68: Chapter 68: Acting Skills Reach Godhood, Everyone's Becomes Di-Human! These aren't players, they're clearly humanoid mythical beasts!

Dead silence.

In the vast main hall of the Star Kingdom's royal palace, it was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.

All eyes—filled with shock, anger, fear, and greed—were like an airtight net, tightly covering the youth in black at the entrance.

Qin Ji ignored the terrifying pressure around him that was enough to kill an ordinary person a thousand times over, walking toward the center of the hall as if strolling through a garden. His combat boots stepped on the polished, mirror-like obsidian floor, making crisp and rhythmic "clack, clack" sounds; every step seemed to land on the heartbeats of everyone present.

"Is this the Star Kingdom's way of treating guests?"

Qin Ji stopped ten meters from the throne, one hand in his pocket, the other casually resting on the [abyssal demon sword] at his waist, which emitted an ominous black mist. His purple-gold pupils narrowed slightly as his gaze bypassed the kneeling ministers on both sides, piercing straight toward the aging King upon the throne.

"How dare you!"

The First Princess, Qing Fuyun, was the first to strike. The two legendary Royal Knights behind her instantly unsheathed their swords, their violent battle qi locking onto Qin Ji like a volcanic eruption. "You dare not kneel before Father? Who are you?!"

"Who I am is not important."

A punchable smirk curled at the corner of Qin Ji's mouth. His contemptuous gaze swept over Qing Fuyun, finally landing on Leona, who had just arrived in the corner looking "pale and weak."

"What's important is that I'm here to collect a debt."

With a flick of his wrist, a hideous head still dripping with black demonic blood rolled into the center of the hall.

Although the head had lost its life force, it still radiated a suffocatingly terrifying pressure—it was the head of the Devil King, Grelorlinssen!

"The Devil King... is dead?!"

"Heavens, this Aura is definitely correct. It's the Abyssal Devil King!"

The hall instantly erupted into an uproar.

Qin Ji gave a cold laugh. His voice wasn't loud, yet it clearly reached everyone. "This old thing was indeed hard to kill. I was about to finish up, but I didn't expect your lovely Second Princess, Her Highness Leona, to recklessly charge in trying to steal the final blow."

Leona's body trembled violently. A layer of mist instantly welled up in her deep blue eyes, and she bit her lip hard, looking as if she had suffered a great grievance but didn't dare speak out.

"Tsk tsk, I must say, her courage is commendable."

Qin Ji shook his head, his tone full of mockery. "She clearly couldn't even break my defense, yet she still insisted on charging against the Devil King's deathbed counterattack. If I hadn't found her annoying and chopped off the Devil King's head myself, the Second Princess would probably be a corpse by now."

As he spoke, his cold gaze swept the surroundings, and the abyssal demon sword in his hand let out a hum, thirsting for blood.

"Listen, I killed the Devil King, and the spoils are mine. If anyone wants to stand up for this 'brave' but incompetent Second Princess, feel free to try."

"As long as you are prepared... for the entire nation to be buried with her."

Boom—!

The moment he finished speaking, Qin Ji no longer suppressed the terrifying attributes within him that had already stacked to a broken level.

A visible wave of blood-colored air suddenly erupted with him as the center!

That wasn't a skill; it was a physical pressure formed purely by the mixture of ridiculously high Killing Intent Value and Red Name Value. The ministers in the hall with lower Ranks felt as if their chests had been hit by a heavy hammer, spitting out a mouthful of blood on the spot. Even the two legendary knights' expressions changed drastically, the swords in their hands trembling slightly.

How many lives must one kill to condense such Evil Qi?!

This wasn't a human; this was clearly a primordial Vicious Beast in human skin!

"Let him go."

On the throne, the old King finally opened his cloudy eyes. His voice was raspy but brooked no argument.

"Father! He insulted the royal family..." Qing Fuyun spoke up urgently.

"I said, let him go!"

The old King's scepter slammed heavily onto the ground, and a vast Kingly Aura instantly suppressed all the commotion. He looked deeply at Qin Ji, then at the "tottering" Leona, a trace of deep thought flashing in his eyes.

Qin Ji shrugged, retracted his terrifying Aura, turned around, and left.

As he passed by Leona, he paused slightly and chuckled in a voice only the two of them could hear:

"Nice acting, my Queen, Your Majesty."

...

Half an hour later, the Queen's chambers.

"Snow Emperor..."

Queen Fiodingyu sat before her dressing table, the eyebrow pencil in her hand crushed into powder. The beautiful face in the mirror was now clouded with gloom.

"How did he know our plan? He even turned the situation to his advantage?"

In the shadows behind her, a pitch-black bird with three eyes—the Klinfiss Bird—slowly shook its head, its voice sharp and piercing. "I am not sure. This person's data stream is abnormally chaotic. My [Eye of True Sight] can only see a mass of chaotic garbled code."

"But he is a threat after all."

A hint of ruthlessness flashed in the Klinfiss Bird's eyes, its wings making a throat-slitting motion. "Should we..."

"Kill him?"

Fiodingyu sneered, brushing off the powder in her hand. "Didn't you hear the guards' report? That madman's Red Name Value is terrifyingly high; he's clearly a cold-blooded killer. Moreover, he is a 'Chosen One'."

"Adventurers cannot be killed. If he dies, he can respawn and might even become more insane."

"Imprison him?"

"Useless. Even space magic can't trap him."

Fiodingyu's eyes were deep as her finger lightly tapped the table. Suddenly, she seemed to think of something, and a meaningful smile appeared on her face.

"In this world, there are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests. Since we can't kill him, we'll make him the blade in our hands."

"I know what to do."

...

Qin Ji didn't know the old hag in the palace was plotting against him.

At this moment, he had already used [Void Walk] to leave the capital and appeared at the "Sighing Coast," three hundred miles away from the main city.

The seawater here was an eerie ink-black, and the beach was crawling with [Iron-Backed Black Tortoises] the size of millstones. Although these tortoises were only Rank 30 elite monsters, they had extremely high physical defense and a damage reflection talent, making this the most hated leveling spot for physical classes.

But for Qin Ji, this was paradise.

"My Red Name Value is too high to enter the main city's auction house. I need to clear it a bit first."

Qin Ji glanced at his role ID, which was so red it was turning purple and even black, and sighed helplessly. That wave of posturing in the palace earlier felt good, but the System judged that he had "intimidated the royal family," causing his Red Name Value to skyrocket.

If he didn't clear some of it, forget about entering the city to trade—he'd probably be chased and hacked by NPC guards with server-wide bounties just walking down the street.

"Time to work."

Qin Ji casually pulled out a rusty iron rod he had picked up from somewhere and struck the nearest Iron-Backed Black Tortoise.

"Bang!"

-999,999! (Critical Hit)

The black tortoise, famous for its defense, didn't even let out a scream before exploding into a cloud of blood mist.

[Killed Rank 30 Iron-Backed Black Tortoise. Strength +1, Defense +2.]

[Triggered Greedy Grasp: Obtained Passive Fragment 'Thorn Carapace' (1/100).]

Golden numbers rose from the corpse and instantly merged into Qin Ji's body.

"Too fragile. Boring."

Qin Ji curled his lip and began a frantic harvest on the beach.

One, two, a hundred...

He was like a tireless bulldozer; everywhere he passed, not a blade of grass remained. To increase efficiency, he didn't even bother dodging the tortoises' attacks, letting their sharp claws scratch his body.

-0.

-0.

-1 (Force damage).

Before Qin Ji could even see the occasional -1, the [tear of the goddess of life] hanging around his neck flashed with a soft blue light.

+58,000 (Health Regeneration).

This was pure stat suppression.

As time passed, the originally dense coastline was actually cleared into a vacuum zone by him.

Just then, a series of hurried footsteps came from afar.

A round figure came running over eagerly. Although his ID was hidden, who else could it be but that information broker with that iconic Physique and wretched smile?

"Hao... no, Brother Ji! Brother Ji, I'm here!"

The newcomer was Qian Duoduo (formerly known as Fatty Zhou). He ran up to Qin Ji panting, his fat shaking up and down with every breath.

"Brother Ji, you're too fierce! The forums just exploded! They said some badass barged into the palace alone, pointed at the King's nose and cursed him, then walked out unscathed! I knew it was you the moment I read the description!"

Qian Duoduo looked at him with worship, his eyes sparkling with the light of gold coins. "I really didn't know before that you were the legendary 'Red Name Maniac,' the Snow Emperor!"

"Calm down."

Qin Ji casually crushed a black tortoise's head and shook the blood off the iron rod. "What do you want? Didn't I already give you the information fee?"

"Hehe, I just want to cling to your greatness."

Qian Duoduo rubbed his hands together with a fawning expression. "Brother Ji, look at how high your Red Name is now; you definitely can't enter the city to buy supplies. I happen to have a batch of top-quality potions and Town Portal Scrolls..."

"I don't need them."

Qin Ji interrupted him. "However, since you're here, you can do me a favor."

"What favor? Brother Ji, just give the word! I'll go through fire and water..."

"Join the party."

Qin Ji directly sent over a party invitation.

Qian Duoduo blanked for a moment and instinctively clicked accept.

The next second, he froze in place. His small eyes suddenly bulged wider than copper bells, and his mouth hung open wide enough to fit an ostrich egg.

"Ho... Holy shit?!!"

"Ji... Brother Ji, your stats... is the System bugged?!"

In his vision, Qin Ji's health bar in the party list was so long it looked like a red line stretching across the screen.

【Teammate: Qin Ji (LV. 25)】

【Health: 1,250,000 / 1,250,000】

1.25 million?!

Qian Duoduo rubbed his eyes again and again.

At this stage, even an MT (Tank) with full Physique points would be a god-tier player if they had twenty thousand health at Rank 25. 1.25 million? This was several times thicker than that black tortoise boss's health just now!

"Is... is this a health bar a carbon-based lifeform can have?" Qian Duoduo's voice was trembling. "Brother Ji, tell me honestly, are you the game company's father?"

"Stop talking nonsense."

Qin Ji ignored his shock and pulled a stone emitting seven-colored light from his bag, tossing it to Qian Duoduo like trash.

"Take it and awaken your talent."

Qian Duoduo scrambled to catch it. When he looked closely, he almost knelt on the spot.

【Saint Grade Talent Awakening Stone】

【Quality: Mythical (Unique)】

【Effect: Forcefully awakens a player's hidden Bloodline talent and directly upgrades it to the highest grade.】

"Saint... Saint Grade?!"

Qian Duoduo felt the stone in his hand weigh a thousand pounds and swallowed hard. "Brother Ji, this... some rich guy on the forums offered five million for a Heaven Grade one and couldn't find it. You're just... giving me this Saint Grade one?"

"Take it. I don't keep useless people."

Qin Ji continued slaughtering the respawning black tortoises without looking back. "I've taken an interest in your 'Soul Link' talent. Bind to me as soon as you awaken it."

As for Qian Duoduo's background, Qin Ji, with his memories of his past life, naturally knew it clearly.

Although this fat guy was wretched, he possessed the only auxiliary divine skill in the entire server—[Soul Link].

Originally, this talent could only split damage, but with the enhancement of the Saint Grade Awakening Stone, it would undergo a qualitative change.

"Hehe, having a pro carry me really is different!"

Qian Duoduo no longer hesitated and crushed the Awakening Stone.

A pillar of golden light instantly enveloped him. A moment later, the light dissipated, and Qian Duoduo stared blankly at his new panel.

【Saint Grade Talent: Soul Symbiosis】

【Star Rank: 1-Star】

【Effect 1: You can designate one friendly unit for Soul binding.】

【Effect 2: After binding, you will gain a 10% bonus to all of the target's attributes (including Health, Defense, Attack, etc.).】

【Effect 3: You can take 50% of the damage for the target (can be toggled off at any time).】

"Brother Ji... I..."

Qian Duoduo looked at the "gain 10% of the target's all attributes" description and swallowed with difficulty. "I feel like the System just ganked me. This talent is a bit broken."

"Broken? You haven't seen truly broken yet."

Qin Ji grinned, revealing a row of forest-white teeth. "Now, try binding to me."

"Ding! Player 'Qian Duoduo' is requesting to establish Soul Symbiosis with you. Do you agree?"

"Agree."

Boom—!

The moment he agreed, a terrifying wave of air erupted from Qian Duoduo. His health bar, which was originally just over ten thousand, skyrocketed like a rocket!

20,000... 50,000... 100,000... 130,000!

In just an instant, a Rank 20 squishy rogue's health directly surged to 130,000!

Not only that, his defense and attack power also underwent earth-shaking changes at this moment. The dagger that could originally only give the black tortoises a pedicure now glinted with a heart-palpitating cold light.

"Hiss—!"

Qian Duoduo gasped, feeling the terrifying power in his body that felt like it could kill a dragon with one punch. He was on cloud nine.

"Brother Ji! I feel like I can solo a boss now!"

"Don't be in a hurry; this is just the beginning."

Qin Ji checked the time, the sea breeze making his trench coat flap loudly.

"My Red Name is mostly cleared. Let's go to the East Sea Auction House."

"Auction House?" Qian Duoduo was stunned. "Brother Ji, you want to buy something?"

"No."

Qin Ji turned around, the setting sun stretching his shadow very long. His purple-gold pupils flashed with a hunter-like light.

"I'm going to fence some loot. And... let those self-righteous tycoons know what a real 'Godly Whale' looks like."

The sea breeze whistled, kicking up a thousand piles of snow-white foam.

Qin Ji carried the still-dripping iron rod in one hand, walking with large strides toward the main city. Behind him, Qian Duoduo looked at the back that seemed to carry the pressure of the entire world and swallowed hard, then eagerly followed. He looked exactly like a fat fox that had just clung to a divine dragon's leg.