The First Stage of the Powerhouse Battle Ends

In the days that followed, Zhou Yuan immersed himself almost completely in the Virtual Universe's simulated forging grounds, repeatedly attempting to forge a fifth-tier Zhenkong Blade. Although he had yet to succeed, every failure deepened his understanding of Forging Secret Art 2.0.

Zhou Yuan was absorbed in the rhythm of tempering molten metal and engraving secret patterns when the communicator on his wrist suddenly rang. It was a message from his butler, Qian Hong. "Your Highness, the goods sent by your Third Senior Brother, Di Rui, have arrived. Please come to the main hall to receive them."

A flicker of delight crossed Zhou Yuan's eyes. He immediately ended the forging simulation and exited the Virtual Universe. Striding quickly into the villa's main hall, he saw Qian Hong standing respectfully to one side, holding an ancient black wooden box in his hands.

"Your Highness, this is the package sent by your Third Senior Brother. There is a long blade inside." Qian Hong handed over the wooden box he had received.

Zhou Yuan took the box. It was heavy in his hands, and its surface was covered in fine law secret patterns. Opening the lid, he found an ancient-looking two-handed longsword resting quietly within.

"Fine blade!" Zhou Yuan praised as he gripped the hilt and gently drew it. The instant the blade left its sheath, the surrounding space twisted slightly, and a sharp aura of Space Law rushed toward him.

This Cosmos Blade had been forged entirely from G-grade metal. Its value far surpassed that of a fifth-tier force weapon, costing no less than a hundred million Hunyuan units. It had been personally forged by Cosmos, a human forging grandmaster and a king-level powerhouse. Complete Space Law secret patterns were inscribed within it, enough to support Zhou Yuan's use until the king-level immortal stage.

"All right, you may withdraw first." Eager to try Myriad Transformations, Zhou Yuan quickly ordered Qian Hong to leave.

"This subordinate takes his leave." Qian Hong respectfully bowed, then withdrew from the villa.

Once Qian Hong had left, Zhou Yuan activated the Myriad Transformations Secret Technique, intending to replicate the form and aura of the Cosmos Blade. To his surprise, the technique failed. He could not transform into the Cosmos Blade.

After a brief thought, Zhou Yuan understood the reason. The gap in rank between him and the Cosmos Blade was too great. The level of a king-grade weapon exceeded the scope of his Myriad Transformations.

Unable to analyze it directly through the secret technique, Zhou Yuan could only study its secret patterns in the most traditional way. He carefully observed every detail of the blade while circulating his spiritual power to cautiously sense the operating patterns of the inscriptions within. This was how ordinary people comprehended secret patterns.

Although this method was far slower than Zhou Yuan's use of Myriad Transformations, his comprehension had long been transformed by the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Technique. In just three days, he had gained a preliminary understanding of the blade's basic secret patterns, enough that normal use would not be affected.

What delighted him even more was that, as he studied the spatial secret patterns, his comprehension of the Space Origin Law also deepened. Without realizing it, he had made obvious progress in the Space Origin Law.

Zhou Yuan suddenly became alert. He had been too absorbed in forging lately and had instead neglected the most essential task: comprehending laws. For a martial artist at his level, laws were the foundation, while forging was merely an auxiliary method. He could not neglect the root for the branches.

Realizing this, Zhou Yuan immediately adjusted his cultivation plan. He devoted most of his time to comprehending the essence of the Space Origin Law and only practiced forging occasionally. As his mind focused, his comprehension speed rose once again, and he began analyzing the essence of the Space Origin Law piece by piece.

Unknowingly, two years passed in silence, and the arena matches of the first stage of the Genius Battle came to an end. During this period, Zhou Yuan had spent most of his time comprehending the essence of the Space Origin Law and had now grasped thirty-five kinds. He was only one step away from comprehending the simplest thirty-six spatial origin essences.

During that time, he occasionally followed the arena matches to observe the performances of the other geniuses. Quite a few dark horses had emerged in this tournament. They had not taken first place in the elimination rounds, yet their performances in the arena matches were more dazzling than those of many elimination-round champions.

For example, there was Karen from the Purple Chen Universe Nation, whose battles Zhou Yuan had watched before. With absolute strength, Karen secured qualification for the finals through an undefeated record in the arena matches.

Every universe nation in the human race was gathering intelligence on the participating geniuses, and the Purple Chen Universe Nation was no exception. As a personal disciple of the Purple Chen Nation Lord, Zhou Yuan naturally received the most complete information at the earliest opportunity.

On the afternoon when the first-stage arena matches ended, the butler Qian Hong came to pay his respects with a light screen containing the genius data gathered by the Purple Chen Universe Nation. "Your Highness, this is the information our Purple Chen Universe Nation has received from the various universe nations."

Zhou Yuan accepted the data screen and swiped through it with his fingers, reviewing the contestants' information one by one. Most of them were far too weak to interest him in the slightest. Even the occasional stronger contestant remained vastly inferior to him.

When he saw Karen's information, Zhou Yuan nodded slightly. "This Karen has improved quickly. His Myriad Avatars Secret Art should be close to breaking through to the second level. Entering the top ten should not be a problem."

As Zhou Yuan glanced over Karen's information, he thought, This Karen should be able to enter the top ten. Myriad Avatars is close to breaking through to the second level.

When he turned to the information on the Flame Dragon Universe Nation, the first name he saw was Yan Lie. A trace of approval flashed through Zhou Yuan's eyes. "This Yan Lie has a deep comprehension of the Fire Origin Law, and he has also crossed the threshold of the Space Origin Law. He should have the strength to compete for the top ten as well."

"This Auster probably has the strength to reach the top ten too. He actually fought his way through the arena matches as well."

Kien, Shafir, Gu Hong...

The names of geniuses flashed across the screen one after another. Zhou Yuan casually commented on them in his mind, but none of them made him feel threatened.

A feeling of invincibility arose spontaneously within Zhou Yuan. Looking at the list on the light screen, he could not help recalling a song from Earth in his previous life. "How lonely, how empty it is to be invincible..."

He went through the entire list but found none of the familiar characters from the original work. It seemed that this Powerhouse Battle did not contain any particularly extraordinary geniuses who would leave their mark on the future.

"Alas, there isn't a single one who can fight." Zhou Yuan sighed softly. "I wonder whether those geniuses in the Primal Secret Realm will be any stronger."

Just as Zhou Yuan lamented how difficult it was to find a worthy opponent, the other three great races beyond the human race were also moving at full speed.

Within a Divine Kingdom hidden in a spatial interlayer, an insect race mother empress was raging at the immortal gods under her command. "Trash! You have searched for so long, yet you still cannot find any trace of Zhou Yuan! What are you even good for?"

The immortal gods below lowered their heads and answered tremblingly, "My lady, all information regarding Zhou Yuan has been tightly sealed by the Purple Chen Universe Nation. We have used every intelligence network available, yet we still could not find his exact location."

Similar scenes were playing out within the intelligence agencies of the Machine Race and the Demon Race. The terrifying talent Zhou Yuan had displayed during the elimination rounds had already drawn the vigilance of the three great races. They all wanted to strangle him in the cradle before he could grow stronger.