213: Chapter 214 Arrival at Centaurus: Are There Cultivators Here?

The bridge of the luan niao starship was so quiet at this moment that a pin drop could be heard.

On the massive holographic screen, the legendary "dowry planet" S-778 was slowly rotating.

It was breathtakingly beautiful.

It was a lush green planet; unlike the gray, over-developed state of Earth, the green here was intense to the extreme.

Clouds surged, oceans were deep, and viewed from high above, it was simply an unparalleled emerald inlaid in the Alpha Centauri System.

"Finally here."

Jiang Chen leaned back in the captain's chair, still fiddling with a high-purity gold brick he had just swiped from Mars Base, a glimmer of long-absent excitement flashing in his eyes.

This was the first "alien territory" he had conquered since he transmigrated, and it was of great significance.

"Academician Chen Shuyin, where are the probes?"

Jiang Chen turned his head to look at the female academician sitting in front of the radar monitoring console.

Academician Chen Shuyin wasn't wearing her white lab coat today, but had instead changed into a form-fitting research uniform.

Her brows were tightly furrowed as she stared intensely at the energy waveforms on the radar screen, her fingers operating the controls rapidly.

"It's very strange."

She muttered to herself, her eyes behind her lenses reflecting the light from the screen, "According to our previous theories, since this planet contains large amounts of Helium-3 and metal ores, the radar should have been able to scan for numerous relics of an industrial civilization."

"Even if it were naturally formed terrain, it shouldn't have such strong... high-energy feedback."

She zoomed in on the image and switched to thermal imaging and bio-field scanning mode.

"Look here."

She pointed to the clusters of red dots flickering like fireflies on the screen, "This isn't thermal radiation; this is... some kind of powerful biological energy field."

"And furthermore."

Academician Chen Shuyin paused, her tone becoming somewhat uncertain, "The distribution of these energy fields is extremely regular; they are distributed across several mountains that tower into the clouds, looking like some kind of... energy-gathering array?"

Jiang Chen walked up to the display screen and squinted at it.

Those were indeed towering, majestic mountains, wreathed in clouds and mist.

On the flat ground at the mountain peaks, one could vaguely see some ancient building complexes with dark-green tiles, upturned eaves, and even huge stone tablets.

How is this a resource planet?

This art style, no matter how you look at it, feels wrong!

"Give me high-magnification optical zoom."

Jiang Chen rubbed his chin, the "bad premonition" in his heart growing stronger, "I have a feeling that Jiang Wanqiu might have scammed me."

"And this is called a desolate dead star?"

"This is clearly a paradise on earth, okay!"

The image zoomed in instantly.

The high-definition image was projected directly onto the bridge's large screen via a satellite link.

It was above the clouds.

Several blurry little black dots were streaking across the sky.

Jiang Chen saw clearly.

They were men dressed in long robes.

They had their hands behind their backs, their feet stepping on long objects that shimmered with a cold metallic glint, riding the wind and qi among the clouds in an extremely elegant posture.

That object was a sword.

The long sword pierced the air.

There were even some who were forming hand seals, chanting incantations, with a violent fluctuation of spiritual energy gathering around them.

"What the f*ck?"

Jiang Chen nearly jumped out of his chair; the gold brick in his hand clattered onto the top of his foot, making him wince in pain.

"This... is this flying?!"

He pointed at the "immortal" on the screen who was riding a sword, robes fluttering, his eyes dull, unable to even speak coherently:

"Old Chen, tell me, is that an anti-gravity device? Or some kind of micro-thruster?"

Academician Chen Shuyin was also completely bewildered at this moment.

She stared at the old Daoist priest, then looked at the spiritual energy behind him that was so dense it was almost solid.

As a staunch materialist scientist, she tremblingly pushed up her glasses, attempting to make a final struggle:

"Based on optical observation... there are no propulsion devices."

"There is also no thermal radiation, no ion jets."

"Only pure... energy conversion?"

"This is unscientific! This is simply unscientific!"

"This has already exceeded all the physical categories we understand!"

Listening to Academician Chen Shuyin's near-breakdown analysis, and then looking at the white-bearded old man on the screen who was calculating with his fingers while facing the camera, then looking at this steel giant ship with a shocked expression.

Jiang Chen took a deep breath, feeling his heart beating faster than that light-speed engine from before.

He slowly turned his head to look at Zhao Gang, and then at the rows of soldiers preparing to receive "resources."

Finally, he looked at the old Daoist priest on the screen who had just risen on his sword, clearly having already discovered this incoming warship.

An extremely absurd, even slightly desperate illusion surged into his heart.

"Old Chen, Old Zhao..."

Jiang Chen gave a bitter smile, unable to help rubbing his forehead.

He felt that all the Wasteland knowledge he had accumulated in his life, and the 100 billion in blueprints he had just sold.

Might all have to be redefined on this piece of alien land—

Facing redefinition.

"Why do I feel..."

Jiang Chen swallowed hard, his gaze switching back and forth between those flying swords and the laser cannons.

He wondered if he had tuned into the wrong channel.

"Did I... walk into the wrong place?"

"Aren't we building an interstellar warship?"

"How did such a perfectly good sci-fi set suddenly have its art style change, turning into a xianxia drama?!"

"How the f*ck am I supposed to fight this?!"

"Do I have to give every one of these cultivators a Gatling gun?!"

Jiang Chen looked despairingly out the porthole at the dense, ever-approaching army of flying swords.

He felt that this "expedition."

Might be more exciting than he had imagined.

Or even...

More likely to make one want to die.

"Prepare for battle!"

Jiang Chen gritted his teeth and shouted into the microphone:

"I don't care if he is Nascent Soul or Golden Core!"

"Raise the cannons for me!"

"I want to see whether your flying swords are faster, or my railguns are faster!"

Ending hook:

Just at the moment Jiang Chen was about to give the order.

That old Daoist stopped in the clouds.

He actually didn't attack, but instead pressed his palms together and bowed deeply toward the massive luan niao starship.

"This poor Daoist, Supreme Elder of the Qingyun Sect, welcomes the arrival of the Immortals from beyond the heavens."

"May I ask what brings the Immortals here?"

Jiang Chen: "..."

What the f*ck, there's this kind of move?

Now, it's even harder to attack.