could add up handsomely to 150 billion in a month. That was more rewarding and less risky than trying to kill a D-tier beast emperor!