The State Battleship shuddered violently. The high-energy microwave beams shot from the triangular warships, though each beam caused local gravitational field disturbances in the void. The battleship swayed uncontrollably, like a pedestrian burdened with a lead weight on the left hand, a pig's head on the right, and two pork trotters tied around the neck. Under the assault of dozens of high-energy beams, the main structure of the warship groaned under the strain, "Crack!" A dozen palm-width fissures suddenly split open the floor of the command cabin.

"Counterattack!" Gu Xichen roared a command.

Penghua wrenched his head free from the wall panel and darted to the command cabin's fire control platform, smashing a punch onto the cannon firing key. Just as the Heath officer in front of the platform reached out to press that very key, Penghua’s punch flattened his palm. The unfortunate officer froze for a moment before snatching his hand back, letting out a hysterical scream.

The automated counterattack sequence of the Tier Three warship activated. The ship's main cannon and the hundreds of secondary guns mounted on the hull fired simultaneously, blanketing all enemy vessels in a dense rain of light.

Silently, a thin shield, seemingly no thicker than a strand of silk, intercepted the high-energy light projectiles launched by the battleship. The shield trembled faintly, rippling like disturbed water. Every beam of high-energy light pierced this shield and vanished without a trace. It was not canceled out; rather, it disappeared as if it had plunged into a black hole.

The triangular warships seized this fleeting moment, their hulls slicing elegant, vast arcs, moving directly above Gu Xichen's flagship, and showering it again with a dense rain of light.

Fuya and Ming gasped in unison, "The legendary Subspace Absolute Defense Energy Shield! Even among Six-Star Civilizations, this has only existed in the theoretical validation stage in laboratories!"

Hailis’s eyes lit up, and he shrieked uncontrollably, "This technology—it’s mine, it’s mine, it must be mine!"

Gu Xichen snorted coldly, and the Azure Lotus Ring suddenly detached from his finger, shooting out of the warship as a circle of cyan light. A wash of misty green radiance swept across the black warships, and several of them instantly winked out of existence. He couldn't even be bothered to argue with Hailis; it was always safer to secure a treasure first.

The so-called Subspace Absolute Defense Energy Shield functions by artificially creating a short-lived subspace jump gate within a localized area. When enemy ordnance strikes, all projectiles enter the subspace, leaving the main body of the warship unharmed. Even in the Star Alliance’s most powerful and advanced Six-Star Civilizations, this technology was confined to theoretical study in laboratories. Yet, these small warships before them had already deployed this technology in a practical application.

"No! This is an unprecedented discovery, an ancient relic! You cannot keep it all to yourself!" Hailis, drawing on some unknown source of courage, lunged toward Gu Xichen.

Ducate seized Hailis by the neck and slowly lifted his entire body into the air. Ducate growled in a muffled voice, "When we act, you cooperate. What is yours, you will receive your share; what is not yours, you cannot seize! If you attempt to forcibly take what isn't yours, we won't hesitate to use violence."

"I cooperate, I fully cooperate!" Hailis quickly raised both hands, laughing sheepishly at Ducate. "We are allies, allies! Please, do not use force to damage our relationship! Uh, those warships—I only need one for my people to study. Is that acceptable? Is it? Speak, my lord!"

Gu Xichen recalled the Azure Lotus Ring and, in one smooth motion, took out the Dark Jade Square Strange Beast Inscribed Water Venerable. While using the Pure True Profound Water to conjure a mist that enveloped the three warships, Gu Xichen stated calmly, "That is naturally the case. I am a man who honors his agreements. As long as you refrain from any foolish actions that jeopardize our pact, you have absolutely no need to worry."

The faint black mist covered the three warships. Under Gu Xichen’s command, they lumbered forward, flying straight toward the massive space base ahead.

Along the way, they encountered no fewer than several thousand small, perfectly triangular warships. These vessels zipped back and forth with lightning speed. Although they were flying in normal space, the scans from their fire control radars indicated speeds reaching ten times the speed of light! Ten times the speed of light in normal space—an outrageous velocity!

Everyone stared at the feedback data from the fire control radars, struck dumb. This completely overturned the foundational theories of all current Star Alliance spatial physicists. While Star Alliance warships possessed extremely high speeds, they required subspace travel to achieve them. To attain speeds exceeding ten times light speed in normal space was incomprehensible and unacceptable.

Only Gu Xichen’s divine sense managed to glimpse the true state of these vessels—they seemed to exist simultaneously in normal space and subspace. No, perhaps their physical existence resided within the spatial barrier between normal space and subspace, with the warships in normal space and subspace merely being projections of their true forms. By altering the material structure of their hulls and the energy frequency filling every atom, they could appear anywhere at will. Because they were not truly resident in normal space, any flying speed they possessed was viable.

A miraculous artifact refining technique from the Compendium of Celestial Artifacts flooded into Gu Xichen’s mind: the True Magnetic Two-Polarity Spectrum Splitting Sword. According to the description by the Great Clumsy Hermit, this sword was forged by collecting naturally occurring powerful magnetic lines from some kind of Heaven and Earth Abyss, refining them from formless energy into physical matter using Innate Fire as the raw material. The resulting sword possessed a flight speed hundreds of times faster than light, achieving the terrifying realm of swift, untraceable killing.

This True Magnetic Two-Polarity Spectrum Splitting Sword was a being half-energy, half-matter. Once refined, it could not be nurtured with Primordial Spirit and True Essence like ordinary magic artifacts. Instead, it had to be stored in a specially crafted sword box to continuously absorb and strengthen itself with the so-called Two-Polarity Spectrum Splitting Qi. It seemed that this Two-Polarity Spectrum Splitting Qi was the marvelous energy existing within the spatial barrier between normal space and subspace. This sword shared the same principle as the small warships outside, which explained their incredible super-speed.

Having understood the principle, Gu Xichen suddenly laughed out loud: "So that’s how it is. No wonder they fly so fast; it's not strange at all. It’s just that the materials are hard to find. Hmm, where do these warships source their materials?" Gu Xichen stared at the ships outside the viewport, his heart pounding with excitement.

The others did not understand why Gu Xichen was laughing, but he knew perfectly well. The magnetic lines generated by the Heaven and Earth Abyss required to refine the True Magnetic Two-Polarity Spectrum Splitting Sword were exceedingly rare. The Compendium of Celestial Artifacts recorded that the Great Clumsy Hermit had spent many years searching just to find enough material to forge three flying swords, which he gifted to an old friend famous throughout the Three Realms for his evasion techniques. In the Hall of Celestial Craftsmanship, not even a speck of the raw material remained.

But the Roman warships outside were flying so fast; the materials used to construct them were absolutely worth attempting to use for refining the True Magnetic Two-Polarity Spectrum Splitting Sword! If that proved true, Gu Xichen wouldn't mind forging it into his own Natal Magic Artifact! Imagine fighting someone in normal space—before the enemy’s artifact could even be deployed, his flying sword would have already severed the opponent’s body. Such destructive power was intensely tempting to Gu Xichen.

Lost in this thrilling thought, Gu Xichen rapidly released the Azure Lotus Ring, sweeping up all the triangular vessels, near and far, into the artifact. Where the cyan light passed, the Buddhist Sumeru Mustard Seed divine power spanned both positive and reverse space, using supreme Buddhist force to suck both the main bodies and projections of these warships into the ring, allowing none to escape.

Gradually, the three warships approached the colossal space base ahead.

Everyone stared at the magnificent, spectacular artificial structure before them, involuntarily sucking in a sharp breath of cold air, feeling a wave of numbness wash over them.

It was a space base roughly pyramidal in shape, divided into hundreds of levels from bottom to top. Thousands of fine cables interconnected each level, and gigantic elevators raced up and down these cables, constantly transporting metal beams or finished mechanical components to the various tiers.

The scale of this base was indescribable. According to the fire control radar scans, the thickness of every single level exceeded ten kilometers, and the top layer—the smallest in area—had side lengths of over a thousand kilometers. As for the lowest level, which was continuously receiving minerals transported by the super-motherships, its side length reached a terrifying fifty thousand kilometers. It was a continent, a man-made metal continent.

Ducate released Hailis, staring transfixedly at the impossibly huge artificial structure outside the viewport.

Gu Xichen lightly tapped Hailis’s shoulder with his fan, chuckling, "If Your Highness is interested in this base, I can waive my share and transfer it to you! Hmm, provided you have the means to control such a massive base, provided you can conceal its existence, and possess the ability to protect it from invasion."

Hailis shook his head dryly. He was merely a prince of the Heath Empire, albeit one of the three most important princes. Such an incredible space base, left alone in this empty void, was a waste. If he brought it back to the Heath Empire, setting aside his inability to transport it, even if he could bring it back, he couldn't protect it. Six-Star Civilizations, upon hearing of it, would certainly seize the base and, under the pretext of crimes against humanity, dismember the Heath Empire into hundreds of broken small nations.

"As an ally, I transfer the due benefits of this base to Lord Gu Xichen!" Hailis said wisely. "But those ten super-motherships I discovered—I require five of them. That alone is enough to solidify my unshakeable position within the Heath imperial family! Furthermore, you must provide me with adequate compensation!" (To be continued)