The Old Man's Pressure

"Choose your opponent. A warrior, a spiritual controller, or a spiritual illusionist—pick one. Defeat your opponent, and you pass the first layer of the Heavenly Ruins Bridge." Ahead, a massive churning cloud of mist issued a cold, mechanical voice.

According to the rules, the mist would only disperse if he defeated his opponent, allowing him to move forward.

"I choose... the warrior." Qin Ming said calmly. He walked the path of a warrior; there was no need to consider the others.

From the mist, a blob of black liquid immediately flew out, rapidly coalescing in midair into a mysterious humanoid figure wearing a black mask. This person carried a war blade on his back, exuded a sharp aura, and fixed Qin Ming with a cold, piercing gaze.

"Pick your weapon." The black-clad figure's voice was indifferent.

"Pretty aloof, huh." Qin Ming casually selected a single-handed sword.

"Come on."

"Hmph!" The black-clad figure let out a cold snort, and his form moved in an instant!

The bridge deck shook beneath his feet as he shot toward Qin Ming like a black bolt of lightning, simultaneously drawing the blade from his back. A fierce, intersecting slash of blade-light came cleaving down!

Yet...

A flash of sword-light.

Pfft!

Qin Ming merely raised his hand in a seemingly casual motion and thrust his sword. The tip, however, pierced through the gaps between the intersecting blade-light with pinpoint accuracy, driving straight into the black-clad figure's throat.

"How could..." The black-clad figure's eyes flew wide, filled with utter disbelief.

Before he could finish speaking, his form dissolved back into black liquid, flowing back into the white mist.

First layer, cleared.

Clean and decisive, without a shred of suspense.

Second layer, the opponent appeared—also taken down in one move.

Third layer, still one move.

Qin Ming's pace never faltered, as if he were strolling through his own backyard.

With each layer, the opponent's strength increased—their blade techniques grew more refined, their footwork more elusive—but before Qin Ming, they were all like paper.

Fourth layer, instant kill.

Fifth layer, instant kill.

Sixth layer, instant kill.

On the seventh layer of the Heavenly Ruins Bridge, the mist gathered once more.

When Qin Ming's figure appeared on the seventh-layer bridge deck, several hundred geniuses who had heard the news had already gathered on the island plaza.

They stared fixedly at the light path representing the "Heavenly Ruins Bridge." The light dot marking Qin Ming's position was climbing from the first layer upward at a jaw-dropping speed, with no hesitation whatsoever.

First layer... second layer... third layer...

With each layer he passed, a stifled gasp rippled through the plaza.

When the light dot violently broke through the sixth layer and came to a steady halt on the seventh, the entire plaza fell into dead silence.

Everyone held their breath, their eyes locked onto that light dot.

Seventh layer!

Qin Ming had already fought his way to the seventh layer! And every single layer had been... an instant kill!

This level of strength had completely exceeded their understanding of "Star Level," and even surpassed their imagination of what a "genius" could be.

Could the seventh layer stop him?

Or would it be... another instant kill?

The shock of the outside world had nothing to do with Qin Ming.

Seventh layer.

His opponent was a black-clad figure wielding a longsword, his swordsmanship fierce. He was no longer the kind of opponent from the first six layers that Qin Ming could casually dispatch in one move.

Qin Ming exchanged dozens of moves with him. Sword-light clashed, and the ripples of law vibrated across the bridge deck.

In the end, Qin Ming found an opening, swept his sword-edge wide, and shattered his opponent.

Eighth layer.

The opponent was stronger, his swordsmanship already quite refined, and his application of law more polished.

Qin Ming tangled with him for hundreds of moves before barely managing to defeat him.

This drew gasps of amazement from the watching geniuses, who also secretly breathed a sigh of relief—at least it wasn't an instant kill anymore. It seemed Qin Ming had finally met a real challenge.

Ninth layer.

The opponent's strength reached a new height. Qin Ming fought fiercely for a long time, ultimately "losing by a hair," forced back by a single sword-strike, his form dissipating on the Heavenly Ruins Bridge.

On the island plaza, an uproar erupted.

"Whew, finally, finally—I thought he was going to push all the way through the ninth floor."

"The ninth floor! Stopped at the ninth floor!"

"Too strong! How many years has he been in Chaos City? And he's already made it to the ninth floor! Most of our batch haven't even cleared the first floor yet!"

"Even though he lost on the ninth floor, this result is already heaven-defying!"

"As expected of the number one monster in the overall rankings..."

Voices of admiration, shock, and awe rang out without end.

Only Qin Ming himself knew that the "hard-fought battles" and "narrow defeats" from the seventh to the ninth floor were nothing more than deliberately controlled results.

With his true comprehension of the laws and combat power, starting from the seventh floor, he still had the ability to achieve "instant kills."

In fact, he was confident he could keep pushing through until he reached a level far beyond his current realm.

But there was no need.

The tree that stands out in the forest is the first to be felled by the wind. He had already shone brightly enough in the Genius Tournament, even catching the attention of Chaos City Lord himself.

In Chaos City, it was enough to show a moderate amount of ability—there was no need to expose all his cards and potential at once. Especially the depth of his law fusion, which went far deeper than outsiders could see.

Hiding his talent was for a safer, longer road ahead.

"Stopping at the ninth floor is still a decent result." Qin Ming's figure reformed on the plaza, his expression calm, as if the "hard-fought battle" just now had hardly drained his energy.

He glanced at Bafen, the Guardian of the Heavenly Bridge dimension, gave a slight nod in acknowledgment, and prepared to leave.

The geniuses around him cast complex looks his way—some worshipful, some envious, and some deeply self-deprecating.

Qin Ming paid them no mind. With a thought, his figure vanished from the Heavenly Bridge dimension.

He knew that this result was enough to draw some attention, but not so much as to cause an uproar. Just right.

The news that Qin Ming had stopped at the ninth floor of the Heavenly Bridge swept through Chaos City like a hurricane in an extremely short time, and quickly spread through the Virtual Universe to every secret realm of the Virtual Universe Company, even startling many geniuses from past years.

The End-of-the-World Secret Realm, the Heaven and Earth District, the Primordial Beginning District, the Primal District... almost every genius paying attention to this matter—whether newly promoted or "old-timers" who had cultivated for thousands or tens of thousands of years—was stunned speechless by the news for a long while.

"The... the ninth floor? How long has he been in Chaos City?"

"We've trained for thousands of years and are still stuck struggling on the sixth or seventh floor, and he's already made it to the ninth floor?"

"This gap... how can it be this huge?"

Originally, some of the more arrogant geniuses, especially the proud "old-timers" in the Primordial Beginning District and the Primal District, had admitted Qin Ming's talent with their words but weren't entirely convinced in their hearts. They thought it was just luck or a bit higher comprehension—even if he would be strong in the future, they were still stronger than him right now.

But Qin Ming's result in the Heavenly Bridge this time was like a basin of ice water poured over their heads, carrying a bone-piercing chill that instantly extinguished all their unrealistic fantasies and flukes.

It wasn't just a lead—it was a complete, chasm-level crushing!

It was a despair-inducing gap, as if separated by different dimensions of life!

Especially the "old-timers" at the Primal District's Universe level—at this moment, they felt an unprecedented pressure and chill.