Chapter 403: At this moment, freedom has taken shape!
The channel and star ships are still necessary.
Even if Black Wind can now fly in space, his speed cannot surpass the channel.
The scale of the universe is despair-inducing, only a unique spatial crossing like the channel can achieve meaningful interstellar travel—spending hundreds of years to go from one planet to the next makes such travel pointless.
Black Wind's commotion drew pursuing forces.
A large number of Winged Clan warriors beat their wings and gave chase to Black Wind.
But they could only follow behind and eat dust, their wings catching fire from the flaming trail Black Wind left, and they plummeted down in a panic.
The two of you and the horse shot up into the sky!
In that moment, freedom took shape.
With Black Wind's help, you and Ah Dou reached outer space.
Black Wind flew through space and brought you to the channel's location.
Many star ships lingered here.
Because the Three Major Sects closed the starport's great formation, this area's channel was "traffic-jammed."
Star ships heading to Blazing Star were parked here, blocking the ships behind them.
Some ships carried strong cultivators who could "get off" or "push" using their power, bypass the jammed section of channel, and continue to the next planet.
Ships without the ability to enter space had to slowly wait in this traffic.
Black Wind flew over the massive traffic jam, drawing a lot of attention.
"Is that a Dragon-Scale Horse? One of the three ancient divine beasts?"
"Yes! No mistake! Such beautiful scales, could it be a noble among Dragon-Scale Horses?"
"An ancient divine beast from the Dragon Horse star system, why would it come to a second-tier star like Blazing Star?"
People aboard the star ships whispered and speculated.
Seeing someone on the Dragon-Scale Horse's back, they grew even more envious.
Ancient divine beasts are intelligent; they have their own societies and civilizations. They aren't supposed to be tamed as mounts.
Yet now, this ancient divine beast is clearly your mount!
Cultivators of various races aboard the star ships guessed what sort of identity you, a human, must have to command such means to subdue an ancient divine beast.
You arrived at the channel, you threw the last star ship out, restoring the star ship to its normal size.
Then, taking Black Wind and Ah Dou, you entered the star ship's interior.
Black Wind shook his head, retracted his blazing aura and majesty, so as not to damage the star ship.
"Boss! We made it!"
You patted Black Wind's now incredibly solid back.
"Black Wind, you helped me again."
"That's what Black Wind should do! Boss, where are we going now? Want to go to my hometown? Once we get there, I guarantee no one will dare bully you!"
You gave a bitter smile.
"It seems we can only freely navigate within the Ares Immortal State. To cross out of an immortal state's sphere requires special permission, let alone going to another star system."
Even with permission, going to the Dragon Horse star system right now is unrealistic.
Too far.
Between star systems lies endless empty space with no resupply.
More importantly, there are no cross-star-system channels.
"First, follow the original plan: go to Vermilion Violet Star to find the Torch Society's contact and hand Ah Dou over to their protection."
Professional matters still require professionals.
Raising geniuses under the noses of the alien races is something the Torch Society has done for many years.
If you keep him with you, you two will face endless hunting. If something goes wrong someday, the one who gets hurt will still be Ah Dou.
Year sixty-two, eighty-six years old.
You replaced Someone Is Copying My Face with Mortal Bones.
During interstellar travel...
The star ship Shen Yifeng left you actually came from the Torch Society's assets.
It is a high-grade star ship, considerably better in quality than the one Old Zhang Master left on Fortune Star.
So this star ship travels faster.
Actually, describing star ships as "flying" isn't accurate.
Star ships don't fly; they are simply containers placed on the channel.
What truly sends people from one planet to another is the channel.
It's just that the higher the star ship's quality, the more transmission energy it can withstand, so the faster the transfer.
"Can Shang first turn to Dongting autumn, the dawn moon faces the ancient ferry..."
During the voyage, besides cultivating, delving into paths, and comprehending divine abilities, you were thinking about the poem Mr. Xun left behind, the one containing the contact information.
The last two lines are certainly the contact's secret code, that's obvious.
The key is the first two lines that hide the contact person, contact location, and contact time.
Inside Ah Dou's pack is a map, a global map of Vermilion Violet Star.
You were searching within it for locations that might match the poem's lines.
"Dongting... My old home does have a lake called Dongting, but Vermilion Violet Star has no such place name. Or is this map outdated?"
You couldn't yet crack the hidden information in the poem.
You glanced at Black Wind playing with Ah Dou, and at the Ten Thousand Souls Banner and other artifacts.
"Talk more, you lot."
The Ten Thousand Souls Banner joked.
"What's wrong? Lonely? No one to play with?"
You started singing outright.
"Some careless words will unravel my doubts..."
This interstellar journey lasted five years.
Five years later, Ah Dou had already grown to eight.
He was considerably taller than his peers, his hair jet-black and thick, his build sturdy.
To shrink the star ship for travel, the interior couldn't store things—after all, a star ship isn't a storage device.
So the only food Ah Dou ate over these years was the white porridge you made using Unlimited White Porridge.
Just eating white porridge and not being malnourished?
Undoubtedly, you had discovered another miraculous use of white porridge—it was rich in a variety of nutrients.
When Ah Dou was little, calling you that way wasn't a big deal.
As he grew, especially raised by the Ten Thousand Souls Banner and that bunch of weird artifacts, his thoughts multiplied.
He wanted a full name.
You didn't know Ah Dou's surname, so you could only give him your own.
Chen Yi Xun.
Undoubtedly, it's a good name.
This name simultaneously contains two key people who enabled Ah Dou to escape Blazing Star: Chen Yi and Mr. Xun.
Year sixty-five, eighty-nine years old.
Extracting trait tag...
Extraction successful!
"Most Hate Apologies Afterwards" (Green Rare): If someone says "sorry" to you, you only need to shout "kill" three times to enter a killing-intent perception state!
Killing-Intent Perception: can clearly distinguish who harbors hostility or murderous intent toward you.
Adjust the trait tag?
Yes/No
You chose yes.
You replaced Zilong! Zilong! with Luckier with Age.
"Uncle Chen, can I cultivate now?"
Over these years on the star ship, you only taught Ah Dou some fist and kick techniques, not formal cultivation methods.
It's not that you didn't want to teach him, but he was still too young; his immortal root hadn't manifested, so he couldn't cultivate at all.