Chen Ao's first step in venturing into the universe had been to pass the Genius Battle quietly and join the Virtual Universe Company.
He felt he had carried out that step very well. He had entered the Primal Region without drawing anyone's attention.
In fact, people were deliberately forgetting he existed.
The second step is to become the Chaos City Lord's disciple. This will be much harder than the first!
The hardest part wasn't becoming his disciple, but doing it quietly.
Making as much of a stir as Luo Feng had just to secure a master was absolutely out of the question. It went against his principle of keeping a low profile.
That was why he was reluctant to challenge the Tongtian Tower.
He only went when he had no other choice.
Challenging the Tongtian Tower was so conspicuous that even a dog planted among humanity by the Alien Race would find out about it.
By comparison, challenging the Primal Heavenly Mountain was much more discreet.
Very few people would be able to learn that he had cleared the Primal Heavenly Mountain. Even most Venerables weren't qualified to know.
That made the risk much lower.
So I need to clear the Primal Heavenly Mountain at Universe Level!
That was merely a way to showcase his abilities. If clearing the Primal Heavenly Mountain alone could make the Chaos City Lord accept him as a disciple, Chen Ao could already clear it in several different ways.
After all, the Universe Level Primal Heavenly Mountain was roughly as difficult as facing a peak Domain Lord from the Apocalypse Secret Realm.
Back at Star Level, he had already been able to cleave an ordinary Domain Lord to death with a single sword strike.
Now he was confident he could kill a World Lord, let alone a mere Domain Lord. Clearing the Universe Level Original Tongtian Mountain posed no real difficulty for him.
Unfortunately, simply clearing it was useless.
Just clearing the Tongtian Mountain won't do. The real question is how I clear it!
In the original story, for instance, the Chaos City Lord hadn't thought much of Luo Feng's comprehension of the Space Law and the Law of Gold. His assessment had been "average"!
That hadn't been an arbitrary judgment. There had been a clear reason behind it.
The reason came down to one word: ceiling!
Even if Luo Feng pushed his comprehension of space and gold to the limit, he would only become a Universe Venerable.
That was his ceiling. In reality, no one could say whether he would even reach it. Most likely, he wouldn't even become a Universe Venerable.
That would leave him at King Rank.
Of course the Chaos City Lord wouldn't be interested in a disciple like that.
Gold-Space fusion, on the other hand, was different. It offered a chance of becoming a Universe Master.
Even if he failed to become a Universe Master, he would most likely become a Universe Overlord.
One would most likely reach King Rank; the other would most likely become a Universe Overlord.
The potential they displayed was worlds apart.
Only the latter was worth taking as the Chaos City Lord's disciple.
So if I want the Chaos City Lord to accept me as a disciple at Universe Level, I need to demonstrate either profound comprehension of time and space or comprehension of a fusion law!
In other words, only someone who showed even a hint of the potential to become a Universe Master would interest the Chaos City Lord.
Whether he could actually achieve it was another matter. At the very least, he had to show that he possessed that potential.
So the first thing I need to do for the second step of my plan is fuse the Wood-Space Law and show signs of that fusion law while challenging the Tongtian Mountain!
Challenging the mountain would draw a little of the Chaos City Lord's attention, while the fusion law would spark his interest.
Both were indispensable.
Displaying his potential would be pointless if the Chaos City Lord never saw it.
My comprehension of the Law of Wood is already close to receiving acknowledgment from the origin law, every bit as good as Luo Feng's comprehension of the Law of Gold during his Domain Lord period in the original story. As for the Space Law...
He was still a little short!
Well, just a little!
Of the 108 essences of the Space Law, he had only comprehended 107. He still had a little way to go.
That means I have the foundation needed to fuse the laws. The difficulty is that I don't know how to fuse them!
That was where he needed the help of a secret technique like Seven Kills of the Beast God.
After all, he couldn't simply fuse them out of thin air.
Chen Ao had already found what he needed.
The Virtual Universe had a secret technique concerning the fusion of the Wood-Space Law called Six Divine Wood Swords.
Well, it had one fewer stage than Seven Kills of the Beast God.
Even Herodo, the creator of Seven Kills of the Beast God, hadn't mastered its final stage, so he had only been a Top Universe Overlord.
Still, he had developed a theoretical framework, effectively providing a path to becoming a Universe Master. That made it extremely expensive.
The first three volumes of Seven Kills of the Beast God cost a staggering eight billion points!
The first six cost fifty billion!
All seven together cost a hundred billion points, just like Space-Time Essays.
By comparison, Six Divine Wood Swords was much lower-end.
Being lower-end has its advantages. It's cheap!
All six volumes of Six Divine Wood Swords together cost only ten billion points.
Chen Ao only needed the first volume, which cost ten million points.
Compared with the eighty million points required for the first volume of Seven Kills of the Beast God, it was cheaper by a huge margin.
Now comes the problem. Where am I going to get those ten million points? That was the question Chen Ao was pondering.
He couldn't exchange money for them, either. He didn't have the money! The prize money from the Genius Battle had all gone toward nurturing his Sunken Water Vine clone.
"Ah, Omega, bring up the Universe Level trial missions for me!"
The intelligent life Omega promptly complied, and a large selection of trial missions appeared before Chen Ao.
"The Blood Luo Continent undoubtedly offers the most points. One Blood Luo Crystal is worth six hundred points, so I'd only need nearly twenty thousand... Hmm, so without question, I choose the Purgatory Abyss mission!"
Getting twenty thousand Blood Luo Crystals on the Blood Luo Continent was a pipe dream. Even Luo Feng, with his Mosha Clan clone, had only obtained close to ten thousand. Where was Chen Ao supposed to get twenty thousand?
So the desperate level mission, Purgatory Abyss, was the more practical option.
Purgatory Abyss had only one objective: survive in the abyss for a year.
Completing it would earn him one million points.
Unless something unexpected happens, there should be a secret in there too. If I uncover it, I might get my ten million points!
Even the dangerous level Blood Luo Continent had earned Luo Feng several million points. This top-ranked desperate level mission was bound to offer greater rewards.
"Select the desperate level mission, Purgatory Abyss!"
Rather than a confirmation, an intelligent life soon appeared in the Virtual Universe to issue a warning.
"Your Highness Chen Ao, you are still a newcomer at Universe Level. We recommend selecting some relatively simple missions first. Desperate level missions have a mortality rate as high as 90%, and the top-ranked Purgatory Abyss has a staggering mortality rate of 99%!"
"Furthermore, this will be your first trial mission. According to our Virtual Universe statistics, the mortality rate for those who select Purgatory Abyss as their first mission is 100%. Please consider your choice carefully!"
Chen Ao felt helpless. Do you think I'd want to go if I weren't desperately short of points?
Would someone as cowardly-no, as cautious-as me do something like this?
Damn it!
I've been forced into it!
If you feel sorry for me, give me some points!
"Select the Purgatory Abyss mission!"
"The desperate level mission 'Purgatory Abyss' has been selected for you!"
Before you continue