Starting Cultivation in Wasteland

Qu Jianlei had long wanted to visit the Maiden Star Realm, but he had a few tasks left unfinished.

Moreover, he always felt that his strength was still somewhat lacking — the team’s strength was just average.

As someone who preferred planning before acting, he didn’t dislike encountering uncontrollable danger.

The dangers of the Maiden Star Realm were well-known, and undoubtedly, there were also the Imperial top Hunters there.

However, various powers were heading there, although he warned himself to remain calm, he couldn’t help but feel a bit anxious.

And Tenas’ reply indeed heightened his dilemma.

"The military has already started stringent inspections on entrances and exits; the old passes no longer work, but quite a few people are still going..."

Qu Jianlei pondered for a moment and asked, "With the strength of an Earl, can you be taken in?"

Tenas answered seriously, "Ordinary Earls, not necessarily."

Ultimately, it’s the Steff Clan’s extensive connections that make them think it’s laughable for an Earth Scholar to negotiate.

However, archeology enthusiasts also have dignity; once they fully mobilize, it’s really not difficult to deal with a Count Clan.

Therefore, when both sides go all out, that’s why such a situation arises.

Qu Jianlei hesitated for a while and asked the last question, "So is this surge really because of the events in the Blade Star Realm?"

"Yes," Tenas answered decisively, "Actually, the news about the events in Blade is not very certain."

"It’s said that to ascertain the specific information, several Supremes suffered heavy damage."

It truly is... Qu Jianlei didn’t know what to say, the Empire’s control over this information is exceptionally strict.

At the fifty million kilometers mark, 3344 sent people into two merchant ships, watched them leave, and then turned towards deeper space.

In fact, during this process, Granny Jia had stealthily entered one of the merchant ships and hid herself securely.

After landing, she chose a suitable place and released the Teleportation Array Plate — before this, there was indeed no teleportation array here.

Qu Jianlei and others teleported to the Blessing Star, intending to gather recent information.

Blessing Star truly deserves its reputation as a cluster of higher educational institutions, it didn’t have the tense atmosphere of a major inspection.

However, institutions had already taken action, conducting proactive checks in their assigned districts.

In fact, it’s more appropriate for them to intervene, since acquaintances are directly passed over, and for unfamiliar faces, background inquiries are not difficult.

For Qu Jianlei, these weren’t problems; what surprised him was: the Paranoid and Mu Yu both ended up on the bounty list!

The bounty was issued internally by Chaoyang Academy — other academies weren’t in a position to do so.

The bounty amount wasn’t too high, just five million; Chaoyang wasn’t trying to arrest them, they simply wanted to contact the two!

The main reason should be that Chaoyang urgently needed some strong alumni to handle potential emergencies.

On the bounty lists of other academies, there were also those long-lost Supreme alumni, giving a sense of an impending storm.

Besides that, Qu Jianlei noticed that the number of Supremes on Blessing Star had become noticeably fewer.

The last time he came, it felt easy to encounter Supreme presence, but this time it was much rarer.

Much Supreme information on Blessing Star can be checked online; it’s not about secrecy, it’s just that there are truly too many Supremes.

And the academic style is generally like this — our Supremes are all decent folks, not afraid of attracting attention.

Some people even openly commented online that recently, there were too many Supremes going to the Maiden Star Realm, but the opportunities there are limited.

Supremes who haven’t received Imperial project support are best advised not to venture there casually.

Otherwise, it’s not just a waste of resources, but also easy to face life-threatening dangers.

Upon learning this, Qu Jianlei’s heart stirred, could other Star Realms be the same?

Granny Jia, having experience with this situation, expressed her opinion dismissively.

"Daring to go publicly, there should be quite a number of academics, those going secretly must be even more numerous... those people are more terrifying."

After pausing for a moment, she curiously asked, "Boss, don’t tell me you want to go too?"

"Saying I don’t want to go would be a lie," Qu Jianlei smiled bitterly, "But the problem is, it doesn’t seem worth it."

Indeed! Granny Jia nodded, having experienced such matters, "With such hype, there might be forces manipulating behind the scenes."

In other words, are they trying to lure us out? Qu Jianlei didn’t think this speculation was far-fetched.

"Let’s leave then... should we make a trip to the Hope Star Realm?"

"The Hope Star Realm is too remote," Granny Jia surprisingly objected, "If you really want to see other Star Realms, go to the Celestial Hook."

Later that evening, the group teleported back to the 3344 ship.

What they didn’t know was, shortly after they left, Chaoyang updated their bounty list, adding one more, Celestial Sound.

And the reward for Celestial Sound, like Paranoid and Mu Yu, was also five million!

Qu Jianlei and his team switched to the Omen Ship, after several years, they were back in the Celestial Hook.

In this Star Realm, Qu Jianlei still owed someone a starship, he currently had the goods but it was inconvenient to deliver.

Apart from this, someone owed him a balance, but it was also unsuitable to pursue at the moment.

Qu Jianlei came here, first choosing the Transfer Star. This place is considered the most chaotic area of Celestial Hook and can be deemed a weathervane.

Previously, the Omen Ship landed on the Transfer Star.

Qu Jianlei didn’t rush to land it; instead, he circled around to see if he could find any opportunity.

An opportunity did arise, in less than a day, when a Customs Enforcement Warship targeted the Omen Ship.

There’s no choice; some departments truly function based on genetic inheritance.

Previously, Qu Jianlei tormented the Customs Enforcement Division to ecstasy; it’s only been a few years without his presence, and the division is reverting to its old ways.

However, this time, Qu Jianlei didn’t use any forceful means; he directly chose Spiritual Illusion Skill.

His current illusion technique is much stronger than before. The opponent, merely a B-level leader, was easily fooled.

Not only that, but he also gleaned quite a bit of information, learning that the current Transfer Star is more orderly than... it used to be!

Indeed, it’s just a little more orderly, that’s all.

During the Imperial massive inspection, the crackdown on the Transfer Star was extensive, and for a time, order was quite good.

However, that was of no use; for the Celestial Hook Star Realm, they hope the Transfer Star will invigorate the economy.

Unfortunately, the better the order here, the less vibrant the economy.

Later, under strong protests from the Star Domain Government, the inspections at the Transfer Star were relaxed, leading to a retaliatory economic rebound.

Now, even the Customs Enforcement Division is repeating the old refrain.

However, it’s certain that, after two waves of crackdown, there’s almost no sight of unknown Supremes on the Transfer Star.

Nevertheless, the grey areas here have become a vacuum, and new forces are attempting to fill the void.

Currently, small-scale conflicts at the Transfer Star and Asteroid Belt are rampant.

Qu Jianlei is not very interested in this information; he just wants to know if the number of Supremes at Celestial Hook has increased or decreased.

Unfortunately, the opponent’s level is really low, and all he could say was: supposedly decreased... just supposedly.

But it doesn’t matter. Qu Jianlei followed them onto the Customs Enforcement Warship, reducing his presence.

Three days later, the Customs Enforcement Warship returned to the Transfer Star.

Then, Qu Jianlei continued using the Elf House route, laying down many Teleportation Array Plates in the Celestial Hook Star Realm.

In fact, another purpose of his visit to Celestial Hook is contacting Rhine.

He currently doesn’t want to go to the Maiden Star Realm, but it’s always right to pave the way first.

Previously, whether it was Granny Jia or Qinghu, they had relevant military connections.

But now, it’s truly unsuitable, and the fervor of the Maiden Star Realm is unpredictable.

Unfortunately, Rhine is once again absent.

But it doesn’t matter; Qu Jianlei has already set up the Teleportation Array Plates. It will be convenient next time.

He also noticed that the number of Supremes on Celestial Handle Star has indeed decreased.

Originally, he wanted to visit Celestial Blade Star and install some array plates as well.

However, the Celestial Hook Enigma Mansion is too sensitive; he doesn’t want to alert related people, so it’s better to come back when it’s time to act.

Then the group didn’t wander around further, but returned to the Tianpeng Star System.

No need to visit the Lost Star for now; even observation from afar is unnecessary—military trap setups are typically undiscoverable by ordinary people.

So, everyone returned to Paradise Star; they didn’t need to go through the Star Port.

The guesthouse here hasn’t really been affected; income steadily grows, and rarely does anyone oblivious show up.

Disputes and tension at the Supreme level have minimal impact below, not something that ordinary people need to worry about.

Even when Qu Jianlei and his group returned half a month later, Yunwu Mountain held a tourist activity spanning three months.

These three months are genuinely off-season, but after the activity, daily revenue exceeded half of the peak tourist season.

This clearly demonstrates that the sorrows and joys of people don’t really connect; the troubles of big figures don’t affect the tourism enthusiasm of ordinary people.

However, just as the three-month activity was concluding, trouble did come to the guesthouse.

Big Head Butterfly slowly turned its body, "Boss, Paradise has issued a Celestial Sound bounty order..."

"For capturing her alive, the upper limit is thirty million plus a thirty percent share!"

"Thirty percent share?" Qu Jianlei was taken aback, "Did you mishear? Isn’t the share three percent?"

The Imperial bounty doesn’t only consist of fixed amount rewards; for high-value targets, revenue shares are also included.

Most bounties with shares don’t usually come with rewards.

Having both bounty and shares indicates a significant matter.

The government is thus signaling everyone: This person’s value far exceeds your imagination!

Please, everyone, be serious.

But Qu Jianlei found it quite strange; are you sure the share is thirty percent and not three?