Grinding to Become the Master of the Universe

Chapter 352 - 169: Old Lai Zi Qin Beast! He’s Back Again! He’s Stronger

Just as the name "Zhou Xiong" pushed the arena’s atmosphere to a fever pitch and countless students looked on with bated breath, subtle ripples began to form in the space around the exclusive instructor seats at the very top of the arena.

One by one, figures materialized out of thin air, appearing without warning upon the row of seats forged from special Energy Crystals and suspended high in the air.

They had arrived.

Contrary to the students’ expectations, not a single one of these great beings—those who stood at the pinnacle of the Empire’s Martial Dao—bothered to restrain their aura.

Quite the opposite. With an almost tyrannical and indisputable presence, they unleashed their terrifying auras—powerful enough to shake the stars and distort reality. Like a silent storm, their power instantly enveloped the entire arena!

This was no mere show of force. It was a lesson, taught in the most direct and primal way.

It was a silent proclamation to the millions of students below, the future pillars of the Empire:

This is the goal you fight for!

This is the very essence of power!

Look up. Gaze upon us. And then, give everything you have to catch us—and surpass us!

The first to appear were several dozen Stellar-grade instructors.

Though they all maintained a normal human form, their attire varied greatly. Some wore flowing, classical Long Robes; some were clad in the formal uniforms of scholars; others wore sleek, soft-plate combat armor.

But in the perception of the millions of students, none of them seemed to be mere flesh and blood.

They were living, breathing... stars, walking among mortals!

The middle-aged instructor, Lv Lan, possessed a scholarly air. His aura was like that of a stable star—warm, profound, and dazzlingly bright. It was filled with a boundless, unceasing life force that naturally inspired feelings of intimacy and trust.

In contrast, the red-haired female instructor, Yue Hong, was like a blazing supergiant. Her aura was domineering and ferocious, as if it could incinerate everything around her.

Yet within that extreme heat lay a trace of grim cold, like absolute zero—a contradictory yet harmonious existence.

Then there was the elderly Mu Lin, who carried a wine gourd. His aura was the strangest of all, like a violent, flickering supergiant. At one moment, it was as vast as the sea; the next, it was so faint as to be nearly imperceptible. This rhythm of motion and stillness made it impossible to pinpoint his presence.

Dozens of stars in various forms and colors hung high in the sky. The light and heat they radiated caused the blood of every student to quicken in their veins, filling their hearts with an endless yearning to pursue a higher realm!

Next were the seven or eight Galactic-grade instructors.

When they appeared, the atmosphere in the arena changed abruptly.

If the Stellar-grade instructors brought an aspirational warmth and light, then the Galactic-grade instructors brought something on a cosmic scale, transcending the limits of individual perception... a sense of vastness and utter stillness.

Qin Feng’s mentor, Yu Han, sat there in silence. He was like a deep and boundless starry sky unto himself.

To look at him was to gaze into the Cosmos itself. The sheer vastness, the ancientness, the bottomless mystery—it was enough to make anyone of weak will instantly lose themselves and suffer a complete mental collapse.

Meanwhile, Instructor Zai Jing, master of the Disciplinary Hall, had an aura like a colossal, slowly collapsing nebula.

Within that seemingly placid cloud of dust and gas lay a terrifying power, capable of both birthing and destroying countless stars. It was filled with a cold, indisputable sense of law and Order that inspired awe and terror from the very depths of one’s soul.

This feeling went beyond mere power. It was a terrifying pressure, akin to a natural disaster, that made one feel insignificant and utterly hopeless.

However, when the final figure appeared on the throne in the very center of the instructors’ dais—a seat clearly more magnificent than all the others—the shock from all the stars and galaxies that had come before paled in an instant.

Zhou Xiong had arrived.

He was not seated, unlike the others.

Instead, he stood silently before his throne, like an ancient and immutable Divine Mountain.

He wore a suit of custom-made power armor. It was not ornate, but it was steeped in the aura of Iron Blood and the ravages of time.

The armor was covered in countless fine scars, still clearly visible despite repairs—eternal medals of honor earned in life-or-death battles against the Empire’s most terrifying foes.

On his chest were dozens of medals awarded by the Imperial Military Department, each one representing the highest honor.

Every single one represented a brutal campaign worthy of the history books, steeped in blood and fire.

He wore no helmet, revealing a resolute face—weather-beaten and sharply chiseled, as if carved from granite.

The most striking feature was on his prominent brow ridge: four metal nails, each shimmering with a different luster, were embedded deep into the bone.

—The Ten Thousand Battle Nails!

They were the mark of glory that only a veteran of ten thousand battles from the Ultramarines Chapter, one who had achieved illustrious military honors, was qualified to bear!

The first nail was the crimson of fresh blood.

The second, the orange of a setting sun.

The third was the color of aged rust.

And the fourth gleamed with an ancient verdigris, like patina on bronze unearthed from a primordial Relic.