Swallowing the Stars: Starting with Panlong

Chapter 145: The Preliminaries Begin

On May 16, 2066, China time, the preliminary rounds of the Peak Genius Battle, which countless geniuses throughout the Qianwu Universe Kingdom had been eagerly anticipating, finally officially began.

A virtual universe, a gathering of continents.

This is a vast, boundless continent, where over 820 billion people have gathered. What does it look like to see over 820 billion people standing together? As far as the eye can see, a dense mass of heads stretches to the horizon. Various races, various body types, various attire; some are over ten meters tall, some less than a meter; some wear magnificent armor, others simple robes. Groups of three or five chatter amongst themselves, their clamor echoing like a tsunami over the continent.

Lin Yun, Luo Feng, Hong, and Lei Shen stood together, looking around, all deeply shocked.

"Over eight hundred billion..." Thor swallowed hard. "And that's just from our Qianwu Universe Kingdom's participants? How many are there in the entire universe?"

"There are thousands of human kingdoms throughout the universe," Lin Yun said calmly. "Each kingdom has hundreds of billions or even trillions of participants. The total number is astronomical."

"So those who can make it into the top 1,000 are the true geniuses among geniuses." Luo Feng clenched his fist.

"Attention everyone!" A clear voice echoed across the entire continent, drowning out the clamor of over eight hundred billion people. "This preliminary selection will be divided into one hundred 'World Zones.' You will be teleported to your assigned 'World Zone' shortly. Please check your equipment now, as you will no longer be able to request weapons once the preliminary selection begins."

The four hurriedly checked their equipment. In the virtual universe, everyone's equipment was standard—a second-tier Force battle suit, helmet, and boots, with a spatial ring on their wrist. Their respective weapons, such as shields, Force swords, and Luo Feng's Sky Shuttle and Divine Weapon, were all stored in the spatial rings. The weapons simulated in the virtual universe functioned exactly the same as those in reality.

Aside from Luo Feng's diverse array of weapons, Lin Yun, Lei Shen, and Hong each possessed only a sword or spear.

"The preliminary rounds will be divided into 100 world zones. I'm in zone 3. What about you guys?" Lin Yun asked, looking at Luo Feng and the other two.

"I'm from District 72," Hong said.

"I'm District 88, haha, I like this number!" Thor laughed.

"I'm from Zone 1, that's an auspicious number!" Luo Feng said with a smile, while looking around into the distance.

"Mass teleportation imminent, countdown, 60...59...58..." A clear voice echoed across the entire continent.

Amidst the sea of ​​people, Lin Yun and his three companions exchanged glances.

"Keep it up!" Lin Yun said with a smile.

"Good luck," Luo Feng said with a smile.

"Let's pass the qualifiers together," Thor said with a smile.

"Keep it up," Hong said with a smile.

「10……9……8……7……6……5……4……3……2……1！传送！」

The clear universal language echoed in the ears of the more than 800 billion people gathered on this continent, and then in an instant, everyone on the entire continent disappeared.

At the same moment, in one hundred separate worlds created in the virtual universe, more than 82 billion people appeared.

The Battle of the Ultimate Geniuses of Humanity in the Universe: Preliminaries Begin Simultaneously Across All Universe Nations!

As a grand event for all humanity, everyone from the high and mighty immortals to ordinary cosmic citizens who can access the virtual cosmic network is paying close attention to this event. Of course, as powerful individuals and citizens of the Qianwu Cosmic Kingdom, they are naturally primarily focused on the preliminary rounds of their own cosmic kingdom.

Third World Zone.

During the teleportation, Lin Yun felt a blur before his eyes, and when he opened them again, he was already in an ordinary living room. He looked down at the screen on his wrist, which automatically received numerous messages from the organizer, "Virtual Universe Company." The screen was covered with dense text.

Participant: Lin Yun (Black Dragon Mountain Empire)

Points: 0

Ranking: None

World region: Third World

Time: The preliminary elimination will last for 30 days. When the time is up, the entire preliminary round will end, and the winner will be determined by the final score ranking.

Note: The Third World Zone is a continent simulated based on the 'Neptune Planet' of the Qianwu Universe Kingdom in reality. The entire continent has 110 cities, as well as wilderness and mountains, with a land area of ​​over 14 million square kilometers. The hardness of houses, ground, and many other objects in the Third World Zone is B9.

Scoring rules: Killing a player earns one point, and you also get half of the opponent's points! Therefore, killing skilled players can earn you more points.

Leaderboard Rules: Even if someone dies, they will still be ranked. If you have enough points, even if you die and your preliminary selection ends, losing half of your points, you may still be ranked in the top 1001. So please hurry!

Please note that each person only has one life. Upon death, the preliminary rounds will end and half of your points will be lost. A detailed leaderboard is attached below.

After carefully reading through the rules, Lin Yun got up and went to the balcony. Looking out from the balcony, the entire city was silent; the streets were deserted, and all the buildings had their doors and windows tightly shut. He guessed that everyone was still familiarizing themselves with the surroundings or observing from the shadows.

Lin Yun didn't stay in the room any longer. With his strength, he didn't need to be modest at all. Since that was the case, he would use these people as practice targets!

He pushed open the door and walked into the corridor. On both sides of the corridor were rows of tightly closed doors, each potentially concealing a contestant. Lin Yun's mental energy silently spread out, covering the entire building. A slight smile played on his lips—there were over a dozen people hiding in this building.

Just as they stepped out of the building, they saw another contestant emerging from the next room. He was a burly man nearly three meters tall, covered in dark red scales, wielding a massive battle axe. The moment their eyes met, neither hesitated before attacking!

Lin Yun seemed to transform into lightning in an instant, pushing the "Speed ​​of Lightning" from the fundamental laws of lightning to its limit. His body turned into a streak of purple lightning, and before the burly man could react, he found his body and head separated. Blood gushed out, and the burly man's corpse crashed to the ground, dissipating into specks of light.

"Points +1." On the arm guard screen, the points jumped from 0 to 1.

Lin Yun didn't stop and strolled onto the street. No one he encountered along the way could withstand a single blow from him. This was mainly due to his incredible speed—the speed of lightning was the fastest of all laws, and only those who had comprehended the fundamental law of light could rival his speed. However, in the entire Third World District, there were probably no more than 100 people who could comprehend a domain, and even fewer than 10 who had stepped into the threshold of the fundamental law.

His figure darted through the city streets like a purple lightning bolt. Each appearance claimed a life. His points skyrocketed—10, 50, 100, 500…

"Come on, the more the better," Lin Yun thought to himself. "Now I've almost fully integrated the profound mysteries of lightning speed and lightning resonance in my lightning-based laws, but I still haven't figured out the corresponding ultimate moves. Only in the midst of slaughter can I quickly create a secret technique that suits me."

He was no longer satisfied with simple killing, but began to consciously try to apply the fusion of two profound principles to actual combat. With each move, he was sensing the balance between the speed of lightning and the resonance of lightning.

All the participants in the entire world region possessed bodies at the ninth level of the Eternal Star realm. If billions of ninth-level Eternal Star realm cultivators attacked together, even a Realm Lord probably wouldn't dare to take the hit head-on. However, under such circumstances, it was impossible for so many people to gather at the same time, so Lin Yun wasn't worried about being surrounded at all.

Amidst this carnage, his ranking steadily rose.

Participant: Lin Yun (Black Dragon Mountain Empire)

Points: 745320

Ranking: 2145

World region: Third World

"Top 3000." Lin Yun glanced at the ranking on the armband screen and nodded slightly.

Ten days of slaughter propelled him from obscurity to the top 3000. However, the higher he climbed, the harder it became to rise in the rankings. At this point, the only way to quickly climb the ranks was to hunt down the top players. Killing an ordinary player only yielded a few points, while killing a top 1000 player could earn tens of thousands of points.

In a corner of a city not far from Lin Yun, a dozen or so people were resting in a room. Throughout the entire world region, apart from those absolutely confident in their abilities, most people lived in groups. This group of a dozen or so was clearly a temporary team, including martial artists and mentalists, with a clear division of labor.

"I heard that a figure who has stepped into the threshold of the Laws has appeared in our city. He killed many people with a single lightning blade, and they dare not show their faces," one of them said, his voice tinged with fear.

"Yeah, I've heard about it too. That powerful mentalist Yan Shen from a while back was killed by him in less than three moves. Hopefully, we won't run into him!" another person chimed in.

"Who!" Suddenly, a mental force swept across, startling everyone. Ordinary people wouldn't dare to rashly use mental force to investigate like this; such behavior would be seen as provocation.

"boom!"

The walls of the room suddenly shattered, the B9-grade hardness wall instantly turning into fragments that scattered everywhere. A bolt of purple lightning shot in from the gap, and a young man dressed in black battle armor appeared before everyone, holding a silver-white battle sword in his hand, the blade crackling with purple lightning.

"It's Lei Dao! Run!" one of them shouted as soon as he saw who it was.

Before the others could react, the long sword in the man's hand transformed into more than ten lightning dragons, flying towards them. The lightning dragons emitted a purple aura, instantly tearing everyone apart. Screams and explosions mingled together, and the entire room was reduced to ruins in the lightning.

"The first move of Purple Thunder Shocks the Gods—Raging Thunder Shakes the Heavens—has already begun to show its power." Lin Yun sheathed his sword, watched the light spots on the ground dissipate, and nodded in satisfaction.

The Purple Thunder Shocking God technique was a secret technique he created based on his understanding of the three profound mysteries of the Thunder Law.

The first move, Thunderous Roar, is derived from the profound "Explosion of Lightning," and is a secret technique for group attacks. Each segment of the Thunder Explosion can be controlled independently, allowing it to attack multiple targets or concentrate on a single target. With that last strike, he split the power of lightning into more than ten streams, simultaneously attacking more than a dozen targets, each precisely hitting a vital point.

The second move, Thunder Dragon Strike, is based on the profound "Lightning Resonance" and is a domain-type secret technique. It spreads the power of lightning to a space of several hundred meters around, forming a lightning domain. Within the lightning domain, the enemy's speed is suppressed, their perception is interfered with, while the caster's lightning secret technique is amplified. The core of the lightning domain is Lin Yun's understanding of lightning resonance—lightning resonates in space, turning every inch of space into a node for attack. He hasn't used this move in the pre-selection yet because it's not worth using.

The third move, Heavenly Profound Thunder Strike, is the most powerful. It is a profound fusion of "Lightning Speed" and "Lightning Explosion," a powerful single-target attack technique that combines the speed and explosiveness of lightning. This is currently his strongest killing move, and he rarely uses it.

According to the Chaos City Lord in the original work, secret techniques are divided into five levels: "unordinary", "common", "top", "peak" and "ultimate".

The secret techniques created by realm lords are generally considered "unorthodox." Lin Yun estimated that such secret techniques didn't even contain a single complete profound mystery. Secret techniques like Earth's previous "World Destruction" and "Nine-Layer Thunder Blade," while also unorthodox and lacking complete profound mysteries, had excellent intentions, and some even contained methods that fused profound mysteries, such as the "Phantom Blade Technique," which contained a small portion of the profound mysteries of the laws of wind and light.

However, some of Hu Yanbo's lineages, such as his secret technique "Soul Imprint," are quite ingenious and have transcended the category of "unordinary." Many secret techniques created by immortal gods and some geniuses of realm lords are in the category of "ordinary," and such secret techniques should contain a complete and profound mystery.

Above that is the "top level"! The top level refers to the secret techniques created by peerless geniuses who are realm lords, or immortal gods who have been granted the title of king. Such secret techniques should contain two profound mysteries, but they should not yet be fully integrated.

Above that is the "Peak" secret technique! This type of secret technique can only be achieved by completely integrating two profound mysteries. As for the "Ultimate" secret techniques that follow, they are beyond Lin Yun's comprehension.

Lin Yun's Purple Thunder Shocking God Third Form is currently at the "top-tier" level of a secret technique, because the fusion of lightning speed and lightning explosion is not yet fully complete. However, once the fusion is complete, Heavenly Profound Thunder Break should reach the "peak" level of a secret technique.

"I've probably killed most of the experts in this city, so it's hard to gain points now. Looks like I need to go and meet the experts in other cities," Lin Yun said in a low voice.

The Third World region has 110 cities. To rank high, you need to travel between cities and defeat the top players. Each of those top-ranked players has hundreds of thousands or even millions of points; killing one is equivalent to killing thousands of ordinary players.

Lin Yun transformed into a bolt of lightning and flew towards the outskirts of the city.

First World Zone.

All participants can fly to a maximum altitude of approximately nine thousand meters above the ground. Beyond that, an invisible barrier obstructs their path. Above this barrier, spaceships slowly pass by. These spaceships are rented by spectators at exorbitant prices, but many are still willing to pay to watch the matches of those they care about.

In a private room on one of the spaceships, Grandpa Lin (Lin Guodong), He Lingruo, Luo Hongguo, Gong Xinlan, Xu Xin, and their three children, Lin An, Luo Hai, and Luo Ping, were sitting together. Through the virtual reality view, they could look down and see the bloody battles taking place in the cities of the continent below. They could even "zoom in" to clearly see the appearance of each of the combatants on the continent below—of course, if the enemy was hiding inside a building, they wouldn't be able to see them.

"This battle of geniuses isn't even being broadcast," Luo Hongguo remarked. "To watch the preliminary matches, you have to come to this world zone and take a spaceship to see them from above, and it's so expensive!"

"Dad, it's normal that it's not being broadcast," Xu Xin said with a smile. "With over 82 billion people fighting, how can we broadcast it? Even a virtual universe company couldn't broadcast so many battles simultaneously."

"Mom, Dad's ranking keeps dropping." Xiao Hai bit his lip, holding a screen in his hand. The screen showed four lists, focusing on Luo Feng, Lin Yun, Hong, and Lei Shen in the 1st, 3rd, 72nd, and 88th World Regions, respectively. Luo Feng's ranking had been steadily declining, from tens of thousands to well over a million.

"Uncle Hong's ranking is dropping, but Uncle Lei and Uncle Yun's rankings are rising," Xiao Hai said. "Uncle Yun's rise is amazing, he's already broken into the top 3000! Uncle Lei is also in the top 10, while my dad and Uncle Hong are both ranked after ten million!"

"What do you know? My dad and Uncle Hong are just conserving their strength," Xiaoping said, his little face showing an expression of complete self-righteousness.

Xiao Hai glared at him: "Even Uncle Yun said he's no match for my dad, so who else here is a match for him?"

"Haha..." The grandparents next to them burst into laughter.

"Your Uncle Yun was just being modest, and you actually believed him," Xu Xin said with a laugh.

He Lingruo had been watching Lin Yun's ranking closely, and she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw him rise into the top 1000. Seeing this, Xu Xin teased, "Don't worry, your husband is definitely going to make it to the finals!"

He Lingruo blushed slightly, but did not speak, though the corners of her mouth turned up slightly.

Lin An sat next to He Lingruo, clutching the hem of her clothes with her little hand, but her eyes were fixed on Lin Yun's ranking on the screen, muttering, "Go, Daddy..."

Third World Zone.

Lin Yun flew across the wilderness and arrived at another city. This city was larger than the previous one, with taller buildings and wider streets. His spiritual power swept across the entire city, and he quickly discovered several contestants with exceptionally powerful auras.

"Three in the top 10,000, and one in the top 1,000." Lin Yun's lips curled up slightly. "Not bad, that should keep me busy for a while."

He made no attempt to conceal his presence, instead landing directly in the city's central square. Purple lightning crackled around him, and the Thunder Dragon's Fury domain slowly expanded, covering an area of ​​several hundred meters in radius. The air within the domain was thick with the aura of lightning, and every participant who entered felt their body go numb and their speed decrease.

"Who!" Several contestants rushed out from nearby buildings. When they saw Lin Yun in the square, they were stunned at first, and then their eyes revealed a greedy light—killing a top 1,000 expert would earn them a lot of points.

"Attack together!" someone shouted, and seven or eight people rushed towards Lin Yun at the same time.

Lin Yun did not move.

As the first person rushed into the lightning domain, a bolt of purple lightning shot out from the area, striking him precisely in the chest. The man's body stiffened abruptly, then he crashed to the ground, dissipating into specks of light.

The second person, the third person, the fourth person… everyone who entered the Thunder Domain was precisely struck by lightning. The domain power of the Thunder Dragon's Fury allowed Lin Yun to know every enemy within the domain like the back of his hand; the lightning seemed to have eyes, automatically searching for its targets.

In less than ten seconds, all seven or eight people who rushed over were killed.

"Too weak." Lin Yun shook his head.

He withdrew his domain and headed towards the location of the top 1,000 expert. That person was hiding on the top floor of a high-rise building, seemingly having sensed Lin Yun's power, and was observing through a window. Lin Yun looked up at the window, and their eyes met.

The man turned and ran.

Lin Yun didn't give chase—there was no need. He raised his right hand, and a purple lightning spear condensed in his palm. The spear wasn't large, only as thick as an arm, but the lightning power it contained caused the surrounding air to tremble. This was a simplified version of the Heavenly Profound Thunder Break; although he wasn't using his full strength, its power was still enough to instantly kill an ordinary ninth-tier Hengxing.

"go."

The lightning spear shot out at a speed too fast for the naked eye to follow. It pierced through dozens of walls and struck the fleeing contestant with pinpoint accuracy. The man didn't even have time to scream before he vanished into specks of light.

"Points +152300." The points on the arm protector screen jumped up suddenly.

Lin Yun's ranking rose from 2145 to 1892.

"Not enough." Lin Yun turned around and flew toward the next target.

There are still twenty days left in the qualifiers. His goal is to win first place in the Third World region by the end of the qualifiers.