Shock

"Impossible! Check the scanner. See if Li Dui's ship is carrying a native World Lord." Someone reacted quickly.

Everyone immediately understood. Right—Li Dui was only at Universe Rank. How could he have earned recognition from a law?

And he hadn't reported being taken hostage. The only explanation was that he'd voluntarily brought a native World Lord out with him—and that native had happened to earn recognition from the Earth Origin Law just then.

The Double-Horned Domain Lord immediately checked the scanner.

It wasn't his personal scanner. It was high-end equipment provided by the Heavenly Eclipse Palace, specifically for monitoring missions.

The Double-Horned Domain Lord glanced at the data, swallowed, and turned to the others. "There's only one person in the cabin. Universe Rank."

The hall fell quiet.

Everyone here was a World Lord. They all understood what that meant.

"Is he from the Battle Axe Secret Realm?" It was the same person who'd reacted fastest before.

"Uh, yes. Li Dui ranked 3,000 in the Qualification Battle that just ended." Someone with quick fingers had already looked up his information.

"Damn." "X!" "**!" "Bleep!"

A wave of profanity swept through the hall.

"Has the Battle Axe Secret Realm ever produced a monster like this?" someone asked.

"How could it have?"

"I've never heard of anything like it."

"Definitely not the Battle Axe Secret Realm! If anyone's done this, they'd be from a place like the God Origin Secret Realm." Someone answered from experience.

"He's not even 500 years old." The quick-fingered guy continued spilling the details.

Another wave of profanity swept through the hall.

Everyone present was a Peak World Lord who'd earned recognition from an Origin Law.

But every one of them had only gained recognition after becoming a World Lord.

They'd heard of Domain Lord Rank experts who'd managed it, but those people had generally been cultivating for two or three hundred thousand years. The most recent was His Highness Luo Feng, disciple of a great Universe Master. Naturally, he was no ordinary person.

"Should we report this?" the Double-Horned Domain Lord asked.

The person in charge of the hall nodded. "That's right. I'll report it. Raise Li Dui's alert level. As long as he's outside the clouds, make sure he stays safe."

A yellow-brown droplet fell into Li Dui's body. For a brief moment, the experience of the Law Ocean repeated itself—only this time, it was the Earth Origin Law Ocean.

A yellow-brown Law Mark appeared between his brows. Li Dui had no intention of hiding this one. Earning recognition outside the Xueluo World was a public announcement to the observers.

He left his clone in the clouds, continuing to look as if he were cultivating, while his real body logged into the Virtual Universe.

He emailed Hong and Thor.

He emailed a few of his closest friends.

Then he sent a voice message to the group chat of three. "Luli, Shuiniu. Come to the Heavenly Bridge Plane."

"?" Luliduo replied in text.

"What? Can you clear the fifth level now? No way—you only cleared the fourth recently. Luli, come on. It'll be hilarious if he can't clear it."

"...I'm coming," Luliduo replied.

Li Dui rolled his eyes, unwilling to humor them. He'd show them soon enough.

He wanted his friends to witness the moment he took off.

Heavenly Bridge Plane.

When Guardian Bafen saw Li Dui approaching, he nodded. "Li Dui, no one's at the Giant Axe Heavenly Bridge. Go ahead."

Li Dui smiled. "All right, Guardian Bafen. Could you project my battle onto the screen? My friends will be coming to watch. Thank you."

Guardian Bafen chuckled. "So confident? All right, go on. I'll put it up." He, too, felt a flicker of interest.

Soon, those Li Dui had emailed began arriving, one after another, whenever they had time. They didn't see Li Dui himself, only his image flying across the fifth level of the Heavenly Bridge on the big screen.

Luliduo and Qianshui arrived. Gaido, who'd gotten there earlier, hurried over to greet Qianshui.

Qianshui asked curiously, "Little Gaido, what are you doing here? Have you made progress too?"

Gaido shook his head repeatedly, pointed at the big screen, then at the dozen or so people gathered together. "Brother Dui called us here."

"That brat! He went up before we got here." Qianshui ground her teeth, but her interest only grew. Li Dui was making such a big fuss; this couldn't be ordinary.

On the screen, Li Dui reached the end of the fifth level and chose a warrior as his opponent.

The fifth-level Gatekeeper had only just formed and hadn't even had time to speak when Li Dui swung his blade. Terror flashed in the Gatekeeper's eyes. He hastily raised his axe to block, but it did nothing. The single strike cleaved him apart.

He had cleared the fifth level.

"Whoa!" His friends erupted in an uproar.

Hong and Thor stared at each other, as if competing to see whose eyes could get bigger.

Luliduo was stunned.

Qianshui gaped, dumbfounded.

At the same time, in an isolated space within the Virtual Universe,

a petite woman radiating a murderous aura stopped in front of a grand hall and called out, "King Huansha requests an audience with the Venerable."

"Come in," came a cool voice from within.

King Huansha strode into the hall and bowed to Venerable Meng Yu, seated upon the throne. "Venerable, the Heavenly Eclipse Palace has sent word. Li Dui, a Universe Rank member of the Battle Axe Secret Realm, may have earned recognition from the Earth Origin Law."

As she spoke, she waved a hand, and an image appeared of Li Dui's ship wrapped in Origin Law energy.

"Oh?" Even Venerable Meng Yu, who usually showed no expression, seemed surprised.

"Go verify it," Venerable Meng Yu instructed.

"Yes, Venerable. I've just received an email from Guardian Bafen at the Heavenly Bridge. Li Dui cleared the fifth level of the Heavenly Bridge with a single strike," King Huansha said.

"Go take a look. Come back and report once you've verified it." Venerable Meng Yu closed her eyes and said no more.

By the time King Huansha teleported to the Heavenly Bridge Plane, Li Dui was already nearing the end of the sixth level on the big screen.

Li Dui's peers all recognized King Huansha. They hurried over to greet her.

King Huansha nodded in response, then didn't bother concealing her presence. She rose straight into the air and watched the big screen.

In the short time that followed, five more powerful figures, each radiating terrifying might, arrived one after another. They all went to King Huansha's side and spoke with her, but those below couldn't hear what they were saying.

By now, Li Dui's friends knew something was going on. Anyone who could interact with a King Rank Immortal as an equal was almost certainly just as powerful.

What were all these King Rank experts doing here? Watching someone at Universe Rank clear the Heavenly Bridge? What a joke.

Qianshui asked Luliduo, looking confused, "What did this brat do? Is something wrong?"

Luliduo shook her head. "Something's definitely going on, but it probably isn't bad."

Qianshui relaxed at that, then realized, "Right, right. If it were bad, they'd have gone to arrest him already. Why come to the Virtual Universe?"

On the screen, at the end of the sixth level, Li Dui again chose a warrior.

The Gatekeeper formed, seemingly annoyed that Li Dui had fought dirty on the previous level, tricking and ambushing an old Gatekeeper like him. This time, he didn't say a word and attacked Li Dui first.

Li Dui's expression stayed calm as he swept out the Giant Axe Second Blade.

That strike could clear the seventh level. How could the sixth-level Gatekeeper possibly withstand it? He shattered and vanished.

"Oh..."

"Whoa!"

The crowd below grew louder, and more people had gathered. Many of Li Dui's peers had received emails from Guardian Bafen saying that Li Dui had cleared the fifth level of the Heavenly Bridge with one strike and was fighting on the sixth. Many immediately dropped what they were doing and rushed over to watch.