The Curtain Rises

Time flew, and immersed in cultivation, time truly passed quickly.

In the blink of an eye, Feng Hui and the others had been sailing through high dimensions for over a month.

"We're about to arrive at the Eastern Domain Great World. Prepare yourselves."

Teacher Wala's voice reached the ears of the ten young people, each in their own rooms aboard the spaceship.

"Finally here?" Feng Hui opened his eyes and slowly rose to his feet.

Everyone quickly gathered in the ship's main hall.

Moments later, the ship slowed down, exited the high dimensions, and reappeared in the normal void of space.

"So this is the Eastern Domain Great World?"

Feng Hui and the other nine young people stood on the ship, gazing through the cabin windows at the scene before them, deeply awestruck.

In the distant void, a vast world hung silently.

From the ship's cabin, it appeared as a land with a round sky and square earth—so immense that, even though the ship was still an extremely long way off, Feng Hui couldn't see its end at all.

The Eastern Domain Great World stretched endlessly, like an ancient mythical beast, lying quietly in the embrace of the void.

The continent's outline flickered faintly under the distant sun's glare, as if telling a tale of its long and mysterious history.

Compared to this colossal world, an individual seemed unprecedentedly small and powerless, as if their existence were nothing more than an insignificant brushstroke in this grand painting.

No wonder it was one of the five supporting worlds of the Holy Land Universe's structure.

Looking at the massive world before him, Feng Hui finally understood why Teacher Wala had said that once they saw a true great world, they would know why the Jia 312 Plane was merely a small plane.

Feng Hui's human body had been to the Virtual Universe Company headquarters, to Chaos City in the Primordial Universe, and had seen supercontinents suspended in the starry sky—he was no stranger to grand sights.

Yet even so, he was still profoundly shaken by this vast world.

The shock wasn't due to the continent's sheer size or volume, but to the concentrated cosmic essence and abundant world origin gathered here.

Even from such a great distance, he could feel the convergence of cosmic essence, as if this great world were one of the universe's cores.

This was the difference between the two universes.

In the Primordial Universe, the main structure was planets—galaxies—starfields—sectors... That was the territory fought over by the various races of the Primordial Universe.

Though there were also strange places like Cosmic Secret Realms, the mainstream was indeed planets, which held the true essence of the Primordial Universe.

In the Primordial Universe, just as plants need sufficient sunlight to grow—if plants are too dense, none thrive well—

By the same logic, the formation of life in the Primordial Universe was very special. Whether flesh-and-blood life, mechanical life, plant life, or any other... whenever life was conceived, it absorbed the "essence" of the entire universe.

Life was conceived and grew by absorbing special energy from the universe.

For example, within a range of 1000 light-years, if there was only one life-bearing planet with 10 billion people, then the cosmic energy within that 1000 light-year range was almost entirely devoted to nurturing that single planet.

As for "Cosmic Secret Realms," a population comparable to an entire Cosmic Kingdom could be crammed onto one large landmass, increasing population density many times over, so each individual naturally received far less "cosmic essence."

As for "Divine Kingdom Humans," their divine kingdoms existed in spatial rifts, not even within the Primordial Universe's space, so the cosmic essence they could absorb was even more pitiful than that of humans on supercontinents in Cosmic Secret Realms.

Thus, in the Primordial Universe, the humans living on life-bearing planets across Cosmic Kingdoms were the fewest in number yet occupied the most territory, and they also produced the most powerful experts.

Those humans living on supercontinents in Cosmic Secret Realms received far less cosmic essence, making it very difficult for them to become Universe Venerables.

As for humans living in divine kingdoms within spatial rifts, because they absorbed too little cosmic essence, unless they encountered special opportunities, they were destined never to become Immortals.

In the Eastern Emperor Holy Land Universe, however, the Eastern Domain Great World, as one of the five supporting worlds of the universe's structure, was a concentration point of the Holy Land Universe's essence, naturally differing greatly from the situation in the Primordial Universe.

The Eastern Domain Great World looked similar to the supercontinents of Cosmic Secret Realms in the Primordial Universe, but the differences were vast.

The Primordial Universe was ownerless, with only a simple fundamental will formed by its immense operating laws.

But the Eastern Emperor Holy Land Universe had an owner. The universe's master, the Dongdi Ancestor, had deliberately formed a structure centered on the Endless Divine Realm, supported by the five great worlds of East, West, South, North, and Center, supplemented by countless planes. He certainly wouldn't allow cosmic essence to be distributed evenly and randomly.

For a Holy Land Universe, having more clan members whose growth caps were at the Realm Lord or Immortal level was meaningless. It was better to have fewer but with higher potential, rather than many with low potential.

Here, every Dongdi Clan member received essentially the same share of cosmic essence. However, small planes had fewer people, so the total essence gathered was less; great worlds had more people, so the total essence gathered was greater.

This approach maximized the potential of the Dongdi Clan members, preventing them from being limited to Realm Lord or Immortal like the Divine Kingdom Humans or Cosmic Secret Realm continent dwellers in the Primordial Universe. This allowed the Holy Land Universe, with its thin cosmic origin and limited space, to continuously produce wave after wave of young geniuses, and subsequently wave after wave of powerful experts.

Of course, the Eastern Emperor Holy Land Universe was still far, far smaller than the Primordial Universe. In the same amount of time, the quality and quantity of geniuses it produced could never match one of the six peak races of the Primordial Universe—the human race, which occupied vast territories. The advantage lay in more complete subsequent training and inheritance, allowing geniuses to develop more fully.

A genius's innate talent was certainly important, but later training and inheritance also played an enormous role.

This was the advantage of a Holy Land Universe.

"Boom!" The spaceship began to descend rapidly.

Soon, "Whoosh!" The hatch opened, and Teacher Wala flew out with Feng Hui and his nine other students.

The landing site was a massive square, stretching beyond the horizon, estimated to be tens of thousands of kilometers in length and width.

Many other spaceships were already parked on this square, indicating that many participants in the Eastern Domain Tournament had already arrived.

From time to time, young Dongdi Clan members descended from their parked ships, with various appearances and scale colors, but all exuding an aura of the Cosmic Level.

"According to the notice I received, this edition of the Eastern Domain Tournament has over eighteen million participants, but only the top ten thousand can stay in the Eastern Domain Great World. As for receiving focused training and entering the Dongdi Tower for inheritance, you'd need to be in at least the top five hundred."

Teacher Wala glanced at the other ships on the square, then turned to Feng Hui and the other nine.

"Among you ten, aside from Feng Hui, it will be very, very difficult—almost impossible—for the rest to stay in the Eastern Domain Great World."

"But... nothing is absolute. If you perform exceptionally well, even if you don't make the top ten thousand, you might be taken as a disciple by a powerful expert in the Eastern Domain Great World, thus allowing you to stay."

"So... give it your all!"