During the Primordial Steps Trial, it was Wu Yuan who had shone brightest. Throughout the thousand years, he stayed far ahead of his peers and was regarded as the greatest threat by Supreme Geniuses like Lie Jin, You Feng, and Li Guang.

In this brutal elimination round where approximately 240 people competed in each grotto-heaven world, only thirty-two would survive - an elimination rate exceeding eighty percent. It could be said that one’s fate would be determined in a single battle.

Without question, the most attention-grabbing figure in this round was Zhu Shan. His mere appearance caused other geniuses in the same grotto-heaven world to turn ashen.

"Flee!"

"Quick, run!"

"We can't defeat Zhu Shan!" Immediately, the geniuses in his grotto-heaven frantically scattered in all directions, not daring to face him head-on.

What followed was Zhu Shan's stunning display of killing prowess, a performance that stirred everyone's memories. Visions of his nine thousand years of unmatched dominance in the Divine Domain World resurfaced. When his three ether bodies erupted simultaneously, only one word could describe him: invincible. Absolutely invincible.

His true self and ether bodies walked independently through the grotto-heaven, seemingly striking out at random. Each palm strike was simple and brutal, yet carried matchless might. Each strike appeared as casual as a normal person swatting a mosquito. Yet no matter how the other geniuses tried to dodge, they couldn't escape.

Flee? Killed with a single palm strike!

Defend? Killed with a single palm strike!

More than ten geniuses joining forces to cast arcane arts in defense? Still killed with a single palm strike!

The five elements rotated flawlessly. Zhu Shan's palm technique appeared so simple that geniuses like Wu Yuan, You Feng, and Inconstance watching from the outside were able to track every movement. Indeed, it was as if he wasn’t applying any technique at all, just striking out at random.

With each flash of light, a genius was eliminated, transported away from the grotto-heaven the instant before their demise.

While numerous geniuses battled in other grotto-heaven worlds, in Zhu Shan's grotto-heaven, hundreds of geniuses could only flee for their lives.

They didn't even have the courage to join forces and fight back, because Zhu Shan was simply killing at breakneck speed. His true self and three ether bodies each moved in different directions on their murderous rampage.

Rumble~

Just six breaths later, as another peerless genius transformed into a beam of light and was transported away, an invisible force enveloped this grotto-heaven.

Zhu Shan's true self and three ether bodies finally stopped.

"Only thirty-two people remain."

"We survived?"

"We finally survived." Among the thirty-one other geniuses in the grotto-heaven, there were eight relatively calm Eldritch Court geniuses, while those from other Saintdoms showed a mix of fear and joy. They had survived. Their survival had nothing to do with strength, but purely because they had managed to flee further from Zhu Shan than the others.

"Fortunately, we were assigned to the same grotto-heaven as Zhu Shan."

𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"We've entered the second trial."

"We can obtain a top-grade Dao Instrument." The eight Eldritch Court geniuses wore jubilant expressions.

Their strength was considered average among the thousands of geniuses. In a normal elimination battle, perhaps only one of them would have survived to enter the second trial. Now, thanks to Zhu Shan, all eight had survived.

Is the Heavenly Domain Emissary deliberately targeting me?

Zhu Shan slightly furrowed his brow.

Normally, there would be around twenty to thirty powerhouses from the Eldritch Court and Immortal Court in each grotto-heaven world. However, in his grotto-heaven, both Eldritch Court and Immortal Court geniuses numbered only in single digits.

Moreover, in a true free-for-all, with thousands of geniuses battling in one grotto-heaven, Zhu Shan was confident he could slaughter over a thousand participants alone.

Unfortunately, the Heavenly Domain Emissary seemed to have anticipated this, preventing the overwhelmingly powerful Zhu Shan from affecting the balance too much.

Zhu Shan understood this after brief consideration - the fundamental nature of the Megaverse Crossroads was to select sufficiently monstrous prodigies, how could it leave such a large loophole?

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Waves of spatial fluctuations descended, instantly transporting Zhu Shan and the other thirty-one people out of the grotto-heaven to the plaza.

…

"Zhu Shan!"

"Too terrifying!" On the plaza, hundreds of geniuses who had already entered the second trial looked at Zhu Shan with fearful expressions.

His three ether bodies had vanished, leaving only his true self, appearing as ordinary and unremarkable as ever. Compared to Zhu Shan, Lie Jin appeared strikingly handsome. However, the strength that this ordinary-looking Zhu Shan displayed was enough to make them all shudder. His moves couldn’t be simpler, yet the combat power unleashed was heart-stopping.

"His attacks appear simple, yet they are perfect and flawless - absolutely unblockable."

"Impossible to defend against."

"Even if I employ the Primordial Technique, slightly increasing my strength, I'm still no match at all against Zhu Shan."

"His palm technique has reached an inconceivable level, I even suspect his Dao comprehension has reached the mid-stage Sovereign level."

"Hard to say." The numerous geniuses on the plaza had their own thoughts as they discussed.

Those hoping to compete for the top ten spots, like Wu Yuan, Inconstance, Ming Jian, You Feng, Li Guang, and others, all seemed lost in thought.

Can't block it.

His spirit and will are too powerful, and this isn't just because of his Apotheosis Yuan Soul, what exactly has he experienced?

Inconstance's expression remained calm, but deep in his eyes was a hint of despair.

Previously I couldn't even defeat one ether body, now there are three…

I can't win! Even if I achieve a small degree of mastery in the Primordial Technique, I could probably only block two of his ether bodies.

The graceful Bai Shui bit her silver teeth, muttering to herself.

But he has three ether bodies, working in perfect coordination with shared consciousness - his true self doesn’t need to move at all, the ether bodies alone could crush me.

Despair! The monstrous prodigies vying for the top ten spots were overwhelmed with hopelessness after witnessing Zhu Shan in action. They realized they couldn’t mount any sort of defense at all. What’s worse, they understood that the earlier slaughter had merely been him testing out his abilities. None of those opponents had posed a real challenge, and it was likely Zhu Shan hadn’t even unleashed his full power.

If he were to face an opponent that forced him to fight at his peak, Zhu Shan’s strength would likely be even more terrifying. In that case, who could possibly stand in his way?

However, amidst the pessimistic atmosphere were two pairs of bright, clear eyes carrying a hint of fighting spirit.

Zhu Shan. His strength seems to have grown since our last encounter? That makes sense - my strength keeps improving, how could his remain stagnant?

A light gleamed in the eyes of Wu Yuan's body refiner self.

Very good, very good.

Zhu Shan's power didn't make Wu Yuan despair, but rather sparked the fighting spirit in his heart. He yearned to chase after him and surpass him! If they were destined to meet and clash, Wu Yuan would fight with everything he had. Even in defeat, Wu Yuan would have no regrets.

How can one become the strongest without aiming for the strongest?

Wu Yuan’s heart was silently filled with motivation.

Whoosh!

Zhu Shan appeared to sense something and suddenly turned his head, instantly meeting Wu Yuan's gaze.

Their eyes met. Both Wu Yuan and Zhu Shan felt the unshakeable will and sharp edge emanating from each other, and couldn't help but smile.

This wasn't a grudge, but the purest form of competitive spirit – competing to be the first of their generation, competing for an era's providence, competing for the belief in being unrivaled for a lifetime!

…

While the battle in the grotto-heaven world Zhu Shan was assigned to ended in just six breaths, the battles in the other nine grotto-heaven worlds raged on with incredible intensity and brutality.

Wu Yuan's two true selves paid particularly close attention to the grotto-heavens where those he cared about were assigned to.

High Immortal Dong Yang was fighting in the third grotto-heaven.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

At this moment, nearly two hundred peerless geniuses who had yet to be eliminated were engaged in a brutally fierce battle, with arcane arts surging and artifacts streaking across the sky like flowing light.

No Supreme Genius had been transported to this grotto-heaven world, which meant there were no powerhouses who absolutely dominated the others. This plunged the combat into even greater mayhem. They had to defeat enemies and accumulate kills while remaining vigilant against ambushes.

In a sense, such large-scale battle royales favored body refiners, as their self-preservation ability was stronger. Theoretically, it also favored major factions like the Eldritch Court and Immortal Court, as these two greatest factions made up a large proportion of the geniuses, and would naturally band and fight together.

However, none of these geniuses were fools. Right from the start, geniuses from other factions tacitly joined forces, frantically targeting the geniuses from the Eldritch Court and Immortal Court, trying their best to keep their members separated to prevent them from joining forces with others from their faction.

After all, this was an elimination battle, not a fight to the death. Those belonging to the same faction could generally trust each other completely, and if they were allowed to join forces, the result would far exceed the sum of its parts.

Master Dong Yang is in danger, Master's strength is still somewhat lacking.

Wu Yuan's qi refiner self watched intently.

As for his body refiner self? He showed no obvious concern. After all, his body refiner self had no public connection to High Immortal Dong Yang.

In terms of strength, those who had made it to the second trial had at least peak-stage Astral Monarch comprehension, and half of them had mastered Sovereign-level techniques.

As for High Immortal Dong Yang? He had not yet mastered any Sovereign-level techniques, placing him among the weaker competitors.

However, High Immortal Dong Yang was particularly skilled in the Law of Space and his movement skill was incredibly intricate, greatly increasing his self-preservation ability and allowing him to repeatedly avoid enemy attacks.

180 participants…150 participants…120 participants…Ninety participants.

As time passed breath by breath, more and more geniuses were eliminated from the third grotto-heaven, while those who remained grew increasingly powerful overall.

Hmm?

Wu Yuan suddenly noticed that a Taiyuan Divine Court genius, Bai Yi, was under siege in the tenth grotto-heaven, struck by multiple attacks at once. She couldn’t hold her ground and was ultimately eliminated!

Master Dong Yang is still evading.

Wu Yuan observed silently.

Wu Yuan was unable to intervene in this elimination battle and could only pray silently.