Liang Chen didn't immediately crush the crystal that he had been given by the Nine Star Demon God, it wasn't quite time for him to head to that major universe just yet. There was still one last thing left for him to do in this universe, he had to head to the nearest branch of the Heaven's Secrets Company so that he could pick up the information about the Sealing God Empyrean that the disciple of the Bloodwind Emperor had prepared for him.

He stepped onto Yumao's back and sat down as Yumao flapped his wings and shot to the sky at a blistering speed, quickly arriving far above the surface of the planet. He stood up again when Yumao reached the very edge of the planet's atmosphere and was just a few inches away from the vast void that separated the various planets and other items floating around within it.

Liang Chen swiped his interspatial ring and took out a metallic eagle statue that was about 60 meters long. The statue floated in front of them, a section of its chest sliding to the side and revealing a set of stairs they could use to enter it. Liang Chen had single-handedly killed most of the remaining leaders of the strong sects and clans, it was inevitable that he would find quite a few good resources and treasures.

This particular eagle statue was actually an interspatial ship, and although it was inferior to the one he was given by Sun Haixie, the Sebettu general, it was better than riding on Yumao. It wasn't impossible to make the trip while riding on Yumao, but they would have to make several stops so that Yumao could rest and so that they could catch their breath, they hadn't yet reached a state where they could freely travel through the void separating planets. Yumao shrank down to his usual palm-sized state and curled up on Liang Chen's head, the two walking up the stairs and entering the eagle.

The inside of the eagle was actually bigger than the outside, it used upgraded versions of the arrays used to craft most interspatial rings. It was between two and three times as large on the inside, housing three large bedrooms, a small kitchen area, two gathering areas, and three bathrooms. For all intents and purposes, it was a mobile home as well as the emergency escape vessel that the leaders of the Moon Dragon sect had saved for when their very existence was threatened.

Sadly for them, doom had come all too quickly for them to escape so now their final escape plan became Liang Chen's ship. He made a quick trip to the core of the ship, a pure white space housing a 3-d heart-shaped array filled with indents. He put several Spirit Stones into the various indents and allowed the ship to drain their energy while he sent a bit of his Qi into the array to inform it of where to go. The floor beneath him started to vibrate slightly as the ship whirred to life and set off, the eagle-statue actually flapping its wings as it moved.

Liang Chen then moved to one of the gathering areas, which was filled with couches, chairs, tables, empty bookshelves, half-withered plants, and windows one could use to observe their surroundings. Liang Chen sat down on one of the couches situated right next to a window and placed his elbow on the armrest of the couch, resting his chin on his hand as he peered out through the window.

"Twelve days, huh? Well, guess it'll be 108 for me if I really try. Wonder if we'll run into any bandits."

At his current cultivation level and as long as he wasn't spending Qi on anything else then Liang Chen could increase the speed of time around him by nine. He didn't consider himself particularly high up in the cultivation ranks but could already turn one day of cultivation into nine, giving himself a huge advantage over other cultivators.

But he didn't let that go to his head, he knew that he probably couldn't even imagine how monstrous some of the talents in the major universes were. There was also the fact that they likely had access to time-altering arrays or areas where time naturally flowed faster, allowing them to cultivate in the same sort of environment as Liang Chen. And the final factor he made sure to keep in mind was age, the people Liang Chen was likely to face in the future weren't people his age, they were likely far older than him even if he accounted for his sped-up time.

Arrogance was not something he could afford, conceit was not something he could afford, a moment of carelessness and everything could slip through his fingers. That was especially true now that his gaze was firmly locked on the future and the path he had chosen to walk, the path he chose all those years ago. If the heavens have no wrath, then he would become that wrath, he would be the evil to kill all evil.

"Heh, alright, let's rein it in a little, no point in burning my eyes by trying to see too much all at once."

Liang Chen pulled back his eyes and gave a slight shake of his head. There was no point in thinking about things so far ahead, for now he could only focus on the immediate future that he could see, everything else could be saved for later. Liang Chen reached up with his arm and gave Yumao a few soft strokes on the head, his lips curling up slightly when he heard the relaxed hiss coming from Yumao.

"I'll leave looking over me to you, Little Yuma."

He closed his eyes and crossed his legs after giving Yumao's head a few more strokes, taking a deep breath and then exhaling, time around him speeding up with each exhale. His breathing started slowing down, eventually reaching a point where he only exhaled once every half hour, Qi from the surroundings steadily flowing into his body from all around.

As he cultivated like this and lost track of time, Liang Chen actually discovered something interesting, cultivating here was easier than it was down on the planet. There was energy coming towards him from all around, it was as if the vast void of space around the eagle-statue was a massive ocean sending all the energy it contained to Liang Chen.

The empty space between planets was considered an inferior form of void, now that a being using the law of the void entered its fold it immediately started to send over all the energy it could. The empty space was bowing down in worship towards the newborn ruler of the void, sending over what energy it could as a tribute, that was the duty and joy of all things belonging to the void.

Liang Chen only understood the gist of the situation, his law of the void drew in the energy of the surrounding inferior void, but that understanding was good enough for him. He wasn't one to waste a chance like this so he quietly focused all his mind on cultivating, leaving it to Yumao to protect him or warn him should anything happen. In this state, time blurred for Liang Chen to the point where he couldn't even tell if it was a second or a day that had passed, it was the perfect cultivation state.

But all things had to end at some point, and the end to Liang Chen's cultivation state came after 10 days of real-time passed. Yumao used his tail to give Liang Chen's nose a few whacks, quickly shaking him out of his cultivation and returning him to his senses. He held the law of time so he quickly figured out how much time had passed once he returned to his senses.

"10 days, we're pretty close to Scale Gathering planet. What's up?"

Liang Chen stood up and stretched his body as he was talking, giving his body a quick check. Other than his body cultivation, his two other cultivation systems had increased somewhat, making him rather pleased. As for why his body cultivation hadn't increased, it was because he was missing the vital component that was Yan Ling. Her water element had been fused into his body cultivation, he needed the water element to further his body cultivation.

He had quite a few water element resources on his hand after his actions on Dragon's Gate planet, but he didn't want to tap into them just yet, he wanted to wait for a proper chance to truly focus on his body. But even though he hadn't increased his body cultivation, he still felt a slight change in his body. His missing right arm felt like it was itching, and not just the stump that remained of his shoulder, the place where his actual arm would be was itching, almost as if his limb was still there.

"Phantom pain, was that what they called it?"

Liang Chen had read quite a few books so he knew that this particular state wasn't uncommon amongst people who had lost limbs. But he had never read about anyone feeling itching in their missing limb, it was always either pain or a soft sensation of touch. But Liang Chen didn't get the chance to think too much about it, Yumao using his tail to poke Liang Chen's cheek and then hissing while gesturing towards the window.

Liang Chen turned his attention towards the window and saw that they were currently surrounded by floating rocks of various sizes and shape, they seemed to be currently passing through an asteroid belt. Mixed in with the rocks was rubble and debris that seemed to have come from a ship, he could even see the torn mast and sail drift around. There were some corpses floating around along with the debris as well, a small group of surviving people, mainly old men and women, gathered together on one of the larger pieces of debris.

The large fragment, a large piece of wood that probably belonged to the deck of the ship, released a faint light that surrounded all the survivors, protecting them from their surroundings. The people in the group were all waving at Liang Chen's ship with all their might, their mouths opening and closing as they seemed to be shouting something. Their expressions were pleading, to the point that many of them were already despairing, so it seemed like they had encountered a terrible misfortune.

Liang Chen sent a bit of Qi into the ship and had it steer towards the group of people, the door on the stomach opening as he got close to them. Liang Chen stepped out of the ship and walked through the empty space until he was close enough to the group that he could hear them. Seeing Liang Chen choose to get closer rather than leaving, the group quickly burst with joy. The oldest one among them, a white-haired old woman that was so hunched over she almost formed a perfect angle, took an unsteady step forward to plead with Liang Chen.

"Please, Master, you don't have to help us, but we plead with you, please save the younglings! Our ship was attacked while we were heading to Yellow Winds planet to deliver some of the younglings to the Wind's Embrace academy. We were so unlucky that the marauder group residing in this stone belt just so happened to be close to the area as we were passing through, they kidnapped all the younglings and the able, they also stole all the provisions and funds we had gathered up for them. We encountered another youngling who quickly rushed to their aid, but we fear that she alone isn't enough to take on the bandits. Please, we are willing to do anything if you would be so kind as to grace us with your aid, please save the younglings and the girl who went to save them! They are too young to suffer like this, suffering like that is best reserved for old and decrepit fools like us."

The old woman pointed into the distance and then dropped to her knees as she spoke, knocking her head against the wood below her so hard that blood started to seep out from her forehead. The other old people in the group also got down to their knees and mimicked her, the wooden surface beneath them quickly ending up stained in blood.

Liang Chen's gaze swept over the group of people, his thoughts swiftly moving, but he knew that his answer was already decided from the very start. If Liang Chen chose to leave right here and let the kidnapped people suffer their fates, then he would be just as vile as the heavens that he despised, he would become even more of a monster than he already was.

There was a chance that these people were just lying to him, but he felt that if he wanted to walk his path to the end then this was a risk that he had to take, and he would likely have to take it again and again. He gave Yumao a few pats on the head, causing him to let out a loud hiss and expand into his actual size of nearly seven meters in length. Dark tendrils spawned around him and snatched up the group of old people, stuffing them into the eagle statue while Liang Chen spoke.

"You just wait right there, I'll go take a look."

Liang Chen stepped onto Yumao's back once he finished his words, Yumao flapping his wings and cutting through the empty space as he shot forward. The eagle statue was connected to Liang Chen since he injected some Qi into it while putting in the Spirit Stones so it followed behind them as they maneuvered around the floating rocks.

They quickly encountered more debris and corpses floating around them as they moved, showing that they were getting closer to the scene of the attack. They quickly passed the torn-apart carcass of what used to be the ship of the group, a rather large galleon-like ship that seemed to once have carried three sails. After passing the site of the attack, it only took them another five minutes of flying before they reached the headquarters of the bandits, which was actually built on top of one of the floating stones.

Like this, their headquarters would constantly change position, it would actually be rather hard to find it for those that didn't know what to look for. Luckily the signs of battle in the area were still fresh, as was the spilled blood that floated around, and Liang Chen was well-suited to tracking living things so they managed to find the hideout without much trouble.

The headquarters themselves were built much like a stone castle, gradually rising higher towards the center and ending in a large and imposing spire. The earth all around the gray castle had been flattened, the front half remaining barren while the part behind the castle seemed to have been turned into a farming area, a few vegetables and wheat species just barely poking forth.

Liang Chen's gaze drifted towards the front part of the castle the moment he arrived, he could see someone currently engaging in battle there. One one side there were the marauders, a mixture of men and women clad in whatever armor or clothing they could get their hands on. And on the other side was the girl that the group of old people had mentioned, she looked to be in her early twenties and had a rather tall but slim and shapely stature. Her buttocks-length deep blue hair hung down freely and her emerald green eyes were focused firmly on the enemies in front of her, an unyielding and furious light flashing in them.

She was currently surrounded by about 20 marauders, and although she seemed to have just recently set foot into the Soaring Immortal realm, she was unable to properly deal with the onslaught, several wounds visible on her body. She swiped out with her two daggers just as Liang Chen arrived, just barely blocking an arrow that was aimed directly at her throat. But by blocking the life-threatening arrow, her side was left wide open and a larger hammer landed directly on her right elbow, twisting her arm into a highly unnatural state.

But as Liang Chen was looking on due to having just arrived, the girl grit her teeth and glanced at her arm. The arm actually started twisting when she glanced at it, twisting back into a normal shape with unnatural movements, it resembled the movements of a puppet whose strings were being pulled. Her arm then stabbed out with the somewhat forward-curved silver dagger that she was holding, quickly delivering four successive stabs to the left arm of the burly woman who shattered her elbow.

Another strange scene took place when the fourth stab hit the woman's left arm, black and yellow marks that resembled butterflies and spiders started to appear on the arm of the woman. The marks quickly moved up the woman's body, spreading out and completely covering her, resulting in the woman clutching her chest for a quick moment before falling over without a single sign of life.

The strange death opened a window of opportunity for the blue-haired woman, who actually turned around to look at Liang Chen. She pointed her left dagger at the imposing castle, shouting with all her might in hopes that her voice would reach Liang Chen.

"I don't know who you are, but please save the children and young adults that were kidnapped! They were already taken to the castle to experience horrors we can't even imagine! I'll hold back these people so please hurry! If you save them, then I, Yi Xue, swear that I will do almost anything that you ask!"