"Whoosh!"
As the Blood-Red Triangular Fighter Jet's hatch opened automatically, a figure stepped out.
He stood about one meter ninety tall, wearing black trousers and a black jacket, with close-cropped hair.
He seemed like a long spear, poised to pierce the firmament.
Judging by his face, the man in black appeared to be in his twenties.
But this air about him was clearly not something an ordinary young man could possess.
It was a natural sense of superiority, as if he stood above the entire world.
The newcomer was none other than Hong!
The world's strongest man, the First Speaker of the War God Palace, and the undisputed number one in the world!
From the Great Nirvana Period to the present, Hong's strength and status had always been indisputably supreme.
The presidents of the five great powers and other such figures had their authority backed by their nations. Hong's status and power, on the other hand, came from himself.
He alone was the equal of an entire great power—and perhaps even stronger!
His personal authority had already transcended the constraints of secular society.
The fact that human society had survived until now was, without question, due in no small part to Hong.
He took a single step out of the hatch and stood in midair.
At the same time, he fixed his gaze on a golden figure sitting cross-legged on the rooftop of a distant building.
Within the brilliant golden light, there seemed to be faint flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder.
"So it was true."
Hong's eyes narrowed slightly, as if confirming some of his suspicions.
When he learned that Li Qingxu had broken through to the War God level, he had instructed the artificial intelligence aboard the Primordial Wisdom Fighter Jet to investigate all available footage and records concerning Li Qingxu.
The camera at the entrance to the orphanage had captured him suddenly appearing there as a child. But no matter how much the footage was slowed down, it was impossible to determine how he had appeared.
So the artificial intelligence had concluded that there was a 99% chance Li Qingxu was not an Earthling.
Seeing him with his own eyes now confirmed it.
That golden energy was far beyond anything that could be cultivated through the secret manuals on Earth, and it was growing stronger by the moment.
"So this is how the 'people' of the universe cultivate?"
Hong watched quietly, without the slightest concern that anything might happen.
He could sense that the energy Li Qingxu was emitting had not yet reached Planetary Level.
But the noise coming from the city below made him furrow his brow.
"Hmph!"
Hong's lips parted, releasing a barely audible snort.
In an instant, every martial artist fighting in the street nearly a thousand meters below him froze as if bound in place.
Their minds rang, and the world around them twisted completely.
The enemies they had been fighting vanished from sight. The entire world seemed to fall into darkness, without a single ray of light. Nothing remained but blackness.
At the heart of that dark world, the brightest point of all, stood a black-haired man!
He seemed like a god, an omnipotent god!
In that dark world, not a single martial artist could muster the will to resist. They could not even bring themselves to think of resisting.
They were like lambs waiting to be slaughtered, with no control over whether they lived or died.
"Get lost."
A cold voice rang out in the minds of every one of them.
As soon as it fell silent, the martial artists trapped in the dark world found the endless blackness had vanished, and their enemies had reappeared before them.
But even with their enemies back in sight, no one dared to move.
They all felt a spiritual pressure, as if they were ants facing a divine elephant.
Before the black-haired man, each of them felt as insignificant as a speck of dust.
The city center fell silent. There was no more shouting or fighting, only the sound of hurried footsteps as people fled.
Everyone ran with their heads lowered, not even bothering to take the monster materials they had collected.
It was as if a colossal beast loomed in the sky behind them, staring at them with cold eyes.
The city center of City 026 fell silent once more.
Only Hong in the sky and Li Qingxu on the rooftop remained, still absorbing cosmic energy and cultivating.
Hong did not disturb him. He simply hovered in the air five hundred meters away.
The fighter jet from the Limit Dojo, which had been heading toward them, turned back after a voice suddenly sounded from inside the aircraft.
Several more hours passed.
The brilliant golden light on the rooftop faded.
"You're a strange one."
A calm voice, touched with a hint of curiosity, rang out over City 026.
The rising sun had just peeked over the horizon, its light not yet cast across the land.
It seemed as if there were only one person beneath the heavens: a man with short black hair, a black jacket, and black trousers.
His gaze made one's heart feel ice-cold, leaving no room for the slightest thought of resistance. He was the only god between Heaven and Earth!
Behind him hovered a Blood-Red Triangular Fighter Jet.
"Our paths are simply different, Hong."
Li Qingxu's clothes were somewhat damaged, but they could not conceal his ethereal, immortal-like bearing.
He stepped through the air one step at a time, as though walking up a real staircase, until he stood opposite the man in black, Hong.
"Are you a human from the universe?" Hong asked.
"No. I'm an Earthling."
Li Qingxu answered with certainty.
When he went to Shrouding the Heavens, he had appeared on Earth in that world. And when he came to the Swallowed Star World, he had appeared on Earth there as well.
He was undeniably an Earth Human.
"?"
A flicker of surprise crossed Hong's eyes.
He truly hadn't expected Li Qingxu to be an Earthling.
If that was the case, then some of the measures he had considered taking were unnecessary.
"Shall we test your golden light?"
A smile suddenly appeared on Hong's face.
He really wanted to see which path of cultivation Li Qingxu followed.
Moreover, that ethereal, immortal-like bearing reminded him of the cultivation of immortality described in some books from before the Great Nirvana Period.
Cultivating to become an immortal? It was truly intriguing.
"Sure. I'm curious about your domain, too."
A smile appeared on Li Qingxu's face as well.
They said that in the vast universe, a domain was already considered a very high level of attainment.
Even Universe Level powerhouses, of whom only a handful emerged in an entire galaxy, did not necessarily possess a domain of their own!
And Hong had already mastered a domain at Planetary Level, cultivating within that domain for decades.
"Rumble!"
Suddenly, a vast sea surged within Li Qingxu, and lightning wove through it.
A blinding radiance burst from his Wheel Sea, like a golden sun.
His black hair danced in the wind, and his body shimmered like crystal. He resembled a god, serene and tranquil.
Since he was going to experience Hong's domain, he would have to bring out his true strength in response.
At the heart of his Bitter Sea, a source of divine power surged like a volcano, endlessly spewing golden radiance.
His organs and bones were all coated in a dazzling layer of divine light.
At the same time, the Dao Scripture began operating automatically, like rivers flowing into the sea and all things returning to life.
Gradually, divine light shone from his body, bathing the sky behind him in brilliant gold.
Faintly, a figure sat high above the nine heavens, wreathed in clouds and mist as he looked down upon all living beings. Countless patterns covered him, mysterious beyond compare.
"Excellent! Excellent! Excellent!"
The sight before him filled Hong's eyes with delight and fighting spirit.
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