The Dark Lord's Heart is Moved

Chaos City Lord recounted Zhang Dong's past experiences in full, including his years of cultivation.

His previous incarnation wasn't particularly old for a Cosmic Level—cultivating for decades normally before joining the Genius War and entering the Ganwu Secret Realm.

All told, he was less than two hundred years old, yet already so astonishingly brilliant.

"With talent like this, with proper nurturing he'll definitely become a Universe Master." Chaos City Lord smiled. "I'm thinking of asking Ice Peak Lord whether he'd like to take him as a disciple."

"Heh."

Dark Lord chuckled but said nothing.

On the Heavenly Bridge.

The guardians of the tenth, eleventh, and even twelfth floors failed to pose much of an obstacle to Zhang Dong.

Only the twelfth floor saw over a hundred exchanges; the rest were all settled within ten rounds.

"Twelfth floor cleared. Let's check out the thirteenth." Zhang Dong mused. "After that, I'll try the Primordial Heaven-Reaching Mountain. I wonder which Universe Master will take me as a disciple."

With potential like his, high-level venerators and ordinary overlords had no standing to take him as a disciple—at the very least, it would have to be a top-tier Universe Overlord.

Most likely, it would be Chaos City Lord.

There were only so many Universe Masters in the Virtual Universe Company lineage, and even fewer who regularly took disciples.

Dark Lord, for instance, spent most of his time in the Cosmic Sea; many factions didn't even know he was humanity's Universe Master, so Zhang Dong wouldn't think of him.

After passing the twelfth floor, Zhang Dong arrived at the thirteenth. From here, the difficulty skyrocketed. With the Universe Chaos Stele's difficulty, even mastering a single law to the fifteenth floor wouldn't be enough to break through.

The environment shifted abruptly. The stone bridge beneath his feet vanished, and he found himself standing on the surface of a star.

On that stellar surface, a crimson-robed figure stood silently, feet planted in a sea of fire, a golden longblade slung across his back. He regarded Zhang Dong calmly.

"A Cosmic Level making it here—you're quite strong." The Crimson Robe smiled. "The last Cosmic Level to reach this floor was named Ke Di. You might be even more monstrous than him."

Ke Di's era predated Zhenyan King's by hundreds of thousands of years, but Ke Di had long since died and couldn't be revived.

Though he had been dazzlingly brilliant, he withered young. Every time Chaos City Lord mentioned that disciple, a trace of grief lingered, one he couldn't let go of even after billions of years.

It was precisely because Ke Di had fallen early that Chaos City Lord gave Luo Feng the Wu-Slaying Wings, hoping he could go further.

"Let me feel the intensity of the thirteenth floor."

Zhang Dong grinned, battle blazing in his eyes. He said no more, surging forward as his longblade violently tore through time and space.

In that moment, his full combat power erupted. Countless blade lights seemed to strike from different moments in time, yet all appeared in the same space.

Having grasped the essence of time, he now had a certain control over its flow—true control, not merely the ability to confuse an opponent's perception.

Simply altering the flow of his own strikes was easy for Zhang Dong. In what others perceived as a mere 0.1 seconds, he could already unleash hundreds or thousands of slashes.

Chi! Chi! Chi!

The Crimson Robe stood in place, lightly swinging his blade. Endless blade lights rampaged across the starry void, dismantling all of Zhang Dong's attacks.

Both were involved in the mysteries of time. In an instant, hundreds of exchanges passed, but the opponent's realm was higher, his techniques more profound. With equal power, Zhang Dong could hardly prevail.

Aside from the Pole True Intent, Zhang Dong had no amplification methods, so naturally he couldn't overcome a higher-realm opponent.

"That's enough."

The Crimson Robe shouted, his longblade sealing off all of Zhang Dong's escape routes. A full 3600 blade lights formed a vortex.

Once Zhang Dong was drawn in, he lasted only a few seconds before being completely shredded. The blade lights were everywhere, with nowhere to hide.

Defeated on the thirteenth floor.

"If my Pole True Intent reached the second stage and I used it in combination, I should be able to clear this easily." Zhang Dong smiled wryly.

For a Cosmic Level to reach this point was already incredibly strong. Comprehending laws beyond ordinary Immortal Gods—how terrifying was that? If he actually cleared the thirteenth floor, even the Origin Ancestor might want to come out and take him as a disciple.

Exiting the Heavenly Bridge plane, Zhang Dong prepared to head to the Cosmic Level Primordial Heaven-Reaching Mountain.

But in an instant, an indescribable sensation arose. His consciousness snapped back to reality, and he looked across from him.

At some point, a person had appeared right before him, inches away. It was a bald man in black robes.

On the bald scalp were countless strange secret patterns, as if containing the most fundamental mysteries of the universe's spacetime.

The moment the bald man appeared, the entire spacetime was shrouded in darkness. Zhang Dong's pupils contracted. He could no longer see any scene—only endless darkness.

"Dark Lord?!" Zhang Dong's mind shook violently. Few in the human race even knew of this great being, but he knew full well who it was.

He had expected Chaos City Lord to take him as a disciple, but the one who came was this figure instead.

"You are good."

Dark Lord's lips curled upward, revealing a faint smile. "Being able to meet my gaze—not bad."

Though he hadn't deliberately released pressure, the darkness alone was enough to terrify most Domain Lords into speechlessness.

"Greetings, senior." Zhang Dong immediately rose and bowed.

"Are you willing to become my disciple?" Dark Lord asked bluntly.

Normally, even a Cosmic Level or Domain Lord who cleared the Primordial Heaven-Reaching Mountain wouldn't interest Dark Lord enough to take them as a disciple. Back when he accepted Dark Marquis Lord, it had been somewhat coincidental.

Chaos City Lord considered the interests of the entire race, which was why he took on so many disciples.

But Zhang Dong was simply too astonishing—a First-Class True Intent, transcendent, and still so young. This level of monstrous talent, if dropped into the Tianyu Universe, would have Blood Blade God Emperor, Space-Time Island Lord, and other True God Sovereigns fighting over him.

The Dark Lord was only equivalent to the True God Creation Realm; in any other place, he wouldn't even qualify to take Zhang Dong as a disciple.

Zhang Dong didn't hesitate for a moment. He immediately performed the formal bow of apprenticeship: "Your disciple is willing."

After all, this wasn't the Tianyu Universe. Being able to apprentice under the Dark Lord was good enough. Humanity only had two True Gods total, and Giant Axe belonged to a neighboring faction—it wasn't like Origin Ancestor could come out himself.

In truth, Origin Ancestor had also noticed Zhang Dong, but he had no intention of taking on disciples right now.

What did good talent matter? His thinking had long since ascended to another level.

As for the Universe Masters of the Virtual Universe Company, they were thoroughly shaken by the sight of a First-Class True Intent, transcendent.

"Haha!" The Dark Lord laughed heartily. "I haven't come to the Initial Universe in billions of years, and the moment I arrive, I see you challenging the Heavenly Bridge. You and I share a fate. I am called the Dark Lord. Mm, do not speak of this to outsiders."

Originally, Chaos City Lord had wanted Ice Peak Lord to take Zhang Dong as a disciple, but the Dark Lord happened to arrive just then.

Ke Di had died not long ago, and Ice Peak Lord still carried some grief in his heart, unwilling to take on a disciple for now.

"Yes, Teacher," Zhang Dong replied. In truth, even if he went and told Ganwu Kingdom Master and the others that his teacher was the Dark Lord, they wouldn't have any idea who that was.

Within the human race, it was actually the Dark Marquis Lord who was far more famous.