Time flowed on without ever stopping for anything. In the blink of an eye, another three months had passed.
By now, peace had long since returned to Xuanhuang Star. After all, although humanity had suffered grievous losses in the battle to kill Demon God Meng Qi, they still had Chu Zhongtian, a seventh-order Martial Saint.
Precisely because of this, the sea-dwelling demonic beasts that had surged onto land had either been killed by humans or retreated into the sea.
Even the military bases destroyed by Demon God Meng Qi were now being rebuilt.
Of course, with Lu Qingshan, the strongest expert in the world, having fallen into slumber, and Wei Changsheng and the other experts having perished, Xuanhuang Star had not remained entirely unchanged.
The Lu family residence, Yongning City.
Inside a quiet chamber, Lu Qingshan lay peacefully on a plain, large bed.
In a sitting room not far from the chamber, several figures sat together in discussion.
"Master's wife!"
Zhao Gang, the director of the Academy of Sciences, looked toward Li Yunshang in the seat of honor and asked worriedly, "Has Master still shown no sign of waking?"
"No!"
Li Yunshang shook her head slightly, then asked, "Zhao Gang, has the Academy of Sciences run into some trouble with its operations?"
Since Zhao Gang addressed Li Yunshang as his master's wife, she was naturally Lu Qingshan's wife, as well as the mother of Marquis Tianyuan, Lu Wenyuan, and his siblings.
Having spent over three hundred years by Lu Qingshan's side, Li Yunshang had naturally also reached the Martial Saint level, though she was currently only a second-tier Martial Saint.
Although her strength was somewhat lacking, Li Yunshang had always been Lu Qingshan's most capable assistant. She had handled many of his affairs in the past.
Thus, the moment Zhao Gang came to see her, Li Yunshang guessed that some problems had arisen within the Academy of Sciences.
After all, the Academy of Sciences and Wei Martial Arts Academy were the finest academies on Xuanhuang Star. They took in over ninety percent of the planet's geniuses, and numerous interests were involved.
Now that Lu Qingshan had fallen into slumber and Wei Changsheng had outright perished, undercurrents naturally surged within both academies.
At Wei Martial Arts Academy, for instance, although Wei Changsheng had made arrangements before leaving to deal with Demon God Meng Qi, now that he had perished, various factions had still carved up many of the martial arts academy's interests.
Of course, Wei Changsheng had sacrificed himself for all humanity on Xuanhuang Star, so those factions did not dare go too far.
"Things at the academy are fairly normal!"
After hearing Li Yunshang's question, Zhao Gang quickly said, "It's just that with Master asleep, many of the academy's experts have grown unsettled, so research has naturally slowed considerably!"
"That absolutely cannot stand!"
Upon hearing Zhao Gang's words, Li Yunshang immediately said, "Then how about this? I'll have my eldest go to the Academy of Sciences to work with you!"
"The Academy of Sciences is the fruit of Qingshan's painstaking efforts. Even with him asleep, we absolutely cannot allow the slightest obstruction to its operations!"
As Lu Qingshan's wife, Li Yunshang naturally knew full well how much importance he placed on the Academy of Sciences.
In Lu Qingshan's eyes, even slaying over a hundred Demon Saints could not compare to a single technological breakthrough at the Academy of Sciences!
Thus, upon learning that the academy had encountered trouble, Li Yunshang immediately intended to send over her eldest son, Lu Wenye, currently the strongest member of the Lu family.
Although Lu Wenye's cultivation talent could not compare to Lu Qingshan's, he had, after all, cultivated under him for nearly three hundred years. He had now successfully broken through to become a fourth-stage Martial Saint, and his strength was already quite impressive by the standards of Xuanhuang Star as a whole.
Hearing Li Yunshang say this, Zhao Gang quickly said, "Thank you, Master's wife. With Eldest Brother's help, the academy's research progress should no longer be affected!"
"Mm!"
Li Yunshang nodded slightly, then said solemnly, "Zhao Gang, it has been over two hundred years since you became Qingshan's disciple, hasn't it?"
"Yes, Master's wife!"
Zhao Gang quickly said, "I've followed Master for 231 years! If not for him back then, I would probably have died in a beast tide long ago!"
"Having followed Qingshan for so long, you should know very well how much he values the Academy of Sciences!"
Li Yunshang continued, "Aside from cultivating and growing stronger, what Qingshan wants most is to discover other civilizations in the universe. The academy's focus must absolutely not shift. If anyone dares interfere..."
"This disciple understands!"
Before Li Yunshang could finish, Zhao Gang declared decisively, "Please rest assured, Master's wife. If anyone dares reach their hand toward the Academy of Sciences, I'll chop off their claws even if I have to risk my life!"
Just then, Lu Wenye, Lu Wenyuan, and their brothers finally arrived in the sitting room.
"Mother!"
"Junior Brother Zhao Gang! Senior Brother Zhao Gang!"
Outer space, Xuanhuang Star.
While Li Yunshang, Zhao Gang, and the others discussed the academy's affairs, a saucer-shaped spaceship was rapidly approaching Xuanhuang Star.
Only after the spaceship drew near Xuanhuang Star did it gradually slow down until it stopped.
Inside the spaceship's main hall.
"This life-bearing planet is truly beautiful!"
Gazing at the azure planet ahead through the external-view simulation, Weilusi, who stood at the head of the group, said, "Everyone, according to the information recorded on the star chart, this should be an unclaimed life-bearing planet!"
"But we still can't rule out the possibility that other adventurers have discovered it recently. Our next step is to investigate the specific conditions on this planet as quickly as possible, then discuss how to deal with it!"
"Yes, Big Brother!"
"Don't worry, Big Brother. We'll make sure nothing goes wrong!"
Upon hearing Weilusi's words, the other adventurers around him nodded and spoke in agreement.
With that, Weilusi and his group soon flew several circuits around all of Xuanhuang Star in their spaceship before stopping in outer space very close to the planet.
Not far away was a low-orbit satellite launched by Xuanhuang Star's Academy of Sciences, yet it detected no trace of the spaceship carrying Weilusi and the others.
"Big Brother, the technology on this life-bearing planet really is backward!"
Mig, the third brother, quickly said from beside him, "We're right next to their low-orbit satellite, but they haven't noticed a thing!"
"It would be strange if they detected us!"
Weilusi laughed and said, "We're aboard a C9-Class Spaceship. If the natives of this life-bearing planet could detect even this, we might well have to flee right now!"
Having said that, Weilusi promptly instructed the ship's intelligence, "Morty, have you finished investigating the specific details of this life-bearing planet?"
"Reporting to Master!"
Following Weilusi's instructions, the image of an exceptionally beautiful woman soon appeared on the enormous screen at the front of the main hall. "Our scans indicate that this life-bearing planet is nearly spherical, with a diameter of approximately twenty thousand kilometers and a surface area of approximately 1.25 billion square kilometers!"
"Of that, water covers approximately seventy percent, while land covers approximately thirty percent. The planet's surface gravity is approximately standard universal gravity units! It is worth noting that this planet has only one continent, so developing it should be extremely simple!"
"Further investigation is required to determine the remaining data!"
"Very good!"
After hearing the ship intelligence's report, Weilusi turned to the other members around him. "Everyone, the time has come for us to reap our harvest. But the more things reach a moment like this, the less we can afford to let our guard down!"
"Although life on most planets in the universe isn't particularly powerful, there are always exceptions! We know nothing about this life-bearing planet right now. If there is a super expert here who has reached Universe Level, we're bound to run into trouble if we enter rashly!"
After all, there had been cases of adventurer teams meeting their downfall at the hands of native experts on newly discovered life-bearing planets.
"Don't worry, Big Brother!"
"That's right, Big Brother! We've followed you for so long. We certainly won't let anything go wrong!"
"Boss, we've roamed around for so many years and faced life-and-death crises many times. Naturally, we won't be careless!"
Upon hearing Weilusi's words, the other members of the adventurer team nodded and spoke in turn.
"Good, then!"
Weilusi nodded slightly, then quickly continued, "According to our estimates, the technological level of this life-bearing planet shouldn't be particularly high. Next, we'll conduct a comprehensive scan and obtain its data as quickly as possible!"
"If there's no one stronger than us on this life-bearing planet, we can reap the greatest possible benefits!"
"Yes, Big Brother!"
The other members of the adventurer team nodded in response.
They then operated numerous precision instruments and infiltrated Xuanhuang Star's information network.
However, the information on the network was so vast that they could only hand the task over to Morty, the ship's intelligence.
"Morty!"
Weilusi instructed directly, "Quickly learn about this planet from every angle-its economy, religion, experts, military, technology, and so on. In particular, prioritize investigating the data on this planet's experts!"
"Yes, Master!"
Morty, the ship's intelligence, acknowledged the order, then began gathering information about Xuanhuang Star through different channels, displaying the more important items before Weilusi and the others.
After all, thanks to Lu Qingshan, the information network had long since spread throughout every region of Xuanhuang Star.
Thus, aside from certain highly confidential data, most information about Xuanhuang Star could be found online.