Swallowing the Stars: Starting with the Battle of Geniuses

Chapter 100 The Ninth Layer of the Abyss

Hunzhen silently glanced at Xingluo, very curious about how Xingluo would react.

There was no other reason than that, even in the eyes of this extraterrestrial visitor, Xingluo was always shrouded in a mysterious mist.

In Blackrock City, Xingluo had already shown his uniqueness and his incompatibility with his surroundings.

This guy clearly has the strength and status to crush others, but he doesn't care at all about the mocking remarks and the looks he gets from those who see him as an oddball or freak.

As Xingluo gradually reveals his true colors, his abilities continue to escalate.

The reason why they didn't care about the opinions of people like Old Man Huo can be roughly explained: they were at such a high level that they naturally didn't care about the judgments of those below them.

He was naturally very curious whether Xingluo could maintain his usual attitude when facing a powerful figure like the Domain Lord-level Silver Ghost Noble.

"Has it tarnished the glory of royal blood?"

At the same time, he silently analyzed the few words that the domain lord of Gundam, Silver Demon, had just uttered.

The so-called royal blood refers to the truly high-ranking members of the Abyss royal family, much like the royal bloodline in the feudal ruling class, which is the core royal family members described in the cultivation mission.

For inferior races, it is meaningless to rank the Abyss royal family, since any member of the Abyss royal family could be easily crushed without any responsibility.

However, even within the Abyss royal family, there are hierarchical distinctions. At the top are those of the Abyss King's bloodline, followed by the Abyss nobles, and even among the Abyss nobles, there are still different ranks.

He had tried his best to imagine Xingluo's background.

The fact that Xingluo is merely a lower-class race, yet has connections with the nobles of the Purgatory Abyss, is enough to shock countless natives.

Hunzhen was a bit more ambitious and dared to think directly about Wang Xue, but he only felt that Xingluo was at most related to Wang Xue, the true ruler of the Purgatory Abyss.

Judging from the words of this abyss nobleman, the connection between Xingluo and the royal blood is obviously not shallow! Otherwise, it would not be worthy of the word "defilement".

Although Xingluo had been kind to him, Hunzhen felt apologetic in his heart, but at the same time, he still hoped that the two of them could spark some romance and he could get some more gossip.

Unfortunately, Xingluo simply maintained a calm expression, glanced at the abyss nobleman, and then completed the boarding procedures without any further reaction.

"What a lowly wretch! Doesn't he even dare to retort?"

Upon seeing this, the abyss noble shook his head in mockery, but ultimately did not resort to violence or coercion.

This further confirms Hunzhen's conjecture.

Hunzhen glanced at the group of Abyss nobles, thinking to himself, "I'll have to keep a low profile for a while. These guys won't attack Xingluo, but they might not be so sure about me. Based on my analysis, these guys are all incredibly arrogant, practically living on their own two feet. They don't care about accidental injury or death, but they'd rather not bother with 'inferior races' like me. But... who knows how much hatred Xingluo has incurred their wrath? The simulated human hasn't clashed with them because that guy's naturally cowardly. I'm different; I have a simulation system, and I'm used to being carefree. I still need to be a little more careful these days..."

All passengers have checked into their cabins on the silver feather ship.

Just when Hunzhen thought the feathered ship would enter the abyss passage at several times or even ten times the speed to complete the leap in social class...

"Surprisingly, the flight speed isn't particularly fast?"

It's as if, despite using advanced materials, the level of technology hasn't improved. This silver feather ship is much faster than the ordinary gray feather ship, but compared to the improvement in materials, it seems insignificant.

"No, I almost forgot about it because I haven't used a spaceship in so long."

"For a spaceship to accelerate to the speed of light and enter the dark universe, it needs a stable space. However, the Abyss of Purgatory does not meet this condition. Therefore, this speed is basically the maximum speed the spaceship can achieve."

Hunzhen belatedly realized what was happening.

But... if that's the case, what's the point of upgrading the material? Is it purely for looking cool?

Soon, Hunzhen received the answer.

The feathered ship did not sail towards the Mother Wall at the edge of the abyss, but instead flew straight towards the Great Hollow.

Then, they fell into it.

"this!?"

If he remembered correctly, Zagarad, a member of the Dark Clan, died from the Devouring Wind of the Great Void.

Although he was seriously injured, it undoubtedly proved that the Abyss Royal Family was not immune to this level of Abyss power.

However, this point has now been corrected.

Perhaps the Abyss Nobles are indeed unable to resist, but it seems that the bloodline of the Abyss King is not among them?

This time, Hunzhen did not recklessly extend his psychic tendrils to test the waters.

By resisting the breath of the abyss, we might be able to make a preliminary assessment of the feasibility of the possession plan.

But that's not now.

"My abilities are absolutely top-notch at the cosmic level, but at the domain lord level, regardless of the most talented level or the Abyss royal family, some top domain lords of lower races with deep accumulation in this Purgatory Abyss may be comparable to me."

"At the very least, I need to wait until my strength is enough to overwhelm the top domain lords of lower-level races, and my will reaches the peak of the realm lord level before I can try."

Hunzhen set a goal for himself.

From the third floor to the ninth floor, it's a height of three light-years.

The silver feather ship maintained full speed for nearly four years before finally reaching the ninth level of the abyss.

Based on previous experiences of crossing social classes, it is estimated that it normally takes one and a half to two years to cross one class. Compared to taking the bus step by step, taking this special line is at least three or four times faster.

After leaping across six floors and looking down at the view from the current level, the scene before one's eyes has undergone a complete transformation.

If the shallow earth still felt like red soil, the ninth layer of the ground had transformed from inanimate land into the flesh and blood of a giant.

A peculiar idea unconsciously entered his mind along with this concept—the inhabitants of the ninth floor do not live on the earth, but rather on the flesh and blood spread out from the still-living corpse of a giant!

Shaking his head to clear the bizarre thought, Hunzhen continued to look at the city buildings where the residents of the ninth floor lived.

This one glance gave me a sense of having my eyes opened.

If the first and second levels are in the old medieval era, and the third level barely reaches the modern era, then the ninth level, the deepest and most prosperous level suitable for the inferior races, transcends the modern appearance of the metropolis and arrives in the future.

However, the future of the Abyss is not cyberpunk, but a flesh-and-blood punk era where flesh-and-blood technology has been developed to its extreme.

The gray-white fleshy city walls, which far surpassed those of other classes and stretched for tens of thousands of meters, brought this bizarre and eerie technological style to an extreme and pinnacle.

That's tens of thousands of meters, the height of several Mount Everests stacked together!

As we all know, the taller a building is, the higher its load-bearing requirements are.

Such a tall building, which must completely surround this megacity comparable to a country, must have extremely high technical and material requirements.

For example, Blackrock City's walls are only a few dozen meters high.

A glimpse into the whole reveals the extent of the technological advancements here; the level of flesh and blood technology here has surpassed that of the first layer of the abyss by countless eras.

As the silver feather ship continued to descend and approached the central city of its target location, gradually lowering to a height below the walls, Hunzhen noticed a large group of people dressed in silver robes kneeling and bowing in front of the walls, as if performing some kind of strange ritual.

"Xingluo, who are these people?"

Hunzhen frowned and asked Xingluo.

In recent days, besides pretending to be immersed in cultivation, he has spent most of his time visiting Xingluo to extract more knowledge and information from him.

The same applies to this day.

Xingluo met Hunzhen's questioning gaze and looked at the group of strangely dressed people, then suddenly raised an eyebrow.

"I almost forgot that you hadn't left the first floor before."

The latest novel is first published here!

Xinglu smiled, lightly touched a ring on her finger, and a "book" made of grayish-white flesh material popped out.

As Xingluo's mental power was activated, the book cover began to move, revealing words and pictures.

"As I told you before, each of the two great royal families has a supreme deity—the Silver God and the Black God. Most of the lower races choose one to worship. As for how they choose? Heh, naturally it depends on which royal family's sphere of influence they belong to and which deity they worship."

"In the lower-class races, from the first to the ninth level, the number of believers increases with each level. This is easy to understand; the closer you get to the upper levels, the more chaotic it becomes. For example, in the first level, the cities in each region are basically only nominally affiliated with a particular royal family. The second level is slightly better, but it's not until the third level that there is a real division of royal territories, and the two major powers begin to fight each other. And faith basically begins at this stage."

As Xingluo explains, the illustrations in the book change accordingly.

Hunzhen, after being given a slight hint, quickly grasped the situation. In short, the way the two royal families consolidated their rule over the lower races was by using their faith to coerce them.

Seeing that Hunzhen had no questions, Xingluo continued his explanation.

"This ninth level, as the 'final level,' is naturally the most imbued with a strong atmosphere of faith. Those people below are followers of the Silver Cult, who worship the 'Silver God.' You remember what I mentioned on the first level? The walls were built using the remains of royalty. It's said that the walls of this ninth level, depending on the extent of their influence, are composed of portions of the bodies of the Silver God and the Black God, symbolizing the protection of lower races by these two deities!"

At this point, Hunzhen understood immediately. His eyes lit up, and he said, "Regardless of whether this rumor is true or not, its symbolic significance to believers is already extraordinary."

As he said this, some of the doubts in Hunzhen's heart were also resolved.

With two deities taking the lead and the two royal families offering their own bodies as materials to build feathered ships and walls, there were no further problems.

For royalty, this is probably not a humiliation, but rather an honor.

"That's exactly right."

Xingluo gave him an approving look, but then changed the subject: "However, once you reach the ninth level of the Abyss, the danger outside the walls is completely different. Normally, only a very few fanatics would perform sacrificial rites outside the walls. Such a large-scale worship can only mean one thing... a celebration is approaching."

Hunzhen asked in confusion, "A celebration?"

Xingluo nodded: "This is a celebration not limited to believers, but held by virtually all abyssal races, including royalty. There's a small celebration held every hundred years, lasting a year! And a grand celebration held every ten thousand years, lasting ten years! During these one and ten years, lower races will sing praises to the royalty, the city walls, and the gods for their grace and protection, while the royalty will offer their loyalty and faith to the gods. In addition, a grand event will be held—a magnificent martial arts festival—to select the most valiant warriors to serve as the gods' royal guards, gaining supreme glory!"

His whole being was deeply shaken.

Imperial bodyguards?

Becoming a royal bodyguard is undoubtedly the safest way to get close to the Silver Demon King!

He couldn't help but ask, "To be selected as one of the Imperial Guards, one must participate in this so-called Martial Arts Festival?"

Xingluo noticed Hunzhen's excitement and laughed, "Indeed, for someone as eager for status as you, the allure of being a royal guard is probably comparable to my yearning for the heavens. However, the scale of the Martial Arts Festival differs depending on whether it's a centennial celebration or a ten-thousand-year celebration; only the grand Martial Arts Festival of the ten-thousand-year celebration grants this qualification. I'm not too concerned about this; you'll have to investigate it yourself after you enter the city, Hunzhen."

Hunzhen nodded silently, but in reality, he was already certain that the event to be held was the once-in-a-century "Little Martial Arts Festival".

But he was not discouraged.

"The simulation records vaguely mention that after this small martial arts festival, the grand martial arts festival is not far behind. It is likely that after a few more small martial arts festivals, the real grand martial arts festival will be held."

"But I never expected that this Grand Martial Arts Festival would directly involve 'gods'."

"The Grand Martial Arts Festival only happens once every ten thousand years. If I miss it, I'll have to wait another ten thousand years. As the quickest and theoretically safest approach, I absolutely must participate."

"Even in the next hundred years, I will have plenty of time to prepare all the necessary foundations."

While he was pondering to himself, the feathered ship had already sailed into the city.

The two deliberately timed their disembarkation to avoid further conflict with the Abyss Nobles on the Feather Ship.

Given that Xingluo was considered a Celestial Dragon among the lower races, the two of them completed the procedures for entering the city and registering their residence very smoothly.

Then... they officially arrived at the research institution.

Hunzhen wasn't naive enough to think that Xingluo's connections would guarantee him smooth sailing; otherwise, there would be no need for him to specifically seek him out.

But he still didn't expect that his "assistant," who was meant to be a shield, would find trouble in just his first week on the job.

Xingluo and Hunzhen have joined two research projects so far: "Feasibility experiment to control the purification loss of low-grade Demon Fruit to below 10%" and "Investigation of the seventy-second material of Demon Fruit".

This involves the fundamental material topic of the Mara fruit.

Both the research equipment and the consumable materials are top-of-the-line and the most expensive.

The competition is equally fierce.

"Do you even know what the 'duality of the Mara Fruit' is? Do you think I'd approve this subpar application? Do you think you're still just doing your superficial research for fun?"

"To be able to recruit such an outsider as an assistant, huh... it seems our Academician Xingluo isn't all that great after all."

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, a short, chubby young man with a toad-like head wearing a white coat threw the application form that Hunzhen had handed over onto the ground.

(End of this chapter)