The denizens of this Secret Realm were blissfully unaware of their caged existence, believing the boundaries of their world were the limits of the entire cosmos. They called their ho the Profound Aura Continent, a world defined by the cultivation of Profound Aura—which, in the eyes of the greater universe, was rely another na for Origin Power.
One hundred thousand years ago, back in the physical world, Elara had been a re Grandmaster. She had stumbled upon this hidden legacy point by sheer accident while bathing in a secluded spring. That stroke of luck had changed everything; possessing a staggering natural talent, she had directly inherited the mantle of the continent’s master, the Realm Lord known as Lord Acheron.
In the span of a hundred millennia, she had surged through the ranks, eventually peaking as a powerhouse of the Universal Class. She was the undisputed sovereign of the Profound Aura Continent, yet she was a woman of indifferent ambition. She spent her days in secluded cultivation within her starship, never venturing out to assert her dominance. To the rest of the world, she was a ghost, a legend that didn't exist.
It wasn't that she lacked the desire to see the stars; rather, she was bound by the final decree of her fallen ntor. Until she reached the Domain Lord Realm, she was forbidden from leaving. Left with no other choice, she simply kept cultivating.
Two days ago, the news of the Genius Trials reached her in the real world. After a brief period of preparation, she joined the rest of the Profound Aura Continent’s inhabitants and dove into the Virtual Universe to begin the struggle.
To her shock, she had stumbled upon a World Lord Class Secret Realm. Upon entering, she realized with a start that this place was a perfect digital replica of her ho.
Initially, she was ecstatic. This Secret Realm was an exact mirror of the one in the physical world. The only difference was that while the Virtual Universe ruled the Genius Trials, it held no sway over her actual ho. This ant there was another "her" here, a Tier 12 starship she could commandeer, and her ntor’s Legacy Tokens waiting to be claid.
This isn’t cheating, she thought. It’s just divine luck.
With those tokens, she was guaranteed a spot in the second round. However, that excitent curdled into a cold, black fury when she witnessed the other trial-takers. They were slaughtering the people of the Profound Aura Continent with reckless abandon.
In that mont, she made her choice. She would use the ship’s overwhelming power to erase every last one of them.
She hadn't expected to be followed so quickly after entering.
"Beep! Scanning... no lifeforms detected in the vicinity," the voice of Lyra, the Tier 12 A.I., announced.
"Is the teleportation array malfunctioning?" Elara muttered, her brow furrowing in confusion.
"Who are you? How did you get the coordinates for this place?"
A sharp, wary voice cut through the air. Elara spun around, only to find a young woman who looked exactly like her, sword drawn and eyes cold with suspicion.
"Holy sht, it really is the sa person!" Lance, watching from the shadows, felt a surge of genuine interest. Just how much luck did this woman have to find her own virtual double?
"I am you," Elara said, her voice a mix of strangeness and resignation. "But I am the real version. You are rely a copy."
The virtual Elara’s expression instantly darkened. No one enjoyed being told their entire existence was a fabrication.
"Beep! Reporting to Young Mistress: she speaks the truth. You are both Elara," Lyra’s voice chid in. "Regrettably, you are a virtual construct generated by the Virtual Universe. This is true for everyone on this version of the Profound Aura Continent."
As a Tier 12 A.I., Lyra had already processed the conversations of the Universal Class experts outside and deduced the nature of the Secret Realm. After scanning the entire continent, it confird the anomaly: while their souls appeared identical to the real thing, they lacked the fundantal essence of a true spirit.
Lyra transmitted the data directly into the clone’s mind. The virtual Elara’s face went deathly pale.
"I... I’m a fake? How is that possible? What is happening!?"
Despair flooded the clone’s features. Her Dao Heart shattered instantly, and her aura began to fluctuate wildly, threatening to tear her apart.
Whirrrr!
The A.I. acted imdiately, emitting a pulse of energy that teleported the collapsing clone into a cultivation chamber. The room was sealed, and the ship’s systems began assisting her in processing the devastating truth.
"Honored Young Mistress, what is your purpose here?" A hologram flickered into existence before the real Elara. To an A.I. that hadn't yet evolved into a sentient lifeform, both the clone and the original were its masters. Its core directive was to assist the Young Mistress in becoming stronger, and it was ready to fulfill that duty. "The Legacy Tokens are prepared. Shall I initiate the transfer?"
Elara’s rage, fueled by the sight of her people being wiped out, had reached its boiling point.
"That can wait," she hissed. "I want you to activate every weapon system. Now. Erase every Universal Class intruder who set foot on this world."
"Orders received. Initiating starship systems," Lyra responded without a mont's hesitation.
Unlike the Realm Lord Umbra, who had been beaten to death, Lord Acheron had died under different circumstances, leaving the ship pristine. It was capable of operating at full output.
RUMBLE!
The ship roared to life. A massive tremor surged through the Great Emperor mountain range, causing the peaks to groan and sway.
"What’s happening? Why is the Great Emperor range shaking?"
"Is the inheritance opening!?"
"It has to be! Per the Virtual Universe’s rules, every discovered inheritance must select a successor. It’s finally happening!"
"Hahaha! It’s finally our turn!"
The Universal Class experts were practically cheering. They hovered in the sky, eyes fixed on the trembling earth, waiting for the gates to open. More and more trial-takers flooded into the area, until the sky was choked with a dense cloud of powerful warriors.
BOOM!
The earth split asunder. A starship so massive it blotted out the sun slowly rose from the heart of the Great Emperor peaks. The experts held their breath, their expressions turning solemn and greedy.
They watched with bated breath as the gargantuan hull broke through the crust. This was it! The inheritance was opening! They waited for the airlocks to hiss open, knowing that a Tier 12 ship's hull was far too durable for them to force their way inside.
HUMMMMM!
But instead of the doors opening, a terrifying energy began to coalesce around the ship. The entire hull began to glow with a blinding, incandescent light.
"What’s going on?"
"Is the ship opening a trial space? But why wouldn't it just let us inside?"
"Wait... maybe there are too many of us? Is it going to transport us sowhere else?"
The crowd was bewildered, murmurs of confusion rippling through the ranks.
VROOOOM!
Suddenly, a brilliant shockwave erupted from the ship’s periter.
"Holy sht! That’s a Tier 12 weapon! It’s a Void Core Pulse! Run!"
"Fck! What is this? I thought the inheritance was opening!"
"Move! Forget the inheritance, just get out of here!"
"Dammit, what went wrong!?"
Faces twisted in terror as the experts turned and fled toward the Secret Realm’s exit. But they were t with a wall of people; those outside were still trying to push in while those inside were screaming to get out. The bottleneck was absolute.
ZAP!
In the next heartbeat, the Void Core Pulse, crackling with arcs of destructive lightning, swept through the rearguard of the Universal Class army.
The sheer power of the pulse reduced the experts to ash instantly. And it didn't stop there. The pulse tore through the very fabric of the Secret Realm’s space, bursting out of the pocket dinsion and expanding in every direction.
Anything it touched was vaporized. The attack radiated outward, covering a staggering radius of ten thousand light-years before finally dissipating into the void.
In that single instant, every Universal Class expert who had converged on the continent—regardless of their talent, their combat prowess, or the prestige of their background—was utterly erased.
Only two remained alive: Lance and Elara.
"Is it over?"
Elara stared at the motes of light scattered across the now-empty stretch of space, her expression grim as she broke the silence.
"The area has been cleared. Should I begin the collection of all Legacy Tokens?" the ship's A.I. responded.
"Collect them all, but keep them in storage for now. I only need enough to qualify for the second trial."
Elara reached her decision quickly. She didn't dare claim everything. If she took every token, her rank would skyrocket past Lance on the Leaderboard, and then every fool in the universe would know she was the one responsible for this massacre.
Her only backing was this ship, and after witnessing the true terrors of the cosmos, she was afraid. Unlike Lance, she didn't possess an Undying God-Body. If those she had eliminated ever tracked her down, the combined vengeance of their factions would be more than she could ever hope to survive.
"Understood."
Without hesitation, the A.I. mobilized the ship’s Tier 12 technology, preparing to sweep up the Legacy Tokens left behind by the fallen experts.
Rumble!
Suddenly, an anomaly erupted. Within a radius of hundreds of light-years, violent torrents of blood-red energy began to churn. These fus surged toward the ship like a tidal wave, and in a re heartbeat, the concentrated death energy flooded the bridge.
"What is this?" Elara’s face paled.
"Analyzing... Error. No explanation found."
Even the A.I. was stumped. In the history of the universe, those who grasped the Power of Death were incredibly rare, and they shared a common fate: death. Without exception, every one of them had been assassinated by the powerhouses of The Celestial Fiends.
The mont the Power of Death appeared, The Celestial Fiends would go into a frenzy. Even The Destroyer Supre lacked the strength to hold back their collective tide. Centuries ago, The Paramount God of Death had left such a terrifying shadow over their race that they refused to let any potential successor live.
Unfortunately, mastering the Power of Death did not guarantee the awakening of the Undying God-Body. If it didn't manifest from the start, one had to reach the heights of The Paramount God of Death and fully comprehend The Origin Power of Death to trigger it.
But that was easier said than done. Forget reaching the level of The Supre Divinities; even surviving long enough to reach the Immortal Realm was nearly impossible for those who walked the path of death. Because of this, even soone as powerful as The Destroyer Supre knew very little about its true nature.
No one could have predicted the scene unfolding before them. This wasn't sothing achieved by the Power of Death alone; it was the result of Lance fusing it with The Power of Genesis.
Rumble!
The endless death energy finally converged, funneled into Lance’s body as he remained hidden in the void. Elara glared warily at the spot where the blood-red power was being consud.
"No need to be so tense. I an no harm," Lance said with a faint smile, stepping out of the shadows.
"Intruder detected. Comncing termination!"
The Tier 12 A.I.’s alarms blared the second Lance manifested. A world-ending force surged toward him instantly.
Hum!
The mont the energy reached him, it was diverted by an invisible barrier. Since they were inside the ship, the A.I. had restricted the output of its weaponry to the Realm Lord Realm.
Against Lance’s Power of Genesis, an attack of that level was simply reduced to nothingness. The energy was purified and funneled into his Consciousness Hub, forming a massive glowing orb of stored power.
Even though it was just a single strike, the energy it contained was more potent than what he had gathered from killing hundreds of millions of Universal Class experts, though it lacked the sa "quality." Lance had already slaughtered trillions of them earlier; with this new influx, the sheer volu of energy was enough to fuel a single attack from his Destruction spear at the Immortal Grade level.
"Who are you? You were the one who arrived with , weren't you?"
Seeing Lance shrug off a Tier 12 weapon's fire, Elara felt a surge of dread. If Tier 12 attacks couldn't touch him, was his strength already at the World Lord Class? That would make him one of the most terrifying Universal Class cultivators in existence.
"My na is Lance. You've likely heard of ," he said calmly. "I'm only here for a Tier 12 Void Core. Would you be willing to part with one?"
Elara breathed a sigh of relief. If he only wanted a Void Core, the situation was manageable.
"I have one." She didn't hesitate, handing him her highest-grade specin—a Tier 12 High-Grade Void Core.
Lance smiled as he took it. "Much appreciated. As a token of my gratitude, take this."
With a Tier 12 Void Core in his possession, he could head straight for the Domain Lord Class trials. He could use it to forge formations that would allow him to slaughter Domain Lord Class experts. Even if so of them were as strong as a seventh or eighth-stratum Realm Lord, a Tier 12 Low-Grade formation could wipe them out.
His formation mastery was at the legendary grade. A legendary formation's output was far superior to anything the top ten on the Leaderboard could produce. Even at Tier 12 Low-Grade, his arrays could easily kill a Realm Lord at the Ninth or even Tenth Stratum. This was the key to his rapid growth.
Lance handed Elara the Tier 11 Twin Immortal-Slaying Array he had previously refined.
"This..." Elara stared at the array core in a daze. A Tier 12 Void Core in exchange for two Tier 11 items? It felt like she was getting the short end of the stick.
However, she didn't dare complain. If the ship's internal defenses couldn't harm him, he could kill her whenever he wanted. Besides, her A.I. was not a Sentient Lifeform; it couldn't protect her from a master of his caliber.
"Well then, I'll be going," Lance smiled. His Teleportation Force flared, and he vanished instantly.
He had achieved both goals: absorbing death energy and obtaining the Void Core. Now, he needed to leave. More importantly, he was on the verge of a breakthrough. He needed to find a quiet place to advance before entering the Domain Lord Class trials.
His current peak combat power was roughly equivalent to a third-stratum Realm Lord. He was just a step away from the fourth. Once he reached the Star Sea Realm, his power would hit the fourth stratum, and his energy absorption rate would increase a hundredfold. He planned to hit at least the fifth stratum of the Star Sea Realm before proceeding.
He teleported to a nearby planet and closed his eyes, waiting for the surge.
CON 1 Trillion! Divine Soul 1 Trillion!
CON 1 Trillion! Divine Soul 1 Trillion!
CON 1 Trillion! Divine Soul 1 Trillion!
CON 1 Trillion! Divine Soul 1 Trillion!
The notifications hamred his mind as his stats began to skyrocket.
System Notification: A massive stockpile has been detected!
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