Light and Dark Continent

Above the vast continent, the clouds formed what looked like a protective barrier.

The clouds absorbed cosmic rays and emitted endless light, illuminating the continent.

Outside the continent, in the void, an immensely thick tentacle lashed forward.

A closer look at its target revealed a silver-white spaceship.

Whoosh!

The tentacle missed, and the spaceship plunged straight into the clouds, entering the continent below.

Inside the spaceship, Dongguan watched the colossal creature outside with mounting horror.

"What on earth is this place? And what is that thing?"

Earlier, as they approached the continent, he had asked Qiong to hover the spaceship above the atmosphere so he could look down and inspect it. That was when they had encountered the strange creature.

He had not seen what the monster looked like deep in the dark void. All he could confirm was that it was an enormous shadow over five hundred kilometers tall, extending tentacles to attack the spaceship.

Fortunately, its attacks were somewhat weaker than the earlier dark storm. Still, an attack from a living creature was more dangerous than a natural phenomenon, even if it was less powerful.

Thanks to the Wood God Shield, the spaceship itself remained undamaged. Once they entered the clouds, the creature stopped pursuing them.

"Qiong, how much energy did we use?"

"We currently have 29.1% of our energy remaining to maintain the Wood God Shield," Qiong replied.

"Have you analyzed what that thing was?"

"Judging by its aura, its energy was stronger than that of a normal Peak World Lord, but it wasn't an Immortal."

"How much stronger?"

"Dozens of times stronger."

Dongguan pondered. Its aura was not that of an Immortal, yet it was stronger than a normal Peak World Lord's.

One possibility occurred to him: its gene multiplier. If it was dozens of times stronger, that meant its gene multiplier was in the dozens.

Before reaching Universe Master, an ordinary lifeform could only raise its gene multiplier to a maximum of 100.

The natural upper limit for an ordinary lifeform's gene multiplier was 10, as was the case with the Golden Horned Beast.

A gene multiplier in the dozens.

"Either it's a special lifeform, or there's some special opportunity here that can increase gene multipliers." Dongguan's eyes lit up.

Opportunities to increase one's gene multiplier, such as Blood Luo Crystals, were extraordinarily precious. They were restricted items even within the Human Race.

Even if there was nothing like that here, a special lifeform alone was an exceedingly precious asset. Just look at the value of a mere piece of Demon Killer skin-and that was only an ordinary lifeform.

Then he frowned again.

"It looks like this really is a Cosmic Secret Realm. Even if the spaceship is fully repaired, I'll still need to find an exit to leave. Besides, special lifeforms may be treasures to the strong, but to the weak, they're more of a danger."

Different Cosmic Secret Realms had different characteristics. Some could be escaped simply by flying around, while others required special methods.

"This is both an opportunity and a challenge. It's just a shame that if I'm delayed too long, I'll miss the Genius Battle." Dongguan felt a little frustrated.

"Fortunately, I left enough things behind. They should be able to get through the Nolan Mountain crisis."

He had left Earth in February 2059, while the Genius Battle in the original story took place in March 2066. He had a little over seven years left.

"Forget it. I'll take things one step at a time."

"Qiong, activate the spaceship's full exterior simulation," Dongguan ordered.

Then he looked down beneath the clouds.

Forests, rivers, wilderness, cities, villages...

He saw a great deal.

"Find somewhere safe to land, preferably in the wilderness."

"Understood."

Following Qiong's response, the spaceship gradually descended into a stretch of wilderness on the continent.

Kabu Village was an ordinary village on the Light and Dark Continent.

Today, however, disaster had struck Kabu Village.

A pack of pitch-black, leopard-like creatures charged into Kabu Village and slaughtered its residents.

"Bastard, I'll take you down with me!" A burly man drew a woodcutting machete and slashed at a black leopard beast in the street.

The leopard beast nimbly leaped aside.

As the burly man swung his machete, flames flared around him, scorching the black leopard.

The black leopard turned into a shadow, but his blade still struck it.

The shadow dissipated, becoming a corpse split in two, then evaporated again, leaving a pitch-black crystal core on the ground.

Before the burly man could pick it up, another black leopard snatched it in its jaws, while more black leopards charged toward him.

The burly man fought with tremendous power. His blazing flames and wildly flashing blade kept the black leopards from approaching.

Then the black leopards parted, and a larger one with white markings on its body appeared before him.

"A spirit-level Dark Beast!" Despair filled the burly man's eyes.

Elsewhere, a little girl was being chased by a monster.

"Daddy, save me!" the little girl cried as she ran.

"Yana!" the burly man roared. The flames around him burned even harder, turning blazing white as he charged toward the little girl.

A humanlike glint of mockery flashed in the large black leopard's eyes. Just as the burly man was about to reach her, it pounced and pinned him down. A swipe of its forepaw sent his machete flying.

Desperate, furious, and unwilling to give up, the burly man punched the black leopard. But swirling patterns appeared across its skin and dissipated the force of his blows, leaving it virtually unharmed.

This scene was only a small part of what was happening in Kabu Village. Black leopards hunted humans throughout the village, and almost no one could stand against the larger ones.

Only at the center of the village was an old man wielding a staff-like weapon holding his own against a large black leopard.

Swish!

Just as the burly man closed his eyes and prepared to die, a streak of white light flashed past.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw a young man wielding a long white saber.

The large black leopard had already been cut in two, and its crystal core was in the young man's hand.

Not only that, but the other black leopards had also been killed, and their crystal cores had been collected.

"Yana!" The burly man hurriedly looked for his daughter.

Just then, he saw the little girl climbing up from the ground with a bewildered expression.

When she saw her father, she burst into tears and threw herself into his arms.

"Yana, don't cry. The Dark Beasts are dead. There's nothing to worry about." The burly man kept comforting her.

The little girl stopped crying.

At last, the burly man turned toward the young man, who was watching them with interest.

The young man wore ordinary cloth clothing and short boots. Aside from his snow-white saber and the white Wrist Guards on both wrists, only the eye on his forehead stood out.

"Three-eyed lord, my name is Dake. I'm a woodcutter from Kabu Village. Could you please save our village?"

"Save it? You mean from these Dark Beasts?"

"Yes."

"All right."

The moment he agreed, the young man vanished from Dake's sight.

When Dake looked again, the young man was appearing throughout the village. Every Dark Beast, large or small, fell to a single slash.

"This lord is so powerful," Dake marveled.

"Daddy, could this lord be one of the legendary Profound Level lords?" Yana asked.

"Profound Level?" Dake lowered his head. "He's probably still Spirit Level, but he should be at its peak."

"Why?" Yana asked. "He's so strong! Look, even the village chief, who's at the peak of Spirit Level, couldn't beat that monster, but he killed it with one slash."

Their village chief was also at the peak of Spirit Level, but age had weakened him, and his combat strength was probably only at mid Spirit Level. That lord's combat strength was likely approaching that of the weakest Profound Level fighter.

Then they saw the monster the village chief had been struggling against fall to a single slash from the young man. Afterward, the chief began dealing with the ordinary blood-level black leopards.

"Profound Level fighters can fly continuously, but that lord hasn't flown yet," Dake answered his daughter.

At last, apart from a few on the outskirts that escaped, all the black leopards were dead, dissipating into crystal cores.

The village chief organized everyone to gather the crystal cores, pack them into a bag, and bring them before the young lord.

The young man did not refuse. He put away the bag of crystal cores, and his saber disappeared as well.

A Space Ring, the village chief immediately realized.

Still, it was nothing extraordinary. He had a Space Ring too; at most, their capacities differed.

"You should have a chance of breaking through to Profound Level. Why are you staying in this little village?"

After putting away the crystal cores, the young man looked at the village chief and the Third Eye growing at an angle on the right side of his forehead.

"I was injured when I was young. I could have reached Profound Level, but I failed." Looking at the vertical eye in the center of the young man's forehead, the village chief felt both envy and sorrow.

The straighter the Third Eye's position, the higher the bloodline. A vertical eye between the brows was already extremely close to a superior bloodline.

"I'm a traveler. I'd like somewhere to rest for a few days," the young man suddenly said.

"In that case..." The village chief surveyed the devastated village, particularly his own house, which the Dark Beasts had given special "attention." He hesitated, unsure where to lodge the young man.

"If you don't mind, my lord, you can stay at my home," said the burly man who had initially fought the Dark Beasts with his machete.

"Dake." The village chief frowned.

"Chief, my home wasn't badly damaged. After my wife's parents left, we had a spare room too. This lord can stay there."

The village chief looked toward Dake's house.

Although Dake's home stood at the village entrance, the Dark Beasts had charged in from the other side. His house was indeed among those in the best condition.

"My lord, would this..." The village chief turned to the young man. Ultimately, it was his decision.

"Then I'll stay there for now," the young man agreed.

"I'll take you there first, my lord." With that, Dake headed home.

Throughout the walk, his daughter Yana followed behind him, watching the young man with her two large eyes and the slightly tilted eye in the center of her forehead.

The young man noticed, turned toward her, and smiled.

Yana hurried forward to catch up with her father.

They arrived at the burly man's home and pushed open the door, entering a courtyard.

"My lord, this is the room I used before. If you don't mind, please stay here for now." Dake showed him the largest room in the courtyard.

"All right." The young man nodded without refusing.

The burly man went inside and removed his bedding and other belongings, replacing them with a brand-new set he had prepared and making the bed again. Then he left with his daughter, taking the old bedding and other items along.

The young man went to the door to check. An invisible force spread out to investigate, and he discovered that the burly man had gone to tidy another vacant room.

"Qiong, are there any problems?" The young man communicated mentally with his Wrist Guard.

"No. Are you going to enter the spaceship?"

"No, not for now."

The young man was none other than Dongguan, disguised using Body Transformation. He looked around the room, then sat cross-legged on the freshly made bed.