World Lord Chang Jiu

Frost Blade picked up the conversation, a trace of yearning in his tone. "A small independent world opened up by the Shock Demon Ancestor with great divine powers. It isn't a complete minor universe, but rather resembles a 'folded space' or a 'Secret Realm'. It is said that since countless epochs ago, World Lords and Immortal powerhouses among the Demon Race who comprehended complete law imprints would leave their lifelong comprehension of a certain law, cultivation techniques, and secret arts in that place in the form of 'imprints' before falling or when breaking through."

Shadow Stinger added, "The Law of Gold, Space Law, Time Law, and other top ten basic laws all have corresponding regions. That is the most core Inheritance Land of the Demon Race."

"Cultivating inside is much faster than in the outside world," Scorpio concluded. "Besides, not just anyone can enter. Only geniuses of the Profound level and above are qualified."

Silver Horn looked thoughtful.

He remembered when he refined Beyond the Light-Year, the law comprehension brought by those ancient secret patterns, and that feeling of "seeing with his own eyes" the operation of the laws—it was far more intuitive than close-door bitter cultivation. The imprints within the Myriad Laws Secret Realm should be similar things, just more systematic and more complete.

"Does entering the Myriad Laws Secret Realm require Contribution Points?" he asked.

"It does." Scorpio nodded. "There is a fixed quota every year, and you can also obtain free entry time through Ranking Tournament rankings. After entering, Contribution Points are consumed by the day, though we don't know the specifics."

Scorpio seemed to have seen through his thoughts and smiled. "Rest assured, with your strength, the Profound level is no problem. Once you enter the Profound level, the monthly Contribution Points double, and coupled with the Ranking Tournament rewards, the comprehension time definitely won't be too short."

Silver Horn nodded, quietly calculating in his heart.

The fifth to sixth layer of the domain was a hurdle, and relying solely on his own bitter cultivation, he didn't know how long it would take to grind through it. If he could enter the Myriad Laws Secret Realm and find the law imprints of powerful beings of the Law of Gold or Space Law, perhaps he could break through by relying on that.

Seeing the three off, Silver Horn sat alone on the stone bench in the courtyard, looking at the gray, hazy sky in the distance.

The Myriad Laws Secret Realm, the Ranking Tournament.

He took a deep breath, took that "Space Crystal" out of his spatial ring, and held it in his hand, feeling the spatial law fluctuations contained within it.

Raise my strength first; as for the rest, we'll talk about it when the time comes.

He closed his eyes and began to cultivate.

Within his Origin Core, Golden Horn was also simultaneously devouring metal and comprehending the Law of Gold.

Time flew by swiftly amidst tense cultivation.

Three days before the Ranking Tournament, Aunt Fox personally delivered a silver-white consciousness induction helmet.

"This is the virtual combat device uniformly issued by the Monster Hunting Hall." Aunt Fox handed the helmet to Silver Horn. "To facilitate geniuses scattered across various star systems in participating, all matches are conducted in a virtual space. Consciousness enters, and the physical body remains unaffected. Do you want to try it now?"

Silver Horn took the helmet, his Spiritual Force probing in, and instantly felt a vast virtual space. He exited and nodded. "No problem."

Aunt Fox handed over a gold-stamped entry credential. "September eighth, log in on time. Don't be late."

"September eighth," Silver Horn murmured the date, inexplicably recalling a line of poetry, and softly said, "What a September eighth; after my flowers bloom, all other flowers are killed."

Aunt Fox was stunned, didn't understand, and didn't ask further. She turned and left.

Silver Horn closed the door, sat cross-legged, and placed the helmet to the side. He didn't rush to test it, instead closing his eyes as his consciousness sank into his Inner World.

Golden Horn, the last three days, go all out.

Deep within the Inner World, the Golden Horn body opened its vertical pupils, its three golden horns gleaming brilliantly in the gloom. It also sensed Silver Horn's intent.

Two bodies, the same consciousness, simultaneously probed their Spiritual Force into the Heavy Treasure Beyond the Light-Year.

That spherical Heavy Treasure hovered in the center of the Origin Core Space, layers of spherical shells slowly revolving, each layer carved with ancient spatial secret patterns. Silver Horn and Golden Horn comprehended simultaneously, cross-verifying with each other, and their comprehension surged like a spring.

Almost there, just a little bit more!

Silver Horn could clearly feel that the barrier of the Space Domain was already as thin as a cicada's wing; as long as he took one more step forward, it would be the sixth layer.

The Golden Horn body no longer comprehended the Law of Gold either, instead fully cooperating with Silver Horn to comprehend the Space Law. The consciousnesses of the two bodies overlapped, and their perception of the laws far exceeded that of ordinary people.

Three days flashed by in the blink of an eye.

September eighth, early morning.

Silver Horn put on the helmet, and his consciousness was instantly pulled into a vast virtual plaza.

The plaza was boundless, with a starry dome overhead and white jade-like flagstones underfoot. Countless Demon Race geniuses were teleported in from all directions, some maintaining beast forms while others transformed into human shapes, densely packed and filling the plaza.

Silver Horn glanced around; within his line of sight alone, there were over ten thousand demons. The bloodlines of the Twelve Imperial Clans were visible everywhere: Spacetime Nightmare Beasts, Nine Meng Beasts, the Sirius clan, and the Coffin Bug clan, every single one of them possessing condensed auras and sharp gazes.

This is the true foundation of the Demon Race. Silver Horn inwardly sighed. Those he usually saw on Exterminate Qiu Star were merely the tip of the iceberg.

He looked around for a moment and quickly found familiar figures in the crowd: Scorpio, Frost Blade, and Shadow Stinger were gathered together, waving at him.

"Silver Horn! Over here!" Scorpio waved excitedly.

Silver Horn walked over, and the four of them sized each other up.

"How have you been lately?" Silver Horn asked.

Scorpio puffed out his chest. "Domain fourth layer, barely able to keep the Profound level." Frost Blade and Shadow Stinger also nodded, their states not bad.

"What about you? I heard you've been in seclusion all this time?" Scorpio lowered his voice. "What layer is your domain at?"

Silver Horn didn't answer directly, merely smiling faintly. "You'll know in a moment."

Scorpio curled his lips and didn't press further.

Just as the demons were buzzing with discussion, a figure appeared out of thin air above the plaza.

It was a slender female demon draped in a dark golden robe, with a cold and stunning face, surrounded by the faint coercion of laws. She made no movement, merely hovering there, causing the tens of thousands of geniuses below to feel a suffocating pressure.

"It's World Lord Chang Jiu!" Someone exclaimed.

Silver Horn's pupils constricted slightly. He had heard that name before; she was the peerless genius of the entire Demon Race, second only in history to the Dream Demon Ancestor and the Shock Demon Ancestor. In less than two thousand years, she had broken through all the way from the Planetary level to the World Lord level, standing as a true legend in the cultivation history of the Demon Race.

He had not expected her to be the one presiding over this Ranking Tournament. It seemed the upper echelons of the Monster Hunting Hall attached far more importance to this tournament than ever before.

Chang Jiu's gaze swept across the crowd below, and the tens of thousands of geniuses instantly fell silent.

Her voice was not loud, yet it clearly reached the ears of everyone present:

"I am the chief director of this Ranking Tournament, Chang Jiu. I will now announce the rules."

"The total number of contestants this time is one hundred and ten thousand, eight hundred and twenty-two. The rules are very simple: everyone enters an independent virtual space and challenges it layer by layer."

"On the first layer, there is one Wild Bull Demon Race member of the same nine-stage major realm as you. After defeating them, your state automatically refreshes, and you enter the second layer to face two identical opponents, and so on."

"Whether you are at the Stellar level, Universe level, Sector Lord level, or World Lord level, the process is completely identical. The final ranking is determined by the layers cleared; for those who clear the same number of layers, the one with the shorter time takes priority."

She paused, then added, "Furthermore, considering that some geniuses are not skilled in group combat, we have established a supplementary rule: each person has three challenge opportunities to challenge competitors ranked higher than themselves. A successful challenge swaps the rankings of both parties; a failed challenge leaves the rankings unchanged. Once the three opportunities are used up, they are finished."

"Are there any questions?"

The plaza was pin-drop silent.

"Very well." World Lord Chang Jiu raised her hand slightly. "Then let us begin."