Nine Universes Heavenly Bridge

After leaving the Inner Mansion of the City Lord Mansion, Ling Xuan found a quiet Cultivation Residence with his three wives.

"Should we go try the Heavenly Bridge first?" Ren Yaoli, the most restless of them, suggested.

"Sure. It'd be best to see what it's like first," Ling Xuan encouraged her with a smile.

The four of them then entered the Virtual Universe together.

"Master, your permissions now include access to the Tongtian Bridge Plane," Puff said.

"Send me there now."

After a brief shift through space and time, the four of them appeared in a special plane.

It was an endless ocean, its waters surging.

A single beautiful island stood in the ocean. Along its edge were forty-nine harbors, each with an endless bridge stretching toward the horizon, as if connecting to the distant edge of the sky. The forty-nine bridges spanned the entire ocean.

Misty vapor drifted above the ocean waves, obscuring whatever lay beneath. It curled around the bridges, making everything seem like a dream.

As soon as the four of them arrived, they drew the attention of everyone nearby.

They were all geniuses from this year's Genius Tournament. How could the appearance of this year's champion alongside its three most beautiful women not cause a stir?

"Yanmo, are you here to challenge the Heavenly Bridge too?" Alister, fourth place in the Genius Tournament, walked over warmly.

"Yeah. Have you already tried it? How did you do?" Ling Xuan replied with a smile.

"Everyone who studied a Chaos Stele came to challenge the Heavenly Bridge right away. Only Yanshen Cao Benqi managed to clear eight levels in one go. Everyone else failed to clear even one," Alister said.

"The eighth level?" Ling Xuan mulled over the number. To be honest, it would be difficult to catch up through Law Comprehension alone.

With a cheat, he could easily surpass that, but there was no need.

"I'll go first. You can watch my fight and use it as a reference when you try," Ling Xuan said with a smile.

"Why don't we go first and give you something to learn from? Cao Benqi cleared the eighth level, after all," Feng Lishuang objected.

"No need. You saw how everyone else couldn't even clear the first level. That shows how difficult the Heavenly Bridge is. At most, you'll clear the first level, so the ones after that won't be useful as a reference. With my strength, clearing the first level will be easy. Besides, I'm in no hurry to compete with Cao Benqi. He's had so many more years to cultivate than I have. I don't need to prove I can surpass him quickly." Ling Xuan was level-headed and knew exactly what he wanted.

The three women fell silent. Ling Xuan was sometimes just telling the truth, but it still hit a nerve.

What did he mean, Cao Benqi was so much older? And saying they could only clear the first level was just too blunt.

"Go ahead. The Nine Universes Heavenly Bridge is unoccupied right now," Guardian Bafen said. He had been watching from the sidelines and finally found a chance to speak.

"Please show the battle live to my three wives, Guardian," Ling Xuan said.

"Leave it to me." Bafen bowed. As a direct disciple of Giant Axe Founder, Ling Xuan's status was comparable to that of a Universe Venerable. Bafen naturally wouldn't refuse his request.

"Thank you." Ling Xuan thanked him, then became a blur as he flew toward a distant Heavenly Bridge stretching to the horizon. From far away, he could see a stone stele at its entrance, with the words "Nine Universes" engraved on it.

The moment Ling Xuan stepped onto the Nine Universes Heavenly Bridge, Puff's voice rang in his mind. "Master, you've just received an email from the Virtual Universe Company."

"Got it." Ling Xuan didn't even check it. He roughly remembered how the points worked.

Each level of the Heavenly Bridge probably awarded twice as many points as the previous one, with the first level worth 100 points.

As an incentive for newcomers visiting Chaos City for the first time, points earned from challenging the Heavenly Bridge during their thirty years there were multiplied by ten.

So, for the tenfold points, Ling Xuan planned to challenge the Heavenly Bridge with all his strength before leaving Chaos City—but not right from the start.

"Choose your opponent. You may choose a warrior, a Mental Master Controller, or a Mental Master Illusionist. Defeat your opponent to clear the first level of the Heavenly Bridge." A voice came from a huge cloud of mist in front of Ling Xuan.

"I choose... a warrior," Ling Xuan said.

Whoosh!

A mass of black liquid immediately flew out of the mist. It gathered in midair, taking the shape of a mysterious figure wearing a black mask. The figure wore Flowing Cloud Battle Boots and held a crimson Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear—the exact same equipment as Ling Xuan.

The mysterious figure fixed Ling Xuan with a pair of icy eyes beneath the mask and spoke. "Let the battle begin!"

"Defeat him, and you can enter the second level of the Heavenly Bridge," the cloud of mist said.

Ling Xuan gave the Fire God Absolute Domain Blade a light shake. The blade rang out, and crimson flames surged three feet high, enveloping him like a god of war wreathed in fire.

Flames flared around the black-masked figure. He leaped forward, driving his Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear toward Ling Xuan's throat from a vicious angle.

Ling Xuan raised his own Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear to block. It met the attack with a thunderous clang, sparks flying everywhere.

They used the impact to spring back, but the instant they landed, both shot forward again.

The black-masked figure swept his weapon across, unleashing the second level of his secret technique, "Burning Wave Horizontal Slash." Scarlet flames spread into a hundred-meter-wide wall of fire and surged toward Ling Xuan like a tide.

Ling Xuan didn't dodge. He unleashed "Burning Wave Horizontal Slash" as well, and a crimson wall of fire crashed into the other one.

The two waves of fire collided, unleashing an earth-shaking roar.

Riding the blast, Ling Xuan strode forward over the flames. His Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear flashed through a flurry of overlapping strikes, each one carrying the force to split mountains and shatter stone.

The black-masked figure refused to yield. Cold light gleamed along his spearheads as he met Ling Xuan's attacks head-on.

The sparks bursting from their clashing weapons lit the battlefield as brightly as day.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

Their Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spears collided again and again, the metallic ringing deafening.

Ling Xuan deliberately left an opening, luring the black-masked figure into striking at his left shoulder. Just as the attack was about to land, he twisted his wrist and struck the side of the other man's weapon with the shaft, using the force to knock him several steps back.

The black-masked figure roared, his flames flaring as he charged again. His Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear darted up and down, thrusting and sweeping in a relentless storm of attacks.

Ling Xuan answered with the same moves, clearly demonstrating the black-masked figure's attack rhythm, strength, and variations to Feng Lishuang and the others watching outside.

Although the weapon the masked figure used varied from person to person, the level of Law Comprehension remained fixed.

That made the fight useful as a reference.

After several dozen exchanges, Ling Xuan felt he had shown enough. He shouted and gathered all his fiery power into his Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear, unleashing a mighty "Burning Wave Horizontal Slash."

The crimson wall of fire bore down on the black-masked figure like a burning fortress wall.

The black-masked figure swung his Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear with all his strength, trying to cleave through the flames. But under Ling Xuan's full-force attack, his fire scattered in an instant.

Ling Xuan's Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear swept through with the flames still roaring around it, reducing the figure and his weapon to nothing.

As the black-masked figure fell, the mist shrouding the Heavenly Bridge dispersed, revealing the path to the second level.

Ling Xuan stepped onto it without hesitation.

At the far end of the second level was another enormous cloud of mist. A voice came from within. "Choose your opponent. You may choose a warrior, a Mental Master Controller, or a Mental Master Illusionist. Defeat your opponent to clear the second level of the Heavenly Bridge."

"A warrior."

Whoosh!

A mass of black liquid flew out of the huge cloud of mist. It quickly took shape in midair, forming a mysterious figure dressed in black battle clothes and wearing a mask. As before, his equipment was identical to Ling Xuan's.