Chapter 1312: Tournament Rules! Preliminary Rounds Begin!

Welcome to the Cosmic Human Talent Selection Tournament hosted by the Eternal Star Alliance.

Your identity information has been confirmed; your registration is successful.

Your cosmic nation is the 'Star Torch Empire'; the total number of registrants across the entire Star Torch Empire is one billion.

The first line of the Talent War official announcement shocked Xu Jingming and the others.

Just one cosmic nation had ten billion contestants!

The entire Cosmic Human race consists of ten thousand high-level cosmic nations.

If calculated this way, wouldn't the total number of contestants reach ten trillion trillion?

Ling Shuang drew in a sharp breath.

You should know that the current total population of Blue Star is only ten billion.

And the number of Star Radiance-class experts is fewer than twenty.

The cosmos is vast; within the ten thousand high-level cosmic nations lie countless life-bearing planets.

The Talent War is a human grand event held once every five thousand years; such a number of participants is normal.

The little girl Eva spoke calmly:

'I once participated in the Talent War; our Elf race had even more contestants than a single high-level civilization cosmic nation—fifteen hundred billion. I wonder how many there are this time.'

Though the Elf race is a special subgroup of the Human race, their total population makes up only a small fraction of ordinary humans.

Yet in reality, they are on the scale of a high-level civilization cosmic nation.

'This number is truly terrifying.'

Xu Jingming couldn't help but marvel again at the vastness of the cosmos, then continued reading.

This Talent Selection Tournament consists of two competition phases.

The first phase takes place within each high-level cosmic nation, selecting one thousand contestants.

Across ten thousand high-level civilization cosmic nations, over ten million contestants will be selected.

The second phase pits these over ten million contestants from different cosmic nations against each other to determine the final cosmic-wide rankings.

The first phase is divided into preliminary rounds and arena battles.

Your Star Torch Empire has ten billion contestants.

In the preliminary rounds, one hundred competition zones will be established; the top one thousand from each zone advance to the arena battles to compete for slots representing your cosmic nation.

The number one contestant from each zone automatically earns a competition slot and need not participate in the arena finals.

Note: To ensure fairness, the Talent War uniformly maintains all contestants' vital energy and mental attributes at Star Radiance Ninth Stage standard.

Contestants may freely choose battle suits and weapons, with the highest tier being B1-grade.

The rest of the Talent War announcement contained little more.

Yet after reading it, Lu Yunji and the others felt a heavy pressure settle upon them.

A single high-level civilization cosmic nation had only one thousand qualifying slots.

Yet the number of contestants was ten billion!

'A one-in-ten-billion elimination probability—that's brutal,' Lu Yunji couldn't help but exclaim.

In the Noah Sanctuary, she was still considered a genius.

But within the entire Star Torch Empire, she had only confidence in passing the preliminary rounds.

'The selection within a cosmic nation is merely the beginning.'

'Once you pass, the real brutality begins—fighting against other high-level civilization cosmic nations.'

Xu Jingming smiled faintly.

'That's true.'

Lu Yunji nodded slightly, observing Xu Jingming's calm expression, and asked curiously:

'Jingming, you seem under no pressure?'

In terms of strength, Xu Jingming ranks among the top in the Lingshu Empire.

But remember: within the Star Torch Empire, the Lingshu Empire is only a mid-tier cosmic nation, ranked in the lower-middle among its thirty.

With Xu Jingming's strength, it's uncertain he can even pass the first phase and secure a qualifying slot.

'You'll see when the time comes,' Xu Jingming said mysteriously.

Lu Yunji and the others hadn't accompanied him; their understanding of his strength still stopped at the exchange tournament stage.

Once the Talent War begins, he will give them a great surprise.

As for the selection within the Star Torch Empire, his goal is simple:

Win first place in his zone—then he won't have to fight in the tedious arena battles.

With his current strength, achieving this should be easy.

The real pressure will come later, in the second phase, when he represents the Star Torch Empire against other cosmic nations' prodigies.

After leaving the virtual universe,

Xu Jingming and Ye Lan spent half a day clearing all the Demon race from Silver Glow Star.

Before leaving, Emily, on behalf of Silver Glow Star, expressed their deepest gratitude.

And she pledged that if they ever needed assistance in the future, Silver Glow Star would offer full support.

In response, Xu Jingming directly gave Emily's contact information to Liu Wei.

Blue Whale Company is now expanding into interstellar business; perhaps a trade relationship with Silver Glow Star can be established.

After nearly two days of space travel, Xu Jingming and Ye Lan arrived within the range of the Noah Empire's homeworld.

Upon arriving at the villa on the capital planet, the women's attention naturally turned to Ye Lan, who walked beside Xu Jingming.

When they arrived at the villa on the Imperial Capital Star, it was Ye Lan, who walked beside Xu Jingming, that drew the attention of all the women.

She wore a light purple long dress today.

It accentuated her tall, slender figure perfectly.

The soft, fuller curves shaped by her succubus bloodline peeked faintly at the neckline.

Her slender waist could be clasped in one hand, and her long legs traced alluring curves beneath the hem.

Her face was even more stunning—cold and refined, yet naturally alluring.

"Sister Lan, you're here too?" Lu Yunji and Yuli greeted first.

The women of Hearing Ling Shuang stared curiously at Xu Jingming: "Who is this sister?"

Ye Lan took a deep breath and spoke according to her rehearsed lines:

"I am Ye Lan, a Level One genius of the Noah Holy Land, and also..."

She paused, a faint blush rising on her fair face, "... Jingming's woman."

At these words, the women all understood at once.

"I knew it—Sister Lan would join us eventually."

Yuli's red lips curved upward as she glided forward with graceful steps, her slender hand naturally linking with Ye Lan's arm.

In truth, they had used a few small tricks to claim Xu Jingming before Ye Lan could.

"Tsk tsk, looks like a big battle tonight."

"That figure—too unfair."

"Sister Ye Lan, come sit over here."

"..."

Su Qingli and the others also gathered around.

Their gazes lingered on Ye Lan's graceful figure and breathtaking beauty.

Their tone carried unhidden admiration and affection.

Ye Lan had not expected such a friendly reception.

At first she was a little uneasy, but soon she blended right in with the women.

By nightfall, the women, who hadn't seen Xu Jingming in a while, naturally didn't let him go.

With Ye Lan's addition this time, he nearly couldn't hold out.

One could only say—the succubus bloodline was truly extraordinary.

If anyone else had come, they would surely have been drained dry...

The system panel still had plenty of Source Points left.

To make up for the women, Xu Jingming didn't go to the Noah Holy Land's beast trial zone.

He stayed in the villa, accompanying the women and their one son and one daughter.

Two days passed.

Soon, it was the day the Universe Genius War preliminary round began.