The strokes of the large characters were like swords, each line carrying a chilling, sharp energy that was intimidating to behold. The meaning embedded between the lines was overwhelmingly domineering, utterly tyrannical, yet no one found fault with it. In the current age, Gu Xiechen possessed the might to enact such displays; if anyone disagreed with his methods, they first had to contend with the thirty-six Celestial Immortal-level puppets surrounding him.

“How magnificent, such imposing might! To carve out a private domain right here on Heaven Star like that?” Huan Hua’s eyes turned distinctly green as he muttered to himself, shaking his head. “Later, when this great master reaches the Void Realm, I’ll go to every neon district on Earth Prime and inscribe a massive line of text: ‘All young women here belong to Master Huan Hua. Any who dare offend shall have their dicks utterly, thoroughly dead!’”

Dukat’s body trembled. He grabbed Huan Hua, whispering urgently, “This power… this kind of strength…”

Huan Hua casually fished a cigar from his three-folded trousers pocket and stuffed it into Dukat’s mouth. “Cultivate diligently. Your Great Scarlet Heaven Refining Fire Scripture is an utterly superior manual. With your aptitude, you won't need much time to reach this level!”

Shaking his head, Huan Hua lit the cigar for Dukat and sighed softly, “Junior Brother’s power is still a bit too weak. With four helpers, he’s already exhausted just creating a valley barely ten miles long! Ah, the legends say true Immortals can reshape the world with a mere wave of the hand—shattering oceans and raising continents, seizing the clouds and moving the stars. What kind of power is that?”

Dukat took a deep drag from the cigar, slowly exhaling a thick cloud of smoke. He murmured, “What fantastical talk. Moving stars and shifting constellations? Can stars and planets truly be treated as toys?”

Suddenly, Dukat saw Lily recoil several steps, as if she had witnessed something truly terrifying, moving far away from him.

Looking around, the little Xiao, whose body was flickering with residual light, was muttering unintelligibly, presumably calculating something. Dukat’s brain momentarily seized up. Xiao suddenly spoke, “Xiao, the cigar you are smoking contains two strands of Mr. Huan Hua’s body hair, three hundred and seventy-two flakes of skin dander, and 0.03 milligrams of sebum secreted by his skin. Do you really find the taste of this thing pleasant?”

Dukat’s face instantly turned ashen. He opened his mouth blankly, letting the cigar drift loosely from his grasp.

Huan Hua watched Dukat with genuine sadness. “We are brothers! And you actually despise my cigar? Hey, this is my limited-edition collection, specially supplied to the Presidium of the Federal Council. Ordinary people can’t even get their hands on one!”

If he hadn't considered Huan Hua his brother, Dukat suspected he would have already punched that face into ruin. While vigorously spitting on the ground, Dukat sternly cautioned himself: From now on, never accept anything from Huan Hua—especially not anything to eat or drink.

Gu Wuchen had completed the construction and restoration of Daoist Chen’s valley. He looked with satisfaction at the lush green valley, watching two White Cranes, each nearly ten feet tall, released from a screen, soaring freely above the peaks, cutting through the clouds. He let out a long, relaxed breath. “Let’s go to Mars!”

Huan Hua hadn't noticed what treasures Gu Xiechen had released from the screen earlier. Now, seeing those two cranes enveloped in ethereal mist, almost condensing Golden Cores, his eyes turned green again. He snatched the screen near Gu Xiechen and demanded sharply, “Junior Brother, what exactly is inside this thing?”

Gu Wuchen looked at Huan Hua in confusion. “Uh? Nothing special. It seems the original owner used it to raise various pets. Just some Azure-Crested Cranes, Golden-Eyed White Apes, Four-Horned Sika Deer, and the like. This screen is quite a high-grade item; within its perimeter, spanning a thousand miles, it’s quite large for such a treasure.”

Huan Hua immediately shoved the screen into the storage bracelet on his wrist, chuckling wickedly. “Good stuff, you just don't know. The vital essence and blood of these spiritual creatures are extremely beneficial to us Corpse Cultivators. I’ll go back and show filial piety to Master. I won’t contest this big flower vase with you. Heh, heh heh.” As he spoke, Huan Hua impatiently pulled the screen out again, grabbed a plump, robust, and glossy-furred young white rabbit nearly three feet long, and savagely bit down on its neck.

With a few loud slurps, Huan Hua drank the rabbit's fresh blood, then contentedly stuffed the creature back into the screen before carefully tucking the screen back into his storage bracelet.

“Oh? Showing filial piety to Master? I’ve prepared plenty of good things for Master here too. These rare birds and exotic beasts inside the screen are actually a bit common,” Gu Xiechen didn't take the matter to heart. Huan Hua was clearly just greedy and wanted a satisfying meal. With the cultivation level of a Corpse Emperor, he shouldn't care about the vital essence and blood of mere external objects.

The group returned to the mothership. Upon Gu Xiechen’s command, the Shield of Yafik swiftly retreated into subspace. After Xiao calculated and pinpointed their location on the star map, they bypassed the jump points of the Heaven Star Sector entirely, instead finding a shortcut directly through subspace, heading straight for Mars.

“Aren’t we going to check on the status of Banruo and Mohe?” Huan Hua muttered lazily, sprawling on the floor of the command cabin after sucking down a few mouthfuls of the spirit-rich essence and blood.

“What’s there to see? Banruo and Mohe, I trust they won’t mess things up. Besides, Siren is assisting; they won't run out of time regardless.” Gu Xiechen watched the gorgeous scenery of subspace through the viewport with confidence. After more than two years, he had finally returned; some things truly didn't require haste.

Banruo and Mohe commanded over a thousand Realm Soldiers. Occupying one or two of the Thirteen Consecutive Stars would certainly not be an issue.

As the mothership rushed through subspace, Dukat’s muscles were taut, and his breathing grew heavy. Gradually, each breath seemed to draw all the air out of the enormous command cabin—nearly a thousand meters long and hundreds of meters high—and a scorching wave of heat continuously radiated from his body, causing the temperature inside the vast cabin to rise sharply. Fortunately, the mothership, manufactured by the Romans, maintained extremely strict control over all environmental metrics. As Dukat spewed heat waves, over a hundred vents in the cabin continuously blasted out cold air, perfectly neutralizing the internal temperature.

Fuya.Ming, having heard of Dukat’s experiences from Gu Xiechen, looked at him sympathetically and gently nudged Gu Xiechen’s arm.

Gu Xiechen walked slowly to Dukat’s side and clapped him firmly on the shoulder. “Don’t be nervous. We still have a two-day journey to Mars. In two days, we can send your mother home.”

Flipping his hand, Gu Xiechen retrieved the piece of strange substance, about a meter square, forged on Heaven Star. He smiled. “We have some time; it’s perfect for helping you complete this big item. What is your preferred and most handy weapon?”

“You were preparing to forge a weapon for me just now?” Dukat looked at Gu Xiechen in astonishment.

“Yes, I promised you!” Gu Xiechen laughed. “I’ll use the Golden Crow Celestial Fire to refine the blank mold and the Supreme Yin Dazzling Flame to forge its shape. This thing’s quality will be extraordinary. Hurry up and tell me what you want.”

“I favor close-quarters combat. My fists are my best tools!” Dukat stated deeply. “If it could offer both offense and defense…”

“Offense and defense integrated? Armor and gauntlets. I understand!” Gu Xiechen laughed heartily and slammed his hand down onto the brilliant mass of light emitting intense heat. Various bizarre armor forging techniques flooded his mind. Gu Xiechen narrowed his eyes, pondering for a long time. Considering Dukat’s own ability to manifest armor, he finally settled on a design almost identical to Daoist Chen’s As-You-Will concept: the ‘Floating Cloud Flowing Water Armor.’

Cloud: ever-changing and unpredictable; Water: engulfing and reshaping all forms. The so-called Floating Cloud Flowing Water implies that this armor can transform into any shape at will, molding itself according to the master’s desire.

However, to possess this ability of effortless transformation, an extremely rare material was required: the As-You-Will Pearl. This pearl was condensed from the spiritual fluid of the innate material, ‘Spirit Marrow Treasure Jade,’ and then refined using the master’s blood essence and primordial spirit. This item acted like the core chip of a super brain system; only by integrating the As-You-Will Pearl into the Floating Cloud Flowing Water Armor could the armor instantly shift forms like an extension of the owner’s limbs, yet remain fundamentally consistent, allowing the master seamless, absolute control as if commanding their own arm.

Spirit Marrow Treasure Jade was exceptionally rare. Gu Xiechen had only managed to collect a piece the size of a fist amidst the chaotic energy surges of subspace. Now, it was perfectly suited for Dukat.

After calling on Dukat to offer thirteen drops of his blood essence and forcibly separating a wisp of his primordial spirit using a secret method, Gu Xiechen devoted himself completely to the forging of the Floating Cloud Flowing Water Armor.

Everything was a direct replication. Gu Xiechen’s power and realm were sufficient, and the materials were being refined by the two rare flames, the Golden Crow Celestial Fire and the Supreme Yin Dazzling Flame. Every step of the forging process was deeply etched into Gu Xiechen’s mind, as if he had forged this exact magic treasure countless times before; there were no obstacles whatsoever.

Exactly two days later, the strange ball of light in Gu Xiechen’s hand had condensed into a silver liquid mass the size of a human head. This mass appeared chillingly cold, like an iceberg, yet with occasional rotations, a burst of flame would rise with a whoosh. This was no iceberg; it was clearly a fiercely erupting volcano. Tapping the liquid mass with a fingertip, Gu Xiechen shot a streak of purple light from his brow, swiftly impressing it upon Dukat’s brow. The method for accepting and consecrating a Life-Bound Magical Artifact was transmitted to Dukat’s mind via divine sense. Dukat immediately spat out a mouthful of his vital essence blood, splashing it onto the silver mass. A silver light shot out from his brow, slamming heavily into the liquid mass in Gu Xiechen’s hand.

“Wow, he’s really going all out!” Huan Hua cried out in horror.

Gu Xiechen’s eyes also twitched uncontrollably. Honest people like Dukat were truly rare in this era. Having understood the benefit of a Life-Bound Artifact, he was violently tearing away nearly a third of his soul’s origin, blasting it into the core of the Floating Cloud Flowing Water Armor. Truly a loyal man; he was fighting desperately for fear of wasting Gu Xiechen’s hard work. But hadn't Gu Xiechen told him? For consecrating a Life-Bound Artifact, only a tiny fraction of the soul’s origin was necessary!