Leaving Chaos City

"You've truly disappointed me!" Venerable Nine Swords made no attempt to conceal his anger.

Under his oppressive aura, every genius felt as though someone had clenched a hand around their heart.

A suffocating pressure bore down on them, making it hard to breathe.

"In ten days, you will leave Chaos City," the purple-scaled man in azure robes said indifferently. "You won't be this safe anymore. If twenty percent of you could die somewhere as safe as Chaos City, then once you return to the Original Universe, I imagine only five hundred of you will be left alive after a mere hundred years."

"Hmph."

"Make the most of these last ten days. If you need to challenge the Heavenly Bridge, do it. If you need to study a Chaos Stele, hurry up and do so. Once you leave Chaos City... it'll be a long time before you can return." The purple-scaled man in azure robes waved his hand. "Go, all of you."

"Yes!"

The large crowd answered respectfully.

Then they scattered, flying in every direction toward Chaos City below. The pressure of standing before a Venerable was simply too great.

Over the following days, the geniuses challenged the Heavenly Bridge or went to study the Chaos Steles.

Luo Feng kept competing with the other geniuses and ultimately reached the same level as Bolan, clearing the Sixth Layer outright.

Rong Jun only cleared the fifth floor, clearly falling a little short of Luo Feng.

After thirty years, the gaps between them had become apparent.

Luo Feng had actually reached the same level as Bolan.

Because Bolan had split his attention to study time law, he had made little progress in space law. No matter how desperately he tried, he could not clear the Seventh Layer.

After this, Bolan should come to his senses ahead of time and give up studying time law!

Chen Ao had directly influenced Luo Feng and partially influenced Rong Jun. Both were considerably stronger than in the original story, and the Heavenly Bridge was proof.

As for Bolan, any changes he made were prompted by Luo Feng and had little to do with Chen Ao.

Of course, Chen Ao did not care about Bolan. As a side character, Bolan's role was to draw attention away from him during the Genius Battle.

After the Genius Battle, Bolan was not really useful anymore. Only Luo Feng would always be the GOAT.

This time, Chen Ao still only cleared the fifth floor. That was not a low ranking among the group, but he had failed to catch up with Luo Feng.

Clearly, Luo Feng had already displayed his talent. His superior rate of improvement made many of the geniuses take notice.

Inside True Yan King's residence in Chaos City.

True Yan King, Tong Nan King, and Long Yu King were all chatting casually together, thoroughly enjoying themselves.

"Hmm?" A delighted expression appeared on True Yan King's face.

"Congratulations, congratulations." Long Yu King smiled at True Yan King. "Zhen Yan, you've taken in a fine disciple."

"Hahaha..." True Yan King burst out laughing.

"What happened?" Tong Nan King looked a little puzzled.

"Just now, True Yan King's new disciple cleared the Sixth Layer of the Heavenly Bridge," Long Yu King said with a smile. She was specifically responsible for gathering information on this batch of newcomers, so naturally, she had long since instructed Guardian Bafen to notify her immediately whenever one of them broke through. True Yan King had given the same instructions.

"The Sixth Layer?" Tong Nan King set down his wine cup and applauded with a smile. "Impressive, impressive. The best performer in our Virtual Universe Company's previous batch only cleared the fourth floor, didn't he?"

"Yes."

Long Yu King smiled and nodded as well. "Over the last hundred batches of geniuses our Virtual Universe Company brought to Chaos City for the first time, 4,168 cleared the third floor!"

"Nine hundred and twenty-six cleared the fourth floor!"

"Thirty-two cleared the fifth floor!"

"And none cleared the Sixth Layer."

The Virtual Universe Company held a Genius Battle once every ten thousand years. In each batch, only a handful cleared the third floor, and on average, only about one person cleared the fourth floor every ten thousand years! If a batch's overall standard was slightly lower, no one would clear the fourth floor. If the standard was high, two or three might clear it.

"On average, only one genius in a thousand Genius Battles clears the Sixth Layer." Long Yu King smiled at True Yan King. "And those exceptional geniuses don't necessarily choose the Nine Universes Chaos Stele. This Luo Feng truly is a prospect your Nine Universe Lineage might only see once in ten million years."

"Hahaha..." True Yan King laughed heartily.

"Well, I'll inform the Venerable of this."

Luo Feng shot to fame, stealing the spotlight from Bolan. After all, Luo Feng's foundation had been far weaker than Bolan's, yet the two had ultimately achieved the same result.

Everyone could see what that meant for their futures.

The only remaining hope was that Bolan would come to his senses and perhaps overtake him again.

Inside the spaceship's lounge.

As soon as the young people entered the lounge, those who knew one another began chatting.

"Luo Feng, you're ruthless. You too, Rong Jun." Wuka, the Prince of Manka Star, looked thoroughly disgruntled. "One of you cleared the Sixth Layer of the Heavenly Bridge, and the other cleared the fifth. You've both left me behind. It's just... just heartbreaking!"

"Now that you see the gap, work harder." Luo Feng patted Wuka's shoulder.

Wuka froze. "Yeah, you really do need to work harder."

Rong Jun walked over too and patted Wuka's shoulder.

"Damn it, you bastard! I'm this upset, and you won't even comfort me!" Wuka cried indignantly, making both Luo Feng and Rong Jun laugh.

While Luo Feng, Rong Jun, and Wuka joked and bantered in the crowd, the others gathered in groups of three or five according to how close they usually were.

Still, a few solitary people did not interact with anyone else.

One was the white-clad youth with a blood-colored sword on his back. He always stood alone at the edge, never speaking to the others.

As for Chen Ao?

Who was Chen Ao? Was there someone named Chen Ao among them?

Rumble...

As the figure in azure battle robes walked into the hall, his heart-stopping aura silenced everyone. No one dared make a sound.

"Your thirty years of foundational cultivation in Chaos City have ended." Venerable Nine Swords swept his gaze over the 816 young people before him. All of them lowered their heads, afraid to meet his eyes. "Your batch has performed rather poorly in terms of mortality, but your achievements have been excellent. Bolan, Luo Feng, and Rong Jun in particular have done very well."

Even Venerable Nine Swords deliberately overlooked Chen Ao, because by comparison, Chen Ao's rate of improvement was considerably slower than even Rong Jun's.

Back then, Chen Ao had already mastered Hundred Line Flow and stood far above Luo Feng and Rong Jun. Now, however, they had overtaken him.

His progress was too slow!

A slight stir immediately spread through the crowd of young people below, and many turned to look at those three.

Bolan had cleared the Sixth Layer of the Heavenly Bridge! He had started so far ahead that everyone had already grown numb to it.

Luo Feng had cleared the Sixth Layer of the Heavenly Bridge!

Rong Jun had cleared the fifth floor of the Heavenly Bridge!

Of the three, Death God Bolan left everyone numb.

They envied Rong Jun-envied him for having a Universe Country Lord as his teacher.

But toward Luo Feng, they felt amazement and admiration. Without a Universe Country Lord as his teacher, he had still managed to clear the Sixth Layer. His improvement was truly astonishing!

After passing through the passage where time flowed erratically, the spaceship finally entered the Original Universe.

"We have left the Initial Universe." The purple-scaled man in azure robes looked down at the group of young people.

"That means your cultivation in Chaos City, where you were safest, has officially ended! Next, you will be divided into four teams and sent to the Primal Secret Region, the Primordial Secret Realm, the Heaven and Earth Secret Realm, and the Apocalypse Secret Realm."

"From now on, things won't be as comfortable as they were in Chaos City. Good luck. I hope five hundred of you are still alive the next time I see you."

The purple-scaled man in azure robes finished speaking. With a rumble, the spaceship began to slow down. A moment later, the hatch opened.

Luo Feng and the others filed out of the spaceship. At a glance, they saw rolling mountains in the distance, spaceships farther away, and figures flying through the air. Countless stars filled the sky.

"We've arrived at the Virtual Universe Company's Universal Headquarters."

Throughout the entire process, Chen Ao had not even needed to deliberately hide himself. Everyone had overlooked him without realizing it.

As for Venerable Nine Swords, he no longer paid much attention to him. A genius who could not keep improving was no genius at all.

Venerable Nine Swords could already imagine Chen Ao being pushed out of the Primal Secret Region before long. Whether he would fall all the way to the Heaven and Earth Secret Realm would depend on Chen Ao himself.

Because of Chen Ao, Venerable Nine Swords did not dare take Luo Feng as a disciple, even though Luo Feng was now improving rapidly.

He feared that Luo Feng, like Chen Ao, would prove to be nothing more than a shooting star.

After disembarking, Luo Feng met his wife, Xu Xin, the woman who had worked tirelessly just to be able to see him.

Chen Ao watched it all in silence, saying nothing.

I'm just a horny bastard. None of this has anything to do with me!

The environments on all five consecutive floors of the Heavenly Bridge had been filled with beautiful women. He had no words for it, but on reflection, it was no big deal. It was far better than being surrounded by handsome men.

Starting today, everyone would officially live, cultivate, and grow within the Virtual Universe!

Until they were kicked out for progressing too slowly-or died!