Red is the top 1 graduate of MS Academy for Detectives. In his first mission to look for members in his Detective Squad. He was unexpectedly caught on a game of life and death called the Chess Of Mystery. 

Will Red survive and solve the game? 

Or will he find himself already part of the game from the very start of it? 

--------------------------------------------------
Release Rate: 2 chapters a day, 6:00am and 6:00pm (GMT+08:00) 

Top 50 - 1 more chapter
Top 25 - 2 more chapter
Top 10 - 3 more chapter
Top 5 - 4 more chapter
Top 3 - 5 more chapter
Top 2 - 6 more chapter
Top 1- 7 more chapter

The ranking matches started the second day. The duo would face against a team from the mystery house as their first opponent. They were both calm, but the other teams gloated at their misfortune and were also curious about their next tactics. They would fight as the third match, and they were ready to go on stage when the second match was ending. The moment the second match was over both teams headed towards the arena. When they arrived, nobody said anything and both teams waited for the referees signal. Jiang Mang and Xia Ruoyin were at ease while the mystery team was vigilant but confident. Jiang Mang would again use his flute while Xia Ruoyin would attack. The moment the signal came, the mystery team unleashed three demonic qi's to surround them against the music that came their way from Jiang Man's performance of Immortal Paradise. Their defense protected them from the music, but the same couldn't be said about Xia Ruoyin's Ice arrows. The arrows were also blocked but the mystery team was pushed back. Jiang Mang's music whittled their qi protection away which would disappear in 10 seconds. They summoned ghosts to attack the duo, but they avoided all the ghosts and maintained their attacks on their opponents. The ten seconds passed and all ghosts disappeared when the trio was pulled into an ordinary illusion world. Xia Ruoyin threw them out of the arena and they immediately snapped out of the illusion, because of outer force and Jiang Mang who stopped his performance before returning to his seat. They were crushed by the duo, which stupefied both the trio and the crowd. The crowd began labeling the duo as a dark horse. The vice-head teachers also took note of the duo and complimented vice-head teacher Qin for gaining two talented students in the musician's house.


All matches went smoothly and the top 16 teams were decided. There was one team from the musician's house and four teams from the mystery house in the top 16, while the knight house had five teams and the sorcerer house had six teams in the top 16. Jiang Mang and Xia Ruoyin defeated their opponents again and advanced towards the top 8 by using the same tactics as the last match. Their last match was against the strongest team of the sorcerer house. All their opponents specialized in the wind element which made them extremely fast.
Their last match was also the first of the top eight matches and would immediately begin. When they faced each other in the arena, both teams exchanged polite manners before the match and got into position. The match started and both teams immediately sprung into action. The sorcerer team sprinted towards Jiang Mang while cloaking their senses with their qi while Jiang Mang took his flute to play Drunk Night and Xia Ruoyin deployed Snowfield. When the sorcerer team attacked, Jiang Mang avoided them with ease thanks to Xia Ruoyin's deployment and managed to trap the opponents together with him. He dodged all their methods of attack with ease while Xia Ruoyin bombarded them with Ice arrows from outside the entrapment. The duo won after a minute and secured a spot in the top 4 for the next day.


The other matches were concluded after an hour. The top four also included two mystery teams and one knight team. The knight team specialized in sword techniques, while the weakest mystery team specialized in poison. Both teams would pose no threat against Jiang Mang and Xia Ruoyin but the strongest mystery team consisted of a master in mental attacks and a pair of twins who had awakened war gods as their profound spirits. These war gods increased the physical strength of the twins and transformed them into fighting machines with extreme will power and fighting instincts.
Jiang Mang would have to employ Nightmare Hell's waves to beat the mental master and slow the twins down because his illusion would be ineffective against the twins because their disrupted senses wouldn't affect their instincts and thus not be able to trap or hinder them while the mental master would make taking control of one person difficult in a short period and Xia Ruoyin wouldn't be able to beat both twins. Only the sleep effect of Nightmare Hell would affect the twins' performance while the hallucinations would be able to counterattack the mental master and defeat him. The duo could only use that tactic if Jiang Mang didn't want to expose his combat skills which would be able to crush the opposite team.


The last day of the tournament started at noon and the duo was prepared to take the crown. Their first match was against the knight team who were defeated by Jiang Man trapping them along with himself, he dodged their attacks with the provided help from the Snowfield technique cast by Xia Ruoyin, who bombarded their opponents with her Ice arrow technique. The other match was won by the mental master and the twins. The other rankings were determined before the finals and the top 5 were the finalists followed by the weaker mystery team at third place followed by the knight team at fourth place and the strongest sorcerer team at fifth place.
The finals would be between the mystery house and the musician's house. The final match began without a word. Jiang Mang had taken his zither out which surprised the opponents and the crowd. Xia Ruoyin immediately cast the Snowfield technique while Jiang Mang played Nightmare Hell's Waves. The twin's frontal assault immediately slowed down while the mental master was locked in battle with Jiang Mang's hallucination waves. The mental master was blocking the hallucinations for the twins, but would quickly be beaten by Jiang Mang's performance which meant that the twins had to interrupt Jiang Mang's performance as soon as possible. Unfortunately, Xia Ruoyin was capable of holding them down and as time passed the mental master was about to be beaten. The twins decided to expose their trump card which caught Xia Ruoyin unprepared. They had trained in a combination technique that would let them enter in a frenzy without reason while doubling their power by burning their qi. Xia Ruoyin was instantly beaten back before being heavily wounded. Jiang Mang was too late to react but saw everything in his inner vision. The moment she was heavily injured, he became enraged and he saw that they continued their attack on the defenseless Xia Ruoyin which prompted him to unconsciously pluck a string which unleashed a death qi wave around him. The death qi wave pushed the twins back while knocking Xia Ruoyin unconscious.


This attack was unexpected but Jiang Mang was now put against 3 opponents. The twins and mental master were all exhausted but still formidable for him who didn't want to expose himself. He decided to win and put his zither away. This puzzled his opponents but they immediately attacked. Jiang Mang performed hidden moon traversal and immediately reached the twins before instantly knocking them unconscious as they were still frenzied. A second later, he had also incapacitated the mental master and instantly defeated the strongest team of newcomers from the mystery house. He picked Xia Ruoyin's unconscious body up, as he had seen her position before he quit his performance, and left the stage.

A blind boy born into a cultivation world talented in music and illusions. He has a firm heart, a will to grow stronger, and a world to explore. Follow Jiang Mang on his journey to reach the peak and ascend to the immortal world.

This is my first story and my native language isn't English. There will be language errors and if you find them just post a comment.

When you like the story give it a power stone and give suggestions when you have them.

The first competition was a fair one on one. In this case, fair meant that both sides would have the same skills, stats, statistics, gear, etc. 

The quality of the skills, stats, gear, etc were randomized in every battle, from that of a default level 0 to that of a mainstream player.

In this case, matches had time limits of 30 minutes each, and every player fought in 12 fights throughout the 6 hours. The prizes were as follows.

First Place per Class - 10 Fame, 1x (Heaven) [Mystery Box], 3x (Emperor) [Mystery box], 1x [Random Class Skill], 1x (Earth) [Class Proficiency Book], 1x (Heaven) [Mystery (Insert Class) Gear Box].

Second Place per Class - 8 Fame, 3x (Emperor) [Mystery Box], 1x [Random Class Skill], 1x (Earth) [Class Proficiency Book], 2x (Emperor) [Mystery (Insert Class) Gear Box].

Third Place per Class - 6 Fame, 2x (Emperor) [Mystery Box], 1x [Random Class Skill, 1x (Earth) [Class Proficiency Book], 1x (Emperor) [Mystery (Insert Class) Gear Box]

No.4-5 per Class - 5 Fame, 2x (Emperor) [Mystery Box], 1x (Earth) Class Proficiency Book, 3x (Earth) [Mystery (Insert Class) Gear Box]

No.6-1 per Class - 5 Fame, 1x (Emperor) [Mystery Box], 1x (Mortal) Class Proficiency Book, 2x (Earth) [Mystery (Insert Class) Gear Box].

No.11-25 per Class - 4 Fame, 2x (Earth) [Mystery Box], 1x (Mortal) Class Proficiency Book, 2x (Earth) [Mystery (Insert Class) Gear Box].

No.26-100 per Class - 3 Fame, 1x (Earth) [Mystery Box], 1x (Earth) [Mystery (Insert Class) Gear Box]

No. 101-1,000 per class - 2 Fame, 3x (Mortal) [Mystery Box], 3x (Mortal) [Mystery (Insert Class) Gear Box]

No. 1,001-10,000 per class - 1 Fame, 2x (Mortal) [Mystery Box], 2x (Mortal) [Mystery (Insert Class) Gear Box]

No 10,001-1,000,000 per class - 1x (Mortal) [Mystery Box], 1x (Mortal) [Mystery (Insert Class) Gear Box]

The prizes weren't exactly earth shattering, save the prizes for the top few places of each class. But since there were going to be 16 more of the competitions/trials, it would truly be surprising if the prizes were extremely bountiful. Especially since this was the first of the weekly trials.

Shi Ning found himself sitting in one of the seats in a behemoth of a stadium. All around him, there were a few billions of swordsmen… This behemoth of a stadium was roughly a tenth the size of the megacity, but even so, it was still nearly as large as some smaller countries.

Following which, an apparition of the Warden suddenly appeared in the center of the stadium.

"Welcome, swordsmen, to the first fair one on one class tournament! Now, let me explain the details of the rankings. Everyone will start out with a skill rating of 10,000. After participating in fights, your skill rating will rise and drop. The system will then strive to place you against people at your level after it's observation of your skills. I can assure you that by the end of the twelve matches, you will be where you belong!" 

He then waved his hand. Suddenly everyone could suddenly see a rating of 10,000 on everyone's head. On top of that, a leaderboard appeared in the middle of the stadium that was currently empty.

"After the twelfth battle, the top three rated adventurers will fight each other to determine the strongest and be broadcasted to the world! I wish everyone the best of luck!"

He then slowly dissipated into a violet mist, as players suddenly found themselves in one side of the stadium, stuck in place.

Now, every player had only one other player in sight. Their opponent!

Shi Ning quickly observed his surroundings with sharp eyes. He was in a vast and empty desert, with his opponent 100 feet away from him. He then checked his information.

'Level 2 with full mortal gear, 12 stat points to distribute, [Slash], and [Bloodied Stance]. Fair enough' Shi Ning thought.

System: You have 30 seconds to prepare, then the fight will begin.

Shi Ning immediately put 8 stat speeds into speed and four into strength. He didn't bother with endurance or anything of that sort. After which, he read the information of [Bloodied Stance].

Bloodied Stance lv 2 (0%) Active Skill
Requirements: 1 minute cooldown, HP below 50%
+20 life shield, +10% resistance, +5% damage
Duration: 3 seconds

'Hmm, reminds me of a Guardian Skill, whatever.' Shi Ning was confident that he wasn't going to use this skill.

Earlier, he took a quick look over his opponent and he noticed that he was fairly confident and skilled.

Unfortunately, the man was just a regular expert. He wasn't even close to Shi Ning, and his confidence and skills meant nothing to him.

After the 30 seconds passed, Shi Ning sprinted towards the man, as he likewise sprinted to Shi Ning.

In the middle of the stadium, they collided. 

It wasn't even close.

Without any suspense, Shi Ning ripped the man's defence apart. Though he had a lower strength stat, he could easily dodge and parry the man's sword while having time to spare to shred him apart.

After just a moment, his extreme aggression and seemingly unhittable body forced the man into a desperate and ineffective defence, and within 10 seconds, he fell to the ground, defeated.

'Not bad, he's definitely in the top percentile to last so long against 50% of my power' Shi Ning thought.

Then, he was then teleported to an audience seat once again. This time, there were not even a million players in the seats but players rapidly teleported in at every passing second. 

Looking above his head, he noticed that his rating climbed by roughly 3000 in an instant, reaching 13,312. He was not surprised because he displayed a lot of skill, so he certainly deserved a huge jump in rating.

When he looked around, he saw many players that had ratings of at least 11,000 and many with under 9000 which made sense, as any match that ended this fast would have a huge disparity in skill between the participants.

Shi Ning then decided to spectate some battles like everyone else was. 

As players continued appearing in the seats, Shi Ning casually flipped through battle after battle, the scene in the stadium floor in front of him changing every time. Some battlefields were in mountain ranges, others in calm meadows, others in jungles, and others in ruins. However, to Shi Ning almost all of these battles could only be considered subpar.

After what seemed like forever, he finally found one fight that displayed some true skill.

Shi Ning was currently watching two experts fight on a canyon plateau. 

One of them was a well known top 500 expert, a fourth realm swordsman named Solitude of Steal. Ranked at 294, he was known for his constant refinement of his sword skills. Other than his mastery over the sword, he was not too special. That being said, in a fair swordsman competition, he would definitely be a mainstay in the top 50 every time.

On the other hand, his opponent was a wizened and unknown man, but despite being old and unknown, he was no slouch at all. He did not move with the fluidity and experience that many VR game experts, however his sword arts truly seemed divine. It was almost like he was using real sword arts…

He was noticeably slower and weaker than his opponent, but even so, his sword arts completely outclassed Solitude of Steel, who was even known for his sword arts. Every slash of his blade gave onlookers a faint feeling on grandeur and awe, like divine lightning was striking down from the heavens. With every swing of his blade, he seemed to be getting faster and sharper, as he gradually pushed Solitude of Steel back.

There were currently thousands of players spectating this battle and save for a few, they were all shocked without fail.

But Shi Ning was one of the few who were not surprised in the slightest. This was because he knew the old man, and had even talked with him. He was a fairly well known lightning attributed cultivator who also used sword arts, named the "Exalted Lightning Fanatic"

As a mid stage Qi Attunement Cultivator that was on the cusp of reaching late stage Qi Attunement, he was certainly a powerful cultivator.

He was best known for his fanatic journeys to the lands with the Earth's most bountiful lightning Qi. He would travel the world, and any place any form of lightning Qi that he hadn't seen before would drive him crazy, and he would not rest until he found the source. 

He insisted on only cultivating with the purest and the most unique sources of lightning, and if it weren't for his obsession he would have long since become a late stage Qi Attunement.

Solitude of Steel, noticing that he had lost the initiative doubled down on his offence, and at this moment, the battle reached the climax. 

The battle had gone on for well over twenty minutes by now and both sides were quickly running out of endurance. This was the last burst of strength from either side. Without a doubt, the first to falter would fall.

Suddenly, the wizened old man started a sequence of sword movements. The cultivator's expressions that saw this visibly tightened up. This was his trademark move, merging lightning with a sword! 

Seeing this, Shi Ning sighed. 'It's over for Solitude of Steel, but he did well against the Exalted Lightning Fanatic.'

-----

Solitude of Steel was in distress. At first, when he entered the stadium he saw that his opponent was a wizened old man and almost burst out laughing. The unlucky geezer was put against him, a sword expert in the top 300.

However, after exchanging blows with him, he was pleasantly surprised. The old man was much stronger than he expected. But despite that, the old man was still no match for Solitude of Steel. 

Solitude of Steel played around with him, enjoying the feeling of exchanging blows with another fairly accomplished sword expert.

But as he fought, he noticed that the elderly man started growing stronger.

Seeing this, he was extremely excited. 'Is he another cultivator who has dedicated his life to the sword? Though he isn't as talented as me, he really is strong.'

He had thought that the man was holding back previously, and finally releasing his skills.

But in truth, the old man was merely getting accustomed to a high skill fight in Domination Legacy. 

Gradually, from being excited, Solitude of Steel became serious. That was because he now had a chance to lose. Noting his mistake, he started fighting seriously. But to his surprise, after pushing the elderly man back for a while, he once again was at a standstill.

At this moment, Solitude of Steel was more excited than ever. While he was fighting, he tried talking to the wizened man.

"Fellow sword master, how many years of your life have you dedicated to sword arts?"

But the reply he got absolutely infuriated him. "Zero, sword arts are merely secondary to me."

This was clearly a slap to his face! He did not believe that the sword master, who was strong enough to contend with him, a sword expert in the top 300 didn't care about swordsmanship too much. In his mind, this was clearly an insult meant to enrage him!

'Fine, if you want to infuriate me then you have certainly succeeded, in digging your grave!

He then went all out, and even the unnaturally calm wizened man had to strain himself to contend with him. 

Seeing this he smiled inwardly. 'Thank god, I still have my trump card, I can win at this rate. What a shame, it sucks that I have to use it this early though, this ancient sword master truly is impressive to have pushed me this far…'

He then started executing a real sword art, with a sequence of divine swordsmanship, he charged up for his final attack.

As he was doing so, he saw the elderly man doing something similar and was shocked. 'This world truly is wide huh, but my sword art is completely different from any other, there is no way that he beats me'.

After exchanging another few dozen blows, their clashing blades each reached the pinnacle of strength.

Then, the swords suddenly crossed, with the momentum of a hundred strikes behind both sides. 

But surprisingly, his sword physically broke in half as the wizened man's sword crushed both his blade and his body, as fast as a strike of lightning.

In an instant, he received an amount of damage that shouldn't be possible from one strike of a player with his stats.

-241

After respawning, he sighed, unnaturally calm. He then looked to the man who beat him with awe and fear. 

From this moment onwards, he truly understood what the saying that there would always be a higher mountain meant. ''Alas I am merely a frog in a well. 30 years of grueling training has made me complacent.'

-----

Following the end of the battle, Shi Ning then looked towards other battles in the last 5 minutes of the first battle. By now, almost every battle was finished so it was easy to find the ones with the most people watching. There were a few battles like the previous one, where well known gamers struggled against true cultivators. In others, there were even cultivator versus cultivator situations, which garnered the awe of the audiences without fail.

And as this was happening, news and rumors were spreading all over Domination Legacy like wildfire.

"Did you hear? A crap ton of mysterious experts appeared out of nowhere in the weekly trial, and even the weakest is strong enough to be in the top 100,000. Is some mysterious organization coming out of the dark?"
"If it is true, the power must be truly transcendent. I think it's just as likely that some country created superhumans for playing games, or many Domination Legacy is bugged"

"I mean, they all seemed to have divine powers of some sort, do you think they could be… cultivators?"
"Bro do you think we're living in a novel? There's no way man"

As Shi Ning witnessed the situation, he sighed. 'This is merely the tip of the iceberg. A collision between the world of normal people and the world of cultivation is guaranteed, and by then, no one can tell what will happen. Save for Flame Crow maybe'.

The world was truly undergoing earth shattering changes at this moment.

Cultivators have stayed hidden from the public's eye for ages. They viewed regular people as inferior, as mortals. 

But with the emergence of the 20th century, nukes and modern technology posed a real threat to cultivators, so they were forced to view the mortals as equals. Therefore, they took extra care to hide themselves, as modern technology could record their existence with much more ease.

The various countries of the world all signed treaties with the figureheads of cultivators, under the purpose of world peace. After all, cultivators could cause mass panick and genocide while the countries had nukes. Even cultivators of the Peak Qi-Attunement level would have no chance of surviving a nuclear blast. It was thought that in a world of mortals and cultivators, stability and peace would be hard to come by, as there was an innate inequality between the people.

As such, both sides agreed to stay hidden and to not meddle with the other's affairs, including in games. 

In the first place, cultivators weren't too bound by the treaties, as they were allowed to mingle in the modern world as long as they didn't cause a scene, and a few broke the rules to play the game. But it wasn't much of an issue, as they were a minority and didn't make a scene.

But with the allure of being able to ascend, the cultivators around the world threw away their restraints and hopped into the game. 

This influx of cultivators would certainly change the gaming industry forever.

Even the various governments around the world could not do much about this. First off, they couldn't nuke every single place where they knew that cultivators resided in or there would be a nuclear fallout, and second, they couldn't force the game company to shut its doors, as the power behind the game was simply too powerful. 

After all, companies had long since overtaken governments in this age, and as the biggest video game company, Ascendant Gaming was essentially impervious to any outside influences.

As such, as of now, the various governments around the world could not do much, but to prepare for the chaos that is to come.

Shi Ning was once a regarded as the most talented gamer in a century, due to his ungodly potential matched with his eccentric personality. He wanted to suppress the world alone and he quickly climbed the ranks in the gaming industry. However, talent and ambition does not always equate to success. His eccentric personality was a double edged sword, causing both his rise to fame and his downfall.

But with a new game's release, Domination Legacy, he was determined to rise again. And this time, he finally set down his pride and decided to form his own guild, starting his arduous task of suppressing the world. 

However, little did he know that even suppressing the world was merely the start to a journey beyond his wildest imaginations.

Disclaimer: This novel is a mix of video games and cultivation, the name of the novel also describes the general plot of the story.

Lu Man used her hands to illustrate. "On the day after the New Year or on the third day after the new year, the second stage of publicity will start. We'll be letting out a shadow picture of the mystery guests and mentioning some special points about the guests, like what kind of awards they have, that sort of thing. But don't say something that only the mystery guest has. We must draw a range that can cover multiple big-shots in the industry. Let the audience guess and feel that while this celebrity fulfills the conditions, that celebrity also fulfills the conditions, though the hints must point to an A-list top celebrity. If they feel that it's a person at the bottom of the A list or even at the B or C list, there'll be no meaning."
"For example, say that some audience members feel this condition is very suited to Gao Zishan, but other audience members feel that it also fits Dong Qinrong, then we'll have ended up using the popularity of those people to our advantage," Lu Man said part by part, in specific detail.
Lu Dongliu and Chi Xingrui's eyes shone.
Right!
Why did they not think of that?!
Rather than simply letting the mystery guest be known and doing publicity like that, why not use the popularity of the many top-level celebrities?
Chi Xingrui felt that Lu Man's move was too great. "Wouldn't you be tricking fans?"
It's scary to even think about the number of fans that those top celebrities had.
This show's publicity was a very big thing already.
Lu Man had a bit of evilness in her smile. "What do you mean by 'tricking'? We'll never actually give them a name list. We'll just say that we could invite these people. We will not put out fake news about how our show has already invited a certain person. We'll just be letting the fans guess it themselves."
Lu Dongliu and Chi Xingrui instantly felt that Lu Man was evil—too evil!
"While the netizens are excitedly participating in this and guessing, release a small program to show the outline of the mystery guests, and when the show airs, following the appearance of the mystery guest, you can light up the figure officially. Take note that whoever appears, you should light up that figure. This could be a bit tougher, and we'll need the workers in the production team to watch it."
"Why do we still have to light up the outline when airing?" Chi Xingrui asked, not understanding. "Since it's already aired, the audience will already know who it is. I feel that lighting up the figure will be a waste of effort."
Lu Man shook her head and explained, "Not everyone will be waiting in front of the television for the show. By lighting up the figure when the show is being aired, after the netizens online see it, there'll be a high possibility that they would instantly open the television to watch, depending on whichever mystery guest they like. Furthermore, it's possible that the audience watching The Performer would be scrolling about on Weibo while watching the show! If they see the mystery guest, it's very likely that they would directly change the channel to your show."
"…" Chi Xingrui took a mouthful of tea. "I'm still too naive."
Lu Dongliu: "…"
That would be an outright theft of audiences!
That would be akin to stores pulling customers.
So there was this sort of method too!
The reason why Lu Man wanted to wait for the show to start and for the mystery guest to appear on stage before letting the production team release a picture of the guest was that those were the rules of this production team.
The reason why a mystery guest was called a mystery guest was that, before this, you'd know nothing about that guest's identity.
If it was announced before the show started to air, there would be no surprise to talk about, and the original meaning of this portion of the show would be lost
"This is the suggestion I have about the show's publicity. You can consider and discuss it more later on. My duty is actually after the show airs. The situation with The Performer, leave that to me," Lu Man said.
Lu Dongliu instantly said, "The publicity plan you suggested is already extremely good!"


"Take me in, I'll do anything you want me to!" 

In her previous life, Lu Man is sent to prison after being framed by her step-sister and an asshole. After being released from prison, the only thing that greets her is her mother's tombstone. Seeing the asshole and bitch getting happily along together like one big family with her birth father and step-mother, she sets out to die together with the asshole and her step-sister in fiery flames. 

The moment she opens her eyes again, she finds herself back on the very day she was framed. Resolutely jumping out the window and climbing next door, she seeks refuge from the man occupying the room there. But who would have guessed that the man is the brilliant hunk she has always admired from afar in her past life?

She vows to rub her eyes clean and be more discerning of people. She wants to make everyone who owed her in the past to pay her back! 

"Young Master Han, can you let me hug your other arm too?" 
"Actually, I have one more, do you want it?"
"…" 

The practice match was supposed to be a showdown between the top players from 2S and BOOM, but lo and behold, a mysterious player had showed up out of the blue. The audience was ecstatic. Chatter popped up on different online discussion groups.
"Judging from the way he drifted during his turns, he must be a professional racer."
"Looks like Fiery Bird might not have been completely forthcoming on the entry list."
"That might not be the case. It might be a really skilled amateur. Doesn't the saying go: 'The masters hide among the masses'?"
There was all sorts of speculation online—and the folks at the Yanzhou branch of Fiery Bird were also at a loss.
They had a crystal-clear picture of the race. They had been tracking the mystery player since he'd surged forward, but they hadn't expected him to sideline two professional gamers as soon as he caught up with the top 10.
"We screened the premium VIP customers who won entry passes. There was no one with professional racing credentials. If there was, we wouldn't have missed him or her," said a Fiery Bird staffer stationed in the live broadcast hall.
"Then it must be an amateur professional." A so-called "amateur professional" was a highly-skilled amateur who was as competent as a professional racer or gamer but not properly credentialed.
"Is it possible it's a bench player from one of the clubs? Not all of their reserve players are credentialed." 
"That's a possibility. In any case, let's keep watching closely. This is an unexpected surprise."
For Fiery Bird, the outcome of the practice match wasn't that important. What they cared about most were the viewership figures and whether they could use the appearance of the mystery player to advertise their spin-off brands. The company's technicians would also use the opportunity to test the game. The unexpected development happened to meet everyone's needs, much to their delight.
Meanwhile, the virtual projects department at Silver Wing was also abuzz with excitement. Zu Wen and company were tuned into the game but had missed the latest development. They had been focused on the duel between Ke Zimo and Olaf among the front runners. They switched views when they read about the mystery player in a discussion group. They switched just in time to catch the mystery player who caught up with the top 10 pass two more bikers. 
"I wonder if Boss saw this. Let me give him a heads up. He better not miss an exciting development like this."
Zu Wen dialed Fang Zhao's bracelet, but no one answered. He kept getting a busy tone.
"Maybe Boss is busy. Forget it, I'll leave him a message."
__________
The number of viewers tuning in to the second camera grew significantly because of the mystery player who'd broken into the top 10, even dwarfing the viewership of the first camera, which was focused on Ke Zimo and Olaf.
"He's No. 7 now! Looks like he can still pass a few more racers."
"Remember the screen capture! Don't freeze this time."
The folks at Entertainment Workshop and other journalists monitoring the match started zooming in on the mystery player.
The loud rumbling of the mystery player's high-frequency motor kept viewers stimulated. The two marquee racers dueling on behalf of their two clubs also noticed the unfamiliar shadow catching up. They didn't know how to lose him. He kept on creeping closer and closer. After entering the city, the roads were clear of pedestrians and other vehicles, but they were narrower than in the suburbs and varied in width. 
To make way for the practice match, many elements had been removed from this particular layout. Even though the road was dotted with the occasional parked vehicle, which made it slightly crowded, there were no other speeding cars or pedestrians. The players kept zipping along. All a bystander could see was a flurry of shadows dash by. 
After another turn, the mystery player advanced to fifth place.
"He's so calm. He's barely made any mistakes," Yi Yun, captain of Big Dipper Club's first team, said while glued to the monitor.
"This one's a force to be reckoned with. The two players ahead may not be able to stop him," one of his teammates said.
Yi Yun thought of something and let out a knowing laugh. "We'll see. Let's see which two players are ahead of him." 
"Judging from the lettering on their uniforms, in third place should be Ewski, the vice captain of BOOM e-Sports Club, and in fourth is Jabbar from 2S. Hey, those two sly bastards are setting up an ambush. Was this planned? So they could stave off surprises like this?"
"Looks like that's the case. This practice match was never a duel between two teams, but rather a performance by the two professional racers Ke Zimo and Olaf. The others are there to cheer them on and to prevent accidents. And now we have a situation."
While 2S and BOOM feuded fiercely in public—they were trash talking ahead of the practice match—if a third party threatened them, they would present a united front. The same rule applied to all of Yanzhou's top five e-sports clubs. Regardless of which of the Big Five were competing, if someone other than the Big Five showed up, then they would join hands and deal with the outsider first.
At this point, Big Dipper's team leader cut in. He was completely serious. "Stay on Jabbar and Ewski. The two of them are about to make their move."
The big screen showed the mystery player approaching, on the verge of taking fourth place, but he slowed down suddenly and veered off-path. At the same time, Jabbar seemed to make a mistake and flipped. If the mystery rider had stayed where he had been, he would have smashed right into Jabbar or his bike, even if he made a last-minute correction, but the mystery man looked like he had anticipated the move and avoided the obstacle.
Watching the scene unfold, Jess, the captain of HWR e-Sports Club, winced.
"A real pro! Great anticipation. No wonder Jabbar couldn't stop him. Jabbar will be able to say he did his job when he gets offline. He did his best."
Jean, the vice captain of HWR e-Sports Club, nodded in agreement. "We've lost another player. Let's see if Ewski can take him down. If not, it's going to be a race between the top three."
Just as Jean finished his sentence, the screen showed Ewski appearing to lose his concentration during a turn and crashing, ramming into a lamppost by the road. The crash sent the lamp post tumbling. A car was parked on the other side of the road. The top of the lamp post landed on the car, which created a low trapezoid-shaped barricade on the less-than-wide road.
Even though the lamppost didn't collapse onto the road entirely, the resulting barricade was enough to halt any forthcoming vehicles.
"What a dirty move by Ewski. Who knows how many times he practiced that ahead of time?"
"That's the kind of boldness a vice captain should display. He was much more decisive than Jabbar, crashing himself out of the game. Looks like he should accomplish his mission and stop the threat. Wait... he's not going to stop?"
The screen showed the silhouette charging forward.
The gap between the fallen lamp post and the ground wasn't big enough to fit a person or a car. A car would definitely hit the lamp post. The mystery person would have to stop and figure out a way through or take a detour or different route. Either way would mean a delay. In a high-speed race like this, a delay of one second would translate into a bigger cushion for the two professional racers in the lead.
"He's gonna hit the lamp post if it doesn't stop now."
"He's going to crash. F*ck!" Jess, the captain of HWR Club, who was glued to the screen, blurted out an expletive.
The silhouette on the screen flew off his motorbike, which turned sideways as he approached the lamp post. The motorbike threaded the gap beneath the lamp post, the sound of screeching tires creating a piercing noise that suggested burning. 
Just when everyone thought the motorbike was about to collapse, it bolted upright again after clearing the gap between the road and the lamp post. The engine of the erect vehicle roared as it pressed forward. 
"How is that possible? How did he do that?"
"If the motorbike had a little less clearance, he would have been knocked out of the race. But he... actually cleared the gap?"
"How did it not collapse at that angle?" 
"I feel like he gave gravity the finger."
"No, I feel like I've been given the finger. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes."　　
"This was not a lucky coincidence."
Viewers watching the live webcast were equally blown away. What they considered impossible happened before their own eyes. The game was a simulation of reality, which meant the player could manage the same move in real life.
Ewski, who was forced offline when his avatar died after knocking down the lamp post, scrambled out of the gaming cabin. 
"Did I shut him down?" he blurted at his teammates.
His teammates wore a weird expression on their faces and stayed silent. When the sound of the mystery rider's engine from the live broadcast drew Ewski's attention, he knew he had failed.
Ewski went pale, as if something horrible had happened.
"What's the lowdown on that fellow?" Ewski asked his teammates.
"We asked around. He's not from the Big Five. We don't know anything about his background. All we know is that he's scary. He may pose a major threat to us."
"A professional racer? No, if it were a professional racer, he'd be credentialed. Fiery Bird wouldn't miss that piece of information."
"Too bad the guy has remained anonymous. All his personal information is blocked. We tried asking Fiery Bird, but they won't look up his profile just because we're curious."
Staffers watching the live broadcast at the Yanzhou branch of Fiery Bird were also curious about the identity of the mystery player, but the player's premium VIP status made them think twice. Even if he were a regular customer, unmasking his profile would be a violation of professional ethics. Fiery Bird had strict internal protocols in place.
"If we can't look up his profile, then let's check when he registered," one staffer suggested.
Out of respect for client privacy, they couldn't dig deeper just because they were company staff, especially if the client had chosen to hide his profile, but they could look up his date of registration.
"He registered from his console on Sept. 1. He only has one account, no others. It's his first time playing one of our games. A newcomer? Or someone who just met the age requirement?"
All Fiery Bird games could be accessed through a single user ID. Even though "Battle of the Century" had released a few practice platforms this year, Fiery Bird counted many other titles among its library. Folks who met the age requirement would definitely practice with other games before the official release of "Battle of the Century."
"Not necessarily. Maybe it's the first time he's playing one of our games and he registered with us for the first time on Sept. 1."
A premium VIP customer who'd registered on Sept. 1 and could deliver blows to two of the Big Five.
"Who on earth is this guy?"
The player might not have been physically healthy—he could have been disabled or infirm. As long as you had a nimble mind and superior hand motor skills, the world was your oyster if you had a gaming console. One of Fiery Bird's former CEOs once said, "Gaming is a window into a person's soul."
The mystery man was a shadowy monster lurking in the dark, preparing to bare its sharp claws.
"I have a hunch something is about to go down."


"Every time background music plays in my head, I feel like there is nothing to be afraid of." —Fang Zhao
Toward the end of the apocalyptic period, Fang Zhao lost his life. However, instead of dying, he found himself 500 years later in the body of a young and aspiring composer who shared the same name. Having received a second chance at life, Fang Zhao sets out to achieve the previous owner's dreams.
Armed with the experience of living through an apocalyptic age and his profession as a composer before that period, Fang Zhao uses his talent, wits, and knowledge to make his mark in the entertainment industry of the future.

Dragon City had a total of eight observation platforms, located at the four cardinal directions and four intercardinal directions of Dragon City respectively. At the top of the southern city gate where Mo Wen was, there was one observation platform.
 
The observation platforms were built on top of the three thousand meter tall city walls. If one stood at the bottom of the city walls, they would not be able to see the observation platforms at all because the walls were too high. If they were standing fifty kilometers away, they would surely see the towering observation platforms on the city walls.
 
With their identity tokens, they could enter the heavily guarded Dragon City. However, entering Dragon City required a certain tax, euphemistically called a management fee.
 
Sharp-eyed people naturally could tell at a glance that this was one of the methods for the Huatian Palace to accumulate wealth. The payment for entering or leaving through the city gate was not cheap. Each person had to pay fifty Dragon Coins. According to the standard set by the Huatian Palace, one spiritual stone was equivalent to a hundred Dragon Coins. Fifty Dragon Coins were equal to half a spiritual stone.
 
This was the amount it cost just to enter and leave through the city gate. Mo Wen already knew that the Huatian Palace had many shady ways to accumulate its wealth that would slowly chip away at one's pockets. If just entering and leaving through the city gate cost this, other places would certainly need a lot of money.
 
Huatian Palace Executors guarded the city gates. They were all high-ranking Executors, and Mo Wen also noticed that there were many Martial Arts Grandmaster strong practitioners on the towers. Secretly entering Dragon City was almost impossible.
 
The observation platform was located at the top of the city wall. Right now, there was a large group of people around the observation platform discussing things, but very few people actually walked up onto the observation platform.
 
The observation platform sounded grand in name, but in reality, it was just a slightly larger altar. Mysterious stratagems and runes were carved on it. There was a silver mirror as tall as a man floating at the center of the altar. The mirror was quaint and exquisite, emanating a faint glow. At a glance, one could tell that it was extraordinary.
 
The sky mirror was a type of very mysterious immortal cultivator magical treasure that usually only the Huatian Palace had. Using the sky mirror, immortal cultivators could observe everything in detail within a hundred or even a thousand kilometers. Some powerful sky mirrors could even observe distances ten thousand kilometers away.
 
Mo Wen did not know what rank the sky mirror placed on top of the observation platform was. However, to be able to observe the full view of the Dragon City Mystery Dimension would require a powerful object.
 
Using the sky mirror once cost ten spiritual stones. With such an astronomical price just to take a look at the full view of the Dragon City Mystery Dimension, there were too few people that were willing to spend such funds.
 
Although many people surrounded the observation platform, few people actually spent money to look in the sky mirror.
 
Of course, even if they had not experienced the actual thing first-hand, they could still experience it in other ways. Many people had heard legends that described Dragon City as a city on a huge dragon and a pearl of a goddess. This made them even more curious about Dragon City which was another reason why so many people had gathered here.
 
Occasionally, one or two people with big money would appear, throwing down their payment and stepping onto the observation platform to have a look. Then, a large group of people would surround that person and inquire about what they had seen. The people who saw the full view of the Dragon City Mystery Dimension quite enjoyed the attention. Many would say a few words.
 
Mo Wen walked straight onto the observation platform and gave ten spiritual stones to the person on duty. Then, he walked up to the sky mirror. His mind shook and his entire consciousness was immediately sucked into the sky mirror.
 
The surrounding people saw that a youth had so simply and neatly thrown down the spiritual stones without even batting an eyelid. They were surprised by the youth's willingness to spend. Of course, there were also quite a few people who cursed this prodigal youth. They did not know which large clan this youth was from. He had simply thrown down ten spiritual stones. Even some large sects could not stand such squandering.
 
Tang Zhizhi was also surprised. This employer of hers was a bit too generous. Before this, she had already felt that this youth was loaded. Now from the looks of it, he was more loaded than she had imagined.
 
Mo Wen's consciousness surged into the sky mirror. The next moment, an ancient aura blew over him as though he had walked into an immemorial world. A spiraling Divine Dragon that connected the heavens and the earth appeared in his vision. Mo Wen merely glanced at the Divine Dragon and his heart trembled, as though he had seen an ancient Divine Soul.
 
Mo Wen saw that the Divine Dragon was absolutely gigantic. The entire Dragon City Mystery Dimension was actually just the size of one spiral of this Divine Soul as it wrapped around the city. When compared to the entire world, the Dragon City Mystery Dimension was not very big, but it was still almost as large as two provinces. The dragon was able to wrap around such a large area with its body spiraling once. It was almost impossible to imagine how big this dragon actually was.
 
"A thousand kilometers? Ten thousand kilometers? It is practically horrifying."
 
Before this, Mo Wen had been doubtful. Such a small space like the Dragon City Mystery Dimension, that was also so far from the main space, should have been very unstable and in danger of collapsing at any moment. But now, he finally understood. The reason why the Dragon City Mystery Dimension had survived since the Primeval Age and had not been destroyed was most likely because of the protection of this Ancient Divine Dragon.
 
Mo Wen did not know whether this Ancient Divine Dragon was dead or alive. Maybe it was just a statue, but Mo Wen could feel how absolutely frightening this Ancient Divine Dragon was.
 
Something else astonished Mo Wen even more. The Ancient Divine Dragon's head towered high into the sky, piercing straight through the high heavens. On top of the dragon's head, a goddess statue had been erected. Mo Wen did not know how tall the goddess statue was and he could not see the face of the goddess clearly. No matter how he tried to make it out, he could only see a faint profile. It was as though the goddess was wearing a veil, and he was not destined to see the face beneath it.
 
As he continued looking, Mo Wen was shocked to his core. No wonder Dragon City was called the city at the top of the sky. The goddess statue wielded a scepter and Dragon City was built at the tip of the scepter!
 
Mo Wen found it hard to imagine exactly how big the goddess statue and the Ancient Divine Dragon were.
 
Dragon City was an ancient city that had survived since ancient times. What was the connection between this city at the top of the sky and the goddess statue and the Ancient Divine Dragon?
 
His heart filled with astonishment, Mo Wen slowly backed out of the sky mirror. After a while, he was still in a daze. Such a visual impact was too astonishing.
 
"Elder Ling, do you want to see the Dragon City Mystery Dimension?" Mo Wen asked Ling Feng as he stepped off the observation platform. Spending ten spiritual stones to see such a beautiful and majestic world was indeed not a waste. From an ordinary person's perspective, it was impossible for them to see such a beautiful scene. Only by using the sky mirror or maybe an extremely high point in the sky could they catch a glance at the full view of the Dragon City Mystery Dimension.
 
After Mo Wen had helped Ling Feng to recover his cultivation, he let Ling Feng join the Dafang Sect and become a sect grand elder.
 
"I have seen it once, two hundred years ago. I still have a vivid memory of it. Most likely, this Dragon City Mystery Dimension has existed since the Primeval Age, or even the Immemorial Age," Ling Feng said with a smile. In his youth, he had also tried out various things. Naturally, he had seen the full view of the Dragon City Mystery Dimension.
 
After getting off the observation platform, Mo Wen and Lin Feng went to tour the city. Dragon City was very big, much larger than any ancient city that Mo Wen had seen before. If an ordinary person just walked, it would take them at least two weeks to walk from the southern city gate to the northern city gate.
 
The city was divided into the inner city and outer city. The outer city was no different from ordinary ancient cities. It had many ancient buildings, towers, gardens, lakes, pavilions, mansions, rivers, forests, and artificial mountains.
 
The architectural style was very eclectic, with various different types of buildings that each had a flash of ingenuity. It was far more free than ancient Hua Xia's architectural style. Not all of the buildings were quadrilateral.
 
"The outer city is no different from an ordinary ancient city. It is just slightly bigger. But that is not the case for the inner city. Under normal circumstances, no one can simply enter the inner city," Tang Zhizhi explained.
 
Mo Wen nodded his head. Just now in the sky mirror, he had looked at the full view of Dragon City. It was not hard to see Dragon City's outer city; everything was visible at a glance. But many places in the inner city were covered in shadows. He could not see anything clearly at all. Someone had obviously used special methods to shield off the area.
 
The outer city was busy, with a large number of people out and about on the streets. The inner city, on the other hand, was extremely quiet and there was almost no one in sight. Mo Wen's deepest impression of the inner city was the square at the very center. There was a goddess statue in the square holding a scepter in her hand. It was exactly the same as the goddess statue on the head of the Ancient Divine Dragon. The only difference was that it was countless times smaller.
 
"Mr. Mo, there is usually no one in Dragon City, but during the Martial Arts Circle Convention, countless people will come swarming in. Actually, a month ago, there were already people coming to Dragon City. However, at that time it was not open to ordinary ancient martial art practitioners, just to various capable merchants."
 
It turned out that, a month ago, there were already merchants from all around coming into Dragon City. The people who could enter Dragon City to do business were naturally not ordinary people. Many were large firms from the various large mystery dimensions, including some firms that crossed mystery dimensions. The businesses in Dragon City sold all kinds of things. Transforming a dead city into an ordinary city merely took one month to do.
 
Most businesses were contracted out by the Huatian Palace to these large firms. It then extracted high taxes from them. After all, although the Huatian Palace was huge, its responsibility for overseeing the world already kept it busy. It was impossible for it to put its focus on managing a city.
 
"Mr. Mo, for the one-month duration of the Martial Arts Circle Convention, you can stay in Dragon City. First of all, we need to settle the issue of accommodation. Dragon City's accommodation is divided into two types. One type rents rooms for a month. This type is comparatively cheaper in terms of price, but the services will not be as good. But, you might not need to stay a full month in Dragon City. The second type charges day by day. You pay according to how many days you stay. This type is more flexible, and the quality of its various services is also high," Tang Zhizhi explained as they walked.
 
Right now, Ling Feng suddenly spoke. "Dragon City's accommodations are not cheap, and they are divided into five grades according to their different environments: heaven-grade, world-grade, top-grade, medium-grade and low-grade. If it is just the two of us, low-grade rooms are good enough.". He had been to Dragon City many times, so he was very familiar with how things worked.
 
"If it is just for sleeping in, low-grade rooms are indeed enough. After all, Dragon City is not an ordinary city. Even the condition of a low-grade accommodation is not bad," Tang Zhizhi said with a smile. Professional guides in the Dragon City had quarters provided by the Huatian Palace. They would not stay with their clients. Also, guides had fixed working hours. Every day, they would work for around twelve hours. It was impossible for them to follow their employers around for the entire day.
 
"There is a Shallow Moon Inn in Dragon City. That place is not bad. We'll stay in the Shallow Moon Inn." A bright light flashed in Ling Feng's eyes. He seemed to be particularly interested in the issue of accommodation.


In his past lifetime, he was an exceptional prodigy who practiced both medicine and martial arts. In this lifetime, on earth, he used his superb medical expertise and extreme martial arts achievements from his past lifetime to excel in the medical field and the ancient martial arts world. He moved his way towards the pinnacle!

A fine youngster, who had been frequently looked down upon due to his poverty, had gone through the cold and warmth of this world to lament laughingly that life was merely so. However, he accidentally awakened the memory of his past lifetime. Since then, for three incarnations, he enjoyed prosperity.

Su Mo had obtained quite a number of Lv 3 Spiritual Herbs at the Ethereal Territory over the past two days, and soon he came to the center of the territory.
At this moment, he saw a magnificent ancient city. The towering city wall was constructed of Dark Steel.
Many young martial artists were rushing over from all directions to the ancient city.
"The ancient city must be the core of the Ethereal Territory. There must be loads of treasures!" Su Mo's eyes shone. The items that he wanted most were neither Spiritual Stones nor Spiritual Herbs. The thing he needed most was a powerful martial arts techniques skill.
Other than the Elephant's Strength Skill for body cultivation, which was Lv 5, the rest of Su Mo's current cultivating martial arts techniques were only Lower Lv 3 Cultivation Skills. In the past, when his cultivation was not high, they had given him a great advantage.
But now, with the continuous improvement of his strength, the opponents were basically experts of the True Spirit Realm.
Every expert of the True Spirit Realm also cultivated Lv 3 Cultivation Skills. That was why Su Mo badly wanted a powerful scroll.
Currently, Su Mo was still able to fight beyond his level because of his physical body's strength and the nine blocks of Spiritual Spirals with nine times the combat strength.
If not, he would not be capable enough to battle beyond his level.
After a while, Su Mo dashed into the ancient city like an arrow.
The construction in the ancient city was totally different from the outside world. Other than all the straight passageways, blocks of palaces and towers were everywhere.
"Quickly run, Xin Wuming's inside."
"What! It's the killer maniac Xin Wuming!"
"Oh no, let's run!"
A palace lay further ahead. There were over 10 people screaming and howling, trying to escape from the palace. Everyone exploded their speed to the maximum to get out of the place.
Swoosh!
The next moment, a blood light flashed through the air. These people were murdered and their broken limbs were scattered all over.
"Hahaha! These small fries are so vulnerable!" The arrogant laughter could be heard from the palace.
"Xin Wuming!" Su Mo creased his brows. Xin Wuming was indeed powerful. Those he had killed earlier were basically experts of the True Spirit Realm. Some of them even had breaths that were stronger than Pang He from the Sky Alliance, but still were killed within seconds.
Xin Wuming ranked 93th on the List of Top 100 Talents, two ranks behind Leng Yunfeng. However, his strength was comparable to him.
Su Mo quickly left and went into a nearby palace. He knew that for now, he was definitely not a match for such a strong opponent on the List of Top 100 Talents.
As he walked into the palace, there was a huge hall and he could hear some faded voices.
"Looks like I'm not the only one here!" Su Mo spoke silently. Subsequently, he did his best to converge his breath and walked toward the hall.
Su Mo couldn't be blamed for being cautious. There were just too many experts entering the Ethereal Territory and his strength was only average among them.
There were three side doors in the hall. Every door was sculpted with a different picture. At the moment, there were a dozen sect disciples at a confrontation, vying to dash into the door to snatch the treasure.
"Everyone, we're disciples of the Ulti-mystery Sect from Ironforest Country. Those who offend us, are only courting their own death!"
"Humph! What bullsh*t! The Ulti-mystery Sect is a mere rubbish sect! We're disciples of Cloudsky City. Our Senior Brother is Leng Yunfeng, ranked 91th on the List of Top 100 Talents. You better get lost, if not, don't blame us for being ruthless."
"Leng Yunfeng is indeed strong, but he's not here. Even if we killed you, who would know we did it. Since you're courting death, then you shall all die!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The outburst of the air force came one after another and the vibration shook the whole palace. Both disciples of the Ulti-mystery Sect and Cloudsky City were fighting one another.
Su Mo was hiding far away and carefully observing both parties in battle. The Ulti-mystery Sect had seven disciples in total, most of them were of the cultivation of the Lv 2 True Spirit Realm, while one of them had the cultivation of the Lv 3 True Spirit Realm.
Cloudsky City only had four disciples, and all of them were Lv 2 True Spirit Realm martial artists. Judging from the battle line-up, the Cloudsky City disciples were so much weaker than those of the Ulti-mystery Sect.
However, the four Cloudsky City disciples had very powerful combat strength. For a moment, the seven disciples from the Ulti-mystery Sect could not overcome them.
Su Mo shook his head secretly. The martial artists from a small country were indeed not comparable to those from a big country.
Cloudsky City was one of the three big sects from Wuning Country. There were rumors saying they had a dozen experts of the Enlightenment Realm. This was totally not comparable for the sects from a small country.
The battle soon became more visible, as casualties could be seen. Cloudsky City had one dead disciple, while the Ulti-mystery Sect had three.
While they were still fighting one another, Su Mo slowly crept to one of the doors and prepared to snatch the treasure.
After waiting for a while, Su Mo noticed their murderous eyesight as they slowly drifted away from the three doors, he moved immediately.
Swoosh!
Su Mo's speed was like lightning, leaving only his residual shadow behind as he dashed into one of the doors like a storm.
Inside the door was a less than 10 square meters wide space whereby there was a wooden table with a purple wooden box on it. In the wooden box, there lay an antique and simple scroll.
Su Mo's eyes glowed. But apparently, there was no time to check it. So he kept the scroll in his storage ring.
"Who is it?"
"Who's the sneaky rat? How dare you snatch from me!"
"You're courting death!"
Right now, both the Ulti-mystery Sect and Cloudsky City disciples had discovered Su Mo and immediately stopped their battles, howling toward Su Mo instead.
Whoosh!
Su Mo dared not stop and had no time to retrieve the treasures in the other two doors. He displayed his body movement to the ultimate and rapidly shot out of the door.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Su Mo just dashed out, both the Ulti-mystery Sect and Cloudsky City had already attacked him with seven different blows.
"Destroy!" Su Mo shouted as he could not avoid in time. He elevated his strength to peak status, with nine blocks of Spiritual Spirals revolving, his whole body glowing and the sword will rushing at the top of his head. Even his Martial Soul was activated.
"Wind Roaring in the Sky!"
Su Mo used his sword to hit the incoming attack. The dazzling sword radiance with its surging wind collided with the seven blows of attack.
Boom!
The seven blows of attacks were too strong. Even if Su Mo exploded with all his strength, he was still no match and was blasted away. He smashed into a few blocks of walls, flying all the way to the street outside the palace.
Puff!
Su Mo spurted out some blood, but he dared not linger on, so he quickly jumped up and rapidly sped to a nearby alley. He disappeared within split seconds.
After running away for an hour, Su Mo stopped as he realized that no one was chasing him.
Those people might be fighting over the treasures in the other two doors, which was why they did not chase after him.
"If I don't break through to the True Spirit Realm, I won't be able to compete with these people!" Su Mo looked pale. There were too many experts in Ethereal Territory. Other than those peerless talents on the List of Top 100 Talents, there were countless experts of the Lv 2 True Spirit Realm and quite a number of the Lv 3 True Spirit Realm among the remaining martial artists.
Besides, many martial artists from Wuning Country had super powerful combat strength that could not be measured by their cultivation.
Su Mo pondered for a while and secretly decided that now was the time to break through to the True Spirit Realm. He could not wait anymore. The longer he delayed, not only would he be unable to obtain enough treasures, but he could possibly die here.
Shortly after, Su Mo sighed and retrieved the scroll which he had just snatched from the storage ring.
Hesitantly, he turned over the scroll, hopefully. He wondered if this was a cultivation scroll or a martial arts techniques and what would be the grade?
As he flipped the scroll, Su Mo saw some big antique and simple words.
"Phantom Avatar!"


Su Mo went from the pride of his clan to becoming the butt end of a joke in a matter of minutes. The former King of Mercenaries from Earth was reborn in the body of a boy in a foreign world and had used skills in his previous life to rise to the top among his peers, however, his previous training could only take him so far. The next step in this martial arts dominated world was to awaken one’s Martial Soul.
The awakening ceremony ends in disaster for Su Mo as he awoke a Martial Soul of the lowest level. Such a prodigy is now considered worse than useless as his Martial Soul is far too weak! After becoming the embarrassment of the clan, he discovers that his Martial Soul has a unique property: it could level up! This unique martial soul could shake the heavens. 
It was at this time that Su Mo meets the love of his life but the situation quickly deteriorates when she is taken by one of the most powerful forces in the world. Su Mo must rise from the lowest of the low and reach the pinnacle of power in order to save the love of his live within five years or she will forever be out of his reach.


It has been a hundred years since Kayne starts practising. At this time, his dark law had reached a God level, and of course, he chose to become a God outside of his body as a traverser. He has found the fusion of the three profound mysteries of the law of darkness, the dark soul attacking mystery, and the dark element mystery, and in comprehending the corroding mystery. Although he is a middle god, his strength is comparable to the six-star demon behind.
I have to say that the first batch of creature talents are terrifying, and Kayne, ​​the King of the Blood Night, is even more blessed in terms of the law of darkness. Although his law of thunder and destruction did not reach God level, it has reached the limit of the sanctuary. Since he comprehended the advanced mysticism in the law of thunder and destruction, he had not become a god for decades. If he understood the law of thunder and destruction, it would be early to Become a god.
Kayne thunder and destruction talents were obtained through the integration of the Thunder Spirit Orbs obtained through the system lottery. The talents obtained by fusing the Thunder Spirit Orbs can only be regarded as higher element affinity. At this time, he is not in a hurry. The four highest planes have not been established yet. Because the teleportation array has not yet appeared on the ancient sky plane. Although he didn't know the strength of the creatures on other planes, Kayne reached the realm of the middle god in a hundred years and could rank among the top five super monsters.
He has known this since he crosses that he wanted to cultivate and merge at the same time, which was much stronger than those of the native creatures. There are no more than five master gods in later generations reaching the Dzogchen realm, so he intends to bring the Dark God clones to the Dzogchen realm before the opening of the four supreme planes.
Ten years, a short period long time. For him who had not crossed before, ten years was a long time, but for Kayne now, ten years was just a time to sleep. For ten years, his dark law had understood the corrosive mystery, but he had not been able to find the fusion node between the corroded mystery and the other three profound mysteries. So his clone of the Dark God has been practising the Law of Darkness, while he has begun to comprehend the Law of Thunder.
A little bit of time passed, and suddenly he opened his eyes.
"Om~~~"
A huge, soul-shocking power completely enveloped him, ​​the space around him was distorted, and he could not help but fly up. 
"Although I have experienced it once, it still feels terrible." At this time, his law of destruction is finally about to reach a god level.
A special force directly entered Kayne mind. At this moment, all of his mystery was seen throughs peculiar force, and the ruling mystery that he had understood was naturally also seen throughs force.
The destruction element on top of his head was condensing crazily. After a while, the destruction element dissipated, leaving only a crystal emitting purple light, which was the lower godhead of the destruction. The moment the godhead was formed, he got in touch with Kayne.
This is the Godhead formed based on his soul aura, completely in line with him.
"The law of thunder and destruction has finally reached a god." He received a message in his mind and then he chose to become a god outside of his body without hesitation.
"Ah!" he let out a painful scream, and his soul was divided into two under the package of the rules of heaven and earth, one larger and the other smaller. The smaller soul flew out of his body and directly melted into the newly formed godhead.
His soul felt for a while, and he could feel that ten meters from the element ocean, a lot of divine power suddenly disappeared out of thin air and descended on his thunder and destruction gods(clone) along the special passage formed by the rules of heaven and earth, and then began to condense the gods with the gods as the centre.
A body identical to him appeared in front of him. His Thunder God clone immediately controlled the divine power in the body and formed a purple tuxedo on the surface of the body.
The purple tuxedo did not appear to be inconsistent with but gave him a noble and elegant temperament. He felt the strength of the soul, "The strength of the soul has dropped a lot, and I have to cultivate my strength again."
"The system I want to draw a lottery," Kayne said to the system.
[The host has another chance to draw a lottery?] The voice of the system sounded in his mind.
"Yes, draw the lottery immediately," Kayne said.
[Please wait a moment, the lucky draw item is being updated for the host... Congratulations to the host for obtaining the soul defence master artefact, please extract it]
"Haha, now my safety is guaranteed. I don't need to be afraid of soul attacks. I will extract them immediately." He laughed excitedly.
A drop-shaped object appeared in his hands. Kayne immediately dropped his blood to recognize the Lord, and a coloured circular shield deep in his soul firmly guarded his soul. "Let's start practising now. The soul strength has dropped a lot. Although there is the main artifact that can defend against soul attacks, the strength of the soul affects the speed of this deduction law. Although the Bauhinia Mountains, the four highest planes still didn't appear yet"  He fell again into a long journey of cultivation after speaking.
After another thirty years,
Kayne soul finally reached saturation. After experiencing the pain of a split soul again, his law of destruction finally reaches a god. His Thunder God clone and Destruction God clone practice the Law of Thunder and Destruction respectively, while the Dark God clone and the deity practice the Law of Darkness together. hopes to cultivate to the greatest extent before the appearance of the four supreme planes. Consummation, you can also have more strength when fighting for the master god ahead
Ten thousand years later, the rules of heaven and earth came once again. His dark god clone finally reached the upper god, and the integration of the evil mystery and the other five mysteries, becoming Dzogchen was only a matter of course. In his Law of Thunder, the four mysteries of the thunder element mystery, speed mystery, judgment mystery, and thunder soul attack mystery have all been integrated, and are currently comprehending the electric mystery. His Thunder God clone has the same strength as later generations who barely stepped into the Shura Level powerhouse.
And the rule of destruction is only a mid-level god after 10,000 years of practice. "Sure enough, the rule of destruction grows with the killing." He thought silently.
"The most important thing now is to cultivate the Law of Darkness to Dzogchen. Within three thousand years, I am sure to practice the Law of Darkness to Dzogchen. This qualification does not need to be worse than Lin Lei, it is stronger than Lin Lei's qualification."
Two thousand eight hundred years later.
"Is this the upper god of Dzogchen? This kind of power that controls the heavens and the earth is the power of will? So powerful. Is there still no voice of mission from the system?" He said lightly.
This young man is a Kayne clone. His dark law has reached the realm of Dzogchen, and his body strength has reached the point where he can rival the main artifact. Moreover, He also defends his soul from the main artefact. It can be said that he has reached the top of the gods. The plane has not yet been opened up, and in the era, before the Lord God has ye appeared, He is already invincible.
His avatar of the Dark God began to tour the ancient sky plane, while the other avatars and deity still practising.


As soon as Ironman got out of the Ten Rings Gang, he encountered Megatron falling from the sky. What the hell are all these things, I just want to live a quiet life, why should I solve these nonsense things, why! ...





Alternate title: Bringing Superman powers in Another world?

[Reminder] English is not my main Language
so you may notice many Grammar mistakes and spelling etc.

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