Translator: CinderTL
"Sword Prodigy Li, Hong Yan greets you."
A wave of divine sense power surged, gradually coalescing around the Golden Crow Battleship.
A woman who appeared to be in her early twenties, clad in pristine white robes and radiating a cool, ethereal aura, maintained her Primordial Spirit form as she calmly gazed at Li Chunjun.
Li Chunjun sensed the overwhelming divine sense power emanating from her, capable of shaking heaven and earth.
Despite traversing the vast gulf between realms, this projection of divine sense power still blanketed thousands of miles, proving that she was undoubtedly a Primordial Spirit True Monarch who had mastered Mind Power.
It was even possible that she had comprehended 1,024 types of Void Mysteries, meeting the minimum requirements for entry into the Law Realm.
Such Void Refinement Clans were fundamentally different from those that had lost their Void Refinement Inheritance. It wouldn't be surprising for them to produce a True Monarch with a fully realized Primordial Spirit.
Yet...
Why did Li Chunjun find it odd that, even though he could communicate directly with Hong Guang, the Hong Clan's patriarch, within their own Lesser Thousand World, they had instead activated the Heaven-Piercing Instrument to project Hong Yan's power into the Azure Star Minor Realm?
This behavior seemed like nothing more than a demonstration of strength, or perhaps a warning?
"True Monarch Hong Yan."
Li Chunjun replied, "Does the Hong Clan possess the means to repair the Golden Crow Battleship? Our crash landing here was caused by a massive starquake triggered by the Divine Race. These cosmic upheavals often persist for decades, even centuries. The destruction of the Azure Sea Domain is merely the beginning; the cataclysm has yet to reach its conclusion. We must evacuate this region as quickly as possible."
"Sword Prodigy Li speaks with sound judgment," True Monarch Hong Yan agreed with a nod. She was clearly a prodigy nurtured by the Hong Clan with all their resources, earmarked as their next candidate for Void Refinement.
But her tone shifted abruptly. "However, Sword Prodigy Li, having surpassed Li Hentian to claim the top spot on the Solar Radiance List, must have cultivated Mind Power. If you possess Mind Power, how could you be unaware of the unique lifeforms teeming in this region of space?"
"You've also encountered Heart Demons?" Li Chunjun asked.
"Indeed! A branch of the Heavenly Demon Clan—a species long extinct in our Profound Yellow Great World. The very Heart Demons the Supreme Research Institute nearly classified as a First-Tier Protected Species for the entire Human Race!"
True Monarch Hong Yan declared solemnly, "This isn't just a grave danger—it's also a tremendous opportunity!"
"An opportunity?" Li Chunjun asked, genuinely surprised.
Tens of thousands of Heart Demons! And not just any Heart Demons, but fully mature ones on the verge of evolving into their Ultimate Forms! Even with his Heavenly Heart Eternal Method nearing its third layer, Li Chunjun wasn't confident he could escape unscathed once they fully awakened. How could this be considered an opportunity? Not to mention the ever-present threat of a Starquake.
After a moment's thought, Li Chunjun suddenly asked, "How many Heart Demons attacked you?"
True Monarch Hong Yan's eyes flickered at his blunt question. After a brief hesitation, she replied, "Six! Six fully mature Heart Demons assaulted the Hong Clan!"
She added, "Fortunately, besides myself, our Clan Head Hong Guang has also mastered Mind Power, and my great-uncle Hong Tu has awakened his own. Before the Heart Demons could run rampant, we swiftly suppressed them all."
"Six? Do you know how many Heart Demons we encountered?" Li Chunjun retorted immediately. "One hundred and eight!"
"One hundred and eight?!" True Monarch Hong Yan exclaimed, her eyes widening in surprise before lighting up with delight. "One hundred and eight fully manifested Heart Demons?!"
"I expected you to be terrified," Li Chunjun said, mildly surprised.
"Our Hong Clan's homeworld possesses a Supreme Treasure left by our founding ancestor," True Monarch Hong Yan replied, her beautiful eyes sparkling with fervor. "Even if hundreds of Heart Demons were to assault us simultaneously, they couldn't harm the Hong Clan in the slightest."
She continued, "This spatial storm has dealt the Hong Clan a grievous blow. While our founding ancestor's continued presence safeguards our foundation, the massive depletion of manpower and resources will inevitably weaken our influence in the Azure Sea Domain... indeed, throughout the Profound Yellow Great World. If we can capture and refine these Heart Demons, the Hong Clan's power won't just remain intact—it will grow exponentially."
After all, in the current state of the world, people—or rather, a sufficient number of powerful cultivators—are the cornerstone of any thriving force.
"If you can withstand a hundred Heart Demons," Li Chunjun countered, "what about a thousand? Ten thousand? And what if an Ultimate Form Heart Demon emerges among them, capable of triggering a Demonic Calamity?"
True Monarch Hong Yan frowned. "Ultimate Forms? These Heart Demons are, on average, only at the level of ordinary Complete Forms. Even the higher-ranking Complete Forms are relatively rare."
"That's because they've just awakened from dormancy," Li Chunjun explained. "As time passes and they devour more sentient beings, they'll rapidly regain their full strength." He glanced at her. "The Hong Clan's Supreme Treasure protects your core territory, but surely it can't shield the entire Lesser Thousand World, can it?"
True Monarch Hong Yan fell silent, deep in thought.
After a long pause, she finally spoke. "Opportunity always comes with peril. Nothing in this world is gained without effort, nor do Supreme Treasures fall from the heavens. To obtain something, one must first sacrifice something else."
The True Monarch continued coldly, "The Golden Crow Battleship will take time to repair, won't it? During that time, we should cooperate to capture and refine as many Heart Demons as possible. If they truly are awakening as you say, by the time they reach their full strength in three to five years, the Golden Crow Battleship should be fully repaired. Then we can depart."
Hearing this, Li Chunjun finally understood the Hong Clan's true intentions.
They viewed these Heart Demons as a rare opportunity—a dangerous one, perhaps, but ultimately one where the benefits outweighed the risks. In their eyes, even if everyone else perished, nurturing ten or eight True Monarchs who had awakened Mind Power for the Hong Clan would still be a worthwhile trade. After all, any major power would unhesitatingly choose one Void Refiner over a hundred Primordial Spirits! Mind Power was one of the most crucial prerequisites for reaching the Void Refining stage.
Under these circumstances, they were willing to bear any losses, no matter how great, as long as they had a reliable escape route. And that escape route... was the Golden Crow Battleship.
Suddenly, as if realizing something, Li Chunjun asked, "Is this the Hong Clan's collective mindset?"
True Monarch Hong Yan immediately understood what Li Chunjun was implying. "Rest assured," she said, "we've thoroughly vetted the Hong Clan's core members and Primordial Spirit cultivators. They're all trustworthy. We have ample experience in dealing with Heart Demons."
"Vetted?" Li Chunjun stared at True Monarch Hong Yan. "The three Mind Power cultivators in your clan are, at best, only at the first stage of the Mind Realm. What about those fully formed Heart Demons that have resurfaced to higher tiers?"
He said gravely, "I strongly urge you to use your clan's treasured artifact to thoroughly re-examine everyone in your Lesser Thousand World. Our Azure Star Minor Realm has faced over a hundred Heart Demons, while yours has only encountered six. This discrepancy is deeply suspicious and illogical!"
As for the possibility of the Hong Clan relocating to the Azure Star Minor Realm...
He didn't even need to ask; he already knew it was a pipe dream.
Judging by the Hong Clan's attitude, the fact that they hadn't outright seized the Golden Crow Battleship was merely a courtesy extended to him as the first-ranked member of the Star Brilliance List.
Otherwise, in this Forbidden Zone far removed from Human Territory, regardless of shared ancestry or origin, the stronger faction would naturally plunder and enslave the weaker—a matter of course.
"The Hong Clan sincerely wishes to collaborate with Sword Prodigy Li," True Monarch Hong Yan declared. "Together, we can hunt Heart Demons and nurture powerful Primordial Spirit True Monarchs. At the very least, we can imprison these demons and sell them for a minimum of a million Spirit Crystals each. Furthermore, we are willing to assist Sword Prodigy Li in repairing the Golden Crow Battleship, establishing a shared escape route..."
"Wait until you've purged all the Heart Demons from the Hong Clan's Lesser Thousand World. If you find yourselves unable to handle them all, then you can ask us for help."
Li Chunjun cut her off.
True Monarch Hong Yan gazed at Li Chunjun, her eyes flickering with suspicion. "Sword Prodigy Li, could it be that you fear losing your dominance over Blue Star and your position among the True Monarchs of the Multiverse Hegemony War Committee if you cooperate with the Hong Clan?"
Li Chunjun shook his head.
Even now, her mind is still stuck on power struggles?
He waved his hand dismissively.
True Monarch Hong Yan suddenly sensed an overwhelming force of repulsion surging through the surrounding space.
The abrupt shift in the atmosphere startled her, and her expression darkened. "This technique..."
In the next instant, whether due to interference with the Heaven-Piercing Instrument or some other cause, True Monarch Hong Yan's Divine Sense vanished completely.
Far away in the Hong Clan's Lesser Thousand World, inside a towering domed structure over a kilometer high, True Monarch Hong Yan opened her eyes, her gaze lingering on an indelible sense of astonishment.
"To control an entire world and manifest as its World Will?! Has Li Chunjun's Mind Realm truly reached such heights?!" she murmured to herself.
Yet she quickly dismissed the thought. "Impossible. No matter how you slice it, his cultivation level remains unchanged. How far could his Mind Realm possibly have progressed? He merely secured the Star Brilliance First Rank; perhaps he was granted a Supreme Treasure of the mind, similar to our Hong Clan's..."
As she recalled the miraculous properties of her clan's Supreme Treasure and Li Chunjun's near-manifestation as the World Will, a flicker of greed flashed in the eyes of this True Monarch, whose power rivaled that of a Primordial Spirit Prodigy.
However, she swiftly suppressed the impulse.
Though the Azure Star Minor Realm's overall strength couldn't match the Hong Clan's, it boasted its share of formidable experts. Until the external situation clarified and Li Chunjun's true combat prowess was fully understood, caution remained paramount.
"Still, we could dispatch scouts under the guise of assisting with repairs to the Golden Crow Battleship, using it as an opportunity to gather intelligence," she mused, her thoughts swirling like eddies in her mind.
The first contact between the Azure Star Minor Realm and the Hong Clan concluded with cautious restraint.
Having expelled True Monarch Hong Yan's power, Li Chunjun turned his attention to Yu Jin's situation.
After a day's journey, the Wood Spirit Empire was finally within sight.
However, just as the Silver Leaf warship approached the outer perimeter of the Wood Spirit Empire's Lesser Thousand World, a streak of light tore through the void.
Upon closer inspection, it proved to be a warship slightly larger than the Silver Leaf.
But that wasn't the main point. More importantly, Yu Jin, with his keen senses, detected a trace of life energy emanating from the vessel.
Having dealt with the Golden Crow Battleship for years, he instantly recognized its nature.
"This is... a silicon-based lifeform?!"
The moment Yu Jin identified the silicon-based entity, the Silver Leaf found itself locked onto by the opposing warship.
In the next instant, a beam of blazing energy surged through space, striking the Silver Leaf—a vessel lacking advanced defensive or warning systems beyond its speed—with devastating force.
(End of the Chapter)
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