Concealing the News
In Virtual Universe, inside a large manor atop a floating city surrounded by stars.
A burly man covered in downy hair gleamed in his eyes as he looked at Jiang Yao and laughed heartily, "Huan Qiong, your disciple is indeed remarkable. I thought you didn't take on disciples before because you weren't good at being a teacher, but it seems it was simply because you have high standards."
This burly man, who resembled a white-haired gorilla, was none other than Mad Sword Marquis, one of the three chairmen of the Xuanshang Branch of the Universe Mercenary Alliance, and a close friend of his teacher, Kasolo.
Before the God Kingdom Trial, in order to shorten the spaceship's travel time, Kasolo took him through the Divine Kingdom Teleportation channel to the Xuanshang Branch of the Universe Mercenary Alliance, which was not far from Lingcang Planet Cang Star. Then, under the escort of the Realm Lord sent by Mad Sword Marquis, they arrived at Lingcang Planet.
Now that the God Kingdom Trial has just ended, Jiang Yao, disguised as the Realm Lord, has left the Tianshang Secret Realm, retrieved the spaceship stored in his World Ring, and is flying towards the Xuanshang Branch of the Universe Mercenary Alliance.
However, while his body remained in the spaceship, his consciousness had already logged into the Virtual Universe and arrived at the location of the Xuanshang Branch of the Virtual Universe Mercenary Alliance, a floating city surrounded by stars.
As a five-star mercenary of the Universe Mercenary Alliance, Kasolo also owns a manor in the Xuanshang Branch of the Virtual Universe Network Alliance.
"This time, my Kahuns Race also sent many talented disciples to participate in the God Kingdom Trial. Not long after the trial began, I heard from the young men in the clan that a star-level trial participant named Yao was making a big splash. Not only was he collecting Kui Dragon Jade, but even the cosmic-level geniuses in the Three Great Secret Realms couldn't do anything about him."
Mad Sword Marquis exclaimed, "I didn't expect it to be you, kid. Tsk tsk, a star-level trial participant with the ultimate flight speed of World Lord Level, and also has a very high understanding of the Origin Law of Space, and can cast hundreds of Phantom Body."
"You even managed to suppress Moyilin from the Guluo Secret Realm! Your teacher is truly amazing; when he does act, it's astonishing. He probably passed on some spatial law treasure to you, right?"
Kasolo, standing beside Jiang Yao, gave him a half-smile, making Jiang Yao feel somewhat guilty. Kasolo, who had also inherited the Zhenhuang, naturally knew that it was impossible to achieve a maximum flight speed exceeding that of an ordinary Realm Lord with only the two ultimate techniques, the Zhenhuang Sacred Body and the Zhenhuang Mirror.
"Hehe, I originally thought your teacher was exaggerating when he said you could get into the Core Layer the Virtual Universe Company..." Mad Sword Marquis didn't care about Jiang Yao's ambiguity and continued, "Now it seems that a good teacher produces a good student."
Mad Sword Marquis was once a core genius of the Universe Mercenary Alliance, so he naturally understood that even if Marquis Huanqiong bestowed upon him a rare treasure that could increase flight speed, a star-level being could not truly reach the flight speed of World Lord Level, and his own physical secret techniques and Law Comprehension must be exceptional.
"Fortunately, you didn't get greedy and only collected the Kui Dragon Jade without entering the Inheritance Tower, otherwise..." Mad Sword Marquis clicked his tongue and sighed, "I really didn't expect such a big surprise to occur in this year's Trial of Geniuses in the Three Great Secret Realms."
Jiang Yao tacitly accepted Mad Sword Marquis's statement, focused his attention, and asked calmly, "What unexpected event?"
Kasolo chimed in, "Lingcang Marquis, who is in charge of this trial, said that the Metal Lifeform guarding one of the checkpoints in the Inheritance Tower greatly increased its strength after devouring the treasure it was guarding, and went berserk, killing all the trial participants who entered the Inheritance Tower."
"The commander of the Fourth Army Corps admitted that the selection of the reconnaissance Trial God Kingdom this time was not cautious and meticulous enough. In addition, those who died in the Inheritance Tower were basically cosmic-level geniuses from the Three Great Secret Realms. Therefore, the other forces that sent their genius disciples to participate in the trial did not have too many complaints."
Jiang Yao was extremely wary. The Immortal Expert presiding over the trials in the Three Great Secret Realms had actually concealed the truth?
Is it because it's too embarrassing?
To have a realm lord and a powerful demon beast sneak into the Trial God Kingdom right under one's nose sounds even more shameful than not being careful enough in selecting and surveying the Trial God Kingdom.
But he still leans towards the idea that it's for other reasons.
For example... the Inheritance Token of Yedier?
This treasure seemed to be even more tempting than he had imagined.
The Ape-man -like Mad Sword Marquis shook his head and sighed, "All of you ambitious top geniuses must be heading to the Giant Axe Coliseum or the Virtual Universe Company. It seems you won't be joining our Mercenary Alliance."
"Your teacher, Marquis Huanqiong, is skilled in the Origin Law of Space, and your understanding of the laws of space is also quite high. I think if you really join the Virtual Universe Company, you can specialize in the path of the laws of space."
"Perfect timing! Our Kahuns Race has an ancestor in the Virtual Universe Company who is practically invincible among the Immortal God. If you can demonstrate excellent comprehension of the Origin Law of Space, I can recommend you to him."
"Hehe, if you can become his disciple, you'll have a powerful backer in the Virtual Universe Company."
Jiang Yao's heart skipped a beat. Could the Mad Sword Marquis be talking about the King Zhenyan? He remembered that the King Zhenyan was the strongest member of the Kahuns Race.
If he could truly become a disciple of the King Zhenyan, wouldn't he become Luo Feng's senior brother?
He had already reviewed the previous Genius Tournament and did not see Luo Feng from the Ganwu Universe Kingdom on the final battle list. Therefore, he could roughly judge that Luo Feng should not have risen to prominence yet, or even been born.
Unfortunately, even for the sake of improving the Xu Yuan Space, he would definitely choose the Universe Chaos Stele.
After seeing off Mad Sword Marquis, Kasolo looked at Jiang Yao and smiled, "Your flight speed reaching the World Lord Level must be a treasure bestowed upon you by the Jiuyuan, right?"
Well, that saves me the trouble of explaining.
Jiang Yao nodded. The <Nine Transformations of the Desolate God> definitely couldn't be revealed. It was normal for Kasolo to guess that Jiuyuan had bestowed a treasure upon him; a Star-level being with a clean record, raised in the sheltered environment of the Lingtong Race —where could he possibly find such fortuitous encounters?
"Jiuyuan is certainly putting in the effort," Kasolo sighed.
He and Jiuyuan have almost completely different personalities, perhaps because his home planet race had long been wiped out, so even if he later took revenge, he was not burdened by his own race.
Jiuyuan truly spared no expense in investing in the Lingtong Race and cultivating its talented members.
Unfortunately, his rise and fall were both due to his clan. If it weren't for the Lingtong Race, why would Jiuyuan have bothered to conceal the Divine Envoy Inheritance Crystal, ultimately leading to his demise?
Jiang Yao pondered for a moment, then said solemnly, "Teacher, I have a request."
"Explain."
"This disciple wishes to ask Master to help conceal the news of my safe return from the Trial God Kingdom."
Kasolo looked at Jiang Yao with a puzzled expression, then suddenly realized, "You entered the Inheritance Tower?"
Jiang Yao smiled wryly and said, "Teacher is wise. This disciple did indeed enter the Inheritance Tower, which was originally prepared for cosmic-level trial participants."
"Then Lingcang Marquis said that all the trial participants inside the Inheritance Tower were wiped out." Kasolo said thoughtfully, "It seems there's more to the story."
Jiang Yao then fabricated a story, half true and half false, that he entered the Inheritance Tower and, with unparalleled speed, snatched many treasures from the jaws of the cosmic-level trial participants.
However, he encountered a realm lord disguised as a cosmic-level trial participant. In order to silence the other trial participants, the realm lord killed them all. He then hid in a secret room with the help of a treasure bestowed by Jiuyuan. Later, the realm lord was killed by Lingcang Marquis, who entered the Inheritance Tower.
He was grateful to the Immortal Expert of the Xuanshang Universe Country for concealing the truth within the Inheritance Tower, thus granting him the right to freely explain himself.
Of course, there are some loopholes in this statement, but perhaps Kasolo didn't notice them, or perhaps he did notice them but didn't intend to investigate, instead focusing on the world lord who was in disguise.
"Could it be Yinhu Island?" Kasolo shook his head slightly. "But it won't be easy to fool the Immortal Expert are in charge of the trial. Otherwise, given the value of the God Kingdom Fragment, many world lords and even Immortal God would have been vying to infiltrate the Trial God Kingdom long ago."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Yao displayed a three-dimensional image of a white mask as thin as a cicada's wing and described the mask's function in detail.
"The Phantom Mask!?"
Kasolo couldn't help but be a little surprised, and explained under Jiang Yao's questioning gaze, "I don't know if there are other similar treasures in the universe, but from the information I have, only the Phantom Mask matches the appearance and function you showed."
"This is the famous treasure of the Talun Race's King-level Immortal Zhenxuan King, who killed the Monster Race's Heli Marquis and obtained the Divine Envoy Inheritance Crystal of your teacher Jiuyuan."
"That Zhenxuan King was originally Marquis Immortal, but he also gained some kind of opportunity in the Outer-Region Battlefield and became King-level. Moreover, his attainments in the Soul Path are extremely high, and he enslaved many Alien Race powerhouses."
"He crafted a total of three Phantom Mask. One was given to his disciple Marquis Lunan, and another fell into the hands of the Zerg after he was killed by the Zerg Mother Emperor. The one you have should be the last one."
"It is said that this Phantom Mask can perfectly disguise one's appearance and even one's soul aura. The Zhenxuan King even had a nickname for it, 'Thousand-Face King,' because he had many aliases and was difficult to find. However, the disguise of this Phantom Mask could not fool the Zerg Queen in the end, which is why he was killed."
At this point, Kasolo looked at Jiang Yao with a strange expression, as if asking, "How did this thing end up in your hands?"
The treasure that Jiuyuan gave this kid is no ordinary item. Being able to save his life in front of a Realm Lord is definitely not as simple as just matching the Realm Lord's flying speed.
However, treasures that can save a star-level being from the clutches of a world lord might be rare, but they are not particularly precious. To Immortal God, they are like Controller Divine Weapon, of little value. Kasolo could only sigh that Jiuyuan's care for Jiang Yao was indeed substantial.
After changing his mind, he became worried again. "Could it be that Zhenxuan King has noticed you and wants to eliminate you, the number one genius of the Lingtong Race at the Stellar level, in the bud?"
"I can understand why the God Lord Jinlun wants to kill you, but how could a King-level Zhenxuan King take you seriously?"
Kasolo was puzzled; Zhenxuan King was unaware that Jiang Yao had obtained the <Zhenhuang> inheritance, and the path to becoming a powerful figure had already been paved.
To Zhenxuan King, what is a stellar-level genius who has entered the Origin Law of Fire? Even if he joins one of the five major powers, the probability of him not perishing along the way and becoming King-level expert is ridiculously low.
"It's also possible that the God Lord Jinlun orchestrated the assassination attempt on you, except he borrowed the Phantom Mask from the Zhenxuan King..."
After thinking for a long time, Kasolo also felt that this was the most likely possibility.
Jiang Yao quickly seized the opportunity. "This disciple also has such concerns. Even if it has nothing to do with that Zhenxuan King, Yinhu Island dared to risk disrupting the genius trials of the Three Great Secret Realms in order to kill me. If they knew that this disciple had returned safely, they would probably think of other tricks."
"You can't guard against thieves for a thousand days if you're a thief for a thousand days. It's better to let them think I perished in the God Kingdom Trial and let my disciples cultivate in peace. By the time the Genius Tournament begins, even if they find out, it will be too late for them to make any trouble."
If he performs well in the preliminary elimination rounds, he might even catch the attention of the higher-ups in the Xuanshang Universe Country, which would greatly guarantee his safety and significantly improve the situation of the Lingtong Race.
Of course, there was another hidden worry, which Jiang Yao did not voice.
He entered the Inheritance Tower, and the Immortal Expert who presided over the trial definitely knew. Afterwards, he would most likely assume that he, like other universe-level trial participants, had died at the hands of Mo Hong and Bizhang.
If Lingcang Marquis were to find out that he was the only surviving trial participant in the Inheritance Tower, it would likely cause him a lot of trouble.
After all, he had obtained the Inheritance Token of the Holy Lord Yedier of the Shixing Race.
Kasolo nodded in agreement with his disciple's words. "Don't worry, I'll tell Mad Sword Marquis that we won't reveal to anyone that you've safely returned from the Trial God Kingdom. It'll just mean I'll have to treat that Monkey to a drink again..."