Chapter 69

One month later, in a quiet small estate within the Virtual Universe Corporation's universal headquarters.

"Teacher, you're way too calm!"

Huo Gesi, dressed in full ceremonial attire, stood behind Lu Qingshan and said earnestly: "Today is the day Lord Tian Shi Wang is hosting his banquet—won't you go earlier?"

"The banquet doesn't even start for half a day!"

Lu Qingshan smiled and said: "Why the rush?"

Yes!

After leaving the Outer Battlefield, Tian Shi Wang Yarvis quickly returned to the core territories of the human race.

After learning the news from 'Zi Mang' Luo Si, Lu Qingshan had sent Yarvis a congratulatory email.

Half a month ago, Yarvis decided to host a banquet at the Virtual Universe Corporation's headquarters and sent Lu Qingshan an invitation.

Once the invitations were sent out, many super-strong figures of the human race were startled.

Most invitees were King-level Immortals, with some Cosmic Sovereigns and Marquis-level Immortals, but Immortal Military Lords were few and far between—and Lu Qingshan was one of them.

When Qingcang Marquis learned Lu Qingshan had received an invitation from Tian Shi Wang Yarvis, he was utterly envious.

If not for the fact that he was still Lu Qingshan's superior and slightly stronger than him, he might have wanted to accompany Lu Qingshan to the banquet himself.

After all, as a guest formally invited by Yarvis, Lu Qingshan was entitled to bring two others along.

Considering that all attendees would be at least Immortal deities, Lu Qingshan carefully decided to give one slot to his disciple and the other to Kalista, who had gotten along well with him in recent years.

After hearing Lu Qingshan's words, Huo Gesi quickly said: "Teacher, I just wanted to get there early so I could meet more big figures!"

"Don't worry."

Lu Qingshan smiled: "Once the banquet starts, you'll have plenty of time to meet them."

Soon after, Kalista, also dressed in full ceremonial attire, arrived at Lu Qingshan's estate.

"Lu Qingshan, I didn't arrive late, did I?" Kalista asked with a smile.

"No."

Lu Qingshan shook his head: "We won't head over for a while yet."

"Good!"

Kalista nodded, then smiled: "Lu Qingshan, thank you so much for letting me attend Tian Shi Wang's banquet!"

"Kalista, you're too polite."

Lu Qingshan waved his hand: "It's just a small thing."

"This isn't a small thing!"

Kalista shook her head: "Even my teacher couldn't get an invitation! My Grandmaster received one, but he brought two other uncles—my teacher couldn't even tag along!"

"Before I emailed you, my teacher was depressed because he couldn't attend Tian Shi Wang's banquet—then I got the chance, and when he heard, he was insanely jealous!"

Here, Kalista glanced at Lu Qingshan, then said shyly: "Actually, I originally wanted to ask you to give the slot to my teacher—but he thought it inappropriate, so I gave up."

Hearing this, Lu Qingshan couldn't help but laugh.

Kalista's teacher was the Peak Marquis-level powerhouse 'Jin Yan Marquis'—it would indeed be inappropriate for him to attend alongside a High Military Lord.

…

After resting briefly in the estate, Lu Qingshan quickly led Huo Gesi and Kalista toward the residence of Tian Shi Wang Yarvis.

Moments later.

In a core region nearly a thousand kilometers across on the Virtual Universe Corporation's universal headquarters continent.

A month ago, this had been a public area—but within this short month, all facilities there were relocated elsewhere, and within just three days, a luxurious estate spanning nearly a thousand kilometers had appeared: Tian Shi Palace!

Normally, even a King-level powerhouse granted residency on this headquarters continent lacked permission to build a luxurious estate of this scale.

But Tian Shi Wang Yarvis was a disciple of Long Xing Zhi Zhu and had achieved invincible King-level power after only tens of thousands of years of cultivation; everyone believed he would break into Cosmic Sovereign within an extremely short time, so building him such a grand estate was perfectly understandable.

At this moment, Lu Qingshan had already arrived with Huo Gesi and Kalista near the luxurious estate.

"This is Tian Shi Wang's estate?"

Kalista stared at the lavish, massive estate ahead, a look of awe crossing her face: "It's far larger than my Grandmaster's residence!"

"Tian Shi Wang is a disciple of Long Xing Zhi Zhu and already possesses invincible King-level power—his residence being on par with those of Cosmic Sovereigns is perfectly normal!"

Huo Gesi couldn't help adding: "But Tian Shi Wang has always been low-key; he asked the builders to scale the estate down a bit."

"Enough," Lu Qingshan waved: "Let's go in."

Huo Gesi and Kalista quickly followed.

Soon, the three arrived before the main gate of Yarvis's residence.

Several stunningly beautiful female Boundary Lords stood at the gate to greet guests; seeing Lu Qingshan and the others approach, one stepped forward two paces, bowed slightly, and smiled: "Mr., may I ask your name?"

"I am Lu Qingshan."

Lu Qingshan waved his hand, displaying the invitation he had received earlier, and smiled: "Tian Shi Wang invited me to the banquet."

Hearing this, the female Boundary Lord gestured behind her, and another Boundary Lord-level figure stepped forward.

"Mr. Lu Qingshan, welcome to Tian Shi Wang's banquet!"

The female Boundary Lord pointed to the newcomer, then smiled at Lu Qingshan: "Follow him to the banquet hall—he will inform you of the key details."

"Mm." Lu Qingshan nodded slightly and followed the Boundary Lord-level guide into the residence.

Watching Lu Qingshan's retreating figure, the female Boundary Lords exchanged quiet whispers.

"That Lu Qingshan just now—wasn't he just an Immortal Military Lord?"

"Correct! I've heard of him—he's a well-known High Military Lord in the Transport Department."

"Among Tian Shi Wang's invitees, there should be only a dozen or so Immortal Military Lords—Lu Qingshan must have a good relationship with him."

…

Under the guidance of the Boundary Lord-level figure, Lu Qingshan and the two others soon entered a vast hall.

Although Lu Qingshan and the other two had arrived relatively early, the great hall was already filled with over a hundred figures, most of whom were Immortal Marquis and Immortal Army Masters.

Lu Qingshan quickly found a familiar Immortal Marquis, a disciple of Lei Huanwang and his senior brother, the 'Purple Sword Marquis' Yerman.

"Senior brother!" Lu Qingshan quickly approached with Huo Gesi and Kalista.

"Junior brother!"

Upon seeing Lu Qingshan, Yerman was clearly quite surprised: "You also received an invitation from Tian Shi Wang?"

"Mm!"

Lu Qingshan nodded slightly, then explained with a smile: "I knew Tian Shi Wang when I was working previously, so I received an invitation!"

"I'm afraid it's not as simple as just knowing him!"

Yerman said with a smile: "As far as I know, most of those who received invitations to this banquet are Immortal Kings and Immortal Marquis, and even some Zifeng Zunzhe, but there are only a dozen or so Immortal Army Masters who received invitations!"

"Don't look at the many Immortal Army Masters in the hall now; most of them came in with others! Junior brother, the fact that you received an invitation means your relationship with Tian Shi Wang is definitely not just familiarity!"

"I was just lucky," Lu Qingshan said with a smile.

Thus, Lu Qingshan and his senior brother Yerman chatted together, occasionally greeting other powerful figures.

As time passed, super powerful figures arrived one after another.

It wasn't just powerful figures from the Virtual Universe Company faction; there were also many powerful figures under the other four super powers.

Some wore gray long robes; some had long hair flowing loose; some wore noble, magnificent long robes; some wore immortal battle armor radiating a bloody aura; and some even rode strange ferocious beasts with shrunken sizes...

Some stood dozens of meters tall, while others were less than half a meter tall...

"The teacher has arrived!"

Yerman, standing beside Lu Qingshan, suddenly spoke: "Junior brother, let's go over and welcome him!"

Lu Qingshan turned his head and saw that Lei Huanwang was now walking towards the great hall with Jing Lei Wang and several other familiar Immortal Kings.

"Good!" Lu Qingshan quickly nodded and said, then went with Yerman to welcome Lei Huanwang.

"Teacher!" After reaching Lei Huanwang, Lu Qingshan and Yerman both bowed deeply and respectfully greeted him.

"Mm!"

Seeing Lu Qingshan and Yerman, Lei Huanwang was clearly quite happy: "You two are quite lucky. For this banquet of Tian Shi Wang, even your thirteenth senior sister didn't receive an invitation; this time you came along with me, yet you two actually received invitations!"

"Teacher, the disciple was just lucky!"

Yerman quickly said: "Previously, Tian Shi Wang's family encountered some trouble, and it was the disciple..."

"No need to tell me these things!"

Before Yerman could finish speaking, Lei Huanwang interrupted: "The fact that you two can come to this banquet is your opportunity; later, if there's a chance, I'll introduce you to other powerful figures!"

"Thank you, teacher!" Lu Qingshan and Yerman quickly nodded and said.

"Alright! I'll go greet others first!" Having said that, Lei Huanwang walked towards others with several other Immortal Kings.

As time continued to pass, Tian Shi Wang Alvis finally appeared and began to welcome the Zifeng Zunzhe and a very few Immortal Kings who had arrived to attend the banquet.

At this moment, the total number of guests and followers reached ten thousand; Lu Qingshan, placed among them, was utterly unremarkable, so naturally Alvis would not run over to greet him individually.

Once the invited guests had all arrived, the banquet was finally about to begin.

"Everyone!" An Immortal King quickly walked to the high platform at the very front of the banquet hall, then looked down at the crowd of Immortal Spirits below.

Lu Qingshan quickly recognized the identity of this Immortal King: one of the Grandmasters of the Yanshan faction, a peak Immortal King whose strength was in no way inferior to Lei Huanwang, Shi Shi Wang!

Upon hearing Shi Shi Wang's voice, the Immortal Spirits who had been chatting in twos and threes inside the banquet hall all fell silent, then raised their heads to look at Shi Shi Wang.

"In our Human Race, geniuses are as numerous as carp crossing the river!"

Shi Shi Wang shouted loudly: "Among everyone present who has cultivated to this realm, which one is not an unparalleled genius?"

"When many people praise a genius, they say the person is an unparalleled genius appearing once every thousand eras, or even ten thousand eras, in our Human Race! But the person I want to speak of today is far stronger than these geniuses; even Long Xing Zhi Zhu, who sits high above, once praised him as an unparalleled genius appearing once every ten million eras in our Human Race!"

"Who is he?"

Shi Shi Hou smiled as he looked at Alvis, then shouted loudly: "He is the one who successively broke through the three Original Heavenly Mountains of the Universe Level, Domain Master Level, and World Master Level; upon breaking through to Immortal, he possessed the invincible strength of an Immortal King; on the battlefield beyond the domain, he annihilated hundreds of Immortal Kings in one go; and under the frenzied attack of Meng Yao Zu's Jin Hou Zifeng Zunzhe, he withdrew unscathed. He is the super genius, my junior brother, the 'Tian Shi Wang' whose name makes Immortals of alien races tremble in fear, Alvis!"

"Let us welcome Alvis to come up! May he become even stronger in the future and annihilate even more alien powerful figures!"

Under Shi Shi Wang's enthusiastic invitation, Alvis quickly walked onto the high platform.

The crowd of guests below was also filled with awe in their hearts at this moment.

"Annihilating hundreds of Immortal Kings in one go; my lord Tian Shi Wang is truly too powerful!"

"Yes! If I could annihilate so many alien Immortal Kings in one go, I would be willing to perish immediately!"

"Stop dreaming! Even the weakest Immortal King could easily annihilate someone like you or me!"

"I wonder how long it will take for my lord Tian Shi Wang to break through to the Zifeng Zunzhe realm!"

"It shouldn't take long! I think it will definitely be faster than Meng Yue Zifeng Zunzhe who broke through not long ago!"

On the other side, after greeting everyone on the high platform, Alvis quickly arrived at a quiet room beside the great hall.

Inside this quiet room, there were only over twenty figures, but apart from Alvis, everyone else was a Zifeng Zunzhe of the Human Race!

"Tian Shi!"

A Zifeng Zunzhe whose entire body radiated a scorching aura said with a smile: "You are giving those little ones too much face. With your current strength, even if you ignored them, they wouldn't dare to have any objections!"

Hearing this, Alvis said with a smile: "After all, everyone came to attend the banquet to celebrate for me, so it wouldn't be right to simply leave them hanging!"

"Alright, let's not talk about these things for now!"

Another Zifeng Zunzhe raised his cup and said: "Tian Shi, congratulations on breaking through to Immortal. I hope you can become our peer soon!"

"I will!"

Alvis likewise raised his cup, then drank it down in one gulp along with the many Zifeng Zunzhe.

"Junior brother!"

A Universe Venerable soon looked at Alvis: "The Fifth Senior Brother and Seventh Senior Brother actually intended to come and celebrate with you, but they happened to encounter the emergence of a supreme treasure on the Primordial Star, which caused this delay!"

"Senior Brother Ice Heart, I am already very glad that you could come!"

Alvis soon smiled and replied, then asked in confusion: "I wonder what kind of place the Primordial Star is, that even a supreme treasure has emerged there?"

Hearing this, many Universe Venerables around exchanged glances, then one of them spoke: "Tian Shi, strictly speaking, news of the Primordial Star cannot be told to those below the rank of Universe Venerable, but given your talent, you will likely break through to become a Universe Venerable before long, so telling you is of no consequence!"

"There are 10,081 Primordial Stars in total; they are the very core of the vast universe. Endless treasures are hidden there, heavy treasures are seen everywhere, and supreme treasures emerge frequently. Thus, every time they open, countless powerful figures in the vast universe fight to the death over them!"

"The Primordial Stars open only once every endless eons. Each opening lasts for one thousand epochs. This time, the Primordial Stars have already been open for tens of thousands of years, and many precious supreme treasures have already appeared!"

"So that is how it is!"

After hearing this Universe Venerable's words, a look of eagerness appeared on Alvis's face.

Others also saw his intent, so a Universe Venerable soon said: "Tian Shi, the Primordial Stars gather countless supreme experts from the entire universe; even Universe Masters and Universe Hegemons are numerous. Generally, one must possess the strength of a High-Level Universe Venerable to venture there, and there is even the risk of falling!"

"I understand!" Alvis nodded and said.

The banquet hosted by Alvis lasted a full three days. Because of this, Lu Qingshan got to know many powerful figures of the Human Race, especially Lei Huanwang, who introduced him to several Hei Fengwang-level experts.

Although Lu Qingshan is currently only a High-Level Army Lord, thanks to his having comprehended the entire essence of the Time Origin Law, those Hei Fengwang Immortals were quite polite to him.

During this period, Alvis also actively sought out Lu Qingshan.

Because Lu Qingshan had left a deep impression on Alvis before, he intended to have Lu Qingshan serve under him.

For many Immortals, this would be a very good opportunity; after all, once Alvis breaks through to become a Universe Venerable, they would naturally gain a backer.

Yet, facing such an opportunity envied by countless people, Lu Qingshan ultimately refused.

Of course, after Lu Qingshan rejected Alvis's recruitment, it did not make Alvis angry; instead, it made the other party regard him with even higher esteem.

(End of this chapter)