Shaking Everyone

The Primordial Dao Tree had taken root in that mysterious space, ceaselessly absorbing the energy of the primal universe.

And that energy—he shared it with the Primordial Dao Tree.

"This feeling... it's somewhat similar to a divine body."

Qian Yu mused to himself.

As long as the Primordial Dao Tree remained undestroyed, he effectively possessed an inexhaustible reserve of energy.

Though the Primordial Dao Tree was still in its growth phase, with a limited rate of energy absorption, it was more than enough to handle a battle of this scale.

"Not bad."

Qian Yu nodded slightly and withdrew his gaze.

He swept a glance over the planet below. The concentration camp had been reduced to ruins, corpses strewn across the ground, rivers of blood flowing.

The slaves were gathering in small clusters—some weeping, some kneeling in worship, some madly rushing toward the spacecraft parking area.

The slaves were free.

But his revenge had only just begun.

Qian Yu lingered no longer. He turned and stepped onto the spaceship.

The black-and-silver B9-class vessel slowly lifted off, soon breaking through the atmosphere and vanishing into the vast starry sky.

Inside the cockpit, Qian Yu sat in his seat, staring at the star chart, lost in thought.

"The Fire Phoenix Organization has operated in the Cui Lang Starfield for thousands of years, with strongholds spread across dozens of star systems. KX-7 is just one of them—how many more places like this are there?"

He raised a hand and rubbed his brow.

The Fire Phoenix Organization was too vast—too vast for him to hunt down each stronghold one by one.

KX-7 he remembered because he had personally been there.

But what about the other strongholds?

Those mining planets, trading posts, and slave camps he had never visited—where were they scattered across the boundless sea of stars? He wasn't the Virtual Universe Company, with a virtual universe to aid him.

"It seems I'll need to capture one or two alive next time."

Qian Yu made his decision.

Capture a high-ranking member of the Fire Phoenix Organization alive, have them lead the way, and then sweep through each stronghold one by one, sparing none.

"Next target..."

He pulled up the star chart, his gaze landing on a planet marked KX-11.

He had never been to this planet either, but based on the Fire Phoenix Organization's numbering pattern, the KX series should all be similar slave transit hubs.

Since KX-7 was one, KX-11 most likely was too.

"Let's go take a look."

Qian Yu set the course. The spaceship gave a slight shudder and entered the dark universe once more.

Less than twenty minutes after Qian Yu left.

A small fleet of three C-class ships emerged from the dark universe, heading straight for KX-7.

This was a support team dispatched by the Fire Phoenix Organization's headquarters.

The headquarters had reacted swiftly, and the nearest team to KX-7 had immediately received orders to rush in at full speed.

Unfortunately, they were still too late.

The three ships slowly descended onto the planet's surface.

The hatches opened, and over a dozen figures filed out.

Leading them was a middle-aged man at Cosmic Level Eight, lean and sharp-eyed, one of the Fire Phoenix Organization's minor executives.

Behind him followed twelve team members, all at Cosmic Level initial to mid-stage—a configuration that was already a force to be reckoned with in the Cui Lang Starfield.

"Hm?"

The moment he stepped out of the hatch, the lean man frowned.

The air was thick with a pungent stench of blood, so strong it was nauseating.

"Something's wrong!"

His expression shifted. His divine sense instantly spread outward.

The next second, his face changed. Corpses lay everywhere, rivers of blood flowed.

Around all the Fire Phoenix Organization's buildings—the concentration camp, the command tower, the warehouses, the dormitories—bodies were strewn in chaotic heaps.

"Th-this..."

One of the team members stared in horror, his voice trembling.

"Captain, who... who did this?!"

The lean man did not answer. His form flickered, landing before the ruins of the command tower.

He crouched down, examining the wound on a corpse.

"Blade wound... death in a single strike... such a fast blade..."

He looked at another corpse.

"This one... killed by spatial force... an expert capable of wielding spatial power must be at least Domain Lord level?!"

The lean man's pupils contracted sharply.

Domain Lord level?!

He shot to his feet and said in a low voice, "Pull up the surveillance footage. Now!"

The team members scrambled to connect to the planet's monitoring system.

Soon, a segment of footage was retrieved.

In the image, a black-silver spaceship forcibly broke through the atmosphere. Twelve orbital cannon platforms opened fire simultaneously, but the space around the ship suddenly solidified, freezing all energy beams midair.

Immediately after, a black-clad figure appeared outside the ship.

The person raised a hand and made a grasping motion. All twelve orbital cannon platforms exploded at once!

Then, the figure vanished. When he reappeared, he was above the energy shield generator. He stomped down!

A hundred-meter-tall giant building collapsed instantly!

The lean man stared at the figure, his pupils slowly contracting.

After all three energy shield generators were destroyed, the man hovered in midair, releasing an overwhelming pressure. His divine sense swept across the entire planet.

At that moment, the surveillance camera captured the man's face: black hair, black eyes, a flame mark between his brows, and an expression as calm as still water.

"It's him!"

One team member cried out in shock.

"That slave who escaped ten years ago!!"

The lean man stared fixedly at the face in the footage.

Ten years ago, when that slave escaped, he was merely at Cosmic Rank, first stage.

At the time, the organization had issued a kill order but hadn't taken it too seriously. What waves could a Cosmic Rank first-stage runaway slave stir up?

But this footage before him...

"How is this possible? How could he have grown so strong in such a short time?"

The lean man muttered to himself, his eyes filled with disbelief.

Ten years.

In just ten short years, from a freshly escaped Cosmic Rank first-stage slave to an expert capable of annihilating an entire stronghold.

How could this be?!

"Could it be... that brat really stumbled upon some incredible opportunity?"

The lean man frowned deeply.

The footage continued playing.

They saw the black-clad youth appear behind the administrator in an instant, crushing his head with one hand.

They saw him unleash some terrifying technique, freezing space for hundreds of kilometers, turning all Fire Phoenix members into statues, unable to move.

They saw him swing his blade again and again, each swing sending hundreds of heads flying.

They saw him race across the planet's surface like the God of Death, leaving rivers of blood and fields of corpses in his wake.

Over ten minutes later, every Fire Phoenix member on the entire planet lay dead.

Finally, he boarded his spaceship and departed without a trace.

The footage ended there.

The lean man was silent for a long time before slowly speaking: "Make a copy of this footage and send it to headquarters immediately."

"Yes, sir!"

A team member asked cautiously, "Captain, then... do we still pursue?"

The lean man shot him a glance and said in a low voice, "Pursue? With what? Are you and I going to throw our lives away?"

Given Qian Yu's displayed strength, what difference would their intervention make?

The strongest person in this stronghold was also at Cosmic Rank, and he hadn't lasted a single exchange against that guy.

He himself wouldn't fare much better—at most, he'd survive one more exchange. He had no intention of dying.

The team members exchanged glances, all seeing fear in each other's eyes.

"This matter is no longer something we can handle."

The lean man's gaze was heavy.

"A slave who escaped ten years ago now has the power to annihilate an entire stronghold. This rate of growth is far too astonishing. If he's allowed to keep developing, in a few hundred or thousand years, wouldn't he even dare to storm headquarters itself?"