After arriving at headquarters, it wasn't long before Feng Hui was escorted to an oval hall.
The hall had been designed with exquisite ingenuity. Its walls and ceiling were transparent, revealing the magnificent starry sky outside in all its splendor to every visitor who stepped inside.
Standing there, it felt as if he were truly adrift in the vast cosmos, dancing with the stars and singing with the Galaxy. The experience gave him a vivid sense of the universe's mystery and boundlessness, as well as his own insignificance, inspiring him to become a supreme powerhouse and roam the universe.
In the hall, some of the geniuses who had already arrived sat together in small groups.
Wherever there were people, there were cliques. In many places, a divide formed between veterans and newcomers.
At the Virtual Universe Company, the veteran members of the Four Great Secret Realms looked down on newcomers like them—rookies who had just passed the Genius War selection and joined the Core Layer.
But the veterans were indeed far stronger than the newcomers, and had every reason to be proud.
After all, most newcomers were eliminated by the veterans and relegated to a lower secret realm in their very first Secret Realm Qualification Battle.
Very few newcomers managed to survive their first Secret Realm Qualification Battle and stay in their current secret realm.
The two sides were clearly divided and hardly ever interacted.
By contrast, these newcomers who had entered the Virtual Universe Company's Core Layer together had spent much of their three-year journey cultivating in the Virtual Universe, and had crossed paths now and then.
Over those three years, aside from a few extremely solitary people, many had become friends. At the very least, they occasionally got together for a chat.
Perhaps many of them had been aloof in the past. They had all been the top geniuses in their respective star systems and sectors, invincible among their peers.
But they had been aloof because they were lonely. They had never met opponents of equal caliber, so naturally they had nothing in common with others.
After all, dragons didn't associate with snakes.
Everyone here had ranked among the top 1,000 across the entire universe in the Genius War. Each was a Peerless Genius, and they recognized one another's abilities, so it was only natural that they became friends.
Of course, since the Virtual Universe Company had set different levels of benefits from the very beginning, a degree of separation remained between the different secret realms.
Besides, members of the same secret realm lived in the same district at Virtual Headquarters, making it easier for them to meet.
As a result, newcomers from the same secret realm naturally grew closer, as their seating arrangements made clear.
The few from the Taichu Secret Realm sat together, as did those from the Heaven and Earth Secret Realm...
People from different secret realms rarely mingled. In just three short years, the 1,000 newcomers who had joined the Core Layer had naturally formed their own circles.
Those in the Doomsday Secret Realm were dissatisfied with those in the Heaven and Earth Secret Realm, and those in the Heaven and Earth Secret Realm were dissatisfied with those in the Taichu Secret Realm...
Geniuses were proud, especially since the Virtual Universe System had directly selected people to fight each other. Some had been assigned to the Doomsday Secret Realm or the Heaven and Earth Secret Realm without even getting a chance to fight. Many geniuses had been dissatisfied from the start.
They were all Peerless Geniuses, and none believed they would always be inferior to others.
What's more, many had come from humble backgrounds and lacked good techniques. After receiving points from the Virtual Universe Company over the past three years, they had bought techniques and cultivated them, greatly improving their strength. Naturally, they were even less willing to accept their lot.
And it wasn't just them. Even Feng Hui felt that his strength had improved tremendously and was eager to challenge those in the higher secret realms.
It was only human nature. This was exactly the competitive atmosphere the Virtual Universe Company's upper echelons had deliberately sought to foster.
The secret realm placements determined by the Genius War weren't set in stone. The capable rose, while the incapable fell. That was how it should be.
In the Virtual Universe Company's Core Layer, it was like rowing upstream: if you didn't advance, you fell behind.
As time passed, all 1,000 geniuses selected through the Genius War soon arrived.
"Everyone, follow me. Don't resist."
A cold, detached voice suddenly rang out.
Then a vast, chilling force enveloped the assembled 1,000 geniuses. Like an iceberg transformed into a streak of Flowing Light, it carried them away.
"Whoosh!"
A moment later, the geniuses—shivering from the frigid force they couldn't resist—were set down.
Only then did they see that the one who had brought them there was a cold-looking man in a black robe, his whole body covered in ice crystals.
"Everyone, board the ship."
Once the geniuses had recovered from the cold, the black-robed man, still covered in ice crystals, spoke in a frosty tone.
When they looked up, they saw a gigantic palace before them.
It looked like a medieval castle from Blue Star, its soaring spires piercing the sky, yet its overall structure emanated an ancient, icy chill.
A thin layer of frost seemed to cover the palace's surface, as if even time froze before it. The boundless cold radiating from it seemed capable of freezing the surrounding air.
Under the starlight, the palace looked especially austere and imposing. Countless intricate carvings covered its surface, depicting ancient and mysterious runes.
They glimmered with a faint blue light, like stars twinkling in the night sky. The surrounding void seemed swallowed by the cold, forming patches of distorted light and shadow.
"Is this really a spaceship?"
Many of the geniuses were dumbfounded.
No matter how they looked at it, it resembled a palace, not a spaceship.
"This isn't like any G-Class Spaceship I've heard of!"
A genius who seemed to come from an especially powerful background murmured to himself.
"Could this... be a Flying Palace-type Heavy Treasure?"
Feng Hui wondered to himself.
It wasn't a G-Class Spaceship, and it looked like this while emanating such a powerful aura. Based on the description in the original story, he guessed that it was the Flying Palace-type Heavy Treasure used by the Venerable presiding over the Genius War.
It seemed that the Universe Venerable presiding over this year's Genius War was stronger than Nine Swords Venerable, who had presided over Luo Feng's year. He could even use a Flying Palace-type Heavy Treasure!
At the black-robed man's urging, Feng Hui boarded the palace-shaped spaceship with everyone else.
Inside the ship, Black Armor Silver Horn Venerable, who had presided over the Genius War, stood casually. He seemed nonchalant, yet the invisible pressure he radiated naturally made him the center of attention.
That was a Universe Venerable. In this world, where power rested in one's own hands and the strong ruled, Universe Venerables enjoyed supreme status and glory. They also possessed the terrifying power to rewrite the rules and shape the fates of countless people.
Presiding over the Genius War was little more than a diversion for them.
It did have some significance, since the geniuses from this Genius War would eventually become his subordinates.
But thinking that the Universe Venerable presiding over it would care all that much was wishful thinking.
Feng Hui had read the original story and knew very well that, based on the odds for previous Genius Wars, of the 1,000 geniuses recruited in a single event, no more than ten would survive to become Immortals ten million years later.
And their year was an exceptionally ordinary, mediocre one.
Having a few more Immortal subordinates—and not necessarily even one who could become a King-level Immortal—made little difference to a Venerable.
No wonder this Universe Venerable seemed so nonchalant and unconcerned.
"So, everyone's here. Then we're off—to the Primordial Universe."
Black Armor Silver Horn Venerable cast a lazy glance over the crowd and gave the order casually.
The castle-shaped spaceship immediately took off. A moment later, it passed through a checkpoint and entered the Cosmic Passage leading to the Primordial Universe.
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