"What happened next?"

Chen Huaishu's voice pulled everyone back from their shock to reality.

He stared at Tang Qi and pressed, "What on earth happened after that?"

Tang Qi began to recount that terrifying Battle of Tokyo.

"According to Lord Ever-changing Star Lord's plan, after sneaking into Tokyo, the team first launched precise strikes against Sakura Country's high-level combat forces."

"They slain the Sword Saint Wada Hirayama."

"They also wiped out the Kujo Family's century-old Old Ancestor, the King of a Hundred Ghosts, Kujo Masakage."

Tang Qi's recount was very calm, making this monumental event sound insignificant.

But hearing it, the hearts of the generals present quaked with shock.

Those were all long-famed SS-Rank Experts!

Each and every one of them had brought immense trouble and pain to Great Xia Nation.

Now, they were killed just like that... so nonchalantly?

"However, until the sacrificial ritual began, Ever-changing Star Lord and his people all disappeared."

"They didn't appear again for a whole night. At the time, we guessed they had probably found the location of the Pendulum of Life."

"We just didn't know the exact location."

"On the way back, I reviewed everything and realized we had forgotten the most crucial point—the Ise Grand Shrine."

"Kujo Koji probably conducted the sacrificial ritual inside the ruins of the Ise Grand Shrine."

"So Ever-changing Star Lord took all the experts into the ruins."

Wei Liao eagerly pressed from the side.

"What happened after that? How did the Pendulum of Life end up in your hands?"

Tang Qi paused before continuing,

"We observed outside Tokyo City for the entire night. Just when we thought the plan might have failed and Ever-changing Star Lord and the other SS-Rank Experts had fallen..."

"the SS-Rank swordsman who slew Wada Hirayama suddenly appeared and handed me the Pendulum of Life as well as a seal."

"He told me to hand these items over to Marshal Zhao personally."

"Only one returned? What about the others?"

A general keenly grasped the crux of the issue and interrupted Tang Qi.

"There were seven SS-Rank Experts! Why did only one come back?"

This question weighed heavily on everyone's heart.

Indeed.

According to Tang Qi's description, if Wada Hirayama and Kujo Masakage were slain beforehand,

then counting everything up, Kujo Koji only had those two SS-Rank Professionals from Dawnbreaker Guild left.

Seven against two—no matter how you looked at it, it should have been an overwhelming victory.

So why did only one return?

Tang Qi shook his head,

"Regarding this point, I am not very clear either."

"When that swordsman appeared, his lamp was already out of oil. He gave me no time to ask questions; after delivering his last words, all signs of life faded from him."

As his words fell,

the entire conference room fell dead silent.

The joy that had just ignited in everyone's hearts was completely shattered by this news.

That swordsman died.

Which meant that out of seven SS-Rank Experts...

not a single one came back.

What... on earth did they encounter?

That was seven whole SS-Ranks!

They were Great Xia Nation's top combat forces, the pillars supporting the backbone of the entire nation!

Now they had fallen silently like this in a foreign land?

This price... was far too heavy.

Just then, Chen Huaishu, who had been silent all along, proposed an extremely bold possibility.

"Do you think there's a possibility..."

"...that Kujo Naruya's resurrection ritual didn't fail at all?"

"That he was successfully resurrected?"

"And Ever-changing Star Lord, along with those six SS-Rank Experts, engaged in a life-or-death battle against the newly resurrected Kujo Naruya."

"In the end... dying together."

Dying together.

These words suffocated everyone present.

No one knew how strong a newly resurrected SSS-Class Professional truly was.

But that was a legendary SSS-Class after all.

Seven SS-Ranks fighting to the death to kill a newly 'prematurely born' SSS-Class.

That wasn't entirely impossible.

One could imagine how tragic and intense that battle must have been.

It was the most heroic duel between a deity and mortals.

A tragic epic written in blood and life.

Just as everyone's minds were turbulent from this cruel truth, Tang Qi spoke again.

He remembered something and added,

"Before he died, that swordsman said he hoped Marshal Zhao wouldn't forget their agreement."

"'Take the Pendulum of Life and revive a person.'"

"Who?"

Wei Liao pressed.

These were a hero's final words; every single word weighed a thousand jin.

Tang Qi's eyes swept across everyone present, and he finally uttered that name.

"The swordsman said that person is located in Donghai City."

"His name is... Zhou Huai."

Zhou Huai?

In the conference room, all the generals looked at each other.

The same confusion was written on everyone's face.

Who was this Zhou Huai?

It was not until three days later,

that Wei Liao brought that top-secret dossier.

Chen Huaishu took the dossier envelope; it felt heavy in his hands.

There were no written markings on the envelope, only a blood-red stamp.

It was the alarming character for 'Top Secret'.

Chen Huaishu's fingers trembled.

What was inside might be the complete truth about Ever-changing Star Lord.

He tore open the seal and pulled out a thin stack of documents.

On the first page of the document, there was no text, only a blood-red stamp.

Code name: Ever-changing Star Lord.

He turned to the second page.

Suspected SSS-Class Puppeteer, capable of creating SS-Rank Avatar Puppets.

Seeing this, Chen Huaishu's breathing stalled.

SSS-Class?

Puppeteer?

Our Great Xia actually has an SSS-Class Professional like this?

Just these few words alone left the elderly Old General's brain completely frozen.

He continued reading down.

Names, both familiar and unfamiliar, appeared on the document.

Forbidden Spell Mage, Gandalf.

Thunder Sword Sovereign, Yasuo.

Night Stalker, Moria.

...

Chen Huaishu's eyes widened.

When he read to the end, even that Divine Artisan Ou Yezi, who had stunned everyone at the Skyfire City Blacksmith Tournament and ignited fierce competition among countless factions...

was actually his Avatar as well!

"This... how is this possible..."

The more Chen Huaishu read, the more unimaginable it felt, as if he were watching a sci-fi movie.

During the National Examination, he utilized the Gandalf Avatar to successfully foil the Dawnbreaker Guild's plans.

At the Skyfire City Blacksmith Tournament, he won the championship under the identity of Divine Artisan Ou Yezi.

During the Donghai City monster tide, he saved the entire city from dire peril single-handedly.

Secretly eliminated Sakura Country spies and defectors hiding in the Imperial Capital, reorganizing all factions.

...

Incident after incident, item after item.

Those events that had once troubled Great Xia's upper echelon and been classified as unsolved cases...

were all actually the work of the same person!

Now, another feat could be added: infiltrating Sakura Country, successfully slaying the SSS-Class Professional Kujo Naruya, and retrieving the Pendulum of Life!

Chen Huaishu was overwhelmed with emotion as he read.

Even his hands holding the document were trembling.

Everything made sense now.

He understood why Marshal Zhao valued this person so highly and had set his security clearance to top secret.

He understood why Marshal Zhao did not hesitate to sacrifice himself to cover for this person's plan.

"So... so our Great Xia Nation actually has such a heaven-defying existence!"

Chen Huaishu's voice choked up, his eyes turning moist.

"This is truly Great Xia's blessing! A great blessing for the nation!"

He saw the hope of Great Xia's rise.

He saw the grand dream of standing atop the pinnacle of the world.

As long as Ever-changing Star Lord was here, why worry about Great Xia not prospering!

However,

when he turned to the last page and saw the content that followed, the wild joy on his face froze.

He shivered all over, freezing in place.

On the document, there was only a brief line of text:

【Suspected main body is in Donghai City, and his life is coming to an end soon.】