536: Chapter 536 The Battle to Ascend to Heaven

"Hello, Master. Welcome to the virtual world."

"I am your virtual butler, Yuanbao."

As the soft, cute voice faded, a two-tailed cartoon puppy appeared in mid-air. Its head-to-body ratio was 1:1, its fur was entirely white, and its eyes held an anthropomorphic expression, seemingly very happy about Xiao Weiqing's arrival.

"Hello. What is going on here?"

"Is this the virtual world?"

Yuanbao said, "Yes. This is your private territory. You need to create an account first to unlock other sections."

Xiao Weiqing raised an eyebrow. "It's a bit like playing a game."

"Mm, that's about right."

"What do I need to do?"

"Yuanbao can help you take care of everything, but I need your authorization, Master."

"Alright, I authorize you."

"Very well, Master. Please wait a moment."

Yuanbao stood upright in mid-air, tapping continuously on the Void Realm with its front paws. Immediately, the surroundings began to change.

Turf grew over the sandy ground, and a dozen saplings broke through the soil all around, growing into large trees in the blink of an eye.

"Master, do you have any requirements for the house?"

Yuanbao waved its hand, and hundreds of buildings flashed by—Villas, castles, manors, and even palaces.

"Let's go with a Villa, something simple."

"Very well, Master. Based on the architectural style of your home, the Blue Star Civilization, I will build a modern, minimalist Villa."

It only took a few seconds.

A five-story Villa appeared, just like it had been 3D-printed.

The Villa was surrounded by iron fencing, the courtyard spanned 100,000 square meters, and a few tables and chairs were added.

Xiao Weiqing walked over and touched it; the tactile sensation was identical to the real world, and even the scent emitted by the grass was exactly the same as in reality.

"This is truly amazing."

"It is done, Master."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. It is all part of Yuanbao's duties."

Xiao Weiqing pointed outside the courtyard.

"Yuanbao, why is it surrounded by mist outside?"

With the courtyard as the center, the original sandy ground within a ten-kilometer radius had turned into grassland. However, beyond ten kilometers, it was still sand, and further out, it was filled with mist, making it impossible to see clearly.

"Master, with your current Fourth Heaven access level, your private territory in the virtual world is only ten kilometers in radius. If you want to increase the territory, you must either increase your access level or spend credits to open up additional space."

"Alright."

Xiao Weiqing felt a strong sense of "pay-to-win"—no, to be precise, it was about making him spend credits.

"What do I need to do next?"

"You need to establish a Teleportation Array to connect with other locations within the virtual world."

"This requires you to operate it personally on your Identity Chip; Yuanbao cannot do it for you."

Xiao Weiqing flicked his hand, and the red chip appeared, projecting a screen in front of him. After activating his identity, several new modules appeared.

One of them was the Teleportation Array.

Xiao Weiqing immediately clicked to build it.

A circular Teleportation Array with a diameter of three zhang immediately appeared in the courtyard, engraved with mysterious runes and glowing faintly.

"Where can this Teleportation Array take me?"

Yuanbao replied, "Theoretically, it can teleport you anywhere, but it requires permission from the destination, with the exception of your home, the Blue Star Civilization."

"The virtual world for your home, the Blue Star Civilization, is currently being built. Once construction is complete, you will be able to return to the Blue Star Civilization through the Teleportation Array."

Xiao Weiqing nodded slightly; he had heard Adrian mention this before.

"By the way, Yuanbao, do you know about the Battle of Ascending Heaven in three days?"

"Of course, Master. Even if you didn't ask, I was going to tell you."

Yuanbao waved its hand, and a projection of the Yunxu Holy Land appeared.

Under Yuanbao's manipulation, the Fourth Heaven magnified rapidly.

Xiao Weiqing finally saw the appearance of the Holy Land clearly. Looking at it from several light-years away, the Yunxu Holy Land truly resembled a mountain.

However, up close, the so-called Fourth Heaven of the Holy Land was a massive ring-shaped continent circling the main body of the Yunxu Holy Land.

The length of this ring-shaped continent was incalculable, and its inner and outer diameters were incredibly exaggerated, dozens or even hundreds of times larger than the diameter of a planet.

This was because the planets rotating around the Holy Land looked so insignificant.

"Master, please look. This is the Ascending Heaven Arena," Yuanbao said, pointing to a certain spot on the ring-shaped continent.

A massive arena floated there, with a visual diameter of no less than ten kilometers.

"In three days."

"300 Star Lord Realm cultivators will challenge members of the Fourth Heaven here. The winners will advance to the next stage."

"Members of the Fourth Heaven?"

"That is correct."

"From last year?"

Yuanbao shook its head. "Not necessarily, or rather, it could be anyone. Your opponent's strength will be in the middle range of the Fourth Heaven, roughly around the 15,000th rank. It has nothing to do with how long they have been in the Holy Land."

"That means there are 30,000 Star Lord Realm cultivators in the Fourth Heaven," Xiao Weiqing said.

"Yes."

"What happens after I win?"

"After winning, you will obtain your opponent's ranking and enter the Battle of Ascending Heaven."

"What is the Battle of Ascending Heaven?"

"You will challenge members ranked in the top 500 of the Fourth Heaven. If you win, you ascend to the Fifth Heaven; if you lose, you remain in the Fourth Heaven, and the ascension ends."

Xiao Weiqing understood. "Then is it the same for the Fifth Heaven?"

"The process is the same; you first challenge members in the middle range of the Fifth Heaven," Yuanbao continued. "The population of the Fifth Heaven is only one-tenth that of the Fourth Heaven. If you want to ascend to the Sixth Heaven, you need to challenge members in the top 50."

"Furthermore."

"Because the quota for entering the Sixth Heaven each year is limited, if more than five out of the 300 Star Lord Realm cultivators in your batch successfully enter the Sixth Heaven, there will need to be additional arena matches to eliminate the others."

"There are only five spots for the Sixth Heaven?" Xiao Weiqing's pupils constricted. This was much fewer than he had imagined.

"Yes, Master."

"Currently, there are only 232 people in the Sixth Heaven. Every single spot is incredibly precious."

"What about the Seventh Heaven?"

"Huh?" Yuanbao was stunned for a moment.

Xiao Weiqing said again, "I said, what about the Seventh Heaven?"

"How many spots? Two or one?"

Yuanbao blinked its eyes and replied, "Master, there are no spots for the Seventh Heaven."

"No spots?"

"Yes."

"There are a total of 23 Star Lord Realm cultivators in the Seventh Heaven. Although their Realm is still the Star Lord Realm, they all possess combat power at the Dominator Realm."

"Those people either have superb martial arts, powerful Domains, possess special Physiques, or have invincible Physical Bodies."

"In short, every single member of the Seventh Heaven is a once-in-a-millennium Genius."

"To enter the Seventh Heaven, one must be evaluated by the Holy Land. It is not something you can enter just by passing a normal assessment or defeating members of the Sixth Heaven."

Xiao Weiqing murmured, "I see."

"Mm-hmm. If the top-ranked Star Lord Realm cultivator in the Sixth Heaven does not meet the requirements, they cannot enter the Seventh Heaven. In fact, no Star Lord has entered the Seventh Heaven in 23 years."

"23 years."

Xiao Weiqing repeated the number to himself.

In the Fifth Universe Civilization, throughout the entire Southern Region, there were countless powerful civilizations and Geniuses as numerous as the stars. For 23 whole years, no Star Lord had entered the Seventh Heaven; one could only imagine how immense the difficulty was.