Chapter 108: Arena Free‑for‑All Begins

The Milky Way matters are temporarily paused, and Xiao Yu arrives at Qiu Long Star Cosmic Star River Bank.

Withdraw money.

This time he wants to withdraw 15 Mixed Yuan Units, a total of 15 million cubic meters of Universe Crystals.

On Qiu Long Star, 15 Mixed Yuan Units are an enormous sum, and extracting Universe Crystals requires a one‑week advance application.

Now Xiao Yu is not only a Three-star Rank major client of the Cosmic Star River Bank, but also the Black Dragon Mountain Empire's largest planetary custodial client, paying at least 36 trillion Black Dragon Coins to the bank each year, equivalent to 11 million Cosmic Coins.

Naturally, he received an extremely warm reception from Barentin Hof, the branch manager of Qiu Long Star.

"Honored Lord Xiao Yu, please follow me," Barentin said, leading Xiao Yu to the doorway of a heavily guarded reception room.

"Please go in," Barentin stood at the door, opening it for him but not entering.

Xiao Yu entered the room, a modest space sealed everywhere with metallic panels; in the center were two tables and chairs, and a middle‑aged man in white sat on a chair.

"Sir, you still need to sign here," the middle‑aged Domain Lord produced a tablet, its screen displaying the withdrawal terms and amounts.

In the blink of an eye, Xiao Yu tossed the Space Ring back to the middle‑aged Domain Lord and said, "The transaction is complete."

Another 40 Mixed Yuan Units had been entrusted to Luo Hua for investment three years ago; by last year they had grown to over 100 Mixed Yuan Units, but Xiao Yu did not withdraw them and kept them under Luo Hua's management.

When Xiao Yu entered, the man stood up, and a laser beam emitted from his wrist brace, scanning Xiao Yu's entire body.

Xiao Yu signed his name and the date, completing this large‑scale withdrawal.

The whole room was permeated with faint strands of Spatial Fundamental Law energy.

Spiritual energy enveloped all the Universe Crystals, activating the sensed Spatial Origin Power, and the full 15 million cubic meters of Universe Crystals swiftly entered Xiao Yu's own Space Ring.

"Confirmed," Xiao Yu nodded without hesitation, noting that his account now held only a little over 15 Mixed Yuan Units of Universe Crystals.

In the massive training arena, 100 meters high, most of the Universe Crystals were extracted from the Space Ring, leaving only 100,000 cubic units for daily cultivation.

"Huh!" the middle‑aged Domain Lord exclaimed in surprise.

He had followed the previous Talent War and knew Xiao Yu was famous for the Lightning Law, but did not expect Xiao Yu to have also comprehended the Spatial Law, and not merely a hint of Spatial Fundamental Law energy.

"Identity confirmed, transaction permitted!" a mechanical voice announced.

A total of 15.79 million cubic meters of Universe Crystals were stacked nearly 16 meters high in the training arena.

"Then how will you pack it?"

The middle‑aged Domain Lord's complexion shifted, but he said nothing.

Even the Cosmic Star River Bank is reluctant to give away a Space Ring capable of holding 15 million cubic units outright in such a transaction.

Judging by his aura, he must be a Domain Lord Level strongman.

"Ha ha," Xiao Yu chuckled, then seized the Space Ring from the Domain Lord's hand, scanning it mentally to confirm the quantity was correct.

With Barentin's respectful farewell, he left the Cosmic Star River Bank and returned to his grand castle.

Xiao Yu floated in the center of the training arena, his mind shifting.

The middle‑aged Domain Lord produced a Space Ring and laughed, "Mr. Xiao Yu, are you sure you want to withdraw 15 Mixed Yuan Units of Universe Crystals?"

"The system absorbs all the Universe Crystals in the training arena."

【Absorbed 15,798,695 cubic meters of Universe Primordial Energy crystals, gaining 157,986 Wish Gold Coins and 9,500 Wish Silver Coins.】

The Wish Gold Coins have already fulfilled the earlier wish to enslave Mother Empress Irina.

Xiao Yu flew into the planetary docking port, boarding a blood‑red Disc-shaped Spacecraft to return to Earth.

The former Guotai vessel has now been handed over by Xiao Yu to his family for traversing the entire galaxy; not only did he give them the spacecraft, but he also specifically purchased two Universe-level Ninth-tier Spiritual Mind Masters as bodyguards to escort them.

To ensure his family's safety, these bodyguards will not rebel; Xiao Yu promised that as long as they guard his family for three hundred years—even if they never reach Domain Lord Level—they will be granted freedom and at least one hundred life planets as reward.

Whether they will eventually leave is another matter.

Soon, time came to July 16, 2066, the day before the arena battle, and Xiao Yu was still in the dark universe.

In the Virtual Universe, on one of the floating continents above the Qianwu Continent, there is an enormous conference hall.

The conference hall is extremely large, with rows upon rows arranged.

Xiao Yu, Hong, Luo Feng, and Lei Shen sat in the front rows; the conference venue held a hundred thousand people, many discussing, noisy and bustling.

Suddenly.

"Quiet!" a deep voice boomed, and the entire conference hall fell silent.

A man in a silver robe appeared on the high platform at the front of the conference hall, his gaze sweeping over the 100,100 people below.

"The Qian Wu Universe Country has a total of 100,100 people who passed the preliminaries." The silver-robed man pointed to his side, and instantly a huge screen appeared, displaying countless headshots; Xiao Yu was conspicuously among them.

"These 100 who placed first in their respective World Zones directly secure the final spots and are qualified to represent the Qian Wu Universe Country in the peak showdown of many universe countries."

"The remaining 100,000 will compete for the last 900 spots."

"The rules of the arena battle are…"

The arena battle consists of two phases: the arena free‑for‑all and the arena one‑on‑one duels.

In the free‑for‑all phase, the hundred thousand participants are divided into one thousand groups of one hundred each, battling on the same arena; the ten survivors in each group are deemed to have passed the free‑for‑all.

The thousand groups conduct two hundred groups per day; the competition finishes in five days, filtering down to ten thousand people.

Next is the second phase, the arena one‑on‑one duels: ten thousand participants are paired off, winners advance, losers enter the defeat group; after four rounds, 625 winners remain, all of whom advance to Qian Wu Universe Country's top thousand.

As for the remaining 275, they will undergo a cruel and lengthy reincarnation battle within the 9,375 defeat group, with the top 275 by performance advancing.

In the reincarnation phase, each person must fight ten battles daily, totaling 9,374 battles, which will take roughly three years.

"Entering the reincarnation phase is truly cruel!" Lei Shen scratched his bald head, "Being the old third is fine; you don't need all that hassle, just advance directly."

"Don't underestimate the reincarnation battle; those who endure, even if they don't advance, will become supreme geniuses," Hong whispered, "Fighting peers of comparable or superior talent among the ten‑thousands will cause many to see their strength skyrocket within these three years."

Suddenly, in the entire hall, a screen appeared before each genius contender, displaying a number ranging from 1 to 1000.

"Do you see the numbers before you? Those are your group assignments!" the silver‑robed man shouted, "Starting tomorrow, groups one to two hundred will begin; the entire arena free‑for‑all lasts five days and ends after five days."

Luo Feng's number is 382, while elder brother Hong's group number is 161, and second brother Lei Shen's group is 867.

The three were not luckily placed together; they each fought on their own.

"Now the teleportation will let everyone leave; everyone, prepare well." The silver-robed man's voice echoed throughout the hall.

Afterwards, the 100,100 geniuses in the hall all vanished in an instant.

(End of chapter)