Swallowing the Stars: Starting with the Battle of Geniuses

Chapter 197 The Rhinoceros Emperor's Bureau: A Conflict Among Humanity's Highest Level

Hunzhen was naturally not in a hurry.

The key project of the Duan Donghe Heritage Assessment lies in the Rhinoceros Emperor Bureau.

The so-called Rhinoceros Emperor's Game can be simply understood as a Go endgame puzzle in the style of Swallowing the Stars.

Of course, the rules are completely different. The rules of the Rhinoceros King's game of solving endgame puzzles are to form a three-dimensional picture composed of 10081 basic units, according to its many limited rules, and finally form a three-dimensional structure that is constructed with divine power, has perfect energy circulation, exists eternally, and is indestructible.

The reason why Hunzhen said that it can be simply understood as a Go endgame version of Swallowing the Stars is because the computing power required to completely solve both far exceeds the limits of game players.

Go is a game with 3 to the power of 361 possible variations in theory. Its complexity is such that even the artificial intelligence of humankind today (not the humans who have devoured the stars and the universe) cannot truly crack it and come up with an absolutely unbeatable solution.

The complexity of the Rhinoceros King's Game is far greater. While Go has 361 basic units in a two-dimensional plane, the Rhinoceros King's Game has 10081 basic units in a three-dimensional space.

While both are theoretically unsolvable problems, the actual difficulty of the Rhinoceros King's Problem has exceeded the scope of human imagination, and can be classified as an ultimate problem.

Even in the world of Swallowing the Stars, reaching the level of the Lord of the Universe or even the strongest being in the universe, one cannot fully memorize even one of the incomplete variations of the Rhinoceros Emperor's Formation, let alone truly decipher it.

But just as humans can solve Go endgame puzzles and play Go, the intelligent life forms that devour the stars can also understand and comprehend the Rhinoceros King's Game and solve endgame puzzles.

In solving the incomplete Rhinoceros Emperor's Formation, practitioners of the Secret Pattern School have a certain advantage.

Of course, the Rhinoceros King's Game essentially tests one's comprehension, understanding, or rather, intelligence in studying the laws.

The higher one's level of willpower, understanding of laws, and mastery of secret techniques, the faster one can solve endgame puzzles. This is why the Rhinoceros Emperor's Legacy Assessment is divided into different bottleneck puzzles based on different life levels.

In other words, people at the same level of life have the same starting and ending points for problem-solving speed; the only difference is their level of genius.

Hunzhen went to participate in the assessment, standing at the baseline of the Universe Lord. Those who can become Universe Lords are all geniuses, but Hunzhen is now considered a top genius among the Universe Lords.

Moreover, while most others can only maintain a 10,000-fold time acceleration for assessment, Hunzhen maintains a 300 million-fold efficiency, which is equivalent to 30,000 times more time than most people.

The duration of the Rhinoceros Emperor's assessment is 30,000 years. What does this mean? It means that if Hunzhen spends one year solving a problem, it is equivalent to spending all the time that others would spend solving problems.

Anyone who takes an exam and only has one hour to answer the questions, but then finds someone in the same exam room who has been answering questions for years without a problem, will immediately think, "He's cheating!"

Of course, as there's an old Chinese saying, "When people are pushed to the limit, they'll do anything, except solve math problems."

If you encounter some "difficult problems," such as the bottlenecks in the Rhinoceros King Bureau's assessment, you may not be able to solve them even if you spend a thousand or ten thousand times more time if you lack comprehension.

But then again, Hunzhen was a top genius, and he also had the "enlightenment" talent to overcome difficult problems.

To be on the safe side, Hunzhen believed that if he participated in the assessment, he would definitely be able to break through the 6000-game limit required to directly obtain the inheritance within ten years.

The Rhinoceros Emperor's Game is, after all, just a game created by the Rhinoceros Emperor. Compared to the seemingly endless paths of laws, it is ultimately traceable.

One type of problem involves steps to solve it; the other, at a deeper level, is the kind of creative work that requires inspiration and comes from nothing.

With such high cultivation efficiency, Hunzhen felt that ten years was already a great favor to the Rhinoceros Emperor.

Therefore, for Hunzhen, the difficulty is not how to seize the inheritance, but how to ensure the survival of themselves and their people.

Otherwise, he could have easily allowed the Sword Master, under the guise of a human inheritance assessment team, to pass through the first life-and-death corridor with the other universe masters, and then naturally obtain the Duan Donghe inheritance.

However, this would undoubtedly draw attention to the human race.

With such an extraordinary human genius emerging out of nowhere, the forces that had suffered under the ravages of the Primordial Ancestor naturally knew the importance of eliminating the prodigy before he could fully mature.

Even if the Sword Master's disguise is deliberately concealing his abilities and extending the time to pass the test, and he is not that overpowered, as long as humanity ultimately obtains the inheritance, he will inevitably become the target of everyone's criticism.

Therefore, Hunzhen prefers to inherit the legacy under his own identity as the lone traveler, the Lord of Time and Space, and then divide the pie among himself through transactions.

However, the prerequisite for doing this is that you have the ability to be a "cake-sharing host".

There are still three thousand years until the time when he expects to achieve another major breakthrough in strength, which is only one-tenth of the time required for the Rhinoceros Emperor Bureau assessment in the Duan Donghe inheritance. Hunzhen is naturally not worried at all.

Hunzhen remained calm and composed, but he couldn't bring himself to say, "Wait three thousand years, and I guarantee I'll help humanity seize the inheritance," in order to persuade humanity to give up the fight for it.

Saying it out loud will absolutely not make humanity give up the struggle.

Even if his teacher, the Lord of Chaos City, could unconditionally trust him, it would still be the same.

The highest decision of mankind is not the sole domain of the Chaos City Lord. As long as Hunzhen cannot convince the majority of his absurd guarantees, he cannot stop mankind's desire for inheritance.

While Hunzhen was cultivating in seclusion, the geniuses of humanity also rushed to the spaceship, which was located in the inner domain.

As the Eastern Emperor Holy Land universe brought many immortals and venerables into the Tomb Ship and appeared at the assessment site, people from other forces also realized that the inheritance here had never said that only the universe lord could participate in the assessment!

As a result, various powerful forces brought geniuses from different stages to this place one after another.

During this process, many geniuses emerged, and many of them, who were only at the Immortal level but could match the speed of the Universe Venerables, and who were at the Universe Venerables but could match the speed of the Universe Lord in solving endgame problems, were all listed as key talents for cultivation by their respective races.

Many people realize that the Rhinoceros King Bureau's assessment is not only an assessment for obtaining inheritance, but also a more precise means of selecting geniuses than competitions like the "Cosmic Genius Battle".

Although this selection method lacks direct confrontation of combat power and dimensions such as mentality and strategy, it is more accurate and far-reaching in judging pure comprehension and aptitude.

Moreover, for the forces of the primordial universe, those who can reach the level of immortality have basically passed these tests as well.

Numerous geniuses have emerged, much like how human powerhouses used to discuss the young geniuses who emerged during the Genius Battle. The cosmic lords in the Cosmic Sea have suddenly had a lot more to talk about.

Even Hunzhen, in his spare time, would engage in electronic cricket fighting with other universe masters. With his omniscient vision, he was invincible in predicting the strength and weakness of opponents in the short term or in some small-scale bets, which earned him the respect and admiration of many universe masters in another dimension.

This has inadvertently given the Lord of Time and Space nicknames such as "Lord of Gambling," "Lord of Prediction," "Lord of Stock Trading," and "Strongest Cricket Fighter."

While Hunzhen gladly accepted the title, he secretly muttered to himself, "Luo Feng is only a Realm Lord at this time and cannot participate in this inheritance competition. In other words, if I really don't participate, the Duan Donghe inheritance will most likely fall into the hands of the second candidate in the original story, the Azure Blood Venerable of the Eastern Emperor Holy Land Universe."

And that is almost certainly the case.

The 747th year since the start of the Rhinoceros King Bureau's assessment.

Within the inner domain of the spaceship, in a safe zone, inside the tomb ship.

Ding Dong!

A voice resounded in the hearts of every inheritor at the same time.

Amidst a murmur of surprise, Duan Donghe Wu, with his striking blue hair, suddenly appeared.

His gaze fell on the handsome man surrounded by vines and leaves, his eyes softening slightly as he announced, "Candidate... Eastern Emperor Universe, Azure Blood Venerable has met the requirements for resolving the situation."

A cosmic venerable being, preceding even the strongest beings and lords of the universe, initiated this change, causing an immediate uproar. (Episode 24, Chapter 18)

Among them were those who questioned Duan Donghe Wu, who were directly punished and killed by him. Just like in the original work, after he directly obtained the inheritance after 6000 rounds, the scene returned to silence.

But the calm was only on the surface. Just as a calm lake hides turbulent undercurrents, the candidates who were to receive the inheritance all had different thoughts in their hearts.

Many people have realized that there is a hidden rule that the number of bottlenecks in solving endgame puzzles varies at different life levels.

Human beings are among these restless beings.

Virtual universe, the highest decision for humanity.

Master Peng looked at Lord Chaos City and spoke first: "Chaos, according to the rules of the Broken East River, you should be the one with the fastest progress among us. How far are you from the first bottleneck?"

The Chaos City Lord shook his head: "Unless I complete 6000 rounds before the end of the assessment, there's a 99% chance I won't be able to catch up with that Azure Blood Venerable's progress."

The latest novel is first published here!

Completing 6000 games will directly grant you the inheritance, eliminating the need to consider the number of games required to break through the assessment bottleneck.

This means that the Lord of Chaos City has no chance of catching up with the Azure Blood Venerable.

All the cosmic lords present changed color.

Even the Chaos City Lord, who has made the fastest progress, is not confident. Doesn't that mean that humanity will miss out on the inheritance?

The leader of the Cosmic Mercenary Alliance, Lord of Desolate Insight, frowned and asked, "Chaos, where is your disciple, Lord of Time and Space? Isn't he on the cosmic ship? Why didn't he participate in the assessment?!"

His tone was somewhat dissatisfied.

In fact, although there were many participants at this Supreme Resolution meeting, not everyone was present; Hunzhen was one of the absentees.

Even without omniscient vision, Hunzhen knew that given his temperament, attending the meeting would inevitably lead to verbal conflicts with some of the universe's lords. To avoid putting the Lord of Chaos City in a difficult position, he simply didn't come at all.

The Lord of Chaos City recalled the disciple's answer when he asked Hunzhen, and felt somewhat surprised and uncertain.

"No rush."

"Wait three thousand years, and I guarantee I will help humanity seize the inheritance."

Recalling these words, the Lord of Chaos City somewhat guessed why Hunzhen was absent from this meeting.

He then looked at the Lord of the Desolate Mirror and said in a deep voice, "Desolate Mirror, the founder of the Giant Axe said that participation in this assessment is entirely voluntary and not mandatory. Have you forgotten that?"

"With great power comes great responsibility! This is different from last time!"

The Lord of the Desolate Mirror's eyes widened: "Who among us doesn't know the importance of the Broken East River's inheritance?! If we can seize this inheritance, our human race may truly dominate this primordial universe!"

"The Lord of Time and Space has broken through to the Universe Lord realm in such a short time. With his talent, he is definitely the most likely among us to obtain the inheritance! He has consumed so many resources from our human race, so why is he hiding like a coward now?! Could it be that he has been wearing the mantle of the Lord of Time and Space for so long that he has forgotten his human identity and, like that Flame Emperor, has become a shameless scoundrel who only eats resources and makes no contribution?!"

"A grave mistake!"

Just as the Chaos City Lord's face was contorted with rage, the deep voice of the Giant Axe Founder rang out at the opportune moment.

The Giant Axe Founder frowned at the Lord of Desolation and rebuked him, "The Lord of Time and Space, alone abroad, has been targeted by that mechanical race and has faced danger several times without ever calling for help to avoid being implicated with my human race. In your eyes, are these compatriots the same as that Flame Emperor? Hmm!?"

The Lord of Desolation, realizing his mistake, bowed his head and apologized: "Founder of the Giant Axe, Lord of Chaos City, it was a moment of impulsiveness on my part, I am very sorry. But... I was only concerned for my people! The Lord of Time and Space has this ability, why, why did he do nothing!?"

The creator of the giant axe looked down and saw that the expressions of many universe lords below were probably similar to his own thoughts.

He frowned slightly and said, "Have you ever considered that even if the Lord of Time and Space obtains the inheritance, how can he, alone, protect it?"

Peng Gongzhi declared, "It is naturally up to our Hongmeng to handle this!"

The Giant Axe Founder said, "This means that the true relationship between the Lord of Time and Space and us humans will inevitably be exposed! And then what? The Machine Race will definitely fight us to the death! Which other race in the primordial universe doesn't know the Lord of Time and Space's terrifying talent, especially considering he has also seized the inheritance..."

Many human beings, the masters of the universe, were already pale upon realizing this.

The Giant Axe Founder slammed his hand heavily on the long table: "They will join forces and besiege my human race! If the Lord of Time and Space remains in the Primordial Universe, he will surely perish! If the Lord of Time and Space escapes to the Cosmic Sea, they will use the humans in the Primordial Universe as hostages, and, for their own benefit, unite with other forces in the Cosmic Sea to divide up the Lord of Time and Space's legacy!"

"hiss--"

Imagining that scene, many cosmic lords gasped in shock.

"That……"

The Lord of Desolation, his face grim, asked, "Why didn't the Lord of Time and Space allow that avatar, who possesses the identity of the Lord of the String Sword, to enter the Tomb Ship for assessment?"

The Chaos City Lord's expression turned cold as he said, "The bottlenecks at each life level within the Rhinoceros Emperor Bureau are different, meaning that the Lord of Time and Space, while posing as the Lord of the String Sword, cannot disguise himself as a Universe Venerable. And once the Lord of the String Sword's life aura rises to the level of a Universe Lord, do you think those Universe Lords and the strongest beings in the universe who have seen his true form wouldn't recognize him?"

The Lord of the Wasteland fell silent.

However, the fact that the Lord of the String Sword had previously ventured into the Vast Universe Sea did not lead people to associate him with the Lord of Time and Space caused him to overlook this point.

The founder of the giant axe concluded: "If we want the Lord of Time and Space to take the test and win, we must first ensure that he can protect this inheritance on his own, leaving room for maneuver. Otherwise, it's hard to say whether it will be a blessing or a curse for him and our human race! The Lord of Time and Space's choice not to participate in the inheritance competition is a rational one, not an attempt to shirk responsibility, and no one can criticize him for it!"

However, it reached a similar definitive conclusion as Hunzhen.

As time went by, one candidate after another broke through the first hurdle.

In 2806, when the Rhinoceros Emperor's Trial began, and as humanity gradually gave up on this inheritance after watching one candidate after another surpass them, Hunzhen finally broke through the bottleneck.

(End of this chapter)