John looked at Harvian calmly.

"Could there be a mistake?"

He repeated the question with faint mockery.

"Your badge is No. 2, isn’t it, Harvian?"

"Am I wrong?"

The instant Harvian heard the number, his face turned ashen.

"Impossible!"

"How could you know my badge number?"

John had no intention of explaining his deduction talent.

"A dead man does not need to know so much."

Before the final word faded, Harvian disappeared.

He crossed one hundred thousand miles in a single movement, fleeing without hesitation.

Harvian understood that John’s combat power far exceeded his own. Fighting directly would be foolish.

However, he did not believe John could necessarily catch him.

John also had a hunter.

If Harvian could delay the battle until John’s designated hunter arrived, the two of them might be able to cooperate.

The rules prevented John from killing anyone other than Harvian, but they did not prevent John’s hunter from attacking him.

That was Harvian’s only chance.

As he fled, his body trembled and the projection of an ancient treasure appeared behind him.

It was a tree.

The tree was an innate cosmic spiritual root. Nine blossoms surrounded a single central flower, and ancient Dao patterns covered its bark, leaves, branches, and roots.

According to legend, the spiritual root had been born near the ancient Ethelun River when the first shadows of creation separated from primordial nothingness.

Its fruit could preserve the body from decay and allow the soul to transcend ordinary restraints.

The spiritual root was not merely a cultivation resource.

It was also a supreme defensive treasure.

Ordinary transcendent Saint-grade items could not harm it, and its supporting abilities were astonishing.

John’s eyes brightened when he saw it.

"What an excellent treasure."

He raised one hand.

A wheel no larger than a fingernail appeared above his palm.

It was the Sovereign-rank treasure he had obtained earlier.

The Chaos Space-Time Wheel.

The wheel began rotating above John’s head.

It expanded from the size of a fingernail to the size of a grape, then an apple, then a fist.

In the next moment, it became an enormous wheel towering across the sky.

Countless markings covered its surface.

One side recorded the measures of time, from cosmic eras and years to months, days, hours, minutes, seconds, and intervals too small for ordinary beings to perceive.

The other side contained images of universes, star regions, galaxies, solar systems, planets, planes, cities, mountains, rivers, birds, beasts, and all forms of life.

The Chaos Space-Time Wheel was forged from Chaos Origin.

It represented dominion over the myriad things existing within space and time.

This was the first time John had used it in battle.

He had not ignored the treasure before. It simply required complete refinement before it could be activated.

His true body had remained within the Myriad Races Universe, refining the wheel in the Thirty-Three Heavens Plane.

Only recently had the process been completed.

Now John could finally display its true power.

Harvian looked back and saw the enormous wheel.

His eyes widened.

"So it was you!"

"You were the one who purchased the Chaos Space-Time Wheel at the Heroic Spirit Corridor!"

John did not answer.

He lifted his hand and activated the treasure.

A deep humming sound spread across the secret realm.

Hum.

The instant the wheel rang, pale waves of law power appeared around it.

They expanded in every direction at unimaginable speed.

In the blink of an eye, the ripples covered all of Secret Realm No. 1.

Everything they touched stopped.

Participants, beasts, drifting light, flowing rivers, falling leaves, fragments of space, and even the smallest particles of dust became motionless.

It was not merely the physical world that had been frozen.

The souls and thoughts of the participants also stopped.

Even the souls of top Saint-grade powerhouses were unable to resist.

Every person remained fixed in their previous posture, as though the entire secret realm had been paused.

The Chaos Space-Time Wheel had rotated only once.

Time had stopped.

All things fell silent.

Only John remained conscious and free to move.

He walked through the frozen world and looked at Harvian.

A faint smile appeared on his face.

The wheel rotated twice more.

New waves of translucent law power spread outward.

This time, John did not allow them to cover the entire secret realm.

He concentrated every ripple upon Harvian.

The pale waves passed over Harvian’s body.

In an instant, his flesh was divided into countless particles.

The spatial power did not stop there.

Layer after layer of cutting force continued to descend, shredding his body, soul, Divine Sense, and life imprint.

The Chaos Space-Time Wheel had sounded only twice and completed only three rotations.

That was enough.

Harvian, who had occupied twenty-first place in the early-stage ranking, died without being able to resist.

System notifications sounded beside John’s ears.

[Ding! You have killed Harvian, a ninth-stage High God.]

[Experience gained: +132,456,789.]

[Gold Coins gained: +12,366,781.]

[Fame gained: +1,312,456,781.]

[Ding! Your plundering talent has activated.]

[Extreme Dao Law comprehension gained: +100.]

[Ding! Automatic collection activated.]

[High God-level items obtained: +200.]

[Innate spiritual root obtained: Ethelun Bone Core.]

[Congratulations. You have killed your designated hunting target.]

[You have obtained advancement qualification.]

John smiled.

The harvest was excellent.

He had obtained two hundred High God-level items, additional Extreme Dao Law comprehension, and an innate cosmic spiritual root.

More importantly, he had completed the hunting objective and secured one of the ten advancement positions in Secret Realm No. 1.

Before he could examine the Ethelun Bone Core, the voice of the will of the universe echoed across all three secret realms.

[Congratulations to John of the Skyvault Consortium for completing his advancement-stage objective.]

[John is the first participant to obtain advancement qualification.]

[The final ranking of the Myriad Worlds Tournament is now active.]

[Until the tournament ends, John temporarily occupies first place.]

The announcement stunned every participant.

Those who had already suspected that John’s strength was unfathomable were shocked for a different reason.

How had he found his target so quickly?

What method had he used?

The stage had barely begun, and most participants had not even identified a single badge holder.

Yet John had already located No. 2, completed the hunt, and claimed first place.

Those unfamiliar with John searched their memories for information about him.

Most found almost nothing.

He had not been listed among the publicly recognized supreme powerhouses.

His reputation across the innumerable universes remained limited.

Nevertheless, his name now occupied the top of the final-stage ranking.

No one could dismiss this result as luck or manipulation.

Some had complained that the early-stage ranking contained too many uncertainties.

This ranking was different.

Every participant had entered under the same rules.

The first person to complete the hunting objective was first.

There was no hidden calculation and no subjective evaluation.

John had achieved something that even the recognized supreme powerhouses had failed to do.

His speed alone proved that his strength, perception, deduction ability, or all three stood at the summit of the current generation.

Aldric heard the announcement and gave a bitter smile.

"Kaine was right."

"John possesses terrifying strength."

"I underestimated him."

Kaine reacted with both surprise and acceptance.

"John."

"You have finally revealed yourself."

He had always suspected that John could compete with the recognized supreme powerhouses.

Now John had become the first participant to advance and temporarily occupied first place.

The evidence could no longer be ignored.

Across the secret realm, participants raised their heads toward the newly formed golden ranking.

At its highest position, one name shone brighter than all others.

John.