The deputy commander of the Starrealm Knights, Count Celiola, was dead. As news that could shock the entire galaxy spread, the Free Stellar River Alliance, on the other side of the galaxy, would have been unworthy of challenging the Galactic Empire for a thousand years of supremacy if it didn't seize this opportunity to make a big move.
Of course, the hidden blade the Alliance used to stir things up this time had, in a sense, been handed to them by Yu Lian. That had caught him somewhat off guard.
To be fair, it wasn't very realistic to think that a single War God Festival and a month spent together could give Yu Lian and the younger He Wen a deep bond of comradeship. But he also knew that this was simply his own arrogant perspective.
From those young people's point of view, however, it was an entirely different matter.
Yu Lian had single-handedly fought his way through the Starrealm Knights, who had been waiting in force, and then led their ragtag group to seize the divine delicacies and claim the final championship.
He had left the mighty Galactic Empire in a humiliating mess. The favored prodigies who had drawn the attention of the masses had either died or fled, yet the Empire's upper echelons still had to put on smiling faces and "congratulate the divine champion." Even His Majesty the Emperor had shown unmistakable admiration, as though if Yu Lian dared to join the Empire, he would gladly give him his daughter in marriage.
With his own strength, he had already shown the entire universe that the Starrealm Knights were not invincible. He had also shown everyone that ordinary people without any extraordinary talent could still accomplish great things. He had even taught everyone how to arm themselves before