The Shield of Yafik sliced through subspace at high velocity. Ducat and Xiao spent their days in tandem, a constant stream of the Star Alliance’s most advanced technological data flowing into Xiao's memory banks, which in turn provided ever-better solutions after digestion. All the intelligence Gu Xiechen had managed to acquire regarding energy engines was given to Xiao, in the hope that he could devise a way to solve the energy crisis plaguing the Roman fleet.

Ming Hua was terminally bored. He volunteered to become the commanding supervisor of the comprehensive training camp aboard the ship. Gritting his teeth, he instituted a training regimen so brutal that even the veteran mercenaries of Hadwar regarded it with terror. This plan, which could strip the skin off a man, drove hundreds of thousands of Yafik soldiers through mad, daily drills, pushing them to the brink of mutiny several times. Unfortunately, faced with the overwhelming power of Penghua and the eight thousand Hadwar mercenaries, the soldiers intending to revolt were beaten unconscious time and again, until they were forced to accept the painful reality.

In stark contrast to the wails and agonizing screams echoing from the dozens of massive training grounds carved out on the warship, Gu Xiechen’s quarters were utterly tranquil.

Aided by the Two-Yin Heaven-Seizing Elixir, Fuya Ming, already possessing exceptional aptitude, established a superb foundation for her Dao cultivation. Gu Xiechen personally, almost hand-over-hand, instructed her in the Primordial Essence True Canon, used his own True Essence to facilitate her meridian cleansing and blood purification, and employed the Spirit Gathering Array to help her condense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, rapidly setting Fuya Ming on the correct path of cultivation.

Jin pestered Gu Xiechen incessantly as well, determined to learn his peculiar method of cultivation: sitting cross-legged with both legs folded together.

With a headache induced by Jin’s persistent demands, Gu Xiechen reluctantly gave Jin a Two-Yin Heaven-Seizing Elixir and taught her a reasonably good set of techniques called the Heavenly Eye Divine Insight, letting her fumble along on her own.

Jin, too, was an ability user, and a rare one with a hereditary talent. Her supernatural power resided in her two eyes; legend held them to be the "Eyes of the Celestial God," capable of piercing all illusions. However, perhaps due to Jin’s currently weak level of power, her mastery over her eyes was still superficial. The Heavenly Eye Divine Insight originated from a cultivation experience imparted to Gu Xiechen by a golden star orbiting the Taiji Vortex—it was a Buddhist divine technique specializing in the cultivation of the eyes, perfectly complementing Jin’s innate talent.

Legend claimed that when this Heavenly Eye Divine Insight reached its zenith, it became the so-called "Dharma Eye," capable of perceiving the Three Thousand Worlds with a single glance, and possessing terrifying offensive power—a divine magical ability where the divine light passing from the eyes could shatter heaven and destroy earth. However, Gu Xiechen suspected that for Jin to reach this highest realm, it would likely take ten thousand years or more. This technique demanded profound cultivation of the mind and spirit, qualities that the flighty and impulsive Jin was congenitally ill-suited for.

In a spacious bedroom within the core section of the mothership, a massive Spirit Gathering Array was etched onto the floor, with thousands of Zakura crystals neatly inlaid at the array points. Fuya Ming, enveloped in a faint, multicolored airflow, sat cross-legged in the exact center of the array, clad only in tight-fitting undergarments, wholly absorbed in circulating the Primordial Essence True Canon. Faint black sweat continually seeped from her pores; the potent body-refining function of the Primordial Essence True Canon was purifying her flesh and strengthening her physiological functions.

Jin sat lazily in a corner of the Spirit Gathering Array, her eyes tightly shut. Occasionally, she would suddenly snap them open and glare fiercely at a fixed point in the air, then close them again, silently regulating her breath to focus her energy, before suddenly opening her eyes to glare fiercely at that same spot once more.

Gu Xiechen occupied the other corner of the Spirit Gathering Array.

The Primordial Yin Blazing Flame jetted from his palm, enveloping a white sword-casket, four feet and nine inches long and a palm’s width wide, within the foot-high flames for its final refinement. Large sheets of ice crystals sprayed from the casket, hitting the floor with sharp, hissing cracks. Countless sesame-seed-sized white runes flickered faintly within the mirror-smooth casket, which gradually became transparent. The white sword-casket finally transformed into a non-corporeal existence, like a shimmer of light. In Gu Xiechen’s palm, the casket twisted arbitrarily, like ripples on water.

He sharply clicked his teeth against the tip of his tongue, spitting a drop of hot blood onto the casket. Immediately, an extremely fine thread of blood rapidly circulated and swirled deep within the sword, gradually morphing into a faint, almost imperceptible blush resembling morning mist or rosy clouds. As Gu Xiechen formed hand seals and struck the casket with dozens of inscribed handprints, the rosy hue gradually receded. A swath of pale, cold light spewed forth from the casket. This anciently styled, completely unadorned sword-casket was now complete.

Casually placing the casket beside him, Gu Xiechen swept his divine sense over Fuya Ming and Jin.

Fuya Ming was at a crucial point in her cultivation. Thanks to Gu Xiechen's unrestrained assistance, her practice encountered absolutely no obstacles or risks. At this moment, she was totally immersed in her practice, clearly intending to glean as much benefit as possible while the True Essence Gu Xiechen had implanted within her had not yet dissipated.

As for Jin, her mind was unstable, her temper volatile, and she was nearing the breaking point. This Heavenly Eye Divine Insight technique was profound and subtle, placing the utmost importance on the state of one’s heart and spirit. Jin had already spent over a month on it but could not even grasp the entryway; there was not the slightest glimmer of dawn visible on the path ahead. The only thing keeping her from exploding was her strenuous effort to maintain a demure facade in front of Gu Xiechen.

Shaking his head, Gu Xiechen sighed. The task ahead of him permitted no interruptions. Fuya Ming, even upon completing her session, would not rashly disturb him. But this Jin was a bit unsettling.

Without even needing to think, Gu Xiechen sent out a gust of finger wind, striking Jin and knocking her unconscious. Nourished by the spiritual energy of the Spirit Gathering Array, and having been fed plenty of Bigu Pills before cultivation began, the energy would sustain her for two or five years in deep slumber without any issues.

Nodding in satisfaction, Gu Xiechen took out the container holding the True Magnetic Two-Yin Light. The sword-casket, which had taken over a month and vast quantities of material to refine, was prepared for this day. According to Ducat and Xiao’s estimations, returning to the Earth Federation at the current speed of the super-mothership would take about seven months; Gu Xiechen and the others had already spent over a year in transit, propelled forward only by the Space Surge. Reaching their destination within seven months was already remarkable, thanks to the astonishing speed achieved after Xiao’s improvements to the mothership’s drive.

Refining the sword-casket took over a month. For the remaining five-plus months, Gu Xiechen intended to forge a set of True Magnetic Two-Yin Splitting Light Swords. In the Heavenly Artifact Compendium, the Great Dull Hermit had commented that while the True Magnetic Two-Yin Splitting Light Sword might not be the most powerful of flying swords, it was undoubtedly the fastest in flight, possessed the most bizarre methods of attack, and was the most difficult to defend against. Most importantly, as the "Splitting Light" in the name suggested, the True Magnetic Two-Yin Splitting Light Sword could coalesce into a sword or disperse into energy, making its defense nearly as formidable as its attack.

Furthermore, the True Magnetic Two-Yin Light possessed an innate Yin-Yang magnetism that inherently countered all flying swords and magical treasures belonging to the Metal element. If deployed as a protective aura around the body, any flying sword or magical artifact affiliated with Metal could not approach.

Due to the ephemeral nature of the True Magnetic Two-Yin Light’s dispersal and coalescence, the Heavenly Artifact Compendium offered numerous suggestions. If materials were sufficient, the Great Dull Hermit advised forging eighty-four thousand True Magnetic Two-Yin Splitting Light Swords, which could form the "Celestial Stars Grand Array of Heaven Sealing," once the most powerful formation in the Heavenly Court. With the flight speed of the True Magnetic Two-Yin Splitting Light Swords, once the array was set, virtually no one could escape it. Naturally, if materials were insufficient, smaller sets could be forged: three hundred and sixty swords, one hundred and eight, seventy-two, thirty-six, and so on.

Weighing the supply of True Magnetic Two-Yin Light he had collected against his current cultivation level and techniques, Gu Xiechen shook his head.

Eighty-four thousand flying swords? While the Celestial Stars Grand Array of Heaven Sealing would undoubtedly make him unstoppable against gods and demons, it was highly attractive. But according to the Great Dull Hermit’s description, to freely deploy such a grand formation single-handedly while maintaining full control required at least the strength of a True Monarch of the Great Yin—a power surpassing the Thirty-Three Heavens!

But if one possessed such strength, would they still need to rely on a grand formation to fight? The Great Dull Hermit’s strategy, while beautiful in theory, was ultimately impractical. A single True Magnetic Two-Yin Splitting Light Sword would suffice.

The Primordial Yin Blazing Flame coiled around the Jade Alms Bowl. The True Magnetic Two-Yin Light within the bowl erupted with sputtering sounds, black and white light engulfing the entire room.

The ash-gray flame, carrying a terrifying chill that seemed to freeze everything, wrapped around the black and white stream of light, gradually forcing them to merge into one. Immediately, a seven-colored aurora burst forth from the ice-flame. The magnificent lights shifted constantly, bathing everything in the room in multicolored hues, as if carved from jewels.

This was material enough to refine eighty-four thousand True Magnetic Two-Yin Splitting Light Swords, yet Gu Xiechen relied on the tyrannical refining power of the Primordial Yin Blazing Flame to forge them into the pattern of a single sword.

If the Great Dull Hermit witnessed such extravagance, his first reaction would be to loudly curse Gu Xiechen as a prodigal fool. But in the next moment, he would be weeping and throwing himself at Gu Xiechen’s side, begging for assistance in forging this unprecedented and wondrous flying sword. Using this much True Magnetic Two-Yin Light for one sword was akin to forging a great saber from hundreds of thousands or millions of tons of alloy steel—the resulting power of that saber could be imagined.

Even more miraculous was that the True Magnetic Two-Yin Light, possessing immense mass before refinement, became light as air once condensed by the Primordial Yin Blazing Flame and imbued by a wisp of Gu Xiechen’s soul and heart’s blood. The resulting seven-colored aurora felt like a mere ray of light, completely weightless.

Drip by drip, wisp by wisp, streak by streak, the dense black and white strong light was continuously refined into a seven-colored misty glow, slowly enveloping Gu Xiechen.

The vast Primordial Chaos Pure Qi and Primordial Chaos Turbid Qi stored within Gu Xiechen's cells continuously released, being almost instinctively converted by the Primordial Yin Dark Pearl into his own True Essence. As the Primordial Yin Blazing Flame was consumed, ever more energy was transformed into Primordial Yin Dark Manifestation, and then into the Primordial Yin Blazing Flame itself. Gradually, the energy within Gu Xiechen grew richer and more abundant, filling his entire body.

Within the Purple Mansion’s Sea of Consciousness, in the Haotian Tower, a spark of the Soul Treasure excitedly spewed forth rolling waves of Primordial Yin Blazing Flame, furiously refining an unimaginably massive physical body. Traces of the Primordial Yin Blazing Flame had already formed fine streams of light within the meridians of this body. The frigid Blazing Flame coursed back and forth, making it seem as though this giant body had shrunk ever so slightly.

The Taiji Vortex suspended in the Purple Mansion rotated slowly, as if it had been spinning since the dawn of creation and would only cease when the world ended. A surge of immense suction originated from the eyes of the dual fish within the Taiji Vortex, drawing Gu Xiechen’s internal True Essence into it.

The six golden stars orbiting the Taiji Vortex suddenly emitted a brilliant light, which intensified, gradually illuminating Gu Xiechen’s entire Sea of Consciousness.

The super-mothership Shield of Yafik continued its relentless advance through space, but slowly, streaks of ash-gray airflow, like dragons, extended from the hull, drawing in the infinite energy of subspace toward a deep, unfathomable point within the ship. Immeasurable energy poured toward this massive vessel, but when still dozens of kilometers from the hull, the ash-gray tendrils gently coiled around the energy, consuming it without a trace.

Ducat and Xiao worked within the mothership almost frantically. They verified one incredible theory after another, building one strange apparatus after another.

Unconsciously, the ship’s command system was overhauled; the fire control system was modified; the communications system was revamped; and the propulsion system was altered. Item after item of modification was gradually realized through Xiao’s powerful technical support and Ducat’s tireless, hands-on capability. Soon, the two even began modifying the mothership’s engine assembly.

Within just two months, Xiao had completely mastered the subspace eternal kinetic energy furnace technology from the core laboratories of the Yafik Kingdom. Combining this with the energy engine technologies of the Lei Wu Kingdom and thirteen other nations, the result was the powerful "Subspace Micro-Wormhole Eternal Propulsion Engine." This engine utilized an eternal magnetic field to control several artificially opened micro-wormholes, constantly drawing upon the infinite energy tides of subspace to provide efficient, immense, and stable power.

Compared to the Yafik Kingdom’s subspace energy engine, which required continuously opening unstable subspace channels to draw energy—leading to a slow startup and limited energy output, most of which needed to be stored for the next channel opening—Xiao’s invented engine maintained a stable connection with subspace at all times. The artificially created micro-wormholes were extremely stable, providing vast energy anytime, anywhere. All that was required was a constant energy input to maintain the operation of the eternal magnetic field to acquire limitless power.

Of course, this was also thanks to Gu Xiechen unreservedly providing Ducat with the new alloy formula. Based on Daoist Ren Gu’s alloy formula, combined with some innate materials extracted from subspace, the resulting new alloy was thousands of times superior in properties to the previous optimal alloys. This allowed Ducat and Xiao the audacity to install permanent micro-wormholes within the warship’s engines!

Another two months passed. The two technological fanatics finally completed a thorough overhaul of the Shield of Yafik’s energy engine system. Afterward, they turned their attention to the mothership’s energy shield system and primary super-brain system. According to Xiao, the existing primary super-brain was too clumsy; compared to Xiao, it was merely a block of stone. He felt obligated to make these dull super-brains evolve to be smarter.

A supercomputer that had evolved toward a quasi-soul existence, and an innate ability user capable of imbuing electronic products with life—the power unleashed by the combined efforts of these two was astonishing!

However, none of this was known to anyone yet. When the fruit of their labor was deployed on a large scale, the resulting impact would be enough to shake the entire Star Alliance.

Aside from Ducat and Xiao, the busiest person on the mothership was Lily. The softest-hearted and kindest, yet possessing extremely potent healing abilities, Lily.

Under the demonic hands of Penghua and the eight thousand Hadwar mercenaries, tens of thousands of the hundreds of thousands of Yafik soldiers were carried off the training grounds daily with broken limbs. Lily, whose cultivation of the Wood Origin Sutra allowed her power to advance by a thousand miles a day, became the mothership’s sole medical staff. The mighty wood-attribute spiritual energy nourished the damaged bodies of these soldiers, and no matter how severe their injuries, the wounded warriors could return to the training grounds after only a few hours.

Unintentionally, Lily became the person most hated by these Yafik soldiers, second only to Ming Hua. Why did Lily have to be so kind, allowing them to heal so quickly? This left them with no excuses to slack off!

Ming Hua’s devilish training plan caused these soldiers to be carried off spitting blood, while Lily’s powerful healing ability forced these miserable souls to return to the training grounds, causing their hearts to bleed. It was like torture in the Eighteenth Level of Hell: endless, perpetual, inescapable agony!

Penghua and Lily thus became legends among all the Yafik soldiers—a legend belonging to the "Hellish Demons."

The mothership drew closer to the Earth Federation day by day, until one day, the super-mothership jumped out of the same warp point where Gu Xiechen had been sucked into the Space Surge long ago.

From here, at the speed of the super-mothership, only seven or eight days of travel remained to reach the Earth Federation.

Including the time spent drifting in subspace and lingering in the Yafik Kingdom, Gu Xiechen and Penghua had unknowingly been away from the Earth Federation for two years and three months.

“Hoo.”

Gu Xiechen, wholly focused on sword practice, exhaled two streams of white vapor from his nostrils that resembled dragons.

The True Essence within his body had been compressed to the extreme, his Soul Treasure had expanded several times over, and every cell in his body was brimming with power.

That invisible shackle was being violently assaulted by Gu Xiechen’s powerful True Essence and divine sense, and countless cracks gradually appeared on it. It was on the verge of being shattered completely.

Just then, in the ten-foot-high mass of Primordial Yin Blazing Flame in Gu Xiechen’s palm, a nearly invisible streak of seven-colored light flickered slightly. A wondrous, formless, and intangible flying sword had taken shape. He touched his chest with a finger, and a drop of heart’s blood sprayed from his mouth, which Gu Xiechen forcefully sprayed onto the newly forged True Magnetic Two-Yin Splitting Light Sword.

Silently, traceless, and without form, a streak of sword-light instantly traversed the ninety-nine and eighty-one loops within Gu Xiechen’s body, instantly opening all his meridians. The surging Primordial Yin Dark Manifestation rushed toward the Bridge of Heaven along this sword-light, instantly connecting Gu Xiechen’s body with the surrounding heaven and earth.