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The battle didn't last long. He had been the one on the offensive, attacking relentlessly until he unleashed his most powerful self-created Secret Technique: Hundred Blades—Reincarnation!

Guided by the elders of his clan and after spending tens of thousands of years studying the Extreme Wind Secret Canon, he had created this ultimate Secret Technique. It was undoubtedly powerful enough to reach Immortal Level.

Yet even when he gave it everything he had and unleashed the full, perfect might of his Secret Technique, the man before him still cleaved through it with a single strike.

Just how profound was this man's Law Comprehension? Had he already mastered the ninth level of the Extreme Wind Secret Canon?

Ye Muxuan didn't refuse. He accepted the Wind Jade Gold.

Everyone present watched with envy. He'd earned 300,000 Hunyuan in just a few minutes. Even the Marquis Immortals couldn't help but be impressed. Their fortunes were certainly greater, but they would have loved a chance to make money that easily, too.

"What's the name of that blade technique?" In the end, Li Zheng couldn't hold back and asked Ye Muxuan.

The move itself wasn't what mattered. What was important were the Law Secret Patterns it traced and the Origin of Laws it drew upon.

"The Two-Part Blade Technique. First Form: Wind Severing!" Ye Muxuan said, his voice low and measured. "The Wind Severing technique is rooted in the Origin Law of Wind. I can split anything in the world in two with a single strike!"

"Two-Part... Wind Severing..." Li Zheng murmured, turning the words over in his mind. The Thunderbolt Spear Zhendan and the other World Lords nearby, along with several Immortals, also fell into thought.

"Master, you have mail." The reminder came from Nine Phoenix, his Intelligent Optical Brain.

He sent a sliver of his consciousness into the Virtual Universe. In the lakeside house at Yunmeng Lake, inside the third-floor meditation room, an email blinked on the screen before him. Ye Muxuan opened it. It had been sent by the Military System.

The email had been sent to every World Lord and Immortal who had exchanged for a spot to study in the Initial Universe. Its message was simple: they were required to reach Longyan Planet within a year. A ship bound for the Initial Universe would arrive in a year and escort them there.

Ye Muxuan checked the exchange list in the Military System. Sure enough, all the spots to study in the Initial Universe had been claimed.

This cycle, there were one hundred spots for World Lords and twenty for Immortals. Every one had been taken.

Each cycle, the ships that escorted people from the Outer Battlefield to the Initial Universe departed under one of two conditions. Either all the spots were claimed, in which case the ships left a year later, or the cycle ended. Even if some spots remained, the list would then reset, and everyone who had claimed a spot would depart within a year.

When Ye Muxuan had decided to head to the Ganwu Universe Kingdom, he'd calculated that sixteen spots were still available. Under normal circumstances, he'd have about ten years to make it back, so he'd gone knowing he should return in time. And now, after more than seven years but less than eight, he was back. The ship would depart in a year.

Most of the powerful fighters who had claimed spots didn't wander around like Ye Muxuan. People like Rain Sword Kong Yan and Thunderbolt Spear Zhendan had gone straight to Longyan Planet to wait for the ship. After all, unless someone had a clear goal and a carefully planned schedule like Ye Muxuan, a few years of cultivation were less useful than a chance to exchange ideas and spar with experts at their level.

Law Comprehension wasn't something one could achieve simply by shutting oneself away to study. Discussion and sparring were also highly effective ways to improve. Once one hit a bottleneck, outside stimulation was even more important. And the World Lords and Immortals who could claim these spots were undoubtedly among the best at their level.

In the meditation room, Ye Muxuan sat quietly, thinking. Then he exited the Virtual Universe.

On Longyan Planet, the World Lords and Immortals who had claimed spots had evidently all heard the news. They were visibly excited.

The Initial Universe!

They said that more than half of the Peak World Lords who entered the Initial Universe had a chance to break through to Immortality! In the long run, at least fifty of the hundred World Lords present could be expected to become Immortals. And since these World Lords had come from the military, they would be even stronger once they broke through.

The World Lords and Immortals discussed the news among themselves, their words brimming with excitement.

Ye Muxuan picked up a bottle of wine and poured a glass for Li Zheng and Zhendan. Then he raised the bottle and drained what was left.

Once he entered the Initial Universe, he would begin the second step of his first plan.

To a World Lord, or even an Immortal Deity, a year passed in the blink of an eye. As the World Lords discussed and sparred, the others who had claimed spots arrived at Longyan Planet over the following months. The last one showed up nine months later.

During that time, the World Lords who arrived later and several Immortal Deities also heard about the battle between Li Zheng and Ye Muxuan. Their gazes grew more solemn whenever they looked at Ye Muxuan.

Even among Marquis Immortals, not all could create a Secret Technique at the Marquis Level. The fact that Ye Muxuan had created one while still a World Lord showed that his Law Comprehension was exceptionally advanced. Once a talent like him became an Immortal, he would very likely attain Marquis Rank immediately!

From Peak World Lord to Marquis Immortal—even at the Early Marquis level—the foundational power increased a thousandfold. World Force transformed into Immortal Divine Power, and the Immortal body became undying. His combat strength would increase by far more than ten thousand times. Even the ten Marquis Immortals present would have to take him seriously, perhaps even look up to him.

The hundred World Lords present were practically the finest the Outer Battlefield had to offer. The twenty Immortal Deities, meanwhile, had once been almost entirely lone fighters. After all, any Immortal Deity with even a little backing wouldn't have ended up reaching Marquis Rank without ever entering the Initial Universe, forced to risk their life again and again on the Outer Battlefield for a chance.

So they all understood the importance of working together, and they knew how dazzling a World Lord like Ye Muxuan would become once he broke through to Immortality.

That was why even the Marquis Immortals treated World Lords like Zhendan and Kong Yan as equals. Ye Muxuan, especially, was treated as if he were already a peer.

The Immortal Deities present weren't fools. If Ye Muxuan failed to become an Immortal and remained trapped at the World Lord level, their investment would amount to little more than a failed attempt to build goodwill. If he did break through, that investment would pay off a hundred or a thousand times over. Any sensible Immortal knew what to do.

Three months later, a gray-white ship that resembled a rock descended on Longyan Planet. The ship sent by the Outer Battlefield had arrived!

Looking at the weathered ship docked at the landing platform, a triangular vessel more than a thousand meters across and built entirely from F8-grade Earth Soul Rock Mother, Ye Muxuan felt a little relieved.

The Initial Universe was within reach!