After leaving the Rare Treasure Shop, Lu Qingshan arrived before a magnificent castle.
The castle occupied an enormous area, measuring over 100 kilometers in both length and width. Although no one had lived there for a long time, it had been well maintained and showed no sign of decay.
In the garden, exotic flowers and plants of every color vied to bloom in dazzling splendor.
The most eye-catching among them was an enormous ice-blue flowering vine dozens of meters tall.
Its gigantic ice-blue blossoms spread open, almost blotting out half the sky, and radiated a cool, dreamlike glow.
Looking at the ice-blue flowers, Lu Qingshan thought of his wife, Catherine.
His wife Catherine had little interest in cultivation, but she was obsessed with gardening. Back then, she had planted more than half the plants in this garden with her own hands.
She had planted this ice-blue flowering vine herself and painstakingly cultivated it generation after generation. Now, it had attained the perfect form she had once imagined.
Sadly, she had passed away and would never return, never again able to admire the beautiful scenery she had created with her own hands.
A trace of bitterness welled up in Lu Qingshan's heart. Back then, he and his father-in-law, Kevin, had planned to spare no expense in trying to push Catherine to the Universe Level.
After all, the Universe Level was not the Domain Lord stage; a domain was not a requirement.
With two Domain Lords giving their all to help, it had not been entirely hopeless.
But Catherine had refused.
She had even secretly given the cultivation resources her father and husband had prepared for her to her son, Lu Lingxiao.
After learning of this, Lu Qingshan and Kevin had ultimately chosen to respect her wishes.
During the final hundred years of Catherine's life, Lu Qingshan had set everything aside and lived with her in this castle on Qiu Long Star. On her deathbed, she had said those had been the happiest days of her life.
After pausing briefly in the garden, Lu Qingshan pushed open the castle's heavy doors.
A huge wedding photograph still hung on the living room wall.
Made of a special material, the photograph would not deteriorate for ten thousand years.
In the photograph, Catherine's long wine-red hair blazed like fire, and her smile was dazzlingly bright. Beside her, Lu Qingshan wore formal black attire. His face was handsome, but between his brows lingered a trace of aloof coldness left by the painful experiences of his life as a slave.
The Lu Qingshan of that time had been cold and unapproachable.
It was Catherine who, with ten thousand years of tenderness, had melted that frozen heart little by little.
His state of mind had long since changed. The scars and shadows of the past were like clouds and smoke passing before his eyes, no longer lingering in his heart.
"You came to Qiu Long Star, so why didn't you drop by my place?" A gentle voice sounded at the door.
Lu Qingshan turned and smiled. "Father."
The visitor was none other than Kevin, the master of Qiu Long Star, dressed in red robes.
"Well, I was afraid you'd press me to repay my debts."
Lu Qingshan spoke half-jokingly.
"Heh..." Kevin chuckled, looking Lu Qingshan over closely with undisguised admiration and surprise. "You really succeeded... When I married Catherine to you back then, I never dared imagine you would come this far."
As a veteran Domain Lord, Kevin could naturally tell that Lu Qingshan had broken through to the Domain Lord stage.
He sighed with feeling. "If that girl Catherine knew, she would surely be happy for you."
"Yes." Lu Qingshan let out a lingering sigh. "Back then, to avoid holding me back, she even gave up her chance to reach the Universe Level."
"Don't be sad," Kevin comforted him. "Catherine would be proud of you."
The decision to give up back then had also had his approval, so he naturally would not blame his son-in-law for it. Lu Qingshan's breakthrough to the Domain Lord stage before his lifespan ran out was precisely what proved their choice had been correct.
"Now that you've broken through to the Domain Lord stage, what are your plans? Will you stay on Maple Leaf Star as its patriarch, or do you have something else in mind?" Kevin asked.
"I'm not particularly interested in being the patriarch of a low-tier Universe Country," Lu Qingshan said frankly. "I plan to find a major faction to join, and look for a few promising seedlings to nurture as disciples along the way."
"Oh?" Kevin was somewhat surprised.
Given Lu Qingshan's early adventures as a Giant Axe Warrior, and the fact that he had been held back for so many years before breaking through to the Domain Lord stage, Kevin had thought his son-in-law would rekindle his adventurous spirit. He had not expected him to choose a steadier path.
"If you're willing to stay on Qiu Long Star..." Kevin ventured, his tone serious. "I can transfer half of Qiu Long Star's shares to you."
"So generous?" Lu Qingshan smiled. He could tell his father-in-law was not joking.
Qiu Long Star's value far surpassed that of the Maple Leaf Empire, and half its shares were worth an astronomical sum. The real estate alone was staggering. For instance, the castle he stood in was worth more than a life-bearing planet.
That was without even mentioning those towering residential complexes, or the tremendous revenue brought in by the bustling shops and commercial ports.
To keep his son-in-law by his side, that old fellow Kevin was putting up a fortune.
"Leave Qiu Long Star to Kerry," Lu Qingshan declined politely. "With his talent, he has a very good chance of breaking through to the Domain Lord stage. He's just the person to inherit the businesses here."
Kerry was the son Kevin had fathered with a concubine after Catherine's death, and Lu Qingshan's younger brother-in-law.
Although the siblings had never met, Kerry had visited Maple Leaf Star several times after reaching adulthood, so he was no stranger to his brother-in-law Lu Qingshan.
Having had a son late in life, Kevin attached great importance to this youngest son, who had already reached the sixth stage of the Universe Level before turning ten thousand.
At the mention of Kerry, Kevin's tone carried a measure of helplessness and resentment. "Ever since that brat passed the Universe Mercenary Alliance's assessment, he's been plunging into mystic regions everywhere like a madman. Who knows when he'll fall in some godforsaken corner!"
Hearing his father-in-law's concern, Lu Qingshan smiled. "If I get a chance to see him in the future, I'll be sure to have a proper talk with him."
"Good!" Kevin's eyes lit up, and he clapped his son-in-law hard on the shoulder. "If he won't listen, beat him up for me. That brat needs a good thrashing!"
Seeing that Lu Qingshan had already made up his mind, he stopped dwelling on persuading him to stay and instead asked, "Do you have a specific faction in mind?"
"I have a rough plan." Lu Qingshan was still counting on his father-in-law to help make introductions, so he naturally held nothing back. "The five giants set their bar too high. Even if I found a way in right now, it would still be very difficult to join them. I plan to try the Ganwu Dojo first, then move higher if an opportunity comes along."
"The Ganwu Dojo is a good choice." Kevin nodded in agreement. "With your Domain Lord strength, you'll become a Two-Leaf Ganwu Practitioner as soon as you join. With that status, even ordinary World Lords won't dare touch you lightly. Besides, weren't you looking to take disciples?"
Kevin chuckled. "The Ganwu Dojo is the Ganwu Universe Country's only official dojo. More importantly, the Ganwu Mystic Region gathers the Universe Country's very finest geniuses. If you can enter the Core Layer, taking an exceptional genius as your disciple may not be out of reach."
The more he spoke, the more excited he became, as though he could see the future. "If you really nurture an Immortal disciple... haha! Then never mind the Black Dragon Mountain Starfield-even the Black Dragon Mountain God Lord would have to treat you courteously."
Lu Qingshan could not help drawing in a breath at that, looking at his father-in-law in surprise. "An Immortal disciple? You really dare to dream!"
(End of chapter)