169: Stability first

The day after Her Highness Qinglan's Breakthrough, in the virtual universe, at the Human Federation's highest virtual council hall...

Dense, boundless, and countless people gathered together!

Their virtual avatars were incredibly solid, each exuding a majestic Aura, ranging from strong to weak, but at the very least, they were all at the Stellar Level!

The number of Stellar-level Experts had reached a staggering—tens of billions!

These tens of billions of Stellar Level individuals were not illusions disguised by virtual technology, but true, authentic spiritual projections!

Among them were fierce military generals wearing crisp Human Federation uniforms with stars on their shoulders;

There were elites from the Academy of Sciences in white research robes with wise eyes;

There were administrative officials with elegant bearings who governed vast Star Domains...

But regardless of their status, the vast majority of them shared one common trait—they all flowed with the Bloodline of Chen Jun!

They were all descendants of Chen Jun!

His daughters Chen Xi, Chen Yao, and others; his grandson Zhao Jing; his great-grandsons Yuan Yue, Yuan Hai, and others... and even the outstanding individuals among his more distant descendants!

The Chen Clan, relying on its terrifying reproductive capability, the guaranteed Aptitude from "Multifortune," and the allocation of the Human Federation's massive resources!

In just over a hundred years, it had already grown into a behemoth with tens of billions of Stellar-level Experts!!!

And this didn't even count the Stellar Level descendants born into other civilizations by the Chen Clan women who had married out!

At this moment, these tens of billions of Stellar Level Descendants of the Chen Clan projections stood solemnly in the hall.

Their gazes looked reverently toward the very front of the hall, at the deep area shrouded in hazy starlight.

The focus of everyone, the core of everyone, was that... super-sized, incredibly comfortable lounge chair.

Chen Jun, looking as if he had just woken up, was wearing a "simple and unadorned" casual outfit, slumped in the chair in an extremely relaxed, almost "melting" posture.

In his hand, he held a cup of billion stars resonance tea, sipping it leisurely in small mouthfuls.

This formed an extreme contrast with the grim, fervent atmosphere surrounding him, as if the Star Domain were about to be ignited.

"Ahem!"

An old, yet resonant cough, like the tolling of a great bell, broke the silence of the hall.

An old man wearing an ancient scholar's robe, with a beard hanging down to his chest and exuding the Aura of a Stellar Level Peak, stepped out from the crowd.

He was none other than Venerable Suyuan.

After Mo Heng focused on cutting-edge technological Breakthroughs, he became responsible for organizing and researching the ancient documents and secrets unearthed from the ruins of various civilizations.

"Ancestor Chen! Colleagues!" Venerable Suyuan said, his voice trembling with excitement, as if he had discovered a truth of the Universe:

"According to the core records of an ancient 'Stargazer Civilization' ruin that I have recently deciphered, we have reached a... shocking conclusion regarding the future of the Human Federation!"

With a wave of his hand, a scene of billions of stars appeared above everyone's heads!

The territory originally representing the Human Federation rapidly shrank and converged, finally turning into an insignificant point of light.

As the field of vision rapidly zoomed out, it revealed a more vast and magnificent picture—it was a galaxy composed of countless brilliant spiral arms, so huge it was unimaginable!

"This is the full picture of the Liuli System where we are located!" Venerable Suyuan said in a high-pitched voice, "Its diameter exceeds four million light-years! It possesses billions of spiral arms like our Cangqiong Seat!"

His finger pointed to the tiny point of light representing the Human Federation's territory, his tone extremely grave:

"And our Human Federation, the territory we currently actually control, is not even one-hundred-thousandth of a single spiral arm! In this vast Liuli System, we are as small as dust!"

A stifled gasp echoed throughout the hall.

Although everyone knew the Universe was large, seeing the insignificance of their own civilization so intuitively still brought a huge shock.

"But that is not the key!" Venerable Suyuan changed the subject, his eyes blazing with burning light:

"The key is that the documents clearly record—any civilization with a Galaxy Level expert sitting in command must control at least one million spiral arms! Only then can it be worthy of the name Galaxy Level, and only then can it gather enough Luck and resources to support the strong and Reverse-Feed the civilization!"

"One million spiral arms!!!"

This term, like a cosmic storm, instantly swept through the entire hall!

The breathing of tens of billions of Stellar-level Experts stagnated! A trace of imperceptible... shock flashed in their eyes?!

"Ancestor Chen!" Venerable Suyuan turned to Chen Jun, bowed deeply, his voice filled with extreme fanaticism and earnestness:

"Her Highness Qinglan has ascended to the Galaxy Level, which is the supreme glory of our Human Federation and a heaven-sent opportunity! The sea of stars is vast and full of potential! Wherever our Human Federation's blades point, we should water our horses in the galaxy and plant our flags across a million spiral arms! This is the destiny of heaven, the trend of the times!!!"

"Boom—!"

These words were like igniting billions of tons of energy explosives!

Inside the hall, the warlike factors and pioneering hot blood flowing in the bodies of those tens of billions of Stellar Level Descendants of the Chen Clan were instantly ignited!

They were very young, powerful, and at the age of longing to establish achievements and make a name for themselves in the sea of stars!

"Venerable Suyuan is right! We are too conservative!"

"With Auntie Qinglan, and we are still huddled in this small Cangqiong Seat, it is simply a waste of heaven's gifts!"

"Fight our way out! Expand the territory for the Human Federation!"

"One million spiral arms!!! That's a hundred billion times the current territory of the Human Federation! How many resources would that be? How many life planets? How many descendants could it support?!"

"For Ancestor Chen! For the Human Federation! For more wives and children! Fight! Fight!! Fight!!!"

"Please, Ancestor Chen, issue the decree! First, unify the Cangqiong Seat! Then, launch an expedition to the million spiral arms!"

"Unify Cangqiong!! Expedition to the spiral arms!!"

"Unify Cangqiong!!! Expedition to the spiral arms!!!"

The fanatical waves of sound rose higher and higher, impacting this virtual hall like a tsunami.

Countless blazing gazes, like billions of stars, focused on the figure in the depths of the hall who was still leisurely sipping tea.

Shi Yue rubbed his hands, his Battle Intent surging: "Ancestor Chen! Your subordinate is willing to be the vanguard! Give me, Old Shi, a fleet, and I will definitely take the first spiral arm for the Human Federation!"

The long sword in Li Qingshan's arms let out a clear, ringing sound, and Sword Qi soared into the sky: "Wherever the sword points, all will be land of the Human Federation!"

Mo Heng pushed up his glasses and analyzed calmly: "From a technical standpoint, our fleet and weapon Systems are fully capable of cross-spiral-arm combat. Resource supply lines can be solved using space jump technology."

Chu Yueyao looked at Chen Jun, waiting for the final decision.

The situation seemed excellent!

Morale had already boiled to the Peak!

Only waiting for Ancestor Chen's order, and the billions of fleets would set sail, embarking on the star journey to conquer the million spiral arms!

However—

Just at this moment when everyone was united and their blood was boiling.

From the depths of the starlight came a slight, satisfied sigh.

"Sigh..."

It was Chen Jun.

He finally put down the cup of billion stars resonance tea, slowly sat up just a tiny bit, as if he had just woken up from a comfortable nap.

He rubbed his eyes, looking at the ten billion fanatical descendants below, who were like stars about to erupt, and the high-ranking officials of the Human Federation with burning gazes, and a... wry expression appeared on his face?

"I say..." Chen Jun's voice was not loud, but it strangely suppressed all the clamor, clearly reaching the perception of every living being, carrying his unique laziness and a hint of... helplessness?

"All of you, shouting about fighting and killing, are you bored out of your minds?"

Everyone: "???"

The fanatical atmosphere stagnated.

Chen Jun yawned and spread his hands casually:

"Expand the territory? Rule a million spiral arms? Sounds pretty majestic, huh."

He changed the subject, his tone carrying a sense of indifference that had seen through the ways of the world:

"But, have you ever thought... our Human Federation, haven't even tidied up our own backyard yet?"

He raised his hand and pointed to the point of light in the star map above, which represented the core area of the Human Federation and had been specially enlarged—the star System where Kunlun Star was located.

"Look, just this star System where our Kunlun Star is located, with the support of Level 2.7 technology, how much of its potential has been developed? Is it ten percent? I think even one percent is doubtful!"

"Has the surface transformation been completed? Has the spatial interlayer been fully utilized? Have the spatial folds been fully explored?"

Every time he asked a question, he tapped his finger, and his tone became heavier by a fraction:

"And, has our original Human Federation territory been fully digested? Has the original Tristan Empire territory been fully digested? Has that Star Pirate Autonomous Dominion been fully digested?"

"Our population has grown, yes, four quadrillion quadrillion sounds frightening, but with the support of 2.7-level civilization technology! A single ordinary person in the Human Federation has a living space the size of a city! Even so, you're still clamoring that our territory isn't enough? You want to go out and pillage?"

Chen Jun counted on his fingers, listing them one by one, his tone filled with heartache:

"What about technology? Mo Heng, have you fully grasped the 2.8-level civilization heritage I gave you? You haven't, have you? Daring to go out and mess around with half-baked technology? Aren't you afraid of hitting a wall?"

"What about our foundation? How many years has our Human Federation been established? Ten thousand years at most! Do you know how many hundreds of millions of years those civilizations that rule over a million spiral arms have developed? Besides Qinglan, who else can actually fight? You Stellar-level Experts, in front of a real civilization above 2.5, are you even worth looking at?!"

He swept his gaze over the tens of billions of Stellar Level descendants below, his eyes carrying a hint of 'hatred for their failure to improve':

"Yes, you can reproduce, and there are many Stellar-level Experts. But war isn't about who has more people! It is a high-intensity confrontation of technology and Law! It is a comprehensive collision of civilizations! It is a duel between top-tier experts! You going out now is not pioneering, it's delivering heads! It's giving the enemy war merit! It's making the Chen Clan line end with me!!!"

With this heavy accusation dropped on them, all the fanatical descendants were instantly silenced.

Finally, Chen Jun concluded in an earnest tone:

"I know, Qinglan has had a Breakthrough, and everyone is excited, thinking you can walk sideways now."

"But, young men and women, don't forget what our Chen Clan's ancestral family tradition is?"

He paused, enunciating every word, his voice echoing throughout the hall:

"It is being low-key! It is being steady! It is making a fortune in silence!"

"Without absolute certainty, without figuring out how deep the waters are outside in the sea of stars, any blind expansion is just courting death!"

"Who knows how many old schemers are hiding in those billions of spiral arms of the Liuli System? How many reapers find joy in hunting emerging civilizations?"

"What we should be doing right now is not going out and messing around, but—"

Chen Jun slammed the armrest of his lounge chair, although it made no sound, the Aura was imposing:

"Stay low!"

"Turn our existing territory into an iron bucket! Max out the technology tree! Elevate the quality of our population to the Peak! Raise the descendants to be more capable than the last... ah no, I mean more powerful than the last!"

"When our number of Stellar-level Experts has a few more zeros behind it, when the 2.8-level technology is completely digested, and Qinglan breaks through another layer or two..."

Chen Jun squinted his eyes, revealing a smile like an old fox:

"By then, we won't even need to fight; maybe those spiral arms will be crying and begging to join our Human Federation themselves?"

"This is called subduing the enemy without fighting, and it is the supreme strategy!"

Speaking of this, Chen Jun paused; he did not explicitly state his deeper thoughts...

His words, like a waterfall from the Nine Heavens, drenched everyone's burning fire of pioneering, cooling them down completely.

But it also instantly cooled down the hot heads of many.

That's right... Ancestor Chen is right! There is still so much untapped potential at home, why be in such a rush to go out and seek death? The sea of stars is treacherous, who knows what's out there? Staying low and developing is the only true way!

Venerable Suyuan opened his mouth, wanting to cite a few ancient texts to refute, but meeting Chen Jun's seemingly lazy yet all-seeing gaze, he finally swallowed his words and bowed: "Ancestor Chen... your foresight is deep, this old man... admires you!"

Shi Yue scratched his head and chuckled: "Hehe, Ancestor Chen is right! It was this old Shi who was too excited! The house really isn't tidied up properly yet!"

Li Qingshan's sheathed sword returned to calm, and he nodded coolly: "I will strictly follow Ancestor Chen's orders."

Mo Heng pushed up his glasses, data streams flashing in his eyes: "Ancestor Chen's strategic vision transcends the era. Excavating internal potential is indeed the top priority."

Chu Yueyao breathed a sigh of relief; she had also been worried about the risks of blind expansion, and now she smiled beautifully: "Ancestor Chen is wise! I will adjust the subsequent development plan immediately, focusing on internal construction and technological digestion."

After listening to Chen Jun's words and calming down, the crowd of Stellar-level Experts felt deeply moved.

Ancestor Chen seems lazy and casual, but in reality, every step he takes is as stable as a star core, deeply understanding the essence of "accumulate grain widely, build high walls, and postpone claiming the throne"!

With Ancestor Chen leading, why worry that the Human Federation won't prosper?

Chen Jun watched the crowd's reaction and nodded with satisfaction, slumping back into his lounge chair, resuming his lazy posture, and waved his hand: "Alright, disperse. Cultivate if you need to Cultivate, have children if you need to have children, and conduct research if you need to conduct research. Don't think about fighting and killing all day long; how uncivilized."

"The sea of stars is right there; it won't run away. When our strength is sufficient, it won't be too late to go for a 'friendly visit'."

"Remember, the core strategy of our Chen Clan is just one word—Stay low!"

"Stay low until the end of time, stay low until the end of the Universe, stay low until you are invincible, and naturally, you will win big!"

Everyone bowed: "...Ancestor Chen is wise!"

A mighty wave of sound rose again, but this time, it was no longer fanatical Battle Intent, but sincere awe and approval.

The projections of the tens of billions of Stellar-level Experts, like receding star sand, respectfully and orderly dissipated in the virtual universe hall.

The supreme meeting thus came to an end.

There were no magnificent oaths of expedition, only the "stay low" mantra that penetrated the Souls of all the Human Federation high-level officials and the Descendants of the Chen Clan.

After everyone dispersed and the hall returned to tranquility, only Chen Jun remained deep in the starlight.

He called out "Qinglan" to the air.

Yun Qinglan appeared instantly...

Chen Jun yawned and complained to his daughter: "Qinglan, did you see just now? This is the 'side effect' of increasing strength too quickly. Those brats below all started to get cocky, thinking they could punch nursing homes and kick kindergartens."

"It still requires me, your father, to personally step in and pour cold water on them to cool them down."

Yun Qinglan listened quietly, a faint smile appearing in her cold eyes, and she nodded gently: "Daughter naturally knows; Father has control over the overall situation and has his own reasons."

"That's right!" Chen Jun lifted his chin proudly, then as if remembering something, he stroked his chin and muttered: "But having said that, 'staying low' doesn't mean we can completely shut the door and build a cart... Hmm, I need to find a way to scout the news outside."

A gleam flashed in his eyes, and a "steady" thought emerged.

"Qinglan, I have a small task for you."

"Please speak, Father."

"You are now Galaxy Level; your Divine Sense coverage should be immense, right? Without causing too much of a stir, quietly scan our surroundings... Hmm, let's start by scanning the nearby dozens of spiral arms."

"Focus on seeing if there are any particularly powerful civilizations nearby, or... if there are any traces similar to the 'ten questions of the starry sky'. It can help digest the power after breaking through to Galaxy Level, and also allow us to take precautions, as one lives in worry and dies in peace."

"Remember, be quiet! No shooting! We are going to scout, not to challenge the dojo."

Yun Qinglan nodded slightly: "Yes, Father. I will act cautiously."

After speaking, her figure slowly dissipated; she had already gone to execute this "small" reconnaissance mission.

Chen Jun nodded with satisfaction, feeling his arrangements were very secure.

He had both calmed the restless emotions inside and arranged for external intelligence gathering.

"Hmm, steady development, intelligence first. Perfect!"

He exited the virtual universe comfortably; in the real world, the sunlight was just right, and the breeze was gentle.

Chen Jun slumped back into the most comfortable position, picked up a plate of "Singularity Popcorn" next to him, and ate it happily.

After chewing a couple of times, he casually picked up a cup of iced "Star Juice", inserted a straw, and took a delightful sip.

The sweet juice slid down his throat, bringing a hint of coolness.

"Pioneering and expanding territory? Fighting and killing? How can that be as comfortable as lying down and collecting rent... ah no, lying down and witnessing the growth of civilization?"

"Let the waves of the sea of stars brew in the distance for now."

"I remain unmoved, smiling as the clouds gather and disperse."

After Chen Jun sighed contentedly, he closed his eyes...

At the corners of his mouth hung a satisfied smile, belonging to a long-lived one who wins by lying down.

The sea of stars is boundless, I am at peace! On the road to immortality, stability comes first!