Swallowed Star: The Original Secret Realm

Chapter 240 A Different Ranking in the Genius Battle

In the virtual universe, at the highest point of the main hall, everyone looked towards the trial space following the voice of the Skeleton Lord.

At this moment, a young man with an ordinary appearance but an astonishing fighting spirit in his eyes was on the first level of the sixth trial space.

A swarm of blood-haired mammoths charged straight at the youth, whose movements were strange; in a flash, nine illusory forms appeared.

However, they were no match for the endless mammoths and were quickly crushed by the iron hooves of the massive mammoth herd.

The final result of the trial was third place.

"Lord of the Bones, do you think this young man is promising?" asked the progenitor of the demon beasts.

With his keen eye, he could naturally see the talent Luo Feng displayed. To be able to comprehend a trace of the laws of space and gold at the Stellar level was an absolute genius among the demon race.

However, among humankind, a race renowned for its intelligence, this is not so remarkable.

Didn't you see that the person in first place is far ahead of the person in second place?

"In terms of talent, this young man doesn't seem to be the most talented in this year's Genius Battle," the young Ancestral God said with a smile.

"talent?"

"What is talent?" The Skeleton Lord shook his head, a strange look in his eyes, and continued, "They are only at the Stellar level now, just beginning to comprehend the laws. Does having a slightly higher level of law comprehension at the Stellar level necessarily mean having high talent?"

"Not necessarily!"

"Mental state and willpower are more important."

"Having a slightly faster grasp of the laws in the early stages only gives you a slight advantage, but to become a super being, talent alone is not enough."

"Which of us has not gone through endless trials and tribulations to get to this point? Without an indomitable will and a peaceful mind, could we have made it this far?"

"That little guy in white who's ranked first definitely has a far superior understanding of the laws of space compared to the others. But from what I've observed, his temperament isn't quite right, and he might have to suffer a bit."

"On the contrary, this young man with an amazing fighting spirit in his eyes, although his understanding of the laws is currently lagging behind the white-robed boy, as long as he doesn't perish, he will surely achieve great things."

After saying that, the Skeleton Lord said no more.

The scene from nearly three reincarnations ago appeared in my mind.

Back in the primordial universe, he rose step by step against the odds of his race, leading them to become a top-tier race and, in that era, a force second only to the Divine Eye Clan in the primordial universe.

The group of true gods around them were somewhat surprised.

Given the strength of the Skeleton Lord, he would not have said these things without a reason.

This shows that the young man is indeed outstanding.

They couldn't help but take a few more glances.

Of course, that's all. Needless to say, they are not human and therefore not qualified to take on disciples. Even if they were, they would not lower themselves to such a position.

"What's that young man's name?" the young ancestral god asked curiously.

“Luo Feng,” Zhang Yi said with a smile.

Unexpectedly, the Skeleton Master has a good eye, able to see the extraordinary nature of Luo Feng, who is only at the Stellar level. As expected of a Ninth-Order True God who has lived for nearly three reincarnation eras, he is quite capable.

However, although he was optimistic about Luo Feng, he never imagined that Luo Feng's future achievements would far exceed his expectations.

"Luo Feng?"

Upon hearing Zhang Yi mention the young man's name, the people around him muttered a few words.

"Lord of Chaos City, since Lord of the Skeletons thinks so highly of you, are you interested in taking him as a disciple?" Lord of the Primordial Island suddenly said with a smile.

"Disciple?" The Lord of Chaos City shook his head slightly.

Although Luo Feng's performance was not bad and his temperament was good, given his current talent for comprehending the laws, he was still far from being able to become a disciple, even a nominal one.

"Where is the Lord of Time and Space?" the Lord of Shihua Island asked again.

"Let's take another look," Zhang Yi said with a smile.

"Oh?" The petrified island lord was taken aback. He had only asked casually, but he didn't expect Zhang Yi to be so interested.

As time passed, the battle of geniuses became merely a pastime for these super beings who stood at the pinnacle of the cosmic sea.

In the square outside the palace, after the trials in the Trial Tower and the selection process in the arena, only the last ten thousand geniuses remained and gathered together.

"Congratulations on getting the opportunity to join the Virtual Universe Company," the Nine Swords Venerable said in an ethereal voice.

"As you may have heard, the number of people allowed to enter my Virtual Universe Company has increased tenfold since 100,000 years ago. Similarly, the number of people allowed to enter the Four Great Secret Realms has also increased tenfold."

"I'd like to make an announcement."

"Among these 10000 people, those ranked 1001st to 10000th will receive a bonus of 100 Chaos Units, the opportunity to enter the Initial Universe for enlightenment, and the opportunity to join the core of my Virtual Universe Company, the 'Apocalypse Secret Realm'."

"Those ranked 100th to 1000th will receive a bonus of 1000 Hunyuan Units, the opportunity to enter the Initial Universe for enlightenment, and the opportunity to join the core of my Virtual Universe Company, 'Heaven and Earth Secret Realm'."

"Those ranked 21st to 100th will receive a prize of 1 Chaos Units, the opportunity to enter the Initial Universe for enlightenment, and the opportunity to join the core of my Virtual Universe Company, the 'Primordial Secret Realm'."

"Those ranked 6th to 20th will receive a prize of 10 Chaos Units, the opportunity to enter the Initial Universe for enlightenment, and the opportunity to join the core of my Virtual Universe Company, the 'Primordial Secret Realm'."

"The 4th and 5th place winners will receive a prize of 50 Chaos Units, the opportunity to enter the Initial Universe for enlightenment, and the opportunity to join the core of my Virtual Universe Company, the 'Primordial Secret Realm'."

"The top 3 will receive a prize of 100 million Chaos Units, the opportunity to enter the Initial Universe for enlightenment, and the opportunity to join the core of my Virtual Universe Company, the 'Primordial Secret Realm'."

“Under normal circumstances, even after the ‘Primal Secret Realm’ expands its recruitment, it only admits ten people each year. However, your class is of a particularly high standard, so with the consent of the Time and Space Master of my Virtual Universe Company, we are granting you twenty places to enter the ‘Primal Secret Realm’.”

The ten thousand geniuses fell silent. Although they did not know what the four secret realms meant, they could tell that the Primordial Secret Realm was the best.

Moreover, there are as many as twenty spots available this time.

"I didn't expect Virtual Universe Company to be so generous this time, directly releasing twenty spots for the Primal Secret Realm." Uka, the boy from Manka Star, thought to himself, "With this, my chances of entering the Primal Secret Realm are almost guaranteed."

Given his background, he naturally knew that since more than a dozen sessions ago, the number of participants in the Primal Secret Realm had increased from one to ten.

He was confident he could get into the top ten out of ten, but now that the top twenty could enter the Primal Secret Realm, he was naturally even happier.

Luo Feng stood in the crowd, and the wild youth next to him briefly explained the importance of the Primitive Secret Realm.

"The members of the Primal Secret Realm have a higher status than the emperor of the Black Dragon Mountain Empire?" Luo Feng exclaimed in surprise.

The savage youth whispered, "I've also heard that the Primal Secret Realm contains a precious inheritance that leads directly to the super-strongest beings in the universe."

"What kind of inheritance?" Luo Feng asked immediately.

"I don't know about that. All I know is that both the inheritance and the increase in the number of places are related to the great Lord of Time and Space," the savage youth said.

When he spoke of 'Lord Time and Space', his face was full of admiration.

"Lord Time and Space." Luo Feng's eyes also lit up.

He had also heard of Zhang Yi, the master of time and space.

It is said that Lord Zhang Yi was the champion of the previous dozen or so Genius Battles. After only a few hundred thousand years of cultivation, he is already a super existence in the primordial universe.

Logically, given their status, they shouldn't know this.

However, under the instruction of the Giant Axe and the Lord of Chaos City, the entire human race promoted Zhang Yi as the most outstanding genius in the history of the human race in the Virtual Universe Network to inspire members of the past Genius Battles.

Of course, this was done with Zhang Yi's consent. Soon, among the remaining 10,000 geniuses, only 20 remained after one-on-one elimination rounds.

The Nine Swords Master announced the list of the top 20 people.

"Bolan!"

"Luo Feng!"

"Guthro!"

"Ai Chen!"

"Uka!"

"Opatra!"

"Longyun!"

"Yifeng!"

"Galashi!"

"Rongjun!"

"Qianshui!"

"Tao!"

……

As names were announced one by one, joy spread across the faces of those whose names were called. Entering the top twenty meant they had entered the Primal Secret Realm.

Following that, unlike in the past, this time the top twenty teams competed in a round-robin format to determine the rankings.

Each player competes against nineteen other players, ranked according to their points.

At the highest point of the palace, Zhang Yi calmly watched the duel that had begun in the square outside the palace.

The first twenty rounds of battles were specially arranged for the Nine Swords Venerable.

As the matches concluded, the rankings were quickly revealed.

Berlan, with a perfect record of 19 wins and 19 points, is the undisputed number one.

Luo Feng has a record of 17 wins and 2 losses, with 17 points. His two losses were against Bolan and Longyun.

Luo Feng's second-place finish surprised the others.

However, this is also reasonable. Judging from the cycle of battles, below Bolan, Luo Feng, Rong Jun, Galesi, and Long Yun are in the same echelon.

Although Luo Feng lost to Long Yun due to the arena match, he had a series of explosive victories, defeating Rong Jun and Galesi, which solidified his advantage.

Rong Jun has a record of 17 wins and 2 losses, with 17 points, ranking third. His two losses were against Bo Lan and Luo Feng.

Therefore, although he and Luo Feng had the same score, he could only be ranked third based on their head-to-head record.

Calais, with 16 wins and 3 losses, has 16 points and is ranked fourth.

This super genius of the Illusionary Realm style unleashed his talent under the new competition system, only losing to the top three: Bolan, Luo Feng, and Rong Jun.

Long Yun, with a record of 16 wins and 3 losses, is ranked fifth with 16 points. After defeating Luo Feng, he lost to Galesi, Rong Jun, and of course, the strongest player, Bo Lan.

Although he has the same points as Calais, he can only be ranked fourth based on head-to-head results.

Uka has a record of 14 wins and 5 losses, with 14 points, ranking sixth.

Guslow has a record of 13 wins and 6 losses, with 13 points, ranking seventh.

With the top twenty players determining their rankings in the rounds, this year's Genius Battle has officially come to an end.

Quickly, the ten thousand geniuses, including these twenty geniuses, who had entered the four secret realms of the Virtual Universe Company, all entered the center of the main hall of the palace under the leadership of the Nine Swords Venerable.

This palace was specially built for celebrations, and it is naturally vast, spanning millions of kilometers in height. It could easily accommodate not only 10,000 people, but also millions or tens of millions of people.

At this moment, these ten thousand geniuses suppressed their excitement and joy, waiting quietly.

Before entering the palace, the Nine Swords Venerable reminded them once again that this time entering the palace was to give this group of geniuses an opportunity, an opportunity for them to be chosen by many super beings of the virtual universe lineage.

After entering the main hall, the Nine Swords Venerable flew directly to stand among the nearly ten thousand people above.

"Huh? Even someone of this status as the host of the Virtual Universe Company doesn't have a seat." Luo Feng was taken aback when he saw this scene in the crowd.

He now fully understood the meaning of what the Nine Swords Venerable had said earlier: that "everyone in the hall is no less powerful than him, and many are even far superior to him."

Luo Feng thought that the Nine Swords Venerable was being modest, but he didn't expect that he was just the lowest-ranking person in the hall, apart from them and their group of little guys.

He looked up and saw that there were nearly 10,000 people standing in the void, chatting and laughing casually, just like the Nine Swords Venerable, and several hundred others sitting in chairs.

"It seems that the one sitting in the chair is stronger than the host," Luo Feng thought to himself.

He then looked towards the higher part of the hall, where everything was a blur and he couldn't see anything clearly. However, bursts of laughter occasionally came from that blurry place, and he vaguely understood that that was the location of the true super beings of the human race.

At the highest point of the main hall, the Lord of Chaos waved his hand, and the scenes of the True Gods quickly appeared in the view of the Lord of the Universe below.

"My two junior brothers, Long Xing and You Hou," the Chaos City Lord said with a smile, his gaze sweeping over the several Universe Lords of the Virtual Clan, "Anyone you have your eye on in this Genius Battle?"

The Lord of Darkness, the Lord of Dragons, the Lord of Ice, and the Lord of the Netherworld all shook their heads.

None of them were willing to take on apprentices.

Seeing this, the Lord of Chaos City was not surprised.

Generally, only geniuses who emerge once every tens of millions of epochs can attract the attention of the Lord of the Universe to take them as disciples. Even now that the human race has inherited ancient civilizations, there have been proposals within the race to take as many disciples as possible.

However, for these cosmic lords, taking on disciples is a major event and not something that can be done casually.

"Eclipse, Guiyi, and what about you?" The Chaos City Lord's gaze then fell upon the numerous cosmic venerables of the virtual lineage below.

The many cosmic venerables looked at each other.

After a moment of contemplation, the King of Yuan Chen Kingdom spoke first: "Lord City Lord, Rong Jun, who is ranked third, is quite to my liking. I am willing to take him as a disciple."

The Lord of Chaos City nodded with a smile.

Yuan Chen was as cunning as ever. What could possibly appeal to him? It must be that he realized Rong Jun belonged to the Giant Axe Clan!
With his broad perspective, even in the virtual universe, he could naturally see through Rong Jun's true nature at a glance.

"Is there anything else?" the Chaos City Lord asked.

“Lord City Lord, I am willing to accept that little fellow ranked 87th as my disciple,” said Venerable Lei Ming.

"The little guy ranked 87th?" The Chaos City Lord glanced at Candita in the main hall and nodded slightly. He was indeed lucky.

When the Universe Venerable takes on disciples, he doesn't necessarily choose from the 20 people in the Primal Secret Realm. If he takes a liking to someone, even someone ranked outside the top 100 might be accepted as a disciple. This has happened many times in history.

"Lord of Chaos City, I would like to take Galesi, who is ranked fourth, as my disciple. It is rare to find someone who can enter the top five in the Genius Battle by using the Illusionary Realm style." A melodious female voice, as beautiful as a dream, rang out.

She is a cosmic venerable one who follows the virtual lineage and the illusionary path.

"Alright." The Chaos City Lord nodded: "Anything else?"

Why were people chosen for the third and fourth ranked positions, but no one chose for the first and second ranked positions?
(End of this chapter)