Devouring Stars: Master of Evolution

Chapter 178 Trial Tower? Time to get serious.

We just entered the tower.

The text on Qin Mu's screen changed: "First level of the first building: 1 ferocious beasts 'Blood-haired Mammoths'."

You earn one point for each ferocious beast you kill, and ten thousand points for killing them all, which will teleport you directly to the second level.

If you don't kill them all, survive for ten days and you'll be teleported directly to the second level.

Death. Trial over.

At the edge of the screen on the arm, there is a countdown timer, indicating that once 10 days have passed, the user will be teleported directly.

"roar--"

The scene before him changed in an instant. As soon as he appeared, the overwhelming blood-haired mammoths roared angrily.

Even a human being with a body exceeding ten thousand can still connect heaven and earth, let alone a massive, hairy mammoth.

Standing atop the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Wheel, watching the blood-haired mammoth charging towards him, Qin Mu chuckled softly.

The first trial tower's first level has many blood-haired mammoths, but they are not very strong; the participating geniuses can easily deal with them.

"Since we've decided to use the Trial Tower as a stage, let's give it our all."

Within the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Wheel, countless wind blades flew out from the Wind Wheel, converging into an invisible wind blade exceeding one hundred meters in length.

"Pfft—"

An invisible wind blade swept past, and the charging blood-haired mammoth's body suddenly turned into fragments, scattering across the ground.

Standing atop the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Wheel, Qin Mu didn't even move, yet ten thousand blood-haired mammoths were already dead or wounded.

After all the blood-haired mammoths died, Qin Mu's body became illusory and disappeared.

Text changes on the wrist screen:

"First level, second floor: 1 monstrous beasts, the Nine-Headed Python."

You get one point for each monster you kill, and ten thousand points for killing them all, which will teleport you directly to the third level.

If you don't kill them all, survive for ten days and you'll be teleported directly to the third level.

……

In the virtual universe, 1008 immortal beings sat casually in the central square.

The elimination rounds in the trial space are not broadcast publicly across the universe; only the changes in the rankings are made public. Only the final arena battle is broadcast publicly!

However... the immortal beings of the various cosmic nations have the authority to observe the trial progress of each participant.

"This guy named Bolan is really ruthless; he rushed to the top as soon as he arrived."

"Um!"

"Wow, Berlan's points have risen incredibly fast, leaving the second-place team far behind."

"Thirteen, Rong Jun from your Qianwu Universe Kingdom is also quite good; he's currently ranked 12th in points."

"That guy named Qin Mu is also ranked 36th, but wasn't he supposed to be stronger than Rong Jun and able to compete with Bo Lan for first place? How come he's only 36th?"

All 1008 powerful immortals can easily see the rankings and watch the trial progress. Now they represent their respective universe nations, and of course they all hope that the geniuses of their universe nations will shine even brighter, so that they can save face.

For these beings that have eternal life, dignity and honor are of utmost importance.

The giant in the scale armor frowned slightly upon hearing the discussion. He was satisfied with Rong Jun's performance, but what was wrong with Qin Mu?

With a hint of displeasure, he directly clicked on Qin Mu's trial live stream.

"Hmm? The fundamental law of wind? Isn't he skilled in the four fundamental laws of metal, fire, earth, and space? When did he suddenly come up with the fundamental law of wind?"

Qin Mu stood on the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Wheel, manipulating the Wind Wheel to easily kill the enormous nine-headed pythons.

"This level of the fundamental laws of wind is not enough to compete with Berlan."

The giant in the scale armor robe thought to himself, but the next moment, another sub-wheel flew out from the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Wheel.

Light wheel!

"The fundamental law of light?"

The giant in the scaled armor was taken aback; it was yet another fundamental law!

This unexpected turn of events left the giant in the scaled armor even more puzzled.

Including the previous four, Qin Mu has now revealed a total of six fundamental laws!

This is a fundamental law, not a domain!

Within a single universe, not all of the top one thousand individuals have fully comprehended the fundamental laws.

During the Qianwu Universe Kingdom Arena Battle, out of 10,000 participants, only a little over 500 had stepped into the threshold of the Laws.

Even if you remove the top 100 from the preliminaries who didn't participate, and those who were unlucky enough to be eliminated in the preliminaries and arena battles, the number will definitely not exceed 1,000!

In past genius battles, those who were able to comprehend two fundamental laws were generally among the top twenty.

But Qin Mu has already revealed six of them!

Is this really his limit?

The giant in the scale armor robe's unusual appearance caught the attention of several immortal powerhouses nearby, who all turned their gazes toward it.

"Huh? This Qin Mu actually possesses the fundamental laws of wind and light?"

An Immortal exclaimed in surprise, and the Immortals who were paying attention to their own genius all turned around, and then the next moment they opened Qin Mu's trial live stream.

"The fundamental law of water! My God, the seventh fundamental law."

Could he have comprehended the Ten Fundamental Laws at the Eternal Star level?

"That's unlikely, isn't it? How many years has a Hengxing-level cultivator cultivated? Where would they find the time and energy to comprehend so many fundamental laws?"

"He seems to have more than just comprehended the truth. Look at that attack; it's comparable to the second level of a divine weapon master."

"I have lived for tens of thousands of epochs, and I have seen several peerless geniuses like Bolan, but this is truly the first time I have seen someone comprehend so many fundamental laws at the Hengxing level."

In the square, the immortals exclaimed in surprise.

It is unprecedented in countless immortal beings to have comprehended so many fundamental laws at the same time.

This discovery drew the attention of all the immortals to Qin Mu.

They were also very curious about how many fundamental laws Qin Mu had comprehended. Could it be that he had really comprehended the ten fundamental laws?

That's just too incredible!

If a genius comprehends a fundamental law, that's considered normal.

Both are normal and can be considered top-tier geniuses.

On the contrary, if one comprehends three or four fundamental laws, it will be said that one should strive for mastery rather than pursuing quantity.

Because before achieving immortality, it is enough to comprehend two kinds of fundamental laws, ideally one lower-level fundamental law and the corresponding higher-level fundamental law.

Having one or two more doesn't make much difference.

But what if a genius comprehends seven or eight of them? Or even all ten fundamental laws?

And each one is stronger than even the top geniuses?

At this point, no one will talk about being proficient anymore.

"No wonder the King believes Qin Mu is stronger than Rong Jun and can rival Bolan for first place!"

The giant in the scale armor was secretly delighted.

Comprehending multiple fundamental laws is far more difficult than simply adding one together.

The multiple fundamental laws also provide a terrifying boost to combat power. Judging from Qin Mu's previous performance, his weapon, the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Wheel, is clearly capable of fusing and unleashing the power of many fundamental laws.

While paying attention to Qin Mu, the giant in the scale armor also took notice of Rong Jun.

Turning on Rong Jun's live stream screen, one could see the savage youth with bare feet, his steps strange and incredibly fast, wielding a battle sword and wantonly slicing through a three-eyed, winged, furry monster resembling a lion—the ferocious beast "Feihou".

A rare smile appeared on the giant's face, despite his scaled armor.

"Hmm?" He frowned slightly, a murderous aura emanating from him. "This Luo Feng..."

He was surprised to find Luo Feng's name at the top of the leaderboard, even though he felt Luo Feng had a chance to break into the top 1,000.

He then opened his own list in the Qianwu Universe Kingdom and immediately saw Luo Feng's name—"Luo Feng (Qianwu Universe Kingdom), ranked 1006891."

This caused the giant in the scaled armor to reveal a fierce aura in his eyes.

"What is this little idiot doing?"

The giant in the scale armor robe clicked on Luo Feng's live stream, and the sight immediately made him frown.

"He's not putting in any effort at all. Is he treating the trial space like a training ground?"

Not bad!

While Qin Mu was exposing many of his fundamental laws and wreaking havoc, Luo Feng continued to train himself through the Trial Tower, just as he had in the original timeline.

While the Golden Horned Beast and the Demon Slayer Clan clone were engaged in cultivation, Luo Feng himself continuously absorbed the insights gained by the two clones and integrated them into his own battle, constantly improving and strengthening himself.

The first building, the first floor, the second floor...

They all stayed for the full ten days, only going to kill the last target when the countdown was almost over.

It wasn't just Luo Feng who did this; Hong and Lei Shen did the same.

With the guidance of powerful figures who had been granted titles, their strength improved very quickly, but the time was still too short.

Therefore, they are trying their best to buy themselves time and strengthen themselves.

Of course, among these million geniuses, it wasn't just Luo Feng, Hong, and Lei Shen who did this; many geniuses shared the same idea.

This resulted in the three of them not being the absolute last, but still bringing the bottom one or two thousand people along with them.

"Hmph!" The giant in the scale armor snorted coldly.

He believed that Luo Feng's strength was enough to break into the top 1,000, but he was somewhat dissatisfied at the moment.

The first trial tower, the sixth floor.

On the vast wasteland, ten enormous star beasts appeared before Qin Mu.

These behemoths look very similar to the Golden Horned Beast, but they have no wings.

The colossal cosmic beast, "Azure"!

Cang and the Golden Horned Beast have a special relationship.

Among the 'Metal Attribute' Starry Sky Beasts, the number one is naturally the 'Golden Horned Beast,' which is one of the twelve top bloodlines of Starry Sky Beasts.

And the second one is 'Cang'! Although it is only a difference between first and second place, their actual combat power is far apart.

When the Golden Horned Beast reaches its peak, it becomes a Realm Lord.

When Cang grows to his peak, he reaches the level of a Domain Lord!

Qin Mu's expression was slightly strange. He knew the Golden Horned Beast and the Starry Sky Beast "Cang" all too well.

Among the swarm of insects, there are three Golden Horned Beasts and ten Starry Sky Beasts named "Azure".

Beneath Qin Mu's feet, the lightning wheel within the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Wheel emitted streaks of lightning. These streaks combined and transformed in the void, becoming beams of light that shot towards the star beast 'Cang'.

Amidst the lightning, the brains of the ten colossal star beasts, "Cang," were pierced.

Unlike the Golden Horned Beast, "Cang" does not have a primordial core; before reaching the Domain Lord level, its soul resides in its brain.

His brain was pierced, and he died instantly.

The celestial behemoth "Azure" in the first trial tower was a weakened version and was easily killed.

Unlike Luo Feng and the others, Qin Mu had no intention of stalling for time. Instead, he unleashed a burst of power, killing all his opponents instantly.

The space blurred for a moment, and Qin Mu entered the seventh floor.

The space suddenly transformed into a vast desert. In the very center of the desert, on a green field, stood a huge sphere, about sixty meters in diameter. The sphere was uneven and naturally emitted some poisonous gas, and even flowed with some venom.

"The First Seventh Layer: The Zerg Mother Nest"

Destroying the Zerg mother hive grants 10,000 points, allowing direct teleportation to the first level of the second trial tower.

Zerg Hive: In reality, even the weakest Zerg Hive is comparable to a World Lord, and many are even comparable to Immortals. The Zerg Hives in this Trial Tower are proportionally weaker to suit the trial participants.

Recommendation: Destroy the Zerg mother hive as soon as possible. The later you destroy it, the more numerous and stronger the Zerg will be spawned!

Looking at the distant Mother Nest, the Thunder Wheel and Time Wheel simultaneously flew out from the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Wheel beneath Qin Mu's feet.

If he was familiar with the cosmic behemoth "Cang", then as the overlord of the swarm, and with a queen nest of world lord level within the swarm, he could be said to have control over it.

Before the Zerg warriors could crawl out of the Zerg hive, a flash of light appeared on the Time Wheel, which combined with the Lightning Wheel to form a beam of white light.

All the Zerg warriors, and even the Zerg Queen, seemed to freeze in place as the white light pierced through them instantly, their life force vanishing.

After defeating all the opponents on the seventh floor of the first trial tower, I was teleported into the second trial tower.

The opponent in the second trial tower is exactly the same as the one in the first trial tower.

The only difference is... his strength has skyrocketed!

……

The seven trial towers have the same goal and number; the only difference is their strength.

The first level consists entirely of ferocious beasts called "Blood-Haired Mammoths," totaling 10000.

The second level contains 10000 monstrous nine-headed serpents. The difference between monstrous beasts and ferocious beasts is... their extremely high intelligence. Monsters on Earth, for example, are actually monstrous beasts.

The third layer consists of 1000 metallic lifeforms called "Thoraga Warriors".

The fourth level contains 1000 strange cosmic creatures called "Flying Hou," which are among the most peculiar of the ferocious beasts.

The fifth level contains 100 mechanical golems!

The sixth level contains ten colossal star beasts, "Azure"!

The seventh level contains one Zerg mother hive!

All seven trial towers were arranged in this way.

However, it is quite obvious that the strength of the targets in the seven trial towers is constantly increasing.

While Qin Mu was quickly clearing the trial tower, all the immortal powerhouses who had been watching him from the outside world fell silent.

"He's comprehended all ten fundamental laws! What a monster!"

When an immortal powerhouse who was paying attention to Qin Mu saw the fundamental law of time, he was full of amazement.

Before this, Qin Mu had already demonstrated the other nine of the ten fundamental laws. Although it was guessed that Qin Mu was very likely to have truly comprehended everyone's fundamental laws.

But when he actually saw it, he was still filled with disbelief.

"A prodigy! Absolutely a prodigy! Look at his application of the fundamental laws of time, combined with the fundamental laws of lightning so perfectly. Just that one move alone, only a handful of this year's geniuses could achieve that."

"He's just showing off. He uses different fundamental laws to fight each opponent. Otherwise, he might already be number one."

The immortal powerhouse leading the Noah Universe Kingdom was also shocked.

They thought their country had produced a genius like Bolan, which was already extraordinary, but they were still shocked when they saw Qin Mu.

A genius like Bolan is said to be a once-in-a-millennium talent, but which of the immortals present hasn't lived for tens of thousands of epochs?

They had seen more than one who was comparable to, or even more powerful than, Berlan.

But I've never seen anyone like Qin Mu!

Even the great figure who supported the competition turned his attention to Qin Mu.

Through the virtual universe, Qin Mu's talent was revealed and spread throughout the entire universe!

At this moment, countless great and ancient beings came to know the name Qin Mu.

Not only did the battle involve numerous powerful individuals, but the Genius Battle also stirred up a massive wave in every universe nation, attracting the attention of countless people.

At this moment, Qin Mu's name became known throughout the entire universe.

The ultimate battle of geniuses from the 1008 Universe Nation has countless people anxiously awaiting it.

Unfortunately, the elimination rounds of the trials were not broadcast publicly; only the rankings were broadcast.

"I just knew Qin Mu was the strongest; he's already in second place!"

"Incredible! They actually comprehended the Ten Fundamental Laws!"

On the official website of Virtual Universe, an edited promotional video was featured on the homepage.

In the video, Qin Mu summoned numerous sub-wheels of the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Wheel, easily killing his opponents in the trial space as if he were showing off his skills.

"This is so cool! The legendary weapon, the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Wheel, each of its sub-wheels is comparable to the divine weapon of the controller!"

Only a genius like Qin Mu could wield this weapon skillfully.

A fellow Star-level mentalist watched the video introducing the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Wheel with awe.

This is a divine weapon that requires at least a basic understanding of the fundamental principles of the laws to activate!

A typical genius who can wield a divine weapon to the first level can be called an invincible star-level being.

The complexity of the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Wheel, when combined with other elements, is even greater than the simultaneous use of the nine Great Controllers' divine weapons!

"Qin Mu is definitely number one! Absolutely number one!"

Within the Qianwu Universe, especially among the citizens of the Black Dragon Mountain Empire, everyone was incredibly excited.

Under this light, even Rong Jun, who was ranked 16th, was overshadowed.

"Rong Jun is indeed strong, but compared to Qin Mu, the gap is quite large."

"In previous years, it was considered good if our Qianwu Universe Kingdom could have one person enter the top 100, but this year we have two! We even have a chance to win first place."

Within the Qianwu Universe, a powerful being of cosmic level commented.

"Wasn't there Luo Feng before? I heard he was very strong too."

"You didn't look at the leaderboard; he's ranked near the bottom."

"Where are Hong and Thor?"

"Similar to Luo Feng, they're both near the bottom!"

Throughout the hundreds of millions of star systems in the entire Qianwu Universe Kingdom, countless people discussed the Genius Battle Rankings, showing great interest in Qin Mu.

However, I was very disappointed with 'Luo Feng'.

Because before that... the Qianwu Universe Kingdom had already reached a consensus that among the geniuses of its own Universe Kingdom, Qin Mu was number one and Rong Jun was number two.

Luo Feng can be ranked third; this time, the focus will mainly be on these three.

But look at it now!

Qin Mu is ranked second, aiming for first place.

Rong Jun is very fierce and strong, ranking in the top 20.

Luo Feng? Yet he's ranked last.

"Hong and Lei Shen are one thing, but how come Luo Feng is so bad too?"

"It shouldn't be this bad!"

"What a disappointment! Fortunately, our Black Dragon Mountain Star Region has Qin Mu! Qin Mu is capable of challenging for first place."

"That's right, it has to be Qin Mu! He's too strong, he's even challenging for first place."

"Don't worry, they may be a little slow, but none of them have been eliminated yet. They're progressing steadily, so maybe they'll have a breakthrough later?"

"Exactly! Both Hong and Thor have made great progress, as can be seen from the Reincarnation Battle. They might be conserving their energy to prepare for the next impact."

In the Black Dragon Mountain Empire, although people were somewhat unhappy, they were mostly excited.

Their Black Dragon Mountain Empire has a player ranked second in the entire universe, and is aiming for first place!

In the virtual universe, on the central plaza surrounded by 1008 skyscrapers.

The 1008 great and immortal figures sat together, looking at the floating screens around them, laughing and talking to each other.

"There are quite a few geniuses who hide their strength during the selection process within the universe kingdom."

"surprise."

A group of powerful immortals were commenting on some amazingly talented individuals. Because the top 100 in this trial would directly receive a spot, many truly powerful individuals who had been hiding their strength were unleashing their full potential, surprising these immortal beings.

"This young ape-man is really agile; he's quite adept at taking on multiple opponents at once."

"Hmm," came the booming voice of the giant in the scaled armor robe beside him.

"The trial space is, after all, just a trial, not a one-on-one duel!"

Moreover, those arranged inside include metallic lifeforms and mechanical puppets, all of which are immune to soul attacks, putting those skilled in soul attacks at a significant disadvantage.

One-on-one, human duels.

The talents selected from those who pass the Trial Tower are somewhat different.

"Thirteen, you're right."

The silver-robed, silver-haired man beside him said.

"However, true geniuses will still perform very well. And I think the trial space is very well designed this way, because in the future, their enemies will primarily be powerful beings from other races in the universe!"

"Others have weaknesses, but look at Qin Mu from your Cosmic Kingdom, he's actually started using soul attacks against his enemies!"

Wow, the intensity of this soul attack instantly annihilated all the star beasts on the sixth floor of the fourth trial tower.

He's simultaneously mastered the Ten Fundamental Laws and is also skilled in soul attacks! How can anyone else compete with that?

"Hahaha, this guy is just showing off. He hasn't repeated a single technique yet. This Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Wheel is perfect for him."

With each of the major components working in turn, he is the only one who can control the others; how could he possibly be controlled by them?

It's normal for his soul to be powerful; without such a powerful soul, how could he possibly wield such a complex weapon?

"If he hadn't kept switching weapons and attack methods, which wasted time, he probably would have been in first place."

The giant in the scaled armor laughed heartily. Qin Mu had truly made him the center of attention among the immortals of the 1008 cosmic kingdoms. At the same time, he glanced at the leaderboard on the screen beside him, which displayed the rankings of the 1000 geniuses from the Qianwu Cosmic Kingdom.

"Qin Mu is second and Rong Jun is sixteenth; they both performed well."

"It's Luo Feng! And Hong, and Lei Shen. The three of them are treating the trial space as a training ground, spending ten days on each level before moving on to the next."

The giant in the scale armor was somewhat annoyed.

Because they focus on the geniuses in their own country, they can easily discover that... the three of them are indeed taking up as much time as possible.

"Hmm? Eliminated?" The Scaled Armor Giant noticed that two more geniuses on the list had the word "Eliminated" written in red universal script.

"Two more have died!"

"Thankfully, Qin Mu appeared this time!"

……

As time went by, figures appeared in the central square; these were the geniuses who had been eliminated and moved out.

At this time, there were already hundreds of thousands of eliminated geniuses in the central square.

The further along the process, the more and faster the number of people eliminated becomes.

Seven trial towers.

1008000 geniuses passed the first and second trial towers, but many were eliminated starting from the first level of the third trial tower.

The third trial tower eliminated the most people, almost 90% of them!

Qin Mu easily passed through the first six trial towers.

But when it came to the last one, Qin Mu finally felt some pressure.

Because the Blood-haired Mammoth in the seventh Trial Tower has begun to increase its strength rapidly!

Ten thousand blood-haired mammoths, each with the strength to be ranked in the top 100 overall.

The first level has 1 blood-haired mammoths... each attack contains primordial laws, and their power is terrifying.

Virtual Universe Company never imagined that anyone could conquer all the trial towers!

Even the genius known as the Death God Berlan, who appears only once every thousand eras, perished on the first floor of the seventh tower!

"Finally, some pressure! Time to get serious!"

A long 6k-word chapter, please vote with monthly tickets! There will be another chapter tonight.

(End of this chapter)