The Spatial Maze

Venerable Liangzhu fired ten beams from his nine tails and his mouth. Supreme Skeleton had barely been able to hold his own against Yang Hao's attacks alone.

But now, under the barrage of ten death rays, he felt his divine power being annihilated at a terrifying rate.

"What powerful attacks! Why, damn this Special Lifeform!" With every bit of divine power Supreme Skeleton lost, his anxiety grew.

Yet he had no trump cards left. His race was nowhere near as wealthy as the pinnacle races. Over countless years, he had painstakingly accumulated three Supreme Treasures and created an Ultimate Secret Technique to become a Universe Overlord.

And now, in this forbidden zone, he was suffering a righteous two-on-one beatdown.

"All I can do is wait to be resurrected. I can't accept this!" Supreme Skeleton's eyes burned with resentment.

Dying once came at an enormous cost for a Universe Overlord. The Supreme Treasures he would lose alone represented the vast majority of his wealth.

"As long as I survive, I can rebuild. Qian Wu of humanity, Liang Zhu of the Ancestral God Cult, just you wait!" Supreme Skeleton was now in terrible condition.

Less than half his divine power remained, yet he was still spouting threats.

"Not good! He's going to self-destruct! Get inside my Palace Supreme Treasure!" Yang Hao sensed something was wrong. One look at this fellow told him he was about to blow himself up.

His divine body was ten kilometers tall. Even with less than half his divine power remaining, he still possessed an immense amount.

If he self-destructed in this enclosed space, the destructive force would be staggering. One careless mistake could cost them dearly.

Rumble!

Supreme Skeleton self-destructed after all. Every last bit of divine power remaining in his ten-kilometer divine body was unleashed, turning him into a colossal bomb.

"Hold steady!" Yang Hao brought Liang Zhu into Luohua Hall and controlled it with all the pure divine power he could muster. But the space was too small, leaving them nowhere to hide.

Luohua Hall tumbled wildly through the chaotic space like a ball.

Only after a long while did the space settle down. Inside Luohua Hall, Yang Hao and Liang Zhu had been tossed around until they were thoroughly dazed. Although they had lost little divine power, they certainly looked far from dignified.

"Haha! Good thing we had a Palace Supreme Treasure, or who knows how much divine power we would have lost." Yang Hao laughed after stabilizing Luohua Hall.

"True enough. A Palace Supreme Treasure really does come in handy at critical moments." Venerable Liangzhu gently shook his head.

The two experts left Luohua Hall. The space outside had already calmed down.

"Hmm, in the battle at the temple gates, the two of us killed thirty-nine Universe Venerables and one Universe Overlord!" Venerable Liangzhu said.

He then gathered the Heavy Treasures and Supreme Treasures floating in the air before him.

"My friend, you keep the treasures for now. Once we're done competing for the final Supreme Treasure, we can discuss how to divide the spoils." Venerable Liangzhu placed the treasures before Yang Hao.

"Then I'll take them for now!" Yang Hao did not hesitate.

The greatest gains from this battle were Supreme Skeleton's three Supreme Treasures.

There was an ordinary armor-type Supreme Treasure, a high-grade attack-type Supreme Treasure scythe, and a domain-type Supreme Treasure shaped like a scepter.

As for the other thirty-nine fallen Universe Venerables, they had only three attack-type Supreme Treasures between them, along with a few pieces of top-tier Heavy Treasure Armor and weapons. There was also one complete set of top-tier Heavy Treasures. Compared with Universe Overlords, ordinary Universe Venerables were simply too poor.

After replenishing some divine power and returning to peak condition, Yang Hao headed deeper inside with Venerable Liangzhu.

The passage was shaped like a horn, wide at the entrance and gradually narrowing farther in.

"The next challenge is about to begin. Press here when ready."

The space at the end of the passage was still several thousand kilometers high, enough to accommodate experts with enormous divine bodies. A massive, closed stone gate stood at the end, with a passage of text inscribed on it.

Yang Hao and Liang Zhu were both in peak condition. They exchanged a glance and nodded.

Rumble...

The stone gate opened. There seemed to be nothing inside.

"Something's wrong with the space in here. It seems to be... a spatial maze?" Yang Hao had only taken two steps beyond the entrance when he noticed the abnormality.

Liang Zhu, who had been beside him, was now gone.

"Phew. I'm on my own now." Yang Hao adjusted his mindset and focused entirely on the spatial maze.

Forward or backward? Countless spaces formed this maze. Even an expert's brain, with its immense computational power, could not calculate everything in time.

After making a few circuits through the spatial maze, he unsurprisingly returned to his starting point.

"This can't be right."

Yang Hao stopped at a certain spot. His divine power avatar connected to the Virtual Universe as he observed the patterns of spatial change and entered them into the Virtual Universe.

Through constant recording and trial and error, he finally found the pattern.

"So that's how it works!" Yang Hao felt everything fall into place.

The spatial maze was not particularly difficult, but everyone thought differently. It was impossible if one did not understand, and easy if one did. Once he found the right approach, solving it was simple.

Fortunately, Yang Hao had the Human Race behind him. The Virtual Universe's assistance saved him considerable time.

He left the maze and reached a platform, behind which stood a large gate.

"I wonder how Liang Zhu is doing. Can he make it through this spatial maze?" Yang Hao strained his eyes, but he could see nothing.

"Congratulations to Qian Wu of the Human Race for being the first to clear the spatial maze. You have earned a mystery prize."

A voice sounded in his mind. Yang Hao had not expected to be the first to pass through the maze.

After all, at least several hundred experts had entered the great hall.

"Maybe they're still fighting in the other directions." Yang Hao did not attribute it to his strength. He simply thought he had been lucky.

"A mystery prize. Let's see what it is."

He approached a table that had risen from the platform. A strange fruit glowing green rested on it.

The green fruit was a full hundred meters tall and continuously radiated an incomparably pure aura of life.

After picking it up, he received no information. Yang Hao searched the Virtual Universe for details about this mysterious fruit.

It turned out to be called the Origin-Born Condensation Fruit. Its primary function was to restore divine power. Consuming it would also increase the activity of one's divine power, boosting its strength by up to fifty percent depending on the user's strength. The weaker the user, the greater the boost; a Universe Master would gain little from it.

Hmm, this fruit is pretty good. Liang Zhu should benefit more from using it, Yang Hao thought after reading the information.

After all, Venerable Liangzhu had a higher life gene level and a larger divine body. Since the fruit increased divine power strength by a percentage, the larger the divine body, the more worthwhile it was to use. It would improve their chances in the upcoming contest for the top-tier Supreme Treasure.

"Hey, sorry for the wait, my friend." As Yang Hao was considering this, Venerable Liangzhu's familiar voice rang out.

"I heard that you'd cleared the maze while I was still inside. Fortunately, I'd figured out an approach too, so I didn't fall too far behind," Liang Zhu said with a smile.

Yang Hao nodded, then handed Liang Zhu the Origin-Born Condensation Fruit he had just received as a reward.

"This is my reward for being the first to clear the spatial maze. You should use it. It restores divine power and increases its strength," Yang Hao said.

"Oh? It can even increase divine power strength? Not bad." Liang Zhu accepted the fruit without much fuss.

Although the two had not known each other long, they sincerely wanted to be friends. There was no need for excessive politeness.

"Enter the passage and await the final battle." A set of mysterious markings appeared on the gate behind the platform, their meaning clear at a glance.

"Competing for a top-tier Supreme Treasure really is a hassle. It's making me rather curious about what the final treasure will be," Venerable Liangzhu said as he waited for the gate to open.

"It certainly is troublesome. Fortunately, no experts above the Top Universe Overlord level have come to compete, so we have a good chance," Yang Hao replied.

Yang Hao felt that Venerable Liangzhu still had some trump cards and had yet to unleash his full combat strength. Still, having a stronger teammate did him no harm.

The gate opened. Beyond it lay the final passage.