As Shi Feng and the others vanished, the sea gradually fell silent once more.
"Used the Teleportation Stones from the Tower of Four Gods to escape — there's absolutely nothing we can do about that now." The dark-mist man standing aboard the Bronze Rank ship watched with a hint of envy. "He grabbed twenty-six treasures all by himself. Of everyone who participated in the hunt against the Storm King Serpent, he probably came out the biggest winner."
Just the escape alone had cost three Teleportation Stones. Converted, that was probably close to the total number the Thirteen Kingdoms had managed to obtain.
And Shi Feng had secured twenty-six treasures. The Teleportation Stones he possessed certainly weren't limited to the three he'd used — he definitely had more. In other words, the number of Teleportation Stones Shi Feng had obtained exceeded what the Thirteen Kingdoms had gotten combined.
"A tree that stands out in the forest will be the first to fall by the wind. Every major faction suffered devastating losses fighting the Storm King Serpent, and he swiped so many drops in one go that he's essentially offended every faction present," the dark-mist woman said with a shrug, unbothered. "Sure, he's escaped with the treasures for now, but he and Zero Wing behind him can forget about ever making a name for themselves on Dragon Heart Island again."
Dragon Heart Island was home to numerous superpowers, not to mention the independent factions led by the Ten Great Adventure Groups. Together, these forces were so formidable that even the Thirteen Kingdoms didn't dare cross them.
And now Shi Feng had managed to antagonize every last one of them. It would be nothing short of a miracle if he could ever operate on Dragon Heart Island again.
Dragon Heart Island was the maritime trade hub. If you wanted to develop at sea, it was practically impossible to avoid Dragon Heart Island. Yet for any major faction looking to advance further, expanding into maritime territories was inevitable — the resources at sea far surpassed those on land. The island also attracted the greatest concentration of neutral races, and much of the resource transportation in the world went through sea routes.
Without maritime development, any faction would be severely constrained in the future with extremely limited growth potential. That was precisely why all major factions — especially first-rate guilds and above — had been pouring resources into maritime expansion like mad.
"Still, he did obtain quite a few slots for the Tower of Four Gods. His future development isn't necessarily doomed," the dark-mist man shook his head, not entirely agreeing.
The Tower of Four Gods had existed since before the Great Destruction — an eternal place that even the fall of the gods couldn't so much as budge. After the Great Destruction, the rise of many kingdoms and empires on the mainland had been closely linked to the Tower of Four Gods, which spoke volumes about the opportunities within. This was something you could read about directly in the libraries of every major kingdom and empire.
The various superpowers had only managed to jointly uncover a path to the Tower of Four Gods after tremendous effort — and that path was the Storm King Serpent. But such an opportunity existed only once. Who knew when they would find another method to obtain Teleportation Stones? Yet Shi Feng had obtained a sizable number all at once.
"Enough. If that brat managed to snatch the treasures, that's his skill," Elder Wu glanced at the two of them. "Whether he's offended the major factions has nothing to do with us. Now get back to focusing on seizing the remaining treasures!" While Shi Feng managing to grab so many treasures had genuinely surprised him, it was nothing more than surprise.
Meanwhile, aboard the Star Ring fleet not far from the Thirteen Kingdoms' armada.
"Guild Master, what do we do now? Black Flame used the Teleportation Stones from the Tower of Four Gods to leave — there's nothing we can do to him now." Chen Hui stared at the spot where Shi Feng had vanished, his expression grim.
"Nothing we can do?" Lu Xingluo suddenly laughed. "How is there nothing we can do? Since this Black Flame dares to snatch food from the tiger's mouth, I have no qualms about sending him on his final journey!"
"Issue an announcement immediately — say that Black Flame obtained a Legendary-grade item fragment and a large number of slots for the Tower of Four Gods. Spread this news everywhere. I'd love to see how he plans to survive in the Divine Realm after that!"
The Storm King Serpent was a King-tier Legendary sea beast. Whether it could actually drop a Legendary-grade item fragment, Lu Xingluo didn't know for certain. But no one had ever managed to kill such a monster before, so in the public's eyes, a Legendary-grade item fragment as a drop wasn't exactly implausible.
Shi Feng had grabbed a massive haul of treasures — everyone had witnessed that with their own eyes.
And how rare were Legendary-grade item fragments? Not a single superpower in existence currently possessed one. The allure such an item held for players was self-evident.
Unlike flying mounts, which bound directly to the player and wouldn't drop even if the player was killed, Legendary-grade item fragments were a different story entirely.
"Understood! I'll take care of it right away!" Chen Hui broke into a grin.
He'd offended every major faction and was now carrying priceless treasures on his back. In the Divine Realm, it would be nearly impossible for him to avoid death.
Shortly after Shi Feng's disappearance, the various superpowers launched into a fierce scramble with the adventure groups over the remaining loot. As for Shi Feng and his party, they hurtled through the temporal rift at breakneck speed, traveling for an unknown length of time.
When they finally opened their eyes, the sight before them left them completely stunned.
All around lay a sea of stars — countless celestial bodies orbiting in every direction, painted in a kaleidoscope of dazzling colors, breathtakingly beautiful. And at the center of this stellar ocean rose a tower that stretched so high its summit was nowhere in sight.
The aura radiating from the tower was not merely vast and imposing — it carried a flavor of eternity and immortality. The presence of gods themselves couldn't compare to even one ten-thousandth of this tower's majesty.
"So this is the Tower of Four Gods?" Shi Feng couldn't help but gaze up at the golden gate before them, easily over a thousand meters tall, his heart swelling with awe.
He had encountered deities within the Divine Realm before. Setting aside any comparison with the Tower of Four Gods, even these golden gates alone dwarfed anything he'd witnessed. That terrifying pressure — had they been any closer, it likely would have crushed them into oblivion in an instant.
Even at this distance, Shi Feng felt as though his entire body were weighed down by several hundred kilograms. Moving even a fraction was extraordinarily difficult, let alone walking.
He had only ever heard of the Tower of Four Gods before but had never actually set foot in it.
Now, experiencing it firsthand, Shi Feng finally understood why even Tier 6 players couldn't stop thinking about this place — why they would give anything to come here.
Because beyond the terrifying pressure, the Eternal Qi drifting through the surroundings was absolutely extraordinary.
Eternal Qi far surpassed ordinary magical elements. Simply standing here made the mind clearer than it had ever been. Concepts that had been difficult to grasp before now seemed easy to comprehend. This was nothing short of a supreme sacred ground for improving a player's combat proficiency and magical skill completion rate.
While the group stood there, intoxicated by the Eternal Qi, a phantom figure materialized in the void.
It was a man whose information was completely unreadable, standing over ten meters tall, clad in gleaming silver armor, radiating an endless divine aura.
"Outsiders, welcome to the Tower of Four Gods," the man said, looking down at Shi Feng and the others. "You have arrived here through the Teleportation Stones, and in accordance with the covenant left by the ancient gods, you may enter the Tower of Four Gods."
"The tower has seven floors in total, and within them await various trials. The more trials you pass and the higher you climb, the richer your final rewards will be. You each have three chances inside the Tower of Four Gods — once you die three times, your trial ends, and you will be unable to enter again for three hundred and sixty natural days. I advise you to cherish this opportunity. If there are no further questions, you may enter now."
With a wave of his hand, Shi Feng and the others were transformed into five streaks of light and plunged straight into the golden gates.