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All gathered here were princes and princesses of various secondary vassal states within the Ganwu Universe Kingdom, or heirs and noble scions from the kingdom's marquis families.

They often socialized within the same circle in the Virtual Universe, and as the heir to the Windfall Empire, Fenglin Yizhen naturally belonged to this group.

"Many experts haven't made their move yet. Give it some time, and maybe the Windfall Empire will produce a standout. Right, Yizhen?"

The prince who had previously brought up the Windfall Empire's performance seemed to be offering a way out.

Fenglin Yizhen forced a faint smile: "Mm, it's still early. Hard to say anything yet."

But inside, he felt nothing but embarrassment, his fingers tightening around the wine glass.

In the Eighth World Sector, still that same residential building, that same room.

Qin Ming sat quietly inside, his mind immersed in the comprehension of laws.

"Twenty days."

"The preliminaries are already two-thirds over. For these twenty days, I've stayed in this building. As long as no one came close to disturb me, I couldn't be bothered to act."

He looked down at the armguard screen on his wrist, which displayed his current points.

Contestant: Qin Ming (Windfall Empire)

Points: 128

Rank: 9,527,1008

"Over ninety million people ranked higher than me?" Qin Ming smiled faintly.

"Twenty days have passed, and the most chaotic, frantic phase is over. Those still alive now are basically all experts with real strength."

"Time to leave the mountain."

The corners of Qin Ming's mouth curled up slightly as he stood.

The Crooked-Mouth Dragon King was officially online.

Qin Ming pushed open the door and stepped into the hallway.

The city was still shrouded in a suffocating atmosphere of slaughter, but compared to the initial chaos, it had grown much quieter.

No longer were fighting figures visible everywhere on the streets; most survivors had chosen to hide and lie low.

With a thought, he switched the armguard screen to the city's points ranking list. Among the top hundred, even the lowest scorer had over five thousand points.

"I'll start with you all."

With a flicker of movement, Qin Ming vanished from the spot.

Atop a half-collapsed high-rise in the eastern part of the city.

A giant of a man, draped in blood-red battle armor and wielding a double-bladed war axe, sat cross-legged, his surroundings thick with the aura of an earthen domain.

Ranked 87th in the city's points standings, known as Earth-Splitting Axe, Talon.

"Hm?" Talon suddenly raised his head in alert.

A figure had appeared at the edge of the rooftop without a sound, watching him calmly.

"Who are you?"

Talon rose slowly, his war axe held before him. Anyone who could approach him so silently was no ordinary opponent.

"Someone collecting points." Qin Ming's tone was flat.

"Looking to die!"

Talon roared, his domain erupting violently, the entire rooftop seeming to sink into a quagmire. At the same time, his axe swung, sending a solid, earthen-yellow blade-light tearing through the air straight at Qin Ming!

Qin Ming didn't draw his sword.

He simply raised a hand and pointed into the void.

A ripple of invisible force spread out.

The fierce axe-light, as if crashing into a wall of bronze and iron, shattered inch by inch.

Talon's face changed drastically as he felt his domain forcibly suppressed and dismantled by a far more terrifying power.

"D-domain ninth level? No... it's law..." His pupils shrank, but before he could finish, a thread of sword intent pierced through his brow.

[Points +1, acquired half of opponent's points: 2846]

Qin Ming didn't spare a glance at the fallen corpse; his figure vanished once more.

Over the next three days, the Eighth World Sector—especially the city where Qin Ming was—erupted into a silent storm of hunting.

Ranked 63rd, Phantom Light Sword Irene, was run through the throat with a single sword stroke while in stealth.

Ranked 41st, Iron Wall Dunshan, along with his defenses that were said to withstand all attacks below the law level, was pierced straight through by a sharp golden light.

Ranked 19th, the "Flame Demon" Angela had her Blazing Domain covering half a street, yet within three moves her domain collapsed and she fell to a single icy sword edge.

Qin Ming's points began climbing at a terrifying pace.

From just over a hundred points, he soared to tens of thousands, then broke through a hundred thousand, two hundred thousand... His ranking shot up like a rocket, from over ninety million all the way into the top million, top hundred thousand, top ten thousand!

Above the world sector, inside the ship cabin.

"He moved! Third Brother's ranking moved!" Qin Xue suddenly pointed at the screen and shouted.

The Qin Family members quickly looked over.

There, the name "Qin Ming," which had been stuck at over ninety million, was now visibly leaping upward.

95 million... 90 million... 80 million... 50 million...

"Th-this... what's going on?" Second Brother Qin Shou's eyes went wide.

"He's hunting the strong!" Ancestor Qin Shanhai's gaze was sharp, fixed on the ranking changes.

"Every time it jumps, his points surge by thousands or even tens of thousands... He's specifically targeting those with high scores!"

The ranking kept climbing wildly.

30 million... 10 million... 5 million... 1 million!

When Qin Ming's name charged into the top million, the entire cabin fell dead silent.

"T-top... top million..." Qin Lan's voice trembled.

It didn't stop.

500,000... 200,000... 100,000!

When that name finally settled at rank 8,742, everyone in the Qin Family stopped breathing.

The Ganwu Universe Kingdom preliminaries, Eighth World Sector, top ten thousand!

And this, in just three days.

"Haha... hahaha!" Ancestor Qin Shanhai suddenly burst into loud laughter, his voice carrying uncontrollable excitement and ecstasy.

"Good! Good! Good! My Qin Family... my Qin Family is finally about to produce a peerless genius!"

Qin Ming's parents embraced tightly, their eyes red. His siblings were too stirred to speak.

How long had it been since the Windfall Empire had a genius break into the top ten thousand in the Peak Genius Tournament?

And Qin Ming had not only done it, but... this probably wasn't even his limit.

"Keep watching." Qin Shanhai restrained his smile, his gaze burning.

"Ming'er... he might shake the entire Windfall Empire."

Inside that ornate ship, the princes and princesses who had been chatting and laughing were suddenly interrupted by a shout.

"Oh, look! Fenglin Yizhen, someone from your Windfall Empire finally broke into the top ten thousand!"

A prince from another empire pointed at the giant screen in the center of the hall, his tone shifting from mockery to surprise.

"Hm?" Fenglin Yizhen perked up and quickly turned to look.

Though it was just barely scraping into the top ten thousand, it was still better than having no name on the board at all. At least it was a start that could salvage some face.

"Quick, pull up his detailed info!" Fenglin Yizhen urged.

A small screen immediately opened beside the giant one, displaying a clear line of data.

[Eighth World Sector, Rank 5,799: Qin Ming (Windfall Empire)]

What was even more striking was that the rank number jumped upward every few seconds, at an astonishing speed.

"Haha, this Qin Ming is a genius carefully nurtured by my Windfall Empire, with deep foundations." Fenglin Yizhen put on a smile and said smoothly, while his mind raced.

"Surname Qin? There's no such family among the empire's top clans, nor have I heard of any peerless genius named Qin emerging in recent years... Where did this person come from?"