Qin Feng: Karl wasn't worth a damn!

The moment Sno came to his senses, he reached out with his right hand and made a grabbing motion toward the dune three meters away.

The gray-black entrenching shovel vibrated with a hum, flew out of the sand on its own, and landed firmly in his palm.

With the entrenching shovel in hand, Sno regained a little confidence.

He swept its blade horizontally at Tara, wrapped in a sharp edge of dark energy, forcing Tara to pull back two steps.

Seizing the opening, Sno drew a deep breath, a glint of ruthless resolve flashing in his eyes.

"You forced me to do this."

His voice was low as a string of obscure commands poured from his mouth.

The next second, a skeletal giant nearly ten meters tall rose from the void energy!

The giant's entire skeleton was dark purple, two eerie green flames burned in its eye sockets, and its right hand held an enormous bone saber likewise formed from energy.

Its skull punched straight through the temple's dome, sending stones and sand cascading down as the entire temple shook violently, on the verge of collapse.

"Kill him!"

At Sno's command, the skeletal giant swung its bone saber down at Tara.

Facing the powerful, heavy blow, Tara not only stood his ground but curled his lips in contempt.

"Don't think you're the only one who can summon help."

His gaze darkened, and the shadow beneath his feet suddenly swelled.

Then a pitch-black Dark Demon Serpent shot skyward from the shadow beneath him!

The Dark Demon Serpent was over twenty meters long, its body as thick as a water vat, and its flickering tongue brought forth a cloud of icy mist.

It lunged through the air, opened its enormous jaws, and bit precisely onto the blade of the descending bone saber. Its steel-like fangs sank into the energy framework with a teeth-grating crunch.

"Hiss!"

The Dark Demon Serpent violently whipped its head, flinging the entire skeletal giant away, saber and all.

The ten-meter-tall purple skeleton tumbled twice through the air before crashing heavily onto a dune outside.

But the Dark Demon Serpent gave it no chance to recover and pounced straight at it.

The two enormous beasts grappled in the vast desert.

Sno froze at the sight.

Had the trump card he was so proud of been countered just like that?

"It seems I underestimated you after all."

Sno tightened his grip on the entrenching shovel, his gaze sweeping between Qin Feng and Tara as his tone grew heavy.

"Tell me, who exactly sent you? Wanderers don't have strength like yours."

Qin Feng stood on the rubble with his hands in his pockets.

"You're only asking who your opponents are halfway through the fight? Are you missing a few brain cells?"

For once, Sno did not lose his temper.

He took a deep breath and forcibly swallowed his surging anger.

After all, he had already used his trump card, yet he had not even brushed the big red fellow's clothes.

Continuing the fight was pointless, and they had caused too much of a commotion here. If they attracted the Angel Civilization's attention, his original intention of acting in secret would be completely disrupted.

He lowered his eyes, his voice dropping low and heavy. "It doesn't matter if you won't tell me."

"But!"

He raised his hand and pointed at Soton, who was held in place by invisible energy. "I must take Crocodile God Soton with me."

At that, Qin Feng looked at him mockingly.

"Are you still half asleep? I've got him, and you can't even beat my subordinate. What makes you think you can take him away?"

Sno gritted his teeth and played his final card.

"I admit I can't do anything to that subordinate of yours. But surely you've heard the name of My God Karl. The power behind you certainly wouldn't want to antagonize My God Karl over a third-generation beast body. Are you sure you want to offend the entire Styx Civilization for him?"

"Karl isn't worth a damn."

Qin Feng snorted, looking rather unconcerned.

"If he's got what it takes, tell him to come to Blue Star himself and demand him back. I'd like to see whether Divine Kaisa would treat him to a Heavenly Blade Judgment if he dared show up here."

Sno's expression instantly darkened at those words.

He knew perfectly well that Karl's stance on researching the Ultimate Fear was utterly incompatible with the Angel Civilization's Justice Order.

Although Kaisa had not strictly forbidden Karl from entering the Known Universe, his appearance would absolutely put her on guard.

When the time came, carrying out their God-Slaying Plan would definitely become twice as difficult!

He fell silent for a long while before finally saying gravely, "How about we make a deal?"

He raised his left hand, and the metal skull appeared in it.

"I'll return this dagger, and you hand Soton over to me. As you can see, my skull has the dagger clamped in its teeth. Even if I can't crack its anti-theft program, you can't retrieve it either."

Qin Feng raised an eyebrow. "Really? Then I'll have to give it a try."

As soon as he finished speaking, a stream of golden data flashed through his eyes.

"Analyzing target... ownership command locked... modifying ownership command... modification successful."

In an instant, Sno felt his connection to the skull suddenly break.

He tried channeling dark energy to sense it but could sense nothing.

Qin Feng leisurely extended his hand, and the skull actually left Sno and landed in his palm.

He pulled out the dark silver dagger, twirled it in his hand, and casually tossed it back to Tara.

At the sight, Sno's expression changed completely.

"How did you do that?!!"

A trace of terror crept into his voice.

"Give it back right now!"

"Look at you, getting worked up again."

Qin Feng toyed with the skull, his smile harmless yet begging for a punch.

"It's not like I won't give it back. It's just..."

He tilted his head, a sharp gleam flashing in his eyes.

"You'll have to trade Karl's latest Void Technology for it!"

Sno's eyes widened at those words.

"Are you insane? You think someone like you can demand My God Karl's Void Technology? Forget it!"

"Don't be so absolute."

Qin Feng shrugged.

"Doesn't Karl advocate void theory? Here I am, embracing the void so eagerly. As his lackey, shouldn't you offer something on his behalf?"

Sno sneered and said nothing.

He was no fool.

If he really handed over the Void Technology, it would be like throwing meat to a dog-he would never get it back.

Besides, who would simply give away the core results of their painstaking research?

"Ah..."

Qin Feng sighed and shook his head in feigned regret.

"See? It's not that I don't want to give it back. You're the one who failed to seize the opportunity."

"You!"

Sno was so infuriated by his manner that his chest felt tight, and his back teeth ground audibly.

He had lived for tens of thousands of years, yet this was the first time he had encountered someone so shameless.

Just then, Sno seemed to sense something.

He abruptly turned to look toward the eastern horizon, a trace of alarm flashing in his eyes.

Four golden points of light were rapidly growing larger amid the clouds.