Ten olive-shaped warships sliced through space at high velocity, their trajectory locked onto Pluto. These vessels were identical in size and shape, yet thirty were sheathed in brilliant, dazzling gold, while the other thirty bore the practical, somber camouflage of matte black. The warships boasted a thickest diameter of two hundred meters at the midsection, extending up to six hundred meters from bow to stern.

At the rear, thirty-six plasma vents, six vertical and six horizontal, each about a meter in diameter, exhaled faint blue flares that trailed nearly a thousand meters in the vacuum, propelling the ships silently through space at incredible speed. "Hunter Type I," these were specialized warships jointly developed by the Earth Federation and the Roman Kingdom specifically for hunting the Christo-Crystals. These vessels possessed grotesquely formidable defenses; the armor plating alone was fifty meters thick, woven and coupled from dozens of layers of specialized material.

The massive engine assembly occupied nearly one-fifth of the ship's volume, powerful enough to sustain an energy shield one hundred meters deep, granting them a monstrous defensive capability capable of resisting the close-range detonation of a large-yield hydrogen bomb. Each warship carried only a single main cannon centered on the bow, a five-thousand-millimeter caliber weapon that spanned the entire hull. It could fire multiple specialized energy beams—Cryo-Freeze Rays, powerful Magnetic Tethers, Ultra-High Temperature Beams, and others.

If sixty warships simultaneously targeted an object with their Magnetic Tether fields, the instantaneous gravitational collapse would be sufficient to shatter a minor meteor no larger than five hundred kilometers in diameter. The ship's Cryo-Freeze Ray could instantly drop temperatures close to absolute zero, while the Ultra-High Temperature Beam could briefly spike to an astonishing ten million degrees. These warships concentrated the highest technological achievements of the Earth Federation and the Roman Kingdom; even the extremely rare Purple-Tier Crystal Beings stood almost no chance of escape when encountering a Hunter Type III vessel.

The Christo-Crystals were classified as the most critical and highly classified strategic resource by both the Earth Federation and the Roman Kingdom. The sixty Hunter warships were activated only during the joint hunts conducted once every decade, requiring the simultaneous input of supreme control codes from the Federation President and the Roman King before deployment was authorized. The major powers of the Earth Federation and the powerful families of the Roman Kingdom occasionally deployed their private fleets to hunt Christo-Crystals as well, but a standard Type I warship faced immense risk when attempting to successfully capture even one or two Crystal Beings against their stronger counterparts.

The black crystal sphere, fused from the ancient capital's dust, was secured only after the House of Horsom deployed a fleet of nine Type I warships, sacrificing numerous soldiers and eight combat vessels to achieve that fortunate capture. Aboard the flagship of the Earth Federation's hunting fleet, disciples of the Dao Alliance like Nihua and Little Daoist Zhang were indulging in hedonistic pleasure, their physical forms unrestrained. The strict precepts were mere painted cakes here, and the sect's prohibitions had dissolved into dust.

Whether monk, Daoist, Confucian, demon, devil, ghost, or specter, every single one was engaged in wild drinking and revelry, venting every suppressed negative emotion. Nihua danced gracefully in the soldiers' entertainment hall, embracing a beautiful woman who was nearly stripped bare. Her lingerie was pinned with brightly colored banknotes!

The woman’s face was etched with the deep weariness of the pleasure quarters, clearly a seasoned courtesan. Nihua was surely the first person in the history of the Earth Federation to bring a hired escort onto a warship. Little Daoist Zhang sat nearby, tearing into meat and guzzling wine alongside several rogue cultivators.

Several women, similarly carrying the scent of the streets, swayed their hips rhythmically, serving them meat and pouring wine without pause. The grinning, scrawny Little Monk sat squarely in the lap of a beautiful woman, fondling her chest while ceaselessly chanting Buddhist mantras. "Namo, oh Amitabha!

Ai-yai-yai, cultivating the heart in the red dust—this saying truly holds weight. My Daoist heart has advanced greatly these past few days, an unprecedented leap! The Buddha says that form is emptiness, and emptiness is form.

Me touching your [omitted] is the same as not touching your chest; me sitting on your lap is the same as not being on your lap!" The spacious entertainment hall was thick with smoke and debauchery, a chaotic scene of rampant excess. General Tartarus, his face pale green, stood cautiously by the entrance with a few aides, peering into the hall for a few moments before silently turning away. The hunt for the Christo-Crystals was a matter of extreme importance for the Earth Federation, and General Tartarus was present as the military's representative to oversee the operation.

In a secluded chamber somewhere within the vessel, Siren, Aredia, Fang Ruo, and Maha sat cross-legged, bathed in flickering red light. Sweat streamed from their bodies, and their four forms trembled subtly as wave after wave of potent mental energy pulsed outward from within them. Especially the brothers Prajna and Maha, whose hands were tightly clasped; between their palms swirled a hazy sphere of energy emitting a terrifying aura.

Waves of energy, nearly solidified, churned through the room, causing the very walls to visibly strain. Hanging on the room's walls were huge talismans, three meters in length, drawn with century-old cinnabar on golden silk backing. Mysterious runes covered the fabric, which continuously emitted a red light resembling the first rays of dawn.

This tangled red light firmly enveloped the mental fluctuations emanating from Siren and the others, sealing all energy signatures within the confines of the small room. Adjacent to the four practicing cultivators' chamber was a lavishly furnished suite. Gu Xichen sat upright on a cushion woven from 'Purple Soul Grass,' entirely focused on listening to Zhao Yi explain the fundamentals of the Xuanji Sect's formation arts.

Following Gu Xichen's deep, steady breaths, two dragon-like streams of Taiyin Xuan Yan—shrouded in chilling frost—exhaled from his nostrils, circled his body thirty-six times, and were then slowly drawn back in. With every breath, the Taiyin Xuan Yan seemed to strengthen slightly. The cushion woven from Purple Soul Grass pulsed with a dense, chilling purple light.

This light, seemingly substantial, seeped through Gu Xichen's skin and into his body, tinting his flesh a magnificent purple hue. A wondrously cool energy surged from the cushion into Gu Xichen's core, nourishing his primordial spirit and essence, rendering his mind utterly clear, pure, and untouched by any speck of dust. Under the potent influence of the Purple Soul Grass, Gu Xichen gained a memory that never faded and an analytical comprehension frighteningly powerful.

Every formation principle Zhao Yi explained, Gu Xichen grasped almost instantaneously. This cushion also originated from Paradise Star; any item Zhao Yi managed to single out from countless magical treasures was undoubtedly a top-tier artifact. Purple Soul Grass had been extinct in the cultivation circles of Earth for over a thousand years.

It naturally absorbed ambient spiritual energy and transformed it into a mystical 'Purple Soul Spirit Mist' that nurtured a cultivator’s spirit, imperceptibly boosting their intelligence. Theoretically, even a comatose, foolish pig lying on a cushion made of Purple Soul Grass, given enough time, could evolve into a sage whose intellect surpassed the combined genius of Einstein and Newton. Beside Gu Xichen and Zhao Yi sat a small, golden toad-shaped white jade censer.

Inside, a thumb-sized piece of black wood burned, continuously spewing fragrant smoke from the toad's mouth. Wherever the pale blue tendrils of smoke passed, all dust in the room vanished without a trace. Under the nurturing effect of this smoke, the mental states of Gu Xichen and Zhao Yi became even more ethereal and pristine, their minds completely immersed in the infinitely profound Way of Formations.