While Qin Jingzhou was talking with the System, Xiao Qing was already fast asleep with his head resting on his father's lap.
Even in his sleep, however, his son's brow remained furrowed. Qin Jingzhou gently pressed his hand to the center of the boy’s forehead. Xiao Qing’s tail, longer than the combined length of his head and torso, curled over and wrapped tenderly around his father's wrist.
Qin Jingzhou glanced at the furry “bracelet” now circling his wrist and mused, “Still as clingy as ever.”
The System gave Xiao Qing a once-over. “His fur is dry and splitting at the ends…”
Qin Jingzhou flicked his hand, shaking loose several tufts of hair that had gotten caught between his fingers. “He’s not just clingy, he sheds too.”
But his tone held not a trace of annoyance. The System thought for a moment, then asked, “Brother Zhou, the local World Will tried to contact me.”
Qin Jingzhou replied with all the expected clarity, “She sensed the two blessings from World Wills on me and is willing to believe I mean her no harm.” He explained specifically for the System, “Some cultivators whose lifespan is nearly exhausted will stop at nothing, even devouring a World Will in order to prolong their own lives.”
No wonder so many worlds refuse him entry, the System mused with curiosity. “But you, Brother Zhou... you don’t seem at all like someone nearing the end of their lifespan.”
Qin Jingzhou absentmindedly stroked his son's big, furry head. “That’s what frustrates me. With my cultivation realm, I’m still a youngster, aren’t I?”
The System had nothing to say to that.
Reunited with Xiao Qing, Qin Jingzhou was clearly in high spirits.
After negotiating with the local World Will for a while, the System turned back to Qin Jingzhou to report, “There’s a Zerg invasion underway in this universe.”
“No wonder. If not for the Zerg—a universal enemy to all intelligent beings—there’s no way my son would have been driven to self-detonate his Golden Core.”
The System had found out about Xiao Qing’s history from the World Will. With Xiao Qing sleeping soundly and oblivious, it relayed all of it to Qin Jingzhou.
Xiao Qing grew up in an orphanage. Thanks to his inherent Frost Wolf genes, he was born with first-rate fighting talent. At a little over five years old, he regained memories of his previous life, and ever since, he was the brightest kid in school.
After reaching adulthood, he changed his name of his own accord to Xuan Qing.
The immense pressure to survive under constant Zerg threat meant that, within humanity, “peace and order” was maintained only in name. Still, Xuan Qing rose through the ranks based on his military merits, and at a young age, he was allowed to command an entire fleet.
The Officials were happy to promote such a young hero. Eventually, the socialite birth mother who’d abandoned him without a second thought in his early years—still flitting among rich businessmen—“recognized” him as her son.
The birth mother did some digging, then, not hesitating for an instant, reached out to her old lover of twenty years past. Xiao Qing’s biological father was from an affluent family, but as a good-for-nothing playboy, he basically had no say at home and just scraped by on the family allowance.
The two quickly joined forces, contacted the media, and made a huge scene with a “reunion scandal.”
Xiao Qing used a trick to temporarily alter parts of his own DNA, causing the tests to show he was unrelated by blood to either parent.
However, this trick severely damaged his vitality, and before he could fully recover, he was caught in a large-scale Zerg assault. To save his fleet’s core strength, he self-detonated his Golden Core—in this world, called the “Inner Core” or just “Core.”
The violent surge of spiritual energy temporarily drove back the Zerg vanguard. Xiao Qing’s subordinates risked everything to retrieve him.
But a shattered core is fatal; it can only end in death. So Xuan Qing bid farewell to friends and colleagues and returned alone to his Feudal Lord’s Domain to await the end.
And right as his life truly entered its final countdown, Qin Jingzhou arrived.
After hearing the story, Qin Jingzhou flicked the tuft of long, sensitive fur on his son’s ear. Xiao Qing’s ear twitched, then rubbed against his hand, even in his sleep. “Even half-conscious, he’s still doing this routine... So, Xiao Qing is a candidate to be the Fate’s Son of this world’s Will?”
“That’s right.” The System understood what Qin Jingzhou was alluding to, but had to ask on the World Will’s behalf, “She wants to know if you’d be willing to help her.”
“If you’re herding sheep, one more is no bother.”
The System got the message. It relayed a formal response to the eager World Will.
So, with his head still pillow in his dad’s lap, Xuan Qing slept for a full six hours. When he finally opened his eyes and saw his father, he immediately checked on his Inner Core: though crackled with fractures, most functions were unaffected. He wasn’t surprised. “Thank you, Dad.”
Qin Jingzhou quipped, “You can talk, huh?”
Xuan Qing let out a little whimper. “Mhm.”
Qin Jingzhou’s hand kept ruffling his son's hair. “Dad’s got something to say to you.”
Actually, Xuan Qing already knew a bit about his father’s situation, and upon learning his dad had taken on not one, but two “save-the-world” missions in a single breath, he first declared his dad amazing, then affirmed his willingness to be his dad’s right-hand man.
Xuan Qing’s Feudal Lord’s Domain encompassed not just their current life-supporting planet, but also two nearby terrestrial planets—plus a total of five satellites in the vicinity.
In the age of interstellar travel, non-life planets held little value for humans, and even ordinary life-supporting planets weren't worth much.
In other words, counting planets and satellites, Xuan Qing had well-defined ownership. As their master, he had the right to collect taxes, but this also meant security and infrastructure were solely his responsibility as lord.
Blushing, Xuan Qing confessed, “Dad, I’m not much of a moneymaker. I got these planets long ago, but all these years I only managed to build, well, this little estate on the main planet.”
Back then, the sect his father casually founded took over a territory far bigger than what he had now... and the sect had been in the high-value Capital City of Hua Country!
Qin Jingzhou chuckled. “That’s fine. Dad will bring people to help you.”
When Qin Jingzhou laid out his plan, Xuan Qing was left gaping in shock. “You mean transfer residents from that world over to this one?!”
“Not a true soul-transfer. Ordinary souls can’t take that much stress. I’ll set up a conversion array on the crystal wall between worlds, so when souls pass through, they’ll have an identical projection body on this side. As long as both World Wills agree, it’s easy.”
Instantly, Xuan Qing livened up. “So you’re just making a projection soul for them? And whatever the projection learns gets reflected back to the real body?”
“That’s right.”
Xuan Qing’s tail began wagging vigorously. “Dad, my favorite thing is doing great things with you.”
Qin Jingzhou mussed his son’s hair again, then glanced at his now-empty wrist.
Xuan Qing immediately offered his big tail, grinning from ear to ear.
The time flow ratio between the two worlds was roughly three to one, meaning three hours here was only one hour over there.
Xuan Qing had only slept for six hours. Qin Jingzhou felt there was still enough time, so he decided to take his newly recovered son to harvest some materials.
In this world, each projection soul still needed a host body.
Qin Jingzhou let his son cling to his shoulder with a brush in his hand. “Doesn’t much matter what the biological host is made of. The Zerg are perfect for waste utilization, and they always nest on spirit veins—here called energy mines.”
Xuan Qing’s tail wagged furiously. “We’ll take them all!”
The nearest Zerg nest to Xuan Qing’s domain was rather small.
With the World Will quietly turning a blind eye, Qin Jingzhou could use a bit more power than the world ordinarily allowed.
In less than half an hour, the entire nest inside and out contained only the father and son, panting for breath.
Xuan Qing gazed at the carnage... the specifics were better left undescribed, but the Zerg were devastated. His soul asked the pressing question, “Dad, what level have you reached?”
Qin Jingzhou replied with a laugh, “I’m in the Tribulation Crossing Stage.”
Xuan Qing pressed, “And how far is that from the Divine Transformation Stage?” This world had an upper limit on cultivation rank: Divine Transformation Stage.
In the three great interstellar powers—the Empire, Federation, and Alliance—only their top fighters, piloting legendary mecha, could reach the Divine Transformation Stage. Qin Jingzhou didn’t try to fool his son. “There’s still quite a way to go.”
Xuan Qing fell silent for a moment. “So, I really am a spoiled second-gen. If I reincarnate, can I still call you ‘Dad’?”
Qin Jingzhou tugged lightly on his son's ear. “What do you think? With all this chatter, you must be a lot better—you ought to be able to work.”
Xuan Qing let out another whimper and obediently got to collecting resources.
In short, father and son returned fully loaded.
Qin Jingzhou set his son a pile of tasks, then went off to set up the conversion array.
He used up five pieces of spiritual essence, and the array was completed successfully—one piece of spiritual essence equaled the spiritual energy contained in an entire vein of supreme-grade spiritual stone.
Next, he needed to write a convincing game system interface, since at first he wanted the earliest batches of lucky ones to believe they’d been chosen to play a mysterious dream game. Only when their projection soul grew strong enough to feed back power to their real soul would they realize the truth.
Qin Jingzhou estimated: once the projection soul could affect the true body, spiritual energy would have revived to the point that these lucky ones could easily guide it into their bodies. This would mean they’d truly entered the realm of immortal cultivation. Once that happened, the entire world would transform—so would their entire worldview.
Only then would it be time for him to formally instruct new cultivators and reveal more truths to them... Just as you wouldn’t start lecturing Lagrange’s theorem to grade-schoolers.
Back home, Qin Jingzhou first sat down to a midnight meal with his family.
By then, Eldest Brother Xiao’s sons had also hurried home from leave to see their lost-and-found cousins.
Qin Jingzhou checked over his two nephews and confirmed that their aptitudes were much the same as the dragon-phoenix twins... meaning neither had much talent, and both would need extra strengthening. So, they weren’t suitable for the first wave of vanguard players.
After supper, Qin Jingzhou spared no expense setting up arrays beyond the planet and installed his numbered game system. When he saw the game system successfully link to the conversion array on the crystal wall, he immediately started player selection... The first batch were all chosen from the system’s list, including the first listed person and her brother, who’d become comatose due to an accident.
When the ten lucky ones first appeared before Xuan Qing, they all stared at each other. Before anyone could speak, the first-listed girl on the system’s list leapt into her brother’s arms and began to sob, “Is this a dream, brother? If it is, I never want to wake up!”
Her brother was much calmer. He hugged his sister and pointed to Xuan Qing and Qin Jingzhou standing together. “Let’s hear what they have to say first.”
Qin Jingzhou closed the thick book in his hand. “There’s not much to say. You’ll find all the details in the system instructions. Just remember one thing: if you want to get stronger, start by moving bricks.”
The ten lucky ones glanced at the cleared patch of ground behind Qin Jingzhou, and the illusory immortal mountain projected onto it. They all fell silent.