"Princess Bing Qing? What are you doing here!" Wang Xu was astonished. He never expected the intruder to be Princess Bing Qing.
"Didn’t expect that, did you? This is a treasure bestowed to me by my father, capable of concealing my presence. As long as I don’t emit any energy fluctuations, even someone at the Celestial God Realm wouldn’t be able to detect my whereabouts," Princess Bing Qing said smugly.
"Princess Bing Qing, I’m on my way back to my hometown. As the daughter of the Sovereign, esteemed beyond compare, my small place really can’t accommodate someone as grand as you. If anything were to happen to you, I couldn’t possibly take the responsibility," Wang Xu wanted to send Princess Bing Qing away.
"Hmph, I knew you’d say that." A virtual chair appeared, and Princess Bing Qing sat down gracefully. With a flip of her hand, a scroll unfurled, the golden characters dazzlingly bright. Wang Xu recognized immediately that it was the Sovereign’s handwriting.
"See this? It’s a decree my father wrote specifically for me. Seeing me is the same as seeing the Sovereign!" Princess Bing Qing lifted her little face, "With my father’s decree here, I’d like to see which thief, tired of living, dares to mess with me!"
The golden decree, Wang Xu saw clearly, the aura it carried, though just a trace, was vast and majestic, evidently from the Sovereign.
The Sovereign’s decree represents the will of the Sovereign himself, akin to an envoy of the Cosmic Country. Anyone who dares show the slightest disrespect will be seen as challenging the Sovereign’s authority and subject to the highest law’s punishment.
Moreover, this golden decree was also a kind of Shattered Life Jade. If Princess Bing Qing were to encounter danger, the Sovereign in the National Hall could immediately sense it and traverse time and space to arrive.
Wang Xu had no choice. With this golden decree present, he could only comply obediently.
"Alright, but Princess Bing Qing, my hometown is really small. I hope you... will go easy on it," Wang Xu shook his head, sighed deeply, "Celestial Spirit, set off!"
Originally, Wang Xu did not know Princess Bing Qing well, but after spending several days in the National Hall, he heard tales passed around about Princess Bing Qing’s past exploits, which were earth-shattering and gave her the notorious title of "Great Scourge."
The Scripture Pavilion in the National Hall once had a big fire that almost reduced the entire pavilion to ashes, which was the work of Princess Bing Qing. She heard that the pavilion’s construction material was quite unique, impervious to water and fire, and out of curiosity wanted to try it, resulting in igniting with the "Cold Heart Fire."
Afterward, Princess Bing Qing, with an unhappy face, said, "Who said it was impervious to water and fire? Liars!"
The Cold Heart Fire was a peculiar fireseed within the Tai Long Palace, extremely rare, capable of igniting even water, let alone the Scripture Pavilion. The ministers were angry but dared not speak, utterly intimidated by her.
Subsequently, Princess Bing Qing went to the Beast Taming Hall, which managed the Guardian Beasts in the National Hall. These beasts were captured and trained with great effort by many powerful people, traversing various dangerous places to tame them for royal use.
Princess Bing Qing, simply because she "couldn’t stand seeing them unhappy," opened the hall doors and set all the Guardian Beasts free, causing chaos. It took a lot of time to catch them back one by one.
These two events were just a tiny glimpse of Princess Bing Qing’s long career of causing trouble. There were many more "touching stories" that Wang Xu didn’t need to hear to imagine the horrific scenes.
Thus, Wang Xu implored Princess Bing Qing to go easy.
"Let’s depart. I want to visit your hometown, that star called Earth, to see what kind of star it really is!" Princess Bing Qing said excitedly.
With a helpless sigh, this palace-level warship left Tai Long Star, sailing into the boundless cosmos.
"Phew... finally, I see Earth!" Seeing the blue star wrapped in the Ninefold Celestial God Array in the distance, Wang Xu exhaled a long breath. He glanced at Princess Bing Qing beside him, who was checking out his Space Ring with starry eyes and showed a bitter smile.
The journey from Tai Long Star to Earth, taking less than a month, was smooth. However, this return trip took a full six months.
The reason was simple: Princess Bing Qing.
Along the way, to appease the bored Princess Bing Qing, Wang Xu told her his various experiences. When Princess Bing Qing heard of his past adventure where he snatched Star Ancient Ores from a Robber Gang on an Ancient Ore Vein Star in the Purple Vein Star Domain, she was instantly intrigued and insisted that Wang Xu take her there to experience it.
However, that Ancient Ore Vein Star did not allow Void Level or above individuals to enter. Wang Xu had no choice but to lead her to an Ancient Ore Vein Star where Black Hole Level beings could enter.
Princess Bing Qing immediately engaged in a spree of plundering, destroying one Robber Gang after another, spreading panic, until the Robber Gangs united to form a ten-thousand-strong army to try to kill her. Wang Xu had no choice but to act.
After defeating the robber army, Princess Bing Qing gleefully harvested, and all the robbers got nothing but loss, crying to no avail.
Up to this point, everything was relatively normal. But when Princess Bing Qing intended to leave, she made an unprecedented bold decision—
She refused to turn over the Ancient Ores!
No matter how Wang Xu persuaded her, Princess Bing Qing wouldn’t hand over even a single Ancient Ore, even going as far as injuring two responsible personnel.
This directly alarmed the guard of that Ancient Ore Vein Star, a Mixed Cosmos Realm existence, who immediately took action against Princess Bing Qing.
In order to protect Princess Bing Qing, Wang Xu, amidst the astonished gazes of the onlookers, battled fiercely with a person of the Mixed Cosmos level, the fight almost obliterating the ancient ore vein star. In the end, realizing he couldn’t contend with this Black Hole level person, the Mixed Cosmos level opponent admitted defeat, allowing Wang Xu to safely retreat with Princess Bing Qing.
"Hmph! I risked everything to grab these ancient ores, why should that person take 80%? It’s totally unreasonable!" Princess Bing Qing pouted angrily, then glanced at the star ancient ores piled up inside the Space Ring like a mountain, her bright eyes sparkling with little stars.
Wang Xu’s mouth twitched. Risked everything... to grab, but in the end, it was still grabbing. Moreover, the other party was generous enough to only take 80%. Back in the Purple Vein Star Domain, he was forced to give up 95%, and besides... who’s really being unreasonable?
"Haha... I wondered who it was, turns out it was Junior Brother Wang back again!" Suddenly, a hearty laugh echoed. Wang Xu looked up to see a figure as shabby as a beggar stepping through the air, holding a Purple Gold Gourd—it was Senior Brother Lu Chen.
"Senior Brother Lu!" Wang Xu walked out of the warship, smiling to greet.
"Eh? Your aura... Haha, in just seven hundred years, you’ve reached such height, not bad, not bad!" Senior Brother Lu Chen, being so powerful, with just a glance, keenly sensed Wang Xu’s current strength and laughed out loud.
"And who is this?" Lu Chen then glanced towards Princess Bing Qing inside the warship.
"Tai Long Bing Qing, greetings, Senior Brother Lu!" At this point, Princess Bing Qing did not put on airs or throw tantrums, instead, she displayed the demeanor of high society.
"Tai Long?!" Lu Chen’s expression changed upon hearing this.
The name of the country, only those with royal blood from the Cosmic Country could use. Could it be that this stunning woman before him is...
"Senior Brother Lu, let’s go, it’s been seven hundred years since we last met, we must have a good drink!" Wang Xu said.
"Let’s go!" Lu Chen gave a hearty laugh, stepping towards Earth.
"...In the seven hundred years, there were cosmic groups who coveted, but most couldn’t even break through the outermost layer of the Ninefold Celestial God Array, knowing to retreat before difficulties." Lu Chen said, "Only once, a Cosmic Thief led by a Mixed Cosmos level found the Ninefold Celestial God Array extraordinary, believed Earth held rare treasures, and attempted a strong attack... It was also his bad luck, at that time I was at a bottleneck in studying arrays, clueless. After leaving seclusion, I encountered this matter and dealt with him."
Wang Xu broke into a sweat, yet felt fortunate. If not for inviting Senior Brother Lu Chen to set up the Ninefold Celestial God Array for him, any random Array Grandmaster might have been broken by those Mixed Cosmos level thieves long ago.
On a vast plain at the city’s edge, scented flowers floated, the scenery was beautiful, and rows of high-end villas stood neatly.
Among them, the villa at the deepest end was larger than the others, occupying more space, yet no one felt dissatisfied... simply because residing within it was the Guardian of Earth, the Savior, Wang Xu’s family.
"Mom, Grandpa, Grandma, I’m back." A tall and handsome young man stepped into the villa, pushed open the door, and called out with a smile.
"Tu’er is back!" Inside the hall, a woman who appeared just over forty showed a caring smile, and immediately started to fuss over her grandson. After fussing, she turned to chide an elderly man with graying temples who was holding a newspaper, "Tu’er is back, why aren’t you showing any concern?"
Wang Zhenguo lifted his eyes for a glance, then returned his gaze to the newspaper, and snorted, "Hmph, brat, you still know how to come back!"
"Zhenguo, don’t trouble Tu’er anymore. If he doesn’t want to marry, don’t force him. There’s plenty of time ahead!" The woman said.
"You ask him, how many years has it been? I’m still hoping to hold a great-grandchild, but this unworthy thing insists on exploring outer space, and what happened then? Not only did he get a cold reception, but he also nearly offended a big family. If not for Qiu Tuyi’s intervention, he might have been killed on the spot!" Wang Zhenguo showed displeasure.
Wang Tu shook his head helplessly, "Grandpa, rest assured, this time I came back for marriage, these years I’ve been willful, I understand now, I won’t upset you anymore, please calm down."
"Truly?" Wang Zhenguo raised his eyebrows.
"Truly!" Wang Tu replied firmly.
"That’s good then." Only then did Wang Zhenguo’s expression slightly soften.
"Right, where’s Mom?" Wang Tu asked.
"Sigh... Not still troubled by the ’Ziwei Clan’ affair, it’s been a headache for months, always discussing in meetings. If a viable strategy isn’t devised soon, the interstellar group painstakingly established on Miao Luo Star risks collapsing soon." Wang Zhenguo sighed.
For so many years, humanity has been constantly striving, trying all sorts of ways to adapt to the universe, to communicate with it, yet the cosmic groups have never truly accepted humanity.
Though humanity possesses the Ninefold Celestial God Array, protected by Lu Chen, it merely ensures protection from foreign threats. But for development, progress, and integrating with the cosmos, humanity must take this step.
Fortunately, six hundred years ago, Qiu Tuyi successfully broke through to the Black Hole level, granting humanity a voice, the eligibility to engage with cosmos groups, starting cooperation, and successfully founding the first interstellar corporation, "Wang Group."
But the good times didn’t last. Humanity was eyed by the big families on Miao Luo Star, who began a series of suppressive and commercial attacks, causing the Wang Group’s precarious position on Miao Luo Star. The skyscraper painstakingly built over hundreds of years is on the verge of collapse at any moment. (To be continued. If you work, please visit Qidian.com to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)