The Cleanup Operation

In the vast, boundless reaches of space, a star continuously fused atoms in its core, bringing the light and heat essential for life to the entire star system.

As several spacecraft arrived in the Frost Leaf Star System one after another, the Training Camp Intelligent System sent a message: all mission targets had returned. Starting the next moment, the twelve people's access to the Virtual Universe would be frozen, and they would no longer be able to enter it.

The mission could begin.

Yin Congyang ordered the ship to stop above the outermost planet in the Star Pirates' lair. He used his powerful soul force to mobilize his Spiritual Force and cloak himself, ensuring the Star System Defense System wouldn't detect him. Then he activated the Virtual Universe livestream function and slowly flew alone toward the residences of the three Star Level inhabitants on the planet.

The Star System Defense System was mainly designed to guard against large objects such as spacecraft and warships. Detecting small individuals required energy signatures, fluctuations caused by flight, and so on. Spiritual Force could effectively block this kind of ordinary detection.

Yin Congyang slowly flew above the residence of Aspasia, the lowest-ranked member of the Star Pirates. He activated the secret technique Shake God, sweeping through the area with his soul force. Aspasia didn't notice a thing. He sat alone, pouring himself a drink from a bottle and muttering as he drank, "Once I finish one more job, I'll get the Seven-Colored Fire they promised me. I should be able to comprehend the Fire Domain with it. Then I'll be able to rise a few places in the organization's rankings..."

Suddenly, Aspasia's eyes widened. The bottle in his hand fell to the ground with a crash and shattered, its clear contents spilling across the floor. His pupils seemed to splinter like broken glass, and the flame of his soul went out with a soft hiss, like a candle snuffed by the wind...

Yin Congyang slowly descended and carefully searched the residence. There was nothing of value. He collected Aspasia's Storage Ring, which had appeared after his death, along with his corpse, then slowly flew toward the next target.

Three low-ranking members lived on this planet: two at Star Level Three and one at Star Level Four.

At this point, Yin Congyang's Spiritual Force was approaching the limits of the Planetary Level and was already no weaker than that of someone at Star Level Five or Six. His soul force was comparable to that of someone at Star Level Nine. With such powerful soul force and Spiritual Force, the power of the secret technique Shake God was something these few ordinary Star Level Three and Four members could never withstand.

He quickly found the other two and used the same method, annihilating their souls with Shake God. He collected their corpses and Storage Rings, leaving them to be examined after the mission was complete.

Next, he headed for another planet. The three members ranked seventh, eighth, and ninth were two at Star Level Four and one at Star Level Five. The process was the same: he took them all out in one sweep.

The fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-ranked members were on the third planet. All three were at Star Level Six. Afraid that a single strike with Shake God might not kill them, Yin Congyang also used the Xinling Disk. As his secret soul attack struck, the disk's flying knives pierced their heads, ensuring they were killed outright. All three were dealt with without incident.

There were only two on the second planet, both at Star Level Seven. Before leaving the spacecraft, Yin Congyang had ordered its AI to go to Red Leaf Planet, where Aulis was, and monitor the skies above the planet. It was authorized to shoot down any spacecraft that tried to take off.

He was worried that if a major battle broke out on this planet, the Star System Defense System might detect it and alert Aulis on Red Leaf Planet. Whether Aulis came to investigate or tried to flee out of caution, he would have to take a spacecraft. Only a spacecraft could travel through the Dark Universe.

Yin Congyang went after Fali first. She was a Fox-kin woman with a single fox tail and an exceptionally alluring figure. When Yin Congyang found her, she was cultivating, with defensive measures in place around her. Even so, he approached with ease, first attacking her soul, then closing in and decapitating her with an axe. The ease of it surprised him slightly. So a Star Level Seven wasn't all that impressive after all.

After quickly dealing with her, he flew toward Glacha's location. Before he could get close, he saw Glacha hovering above his residence. This wasn't because Glacha had noticed the earlier disturbance. He had just tried to enter the Virtual Universe, but he couldn't connect to the Virtual Universe System. Uneasy, he had flown into the air to see if anything was amiss.

Seeing Yin Congyang slowly approaching, Glacha's expression darkened. He had a very ominous suspicion about why he couldn't enter the Virtual Universe System.

Has this moment finally come? he sighed inwardly. Ever since carrying out his first mission to search for information, he had prepared himself for this possibility. Of course he knew that what he was doing was unacceptable to humanity, but for the sake of all kinds of treasures and secret techniques, he had still chosen this road of no return.

"You were sent by the Virtual Universe Company, weren't you?" A multitude of thoughts churned in Glacha's mind, but not a hint showed on his face. He asked Yin Congyang coolly, "I suppose Fali and the others have already been eliminated. How many of you came this time?"

"How did you notice me?" Yin Congyang asked in return. He was confident the earlier disturbance had been so slight that the Defense System shouldn't have detected it, and Glacha shouldn't have been able to sense him either.

Glacha scanned the sky around him. When no one else appeared, he showed an expression of both relief and frustration. "Could it be that you came alone, a Planetary Level Nine, intending to eliminate all twelve members of our organization?"

Yin Congyang said no more. He swung the Heaven-Opening Axe in an arc of profound elegance, striking toward Glacha as an eightfold domain spread out and enveloped him.

Feeling as if he'd sunk into a swamp within the domain, Glacha's expression finally changed. He snarled, "A Planetary Level cultivator can actually have such a powerful domain? You must be a genius student from the Elite Training Camp! I've cultivated hard for over two thousand years to reach Star Level Seven, yet I still haven't been able to comprehend a domain. Compared to you, I'm nowhere close. But you're only at the Planetary Level. Today, I'll show you the enormous gap between the Star Level and the Planetary Level—a gap no domain can make up for..."

Watching Glacha struggle as if trapped in a swamp by the domain's suppression, Yin Congyang gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head. If he were an ordinary Planetary Level Nine with only one or two layers of domain, or even three or four, he might not have been able to suppress Glacha.

After all, the leap from the Planetary Level to the Star Level was already considerable. On top of that, the sixty-fourfold difference between Star Level One and Star Level Seven meant a basic gap of at least several hundred times.

But Yin Congyang had not only an eightfold domain; it was also the immensely powerful Five Elements Domain, a fused domain of the Law of Five Elements so potent that even a single layer surpassed the power of an ordinary fivefold domain.

Yin Congyang, Heaven-Opening Axe in hand, closed in on Glacha and used Splitting Mount Hua. He raised the axe over his head and brought it down. It was the fiercest of his axe techniques. Suppressed by the domain, Glacha's movement was severely impaired. He could only brace himself with both arms, hoping to use his own raw strength to knock Yin Congyang away. But although Yin Congyang appeared to be only at Planetary Level Nine, his physical strength was no weaker than that of an ordinary Star Level Five or Six. When Glacha's arms met the Heaven-Opening Axe, he felt a tremendous force crash down. The battle armor on his arms shattered at once, and he plummeted.

Yin Congyang pressed his advantage and swung Splitting Mount Hua at Glacha's head again. Glacha looked up furiously, his eyes nearly splitting with rage. Yin Congyang's domain had completely bound him, and the previous axe strike had driven an unstoppable force into his body. Before he could recover, Yin Congyang came at him with the same move again. He could only raise his arms to block once more. This time, both arms were pulverized, and he was driven into the planet's surface. He never used weapons when fighting, and had always prided himself on having arms comparable to a Tier 3 Force Weapon. They couldn't stop Yin Congyang's Heaven-Opening Axe, sealing his defeat and death.

Yin Congyang pursued him straight down and used Splitting Mount Hua a third time, cleaving the unprepared Glacha in two from head to toe.

He collected Glacha's corpse and Storage Ring, along with his other belongings, into his Storage Ring. Then he turned toward Red Leaf Planet, his gaze icy and murderous.

The spacecraft AI sent a message: it hadn't detected any spacecraft taking off from Red Leaf Planet. Yin Congyang immediately ordered the ship to come back for him.

A few minutes later, the spacecraft arrived above the planet. Yin Congyang was already waiting in the air. He flashed into the ship, and it sped toward Red Leaf Planet.

On Red Leaf Planet, Aulis listened to the alarm from the Star System Defense System and gazed wistfully at the Tree House where he had lived for over a thousand years. "Sigh, I really hate to leave. It'll be hard to find another place with such beautiful scenery... But before I go, I should crush this little mouse, too. That'll give me something to tell those dozen or so brothers and sisters... And if I can capture him and hand him over to the organization..."

He stood quietly in the air, waiting for Yin Congyang to arrive.

After leaving the spacecraft, Yin Congyang immediately spotted Aulis hovering above Red Leaf Planet.

A sense of danger came from the other side. What puzzled Yin Congyang was that it didn't seem to come entirely from Aulis. Or rather, Aulis wasn't the only one making him feel threatened—something or someone else was, too.

"You're Student A1 from the special-grade Elite Training Camp in the Green Pouch Secret Realm, right?" Aulis began slowly. "What a pity. I only got the information on your batch of students less than a month ago, and I was just about to organize people to go after you. I didn't expect you to find me first. The Virtual Universe Company truly deserves its reputation for having ruled humanity for countless eras and struck fear into myriad races..."

Yin Congyang slowly spread his domain, trying to trap Aulis. Aulis expanded his own domain as well. It was a Triple Domain, which firmly held Yin Congyang's domain at bay.

So the Virtual Universe System isn't omnipotent after all, Yin Congyang thought. The intelligence report said Aulis had a Third-Stage Domain. I didn't expect it to have reached the Triple Domain!

Feeling Yin Congyang's eightfold Five Elements Domain, Aulis couldn't help showing surprise. "You really are the number-one Planetary Level genius in the Qingnang Training Camp. For the sake of your talent, I can give you a chance..."