Chapter 123: The Chaos City Lord's Perplexity

In the depths of the City Lord’s mansion in Chaos City, a powerful being—possessing a pair of fiery red horns, a face covered in mysterious markings, and a long, scaled tail—suddenly opened his eyes.

"Hm? The new batch of genius battle participants has arrived. Has another ten thousand years passed already?"

"And there is a little one from the Universe Mercenary Alliance as well?"

The Chaos City Lord’s gaze pierced through time and space, extending from an independent plane hidden within the depths of the mansion directly to the spaceship flying toward the edge of the Initial Universe. Under his authority to control time and space, nothing within the entire Initial Universe could be hidden from him. Even the most minute and deeply buried details were laid bare before his mysterious, patterned eyes.

"Oh?" The Chaos City Lord’s gaze suddenly fell upon Luo Feng. He instantly saw through the "Origin Core" within Luo Feng’s body, peering into his internal world.

"The main body is a Golden Horned Beast, yet the soul is human... Possession of a Golden Horned Beast? That is quite a fortuitous encounter."

"He wasted a slot to gestate an ordinary human clone. A Mosha clansman clone... barely acceptable, though not the best choice."

"A Golden Horned Beast can gestate three clones. If the third is chosen well, it could be a great opportunity."

"Regardless, possessing the ability to create clones significantly increases his survivability. His chances of growing up are much higher."

After confirming that Luo Feng’s soul was intact, the Chaos City Lord nodded slightly and shifted his gaze. As for the minor detail that the genius battle was restricted to Star-level participants while the Golden Horned Beast in Luo Feng’s internal world had already reached Domain Lord level, the Chaos City Lord had no intention of intervening.

His gaze continued to sweep across the other geniuses. Among the thousand geniuses from the 1008 universe sectors, there was no shortage of those with heaven-defying luck. Yet, no matter the nature of their fortune, it was instantly transparent to the Chaos City Lord; nothing could be hidden.

The Chaos City Lord’s gaze swept over the "Uchiha Shisui" clone, finding nothing unusual. The next moment, his eyes landed on "Jiang Chen," and through the world ring, he saw Jiang Chen's main body.

"A clone? The main body is also a Domain Lord, with over a dozen times the genetic level?"

"Hmm?!" The Chaos City Lord suddenly detected an anomaly and swept his gaze over "Uchiha Shisui" once more.

"This 'Uchiha Shisui' is also a clone? The consciousness origin is the same, the soul origin is the same. But why are the soul fluctuations and mental vibrations different?!"

Surprise flickered in the Chaos City Lord’s eyes. As an ancient entity standing at the pinnacle of the universe, having lived through endless ages, he had seen too much. It was rare for anything to trigger the emotion of "surprise." In fact, emotions rarely manifested in a being of his stature. His immense power and the vast memories of his long life had made him increasingly like a emotionless machine. Yet today, witnessing Jiang Chen’s uniqueness, the Chaos City Lord experienced a rare emotional ripple.

"And this little one from the Universe Mercenary Alliance is also his clone. Three clones, three different soul and mental fluctuations."

The Chaos City Lord quickly finished reviewing all the geniuses, discovering the uniqueness of Jiang Chen’s clones. He eyed Jiang Chen with curiosity.

"Three clones, all human, and all from relatively weak human bloodlines. Does this fellow not know the special nature of clones and simply picked them at random?"

A flicker of doubt crossed the Chaos City Lord's mind, but he did not dwell on it. How Jiang Chen obtained the clone talent or why he chose these three races was not his concern. The only thing he cared about was why Jiang Chen’s clones possessed soul and mental fluctuations entirely distinct from the main body.

The Chaos City Lord diverted a sliver of consciousness to connect to the Virtual Universe. With his clearance, he could access any data or record. He quickly pulled up the files for Jiang Chen’s three clones. With his consciousness, he instantly analyzed all verifiable information from their first appearance to their arrival in Chaos City. From this data, he vaguely deduced a series of obscure "trajectories."

"This 'Ersuo' clone was a slave. According to the transaction records notarized by the Virtual Universe, he was last seen being bought on the black market. The mental fluctuations recorded by the Virtual Universe system match what they are now. It seems that was when Jiang Chen seized the identity. How he refined it into a clone aside, the identical mental fluctuations... are they copied?"

"The other two clones cannot be traced, but there seem to be traces of artificial manipulation in the genes. The clone that shares the same identity as the main body has identical genes—is it a clone?"

"Interesting... I think I understand this method of cloning."

The Chaos City Lord’s lips curled into a smile. "Using different identities to join my Virtual Universe Company and the Universe Mercenary Alliance simultaneously. This little fellow has quite the nerve!"

"His teacher is the Phantom Spirit King? And he even confessed to the Phantom Spirit King in the virtual universe?"

"Hm... no need to concern myself with such trivial matters."

"However, the techniques this little fellow displayed in the virtual universe are vastly different from his performance in the genius battle. He has considerable insights into the laws of Metal, Wood, Water, Earth, Light, and Lightning. Combined with the Fire, Wind, Space, and Time laws shown by his two clones, he has mastered all ten origin laws to a deep degree, and he is skilled in technology—truly an all-rounder!"

"Who was the last monster of a genius like this? Tian Shi? Or that disciple of my junior brother, You Hou?"

The Chaos City Lord fell into reminiscence. But in an instant, he regained his composure and continued reviewing Jiang Chen’s data. Suddenly, his gaze fell upon a piece of equipment Jiang Chen had crafted in the virtual universe.

"These mysterious markings..." The Chaos City Lord looked at the "markings" hidden beneath the blue paint on the "Gundam" mecha and muttered, "These peculiar markings are completely different from the 'Marking Flow' of the universe!"

"A new system!"

"Did this little fellow obtain a legacy from a universe era before the Great Destruction?"

"No, that's not right!"

"The Marking Flow is learned from treasures flowing out of the Universe Ocean, and it has remained the same for countless eras!"

"The unique markings this little fellow has mastered are definitely strange!"

The Chaos City Lord stared at Jiang Chen, countless thoughts flashing through his mind, finally settling into a sigh: "In the end, this little fellow is human. Let us see how far he can go."

"But... Earth? This tiny, indigenous planet actually produced two geniuses, Jiang Chen and Luo Feng, in this batch. Could there be something strange about it?"

"I should go take a look..."

The Chaos City Lord made his decision. He would adopt a wait-and-see attitude toward Jiang Chen and refrain from interfering for now. Regardless, Jiang Chen was human. However, he developed infinite curiosity about "Earth," the indigenous planet that birthed two such geniuses.

In the Primordial Secret Realm, another avatar of the Chaos City Lord quietly departed. Without alerting anyone, he rushed toward the direction of the Ganwu Universe Sector to investigate the uniqueness of Earth. However, this journey was destined to be in vain. The measures left behind by the Mountain Guest were not something a Universe Master could easily see through. In the original story, the secret of Earth was only exposed after the Giant Axe Founder returned from exploring the Universe Ocean and broke the Mountain Guest’s defenses through "space-time backtracking."

***

Inside Chaos City.

After the Nine Sword Venerable brought the geniuses to Chaos City and handed them over to the "Guide Messenger," he departed. Under the guidance of the messenger, the 1001 geniuses gained a preliminary understanding of Chaos City before being led into a vast, expansive corridor within the City Lord’s mansion.

On both sides of the corridor hung paintings that emanated profound auras. Each painting’s content and aura were unique, and a name was written beneath each one.

"Universe Chaos Stele"
"Giant Axe Chaos Stele"
"Nine Universes Chaos Stele"
...

"There are 52 Chaos Steles. Every cultivator who enters the Initial Universe is granted one opportunity to meditate, with a duration of seven days!"

"The Chaos Steles are the supreme treasures of our human race. They convey the path to the very pinnacle more clearly than any secret technique. Seven days of meditation will be sufficient for you."

The guide pointed at the paintings on both sides and said, "There are 52 rubbings hanging on the walls, each corresponding to a Chaos Stele. Observe these paintings first. Although they cannot convey the aura contained within the steles, they will allow you to sense a bit of the artistic conception."

"Each of you may choose one Chaos Stele to contemplate and study, but you only have one chance. Once chosen, it cannot be changed."

"You have half an hour."

The guide finished speaking and stood aside, waiting silently. Though many of the geniuses had never heard of "Chaos Steles" and were filled with doubt, they realized this was a crucial choice.

Regardless of whether they had prior knowledge, each one seized the time, focusing intently on each painting, trying to find the one most suitable for them.

Jiang Chen also stepped forward, observing the rubbings. After the "Ersuo" clone had communicated with the Phantom Spirit King, he already had a preliminary understanding of the 52 steles and a rough plan for his choice. He had excluded the "Law-type Chaos Steles" from his selection range.

Still, Jiang Chen chose to view all 52 rubbings to sense their auras. The aura within the rubbings was far inferior to the true steles, yet they captured a hint of the "artistic conception" within. Even a rough observation provided Jiang Chen with flickers of inspiration.

He looked through them one by one, lingering for no more than ten seconds to half a minute at each. Suddenly, he stopped in front of one. Beneath it was written: "Heavenly Craft Chaos Stele."

"According to the information Teacher Phantom Spirit King gave me, this 'Heavenly Craft Chaos Stele' is the only one among the 52 that corresponds to the 'Technology Flow.' Its level is not low; it is said to correspond to the 29th level of the Tongtian Bridge."

A thought flashed through Jiang Chen's mind. The 52 steles were among the most important cultivation treasures of the human race, but they were tiered. The number of levels on the corresponding "Tongtian Bridge" represented the "upper limit" of a stele. Some steles only went up to the 21st level, representing the threshold of a Universe Venerable. This meant their limit was there; even if one fully comprehended the stele, they would barely break through to become a Universe Venerable, and the path beyond would have to be found on one's own.

The "Giant Axe Chaos Stele," which corresponded to the highest number of levels, reached 32, representing the "True God" level. Of course, the breakthrough from Universe Master to True God was unique, and relying solely on the Giant Axe stele would not suffice. But it showed that its limit was higher than others. A stele with 29 levels on the Tongtian Bridge was easily within the top five. Only the "Giant Axe," "Universe," and "Darkness" steles were higher, with the "Void Gold" stele also at 29 levels.

"A stele corresponding to the 29th level... it must have been left by a powerful Universe Master. The 'Universe' one is the Chaos City Lord’s, the 'Heavenly Ruins' is the Void Gold Master’s, and the 'Darkness' belongs to the Master of Darkness. I wonder if this 'Heavenly Craft' was left by the Master of Peng Gong or another master not mentioned in the original records?"

Jiang Chen looked at the rubbing. It depicted a massive factory where countless workers operated various machines. Each worker and machine emitted a faint, mysterious aura. Unlike his previous guesses, the rubbing did not seem to contain the mysteries of physical laws or natural phenomena. Instead, each individual element seemed to represent a certain "element," and the entire painting was about combining these countless elements.

"Is this... a concept of material synthesis? No, not just synthesis, there is something else, though I can't quite see through it yet, only the part regarding 'material synthesis'."

Jiang Chen immersed himself in contemplation, his mind filled with inspiration. Just by watching the rubbing, he gained a deeper understanding of "Materials Science," even conceiving several new synthesis methods for highly promising materials.

"Master, time is up!" Jarvis’s voice startled Jiang Chen.

Jiang Chen took one last deep look at the rubbing of the "Heavenly Craft Chaos Stele," turned, and walked toward the next one.