From the Metropolis to the Strongest in the Cosmos

Chapter 211: Chapter 211: Countless Geniuses

Jun Mo glared at Celestial Net, roaring in fury.

He was a genius ranked in the top three hundred of the entire Yangyuan Star Continent. He should have been guaranteed a spot in the third round of the Human Race Eternal Saint Hall’s selection, where he could compete with geniuses from other Star Continents. Instead, he was eliminated in the second round—all because of Celestial Net’s request.

This was an absolute humiliation! He, Jun Mo, would become a laughingstock.

Seeing the furious Jun Mo, Celestial Net—whose expression was already grim—felt even worse. He said in a low voice, "Jun Mo, I had no idea Li Yang was this powerful!"

With this level of power, even if Li Yang failed to enter the Human Race Eternal Saint Hall and only joined the Yangyuan Empire, he would still be heavily groomed by the empire. The difficulty of dealing with Li Yang had just skyrocketed.

"’You had no idea?!’ Ha! What a joke!"

Jun Mo said furiously, "I was just eliminated because of your request. So, how are you going to make this right?"

Hearing this, Celestial Net’s expression darkened. "Jun Mo, we had a deal. You were to eliminate Li Yang, and I would give you the Mystic Devil Transformation technique."

"But you never said Li Yang was this powerful!" Jun Mo roared.

Jun Mo had factions backing him, people on his home planet, and an entire galaxy that had placed their hopes in him.

Now, he had failed, disappointing everyone who had believed in him. The mere thought of it made Jun Mo dread facing the people from his home world.

The expressions on both their faces were ugly. Jun Mo said a few more words but ultimately trailed off. He then said in a low, dangerous voice, "Celestial Net, we’ll settle this later. I was eliminated in the second round because of you. I expect to be compensated!"

Celestial Net remained silent, neither agreeing nor refusing, his expression simply dark.

Finally, Jun Mo left, leaving Celestial Net alone, his expression shifting unpredictably.

’Damn that Li Yang! How the hell does he cultivate?’

Celestial Net’s mind was in turmoil. The ant he could have crushed with a flick of his wrist had now grown, and grown, until he had become a genuinely troublesome problem!

’He could one-shot Jun Mo. At this rate, Li Yang could probably one-shot me, too!’

’In the future, even if I wanted to eliminate Li Yang during the Yangyuan Empire’s internal trials, I wouldn’t be strong enough.’

Li Yang had become an incredibly thorny problem!

’I should have just gone to Earth and killed Li Yang back then!’

Even if he had killed him then, the punishment wouldn’t have been severe.

But all he had to do was wait for Earth’s twenty-year novice protection period to end. Then he could have dealt with Li Yang without any risk.

It was only twenty years, a blink of an eye to someone like him.

’Li Yang was just someone from Planet Zero. Even if I gave him a hundred years, he shouldn’t have been able to pose any threat to me.’

So, he chose to wait, unwilling to take even that sliver of risk.

And now, his refusal to take that tiny risk had led to this.

Taking a deep breath, Celestial Net forced himself to calm down.

’There has to be a way! No matter how talented Li Yang is, his power is, at best, equivalent to the Longevity Realm!’

It was a thorny problem, yes, but he was only at the Longevity Realm. Compared to the Yuanlan Clan—a clan with Deities and numerous World Realm and Star Lord Realm masters—a mere Longevity Realm cultivator was nothing.

...

While Celestial Net’s expression soured, the entire Yangyuan Star Continent was in an uproar. Countless factions were abuzz with talk of Li Yang.

Previously, during the second round of the selection, most factions and galaxies had focused their attention on the geniuses from their own territories.

Take the Golden Moon Empire, for instance. With fifty-eight of its geniuses scattered across fifty of the combat arenas, they naturally only watched those fifty arenas, ignoring the other nine hundred and fifty completely.

The other factions led by Deities were the same. The few who did monitor all the arenas were stunned the moment Li Yang made his move.

However, the vast majority of factions still knew nothing about him.

But as the matches concluded, news of what happened in combat arena number three hundred and sixty spread like wildfire, reaching every faction in the Yangyuan Star Continent!

"That young man is incredibly powerful! He actually killed Jun Mo with ease."

"With that kind of power, how did he not make a name for himself on the Path of Deities?"

"He’s too strong. That kind of power definitely puts him among the top ranks in the Yangyuan Star Continent!"

"This young man is named Li Yang, right? From the Golden Moon Empire, in the Milky Way."

"Golden Moon Empire? Never heard of it. And where is this Milky Way? Is that even a galaxy in our Yangyuan Star Continent?"

"I looked it up. The Milky Way is in a remote corner of the Yangyuan Star Continent. The entire galaxy only has nine World Realm masters."

"Only nine World Realm masters? Isn’t that pathetically weak? How could such a feeble galaxy produce a genius of this caliber?"

Across the Yangyuan Star Continent, billions of galaxies watched the video of Li Yang’s battle with Jun Mo and began investigating his background.

They also looked up the Golden Moon Empire and the Milky Way, causing search queries for both to skyrocket within the Yangyuan Star Continent’s Virtual World.

The key was that Li Yang had been a nobody before this. Even though he had made it into the top ten thousand in the first round, he had barely scraped by, so most factions paid him no mind.

But now, Li Yang had truly emerged before the masses, an unstoppable force to be reckoned with.

...

In the Yangyuan Empire, a group of Deities watched the video feeds before them.

One thousand video feeds, ten thousand contestants in total. It was their job to rank them.

"This Li Yang from arena three hundred and sixty has some decent power."

"Decent is an understatement. The power he’s shown might not be on par with Jin Xu and Ramoc, but it’s not far off. Let’s rank him third."

"I thought only Jin Xu and Ramoc from our Yangyuan Empire had any real chance of being chosen by the Human Race Eternal Saint Hall. Now, it seems Li Yang has a slim chance as well."

"I wonder if any of our geniuses from the Yangyuan Star Continent will be chosen this time."

"It’ll be tough. The results from the other Three Thousand Star Continents are coming in. There are far too many geniuses this time, and their quality is much higher than the last! We’ve even seen dozens of peerless talents who passed two thousand steps on the Path of Deities. Based on last generation’s standards, Jin Xu would have been a shoo-in for the Human Race Eternal Saint Hall, but this time... his chances are slim."

"Indeed. The geniuses this time are terrifying! The strongest one even passed two thousand six hundred steps!"

"Someone who can pass two thousand six hundred steps... their power has already surpassed the Longevity Realm. They might even have the strength to kill a Star Lord!"

"A Law Realm expert who can fight a Star Lord! It’s unimaginable!"

"A genius like that might not appear even once in a hundred million years for the entire Human Race."

"And besides that peerless genius, there’s another one who is suspected of having the power of a Star Lord as well. They passed over two thousand five hundred steps on the Path of Deities!"

The Deities all murmured amongst themselves, their eyes filled with awe.

The talent selection in the Yangyuan Star Continent had concluded, as had the selections in the other Star Continents. The results from the Path of Deities gave a rough but clear indication of the overall quality of this generation’s geniuses.

This time, their Yangyuan Star Continent’s geniuses held no advantage. In fact, it was unlikely that even a single one would be accepted into the Human Race Saint Hall.

Their strongest genius, Jin Xu, had only ranked somewhere past four thousandth place across all Three Thousand Star Continents on the Path of Deities.

And this time, the Human Race Eternal Saint Hall was only accepting three thousand.