“Well, so we’ll be going, Brother Long. Take care. Maybe we’ll see you out there before we come back.”

Shen smiled widely and tapped Long Tian’s shoulder.

Long Tian truly had a subtle expression on his face.

His 18 years old daughter was going to experience something that he had dreamt of his entire life.

Xue’er gave her father a hug and repeatedly reassured him that she’d come back soon.

***

The day before.

“Xiao Yan, stay with Little White in the forest. We won’t be gone that long anyways. You can get stronger staying in this environment. There aren’t too many other planets with spiritual power. Certainly, not many with a density as rich as this planet anyhow.”

Xiao Yan had wanted to follow Shen and Xue’er on their adventure. However, he was in a delicate growth stage and had to stay in a place with abundant spiritual power. The forest near Long Tian’s dwelling was a safe place for him to grow up.

“Master…”

“If you reach Earth Immortal stage by the time we come back, you can follow us.”

“Ok, I’ll try hard master!”

Shen patted Xiao Yan who was still teary.

Xue’er and Little White were talking quietly on one side. The two had been together for many years. It was not long in terms of a magical beast’s lifespan but Xue’er was reluctant regardless.

It was a fact that spiritual power was very thin on most planets, therefore it would hinder the growth of Little White and Xiao Yan.

***

“Brother Shen, you are a descendant of a star beast. You will be able to tread upon the stars soon. I wish you luck.”

“Brother Shen, Xue’er. I know there are very few dangers that could threaten you, but please be safe. And come back frequently. There will always be a place for you here.”

“We’ll be going, Brother Long, Xiao Yan, Little White.”

“Father, take care.”

Shen held Xue’er’s waist as he flew up towards the heavens. Very soon, the couple could see the entirety of Sky Continent as they neared the fields of asteroids surrounding the planet.

Xue’er actively held onto Shen as she observed the void. The two’s relationship had gone a step closer ever since that day.

“Xue’er, it’s beautiful isn’t it.”

“Yes…it sure is. I never thought I’d be able to see this one day.”

Currently, Shen had Xue’er and himself surrounded in a pocket for chaos power to protect from any dangers. The two could converse normally as long as they were within this space.

“Xue’er, we’ll be going towards the nearest galaxy with intelligent life. I could take us there instantly but I wanted to show Xue’er to the outer space.”

“Brother Shen, what kind of life is there on that planet?”

“Well, I had picked a random star system within the human settlements so it’ll be a human occupied planet. But they don’t have cultivators. The planet doesn’t have spiritual power, but a different type of energy that the inhabitants call mana. You will see once you get there!”

The two flew through the vast space at a speed that resembled hyperdrive from a certain science fiction series.

After about five hours of travelling, the two stopped outside a large solar system. There were various small and large ships that travelled to and from the planets and moons.

“It seems that they have developed space travel. I wonder if their current technology allows them to explore outside of their own solar system.”

“Wow…they must be strong people.” Xue’er gazed upon the ships with admiration.

“Haha, it’s not like having space ships will be of help back on that planet. The asteroid fields pretty much stop all forms of travel unless one was powerful enough.”

“Brother Shen, where do we go now? There seem to be more than one planet with life. Also, won’t we be treated as hostiles if we were found like this.?

“Ah yeah…they will probably treat us as monsters for standing in the void without protection. I guess we should land on a planet first.”

Shen caused the chaos power surrounding them to conceal the two.

“Xue’er, let’s head to that planet. It’s the biggest and I sense the most lifeforms on it.”

“Big Brother Shen, there seem to be large ships arriving on there. They don’t seem to be from other planets nearby. I wonder if they’re from outside of this solar system.”

The planet Shen pointed was indeed the largest planet within the multitude of planets surrounding the lone star.

They landed just outside a city that was clearly visible from space. The city was vast. It could easily fit about ten Blue Cloud cities within its walls.

“There seem to be a large number of lifeforms akin to monster beasts here. The population number in the hundreds of billions just on this planet alone.”

Shen and Xue’er walked towards the city gates after dispelling their concealment. There were wide and smooth roads established outside the city. The entire city was surrounded by a vast endless forest. The highway going into the city from the outside divided the forest with ample room on either side of the road.

They joined in with a large group of vehicles and people travelling slowly. There were also other people joining the group coming out of the trees from time to time.

Xue’er could not understand the language of the locals. Shen on the other hand had no problem speaking.

Shen placed his palm on Xue’er’s forehead, transmitting a large amount of information into her mind.

“How was your hunt?”

“Well, I got some good ores this time. What about you?”

“Well, not so good actually, a few of our members were injured by a mana beast, we only managed to find one small mana crystal deposit.”

It seemed that this group consisted of a large-scale merchant group and mercenaries that had joined on their return trip to the city.

“Big Brother Shen, they should be able to fly, right? They have those devices that could travel in the void.”

“Hmm…the situation might be more complicated than we thought. Let’s find some information once we get into the city.”

“Big Brother Shen, what do we do about money? We don’t have any of the local currency.”

Shen froze a bit on Xue’er’s reminder.

“…Let’s try spirit stones…if they take ores, they might take spirit stones. I wonder what mana crystals are.”

After about an hour of travelling on the highway, the group reached the city gates. A large sign was visible on top of the gates, reading ‘Red Iron City’.

Surprisingly, there were no guards or an inspection station. On the right side of the gate was a large platform with a few spaceships parked. It seemed that ships coming into the atmosphere would be stationed at the docks.

As Shen and Xue’er walked through the gate, they both felt that they had walked through a thin film. However, the other people around them did not seem to react to this.

‘Must be like an inspection barrier. Mana sure is neat.’

As they had stepped a few tens of feet inside the city, the barrier suddenly turned red around a person who was crossing it. Warning sounds rang out and tens of guards wearing metal armour ran out of a building just inside the gate towards that person.

The guards carried long poles with blue crystals attached to the ends. They pointed the poles towards the person who was attempting to flee.

Beams of energy emitted from the poles combined and formed a cage which trapped the fleeing person.

Both Shen and Xue’er had their mouths open at the spectacle. Shen had observed many high-tech civilizations therefore this wasn’t new but it was still very novel seeing it in person.