Swallowing the Stars: I Have a Primordial Dao Seed

The next morning, Zhou Yuan arrived at the private conference hall above the Zi Chen Continent, as instructed by the Virtual Universe Company.

He was familiar with this place; he had been here once before at the end of the last elimination round. However, this time the conference hall was much smaller, with only a thousand seats, just enough to accommodate all the contestants who advanced to the finals.

The moment Zhou Yuan stepped into the conference hall through the teleportation point, the originally noisy hall suddenly fell silent for a moment, and then countless eyes focused on him.

"That's Zhou Yuan, the 'God of Swords'!"

"How can Zhou Yuan be so powerful?"

"The intelligence says Zhou Yuan has a very high chance of winning first place in this final. I've simulated a fight against him, and I can't even last ten moves."

"You're doing alright; I couldn't even last five moves."

The murmurs rose and fell, but Zhou Yuan seemed not to hear them. His gaze swept across the hall, and he walked straight to seat number one in the front row, which was the seat assigned to him.

As soon as he sat down, Karen, who was next to him, immediately turned around with a hint of admiration on his face: "Hello, I'm Karen. I saw you watching the match in the ring before."

"Hello." Zhou Yuan nodded slightly and gave a simple reply. Although Karen was strong, she wasn't someone he cared about too much; of course, he still maintained basic politeness.

Amidst the murmurs of the crowd, a tall, imposing figure suddenly appeared on the platform. The man was two and a half meters tall, dressed in a blue battle suit, exuding a bloodthirsty aura, his eyes sweeping over the geniuses below like those of a bloodthirsty beast.

Instantly, the murmurs in the hall ceased. Zhou Yuan, struck by such a menacing mental attack, instinctively tensed his body, struggling to resist.

The other geniuses fared even worse; many broke out in a cold sweat, their bodies trembled slightly, and even their breathing became rapid.

"Congratulations!" The man's icy voice echoed in the conference hall. "You are the 1000 most outstanding universe-level talents selected by the Zi Chen Universe Nation. You are qualified to represent the Zi Chen Universe Nation and compete for the pinnacle with the geniuses of the other 1,007 universe nations. But I must warn you, the brutality of the finals far surpasses all the battles you have experienced before."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the crowd: "The human race comprises 1,008 cosmic nations, gathering the top elites from trillions of humans. Among you, perhaps only a handful will be able to enter the top 1,000 and obtain the qualification of a core member of the Virtual Universe Company."

"Of course, others shouldn't be discouraged. Those who didn't join the Virtual Universe Company can also choose to join the Zichen Dojo. We will arrange for you to enter the Zichen Secret Realm for cultivation."

"Due to the different selection processes of various cosmic nations, the finals of the battle for humanity's pinnacle of strength will officially begin in one year. This year is your last chance to improve, so cherish it."

……

After leaving the conference hall, Zhou Yuan immediately returned and once again immersed himself in comprehending the fundamental laws of space.

A year passed in the blink of an eye, and Zhou Yuan's comprehension of the laws progressed by leaps and bounds. He not only thoroughly grasped the essence of the first thirty-six fundamental laws of space, but also successfully analyzed the thirty-ninth one.

Starting from the thirty-seventh one, each essence of the fundamental law of space requires the comprehension of twenty-seven secret methods. Through these 27 different secret methods, the essence of the fundamental law of space can be analyzed from different directions.

Although the number of secret techniques has only tripled, the angles from which they need to be analyzed have increased to 27, making the difficulty exponentially higher than the previous 36. Even though Zhou Yuan's comprehension has greatly improved after cultivating the third level of the Nine Revolutions Profound Technique, it still takes him several months to comprehend the essence of one of them.

On this day, Zhou Yuan temporarily stopped his comprehension and connected his consciousness to the virtual universe. Today was the day the finals of the Peak Powerhouse Battle began, and geniuses from 1,008 universe nations were traveling to their respective universe nations' gathering points via teleportation points.

On the floating island above the Zichen Universe Kingdom, Zhou Yuan appeared next to the teleportation point.

The cosmic-level staff member in charge of guiding them immediately stepped forward and said respectfully, "Mr. Zhou Yuan, please come this way. The assembly plaza is on the east side of the floating island."

"Thank you." Zhou Yuan nodded slightly and walked in the direction indicated.

Soon, he arrived at a spacious square. A large group of people had already gathered in the center of the square; they were the participating geniuses from the Zichen Universe Kingdom.

They have different appearances: there are winged people with wings on their backs, four-armed people with four arms, giants who are tens of meters tall, but the most common are ordinary human forms like Zhou Yuan - this is the mainstream appearance of human races.

As Zhou Yuan approached, the crowd stirred again: "Look, Zhou Yuan's here!"

As the contestant handpicked by the intelligence agency as having an extremely high probability of winning first place, Zhou Yuan was destined to be the subject of discussion among others.

Zhou Yuan didn't interact much with these geniuses, and he acted alone in both the elimination rounds and the arena matches. So he stood alone at the edge of the square, waiting for the others to gather.

Soon, all one thousand geniuses had arrived.

Just then, an invisible pressure suddenly enveloped the entire square. Except for Zhou Yuan, the other geniuses instantly turned pale and their bodies trembled involuntarily.

A man dressed in a blue battle suit, exuding a bloodthirsty aura, flew over. He was the same man who had been on the chairman's platform at the previous meeting.

His bloodthirsty eyes swept across the crowd, and a cold voice came from his mouth: "Geniuses of the Purple Star Universe Kingdom, as ordered by the King, I will lead the team in this final competition. You may call me 'Bloodthirsty Marquis,' understand?"

"Understood!" the 1000 people responded in unison, their voices tinged with awe.

Bloodthirsty Marquis's gaze instantly locked onto Zhou Yuan: "Zhou Yuan!"

"Lord Bloodthirsty Marquis." Zhou Yuan bowed slightly in greeting.

"You are the strongest genius of our Zichen Universe Kingdom this time. The King has only one requirement for you - you must win first place in the finals. Any questions?" Bloodthirsty Marquis's tone was filled with unquestionable authority.

"No problem, I will certainly live up to Master's expectations," Zhou Yuan replied firmly. He had absolute confidence in his strength and was confident that he could defeat even the top geniuses from other universe nations.

Bloodthirsty Lord nodded in satisfaction, then looked at Karen: "Karen, you have a chance to make it into the top ten this time, so make the most of the opportunity."

"Yes, sir!" Karen replied respectfully, a hint of excitement flashing in his eyes.

Then, Bloodthirsty Marquis's gaze swept over the group of people in the crowd: "Raymond, Mengwu, Soston, and Lunjing, your strength is barely enough to qualify for the top 1,000. Whether you can seize the opportunity depends on your own performance."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the remaining crowd, his tone icy: "As for the others, don't harbor any unrealistic fantasies. Your strength is nowhere near that of any genius among the human race."

These words were like a bucket of cold water poured over their heads, and many geniuses showed expressions of indignation. Those who had reached this level were all top experts in their respective world regions; when had they ever been so looked down upon?

"Don't be unconvinced." Bloodthirsty Marquis seemed to see through everyone's thoughts, his voice growing colder. "Strength isn't something you can talk about; it's something you can fight with your fists. When you get to the finals, you'll understand what it means to be outmatched and to be truly powerful."

After saying that, he waved his hand and said, "Alright, it's about time. Come with me."