The drums roared in a triumphant clamor, bells ringing in chorus. The leadership of the Papal State and the Pantheon Federation gathered at the dock. Gideon and Poppy, grinning widely, held Gu Xiachen’s hands, feigning reluctance as they escorted him to the gangway of the transport vessel.

Gideon sighed, visibly reluctant. “Visit often, okay? This is your second home.”

Poppy rubbed his eyes, even more loath to see him go. “The three of us are old friends now; keep in touch. The future of humanity rests upon our shoulders!”

Gu Xiachen embraced them both repeatedly, smiling broadly. “Then perhaps I’ll stay a little longer,” he chuckled.

Poppy immediately shut his mouth, turning his gaze toward a distant peak. He stared, mesmerized, at a colossal, towering tree growing on the mountainside, seemingly pondering the sheer scale of its growth.

Gideon’s face instantly fell. He managed a strained laugh. “Though we’d love to keep you for a few more days, as the Earth Federation’s Foreign Minister, you must have mountains of affairs to attend to. It wouldn't do to waste time. Um, about those few capital ships you promised to lease us… ah, haha, you understand, right?”

Gu Xiachen gripped Gideon and Poppy’s hands tightly, shaking them enthusiastically. “Of course, of course, I understand. However, something just occurred to me. You see, in forming the joint alliance to defend against the Romans, our Earth Federation ground forces suffered heavy casualties. Therefore, we request that our two friendly allies provide us with several tens of millions of elite warriors.”

Gideon and Poppy flinched, their bodies trembling. They exclaimed in unison, “Tens of millions?” They knew perfectly well that these so-called elite troops supplied would surely be used as cannon fodder by the Earth Federation—targets meant to exhaust the Roman fighting strength. To be asked to supply tens of millions of elites instantly was a pain that tore at their very souls!

Gazing deeply at Gideon and Poppy, Gu Xiachen sighed. “Without sufficient soldiers, those capital ships might lack the motivation to fly over here.”

Their expressions sobered. Gideon nodded firmly. “Fifteen million ground troops. This much, our Papal State can manage.”

Poppy ground his teeth in assent. “Fifteen million elite infantry. Our Pantheon Federation certainly will not disregard the overall interests of humanity.”

Only then did Gu Xiachen nod with satisfaction. “Very well. The super-capital ships promised for lease will arrive in half a month at the latest. The mixed space fleet of the Earth Federation will arrive concurrently, so please be prepared. Ah, these thirty million elite soldiers, I apologize for the inconvenience. We will provide them with sufficient armaments and the best training. They will die very meaningfully.”

Gideon and Poppy’s faces turned ashen. Gu Xiachen’s words delighted them, but his final sentence carried a chilling undertone. What did he mean by dying meaningfully? They were nothing more than disposable fodder to kill a few more enemies. If everyone played by Gu Xiachen’s rules, even with a combined population of twenty billion, these two nations couldn't sustain such losses!

Seemingly sensing their unease and distress, Gu Xiachen lowered his voice and chuckled softly. “We now control vastly more territory. Back when a single Earth could support fifty billion people, how many planets do we possess now? My friends, you shouldn’t be controlling population growth; you should be vigorously encouraging reproduction!”

Gideon offered a strained, toothy smile, while Poppy nodded thoughtfully. They both squeezed Gu Xiachen’s hands simultaneously.

Gu Xiachen turned and stepped onto the gangway. Gideon and Poppy quickly pulled him back. Taking advantage of the cover offered by their voluminous sleeves, they deftly slipped him two fist-sized cloth pouches. Gideon offered a pale gold pouch; Poppy, a pale azure one. Gu Xiachen’s divine sense swept over the contents of the pouches, and he looked up in astonishment. “My friends, I truly feel embarrassed.”

Both pouches contained massive quantities of rare minerals, natural gems, and giant pearls—treasures whose value was practically incalculable. In addition to these gems, there were mountains of banknotes issued by the Earth Federation. A rough estimation suggested tens of thousands of cubic meters of cash. To the Papal State and the Pantheon Federation, these were already worthless paper, as the Earth Federation had publicly declared that they would only conduct transactions based on physical goods exchanged at the Federation’s mandated rates. But to Gu Xiachen, these banknotes still held considerable appeal.

“A small token, we couldn’t let you work for nothing, could we?” Gideon and Poppy chuckled in unison.

“Then, I shall gratefully accept!” Gu Xiachen made no ceremony of it, tucking the pouches into his sleeves. The Pantheon Alliance was somewhat poorer, but the Papal State was swimming in wealth. Gu Xiachen saw no impropriety in accepting such a small bribe. The treasures were excellent goods that could be exchanged for vast sums in the Star Alliance. The cash, while useless to him, would be enough to keep his brothers at the Hahadward Defense Company living in luxury for quite some time.

Under the enthusiastic and fervent gazes of the assembled dignitaries from the Papal State and the Pantheon Federation, the transport vessel carrying Gu Xiachen slowly lifted off, gradually disappearing into the clouds.

Only once the vessel was completely out of sight did Gideon suddenly forget his dignity, spitting a thick glob of phlegm onto the ground. He muttered a curse under his breath. “Great Heavenly Lord above, I hope you crash into an asteroid.”

Poppy was even more venomous in his quiet imprecation. “You damned wretch, I hope you all get sucked into a black hole.”

Gu Xiachen withdrew his divine sense, curled his lip, and muttered softly in return. “Being that close to the sun, be careful a solar storm doesn't wipe you all out, saving me a lot of trouble.”

The transport ship entered the embrace of the super-capital ship waiting in orbit. Xiao designated the course plot and swiftly left the First Star. Due to planetary orbital mechanics, the First Star of the Thirteen-Star Chain and the three planets controlled by the Earth Federation were now separated by the distant sun of the Thirteen-Star Chain. The super-capital ship had to pass near the Thirteen-Star Chain’s sun to return; this was the shortest route.

Under Gu Xiachen’s instruction, the super-capital ship chose the shortest trajectory that kept it as close as possible to the sun of the Thirteen-Star domain. Through the transparent viewport, the vessel flew almost grazing the solar flares erupting from the star. Occasionally, sparse, stray solar wind energy, accompanied by strange whistling sounds, scraped past the ship’s energy shield, causing massive sparks that rocked the vessel’s enormous hull.

Navigating such a perilous zone, the escorting super-battleships cautiously clung close to the capital ship, using its solid mass to resist the onslaught of the solar winds. Even so, the super-vessels shuddered like tiny leaves in a whirlpool. Every time a solar flare swept past, these ships would violently shake up and down, the amplitude of vibration reaching several kilometers.

In this region, conventional detection instruments were useless; the raging solar storm dominated everything.

Gu Xiachen commanded the ship to halt here, and he then gracefully drifted out of the vessel.

Xiao closed the external armor plating over all the transparent viewports. Apart from the trusted officers and crew in the bridge command center, and Miao Hua, no one could see what he was doing.

His Lunar Robe erupted with a cascade of water-light, the dense spray obscuring his body. The invisible solar storm howled down, striking the water-light and causing it to ripple violently. Gu Xiachen felt as if he were inside a vast furnace, the intense heat causing sweat to pour from him.

If not for the innate power protecting him—the Primordial Lunar Blazing Flame, a power rank superior even to the Solar True Fire—Gu Xiachen had no doubt he would have been reduced to a dried husk by now.

Gasping for breath, Gu Xiachen waved his hand, releasing thirty-six Golden Armor Puppets, and shouted harsh commands.

The thirty-six Golden Armor Puppets roared fiercely. The armor plating on their bodies simultaneously retracted, revealing their intricate internal mechanisms. Thirty-six terrifying energy vortices materialized in the vacuum of space. The external solar storm, accompanied by a piercing shriek, was sucked into the internal cores of the Golden Armor Puppets. Energized by the solar power, the Golden Crow Heavenly Fire seeds within the puppets grew stronger and more vigorous. Gradually, large sunspots began appearing on the sun's surface in the direction of the puppets, releasing intense energy rays.

The Golden Armor Puppets spent a full twelve hours absorbing sufficient energy. By this point, they were wreathed in blazing flames. Their bodies glowed and radiated heat. The warhammers in their hands spat electric snakes as thick as water barrels, the deafening roar of thunder rolling incessantly. Even Gu Xiachen instinctively retreated a considerable distance, fearing contact with even a trace of that astonishingly powerful Zixiao Divine Lightning. The surrounding solar storm energy transformed into a visible golden curtain of light, surging like dragon-like tides of energy into the bodies of the Golden Armor Puppets.

A high-pitched, coarse roar echoed. Gu Xiachen, using a fraction of his consciousness, directed the puppets to draw power from the Zixiao Divine Lightning stored in their warhammers, concentrating it into a purple-blue thunder sphere, nearly ten feet in diameter, in their cupped palms. Thirty-six thunder spheres spun and danced in the puppets’ hands. The destructive energy made the hairs on the back of Gu Xiachen’s neck stand rigid. He felt as if he were facing Death itself, instinctively sensing the terrifying energy contained within these orbs was enough to annihilate him.

“Hmm, the Divine Firmament Nine Shakes Great Emperor Demon-Subduing Heavenly Thunder Array. An array formed by thirty-six Heavenly Immortals. The power should be sufficient,” Gu Xiachen mused inwardly.

The Golden Armor Puppets strode through the void, while vast quantities of Zakkra crystals flew continuously from the Azure Lotus Ring. Following the trajectory of the puppets’ movements, they laid out a massive array spanning hundreds of miles in the vacuum. This array was structured in nine layers, forming a multi-dimensional, interlocking three-dimensional diagram. Each layer of the diagram corresponded to one of nine colors—white, red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple, and black. Within each colored layer, four thunder spheres guarded the cardinal directions according to the Four Symbols orientation. As soon as the grand array was established, a suffocating, strange pressure radiated outward relentlessly. Gu Xiachen felt his vision dim, and he was actually knocked back over a hundred miles by the force of this pressure.