Volume 1, Chapter 220 – Starry Sky

In the silent depths of night, Shi Lan sat before her dressing table, flipping through the three manuals Shi Tianlu had given her.

One was a saber manual, one a cultivation method, and one a secret art.

The cultivation method could only be cultivated up to the Heavenly Astral Realm. Shi Lan glanced through it twice, then set it aside. The saber manual was equally unremarkable.

Only the secret art called the Spirit-Burning Art caught Shi Lan’s interest.

The Spirit-Burning Art was a secret technique that could unleash great power for a short time. It was called spirit-burning, but in truth it burned one’s lifespan.

By burning one’s own lifespan in exchange for a brief burst of strength, Shi Tianlu had likely aged so much over the past year or so because of this secret art as well.

This secret art was not difficult to learn. To put it plainly, it was merely a kind of technique. In less than half a quarter-hour, the system’s notification suddenly sounded beside Shi Lan’s ear.

[Congratulations, Host, you have learned “Spirit-Burning Art” (Incomplete)]

At the word incomplete, Shi Lan paused to think for a moment, then opened the system panel.

Host: Shi Lan Cultivation: late stage of the Earth Fiend Realm Bone Structure: 9 (Innate spiritual body, one in a thousand years.) Cultivation Methods: Yuqing Creation Art (second layer), Vajra Divine Fist (major success), Jade Tempering Art (perfected), Heaven Extremity Seal (not yet started), Spirit-Burning Art (Incomplete) Divine Powers: Heaven’s Eye Qi-Sight (three-star), Black Domain (seven-star) Strength Evaluation: modest accomplishments Reputation: 298750 (well-known in one region)

She had not looked at her reputation value for several days, and it was already close to the three-hundred-thousand mark, still rising rapidly.

Shi Lan glanced over it once and skipped past it, then opened the mission section to check the task.

[846/1000]

Adding together the demon beasts she had hunted on the way back and what she had gained on the battlefield, the mission was drawing ever closer to completion.

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After scanning through everything, Shi Lan opened the lottery interface.

The intermediate lottery wheel looked the same as ever, glowing with golden light.

Shi Lan still had one intermediate lottery chance in hand, left over from the previous reputation mission reward, but she had no intention of using it now.

At present, she lacked neither cultivation methods nor divine weapons. The only thing she lacked was time. The demon race’s fangs were already pressed against Xianwu City, and the situation could change in an instant.

Shi Lan opened the lottery section only because she wanted to test the reputation exchange function.

With three hundred thousand reputation points, she could exchange them for a full three hundred basic lottery chances. Even intermediate lotteries could be exchanged for three chances.

One thousand reputation points vanished without causing the slightest ripple, turning into one basic lottery chance.

Looking at that extra lottery chance, and recalling the days when she had worked herself to the bone over a mere negative seven hundred fifty reputation points, Shi Lan could not help feeling a little wistful.

Shaking her head slightly, Shi Lan casually opened the basic lottery wheel and used up that chance.

[Congratulations, Host, you have obtained a three-star item: one star-system patrol craft.]

Shi Lan’s hand, which had been about to close the system panel, paused slightly. Her eyes filled with surprise.

A star-system patrol craft?

…

Standing in the courtyard outside her room, Shi Lan looked at the metal craft before her, over three meters tall and nearly eight meters long, her expression unreadable.

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The craft was made entirely of dark alloy and resembled a small boat, giving off a faint gleam under the moonlight.

After hesitating for a long while, Shi Lan cautiously reached out and placed her hand on it.

It felt cold to the touch, with a slightly rough texture.

The name star-system patrol craft sent Shi Lan’s imagination racing. Could it be that she could head into the cosmic starry sky ahead of time?

Thinking of that, she grew a little excited and unconsciously applied more force with her hand. Suddenly she felt the surface soften and cave in slightly beneath her palm.

When she came back to herself and saw the clear finger marks left on the hull, Shi Lan let out a disappointed sigh. With this level of sturdiness, it would never be able to fly very high before the astral wind layer above tore it to pieces.

After circling the patrol craft once, Shi Lan came to the hatch and searched for quite a while without finding any switch to open it.

After less than half a quarter-hour, Shi Lan lost patience. She raised her hand like a blade and thrust it directly into the edge of the hatch.

Creeeak.

A somewhat grating metallic screech rang out, especially noticeable in the stillness of the night.

Shi Lan tore nearly half the hatch door open by force, curling the metal back. Countless tiny circuits snapped apart, spitting sparks and crackling noisily.

There was still light inside the cabin. The moment Shi Lan stepped in, a figure flashed through the corner of her eye.

Every hair on Shi Lan’s body instantly stood on end. True qi burst forth, and without the slightest hesitation, she spun and threw a punch.

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Boom!

A shrill gale swept past. The figure was blasted away at once, smashing through the cabin wall and crashing into the courtyard.

Shi Lan had not sensed any aura from anyone beforehand. With a person suddenly appearing out of nowhere, it was no wonder her reaction had been so fierce.

She exhaled, steadied herself, and looked carefully. Her expression turned strange. Through the huge hole in the wall, she could see a humanoid figure made of steel lying in the courtyard, struggling to crawl back up.

A robot?

Shi Lan murmured in puzzlement, then suddenly understood. No wonder she had not sensed the aura of any living thing.

The steel-framed figure had nearly been disabled by Shi Lan’s punch. It struggled for a long while before slowly climbing back up, the signal lights in its eyes flashing continuously and spraying sparks.

“Wuh… sss…”

A burst of indistinct mechanical noise suddenly came from the figure. It went on for about the time it took to drink half a cup of tea before gradually becoming clearer.

“Communication… sys… tem damage rate 67%… initiating…”

“Far… side of the starry sky, honored frien…”

Crack!

Before the machine could finish speaking, its head was blown apart by a strand of true qi shot through the air.

Shi Lan slowly withdrew her finger, her expression already calm again. She did not care where this patrol craft had come from, nor did she intend to waste any more time learning about it in greater depth.

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Because no matter what the answer was, it would not help her current situation in the slightest. It would only bring her unnecessary trouble.

An invisible stream of information shot out from the machine’s wrecked body toward the sky, crossed the astral wind layer, pierced through a thin membrane, and was transmitted into the boundless cosmos.

…

In the cold universe, all was deathly silent. A colossal warship stretching nearly ten thousand miles drifted slowly through it.

Countless beings of all shapes and forms, humanoid yet not fully human, moved about inside the warship.

In the warship’s command room, a middle-aged man with green skin raised his head and called out, “Captain, one of the batch of patrol craft released half a year ago has sent back information.”

A burly humanoid with blue skin strode over. “What did it find?”

“It discovered coordinates where spacetime is highly abnormal. The database has no record of them. That batch of patrol craft was only released half a year ago, yet this information was sent ninety-six years ago. The time gap is far too great, and the distance is also extremely far.”

“It must be spatial-temporal disorder caused by a high-level plane.”

Hearing that, the captain grew somewhat excited. “How far are the coordinates from us?”

“Seven hundred eighty thousand light-years.”

“Begin spatial jump! Full speed ahead!”

An undeveloped high-level plane meant unimaginable resources, a fortune beyond reckoning, enough to drive every interstellar opportunist mad.