Heavenly Bridge Encountering Setbacks

"Your choices have all been sent out. Now follow me to observe the Chaos Tablets."

The Black-robed Envoy turned and spoke to the group.

Feng Hui and the other thousand young geniuses followed the Black-robed Envoy as they left this corridor and pressed deeper in.

Before long, they arrived at an empty training ground within the City Lord's Mansion. The training ground stretched dozens of kilometers in length and width, with no one else present besides them.

On the empty training ground.

The thousand geniuses gathered together, with the Black-robed Envoy standing before them.

"Right now, of the 52 Chaos Tablet cultivation chambers, 10 are occupied, and the other 42 are empty." The Black-robed Envoy looked at the crowd before him. "Now, I will call out the names of these 42 Chaos Tablets..."

"Yanshan Chaos Tablet, Giant Axe Chaos Tablet, Dragon Walk Chaos Tablet..."

"Those who chose these 42 Chaos Tablets, go directly to the entrance on the far left. You will be assigned to the corresponding chambers."

The Black-robed Envoy pointed into the distance. At the far left end of the training ground, there was an entrance nearly thirty meters high.

"The rest of you wait for now. The Chaos Tablets you chose are currently being studied by someone else. When someone is in meditation, it is absolutely forbidden to open the chamber and disturb them."

"So... you can only enter once their session ends. The longest you'll have to wait is seven days."

"Now, those who chose the 42 Chaos Tablets, go ahead."

Instantly, among the thousand young people, at least eight hundred, including Feng Hui, transformed into streaks of light and departed.

Cosmic Chaos Stele, as the most difficult Chaos Tablet, had the fewest choosers, so its cultivation chamber was often empty, requiring almost no queuing.

Walking along the entrance, one could only feel one word—vast!

The City Lord's Mansion was immense and boundless, with buildings inside that each occupied at least a thousand li in area.

Feng Hui and the eight hundred-plus others advanced through a corridor about sixty meters wide and one hundred twenty meters high.

On both sides of this corridor were towering bronze-colored doors, each bronze giant door about one hundred sixty meters long and one hundred twenty meters high. Every bronze door bore ancient inscriptions.

"Mother Ancestor," "Giant Axe," "Dragon Walk," "Nine Universe"...

And before each bronze door stood an old man with a kind face and a vertical eye on his forehead.

Notably!

The old men before every bronze giant door looked exactly the same.

This group of three-eyed old men smiled as they looked over. "A new batch of little ones from the Virtual Universe Company?"

"Yes," the geniuses replied respectfully.

The three-eyed old man nodded. "I am the guardian of the Chaos Tablet cultivation chambers. You may call me 'Lord Kandri.' Before each of these 52 Chaos Tablet cultivation chambers... is one of my avatars."

"Whoa—"

The group of young people stared in shock at the seemingly ordinary, kind-faced three-eyed old man. The guardian of all 52 cultivation chambers was actually the same person's avatars. As one of the three treasures of Chaos City, the importance of the 52 Chaos Tablets was obvious. For one person to manifest 52 avatars to guard them—how strong must that person be?

"Alright, here are 52 doors, each leading to a Chaos Tablet chamber. Go to the door corresponding to the Chaos Tablet you chose."

"Rumble~~~" The bronze giant doors began to slowly open. Inside the cultivation chambers, chaotic air currents swirled, making it hard to see clearly for a moment.

"Enter now," Kandri said. "Seven days later, when the door opens, come out immediately. Understood?"

"Understood."

The geniuses quickly nodded.

"Mm." Kandri nodded. "Go in."

The cultivation chamber was enormous, filled with swirling chaotic air currents.

Feng Hui peered inside carefully, vaguely seeing chaotic air currents encircling a massive stone tablet.

Only when he drew close to the Chaos Tablet did he see it clearly.

This was a Chaos Tablet a hundred meters tall and nearly a hundred meters wide, bearing ten diagrams. On the edge of the tablet were words in the universal language of the cosmos—"Cosmos."

The first diagram depicted a flowing river, its waters gently rippling, seemingly displaying the passage of time and the fluctuations of space.

The second diagram showed a vast, boundless ocean, deep and majestic, mysterious and unfathomable.

The third diagram revealed a massive black hole, its warped spacetime like a mirror of reality, reflecting a deep and enigmatic cosmic scene.

The ninth diagram was a sea of mist, within which countless tiny specks of light were faintly visible, too numerous to count.

The final diagram, the tenth, was a blazing radiance. Within that light lay infinite possibilities, as if it were the end of time and space, revealing the ultimate mystery of the cosmos.

If the earlier diagrams vaguely made some sense to Feng Hui, seeming to subtly expound on the origins of the Laws of Time and Space, then the last few diagrams were far too abstract—he could discern no profundity from them at all.

Withdrawing his gaze.

Fixing his eyes on the first diagram, the "River Diagram," Feng Hui became completely immersed, utterly unaware of the passage of time.

This Cosmic Chaos Stele truly lived up to being a treasure of humanity. The aura it contained could unconsciously guide one toward enlightenment and improvement.

"Rumble—"

The bronze giant door rumbled open. The seven days of meditation had passed in the blink of an eye.

"Come out!" "Come out!" "Come out!"...

A voice penetrated inward, directly pouring into Feng Hui's mind, echoing endlessly within his thoughts, growing louder and more unbearable by the moment.

Feng Hui hurriedly rushed outward, and only when he crossed the threshold did this relentless, drilling demonic sound vanish instantly.

"Wait a moment." The guardian, Kandri, said with a smile.

"This is your first time entering the Cultivation Chamber, so let me remind you... First, go find a residence to serve as your cultivation dwelling for the next thirty years, then enter the virtual universe and apply to access the 'Heavenly Bridge.'"

Feng Hui understood. The opportunity to comprehend the Chaos Stele was precious; only by clearing each layer of the Heavenly Bridge could one earn another seven-day chance for enlightenment.

After finishing his comprehension, Feng Hui casually chose a residence and began secluded cultivation to digest the gains from this session of studying the Cosmic Chaos Stele.

The Chaos Stele primarily served as guidance. Now that his enlightenment had just concluded, Feng Hui's mind brimmed with new ideas and flashes of insight regarding the Law of Space and the Time Law.

At this moment, the most crucial thing was to quickly absorb and internalize these ideas and flashes, truly turning them into his own understanding of the laws.

Soon, over ten days had passed.

Feng Hui sat cross-legged on the rooftop of his residence's small building, sometimes closing his eyes in quiet contemplation, sometimes gazing up at the ever-shattering and re-stitching cosmic operating laws in the sky.

"Whoosh"

After sitting for a long time, Feng Hui let out a deep breath and stood up with high spirits.

"As expected of humanity's supreme treasure, the Chaos Stele!"

Now, having comprehended the Cosmic Chaos Stele and digested the gains, both his Time Law and Law of Space had advanced significantly.

Perfect timing—time to challenge the Heavenly Bridge!

Moments later, a disheveled Feng Hui returned in disgrace, thoroughly beaten.

He hadn't cleared a single layer!

Truly, a flurry of fierce moves, only to end up with zero wins out of five.

Still, no wonder the Venerable said their batch was mediocre. All one thousand geniuses had challenged the Heavenly Bridge, and not a single one had cleared the first layer.

Not even Guge, the champion of the genius battle, had managed it.

Calming his mood, Feng Hui understood this was only normal.

In Luo Feng's batch, which was so outstanding, with so many peerless geniuses, when they first arrived at Chaos City, aside from Bolan—that freak genius who appears once in a million years—only Rong Jun had cleared the first layer.

Even Wuka and Jalaixi, who were considered capable of winning first place in the genius battle in other years, hadn't managed to clear the first layer of the Heavenly Bridge from the start.

Their batch was so ordinary; the top-ranked Guge was probably only at the level of Wuka, the Prince of Manka Star. Failing to clear it was only to be expected.

As for Feng Hui, three years ago he was still at the strength of the Doomsday Secret Realm. Although he could now easily defeat the Guge of three years ago, compared to the current Guge, he was likely about the same. After all, his foundation had been too weak before, and three years was far too short a time.