Chapter 86: Is There Anything You Can't Do?
"Thirteen, your Qianwu Universe Nation has really outdone itself this time—producing a genius rarely seen in tens of thousands of eras. From his current performance, he's already overshadowing Berlan. I'm betting on him to take first place in this Genius Tournament. Your Qianwu Universe Nation should be proud!"
"I suspect that by the end of the trial, most of those ranked in the top twenty will still be stuck at the fifth trial tower."
"We'll see how he performs in the sixth tower. That'll tell us whether he can firmly secure the top spot."
A silver-haired, silver-robed undying being sitting near Thirteen praised Jiang Zhe without reservation.
Another undying agreed. "He's cultivated the time-type flight secret technique Shadow Domain to the third level, 'Hundred Shadow Domain,' and he still looks like he's barely trying. I'd guess that once he enters Chaos City, he could clear the first three floors of that time-type Sky Piercing Bridge right away."
"As for his soul weapon…what's it called…Beast God's Hand? I don't know much about it, so I'll hold off on judging."
Everyone's eyes turned to a fox-woman undying cloaked in a hazy mist that seemed to lull one into a dreamlike daze.
"It's a Minor Beast God's Hand," she explained. "Based on the Huisha Behemoth, crafted by our Universe Nation's ruler for a certain highness. Its seventh level can even trigger a 'time stop' effect. Though it falls short of the Nine Divine Weapons of Controllers in raw power, it's not by much."
"Judging by how precisely he manipulates those nine strands of lightning, his foundation as a soul controller is extremely solid. His consciousness is strong, and his comprehension of lightning and time laws is very advanced."
This was Yalis, an undying from the Youmeng Universe Nation—the perfect person to evaluate, since both the Minor and Major Beast God's Hand were created by her Nation's ruler.
A purple-robed undying couldn't help but say, "I've been wanting to point this out—his understanding of the lightning laws is phenomenal. If he enters Chaos City and focuses purely on lightning, when he emerges, he might very well be recognized by the lightning origin law!"
"Come on now, he's just a little star-level guy. After thirty years in Chaos City he'll be universe-level at best. Aren't you overestimating him?"
"Yeah, that's too much hype. A universe-level after thirty years being recognized by an origin law? If that actually happens, I'd think I was dreaming."
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
More than a thousand undyings erupted into a heated debate.
Thirteen could only smile wryly, though inside he was thoroughly pleased. Whatever the future holds, our ruler's goal right now is for you to take first place. Don't let him down!
It's been over a hundred tournaments since we even had someone place in the top twenty…
On the live feed, Jiang Zhe had already stepped into the sixth trial tower.
The First Level
Still ten thousand blood-haired mammoths—but terrifyingly, each one now possessed its own domain!
They charged forward, their colossal bodies shaking the ground, countless domains spreading outward to turn the entire battlefield into their territory.
"Domains? Let's see how mine compares."
A dark purple lightning domain expanded. Jiang Zhe kept its diameter at 100 meters to maintain maximum power.
Then he unleashed his "Hundred Shadow Domain."
Instantly, a hundred time phantoms emerged, forming a unique cycle. The area they covered became Jiang Zhe's absolute domain.
Nine streaks of lightning darted about, blasting through the heads of mammoths that barreled in, turning the hundred-meter-wide sphere into a grinder of flesh and blood.
Every second, dozens of mammoths fell dead.
Outside, the arguing undyings fell silent, then began whispering excitedly again.
"That's a well-executed domain."
"Indeed. He's blended his insights into lightning and time beautifully. Especially the way he uses the Hundred Shadow Domain—it's like a double-layered domain under absolute control."
"With methods like these, he could probably last quite a while on the first level of the seventh tower. But if that's all he's got, he won't be able to clear it."
The undyings offered their assessments.
Thirteen looked calm, the corners of his lips twitching up in a small smile. He made sure not to show too much glee.
"Thirteen, just laugh already—holding it in looks painful."
A lion-headed undying clapped him on the shoulder. "Your Qianwu Universe Nation has really made a splash in front of Nine Sword Sovereign this time. And it's not just Jiang Zhe—there's also Rong Jun. He's pushing through steadily, currently in the top 50. By the end of this trial, he might even break into the top 30 or 20!"
Thirteen simply smiled, raising a cup to the lion-man in quiet satisfaction.
Meanwhile, inside the tower, Jiang Zhe slaughtered the ten thousand blood-haired mammoths.
The Second Level
Ten thousand nine-headed serpents, all wielding domains.
Jiang Zhe used the same approach—his overwhelming domain crushed theirs.
But this time he weaved through them, dodging the ninety thousand heads' energy blasts, picking them off in a drawn-out guerrilla fight. It took much longer than the first level; unlike mammoths, the serpents weren't mindless brutes.
Then onward:
Third level: 1,000 metallic Torro beings. Stronger individually, but little threat to Jiang Zhe—cleared it smoothly.
Fourth: 1,000 flying Fiends—low intelligence, easily manipulated by a mental master—cleared.
Fifth: mechanical puppets—cleared.
Sixth: gigantic Cangs—too big and clumsy, easily toyed with—cleared.
The Seventh Level: Insect race queen!
Jiang Zhe's "Hundred Shadow Domain" shone again, carving through swarms of blue mantises and blood mantises to reach the queen. Under mental assaults and charm attempts, his nine streaks of lightning pierced the insect nest, blowing it apart.
Actually, the difficulty didn't spike dramatically within each tower's seven levels—if you could clear the first floor, you'd probably clear the rest. The real leap in difficulty came when moving to a new tower.
Like now: standing before the seventh tower, its stone pillar marked clearly with a "7." Even Berlan had failed right at this very first floor.
Jiang Zhe glanced at his wrist screen showing the rankings.
No.1 Jiang Zhe (Qianwu Universe Nation)
Points: 7,777,770,000
No.2 Berlan (Noah Universe Nation)
Points: 577,770,000
Still only on the fifth tower's fifth level?
Jiang Zhe smiled slightly, then walked into the seventh trial tower.
By now, he had comprehended 14 time mysteries, with 50% total comprehension across the first 36 mysteries, giving him about the equivalent of passing the sixth floor of the Sky Piercing Bridge. (See note [1].)
Oh, and he almost forgot—he'd also comprehended 9 space mysteries, 57 lightning mysteries, and 22 earth mysteries.
The First Floor:
Ten thousand blood-haired mammoths charged, each not only deploying domains but also attacking with law-based techniques. Each one was on par with the top hundred geniuses—an absolute nightmare.
Jiang Zhe still used a lightning domain, but this time he didn't keep it at 100 meters for power—he spread it as wide as he could control, thinning it out.
Then:
A thousand armored phantoms appeared inside, each hard to tell from the real Jiang Zhe. Electric snakes danced, nine strands of punishment lightning poised to strike from any angle.
[Shadow Domain: Thousand Shadow Domain]!
Lightning blazed brilliantly. The time laws made each strike seem accelerated beyond normal perception.
ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!
Inside the domain, it was just like before: a grinder of flesh and blood. Mammoths that barreled in were precisely picked off, even if they smashed through some illusions—once inside, they were bogged down as if in mud and promptly struck dead.
Every second, a dozen mammoths died. As their numbers thinned, Jiang Zhe's pressure lessened and his kill speed soared.
Outside, the undyings recognized what they were seeing.
"Wait, is he mixing spatial insights into that lightning-time domain?"
"Thirteen, you didn't mention he'd also grasped space laws!"
"At that level…he could probably clear three floors of the Sky Piercing Bridge easily. And he's specifically heading in the 'space sealing' direction."
"Space confinement, time acceleration—what an ingenious kid!"
"They said he's a once-in-ten-thousand-eras genius? I think that's still underestimating him!"
Thirteen couldn't even respond. He was just as stunned by Jiang Zhe's monstrous talent.
Only Jiang Zhe himself felt it was no big deal.
He knew Berlan was on a similar path, already blending wind domains with time comprehension.
At full power, he quickly cleared the seventh tower's first floor. Then the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth—each falling under his "Thousand Shadow Domain" with no trouble.
The Seventh Floor: Insect queen's nest.
300 blood mantises, 3,000 blue mantises. On paper, not more than before—but each blood mantis commanded ten blue mantises, forming squads whose combined force was more like facing 30,000 blue mantises.
200 squads attacked from above, 100 more encircled from the ground and underground, leaving him nowhere to run.
"Pointless tactics!"
CRACK!
Lightning domain erupted.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
A thousand phantoms appeared—"Thousand Shadow Domain"—forming complex cycles, even trickier than simply splitting into thousands of separate bodies.
The nine strands of lightning darted with deadly precision. Even with the squads acting as a single mind, Jiang Zhe could pinpoint and kill the blood mantis leaders.
After more than ten minutes, over 40% of the blood mantises were dead. The queen grew anxious—it still needed eight or nine minutes to spawn the next wave.
Panicking, the queen attacked directly. Enchanting whispers entered Jiang Zhe's ears, brutal mental spikes struck his mind, even making his three-layered mental tower tremble.
But the Void Tower blocked the attack. His will was simply too strong; he wasn't affected by the charm.
"Impatient, are we? Then die early!"
"Merge!"
With a low shout, his nine lightning strands combined. 81 fine needles interwove with countless dark purple threads to form a 3.3-meter lightning spear.
It glowed with annihilating power.
[Beast God's Hand, Second Form: Spear of Judgment]!
Though his raw mental power wasn't enough to fully support it, his strong consciousness and deep law insights let him wield it masterfully.
The lightning spear shot at the nest.
Blood mantis squads tried to block it with combined strikes, but the spear didn't even quiver. It plowed through them, then buried itself a meter deep into the nest.
BOOM!
A flower of blood and meat exploded.
Without the queen's direction, the squads turned into headless flies. Jiang Zhe drew his Slaughter Shadow Spear, switching to a warrior's style. With savage spear strikes, he burst the brains of any insect that came too close.
Seventh floor: cleared!
His wrist screen quietly updated:
No.1 Jiang Zhe (Qianwu Universe Nation)
Points: 77,777,770,000
Outside, the mighty undyings who watched him effortlessly switch from time to space, controller to warrior, were left numb.
Is there anything this guy can't do?
[Note 1]
Equivalent roughly to passing the sixth floor of the Sky Piercing Bridge. In the original story, Luo Feng said as much—see volume where he clears the sixth floor with 12 time mysteries and 80% insight into the Rain Painting.
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