Swallowing the Stars: Starting with the Battle of Geniuses

Chapter 88 Fate Source Talent, Leaving Chaos City (Bonus Chapter, Please Subscribe)

Instead of feeding him, the Lord of Chaos City directly helped Hunzhen bind a special life form for him to possess.

Even after giving away the treasures, they didn't offer any guidance on cultivation.

Hunzhen did not harbor any resentment because of this; on the contrary, he thought it was only natural.

A strong person must be tempered through hardship, not simply built up by resources.

As for teaching?

Hunzhen himself knew that at his current level, being taught by Aisa was more than enough.

The real teaching will probably only begin after he becomes the personal disciple of the Lord of Chaos City.

In any case, the Lord of Chaos City has already given him enough help; to ask for more would be ungrateful.

"Twenty-seven opportunities for enlightenment."

It is worth mentioning that the number of times Hunzhen has comprehended the secrets has been listed as a top secret by the Lord of Chaos City. Even the top figures of the Virtual Universe Company must obtain permission from both the Lord of Chaos City and Hunzhen before they can access the information.

Hunzhen noticed this point, but that's a story for later, so let's leave it at that for now.

Several days had passed since he returned to his cultivation residence, and Hunzhen looked at the number of times he had studied the Chaos Stele recorded on his virtual universe account, feeling an intense itch to do so.

Although Hunzhen hasn't had time to fully process and comprehend his insights yet, he knows that one day he will return to the state he was in during the Genius Battle.

Naturally, the more digestible insights you accumulate, the better.

An unprecedented number of times of enlightenment was before him, but another problem arose.

"We can't bear to use up all the Sims."

No matter how much they hinted, once the simulator had used up more than ten enlightenment attempts, it was reluctant to use the remaining opportunities, which caused Hunzhen's beautiful dream to be slightly shattered.

It's important to understand that time seems to move slower within Chaos City. Ten years of simulated time in the primordial universe is equivalent to just over three years of cultivation within Chaos City for the simulated human.

If even these hints are ineffective, it's safe to assume that change is unlikely.

However, it's not a big deal.

Now, each simulation almost doubles the time for insightful understanding, and Hunzhen is already content.

Over the years, even without trying to comprehend the laws of space, his repeated study of the Chaos Monument has significantly improved his spatial understanding.

This shows just how exaggerated Hunzhen's understanding of time has improved.

Now, his focus is more on the "special life" information that the Chaos City Lord had mentioned before.

The three destinations sent by the Lord of Chaos were three different cosmic secret realms. Two of them were still within human territory, while the most distant one had already reached the star system of another race.

After reviewing the general information of the three target locations, Hunzhen chose the Cosmic Secret Realm, located in the Primal Secret Realm, as his target without any hesitation.

"Purgatory Abyss".

Whether by coincidence or not, this cosmic secret realm is the very same secret realm from the original story where Luo Feng, upon hearing about Hong's situation, directly broke through to the Domain Lord realm, thus missing out on the perilous mission.

This is the most difficult mission of all, with a 99% death rate in the past.

You'll get a 100 million points reward just for completing the basic tasks!

After being accepted as a disciple by the Lord of Chaos City, Hunzhen's search privileges were enhanced, allowing him to access detailed information in advance.

After briefly browsing the basic introduction of the Purgatory Abyss, it can be basically concluded that at this stage, he is unlikely to complete the possession plan or even the desperate mission.

However, the Lord of Chaos City did not set a time limit for Hunzhen to complete the body-seizing plan, since it was ultimately Hunzhen's own business.

Hunzhen could train himself in multiple cosmic secret realms to improve his strength before setting his sights on the Purgatory Abyss.

"No rush."

"It's still a long way from the end of the thirty-year cultivation period in Chaos City."

"Having just broken through the bottleneck of the seventh level, my strength can be further improved in the next ten years."

Before that, Hunzhen hesitated for a moment. Although he cherished every day in Chaos City, he considered that he had become a disciple of the Chaos City Lord and it would be much easier for him to come in to cultivate in the future.

So they first carried out the material inheritance, so as to fully utilize the effects of the Life Source Fruit.

[1. Material Inheritance (After consuming the fifteenth Life Source Fruit, the life gene multiplier increases to 37 times, and you gain the innate secret technique "Fountain of Life")]

Hunzhen discovered that he could view the details of this talent information, and immediately clicked on it.

[Talent: Fountain of Life]

[Description: Life energy can be stored within the body's life source. The maximum storage capacity of life energy is one to ten times the original Force/Divine Power (depending on the original gene ratio and body size). Life energy can be used to restore lost Force/Divine Power; or to activate the "Life Source Burst" ability, which consumes a large amount of life energy stored in the life source, unleashing the body's potential and increasing "body genes" to two to ten times their original level before the life source is depleted (depending on the original gene ratio and body size)].

"I won't go into the previous one."

"Isn't that the 'Black Warrior' without the Beast God's Path buff?"

Hunzhen looked at the talent description and felt somewhat troubled.

It's not that his talent is bad, it's just that he abandoned the path of a martial artist a long time ago and focused on the path of a controller.

However, simply improving one's physical genes will not increase one's psychic abilities.

"No, the teacher never said that the only talent is 'Fountain of Life,' but only that we will gain a special talent technique."

Hunzhen immediately gave up this material inheritance and chose to inherit the soul.

Anyway, inheriting a soul can increase one's understanding of the laws, so he can't lose out no matter what.

After trying this repeatedly, on the third attempt, the talent gained from the material inheritance changed, transforming from the "source of life" into the "source of spirit."

The only difference in the talent description is that the "Force" field has been changed to the "Psychic" field, and the content related to "body genes" has been changed to the description of "psychic base multiplier".

But Hunzhen still did not choose to inherit it.

He wanted to see if there were any other talent options.

After that, approximately two hundred simulations were conducted.

In total, Hunzhen has refreshed approximately ten talents, including the two talents mentioned above.

It's quite similar to the fun of getting a good starter account in a mobile game.

However, just as he realized that of the ten talents, only the Spiritual Source was most suitable for him, and he planned to refresh the Spiritual Source and lock it in.

An eleventh talent has appeared.

[Talent: Unique Life Source]

[Description: It can be converted into life energy by storing psychic/force/divine power within the body's destined source. The storage limit of life energy is one to ten times the psychic/force/divine power (depending on the original genetic multiplier and body size). Life energy can be used to restore lost psychic/force/divine power;]

Or it can activate the "Life Source Burst" ability, which consumes a large amount of life energy stored in the Life Source, bursts out physical potential and mental power, and increases the "body genes" and "basic mental power multiplier" to two to ten times the original before the source dries up.

Alternatively, it can unleash a surge of life energy in one go, activating the "Destined Death" ability to erase up to an equal amount of psychic/force/divine power from a single, designated target (the effect will be weakened by differences in understanding of laws/power levels/space-time distance, etc.). Afterward, the Destined Death Source will be depleted, requiring a large influx of life energy to slowly restore its function.

Upon discovering this unsurprisingly superior talent, Hunzhen immediately locked it for inheritance without hesitation.

Even if better options come along later, he doesn't care.

After all, if one holds this mindset, as long as the true limit remains unknown, no matter what talent one acquires, one will eventually have to break through it.

Besides, he was going to possess someone else's body eventually.

Instead of spending thousands or tens of thousands of refreshes to get a supreme talent now, it's better to complete the possession first and then worry about that.

Moreover, his intuition told him that this talent, which was described as "unique," was most likely the strongest talent that the Life Source Fruit could bring.

"Isn't this 'Destined Death' ability just urging me to deliver that blow to my target before I possess them?"

Hunzhen was secretly delighted.

The success rate of possession depends on—

First, the difference in will between the possessor and the possessed.

Second, the strength of the body-seizing technique.

Third, the spiritual power of the possessor and the possessed.

The first two are self-explanatory; they basically depend on Hunzhen's personal efforts to improve.

Let's focus on the third party.

In most cases, the possessor needs to separate their soul from the body. After that, they are like a rootless duckweed, unable to replenish the mental energy consumed before successfully possessing another body. Talents and secret techniques like the Source can no longer be relied upon.

Compared to those who have been possessed, these are inherently disadvantaged.

Conversely, the possessor can also weaken the possessed person's mental strength in advance, or even cause the person to fall into a coma or sleep, just like Luo Feng possessed the Golden Horned Beast, which naturally greatly increases the success rate.

The latest novel is first published here!

Both ordinary and special life forms have a life gene multiplier of 100 times, and even the weakest of them are comparable to the ten-fold gene multiplier of the peak bloodline of ordinary life forms.

Now, Hunzhen has a life gene multiplier of 37 times, so it seems that even if it encounters a special life form with a gene multiplier of 100 times, it will not be instantly killed within a day.

But it's really hard to say.

Each special life form possesses unique talents and secret techniques. Moreover, they are blessed by the universe and are exceptionally favored, making possession even more difficult.

Moreover, there are many dangers ahead in the abyss of purgatory. Before carrying out the body-seizing plan, one may encounter countless enemies.

For Hunzhen, the more methods that can increase the success rate, the better.

This "Destined Death" ability allows Hunzhen to reuse the large amount of energy that was useless after possessing another body, which makes him even more envious than the "Life Source Burst" ability.

Having completed fifteen material inheritances of the Life Source Fruit, Hunzhen returned to his cultivation life of inheriting his soul about three times a day.

The twenty-seventh year of Chaos City.

Luo Feng and Bo Lan broke through one after another; the former passed through the fifth level of the Sky Bridge, while the latter, not to be outdone, broke through to the sixth level.

As for Hunzhen... he had already far surpassed others, and even if he didn't cross the Tongtian Bridge, no one would dare to think that his progress had been hindered.

When the gap becomes large enough, feelings of jealousy and envy gradually fade, and all that remains in their hearts is awe for the man who seems to belong to a different world.

The real truth is that, under the orders of the Chaos City Lord, Hunzhen's record of breaking through the Tongtian Bridge has been concealed.

Before Hunzhen truly matures, most of his information will remain a secret of the human race.

Even Baffin, a shrewd and eccentric person, dared not tell anyone.

But whenever Bafen thinks about Hunzhen's current level, he can't help but feel emotional.

I have this illusion that I'm completely old.

"It's only been less than thirty years."

He stood guard at the Bridge to Heaven as usual, silently pouring himself a glass of wine, and sighed softly, "He's actually already passed the ninth level. That speed is even faster than Koti's back then, isn't it?"

His understanding of the laws on the ninth level of the Bridge to Heaven was comparable to that of a peak world lord.

Going a step further, upon reaching the tenth level of understanding of the laws, those realm lords whose lifespans were nearing their end and who knew they had no hope of achieving higher levels even began to work on breaking through to immortality!

In the last three years, some people broke through to new levels.

However, Hunzhen was ultimately unable to advance any further and pass through the ten levels of the Cosmic Bridge.

"The Bridge to Heaven has nine levels? That's about right."

On the rooftop, Hunzhen opened his eyes, slowly stood up, his eyes radiating divine light, which then completely subsided in the next second, returning to a calm and undisturbed state.

Based on past research, having a grasp of the laws of the seventh level of the Heavenly Bridge generally leads to a high success rate in completing secret realm adventures during perilous missions.

Even in the most dangerous Purgatory Abyss, with a nine-level understanding of the laws, as long as one doesn't deliberately seek death and isn't too unlucky, there's usually no problem with survival.

Moreover, with the Hunzhen Simulation System in his body and the ability to foresee the future, as long as he doesn't do anything reckless, his survivability is probably even higher than Luo Feng's, who has clones.

Before successfully passing the ninth level of the Sky Bridge, he considered whether he should find a less dangerous secret realm in the universe to practice his skills and perhaps obtain some special opportunities within it.

But then I thought about it again.

With his current authority, he can even directly exchange for "forbidden items" like Blood Crystals.

Of course, even ordinary Kings and Immortals can only purchase one of these restricted items. A True Immortal can only buy one, and any more can only be purchased through auctions like other Kings, buying a small amount of the outflowing stock.

but……

He only needed to buy one anyway!

With higher authority and more wealth, I can even buy a ring that helps absorb the evil energy of the Blood Crystal.

And right now, Hunzhen has both of these qualities!

With the tenfold points bonus, he conquered the nine-story Sky Bridge, earning a total of 51.1 points!

This wealth is comparable to that of an upper-middle-level Immortal Army Lord.

It can be said that as long as it doesn't involve treasures at the level of immortality, you can basically buy whatever you want.

"Including the permission to search for confidential information, these permissions are arguably the biggest hidden benefit of becoming a disciple of the Chaos City Lord."

"Time is up."

With a sigh, Hunzhen vanished from his cultivation residence in a flash.

……

On a spaceship.

Looking at the remaining eight hundred or so geniuses, the Nine Swords Venerable gave a speech, criticizing the fools who could even die while cultivating in Chaos City.

Finally, he changed the subject, saying, "Your class had a low mortality rate, but your academic performance was outstanding! Especially Bolan, Luo Feng, and Rong Jun, who were very good."

The more than 800 geniuses were in an uproar.

He was "numb" to Bolan's achievements, "envious" of Rong Jun who was taken as a disciple by the Lord of the Universe at an early age, and "amazed and admired" Luo Feng who came later.

"Strange, why wasn't Hunzhen mentioned?"

Unlike Luo Feng in the original novel, whose feat of passing through more than ten levels of the Tongtian Bridge caused a sensation, Hunzhen's acceptance as a disciple by the Chaos City Lord was not even made public within the Immortal Circle.

Not to mention these geniuses who aren't even immortal?

However, the Nine Swords Venerable did not respond to the discussions of these people. He simply concealed his own movements and nodded to Hunzhen from afar.

Only a very small number of people showed an even more shocked expression.

Bolan suddenly turned his head and looked at Hunzhen, who was standing beside him as a fellow member of the Primal Secret Realm, his pupils shrinking slightly.

"He is no longer in a position to evaluate Hunzhen."

Bolan understood why the Nine Swords Venerable had refrained from commenting on Hunzhen.

Looking at it now, the almost completely suppressed, seemingly ordinary aura emanating from Hunzhen only makes him appear more unfathomable.

Noticing Bolan's gaze, Hunzhen, with his elegant demeanor, simply smiled faintly.

As it turns out, sometimes a smile is the best language.

In the distance, where the members of the Primordial Secret Realm were gathered, Uka watched this scene and pointed at Hunzhen, saying, "Look, that guy Hunzhen is showing off to Bolan again."

(End of this chapter)