Chapter 220: Star Pirates

“Currently traversing spatial turbulence.”

As the shuttle trembled, ten minutes later, the flight stabilized once more.

“Attention! Attention!”

“The Bu Chen’s fuel is below 20%, unable to reach Blue Star.”

“What?”

Jiang Yan’s body jolted as he teleported out from the light sphere.

He glanced at the fuel gauge and found only 19% remained.

“To avoid being lost in spatial turbulence, emergency stop of spatial barrier traversal initiated.”

Soon, the shuttle appeared in the starry sky, returning to its normal flying vehicle state.

“Sigh, running out of fuel halfway through, no wonder they gave it away for free during the promotion.”

Jiang Yan sighed, feeling a bit nostalgic for Lightning Studio’s stellar-class starship.

Suddenly, a piercing alarm sounded within the Bu Chen’s cabin.

“Alert! Alert! Unknown flying objects detected within visual range.”

“Alert! Alert! Unknown flying objects detected within visual range.”

Jiang Yan’s expression turned serious. He released his spiritual power and indeed sensed three “ships” approaching him from different directions.

Not even bothering to greet him, and surrounding him with such clear intent—these were clearly hostile visitors.

“Looks like I won’t need to search for fuel myself.”

Jiang Yan directly halted the shuttle and stored it back into his spatial ring.

The three ships steadily approached Jiang Yan, then stopped about a hundred meters away.

Three figures dressed in bizarre riding gear simultaneously disembarked and began chattering something at Jiang Yan from a distance.

“Zhuozhuo, translate that.”

“Kid, hand over all your valuables, or you’ll make us three brothers unhappy, hmph.”

“Did you hear that? My big brother told you to hand over your stuff.”

“Hiss, maybe this guy doesn’t understand the language? Let me try the universal language of the universe I just learned.”

The third brother cleared his throat and spoke haltingly:

“Hello, I… I like to eat cake?”

“How about you?”

The boss frowned slightly: “Third brother, what kind of gibberish are you speaking?”

The third brother scratched his head: “Boss, this is the universal language of the universe. I just learned it a few days ago.”

The boss looked slightly surprised: “Oh ho, it’s a foreign language. Not bad, third brother. Hurry up and tell him we’re here to rob him.”

“Yes, yes, I’ll say it right away.” The third brother scratched his head and muttered. “How do you say ‘robbery’ in the universal language of the universe?”

Thinking hard, he braced himself and looked at Jiang Yan. “Hello, nice to meet you.”

Jiang Yan: ?

“Nice to meet you, too.”

The third brother pointed at Jiang Yan excitedly: “You can understand! Looks like my universal language skills are ready for graduation.”

Jiang Yan was speechless, reminded of when he was learning English—what you could say depended entirely on the words you knew.

“You—hello, we brothers want to… play, play basketball.” The third brother truly didn’t know the advanced word for “robbery,” so he just made something up.

Jiang Yan had already lost his patience.

He summoned the Myriad Soldier Talisman, transforming it into a forty-meter-long saber and swung it forward.

“Damn, this youngster has no martial virtue!”

The second brother was startled, hastily dodging, while the others also scattered to create distance.

The third brother still wanted to show off his knowledge, but heard the boss curse: “Stop messing around with that nonsense of yours, attack!”

These three brothers dared to intercept Jiang Yan, so they must have some strength.

As their auras erupted, all three actually possessed Eighth Rank Transcendent strength.

Among them, the boss’s aura was the strongest, probably not far from reaching the Ninth Rank.

Jiang Yan smacked his lips. “Indeed, only at the Eighth Rank does one have the qualification to venture through the universe.”

“After this, I should find a place to Breakthrough my Source Domain. Otherwise, if I encounter a stronger opponent along the way, I’ll have no means to resist.”

With this thought, the Myriad Soldier Talisman in Jiang Yan’s hand contracted, transforming into a handy fire Saber, with surging flames rising from it.

Perhaps due to differences in cultivation systems, none of the three men unleashed their Domains.

Whoosh!

A meteor altered its trajectory, hurtling toward Jiang Yan.

A flash of red light streaked by, splitting the meteor in half. Jiang Yan emerged from behind the meteor, intertwining the Yan Thunder Destruction Slash with the Annihilating Cloud Slash.

Suddenly, the second brother’s forehead opened a third eye, and he hastily shouted, “Big brother, third brother! That kid is treacherous—he used a Spiritual Power attack! Quickly, use your defensive gear!”

Boom!

No sooner had he spoken than the weakest of them, the third brother, failed to defend in time and was gruesomely shredded to death by spiritual slicing.

Spiritual attacks were simply unreasonable like that, which was why many Transcendents chose to wear Spiritual Power defensive gear to avoid being ambushed.

The third brother clearly hadn’t expected Jiang Yan to secretly employ spiritual slicing while executing a Martial Skill, leading to his careless and tragic demise.

“Third brother!”

The Boss and the second brother roared, their eyes wide with fury as they glared at Jiang Yan.

“Ahhhhh! You villain, give my third brother’s life back!”

Jiang Yan: “I don’t understand, sorry.”

The Boss charged forward angrily, wearing a pair of gauntlets.

Jiang Yan’s fire Saber clashed with the gauntlets. Expecting a stalemate, he instead saw the tip of the fire Saber bend and shatter into fragments that shot toward the Boss.

Sparks scattered across the sky.

“Playing dirty again!”

The Boss couldn’t dodge in time; his face was scorched into charcoal, covered in dense, charred, and ugly fissures.

“Die!”

The second brother sprang out from behind, swinging a hammer down fiercely toward Jiang Yan’s back.

Sizzle…

At that moment, the clothes Jiang Yan wore began to writhe.

Spirit Ink formed into a Saber that protruded, then extended infinitely, piercing through the second brother’s chest.

“You… sneaky bastard…”

The second brother hastily pulled back, gasping as he stared at the bloody hole in his chest.

Although his heart had been pierced, as an Eighth Rank Transcendent, he could recover in no time.

The two brothers’ Auras surged, causing the floating meteors around them to tremble slightly.

Jiang Yan frowned slightly.

“They didn’t use Spiritual Power—how did they do that?”

He then felt the space distort, as if something was trying to confine him there.

Eighth Rank Transcendents surpassed the realm of ordinary beings, beginning to preliminarily wield power beyond their physical forms.

They perceived the heavens and earth, sensed all living things.

Mortal flesh ultimately had its limits, but the power of the universe was boundless.

The cultivation process at the Eighth Rank was one of comprehending the world.

This was why some could achieve the Seventh Rank in just a few decades, yet might not reach the Eighth Rank even in a century.

The process of comprehending the world could not be accelerated by piling up resources. One had to take it step by step, spending countless years grinding away, realizing, and understanding.

“Today, we will definitely kill you!”

The two brothers roared, as if resonating with each other.

After reaching Seventh Rank Perfection, the three brothers had applied their comprehension of the world to their fraternal bond, ultimately advancing together to the Eighth Rank.

“You and I are inseparable!”

Boom!

A Phantom Image slowly appeared behind the two, as if coalescing into some terrifying Incarnation.

However… then came the sound of a roaring gust by their ears.

“Yan Thunder Destruction Slash!”

True Word Leveling Method Boost: 50%

The Phantom Image Shattered, and the heart-palpitating tremor in space gradually dissipated.

Condensing a Phantom Image requires a great deal of time.

In the past, it was always Third Brother who stood guard as Protector.

They had forgotten that Third Brother… was no longer there.