Swallowing the Stars: Start with an Enlightenment System

Suddenly, an invisible aura emerged in the central square, instantly enveloping the entire square.

Everyone looked up and saw a familiar figure appearing in mid-air.

"Venerable One!"

"Good." The bald man in the red robe nodded in satisfaction.

"For the 7200 participants ranked 101st to 7300th, the virtual universe system has automatically arranged arena battles for you based on your performance in the trial space. Those who win three consecutive matches will receive a spot to advance, while those who lose will be eliminated."

Upon hearing this, many of the geniuses and elites below showed concern.

It's important to understand that these people have varying levels of strength. If they're unlucky enough to encounter someone far stronger than themselves or someone who has a natural advantage over them, all their previous efforts will be in vain.

"The arrangement of the virtual universe system is absolutely optimal, there's no doubt about it!" the red-robed, bald man said slowly.

"Now, 7200 trial participants, proceed to the arena and begin your battles!"

Three thousand six hundred screens suddenly appeared.

Baiyuan and the other ninety-nine people stared intently at the arena and discovered that the outcome of many battles far exceeded their initial expectations.

One of the matches was particularly noteworthy.

A powerful figure named Lone Soul immediately unleashed an illusion attack, shaking his opponent's mind and drastically reducing his strength. He then easily won by wielding a psychic weapon.

"This wandering spirit's illusion skills are quite impressive. It can shake the opponent's will and reduce their strength to only half. With such methods, it has a chance to break into the top twenty."

On the rankings of the Trial Tower, Lonely Soul is only ranked 217th.

If we don't count illusions, Lone Soul's strength is only about the top 300, but once he uses illusions, he completely overwhelms his opponents who are ranked lower than the top 100.

And just like that, Lone Soul won three consecutive matches and easily secured his qualification for the next round.

Another person, however, caught Baiyuan's attention.

The man was named "Purple Bamboo," and he wore white armor and held a thin iron rod.

What he used was less a staff technique and more a needle technique, each move aimed at breaking through the surface, its sharpness concealed, yet its power was extremely astonishing.

On the Trial Tower leaderboard, he was ranked just outside the top six thousand.

The three opponents that could be matched with were all top-ranked players within the top 300.

Even more surprisingly, he won every match by a hair's breadth.

Now that things have come to this, even the most obtuse person can see that Zizhu is clearly hiding his strength.

However, under the insight of the Virtual Universe Company, his thoughts had nowhere to hide.

As for Wu Li and Wu Xing, they were both eliminated.

Wu Li managed to defeat his first opponent, while Wu Xing failed to win even his first battle.

Nine hundred advanced participants were teleported out. Most of them couldn't hide their excitement, while a few remained calm, as if it had all been expected.

"Congratulations on making it into the top 1,000! From this moment on, you are members of Virtual Universe Corporation!"

Before the crowd could even cheer, Venerable Guiyi had finished speaking when he continued, his tone carrying an undeniable weight.

"However, you should understand that competition exists everywhere in the universe, and it will not stop even here."

"None of you thousand people will receive the same treatment or the same training resources. Even my Virtual Universe Company wouldn't dare to squander such precious resources."

He smiled slightly and slowly announced:

"Those ranked 11th to 100th will receive a bonus of 100 Hunyuan Units, gain access to the Initial Universe for enlightenment, and join the core of my Virtual Universe Company—'Heaven and Earth Secret Realm'."

"Those who rank 2nd to 10th will receive a prize of 1000 Primordial Units, gain access to the Initial Universe for enlightenment, and join the core of my Virtual Universe Company—'Primordial Secret Realm'."

"The first place winner will receive a prize of 10,000 Chaos Units, gain access to the Initial Universe for enlightenment, and join the core of my Virtual Universe Company—'Primal Secret Realm'."

Baiyuan nodded secretly.

The reason why Luo Feng's class was able to get two spots in the Primal Secret Realm was mainly because the quality of that batch of geniuses was so high. In addition to Bo Lan, several other peerless geniuses emerged out of nowhere, so the Virtual Universe Company was unusually generous.

Their graduating class was only of average talent.

Apart from Baiyuan, it's hard to say whether the strongest among them could even make it into the top five if they were in Luo Feng's class.

Everyone looked down at the screen on their wrists; the rules of the final battle had been delivered.

The rules are as follows:

These 100 people will join the top 100 in the trial space who first obtained a spot, making a total of 200 people, and will engage in one-on-one duels!

Of the 100 winners, the virtual universe system will determine the top 20 to compete in a second round of one-on-one duels... and finally the top 10 will be decided.

This means that of the 900 people who advance, 800 will be directly eliminated, without even having the chance to step onto the stage.

To put it bluntly, Virtual Universe Company wouldn't even consider those eight hundred people a threat.

After all, every ten thousand years, a large number of such geniuses will emerge, and only the top-tier ones are worth the effort and resources that Virtual Universe Company invests in cultivating.

This rule naturally provoked dissatisfaction among many geniuses.

Some even wanted to protest, but before they could utter a sound, they were silenced by a glare from an immortal-level expert from their own country.

Venerable Guiyi looked around, taking in everyone's expressions, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.

"If you have any objections to the final battle rules of the Virtual Universe System, you may choose not to join my Virtual Universe Company. My Virtual Universe Company will not force anyone to participate."

These words sent a jolt through everyone present.

Each of them is a chosen one of their own universe and their own ethnic group.

From childhood to adulthood, he was always the center of attention wherever he went, and was the object of fierce competition among various forces.

But this Venerable Guiyi, with just a few words, placed them in a position of being dispensable, as if their joining or not was completely irrelevant to the Virtual Universe Company.

This disparity is even more unacceptable than the elimination rules just mentioned.

Venerable Guiyi took in the changing expressions of the crowd, his gaze slowly sweeping across them before finally settling on Baiyuan.

"Tell me, do you have any objections to my decision?"

"Huh? Me?"

Bai Yuan was stunned, his face filled with confusion.

He wasn't one of the 800 people who were directly eliminated, so why was he chosen to make a statement?

Moreover, this question is a hot potato no matter how you answer it.

If we say that the Venerable One is wrong, it would be a blatant challenge to the authority of the Virtual Universe Company. If we say that the Venerable One is not wrong, it would be tantamount to pushing the eight hundred eliminated geniuses into an even more awkward situation.

This is tantamount to saying in front of everyone that it was right for you to be eliminated.

Baiyuan took a deep breath.

He felt the gazes cast around him, some curious, some amused, and some with a hint of anticipation.

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