First Arrival

"Tsk tsk, not bad at all. Much better than mine." The bald-headed Thor exclaimed in admiration.

"You call this 'not bad'? I heard that when Senior Luo Feng was in the Primordial Secret Realm, he was already living on a star fragment. I don't even know how impressive the Original Secret Realm must be." Li Dui shook his head and said.

Thor glared at him. "Why are you comparing yourself to a freak? Compare yourself to me. Look at Hong and me. We've been here for nearly ten thousand years, and I haven't even lived in the main building yet. Hong only moved in recently. Sigh~ come to think of it, you little brat are a bit of a freak yourself. So young, yet already much stronger than us."

"Hahaha~ no, no, you can't say that. Not that much stronger." Li Dui put on a smug, punchable expression.

Although Hong and Thor were both in the Battle Axe Secret Realm, they had entered through the internal recruitment channel. It was the kind of path where elite talents from various grassroots levels were funneled upward layer by layer. They could only be considered reserve core members, barely earning the right to be addressed as "Your Highness" by staff and servants.

To truly become one of the three thousand core members at the Universe Rank, one still had to pass the qualification battles held every hundred years and secure a designated ranking.

However, Hong and Thor's aptitude for law cultivation was indeed average. After ten thousand years, Thor was still struggling at the third level, with some distance left to go before passing. Hong was slightly better, and his path as an illusionist was quite unique, giving him an advantage in combat. He had moved into the main building over a thousand years ago.

Li Dui, however, knew that while these two brothers were slow, they were persistent. They could cultivate indefinitely without hitting bottlenecks. Otherwise, one wouldn't have eventually become a True God, and the other a Universe Master.

Not to mention the future, just look at the present: in reality, their teachers were a Universe Master and a Venerable, respectively. The surface-level status was just for show.

Li Dui's shameless demeanor amused Hong. After laughing for a while, he asked, "You pondered the Giant Axe Chaos Stele once more before leaving Chaos City. How is it? Do you have the confidence to keep your status in the qualification battle a hundred years from now?"

Li Dui pretended to ponder for a moment before answering, "A hundred years from now? I should at least be able to pass the fourth level."

Hong's eyes lit up. If he had that kind of progress, even if he dropped out, he could quickly climb back up. "That's good. The emergence of a genius like you is a great joy for our Earthling lineage."

Thor also looked pleasantly surprised. "Just passing the fourth level isn't safe. You need to go as far as possible. Among the reserves, there are quite a few old guys who have also reached the fourth level."

There were quite a lot of reserve members in the Battle Axe Secret Realm—roughly ten times the number of official members.

Reserve members were a unique feature of the outermost secret realms. In the higher-level War Axe Secret Realm, there was no such thing as a reserve member. Their rights and benefits were far inferior to those of official members.

The race likely arranged it this way to avoid missing any hidden gems, gathering all talents with potential to nurture them. If you could climb up, you would; if you truly couldn't, then so be it.

As the three were chatting, Dafika came over to say that the administrator Luosen had brought some people to deliver items.

Li Dui immediately understood that the Nutrient Pod he had requested had arrived.

A Nutrient Pod could rapidly strengthen the body up to the peak of the Universe Rank, saving a great deal of cultivation time.

Seeing that Li Dui had matters to attend to, Hong and Thor took their leave. Since they were all in the Battle Axe Secret Realm now, it would be easy to meet again.

After some installation and calibration, he finally lay down in the pod. Just as he began to enjoy the pleasure of the cold nutrient fluid enhancing his body's cells, Xiao Le spoke up: "Master, your father is requesting a call."

I'm busy enough as it is, Li Dui grumbled to himself. His actions, however, were swift; he obediently went to the Virtual Universe to accept the call.

Although he didn't feel deeply attached to his original self's parents, he accepted them quite naturally. However, two other people made Li Dui feel a bit uneasy.

That was the original Li Dui's wife and son.

Yes, the original Li Dui was already over three hundred years old and was considered an outstanding genius among Earthlings. He had reached the Star Rank at over a hundred years old and didn't marry until he was over two hundred. He had been very disciplined, truly focused on cultivation.

If you looked around, many Planet Rank Earthlings, or even ordinary wealthy people, had wives and concubines galore.

When Li Dui first transmigrated about a year ago, he met his family for the first time. A man nearly a hundred years old called him "Father," which made him feel incredibly awkward. He himself had only lived for twenty-some years.

Fortunately, after meeting every few years, he gradually got used to it.

To this day, with thirty years in Chaos City equaling a hundred years outside, his son Li Xuan was nearly two hundred years old. This son was actually quite good, with no messy habits. Since he was small, he had taken Li Dui as his role model and focused on cultivation, claiming that like his father, he wouldn't discuss marriage until he reached the Star Rank.

It was just a pity that Li Xuan's aptitude couldn't compare to Li Dui's. He only advanced to the Star Rank at over 150 years old. Then, under the impatient arrangement of his grandparents, he quickly got married. A few years later, he had a boy.

The call lasted over two hours. His parents and wife were very concerned about his situation in the Battle Axe Secret Realm, asking about every little detail.

Over the years, Li Dui had given his family about three Hunyuan Units of wealth.

His grandson had finally broken through to the Planet Rank not long ago and could log into the Virtual Universe.

Seeing his grandson for the first time, Li Dui wasn't stingy. He transferred another Hunyuan Unit, telling his family not to be frugal and to try their best to build a solid foundation and steadily advance to the Star Rank.

By now, he didn't have much cash left.

He had received a total of 10 Chaos Units as a bonus. He left 0.5 Hunyuan Units when he left home, and with subsequent transfers, he had given away about 4.5 Hunyuan Units in total.

Over these years, Li Dui hadn't spent much in reality, but his expenses in the Virtual Universe were not small—he had spent nearly three Hunyuan Units. Now, he only had two-point-something Hunyuan left.

Fortunately, he still had some points on hand.

During his time in Chaos City, he had passed the third level of the Heavenly Bridge, earning ten times the points, totaling 7,000 points.

He had spent 1,000 points to buy the Drifting Blood Manual, and the rest were still in his possession.

The importance of points went without saying. No one would ever complain about having too many. As for self-improvement, Li Dui didn't need anything else; his best method of improvement currently relied on his own hard work guided by the Hula Hoop.

In this regard, even the Giant Axe Chaos Stele was far inferior to the Hula Hoop. Could points even buy anything better than a Chaos Stele?

Even the Space-Time Essays that Luo Feng had exchanged for back then were worth a hundred billion points, yet their effect was less than 10% of the Chaos Stele.

Beyond that, everything else required points: weapons, equipment, plant life, metal life, spaceships, detectors, and so on. When going out for entertainment or adventure, wouldn't one need a reliable set of gear?

In the internal system, there was no "most expensive," only "more expensive."

If you found the most expensive item, it simply meant your authority wasn't high enough to see anything better.