17: Chapter 17 is too small; its scope is too narrow.

"Hissss—"

A wave of intense dizziness swept through his mind. Su Ming shook his head abruptly and managed to open his eyes with difficulty.

His entire body felt sore and swollen, and his head throbbed with a splitting ache, a sensation several times more agonizing than pulling an all-nighter with a hangover in his past life.

He hurriedly mobilized the divine power within his body to slowly guide his meridians, suppressing the churning discomfort. It took a long time before the sluggishness in his mind finally faded.

His gaze swept over the star ring on his wrist. The instant he saw the time, Su Ming's pupils constricted slightly, and his heart tightened.

"It's eight o'clock!"

Missing the gathering meant missing out on a spot in the Hanging Secret Realm, so he didn't dare delay for even a split second. He got up, grabbed his clothes, bit into his newly bought breakfast, and sprinted all the way toward Flowing Light Plaza.

At Flowing Light Plaza, Gu Qingfeng had been waiting for a long time. Seeing Su Ming rush over, he couldn't help teasing, "What did you do last night? A step later, and you would have missed today's gathering for the Hanging Secret Realm."

At this moment, there were nearly a hundred figures in Flowing Light Plaza. Clearly, everyone from Blue Star participating in the Hanging Secret Realm was gathering here.

However, the auras emanating from most of them were extremely profound, clearly not comparable to newly awakened deities like Su Ming and the others.

"Don't mention it." Su Ming rubbed his throbbing forehead with a helpless expression. "I overdrawn my use of resource cards last night, and the backlash was so severe that I almost completely collapsed."

Even though he used his divine power to alleviate most of the sequelae, the space between his brows still felt sour and stinging, and the residual backlash lingered for a long time.

Hearing this, Gu Qingfeng looked extremely surprised. "Just how many resource cards did you use last night? To think you could cause such a severe backlash against yourself! Besides, why didn't you use an inhibitor to counteract the side effects?"

"Three," Su Ming answered frankly. "I didn't expect that stacking three in a short period would make the backlash so fierce. But getting through it can be considered a good thing; it forcefully tempered my willpower and solidified my foundation."

Gu Qingfeng gave him a thumbs-up on the spot, wearing an expression of admiration. "You are truly a ruthless person. You already have a fortune of five hundred thousand divine crystals in your hands, yet you still hard-fought through the backlash to torture yourself. I truly admire you."

Su Ming gave a bitter internal smile and complained inwardly.

It wasn't that he wanted to suffer; he was simply poor.

An inhibitor capable of neutralizing resource backlash and suppressing the backlash of heterogeneous auras cost a full thirty thousand divine crystals. He simply couldn't bear to spend it.

"Let's not talk about me." Su Ming changed the topic, looking at him with a smile. "You surely weren't idle last night either, right?"

He knew very well that the Gu Family had a profound foundation. Learning that the Hanging Secret Realm would open today, they would definitely exhaust their resources to pave the way for Gu Qingfeng.

Not just Gu Qingfeng, but probably many people present were the same.

Gu Qingfeng chuckled and didn't hide it. "Just a small breakthrough. The number of my subordinate thralls has broken one thousand."

A flash of shock instantly swept across the depths of Su Ming's eyes.

Gu Qingfeng's divine domain attribute was Barbaric, and his subordinate thralls were all colossal giant beasts with formidable individual combat power. However, their appetite and resource consumption could be called a bottomless pit; ordinary deities couldn't even afford to raise more than a hundred of them. For him to directly raise a thousand giant beasts, the cost could be imagined.

"You have no idea how much of a headache I have." Gu Qingfeng spread his hands helplessly and shook his hands. "To keep these guys from starving, I directly smashed ten million divine crystals to fill up a storage ring. As a result, this little bit of supplies is only enough for them to eat for three hundred years. I even suspect that what I'm raising aren't war behemoths, but a group of bottomless gluttons."

Su Ming couldn't help clicking his tongue in amazement.

Don't look at three hundred years as a long time, but one must know that one day in the outside world is a year in the divine domain.

This ten million divine crystals couldn't even last a year.

He had long heard that Barbaric-attribute thralls consumed an extreme amount of food, but he had never imagined the consumption would be terrifying to this extent.

His gaze fell upon the storage ring in Gu Qingfeng's hand, and the depths of his heart were filled with envy.

A storage ring wasn't considered a particularly precious treasure, but even the most basic ten-thousand-cubic-meter model cost one hundred thousand divine crystals each.

Earlier, he had wanted to get his hands on one too, but alas, his divine crystals were consumed like flowing water, and he had never managed to save up a surplus.

Seemingly seeing through his thoughts, Gu Qingfeng casually took off a storage ring and tossed it straight over.

"Take it. My family equipped me with a new storage ring, and keeping this old one is just letting it gather dust. I'm giving it to you."

Su Ming raised his hand to catch it. A warmth welled up in his heart, and he smiled and thanked him, "Then I won't stand on ceremony."

If it were the past, he might have declined out of self-esteem, but now his mindset had transformed. He firmly believed that in the future, he would definitely have the ability to repay this sentiment manifold.

"What are you standing on ceremony with me for?" Gu Qingfeng waved his hand indifferently. To him, a storage ring wasn't worth mentioning at all.

Just as the two of them were chatting, the queue of people ahead suddenly quieted down, and all discussions abruptly stopped.

A cold and upright figure walked over slowly.

Snow-white hair hung down her shoulders, and a plain white battle robe set off her stern posture. Piercing cold light lingered around her body, and her aura was icy and compelling, making people dare not approach her easily.

"To think Commander Mu is leading the team!" Someone in the crowd exclaimed in a low voice.

As for this Commander Mu, her name was Mu Qingge, and she was the commander of the Xuanyou Army stationed on Blue Star.

She seemed to be only around the age of sixteen, and her appearance was coldly peerless.

However, it was said that she had already been stationed on Blue Star for one hundred thousand years, and she was the second-in-command of the Xuanyou Army.

Moreover, her cultivation was unfathomable—she was a genuine Intermediate True God!

A big figure of this level would ordinarily not be responsible for such trivial matters as them, yet today she made a personal appearance, which was enough to show how much importance Blue Star attached to this Hanging Secret Realm.

Mu Qingge glanced indifferently across the crowd, and after confirming that everyone had arrived, she spoke in a cold voice, "Set off."

As her voice fell, she flicked her sleeve lightly.

"Hum—"

The void trembled, and a giant battleship of translucent white emerged out of thin air, quietly hovering above the parade ground.

The hull of the ship was surrounded by flowing light, and its lines were elegant and smooth, resembling a celestial jade pavilion suspended in the nine heavens.

The gunwales were carved with intricate and exquisite intertwined spiritual patterns, the layers of decks were staggered and orderly, and the huge cloud-patterned sails stretched out like clouds, gently swaying in the wind.

The bow was carved into the shape of a warm, auspicious beast, surrounded by layers of soft halos. It was magnificent and grand, majestic yet elegant, exuding ultimate expensiveness and extraordinary quality at a single glance.

Su Ming's heart shook as he watched, and he subconsciously turned his head to look at Gu Qingfeng beside him.

He didn't recognize the model of this battleship, but Gu Qingfeng, as the heir of a top-tier noble family, would definitely know the inside story.

Gu Qingfeng looked along his gaze and introduced softly, "This is the Annihilator-3000, a mass-produced divine domain flying ship developed by the technological pantheon."

"Mass-produced?"

Su Ming's pupils suddenly dilated, his face full of disbelief.

Such a magnificent, domineering, and celestial top-tier battleship was actually just mass-produced standard-issue equipment?

Seeing his shock, Gu Qingfeng looked solemn and held up three fingers. "Don't underestimate mass production; this thing has a terrifying manufacturing cost. For the base model, it's this number."

Su Ming hesitated for a moment and tentatively spoke, "Three million divine crystals?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, he felt that his perspective was too small, and he quickly shut his mouth.

Hearing this, Gu Qingfeng shook his head with a slight smile, his tone carrying a trace of wistfulness. "Too small, the perspective is too small. The base model Annihilator-3000 costs five hundred million divine crystals to manufacture."

"Five hundred million?!"

Su Ming froze completely in place, giant waves churning in his heart.

At this moment, the look in his eyes as he gazed at the Annihilator-3000 in the distance completely changed.

Where was this a flying battleship? It was clearly a moving treasury of divine crystals!

He couldn't help whispering, "This price is just too exaggerated..."

"It's not exaggerated at all." Gu Qingfeng shook his head with a serious expression, his tone full of admiration. "This ship is forged entirely from otherworldly cloud gold, making it indestructible. It can even withstand the bombardment of an Intermediate True God without a single scratch. Inside the ship, psionic shields, linked battle formations, and long-range sniper cannons are all readily available, combining both offense and defense."

As he spoke, he raised his hand to point at the protruding core part at the bow. "Do you see that? That is the long-range realm-breaking main cannon. Under full power eruption, even an Intermediate True God must avoid its edge and would definitely not dare to take it head-on."

Su Ming swallowed subconsciously, completely awed by this top-tier combat power.

"Furthermore, Teacher Mu's ship is definitely not a regular base model; it's a custom high-end version, and the price will only be even more terrifying." Gu Qingfeng's eyes were filled with emotion. "Even for our Gu Family, the entire family only has three battleships of the same grade."

Once Gu Qingfeng said this, the way Su Ming looked at Gu Qingfeng couldn't help but change as well, and he couldn't help grinding his teeth in complaint, "You're a proper filthy rich bastard."

Gu Qingfeng gave a bitter laugh and waved his hand. "Those three ships belonging to my family belong to my family; they have nothing to do with me."

"All personnel, board the ship."

Mu Qingge's cold voice came from above once again.

The crowd didn't delay any longer and stepped into the interior of the battleship one by one.

After everyone boarded the ship, the heavy hatch slowly closed.

"Whoosh—!"

A translucent white stream of light cut across the sky, and the Annihilator-3000 battleship instantly broke through the atmosphere, completely leaving Blue Star behind as it sped away.