The imperial soldiers trembled and dissolved into a puddle of weakness on the ground. Gu Xiechen was terrifying at this moment, suspended a meter above the earth. The dark clouds in the sky churned with the sweep of the Fuyao Fan, and thunder and lightning descended heavily with his every breath. Hail and icy winds arrived at his beckoning and vanished with a wave. This power no longer belonged to humanity; it was the domain of another kind of being.

"Who did this!" With a pointed finger, an Yafeike officer flailed wildly and shot into the air. He stared at Gu Xiechen in sheer terror, shrieked several times hysterically, then tilted his head and passed out.

Gu Xiechen ground his teeth in fury; these Yafeike people were simply too useless.

Fuya.Ming’s face flushed crimson. She strode up to her subordinates and sharply reprimanded, "Did you not hear Lord Gu’s words? Who did it?"

The Queen’s deterrence was far less potent than Gu Xiechen’s. In front of Fuya.Ming, these Yafeike men felt no corresponding fear. A military officer tremblingly raised his hand and stammered, "It was the 'Bloodfang' Ability Group. It was Bloodfang! Their four Grand Commanders acted together!"

Jin’s brows furrowed tightly. She cautiously approached Gu Xiechen and whispered, "The Bloodfang Ability Group is the second-ranked group in the Star Alliance, slightly stronger than even our Broken Hook. They have four Grand Commanders, all peak six-star Venerables, and twenty-four Vice Commanders, all Abilities nearing or having reached six-star Huanli. They are extremely difficult to deal with."

The Fuyao Fan waved lightly, and Gu Xiechen smiled faintly. "Oh? So that's how it is. I just won three thousand battleships, and the Bloodfang people managed to arrive so promptly?"

Jin gazed at Gu Xiechen’s face with rapt attention, murmuring, "I heard that many high-ranking officials from the thirteen nations whose battleships you won have connections with the Bloodfang people. Perhaps they were actually aboard the fleet." Her small hands twisted together tightly, and Jin whispered, "Just as Sister Fuya invited me here to assist her, it's likely someone invited them to blend into the fleet, preparing to use force to invade Yafeike. Three thousand battleships cannot breach Yafeike's planetary defense system, but a hundred powerful Abilities could perhaps manage it."

Gu Xiechen understood. The Bloodfang Ability Group was hidden within one of the national fleets. Their original target was the Yafeike Kingdom, but they hadn't expected the thirteen leading princes to botch things up so badly, losing three thousand Tier One battleships to Gu Xiechen. This was not only a fatal blow to the thirteen princes themselves but also a massive weakening of the thirteen kingdoms backing them. Therefore, the faction colluding with the Bloodfang Ability Group, or perhaps the thirteen kingdoms jointly, simply ordered the Bloodfang people to take action.

Letting Linghu and Huoemu, who were heavily injured while going to claim the spoils, take the blame, the Bloodfang Ability Group would shoulder this burden. These kingdoms would then avoid the infamy of breaking their duel agreements.

It was likely that the three thousand Tier One battleships were already speeding away from Yafeike under the command of the Bloodfang Ability Group. As for what price these nations would pay to retrieve those ships from Bloodfang afterward, that was no longer Gu Xiechen's concern. The responsibility lay with Gu Xiechen for being unable to protect what he had won, not with the thirteen kingdoms.

"Good, good, good!" Gu Xiechen laughed heartily, his eyes shining. "What a plan, what an idea! Hey, Ying— Ya, help look after my subordinates... Get me the fastest battleship in Yafeike!"

Fuya.Ming nodded. She knew exactly what Gu Xiechen intended to do. Having witnessed his terrifying power, Fuya.Ming had no further worries about what he was about to undertake.

Jin raised her little hand and exclaimed eagerly, "I have the fastest courier ship in the Spiral Nebula, but only I can pilot it!"

Gu Xiechen swept his long sleeve, and instantly the anomalies in the sky vanished. The dark clouds, icy winds, thunder, lightning, and hail disappeared without a trace. The world-shattering scene from moments before seemed like nothing more than a nightmare. If not for the thick layer of hail still coating the ground, everyone would have assumed they had all hallucinated that terrifying spectacle after consuming a Lianyun 7 drug together.

The fastest courier ship in the Spiral Nebula that Jin spoke of was indeed worthy of its title. This small vessel, less than a hundred meters long, could approach absolute light speed in normal space. Compared to the standard cruising speed of half the speed of light for ordinary warships, this velocity was frighteningly fast. Even when entering subspace, this ship, named the Great Horn, could achieve speeds more than double that of current Star Alliance standard warships.

Industriously ushering Gu Xiechen into the cockpit of the Great Horn, Jin quickly fitted a helmet over her own head. She introduced with a bright smile, "The Great Horn was my coming-of-age gift from my father. Because I always manage to stir up trouble, this battleship’s offensive power is practically zero, but its defense is three times that of an ordinary Tier One warship, and its speed is several times greater than the standard issue."

"It's for running away after you cause trouble!" Gu Xiechen pinpointed the Great Horn's ultimate purpose with cutting accuracy.

Jin laughed awkwardly, her pair of captivating eyes circling Gu Xiechen’s face until they narrowed into slits of mirth. "Most of the time, it's not me looking for trouble; trouble comes looking for me. Like that time I first met Sister Fuya, a princess from a Tier Three civilization was absolutely determined to pursue me. Eventually, they mobilized their kingdom’s Royal Guard to hunt me down. Thankfully, Sister Fuya upheld justice and scared them off using the authority of the Yafeike Kingdom, otherwise..."

Kanhua, perched on a seat, interjected with a strange tone, "A princess... chasing you?"

Gu Xiechen also looked at Jin in surprise. Jin’s small face crumpled into a frown. While skillfully activating the various subsystems in the cockpit to preheat the propulsion engine, she sighed mournfully, "I just thought she was pretty and played a beautiful sanzhou qin. So, I gifted her a 'Tri-color Cloud Brocade Flower,' a specialty of 'Piaoyun Star.' And then she insisted on marrying me! Simply an incomprehensible woman!"

With a cold snort, Jin tilted her head with an almost wicked air, declaring dismissively, "Of course. If her looks were even half as beautiful as mine, I wouldn't mind having an affair with her. But she is not half as beautiful, not half as capable, nor half as smart as me. Not even the smoothness of her skin is half as delicate and supple as mine. So, why would I want her?"

"Ugh!" Gu Xiechen fell silent, instinctively pressing himself back against the seat, trying to shrink into the upholstery. Jin's words were chilling.

Kanhua, meanwhile, looked like a hungry wolf spotting a white rabbit, exclaiming with excitement, "You like women?"