"Alright, that’s enough. I’ll be leaving this world in a while. From now on, you’ll have to take care of yourselves!"

Hu Qi cut him off directly, his tone turning cold.

He had already seen through Li Yi’s intentions.

People change. After so many years, the young boy he once knew was no longer the same.

The man was introducing his own great-grandchildren on an occasion like this.

It was nothing more than a ploy to have him act out of respect for Hu Lemei.

Hoping he would train the two of them, or perhaps take them as his disciples.

After all, not only was Hu Qi’s strength unfathomable, but he also held a high and powerful position within the Federation.

Moreover, he had no children. If they could receive Hu Qi’s guidance, their futures would be limitless.

One couldn’t say such a thought was right or wrong. After all, those two were the man’s descendants.

Unfortunately, Li Yi had misunderstood one thing.

As far as Hu Qi was concerned,

he owed the man nothing.

The main reason he had looked after him so well was because of Hu Lemei.

’As for Li Yi’s great-grandchildren, what do they have to do with me?’

Now, the man’s actions had left Hu Qi feeling rather disenchanted.

However, he thought for a moment and still reached out, grasping at the air beside him.

Ripples spread through the void.

Countless points of white light coalesced, forming a palm-sized Jade Token that was perfectly smooth and flawless, without any carvings or decorations.

"I have sealed a sliver of my power within this. In the future, if you encounter a crisis you cannot overcome, smear the Jade Token with the blood of your Li Family, and it will ensure your survival!"

With that said, he handed the Jade Token to Li Yi.

Then, he gave the man no chance to reply.

His gaze swept over Li Yi, who stood to the side, her mouth open as if wanting to say something.

His figure abruptly vanished from the spot.

Watching this scene,

Li Yi’s descendants, as well as the young man and woman beside him, stared in a daze.

One must understand that even with today’s technology, traversing the void was impossible.

The scene was simply too incredible.

’Could this person be one of the legendary Secret Martial Artists, whose power allows them to fly through the sky and burrow through the earth?’

For a moment, as the young man and woman came to their senses, a wave of regret washed over them.

"I told you not to do this, but you just wouldn’t listen!"

At that moment, Li Yi stood to the side, looking at her younger brother with a complicated expression.

"I..."

Li Yi stood rooted to the spot. He glanced at the Jade Token in his hand, his expression shifting repeatedly before he finally let out a long sigh.

...

"Speaker! The matter you assigned has been taken care of!"

The balding, forty-something man in a white research coat looked at the person before him, his expression somewhat reserved.

The reason was simply that the person standing before him was one of the Federation’s Speakers.

Compared to ordinary people, he knew much more.

He knew that the Refining God Venerables, who could destroy a city with a flick of their wrist, truly existed.

Unlike Qi Dao Grandmasters, a Federation Speaker who was also a Refining God Venerable was still a force to be reckoned with. Even without True Essence Power, the saying "a starved camel is still bigger than a horse" applied. His personal strength could not be underestimated, especially with the incredible Power of the Heart.

In the past hundred-plus years,

the powers on Earth Star had undergone a major reshuffling.

It happened fifty years after the Heaven and Earth Primordial Energy vanished.

After years of probing, an alliance of smaller nations confirmed that Secret Martial Artists beyond the Martial Arts Family level had lost their power with the disappearance of the Heaven and Earth Primordial Energy. With this confirmation, they finally launched an attack on the Xia Federation.

However, they had not expected

the existence of an anomaly like Hu Qi.

He merely made a small move, conjuring a terrifying, sky-covering palm and casually sinking several of the most belligerent island nations.

After that, the so-called alliance completely disintegrated and announced its surrender.

From then on, the Xia Federation completely absorbed the other powers and came to rule Earth Star.

And he had been one of the eyewitnesses to that event.

"This Zero Ecological Island has a total area of 1,001,000 square kilometers. Its food chain, constructed over more than thirty years with the aid of a supercomputer, is now completely perfected and capable of self-sufficient operation..."

As he spoke, the balding man led Hu Qi to a high metal platform, pointing ahead as he continued his introduction.

Hu Qi looked over and saw a huge, oval-shaped glass dome in the distance.

Inside the dome was an oval-shaped island, surrounded by the sea on all four sides.

The island was enormous, complete with every kind of natural landscape: trees, vegetation, lakes, glaciers, fjords, and mountain ranges.

The environment here was fresh and natural, completely different from other places on Earth Star.

The development of technology and the over-exploitation of resources had inevitably led to environmental pollution. A natural sanctuary like this was now extremely rare in the outside world.

Clearly, this was an artificially created ecosystem.

Faintly,

the figures of animals could be seen moving within.

However, aside from ordinary creatures,

there were also some strange-looking ones.

For example, there were two-headed wolves, pufferfish with wings that could glide at low altitudes, and blood-red falcons—all sorts of Exotic Beasts were present.

This Zero Ecological Island was built on Hu Qi’s orders.

Ever since the Heaven and Earth Primordial Energy waned, the path forward for Secret Martial Artists was destroyed, and the Black Blood Species disappeared along with Mother Earth, Hu Qi’s only source of Modification Points had been these Exotic Beasts.

During this period, he had people intensify research and breeding of the Exotic Beasts, greatly enhancing the reproductive capabilities of their offspring.

He had even built this independent ecological island to serve as a habitat for the Exotic Beasts.

"Good, very good. You may go back now. I’m going to go take a look."

Hu Qi retracted the Power of the Heart he had been using to investigate.

He nodded in satisfaction.

Then, he took a step forward.

His figure vanished from the spot.

On the high platform, the balding man turned his head to look at the spot where Hu Qi had disappeared.

Even though he knew Hu Qi was a Refining God Venerable with unpredictable, god-like methods,

he was still shocked to see it happen again.

...

「Inside Zero Ecological Island.」

Atop a small hill,

Hu Qi’s figure appeared.

After a quick tour,

Hu Qi took two beads from his pocket, one white and one black.

A flash of Twisted Light shone from his hand.

Two figures appeared on the spot.

One was a pitch-black duck, and the other was a barefooted young woman in a white dress.

They were none other than Camphor Tea Duck and Xiaobai.

It was normal for Xiaobai to have survived until now; after all, she herself possessed strength equivalent to a Qi Dao Grandmaster.

The Camphor Tea Duck, however, was somewhat of a surprise to Hu Qi.

Not only had the fellow not died,

but compared to a century ago, it had grown a size larger and could even spread its wings to glide at low altitudes. Of course, it still couldn’t talk.

"From now on, you two will be stationed here."

"Yes, Master!"

Upon hearing this, Xiaobai withdrew her curious gaze from the surroundings and nodded respectfully at Hu Qi.

QUACK! QUACK!

The Camphor Tea Duck at his side gave two excited quacks, then flapped its wings and happily circled Hu Qi twice.

Clearly, compared to being turned into an immobile ball by the Twisted Light, it preferred this.

After giving his orders, Hu Qi paid the two beasts no mind.

His figure flickered,

and he appeared in the sky above Zero Ecological Island, looking down at the massive island below.

The massive island he had people spend enormous effort and time to build was not, of course, just for the simple purpose of researching Exotic Beasts.

It was for something else entirely.

Thinking of this,

points of light, one Life Acupoint after another, lit up on the surface of his body before projecting into the void behind him.

There were 14,800 Life Acupoints in total. They intertwined with one another, forming an immense image.

In the boundless universe, there was a colossal, ring-shaped serpent that looked as if it could coil around the entire world.

The next moment,

the giant serpent within the Life Map seemed to come alive.

Suddenly, its enormous head burst out of the Life Map, turning from illusory to real. It dove down, its gaping maw like an endless black hole.

Below, the Zero Ecological Island, spanning a million square kilometers, seemed to be distorted and shrunk by an invisible force.

The mountains, forests, and rivers on the island were instantly enveloped in darkness.

At the same time, billions of tons of surrounding seawater were also swept into the serpent’s mouth. A massive whirlpool instantly appeared on the churning surface of the sea, the water roaring as it surged into the serpent’s maw.

Looking down from above,

a massive hole appeared on Earth Star. The surrounding seawater, drawn by gravity, began to rush back in to fill the gap.

Just as the island below was swallowed,

BOOM!

In the sky above, a clap of thunder exploded out of a clear sky. The once cloudless, sunny expanse was instantly shrouded in darkness.