It had only been a short while since they last met. Jiang Haokong knew that Lu Yuan was a Void Sage, just like him, upon his descent. It had only been a few days since then, but the man had already reached the Lesser Sage Realm.

Jiang Haokong understood that, although it was only a single stage in terms of improvement, the improvement in overall strength could not be undermined, and this was especially true for prodigies.

Moreover, regardless of one's talent, one would always find oneself facing a bottleneck in the Sage Realm for a long while. The reason behind this bottleneck was simple—evolution became harder the higher one was on the ladder.

The distance from the Void Sage Realm to the Lesser Sage Realm was the same as the distance between the Foundation Realm and all the way up to the Sage Realm. Of course, prodigies were no exception. Otherwise, they'd all have reached the apex by now.

Despite that, Lu Yuan had spent virtually no time in the Void Sage Realm before reaching the Lesser Sage Realm. Moreover, Jiang Haokong knew that the Milky Way Starfield's Global Awakening had just started. In fact, it had only been a handful of years at most. Logically, his rate of improvement was impossible.

However, the truth was staring him right in the face.

"That's right," Lu Yuan replied. He saw no reason to deny it. After reaching the Sage Realm, the Primordial Qi Robe alone could no longer suppress his power, and he also couldn't be bothered to suppress his aura, as there was no need to do so.

Hence, it wasn't strange that Jiang Haokong had noticed his breakthrough.

"This..." Jiang Haokong was at a loss for words. He was already feeling somewhat indignant that Lu Yuan could suppress him while they stood in the same realm. He had been planning to find an opportunity to even the score, but Lu Yuan had made a breakthrough. If they were to fight again, Jiang Haokong wouldn't stand a chance against him.

Lu Yuan would defeat him with ease, as he was now a Lesser Sage.

After a moment of silence, Jiang Haokong said, "The Separation of Heaven and Earth is growing weaker. I should probably enter seclusion as well and become even stronger."

He left without waiting for his sister's reaction. He couldn't help it, as he cared deeply about this. From the day Jiang Haokong was born, aside from Jiang Ningxian, he had never truly looked up to anyone of his peers or anyone at his level of evolution. His identity gave him every right to feel that way.

However, the moment he descended on Earth, someone suppressed him. Now that the same person had taken another step forward, he couldn't help but feel like he had to pick up the pace as well.

Jiang Ningxian smiled helplessly and said, "That's just how my brother is. Don't take it personally."

She knew her brother well. His personality was excellent, but he had always been prideful in nature. He disliked being surpassed by anyone, even back in the Desolate Flame Starfield.

Today, Lu Yuan's advancement made him feel unprecedented pressure. Jiang Ningxian believed this was a good thing, as it could probably curb his pride. Still, she felt she owed Lu Yuan an explanation.

"It's fine." Lu Yuan shook his head, unbothered. The Jiang Clan's Holy Son was truly an admirable personage. From what Chunyang and the others had told him, the young man carried no air of superiority, was easy to get along with, and even answered questions when asked.

Jiang Ningxian's concern wasn't even worth mentioning at all.

Right then, Lu Yuan realized something and said, "Thank you for your hard work these past few days, and please pass along my gratitude to Uncle Jiang as well."

Uncle Jiang had been instructing Zhu Qingyu and the others in their evolution. Lu Yuan knew that Jiang Ningxian had to be behind that arrangement, so he expressed his gratitude toward her.

As for Uncle Jiang, Lu Yuan believed that he had to have been at least a Sage before his descent on Earth.

"Collaborations always go both ways." Jiang Ningxian smiled. Then, she added, "Anyway, you have to be careful. You've become strong enough that you no longer need to fear anyone in this world.

"However, the Eternals and the Ji Clan have extremely deep foundations and countless ways to get what they want. Don't let your guard down against them."

Jiang Ningxian wouldn't say something like this before, but things were different now. She could feel a certain, unique emotion toward Lu Yuan, but neither of them had noticed it yet.

"I understood. Don't worry," Lu Yuan replied, knowing that she was looking out for him.

Jiang Ningxian nodded, knowing that he had never been the careless type. The two of them exchanged a few more words before going their separate ways.

Lu Yuan returned to his residence to stabilize his newfound strength. Just as Jiang Ningxian had said, the Eternals and the Ji Clan had extremely deep foundations that could not be measured by common standards. They had yet to make a move against him, but what about in the future?

He couldn't afford to wait until the moment of confrontation to start coming up with solutions, could he? Of course, the solution itself was easy—unrivaled strength. It was a pretty straightforward solution, and Lu Yuan had always been aware of his goals.

Lu Yuan focused on stabilizing his newfound strength while using the Investiture Edict to bestow upon Providence, bringing more people into the Celestial Court.

He deliberately held off on Zhu Qingyu and the others, though. They were true prodigies with great potential. Bestowing Providence upon them too early could hinder their development, so he waited for the ideal moment to do so.

Beyond that, Lu Yuan kept a close eye on the beings from the Outer Cosmos. More and more of them were drawing closer to Earth. The satellites could only detect a fraction of them, but he could sense that the starry expanse above Earth was already packed with representatives from every major starfield.

They were all waiting for the right moment.

However, Lu Yuan had been preparing for a long time now, so their presence didn't really matter to him.

***

Somewhere in the solar system, there was a stretch of void full of beings from the Outer Cosmos. Just as Lu Yuan had predicted, they had surrounded Earth, and some of the more powerful ones had even used their abilities to teleport small celestial bodies here to use as temporary forward bases.

For beings of their caliber, such a feat was trivial. If one were to observe Earth from afar, one would be greeted by a stunning sight. Earth was shrouded by an array of celestial bodies and overwhelmingly powerful auras.

At the center of this cluster, there floated a great palace surrounded by what looked like a myriad of celestial bodies. The lone great palace had a dark gold surface, and it looked timeworn. Streams of dazzling lights seeped out of it, illuminating the cold, lifeless void around it.

In the distance, beings from the other clans and races dared not approach the palace, let alone provoke whoever resided within it. From this alone, it was clear what the palace represented.

An unknown amount of time later, many figures appeared before the great palace. These men and women were clad in ancient-looking clothes. Without exception, they all carried an air of nobility, superior to everyone else. Their presence alone would make any third party feel a suffocating pressure.

One of the men gazed at the vibrant Earth in the distance and smiled. "Just a bit more time, and we should be able to descend."

"How much longer is 'a bit more time'? I'm already losing my patience." A woman walked forward, her eyes burning with boundless fury. Her words dripped with hatred as she said, "Lu Yuan destroyed my entire family. I want nothing more than to go down and kill him with my own hands!"

She was the one that the Zhou Family had sent away. Lu Yuan had killed her once before, but she somehow managed to stay alive.

Yes, she was none other than Zhou Yunqiong.