"Don’t be in such a hurry to graduate from Canaan."

"I know that at your cultivation speed, it probably won’t take you more than a few years to meet the graduation requirements."

Qin Yonglin explained, "But you need to understand, the Starry Sky Cup Martial Dao competition is held every few years, which is actually quite frequent.

My advice is to spend a few more years polishing your skills at the university. Participate in a few more Starry Sky Cups and build up your ’database of opponents’ until it’s massive. Only then should you consider graduating."

Seeing Qin Feng’s thoughtful expression, Qin Yonglin continued, "Because once you graduate from Cannan Star Martial Arts University and achieve a high enough rank in the Starry Sky Cup, you’ll automatically earn an incredibly precious qualification—the right to participate in the ’Cosmic Genius Battle’!"

"The Cosmic Genius Battle?"

Qin Feng murmured in surprise.

"That’s right."

Qin Yonglin’s eyes filled with yearning and awe. "That is the ultimate stage for all top-tier geniuses! You’ll be facing monsters just like you, or even more demonic than you!"

"Against those true monsters, factors that influence combat power—like talent and Killing Techniques—might not create a significant gap.

In the end, the competition comes down to who has more combat experience, who has seen more Killing Techniques, and who can find their opponent’s most fatal weakness in an instant!

Only if the ’database of opponents’ you accumulate at Canaan is vast enough will you be qualified to compete with those true chosen ones!"

"If... you can distinguish yourself in the Cosmic Genius Battle,"

Qin Yonglin’s voice held a trace of a tremor. "Then you will directly enter the most core training echelon! The achievements you could reach in the future would be beyond anyone’s imagination!"

He took a deep breath, his gaze burning as he looked at Qin Feng, and said word by word, "I’m not telling you this as some idle fantasy. It’s because I truly believe... Qin Feng, you have the potential to earn a spot in the Cosmic Genius Battle, and you have a chance to distinguish yourself there!"

After speaking, he clapped Qin Feng heavily on the shoulder again, a hearty smile spreading across his face. "Keep it up, Qin Feng!"

"Okay."

Qin Feng nodded heavily.

Qin Yonglin’s heartfelt advice had unveiled for him a grander, more distant, and magnificent landscape on the path of the Martial Dao.

As the battle concluded, the crowd of onlookers, filled with satisfaction and shock, gradually dispersed while chattering amongst themselves.

This breathtaking duel was destined to be a topic of conversation for them for a long time to come.

And recordings of this battle, spreading at a viral speed, once again set the private forums of Cannan Star Martial Arts University ablaze.

[BOMBSHELL! Qin Feng Fights Again! 18,000 Life Force Index, Defeats Staff Fool Qin Yonglin Head-On!]

[OFFICIALLY CONFIRMED! Hidden Dragon Rankings Updated! Qin Feng Skyrockets to 81st Place!]

[Still the same unreasonable Qin Feng! Only a year after advancing to the Sixth Level, he directly reaches the First Great Limit! Is he even human?]

[IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS: How exactly did Qin Feng cultivate a Fourth-level Killing Technique from scratch to Perfection in just one year? Searching through the school’s history, has any senior ever done it before?]

A technical analysis thread quickly attracted countless replies.

[Yeah, bro, there have been. Our Cannan Star Martial Arts University has been around for 2.2 billion years. We’ve produced way more freakish demons than you can imagine.

Forget reaching Perfection in a year. I remember the school records mention someone who pushed a Fourth-level Sword Technique into the Perfection Realm in just three months.]

[The poster above is talking about the ’Sword God’ Li Wuyi, right? That guy’s a legend, you can’t use him as a regular benchmark.

But even so, Qin Feng’s speed is definitely among the absolute top tier.]

...

Qin Feng, naturally, was completely unaware of the storm brewing on the forums.

He never had the habit of intensely surfing the web or searching for his own battle records.

With that time, he would rather polish his Killing Techniques one more time.

He returned to Dragon Jade, Nissan, and Ning Jing’s side.

He looked at Ning Jing, who wore a complicated expression, and a familiar smile—the one from before the battle—appeared on his face.

"Senior Ning Jing, now, it’s our turn, isn’t it?"

"I’m not fighting! Not fighting!"

Who would have thought? Ning Jing’s head shook like a pellet drum. He waved his hands repeatedly, and for the first time, his perpetually unchanging iceberg expression showed a look that could only be described as "thanks, but no thanks."

"You guy!"

Ning Jing said, caught between laughter and tears, "It’s only been a year, and your life force has already skyrocketed to eighteen thousand, and your Killing Technique has reached Perfection. I just broke through to ’Lesser Achievement.’ Wouldn’t fighting you be asking for a beating? No way! I’m absolutely not fighting!"

"HAHAHAHA—"

His frank to-the-point-of-being-cute concession instantly caused Dragon Jade and Nissan to erupt into unrestrained, deafening laughter.

Even Qin Feng himself was amused by Ning Jing’s rarely seen, awkward appearance.

The tense battle atmosphere was completely washed away by the joyous laughter.

A satisfying and exhilarating battle had ended in a way that was both unexpected and yet perfectly understandable.

A short while later, the four of them—Qin Feng, Dragon Jade, Nissan, and Ning Jing—returned to their familiar corner booth in the Iron Fist Tavern.

This time, the atmosphere inside the tavern was completely different from before.

Almost every gaze drifted, intentionally or not, toward their table, filled with awe, curiosity, and admiration.

The gazes directed at Qin Feng, in particular, were complex to the extreme.

This young monster, who had just proven his terrifying strength with a satisfying and exhilarating victory, had already become an existence of immense prestige.