Now!

The starry sky was stained by dense blood-red.

Clusters of strange bloody light spilled from the cracks in space, gathering into grotesque and terrifying bodies that stood high Above the Nine Heavens. The mere aura they exuded was enough to twist vast stretches of void.

Pairs of blood-red eyes brimmed with bloodlust and cruelty, all focusing on the young man suspended in the starry sky.

Under their tiger-like stares, Li Qingshan looked... calm, composed?

At the edge of the ancestral land, Ye Tai and the other eight turned back to look, every one of them wearing an astonished expression.

No surprise, no terror? That was only natural!

No tension before a great battle? That was understandable too!

But there was not even the surging battle intent that should have followed a breakthrough?

Thinking of the "guardian" duty placed upon them, the Nine Titled Generals could not help looking at one another.

For a moment, they could not tell whether Li Qingshan had truly been closing his eyes to seek "insight" just now.

Because he was far too composed!

So composed that he did not look like he had been in seclusion at all. It was more like he had merely closed his eyes to rest, waiting for the enemy to arrive.

Their gazes gathered on the faint smile at the young man's lips. There was not the slightest urgency or embarrassment of someone breaking through in the midst of battle—only the satisfaction and delight of an angler seeing a fish take the hook...

"Old Fox, you still had a Hidden Hand?!"

A startled cry shook the starry sky Above the Nine Heavens.

Netherworld's blood-red pupils, which had been watching the battle with amusement, suddenly contracted as he stared at the old man opposite him.

There was no other reason—it was