High-level martial arts: Contract cashback, invincible starting from the Zerg.

The moment the silver-blue light screen in front of Chen Feng disappeared.

Time, which had been frozen in the Hall of Star Orbits for who knows how long, began to flow again.

Xiao Ning withdrew her hand halfway and then tightened her grip on Chen Feng's fingers again. Her long violet hair rose in soft arcs once more, and the next moment, she threw herself into Chen Feng's arms.

"dad!"

However, the expected hug did not come.

Chen Feng simply stood still, his body ramrod straight, looking exactly the same as he had been the moment before entering the maze.

However, his eyes were empty.

It was as if shrouded in a thick fog, with no focal point, as if the soul was still lingering in that eternal labyrinth of three thousand six hundred paths.

Chen Feng's lips moved, but no sound came out.

Xiao Ning immediately sensed something was wrong. She looked up at Chen Feng's empty eyes and gently shook his arm with her little hand: "Daddy? What's wrong with you...?"

Chen Feng blinked, a very simple action that took him a full three seconds to complete.

It was as if every blink required mobilizing all the strength in the body.

His misty gaze gradually focused, first on Xiao Ning's tear-streaked face, then swept over the worried Void Watcher beside him, and finally settled on the hand that was holding Xiao Ning.

His hands were shaking.

It wasn't from exhaustion or injury, but a tremor that went deep into the bones and was etched into the soul.

In the star trail labyrinth, his consciousness felt as if it were submerged in a boundless, cold, deep sea.

Seven years is not a cold number, but a bloody record etched into every fold of his soul.

When the three breaths of the outside world were stretched into an almost eternal torment on him, he truly understood the cruel curse that the messenger of Jueya said: "The only thing that determines success or failure is how resilient you are."

The moment Chen Feng stepped into the Star Track Maze, he maintained the vigilance and power of a Heavenly Realm expert.

All around were identical silver-blue walls, so smooth that there wasn't a single texture. The top and bottom were also made of the same material, making it impossible to distinguish up from down from left from right.

However, Chen Feng made a wrong step.

The space beneath his feet suddenly twisted like crumpled paper, with all seventeen dimensions folding inwards simultaneously.

His body was instantly crushed into elementary particles smaller than quarks, and his soul was forcibly extracted by a cold force, torn into countless fragments in extreme pain.

It was an excruciating pain that could not be described in words.

Chen Feng could still clearly feel every bone in his body being crushed, every drop of blood being evaporated, and every cell emitting a desperate wail.

Then, he stood once again at the entrance to the maze.

Only the excruciating pain deep within his soul still clearly reminded him that what had just happened was not an illusion.

In the time that followed, Chen Feng was like a tireless wild beast, constantly traversing and trying out the 3,600 paths.

He died in the spatial folds, in the turbulent star trails, under the suddenly appearing blade of order, and among countless rule-based killers whose names he couldn't even recall.

He died 997 times.

The excruciating pain of each death was etched into his soul, waking him up countless times during his rest, his body trembling with cold sweat, but Chen Feng still persisted and did not choose to give up.

Until he saw the afterimage of the Titan in the 1724th passage.

The towering Titan, covered in blood, walked step by step toward the end of the passage, his eyes burning with an indomitable flame.

He walked with extreme caution, seemingly avoiding all the traps he could see. However, when he was only a hundred meters from the finish line, the paving stones beneath his feet once again glowed with the light of death.

The Titan's phantom let out a furious roar of resentment, but its body was instantly crushed into particles.

Since then, every ten minutes, the deaths of Titans have appeared in Chen Feng's field of vision again and again.

Chen Feng stood at the rest area for three days and three nights.

Watching this Titan, who could have traversed countless planes, become like a puppet, forever repeating the same three minutes of failure, his bones had long since become the foundation of the star charter, but his soul was forever trapped in this pathway, repeating death day after day.

This was the first time Chen Feng had come so close to the final answer, yet a chill ran from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head.

Chen Feng seemed to see his future—forever trapped in this maze, dying again and again, until his soul was worn smooth and all its edges were smoothed out, turning him into a walking corpse that could only repeat the same steps.

Since then, Chen Feng's accuracy in his actions has decreased significantly.

Chen Feng began to name each path, number each paving stone, and tell himself stories.

He told stories of Earth, his years of fighting against the Zerg, and the day he met Bai Fei.

He spoke until his voice was hoarse and his throat was hoarse. In the end, he found that he had forgotten how to speak and could only make hoarse "hoarse" sounds.

He began to hallucinate.

He saw Xiao Ning wearing a blue-purple dress, waving to him from the end of the passageway, and calling out "Daddy" with a smile.

He rushed over like a madman, but instantly triggered a spatial fold.

At first, he could count how many times he died. He carved each character with five strokes, filling an entire wall, then a second, a third… Later, he forgot how many he had carved, and forgot why he had carved them in the first place. He simply mechanically scratched his name on the wall with his fingernails until they all peeled off, revealing his bare white bones, then reset upon his next death.

He even forgot about the time.

This kind of life went on for a month, ten months, thirty months.

With his vitality rekindled, Chen Feng embarked on a new journey to unravel the mystery. Although his steps were slower than before, his eyes grew increasingly determined.

Two more years have passed.

Chen Feng spent seven years thinking, predicting, deducing, and acting on this path.

When he finally saw himself disappear into that dazzling silver-blue light, he had already lost all reaction that a living being should have.

Only the relief after completing the task.

"Xiao Ning..."

Chen Feng's voice was hoarse, as if it had been sanded, and every word carried an indescribable heaviness.

His raised hand felt like it was made of lead, and he couldn't move it at all.

Xiao Ning quickly tiptoed and rubbed her head against his palm, tears streaming down her face. "Dad, are you feeling terrible? Let's not carry on the tradition, okay? Let's go home..."

Looking into her red, tear-filled eyes, Chen Feng felt a pang in his heart. He mustered all his strength to force a pale, almost painful smile, a smile more heartbreaking than any tears.

Just then, a silver-blue light slowly condensed in front of him, and the figure of the Absolute Envoy reappeared in front of Chen Feng.

This time, however, the arrogance that once looked down upon ants had faded considerably, and for the first time, his eyes, which held a miniature universe, now held genuine scrutiny and recognition.

"You are more resilient than I imagined."

The envoy's voice remained indifferent, but it no longer carried the chilling killing intent. He looked at Chen Feng and slowly said, "Only a few minutes have passed outside, but you have been walking in the Star Orbit Maze for seven years."

Xiao Ning suddenly looked up, her eyes wide: "Seven years?!"

"The Star Trail Maze has no concept of time," the Absolute Envoy explained calmly. "With each death, time resets to the moment the challenger entered the maze. You tried a total of 997 times. The longest you ever took was a year to walk down the same fork in the road before returning to the finish line."

Chen Feng didn't speak, he just closed his eyes.

Those fragments of memory that had been forcibly suppressed deep within the soul surged forth like a tidal wave.

The excruciating pain of being folded and torn apart by seventeen dimensions simultaneously, the loneliness of walking alone in endless darkness for years, and the despair of seeing hope only to have it shattered in an instant countless times.

And the exhaustion that almost burned out my soul when I took that final step...

Chen Feng's body began to tremble uncontrollably, his face turned ashen, and his forehead was covered in a thick layer of cold sweat.

"This negative energy, accumulated from endless death and despair, has eroded the very essence of your soul. If it is not cleansed, even if you manage to walk out of the maze alive, you will go completely insane within three days and become a walking corpse."

As the envoy spoke, he slowly raised his hand, and a point of extremely pure silver-blue starlight condensed at his fingertips. The starlight contained the power of order from the beginning of the universe, gentle yet incredibly powerful.

In an instant, countless black, twisted shadows floated out from Chen Feng's body!

Some of these shadows were howling in pain, some were crying in despair, and some were laughing wildly—these were all the darkness that Chen Feng had accumulated over seven years.

The silvery-blue starlight enveloped the black shadows like flowing water, and wherever it passed, all the distortion and pain were instantly purified, turning into specks of light and dissipating into the air.

The emptiness and confusion in Chen Feng's eyes quickly faded, and his pale face slowly regained its color.

When the last trace of black shadow was completely purified, Chen Feng flexed his fingers, then steadily raised his hand to wipe away the tears on Xiao Ning's face.

This time, his movements were fluid and natural.

"Of the 7,362 intruders, you are the first to escape the Star Orbit Labyrinth."

"According to the ancient laws of the Jueya civilization, you are fully qualified to inherit the Star Track Mark and become the sole inheritor of our race in this era."

As soon as he finished speaking, he gently touched Chen Feng's brow with his fingertip.

A dazzling silver-blue light erupted instantly in Chen Feng's sea of ​​consciousness, and countless complex and profound star-track runes surged from the fingertips of the Absolute Envoy into Chen Feng's body.

[Lucky Contract System: Detected that the host has obtained the inheritance of the origin of a sub-civilization!]

[Lucky Contract System: Star Trail Imprint is now activated!]

[Lucky Contract System: Host's sea of ​​consciousness strength increased by 721%! Mental strength increased by 846%!]

[Current host's sea of ​​consciousness power: Peak of the Flood Rank!]

"The Star Track Mark has been activated and bound to your soul. Now... you may proceed to the second trial."

The envoy from Jueya paused for a moment, then spoke.

"Perhaps your innate mission is to protect the order of the universe and fight against the chaos from the void."