Jiuyuan

After hearing the rules, Jiang Yao muttered to himself, This is a little like the Life-and-Death Battle at the Giant Axe Coliseum, except those are real fights. They're the most brutal—and fastest—way to evolve.

In the seventeen years since, aside from trying it out at first, Jiang Yao had barely entered the Killing Field. As Bajie put it, even ten thousand trips to the Killing Field couldn't compare to a single clash against Bizhang's will.

No matter how realistic the Virtual Universe's simulations were, they weren't genuine life-or-death crises. They couldn't trigger the body's or soul's instinctive reactions to the terror of facing death. The Killing Field was actually better suited to testing the results of secret-technique training.

The black-robed World Lord spoke in a solemn voice. "Here's a word of advice: your simulated opponents won't rush to kill you. At least in the first few rounds, you'll have plenty of time to demonstrate your understanding of combat and your skills in using Bloodline Divine Abilities, mental power, Origin Force, your bodies, and even your Domains.

"Most of the Elders in the clan are watching, and the Old Patriarch will see how each of you performs!"

At those words, even those who had been prepared for the Old Patriarch to watch in person couldn't help feeling nervous. Most of the others hadn't expected it at all.

He was the supreme being who could decide the fate of everyone in the Lingtong Race.

"I've spent all these years focused on improving my Domain in front of the Fish Scale Wall. I barely even go into the Virtual Universe, and I've never entered the Killing Field. This is so sudden."

"Haha, all those years of entering the Killing Field every day weren't for nothing! As long as my opponent's Domain isn't higher than mine, they won't stand a chance!"

"I think it's pretty fair. We're all being compared against ourselves. I've only just gained a Domain. If I ran into someone older with a higher-level Domain, I could get taken out in one move. If the Old Patriarch saw that..."

"Pah! You think the Old Patriarch would even notice you?"

Duomeng looked at Jiang Yao, Prose, and the others. "My teacher told me not to focus on killing your opponents as quickly as possible in this selection battle. It's also a great chance to improve your skills with mental power and Domains.

"Practice on the easier opponents in the first few rounds. That way, you'll have a better chance of defeating the stronger simulated opponents later. The longer you last, the more likely the Elders—and even the Old Patriarch—will turn their attention to you..."

Before Duomeng could finish, Jiang Yao heard a deep voice beside his ear. "Jiang Yao, as long as you show a Domain that has reached the Fourth Layer, you'll become one of the Old Patriarch's main focuses. Don't get impatient, and don't worry about whether you'll win a reward. Take it one step at a time. You've already won half the battle."

The voice was familiar. Jiang Yao immediately looked up at the black-robed World Lord standing in front of the crowd. The powerful man smiled and gave Jiang Yao a slight nod.

Duomeng noticed Jiang Yao looking at the black-robed World Lord and smiled. "That's my teacher, World Lord Kasa. He thinks very highly of you."

At that moment, Duomeng was quite glad his teacher had told him to get close to Jiang Yao. Of course, he also had to credit his own quick action—and thick skin.

Kasa wasn't the only Elder in the clan preparing to invest in Jiang Yao. There were surely other Stellar-level geniuses who had been told to approach him. But geniuses—especially those taken on as disciples by World Lords—were naturally proud. They were probably still figuring out how to do it with more dignity.

After all, Jiang Yao had stayed on Yuluo Island ever since coming to the Main Sect. He rarely entered the Virtual Universe, either, and kept to himself. Without putting their pride aside, finding a respectable opportunity to socialize without seeming too eager was no easy task.

"Good luck! Do your best!"

"Now we're all starting from the same line. The Old Patriarch just sent us a message, telling us not to bring shame on the Yanhe Branch."

"Of course. I've spent plenty of time in the Killing Field these past few years. I might even do better than Jiang Yao. Opportunities to beat that monster in competitions are getting rarer and rarer, so we should cherish them."

"Haha, you've got some nerve. Don't get knocked out early and end up watching from the sidelines!"

After encouraging one another, Jiang Yao and Prose registered their Domains along with the other talented participants who had Domains. Then they headed to the teleportation platform at one side of the plaza.

The scene before Jiang Yao's eyes changed.

The sky was a dark, tranquil universe, with only faint starlight.

Below him stretched a desolate landscape riddled with ravines: an irregular asteroid hurtling through space.

Inside the Elder Council, hundreds of Elders sat in rows on semicircular tiers of stone steps. Across from them were more than ten thousand screens showing the battles of every genius taking part in the selection.

On the highest tier sat more than twenty World Lord Elders. Seated among them was a black-clad man with an ancient-looking face and sharp features, as if carved with an axe. It was impossible to tell his age; he looked like both a young man and a middle-aged man.

The Domain Lord Elders on the lower tiers kept glancing up at him with reverent eyes. There was no doubt that this black-clad man was the backbone of the Lingtong Race: the Immortal Expert Jiuyuan.

Meng Yi gazed cautiously at the man on the highest tier. "I can't believe the Old Patriarch really came to watch in person."

The white-robed young man Beiqiong smiled. "Isn't it even better that he came? I never expected Jiang Yao to give us such a huge surprise. It looks like helping him get onto Yuluo Island was the right decision."

"Haha, I was surprised when Jiang Yao told me, too. If he can keep improving his Domain at this rate, who could rival him in the Genius Tournament three hundred years from now? Forget surpassing Bancha—even matching Yanchen wouldn't be impossible."

Of course, the speed of Domain cultivation and comprehending the laws weren't the same thing. Yanchen, the Lingtong Race's most dazzling genius, hadn't been the fastest in the clan's history to reach the Eighth-Level Domain, after all. There were countless examples of people who advanced quickly in their Domains but struggled to comprehend the laws.

Still, Meng Yi had an inexplicable confidence in Jiang Yao. Perhaps it came from that ambush years ago, when, just as he was on the verge of despair, light had burst through the gaps between the branches of the Moyun Vine.

Beiqiong didn't have as much confidence as Meng Yi, but he also believed Jiang Yao was destined to be the brightest genius of this era in the Lingtong Race.

The scales covering Yuluo Island created spatial fluctuations that helped with Domain cultivation. But scales weren't unique to Yuluo Island; they could also be found in the capitals of the Main Sect's various star systems and on Lingshen Planet. All the clan's geniuses cultivated within the range of those spatial fluctuations.

Even if there were differences, how much could they matter?

As Meng Yi and Beiqiong, both Domain Lords from the Yanhe Lineage, celebrated Jiang Yao's rapid improvement, Jiuyuan, the Immortal Expert on the highest tier, listened to World Lord Kasa's report.

"...One has a Seventh-Level Domain, three have a Sixth-Level Domain, eight have a Fifth-Level Domain, and fifteen have a Fourth-Level Domain..."

The ancient-faced Jiuyuan interrupted Kasa's report. His deep-blue eyes, like an unfathomable ocean, turned to a screen showing a young man standing on an airless asteroid.

"Is that Jiang Yao?"

Not only Jiuyuan but almost every Elder turned their attention to Jiang Yao's battle.

Each screen displayed basic information about the genius in the match. Since the virtual opponents were matched to each participant's strength, the information included the type of Bloodline Divine Ability, whether they had a Domain, and the Domain's level.

If the information in the upper-right corner was correct, the young man was one of the fifteen Stellar-level geniuses in the Lingtong Race with a Fourth-Level Domain.

The more than twenty World Lord Elders on the highest tier mostly managed to stay calm. Most had already heard that Jiang Yao had advanced from the First-Level Domain to the Fourth-Level Domain in seventeen years. Duomeng and Gaichen had reported the news to their respective teachers right away.

But nearly all the Domain Lord Elders struggled to hide their shock. They whispered among themselves; if an Immortal God hadn't been present, they would have spoken several times louder.

"If I remember right, the young man was at the First-Level Domain when he first came to the Main Sect seventeen years ago, wasn't he?"

"Is this really the same Jiang Yao?"

"Does Yuluo Island really help Domains improve that much?"

"If I'd known, I would've sent my own disciple to Yuluo Island. The clan's restrictions on the island are far too strict..."

"Heh, don't play dumb. Are you saying no one here has ever been to Yuluo Island? If it helped that much, why haven't you reached a higher level?"

"The Yanhe Branch is about to rise..."

"Lucky thing the Old Patriarch changed the rules at the last minute. Otherwise, my disciple would never have gotten a reward."

"Compared with a place in the Youyuan Secret Realm, what's a fifth-tier weapon?"

"A fifth-tier weapon is nothing? You couldn't afford one even if you sold everything you owned!"

"Looks like there's no hope of getting a place in the Youyuan Secret Realm. It's sure to go to Jiang Yao. Getting a fifth-tier weapon would still be good. I just hope the Old Patriarch doesn't change the rewards because of Jiang Yao."

"Didn't they say there were three places in the secret realm?"

"Why are you spreading rumors like those low-level juniors? Do you think the Youyuan Secret Realm is handing out places wholesale? Three? We'd be lucky to get one. In all these years since Emperor Kasolo took the throne, he's only been awarded a single place."

"Why did the Old Patriarch have to change the rules all of a sudden? If we were fighting one another, Jiang Yao might still have had a chance at the reward. With this format, it wouldn't look good if he got eliminated in the first round."

"That shouldn't happen. I heard the opponents in the first few rounds are relatively weak for their level, just to give everyone some practice. They probably won't make it difficult until after the third round..."