The other candidates in the Death Passageway might be slower to comprehend the Xi Emperor’s Game, but as time wore on, the number meeting the requirement increased at an even more astonishing pace. Golden palace-like light projections had appeared in scattered locations throughout the Death Passageway, and there were already quite a number of them.
“The time allowed for solving the Xi Emperor’s Game is surprisingly long. Looking at it this way, Duandong River must want more candidates for the inheritance. There are already nearly 70 now!”
“Yes, the inheritor cannot be judged solely on comprehension; other aspects must be considered too. So, Luo Feng, who has a slight advantage here, isn’t too much of a concern. My East Emperor Holy Land already has X number who meet the requirement! The further we go, the greater our advantage will be!”
The candidates in the Death Passageway occasionally exchanged hushed voice transmissions amongst themselves.
After all, studying the Xi Emperor’s Game was profoundly abstruse, almost like enduring constant soul attacks. Therefore, depending on the strength of their willpower, they generally had to pause, whether for a short or long period, after a certain interval.
In the virtual universe.
“There are already 69 candidates who meet the requirement.” Even City Lord Chaos felt a rare hint of anxiety. “And as we progress, I believe the number of candidates meeting the requirement will only increase! If this trend continues, Luo Feng’s advantage will shrink.”
“What should we do?”
“The chance for our Human Race to obtain the inheritance is continuously dropping.”
Eight Universe Masters and the Giant Axe Creator were gathered together. These eight Universe Masters included figures like the Lord of Darkness, the Lord of Void Gold, the Lord of Desolate Mirror, and the Lord of Azure East—leading figures among the Human Race’s high echelon. Although they were either in the Apex Sector or on the Universe Boat, not inside the Tomb Ship, they remained deeply concerned about the proceedings.
Everyone knew…
This inheritance trial was a silent war! This war would determine who could transcend reincarnation, deciding the fate of the Third Holy Land Universe!
“Stop getting agitated.”
The Giant Axe Creator laughed heartily. “Worrying about this won’t help. Let Luo Feng focus on his comprehension with peace of mind! As for us, let’s go adventure and clear our minds. Are we supposed to just stare here while they study for ten thousand years or more?”
“Mmm.”
“But…”
“Alright, alright, let’s all return,” the Giant Axe Creator waved his hand.
In an independent plane, mist swirled around stone pillars, each supporting a three-dimensional phantom image.
Luo Feng and a white-robed man—the Primal Ancestor—were both present. Of course, Luo Feng himself was entirely unaware that the Primal Ancestor was nearby.
“This 2000th level is truly difficult,” Luo Feng stood before the phantom image of the 2000th level endgame. Three thousand years had passed. Seeing other candidates meet the requirement one by one during this long period did indeed put pressure on him. He somewhat understood Duandong River’s intentions—Duandong River clearly didn't want to place all his bets on him alone for now.
“This inheritance!”
“Since I was already leading, I must expand that advantage and secure this inheritance.” Luo Feng’s determination was immense.
“And ever since I started cross-referencing my study of the secret methods and the Xi Emperor’s Game, my comprehension speed has clearly accelerated,” Luo Feng thought to himself.
Since he solved the 1000th level endgame last time, he had begun a new research cycle. Eighty percent of his time was spent on the Xi Emperor’s Game, twenty percent on the Ninth Abyss Secret Method, with occasional breaks to hone his willpower…
Indeed!
Just as he suspected, the secret method and the Xi Emperor’s Game shared commonalities. By cross-referencing them, he gained insight and his progress soared. The first 1000 levels took 500 years. At a normal pace, solving the 2000th level should take ten times that amount of time, or even longer.
But now, in five times the time it took for the first 500 years, he was close to solving the 2000th level.
“It seems this Luo Feng…” The white-robed man nearby glanced over and nodded slightly. “He should be finishing the 2000th level soon. If he can solve the 2000th level, with his comprehension and foundation, creating a fusion of the strongest secret methods shouldn’t be difficult.”
“Impressive,” the white-robed man silently praised.
Perhaps the numerous candidates in the Death Passageway didn't fully grasp it, but the Primal Ancestor, having studied the Xi Emperor’s Game for 3000 years (which equates to 30 million years with the 10,000x time acceleration), knew much more.
The Xi Emperor’s Game…
It required extremely high comprehension! It required extremely high deduction skills! In short, the deeper one studied the Xi Emperor’s Game, the easier it became to comprehend laws, research laws, and create secret methods. While it seemed easy for those candidates to break through the first bottleneck now, that was merely the first hurdle.
The bottleneck for Immortal Gods: the 500th level! The bottleneck for Universe Masters: the 1000th level! The bottleneck for Universe Lords: the 1500th level! The bottleneck for the Strongest in the Universe: the 2000th level!
“For those with extremely high aptitude, spending enough time to break the first bottleneck isn't hard. Like the Strongest in the Universe—each has forged their own unique path. Opening a miniature universe, their comprehension is already extraordinarily high; given enough time, every one of them can solve the 2000th level,” the white-robed man knew this clearly. “But this is only the first bottleneck. The second bottleneck will require ten or even dozens of times longer. And beyond that, no amount of time spent will allow for a breakthrough.”
For instance, a Universe Lord stuck studying the 1998th level…
Impossible to solve!
Even after ten thousand, a hundred thousand, a million years, or even an entire reincarnation era, they couldn't solve it! Because that was their limit, unless their foundation, comprehension, or other aspects underwent a fundamental change.
“This Luo Feng has easily broken through the first bottleneck and has now reached the second,” the white-robed man nodded secretly. “And his speed is this fast, clearly indicating that this is far from his limit.”
“Indeed!”
“He truly has a high probability of becoming a Strongest in the Universe.”
“If he obtains Duandong River’s inheritance this time, his possibility of transcending reincarnation in the future might even be very high.” A smile involuntarily appeared on the white-robed man’s face. He had been studying the Xi Emperor’s Game here these past years, so he had observed all of Luo Feng’s movements. He knew which phantom image Luo Feng studied most often. Thus, he clearly understood the speed of Luo Feng’s progress.
Luo Feng had been accepting the inheritance for 3000 years. The Death Passageway was eerily silent, golden palace light projections scattered everywhere, surrounded by even more vast numbers of candidates. These “golden palace light projections” represented those who had met the requirement.
“Ding! Dong!” The familiar sound echoed in the hearts of every expert present.
All experts looked up.
“It should be the 70th one, right?”
“I wonder who the 70th person to meet the requirement is. It should be someone from our Primal Chaos Universe by now; it can’t always be the First Reincarnation Era and the two Holy Lands, right?”
“It’s our Second Reincarnation Era’s turn.”
They thought to themselves.
Clearly, the two Holy Lands and the First Reincarnation Era held the vast majority of candidates who met the requirement. The Second Reincarnation Era and the Primal Chaos Universe were at a relative disadvantage, with far fewer.
“I am very pleased,” Duandong River’s voice sounded.
“Huh?”
A shock ran through everyone’s hearts. Even those who had momentarily paused their study of the Xi Emperor’s Game looked up. Pleased? Duandong River was pleased? They had never seen such a thing.
Duandong River stood in mid-air, smiling as he looked down upon the nearly one hundred thousand experts of various races packed below, all eagerly watching. Duandong River smiled and said, “The Human, Yin, has broken through the second bottleneck and reached a new level.” Whoosh!
A wave of shock rippled through the crowd.
Everyone turned their heads, looking toward Luo Feng, the Lord of Yin, whom they had almost forgotten about in recent years.
“Rise!” Duandong River pointed his finger from afar.
Immediately, a crystal pillar rose from the ground next to Luo Feng with a grinding sound. Once the pillar was fully raised, its surface began emitting dazzling red light. This hazy red light merged with the previous golden light of the palace, causing the entire light palace to display a dual color: gold and red.
The gold-red palace enveloped Luo Feng.
Luo Feng himself was somewhat stunned… Wait, did those who met the requirement receive differential treatment? Yes, he had just solved the 2000th level, but still…
Luo Feng was shocked.
The other factions were even more astonished and couldn't comprehend it. They had assumed that once the requirement was met, everyone was treated the same, but now it seemed… completely different.
“I said,” Duandong River looked at the many astonished faces below. “The more levels of the Xi Emperor’s Game you solve, the greater the benefits, and the greater the rewards during the inheritance.”
“Breaking through your respective first bottleneck counts as meeting my baseline requirement. Of course, this is merely the baseline. If one cannot even meet the baseline, they naturally have no right to advance further.”
“And breaking through the second bottleneck is like the Human, Yin,” Duandong River continued. “So, even among the candidates, we can delineate four distinct tiers. I will casually name four titles: Outer Candidates, Elite Candidates, Core Candidates, and Inheritors!”
“Those who met the requirement earlier only count as Outer Candidates.”
“Someone like the Human, Yin, counts as Elite.”
“The next level up is Core.”
“The level above that directly leads to the Inheritor, who bypasses competition and screening to directly receive my Duandong River inheritance.” Duandong River’s gaze fell upon the seven Strongest in the Universe. “You seven have already nurtured miniature universes, possessing greater strength and naturally higher bottlenecks. For you, simply solving up to the 6000th level will directly grant the inheritance.”
“Of course, I estimate that the possibility of any of you breaking through the fourth bottleneck to become an Inheritor within the time I require, or directly solving the 6000th level endgame, is extremely, extremely low.”
“So you need to work harder to solve the levels.”
“The more levels solved, the different the tiers, and the different the access to the inheritance later on. For example, right now, the Human, Yin, has a chance of receiving the inheritance ten to a hundred times greater than yours, unless you also break through the second bottleneck.”
“Work hard.” A hush fell over the crowd.
Everyone present finally understood…
So that was how it was. The number of solved levels truly made a fundamental difference. Furthermore, solving enough levels could even directly lead to receiving the inheritance. All other experts would be considered eliminated and failed!
First Bottleneck, Second Bottleneck, Third Bottleneck, Fourth Bottleneck. If one couldn't even break the first bottleneck, they would be eliminated, and elimination meant being annihilated!
This realization caused anxiety to secretly grip all factions, especially knowing Luo Feng had broken the second bottleneck.
“Second bottleneck?” Luo Feng quickly suppressed his excitement and began to think calmly. “The first bottleneck is the 1000th level, the second is the 2000th level. Does that mean the third bottleneck is the 3000th level? In other words, breaking through the 4000th level means directly becoming the Inheritor?”