Chapter 161 - Chapter 161: Chapter 160: The Cosmic Peak Talents Competition Officially Begins!

Chapter 161: Chapter 160: The Cosmic Peak Talents Competition Officially Begins!

Translator: 549690339

In the last three months before the Cosmic Peak Talents Competition began, Du Gang spent most of his time either in the Cultivation Site or in the Killing Field.

The encounter with Fu Wenrui last time was purely an accident, because that guy had just come up, but his strength was enough to stay in a higher place.

So, Du Gang settled down. During the competition, he would try to fight with the enemy for a few minutes, then snatch the competition at the last critical moment.

Most of the money he earned was plowed into the Cultivation Site.

Finally, on the last day, he trained both of his Gold Element domains to an Advanced Level of one kilometer.

“It’s finally starting!”

After more than two years of cultivation, Du Gang was finally ready for the Cosmic Peak Talents Competition.

He was now eager to go to the White Dragon Mountain universe nation, not because he wanted to see the outside world, but because he wanted to exchange money there and then buy cultivation methods.

“The Cosmic Peak Talents Competition officially begins!”

On this day, in the sky over every island in the entire virtual universe, these words floated up.

This competition was not just a competition for young talents, but a carnival for the entire universe.

At this time, it’s the most relaxed and joyful time in the entire universe.

Most companies would give their employees a vacation or organize everyone to dive into the virtual universe to celebrate during the Cosmic Peak Talents Competition.

In effect, the period during the Cosmic Peak Talents Competition has become a sort of New Year’s Day in the universe, during which the online user number of the entire virtual universe is at its peak.

That day, Du Gang waited early at the official website of the Peak Genius Race organizing committee, waiting to see if any strong people came to give a speech.

In the end, he thought too much. They simply released a notice that the competition has officially started, without any strong characters stepping out.

However, Fan An did summon all their Stellar Level outer disciples.

“Everyone, it’s very likely that all the advancement qualifications for this preliminary round will fall on you. To see who can represent the Milky Way Galaxy in the audition for the intermediate round, that will depend on your own performance…”

After boosting morale, he continued: “However, those who fail should not be discouraged. After the intermediate round, all of us will go to the White Dragon Mountain Primary Level Universe. Then you will have the chance to see a broader world…”

After a series of other remarks, a staff member finally signaled him.

Fan An then stopped and smiled: “Everyone, the organizing committee has prepared everything for us. Now all contestants return home and log into the virtual universe within half an hour!”

Hearing this, everyone left without delay and rushed back home.

After Du Gang went back, he immediately logged into the virtual universe.

Sure enough, the location wasn’t the usual White Dragon Mountain island, but a huge planet.

Contestants from the Milky Way Galaxy were all crowded on this planet, and from time to time a sparkling light would flash as new contestants arrived.

In the sky, a large countdown was hanging high, starting to countdown from one hour.

Du Gang glanced at his body, it was still a normal human body without any strength.

He guessed that he would have to wait until the start of the competition before his body was replaced with the scanned one.

Thus, for an hour, lights flashed from time to time and the number of contestants kept increasing.

After a quiet wait for an hour, the competition began directly.

There were no referees, no hosts, and no commentators.

All competitors began to be matched by the system. Once paired, they disappeared quickly from the planet and reappeared in separate small battlegrounds.

The small battleground was not big, it was only ten thousand square meters, probably to prevent the competitors from taking too long.

Du Gang stood in the small battleground, smiling faintly at the Planet Level opponent opposite him who was clueless and on guard.

He didn’t move his body. He just casually released his domain and then crushed his opponent to death…

[Congratulations, you won the competition!]

The prompt sound appeared when he killed his opponent.

[Please be ready to enter the virtual space at 12 noon tomorrow. The next competition will be held promptly at 1 pm tomorrow!]

Afterwards, Du Gang found out that he was immediately kicked out of the battleground, and he didn’t appear on the waiting planet again. Instead, he directly appeared on a street in the virtual universe.

“Is it over?”

Du Gang stood on the street, looking bewildered. “Is it really only one match per day?!”

At this moment on the street, both sides of the road were full of people discussing about the Cosmic Peak Talent Competition.

Meanwhile, the videos of the finished fights were also gradually published by the officials.

Yes, all the fight videos of the Cosmic Peak Talents Competition would be published on the official website for anyone to view.

All media outlets mostly reported on their own respective regions.

Like in the Milky Way Galaxy, countless outlets were streaming matches taking place within the Galaxy, and continuously predicting who was most likely to become one of the top hundred and represent the Galaxy.

No matter if these topics were right or wrong, there would always be countless people watching them constantly.

Aside from regular people, some competitors were also checking these news to see if there were any outstanding contestants.

Among the hot topics of the top hundred, Du Gang was very popular!

Undoubtedly, after having the record of single-handedly killing a universe-level competitor, nobody dared to rank Du Gang second.

In any combat power rankings or news prediction rankings, Du Gang was consistently in the first place.

“As we all know, when Du Gang first broke through to the Stellar Level, he eliminated the previous ruler of the Milky Way Empire, Zhou Haotian. Given his strength, claiming first place in the preliminary round of our Milky Way

Galaxy selection is a piece of cake for him… ‘

“Nevertheless, whether Du Gang can win in the intermediate competition is unknown, so let’s look forward to it…

Hearing the various reports along the road, Du Gang grabbed a companion and found a box to sit down in.

“Find me a bet, I want to place a wager…”

The companion laughed: “Who are you betting on, yourself?”

“Yes!

“Better not, all bets are on you to win, unless you deliberately lose. Otherwise, don’t think about profiting from this…”

Du Gang was momentarily speechless. It was only when he heard two people discussing bets on the roadside that he realised he could bet on himself and thought he’d found a path to fortune.

However, he soon realised that he had already become invincible in the Milky Way Galaxy!

The problem was that the entire Milky Way Galaxy knew he was invincible…

Just as he was lamenting missing out on a big opportunity, a call from Little Overlord suddenly came in.

“Overlord, has your competition finished? How was it?”

Little Overlord helplessly shook his head, “I’m out of the Cosmic Peak Talents

Competition…”

He met a tough opponent in the first round and was eliminated straightaway.

After all, he had only broken through to the Planet Level less than two years ago, and his strength was still too weak.

After finishing, he showed an awkward look but coughed and said, “It’s like this, I made a friend who wants to discuss a business proposition with you, so he asked me to introduce you…”

“Do business?”

Du Gang paused and then nodded: “Okay, send them over.”

Soon, a fat man appeared in the video.

“Mr. Du Gang, hello, I’m Zhuge Hong and I want to discuss a business proposition with you…”

“Zhuge Hong? Are you from a major family?”

“No, I met Overlord in the Third Star Zone…”

Du Gang nodded and directly asked: “What business?”

Zhuge Hong spoke mysteriously: “The thing is, I found that there are some wagers in the market related to you. So, I’m thinking about collaborating with you to make some money…”

In fact, most of the bets were related to Du Gang since he was ranked first and it would be abnormal without him.

“Make money?”

Du Gang showed interest and said: “Tell me more!”

“It’s like this, I found that the bets in the market regarding your victory or defeat are basically one-sided betting on your victory, so there’s not much profit margin…’

“However, there’s a good number of wagers on how quickly you can beat an opponent or how long an opponent can withstand you…”

Du Gang squinted his eyes, “What do you mean?”

Zhuge Hong grinned: “I can help you calculate which time slot would be the most profitable for each bet, then provide a summary report for you. You take the lion’s share, and we get a small cut…”

Du Gang understood his meaning. After contemplating for a while and asking a few questions, he agreed.

Zhuge Hong was overjoyed and quickly sent the data he had calculated.

After checking it, Du Gang nodded: “So in tomorrow’s match, it’s most profitable to win at the third minute and ninth second?”

“Exactly!”

Du Gang nodded his head, glanced at the nervous Little Overlord, and laughed: “Alright, aim for the third minute and ninth second. Place your bets accordingly! ”

Little Overlord immediately showed his excitement.

After hanging up the phone, Du Gang turned to his companion and asked: “I don’t understand these things very well. According to what Zhuge Hong said, how much can I earn if I wager using Source Crystals and Stellar Crystals?”

His companion calculated for a while and then laughed: “The approximate income is one-tenth!”

“That little?”

Du Gang calculated for a moment, realizing that he could only get around twenty Stellar Crystals’ worth.

“These bets are too complex. Retail investors or ordinary people mostly prefer to bet on win or lose, since there’s a fifty percent probability. It’s simpler this way…”

“So, basically, you are making money from the Zhuang Family!”

“Alright then, twenty Stellar Crystals it is, especially if it’s taking money from the Zhuang Family!”

Then, Du Gang let his companion place the bets for him.

The next day, he deliberately chatted with his opponent while silently keeping track of the time.

After long-term training in the Killing Field, he has become very sensitive to time.

Seeing that his opponent was Du Gang, his urge to fight had long disappeared. Seeing Du Gang chatting with him, he naturally did not dare to make the first move.

It wasn’t until the third minute and eighth second that Du Gang said, laughing: “I have other things to attend to, so let’s leave it at that!”

With that, he activated his Domain, and at the ninth second of the third minute, instantly killed his opponent.

In this way, after quietly pressing for ten days, he had just managed to double his investment, turning his original 200 Stellar Crystals into 400 Stellar Crystals.

On the eleventh day, the Zhuang Family withdrew their stakes…

Two hundred stars, although in his view, was not a lot, but to the capitalists of the Milky Way Galaxy, it was quite a lot.

Moreover, they knew that Du Gang was in control, so they had no choice but to withdraw all the positions related to Du Gang.

After losing the opportunity to make money by taking on private tasks, Du Gang’s life in the following days became even simpler.

He would take a few minutes in the afternoon to win a match, and then spend most of his time in the Killing Field and the Cultivation Site.

A brief period of invincibility had not blinded him. He knew that his real enemies and rivals were waiting for him on a grander stage.

If he grew arrogant just because he was invincible in the Milky Way Galaxy, he wouldn’t get very far.

In the last few days, many people, besides Zhuge Hong, wanted to collaborate with Du Gang to do business.

There were advertising endorsements, company mergers, and many other arrangements.

In the end, Du Gang rejected all of them.

All of his achievements came from his strength. If he put money first, he would be utterly foolish…

“Bala, why do these people think I would participate if they set such a low price?”

Du Gang sounded upset, “Had they set a more considerable price, I wouldn’t have to be so cautious these past few days!”

That’s right, those who approached Du Gang usually set prices in terms of Galaxy Coins.

He might have accepted in the past, but now he could not, because Source Crystals were difficult to obtain.

The majority of Source Crystals were collected by the four major companies. The small amount that circulated in the market was also overpriced and bought by Fan An and stellar-level disciples who were about to travel to the Cosmic Nations of White Dragon Mountain.

As a result, the Source Crystals temporarily circulating in the market were exhausted. Although these resources would gradually be replenished over time, by then, he might have already left the Milky Way Galaxy.

“Forget it, there are not many days left anyway, let’s leave it at that!”

After waiting for several days and not finding any businesses willing to operate in Source Crystals, Du Gang gave up his money-making ideas.

Because of that, he could only make money honestly in the Killing Field, then spend it in the Cultivation Site.

Time quickly passed, and after twenty-two days, the first 10,000 contestants were selected, thereby successfully ending the single-elimination trials of the preliminaries.

Next, it was the second round’s group preliminary elimination matches.

The ten thousand contestants were divided into a hundred groups, each with a hundred people. Each person would participate in ten battles, with the top ten scorers from each group advancing.

Since the matches were performed in the Virtual Universe, dying didn’t count as real death, so all opponents Du Gang faced chose to struggle instead of surrendering.

After winning nine consecutive battles, in his tenth match, he encountered his first Stellar-Level opponent since participating in the tournament.

The opponent was a thin man from the Cosmic Mercenary Union.

“Du Gang, I didn’t expect us to meet so soon. I thought we would face off in the ring matches and determine the winner…”

At first, Du Gang thought this man was going to play the field, but upon carefully observing the thin man’s face, he realized that his opponent truly regarded himself as a strong contender.

As a result, he said, “May I ask, who are you?”

The man looked stunned, then irritated: “You really don’t know who I am?”

Du Gang was taken aback, “Should I know who you are?”

The thin man angrily retorted: “Arrogant! You don’t even bother to find out who your competitors are in advance!”

Speechless, Du Gang indeed had not bothered to investigate. Seeing how upset his opponent was, he asked, “Alright, who are you then?”

Seeing this, the thin man flutteringly opened his cloak, casually saying, “My name is Zhang Bo, I’m a Stellar Level Ninth Rank. Before you came, the disciples from the four major companies recognized me as their strongest contender…”

Du Gang had never heard of this, so he nodded, “Alright, I know you now, shall we begin?”

To tell the truth, after a month of competition, he felt as if he was just going through the motions, as his opponents were simply too weak, and he couldn’t muster any interest.

At this moment, with someone who seemed quite strong, he suddenly felt the desire to compete.

“Swish swish!”

Suddenly, they both opened two Domains at once.

After fighting so many tricky Asuras in the Killing Field, Du Gang had developed the habit of not hiding his Domain.

If he attempted to conceal his Domain, the enemy might seize the opportunity to launch a sudden attack. Some Mind Masters’ attack speeds even approached the speed of his third transformation.

The straightforward way he opened his Domain rather stunned his opponent, Zhang Bo.

However, he didn’t hesitate, quickly following Du Gang by opening his two Domains.

“Double Domain!!!”

This really aroused Du Gang’s interest. He genuinely didn’t know that there were people in the Milky Way Galaxy who had comprehended two Domains!

Moreover, quite coincidentally, the Laws that Zhang Bo had comprehended were of the Fire Element.

“Du Gang, didn’t expect that, huh? You are the Gold Element Laws, and I am the Fire Element Laws. According to the Five Elements’ reciprocal relationships, fire overcomes gold, so you’re destined to lose…”

Zhang Bo felt somewhat triumphant. Despite his superior strength, he was being so underestimated.

If this had been in reality, he would have had nothing to say, accepting Du Gang as the strongest.

But now, in the virtual universe, Du Gang can’t transform, so he doesn’t fear him at all!

Upon hearing this, Du Gang’s expression didn’t change, showing no reaction. In the Killing Fields, he had encountered quite a few dual Fire Element Domain users.

Basically, there was a one in eight chance that he wouldn’t encounter opponents possessing Space or Time Laws at the Elementary Level Killing Field of White Dragon Mountain.

Therefore, the probability of meeting Fire Element Laws enemies is often one in eight.

And ultimately, ever since he lost to Fu Wenrui, he hadn’t lost again. Although this was partly because he intentionally controlled the time to lower his own rating.

But one can’t deny that Dual Fire Element Domain users weren’t a big challenge for him.

Seeing that Du Gang didn’t react, Zhang Bo lost his patience and began preparing to attack.

“Fire Phoenix!”

With a shout, a giant fire bird burst forth within Zhang Bo’s domain.

“Du Gang, today I’m going to teach you a lesson…”

Before he could finish his tough talk, Zhang Bo suddenly felt pressure on his shoulder, as if someone was pressing down on it.

Turning his head, he saw Du Gang standing quietly beside him. “Brother, have you been watching too many martial arts dramas? All that banter during battle…

“Snap!”

With a crisp sound, he simply snap Zhang Bo’s neck.

He felt that, as they both came from the same star system, and Zhang Bo was not without talent, he should give him a friendly piece of advice. Don’t be too honest in life, and don’t talk too much during a fight…

Zhang Bo, appearing as a white light in the virtual universe street, was completely bewildered.

Before he met Du Gang, he had won all nine of his matches in the group preliminaries of the knockout competition!

Unlike Du Gang’s ignorance of him, his opponents all knew him and displayed an attitude of “Brother Bo, please teach us” before fighting.

This had inflated his ego somewhat, but now…

“How did he get behind me?!!”

At this moment, a universal rank powerhouse from the Cosmic Mercenaries Union, who had been closely following Zhang Bo’s situation, quickly got on a call with him.

“Lost?”

“Yes, I lost…”

“It’s normal to lose. You probably don’t know that Du Gang has been tirelessly training in the Killing Fields of the virtual universe…”

Zhang Bo was stunned, “Doesn’t he need to cultivate his Laws and Domain?”

“Zhang Bo, you’re talented and your strength is not bad. However, you lack practical combat experience. Those outer disciples in the company are not as strong as you. When fighting against them, all you gain are some flatteries and compliments…”

“But Du Gang is different. Since he joined the company, countless disciples have tried to become friends with him, but he has shown no interest in any of them. He trains and fights alone…”

“I want you to understand that geniuses are often lonely. They need to withstand solitude…”

After hearing this, Zhang Bo seemed to wake up, slowly saying, “I see… So this is what a real contender is like… I will take your advice and learn from Du Gang to become a strong competitor…”

“Don’t worry, one day I will surpass him, defeat him… The Killing Field, eh? I’ll go now!”

After saying these words, he regained his fighting spirit and headed to the Killing Field.

He believes that once he truly understands real combat, he will surely defeat Du Gang!

Du Gang doesn’t know about Zhang Bo’s thoughts, and even if he did, he wouldn’t care much.

Fu Wenrui had broadened his horizons. Not just the Milky Way Galaxy but even the combined ten thousand affiliated star systems of White Dragon Mountain seemed somewhat inadequate in his eyes.

In his view, his true adversaries were imperial heirs and kirin children like Fu Wenrui!!!

These prodigies, nurtured by the top powers of the White Dragon Mountain Elementary Cosmic Nation, were his real competition!

After the end of the group preliminary knockout round, Du Gang, Zhang Bo, and eight other Stellar Level strong men progressing together.

Next is a round-robin tournament with a thousand people divided into a hundred groups. Each group has ten people and requires nine fights, with the top one advancing.

Although cruel, in practice the virtual universe system had already separated the strong.

The Cosmic Peak Talents Competition was designed to select talented powerhouses. It wouldn’t let these geniuses risk early drops due to blunders.

So, all thirteen individuals who understood the Domain among the outer disciples of the four big corporations in the entire Milky Way were spread among different groups.

Apart from them, those who did not master the Domain but understood the mysteries of the Laws were also placed in separate groups.

The purpose was to avoid losing those with high talent and strong abilities early in the competition.

So, without too much effort, the top hundred competition ended smoothly..