Elder Ran's anger could no longer be concealed. When the three mercenaries he had sent to the Sleeping Dragon Forest were found by sect patrols in a state of complete paralysis—their dantians utterly destroyed without any significant external wounds—Elder Ran nearly destroyed his own private chamber.He now knew. The young man named Kevin was not a sheep that could be slaughtered in a dark corner. He was a wolf hiding among the sheep.Since he could no longer use hidden methods without drawing the Sect Leader's suspicion, Elder Ran chose the most brutal and legal path. He submitted an emergency motion in the elders' meeting: To accelerate the **Blue Cloud Summit Tournament**, which should have been held five months later, to this week."Our disciples have been idle for too long! We need to see who deserves core resources," Elder Ran argued before the other elders. With his great influence and political promises, he succeeded in winning the majority vote. And according to tournament ru

"You know," Kevin said, his voice calm and clearly audible amid the arena's silence, "I just wanted to sit quietly, wait for an old man to appear, and then go home to my wife and children. Why do you people always force me to clean up trash?"Yan Wu did not reply with words. His body vanished.*BOOM!*The ground beneath Yan Wu's feet exploded. He appeared directly above Kevin's head, his ten elongated, blackened fingers stabbing downward at a speed surpassing sound. A lethal attack from the Nascent Soul realm!The spectators screamed. Karina shut her eyes, unable to bear watching the young man be torn apart.However, the sound of tearing flesh was not heard.*TING!*A deafening sound of collision echoed. Karina opened her eyes and saw a sight that made her breath catch.Kevin did not dodge. He merely raised one bare hand. Yan Wu's dagger-sharp fingers stabbed right into Kevin's palm... yet could not penetrate his skin even a millimeter deep. The black blood dripping from Yan Wu's fing

On the ground, Elder Ran, who was crawling, stared at the scene. His brain processed the fact that the Black Circle Sect Leader was far stronger than Wajik, and Wajik had just destroyed him with ease.*If I had fought him earlier...* Ran thought, his body trembling so violently that he wet himself. *He... he could kill me with one finger. All this time... I was merely an ant trying to bite a mountain.*The entire Blue Cloud Sect, from the wounded Sect Leader, the elders, to ordinary disciples, slowly realized what had just happened. They stared at the back of the young man in simple robes."He... he saved us...""Kevin!""Thank you, Senior Kevin!"Cheers erupted. Thousands of people hailed Kevin's name. Those who had been cowardly and wanted to flee now knelt on the ground, worshipping the young man they had just insulted.Kevin ignored the cheers. He turned, about to drive off the remaining members of the Black Circle Sect who were now trembling in fear.However, before he could open

The killing intent Kevin released was not the aura of an ordinary cultivator. It was not spiritual pressure born from meditation in mountain caves. It was *Killing Intent* forged in the sea of blood of Planet Trigana, condensed when he withstood a star core's explosion in Vivendi, and perfected when he crushed the Final Guardian's heart in Alaska.It was the aura of a War God who had seen the edge of the universe and stared directly into the eyes of destruction.*WUUUUUSH!*The sky above the Blue Cloud Sect instantly turned blood red. Not a metaphor, but a visual illusion projected by Kevin's aura into the retinas of those hundreds of cultivators.Suddenly, those hundreds of cultivators no longer saw the sect courtyard. They saw themselves floating in airless space, surrounded by the corpses of cosmic monsters the size of continents. They felt the coldness of despair, the metallic smell of blood from billions of lives, and the cold gaze of a figure in silver robes (the Cosmic Emperor)

Kevin swallowed the meteorite crystal sand with difficulty, using the Essence of Light and Shadow to coat his throat so it would not tear. He did it purely to keep the old man before him happy.However, right as the grains of sand slid down, the roaring desert wind suddenly stopped.Silence.The grains of crystal sand floating in the air seemed to freeze, held by an invisible gravity. Kevin turned and gasped.Yun He was no longer crawling on the ground. The old man now stood upright. His tattered robe fluttered gently even though there was no wind. Most astonishing of all were his eyes. That wild, mad gaze had completely vanished, replaced by a look incredibly old, incredibly deep, and full of painful wisdom. It was the eyes of someone who had seen the birth and death of thousands of stars."You swallowed that sand... just to make Grandpa smile, did you not?" Yun He's voice sounded. This time, his voice did not screech. His voice was heavy, calm, and echoed with a resonance that made