“Please give us your guidance, sir!” This time, the attendants didn’t dare to respond carelessly and listened obediently.

“Because that person is here!” The general’s words left everyone completely baffled. The two attendants looked at each other—could it really be that just because that person was here, the emperor’s task could be accomplished?

“You don’t understand?” One look at their faces and the general knew they were confused. The two attendants shook their heads from side to side in response—they truly didn’t understand.

“Just because of that person.” The general let out a long sigh and gazed at the sky for a while. “Because he is here!”

“As long as he wishes, even a paradise like Qionglin can be turned into a hellish Asura field. If he’s happy, even the most ominous place can become a blessed land.” The general seemed to recall something and smiled mysteriously. “With him here, that’s enough.”

“Then how do we know if he’s happy or not?” Hearing the general speak so mysteriously, the two attendants, though surprised, couldn’t help but feel curious about this mysterious figure the general spoke of.

“This is his home!” With this one sentence, the general dispelled all doubts. No one likes their home to be a place of evil and misfortune. It seemed that person would surely be willing to turn this place into a land of happiness.

No matter how the general planned to report back, the person he spoke of—Evan Parker—had no mind to maintain that little tea stall anymore. To meet an old friend under such circumstances was truly no ordinary coincidence.

Feeling quite sentimental, Evan Parker sat on a hill not far from the tea stall, silently gazing into the distance. The youngest under his command back then was now a high-ranking general; it seemed they were all doing well.

The so-called ominous place—could it be related to what he saw that day?

It was a gloomy night, the sky thick with dark clouds, thunder and lightning raging. The entire sky seemed filled with countless bolts of lightning. Strangely, despite all this, there was not the slightest sign of rain. Such oddity naturally caught Evan Parker’s attention.

If not for Evan Parker’s extraordinary eyesight, he would never have noticed that, among the lightning, hundreds of zhang above the ground, there was actually a person standing in midair. The figure, illuminated by the surrounding lightning, was strikingly clear. The distance was too great to make out the face, but it was certain that there was nothing beneath the person’s feet—he simply stood in the void as if on solid ground.

How could a person possibly achieve such a feat? Walking in the void? If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, Evan Parker would never have believed that such a master existed in the world. With Evan Parker’s own skills and the experience he’d gained fighting through mountains of corpses and seas of blood, he might not claim to be invincible in the army, but if he claimed second place, no one would dare claim first. Yet, after witnessing the peerless skill of the person in the sky, Evan Parker could only gaze up at the figure, sighing in awe.

The sky was filled with lightning, as if all of it was the person’s enemy, striking at him relentlessly. The person in the sky, using some unknown martial art, showed no fear at all, letting the lightning strike his body, yet standing as immovable as Mount Tai.

Evan Parker could only look up in awe at the person battling the lightning in the sky, his heart surging with indescribable excitement. He had always thought his own skills had reached their limit, and the bottleneck that had stifled his progress for so long had left him feeling drained. But now, seeing that a person could reach such heights, could contend with the heavens themselves, his stagnant heart surged with new vigor.

Standing in the void—he was like a living immortal from legend, appearing right before his eyes. Though he didn’t know why the person was being attacked by lightning, Evan Parker was certain that this was a realm he himself could not yet reach.

The clouds in the sky grew denser and thicker, and the lightning striking at the person became even more intense. From afar, the bolts of lightning seemed to have no effect on him at all. Evan Parker could hardly believe his eyes. Back in the army, he had seen a bolt of lightning turn several men to charred corpses, but here, the lightning seemed utterly useless.

What kind of power was this? The power to directly contend with the heavens! Compared to that, what was there for him to be proud of in his own achievements? Even if he was unmatched in the army, before this person, he was probably no different from an ant that could be crushed with a pinch. Only when faced with such truly earth-shaking power did he realize how pitifully weak he really was.

How could he ever reach such a realm? Suddenly, a whole new world appeared before Evan Parker’s eyes, one he had never dared imagine before. All his previous discouragement vanished. The grievances he had suffered in the army could no longer affect his state of mind. Overcome with excitement, he threw his head back and let out a long howl toward the sky.

Even amid the thunder and lightning, Evan Parker’s voice seemed to pierce through space, and it was clear that it reached the ears of the person in the sky. Evan Parker could clearly see that the person seemed to glance in his direction, though he couldn’t tell what expression was on his face.

But what happened next shocked Evan Parker even more. All the lightning in the sky seemed to converge into a single force—a massive pillar of light, dozens of zhang in diameter—striking straight down at that person.