Time flew like a white colt passing through a crack, and six hundred years vanished in the blink of an eye.
Over those six hundred years, Zhou Yuan's life resembled a calm, unruffled painting, yet beneath the surface, immense power had been quietly accumulating.
For the first two hundred years or so, he rested peacefully at the base. His comprehension of the Earth Origin Law deepened by the day, and the power of Zhenkong Slash grew ever more tyrannical. With a single slash, the heaviness of the earth element intertwined with spatial confinement, enough to leave even World Lord seventh-level powerhouses unable to move.
His Myriad Transformations Secret Art also advanced rapidly, gradually breaking through from over a thousand phantom bodies to more than three thousand.
During this period, his former teammates had all entered prolonged closed-door cultivation.
Ka En, Mu Feng, and the others no longer needed to suppress their realms. Supported by vast resources, they successively broke through to the World Lord peak and were now doing everything they could to absorb those resources and turn them into their own strength.
Their auras became increasingly condensed, and their comprehension of the Laws steadily deepened. Clearly, they had taken another step toward the Immortal Realm.
As for Zhou Yuan, in order to participate in the Universe Powerhouse Battle and cultivate the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Technique, he had no choice but to keep suppressing his realm, remaining at the Universe Level peak.
After more than two hundred years of closed-door cultivation, he encountered a bottleneck. Whether it was the Earth Origin Law or the Space Law, neither could achieve another qualitative breakthrough.
Helpless, he could only join another expedition team and set foot on the Sixth Continent once more, hoping to break through the bottleneck through actual combat.
However, this expedition was far less fortunate than the last. After the eight-person squad ventured deep into the mountain range, they encountered a massive herd of World Lord-level ferocious beasts.
Although Zhou Yuan killed several World Lord ferocious beasts with Zhenkong Slash and the Myriad Transformations Secret Art, he was ultimately outnumbered.
In the end, only he and two other teammates escaped by luck. The remaining five all died in battle, while Zhou Yuan's E2-class spaceship was smashed apart by the ferocious beasts during the fight.
After returning to the base, Zhou Yuan still felt lingering fear, and he gained an even deeper understanding of the universe's cruelty. He entered seclusion once again, studying the secret patterns of fifth-tier force weapons while pondering deeper applications of the Space Law.
During this time, although Zhou Yuan's Space Law had not undergone a qualitative improvement, and his Myriad Avatars had not entered the Myriad Avatars Realm, his phantom bodies had increased from over three thousand to more than seven thousand. He was not far from the fifth level of Myriad Avatars.
That day, Zhou Yuan had just emerged from the Killing Ground in the Virtual Universe and was wandering around the Virtual Universe.
Suddenly—
The sky over the entire Purple Zenith Continent seemed to be torn apart as an incomparably enormous proclamation appeared out of thin air, suspended high above.
The edges of the proclamation radiated dazzling golden light, illuminating the entire continent. Even from its most remote corners, its contents could be seen clearly.
Zhou Yuan looked up and saw the proclamation read:
"The Human Universe—Peak Powerhouse Battle
Held once every ten thousand years
Will soon begin
Hosted jointly by the Virtual Universe Company and all universe nations.
Are you a Universe Level powerhouse? Can't find an opponent of the same level? Then come participate in the 'Peak Powerhouse Battle.'
Here, Universe Level powerhouses from every universe nation across the entire universe will clash.
For details, please use the Virtual Universe Assistant to visit the official 'Virtual Universe Network' website."
This proclamation was more than a hundred million li long and wide, like an enormous golden mountain floating above the Purple Zenith Continent and emanating an awe-inspiring presence. The surrounding crowd instantly erupted, countless voices rising and falling:
"Peak Powerhouse Battle? I missed the Peak Genius Battle, but there's no way I can miss this Powerhouse Battle!"
"This is a grand event for the entire human race! Hundreds of millions of Universe Level powerhouses fighting each other—just thinking about it gets my blood boiling!"
"Universe Level powerhouses from the entire universe fighting? I wonder if I'll encounter those legendary geniuses!"
"I heard the top thousand can enter the Virtual Universe Company's Core Secret Realm, and there are generous rewards too!"
"Hurry up and check the official website! I'm signing up right away!"
In the Virtual Universe, identical proclamations appeared in the skies above the continents representing the 1008 high-level universe nations and the islands representing every medium-level universe nation.
They were all announcing the imminent arrival of the "Human Universe—Peak Powerhouse Battle."
For a time, news of the Peak Powerhouse Battle flooded the entire Virtual Universe, and countless powerhouses discussed the approaching grand event.
In just one day, the news spread throughout all human territory!
Nearly every Universe Level powerhouse received the news, and all of them were filled with excitement and anticipation.
As Zhou Yuan looked at the massive proclamation overhead, an uncontrollable surge of excitement rose within him as well.
Although he had long known that the Peak Powerhouse Battle was about to be held, seeing this awe-inspiring proclamation still left him deeply shaken.
This was a Universe Level grand event for the entire human race, where countless genius powerhouses gathered for the highest level of battles. Anyone participating in an event of this scale for the first time would feel their blood race.
Zhou Yuan hurried back to his study in the Virtual Universe and opened the Virtual Universe Company's official website.
Without any further hesitation, he immediately returned to his study in the Virtual Universe and opened the Virtual Universe Company's official website.
At that moment, the homepage featured an incomparably eye-catching section at the top—"The Human Universe—Peak Powerhouse Battle." Its cover showed countless Universe Level powerhouses locked in fierce combat, filled with passion and fervor.
With a light tap, Zhou Yuan opened the page. It detailed the rules and rewards of the Peak Powerhouse Battle:
The Peak Powerhouse Battle was open to all human Universe Level powerhouses. As long as one had Universe Level cultivation, regardless of which universe nation they came from, they could register to participate.
This grand event was hosted by the Virtual Universe Company once every ten thousand years.
In addition, the Giant Axe Dojo also held a Peak Powerhouse Battle every ten thousand years. The two events were staggered, allowing the human race to welcome such a grand event roughly once every five thousand years.
The Peak Powerhouse Battle was divided into the Universe-level Qualifying Battle and the Peak Final Battle.
The Peak Powerhouse Battle had two stages: the Universe-level Qualifying Battle and the Peak Final Battle.
The Universe Qualifying Battle would be held within each high-level universe nation. Each high-level universe nation would select one thousand Universe Level elites to represent their nation in the Peak Final Battle for the entire human race.
The final battle would determine the ultimate rankings, and the top thousand powerhouses would receive generous rewards.
The top 1,000 in the universal rankings would receive three major rewards:
First, depending on their ranking, they would receive prize money ranging from 10 Hunyuan units to 10,000 Hunyuan units. The higher the ranking, the more generous the reward.
Second, they would receive a place to comprehend the Initial Universe. The Initial Universe was one of the human race's holy lands and was enormously beneficial to cultivation.
Third, they could become internal "core members" of the Virtual Universe Company, receiving the company's preferential resources and training.
This was exactly the same as the Peak Genius Battle Zhou Yuan had learned about from the original novel. To the Virtual Universe Company, the Stellar-level Genius Battle and the Universe Powerhouse Battle were no different.
Zhou Yuan did not hesitate and registered directly.
This had long been his decision. He would use this grand event to make a name for himself, enter the Primal Secret Realm, then take a Universe Master as his teacher and obtain enough resources to cultivate the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Technique.
His current strength already far surpassed that of the original novel's Bolan. He wondered who would be stronger between him and the legendary Kedi.
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