At the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy, in an unknown stretch of void.
Cold starlight streamed beyond the viewport as the Maple Leaf hovered at a seemingly ordinary set of starfield coordinates.
Ahead, where that azure planet should have been, there was now only a deep expanse of nothingness.
The Solar System had vanished.
Lu Qingshan stood before the observation window, indescribably complex emotions churning in the depths of his eyes before finally turning into a trace of burning intensity.
"Just as I thought..."
As a Giant Axe Warrior born and raised in the Black Dragon Mountain Starfield, how could he possibly have been unfamiliar with the name "Earth"?
During those years when his foundation was damaged and the road ahead held no hope, he had even pinned his faint hopes on this place.
He had thought that if he could cling to Luo Feng, the thickest thigh in the Primal Universe, what would a mere damaged foundation amount to?
Reality, however, had left him sorely disappointed.
He had first set foot on Earth eighty thousand years ago, just after becoming a Giant Axe Warrior. It had been the first stop on his wanderings through the stars.
Earth back then had still been a savage wilderness. There had been no trace of civilization, only apes eating raw flesh and drinking blood as they struggled to survive across the vast land.
It had been an ancient age before Earth had awakened. Lu Qingshan had not lingered at all, quietly departing with his disappointment.
The second time had been thirty thousand years ago, accompanied by his wife, Catherine.
By then, Homo sapiens on Earth had begun using crude stone tools, and the first sparks of civilization had kindled. On that visit, he had used staying temporarily to cultivate as an excuse to spend ten years on Earth with Catherine.
During that stay, they had conceived and given birth to their only child, Lu Lingxiao, now the reigning emperor of the Maple Leaf Empire and a seventh-stage Universe Level expert.
Lu Lingxiao possessed exceptional talent, especially in mental willpower. He had reached the Universe Level in a thousand years, not much worse than Lu Qingshan.
But he knew nothing of what made him special, much less where he had been born.
Even when Catherine reached the end of her lifespan, she had never revealed this secret.
With things arranged this way, even if the Giant Axe Founder looked back through time in the future, he would only consider Lu Qingshan a cosmic wanderer who had happened to pass by Earth.
After all, before civilization had arisen on Earth, Universe Adventurers had already left their footprints on Mars. A traveler stopping briefly could not have been more ordinary.
This was his third visit. The coordinates were correct, but his destination was now concealed without a trace.
A hundred years ago, the Maple Leaf Empire's intelligence network had marked the area around the Solar System as a high-risk region. Rumor had it that an Immortal God from elsewhere had established a cultivation ground here.
Lu Qingshan had intended to investigate in person, but his breakthrough had delayed him.
"The Solar System has vanished... Hu Yanbo really has arrived, and he's holed up here with grave injuries..." A sharp gleam flashed through Lu Qingshan's eyes before they returned to profound calm.
He made no attempt to investigate further.
A gravely wounded, dying Immortal God, as skittish as a bird startled by a bowstring, was extraordinarily dangerous. The slightest disturbance could invite a devastating strike.
There was no reason to feel favorably toward him just because he was the protagonist Luo Feng's first teacher. Which old monster who had lived for tens of millions of years had not walked over mountains of corpses and seas of blood?
Whether Hu Yanbo was alive or dead at this moment, Lu Qingshan had no intention of taking the risk.
I'll wait him out. First, I'll outlive this old fellow, he decided.
The trip had not been fruitless. At least he had precisely pinned down the timeline.
At this point, there were roughly fifty thousand years left until Luo Feng's birth!
That was far clearer than his previous reliance on vague reference points such as the emperor of the Silver Blue Empire and the genius World Lord "Luo."
Lu Qingshan lingered no longer. The ship turned and slipped silently into the Dark Universe.
He did not notice that the instant he vanished, space rippled faintly like water in the void a million kilometers away. A towering figure with a dark-gold greatsword on his back quietly appeared. His icy eyes swept over the spot where the ship had vanished, as though piercing through space, before his figure dissipated like a phantom, leaving only the deathly silent stars.
Half a year later, in a cavern deep beneath the imperial palace on Maple Leaf Star.
The shattered gemstones had been replaced with new, rare ores, and the newly laid floor refracted hazy halos beneath the soft lighting.
Lei Ming held his breath and focused, watching the figure seated cross-legged nearby with reverence.
Only when the other man opened his eyes did Lei Ming bow respectfully. "Greetings, Teacher."
"Mm." Lu Qingshan's voice was gentle, yet carried a power that saw through everything. "You've been on Maple Leaf Star for a year now. Have you made progress in your cultivation?"
Lei Ming's spirits lifted. He knew his teacher was testing him. Drawing a deep breath, he let a sharp light burst from his eyes. "Please give me your guidance, Teacher!"
Before his words had faded, a long, deep-blue blade radiating a chilling aura was already in his hand. Forged from B2-grade metal, the Thunderclap Blade weighed over ten thousand jun, yet felt weightless in Lei Ming's grasp.
He lowered his stance slightly, then slashed out fiercely!
Hiss!!
Surging purple Origin Force erupted in an instant. The blade tore through the air, and beyond its radiance, a ring of transparent, space-distorting ripples faintly took shape!
The blade's light faded. The cavern's sturdy D5-grade metal ore wall gave only a faint, muffled thud and remained entirely undamaged.
A barely perceptible trace of approval flickered through Lu Qingshan's eyes.
"Not bad," he said mildly. "That slash has touched the threshold of the Lightning Domain. It seems you haven't slacked off this past year. If you devote several hundred years to honing it, you may have a chance of pushing your domain to the first stage while still at the Planetary Level."
Someone who comprehended a domain at the Planetary Level could be considered a genius even across the Ganwu Universe Country.
Lei Ming also had systematic training, as well as guidance from Lu Qingshan, whose strength rivaled a Domain Lord's.
This made him marvel at just how heaven-defying Hong and Luo Feng on Earth were.
"Your student is slow-witted." Yet shame appeared on Lei Ming's face. "A year ago, Teacher demonstrated the complete embryonic form of a domain before me, but even now, I've only learned the barest surface. I have truly failed your teachings."
"There's no need to belittle yourself." Lu Qingshan raised a hand to interrupt him. "Compared with the other four, your comprehension is already excellent. Those at the Planetary Level have limited lifespans. There's no need to stubbornly spend hundreds of years forcing yourself to attain a domain. I took you as my disciple a year ago, but have yet to bestow a welcoming gift..."
He turned his wrist, and a lustrous, translucent white jade box appeared out of thin air, floating before Lei Ming.
The jade box was nearly transparent, and a peculiar plant could be clearly seen inside.
An indescribable longing, seemingly born from the very source of life, instantly swept through Lei Ming's entire body, making him tremble slightly despite himself.
"Teacher, this is..." He forcibly suppressed his body's agitation, a trace of excitement in his voice.
"You needn't look too deeply into what it is," Lu Qingshan said calmly. "Using it is simple enough. Just swallow it directly. If you were alone, you would need to refine it cautiously, but with me here to protect you, there's no need for concern. Break through to the Stellar Level right here. For a disciple of mine, Lu Qingshan, to be merely at the ninth stage of the Planetary Level would be rather shabby."
He did not tell Lei Ming the value of this Nine-Leaf Spirit Ginseng.
If the young man learned that this treasure was worth as much as an entire galaxy, he would probably receive quite a fright.
Lei Ming dared not ask more. He respectfully accepted the jade box with both hands, sat cross-legged, and focused on regulating his breathing.
A moment later, he carefully plucked a small piece of an emerald leaf and placed it in his mouth. Pure, immense life energy instantly exploded within him.
Lu Qingshan glanced at his disciple, who had begun pushing against his bottleneck. Seeing that he had not greedily taken too much, he paid him no further attention.
He reached out and grasped at the void, and a fruit radiating vast, surging life force appeared in his hand, seemingly out of thin air.
(End of chapter)