Metamorphosis

The Primordial Universe, Virtual Headquarters, Yuxiang Mountain.

End War Zone, a training room in a dormitory building.

A black-clad young man with short hair, sitting cross-legged, slowly opened his eyes. The moment he rose, his form flickered, splitting into thirty-six figures that ghosted around the cramped training room.

"The second layer of the Thousand Body Formation—the Heavenly Dipper Formation—I've finally mastered it!"

Feng Hui felt a surge of joy.

Over the past three years, especially the two years since his East Emperor clan clone had been meticulously taught by Teacher Vala, both Feng Hui's law comprehension and combat ability had undergone earth-shattering changes.

It could be said that the two years of guidance from Teacher Vala were critical to his future growth!

After all, he was still very weak and lacked insight, making it easy to develop small flaws in his training.

Some flaws were so minor that even the cultivator themselves couldn't detect them, and they seemed to have no effect. But when enough mistakes accumulated, training would hit a bottleneck!

Some people, given enough time, could eventually break through such bottlenecks and improve again.

Others might never break through for their entire lives, stuck in place!

For this kind of problem, a teacher's role was crucial!

The stronger and more perceptive the teacher, the better they could help a disciple find and fix flaws when they first set foot on the path of cultivation. Subtly, this would let the disciple walk smoother and smoother on the right path.

A weak foundation leads to a shaky structure. The firmer the foundation, the faster and higher the disciple could go in the future.

This was why so many geniuses were eager to take a strong master when they were weak.

Teacher Vala, a peak Marquess-level, even barely King-level Undying divine being, was more than enough to guide a little fellow like Feng Hui.

And even more fortunate, as an expert who grew up in the immensely ancient and profoundly deep East Emperor Sacred Land universe, Teacher Vala might not be the strongest in terms of raw power, but his insight, vision, and ability to guide disciples are in no way inferior to the Sealed King Undyings of the primal universe's human race.

Under these circumstances, Feng Hui's transformation could hardly be described as merely "benefiting greatly."

At this moment, he could easily one-shot the version of himself from the Genius Battle three years ago.

Yet even so, Feng Hui dared not slack off.

Over the three-year journey, the thousand young geniuses absorbed into the core of the Virtual Universe Company all worked extremely hard, none daring to relax.

This Genius Battle had a huge impact on them. Before it, each was the number one genius of their own region, rarely meeting a match. But the battle gathered stars from all over, and match after match of evenly matched fights taught them a great deal. After the battle ended, many reflected seriously, made breakthroughs, and improved significantly.

They also all had points gifted by the Virtual Universe Company, though the amount varied based on their secret realm level.

But for little fellows at their level, there was no need to buy overly expensive things. Even the hundred points of the End War Secret Realm were enough to buy decent basic secret arts.

Over the three-year journey, training in secret arts and focusing on refinement, they all improved a lot. So one must never underestimate the heroes of the world.

"I need to fight a battle to see how powerful this newly mastered Heavenly Dipper Formation is." Feng Hui thought. "Too bad this training room of mine is too small."

The "training rooms" specially assigned to core members of the company all had a Killing Space effect, capable of fully simulating any desired opponent, but the simulation space was limited.

For example, the oversized training grounds for members of the Primal Secret Realm were 50 kilometers long and 30 kilometers wide. Though still limited, they were enough for normal training needs.

Feng Hui was a member of the End War Secret Realm, so his residence was a suite in a dormitory building, and the training room inside the suite was extremely cramped. Any slightly larger movement couldn't be executed, forcing him to go to the Killing Space.

On a training ground in the Killing Space, Feng Hui stood holding a black longblade.

"Simulated battle. Opponent: set to the Genius Battle's first-place ape-man Guge. Combat ability: set to the strongest displayed in the Genius Battle."

On the training ground, the ape-man Guge, over two meters tall, gradually coalesced.

He wore a golden circlet on his head, silver war boots on his feet, and held an ancient war blade, his whole body exuding a fierce aura. But his eyes were lifeless, standing motionless.

"Begin!" Feng Hui shouted.

"Boom!" The simulated Guge's eyes lit up, and then he charged at Feng Hui like a mountain.

"Come on, Heavenly Dipper Formation."

Feng Hui gripped his blade, splitting into thirty-six figures that formed a mysterious formation, like thirty-six ghostly green streaks of light, rushing straight at Guge.

"Clang!" Their blades clashed head-on.

"Falling Leaf Blade!" Feng Hui unleashed the Falling Leaf Blade secret art, erupting with power, like an autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves, exchanging thousands of blows with Guge in an instant.

His footwork was also extremely mysterious, the thirty-six figures flickering unpredictably, half-real, half-illusion, impossible to pin down.

"Metal Cleaver!" The ape-man Guge's eyes flashed like lightning, his roar like thunder, and golden light burst from his whole body.

Metal, the ultimate hardness and yang, dyed his ancient war blade a dazzling gold. Countless golden blade lights converged and slashed down!

"Falling Leaf!" Feng Hui roared as well, the space seeming to be suppressed.

"Bang!"

"Pfft!" Blood sprayed wildly. Guge was sent flying, crashing to the ground like a torn sandbag.

"Rumble~~~" The training ground shifted, the simulated Guge vanishing, leaving Feng Hui standing alone.

"Not bad, I can beat Guge fairly easily now."

"But I still need to train. I only beat the Guge from the Genius Battle. Over three years, with the Primal Secret Realm's points and resources, he's definitely gotten much stronger."

In the spaceship's main hall.

Feng Hui, with short black hair and clad in a black battle suit, sat cross-legged, immersed in cultivation.

The middle-aged man with an aquiline nose, Ka Yu, walked over and said with a smile, "Feng Hui, we're about to arrive at the company headquarters."

"Oh? We're already here." Feng Hui ended his cultivation and slowly rose to his feet.

"Beginning space warp, entering the primal universe."

"10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1!"

As the ship's AI assistant counted down, Feng Hui felt a slight tremor run through the vessel. After ten seconds, everything returned to normal.

He casually ordered, "Exterior simulation at 100%."

The moment the words left his mouth, the entire hall turned transparent and vanished, revealing a dreamlike starfield around Feng Hui.

In the far distance of the starfield hung a supercontinent suspended in space, vast beyond measure.

Even from such an immense distance, its edge was nowhere in sight.

This was the universal headquarters of the Virtual Universe Company!

Though he had long known of the headquarters' grandeur from the original story's descriptions, seeing it with his own eyes still left Feng Hui deeply awestruck—like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden.

The boundless continent appeared as a natural cosmic wonder, yet it was actually a terrifying celestial weapon... Truly worthy of the Virtual Universe Company, one of humanity's five behemoths.

Of course, Feng Hui also understood that no matter how fearsome these technological weapons were, they were mere ornaments, serving little real purpose.

What truly guarded the headquarters were the Universe Masters of the Virtual Universe Company. They stood above all, overlooking the vast cosmos, and wherever they resided was the core of humanity.

"A real man should be like this," Feng Hui thought to himself.