Chapter 5: Chaos Stele

Within the inner courtyard of the Lord Mayor’s mansion stood a serene garden, and on a stone tablet outside its gate were carved three large characters: “Chaos Ruins.”

The courtyard appeared modest in size, yet within it lay an immeasurably vast and desolate space.

Across this desolate land lay countless corpses of wildly varying shapes—some as massive as planets, others less than a meter tall—but all emitted a terrifying aura, far stronger by countless times than the Black Peak King who had once transported Lu Qingshan and his group to the Initial Universe.

At the deepest reaches of this endless land sat a towering figure upon a throne, a man roughly three meters tall and powerfully built.

He wore an ancient, dark red battle armor covered in countless law runes, armored boots on his feet, and a scaled tail extending from his back; his fearsome face bore strange runes and two fiery red horns.

This was the Chaos Lord, the true ruler of the Virtual Universe Corporation and a genuine supreme powerhouse among humanity.

“Hmm?”

As Lu Qingshan and his group entered the Chaos City, the Chaos Lord paused slightly: “Someone dares to possess a human powerhouse and then enter the Initial Universe?”

“So they’re remnants of the Yanji Continent’s original inhabitants!”

After probing the details, the Chaos Lord understood: “Ever since the four great clans jointly eradicated the Yanji Continent’s original inhabitants, their enmity with humanity has been deep as the sea. Yet they never had a Universe Master among them—now they likely have no Universe Lords left at all, and certainly cannot comprehend the power of a Universe Master!”

“This youngling managed to possess one of our kind and ascend to the peak of the Domain Lord realm—not bad at all.”

The Chaos Lord sighed: “But those not of our kind harbor different hearts. Enough—join your kind in oblivion.”

With a thought, the Chaos Lord made one of the Domain Lord peak warriors in Lu Qingshan’s group vanish—as if they had never existed.

Lu Qingshan and his group, even the guiding emissary leading them, sensed nothing.

Then the Chaos Lord’s gaze turned outward: “Guiyi.”

Instantly, a bald man clad in crimson battle robes appeared before him.

Though suddenly teleported into the Chaos Ruins, Guiyi, the Venerable One, felt no surprise—such events had occurred countless times over countless eons.

If the Chaos Lord summoned him here, it meant he had an order to give.

“Master!” Guiyi bowed respectfully.

“Among the Domain Lord youths entering the Initial Universe, one was possessed by a remnant of the Yanji Continent’s original inhabitants.”

The Chaos Lord ordered directly: “Since this one reached Domain Lord peak and earned a chance to contemplate the Chaos Stele, he likely holds status in his homeland—possibly sheltering other Yanji remnants. Send someone to handle this.”

“Yanji Continent remnants?” Guiyi blinked in surprise.

Long ago, to open the Outer Seventh Battlefield, the four peak clans had swept through a vast star region around the Star Tower—their original inhabitants suffered greatly, and the Yanji people were among them.

Guiyi himself had been one of the human warriors who opened that battlefield, and the Yanji Continent had been one of his assigned zones.

After slaying several Universe Lords on Yanji, he had even seized several unique rune weapons of the Yanji clan—but they were useless to him; he kept only one to give to a disciple and sold the rest at high prices to other human powerhouses.

Yet Guiyi recalled only briefly, then quickly replied: “Master, rest assured—I will handle this thoroughly. Not a single Yanji remnant hiding within our human territory shall escape.”

“Hmm.” The Chaos Lord nodded slightly. “You may go.”

“Yes, Master.” Guiyi bowed respectfully.

Boom!

Space twisted, and Guiyi’s form vanished from the corpse-strewn wasteland.

…

As the Chaos Lord gave orders to Guiyi, the black-robed guiding emissary led Lu Qingshan’s group into a dreamlike corridor within the Lord Mayor’s mansion.

Along both sides of this dreamlike corridor hung countless mysterious paintings.

“These paintings on the corridor walls are copies of the fifty Chaos Steles within the Chaos City.”

The black-robed emissary gestured to the mysterious paintings and explained: “Though these copies cannot fully reveal the mysteries of the original steles, they will give you a preliminary sense of them.”

“According to our city’s rules, every cultivator entering the Initial Universe receives one chance to contemplate a Chaos Stele—seven days each.”

“Only seven days?”

“Why so short?”

The Domain Lord warriors around them stared in disbelief.

Didn’t each of them normally train for thousands or even millions of years at a time?

Seven days meant nothing to them.

“Silence!”

The black-robed emissary frowned and said sternly: “Do you know what the Chaos Stele is? Even a Universe Nation Lord—the greatest of beings—never contemplates one for more than seven days.”

“What?”

“That’s impossible!”

The surrounding Domain Lords erupted in shock.

In their minds, a Universe Nation Lord—ruler of a vast cosmic nation—was already the pinnacle of humanity’s strength.

Even such beings needed to contemplate the Chaos Stele? And only for seven days each time?

“Hmph!”

The black-robed emissary sneered: “Now you understand how precious this artifact is. Without coming to the Chaos City, you’d never see such a treasure in your entire lives.”

“Moreover, though you’ve earned one chance to contemplate the Chaos Stele, to gain further access, you must meet certain conditions—and join the core ranks of one of the Five Factions.”

“Some of you are core members of the Five Factions; some are external members; others won your slots through auctions. Core members need no explanation—but you others must decide carefully: if you wish to continue contemplating the Chaos Stele, you must fully join one of the Five Factions.”

“This…”

Lu Qingshan had paid little attention to the emissary’s earlier words—he knew this from the original story—but this last part surprised him.

The difference between external and core members of the Virtual Universe Corporation lay in freedom.

External members still enjoyed considerable freedom—even the right to refuse missions assigned by the Corporation.

But core members must obey all orders absolutely, unless they reach a certain power level.

The super-talents within the Corporation’s core were like this.

With their cultivation speed, many could break through to Immortality even if they simply trained safely in seclusion.

Yet the training missions and life-or-death trials assigned to them by the Corporation? They could not refuse.

Of course, these missions greatly enhanced their strength.

But for Lu Qingshan, they meant nothing.

According to his own plan, once he became Immortal, he could simply rest.

All he needed was to assist Luo Feng before his rise—and his future would be secure.

But if he fully joined the Virtual Universe Corporation, and they assigned him dangerous missions, he might face fatal risks.

“Forget it—for now.”

Lu Qingshan thought inwardly: “Let me first see how my initial contemplation of the Chaos Stele goes. If I can become Immortal, I won’t need to fully join the Corporation.”

At that moment, the black-robed emissary spoke again.

“Now, examine these fifty copied paintings and decide which Chaos Stele you will contemplate.”

The black-robed emissary said solemnly: “But remember—you each have only one chance. Once chosen, it cannot be changed.”

“You have half an hour to decide. Begin.”

After giving these instructions, the black-robed emissary stepped aside and waited quietly.

Half an hour was tight—everyone immediately began searching for the most suitable Chaos Stele.

Silence filled the air as all stared intently at the paintings, sensing the faint mysteries within.

Lu Qingshan’s gaze swiftly scanned every painting on the walls—each ten meters long and ten meters wide, with the corresponding Chaos Stele’s name beside it.

Some paintings depicted withered yellow leaves; others showed raindrops; still others, sharp blades of light…

After more than twenty minutes, Lu Qingshan quickly narrowed his choice to two paintings perfectly suited to him.

The painting representing the “Cosmic Ultimate Chaos Stele” stirred his time-origin law—the one he had barely crossed the threshold of—with profound resonance.

Even this faint copy had such an effect—how much greater would the true Cosmic Ultimate Chaos Stele be?

The painting representing the “Heavenly Thunder Chaos Stele” aided his lightning-origin law most, yet its effect was weaker than the Cosmic Ultimate Stele’s impact on time-origin law.

Of course, Lu Qingshan knew this was merely an illusion.

He felt the Cosmic Ultimate Stele helped him more because his time-origin law was barely past the threshold—likely unable to even pass the first level of the Heavenly Bridge.

His lightning-origin law, however, had long been recognized by the Origin Law itself, reaching a high level—enough to pass the ninth level of the Heavenly Bridge—so its effect from the Heavenly Thunder Stele painting was naturally subtle.

“Choosing the Cosmic Ultimate Chaos Stele would let me make rapid progress in time-origin law.”

Lu Qingshan thought inwardly: “But right now, my most urgent goal is to break through to Immortality before my lifespan expires. Time-origin law can wait until after—I’m certain the Heavenly Thunder Chaos Stele, created by humanity’s supreme powerhouses, also contains sections on time-origin law.”

Indeed, this was true.

Among the fifty Chaos Steles, there were roughly three types.

One type, like the “Great Axe Chaos Stele,” focused on secret techniques, using them to perceive origin laws; another, like the “Cosmic Ultimate” and “Nine Cosmos Chaos Steles,” focused primarily on time-origin or space-origin law; the last, like the “Heavenly Thunder Chaos Stele,” began with a lower-origin law and gradually progressed to higher-origin laws.

For true geniuses, the first two types were ideal.

But for Lu Qingshan—a common genius who took millions of years to gain recognition of a lower-origin law—the Heavenly Thunder Chaos Stele was clearly the best choice.

Thank you to reader v for the 100-point reward; thank you to reader Shining Morning Star for the 2000-point reward. Future updates will be posted at 6:30 PM unless otherwise announced.

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(End of Chapter)