Classmate, When Did You Reach the Ninth Tier?!
Outside the Spirit Realm, the intelligence systems of various major forces obtained the same information almost simultaneously.
Lin Du, seventeen years old.
0771 Star Domain, a fringe planet, a senior high school student at the Third Middle School.
I registered for both the youth and junior groups. I first came into the public eye this month and had no outstanding record.
Then, in just one month, from martial arts mock exams to city-wide joint exams, and then to the first round of the Cosmic Genius Battle youth group, he achieved perfect scores and defeated opponents of higher levels one after another.
Seventeen years old!
This information was verified three times. The eligibility verification was completed automatically by the Spirit Realm System, and all biological information, gene sequences, and soul fluctuations were checked and found to be correct.
The age was not falsified.
He really is only seventeen years old. A seventeen-year-old at the Ninth Tier is unheard of in the entire history of the Azure Human Alliance.
In the council hall of the Xuan Yao Pavilion, the elder stared at the "17 years old" on the document for a long time.
Then he spoke slowly, his voice carrying the deep, resonant quality of an old man. "Breaking through to the Ninth Tier at seventeen? Do you believe it? I certainly don't. I've lived for eight thousand years, and I've seen at least eight thousand, if not ten thousand, geniuses. Some broke through to the Ninth Tier the age of five hundred, some before the age of three hundred. But seventeen..."
He shook his head. "This doesn't make sense. Even the First Martial Ancestor didn't reach the Ninth Tier until he was twenty. Ninth Tier at seventeen can only be one thing."
"Reincarnation," a younger member of the cabinet chimed in. "A powerful being reincarnated and possessed that child's body, or perhaps True Spirit descended. The child's soul age may be several thousand years, or even tens of thousands of years old, while the physical body is seventeen years old, and the soul age is unknown."
The elder nodded. "Most likely. Even so, it is still quite astonishing. If a reincarnated person wants to start cultivating again, they are often troubled by the mystery of the womb, and after awakening their past life memories, they also need a long time to recover their cultivation."
But this Lin Du, from showing his talent to reaching the Ninth Tier, only took a month. This shows that in his previous life, he was also an old monster. Moreover, his speed of comprehending the laws far exceeds that of ordinary people. He can integrate the laws into actual combat after studying a stone tablet for three days. This clearly shows that he has a profound foundation in his previous life, just waiting to pick it up again in this life.
Over at the Martial Ancestor Hall, several elders were also sitting together, passing around the same document.
Some people frowned, some people shook their heads.
An elder with white hair pondered, "If he is truly a reincarnation, then his identity in his previous life is crucial. If he is one of our missing seniors from the Martial Ancestor Hall, that would be a great joy. But if he is a pawn planted by an alien race from beyond the realm, then we're in trouble. Let's continue watching and see how he performs in the second round."
Unlike the old monsters of other powerful forces, if Lin Du is truly a reincarnation, then his potential will be greatly diminished.
Or rather, very limited.
Then all that attention you're paying to him is wasted.
The expert from the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion didn't dwell on these matters. She sat in front of the light screen, her finger lightly tracing Chen Du's profile page, stopping at the entry "Simultaneously registered for the Junior and Youth Groups".
"Interesting."
She whispered, "If he's a reincarnated old monster, why would he sign up for the junior group? Just for fun? Or... is he really only seventeen? But that's about the limit."
Regardless of the speculations of various forces, Chen Du's name has completely transformed from "an accidental dark horse from a fringe planet" to "the most watched anomaly in this year's Genius Battle".
Discussions about him on the Spirit Realm increased more than tenfold overnight.
Some people dug up the video of him studying the stone tablet for three days, some people analyzed his battle with Chu Yunhe frame by frame, and some people even made a timeline of every public action he took in the Spirit Realm.
Chen Du himself was leaning back in his chair in his apartment, watching the overwhelming discussions in the Spirit Realm with a blank expression.
The number seventeen is indeed quite striking.
His True Spirit contained memories of hundreds of years of cultivation, making his soul age well over a thousand years old, yet his physical body was only seventeen.
Strictly speaking, he's a swindler using someone else's name.
But what these people couldn't guess was that he was more special than any reincarnated old monster.
Those who are reincarnated pick up what they have from their previous lives, but he forges a completely new path in each life.
However, Chen Du, within the Spirit Realm, was almost completely overwhelmed by the sheer volume of news.
The screen was filled with countless unread notifications, which he glanced at briefly; they came from all sorts of sources.
There were medium-sized martial arts schools in 0771 Star Domain, mercenary groups that crossed star regions, interstellar brokers who specialized in brokering geniuses, and even a few family forces whose names he had never heard of.
The content is largely the same, with the core being the same thing—inviting him to join, and the conditions offered are increasingly generous.
Chen Du scanned the offers one by one, expressionless. The conditions offered by these forces sounded tempting, but in essence, they all wanted to bet on him.
They valued his future potential, not him as a person.
What truly caught his attention were the three major forces... Martial Ancestor Hall, Heavenly Secrets Pavilion, and Xuan Yao Pavilion —as expected, not a single message came from them. This was not surprising.
The three major powers are places that all martial artists would kill to enter; it's always others begging them, never the other way around.
Their recruitment method is simple: anyone who ranks in the top 10,000 in the Genius Battle will naturally be eligible to enter their field of vision.
In addition to ranking, candidates must undergo multiple rounds of screening and assessment, including background, character, and loyalty—all are indispensable.
Chen Du wasn't in a hurry to join any faction.
He participated in the Genius Battle for two reasons: first, for the system rewards, and second, to use this stage to see the true masters of this world.
If the three major powers truly have foresight, they will naturally come knocking on our door.
If he doesn't have it, he doesn't care.
He scrolled to the bottom of the message list and saw several messages from his classmates at the Third Middle School.
The senders were Su Yao, Zhao Ge, and several classmates who usually had a casual relationship with Lin Du.
Su Yao: "Lin Du, that person who participated in the youth group in the Spirit Realm... was that you? When did you break through to the Ninth Tier???"
Zhao Ge: "Brother, have you been possessed? No, even if you were possessed, it wouldn't happen this fast! Tell me honestly, have you been hiding all this time?"
Another classmate exclaimed, "Lin Du, are you crazy? The youth group? You, a senior high school student, went to fight in the youth group? And you won???"
Chen Du looked at these messages, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.
He thought for a moment, then replied with only four words: "I've figured it out, don't ask anymore."
Then I closed the message interface. The next second, the Spirit Realm system automatically popped up a pinned announcement.
"Notice of the Second Round of Elimination Tournament for the Youth Group of the 87th Cosmic Genius Battle: The competition will be held in seven days. The specific time, location, and room number have been sent to your personal terminal. Please check them yourself."
Chen Du clicked on the details and took a look.
This competition is really brutal; the second elimination round was scheduled right away.
After all, with over 8,000 star systems, and each star system having several thousand people, it's still an astronomical number, far too many.
We must select true geniuses, not those who are merely pretending to be geniuses.