At this moment, freedom takes shape

【The star routes and starships are still necessary.】

【Even if Black Wind can fly through space now, there’s no way he can move faster than the star routes.】

【The scale of the universe is despair-inducing. Only the star routes’ unique method of crossing space can make interstellar travel meaningful. If it took several hundred years to travel from one planet to the next, such travel would lose all meaning.】

【The commotion Black Wind caused attracted pursuers.】

【Large numbers of winged tribesmen took flight, flapping their wings as they chased Black Wind.】

【But all they could do was choke on the dust behind him. The fiery trail Black Wind left behind singed their wings, sending them plummeting in panic.】

【Two people and one horse shot straight into the sky!】

【At this moment, freedom took shape.】

【With Black Wind’s help, you and A-Dou reached outer space.】

【Black Wind flew through space, carrying you to the location of the star route.】

【A great many starships were circling here.】

【The three major sects had shut down the starport formation, causing a “traffic jam” along this stretch of the star route.】

【Starships headed for Firelight Star had stopped here, blocking all the starships behind them.】

【Some starships carried powerful cultivators who could have their experts “get out” and “push the car,” leapfrog this congested section of the route, and continue toward the next planet.】

【Starships without the ability to enter outer space had no choice but to remain here and wait out the traffic jam.】

【Black Wind flew over the massive traffic jam, attracting countless eyes.】

【“Is that a Dragon-Scaled Horse? One of the three ancient divine beasts?”】

【“It is! There’s no mistaking it! What beautiful scales. Could it be an aristocrat among the Dragon-Scaled Horses?”】

【“Why would an ancient divine beast from the Dragon Horse Galaxy come to a second-class planet like Firelight Star?”】

【The people aboard the starships began discussing it animatedly.】

【When they saw someone riding on the Dragon-Scaled Horse’s back, their envy only grew stronger.】

【The ancient divine beasts possessed intelligence. They had their own societies and civilizations, and there was no possibility of them being subdued as mounts.】

【Yet this ancient divine beast was clearly your mount!】

【The cultivators of all races aboard the many starships began speculating about your identity. What kind of person were you, to possess the means to subdue an ancient divine beast?】

【You arrived on the star route and tossed the last starship out, restoring it to its normal size.】

【Then you brought Black Wind and A-Dou inside the starship.】

【Black Wind shook his head and withdrew the flames and imposing aura covering his body, lest he damage the starship.】

【“Boss! We did it!”】

【You patted Black Wind’s now incredibly sturdy back.】

【“Black Wind, you’ve helped me again.”】

【“That’s what Black Wind is supposed to do! Boss, where are we going now? Should we go to my hometown? I guarantee no one there will dare bully you!”】

【You gave a bitter laugh.】

【“Apparently, we can only travel freely within the Ares Immortal Kingdom. To cross into the sphere of influence of another immortal kingdom, we need special permission—and going to another galaxy would be even more difficult.”】

【Even with permission, going to the Dragon Horse Galaxy was unrealistic for you right now.】

【It was simply too far away.】

【Between galaxies lay an endless, empty universe, devoid of any supplies.】

【More importantly, there were no intergalactic star routes.】

【“We’ll follow the original plan for now. We’ll go to Vermilion Purple Star, find the Torch Society’s contact, and hand A-Dou over to them for protection.”】

【Professional matters still had to be left to professionals.】

【The Torch Society had spent many years raising geniuses to adulthood right under the noses of the alien races.】

【If you kept A-Dou by your side, the two of you would face endless pursuit. If something went wrong one day, A-Dou would be the one to suffer.】

【Year sixty-two, age eighty-six.】

【You replaced “Someone Imitating My Face” with “Mortal Bone.”】

【During the interstellar voyage…】

【The starship Shen Yifeng left you had actually been an asset of the Torch Society.】

【It was a high-grade starship, considerably better in quality than the one Old Master Zhang had left behind on Fortune Star.】

【That was why this starship traveled faster.】

【Strictly speaking, “travel” was not an accurate way to describe what starships did.】

【A starship did not fly. It was merely a vessel placed upon the star route.】

【What truly transported people from one planet to another was the star route.】

【It was simply that the higher the starship’s quality, the more of this teleportation energy it could withstand, allowing it to be transported faster.】

【“As Shen and Shang first turn, it is autumn over Dongting Lake; beneath the dawn moon, a traveler comes to the ancient ferry…”】

【During the voyage, aside from cultivating, studying the Dao, and comprehending divine abilities, you spent your time pondering the poem Mr. Xun had left behind—the one containing the contact information.】

【It was obvious that the final two lines were the code phrase used to identify one another.】

【The crucial information—the identity of the contact, the meeting place, and the time—was hidden in the first two lines.】

【A map of Vermilion Purple Star was tucked inside A-Dou’s swaddling bundle. It was a world map of the planet.】

【You searched it for locations that might correspond to the lines of the poem.】

【“Dongting… My hometown does have a lake called Dongting Lake, but there’s no place with that name on Vermilion Purple Star at all. Or is this map outdated?”】

【For the moment, you were unable to decipher the information hidden in the poem.】

【You glanced at Black Wind, who was playing with A-Dou, and at the other artifacts, including the Myriad Souls Banner.】

【“You all need to talk more.”】

【The Myriad Souls Banner teased you.】

【“What’s wrong? Feeling lonely? No one to play with?”】

【You began singing.】

【“A few casual words can unravel all my doubts…”】

This interstellar voyage lasted five years.

Five years later, A-Dou had grown to eight years old.

He was considerably taller than other children his age, with thick, jet-black hair and a sturdy build.

To shrink the starship for transport, nothing could be kept inside it. After all, a starship was not a storage device.

Thus, the only thing A-Dou had been able to eat over the years was the plain porridge Chen Yi created with Infinite Plain Porridge.

How had he managed to avoid malnutrition on nothing but plain porridge?

Without a doubt, Chen Yi had discovered another wondrous use for Infinite Plain Porridge—it was rich in a wide variety of nutrients.

There had been nothing strange about A-Dou calling him that when he was little.

But once he grew older—especially after being raised by the horde of demons and monsters in the Myriad Souls Banner—his thoughts had become more complicated.

He wanted a proper name.

Chen Yi did not know A-Dou’s surname, so he could only give him his own.

Chen Yixun.

Without question, it was an excellent name.

It contained the names of the two people who had been crucial to A-Dou’s escape from Firelight Star: Chen Yi and Mr. Xun.

【Year sixty-five, age eighty-nine.】

【Currently drawing a trait…】

【Draw successful!】

【“Hates Apologizing After the Fact” (Green, Rare): If someone says “I’m sorry” to you, you need only shout “Kill!” three times to enter a state of murderous intent perception!

Murderous Intent Perception: Clearly distinguish who harbors hostility or killing intent toward you.】

【Adjust the trait?】

【Yes/No】

【You chose yes.】

【You replaced “Zilong! Zilong!” with “The Older He Gets, the Luckier He Becomes.”】

【“Uncle Chen, can I start cultivating now?”】

【Over the past few years aboard the starship, you had only taught A-Dou some basic martial arts. You had not formally taught him a cultivation method.】

【It was not that you did not want to teach him. He had simply been too young. His immortal root had not yet manifested, so there was no way for him to cultivate.】