Chapter 239: Banquet: The Current Situation Within the Group

After leaving Lei Huanwang's residence, Lu Qingshan quickly began preparing for the banquet.

After all, this banquet was different from previous ones; this time he had successfully broken through to the Venerable Realm, and among the many guests there would certainly be numerous Venerables, all of whom needed to be personally invited by him.

Thus, in the blink of an eye, half a year had passed, and the time for the banquet arrived.

It must be said that organizing a banquet was a very troublesome matter; for this occasion, he had put in a great deal of effort, even purchasing many rare delicacies from all corners of the Human Domain and even from the territories of other races within the Hong Alliance.

Especially since Lu Hongwen and Huo Gesi and others possessed relatively weak strength, with their level of authority, carrying out certain tasks was still quite troublesome.

Fortunately, Huo Gesi was there to help, which made things much easier for Lu Qingshan.

During this period, Lu Qingshan directly gave his discarded Purple Lei Tianyi Sword to Streich, who also wielded a long sword.

Although among the many disciples he valued Huo Gesi slightly more, Huo Gesi's weapon was a war axe, and since he was currently only at the initial level of a Marquis, he was fundamentally unable to unleash the power of a heavy treasure.

On the day of the banquet, Lu Qingshan directly waited at the entrance with his wife, children, and disciples.

As for the staff within the residence, they were naturally drawn from the numerous Immortal Army Lords, and even Immortal Marquises, seconded from the Transportation Department of the Virtual Universe Company.

As time passed, guest after guest invited by Lu Qingshan arrived in succession.

There were Krimo, Kalista, Malthus, and others whom Lu Qingshan had known when he was still a Domain Lord...

There were 'Purple Radiance' Ross and others whom he had met again after becoming Immortal, having participated in the same batch of Genius Tournament with Lu Qingshan...

There were the Chimera race illusionist 'Nightmare', Sky-Empty King, and others whom he had met while roaming the Outer Battlefield...

There were King Tawen of the Golden Horn race, Marquis Qingcang of the Transportation Department, Lord Heifeng, King Qingping of the Intelligence Department, and numerous senior brothers and sisters from Lei Huanwang's sect...

There were his teacher Lei Huanwang, his teacher's friend Jing Lei Wang, and others...

For this banquet, Lu Qingshan had invited all the friends he was able to contact.

And for Lu Qingshan, this banquet was not only an opportunity to gather with these friends of relatively weaker strength, but also a kind of farewell.

After all, he had now broken through to the Venerable Realm, and when interacting with these old friends, he could already clearly feel their restraint.

Of course, this phenomenon was still extremely common in the universe.

Let alone friends; even fellow disciples, as long as they did not interact particularly frequently in daily life, would become increasingly restrained as the gap in strength grew wider.

And after breaking through to become a Venerable, the opportunities for Lu Qingshan to interact with these friends of relatively weaker strength would certainly become fewer and fewer.

Now that there was such a rare opportunity, Lu Qingshan naturally invited everyone he could think of.

In no time, three breathtakingly beautiful women of the Chimera race, wearing purple gauze robes, with purple long hair, purple eyes, and purple fluffy tails, flew over from the distance.

Seeing the arrivals, Lu Qingshan quickly led the people around him to welcome them, then warmly greeted: "Venerable Chimera, welcome to my banquet!"

Venerable Chimera was the only Venerable of the Chimera race, and also one of the few illusionists on the side of the Universal Mercenary Alliance; among her soul slaves was even an alien Venerable who had broken through only after being enslaved by her, something that made numerous Venerables of the Human race extremely envious.

"Ten Thousand Worlds Venerable!"

After sensing Lu Qingshan's warmth, Venerable Chimera soon spoke softly: "You cultivated for several thousand epochs before breaking through to the Venerable Realm; this is truly astonishing!"

"I was just lucky!"

Lu Qingshan nodded slightly to Venerable Chimera, then turned his head to look at another Chimera race member nearby who was only at the Army Lord level: "Nightmare, long time no see!"

Hearing this, the Chimera race illusionist 'Nightmare' quickly said: "Lei... Ten Thousand Worlds Venerable, to receive your invitation, I am also deeply honored!"

This Immortal Army Lord level Chimera race illusionist was naturally 'Nightmare', a member of Captain Xuan Konghou's squad whom Lu Qingshan had joined when he first went to the Outer Battlefield after becoming Immortal.

Back then, among the members of Captain Xuan Konghou's squad, apart from Lu Qingshan, only Nightmare remained alive; as for Captain Xuan Konghou, Marquis Tie Xue Hou, and others, they had all perished at the hands of the Ciya race's 'Ling Hu Wang'.

And when Nightmare received Lu Qingshan's invitation message back then, she was completely stunned.

She had actually long guessed that Lu Qingshan's identity was somewhat special, but she never expected that 'Lei Bao', who had roamed the Outer Battlefield in a team with her back then, would turn out to be the famous Ten Thousand Worlds King, and had now even become the Ten Thousand Worlds Venerable.

Precisely for this reason, after confirming the authenticity of the message, Nightmare quickly notified her teacher, the Chimera race Marquis peak expert 'Mie Xin Hou'.

Mie Xin Hou then notified this news to the Chimera race leader Venerable Chimera, which allowed her to come to the banquet together with Venerable Chimera; even her teacher Mie Xin Hou was able to follow Venerable Chimera to attend this banquet, which she normally could not attend at all.

"Hahaha!"

Venerable Chimera nearby soon laughed softly: "Ten Thousand Worlds Venerable, I also did not expect that a junior of my Chimera race would have such a fate with you, so this time I came over together with this little one!"

Next, Lu Qingshan chatted idly with Venerable Chimera for a couple of sentences, then let his seventh daughter Lu Wenxuan personally lead Venerable Chimera and the others to the banquet hall.

Thus, guest after guest arrived in succession, and Lu Qingshan, along with his third son Lu Hongwen and others, continued to welcome every guest.

It must be said that Lu Qingshan's banquet this time was even larger in scale than Sovereign Beihai's banquet a thousand years ago, and there were even more Venerables present.

Actually, when Sovereign Beihai broke through, he had also reached the strength of a mid-level Venerable, and was also a direct disciple of a Universe Master; logically, his strength and status should have been equivalent to Lu Qingshan's.

However, Lu Qingshan possessed the ability of clones; simply this point alone was enough to make him receive even more attention from numerous Venerables.

Moments later, a streak of light flew over from the distance; it was actually the King of Yanfeng Universe Country, Yanfeng Guozhu.

To be honest, although Lu Qingshan also originated from Yanfeng Universe Country, this was the first time he had seen Yanfeng Guozhu in reality.

Yanfeng Guozhu was also a powerful figure of the Virtual Universe Company lineage, possessing the strength of a high-level Venerable; when Lu Qingshan previously established the invincible reputation of a King, Yanfeng Guozhu had also sent a subordinate to deliver a gift to him.

Later, Lu Qingshan had also met Yanfeng Guozhu twice within the Virtual Universe, but this was the first time they had met in reality.

"Yanfeng Guozhu, welcome to the banquet!" Lu Qingshan warmly welcomed him.

"Hahaha!"

Yanfeng Guozhu quickly said with a laugh: "Ten Thousand Worlds, I didn't expect you to break through so quickly!"

"With this, our Yanfeng Universe Country now has three Venerables, which is considered quite a lot among the many Universe Countries!"

Hearing Yanfeng Guozhu's words, Lu Qingshan could not help but smile.

Currently, the number of Venerables in the Human race is only a little over three thousand; among them, some Venerables were born when the Human race did not yet have the concept of Universe Countries.

As for the Venerables who appeared after the birth of Universe Countries, there are only a little over two thousand.

Apart from Yanfeng Guozhu, Yanfeng Universe Country had once produced a 'Jiuli Venerable'; now adding Lu Qingshan, it is considered quite good among the many Universe Countries.

"My ability to break through was mainly due to good luck!"

Lu Qingshan quickly said with a laugh: "Yanfeng, Jiuli has already arrived; in a while, the three of us can have a good drink together!"

"That would be the best!"

The ruler of Yanfeng quickly nodded and said, "You go ahead and attend to your affairs—I'll go in and chat with Jiuli for a while!"

"Mm!" Lu Qingshan gave a slight nod, then instructed his third son, Lu Hongwen, to guide the ruler of Yanfeng toward the banquet hall.

Thus, guests arrived in waves.

Once all guests who could make it had arrived, the banquet finally began.

After welcoming everyone, Lu Qingshan quickly ordered his subordinates to serve fine wines and delicacies.

But for the guests, eating was secondary—chatting was the real purpose!

Especially those below the rank of Cosmic Venerable; without Lu Qingshan's invitation, they might never in their lives witness such a grand gathering of over a thousand Cosmic Venerables.

Thus, the banquet continued for ten days straight.

During this time, aside from greeting his old friends, Lu Qingshan spent most of his time conversing with the Cosmic Venerables in attendance.

The banquet alone greatly increased Lu Qingshan's familiarity with the Cosmic Venerables of the human race.

Of course, many Cosmic Venerables at the banquet wished to invite Lu Qingshan on adventures into Secret Realms.

Yet among these Cosmic Venerables, there were none like Mengyue Zifeng Zunzhe—no low-tier Cosmic Venerables remained; most were mid-tier, with some high-tier ones.

As for beings of the Cosmic Overlord level, none had yet invited Lu Qingshan.

After all, his current strength still paled in comparison to that of a Cosmic Overlord—even with his ability to manifest avatars, he held no advantage.

After all, dangers that could kill him might be easily shrugged off by a Cosmic Overlord.

Of course, he had only just broken through; he had not yet created any new combat techniques based on the complete Time Origin Law—neither swordplay, movement arts, nor soul attacks. Naturally, he could not accept any invitation from a Cosmic Venerable.

After all, he still had plenty of resources on hand; his most important task was to raise his strength as much as possible.

When the banquet ended smoothly and most guests had departed, only Venerable Yao Guang remained behind.

……

In a quiet chamber within the mansion, Lu Qingshan sat with Venerable Yao Guang.

"Qingshan!"

At this moment, Venerable Yao Guang looked at Lu Qingshan with a smile on his face: "You gave Lei Huanwang that Thunder Dragon Shatter Heaven Armor?"

You should know that the Thunder Dragon Heaven-Shaking Armor is also worth over a dozen treasure points, and even for a Universe Revered, it's quite precious.

Lu Qingshan had only just broken through, yet he willingly gifted such a precious treasure to Lei Huanwang—what else could this be but reverence for one's teacher and gratitude for kindness?

Though Venerable Yao Guang was not Lu Qingshan's master, he had aided Lu Qingshan greatly in the past.

Thus, the more Lu Qingshan showed reverence and gratitude, the more delighted Venerable Yao Guang felt inside.

"Senior Brother, this…"

Lu Qingshan had not guessed Venerable Yao Guang's thoughts, so he felt awkward for a moment—after all, that Thunder Dragon Shatter Heaven Armor had been given to him by Venerable Yao Guang for protection.

Seeing Lu Qingshan's expression, Venerable Yao Guang quickly said: "Qingshan, don't overthink it—this is actually a good thing!"

"Lei Huan's strength is already quite impressive. I had long considered granting him another treasure, but never found the right opportunity!"

"Now that you've given him the Thunder Dragon Shatter Heaven Armor, his chances of survival during cosmic adventures will improve greatly. With enough cultivation, he might even break through to the Venerable Realm!"

"He definitely will!"

Lu Qingshan nodded quickly: "Master's accumulation is already profound—he will surely break through to the Venerable Realm in the future!"

"By the way!"

Venerable Yao Guang turned to Lu Qingshan and asked: "So many people approached you—didn't many invite you to explore Cosmic Secret Realms?"

"Yes."

Lu Qingshan gave a slight nod, then added: "But I've only just broken through, so I intend to cultivate in seclusion for a while first."

"Cultivating in seclusion is wise."

Hearing Lu Qingshan's answer, Venerable Yao Guang nodded slightly: "Though your strength is no longer weak after this breakthrough, you should at least first create new combat techniques based on the complete Time Origin Law before venturing out."

"You already created peak-level combat techniques while in the Immortal stage; now that you've reached the Venerable Realm, it shouldn't take long."

"But when you eventually enter Cosmic Secret Realms, be extremely cautious—never become reckless just because you have avatar abilities!"

"I understand!" Lu Qingshan nodded quickly.

……

After seeing Venerable Yao Guang off, Lu Qingshan handled a few minor matters, then prepared to enter seclusion to study his fourth sword technique.

But just then…

Inside the chat group.

【System Prompt: Han Li uploaded a designated red packet: Fifty drops of Can Tian Zao Hua Dew.】

【Han Li: @Lu Qingshan, Group Leader, I've gathered another fifty drops of Can Tian Zao Hua Dew—hope it helps you!】

Since learning that the monthly free red packet quota had a cap, Han Li always waited until he had accumulated fifty drops of Can Tian Zao Hua Dew before sending them to Lu Qingshan.

This naturally conserved some red packet quota.

In the quiet chamber of the mansion, Lu Qingshan quickly noticed Han Li's @ message.

"Can Tian Zao Hua Dew?"

Looking at Han Li's red packet, Lu Qingshan blinked in surprise.

After all, his ability to comprehend the complete Time Origin Law within thousands of eons owed much not only to the Enlightenment Boost function, but also greatly to the Can Tian Zao Hua Dew.

Without its aid, even if he had eventually broken through to the Cosmic Venerable Realm, it would have taken him ten or even a hundred times longer.

Yet now that he had broken through to the Cosmic Venerable Realm, the Can Tian Zao Hua Dew no longer had any effect on him.

Still, he had no intention of stopping the exchange.

First, the cultivation resources Han Li needed were negligible to Lu Qingshan—even less than a single hair from a cow's tail;

Second, though Can Tian Zao Hua Dew no longer helped him, it could still be used to nurture the next generation of human race prodigies.

【System Prompt: Lu Qingshan claimed Han Li's red packet.】

【Lu Qingshan: Hahaha, thank you, Daoist Han! I wonder what resources you wish to exchange for this time?】

【Han Li: Group Leader, the Void Refining potions you gave me last time were very effective. If possible, please send me some more Void Refining potions!】

Yes!

The current Han Li has long cultivated to the Void Refining realm, and yet he is still cultivating in the Lower Realm, having not ascended.

As for the cultivation technique Han Li practices now, he created it directly using the Dao Comprehension Support function within the chat group.

However, after stepping into the Void Refining realm, his cultivation has become more difficult.

Fortunately, he can rely on Can Tian Zao Hua to exchange for many cultivation resources from Lu Qingshan, so he has not been greatly affected.

【Lu Qingshan: No problem!】

【System Notification: Lu Qingshan uploaded a designated red packet: one thousand Void Refining cultivation potions, and several spiritual herbs!】

【Lu Qingshan: @Han Li, these potions should be enough for you to use for a while!】

These cultivation potions were naturally forged by the potionists under Lu Qingshan's orders.

Of course, as Han Li's realm grows higher and higher, the forging of these potions has also become more and more troublesome.

But fortunately, the time flow in the Starry Sky World is extremely fast; the potionists under Lu Qingshan have enough time to try various potions, so they can still research potions suitable for Han Li's current cultivation stage.

And with the cultivation system of the Starry Sky World, once an effective potion is developed, mass production becomes much simpler.

【Han Li: Thank you, Group Leader!】

【System Notification: Han Li claimed Lu Qingshan's designated red packet!】

While Lu Qingshan and Han Li were exchanging resources, the others who were originally chatting idly in the group naturally remained silent.

After their transaction was completed, the others quickly began their own transactions.

【System Notification: Cao Cao transferred 2000 points to Lu Qingshan.】

【Cao Cao: Group Leader, this time I wish to exchange for some infrastructure products, such as railways, trains, cement, and so on; if possible, adding some body-forging potions and some spiritual herbs would be even better!】

【Lu Qingshan: Oh? Meng De, has your basic education succeeded over there?】

【System Notification: Lu Qingshan uploaded a designated red packet: one infrastructure gift pack, one food gift pack, one thousand body-forging potions, and several spiritual herbs!】

【System Notification: Cao Cao claimed Lu Qingshan's designated red packet!】

【Cao Cao: Yes, Group Leader! In the recent year, Wen Ruo and others have popularized basic education throughout the entire Great Han territory!】

【Cao Cao: Now, although many people within the Great Han territory do not know many characters, they have some understanding of basic common knowledge!】

【Cao Cao: With your infrastructure gift pack this time, I estimate that within one to two years, I can perfect the infrastructure within the Great Han borders.】

【Cao Cao: By then, there will certainly be more literate people, and we can begin to expand outward!】

【Lu Qingshan: It seems your progress speed is quite fast!】

【Cao Cao: Not bad! My main focus now is on cultivation; these matters are being handled by Wen Ruo, Feng Guo, and the others! I estimate that if development continues like this, within ten years, the Great Han territory will spread across the entire world!】

(End of this chapter)