Purple Thorn Island.
Endless multicolored auroras surrounded it.
Time flowed on.
In the blink of an eye, a thousand years had passed.
Yun He opened his eyes, a trace of helplessness in his gaze.
That elusive sense of a breakthrough to Venerable still had not come.
He, too, had become stuck at this step.
This was perfectly normal. Countless King Ranks were trapped at this final step, unable to break through even after long ages.
With an enormous investment of precious resources, there was a very good chance of nurturing an Undying.
But nurturing a Universe Venerable required even more staggering resources, and no faction dared guarantee that it could turn a particular genius into a Universe Venerable with absolute certainty.
As for a Universe Master, that was even harder.
As Sitting Mountain Guest had said, "A true supreme powerhouse cannot be taught."
No matter how capable the teacher, how many resources they provided, or how fine the treasures, if the disciple did not cultivate, even becoming an Undying was impossible.
Every ten thousand years, the Virtual Universe Company recruited a batch of geniuses through the Peak Genius Tournament. Over the endless ages, how many of the countless World Lords in the Four Great Secret Realms had ultimately become Undying?
How many King Ranks had the Human Race accumulated since the birth of the universe?
Even now, there were only a little over a hundred thousand human King Ranks in the Hongmeng Alliance.
After all, even if King Ranks died, most could be resurrected through Reverse Time and Space.
Those hundred thousand human King Ranks in the Hongmeng Alliance were already the fruit of endless ages of accumulation.
Thus, external resources were important, but one's own effort mattered even more.
Still, the stronger one became, the less external help could