Grinding to Become the Master of the Universe

A Level 6 Killing Technique—the *Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear*!

Qin Feng’s eyes narrowed. He thrust his own spear forward, its tip vibrating and transforming into overlapping curtains of light, shielding him completely.

It was the Level 6 Killing Technique—*Shattered Star*!

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

The dense cacophony of metal striking metal erupted like a torrential downpour, sending sparks flying.

Relying on his Control of *Shattered Star*, Qin Feng barely managed to block the ferocious assault, but his expression grew increasingly grim.

He could clearly sense that his opponent’s execution of *Shattered Star* surpassed his own in power, speed, and energy concentration!

"You’ve practiced *Shattered Star* as well?"

Qin Feng asked in a low voice.

"*Shattered Star*, *Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear*, *Raging Waves Rolling the Snow*, and *Dragon Raising its Head*."

Jinmu calmly recited the four names. "I have practiced all four of these Level 6 spear techniques to the Control Realm."

Qin Feng’s heart sank.

Four techniques!

His opponent had actually practiced four completely different Level 6 Killing Techniques, all to the Control Realm!

This was a true master of the spear!

The rest of the battle became completely one-sided.

All of Qin Feng’s variations, all his lines of attack, seemed to be within his opponent’s predictions.

His vaunted combat experience seemed so pale and insignificant before an opponent who was also a spear master, one whose knowledge was far broader than his own.

His opponent had practiced nearly every spear technique he knew, and even understood them on a deeper level.

’This is an impossible fight!’

Qin Feng was forced into a desperate situation. He constantly changed his spear techniques, incorporating everything he had learned in his life, every skill he possessed.

Defense, counterattack, evasive maneuvers, all-out assault...

He racked his brain, constantly adapting, trying to find a glimmer of hope.

But against Jinmu’s offensive—a Heaven and Earth Net woven from four different Control Realm Killing Techniques—all his efforts were like waves crashing against a reef, easily shattered.

Another half-hour of brutal fighting passed.

Qin Feng was covered in blood, his light armor riddled with spear marks of varying depths.

He was once again forced back by one of Jinmu’s spear thrusts. A tightness gripped his chest, and he nearly coughed up blood.

Under the extreme pressure, driven by the purest desire for victory, Qin Feng’s mind entered an unprecedented state of ethereal clarity.

Everything he had learned and comprehended over the past hundred-plus years flashed through his mind.

From the initial *Ten-Complete Hand* to his introductory Lower Three Levels Killing Technique, then to the *Golden Throne* that first brought him recognition, followed by the *Heavy Spear*, the *Triple Spear*, the *Hundred Boats Struggle Stream*, and finally, the current *Shattered Star*...

Scene after scene, technique after technique, flowed before his eyes like a movie.

’Can these Killing Techniques, these Wills... merge into one?’

At that very moment, above his brow, the two golden Divine Chosen Nails—invisible to ordinary people and formed due to his status as one of the Emperor’s Divine Chosen—suddenly erupted in a brilliant light!

BOOM!

Qin Feng felt as if a hundred million bolts of lightning had exploded in his mind all at once.

That final paper-thin barrier that had troubled him for so long, separating all his Killing Techniques, was brutally torn asunder at that moment!

In that instant, everything he had learned in his life was completely integrated and mastered!

"Hah!"

Qin Feng let out a roar that came from the depths of his soul. The Long Spear in his hand was no longer bound by the forms of any single Killing Technique.

The hundred-plus Mental Power-Spiritual Energy aggregation modules in his body began to operate simultaneously, in a way that was unprecedentedly unified and harmonious!

All his power, all his Will, all his comprehension, poured into this single spear thrust!

A lifetime of learning, forged into a single technique: Qian Yuan!

As this spear thrust out, the very space of the arena seemed to freeze.

The spear tip not only condensed a physical power capable of destroying everything, but also faintly emanated a vast and majestic Mental Power pressure!

This technique already possessed the barest semblance of a Level 7 Killing Technique!

This was the most supreme, most perfect spear thrust Qin Feng could unleash at this moment!

Facing this strike, a flicker of admiration passed through Jinmu’s eyes.

His movement was equally simple.

Without dodging or evading, he too thrust his spear forward.

His spear tip did not aim for Qin Feng’s. Instead, from an impossibly clever angle, it tapped a spot on the shaft of Qin Feng’s spear, three inches to the side.

That was the precise node where the energy flow was most sluggish and unstable, a result of Qin Feng forcibly merging the Wills of all his Killing Techniques.

A flaw that not even Qin Feng himself had noticed.

TINK.

A soft sound.

Qin Feng’s spear thrust—the one that integrated his life’s work and approached the power of a Level 7 Killing Technique—instantly dissipated like a popped balloon.

The immense energy, now out of control, exploded along the shaft of his spear, violently throwing him backward.

The match was decided.

Qin Feng lay on the edge of the arena, staring at the ceiling. His chest heaved violently, but there wasn’t the slightest trace of dejection on his face.

He had lost.

And he accepted his defeat wholeheartedly.

There was always someone better.

"Your comprehension is superior to mine."

Jinmu walked over to him, retracted his Long Spear, and said calmly.

"It’s a shame I didn’t get to face an even stronger you. If that last strike of yours had been just a little more harmonious, the outcome would have been uncertain."

He extended a hand to Qin Feng.

"Let’s add each other on the Subspace Network. We can have a friendly match sometime if we get the chance."

Jinmu smiled.

"Sounds good."

Qin Feng took his hand and used the leverage to stand up, returning the smile.

On the arena floor, the two of them exchanged contact information on the Subspace Network.

Then, Qin Feng turned and walked crisply off the arena.

[Contestant Qin Feng has been eliminated from this round.]

[Final ranking is being calculated based on elimination time...]