Tongtian Bridge

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Lu Ming and the others instantly rushed out of the bronze gate, and only then did the voice constantly echoing in their minds fade away.

"Rumble..."

The ancient bronze gate slowly closed.

Lu Ming turned back for one last look at the cultivation chamber. Chaos Qi swirled within, concealing the infinitely profound Chaos Tablet from sight.

"Wait a moment before leaving," the three-eyed elder Kandri said.

The more than eight hundred geniuses looked at the speaking three-eyed elder, all somewhat puzzled.

Kandri smiled. "This is your first time visiting this cultivation chamber, so I need to remind you of something!"

"You may first find yourselves a residence to serve as your home for the next thirty years. After that, you may enter the Virtual Universe and apply to enter the 'Tongtian Bridge.'"

"The Tongtian Bridge?" Many of the geniuses were confused.

Kandri glanced at Lu Ming amid the crowd and smiled. "The opportunity to comprehend a Chaos Tablet is extremely precious. Each time you pass a level of the Tongtian Bridge, you will be rewarded with seven days of comprehension time. You must make good use of it."

Everyone's eyes lit up.

Only those who had comprehended a Chaos Tablet understood just how miraculous its effects were.

During comprehension, their consciousness immersed itself in the images upon the Chaos Tablet, making the effect dozens of times greater than usual.

Most importantly, a Chaos Tablet could help someone break through a bottleneck. Some people remained stuck at a certain point for a very long time without making a breakthrough, yet after comprehending a Chaos Tablet once, they might just break through.

Passing the Tongtian Bridge could actually earn them more comprehension time. This delighted everyone.

However... they also understood that the requirements for passing the Tongtian Bridge were likely far from simple.

"You may leave now," Kandri said with a faint smile.

Lu Ming and the others respectfully saluted Guardian Kandri, then turned into streaks of light and departed.

After leaving the City Lord's Mansion,

the many geniuses scattered at once and began searching for cultivation residences.

Chaos City covered an enormous area. Apart from a small number of special buildings, the cultivation residences were nearly identical, and the doors of most of them were pale white.

This indicated that they had no owner. As long as one placed a hand upon the door for a moment, the sensing system within would automatically activate, turning the door dark gray and making that person the owner of the residence.

The information was automatically recorded, and each person could choose only one residence.

Lu Ming walked through the city streets and selected a relatively secluded residence near the City Lord's Mansion.

"Beep..."

After Lu Ming placed his hand on the door for a moment, an electronic voice began to sound. At the same time, the door's color gradually deepened until it turned dark gray.

"Welcome, Master," an electronic voice said.

"I am the service intelligence. During Master's stay, I will serve Master. Whatever Master needs—food, drink, and so on—please feel free to command me."

"Mm." Lu Ming entered the cultivation residence directly. The first floor was an enormous living room, fully furnished and exceptionally advanced. After all, this was the territory of the Virtual Universe Company.

Following the stairs, Lu Ming instantly arrived at the rooftop on the third floor.

Lu Ming swept his gaze around. There were also some casual insight carvings left behind by previous cultivators on the rooftop, faintly carrying special artistic conceptions.

But having just comprehended the Cosmic Extreme Chaos Tablet, Lu Ming naturally would not waste time on these disorderly, patternless carvings.

He sat cross-legged on the rooftop, quietly digesting the insights he had gained from comprehending the Cosmic Extreme Chaos Tablet.

The nine-leaf lotus in the first image was continuously dissected within his consciousness, revealing its most essential components, which were then freely reconstructed and recombined.

Before entering the Initial Universe, Lu Ming had also encountered secret techniques in Cosmic Thunder Fusion concerning the analysis of the essence of the Time Law. However, following the Jinlan Kingdom Lord's advice, he had decided to focus on comprehending the Destruction artistic conception before entering the Initial Universe.

But now that he had viewed the Cosmic Extreme Chaos Tablet and possessed the uniquely advantageous cultivation conditions of the Initial Universe, where laws manifested externally, analyzing the essence of the Time Law would undoubtedly yield twice the result with half the effort.

Time passed.

In the blink of an eye, more than half a month had gone by.

Lu Ming sat motionless on the rooftop with his eyes closed like a statue, but within his sea of consciousness, an image of a double-layered lotus continuously circulated.

The seemingly simple double-layered lotus structure faintly revealed the essence of the Great Dao of Time, making it impossible to grasp.

On the rooftop, Lu Ming, statue-like, suddenly opened his eyes. Two dreamlike lotuses faintly flowed within his black pupils.

"The guiding effect of the Chaos Tablet truly did not disappoint me!" With the spear technique manual Dawn from Cosmic Thunder Fusion, a manual specifically intended to analyze the essence of the Time Law, he had comprehended in one go all nine of the most fundamental Time Law profound mysteries contained within the first image, the Nine-Leaf Diagram.

He had even comprehended six of the twenty-seven deeper profound mysteries contained within the second image, the Double Lotus Diagram.

Such progress was undoubtedly astonishing, enough to leave many Immortal powerhouses utterly dumbfounded!

However, Lu Ming also understood that the reason this cultivation had produced such excellent results was mainly because his previous accumulation in laws had been quite substantial, allowing him to achieve a breakthrough after long preparation.

If one lacked sufficient accumulation, then comprehending a Chaos Tablet any number of times would be futile.

"I've fully digested my insights. It's time to take a look at the Tongtian Bridge."

Virtual Universe, Yuxiang Mountain Primitive Zone, Manor No. 114.

Lu Ming appeared directly in the cultivation room. "Alice, apply to enter the Tongtian Bridge."

"Yes, Master."

Alice acted with extreme speed. Almost the moment he finished speaking, Lu Ming's figure vanished.

When he appeared again, he had arrived in a special plane.

This was a world of boundless ocean.

In the distance, sky and water met, making it impossible to distinguish the blue heavens from the jade sea.

The place where Lu Ming stood now could be considered an archipelago.

There were fifty-two islands in total, scattered like stars. Upon every island stood a beautiful long bridge, extending from the island all the way into the endlessly lofty heavens.

Below, waves crashed against the sea. Higher up, mist wrapped around the bridge, and above that, clouds and fog filled the air, obscuring the bridge's shadow. It was dreamlike and illusory.

"So this is the Tongtian Bridge?" Lu Ming looked up at the sky, but still could not see where the Tongtian Bridge ended.

Upon noticing his arrival, a man dressed in a black robe patterned with stars quickly flew toward him. He resembled a member of the Black-eyed Clan, except he had no nose and possessed four ears.

"You're Lu Ming, right?" The four-eared man looked at him with a smile and introduced himself. "Hello. I'm Bafen, the Guardian of the Tongtian Bridge plane. You may call me Guardian."

"Greetings, Lord Guardian." Lu Ming respectfully saluted him.

"I had long heard that you were the top genius of this batch, but only now have I truly seen you in person." Guardian Bafen smiled at Lu Ming.

"Let me introduce it to you."

"This Tongtian Bridge plane was created for the fifty-two Chaos Tablets of Chaos City. The farther you progress, the stronger you are. Each time you successfully pass a level, you gain one opportunity for comprehension."

Guardian Bafen smiled.

"Lu Ming, you comprehended the Cosmic Extreme Chaos Tablet, so you need to challenge the Cosmic Extreme Tongtian Bridge. This Cosmic Extreme Tongtian Bridge is incredibly long, with a total of twenty-seven levels. I hope that one day, Lu Ming, you will be able to reach the depths of this Tongtian Bridge!"

As for the difficulty of the Tongtian Bridge, perhaps Lu Ming understood it better than any of the other geniuses.

These fifty-two Chaos Tablets varied in profundity. Some Tongtian Bridges had only twenty-one levels, some twenty-four, and some twenty-seven. The highest was the Giant Axe Chaos Tablet, whose corresponding Tongtian Bridge had as many as thirty-two levels!

The differences in Tongtian Bridge levels represented differences in the degree of law comprehension.

Generally speaking, after one had just comprehended a lower law and become Immortal, one should be able to pass the tenth level of the Tongtian Bridge.

If one could pass the fifteenth level, it meant the challenger possessed the law comprehension of a Marquis-level Immortal—Lu Ming's teacher Marquis Zhenlei's current level.

If one could pass the eighteenth level, one would gain recognition from the Five Great Powers Alliance and become a permanent resident of Chaos City in the Initial Universe.

The Sect Masters currently qualified to establish sects within Chaos City were at minimum King-level Immortals capable of passing the eighteenth level.

And passing the twenty-first level would allow one to become a Universe Venerable, an eternal existence at the level of a Universe Kingdom Lord.

However, the twenty-first level of the Tongtian Bridge was also the most difficult. Though it seemed only one step beyond the twentieth level, its difficulty surpassed the combined difficulty of the first through twentieth levels!

"Among your batch of geniuses, you're the only one left who hasn't taken the test."

Guardian Bafen smiled. "The Cosmic Extreme Tongtian Bridge happens to be empty right now, so you can challenge it immediately!"

Lu Ming gave a slight bow, then turned into a streak of light and flew directly toward the Cosmic Extreme Tongtian Bridge.