Thirteen's smile

Bolan was universally acknowledged as a peerless genius.

As for how strong he was-well, he was probably only a few times stronger than all the other million-plus geniuses combined.

Of course, that did not include Chen Ao.

Even Chen Ao himself had no idea how strong he was.

Still, that did not stop Chen Ao from keeping a low profile.

Because no matter how strong he was, it was useless. He would still die if he encountered a World Lord.

And how many beings at or above the World Lord level were there in the universe?

Countless.

So I have to keep a low profile. I'll leave the spotlight to everyone else!

In Chen Ao's plan, Bolan would take the spotlight at the top, while Luo Feng would take it further down.

All he needed to do was stay safely in the middle.

I'll keep my ranking just a little above Rong Jun's. As long as it's enough to get me into the Arena Competition!

"Welcome to the Peak Genius Tournament hosted by our Virtual Universe Company." A gentle voice reached everyone's ears.

Everyone looked over in unison.

A man in green battle robes, with purple scales covering his head, appeared in the previously empty air before them. He wore a smile... yet as he stood in midair, he seemed like an ancient god-king. The faint aura he naturally exuded made the million-plus young people submit involuntarily.

And more than that!

Although they could see the Green-Robed Man in the distance with their own eyes, every genius present felt... as though that mighty, supreme being did not occupy the same space as they did.

That sense of spatial and temporal dislocation was deeply unsettling.

"Each of the 1,008 Universe Countries selected one thousand contestants, bringing the total to over a million geniuses." The Green-Robed Man stood in the air, looking down at the million geniuses below. His voice was gentle. "Our Virtual Universe Company will select the strongest one thousand among you and bring them into our company's core."

"The million of you will compete for these one thousand places."

"The rules are as follows."

"Tomorrow, each of you will enter a separate Trial Space. Our Virtual Universe Company has prepared over a million Trial Spaces for you, one per person.

"Each Trial Space contains seven trial towers! Each trial tower has seven floors!"

"You will begin with the first trial tower. Once you clear all seven floors, you will proceed to the second... and continue until you die and are expelled from the Trial Space."

"Your points will be calculated based on your performance in the Trial Space."

"The top 100 by points will require no further selection. They will be admitted directly into our Virtual Universe Company as core members, taking 100 of the places."

"Those ranked 101st through 7,300th-a total of 7,200 contestants-will then fight in the arena for the remaining 900 places."

"As for everyone ranked below 7,300th... all of you will be eliminated!"

The Green-Robed Man's words stunned the million-plus geniuses below.

There were 1,008,000 contestants in total... which meant that a single Trial Space round would eliminate over a million people!

After his brief explanation, the mysterious, powerful being representing the Virtual Universe Company left.

Though the million geniuses had questions, they could only return to their buildings to rest.

Early the next morning.

"All contestants, please prepare. Mass teleportation will begin shortly... transporting every contestant to their individual Trial Space." A clear, pleasant voice echoed throughout the entire dimensional space. The geniuses in every building had already risen and were waiting for the initial elimination round.

Elimination first, final battles afterward.

But in terms of brutality, the elimination trial was clearly more unnerving.

"Good luck."

"Give it your best." In the first-floor lobby of Building 0825, many of the Qianwu Universe Country's geniuses wished one another well. It was too brutal. Over a million people would be eliminated in the first round. Of the one thousand geniuses present, probably no more than ten would remain.

"Madman, good luck."

"Feng Lun, do your best."

Luo Feng and the green-haired youth, Feng Lun... encouraged each other.

Meanwhile, Chen Ao remained among the last ten. No one ahead of him knew him, and no one behind him paid him any attention.

He simply stood there in silence.

Boom!

An invisible, strange force descended upon the entire dimensional space, instantly teleporting away all 1,008,000 young geniuses within it. The immortals in the space, along with the restaurant staff and everyone else, were completely unaffected.

It was an enormous, roughly rectangular meteorite nearly a hundred kilometers long, suspended amid the stars.

Whoosh!

Chen Ao appeared on the meteorite and looked around. There were tiny stars in the distance, along with ordinary, lifeless planets not too far away. He could not help marveling, "The Virtual Universe created over a million Trial Spaces, and even a single one is this realistic."

Seven trial towers had been built on this meteorite drifting through the universe!

Each trial tower loomed like a mountain, over ten kilometers tall and several kilometers across. The seven towers occupied different positions on the enormous meteorite.

Chen Ao lowered his head to look at his wrist... There was a screen on it, just like during the preliminary selection within the Qianwu Universe Country.

Contestant: Chen Ao (Qianwu Universe Country)

Points: 0

Rank: None

Current Trial Space: No. 0279878.

The Trial Space contains seven trial towers. Each trial tower has seven floors.

First trial tower: A maximum of 10,000 points can be earned on each floor. Successfully clearing all seven floors yields a maximum of 70,000 points.

Second trial tower: A maximum of 100,000 points can be earned on each floor. Successfully clearing all seven floors yields a maximum of 700,000 points.

Fourth trial tower: A maximum of 10,000,000 points can be earned on each floor. Successfully clearing all seven floors yields a maximum of 70,000,000 points.

Seventh Trial Tower: A maximum of 100 trillion points can be earned on each floor. Successfully clearing all seven floors... yields a maximum of 700 trillion points.

Note: The trial ends upon death.

There are two ways to pass each floor: 1. Kill all targets on the floor to earn the maximum points and be teleported directly to the next floor. 2. If you fail to kill all targets but remain alive after 10 days, you will be teleported directly to the next floor to continue the trial.

When all contestants... have died, the trial ends. The final rankings will be determined.

The ranking list is attached below.

Chen Ao had applied to change his name in the meantime. He could not keep using a false name forever.

They were all in the Qianwu Universe Country. Who would care which obscure corner Chen Ao had crawled out of?

His name was completely unremarkable.

He had worn a mask during his Universe Country's Preliminary Competition, so no one recognized him.

The Virtual Universe was very accommodating. It identified people by their life aura and did not particularly care about name changes.

Naturally, no one had noticed him during that process either.

This way, people from both Black Dragon Mountain and the Aosen Empire would overlook his existence.

The former had never known such a person existed, while the latter could no longer find the name Ao Li Gei.

By now, Luo Feng had already made his plan. He would lie low for a very, very long time, then unleash everything at once.

His comprehension of space law still lagged behind Rong Jun's, so he wanted to use the time spent clearing the floors to cultivate and build up his strength.

Chen Ao likewise had his own plan.

He watched no one but Rong Jun. Whenever Rong Jun passed a floor, he would pass one too.

Never more, and never less.

Along the way, Luo Feng discovered the Zerg Mother Nest and went straight to confront Babata.

In the end, the matter could only be left unresolved.

Still, the presence of such a ticking time bomb made Luo Feng care even more about improving his strength.

Perhaps what Senior said was true. Earth needs me to protect it by growing stronger and stronger!

He had never taken the whole Child of Fortune business seriously, but Earth truly did need powerful people to protect it.

Perhaps I have to step forward!

In the Virtual Universe, 1,008 immortals sat casually around the Central Plaza.

The Trial Space elimination round... was not broadcast publicly throughout the universe. Only the changes in the rankings were made public.

Only the final arena battles would be publicly broadcast! However... the immortals from the various Universe Countries had permission to watch each contestant's trial.

"This fellow named Bolan really is ruthless. He shot straight into first place right from the start."

"Mm."

"So fast. Bolan's points are rising at an astonishing rate. He's left second place far behind."

"Thirteen, Rong Jun from your Qianwu Universe Country is pretty good too. He's currently fifth in points."

The 1,008 powerful immortals could easily see the rankings and watch the trials. They were representing their respective Universe Countries, so naturally, they all wanted their own country's geniuses to shine brighter... It would give them something to be proud of.

For beings who had lived through endless ages, pride and dignity mattered greatly.

"Not bad." The giant in scaled battle robes nodded slightly, sitting in his broad chair... and watching the screen before him.

"Rong Jun." He opened Rong Jun's live trial feed directly.

The savage-looking youth was barefoot, moving with strange footwork and astonishing speed. With a war blade in hand, he freely carved through winged, furry, three-eyed lionlike monsters-the ferocious beasts known as Flying Snipes.

A rare trace of a smile appeared on the face of the giant in scaled battle robes.

Soon, however, Thirteen's smile grew even more pleasantly surprised. He had noticed someone following closely behind Rong Jun, with only a very small gap between their points.

The difference amounted to no more than a few beasts' worth of points.

And this person also came from the Qianwu Universe Country.

"Who is this... Chen Ao?" Thirteen was somewhat baffled.

He had never heard of him. None of his subordinates had mentioned this Chen Ao in their earlier reports.

Yet judging by the speed at which Chen Ao cleared the floors, he was barely slower than Rong Jun and had climbed straight into sixth place.

Thirteen's smile broadened.

"Hahaha, so Thirteen can smile too!"

"How many years has it been? I haven't seen him smile in ages!"

"Of course he's smiling. The Qianwu Universe Country has two contestants in the top ten at once!"

Thirteen paid no attention to the other immortals' remarks and took a closer look at Rong Jun and Chen Ao.

Rong Jun's performance was within his expectations.

Chen Ao, however, was a completely unexpected delight.

"To think there really was a little fellow hiding his abilities so well! Let's see how far you can go!" After saying that, Thirteen turned his attention to Luo Feng.

When he saw Luo Feng, his brow furrowed slightly.

"Is this Luo Feng really treating the Trial Space as a cultivation ground?"

Unlike his anger in the original story, however, Luo Feng had demonstrated enough strength to compete for the top ten-or at least the top twenty, even if he fell a little short.

So he did not mind Luo Feng's "slowness"!