First Place

"It took ten days to sweep through eighty-eight cities. I finally made it to first place in the world zone!"

Ten days passed in the blink of an eye. Yue Ming swept through all eighty-eight cities, cutting down countless geniuses with his sword. His Points finally rose to first place in the world zone, putting more than twenty million Points between himself and second place.

"There aren't any worthy experts in World Zone 66..."

There were no truly formidable experts in World Zone 66. At least, not a single one was worthy of Yue Ming's attention. Only four had crossed the threshold of the Origin Laws, while fewer than a hundred had comprehended a trace of an Origin Law.

Most of the geniuses possessed eighth- or ninth-level domains. As for the contestants who were merely there to make up the numbers, most of them had died in the early stages. Apart from a few lucky ones, the contestants who had survived until now generally possessed decent strength.

Yet across all of World Zone 66, no one could withstand even a single strike from Yue Ming's sword. And that was only with him using the Water Origin Laws and Space Origin Laws.

Yue Ming remembered that in the original work, Luo Feng's World Zone 1 had only three geniuses who had crossed the threshold of the Origin Laws. Those who had comprehended a trace of an Origin Law had almost all made it into the top hundred.

Comparing the two world zones, World Zone 66 had one more person who had crossed the threshold of the Origin Laws than World Zone 1, while the number of people who had comprehended a trace of an Origin Law was roughly the same.

However, the Ganwu Universe Country had a hundred world zones. If each world zone had four people who had crossed the threshold of the Origin Laws, that meant four hundred geniuses who had crossed that threshold.

The Human Race had 1,008 universe countries. That meant there were roughly four hundred thousand geniuses who had crossed the threshold of the Origin Laws, all competing for a thousand slots. One could only imagine how brutal the competition would be!

Those who had not crossed the threshold of the Origin Laws did not even qualify to compete!

"Looks like I was still being too optimistic. With Hong and Thor's strength, making it into the top thousand of the Ganwu Universe Country shouldn't be a problem. But making it into the top thousand of the entire universe will depend on luck..."

It was not as though they had no chance at all. After all, most people had only just crossed the threshold of the Origin Laws, so the gap in their foundations was not that great.

What would ultimately be tested would be willpower, state of mind, combat experience, secret techniques, and every other aspect.

There was no need to mention Hong and Thor's states of mind. Their willpower was also far stronger than others at the same level, and their combat experience was not lacking either. Their only weakness was that their secret techniques were somewhat inferior.

"Five days remain. I just need to keep hunting down the highly ranked geniuses and make sure no one else's Points surpass mine. Still, my performance has probably already caught the attention of quite a few people..."

Although Yue Ming had not gone all out during the competition and had never used the Water-Void Fusion Law, he had not concealed the Water Origin Laws or Space Origin Laws in the slightest. He had definitely been noticed by many people already.

Even Bolan had only displayed several hundred Space Phantom Bodies in the early stages of the Peak Genius Battle, while Yue Ming had displayed over a thousand phantoms. There was almost no doubt that his performance had alarmed many people.

Yue Ming did not care much about that. He had never intended to hide his abilities during the Peak Genius Battle. Only by displaying his talent could he attract the attention of a Lord of the Universe and gain a chance to become one's disciple.

Of course, advantages came with disadvantages. The talent he had displayed might draw assassination attempts from other peak races. But that was a matter for the future, and he would think about it when the time came!

"The preliminary round is about to end. Collective teleportation countdown: ten, nine, eight, seven..."

"It's finally over!"

Five days passed in the blink of an eye, and the preliminary round finally reached its final moment. Yue Ming's Points held firmly to first place, more than fifty million ahead of second place.

Over those five days, Yue Ming had constantly hunted the highly ranked geniuses. He had killed several batches of top-ranked geniuses in World Zone 66.

When the countdown ended, Yue Ming's vision blurred. When he opened his eyes again, he had already left World Zone 66.

"Beibei, send Luo Feng and the others an email each. Tell them to come over."

"Master, the emails have been sent."

"Mm. Disable communications."

"Okay."

Based on the talent Yue Ming had displayed in World Zone 66, some Immortals might try to take him as a disciple. Refusing them would inevitably offend people, so Yue Ming simply turned off the communications function.

"Brother Ming, what rank did you get?"

"First!"

"As expected of you, Brother Ming. First place in the world zone. I ranked forty-eighth, which is nowhere near you..."

"Brother Hong, what about you two?"

"I ranked seventy-eighth."

"Sigh, out of the four of us, I ranked the lowest—two hundred and eighty-fifth."

Luo Feng and the others soon arrived, and the four gathered to chat. The other three had all ranked fairly high. Luo Feng was forty-eighth, slightly better than in the original work, where he seemed to have ranked fifty-first.

As for Hong and Thor, Hong ranked seventy-eighth. This was undoubtedly a huge improvement over the original work, though it made sense upon reflection. He had already comprehended a trace of an Origin Law, so making it into the top hundred of the world zone was perfectly normal.

Thor's ranking was a little worse, but it was still much better than in the original work. In the original work, he had been directly eliminated by Rong Jun. Fortunately, this time they were in different world zones, so he had not encountered Rong Jun. Relying on his ninth-level domain, he fought his way to rank two hundred and eighty-fifth.

"Yue Ming really has it good. First place in the world zone means direct advancement to the finals. He doesn't even need to participate in the Reincarnation Battle and can cultivate peacefully for three years..."

Thor was somewhat envious. What he needed most right now was to cultivate in peace. He had already arrived at Keluosi Star and was cultivating on Lightning Mountain, hoping to comprehend a trace of the Lightning Origin Laws with the aid of Lightning Mountain's special environment.

"The three years of the Reincarnation Battle are your opportunity. Make sure to seize it. Whether you can break into the top thousand of the finals will depend on how much you improve over these three years. I may enter secluded cultivation next, so I won't have time to follow the Reincarnation Battle..."

As long as Luo Feng developed as he had in the original work, reaching the top thousand of the finals was a certainty. As for Hong and Thor, it depended on whether they could make good use of these three years of the Reincarnation Battle.

"Also, we all achieved decent rankings in the Peak Genius Battle. The Black Dragon Mountain Empire, and perhaps even the Ganwu Universe Country, may grant rewards. When the time comes, just say that I'm in secluded cultivation. You can collect my rewards for me. I want to focus entirely on cultivation and don't want to be disturbed..."

"Alright. Cultivate in peace, then!"

After gathering for only a few minutes, Yue Ming logged off early. He then entered the Small World of the Time-Space Disruptor, completely isolating himself from the outside world.

For this secluded cultivation, Yue Ming planned to study the Space Element divine spark. Comprehending the Origin Laws became slower and slower the further one progressed, but with the assistance of the divine spark and the Enlightenment Mat, Yue Ming was still very confident that he could raise his comprehension of the Space Origin Laws to 20% within three years.