Chapter 1

Blue Star.

This was the 'mother planet' of the Blue Star civilization. Besides the Pearwood Group headquarters, there were also branch offices of the Chimeng Group, the Yuncheng Association, the Wugou Chamber of Commerce, and so on. Over a hundred large organizations had set up branches here, making it the most prosperous planet in the entire Twelfth Star Zone of the Wugou Star Alliance. A large number of cosmic spaceships traveled back and forth every day.

The housing prices on Blue Star had also been rising in recent years, to an unbelievable level.

"Welcome home, Master," the smart robot said enthusiastically as the villa door opened.

Meng Tian*Qingyuan nodded slightly and walked in. "Prepare the number three meal set for me."

"Yes."

The robot first helped close the door, then began to prepare the food and drinks.

A moment later, a sumptuous meal was placed on the table. Meng Tian sat alone at the table and quickly ate, a habit he had developed since childhood on Rockspring Star. He was very focused and fast when he ate.

After finishing all the food, Meng Tian felt a satisfaction from the bottom of his heart. When he was a child, just being full was a kind of happiness.

Then he poured himself a drink and pondered alone, holding his glass.

"It's been 35 years since I came to Blue Star."

Meng Tian thought, "Just because Senior Sister is close to me and I've had a few dates with her in reality, it's caused so much trouble."

"Yes, the Pearwood Group with net assets exceeding 100 trillion, as the person in charge of the Pearwood Group, as the only daughter of Lord Wu Ming... it's indeed caused countless offspring from large families in the entire Hunter Cosmos to pursue her madly. More than a dozen of the most fanatical have moved to Blue Star."

"On Blue Star, the planet's security system is closely monitored, and the Pearwood Group is also monitoring. Those people don't dare to violate the law. If I were on another planet, I would probably have been assassinated countless times," Meng Tian laughed.

"Threaten me?"

"I've never cared about the Qingyuan family, and I'm really not afraid of threats," Meng Tian said, drinking his wine and feeling very happy.

He had been very happy on Blue Star these past few years.

Firstly, freedom!

A sense of freedom he had never had since birth. No one controlled him, and he could be as lazy as he wanted. His income was no longer exploited. He felt like he was truly alive.

His sword practice was filled with excitement, joy, and a sense of freedom.

Secondly, he also had a goal.

That was to make himself worthy of standing beside Senior Sister and to have the qualifications to propose to her!

"Although I'm far inferior to Lord Wu Ming, I passed the test of the mysterious place and have been recruited by the Secret Sword Society, one of the seventeen top forces. Peripheral members recruited by the Secret Sword Society generally have a 10% chance of becoming a Source Life," Meng Tian's eyes showed fighting spirit. "I believe that I will become the most outstanding peripheral member of the Secret Sword Society, and I will definitely become a Source Life."

"The day I become a Source Life will be the day I propose to Senior Sister," Meng Tian thought, finishing the glass of wine in his hand before entering the virtual room.

He could now enter the virtual world network anytime, anywhere, but he still had to pretend.

...

In a penthouse on the top floor of a skyscraper, a handsome man with long silver hair watched a scene displayed on the light screen in front of him. It showed 'Meng Tian*Qingyuan' from an external surveillance video.

"A lowly species produced by a bio-uterus assembly line, how is he worthy of Miss Xu Lixing?" the silver-haired man said softly. "Only the core disciples of the most prominent families in the Hunter Cosmos are qualified to pursue Xu Lixing. Otherwise, it is a defilement of Miss Xu Lixing."

"Young Master, I believe that as time goes on, Miss Xu Lixing will understand this more and more. That Meng Tian*Qingyuan is simply not from the same world as her," the old servant beside him said with a smile.

The silver-haired man nodded. "I, Ya Xing*Nuo Fan, the third heir of the Nuo Fan civilization, my father is a tenth-order Source Life. Only when I am with Miss Xu Lixing can we help each other."

"What have the other fifteen been doing recently?" the silver-haired man asked.

"Their residences cannot be monitored. They all have interference equipment," the old servant said.

The silver-haired man nodded slightly. "Compared to that lowly species, the other fifteen are a greater threat."

They all had very noble origins and high status, but they were still pursuing Xu Lixing madly! That was because... Xu Lixing could bring them too many benefits. They had many competitors within their families.

The elders and younger generations of the family divided up too many resources, and the resources they truly controlled themselves were limited.

Xu Lixing? With Li Miaomiao delegating power, Xu Lixing was almost entirely in control of the entire Pearwood Group! The Pearwood Group was expanding very rapidly, and now its assets exceeded 100 trillion cosmos coins.

Xu Jingming only had such a daughter! Commercial resources were almost exclusively occupied by his daughter, so naturally, there were many suitors.

******

Virtual world.

Li Miaomiao, dressed in tattered cloth and with a dirty face, walked alone in the vast wilderness. Suddenly, jackal-like figures emerged from the grass in the distance, staring at Li Miaomiao.

"Jackalmen?" Li Miaomiao looked at them. The jackalmen were infamous in this wasteland, knowing only to kill and plunder.

These jackalmen quickly roared and surrounded Li Miaomiao.

Li Miaomiao didn't run, but instead charged forward.

"咻."

A slender sword at her waist was instantly drawn, as fast as lightning, continuously piercing the heads of the three closest jackalmen. Surrounded by jackalmen, Li Miaomiao's figure was like the wind, her sword light flashing, and jackalmen fell one after another. The other jackalmen were soon frightened and fled howling.

Li Miaomiao flicked the blood from her sword, then sheathed it and walked alone into the distance.

After arriving at a dwarf town and checking into a small inn, she logged off.

...

She came to a world of blue skies, white clouds, and grassland. She could see at a glance that only Xu Jingming was sitting in a chair, studying knowledge.

"Miaomiao," Xu Jingming looked at his wife. "Finished sword practice today?"

"Yes."

Li Miaomiao nodded. "There are too many sword practice systems in the universe. I've gained a lot by learning the basics of different systems."

"I didn't see you so passionate about swordsmanship in the past," Xu Jingming said with a smile. "Didn't you like singing back then?"

"Singing is work, it's making money," Li Miaomiao sat beside him. "Now I don't need to worry about money, I can do whatever I want! Actually, I liked playing games, playing swordsmen, back then. It's just that the games back then... weren't real enough."

"Besides, my husband is the most dazzling genius of the human race in the universe. As his wife, I naturally can't be too weak," Li Miaomiao said with a smile, looking at the books and knowledge beside her, feeling that they were heavenly scriptures.

"How is Lixing doing recently?" Xu Jingming asked.

"She's of course doing well, with so many suitors," Li Miaomiao said. "By the way, you've been away from Blue Star for over a hundred years. Has the Primordial Research Institute said when you can come back?"

"Not yet."

Xu Jingming looked at his wife. "I can't get away. The two of us can only meet in the virtual world."

"It's all the same," Li Miaomiao said with a smile. "You're on the front lines, able to save countless people on living planets. Compared to the people living on the front lines, Lixing and I are already so much better off."

Xu Jingming nodded and suddenly received a message. Xu Jingming casually opened it—

"Junior Brother, the Eternal Academy Tower will officially open for merit redemption in a month! The merit redemption list was just released internally today, so you can prepare in advance." The message was from Senior Brother Yi Jiu, and it included detailed redemption information.

"Thank you, Senior Brother Yi Jiu," Xu Jingming replied before opening the attached file to view the detailed redemption list information.

The Eternal Academy Tower was one of the three strongest forces of the human race in the universe. The number of tenth-order Source Lives in the current era was even greater than that of the Primordial Research Institute and the Isolated Spacetime Island.

"1. Nightmare-level Abyss Battle Armor (100 pieces in total), redemption price: 100 million merits, limited to one piece per person, for personal use only."

The Abyss Battle Armor was unique to the Eternal Academy Tower.

The practicality of their battle armor was the highest among the three strongest forces. After obtaining it, one could quickly develop super-strong combat power. However, in terms of potential, it was generally inferior to the Primordial Battle Armor.

"2. A Broken Wing (only one piece), redemption price: 90 million merits, for personal use only."

Xu Jingming clicked lightly, and there was a more detailed introduction and even images of this broken wing.

This was a pair of broken golden wings! The wings spanned 10.9 meters when unfolded and were a high-dimensional weapon created by a high-dimensional life form, suitable for Source Lives in the 'light' lineage who had reached the peak of the tenth order.

"3. A Fragment (only one piece), redemption price: 90 million merits, for personal use only."

Opening the detailed information, this fragment's main body was over 1.9 billion kilometers long. It was a small fragment of a powerful high-dimensional weapon. The difficulty of controlling it was extremely high, but once successfully controlled, it could unleash extremely powerful might.

"4..."

"5..."

...

"56. Heavenly Python Scale (limited to three pieces), redemption price: 50 million merits, limited to one piece per person."

Scales of the high-dimensional life form, 'Heavenly Python.'

...

"85. Clear Spirit Water (limited to 10 drops), redemption price: 35 million merits, limited to one drop per person."

Clear Spirit Water originated from the 'Abyss' in a high-dimensional space. Taking it would help with evolution.

...

"97. Eternal Cocoon (limited to 3 pieces), redemption price: 30 million merits or 30 million trillion cosmos coins, limited to one piece per person."

The Eternal Cocoon was a high-dimensional technological weapon created by the human race. As long as there were enough materials, it could be mass-produced, but the cost was very high.

...

"198. Guardian (limited to 10 pieces), redemption price: 10 million merits or 10 million trillion cosmos coins, limited to one piece per person."

Guardians were civilization-level intelligent robots with strength comparable to newly advanced ninth-order Source Lives.

...

"300. Black and White Fruit (limited to 20 pieces), redemption price: 5 million merits or 5 million trillion cosmos coins, limited to one piece per person."

The Black and White Fruit was a cosmic treasure produced in the 'Boundless Attached Cosmos Space,' and its quantity was scarce.

Xu Jingming looked at a large amount of information. There were a total of three hundred redemption items, sorted from highest to lowest redemption price. Some that could be mass-produced could be redeemed with cosmos coins. Others had to be earned through merits.

"Jingming, these?" Li Miaomiao looked in amazement. "Civilization-level intelligent robots, high-dimensional technological weapons? Some of the powerful technological weapons of mid-level civilizations in the universe are on here. There's nowhere to buy them on the outside."

"There's no way to buy them," Xu Jingming nodded. "This is the list of merit redemptions opened by the Eternal Academy Tower. As someone from the Primordial Research Institute, I can't directly redeem them."

"You want them?" Li Miaomiao heard Xu Jingming's meaning.

"Just ask friends from the Eternal Academy Tower to help redeem them. Most of them are not limited to personal use," Xu Jingming said. He had indeed set his sights on some items.

For example, the 'Heavenly Python Scale.' The high-dimensional life form 'Heavenly Python' was the source of the Heavenly Python Evolution Method.

"Do you need the Pearwood Group to help?" Li Miaomiao asked.

"Haha, no need," Xu Jingming laughed.

His accumulated spoils over the years were still very large. The Pearwood Group's assets were only a small part. It was relatively easy to obtain some of the items he wanted on this list. The only troublesome one was the 'Heavenly Python Scale'!

Because there were only three pieces! He had to find a big shot with the highest redemption qualification to help. Because those top few big shots generally redeemed the best ones first, leaving nothing for those behind.

"I've been cultivating the Heavenly Python Evolution Method for so many years. If I want to break through from the tenth order to a high dimension in the future, the Heavenly Python Scale is very important to me," Xu Jingming thought to himself. "It can even help from the ninth order to the tenth order."

"If I can't redeem it right away, I'll have to collect it from the outside at several times the price." Some high-dimensional items were very important on Xu Jingming's evolutionary path, such as the Heavenly Python Scale and the Primordial Star Flame, which were related to the foundation of his evolutionary path.