Lei Qianjun flew into a rage, slamming a fist into a nearby stone pillar.

"Damn it! Those scumbags! What are they trying to do?"

"They want to turn all of us into their ’batteries’ and ’meat shields’."

Zhao Hai, a researcher from Star Sea Technology, walked over with a scanner in hand, his forehead drenched in sweat.

"This Energy level is too high, and its nature is very ’viscous.’ Once it merges with a Spiritual Body, our current equipment can’t separate it without causing damage. Forcibly expelling it would just shred the soul along with it."

A dead silence fell over the great hall.

Internal threats and external enemies—this was a truly desperate situation.

"Since we can’t get out and there’s no cure, we can only tough it out."

Han Feng broke the silence. His voice wasn’t loud, but it carried a ruthless edge.

"As long as we hold out long enough for the Grandmasters outside to forcibly tear open a path into this Secret Realm, these people can still be saved."

Leaving his fate to luck had never been his style.

But right now, there didn’t seem to be a better way.

The uproar in the great hall gradually subsided, replaced by an even more suffocating silence.

The survivors huddled in corners, their eyes filled with terror and confusion.

The wounded groaned softly.

The uninjured clutched their weapons, staring warily at the thin blue Shield.

This wasn’t a sanctuary; it was more like a giant, transparent coffin.

"Han Feng."

Captain Zhao of the City Guard Army walked over.

Lei Qianjun and Zhang Hao, who were with him, also wore grave expressions.

Captain Zhao offered Han Feng a cigarette, but Han Feng waved it away.

He didn’t mind. He lit it for himself, took a deep drag, and then slowly began to speak.

"You’ve seen the situation."

"The Demon Beasts are one thing. At least you can see and touch them."

"The real trouble is the things you can’t see—the ghosts—and the ’time bombs’ among our own people."

He gestured into the hall, where in a few corners, medical staff were frantically examining several Martial Artists who had suddenly gone rigid and collapsed, but to no avail.

"All of us... we’re completely in the dark."

Lei Qianjun rumbled, the "Mad Ape" bone armor he wore covered in scratches from the earlier battle.

"Only you can see them."

Zhang Hao looked at Han Feng, his eyes pleading.

"We need a pair of eyes. A pair that can watch the main entrance for all of us, and also watch what’s happening among us."

The weight of this task was self-evident.

He would become the first and only line of defense for the several hundred lives in the great hall against the Spirit Bodies and internal mutations.

"No problem."

Han Feng’s reply was crisp and decisive.

Captain Zhao shot Han Feng a grateful look and immediately went to arrange the defenses.

He cleared a ten-meter area around the Shield’s entrance, leaving it for Han Feng alone.

In that moment, Han Feng became the focus of everyone’s attention.

He sat alone, cross-legged, at the entrance of the great hall, his back to the crowd, facing the endless gray fog and darkness.

His presence was like a stabilizing pillar, temporarily steadying the crumbling morale within the hall.

All eyes were on him.

That lone figure walked toward the boundary of light and darkness. His back was to them, solitary, yet he seemed like a wall capable of holding up the sky.

Han Feng stopped less than three meters from the Shield.

The roiling gray fog seemed so close that he could reach out and touch its bone-chilling cold.

He closed his eyes.

Then opened them again.

The entire world disintegrated in his vision, re-forming into a completely different picture.

[Spiritual Vision] activated.

Outside the Shield was a boiling sea of Energy.

The crimson light of the Demon Beasts and the ghastly white glow of the Spirit Bodies churned madly in the gray soup, tearing at each other.

A Spirit Body, like a drop of ink, tentatively tried to pass through the Shield.

The physical defense constructed from Gaia Runes was indestructible.

But against this kind of higher-dimensional infiltration, it was powerless.

The ripple was imperceptible.

It squeezed through.

To the naked eye, there was nothing there.

But in Han Feng’s Divine Sense, it was like a firefly in the night, every flicker of its intent locked on tight.

Han Feng didn’t draw his sword, or even raise his gun.

He simply faced its direction, held his fingers together like a sword, and gave a light flick.

A thread of silvery-white Sword Essence, finer than a spider’s silk and lighter than a breath, shot from his fingertips.

PFFT.

The sound was so faint it was practically nonexistent.

The Spirit Body, having just entered this new world, was completely vaporized mid-air before it could even reveal its twisted face.

A small wisp of incredibly pure Energy was captured from a distance by the [Innate Sword Body], drawn in, and absorbed.

[Ding! Absorbed high-purity Spiritual Energy. Spiritual Strength +0.3]

[Heart Clarity and Nature Seeing Skill Proficiency +2]

A cold smirk touched Han Feng’s lips.

’The buffet is open.’

His feet began to move in a way that seemed random, even a little bizarre.

The placement of every step, every shift in his center of gravity, every tensing and relaxing of his muscles, perfectly replicated the divine essence of the [Spiral Charge] and [Reversal of Heaven and Earth] Techniques.

Within his newborn Dao Vein, Sword Essence flowed like a stream, simulating the trajectory of the Body Technique at full power. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

On his status panel, the Skill Proficiency numbers ticked upward, extremely slowly but with unwavering certainty.

[Spiral Charge·Proficient (335/400)]

[Ding! Skill Proficiency +1]

[Reversal of Heaven and Earth·Proficient (311/400)]

[Ding! Skill Proficiency +1]

’It’s working!’

"That guy... is he doing some kind of ritual dance?"

In the distance, a surviving Martial Artist whispered.

"You don’t know shit!"

his companion immediately shot back. "That’s footwork! The style of a peerless master is beyond your comprehension!"

Meanwhile, Zhou Qi and the other geniuses from the Spiritual Energy Ability Academy just stared in blank confusion.

The data on their instruments was chaotic and without any pattern.

In their eyes, Han Feng looked like a hyperactive patient.

One moment he’d step left, the next he’d turn right, and every now and then he would flick his fingers at thin air.

But by some unspoken agreement, everyone kept their mouths shut.

Because ever since he had taken his post, not a single other person in the hall had collapsed so bizarrely.

"Brother Feng! You hungry? Just roasted some Iron Armor Rhinoceros leg!"

Wang Meng’s booming voice and the aroma of roasted meat arrived at the same time, instantly becoming the center of attention.

Han Feng took the piece of roasted meat, which was bigger than his face, tore off a large chunk, and stuffed it into his mouth.

He mumbled, "Thanks. Just put it there."

His gaze never left the gray fog.

Hunt. Cultivate. Absorb.

Tedious, efficient, and deadly.

Two hours later, Han Feng’s Spiritual Body felt a bloated sense of fullness.

The impure Energy made his thoughts run half a beat slower.

He nodded to Zhang Hao and walked straight toward the Star Sea Technology booth at the other end of the hall.

The moment the researcher, Zhao Hai, saw him, his eyes lit up. Like a starving wolf spotting fresh meat, he dashed forward.

"Han Feng! You’re here! I’ve kept the machine just for you!"

"I need to use it."

Han Feng’s replies were always simple and direct.

"Use it! Use it as much as you want! It’s free! You’re our most honored tester!"

Zhao Hai puffed out his chest, personally placing the helmet on Han Feng’s head, his eyes glittering with a manic passion for the unknown data.

Han Feng ignored the complex gazes of the surrounding survivors.

"Intensity: Tier Three Late Stage, Void Nightmare."

"You got it!"

Zhao Hai’s movements were practiced to a heartbreaking degree.

BOOM!

The familiar psychic storm descended once again.

This time, it felt like it would grind his soul into dust, along with his skull.

Han Feng didn’t make a sound.

He even proactively circulated the [Three-Inch Heart Sword Observation Method].

He condensed his Divine Sense into a small, intangible sword.

Meeting the violent impact, he fearlessly smashed right into it!

’Rather than take the beating passively, it’s better to strike back and seek rebirth in destruction!’