The instant the voice rang out, the Tower of Laws within Jiang Li's soul-space manifested once more, instantly devouring the strand of spiritual consciousness that had attempted to invade.
"So that's how it is..."
Jiang Li immediately understood.
This was simply the Virtual Universe's method of monitoring and controlling the gathering of countless geniuses within the plaza.
However...
His Tower of Laws clearly refused to allow any outside force to intrude.
At that moment, the enormous plaza was packed with over a million peerless geniuses.
Following Hong into the air, Jiang Li drifted into the crowd.
As soon as everyone landed, expressions of surprise appeared on countless faces.
Then, a gentle voice echoed into everyone's ears.
"Welcome, everyone, to the Genius Battle hosted by the Virtual Universe Company."
Looking toward the source of the voice, they saw that a man in a cyan battle robe had appeared in the previously empty sky.
He stood suspended in midair.
Although he completely restrained his aura, the invisible pressure radiating from him instinctively made the million young geniuses feel the urge to submit.
A Universe Venerable!
Jiang Li looked up.
The feeling was all too familiar.
"You are the elite talents selected through two brutal elimination rounds from the 1,008 universe nations."
The cyan-robed Venerable overlooked the sea of geniuses below and continued in a calm voice,
"Our Virtual Universe Company will select the strongest one thousand among you and recruit them as core members, nurturing you as our elite geniuses."
"Those one thousand positions..."
"...must be earned through your own strength."
The crowd collectively gasped.
One million competitors fighting over only one thousand spots.
Although the ratio seemed better than the preliminary rounds, the quality of the opponents was on an entirely different level.
"The rules are simple."
"Tomorrow, every one of you will enter your own Trial Space."
"There are seven Trial Towers inside."
"Your final score will be determined by how far you progress through the towers."
"The top one hundred by points will be admitted directly as core members of the Virtual Universe Company."
"Those ranked from 101st to 7,300th will proceed to the final duel stage to compete for the remaining nine hundred positions."
"As for everyone ranked below 7,300..."
"...all will be eliminated."
Silence swept across the plaza.
Every genius wore an expression of shock.
The elimination rate...
was an astonishing 99.3%!
Faced with such cruel rules, even Luo Feng and Hong felt an unprecedented pressure weighing upon them.
The next morning...
As sunlight spread across the towering buildings, a voice from the Virtual Universe Company awakened every participant.
"Contestants, please prepare yourselves."
"You will now be collectively teleported."
"You are about to enter your respective Trial Spaces."
"We wish you all excellent results."
Blessings were inevitable.
So was elimination.
"Rong Jun, give it everything you've got! You're the hope of our Ganwu Universe Nation!"
"Madman, let's do our best together!"
"Demon King, don't get yourself eliminated!"
"Aurora, you're carrying Blood Sword's hopes! You can't lose!"
The geniuses from the Ganwu Universe Nation encouraged one another enthusiastically.
Jiang Li, Luo Feng, and Hong stood together.
The three exchanged glances before nodding silently.
"There has always been only one road to the summit."
"All we can do... is give it everything we've got."
Jiang Li nodded slightly.
The next instant, an invisible force descended upon the entire plane, teleporting every genius from every universe nation into their own Trial Space.
Everything blurred before Jiang Li's eyes.
Space twisted.
When his vision cleared, he found himself standing on a lifeless celestial body.
Calling it a planet was generous.
Its size resembled a gigantic asteroid more than anything else.
"Quite similar to the World Division arenas."
After adjusting to his surroundings, Jiang Li looked at the crystal display attached to his arm.
Contestant: Jiang Li (Ganwu Universe Nation)
Points: 0
Rank: None
Trial Space: No. 0211183
Trial Point Rewards
Tower One
Floor 1: Up to 10,000 points
Tower Two
Up to 100,000 points
Each subsequent tower awarded ten times more points than the previous one.
By Tower Seven, every floor could award up to 10 billion points.
Note:
Once you die, the trial immediately ends.
Ways to Clear a Floor:
Kill every target to earn maximum points and advance immediately. Survive for ten days to be automatically transported to the next floor.
The trial ends once all contestants have died.
Below the rules was the real-time global leaderboard.
"Interesting."
After reading everything, Jiang Li smiled faintly.
"The first six towers shouldn't pose any difficulty."
"As for the seventh..."
The Virtual Universe Company's rule—
'The trial ends when all contestants have died.'
—meant only one thing.
No one had ever cleared all seven Trial Towers.
At least...
not before today.
"My clones have always provided insight into only a single law."
"Perhaps..."
"It's finally time to attempt true Law Fusion."
Determination flashed in Jiang Li's eyes.
His figure blurred.
Flying directly toward the first Trial Tower, he selected all nine spirit weapons along with a battle suit before stepping inside.
Immediately, streams of light filled the tower.
The crystal display announced the trial.
First Trial Tower—Floor One
Targets: 10,000 Blood-Furred Mammoths
Rumble—!
The earth shook violently as thunderous footsteps echoed throughout the tower.
A stampede charged toward him like an unstoppable tidal wave.
"Ordinary Ninth-Level Star Travelers?"
Jiang Li calmly swept his gaze across the charging beasts.
With a flick of his sleeve—
Starfall erupted.
Three thousand three hundred meteoric stars descended simultaneously, sweeping across the entire first floor.
The massacre was effortless.
Meanwhile...
Inside the Virtual Universe Network.
Within the enormous observation plaza, all 1,008 Immortals leading their respective universe nations sat casually while watching the constantly changing rankings.
The Trial Space elimination stage was not publicly broadcast.
Only the rankings were released.
However, just like the World Division competition, each universe nation's upper echelon possessed the authority to watch every one of their contestants.
"That fellow Bolan is incredibly fast."
"Hm?"
"Thirteen! Jiang Li from your Ganwu Universe Nation is catching up!"
"He's even faster than Rong Jun!"
"He's already climbed to second place!"
The Immortals could easily observe the ongoing trials through the floating projections above the plaza.
Naturally, every one of them hoped the geniuses from their own universe nation would shine brightly and bring glory to their homeland.
"That youngster is extraordinary."
An Immortal with a single horn on his forehead waved his hand, shifting the projection to Jiang Li.
"He's controlling Starfall so effortlessly."
The projection displayed Jiang Li's performance.
Floor One
Three thousand three hundred streams of starlight exploded outward, crushing everything in a single overwhelming sweep.
Floor Two
Ten thousand Nine-Headed Pythons.
Same method.
Floor Three
One thousand Tuoluo Clan Metal Warriors.
Same method.
Floor Four
The cosmic lifeforms known as Flying Hou.
Same method.
Floor Five
Mechanical race puppets.
Still the same overwhelming barrage.
Floor Six
Ten star beasts known as Cang.
Again...
Starfall crushed everything.
Floor Seven
One...
Insect Queen.
"...This Jiang Li..."
Even though there was only a single Insect Queen on the seventh floor of the first tower, every Immortal twitched slightly when they saw Jiang Li immediately unleash Starfall without the slightest hesitation.
Everyone knew that Starfall was a spirit weapon designed around the fusion of the Earth and Space Laws.
Its individual striking power wasn't particularly impressive.
Its greatest strength lay in overwhelming large-scale area attacks.
Yet in Jiang Li's hands...
One move was enough to dominate an entire Trial Tower.
"At this pace..."
"Even Bolan won't be able to catch him."
The rankings continued changing.
But Jiang Li had already surged far ahead, firmly occupying first place in the Trial Tower rankings.
Still, several veteran Immortals who had witnessed previous Genius Battles merely shook their heads.
"It's useless."
"Starfall excels at wide-area suppression."
"It may dominate the first tower..."
"But the second tower will be an entirely different story."
The difficulty of the seven Trial Towers increased dramatically with each successive tower.
To rely on nothing but Starfall to conquer all seven?
Impossible.
-------------------
The fully completed English PDF of this fanfic is available on my Patreon shop for readers who want to support me and own the full story at once.Just grab the PDF and binge-read the entire fanfic from start to finish without waiting for updates.
I've also uploaded some new fanfics based on reader requests.If you're interested and would like to support my work, feel free to check them out and grab a copy on Patreon.
Recently uploaded fanfic titles:
" Game of Thrones : Heroic Invincible System "
" Rock Girl Won't Let Me Go "
" Villain: Suppressing the Protagonist and Stealing the School Beauty "
" Cartonist in Doraemon "
" Swallowed Star: Heaven-Defying Comprehension, Joins Chat Group "
" System Rewards Iron Body "
"A Summer Night Tainted by Love"
Patreon.com /Ramzane