The Thirteenth Floor

The email sent by the Virtual Universe Company caused Ye Muxuan's eyes to narrow slightly.

For hundreds of millions of epochs, the five major powers have been the five pillars of humanity, supporting the sky for the human race. Throughout endless epochs, they have seen too many geniuses, so they look down upon the average so-called "genius."

This batch of World Lords and Immortals entering the Initial Universe are given a chance to demonstrate their talent by comprehending the Chaos Stele and clearing the Heavenly Bridge within the allotted time. Only the most outstanding among them have a chance to receive an invitation to become official members of the five major powers. Correspondingly, once successfully recruited, they are not only granted corresponding points but also rewards and free point quotas for exchanging secret techniques, and this quota is extremely high.

Therefore, if they encounter a true genius, they are never stingy with resources for cultivation! The amount of this free point quota is so high that few in this group would ever be able to obtain it just by clearing the Heavenly Bridge until they die!

While lost in thought, Ye Muxuan flew to the end of the first level.

"Choose your opponent. You may choose a martial artist, a Spirit Controller, or a Spirit Illusionist. Choose any one opponent; defeat your opponent, and you will pass the first level of the Heavenly Bridge." At the end of the first level of the Heavenly Bridge was a massive cloud of mist, and a voice emanated from within it.

Ye Muxuan stopped in his tracks. The Heavenly Bridge would not exempt him from the preceding levels just because he was a World Lord; only by defeating the opponent and causing the mist to dissipate could he enter the next level of the Heavenly Bridge.

"I choose... a martial artist!" Ye Muxuan spoke, his voice echoing across the Heavenly Bridge.

With a whoosh, a mass of black liquid flew out from the mist, instantly transforming into a figure wearing a black mask. The figure wore pitch-black armor and carried a long, slender battle blade on its back, identical to the one Ye Muxuan used.

The figure beneath the black mask spoke, "Let the battle begin."

"Defeat him to enter the second level," the voice came from the mist.

Ye Muxuan sized up the gatekeeper, who was dressed exactly like him. A battle blade suddenly appeared in his hand—it was the Wind Shadow Blade he used in reality.

The blade was long and straight, with a subtle curve at the tip.

As they locked eyes, Ye Muxuan's gaze was indifferent and cold, while the gatekeeper's was chilling and devoid of emotion.

Suddenly, the gatekeeper lunged forward, unleashing a lightning-fast strike at his face.

Ye Muxuan's eyes narrowed abruptly.

The gatekeeper was at the same peak World Lord level as him, but the level of law comprehension he utilized was merely the first trace of light and shadow from the first diagram of the Jinghong Chaos Stele!

A peak World Lord who suppresses their comprehension of the Laws of Time to the point of just crossing the threshold could not exist anywhere else except here at the Heavenly Bridge.

"Clang~" Amidst a lingering, trembling sound, Ye Muxuan blocked the strike.

The mysterious figure's wrist flickered, followed immediately by a second strike, slashing toward his face!

Ye Muxuan reached out, parried, and blocked the second strike!

Third strike, fourth strike, all the way to the ninth strike!

"Wind... airflow... disturbance... time... so the first diagram actually contains this kind of artistic conception of the Origin Law of Wind!" After blocking the gatekeeper's ninth strike in succession, Ye Muxuan's eyes suddenly lit up!

With his current strength, he could have cleared the first level with a single strike, but there was no need. He had chosen the Jinghong Chaos Stele, and the gatekeeper of the Jinghong Heavenly Bridge naturally used the secret techniques of artistic conception from that very stele. Thus, he treated this gatekeeper as the best possible tutor.

"Many thanks for the lesson!" Ye Muxuan suddenly spoke, his voice like thunder. He twisted his wrist, and the Wind Shadow Blade in his hand turned into a single line, striking the gatekeeper's blade.

A direct strike to the center!

He cleaved through the gatekeeper's defense, the tip of his blade lightly and precisely tapping the Origin Bead located at the heart of the gatekeeper's body.

The Origin Bead shattered, and the World Lord died!

"First level cleared. Please enter the second level." The mist dispersed, revealing the opening to the second level.

Ye Muxuan took a deep breath and stepped into the second level.

Second level, third level...

Bafen, standing on the island, suddenly had his eyes light up. Looking at the group of people before him, he said, "Not bad. To reach the thirteenth level on the first attempt at the Heavenly Bridge—Muxuan's law comprehension is very high, and his foundation is very solid. It seems the core layer of the five major powers is about to gain another core member!"

"Muxuan reached the thirteenth level?"

"He actually managed to reach the thirteenth level?"

"My god!"

There were naturally more people waiting on the island than just the World Lords and the one Immortal who had arrived later from the Jinghong Heavenly Bridge lineage; there were also powerhouses waiting at the ports of other Heavenly Bridges. Hearing Bafen's words, they all gasped in shock.

What did the thirteenth level mean? It meant that Ye Muxuan's level of law comprehension was already in the upper-middle tier even among Immortal Military Lords.

"Next, who is going to challenge the Jinghong Heavenly Bridge?" Bafen scanned the twelve people present: eleven World Lords and one Immortal.

"I'll go!" The only Immortal Military Lord among the seventeen who chose the Jinghong Chaos Stele stepped forward and spoke.

In Chaos City, on the rooftop of a small gray building, a young man sitting cross-legged suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze fixed on the visible law secret patterns in the sky above!

The Heavenly Bridge, thirteenth level!

This was his psychological expectation!

After all, he had already defeated Blade Maniac Li Zheng with a single strike; many Immortals and World Lords knew his law comprehension was extremely high, and his self-created secret technique had even reached the Marquis Level!

However, self-created secret techniques and law comprehension were not equivalent. Many powerhouses, through long accumulation and a sudden flash of inspiration, could create higher-level secret techniques even if their law comprehension hadn't kept up. Of course, there were also some powerhouses with high law comprehension whose self-created secret techniques were lacking due to temporary bottlenecks.

Therefore, if he went all out, he should be able to reach the fifteenth level.

That was the threshold for a Marquis!

However, his rapid improvement in law comprehension had occurred only in the last few years! Especially after that strike he unleashed in the depths of his consciousness! Previously, his strength was about the same as Kong Yan and Zhendan; even if he was slightly superior, it wouldn't be by much. He estimated that those two should also be able to reach the twelfth or even the thirteenth level.

So...

For the next three thousand-plus years in this Chaos City, he only needed to go all out in comprehending the Chaos Stele and see how far he could get before leaving.

By then, even if he cleared the fifteenth, sixteenth, or seventeenth level, others would only be amazed at his visible speed of progress and would not suspect that he had some other fortuitous encounter!

At the very least, it reduced the possibility of such suspicion. After all, he was currently on his own, and he had no powerful figures behind him to hold down the fort!

Right, there were also the Immortal Altar and the Illusion Sea where one could obtain points, as well as another important treasure of Chaos City: the Chaos True Spirit.