Walking by the River

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, Luo Feng had spent three years on the main continent of Yan Ji Continent. These three years were incredibly fulfilling for Luo Feng, spent constantly battling and cultivating, his strength improving with each passing moment. Most of his time was dedicated to reflecting on battles, comprehending laws and the Beast God's artistic conception, and researching secret techniques. In these three years, he fought 15 battles, killing 22 alien Marquis-level Immortals and 19 alien Immortal Army Lords.

Among them, 18 Marquis-level Immortals and 13 Immortal Army Lords were killed by his Golden Horned Beast clone, while his Earthling true body only killed 4 Marquis-level Immortals and 9 Army Lords, and even those Marquis-level kills relied on the Shi Wu Wings.

This made Luo Feng feel even more… that he was still very weak!

Although his comprehension realm was extremely fast, he had only cultivated for a few thousand years. While the efficiency of the Virtual Universe Company's Original Secret Realm Sector Lords might not be as high as his, they had cultivated for hundreds of thousands or even millions of years. In terms of law comprehension, the gap between them and him was not large; each of them was at the Marquis-level.

And the top twenty or thirty among them were even close to the King-level comprehension standard. Even the very first few had reached the 18th level of the Sky-Reaching Bridge in law comprehension.

However, the gap between them and 'Ke Di' was still very, very far, because the further one progressed in law comprehension, the harder it became to advance even a single level, like ascending to heaven. For example, Zhenyan King and others were stuck at the 20th level, unable to cross into the 21st level for billions of years—this shows how incredibly difficult it becomes further on. Crossing from the 18th level to the 19th level is almost comparable to the combined difficulty of going from the 1st level to the 18th level!

The difficulty increases geometrically. So, the 18th level and the 20th level seem very close, but almost every generation of Original Secret Realm Sector Lords reaches the 18th level. However, reaching the 20th level… perhaps only one appears every ten million epochs.

In these three years, Luo Feng had indeed made a name for himself.

His Golden Horned Beast clone could even kill peak Marquis-level Immortals. Although only 2 of the 18 Marquis-level Immortals killed were peak Marquis-level, it still spread the Golden Horned Beast's reputation. After all, quite a few high-level Marquis-level Immortals also died under the Golden Horned Beast's wings, which is something only high-level King-level Immortals could usually achieve.

Yan Ji Continent is filled with powerful experts, countless alien races, yet there are only about a thousand King-level Immortals. Every King-level Immortal has a title. The Golden Horned Beast always appeared in the form of a 'silver monster,' and its wing attacks were terrifyingly powerful, so it naturally gradually earned the nickname 'Silverwing King.' As for Luo Feng's Earthling true body? On Yan Ji Continent, it was considered quite ordinary, so it didn't stand out.

In Luo Feng's fourth year on Yan Ji Continent, in the Mechanical Race's virtual world headquarters.

“Ci Weika.” On the street, a tall Mechanical Race youth suddenly called out.

“Senior Brother.” The handsome Mechanical Race youth, whose body was mainly silver with some gold on his waist, arms, and other areas, looking at first glance like an alloy human, slightly bowed his head in respect.

“Ci Weika, how are your gains in the Outer Territory Battlefield?” the tall Mechanical Race youth asked with a smile.

“I've already completed 51.2% of what my master requested. I'm currently in the Seventh Battlefield, Yan Ji Continent. There are many powerful alien experts on Yan Ji Continent, so my efficiency should still improve. I estimate I'll complete the mission after killing another thousand alien Marquis-level Immortals.” The handsome Mechanical Race youth smiled. The Mechanical Race is very different from other races because every Mechanical Race member is born as an intelligent lifeform. As an intelligent lifeform… they are naturally bound to a master.

Within the Mechanical Race, a Universe Venerable-level Mechanical Race member will have some 'Mechanical Race Immortals' bound to them! A powerful Mechanical Race overlord like the Chaos City Lord will still have 'Universe Venerable Mechanical Race members' bound to them! These bindings happen early on… unless one day the servant's strength surpasses the master's, in which case the Mechanical Race high command will order the master to directly dissolve the master-servant relationship. Otherwise, the master-servant relationship will remain forever.

The entire Mechanical Race is a pyramid structure. A Universe Master controls a large number of Universe Venerables, and Universe Venerables control even more Mechanical Race Immortals!

They have emotions; they can feel resentment, jealousy, anger, excitement, happiness, and many other emotions. However, 'being bound to a master' is a core ability of intelligent lifeforms. Once bound, they will fundamentally obey their master without the slightest thought of betrayal. They might feel jealousy or dissatisfaction towards other members of their own race, but their loyalty to their master is absolute!

This is the Mechanical Race, a race with an absolutely strict hierarchy, without any betrayal, and also an extremely terrifying race.

“Completed 51.2%? Ci Weika, you're truly excellent, no wonder your master dotes on you.” The tall Mechanical Race youth said with a half-smile.

“My master's grace, I will naturally repay with all the strength of my life.” The handsome Mechanical Race youth remained humble, maintaining a certain level of respect.

“Very good, keep up the hard work, become a King-level Immortal as soon as possible.” The tall Mechanical Race youth instructed.

“Yes, Senior Brother, I will certainly work hard and learn from you.” The handsome Mechanical Race youth bowed his head.

“Mm.” The tall Mechanical Race youth responded, then ignored 'Ci Weika,' secretly feeling indignant. “Hmph, isn't he just an intelligent lifeform that evolved from the AI of the spaceship my master rode when he was weak? He shared life-and-death experiences with my master, and now he's just a peak Marquis-level Immortal, yet he's more doted upon by our master than us King-level Immortals! Hmph… if it weren't for all the help my master gave you, how could you have killed so many alien Marquis-level Immortals? It sounds easy when you say it, 'just kill another thousand alien Immortals and the mission will be complete.' Hmph… I truly hope you perish in the Outer Territory Battlefield!”

The handsome youth glanced at the departing Senior Brother, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

“These servants my master has taken on, especially those King-level Immortal servants, each of them relies on being stronger than me, casually giving me pointers and putting on airs. What a bunch of idiots. When my master and I were fighting for our lives, where were you guys? Hmph, what does it matter if you're jealous of the bond forged through countless life-and-death struggles when we were weak? If it weren't for the race's rules that demand respect for those of higher rank, I wouldn't even bother with you.” Ci Weika scoffed inwardly.

He truly looked down on those King-level Immortals. His master treated him like a brother, so why would he care about these King-level Immortals?

“Time to see master and report. Hmph, those guys… they probably have to wait for an opportunity just to see master, unlike me who can see master so often.” Ci Weika touched his nose, lifted his head slightly, and walked towards his master's location.

The virtual world created by the Mechanical Race can span an entire star sector. Therefore, each of the hundreds of star sectors in the Mechanical Race's territory has a virtual world.

Although dispersed across individual star sectors, each star sector can connect with the 'headquarters,' which performs overall coordination. Of course… it's very complicated, and generally, Mechanical Race members don't have the qualifications to enter the 'headquarters.' Ci Weika… his consciousness entered the headquarters after a long transmission through the virtual world set up by the 'Mechanical Race' in the Outer Territory Battlefield.

Only then could he communicate with his master. The 'Mechanical Race Virtual World Headquarters' is also called 'Yulan World.'

A pyramid-shaped spaceship was flying above Yan Ji Continent.

“Ha!” Ci Weika, the Mechanical Race youth in emerald green combat armor, opened his eyes and smiled. “My master treats me so well. I only needed to complete 80% of what he requested, and he actually gave me another treasure. If those jealous Senior Brothers knew, they'd probably be even more resentful, but what does their resentment matter?”

“A bunch of idiots.”

“Although in terms of raw body strength, I'm not as good as them. But in a life-and-death battle… my Mechanical Race inherently uses various methods. With the many treasures and trump cards my master has given me, even a King-level Immortal wouldn't be able to do anything to me. If I'm pushed too far, I can even heavily injure a peak King-level Immortal.”

Ci Weika was quite confident. Because he had killed many alien Immortals over the years, and quite a few Marquis-level Immortals too. Countless slaughters had forged his confidence.

“Eh?” “This human Sector Lord… detector, project!” Ci Weika ordered.

Immediately, Ci Weika, sitting in his alloy chair, saw the three-dimensional projection forming before his eyes. In the projection, the human Sector Lord in black combat armor was sitting cross-legged.

“A human Sector Lord? There's actually a human Sector Lord on Yan Ji Continent?” Ci Weika rubbed his alloy nose, frowning. “His detector is truly high-end. Even within my Mechanical Race, only peak Marquis-level Immortals would be equipped with something like that. If it were other alien races… generally, only King-level Immortals would have it.”

“A weak human Sector Lord is actually equipped with such a high-end detector.”

“Fortunately—” “My detector was gifted by my master, it's even more high-end than the detectors used by King-level Immortals of my Mechanical Race!” Ci Weika slapped his alloy chair and stood up. “This little guy has been cultivating all this time and hasn't even noticed me… A Sector Lord having such a high-end instrument means he must have a significant background.”

“Perhaps, he even has a human treasure on him!” “And he's very likely a super genius of humanity. Even if not a super genius, he has a formidable background. But the bigger the background, the better! The bigger the background, the more astonishing his wealth is likely to be. The more of a genius… the higher his military merit value.” Ci Weika's eyes gleamed. Alien experts wouldn't care about the background of a human genius.

“Approach!” “I want to kill this human Sector Lord.” Ci Weika immediately ordered.

This inexpensive pyramid-shaped spaceship immediately flew towards Luo Feng's cultivation location.

As the saying goes, “He who often walks by the river is bound to get his shoes wet.” For three years, Luo Feng had been able to attack whoever he wanted with his detector, or block others' detection if he didn't want to fight. However—when an enemy's detector was more advanced than Luo Feng's, the initiative shifted to the enemy.

At this moment, Luo Feng had no idea of the approaching danger. He was currently connecting a sliver of his consciousness to the virtual universe.

In the virtual universe, on Black Dragon Mountain Island, Nine Star Bay, within Luo Feng's mansion, in a private cinema. Luo Feng and Xu Xin were sitting in the cinema, watching.

Just the two of them.

“Much better than our Earth's movies,” Xu Xin whispered. Luo Feng held his wife's hand and smiled, “There are so many talents in the universe dedicated to creating films. Both the plots and the various virtual technologies are spectacular. Naturally, it's thrilling and enjoyable to watch.”

The couple talked softly while watching. This was one of the most common ways Luo Feng and his wife expressed their affection.

“Hmm?” Luo Feng's expression suddenly changed.

“What's wrong?” Xu Xin was startled.

“Wife, I'm sorry.” Luo Feng gave an apologetic smile and vanished into thin air, his consciousness returning instantly, because in reality, he had encountered a terrible danger.

Xu Xin suddenly stood up, feeling a little nervous and uneasy. She knew Luo Feng was adventuring in the Outer Territory Battlefield and couldn't help but worry immensely.