Qiu Long Star

"Let's go." Lin Qingyu sat in the command room of the Black Dragon Mountain X81, with two fully repaired Flowing Silver Guards standing behind him.

It was now July 1, 2052—the day Lin Qingyu set off for the universe.

Before leaving, he had explained to his parents and Jia Yi that he needed to handle something elsewhere and probably would not be able to return home for some time.

Although Jia Yi and the others were worried, Lin Qingyu was no longer weak. After all his assurances and persuasion, they ultimately agreed to let him go.

The day after Jia Yi and his parents relented, Lin Qingyu immediately boarded the spaceship and left Earth. He was also afraid that Jia Yi and his parents might regret letting him leave and call him back.

"No problem. Demon Bata is at your service." Bata's avatar appeared on the spaceship's control console screen, beaming happily.

He had been cooped up on Earth for a full fifty thousand years. At last, he could enter the universe again!

The Black Dragon Mountain X81's performance was excellent. Before long, it accelerated to light speed and successfully entered the Dark Universe.

In the world of Swallowed Star, every object that exceeded the speed of light entered the Dark Universe. The Dark Universe's spatial coordinates corresponded to those of the Original Universe at a ratio of 1:10.081 million. In other words, traveling one light-year in the Dark Universe meant traveling 10.081 million light-years in the Original Universe.

Lin Qingyu had long activated the External Scene Simulation at full capacity. He had wanted to witness the famed Dark Universe for a long time.

Despite its name, the Dark Universe was not dark at all.

Countless dazzling streams of light filled Lin Qingyu's vision, while innumerable points of light danced through the air like fireflies on a summer night.

The Qianwu Universe Country lay within Human Territory, so naturally there was no shortage of spaceships.

This astronomical number of spaceships made the Dark Universe within the Qianwu Universe Country so bustling.

"These points of light in the Dark Universe are spaceships. The Dark Universe within a Universe Country is always busy, with countless ships coming and going. Beyond Human Territory, or in the empty regions between Universe Countries, there are far fewer ships. It's perfectly normal not to see a single point of light for thousands of years," Bata explained. "But for now, it will be enough for us to make our way through the Qianwu Universe Country."

Afterward, Bata introduced some of the power structures, customs, and local practices within the Qianwu Universe Country. After all, fifty thousand years was not very long on a cosmic scale. Some minor forces might vanish into the river of time, but the major forces truly worth a genius like Lin Qingyu befriending would not change much over fifty thousand years.

"Good thing you've already learned Universal Language. Otherwise, relying on an AI translator could cause some trouble," Bata said.

After they began repairing the Black Dragon Mountain X81, Bata had urged Lin Qingyu to learn Universal Language. Fortunately, Lin Qingyu's mind worked at an astonishing speed. Within a month, he had mastered Universal Language and could use it fluently.

"I'm a genius, after all. All right, Bata, turn off the External Scene Simulation," Lin Qingyu said. "I'm going to cultivate. Wake me when we reach Qiu Long Star."

"Got it." Bata nodded and turned off the External Scene Simulation as Lin Qingyu requested.

Using the Dark Universe, the journey from Earth to Qiu Long Star took only around ten days.

Ten days was not a long time for either Bata or Lin Qingyu.

Before long, Lin Qingyu and Bata arrived in the outer space beyond Qiu Long Star.

"I have 932 Qianwu Coins here. That should be enough for you to get by on Qiu Long Star for a while." Bata dug out some "small change" from his storage space.

Officially, one Qianwu Coin could be exchanged for one thousand Black Dragon Coins. Even through official exchange channels, these 932 Qianwu Coins could be exchanged for more than nine hundred thousand Black Dragon Coins.

Guided by Qiu Long Star's signal, Lin Qingyu and Bata stopped at the port's C-grade section.

On Qiu Long Star, different spaceships docked at different ports, and naturally the fees varied as well. In the C-grade section where Lin Qingyu was currently docked, the annual fee was six hundred Black Dragon Coins. Any period under a year was charged as a full year.

After paying the fee, Lin Qingyu did not run into some seemingly well-connected person like Luo Feng had. But that was normal. While anyone capable of docking in the C-class spaceship section could be considered important, not everyone was as interested in spaceships as Gao Sheng. Besides, judging by the ratio of powerhouses to important figures, there might not even be a single spaceship docking in this C-grade section all day.

Lin Qingyu left the docking area with the Flowing Silver Guards.

He looked up at Qiu Long Star's sky. The sky above his current location was pale violet, carrying a gauzy translucence that made one feel incomparably comfortable just looking at it.

The distant sky was pale blue, while farther away it turned green. The colors transitioned layer upon layer without the slightest sense of discord.

"Qiu Long Star's sky really is beautiful," Lin Qingyu said.

"Yes. Master praised it too when he came here back then. Unfortunately, he was saving money to help his Moyun Vine break through at the time, and he kept a low profile when he came here. He did not even inform the planet's administrators. Otherwise, with Master's status, buying a manor on this planet would have been effortless," Bata said, shaking his head. "If we had property here now, things would be much more convenient."

"Teacher Huyan Bo's great enemy is still alive," Lin Qingyu said. "We can't be too high-profile."

"True." Bata nodded as well.

The man and the AI chatted idly as they walked, soon arriving at Qiu Long Star's most prosperous city—Qiulong City.

"According to the plan, we'll first obtain citizenship in the Black Dragon Mountain Empire, then open an account in the Virtual Universe, and finally register with the Qianwu Dojo," Bata said. "But Lin Qingyu, are you really not going to find a way to join the Qianwu Dojo's core faction, as I suggested? With your talent and aptitude, there definitely won't be any obstacles."

"There's no need for now," Lin Qingyu said. "The Qianwu Dojo's core faction receives instruction even from Undying powerhouses. If one of those Undying powerhouses discovers that I'm a successor of Yunmo Star, and word reaches Teacher's great enemy, we'll be finished."

"True." Bata nodded. "Then we'll do as you say."

Bata had previously tried to persuade Lin Qingyu to enter the Qianwu Dojo's core faction, but Lin Qingyu had convinced him with the argument that they needed to prevent Huyan Bo's enemy from learning of his identity.

Of course, Lin Qingyu's true goal was not to guard against the Demon Hand King, but the Golden Horn Beast that would later come to Earth.

In the universe, every faction had its own plan for nurturing geniuses. During the early stages, they would keep their geniuses within their sphere of influence to cultivate. Later, they would arrange for them to venture into various regions.

Only after those geniuses matured into powerhouses did they gain a relatively high degree of freedom.

Moreover, the Genius Battle was not far away. In order to repay his debts, the Qianwu Country Lord would certainly hope for sufficiently powerful talents to emerge and make it into the Genius Battle.

If Lin Qingyu joined the Qianwu Dojo's core faction, the Qianwu Dojo likely would not let him leave before the Genius Battle. If he was not on Earth, catching the Golden Horn Beast would basically be impossible.

Therefore, until the Golden Horn Beast came to Earth and was captured by him, Lin Qingyu had no intention of joining any major faction.