Chapter 4: The Reason (Part 1)

The captive, terrified, immediately disarmed himself. Then, Li Ran’s purple chain was dragged in front of him, and he was asked, “What’s your name? Which country’s fleet do you belong to?”
Guo Shier said from the side, “To be honest, you might still keep your life if you tell the truth. But if you lie, haha, just look around—how many captives are here? We’ll prove right from wrong. You only have one chance. If you fail, you’re dead.”
The captive was drenched in sweat, his body trembling slightly. He was a cowardly warrior and said, “My name is E Zhe. I’m a third-tier warrior of the United Spirit Kingdom, belonging to the North New Fleet. I’m… a technician for the Three-Star Armaments.”
Li Ran said, “Good. E Zhe, why did you attack us?”
Guo Shier added, “What information do you know?”
E Zhe blinked rapidly, sweat dripping from his forehead. Frightened, he said, “I… I don’t know. I’m just a lowly third-tier warrior. Orders came from above, and we had to obey…”
Ku Mu said, “If you know nothing, why keep you alive?” Then he raised his hand to kill him.
E Zhe shouted, “Wait… wait…”
Ku Mu said, “Oh? You know something now?”
E Zhe cried, tears and snot streaming down. He didn’t understand why he was so weak in front of these people. He had no idea that they were all Soul Masters—just their subtle soul fluctuations could exert terrifying pressure, exposing his weakest side. He said, “I don’t know… but someone does. I can take you to find… the person who knows…”
Ku Mu shot out a purple chain and said, “Fine, I’ll trust you once. Don’t play tricks. You know how powerful we are. Take me there!” Then he dragged E Zhe away, with Monier following.
Wang Dayang’s expression shifted slightly. “A starship is coming!” He turned and said, “I’ll go take it down!”
Guo Shier said, “Wait, that’s probably a rescue ship.”
Li Ran also advised, “Forget it. Let them be. Let’s first figure out why they’re attacking us.”
Wang Dayang said, “Whatever the reason, since they dared to attack, we’ll fight back!” He was furious. This battle had hurt him deeply, making him extremely violent.

After questioning several captives, the results were more or less the same—no one knew why they were being attacked. As ordinary soldiers, they didn’t know much about the situation. However, one of the captives mentioned a rumor: hundreds of years ago, a powerful family from the United Spirit Kingdom rebelled. It was said that those people fled here and entered a mysterious space, and this defense outpost was built for that purpose. But he couldn’t explain the details either. This information confirmed Li Ran and the others’ guess—that the so-called Ancient Tianling clan was likely the members of that rebel family. Guo Shier said, “So that’s how it is. They thought we were members of the Ancient Tianling clan. Damn… The time here is indeed different from that of the Star Sacrifice. We still can’t explain it. It seems this is a situation where there’s no turning back… Big brother, Sister Zhen, what should we do?” Qi Wu Zhen said, “We can only kill them. Only when we’re afraid of killing them will it be over.” Li Ran smiled bitterly and said, “A seven-star-level United Great Empire… That’s not easy to fight against. They’ll also invite people from the Secret Clan to help. We’ve seen the strength of Xing Yunzi and Lan Landai. If a few such experts show up, along with a fleet, it will be difficult for us to handle.” Guo Shier said, “Even if Xing Yunzi and Lan Landai come, with our current strength, heh, we don’t need to worry.” Li Ran shook his head and said, “If we had enough time and strengthened our strength, we might be able to fight evenly. But the United Spirit Kingdom won’t give us that time. Remember, we’ve already destroyed two of their fleets… Even if it’s a misunderstanding, it’s already led to a situation where there’s no turning back.” Guo Shier laughed and said, “Even if we can’t win… Heh, who can keep us alive? As long as we get onto their planet, I don’t believe they’ll dare to fight seriously. The losses they’d suffer would be too much for them to bear.” Li Ran thought for a moment and said, “Right. If we get onto their administrative planet, hehe, they’ll definitely be restricted. They won’t be able to use heavy weapons, so they’ll have to send in their true experts. That way, it’ll be easier for us to deal with them.” Soon after, Ku Mu and Monier returned, dragging in seven or eight people with purple chains. Ku Mu said, “There’s a secret communication chamber here. If it weren’t for E Zhe showing us the way, it would have been hard to find. There are quite a few surviving officers inside.” Guo Shier glanced around, raised his hand, and a white-haired old man flew in front of him. He said, “This man must be a higher-ranking officer!”

Li Ran asked indifferently, “What position?”
The white-haired elder glanced at everyone calmly. Though he appeared composed on the surface, he felt an extreme sense of powerlessness inside. He was a Level 6 warrior, considered a medium-tier fighter among the warriors of the United Spirit Kingdom, yet he had the feeling that the other party could easily kill him without even lifting a hand. He said, “I am the communication commander of a starship.”
Guo Shier laughed and said, “This guy probably knows something. Hehe, why did you attack us?”
The white-haired communication commander replied, “People of the Ling family should understand why we attacked!”
Wang Dayang slapped him hard, making his head sway violently. Blood and a few teeth flew out. Wang Dayang said coldly, “We’re not some damn members of the Ling family. We were just passing by… Are you guys crazy? Killing everyone you see! Using long-range attacks from starships—do you have any brains?” He hated the people here deeply.
The white-haired communication commander remained silent for a long time. He didn’t know the identities of the seven people before him. He was just a communication commander, not a fleet commander. He said, “I don’t know. I’m just a communications officer; I don’t have the authority to order starship attacks.”
Wang Dayang slapped him again. He was extremely annoyed. If he wasn’t going to hit them, why not? He said, “Tell us everything you know!”
The white-haired communication commander spat out some blood, raised his head, and said, “I don’t know anything!”
Guo Shier shook his head and said, “Foolish guy. The situation is pretty clear now. They think we’re members of the Ling family. As for the feud between the Ling family and the United Spirit Kingdom, it doesn’t matter. They’re our enemies now, and this isn’t a place to stay long. By the way, we can’t let that rescue starship go… We’ll seize it and head to their administrative planet!”
Kumu said, “I’ll go!”
Monier smiled and said, “I’ll go too…”
Guo Shier said, “Let’s go together. After seizing that starship, we’ll head to the nearest administrative planet. There will probably be obstacles along the way.”
Li Ran nodded and said, “Hehe, there are probably many people on that rescue starship—all hostages.”
Everyone headed outside. Wang Dayang stayed behind. After the others turned down the passage, he couldn’t help but turn back and kill all the captives. He acted in a reckless manner, killing them all without hesitation.

Li Ran said, “We can’t leave this starship. With a little repair, it can still be used, and that would be very disadvantageous for us.”
Qi Wu Zhen smiled and said, “Leave it to me!” With that, he emitted some sparks, which instantly turned into a raging fire that spread through the corridors. Alarms sounded inside the starship, and automatic fire extinguishing systems were activated. But this kind of fire could burn even metal and couldn’t be extinguished by ordinary means. In just a few moments, the fire spread everywhere.
The seven of them quickly rushed out of the starship and flew away. There was another rescue starship nearby, gathering the armed soldiers and pilots of attack planes who had fled. Numerous attack planes were scattered in space, creating chaos everywhere.
It was a medium-sized rescue starship, converted from a transport ship. It didn’t have any large long-range attack weapons, only some short-range defensive weapons that could only deal with space warriors and attack planes. Their power was limited and posed no threat to Li Ran’s team.
By the time the starship’s commander noticed the seven of them, it was too late for the rescue ship to escape. The seven successfully entered the ship. Any resistance inside the ship had no effect on them. Wang Dayang took the opportunity to kill more people, intimidating everyone. The seven rushed into the command cabin and captured most of the officers.
This time, they didn’t kill the captain because Li Ran and the others had no experience piloting starships, so they needed to rely on these officers. Guo Shieru went to where the soldiers were gathered and shook the Soul Calming Cauldron once, causing everyone inside the ship to collapse, their souls trembling violently.
This was even the weakest level of soul shaking, yet it was unbearable for everyone. Fortunately, Guo Shieru didn’t intend to kill them; otherwise, with a stronger shake, he could have wiped them all out. Ordinary people simply couldn’t resist the attacks of a Soul Grandmaster.
First, he had the officers identify useful people. Guo Shieru woke up each useful person one by one, then returned to the command cabin and asked, “Big brother, how’s it going? Have we finished?”
Li Ran smiled and said, “Of course. No one dares to resist… Let’s head to the nearest administrative planet. Hehe, let’s see how many experts the United Spirit Kingdom can bring. I don’t believe they can find someone as skilled as Xingyunzi. I remember Xingyunzi said he was from… an eighth-level planet. There’s a fundamental difference between seventh-level and eighth-level planets.”
Guo Shieru said, “Even if it’s an eighth-level planet, it’s unlikely they can find many experts like Xingyunzi. Just like in our Spell World, it’s extremely difficult to find a professional with a ninth-level altar.”