In the preparation hall, one by one, brilliant experts appeared out of thin air. These geniuses hailed from various star regions of the Qianwu Cosmic Nation, and their appearances were as bizarre as they were diverse.
“Pushkin!”
“It’s Pushkin! Beside him is Jinci Li!”
The previously quiet preparation hall suddenly erupted into a murmur of excitement, drawing Luo Feng’s attention. He opened his eyes and looked ahead, seeing two humans emerge from the teleportation point. One was towering and muscular, covered in golden fur, standing nearly six meters tall—a gigantic ape-like humanoid. His eyes faintly glowed green, appearing terrifying, especially his fists, which were as large as massive iron hammers!
“Pushkin?” Luo Feng’s mind quickly recalled the information provided by the Black Dragon Mountain Empire.
Pushkin: A supreme genius nurtured by the royal family of the Qianwu Cosmic Nation, renowned for his mastery of bare-fisted combat. He had the potential to rank among the top 1000 in the cosmic nation. His preliminary ranking was 9th in the 89th World Zone.
“Jinci Li.” Luo Feng glanced at the small figure beside the golden-furred ape.
Though called “small,” Jinci Li was actually nearly 1.9 meters tall—taller than Luo Feng. However, standing next to Pushkin, who was as tall as a two-story building, he seemed diminutive. Luo Feng had no information on Jinci Li; at least, none had been included in the data provided by the Black Dragon Mountain Empire.
Pushkin had a deep, resonant voice, and his words echoed slightly as he spoke.
“Sit here, Pushkin.” Jinci Li, with a gaunt face and cold, scorpion-like eyes, gestured toward a seat. He reminded Luo Feng of Nuolanshan.
“Alright!”
Pushkin’s powerful voice reverberated through the hall.
Pushkin and Jinci Li strode directly toward Luo Feng and sat beside him. With a thud, Pushkin settled into his chair, causing it to tremble slightly. Fortunately, each seat in the preparation hall was designed to be large enough to accommodate someone of Pushkin’s size, or else he alone would have occupied space meant for six or seven people.
Pushkin and Jinci Li sat side by side, with Luo Feng seated next to Jinci Li.
“You,” Jinci Li glanced coldly at Luo Feng beside him. “Move farther away! I don’t like people getting close to me.”
“You’re mentally ill!”
Luo Feng shot Jinci Li a cold glare before turning away and closing his eyes.
“Hmph?” Jinci Li’s icy gaze burned like fire as he stared at Luo Feng for a moment, like a cobra eyeing its prey. However, the preparation hall strictly forbade any physical confrontations. Jinci Li merely snorted and closed his eyes.
Suddenly, a voice from the arena echoed into the preparation hall.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the 382nd group battle is about to begin. Allow me to introduce the one hundred brilliant geniuses of this group!” The clear, powerful voice of the announcer reached every corner of the arena and could be clearly heard even in the preparation hall behind it. A wave of cheers followed.
“First, Pushkin from the Qianwu Cosmic Nation! His preliminary ranking is 9th in the 89th World Zone!”
The thunderous cheers shook the preparation hall.
“Is that him?”
“Yes, that’s him. His fists are terrifying—never let him get close to you.”
Whispers of discussion rippled through the preparation hall.
“Second, Jinci Li from the Qianwu Cosmic Nation! His preliminary ranking is 21st in the 13th World Zone!”
The announcer’s voice from the arena was clearly audible to every genius in the preparation hall. Luo Feng, for once, opened his eyes to glance at the young man in golden battle armor beside him, his expression icy.
Jinci Li’s ranking was second among the hundred—truly formidable.
“Third…”
“Fourth…”
“Fifth, Luo Feng from the Black Dragon Mountain Empire! His preliminary ranking is 51st in the 1st World Zone.”
A thunderous roar of cheers erupted, the excited cries of over a million people from the Black Dragon Mountain Empire.
…
On the Black Dragon Mountain Island, within a luxurious palace, over a thousand people had gathered.
An emperor clad in dark golden imperial robes sat at the head of the hall. Below him sat numerous members of the imperial family of the Black Dragon Mountain Empire. Given the long-standing existence of the imperial family, which numbered in the billions, those present at this imperial banquet were unquestionably the elite of the elite.
Some were Sovereigns or Domain Lords.
Others were Princes or Princesses who might one day inherit the throne, or high-ranking female members of the imperial family.
“It’s Luo Feng’s turn.”
The grand hall fell silent as the thousand imperial family members watched the screen hovering in midair. The screen was broadcasting the event live. On it, the beautiful announcer smiled and said, “Fifth, Luo Feng from the Black Dragon Mountain Empire! His preliminary ranking is 51st in the 1st World Zone.” At the same time, Luo Feng’s image appeared beside the announcer on the screen.
“It’s Luo Feng!”
“Haha, Luo Feng will surely pass this group battle easily.”
“Just look at the footage—Luo Feng is no ordinary man. His eyes are filled with killing intent!”
…
The grand hall immediately erupted into discussion, with everyone praising Luo Feng. Who would dare say otherwise? This was the highest imperial banquet of the royal family. In this tournament of geniuses, the Black Dragon Mountain Empire now had only one remaining contender—Luo Feng. If he were to lose, the Black Dragon Mountain Empire would suffer a humiliating defeat.
For several consecutive sessions, they had failed to advance anyone into the top ten thousand, while other mid-tier cosmic civilizations had managed to send participants into the top ten thousand, clearly outclassing them.
“Haha…” The emperor laughed heartily.
Praise for Luo Feng filled the hall, but among the many princes, one prince’s eyes betrayed a flicker of shock—Prince Brolyn, the ninth prince.
Among the thousand members of the imperial family, Brolyn outwardly maintained composure, but inside, he was in turmoil: “This Luo Feng… he’s really him?” Although Luo Feng had gained significant fame before, the preliminary rounds had not been publicly broadcasted, so many of the details about the other geniuses remained unknown to the outside world.
Only powerful organizations had managed to uncover the information.
For example, the Black Dragon Mountain Empire had dispatched an envoy team, and some major organizations from the Qianwu Cosmic Nation had also sent people to visit Luo Feng. These organizations had found ways to obtain Luo Feng’s address in the virtual universe through the Virtual Universe Company.
However—
As a prince, Brolyn was forbidden from accessing the empire’s intelligence or information systems. He truly had no idea what Luo Feng looked like.
“Luo Feng, he’s really Luo Feng?” Brolyn gritted his teeth. “This is a big problem.”
Was he planning to cause trouble for Luo Feng?
He had long abandoned that idea. He knew that with Luo Feng’s reputation, he could easily join a super organization that even the Black Dragon Mountain Empire would fear. Brolyn didn’t want to provoke Luo Feng now, but… he worried that he had once sent people armed with laser guns to kill twelve targets at once, and had even dispatched assassins to hunt down Luo Feng. Would Luo Feng hold a grudge?
“Hmph, I’ll just avoid him for now. He won’t dare to come after me while I’m in the imperial capital.” Brolyn muttered to himself.
Meanwhile, atop the grand hall,
The emperor was conversing with two Sovereigns seated beside him.
“Putu’ashika, how much chance does Luo Feng have?” the emperor whispered anxiously.
“He has a good chance, but it’s still dangerous,” the old man with silver hair and a long beard frowned. “Your Majesty knows that among the 100,010 who passed the preliminaries, nearly half are elite geniuses cultivated by the royal families of the cosmic nations.”
The emperor nodded.
The ruler of the Qianwu Cosmic Nation had dispatched over a billion elite geniuses to participate in the preliminaries, out of a total of over eight thousand billion participants—this was not particularly noticeable. However, among those who passed the preliminaries, over forty thousand were from the Qianwu Cosmic Nation. This clearly demonstrated the depth of the cosmic nation’s royal family!
“Among the top ten in Luo Feng’s group, the first is Pushkin, the second is Jinci Li, and six of the top ten are from the Qianwu Cosmic Nation’s royal family,” the old man shook his head. “The worry is that Luo Feng might be targeted by a group.”
“Royal Uncle, what do you think?” the emperor turned to the other Sovereign beside him.
The royal uncle, similarly clad in dark golden imperial robes, smiled faintly. “Your Majesty, worrying now won’t help. Besides, we don’t truly know Luo Feng’s real strength. Let’s watch. The battle is about to begin.”
“Watch?”
The emperor could only nod.
…
On island number 29109, the arena was already packed with people.
“Dad is fifth. Mom, are the first four stronger than Dad?” Pingping asked in confusion.
“That’s their ranking,” Xu Xin smiled. “The first four are ranked higher than your dad, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re stronger.”
“Oh.” Pingping nodded.
Beside him, Xiaohai muttered, “Dad is the strongest. The strongest.”
Around them sat many people from Earth—Hong, Thunder God, their families, Luo Feng’s parents, and others.
“Brother Three, you must win,” Hong stared intently at the center of the arena.
Thunder God also stared.
Now, among the three Earth brothers, only Luo Feng remained in the Genius Tournament.
“6…5…4…3…2…1!” The beautiful announcer shouted excitedly, and the entire arena’s atmosphere reached its peak.
Boom!
The center of the arena trembled, and the announcer instantly vanished via teleportation. At the same moment, 100 figures appeared at different locations in the center of the arena—exactly the 100 geniuses who had been introduced earlier. Some were tall and muscular, some were covered in fur, some had horns or scales—each with a unique appearance.
But all of them were humans—upright bipedal beings!
“Pushkin!”
“Kun!”
“Luo Feng!”
A deafening roar, like the collapse of heaven and earth, erupted from the mouths of a billion spectators, as if their cheers could shatter the entire arena.
Inside the arena,
Including Luo Feng, the hundred geniuses heard the cheers of a billion people, and their hearts swelled with excitement. They looked around at the endless sea of spectators in the stands, hailing from every star region. Luo Feng quickly identified the direction of the cheers calling his name.
“That way—that’s where the Black Dragon Mountain Empire is.” Luo Feng glanced in that direction. That area was indeed densely packed with countless people.
Silence.
Inside the battle space of the arena, all one hundred geniuses focused their attention. This free-for-all battle could last up to fifteen minutes, as the battlefield would continuously shrink… until it narrowed to a diameter of just one meter.
“The battle… begins!”
A deep voice instantly echoed in the minds of the one billion spectators and the one hundred geniuses within the arena.
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