Lu Sheng stood outside the Space Spirit Flower, slowly stretching his body. The vast and boundless starry sky gave him a long-lost sense of relaxation. This long journey of nearly half a cosmic year, although the spaceship provided him with a considerable amount of space, still felt somewhat stifling and restrictive.
Within his martial body, the more than 5.5 million Immortal Cells seemed to sense his mood. They also released wave after wave of divine light, like millions of stars breathing and exhaling at the same frequency. A surging power, accompanied by battle intent, ignited little by little within his body.
Pirate ships and scattered level 11 or12 pirates continued their relentless attacks on the Star Spirit Flower spaceship. Energy collided, unleashing dazzling lights of various shapes and colors, resembling spectacular fireworks in the starry sky, possessing an unexpected and beautiful quality.
Sheng's sudden appearance quickly attracted the attention of several Space Pirates and spaceships nearby.
"Someone actually dared to come out of that spaceship?!"
A pirate with a death ray cannon slung over his shoulder was the first to spot Sheng. He reacted as if he'd seen a novel toy, hurriedly leading his men to surround him.
"Grab him! Don't let him die too easily! I was just getting bored."
"Be careful, he might be tough!"
"Tougher than this spaceship's hull? Haha!"
Seven or eight space pirates quickly closed in on Lu Sheng, while several smaller spaceships also locked onto him with their cannons. But he remained calm in the face of all this. He didn't retreat or dodge. In fact, he took a step forward to meet them.
It was during this step that Lu Sheng's hair turned crimson inch by inch, starting from the roots. Intricate and magnificent sun god patterns sprouted on his face and body. A surge of fiery light erupted from within him. In a mere instant, he completed his transformation from mortal to god.
Stellar Dao,Protostar Form.
He vanished swiftly, transforming into a streak of red light with a dazzling crimson tail, shooting out in a flash. In a fraction of a second, he swept past the pirates who were closing in on him, breaking through their encirclement and disappearing into the vast starry sky.
At the moment Sheng swept past seven or eight space pirates, their bodies instantly froze in place. Their faces still retained expressions of ferocity, evil, or ill intent. But before these expressions could fully transform into horror and fear... A raging inferno erupted from every pore and cell of their bodies, rapidly engulfing them.
"Boom!"
"Boom boom!"
Meanwhile, more and larger flames appeared behind them. An incredibly fast crimson streak streaked across the starry sky, following an irregular trajectory. Wherever it went, nothing could stop it, not even in the slightest. The crimson streak pierced through spaceship after spaceship, which exploded like fireworks after passing through it.
Wherever the crimson streak swept past, one space pirate after another was inexplicably "ignited" and devoured by the flames. Soon, this part of the starry sky was gradually illuminated by the raging crimson flames. A grand, dazzling, and solemn interstellar slaughter was slowly unfolding.
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"Prioritize transporting the goods from the top-tier warehouse, dividing them into twelve small teams."
Zi Yanxin was rapidly issuing orders for the evacuation plan. Wu Tian's words of comfort had completely dispelled any unrealistic ideas she might have had, forcing her to face reality. What she needed to do now was minimize the losses as much as possible.
Just as she was quickly arranging the plan, she suddenly noticed that the expression on the face of her subordinate standing before her had become somewhat strange. His eyes seemed to be constantly, almost absentmindedly, fixed on the direction behind her. He appeared to be listening to her orders, but his attention seemed to be somewhat distracted. Zi Yanxin felt a surge of inexplicable anger.
"Apton!"
She called out his name, her tone icy. "At a time like this, are you still distracted?"
Apton, upon hearing Zi Yanxin's words, tensed up, quickly becoming serious and saying apologetically, "I'm sorry, captain. Please continue."
Zi Yanxin was frustrated, but she could only forcefully suppress her emotions and continue with her arrangements. What infuriated her was that, even after she had reminded him once, her subordinate, Upton, couldn't help but glance away from her from time to time. She finally couldn't take it anymore.
"What are you looking at? Is there anything more important than the spaceship and your own life?"
Zi Yanxin turned around irritably, wanting to see what the other person was staring at. But the moment she turned her head, she suddenly realized. At this moment, almost everyone in the entire combat preparation hall had stopped what they were doing and were staring blankly at the virtual screens floating around the hall, displaying the view of the spaceship outside.
The instant her gaze fell upon the virtual light screen everyone was watching, she froze in utter astonishment. Across the vast hall, more than half of the countless virtual screens—large and small—displayed nearly identical scenes: a dazzling crimson streak of light, brilliant beyond measure, weaving recklessly through the swarm of star pirates.
Wherever it passed, whether it was a level 11 or 12 pirate warrior, or a small or medium-sized pirate spaceship, they all seemed like fragile cardboard, easily pierced, shattered, and ignited by the crimson light. They exploded with a deafening roar, ultimately annihilated in the raging crimson flames.
In just a few breaths… She witnessed firsthand the rapid reduction of the swarming pirate group, which resembled locusts. The "mob" in front of the Star Spirit Flower spaceship was quickly clearing away. The various attacks landing on the Star Spirit Flower were also decreasing at an astonishing speed.
More than half of the pirates and their ships' firepower were drawn to that inexplicable, domineering crimson streak. They began to turn their weapons around, swarming against the crimson streak. But the crimson streak was incredibly powerful, and its speed was astonishing.
Where... Even the spaceship's energy beam cannon would be as slow as a tortoise compared to this. Not to mention the scattered attacks from the space pirates. In Zi Yanxin's eyes, the crimson streak on the screen was like a gleaming scythe, wielded by an invisible hand, ruthlessly reaping the filthy souls. Even through the virtual screen, Zi Yanxin could feel it. On that chaotic battlefield, facing the crimson streak of space pirates, how terrified and uneasy they must have felt.
"So, what...is this?!" Zi Yanxin stared at the virtual screen, murmuring to herself.
She turned her head to look around, trying to find answers in the others. But it seemed that most of the people in the combat preparation hall were just as bewildered and confused as she was. They didn't know what this domineering crimson stream of light, so powerful and indiscriminately penetrating the pirate horde as if it were nothing, was.
It had descended without warning. It was as if the starry sky had bestowed a ray of dawn upon these poor souls on the verge of death. Just as Zi Yanxin was lost in thought, a low cry suddenly rang out in the war preparedness hall.
"Level 13! It's about to encounter a level 13 pirate!" "
Zi Yanxin quickly looked at the screen.
Sure enough, the crimson streak's rampage among the space pirates had finally attracted the attention of the five level 13 martial arts experts who had blocked the Star Spirit Flower spaceship. One of them quickly left his original position and chased after the crimson streak.
This was a middle-aged man with a long sword, a lean build, and a sinister aura. He was enveloped in a dark red energy light, the power of some kind of law. Driven by this law, his speed was incredibly fast. Almost comparable to the speed of the crimson streak.
The crimson streak sensed the pursuit and began to consciously dodge, deliberately weaving into areas densely populated with space pirates. But the latter didn't care at all; the lives of low-level space pirates seemed equally insignificant in his eyes.
Two streaks of light, one after the other... They rampaged through the starry sky, crushing and annihilating countless space pirates amidst their screams. Just as the crimson streak was about to be overtaken by the level 13 middle-aged man wielding dark red law power, in the battle preparation hall, the hearts of those who had long regarded the crimson streak as an "ally" tightened, their expressions becoming tense.
But then, the crimson streak, about to be caught, suddenly burst forth with an even more dazzling platinum hue. Following this, the platinum hue, imbued with a profound aura of nobility, quickly enveloped the entire streak.
After this transformation, its already astonishing speed increased exponentially. So fast that even the Star Spirit Flower wouldn't be able to follow it and the level 13 middle-aged space pirate was left far behind.
"Good!" Someone involuntarily shouted out from inside the war preparedness hall.
Zi Yanxin's heart also relaxed slightly. But before they could rejoice for long, the next second, they saw the streak of light, transformed into platinum, suddenly accelerate, tracing a dazzling and graceful arc in the starry sky. It then changed direction, neither veering nor dodging, directly charging head-on into the level 13 Space Pirate who was chasing it.
The speed of this change was too fast. So fast that neither those watching from the hall nor the Space Pirates on the star battlefield could react.
"Boom!"
The two streaks of light collided violently. In an instant, a terrifying energy shock wave spread outwards in a visible tide. Everywhere it passed, the wreckage of countless burning spaceships was violently pushed aside.
The virtual screen in the combat readiness hall shook violently. The starry sky, almost like a piece of cloth, was violently shaken and twisted irregularly. As the fluctuations gradually subsided and dissipated, the screen once again displayed a clear image.
And everyone in the hall who saw the scene almost simultaneously experienced a sharp contraction in their pupils. After a brief moment of astonishment, an overwhelming sense of shock and disbelief washed over them.
"My God!"
"It... it was him?!"
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Translation notes by dhoo
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Stellar Dao
恆星之道
One of the many Daos Sheng cultivates.
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Protostar Form
原恆星形態`
The first body transformation within the Stellar Dao: Protostar Form, Main-Sequence Star Form, Red-Gant Form, etc. See chapter 571 or my Glossary
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Apton aka Upton or Apudon
阿普頓, ā pǔ dùn