Feeney loosed the bowstring in his hand.
The arrow raced forth, psionic power exploding behind Feeney in a shockwave, giving the opponents no chance to react as it slammed directly into several of the Hymn Organization’s small starships.
Instantly, a few lead ships were blown up.
The squad, hesitating only a moment, scattered at once.
Now only two or three starships remained.
For Feeney, this was far too easy.
Yet, even as they were destroyed, this Hymn squad managed to send a message to their backup.
Then, they were wiped out.
“Why are these guys even here—”
Feeney muttered, then asked Amos over comms,
“Are you nearly here?”
Amos replied.
They were already in this sector and closing in on Feeney.
It was indeed very quiet—despite the strong pollution.
Too quiet to be normal.
Even Aberrant Beasts rarely approached.
Chu Zao stood behind him; Chao Huangmu had also returned, having just been stuffed with a sour candy by Chu Zao, his face twisted slightly—he was actually the culprit, having bought candies of every flavor to give to Zao Zao before even tasting most himself.
Chu Zao glanced up, his eyes glowing faintly, observing the sky.
“Baba—I don’t think I saw wrong before,” the pretty youth said, a bit suspicious, watching the area closely. “There are some faint, almost invisible threads of psionic energy here—”
Chu Zao had seen this once before.
But then, they were broken, fragmented, nearly transparent and flickering out fast, much like certain tricks of cosmic light and shadow, so the flash hadn’t really drawn his attention.
But it hadn’t been so long since, and now, as the Holy Cas teams gathered, thick smoke began to spread and the occasional Aberrant Beast roar shattered the calm.
Meanwhile, the Hymn Organization had already gotten the forward warning.
——The Crown Clan.
They had encountered the Crown Clan on their path to power.
Chastity immediately ordered Xi to investigate and try to confirm whether the half-blooded Soul Clan near Chu Zao was present.
Xi’s starship had already arrived at the Hymn Organization’s mothership.
He turned without hesitation, his gaze briefly passing over a certain spot.
He piloted his ship away.
Chastity and Charity sat at the conference table, seemingly eager for the looming climax.
“But, my lord, isn’t your trust in Xi a bit much?” Charity said. “I really don’t understand why you are so sure this dangerous fellow won’t break free—is poison alone enough?”
“No, of course not.”
Chastity smiled.
“But truly, no one knows him better than I do, and I’m certain he’ll never betray me. Why, that’s a secret.”
Chastity stood up.
“My colleagues, before we gain even greater power, before we go further, before we offer the ultimate rite to the ‘god’ on high, we must compose ourselves. Kindly come this way.”
“Yes, my lord. Though I can’t quite fathom it, the Hymn Organization has indeed grown so far in your leadership and is about to accept a new member in such a short time. If I’m not mistaken, Diligence should have completed the induction rite, so allow me to pay my respects—please—”
All around quieted down.
They had yet to change course, only shifted heading.
And it seemed Xi had already gone.
Shenghua lurked in a dark corner, watching the controls.
Her palms sweated nervously.
She held a device that could instantly crack the system and expose their position.
With Holy Cas’s tech, they’d easily spot these people.
Chastity…that rumored biggest leader of the Hymn Organization, she’d finally caught him.
The silence deepened.
In her other hand, Shenghua gripped a knife—dealing with the local Hymn members wasn’t too hard for her.
She watched as she was about to snap the device onto the ship—when suddenly, a hand shot out from the side, gripping her wrist with speed and precision.
“Of course. Xi, you did well.”
Behind her came Chastity’s smiling voice.
Shenghua twisted up, stabbing with her knife, but the opponent was a born fighter; within a few moves, he had pinned Shenghua to the floor, the device clattering to the ground.
“You—”
Shenghua stared up at those expressionless eyes overhead.
There was no mistaking it—that was Xi, who had just left.
“Unbelievable—”
Chastity walked over, looming above. Cloaked, Chastity’s features were indistinct, just a sense of offness.
But before she could dwell on it, her thoughts were disrupted.
“Our multiple screening candidates for the Temperance position were perfect, yet turned out to be a traitor.”
“Heh, a traitor?”
Shenghua couldn’t contain the ferocity in her eyes, sneering.
“The real traitors are the ones who once truly stood with you people.”
“So stubborn.”
Chastity said, sounding a bit disappointed, raising a hand, sighing softly.
“How many times must I tell you—your kind are too ignorant to see—immortals are the destroyers of galactic harmony. Only our supreme ‘god’ can rewrite the laws of the universe, bring true peace and order.”
“Supreme god? Hymn? You’re all just lapdogs of pollution, pathetic wretches who don’t even know what made you miserable. You think you’re seeking peace—hah! If this starfield was so quiet for millennia, but started bustling now, is it because your backer is getting anxious? Rest assured—I was always a piece in my own game.”
These idiots had no idea how many pieces she’d planted, scattered on drifter planets everywhere.
Shenghua was ruthless, more to herself than anyone.
If not her, it would eventually be someone else—
She fought briefly but couldn’t break free. Smiling, her eyes brimmed with years of suppressed resolve and venom—Father, mother, sister, uncles and aunts, all gone because of these monsters.
“Still harping about your god.”
Chastity’s tone went frosty.
“I’d meant for you to die with more pain, but since you’re here and won’t join us, it’s time you repaid Hymn for years of cultivating you—Xi, after arrival, prepare a ‘rite’ and offer her life to the ‘god’.”
Xi kept silent, only gagging Shenghua with a special band and moving her aside.
She gave him not even a glance.
“Keep moving. The Crown Clan will never reach the place our god guides us.”
Even the pretense faded from Chastity’s tone—just coldness.
“As for that little Crown cub, we’ll deal with it, and that half-blood Soul Clan, after we’ve gotten the power.”
Xi said nothing.
Meanwhile, the Holy Cas fleet had run into a never-before-seen event right at their overlap with Hymn’s destination.
Everything was blanketed in black energy, only the outlines dimly visible, the clear universe now clouded and murky. Only energy sensors functioned, the radar was useless.
Within that darkness, a twisted Aberrant Beast appeared, lashing out at Holy Cas.
Almost at once, Feeney’s arrow struck, and Amos moved in.
While little Chu Zao was still pondering those odd threads of psionic power—
Amos had left the ship, facing off with what had once been the beast commander Stormdrain—now apparently an even higher grade, mind gone but power multiplied.
The pressure exploded at once, the force bursting out in all directions.
Feeney had barely joined up with them when he was knocked flying a fair distance before stopping.
“What the—?”
Feeney scratched his head, glancing at Amos.
“I mean, Second Brother, is your psionic power even stronger now?!”
Amos was over a thousand; for immortals, that was just a number, but for Amos to still be growing—
Feeney felt a chill—no wonder being smacked by Amos hurt more and more; it wasn’t his imagination. He’d better tone it down.
And this beast—seriously, what was the deal?
This sector? What was going on?
No need for Feeney to say it—everyone could see something was wrong.
Very wrong.
“The pollution is intensifying—”
“No good, it’s about to surpass safe limits!”
Chu Zao didn’t hesitate, turning on his heel and striding out.
Chao Huangmu followed right behind.
“Fighting in space isn’t ideal. Better to go down to the surface.”
And the nearer they moved in, the stronger the pollution got.
It was a massive strain on both the ships and the Crown Clan.
Chao Huangmu could feel the discomfort, his own psionics starting to rebel for control.
As expected.
Amos quickly ordered the Holy Cas ships to withdraw from the polluted zone.
And from the black power blanketing the planets, a swarm of feathered bird-like things burst forth, attacking like an insect cloud; Feeney’s arrows flew faster and faster.
Stormdrain was tough—strange forces were at work, and his power was still growing. Left unchecked, he would become near unkillable.
Amos and Feeney forced a path down toward a planet through the fog-like darkness.
The energy was a little like what Lien’s psionic weapons used.
Seeing Chu Zao and Chao Huangmu following, Feeney even had the nerve to shout, “I’m fine, Zao Zao—your Third Uncle’s fine, still don’t need love and peace!”
All of this was also seen by the stealthed Hymn Organization ship arriving slightly late from the other direction.
“How is this possible? How could the Crown Clan be here?”
For Chastity and Charity, it was their first time so close to a Crown Clan; even their voices broke in panic.
Xi also looked—the Holy Cas ship reflected in his eyes.
—So close.
“And that beast—this is the place the god showed us, isn’t it?”
“Never mind that now.”
Chastity snapped.
“Find the place and land. Oh, Xi, no time for a rite—dump her for now. Is that the Crown cub? Is the half-blood Soul Clan near him? Quick, find what we need! Then create chaos so we can escape.”
Just right.
Chastity watched the foggy region below, growing more agitated.
Everything they’d seen in the ‘god’s’ dream—the very things they sought—now seemed in jeopardy.
Xi said nothing.
And as Holy Cas withdrew, Hymn’s ship happened to enter the black zone from another vector—a rare gamble for the ever-cautious Hymn group.
But the lure was too great.
Meanwhile, Feeney nearly charged out again, but Amos caught and stopped him.
Chu Zao gripped his golden bow, ready for action.
Stormdrain couldn’t fully process all his power; facing the two current strongest Crown Clan, he was forced down. If not for the beasts’ healing factor, Stormdrain would have lost already.
In a brief opening, Feeney loosed an arrow. It struck something, but not a vital spot, veering off—he swore.
“On the ship, Second Brother, there’s a ship, I saw it a second ago, it looks like a Hymn Organization ship—”
It was all mixing together.
But somehow, the beasts weren’t attacking the Hymn ship—even though, in their starfield, Aberrant Beasts always attacked everyone, including Hymn.
And now? What was going on?
So these things were, at bottom, the handiwork of that being?
The so-called ‘god’.
Amos pressed the attack.
But the terrain favored the opposing forces, and he was handling a particularly tricky Stormdrain.
Amos’s eyes were cold, his crown lighting up before striking down.
Stormdrain barely dodged in time.
The parallel Hymn ship was rocked by the blast but pressed on to the “god’s” designated spot—a vast skeleton.
Here, even greater power rested, sealed by the god.
If they could get it, every wish would come true.
Peace and justice would be restored, all would be rebalanced.
Xi stood near Shenghua.
He heard the starship land.
Xi had led Shenghua away from the main bridge, then glanced down at her.
Shenghua looked calm, eyes closed.
There was one thing she hadn’t gotten wrong—apart from the little highness and the Holy Cas in his orbit, this whole starfield was rotten.
Especially anyone who came out of Hymn—they couldn’t be trusted at all.
But in the next moment, Xi shoved her onto a starship and set the trajectory.
Shenghua’s eyes snapped open at him: “What are you doing?”
“Obvious enough.”
Xi, disheveled, looked at her with hollow, bloodshot eyes, then gave a broken, almost mad laugh. His psionics slowly grew tangible behind him, as if forcibly molded by some evil creator into a pitch-black monster.
Only Xi’s eyes remained bright.
“Let the Crown Clan take care of them, and get rid of their… intended targets.”
“Hey!!”
“Scram, psycho woman, we don’t ever need to meet again.”
Xi’s twisted cold laughter.
The moment the ship launched, Chastity’s curses echoed behind. Xi spat blood, and his fierce psionics gouged a massive hole in the Hymn ship with a thunderous boom. Those psionics, almost a taunt, targeted the Crown Clan—a taunt, but also a locator.
“Xi, you actually dare betray—you actually betray—your own flesh.”
Amid the maelstrom, Chastity’s cloak was thrown back, revealing an aged face—one quite similar to Xi’s—glaring in rage.
Now, Shenghua’s small starship was making a quick escape.
She saw Xi’s last lip-sync: you should be able to break out in a few hours.
And off in the distance, the Crown Clan’s psionic power was already surging toward them—not just Amos’s and Feeney’s, but a brighter arrow transforming midair.
Shenghua, dazed, saw little Chu Zao off in the sky not far from Amos and Feeney, with Chao Huangmu piloting a small starship at his side.
So much light.
Just as the first time she met Chu Zao.
The giant psionic shock wave thundered down.
Even Chastity and Charity, bolstered by god-given power, could not withstand it now.
Chastity, mutated claws embedded in Xi’s shoulder, glared at him in madness—so close, so close!
He glanced at the stone, flickering amid the dark, greed and mania brimming in his eyes.
“Are you mad? I’m your blood, without me you wouldn’t exist—my blood runs in your veins—”
“Cough…cough…so I was an experiment, so I was handled however you liked, so I was raised to follow orders—and still you set so many failsafes, hahahaha—”
Xi listened to the nearby explosions, saw the flaming golden and black arrows scattering the darkness, and looked at Chastity.
Flesh and blood…?
But he was just an orphan made from a scrap of blood, his childhood remembered only for needles and headaches, tormented with loyalty, the belief that Chastity knew him best because they were kin. Maybe he would have stayed that way—if only he’d never seen Shenghua, never seen those closest to little Chu Zao; if he’d only just done as ordered—there would be no pain.
“Disgusting. That your blood runs in me is revolting—I ought to hate you, not anyone else…Father.”
Bang—a split second before, Chu Zao’s arrow pierced that grotesque stone—a force burst forth from it.
Xi’s vision went black, and then arrows rained down.
Amos’s psionics followed.
The saturated strike instantly tore Chastity and Charity apart; they didn’t even get a chance to resist further.
Throughout the system, the pollution seemed to quake at Chu Zao’s arrow—arrogant and overbearing, it was as if fire had been doused in cold water, instantly subdued.
But Stormdrain, just barely contained by Amos, now lunged—Amos’s longsword swung down in the same moment.
A wicked pulse swept in from behind, engulfing them at once.
But Amos and Feeney were not the target.
Chao Huangmu was closest to Chu Zao.
He saw, right behind Chu Zao, a savage scarlet eye open, petulant at last, and a tearing surge arose, spatial forces flickering from the crushed stone Chu Zao had pierced, cascading and suddenly swallowing Chu Zao whole.
Chao Huangmu tried to shield him, but was swept in, too.
Stormdrain’s power was also ripped back—he hadn’t achieved what he wanted before being sucked dry, his corpse tumbling down, the darkness dispersing.
And in the moment Amos realized, he was already at Chu Zao’s prior position—his hand empty, his shoulder slicked with blood, a wound from instantly turning to reach his cub. But the little one who had been right behind was gone.
As the darkness faded with Stormdrain’s death—the wreckage of the Hymn ship below became visible, broken bodies in its ruins, the pollution here slowly thinning. For Amos and Feeney—the sight was a group of unknown, giant Crown Clan skeletons.
Feeney: …
Where’s Zao Zao?
With the pressure gone, Amos’s power flared out, reducing everything—Stormdrain and the ship wreckage—to dust in a moment.
As he landed, Amos finally noticed something hidden here, and picked up the twisted stone—
“Stone of Divine Grace—Stone of Plunder.”
Much like those other objects.
And around it, forces were warped.
Amos gripped it tighter, the stone sizzling on contact.
When the stone met that power, Chu Zao had taken him to the Angel Realm. Now? Where had his cub gone? For a moment, Amos even doubted himself—should he have taken Zao Zao along at all?
“Surround the area. Holy Cas to enter in shifts, clear out Aberrant Beasts, search for anything else similar to this.”
Amos tossed the stone to Feeney, gazing up at the shattered skeleton—psionics nearly gone, so little as to be almost vanished, but vaguely familiar.
“Second Brother… Zao Zao…?”
Feeney stood in wreckage, frustrated and grim, looking around, signaling the Holy Cas ship for status.
But he stopped and fell silent, because he heard Amos—usually cold—swearing under his breath.
Amos, at this moment, was utterly irrational; Feeney knew it—he mustn’t provoke him further.
As for little Chu Zao—
The moment he was grabbed, it was like being smothered, unable to make a sound—he saw the “god’s” eyes staring.
And then there was Chao Huangmu’s starship shattering in the sudden chaos, a dense shadow gathering into a monster behind him, forcing Chao Huangmu into distress, nearly out of control.
Where was Baba?
Chu Zao wondered—Brother Mu? What was wrong with Brother Mu?
He couldn’t even speak.
In that moment, Chao Huangmu shielded Chu Zao, blocking the ruined currents swirling through space, the light in his eyes starting to scatter.
Chao Huangmu tried to smile for him, pulling Chu Zao into his arms until things quieted.
“Brother Mu!?”
Chu Zao coughed harshly.
Grabbing at Chao Huangmu, trying to say more.
Then saw Chao Huangmu’s downcast face, still tightly squeezing Chu Zao, and very softly, as if treasuring him, spoke: “Zao Zao.”
With great care, he just brushed Chu Zao’s forehead with his lips.
Like you—really like you—
But he didn’t dare like him too much.
Chu Zao’s eyes widened, but then—his arms were empty, Chao Huangmu vanished in an instant.
Eh?
Chu Zao hadn’t recovered from that light kiss, instinctively reaching for Chao Huangmu.
“Baba? Brother Mu?! Third Uncle?!”
Another wave of spatial turbulence crashed toward Chu Zao.
Chu Zao knew this feeling—he’d experienced it when going to the Angel Realm.
Now he thought, back then, angels and grandma said—besides the Angel Realm, many immortals have related spaces. Was this such a place?
Ahead, there was light. Without thinking, Chu Zao turned instantly into a white fuzzball, curling his body up tight.
And in the chaotic space.
Several people lounged about—
Suddenly, one stilled, turning to another.
“Desmond, did you hear something?”
Off in the distance, a tiny fluffball fell from the sky, tumbling head over tail for several rolls, flapping six pairs of wings desperately, before landing, bouncing a few times more.
The little white ball shook itself out, uncurled, stuck out a small head, dazedly took a look around and rubbed his face with tiny paws.
“Awoo~!”
Where was this?
Baba?
Third Uncle?
Brother Mu?!
The little white fluff cautiously struggled to his feet, turning once, the sharp little ears atop his head drooping. “Awoo…”
Oh no, sorry, Third Uncle, Zao Zao shouldn’t have said that—
Zao Zao’s constitution was really weird.
What rotten thing brought him here??