Based on their experience with previous Primal Star openings, the Universe Masters of the Human Race estimated that the treasure within the stone formation was at least a top-tier Domain-type Supreme Treasure, Top-tier Soul-type Supreme Treasure, or top-tier Palace-type Supreme Treasure. There was even a very strong chance that it was a Peak Supreme Treasure.
"So what I got was one of seven keys?" Yang Hao frowned.
There were seven keys in total, and he had obtained one—a seventh of the set. Based on the value of the Supreme Treasure that the Human Race experts predicted might emerge, that amounted to several thousand Supreme Treasure points.
"Even a seventh would be worth several hundred Supreme Treasure points, but I definitely can't calculate it that way."
After all, the Human Race was unlikely to be lucky enough to gather all seven keys. In situations like this, the Northern Border Alliance, with its many experts exploring the Primal Stars, had a much better chance of collecting them all.
Yang Hao thought it over but could not come up with a good way to handle it. When in doubt, he would ask Chaos.
"Your key is indeed one of the seven keys to the Zhenren Stone Formation, and it's the last one," the Chaos City Lord said.
"Haha, it looks like we humans are quite lucky. We now have two keys."
The Chaos City Lord smiled. "Here's our plan. The Northern Border Alliance originally had two keys, seized another, and purchased one, giving them four. The Machine Race has one, and the Human Race has two."
"That means the Northern Border Alliance has the most, with a full four keys. According to our intelligence network, they're also in secret contact with the Machine Race, preparing to purchase its key."
"We have two now, but taking the keys from the Northern Border Alliance and the Machine Alliance isn't realistic. I think we should sell ours to the Northern Border Alliance."
"Of course, there's no rush. We'll wait until the Machine Race sells its key to the Northern Frontier Alliance before releasing the news. By then, they'll have gathered five of the seven keys, and the last two will both be in our hands."
"Then the Northern Border Alliance will have to swallow their displeasure and accept our terms!" Yang Hao said with a laugh.
"I'll handle this personally. For your safety, one of my avatars will come to find you on the Primal Star," the Chaos City Lord said solemnly.
Yang Hao sent the Chaos City Lord the number of the Primal Star he was on, then waited quietly.
The Chaos City Lord had three avatars. One guarded Chaos City, and another guarded the Virtual Universe's Universe Headquarters in the Primal Universe. His strongest avatar, however, was in neither the Primal Universe nor the Virtual Universe.
Boom!
Every region on the entire Primal Star-wilderness, forests, deserts, mountains, lakes, swamps, and seas-fell under an irresistible restraint. The experts from the universe's many races on that Primal Star were stunned.
"It's a Universe Master!"
"This is bad! A Universe Master has descended!"
"Why would a Universe Master have the leisure to come here?"
Once they realized a Universe Master had arrived, the experts of the other races dared not resist and quietly endured it. After all, under normal circumstances, a Universe Master would disdain slaughtering Universe Venerables.
Unless, of course, a Universe Venerable or Universe Overlord decided he had lived too long and wanted to try dying once, and provoked a Universe Master.
Because Universe Masters had fully comprehended both higher laws, time and space, they could control a region of spacetime.
Although that control alone could not kill an existence such as a Universe Overlord, it could make every step a struggle. Even walking would be difficult, and flying would be nothing more than a dream! The Universe Master could simply fly over and kill them.
A towering figure nearly ten thousand kilometers tall appeared, his skin gleaming silver-white. Thousands of antennae rose from his head, his eyes were serene, and he held an enormous stone staff.
The stone staff was covered in scars, as though it had endured countless ravages. He wore what appeared to be an ordinary robe, but a closer look revealed thousands upon thousands of objects within it. If any one of them were removed, it would be worth at least an Ordinary Supreme Treasure. Every thread of the robe resembled a surging river.
"So that's the Thousand Treasure River, a top-tier Domain-type Supreme Treasure..." Yang Hao watched the Chaos City Lord make his grand entrance.
This was not the Chaos City Lord's strongest avatar, but its combat strength was sufficient within the Primal Universe. Besides, its divine body, nearly ten thousand kilometers tall, was incomparably massive.
Yang Hao had no idea which special lifeform he had possessed.
There was no helping it. Although special lifeforms were favored by the Primal Universe, the more they gained, the more they lost. The stronger a special lifeform was, the smaller its race tended to be. It might even be the only one of its kind.
These special lifeforms were hunted by the universe's many races or captured to be possessed.
There was no helping it. In the universe, the strong devoured the weak. Even Natural Beast Gods, with the strength of Universe Masters, had been slaughtered to extinction.
"Chaos City Lord." Yang Hao hurriedly greeted him.
"Haha, Qian Wu, I'll keep the key for now. Once negotiations with the Northern Border Alliance succeed, I'll share the spoils with you." The Chaos City Lord was in a good mood. His years exploring the Primal Stars had yielded some gains.
"Then I'll await the good news." Yang Hao smiled and handed the key to this avatar of the Chaos City Lord.
"I'm off!"
After the silver-skinned giant, nearly ten thousand kilometers tall, flew toward the Vortex Passage in the sky, his control over the surrounding spacetime finally vanished. The other experts on the planet breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, the Supreme Treasure produced by this Zhenren Stone Formation isn't one of the very best on the Primal Stars, Yang Hao thought.
If it were, the other Human Race experts would join forces to exert pressure and compete for the supreme treasure.
He had raised his strength to the Universe Overlord level partly to secure as much fair treatment as possible, though there was still a considerable gap between him and the highest ranks of the Human Race.
But that gap was shrinking, wasn't it?
The universe was not fair. Even within the Human Race, unfairness still existed.
In the original story, the Human Race had purchased ownership of half of Earth for fifty billion Hunyuan Units. Although Earth's value could not be measured precisely, it was worth at least as much as a Peak Supreme Treasure, if not more. Those fifty billion Hunyuan Units were not enough to pay for even a tiny fraction of a heavy treasure.
So increasing his own strength was the only true path.
When I have time, I should keep an eye out for talented people and take on more disciples. That way, I can build up my own power and gain a greater say, Yang Hao thought.
The Primal Stars held countless treasures, and countless experts explored them.
The Human Race, for example, had nearly ten thousand Venerables. Even including the Venerables of other races in the Hongmeng Alliance, the total was fewer than fifty thousand Universe Venerables. Yet the universe's largest alliance, the Northern Border Alliance, had over a million Venerables. Even so, the Northern Border Alliance's experts accounted for only a small portion of the total.
The Northern Border Alliance was not the universe's only alliance. There were other top powers, such as the Nine Domains Alliance and the Thorn Ring Alliance. These top powers were likewise alliances made up of many ordinary and powerful races. However, since they had not managed to invite a Universe Strongest to preside over them, they could only be considered top powers.
Of course, they were by no means weak. Their numbers of Universe Venerables and even Universe Masters far surpassed those of the Hongmeng Alliance.
After several more centuries of fighting over treasures, Yang Hao had killed five High Universe Venerables and severely injured a Universe Overlord, though the latter had escaped. He had also seized quite a few treasures.
"I've spent a thousand years on the Primal Stars. It's time to exchange the Supreme Treasures I don't use for Supreme Treasure points, then buy what I need." Yang Hao realized that he seemed to have accumulated rather too many Supreme Treasures. Besides, he had run out of treasures for replenishing divine power, so he might as well exchange them for Supreme Treasure points first.
"Hmm, altogether, I've obtained five Ordinary Supreme Treasures, one high-grade offensive Supreme Treasure, one Soul-type Supreme Treasure, and five top-tier heavy treasure sets." Yang Hao took stock, realized he was quite wealthy, and could not help laughing aloud.
As for anything below top-tier heavy treasure sets, such as individual Top-Tier Heavy Treasures or ordinary heavy treasures, he could not be bothered to count them. Keeping them to give to his disciples later would be useful enough.
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