“How could this be?”
“No way… How could this happen?” Luo Feng stared at the content of the email, shaking his head repeatedly. “Yi Ke, could Big Brother Yi Ke really be dead?”
This was an email sent to every core member of the Tai Chu District, a district that had very few members to begin with—only over 1,100 individuals. Each of them was considered an extraordinary genius from various cosmic nations. The Tai Chu District admitted fewer than twenty members every ten thousand years, and every genius was extremely precious.
Whenever one of them perished, all members of the Tai Chu District would be notified as a reminder.
“Yi Ke…” Luo Feng’s body trembled, his eyes filled with shock.
Yes.
Just yesterday during the public lecture, Yi Ke’s consciousness had left the Virtual Universe Network without Luo Feng even noticing. His invitation for a conversation had also gone unanswered. At the time, he had assumed Yi Ke might be experiencing an epiphany or searching for treasures. Now it seemed likely Yi Ke had already met with misfortune back then.
“Big Brother Yi Ke was a figure who had left the Virtual Universe Company and controlled great power in his domain. How could he just die like that? Even if he was no longer under the company’s protective wing and faced many dangers, he was still a core member of the company. Could he really have been killed so easily?” Luo Feng couldn’t believe it.
Unconsciously, scenes from the past began to flash through his mind.
“Again you? I saw you in the first two lectures, what a coincidence,” a strong young man in scale armor approached with a smile.
“What a coincidence indeed,” Luo Feng smiled. “My name is Luo Feng.”
“My name is Yi Ke.”
…
“I tell you, when core members of the Virtual Universe Company at Domain Lord level are assigned externally, they are sent back to their home cosmic nations. This time I’m returning home… to control great power, and the feeling is just different. My clansmen’s status has greatly improved, and no one dares to bully my Tongyan Clan anymore,” Yi Ke said proudly.
“It’s the same for my hometown Earth. My entry into the core of the Virtual Universe Company has elevated the Earthlings’ status in the Heilongshan Star Region to an extremely high level,” Luo Feng also smiled.
“Yes, when a clan has powerful members, its status rises accordingly. However, if we perish, the clan’s status will plummet sharply,” Yi Ke’s gaze sharpened. “But I will strive to become an Immortal, I definitely will!”
“Let’s work hard together,” Luo Feng’s eyes were filled with eager determination.
…
“Right now, Luo Feng, you’re still a Cosmic-level warrior, safely training under the Virtual Universe Company’s protection, taking training missions, everything is under control. But when you reach Domain Lord level and are assigned to various cosmic nations, controlling great power and truly undergoing trials… that’s when the real danger begins. Especially when you reach Monarch level, you won’t even be allowed to bring a guard squad, and you’ll directly face all sorts of life-and-death trials.”
…
Scenes from the past surged through Luo Feng’s mind.
He hadn’t known Yi Ke for long, but the two had become fast friends, perhaps because they shared many similarities.
“The path to Immortality is arduous and full of obstacles…” Luo Feng murmured softly, staring at the screen before him.
The body of the email on the screen read:
“To all members of the Tai Chu District at Yuxiang Mountain:
We of the Virtual Universe Company have just confirmed the sad news: Yi Ke, a fellow Tai Chu District Domain Lord-level member, who rose from the Genius War and has always been exceptionally outstanding, has perished!
This is a heartbreaking message.
The Tai Chu District recruits members primarily through the Genius War and secondarily through the Strong Warrior War. We admit no more than twenty members every ten thousand years… yet as time passes, nearly every few hundred or thousand years, some members perish. One after another, these gifted warriors fall, and in the end, very few manage to overcome all obstacles and become Immortals.
95%!
A chilling number!
This is the summarized mortality rate we have observed over countless years in the Tai Chu District. 95% of Tai Chu District members will fall along the arduous path to Immortality!
Yes!
Of the current 1,137 members living in the Tai Chu District, about 95% will fall along the perilous road to Immortality, while only about 5% will ultimately succeed and become Immortals!
We hope all surviving members will awaken to this reality. Lectures? Training? Missions? Assignment to your home cosmic nations? The trials of life and death at the Monarch level? The Virtual Universe Company grants you great freedom. The path you choose, the level of danger you face—it is all your own choice. You must be responsible for everything!
We only hope that when you face death in the future, you won’t regret the choices you made!
…
Virtual Universe Company”
…
This single email was received by all 1,137 living members of the Tai Chu District, and the entire Tai Chu District seemed to fall into silence all at once.
…
In the mansion of the young warrior Wuka on the planet Manka, the living room was quiet.
Luo Feng, Ronjun, Aichen, Oparta, Wuka, Jiangmo, Qianshui, and Lansluo—the eight warriors selected into the Tai Chu District during this Genius War—sat together for the first time ever. Normally, they naturally formed smaller groups. Luo Feng, Ronjun, and Wuka were close. Oparta and Lansluo were close friends, as were Aichen, Jiangmo, and Qianshui.
But now—
The eight of them sat in the living room, all silent.
“95%, 95% mortality,” Lansluo, a handsome youth with an almost eerie charm, murmured softly. “Just thinking about it… one genius after another falling and dying, the once lively Tai Chu District instantly becoming a vast graveyard… it chills me to the bone.”
Silence.
The atmosphere in the living room seemed to freeze, heavy and oppressive, as everyone felt the immense pressure.
95%!
This number shocked these newcomers.
Luo Feng felt a coldness spread through his entire body.
“These past days I’ve been so carefree—I’ve been attending lectures, training in the practice fields, studying ‘Notes on Space-Time,’ burying myself in research. Even my teacher personally reminded me to take training missions, to train and research while fighting, but I didn’t take it seriously enough,” Luo Feng thought bitterly. “Thirty years of comfort have numbed me. True power is forged only through life-and-death trials. Only through repeated brushes with death can great warriors be forged.”
…
Silence.
The eight of them sat there, each lost in deep thought.
Whoosh!
Luo Feng stood up, and the other seven instinctively turned to look at him.
“If we’ve already chosen this path, unless we choose to abandon it and return to a life of comfort, we can only keep moving forward. Falling down means getting back up, being gravely injured means recovering, but death means everything ends!” Luo Feng’s eyes were cold. “The path to Immortality is not something everyone can walk!”
Without another word, Luo Feng turned and walked outside, soaring into the sky and vanishing in an instant.
The other seven exchanged brief glances.
Whoosh!
Ronjun stood up and said in a low voice, “Luo Feng is right. The path to Immortality is not for everyone. If you don’t have the heart for it, you should just quit.” With that, he turned and walked out, soaring into the sky as well.
“Haha, well said! Isn’t it just about fighting? Haha, the people of Manka love fighting the most!” Wuka stood up and laughed loudly, though his laughter sounded eerie in the cold, oppressive atmosphere.
“Let’s go,” Jiangmo said, standing.
“Mm,” Qianshui followed her older brother and left as well.
…
Yi Ke’s death served as a sharp wake-up call to many members of the Tai Chu District, but it truly “awakened” Luo Feng and the other seven. They had never before realized just how perilous the path truly was.
“Training missions,” Ronjun sat in his study, carefully examining the screen. “Safety Level, Normal Level, Hard Level, Dangerous Level, Desperate Level? If I take a mission with no danger at all on my first attempt, there won’t be any real training effect. Now I can choose Dangerous Level, but in the future, I won’t have that choice anymore. Still, I shouldn’t take on something too dangerous for my first mission, after all, I lack experience.”
“Hard Level!”
Ronjun clicked on Hard Level and began selecting his training mission.
…
In the Mirage Sea Dimension.
Boom! The black sea roared, its waves rising dozens of meters high, crashing repeatedly against the cliffs.
Luo Feng stood on the cliff, gazing out at the endless Mirage Sea.
“Strength comes not only from talent, insight, and effort, or from external resources like secret techniques, but most importantly from having the heart of a true warrior!” Luo Feng looked ahead. “A heart like a blade, a will unshaken, and any obstacle on the path ahead is nothing but a joke! Charge forward fearlessly, with reverence in your heart but fearlessness in your actions!”
“A heart as cold and clear as a mirror, capable of seeing through all illusions of the world.”
“A heart like a blade, capable of cutting through all obstacles.”
Luo Feng’s eyes were cold, and with a sudden burst of energy, he transformed into a streak of light, flying toward the first island in the Mirage Sea.
…
A heart as cold and clear as a mirror—this was a mental state Luo Feng had achieved long ago, maintaining absolute composure at all times.
Thirty years of quiet meditation.
The tragic death of a close friend, a wake-up call that struck like a thunderclap!
Luo Feng reflected deeply on himself, finally seeing his own truth, his will unified, achieving a heart like a blade!
A heart like a mirror was one aspect of the mind, brought to perfection.
A heart like a blade was another aspect of the mind, also brought to perfection.
Hong and Thunderclap, both masters of mental cultivation, had long reached a state of near perfection in their mental states. In terms of mental cultivation, they had reached the pinnacle of ancient Chinese and Indian yoga traditions, developing various methods of mental refinement passed down by their ancestors until they achieved perfection.
Perhaps they might have been lacking in other areas, but in terms of mental cultivation, both Hong and Thunderclap were among the very best in the universe.
And Luo Feng, having achieved both “a heart like a mirror” and “a heart like a blade,” had already narrowed the gap with them significantly.
…
Inside the Chaos City.
A group of warriors was listening to a lecture by Zhenyan Wang, and Luo Feng was among them.
“This mere illusion dares to affect me? My heart is like a mirror, seeing through all illusions! My heart is like a blade, cutting through all deceptions! Break! Break! Break!” Luo Feng’s consciousness roared like thunder, shaking the heavens, which then shattered. The illusion broke apart, revealing the original island scene—a white sandy island with trees and flowers, quiet and beautiful.
Luo Feng stood on the sandy ground of the island.
In the distant sea, darkness reigned.
But now, far away, a white glimmer gradually emerged—that was the next island, deeper within the Mirage Sea. Only after passing the illusion of one island would the next one appear in the Mirage Sea.
“I’d really like to see what kind of illusion can stop me!” Luo Feng instantly shot into the sky, a streak of light flying toward the sixth island.
Yes, just moments ago, Luo Feng had already passed through five islands of the Mirage Sea.
Five islands, and not a single one had affected Luo Feng in the slightest!
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