Swallowing the Stars: Starting with the Battle of Geniuses

Chapter 174 Fifth-Order Universe Lord? Sixth-Order Universe Lord?

"So, Hunzhen, what's your current skill level?"

Within the virtual universe, the Lord of Chaos City and his disciple Hunzhen each sent a wisp of their thoughts to meet and converse.

The Chaos City Lord's question was entirely within Hunzhen's expectations.

Even without the ability to see the future, it would be the same.

Even if the Lord of Heaven is weak, he is still a solid fourth-order universe lord.

The Lord of Chaos City is currently only at the top level of the fifth rank, just one level higher than the Lord of Heavenly Eternity.

Even though it was just a clone, he couldn't kill the Blood Lord, who was at the third level, but the even more powerful Lord of Heavenly Heng was killed in one move by his own disciple.

It's impossible not to be curious about what level Hunzhen has reached now.

After pondering the question for a moment, Hunzhen frankly replied, "I would say he can be considered a fifth-order universe master."

In reality, under normal circumstances, Hunzhen, who had just broken through to the level of a Universe Lord, was only considered a third or fourth-order Universe Lord, stronger than the Lord of Tianheng, but... not by much. He was even inferior to the Lord of the Yellow Dragon.

He had only recently broken through to the level of a universe master.

Among the cosmic lords, a first-tier cosmic lord is essentially one who has just broken through and whose strength has not yet been updated. Like the weakest immortal, they exist only in theory. Some of the most powerful cosmic overlords can actually be considered to be at this level.

Second-tier universe masters have basically completed the transformation of their strength after the breakthrough, reaching a life gene multiplier of over 1000 times, and at the same time created ultimate secret techniques suitable for themselves.

Reaching the third level is considered the peak level that ordinary universe masters can achieve through the accumulation of time. The life gene multiplier is thousands of times, the secret techniques have also been studied to the peak, and the offensive and defensive treasures are complete. Basically, there are no particularly obvious weaknesses.

Or perhaps, while possessing certain weaknesses, they also have extraordinary advantages compared to other universe masters, such as mastering the strongest secret technique of a universe master or possessing an extremely powerful treasure.

The Lord of Heavenly Eternity is a relatively balanced type among them, while the Flame Emperor relies on the Calamity Armor and a high life gene multiplier to reach the top of the third tier.

Reaching the fourth level means becoming a true top-tier universe master, whose genes, treasures, and secret techniques have all been honed to the extreme.

The fifth tier is like the Lord of Chaos City, who, based on the fourth tier, has either mastered special artifacts or developed the strongest killing move, and can fight against several fourth-tier universe lords without being at a disadvantage.

They are basically the true top combat forces in the original universe.

The next level up, the sixth-tier powerhouses, are either true gods whose combat power is limited by the universe within the primordial universe, or heaven-defying universe lords who possess supreme treasures.

In terms of genes, treasures, and secret techniques, Hunzhen is at a disadvantage compared to the Lord of Chaos City.

Compared to cosmic lords at the level of the Lord of Heaven and Earth, the advantage of a divine body being enormous and having thousands of gene multipliers remains, but it is no longer as obvious as at the level of immortals or venerables.

He broke through to the level of Universe Lord by using the law of spacetime fusion, making him much stronger than Universe Lords who broke through normally after comprehending time and space separately. However, if he only had this one characteristic, he would only be at the level of a third-order Universe Lord.

It was their racial talent that further enhanced their strength.

Breaking through using the laws of spacetime fusion would allow him to progress more smoothly on his path of researching secret techniques.

An ordinary universe master might need tens of thousands of epochs or even longer to research the ultimate secret technique, while the strongest level secret technique might not even be researched in a lifetime.

As long as Hunzhen follows the steps, he can comprehend the strongest level secret technique. Just like not long ago when he directly comprehended the ultimate secret technique under the omniscient vision, this is a manifestation of his potential advantage.

But that's just potential; it takes time to realize it as real strength.

Even so, the fact that Hunzhen, who has just broken through to the level of the Lord of the Universe, possesses such strength is already quite astonishing.

At the level of the Lord of the Universe, there is basically no concept of burning divine power.

It's not that the Lords of the Universe can no longer burn divine power, but rather that they are constantly burning divine power when using combat techniques at the level of Lords of the Universe.

Burning divine power in ordinary ways has become a routine method for them after they break through to the level of the Lord of the Universe and remove the limitations, allowing them to continue to enhance their divine bodies and genetic multipliers.

Only a special secret technique of burning divine power, like the "Extinction" technique in the Duan Donghe lineage, can further enhance one's strength.

For example, the Life Source series talents that previously provided a significant boost to Hunzhen, at the level of the Lord of the Universe, "Life Source Burst" can still increase divine power intensity by about 50%, but it has visibly weakened, falling below the initial doubling bonus threshold. It is foreseeable that as Hunzhen's strength gradually increases in the future, this effect will gradually disappear.

The effect of storing divine power at the Destiny Source has been reduced from ten times to one time, meaning that an additional portion of divine power equal to the divine body is stored.

Such a change is both natural and not surprising.

The Life Source Fruit is merely an opportunity at the level of a Universe Venerable. With the addition of the fruit's effects under the Hunzhen Simulation ability, the Life Source series talents can still be effective even at the Universe Lord stage, which is already quite extraordinary.

However, in addition to these "weakening" effects, unlike ordinary universe masters, Hunzhen also possesses the Omniscient Vision, a means that can further enhance combat power.

Under the omniscient perspective, Hunzhen possesses ten times the control over the laws, so "The Strings of Time and Space," though merely an ultimate secret technique, is comparable to the strongest ultimate move of a fifth-tier powerhouse. (Strongest ultimate move, reference: the Star River Lord's ultimate move, "River Under the Night")

His divine power has increased ten thousand times compared to his immortal state. Coupled with the existence of the power of endless life, Hunzhen has maintained his omniscient vision for more than a day in his strongest state.

For Hunzhen, a battery life exceeding one day is truly a perpetual effect.

The enhancement of the Omniscient Vision to the power of secret techniques is secondary; if Hunzhen could remain under the Omniscient Vision permanently, he would naturally be a top-tier fifth-order combatant.

However, Hunzhen's "basic combat strength" after excluding the state of omniscience has not yet been improved.

Omniscient vision alone is not enough to instantly kill a third-order universe master.

What he relied on was, of course, that faded core.

With his mind frozen in place, the Lord of Heaven had no time to defend himself. Coupled with his killing move, which was comparable to a top-tier fifth-order weapon, this resulted in a one-hit kill.

If the Lord of Tianheng is prepared, with his third-tier strength, he can withstand at least dozens of attacks from Hunzhen, and he will not perish in a single move.

However, with the Colorless Core, a rare treasure comparable to the most top-tier artifacts, Hunzhen's abilities in both offense and escape have been greatly enhanced.

Even if they encounter a weaker True God in the cosmic sea, they can be temporarily immobilized before fleeing.

Hearing Hunzhen's reply, even though he had already guessed it, the Lord of Chaos City was still shaken.

"A fifth-order universe master?"

"Isn't this my current level?"

The Lord of Chaos was not surprised that Hunzhen knew this standard for judging the combat power of the Lord of the Universe.

There was no other reason than that, before the actual performance, in order to clarify the strength of the Lord of the Universe that his three disciples, including the Lord of Heaven and Eternity, would see in the future, he told them about this standard.

However, the Lord of Chaos City had a suspicion...

"Could it be that my disciple guessed my strength and deliberately only mentioned the fifth rank?"

It's no wonder the Lord of Chaos City thought that way.

Hunzhen instantly killed the Lord of Tianheng. Everyone present at the time, including the three alien universe lords, only felt a flash of silver light before the Lord of Tianheng perished instantly.

The Lord of Chaos City was arguably the only one who noticed the traces of the activation of the Inherent Time Control, while the others did not even realize that Hunzhen had stopped time.

No, that was no longer the time standstill they perceived.

In its conventional sense, time stillness involves manipulating the power of time within a specific area, affecting all life within that area. Except for the soul and consciousness, all other life forms are bound and unable to move. This technique will be met with strong resistance from powerful beings and weapons. The smaller the area, the stronger the time-stopping effect.

However, the method of achieving perfect stillness of time is as if time has truly stopped.

The soul and mind are undetectable, and the divine body and supreme treasures show no reaction.

If the Lord of Chaos City had not also been a master of time and space, and a powerful figure who had once pursued it as his main path of cultivation, he probably wouldn't have been able to detect even the traces of Hunzhen stopping time.

The latest novel is first published here!

So what if you guess the truth behind this move?

I can't think of a way to resolve this.

He figured that if Hunzhen's move could even immobilize him, he was sure that if the same method used on the Lord of Heavenly Eternity was applied to him, he would fall for it too.

"Even if Hunzhen's offensive capabilities are only at the fifth level, with this absolute time stop technique, there's no problem calling him a sixth-level combatant."

Thinking of this, he felt both gratified and moved.

It evokes a sense of the Yangtze River where the new waves push the old waves forward, while the old waves die on the beach.

The Chaos City Lord asked directly, "What are your plans next?"

At this moment, he no longer regarded the other party as his junior. This question was not a master's inquiry into the disciple's path, but rather contained the intention of giving guidance.

It's more like a greeting to a friend of the same social standing: "Where are you going to play later?"

Now that his apprentice is stronger than him, there's no need to remind him of any safety issues.

"Since the Genius Battle, I have only experienced one secret realm mission, which was fighting in the outer battlefield and cultivating in the Ancestral God Sect."

Hunzhen sighed softly, "Now that I think about it, the universe is so vast and beautiful, yet I haven't really appreciated it properly. So I plan to take a good look around and see this universe that gave birth to me, and then... I'll venture into the Cosmic Sea."

"The cosmic sea..."

The Lord of Chaos City nodded slightly, looked at Hunzhen, and sighed in admiration: "Now, the only thing that can serve as a training ground for you is the Cosmic Sea."

Then, unable to resist, he unleashed his master's nagging nature again: "With your current access level, you can read all the information in the Cosmic Sea. Once you enter the Cosmic Sea, you won't be able to enter the virtual universe anymore, so you'd better memorize this information first—"

"teacher."

Hunzhen rolled his eyes and interrupted, "Let alone normal universe masters leaving energy avatars in the primordial universe when they go to the Cosmic Sea to prevent communication problems in emergencies. As for me, I won't just be concerned with venturing into the Cosmic Sea. In this primordial universe, I will leave behind an avatar of considerable strength, ready to be at your command at any time."

The Lord of Chaos City was stunned, then suddenly realized what was happening.

In the past, none of his disciples had broken through to the level of Lord of the Universe, so it was inevitable that their concern would lead to confusion.

His apprentice, on the other hand, seemed more composed than he was.

Meeting the gratified gaze of the Chaos City Lord, Hunzhen chuckled and said, "Moreover, if anything really happens now, I can immediately make this avatar possess combat power comparable to the original."

"Oh?" The Lord of Chaos City showed curiosity, almost saying, "I'd like to hear more details."

He explained the concept of "Hunzhen Tianran Shangdao" in detail, with appropriate emphasis.

It turns out that after breaking through to the level of the Lord of the Universe, not only were his two "Innate Treasures" talents strengthened, but the restrictions on his core talent "Magic Three Thousand" were also reduced once again.

First, unlike in the past, it is no longer necessary to maintain a primordial avatar in order to carry out cultivation and enlightenment normally.

He could leave a one-thousandth energy avatar in a safe place to cultivate, while his main body or origin avatar, possessing 100% power, would fly at full speed to travel.

No matter how small the incarnation is, as long as Hunzhen is willing, it can possess a soul and will comparable to the complete original.

In addition to the benefits of the aforementioned division of labor, it also means that Hunzhen can divide into three one-thousandth incarnations to fully comprehend and cultivate, without having to require the combination of the main body and two original incarnations to achieve the highest cultivation efficiency as before.

Secondly, the "Reunion of Demons" no longer requires all incarnations to be unified. As Hunzhen's control increases, he can allocate up to 1/10 of his incarnations, allowing Hunzhen to unleash his full power when venturing into the cosmic sea, without having to annihilate the incarnations left in the original universe.

In addition, the avatar no longer needs to be differentiated from the original body. As long as the energy supply is sufficient and there is still a surplus of avatar units, the avatar can be directly differentiated from the original body.

In other words, if the Primordial Universe Alliance encounters any problems while the Primordial True Body and most of its incarnations are adventuring in the Cosmic Sea, he can completely annihilate most of the incarnations and divine bodies in the Cosmic Sea, replenish energy through future drawbacks, and differentiate a complete divine body in the Primordial Universe.

Even without a life core, and not being the true self, unable to unleash the power of the Demon Lord, the ability to freely enter the state of omniscience would still qualify them as combat power of three fifth-order universe lords.

Hunzhen only wanted to explain to the Lord of Chaos City that he could raise the power of his avatar left in the primordial universe to a level comparable to his original self at any time. As for the details involving simulation ability and core talent, he naturally would not deliberately explain them.

But even this was enough for the Lord of Chaos to understand the effect of his reserved avatar, which far surpassed that of other universe lords.

The master and apprentice had a very pleasant conversation.

Hunzhen has already shown his ability to be a pillar of humanity. Now that he has confirmed his identity as the "Lord of Time and Space," he is not involved with Hunzhen himself. Although he has a lot of conflict with the Mechanical Race because of killing the Lord of Heavenly Eternity, apart from that, the Lord of Time and Space acts as a lone wolf and will not be targeted by anyone else. He has no other risks.

In the eyes of the Chaos City Lord, Hunzhen had enough time to grow to the point where he was fearless and could lead the human race for an era.

Within the virtual universe, not long after receiving the Daoist discourse from the Lord of Chaos City, Hunzhen finally chose to bid farewell.

In reality, on a desolate star, Hunzhen, whose figure moves slowly with an extremely mysterious rhythm, gradually climbs to the peak of his aura!

(End of this chapter)