A Light Immortal hovered in midair, his eyes faintly radiating an imposing pressure.
"The rules are clear to you all. The Qualification Battle begins."
The thousand-plus people below were instantly transported to their respective Battle Spaces. Only the one who had drawn a bye remained, standing there all alone.
Above a vast forest, a man with four arms, each gripping a long sword, saw Li Dui opposite him and inwardly cursed his bad luck. He had ranked 2,736th last time and had hoped to face a weaker opponent in the first battle, so he could get off to a winning start and take it as a good omen.
Who would have thought he'd run into this bastard right away? This newcomer had even made it into the top few hundred. In both talent and strength, he could only look up to him.
"Argh!" the four-armed man roared as he charged at Li Dui.
A flash of blade light. The four-armed man's figure gradually faded away.
Li Dui didn't even blink. His opponent was too weak to be worth sparring with.
The Ranking Battle required him to fight each of the more than 1,700 members once. Many of them were evenly matched.
If not for the Virtual Universe, just treating injuries and restoring genetic Origin Energy would take who knew how long.
Li Dui's battles ended quickly. As soon as another member became available, the system would assign him an opponent directly, unless he asked to take a break.
Before long, Li Dui was transported to the Battle Space again. This time, his opponent was from the same cohort.
None of the 781 people from this cohort had died over the past hundred years. Presumably, everyone had been taking relatively safe missions.
But they all knew the cruel truth. Other than Li Dui, the remaining 780 would inevitably be demoted to reserve members.
Knowing he was no match for Li Dui, his opponent said, "Please go easy on me," then unleashed his full strength in an attack. A moment later, he was cleaved apart by a single slash.
Battle after battle continued. Figures flickered across the plaza. All 1,777 people were fighting for their futures.
In just one hour, Li Dui had won 40 battles.
In fact, none of his fights had lasted more than a minute. Only one of the 40 had narrowly dodged Li Dui's first slash, only to be killed by the second.
But they were all members of the same organization, after all, so they inevitably chatted a little. Some tried to get on his good side, some wanted to get acquainted, and some were unconvinced—there were all sorts.
This level of fighting was no burden at all for Li Dui. In reality, he had only made a token pause in creating his secret technique. He still devoted most of his attention to studying the laws through the Hula Hoop.
At the end of the first day, the Immortal announced a half-day break.
By then, Li Dui had racked up 809 wins. Aside from him, the person who had fought the most battles had only fought 67.
After each fight, the others needed to rest, reflect, and think things over. When geniuses clashed, it was easy for sparks to fly.
Li Dui's performance left many people who watched his matches between their own battles speechless.
His attacks were simply too sharp, and his movement was too fast and too strange. In more than 800 battles, only a handful of opponents had managed to force him to parry.
Most of the time, he easily dodged his opponent's attacks, then killed them with a single slash from an unexpected angle.
The Light Immortal presiding over the battles had naturally noticed Li Dui's performance. He could tell that Li Dui was fighting with ease and hadn't shown his full strength. For a newcomer to the Battle Axe Secret Realm, Li Dui certainly deserved to be called a genius. It was rare for the Battle Axe Secret Realm to encounter someone like him.
But the Battle Axe Secret Realm itself wasn't especially prestigious. It wasn't as if Li Dui had left him all that astonished.
During the break, Gaido and the others gathered around Li Dui. Though they had long anticipated the outcome, his friends still seemed a little downcast.
Gaido was quite impressive. He had only made it through the third level of the Heavenly Bridge, yet he had managed to beat two veteran members who ranked near the bottom. When the secret markings on the skin of Augustus Star People lit up, they could boost their fighting strength somewhat.
For new members, being demoted in their first Qualification Battle wasn't just normal—it was inevitable. It wasn't as though there were that many Luo Fengs, right?
Li Dui couldn't do anything about it. All he could do was encourage his friends. "So what if you're demoted? It doesn't matter. The dozens from the War Axe Secret Realm will be knocked down too. Let's all work hard, and sooner or later, we'll fight our way back!"
Soon, the Ranking Battle resumed.
Li Dui continued his winning streak.
900 wins.
1,107 wins.
1,302 wins.
Just after entering a new battlefield, Li Dui was replying to his opponent when his eyes suddenly widened. In an instant, he vanished from the battlefield.
On the giant screen hanging in the void, the highest-ranked contestant, Li Dui, was listed with a record of 1,302 wins and 1 loss.
Tulan City, Xin'an Residence.
At that moment, the small courtyard where Li Dui had lived for decades was enveloped in an immense aura of law. Dark-silver secret markings flowed around it, and dark-silver light shone in every direction. The terrifying fluctuations of the Origin Law made everyone tremble with fear.
"What's going on?" Li Dui was startled too. His first thought had been that an Immortal Level powerhouse had come to attack him. But he immediately realized something was wrong. This aura of law had no hostile intent whatsoever.
The aura of law grew more and more intense, making the space around him rumble and tremble without pause.
Suddenly, a dark-silver droplet appeared out of thin air above Li Dui's head.
Drip.
It passed through his flesh and fell into his dantian.
Without a sound, the dark-silver droplet was absorbed by his dantian, tinting both it and his sea of consciousness with a trace of silver.
An abstruse dark-silver mark slowly emerged between his eyebrows.
So this was Space?
The whole of space looked different to him now. He could even clearly sense the tiniest fluctuations in space.
Li Dui understood.
The Origin Law of Space had acknowledged him!
He had actually been acknowledged by the Origin Law of Space!
Seventy-two years ago, his Law of Space had barely reached the level of someone who had passed the fourteenth level of the Heavenly Bridge. Although Li Dui had diligently studied it every day since then, he had always been dividing his attention among other pursuits. He hadn't devoted himself entirely to comprehending the Origin Law of Space.
In theory, the deeper one went, the harder it became. By his own estimate, he should have been at around the sixteenth level of the Heavenly Bridge.
All these years, he had been working things out on his own behind closed doors. He had hardly ever left the courtyard. So he had never unleashed the full might of the Origin Law of Space, nor had he ever fully used it to enhance his movement technique.
That was why he had so badly misjudged his own mastery of the laws.
That was it? How long had it even been?
109 years.
In just 109 years, I've reached the level of comprehension needed for King Rank? Li Dui stared blankly at the "Ring." This thing was way too powerful!
He had no time to marvel at it for long. After the droplet of Water of Origin Law merged with Li Dui's soul, his soul itself underwent a slight transformation.
Now, he could feel a call that shook his soul, like parents calling to their children.
He forced himself to resist the pull. There were still things he needed to take care of first.
In the distance, countless people were watching this awe-inspiring scene. Among them were five Domain Level experts.
The Domain Level experts most likely had communication devices, so it was already too late to silence them. Li Dui himself didn't mind; he could simply move somewhere else.
But the twelve maids in the courtyard had long since been stunned unconscious by the aura of law. They had taken care of him wholeheartedly for decades. If he left, they would certainly die.
Li Dui summoned his domain power, lifted the unconscious maids, and shot into the sky toward the clouds.
Of the five Domain Level experts present, three seemed to confer with one another. Then they all took off at once and raced after Li Dui.
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