Filling!

Ding, ding, ding!

The reminder tone rang unceasingly, and one compressed archive after another appeared in the inbox.

The ten Starry Sky Martial Arts contained not only the starry sky martial arts themselves, but also their prerequisite matching A-grade martial arts.

Ten starry sky martial arts should be enough to last for a while, right?

Li Qingshan let out a soft sigh, his expression complex.

Back when he cultivated Wind Thunder Limitless, the Martial Dao Space was still at level three with a time dilation of 1 to 1,000.

At that time, he spent a full three-plus months in seclusion—100 days in reality and 100,000 days in the Martial Dao Space—before finally achieving mastery in his cultivation.

Yet now, the Martial Dao Space was at level four, and the time dilation was 1 to 10,000.

Even with the addition of the prerequisite A-grade martial arts, cultivating another starry sky martial art would only take a little over 10 days!

However... what decreased was merely real-world time!

More than 100,000 days, nearly three hundred years of the path of cultivation, had to be walked by him step by step after all.

As for a thousand starry sky martial arts, that would be a full three hundred thousand years!

It's time to work hard again!

Li Qingshan took a deep breath, the complexity in his eyes fading away to leave only his usual steadfastness.

Casually closing his inbox, he opened the academy's intranet once more and looked at the mission board.

Before breaking through to the Inner Scene, the mission board was not open to freshmen.

Even now, he could only see tens of thousands of garrison missions, and could not vie for other bounty missions.

Garrison missions were not just about guarding planets; there were also missions to coordinate with mecha pilots to guard a particular shipping lane.

Li Qingshan was not in a rush, his gaze sweeping across each mission introduction as he carefully selected.

A moment later, his brow furrowed slightly.

No Ziying Star?

The cultivation of the Star River Cosmos Sutra only required doggedly grinding through one starry sky martial art after another, and did not necessitate picking special environments to assist visualization-method cultivation like his classmates did.

Naturally, he wanted to choose Ziying Star as his garrison location so he could go into seclusion and cultivate with peace of mind.

Unfortunately, after reading through all the garrison missions, he couldn't find a single one related to Ziying Star.

With no other choice, Li Qingshan could only continue searching along the direction of Ziying Star.

Before long, he found a suitable planet.

Dick Star, over 300 light-years away from Ziying Star.

Garrison term: ten years!

Mission reward: 1,000 credits.

Ten years? Li Qingshan's lips curved, revealing a satisfied smile.

To other students, the garrison reward was ordinary, and ten years was far too long, so practically no one was willing to take it on.

Yet for him, the size of the reward didn't matter; the crucial point was that he could peacefully go into seclusion and cultivate.

Tapping his finger, he accepted the mission and confirmed an immediate departure.

He immediately stood up, pushed open his room door, and walked outward.

When he reached outside the courtyard, a woman in black martial attire whose appearance looked to be no more than thirty was waiting by the door.

She was none other than the Extreme Heaven Martial Hall's Young Hall Master, Dai Lan.

Li Qingshan felt little surprise, greeting her with a smile:

"Senior Sister Dai, long time no see!"

"It's only been a year."

Dai Lan shook her head, her eyes fixed on Li Qingshan as tension and anticipation intermingled in her expression.

"I heard that a huge change occurred within the Crimson Rainbow Continent this time, I wonder..."

Li Qingshan rubbed the iron ring on his finger and smiled faintly.

"Senior Sister, rest assured, I have already found the 'method' you mentioned."

"Found it?!"

Dai Lan's expression perked up, and without asking further, she simply let out a breath of relief and said:

"As long as you found it, as long as you found it..."

Taking this in and pondering for a moment, Li Qingshan offered a suggestion:

"Since Senior Sister cares so much, why not return to Ziying Star together with me and see Teacher Wan in person?"

Dai Lan's gaze flickered and hesitation appeared on her face, but she ultimately shook her head.

"Forget it. When he wants to see me, he will naturally come to see me."

"However, I can send the martial hall's starship to send you back for a trip."

Just as they were speaking, a small spaceship suddenly flew over and hovered midair.

"Many thanks for Senior Sister's kindness, but I have already accepted a garrison mission and it's right on the way."

Li Qingshan did not try to persuade her further, speaking directly:

"Senior Sister, I'll take my leave first, then."

Dai Lan was stunned, asking in confusion:

"You're going out on a mission and you aren't even bringing a weapon?"

"I've already brought it."

With a smiling remark, Li Qingshan tapped his right foot and leaped directly onto the spaceship.

The cabin door closed, and the spaceship shot straight into the clouds...

In the starry sky, a small spaceship broke through the atmosphere of Noon Sun Star, continuously accelerating once more as it began to break away from distant orbit.

At the same time, inside the spaceship, a mechanical voice rang out.

Destination, Red Rainbow Main Star.
Estimated voyage time, three days.
About to enter the Hyperspace Channel, please prepare.
Countdown, 10... 9... 8... 3... 2... 1!

Hum!

The hull abruptly shook, and the light and shadow outside the porthole shifted.

The originally shining starry sky turned into something resembling a kaleidoscope, with individual stars rapidly elongating and transforming into strands of distorted light.

Li Qingshan sat by the window, watching for a moment before slowly withdrawing his gaze.

Hyperspace jumps could typically only be performed by starships.

The spaceship under his feet belonged exclusively to the Star Academy's custom fleet, capable of short-distance jumps to deliver students to Red Rainbow Main Star.

As for the journey afterward, he would only be able to transfer to shipping lanes on his own.

Naturally, Star Academy students were spread across the entire star domain, and quite a few upperclassmen executing bounty missions possessed their own starships.

One could even purchase small starships in the Star Academy mall, with starting prices at 5,000 universal credits.

To Li Qingshan, it wasn't expensive, but there was no need.

The Storage Ring given by Old Taoist Tianji held an inner cubic space with edge lengths of only a hundred meters, making it completely incapable of holding a starship.

I can cultivate anywhere anyway, so I might as well make a trip to Red Rainbow Main Star to see the little fatty.

With a faint smile, Li Qingshan tapped his communicator and extracted Azure Lotus Shoreless Sword.

The projection screen rapidly unfolded, spreading a massive amount of graphic and textual information as well as related videos across the screen.

Calming his mind, Li Qingshan looked through them one by one.

An hour later, all the videos finished playing, and the projection screen automatically retracted.

I can only use a saber in place of a sword.

Flipping his hand, Thunderclap Saber appeared in his grasp.

Grasping the saber hilt and leaning back against his seat, he closed his eyes and moved his mind.

When he opened them again, the familiar circular platform came into view.

And... the stooped figure of a decrepit old man wearing a mask was running toward him with all his might.

Tap, tap... thump!

His frail body was simply insufficient to sustain a full sprint, causing him to pitch forward and crash onto the ground.

Two withered, wrinkled palms stretched out with all their might, making empty grabs through the air.

Li Qingshan looked down at his feet and sighed with emotion.

"Old neighbor, we meet again."

With a single stomp, the old man's body turned to ashes with a bang and dissipated without a trace.

Simultaneously, at the edge of the platform, a stooped sculpture wearing a grinning mask slowly emerged.

Giving it a single glance and looking no further, Li Qingshan raised his head to gaze at the zenith.

At the center of the vast river of stars, the nine brightest stars occupied the exact middle, distributed in the shape of the Chinese character for "big".

Swarmed by surrounding constellations, the starlight was dazzling and brilliant, outlining a hazy human figure.

"Star River Cosmos..."

Li Qingshan muttered aloud, his gaze falling upon the hazy figure's right hand.

Three lit stars had appeared there, already much clearer compared to the rest.

The hazy figure entrenched in the center of the river of stars was his "Dao".

And the three lit stars were the "principles" filling it.

Inner Scene cultivation meant comprehending the Dao and clarifying principles.

Once all the "principles" were completely filled, he would be able to externalize his inner scene, materialize his visualization, and construct the prototype of a Dharma idol.

"The path is already open, and all that remains is to work hard."

With a faint smile, Li Qingshan drew his saber from its scabbard, bathed in starlight, and swung his long blade...