Chapter 136: The Spacetime Tunnel

As Luo Yuan and his companions stepped out of the spaceship, they found more than a dozen men and women in uniforms waiting for them. As they approached, a man with green horns wearing silver battle armor, who appeared to be the leader of the group, stepped forward and said with a touch of respect, "Lord Luo Yuan, Lord Luo Feng, we are here under the orders of the Venerable. Please follow me."

"Understood," Luo Yuan and Luo Feng nodded.

"Sha Wu, thank you," Luo Yuan said, looking back at the lean elder.

The World Lord Sha Wu smiled, "It has been my honor to accompany you both for these past three years."

With that, they parted ways.

Luo Yuan and Luo Feng walked with the green-horned, silver-armored man along a dreamlike corridor. The latter half of the walkway was transparent, offering a clear view of the beautiful starry sky outside and the surrounding mountainous scenery.

"Lord Luo Yuan, Lord Luo Feng," three people were already waiting at the end of the corridor.

"Hmm?" Luo Yuan and Luo Feng looked at them in confusion.

"My Lords, these are the items you purchased. As per your original request, we are completing the delivery here at headquarters," the three men said, offering the items.

Because Luo Yuan had spent the last three years in the Dark Universe and had been practicing in the "Virtual Universe," he had not requested immediate delivery of the three secret manuals he had redeemed with points, nor the nutrient capsules and fluid he had asked the Virtual Universe Company staff to prepare. It had been agreed that they would be delivered at headquarters, as such supplies were generally not permitted in Chaos City.

"Thank you," Luo Yuan said. He took the spatial ring from one of the men, scanned it with his mental energy, and smiled in satisfaction.

***

Shortly after receiving the supplies, Luo Yuan and Luo Feng were led into a large oval hall. The surroundings and the ceiling of the hall were completely transparent; looking up, one could see the infinite starry sky, and in the distance, the beautiful scenery of the headquarters. From time to time, they could see spaceships passing by, and even immortal beings flying past like meteors.

"Luo Yuan, you're here."

"Madman, you've arrived too."

As soon as Luo Yuan and Luo Feng entered, they were greeted by many.

"Rong Jun, Uka, Qian Shui," Luo Yuan smiled and greeted them one by one. Having spent three years in hard training at Rain Mountain, they had naturally interacted much during their time as part of the same intake of young geniuses. Over the three years, aside from a few who were extremely reclusive, most had become friends, or at least could talk and laugh together.

Perhaps many of them had been aloof in the past, but that aloofness was born of loneliness—a lack of finding peers of equal caliber. Since they had all made it into the top 1,000 of the universe-wide genius competition, they at least acknowledged each other's strength, and forming friendships was only natural.

Uka, the youth from the Man Ka Star, laughed, "Come, sit over here."

"Sure."

Luo Yuan looked at the seating arrangement in the hall and could see that the 1,000 people had naturally formed into various circles.

"Boluo," Luo Yuan called out with a smile to the young man in white sitting by the window.

The young man in white glanced over: "Hmm." He merely responded, then turned his gaze back to the scenery outside. During the three years at Rain Mountain, "Death God" Boluo had remained very reclusive, maintaining slight contact with only a dozen or so people and rarely speaking. Yet, through their interactions, Luo Yuan and the others had discovered that while Boluo was cold and aloof, he was actually a decent person.

***

About six hours later, all 1,000 geniuses had gathered.

"Everyone, follow me."

As the 1,000 gathered, a tall, thin man with red eyes, shrouded in an elegant white robe, spoke in a hoarse voice. The aura faintly permeating from him made the 1,000 young people feel a sense of dread, as if an ordinary person had encountered a terrifying venomous snake. After leaving the hall, the tall, thin, red-eyed man released a powerful, irresistible force that enveloped all 1,000 young people.

Whoosh!

They instantly turned into a stream of light. After flying for a few minutes, they arrived before a strange spaceship parked on a lawn, where the man finally set them down.

"Phew."

Luo Yuan let out a sigh of relief. The feeling of helplessness against that cold, oppressive aura had been truly unsettling, and the other geniuses around him felt the same.

"Everyone, enter the ship," the tall, red-eyed man said coldly.

Luo Yuan looked up at the strange vessel ahead.

"Is this a spaceship fused with an immortal-level life form?" Luo Yuan observed the "big fish" before him with great interest. The ship was incredibly peculiar—it was literally a giant fish! Its deep blue body was massive, its tail fin still swaying slightly, spanning nearly a thousand meters in length. Yet, a hatch opened on the belly of this "fish" ship, and through it, one could see the corridors inside.

Except for a very small number of geniuses who seemed to recognize this type of ship, the others looked on in bewilderment. Urged by the red-eyed man, they filed in through the hatch one by one.

Inside the spaceship's grand hall, an intangible pressure kept all 1,000 geniuses from making a sound. Even the dozen other immortal beings on the ship, including the tall, red-eyed man, bowed slightly.

Luo Yuan immediately noticed the man in green battle armor with purple scales standing at the very front. Although he stood there, there was a sense of void about him, making him appear more like a virtual projection than a real person. The purple-scaled man looked at the group of young people and said, "Depart. We head to the Initial Universe."

Boom!

The fish-like spaceship swayed its tail and vanished from the spot in an instant.

In the hall, all 1,000 geniuses dared not utter a sound. When facing the immortals, it was a pure sense of pressure, like a mountain crushing down upon them. But facing this purple-scaled man—whom they could see with their eyes yet felt as though he did not exist—it was completely different. The man wasn't even intentionally exerting pressure.

It was simply that his naturally radiating aura compelled everyone to look up to him.

It was the instinctual submission of life!

"Halt!" A voice like rolling thunder boomed from outside, echoing throughout the spaceship. The pressure contained in that voice caused all the geniuses to feel terror. They felt a sense of helplessness; as Star-level cultivators, with only a few having just broken through to the Universe-level, they knew that if these great beings did not restrain themselves, a single glance could scatter their souls.

A genius, in the end, was only a genius, not a true powerhouse.

"It is I. Open the space-time tunnel," the purple-scaled man said indifferently.

His voice penetrated the spaceship and reached the outside.

"Boom!"

A low sound resonated from outside, and then the spaceship continued forward.

"Hmm?"

"This feeling is so uncomfortable."

"Something is wrong."

All 1,000 geniuses turned pale. Luo Yuan felt his head throbbing; he tried hard to keep his eyes open, but all he could see were chaotic air currents outside.

"We are currently in the space-time tunnel intersecting the Initial Universe and the Original Universe," the purple-scaled man said, looking at the young people, many of whom were pale or had collapsed. "The flow of time in the Initial Universe and the Original Universe is different, which causes the time flow within this tunnel to be chaotic. It will make you feel somewhat uncomfortable."

Of the 1,000 young people, only about 300 could barely manage to stand.

"I can't see clearly," Luo Feng said, gritting his teeth and squinting. Luo Yuan grabbed his arm, helping him stand steady.

About five or six minutes later, the discomfort vanished.