Chapter 683: Goodbye, Situ Xuan

When Ye Feng reappeared before everyone, they all felt that he was different from before. It wasn’t that his cultivation level had increased, but rather his overall aura had changed—a change that couldn’t be described in words.
One night in the real world equaled over a thousand years under the million-fold time acceleration of the Absolute Martial Ark. The six miniature universes within Ye Feng’s body had long stabilized, reaching the size and stability of universes possessed by experts at the Dongxu level. He had optimized their internal ecological structures countless times, and now there were already over a million species in those six universes, with a population of nearly trillions, still continuing to multiply. As for those thousand cultivators, Ye Feng didn’t dare give them energy crystals to help them advance their cultivation levels, fearing it might destabilize the miniature universes. He planned to wait until all six miniature universes were fully stable before making any decisions.
As for the original universe within Ye Feng’s body, its evolution speed was extraordinary. If not for Ye Feng’s suppression, it would likely have already evolved into a complete miniature universe. With no other choice, Ye Feng had to compress the energy within his body over and over again to prevent himself from reaching the Pseudo-Xu or even True-Xu level, which would prevent him from participating in future competitions.
When Ye Feng returned to the competition arena, the other contestants could clearly sense the heavy pressure emanating from him. That pressure spread uncontrollably, beyond Ye Feng’s control. This was the result of him compressing the energy within his body. The energy, which was originally enough to fill an entire miniature universe, was now forced into the starry void—it was only natural that it would spill over.
The other six people knew that, for some reason, Ye Feng’s strength had skyrocketed overnight, to the point where it was almost out of control.
Even Liu Yuan was surprised to see Ye Feng in such a state.
Before the quarterfinals began, the guests took their seats one by one. To everyone’s surprise, there was an additional woman in the guest section. She wore a white dress, with most of her face covered by a white veil, leaving only her eyes visible.
Upon seeing that figure, Ye Feng froze, a name flashing through his mind—“Situ Xuan?”
When the woman turned around and sat down, her gaze swept over the seven contestants, stopping briefly on Ye Feng as well.

When their eyes met, Ye Feng instantly recognized her—she was the woman he had met in the Terror Forest not long after leaving Earth, the woman who saved his life, the woman who watched Bernard’s birth with him, the woman who named Xiao Yu, the woman who ate chocolate and drank milk tea for the first time in front of him; the woman who stirred ripples in his heart but whom he never saw again—Stu Xuan. In just a moment, the woman turned away, and Ye Feng finally lowered his head. “Does she not recognize me? How is that possible?” At that moment, the chief referee had already started the drawing of lots, but Ye Feng didn’t hear anything. “Ye Feng, Ye Feng!” The chief referee called out twice before Ye Feng came back to his senses. “What’s wrong?” “It’s time to draw lots!” The chief referee brought the lot box to Ye Feng. Ye Feng randomly drew one and checked the number—it was three. The chief referee had already announced before everyone drew lots that the person who would be exempt this round was the one who drew number one, but Ye Feng hadn’t heard it. Still, he was surprised when he heard the referee announce that Liu Yuan was the exempted one. He still couldn’t figure out what tactics Liu Yuan had used. The other contestants could only glare at each other, unable to do anything else. In the guest seats, mild discussions could be heard. “Miss Stu, since this is your first time here, let me introduce these seven contestants,” said Xiahou Zhenghong, the host, enthusiastically. “In this competition of the strong, the most powerful one is that man named Ye Feng—the handsome man in the gray robe. He is also the champion of the Talent Competition a few days ago. Through blessings, he reached his current level of cultivation and thus came to participate in this competition. Although his cultivation level is the weakest, his strength is the greatest. My estimate is that his previous strength was comparable to that of a True Void-level warrior. Of course, after practicing all night, his aura seems to have changed slightly today. With his internal energy built up to this extent, it’s clear it’s almost compressed to its limit.” “Ye Feng…” The woman’s gaze lingered on Ye Feng for a brief moment before turning away again. Naturally, Ye Feng saw this. He clenched his fists and slowly stepped onto the arena. In the guest seats, Xiahou Zhenghong continued his introduction, “This young man who was exempted is named Liu Yuan. From the preliminary rounds to now, he’s been quite lucky, drawing the exempt ticket every time, without exception…”

Xiahou Zhenghong’s words clearly showed his skepticism toward the strange phenomena surrounding Liu Yuan. As the organizer, he himself had set up the restriction arrays in the lottery urn, yet he still hadn’t detected any abnormalities. He couldn’t even figure out what was going on with the various accidents that befalled Liu Yuan’s opponents. In fact, they had also questioned those who lost to Liu Yuan, but they too couldn’t explain anything. Hearing Xiahou Zhenghong’s explanation, the woman merely glanced briefly at Liu Yuan, seemingly not taking these matters seriously. Seeing that she wasn’t paying attention, Xiahou Zhenghong stopped introducing further details. Since Position 1 was vacant, it became the arena for a match between Position 2 and Position 3. Once all six contestants except Liu Yuan stepped onto the arena, the chief referee struck the bell to start the match. Almost simultaneously, Ye Feng appeared in front of his opponent; with a swirl of his sleeves, the opponent was sent flying out of the arena. The whole process took less than one percent of a breath’s time. “Position 1: Ye Feng wins!” the referee immediately declared the result. Without looking back, Ye Feng left the arena. This time, instead of heading to the audience like usual to watch the match, he unexpectedly headed toward the guest seats. “Competitor Ye Feng, why are you doing this…” The chief referee was stunned and tried to stop him, but was interrupted by Xiahou Zhenghong. Ye Feng walked straight to the guest seats and stood there, looking up at the woman covered in a white veil. “Do you still remember me?” The woman’s gaze lingered on Ye Feng for a moment before she avoided his eyes. “Young master, you must be mistaking me for someone else.” “Is it really a mistake?” Ye Feng continued to stare intently at the woman in the white dress, as if his gaze could pierce through her veil to see her true face. “Young Ye Feng, perhaps you really are mistaken. Miss Situ is the daughter of the Situ family from the Virtual Realm; she has never left the Virtual Realm since childhood. This is her first time coming to another realm,” Xiahou Zhenghong interjected to ease the situation. “As Uncle Xiahou said, I’ve never left the Virtual Realm. I only came to this realm because my wedding is approaching. I wanted to travel around, see famous mountains and rivers, and meet some talented people before the wedding, so I specially asked my father for permission. After the wedding, it will be inconvenient to travel, and I won’t have the same desire to explore anymore,” the woman explained with a slight nod to Ye Feng.

“She’s getting married…” Ye Feng’s mood sank instantly. “No wonder she pretended not to know me… Perhaps as a lady from a good family, she was concerned about her reputation before marriage. If that’s the case, I can only claim I mistook her for someone else…”
Thinking of this, Ye Feng forced himself to smile slightly. “In that case, I’m sorry. I mistook you for someone else. A long time ago, I also had a friend who wore a veil just like you and had a similar figure. I haven’t seen her in years, so I mistakenly took you for her. My apologies for the intrusion.”
“It doesn’t matter. The young master has just finished the competition and should rest properly,” the woman said again with a nod, prompting Ye Feng to turn and leave.
“Young Ye, meet me by the Midu River outside the city at midnight tonight…” A woman’s voice suddenly reached Ye Feng’s ears. The voice sounded familiar, but he couldn’t recall where he had heard it.