Chapter 112: The Merchant Ship!

“Thud—”

Long Xiaoqing delivered a powerful punch to the chest of an ultra-star realm cultivator, extracting a bright star core.

She opened her mouth and inhaled sharply; the star core melted into liquid and flowed into her mouth.

The cultivator, still alive, widened his eyes in horror.

Digging out a star core directly from a cultivator’s body to devour—was this even human?

Witnessing this scene, the nearby cultivators fled in terror.

They would rather face Yang Ye and his pursuing group than confront Long Xiaoqing.

At this moment, Long Xiaoqing stood within the fifth light ring, blocking the alien cultivators’ escape route.

With nowhere left to run, the alien cultivators had no choice but to unite and fight to the death.

Seeing the aliens forced back, a savage light flashed in Long Xiaoqing’s eyes. In a blur, she charged forward.

Screams of agony echoed once more.

After prolonged combat, Long Xiaoqing’s beastly nature was fully unleashed.

Spotting a large group of cultivators gathered together, she opened her mouth and unleashed a torrent of crimson dragon flame, engulfing them all.

Following the screams, dozens of cultivators’ bodies were refined to ashes.

Long Xiaoqing inhaled again, absorbing the refined energy into her mouth.

…

This battle lasted over three months.

When Yang Ye finally severed the head of the last alien cultivator, his hand gripping the blade trembled.

Then, he collapsed onto the ground.

In this protracted conflict, hundreds of thousands of cultivators from other planets were slain.

This was Yang Ye’s longest battle, aided by Long Xiaoqing, though it was not the fiercest.

Compared to the sixty-day battle in the Stone Tower, it was comparatively easier.

Yet, even so, Yang Ye felt utterly exhausted.

Nezha had dismantled the array of talismans; the corpses scattered across the light ring were kicked out by Zhou Hun and others, all stained with blood and clad in tattered armor.

The bodies drifted in the starry sky, quickly frozen into ice blocks by the cold vacuum. Colliding with each other, they shattered into fragments.

At their death, the star force within their bodies had already been absorbed by the light ring.

Among the hundreds of thousands of cultivators, including hundreds of ultra-star and tens of thousands of stellar realm cultivators, the released star force was immense.

Yet, on Earth, the concentration of star force barely increased; after more than three months, it only returned to the initial levels.

Most of the star force had been absorbed by smaller talisman arrays, condensing into star crystal stones.

During the battle, the Huaxia cultivators had not dismantled the arrays left by the aliens that condensed the star crystal stones.

Yang Ye and his subordinates harbored resentment toward other nations for not sending cultivators.

Why should they risk their lives above, while others enjoyed the spoils below?

The cultivators from other countries were blocked within the South Heaven Gate, but over a thousand Huaxia cultivators arrived one after another.

Naturally, these newcomers were allowed into the light ring.

After battle, the battlefield needed cleaning, but manpower was insufficient.

It took more than ten days after the fighting ended before the battlefield was finally cleared.

Inside a spacious stone house on the light ring, pale blue star crystal stones were piled like a small mountain, each about the size of a fist.

Besides these, there were numerous pieces of armor, weapons, and all sorts of materials—precious metals, pelts, teeth, and bones from star beasts.

These filled several rooms.

Additionally, there were over a thousand storage rings and thousands of other storage devices.

The gains were great, but so were the losses.

Of Yang Ye’s forty ultra-star cultivators, twelve had fallen, and more than half of the stellar realm cultivators had died, leaving only dozens remaining.

Hundreds of thousands of alien cultivators had been slain by Yang Ye and Long Xiaoqing, or even more would have perished otherwise.

“Clear out the items, distribute compensation according to regulations, and transport everything back…”

Weary, Yang Ye finished his arrangements and returned to the surface with the now calm Long Xiaoqing.

Though Yang Ye and Long Xiaoqing had left, the foreign cultivators guarding the South Heaven Gate, despite coveting the abundant spoils, dared not act recklessly.

Unless they wished to die.

At this moment, the alien cultivators who failed to arrive in time deeply regretted it.

…

Back in his manor, Yang Ye went straight to the meditation chamber built underground.

Long Xiaoqing followed.

“Xiaoqing, come, let’s practice dual cultivation.”

Seeing Long Xiaoqing enter, Yang Ye said eagerly.

At this time, he needed dual cultivation to relieve his mental fatigue.

“Sure, sure!” Long Xiaoqing exclaimed happily.

It had been a long time since they last practiced together.

—

A short while later, thick clouds gathered in the sky over Xiajing, thunder rumbled, and light rain began to fall.

While the two were blissful, a spaceship arrived from the distant starry sky and hovered above the light ring.

“Damn it! Here we go again! They’re just courting death!”

Zhou Hun, responsible for the guard, cursed loudly and led his men, bristling with murderous intent, rushing toward the ship.

The hatch opened, and several cultivators in blue robes stepped out.

At this time, Zhou Hun and his men were still bloodstained and radiating killing intent.

Seeing the fierce group charging forward, those who had just disembarked hurriedly retreated.

“Stop!”

At that moment, Nezha’s voice rang out.

Zhou Hun and the others halted, looking at Nezha in confusion.

Nezha smiled and said, “You fools don’t know? This is a merchant ship. These people are traders.”

After Nezha’s words, Zhou Hun hesitated and scratched his head.

Only then did he recall Nezha had mentioned this before.

Nezha stepped forward, speaking in a language Zhou Hun couldn’t understand, persuading the frightened merchants to return and brought them to Earth.

From the previous spoils, Nezha selected some unused materials and exchanged them with the merchants for fifty storage rings.

He also traded thousands of other storage devices for twenty star god crystals, each about the size of a baby’s fist.

After the transaction, the merchants immediately departed.

“Nezha, isn’t this a bad deal? Thousands of storage devices for only twenty star god crystals?”

After the merchant ship left, Zhou Hun frowned.

Nezha sneered, “You don’t understand! The alien cultivators you killed were all paupers; their storage rings had nothing valuable inside.”

“Then why did they take thousands of storage devices with them? Were they gambling on the contents?” Zhou Hun asked curiously.

He recalled the “stone gambling” from a TV show.

Nezha shook his head. “We can’t open storage rings, but they can. I haven’t mastered that technique yet, or half of Earth’s cultivators could use these storage devices.”

He added, “In time, these merchants will return. Treat them politely. Earth still needs many things, which are crucial for strengthening our planet.”

(End of chapter)