An Unbridgeable Gap

From the moment the Genius Battle began, it had stirred up towering waves in every universe kingdom, drawing the attention of countless people.

And now, the pinnacle showdown among the geniuses of the 1008 Universe Kingdoms had naturally left countless people across the universe kingdoms anxiously waiting. Unfortunately, the Trial eliminations were not being broadcast publicly; only the rankings were being shown.

Even so...

Countless humans across the universe kingdoms were still thrilled by every change on the rankings.

Virtual Universe, on the many islands of Jinlan Continent.

Countless people gathered around the four enormous screens floating above their respective cities, watching the battle promotional videos displayed on them.

For every participant who entered the top thousand in the Trial rankings, the Virtual Universe Company produced a promotional video.

At that moment, one of the screens was playing a promotional video for the peerless genius of their Jinlan Universe Kingdom—Demon God Lu Ming.

"Demon God Lu Ming's promotional video is finally out!"

"He's the peerless genius ranked first in the entire universe in the Trial Space, and he's from our Jinlan Universe Kingdom!"

"The last time we saw his battle livestream was during the preliminaries. We can finally see him again!"

"Demon God is invincible!"

Amid the crowd's fervent excitement, the giant screen on the street displayed a vast, desolate wilderness.

Ten enormous dark-gold creatures lay or prowled across that wilderness—the Starry Sky Giant Beasts known as Cang!

"Heavens, those are actually Starry Sky Giant Beasts, Cang!"

A helpful explanation at the side of the screen introduced the origins of the ten beasts.

The many universe citizens now learned that these ten monsters were the legendary Starry Sky Giant Beasts, Cang—mysterious and powerful creatures that possessed Innate Secret Methods.

As darlings of the Origin of Metal, they were savage and possessed astonishing combat power.

The ten Starry Sky Giant Beasts, Cang, on the screen had main bodies roughly three hundred meters long, with tails nearly as long as their bodies. Their entire bodies were covered in dark-gold scales, and sharp bony plates stood erect along their backs.

Their bald heads were covered in scales, while the pupils in their enormous eyes were triangular, making them appear exceptionally cold and bloodthirsty. Their wide, gaping maws were even more chilling!

Even through the screen, one could feel the ferocious aura rushing straight at them.

And Demon God was going to face ten such terrifying monsters at once!

"Roar!"

On the screen, all ten Starry Sky Giant Beasts, Cang, turned their heads at once. Their massive heads fixed on the tiny human who had entered the wilderness, and they suddenly charged!

Facing the ten colossal beasts rushing at him at high speed, Lu Ming showed not the slightest fear. Rather than retreat, he advanced!

A terrifying thunderstorm spread from his body, forming a spherical domain that instantly enveloped all ten beasts!

Visible to the naked eye, the ten beasts abruptly stalled for an instant. At the same time, he transformed into a bolt of black lightning and shot straight toward the nearest Cang!

The Starry Sky Giant Beast Cang radiated monstrous ferocity as it threw back its head and let out a long roar... yet it was helpless against that incomparably nimble bolt of black lightning.

A thin layer of blazing white electricity coiled around the azure fifth-tier Force Weapon, the Quenching Star Spear, exuding an astonishingly violent aura as though it could annihilate all things!

Scht! As though it had encountered no resistance whatsoever, the azure Quenching Star Spear easily pierced through the dark-red scales covering the Cang's neck. Then, blinding lightning instantly erupted from the wound!

Rumble...

In an instant, blood mist filled the air!

The seemingly invincible Starry Sky Giant Beast Cang was forcefully slain by Lu Ming with a single spear strike!

"Roar!" Seeing the situation turn against them, the other nine beasts began fleeing madly. Yet within moments, Lu Ming caught up to them one by one and killed them all with pinpoint strikes!

"My heavens, those were Starry Sky Giant Beasts!"

Once the spectators came back to their senses, every one of them stood there with mouths agape in disbelief.

Although Cang did not belong to the legendary twelve pinnacle bloodlines of the Starry Sky Giant Beasts, any one of them could be considered invincible among those of the same rank within the Human Race.

Yet such beings, practically invincible at the Stellar level, were so vulnerable before Lu Ming that he could slaughter them at will!

Was this the strength possessed by Demon God Lu Ming?

Their Jinlan Universe Kingdom had actually produced such an unbelievable genius!

Across more than a million Trial Spaces, the slaughter continued.

Third Trial Tower, seventh floor.

The breathtakingly beautiful girl holding a red Demon Blade remained calm and composed. With a sudden forward sweep of her blade, she effortlessly created countless wind blades that shredded the insect swarm before her!

Boom!

The sharp blade light tore through the insect swarm again and again, killing Green Mantises one after another, but her killing speed was still not enough!

In mere moments, she was swallowed by the swarm that filled the sky!

"I... have been eliminated!" The breathtakingly beautiful girl unwillingly lowered her proud head.

At the same time, in another Trial Space.

A young man of the Lei'e Clan held a shield in one hand and a blade in the other, staring warily at the blood-red beasts surging toward him!

In an instant, the repeated impacts sent him flying. Then countless Blood-Haired Mammoths trampled over him together, knocking him unconscious.

By this point, nearly a million eliminated geniuses had gathered in the central plaza.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Within the span of just a few seconds, more than ten figures were teleported into the central plaza at the same time.

"Sajia, you finally came out too!"

"Rudy, Moye, you two really can't bear to see me do well, can you?" The green-browed young man, Sajia, looked at the two irritably.

"Forget that for now. Tell us, which floor did you reach?" The two asked with cheerful smiles.

"The first floor of the fourth tower!" Sajia took a deep breath, unable to stop himself from cursing. "The difficulty spike in that fourth Trial Tower is insane. The moment I entered the first floor, those Blood-Haired Mammoths trampled me to death!"

"Trampled to death? Then you were pretty lucky. I was swallowed whole by one of those Starry Sky Giant Beasts, Cang!" The young man with fiery red curls, Rudy, shrugged helplessly.

"Exactly. I was gnawed to death by a swarm of bugs!" The Sword Demon Race youth, Moye, who usually spoke very little, joined in as well.

"And you only died in the fourth Trial Tower, so your score is far higher than ours!" Like Sajia, Rudy and Moye were core geniuses of the Jinlan Dojo. Both had fallen in the third Trial Tower, while Sajia had only died on the first floor of the fourth tower. His performance was already much better than theirs.

"After the three of us were eliminated, the Jinlan Dojo only has him left, right? That monster of a guy!" Only after witnessing the terrifying strength of the universe's greatest geniuses firsthand did Sajia realize how narrow-minded and laughable he had been in the past.

But he had once viewed Lu Ming as the goal he wanted to chase. Did that count as a kind of foresight?

"Yeah, the Jinlan Dojo only has him left now." The three turned together toward the central plaza.

A thousand screens floated there, displaying the livestreams of the top thousand ranked Trial Spaces.

The screens were arranged in order, so the three immediately spotted Lu Ming's familiar yet unfamiliar figure on the very first screen.

Hundreds of thousands of eliminated participants gazed at the screens overhead, gathered in groups as they discussed what they saw.

"Demon God Lu Ming is way too monstrous. He's completely left everyone else behind!"

"He's already reached the fifth floor of the fifth Trial Tower, while the fastest of the other top geniuses have only just entered the first floor of the fifth tower!"

"Everyone else slowed down starting from the fourth Trial Tower, but he only slowed down after reaching the fifth. They're clearly not on the same level!"

"If nothing unexpected happens, first place in the Trial Tower rankings should belong to Demon God Lu Ming!"

"It's still hard to say. Many powerhouses haven't truly exerted themselves yet, and someone might still come from behind. But I don't think that's very likely..."

As Sajia, Rudy, and the others listened to the discussions of the many other geniuses around them, they exchanged bitter smiles.

They had all been eliminated early, while many believed Lu Ming might take first place. The gap between them truly was enormous.