Ranking Tournament Begins

"There's no need to be so formal with your senior brother, sit down." Marquis Golden Sword smiled at Lin Yuan.

"When I was chatting with our teacher earlier, he mentioned that he had taken on a new disciple with exceptional talent. Later, I heard that kid Saiwen talking about you, and he held you in very high regard."

"The Ranking Tournament of the Nine Flame Sacred Land is about to begin. Every time the Sacred Land holds this tournament, some Immortals from the Nine Flames Universe Kingdom come to watch. I thought I'd come to see you, Junior Brother, before the competition starts."

Marquis Golden Sword's tone was gentle, and Lin Yuan couldn't feel even a trace of the pressure typical of an Immortal powerhouse.

"When the time comes, your teacher and I will be watching your matches," Marquis Yuankun added from the side.

"Your Second Senior Brother participated in the Genius Battle as the number one ranked Star Level student of the Nine Flame Sacred Land, and he eventually entered the Primordial Secret Realm of the Virtual Universe Company."

Lin Yuan was astonished; it was clear that everyone who could become an Immortal was a top-tier genius.

"Lin Yuan, many of the Universe Level students in the Sacred Land actually participated in the Genius Battle back then, but they failed to break into the top 1,000 in the entire universe and were eventually absorbed by the Sacred Land," Marquis Yuankun continued.

"As for the highest-ranked students, most of them simply missed a Genius Battle cycle when they were born and were unwilling to wait thousands of years, so they broke through to the Universe Level directly."

"However, regardless of the type of genius, those who can enter the core layers of the two giants are few and far between, and those who eventually achieve Immortality are even rarer."

"In my view, among your batch of Universe Level students, only one can be considered a true genius besides you, and that is the top-ranked Brian."

"With his current strength, he has a good chance of breaking into the top ten in the entire universe. So, Lin Yuan, don't be discouraged if you can't defeat him for now. How long have you been cultivating in the Sacred Land? I believe that with your talent, surpassing him is only a matter of time."

Hearing his teacher's words, Lin Yuan felt deeply moved; his teacher made no effort to hide his expectations and trust in him.

"I will keep your words in my heart, Teacher," Lin Yuan replied respectfully.

"By the way, Junior Brother," Marquis Golden Sword spoke up.

"I have prepared a welcome gift for you. It contains some of the insights I wrote down when I was comprehending the Chaos Stele back in the day. You can use them as a reference during your cultivation."

Before the words had even faded, a secret technique was transmitted to Lin Yuan's Smart Optical Brain.

"Thank you, Senior Brother!"

Lin Yuan was extremely grateful. Not only did his teacher treat him exceptionally well, but his senior brother also took great care of him.

Lin Yuan exchanged a few more pleasantries with his Second Senior Brother before taking his leave.

Over the next year, because Lin Yuan's comprehension of the Law of Space Origin had deepened significantly, he managed to master the third move of the Thousand Mountain Secret Code, "Rift Wave," in one go, and fully comprehended the third level of the Burning Universe Flame Wild Axe, "Burning Sky," bringing it to perfection.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, the day of the Nine Flame Sacred Land Ranking Tournament arrived.

Inside a towering palace within the Nine Flame Sacred Land region of the Virtual Universe, all the Universe Level students stood with serious expressions.

Suddenly, an invisible pressure descended, and a black-robed figure appeared in mid-air within the hall. Many students struggled to stand steady under this weight.

The black-robed figure spoke in a booming voice that echoed in every student's mind:

"The Universe Level Ranking Tournament for this session is about to begin. Let me introduce the rules to you."

"The rules for this tournament are simple: all students who have not passed the Grade B Assessment will undergo it once more. The assessment system will automatically score you based on your performance, and your ranking will be determined by these scores."

The black-robed figure paused, then continued, his voice ethereal yet majestic:

"As for the students who have passed the Grade B Assessment, you will engage in one-on-one round-robin matches, where every student will face every other student once."

"There are 259 Universe Level students who have passed the Grade B Assessment. Each person will conduct 10 matches per day, with opponents and combat environments chosen at random. A total of 33,411 matches will be held, and all duels must be completed within 26 days. The final ranking will be based on the number of wins and head-to-head records."

"I won't waste any more time. The Ranking Tournament—officially begins!"

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh."

Before many students could even react, they were teleported away one after another, either entering the Assessment Space or the Battle Space.

Lin Yuan's opponents on the first day were all quite weak, and he defeated them all with a single strike.

"3 wins, 0 losses."

"6 wins, 0 losses."

"10 wins, 0 losses."

The first day of matches ended quickly.

These ten opponents were generally at the level of the eighth or ninth stage of a Domain, with some having stepped across the threshold of a minor Law of Origin.

When Lin Yuan first arrived at the Sacred Land, before he had comprehended the Law of Space Origin, his strength was roughly at this level. Although he could partially fuse his Domain of Earth and Domain of Metal back then, his secret techniques and combat skills were far too crude.

Now, Lin Yuan naturally wouldn't bother trying to force a fusion of his domains.

Once one reaches a deeper level of Law comprehension, the role of a Domain is not as significant as it once was.

Unless one could be like Long Yun from the original records, who could integrate the Law of Space Origin into his Domain almost perfectly, the improvement wouldn't be very obvious.

Lin Yuan won all his matches during the first few days, and the strongest opponent he encountered only had a slightly deeper grasp of the Laws.

On the twelfth day, Lin Yuan was matched against that hulking giant, Resk.

At this point, both of their records were "110 wins, 0 losses."

Inside a magnificent palace within the Virtual Universe.

Immortal powerhouses sat on luxurious sofas, watching all the ongoing duels simultaneously.

Marquis Yuankun and Marquis Golden Sword were among them.

"Oh? Layton, your disciple has run into Marquis Yuankun's little disciple. This is going to be interesting," an Immortal powerhouse said with a smile to the man beside him named Layton.

Layton was an Immortal mentor of the Nine Flame Sacred Land and an Immortal Military Lord who had comprehended the origin of metal; he had taken Resk as his personal disciple several thousand years ago.

"My disciple has been training hard in the Sacred Land for thousands of years, while Marquis Yuankun's disciple has only been here for how long? His foundation is still lacking. This is his first time participating in the Ranking Tournament; if he can luckily make it into the top ten, Marquis Yuankun should be satisfied, haha..."

Layton said this while watching the two people preparing for battle on the screen.

As he was speaking, Layton suddenly felt a gaze coming from not far away. Layton shuddered and hurriedly shut his mouth.

Sitting not far away were three people: Marquis Yuankun, Marquis Golden Sword, and Marquis Huanyu, who were watching the Ranking Tournament together.

"Teacher, that Military Lord was too rude just now; I'll go teach him a lesson," Marquis Golden Sword said, preparing to stand up.

"No need," Marquis Yuankun smiled faintly, unbothered.

"Your teacher is not petty enough to bicker with such a minor Immortal mentor."

"Wouldn't it be more satisfying to watch your junior brother teach that man's disciple a lesson in a moment?"

Virtual Universe, Battle Space.

On an endless grassland.

As soon as the big guy Resk saw that his matched opponent this time was Lin Yuan, his eyes lit up as if he had discovered prey, staring fixedly at Lin Yuan.

"Lin Yuan! Fight!"

The big guy's voice boomed with high fighting spirit, as if he could not wait any longer.