236: Star Fleet

"What did he say?"

Lu Tao muttered while rubbing his temples. The moment his Divine Sense probed into the storage ring, the casual look on his face suddenly froze.

As if a binding spell had been cast on him, his pupils dilated slightly, and even his breathing slowed by half a beat.

He looked repeatedly at the ring in his hand, then toward the retreating back of his Revered Master, Ye Feibai. That upright figure had already disappeared into the main hall.

But he still couldn't help rubbing his eyes, as if he couldn't believe the sight before him.

"Holy... holy crap!"

"Is this a miracle?!"

"Revered Master actually gave me so many good things... It couldn't be... my last meal, could it?"

A series of whispers rolled out of his throat. The last sentence even carried a bit of a tremor, containing both surprise and a hint of inexplicable nervousness.

Su Ling watched from the side with amusement and couldn't help rolling his eyes. He reached out and snatched the storage ring. "Let me see what kind of treasure could scare a lazy bum like you into this state."

As soon as his Divine Sense probed inside, Su Ling also sucked in a cold breath.

Good heavens!

Inside the storage ring's space, High-Grade Spirit Stones were piled up like a small mountain. A rough count revealed a staggering one million, their spiritual light dazzling enough to make one dizzy.

Various bottles and jars filled with Medicinal Pills for Cultivation, Body Tempering, and recovery were stacked layer upon layer into small mounds.

Any bottle taken out at random would be a rare treasure seldom seen outside.

Not to mention the Soul Crystal Liquid, a specialty of Shadow City. There were three large jars, each with a capacity of five catties.

With this much Soul Crystal Liquid, it was enough to shorten the time Lu Tao needed to charge into Soul Transformation by more than ten years!

In short, the resources Ye Feibai prepared for Lu Tao were more than enough to support him through his Breakthrough to the Early Stage of Soul Transformation; even after the Breakthrough, there would be plenty left to stabilize his Realm or even charge toward the Middle Stage of Soul Transformation.

In the very center of the storage space, a translucent white jade bottle floated, entwined with wisps of immortal light.

It was precisely the life-saving Immortal Pill Su Ling had previously gifted Lu Tao, the Seventh-Rank High Grade Hundred Spirit Rejuvenation Pill.

Beside the jade bottle lay a palm-sized shield.

A High Grade defensive Spiritual Artifact, the [Ten Thousand Rune Golden Light Shield].

The frame of this shield was made from the feathers of a Golden-Winged Peng, with Deep Sea Sunken Gold as its base, forged and smelted with Star Meteor Gold. The ten thousand Vajra Talisman runes carved on the shield's surface were as dense as a spiderweb.

Once activated, it could deploy a golden light barrier covering the entire body.

It could also be split into thirty-six small shields to set up a 'Golden Light Array,' doubling the defensive effect. It could even condense the golden light into sharp blades to strike back at enemies—a truly excellent item for both offense and defense.

Su Ling understood clearly.

Obviously, Ye Feibai also knew the dangers of this plane war.

Though he didn't say it, he was afraid Lu Tao might accidentally perish. That's why he specially prepared so many resources, hoping he could reach the Soul Transformation Realm sooner to have more confidence in staying alive.

"Senior Brother Ye really dotes on you."

Su Ling handed the storage ring back to Lu Tao and patted his shoulder, intentionally drawing out his words, "Nephew Lu... the burden is heavy and the road is long!"

"Get lost!"

Lu Tao's eyes had been heating up with emotion at his Revered Master's kindness, but hearing the words "Nephew Lu," he immediately laughed out of frustration.

He raised his hand to swat Su Ling's hand away, but as his fingertips touched the storage ring, he quickly pulled back. That cautious manner made him look as if he were afraid of breaking some precious treasure... Three days later, a roar suddenly came from above the Floating Island, and a massive immortal ship in the distinct style of the Bitao Sect slowly descended.

The entire hull was cyan-green, carved with complex water-pattern runes. It was a thousand zhang long from bow to stern, floating among the clouds like a mobile immortal mountain.

Su Ling and Lu Tao followed the thousands of Nascent Soul Disciples and hundreds of Soul Transformation Cultivators who were gathering, together turning into streaks of light and flying into the immortal ship.

With a low hum, boundless Spiritual Qi erupted from the stern of the immortal ship, forming two massive rainbows of spiritual mist that propelled the immortal ship rapidly toward the Star Gate.

At the same time, from other planes of the Jinhun Realm, immortal ships rose one after another—some crimson, some profound black—all converging toward the Star Gate.

From a distance, they looked like colorful meteors streaking through the pitch-black Void Realm.

A year later, the fleet composed of over ten immortal ships finally arrived in the void outside the Canglang Plane.

There was no sun, moon, or stars here, only endless darkness, with only the Star Gate emitting a brilliant light.

Dozens of immortal ships of various designs were quietly anchored nearby; some were carved with flame totems, others adorned with metal scales, packed together like a city floating in the void.

Standing on the deck of the immortal ship and looking at the scene before him, Su Ling calculated silently in his heart.

If every immortal ship carried about the same number of people as his own, then for this plane war, the Canglang Seven Sects had deployed at least a million Nascent Souls and ten thousand Soul Transformations.

But he knew in his heart that the Seven Sects would never truly send so many of their own Disciples onto the battlefield.

The lower decks of those immortal ships must also be loaded with a large number of War Slaves.

The Seven Sects had operated in the Jinhun Realm for so many years; how could they have collected fewer than a million War Slaves of the fourth rank or higher?

In the immortal ship beneath his feet alone, there were more than twenty thousand, including several hundred Fifth-Rank War Slaves.

There were even ten Sixth-Rank War Slaves, each of which had been branded with a soul Seal by a Body Integration grand cultivator, firmly controlled with no chance of resistance.

If Nascent Soul Cultivators were 'cannon fodder' on the battlefield, then these War Slaves were 'cannon fodder among cannon fodder.'

Whenever war broke out, these War Slaves would be sent first into the most dangerous front lines and the most brutal battles of attrition, using their lives to wear down the enemy's strength and preserve the safety of the cultivators as much as possible.

The Fifth-Rank Bone Demon that Su Ling had suppressed at the outpost was also among them, currently sealed in a corner of a cabin, not even daring to let its soul fire flicker.

"I wonder... which immortal ship Revered Master is on?"

Sweeping his gaze over the three most luxurious immortal ships in the distance, Su Ling murmured to himself.

Those three ships were adorned with purple-gold patterns and had the strongest immortal light, clearly where the high-level members of the Seven Sects were located.

He tried to release his Divine Sense to perceive his Revered Master's aura, but the distance was too great, and he ultimately found nothing.

Time passed slowly in the void. There was no alternation of day and night, only the light of the Star Gate flickering.

Until half a year later, that massive Star Gate suddenly burst forth with dazzling starlight, more than ten times brighter than before.

The Chaos air currents in the center of the Star Gate gradually began to rotate, forming a deep spatial vortex wide enough to accommodate several immortal ships side-by-side.

"Roar!"

A high-pitched Dragon's roar echoed through the void.

The Coiling Dragon immortal ship bearing the Wuji Sect's emblem was the first to start. The golden dragon carved on the bow seemed to come to life, pulling the immortal ship as it sped toward the Star Gate.

The closer they got to the Star Gate, the more intense the spatial fluctuations became.

Even the size of the Coiling Dragon immortal ship became distorted and shrunken.

Subsequently, the immortal ships started one after another, connecting head to tail like a long dragon, plunging into the spatial vortex in sequence and disappearing into the chaotic air currents.

After an unknown amount of time, this massive fleet finally disappeared, and the endlessly rotating Star Gate gradually became still.