The preliminary rounds officially ended, and in the Star Shifting, Zhang Junbao returned to the Virtual Universe, to his villa on Black Dragon Mountain Island. The one hundred World Zone originally used for the competition collapsed with the end of the preliminary rounds, turning into starlight and merging into the Virtual Universe.
The Virtual Universe Company was extremely efficient, and the final rankings of the preliminary rounds were quickly announced to the entire universe. For them, who controlled the Virtual Universe Network, this was nothing more than a minor tactic.
"Master, I've finally seen you again!" Feitian waved the ribbons on her body and flew over immediately, rubbing against Zhang Junbao's face repeatedly, showing great affection.
" The Virtual Universe Network is too domineering. I can't follow it at all. This is the first time I've been separated from my master for so long since I was born. I miss him so much!" Feitian said excitedly.
In this preliminary round, Zhang Junbao spent a full thirty days in the preliminary world. For Feitian, who had been by his side since birth, this was indeed the first time they had been separated for such a long time.
As Intelligent Life, Feitian also possesses emotions, so it's normal for her to develop such a strong dependence on Zhang Junbao.
"Haha, I'm back now, aren't I? After the Genius Battle ends, I'll see if I can buy you an Evolution Heart. With it, you can also have a body and cultivate!"
Intelligent Life can possess physical bodies; Babata originally had one, but it was destroyed in the battle that led to Hu Yanbo's demise. Now, Zhang Junbao is wealthy and powerful, and he can easily buy Feitian a body with an Evolution Heart. With such a body, Feitian, as Intelligent Life, can comprehend the Law and absorb Cosmic Origin Energy for cultivation, just like a normal human.
Moreover, their cultivation speed is definitely faster than that of ordinary humans.
"Yes, yes, once I have a body, I will definitely cultivate diligently and help my master fight the bad guys!" Feitian nodded and said.
Although he possesses two Immortal databases, Hu Yanbo and Divine Eye Marquis, Feitian has only been born for a few years and still has the mind of a child.
Even Babata, who has accompanied Hu Yanbo through hundreds of billions of epochs, still has some childish temper.
Age is not the determining factor in a person's character; mental state is.
Just like Hong and Thunder God, according to Earth's age, they are already in their seventies or eighties, but they would never be like other seventy or eighty-year-old men, leaning on a cane and sitting at the village entrance basking in the Sun all day! Zhang Junbao is the same. Although he has experienced hundreds of years of cultivation, his mentality is still young.
People who have something to strive for will never look old and frail. They are determined and full of fighting spirit, and they have no time to sigh and lament the passing of time.
Conversely, if one is confused, even in one's teens or twenties, one may still appear listless and aged, like an old man nearing the end of his life.
Everyone has a different way of life, and it is foolish to use one's own experience to dictate how others should behave.
"Then you can work hard to cultivate. Maybe one day you'll be able to defeat the intelligence that built the Virtual Universe Network. When that happens, you can hold a Genius Battle and not let him in."
"By then, Master, your strength should be enough to crush the entire Virtual Universe Company, but I'm really looking forward to that day." Feitian Yin Yin smiled, full of confidence in Zhang Junbao.
"Master, during your competition, you received 923 phone calls and 43,958 emails."
"So much?"
"Master, just now, we received hundreds more call requests and thousands more emails. You were incredibly powerful in the qualifiers, defeating the first-place team so badly that many people must want to contact you!"
"You know the rules, I don't want to be disturbed by too many people."
"Understood, leave it to me. I rejected all the unimportant people."
Luo Feng and his two companions walked into the villa.
" Junbao, you're amazing! The video of your final battle has spread throughout the entire Black Dragon Mountain Empire." Thunder God sat down heavily and gave a thumbs up.
"I thought you were going to get first place, but I didn't expect you to not kill him in the end. But it seems like you messed up that first place player; he's mentally broken."
"There's nothing we can do. Although he's very talented, his mentality is ridiculously bad. He's just like a child who's been spoiled since he was a child."
"Such a genius, if he can realize the problem and adjust his mindset in time, that's fine. But if he can't get over this failure, he'll probably be ruined for life." Zhang Junbao waved his hand dismissively and said.
"That's right, I've also discovered that although geniuses in the universe are generally more talented than people on Earth, their mental cultivation is really terrible."
My illusion is far from perfect, but their mental defenses are too weak, and I easily found a loophole. Geniuses in the universe are generally gifted in action, but perhaps because their physical strength is too great, their mental cultivation is completely inadequate.
While mere combat can elevate one's state of mind, such a state of mind has significant flaws. The power of civilization should not be underestimated; military might and economic prosperity cannot mask cultural poverty.
Almost none of the saints in Earth's history possessed great military power, but they achieved spiritual sainthood by analyzing the essence of worldly changes from the perspective of an ordinary person, seeing through the illusions of the world.
Hong nodded and said.
"Such enlightened sages could be easily killed by any Apprentice Level martial artist, but their ideas could not be stopped from spreading."
Military might does not necessarily equate to truth.
However, in the universe, overwhelming force often represents absolute will. From this perspective, the generally weak strength of Earth Humans might not be a bad thing.
Luo Feng and Thunder God nodded repeatedly. When it came to the issue of mental state, Hong, who was skilled in illusions, was the most qualified to speak on it.
The universe is not lacking in geniuses who, after suffering setbacks, never recover. We've seen far too many such geniuses on Earth. The more talented and self-important a person is, the more easily they fall into this kind of mental obstacle, the so-called inner demons.
It's not uncommon to see people who haven't experienced the harsh realities of society and who yell and scream over the smallest things.
It's clear that Zhang Junbao's strength has plunged the once arrogant and undefeated silver-haired youth into a state of inner demons. If he can't break free from this demon, his life may be over.
However, if he can break through the barrier left by Zhang Junbao, it will mean the rise of a powerful genius.
"Never mind him, everyone did well this time, making it into the top 100!" Zhang Junbao said with a smile.
"You're amazing, second place! I'm the most pitiful one, only 68th, boohoo." Thunder God clenched his fists, pretending to wipe away tears, which made the others laugh.
"I almost got killed this time. If I hadn't been quick-witted and run fast, I might not have even made it into the top 1,000."
"Oh? Who is so powerful?" Hong asked in surprise. He knew the special nature of Thunder God's Law of Punishment, which was almost entirely based on true damage, making it extremely powerful. If one did not understand the Law's defense, they could easily be killed by Thunder God.
"That guy's nickname Savage, and he's incredibly strong. He wielded only a broken sword and hacked his way across the entire World Zone."
I encountered him when I was ranked around 500th. My Punishment Lightning only managed to draw a sliver of blood from him. His swordsmanship was extremely powerful; he must have stepped into the Earth Origin Law, and his cultivation level was quite high.
"Every World Zone has a few top-tier experts. If you encounter them, just run." Hong nodded, also keeping an eye on things. "Keep an eye on those super-strong individuals in each World Zone. Sometimes, avoiding them is a good strategy."
The people in my world are all so good at hiding! I searched for ages and fought tooth and nail to get to level 29! Unlike Luo Feng, whose Spirit Reader techniques make killing people as easy as harvesting leeks, he's so much more efficient.
Luo Feng, why didn't you get first place? Otherwise you would have qualified directly!
"Isn't there still the arena competition? Look, Junbao didn't even get first place. Normally, where would you find so many Star Level opponents? This kind of opportunity to hone your skills is too rare. I'm not going to get first place!" Luo Feng didn't care at all. After this battle, his confidence increased, and he also gained a full understanding of the level of cosmic geniuses.
"This battle has given me a clear understanding of the general level of the universe's geniuses. Breaking into the top 1,000 of the Ganwu Universe Country shouldn't be a problem."
"It's definitely not a big problem!" Zhang Junbao said confidently.
In this preliminary round of the Ganwu Universe Country Region, the top 1001 people from each World Zone were selected through the preliminary round. A total of 100 World Zone were selected, resulting in 100,100 people being chosen.
One hundred people, the top performers from each World Zone, can directly advance to the grand finals of 1008 Universe Country. The remaining one hundred thousand will continue in the arena competition to select nine hundred.
The top one thousand from the Ganwu Universe Country qualify to participate in the Peak Genius Tournament of humanity across the entire Cosmic Humans. Those one thousand represent the face of the Ganwu Universe Country and the strength of its new generation. All the major Universe Country are secretly competing, and this grand event for selecting geniuses across the entire universe naturally becomes the best opportunity for Universe Country to showcase their strength.
Although the chances of Star Level genius reaching Immortal are very low, the overall strength of young geniuses can still largely indicate the future overall strength of this Universe Country.
Luo Feng is ranked third in this World Zone, and his chances of entering the top 1,000 in the Ganwu Universe Country are quite high.
In comparison, Hong and Thunder God's chances are much slimmer.
Based on probability, one must be ranked in the top ten in this World Zone to have a chance of entering the top one thousand in the Ganwu Universe Country; the elimination rate is extremely high.
Although the preliminary rounds have ended, the arena battles will have to wait a while, scheduled for a month later. After all, this is an event that involves the entire universe and requires a lot of arrangements.
Within the Ganwu Universe Country, the Black Dragon Mountain Empire has truly stole the show this time. None of the Black Dragon Mountain Empire had ever advanced to the second round in previous years, but this time five have emerged.
Zhang Junbao ranked second in the World Zone, Luo Feng World Zone third, Hong World Zone 29th, Thunder God also reached 68th in the World Zone.
Another one is Nabini, a genius from the world. Although he is ranked lower, at only 860th, he is still within the top 1,000.
Upon learning the result, Black Dragon, the ruler of the Black Dragon Mountain Empire, nearly fainted from happiness. He even made a video call to one of the Immortal who was teaching the Holy Son of the Ganwu Sacred Land. His smug expression infuriated the Immortal, who almost came to kill him.
These five people represent the glory of the entire Black Dragon Mountain Empire.
During this period, numerous forces wanted to visit them. Not only that, even some super organizations in the Ganwu Universe Country wanted to send people to contact them in advance, hoping that Zhang Junbao and the others would join their organizations, and they would provide a lot of resources for their training.
Zhang Junbao and his group refused all of these offers, citing their desire to focus on preparing for the arena competition. They were not short of money and declined the offers.
Fortunately, when they registered, they wrote that the planet was Bailan Star, which doesn't have Earth's Dark Universe coordinates. If they wanted to go directly to Earth, they would have to travel for thousands of years.
The only way to find Zhang Junbao and his group is through the Virtual Universe Network.
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