Chapter 89: The Fire-Baptized Star

The Ou Family.

Old Ancestor Ou Shentong's injuries still appeared extremely severe.

He was coughing up blood.

A group of young descendants of the Ou family surrounded his bed, some seated, many more standing, all with expressions of worry on their faces.

Ou Shentong was currently the strongest living cultivator among the Ou family's practitioners.

He had been in seclusion for many years prior, all for the sake of merging a wisp of his primordial spirit into his golden core, gathering the core to form an infant.

But this path of cultivation was clearly not as easy as uploading one's memories to a virtual world to obtain an alternative form of immortality.

Before this, Ou Shentong had already been in seclusion for over fifty years, and the cultivation technique he practiced was also a top-tier method brought out from the ancient ruins of Earth.

Unfortunately, he had never reaped any rewards.

He and Lin Zhenyuan of the Lin family had never been on good terms.

Although the two families were allied houses in the same camp, even between blood brothers there were those who never interacted again until death, let alone allied families in the same camp.

The two had once loved the same woman. In the end, she chose Lin Zhenyuan, and Ou Shentong choked on that bitter breath of resentment. Although he subsequently married seven or eight women who looked like celestial beauties and kept dozens of concubines, he could never forget that moonlight in his heart.

Since he had lost in the contest for the woman, he wanted to defeat Lin Zhenyuan in cultivation.

His descendants also knew this story, and so in the family's subsequent path, they drifted further and further from the Lin family, even using underhanded tricks and all sorts of filthy, unsavory methods to target the Lin family in many domains.

All to vent a breath of frustration for their old ancestor.

Ou Shentong was originally full of confidence, believing that on the path of cultivation, he would surely walk longer and farther than Lin Zhenyuan. He even swore he would never use the memory upload method to obtain that illusory alternative immortality.

But this time, Lin Zhenyuan came knocking on his door and dealt him a stunning blow!

That Lin Zhenyuan... had actually broken through!

He had actually succeeded in merging his primordial spirit into his golden core, stepping into the initial stage of Nascent Infant!

Lin Zhenyuan wounded him, then coldly told him that if the Ou family still failed to recognize their mistakes, he would not mind carrying out a great purge!

This was a naked, unacceptable threat!

It was also a warning.

Although no member of the Ou family was willing to accept this warning.

They had ultimately cowered in the end.

They issued that humiliating announcement that caused an uproar across Tianyue Star.

"For now... do not go looking for trouble with the Lin family. Lin Zhenyuan, he has broken through. He is now the most powerful cultivator in this mortal world!"

Ou Shentong's face was pale, and at this moment, his aged appearance was fully on display.

In contrast, Lin Zhenyuan, though his voice sounded old, had the appearance of a young man.

That was precisely the hallmark of Nascent Infant—the body's vitality exploding, beginning to reverse-aging!

Ou Shentong knew that before long, Lin Zhenyuan's voice would also begin to change, growing younger and younger.

He was unwilling to accept this!

The cruel reality filled me with extreme indignation.

The current head of the Ou family looked self-reproachful and said, "Old Ancestor, it's all because we descendants are useless, bringing shame upon you."

Ou Shentong glanced at him and said slowly, "I heard that someone in the family raised a warning before? Go, call him here."

Soon, Ou Yuanfu was brought to this place.

Seeing the Old Ancestor, Ou Yuanfu obediently knelt and kowtowed.

"You, get up!"

Ou Shentong looked at Ou Yuanfu, his voice carrying a hint of weakness, and said, "This time, you've been wronged."

No matter what Ou Yuanfu had encountered before, he always appeared supremely indifferent, looking quite unruffled. Yet at this moment, he could not help but shed tears, choking as he said, "Old Ancestor, you understand me?"

In the room, the Ou family's high-ranking members, led by the family head, all wore awkward expressions.

If they had listened to Ou Yuanfu back then, they presumably would not have had this humiliating scene today.

But at that time, any normal person would not have believed that what Ou Yuanfu said was true.

A mere young martial artist from Earth, no matter how monstrously gifted, how formidable could he possibly be?

Ou Shentong said softly, "Good child, don't cry. In this announcement, regarding the punishment against you, do you harbor resentment in your heart?"

Ou Yuanfu shook his head forcefully: "Old Ancestor, your child has no resentment, only regret, that I failed to stop all of this from happening."

"Good, very good, you are very good!"

As Ou Shentong spoke, he coughed violently several times, a trace of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth. He stopped the people who wanted to come up and wipe it for him, gently rubbing it with the back of his loose-skinned hand. Looking at that glaring splash of red on the back of his hand, he shook his head slightly.

Then he looked at Ou Yuanfu and said, "Tell me carefully—on what basis did you originally judge that the young man from Earth was not to be provoked?"

The room fell silent, and everyone looked at Ou Yuanfu.

Ou Yuanfu thought for a moment, then said, "At first, we were the same—no matter how much importance we placed on him in our hearts, we couldn't manage to take such an Earth youth seriously. And the facts were as we expected. That kid had a lot of nerve. Knowing he might encounter danger, he still ran off to the western secret realm on Earth. At the same time, he was very clever. The moment he entered the secret realm, he didn't hesitate at all—he just ran..."

Ou Yuanfu gave a bitter smile: "At the time, we felt he ran because he sensed danger. But looking back later, if that were really the case, why would he have entered the secret realm at all?"

The people present all wore contemplative expressions.

Making such a deduction was not difficult, but if it had been them at the scene, they probably would not have thought of it so quickly.

"Presumably, there must be some kind of trump card on him, so although he was a bit afraid of you all, he wasn't completely afraid—am I right?"

Ou Shentong asked softly.

Ou Yuanfu nodded: "Correct. What happened afterward indeed proved this point. A group of us chased him deep into that secret realm, while at the same time, another wave of demon clan from the North Sea was also hunting him!"

"That kid ran into the territory of a Dragon-Patterned Leopard at the Penetrating level. Seeing that, we stopped, feeling he was doomed beyond doubt, and there was no need for us to join in the excitement..."

Ou Yuanfu's thinking was clear, and his tone was calm as he recounted the events of that day bit by bit.

For the first time, the Ou family's high-ranking members, who had previously harbored prejudice against Ou Yuanfu, understood the full context and consequences of the entire matter.

"At the time, when that Dragon-Patterned Leopard lunged at us, we all thought he was already dead—otherwise, there was no reason for that beast to suddenly charge at us."

"But what happened afterward was far beyond our expectations. The North Sea demon clan's priceless original-form corpses vanished without a trace, and that kid actually appeared before us intact and full of life, while Ou Yong had disappeared without a trace!"

Recalling that day, Ou Yuanfu's face still showed disbelief. He said somewhat excitedly, "I know that child Ou Yong—he could never have done something like embezzling the great medicine and secretly fleeing!"

The head of the Ou family sighed: "Ping'er and Yong'er are both gone. Their soul tablets shattered long ago."

Ou Yuanfu was silent for a moment, then said, "That was how I felt too. My intuition told me all of this was definitely related to Song Yue, so I couldn't help but make a move against him on the spot..."

"This part—speak carefully, don't leave out a single detail!"

Ou Shentong suddenly interjected, his expression extremely serious.

Ou Yuanfu did not dare to be negligent, and he described in detail how he had targeted Song Yue, and how he had been counterattacked using the very spiritual power techniques the Ou family was most skilled at.

The Ou family's high-ranking members had heard him tell this once before, and at the time they had simply not believed it, thinking it was Ou Yuanfu's excuse to exonerate himself. Now hearing it, they all felt a chill run down their spines!

Before the Old Ancestor, Ou Yuanfu could not lie, nor was there any need for him to lie.

He said that the spiritual power of the counterattack came from Song Yue himself, and was absolutely not a magical artifact. If this matter were true... then it would be too terrifying!

What level of spiritual cultivation art would it have to be to allow a young martial artist below the Grand Master realm to have the spare capacity to resist and counterattack a Penetrating-level great cultivator who specialized in spiritual power?

The head of the Ou family and the others understood the Old Ancestor's intentions and purpose at this moment!

Yes indeed!

If they could obtain this spiritual cultivation art from Song Yue, the Ou family's overall strength would absolutely rise more than a full tier!

And when that time came, what would the Lin family, which merely had a Nascent Infant great cultivator, amount to?

After Ou Yuanfu finished speaking, Ou Shentong spoke slowly in a weak voice: "That young man from Earth not only possesses a fearsome spiritual cultivation art—this time in our Tianyue's underground palace, he also displayed another terrifying forbidden martial technique. All of you... know about this, right?"

The head of the Ou family nodded: "We heard it from those people. Song Yue used the forbidden technique to cut down Grand Masters in succession, and yet he was able to fully recover in a short time afterward. In addition, there were several people with mysterious identities helping him. One of them, we have already investigated and found out their origins, but that person... we cannot touch."

Ou Shentong said, "Someone from the Qin family, right?"

Clearly, this Old Ancestor of the Ou family had already sorted through the entire matter in a very short time, and the information he knew was no less than those present.

The head of the Ou family nodded.

Ou Shentong said, "Do not provoke the people of the Qin family, and do not provoke the Lin family either. Remember, a coiled dragon and a crouching tiger are the most fearsome. But that Song Yue... must be captured at all costs! He must be taken alive!"

Everyone in the room now understood what Ou Shentong intended to do.

Even Ou Yuanfu, who had never advocated continuing to target Song Yue after suffering such a great loss, found his breathing becoming somewhat rapid.

Ou Shentong continued: "The strangeness about that young man is clearly not limited to this. He may have other trump cards. The protection of the Lin family alone would not have been enough to give him the courage to come to Tianyue Star and operate right under the noses of our Ou family."

"Also, he absolutely gained something in that underground palace—otherwise, the Lin family... would have had no reason to protect him like that."

"All of you must remember these things. Therefore, to capture him, we must deploy our strongest combat power. I, myself, will make a personal trip."

"Old Ancestor, your injuries are not yet healed!" The head of the Ou family and the others could not help but speak up to dissuade him.

"Our Ou family still has many cultivators at the Penetrating level. Everyone can find the right opportunity and strike together. With the prepared striking against the unprepared, we will certainly be able to capture Song Yue alive!"

"That's right, we also have many high-tech methods. Even martial artists at the Grand Master realm cannot withstand them..."

Ou Shentong waved his hand, not allowing everyone to continue speaking. He said slowly, "My injuries can be temporarily suppressed with a secret method. If we cannot accomplish this matter within a short time, then we may never have another chance."

He looked at the head of the Ou family: "Do you know Song Yue's route? Did he return to Earth, or go to that mysterious planet to see his family?"

The head of the Ou family said, "The Lin family generously gifted him a latest-model starship. There is a small device on it that comes from our Ou family. Over the years, we have maintained the habit of leaving backdoors on such ships, so we should be able to lock onto the starship's specific location very soon..."

Just as he was speaking, a message was delivered to him. The head of the Ou family glanced at it and said, "He didn't return to Earth—he went to that planet!"

Ou Shentong narrowed his eyes and said, "That planet... it's a bit troublesome to handle. It's not our territory. Never mind—I'll make a trip to Earth, to his hometown, and wait for him there."

"That planet... what is its origin exactly?" The head of the Ou family could not help but ask. "Before, when we were investigating Song Yue's family members, we received a severe warning..."

Ou Shentong said with a grave expression, "Do not ask any questions about that planet. Remember, this universe is too vast, and there are countless inconceivable existences. Although our Tianyue Star possesses advanced technology, to the countless living beings of this universe, it amounts to nothing."

The head of the Ou family seemed to think of something, and his face also turned somewhat pale. He said, "If that's the case..."

Ou Shentong gently waved his hand: "It's fine. As long as we don't provoke that planet, everything will be fine."

...

Bath Fire Star.

It got its name from its atmosphere.

Bright as fire!

From afar, that enormous planet appeared to be burning with flames.

It was a type of non-toxic gas containing immense fire-attributed energy, a place of cultivation that many fire-attributed cultivators dreamed of.

But this was a forbidden land.

Belonging to an unknown organization.

This was all the information Song Yue had found through the Lin family's internal network before coming here.

He had not expected his father and older brother to work in a place like this.

Before this, every time his father and brother returned to Earth to reunite with the family, they would not talk much about their work.

Song Yue only knew that his father and brother's company was on a life-bearing planet within the same great star system as Tianyue Star.

Thinking back to how the Ou family had once investigated his father and brother, only to encounter a warning and withdraw... Song Yue suddenly felt that his father and brother's work seemed very mysterious!

But there shouldn't be any danger.

Otherwise, his brother probably wouldn't have sent him a location and told him to come over.

An enormous starship, like a city of steel, slowly came to a halt in the outer space beyond Bath Fire Star's atmosphere.

Song Yue managed to contact his brother, Song Chao.

"You actually came? How did you get here? Normally there shouldn't be any interstellar flights to this place?"

On the video feed, Song Chao looked somewhat surprised.

Song Yue couldn't help but glare at his brother and said, "You didn't expect me to come? Then why did you send me your location?"

"Hahaha, just testing you. Didn't expect you little squirt to be quite resourceful. Hey, little one, do you remember the game we used to play most when we were kids?"

On the other end of the video, Song Chao looked perfectly normal, speaking to Song Yue with a smile.

"What game? I forgot!"

Song Yue casually replied, but his heart instantly leapt into his throat!

What does my brother mean?

Why is he reminding me to run away quickly?

The game the two brothers played most often as children was tag—Song Yue running, his older brother, ten years his senior, chasing hard behind him. When caught, Song Yue would be thoroughly roughed up...

This was the shadow of Song Yue's childhood, and the main reason he swore that once he grew up and became strong, he would beat his brother into the ground.

Song Chao bringing up this topic now was clearly a warning to him!

"It's the game we played most often!" Song Chao was clearly getting a bit anxious.

He had indeed sent the location.

The person who had spoken with Song Yue before was also Song Chao, and he had indeed mentioned that Song Yue could come visit if he had time.

But to Song Chao, it really had just been talk.

There was no interstellar flight from Tianyue Star to Bath Fire Star at all!

Without a flight, how could he come?

The interstellar shipping company between Tianyue and Earth wouldn't open a new route just to transport one person.

Especially not to a place like Bath Fire Star—no starship would be willing to come here.

He never expected Song Yue to actually come!

That enormous starship was now hanging in space just outside Bath Fire Star's atmosphere, and that was when Song Chao started to get anxious.

He didn't want his younger brother to enter this planet, and he especially didn't want Song Yue to see their current situation. Once they drew the attention of that organization, it would truly be trouble.

Song Chao clutched his forehead, unable to stop blaming himself for being too careless this time.

At the same time, he was furiously cursing in his heart—which starship had the nerve to come running to a place like Bath Fire Star?

Could it be the Lin family?

Song Yue looked at his brother, who was clearly getting anxious, and said, "Enough. Since I'm already here, I'll take a small shuttle over now. Get ready to pick me up."

"You... ah, fine, okay!"

Song Chao had no choice but to nod and agree.

Sitting inside the small shuttle, Song Yue felt somewhat heavy-hearted.

The father and brother he had always imagined running a glorious company on a foreign planet—their real situation was probably completely different from what he had thought.

Since they could return to Earth to reunite with family, it meant their personal freedom was not restricted. So then, this current state... what were they afraid of?

Passing through the thick red atmosphere, Song Yue looked at the dense layer of fire-attributed energy particles outside, feeling it was quite miraculous. Normally, a shuttle passing through an atmosphere would generate flames from intense friction, but this atmosphere condensed from fire-attributed energy actually had no such phenomenon!

Even as he drove the small shuttle through at extremely high speed, there was no reaction at all.

Soon, the shuttle passed through the heavy red atmosphere and descended below.

Song Yue finally saw the full appearance of Bath Fire Star for the first time.

Barren, desolate, a thousand miles of red earth!

Here he could not see any green plants, nor any signs of water.

The entire planet presented a dark red like blood, with no trace of vitality to be found.

My dad, and my brother—they work in a place like this?

Song Yue felt somewhat uneasy, but this... wasn't enough reason for his brother to warn him to leave quickly, was it?

So what if they saw? It wasn't as if I'd look down on them.

So there must be something else going on here?

As Song Yue's shuttle descended lower and lower, many underground mechanisms suddenly opened across the originally empty dark red earth. Hidden doors appeared, and a large number of small shuttles rapidly rose into the air, converging toward Song Yue's shuttle in an encircling formation.

Then, as if receiving some command, they quickly turned around and flew back into the underground shelters, and those hidden doors soon shut tight.

At this moment, one small shuttle rose into the air, guiding Song Yue to fly into a massive base that was also built underground.

Coming out of the shuttle, seeing his brother Song Chao step down from that small shuttle, the two brothers, who had not seen each other in a long while, embraced warmly.

Song Chao said somewhat helplessly, "That starship outside—is it the Lin family's? Don't they know this place is forbidden? How dare they bring you here?"

Song Yue glanced around. Aside from his brother, all he saw were various enormous devices of unknown purpose, accompanied by the faint hum of machinery.

So this place... was a mining area?

His father and brother were... miners, working here mining?

"Where's Dad?" Song Yue asked, looking at his brother.

In several calls, their father had never appeared in the video, and now that he had come here, he still hadn't seen him. This made Song Yue unable to help but feel suspicious.

"Dad escorted a shipment of ores to make a delivery. Counting the days, he should be back within a day or two." Song Chao put his arm around his younger brother's shoulder and said, "Come on, let me take you to where we rest. Since you're here, let's have a good drink, the two of us!"