Chenyan Planet, Giant Axe Arena.
It was the largest building on Chenyan Planet, almost as large as a small planet. Its style was extremely rugged, and a giant axe emblem stood at its highest point.
Quite a few World Lord-level powerhouses frequented the arena, though they were all there to make a fortune off it.
Very few actually entered the arena to fight.
By the time someone reached the World Lord level, they were already a ruler of their domain. Most of them captured slaves or recruited talented warriors from across the universe and sent them to fight to the death in the Giant Axe Arena.
The Giant Axe Arena also often sought out geniuses, as well as those who were desperately short of money and willing to sell themselves into its service to earn a profit through life-and-death battles.
Those powerhouses who survived countless life-and-death battles would be recruited into the Special Training Camp. The best among them could then join the Core Layer.
"Sir, are you saying that you want to participate in World Lord-level life-and-death battles?!"
The staff member responsible for receiving Wu Yun looked utterly incredulous. A World Lord was a mighty being, one who could only emerge after the natural development of thousands of star systems.
And yet he had come to participate in World Lord-level life-and-death battles.
At this level, it was hard to force them to do anything. The appearance fees for World Lord-level life-and-death battles were also enormous. The longer they survived and the more battles they fought, the more likely they were to amass a fortune rivaling that of an Immortal.
"Please take care of the arrangements as soon as possible. You can schedule me for any World Lord-level match." Wu Yun smiled. "I want to become a Giant Axe Warrior as soon as possible."
At his words, many of the powerhouses in the hall turned to look.
"A World Lord who hasn't even been acknowledged by an Origin Law actually thinks he can become a Giant Axe Warrior?"
"Ridiculous."
The World Lords all scoffed.
Whoosh!
Just then, a towering figure descended into the hall. He stood nearly three meters tall, with a thick head of black hair. The fluctuations he emanated were completely different from those of the World Lords.
They were eternal fluctuations, untouched by the ravages of time.
"Come with me." The Immortal God glanced around. The World Lords immediately fell silent, and he headed toward the end of the hall.
The ancient hall stretched for nearly a thousand kilometers, but the two of them soon reached its end. Then, amid strange fluctuations, they arrived in another space.
"The staff out there aren't qualified to handle World Lord-level life-and-death battles," the black-haired man said. "My name is Ka Wei. I'm the head of affairs for the Ganwu Branch of the Giant Axe Arena."
Wu Yun replied calmly, "Lord Ka Wei, my name is Wu Yun. I just hope to participate in as many World Lord-level life-and-death battles as possible, as soon as I can."
Normally, an Immortal God wouldn't personally deal with a World Lord who came to the Giant Axe Arena. Ka Wei had only taken an interest because he'd heard that Wu Yun wanted to fight repeatedly.
For ordinary Immortals like them, the only way to earn resources was through their performance.
How did they build that record?
The more life-and-death battles their branches could organize, the better their performance.
There were several thousand life-and-death battles in a normal week, and some weeks might not have a single World Lord among the participants. Every World Lord-level life-and-death battle involved enormous sums of money.
Ticket sales, betting, advertising, and so on.
An ordinary World Lord was worth around ten units of Hunyuan. A single life-and-death battle, however, could bring in dozens or even hundreds of units. That figure would continue to soar as the number of matches increased.
The economic value of producing a single Giant Axe Warrior at the World Lord level was comparable to the entire fortune of an upper-tier Army Lord, or even that of certain Marquis-Level Immortals.
"At the First Stage of the World Lord level, what level of strength do you want your opponents to have?"
Ka Wei looked at Wu Yun with interest. "For life-and-death battles, you'll need to sign a contract with the Giant Axe Arena. At the World Lord level, the minimum is one match and the maximum is a thousand."
At lower levels, the minimum number of matches in a life-and-death battle contract was ten.
"Let's go with a thousand. For the initial matches, I want opponents no higher than the Fifth Order of the World Lord level. Once I advance, I won't mind." Wu Yun smiled. "By my estimate, it'll probably take at least a hundred years to complete a thousand matches at the World Lord level."
"Give me your Virtual Universe identification code. The contract will be signed in the Virtual Universe." Ka Wei didn't answer Wu Yun's question.
As far as he was concerned, there was no way Wu Yun would survive a thousand matches. He hadn't even been acknowledged by an Origin Law. How strong could he possibly be?
Even World Lords acknowledged by an Origin Law wouldn't dare claim they could become Giant Axe Warriors. They could barely manage to enter the Doomsday Secret Realm, and could only take on positions to earn resources.
For example, they might become the head of a guard team in the Primordial Secret Realm.
Aside from a small number of geniuses, most cultivators spent their lives working for others.
Wu Yun didn't mind Ka Wei's contempt. It was true that he hadn't yet been acknowledged by an Origin Law.
He had spent too little time cultivating in the Primal Universe system.
After Wu Yun received the contract from the Giant Axe Arena in the Virtual Universe, he checked it and clicked to sign. This was the standard way contracts were signed throughout humanity.
Contracts were usually signed in the Virtual Universe because the process was notarized and supervised.
Once the signing was complete, Ka Wei's smile brightened.
As long as Wu Yun could survive a few life-and-death battles, Ka Wei's performance would be assured.
"When we find a suitable opponent, we'll email you three days in advance. Come here then, and we'll take you to the battlefield." Ka Wei was very friendly. "You can also choose to stay here."
Wu Yun shook his head. He still needed to increase his level.
If he slowly absorbed energy on his own, it would probably take him tens of thousands of years to reach the Peak World Lord level.
The wealth required to soak in a Nutrient Pod until reaching the Ninth Order was astronomical. Wu Yun would have to set up arrays in the universe to draw in energy.
He couldn't stay on Chenyan Planet. Heavenly Immortal arrays could easily cover tens of thousands of kilometers, and such a massive disturbance would inevitably draw the attention of Immortal Gods.
Three hundred and sixteen light-years from Chenyan Planet, Wu Yun used a star chart to locate an abandoned mineral planet tens of thousands of kilometers in diameter.
A number of smaller asteroids, each thousands of kilometers across, floated around the mineral planet. Wu Yun had moved them there with his extraordinary abilities, arranging them into something that vaguely resembled a single whole.
The wind was bitterly cold as Wu Yun tirelessly carved the array.
He could find suitable substitute materials in the Primal Universe as well. Before long, he had set up an array covering a hundred thousand kilometers, using it as the array's core.
He tossed out clusters of glowing rings, which landed on the surfaces of countless asteroids.
"I've built this array around the Streamer Great Dao. It covers nearly a million li in total, and the energy it absorbs should be sufficiently dense."
Wu Yun sat contentedly in the center of the array and cultivated. Boundless energy surged into his body, making the process almost as efficient as soaking in Nutrient Solution.
The only drawback was that the universe's energy needed time to recover. By Wu Yun's estimate, he should reach the Peak World Lord level within several decades.
That was already many times faster than absorbing energy on his own.
Just three days later, an email from the Giant Axe Arena arrived in Wu Yun's Virtual Universe.
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