’As expected of an official tournament held by the Ultramarines Chapter...’

Qin Feng marveled internally. ’They’re wealthy to an absurd degree!’

Just as he was reeling from the sheer generosity of the rewards, the ten Martial Artists brawling below finally snapped out of it.

They stopped in unison.

Ten pairs of eyes, blazing with fury and indignation, snapped to lock onto the one who had snatched the prize they had been fighting over for so long!

"Where’d this punk come from?! Is he just here to snatch things?!"

"Let’s get him together! We’ll eliminate him first!"

"Make him drop that resource pack!"

Their brief astonishment gave way to a towering inferno of rage.

In that instant, the ten Martial Artists, who had just been cautiously fighting one another, reached a perfect, unspoken agreement.

They all wheeled around at once, transforming into ten streaks of light as they charged at Qin Feng on the mountainside from every direction!

Despite being besieged by the ten of them, Qin Feng showed no sign of panic.

He casually stored the alloy box in his Subspace Storage Unit. With a flip of his other hand, the blue-black Long Spear, [Raging Tides], materialized in his grasp.

He was about to strike and eliminate every last one of them.

But just then, his heart suddenly skipped a beat!

A terrifyingly sharp presence, an aura so keen it felt as if it could pierce the very heavens, flared for an instant from the other side of the valley before vanishing.

That aura...

’So strong! Much stronger than Qin Yonglin was. They could probably match me blow for blow, maybe even surpass me!’

Qin Feng’s pupils constricted.

He could sense the owner of that aura hidden somewhere nearby, ’watching’ the scene with keen interest.

Though the sky-high Battle Intent was well concealed, it couldn’t fool Qin Feng’s equally sharp combat intuition.

’A top-tier expert, a Martial Fool type... He’s marked me as his prey.’

A clear thought flashed through Qin Feng’s mind.

He was certain that if he engaged these ten and got bogged down in a fight, the hidden observer would undoubtedly appear the moment his energy was most depleted and challenge him without a moment’s hesitation.

It wasn’t that Qin Feng feared a fight, but this wasn’t the right time.

His primary objective was to secure a spot among the top 100,000 so he could see the legendary Enlightenment Stele for himself and find out what it really was.

Engaging in a life-or-death duel with an expert of his own caliber during the preliminary selection stage would be incredibly foolish.

His mind made up, Qin Feng acted at once.

He ignored the ten charging Martial Artists. Instead, he pushed off hard with his feet, spun around, and took off in the opposite direction of the terrifying aura.

Pushing his speed to its absolute limit, he became a blur, vanishing into the dense forest in the blink of an eye.

To the ten Martial Artists below, Qin Feng’s sudden "escape" only confirmed their suspicions.

"See? A total pushover! He’s scared!"

"Guys like him are the worst! He won’t fight you head-on. He just uses his fast Body Technique to snatch things and run!"

"After him! Don’t let him get away! Take him out!"

They had no idea they were chasing a terrifying being who could have annihilated them all in a single instant.

They simply thought of themselves as righteous ’Hunters’ chasing a despicable ’thief’.

And so, the ten figures doggedly pursued Qin Feng, chasing him frantically into the depths of the dense forest.

What should have been a completely one-sided slaughter had, because of a sudden, powerful observer, devolved into a somewhat farcical chase.

Qin Feng chose not to clash head-on with the expert hiding in the shadows.

His goal was clear: advance to the next stage.

So, he chose the simplest, most effective tactic: run.

His body became a streak of light, darting through the complex, treacherous mountain woods. Behind him, the ten Martial Artists, blinded by rage, pursued him relentlessly like sharks that had scented blood.

However, Qin Feng’s ’escape’ was no aimless, desperate flight.

The massive three-dimensional map remained clearly displayed.

While evading his pursuers and avoiding the hidden expert’s senses, his route, whether intentionally or not, always drifted closer to the flickering, dust-sized red dots on the map.

...

「Half an hour later, at the edge of a swamp.」

Seven or eight Martial Artists were locked in a fierce battle over a newly spawned resource pack.

Just as the battle reached its peak, a blurry afterimage shot past them like a phantom!

"Who was that?!"

Startled, by the time they realized what had happened, the silver-white alloy box that had been floating in mid-air was gone.

Meanwhile, the afterimage was already a kilometer away, receding at a speed they couldn’t hope to match.

"Bastard! He swooped in and stole it!"

"After him! Don’t let him get away!"

The seven or eight Martial Artists, who had just been trying to kill each other, were instantly united by a common foe. Without hesitation, they joined the growing mob in pursuit of Qin Feng.

...

「Two hours later, inside a volcanic cavern.」

Five Martial Artists had just teamed up to drive back a Molten Giant Beast that was guarding a resource pack. Now, they were tensely dividing the spoils.

A figure dropped silently from the shadows on the cavern ceiling, as quiet as a Ghost. It snatched the resource pack, then with a light tap of its toes on the scorching rock, vanished once more into the depths of the dark passageway.