The masters who came were all figures who had reached the zenith; out of the over one billion people currently in the Yang world, only fifty or so were Masters—an average of one for every six hundred million people?

In ancient times, before the Awakening were even recognized, the entire world might not have even had six hundred million inhabitants. Narrowing that down to the ancient Divine Land, it’s easy to imagine that those who achieved Transcendent Sainthood were super experts rarely seen in a century.

Like Daoist Master Zhang Sanfeng, founder of the Tai Chi Temple on Wudang Mountain, and Patriarch Bodhidharma of the Shaolin Temple—both were supreme figures who had reached the state of Transcendent Sainthood.

As for whether they reached the absolute peak, that has long been lost to the river of history, beyond verification.

After seeing the three Masters off, Yang Ying's Prime Body and Blade were fully immersed in preparing for the Jupiter War mission. This time, Yang Ying's Prime Body was also preparing to emerge from the hidden base, intending to accompany the three ‘Face’ Battleships to Jupiter.

Was there anything left in the Solar System that could inspire fear in him?

His clones were already hidden in every corner of the Solar System, and the target transport ships heading outside the Solar System had already sent back confirmation of their safe departure. He himself could practically be considered immortal; this was the very moment to press forward with valor.

Incidentally, besides Yang Ying’s clones, the transport ships also carried a number of Protoss Probes—Workers.

The Protoss's translocation technology was extremely advanced; with the positioning provided by a Probe, structures on the Floating Continent could be materialized into the real world.

If those transport ships that flew beyond the Solar System found a suitable planet to inhabit, they could establish an entire colony at any time through the Probes.

However, given the tortoise-like speed of the transport ships, heaven only knew how long it would take, perhaps until the year of the monkey, before they found a new planet.

Yang Ying was not pinning his dream of interstellar travel on those transport ships. The Protoss Probes aboard were merely a failsafe.

What truly carried Yang Ying's cosmic ambition was the Juggernaut-class Battlecruiser.

The Juggernaut-class Battlecruisers were equipped with superluminal engines, allowing the warships to enter hyperspace for spatial jumps—this was the ideal method of interstellar travel in Yang Ying's mind.

Of course, for now, this remained just a notion. To utilize these Battlecruisers, they first had to roll off the production line.

The situation on the front lines could not wait; every minute, every second mattered. The trapped populace in the Jupiter colonies and the frontline fleet intercepting the Ancient Legion in Jupiter's orbit would face ever-increasing danger.

Forty-eight hours after the Jupiter War mission was announced, registration closed.

When the deadline arrived, all the large mercenary groups that had signed up began assembling outside the Mercenary Alliance Headquarters in Woriel City, fully equipped and ready to depart.

This time, the Earth Government and Military, desperate to rescue the trapped civilians of the Jupiter colonies and salvage their public image, spared no expense. They dispatched the Second Fleet, which was originally stationed in Earth's orbit, to execute the Jupiter evacuation mission.

Generally speaking, a nation’s most elite forces were stationed in only two places: the front lines or the capital.

The First and Second Fleets had always guarded Earth, representing the two most elite formations of the Earth Military. Having the Second Fleet deployed now gave the participating mercenaries immense confidence.

That was not all. Accompanying the Second Fleet were the Eleventh Fleet, formerly stationed in Venus's orbit, and the Twelfth Fleet, from Mercury's orbit.

Sending three Fleets to the front lines simultaneously demonstrated the firm resolve of the military high command regarding this operation.

As for the defense duties on Mercury and Venus orbits, they were merged and taken over by the newly established Fourteenth Fleet.

The military timed things precisely; the assembly time for the mercenary fleet coincided exactly with the arrival time of the three Fleets at the Ceres defense perimeter.

Yang Ying personally deployed his Prime Body this time, boarding the flagship among the three ‘Face’ Battleships alongside Blade.

Accompanying them was a squadron of twelve Valkyrie Frigates, and two squadrons totaling twenty-four Observers standing by out of sight.

Because command structures differ greatly between mercenaries and the military—the military emphasizing absolute obedience where orders from superiors must be executed without question—the rules for mercenaries are far more lax. Major mercenary groups operate independently, and coordinating a joint battle requires resolving issues of cooperation and issuing commands first.

Fortunately, this was not the first time a war mission had been issued. The military and the mercenaries had already established customary protocols defining their respective rights and obligations. The military would issue mission quotas, which the mercenary side could not refuse without just cause. If there were objections to the quota, it could be submitted to the Arbitration Council for ruling.

Both sides were bound to abide by the arbitration result. If the Council deemed the military's quota excessive, the military had to issue a revised quota. If they found the mercenary side to be unreasonable, the mercenaries would be compelled to complete the mission.

As for the members of this Arbitration Council, they were composed of representatives appointed by both the military and the mercenaries.

As one of the super mercenary groups, the Tran Mercenary Group held one seat on the Arbitration Council. Yang Ying instructed Blade to take this position.

Once the participating mercenary groups assembled, they underwent some reorganization before igniting their drives and setting off.

The numerous warships, large and small, formed a relatively loose formation. The closer to the center, the larger the vessel's size. Ten brand-new space cities were positioned at the heart of this combined fleet, protected by hundreds of large, even capital-class warships. Medium and small vessels formed the outer perimeter of the fleet, serving warning and rapid response roles.

The distance from Ceres to Jupiter was not great; the estimated journey time was fifty-two hours.

After the combined fleet set sail, it took thirteen hours to exit the Asteroid Belt and enter the outer Solar System. The space around the fleet was empty; not a single meteoroid was visible.

Many aboard the fleet began to grow tense.

Because now, with the frontline fleet consolidated around Jupiter, the entire outer Solar System fell within the operational range of the Ancient Legion. After leaving the Asteroid Belt, they could encounter an Ancient Legion fleet at any moment.

To prevent the combined fleet from being detected and falling into a passive state, Admiral Alexander, commander of Earth Military’s Second Fleet, ordered all vessels to maintain high alert, constantly monitoring their radar for anomalous signals. Any suspicious situation was to be reported to him immediately.

Without the interference of countless meteoroids, the radar screens were much clearer, unlike within the Asteroid Belt where the screens were often a dense array of light spots, making target acquisition extremely difficult.

The combined fleet navigated cautiously, heading directly towards Jupiter.

By the next day, they had put significant distance between themselves and the Asteroid Belt, but there was still no news of encountering the enemy.

The Tran Mercenary Group’s three ‘Face’ Battleships, despite being somewhat older and a generation behind the mainline warships, were classified as heavy cruisers by volume and thus occupied a position relatively close to the core of the fleet.

The twelve Valkyrie Frigates maintained a perimeter watch on the fleet's outer edges, nearly a thousand kilometers away from Yang Ying's position.

Inside the bridge, Yang Ying sat at a station below the Captain's chair, observing the mission objective displayed on a holographic screen before him, his mind constantly analyzing.

Since the fleet deployed by the Tran Mercenary Group was not the largest contingent, they needed to operate alongside three other major mercenary groups.

The military’s assigned quota was to assist in the evacuation of one of the ten colonies surrounding Jupiter—specifically, a medium-sized colony on Europa, named Narcissus City.

Europa, or Io, was one of Jupiter’s moons highly suitable for terraforming into a habitable world; five of the ten colonies were located on this moon.

The other mercenary groups received similar assignments. The evacuation of all ten colonies was scheduled to proceed simultaneously and be completed as quickly as possible, guarding against any unforeseen actions by the Ancient Legion should they detect the operation.

Yang Ying pulled up the schematics for Narcissus City on the holographic screen, reviewing the evacuation plan drafted by the military. Although the military was short on personnel, they were hesitant to leave the delicate work of city evacuation entirely to mercenaries.

In addition to the mercenary groups, the military would also dispatch Space Marines to participate in the evacuation of Narcissus City; the Tran Mercenary Group's task was primarily to support the military units deployed.

Yang Ying studied the maps, committing them firmly to memory for any contingency.

The voice of a staff officer suddenly interrupted him: "Sir, the Observers are reporting something. An unmanned reconnaissance drone from the Ancient Legion is three million kilometers ahead of us."

"Have the Observers move a bit further out. See if that drone is patrolling alone or escorting a fleet," Yang Ying commanded.

The staff officer manipulated the controls, sending Yang Ying's orders out.

Howard's captain's chair was the highest seat on the bridge; as long as he remained there, it signified his absolute command over the vessel.

However, Howard was not in the chair at the moment; even a clone needed to sleep, and he was currently deep in slumber.

After the staff officer finished executing the orders, he inquired, "Sir, should we notify the flagship of the combined fleet about this?"

Yang Ying paused, then nodded. "Yes. Send the flagship a message."

The staff officer complied with Yang Ying's request. After a short while, he turned back. "The flagship asks us to confirm whether there is a fleet from the Ancient Legion behind the unmanned drone."

Yang Ying smiled faintly. "We are already doing that. Just wait." He had anticipated this reaction from the flagship.

Meanwhile, inside the flagship's bridge, Admiral Alexander muttered to himself, "Before we left, Randolph told me this Tran Mercenary Group is exceptionally skilled in reconnaissance and stealth, though perhaps less so in other areas. I wonder if they were detected by the enemy reconnaissance drone when they spotted our drone... Hmm... I hope not."

Admiral Alexander turned to his staff officer. "Keep a close watch on communications from the Tran Mercenary Group. If they spot the enemy, I want to know immediately."

"Yes, sir," the staff officer replied.

On the other side, Yang Ying received the report from the Observers. Indeed, there was a fleet belonging to the Ancient Legion behind the drone, estimated to be about one-tenth the size of the combined fleet.

"Inform the flagship of this," Yang Ying instructed his staff officer.