Grinding to Become the Master of the Universe

With Qin Feng’s affirmative reply, the smile on Fire Circle’s face grew even brighter.

As he inched forward with the queue, he leaned in, lowered his voice, and continued speaking to Qin Feng. "Heh heh, great, I’m glad you agree. Bro, let me tell you, there’s a reason I was so eager to team up with you."

He jutted his chin toward the figures at the front of the line, whose auras were clearly more potent, a hint of gravity in his eyes.

"See those guys? You can feel it, right? A lot of them are clearly a whole lot stronger than ’newcomers’ like us who just reached the Planet-level."

Fire Circle’s voice grew serious. "Those people... you can tell at a glance they’re old hands who’ve been soaking in the Planet-level for at least a century, maybe even longer. Their Psychic Cores are probably polished to an incredible density, their accumulated Mental Power far surpasses ours, and I bet their level-seven killing techniques are already well-honed."

"I see them."

Qin Feng nodded slightly.

’He’d noticed this as soon as he arrived.’

The auras of those powerhouses were like deep-sea undercurrents—seemingly calm, but actually containing a terrifying force capable of shredding anything to pieces.

’Compared to them, a ’newcomer’ like me, who’s only just condensed three Spiritual Power Drops, has a visibly massive gap in terms of foundation.’

"Exactly."

Fire Circle nodded and continued, "And that’s the fundamental reason for the selection mechanism in our ’minor battle zone’."

"Even though we’re all at the Planet-level, the power disparity is just too great. If they just threw us into direct combat duels, it would be incredibly unfair to newcomers like us who just advanced."

"So,"

Fire Circle’s tone took on a mysterious edge. "The core of the minor battle zone’s rules isn’t to see who has the strongest immediate combat power."

"Oh?"

Qin Feng’s eyebrow twitched. That was unexpected. "I’m listening."

Seeing that he had successfully piqued Qin Feng’s curiosity, Fire Circle looked quite pleased with himself. He cleared his throat and began to explain in detail. "The minor battle zone competition isn’t about combat, but about something more fundamental—comprehension, potential, cultivation speed, even mental fortitude!

"The judges will synthesize all of that to give every single contestant a comprehensive ’potential rating’."

"In the end, they’ll screen for the geniuses with the highest potential ratings and give them a direct pass to advance to the real major battle zone competition."

"After all,"

Fire Circle spread his hands, stating the obvious. "The major battle zone competition is said to grant advancers a massive amount of top-tier resources—enough to make any Planet-level Strongman green with envy."

"Resources that precious have to be prioritized for the ’saplings’ with the greatest potential and the highest future prospects to avoid any waste. Makes sense, right?"

"I see."

Qin Feng nodded thoughtfully.

’This rule is certainly more reasonable than a simple contest of strength,’ he thought. ’It better reflects the essence of a "Genius Battle"—it’s about selecting for the future, not the present.’

"How exactly will they test us?"

Qin Feng pressed.

"Ah, now we’re getting to the heart of it."

Fire Circle gave a mysterious smile. "You’ve heard of the Extreme Enlightenment Stele, right?"

"I have."

Qin Feng nodded again.

’The Extreme Enlightenment Stele is a legendary treasured artifact of inheritance.’

’Its main stele is inscribed with the ultimate Martial Dao arts left behind by countless powerful predecessors, and it even possesses the miraculous ability to greatly amplify a Martial Artist’s comprehension.’

’Qin Feng himself had meditated before the branch steles at the Extreme Martial Arts Hall on several occasions and had benefited immensely.’

"That makes it easier to explain."

Fire Circle said, "Inside our Ultramarines Chapter, besides the main Extreme Enlightenment Stele where countless Martial Artists have left their ultimate techniques, many top-tier powerhouses have also created similar ’Inheritance Steles’."

"The effect of these Inheritance Steles is very similar to the Extreme Enlightenment Stele. They also contain the complete and powerful mental will left by a powerhouse, embodying the ultimate killing techniques they mastered in their lifetime."

"However..."

Fire Circle’s tone shifted as he stressed, "These privately made Inheritance Steles don’t have the heaven-defying ability of the Extreme Enlightenment Stele to directly amplify one’s comprehension. They’re more like pure, high-efficiency ’teaching tools,’ if you know what I mean."

"I understand."

Qin Feng nodded.

’Of course he understood.’

’The teaching method of these Inheritance Steles was far superior to simply buying a Cultivation Technique manual from the Imperial Trading House and learning from cold data streams and 3D holographic images.’

’This was because starting from level-seven killing techniques, the core of a Cultivation Technique was no longer just about simple moves and energy circulation paths. It began to involve the more profound level of "mental will."’

’This kind of thing—something that could only be understood intuitively, not explained in words—could only be best comprehended and absorbed through a real, face-to-face method of transmission.’

’One could even say that for level-eight, level-nine, and the even more profound Black Hole-level Secret Techniques, this method of transmission via Inheritance Stele would become the sole, primary method.’

’Meanwhile, 3D data-stream teaching would gradually be phased out, as it was incapable of bearing such a majestic mental will.’

"Exactly!"

Fire Circle snapped his fingers. "This minor battle zone competition is going to be conducted using exactly that—an Inheritance Stele."

"The organizers will provide an Inheritance Stele inscribed with a complete level-seven killing technique. But don’t you dare underestimate this technique."

Fire Circle’s expression turned incredibly grave. "According to the intel I’ve gathered, this killing technique is usually a masterpiece created by one of the supreme powerhouses in our Warband—someone who has reached the ’Sealing King’ level—back when they were young."