Vast Sea!

Fortress 13, rest lounge.

Kong Yin and the Niu Brothers stood in the corner, their faces complex as they looked across the room.

Kong Yang was all fawning smiles, bowing and scraping at a light screen.

"Minister Ye, Li Qingshan's fall really isn't my fault. I gave it my all, but there was no changing his mind."

"I didn't come here to hear excuses."

Ye Hao's eyelids lifted slightly, his fingers tapping one by one on the table.

"Tell me—why did you apply to re-enter the rift?"

"For military merit, of course!"

Kong Yang bent even lower, explaining:

"Minister Ye, Li Qingshan I can let go, but if Fei Xingye and the other two go back in, I'll truly have no hope of 'reaching the top'..."

"Kong Yang!"

A sharp rebuke cut him off. Ye Hao stared into the lens, then suddenly smiled.

"I admit, I underestimated you before!"

His face smiled, but his gaze grew colder.

"On the chessboard, everyone should know their place."

"Li Qingshan's fall has cost Horn Sector its future glory—but the future hasn't come yet."

"If you fall, however, it will immediately disrupt years of our planning!"

"I hope you understand clearly what it is you're doing!"

Kong Yang's movements froze. Slowly, he straightened his spine and nodded seriously.

"Minister Ye, I understand!"

With that, his finger tapped.

Disconnect. Block.

Across from him, Kong Yin and the other three were stunned.

"Alliance Leader..."

"Brother, you..."

Kong Yang took a deep breath, his right hand snapping open a folding fan with a shwoosh, gently waving it.

"Since I came to learn how to be a man, I'll stop being a dog."

A billion light-years away, In a dazzling channel, starlight twisted into threads, tangled and winding, spinning like a kaleidoscope.

Boom!

Boom! Boom!

A unique metallic resonance echoed through the channel. The black ship shuddered continuously, pressing forward.

The bridge was empty—so empty that even the internal corridor doors had been omitted.

"As expected of Xi Na!"

Li Qingshan felt the unending tremors beneath his feet and the still-silent ship broadcast, a wry smile on his face.

"Sure enough, she even disabled the alarm system."

Under Xi Na's modifications, cruising speed was directly proportional to the rate of structural disintegration. Who knew how long this ship would hold out?

Li Qingshan shook his head, pushing aside stray thoughts, and recalled the battle just past.

"Shattering stars, tearing through Hyperspace Channels, crossing the void in the flesh..."

"As expected of the 'Grand Elder'—his strength is far beyond those weakling seventh-rank aliens, and even surpasses that pathetic excuse for a God Phase back then."

Both were "star-shatterers"—he could do it, and that weak God Phase could too. But neither could do it as effortlessly as the Grand Elder, who had crushed an entire planet with a single blow.

Not to mention his ability to "corrupt" an entire planet in an instant, or to transform into a "Bloody Sun" radiating across an entire star system.

"So this is what a true seventh-rank powerhouse is like!"

Li Qingshan pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed in admiration.

That was also why he had fled without hesitation earlier.

Though he wasn't afraid of the "corruption," those terrifying tentacles that could shatter stars with ease were beyond his ability to withstand.

At least, not without using his trump card.

As he pondered, his gaze drifted back to the available time column on the panel.

Available Time: 48,732,654 years, 319 days

The power of the Dharma Aspect stems from the refinement of Star Origin Force through one's own "principles."

Nearly 50 million years of available time is enough to reassemble the Dharma Aspect after self-detonation.

At least, this is possible before the Dharma Aspect has been scoured by real-world energy and completed its "materialization."

But self-detonation is not without limits. A Sixth-Order Dharma Aspect is built from one's own principles; there is no scenario where it cannot exert its full power.

Even burning through all the Dharma Aspect's power, Li Qingshan couldn't be sure it would be enough to kill the "Grand Elder" and level an entire star system.

More importantly, back when he "established his Dao in ten days," all ten days were spent drenching himself in Star Origin Force.

With ten thousand times the Star Origin Force pouring in, consuming ten thousand days per second, it cost nearly 25 million years of available time.

This meant, after self-detonation, he would still need ten real-world days to complete the Star Origin Force infusion and finish his rebirth.

Stranded in an alien starry sky, even if his true spirit remained undying, without a physical body or strength to protect himself, he would be no different from a lamb awaiting slaughter.

Not to mention the existence of the Blood Rot Clan's Elder Council and the War Fortress!

With all these uncertainties piling up, a trump card could only remain a "trump card"—not to be used unless there was no other choice.

"But still, isn't this too much of a coincidence?"

To prevent the "Grand Elder" from catching up, the military had to recalculate coordinates for every rift, with distances of at least hundreds of light-years.

And yet, this time, he had run straight into it.

Li Qingshan frowned slightly, carefully recalling what he had seen the moment he stepped through the rift.

Shattered continents, drifting ashes, alien corpses...

Clearly, none of this could be the work of the "Grand Elder."

"So, it really is just a coincidence? The 'Grand Elder' wasn't specifically lying in wait for me?"

"But then, with only Dean Ye and the other two fallen prodigies left, how did they cross thousands of light-years..."

One question answered, but more kept popping up.

Li Qingshan shook his head and decided not to overthink it. His gaze swept across the empty bridge as he spoke:

"Xi Na One, show me the star map."

The ship's name was "Xi Na One."

Soon, a projected light screen appeared in the center of the bridge.

The image was pitch black, dotted with only a few dozen faint specks of light.

In this alien starry sky, the military naturally had no corresponding star maps. These specks were the planets he had "descended upon" over the past ten-plus days.

At this moment, they were like torches in a dark forest, guiding the way forward.

With the "Grand Elder" hunting him from behind and nothing but darkness ahead, logically, the right choice would be to fly toward those specks and see if the military had the insight to open a rift and receive him.

But considering the "Grand Elder's" terrifying strength, whether those planets still existed was another question.

Not to mention...

Li Qingshan's gaze shifted away from the specks, taking in the entire dark star map.

At the same time, a translucent panel appeared before him.

Function: Martial Dao Space Lv4 (73,549,826 / 100,000,000)

As the two overlapped, the corner of Li Qingshan's mouth unconsciously lifted.

At Martial Dao Space Lv3, the limit of Star Light infusion was one thousand times.

Now at Lv4, it had become ten thousand times.

It was easy to foresee, if the space upgraded again, not only would the time flow become 1 to 100,000, but the Star Light infusion speed would inevitably rise to one hundred thousand times!

That meant the ten-day revival time after self-detonation would be shortened to a single day!

At that point, whether it was closed-door cultivation, waiting to return and "materialize," or directly using the "trump card," none of it would be a problem!

Li Qingshan's gaze roamed across the dark star map, a light gradually kindling in his eyes.

"What dark forest? This is clearly a vast, surging Blue Ocean!"

At that moment, the green dot representing the ship was tracing a path through the darkness.

Occasionally, faint stars appeared around its trajectory.

Li Qingshan casually pointed at one of them and spoke flatly.

"Xi Na One, descend!"