Amid the gentle breeze, Xiu Miluo strolled leisurely into the villa courtyard. Looking at Huang Tian standing before the cluster of flowers, his expression was tinged with emotion. "I've traveled to thousands of life-bearing planets, including over a thousand native worlds, yet I have never seen anyone who cultivates faster and possesses more overwhelming combat strength than you."
In most people's eyes, cultivating quickly meant an unstable foundation with little real combat ability, making one easy prey for opponents to defeat across cultivation tiers.
Yet Huang Tian not only advanced at lightning speed, his combat strength was extraordinarily terrifying, slaying a Twin-Winged Giant Dragon of the same realm in mere moments!
"If this isn't some fortunate encounter you happened upon, but truly extraordinary natural talent, then it is rare indeed—infinitely rare!"
Xiu Miluo continued in a leisurely tone, "Had you been born on an ordinary life-bearing planet, with this kind of talent, as long as you didn't perish along the way, you would certainly achieve the Stellar rank in the future. The Star Vortex rank would be well within reach, and even the lofty realm of Domain Master wouldn't be out of the question..."
Hearing this, Huang Tian turned to face Xiu Miluo and saw that the latter had revealed his true form. Standing over three meters tall, he resembled a human, except for a pair of silvery-white horns sprouting from his head and deep blue irises.
Seeing Huang Tian remain silent, Xiu Miluo assumed the native was petrified with fear, and continued talking expansively. "What a pity that you were born on an uncivilized native planet that hasn't yet connected with the greater interstellar world. Of course, there's nothing inherently wrong with native planets; it's just that yours happened to catch Lord Fan Ya's eye and was remodeled into a Paradise planet.
"Ah, you probably don't know what a Paradise planet is. In the words of you New Star people, this planet has been overhauled into a game world. All of you will become NPCs, while interstellar players will play the roles of human geniuses or mutant fierce beasts on New Star, leading human civilization to rise or orchestrating its annihilation."
He shook his head gently. "Moreover, this is an endless cycle—a thousand years, ten thousand years, a hundred thousand years... generation after generation, you will never escape your destiny as NPCs. The fate of your civilization was arranged long ago.
"And as the foremost genius and strongest combatant on New Star, the more remarkable you are, the more I pity you. You could have become a renowned, prominent figure, making a name across the vast Galactic Empire!"
As he spoke, the pity in his eyes deepened. "Yet now, none of that can ever come to pass. Your cultivation speed is too fast. If left unchecked, you will inevitably disrupt the progression of the planned storyline. Therefore, you must die!
"However, before that, I'll allow you a few final words, consider it my way of letting you die in peace."
Finishing his speech, he looked down slightly at Huang Tian. But upon doing so, he suddenly realized that there was neither fear nor shock in the other's eyes. Suspicion immediately welled up within him. "Why aren't you panicking?"
Huang Tian raised his head slightly and bared his teeth in a smile.
Boom!
A torrential aura swept out unrestrained, his realm instantly skyrocketing from the second rank directly to the early third rank!
"Stellar rank?!"
Xiu Miluo shrieked involuntarily, his eyes widening into round saucers as though he had seen a ghost, his face filled with utter disbelief.
How could he possibly be Stellar rank!
How could this be!
Only about a month had passed since the Great Change. For a mere native to leap from an ordinary mortal to the Planetary rank was already enough to leave people dumbfounded, but to reach the Stellar rank—
That was utterly impossible by any measure!
Just as Xiu Miluo's mind stalled in shock, three beams of light burst forth from Huang Tian's body: black water, crimson fire, and white metal—three Laws intertwined, spreading and unfurling in an instant to completely envelop heaven and earth in all directions!
"These are... Laws!" Xiu Miluo was thoroughly stunned.
In his more than seven thousand years of cultivation, he had only seen a Law in reality once, and it had been wielded by an expert at the Domain Master realm!
That person was none other than the Emperor of the Galactic Empire!
Even an exalted Domain Master had barely grasped a single wisp of a Law, yet here, right before his eyes, Huang Tian had comprehended Laws—and three of them at that!
A suffocating sense of absurdity rose within him. Xiu Miluo felt that everything he had experienced over thousands of years was not nearly as ridiculous as today!
On what basis?! A mere native—
Just as he was about to roar in outrage, Huang Tian had already stepped forward, arriving directly before him in a flash. His right palm gleamed with crimson fiery light as it slammed thunderously toward Xiu Miluo's chest!
A scorching gale howled. Xiu Miluo's eyes nearly split with fury as he tried to dodge, but the Law of Water filling the surroundings locked space itself into stagnation. He felt completely paralyzed from head to toe!
"No—"
Before the word fully left his mouth, that palm crashed heavily against his chest. Yet the irresistible, colossal force did not send him flying off the ground; on the contrary, he felt his whole body shudder as a surge of overwhelming, alien power poured into him and rushed straight into his brain.
"Ugh..." His eyes bulged, and he immediately blacked out, his three-meter-tall body toppling over rigidly.
Huang Tian reached out, hoisted Xiu Miluo up, and headed straight into the villa's living room. A second later, the two appeared inside. Huang Tian pressed his right hand against the horned head and initiated a soul search!
"...Divine Light Empire, Eternal God, Supreme Paradise Company, Galactic Empire branch, Fan Ya, one year..."
Xiu Miluo's memories were simply too vast. It took a full ten-odd minutes of skimming to get a general picture. From those memories, Huang Tian finally gained a rough understanding of this so-called Paradise Company.
Its full name was the "Supreme Paradise Company." Originally a virtual game development firm, fierce competition had later driven the company to pivot toward creating "real Paradise games"—fencing off specific planets, modifying them into instance worlds, and letting players enter to experience them.
The moment this Paradise game hit the market, it attracted countless wealthy players and generated astronomical profits.
The reason it proved so wildly popular was that although interstellar virtual games could already blur the boundary between reality and illusion—to the point where some people treated virtual worlds as real life, whiling away their days in drunken stupors—the false remained false in the end. It could never become reality.
Many wealthy players were no longer satisfied with experiencing pleasure in a virtual world; they sought the thrill of the real world, which was why the Paradise game was so sought after.
As for why other virtual game companies didn't simply copy the Paradise Company's playbook?
First, blatantly altering native planets to enslave human populations was, much like the slave trade, officially cracked down upon by authorities.
Granted, that crackdown was mostly lip service, or the slave trade wouldn't be flourishing so rampantly in the first place.
Second, the Supreme Paradise Company had deep, unshakable backing. Its founder was named Mo Jia, the fifth son of the reigning Emperor of the Divine Light Empire!
And the Divine Light Empire had been established by a legendary Eternal God!
Although that God had long since abdicated to cultivate in seclusion, Mo Jia was nonetheless a direct descendant and the fifth son of the contemporary emperor, possessing an extraordinary status and boundless authority. On top of that, his own strength was formidable—a Domain Master at the pinnacle of perfection!
It was fair to say that throughout the entire territory of the Divine Light Empire, virtually no one dared to disrespect him. Even virtual game companies with solid backgrounds were unwilling to wade into these murky waters and contest this gray-market business with him.
Over time, he expanded his enterprise across numerous star systems and vassal nations under the Divine Light Empire, of which the Galactic Empire was one. Fan Ya, Miao Sha, and others served as senior executives of the Paradise Company's Galactic Empire branch.
"In about eleven months, the Paradise games within the Galactic Empire's territory will officially launch across the board..."
Huang Tian frowned slightly. Stranded on New Star, resources were exceedingly scarce. Though capturing Xiu Miluo yielded some spoils, it was still far from enough, at most capable of supporting his cultivation to the late Stellar rank.
By then, mutant fierce beast flesh and spirit plants would be far too low-grade to have any effect. Advancing further would depend entirely on absorbing the spiritual energy dispersed throughout heaven and earth.
That was far too slow. Even reaching the fourth rank, the Star Vortex rank, before the game launched would be considered fortunate.
Of course, once he broke through to the Star Vortex rank, his combat strength would suffice to deal with threats from the Supreme Paradise Company. Unless that Eternal God of the Divine Light Empire personally intervened, his life would not be in jeopardy.
Still, the chances of a God intervening were infinitesimally small. Yet no matter how small, placing his safety at the mercy of someone else's whim was clearly unwise.
"Besides, I have no intention of cultivating slowly. Rather than wasting time, it would be far better to seize an opportunity to join a major interstellar power and use their resources to develop rapidly!"
As for how to join, it was actually not that complicated; as long as he could log into the Virtual Universe, everything would be manageable.
The so-called Virtual Universe was known among humanity as the Second Universe. Its coverage was boundless. Regardless of where you were in the cosmos, you could instantly log in and meet or converse with others across tens of millions or hundreds of millions of light-years!
It was truly a miracle!
After all, even light took tens or hundreds of millions of years to travel such spans, yet the Virtual Universe enabled instantaneous, frictionless communication.
"For me, the pressing priority is finding a way to log into the Virtual Universe..."
Huang Tian pondered for a moment, then looked down at the heavily injured, unconscious Xiu Miluo. He did not intend to kill him immediately, as this realm also possessed artifacts similar to life lamps or soul lamps used to verify life and death. If Xiu Miluo died, Fan Ya would be alerted at once, creating unnecessary complications.
Tossing Xiu Miluo aside casually, Huang Tian took a step forward. His appearance shifted dramatically until he became an exact duplicate of Xiu Miluo!
This was the profound wonder of the great divine ability Womb Transformation. With a single thought, one could assume another's form, perfectly mimicking even spiritual energy, divine sense, mental force, and soul!
"However, because the Daos—or rather, the Laws—of the Illusory Realm and the True Realm are not entirely identical, the divine abilities and arts I command are all affected to varying degrees in this realm. Unless I dedicate time to deduce and modify them, it is difficult to bring their wonders into full play. Take this Womb Transformation, for instance; currently, I can only replicate Xiu Miluo's appearance, divine sense, and spiritual energy, but cannot simulate his soul."
Still, it was enough—at least sufficient to deceive the AI Yun'an aboard the starship in the sky.
Whoosh!
He stepped out of the villa and soared into the sky, arriving before a gray starship operating under optical cloaking amidst the clouds.
His divine sense swept across the ship's hatch.
"Beep! Retinal scan confirmed! Mental force scan confirmed!"
The hatch slid open immediately. Huang Tian stepped inside. The corridor was quite wide, the floor like a silver mirror, and soft luminous light drifted down from the ceiling, rendering the interior bright yet serene.
Huang Tian walked without pause toward the ship's storage hold. After another retinal and mental force verification, he entered unhurriedly. Inside sat numerous crates of varying sizes. According to Xiu Miluo's memories, he knew these were mostly filled with exotic ores, spiritual energy weapons, starship power crystals—and, what he needed most, an unregistered consciousness-induction helmet!
In truth, this helmet had come as a complimentary gift with the purchase of the AI Yun'an—five of them in total. Usually, only the poor used them. Anyone with even a shred of status or wealth utilized an AI or an intelligent life-form to assist in logging into the Virtual Universe.
Huang Tian beckoned with his hand, and a small crate floated into his grasp. Carrying the crate, he exited the storage hold, left the starship, and flew back toward the villa. Entering the living room in a flash, he reclined against a white, plush sofa, opened the crate, retrieved the sci-fi-styled helmet inside, and slipped it onto his head.
"Ding! User 9869527, initial account activation and Virtual Universe login detected. Importing data..."
Whoosh—
Huang Tian's vision went dark, then brightened. When his sight cleared, he found himself standing at the edge of a bustling avenue. Traffic surged like water and crowds wove past in endless streams. A casual glance revealed all manner of "people": giants five to six meters tall, hunchbacked dwarfs, cat-tailed maidens, one-eyed men, and handsome men and women with butterfly wings on their backs...
"Coo-coo-ga-ga! Master, allow me to guide your way!"
As he observed his surroundings, a fist-sized penguin—the system sprite that came with the consciousness-induction helmet—hopped onto his shoulder, bobbing its head. "You are currently located on Min'an Star, one of the Twin Stars of the Galactic Empire! Tell me where you would like to go!"
Anyone logging into the Virtual Universe within the territory of the Galactic Empire was automatically assigned to one of two planets: the capital planet, or Min'an Star, the most bustling commercial hub.
However, these two planets inside the Virtual Universe were vastly larger than their real-world counterparts; otherwise, they could never have accommodated the populations of hundreds of thousands of life-bearing planets.
"I want to go to the Saint Martial Arena!" Huang Tian said.
The Saint Martial Arena was universally acknowledged across the Galactic Empire as the prime discovery ground for geniuses. There, one could battle countless opponents of the same realm. As long as your strength was formidable enough and your talent sufficiently outstanding, prominent figures would take notice of you.
These prominent figures included not only heavyweights within the Galactic Empire, but also figures from the Divine Light Empire and even loftier echelons!
Rumor had it that if one's talent reached an unparalleled, once-in-an-eon level, even the supreme mighty figures standing at the absolute pinnacle of the human race would take notice!
"Understood, Master! However, the Saint Martial Arena is quite a distance from here. Would you like to walk or teleport directly? Teleportation costs twenty Galaxy Coins!" The penguin hopped up and down.
"...Teleport!" Huang Tian's eyelid twitched. Fortunately, this promotional consciousness-induction helmet account had a balance of one hundred Galaxy Coins; otherwise, he truly would have had to walk the whole way.
"Understood! Initiating teleportation. Five-second countdown: five, four, three..."
Whoosh—
Another bout of dizzying disorientation struck, and when he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a colossal hall.
Roughly a thousand people were gathered inside, either chatting in small groups or gazing up indifferently at the massive screen overhead. Tens of thousands of match announcements scrolled continuously across it:
"Chevaro (early Stellar) versus Manfor (early Stellar)..."
"Yolanda (early Stellar) versus Madman (mid Stellar)..."
"Raging Bull Gur (Planetary perfection) versus Deadly Flower Rain (late Planetary)..."
Anyone interested in any of these battles could teleport from the hall to the spectator stands. Naturally, spectating cost money as well.
If one wished to fight, there were two options: one was random matching by the Saint Martial Arena system, and the other was issuing a direct challenge to a specific person.
Huang Tian did not opt for a direct challenge. As a newcomer, no one would bother accepting his request. He stated calmly, "System, match me with an opponent!"
"Please select a display name. You may use your real name or choose a code name."
"Call me... Zhonghuang Taiyi."
"Name registered successfully!"
"Opponent matched successfully: Zhonghuang Taiyi (early Stellar) versus Heaven-Suppressing Blade (early Stellar)... Teleportation commencing!"
Hum—
Beneath a blazing sun hanging in the sky, upon a boundless desert, a burly man named Heaven-Suppressing Blade materialized. A ferocious grin was still plastered across his face, and his broad saber had only just been raised when a streak of flowing light flashed by in the blink of an eye!
Squelch!
A severed head tumbled to the ground, leaving only an echo ringing in the air:
"Next!"
Chapter 269