The Reveal

The fifth level of the first Trial Tower was a small mechanical testing base. The floor and walls were entirely covered in alloy, filled with technological and mechanical elements. A hundred mechanical puppets stood on the alloy floor, each twelve meters tall and covered head to toe in silver memory alloy.

Mechanical puppets were weapons of war built by the Machine Race. Every member of the Machine Race was an Intelligent Life; each could even be considered a control terminal, capable of forming a kingdom transformed by mechanical technology! The "mechanical puppets" were a fairly ordinary class of combat unit in this mechanical kingdom.

"Bzz!"

The hundred towering mechanical puppets activated their internal power sources. Red light shone from their eyes as they instantly locked onto Lu Yan'an, who had appeared quietly in the distance!

"Boom!" "Boom!"

In an instant, all the mechanical puppets charged toward Lu Yan'an in perfect coordination. He, however, put away his illusions. Against enemies from the Machine Race, who had neither consciousness nor souls, illusions were completely useless.

With a whoosh, he charged forward instead of retreating, wielding a long saber as he plunged straight into their midst. His Light Domain quietly enveloped all the mechanical puppets, and his martial prowess unfolded. In less than ten seconds, every puppet within the domain had been reduced to a pile of scrap!

Lu Yan'an had vividly demonstrated what it meant to be "swift as lightning"!

A glimmer of excitement suddenly appeared in Marquis Cangming's cold eyes. Fixing his gaze on the screen before him, he said softly, his voice trembling slightly, "This young fellow Lu Yan'an clearly hasn't neglected his martial training at all! His combat rhythm is practically perfect, and his control over his domain has reached an exceptionally profound level!"

What did it mean to clear a stage completely immune to illusions in just ten seconds?

Until now, the only battle of Lu Yan'an's that could be used to assess him had been his duel against Meng Huan in the preselection. But both sides had held back, never revealing their full strength. Besides, that had been three years ago. How much he had improved since then was entirely unknown.

But now, Lu Yan'an's performance in the tower was a complete surprise!

"I hope you can make it through this selection. Don't disappoint the ruler!" Marquis Cangming thought eagerly.

As for earning a high ranking? Ever since the Virtual Universe Company announced the rules for this examination, Marquis Cangming hadn't even considered it! Controllers were by far the best suited to scoring highly in this Trial Tower. Illusionists, on the other hand, were at a severe disadvantage!

He glanced at Meng Huan. The young fellow had also unleashed his Wind Domain, toying with the mechanical puppets until they were thoroughly disoriented. He was clearly handling them with ease!

"It seems these two young fellows haven't wasted their potential as martial artists. Ganwu Universe Country still has a chance this time!" Marquis Cangming said with a smile, his worries easing somewhat.

The seven Trial Towers.

The geniuses had all cleared the first and second Trial Towers, but starting from the first level of the third, large numbers of them were eliminated.

The third Trial Tower had the most eliminations, claiming nearly ninety percent of the total!

But Lu Yan'an and Meng Huan kept up a completely different pace inside the towers. Only the fifth level of each tower—the mechanical puppets—forced them to put in a great deal of effort. They handled the ordinary stages with ease. Once they cleared the fifth level, nothing in that tower could slow them down again! Even the Zerg Mother Emperors on the seventh level, masters of the soul, couldn't withstand a single move from either of them.

They cleared the first four Trial Towers with ease. But once they reached the fifth, the difficulty soared, and things began to change.

The fourth level of the fifth Trial Tower featured a thousand Fei Hou, a remarkably unusual kind of fierce beast found among the strange creatures of the universe.

"Boom!"

Hundreds of Fei Hou carcasses already lay across the boundless plain. A hazy streak of light swept through the air, revealing Lu Yan'an speeding past.

His Illusion Domain continued to spread toward the remaining Fei Hou, seeking to kill them as efficiently as possible! But his enemies were no longer as dull and predictable as those in the earlier Trial Towers. As soon as Lu Yan'an unleashed his Illusion Domain, they stopped just beyond its maximum range! The Fei Hou had started using their brains to analyze the situation!

"It's getting harder and harder! These Fei Hou are actually thinking through how to solve the problem just like humans." Lu Yan'an sighed to himself. The Fei Hou were extremely unusual; their intelligence ranked among the very highest of all fierce beasts. In the earlier Trial Towers, their intelligence had been no lower than that of human candidates, but their strength had been lacking. Now, in the fifth Trial Tower, their basic strength had been brought up to par, and they even had domains of their own. Only now was their terror fully revealed!

Even Lu Yan'an had no good way to deal with them while holding back his Law of Time. "Fine. I'll just hold out for ten days! After these guys pay the price to figure out the range of my illusions, the illusions will have a hard time working." He sensibly chose the approach most advantageous to him!

Meng Huan, on the other hand, began to show his true strength! Facing the Fei Hou, he no longer held back the Law of Space he had kept hidden for so long. For the first time, it was revealed to the world!

With a whoosh, a hundred or so spatial clones of Meng Huan suddenly appeared on the battlefield, each one solid! The Meng Huan clones, long spears in hand, began slaughtering the Fei Hou! In an instant, every Fei Hou on the battlefield had been killed. The sight was terrifying! He then hurried to the next level without pause...

With a slap, Marquis Cangming shot to his feet from his seat.

"Hahahaha! That rascal Ming Feng actually comprehended the Law of Space!" Marquis Cangming felt as though he were floating. When he saw Meng Huan reveal his grasp of the law of space, the surprise was so overwhelming it left him dizzy and lightheaded!

"Congratulations, congratulations, Cangming! Your Ganwu Universe Country has just secured a spot in the top ten! That's movement on the Hundred Line Flow level, the third layer of the 'Ten Thousand Line Flow' secret technique! With this young fellow's talent, he even has a good chance of taking first place in the finals!" A nearby Marquis Immortal immediately offered his congratulations.

The "Ten Thousand Line Flow" secret technique had four layers: The first layer, "One Line Flow," could create one to nine solid spatial clones. The second layer, "Nine Line Flow," could create ten to ninety-nine solid spatial clones. The third layer, "Hundred Line Flow," could create one hundred to nine hundred solid spatial clones. The fourth layer, "Ten Thousand Line Flow," could create thousands to tens of thousands of solid spatial clones.

According to legend, there was an even higher level: "Teleportation."

"Who would've thought Ming Feng could hide his strength so well! He's already reached the Hundred Line Flow level in his comprehension of the Law of Space. Can you still call him an Illusionist? Hahahaha!" Marquis Cangming looked thoroughly pleased. He had thought especially highly of Meng Huan from the start—even more so than Lu Yan'an!

And there was a reason for that. Marquis Cangming's title came from Cangming Kingdom, a subordinate state of Ganwu Universe Country, and Meng Huan was an unrivaled genius from Cangming Kingdom. In other words, Meng Huan was one of his own! A junior from his homeland had turned out to be a genius capable of competing for first place in the entire universe. How could he not feel pleased?

"Cangming, you've got it made this time! My Universe Country, on the other hand, is in dire straits. We don't have a single candidate in the top twenty. I don't even know how the ruler will punish me when I get back!" said a nearby Immortal God with red skin, smiling bitterly.

"Liehuo, don't worry! This is the first Universe Genius Selection Battle, and none of us have any experience. The rulers won't make things difficult for us. They'll probably just scold us a couple of times!" Marquis Cangming said, patting Marquis Liehuo on the shoulder in consolation.

"You really lucked out! I don't care—you're treating me to Cold Spirit Wine today!" Marquis Liehuo said shamelessly.

As a treasure of the universe, Cold Spirit Wine could allow an ordinary Universe Level cultivator to comprehend a trace of the Origin Law of Water. It often sold for tens of thousands of Hunyuan Units, making it unaffordable even for ordinary Immortal Gods! But in the Virtual Universe, the "commoner's experience price" was only a hundred Hunyuan Units, enough to enjoy the taste. It couldn't grant the drinker the power of its transformation, but it tasted exactly the same!

"Hahahaha! I'm in a good mood today. It's my treat, my treat..." Marquis Cangming laughed, the pent-up frustration in his chest vanishing all at once!

Young fellow, give it your all! he thought, turning his gaze toward Lu Yan'an on the other side!