From the Metropolis to the Strongest in the Cosmos

The Blade Slaughter Sect Master smiled, his eyes full of anticipation as he looked at Li Yang.

”I will not let you down, Teacher,” Li Yang said solemnly.

Throughout his cultivation journey, the Blade Slaughter Sect Master had always treated him very well, helping him solve all sorts of problems and even find fortuitous opportunities.

”Mm.”

The Blade Slaughter Sect Master nodded. ”It will take you at least another month to reach the Eternal Saint Hall. I expect that plenty of Deities will seek you out during this time. Hmm... I’ll spread the word in a little while that you’ve already decided to give the Gold-devouring Insect to me. If any of those Deities contact you, just tell them to come find me directly.”

Although Li Yang was a genius, he was, after all, only at the Star Lord Realm and hadn’t reached his full potential. When discussing the Gold-devouring Insect with those Deities, Li Yang would inevitably have to refuse any trades.

And as anyone could guess, after being refused, those Deities would surely be a little displeased.

With Deities coming one after another, Li Yang would likely end up offending a whole bunch of them.

But as a mere Star Lord Realm cultivator, he couldn’t just turn off his communicator and refuse to speak with those Deities. If he did that, Li Yang would likely cause even greater offense.

However, if he deflected everything onto the Blade Slaughter Sect Master, there would certainly be no problem.

Whenever a Deity arrived, Li Yang would only need to say one thing: ”My apologies, Lord Deity, but I’ve already decided to give the Gold-devouring Insect to my teacher, the Blade Slaughter Sect Master. If you wish to trade for it, you can speak with him.”

As long as Li Yang said those words, the matter would be easily resolved.

”Alright, Teacher.”

Hearing this, Li Yang’s eyes lit up, and he nodded.

”Alright, don’t let this weigh on you,” the Blade Slaughter Sect Master said with a chuckle. ”There might be some gossip now, but once your strength increases, all this idle chatter will naturally vanish.”

He could already guess that some Deities would surely be displeased about Li Yang refusing to trade the Gold-devouring Insect.

But what did their displeasure matter? The path of cultivation was all about facing adversity head-on. As for gossip, one simply had to laugh it off. On the road to true power, this was such a minor obstacle it wasn’t even worth mentioning.

”I understand.” Li Yang nodded.

...

After spending a little more time in the Virtual World, Li Yang logged out.

Afterward, Deities began contacting him, all of them wanting to trade for the Gold-devouring Insect.

Li Yang used the excuse he had arranged with the Blade Slaughter Sect Master for every one of them.

Gradually, word spread among the Deities that Li Yang had given the Gold-devouring Insect to his teacher. The number of Deities seeking him out dropped off sharply.

”Li Yang gave the Gold-devouring Insect to Blade Slaughter.”

”Blade Slaughter’s power is at the absolute peak of the Divine Realm, not far off from an Emperor’s. He already possesses the might of an invincible king among those in the Divine Realm, yet he still wants the Gold-devouring Insect.”

”Who knows? Maybe Blade Slaughter is just holding it for Li Yang temporarily. Once Li Yang becomes a Deity, Blade Slaughter might give the Gold-devouring Insect back to him.”

”Forget it. I wouldn’t dare approach Blade Slaughter to negotiate a trade.”

”Exactly. That madman killed over a hundred members of the Alien Race in a single battle on the Slaughter Battlefield. His combat record is terrifying!”

As this news spread and the Deities discussed it, many of them abandoned any thoughts of acquiring the Gold-devouring Insect.

Blade Slaughter—one could imagine his combat record from that name alone!

...

Li Yang, who was still within the borders of the Yangyuan Empire, breathed a sigh of relief. ’Teacher was right. Once the news got out, far fewer Deities came looking for me.’

’With my current strength, dealing with one Deity after another is just too overwhelming. After all, any single one of them could kill me in an instant.’

”Haha, Junior Brother, message me the next time you’re here,” Jun Yue said with a laugh.

Li Yang was preparing to leave the Yangyuan Empire, and it was time for them to part ways.

”Alright, Eleventh Senior Brother,” Li Yang replied with a smile.

He turned and left with Hei Xu.

”Li Yang, where are we going?” Hei Xu asked.

Li Yang smiled. ”Back to the Eternal Saint Hall of the Human Race.”

Those at the Star Lord Realm were meant to train out in the wider world and didn’t need to stay within the Eternal Saint Hall, but they were allowed to return.

After all, they still had inheritance opportunities and could enter the Palace of Inheritance within the Eternal Saint Hall of the Human Race!

Although Li Yang had encountered many inheritances—such as those of the Fire Nether Divine Beast clan and the Star Moon Race—the inheritance of the Human Race’s Eternal Saint Hall was undoubtedly the most supreme!

’The Hunyuan Martial Dao Saint Realm has an existence who surpasses the Sovereign level. Since our Eternal Saint Hall is considered on par with it, we must also have an existence beyond the Sovereign level! This means the Human Race should have two such terrifying beings!’

Li Yang thought to himself.

’How powerful must the Palace of Inheritance, so meticulously crafted by such beings, truly be?’

’I know about the supreme inheritance ground on the Slaughter Battlefield now, but that was established by only one being who surpassed the Sovereign level.’

’But the Human Race has two!’

’In terms of effectiveness, even if you entered that supreme inheritance ground with the highest-level purple Token and received its best legacy, the results would probably still be slightly inferior to what the Eternal Saint Hall’s Palace of Inheritance offers.’

The only drawback Li Yang could find with the Eternal Saint Hall’s inheritance was the short duration—each entry was limited to only ten days.

Of course, the Human Race’s Divine Path Stairway had forty-nine steps. If one passed them all, they could enter forty-nine times, which added up to over a year. That was a fairly reasonable amount of time.

After all, the Human Race had so many geniuses that without proper scheduling, the queue to enter would be incredibly long.

”Back to the Saint Hall?”

Hearing Li Yang’s words, Hei Xu said with a smile, ”Li Yang, you still have twenty-some inheritance opportunities left. With this trip back, your comprehension of the laws should improve a fair bit.”

Passing twelve steps of the Divine Path Stairway early had earned him an additional thirty inheritance opportunities, of which Li Yang still had over twenty remaining.

Li Yang smiled faintly, his gaze shifting in a particular direction as he thought, ’The Time Divine Tree clan should be just ahead, right?’

The Time Divine Tree was a species of natural-born Deities. At maturity, they could master four profundities of the laws of time, and one of them was currently an avatar of Li Yang!

They and the Fire Nether Divine Beast clan were the only two clans of natural-born Deities within the territory of the Human Race.

However, the Fire Nether Divine Beast clan was located in a remote region under the jurisdiction of the Eternal Saint Hall, whereas the Time Divine Tree clan was within the territory of the Yangyuan Empire.

Currently, Li Yang’s Fire Nether Divine Beast avatar was constantly gaining insights within its clan’s inheritance ground, which had already given his overall cultivation speed a significant boost.

Naturally, he wanted his Time Divine Tree avatar to do the same and reap similar benefits by going to its own clan.

However, when Li Yang’s Time Divine Tree avatar had first been created, it was essentially a baby Time Divine Tree.

He couldn’t very well have this avatar, not even a year old, run up to the Time Divine Tree clan and declare, ”I’m a genius of your people! Hurry up and give me your best training!”

The scene would have been unimaginable.

Now, however, over a decade had passed. The Time Divine Tree avatar had been cultivating for more than ten years, which was a considerable amount of time. Now was the perfect time for it to go to its clan and reap the benefits.