Chapter 539: The Base Is Under Attack!

【The “Half-Emperor for a Thousand Ages” trait can raise you across major realms. For example, it can grant you the cultivation level of the early Transcendent Realm while you are still in the late Extreme Terrain Realm.】

【However, this trait will not change how you cultivate.】

【In other words, whatever your true realm is, you must still cultivate according to that realm’s principles.】

【Now, your true realm has finally entered the Transcendent Realm. This means that from today onward, you must cultivate according to the principles of the Transcendent Realm.】

【“It feels like the space inside my yuan core that can hold divine power has suddenly expanded countless times…”】

【Both the Extreme Terrain Realm and the Transcendent Realm involve cultivating divine power to strengthen the yuan core.】

【The difference is that if strengthening the yuan core once in the Extreme Terrain Realm requires pouring a cup of divine power into it, then in the Transcendent Realm, you need to pour in an entire pond.】

【Your cultivation speed is the same as before, but the total amount you need has increased many times over.】

【This means that many cultivators, even without bottlenecks or resource shortages, could work hard their entire lives and still fail to fill that gap, because they simply would not live long enough.】

【Fortunately, you have more than one lifetime.】

【“Since I need so much more, I probably won’t reach the Immortal Lord level in this lifetime. I might as well spend some time comprehending a few more Heavenly Fiend Divine Abilities and improving my combat strength.”】

“I know, I know. I’m supposed to equip Mortal Bones again, right? The problem is, it isn’t time for the annual trait draw yet. Just wait.”

At the Chen family compound, Chen Yi lounged in a bamboo chair, completely at ease.

With three additional equipment slots, he still had to consider what else to equip besides Mortal Bones.

【After stabilizing your cultivation level, you remembered that you had promised Ah Dou you would visit his parents at his hometown on Lingwei Star.】

【“Ah Dou delayed things for a while, then I got held up too. Somehow, fifteen years have passed in the blink of an eye.”】

【Sometimes you feel there isn’t enough time, and sometimes you feel it passes in a flash.】

【You prepared to set out for the Torch Society’s base.】

【Just then, a figure dropped from the sky and crashed clumsily onto Ancient Cloud Mountain.】

【Taking a closer look, you saw that it was Ji Wuqing, her hair disheveled and her face haggard.】

【Your heart tightened, seized by a foreboding feeling.】

【“The base is in trouble!”】

【“It was attacked?”】

【“Yes! Everyone escaped in groups through thousands of exits, but the enemy has laid a net across the whole area, and there are so many attackers! The Torch Society’s brothers are being hunted across the planet! We… need your help!”】

【This simulation was different from the last one.】

【Last time, you weren’t part of the Torch Society, so no matter how hard things got, Ji Wuqing wouldn’t come to you.】

【But this time, you were the Torch Society’s second-in-command on Blazing Star, so Ji Wuqing came to you first. She knew you were good at dealing with the Alien Race.】

【“Where are Ah Dou and the other two Children of Destiny? We’ll go help them first!”】

【You kept a clear head and focused on what mattered.】

【“I’ll lead the way!”】

【“You’re too slow. Get on!”】

【You transformed in an instant into a red-scaled divine dragon, with crimson flames blazing beneath its feet.】

【“Good heavens… Are you from the Holy Dragon Clan?”】

【“I’m not from the Holy Dragon Clan! I can just use their moves! Come on, we’ll be too late if we wait!”】

【“All right, all right!”】

【Ji Wuqing transformed into a dragon knight and stood between your two horns, guiding you.】

【As you flew, you considered a question.】

【Was this attack the same one as in the previous simulation, when the Torch Society on Vermilion Violet Star was wiped out, Ah Dou disappeared, and Ji Wuqing was hunted all the way to the Ji family?】

【If so, why had it happened so many years earlier?】

【In the previous simulation, you had spent over a hundred years with the Ji family before the attack occurred.】

【This time, it had happened after only twenty-some years!】

【You streaked across the sky above Vermilion Violet Star like a shooting star, heading under Ji Wuqing’s guidance toward the place where Ah Dou might be.】

【“Is it this way?”】

【“The Torch Society’s base has too many exits to count. I only know which one Ah Dou used, but they may have fled a long way by now. Should we split up and look?”】

【“No need! I have a way!”】

【You equipped the “Aura of Ten Thousand Races,” a trait that let you visualize the auras of all intelligent species around you.】

【Though it couldn’t lead you directly to Ah Dou, it would let you see the unique aura of the Holy Dragon Clan.】

【After all, even on Vermilion Violet Star, Holy Dragons were uncommon.】

【As the ruling race of the Celestial River local galaxy, they usually appeared on Special-tier Stars.】

【So now, if you spotted a large number of fresh Holy Dragon auras, they were most likely the Holy Dragon Men hunting Ah Dou.】

【At the same time.】

【Ah Dou, having fled the Torch Society’s base, was escaping along the mudflats at the bottom of Machine Valley under the protection of He Xiangdong and a group of Torch Society members.】

【For this attack on the Torch Society’s base, the Holy Dragon Society had dispatched five hundred thousand Peace Force soldiers from the Peace Bureau, nine Immortal Lord-level special operations teams from the Celestial River Guard, and more than a thousand aerial warships from the Interstellar Law Enforcement Bureau.】

【On top of that, local forces on Vermilion Violet Star had joined their operation.】

【It was truly a net spread across the land and sky, leaving nowhere to hide.】

【The Torch Society had Star Ships that could enter the Channels without relying on Star Harbors, but the Interstellar Law Enforcement Bureau’s aerial warships had sealed off the skies and Channels, preventing them from taking off.】

【The Torch Society’s underground base had been reduced to ashes. Almost none of the civilians living there escaped; they all perished in the flames.】

【Ah Dou had lived at the base for more than ten years, and he was attached to the place.】

【There were neighbors who had mended his clothes, friends who had played with him when he was young, uncles who had taught him to farm, and the girl he had secretly loved…】

【Now, they had all been buried beneath the enemy’s merciless assault.】

【“I’m going back!!”】

【He Xiangdong held on to Ah Dou with all his might.】

【“Calm down!”】

【“They’re all dead! Everyone at the base! So many civilians! Are they just going to have died for nothing?!”】

【“If the Alien Race captures you, then they really will have died for nothing! As long as you, a Child of Destiny, are still alive, no one died in vain!”】

【“I don’t want to be a Child of Destiny who survives by cowering! I want to kill the enemy!!”】

【He Xiangdong slapped Ah Dou across the face.】

【“Wanying and Hongyi have already been captured! Do you know what the Holy Dragon Society will do to them?

It’s worse than death! You’ll become a weapon, one aimed at your own people!

You can’t stand watching the Alien Race slaughter our compatriots now.

Would you be able to stand it later if your own hands were stained with your compatriots’ blood?!

Whatever happens, don’t let them capture you. Do you understand!”】

【At last, He Xiangdong’s words made Ah Dou understand how terrifying the enemy was.】

【“No wonder they haven’t used any large-scale spells against us. They wanted to capture us alive…”】

【“Now, come with me! We can’t leave Vermilion Violet Star, but there’s a safe place where we can take shelter for now… if the people there are willing to do the Torch Society a favor.”】