Chapter 16

Therefore, unlike the other immortals who immediately fixed their eyes on the leaderboard from the start, Thirteen did not.

Hearing the crowd's discussion, his heart stirred. He immediately pulled up the real-time rankings and surveillance footage of the Trial Space.

At a single glance, even with his marquis-level immortal composure, his pupils couldn't help but contract slightly.

There, at the top of the leaderboard, behind the name "Qin Ming (Ganwu Universe Kingdom)," the points had already reached an astonishing number, and they were still climbing steadily upward.

More importantly, there was the display of trial progress!

Qin Ming had already passed the third Trial Tower and was now advancing toward the fourth!

As for the genius ranked second, he was still on the first floor of the third Trial Tower, his progress lagging by an entire tower or more!

This gap was no longer just a "lead"—it was a near-crushing chasm of dominance!

Thirteen silently watched the young figure on the light screen, strolling leisurely through the Trial Tower, casually obliterating wave after wave of guardians with every gesture. The half-joking, half-serious "accusations" and exclamations of the other immortals echoed in his ears.

His fingers, gripping the armrest of his seat, unconsciously tightened slightly.

This time... the Ganwu Universe Kingdom seemed to have really struck gold?

No, this was more than gold. This was clearly a dragon about to soar from its abyss!

He took a deep breath, suppressing the turmoil within, and forced his face to maintain an expression as calm as an ancient well. He merely snorted lightly: "Making a fuss over nothing. The geniuses of my Ganwu Universe Kingdom naturally have their extraordinary qualities."

But inside, his mind was churning like a storm, his gaze locked tightly onto that young man named Qin Ming.

This kid... just how much of his strength had he hidden during the preliminaries?

Thirteen refused to believe that Qin Ming could have improved this much in just four years. The only explanation was that Qin Ming had only revealed the tip of the iceberg in the preliminaries, and even that had been enough to leave him without opponents.

"Heh, Thirteen, you're still putting on airs!" A short, stocky immortal with skin like dark red rock grinned, his voice booming with undisguised teasing.

"That's right, you're usually so quiet, but it turns out you've been hiding a treasure this deep!" Another immortal woman, graceful and surrounded by a faint shimmer of starlight, chimed in with a laugh.

The immortal leaders present were mostly on par with each other in strength, at least ostensibly at the same level.

Moreover, as perennial leaders of their respective universe kingdoms' Genius Tournament teams, they had experienced countless tournaments together and were thoroughly familiar with one another, leaving little room for restraint in their words.

Seeing the Ganwu Universe Kingdom suddenly produce a genius with such an exaggerated performance, while their leader Thirteen maintained a calm demeanor of "just business as usual," naturally invited a barrage of teasing.

Thirteen, besieged by the group's back-and-forth jabs, kept his face hidden beneath his war helm, expression unreadable. But the cold, harsh aura around him seemed to soften by just a trace.

He remained seated, merely grumbling in reply: "Luck, just luck."

But whether his heart was truly as calm as his surface suggested, only he himself knew.

At this moment, Thirteen's attention had shifted entirely to the figure steadily advancing through the fourth Trial Tower.

Inside the Trial Space, the first Trial Tower, first floor, desert world.

Ruoxi was carefully hiding behind a sand dune.

As an illusionist, facing the tens of thousands of Blood-haired Mammoths on this floor—beasts that only knew how to charge madly with almost zero soul defense—she actually had the ability to kill them quickly. But she didn't.

She chose a more cunning approach, one more suited to an illusionist's traits, to maximize the "exploitation of the rules."

Ruoxi cast exquisite illusions, creating false movements and auras to constantly lure and split off small groups of the herd. Then, silently and one by one, she controlled them, guiding them to slaughter each other or fall into a deep slumber from the illusions.

The process was slow, but steady. Most importantly, she could drag out the full ten days to the maximum.

For an illusionist like her, this Trial Tower—which purely tested head-on confrontation and killing efficiency—was extremely disadvantageous.

No matter how strong a star-level illusionist was, their soul power had limits. The number of targets they could simultaneously control and influence was finite.

Facing tens of thousands of frenzied beasts head-on was far from her forte.

But she was the only daughter of a king-level immortal, gifted beyond compare, with endless resources, and her true combat strength far exceeded her peers.

It was just that she was too young—only a few years older than Qin Ming—and lacked experience and accumulation. Otherwise, securing a spot in the top thousand would not have been difficult.

Her current tactic of stalling for time was precisely to improve her strength as much as possible in a relatively safe environment, preparing for a push toward a higher ranking.

Just as she used an illusion to guide three mammoths into colliding with each other, annihilating them simultaneously—

A thought suddenly flashed unbidden through her mind: Qin Ming's plain face, and his half-joking yet utterly serious words: "My goal is first place in the finals."

On a whim, she diverted a sliver of her focus to glance at the real-time overall rankings scrolling on the screen of her wrist guard.

Just one glance.

Her entire body froze instantly. Her beautiful, mismatched eyes flew wide open, pupils contracting. Even the illusion she was maintaining wavered, nearly detected by a nearby mammoth.

At the very top of the ranking list, that person's name now hung with an almost arrogant dominance!

First Place: Qin Ming (Ganwu Universe Kingdom)

Trial Progress: Fourth Trial Tower, Third Floor

Points: 37,550,000

And the second place? Still struggling in the middle of the third Trial Tower, with a point gap that formed a despairing chasm!

"The... the fourth tower?" Ruoxi's cherry lips parted slightly as she murmured, her voice filled with disbelief.

She had been giving it her all, using every trick, carefully "grinding time" on the first floor of the first tower—and that guy... had already fought his way to the fourth tower?

The gap between them was no longer just "leading"—it was a dimensional crushing!

Thinking back to how she had so confidently declared she believed he could take first place, it now seemed that perhaps it wasn't blind trust at all, but rather an intuition she herself hadn't fully understood?

Shock, bewilderment, an indescribable flutter, and an inexpressible sense of urgency at being left far behind instantly flooded her heart.

She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down, and her gaze steadied once more.

"It seems... I need to work even harder." Ruoxi looked toward the distant, still surging beast horde, her eyes sharpening.

That guy had already soared to a height she could hardly imagine.

If she still harbored certain vague notions she herself wasn't entirely clear about...

Then she absolutely could not fall too far behind!

At the very least, she had to give it her all and break into the top thousand!

She had to earn the right to stand a little closer to him, to see the scenery he saw!

"For sure... this time, I must enter the top thousand!"