Melee

This was a desolate stretch of void, where countless shattered dark-brown fragments of land drifted about like meteors.

Screech!

Like an eggshell cracking—

A spatial fissure more than a hundred kilometers long silently spread open!

Screech, screech, screech~~

Where the enormous black fissure passed, countless land fragments were silently and effortlessly sliced apart, swallowed up, and completely erased from this world.

Yet during this process, certain mysterious objects from unknown voids occasionally passed through the shattered rifts and fell into this space.

At once, large numbers of Universe Level experts hidden among the surrounding land fragments swarmed out like a pack of hunting wolves!

"Kill!"

"Don't move! The treasure is mine!"

"You Wuji Palace scum, get out of here!"

"Hahaha, Cosmic Crystals! Such a huge Cosmic Crystal—it's mine!"

Universe Level experts from the various powerful factions of the Eternal Empire began a frenzied melee over the treasures that had fallen from the spatial fissures!

Only after this batch of treasures had changed hands several times, and several Universe Level experts had fallen, did the battle finally begin to subside.

Yet this brief calm was only the prelude to an even fiercer eruption.

As more and more Universe Level experts gathered from the surrounding regions, when the next spatial fissure appeared carrying a large number of treasures, it would inevitably trigger an earth-shaking battle on an even greater scale!

Secret Ruins T732, Y8372 Coordinates reference point.

By the time Qi Yuan arrived, the number of Universe Level experts gathered here had already reached a staggering two thousand.

That was an absolutely outrageous number!

After all, the entire Eternal Starfield had only a little over ten thousand Universe Level experts, yet more than one-fifth of them had gathered here alone!

And that did not even include those who were still too far away to arrive.

It was estimated that the final number of Universe Level experts entering the Secret Ruins might exceed half the total number in the Eternal Starfield!

Apart from this occasion, such a large-scale gathering of powerful experts could probably only be seen on the Outer Domain Battlefield or during wars between the armies of the major Universe Countries!

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

The moment Qi Yuan approached, he immediately felt powerful, scrutinizing gazes continually falling upon him.

He flew through the extremely shattered continental fragments. From time to time, he saw Universe Level members from the Eternal Empire's official forces, the three major organizations, or powerful Realm Lord families, scattered throughout the area in groups of three or five.

This spatially weak region within the Secret Ruins stretched for several thousand kilometers, and the locations where spatial fissures appeared were completely random. It was understandable that the major factions had arranged themselves this way.

Qi Yuan continued flying forward, searching for a suitable place to lie in wait, when an exceptionally enthusiastic shout suddenly came from nearby.

"Brother, do you have a team? Why not act with us?"

"Hmm... him?"

Qi Yuan curiously looked toward the source of the voice.

On a massive meteor-like chunk of land more than ten kilometers away, a lean man with an Imperial Sea Pavilion member badge on his chest was smiling in his direction. He was the third-stage Universe Level Imperial Sea Pavilion member Qi Yuan had met earlier in the ruins.

At that moment, three other companions—two men and a woman—stood beside him, and the group seemed to regard the lean man as their leader.

After a brief thought, Qi Yuan flew over.

When the lean man saw that Qi Yuan had actually been persuaded by his invitation, a hint of surprise appeared on his face.

It felt like running into an acquaintance you barely knew on the street, making a polite invitation out of courtesy, only for the other person to readily follow you home and climb onto your heated kang bed after taking off their shoes.

Still, he remained as enthusiastic as ever. "Haha, brother, we... we meet again. I didn't expect you to come here too!"

Qi Yuan gave him a faint smile, looked him over, and lightly nodded.

"It is quite a coincidence."

How could it not be? I followed you here!

"Hehe."

The lean man laughed awkwardly, then introduced everyone in a familiar tone.

"Hey, brother, let me introduce us. I'm Dong Yu. These are all friends from Imperial Sea Pavilion. The bearded one is Qiu Long, the one carrying the greatsword is Keliya, and this beautiful lady is Kun Na. Kun Na is not only a Core Member of Imperial Sea Pavilion, but also a direct descendant of the Quinn family."

Then, as if asking casually, he said, "By the way, brother, you look like a Core Member from some Realm Lord family too. Why aren't you acting with your companions?"

As he spoke, he kept his eyes fixed on Qi Yuan's face, trying to discern something from it.

Qi Yuan sensed the probing in his words and shook his head with a smile.

"Don't overthink it. I'm an external member of the Virtual Universe Company, not from one of the three major organizations or a Realm Lord family. By the way, the executive I serve under is Lord Bu Chen of your Imperial Sea Pavilion."

As he spoke, he took out the badge representing his status as an external member of the Virtual Universe Company and displayed it briefly.

"Ah, so you're from the Virtual Universe Company, brother—and under Lord Bu Chen too!"

The doubts in Dong Yu's heart immediately dissipated considerably.

He was not worried that Qi Yuan was lying. After all, something like this could easily be verified with a little investigation.

"Haha, brother, what a coincidence! To be honest, I happen to be under Elder Bu Chen's leadership in Imperial Sea Pavilion as well!"

The smile on Dong Yu's face became much more sincere. "Don't worry. With Elder Bu Chen's connection, we're one of our own. If a fight breaks out later, this old brother will definitely look after you!"

"Then I'll have to thank you, Brother Dong Yu."

Qi Yuan smiled faintly, then asked curiously, "Brother Dong Yu, what's the situation here now? The people from the major organizations seem fairly harmonious at the moment."

"Harmonious?"

Dong Yu raised his brows, while strange expressions also appeared on the faces of his companions.

"Harmonious my ass!"

Dong Yu seemed to still be shaken as he said,

"Before you arrived, we had just gone through a concentrated outbreak of spatial fissures. You didn't see it—for the treasures that fell from those fissures, over a thousand Universe Level experts went straight into a massive brawl. They were practically beating each other's brains out. Several Seventh Stage and Eighth Stage Universe Level experts even died!"

Then he quietly sent Qi Yuan a voice transmission as a reminder.

"Brother, listen to me. If treasures really appear near us later, we'll just cheer on those Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Stage Universe Level experts and at most stop a few small fry. Don't stupidly rush to the front!"

"Although the higher-ups said all gains belong to us, if we really seize some rare treasure, we'll probably still have to hand it over in the end. At best, they'll give us some contribution rewards or compensation. How could that be more important than our own lives? Don't you agree?"

Qi Yuan looked at Dong Yu with some surprise. After seeing the other man secretly wink at him, he could not help but smile and nod.

"Don't worry, I understand."

Qi Yuan chatted idly with Dong Yu and the others he had just met.

Meanwhile, new Universe Level experts continued arriving in the surrounding area.

Before long, the number of Universe Level experts gathered around the entire spatially weak zone had exceeded three thousand, and it was still rising.

Dong Yu was extremely knowledgeable. Of every ten Universe Level experts present, he knew at least eight. Whenever one passed by, he could enthusiastically introduce them to Qi Yuan for quite some time.

"Brother, look, that one who just passed by—he's a genius disciple personally trained by General Xuan Huo. Ten years ago, when he was still at the Seventh Stage of the Universe Level, he directly defeated a Ninth Stage Universe Level expert across ranks!"

"And that one—the woman in red armor. That's Her Highness the Fifth Princess, known as the flower of the Eternal Empire's imperial family. Not only is Her Highness the Fifth Princess beautiful and of distinguished background, her talent is first-rate as well. They say she's no weaker than the Seventh Prince. Whoever marries her—"

Just as Dong Yu's spit continued flying in front of Qi Yuan,

the space not far from them suddenly trembled slightly. Then, an enormous spatial fissure stretching more than a hundred kilometers silently spread open—

Sorry, everyone. I came to my child's grandmother's house today, so this update is a little late. I'm continuing with the second chapter now, but it may be quite late. You can read it tomorrow morning after you wake up~~

Thank you all for your support. Deep bow~~~