First

So, unlike the other Immortals, Thirteen hadn't kept his eyes glued to the rankings from the start.

Hearing everyone's discussion, he stirred and immediately brought up the Trial Space's live rankings and surveillance feeds.

At the sight of them, even his mind, tempered as a Marquis Immortal's, couldn't help but contract his pupils slightly.

At the top of the rankings, beside "Qin Ming (Ganwu Universe Kingdom)," his score had already reached an astonishing number—and it was still climbing at a steady pace.

More importantly, there was the display showing his trial progress!

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

The genius in second place was still on the first floor of the third Trial Tower. Qin Ming had left him more than an entire Trial Tower behind!

This wasn't merely a "lead" anymore. It was an almost overwhelming gap!

Thirteen watched silently as the young man strode leisurely through the Trial Tower, making each wave of guardians vanish with a casual gesture. Around him, the other Immortals' half-serious "protests" and exclamations rang in his ears.

His fingers tightened slightly around the armrest without him realizing it.

This time... had the Ganwu Universe Kingdom really struck gold?

No. This was more than gold—it was a dragon about to soar into the heavens!

He took a deep breath, suppressing his shock, and tried to keep his face as calm as still water. He merely snorted. "You're making a fuss over nothing. The geniuses of my Ganwu Universe Kingdom are naturally exceptional."

But inside, his thoughts were already in turmoil, and his gaze remained fixed on the young man named Qin Ming.

That kid... how much strength had he really hidden during the preliminaries?

Thirteen didn't believe Qin Ming had improved this much in four years. The only explanation was that Qin Ming had shown just a glimpse of his abilities during the preliminaries, and even that had been enough to leave him without a rival.

"Heh, Thirteen, look at you, putting on airs!" said an Immortal with a short, stocky build and skin like dark-red rock. He grinned, his booming voice full of undisguised amusement.

"Exactly! You're usually so quiet. Who knew you'd been hiding such a treasure?" chimed in another Immortal, a graceful woman surrounded by a faint starlight.

The Immortal leaders present were mostly evenly matched in strength. At least on the surface, they all belonged to the same tier.

Moreover, as the longtime leaders of their respective Universe Kingdoms' Genius Tournaments, they had been through countless competitions together. They knew one another well, so they spoke with few reservations.

Now that a genius with such an outrageous performance had suddenly emerged from the Ganwu Universe Kingdom, and leader Thirteen was still acting as if it were nothing special, naturally, everyone took turns teasing him.

As the others "ganged up" on him, Thirteen's face remained hidden beneath his battle helmet. Yet the cold, murderous aura surrounding him seemed to soften ever so slightly.

He stayed seated and rumbled back, "Just luck, that's all."

Only he knew whether he was truly as calm as he appeared.

By now, Thirteen had turned all his attention to the figure steadily advancing through the fourth Trial Tower.

Inside the Trial Space, the first floor of the first Trial Tower—a desert world.

Ruoxi was hiding carefully behind a sand dune.

As an illusionist, she could have quickly killed the tens of thousands of Blood-haired Mammoths on the first floor. They knew nothing but how to charge in a frenzy, and their soul defenses were practically nonexistent. But she hadn't.

Instead, she had chosen a cleverer approach, one better suited to an illusionist, making the most of the rules.

Ruoxi cast exquisite illusions to create false movements and traces of energy, repeatedly luring off small groups of beasts and separating them from the herd. Then she quietly controlled them one by one, leading them to turn on each other or fall asleep in an illusion.

The process was slow, but steady. Most importantly, it let her make the most of the full ten days.

For an illusionist like her, a Trial Tower that tested only frontal combat and killing efficiency was extremely unfavorable.

Even the soul power of a Star Level illusionist had its limits. There was only so much she could control and influence at once.

Facing thousands upon thousands of frenzied beasts head-on was not her strength.

But she was the only daughter of a King Rank Immortal, blessed with extraordinary talent and limitless resources. Her true combat strength far surpassed that of others at her level.

She was simply too young, not much older than Qin Ming. Her experience and accumulated strength were still limited. Otherwise, making the top thousand would have been no trouble.

She was buying time now so she could improve her strength as much as possible in relative safety and prepare to push for a higher ranking.

Just as she had used an illusion to make three mammoths crash into each other and perish at the same time, Qin Ming's calm face suddenly came to mind, along with his half-joking yet remarkably earnest words: "My goal is to take first place in the finals."

On a whim, she spared a sliver of her attention to glance at the live overall rankings scrolling across the screen on her wrist guard.

Just one look.

She froze. Her beautiful, mismatched eyes widened, and her pupils contracted. The illusion she was maintaining wavered, nearly alerting a nearby mammoth.

At the very top of the rankings, that person's name now sat in first place with almost overbearing certainty!

First place: Qin Ming (Ganwu Universe Kingdom)

Trial progress: Fourth Trial Tower, third floor

Score: 37,550,000

The second-place contestant was still struggling midway through the third Trial Tower, and the gap between their scores had widened into a despairing chasm!

"T-the... fourth tower?" Ruoxi murmured, her cherry lips slightly parted, her voice full of disbelief.

She had been giving it everything she had, using every clever trick she could think of, and was still carefully "buying time" on the first floor of the first tower. And that guy... had already fought his way to the fourth tower?

This wasn't a mere lead. It was an overwhelming gap on an entirely different level!

Thinking back to how confidently she had said she believed he could take first place, she wondered if it hadn't been blind faith at all, but an instinct she herself didn't fully understand.

Shock, confusion, an inexplicable flutter in her heart, and a hard-to-describe urgency at being left so far behind flooded her all at once.

She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down, and her gaze grew determined again.

"Looks like... I'll have to work even harder." Ruoxi looked toward the still-surging beasts in the distance, her eyes sharpening.

That guy had already reached heights she could hardly imagine.

If she still harbored certain thoughts she herself might not even fully understand...

Then she absolutely couldn't let herself fall too far behind!

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

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

"I have to... This time, I have to make the top thousand!"