Prince Zhao Mansion, Wind River Cave Heaven, beneath a towering tree seemingly covered with golden eyes.

"Buzz~"

An eye opened in the heart of the tree, and dark golden ripples spread outward across the void.

A thousand miles from the Illusion Tree, a young man with black hair sat cross-legged on a flat boulder.

Facing the overwhelming pressure of will from all directions, the young man kept his eyes closed and remained unmoved, like a rock in a rushing stream.

Suddenly, the Illusion Tree stopped trembling, and a phantom of a middle-aged man in scholar's robes emerged from the tree's heart.

"Your Majesty, there are only three years left until the Primordial Conference begins, and you still need to reach the Beihai Border Star. It's time to end your cultivation."

"That was rather fast." Zhao Xing opened his eyes suddenly and glanced at the panel.

[Name: Zhao Xing]

[Realm: Small Divine Power Realm Perfect]

[Occupation: Minister of Agriculture]

[Dojo: Taiyin First Rank]

[Age: 4210]

[Remaining Lifespan: 2.99 eras]

[Giant Sun Clone (Small): Divine Power Sixth Rank]

[Slaughter Thought Blade (Small): Divine Power Ninth Rank]

[Spirit Bell (Small): Divine Power Sixth Rank]

[Ti Yuan Divine Power (Small): Divine Power Fifth Rank]

[Purple Light Eighth Rank (Small): Perfect Divine Power]

[Three Gods Fate Palace (Small): Perfect Divine Power]

[Soul Heavenly Vision (Small): Divine Power Sixth Rank]

[Divine Fire Turtle Transformation (Small): Divine Power Fifth Rank]

"Over a hundred years of cultivation, and the results are remarkable." Zhao Xing was very satisfied. Slaying the Octagonal Demon Turtle as practice advanced both his divine power techniques brilliantly.

As for the Great Divine Power Five-Finger Mountain, it has not been learned yet, so it does not appear on the panel.

Zhao Xing waved his hand forward, and the Illusion Tree obediently retracted its divine powers. It then rapidly shrank in size until it was only half the height of a person and fell into Zhao Xing's palm, appearing as if it was growing from his hand.

With a flash, Zhao Xing appeared at the entrance of the Wind River Cave Heaven.

At the entrance of the Wind River Cave Heaven stood a majestic black dog, and beside it, a goat with red hair on its head, as well as a large cat with black and purple markings.

"Meow~" Aotian Cat jumped onto Zhao Xing's shoulder and lay down.

Xiao Tian Dog jumped toward Zhao Xing's arm, sniffing the Illusion Tree with its nose and even sticking out its tongue to lick it.

"Get out of here, silly dog!" The Illusion Tree shook a branch, swatting Xiao Tian Dog away.

"Awoo~" Xiao Tian Dog let out a strange cry and quickly climbed up Zhao Xing's arm, laying down on his right shoulder.

"Meh~~" The Inverted Sheep, with the red hair on its head, couldn't find a good spot, letting out an anxious bleat.

"Woof woof~" Xiao Tian stretched out its paw, ruthlessly mocking the little red-haired one.

Illusion Sky Sheep glanced around Zhao Xing, finally landing on Zhao Xing's chest to stand.

As long as it's not a ninety-degree angle, it can stand anywhere!

Zhao Xing chuckled lightly, picked up the little sheep, and placed it on a spot near Xiao Tian Dog.

Outside the Grotto Heaven, many people were already waiting in the Prince Zhao Mansion.

Among them were Liu Tianning, Long Xiao, Chen Shijie, Mi Fei, Ye Yuxong, Lu Ying, Xia Jing... nearly all of the Great Zhou's high-ranking officials were present.

In response to the Red Star Empire's grand event held every three thousand years, Ji Che had temporarily halted his field research, instructing his entourage to return. He only brought a few, including Ji Si and Wei Hong, who remained in the field.

"Zhao Xing, you've finally come out." Long Xiao was dressed in his military uniform. "We need to hurry; only three years remain to the start, and it takes months to reach the Beihai Border Star."

"Why rush, little soldier?" Xia Jing said leisurely.

"You!" Long Xiao glared angrily.

"Hahaha."

The crowd burst into laughter.

"Is everyone here?" Zhao Xing inquired.

"Everyone from Great Zhou who registered is here." Lu Ying replied, "A total of 312 people."

"Then let's get moving." Zhao Xing waved his hand, and a boundary ship in the shape of a mountain cat appeared, and all 312 people entered the Mountain Cat Boundary Ship.

Once inside the boundary ship, Zhao Xing began to review the detailed rules of the Primordial Conference through the Star Mirror.

[Imperial Citizen Zhao Xing, welcome to register for the Primordial Conference]

[The Primordial Conference consists of four rounds of assessment.]

[The first round of assessment will take place on the administrative boundary stars of the empire's major advanced star systems.]

[Your assessment location is: Beihai Star System, Beihai Border Star.]

[Registration has closed; the Beihai Star System has 724.1 billion registrants this time.]

"Only more than seven hundred billion for the Beihai Star System?"

Zhao Xing registered as soon as the registration channel opened.

Within just three minutes, several billion people had registered, but a hundred years later, only more than seven hundred billion had signed up.

Seven hundred billion seems like a lot, yet the Beihai Star System contains over a trillion Yin Yang Stars, not to mention the countless boundary stars and star lands.

However, Life Realm Stars and star lands are comparatively smaller. All put together, there are only a little over eight hundred billion.

"The Milky Way has 400 billion stars, and this Beihai Star System is a bit larger. Its level of development is far inferior to the Beiye Star System where Jing Yan resides." Zhao Xing thought to himself.

"A registration fee of 10,000 Red Star Coins? Just collecting registration fees amounts to a vast income."

"But compared to the previous dozen or so sessions, this data has been declining year after year."

"The fiscal deficit of the Beihai Star System continues to grow..."

"It seems the empire has reached a bottleneck in its development. No wonder they're eager to explore new territories."

Zhao Xing went over various data, and as the Grand Minister of Agriculture, studying various data, especially financial data, had become second nature to him.

[This Primordial Conference will be entirely fair and impartial. All participants are from the Origin Realm, and no participant is allowed to use personal Daoist soldiers, pet beasts, or plant species...]

[The second round of assessment will commence 100 years after the conclusion of the first round. The assessment will take place in one of the Red Star Empire's twenty-eight top star systems.]