From the Metropolis to the Strongest in the Cosmos

Without the aid of those Law imprints, Li Yang felt his comprehension of the Space Law and Thunder Law suddenly slow down.

Of course, this was only slow in comparison to before. Li Yang’s comprehension was still very fast.

’It’s over?’

Li Yang glanced at his surroundings.

Five years. It sounded like a long time, but now he felt as if it had passed in a flash.

Li Yang took a deep breath. ’It would have been wonderful if I’d had time to study all the Law imprints on these three thousand steps.’

In five years, he had studied the Space Law and Thunder Law, ultimately managing to view the imprints on half of the three thousand steps.

In reality, comprehending two Laws simultaneously had clearly affected the speed at which Li Yang climbed the steps.

Others comprehended one Law, so they only had to view ten Law imprints per step.

But since he was comprehending two, he had to view twenty per step.

”Li Yang, how did you do?”

Just as Li Yang appeared, Shen Xuan materialized beside him. Seeing Li Yang, Shen Xuan asked him directly.

”I made it to the 1,501st step.”

Li Yang said, ”Big Bro, how about you?”

”The 1,501st step?”

Hearing Li Yang, Shen Xuan’s eyes lit up. He smiled and said, ”Li Yang, my final result was the 991st step.”

Hearing this, Li Yang was stunned.

’What a pity. He was just nine steps short. Shen Xuan could have entered the second round of the Human Race’s Eternal Saint Hall selection.’

’Never mind entering the second round; just reaching the thousandth step would have put him before numerous major powers and earned their attention. Those powers would very likely have tried to recruit Shen Xuan.’

”Haha, Li Yang, don’t feel sorry for me. The benefits I’ve gained over these five years are absolutely unimaginable,” Shen Xuan laughed heartily.

On Earth, Shen Xuan was an absolute, peerless genius! He only began cultivating at thirty and broke through to the Law Realm at thirty-five, comprehending both the Fire Element Law and the Gold Element Law!

His progress had only been slow due to the scarcity of resources, lack of Cultivation Techniques, and so on back on Earth.

And now, after five years on the Stairs on the Path of Deities, Shen Xuan had nearly reached the thousandth step! One could only imagine how terrifying his Talent was!

Across the Golden Moon Empire’s thousand-plus galaxies, fewer than sixty people had managed to climb a thousand steps.

”Li Yang, I’ve been eliminated now. It’s all up to you.”

Shen Xuan showed no sign of dejection, looking at Li Yang with anticipation.

”I know, Big Bro.” Li Yang nodded solemnly.

”Yangyang.”

”Li Yang.”

”Boss.”

As he was lost in thought, a series of voices called out to him.

Li Yang looked up and saw his parents, his sister, and the others.

His wife, Zhou Yao, was also there. Standing in front of her was a little boy of about four. The boy was looking at Li Yang, his eyes clearly filled with a mix of adoration and excitement, yet he seemed to want to approach but didn’t dare.

”Xiaodong...”

Seeing this boy, whose features so closely resembled his own, Li Yang instantly threw all thoughts of cultivation to the back of his mind. His very heart trembled.

Zhou Yao crouched down and said to the little boy, ”Xiaodong, haven’t you been clamoring to see your daddy? Daddy’s back now.”

Hearing this, the little boy finally ran toward Li Yang, shouting happily, ”Daddy!”

Li Yang quickly took a few steps forward and swept his son into his arms.

Li Dong. This was the name he and Zhou Yao had chosen for their son.

”Daddy, I see you on TV every day!” Xiaolidong clearly worshipped Li Yang and chattered on happily.

Li Yang held his son, his own face filled with joy.

”Dad, Mom, Sis, Zhou Yao, let’s log out of the Virtual World first.”

No matter how realistic the Virtual World was, Li Yang wanted to hold his son in the real world.

...

As Li Yang was logging out of the Virtual World, elsewhere, Lentz of the Golden Moon Empire also exited the Stairs on the Path of Deities.

’I still didn’t make the top ten thousand.’

Lentz looked at his final rank, a trace of bitterness in his eyes.

’If I could have gotten into the top ten thousand, I would have become the future Controller of the Golden Moon Empire.’

His rank was now past 90,000. No miracle had occurred.

”Prince Lentz.”

Seeing Lentz emerge, many people called out with smiles.

Lunba Wu was also there, a wide smile on his face. ”Haha, Lentz, my dear brother, congratulations on passing the first round of the Human Race’s Eternal Saint Hall selection.”

”In total, fifty-eight people from our Golden Moon Empire passed the first round this time.”

Hearing this, Lentz subconsciously looked at the leaderboard in the void.

When he saw the name in first place, however, his expression changed slightly.

’Li Yang? That name...’

This familiar name stirred some memories he had almost completely forgotten.

The young man he and Celestial Net had worked together to eliminate before was also named Li Yang.

However, that Li Yang was merely from Planet Zero. Why would he ever care about Planet Zero, a place where the strongest were only at the Law Realm?

He was a member of a powerful Divine Clan, the most likely future heir to the Golden Moon Empire that ruled over a thousand galaxies. Planets like Planet Zero were like ants before him. It wouldn’t even matter if they were annihilated, let alone a single person from Planet Zero.

So, with six years having passed, he had truly all but forgotten the name Li Yang.

But now, this Li Yang had suddenly appeared before him, and in first place, no less.

Beside him, Lunba Wu noticed Lentz’s change in expression and said with a smile, ”Lentz, this Li Yang’s Talent is incredible. He’s actually broken into the top ten thousand in the overall rankings for all the geniuses in the Yangyuan Star Continent! A genius like this who never stood out before suddenly erupted on the Stairs of the Deities. Isn’t his Talent terrifying?”

Lunba Wu said admiringly, ”His Majesty and the ministers are all very pleased. Pleased that a genius of this caliber has appeared within our Golden Moon Empire! His Majesty is preparing to reward Li Yang handsomely.”

”Oh, right, this Li Yang is from the Milky Way Galaxy. The Milky Way has produced very few geniuses in the past. Lentz, do you know of it? This Li Yang is even from a place called Planet Zero within the Milky Way Galaxy.”

He chattered on, and as Lentz listened, his heart grew increasingly grim.

’The Milky Way Galaxy... Li Yang...’

He remembered that the Li Yang that Celestial Net had dealt with back then was from the Milky Way Galaxy.

There were many geniuses with the same name, but for them to have the same name, be from the same galaxy, and even from the same Planet Zero... such a coincidence was impossible.

’How is that possible? That Li Yang’s Talent is actually that strong?’

Lentz, of course, knew what it meant to place in the top ten thousand among the geniuses from the billions of galaxies in the Yangyuan Star Continent.

Previously, their ancestor, Golden Moon, had even said that as long as he placed in the top ten thousand, the Golden Moon Empire would be his to control in the future.

This was what he had dreamed of, and he had failed to achieve it.

And yet, Li Yang—the one he had always seen as an ant, the one he had casually eliminated—had actually done it?

*(Whew. I’m about to go on a long trip, so this is it for today... Sigh. My updates have been unstable lately, my apologies. But things are almost settled, and I’ll post make-up Chapters in a few days... Thank you to ”A Life Gone Cold” for the 1500-coin tip, thanks to ”08a” and ”Book Friend 130212152833687” for the 100-coin tips. Thank you.)*