Genius Battle Concludes

Although they had long known that Lu Ming, who had cleared all seven Trial Towers, had surely opened up an enormous gap between himself and the other geniuses.

It was not until the famous illusionist genius, Remnant Dream, was instantly killed by Lu Ming before everyone's eyes that the other geniuses truly gained a more direct understanding of the overwhelming, despair-inducing gap between themselves and that man.

As time passed, the winners on all ten arenas emerged one after another.

After a brief rest, the second round of the Arena Finals, which would determine the top five, began.

The final matchups were as follows:

Demon God "Lu Ming" versus Imperial Princess "Tiffany"

War Emperor "Kun Zhou" versus Wind King "Bailu"

Snow Elf "Liya" versus Skyfire "Feike"

Sword Saint "Miro" versus Aurora "Neo"

Apothecary "Lan Zhan" versus Ghost General "Boros"

On an arena inlaid with beautiful patterns, Lu Ming and the girl in red faced each other from afar.

Tiffany came from the royal family of the Peakrock Universe Kingdom. Since childhood, she had seen countless geniuses, but she had never taken any of them seriously.

Even in this Human Universe Peak Genius Battle, she had believed that she could take first place and become a member of the Virtual Universe Company's Primal Secret Realm.

Only after witnessing Lu Ming's legendary performance as he forcefully cleared all seven Trial Towers did Tiffany realize that although she was a genius, she was still far from genius enough.

"Lu Ming, let me personally experience... the gap between our current strengths!" The red-dressed girl's eyes shone as blazing battle intent erupted from her!

At the very start of the match, Tiffany stepped onto the fifth-tier flying Psychic Weapon, the Blazing Sun Wheel, and flew into the air. Before her floated blood-red metallic triangular pyramids, each inscribed with profound secret patterns. They were the Blood Edge Divine Weapon, one of the Nine Divine Weapons used by Controllers.

Facing an opponent as powerful as Lu Ming, Tiffany had no intention of probing him. From the outset, she unleashed her strongest current move.

"Bloodfire Arrival, go!"

"Bzzz~"

The blood-red triangular pyramids first condensed into nine blood-red long shuttles in midair. Then, those nine long shuttles rapidly stacked and fused together into one, countless dense blood-red threads linking them within... In only an instant, a tangible blood-red long shuttle appeared in the air.

The blood-red shuttle was barely over an inch long. The secret patterns on its surface were mysterious, radiating an extreme aura of slaughter.

The second form of the Blood Edge Divine Weapon—Bloodfire Arrival!

"Whoosh!"

The long shuttle, wrapped in blood-red currents, resembled a comet. Leaving behind a long blood-red trail, it shot directly toward Lu Ming.

"It's the second form of the Blood Edge Divine Weapon!"

"Can this move hurt him?"

Below the arena, the geniuses watched without blinking.

"One of the Nine Divine Weapons for Controllers? Its power is decent enough." Lu Ming offered a word of praise, then abruptly swept his spear forward. He struck the seemingly imposing blood-red shuttle with perfect precision, shattering it on the spot.

The red-dressed girl's face instantly turned pale. Even the flying Psychic Weapon beneath her feet swayed.

"It's over." Lu Ming sighed inwardly. Then, his domain and speed suddenly erupted. With a light tap of his spear, the red-dressed girl's body was instantly annihilated.

For a Stellar-level fighter to use the second form of the Blood Edge Divine Weapon, Tiffany was undeniably outstanding.

Unfortunately, her opponent was Lu Ming.

"This little fellow is quite considerate of women. He actually gave his opponent a chance to attack at full strength."

"The difference in strength is too great. Giving his opponent some dignity is only proper."

The 1,008 Immortals chatted among themselves, most of them relaxed and at ease.

After Lu Ming became the first to advance, the matches on the other four arenas quickly reached their conclusions as well.

The final top five were Lu Ming, Kun Zhou, Liya, Neo, and Boros.

Among them, Lu Ming, Kun Zhou, and Boros were warriors, while Liya and Neo were Mental Master Controllers.

"The rules of the top-five Cycle Battle are... each of the five will fight each of the other four once. The winner receives one point. The final rankings will be determined by points, selecting first and second place." The female venerable of the Dream Snail Wing Race looked at the final five contestants, a satisfied smile appearing on her face.

Among the geniuses of this year, aside from Lu Ming, the other little fellows were all quite good as well.

"I don't dare hope for first place, but I must take second!" Boros of the Azure Nightmare Race, dressed in a dark-blue battle suit and with madness in his eyes, scrutinized his three competitors one by one.

Among the three, Neo was merely making up the numbers. As a fellow Controller, his strength was nowhere near Tiffany's or Bailu's. He had only made it into the top five through sheer luck and was not worth fearing.

But aside from that fellow, both Kun Zhou and Liya were tough opponents!

"Haha, the only ones with a chance to compete for second place are the little girl from the Snow Elf Race and Kun Zhou from the Xuanming Universe Kingdom. Who do you think will obtain that final Primal Secret Realm member slot?" Although Boros believed that he had the strength to contend for second place, among the Immortals, he had clearly been placed in the same tier as Neo.

The ones the Immortal powerhouses truly favored were precisely the two great enemies Boros had identified.

"I think it should be Kun Zhou. If Lu Ming had not appeared, Kun Zhou would absolutely have deserved the title of the 'perfect warrior' of this Genius Battle." War Emperor Kun Zhou had previously been regarded as a strong contender for first place in this Genius Battle. His reputation had even surpassed that of Lu Ming and the others.

However, Kun Zhou truly was powerful. As a warrior, his close combat and Movement Technique could both be called flawless, while his will was exceptionally tenacious and strong.

Although he had ranked only seventh in the Trial Towers, that was because warriors inherently lacked effective means to fight one against ten thousand, putting them at a natural disadvantage in an environment like the Trial Towers.

Arena battles were different.

First, arena battles were one-on-one. Second, the arena's range was limited, and there was even a rule that the arena would shrink as the battle dragged on.

Under such favorable conditions, warriors could sometimes gain a considerable advantage instead.

"Haha, then I'll bet on the little girl from the Snow Elf Race winning!" Another Immortal powerhouse, wearing a black-gold cape, burst into laughter.

As for Lu Ming? There was no suspense about him taking first place, so discussing whether he would win or lose was meaningless.

Half an hour later.

The final top-five Cycle Battle began.

The first battle: Lu Ming versus Neo.

With what appeared to be a simple thrust, Lu Ming easily finished his opponent.

The second battle...

The third battle, against the Snow Elf girl Liya, was likewise an easy victory.

Very soon, it was Lu Ming's final battle.

A burly, brown-haired man over three meters tall, dressed in an earthy yellow battle suit, stepped onto the arena with a grave expression. Looking at the calm-faced Lu Ming, he said, "I hope to die beneath your strongest move, so that I can more deeply understand my own weakness."

Yes, weakness.

For the first time, Kun Zhou, who had always been proud and considered himself perfect, felt his own weakness. Right now, he was not perfect at all.

He still needed to transform and become even more perfect.

Lu Ming smiled faintly upon hearing this. "Alright, I'll grant your request!"

Against Kun Zhou—or rather, against anyone in the top five—he did not need to go all out.

However, although Kun Zhou was proud, his personality was rather likable. Lu Ming did not mind fulfilling this small request.

"Shaking Space!"

After the battle began, Kun Zhou instantly created a full thirty-six phantom bodies and charged at Lu Ming from different directions.

"Boom!"

A heavy fist carrying the force to shatter mountains and split seas smashed straight toward Lu Ming.

"Starfall!"

Though it was somewhat like using a cannon to kill a mosquito, Lu Ming still kept his word. He immediately entered his Huo Suo True Body form, his Movement Technique speed soaring. Then, facing Kun Zhou's fist, he savagely smashed out a domineering spear strike!

"Bang!" As the spear descended, Kun Zhou's entire body instantly turned to dust.

Lu Ming won this battle, claiming first place in the universe-wide rankings.

Afterward, Kun Zhou and the Snow Elf girl Liya engaged in an intense clash worthy of a battle between dragons and tigers. At the critical moment, Liya suddenly erupted once more, defeating her opponent and claiming the second Primal Secret Realm slot.

Thus, this Genius Battle officially came to an end!