Swallowing the Stars: Starting with the Battle of Geniuses

Chapter 162 News Spreads Like Wildfire, Chaos City Lord Gifts Treasure

"King Shiyuan, you deserve to die!"

As Venerable Feilian roared his dying words, the sudden change in the scene before him brought him back to his senses.

Looking to the side, I saw that the deceased alien venerable companion was already standing there.

"I've been resurrected by reversing time?" He quickly realized this.

"Feilian".

A massive mecha-like figure with a black body and gold trim looked down at Venerable Feilian.

"Master Tianheng!"

Venerable Feilian instantly composed himself and knelt on one knee.

The one who reversed time and space to revive him was none other than the master whom Fei Lian recognized as his master, the Lord of Tianheng!

A powerful mechanical universe lord!

"In most cases, I already know this from the information you uploaded."

The Lord of Heavenly Cycles asked in a deep voice, "Fei Lian, in your opinion, what level is that King Shi Yuan at?"

The alien Venerable who assisted Venerable Feilian was almost instantly killed by Hunzhen's sneak attack. In addition, given his weak defensive capabilities and average divine body size, it is possible that he could be killed by an enemy of similar or even weaker strength under certain circumstances.

The information conveyed was bound to be somewhat distorted.

Judging from the battle footage uploaded by Venerable Feilian, he was clearly entangled and fought with Hunzhen for a long time, which can eliminate the influence of many external forces and factors on the evaluation of his strength.

Video footage can give a rough idea of ​​strength, but it cannot truly reflect the data such as the fluctuations of laws and divine power during a fierce battle between the two sides.

If Venerable Feilian was observing from the shadows, using his own computing power to act as a photographer, he could reconstruct the true battle situation in great detail.

However, he was on the receiving end of the battle and was being suppressed the whole time. If he dared to distribute his computing power to record the battle situation, he would probably be killed by Hunzhen in no time. Under such circumstances, the information recorded would naturally be vastly different from the actual situation.

As a senior Venerable One, Venerable Feilian naturally knew the reason why the Lord of Tianheng asked him.

Recalling what had happened, he replied solemnly, "Master, without a doubt, King Shiyuan possesses the strength of a cosmic overlord!"

"Oh?" The Lord of Heaven narrowed his eyes slightly. "Not a temporary effect borrowed from a special treasure?"

Venerable Feilian shook his head fiercely: "Even with the help of unknown treasures, the fact that you could suppress me all the way, and that I was far from being able to defeat you even when I burned my divine power, makes you undoubtedly a dominant force!"

The alien venerable one standing nearby was also shocked upon hearing Venerable Feilian's solemn reply.

Even though he was one of the parties involved and had some mental preparation, he still couldn't escape the common fate.

After all, that's the cosmic overlord!

Even more serious is that if a cosmic overlord hides within the Five-Colored Aurora Lake, even a top-tier cosmic overlord cannot take him down; only a cosmic master can be absolutely certain of killing him!

And after that, this ruler of the universe will surely perish.

The only alternative is to have the strongest being in the universe take action.

However, in order to deal with an existence who is expected to become a top-tier universe master in the future, whether it is to exchange a universe master for a son or to pay a huge price to ask the strongest lone traveler to take action, the price is too heavy.

Especially since they are still unsure whether King Shiyuan will truly become another pillar of humanity.

Venerable Feilian continued to recount his observations during the battle, enriching King Shiyuan's intelligence.

During this process, the Lord of Heaven's gaze grew increasingly deep and terrifying.

He summarized the information confirmed by Venerable Feilian, pondering, "At this moment, Abyss King not only possesses a solid foundation, but is also definitely of special life form origin. Moreover, judging from his use of spacetime power and his powerful combat techniques... his comprehension of laws is absolutely very close to the level of a universe master."

Of course, "understanding the laws to the point of being close to that of a universe master" and "being a true universe master" are two different concepts. The former still only means having the potential to become a universe master, but breaking through this bottleneck will take an unknown amount of time.

The Lord of Heavenly Eternity had once suspected that King Shiyuan might be an imposter of either Hunzhen or Luofeng, two of the most brilliant human geniuses in recent times. However, even the most brilliant person would need a long period of accumulation to have such a profound understanding of the laws.

Let's leave aside Luo Feng, whose growth trajectory is traceable.

Even the elusive Hunzhen, who lived in the highest-level Time Palace for cultivation after the Genius Battle, could never reach this level.

After all, according to intelligence, the Hongmeng's top-tier Time Palace can only achieve a thousand-fold time acceleration at its limit, and it still requires an astronomical amount of resources to activate.

Moreover, as someone who has been through it all, the Lord of Tianheng knows perfectly well that even geniuses need to be tempered to grow faster.

Humanity's higher-ups aren't foolish enough to force a top genius, just discovered from the Genius Battle, into the Time Palace without any regard for his future.

Hunzhen's exaggerated strength actually lessened the Lord of Tianheng's suspicions about his identity, leading him to consider the possibility that he was "a genius that the Hong Alliance had been hiding for a long time" or "a genius from another race that was just discovered and nurtured from the Abyss of Purgatory."

After a short while, Venerable Feilian finished concluding his report.

The Lord of Heaven glanced down at Venerable Feilian and said, "Feilian, I know you harbor deep resentment towards King Yuan at that time. But from now on, before the Supreme Council reaches a conclusion, you must not take any action against King Yuan at that time, understand?"

Venerable Feilian's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly bowed his head: "Yes..."

No matter how angry they are, for the machine race, their master's orders are everything.

Venerable Feilian shall comply.

While the high command of the Machine Race was confirming the information about King Shiyuan, the Zerg also received a report from Venerable Yuluo.

The demon race, however, lagged behind by a few points, causing them some anxiety.

Fortunately, not long after, news spread that King Shiyuan had killed several Venerables in the secret realm, including two high-level Venerables.

"What? It's that Shi Yuanwang from the Hongmeng? She actually has the ability to kill a Universe Venerable!?"

"And to what extent does her own power extend?"

"Cosmic Overlord! That's a feat achieved by killing two High-Level Venerables in succession! He's definitely a cosmic overlord!"

"Terrifying! She's only just broken through to the Immortal realm, right? Even the Insect King is far inferior!"

The news was so shocking that it quickly spread throughout Zijing Island.

Virtual universe, Thunder Island.

The Lord of Chaos City looked at Hunzhen and couldn't help but scrutinize him for a while. Even now, he was still a little incredulous.

He knew that Hunzhen's strength would increase dramatically after breaking through to immortality, but he estimated that it would only be at the mid-level of the universe.

And now? They're practically the overlords of the universe?

He asked, "Disciple, did you really kill two high-level Venerables from the Mechanical Race Alliance and two mid-level Venerables from the Demon Race?"

So, so, so amazing!

The successors of the Ancestral God Sect only realized that King Yuan had been trapped in the Abyss of Purgatory for a long time, accumulating great strength before rising to power.

But he knows best the time required for Hunzhen cultivation.

How can one possess the combat power of a cosmic overlord in less than an epoch of cultivation?

Even vernacular novels wouldn't dare to write like this.

The Lord of Chaos City looked at Hunzhen with burning eyes.

"To ensure the 'mission quota,' I've kept the virtual universe information synchronized the whole time. Teacher, didn't you already know that?" Hunzhen rolled his eyes.

The Chaos City Lord chuckled upon seeing this and asked, "So you truly possess the combat power of a cosmic overlord now?"

"No, teacher."

Hunzhen shook his head, focused his gaze on the Lord of Chaos City, and said, "According to our Hong Alliance's calculations, based solely on what was displayed during this kill, it can only be considered as the combat power of a high-level cosmic Venerable."

With the Chaos City Lord's insight, he naturally realized quickly: "Besides burning divine power, you also have a burst of power that can greatly consume divine power? I see."

Hunzhen nodded in response.

Hunzhen trusted this teacher more than 90%, if not 100%, so he naturally wouldn't hide such details or exaggerate his own strength.

This might improve the Chaos City Lord's opinion of him, but on the other hand, it could also cause the Chaos City Lord to misjudge his intelligence.

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For example, if a powerful alien race were to risk their lives to assassinate him, the Chaos City Lord, because he boasted of his combat strength and thought he could hold out a little longer, would arrive a tiny bit late...

The possible outcome is that he will really die, the kind that can't be saved.

Simulation recording and future vision give him risk avoidance capabilities beyond his own level.

But the universe is vast, and nothing is absolute. Just because we haven't encountered it yet doesn't mean we definitely won't in the future.

Hunzhen was prepared for a complete disaster.

The Lord of Chaos City was increasingly satisfied with Hunzhen's calm and composed demeanor.

But then he noticed a small flaw in Hunzhen's words.

"Just based on what was revealed in this kill..."

The battle images transmitted by Hunzhen flashed through the mind of the Chaos City Lord, and he understood.

His disciple must still have some trump cards up his sleeve, and he could guess a thing or two.

After all, Hunzhen had investigated the information on Venerables in the Hongmeng Alliance who possessed the ability to create clones. As the head of the Virtual Universe Company, he couldn't possibly be unaware of this matter.

However, the two had a tacit understanding between master and disciple. Hunzhen secretly pointed out this matter, and the Lord of Chaos City naturally did not deliberately ask about it.

Hiding one's cards is the nature of all intelligent life; any information that is spoken carries the risk of being discovered.

The Lord of Chaos City was greatly pleased that Hunzhen had revealed his hand and held back some cards.

"Hehe, by the way, teacher."

Hunzhen suddenly chuckled and said, "The difficulty of killing a high-level Venerable of the universe is incomparable to that of a low-level or intermediate one. Could you... add a few more slots?"

"You little rascal..."

Looking at Hunzhen's eager expression, the Chaos City Lord couldn't help but chuckle: "You're about to join my Supreme Human Council, why are you still acting like a child?"

Hunzhen scoffed at this. After thousands of years of getting along, he had figured out the Chaos City Lord's temperament. He spread his hands and said bluntly, "Teacher, a person lives a life of joy and sorrow. If you're always worrying about this and that, and you finally have an immortal lifespan, wouldn't you just be putting shackles on yourself for no reason? What I have is called a childlike heart!"

"A childlike heart? You're only good at throwing tantrums here."

The Chaos City Lord said, "Alright, stop fooling around. If you could kill a cosmic overlord, that would be fine, but for my Hong Alliance, low-level Venerables and high-level Venerables are all within the same category. Naturally, we can't force you to accelerate the mission progress."

Hunzhen didn't have any expectations to begin with.

After all, the rewards he had received along the way were essentially the Chaos City Lord giving him preferential treatment in the name of nurturing top geniuses.

But it's different at the level of a Cosmic Venerable.

If the Realm Lords and Immortals are still children and youths in the process of being nurtured, then the Venerables are undoubtedly the backbone of the human race. They are no longer enjoying the resources and nurturing provided by the race, but are a class that is about to make real contributions.

Even for his beloved personal disciples, the selfless Lord of Chaos City would not grant them special treatment.

Hunzhen said, "However... teacher. I will not formally join the Supreme Council or appear there until the identity of Milirat is linked to me by the alien race."

"Um?"

The Lord of Chaos frowned slightly: "Do you think your two identities will be linked together?"

He knew that Hunzhen hadn't used the identity of the String Sword King during this time on the battlefield outside the domain, and had even transformed into the form of the Traceless Pearl. Therefore, he felt that Hunzhen was overthinking things.

Hunzhen nodded, his face serious, and said, "King Daohe, King Xianjian, King Shiyuan, and my new alias, King Silun, from the extraterrestrial battlefield... In less than an era, the Hong Alliance has produced so many super geniuses. No matter how much the alien races try to restrain us, they will eventually choose to take action. I can keep it from the Universe Venerables, but once a Universe Lord-level figure conducts an on-site investigation, it's only a matter of time before their connections are exposed."

Seeing the Chaos City Lord's solemn expression, as if he wanted to say something but hesitated, Hunzhen smiled and said, "Of course, I brought this up with you, Master, not to ask for a priceless treasure. You don't need to make an exception for me."

A cold glint flashed in Hunzhen's eyes as he said calmly, "If we're really going to expose ourselves, then let us expose ourselves. By then, I believe my strength will have made another leap forward. When the alien race decides to launch a major operation, it will eventually take some time. The bigger the operation, the longer the preparation time will be. What is just a fleeting moment for them will be a world of difference for me."

Looking at the confident Hunzhen, the Lord of Chaos City couldn't help but sigh, yet he also highly agreed with his words.

There's no other reason than that Hunzhen has already proven his talent through his actions.

At the cosmic and racial levels, several eras are but a fleeting moment.

However, the years that Hunzhen has lived so far are not even a full era.

In the blink of an eye, a letter was sent to Hunzhen's account.

Hunzhen was taken aback. With the Chaos City Lord's nod, he unfolded the letter that the virtual universe system had just delivered.

His eyes widened immediately: "This is... Teacher, you gave me a Time Palace?"

The Lord of Chaos City said calmly, "It's just a small-scale Time Palace that I'm carrying around. Consider it a personal gift to you. The price of a thousand-fold time acceleration is too high, and it would require entering a specific area of ​​my human race. You are currently in a crucial period of seclusion and cannot leave the Ancestral God Sect, so I am giving you this item. With your assets and your current understanding of the laws of time, activating it to its maximum of a hundred-fold acceleration should be no problem for you."

Most importantly, Hunzhen can make the simulated humans pay this price, thus enabling unlimited zero-cost purchases.

"Teacher..." Hunzhen looked at the Lord of Chaos City, deeply moved.

The Lord of Chaos City smiled faintly and said, "Alright, this treasure will be delivered by someone. Before that, with such a promising talent as you suddenly appearing out of nowhere, I think the Ancestral God Sect must be getting restless, right?"

(End of this chapter)