'Di'!
"Please confirm: would you like to accept the 'Wanchongshan Secret Realm' mission? A payment of 100 Qianwu Coins is required!"
A prompt appeared on the three-dimensional projection.
"Confirm."
Jiang Li moved his consciousness.
"Please release your spiritual force to verify your identity."
The projection continued its reminder.
Jiang Li narrowed his eyes slightly. A strand of spiritual force was drawn out, as if being extracted by the consciousness helmet of the Mercenary Alliance.
"Identity verification complete."
Payment successful.
"Mr. Jiang Li, your identity code for the 'Wanchongshan Secret Realm' is *＊. You may choose to transmit through the Virtual Universe Network, or travel on your own."
After receiving the coordinates of the Wanchongshan Secret Realm, Jiang Li rubbed his temples.
"It's actually 170 million light years away… Looks like I'll have to use the Virtual Universe Network to transmit."
If he went using Babata's Demon Ship…
Hmm?
It would take about 160,000 years…
Black Kun Star, inside the Red Mercenary Castle.
With a plan in mind, Jiang Li directly rented a private booth in the Red Mercenary Castle to ensure he wouldn't be disturbed when entering the Virtual Universe Network.
"Jiang Li, this is a high-grade booth! It costs 30 Qianwu Coins per day!"
Babata looked at Jiang Li's extravagant spending and couldn't help but remind him, "In less than twenty days, you'll be kicked out by the Mercenary Castle!"
"Relax, Babata."
Jiang Li smiled lightly, picked up the strange fruit juice beside him, and took a sip. "Hmm? What a weird taste…"
Then—
Jiang Li put on the consciousness helmet and entered the Virtual Universe Network.
Cosmic Henglan Galaxy, Wanchongshan Plane Space.
Rip!
A terrifying figure appeared between heaven and earth. The figure was made entirely of energy—one glance, and its form wavered between real and unreal, impossible to discern clearly.
But—
The moment that terrifying figure appeared, the surrounding cosmic space seemed to freeze.
"Hm?"
Sensing the shift in heaven and earth, a human powerhouse in a gray battle robe appeared out of nothing.
"Qiongfeng Zunzhe?"
"So the once-in-ten-thousand-years Cosmic Genius Battle is about to begin again."
Seeing the newcomer, Wanshan Zunzhe immediately thought, "Well… eighty million years have passed, yet no one has been able to comprehend my 'Wanchongshan Secret Art'. Let's see if the upcoming Cosmic Genius Battle will bring forth someone suitable…"
Normally, an Immortal-rank powerhouse casually had hundreds or even thousands of students.
For a Zunzhe (Venerable)-rank? Even more.
Only this Wanshan Zunzhe, who had existed for countless ages, had just one student—and that student fell ninety million years ago.
Virtual Universe.
Wanchongshan Region.
It cost Jiang Li 40 Qianwu Coins just to transmit here from Black Dragon Mountain Island.
"So this is the Wanchongshan Secret Realm? The gravitational pull is terrifying."
The moment Jiang Li appeared, he felt a pressure dragging his entire body downward. Looking into the distance, countless bizarre mountain peaks stretched endlessly. At the far horizon stood a single colossal peak, rising like a spear piercing the heavens.
The Virtual Universe was virtual, after all—creating multiple plane spaces was easy.
For someone at the level of Wanshan Zunzhe, making an independent space of his own was hardly difficult.
"Participants of the Secret Realm Trial, please fly to Wanchongshan on your own."
From the sky—
A mechanical voice suddenly echoed: "Remember, the moment you leave Wanshan City, the trial's countdown begins."
Whoosh! Whoosh!
As the voice fell, Jiang Li saw two figures shoot out from the eastern and southern sides of Wanshan City, their speed quite decent.
"One Planet-level Ninth Rank, one Star-level Seventh Rank!"
Babata had just spoken when—BOOM!
A deep, thunderous impact shook the air.
"What?!"
Jiang Li looked up. That Planet-level Ninth Rank fighter, the moment he left Wanshan City, fell like a meteor and crashed into the side of a mountain, blasting out a massive crater.
The Star-level Seventh Rank warrior fared slightly better, but his flight speed dropped drastically.
"We forgot to remind the participants: the gravity outside Wanshan City is fifty times that inside."
At this moment, the cold electronic voice spoke again.
"See, Jiang Li?" Babata curled up on Jiang Li's shoulder and complained, "This is what you call scam! Inside the city, the gravity is about a hundred times Blue Star's. Outside? It's equivalent to five thousand times Blue Star's gravity! Planet-levels basically can't fly."
"With only one month, forget learning the Wanchongshan Secret Art—you won't even reach Wanchongshan."
Hearing this—
Jiang Li revealed a look of realization.
No wonder after eighty million years, Wanshan Zunzhe still hadn't taken a new student.
Even a Star-level Ninth Rank would need half a month to fly to Wanchongshan under five thousand times Blue Star gravity.
And to then comprehend a Venerable-rank secret art in two weeks?
Only a universe-toppling prodigy could pull that off. But such geniuses would already be treated as treasures no matter where they went.
Even Universe Lords would fight to take them in as personal disciples!
But—
Jiang Li didn't need half a month. A single day was enough.
Whoosh!
Jiang Li rose into the air. The instant he broke past the boundary of Wanshan City, a formless force wrapped around every inch of his body. Before he could even exhale, his entire body was sinking downward uncontrollably.
…
"Domain—open!"
Jiang Li's eyes sharpened. He released his spiritual force, using his domain to counter a portion of the gravity. His speed rose again.
"Damn!"
"Who the hell just screwed me over?!"
The moment Jiang Li opened his domain, the bald Star-level Seventh Rank who had been ahead of him was instantly affected—he dropped straight down like a meteor and slammed into one of the mountain peaks…
"With my current spiritual strength plus my domain, even a Star-level Seventh Rank gets suppressed instantly."
Jiang Li glanced back at the bald man embedded in the mountain and couldn't help thinking so.
Time passed.
Jiang Li's flying was nearly monotonous. Twenty-six days later, he finally arrived at the foot of Wanchongshan.
"Code **, congratulations on reaching Wanchongshan."
As the mechanical voice sounded, a radiant pillar of light projected from the colossal mountain, enveloping him.
In the next moment—
He appeared inside a room similar to a cultivation chamber.
Jiang Li carefully observed. Golden characters flowed across all four walls. The mechanical voice spoke again:
"Code **..."
"This is the 'Wanchongshan Secret Art'. You have four days to study it. Good luck."
"Four days is enough."
Jiang Li focused on the golden script flowing across the walls and began reading.
"This 'Jiuzhongshan Secret Art' actually contains the Laws of Space and the Earth Element?"
"To get started, I must step into the threshold of either Space Law or Earth Law…"
"This Wanshan Zunzhe is really strict…"
One had to know—the major differences among the absolute geniuses of the human race in the universe all lay in their grasp of laws.
Galaxy-Level genius: reaches a law threshold at Universe Rank.
Starfield-Level genius: forms Eight-Layer or Nine-Layer Domains at Star Rank.
Sector-Level genius: wields a phantom sword through Yanshen Armaments, or steps into a law threshold at Star Rank.
And race-level absolute geniuses—those were the monsters who stepped into both lower and higher law thresholds while still at Star Rank!
In other words, only geniuses at Sector-Level or above even qualified to become the students of Wanshan Zunzhe!
And—
Such a genius had to comprehend a law in a very short time.
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