The Secret

The member list for the Virtual Universe Company's Original Secret Region wasn't classified at an extremely high level. When Luo Feng became a Sector Lord and was confirmed by the 'Virtual Universe Network Receiver,' he was automatically promoted from a 'Domain Lord-level Original Secret Region member' to a 'Sector Lord-level Original Secret Region member.' With this promotion, the list changed, and many Undying Gods and super-existences became aware of it. “Hmm?” Luo Feng walked along the street towards the City Lord's Mansion, noticing many 'Undying Gods' looking at him along the way. “Is that Luo Feng?” “He's already a Sector Lord in the Original Secret Region.” “I heard... Luo Feng has already cleared the Domain Lord-level Original Sky-Reaching Mountain.” “Where did you hear that? Successfully clearing the Original Sky-Reaching Mountain isn't publicly announced. I heard only Universe Knights can access such confidential information.” “I just heard it through the grapevine.” Along both sides of the street, passing Undying Gods were often heard whispering to each other. Clearly, within the last thousand years, Luo Feng had indeed become a rather famous genius in Chaos City, with almost half of the powerful individuals in Chaos City now recognizing him. ...Amidst these discussions, Luo Feng entered the City Lord's Mansion, proceeded into the inner compound, and stepped into the Chaos Ruins courtyard. Space and time shifted. On the vast, desolate continent of ruins, billions of corpses from countless races lay scattered everywhere. Luo Feng walked across this land, distantly spotting a figure sitting cross-legged in meditation. “Teacher,” Luo Feng stood to the side, bowing respectfully. *Whoosh!* The Chaos City Lord rose, his scaled tail sweeping slightly, then looked at Luo Feng. This made Luo Feng mutter inwardly, “They say Teacher Chaos City Lord has three avatars, and this is just one of them. I wonder what the other avatars look like.” Luo Feng knew the Chaos City Lord had three avatars, and the one before him was one of them. “You finally decided to break through to the Sector Lord level,” the Chaos City Lord said, a hint of a smile in his eyes. Luo Feng was startled. *Finally decided?* Breaking through from ninth-tier Domain Lord to Sector Lord usually involved bottlenecks; it wasn't something one could just decide to do! But his Teacher's tone... “When did you body-snatch the Golden Horned Beast's body? Was it during the time your home planet, Earth, was invaded by the Golden Horned Beast?” the Chaos City Lord asked casually. Luo Feng's eyes widened. *Heavens! Body-snatching a Golden Horned Beast? This, this, this... I've kept it so well-hidden, never revealed it. How, how...* “Hahaha, you silly boy,” the Chaos City Lord burst out laughing. “Did you really think you could hide the fact that you body-snatched a Golden Horned Beast from me?” “Teacher,” Luo Feng's mind was in turmoil. “Don't be nervous. Body-snatching a Golden Horned Beast isn't a big deal,” the Chaos City Lord said, shaking his head with a smile. “The most fundamental aspect of flesh-and-blood life is the 'soul.' No matter how you body-snatch, or what body you take, your soul remains unchanged; it's still a human soul. Naturally, you're still a part of humanity.” Luo Feng secretly breathed a sigh of relief. That made sense. There were many 'body-snatching secret arts,' and many could be performed even at Planet Level or Star Level. People often performed body-snatching, and if they weren't satisfied the first time, they might do it a second time, just like Huyan Bo did back then. Many powerful individuals in the universe had performed body-snatching during their growth to reduce the limitations their original bloodline placed on their strength. Therefore, 'body-snatching' wasn't something to be hidden. The soul was the foundation! Body-snatching a Golden Horned Beast, as long as one possessed a human soul, one was naturally human! “Haha, don't be fooled by appearances. If someone appears human but has actually been body-snatched by an alien race, and their soul is alien, then... they are an alien, not human,” the Chaos City Lord chuckled. “That you had the ability to body-snatch a Golden Horned Beast is a testament to your capability. If you could body-snatch an even more powerful life form... that would be even better. I just worry you wouldn't be able to.” Luo Feng's heart finally calmed. In the past, he had always worried because Huyan Bo had body-snatched a human, but he had body-snatched an alien race! If he were exposed and labeled an 'alien,' it would be a huge problem. He didn't dare to gamble! So he had always hidden his identity, but now it seemed the human higher-ups were quite open-minded. “Teacher, how did you discover me...” Luo Feng couldn't help but ask. “Every batch of newly recruited geniuses, whether from the 'Genius Battle' or core members absorbed by the five major powers, will come to 'Chaos City' at least once,” the Chaos City Lord said with a smile. “Your first visit to Chaos City serves two purposes: first, to let you choose a Chaos Tablet and understand your path forward. Second, it's to screen for any alien spies among you. If we nurtured someone only for them to become a powerful individual for an alien race in the end, that would be a joke.” “Within Chaos City, I can instantly see through all of you,” the Chaos City Lord stated. “At that time, I saw the 'core' inside your body.” “Ah.” Luo Feng was startled. *Indeed.* How could humanity not screen them before expending resources to cultivate these geniuses? And the 'Chaos City Lord,' as the greatest existence at the pinnacle of the human race, an absolute top-three Universe Overlord among humans... could naturally discern everyone's true nature and see every individual's soul with ease! “Then, then...” Luo Feng couldn't help but ask, “Since you knew I body-snatched a Golden Horned Beast, and my Golden Horned Beast was already a Sector Lord, why was I still treated as a Domain Lord-level member?” “I knew you body-snatched a Golden Horned Beast, but others didn't,” the Chaos City Lord said with a faint smile. Luo Feng blinked. “My responsibility is to screen for alien spies among you,” the Chaos City Lord sighed. “There are too many fortuitous encounters in the universe. Your body-snatching of a Golden Horned Beast... is nothing in the vast cosmos. As long as I confirm you are human, that's enough! As for the lower-level administrators not discovering you body-snatched a Golden Horned Beast, and still treating you as Universe Level, or Domain Lord... I naturally couldn't be bothered to interfere.” Luo Feng nodded slightly. *Right.* The Chaos City Lord was the ultimate boss of the Virtual Universe Company; what kind of status did he hold? Why would he bother with such minor matters? “Teacher, if you could discover it, why couldn't others?” Luo Feng asked, puzzled. “I control a segment of space-time,” the Chaos City Lord said with a soft chuckle. “Within this segment, I can easily investigate everything. As for those Universe Knights, they've either only comprehended the laws of space or the laws of time! They can't do what I do, and unless they deliberately infiltrate a trace of divine power into your body to investigate, they wouldn't be able to detect that you body-snatched a Golden Horned Beast.” Luo Feng understood. A 'Universe Master' who controlled space-time was indeed far more capable than a 'Universe Knight.' “It's fortunate you came to Chaos City when your strength was still weak,” the Chaos City Lord said. “If you had only come to Chaos City for the first time when you were an 'Undying God,' I might have wrongly accused you and taken you for a spy of the 'Starry Sky Behemoths'.” Luo Feng was puzzled. “Once one becomes an Undying God, the soul begins to completely merge with the body, with every mental imprint integrating into every single cell,” the Chaos City Lord explained with a smile. “At that point, every cell can be considered a part of your soul, because there is no clearly visible soul; only the most basic 'mental imprints' can be detected, and every life form with a soul has different mental imprints.” “It's impossible to determine if you are human based on mental imprints alone.” “Therefore—I would suspect you of being an alien spy,” the Chaos City Lord chuckled. Luo Feng nodded. *Oh.* Right, from ordinary human to Sector Lord, the soul was always concentrated. At the Domain Lord level, it was a 'soul crystal,' and at the Sector Lord level, it was a 'source pearl.' With the soul entirely concentrated, the Chaos City Lord could naturally discern at a glance whether it was a human soul. However, once one became an 'Undying God,' the soul would directly collapse and decompose, integrating into every cell. At that point, there would no longer be a clearly visible soul; the soul would become a part of the 'Undying Body.' “If that's the case, then some Undying Gods who come to Chaos City for the first time, wouldn't it be impossible to confirm if they are spies?” Luo Feng pressed. “Correct,” the Chaos City Lord nodded. “It's impossible to confirm, so 'Undying Gods' who come to Chaos City for the first time are all considered suspects and are placed under surveillance.” ...After hearing all this, Luo Feng felt that the human holy land, 'Chaos City,' was indeed heavily guarded. He estimated that what his Teacher told him was just one aspect of the 'security,' and there were many other precautionary measures. While he had always thought his Golden Horned Beast avatar was a secret, he hadn't expected the Chaos City Lord to have known all along. It was just that back then, the Chaos City Lord couldn't be bothered with a small fry. “Body-snatching a Golden Horned Beast is only considered a 'mid-to-high-tier' fortuitous encounter among the billions of races in the universe,” the Chaos City Lord said with a slight smile. “The only highlight is gaining its bloodline innate ability, 'avatar.' Choosing a good avatar is extremely important. How many avatars have you nurtured so far?” “Two,” Luo Feng replied respectfully. “Hmm, it seems only one last avatar remains to be nurtured,” the Chaos City Lord nodded. “I must warn you...” Luo Feng immediately listened intently. “The universe is fair, and the innate ability to nurture avatars cannot be limitless,” the Chaos City Lord stated solemnly. “To my knowledge, firstly, there are some incredibly wondrous and terrifying life forms in the universe, even unique ones. Even if they are only Sector Lord level... your Golden Horned Beast's internal world simply cannot nurture such life forms. The Golden Horned Beast's internal world can nurture life... at most, life forms ten to a hundred times stronger than the Golden Horned Beast itself. To nurture such heaven-defying life forms is quite unrealistic. Of course, the Golden Horned Beast itself has a noble bloodline, so it can nurture almost all Sector Lord-level life forms in the universe, with only a very, very few exceptions.” “Secondly, if you choose some powerful life forms that are almost at the 'limit of internal world nurturing,' life forms ten to a hundred times stronger than the Golden Horned Beast. Yes, you can indeed successfully nurture them. However, the universe is fair; if the avatar you nurture is too heaven-defying, you will encounter some obstacles during its growth.” Luo Feng was startled. “Obstacles?” “Yes,” the Chaos City Lord nodded. “The stronger your avatar, the more difficulties will arise to hinder you.” “For every gain, there is a loss; fortune and misfortune are intertwined,” the Chaos City Lord smiled. “This is the fairness of the universe. Although there will be difficulties and hindrances, once you overcome them, you will possess even greater strength.”