Time flew by, and six hundred years passed in the blink of an eye.
Over those six hundred years, Zhou Yuan's life had been like a placid painting, yet beneath the calm, tremendous power had been quietly gathering.
During the first two hundred-plus years, he rested peacefully at the base. His comprehension of the Earth Origin Law deepened by the day, and the power of Zhenkong Slash grew increasingly tyrannical. With a single slash, the heaviness of earth intertwined with the sealing power of space, enough to leave even a World Lord seventh level powerhouse unable to move.
His Myriad Transformations Secret Art also advanced rapidly, rising from over a thousand phantom bodies to more than three thousand.
During this period, his former teammates also entered lengthy secluded cultivation.
Ka En, Mu Feng, and the others no longer needed to suppress their realms. Backed by enormous resources, they all broke through to the World Lord peak and were fully focused on absorbing those resources and turning them into their own strength.
Their auras became increasingly condensed, and their comprehension of the Laws deepened daily. 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 secluded cultivation, he encountered a bottleneck. Whether it was the Earth Origin Law or the Space Law, neither could make any further qualitative progress.
Left with no alternative, he rejoined an exploration team and once again entered the Sixth Continent, hoping to break through the bottleneck through actual combat.
However, this expedition was nowhere near as fortunate as the last. After venturing deep into the mountains, the eight-person squad encountered a massive herd of World Lord-level vicious beasts.
Although Zhou Yuan used Zhenkong Slash and the Myriad Transformations Secret Art to kill several World Lord vicious beasts, 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 destroyed by the vicious beasts during the fight.
After returning to the base, Zhou Yuan was still shaken by the experience and understood the cruelty of the universe more deeply. He entered seclusion once again, studying the secret patterns of fifth-tier force weapons while pondering the deeper applications of the Space Law.
During this period, although Zhou Yuan's Space Law had not improved qualitatively 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 no longer far from the fifth layer of Myriad Avatars.
That day, Zhou Yuan had just left 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 split apart as an incomparably massive proclamation appeared out of thin air, suspended high above.
Brilliant golden light radiated from the edges of the proclamation, illuminating the entire continent. Even from the most remote corners of the continent, its contents could be seen clearly.
Zhou Yuan looked up and saw the words written upon it:
"Universe Humanity—Peak Powerhouse Battle
Held once every ten thousand years
About to begin
Jointly organized by the Virtual Universe Company and all universe countries.
Are you a Universe Level powerhouse? Can you not find an opponent at your level? Then come participate in the 'Peak Powerhouse Battle.'
Here, Universe Level powerhouses from every universe country across the entire universe will engage in battle.
For details, use the Virtual Universe Assistant to visit the official website of the 'Virtual Universe Network.'"
This proclamation was over a hundred million li in both length and width, like an enormous golden mountain floating above the Purple Zenith Continent and radiating a soul-stirring aura. The surrounding crowd instantly erupted, and countless discussions broke out one after another:
"Peak Powerhouse Battle? I missed the Peak Genius Battle, so there's no way I'm missing 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 across the entire universe fighting? I wonder if I'll run into those legendary geniuses!"
"I heard the top thousand can join the Virtual Universe Company's Core Secret Realm, and there are generous rewards too!"
"Hurry and check the official website! I'm signing up right away!"
Within the Virtual Universe, identical proclamations appeared above the continents representing the 1,008 high-level universe countries and above the islands representing every mid-level universe country.
They were all promoting the imminent Universe Humanity—Peak Powerhouse Battle.
For a time, news of the Peak Powerhouse Battle flooded the entire Virtual Universe, and countless powerhouses discussed the upcoming grand event.
In just one day, the news spread throughout the entire 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 enormous proclamation above him, an uncontrollable surge of excitement rose in his heart.
Although he had long known that the Peak Powerhouse Battle would soon 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 would gather for the most elite confrontations. Anyone participating in an event of this scale for the first time would have their blood racing.
Zhou Yuan hurried back to his study in the Virtual Universe and opened the Virtual Universe Company's official website.
Without hesitating any longer, he immediately returned to his study in the Virtual Universe and opened the Virtual Universe Company's official website.
At that moment, the website's homepage prominently displayed an incomparably eye-catching feature—"Universe Humanity—Peak Powerhouse Battle." Its cover showed countless Universe Level powerhouses engaged in fierce combat, brimming with passion and intensity.
With a light tap, Zhou Yuan opened the feature page. The page explained the rules and rewards of the Peak Powerhouse Battle in detail:
The Peak Powerhouse Battle was open to all Universe Level powerhouses of humanity. As long as one possessed Universe Level cultivation, regardless of which universe country one came from, one could register to participate.
This grand event was organized by the Virtual Universe Company and held once every ten thousand years.
In addition, the Giant Axe Dojo also held a Peak Powerhouse Battle once every ten thousand years. The two events were staggered, allowing the Human Race to experience 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 consisted of two stages: the Universe-level Qualifying Battle and the Peak Final Battle.
The Universe Qualifying Battle would be held within each high-level universe country. Each high-level universe country would select one thousand Universe Level elites to represent it 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 universe-wide rankings would receive three major rewards:
First, prize money ranging from 10 Hunyuan units to 10,000 Hunyuan units depending on rank. The higher the rank, the more generous the prize.
Second, a spot to enter the Initial Universe for comprehension. The Initial Universe was one of the holy lands of the Human Race and was immensely beneficial for cultivation.
Third, the chance to become an internal "core member" of the Virtual Universe Company, receiving preferential access to the company's 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 Bolan's in the original novel. He wondered who would be stronger between himself and the legendary Kedi.