After arriving at the headquarters, not long after, Gǔ Fēi was led to an oval-shaped hall.
The entire hall was designed with exquisite ingenuity; the surroundings and ceiling were transparent, fully displaying the magnificent starry sky outside to every visitor who stepped inside.
Standing here, it felt as if one were truly in the vast universe, dancing with the stars, singing with the Milky Way, genuinely feeling the mysterious boundlessness of the universe and one's own insignificance, thereby igniting a yearning to become a super expert and traverse the universe.
In the hall, some geniuses who had already arrived were sitting together in small groups.
Where there are people, there are conflicts; in many places, there is a gap between old members and new members.
In the Virtual Universe company, the old members of the four great Heaven and Earth Mystery Realms almost all looked down on these newcomers and rookies who had just been selected through the Genius Battle and joined the core layer.
However, the old members' strength was indeed far greater than the newcomers', giving them the capital for arrogance.
After all, most newcomers would be eliminated by the old members to the next layer of the Heaven and Earth Mystery Realm during their first Heaven and Earth Mystery Realm qualification battle.
Very few newcomers could survive the first Heaven and Earth Mystery Realm qualification battle and remain in their current Heaven and Earth Mystery Realm.
The two sides could be said to be clearly separated, almost never interacting.
However, these newcomers who entered the Virtual Universe company's core layer in the same batch spent a lot of their three-year journey cultivating in the Virtual Universe, having occasional contact.
Over the three years, except for a very small number of extremely solitary individuals, many became friends, at least occasionally gathering for casual chats.
Perhaps many of them were very arrogant in the past, being the top-tier super geniuses in their respective galaxies and star fields, invincible among their peers.
But their arrogance was due to being too lonely, not having encountered excellent opponents of the same level, and naturally having no common language.
After all, dragons do not associate with snakes.
And those who could enter here were all ranked in the top 1000 in the entire universe in the Genius Battle; each one was an unparalleled genius, recognizing each other's strength, so making friends was normal.
Of course, due to the disparity in treatment levels set by the Virtual Universe company from the beginning, there were also relative barriers between different Heaven and Earth Mystery Realms.
Furthermore, members of the same Heaven and Earth Mystery Realm were all in the same district of the virtual headquarters, making interaction convenient.
Therefore, the newcomers in the same Heaven and Earth Mystery Realm naturally had closer relationships, which could be seen from where they were sitting.
Several from the taichu mystery realm sat together, those from the Heaven and Earth Mystery Realm sat together...
Those from different Heaven and Earth Mystery Realms often did not mix; in just three years, the 1000 newcomers who had just joined the core layer had naturally formed various circles.
Those from the doomsday mystery realm were unconvinced by those from the Heaven and Earth Mystery Realm, and those from the Heaven and Earth Mystery Realm were unconvinced by those from the taichu mystery realm...
Geniuses are all proud, especially since the Virtual Universe System directly selected people for battles at that time, and some people were assigned to the doomsday mystery realm or Heaven and Earth Mystery Realm without even having a chance to fight; at that time, many geniuses were unconvinced.
They were all unparalleled geniuses, and none believed they would forever be inferior to others.
What's more, many had humble backgrounds before and lacked good secret techniques; after receiving points gifted by the Virtual Universe company over these three years and purchasing secret techniques to cultivate, their strength had greatly improved, naturally making them even more unconvinced.
Not to mention them, even Gǔ Fēi, didn't he also feel his strength had greatly improved and was eager to move up to the higher Heaven and Earth Mystery Realms?
This is human nature, and it is also the competitive atmosphere that the Virtual Universe company's higher-ups specifically want to cultivate.
The Heaven and Earth Mystery Realm qualification determined by the Genius Battle is not immutable; the capable rise, the incapable fall, as it should be.
In the core layer of the Virtual Universe company, it is like rowing against the current; if you don't advance, you fall back.
...
As time flowed, soon, all 1000 geniuses selected through the Genius Battle had arrived.
"Everyone, follow me, do not resist."
A cold, icy voice suddenly rang out.
Then, a cold and powerful force enveloped the 1000 assembled geniuses, transforming into a streak of light like an iceberg and departing.
"Whoosh"
A moment later, the geniuses, who were trembling from the cold force they couldn't resist, were set down.
Only then did everyone see that it was a black-robed man covered in ice crystals with a sinister appearance who had brought them.
"Everyone, enter the spaceship."
After the geniuses recovered from the cold, the black-robed man covered in ice crystals said indifferently.
Looking up, a massive palace appeared before their eyes.
Its appearance was like a medieval castle on Earth, with towering spires piercing the sky, yet its overall structure exuded an ancient sense of coldness.
The palace surface seemed covered with a thin layer of frost and snow; it was as if even time had frozen before it, and the endless chill seemed capable of freezing the surrounding air.
Under the starlight, the palace appeared exceptionally cold and hard, with countless tiny carvings covering it, depicting ancient and mysterious runes.
They flickered with a faint blue light, like tiny stars twinkling in the night sky. The void around the palace seemed to be devoured by this chill, forming distorted patches of light and shadow.
"Is this really a spaceship?"
Many geniuses were dumbfounded.
However they looked at it, it looked like a palace, just not a universe spaceship.
"It's different from the G-class spaceship I know!"
A genius who seemed to have a particularly profound background muttered to himself.
"This... could it be a flying palace type heavy treasure?"
Gǔ Fēi secretly guessed in his heart.
It wasn't a G-class spaceship, yet it looked like this and emitted such a powerful aura. Combining it with the description in the original work, he guessed this was a flying palace type heavy treasure used by the Your Excellency who presided over the Genius Battle.
It seemed that the universe venerable presiding over this session of the Genius Battle was stronger than Jiu Jian Zunzhe from Luo Feng's session, actually being able to use a flying palace type heavy treasure!
Urged by the black-robed man, Gǔ Fēi followed the crowd and boarded this palace-like spaceship shaped like a castle.
Inside the spaceship, the black-armored silver-horned Your Excellency who had presided over the Genius Battle stood there casually; seemingly indifferent, the invisible pressure he exuded naturally made him the center of the entire scene.
This is a universe venerable. In this world where great power belongs to oneself and the strong are respected, universe venerables not only enjoy supreme status and glory but also possess the terrifying ability to rewrite rules and influence the destinies of countless people.
Presiding over the Genius Battle was just a matter of amusement for them.
There was indeed meaning, as the geniuses from this session of the Genius Battle would all become his subordinates after they grew up.
But to say how much the presiding universe venerable would care was overthinking it.
Gǔ Fēi had read the original work and knew very well that, according to the probability of previous Genius Battles, out of the 1000 geniuses recruited in one session of the Genius Battle, after ten million years, no more than ten would survive to become immortal.
Moreover, their session was a very ordinary and mediocre one.
Having a few more immortal subordinates, or even none who could achieve King-level Immortal, indeed had limited significance for a Your Excellency.
It was no wonder this universe venerable acted so casually and indifferently.
"Everyone's here now. Well then, let's depart for the initial universe."
The black-armored silver-horned Your Excellency lazily glanced at everyone and casually ordered.
The castle-shaped spaceship immediately took off, and moments later, it passed through a checkpoint and entered the universe passage leading to the initial universe.