The Preliminary

Heavenly Fire Divine Kingdom, Sacred Ground!

With crimson hair that blazed like fire, the Heavenly Fire Kingdom Lord stood above the grand hall. His voice rang out in every direction. "This battle is your chance to make your names known throughout the universe!

"Starting today, all the kingdom's secret realms will be open to participants without restriction. Anyone who passes the preliminaries will be accepted as my personal disciple!"

Below him, a host of young geniuses wreathed in flames raised their heads in unison. Their fighting spirit burned so fiercely in their eyes that it seemed almost tangible.

Yunmo Planet, inside a quiet palace!

Dressed in a black robe, Hu Yanbo gazed at the rankings floating in the air and murmured, "The Genius Tournament... I wonder whether any of my Yunmo Planet's disciples can break into the top thousand in the Ganwu Universe Kingdom."

"Master," Babata said, pursing his lips.

"I'm not trying to discourage you, but it's simply impossible. We'd be better off paying more attention to those who get eliminated. Maybe we'll find a few promising recruits."

"You..." Hu Yanbo gave Babata's head an exasperated rub.

"Can't you let me indulge in a little wishful thinking?"

Babata rolled his eyes and said nothing more.

Ganwu Secret Realm, inside a floating temple!

Draped in a starry robe, the Ganwu Kingdom Lord looked down upon tens of thousands of young geniuses, each radiating an astonishing aura.

"This battle concerns the honor of the Ganwu Universe Kingdom. At least half of the qualifying spots must go to those among you. If anyone makes it into the top ten of the final tournament, I will accept him as my personal disciple."

Just those few words made every genius in the hall breathe faster, their gazes as sharp as blades.

It wasn't just the Ganwu Universe Kingdom. The other High-level Universe Countries were also in turmoil.

Noah Universe Country, inside a temple woven entirely from beams of light.

The peerless genius Ailuos, known as the "Light God," slowly opened his eyes. Galaxies seemed to be born and die within them. He looked at the registration screen before him, his expression as calm as still water.

"Once every ten thousand years... I hope someone in this year's tournament can make me take things a little more seriously."

Wild Universe Kingdom, deep inside a blood-red arena.

A giant nearly three meters tall, his skin covered in dark red demonic markings, casually crushed the head of a star beast and licked the blood from the corner of his mouth. He looked up at the rankings in the air and grinned, revealing a row of chillingly white teeth.

"A fight? I love fighting. I just hope those so-called geniuses... have bones tough enough to break."

Time passed. As countless people across the many Universe Countries waited eagerly, registration for the Peak Genius Tournament finally came to a close.

Virtual Universe, an island on Wind Ridge Mountain, Qin Family headquarters.

More than a thousand members of the Qin Family had signed up for the tournament. The figure seemed huge, but it was the result of the family's accumulated strength over nearly ten thousand years.

In this world, a Stellar Level lifespan stretched to 10,081 years, and the Peak Genius Tournament had no age limit. Anyone who had reached Stellar Level could participate.

Thus, apart from true young geniuses like Qin Ming, even the youngest participants were several hundred years old, and some were over a thousand.

However, not one of them had comprehended a Domain. In this Genius Tournament, they were destined to be mere supporting characters, there only to "take part."

The moment Qin Ming appeared at the family headquarters, every Qin Family member—regardless of seniority—greeted him warmly and respectfully.

In a world where strength reigned supreme, Qin Ming's demonstrated talent and cultivation had far surpassed theirs. Naturally, he had earned everyone's respect.

At the same time, he opened the tournament email sent to everyone by the Virtual Universe Company:

"Welcome to the 'Cosmic Humans—Peak Genius Tournament.'

"For this selection, more than 952.7 billion Stellar Level experts have registered in the Ganwu Universe Kingdom alone, an increase of 100.8 billion over the previous tournament.

"We at the Virtual Universe Company are delighted by this.

"We guarantee that the entire selection process will be conducted according to the principle of 'absolute fairness.'

"Since the participants' strength ranges from Stellar Level One to Nine, all elimination battles will take place in the Virtual Universe to ensure a fair selection of true geniuses.

"At that time, every participant's physical fitness will be adjusted to Stellar Level Nine, and their telekinetic strength will be adjusted to the same level.

"Participants may freely adjust their appearance and choose any Origin Force weapons and telekinetic weapons they wish (up to ten items; note: high-grade weapons require suitable strength to wield, so please choose weapons appropriate to your abilities). They may also equip a Force Battle Suit (no higher than second grade) and a Space Ring for supplies.

"This selection is intended to test inner qualities such as 'willpower,' 'Domain,' 'experience,' and 'Law Comprehension.' All external conditions will be completely identical.

"..."

Qin Ming skimmed through the email. The rules were basically the same as he remembered.

There seemed to be around a hundred billion more participants than in Luo Feng's tournament. He remembered that in the original story, more than eight hundred billion people were divided among 100 World Zones, with an average of over eight billion people in each.

This time, the total exceeded nine hundred billion, meaning each zone would hold around 9.2 billion participants.

He glanced at his assigned zone: the Eighth World Sector.

The countdown echoed across the entire Virtual World.

"Attention, everyone. The Preliminary Elimination will be divided into one hundred 'World Zones.' Group transmission will begin shortly. You will be sent to your assigned zones.

"Please perform one final equipment check. Once the preliminaries begin, you will no longer be able to request any weapons."

"Group transmission is about to begin. Countdown: 60...59..."

The announcement continued, the numbers ticking down. "10...9...8...3...2...1. Transmit!"

At the same moment,

more than 9.2 billion figures appeared across one hundred independent worlds established within the Virtual Universe for the Ganwu Universe Kingdom.

The Cosmic Humans—Peak Genius Tournament preliminaries began simultaneously across all the Universe Countries!

This grand event for all humanity drew everyone's attention, from lofty undying beings to ordinary citizens with access to the Virtual Universe Network. No one could ignore it.

And for the citizens and powerful figures of the Ganwu Universe Kingdom, their attention naturally focused more on their own kingdom's preliminary battlefields.

During the transmission, Qin Ming's vision blurred for about three seconds before the surroundings gradually came into focus.

He appeared in an ordinary living room, with a bedroom and bathroom beside it.

"So this is the Eighth World Sector? The gravity is strong." Standing in the living room, he could clearly feel the pull of gravity, far stronger than usual. His body sank slightly under its force.

He looked down at the screen on the arm guard around his wrist. It had been issued to all participants and was used to receive real-time information from the Virtual Universe Company.

The screen displayed densely packed text.

Participant: Qin Ming (Windfall Empire)

Points: 0

Rank: None

World Zone: Eighth World Sector

Time: The Preliminary Elimination will last 30 days. At the end, advancement will be determined by the final points ranking.

Note: The Eighth World Sector was simulated based on the terrain of Old Fortress Planet in the real universe. The continent has 92 cities, with wilderness and mountains making up the rest. Its total land area is approximately 17 million square kilometers. The hardness of all objects within this World Zone, including houses and the ground, is B9 Grade.