Time drifted on, and the days of secluded cultivation passed in a flash.
"Five thousand years!" Yang Hao's eyes were deep, as though he had seen through countless secrets.
He had never expected cultivating the second turn of Hunyuan Ten Turns to take five thousand years.
Fortunately, time was practically worthless in this universe. To the powerful, five thousand years were no more than the blink of an eye.
Only because Yang Hao's soul was relatively young did he find it a long time.
Although five thousand years had passed, he had no real sense of how long it had been. During cultivation, he could not feel time passing at all.
"Hmm, looks like I'm still not used to it," Yang Hao murmured.
The road ahead was long, and the path to power was destined to be lonely.
"But I gained quite a lot this time." Yang Hao smiled.
After he perfectly mastered the second turn of Hunyuan Ten Turns, his life gene multiplier rose from three hundred to twelve hundred! His divine power and combat strength were four times what they had been.
And that was not all. As a human Venerable, his greatest weakness was the size of his divine body.
Now, however, Yang Hao's divine body had grown from three meters tall to three hundred meters!
(A multiplier cannot be used here. If it were calculated that way, a hundred-thousandfold increase in body volume would mean a hundred-thousandfold increase in divine power. If a divine body grew from three meters to three kilometers, that would be equivalent to a trillionfold increase in divine power. Tomato probably did not calculate it in detail, so no precise figure based on the volume multiplier can be given for the increase in divine body size.)
Haha, now my divine body is bigger. It still isn't as outrageous as those of the demon race or Starry Sky Behemoths, but a three-hundred-meter divine body is much stronger than before, Yang Hao thought.
This second turn had not only increased his gene multiplier, but also enlarged his divine body.
If he mastered the third turn, how much larger could his divine body become?
"Now I have a life gene multiplier of twelve hundred and a divine body three hundred meters tall. I wield the Tooth of Hunyu, an ordinary supreme treasure, wear the Azure Ink Armor, a high-grade supreme treasure armor, and also have Luohua Hall, an ordinary palace supreme treasure." Yang Hao took stock of his strength.
Clearly, with three supreme treasures and a life gene multiplier far beyond that of Universe Venerables, his weakness compared with other human Universe Overlords was his secret techniques.
The vast majority of Universe Overlords had spent countless ages creating their own ultimate Universe Overlord-level secret techniques, while Yang Hao only had ultimate Universe Venerable-level secret techniques.
But he had his strengths, too: his life gene multiplier and the size of his divine body.
"Now I'm a genuine Universe Overlord-level powerhouse!" Yang Hao was quite confident.
Since there was no fundamental difference between Universe Overlords and Universe Venerables in terms of divine power, whether someone was a Universe Overlord was not something they could decide for themselves. They still had to prove it with their battle record.
"If my battle record from seizing Luohua Hall last time were made public, I could be called a Universe Overlord, too." The corner of Yang Hao's mouth twitched as he recalled the battle over the supreme treasure five thousand years ago.
But everyone present had suffered a humiliating defeat. How could they possibly publicize Yang Hao's battle record, letting someone else earn the title of Universe Overlord at the expense of their dignity, and even release footage of the battle? Who could be that shameless?
Yang Hao did not particularly care. Back then, he had only achieved such extraordinary attack power by using a trial card.
Now, after five thousand years of secluded cultivation, his strength had improved immensely. Earning the title of Universe Overlord would take only a single battle.
"There's still a long time before the Primal Star opens. Perhaps I should create my own Universe Overlord-level secret technique." Yang Hao's gaze crossed the void and settled in the direction of the Primal Star.
Treasures emerged there constantly, and powerhouses from the universe's countless races fought over them. It was undoubtedly an excellent place to hone oneself.
"Secret techniques are divided into unranked, ordinary, top-tier, pinnacle, ultimate..." Yang Hao pondered.
"Creating an ultimate secret technique in one go is obviously impossible, but a secret technique ranked too low would be worse than my current ultimate secret technique."
He stroked his chin as he considered it.
"The secret technique I create has to be at least top-tier to have any real combat power."
"A top-tier Universe Overlord-level secret technique would still fall short of an ultimate Universe Venerable secret technique."
"But a secret technique I create around the Tooth of Hunyu would be easier for me to use."
"Phew, let's begin!"
Just as Yang Hao was about to enter secluded cultivation, he suddenly remembered that he still had a disciple, Huiyun.
If he inadvertently stayed in seclusion for several hundred thousand years without even knowing what had become of his disciple, would that not be the same as never having taken one?
He immediately sent a wisp of his consciousness into the Virtual Universe to check Huiyun's performance over the years.
When its geniuses reached the Domain Lord level, the Virtual Universe Company assigned them certain positions. During this period, their safety was relatively well assured.
However, it also issued missions from time to time, primarily to assess the geniuses' character and decision-making abilities.
"Mm, not bad." Yang Hao nodded.
Huiyun had been born a slave in the universe, but fortunately, her humanity had not been worn away.
"Her overall performance is fairly standard. I'd give her seven out of ten. Not particularly high, but still a passing grade." What Yang Hao feared was that Huiyun's experience as a slave might have left her with flaws in her character.
That would affect her path to power. Her mental state would have an enormous influence on whether she could fulfill her future potential.
"In that case, I don't have much to worry about." Yang Hao felt considerably more at ease.
If a disciple he devoted himself to nurturing turned into an ungrateful wretch or a powerhouse with a flawed character, that would be a truly devastating loss.
Fortunately, she was still a person of sound character.
"She hasn't broken through to World Lord yet. Let's see how Huiyun's cultivation has been going lately." Yang Hao sent Huiyun an email, asking her to come to his private plane in the Virtual Universe.
The Virtual Universe had established many private planes. As the Qian Wu Country Lord, Yang Hao naturally had one of his own, and anyone he approved could enter.
"Disciple greets Teacher!" Upon arriving in the plane, Huiyun hurriedly bowed to Yang Hao on his throne.
Why does Teacher seem to have grown stronger again? Looking into Yang Hao's eyes, Huiyun felt that he was even more formidable than he had been five thousand years ago.
For a powerhouse at his level, five thousand years were no more than the blink of an eye, yet she could see a clear difference after such a short time.
In the Virtual Universe, everyone used bodies of equal strength, but equal bodily strength did not mean equal combat power.
Even with a body of the same strength, Yang Hao could fight a hundred Huiyuns without the slightest difficulty.
The more she cultivated those three secret techniques, the more unfathomable Huiyun found Yang Hao's strength.
Those three secret techniques were tailor-made for me. Just studying them has improved my strength so much... Huiyun could only marvel at how formidable her teacher was.
"Huiyun, you've finished the highest-level mission the company assigned you at the Domain Lord level, correct?" Yang Hao asked.
"Yes, Teacher. This disciple completed the highest-reward mission fifteen hundred years ago," Huiyun answered with a nod.
Yang Hao looked at the data. Her completion rate for the highest-level mission was seventy-five percent, which was fairly good overall.
"Since you've completed the highest-reward mission, there's no need to linger at the Domain Lord level." Yang Hao rose from his throne and walked slowly toward her.
"The Domain Lord level makes up only a tiny part of the path to power. The World Lord level is its most important stage!"
Law comprehension at the World Lord level was more than a hundred times faster than at the Domain Lord level. Remaining at the Domain Lord level for too long was simply a waste of time.
"Your talent isn't particularly outstanding among your peers, but I've seen the effort you've put in over the years." Overall, Yang Hao was reasonably satisfied with Huiyun.
In the nearly six thousand years since she had joined the Virtual Universe Company, she had cleared the ninth level of the Tongtian Bridge and already gained the recognition of the Origin Law. Among the thousand geniuses from the same Strongest Battle, she could rank in the top thirty.
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