A canyon was home to a cluster of military camps.
Every Star Level soldier wore the same regulation uniform, with the words "Longbei" written on it in an ancient script.
Anyone who saw the uniforms would know these were troops of the Longbei Divine Kingdom, one of the Huanming Star Sector's seventeen top powers.
When the entire Thunder World suddenly began to tremble,
a Star Level youth in crimson armor inside one of the camps changed expression and looked into the distance. "Someone's opened the World within a World?!"
His face instantly lit up with delight. He issued an order: "All troops, listen up! Move out for the World within a World at once!"
At the foot of a nearby mountain range,
the vast military camp that the Obsidian Company had established in the Flint Star World was also thrown into an uproar.
A moment later, a massive spacecraft suddenly rose into the sky and flew toward the source of the spatial energy fluctuations, accelerating at a speed comparable to a Domain Lord's.
Inside the huge transport ship, a purple-robed young man with narrow eyes murmured, "Was that you, Junior Brother Jiang..."
The World within a World in the Flint Star World.
Jiang Luo gazed at the boundless ocean before him, breathing in the air, which was rich with cosmic energy.
Unlike the Flint Star World, which was like a vast, savage continent, the World within a World was an endless sea.
Countless tiny islands dotted its surface.
Pulses of energy kept rippling in from the distant horizon, pointing the way.
He knew that the energy fluctuations were coming from the place where the Flint Star Sector Lord's treasure was buried!
But Jiang Luo didn't hurry toward the Treasure Land. Instead, he glanced back at the slowly shrinking black hole, then turned and plunged into the boundless sea.
Once he was thousands of meters below the surface, he activated the detector he'd bought for five Hunyuan Units.
Only a few seconds passed before the detector sounded an alarm.
Wu He warned him, "Someone's come in!"
One team of adventurers after another poured through the black hole into the World within a World.
Jiang Luo swam farther away, then took the chance to surface. Disguising himself as a lone adventurer, he flew toward the Treasure Land.
Before long, Jiang Luo neared a massive island.
At its center stood a huge mountain range shaped like a pyramid, with stairways on all four sides leading to the summit.
By then, more than ten thousand Star Level adventurers had gathered in the sky above the mountains.
As soon as Jiang Luo approached, he saw more than a dozen corpses plummeting from the sky.
Each body had a gaping hole in it. Before they even hit the ground, a gust of wind swept by and reduced them to ash.
Jiang Luo's expression shifted at the sight.
"That's the power of an E-grade Laser Gun!" Wu He's voice echoed in his mind. "The master once spent tens of thousands of Hunyuan Units to buy it.
"It should be in Morena's hands now. She's the intelligent life who's been with the master the longest and is closest to him."
Following Wu He's indication, Jiang Luo spotted a figure standing atop the pyramid-shaped mountain range.
A woman too beautiful for words.
Every inch of her seemed to be a perfect creation. Just looking at her brought the words "flawless perfection" to mind.
"So that's Morena?" Jiang Luo asked, curious.
Morena's expression and bearing were even colder than Wu He's.
He couldn't help thinking that the Flint Star Sector Lord's intelligent life-forms all seemed to have the same temperament.
Each one was colder than the last.
"Congratulations on opening the World within a World for the sixth time. You should all know my rules, but I'll repeat them anyway."
Morena's icy voice seemed to carry on a ripple of World Power, spreading throughout the entire World within a World.
"No matter who opened the World within a World, everyone who enters this island is eligible to pass the trial and claim the treasure left behind by my master!
"But there's one condition—"
A cruel smile curved Morena's beautiful lips. "Only the last person still alive on this island will be allowed to take the test.
"Either fight to the death for my master's treasure and become the last one standing,
"or leave the island and forfeit your chance to face my master's test."
At Morena's words, many of the Star Level adventurers were shocked, and an uproar broke out.
Not every adventurer knew the details of the previous openings of the World within a World.
Only the troops or Star Level slaves belonging to the seventeen top powers knew its rules.
And the rows of railguns and Laser Gun muzzles exposed across the pyramid mountain range kept the Star Level adventurers too intimidated to act rashly.
Before long, almost half the adventurers chose to leave the island and watch from the perimeter.
Jiang Luo, concealed among the adventurers, frowned slightly.
Although he'd known the rules for claiming the treasure inside the World within a World for some time,
and knew that the previous openings had turned into mountains of corpses as the major powers fought over the Flint Star Sector Lord's treasure,
he still couldn't help grumbling to himself.
The Flint Star Sector Lord had been pretty twisted. Even after death, he'd used a method practically designed to breed poisonous insects to find an heir.
Wu He sighed. "The master was very protective of his own people, but he was indeed ruthless toward outsiders. After returning gravely wounded, he may have become a little extreme in his thinking.
"Still, he was much better than Blood Demon Planet."
Jiang Luo couldn't help rolling his eyes beneath his mask.
The Blood Demon King's Blood Demon Planet in the Dutu Star Sector really did seem to have affected the culture of the Gulun Universe Kingdom.
Compared to Blood Demon Planet, even the most ruthless power or expert seemed like a saint.
"No kinetic weapons may be used in the fighting... Anyone who breaks this rule will end up like those dozen or so ignorant ants from a moment ago!"
Morena's smile looked faintly crazed. "The entrance to the World within a World is now completely closed.
"Unfortunately, only 430,000 lucky souls made it inside this time, fewer than in the previous openings."
As soon as Morena finished speaking, several enormous transport ships came speeding in from the distance.
The adventurers' expressions changed.
The giant transport ships carried Star Level troops stationed in the Flint Star World by several of the top powers.
Most of them were slaves.
After all, only slaves could truly fight without fear of death!
A sea of Star Level troops poured out of the transport ships, blotting out the sky.
Jiang Luo suddenly froze. He'd spotted a familiar figure.
"Blood Demon, Thanses?"
As a disciple of the Ancient Wheel Sacred Hall, he knew Thanses well. Thanses had long been ranked first among Star Level geniuses and was hailed as the strongest Star Level expert in the Gulun Universe Kingdom.
Although the two had never met in person.
"He actually came to the Huanming Star Sector too? And the Obsidian Company invited him. They must have gone to great lengths...
"I wonder how much they had to pay to bring in a prospective Core Member of the Giant Axe Arena."
Jiang Luo was a little surprised, but he remained calm.
With the seventh level of the Crimson Bright Nine Heavens Map, the Thirteen Sword Fiend Body, and the King Kai Fist, along with his other methods, he could hold his own even against the Star Level Grim Reaper, Bolan.
Even if Thanses was a genius, he couldn't compare to Bolan.
Jiang Luo was certainly no match for him in the Virtual Universe, but in reality, ten Thanses wouldn't be his match.
Seeing the Star Level troops pouring from the giant transport ships, the intelligent life Morena smiled even more brightly. "Kill, kill! The greatest geniuses are forged through slaughter!
"Only those who hold on to the very end deserve the chance my master has granted!"
Morena's laughter seemed to ignite the tense atmosphere.
Before her voice had even faded,
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!...
Countless explosions rang out like firecrackers.
They weren't the sounds of fighting.
They were the sounds of breakthroughs!
The dense cosmic energy in the World within a World formed into funnel-shaped vortices and poured into the bodies of Star Level warriors.
In the blink of an eye, several thousand Star Level Nine warriors broke through to Universe Level!
Most of them belonged to the Star Level troops of top powers like the Obsidian Company, the Longbei Divine Kingdom, and Helan Star.
The rules forbade Universe Level warriors from entering through the entrances to the Flint Star World and the World within a World.
But that was no obstacle for the top powers.
They'd long ago stationed Star Level Nine warriors who were ready to break through to Universe Level in the Flint Star World.
They'd only been waiting for the World within a World to open, so they could break through their limits once they entered.
Jiang Luo wasn't surprised by this. According to his intelligence, the top powers of the Huanming Star Sector had used the same trick during the previous opening.
That was also why he'd insisted on cultivating the Crimson Bright Nine Heavens Map to the seventh level and spent dozens of Hunyuan Units on rare materials to forcibly cultivate the Thirteen Sword Fiend Body.
Without Universe Level combat strength, there was no way to compete for the Flint Star Sector Lord's treasure.
As the battle officially began, Jiang Luo controlled a telekinetic weapon and disguised himself as a Star Level Nine Spiritual Reader, fighting the Star Level adventurers around him.
Revealing his true strength at a time like this would make him an easy target for everyone.
In an instant, the skies above the entire island became a bloody battlefield, with thousands of Universe Level warriors and hundreds of thousands of Star Level warriors fighting to the death.
The Star Level troops from the top powers were especially terrifying. Most were slaves who fought without the slightest fear of death, and their suicidal style of combat was chilling.
They even formed battle formations, with dozens or hundreds of Star Level Spiritual Reader slaves launching coordinated attacks.
Even newly advanced Universe Level One warriors had to proceed with caution.
The Blood Demon, Thanses, casually hacked to death several Star Level warriors who charged at him. He licked his lips, yearning for slaughter deep in his consciousness, but managed to resist his instincts and stayed out of the fighting.
Instead, he scanned his surroundings, searching for Jiang Luo.
After quite some time, he still hadn't found him.
Thanses narrowed his eyes. "Looks like that guy's pretty good at disguising himself."
He'd never met this new junior brother in person, or even run into him in the Virtual Universe.
So he couldn't identify him by his soul aura, either.
But Thanses wasn't in a hurry. As time passed, more and more adventurers would die or flee the island, leaving behind an increasingly powerful group of survivors.
Sooner or later, Jiang Luo would give himself away.
Given Jiang Luo's status as a disciple of the Ancient Wheel Hall, his Law Comprehension, and the dozens of Hunyuan Units' worth of wealth and resources he must possess, he was certainly no match for the slaves who'd just broken through to Universe Level One.
Before long, rain of flesh and blood fell from the sky above the entire island, staining the ground and the pyramid mountain range completely red.
Even Jiang Luo, whose will was strong, couldn't help being shaken by the sight.
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