A Firefly's Light, Yet It Dares to Shine Upon the Bright Moon?

" S-so beautiful..."

Xiao Wu was utterly captivated.

She stopped bouncing around and cupped her cheeks in both hands. Her wide pink eyes reflected the starry expanse, filled with sparkling stars of their own.

As a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast who had taken human form, she was exceptionally sensitive to natural energy.

She could feel that these silver lights contained not a trace of impurity. They were so pure they made her want to cry.

"So this is Boss Su's world? It's so beautiful... I want to go in and play too..."

Xiao Wu murmured to herself. In that moment, her admiration for Boss Su soared beyond the heavens.

At the classroom door, Luo Bu finally let go of his obsession.

He was no longer angry or jealous. He didn't even feel that things were unfair anymore.

When the gap was only a little, people grew jealous.

When the gap was a river, people grew angry.

But when the gap was an entire galaxy, all that remained was worship.

"Heh... heh heh..."

Luo Bu slumped to the ground, letting the blood on his forehead run into his eyes. His vision blurred as he gazed at the silver ocean, and he let out a foolish, relieved laugh.

"I'm such an idiot... Honestly."

"I actually thought... I could race against a starry sky?"

"This is... We aren't even in the same dimension!"

The silver Star River poured from the Star Gate behind Su Yun, flooding the entire classroom with light.

The light was utterly pure, without a trace of warmth, yet it held an aloof, noble indifference—as if all things were no more than straw dogs.

Tang San fell to the ground, bracing himself with both hands as he struggled to keep the last shred of consciousness beneath that oceanic pressure.

The Mysterious Heaven Skill internal energy within him had long since stopped circulating. His energy, which had once flowed ceaselessly and freely like a river, was now frozen in his meridians by the silver pressure.

It no longer obeyed Tang San's commands. Like snakes and insects confronted by a true dragon, it had cowered in instinctive fear.

It felt as though the slightest leak of energy at that moment would cause the starry expanse to crush him to powder.

"Is... is this Boss Su's true strength?"

He raised his head and peered through the slits of his eyes, stinging from the silver light, at Su Yun, who stood bathed in the Star River like a god. A bitter, self-mocking smile suddenly tugged at his lips.

"Ridiculous... Tang San, you're so ridiculous."

Tang San lowered his head and looked at his fists, clenched until his knuckles had gone white. A powerful sense of shame filled his heart.

"Just now, I was actually agonizing over whether I should break the sect rules and teach him the Mysterious Heaven Skill?"

"I was worried that he couldn't advance without a cultivation method, and, with the attitude of someone bestowing charity, I was debating whether to give him a hand..."

An absurdity unlike anything he had ever felt before filled his chest.

It was like a beggar with half a moldy bun tucked away, watching an emperor feast on delicacies, and agonizing over whether to share his half-bun. He even worried that giving it away might break the beggars' guild's rules.

"A firefly's light, yet it dares to shine upon the bright moon?"

"The cultivation method Boss Su practices is so vast and profound. I have no idea how many times it surpasses my Mysterious Heaven Skill! It's the true Great Dao, the very source of the orthodox Xuanmen path!"

"And I actually thought so highly of myself, believing the Tang Sect Secret Arts were the best in the world... To Boss Su, my little dilemma must have seemed as childish as a child guarding his food."

In that moment, the last vestige of pride in Tang San's heart was crushed beneath the starry expanse.

The way he looked at Su Yun had completely changed.

Yet Su Yun, at the heart of the storm, was having a hard time himself.

As the Dao Canon Heaven Skill ran at full power, things gradually began to slip out of control.

"Rumble—"

The desk closest to Su Yun suddenly began to tremble. The textbooks and pencil case on it slowly floated into the air, spinning as if gravity had vanished.

Next, the desks and chairs in the back row began to move. Even the broom in the corner started wobbling restlessly.

"Not good! The pull is too strong!"

Su Yun was startled and was just about to rein it in a little.

But at that moment, Rat, who had been lying atop Luo Bu's head after earning great merit and was now unconscious, was so light that it began to float!

Its limbs dangled as it rolled its eyes back. It arced through the silver current, heading straight for the Star Gate behind Su Yun!

Luo Bu's unfocused pupils snapped into focus the instant he saw this.

That was his father's precious baby!

"Rat!!!"

A scream of utter anguish pierced the silver storm, drowning out even the humming energy.

Luo Bu's bloodstained face twisted with terror.

"No! That's my Rat!"

The scream made Su Yun's eyelid twitch, and he abruptly opened his eyes.

The sight startled him too.

"Holy crap!"

Su Yun forgot all about maintaining the air of an expert, his face changing dramatically.

Images of the grisly scenes in the laboratories on Earth flashed through his mind...

Before he had obtained a Soul Ring, he had conducted live-animal transmission experiments to test the Star Gate's safety.

Every one of those little white mice had been crushed to bits the instant it touched the spatial folds of the Star Gate. Some had even burst into a cloud of blood!

Although he had obtained the First Soul Ring and the Star Gate had turned white, he still hadn't conducted a full live-subject test!

If Rat hit it, wouldn't the poor little thing be torn to pieces?!

Su Yun didn't want his cultivation to end up hurting an innocent Rat.

"Disconnect the link!"

In his desperation, Su Yun gave a sharp command in his mind, instantly severing the Star Gate's anchor to the depths of the universe.

The vast silver Star River was cut off in an instant.

But although the pull had vanished, Rat still carried its momentum, flying toward the Star Gate with unstoppable force.

Whoosh!

Meanwhile.

Earth, United Command Center.

Because Su Yun had changed the connection coordinates to the depths of the universe, only a glaring field of static remained on the Large Screen.

"Bzzzt—"

"Captain Lei! The connection has been forcibly cut!" The operator's fingers flew across the keyboard, but his voice trembled despite his efforts to hide it.

Lei Zhan stared at the screen, cold sweat beading on his forehead. It felt as though an invisible hand had seized his heart and squeezed hard.

A wave of regret unlike any he had ever felt surged through him.

"Damn it... Did Su Yun really push himself until he burst?"

Lei Zhan gritted his teeth, his eyes full of remorse and self-blame.

"If I'd known... I shouldn't have given him those cultivation methods! Even if he trained slowly and lived as an ordinary person, that would be better than having his life or death unknown!"

Just as everyone's heart was in their throat...

Suddenly!

The teleportation platform in the center of the hall, specially designed to receive supplies, lit up without warning with a silver-white glow!