The World-Devourer traveled through the void for a full standard month.
During that time, it did not make any ultra-long-range spatial jumps. Instead, it maintained a relatively stable sublight cruise, repeatedly using short-range spatial folds to avoid known hazardous star zones while scanning for energy anomalies along its route with its onboard equipment.
Life aboard the ship was monotonous and oppressive. Aside from regular tactical drills and equipment maintenance, most of the team members remained in their cabins, either cultivating or preparing themselves. The air was thick with the tense impatience of those waiting to hunt—or be hunted.
Neji also spent most of his time in seclusion, continuing to refine the Divine Tree Heart Fragment and spiritual seed essence he had not fully absorbed before. At the same time, he used the cultivation energy interface provided aboard the ship, whose concentration far exceeded that of the outside world, to steadily accumulate Nascent Soul true essence. His cultivation had quietly reached the limit of the Early Nascent Soul stage, and he could enter the middle stage at any time.
He also secretly observed his fellow team members. Squad Captain Ōtsutsuki Xi seemed rough and boorish, but he was actually shrewd beneath the surface. He clearly favored Huang and several other core members of the Radical Faction, though he maintained at least a surface-level fairness toward Neji, Xuan, and Jiqiao, those who were not part of his inner circle.
Xuan remained as calm as a scholar, spending most of his time studying star charts and various reconnaissance data. Occasionally, he would seek out Neji to discuss matters such as energy tides within star regions and the stability of spatial structures.
Jiqiao had practically become an unofficial maintenance worker for the Shadowrider, the small reconnaissance ship. He spent all day in the hangar