Illusion Sea

Gulanxiu had just arrived at the main hall of the Virtual Universe Company headquarters when he saw a middle-aged Realm Lord with an aquiline nose approaching, smiling as he said to Gulanxiu, "Haha! Gulanxiu! I am Kasidela. Last time you came to Chaos City, I was at a critical moment in my cultivation and couldn't personally receive you—please forgive me! Come, I've prepared fine wine and good food on the ship; we can chat and eat along the way!"

A flicker of surprise passed through Gulanxiu's eyes. He hadn't expected that the one sent to escort him to the Fourth Secret Realm would be this Kasidela. Recalling how Kasidela hadn't even shown his face when sending him off before, yet now was so warm and enthusiastic, Gulanxiu couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

He knew all this change came because he had broken through the fifth level of the Sky Bridge, displaying considerable potential.

This world was just this realistic—when you were strong, everyone around you was good to you.

Thinking this, Gulanxiu still quickened his pace to meet him and said, "I understand! Your cultivation is important, sir; there's no need to delay over such a trivial matter."

Kasidela familiarly slung an arm around Gulanxiu's shoulder and laughed, "As fellow members of the Fourth Secret Realm, you don't need to stand on ceremony with me! I'm a few years older than you—if you don't mind, just call me big brother!"

Though Gulanxiu knew Kasidela's intentions, he still obediently called him big brother. After all, it was better to avoid trouble than to court it; since the other party had voluntarily backed down, it was only right to give him a way out.

Besides, there was no real enmity between them—Kasidela had simply looked down on him before, nothing major. There was no need to hold a grudge. He wasn't some Third Young Master who would declare the other had already earned death over something like this.

Kasidela warmly guided Gulanxiu into the ship's cabin, where a large table sat in the center.

Kasidela smiled at Gulanxiu and said, "Brother Gulanxiu, try this Light Spirit Brew. This wine has the effect of enhancing comprehension—though it's useless for you and me, the taste is excellent! I usually can't bear to drink it myself!"

With that, he handed over a bottle of crystal-clear liquor.

A smiling face was hard to refuse, and though Kasidela had lowered his posture, he was still a core Realm Lord of the Axe Fighting Arena, far stronger than Gulanxiu at this time. Thus, the two finished the meal in great harmony, and only three days later did they each return to their rooms to begin cultivation.

It was then that Gulanxiu noticed his permissions had changed—two more teleportable planes had appeared in the virtual universe.

"Let's go to the Immortal Altar first and try my force output," Gulanxiu murmured to himself.

Saying this, he connected to the virtual universe and teleported to the Immortal Altar plane.

The moment he arrived at the Immortal Altar plane, Gulanxiu felt the primal force within him vanish.

But Gulanxiu was a martial artist, with a much stronger adaptability than a spiritual psionicist; in just a moment, he had fully adjusted.

He then walked up to a human-shaped wooden target, on which was written in the universal common language: "Please, within one second, simultaneously strike the target using your head, elbow, hand, knee, and foot. Strength is calculated based on the lowest of the five strikes."

Gulanxiu took a deep breath and struck out abruptly.

"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"—five sounds rang out!

The target's screen displayed five numbers!

"63 units, 61 units, 60 units, 62 units, 59 units. Score: 59 units. Earned 1,000 points."

At the same time, Gulanxiu received a notification that the points had been credited!

Gulanxiu smiled at the screen before him, thinking to himself, "My force output isn't bad. 59 on the first try—that's much better than Luo Feng's level in the original story."

Of course, Gulanxiu also knew that Luo Feng's low output was because he primarily cultivated as a spiritual psionicist controller, not excelling in close combat early on—there was simply no comparison.

Still, Gulanxiu's result was quite impressive. Since reaching 100 in force output was a necessary condition for becoming an immortal, many Realm Lords certainly hadn't reached 100 yet. For Gulanxiu to hit nearly 60 on his first try was far from ordinary among the Cosmic Level core members of the entire Axe Fighting Arena.

"Again!" Gulanxiu muttered to himself.

Then, with a roar, he struck the target once more.

In an instant, five precise attacks landed on the target.

"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"—another five sounds.

The screen displayed: "58 units, 61 units, 63 units, 62 units, 60 units. Score: 58 units. Points: 0!"

"My foot attack went up, but my head attack actually dropped!" Gulanxiu said with a wry smile to himself.

But Gulanxiu wasn't discouraged. His attacks were already very close to 60 units; a few more tries should do it.

Sure enough, as Gulanxiu had expected, he succeeded on his fourth attempt.

The screen showed: "60 units, 60 units, 61 units, 62 units, 61 units! Score: 60 units. Reward: 2,000 points."

Gulanxiu smiled and said, "I got 3,000 points from the Immortal Altar—not bad. Next, let's try the Illusion Sea!"

With that, Gulanxiu initiated a teleport and arrived at the Illusion Sea plane.

In the Illusion Sea plane, black seawater churned into waves tens of meters high.

Without any hesitation, Gulanxiu stepped onto the first island.

Gulanxiu felt as if he had returned to Chaos City, where his teacher, Barbarian Hammer King, was earnestly explaining the second axe strike of the Giant Axe Chaos Tablet.

Gulanxiu smiled faintly and murmured, "Pretty convincing! But a fake is still a fake."

As his words fell, the illusion before him vanished, revealing the island's true appearance.

Gulanxiu took a step and arrived at the second island.

The illusion on the second island still couldn't affect Gulanxiu. In the blink of an eye, he broke through the first six islands like splitting bamboo and reached the seventh.

In Gulanxiu's perception, he instantly arrived on the star where the Giant Axe battle had once taken place. Standing before him was his thousandth opponent, Yanyan!

But this time was different from before—all of Gulanxiu's attacks were effortlessly blocked by Yanyan.

Yanyan across from him laughed and said, "Gulanxiu! You are indeed strong! But you will never be my match, so I'm sorry! Your record will stop at 999 wins and one loss! Today, I will use your blood to forge my path to invincibility!"

With that, this Yanyan actually pulled out a giant axe and swung it at Gulanxiu. Facing this axe strike, Gulanxiu felt he couldn't block it no matter what, because this was precisely the second axe of the Giant Axe Chaos Tablet, which he had yet to fully comprehend.

Yet, facing this lethal strike, Gulanxiu actually closed his eyes and murmured, "How fascinating! It can even stir memories deep in my soul. I've only felt this way about the second axe when viewing the Chaos Tablet—even when my teacher demonstrated it, it wasn't this clear. I never thought it would reappear in my mind this time. Too bad the time is too short!"

As Gulanxiu's words ended, the giant axe already above his head stopped instantly, and along with it, the Yanyan holding the axe shattered and vanished into the void.