Beginning

The Virtual Universe...

A virtual screen appeared before Lu Yan'an, displaying the official registration webpage for the Virtual Universe Company.

At the very top of the page was a highly conspicuous row of numbers—10,000,000,000—and this number was rapidly jumping, changing to 10,000,000,005. Beside these digits was a line of text in the Universal Common Tongue: "Number of registrants from Ganwu Universe Country."

"The registration count has already broken ten billion in such a short time since this floating notice appeared? This is too exaggerated! And the number is still climbing by hundreds of millions. Are there really that many Star-level geniuses?" Lu Yan'an exclaimed, his tone filled with a hint of disbelief.

"This is the Virtual Universe Company we're talking about! It's the first time they've held a selection tournament of this scale; it wouldn't be strange no matter how many people signed up!"

"You have to realize that the entire Ganwu Universe Country has hundreds of millions of star systems! With such a massive base, it's perfectly normal for so many people to sign up. Don't act like you've never seen the world!" Lord Shen rested his forehead in one hand, looking rather speechless.

"Fine, fine, I won't ask." Lu Yan'an raised his hands in surrender. His movements and choice of words were extremely practiced, definitely not the state of someone doing this for the first time. Looking at it this way, Lu Yan'an being persecuted by Lord Shen was not a one-time occurrence!

"The largest demographic of Virtual Universe users consists of Planet-level and Star-level individuals. Any Star-level with a bit of confidence will choose to participate, so having this many people is normal. However, no matter how many people there are, most are just here to make up the numbers. With this level of competition, those who haven't reached at least the eighth level of Domain or haven't stepped into the threshold of Laws basically won't make the cut!" Lord Shen continued to add.

In the Peak Genius Tournament, this sense of personal participation is very important! The tournament is not the exclusive domain of geniuses; it is a grand event rooted in all of humanity across the universe. Even if not aiming to qualify, the difficulty of converting traffic is much lower on such a platform. Furthermore, those who compete on the same stage and achieve final victory leave a deeper impression, which is an invisible advertising effect. And since this advertisement is being broadcast to the entire foundation of the universe, monetization undoubtedly becomes very simple! There is no shortage of people anywhere who sign up for the sake of traffic!

Lu Yan'an also began his registration, filling in his details before finally clicking the "Register" button.

"Beep!"

"Scan complete. Star-level 9 martial artist. Registration approved."

The Virtual Universe Network can scan a person's physical strength through the components connected to the network, thereby confirming that the registrant is at the Star-level.

The registration period for the entire "Universe Human—Peak Genius Tournament" would last for one month. In the time that followed, Lu Yan'an naturally had to seize these final moments to sprint and improve his strength.

In a vast God Kingdom, the realm was like a boundless ocean.

An undying god with dark blue hair floated in the sky, blue power of Laws diffusing around him. Beside him stood several World Lords, while on the land ahead stood hundreds of Star-level youths, each with their heads bowed as if listening to a leader's lecture.

"You are the most elite batch of disciples in my Hanhai God Kingdom."

"This Genius Tournament is an excellent trial opportunity! Whoever among you can pass the qualifying rounds and enter the top 1,000 in the Ganwu Universe Country will be qualified to become my disciple. Work hard!"

The majestic voice of the God Lord echoed in the ears of the many disciples.

"Yes, God Lord!"

The hundreds of young people below bowed in response.

"Genius Tournament? Covering all the universe countries in the entire universe? That sounds quite interesting!"

In the Cangming Kingdom, a vassal of the Ganwu Universe Country, a lazy youth lay on a tree that was five meters tall. He held a fruit in his right hand, taking large bites. His body was surrounded by the aura of the wind element. Upon hearing the news, he smiled faintly: "Interesting. Then I'll try to see if I can casually take first place, shall I?"

Having said that, he leaped down from the tree. Behind him, the fruit pit left over from his meal lay quietly on the ground...

Across the vast universe, in every major universe country, countless God Kingdoms, and among many famous super geniuses, reclusive cultivators, and wandering martial artists, everyone took note of this super tournament that spanned all universe countries.

They were all high-spirited, speaking with bold words and laughter.

Time passed, and a month flew by; registration soon closed.

In the Virtual Universe, at the Haoyue Courtyard villa on Black Dragon Mountain Island.

Lu Yan'an sat on the sofa, flipping through an email sent by the Virtual Universe Company, which detailed the rules of the Peak Genius Tournament.

Within the Ganwu Universe Country, over a trillion Star-level experts had signed up to participate! Since everyone's strength varied, to ensure fairness, the Virtual Universe would simulate all participants' physical fitness and spiritual energy intensity to be exactly the same, maintaining them at the Star-level 9 standard.

Participants could choose any grade of Force weapons or spiritual weapons (not exceeding 10 items), and could simultaneously choose a Force battle suit (not exceeding Grade 2).

The genius selection tournament was divided into two major stages.

The first stage: Select the top 1,000 from each major universe country.

The second stage: The top 1,000 experts from each universe country would gather. All geniuses from the many universe countries would come together for a grand final battle to determine the top 1,000 in the overall universe rankings.

The top 1,000 in the overall universe rankings would receive three major rewards: First, depending on their ranking, they would receive a prize ranging from 10 Hunyuan units to 10,000 Hunyuan units. Second, they would receive a spot to enter the Initial Universe for enlightenment. Third, they could become "core members" within the Virtual Universe Company.

Among them...

The first stage was divided into "preliminary elimination" and "arena duels."

Taking the Ganwu Universe Country as an example:

First, 100 worlds would be divided within the Virtual Universe. Each world would be assigned tens of billions of participants. These tens of billions of people would fight each other in the same world, killing others to earn points; the more they killed, the more points they earned!

Everyone had only one life.

Until the time limit was reached, the final point rankings would be checked. 1,001 people would be selected from each world, totaling 100,100 people across 100 worlds.

Those ranked first in their respective worlds would not need to participate in the arena duels and would directly secure 100 of the top 1,000 spots. The remaining 900 spots would be contested by the 100,000 people through arena duels.

The rules were basically identical to the original, a relatively mature set of procedures.

Finally, the day arrived for the Ganwu Universe Country "preliminary" gathering.

"You are the future elites and the future pillars of our Ganwu Universe Country."

"I hope that among those 100,100 spots, you will occupy at least half!"

Familiar words rang out from the lips of Lord Ganwu; one had to wonder if he repeated this exact speech before every single pre-tournament pep talk!

A deep, resonant voice that made the very heavens and earth tremble echoed across a stretch of cosmic starry sky. This expanse of space was none other than the legendary Ganwu Secret Realm of the Ganwu Universe Country. At this moment, a giant whose face remained obscured stood in the void, the space around him subtly warping, while far ahead of him, an endless sea of young people knelt in respectful prostration.

"Go forth, my children." The deep voice made space itself shudder, and the soul tremble along with it.

"Yes, Lord!"

Whoosh!

As Lord Ganwu finished his encouragement, the space ahead shifted, and over a hundred million Star-level youths vanished in an instant. The sheer might of the Virtual Universe Company was truly inconceivable!

Perhaps it was because the publicity from the Virtual Universe Company had been so effective, but countless people were paying close attention to this genius selection tournament.

"Phew! This sector assignment is quite auspicious!" Lu Yan'an stared at the notification for Sector 44 on his virtual system and gradually fell into a silence, utterly unable to fathom his own luck.

"Forget it, it's not like qualification depends on luck; it's better to let my strength do the talking!" he said, giving himself a pep talk.

At this moment, a clear, bright voice echoed across the entire continent.

"Attention everyone, this preliminary elimination will be divided into one hundred 'world sectors.' We will begin mass teleportation immediately to your respective assigned 'world sectors.' Please take this time to check your equipment; once the preliminaries begin, you will no longer be able to request weapons."

Lu Yan'an wore a Tier 2 Force Battle Suit. Unlike the others, he had not requested a space ring. On his hands, he still wore his unchanging memory alloy gauntlets. These gauntlets were weapons simulated within the Virtual Universe, and using them felt exactly the same as in reality. However, Lu Yan'an had never been one to focus much on weaponry; compared to gauntlet-type weapons, other gear was simply too troublesome to carry.

After testing the comfort of these gauntlets, he nodded in satisfaction.

"Mass teleportation imminent, countdown, 60... 59... 58..." The clear voice rang out across the sky of the virtual continent.

With a complex mix of emotions and excitement, Lu Yan'an was teleported to Sector 44.

At this moment, the human race's Peak Genius Tournament began simultaneously across all major universe countries, and the preliminaries were underway!

This grand event for all of humanity had officially raised its curtain!