For thirteen whole years, the players had long since mastered all kinds of cooperative battle tactics. The Zerg in the High Hives were still formidable, but in truth, using the Zerg for training all the time was honestly... a bit tiresome.
Right now, eighty thousand players were eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Pirate Leader, hoping for a refreshing new challenge.
Wanwan stepped forward and took Qin Jingzhou's arm, her voice sweet and gentle. "Dad, everyone is waiting for you to give the command. To be honest, after three rounds against the interstellar pirates, Xun Qiushui sent word—the Elders' appraisal of this group can be summed up in two words: that's all."
Ling Jing crossed her arms and smiled without a word. In the original storyline, it was this pirate group that destroyed Blue Star.
Upon hearing this, Qin Jingzhou glanced at Ling Jing and gently reminded his daughter, "Even a lion uses all its strength to hunt a rabbit. Don't expect me to clean up your mess in the end if you can't solve it yourself. Your Aunt Han and I are not far from ascension." He smiled. "Before we leave, you have to be able to protect your own home. This group of pirates is nothing more than a warm-up. For Blue Star people to become upright members of the interstellar community, at the minimum they need to be able to take on top experts at the Divine Transformation Stage, and also have a certain level of interstellar navigation technology."
As soon as he spoke, everyone present instantly calmed down.
Qin Jingzhou’s words soon spread throughout all the player forums. So that day, every sect, noble family, enterprise, and official agency on Blue Star with ties to Qin Jingzhou were discussing countermeasures.
That night, the players entered the Otherworld to spar with the Zerg. They obviously showed greater urgency.
Over fifty thousand players, ranging from the Golden Core stage to Foundation Establishment Stage, swarmed forward in formation, unleashing every trick they knew, holding nothing back... They succeeded in killing the favorite husband of the Mother Zerg. He was the only one favored, not one among many.
The Mother Zerg momentarily lost her mind in grief and rage; she promptly wiped out the players in their entirety. Looking at the unspeakable, censored mess littering the ground, she suddenly panicked. Like her companions, she grabbed her things and fled.
The Mother Zerg shattered three Secondary Dimensions in succession, dropping a series of tricks she thought could throw off any pursuers. She was about to relax when, before she could even speak to her husbands, Qin Jingzhou suddenly appeared and with a single palm strike, turned her and her husbands into another unspeakably censored mess.
Qin Jingzhou reached out. From the mass of censorship, a crystalline orb floated out and landed steadily in his palm.
The System simulated thunderous applause. "Brother Zhou, not easy! I’m about to cry! We’re finally seeing a return on investment!"
Qin Jingzhou looked at the pearl, its mist swirling within, and let out a sigh. "This thing is worth at least two units of spiritual essence. The Mother Zerg’s drop rate is also pretty low. Otherwise, why would I have let so many mother zerg escape?"
The players hadn’t experienced true ‘instant death’ for a long while. They all revived at the Resurrection Point. Just as they heard Xuan Qing say Principal would be right back, they saw him reappear behind Xuan Qing with a smile.
The players instantly knew Principal had already avenged them.
Qin Jingzhou checked the time and said, laughing, "You all have time for another Zerg Hive run."
Ling Jing opened her little notebook. "Next Zerg Hive coordinates are..."
After another two hive runs, the players began feeling more confident.
The next day, Qin Jingzhou thoughtfully had Xuan Qing arrange for someone to train the players in how to seize interstellar battleships. After logging off, the players prepared some more and then split into three teams of ten thousand to challenge the interstellar pirates... Xiao Jin and Xiao Wan were the main force and deputy commander of the first team.
As for the primary commander, of course, it was Xun Qiushui.
The players understood well that reality was different from the Otherworld. Death here meant real death, so when storming the pirates’ battleships, they fought with both courage and caution.
For the record, though these pirates may have been nothing in Qin Jingzhou's eyes, they were still notorious enough to roam across several star systems and earn a bounty in the Star Sea.
At present, there were twelve battleships and forty spacecraft parked beyond Blue Star. Since players from Hua Country and other nationalities who had access to advanced Otherworld technology didn’t seem fazed, the rest of Blue Star’s population still felt tremendous pressure.
While Blue Star buzzed with anxious speculation... the only reason most countries weren’t in chaos was because Hua Country remained calm as ever.
On Hua Country’s social media, the top trending search was the Xiao Group’s new spiritual elixir. Although the Liqi pill was effective and affordable, its taste was arguably... inhuman.
The news that the commando team had seized control of four pirate battleships and become the number one trending topic in other countries still couldn’t knock "spiritual elixir’s shocking taste" off the top spot on Hua Country’s tracker.
To clarify, practically the entire Hua Country practiced immortal cultivation these days, and the less than ten percent who couldn’t sense spiritual energy could still fulfill their potential through rapidly advancing technology.
What’s more, Hua Country cultivators could vaguely sense a "great fortune upon us" in their hearts. The pirates’ arrival didn’t disrupt this feeling, and when the Pirate Leader finally showed up, the sense of "great fortune upon us" grew even stronger.
Qin Jingzhou and Ling Jing, drifting above the stars, watched the players perform admirably and were both impressed.
Ling Jing, in particular, praised her cheap son-baby. "This child has the makings of a fine Pill master someday." The spiritual elixir, a mix of every conceivable taste with a dash of stench, was his invention... Although it tasted dreadful, it was easy and cheap to mass produce. Each dose required only three drops. No matter how bad it tasted, it was manageable.
Qin Jingzhou found himself seeing the baby in a friendly light, though still a far cry from Xiao Qing.
They were joking and laughing when the Pirate Leader and Su Huaizhen appeared before the players. Of course, you had to leave some backdoors in your own ship.
A small battleship could easily accommodate fifty thousand people, let alone the medium-sized battleship seized by the commando. So just now, fifty thousand players gathered together, all in that captured ship.
Su Huaizhen unceremoniously dumped out the emaciated, skin-and-bones Father Zhao, the adopted father of the Xiao siblings. He twisted his lips into a smile. "I know you’d want to get him back, so I made a point to bring him with me everywhere. Not even my wives get that privilege."
The Pirate Leader and Su Huaizhen’s expressions synchronized strangely just then. "I was shocked when I found out. Your birth mother really did want to sell you both, just to spite your biological father... Your father was a real philanderer. He didn’t allow any mistress, no matter who, to keep their own child."
Xiao Jin and Xiao Wan wanted to say Dad would never be like that, but their instincts told them the Pirate Leader and Su Huaizhen weren’t lying... The two seemed to share one body and soul, and could even read some hearts...
The siblings had to admit: the hardships of their first eighteen years had left a permanent mark. They didn’t blame Dad, but they just couldn’t let go that easily... And the more they cultivated, the deeper each advancement seemed to etch in that scar.
So unless they retaliated against their adoptive father, that wound might truly never heal!
And as for Su Huaizhen, who’d been hiding the adoptive father all this time... The siblings attacked as one.
That was exactly what Su Huaizhen wanted. If he managed to capture the two, he’d finally have leverage to bargain with their father. He grinned, raised his exoskeleton-enhanced right fist, and struck at Xiao Wan’s brow with all his might.
Just as his fist was about to connect, he suddenly felt a chill in his chest. As Xiao Wan was blasted backward, he glanced down. Sure enough, a translucent longsword was driven through his heart, and three paces away, Xiao Jin stood with a bloody smile, blood pouring from mouth and eyes as he fell to his back.
Su Huaizhen wanted to ask: Why would you burn all your spiritual power just to kill me, both sides destroyed? Is it really worth it?!
But those were words he’d never get the chance to say.
--------
Su Huaizhen died then and there. Xiao Wan was gravely injured, while Xiao Jin’s meridians were shattered and he was on the verge of death.
Yet on the sidelines, Ling Jing showed not a trace of anxiety. She saw Su Huaizhen’s abnormally thick fortune dissipate in a rush, and the Pirate Leader still stunned and motionless as he watched everything unfold. Ling Jing breathed a sigh of relief. "Su Huaizhen really is done for. I was worried he’d escape again using all that luck."
Su Huaizhen had long been known as the dark emperor, and aside from the Soul Splitting Technique, was always siphoning fortune from his criminal minions.
The players had already organized several operations to deal with him—but the outcomes spoke for themselves.
Ling Jing was convinced the cloak of fortune over Su Huaizhen was why he escaped time after time. After merging his spirit with the Pirate Leader, all that guarding fortune turned to backlash.
Given the results, she was not far off.
Qin Jingzhou smiled. "The World Will generally can’t interfere with the actions and choices of Fate’s Son, unless the spirit of Fate’s Son is damaged... You can think of it as the World Will having the right to break the deal and reclaim its investment from Fate’s Son with perfect justification."
Ling Jing became thoughtful. "That... actually sounds pretty workable!"
Qin Jingzhou said, "If nothing else works, it’s worth a try."
Ling Jing watched as the players swarmed the dazed Pirate Leader and pressed him to the deck, not even able to react. She took a deep breath. "I understand now."
With the players Qin Jingzhou had trained capable of defeating the mother zerg’s husband, who had power comparable to the late Nascent Soul stage, it was no difficulty to take down the Pirate Leader in his shell-shocked state.
The leader’s “fall” sent the pirates scattering in every direction. Even the Pirate Leader’s closest confidant had no intention of regrouping or saving him—which fit perfectly with a rabble like this.
In recent years, Hua Country’s officialdom had introduced a lot of new tech from the Otherworld, including several key breakthroughs, but as a whole, it was still better at defense than at expansion.
So while the pirates scattered at the first sign of trouble, the authorities seized the moment for a global broadcast. In the end, their all-out pursuit netted only two cargo ships. The flagship, which they wanted most, escaped with the Pirate Leader’s confidant.
But all things considered, the repulse of the star-sea invasion was a resounding success, giving Blue Star a tremendous boost in morale.
After technicians examined the captured ships, authorities declared them of little real value. They offered them directly to public auction, and the news sent a frenzy through Blue Star as the top powers and organizations quickly mobilized.
No matter how chaotic things became on Blue Star, though, Qin Jingzhou and Ling Jing didn’t spare them a glance. They didn’t even bother to watch the authorities and players interrogate the Pirate Leader. The only thing on their minds was the injured siblings.
To be fair, the Pirate Leader’s realm suppression made his charged strike no trivial thing to bear. For Xiao Wan to get away with a skull fracture and soul concussion was already good luck.
Her brother, Xiao Jin, paid a steeper price for his desperate attack, but shattered meridians were nothing to Qin Jingzhou.
So he told his two kids, "You think you can get reckless just because I’m here to back you up. I’m going to have to let you suffer a bit now."
The siblings exchanged a look and smiled, faces showing identical satisfaction. "Got it, Dad."
Xiao Wan thought for a moment and added, "No more bottlenecks progressing from here, so the injury was worth it!"
Qin Jingzhou flicked his daughter’s forehead. "You think everything’s that easy."
Unlike her brother, Xiao Wan could still move. She took the opportunity to hug her father’s arm, giggling. "And that means trouble for Dad, Aunt Han, and Xiao Bao."
Indeed, the siblings’ attending physician was none other than Ling Jing’s cheap son, Xiao Bao.
Just as the siblings had hoped, even with such serious injuries, the Nascent Soul stage was firmly within reach. In this universe, where Divine Transformation was the highest attainable level, the Nascent Soul was enough to ensure one’s safety and hold onto the family estate.
Even though they trusted the siblings to be self-sufficient, Qin Jingzhou and Ling Jing still stayed for another twenty years. They waited until the siblings were steady in mid-Nascent Soul stage, Eldest Brother Xiao had reached initial Nascent Soul, and the rest of the Xiao family had stepped into Golden Core stage, before deciding to leave.
By this time, the various forces and organizations on Blue Star were also moving to embrace the wider Star Sea, with Hua Country’s government making introductions. Through interrogating the Pirate Leader, the officials obtained contact information for several major interstellar powers, and thus ushered Blue Star into the Star Era.
After bidding farewell to friends and loved ones, and calling together all the players, Qin Jingzhou and Ling Jing ascended together before hundreds of thousands in a “daylight ascension.”
Their ascension process was recorded by the authorities, who archived the footage as a top-level secret.
Ling Jing settled her accounts with the World Will, exchanged a friendly hug with Qin Jingzhou, and said she’d head off alone for now. She’d already told Qin Jingzhou that she needed to visit several different worlds to level up her fighting skills. She didn’t need to be a six-attribute warrior, but she could not leave her weaknesses so exposed.
She might not have ever raised a hand in this entire affair, but she was certain that—even with an advantage of an entire major realm—she still wouldn’t be a match for Su Huaizhen.
After watching Ling Jing depart, the System spoke up first. "Looks like she was really shaken this time."
"The spiritual plant industry in the other world owes all its success to her," Qin Jingzhou replied with a smile. "I gave her the Spiritual Talisman Compendium as a thank-you. I wonder what she’ll be like the next time we meet."
The System twisted into a question mark.
Qin Jingzhou said, "When she hugged me, I tapped her on the back of her hand. Yep," he added with another laugh, "reward collected... I’m still pursuing her, after all."
The System went silent for a moment. "Brother Zhou, if I can say, you made it sound offhand at first..."
"Did I?" Qin Jingzhou shook his head. "We cultivators have long lifespans and are generally very patient about most things."
After chatting casually with his System for a bit, he turned to settle the accounts for both World Wills. Leaving aside the as-yet-uncertain "blessing from the World Will," once you factored in base pay, bonuses, and deductions for the bits he’d paid out of pocket, he more or less broke even.
Actually, even if he’d lost money this time, he’d have accepted it. Not only did he get the thrill of leading the Fourth Calamity, but he also managed, with the World Will’s tacit approval, to let his precious son Xuan Qing reincarnate and leave this universe.
After all, an artificial half-demon could never achieve ascension.
The World Will’s original hope was that he would provide cultivation techniques and inheritances to teach the interstellar people, giving them the power to resist the invading Zerg.
This was a reasonable request, and the World Will’s offered rewards were quite fair.
If it had asked him to find a way for artificial half-demons to ascend, he’d have left in a heartbeat.
All in all, the collaboration was successful. Both sides got what they wanted. After bidding the World Will farewell, Qin Jingzhou told the System to take the next quest.
The System flipped through the mission list. "Brother Zhou, are you interested in a yandere task? The summary is... let's make sure yanderes stay in the 2D world forever."
Qin Jingzhou raised an eyebrow. "I’ve really never dealt with problem children before, so let’s do it."