Inside the city lord's residence stood a magnificent hall covering tens of thousands of square meters.
The hall was about to host the Martial Saint banquet for the newly advanced Martial Saint Lu Wenyuan. Many powerful figures and dignitaries from Qin, Chu State, and Wei State had already gathered, including quite a few Martial Saints.
In short, this was an exceedingly rare gathering on all of Xuanhuang Star, its scale far surpassing the banquets of other newly advanced Martial Saints.
Those who could attend this banquet were undoubtedly important figures from various factions, such as representatives of each country's special departments, as well as leaders of multinational merchant associations and organizations...
Pleasant music flowed into every corner of the banquet hall, while handsome and beautiful servers respectfully presented all manner of delicious dishes.
Throughout the hall, important figures from various factions gathered together in conversation.
A middle-aged man approached a burly man wearing the Black Battle Armor, then asked with a smile, "Old Zhou, what are you doing hiding here by yourself?"
"I'm just hiding here for some peace and quiet. Zhao Gang, you're such a high-ranking director these days. How do you have time to come looking for me?"
The burly Zhou Ruilong looked at Zhao Gang as he approached and teased him with a smile as well.
"I only help Teacher manage the Academy of Sciences. My position isn't nearly as high as you make it sound!"
Zhao Gang quickly added with a smile, "Besides, Junior Brother Wenyuan is today's star. Everyone's bound to flock to him!"
"That's true!"
Zhou Ruilong nodded slightly, then said with a smile, "General Wenyuan is only thirty-three this year, isn't he? Breaking through to the Martial Saint level at such an age makes him a rare genius!"
"Of course!"
Zhao Gang promptly said, "Of the more than two thousand Martial Saints on Xuanhuang Star today, definitely no more than two hundred broke through before forty! Junior Brother Wenyuan managed to break through at thirty-three. Teacher's help certainly played a part, but his own talent and hard work were indispensable too!"
"General Wenyuan is indeed extremely talented, and he has plenty of combat experience!"
Zhou Ruilong quickly continued, "When the beast tide erupted at Changshui Base half a year ago, General Wenyuan hadn't yet broken through to the Martial Saint level, but he still slew a sea Demon Saint single-handedly! Old Zhao, what title has His Majesty chosen for General Wenyuan this time?"
Hearing this, Zhao Gang, director of the Academy of Sciences, promptly replied, "I heard it was Marquis Tianyuan, but I don't know whether that's true."
"Marquis Tianyuan?"
Zhou Ruilong nodded slightly, then continued, "Old Zhao, General Wenyuan isn't married yet, is he? You're his senior brother. Do you know what sort of wife he's looking for?"
"What..."
Hearing Zhou Ruilong's words, Zhao Gang quickly teased him with a smile, "Does your Zhou Family have someone suitable?"
"A niece of mine!"
Zhou Ruilong promptly said, "She's twenty-five this year and just graduated from Wei Martial Arts Academy. She's already cultivated to eighth-stage Martial Master, so she should have a very good chance of becoming a ninth-stage Martial Master before thirty. If she's suitable, I'd like to let her and General Wenyuan get to know each other!"
"You rascal, how do you look anything like one of our Qin's great generals now!"
Zhao Gang chided him with a laugh, then quickly said, "But Master's wife has indeed been looking for suitable candidates to be Junior Brother Wenyuan's wife lately. Send me all your niece's information, and I'll mention her to Master's wife when a suitable opportunity comes!"
"That would be wonderful!"
After hearing Zhao Gang's words, Zhou Ruilong could not help smiling.
In truth, as a great general of Qin and a fourth-stage Martial Saint himself, he should have had no need to rely on a marriage alliance to secure his position.
But Lu Wenyuan was different.
First, Lu Wenyuan's own talent was astonishing. He had entered the Martial Saint level at thirty-three, and after several hundred years, his strength might well surpass Zhou Ruilong's;
Of course, the most important point was that Lu Wenyuan's father was Xuanhuang Star's strongest expert today, "King Yongning" Lu Qingshan!
After all, although Martial Saints on Xuanhuang Star could all receive titles bestowed by the three countries, those titles were almost always marquisates!
Only four people on all of Xuanhuang Star had currently earned the rank of king through their own abilities, and King Yongning was the strongest among them!
Moreover, judging by King Yongning's cultivation speed, he was very likely to become a Martial God in the future!
When that happened, King Yongning could not only safeguard his family for ten thousand years, but even unify all of Xuanhuang Star.
Even if King Yongning did not wish to do that, and even if he died after ten thousand years, the Lu Family would still be able to retain its royal title permanently!
And just then...
Lu Wenyuan, who had been chatting with the many guests nearby, suddenly strode toward the entrance to a passage at one side of the hall. He then bowed to a figure emerging from the passage and greeted him, "Father, you've arrived!"
Upon noticing this, everyone chatting in the banquet hall immediately fell silent. They all looked with awe at the figure in yellow robes, none other than the world's strongest expert, King Yongning Lu Qingshan!
At the same time, several more figures stepped out of the crowd and went to greet Lu Qingshan. Zhao Gang, who had been chatting with Zhou Ruilong earlier, was among them.
"Brother Qingshan!"
"King Yongning!"
"Teacher!"
Lu Qingshan looked at the figures approaching him and soon nodded slightly, exchanging a few words in response.
These people were either close to him or among the most powerful experts on Xuanhuang Star, so their standing and status were not much lower than his.
Only after Lu Qingshan and several other top experts of Xuanhuang Star reached a banquet table and sat down did he address Lu Wenyuan, who had followed behind him. "Wenyuan, the banquet can begin!"
"Yes, Father!"
After answering, Lu Wenyuan quickly walked to the front of the banquet hall with Qin's prime minister.
"Everyone!"
Qin's prime minister looked at the assembled guests, then said directly, "Every newly advanced Martial Saint is entitled to be granted the rank of marquis. Now that General Lu Wenyuan has likewise broken through to the Martial Saint level, our Qin shall confer upon him the title of 'Marquis Tianyuan'!"
"Marquis Tianyuan once..."
After announcing the title Qin had bestowed upon Lu Wenyuan, Qin's prime minister recounted some of Lu Wenyuan's past contributions to Qin and so forth, all to highlight his talent and strength.
After that, Lu Wenyuan also thanked the many guests for coming, and the banquet officially began.
Lu Qingshan, meanwhile, did not pay too much attention to the banquet. After all, he had three sons and three daughters, and before Lu Wenyuan, two of his sons and one of his daughters had already broken through to the Martial Saint level!
"King Yongning, congratulations!"
Chu Zhongtian, Chu State's strongest expert and the world's third strongest, raised the fine wine before him and drained it, then said with a smile, "This Marquis Tianyuan is the fourth of your children to break through to the Martial Saint level, isn't he?"
"I really don't know how you raised them. Every one of them is so outstanding! I have eighteen children in total, and only three have broken through to the Martial Saint level!"
"You simply have too many children and can't bear to provide them with resources!"
Beside him, Wei Changsheng, Wei State's strongest expert, director of Wei Martial Arts Academy, and currently the world's second strongest, promptly said, "You've given most of the resources in your hands to that young disciple of yours lately. Watch out, or after you fall, your Chu Family might no longer be the one ruling Chu State!"
"Hahaha!"
After hearing Wei Changsheng's words, Chu Zhongtian quickly said, "Children and grandchildren have their own blessings. No dynasty on Xuanhuang Star is eternally undying! Nearly two hundred thousand years have passed since my Chu Family founded Chu State, and we even produced a Martial God. Even if we perished now, it would be nothing!"
"Becoming a Martial God is no easy feat. I have no chance in this lifetime, but that disciple of mine might still have such an opportunity. Naturally, I must lend him a hand!"
"Then you might as well leave those resources to our young friend Qingshan!"
Wei Changsheng quickly said with a smile, "With our young friend Qingshan's strength and realm, his chances of breaking through to the Martial God level in the future are far, far greater than your disciple's!"
"King Yongning doesn't need my meager resources to break through to the Martial God level!"
Chu Zhongtian raised a cup of fine wine and drained it, then continued, "But if I can nurture a second Martial God, we humans might be able to eliminate all those sea demonic beasts!"
"That's a fine idea, but achieving it would be very difficult!"
Wei Changsheng promptly said, "Leaving aside whether your disciple can break through to the Martial God level, even if he really does, his strength will be greatly affected once he enters the seas. Even two Martial Gods joining forces would find it difficult to completely wipe out all the sea demonic beasts!"
"We can take it slowly!"
Chu Zhongtian immediately said, "The sea demonic beasts do indeed far outnumber us humans, and they have considerably more Demon Saints than we have Martial Saints. But they aren't as united as we humans are. If two Martial Gods were alive at the same time, there should be a chance to eliminate the sea demonic beasts completely!"
Meanwhile, as he listened to Chu Zhongtian and Wei Changsheng chat, Lu Qingshan soon turned to his disciple Zhao Gang. "Zhao Gang, has the Academy of Sciences made any new technological breakthroughs? Has the maximum speed our spaceships can reach increased?"
This was what concerned Lu Qingshan most. As for those sea demonic beasts, once he broke through to Star Level, dealing with them would not actually be too difficult.
Hearing Lu Qingshan's words, Chu Zhongtian and Wei Changsheng both stopped talking and turned toward Zhao Gang, director of the Academy of Sciences.
"Teacher!"
Zhao Gang quickly answered, "At present, the maximum speed of our spaceships still hasn't exceeded 2,700 kilometers per second. However, a professor at the Academy of Sciences recently developed a new energy source. If we replace all the energy sources aboard our spaceships with this new one, we estimate that their maximum speed could increase by thirty percent!"
"However, this new energy source is extremely expensive to produce. For the same total quantity, the production cost is as much as ten times that of the previous energy source!"
"No matter!"
Lu Qingshan promptly said, "Don't worry about production costs. Build new spaceships as soon as possible and continue exploring the universe. I will continue directing resources toward the Academy of Sciences!"
This was Lu Qingshan's brute-force approach.
Although the spaceships' current speed was insufficient to exceed the speed of light and enter the Dark Universe, Lu Qingshan still ordered the Academy of Sciences to keep launching exploration ships into outer space, just like Voyager 1, launched by Blue Star before his transmigration. Their purpose was naturally to discover other planets with life.
"Yes, Teacher!" Hearing Lu Qingshan's words, Zhao Gang hurriedly nodded in acknowledgment.
Lu Qingshan was about to say more when he suddenly received an urgent communication.
At the same time...
Beep! Beep! Beep...
Almost all the important figures attending the banquet received urgent communications from their respective factions at the same moment.