Getting an Investment from Ganwu, the Most Indebted Man!

The Ganwu Secret Realm.

The hatch of an E-grade spaceship opened. Carrying Chen Yi and his two companions, it had arrived above a starry sky, with a vast continent stretching as far as the eye could see outside.

"It really is a Cosmic Secret Realm?"

Chen Yi gazed at the vast continent, confirming it for himself.

On the way, the Domain Lord Lan Ming who had received them had mentioned that the Ganwu Secret Realm lay on a vast continent, and Chen Yi had immediately thought of a Cosmic Secret Realm.

Having read the original story, Chen Yi knew that the Ganwu Country Lord was a Universe Country Lord burdened with enormous debts.

Still, the Ganwu Country Lord's strength and character were beyond reproach. If he had been a man of poor character, who would have lent him Supreme Treasures?

As for his strength.

The Ganwu Country Lord was so deeply in debt that he had, at most, a few inferior True Treasures on him, yet he possessed the strength of an advanced Universe Venerable. With a suitable Supreme Treasure, becoming an ordinary Universe Overlord probably wouldn't have been too difficult for him.

With that kind of strength, it was perfectly normal for him to claim a Cosmic Secret Realm within his own Universe Country. Even the Golden Horn Race had one after losing Xi Luo Duo.

The E-grade spaceship traveled through the Cosmic Secret Realm and arrived at the Core Land of the Ganwu Secret Realm.

"Gentlemen, we have arrived at the Ganwu Secret Realm."

"Whoosh!"

The hatch opened.

Chen Yi and his companions thanked him and disembarked.

Outside stood a sprawling palace complex.

On the way, the Domain Lord had told them a great deal about the Ganwu Secret Realm.

He had told them that people of many different backgrounds lived there: geniuses recruited by the Ganwu Secret Realm like them, members of the Ganwu Imperial Clan, and descendants of the families of the Three Hundred Kings and Marquises appointed by the Ganwu Universe Country.

He had also mentioned that the Ganwu Country Lord placed great importance on geniuses.

In the core area, no matter what a member of the secret realm did, the most anyone could do was detain them for questioning. Even an Undying could not privately kill a genius.

So the Ganwu Secret Realm was very safe.

But anyone who offended someone and then left the Ganwu Secret Realm had to be careful. Some people had plenty of ways to kill without being found out.

"So I just need to leave the secret realm less and offend fewer people." Chen Yi knew his own situation. If anyone dared to offend him, then... once he had grown strong enough, it would be time to shout, "I don't eat beef!"

Still, those worries were unnecessary.

The descendants of the Ganwu Imperial Clan and the Three Hundred Kings and Marquises who were sent to the Ganwu Secret Realm for training wouldn't be spoiled good-for-nothings.

The Domain Lord who had received them had already left. He was a staff member of the Ganwu Secret Realm, which was why he had been equipped with an E-grade spaceship, something normally reserved for World Lords.

"Next, it's time to cultivate."

Chen Yi, Luo Feng, and Hong talked things over and found the reception staff in the Ganwu Secret Realm, who arranged their accommodations.

The three were assigned to the same area.

Each had a small palace covering several hundred thousand square meters. They were some distance from the core area; here, the higher one's cultivation and aptitude, the closer one lived to the Teaching Hall where the Undyings lectured.

Even so, the palaces they had been assigned were well equipped with all kinds of training facilities.

Equipment such as gravity training rooms was considered the most basic here, and their maximum gravity settings far exceeded those of the ancient civilization gravity training rooms on Earth.

The Killing Field, which normally required payment, was entirely free.

Those were the more ordinary benefits.

Most importantly, Undyings taught free classes here, personally giving lectures on the various lower laws.

They could even spend Ganwu Points.

They could hire Undying teachers for one-on-one instruction in secret techniques, or buy secret technique courses recorded by powerful experts in the Virtual Universe at low prices.

Ganwu Points were easy to earn, too. During each genius rating assessment, every improvement in Law Comprehension earned Ganwu Points. The less time one had spent cultivating and the higher one's Law Comprehension at a lower cultivation level, the more Ganwu Points one received.

Ganwu Points could also be exchanged for profound secret techniques that simply couldn't be found outside, including some created by Universe Venerables.

Outside, they would have had no access to any of these things.

"The Ganwu Secret Realm actually has so many benefits..." Even Babata felt regret on behalf of his former master.

"The Ganwu Country Lord really does value the cultivation of geniuses!"

"And..."

"There's another piece of good news I expected."

The good news Chen Yi had in mind was that some highly rated members of the Ganwu Secret Realm could soak in nutrient pools.

Like the Virtual Universe Company's Nutrient Pods and Manka Star's Pool of Life, they could rapidly bring the energy accumulated at one's current level to its upper limit, sparing one the slow process of accumulating it.

But just as Wuka had said about Manka Star and the various Universe Countries in the original story, only the few hundred most outstanding people at each level in the Ganwu Secret Realm received this treatment.

It wasn't like the Virtual Universe Company, where every Core Member received it.

Chen Yi and the other two gathered together... and studied the various cultivation facilities in the Ganwu Secret Realm...

A visitor suddenly appeared outside the palace.

"You three are Chen Yi, Luo Feng, and Hong, right?"

"My ancestor Tong Man thinks highly of you and sent me to bring you around and help you get to know this place."

"And..."

"My ancestor knows you all cultivate the Law of Metal, and he specializes in that law as well. He said that when he has time, he'll give you two, Chen Yi and Luo Feng, several free lessons on secret techniques." An ape-man stood outside the palace, calling out to the three of them in a loud voice. He was a Universe Level member of the Ganwu Secret Realm and a direct descendant of Tong Man.

Chen Yi was surprised to hear that Senior Tong Man was willing to teach them secret techniques for free. Normally, members of the Ganwu Secret Realm had to pay points for one-on-one instruction from an Undying, and for those at Star Level, saving up enough points was often very difficult.

Clearly, Lord Tong Man really did value them and seemed to want to nurture them as his own direct protégés.

Chen Yi hurriedly invited him in:

"Brother, please come in, come in..."

An Undying valued them enough to send a descendant to make their acquaintance, so of course Chen Yi was happy to build a relationship with him. When one was weak, one's backing was extremely important.

Time flew.

A month passed in the Ganwu Secret Realm.

They had also spent some time living on Earth, and the journey had taken quite a while.

It was now May 2058.

With such a good cultivation environment here, Luo Feng was already close to mastering a Third-Stage Domain. Once he did, he would probably reach the Fourth-Level Domain standard quickly with the help of the Star Torch Body-Burning Record.

Chen Yi, meanwhile, had reached the fourth level of his Metal Domain thanks to his doubled comprehension ability.

But...

His Wood Domain was still at the first level. That was partly because he had deliberately focused on cultivating the Law of Metal, but the more important reason was the difference in his talent for the laws. Whether or not one had the Golden Horned Beast's talent made a considerable difference.

With the help of the Star Torch Body-Burning Record, his Law of Metal was now at the Fifth-Level Domain standard!

His progress could be called astonishingly fast.

Today, Tong Man was giving a public lecture.

There weren't many Undying teachers in the Ganwu Secret Realm, and Tong Man was one of the few who specialized in the Law of Metal.

Naturally, Chen Yi and Luo Feng both attended, though their low cultivation levels and status meant they could only sit at the very edge.

After the lecture ended.

The people around Luo Feng and Chen Yi and in the rows ahead were all beastfolk-snake-men, ape-men, dragon-men, and others. They were juniors who were relatively close to Tong Man.

After Tong Man finished his lecture and left.

An argument erupted in the Teaching Hall. Two groups quickly formed, each with quite a few people, at least far stronger than their group of beastfolk.

And the cause of the argument was merely that someone from one group had crowded someone else's seat...

"Chen Yi, Luo Feng, stop watching. Come on, let's go."

"Stay out of it."

Tong Sheng, a Universe Level ape-man, pulled Chen Yi along into the hall. The other Ganwu Secret Realm members who had attended the lecture were used to such things and went their separate ways.

"They started fighting over that?"

"This is the Teaching Hall."

Chen Yi couldn't help commenting. There were plenty of covert struggles in the Ganwu Secret Realm, but open disputes were rare.

Luo Feng was also somewhat puzzled.

The reason the two sides were confronting each other was like children playing house.

Tong Sheng said:

"They haven't come to blows. They're just arguing, and they wouldn't dare actually fight. At most, they'll get a reprimand for this."

"Let me explain it to you two..."

Tong Sheng described the situation.

In short, the factions in the Ganwu Secret Realm were complicated.

Some descendants of the royal and noble families already had intense conflicts because of disputes between their families' interests in the Ganwu Universe Country.

The quarrel between those two groups had little to do with someone crowding a seat.

The families behind them had long harbored deep grudges.

But that wasn't something Chen Yi and the others needed to worry about. They belonged to Tong Man's faction, which was made up of beastfolk. Tong Man himself was only a teacher in the Ganwu Secret Realm; his teacher was a King Rank expert, and his grand-teacher was the Ganwu Country Lord.

Their backing was fairly substantial, and they weren't entangled in too many conflicts of interest.

Things were quite stable for them.

Finally, Tong Sheng said:

"In cultivation, what people fight over is resources. The grudges between their families also stem from cultivation resources. In any case, just focus on cultivating."

"I heard the ancestor say that the Country Lord has been asking about the Star Level geniuses in the Ganwu Secret Realm a lot lately. He cares a great deal about the Genius Battle... You two have good aptitude. Even my ancestor thinks it's a pity that you lack the time to grow."

"You won't have a chance to take part in this Genius Battle."

"Otherwise, he was even planning to report your achievements. The Country Lord might have taken notice of you and rewarded you with some precious cultivation resources."

Chen Yi's eyes lit up.

The Country Lord?

That meant the Ganwu Country Lord.

Since the points mission now came only once a year, and higher-point items were more valuable, concentrating the points was surely more useful, and he had to be more careful about how he used them. That was why he had spent so long considering when to feed treasures this time.

But now Chen Yi felt it was time to put that on the agenda...

Although the Ganwu Country Lord was in debt, he undoubtedly still possessed countless treasures. Given the Ganwu Country Lord's standing, if Chen Yi used points to improve rapidly and draw his attention.

And made the Ganwu Country Lord believe they had a chance of achieving good results in the Genius Battle.

Then... whatever cultivation resources he casually bestowed.

They would all be incomparably precious to someone at Chen Yi's level!

"Looks like I need to speed up my cultivation."

"Reach the law threshold as soon as possible."

"I've saved up quite a few points. They should be enough to help Luo Feng and me quickly reach the law threshold..."

"If we manage it."

"Given how little time we've spent cultivating."

"We can definitely get some investment from Ganwu, the 'most indebted man'!"