Time continued to pass, and soon several more decades had gone by.
By then, only a little over ten days remained before Lu Qingshan and the others in his cohort were due to leave Chaos City.
That day, a massive spaceship more than ten thousand meters in diameter once again flew slowly out of the Primal Universe and into the Initial Universe.
In the ship's main hall sat several figures radiating astonishing auras. One of them was Black Peak King, who had escorted Lu Qingshan and the others into the Initial Universe.
Behind Black Peak King and the others stood several Immortal Gods, each radiating an aura of eternity.
"Of those youngsters who joined the core layers of our five great forces, how many do you think will break through and become Immortals when they leave Chaos City this time?"
The speaker was a powerful member of the Ape Race with golden fur on his face. He wore dark golden armor, and a fierce aura occasionally radiated from him.
"Diamond King, there's really no need for you to worry about that!"
A bald, burly man with a Blood-colored Battle Saber on his back chuckled. "As I recall, only a little over seventy of the youngsters leaving Chaos City this time joined the Universe Mercenary Alliance. Even if every one of them becomes an Immortal, that still won't be many!"
"Hmph. Is the Universe First Bank doing any better?"
Diamond King, the Ape Race powerhouse, snorted and continued, "More than ten thousand years ago, only a little over thirty joined the Universe First Bank!"
"Diamond King, you..."
The smile vanished from the bald man's face as soon as he heard Diamond King's words.
"Diamond King, Raging Tide King!"
A gentle voice rang out. The speaker was a stunning woman draped in a gauzy robe. Her tender gaze entranced even the many Immortal Gods standing nearby. "The two of you should stop arguing. These youngsters are all members of the Human Race, after all. Does it really matter which of our forces they join?"
At that, Raging Tide King, who had been about to keep arguing with Diamond King, quickly fell silent. He only shot Diamond King a fierce glare.
"Actually, not that many youngsters joined the Cosmic Star River Bank this time either. I wonder how many of them will become Immortals."
The beautiful woman continued in her gentle voice, "By the way, Black Peak King, you were the one who escorted those youngsters into the Initial Universe, weren't you? Do you know how they're doing now?"
"Well..."
Black Peak King quickly replied, "I've only heard that nearly three hundred of them have passed the Tenth Layer of the Heavenward Bridge. But I'm sure quite a few are already strong enough and simply haven't tried the bridge yet."
"Based on past experience, about half of them should become Immortals. There's no need for everyone to worry!"
"More than five hundred youngsters joined your Virtual Universe Company this time, Black Peak King. Naturally, you have nothing to worry about!"
Raging Tide King, the bald man, said gravely, "The Universe First Bank recently opened a secret realm and lost quite a few Immortal Gods in the process. But in the last few rounds of picking people up from Chaos City, the number of Immortals joining the Universe First Bank has been far too low!"
"That's certainly true!"
Diamond King, the Ape Race powerhouse, chimed in. "More than ten million years ago, Her Highness Luo Sha, Lord Huang Jian's youngest disciple, fell to a Demon Race powerhouse. Right after that, the Universe Mercenary Alliance raised the bounty on Demon Race powerhouses by fifty percent. Many Immortal Gods went to the Extraterritorial Battlefield to kill them, and some powerhouses even sneaked into Demon Race Territory to carry out attacks!"
"That period caused the Demon Race some trouble, but the Immortal Gods of the Universe Mercenary Alliance also suffered heavy losses. Their numbers still haven't recovered."
At that, Black Peak King and the others wore regretful expressions.
"Her Highness Luo Sha's death was indeed a tremendous loss to the entire Human Race!"
Black Peak King couldn't help sighing. "I remember Her Highness Luo Sha had already passed the World Lord Level Glory Heavenward Mountain. If she hadn't fallen, the Human Race might have another Universe Venerable by now!"
"Of course!"
Diamond King agreed. "Her Highness Luo Sha was a peerless genius, the likes of whom the Human Race sees only once in countless eras. If it weren't for those damned Demons, she would certainly have become a pillar of our race!"
"I heard that the great Lord Huang Jian once tried to Reverse Time and Space to revive Her Highness Luo Sha, but even he failed because of the Demon Race's special methods!"
At that, Diamond King immediately cursed, "The Demon Race is truly despicable!"
Diamond King had once had a beloved disciple who had fallen at the hands of a Demon Race powerhouse. That powerhouse was even stronger than him, so there was nothing he could do to avenge his disciple.
Rumble...
As Black Peak King and the others talked, the spaceship continued onward.
Chaos City stood majestic and imposing beneath the Endless Chaos currents, enduring throughout the ages.
On the rooftop of a Cultivation Residence, Lu Qingshan sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, motionless.
After comprehending the complete Laws of Lightning, Lu Qingshan had immediately begun studying the Time Origin Law in earnest.
His cultivation level was exceptionally high, and with the guidance of the Heavenly Thunder Chaos Stele and the help of the universe's laws of operation made visible within Chaos City, he had progressed very quickly at first.
But as his understanding of the Time Origin Law deepened, his rate of progress began to slow.
Several decades had now passed, and his understanding of the Time Origin Law was probably only on par with the Fourth Layer of the Heavenward Bridge. Compared with his complete understanding of the Origin of Lightning, it was utterly insignificant!
Just then—
"Gather here at once!"
A deep, resonant voice rang directly in Lu Qingshan's mind.
"Come see me at once!"
"Come see me at once!"
The voice echoed again and again, directly interrupting Lu Qingshan's cultivation.
"What's this?"
Lu Qingshan paused in surprise, then immediately understood. "Is my time studying the laws up?"
He opened his eyes and quickly rose to his feet, then transformed into a streak of light and flew in the direction indicated by the voice.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
All throughout Chaos City, vast and desolate beneath its drifting currents, figures shot into the sky and flew toward the same place.
High above Chaos City, a spaceship more than ten thousand meters in diameter emerged from the Chaos that constantly broke apart and reformed.
Whoosh!
The hatch opened, and dozens of figures flew out one after another. Black Peak King and the others led them.
By then, Lu Qingshan and the rest of his group had also arrived before them.
"Everyone!"
Black Peak King, whom Lu Qingshan and the others had met once before, spoke up. "Your three hundred years of cultivation in the Initial Universe are nearly over!"
"In ten days, I'll meet you here and escort you away from Chaos City!"
Black Peak King continued, "For now, go take care of your own affairs. If you still have a chance to study a Chaos Stele, use it once more! Once you leave the Initial Universe, no one knows how long it'll be before you can return."
"Yes!" the crowd replied respectfully.
Then Lu Qingshan and the others dispersed at once, flying in different directions across Chaos City.
Lu Qingshan had already used up all his chances to study a Chaos Stele while comprehending the Time Origin Law. So he simply said goodbye to the friends he had made in Chaos City, then visited the residences of several grandmasters from the Heavenly Thunder Lineage whose lectures he had attended. Through their direct disciples, he gave them several gifts—not especially valuable ones, but ones that conveyed his sincere regard.
After taking care of everything, Lu Qingshan returned to his residence and quietly waited for the time to leave the Initial Universe.
And so, ten days passed in the blink of an eye. Lu Qingshan and the others once again gathered before Black Peak King and the rest.
"All right! Your three hundred years of cultivation in Chaos City are now over!"
Black Peak King said solemnly, "All five of the Human Race's superpowers have sent people to escort you. Once we leave Chaos City, we'll begin making arrangements for your future work!"
As he spoke, Black Peak King gestured to Diamond King and the others beside him. "This is Diamond King of the Universe Mercenary Alliance. And this is..."
"Greetings, Diamond King. Greetings..."
After Black Peak King finished introducing them, Lu Qingshan and the others bowed respectfully in turn.
"All right!"
Black Peak King waved his hand. "Everyone, board the ship. I'll take you out of the Initial Universe!"
"Yes!"
Lu Qingshan and the others replied respectfully. After Black Peak King and the others boarded, they turned into streaks of light and filed into the spaceship's main hall.
"Let's go!"
Black Peak King waved his hand. The spaceship shuddered, then quickly flew toward the Cosmic Passage between the Primal Universe and the Initial Universe.
Aboard the spaceship, Lu Qingshan began planning his future.
"Once I become an Immortal, I'll choose a relatively safe job!"
Lu Qingshan planned to himself. "If possible, I'd prefer a job in Chaos City. That would be completely safe!"
But he knew that working in Chaos City—even as the most ordinary guard—required powerful connections. With his current standing, it would be difficult to get such a job.
"If that doesn't work, I'll choose a job at the headquarters or in one of the Core Secret Realms!"
Lu Qingshan continued planning. "As long as I can stay alive until Luo Feng rises and give him some help, I'll be able to take it easy for good!"
As Lu Qingshan pondered, the spaceship soon reached the entrance to the passage between the Primal Universe and the Initial Universe. After a period of temporal distortion, the group finally returned to the Primal Universe.
"We've returned to the Primal Universe!" Black Peak King announced, then immediately turned to Lu Qingshan and the others.
The others aboard the spaceship all turned to look at the Peak World Lords in their group.
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"...
An invisible connection instantly linked Lu Qingshan and the others to the Law Ocean in the Universe Origin Land.
The Law Ocean of Gold, the Law Ocean of Wind, the Law Ocean of Lightning... An endless aura surged toward them.
There was no turning back!
After absorbing the special aura transmitted from the Law Ocean, the Origin Beads inside the Life Cores of many Peak World Lords, Lu Qingshan among them, instantly transformed into humanoid phantoms.
Once the laws were complete, the origin took shape. Break the Life Core; pour in divine power; unite soul and body; cross the threshold into immortality!
That was the basic process of becoming an Immortal. Once the laws were complete, the transformation could not be stopped!
Back in the Initial Universe, Lu Qingshan and the others had been unable to connect to the origin of the Primal Universe. Now that they had returned to the Primal Universe, they naturally connected to the Universe Origin Land at once.
Inside Lu Qingshan's Life Core space.
As an ordinary human, Lu Qingshan's Life Core was ordinary too. So the humanoid phantom formed from his Origin Bead only needed to exert the slightest force to shatter the Life Core's constraints!
Once those constraints were gone, the "humanoid Lu Qingshan" formed from the Origin Bead immediately connected to the endless "Law Ocean of Lightning" in the Universe Origin Land. The Origin Law of Lightning descended directly, appearing above the spaceship Lu Qingshan was aboard.
At the same time, the others around Lu Qingshan who had comprehended a complete Lower Origin Law quickly broke through the constraints of their Life Cores as well!
Rumble! Rumble...
The Origin Law of Lightning, the Light Origin, the Origin of Gold... descended in an instant.
"What's going on?"
"What happened?"
"The Origin Laws are descending? Has someone broken through to become an Immortal?"
"So many Origin Laws descending at once. Looks like another batch of Peak World Lords has just left the Initial Universe!"
"That's right! Look—the center of the descent is that spaceship commanded by Black Peak King. They must have just come out of the Initial Universe!"
"Hahaha! Some of those breaking through might be our future colleagues!"
As Lu Qingshan and the others broke through, many powerhouses throughout the Virtual Universe Company's Universal Headquarters were stirred into action.
But this wasn't the first time such a thing had happened, so although they were still surprised, they were long used to it.
Around Lu Qingshan and the others, the World Lords who had not drawn down the Origin Laws watched them with envy.
Though they had entered the Initial Universe together and were now leaving together, they knew full well that after Lu Qingshan and the others crossed this threshold, their futures would be entirely different!
As they watched with envy, they also resolved to cultivate even harder from then on, so that one day they, too, could become true Immortal Gods like Lu Qingshan and the others.
Whoosh!
Endless divine power poured into the bodies of Lu Qingshan and the others below.
Most of them were ordinary people and had not gained much insight into the Higher Origin Laws, so they were mostly Ordinary Immortals who needed only a little divine power to transform their bodies.
In just a moment, most of them had completed the transformation of their divine bodies. Only a few who had achieved something in the Higher Origin Laws, or whose original bodies had been exceptionally large, were still receiving divine power.
Others were still absorbing divine power around him, but Lu Qingshan no longer had the slightest interest in watching.
Because the instant he became an Immortal God, the progress bar of the golden finger in his mind had actually filled up.
"Ding! Welcome to the Myriad Heavens Chat Group!"
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