Eaten Secretly

Waking from his cultivation, Bai Muye slowly opened his eyes and glanced at the empty bottle beside him, a flicker of confusion flashing through his gaze.

"Samao's judgment shouldn't be this poor. He said I could reach the peak of Universe Rank 9 with these fifty kilograms of Yulang Liquid, so the discrepancy shouldn't be this large. Yet, I've used it all and only just broken through to Rank 9..."

He pondered for a moment, recalling that when he first started using the Yulang Liquid, the effects seemed far better than they were later on. Furthermore, the time required for each absorption was much shorter than before. He had initially assumed this was because his strength was growing, causing the absorption to speed up, but now he suddenly realized something was wrong.

He sank his consciousness into his sea of consciousness and took a look at Xiao Si. He could clearly feel that it had grown a bit larger than it was twenty years ago—case closed!

"The Yulang Liquid that was supposed to be enough for me to reach the peak of Universe Rank 9—how much did you steal and eat?"

"Uh, you... noticed?" Xiao Si offered a cautious, apologetic smile. "Not much, I controlled myself. Less than half... alright, at most half..."

"Stop spouting nonsense," Bai Muye interrupted bluntly. "The energy required to go from early Universe Rank 9 to the peak is far greater than from Rank 7 to the peak of Rank 8. I was at Rank 7 before and have only just managed to reach early Rank 9; you stole at least sixty percent!"

"Don't be angry," Xiao Si said, feeling aggrieved. "I didn't want to, but the taste of that Yulang Liquid was really good, and I couldn't help myself, hehe... Besides, you didn't participate in any life-and-death battles over these twenty years, so I couldn't devour any souls. I had to eat something else, and I'm not a picky eater, hehe..."

"If you want to eat, do it openly. Why be so sneaky about it?" Bai Muye said, annoyed.

"I was eating openly, you just didn't notice," Xiao Si said with a giggle. "We're arriving at the Outer Battlefield soon anyway. Don't worry, I'll be able to grow another root soon, and I guarantee it will be even more effective than the Yulang Liquid..."

Standing up, Bai Muye shook his head helplessly. It had already been eaten, and there was no way to make it spit it back out. Of course, even if it could, Bai Muye wouldn't dare use it anyway.

"Attention all passengers, the Yiwei Ship is about to enter space travel. In half a day, we will arrive at our destination: Gu Ge Planet."

The soft voice of the ship's intelligent system echoed from above the cabin.

"Finally, we're almost there..."

Over the past hundred years, having to fight a battle every year or two had made Bai Muye somewhat accustomed to that rhythm. Being forced to rest for twenty years, he actually felt a surge of excitement about entering the battlefield.

Through these twenty years of cultivation, his genetic energy had reached Universe Rank 9, and all his domains had been cultivated to the peak of the ninth level. Six of them had already been successfully fused, leaving only the water and fire domains yet to be fully integrated.

The fused Mixed Domain possessed immense power.

During his sparring matches with others at the 49th level of the Universe Rank, he had once tried using only his Mixed Domain to pin down a Universe Rank 9 opponent, then transformed the domain into a grinding disc to crush them to death. That opponent would avoid him whenever they saw him afterward—the psychological trauma was truly severe.

According to rumors in the public areas, these competitions were actually a form of testing. As long as one could stand out among the Universe Ranks on the same level, they would likely be assigned to serve under a stronger Army Lord.

Many scoffed at this, but Bai Muye felt it was highly probable. After all, he knew that upon arriving at Gu Ge Planet, they would first have to undergo a granting of authority.

This granting of authority was based on the Virtual Universe's perfect analysis of their performance—who was strong and who was weak could not be hidden from the Virtual Universe.

In the Outer Battlefield, those Army Lords also varied in strength. On such a brutal meat-grinder of a battlefield, whoever had the greater strength naturally held more sway; this was an inevitability.

This batch of over ten million Universe Rank warriors would be distributed among at least ten thousand Immortal Army Lords, and those stronger Army Lords would naturally have priority in selection.

Of course, the Universe Rank was too far removed from the Immortal level; it wasn't certain that the Immortals themselves would show up, but it was very likely they would send their subordinate World Lords to handle it.

It was precisely based on this speculation that Bai Muye had spared no effort in accepting challenges from other Universe Ranks at the 49th level.

Half a day later.

The Yiwei Ship docked at the spaceport of Gu Ge Planet, and all the Universe Ranks flew out of the ship to line up on the plaza.

After leaving the ship, Bai Muye observed the planet and couldn't help but gasp. Gu Ge Planet was a man-made super-planet with a diameter of over a million kilometers, one of the eight major logistics bases within human territory.

Ten million people stood on the vast plaza, while a row of World Lords stood suspended in the air in front of the formation.

Each World Lord had a different mark on their forehead, clearly indicating they had been recognized by the laws. They stood in the air, radiating their pressure, causing the nearly ten million Universe Ranks to fall deathly silent.

"Beep!"

On the plaza, the personal computers of all the Universe Ranks emitted a sound, alerting their owners that a message had been received.

Bai Muye looked down; it was a message from the Virtual Universe system, specifying which battlefield and which barracks base they were being assigned to.

A World Lord in the center drifted forward a hundred meters and spoke indifferently:

"All Universe Rank warriors assigned to the 7th Battlefield Barracks 049, gather below me."

The Universe Ranks from the Yiwei Ship remembered this voice vividly; it was the temporary captain of the Yiwei Ship—Zhu Ang!

Nearly ten thousand people immediately flew out from the plaza, Bai Muye among them.

These people, having separated from the main force, gathered again beneath Zhu Ang.

"Follow me."

Zhu Ang unleashed his World Force, enveloped the nearly ten thousand people, and quickly flew into an extremely spacious passage.

The Universe Ranks on the plaza who knew the inside story watched with envy. They all knew that the first World Lord to emerge was inevitably under the command of the strongest Army Lord.

And the Universe Ranks chosen would naturally be assigned to their legion.

Bai Muye followed the nearly ten thousand Universe Ranks as they were swept along, quickly arriving in a massive hall.

Zhu Ang flew into mid-air and looked down at everyone indifferently.

"You are about to head to the most glorious yet cruel Outer Battlefield. However, you must understand that the military has its own rules. You can no longer be as free as you were before. Before we depart, we must conduct the traditional granting of authority ceremony!"

"Granting of authority?"

"What does that mean?"

The vast majority of the ten thousand Universe Rank warriors did not understand the specific details of the Outer Battlefield, and those who were familiar with each other whispered through telepathic communication.

A murderous aura appeared in Zhu Ang's indifferent eyes, forcing all the Universe Ranks to focus their attention back on him.

"Granting of authority means defining your status within the military. In the military, subordinates must obey their superiors, so we must first clarify your authority."

"My lord, how will it be determined? Are we to compete on the spot?" a bold Universe Rank asked aloud.

Zhu Ang looked at him indifferently and pointed a finger. A massive force suddenly manifested above the head of the Universe Rank who had spoken, slamming him face-first into the ground.

"Good question, but who gave you permission to speak?" Zhu Ang stared at him with a murderous gaze. The Universe Rank felt as if he were being watched by a venomous snake, lying on the ground without daring to move a muscle.

"Since you have all managed to reach the Universe Rank, I assume each of you has demonstrated your strength within the Virtual Universe. The Virtual Universe system will evaluate you based on your performance, and this rating will determine your initial status within the army."

"For you Universe Rank warriors, there are only two ratings: Elite and Ordinary! Ordinary Universe Rank warriors are at the very bottom of the army, while Elite Universe Rank warriors may command ordinary ones in the absence of a Domain Lord Rank captain."

Given the miserable fate of the first person to speak, all the Universe Ranks listened obediently, and no one dared to ask any more questions.

Zhu Ang nodded in satisfaction, pointed toward a light gate, and continued:

"Generally speaking, the ratio of Elites to Ordinary is 1:100, but since you were all handpicked by me, I hope the proportion of Elites among you will satisfy me. Now, everyone line up and walk through that gate; the Virtual Universe system will grant you your clearance."