Five Top Experts

“Teacher?” Luo Feng immediately stood up, his demeanor humble, as he opened his screen. A pavilion built on a massive reef appeared on the screen. Zhenyan King sat beneath the pavilion, holding a wine cup, and far behind him stood a majestic, resplendent palace. Two golden characters, “Zhenyan,” were emblazoned on the palace. “That must be Teacher’s Divine Palace on Thunder Island,” Luo Feng thought to himself. “Luo Feng,” Zhenyan King called out with a smile from the screen. “Teacher,” Luo Feng respectfully bowed. “You received the email from the Virtual Universe Company, didn’t you?” Zhenyan King said, a hint of teasing in his eyes. “Are you eager to rush into the Original Secret Region?” “Yes,” Luo Feng nodded, then shook his head helplessly. “Teacher, after reading the email, I learned that there are two ways to advance to the Original Secret Region: one is through the qualification battle, and the other is the Sky-Reaching Mountain. I just tried the ‘Original Sky-Reaching Mountain’…” “Pfft!” Zhenyan King spat out a mouthful of wine, his golden-furred face full of laughter. “You said you challenged the Original Sky-Reaching Mountain?” “Yes,” Luo Feng nodded. “Did you fail?” “Yes,” Luo Feng continued to nod. “It would be strange if you didn’t!” Zhenyan King couldn’t help but laugh and scold. “It seems you know nothing about the ‘Sky-Reaching Mountain’.” “I just saw the email and only then learned about the Sky-Reaching Mountain,” Luo Feng quickly explained. Zhenyan King looked exasperated. “Core members can challenge the three Sky-Reaching Mountains at any time! As long as you pass, you can immediately enter a higher secret region. It sounds wonderful… but do you think the difficulty is a joke? Do you still remember the ‘Seven Trial Towers’ from the Genius Battle?” Luo Feng nodded. He had failed on the first level of the sixth Trial Tower, while Bolan had reached the first level of the seventh Trial Tower. “It’s the same principle!” “The standard set for the Seven Trial Towers is that there’s almost no hope of passing!” Zhenyan King said. “The Sky-Reaching Mountain is the same! The difficulty is extremely, extremely high. You want to pass the Original Sky-Reaching Mountain and enter the Original Secret Region? Let me tell you, even if all the Universe Level members of the Original Secret Region tried, not a single one could pass the Original Sky-Reaching Mountain.” Luo Feng was stunned. Not a single member of the Original Secret Region could pass the Original Sky-Reaching Mountain? “Understand now?” “If you can pass the Original Sky-Reaching Mountain, it means you are stronger than all Universe Level members of the Original Secret Region. Of course, you would be directly promoted to the Original Secret Region,” Zhenyan King said. “As for how difficult it truly is, you’ve tried it yourself. At which level did you fail? The foot of the mountain? The middle? The peak?” “The foot of the mountain,” Luo Feng said, a little ashamed. “I killed two, but then I failed.” “Killing two is not bad, how long have you been under the Virtual Universe Company’s training?” Zhenyan King said. “As for the difficulty of the Original Sky-Reaching Mountain, there are three guardians at the foot, middle, and peak of the mountain.” “The guardians are a Warrior, a Spirit Reader Controller, and an Illusionist.” “Three of them will attack you at once.” “Even if all three are slightly weaker than you, their combined strength and complementary abilities make them formidable,” Zhenyan King said. “The guardians at the middle of the mountain are 10 times stronger than those at the foot! And the guardians at the peak are 10 times stronger than those at the middle!” Luo Feng’s eyes widened. “How is that possible? Doesn’t that mean the guardians at the peak are 100 times stronger than those at the foot of the mountain?” “Yes, 100 times,” Zhenyan King nodded. “I can use Sword World for 30 seconds. To be able to use ‘Sword World’ at Universe Level Ninth-tier, that’s considered top-tier in the vast cosmos, right?” Luo Feng was clear about his own standing, and Zhenyan King nodded slightly. “It is considered top-tier.” “I’m still struggling at the foot of the mountain, and the peak guardians are 100 times stronger than those at the foot?” Luo Feng couldn’t help but ask. “How could a Universe Level Ninth-tier possibly pass?” It was unimaginable. At Universe Level Ninth-tier, how could anyone be 100 times stronger than him? He could already use Sword World! And his will and consciousness could resist illusions! “Yes, how could they possibly pass?” Zhenyan King also smiled. “That’s why even the Universe Level members of the Original Secret Region cannot pass!” Luo Feng was stunned. “The Original Sky-Reaching Mountain is just a benchmark! It’s placed there for people to look up to, to give them a goal, and to keep them from becoming arrogant,” Zhenyan King said. “So, to ascend to the Original Secret Region, the qualification battle is the real channel!” “Teacher?” Luo Feng’s heart stirred. Zhenyan King on the screen looked at Luo Feng. “Has anyone ever passed the Original Sky-Reaching Mountain?” Luo Feng quickly asked. “Yes! Of course, there have! And quite a few!” Zhenyan King smiled and nodded. “The cosmos is vast, and humanity is countless. There are those with immense luck and special encounters, those with tenacious personalities, those with extremely high comprehension, those with excellent backgrounds… what kind of people aren’t there? How many geniuses have emerged throughout history?” “You and Bolan are merely geniuses that appear once every ten thousand eras. And how long has the original cosmos existed?” “Throughout endless ages, there have been geniuses ten or even a hundred times stronger than you and Bolan,” Zhenyan King shook his head. “The probability of a genius becoming an ultimate powerhouse is extremely high, but still, a large number of geniuses fall. There was someone from my era, or rather, hundreds of thousands of years before me, named Ke Di, hailed as the number one genius in a hundred million eras!” “At the Universe Level, Domain Lord, and Sector Lord stages, he directly passed the Original Sky-Reaching Mountain. His encounters were miraculous, defying all odds, and he struck fear into other races on the outer battlefield. In his Sector Lord stage, he could even kill Marquis-level Undyings!” “A group of Universe Nation Lords and Venerables scrambled to take him as a disciple, and in the end, it was Chaos City Lord who accepted him.” Luo Feng was dumbfounded. The Original Sky-Reaching Mountain was like child’s play to him? A Sector Lord killing a Marquis-level Undying? A group of Universe Nation Lords and Venerables fighting over him as a disciple? Insane! “What happened in the end?” Zhenyan King shook his head. “He perished directly in a Cosmic Secret Region. When he died, he was at the peak of the Sector Lord stage.” Luo Feng blinked. “To say someone is a genius, in a single galaxy, they might indeed be the number one genius. But in a starfield? In a Universe Nation? In the entire human race?” Zhenyan King smiled. “Even if you are the number one genius of the human race of the cosmos, that’s only for a certain period. Looking at ten thousand years, ten thousand eras, a hundred million eras, the entire history of humanity? What do you amount to then?” Luo Feng couldn’t help but nod. “You should be confident, but not overly arrogant,” Zhenyan King shook his head. “That Bolan, he’s too arrogant. He doesn’t know… those Universe Nation Lords didn’t truly value him. Their long lifespans have allowed them to see many geniuses comparable to Bolan.” “I understand.” “I will work hard. If others can pass the Original Sky-Reaching Mountain, I will work hard too,” Luo Feng said. Zhenyan King on the screen was slightly taken aback, then nodded. “I sought you out this time to remind you about some things concerning the qualification battle,” Zhenyan King said. “First, the qualification battle is an internal battle within your Taichu Secret Region! There are a total of 38 Universe Level members in the Taichu District, originally 30, plus you 8 newcomers.” Luo Feng nodded. “38 people will battle to determine the strongest three.” “Only these top three are qualified to fight against those from the Original Secret Region, though it’s rare for anyone to succeed in previous rounds,” Zhenyan King said. “What I want to talk about now is your internal battle among the 38 members of the Taichu Secret Region.” “You, Rongjun, and the other 8 are all just newcomers.” “However, the veterans of the Taichu District’s Universe Level have been cultivated by the Virtual Universe Company for at least a thousand years, some for several thousand years,” Zhenyan King said. “Among these 30 veterans, five have passed the seventh level of the Sky-Reaching Bridge, and 25 have passed the sixth level.” Luo Feng’s eyes widened. This, this… Out of 30 veterans, five had passed the seventh level of the Sky-Reaching Bridge? And all the others had passed the sixth level? “Don’t be surprised. If Wuka and the others were to cultivate for another thousand or several thousand years, they would all reach at least the sixth level of the Sky-Reaching Bridge,” Zhenyan King said. “Time, that is the magic of time! Your talent might be high, but they have cultivated longer.” “Why haven’t they broken through to Domain Lord after so long?” Luo Feng couldn’t help but ask. This was too unfair. Newcomers were practically being trampled; 30 veterans, and five of them had already passed the seventh level of the Sky-Reaching Bridge! “Bottlenecks. For these geniuses, a thousand years can certainly be endured,” Zhenyan King poured himself a cup of wine, drank it in one gulp, and continued while pouring more. “However, at the Universe Level stage, you can take cultivation missions to earn points! And by laying a solid foundation, your future achievements will naturally be higher.” “Anyway, with such long lifespans, what’s a few thousand more years at the Universe Level?” “Everyone isn’t foolish; they all seize the opportunity to earn points.” “Because of this, you can take a maximum of ten cultivation missions every hundred years! And there are also limits on the number of missions you can take at each difficulty level: safe, normal, difficult, dangerous, and desperate,” Zhenyan King said. “This, this is too unfair,” Luo Feng couldn’t help but say. “They also started as newcomers,” Zhenyan King said from the screen. “You’re fine; staying in the Taichu Secret Region won’t be a problem. But Wuka and the others from Manka Star will probably be eliminated to the Tiandi Secret Region.” Luo Feng fell silent. “Your biggest opponents are those five, the five who passed the seventh level of the Sky-Reaching Bridge,” Zhenyan King said. “Five people? The five top experts among the 30 veterans?” Luo Feng frowned slightly. Five top experts. Those five must have at least Wuka’s level of talent, but they had cultivated for a very long time, surely taken many cultivation missions, and their experience was definitely seasoned. “Work hard.” “They are your opponents,” Zhenyan King said. “This is your first qualification battle, so it’s unlikely you’ll break into the Original Secret Region. My requirement for you is… to get into the top three of the Taichu District!” … The call ended, and Luo Feng sat in the quiet room for a long time. “My original plan was to break into the Original Secret Region this time. The veterans of the Taichu Secret Region are actually so strong… Teacher wants me to aim for the top three?” Luo Feng thought to himself. “A soldier who doesn’t want to be a general isn’t a good soldier. If I don’t even dare to dream of entering the Original Secret Region, I’d be too useless.” “This time!” “I must break into the Original Secret Region!” “Six years, there are still six years,” Luo Feng mused. His original plan for the next six years was already discarded, and a new, albeit vague, plan was forming in his mind. “Maximize my greatest advantage!” “Utilize my greatest advantage to maximize my strength.”