Lord of the Rending Stars

Deep within the spatial interlayer, in the Qingyang Divine Kingdom.

Qingyang sat cross-legged in the central temple of the divine kingdom, comprehending the secret runes on the ordinary supreme treasure, the True Radiance Blade.

With a flick of his wrist, a gray battle blade appeared out of thin air. Qingyang poured his divine power into it, and by simply activating the basic secret runes on the True Radiance Blade, the surrounding space naturally collapsed.

"go"

A beam of rainbow light descended directly onto a rapidly drifting fragment of space outside the divine kingdom, its power reaching its peak.

"Boom boom boom!"

The spatial fragments vanished with a deafening roar, leaving behind only a pitch-black black hole moments later.

"After more than ten years of dedicated study, I have completely mastered the basic secret patterns on the True Radiance Blade. Now I can move the blade at will and control it freely," Qingyang said, quite satisfied with his work.

"Let's test the defense of the high-grade treasure armor again," he said, and then had Yuanhua clone put on the Thunder Armor.

The human avatar, wielding the True Radiance Blade, unleashed a surge of divine power, unleashing an even more powerful rainbow beam that ignored space and slashed directly at the chest of the Yuanhua clone.

"Boom!"

The deep purple plates of the Thunder Armor on the Yuanhua clone remained completely still, without even a faint mark.

A glint flashed in Qingyang's eyes. "With Lei Zejia here, it's difficult for even an Immortal Realm expert to break through his defenses. Once I comprehend the secret runes within, I can easily block the attacks of even the universe's overlords."

Next, Qingyang continued to study the secret runes on the treasure armor, as well as the Sumeru Palace...

On a planet inhabited by countless ordinary members of the Godslayer Clan, a ten-meter-tall alien race shrouded in a black cloak paced back and forth in a dark hall.

A human figure knelt before him, respectfully reporting to the alien before him, "Reporting to our great master, in the past ten thousand years, eighteen super geniuses have emerged in the human realm. Seven of them have been secretly eliminated by our 'Holy Race,' but there is one... who poses the greatest threat."

The alien in the black cloak paused, his cold, vertical pupils glaring down at him.

"Speak, who are you?"

The human figure trembled and hurriedly spoke, "His name is King Liefeng. He has broken through to immortality after cultivating for tens of thousands of years, and he can refine ordinary treasure palaces in less than ten thousand years."

The human figure trembled and continued to explain, "Master, you are wise. In the art of weapon crafting, palace treasures are the most difficult to forge. Even human weapon-crafting masters would find it difficult to complete a work without tens of thousands of years of refinement. Yet King Liefeng was able to complete it in less than ten thousand years. His talent... is simply inconceivable!"

The alien in the black cloak narrowed his vertical pupils, looking at the prostrate human figure, signaling him to continue.

The human figure raised his head and continued, "What's even more troublesome is that this person keeps a low profile and rarely leaves the human holy city. I suspect that his weapon-refining skills are far more advanced than this; if he's given more time to grow..."

That's enough.

The alien in the black cloak looked down at the kneeling human figure, his eyes filled with killing intent, and a cruel smile curled at the corner of his mouth. "Less than ten thousand years, and you've already mastered a palace treasure? Even Peng Gong back then was nothing special. It's a pity that the assassination attempt failed."

"Continue to monitor the movements of that King of Rift, and report any unusual activity immediately. Go," the alien in the black cloak said, waving his hand.

The human figure bowed, "Yes, sir!"

Deep within the territory of the Godslayer Clan, an ancient palace floats in the endless starry sky. The palace is surrounded by countless black holes, devouring the light in the universe and filling it with dense darkness.

A figure appeared in the distorted spacetime surrounding the main hall and respectfully said, "Third Elder, Sneker has an important report to give, concerning the human genius."

A thunderous sound echoed from the palace. "Oh? Another super genius has been born among humans?"

The black-robed Snella said respectfully, "Third Elder, in the last ten thousand years, a genius named King Liefeng has emerged among the human race. In less than ten thousand years, he has been able to refine palace treasures. If he continues to grow, I'm afraid..."

"Less than ten thousand years?" The rumbling sound inside the palace was quite surprised.

"Humans are truly a race favored by the primordial will of the universe! First came the Primordial Ancestor, then came Chaos Peng Gong, and now another King Lie Feng has emerged," a rumbling voice from inside the palace said with a hint of感慨 (gǎnkǎi, a feeling of deep emotion or reflection).

"Seneca, present all the information about King Riftbeam," the Third Elder of the Godslayer Clan said with unquestionable authority.

"Yes, ma'am!" Sneker presented a memory crystal with both hands. The crystal flew into the palace and was caught by a hand covered in black scales that emerged from the darkness.

The third elder of the Godslayer Clan probed with his consciousness, and intelligence flooded in like a torrent: "They are vying for treasure with the Zerg and Mechanical Races in the Kunwu Ruins, and the creation of an ordinary treasure palace in less than ten thousand years has caused quite a stir..."

"Interesting. This person is not only a genius weapon refiner, but also a combat genius. If allowed to grow, his achievements will be no less than those of Engineer Peng," the Third Elder of the God Slaughter Clan said with a hint of amusement.

"The Third Elder is wise. I believe that if we do not nip it in the bud in time, I am afraid..." Sneker said cautiously.

"I have my own plans. You may step back and continue to monitor the situation. I will personally handle this matter," the Third Elder interrupted him.

Scarne, dressed in black, respectfully withdrew, his figure dissipating into black smoke.

A moment later, a hundred-meter-tall black figure was summoned from the depths of the Third Elder's palace, but it appeared lonely and weak in front of the Third Elder's enormous body.

"Kanai, I have a task for you. A genius named King Liefeng has emerged among the human race in the last ten thousand years. Find a time to eliminate him."

"This is intelligence sent back by our spies who have infiltrated the human race," the Third Elder said with a wave of his hand, and all of Qingyang's information was transmitted in sync.

"Understood, Third Elder. Rest assured, I will soon have another genius soul servant under my command," Kanai said, a cruel smile spreading across his face.

"I trust you to do things. There's one more thing: go to the clan's treasury and retrieve three thousand Void God Crystals. Set up a Void God Crystal mine in the Meteor Abyss. You can ambush there beforehand," the Third Elder revealed the plan in detail.

"The Third Elder's consideration is very thoughtful, I admire him," Kanai said respectfully.

"Go," the Third Elder's booming voice slowly faded away.

Human territory, Star Forging Pavilion main hall.

Tie Fanghou sat upright in the steward's seat in the side hall of the mission hall, with thirty-two weapon-refining commission applications floating in front of him awaiting review. He had a square face and a calm demeanor. His standard dark silver armor was engraved with the insignia of a Class C weapon refiner. In this hall that gathered the elite weapon refiners of the human race, he was just an inconspicuous figure.

No one would notice that every thirty epochs, Marquis Tiefang would leave the human territory for three to five years under the pretext of "going out to collect rare materials".

Tie Fanghou's task today was to review the annual reports submitted by Class C weapon refiners. This work was tedious and repetitive; he flipped through each page, occasionally making a few annotations in the system, his attitude serious but lacking any highlights. Until he reached the seventy-third report, his fingers paused slightly.

The report came from an ordinary Class C weapon refiner at the 29th Peak of the Class C region, and it contained a record of a failed weapon refining attempt.

The report states that the weapon refiner, while attempting to forge a G9-level detection weapon, unexpectedly received an unusual echo from a mysterious cosmic realm. Preliminary analysis revealed that the mineral reflection characteristics contained in the echo highly matched the known spectrum of the Void Crystal.

The report was marked by the weapon refiner as "suspected misjudgment, recommended to ignore".

Tie Fanghou looked at it for three seconds, then wrote in the comments column, "Insufficient data, project not approved."

The report was then filed and, along with other documents reviewed that day, sent to the Forging Star Pavilion's general database.

No one bothered to look at the rejected reports. But that spectrum data had already quietly settled deep within Tie Fanghou's consciousness.

Seven days later, at the Jiazi Jiufeng Workshop.

Qingyang's consciousness connected to the virtual universe and found a new email in his mailbox. The sender was the management system of the Forging Star Pavilion's material warehouse, and the content was about updating the catalog of a batch of newly added materials.

I casually clicked on it, my gaze sweeping over the familiar names of the materials. Just as I was about to close it, I suddenly stopped.

At the end of the table of contents, there is an inconspicuous note: "Recently, a mission report from a Rank C Refiner was received, mentioning the detection of an echo suspected to be a Void Crystal in a certain secret realm. Preliminary verification indicates that the coordinates of this area are located in a distorted zone where the edge of human territory meets an unknown starry sky. The environment is complex, and the danger level is unknown. This report has been rejected, and the relevant data has been archived in the Forging Star Pavilion's general database, number XG-7741."

Ten days or so later, Qingyang received a message in the workshop from an immortal named Chris. For thousands of years, Chris had been trying to befriend Qingyang and frequently relayed information from the outside world to him.

Chris had just returned from the Outer Realms battlefield and mentioned in casual conversation that his legion had intercepted an unusual signal from the Twisted Zone during a patrol, the spectral characteristics of which were extremely similar to those of the Void Crystal.

Finally, Chris casually remarked, "It's a pity that area is too dangerous; the legion dares not venture deep into it. I heard that the Star Forging Pavilion received a similar report before, but it was rejected. If King Riftbeam is interested, he might want to check the archived data."

Qingyang replied with "Thank you for letting me know" and then ended the call.

After sitting quietly for a moment, Qingyang's consciousness reconnected to the virtual universe, entered the Forging Star Pavilion's general database, and retrieved the archived report numbered XG-7741. The report's content matched the notes he had previously seen in the email.

Qingyang repeatedly confirmed that the mineral reflection characteristics contained in that spectrum matched the Void Divine Crystal by more than 80%, but there was still a 20% deviation.

That 20% deviation could come from errors in the detection equipment, interference from the secret environment, or even... deliberate human camouflage.

Qingyang closed the report and remained silent for a long time.