From the Metropolis to the Strongest in the Cosmos

"What?"

Dilunxi’s disdainful expression vanished the moment he saw the rankings change again. A hint of shock appeared in his eyes.

"The third step? How is that possible?"

If Mixed Void and Lan Yu had surpassed him, he could accept it. Their cultivation environments were better than his, so it was only natural that his progress couldn’t match theirs. There was nothing he could do about that.

He was confident that in the same cultivation environment, he wouldn’t lose to Mixed Void or Lan Yu.

But Li Yang was in the same place he was—the midpoint of the Lianyun Mountain Range, viewing the same fragmented esoteric patterns of the laws in the sky.

Moreover, he had an Emperor Level expert guiding him. Li Yang did not.

In terms of cultivation environment, Li Yang’s was even worse than his.

In the Talent selection five years ago, his results had surpassed Li Yang’s. He had just passed the third step of the Path of Deities an hour ago, yet Li Yang had passed it just an hour after him. How was that possible?

This meant that over the past five years, Li Yang’s progress had outstripped his own!

Besides, Li Yang had just passed the second step of the Path of Deities, and then cleared the third in less than a few seconds...

Dilunxi was arrogant, but he wasn’t a fool. Clearing it in such a short time meant Li Yang had passed the third step of the Path of Deities with ease.

Yet an hour ago, it had taken him nearly ten minutes to pass it.

As his expression changed, Li Yang’s result changed again. It jumped from the third step directly to the fourth!

At the same time, his rank also changed, knocking Dilunxi down from fourth place and claiming the third spot for himself.

BOOM!

An uncontrollable surge of aura erupted from Dilunxi. He shot to his feet, his face a mask of utter disbelief.

"The fourth step of the Path of Deities! Impossible!!!"

In terms of cultivation environment, Li Yang’s was nowhere near his.

He could find all sorts of reasons for Mixed Void and Lan Yu’s rapid progress. But on what grounds had Li Yang surpassed him?

And what’s more, the time Li Yang took to pass this fourth step was also extremely short!

This proved that Li Yang had easily killed the demonic beasts in the space of the fourth step of the Path of Deities.

His expression shifted constantly. A moment later, Dilunxi’s consciousness entered the Virtual World.

...

In a palace on a mountain peak adjacent to Dilunxi’s, Long Zhan stared at the ranking list before him, his face filled with shock.

’How is this possible? How could Li Yang’s progress be this fast?’

He, Long Zhan, was a man of astonishing Talent, the third-place winner of the Eternal Saint Hall’s Talent selection for the Human Race across the Three Thousand Star Continents!

It was true that the appearance of Mixed Void and Lan Yu had been so dazzling that their brilliance had almost completely overshadowed him, making his third-place finish seem ordinary and attracting little attention.

But it was undeniable that, apart from Mixed Void and Lan Yu, he was the strongest among the three thousand geniuses!

In the ranking battle space during the previous Talent selection, most people, like Li Yang and Mute, had only managed to kill one virtual person inside. But he, Long Zhan, had killed nine. His strength was self-evident!

Yet, a short while ago, Dilunxi had actually surpassed him, passing the third step of the Path of Deities first. He had been upset by this and immediately tried to pass it himself, but failed.

In just five years, Dilunxi had completely overtaken him.

He, Long Zhan, had been pushed from a firm third place down to fourth.

A sense of urgency gripped him, and he wanted to catch up as quickly as possible. But in just a short time, Li Yang—who had been at the bottom of their batch, not even having passed the second step of the Path of Deities—had suddenly erupted, clearing three steps in a row!

He, the former third-place winner of the Talent selection, had now been pushed down to fifth place.

SWOOSH!

Long Zhan’s consciousness also entered the Virtual World.

...

It wasn’t just Dilunxi and Long Zhan; other geniuses, upon seeing the changes on the Path of Deities ranking list, couldn’t help but enter the Virtual World as well.

"How is Li Yang progressing so fast!"

"He cleared the fourth step of the Path of Deities in just a few seconds, too."

"With that kind of strength, he might even be able to pass the fifth step of the Path of Deities!"

The geniuses gathered one by one. Li Yang had not yet emerged; he was still on the fifth step of the Path of Deities.

One minute... two minutes...

After a full six minutes, the list before everyone’s eyes suddenly changed.

Rank 1: Mixed Void. Result: Path of Deities, 10th Step.

Rank 2: Lan Yu. Result: Path of Deities, 7th Step.

Rank 3: Li Yang. Result: Path of Deities, 5th Step.

Rank 4: Dilunxi. Result: Path of Deities, 3rd Step.

Rank 5: Mute. Result: Path of Deities, 2nd Step.

...

Rank 10... Huo Lie. Result: Path of Deities, 2nd Step.

...

Looking at the rankings, the expressions of the numerous geniuses shifted, their eyes filled with shock.

"Li Yang passed the fifth step of the Path of Deities!"

"How is that possible? Even Dilunxi only just passed the third step an hour ago, and geniuses like Long Zhan and Mute have only passed the second. How did Li Yang pass the fifth?!"

"Weren’t they all at roughly the same strength five years ago?"

"Five years ago, even Lan Yu had only passed the fifth step."

"He’s insane! Li Yang is truly insane!"

"Now Li Yang is only two steps behind Lan Yu. He’s about to catch up to him."

"And Lan Yu is a peerless genius the likes of which our Human Race sees only once every few billion years."

Five years ago, everyone’s strength was actually quite similar.

Except for the two freaks, Mixed Void and Lan Yu!

Among the other two thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight geniuses, the twelve including Li Yang, Dilunxi, and Mute were in the second tier.

The remaining geniuses were also the top talents of their respective Star Continents. They only needed to take one more step forward—like mastering the third form of the Hexagram Spear or something similar—and they could become invincible in the Longevity Realm, reaching the same level as Li Yang and the others.

The gap really wasn’t that large.

And yet, in just five years, Li Yang had already crossed the fifth step of the Path of Deities, while hundreds of other geniuses hadn’t even passed a single one.

The gap had widened to an unimaginable degree!

"Li Yang is still on the Path of Deities. Can he pass the sixth step?" The geniuses all watched, seemingly holding their breath.

As they waited, Li Yang’s figure suddenly appeared outside. Clearly, he had failed the sixth step.

"The sixth step... Li Yang didn’t pass. He only lasted a few seconds."

Seeing that Li Yang hadn’t passed, the crowd of geniuses let out a slight sigh of relief, which was quickly followed by a bitter smile.

Now, even Li Yang was giving them a feeling of being completely unreachable. It was a feeling they had previously only experienced from Mixed Void and Lan Yu.

How long had it been?

"Holy shit, Li Yang, how the hell do you cultivate? You just cleared four steps of the Path of Deities in a row?"

Seeing Li Yang emerge, Mute immediately walked up to him and couldn’t help but exclaim.

His eyes were still clearly filled with utter shock.

Five years ago, his rank had been higher than Li Yang’s. Now, he had been left completely in the dust.

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