The Strongest Talent Tree

For a moment, the entire arena was deathly silent, the only sound being Fang Jie weakly collapsing to his knees on the stage.

Feng Hao scanned the audience below, then proudly withdrew his Su Mu Dagger. He had meticulously calculated that last combo, leaving Fang Jie with exactly one-third of his health. One more hit could have killed him.

In a corner of the stage, the Referee Elder was also dumbfounded, standing frozen in place.

"Elder, isn’t it time to announce the results?" Feng Hao asked with a sidelong glance and a smile.

"Ah? Oh..." The Referee Elder snapped back to his senses and loudly announced, "The winner of this match is Feng Hao!"

The crowd erupted!

Following the Referee Elder’s announcement, the entire arena burst into an uproar filled with cheers, gasps of amazement, and boundless disbelief.

On a distant viewing platform, the Eastern Sub-Palace Master’s face was horribly grim. In contrast, the Thief Master and Jing Lou looked pleased. Jing Lou, in particular, was so excited he couldn’t contain himself. "What terrifying damage! I doubt even an ordinary Fifth-rank Mage could withstand that."

"Fearless in the face of danger, calm analysis, and he seized the opportunity without the slightest hesitation. Excellent, excellent! Truly worthy of being the disciple I chose!" The Thief Master nodded in satisfaction, then broke into a hearty laugh.

"By the way, Thief Master, what exactly is Xiaofeng’s bloodline? How can it produce such terrifying damage?" Jing Lou couldn’t help but ask, his curiosity piqued.

"Well, about that... I’ll tell you after Xiaofeng becomes the Thief Scion," the Thief Master said mysteriously.

Jing Lou was exasperated. "What’s the difference if you tell me now?"

"It’s still too early to tell you," the Thief Master said with a faint smile, pressing his lips together.

"..." Jing Lou was stunned into silence.

Meanwhile, on the stage, Fang Jie had recovered from the shock of his defeat. He stared blankly at Feng Hao, his eyes filled with disbelief and resentment. He shook his head in a daze and gave a bitter smile. "I can’t believe I ended up losing to a little thief who just reached the fourth rank."

"You’re actually very skilled. Your mastery of archery, in particular, was truly breathtaking," Feng Hao said with a light chuckle, stepping forward.

Fang Jie opened his mouth, then frowned. "A loss is a loss. What’s with all the pointless chatter? I, Fang Jie, am not a sore loser."

"Tsk tsk, as expected of a thief from our Thief God Hall. You have a bright future!" Feng Hao couldn’t help but give him a thumbs-up.

Fang Jie tilted his head back and swallowed a few Blood Recovery Pills. With a soft grunt, he staggered off the battle stage. "Don’t get cocky, you little thief. In the battle for the title of Thief Scion a year from now, I’ll show you what a veteran thief can do!"

"Uh." Feng Hao faltered for a second, then couldn’t help but break into a smile.

When he came down from the stage, Ming Xin Yan and the other two were already waiting eagerly. The gazes of the surrounding thieves had also changed.

Feng Hao had no time to worry about what others thought. He strode through the crowd to meet up with Ming Xin Yan and the others.

The young couple, Lu Linfei and Ting Xiaoxue, gathered around him with looks of adoration. Lu Linfei exclaimed excitedly, "Congratulations, Brother Feng! From now on, you’re the champion of this year’s preliminaries!"

"That’s right, Brother Feng! You’re the champion now!" Ting Xiaoxue said, ecstatic.

Feng Hao chuckled. Just as they said, after defeating Fang Jie, the championship was practically a sure thing. Although there were still a few days of matches left, his remaining opponents were ordinary. As long as he followed the schedule, ninety-nine points were in the bag.

After dealing with the excited couple, his gaze fell on Ming Xin Yan. "Why so quiet, sis? Aren’t you happy your little bro won the championship?"

"It’s not like *I* won. What’s there to be happy about?" Ming Xin Yan huffed, shooting Feng Hao a look. Her eyes were full of complicated emotions. "You really know how to hide your strength, you brat. You’re obviously so powerful, yet you acted like you weren’t confident. You’re infuriating!"

Feng Hao didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. "I swear to God, before I broke through yesterday, I really wasn’t very confident."

"Keep pretending. Go on, keep pretending!" Ming Xin Yan said, her face a mask of disbelief.

Feng Hao was left speechless. ’Oh well,’ he thought, ’seeing her attitude, I knew no explanation would convince her. I guess I can only blame the massive power boost I got after breaking through to the fourth rank.’

Back on Thief God Peak, the atmosphere of disbelief lingered.

Of course, amazement was one thing, but the competition had to go on. It was just that after this ultimate showdown, the subsequent matches seemed rather dull.

In fact, Feng Hao’s next two opponents chose to forfeit directly, which saved him a lot of trouble.

After finishing his three matches, Feng Hao left Thief God Peak with Ming Xin Yan and the others. As for the next day’s schedule, there was no need to even look. There were no noteworthy opponents left anyway.

「Main Peak Residential Area, inside the courtyard of Ming Xin Yan’s loft.」

A batch of steaming hot Fourth Rank Life Creation Pills shot out from the Alchemy Equipment. With a wave of his hand, Feng Hao effortlessly collected the pills into a vial and handed it to Ming Xin Yan. "Here. This is a pill that can directly raise your gene level. You can take a maximum of five per rank."

"Is the formula this simple?" Ming Xin Yan asked, her eyes full of curiosity.

"Heh, don’t be fooled by the simple formula. The actual refining process is ridiculously complex. I’m not just bragging, but other Ninth-level Alchemists probably couldn’t craft this even if they had the formula," Feng Hao said, shamelessly showing off.

"Is that so?" Ming Xin Yan took the pills doubtfully, then smiled sweetly. "Thanks."

"Saying ’thanks’ makes us sound like strangers, don’t you think?" Feng Hao teased.

Ming Xin Yan chuckled, placing the Life Creation Pills into her Spatial Ring. She looked up at him with a playful expression. "In that case, does this mean I can come to you whenever I need these pills refined in the future?"

"No problem," Feng Hao said with a casual smile. "But in the future, you probably won’t need to come directly to me for Life Creation Pills. After I become the Thief Scion, I’ll hand over the formula to the Grand Hall for processing. You’ll be able to exchange for them directly at the Treasure Pavilion then."

"Heh, you have a pretty high sense of duty, don’t you?" Ming Xin Yan said, slightly surprised.

"Of course. I’m the man who’s going to become the Thief Scion. It’s only right to contribute to the organization."

Ming Xin Yan rolled her eyes. "Don’t get ahead of yourself. It’s not set in stone who will become the Thief Scion a year from now! I won’t go easy on you then."

"What? Sis, you still think you can beat me a year from now?" Feng Hao asked with a laugh.

"You never know," Ming Xin Yan said with a mysterious smile, then gracefully walked into her bedroom.

Feng Hao was taken aback for a moment, then shook his head helplessly and left the residential area.

He drove his Mansa back to the training grounds on Thief Peak. Mei Meimei was there, fiddling with the [Pulse Wrist Guard] as usual. Who knew when she’d finally succeed.

The Thief Master was waiting patiently in the rest area. To Feng Hao’s surprise, the Grand Palace Master, Jing Lou, was also there.

"Master, Palace Master," Feng Hao said, stepping forward to greet them with a hint of confusion.

"Not bad, not bad. You didn’t disappoint your master," the Thief Master said, patting Feng Hao’s shoulder with an exceptionally happy smile.

What left Feng Hao speechless was that Jing Lou also wore a look of satisfaction and relief, which made him feel rather uncomfortable. After all, when the Thief Master had wanted to pre-select him as the Thief Scion, this old guy had vehemently opposed it.

"What brings the Palace Master to Thief Peak today?" Feng Hao asked, his eyes full of suspicion.

Seeing Feng Hao’s unwelcoming expression, Jing Lou couldn’t help but feel a bit awkward. "Heh, the little guy sure holds a grudge. I was in the wrong before, there’s no need to be so hostile. After all, I am the current Thief God. I have to consider the bigger picture in some matters, don’t I?"