Chapter 2: Major Advancement (Part 2)

Li Ran smiled and said, “There aren’t that many extremely skilled people. The population base of this world is unimaginably huge—each star nation has at least dozens of trillions of people… Among them, there must be some super experts. As for the rest, well, even the weakest among your Blade Clan would be considered an expert in this crowd.”
Guo Shier added, “The difference is that they possess different technologies or mechanical skills. They might not be able to defeat your Blade Clan experts in one-on-one fights, but in battles of ten thousand against ten thousand, if the people from the Greater Universe use weapons, your Blade Clan members would likely suffer greatly. Especially in space within the Greater Universe, if one’s strength isn’t at the level of a super expert, the difference isn’t significant.”
Sericeline listened half-understandingly. She didn’t know that the main forces in space battles were large starships, various combat ships, and personal weapons like mechs. An individual’s combat power was insignificant in space unless they reached the level of Xingyunzi or Lanlandai, who could directly confront starships and destroy them with their own strength; otherwise, it was meaningless.
Not only was Sericeline confused by Guo Shier’s words, but Kuomu and the others were too. Monier asked, “Baby, what are starships? And what are mechs?”
Li Ran couldn’t help but laugh and said, “Mechs were probably named by Shier. Those things have many names—some call them armed systems, others personal combat weapons. There are all sorts of names for them. Honestly, they’re just weapons that enhance an individual’s combat capabilities. For example, among ordinary people, those who are stronger might be able to defeat thousands of you with ease, posing no threat at all. But if they use weapons like mechs, they can at least stand up to you. Of course, even with the best weapons, they’re still no match for you. But if tens of thousands of people control mechs, they can pose a threat to you. That’s what makes this world terrifying.”
“As for starships, well, actually, you’ve seen the large ships of the Tianling Clan in the Luotian Ruins. Those are starships scaled down significantly… Well, strictly speaking, they can’t even be called starships anymore. I’m just using it as an analogy. Starships come in many types—there are those designed for combat, those for supply, communication ships, transport ships, and so on. Starships have extremely strong combat power, and each large starship carries many combat ships and weapons like mechs. Once a battle breaks out, well, it’s a spectacular sight.”

Qi Wu Zhen shook his head slightly and said, “I can’t imagine what it looks like. But I don’t understand anything about starships or mechs. Just don’t provoke me. If you do… I’ll blow them up anyway!”
Wang Dayang asked, “Is that a starship?” He pointed in the distance.
Everyone looked up. According to Guo Shier, that ship wasn’t very large—probably only a hundred meters long—appearing as a small black dot in the distance. Only with his enhanced vision, thanks to the vision-enhancing spell, could he see it more clearly. He said, “That can’t be a starship…”
Li Ran glanced at it and said in surprise, “That’s a communication and detection ship. Hmm, there must be a large starship nearby. Ships like this can’t travel very far in space, nor can they perform space jumps. Has anyone noticed any large objects around? That’s probably the starship.”
After leaving the passage, everyone was quite excited. Since they hadn’t flown very far, only Guo Shier continued to emit soul waves. He said, “Yes, there seem to be hundreds of thousands of kilometers away… many of them. Damn, is that a starship base? There are at least dozens of starships, and they’re all large ones. Strange… that shouldn’t be a defense line. Why would so many starships be parked there?”
Ku Mu asked, “Hundreds of thousands of kilometers? That far?”
Li Ran’s expression turned serious. He said, “For starships, that distance isn’t far at all—actually, it’s quite close.”
Qi Wu Zhen asked, “So what does that matter?”
Li Ran replied, “We’re within the starship’s detection range!”
Everyone immediately felt a terrifying threat, their souls trembling. Even Sericlin sensed this threat. Suddenly, Li Ran’s face changed drastically as he shouted, “Damn it, teleportation!” The Five-Star Formation emitted a dazzling magical light, instantly moving them tens of thousands of kilometers away.
When the seven of them reappeared, dozens of beams passed through the place where they had been just moments ago and vanished instantly.
Li Ran snapped, “These bastards! They’re attacking from afar! Damn it… why are they attacking us?”
The threat came again, forcing everyone to teleport once more. The continuous attacks enraged the seven of them. Li Ran said, “Well, if that’s the case, let’s go over there!” Repeated teleportations drained a lot of their energy, but after advancing in strength, they no longer cared much. It was no longer suitable to fly; they could only keep teleporting.
Li Ran said, “First, let’s take out that communication and detection ship. Our location must have been detected by it!”

The seven of them immediately teleported toward that spaceship. Two consecutive teleportations brought them closer to each other. The spaceship clearly panicked and quickly fled into the distance. Li Ran sneered, “Let’s see how far you can run!” With that, he separated from the group and swiftly teleported toward the spaceship.

Guo Shier said, “We need to keep changing our positions!”

Various attacks swept past them one after another. Li Ran had already quickly teleported to one side of the spaceship. Without hesitation, he slapped it—his rune-covered hand slammed into the side of the ship. A flash of light followed as half of that side collapsed with a single blow, and another strike severed the ship’s front end. His rune-hand now possessed certain void-like properties.

In just a few moments, the spaceship was completely destroyed. Li Ran wanted to capture a few prisoners for interrogation, but suddenly a terrifying threat surged into his soul, forcing him to teleport away immediately. A beam of light struck the ruined spaceship, causing countless sparks to fly as it shattered into pieces of metal in an instant. Li Ran cursed inwardly, realizing the opponent wouldn’t give him any chance, and quickly teleported back to the group.

Li Ran said, “There’s no other way. Though we don’t know why they’re attacking us, if we keep fleeing like this, it will be hard to avoid the starship’s pursuit. We must solve this problem.”

Qi Wuzhen said, “There’s nothing to discuss—just kill them!”

Ku Mu said coldly, “I’m curious to see how powerful that starship really is!”

Wang Dayang sighed and said, “Is this outpost meant for those coming out of the passage? I can’t figure out why they’re attacking us.”

A flash of inspiration struck Guo Shier, and he said, “Uh… could it be that they’re targeting the Tianling clan?”

After analyzing the information they had gathered at the ruins, everyone half-believed it. They didn’t know the exact reason, but there was a 60% chance the outpost was aimed at the ancient Tianling clan. Some kind of hatred or concern must have driven them to set up an outpost specifically to deal with those ancient Tianlings. Calculating by time, the ancient Tianlings had entered the Luotian Ruins tens of thousands of years ago. No matter what hatred existed between them, it should have faded by now—unless time flowed differently there, with ten thousand years passing in the ruins while only a short time passing here.

The seven of them moved back and forth amid fierce attacks, constantly teleporting to avoid the starship’s long-range assaults. Guo Shier said, “Those starships are moving—they’re heading in our direction!”

Li Ran sneered, “Fine, if they want to seek death, then let them!” He cared nothing about killing. Once war broke out in the vast world, it was far more brutal than in the world of spells, and star nations had indeed done things as extreme as destroying planets.

The seven of them stopped rushing forward and instead kept moving to avoid attacks. The space around them was filled with various lights, with the trajectories of attacks lingering in the air, yet none of them managed to hit them. Not only were they fast, but each of them also knew how to teleport. Due to the long distance between them and their attackers, even if they were locked onto, they had enough time to dodge, leaving no chance for their opponents.

After dozens of minutes, the seven could already see the starships with the naked eye.

Guo Shier said, “There are three batches in total. The first batch has seven starships—well, they seem to be medium-sized, quite fast. The next batch has sixteen, and the last batch has forty-three. In total, there are sixty-six starships. Most of them are attack-type. Big brother, how should we fight?”

Qi Wuzhen replied, “Fight them separately! Although we’re stronger when together, our target becomes larger.”

Li Ran nodded in agreement. “Yeah, it’s better to split up. With the powerful cannon fire from those starships, it’s impossible to lock onto an individual.”

Guo Shier said, “I’ll go with Sericeline.”

Monier said, “I’ll go with my Woodie.”

Kumu nodded. “Okay.”

Wang Dayang smiled bitterly. “Then I’ll have to fight alone. Sigh, what a miserable fate—having to fight hard even in old age…”

Li Ran and Qi Wuzhen exchanged a glance and nodded simultaneously, then teleported apart in unison. The team immediately scattered. Guo Shier and Sericeline teleported away together, while Monier took Kumu with her, and the two vanished instantly. Wang Dayang shook his head. He didn’t teleport but rushed toward one of the starships, turning into a streak of spelllight at lightning speed. Instantly, all the firepower focused on him. The heavy cannon fire couldn’t lock onto him, but that didn’t mean other smaller weapons couldn’t.

Various weapons fired beams of light in space, but Wang Dayang wasn’t afraid. He held an altar above his head, lowering countless runes for defense, and carried a sacrificial weapon shaped like a kitchen knife. As he approached the starship, he threw the knife. It wasn’t a real kitchen knife but a giant blade shaped like a door panel, similar in appearance. The moment it was thrown, it rapidly expanded to over a hundred meters in length before swinging down with a thunderous crash.

In the command cabin of that starship, everyone stared in shock. They had never seen anything like this—a tiny person wielding a giant sword nearly the size of a small spaceship, slashing straight at the starship. What the hell was that trick?

That medium-sized starship was a kilometer long, yet Wang Dayang’s giant sword was no smaller either. With one swing, it cut through everything as if it were tofu, unable to be stopped by any defense shield. In the past, Wang Dayang might have needed to strike several times to break through the shields, but now he didn’t need to—just one swing, because he had inscribed several sets of runes on the sword, giving it certain spatial properties.

One swing created a huge crack, almost splitting the entire starship in two. A shrill alarm sounded inside the ship, and countless soldiers in starlight armor flew out, along with some star attack drones, as if a beehive had been disturbed. Wang Dayang chuckled and swung his sword again, instantly cutting through an exit of the starship, sending dozens of soldiers flying into space.

Guo Shier and Seraphine also approached a starship, but they arrived above it. Guo Shier didn’t let Seraphine fight; instead, he used a purple chain to tie her down, forcing her to face backward, with the only task of defending against attacks from behind. He unleashed his Moon Blade, smiled slightly, and said, “For this swing… I’ll go for a gut-punch! Seraphine, guess… what will be the consequence?”