End-of-the-World Secret Realm

Standing outside the Heaven-Reaching Tower, Yin Congyang looked up at its towering form, a smile spreading across his face.

After passing the 61st floor, he had fought a grueling battle against the opponent on the 62nd floor, ultimately using a soul secret technique to influence the enemy's consciousness before killing him at close range. But on the 63rd floor, he failed.

It didn't matter, though. He had cleared the 61st floor, which meant he could directly enter the Virtual Universe Company's End-of-the-World Secret Realm.

After he came out of the tower, the training camp's intelligent system had already sent him an email, confirming that he had broken through the 61st floor of the Heaven-Reaching Tower and was qualified to enter the End-of-the-World Secret Realm. The Virtual Universe Company would dispatch a spaceship to arrive at the training camp in three days, and he was told to prepare.

When his consciousness returned to reality, he received a communication from the head instructor, Feilaoshen, asking him to come see him immediately.

In truth, with his current soul strength, it would have been easy to split off a sliver of consciousness into the Virtual Universe while staying awake in reality. But since he was in the critical moment of storming the Heaven-Reaching Tower, he had poured all his mental focus into it.

Back in that spacious office, Feilaoshen looked at him with a complicated expression.

"I knew from the first day you entered the training camp that you had extraordinary talent, but your rate of progress still caught me off guard. I thought you would win in the century-spanning competition decades from now and then enter the core layer. I never imagined you could clear the 61st floor of the Heaven-Reaching Tower. This proves you already have the strength to rank among the top hundred Star Level geniuses of the universe's humans. Congratulations, kid!"

He paused, then continued, "In three days, the Virtual Universe Company will dispatch an F-Grade spaceship to take you to the End-of-the-World Secret Realm. The journey is long, taking over five years, so you'd better break through to Universe Level within those five years. That way, once you arrive at the End-of-the-World Secret Realm, you can immediately apply for a Nutrition Chamber to raise your body to Universe Level nine."

"But there's a problem. Every core layer member gets one chance to go to the Initial Universe for enlightenment. However, the Genius Tournament was less than fifty years ago, and those geniuses are still in the Initial Universe. The next entry to the Initial Universe will be in fifty or sixty years. So you might have to stay in the End-of-the-World Secret Realm for decades before you can enter the Initial Universe alongside the elite geniuses from the Virtual Universe Company and the Giant Axe Dojo who win in the next competition."

Feilaoshen watched Yin Congyang listening attentively, picked up his cup from the table, took a sip, and said with slight regret, "The Qingnang Training Camp is extremely far from the End-of-the-World Secret Realm, so the journey will take a long time. That's bad news, but there's worse news. The End-of-the-World Secret Realm is even farther from the Virtual Universe Company headquarters—the entrance to the Initial Universe—than the Qingnang Secret Realm is from the End-of-the-World Secret Realm. So both trips will cost you a lot of time..."

He suddenly smiled again. "I've said so much bad news, so let me give you some good news. Your previous Student Points were just under ten thousand. Adding the reward points from this Heaven-Reaching Tower run, you now have just under twenty thousand. These Student Points can be exchanged for core member points at a ratio of ten to one. So even though you haven't reached the End-of-the-World Secret Realm yet, you already have 1,970 points. These points can buy you far more things than Student Points."

"The Virtual Universe Company's treasure vault has everything you could want—but it requires points!"

"On the way to the End-of-the-World Secret Realm, you can enter the End-of-the-World Region of the Virtual Universe and use your points to exchange for the secret techniques and scriptures you want to cultivate. That way, you won't waste time..."

He let out a light sigh and spoke with a hint of earnestness, "The core members of the Virtual Universe Company are honored, but the truly honored ones are the members of the Primal Region and the Primordial Beginning Region. You should know, the four secret realms are all about the same size, but the Primal Region has only a little over a hundred people, the Primordial Beginning Region just over a thousand, the Heaven and Earth Region tens of thousands, and the End-of-the-World Region... ha, tens of millions..."

"Among those tens of millions, World Lords are the most numerous, Domain Lords next, and Universe Level the least. Everyone eliminated from the first three regions gets swept into the End-of-the-World Region..."

"So, kid!" Feilaoshen stared at him with blazing eyes. "As an elite from the Qingnang Training Camp, I hope the End-of-the-World Region is just your starting point. Don't slack off. There are harder roads ahead for you to climb. When you one day reach the peak, you'll know how magnificent the view is from the summit..."

Yin Congyang stood solemnly, bowed respectfully, and said, "Thank you for your earnest teachings, Head Instructor. Congyang will keep them in his heart and will climb upward step by step, daring not to slack off. If one day Congyang can stand at the summit and look down upon all, he will return to drink with you, Senior, to repay your care and kindness!"

Feilaoshen nodded with satisfaction, waved his hand, and said, "Go. The path to strength is full of dangers. Weigh them yourself. Don't die on the way..."

Yin Congyang bowed once more, then turned and left.

Afterward, he said goodbye to the friends he had made over the past few decades. He also went to the Planetary Level training camp to bid farewell to the four instructors, Zi, Bai, Jin, and Qing. When they learned he had cleared the 61st floor of the Heaven-Reaching Tower and directly advanced to core member status, they were all happy for him. The Golden Lion instructor even clapped him on the shoulder and shouted in praise.

In the vast, boundless Dark Universe, amidst scattered points of light, a butterfly-shaped spaceship was racing forward at dozens of times the speed of light.

In the largest cabin, a middle-aged human with a single horn on his head and an extremely robust build was speaking to Yin Congyang with a smile.

"My name is Steven. I'm a Domain Lord from the End-of-the-World Secret Realm. Just call me Mr. Steven. Since we're both members of the End-of-the-World Secret Realm, there's no need for formal titles," Steven said with a self-deprecating laugh. "If you run into someone from the Heaven and Earth, Primordial Beginning, or Primal Regions, we End-of-the-World members have to address them as 'Your Highness'..."

Yin Congyang smiled back and replied, "I must thank you this time, Mr. Steven, for letting me hitch a ride on your spaceship to the End-of-the-World Secret Realm. Your ship is F-Grade, incredibly fast in the Dark Universe. If I had taken my own ship, who knows how long it would have taken to get there."

Steven was a little proud. "My ship is indeed fast. I just exchanged points for it after completing a chain mission at the Domain Lord level. As luck would have it, I was near the Qingnang Secret Realm and needed to return to the End-of-the-World Secret Realm after finishing my mission, so I took on this escort task on the side. Consider it some extra income, haha..."

"By the way, do you want to rest, or shall we enter the Virtual Universe now?" Steven asked. "The escort mission comes with an explanation task. I'll go over everything you need to know about the End-of-the-World Region, then take you to meet Mr. Moore, the steward of the End-of-the-World Region. He'll assign you a residence and training grounds."

Yin Congyang nodded. "I don't need rest. I'll trouble you, Mr. Steven."

He then split off a sliver of consciousness, connected to the Virtual Universe, and his Optical Computer, already authorized, directly transmitted him to the Virtual Universe Company's virtual headquarters.

A towering floating mountain, shrouded in mist, loomed immense.

On the mountain, a figure appeared on a bluestone path. It was Yin Congyang.

"Yin Congyang, over here." A voice came from afar. It was Steven.

Yin Congyang ran over to Steven and couldn't help but exclaim in awe, "What a towering mountain. It must be bigger than most planets in reality."

"Haha, that's right," Steven said with some pride. "This mountain floating in the mist is called 'Yuxiang Mountain.' It's nearly ninety thousand kilometers in diameter, indeed larger than some planets in the universe."

"This entire dimensional space is the Virtual Universe Company's headquarters in the Virtual Universe. Compared to the real headquarters, the virtual one is livelier. Yuxiang Mountain is divided into five regions: the Primal Region, the Primordial Beginning Region, the Heaven and Earth Region, the End-of-the-World Region, and the Public Region. Each region is about the same size, corresponding to the members of each region. The Public Region is for commerce and entertainment. Members of all four regions can enter the Public Region, but members of one region cannot enter another."

Standing on a steep rock, the two gazed into the distance at an enormous island in the mist, surrounded by lightning.

"That's Thunder Island, where Immortals and above reside, so it's also called Immortal Island. It's a hundred or a thousand times larger than Yuxiang Mountain... I wonder if I'll ever set foot on Thunder Island..." Steven first introduced it to Yin Congyang, then muttered to himself.

Yin Congyang shook his head inwardly. The members of the End-of-the-World Region—some had never advanced since entering, while most were eliminated from the Heaven and Earth Region. Compared to the Primal and Primordial Beginning Regions, their potential and talent were far inferior. Many had already lost absolute confidence in their own futures.

Take the man before him, for example. A Domain Lord who completed a chain mission and used his precious points to exchange for an F-Grade spaceship instead of something helpful for cultivation. To Yin Congyang, that was a sign of complacency.

But everyone has their own ambitions, and Yin Congyang wasn't the type to speak rashly to someone he had just met. There was no need.

After a tour, Steven led Yin Congyang to find Moore, the steward of the End-of-the-World Region. Moore was a powerful World Lord who had gained recognition from the laws, with a lightning mark on his brow.

Moore checked Yin Congyang's authorization and arranged a residence for him. Though it wasn't as spacious as the villa at the Qingnang Training Camp, it was much better than he had imagined.

His assigned residence was Building 237, Room 1501. Each floor had only four units, one in each corner, and each building had over a thousand floors.

There were over ten thousand such residential buildings in the End-of-the-World Region.

Each unit was nearly a thousand square meters, with a living room, a reception room, and so on. The largest was undoubtedly the training room, over 800 square meters, with a ceiling height of ten meters. He felt it would be sufficient for his usual axe practice.

Yin Congyang had no high expectations for his residence in the End-of-the-World Region, because he didn't plan to stay there long. In a few decades, he would go to Chaos City with the next batch of elite geniuses. His plan was to advance to the Heaven and Earth Secret Realm in the next secret realm qualification battle. If his strength wasn't enough, he would definitely advance in the qualification battle after returning from Chaos City.