1376: Road

“Master, the closest transfer station to the Chaotic Star Sea Starfield is Hanhai Star.”

“However, if we take a spaceship flight from Hanhai Star, we can only reach Tenglong Fortress on the Empire’s border.”

“To continue into the Chaotic Star Sea, we’ll need to find a ‘snakehead’ in the Fortress who travels between the two places to help us, or buy a small spaceship to drive there ourselves.”

Shen Yu said this in the lounge after checking.

“There’s no direct route?”

Wang Chen pondered for a moment upon hearing this, then nodded.

“Then we’ll transfer from Hanhai Star first, and see what happens when we reach Tenglong Fortress.”

While instructing Shen Yu, he secretly added buying a small spaceship to his plan.

In the vast Star Sea, without his own spaceship, movement would be extremely inconvenient.

Although his current peak combat power could reach the Five Realms Initial Stage, allowing him to break free from the gravitational pull of a Life Star and enter the Star Sea, his current flight speed was too slow, and he couldn’t last long in the ubiquitous violent currents of the Star Sea.

He simply couldn't rely on his own strength to travel from one Life Star to another, unless the distance between the two Life Stars was extremely short.

It wasn’t just the Five Realm; cultivators who hadn’t undergone the second Heavenly Tribulation also faced this problem when trying to traverse the Star Sea using their own power.

The space of the Supreme Universe was extremely stable, and Eight Realm and below cultivators who hadn’t undergone the second Heavenly Tribulation found it difficult to tear through space and travel quickly using the chaotic energy omnipresent in the Star Sea.

It was precisely because of this that Five Realm to Eight Realm cultivators were called Star System-level, because at this stage, cultivators could at most move within the areas near a Life Star using their own strength.

To travel to an adjacent small star system, the time spent would be at least calculated in years.

Under these circumstances, a small spaceship equipped with a realm-breaking formation, capable of traveling in a manner similar to teleportation, became the best choice for transportation.

Of course, even a small spaceship was quite expensive.

After instructing Shen Yu, Wang Chen connected to the Ling Network and searched.

Even the cheapest small spaceship, which had various defense and comfort modules stripped out and was about the size of a surface aircraft, cost as much as fifty million star coins.

His entire current fortune wasn’t even enough to buy half of it.

However, this was for a brand new one; if he bought a used one, the price wouldn’t be so high.

The Star Domain around Tenglong Fortress was one of the Empire’s largest “second-hand markets,” so he could inquire there once he arrived.

…

Time flowed by.

Just as Wang Chen was browsing some gossip news between an Imperial aristocratic family and the royal family on the Ling Network, there was a sudden knock on the lounge door.

“Distinguished guests, the yun whale is about to arrive at the outer area of Jin Yu Star. Please move to the aircraft and prepare to board the ship.”

Opening the door, a sweet-looking staff member said respectfully.

“Hmm.”

Wang Chen nodded, then stood up with Shen Yu and left the lounge.

Taking the aircraft prepared by the Airport, the two, along with many other passengers, quickly passed through Jin Yu Star’s atmosphere and arrived outside the planet.

Here, the yun whale Universe spaceship, which this flight would be taking, was already lying across the starry sky.

This was a streamlined spaceship with a silver-white hull armor.

On the side facing Wang Chen, the four enormous characters of “United Transport Chamber of Commerce” were painted.

The entire yun whale was about ten thousand meters long, which was quite massive among civilian Star Sea shuttle ships, a hundred times the size of the small spaceship Wang Chen had seen on the Ling Network.

Moreover, on the side and front within Wang Chen’s line of sight, there was a row of dark, rather crude-looking cannon barrels, especially the main cannon at the very front.

Even though he couldn’t see its full appearance, just by estimation, its muzzle caliber exceeded one hundred and fifty meters.

Even without energy fluctuations spilling from it, that exaggerated caliber and crude cannon body made Wang Chen, who was staring intently, feel a chill down his spine.

If he were hit by this behemoth, he probably wouldn’t even be left with ash.

“Master, the main cannon equipped on the yun whale is a stripped-down version of the Empire’s Class B battleship main cannon.

At full load, a single charged shot has the power equivalent to a full-strength attack from a Nine Realms expert, capable of easily annihilating a small asteroid.”

“Although the yun whale is just a civilian passenger ship of the United Transport Chamber of Commerce, with the attack and defense modules equipped on the ship, just one of them could fight the Seven Stars Sect, which is currently developing Jin Yu Star, to a draw.”

“And there are tens of thousands of civilian passenger ships like the yun whale in the United Transport Chamber of Commerce, with many even more powerful ones above them.”

At this moment, seeing Wang Chen staring at the yun whale’s main cannon, Shen Yu on the side quietly explained.

“A single civilian passenger ship owned by a mere merchant guild can be on par with a force like the Seven Stars Sect, which can develop a Life Star?”

Wang Chen was somewhat shocked upon hearing this.

This made him realize even more the power of the Supreme Universe.

If a merchant guild, or rather, a company, possessed such formidable military might, then super-powers like the Tianxia Empire and the Demon Court, whose territories spanned millions of light-years, must surely be even more unimaginably powerful.

“Still not strong enough!”

Feeling emotional, Wang Chen felt his own weakness even more keenly, and his belief in becoming stronger grew even firmer.

Soon.

The aircraft entered through a window at the bottom of the yun whale, and Wang Chen and Shen Yu, guided by a staff member, arrived at their first-class cabin.

Each first-class cabin was private, with an interior area of nearly three hundred square meters, and all facilities were very complete, even including a dedicated entertainment area.

High-standard meals were provided during the journey, and a staff member was assigned as a butler for the duration of the trip.

It must be said that the ticket price of one hundred thousand star coins was well worth it.

Even though Wang Chen didn’t have many demands for personal enjoyment, he had to admit that it was excellent here.

…

It took three days to travel from Jin Yu Star to Hanhai Star, the transfer star for the Chaotic Star Sea.

And it took another eight days to travel from Hanhai Star to Tenglong Fortress, the closest to the Chaotic Star Sea.

During these twelve days, Wang Chen rested well, relieving the constant tension he had felt since arriving in the Supreme Universe, and secretly anticipating his gains in the Chaotic Star Sea.

After all, the unique location of the Chaotic Star Sea, especially the Forbidden Ground in its central area where the Nightmare Fiend Overlord might be sealed…

It was foreseeable that he would remain in the Chaotic Star Sea for a long time in the future, until he had extracted all the benefits the Nightmare Ghost in this area could bring him.

At this moment.

Wang Chen was standing by the floor-to-ceiling window of the first-class cabin, quietly gazing at the seemingly endless starry sky outside.

At the very edge of his vision, more than a dozen Life Stars were arranged almost in a straight line, emitting a captivating glow, like a jade belt in the deep starry sky.

That was precisely the destination of the spaceship beneath his feet, Tenglong Fortress.