Chapter 79 [Abyss]!
Suddenly, time and space within the bracelet world froze. A powerful will descended.
Speak of the devil!
The original universe's source will had detected a familiar soul fluctuation. Taking a closer look, it thought:
"Isn't this my old buddy?"
It examined again.
The new tricks his buddy was up to were still within acceptable bounds.
Approval granted!
Then, according to this lifeform's traits, it helped guide and manifest innate secret techniques.
After memorizing its life structure blueprint—finding it quite impressive—it mused:
"Perhaps in the next cosmic cycle, I'll create one of these myself…"
Having done its work, the original master quickly left, and the frozen spacetime returned to normal.
Jiang Zhe sensed the innate secret techniques clearly within his star-like secondary body, realizing the original universe's source will had indeed been here.
The three innate secret techniques made Jiang Zhe briefly recall the identity of that illusory rainbow light.
First innate secret technique: [Silver Key Gate]!
—Allows leaving numerous "Silver Key marks" in many places. When stepping through a phantom gate conjured in front, you appear at any location where a mark was left.
A precise teleportation ability!
"Similar to the god country teleportation of immortal gods, but simpler, consumes less, and avoids the risk of someone tracing back to my lair," Jiang Zhe remarked.
Second innate secret technique: [The Enlightener]!
—Possesses boundless wisdom—(crossed out: knows everything)—
—Has extremely high comprehension, constantly radiating an enlightening glow. Those bathed in this light gain a slight boost in comprehension. Knowledge taught by him is clear and easy to grasp, causing living beings to see him as a source of wisdom and even worship him.
"What kind of bizarre talent is this?"
Jiang Zhe frowned, a bit dismissive.
"Strong, yes! But if this got exposed, I'd probably end up with a lifelong position in Chaos City, replacing whoever's currently guarding the Chaos Stele, huh?"
Next.
Third innate secret technique: [Abyss]!
—The true body resides in a spacetime crevice of unknown location and time. Only attacks imbued with dual spacetime origin laws can harm it. Meanwhile, it can influence and control surrounding spacetime via the radiance it emits.
"Finally, something amazing!"
"It's a huge boost to survival, plus a world-tree-like power to 'command spacetime.' Ridiculously overpowered!"
"Honestly, the first two innate techniques could be discarded. This last one alone would be enough."
Yet these three talents together, plus his first encounter, helped Jiang Zhe roughly deduce that the rainbow light's origin was:
"That bizarre, maddening universe?"
"A complete form—like a sphere gathering infinite radiance…
The Key of the Gate? The One Who Becomes All? The Transcender?"
"Forget it. I should give it a new name now."
With the help of the ancient tree's purification and the original universe source's inspection, there was no risk of contamination.
In this world, it was just a unique lifeform akin to a world tree, possessing spacetime talents.
"Zhuzhao!"
"From now on, I'll call it the Zhuzhao clone!"
(The term means illumination, discernment—matching well with the [Enlightener] talent; it also references a divine beast symbolizing the sun.)
"Don't be fooled by its mere 90,000 km diameter. Once it grows to Domain Lord tier, it'll surpass the sun in our solar system."
Jiang Zhe looked toward the "small star" hanging hundreds of thousands of kilometers above.
Though it emitted a gentle glow, it was like a 3D projection—not truly there.
This was due to the innate secret technique [Abyss].
Its projection appeared in the real world, but the true body was in some spacetime crevice, only vulnerable to attacks containing both time and space origin laws.
Jiang Zhe stepped on the Misstep Shuttle and approached.
Along the way, the original core rose from his chest's crimson palace, hovering at the spot of his former mind-sea.
The soul within the core began frantically absorbing cosmic energy.
As soon as cosmic energy entered the core, it underwent a refining process.
This was a simple refining—once reaching the level of a ninth-tier star, it quickly left the core and flooded Jiang Zhe's mind-sea.
A surge of spiritual force gathered rapidly, soon transforming and condensing into soul stars.
One… two… nine stars. Then—an explosion!
The torrent of spiritual force recondensed into soul suns. One, two, three… up to nine.
Within his mind-sea:
A brilliant sun sat at the center, surrounded by eight stars orbiting it.
Star-level ninth tier—complete!
Jiang Zhe then sent the core into the Zhuzhao clone.
Compared to his human main body, this clone had far superior survival traits. Kept inside the world bracelet most of the time, it was the perfect vault for his vital core.
Martial artists store their genetic source energy in the dantian.
Spirit readers store their spiritual force in the mind-sea.
But because of the original core, Jiang Zhe's soul and mind-sea had long since moved inside it.
Now that the core was external again, he had to rebuild a portion of his spirit reader cultivation—fortunately, this wasn't difficult.
Luo Feng had gone through the same recently, taking only half an hour to reach planetary ninth tier.
Jiang Zhe had Orianna slow their return to Earth, and spent nearly a month consolidating to star-level ninth tier.
Clone completed.
When they got back to Earth, it was already June 2064.
His silver-robed core mind remained at the origin land, while Jiang Zhe and the Zhuzhao clone shared insights. The latter's affinity for time and space laws made time law comprehension soar.
December 16, 2065.
The Qianwu Auction was held again. This time, Jiang Zhe went with Luo Feng, helping calm Luo Feng's nerves.
He knew his senior brother's wealth. If a must-have treasure appeared and he fell short, he could borrow from Jiang Zhe.
Jiang Zhe himself didn't have a set target—just like past auctions, he bought a bunch of miscellaneous "odds and ends," mainly to feed Orianna, the [Master of Matter].
Now, Orianna had reached universe-level ninth tier, with a life gene level of 49.
Not exactly fast—after all, the eight-year-old Golden Horned Beast was already universe-level six, about to catch up.
After the auction, Jiang Zhe thought Luo Feng truly had some protagonist-like luck—at the last auction before the Genius Battle, Luo Feng got his ideal weapon and the Moshazhu clone that would raise his spatial talent.
March 9, 2066, Hanxia calendar.
Jiang Zhe, with foresight, logged into the virtual universe early to wait, also inviting Hong, Thunder God, and Luo Feng to his villa.
The four drank and chatted about their cultivation progress.
Suddenly—
Above Black Dragon Mountain Island, in the night sky, appeared an enormous black monolith rimmed with light, covered in dazzling white characters:
"Humanity of the Universe—Peak Genius Battle!"
The three couldn't hide their shock. Even prepared, they still felt blood boil at this massive opportunity.
"Ha ha ha! This is our chance to soar!"
Thunder God laughed heartily. "If we place well, Earth won't have to fear anyone!"
Hong's pupils contracted, a gleam in his eyes.
Luo Feng brimmed with fighting spirit, though Babata immediately poured cold water on him, re-explaining how tough the Genius Battle was.
"You three—only Jiang Zhe has a certain chance of cracking the top thousand," Babata said. "In sixty million years following my old master, I've never seen another like him…"
The three looked at Jiang Zhe.
Since Jiang Zhe returned to the universe in 2064, they'd grown close, forging a mentor-friend relationship. But the closer they got, the more he seemed like a mystery—like a fog that knew everything.
Not brothers, but more like mentor and friend.
Even if they had thoughts of rivalry, the gap was too big. Only Luo Feng earnestly called him "Senior Brother."
They often trained domains with Jiang Zhe, trying to grasp laws.
But Jiang Zhe wasn't a miracle worker. Even bathing in [The Enlightener]'s glow, their improvement wasn't huge—understanding origin laws still needs innate talent.
And Earth humans… famously lack special talents.
With Jiang Zhe's help, Hong and Thunder God only managed to push domains to the ninth level, still struggling to step into the realm of laws.
By contrast, Luo Feng, aided by the Golden Horned Beast, soon grasped gold law thresholds and—with Jiang Zhe's help—began probing space laws.
Jiang Zhe figured once Luo Feng's Moshazhu clone hatched, he'd practically step into space laws with zero effort.
As for Jiang Zhe's family—
His grandfather only gained a domain six months ago, still at level one, having just reached star-level. More ceremonial than anything.
The rest of the family? Better not mentioned.
Jiang Zhe felt they really needed a vial of bloodline enhancer—but those were controlled substances, hard to acquire.
Across the universe, immortals were rallying their best disciples, hoping they'd bring glory.
On a green planet, a blood-sword youth stood among corpses, just having bid farewell to his teacher, lost in melancholy.
Little did he know a "Sword God of the Ten-Mile Slope" was preparing to meet him in this genius battle.
In desolate mountains, a savage laughed heartily over the corpse of a universe-level one expert.
The four opened the virtual universe company's site to sign up, filled out their details, and registered.
April 16, 2066.
They received an email detailing the competition rules.
"This genius war is brutal—over 820 billion people will be slaughtered down to just 100,100 in the qualifiers," Hong said with a smile. "I can imagine it… a world of blood and madness!"
Thunder God and Luo Feng were equally stirred.
May 16: qualifiers assembly.
Over 820 billion star-level experts gathered, ready to be split into 100 sectors, all waiting for teleportation.
"I'm in Sector 72," Hong said.
"Ha ha, I'm in 88. I like that number." Thunder God grinned, unaware of how bad that might be.
Jiang Zhe started to warn them, then held back, only saying:
"Hong, Thunder God—play it safe. Without law comprehension, these qualifiers are dangerous. Just squeeze into your sector's top 1,001."
They nodded, knowing the stakes. This was their ticket to joining major Qianwu Universe Nation forces.
"Luo Feng, how about you? Which sector?"
"Sector 1, Senior Brother. You?"
"Sector 99!"
"Please check your equipment—once the qualifiers start, you can't request more!"
Second-tier origin-force battle suit, Misstep Shuttle, Destruction Glove, Trapping Spear…
Jiang Zhe reviewed his gear.
"Mass teleport in 60…59…"
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