The Fate of an Ordinary Genius

"If you hadn't stopped me from breaking through to the universe level back then, Teacher, I never could have joined the Virtual Universe Company's core, let alone become immortal!" Hogus said with immense gratitude.

After participating in his first Peak Genius Battle, although he had failed to reach the top thousand in the universe, he had soon cultivated to the peak of the stellar level and could break through to the universe level at any time.

However, after becoming Lu Qingshan's disciple, Lu Qingshan had told him to remain at the stellar level for a while longer and then participate in the next Peak Genius Battle five thousand years later.

As many geniuses his age broke through to the universe level and ventured throughout the cosmos, Hogus had once doubted Lu Qingshan's instructions.

Fortunately, he had ultimately followed Lu Qingshan's orders and waited for the next Peak Genius Battle. He had then charged directly into the Apocalypse Secret Realm within the Virtual Universe Company's core, soaring to greatness from then on!

One had to know that merely becoming a member of the Apocalypse Secret Realm had earned him a reward of 10 mixed-element units, an amount comparable to the entire fortune of an ordinary world master, not to mention the many benefits later enjoyed by core members of the Virtual Universe Company.

Now, several million years had passed. Most of the geniuses who had been Hogus's peers back then had already fallen. Only a very few were still struggling for resources at the world master level, and even fewer had managed to break through to become immortal.

This also proved that becoming Lu Qingshan's disciple had undoubtedly been an exceedingly fortunate thing for him.

Therefore, even though Hogus's strength had long since surpassed Lu Qingshan's, he still held Lu Qingshan in the utmost respect.

"Hogus, the main reason you were able to become immortal was because your talent and comprehension were already extraordinary!"

Lu Qingshan smiled. "I've accepted so many disciples over the years, yet you're the only one who has become immortal so far!"

"Teacher, the Trial Tower challenges have begun!" Hogus reminded him. With a wave of his hand, scenes of numerous geniuses attempting the Trial Tower appeared before Lu Qingshan and him.

Under normal circumstances, these challenge scenes would not be broadcast to the outside world. Most people in the universe could only see changes in the rankings.

However, Lu Qingshan and Hogus were both immortal beings under the Virtual Universe Company, so they naturally had the authority to view the scenes inside the Trial Tower.

In truth, the Virtual Universe Company had granted them this access so they would have a chance to select suitable disciples.

After all, aside from the top thousand geniuses in the universe who could join the Virtual Universe Company's core, the other geniuses were also quite outstanding. If they could be taken as disciples by an immortal being, their chances of becoming powerful experts in the future would naturally be much greater.

Lu Qingshan casually browsed the scenes of several highly ranked geniuses before calmly asking, "Hogus, do you know if there are any particularly outstanding geniuses in this year's group?"

After hearing Lu Qingshan's question, Hogus quickly replied, "Teacher, I did gather some information earlier. But this year's genius battle should be fairly ordinary. The strongest few have only just crossed the threshold of the space origin law or the time origin law. Still, it can't be ruled out that some of them are concealing their strength!"

Among the batch of geniuses who had joined the Virtual Universe Company alongside Hogus, there had been someone who concealed his strength until the final rounds. Only then had he defeated everyone else with overwhelming superiority, claimed first place in the genius battle, and entered the Primal Secret Realm.

Unfortunately, that peerless genius, who had once been expected to become a king-level immortal, had ultimately fallen at the hands of an alien expert on the Extraterritorial Battlefield!

"Does our Yan Feng Universe Country have any particularly outstanding geniuses?" Lu Qingshan asked again.

"No!" Hogus shook his head. "Actually, over the past few tens of thousands of years, I've also wanted to take in a few disciples and nurture them properly, so I've paid more attention to the genius battles and expert battles. But in this genius battle, even the strongest contestant from our Yan Feng Universe Country will probably find it difficult to reach the top thousand in the universe!"

"Other than that, there is a little fellow who crossed the threshold of the lightning origin law after cultivating for less than a hundred years. But he comes from the Yan Feng Universe Country's imperial family and became the disciple of a marquis-level immortal long ago. He definitely wouldn't think much of an immortal military lord like me!"

"Hogus, you underestimate yourself too much!"

As Lu Qingshan watched the battles of the many geniuses within the Trial Tower, he said, "With your comprehension and talent, as long as you cultivate diligently for a while longer, becoming a marquis-level immortal shouldn't be difficult!"

"Teacher, you think too highly of your disciple!"

Hogus said with a bitter smile, "Ever since I successfully broke through to the immortal realm hundreds of thousands of years ago, my comprehension of the time origin law has seemed to stop completely. There hasn't been the slightest improvement in hundreds of thousands of years!"

"If I'd known this would happen, I should have stayed at the world master stage a while longer. Perhaps I really could have become a marquis-level immortal the moment I broke through!"

In fact, before his breakthrough, Hogus had known that his speed of comprehending the origin laws would slow after becoming immortal.

But at the time, he had been stuck at the fourteenth level of the Heavenward Bridge for a long time, which was why he had decided to break through and become immortal.

Yet after becoming immortal, his speed of comprehending the origin laws was less than one percent of what it had been at the world master level. That was why he had begun to regret it somewhat.

"My greatest wish now is to improve my secret technique as much as possible and strive to raise it to the top-tier level!"

Hogus continued, "Once my secret technique reaches the top-tier level, my strength will rank among the best of the high-level military lords!"

"Beyond that, I'll work hard to accumulate some wealth. Perhaps in the future, I can buy some powerful mechanical race weapons and, like you, Teacher, nurture a few more disciples!"

Hearing Hogus's words, Lu Qingshan could not help but sigh inwardly.

If he had not joined the Myriad Heavens Chat Group, his future life would probably have been roughly as Hogus described.

At most, when Luo Feng rose to prominence in the future, he would invest in him and make his own future life within the human race a little more comfortable.

Fortunately, with the Myriad Heavens Chat Group now in existence, he could still try to keep striving!

Over the following days, Lu Qingshan continued watching the genius battle finals with Hogus. But after discovering that this year's genius battle was no different from previous ones and failing to find any suitable disciples, they soon stopped paying attention to it.

Hogus returned his consciousness to reality and continued carrying out his assigned tasks, while Lu Qingshan soon bid farewell to his family and piloted a universe spaceship toward the Virtual Universe Company headquarters.

After all, the company's thousand-year leave was about to end, and he had to report to the Virtual Universe Company.