Chapter 177: It Moved, It Moved (Part One)

Who in the preliminary qualifiers is not walking on thin ice?
Here, the basic strength levels are largely identical; even true geniuses fear ambush, yet this individual was swaggering about, openly drawing the hatred of all.
This caused the various factions watching him to wear bizarre expressions: this person must be arrogant to the extreme and possessed of terrifying self-confidence!
However, the corpses scattered around the plaza also spoke volumes of his formidable power.
High above in the universe spaceship, one of the crew members revealed a look of ecstatic joy: "Sixth Prince, look, that is our empire's 'Tatagel', currently ranked 1008th overall. This is the pride of our empire! Under the dominion of the Ganwu Universe Country, there are over a thousand intermediate universe countries, yet our 'Talama' Empire has always languished at the absolute bottom in past records, barely comparable to the Black Dragon Mountain Empire and the like. In the last Genius Tournament, he was eliminated in the very first round, but this time, Tatagel definitely has the capability to break through into the second round, ultimately stepping into the top one thousand of the Ganwu Sector, glorifying the might of our Talama nation and truly bursting onto the grand stage of the universe!"
"This Tatagel is truly remarkable. As long as he enters the arena duels this time, I will ask my Imperial Father to bestow upon him ten life planets; if he ultimately surges into the top one thousand, I'll grant him an entire star system!" the Sixth Prince said excitedly. "Haha, watch closely, and see how Tatagel slaughters this arrogant fellow. To be honest, seeing him so arrogant and treating everyone else as beneath notice makes me really want to jump down and give him a severe beating. Of course, upon closer thought, in a battle city of nearly one hundred million people, to arrogantly carve out a restricted zone right in the city center, acting as the supreme sovereign with utter contempt for all under heaven—that level of arrogance makes me want to try it myself! Come to think of it, I almost admire him."
"Sixth Prince, you stand on high with thousands bowing before you; with a mere wave of your hand, star systems become restricted zones! Your Highness, look quickly, Tatagel has arrived at the plaza and wears a look of wrath, intending to slay that punk. This is what a true peerless genius looks like—how could he tolerate seeing someone else act so rampantly? That punk is dead for sure, absolutely dead. By killing him, Tatagel will definitely secure a spot in the top one thousand. Hahaha, Your Highness, our Talama Empire is about to make a name for itself throughout the universe!"
"Keep a close watch. By the way, record this for me so we can broadcast it throughout the entire empire later, letting all our citizens witness just how heroic our Tatagel is...!"
Before he could finish his sentence, their expressions froze.
Down in the plaza.
Tatagel looked at the rock blocking his path, smiled coldly, and stepped into the plaza. "Such brazen words! I specialize in dealing with your kind!"
Before he could advance any further, a streak of golden light rapidly closed in upon him.
Silent and noiseless, yet swift to the extreme.
"Oh no!" Tatagel was greatly alarmed, raising his shield to block before him.
Bang...!
With an explosive sound, the shield was brutally pierced right through.
He was exceptionally skilled, however; with a shake of his head, the golden light tore past the edge of his ear.
Tatagel retreated rapidly, covered in cold sweat. Looking at Qin Ming once more, the arrogance from moments ago was entirely gone. "Such a powerful spiritual reader! Just who are you?"
"To be able to dodge a casual strike from me, you're not half bad!" Qin Ming finished a honey peach, tossed the pit aside, and turned around to say, "Let's try another blow and see if you can block it!"
As his voice fell, the Soaring Sky Shuttle split into thirty-six rays of light, surrounding Tatagel from above, below, left, and right.
The splitting and merging of the Soaring Sky Shuttle relied entirely on the reader's control. Once one possessed this talent, splitting it was equivalent to thirty-six versions of oneself, while merging them unleashed thirty-six times the explosive power—an extremely terrifying feat.
Coupled with ultimate speed, this often made spiritual readers invincible among their peers.

"Revolving Heaven Blade Technique!" Tatagel narrowed his eyes, halting his retreat. Instead, he stomped violently onto the ground, shattering the paving stones, and lunged forward. At the same time, he danced the battle saber in his hand into an airtight barrier, completely shrouding himself within it.
The Revolving Heaven Blade Technique was renowned as a 360-degree dead-zone-free defensive saber skill.
What a pity...!
Clang, clang, clang!
Twenty-seven rays of golden light converged and shot toward a single direction, forcibly tearing open a breach. A single ray of golden light slipped through and pierced straight into Tatagel's eye.
The saber glow abruptly vanished.
"Who are you? Tell me your name—I refuse to die without knowing who struck me!" Tatagel felt utterly aggrieved.
Just as he was about to slaughter his way into the top one thousand, he had capsized in the gutter.
His heart was filled with boundless remorse.
Since the opponent dared to openly carve out a restricted zone here, he was bound to be extraordinary; why on earth hadn't he exercised some patience?
His willpower sank bit by bit, about to plunge into eternal darkness.
Yet he gritted his teeth and held on, desperately wanting to know the origin of his foe.
"You are not worthy to know!"
Qin Ming turned away, picked up a tender, pink grape, and popped it into his mouth. Tatagel, however, wore a look of fury. "You...!"
His vision turned pitch black, and he collapsed to the ground, dead.
High above, within the spaceship.
"Tatagel is dead?"
"Your Highness, he, he's dead!"
"How could he die? How could he possibly die? He was our hope, the hope of our nation's renown—how did he end up dying right here? Dammit! Whoever that person was, make sure you investigate and find out! In the future, I will, I will...!"
"Your Highness, if that person qualifies, we probably cannot afford to provoke him!"
"Even if we can't afford to provoke... then we won't provoke him! Get out of my sight!"
Rays of furious roaring echoed from within the spaceship.

Qin Ming did not care in the slightest about killing a mere Tatagel.
He only found joy upon seeing his skyrocketing points.
"He directly gave me four hundred thousand points, instantly propelling my ranking into the top one hundred and twenty thousand. Not bad, not bad!" Qin Ming chuckled happily. "It's still fastest to harvest points from powerhouses like these!"
"Let's wait a bit longer. When there are only ten days left, I'll go on a massive slaughter!"
Qin Ming had already made up his mind.
In the blink of an eye, a few more days passed, bringing the preliminary qualifiers into their twentieth day. More than ninety cities in Sector 88 had essentially been battered into ruin, and the remaining number of contestants had dwindled drastically.
The same held true for Qin Ming's city.
"Time to move!"
He stood up, closed his eyes, and concentrated his senses.
Dotted throughout the city were numerous powerful auras.
"To the east!"
Qin Ming opened his eyes, stepped onto the Soaring Sky Shuttle, and rapidly shot away.
High in the sky, inside the spaceship.
"Big Brother is really just a salted fish!" Lulu said in boredom. "Two-thirds of the time has already passed, and he's still eating. What a massive glutton!"
"To be able to eat is a blessing!" Luo Xia looked at her son, her face beaming with joy.
"We've already entered the grand cosmic era; who doesn't have a stomach of steel?" Qin Yicheng said, half-laughing, half-crying. "Still, our son is truly remarkable. Over these past few days, quite a few powerhouses tried to ambush him, only to be casually dispatched by our boy. The crucial part is that our son is a martial artist, yet he fights using the methods of a spiritual reader. I can't figure him out—truly, I can't figure him out at all!"
"No matter how unfathomable he is, he's still our son!" Luo Xia said with exceptional pride. "I have an overwhelmingly strong feeling that our boy will definitely qualify in this round, and in the next round of arena duels, nothing will stop him from bursting forth into the wider universe!"
"Mom, your unconditional trust in your son is boundless!" Lulu pouted.
"Of course!" Luo Xia lifted her chin. "What mother doesn't hold the highest expectations for her son? Besides, my son truly possesses that kind of capability. Look at you—you didn't even have the courage to participate in the Genius Tournament, yet you're always clamoring about becoming a queen of the universe. Lulu, can we face reality and honestly find ourselves a partner? If you can't find a suitable one, I'll have your brother introduce you to some stellar young talents. I'm sure you'll find someone you're satisfied with, and then your father and I won't have to worry about you anymore!"
"With the long lifespans you two have now, if you didn't have something to worry about, you'd die of boredom! I'm doing this for your own good!" Lulu was already immune to this lecture. Suddenly, her eyes lit up, and she cried out, "He's moving, he's moving! Big Brother is moving!"