The Giant Axe Martial Arts Practitioner Who Lived Ninety Thousand Years

World of Swallowed Star. The Qianwu Universe Kingdom, the Black Dragon Mountain Starfield, the Maple Leaf Empire, Maple Leaf Star. The vast interstellar airport was like a tireless beast, swallowing and disgorging the ships that came and went like shuttles, thousands of transport vessels taking off and landing here each day. Amid this busy stream of ships, the Starship X31 Black Dragon Mountain glided steadily toward its assigned berth. Inside the cabin, an old man draped in a gray robe gazed out through the porthole at the orderly harbor, a trace of nostalgia on his face. Behind him, five young people—three men and two women—pressed close to the portholes as well, their eyes full of curiosity. "Sir, is this Maple Leaf Star?" a young man with a single horn on his head could not help but ask, his voice carrying an excitement he could barely contain. "That's right." The Gray-Robed Elder nodded, his gaze sweeping over the bustling harbor beyond the cabin door. "This is Maple Leaf Star, the ancestral land of the Lu family, and the very foundation of our Maple Leaf Empire." He turned his eyes to the other equally outstanding young people, his tone growing a shade more solemn. "You five are the most gifted talents the Empire has produced in a hundred years. Once you reach Maple Leaf Star, you will each receive an opportunity to be received by the Old Ancestor." The old man's voice was low and forceful. "If any among you should win the Old Ancestor's favor and be taken as a disciple... then not only will your own path of cultivation soar to the heavens, but your families, and even the very stars you hail from, will gain benefits beyond imagining." At these words, the excitement and curiosity on the young people's faces gradually faded, replaced by a reverence that came from the depths of their hearts. Clearly, they had long since heard of this legendary Old Ancestor of the Maple Leaf Empire—his name as familiar to their ears as thunder. He was a peak powerhouse of Cosmic level who had lived for more than ninety thousand years! He was the true pillar of the Maple Leaf Empire! His mighty renown had long spread throughout the entire Maple Leaf star system; even on the neighboring Azure Blue Empire, and even on the aloof and independent Qionglong Star, legends of this Old Ancestor Lu remained. Should they manage to become disciples of such a peerless powerhouse, their status would ascend to the heavens in a single step, and they would gain, moreover, a faint... a sliver of hope of breaking through to Cosmic level. The hatch of the Starship X31 Black Dragon Mountain slid open without a sound, and the group set foot upon the soil of Maple Leaf Star. ... Deep within the imperial palace of the Maple Leaf Empire, in a cultivation cavern built of precious D5-grade metal ore, its floor paved entirely with brilliant gems. Without the slightest warning. A world-shattering, terrifying primordial force suddenly erupted, and violent eddies of energy swept through the entire underground palace, everything visible in their path instantly crushed to powder. The walls of D5 ore—strong enough to easily withstand the attacks of a Cosmic Level Expert—trembled violently. Fortunately, this destructive burst lasted only an instant before it faded; otherwise, this sturdy cavern might truly have been at risk of collapsing. "Whew..." Amid the billowing dust and smoke, Lu Qingshan slowly opened his eyes, unable to hide the deep exhaustion and despondency within them. "Failed..." a low sigh echoed through the cavern. "This is already the third time in ten thousand years I've charged at the threshold of Domain Master... This time was the most thoroughly prepared, drawing on nearly the entire heritage of the Empire, and yet in the end... it fell short at the last moment." He spread his palm, as if he could still feel the agony of having failed right at the moment of condensing his life core. "Heavenly Pure Water... though it healed ninety-nine parts in a hundred of the hidden wounds within my body, the defects in my foundation from my early years are, in the end, a fatal injury, leaving me unable to truly condense that Domain Master life core..." Ninety thousand years of time—Lu Qingshan had thought his state of mind had long since been honed to be as unrippled as an old well, yet this repeated failure at his breakthrough still stirred within his heart a surge he could not calm. He could not help but feel anxious. Because his lifespan was nearly exhausted. In theory, the limit of a Cosmic Level Expert's life could reach ten eras. However, the grave injuries he had suffered in his early years, together with the backlash from several failed breakthroughs, had long since drained his life essence ahead of time. He could clearly sense that the lifespan bestowed by the Primal Universe, that irresistible lifespan, was slowly drawing to its end. "Perhaps... only a hundred and twenty years remain." Lu Qingshan knew what this meant. If he could not break through to Domain Master within these hundred and twenty years and obtain a longer lifespan, he would utterly turn into a speck of dust in this vast galaxy, returning to eternal extinction. But how could he possibly break through in a mere hundred and twenty years? For this breakthrough, he had nearly drained ninety percent of the Maple Leaf Empire's reserves, and had even, thick-skinned as it was, borrowed an enormous sum of Cosmic Currency from that senior on Qionglong Star. That Heavenly Pure Water—precious beyond measure and able to mend his hidden wounds—had been bought at auction at the cost of an astronomical sum of Cosmic Currency. Within a hundred years, without some earth-shattering stroke of fortune, there was absolutely no way he could gather the resources needed for another charge. What was more... even with the resources, was success truly guaranteed? A faint sense of unwillingness churned within his chest. Lu Qingshan was a transmigrator. Ninety thousand years ago, he had descended upon an ordinary family on Maple Leaf Star. In those days, Maple Leaf Star had not yet come into contact with cosmic civilization, and the martial arts of the planet flourished. He had even once believed he had arrived in some fantasy world. With his exceptional martial talent, he had ascended to the pinnacle of the planet in a mere hundred years, achieving the position of Martial God; with a flip of his hand he could topple mountains and rivers, and he had effortlessly unified the entire planet, founding the Maple Leaf Empire. However, disaster soon descended! A spaceship carrying a full crew of slave hunters arrived at Maple Leaf Star not long after the Empire's founding. That utterly crushing power plunged all the planet's powerhouses into despair. Powerful as Lu Qingshan was, after killing two Star-level slave hunters in a desperate fight, he too was ultimately suppressed without mercy. On Maple Leaf Star, every master of Martial Saint level and above was captured, controlled by Slave Chips, and reduced to goods awaiting a buyer. The slave hunters left behind some basic methods of cosmic cultivation and established on Maple Leaf Star cruel "cultivation bases" to raise the planet's martial artists and spiritual masters. The tens of billions of people of Maple Leaf Star were like leeks waiting to be harvested, cultivated and sold without end. Because Lu Qingshan, back at Star level one, had fought desperately and killed slave hunters of Star level four and five, displaying considerable potential, he was not treated as an ordinary slave. To squeeze greater value from him, the slave owner cultivated him. With the aid of resources far beyond Maple Leaf Star's level, Lu Qingshan's strength advanced by leaps and bounds, and in a mere hundred years he cultivated up to Star level nine, successfully broke through to Cosmic level, and comprehended the Light Domain. Thereafter, under the control of the Slave Chip, he was reduced to a thug for the organization, and through long and bloody years he fought and killed against other slave organizations and star pirates. Relying on the meager resources he accumulated from one mission after another, he painstakingly raised himself to Cosmic level eight, and his Light Domain broke through to the third layer. It was then that the problem arose. Once Lu Qingshan broke through to Domain Master, he would be able to break free of the chip's control and backlash against his master. That Domain Master-level leader of the slave organization gave him two choices. Either stop forever at Cosmic level eight, forbidden to break through, or take part in the Giant Axe life-and-death battle with a death rate of nearly one hundred percent. Lu Qingshan chose the latter. By taking part in the Giant Axe life-and-death battle, one only had to win a thousand consecutive matches to obtain the title of Giant Axe Martial Arts Practitioner and, with the Giant Axe Fighting Arena as witness, regain one's freedom. Though with his strength at the third layer of his domain, in an arena of that level he had almost no chance of surviving, for him a slave's life without the slightest dignity was more tormenting than death. And the slave owner was happy to accept this choice. For if Lu Qingshan died in battle, the organization would receive a handsome sum of compensation, and should he win a few matches, the compensation would be even greater. As for Lu Qingshan succeeding? No one thought well of his chances at all. Those thousand battles of life and death—Lu Qingshan no longer wished to recall them. In the end, relying on luck, he had miraculously won the title of Giant Axe Martial Arts Practitioner and obtained the freedom he had dreamed of. However, the price was devastating! In those successive death battles, his body had been gravely damaged, and by employing a secret technique he had harmed the foundation of his cultivation, nearly severing all hope of ever breaking through to Domain Master. For this reason, he lost the opportunity to be recruited into the Giant Axe Fighting Arena. In the end, he chose the identity of a cosmic mercenary, wandering the vast universe, and after going through untold hardships to accumulate sufficient wealth, he bought back Maple Leaf Star from the slave owner, rescuing the second homeland to which he had transmigrated. Ninety thousand years passed in the snap of a finger. The slave organization that had once enslaved him had long since been wiped out for offending some great figure of the Black Dragon Mountain Starfield, not even leaving him the chance to take revenge with his own hands. In the ten thousand years that followed, relying on the prestige of a Giant Axe Martial Arts Practitioner and the help of friends he had made during his years as a cosmic mercenary, Lu Qingshan founded the primary-level cosmic civilization nation, the Maple Leaf Empire. This was a cosmic nation whose territory comprised only a single star system, unable to compare with the other primary cosmic nations around it. The past flashed swiftly through his mind like smoke. Lu Qingshan slowly rose from the shattered heaps of gems, temporarily pressing down those heavy memories. "A hundred and twenty years..." Feeling that clearly discernible sense of life flowing away within him, after his long recollection, the sorrow in Lu Qingshan's heart had instead faded a great deal. A faint, serene curve touched the corner of his mouth. "To have lived ninety thousand years—what more is there to be dissatisfied about?" "If I'd transmigrated to a world like Shrouding the Heavens, where even a Great Emperor lives only ten thousand years, then with my paltry strength, my bones would probably have long since turned to ash..." The instant this thought arose, Lu Qingshan felt that within the depths of his heart an invisible shackle seemed to loosen slightly, and an ineffable enlightenment quietly took root. Before he could carefully savor this sliver of insight, the light and shadow before him twisted, and a phantom figure of a black dog-headed man formed of energy respectfully emerged. This was Lu Qingshan's intelligent life form, Nasus. "Master," the phantom said in a low, clear voice. "Little Third Son of Eaglet Star has returned. He has brought the five most outstanding talents of the Empire in the past hundred years, and requests an audience with you." Little Third Son? The image of that fellow who always liked to drape himself in a gray robe and put on airs of great depth immediately surfaced in Lu Qingshan's mind. "Another hundred years have passed already..." Lu Qingshan sighed softly, his tone returning to its usual calm. "Let him bring them in."