After the Ganwu Kingdom Lord left, Zhulong King finally relaxed his expression. "Keep cultivating. Don't let this distract you, and don't get carried away. You've barely gotten started. Once you enter Chaos City, plenty of Universe Venerables will be willing to take you as a disciple."
"Yes, Ancestor." Ling Xuan nodded calmly, then resumed his cultivation.
Ling Xuan continued immersing himself in comprehending the Void Sutra and the Law of Space.
Three years passed in the blink of an eye, and all the remaining spots in the various Universe Countries were decided.
"Kid, you've made gratifying progress over these three years, but you're still some distance from that super-genius. Don't get careless," Zhulong King reminded him.
"Don't worry. I'll handle it," Ling Xuan said confidently.
"You brat. Confidence is a good thing. Go on." Zhulong King laughed and patted Ling Xuan on the shoulder.
Meanwhile, his two older sisters sent him encouraging emails, telling him to work hard and achieve a good result. They would watch his matches from home.
After replying with a quick "Got it," Ling Xuan teleported to the assembly point.
A Floating Island hung in the sky above Ganwu Continent.
Whoosh!
Ling Xuan appeared at the Floating Island's teleportation point.
"Mr. Ling Xuan, this way, please." A Universe Level warrior in a work uniform stood beside the teleportation point, smiling as he gestured toward a path nearby.
"Thank you." Ling Xuan smiled and nodded, then walked straight along the path.
A moment later—
Ling Xuan spotted a broad plaza in the distance, surrounded by beautiful flowers and plants. A large crowd had gathered there—hundreds of people at a glance, men and women of all kinds.
"Yanmo's here."
"That cold-blooded killer, Yanmo!"
Quite a few young men and women looked over.
"Do his eyes ever get tired?"
All these hundreds of people had secured a spot. This time, the Ganwu Universe Country was sending a thousand geniuses.
Most people only watched Ling Xuan from a distance, discussing him in hushed voices. None dared approach to greet him.
Anyone who had watched his match videos thought Ling Xuan seemed difficult to get along with. He killed everyone he faced and didn't even let them finish speaking.
What was more, the experts of the various factions all believed that, given Ling Xuan's strength, he would definitely secure a spot in the Giant Axe Secret Realm.
Suddenly—
Boom! An invisible pressure swept over the entire plaza. The thousand peerless geniuses went pale, their bodies trembling involuntarily.
Then, amid the sound of approaching footsteps, a giant wearing red armor strode over. A red scale gleamed on his forehead, and a blood-red greatsword was strapped to his back. His naturally radiating aura was like death itself descending.
The thick, blood-soaked aura inspired an instinctive fear!
He stood over eight meters tall, a giant even among the Human Race.
"I will lead the thousand geniuses of the Ganwu Universe Country, as commanded by the Kingdom Lord." The giant's voice rumbled. His eyes shone with a cold, eerie light beneath his helmet, and his invisible pressure swept over them like a tide. "You may call me Blood Sword Marquis. Understood?"
"Understood!" The reply rang out in unison, with a hint of trembling.
The thousand peerless geniuses from the Ganwu Universe Country were all exceptionally proud, yet even they couldn't help straightening their backs and answering loudly.
Ling Xuan stood in the middle of the group, lowering his head slightly and concealing his sharpness. In the presence of a powerful being, he was the most obedient, well-behaved child imaginable.
"Blood Sword Marquis looks stronger than Ancestor Manlong Marquis. No wonder he's one of the experts who follow the Ganwu Kingdom Lord." Ling Xuan lowered his eyes, secretly sizing up the giant and assessing his strength.
As if sensing Ling Xuan's gaze, Blood Sword Marquis turned toward him, the pressure in his eyes instantly becoming a look of appreciation. "Ling Xuan, the Kingdom Lord thinks very highly of you. Don't disappoint him."
If the Kingdom Lord hadn't already spoken to him, he would have been tempted to take this exceptionally gifted boy as his disciple.
"Yes!" Ling Xuan immediately raised his head, his expression respectful.
"Follow me!" Blood Sword Marquis said no more. His scarlet cloak swept behind him in the wind.
The thousand geniuses followed close behind. In the blink of an eye, they were teleported above an unfamiliar continent.
A thousand ancient towers were scattered across the continent, arranged in the shape of a giant axe.
At the center of the axe blade stood a spacious plaza, its style bold and rugged.
Several towering ancient trees stood at the edge of the plaza. Mysterious patterns covered their bark, and the bones of ancient ferocious beasts could be glimpsed inside their hollows. Ancient beast statues dotted the plaza, so lifelike they seemed ready to come alive at any moment.
"My lord, your Ganwu Universe Country team has been assigned to Ancient Tower No. 0825." A staff member dressed in white robes, with a gentle aura about him, stepped forward and bowed respectfully to Blood Sword Marquis.
"Mm, got it. It's the same number every year. I wonder what it means," Blood Sword Marquis muttered, then waved his hand and led the thousand geniuses down toward Ancient Tower No. 0825.
The enormous group that suddenly appeared before the tower immediately drew everyone's attention, and discussions sprang up all around them.
"See that? The one at the front is Yanmo, Ling Xuan, from the Ganwu Universe Country. They say he's a strong contender for one of the top two spots this year."
"Really? He looks so ordinary, nothing special at all!" A werewolf genius raised an eyebrow, his face full of doubt.
"Shh, keep your voice down!" An Ape-man youth clapped a hand over his friend's mouth, looking nervous. "I've watched his battle videos. He hacked his way from the south side of a city to the north without even blinking. Be careful, or he might come over and cut you down."
"Come on, are the people of the Ganwu Universe Country just made of dough, letting him slaughter them however he wants?" someone else challenged.
They were all top geniuses from their respective Universe Countries. Of course they knew how difficult it was to hack one's way from the south side of a city to the north.
Even if many people had ways to deal with being surrounded, those methods only worked against hundreds of people, or a thousand attackers.
And those attackers had to be much weaker than them.
But a city had at least several hundred thousand powerful warriors.
"What do you know?" The Ape-man youth shook his head helplessly. "Ling Xuan's strength is on a completely different level from ours. He's hailed as a peerless genius who appears only once in at least ten thousand eras. In past Genius Tournaments, he'd have been a sure bet for first place. What a shame that this year, someone even more monstrous showed up."
"Ten thousand eras?" Someone's eyes widened in disbelief at this. He rolled his eyes. "Our planet's history isn't even that long, and two monsters show up at once? What bad luck. Otherwise, I might've been the number one genius in the universe!"
"Enough. Look over there." Someone abruptly changed the subject and pointed in another direction.
"Isn't that the Tianfeng Clan's prodigy, Feng Lishuang? She's definitely strong enough to contend for the top ten this year."
"And over there is Ren Yaoli, the equally gifted illusionist from the Baili Clan. She looks sweet and adorable, but she's actually mischievous. Her opponents are defeated without even realizing what's happened. She's definitely got a shot at the top ten."
"Wow, such a cute girl is an illusionist? I'd love to experience her illusions and test my weakness!"
"You Ganwu Universe Country contestant, wipe the drool from your mouth. I can hear your scheming all the way from the Gulun Universe Kingdom."
"Over there, the strongest Mental Master Controller in this year's Genius Tournament, Leng Yanqiu. I hear she's cultivated the Yan Shen Armament to its second level. She's also a strong contender for the top ten."
While everyone was talking, another fierce fluctuation rippled through the sky above the plaza, and another team descended.
The members of this team were, on the whole, taller and more powerfully built. Their leader stood a full ten meters tall, his skin covered in dark red scales and a curved horn growing from the center of his brow. His hands and feet were thick and powerful. He looked similar to an ordinary human, but radiated a terrifying, violent aura.
"That's the undisputed number one in this Genius Tournament, the Yanshen Clan's peerless genius, Yanshen—Cao Benqi?"
"He really does look dangerous. I feel like one casual hit from him would send me straight to the medical pod." The werewolf genius, who had looked down on Ling Xuan earlier, now stared at Cao Benqi with awe and admiration.
The Yanshen Universe Kingdom team slowly made its way to the center of the plaza and stopped.
Cao Benqi strode forward and took his place in the most prominent spot on the plaza. Facing the envious and fearful gazes of more than a million geniuses from over a thousand Universe Countries, he curled his lips in contempt and spoke coldly:
"You!"
After a brief pause, his oppressive voice rang out again:
"Are you all here to compete for second place?"
Before you continue