Chapter 2

Thunderstar, the most prosperous core region.

A magnificent, breathtakingly tall building stood here, surrounded by lawns spanning several kilometers—something almost unimaginable in this prime, land-valued core zone.

Yet passersby walking past showed no sign of disapproval; their eyes instead brimmed with envy.

For this was the ‘Cosmic River Bank’!

Whoosh!

The surrounding space trembled slightly, then a figure appeared before the Cosmic River Bank’s main entrance—it was Lu Qingshan, arriving from his seclusion.

The death of Seventh Son Lu Hongguang had indeed deeply saddened Lu Qingshan, but he quickly adjusted his state within a short time.

First, after countless eons, most of Lu Qingshan’s relatives had already passed away; he had long grown accustomed to it.

Second, in Lu Qingshan’s plan, as long as he successfully broke through to Immortality, he would inevitably seek refuge under Luo Feng’s protection; once Luo Feng reached the pinnacle, he could surely ask him to resurrect his loved ones.

Even if a Cosmic Lord could not revive those who perished from lifespan limits, once Luo Feng became a Primordial Master, he would surely be able to do so—merely requiring more waiting time.

“Fourth-tier client?”

After Lu Qingshan stepped through the Cosmic River Bank’s entrance, the branch manager stationed on Thunderstar immediately received a system alert and hurried over to greet him at top speed.

After all, becoming a fourth-tier client required deposits of at least ten thousand Yuan units—such clients numbered fewer than ten across the entire Lei Guang Sea Star Region!

Moments later, in the top-floor lobby of the Cosmic River Bank.

“Lord Lu Qingshan!” the branch manager bowed respectfully.

Though he belonged to the Cosmic River Bank, he still had to show utmost respect to a noble fourth-tier client.

“I need to transfer funds,” Lu Qingshan said calmly.

His main purpose in coming to this Cosmic River Bank branch was to transfer the deposits from Seventh Son Lu Hongguang’s account into his own.

Though he didn’t know how much money was in Lu Hongguang’s account, even a dozen Yuan units would equal the accumulated wealth of his entire family over a thousand years.

“Lord Lu Qingshan, may I ask which account you wish to transfer from?” the branch manager asked respectfully.

“9655, 7342, 9573...” Lu Qingshan quickly recited the Cosmic River Bank account number left by Seventh Son Lu Hongguang.

“Please wait a moment!”

After accurately entering the account number, the bank manager continued: “Lord Lu Qingshan, since you are not the account’s owner, you must verify bloodline affinity before proceeding.”

Saying this, the manager swiftly retrieved a precision bloodline-detection device from one side of the lobby.

Seeing this, Lu Qingshan immediately understood it was a precaution set up by Seventh Son Lu Hongguang earlier.

Such situations were common in the cosmos—just as in the original story, Luo Feng needed the exclusive mental force of the Yün Mo Star lineage to claim his master Hu Yanbo’s first inheritance.

Lu Qingshan then activated his intent, swiftly dripping a drop of blood into the precision device.

“Ding!”

“Data matches!”

Hearing the device’s alert, the bank manager bowed again: “Lord Lu Qingshan, please input the triple 4D waveband password. You may choose mental input, voice input, or manual input.”

This triple 4D waveband password changed constantly, calculated from the original password, time, spatial coordinates, and more—it was extraordinarily complex.

Without direct instructions from the account owner, it was utterly unbreakable.

Lu Qingshan activated his intent and swiftly input the immensely complex password mentally.

“Check balance!” Once complete, Lu Qingshan said again.

“Ding!”

With a chime, a line of data appeared on the virtual screen before Lu Qingshan.

“2321.47? Yuan units?”

Seeing the account balance, Lu Qingshan froze slightly.

This wasn’t Cosmic Currency, nor the cheaper Yanfeng Coins—it was Yuan units!

In the cosmos, an ordinary life planet sold for roughly ten billion Yanfeng Coins; one Cosmic Currency equaled 3,300 Yanfeng Coins, and one Yuan unit equaled one trillion Cosmic Currency.

An ordinary Domain Lord, even after a million years of life, could accumulate at most a few hundred billion Cosmic Currency.

Lord-level cultivators had more wealth, but typically only a dozen Yuan units.

Lu Hongguang had gained recognition of the Wind Primordial Law, but his cultivation time was still brief, so his wealth naturally wasn’t great.

Yet now...

“I never expected Seventh Brother’s account to hold this much!”

Lu Qingshan blinked, then thought inwardly: “He must have encountered great fortune in the Outer War Zones—could this be connected to his death?”

“But with my current strength, investigating the cause of Seventh Brother’s death is still too difficult! Fortunately, with these two thousand-plus Yuan units, I now have enough wealth to purchase an Initial Universe Comprehension slot!”

“Once I enter the Initial Universe and successfully break through to Immortality, I’ll find a way to uncover the truth behind Seventh Brother’s death.”

With this thought, Lu Qingshan turned to the branch manager: “Transfer it! Move all funds in this account to the account bound to my spiritual imprint!”

After the transfer completed, Lu Qingshan quickly returned to his cultivation chamber and linked his consciousness to the Virtual Universe.

On the ‘Ice Crystal Island’ under Yanfeng Continent.

This was a beautiful island entirely constructed of transparent ice crystal, dotted with countless sprawling palaces, the central one towering over ten thousand kilometers high.

The Ice Crystal Island was the Yanfeng Branch Office of the Virtual Universe Corporation.

Because the Yanfeng Cosmic Nation was so vast, its branch office naturally operated within the more convenient Virtual Universe.

Whoosh!

As space shifted, a figure clad in standard black robes suddenly appeared before the towering palace on Ice Crystal Island—it was Lu Qingshan, his consciousness linked to the Virtual Universe.

As an external member of the Virtual Universe Corporation, Lu Qingshan naturally had the right to be here.

The person he came to meet was his direct superior, the Immortal Spirit Marsas.

To apply for an Initial Universe Comprehension slot within the corporation, he naturally needed to petition Marsas.

Fortunately, he had already served under Marsas since his Domain Lord stage; after hundreds of millions of years, they had developed some rapport, and Marsas would surely not block his application.

Lu Qingshan pushed open the door and entered the palace hall.

There sat a burly man in white robes—Immortal Spirit Marsas—flanked by two young men in standard black robes.

On Ice Crystal Island, most people could only wear designated robes—even Marsas, an Immortal, was bound by this rule.

Only the three directors overseeing the entire Yanfeng Branch were permitted to wear other attire.

Yet these three directors held extremely high status; Lu Qingshan had joined the Virtual Universe Corporation for hundreds of millions of years and had only seen them a few times!

“Lord Marsas!” Lu Qingshan bowed respectfully upon entering.

“Ah, Qing Shan!”

Marsas, with two silver scales on his forehead, smiled: “What brings you here? Trouble with your duties in the Lei Guang Sea Star Region?”

The Yanfeng Branch had only a few hundred Immortal Spirits, yet the Yanfeng Cosmic Nation spanned thousands of star regions.

Thus, typically, one Immortal Spirit oversaw ten or even dozens of star regions.

The Lei Guang Sea Star Region was one of Marsas’s assigned regions.

But since Lu Qingshan gained recognition of the Lightning Primordial Law, Marsas had gradually entrusted him with the Lei Guang Sea Star Region’s duties, rarely interfering—work that had allowed Lu Qingshan to accumulate great wealth.

“There’s a rather important matter,” Lu Qingshan said.

“Speak.”

Marsas smiled: “Qing Shan, just tell me directly.”

“It’s like this,” Lu Qingshan said quickly: “I heard the corporation has some Internal Initial Universe Comprehension slots for Lord-level members. I’ve come to ask if I can apply for one.”

Lu Qingshan quickly said, “I heard the company has some realm lord-level slots for cultivating in the Initial Universe; I came here today to see if I can apply for one!”

Marsas blinked, then asked curiously: “Those Lord-level Initial Universe slots require three million contribution points. Have you saved enough?”

Marsas wasn’t surprised by Lu Qingshan’s request.

In fact, every Lord-level member of the Virtual Universe Corporation wanted to enter the Initial Universe for comprehension.

After all, Lords who had undergone Initial Universe comprehension had a high chance of breaking through to Immortality—even if they failed, their strength still rose dramatically.

But to enter the Initial Universe, one needed sufficient contribution points.

Three million contribution points were a staggering sum—even for an Immortal Spirit like Marsas, who had worked within the corporation for hundreds of millions of years, let alone an ordinary Lord like Lu Qingshan.

“My contribution points are indeed insufficient,” Lu Qingshan said quickly.

“But I still have some Cosmic Currency—I should be able to gather enough contribution points through others.”

Lu Qingshan quickly said, “But I still have some cosmic coins—I should be able to find someone to help me gather enough contribution points!”

Hearing this, Marsas was surprised: “You’ve accumulated quite a fortune, Qing Shan! You’ve only cultivated for hundreds of millions of years, yet your wealth already surpasses mine!”

“It’s mostly from my family’s long-term accumulation,” Lu Qingshan said quickly.

“To secure this Initial Universe slot, I’ll likely exhaust my family’s accumulated wealth over countless ages.”

“I see,” Marsas nodded slightly.

As the overseer of the Lei Guang Sea Star Region for the Virtual Universe Corporation, he had heard of Lu Qingshan’s family.

When he first took charge of the Lei Guang Sea Star Region, Lu Qingshan’s family was already among the top ten in the region, producing a Lord-level cultivator in every generation.

Through such generational accumulation, they had indeed amassed considerable wealth.

Especially in the past few hundred million years, Lu Qingshan had risen rapidly, becoming a peak Lord recognized by a Primordial Law, and even trained multiple Lord-level children and disciples, making the entire family stronger than ever.

Had it not been for this, Marsas would never have entrusted him with most of the Lei Guang Sea Star Region’s duties.

Thinking this, Marsas said: “Qing Shan, applying for an Initial Universe Comprehension slot is simple—I can submit your application right now.”

“But know this: the corporation’s internal Lord-level slots are much cheaper than auction prices, so many Lords and even Immortal Spirits are watching. To secure one, you’ll need to put in extra effort.”

“But you must know, the realm lord-level slots for cultivating in the Initial Universe within the company are usually much cheaper than auction prices, so many realm lord experts—even immortal deities—are watching them! If you want to secure a slot, you’ll need to put in considerable effort!”

"Thank you, my lord, for the reminder!" Lu Qingshan said quickly.

He had been plotting for millions of years to secure this slot, so he naturally knew all about these matters.

“Then let’s do this!”

Malsas continued: “I’ll give you a virtual universe network ID. He’s one of the officers in the Military Department responsible for reviewing initial universe enlightenment slots, and he’s a close friend of mine. Just tell him I sent you—he’ll help you out, and your application will go smoother.”

As he spoke, Malsas winked at Lu Qingshan.

Lu Qingshan instantly understood.

Malsas was clearly hinting that bribing the officer in charge of reviewing the slots would make it easier to obtain an Initial Universe Enlightenment Slot at the Lord Realm level.

But since they were inside the Virtual Universe Network, this could never be said outright!

Of course, the implication was unmistakable.

Still, the Virtual Universe Corporation’s high command generally turned a blind eye to such things—as long as no one blatantly violated company rules, there would be no consequences.

“Thank you, my lord, for your guidance!” Lu Qingshan quickly bowed and said.

Though he had already devised another plan, since Malsas had recommended a suitable contact, there was no need to trouble his own disciple.

“Alright, I won’t keep you then!” Malsas said with a smile.

“Your servant takes his leave!” Lu Qingshan said promptly, then bowed respectfully and withdrew from the hall.

(End of chapter)