Chapter 1313

On the day the Genius Battle preliminary round began, the entire human universe erupted in excitement.

"The Genius Battle is about to start—have all personnel been assigned?"

"Assigned. Each leaderboard has been assigned dedicated observers."

"Good. Anyone who makes the leaderboard is a prodigy of our cosmic nation—we must not miss a single one!"

"Understood!"

"You represent the Tuka race! The honor of the beastmen shall gather upon you now!"

"Ula! Ula! Ula!"

In the Beastmen Star System, countless massive, muscular beastmen gathered, radiating scorching battle intent!

"The Life Goddess protects you—go! Show the strength of the elf race!"

On the Mother Tree of the Label Star System.

Moonshadow, of the royal elf lineage, stood cold and detached.

Behind her trailed countless other elves participating in the Genius Battle.

In the Noah Empire, Xu Jingming, Lu Yunji, Yuli, and others had long prepared.

Ye Lan, being a Star Rank, could not compete and watched the event alongside the other women.

Teacher Lu Wen, Teacher Nikki, and numerous Immortal deities of the Noah Empire.

Even the Emperor of the Noah Empire, the Immortal Rank Nine who founded it, was watching this grand event!

"The Genius Selection Battle is about to begin—prepare all contestants!"

"Countdown 100... 99... 98......"

The majestic voice echoed throughout every corner of the virtual universe.

The Star Torch Cosmic Nation is divided into 100 competition zones.

Xu Jingming is in Zone 65, Lu Yunji in Zone 18, Yuli in Zone 23.

Su Qingli and Hearing Ling Shuang were lucky—they were placed together in Zone 45.

When the countdown ended, every contestant in the virtual universe instantly teleported away!

The Cosmic Genius Battle hosted by the Eternal Star Alliance.

Simultaneously initiated across the entire human cosmic territory!

Meanwhile, in the virtual universe.

In the sky of the Star Torch Cosmic Nation, 100 massive leaderboards slowly appeared.

These massive leaderboards stretched thousands of kilometers—visible clearly from anywhere.

They displayed real-time changes in each zone's contestant scores, allowing everyone to check rankings.

Zone 65.

Xu Jingming's vision blurred—and when it cleared, he was in another dimension.

"This is Zone 65?"

Xu Jingming swept his gaze around, taking in the surroundings.

He was inside a skyscraper, facing a massive transparent floor-to-ceiling window.

Through the window, the neon lights outside were easily visible.

"So this zone has been set as a modern environment," he realized at once.

In the Star Torch Empire, all 100 zones had randomly generated environments.

Crackling—

Brilliant golden Doushen Shenlei erupted violently, swirling around his body.

"The power of Hao Tian Shen Lei remains unchanged, but my physical strength..."

Xu Jingming casually tested it.

Indeed, the Eternal Star Alliance had set all contestants' bloodline and spiritual force to identical levels.

Roughly 5 billion bloodline and 5 billion spiritual force.

Weaker than his real-world state, but inconsequential.

After all, the Lightning Law and the Domain of Destruction remained unchanged from reality.

Meanwhile, on his right arm's smart bracer, an information panel appeared.

'Name: Xu Jingming (Noah Empire)'

'Score: 0'

'Rank: None'

'Remaining Time: 9 days 23 hours 56 seconds'

'Note: Each enemy contestant slain grants 1 point plus half of the opponent's current score. Death ends the match and halves your total score. The battle ends after 10 days; final rankings determined by total score.'

"The rules resemble the Global Genius Exchange Tournament back on Blue Star."

"But the virtual universe's realism far surpasses Blue Star's virtual world—indistinguishable from reality."

Xu Jingming looked down.

He wore a black B1-class combat suit.

On his finger, a space ring held a B1-class long spear.

The spear resembled Blue Star's Obsidian Spear and could be summoned at will.

These were his only equipment.

Boom—!!

Suddenly, a tremendous explosion echoed from afar!

The entire building swayed gently.

"Someone's moved." Xu Jingming raised his sword-like brows.

"Boom——~"

The earlier disturbance was like a starting pistol.

After that, booming sounds erupted all across the city.

The entire building trembled violently!

There was no help for it—Starlight Rank Nine experts could easily destroy a city.

This building had been specially reinforced by the Virtual Universe; otherwise, it would have collapsed long ago.

"Ha! Found you!"

A streak of emerald light flashed past the window.

A young man with a wild grin appeared in Xu Jingming's line of sight, outside the floor-to-ceiling window.

Just entering the competition zone, most people were still familiarizing themselves with the environment.

Even when they fought, they kept the commotion confined to a small area.

To launch straight into flight like this shows great confidence in one's strength.

In truth, he was indeed a prodigy from the sacred land of a mid-level civilization universe state.

"I'm taking your points!"

The young man grinned, ready to burst in.

Yet Xu Jingming merely lifted his eyelids slightly.

Sizzle—!!

A golden Lei Guang flashed— the young man outside the window had no time to react.

In an instant, he was obliterated by lightning.

In terms of strength, he ranked among the top two hundred thousand out of ten billion contestants in the entire zone.

He could only say he was unlucky—he'd chosen Xu Jingming as his target, and finished the preliminary round with the worst score.

"A trash with only the sixteenth layer of Wind Domain—where did he get such confidence?"

Xu Jingming's expression remained utterly unmoved.

Not just in Competition Zone 65—likely not a single person in the entire Star Torch Empire could match him.

"At the Global Talent Exchange Competition on Blue Star,

I kept a low profile until the seventh day before acting.

This time, my goal is first place in the zone—I'll be more conspicuous."

Sizzle!!

A flash of golden Lei Guang—Xu Jingming smashed through the window and flew outside.

Then, he slowly rose into the air.

"Hah! Where did this fool come from, daring to rise like that?"

"Flaunting his brilliance! Seeking death!"

"Damn, I'd feel guilty if I didn't hit him a few times!"

"......"

The city had many tall buildings, ideal for concealment.

Even those confident in their strength who dared to fly did so only over the city's center.

But Xu Jingming, rising into the air, soared above the buildings, exposing himself to everyone's view!

These people wouldn't show any mercy.

Instantly, fireballs, wind blades, lightning...

Countless ranged killing techniques bombarded Xu Jingming from all sides.

Yet Xu Jingming had no intention of dodging.

On his handsome, calm face, he uttered two words: "Doushen Shenlei."

As soon as he spoke, the air within a ten-kilometer radius froze solid.

Time itself seemed to halt at that moment.

The next instant.

Blinding golden Lei Guang erupted from Xu Jingming's body, spreading wildly in all directions from him.