Chapter 143: The Original Tongtian Mountain
Luo Feng put away his mechanical race spaceship and looked around the vast hall, marveling at the many spaceships above E-class.
Out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly spotted a familiar figure. He turned his head uncertainly for a closer look.
"Senior Brother? Is that really you?"
"It's me." Jiang Zhe flew over, smiling as he patted Luo Feng's shoulder. "What a coincidence—I was just about to return to the Primal Secret Realm, and here you are coming out of the Blood Luo World."
"Your Highness Luo Feng, the Palace Lord is still waiting for you. Please don't keep him waiting," said Merock, a Realm Lord attendant with blue skin and six eyes, dressed in silver armor, interrupting their reunion.
"The Palace Lord?" Luo Feng was startled.
The Lord of the Heaven-Eclipse Palace—what a formidable identity!
A supreme being overseeing the Heaven-Eclipse Palace and deterring threats from the Blood Luo World. Even within the Virtual Universe Company, he was one of the ruling elite.
Thinking of his own recent actions, especially seizing the Golden Horned Beast, Luo Feng felt a bit panicked. He looked at Jiang Zhe for help.
Jiang Zhe laughed.
"Go on up. The Palace Lord is very approachable. I just came down from seeing him myself and learned a lot."
Only then did Luo Feng feel reassured.
A silver arc flew toward him. Luo Feng quickly caught it—it was a world storage device.
"Senior Brother?" Luo Feng was puzzled.
"It's for you. Some things I found below, only you could make use of."
Curious, Luo Feng infused his spiritual force into the device and saw five jade-gold beast god statues of various sizes arranged on a vast grassland.
The familiar pressure and aura—they were clearly part of the same set as the one he already had.
He was supposed to deliver his statue to the Immortal Shrine. His senior brother had found five more—did he actually break into the Immortal Shrine to stock up?
That was the lair of all the immortals in the Blood Luo World!
Realizing this, Luo Feng's eyes widened in disbelief. He abruptly looked up at Jiang Zhe.
"Senior Brother…"
But Jiang Zhe was already flying away, leaving only a graceful dark-purple silhouette behind.
"Your Highness Luo Feng, please come with me. We mustn't keep the Palace Lord waiting." Merock urged.
"Sorry to trouble you. Let's go."
Luo Feng carefully put away the world storage device and walked alongside Merock. A few minutes later, they reached the staircase leading to the second floor of the palace.
Meanwhile—
The massive Golden Horned Beast lay like a mountain range of black rock. It extended a right claw, taller than the Himalayas, to take a tiny world storage device and slip it between the scales on its chest.
Jiang Zhe boarded an F-class spaceship, escorted by an immortal squad back to the Primal Secret Realm.
Over three months of travel, Jiang Zhe devoted himself entirely to comprehending the spatial laws, striving to fully master the fourth diagram on the Universe Chaos Monument.
The five scattered beast god statues were all given to Luo Feng.
As for the remaining two three-meter-tall jade-gold beast god statues, Jiang Zhe kept both. Though they appeared identical—both representing complete gold-space fusion laws—Jiang Zhe felt there was a subtle difference.
Not because he'd discovered anything, but due to intuition.
Neither he nor his silver-armored clone cultivated the gold origin laws, so they couldn't discern the differences. Better to set them aside for now.
Returning to the Primal Secret Realm, entering the Wuchen Spacetime, and informing Bermington, Jiang Zhe went back into his stilted bamboo house to continue his retreat.
More than four years passed in the blink of an eye.
"The fourth diagram… I've mastered it."
Seated cross-legged, Jiang Zhe opened his eyes and whispered.
His expression was calm, eyes like deep, still pools—yet if you stared long enough, they seemed more like black holes, containing scenes of galaxies being devoured.
A thought stirred. A dim silver Hand of Space-Time appeared, wrapping around his left arm, its thunder dragon carvings lifelike.
As spiritual force poured in, 8,748 steel needles rose. Every 972 faintly formed a group, interconnected by dark-purple threads, condensing into nine three-foot-wide "thunder planets" orbiting Jiang Zhe.
"Seventh level—Wandering Stars!"
Jiang Zhe manipulated the nine mini-planets, moving in intricate orbits, spinning and revolving like a precise cosmic system.
Their aura perfectly aligned with the fourth "Planet Diagram" on the Chaos Monument, while also carrying hints of the Heaven-Eclipse Palace Lord's black fireball techniques.
The nine planets changed speed unpredictably, giving an illusion of time distortion—accelerating, slowing, unpredictable… almost impossible to defend against.
Jiang Zhe immersed himself, merging four years of insights with lethal techniques.
If one were to evaluate his mastery of the Hand of Space-Time, it equated to the ninth tier, third layer—enabling his Divine Spirit Gold Sword to phase through space like teleportation.
After a long while—
The planets exploded one by one, the 8,748 needles returning to embed in his armguard.
Jiang Zhe stood up and stretched.
"Anna, what year is it roughly now?"
"Master, it's year 2260 of the Hanxia Calendar."
Jiang Zhe raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? About two years left until the Universe-Level Qualification Tournament?"
"For you, Master, that's just a formality."
Jiang Zhe said nothing.
Not to mention the universe-level tournament—even the domain lord-level tournament, at the power level he had fresh out of the Initial Universe, would've been a massacre.
Among the universe-level members, the strongest aside from him had only reached the eighth level of the Tongtian Bridge.
Among the domain lord members, the strongest aside from him had only reached the eleventh.
"Anna, take me to the Tongtian Bridge—"
Mid-sentence, he changed his mind.
"Forget it. Take me to the Tongtian Mountain dimension first. Let's turn that billion points into 'accounts receivable.'"
Virtual Universe — Tongtian Mountain Dimension
In the endless wilderness stood three towering mountains, each taller than the last.
Halfway up each was inscribed with two golden glowing characters: "Heaven & Earth," "Primordial," and "Original."
Jiang Zhe gave them a quick glance before turning into a streak of light, flying straight toward the Original Tongtian Mountain.
At the foot of the mountain lay a burly minotaur, snoring loudly with drool dripping onto the dark rocks. A monstrous axe rested nearby.
Sensing something, the minotaur opened his eyes in confusion. Seeing Jiang Zhe, his expression turned to delight. He bounced up like on springs, laughing heartily.
"Here to challenge the Original Tongtian Mountain?"
"Mm. Call your two teammates out," Jiang Zhe nodded.
"Haha, finally, some new toys!" The minotaur howled to the sky. "White Ape, Snake Woman, get out here—customers!"
His voice became a tangible sound wave that spread across the land.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two figures flew over from different directions.
A thin ape-man in silver armor carrying a black bamboo pole—he was the spiritual force controller.
And a seductive snake woman in sheer veils—she specialized in illusions.
Warrior, controller, illusionist—the three mainstream cultivation branches combined to conduct the Tongtian Mountain trial, making it a truly high-standard test.
"Hehe, it's been ages since anyone dared to challenge the Original Tongtian Mountain," the ape-man greeted Jiang Zhe with a nod, then gave a weird laugh.
"Ssss~" The snake woman flicked her tongue seductively. "Let me see which esteemed—"
Just then, a system message from the Virtual Universe arrived. Her alluring eyes went wide, and she forced an awkward smile.
This wasn't a toy delivered to them—he came to find toys!
"Your Highness Jiang Zhe, so you've finally come to challenge the universe-level Original Tongtian Mountain." The snake woman was very polite, hoping to avoid a brutal beating.
"Snake woman, what's gotten into you?" the minotaur asked, puzzled.
"Fool! This is His Highness Jiang Zhe. Back in the Initial Universe, he cleared the twelfth level of the Tongtian Bridge. Odds are, today we'll witness another genius clearing the universe-level Original Tongtian Mountain and going down in clan history," the ape-man jumped up and slapped the minotaur on the head.
"Let's start. I know the rules," Jiang Zhe said calmly.
"Alright, His Highness can't wait any longer. Let's begin!" The minotaur roared, grabbing his huge axe. Instead of fear, Jiang Zhe's reputation only made him more fired up. "White Ape, Snake Woman, attack! Now!"
A snort—
Two streams of white air shot from his nostrils. The minotaur stomped heavily, shaking the earth, then instantly charged Jiang Zhe, raising his glowing earth-yellow axe high.
Slicing through space, cracks formed wherever the axe passed.
The ape-man leaped onto a rock, throwing his black bamboo pole. It suddenly stretched, breaking into nine segments connected by countless threads, forming a whip-like spiritual weapon.
Tier 3 Spiritual Weapon — Arc Snake!
It struck like lightning, faster than the axe, aiming for Jiang Zhe like a venomous serpent.
The snake woman also acted, her eyes flashing purple. An invisible force surged into Jiang Zhe's mind.
Inside Jiang Zhe's mind—
A black hole appeared, swallowing the invasive force entirely without a ripple.
Active soul defense art — Black Hole Devour!
"Ugh!" The snake woman instead suffered backlash, groaning pale.
"Pathetic," Jiang Zhe said bluntly. He shot her a look, and a simple mental blast smashed into her.
"Arrogant!" she snapped—then crumpled, lifeless, her mind turned to mush.
Without even donning his Dark Crystal Ninefold Body armor, Jiang Zhe merely coated his fist in a layer of black light, turning it as solid as the minotaur's head—a black hammer.
Ninefold Fist!
He shattered the Arc Snake whip with a punch, dispersing its spiritual force. The ape-man broke into cold sweat, unable to reform the weapon immediately.
"Old Bull, watch out!" he managed to shout.
Jiang Zhe hammered the axe with an upward punch. The force traveled through the handle into the minotaur's arms.
Crack! Crack!
Bones shattered. The minotaur's eyes bulged. His arms went limp, unable to hold the axe.
It flipped back, smacking him and sending him flying.
Jiang Zhe launched after him like a cannonball, leaving ghost images. Each ghost's right fist gleamed darker.
Ninefold Fist again!
The Arc Snake tried to intercept, but was smashed to pieces. The ape-man's attacks couldn't keep up with Jiang Zhe's terrifying space-time burst speed.
Jiang Zhe caught up to the minotaur—
Boom!
The black hammer fist exploded the minotaur's head.
He casually blocked the next Arc Snake strike, smashing it again, then appeared before the ape-man in an instant.
Seeing the dark "hammer" enlarge before him, the ape-man could only think:
The gap is just too great.
And then his head was gone.
At the mountain's base lay three corpses. Silence returned.
Jiang Zhe shook off the black energy on his fist.
"230 years old, and I'm still the same kid I used to be… smashing skulls for fun."
He looked up the mountain, then soared away, stepping on his Void Core toward the mountainside.
In the Virtual Universe Company's design, the mountainside guardians were ten times stronger than those at the foot, and the peak was ten times stronger than the mountainside—bait to spur members onward.
Once in countless eras, a true genius would conquer it, bringing rare joy to the upper echelons.
Jiang Zhe… wasn't even a surprise. Many top figures had long expected him to clear the universe, domain lord, and realm lord levels of the Original Tongtian Mountain.
From the base to the peak, Jiang Zhe slaughtered his way up. None of the guardians could withstand even a single Ninefold Fist.
The snake woman's illusions shattered under a glance, making her the most useless burden.
On the peak, Jiang Zhe calmly shook his hand as if flinging away filth from the recent battle.
At his feet lay three tragic headless corpses.
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