After Chen Fusheng had finished settling in the Imperial Guards and returned, he heard Big Black Fatty and the others discussing the Imperial Guards, focusing mainly on heavy armor.
Heavy armor was forged by mixing various special minerals. Even top-tier weapons found it difficult to pierce, and once clad in it, soldiers could fight like demons.
"It was said that the materials for forging one suit of heavy armor could be refined into four top-tier weapons. You can imagine how expensive it is."
"In the imperial palace of the Tian Yuan Kingdom, five hundred Imperial Guards train day and night, tempering their physical bodies. They are the strongest fighting force guarding the central imperial palace."
Clearly, the Imperial Guards did not take orders from the Star Palace. They treated the kingdom ruler's commands as supreme, and every member among them possessed a constitution far beyond ordinary people.
"Five hundred Imperial Guards, five hundred suits of heavy armor, plus all kinds of weapons and the like—this is a group of terrifying demons."
Chen Fusheng was shocked. The Tian Yuan Kingdom sounded like the mortal force under the Heavenly Sun Star Palace, but once that force was unleashed, it was truly formidable. It could flatten a Star Gazing Manor overnight!
Big Black Fatty was well-informed. Among the hundred-plus ancient kingdoms under the Heavenly Sun Star Palace, the Tian Yuan Kingdom counted as one of the strongest. Xuan Yuanchang was also a favored imperial grandson, so everything that needed arranging had to be arranged for him.
"Heh heh, of course. Once the medicinal ingredients enter the imperial grandson's belly, the people above won't have an easy time investigating."
Third Fatty was exceptionally excited as he selected the finest medicinal ingredients. He did not pull out the roots or eat the scraps. At first, Chen Fusheng was puzzled, but when he saw the information Big Black Fatty was recording and registering, he suddenly understood.
Four stalks were registered, but the imperial grandson could only eat two.
This was outrageous—utterly outrageous!
Chen Fusheng was horrified. With them lining their own pockets like this, weren't they afraid of being exposed?
But when he thought of Wang Dapang and the others coughing just now, Chen Fusheng vaguely understood. It seemed they were all bound together like an iron wall.
"Quick, look, Grass Crimson Worm!" Big Black Fatty untied the bundle brought by the guards and cried out in surprise.
"Hiss, so this is Grass Crimson Worm—a fire-attribute insect medicine that grows by devouring fire-type minerals. It's also the primary ingredient for refining the high-grade spirit elixir Heart Source Medicine. Damn, an imperial grandson really is an imperial grandson. This is too extravagant!"
Apart from those keeping watch at the entrance, Chen Fusheng and the others gathered around the eighteen Crimson Worm Grass stalks. Each was as thick as an adult's thumb, breathing out flickering flames.
This thing could only be dug out of large mineral veins!
"This insect medicine can be simply cooked and served, but we have a fixed quantity."
Third Fatty looked troubled. Normally, eating a little would amount to nothing, but each insect medicine was a complete whole. If even one was missing, they would inevitably be held accountable.
Chen Fusheng offered an idea. "The insect medicine can be ground up and stewed into soup."
"Damn, brilliant!" Big Black Fatty was somewhat astonished.
"Fusheng, you really are a talent. You have the potential to become the strongest odd-job worker. I'm starting to like you!"
Second Fatty danced about excitedly, and Big Black Fatty burst into laughter. "We'll mix in some other fierce medicinal ingredients too. Ha ha, let's get to work."
Everyone prepared the side dishes according to the recipes. The cooking was handed over to the Spirit Chef, then the guards carried it away.
How much actually made it into the imperial grandson's mouth, Chen Fusheng had no idea.
They kept busy until late into the night. Big Black Fatty had his own back-alley methods for handling the goods, and in the end, Chen Fusheng received nearly a thousand star stones.
Chen Fusheng stuffed them into his pocket. Wasn't this making money far too easily?
Big Black Fatty earnestly lectured them. The Ten Thousand Fish Banquet involved every aspect of the operation, and the wealth earned from the preliminary preparations was enough to equal most of their gains for half a year.
"But the imperial grandson is our God of Wealth. Second, go deliver the food tomorrow morning and sound out the situation. And the rest of you, put all the recipes you keep up your sleeves to work."
Over the following days, the Flood Dragon Ship traveled in fits and starts.
During that time, the disciples piloted the treasure ship out onto the river. Many disciples caught spirit fish, after all, they had ventured a thousand li into the river domain.
Chen Fusheng was busy all day and had no time to go out. Whenever he found a moment of leisure, he gathered the essence of the Sun Star, contemplated the stars, and nourished his physique with various medicinal ingredients.
The stronger the physical body, the stronger the talent, and the higher the level of resonance with the Sun Star!
Five days passed in the blink of an eye. For some unknown reason, after four consecutive days of top-tier feasts of varying grades, the imperial grandson had only one portion today.
"The imperial grandson is trying to please Mu Zhen, but Mu Zhen isn't eating it. In the end, are we the ones taking the loss?"
Chen Fusheng sorted out the complicated relationships. He was still counting on the imperial grandson to activate the Flood Dragon Diagram.
Boom!
Suddenly, a massive sonic boom rang out.
Chen Fusheng and the others rushed outside as one and stood on the deck, looking up at the sky. Blazing, dazzling starlight erupted overhead, accompanied by a tremendous roar!
A gigantic net shining with silvery radiance unfurled from the top of the Flood Dragon Ship, looking as though the Nine Heavens Silver River had fallen to earth.
"This is the Eight Extremes Star Light Net, the fishing star artifact aboard the Flood Dragon Ship. Even spirit-traveling demons can't escape the force of its net."
This was Chen Fusheng's first time witnessing a star artifact display its might. The Eight Extremes Star Light Net covered at least a hundred li of the river domain. Its threads even cleaved through ten thousand zhang of river water, rumbling downward and suppressing an enormous school of fish.
Chen Fusheng sucked in a breath of cold air. It was said that the might of a Top Grade Star Artifact was dozens of times greater than that of low- and mid-grade artifacts!
The Eight Extremes Star Light Net could even be used on land to suppress demons and devils. With his physique, a single thread would probably be enough to cut him in half.
"Splash, splash!"
Countless waves thundered up from the riverbed. The Eight Extremes Star Light Net was contracting, and huge schools of fish burst out of the water, drawing repeated cries of surprise from every direction.
"Quick, look! A six-hundred-pound Golden Scale Fish! It must have lived for several thousand years. What a pity it isn't a spirit fish!"
"A six-hundred-pound spirit fish? What are you thinking? I've never even heard of one."
The Golden Scale Fish shimmered with a golden luster in the night. Its bowl-sized scales radiated precious light, and it possessed an astonishing vitality.
Chen Fusheng swept his gaze across the fish hold and saw a Golden Sword Fish weighing more than thirty pounds.
It was called a Golden Sword Fish, but its body was ordinary in shape. Only the scales covering it were shaped like tiny golden swords.
This was an exceptionally rare species of fish. The key was that its scales contained the profundity of sword dao and could aid sword-type star masters.
Big Black Fatty nearly died of heartache when the Golden Sword Fish were swept away by the sleeves of an expert from the upper level of the Flood Dragon Ship.
Fortunately, the upper level took away only a dozen or so special spirit fish. The rest were handed over to the kitchen to prepare for the Ten Thousand Fish Banquet!
"Quick!" Big Black Fatty hurriedly called for them to get to work.
"I'll handle the Golden Scale Fish."
"Fusheng, are you stupid? Cutting spirit fish means wasting their spiritual energy!"
"I want to temper my physical body. The Golden Scale Fish is very important to me."
Through these past few days of medicinal nourishment, his physical body had continued growing stronger. He was not far from breaking through the barrier.
As for the six-hundred-pound giant fish, it was truly frightening. Fortunately, it had been stunned by the star artifact. After scraping off its scales and slicing open its belly, Chen Fusheng cut off dozens of pounds and stuffed them into his storage bag.
There was nothing he could do. His storage bag was too small, and after finishing the work, he still had to dissect the spirit fish.
After working through the entire night, Chen Fusheng's storage bag was stuffed full. He then went to the inner kitchen and obtained some medicinal roots, asking Wang Dapang to help cook them.
"Gurgle, gurgle!"
Chen Fusheng lifted a huge bowl and drank the bones, meat, and soup all down in one gulp before returning to his quarters as if his backside were on fire.
The supreme delicacies made by mixing more than a hundred kinds of fish felt as though they had set Chen Fusheng's internal organs ablaze.
Once they were fully digested, his Physical Roots had grown by forty to fifty percent. He began contemplating heaven and earth, and at a deeper level, saw through the trajectories of the stars' movements!
"It seems the day I seize the essence of the stars isn't far off."
Chen Fusheng was delighted. He had also stepped into the eighth-heaven realm.
Of course, tempering his internal organs was still too slow. Fortunately, the work for the Ten Thousand Fish Banquet had ended, leaving him with far more free time.
Chen Fusheng had no interest in eating any Ten Thousand Fish Banquet dishes. At present, the Flood Dragon Ship was slowly crossing the river and could go out to fish at any time.
"The fourth floor is the trading area. I'll obtain spirit fish and trade them for Five Organs Source Medicine."
Chen Fusheng set a short-term goal. He pushed open the door and walked out. Noisy sounds flooded his ears. Standing on the third floor and looking down at the banquet hall on the second floor, he glanced around in search of Liu Bai and the others.
The Black River was currently fifteen hundred li long. Without a treasure ship, there was no way through it.
Chen Fusheng noticed a gaze fixed on him. When he raised his head, he saw a woman directly opposite him, wearing a black veil.
Mu Zhen lifted one corner of her veil, revealing moist red lips and a high, delicate nose. She pursed her lips at him.
Chen Fusheng followed her. The deck of the Flood Dragon Ship was practically an arena. Mu Zhen stood in a corner, afraid that someone might recognize her.
"Sis, did you really join the Heavenly Star Manor?" Chen Fusheng walked over and looked at the beautiful young woman dressed in a black, form-fitting dress.
"It wasn't that simple. Don't listen to people spouting nonsense."
Mu Zhen stood graceful and upright. She glanced at the masculine aura rising from Chen Fusheng's body. "Little Chen, I haven't had time to tell you these past few days, but that mineral vein you mentioned really does exist."
"This really is an unexpected joy. Is it large?" Chen Fusheng asked in delight.
"It's hard to say for now. It needs to be excavated and assessed. If Cold Iron can be extracted, its value will be high. We might even be able to forge a dozen or so top-tier weapons."
"Of course, don't celebrate too early either. Perhaps it doesn't contain that kind of mineral."
Mu Zhen tilted her head and glanced at Chen Fusheng again. "I can see that your cultivation has advanced considerably. Do you feel as though you've reached the Other Shore?"
Chen Fusheng nodded. "I really do. I always feel that I can contemplate the Sun Star, and yet also feel as though I'm sitting within the sun."
"???"
Mu Zhen was stunned. One could only contemplate the stars after reaching the Other Shore and entering spirit travel. Could his spiritual thought truly be extraordinary? Yet that was something only a Heavenly Star Master could possess!
Even a Heavenly Star Master who had just awakened their spiritual thought could sense the trajectories of the stars' movements. The terrifying extreme of meditative talent was beyond imagination!
"Impossible. That makes no sense. Could he really possess a Pure Yang Body??"
The contents of that ancient text surfaced in Mu Zhen's mind: pure yin and pure yang, harmonizing with the way of heaven and earth, connected by one breath since ancient times.
"Sis, what are you thinking about?" Chen Fusheng asked several times in succession.
"Ah, oh, nothing. Oh, right, Little Chen, come to my home after we return." Mu Zhen spoke absentmindedly.
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