The Simulated Universe Battle Royale Tournament erupted like a sudden storm, stirring up huge waves across both Douluo Continents.

That’s right—this time, Lu Jingming promoted the battle royale tournament to both the main world and its parallel version, thinking that such an arrangement would be far more entertaining.

However, since the parallel Douluo Continent’s circumstances differ from those of the main world, he adjusted the entry requirements, raising the age limit to under 25.

After all, if the limit stayed at under 20, the younger generation of the parallel world would stand no chance at all.

Even with the age cap raised by five years, the overall competitiveness of the parallel Douluo Continent remained weak—they were likely joining just for the experience.

But that was precisely one of Lu Jingming’s goals: to inspire and stimulate the younger generation of the parallel world.

Of course, Lu Jingming had no intention of exposing the existence of the parallel world.

For competitors from that world, he planned to use special means within the simulated universe to interfere with others’ perceptions.

He had Herta use Void Archives to mimic Fenghuang Down, interfering with the cognition of everyone in the simulated universe, making sure nobody noticed that some teams were from the parallel world—the world from ten thousand years ago.

After all, while most people might not recognize Tang San, Shui Bing’er, and the others, those from Shrek Academy stood a high chance—they had statues of these people at the academy.

Even if their appearances had changed with age, their unique martial souls would give them away.

Thus, Herta’s intervention was crucial, and Void Archives could perfectly mimic Fenghuang Down for this purpose.

With Herta’s power, not even an Ultimate Douluo could resist her cognitive interference when she used Fenghuang Down.

So there was no need to worry about powerful onlookers breaking free of the interference.

Lu Jingming put tremendous effort into preparing this tournament.

He didn’t plan for it to be a one-time event either; he wanted to run it annually.

Nor did he want St. Freya Academy to take the championship. Their students could join for fun, but there was no need to compete for the top prize.

After all, the goal of the tournament was to raise the overall strength of the soul master community. For St. Freya Academy’s people, the rewards like hundred-thousand-year soul bones and stigmatas weren’t something they needed to fight for in a competition.

Once the time was right, Lu Jingming would naturally provide his own people with the best resources—there was no need to compete with others for these rewards.

As news of the tournament spread across both Douluo Continents, even the Spirit Hall and the two great empires, locked in a stalemate with the contamination points, found themselves tempted.

The value of hundred-thousand-year soul bones was self-evident. As for the hundred-thousand-year stigmatas, according to the tournament’s rules, they could provide several hundred-thousand-year soul rings and might even help soul masters awaken new powers.

Upon seeing these rewards, Bibi Dong decided without hesitation to have the Golden Generation of Spirit Hall participate.

She even wanted Qian Renxue to join, since she was 24 and just within the age limit.

Bibi Dong was determined to win the hundred-thousand-year soul bones and stigmatas for her own god trial. Winning the tournament would greatly accelerate her path to godhood.

This meant everything to Spirit Hall, currently suppressed by Black Fu Hua, and even more so to Bibi Dong herself.

Once she obtained the hundred-thousand-year soul bones and rings, she could then start a war, absorb the continent’s evil energy, and gain recognition from the Rakshasa Scythe, officially becoming the next Rakshasa God.

With her control over Spirit Hall, launching a war would be easy.

In short, Bibi Dong was ready in every way—she just needed this final push.

At such a time, she thought of her daughter Qian Renxue, toward whom she had complicated feelings: hatred, guilt, disgust, and a bit of pity all mixed together.

But there was no denying Qian Renxue’s exceptional talent and strength.

Although years undercover in the Heaven Dou Empire delayed her training, her astonishing gifts had already pushed her to the Soul Emperor level.

With resources recently gained from the contamination points, she was already moving toward the Soul Sage realm.

With her innate level-20 soul power, even the Soul Sage bottleneck wouldn’t be much of an obstacle.

It’s a common rule in the Douluo Continent: the higher the innate soul power, the faster the cultivation.

A soul master with full innate soul power already trains at an incredible speed, but Qian Renxue, with innate level-20, had the greatest talent on the continent, even after ten thousand years.

But since she’d been undercover in Heaven Dou since age nine, how much time did she really have to train?

To avoid exposure, she couldn’t train openly, and most of her time was spent on court etiquette, imperial skills, and political intrigue.

Even with all these difficulties, Qian Renxue still broke through to Soul Emperor naturally.

Had she been able to focus on cultivation, she’d likely be a Soul Douluo by now, if not a Titled Douluo.

Spirit Hall’s handling of Qian Renxue’s development was questionable—Bibi Dong, Qian Daoliu, and even Qian Renxue herself had all made mistakes.

But Bibi Dong didn’t realize how fierce the competition would be this time.

If she relied only on Hu Liena, Xie Yue, and Yan, the three Soul Kings, without Qian Renxue’s help, winning the championship would be almost impossible.

Still, for her god trial, Bibi Dong was all-in.

While she believed Hu Liena and the others were strong enough, for insurance she notified Qian Renxue to participate.

Since the tournament took place in the simulated universe, Qian Renxue could compete in secret without leaving the Heaven Dou Empire.

Besides Spirit Hall, the major soul master academies of the Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empires also prepared to join.

Previously, the soul master tournament had been interrupted by the contamination points, a big regret after five years of preparation.

Now a tournament with even richer prizes had appeared, held in the simulated universe, with no danger to life and no need to pause their suppression of the contamination points. Of course, they wouldn’t miss this chance.

Skywater, Blazing Fire, and Godwind Academies, thanks to their cooperation with Lu Jingming, had already gained many benefits.

At the very least, they had early access to soul tools and stigmatas.

Take Shui Bing’er, for example: because of her close relationship with Elysia, Elysia gave her a ten-thousand-year Ice Phoenix stigmata.

After absorbing it, Shui Bing’er’s strength instantly broke through to Soul King, gaining a ten-thousand-year soul ring. Her Ice Phoenix martial soul also evolved, her ice power growing ever closer to the ultimate ice.

At this rate, once she reached Soul Sage, she’d likely break through another key barrier and become an Ultimate Ice Soul Sage.

Lu Jingming knew all this well, as he had entrusted all Jade Chamber business—including stigmatas and soul tools—to Elysia.

That Ice Phoenix stigmata was part of Elysia’s work, and Lu Jingming trusted her to use resources wisely.

Indeed, apart from Shui Bing’er, Elysia, though fond of other girls as well, had never given out stigmatas on her own accord.

Thanks to this special relationship, these three academies were the first to learn of stigmatas and to buy large quantities of mid- and low-tier marks.

The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, meanwhile, focused on soul tools, especially high-grade ones.

With the advent of stigmatas, all three elemental academies saw their students’ strengths improve.

Even soul masters who had already absorbed soul rings could use the marks to enhance their existing rings and gain new abilities.

If more time had passed, stigmatas would likely be even more popular than soul tools, since stigmatas could truly enhance a soul master’s foundation and strength.

Unlike soul tools, which were just tools, stigmatas could fuse with a soul master’s bloodline and genes.

The three elemental academies, having grown stronger, entered the tournament with renewed confidence, hoping at least to place in the top three.

Especially Skywater Academy: with Shui Bing’er’s breakthrough and her fusion skill with Xue Wu, they were now brimming with confidence.

Almost as soon as invitations went out, hundreds of teams eagerly signed up.

As the simulated universe’s controller, Lu Jingming handpicked 100 teams, most of which he knew well.

Since he controlled the simulated universe, he could rig the draw without anyone knowing; if he said the selection was fair, then it was fair.

It’s worth noting: while he planned to keep the parallel world secret from people in his own world, he had no such intention for those in the parallel Douluo Continent—they would know they were in another world.

After all, many things couldn’t stand up to scrutiny: soul tools, his own presence, stigmatas, and the many contamination point replicas—all would raise suspicions.

Besides, Lu Jingming had little desire to hide things—what harm if people found out?

For the world of Douluo Dalu 2, Douluo Dalu 1 was like a half-real, half-imagined place.

People from Douluo 1 would see competitors from Douluo 2 in the simulated universe, but to them these would all be unfamiliar faces.

But people from Douluo 2 might recognize people from Douluo 1 as historical figures.

Thus, he would only interfere with the perceptions of Douluo 2’s people—not those from Douluo 1.

Until everything was settled, he didn’t intend to let the people of Douluo 1 know too much about their possible futures.

…

Time passed quietly, and as everyone waited eagerly, the Simulated Universe Battle Royale Tournament finally began.

On a specially created island map, 700 people appeared in the sky, neatly ordered in teams of seven, each standing on their own cloud.

“So many people!”

Xiao Xiao, teamed with Ning Tian, Wu Feng, and others, stood on their cloud, curiously looking around.

But with so many people, she recognized only a few.

At the same time, countless viewers logged into the simulated universe, observing the 100 teams from a third-person perspective.

Unbeknownst to everyone, red feathers drifted through the simulated universe, utterly ignored by all as if they didn’t exist.

“Where did all these people come from?” On a cloud, Hu Liena looked around at the unfamiliar teams, puzzled.

This was completely different from the information Spirit Hall had gathered.

Spirit Hall kept detailed records of every team in the soul master tournaments, but now, only a few familiar teams—like Heaven Dou Royal Academy and Skywater—were present.

Apart from these, at least half the teams were total strangers to her.

“So it’s true.” In Spirit Hall’s team, a beautiful young blonde woman of about eighteen or nineteen muttered to herself.

Since meeting Lu Jingming, Qian Renxue had been investigating his background.

Especially after the contamination points spawned Lu Jingming’s replicas—terrifyingly powerful ones—she began to doubt his origins.

Was Lu Jingming really from Douluo Continent? Even though he said he was from the Star Luo Empire, and her intuition agreed, Spirit Hall’s branch in Star Luo had found no trace of him.

Even if he came from a hidden sect, there should be some clue.

From then on, Qian Renxue suspected he wasn’t from Douluo Continent—maybe he hailed from overseas or another continent.

The sea is vast and unexplored.

Spirit Hall, as a top force, had long suspected other continents might exist beyond the ocean.

As a group that once produced the Angel God, Spirit Hall possessed records confirming the existence of other continents.

But they were so distant that only gods could cross the sea to reach them.

The simulated universe, soul tools, and stigmatas all reinforced Qian Renxue’s suspicions.

Now, with so many unfamiliar teams in the tournament, she was more certain than ever.

Many others—Bibi Dong, Ning Fengzhi, and others—shared her suspicions.

As top rulers, they knew every sect’s teams inside out.

There might be a few omissions, but there was no way so many unfamiliar teams could exist—over fifty teams were totally strange, and just a bit of thought made it obvious something was up.

But unlike them, Yan Shaozhe, Du Busi, and others affected by Fenghuang Down’s cognitive interference found everything perfectly normal.

They didn’t notice that many teams were unfamiliar, or that some competitors were obviously over twenty.

“This is so interesting—way more fun than the usual soul master tournament.” March 7th excitedly studied the tournament rules, thrilled to find something fun again.

“Thanks for your hard work, Robin. Little March must have caused you a lot of trouble out there,” Lu Jingming said softly, moving closer to Robin.

“It’s alright!” Robin replied, but couldn’t hide a slightly pained expression.

March 7th was kind-hearted and never caused problems on purpose, but she was so playful and unreliable that she often got into trouble by accident.

It was always unintentional, but Robin couldn’t help feeling helpless.

March 7th had a strong adventurous spirit and was a bit too lively—by comparison, Firefly was much easier to manage.

As long as it wasn’t about fighting, Firefly was calm and pleasant to travel with.

In fact, she and Firefly were now like best friends—and the same went for March 7th.

“Here, Little March, let me show you something cool.” Suddenly remembering something, Lu Jingming used his authority to play a stored video for Robin and the others.

“No way, that’s us!” Watching the video of Black March 7th and others showing off, March 7th was shocked.

“That’s right, those are our replicas, with the same powers as us.”

Lu Jingming explained the contamination points to March 7th and the others, which relieved them—they’d thought Lu Jingming had secretly cloned them.

Learning these were memory projections without self-awareness, they had no further worries.

“Wait, am I really that strong?” March 7th was more interested in Black March 7th’s combat power.

The video showed a dominantly powerful version of herself—decisive and impressive. Was that really her?

She couldn’t help doubting if that was really her own replica.

The abilities matched: Six-Phase Ice, archery, and swordplay learned from Jingliu—but the style was so different!

“So, the contamination point still isn’t cleared. How about we each challenge our own replica? That should be fun,” Lu Jingming suggested.

“What? You want me to fight her?” March 7th was shocked, pointing at herself and then at the unbeatable Black March 7th in the video.

“No way! That’s just asking for trouble!” she protested, waving her hands in panic.

She clearly wasn’t a match for the blackened version of herself and had no desire to be humiliated by her own replica.

Gu Yue, meanwhile, was more interested in the information revealed in the video.

Watching the battles, her mouth twitched.

Even though she’d never met those people, judging by their power and martial souls, she easily recognized them as figures from ten thousand years ago.

Thinking of this, she looked at Lu Jingming with resentment and sent him a soul power voice transmission: “Just how many things are you hiding from me?”

She felt Lu Jingming knew everything about her, while she knew almost nothing about his secrets.

“Doesn’t a man with secrets seem more attractive?” Lu Jingming replied in kind.

He didn’t intend to keep the parallel world a secret from Gu Yue—otherwise, he wouldn’t have shown her the video.

But except for those he’d summoned, he didn’t plan to tell anyone else for now.

Even someone like Zhang Lexuan, who’d watched him grow up and knew a lot, never asked, and he never brought it up. They had a tacit understanding.

Zhang Lexuan knew Lu Jingming was keeping things from her, and he knew she realized it. After all, so many people had suddenly appeared in his life—there was no way she wouldn’t notice.

But Zhang Lexuan didn’t mind.

If Lu Jingming wanted to tell her, she’d listen and keep his secrets; if not, she’d pretend she knew nothing.

“Forget it, you’re always so mysterious anyway.” Gu Yue rolled her eyes but didn’t push further.

After all, wasn’t it his mystery that drew her to him?

She was the Silver Dragon King—if not for this unpredictable human, how could she have fallen for him?

It was because she couldn’t see through him that she became so fascinated—ordinary humans, she could see through at a glance and had no interest in.

Even though she and Lu Jingming spoke only through soul power, the sharp Robin noticed the subtle change in their relationship.

Sensing that the two were growing closer, Robin frowned slightly.

She wondered if it was time to go home.

After all, she and March 7th, along with Firefly, had been away for a while. If she stayed longer, someone might steal her place.

With that settled, Robin smiled gently to herself. She thought, “I can lose to anyone, but not to Gu Yue, the latecomer.”

Jinhsi hadn’t spoken, but she’d been quietly observing.

At that moment, a faint sense of crisis stirred in her heart.

She wondered, should she make her move? In two years, Xiao Ming would be an adult—who would take the lead then?

Maybe she should talk to her teacher—after all, her teacher was involved in all this too!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep