Unease Among the Talun Race
Virtual Universe, a floating island above the Zhulun Continent.
Inside a magnificent and beautiful amphitheater, resembling Hall of Gods, is a vast plaza in the center, with rows of stands rising around it.
At the highest level of the surrounding stands, thirty-four stone-carved thrones encircle the entire amphitheater.
Ninety percent of the thrones were occupied by figures, with only a few seats empty.
"The final battle of the Talun Race's internal selection process has officially begun!"
The Virtual Universe Company's Peak Genius Tournament is in full swing, sweeping across 1008 Universe Country, but the Talun Race, one of the top races among Human Race, is focusing all its attention on its internal selection battle.
Of course, the primary reason is that members of the Talun Race are at the cosmic level upon reaching adulthood. The Peak Genius Tournament is not a place for young Talun Race geniuses to showcase their talents; the Peak Warrior Tournament, in which cosmic-level participants compete, is the competition that the Talun Race values most.
Secondly, and most importantly, this internal selection battle, which brought together geniuses from the branches of the Talun Race distributed across seventeen Universe Country, was to select the inheritors of the Divine Envoy Inheritance Crystal.
Given the power and resources of the Talun Race, the inheritor of the Divine Envoy Inheritance Crystal will undoubtedly receive the full support of the entire tribe, making it highly likely that they will reach the Peak King-level.
Its appeal to young geniuses within the clan far surpasses even that of the champion in the Cosmic Peak Battle.
After all, usually, only a few geniuses selected from hundreds of Peak Battle who can enter the Core Layer the two top forces are likely to become King-level Immortal.
As for the inability of inheritors of the Divine Envoy Inheritance Crystal to break through the barrier of immortality, not many people actually care.
After all, over countless epochs, the Talun Race has only produced a little over thirty King-level Immortal. They are already the rulers of the Talun Race. Although these King-level Immortal cannot break through the limitations of immortality without the Divine Envoy Inheritance Crystal, there are only a handful who truly have the potential to become Universe Venerable.
However, at this moment, the Talun Race's rulers were not discussing the ongoing internal selection battle.
"I never expected that this year's Virtual Universe Company's Peak Genius Tournament would produce such a monstrous talent. Heh, the Trial Tower, which has maintained an invincible record of 'the trial is only over when all participants die' for over 700,000 epochs, has actually been breached. The Virtual Universe Company has gained another super genius with even higher talent than the Seven Sword King."
A woman in a purple robe, whose forehead was adorned with what appeared to be amethyst-like jewels, exclaimed in amazement.
However, before she could finish speaking, many powerful figures who had been granted the King-level turned their gazes to a black-robed man sitting on a throne with Bronze Mask covering his face.
It was Zhenxuan King who threatened Jiang Yao after the Preliminary Elimination Tournament of the Genius Tournament, wanting to obtain the Yedier Inheritance Communication Talisman.
He was also a great contributor to obtaining the Divine Envoy Inheritance Crystal and presenting it to the Talun Race.
Immediately, another being on the throne spoke up, "I heard that Zhenxuan, you and this genius named Jiang Yao had some kind of misunderstanding before?"
If the Talun Race's higher-ups either didn't care about or were unaware of the previous grievances between Zhenxuan King, the Lingtong Race, and Jiang Yao, then...
However, ever since the Immortal God under the command of the Xuanshang Universe Lord and the Zhenxuan King had a dispute over some genius trial, although the matter was still confined to the Talun Race branch of the Xuanshang Universe Country, other high-ranking members of the Talun Race had more or less begun to learn about it.
After all, that involved the Inheritance Token of Yedier.
In this way, information such as the World Lord sent by Yinhu Island who impersonated the Zhenxuan King, the assassinated Lingtong Race genius Jiang Yao, and the missing Inheritance Token that both sides claimed they had not obtained, were all learned by other high-ranking members of the Talun Race.
This also includes the means by which Zhenxuan King obtained the Divine Envoy Inheritance Crystal.
After all, it's not hard to guess. If this had happened within the territory of the Human Race, Zhenxuan King would definitely have been imprisoned in the Star Prison.
However, in the Outer-Region Battlefield, such acts of using others to kill and seize treasures are all too common, and the Talun Race is the beneficiary. Who would stand up for the Lingtong Race?
But the key point is that Jiang Yao, the genius of the Lingtong Race, not only did not die, but continued to shine brightly in the Peak Genius Tournament, from a meteor to a comet, and now he has simply become the sun.
A genius that appears only once every hundreds of thousands of epochs—what does that even mean?
Many high-ranking members of the Talun Race, whose resentment towards Zhenxuan King had initially lessened due to the Divine Envoy Inheritance Crystal, have once again become dissatisfied with Zhenxuan King.
To steal treasures from Immortal God who are also Human Race is something you should either not do at all, or if you do, do it cleanly and decisively, leaving no room for future trouble.
Jiang Yao's emergence and rise is a future threat!
Who knows if Jiang Yao, once he gains power, will only seek revenge against Zhenxuan King for killing his master, or will he take his anger out on the entire Talun Race?
Moreover, if that day truly comes, the Talun Race will not allow Jiang Yao to kill Zhenxuan King. If even the King-level Immortal within their tribe cannot protect him, how can the Talun Race still have the face to call themselves the pinnacle of human race? They will inevitably be dragged into trouble by Zhenxuan King.
Zhenxuan King could naturally sense the resentment and dissatisfaction of the other powerful King-level within the clan.
Wearing Bronze Mask and concealing his expression, Zhenxuan King was now furious. When the news of Jiang Yao first arrived, he found it hard to believe, and the chain reaction that followed, including the dissatisfaction of the clan's higher-ups with him, made him feel humiliated and resentful.
There was regret for not heeding the advice of the God Lord Jinlun of Yinhu Island to decisively eliminate Jiang Yao, there was embarrassment at the repeated loss of control over the situation, there was also jealousy towards Jiang Yao for obtaining the Inheritance Token, and there was also a trace of fear about the future growth potential of this monstrous talent.
At this moment, his inner emotions were like a volcano that had accumulated energy for millions of years. A wisp of black mist even appeared on his Bronze Mask, making the Zhenxuan King's temperament even more mysterious and gloomy.
"Jiang Yao..."
The woman in purple robes seemed oblivious to Zhenxuan King's emotions. She turned to a calm-looking man in white sitting next to her and said, "King Longchen, you are one of the leaders of the Giant Axe Coliseum sect masters in Chaos City. Could you please clear up Jiang Yao's misunderstanding of Zhenxuan King and my Talun Race?"
All the other powerful figures who had been granted the King-level looked at the man in white.
The white-robed man, known as King Longchen, was somewhat helpless. He was the only Invincible King-level among the Talun Race and had considerable influence among the King-level of the Giant Axe Coliseum lineage, which was a permanent residence and even had its own sect in Chaos City.
But it's obvious that Zhenxuan King and Jiang Yao are sworn enemies who killed their master. Can this be easily resolved?
Thinking of this, King Longchen was also somewhat dissatisfied with Zhenxuan King. He had thought that King Zhenxuan had kept a low profile for a while after his resurrection and that his extreme personality had been somewhat restrained, but he did not expect that King Zhenxuan would still cause such trouble.
After becoming Immortal God, Zhenxuan King's strength increased greatly due to an encounter, but his personality changed drastically, and he became extreme and reckless in his actions.
Relying on the Phantom Mask and his extremely Soul Path, he offended many powerful figures. Furthermore, because he repeatedly enslaved the World Lord Level Zerg Mother Emperor, he was hunted down by the Immortal Zerg Mother Emperor Longye.
If it weren't for the protection of a Heavy Treasure bestowed upon him by his clan, he might very well have been enslaved by the Zerg Mother Emperor Longye and would have had no chance of being resurrected.
Although they were not enslaved, they lost a Heavy Treasure of the Talun Race.
It was precisely because Zhenxuan King acted impulsively and caused trouble, losing the clan's treasures, that he provoked strong dissatisfaction among the Talun Race's high-ranking officials. The situation only changed after Zhenxuan King obtained the Divine Envoy Inheritance Crystal.
King Longchen frowned and said, "This is probably difficult to resolve. If the two Holy Lords were to intervene, we might have a better chance of success."
Aside from the thirty-odd King-level Immortal of the Talun Race, the true pillars of their power are the two Universe Venerable.
"The Holy Lord intervenes?" A burly man with a thick beard on another throne spoke up, "So what if Jiang Yao is a genius that only appears once every few hundred thousand epochs? How can we trouble His Majesty the Holy Lord to intervene? It would be too much to boost the morale of others and diminish our own prestige."
This burly, bearded man is the King-level Immortal of the First Universe Bank.
Because the two Holy Lords of the Talun Race are the Universe Venerable of the Giant Axe Coliseum and the Universe Venerable of the First Universe Bank, many of the Talun Race's Immortal Expert are also distributed among these two major forces.
"I agree with what Linyi King said. It's ridiculous to be so scared by a little guy at the stellar level. Our Human Race has had geniuses of this level throughout its history. Most of them perished before achieving immortality, and at least half of them were assassinated by Alien Race. If Jiang Yao wants to grow, he should first get past the Alien Race."
Moreover, even if they achieve great things, most will only reach the level of King-level Immortal. Even if they become Invincible King-level, so what? Does my Talun Race fear someone King-level Immortal...?
"Watch your words!" King Longchen glared at the outspoken King-level expert. How could he casually utter such words as hoping that Alien Race would assassinate human geniuses?
Although he had such thoughts in his mind, the Talun Race would never allow their own King-level expert to pay for Jiang Yao's teacher's life. Therefore, once Jiang Yao rose to power and became influential, it would be difficult for the Talun Race and Jiang Yao to reconcile.
"Hmm?" King Longchen's expression suddenly changed. "Jiang Yao has already arrived in the Initial Universe. It was Golden Axe Venerable who sent his disciple, King Cangyu, to personally bring him here."
The other powerful King-level of the Talun Race were somewhat surprised.
"The Genius Tournament has only just ended, hasn't it?"
"Virtual Universe Company is being quite cautious this time."
"The Golden Axe Venerable has stepped in... The Virtual Universe Company is taking this so seriously. Even now, the battle video of Jiang Yao on the last level of the Seventh Trial Tower has not been released, and even with my permissions, I can't find it at all. Could this genius of the Lingtong Race be hiding other secrets besides the Yedier Inheritance Communication Talisman?"
King Longchen gently shook his head. "I have heard some rumors that Jiang Yao was able to kill the Zerg Mother Emperor on the last level because he seemed to have comprehended a trace of the Path of the Beast God."
"He seems to have comprehended the Path of the Beast God? How is that possible? He's only at the Stellar level, right?"
"His comprehension of the Origin Law is clearly weaker than that of the Seven Sword King at the same level, yet he can comprehend the Fusion Law? Impossible!"
"I think that makes sense. Jiang Yao's understanding of the Origin Law of Space is clearly inferior to that of Yinfu once reached the seventh level, but he can do things that Yinfu couldn't. If he can really comprehend a Path of the Beast God, then that makes sense."
"His comprehension of the Origin Law is inferior to that of Yinfu and the Seven Sword King, yet he can comprehend the Path of the Beast God? What kind of monster is this?!"
Wearing Bronze Mask, Zhenxuan King listened silently to the discussion among the other high-ranking members of the Talun Race. A fierce glint flashed in his eyes through the two holes in the Bronze Mask.
"The Path of the Beast God?"