Binbu's progress was smoother than Qin Fen had imagined. The boost provided to everyone by the Master’s ‘eight into one’ technique with the old friend You Si far exceeded anyone's expectations.

The brief skirmish drew out the nine mightiest Demon Kings under the Queen Bee, who could no longer sit still and hurried toward the site of the incident.

By the time the nine Demon Kings arrived, Yang Lie and his group had already dragged away the corpses of the Demon Marshals they had slain and departed Pandora’s space, leaving only the nine Demon Kings roaring at the sky.

“It’s a good thing I didn't follow your martial path.” Yang Lie happily examined the Demon Marshal he had killed: “Yours is too domineering, instantly obliterating opponents until not a bone remains. Not suitable for specimen collection.”

Brooks, holding the Demon Marshal corpse cleaved in two, also praised and agreed wholeheartedly.

Du Peng, covered in blood, remained silent. His martial techniques meant he couldn't bring back an intact corpse. Having endured being snapped in half by the Demon Marshal, he miraculously survived after detonating and shredding his opponent; recovering specimens was out of the question.

Qin Fen looked at the smiles on everyone’s faces, then glanced at the distant figures roaring at the sky on the screen. He turned to Brain Number One and said, “Open a spatial rift for me, pick any Demon Marshal.”

“Iron-Backed Celestial Centipede Demon Marshal. Characteristics: its entire body’s rigidity surpasses all known alloys; its saliva contains potent venom; its teeth can sever all known alloys; its body can suddenly sprout steel needles, turning it into a monster resembling a porcupine.”

Before Brain Number One finished its introduction, Qin Fen stepped through the spatial rift. It was like a simple door; pushing it open revealed the scene beyond.

Lush green vegetation and a blue sky exuded an indescribable tranquility. This serenity was shattered the moment Qin Fen appeared by an enraged roar from a monstrous beast.

Trees hundreds of meters in diameter shuddered twice, and then, amidst the vibrations, they collapsed as if sliced instantaneously by some colossal blade. Moist, dark-yellow earth billowed up as a three-meter-tall, standing demonic beast—sporting a disproportionately four-meter-long tail—soared into the air, a pair of massive insectoid wings beating rapidly behind it.

“Nearly the strongest Demon Marshal,”

Brain Number One’s words still echoed in the room. In the projection, Qin Fen faced the lunging beast and unleashed a single punch, driving it directly into its tail—which could reportedly tear apart all metals—and shattering it completely. In mid-air, he executed three consecutive Dragon Shadow Evasion movements, appearing behind the Demon Marshal. He punched its spine, followed by successive strikes aimed at its wings and teeth.

In less than half a second, the strongest Demon Marshal had its tail destroyed, its teeth broken, its spine pulverized, and its limbs shattered. Only the living Demon Marshal remained, emitting mournful cries and agonizing shrieks in the air.

Qin Fen reached out again, grabbing the rear of the Demon Marshal, and forcibly withdrew from the spatial rift.

Fast! Fast! Fast! No one expected that everyone in the room, including Brain Number One, was utterly stunned. Captured alive! In less than a second, Qin Fen had beaten a Demon Marshal so badly that all its bones were broken, rendering all its offensive capabilities useless, and dragged it out alive?

Who among these beings—other than the Divine Beast Warriors, the Queen Bee, and the nine Demon Kings—could possibly subdue him? Qin Fen's current strength had reached a terrifying degree; with effortless ease, he captured alive a beast that had taxed them all in battle?

“My martial path,” Qin Fen said, holding the struggling Demon Marshal, which continuously roared in fury and groaned in agony, looking at the others, “can also work like this.”

“Shameless!” Little Dragon King Yang Lie’s eye twitched several times. The aura Qin Fen displayed in that single instant was as vast and overwhelming as a god facing a mortal, leaving no room for resistance. The only path to challenge and defeat him, it seemed, was to follow the New Human evolution track and become the Ice Dragon King.

In the projection, another roar sounded.

It was unclear if Pandora’s space was having a bad day, but a spatial rift, one not belonging to the Founding Assembly, opened, and a figure resembling a human burst out. This being was nearly three meters tall, and a frigid, sharp killing intent instantly pierced through the projection screen and accurately struck everyone’s martial senses.

Little Pluto Hades! Qin Fen recognized this half-human, half-ghost creature as the pride of the younger generation of martial artists from Venus back in the day, once known as the strongest young man, Hades.

Although Hades’ appearance was completely different from usual, that imposing aura was unmistakable! A killing aura! Second only to Sha Pojun and the White Tiger, he was arguably the current master of the Slaughter Martial Path among ‘humans.’

Hades was facing another Demon Marshal. This Demon Marshal, having just received news of consecutive Demon Marshal deaths, roared with a fury no less intense than the previous one.

Little Pluto Hades took seventeen seconds to break all four limbs of the Demon Marshal and neutralize all its offensive capabilities, capturing it alive and taking it away, just as Qin Fen had done.

“This…” Brain Number One paused slightly before stating blandly, “The truly terrifying aspect of the Insect Warriors is the untold suffering they must have endured.”

Not every Insect Warrior could manifest the strength of Hades, but this one-in-ten-trillion chance had forged him into what he is today.” A well-known expert nodded in agreement. He had dealt with Insect Warriors more than once or twice; they were meant to stimulate humans to grow stronger, but someone like Hades, whose strength soared almost uncontrollably, was unique!

Everyone had their own destiny. Qin Fen believed that the Martian legend, Shangguan Legend, achieving his current strength was likely not just due to extraordinary talent, but some fortuitous encounter—otherwise, his aptitude truly bordered on being comparable to Zong Jue Lü.

“Qin Fen,” Brain Number One said with immense gravity, “Your final opponent in this Gathering of Elites will very likely be him. According to data transmitted from Zhang Hao’s Founding Assembly, the Insect Warriors are a key; they can unlock the shackles on a warrior’s body, but since everyone’s shackles differ, what is unlocked also differs. Little Pluto Hades has clearly unlocked more shackles than anyone else.”

“That’s hard to say,” Yang Lie chuckled. “News arrived yesterday afternoon that Xue Tian caused a major disturbance at the Azure Dragon Hall on Jupiter. I heard he unleashed all one hundred and seventy-five of his battle blades, leveling the entire hall. He then left Jupiter, laughing maniacally, carrying the last batch of seventy-six battle blades, his body spewing blood.”

Everyone was taken aback. Xue Tian! He was the person most expected to challenge Qin Fen!

“The Martian Legend shouldn’t be underestimated either,” Brain Number One reminded them. “Also, the Jade Emperor and Ksitigarbha cannot be overlooked. The Divine Beasts jointly set this six-month deadline; your younger generation’s forceful rise puts immense pressure on these two veteran powerhouses. If this pressure doesn't crush them, it will undoubtedly become their driving force! They are the last defensive line against the young powerhouses, absolutely not to be slighted! Veteran powerhouses possess their own unique advantages.”

Veteran powerhouses! The expressions of those present subtly shifted. This era, thanks to Qin Fen, had become vastly different from the previous martial arts age.

A generational challenge—the younger generation confronting the veterans—was always a long, arduous, and often seemingly impossible task.

If one were to truly count, only the legendary Azure Dragon among the younger generation had succeeded in challenging the veterans. All others were veteran powerhouses who eventually defeated all other veterans to become Divine Beast Warriors themselves.

But today, all of that had changed! Led by Qin Fen, the younger generation displayed an unprecedented dominance. They spurred each other on, never pausing, their continuous surge in strength leading to a situation that appeared somewhat aberrant to outsiders.

Historically, the strongest echelon of the younger generation had only one peak! Yet, in this generation, spurred on by mutual competition, there were now four youths with the absolute qualification to challenge the veteran warriors! Even Yang Lie and the others were now nearly qualified to challenge the veterans.

Qin Fen, Xue Tian, Shangguan Legend, and Hades! Any one of these four youths, placed in a previous era, would have been the pride of that age. But they all appeared in the same generation, and three of them might very well become stepping stones for one individual to reach the highest pinnacle.

“Eras,” Brooks smiled, “must always change.”

Qin Fen looked at the struggling Demon Marshal in his hand, then back at Brain Number One. “Then, we will be taking our leave. If anything else occurs, notify us anytime. If the Queen Bee gives birth prematurely, remember to tell us immediately; that should be her moment of greatest weakness.”

“Understood!”

Brain Number One knew the Queen Bee was too powerful! In a fair fight, if all the current Divine Beast Warriors united against her, they likely wouldn’t even achieve a narrow victory.

This was the direction of evolution. Humanity's early direction was technology, but even after martial arts emerged, it couldn't compare to the natural, innate physical evolution of the demon beasts.

If you added nine Demon Kings comparable to Divine Beast Warriors, the Federation's martial artists stood no chance whatsoever.

The Queen Bee’s delivery would definitely be the best opportunity! At that moment, the nine Demon Kings would be distracted caring for her, and the Queen Bee would be at her weakest. The combined forces of all Divine Beast Warriors, along with powerhouses like Qin Fen from the younger generation, might actually have a chance to turn the tide!

“Simulate the calculation again! Simulate the calculation again!”

After Qin Fen and the others left, Brain Number One once again mobilized all its cognitive power, coordinating with the computers, to push forward the timeline projection for the Queen Bee’s delivery. It hoped to fix the time down to a specific day, rather than the vague timeframe of "within a month."

The updates have been very unstable recently. The alliance leader asked me what’s going on today, so I should probably explain it to my friends. Simply put, I caught a bad cold a while ago. Due to my ingrained habit of not taking shots or medicine when sick, I usually recover quickly, so I handled this one the same way, but it never got better.

It wasn’t until the last update that I seemed mostly okay, but then I got a severe cold from the draft while sleeping that night. The next day, I developed a high fever, which left my entire body aching, my head pounding in a fuzzy haze. I had to receive continuous IV drips and take medication until I finally sweated out the fever today.

That’s the situation. This time, it truly wasn't a bottleneck or anything else; my body genuinely couldn't handle it; the fever was severe. I couldn't even open my eyes while lying down receiving the IV drip, which made my lower back hurt.