At the silent edge of a planet.
Everything was quiet—no sound at all. Faintly glowing fragments and particles formed a wondrous planetary ring, mesmerizing to behold.
After about two or three minutes, the tranquil atmosphere broke. The planet's ring trembled as eleven apex Grand Venerables of the cultivator world rushed to the scene. Their faces were full of uncertainty as they scrutinized the starry sky, unable to make sense of what had happened.
"Where is Ghost-Soil?"
"And where is the outsider, Andrew Han?"
"This is strange. Even if there wasn't a fight, there should be some clear traces left behind, shouldn't there?"
Led by Grand Venerable Thunder-Tongue, the eleven apex Grand Venerables looked around in puzzlement, sensing the surroundings.
All they could sense was the vastness of the starry sky—dark and cold as always. Traces of the outsider Andrew Han remained, as if he had just departed. But no matter what, they could not detect any sign of Ghost-Soil Grand Venerable.
It was as if a string had snapped.
As if a mountain had collapsed.
He vanished in an instant, leaving no trace behind—evaporated from the world. The presence of Ghost-Soil Grand Venerable abruptly ended here!
"Could it be..."
"Did I, Thunder-Tongue, make a mistake?"
Grand Venerable Thunder-Tongue's expression shifted slightly. His half-meter-tall figure hunched over, a sense of foreboding and pressure welling up in his heart.
"What happened? What in the world occurred here?"
The eleven exchanged glances. After some discussion, they decided to split up and investigate.
According to the cosmic cultivation realm divisions, all of these individuals were Fifth-Stage Void Rift beings. At full speed, their flight could rival the speed of light in a vacuum.
Simply put—
One of the benchmarks for Fifth-Stage Void Rift is speed comparable to light.
But the Lunyis Star System is, after all, too small, and its cultivator system too rudimentary. Imbalanced cultivation and evolution mean that, although Thunder-Tongue and the others possess Fifth-Stage Void Rift power, their perception is not nearly as keen as their speed.
So...
There's nothing we can do...
As the apex Grand Venerables of the cultivator world—ancient beings without equal—they could only search every inch with painstaking care.
After half a day, the eleven continued to search separately. Thunder-Tongue Grand Venerable, moving at the speed of light, suddenly paused: "Ghost-Soil!"
He turned his head.
He returned to the place he'd just passed.
His vague suspicions became clearer. Thunder-Tongue Grand Venerable's face turned mournful as he sighed deeply: "Ghost-Soil Grand Venerable perished here!"
The area seemed normal, but within a hundred meters lingered Ghost-Soil Grand Venerable's life aura. Sensing again, Thunder-Tongue made his judgment: "Ghost-Soil Grand Venerable was instantly reduced to nothingness here. The outsider, Andrew Han, cannot be opposed!"
The ten remaining apex Grand Venerables turned pale as earth!
A chill ran through each of them; their eyes widened, and a streak of terror rose in their hearts!
"Send a message!"
"Contact every Grand Venerable on the Venerable Roll!"
"Wherever Andrew Han appears, we must retreat at least threefold distance!"
With Thunder-Tongue Grand Venerable and the other apex Grand Venerables issuing a world-wide announcement, all Grand Venerables and a handful of Rift Lords received the news.
Not a sound could be heard!
Everyone was left speechless!
The shock of this news was no less than the collapse of heaven and earth, sun and moon!
First: the six Grand Venerables who tried to encircle and kill Andrew Han—all perished, not one survived.
Second: Thunder-Tongue Grand Venerable personally intervened, but was outmatched and lightly wounded.
Finally: Ghost-Soil Grand Venerable, eighth on the Venerable Roll, chased Andrew Han and was utterly annihilated—no remains left behind, not even a trace.
Such a string of earth-shattering events was like a tsunami splitting the heavens and seas. With the sudden vacancies on the Venerable Roll drawing the attention of the ambitious, and a few Grand Venerables fanning the flames, this explosive news swept through the cultivator world...
It detonated instantly.
The news spread ever more wildly.
The entire cultivator world was in an uproar. Countless cultivators took deep breaths and recited the name of Andrew Han.
...
The shock of the apex Grand Venerables and the frenzied uproar of the cultivator world—Andrew Han neither knew nor cared.
Swish.
A streak of cyan light cut across the starry sky, its power restrained. Andrew Han passed through one desolate planet after another.
When traveling, he usually relied on his Stellar Palace-Tier Martial Arts, using movement itself to hone its profundities. As for his Soul-Will, it remained gathered within his soul-space, steadily weaving his Origin Mystic Palace and adding gold-red star-map-like Consciousness Nodes.
As he advanced, the cyan light swirled.
One after another, profound Power Traits danced around him.
"Stellar Palace-Tier Martial Arts."
"The last two Power Traits—I still have no clue how to grasp them."
Andrew Han murmured softly, coming to a halt in the dark starry void, withdrawing the five Power Traits he had already mastered.
He glanced around, determined his direction, and set off toward the next overlord force.
"The six Grand Venerables are dead."
"Even one of the apex Grand Venerables has fallen." Clad in cyan battle armor and carrying a long blade on his back, Andrew Han's eyes remained as calm as an ancient well.
His Primeval Duty progress bar surged forward.
Out of a hundred small segments, eighty-seven now glowed—just thirteen remained unlit.
After a moment's thought, Andrew Han checked again, then glanced at his Star-Gate Martial Communicator: "Eighty-seven shining segments—some red, some blue. Red for kills, blue for victories."
"The Duty isn't finished yet. I still have to keep pushing forward."
"If I defeat thirteen more Grand Venerables, I'll be unmatched across the entire Lunyis Star System—and then I can return to the Spark-Heritage Zone."
Thinking of Spark-Heritage, Andrew Han felt a surge of power slowly taking root and sprouting in his chest—a mix of nervousness and stirring heroism. How could the Human Race's territory be left for other life races to seize?
Though Andrew Han was still far from strong enough, as a Primeval-tier Genius...
"Hoo."
Andrew Han exhaled a heavy breath.
If Primevals are dispatched to fight for the Human Race, it means the situation is tense—on the knife's edge!
Most crucially, the borderlands where fierce conflict erupts are right at the edge of the Yarlowe Sector, extremely close to the Galaxis Stellar System. This was the real reason for Andrew Han's sense of urgency and battle intent.
"It's not enough—I'm still not strong enough."
"Even if I volunteered, it wouldn't matter. My current realm hasn't reached the peak of Stellar Palace Tier, so I'm probably not qualified to represent the Star-Sky Humans in battle."
Andrew Han knew well that Spark-Heritage was full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers; reaching the fifth Nirvana Palace Stage was just the basic requirement.
Beyond that—
Once he reached the fifth Nirvana Palace Stage, he'd face the true challenge of earning the Spark-Heritage Paragon title.
Andrew Han mused to himself: "Spark-Heritage sent me to the Lunyis Star System to force me to advance my realm and grow stronger as quickly as possible."
He pondered for a moment.
With a flick of his hand, he called softly, "Bailey."
(｡･ˇ_ˇ･｡:)
In an instant, a plump, snow-white, fluffy Bailey sat on Andrew Han's shoulder.
"How did you get so chubby?" Andrew Han was startled. Since arriving in the Lunyis Star System, he hadn't spoken to Bailey face-to-face.
Bailey wiggled its little legs: "Master, you don't know! After billions of theoretical calculations and tens of thousands of simulated experiments, this form is statistically the best for finding a partner!"