In a reception hall at the Virtual Universe Company Headquarters, Zhang Junbao finally met the Immortal God arranged by Virtual Universe Company to take him to the Youmo Universe Country.
When the waiter in the reception hall saw Zhang Junbao arrive, he quickly stepped forward to greet him.
"Your Highness Zhang Junbao, this way please. Ebonwood Marquis is already waiting inside." The attendant led the way for Zhang Junbao.
"Good, the company's efficiency is good. This task is urgent, and it would be a huge waste if we were delayed on the way."
"No, Your Highness's mission has a very high priority. It was personally ordered by the human leadership to ensure that Your Highness can reach the destination as quickly as possible."
As he spoke, Zhang Junbao followed the waiter into a secret room in the reception hall.
"Your Highness, please come in. Ebonwood Marquis is already waiting inside. I can only escort you this far."
"Kindness."
Zhang Junbao nodded, pushed open the door, and went inside.
Inside the spacious secret chamber, the floor was covered with Green-Eyed Obsidian that shimmered with a bluish-black light. Zhang Junbao was familiar with most of the materials used for Treasure Refining in the universe, so the decorations inside the secret chamber were naturally no stranger to him.
" Green-Eyed Obsidian, capable of concealing spatial fluctuations, is extremely precious and an important material for forging spatial attribute weapons. To use it for flooring is truly extravagant."
Looking down the floor, one could see a tall throne inside the secret chamber, upon which sat a man with a gaunt, withered appearance, like a Kumu.
Upon seeing Zhang Junbao enter, he slowly rose, his every movement exuding elegance.
"Greetings, Your Highness Zhang Junbao!" The withered man nodded slightly in acknowledgment.
"You're too kind, Ebonwood Marquis. Thank you for teleporting me to the Youmo Universe Country." Zhang Junbao walked over with a smile and bowed.
As Marquis Immortal, Ebonwood Marquis wouldn't normally need to be so polite to a Core Member of a Virtual Universe Company. However, Zhang Junbao is a disciple of the Chaos City Lord and has also conquered the Domain Lord Level Primal Heavenly Mountain, Law Comprehension is no less than that of Marquis Immortal.
Whether in terms of status or future potential, Zhang Junbao far surpasses Ebonwood Marquis. There are even rumors among the Immortal that Zhang Junbao possesses truly Immortal combat power and is exceptionally strong.
Faced with such a prodigy, Ebonwood Marquis naturally wouldn't put on airs about his Marquis Immortal.
He knew that Zhang Junbao had a close relationship with Venerable Guiyi and the newly Venerable Tiehuo, and that he, a Marquis Immortal, could not easily manipulate them.
The two looked at each other, smiling.
"As per the orders of the Virtual Universe Company, I will use the Divine Kingdom Teleportation to send Your Highness to the Youmo Universe Country, within the Aragami Star Region, and escort Your Highness to complete the mission."
"If anyone outside the mission dares to attack Your Highness, I will certainly come to your aid. However, if it is someone within the mission's objective, unless Your Highness abandons the mission and chooses to seek help, I will not intervene even if Your Highness is killed," said Ebonwood Marquis with a serious expression.
Zhang Junbao nodded. His assessment goals were to reach ninety-nine World Lord and one Immortal Army Lord, including stopping the ' Blood Demon Sacrifice,' all of which were part of the assessment content.
According to Ebonwood Marquis, if he is no match for these ninety-nine World Lord or Immortal Army Lord, he can ask him for help.
However, calling for help would mean the mission had failed, but at least Zhang Junbao could save his life.
" The Virtual Universe Company's requirements for World Lord are indeed much higher than those for Domain Lord. And they specifically chose this kind of dilemma-ridden mission—are they still trying to test my character?"
Zhang Junbao shook his head and said with a smile. Clearly, some people within the Virtual Universe Company were dissatisfied with his previous attempt to regain control of Earth through the power of the Demon Lord Luan Shen.
However, the Chaos City Lord did not directly suppress the dissatisfaction, but instead used the form of a mission to let Zhang Junbao silence these people himself.
Geniuses are nurtured and naturally need to obey the orders of the Virtual Universe Company, but the strong have the right to make their own decisions.
Clearly, since the Chaos City Lord agreed to this trial, it means that he hopes Zhang Junbao will gradually reveal his strength and deter the opposition within the company.
"I understand. I urge Ebonwood Marquis to immediately initiate the Divine Kingdom Teleportation. Any delay will only result in countless more lives being lost at the hands of those Alien Race apostles."
"Yes, Your Highness!" Ebonwood Marquis didn't say much. His mission was to escort Zhang Junbao to the Youmo Universe Country and save his life at the crucial moment. Everything else was up to Zhang Junbao to decide.
Ebonwood Marquis opened the Divine Kingdom Passage directly in front of Zhang Junbao.
"This secret chamber has been specially treated by the master of secret runes within the Virtual Universe Company, which can conceal spatial fluctuations. Activating the Divine Kingdom Teleportation here does not require worrying about being tracked by other powerful individuals."
"It's a pity it's difficult to create, otherwise it would be an excellent choice for space adventure." Ebonwood Marquis smiled and explained to Zhang Junbao.
"In this way, Immortal God no longer need to travel to other planets to secretly activate their Divine Kingdom Teleportation after leaving the Virtual Universe Company Headquarters, which is indeed convenient."
It's hard to imagine that if a group of Immortal wanted to leave the Virtual Universe Company Headquarters using the Divine Kingdom Teleportation, they would have to travel to a distant planet to open Divine Kingdom Passage. It feels as absurd as having a luxurious palace but no private restroom, forcing guests to go outside the palace to take care of their private needs.
Through the Divine Kingdom Passage, Zhang Junbao followed Ebonwood Marquis to a desolate planet.
"Your Highness, this is the Youmo Universe Country, the Aragami Star Region, an uninhabited planet in the 97,42nd star system." Ebonwood Marquis looked at Zhang Junbao, waiting for him to make his next move.
"The ninety-nine World Lord fled in the opposite direction from the Blood Demon Sacrifice. If we pursue and kill the ninety-nine World Lord, the Blood Demon Sacrifice will be activated, and there will be no time to rescue those one hundred billion people."
If they go to rescue them, it will allow ninety-nine World Lord to escape.
"Your Highness, what is your choice?"
"What about the Immortal Army Lord?"
"According to internal company intelligence, the Immortal Army Lord Tuyile has hidden inside a World Ring, which is being carried by one of the ninety-nine World Lord, but it is unclear who exactly."
"He's really cunning. He hid in the World Ring. If I were foolish enough to chase after him, thinking I was fighting World Lord, and then suddenly an Immortal Army Lord appeared, I'm afraid an ordinary person would really be tricked to death."
But why would they do this, risking their lives for Alien Race race?
"It's likely that the Alien Race race promised them a great deal of benefits, or helped ninety-nine World Lord advance to Immortal, and helped the Immortal Army Lord Tuyile break through to the Marquis."
Some cultivators are trapped in a single realm for millions, or even tens of millions of years. Immortal is fine, since life is infinite and one can slowly grind it down.
However, the lifespan of World Lord is finite, and the temptation to break through to Immortal is too great for them.
"Could it be that they've been enslaved by the Zerg's Soul Enslavement?"
"It's possible, but not very likely. The Myriad Aspects Pavilion possesses a wealth of information about the Youmo Universe Country. If they were Soul Enslavement, given the nature of the Zerg, they would become even more frantic in order to obtain the information. It's unlikely that they would still have the lives of ninety-nine World Lord Level."
After all, delivering intelligence doesn't require so many people.
"They absolutely cannot use the Virtual Universe Network to transmit intelligence; they can only risk sending it over in person."
According to investigations, of the ninety-nine World Lord of the Myriad Aspects Pavilion, twenty have lifespans of less than a million years.
The Virtual Universe Network is extremely powerful, capable of deducing a target's status and purpose from the smallest details revealed by the enemy. While not 100% accurate, the probability is extremely high.
"The difficulty of Immortal is greater than ascending to heaven. Let alone the World Lord within their own Universe Country, even those World Lord within the company are all chosen ones. Yet, in the end, very few can achieve Immortal."
Even if the company cultivates original secret realm masters, the vast majority of them will eventually reach the end of their lives and will never be able to break through to immortality.
The ninety-nine World Lord in the Myriad Aspects Pavilion, perhaps seeing no hope of achieving Immortal, were promised by the Zerg that as long as they did things for them, they could help them achieve Immortal.
This is a common trick used by Alien Race to lure our Human Race; it's old-fashioned, but very effective.
"The lifespan of World Lord is finite, but which World Lord who can cultivate is willing to grow old and die like this? As long as they take this step and achieve Immortal, they will have endless lifespan. Eternal life, especially when there is no hope of breaking through, and suddenly a glimmer of hope appears, they will certainly not give up easily." Zhang Junbao nodded and said.
"In order to break through, they don't care about their race or the lives of other living beings. Even billions of lives are not as precious as the life of a World Lord." Ebonwood Marquis recalled the hardships he had endured on his path to Immortal, how many companions had fallen on the road to Immortal. Only those who have experienced it can understand the cruelty of reality.
" World Lord is noble? In the eyes of the strong, is there any difference between the lives of the weak?"
"They consider themselves noble because their power can determine the fate of ordinary lives, but in the eyes of the stronger, even World Lord is nothing more than an ant."
"Head to the Blood Demon Sacrifice Site!"
"Yes, Your Highness!" Ebonwood Marquis made no comment upon seeing Zhang Junbao's decision. He waved his hand and took out a G-class spaceship. For Marquis Immortal, G-class spaceship was already extremely rare.
Hu Yanbo, who once possessed the strength to Marquis, went bankrupt in his attempt to acquire an F-class Yunmo Star Ship.
As Marquis Immortal within the Virtual Universe Company, Ebonwood Marquis was naturally much wealthier than Hu Yanbo, a wandering Immortal.
" Ebonwood Marquis, your spaceship is too slow. Please take my flight; time is of the essence."
As they spoke, Zhang Junbao flicked the Space Ring on his hand, and the Void Whale Spaceship appeared in front of them.
Whether in terms of size, value, or technological sophistication, the Void Whale Spaceship completely surpasses Ebonwood Marquis's spaceship.
"This... this is Your Highness's spaceship? This is a precious spaceship fused with Metal Lifeform!" Ebonwood Marquis was shocked by Zhang Junbao's extravagant display of wealth.
Virtual Universe Company also has spaceships that have been fused with Metal Lifeform. Even G-class spaceship will see their price skyrocket once they are fused with Metal Lifeform.
Moreover, before fusing with the Metal Lifeform Void Whale, Zhang Junbao's spaceship was already the mount of King-level Immortal, far surpassing that of ordinary G-class spaceship.
After being combined with the Void Whale, its price became comparable to that of Ordinary Heavy Treasure.
No wonder Ebonwood Marquis was so surprised when he saw Zhang Junbao's spaceship. Even if Ebonwood Marquis sold everything he owned, he still couldn't afford a spaceship like this.
"It was a gift from Venerable Guiyi; it's just a means of transportation, nothing to make a fuss about."
"If His Highness had this spaceship, it might be possible for him to catch up with those World Lord after resolving the Blood Demon Sacrifice."
For a typical World Lord Level, owning even one E-class spaceship is already extremely rare. Even for the Immortal Army Lord Tuyile, the chances of owning an F-class spaceship are slim; he simply cannot afford one.
Zhang Junbao could easily catch up with them using the speed of the Void Whale Spaceship.
The ninety-nine World Lord would never have imagined that the people sent by the Virtual Universe Company to hunt them down would possess a King Level spaceship.
Sending a King Rank expert to hunt down a World Lord? That's like using a cannon to kill a mosquito. What King Rank expert would be so bored!
With the Void Whale Spaceship in hand, Ebonwood Marquis naturally put away his own spaceship to avoid embarrassing himself in front of Zhang Junbao.
Under the control of Feitian, the spaceship accelerated into the Dark Universe, heading towards the location of the ' Blood Demon Sacrifice ' according to the coordinates provided by the Virtual Universe Company. This was the location of the Myriad Aspects Empire in the Aragami Star Region, which was the lair of the Myriad Aspects Pavilion.
Just one day later, Zhang Junbao arrived at the Myriad Aspects Empire.
The Myriad Aspects Empire is a medium-sized cosmic empire, similar to the Black Dragon Mountain Empire, which is located in the Milky Way Galaxy.
The hundreds of inhabited planets near the Imperial Capital Star were originally thriving, with a large number of interstellar immigrants gathering there.
" Space Lockdown? The entire star system containing hundreds of nearby planets is under Space Lockdown. Even if ordinary people wanted to leave in a spaceship, they simply couldn't!"
"The methods are exceptionally ruthless, leaving absolutely no way out!" Zhang Junbao sensed the spatial obstruction ahead and immediately understood.
"However, this Space Lockdown method is quite ordinary. Feitian! Crash it!"
At Zhang Junbao's command, the Void Whale Spaceship began to accelerate and crashed violently into the Space Lockdown ahead.
The Void Whale was originally Metal Lifeform with spatial control capabilities. After fusing with King Level vehicle, its power became even stronger. The Space Lockdown of an Immortal Army Lord was simply unable to stop the impact of the Void Whale Spaceship.
"Boom!"
The surrounding space seemed to have been smashed hard, and instantly the translucent spiderweb-like patterns spread rapidly before shattering into pieces.
The Void Whale Spaceship's collision directly broke the Space Lockdown set up by the Immortal Army Lord Tuyile.
Ebonwood Marquis, who was standing to the side, was also startled. He had originally thought that Zhang Junbao would ask him to break the Space Lockdown, but he did not expect it to be so violent, smashing it directly. Clearly, Zhang Junbao was already furious.
" Feitian, activate the Virtual Universe Network live stream and simultaneously activate the scanner to see if any powerful individuals are hiding nearby."
Network synchronization is a necessary procedure for executing tasks, so that the Virtual Universe Company can monitor whether the task was completed by the actual person and how it was completed, thus facilitating task evaluation.
At the same time, a glimmer of light flashed in Zhang Junbao's World Ring, preparing to gather all 100 billion people from the surrounding hundred-plus planets into the World Ring.
"Delaying time? To deliver intelligence to the Alien Race, they're sacrificing civilians within their own empire to annoy their Human Race pursuers. How proactive!"
The goal of this sacrifice is to force those from the Virtual Universe Company who are hunting them down to make a choice: either save billions of lives and let them escape, or abandon billions of lives and hunt them down. As a result, unless the person carrying out the mission has an extremely firm and ruthless mind, they may feel a trace of guilt because of this event, which could hinder their cultivation.
This is utterly disgusting and deserves to be killed!
"Kindness?"
Suddenly, Zhang Junbao sensed something was wrong; the World Ring was encountering obstacles when it tried to collect ordinary people.
"Master, be careful! All ninety-nine World Lord are here!"
Feitian let out a scream, alerting Zhang Junbao.
"Is the intelligence incorrect?"
"Hahahaha... It's you, Zhang Junbao! Zhang Junbao from Virtual Universe Company. I originally just wanted to catch an Immortal from Virtual Universe Company, but I didn't expect to catch such a big fish as you! You are much more valuable than an ordinary Immortal!"
" Immortal Army Lord Tuyile!"
"There are still ninety-nine World Lord left. You people from the Myriad Aspects Pavilion are truly audacious. You killed a Domain Lord Level member of the Virtual Universe Company, yet you didn't flee. Instead, you created a false impression, completely fooling your intelligence agents!"
Knowing they had been exposed, the ninety-nine World Lord didn't flee. Instead, they surrounded Zhang Junbao, with him at the very center. In the very center were Zhang Junbao, the Immortal Army Lord Tuyile, and Ebonwood Marquis.
At this moment, Ebonwood Marquis also looked coldly at Tuyile. He did not expect that even the company's intelligence department had been kept in the dark. Tuyile!
"Your Highness Zhang Junbao, the intelligence is incorrect. The mission is suspended. I'll escort you away first!" Ebonwood Marquis realized something was amiss. With Tuyile's power, it was impossible for them to have deceived the Virtual Universe Company's intelligence personnel. They were able to fool the Virtual Universe Company, probably by using the power of the Zerg.
However, the ninety-nine World Lord, including the Immortal Army Lord Tuyile, flew straight towards Zhang Junbao, their expressions suddenly becoming calm, revealing a strange smile.
The Immortal Army Lord Tuyile spoke in a low voice, " Zhang Junbao, do you think you can escape?"
As soon as he finished speaking, his energy suddenly exploded, and he burst into flames. At the same time, the ninety-nine World Lord surrounding Zhang Junbao and his companion also unleashed tremendous energy.
"Not good!" Ebonwood Marquis's expression changed drastically. Before he could make a move, he was swallowed up by a massive torrent of energy.