Chapter 1 The End of the First Tournament

The first Myriad Races Competition since over five million high-dimensional beings descended upon the Myriad Races World had concluded. The Fire Dragon descendant powerhouse, 'Leijiaoshan,' claimed the championship, while the runner-up, the one-armed Giant Ape King 'Wu Shi,' tragically perished in the arena.

As the audience members were teleported out of the arena, Xu Jingming appeared somewhat lost in thought.

"In the Myriad Races World, our bodies are too fragile; it's easy to lose our lives," Xu Jingming mused. Just as he had nearly shattered the head of the Mountain Demon race's Badi Shen with a single palm strike, Badi Shen had been just a hair's breadth away from death.

"When my strength is weak, I should avoid putting myself in such dangerous situations."

"Unless there's a chance of contending for first place, there's no need to participate."

Xu Jingming made his decision in that moment.

If there was no hope of winning first place, what was the point of participating? Just to get a clearer understanding of the opponents' strength? For high-dimensional beings, their avatars in the outside world could easily conduct real combat simulations, never needing to worry about a lack of battle experience.

"Hmm?" Xu Jingming, walking along the street with his family, noticed the Mountain Demon race's Badi Shen conversing with a member of the Five-Colored Dragon race in the distance.

The Mountain Demon race's Badi Shen even glanced in Xu Jingming's direction.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

After separating from the Five-Colored Dragon race, the Mountain Demon race's Badi Shen strode towards Xu Jingming.

"That Mountain Demon," his parents and siblings exclaimed in alarm. The pressure from a 65-meter-tall Mountain Demon standing before them was overwhelming.

"Mom, Dad, you guys go back first," Xu Jingming said.

"Alright."

His parents and family members departed, not worried about Xu Jingming. On one hand, fighting was prohibited within World Center City. On the other hand, if a fight did break out, Xu Jingming's strength surpassed that of the Mountain Demon race's Badi Shen.

"Brother Jingming," the Mountain Demon race's Badi Shen said, walking to the side and revealing a simple, honest smile. Although they were different races in the Myriad Races World, in the outside world… they were all high-dimensional beings.

"Badi Shen," Xu Jingming nodded. "Something you need?"

"I wanted to ask, what's the maximum lifespan humans can extend to?" Badi Shen inquired.

Xu Jingming pondered for a moment, then replied, "The stronger your control over your body, the slower you age. I estimate the human lifespan limit to be around 20,000 years."

The average human lifespan was 200 years. Xu Jingming could currently extend his lifespan by about 90 times. He estimated that if his strength continued to improve, he could potentially extend it to around 100 times.

That would be the human lifespan limit.

Compared to powerful races like the Mountain Demon race, who typically lived for 10,000 years, even a slight slowing of aging allowed them to far surpass humans.

Therefore, relying on lifespan alone, weaker races couldn't compare to powerful races.

"Twenty thousand years?" Badi Shen nodded slightly. "I've spoken with competitors from various races, including the Five-Colored Dragon race, the Giant God race, and the Demon Dragon race, and discovered that the lifespan limit in this world is 108,000 years."

"One hundred and eight thousand years?" Xu Jingming was surprised. "I heard that the Five-Colored Dragon race commonly lives for 100,000 years."

"I asked around, and the Five-Colored Dragon race can't slow down their bodies' aging at all," Badi Shen said. "Like me, as a member of the Mountain Demon race, I can at most slow down my aging by a factor of ten, which I estimate will also give me 108,000 years."

A look of sorrow appeared in Badi Shen's eyes as he sighed, "All high-dimensional beings have to compete within 108,000 years. Even if we delay it to the very end, there will still be a large group of competitors."

"I was so mediocre in the first competition. There's no hope in the early competitions, and there will be a group of powerful races competing in the later stages," Badi Shen lamented. "I have a feeling that this life in the Myriad Races World might be my last."

"The early stages are difficult, but the later stages will be easier," Xu Jingming said.

"No, by the later stages, everyone's strength will have reached near their limits. And those of us with oversized bodies will be at a great disadvantage," Badi Shen said. Even among powerful races, the Mountain Demon race was considered to have an excessively large physique. "In the later stages, the Mountain Demon race's chances of winning first place are slim."

"You're different; you still have hope," Badi Shen said, glancing at Xu Jingming with a complex expression that contained envy and resignation. He then strode away.

Xu Jingming stood in place, looking around at the many departing high-dimensional beings, who all seemed rather dejected.

"In the past, everyone still harbored extravagant hopes for being the best in the Myriad Races." Yu Yangwei, Ying, and Feng Ke approached. Yu Yangwei said, "But this first competition has made everyone thoroughly understand the gap in strength. We're all high-dimensional beings, so we can easily deduce… that the probability of winning first place is zero!"

"That's right. Our human lifespan limit is only one or two thousand years, so we can't drag it out until the later stages. We have no chance at all during the most intense competition," Ying added.

"Lord Jingming, I'm planning to wander around the world," Yu Yangwei said with a grin. "I'm going to enjoy the remaining ten thousand years of life."

"I'm also planning to enjoy life," Ying said. "I'm going to cherish the last bit of time."

The chubby Feng Ke remained silent.

"Lord Jingming, we'll say goodbye for now. See you again at the next competition. I'll be watching every competition," Yu Yangwei said.

"See you next time," Xu Jingming nodded.

Yu Yangwei, Ying, and the chubby Feng Ke all departed.

…

Large numbers of tourists were leaving World Center City, but no attacks occurred outside the city.

Attacks by powerful races against weaker races were already becoming increasingly rare, because the instances of weaker races 'counter-killing' were becoming more frequent.

"Attacks? Which of the powerhouses who entered the main competition in the first competition isn't far superior to us?"

"They're far too strong."

"Hahaha… Actually, we should have realized long ago that we nascent-realm high-dimensional beings were sentenced to death the moment we were dragged into this Myriad Races World. We're just living a few more thousand years."

"I didn't even manage to successfully refine an avatar before being dragged into the Myriad Races World. I didn't even get to say goodbye to my friends outside."

"Enjoy life in the Myriad Races World."

One after another, flying vehicles left World Center City.

******

The Jing family's medium-sized flying vehicle left World Center City. Because the journey was long, the return trip would take nearly a month.

Five days into the return journey, inside the flying vehicle.

"Big brother, big brother, take a look quickly!" his second younger brother exclaimed.

"You're in charge of the entire Jing family now, yet you're still so unsteady," Xu Jingming said, shaking his head. "What happened?"

His second younger brother immediately ran to Xu Jingming's side and pointed at the light screen on his watch, saying, "Look, the World Center City's official website is publicly selling the body refinement method of this competition's champion, the Fire Dragon descendant powerhouse 'Leijiaoshan.'"

"What?" Xu Jingming was shocked and immediately looked at the light screen.

He knew very well that Leijiaoshan had already left the Myriad Races World after winning first place.

"According to what the World Center City's official website says, Leijiaoshan voluntarily wants to spread his body refinement method. Each copy of his body refinement method only costs 100 million," his second younger brother said. "It's only been on sale for three minutes, and over two hundred thousand copies have already been sold. The number is still rapidly climbing."

"One hundred million per copy isn't much," Xu Jingming said, immediately tapping on the light screen of his watch and entering the World Center City's official website.

The name of this body refinement method was simple: *Fire Body Refinement Method*.

"Leijiaoshan won first place and left the Myriad Races World. A few days later, his body refinement method is being widely disseminated?" Xu Jingming thought to himself. "And it's being publicly sold through World Center City."

World Center City represented the will of that Third Realm existence.

Many thoughts flashed through Xu Jingming's mind, but he didn't hesitate to make the purchase. A copy of the *Fire Body Refinement Method* was quickly downloaded.

"This *Fire Body Refinement Method*…" Xu Jingming clicked to open it and began to study it. This body refinement method was best suited for the Fire Dragon descendant race, but having cultivated to Xu Jingming's level, he was able to glimpse the true essence of this method.

"Impressive."

"*Fire Body Refinement Method*, is the 'fire' here the fire of the mind? Isn't this a method for tempering a 'mind weapon?' This senior Leijiaoshan transformed and adapted the method of tempering a mind weapon, adapted it to the rules of this world, combined it with the Fire Dragon descendant's talents… and created a body refinement method for tempering the body," Xu Jingming nodded slightly. "And ultimately raised his physical body to such a level."

"In terms of physical body alone, senior Leijiaoshan isn't that different from the One-Armed Giant Ape King."

In terms of physical body, the One-Armed Giant Ape King had a slight advantage. In his eight-armed state, he had a sufficient advantage in actual combat, forcing out Leijiaoshan's ultimate move.

"I'm also on the path of unifying the mind and body, but I'm far behind senior Leijiaoshan in how far he's gone on this path." Xu Jingming immediately discovered the vast difference when he compared his own body refinement method with the *Fire Body Refinement Method*.

Xu Jingming's heart burned with passion.

"I should learn from this experience and improve my own body refinement method." Xu Jingming had many ideas on how to improve his own body refinement method.

During the flying vehicle's return trip to the Human race's Seven Kingdoms, Xu Jingming spent most of his time alone, focusing all his attention on improving his body refinement method. He also spent very little time with his parents and siblings.

His parents and siblings were in high spirits throughout the journey, often watching news on the internet.

Currently, Xu Jingming's prestige in the Human race's Seven Kingdoms had reached an unprecedented height. Countless people were praising and lauding him.

"Haha, that's my son, that's my son," Jing Yulong said with a grin, feeling happier than ever before.

…

Years flowed by.

Xu Jingming didn't participate in the subsequent competitions. When there was no hope of contending for first place, he gave up on registering. However, he still went to watch the Myriad Races Competition, held once every thousand years, up close.

Although Jing Yulong and his wife obtained the more complete body refinement method created by Xu Jingming, they both passed away when they were over eight hundred years old. Later, his siblings also aged and died one by one.

Cemetery.

Xu Jingming, dressed in black robes, stood before a tombstone. This was the tombstone of his parents, and next to it were the tombstones of his siblings.

Xu Jingming looked at the tombstones.

What was real? What was fake? After all, he had spent hundreds or even thousands of years with his parents and siblings. Even knowing that they were all creatures from a painting world, Xu Jingming still had feelings for them.

"Little Ninth lived the longest, living for over 1,200 years, but he still died."

"In the Myriad Races World, I no longer have any family."

Xu Jingming stayed in front of the tombstones for a long time before leaving alone.