Encompass Starry Pavilion.

Inside the Southern Dipper Star Palace, a middle-aged man, dressed in a star-covered Robe and exuding an aura of authority, sat on the throne of the Star Master. His gaze was calm and steady, and he remained silent, his presence exceedingly grave.

Below the Star Master's throne, over a dozen young disciples knelt on the ground, their demeanor showing the utmost respect. Heads bowed, they dared not utter a word.

Silence reigned for a long while.

The Star Master of the Southern Dipper finally spoke calmly, "You've all heard about what happened to Gu Chen, haven't you?"

"We are aware! That Qin Xuantian is truly arrogant to the extreme, daring to kill our Junior Brother. He's simply seeking his own death! We are willing to go to the secular world and behead Qin Xuantian, to appease Junior Brother Gu Chen's spirit in heaven!" the dozen young disciples declared in unison.

"You all?" The Star Master of the Southern Dipper gently shook his head and scoffed. "Among the dozen of you, only three have ascended through the Gate of Heaven Ascension, and your strength is not even equal to Gu Chen. Are you going to throw away your lives? Let me go myself. I have no idea from whence this Qin Xuantian came, yet he bears the legacy of the ancient Mid-heaven Purple Micro Star Palace. We absolutely cannot allow others to seize that ancient Immortal Law first!"

"Your disciples are incompetent, unable to alleviate our Master's worries. Please forgive us, Master!" The dozen young disciples were ashamed, kneeling on the ground with dejected expressions. Compared to the heaven-gifted prodigy Hong Guchen, they were far too lacking.

"You possess decent aptitude, though not that of geniuses, but in the upcoming Golden Age, perhaps you can also seize a few opportunities to soar to the heavens." The Southern Dipper Star Master descended from his throne, stood with his hands behind his back, facing away from them, and said, "Stay within the Star Palace and do not venture out. I will be back shortly."

With those words, he turned and left the Southern Dipper Star Palace, rising into the sky and departing from the Encompass Starry Pavilion.

***

「Within a military base in Nanyang.」

A middle-aged military officer with yellow skin, black hair, and dark eyes, dressed in a military uniform, was holding a submachine gun and firing at seven Chinese youths who had been abducted from an unknown location!

These Chinese youths were all teenagers, around seventeen or eighteen years old, wearing standard Martial Dao uniforms, appearing to be young students from the same martial arts school.

Now, they were all tied to pillars, their expressions filled with terror, tears streaming down their faces.

RATATATAT!

Casings clinked as they were ejected, and bullets flew out of the submachine gun, rapidly turning the seven young martial artists into sieves, their bodies bloody and mutilated beyond recognition.

"General, please calm your anger! Calm your anger!" a female officer hurried over, wiping the sweat from the middle-aged officer's brow. "What happened to your eldest son is truly regrettable. My deepest condolences, General. Please try to manage your grief."

SMACK!

The middle-aged officer backhanded her, sending the female officer sprawling to the ground. Then he drew his pistol, aimed it at her head, and as she stared in disbelief, he pulled the trigger!

BANG!

A flash of gunfire, a bullet burst forth, and the female officer's head exploded on the spot.

"Fuck! You damn bitch!"

The middle-aged officer spat and roared, "Manage my grief? I'll manage your mother's fucking grief! I want revenge! Qin Xuantian! You son of a bitch, you killed my father, and now you've killed my son! I, Hong Zhenhai, swear I will kill you, or I am not a man!"

***

The battle between Qin Heng and Hong Guchen sent shockwaves throughout the martial arts world.

However, the news that the Yang family in Jinling City had been annihilated and all their properties taken over by a mysterious woman was even more shocking to the secular world. A seven-hundred-year-old prominent family had vanished overnight!

Who had done it? Who possessed such capability and audacity to carry out such an earth-shattering deed?

This was a question on many people's minds.

Yet, no one in Jinling City dared to speak of it.

In the hearts of the people of Jinling City, Qin Heng was like an Immortal; his words could decide the life and death of countless mortals. Who would dare to offend such a fearsome and powerful being?

Nobody dared say a thing!

As a result, the outside world naturally received not the slightest whisper of news.

Qin Heng cared little for these matters. He had left the Yang family's affairs to An Yue and Chen Qingzhu, while he himself returned to Tianhai.

「Two days later.」

Qin Heng boarded a cruise ship bound for Japan, bringing An Yue with him.

He was going to Japan this time to subdue the entire Japanese Martial Dao world and break their backbone. Coincidentally, on this cruise ship, there also happened to be a Chinese martial arts exchange group heading to Japan for a martial arts exchange.

However, these people were not from the Martial Dao world.

Even among those from the secular martial arts world, there were only a few, and even those few were only at the Open Force level.

Most of them were youths in their twenties from wealthy families, learning martial arts to strengthen their bodies, possessing no real strength to speak of. Under the guise of a martial arts exchange, they were actually going to Japan as tourists.

Qin Heng couldn't be bothered to interact with these people.

After setting out to sea, he stood on the deck with An Yue, hand on the railing, gazing at the seemingly boundless ocean with a calm look in his eyes.

The ocean... it should be a place humans have truly yet to explore extensively.

Modern humans, of course.

I can now almost be certain that in the immeasurably ancient past, a highly advanced cultivation civilization, primarily based on the Martial Dao, must have existed on Earth.

Perhaps some traces of it still linger within the vast ocean.

However, after watching for a long time, Qin Heng found no clues. At most, he sensed that the Spiritual Energy of the sea was considerably denser than on land.

"Immortal Venerable, concerning the battles in Japan, please allow me to take care of them," An Yue said in a low voice. "Those filthy Japanese, as lowly as ants, aren't worthy of Your intervention."

Before boarding the ship, Qin Heng had released the restraints on An Yue's spiritual intellect, allowing her to possess normal communication abilities and wisdom. In terms of mentality, she was no different from an ordinary person.

Her loyalty to Qin Heng was absolute, naturally leading her to think of serving him and making things easier, sparing him the effort of dealing with unnecessary matters.

"There's no need for that," Qin Heng said softly, shaking his head slightly. "I have said before that I intend to personally subdue Japan, to completely crush their Martial Dao and break their backbone. I must take action myself."

"What an arrogant claim!!" Suddenly, a disdainful voice interjected.

Then, a youth of around eighteen or nineteen approached, followed by four others, both male and female, all looking at Qin Heng with contempt.

The leading youth walked up to Qin Heng, glanced at the stunningly beautiful and voluptuously figured An Yue beside him, a flicker in his eyes. He then turned to Qin Heng and asked, "Did you just say you're going to subdue Japan?"

"Is there a problem?" Qin Heng glanced at the youth, noting his unsteady steps. His physique, though showing some signs of training, was still very weak, clearly belonging to the type who only practiced flashy martial arts with very low combat ability.

"Of course, there's a problem," the youth sneered. "These days, it seems anyone can brag. Japan's Martial Dao is highly developed; even our Chinese martial arts group only dares to say we're going for an exchange. And you? You dare claim you'll subdue Japan? That's hilarious! Who do you think you are? Believe it or not, I can take you down with one hand! Look up, is that a cow flying in the sky? Hahaha!"

"Kneel and apologize to the Immortal Venerable at once!" An Yue suddenly spoke, her icy gaze fixed on the youth as an invisible killing intent enveloped him. She said sternly, "Otherwise, I will kill you right now!"

For An Yue, Qin Heng was the supreme Immortal Venerable. Anyone who dared to offend Qin Heng committed a capital offense!

He deserves to die!