Chapter 131: A Hundred Thousand Years — Lei Huanwang's Astonishment and Embarrassment

While his second avatar was roaming the extraterritorial battlefield, Lu Qingshan's main body's consciousness had also remained in the Virtual Universe, refining his soul attack techniques under the guidance of his teacher Lei Huanwang.

When facing the first hundred opponents Lei Huanwang had arranged for him earlier, Lu Qingshan won rather easily, spending only a little over a thousand years to defeat the hundredth opponent Lei Huanwang had set up.

But among the many opponents Lu Qingshan encountered afterward, each one became more terrifying, every single one targeting the flaws in his self-created secret technique.

Moreover, in such battles, Lu Qingshan's physical constitution was fixed, so if he wanted to unleash greater power, he had to create even more powerful secret techniques.

Although in the original work Luo Feng only spent a little over a thousand years to create a peak-level secret technique, Luo Feng's progress at the time was praised even by Hun Dun Chengzhu himself.

The vast majority of Hei Fengwang-level powerhouses in the universe, even after spending endless years, mostly only created top-tier secret techniques; only a very small fraction created peak-level secret techniques.

And once a peak Hei Fengwang-level powerhouse creates the peak secret technique best suited to himself, even if he knows no amplification secret techniques and his life gene level is extremely ordinary, he can still possess Hei Fengwang-extreme combat power!

Of course, Lu Qingshan doesn't have that many thoughts right now; he only wants to create his own top-tier soul attack secret technique as soon as possible, one that can rival most Hei Fengwang-level powerhouses at the secret technique level.

But even this single step is as difficult as ascending to the heavens for most people!

And all the opponents Lei Huanwang set up for Lu Qingshan targeted the flaws in his soul attack secret technique; during the battles, he felt as if he had encountered a natural nemesis, and defeating each opponent was extremely difficult.

Just like that, after every battle, Lu Qingshan needed to spend a great deal of time reflecting and researching, then continuously improving his soul attack secret technique.

Sometimes, if he could quickly comprehend the flaw in his secret technique, he might only need several months to defeat an opponent;

but more often, it would take decades, or even a century, to defeat a single opponent!

The most difficult among the first four hundred opponents was an Undying from an ordinary race in the vast universe called the 'Mud Frog Race.'

The Mud Frog Race is a member of the universe's top-tier force, the 'Nine Domain Alliance'; its overall strength should be roughly equal to that of the Jinjiao race before Xiluo Duo perished, and its leader, the Mud Frog Sage, is also a rather famous universe overlord.

Moreover, the strongest members of the Nine Domain Alliance are only some Universe Masters, so the Mud Frog Race, led by the Mud Frog Sage, holds a decent position within the Nine Domain Alliance, and even occupies a region in the universe no smaller than the current Jinjiao race's territory.

The Mud Frog Race's form is similar to a frog, except their bodies are far more massive, and they are quite adept at soul attacks.

Their soul talent shows no special power at the World Master stage—roughly the same as humans of the same level from the Chimei Race—but once they reach the Undying level, the Mud Frog Race's soul talent truly begins to manifest.

Those Mud Frog Race Undying who specialize in soul attacks are all extremely terrifying.

After encountering the Mud Frog Race opponent, Lu Qingshan was stuck for over three hundred years; in the end, he only managed to defeat the opponent by relying on the enlightenment-boost function within the chat group, and subsequently defeated several more opponents.

The opponents he encountered afterward were also increasingly difficult to deal with, and defeating each one required a considerable amount of time; Lu Qingshan even activated the enlightenment-boost function within the chat group two more times.

But even so, by the time he faced the five hundredth opponent, Lu Qingshan had already spent nearly a hundred thousand years.

Hum!

In the endless starry sky, a figure entirely pitch-black as ink suddenly appeared before Lu Qingshan.

It was clad entirely in a layer of black scales, with a body over eight meters long; its saw-tooth-like tail was even longer than its body, a pair of long tusks jutted from its face, and black flames burned in its eyes.

This was the five hundredth opponent Lu Qingshan had encountered—an extremely rare race in the universe, the Soul-Devouring Beast, which had trapped Lu Qingshan for over eight hundred years!

Soul-Devouring Beasts are extremely rare in the universe; although not as rare as the twelve peak races of Starry Sky Beasts, their numbers are even fewer than those of the Zerg Queens.

Moreover, Soul-Devouring Beasts possess two innate secret techniques…

One innate secret technique is their strongest escape method, 'Avatar'; although the avatar formed is not as powerful as the main body, it can dissipate at any time without any loss of strength. Although this innate secret technique cannot compare with the Jinjiao Behemoths' innate secret techniques, it is enough to make countless races in the universe envious;

As for the Soul-Devouring Beast's second innate secret technique, it is an extremely powerful soul attack method called 'Soul Devouring'; once unleashed, it can absolutely pose a tremendous threat to powerhouses of the same level.

When Lu Qingshan first clashed with the Soul-Devouring Beast, with their wills being equal, he even had to expend considerable effort to fully defend against the Soul-Devouring Beast's innate secret technique 'Soul Slaying.'

Of course, as time passed, the impact of the Soul-Devouring Beast's 'Soul Devouring' on Lu Qingshan grew weaker and weaker; it was just that Lu Qingshan had never been able to defeat the Soul-Devouring Beast with his self-created soul attack secret technique 'Soul-Slaying Sword.'

Hum!

The moment the Soul-Devouring Beast appeared, intangible, formless virtualized Undying divine power instantly burrowed into Lu Qingshan's body, attempting to directly devour the soul imprints within all his divine power.

At this moment, the ancient, simple bronze bell formed by Lu Qingshan's soul defense secret technique merely trembled slightly, and all the invisible soul attacks vanished.

"Courtesy demands reciprocity! Soul-Devouring Beast, try my 'Soul-Slaying Sword' as well!"

Lu Qingshan snorted coldly, then likewise released intangible, formless virtualized Undying divine power that seeped into the Soul-Devouring Beast's body.

At this point, after Lu Qingshan's continuous improvements, the might of 'Soul-Slaying Sword' had even surpassed the might when Lu Qingshan executed Lei Huanwang's peak soul attack method, making it naturally extremely fierce.

Hum!

Facing Lu Qingshan's attack, the Soul-Devouring Beast actually froze abruptly, seemingly somewhat stunned by Lu Qingshan's strike.

Seeing this, Lu Qingshan's heart also rejoiced, and he immediately increased the output of his virtualized Undying divine power.

The virtualized Undying divine power transformed directly into illusory small swords within the Soul-Devouring Beast's body, then slashed violently, cutting straight toward the opponent's most fundamental soul origin.

On the other side, after suffering Lu Qingshan's attack, the Soul-Devouring Beast quickly unleashed its innate secret technique 'Soul Devouring' once more, though this time its purpose was to defend against Lu Qingshan's soul attack.

In the past, when Lu Qingshan fought the Soul-Devouring Beast, he would always stalemate with it at this point, and then the challenge would end in failure.

But this time, after the illusory small swords collided with the Soul-Devouring Beast's innate secret technique, they still retained some residual force, and then slashed once more toward the Soul-Devouring Beast's soul origin.

Meanwhile, in the outside world, the Soul-Devouring Beast's originally somewhat sluggish divine body now went completely rigid, and its life imprint quickly dissipated along with it, losing all signs of life.

"Hahaha… it worked, it finally worked!"

Lu Qingshan stood in the endless starry sky, gazing from afar at the Soul-Devouring Beast's corpse not far away, and excitement soon appeared on his face.

This five hundredth opponent, the 'Soul-Devouring Beast,' which had blocked Lu Qingshan for over eight hundred years, had finally been defeated by him!

"A top-tier soul attack method!"

Lu Qingshan's virtualized Undying divine power even transformed into illusory small swords within his own body; silently sensing the might of these virtualized small swords, Lu Qingshan's smile broadened: "A top-tier absolute art of my very own!"

Although Lu Qingshan's comprehension of the Laws is still relatively low, and he has only created one form of this absolute art, it has already reached the top-tier category, enough to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with many Hei Fengwang-level soul masters!

Moreover, for Lu Qingshan, this is merely just a beginning!

And just at this moment…

"Unbelievable!"

Accompanied by a majestic voice, a fox-human figure in a purple robe quickly appeared before Lu Qingshan—it was his teacher Lei Huanwang.

Seeing this, Lu Qingshan hurriedly bowed respectfully and said: "Teacher!"

"Disciple, you only spent a hundred thousand years to elevate your 'Soul-Slaying Sword' to the top-tier level—this is truly unbelievable!"

Lei Huanwang could not help but exclaim in amazement: "If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would truly find it hard to believe that you possess such astonishing talent in creating soul attack methods!"

You must understand, even those highly ranked World Master-level powerhouses within the Primordial Secret Realm need hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of years to create a top-tier secret technique—let alone a soul attack secret technique, which is even harder to create!

Lei Huanwang had originally thought that Lu Qingshan elevating the secret technique to an ordinary level over more than a thousand years was already impressive, but he never expected that to be merely the beginning!

Creating a top-tier soul attack method after cultivating for a hundred thousand years; such a heaven-defying thing, Lei Huanwang had only seen in those who emerged after tens of thousands of eras, and in even more genius peerless geniuses!

At the very least, among the many disciples he had taken in before, no one had been able to surpass the current Lu Qingshan in the speed of creating their own secret techniques!

Even Lei Huanwang himself, when creating his first top-tier soul attack secret technique back then, had spent a full several hundred thousand years on it.

Yet after hearing Lei Huanwang's words, Lu Qingshan felt no pride whatsoever in his heart.

After all, the reason he was able to elevate the "Soul-Slaying Sword" to a top-tier level within a hundred thousand years was thanks to the Dao-Elder Gan Wu Enhancement function within the chat group.

If Luo Feng from the original story had possessed such help, he would likely have needed only a dozen or so years to create a top-tier secret technique!

However, this matter naturally could not be spoken of, so Lu Qingshan quickly said, "Disciple was able to elevate the 'Soul-Slaying Sword' to a top-tier level so quickly also thanks to your help, Master!"

"Enough, there is no need for such polite words!"

Lei Huanwang waved his hand, then continued, "Disciple, your secret technique is now considered accomplished. You have already broken through to the High Marquis realm, and with your powerful will, among the High Marquis Immortal Gods, few can withstand your soul attacks. Even a Peak Marquis would likely suffer great influence! If combined with your self-created 'Heavenly Thunder Break', below the King Immortal, your strength can be called top-tier!"

Hearing these words, Lu Qingshan felt a sigh in his heart.

Actually, Lei Huanwang still somewhat underestimated his strength, after all, he had been able to kill a Peak Marquis ten thousand years ago.

Of course, this was not Lei Huanwang's fault; mainly because Lu Qingshan had not challenged the Illusion Realm Sea for a long time, so Lei Huanwang did not know that Lu Qingshan's will was stronger than he imagined!

As for the matter of the clone, Lei Huanwang knew even less!

At this moment, Lei Huanwang continued smiling, "Disciple, your most important task now is to quickly improve your comprehension of the laws. Once you can conquer the eighteenth layer of the Heaven-Connecting Bridge and step into the King realm, relying on your top-tier soul attack method, most Low King Immortal Gods will not be your match!"

"Master, this disciple will surely strive, striving to break through as soon as possible!"

Lu Qingshan answered firmly, then said again, "Master, this disciple wishes to continue challenging the 501st opponent, striving to elevate the 'Soul-Slaying Sword' to the peak level. Please, Master, continue to guide me!"

After hearing Lu Qingshan's words, a hint of embarrassment appeared on Lei Huanwang's face.

For Lu Qingshan to want to continue challenging the 501st opponent was naturally a good thing, but with his own ability, he no longer possessed the skill to continue guiding Lu Qingshan.

After all, even Lei Huanwang himself had currently only elevated his secret technique to the peak level!

He could give detailed guidance on secret techniques that had not yet reached the top tier, but for secret techniques beyond the top tier, with his strength, it was impossible for him to give such detailed guidance as before!

Thinking of this, Lei Huanwang fell silent for a moment, then said somewhat awkwardly, "Disciple, it is not that your master does not want to help you; it is simply that your master no longer possesses the skill to continue guiding you so detailedly!"

"After all, the strongest secret technique of your master is equivalent to defeating only 1100 opponents! When your secret technique level was low, your master could still guide you seriously, but now that your self-created secret technique has reached the top tier, your master no longer has the ability to find suitable opponents for you as before!"

Hearing these words, Lu Qingshan was slightly stunned in his heart, then understood.

In the original story, when Luo Feng created his secret technique, it was the Hun Dun Chengzhu who guided him, and the Hun Dun Chengzhu, whether in secret technique level or law comprehension, could crush Luo Feng, so guiding him was naturally quite simple.

But if the two were of similar realms, like the current Lu Qingshan and his master Lei Huanwang, obtaining such detailed guidance was simply impossible!

Thinking of this, Lu Qingshan quickly said, "Master, this disciple understands!"

Seeing this, Lei Huanwang opened his mouth again, "However, disciple, you need not be too disheartened. Although your master cannot guide you, your grandmaster can easily guide you!"

"However, your master is usually very busy, so you must at least become a King Immortal and qualify to join the Hong Alliance before your master can take you to see him, and then request him to guide you in continuing to create secret techniques!"

Hearing these words, Lu Qingshan's eyes immediately lit up.

Lei Huanwang's master was Venerable Yao Guang, so guiding him to create a secret technique would naturally be very easy.

As for the requirement of becoming a King Immortal, for him, it was merely a matter of time!

Thinking of this, Lu Qingshan quickly nodded and said, "Thank you, Master, for your guidance. This disciple will surely strive to cultivate, striving to become a King Immortal as soon as possible!"

"Mm!" Lei Huanwang nodded slightly.

In his eyes, for Lu Qingshan to break through and become a King Immortal was still relatively simple; at most, it would just consume a bit more time.

And just as Lu Qingshan and Lei Huanwang, master and disciple, were conversing, in another residence not far from Lei Huanwang's mansion, two other figures were also chatting.

One person wore a dark golden long robe and had a tall, burly build, while the other appeared as a youth, standing respectfully before the figure in the dark golden long robe.

These two were Lei Huanwang's friend, the King Limit powerhouse Jing Lei Wang; and Jing Lei Wang's newly accepted disciple from several hundred thousand years ago, the peerless genius of the Heavenly Thunder lineage, 'Luo Gen'!

The reason Lei Huanwang had accepted Lu Qingshan as a disciple back then was because that Luo Gen had joined Jing Lei Wang's sect, and at that time, Lu Qingshan had just conquered the seventeenth layer of the Illusion Realm Sea.

After receiving a message from the Illusion Realm Sea Plane Guardian, seeing that Lu Qingshan, who had once attended his lectures, had given him a gift before leaving Hun Dun City, this sparked the thought of accepting Lu Qingshan as a disciple.

However, what Lei Huanwang did not expect was that Lu Qingshan's subsequent performance would be so stunning; not only did he comprehend all the essences of the Time Origin Law, but he also created a top-tier soul attack method within a hundred thousand years!

Even though Lu Qingshan is currently only a High Marquis Immortal God, his strength among the many disciples under his sect can already rank in the top ten!

"Luo Gen!"

Jing Lei Wang looked at the junior disciple standing respectfully before him, then sighed and said, "I never expected you would ultimately abandon the path of analyzing the essence of the Time Origin Law!"

"Master, this disciple was wrong in this matter!"

Luo Gen, with a long sword carried on his back, quickly said respectfully, "However, the path of analyzing the essence of the Time Origin Law is truly too difficult. This disciple has comprehended for several hundred thousand years, and has only barely comprehended the 74th essence out of the 108 essences of the Time Origin Law! If this disciple continues to comprehend at the current speed, even after several million more years, it is uncertain whether all essences of the Time Origin Law can be comprehended!"

"And over these years, those geniuses who originally joined the Virtual Universe Company along with this disciple have one by one conquered the twelfth layer, or even the thirteenth layer, of the Heaven-Connecting Bridge; the most powerful have already conquered the fifteenth layer. Even Lord Tian Shi has already broken through to become a Universe Zifeng Zunzhe, so this disciple truly cannot bear to wait any longer!"

Hearing these words, Jing Lei Wang also felt a sigh in his heart.

Actually, back when Lu Qingshan and Tian Shi Zifeng Zunzhe conquered the Heaven-Connecting Bridge together, he had mentioned this matter during a conversation with Lei Huanwang and others.

He originally thought Luo Gen could persist, but he never expected that after several hundred thousand years, the other party would still give up!

However, this cannot be blamed on Luo Gen; the path of analyzing the essence of the Time Origin Law is truly too difficult, and even for true peerless geniuses, very few can succeed!

Actually, Luo Gen's talent and comprehension are already considered quite good!

During the past period, Luo Gen, who had stayed at the Domain Master stage for several hundred thousand years because he was always comprehending the essence of the Time Origin Law, had only conquered the ninth layer of the Heaven-Connecting Bridge and remained in the Initial Secret Realm.

It must be known that for geniuses of the Virtual Universe Company, they generally stay at the Domain Master stage for only tens of thousands of years, after all, the entire Domain Master stage has a lifespan of only one million years!

And over ninety thousand years ago, Luo Gen finally broke through shortly after the World Master Qualification War ended, becoming a World Master of the Initial Secret Realm.

And in the time since, after Luo Gen abandoned comprehending the essence of the Time Origin Law, his comprehension of the Time Origin Law absolutely made leaps and bounds; in just over ninety thousand years, he had already conquered the sixteenth layer of the Heaven-Connecting Bridge!

Even in the World Master Qualification War that passed just recently, held every hundred thousand years, he directly rushed into the Primordial Secret Realm!

Unfortunately, in Jing Lei Wang's view, the reason Luo Gen was able to make such leaps and bounds in the past period was entirely due to the accumulation from analyzing the essence of the laws before.

Now that the accumulation is completely exhausted, so conquering the first sixteen layers of the Heavenly Thunder Heaven-Connecting Bridge is probably the limit for Luo Gen after abandoning the comprehension of the essence of the Time Origin Law!

"What a pity!"

Jing Lei Wang could not help but sigh inwardly: "If Luo Gen had persisted back then, even if he was temporarily eliminated to the Heaven and Earth Secret Realm or even the End Times Secret Realm, his probability of becoming Hei Fengwang Immortal in the future would have been far higher than it is now!"

"Now that he has begun to comprehend the deep-layered laws of the Time Origin, it will be much harder to turn back and comprehend the essence of the Time Origin! And to fully understand the sixth image on the Thunder Chaos Stele and become Hei Fengwang Immortal, one prerequisite is to comprehend the essence of the Time Origin!"

"As a result, although my disciple has now returned to the Primordial Secret Realm, the difficulty of him becoming Hei Fengwang Immortal in the future will be far greater than before!"

(End of this chapter)