Chapter 176: Boundless Arrogance

Qin Ming walked out, and the streets were already filled with the sounds of battle and bloodshed.
With eighty-two billion people crowded into every city, the early stages were nothing short of a massive, chaotic melee.
Swish!
To his left, a robust youth standing three meters tall rushed forward, gripping a heavy axe that split the air as it slashed down toward him.
"Another one!"
Qin Ming’s figure flickered slightly. His blade traced a graceful arc through the air as he continued walking forward, not even bothering to glance back at his attacker.
Plop!
A fountain of blood erupted, and the youth collapsed to the ground, dead.
Qin Ming took a single step, and even under such terrifying gravity, he covered a distance of a hundred meters in a flash. He moved with the casual elegance of someone strolling through a leisurely garden.
With a casual flick of his blade, he had dispatched an ambushing enemy.
As he crossed the street, over a dozen corpses now littered his path behind him.
"With more ninety cities in this sector, finding Second Brother is practically impossible." Qin Ming dismissed the thought of searching for him.
As for cutting a bloody path across the entire continent, he simply lacked the energy for such an endeavor.
"Second Brother has reached the ninth stage of the Lightning Domain, has grasped the ripples of the laws, and possesses the Lightning Escape of the Nine Heavens technique. A mere preliminary world sector selection shouldn't be able to stump him!"
With these thoughts in mind, Qin Ming arrived at the central plaza of the city. With a wave of his hand, a Dragon-Throned Supreme Chair materialized. Carved with nine coiling dragons and gleaming with a dark golden luster, it exuded an extreme level of luxury and nobility.
This was an item he had applied for and obtained before entering the competition zone.
He seated himself upon it, and a table promptly appeared before him, followed by an array of fresh fruits and beverages. He plucked a grape, popped it into his mouth, and relaxed completely.
Qin Ming had long since understood the rules and flow of the Genius Tournament; he only needed to fight his way into the top one thousand by the end. As for contending for the first place? There was entirely no need.
He wasn't even certain he could outkill the aggressive spiritual telekinetists.
That being the case, why worry?
"You brat, treating this place like an amusement park?" As a voice rang out, a battle sword thrust forward, aiming straight for his throat. Yet before this formidable young warrior could even step within a ten-meter radius, Qin Ming countered with a backhanded stroke of his blade, instantly cutting him down.
Bang, bang, bang!
Off to the left, two figures were locked in a fierce, evenly matched duel, kicking up billows of dust and fog.
"Look here, you two, your battle is ruining my appetite. Take your fight elsewhere!" Qin Ming waved a hand, entirely sweeping away the dust and mist, while calling out, "From this moment on, this place is my territory!"
The two combatants collided once more, then sprang apart.
Standing opposite each other, one wielding a battle saber and the other holding a long spear, their presences were piercing and cold. They were clearly no ordinary individuals, and the gazes they cast toward Qin Ming were exceptionally hostile.
We are locked in a life-or-death battle here, and not only do you stand by watching the show, but you even dare to complain?
"Shall we eliminate him first?"
The young warrior on the left looked toward his opponent.
"This is the preliminary selection battle, yet he is sitting here eating and drinking. It is far too presumptuous, and an absolute insult to us. Let's wipe him out!"
The young warrior on the right was also riled up. The two exchanged a glance and instantly reached a tacit agreement.
They flanked him from left and right, charging forward, yet they remained extremely cautious.
After all, anyone who could act with such high-profile arrogance had to possess some genuine tricks up their sleeve.
At the edge of the plaza, a spectator hiding behind a tree looked over toward the scene with a bizarre expression. "Such a freak actually appeared in the middle of a slaughterhouse like this? Sitting high on a dragon throne, eating fruit and sipping fine wine—what the hell, does he really think he's out on vacation? Go on, go on, take him out first and then tear into each other so you both end up mutually injured, and I can swoop in and reap the rewards!"
Yet the very next moment, the eavesdropper's expression froze stiff.
He clearly saw that the two youths who had flanked the target didn't even get a chance to strike before they were casually cut down by the youth sitting on the dragon throne with two lazy waves of his blade.
"What the hell? Where did this madman come from, and how is he so terrifying? Each of those two was easily my equal, yet they were slaughtered just like that?"
The watcher’s face paled drastically, and without a single moment of hesitation, he turned around and fled.
Qin Ming glanced in that direction, but couldn't be bothered to pursue him.
He remained seated on the dragon throne, eating his fruit and sipping his wine, carefree and relaxed.
In truth, he was dividing his attention: remaining vigilant of his surroundings while simultaneously deducing the path of domain fusion.
Yet his presence here was simply too conspicuous, and from time to time, individuals would attempt to ambush him from behind, only to be promptly slaughtered.
"So tiresome!"
Qin Ming retrieved the Sky-Escaping Shuttle from his spatial ring. Controlling it with his telekinetic power, it transformed into a thin thread of light that easily pierced through another ambushing attacker. With a single thought, he directed the shuttle to carve into the stone pavement, slicing out four massive stone pillars several zhang high. He drove them into the southeast, northwest, and southwest corners of the plaza, carving the exact same inscription onto each: *This is a forbidden zone. Cross this boundary and die!*
Arrogant, tyrannical, and supremely haughty.
It was treating all the prodigies of the world as if they were nothing at all.
Was this merely high profile? It was outrageously, boundlessly arrogant.
Qin Ming recalled the Sky-Escaping Shuttle, which began to circle leisurely around his body.
Every spiritual telekinetist was also a physical martial artist, but the path of the martial artist fell far short of the specialized mastery of telekinesis; conversely, every martial artist possessed spiritual telekinetic potential, though it was usually far inferior to their martial path.
In reality, spiritual telekinetists and martial artists coexisted as one entity, differing only in strength and where their primary focus lay.
Every physical body here possessed the baseline physique of a Star-level nine warrior, equipped with identical genetic energy and spiritual force.
Qin Ming had also dabbled in the path of telekinesis on occasion, spending some time comprehending it upon the Dao-Enlightenment platforms. Though it wasn't his primary discipline, he understood the methods of a telekinetist well enough—knowing both oneself and the enemy ensured victory in every battle.
Besides, he had plenty of time to spare.
"Arrogant!" A thunderous roar echoed from the east, followed by the approach of a hulking, towering giant. He gripped a heavy axe in each of his massive hands. Standing eight meters tall, every single step he took caused the ground to shake as if in an earthquake. "I, Lin Batian, have never seen anyone more arrogant than myself. Since I've found you, go die!"
He whirled his twin axes, unleashing a force capable of splitting heaven and earth.
Yet a streak of golden light pierced through the air, instantly deflecting both axes before continuing straight through the center of his brow.
"You truly... had the capital to be arrogant."
Those were Lin Batian's final words as he crashed to the ground, lifeless.
"The path of telekinesis combined with the Origin Law of Gold truly proves effective everywhere one goes!"
Qin Ming sighed inwardly.
Controlling the Sky-Escaping Shuttle to transform into a streak of golden thread while unleashing dozens of times its amplification was no ordinary level of formidable.
Of course, comparatively speaking, it still fell vastly, vastly short of his martial arts path.
The Sky-Escaping Shuttle patrolled the area, striking down one provoked powerhouse after another. In no time at all, hundreds of corpses lay scattered around the plaza. Anyone passing by who witnessed the scene, despite feeling a surge of resentment, wisely chose to give the area a wide berth.
More than ten days passed in the blink of an eye.
Contestant: Qin Ming (affiliated with the Black Dragon Mountain Empire).
Points: 3,088.
Ranking: 810,478.
His points were low, and his ranking abysmal, but he cared not in the least.
"Why can't we find Big Brother?"
High above in the skies, a spaceship cruised slowly along. Lulu peered downward, desperately searching for a glimpse of Qin Ming. This was a paid live-viewing service; anyone willing to pay an exorbitant fee could board a spacecraft and travel to any world sector to observe the matches firsthand.
However, the spaceships were cloaked in stealth, rendering them entirely invisible to the contestants below.
To check on Qin Ming's condition, the family of three had come to the venue in person.
"Found him!" Qin Yicheng suddenly pointed toward the front-left and said, "Look down at that plaza, is that him? Good grief, this brat is truly beyond arrogant! While a massive battle zone is filled with heroes slaughtering one another, he actually carved out his own private restricted zone, sitting comfortably on a dragon throne, sipping wine leisurely, and treating it all like a grand theatrical performance!"
"That just goes to show how brilliant our son is!" Luo Xia exclaimed in delight. "Quick, quick, quick, hover right above that plaza! I want to watch my son display his divine might and suppress the geniuses of the universe!"
Qin Yicheng shook his head repeatedly upon hearing this, though he also felt a sudden urge to jump down and give his son a sound thrashing. "Anyone who can participate in the Genius Tournament after more than ten days of slaughter is a peerless genius in their own right, or even an extraordinary figure who has illuminated an entire star system! Geniuses of this caliber are fiercely proud, believing themselves to be unequaled. Seeing our son acting like this, they're bound to fly into a rage and rush to kill him. Yet the result is that our son remains completely unscathed... This—this is truly... beyond epic!"
"Big Brother is insanely cool! I really want to go down there and bask in his reflected glory!" Lulu said, shaking her head from side to side.
Just as they had discovered him, other spectators viewing the battles from various spaceships had also spotted the bizarre scene. Above the plaza, spaceships were steadily gathering, though each kept its distance and interfered with none of the others.
Every single person who witnessed Qin Ming's setup couldn't help but curse aloud: "Damn it, where did this little freak come from? He actually carved out a forbidden zone right in the middle of a slaughterhouse, and nobody dares to touch him? Investigate! Search everywhere right now! Find out who this is! I want his detailed dossier! How is it that a monstrously badass character like this exists, and yet I've never heard of him?!"