Chapter 440 - 297: Pushing Open the Star Gate: The Myriad Cultivation Technique Star Sea

Guo Xiaobao felt his spine had never been straighter.

At that moment, he felt like the coolest kid on the block, walking with a swagger in his step.

He glanced at the Daoist Palace disciple who had mocked him earlier. The disciple was now cowering at the back of the crowd, his head hung so low he looked like he wanted to bury his face in his crotch.

"Make way, make way!"

Guo Xiaobao puffed out his chest like a victorious rooster, waving his hands exaggeratedly to part the air as if a great mountain truly blocked his path.

"Can’t you see an honored guest is coming through? Get out of the way!"

The crowd, which had been packed shoulder to shoulder, parted to the sides with a great WHOOSH, just like the Red Sea before Moses.

No one was the least bit annoyed by Guo Xiaobao’s borrowed bravado.

Everyone’s gaze went past the boisterous little guide, landing on the calm young man behind him.

The looks in their eyes were incredibly complex.

There was envy—the sour stench of their jealousy, of their desperate wish to be in his shoes, was so thick you could smell it from a mile away.

There was jealousy. ’Why should an outsider be the one to get a Cyan Cloud Order?’

And there was deep-seated apprehension.

A Tier Four Magic Technique.

In an era where most people were still brawling with Tier Two and Tier Three Martial Arts, he was holding a Tier Four Magic Technique.

That was like being in a kindergarten slap fight, and suddenly, one kid pulls a Gatling gun out of his pants.

’How is anyone supposed to compete with that?’

"Is this the world of the Celestial Prides?"

Someone swallowed hard and muttered, "Who was it that called him a country bumpkin earlier?"

The person next to him immediately jabbed him hard with an elbow and cursed under their breath:

"Shut up! If you want to die, don’t drag me down with you!

That’s a monster the director of the Myriad Laws Hall personally gave the token to. You dare to talk smack about him?"

Han Feng turned a deaf ear to the surrounding chatter.

He toyed with the smooth, warm Cyan Cloud Order, feeling the faint Spiritual Power flowing across its surface. ’I wonder what hidden functions this thing has besides a discount,’ he mused.

"Boss, this way. Watch your step."

Guo Xiaobao led the way with a fawning expression, his posture more attentive than if he were waiting on his own father.

"The Hall of Myriad Spirits is on the top floor. We have to take the private access route."

Han Feng nodded and followed him.

Only when their figures disappeared around the corner into the VIP elevator did the tense atmosphere in the grand hall finally dissipate.

It was immediately followed by an explosion of conversation.

"My God, was that for real? Am I dreaming?"

"I recorded the whole thing! That one palm strike completely flattened the test target!

This video will definitely go viral if I post it on the forums!"

"Do you think he’s the illegitimate son of some reclusive old monster?

Or maybe an inheritor of one of those legendary ’Civilization Fragments’?"

Amidst the clamor, the atmosphere in the area before the Technique Optimization Challenge leaderboard was strangely delicate.

Ji Tianxing, who had been ranked first and was now pushed down to second, didn’t fly into a thunderous rage as everyone expected.

The young man, dressed in the Flowing Cloud Robe of the Kunlun Daoist Palace, stared with great interest in the direction Han Feng had disappeared, a playful smile gracing his lips.

"Interesting."

Ji Tianxing’s fingers tapped a light, rhythmic beat against the exoskeleton Arm Guard on his forearm.

"I thought this trip to Dragon Abyss would just be the usual crowd of us playing around. I didn’t expect a dark horse to show up out of nowhere."

He turned his head to look at a tall figure not far away.

It was Nalan Qing, the young lady of the Divine Shield Biological Research Institute.

She was dressed in a form-fitting white combat suit with a pair of tactical goggles perched on her face, fiddling with a miniature analyzer in her hands.

"What’s your take?" Ji Tianxing asked.

Nalan Qing pushed the goggles up the bridge of her nose. A stream of blue data flowed across the lenses.

"A purely logical construct. It was perfect."

Her voice was cool and devoid of emotion. "I’ve analyzed the data. His micro-control over the Energy Particles was on the micrometer scale.

That’s not something you can achieve through luck or a simple ’epiphany.’ He has his own complete theoretical framework."

At this, Nalan Qing paused, looking up at the name sitting high atop the leaderboard—Han Feng.

Score: 15,800.

Her own score, meanwhile, was a pitiful 4,920.

"However..."

Nalan Qing’s tone shifted. "He’s gone."

Nalan Qing pointed to the empty testing area. "He got what he wanted, so he stopped grinding for points."

"Exactly."

Ji Tianxing laughed, the fighting spirit in his eyes intensifying. "As long as he doesn’t continue, this is our chance."

While Han Feng’s burst of power was certainly terrifying—jacking his score straight up to over fifteen thousand—this was the Myriad Laws Hall.

The rules here were simple: as long as you had the money and the copyrights to enough Low Tier Techniques, you could grind forever.

Han Feng had won with quality, turning a Tier One technique into a Tier Four and earning a terrifyingly high score in a single go.

But for people like them—Noble Family Members and corporate elites—the two things they never lacked were resources and money.

’If we can’t beat him in quality, we’ll beat him in quantity!’

’Even if we only earn a few hundred points at a time, if we do it a hundred, two hundred times, we’ll eventually surpass him!’

Nalan Qing deactivated her tactical goggles, revealing a pair of eyes filled with a feral glint.

"He took a prize, but it wasn’t part of the challenge’s official rewards. That means the slot is still open..."

She looked at Ji Tianxing, lifting her chin in a challenge.

"And I’m taking it."

Ji Tianxing let out a hearty laugh, and his Daoist robe billowed as if stirred by an unseen wind.

"What a coincidence. I was thinking the same thing."

The two locked eyes, their gazes colliding in midair with the crackle of invisible sparks.

The pride unique to top-tier geniuses would never allow them to surrender without a fight.

The next second, as if by silent agreement, they both turned and strode toward the technique-selection light screens.