Chapter 1 The Beginning

Xu Jingming and the 58,920 others gathered together, looking at the illusory figure in mid-air.

The illusory figure looked down. "The rules of the Mysterious Land: Only by passing the test of one planet will you be qualified to proceed to the next. After experiencing all the tests, you can reach the final seventh planet."

These 58,920 people all had quite the background.

After all, being able to know about the 'Blood Rain World' opportunity and offer 10,000 gold made them elites among the universe citizens! Among them were unparalleled geniuses from certain civilizations, royals from certain civilized empires, and members of some large cosmic families.

"Seven planets, each with numerous opportunities." The illusory figure continued, "From the first planet to the seventh, the opportunities will get better and better. Therefore, your best choice is to reach the seventh planet before exploring those opportunities."

Xu Jingming sighed inwardly.

This guide had already revealed the best discovery method.

"The seventh planet? How many can reach the seventh planet?"

"The highest our entire civilization has ever reached is the fifth planet."

"It’s a profit if you can get a good opportunity. Otherwise, if you keep exploring and get kicked out when the time is up without any opportunity, then that's a huge loss."

Many universe citizens below murmured, disagreeing with what the guide said. Their respective civilizations had a lot of exploration experience to refer to, and they knew how difficult it was to reach the seventh planet.

"Coming to the Mysterious Land is for the opportunities."

"The opportunity that suits you is the best."

While some were murmuring, the illusory figure above continued, "You have 330 days to explore the Mysterious Land! During these 330 days, you can try the tests again and again, look for opportunities, and even go offline to consult your teachers and elders!"

"Once the 330 days are up, you will be expelled and will not be allowed to enter the Mysterious Land again."

"I wish you all to reach the seventh planet and obtain the best opportunities." The illusory figure said, "The exploration time now begins the countdown! The detailed test content for the seven planets can be viewed on your personal panel."

With that, the illusory figure disappeared.

Immediately, everyone opened their personal panels to check, and Xu Jingming did the same, which included the test information.

"Buzz."

With a light tap.

A phantom image of the first planet appeared before him, with a large canyon marked on it. It looked as if the entire planet had been split by a knife to form the canyon.

This canyon was connected by chains.

Step onto the chains and carefully walk from one end of the canyon to the other. When you successfully reach the other end, you will have passed the test and can enter the miniature wormhole to go to the second planet.

There were many chains! The length varied from 828 kilometers to 916 kilometers. There were many dangers along the way. Once you failed, you had to start all over again.

There were also many opportunities in other areas of the first planet.

"Chains?" Xu Jingming didn't care about the opportunities on the first planet. He only cared about the chains.

"Let's try it out first."

Xu Jingming quickly determined the route based on the three-dimensional map provided by the personal panel.

"First, choose your equipment." Through the personal panel, he quickly selected a set of lightweight light armor boots and a spear. Although Xu Jingming's footwork and spear techniques had reached the seventh level, his shield technique was temporarily stuck at the sixth level, 99%.

"Let's go."

Following the path, Xu Jingming advanced.

People from various civilizations around him also chose their weapons and equipment and headed towards the Great Canyon.

"I am Lan Mo from the Nine Feather Star Alliance." A tall human with blue skin, walking beside Xu Jingming, said enthusiastically.

Xu Jingming glanced at him. He was estimated to be 2.35 meters tall, with blue skin, and his long hair was braided into hundreds of small braids. He wondered if this ‘Lan Mo’ understood the importance of concealing his identity.

"Wu Ming from the Wu Gou Star Alliance." Xu Jingming casually gave a fake name.

"Wu Gou Star Alliance? It's quite far from our Nine Feather Star Alliance. My biggest goal in life is to travel to every Star Alliance in the entire human territory, but now, I haven't even finished traveling our Hunter Cosmos Domain. The interstellar tickets are too expensive." Lan Mo sighed.

Xu Jingming was curious. "I haven't really looked into it. How much does a ticket from the Nine Feather Star Alliance to the Wu Gou Star Alliance cost?"

"The ticket definitely costs more than 100 million cosmos coins." Lan Mo said, "And it's not even a direct route! You have to go through several Star Alliances, and it takes at least three months on the road."

Xu Jingming nodded.

The direct route between the Nine Feather Star Alliance and the Wu Gou Star Alliance was more than 2 billion light-years! If you detoured through multiple Star Alliances, it would indeed take a long time. Spaceships that could travel in such a distant starry sky were expensive! The tickets were naturally very high.

"I've only traveled to less than half of the 185 Star Alliances in the Hunter Cosmos Domain." Lan Mo shook his head. "When will I be able to visit other Cosmos Domains? To broaden my horizons? By the way, does your Wu Gou Star Alliance have any particularly interesting places?"

"I don't like traveling, I don't know." Xu Jingming said.

He hadn't even left the Blue Star civilization! He hadn't left the solar system.

"The path of evolution requires learning and traveling the universe." Lan Mo said, "Brother Wu Ming, there are too many wonders in the universe, and different civilizations have different splendors. Seeing more will greatly help your cultivation."

"Oh." Xu Jingming responded.

No money, no time.

"Let me tell you about the Bei Que Star Alliance I went to last time. It was very interesting..." Lan Mo chatted enthusiastically.

He chatted, and Xu Jingming listened, occasionally praising and commenting.

After half an hour, they arrived at the Great Canyon.

"Chatting makes time pass without realizing it." Lan Mo looked at the Great Canyon ahead and said happily, "Alright, Brother Wu Ming, it was very pleasant chatting with you. I wish we can meet on the seventh planet."

"You're quite confident." Xu Jingming said.

"You have to dare to think!"

Lan Mo was full of confidence and stepped onto a thick chain ahead.

The chain was dark gray in color and about the size of Xu Jingming's fist. The length could not be seen, and it led to the nothingness ahead.

"It's just a chain less than a thousand kilometers long." Lan Mo walked on the chain. The wind in the Great Canyon was very strong, and the raging wind swept, making Lan Mo sway. "This wind is too strong! Brother Wu Ming, you have to be careful."

"Thanks." Xu Jingming also stepped onto another chain next to him.

"Physical fitness is still restricted to the level of the Blood Rain World. Falling into such a deep canyon will definitely kill you."

Xu Jingming held a spear and was very stable on the chain.

He walked step by step.

Walking on a chain was very easy for an expert in cell-level control.

But...

"Whoosh." "Whoosh." "Whoosh." The further he walked, the stronger the wind in the Great Canyon became. The wind was irregular, sometimes strong, sometimes weak, and sometimes the wind direction changed!

Xu Jingming walked on the chain, using the spear in his hand as a balance pole.

"Using a three-meter-long spear as a balance pole makes it much easier to walk." Xu Jingming walked very fast.

"Ah! Not good!"

A familiar shout came from not far away.

Xu Jingming glanced over and saw that Lan Mo, the brother who had said ‘see you on the seventh planet,’ had lost his balance and fallen off the chain.

"Next time, I'll get a balance pole too." When Lan Mo fell, he looked at Xu Jingming on the chain not far away and immediately felt that having a ‘balance pole’ was too convenient.

"This is not just a balance pole." Xu Jingming held the spear and looked at the other chains around him. He could vaguely see a few other chains within sight, and universe citizens were walking carefully on them, also carrying their respective weapons. "Moreover, the first planet test set by the seventeen top factions should be more than just testing a balance pole."

He walked all the way.

Although the chain was long and swayed in the wind, Xu Jingming walked as if on flat ground after using the three-meter-long spear for balance.

After walking more than a hundred kilometers, Xu Jingming suddenly saw on a chain in the distance that a four-armed human was fighting three strange birds with four large sabers. The three strange birds were attacking repeatedly, extremely ferocious.

"There are strange birds attacking?" Xu Jingming's heart tightened.

The strange birds also noticed Xu Jingming and immediately let out a piercing screech, which made Xu Jingming become more vigilant and walk forward faster.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh

Another group of strange birds flew over, a total of five.

Each strange bird was no smaller than a human when its wings were spread, and they were extremely fierce. At this moment, they were all attacking Xu Jingming.

"Here they come."

Xu Jingming flicked his spear, drawing an arc. Although the strange bird swooped down and its wings also struck the spear, the spear still followed a beautiful curved trajectory and pierced into the strange bird's eye, penetrating its brain.

One shot killed it.

The strange bird immediately fell from the sky.

Puff, puff, puff

Finding a flaw. Xu Jingming had noticed when watching the four-armed human and the strange birds fight earlier that the claws of the strange birds...

"There are strange birds?" When Lan Mo saw this, he immediately threw the balance pole in his hand forward, and then immediately drew his saber to deal with the strange birds.

Bang bang bang.

After a few rounds of fighting, although he blocked the strange birds, he couldn't maintain his balance, and accidentally fell down again.

"A balance pole is useless. Brother Wu Ming's method doesn't work either. What should I do? How can I get through?" When Lan Mo fell, he was still thinking hard about how to try next time.

The method is to kill your way through!

Xu Jingming stepped on the chain and moved forward, occasionally encountering strange birds along the way, sometimes one or two, sometimes seven or eight. These strange birds would attack crazily when they saw universe citizens.

But Xu Jingming held a spear and killed all the way!

He could maintain his balance while killing. In this way, he walked to the other end of the long chain.

The chain was about 900 kilometers long.

"It took a total of 18 hours and 26 minutes to walk." Xu Jingming looked at his personal panel and confirmed the time it took to pass the chain.

A miniature wormhole appeared in front of the chain.

The wormhole was only three meters in diameter and was dark and twisted.

"I don't know how my newly acquainted brother Lan Mo is doing now. Forget about the seventh planet. I hope I can see him on the fifth planet." Xu Jingming then stepped into the miniature wormhole.

On the endless long chain, Lan Mo, holding two sabers, fell again in the midst of fighting the strange birds.

When he fell, his eyes were blank.

"Could it be that I'm going to be trapped on the first planet forever?"

"I also cultivated to become a sixth-order cosmic lifeform on my own. My father praised me, and my combat power is amplified by 8 times!—A chain is stopping me?" Lan Mo couldn't believe it, and he didn't want to believe it.

"It's okay, I have a year!" Lan Mo's eyes were filled with determination, and then he fell into the endless darkness of the canyon.

******

Xu Jingming walked out of the miniature wormhole and looked at a new planet in front of him.

Looking at this vast planet, there were some strange creatures! These creatures were somewhat similar to large mantises and large beetles. At least Xu Jingming saw six different-looking creatures at a glance.

"Zerg." Xu Jingming immediately determined.

The Zerg were a very terrifying race in the universe, and they had historically posed a great threat to cosmic humans.

Of course, now the entire 'Zerg race' was completely controlled by humans and used by humans as one of the cosmic human 'units.'

"This second planet is a Zerg planet?" Xu Jingming looked around. The area he was in was the miniature wormhole exit area, and it was covered by a protective shield that the Zerg could not approach.

Outside the protective shield, he could see Zerg from afar.

There were solitary Zerg gnawing on rocks, more than a dozen Zerg advancing together, and even further away, a cosmic citizen was fighting five Zerg. The commotion of the fight quickly attracted more Zerg. In just a dozen seconds, hundreds of Zerg surrounded and tore the cosmic citizen into pieces.

"How tragic." Xu Jingming's pupils shrank.

Being torn into pieces; the virtual world was almost real, and the feeling wouldn't be pleasant.

Xu Jingming didn't look any further but opened his personal panel. "Check the test content for this second planet."