Swallowed Star World.
Ganwu Universe Country, Black Dragon Mountain Starfield, Maple Leaf Empire, Maple Leaf Star.
The immense interstellar spaceport swallowed and disgorged a ceaseless stream of spacecraft like a tireless behemoth, with thousands of transport ships taking off and landing here every day.
Amid this busy flow of ships, an X31 Black Dragon Mountain Spaceship glided steadily toward its assigned berth.
Inside the cabin, an old man in gray robes gazed through a porthole at the orderly port outside, a trace of nostalgia appearing on his face.
Behind him, five young people-three men and two women-likewise pressed close to the portholes, their eyes filled with curiosity.
"My lord, is this Maple Leaf Star?" A young man with a single horn on his head could not help asking, his voice carrying irrepressible excitement.
"That's right." The gray-robed elder nodded, his gaze sweeping over the bustling port beyond the cabin door. "This is Maple Leaf Star, the ancestral home of the Lu Clan and the foundation of our Maple Leaf Empire."
His gaze turned to the other equally outstanding young people, and his tone grew more solemn. "The five of you are the most gifted geniuses the empire has produced in a century. After arriving on Maple Leaf Star, you will have an opportunity to be granted an audience with the ancestor."
The elder's voice was low and powerful.
"If any of you can win the ancestor's favor and be accepted as his disciple... then not only will your own cultivation soar straight into the clouds, but your families, and even the planets you came from, will receive unimaginable benefits."
At his words, the excitement and curiosity on the young people's faces gradually faded, replaced by heartfelt reverence.
Clearly, the name of this legendary ancestor of the Maple Leaf Empire had long thundered in their ears.
He was a peak Universe Level powerhouse who had lived for more than ninety thousand years!
He was the true pillar of the Maple Leaf Empire!
His illustrious fame had long spread throughout the entire Maple Leaf Galaxy. Even in the neighboring Silver Blue Empire, and on the independent, aloof Qiu Long Star, legends of this Ancestor Lu remained.
If they could become disciples of such an unrivaled powerhouse, their standing would ascend to the heavens in a single step, and they would even gain a sliver of... the faint hope of breaking through to Universe Level.
The cabin door of the X31 Black Dragon Mountain Spaceship slid open soundlessly, and the group set foot on Maple Leaf Star.
Deep within the imperial palace of the Maple Leaf Empire lay a cultivation cavern built from precious D5-grade metal ore, its floor covered in dazzling gemstones.
Without the slightest warning.
A terrifying surge of Origin Force capable of destroying heaven and earth erupted, its violent energy currents sweeping through the entire underground chamber and instantly grinding every visible object in their path to dust.
The D5 ore walls, which could easily withstand attacks from Universe Level powerhouses, shook violently.
Fortunately, this destructive eruption dissipated after only an instant. Otherwise, even this sturdy cavern might truly have been in danger of collapse.
"Whew..."
Amid the swirling dust, Lu Qingshan slowly opened his eyes, unable to conceal the deep exhaustion and dejection within them.
"I failed..." A low sigh echoed through the cavern.
"This was my third attempt to reach the Domain Lord realm in ten thousand years... this time, my preparations were the most thorough, and I drew upon more than half the empire's accumulated reserves. I never expected... to fall short at the final hurdle again."
He spread his palm, as though he could still feel the pain of failing just as his Life Core was about to take shape.
"Heavenly Purifying Water... healed ninety-nine percent of my hidden injuries, but the damage to my foundation from my early years was ultimately a fatal flaw, leaving me unable to truly condense a Domain Lord's Life Core..."
After ninety thousand years, Lu Qingshan had thought his state of mind had long been tempered into an ancient well without a ripple, yet this latest failed breakthrough still stirred waves in his heart that would not subside.
He could not help panicking.
Because his lifespan was about to run out.
In theory, a Universe Level powerhouse could live for as long as ten eras.
However, the grievous injuries he had suffered in his early years, compounded by the backlash from several failed breakthroughs, had long since overdrawn his life essence.
He could clearly sense that the inexorable lifespan bestowed upon him by the Primal Universe was slowly approaching its end.
"Probably... only a hundred and twenty years left."
Lu Qingshan knew what that meant.
If he could not break through to Domain Lord within these hundred and twenty years and obtain a longer lifespan, he would become nothing more than a speck of dust amid this vast river of stars, returning to eternal oblivion.
But how could he break through in a mere hundred and twenty years?
For this attempt, he had drained nearly ninety percent of the Maple Leaf Empire's reserves and even swallowed his pride to borrow an enormous sum of Universe Coins from that senior on Qiu Long Star.
The incomparably precious Heavenly Purifying Water, which could repair hidden injuries, had been purchased at auction for an astronomical number of Universe Coins.
Within a century, unless he encountered some earthshaking stroke of fortune, there was absolutely no chance he could gather the resources needed for another attempt.
Besides...
Even with the resources, would he necessarily succeed?
A faint unwillingness churned in his chest.
Lu Qingshan was a transmigrator.
Ninety thousand years ago, he had arrived in an ordinary family on Maple Leaf Star. Back then, Maple Leaf Star had yet to encounter cosmic civilization, and martial arts flourished on the planet.
For a time, he had even thought he had arrived in some fantasy world.
With his outstanding martial talent, he had needed only a hundred years to reach the pinnacle of the planet and become a War God. Able to overturn mountains and rivers with a turn of his hand, he had easily unified the entire planet and established the Maple Leaf Empire.
Yet disaster soon descended!
Not long after the empire's founding, a spaceship packed with a slave-catching team descended upon Maple Leaf Star. Its utterly overwhelming power plunged every powerhouse on the planet into despair.
Even someone as powerful as Lu Qingshan was mercilessly subdued after desperately killing two Star Level members of the slave-catching team.
Every expert at Martial Saint Level or above on Maple Leaf Star was captured, controlled with slave chips, and reduced to merchandise awaiting sale.
The slave-catching team left behind some basic cosmic cultivation methods and established a cruel "breeding base" on Maple Leaf Star to cultivate warriors and spirit readers above Planet Level.
Maple Leaf Star's ten billion inhabitants were like chives awaiting harvest, cultivated and sold without end.
Because Lu Qingshan had desperately fought back and killed slave catchers at Star Level Four and Five while he was only at Star Level One, demonstrating decent potential, he was not treated as an ordinary slave.
To squeeze greater value from him, the slave owner trained him.
With the aid of resources far beyond Maple Leaf Star's level, Lu Qingshan's strength advanced by leaps and bounds. In just a hundred years, he cultivated to Star Level Nine, then successfully broke through to Universe Level and comprehended the Light Domain.
After that, under the slave chip's control, he became the organization's enforcer, fighting other slave organizations and Star Pirates through long, bloody years.
Relying on the meager resources he accumulated from mission after mission, he painstakingly advanced to Universe Level 8, and his Light Domain reached the third layer.
At that point, a problem arose.
Once Lu Qingshan broke through to Domain Lord, he would be able to break free of the chip's control and turn on his master.
The Domain Lord Level leader of the slave organization gave him two choices.
Either remain at Universe Level 8 for the rest of his life, forbidden to break through, or participate in the Giant Axe Life-and-Death Battle, where the death rate approached one hundred percent.
Lu Qingshan chose the latter.
By participating in the Giant Axe Life-and-Death Battle and winning a thousand consecutive matches, he could earn the title of Giant Axe Warrior and regain his freedom under the witness of the Giant Axe Arena.
Although his third-layer domain strength left him virtually no chance of surviving an arena of that caliber, to him, a slave's life without dignity was more agonizing than death.
The slave owner was also happy to accept this choice.
If Lu Qingshan died in battle, the organization would receive a substantial compensation payment. If he managed to win a few matches, the compensation would be even greater.
As for Lu Qingshan succeeding?
Not a single person believed in him.
Lu Qingshan no longer wished to recall those thousand brutal battles of life and death. In the end, through luck, he miraculously won the title of Giant Axe Warrior and obtained the freedom he had dreamed of.
Yet the price was incomparably steep!
The successive death matches severely damaged his body, and he also used secret techniques that harmed his cultivation foundation, all but severing his hope of ever breaking through to Domain Lord.
For that reason, he lost the opportunity to be recruited into the Giant Axe Arena.
Ultimately, he chose to become a Universe Mercenary and wandered the boundless universe. After enduring countless hardships and amassing enough wealth, he bought Maple Leaf Star back from the slave owner, saving the second home he had transmigrated to.
Ninety thousand years passed in the flick of a finger. The slave organization that had once enslaved him had long since been wiped out after offending an important figure in the Black Dragon Mountain Starfield, leaving him not even the chance to take revenge himself.
Over the following ten thousand years, relying on his renown as a Giant Axe Warrior and the help of friends he had made during his career as a Universe Mercenary, Lu Qingshan established the Maple Leaf Empire, an elementary cosmic civilization.
It was a cosmic nation whose territory encompassed only a single galaxy, unable to compare with the other surrounding elementary Universe Countries.
The past drifted like smoke, flashing through his mind. Lu Qingshan slowly rose from the heap of shattered gemstones, setting those heavy memories aside for the moment.
"A hundred and twenty years..."
Sensing the unmistakable ebb of life within his body, Lu Qingshan found that after his long recollection, much of the sorrow in his heart had instead faded.
A faint, composed smile curved his lips.
"After living for ninety thousand years, what more could I ask for?"
"If I'd transmigrated to a world like Shrouding the Heavens, where even Great Emperors only live ten thousand years, with my paltry strength, my bones would probably have turned to ash long ago..."
The instant this thought arose, Lu Qingshan felt an invisible shackle deep within his soul seemingly loosen a little, and an indescribable insight quietly began to emerge.
Before he could savor that insight, light and shadow twisted before him, and the black phantom of a dog-headed humanoid formed from energy respectfully appeared.
This was Lu Qingshan's Intelligent Life, Nasus.
"Master." The phantom spoke in a low, clear voice. "Little Sanzi from Young Eagle Star has returned. He has brought the empire's five most outstanding geniuses of the past century and requests an audience with you."
Little Sanzi?
The fellow who always liked to wear gray robes and put on an air of profundity immediately appeared in Lu Qingshan's mind.
"Another hundred years have passed..." Lu Qingshan sighed softly, his tone returning to its usual calm. "Have him bring them in."
(End of chapter)