Chapter 350: Chapter 208: On the Spaceship, Part 2

Su Chen boarded the spaceship and looked down from a porthole. Pairs of eyes stared up at him. Some were sincere, others driven by self-interest, but for now, they were all filled with concern.

Ming Lin stood at Su Chen’s side, looking somewhat anxious.

The cabin door closed. Su Chen composed himself, glanced at Ming Lin, and said, "Don’t worry..."

Ming Lin looked up at Su Chen. Seeing his expression was as calm as ever, he finally felt a little more at ease.

But then, the rest of Su Chen’s sentence drifted over. "The worst that can happen is we die."

Ming Lin staggered and was left speechless, but the anxiety in his heart dissipated.

......

"I hope they have a safe journey." Chong Jingtian watched the spaceship disappear over the horizon, then collected his thoughts. "Qing Cang mentioned someone will be coming in about half a year. Do you want to go to the Dust Star Sea?"

"Clearing the fog from your body can significantly extend your lifespan," he said.

"Heh..." Xia Hanshi let out a sudden, cold laugh. "To a certain extent, whether we go or not isn’t up to us."

"If Su Chen can establish a firm foothold, someone will come to help us even if we don’t want to go."

Chong Jingtian’s expression flickered, and he sighed. "That is indeed true."

’Even Qing Cang said that clearing the fog from one’s body comes at a considerable cost. Can we on Red Thunder even afford it?’

He also understood what Xia Hanshi had left unsaid. If something happened to Su Chen... the future survival of Red Thunder Star would still depend on them.

......

Aboard the spaceship, Su Chen made his way to the cockpit. Qing Cang was already there with Xia Jie, discussing the route for the return journey.

"Senior Brother, about how long will it take to return to the Sect?" Su Chen asked.

"Based on our travel time on the way here, three months at most," Qing Cang replied.

"Three months..." Su Chen said in surprise. "That fast?"

Qing Cang glanced at him. "That’s already plenty slow. If we didn’t have to pass through the Nether Fog, the trip would be even shorter."

After Qing Cang’s explanation, Su Chen learned that the Royal Court, the Sects, and all the minor factions under them had constructed a network of Star Gates.

These allowed them to jump across vast distances in an extremely short amount of time.

However, there couldn’t be any Nether Fog between the Star Gates, or it would interfere with the jump.

"The Dust Star Sea has Nether Fog too?" Su Chen couldn’t help but ask.

"It does," Qing Cang explained. "The Sects and the Royal Court use Fixed Star Fireworks to drive out the Nether Fog, but there are always places beyond their reach."

He brought up a projection on the command console. It was a shimmering, hazy image filled with brilliant stars.

With a pinch of his fingers, the projection suddenly expanded, enveloping the three of them. "The Dust Star Sea is vast and complex. Aside from the great ring of Nether Fog on its periphery, there are scattered pockets of fog within."

Su Chen glanced around the projection and noticed an exceptionally brilliant point of light at the very center of the star map.

Su Chen asked hesitantly, "Is that..."

Qing Cang nodded, the star map reflected in his pupils. His expression was complicated. "The Royal Court. Its Glorious Star Pillar has been burning for thirteen thousand years."

There were five other, slightly dimmer points of light—the Five Great Sects—located in five more outlying areas. Beyond them were a few other scattered, faint specks of light.

"So the Flame Fire is the cornerstone for each faction’s existence?" Su Chen asked, his curiosity piqued.

Qing Cang nodded. "Correct. Without the Flame Fire, the Nether Fog invades, lifespans dwindle, Deceitful Gods run rampant, and even the most powerful factions are torn asunder."

"Then where does this Flame Fire come from?" Su Chen had a lot of questions.

"Young people are always so curious," Qing Cang chuckled. "I have no idea where it comes from. The Flame Fire was already here when I was born."

’Fair enough.’ Su Chen shrugged. Qing Cang continued, "In about a month, we will arrive at the Balance Dao Central Hub to make a Star Gate jump. We shouldn’t be disturbed until then, so you can rest easy."

Su Chen understood. He asked a few more questions and learned that the Balance Dao Central Hub was the largest jump hub on the route connected to Red Thunder Star, and a place where one could purchase many things.

This naturally included various types of hearts, as well as sap from the Immortal Ancient Tree.

After getting a general understanding of the situation, Su Chen left the cockpit and walked down the metal corridor.

’The pomp and ceremony is over... The most important thing now is to improve my own strength.’

’Breaking the limits of the Body Refining Technique...’ Su Chen mused. He wandered through the spaceship’s corridors, eventually arriving in front of the training room—the same place where Wan Chen and Lan Hao had fought.

’In use?’ He glanced at the red indicator by the door, a little surprised.

After waiting a moment, the door slid open with a soft WHOOSH. A scorching aura washed over him, and out walked Lin Yue.

She wore a form-fitting combat suit and seemed to have just finished an intense battle. Her aura was unstable, and her chest heaved with each breath.

"Su Chen?" She, too, was surprised to see him.

In an instant, her surprise morphed into a challenging glint in her eye. She looked eager. "Want to spar?"

Seeing as Su Chen had become the chosen one, she wasn’t as resentful as Wan Chen or Ni Bin, but she was still a bit unconvinced and curious about him.

"No, thanks." Su Chen shook his head, refusing flatly. ’I’m already the chosen one. I don’t know if defeating these other recognized candidates again will still please the Great Venerable.’

’Besides, this woman, Lin Yue, is probably much stronger than Lan Hao, and a pain to deal with. Losing to her would be trouble, and beating her would be even more trouble.’

Lin Yue frowned and explained, "The training room can suppress our power to the same level."

"Let’s not."

’Even at the same level, I could probably take her out in a second,’ Su Chen estimated, but he still refused.

"You can run now, but you won’t be able to once we get to the Sect," Lin Yue reminded him cryptically.

Su Chen just smiled, a clearly distant smile, and stepped past her into the training room.

Lin Yue frowned at the closed door but did not leave.

Inside the training room, Su Chen looked at the complex array of buttons. ’Hmm...’ He decided to just call out to the AI and have it simulate turbulent energy.

Instantly, a violent torrent of energy surged within the designated area. Icy wind, electrical arcs, and flames intertwined, punctuated by blinding flashes from constant explosions.

The intensity was enough to make Su Chen’s skin crawl, and he hurriedly dialed it down.

’Qing Cang said that excessive external interference might help me advance my Body Refining Technique and break through its limits.’

’Based on my experience with Professional Fusion last time, if I don’t have some foundational understanding of how to break the Body Refining Technique’s limits, I’ll be completely lost even when I receive guidance.’

Su Chen stepped into the turbulent energy. At its current intensity, it could hardly cause him any real harm.

Su Chen began to circulate the Cloud Dragon Body Refining Technique, which he had already advanced to Master Level.

The Body Refining Technique required extremely precise energy control to temper the body, but the turbulence created immense interference.

The Wind Elemental Power he summoned was swept up by the external turbulence, becoming like steel needles that stabbed in and out of his pores. Before long, Su Chen felt a stinging pain all over his body.

’First, I have to be able to stably circulate the Body Refining Technique within this turbulent energy before I can even think about breaking the limit. I’ve already lowered the intensity quite a bit; any lower and it won’t be an effective interference anymore.’

Su Chen pondered for a moment. ’Is the key to increase my own energy’s intensity? Or, in other words, my overall power?’

’Might as well try...’ He didn’t really have a plan and was prepared to try various methods. A crimson flame gradually appeared on the surface of Su Chen’s body, and he began to burn his own flesh and blood to increase his power through Tyrant.

His heart began to pump a warm current through his body. The power boost from Tyrant was all-encompassing. The currents of wind around him grew more resilient, gradually filtering out the turbulent energy they carried.

’It’s actually working...’ Su Chen’s eyes lit up. He went on to experiment, even using Professional Fusion and Holy Hand to boost his power.

After a long time, he let out a long breath and downed a canister of Repair Potion. His internal injuries began to heal. The strain of this process was immense, and he couldn’t keep it up for long.

’Still, I think I’m getting a clue...’ Su Chen walked out of the training room and was surprised to see Lin Yue still waiting outside. He had assumed she still wanted to challenge him to a fight.

However, she simply walked past him into the training room without a word. Relieved to be left alone, Su Chen turned and left.

But as she entered the training room, a smile touched the corners of Lin Yue’s lips. ’That guy probably has no idea this training room has a memory simulation function.’

"Copper Star," she called out, "create a training opponent using Su Chen as the template."

’Accessing Su Chen’s specific usage records would be too troublesome; only Qing Cang could do that.’

’But creating a training opponent based on him as a template? That was possible, as long as the target hadn’t specifically issued a command to block it.’