Australia. The main gathering point for new recruits from East Asia, where batches of fresh soldiers would arrive every few months. Today was another induction day.

Qin Fen sat in the aircraft soaring high above, leaning over to gaze out the window at dozens of new recruits frantically paddling through the sea toward the shore, a profound sense of kinship welling up in his heart.

Such a scene felt like only yesterday. It had happened to him too.

Qin Fen narrowed his eyes, recalling how the instructors had forced him to jump into the sea, compelling him to swim desperately toward the recruit camp.

It was all so vivid now! Qin Fen slowly closed his eyes, recalling the youthful impetuosity of that day, running across the beach carrying a comrade until he was nearly spent.

Zuo Lin quietly kept his eyes closed, savoring the freely controlled oscillation of his Fourth-Level Zhenqi within his body, a special realm bordering on the Huan Sui Nie Chao Da Xiantian (Marrow-Changing Nest Great Innate).

He believed that in less than a month, he would certainly re-enter the Huan Sui Nie Chao Da Xiantian and smoothly break through the fifteen-star level. He would catch up to Qin Fen, then surpass him, and—

!

The recruit camp in Australia was vast, but Qin Fen directed the pilot to land at a relatively small airfield, the closest one to Sergeant Hao and the others.

Stepping off the plane, Qin Fen inhaled the Australian air deeply, a long-lost feeling washing over him.

Returning to this old ground, Qin Fen no longer used Wu Kong Shu (Martial Void Technique); instead, he let his feet connect intimately with the earth and sprinted all the way.

Familiar buildings, familiar streets. Groups of unfamiliar new recruits, and a few squad leaders from other platoons he vaguely remembered meeting. Qin Fen pushed open Sergeant Hao’s door: “Reporting, Instructor! Qin Fen reporting!”

The crisp sound of his heels snapping together during the standard military salute echoed in the quiet room.

No one was there. Sergeant Hao’s room was empty. The blanket, folded into a perfect square, rested quietly by the head of the bed. The sheet was so neat it was almost mirror-like, with a faint layer of dust—clearly a room that hadn't been occupied for a day.

Qin Fen frowned slightly. Could Sergeant Hao have gone out again to train new recruits? Was Sergeant Hao on that medium-sized troop transport battleship out on the sea?

Qin Fen swiftly backed out of the room and quickened his pace toward Gun King’s room—a recluse who rarely left his quarters, more sheltered than the most sheltered young lady.

Before his hand even touched the doorframe, the muscles in Qin Fen’s arm stiffened, and his eyebrows lifted in greater confusion. This room was empty too? Gun King usually only stayed in to study firearms; he never went out. Why wasn't he here today?

He pushed the door open. The pungent smell of machine oil rushed out. Various familiar firearms hung in their designated spots with meticulous order, except for one location where a weapon was missing.

It wasn't a weapon meant to hang on the wall, but one that required a massive iron platform to support it. Gun King had named his personally crafted masterpiece: Sha Shen Yi Hao (God of Slaughter No. 1)!

Sha Shen Yi Hao weighed nearly a ton, composed of three thousand two hundred and seventy-two parts—a super sniper rig. It was fitted with a special bullet funded by all the money Gun King had made selling his custom weaponry.

The gun was named: Sha Shen (God of Slaughter)! The bullet was named: Zhu Shen (God Slayer)!

Gun King had dedicated his life to firearms. This weapon and that single bullet were the crystallization of his entire life’s work. Normally, he couldn't carry the heavy Sha Shen, but Zhu Shen would definitely be on him.

In Sergeant Hao’s words, that bullet, in Gun King’s eyes, was a hundred times more important than his own life.

Zhu Shen! Gun King gave that incredibly expensive bullet a supremely magnificent name. In Gun King's view, this might be the only bullet in the world capable of killing a Xing Su Zhan Jiang (Constellation War General), but it required being paired with Sha Shen for even a slim chance.

With a super-long shooting range of thirty-five kilometers, Qin Fen always felt profoundly shocked whenever he saw Sha Shen. It was perhaps the Federation’s strongest single-soldier lethality weapon.

Sha Shen is gone, and Gun King is gone too? A bad feeling welled up in Qin Fen's heart. Could Gun King have left for a mission carrying Sha Shen? But what kind of mission would necessitate Gun King taking Sha Shen? Could he actually be going to snipe a Xing Su Zhan Jiang?

Qin Fen slammed the door and quickly ran toward Butcher’s room. Even from a considerable distance, he sensed that someone was indeed inside, unlike the previous two rooms.

Pushing open the door, Qin Fen saw the long-unseen Butcher and was momentarily stunned. The Butcher from two years ago, icy and cold as a living blade, now had streaks of white in his hair and deeply etched worry lines around his eyes. Even his once glossy skin had lost its luster. From the back, he looked like a man nearing old age, not the battle-hardened Butcher.

“Instructor—”

Qin Fen tried to call out softly. Butcher’s slightly hunched back jerked violently, then slowly, deliberately, straightened up. He turned his head slightly to look at Qin Fen: “I know, Fen.”

A chill shot through Qin Fen’s limbs. Butcher was in his prime, arguably the peak of his career, so why did he look so aged? Like an old man.

“Instructor, what happened to you...” Qin Fen quietly walked into the room and sat gently opposite Butcher, observing his first mentor closely.

“You’re back?” Butcher offered a faint smile, the wrinkles around his eyes seeming to loosen slightly. “Have you been well?”

“Instructor, what happened to you—”

“People get old,” Butcher chuckled. “Everyone does, don't they?”

Qin Fen silently watched Butcher. This instructor, who rarely spoke in the past, was speaking far more than usual today—abnormally so.

“Old Hao and Gun King went out on a mission... don’t know when they’ll be back.” Butcher poured Qin Fen a cup of water. “Feng Ranchuan and Fan’er are here. Your two friends have finished their studies and returned to their respective fields for advanced training.”

“A mission? What mission?” Qin Fen stared into Butcher’s eyes. “Instructor, tell me, what mission could make Instructor Gun King take Sha Shen and Zhu Shen with him?”

A flicker of alarm quickly crossed Butcher’s pupils, and his hand trembled slightly. Qin Fen knew few things could make Butcher lose control of his emotions, but this time, despite his strenuous effort to conceal it, the emotion was still glaringly obvious, impossible to hide completely.

“Instructor, look at me.” Qin Fen gripped Butcher’s shoulders tightly, his agitation rising. This was the moment of his greatest success, a moment he wanted to share with his instructors, only to find two missing and the third aged so significantly. How could he not be upset?

“Instructor, look at me! Look into my eyes! I am Qin Fen! The little monster you freaks trained!” Qin Fen’s intuition screamed that something terrible had happened, yet his heart desperately hoped he was wrong. “What mission was it? Worth using Sha Shen and Zhu Shen? Those were the divine artifacts Instructor Gun King said were for taking a gamble to snipe a Xing Su Zhan Jiang.”

Hearing the words Xing Su Zhan Jiang, Butcher seemed to age decades in an instant, his face growing even dimmer. “It wasn’t the Xing Su Zhan Jiang. Truly, it wasn’t the Xing Su Zhan Jiang—”

“Then what was it? How long have they been gone on the mission? Can you still contact them?”

Butcher stared at Qin Fen in silence. Then, he slowly reached out and opened a small cabinet. On top of it rested two memorial tablets carved from wood.

Hao Pianzi’s spirit tablet. Gun Lao Er’s spirit tablet.

Those simple words struck Qin Fen like ten thousand tons of rock. The room plunged into deathly silence.

Qin Fen stared at the two tablets, gazing at the small pieces of wood, as if he could see the ghostly smile of the two instructors superimposed on them.

Dead... they were dead...

A stream of icy cold ran down Qin Fen’s spine, bringing a tingling numbness to his scalp. In an instant, his hands and feet turned icy. The world before him suddenly dimmed.

“How could they be dead... how could they be dead?” Qin Fen muttered to himself, asking either himself or Butcher, “How could those two be dead?”

“Rulai—”

Despair showed in Butcher’s eyes. He mumbled a bitter name.

“Rulai?” Qin Fen felt like he’d been hit by high-voltage electricity. “You mean Heavenly Gate Rulai?”

Butcher’s expression was filled with bitterness. He nodded slowly, his hands trembling incessantly, as if recalling some terrible nightmare.

“They went to kill Heavenly Gate Rulai?” Qin Fen’s eyelids twitched repeatedly. Heavenly Gate Rulai! Rumor had it that the second strongest expert in Heavenly Gate was nearly as powerful as a Xing Su Zhan Jiang. Did the military department send two relatively weak soldiers to carry out such a task? Was this a mission, or was it a death sentence?

“It wasn't them,” Butcher raised his trembling hand and pointed to himself, saying softly, “It was us—”

“You, you—” Qin Fen stared at Butcher in shock. “You, you went too?”

Butcher nodded slightly, his eyelids fluttering as he closed them, as if recalling the nightmarish experience. “The mission failed. Lan Caihe, one of the Eight Immortals, died by Zhu Shen. Rulai pursued and killed Gun Lao Er and Hao Pianzi. As for me—”

Butcher gripped his clothing tightly. “As for me, Rulai commanded me to return and deliver a message: for the military to evacuate Saturn.”

“Rulai!” Qin Fen clenched his fists tightly, his arms trembling uncontrollably—the kind of trembling that came from pouring all one's strength into the limbs. “Who gave the order? Instructor, who gave that damned order!”

Butcher looked at Qin Fen and just shook his head, unwilling to say more. He didn't want Qin Fen to know more. The reason he mentioned Saturn was because he believed Qin Fen could still prioritize: Heavenly Gate Rulai was not to be trifled with; even if Qin Fen knew, he wouldn't rashly seek revenge.

However, the other person was on Earth. Butcher truly dared not guarantee Qin Fen wouldn't go looking for trouble. That was an order from Zuo Dongting, the Sleeping Lion—a ruthless man who killed without blinking. He held the lives of Sergeant Hao and the others’ families hostage; if Qin Fen didn't comply, they would certainly be killed.

Butcher knew that a major figure like Zuo Dongting would use special means to cause trouble, and it wouldn't be simple. He had thought for a long time, suspecting it might involve Qin Fen. Ever since Cao Bo defected to the Zuo family, the Zuo family naturally needed to make a move on Cao’s behalf. Unable to find Qin Fen, who had gone to the Sacred Martial Hall, they naturally targeted his master, the one who taught him all his skills.

And Snake King Du Hen, knowing all of this, didn't lift a finger to help, allowing Zuo Dongting to issue the order, watching impassively as they were sent to Saturn to die!

In that moment, Butcher's heart turned cold! Snake King, a military strategist and opportunist who dared to sacrifice anyone, had his reasons for sacrificing these three. But Butcher could not accept it. Upon returning to the corps, he completely fell into despair.

“Who? Who was it? Du Hen?”

Butcher smiled faintly, shaking his head. He wouldn't say anything, nor did he want to. Sergeant Hao and Gun Lao Er were dead. Besides their families, they had also paid the price for Qin Fen to appease the Lion King’s wrath. “Li Mingzheng?”

Butcher just smiled.

“Zuo Dongting!?”

Butcher still smiled. He smiled naturally, but his pupils couldn't smile as naturally as his facial muscles.

“Zuo Dongting? It was Zuo Dongting!”

Butcher’s expression froze in shock. He knew that no matter how hard he pretended, he couldn't fool the Qin Fen before him—he was the ultimate crystallization of all their efforts... Denying it was useless now.

“Yes, Zuo Dongting,” Butcher nodded slowly. He grabbed Qin Fen’s wrist. “Qin Fen, don’t go! You must not go!”

“Instructor,” Qin Fen looked at Butcher, gazing at him quietly. “Instructor, did you say I could stay away? If you were me, would you stay away? Can you tell me why? Is it... because—”

Qin Fen’s eyes filled with self-reproach! His fingers trembled as he pointed to himself, his eyelids twitching repeatedly. “It’s... it’s because of me?”

Butcher offered no denial. In the face of their fully forged super-disciple, any denial was superfluous and unnecessary.

“To think...” Water welled up in Qin Fen’s eyes. Even the most agonizing physical blow, like being pierced through the abdomen by a battle saber, wouldn’t bring tears. But at this moment, his eyes were hazy with moisture. A desolate laugh scraped out of his throat. “Heh heh... Haha! It was because of me. My masters taught me skills, helped me grow, and in the end... in the end!”

Qin Fen slowly closed his eyes and tilted his head back, gasping for air. “In the end, my masters died fighting because of me.”

“Zuo Lin!” Qin Fen roared, the ground beneath him shattering. He shot out of the room, snatched Zuo Lin from Xue Tian’s hand, threw the bewildered Zuo Lin high into the sky, and landed a side kick to his abdomen, sending him flying out like a shrimp.

Pain! Zuo Lin felt like his internal organs had been broken; he coughed up blood continuously, watching Qin Fen walk toward him step by step in terror.

“Lao Mu—” Xue Tian caught up behind Qin Fen, gripping him tightly. “Lao Qin, Mo Lade hasn't switched back yet. You’ll kill him if you keep this up. What’s wrong with you?”

“Call—” “Call!” Qin Fen threw the phone in front of the crumpled Zuo Lin and roared:

“Li Xuan, call Zuo Dongting!”

“Lao Qin?” Yang Lie picked up the phone from the ground, looking at Qin Fen. “What’s wrong with you?”

“My... my masters,” Qin Fen pointed a trembling hand toward Butcher’s room, tears flowing uncontrollably from his eyes, dripping onto the ground. “The ones who taught me how to be a man, who helped me grow, my mentors for my entire life! Because of me, because of me! Two of them were killed jointly by Zuo Dongting and Rulai! No! Three! There’s one more in the room! He’s alive, but he’s no different from being dead!”

His roar was heart-wrenching, his eyes burning with fierce light, staring intently at the curled-up Zuo Lin on the ground. If not for a sliver of rationality remaining, Qin Fen would have immediately started recording himself killing Zuo Lin on his phone and mailing the footage to Zuo Dongting.

“Lao Qin, I know your hatred. We are one body. Your glory is our glory, your joy is our joy, and your masters are our masters too,” Solomon stepped up to Qin Fen. “But what good will calling Zuo Dongting do? Ask him to a duel? Will he agree? Are you being foolish? You want to kill Zuo Dongting, right? Fine! I’ll go with you! Others might not know where Zuo Dongting is, but Zuo Lin surely does!”

“That’s right! If you want to kill Zuo Dongting, we’ll go with you!” Caesar was enveloped in an icy killing aura. “Your pain is our pain.”

“You... you all—”

Zuo Lin, huddled on the ground, couldn't believe his ears. Had these people truly gone mad? They were actually planning to kill his grandfather, Zuo Dongting, the most powerful figure in the East Asian Military Region!

Killing David, Solomon could manage; that was merely the head of a family, something classifiable as a feud between Martial Arts Masters. But Zuo Dongting was different! He possessed formidable power and formidable influence.

Attacking Zuo Dongting, whether successful or not, was tantamount to treason. There would be no option other than exile to Saturn; they would become fugitives wanted throughout the entire Federation.

“What about it?” Xue Tian squatted down in front of Zuo Lin. “Becoming wanted criminals? Open your eyes and look—does any of us fear becoming wanted criminals?”

Zuo Lin stared blankly at Xue Tian. This was a group of truly audacious young people. They would take extreme risks, do things that others considered utterly foolish, for the sake of any one of their comrades.

But these seemingly utterly foolish acts, they could carry them out with great gallantry and willingness, without hesitation or regret.

“Qin Fen, to kill Zuo Dongting, we need to find one person,” Xue Tian said, his pupils also holding a cold glint, speaking word by word. “Cunning Fox Xing Wuyi! Zuo Dongting is always surrounded by a host of experts. Charging in might not guarantee his death. We must find him to devise a strategy for an ambush.”

Cunning Fox Xing Wuyi! He was already a very famous young soldier in the Federation Army. His promotion speed in the military was no slower than Qin Fen’s or Zuo Lin’s. The stack of documentation detailing his merits in the military archives was a foot thick. He was now truly a rising star in the military camp!

“Xing Wuyi, Xing Wuyi.”

Qin Fen took the phone Xue Tian offered and then threw it directly at Li Xuan. “I’m going to find Chen Feiyu.”

Zuo Lin watched Qin Fen’s retreating back, feeling a chill from head to toe. The angry silhouette of this young man gave the impression of a razor-sharp battle saber.

Zuo Lin took two deep breaths, inwardly rejoicing. This Qin Fen had gone mad; that was excellent! He dared to go provoke his grandfather? This was suicide!

The Federation Congress, surely everyone can sense what is coming, right? Monthly tickets!