Qiu Yan froze for half a second, then bowed deeply, his dark gold dragon horns nearly level with his shoulders. "...Understood. If either of you needs anything, please contact me at any time. This is my Virtual Universe account."
"Also, I have an unoccupied castle where you are both welcome to stay whenever you like. I hope it will be to your liking," Qiu Yan continued.
Jiang Xian replied calmly, "Mm, all right."
After leaving his Virtual Universe account and telling them the castle's location and access code, he slowly took two steps backward before turning to leave. Unleashing his full Domain Lord Level speed, he soon became a streak of dark gold light and vanished into the sky above the city. But that streak of light was noticeably unsteady. Qiu Yan had received a few too many shocks today, and his head was still buzzing.
"The makings of an Immortal..." he murmured as he flew, unable to keep the corners of his mouth from rising. "The makings of an Immortal. He actually said I... had the makings of an Immortal."
If Qiu Yan's subordinates had seen this, they probably would have thought their Domain Lord had suffered some kind of mental attack.
Jiang Xian watched Qiu Yan fly into the distance, then tilted his head to glance at Luo Feng and shrugged. "Come on, let's look around."
Babata's voice sounded in Jiang Xian's ear. "The makings of an Immortal. Do you know how much weight those words carry in the universe? You said he had the makings of an Immortal, and in such a casual tone, too. That Qiu Yan will be too excited to sleep for the next three hundred years. Besides, becoming an Immortal is very difficult."
"Hahaha, it's only becoming an Immortal. As long as I want to, I could help even a dog break through to become an Immortal," Jiang Xian said offhandedly, suddenly thinking of his two pets.
Jiang Xian left Babata unwilling to talk anymore, and Babata returned to Luo Feng's Smart Wristband.
Jiang Xian smiled at Luo Feng. "Come on, let's look around."
After buying a few things, they went to register at the Ganwu Dojo. The sky grew completely dark. A gentle glow lit up inside Qiu Long City's giant dragon carvings. Seen from above, the entire city resembled an enormous glowing beast coiled in the darkness. Jiang Xian looked up for a while, then suddenly rubbed his stomach. "Luo Feng, let's find somewhere to eat. I want to try the local specialties."
"Babata, can you recommend a restaurant?" Jiang Xian asked.
Babata spoke up. "Dragon Spine Pavilion, three thousand meters ahead to the left. It's one of the top three restaurants in Qiu Long City."
After sampling some specialty dishes at Dragon Spine Pavilion, the two decided to rest for the night before returning to Earth.
"How about spending the night at the castle? Qiu Yan said it was empty," Luo Feng asked.
Jiang Xian thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Forget it. Staying in someone else's castle wouldn't feel quite comfortable. Let's find a hotel for the night and leave tomorrow."
The two soon found a nearby hotel and booked two rooms.
Jiang Xian entered his hotel room and eagerly logged into the Virtual Universe. The real reason he had been in such a hurry to come to Qiu Long Star was to experience the Virtual Universe ahead of time.
"Connecting to the Virtual Universe..."
Jiang Xian played virtual games for a while, but found them less appealing than he had expected. After all, he had practically turned reality into a hacked version of a game. He had only been curious about virtual games because he had never seen them before. Now he found them mediocre; he would rather go have fun in other worlds.
Early the next morning, Jiang Xian knocked on Luo Feng's door. When Luo Feng opened it, he was already packed and looked well rested. They checked out in the hotel lobby and walked out through the entrance. Jiang Xian glanced up at the sky, took a deep breath, and said, "All right, we've pretty much taken care of everything we needed to do. Let's go. We can come back if anything comes up. It takes less than a day anyway."
"Mm," Luo Feng answered.
The two rose into the air and flew back to the docking port. The silver-white, pyramid-shaped Machine Race spaceship was still conspicuously parked in its original spot, with no other ships daring to approach the area around it. The hatch opened, and they boarded.
"Babata, let's go," Jiang Xian said as he sat in the ship's control chair.
"Understood," Babata's voice replied.
Just as the ship left Qiu Long Star, a formation of ships secretly began following it.
Babata paused, sounding somewhat amused. "Now this is interesting. The radar shows that a formation started following us as soon as we took off. Six ships: one C-class spaceship and five B-class spaceships. They're probably space pirates from the outskirts of Qiu Long Star. They probably learned that one of you is only Planetary Level and the other Star Level. They want to get rich by robbing you."
Jiang Xian looked speechless. "These people really are greedy! When they were gathering information, they must have also heard that our backgrounds were out of the ordinary. Yet they still dared to come."
"Babata, can you find their hideout?" Jiang Xian asked.
"Of course. Give me a moment," Babata immediately replied.
"Found it!" Babata said a little later.
"Now that you've found it, destroy their ships with the laser cannon!"
Soon, a silver-white cannon barrel silently extended from the bottom of the ship, a dazzling ball of white light gathering at its muzzle. A moment later, a thick white beam swept across, so fast it seemed as though a frame had been cut from the scene. The beam pierced all six ships at the same instant. Six explosions sounded in unison, and the six ships disintegrated into six clouds of metal debris.
Babata reported calmly, "Jiang Xian, all targets have been eliminated. No survivors. Did you ask me to find their hideout because you intend to go there and wipe them out?"
"Correct." Jiang Xian snapped his fingers.
The ship soon changed course. A short while later, a derelict asteroid appeared in view, with quite a few buildings on its surface. This was probably the hideout of the space pirates in this region around Qiu Long Star.
Jiang Xian looked at the drab gray asteroid and suddenly wanted to test the power of the ship's Star Annihilator Cannons. "Babata, can the ship's annihilator cannons be used right now?"
A hint of excitement entered Babata's voice. "Of course. The weapons module has three Star Annihilator Cannons. Their rated power is more than enough to destroy an asteroid. But I should remind you that this would be a bit of a waste of energy."
"It's fine. We happened to run into this anyway. I just want to see how powerful the Star Annihilator Cannon is. Oh, before firing, send a message to all the pirates on that planet," Jiang Xian said.
"What message?" Babata asked.
"Say goodbye to this universe! Remember not to become space pirates in your next life," Jiang Xian replied.
A circular firing port opened on the ship's underside, and an enormous, thick cannon barrel extended from it. A vortex of deep purple energy began gathering inside its muzzle. Visible ripples spread through the void. At the same time, Babata transmitted Jiang Xian's words to every communications system on the asteroid.
"Energy charge complete. Three-second countdown. Three, two, one."
A thick pillar of purple light thundered out. The instant the beam pierced the asteroid, the celestial body began disintegrating from its core. Dazzling white light spread outward, and the entire asteroid exploded into countless fragments that scattered in all directions, forming an expanding belt of rubble.
The asteroid, which had existed for untold tens of thousands of years, and the pirate hideout on its surface vanished from the universe together.
Watching the scene, Jiang Xian marveled, "That really is quite powerful!"
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