Chapter 354: Star Vessel, Star Harbor, Astral Channel!
["Chen Dong, I'll give you a piece of advice—you'd better let me go right now. The crime of harming a White Priest is enough to dig up your ancestors' graves!"]
[Facing Locke's threat, you spoke mockingly.]
["Sorry, my ancestors aren't buried here, and... my name is fucking Chen Yi!"]
[You gave him another round of punches, and Locke fell silent again.]
[After the stick, you offered him a carrot.]
["You know, I was injured and lost my memory before, so there's a lot I don't understand. If you can clear up my doubts, I might let you go. After all, you're right—I'm just a mortal. Even if I had heaven-defying skills, how could I possibly stand against the vast Winged God Church?"]
["At least you have some self-awareness. Ask away. Nothing happens on Fortune Star that I, Locke, don't know about."]
["Why do you say the human race are sinners?"]
["Because their ancestors committed great crimes in the universe and were exiled—"]
[You cut him off with a punch.]
["What the hell are you doing?!"]
["Tell the truth."]
["That is the truth!"]
[Seeing you raise your fist again, Locke instinctively flinched and quickly added.]
["Fine, fine, fine! That whole thing about being descendants of criminals—it's unverifiable, with no historical records to back it up. But I don't know the real reason either. It's just been passed down through generations to treat humans this way. We're just following our ancestors' ways!"]
["Is humanity treated like this on every planet in the universe?"]
["That, I'm not sure about. I've only been on Fortune Star and Lingwei Star. The situation for humans on Lingwei Star is slightly better, but they're still the lowest race."]
[You asked him what Lingwei Star was.]
[Locke explained.]
[Fortune Star was a third-class star, completely devoid of Immortal Qi, making cultivation impossible for anyone.]
[However, the Winged God Church was a major sect that controlled multiple planets. They allowed members stationed on Fortune Star to regularly travel to the nearest second-class star, Lingwei Star, for cultivation.]
[Thus, every position had two people rotating shifts—one worked on Fortune Star, the other cultivated on Lingwei Star.]
["The commoners on third-class stars are the easiest to control because they have no way to leave the planet. We cultivators can do whatever we want with them. On second-class stars, things get trickier. You never know when some lucky brat might pop up, find a crack to breathe despite all the pressure, and eventually even come knocking at your door. But whatever—our Winged God Church has lasted over ten thousand years. Even if occasional rebellions erupt on the planets we control, they always get crushed in the end. So, I advise you not to oppose us. What you've seen on Fortune Star is just the tip of the iceberg."]
[Your face darkened as you suppressed the urge to beat the bastard to death, continuing your questions.]
["How do I leave this planet?"]
["First, you need a star vessel—you can't cross space with just your physical body. Then, you head to the star harbor to launch the vessel into the astral channel. Once you're in the channel, you set your destination planet using the star map on your vessel."]
["The scale of the universe is astronomical. The distance between two planets is incredibly vast. Wouldn't I have to spend my whole life in the star vessel?"]
["You have no idea about the astral channel's power."]
["Then tell me."]
["I don't understand it either. All I know is that on the channel, distances between planets aren't a big problem. Chen Yi, from what I can see, your combat prowess is impressive, and you seem young with a lot of potential. If you're willing to work for me, I can recommend you to Lingwei Star. What do you say?"]
[You brushed him off with a vague reply and continued questioning him, learning more about the Real Realm.]
[You gained a lot of information.]
[Including the identity of the old hag from before.]
["About a meter tall, very old, can fly, wears a big black robe, and carries a snake-head staff."]
["You're talking about Duobao Tonglao?"]
["You're close with her?"]
["Not really. She's a famous artifact forging master. The archbishop once hired her to forge a spiritual artifact for us. I met her once."]
[You couldn't help but mock him.]
["Aren't you the ones who look down on humans the most? Why hire a human artifact forger?"]
[Locke gave an awkward laugh.]
["Most humans are indeed useless, but you have to admit a small few among you have some skill."]
["Where's this old hag now?"]
["When she's not on a business trip, she lives on Firelight Star in the neighboring Shengyang System. What, you want to go find her? Beg for her protection? Hah, don't even think about it. That woman has no feelings for her own kind—she only cares about profit."]
[You didn't need Locke to remind you of that.]
[As a famous figure who'd snatch a few artifacts, the old hag was a complete mercenary.]
[You reached out and touched Locke's wing.]
[Locke blushed and glanced at you.]
["I've noticed this since earlier—why do you keep touching my wing...?"]
["Don't worry about it. Just keep answering my questions."]
[As you interrogated him, you grinded for Winged Clan talents.]
[The Winged Clan's talent, "Five Elements Affinity," could basically be understood as a talent that enhanced cultivation speed.]
[That was why Liu Ying had said earlier that every member of the Winged Clan was a genius.]
[It was because they were all born with an innate affinity for one of the Five Elements, which accelerated their comprehension and cultivation of techniques and Divine Abilities.]
[However, their talent was similar to that of humans—random and fixed at birth.]
[So you kept abandoning talents and acquiring new ones, aiming for the Special-Grade Fire Element Affinity you wanted.]
[Persistence paid off. After stroking Locke's wing feathers until they were almost bald, you finally got the Special-Grade Fire Element Affinity you were after!]
[This meant that from now on, whenever you cultivated a fire-element technique, it was roughly equivalent to an improvement in your own innate cultivation aptitude!]
[Previously, you had High-Grade Bone Structure (Seventh-Rank Immortal Root). With the Special-Grade Fire Element Affinity, your future aptitude would rival that of Earth-Grade Bone Structure (Sixth-Rank Immortal Root), or even Heaven-Grade Bone Structure (Fifth-Rank Immortal Root)!]
[You'd asked everything you needed to. Carrying Locke around was just dead weight.]
[You found a random spot and, using a reinforced knight's lance, stabbed the already severely injured Locke through, hanging him on a tree.]
[Locke died with his eyes wide open.]
["You, you... you don't keep your word!"]
["You think you deserve it?"]
[The miners erupted in applause.]
[During the mass escape, you used Divine Armament Revelation to enchant over a hundred sets of confiscated weapons and armor.]
[The heavy armor became lighter and sturdier, allowing even ordinary people to wear it while enhancing its defensive capabilities.]
[The knight's lances and matching swords became sharper and tougher. With every casual swing, they released a fierce aura, dramatically increasing their destructive power while also granting some ranged attack capability.]
[From the initial eight hundred miners, you selected over a hundred young, strong, and spirited individuals, equipping them with these one hundred sets of enchanted magical items.]
[The enchantment effect from Divine Armament Revelation lasted for a while. You told them to come back to you if it felt off for a re-enchantment.]