Weakness

Molten Empire, Molten Emperor Star.

In a spacious, luxurious conference room, more than a dozen figures sat on either side of the conference table. All of them were universe-level rank eight or nine powerhouses!

The room was brightly lit, yet the atmosphere was stifling. Seemingly affected by it, these universe-level rank eight and nine powerhouses all remained silent.

At the head of the conference table sat a tall figure shrouded in darkness, his features impossible to make out.

Even the light approaching him was absorbed and assimilated, as though boundless darkness had always enveloped him. Only his hands, fingers interlocked and elbows resting on the table, were visible in the light.

The man seated at the head of the table was Frank, the person in charge of the Molten Empire's Cultivation Planet Management Department, a domain lord-level rank eight powerhouse.

"Heh! The core of an entire planet was actually breached by a pack of beasts. You've truly broadened my horizons!"

Frank sneered from within the darkness, his deep voice brimming with fury. "Kuka Planet! Which universe-level was responsible for guarding it?

"A universe-level powerhouse couldn't even stop a few stellar-level beasts! Take him and..."

A universe-level hurriedly transmitted, "Teacher, the universe-level assigned to guard Kuka Planet hasn't taken up his post yet. He applied for ten years of leave, and you personally approved it."

Upon hearing the reminder, Frank instantly remembered. Kuka Planet's person in charge truly had not yet taken up his post, and there were still two years left of his leave.

After a moment of silence, he spoke. "I just remembered that the person responsible for guarding Kuka Planet hasn't taken up his post. Have him immediately end his leave and report to Kuka Planet."

After saying that, he added viciously, "All instructors who survived this incident will be sent to mine! They can return home only after they have made enough contributions!"

"More than half the trainees at the cultivation base died, including every outstanding trainee!

"Yet only four stellar-level instructors chose to fight to the death. If not for a stellar-level trainee who had comprehended a domain cleaning up their mess, the entirety of Kuka Planet would have suffered catastrophic losses!"

Frank paused, his words filled with rage. "Just now! Domain Lord Rika was questioning me.

"He said that all the trainees reserved by the training camps under my command had died in battle, while only four stellar-level instructors on your side had died.

"What is this? This is a slap in our department's face! A slap in the face of me, its person in charge!"

As he spoke, Frank's aura surged, pressing down on the universe-level powerhouses below until they could barely breathe.

"Starting today, assess the instructors on every cultivation planet. Carefully screen them, planet by planet!

"Anyone who fails the assessment will be stripped of their instructor status and benefits. If you uncover any violations or embezzlement, send them straight to mine! The Resource Department has been complaining about a shortage of miners anyway.

"If something like this happens again, forget the universe-level governors guarding those planets—even you regional managers will be sent to mine!"

Finally, Frank shouted, "Do you understand?"

"Understood!"

The universe-level powerhouses below all nodded.

Seeing his subordinates nod, Frank did not wish to say any more and issued his order.

"Meeting adjourned!"

With that, Frank was the first to leave the conference room. He still had to apologize to an old friend.

Only after the department head had left did the universe-level powerhouses finally let out sighs of relief and begin discussing matters in the conference room.

In the eyes of these universe-level powerhouses, what had happened on Kuka Planet was not particularly serious.

Only some planetary-level people had died. The Molten Empire did not lack such planetary-level people.

It was just a pity about that little fellow who had comprehended a domain. He had clearly been qualified to enter the Stellar Training Camp, yet he had died on Kuka Planet because the cultivation base instructors had been too cowardly to fight.

More importantly, among the dead little fellows was a descendant of a major family with quite an impressive background. It was said that he was the descendant of one of their minister's old friends.

That family descendant had only gone to Kuka Planet as a formality, to polish his credentials before entering the higher-level Stellar Training Camp. No one had expected him to die there.

In their view, it was only because his friend's descendant had died on Kuka Planet, coupled with the taunts from Domain Lord Rika, whom he had never gotten along with, that their minister had flown into a rage.

Still, this was not entirely bad. They could use this opportunity to straighten out the cultivation planets and give those planetary governors something to do!

Once the discussion ended, the universe-level powerhouses began leaving the conference room one after another. Before long, its doors closed.

Time passed, and Li Qi had already been in Zhaoguang City for three days.

Zhaoguang Academy held entrance assessments once every three months, and only ten days remained until the next assessment.

Thanks to his life experience from his previous life, he quickly adapted to life in Zhaoguang City and had already become proficient in using all kinds of equipment.

At this moment, Li Qi lay on his bed with a consciousness sensor on his head. His consciousness had entered the Zhaoguang Academy Trial Tower in the Virtual Universe.

An endless grassland stretched out before him. A breeze swept through the emerald sea of grass, stirring up waves of green.

Li Qi stood on a shield and flew through the air, sixteen bone spikes circling around him. In the distant sky, nine Corpse-Eating Birds wheeled overhead.

Before him was a light screen, written on it in the universal language: "The assessment will begin in ten seconds. Kill nine apprentice rank nine Corpse-Eating Birds within ten minutes."

The light screen vanished.

Chirp—!

The Corpse-Eating Birds circling in the sky seemed to have spotted prey and swooped toward Li Qi.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

The sixteen bone spikes tore through the air and shot toward the incoming Corpse-Eating Birds.

When the bone spikes struck the Corpse-Eating Birds, unless they hit vital points, they could only knock the birds tumbling.

Very soon, Li Qi was surrounded by the nine Corpse-Eating Birds. Just over twenty seconds later, he was killed in their encirclement.

Whoosh!

In a single-person room containing only a sofa, Li Qi sat on the sofa and recalled the battle from earlier.

"On the second day after learning the Basic Body Technique, I challenged the third floor of the Trial Tower and killed five Corpse-Eating Birds—four more than before I learned the Basic Body Technique. The improvement is obvious."

He frowned slightly. "Without my exceptionally strong telekinetic power and planetary-level bone spikes, I still haven't adapted to fighting. Those two things have affected me too deeply, and it will be hard to eliminate that influence in a short time.

"Sometimes, I can't help thinking that I can kill a Corpse-Eating Bird with a single bone spike. But in truth, telekinetic power and bone spikes at the normal apprentice rank nine level find it difficult to inflict fatal wounds on beasts of the same level. Sometimes, it takes ten or twenty attacks to kill one Corpse-Eating Bird."

"If I chose to fight hit-and-run battles, I could kill all nine Corpse-Eating Birds within ten minutes, but that would be meaningless!"

Li Qi knew exactly where his weakness lay. He could not adapt to combat in the Virtual Universe, and his habit of crushing his opponents had also left his movement technique far too weak.

That was why he had continuously fought the beasts head-on in the Trial Tower, using it to train his movement technique and acclimate himself to combat in the Virtual Universe.

"With bodies and weapons of the same level, fighting solely through skill, experience, awareness, and comprehension of laws—that is what makes combat in the Virtual Universe special.

"I have to adapt. If I can't, I'm afraid I won't even be able to enter Zhaoguang Academy!"

"Let's try the Trial Tower on the martial artist path and see how many floors I can clear this time."

Li Qi slapped the sofa and vanished from the room, entering the Trial Tower once more.

Several minutes later, he returned to the room with a whoosh and shook his head helplessly.