Inside the spaceship's main control room.
The first squad returned and tossed two middle-aged men, bound from head to toe, in front of Captain Aifu. Tuka, who was leading the squad, began his report:
"Captain, I've 'invited' the two Star Level members of the Feng Kingdom's royal family over. Buluo took that kid Ivan to 'invite' the last one."
Aifu nodded, then smiled at the two royal experts.
"I'm terribly sorry for inviting you here in such an unconventional way. I, Aifu Tuolsi, offer you both my sincere apologies."
As he spoke, he gestured to two crew members to release them. The crew promptly removed the shackles from the captives.
Once both men were free and had tidied themselves up, Aifu continued:
"I'm Aifu Tuolsi, a space explorer. By a stroke of luck, I've come to this beautiful planet. Seeing that your civilization hasn't yet developed, I can't help but feel for you." As he spoke, he even pretended to wipe away a tear.
"Now that I'm here, I'm determined to help Yuan Planet's civilization become part of the interstellar civilization!" He looked at the two captives with such sincerity that he seemed to truly have Yuan Planet's best interests at heart.
However, the two members of the Feng Kingdom's royal family who had been "invited" here didn't believe a word of it. They merely glared at Aifu, their eyes full of fury.
When he realized that even he couldn't fool himself with his crocodile tears and feigned compassion, Aifu gave up the act and laid his cards on the table:
"Forget it. There's no point in pretending in front of you two natives. Once everyone's here, I'll have a proper talk with you about Yuan Planet's 'strategic development plan'!"
As he spoke, the corners of Aifu's mouth gradually lifted into a cruel, sinister smile.
"Don't get cocky. Just wait until Yunnuo returns from space, and you'll see!" snarled the older of the two royal middle-aged men, kneeling on the floor.
Who could have guessed that his words would hit a sore spot? Aifu rose from his chair and walked toward the man. With a bang, the royal man flew backward like a kite with its string cut, slammed into the spaceship's hatch, then slowly slid down beside it.
"You're right! Someone who can comprehend an Origin Law at Planetary Level is not someone I can afford to provoke—if he really does come back!" Aifu paused, then continued, "But by the time he returns, I'll already be living it up in some corner of the universe with my 'lawfully acquired' riches. Hahahaha!"
"And here's your first lesson for today. In the universe, you must respect the strong. And when someone stronger is speaking, don't interrupt!" He ignored the two pairs of furious eyes and turned to ask Tuka:
"Those two brats, Buluo and Ivan, still aren't back? What's taking them so long?"
Aifu was growing impatient. He couldn't wait to round up Yuan Planet's strongest fighters, then package up the entire planet and sell it for a good price!
"Um, you might not be seeing those two again." A clear voice came from outside the spaceship.
"Who's there?" Aifu froze, then immediately opened the hatch and flew outside.
Outside the spaceship.
A rather handsome young man hovered about twenty meters in front of the ship. He wore pure white armor, and a hazy aura of domain energy surrounded him. It was Lu Yan'an! He had earlier hypnotized two alien warriors into revealing the location of their spaceship's base, then combined that with the information Lord Shen had given him and flown straight here!
Aifu rushed out of the spaceship and spotted Lu Yan'an at once. More precisely, he saw Buluo and Ivan dangling from Lu Yan'an's hand like a pair of dead dogs.
"You're the last Star Level fighter on Yuan Planet?" Aifu asked Lu Yan'an. The crew inside the spaceship immediately flew out as well, forming a pincer formation around him. But from the way things looked, Aifu's side clearly had the upper hand!
"If nothing unexpected happens, that would be me." As he spoke, Lu Yan'an tossed the two corpses in his hand toward the sea below. They splashed into the water, then slowly sank beneath the waves.
Aifu's eye twitched slightly at the sight, and his gaze turned frightening.
"You Yuan Planet people are quite amusing! But with nothing more than your ninth-rank Star Level strength, you dare act so brazenly in front of a Universe Level powerhouse like me? Just who gave you that courage?" As he spoke, Aifu's aura surged. A terrifying presence poured out of him. His ninth-rank Universe Level strength made the entire area feel oppressive and stifling!
Lu Yan'an wasn't intimidated in the slightest. Ignoring Aifu's terrifying power, he taunted him outright:
"Who knows? I've always thought we Yuan Planet people were pretty amusing too! But do you really think Universe Level is that powerful?" Before he had even finished speaking, a vast force of domain energy erupted around him. Under the effect of the Light Domain, his aura grew somewhat ethereal and fluid. Then Lu Yan'an lightly tapped his foot in midair and shot toward Aifu!
But Aifu seemed completely unbothered by the force of Lu Yan'an's domain—in fact, he looked downright contemptuous! He charged forward too, blocking Lu Yan'an's attack with both arms. A strange, slightly cruel smile spread across his face. "If domain energy is all you're relying on, then you can rest in peace!" As he spoke, a terrifying domain energy erupted around Aifu, right in front of Lu Yan'an. Though his domain was weaker than Lu Yan'an's, their domains canceled each other out in close combat, with Aifu's Universe Level strength tipping the balance!
"No, that's impossible!" Lu Yan'an couldn't accept what was happening and attacked Aifu like a madman. The two darted around in midair, while Aifu kept dodging by shifting his position. Then Lu Yan'an's attack left him briefly exposed. Aifu seized the opening and knocked him back with a whip kick! Lu Yan'an fell straight into the sea.
"Go catch him. He's at the end of his rope." Seeing that he had defeated Lu Yan'an, Aifu seemed to lose interest and ordered his crew.
At Aifu's command, the crew members whooped as they dove into the sea below, frantically searching for Lu Yan'an!
But just as every crew member was searching for him underwater, a powerful mental force burst across the entire sea. It was Lu Yan'an's illusion technique, Huo Shen. Every crew member swept by the force lost consciousness at once and plunged into the sea like dumplings dropping into a pot.
Aifu had been about to return to the spaceship, but the instant he sensed the mental force, he stopped in his tracks.
"Wiping out a whole group of Star Level fighters in one go really is a pain." Lu Yan'an rose from the sea, soaked through, with seawater dripping slowly from his boots...
"You bastard!" Aifu was furious. How could he not see it? From the very beginning, that guy's target hadn't been him—it had been every crew member aboard his spaceship! A sense of having been played washed over him. How dare a mere Star Level fighter pull such tricks right in front of him? Unforgivable!
Aifu charged at Lu Yan'an in a rage. He would make the man pay!
But what happened next was completely beyond his expectations! Earlier, Lu Yan'an had pretended to be defeated so the Star Level crew wouldn't use the spaceship's AI to send a distress signal to the outside world. He had been waiting for a chance to wipe them all out. Now that he'd achieved his goal and had nothing left to worry about, Lu Yan'an began to show his true strength!
The domain energy that had been spreading outward was now completely drawn in, replaced by the power of laws! As Aifu charged at him, Lu Yan'an raised a hand and used the illusion technique Huo Shen! While Aifu was trapped in the illusion, the insights of the Time Law and the Law of Light spread around Lu Yan'an. In an instant, he appeared right in front of Aifu. With nothing more than a hand strike wrapped in the power of laws, he killed the once-arrogant Aifu!
"So the gap between Star Level and Universe Level isn't all that big after all." Lu Yan'an turned to tease Lord Shen, but Lord Shen paid him no mind and flew toward the spaceship instead. As expected, it was far more interested in intelligent life than in humans!
And so this crew, one of the best even among teams of space explorers, was wiped out on a native planet that had yet to join the interstellar civilization!
Before you continue