Nine Swords King had no plans to take on disciples, which left Feng Hui feeling rather helpless.
He had thought that becoming Nine Swords King's disciple would offer better prospects than becoming a disciple of either of the other two Sect Masters of the Virtual Universe Company's "Universe" school, since Nine Swords King would become Nine Swords Venerable in the future.
At the very least, he was certain that Nine Swords King would eventually become a Universe Venerable.
With the talent Feng Hui had shown so far, he was indeed a rare prodigy, the likes of whom the "Universe" school saw only once in a billion years. But he was merely on par with Bolan, and could barely be called a genius who appeared once every ten thousand eras.
Even such a genius would have a hard time attracting the attention of Universe Venerables.
But if he could become Nine Swords King's disciple, he could simply wait for his teacher to rise in rank. In a roundabout way, it would be like becoming a Universe Venerable's disciple.
But ideals were lofty, while reality was harsh.
The first time Feng Hui attended a lecture, he went to Nine Swords King to become his disciple. But Nine Swords King refused to take him on.
This left Feng Hui in an awkward position.
In Chaos City, if you wanted to become a certain Sect Master's disciple, you had to attend your first lecture under that Sect Master.
After all, if you skipped the first lecture, tried to become someone else's disciple, got rejected, and only then went to them, it would violate Chaos City's unspoken rules for taking on disciples. It would also show disrespect to the other Sect Masters.
So Feng Hui couldn't very well go and ask another Sect Master from the "Universe" school to take him on.
Fortunately, although Nine Swords King hadn't accepted Feng Hui as his disciple, he had agreed that Feng Hui could visit his residence and ask for guidance whenever he had questions.
That still meant he had the guidance of a "Universe" school master.
This arrangement was pretty good, too. At least he could receive guidance from Nine Swords King while he was in Chaos City.
As for what came afterward... Maybe he'd be able to become the disciple of an even more powerful expert.
Feng Hui consoled himself with that thought.
When Guge and the other geniuses heard that Feng Hui had failed to become Nine Swords King's disciple, they felt relieved.
Feng Hui was already far ahead of them. If he had a master-level expert among the Immortals as his teacher, he would surely make even faster progress.
That would make it even harder for them to catch up.
From then on, Feng Hui once again devoted himself to cultivation.
In Chaos City, the laws governing the universe's operation were on full display. He could study the Cosmic Chaos Stele, receive occasional guidance from Nine Swords King, and use the Cosmic Scripture and Principles of Space-Time to aid his studies. His progress was indeed rapid.
Feng Hui had previously spent six years comprehending the first mysteries of the Time Law and Law of Space Essence.
The path of comprehending the essence of laws was hardest at the very beginning.
Once he had made it past the threshold, he had some experience and tricks to rely on, as well as Nine Swords King's occasional guidance. What was more, the first nine mysteries of the Time Law and Law of Space Essence in the first diagram of the Cosmic Chaos Stele were relatively simple.
So after spending a little over two years, Feng Hui comprehended the second mysteries of the Time Law and Law of Space Essence. Then, after nearly two more years, he comprehended the third mysteries of the Time Law and Law of Space Essence.
...The further he went, the more efficient his studies became.
In his twenty-first year in Chaos City, Feng Hui comprehended the ninth mystery of the Time Law Essence.
In his twenty-third year in Chaos City, Feng Hui also comprehended the ninth mystery of the Law of Space Essence!
From then on, the first diagram of the Cosmic Chaos Stele held no secrets from Feng Hui. He could be said to have fully comprehended it!
But likewise, the first volume of Principles of Space-Time that Ice Universe Venerable had given him corresponded only to the first diagram of the Cosmic Chaos Stele.
The first diagram was the most basic and relatively easy. The second diagram, however, was much harder.
Feng Hui now needed the second volume of Principles of Space-Time, the one corresponding to the second diagram.
Fortunately, in his eighteenth year in Chaos City, he had passed the Fourth Layer of Heavenly Bridge. Otherwise, he wouldn't have had enough points to buy it.
After all, the first two volumes of Principles of Space-Time cost ten thousand points, and the second volume wasn't sold separately.
Now, Feng Hui had only one way to earn points in Chaos City: challenge the Heavenly Bridge.
The Cosmic Heavenly Bridge had thirty layers. Passing the first layer earned a hundred points; passing the second earned another two hundred; passing the third earned another four hundred...
With each additional layer, the points awarded doubled, so the next rewards were eight hundred, sixteen hundred, thirty-two hundred... and so on.
Since they were newcomers who had only just arrived in Chaos City, the Virtual Universe Company had special reward rules for young geniuses: anyone who challenged the Heavenly Bridge within their first thirty years in Chaos City received ten times the usual points.
In other words, during those thirty years in Chaos City, passing the first layer earned a thousand points, and passing the second earned another two thousand...
Of course, this tenfold reward was available only to newcomers entering Chaos City for the first time. When Feng Hui returned to Chaos City in the future, he wouldn't be so lucky.
Feng Hui had previously passed the first, second, and third layers in one go, earning a total of seven thousand points.
In his eighteenth year, he passed the Fourth Layer of Heavenly Bridge and earned another eight thousand points.
With the initial hundred points granted to Doomsday Secret Realm Members, he had a total of fifteen thousand one hundred points.
It seemed like a lot, but after he bought the first two volumes of Principles of Space-Time, he had only a little over five thousand left.
Time passed. None of the geniuses let up, especially with Feng Hui ahead of them as a target to catch up to. They were driven to astonishing efforts.
Feng Hui had passed the third layer of Heavenly Bridge in his sixth year in Chaos City.
One year, two years, three years, four years, five years...
In his ninth year in Chaos City, Ha'en and Kong Ji of the Taichu Secret Realm passed the second layer.
In his eighteenth year in Chaos City, Guge passed the third layer of Heavenly Bridge. That very day, Feng Hui passed the Fourth Layer of Heavenly Bridge!
The two of them were far ahead of everyone else. This spurred Ha'en, Kong Ji, and the other Taichu Secret Realm Members to try their own challenges, but none of them managed to break through.
In his twenty-fourth year in Chaos City, Kong Ji of the Taichu Secret Realm passed the third layer of Heavenly Bridge.
In the blink of an eye, Feng Hui had spent more than twenty-six years in Chaos City.
More than eighty years had also passed in the Eastern Emperor Holy Land Universe.
The Eastern Domain Tournament, held once every ten thousand years, was about to begin!
The Eastern Domain Tournament was a grand event held in the Eastern Domain Great World to select Cosmic Level prodigies from the Eastern Domain of the Eastern Emperor Holy Land Universe.
The true heart of the Eastern Emperor Holy Land Universe was the Endless Divine Realm, where all the great beings who had surpassed the Universe Venerable level gathered. Those who weren't true powerhouses had no right to enter.
Below it lay the five great domains: the Eastern Domain, Western Domain, Southern Domain, Northern Domain, and Central Domain. Talent selection and development took place across these five domains.
The Eastern Domain Great World, named after the Eastern Domain, was the undisputed heart of the entire domain.
There, powerful experts were as numerous as clouds, and geniuses as plentiful as rain.
If someone wanted to encounter the true foundations of the Eastern Emperor Holy Land Universe and obtain profound inheritances, it was a place they simply had to visit.
Teacher Wala would lead Jia 312 Academy's team of ten students to the Eastern Domain Great World. Feng Hui was naturally among them.
However, the dean, Teacher Wala, and Teacher Thunder Eye all knew one thing.
Aside from Feng Hui, the academy's other nine students were going merely to broaden their horizons.
With their strength, they had almost no chance of passing the Eastern Domain Tournament. They would probably be eliminated in the first round.
After all, every academy and every plane in the Eastern Domain would send geniuses to participate. The tournament would be filled with prodigies.
Those who weren't true geniuses and lacked astonishing talent would go to the Eastern Domain Tournament only to serve as green leaves framing the red flowers.
Jia 312 Academy was merely an ordinary "kindergarten" for the Dongdi Clan. Having a genius like Feng Hui was already a stroke of incredible luck.
In previous tournaments, Jia 312 Academy had basically been a background extra, there only to watch.
Now, at least, they had a promising contender like Feng Hui.
How far the academy's one hope could go was up to him.
Before you continue