The Monster Race's Hell Star

Boarding a specialized small spacecraft, he descended to a satellite specifically designated for raising monster races, first heading to the satellite's base command center.

The person in charge of the command center was a Domain Lord, responsible for monitoring the entire satellite and its interior—whenever combat power exceeding the Star Level appeared, they would either send someone or personally act to eliminate it.

The command center had a dedicated stealth system, and the entire satellite was further equipped with a holographic simulation device set up by the Virtual Universe Company. The various races living within had no idea this was part of human territory; they only knew that every so often, human geniuses would appear on the satellite's surface or underground to steal their race's treasures.

Another ten years had passed since he completed the Apprentice Mercenary assessment. Yin Congyang and his Wood-element clone had both cultivated to Star Level Nine.

Similarly, the mysterious fluctuations in his dantian hadn't stopped transforming his body, spiritual force, and soul—they were constantly breaking through higher limits. Especially after incorporating the fluctuation from that seed, his body seemed to have an even higher ceiling.

Based on his evolution speed, he roughly estimated it would take at least another fifteen to twenty years to reach the Star Level limit and break through to Universe Level.

Over the following decade or so, he completed several missions, earning a fair number of points. He also attended many lectures from World Lord-level instructors in the training camp's virtual system, making considerable progress in the Law domain.

The Law of Wood progressed even faster. With his clone, comprehending the Law of Wood felt like a fish in water—ten times quicker than other Laws.

He also wanted to condense a clone for another Law, but he had a vague feeling that his current soul power wasn't strong enough. It would be best to wait until his soul power reached the Domain Lord level before condensing a second clone; otherwise, it might cause irreversible damage to his soul.

He chose to trust his intuition. When it came to matters involving the soul, no amount of caution was excessive.

At this moment, his soul power had reached the peak limit of Universe Level and could break through to Domain Lord at any time, so the second clone wasn't far off.

His plan was to spend the third decade of the training camp executing missions he felt confident completing, racking up more points. Then, once his soul power met the standard, he would condense the second clone and use the points to see if he could exchange for some Law treasures from the training camp to help the clone grow.

After reporting to the Domain Lord-level supervisor, Yin Congyang walked out of the base, concealed his aura, found a passage leading underground, and slipped inside.

As soon as he entered the underground passage, he frowned slightly. The range of his Spiritual Force's spread had indeed shrunk, but his soul and will were extremely strong, so the impact wasn't too severe.

Carefully probing the path ahead, he advanced slowly.

Although the entire satellite, including its underground areas, had no combat power exceeding Star Level, the passages leading deep underground weren't very spacious. Moreover, the entire satellite was extremely hard—Star Level power basically couldn't damage it. If he were surrounded by a large number of Star Level monsters blocking the front and back, he'd have no choice but to fight a bloody breakthrough to survive.

Fortunately, there were many passages, all interconnected like a web. Almost every few hundred meters, another passage branched off, some wide, some narrow. This gave Yin Congyang a strange sense of familiarity—it looked eerily like the blood vessels inside a human body.

He recalled what the Chief Instructor had said long ago: these eight satellites weren't just training grounds but also defensive measures for the central planet. This guess might actually have a high probability.

The map of the monster satellite surfaced in his mind. He had memorized the three-dimensional map before coming; now he needed to find a landmark to pinpoint his location.

The Purple Hotaru Fruits grew in the satellite's central zone. There were only nine trees in total, with a maturation period of about thirty-plus years, bearing fruit three times every century. They were extremely precious treasures for Star Level monsters, promoting evolution, so they were guarded year-round by Star Level Nine monsters.

The passages weren't completely dark. Each one had some luminous minerals with very low hardness—useless for making weapons, but they emitted light, so the monsters used them as light sources.

Carefully threading through over a dozen passages, he suddenly heard faint noise ahead. He crept forward, wrapping himself in Spiritual Force. The passage ended at an exit, from which light much brighter than inside the tunnel poured out.

Peering out from the passage mouth, he saw a huge hollow cavern beyond the exit. In the center of the cavern stood a platform, and on that platform was a statue—a giant wolf howling at the sky, at least ten meters tall. It seemed carved entirely from Black Ice Rock, radiating a cold yet holy light that wasn't harsh, giving one the feeling of basking in sunlight.

Surrounding the statue on the central platform, rows upon rows of monsters were prostrating themselves—one branch of the wolf monster race: the Silver Moon Wolf Clan.

Circle after circle of Silver Moon Wolves. Those in the inner rings were larger, with strength decreasing from the inside out, all bathed in the light emitted by the statue.

In the innermost ring, one wolf was noticeably taller than the others—likely the leader of this pack. It was letting out low howls, and with each howl, the wolves behind responded with soft whines, as if performing some ritual.

Yin Congyang compared this to the three-dimensional map in his mind. This should be the Moon Wolf Altar. Cross-referencing other landmarks from his route, he roughly confirmed his direction, then quietly turned and headed into another passage.

Twisting and turning through the passages, he moved steadily toward the planet's core. Along the way, he often encountered Star Level two or three monsters on patrol. Relying on his powerful soul talent, he used some Illusion Technique recorded in [Shake God] to make the patrolling monsters overlook him, advancing to the vicinity of the core without incident.

He hadn't killed any monsters on the way, afraid of alarming them. Especially the patrolling ones, which rotated frequently. Even if he was sure he could wipe out an entire patrol squad in an instant, the discovery would inevitably follow.

Now, close to the core, he became even more cautious. Lying at the top of a passage, he looked down. The core was a circular space about ten kilometers in diameter. The monsters had evenly piled countless luminous minerals here, making the entire space very bright. In this vast space, nine purple trees grew sparsely.

Their trunks were twisted and crooked; one or two had even lost all their leaves. Only one tree was lush and thriving, covered in purple leaves and laden with fruits glowing with purple light.

Clearly, the monsters on this satellite had deliberately staggered the maturation times of these nine trees, ensuring a harvest of Purple Hotaru Fruits every two to three years. These fruits were extremely important for low-level monsters, accelerating the opening of intelligence and comprehension, but they had little effect on humans.

The nine trees were scattered in different positions, but almost every tree was guarded by a Star Level Nine monster. The tree about to bear ripe fruit was especially guarded by three monsters: a Gale Tiger, a Green-Eyed Fox, and a Diamond Ape. Though all monsters, they belonged to different races to prevent any one of them from stealing the fruit.

Seeing this situation, Yin Congyang scratched his head. It seemed impossible to snatch the Purple Hotaru Fruits silently. His [Shake God] secret technique was powerful, but he had only cultivated it to the Star Level peak. The subsequent Universe Level techniques required enough soul power to cultivate, but unfortunately, he didn't have enough points.

The first level of [Shake God] only cost 100 points, the first two levels 1,000 points, and the first three levels 10,000 points. He still hadn't saved up enough to buy the first three levels.

The points for buying the first two levels could be Student Points, but the third level's 10,000 points weren't Student Points—they were Core Member points. If he used Student Points, it would cost 100,000. He had been extremely frustrated when he first saw that, but there was no help for it. Good secret techniques were expensive, and soul-type techniques were even pricier than those for warriors or controllers—soul-type techniques were the rarest, and [Shake God] was, in his opinion, the best among them.

Moreover, soul secret techniques were extremely powerful at close range, but their power dropped sharply with distance. At Star Level, maximum power was only guaranteed within 1,000 meters; beyond one kilometer, the power might not even kill a Planetary Level.

Now, on Hell Star, the suppression of Spiritual Force was severe. He could probably only maintain maximum power within 500 meters.

In this core space, there were eleven Star Level Nine peak monsters. Though of different races, they had all clearly been at Star Level Nine for a long time, simply afraid to break through to Universe Level—because if they dared to break through, within a day, they would vanish without a trace.

In the early days, the ordinary monsters thought those who broke through to Universe Level had ascended to another space. It wasn't until one cleanup operation left traces that the monsters here learned: breaking through to Universe Level meant disappearing without a trace.

After observing for a long time, Yin Congyang still couldn't find a flaw. In the end, he decided to take the risk. At worst, he would kill all the guarding monsters and calmly pick the fruits and leave.

The tree about to bear ripe fruit was located slightly inward from the periphery. Outside this tree was another Purple Glow Tree still in its growth stage, with a Pine Snow Lion lying lazily beneath it.

Yin Congyang silently approached to within 500 meters of the Pine Snow Lion. His Spiritual Force slowly extended. When it neared the Pine Snow Lion, he activated the [Shake God] secret technique, mixing Spiritual Force with soul power to kill the Pine Snow Lion in one strike.

The moment the Pine Snow Lion's soul shattered, the Green-Eyed Fox suddenly raised its head. A powerful wave of soul power swept across, and it immediately let out a sharp, urgent roar. The remaining nine monsters instantly sprang up and charged toward the Pine Snow Lion's corpse.

Yin Congyang was taken aback. He hadn't expected these monsters, seemingly lazy, to be so alert. Killing just one had been detected. Moreover, the Green-Eyed Fox's soul power radiated a Universe Level pressure. Clearly, its body didn't dare break through to Universe Level, but its soul and will had, through long tempering, surpassed Star Level.

Watching the seven monsters charging toward him—the Green-Eyed Fox and the other two still guarding the mature Purple Glow Tree, clearly afraid of a diversion—Yin Congyang simply stood up, Heaven-Opening Axe in hand, and advanced to meet them.

Seconds later, the seven monsters closed in on him, attacking from different directions—left, right, front, back, staggered in formation to ensure at least three could strike him at the same instant. Their experience was clearly rich.

Calculating the distance, Yin Congyang's eyes blazed with light. A Universe Level peak soul fluctuation swept out. The seven charging monsters instantly lost all sound and collapsed to the ground, the nearest one sliding right up to Yin Congyang's feet.