Chapter 232: The Stirrings of All Sides

In a majestic palace atop Thunder Island in the Virtual Universe.

The palace was pitch black and completely shrouded in thick chaotic currents; even a Universe Dominator-level being appearing here could not detect its presence.

The master of this palace was one of humanity's most mysterious Universe Lords—the younger brother of Hun Dun Chengzhu, the Lord of Darkness.

As one of humanity's hidden supreme powerhouses, only the Axe Founder and other Universe Lords knew of his existence.

As for others, even the three top Universe Dominators, lacked the authority to know of him.

Inside the Lord of Darkness's palace, several humanity Universe Lords had already gathered, along with the Axe Founder, the strongest being in the Universe.

"Darkness!"

Beside him, Hun Dun Chengzhu said with deep concern: "How is your situation now?"

"It's not good!"

The Lord of Darkness quickly said: "While competing for a peak-level treasure weapon inside the Universe Vessel, I encountered the Pure Eye Lord and Wu Hun Lord of the Eye Clan!"

"Neither of them is weaker than me, so I abandoned the treasure immediately—but after they seized it, they still relentlessly pursued me!"

"Damn it!"

"Those madmen of the Eye Clan!"

"Those scum of the Eye Clan—they're desperate because their lifespans are nearly over, and they've become insane whenever they encounter other powerhouses!"

Upon hearing the Lord of Darkness's words, the other Universe Lords around him erupted in fury.

The Axe Founder quickly said: "Darkness, what's your current situation?"

"I'm fleeing aboard a peak-level palace treasure; the Pure Eye Lord and Wu Hun Lord can't catch me yet!"

The Lord of Darkness spoke grimly: "But they previously said they've notified the Seventh True Lord of the Eye Clan—who possesses the palace-class supreme treasure 'Ice Cliff Fortress.' When he arrives, I'm likely doomed!"

"Damn the Eye Clan!"

Upon hearing this, the Axe Founder snorted coldly: "They must've seen you alone and thought you were an easy target—planning to kill you and steal your treasures!"

"There's nothing I can do!"

The Lord of Darkness shook his head: "I was too impulsive—I didn't retreat immediately after seeing the Pure Eye Lord and Wu Hun Lord, and they locked onto me!"

"Here's my plan: I'll flee into the 'Crying Wind Sea Region.' It's incredibly dangerous—even a fifth-rank Universe Lord would struggle to survive. I'm sure the Pure Eye Lord and Wu Hun Lord won't dare follow me there!"

"And what about you?"

Lord Bingfeng quickly said: "Once you enter the Crying Wind Sea Region, your main battle avatar will likely perish!"

"Let it perish!"

The Lord of Darkness said coldly: "Even if I perish, I won't let my treasures fall into the hands of the Eye Clan!"

"I'll do my best to hide my treasures before I die—then, Axe, you'll have to go to the Crying Wind Sea Region and see if you can recover the treasures I leave behind!"

"No problem!"

The Axe Founder nodded quickly: "Your treasures are extremely valuable even to all of humanity—I'd go myself!"

"I'm currently traversing the Bi Guang Lake Region—I estimate it will take only a few years to reach the Crying Wind Sea Region!"

Moments later…

"I've entered the Crying Wind Sea Region—the Pure Eye Lord and Wu Hun Lord have stopped chasing me, but they haven't left either!"

The Lord of Darkness continued: "I suspect they're waiting for the Eye Clan's Seventh True Lord to arrive so they can search for my relics after I perish!"

"Axe, I think you'd better not come yet—if you meet the Eye Clan's Seventh True Lord, you'll be at a disadvantage!"

"Hmph, damn the Eye Clan!"

Upon hearing this, the Axe Founder snorted but said nothing further.

In truth, one-on-one, the Axe Founder feared no one—and could even suppress the Eye Clan's Seventh True Lord with full power.

But the Eye Clan's Seventh True Lord possessed the palace-class supreme treasure 'Ice Cliff Fortress,' so he feared no one.

If the Axe Founder truly clashed with the Eye Clan and other True Lords arrived, without a supreme treasure to protect him, he would suffer greatly.

"My main battle avatar has perished!"

The Lord of Darkness quickly said: "I split my important treasures into two parts—they're heading in these two directions. After the Eye Clan's Seventh True Lord leaves, Axe, you can go search for them!"

Upon hearing this, the humanity Universe Lords all felt a deep gloom.

The Lord of Darkness's main battle avatar carried several peak-level treasures—including a peak-level palace treasure and a peak-level soul treasure. His death, while not crippling humanity, would still cause them great pain for a long time.

But the one who killed him was the Eye Clan—the strongest force in the Universe—and humanity dared not publicly retaliate.

"If the Original Ancestor hadn't been sealed away!"

Qingdong Zunzhe couldn't help but say: "If the Original Ancestor hadn't been sealed, the Eye Clan would never dare provoke humanity!"

Upon hearing Qingdong Zunzhe's words, the other Universe Lords all sighed inwardly.

But at that moment, they all received an email from the Tianqiao Realm Warden, Guardian Bafen.

"An email from Warden Bafen?"

The Axe Founder blinked in surprise, then quickly opened the email.

The email recorded that Lu Qingshan had passed the twenty-first level of the Thunder Tianqiao.

"Another member of humanity has reached the Venerable Realm!"

After reading the message, the Axe Founder's gloom lifted slightly: "Lu Qingshan, the King of Wan Jie? A young one from the Virtual Universe Corporation?"

"Had peak-level Wang-level strength before breakthrough? Created a peak-level secret art in the Immortal stage—this kid has real potential! And he's your unofficial disciple, Bingfeng?"

"Correct!"

Lord Bingfeng nodded quickly after reading the email: "I only just took this kid as my disciple—never expected that after only a few thousand eons, he'd reached the Venerable Realm. I underestimated him!"

"This kid has the ability to create avatars—once properly cultivated, he'll surely become a major pillar of humanity!"

"Avatar ability?"

Upon hearing Lord Bingfeng's words, Peng Gong Zhi Zhu also became interested: "Among humanity's Venerable Realm cultivators, only a hundred or so possess avatar ability—now we have one more!"

"Hmm, a Universe Venerable with the ability to create clones is indeed worth cultivating properly!"

The Great Axe Founder nodded slightly, then continued, "Lord Bingfeng, since this little one is your disciple, you shall arrange the matters from here on!"

"Rest assured, I will arrange everything properly!" Lord Bingfeng Zhi nodded quickly and said.

In fact, under normal circumstances, if a Universe Venerable appeared in the race, especially one possessing the ability to create clones, the Great Axe Founder and others would certainly be quite happy, perhaps even drinking heartily.

But now, the Dark Lord's main combat clone had just perished; this was a huge blow to the entire Human Race, so they naturally found it difficult to be happy about Lu Qingshan breaking through to the Universe Venerable realm.

After all, in their eyes, even a hundred Lu Qingshans combined were not worth the precious treasures lost after the Dark Lord's demise this time!

Virtual Universe, Hong Alliance City, Inner City.

In a rather magnificent hall, three figures were currently conversing.

Two of them bore forms quite similar to ordinary humans; one had long silver hair, crystal-clear skin, eyes that faintly glowed blue, and a purple mark on his Marquis Meixin; the other stood over two meters tall, wore a black battle armor, looked quite ordinary, yet radiated a powerful aura.

If Lu Qingshan appeared here, he would discover he had seen both of them before; they were precisely Dream Moon Venerable and Sovereign Beihai, who had just broken through not long ago in the Human Race.

As for the third person, he was Dream Moon Venerable's master, the 'Lonely Shadow Venerable' possessing the strength of a Mid-tier Universe Venerable!

Lonely Shadow Venerable's strength was quite ordinary among the many Universe Venerables of the Human Race, and he had no background, so his status was not particularly high;

As for Dream Moon Venerable, it was even more so; although the time he took to break through to the Universe Venerable level was very short, his strength before the breakthrough was ordinary, and after breaking through, he wasted many precious resources, so naturally his strength ranked at the bottom among the many Universe Venerables of the Human Race!

And although Sovereign Beihai had only broken through a thousand years ago, he possessed strength close to that of a Hei Fengwang before his breakthrough, so immediately upon breaking through, his strength was already quite close to Lonely Shadow Venerable's.

Furthermore, since Sovereign Beihai was a disciple of You Hou Zhi Zhu, his status was naturally somewhat higher than Lonely Shadow Venerable's.

Therefore, after Sovereign Beihai's breakthrough, Dream Moon Venerable and his master invited him to a banquet.

Unfortunately, there were simply too many people wanting to invite Sovereign Beihai, so it was only now that he accepted their invitation.

At this moment, the three of Sovereign Beihai were drinking heartily together, and Lonely Shadow Venerable, who had cultivated the longest, was even recounting some strange and bizarre events in the universe.

But just as Dream Moon Venerable and the other two were drinking heartily, they simultaneously received a message from Guardian Bafen, the Planetary Guardian of the Sky-Connecting Bridge.

"A message from Guardian Bafen? Could it be that the new disciple I accepted has cleared the eighteenth layer of the Sky-Connecting Bridge?"

Thinking this, Dream Moon Venerable moved his mind, and quickly opened the message.

Over four million years ago, a rather dazzling genius appeared in the Human Race; after joining the Great Axe Martial Arena through the Peak Genius Tournament, he cleared the fifth layer of the Sky-Connecting Bridge within thirty years of cultivation in Chaos City.

Precisely because of this, Dream Moon Venerable accepted him as a disciple at that time.

Now, over four million years have passed, and that disciple of his has long since cleared the seventeenth layer of the Sky-Connecting Bridge; his strength is sufficient to rank within the top twenty among the World Master-level geniuses of the Human Race.

But after reading the message content, Dream Moon Venerable was slightly stunned; the message displayed news that Lu Qingshan had cleared the twenty-first layer of the Sky-Connecting Bridge.

"This, this..."

Dream Moon Venerable's face was full of surprise: "I didn't expect that Ten Thousand Worlds King to have truly broken through to the Universe Venerable realm?"

He must remember that he had once invited Lu Qingshan to explore a Secret Realm together.

At that time, when Lu Qingshan said he wanted to enter seclusion for deep cultivation and break through to the Universe Venerable realm, Dream Moon Venerable actually did not take it seriously!

In his eyes, even if Lu Qingshan cultivated in seclusion for hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of eras, it would be very difficult for him to break through to the Universe Venerable realm.

But now, only a few thousand eras have passed, and that Ten Thousand Worlds King Lu Qingshan has broken through to the Universe Venerable realm?

Although the time Dream Moon Venerable took to break through to the Universe Venerable realm was much shorter than Lu Qingshan's, he understood in his heart the huge gap between himself and Lu Qingshan.

After all, Hei Fengwang-level experts, after breaking through to the Universe Venerable level, are able to possess the combat power of a Mid-tier Universe Venerable, whereas his current strength is quite ordinary even among Low-tier Universe Venerables!

On the other side, after reading the message content, Sovereign Beihai's face also showed a look of shock.

"I didn't expect Ten Thousand Worlds King to have broken through to the Universe Venerable realm so quickly either!"

After sighing, Sovereign Beihai could not help but recall his somewhat arrogant attitude at the banquet earlier.

Actually, this could not be entirely blamed on him.

After all, when he was still at the Immortal God realm, Beihai Wang's strength was slightly inferior to Lu Qingshan's, so after breaking through to the Universe Venerable realm, he naturally found it hard to avoid feeling somewhat proud.

But he didn't expect that just as he had broken through, Lu Qingshan turned around and broke through as well.

If Lu Qingshan's strength could suppress him at the Immortal God stage, then naturally, after becoming a Universe Venerable, he would be able to suppress him by a margin.

And a more important point was that Lu Qingshan also possessed the ability to create clones, which many experts envied greatly.

"This is truly incredible!"

Lonely Shadow Venerable, standing nearby, drained the fine wine in his cup, then could not help but sigh, "I didn't expect that only a thousand years have passed, and after you, Sovereign Beihai, another Universe Venerable has appeared in our Human Race!"

"Indeed!"

Dream Moon Venerable also sighed, "I originally wanted to invite Ten Thousand Worlds King to explore a Secret Realm together; I didn't expect that only a few thousand eras have passed, and Ten Thousand Worlds King has broken through to the Universe Venerable realm!"

"The appearance of another Universe Venerable in our Human Race is also something worth celebrating!" Sovereign Beihai quickly raised his cup and invited.

In a remote corner of the universe, far from the Human Race's territory, within the territory of the ordinary Universe race known as the 'Lord Jinjiao Race'.

In the core region of the Lord Jinjiao Race's territory, a vast continent with a diameter of ten trillion kilometers has been built; this is the holy land of the entire Lord Jinjiao Race.

Inside the Lord Jinjiao Race's holy land, a team of experts from the Human Race is currently staying as guests in the Holy City.

These Human experts are members of the Transportation Department of the Virtual Universe Company, responsible for transporting supplies to the Lord Jinjiao Race, and one of them is Lu Qingshan's sixth disciple, Huo Gesi.

The reason they came to the Lord Jinjiao Race this time, besides transporting supplies, was naturally to obtain some benefits from the Lord Jinjiao Race.

It is worth mentioning that the reason Huo Gesi was able to obtain this rare opportunity at the Early-stage Marquis realm was because Lord Heifeng, one of the supervisors of the Transportation Department, fought for it on his behalf.

At this moment, Huo Gesi was being led by Lord Iron Furnace of the Lord Jinjiao Race to the Lord Jinjiao Race's Secret Scripture Tower to select secret manuals.

"Young friend Huo Gesi!"

On the way to the Secret Scripture Tower, Lord Iron Furnace said with a smile, "Tens of millions of years ago, your master, Ten Thousand Worlds King, once visited our Lord Jinjiao Race's Secret Scripture Tower; I didn't expect that today you would have such an opportunity!"

"I have also heard of this matter!"

Huo Gesi quickly said, "Moreover, my master once told me that the Lord Jinjiao Race is one of the best allies of our Human Race, and the relationship with our Human Race is extremely close! After selecting the secret manuals this time, I must also visit King Tawen in the Tawen Tribe on behalf of my master!"

"The Tawen Tribe now has two Hei Fengwang Immortals!"

Lord Heifeng quickly said, "I am quite familiar with Hei Fengwang 'Si Fanqi' of the Tawen Tribe. Since you, young friend Huo Gesi, intend to visit the Tawen Tribe, we can depart together shortly!"

"Then I thank you, Lord Heifeng!" Huo Gesi quickly expressed his gratitude.

Of course, while thanking Lord Heifeng, Huo Gesi also sighed inwardly at the power of his master, Lu Qingshan.

To be sure, this time he had arrived at the Lord Jinjiao Clan alongside numerous Marquis-level experts from the Transport Department, following a Hei Fengwang Immortal, yet his treatment within the Lord Jinjiao Clan even surpassed that of the peak Marquis-level experts traveling with him, being only slightly inferior to the leading Hei Fengwang Immortal.

And the reason he could obtain such treatment was naturally because he had Lu Qingshan, this great pillar, behind him.

Soon, under Lord Heifeng's guidance, Huo Gesi selected many precious secret manuals within the Lord Jinjiao Clan's Secret Scripture Tower.

But just as he had left the Lord Jinjiao Clan's Secret Scripture Tower, he suddenly received a message from Lord Heifeng, one of the Transport Department's supervisors.

"A message from Lord Heifeng?"

Huo Gesi was slightly stunned, then quickly opened the message.

And after reading the content of the message, Huo Gesi stood there completely dumbfounded.

"This... this..."

Huo Gesi's heart was undoubtedly extremely excited at this moment: "My master has actually become a Universe Zifeng Zunzhe?"

Huo Gesi wanted to verify the authenticity of the news within the Virtual Universe, but with his strength and status, he lacked the relevant permissions.

But just then, he soon received messages from several Hei Fengwang Immortals, including one from his junior brother 'Stretchie'.

And the content of the messages was naturally all news that Lu Qingshan had broken through the twenty-first layer of the Heaven-Connecting Bridge and become a Universe Zifeng Zunzhe.

After confirming the authenticity of this news, Huo Gesi was naturally even more excited.

"I knew it!"

"I knew my master would definitely become a Universe Zifeng Zunzhe!"

And while Huo Gesi was excited in his heart, the face of Lord Heifeng beside him suddenly showed a look of surprise.

Moments later, Lord Heifeng turned to look at Huo Gesi: "Young friend Huo Gesi, Elder Klemans of my Lord Jinjiao Clan wishes to see you; please follow me!"

"This..."

Hearing Lord Heifeng's words, Huo Gesi was first slightly stunned, then quickly realized that Elder Klemans had once attended Lu Qingshan's banquet.

"It must be that Elder Klemans has learned of my master breaking through to Universe Zifeng Zunzhe!"

Having guessed the reason, Huo Gesi immediately reacted, then calmly followed Lord Heifeng to the Elder's Temple.

(End of this chapter)