Chapter 382 - 370: A Major Upgrade in Zhu Weiyi’s Treatment; Wishing the Human Race Could Have Such a Prodigy

There was no pleasant surprise, no joy—only a growing sense of dread. He certainly didn’t believe he possessed any treasure worth asking about, nor did he have some powerful expert backing him.

’If any of that were true, I wouldn’t have been sold into this place over a decade ago!’

"Ah, right... I forgot, you can’t get on the network in here," the dignitary said, slapping his forehead in a moment of guilt. "Quick, get him a device to connect to the network, and open an account for him. See to it that he’s treated with the utmost care. We can’t have any mishaps before that prodigy finishes his fiftieth fight!"

"Yes, sir!"

The assistant acknowledged the order and quickly dispatched the man who had delivered the food to handle these matters. A bewildered Zhu Weiyi was then led out of the cell and taken to a place that resembled a hotel room.

It was still within the Celestial Star Arena, but it certainly didn’t look like a place for slaves. To someone who had spent so much time in that "prison," it was the very picture of luxury.

There was hot water for washing and bathing, a soft, large bed, a sofa—even on-demand food service!

One moment he was in Hell, the next he was in heaven. The whiplash was overwhelming, and Zhu Weiyi grew increasingly uneasy. He frowned deeply. ’Did I do something wrong?’

He couldn’t understand it. His next challenge wasn’t scheduled yet; he had just been rotting in his cell, staring into space. He hadn’t done anything out of line, so why the sudden VIP treatment?

’This is too strange to be a coincidence,’ he thought. But he couldn’t figure out where the problem lay. If this was supposed to be his last meal, well, he’d been here for over a decade and had never heard of such a tradition...

"Don’t worry, it’s not something I can easily explain right now," the dignitary said reassuringly. "You’ll understand once the network device is set up. I need to take care of some other matters first."

After a few soothing words, the dignitary left Zhu Weiyi alone in the luxurious room and went on his way.

His heart thumping with fear and apprehension, he finally received the network device. It was incredibly advanced. It took a good while of instruction from the assistant before he grasped the basic functions.

"Zhu Weiyi, we brought you here on Lord Celestial Star’s orders. You will no longer need to fight the other slaves," the assistant explained while teaching him how to use the device. "The reason for all this... well, it started a few days ago. Take a look at the top trending event on the network right now..."

CLICK. He tapped on the trending list. The number one entry read: "Human Race Prodigy at First-Layer Spirit Body Realm to Challenge Peak Fusion Realm Expert in Seven Days for 50-Win Streak Tribulation Ascension!"

’A fifty-win streak?!’

Zhu Weiyi was stunned. Even though he’d been locked in that "prison," he wasn’t completely cut off from the outside world. He often overheard the staff chatting about current events.

Of course, he never got a clear picture of the world at large; the information was usually about the Celestial Star Arena. And the most popular topic of all was who had the longest winning streak.

In all his ten years here, he had never heard of anyone attempting a fifty-win streak for their tribulation ascension. That was the stuff of legends. Anyone who succeeded would be recorded in the annals of history!

And now, the moment he connected to the network, he saw someone was about to attempt it!

The most terrifying part? A first-layer Spirit Body Realm cultivator fighting a Peak Fusion Realm expert?!

"How... How is that even a fight?"

Even for Zhu Weiyi, who had lived for over a century, this was a massive shock to his worldview. He had long known that above the Grandmaster Realm lay even more profound levels of cultivation, such as the Fusion Realm.

Back on Blue Star, there wasn’t a single Fusion Realm expert. To be blunt, he himself, at the Peak of Dao Entry Realm, had been one of the planet’s strongest. He could faintly sense the barrier to the next level and could only imagine its immense power.

But here in the Desolate Realm, he had pieced together from scraps of conversation just how powerful the Fusion Realm was. Experts at that level could grasp a portion of the Space-Time Law and traverse the void with their physical bodies!

’Wouldn’t crushing a first-layer Spirit Body Realm cultivator be as easy as squashing an ant for them?’

’This kind of matchmaking is completely absurd!’

’For a fifty-win streak tribulation match, they’re actually bullying a first-layer Spirit Body Realm cultivator. I never expected the Celestial Star Arena to have such a dark side. No wonder this is the number one trending topic...’

At this thought, Zhu Weiyi shook his head. Following the assistant’s instructions, he clicked to see the details and began reading the text, which was automatically translated into a language he could understand: "A new star has arrived at the Celestial Star Arena, a prodigy among prodigies who completed a forty-nine-win streak in under a week..."

His heart trembled as he read the words. It was as if he were witnessing the rise of a god from beyond the Star River, a brilliant battle record bright enough to illuminate the entire Desolate Realm.

In his decade of imprisonment, he had picked up some common knowledge about this world. Winning ten matches in a row was enough to be hailed as a genius in a minor race.

To win ten in a row in a short period? That made you a genius among geniuses. As for a fifty-win streak... the record for the shortest time to achieve that was one hundred years!

It had taken a Peak Fusion Realm expert a full century to set that record for the fastest fifty-win streak!

’For a truly peerless prodigy, isn’t the biggest challenge of such a win streak usually finding a steady stream of worthy opponents?’

But this text claimed the person had achieved a forty-nine-win streak in less than a week!

It was as if something was caught in Zhu Weiyi’s throat. He opened his mouth, but no words came out.

To even think of commenting on a being of this caliber felt audacious. He was like an ant looking up at the starry sky, at the brilliant sun—utterly and completely stunned.

’When will the Human Race ever produce such a peerless prodigy,’ he couldn’t help but wonder, ’one who can shine brightly among the Ten Thousand Races? A genius who can carry our people’s honor?’

The Human Race in the Desolate Realm was weak—backward natives to be slaughtered at will. And wasn’t Blue Star just the same?

Back then, a Venerable named Zuo Xuan from the Nine Venerable Great Realm had harvested all of the Human Race’s talented prodigies and sold them off as cheap slaves. When would this humiliation ever end...?

Faced with powerful races that could annihilate humanity with a wave of a hand, a deep despair welled up inside Zhu Weiyi. He had lived through the great calamity on Blue Star; he knew what it felt like to be an ant, utterly powerless to resist.

And here in the Celestial Star Arena, he had seen far too many enslaved geniuses. Countless cultivators at the Spirit Body Realm, Bright Soul Realm, and Dharma Realm died just to compete for a single Oasis Fruit that couldn’t even fill their stomachs.

Even reaching the Peeping Dao Realm wasn’t worth much. After all, new batches were bought from slavers every month. When one world went to war with another, for instance, the losers were sold off as slaves.

In those circumstances, even the Dao Entry Realm wasn’t considered particularly valuable. Only those at the Fusion Realm were guaranteed a full meal, kept well-fed to ensure they weren’t too emaciated when it was their turn to fight.

On Blue Star, he was a Grandmaster respected by all. Here, he was just an insignificant slave. If it weren’t for the fact that he’d managed to maintain a winning streak for ten years, he probably would have starved to death without a single person ever remembering his name.

’Sigh, if only the Human Race could produce such a brilliantly talented prodigy,’ he thought.

He sighed inwardly, reining in his fantasies. He knew it was next to impossible. On the timescale of an entire epoch, the number of people who could achieve such a feat was minuscule.

And Blue Star had already been turned into a harvest field by the Nine Venerable Great Realm, its geniuses reaped like leeks every sixty years. How could such a figure possibly emerge from there?

Even in another ten or twenty thousand years... it would be difficult for Blue Star to produce someone capable of a ten-win streak. And yet, geniuses with ten-win streaks weren’t even that rare in the wider Desolate Realm; you heard news about them every day.

The more he thought, the more despairing he became, so he forced himself to stop. As long as some tiny seedling of belief remained in his heart that the Human Race could rise, he wouldn’t fall completely into hopelessness.

Even if that hope was a distant dream... perhaps, over time, he would even forget it himself...

Hm?

But then, his eyes fell on the rest of the article. Zhu Weiyi froze. His gaze sharpened, his expression shifting in a flash from shock to amazement, then to elation, to disbelief, and finally to a stunned stupor!