A Third Time?

Inside and outside the Light Screen, an old man and a young man faced each other in silence across billions upon billions of miles of starry sky, across an invisible torrent of information.

Time ticked by, second by second.

There was no verbal sparring, no energy fluctuations.

Yet in the collision of those soundless gazes, it was as though countless flashes of blades and sword shadows, schemes and sharp stratagems, were clashing and dissolving violently, while an invisible oppression continued to spread...

Finally,

"General, please see clearly—this old man's words contain not the slightest falsehood!"

Qu Hongwen was the first to concede. He let out a heavy breath, as though trying to expel all the pressure from his chest, then said earnestly:

"Over Yuqing Domain's three hundred million years of rise and fall, all this old man has ever sought is to guard this anchor point in the starry sky for Lord Yu Qing!"

"And..."

As he spoke, the old man looked toward the boundless starry sky behind him and gave a self-mocking smile.

"Compared to the Great Thousand Universes and the vast Above the Nine Heavens, what does such trifling power amount to?

When Lord Yu Qing chose this old man as the domain lord, it was not merely out of consideration for old ties. It was because among the many Above the Nine Heavens under his command...

Only this old man had failed to attain a title!"

That final sentence was filled with indescribable bitterness, as though he had cut open his own heart and laid bare the deepest-hidden trace of... inferiority!

Li Qingshan watched him and no longer suspected that he was acting.

There was no other reason. Anyone who had been on the Border Battlefield, anyone who had stayed in the Pioneer Constellation, could imagine that