"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
As Lin Yuan searched for the passage entrance, the air around him kept erupting with the thunderous impacts of colliding energy. Many of the contestants had already begun fighting.
Looking around, he saw some duels between two people, while others involved groups battling one another.
Since the tower was only four hundred kilometers in diameter, Lin Yuan could quickly reach every part of his current floor.
Whenever he heard fighting, Lin Yuan would kindly go over to "break it up."
Before long, his floor had fallen completely silent.
"Huh? The Preliminary Tournament only started ten minutes ago. Why is it so quiet already? Did everyone finish fighting that quickly?" A contestant hiding in the forest wondered.
He wasn't the only one. The more cautious contestants nearby, who hadn't made a move, were all puzzled. This floor was far too quiet.
Some contestants cautiously peered above the forest and spotted a black-armored man flying back and forth without restraint, as though he were searching for something.
A few confident contestants seized their chance and launched sneak attacks, but the black-armored man instantly killed them in return.
"That movement technique... What's going on? I can't see him at all."
"It's the Law of Earth Origin! He's an expert who's comprehended an Origin Law! We need to leave this floor, now."
The ordinary Universe Level 9 contestants were no different from ordinary people in front of Lin Yuan. They were powerless to resist and couldn't withstand even a single strike from his axe.
Using only the Thousand Mountain Axe and his blindingly fast movement, Lin Yuan swept away every contestant who dared to fight in the open.
"Found it!"
After searching from above for some time, Lin Yuan finally found a passage entrance. It was surrounded by a ring of enormous trees, so it really hadn't been easy to spot.
Before entering, Lin Yuan saw that the passage led to the floor below. Above the entrance, a sign read, "Current Floor: 9."
"Looks like I'm on the ninth floor."
"I'll head down first. I'll clear out floors one through eight, then work my way back up, one floor at a time," Lin Yuan thought.
Without hesitation, he entered the passage and headed for the eighth floor.
"Get off this floor, now! There's a monster!"
The eighth floor was a technological city. The contestants there had no time to fight one another; they surged toward the passages in a panic.
"Weren't all the materials and substances inside the Ancient Tower supposed to be C9 Rank? How are they all so easy to destroy?"
The contestants who had reached the passage looked back in lingering fear. A black-armored figure was surrounded by raging flames within a thousand meters of himself, moving at incredible speed and tearing down skyscrapers as easily as mowing grass.
Contestants hiding inside the buildings burned to death on the spot. Those who ran too slowly turned to ash the instant they touched the flames.
"These buildings are made of C9 Rank materials! How can they crumble just from touching that Black-Clad Man's flames? That can't be right!"
"Did they let a Domain Lord into the Preliminary Tournament?"
Before long, every building on the floor had been destroyed. The eighth floor was completely bare, with nowhere left to hide.
Some contestants who had just come up from the seventh floor stared in bewilderment. What had happened here? Was this some kind of simulated apocalypse?
Lin Yuan glanced at the Optical Computer on his arm. It displayed his current information.
Contestant: Lin Yuan (Nine Flames Universe Kingdom) Points: 43982 Rank: 2
"Oh? There are other experts?" Lin Yuan was a little surprised.
He felt he'd already been killing quickly. With only about a hundred thousand people per floor, how could someone else have killed even faster?
Lin Yuan immediately checked the rankings.
World Area 17 Points: First: Hui Guang. Second: Lin Yuan. Third: Gustav. ...
"Hui Guang? Interesting. At least this won't be so boring now."
Lin Yuan quickly found the passage to the next floor and flew straight through it, heading for the seventh.
Once he'd decided to do something, Lin Yuan wanted to see it through. His current goal was to destroy every scene, building, and material on all one hundred floors of the Ancient Tower, from the first to the hundredth.
First, he'd leave the contestants nowhere to hide. Then he could take his time picking them off.
It was a bit troublesome, but Lin Yuan thought this would let him earn as many points as possible.
As a slave, Lin Yuan had spent twenty thousand years living in constant fear. After gaining his freedom, he'd devoted nearly all his time to comprehending Secret Techniques and the Origin Laws. Now, at last, he could finally let loose.
Thanks to his breakthrough in the Law of Fire Origin and his leap in comprehending the Law of Space Origin, the third stance of the Burning Universe Flame Wild Axe, "Burning Sky," was now far more powerful than before.
The space of flames it created was much larger, and its duration had increased dramatically.
At first, he could maintain it for only a few seconds. Now he could keep it going for several hours without interruption. After each use, he only needed a short rest before he could unleash it again.
Lin Yuan continued downward floor by floor, thoroughly destroying the scenery and buildings on each one.
A day later, he finally reached the first floor.
The first floor was a maze. Lin Yuan began clearing it out as usual.
"Lin Yuan, is that you? Wait!" Lin Yuan heard a contestant hiding behind a wall calling out to him, and stopped.
The contestant flew out from behind the wall and opened his Origin Force helmet.
"Hmm? I think I've seen you before," Lin Yuan said, sizing him up.
"Lin Yuan, I'm a student of the Nine Flame Sacred Land too. I'm ranked 239th among the Sacred Land's Universe-level students. We even fought in the last two Ranking Tournaments! Though I didn't last long either time, haha..." the student said with a laugh.
"So... Lin Yuan, could you spare my life?" the Sacred Land student asked.
"Sure. I'll remember you and avoid you from now on. Keep doing your best, too."
With that, Lin Yuan resumed hunting the other contestants and clearing away the buildings.
The student let out a long breath of relief. Thankfully, this top-two genius of the Sacred Land was easy to talk to. He wouldn't attack his fellow students.
Of course, Lin Yuan wouldn't deliberately attack his fellow students. After all, every student was an "asset" to the Nine Flame Sacred Land.
Unless Lin Yuan had never met the student, or the other person failed to recognize him—in that case, if Lin Yuan accidentally killed them, they could only blame their bad luck.
There were many more contestants on the first floor than on the previous ones. Quite a few had been driven down here by Lin Yuan.
After clearing the first floor, Lin Yuan checked the Optical Computer on his arm. The information had refreshed.
Contestant: Lin Yuan (Nine Flames Universe Kingdom) Points: 378342 Rank: 1
After clearing so many floors in a row, Lin Yuan had surpassed "Hui Guang," who had previously held first place, without even realizing it.
Naturally, Lin Yuan's goal was to secure first place in his World Area. That way, he wouldn't have to take part in the group arena battles.
The group arena battles held little meaning for Lin Yuan. He'd be better off devoting himself entirely to comprehending the Origin Laws.
After a short rest, Lin Yuan began working his way back up.
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