Swallowing the Stars: Starting with the Battle of Geniuses

Chapter 86 The Chaos City Lord Accepts a Disciple

Despite having passed the third level of the Tongtian Bridge ahead of time due to the pressure and motivation brought by Hunzhen within a year, Bolan was unable to make further progress and pass the fourth level, which was significantly more difficult.

That year, a new genius emerged who crossed the Heavenly Bridge—the Phantom Demon Galesi.

The protagonist of the original work, reminded by Hunzhen, came into contact with the Bloodstained Secret Manual ahead of time and gained the favor of the True King. He has already entered seclusion to cultivate, focusing on analyzing the laws and paths, and is indifferent to worldly affairs.

Under the orders of the Nine Swords Venerable, Longyu King silently monitored Hunzhen's condition but did not reveal himself.

Hunzhen, engrossed in the flow of time, did not notice the arrival of the Jade King.

He only silently comprehended the principles, without revealing his level of application of the laws, so it was naturally difficult to judge the extent of his progress.

Longyu Wang then visited Huanmeng Hou on Thunder Island in the virtual universe, only to be told that Hunzhen had hardly entered the virtual universe to seek advice all year.

King Longyu had no choice but to leave.

Another year has passed.

Longyun, a member of the Primal Secret Realm, finally broke through the first level of the Sky Bridge.

After five years of cultivation in Chaos City, Bolan finally broke through to the fourth level of the Bridge to Heaven.

During this period, many geniuses successfully broke through the first level of the Bridge to Heaven, and Rong Jun, who was taken in by the Lord of the Universe, was the first to break through the second level.

Longyun later surpassed Hunzhen, Bolan, and Rongjun, breaking through to the second level.

In the eighth year of Chaos City, Luo Feng emerged from seclusion, successfully passed the third level of the Nine Heavens Bridge, and became a disciple of the True King.

Luo Feng's meteoric rise caused a sensation in the circles of geniuses and even immortals.

Even the rulers of many cosmic kingdoms have begun to take notice of this rising star who has been accumulating strength for a long time.

Under the immense power of Baffin's emails, Rong Jun, Long Yun, Galesi, Guslow, and other geniuses who were among the first to pass through the second level of the Bridge to Heaven all attempted to reach the third level, but none of them succeeded.

In the eleventh year of Chaos City, Rong Jun finally lived up to expectations and broke through the third level of the Bridge to Heaven.

In the fifteenth year of Chaos City, Luo Feng broke through the fourth level of the Bridge to Heaven, and Bo Lan, not to be outdone, followed closely behind and broke through the fifth level of the Bridge to Heaven.

At this moment... everyone realized that Bolan had finally surpassed Hunzhen's progress on the Tongtian Bridge, and even Luo Feng had caught up.

However, everyone had the same thought in their minds.

"How could he not have made any progress in fifteen years?"

Almost everyone, including the Nine Swords Venerable who did not believe in Hunzhen's description of his time talent, believed that Hunzhen was simply engrossed in cultivation, waiting for a moment of great accumulation to be unleashed.

The only problem is—

"Next time he attempts to cross the Sky Bridge, which level does he plan to conquer? Will he reach the fifth level like Berlan, or go even further to the sixth level?"

As for the seventh level, even among all the immortals, none dared to think that way.

The group of geniuses were already aware of the layers and barriers of the Bridge to Heaven.

If someone can break through the seventh level, it's almost equivalent to having the strength to sweep away the other 999 geniuses, including Bolan!

This is equivalent to Berlan being a level above everyone else during the original Genius Battle!

Only the Nine Swords Venerable, recalling Hun Zhen's confident demeanor, felt slightly uncertain.

However, in the twentieth year of Chaos City, a belated email still shocked everyone's senses.

"Hunzhen has broken through the seventh level of the Universe Bridge to Heaven."

……

"That's impossible!"

In a training ground in the Primal Zone of the Virtual Universe.

Berlan's face was filled with disbelief.

"Nothing is impossible."

Berlan's immortal teacher said calmly, "Berlan, you should be grateful that such a genius exists in your generation. It was he who awakened you."

"Startled awake?"

Berlan looked dazed for a moment.

Yes, as early as the first week after entering Chaos City, Hunzhen's achievement of passing the fourth level of the Tongtian Bridge had already given him a rude awakening.

He simply refused to admit that the other party had left him far behind, and believing himself to be no less than anyone else, he thought he still had hope of catching up.

These twenty years of hard work, seemingly constantly pushing my limits, are nothing more than a self-hypnotized dream of reality.

"No, it's no longer just 'Hunzhen' (a state of perfect purity)."

Two figures who were striving to catch up flashed through his mind—Luo Feng and Rong Jun.

Bolan, having shaken off his surprise and disappointment, finally made up his mind: "If we were to travel through time together, I fear I would never be able to catch up with Hunzhen's pace in this lifetime."

Bolan turned around abruptly, bowed, and said, "Teacher, please teach me!"

……

Inside Chaos City, the Nine Swords Venerable reappeared above the Hunzhen Heavenly Platform, his mouth agape in utter astonishment.

"This kid actually did it!?"

Twenty years within Chaos City, the seventh level of the Cosmic Bridge to Heaven?

We're not even on the most powerful path of combining time and space!

In terms of understanding time alone, those who specialize in traversing the Heavenly Bridge of Time might even have a good chance of passing the eighth level!

And most importantly...

Those geniuses and even immortals didn't know, but the Nine Swords Venerable did. Hunzhen had never entered the cultivation chamber of the Chaos Stele!

The Nine Swords Venerable secretly observed Hunzhen, a bitter smile appearing on his face that seemed to be a mixture of helplessness,感慨, and excitement: "This kid, maybe he really wasn't lying to me..."

drip.

Normally, the Nine Swords Venerable's auxiliary AI would not make such a notification.

His expression immediately hardened, and with a thought, he opened his email.

When the Nine Swords Venerable saw the email he had just received, his expression immediately changed, but then he instantly felt relieved and showed an expression of "it should be this way".

The Nine Swords Venerable shook his head and smiled: "Regardless of whether this kid is spouting nonsense to me, one thing is certain: he deserves the highest level of training and treatment from humanity!"

……

On the rooftop, Hunzhen surprisingly did not comprehend the laws of time.

He is watering the potted plants.

To be precise, he was cultivating the Sarkaz, a support metal life form. This small, silvery-gray, mercury-like life form was named Exusiai by him, who was nostalgic for a certain mecha anime about his home planet Earth.

You can tell from the name what kind of expectations Hunzhen has for this little guy.

The showerhead contains a special type of molten iron, rich in various trace elements and nutrients, which he purchased with points. It is specifically used to cultivate larval metal life forms.

When he decided on his major, he decided to cultivate a support life form with strong defensive capabilities.

His talents differ in space and time; he excels in defense in space and is good at both offense and defense in time, but leans more towards offense.

The gap in offensive and defensive capabilities will gradually widen as his understanding deepens over time.

Hunzhen did not intend to leave any shortcomings in his wooden bucket, so after carefully searching for information, he came up with a plan to cultivate auxiliary life forms.

Sarkaz is like the Moyun Vine among metal beings, capable of forming a self-repairing metal armor and possessing strong resistance to soul attacks. Compared to the Moyun Vine, which has a certain offensive capability, Sarkaz can be said to have focused all its talents on survival.

It is foreseeable that his enhanced survival ability and advantages in life level will greatly help him in his upcoming body-possession plan.

Before arriving in Chaos City, during the spaceship's flight, he had already purchased the finest Sarkaz larvae and a plethora of resources sufficient to nurture them to the ninth rank of Domain Lord.

After three years of spaceship flight, Roger had long since finished dealing with the Void Realm Star, and tens of thousands of points had been successfully earned.

If it weren't for Hunzhen's desire to use the most advanced cultivation methods to advance Exusiai to the World Lord level, he could have evolved Exusiai to the World Lord level in one go.

Now that he has passed through the seventh level of the Heavenly Bridge and gained more than 110,000 points, he can start planning for the Angel of Exusiai to advance to the World Lord level.

By purchasing the resources now and waiting for the end of the thirty-plus years of cultivation in Chaos City, the Archangel will most likely have reached the ninth level of the Domain Lord level. Then, by receiving the cultivation resources at the Virtual Universe Headquarters, the Archangel can naturally and perfectly advance to the Realm Lord level.

"Kid, you seem pretty relaxed, huh? Or did you close your virtual network connection and not receive those emails from those cosmic rulers at all?"

A faint laugh made Hunzhen look up.

Seeing the smiling Nine Swords Venerable, Hunzhen was slightly surprised.

The latest novel is first published here!

Recalling their meeting twenty years ago, Hunzhen sighed inwardly, "What a rare sight! The Venerable One's genuine smile."

Fortunately, over twenty years of cultivation, exceeding the time he had spent in this world of swallowing stars, allowed Hunzhen to completely shed his naivety.

Adding his ages from both lifetimes together (not counting the original body's eighteen years), he was already a qualified middle-aged man.

He can now manage his facial expressions very well; otherwise, the rare, sincere smile of the Nine Swords Venerable, who knew what Hunzhen was thinking, would probably have disappeared immediately.

Hunzhen was surprised by the Nine Swords Venerable's expression, but he was mentally prepared for the other party's arrival.

He smiled calmly and said, "You mean those emails asking if I would like to become your disciple?"

Nine Swords Venerable was somewhat surprised. Judging from Hunzhen's expression, he had clearly read the emails from the Universe Venerables and was still able to maintain such a calm attitude, which made him look at him in a different light.

The master-disciple relationships proposed by these cosmic venerables are quite different from the immortal teachers assigned to members of the Primal Secret Realm.

The latter is similar to the "teacher-student" relationship within a school.

The former, however, is similar to the true secret "master-disciple" relationship in ancient China.

In ancient times, the secret master-disciple relationship was truly like that of a parent and child!

In the world of Swallowed Star, for immortals and venerables with infinite lifespans, the relationship with a disciple who inherits their mantle is even closer than that with their own children!

Such a generous offer, even if the Nine Swords Venerable were in a different position, he would not be able to be sure that he would not waver in the slightest, so he naturally greatly appreciated Hunzhen's performance.

He no longer regarded Hunzhen as an ordinary genius, but gradually placed him on an equal footing with himself.

Twenty years of progress have proven that as long as the other party does not perish, he will almost certainly become the Time Master and stand on equal footing with himself!

Nine Swords Venerable was admiring Hunzhen and was about to share the good news with him when Hunzhen spoke up on his own.

"I am grateful for the favor of those important people, but... as for the teacher, I already have a preferred choice."

Before the Nine Swords Venerable could state his purpose, Hunzhen smiled and said, "I wish to become the disciple of that Chaos City Lord!"

A hint of surprise flashed in the eyes of the Nine Swords Venerable.

He opened his mouth, but for a moment he didn't know what to say.

After a while, under Hunzhen's feigned puzzled gaze, the Nine Swords Venerable slowly explained the status of the Chaos City Lord.

"The Lord of Chaos City is an existence even stronger than a Universe Venerable, the true leader of our human race! The Lord of Chaos City's personal disciples are generally at the Universe Venerable level!"

The Nine Swords Venerable tried to make Hunzhen show a shocked expression by speaking in such a panting manner.

After discovering that the other party remained unmoved, he finally said dejectedly, "However, although the Lord of Chaos City didn't send you an email to accept you as his personal disciple, he sent me to inform you that he intends to accept you as a 'nominal disciple'!"

Fearing that Hunzhen might think the gap between being a disciple of a Universe Venerable was too great, the Nine Swords Venerable added, "Don't think that being a nominal disciple is insignificant! The Universe Venerable intends to take you as a disciple because once you become an Immortal or even a Venerable, you can become their powerful assistant. But for someone like the Chaos City Lord, no matter how talented a disciple is, they can no longer bring him any real benefit! They take disciples more to cultivate outstanding successors for our human race! Every move of such a person is a great shock to the human race, and they cannot easily accept you as a personal disciple. Besides your talent for cultivation, they will probably also test your character."

Perhaps because he had been following the story since the Genius Battle, and because of the exchange twenty years ago, the Nine Swords Venerable clearly had different feelings towards Hunzhen, which led to this "unnecessary" earnest teaching.

Otherwise, if Hunzhen had become a disciple of the Chaos City Lord and could not join his ranks as a new combatant, why would the Venerable One be so "enthusiastic"?

Hunzhen understood the Nine Swords Venerable's good intentions and did not urge him. He nodded repeatedly with an expression of being taught.

The Nine Swords Venerable immediately beamed with joy, laughing heartily, "You brat, this is a rare opportunity, you must seize it! By the way, the Lord of Chaos City also left behind a Chaos Stele, can you guess which one it is?"

Hunzhen already knew, but still tactfully feigned curiosity: "Which one?"

The Nine Swords Venerable grinned slightly, saying meaningfully, "It's the one you chose, the Cosmic Chaos Monument!"

Hunzhen cooperated perfectly, revealing a shocked expression.

For years, in order to maximize the use of the simulation system's capabilities for self-hypnosis, Hunzhen had even fooled himself. Even the Nine Swords Venerable did not realize that Hunzhen's shock was feigned.

He patted Hunzhen on the shoulder, his expression already composed, and said with a faint smile, "Go, go directly to the City Lord's Mansion to pay your respects to the Chaos City Lord. Remember, you must not show the slightest disrespect when you see the City Lord. The Chaos City Lord has protected Chaos City for countless years; even disregarding his current status, his immense contributions to our human race deserve our utmost respect!"

"Yes, Your Excellency!"

Hunzhen bowed respectfully and immediately headed towards the city lord's mansion.

"That kid."

The Nine Swords Venerable shook his head and then disappeared into the void.

Hunzhen strode towards the city lord's mansion, his heart filled with emotion as he recalled his twenty years of cultivation.

"I had set myself a small goal for ten years, but it took me twice as long. The difference between the sixth and seventh levels is truly astonishing."

Hunzhen did have the idea of ​​conquering all seven levels of the Tongtian Bridge in one go and making a name for himself, but the reason he waited until now was mainly because he could learn about the results of conquering the Tongtian Bridge every day through the simulator.

He never forgot his other purpose in Chaos City: to attract the attention of the Cosmic Venerable by displaying his talent, so as to obtain information about special life forms.

Of course, he also fantasized about being directly accepted as a disciple by the Lord of Chaos City.

But it's hard to guess what such a person is thinking.

The talent he is currently displaying is probably even greater than that of Luo Feng when he was first accepted as a disciple by the Lord of Chaos City in the original story.

Luo Feng was accepted as a disciple after he had been a core member of the virtual universe for hundreds of years and had already completed the highest-level domain lord mission and assessment.

He had only recently joined the Virtual Universe Company and hadn't undergone any significant testing or evaluation over time. It was uncertain whether the Chaos City Lord would accept him as a disciple based solely on his talent.

However, when the simulated human passed through the sixth level of the Sky Bridge, no cosmic venerable-level figure had yet extended an olive branch to the simulated human. Hunzhen could roughly guess that the Chaos City Lord had most likely begun to pay attention to and observe him, and had secretly intervened.

On the contrary, when the simulated human broke through to the seventh level for the first time, the Lord of Chaos City did not give any prior notice, but directly sent the Nine Swords Venerable to inform him.

Clearly, the Lord of Chaos City had already guessed Hunzhen's plan to make a name for himself and intended to take him as his disciple when he passed the seventh level.

The previous email blocking was probably because the timing wasn't right, and they wanted to observe Hunzhen for a longer period. But the subsequent decision not to block him, however, stemmed from extreme self-confidence and unwavering belief—there was no need for unnecessary intervention; he would definitely choose me as his master.

Currently, Hunzhen's understanding of time is still in a stage where the speed of digestion is slower than the speed of understanding.

But since he already knew that the Lord of Chaos City would accept him as a disciple after he passed through the seventh level of the Bridge to Heaven, it was naturally time for him to leave seclusion.

After Hunzhen and the guards of the City Lord's Mansion reported their arrival and entered the mansion, led by Venerable Guiyi, they arrived at the core of the mansion, the "Chaos Ruins," and met the Chaos City Lord. The first thing they heard was—

"Why don't you study the Chaos Stele?"

(End of this chapter)