Jiuyuan's Ambition

Kasa, the World Lord presiding over this selection tournament, was in a good mood due to his early investment in Jiang Yao. He spoke respectfully to Jiuyuan, "Because this child exhausted himself to the point of bloodline divine ability collapse during the ambush at Yinhu Island, the clan allowed him to enter Yuluo Island for cultivation. It seems his cultivation results have not failed the clan's investment."

Jiuyuan's eyes were profound, revealing no obvious expression, but another aged World Lord standing beside him, hearing Kasa's somewhat sarcastic tone, quickly spoke up.

"After questioning Meng Yi and other Stellar Level members of the Yanhe lineage who experienced that ambush, we have judged that the new bloodline divine ability Jiang Yao activated is likely a divine ability with an extremely powerful ancient will."

"However, the Virtual Universe network cannot simulate the will contained within a bloodline divine ability—at least not in the Genius Tournament. Therefore, the strength Jiang Yao's bloodline divine ability can display in the tournament will not be much stronger than other high-grade divine abilities."

The power that the Lingtong Race's bloodline divine abilities can exert is indeed quite dependent on the ancient will contained within them. This is the reason why many Stellar Level and even Universe Level individuals constantly use the method of closing their eyes to suppress the ancient will, allowing it to accumulate power so that it can erupt with superhuman prowess at a critical moment.

It is a form of alternative amplification.

But there are gains and losses; in reality, when a member of the Lingtong Race uses their bloodline divine ability, it places a huge burden on both the body and the soul. Especially after a long period of suppression followed by an eruption, both the power of the bloodline divine ability and the body's strength fall into a trough, requiring time to re-accumulate power.

In the Virtual Universe, this restriction does not exist, or rather, it is greatly reduced. One can continuously use the bloodline divine ability for a long time without needing to consider the ancient will contained within.

Overall, the Lingtong Race still holds an advantage in the Genius Tournament held on the Virtual Universe network.

And Jiang Yao's bloodline divine ability, whose power exceeds common sense, is clearly caused by the ancient will contained within it being too powerful, not because the bloodline divine ability itself is heaven-defying.

After all, the secret techniques that can be planted at the source of the Lingtong Race's bloodline all originate from monster or beast races whose genetic level is no more than twice that of the Lingtong Race. It merely gives the Lingtong Race an extra powerful means when facing other human powerhouses of the same rank; it is impossible to fight across major realms under normal circumstances.

Otherwise, the Lingtong Race would not be what it is today, and the genetic level of the Lingtong Race would not be what it is now.

And this kind of combat power caused by the excessive strength of the will within the bloodline divine ability is effectively crippled by more than half in the Virtual Universe and the Genius Tournament.

It must be said that the high-level members of the Lingtong Race's guess about Jiang Yao's bloodline divine ability was truly a case of stumbling upon the truth.

The bloodline divine ability Jiang Yao feigned was indeed, in essence, the will of the Desolate God Bizhang.

The aged World Lord saying this was also explaining why they did not list Jiang Yao as a seeded player for this Genius Tournament to be heavily cultivated. It was indeed that he was born at the wrong time, and the only bloodline divine ability that allowed Jiang Yao to fight across ranks could not exert the same powerful prowess in the tournament as it could in reality.

However, Jiang Yao reaching the fourth level of domain in 17 years had undoubtedly changed the entire situation.

Whether the aged World Lord was trying to cover up the selfish motives of some elders in the main sect or trying to adjust the cultivation strategy for Jiang Yao in time, he had to make up for it in front of the ancestor.

Jiuyuan did not care about the aged World Lord's attempt to make amends. Perhaps the elders in the clan valued the Lingtong Race's bloodline divine abilities highly, but as an Undying God, he did not care at all about some genius awakening a high-grade divine ability that had never been discovered before.

Undying Gods are the foundation of a race and a force. The role a bloodline divine ability can play is merely to provide a combat advantage against humans of the same rank during the Universe Level, Domain Lord, and World Lord stages.

For example, Meng Yi could use the high-grade divine ability "Jihan Horn" to keep his life safe in front of a peak Domain Lord on Yinhu Island.

But even a high-grade divine ability can only grow to the World Lord level; let alone against Undying Gods, it is already useless against those peak World Lords who have gained the recognition of the origin laws.

For things that do not help in achieving the status of an Undying God, no matter how stunning the talent is, it has no meaning in the eyes of Jiuyuan, who has lived for countless epochs.

And right now, he held in his hands an opportunity that could allow the Lingtong Race to produce a new Undying God—one who could stand at the peak level among the Undying—an opportunity for the Lingtong Race to be reborn.

To the Lingtong Race and to him, the significance was no less than the moment their ancestor walked out of that unknown secret realm all those years ago.

The greater the pressure on Jiuyuan, the more cautious he was.

For this candidate, unless absolutely necessary, he did not intend to choose from the existing World Lords and Domain Lords whose potential had been exhausted. Even with this treasure and the ability to obtain a supreme inheritance, whether one could cultivate to the predetermined height still depended on the recipient's own efforts and talent.

Of course, his considerations were not just talent, but also character and a sense of belonging to the clan.

If such a precious opportunity were to be used to cultivate an ungrateful wretch while taking such a huge risk, he wouldn't even be able to cry.

Such things are not uncommon in the universe. Not all powerhouses have good relationships with the clans they come from, and among these examples, it is not always the clan's own fault; there are plenty of people with naturally perverse and cold-blooded personalities.

Therefore, Jiuyuan was actually slightly inclined to choose a genius from the main sect to receive the inheritance.

However, at this moment, his scales had already begun to tilt. After all, no matter how loyal one is to the clan, it cannot be eaten as food, and the origin laws do not care whether you are loyal to the clan or not. Besides, feelings can be cultivated.

Jiang Yao did not know that he had already attracted the attention of the clan's high-level members; he had already focused his attention on the opponent in front of him.

In front of him was a green monster, three meters tall, with three pairs of arms and mouthparts on its head that made one's hair stand on end.

"Qiaojia Race?"

Jiang Yao immediately recognized his opponent. The Qiaojia Race did not belong to the human race but to the Zerg Alliance; adult individuals are at the Stellar Level 9.

The Qiaojia Race individual in front of him was a newly matured one, but its eyes were dull, and it neither spoke nor moved; it was clearly devoid of intelligence, merely an opponent simulated by the Virtual Universe.

Although the Qiaojia Race is at the Stellar Level 9 upon maturity, it is indeed the weakest opponent among Stellar Level 9s. Even with the fourth level of domain granted by the Virtual Universe, it could be called the weakest domain of the same rank.

Jiang Yao manipulated the "Red Shadow Blade," tracing heavy phantoms, and hid himself in a world of red!

Fire Domain!

The green-bodied Qiaojia unfolded a cyan-and-white fourth-level freezing domain. The cyan-white and the red collided first!

Jiang Yao did not kill his opponent immediately; this was one of the rare opportunities he had to fight against an enemy, as he had previously lived almost in a greenhouse.

He manipulated the elusive Tier 4 telepathic weapon, the Red Shadow Blade, unhurriedly, repelling and wounding the constantly roaring Qiaojia time and time again.

Rather than saying he was dealing with the Qiaojia, it was more like he was exploring and familiarizing himself with the techniques of using the fourth level of domain, practicing the attack moves of the Red Shadow Blade.

However, even so, less than a minute later, the green Qiaojia was still tortured by him until it was half-dead.

A streak of blood-red shadow flashed by, and the head of the Qiaojia Race flew off.

The vast majority of the tens of thousands of Stellar Level geniuses from the main sect and its branches also successfully passed the first round, which shows that the Virtual Universe indeed matched them with the weakest opponents of the same level.

In the process of gradually becoming familiar with the battle, Jiang Yao cleanly and neatly killed his second opponent.

"The first round was a warrior, the second round was a Controller, the third round is probably an Illusionist."

Sure enough, the third round was an adult Yunmeng Race member, belonging to the human race, who was skilled in casting illusions.

The Yunmeng Race girl with the eerie appearance flashed her eyes, and Jiang Yao felt illusions sprouting up all around him.

However, it didn't even take a split second for Jiang Yao to boredly shatter the illusions, a streak of red light ending the life of his caught-off-guard opponent.

When facing an illusionist, it is naturally better to have a stronger will.

Jiang Yao's usual opponent was the will of the Desolate God Bizhang, so this opponent's illusions didn't even count as a light drizzle to him.

Although Jiang Yao felt at ease, most of the other geniuses encountered their greatest challenge since the start of the competition in this third round.

The fact that illusionists can stand alongside Martial Artists and Controllers naturally means they have their own unique strengths; those whose wills are not strong enough do not even have the ability to resist.

Nearly half of the participants had already fallen at the hands of the illusionists in the third round, and this was even with the Lingtong Race's bloodline divine ability providing significant help in tempering their wills; the illusionists of the Yunmeng Race were quite famous within the Xuanshang Universe Country.

The eliminated geniuses reappeared on the plaza, where virtual projections of the battles of those who had not yet been eliminated were displayed above.

For the many elders watching Jiang Yao, his easy passage through the third round was not surprising; according to reports from the Yanhe Branch, this Stellar Level individual possessed a will comparable to that of a Stellar Level powerhouse.

Kasa, the Domain Lord responsible for presiding over the selection tournament, turned to look at the expression of the ancestor Jiuyuan. Seeing that he remained expressionless, he muttered to himself: "The first three rounds haven't had any difficulty, but things will be different once the fourth round starts. I wonder if this kid can make it through."