Cruel Diversion

On the central plaza.

Over a million elite geniuses, along with the various immortal beings present, watched the sole remaining screen as the trial-taker Lu Yan'an unleashed the Law of Time—Time Acceleration—instantly sweeping away the Mechanical Puppets on the fifth floor. The entire central plaza, filled with a million geniuses, fell into an instant, stunned silence.

"This is just absurd. These two guys from the Ganwu Universe Country are simply in a different league from everyone else!" a genius from the Three-Eyed Race, who had been eliminated at the third Trial Tower, muttered on the plaza.

"Perhaps this is just the disparity of the universe? Who could have guessed that such an outrageous guy is actually an illusionist!"

"This Universe Genius Tournament has truly opened my eyes!"

On the plaza, every genius was shocked by Lu Yan'an's breakthrough in the heat of battle. What made it critical was that his primary profession was an illusionist! Unlike the other guy, Meng Huan, who had displayed the Hundred Line Flow movement technique, this guy had comprehended the superior Law of Time right before everyone's eyes! Whether in terms of narrative or legend, Lu Yan'an stood alone.

"This guy should be able to make it into the top ten, right?"

"That goes without saying. Among us here, not even ten people have comprehended a superior law, and on top of that, he's an illusionist who is invincible in one-on-one combat!"

"Counting the other illusionist who comprehended the Hundred Line Flow movement technique, the Ganwu Universe Country has already locked in two spots in the top ten!"

"Brother, you're exaggerating too much! Even though he comprehended a superior law, we still have to look at the rankings. Look, he hasn't even made it into the top twenty of the trials yet!"

"Use your brain! Don't you know that trial rankings don't perfectly reflect a person's true strength?"

There is a huge difference between Trial Tower challenges and one-on-one duels. For instance, a spirit reader controller can step on a telekinetic weapon to flee and attack from a distance, whereas a martial artist must charge into the enemy's ranks to fight... Coupled with the fact that this time there were "Mechanical Puppets" and "metal lifeforms" that did not fear soul attacks, many people were unable to perform at their best. Anyone with a discerning eye could see how disadvantageous this trial was for these two illusionists!

Just because they didn't make the top twenty in the trial rankings, does that mean they don't have the strength of the top twenty?

On the central plaza, a million geniuses looked up at the screen as Lu Yan'an broke into the fifth floor of the sixth Trial Tower.

"He's reached the fifth floor of the trial tower again; the chances of him passing should be slim!" a group of geniuses below analyzed haphazardly. And indeed, it was true; the fifth floor of the fifth Trial Tower and the fifth floor of the sixth Trial Tower were not at the same level of difficulty at all. Even someone as strong as Meng Huan had been defeated on this floor! At this moment, Meng Huan was also carefully observing Lu Yan'an's progress on the plaza, his eyes incredibly focused...

"It's over."

"He's really going to lose this time."

"Although he's strong, the sixth Trial Tower is several times more difficult than the fifth. Tsk, he's injured again."

"It's almost over; it's finished."

The geniuses watched with rapt attention, occasionally voicing their opinions and discussing the situation.

On the fifth floor of the sixth Trial Tower, the battle had reached its most frantic moment.

"None of you are getting out alive! You all have to die!" The calm eyes of Lu Yan'an now surged with a fierce intensity. Even with his movement technique in the state of Time Acceleration, he was still heavily injured while facing this group of mindless Mechanical Puppets! He tapped his feet lightly on the ground to dodge an attack from the front, but before he could even feel relieved, another attack came from behind; even Time Acceleration couldn't withstand the swarm tactics!

Although Lu Yan'an's movement technique was eerie and unpredictable, the puppets were flawless in their calculations, directly sealing off all his paths of retreat.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!" The Mechanical Puppets from all directions launched wave after wave of attacks, airtight and continuous. Under the domain amplification of over a hundred Mechanical Puppets, the battlefield instantly became their home turf; Lu Yan'an had nowhere to hide!

"No wonder Jialai Xi only ranked 189th in the Trial Tower in the original records; the malice this floor holds for us illusionists is too strong!" Lu Yan'an sighed.

Yes, if Lu Yan'an's illusions could affect this group of puppets, there wouldn't be any problems for the first four floors of the sixth Trial Tower, or even the seventh! But now, relying only on his own strength as a martial artist and the newly comprehended Time Acceleration, it was simply too difficult to pass this floor!

"Boom!" An attack from a Mechanical Puppet suddenly struck Lu Yan'an, who had been lost in thought, and his movement technique stiffened for an instant. The surrounding Mechanical Puppets would not let this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity slip by, and they all poured their strength into attacking Lu Yan'an at once! Already exhausted in mind and body, Lu Yan'an had just begun to dodge desperately when he was struck by one airtight attack after another.

Then came a wave of dizziness, and he completely lost consciousness.

In the Genius Tournament, the last participant to challenge the Trial Tower, "Lu Yan'an," killed three Mechanical Puppets and, like Meng Huan, stopped at the fifth floor of the sixth Trial Tower.

Total ranking: 15th!

Lu Yan'an felt the space before his eyes shift, and then he appeared on the central plaza, where many geniuses from various universe countries and human races looked over at him.

"Hmm?" He scanned the area, quickly identified the location of the Ganwu Universe Country team, and hurried over.

"Is this Lu Yan'an?"

"An illusionist can make it into the top 20 of the trial rankings?"

"Brother, this is still the 'worse' illusionist from the Ganwu Universe Country; the strong one is currently ranked fifth!"

Listening to the various discussions around him, Lu Yan'an walked back to the Ganwu Universe Country genius team.

"Nightmare, congratulations, congratulations!" Meng Huan ran over from the side and shouted loudly.

"Congratulations."

"Congratulations."

Other youths around who were not too familiar with Lu Yan'an also smiled and offered their congratulations; after all, 99% of the people who came here knew they had no hope of rushing into the top 1000.

"You guy, your ranking is higher than mine! And you're congratulating me? You should be congratulating yourself!" Lu Yan'an laughed and punched Meng Huan on the shoulder. This guy had clearly fought more fiercely than him, yet here he was, acting all fake and congratulating him—it was simply inhuman!

"Ming Feng, Lu Yan'an, come with me." A deep, resonant voice suddenly rang in both of their ears.

"Hmm?" Both of them turned to look at a section of the central plaza, only to see that the 1008 powerful immortals had all risen and were flying toward the genius teams of their respective universe countries. Among them, the cold-faced Marquis Cangming arrived at the Ganwu genius team in an instant and barked, "Everyone, return to your quarters."

"Boom, boom, rumble!"

The 1008 genius teams, led by their respective immortal beings, returned to their own quarters.

First floor of Building 0623.

The 1,000 genius members of the Ganwu Universe Country team stood there, all respectful and silent under the pressure of Marquis Cangming.

"This time, our Ganwu Universe Country team performed very well!" The voice of Marquis Cangming echoed throughout the entire lobby, and he even offered rare praise. "In addition to Ming Feng and Lu Yan'an, who ranked in the top 20 and directly qualified for the core layer of the Virtual Universe Company, there are two others who ranked in the top 7,300 and are eligible to compete for the final 900 spots."

"As for everyone else besides these four..."

"Your Peak Genius Tournament ends here," Marquis Cangming said coldly.

As soon as these words were spoken, the geniuses from various star sectors of the Ganwu Universe Country felt their spirits sink; after struggling for so long, they had now been completely eliminated.

"You can return to reality and leave now, or you can wait a while, and the virtual universe system will automatically teleport those who have been eliminated back to your respective universe country continents," Marquis Cangming said. "Ming Feng, Lu Yan'an, the two of you, come with me!" With that, he strode directly into the corridor.

Lu Yan'an, Illusion Dream, and the other two quickly followed.

The atmosphere in the lobby was very oppressive.

"It's over."

"Everyone, our journey has finally come to an end."

"Haha, everyone, don't be discouraged. Even if we can't go any further, being able to receive an invitation to enter the 'Ganwu Secret Realm' is not bad at all."

"Yeah!"

"I don't believe that just because we are worse than them now, we will always be worse than them! We are only at the Star Level right now... the path of cultivation has only just begun. The 'Universe Level', 'Domain Lord', and 'World Lord' stages are still long and distant! We must still climb to the end and become those eternal Immortal powerhouses!"

"Well said!"

"Even those who enter the core layer of the Virtual Universe Company find it difficult to become Immortals! We, in the Ganwu Secret Realm, also have the potential to become eternal Immortals!"

"Right!"

"Let's go, everyone, let's go get a drink. To have had the opportunity to compete with geniuses from the entire universe, this trip has already been worth it!"

These young men and women who qualified for the Ganwu Secret Realm, with the exception of a very small number who returned directly to reality, mostly left together for the central plaza restaurant.

At this moment, these 1,000 geniuses of the Ganwu Universe Country embarked on two different paths.

The majority entered the Ganwu Secret Realm.

A very small minority entered the core layer of the Virtual Universe Company.

As for what the future holds?

No one knows.