Chapter 379: Starship: Yuling

Starship…

Indeed, compared to the flying vessels of the pre-Transformation Era capable of crossing the starry void, its price can truly be called "low."

But this is only relative.

Generally speaking, the terms "Jin Dan" and "owning a starship" are never connected.

But now, this has truly happened.

Zhang Xiu's emotions were complex.

Of course he was happy—after all, Zhang Yunlu was his sister.

But… he himself didn't even have a starship yet!

Moreover, it was foreseeable that for a long time ahead, he would not possess a starship.

Originally, joining Longxiang Qingtianzong was to investigate his parents' affairs, but after he truly arrived at Longxiang Qingtianzong from Xuanjian City, he realized how much he still needed to make up—immensely so!

Xuanjian City was too small; his cultivation to the Spirit Transformation Realm had left many gaps.

Polishing his physique, replacing his foundational cultivation method with a better one, learning divine arts…

All of these consumed enormous resources.

Body refinement had always been like this.

So even within Longxiang Qingtianzong, those who possessed a starship at the Spirit Transformation Stage were extremely rare.

Wouldn't it be better to use these resources for body refinement?

Normally, if you needed to travel, you could just take the sect's starship—the current starship passenger routes were already highly developed!

Once you reached the Void Return Realm, you could learn the "Simulated Diamond Body of the Subordinate Jump Engine," practice the Method of Manifesting Heaven and Earth, and directly traverse the starry void with your physical body, achieving autonomous jumps—why even need a starship?!

Body cultivators were among those who needed starships the least.

Hmm!

That's right—he didn't need a starship, that's all there was to it!

Zhang Xiu told himself this in his heart.

"The starship modules hadn't been fully loaded yet, so I didn't mention it," Zhang Yunlu explained.

Later, even after loading was complete, this incident happened, so I never brought it up…

Zhang Xiu nodded, not knowing what to say, he picked up the juice on the table and took a sip.

He had previously disguised himself as a Jin Dan sword cultivator in Xuanjian City, so his savings weren't much to begin with.

Now that he was at Longxiang Qingtianzong, with so many things to do, his income and expenses were barely balanced.

Once he made up for his deficiencies, he might have considerable surplus.

After all, a Spirit Transformation body cultivator could already be considered a mid-tier cultivator on the Central Continent, and in the starry void, he could even be entrusted with overseeing an entire life-bearing planet!

He had never entertained such thoughts before, but after hearing today's news, he thought he might consider it.

Hmm…

Perhaps this was also the elder brother's "competitive spirit."

He just didn't know what conditions were required to guard a life-bearing planet in the starry void…

Zhang Xiu planned to look into it after returning.

Chi Jiuyu casually asked about other starship conditions and confirmed everything was fine.

"We've eaten enough," she stood up. "Let's go."

Saying this, she took out her identity jade tablet and scanned it against the payment device on the wall, deducting a sum of contribution points.

Leaving the room, the three walked down the corridor bathed in warm golden light, Chi Jiuyu leading the way:

"By the way, after we return from the starry void, the next Xian Sect Grand Competition will be about to begin."

Xian Sect Grand Competition?

"Sister, do you know the exact date?"

Not long ago, the Qidaxian Sect had jointly issued an announcement on the Spirit Net, but no exact date had been set.

"I don't know. When I asked my master last time, he said the date hadn't been finalized yet."

The Xian Sect Grand Competition didn't have a fixed schedule; its main purpose was to give young, outstanding disciples a chance to compete on the same stage.

Only disciples under sixty years old from the Qidaxian Sect could participate.

Then, based on multiple factors such as age and realm, a comprehensive evaluation was made before the actual contests.

"Little Yunlu's brother, you should participate too, right?" Chi Jiuyu turned back to ask.

Zhang Xiu paused, then shook his head helplessly: "The odds are slim."

This wasn't a matter of whether he wanted to, but whether he could.

His age and cultivation were quite good, but compared to the top tier within the Xian Sect, there was still a gap.

"Try your best!" Here, she glanced around furtively, lowering her voice: "I'll tell you secretly—this year's Xian Sect Grand Competition will be extraordinary; if you can participate, you should definitely try."

"…" Seeing her seriousness, Zhang Xiu took it more seriously: "Alright, I'll pay attention."

"Hey, why be so formal? If we happen to meet during the competition, I'll hold back!" Though according to past rules, it's unlikely…

"Thank you…" Zhang Xiu could only reply stiffly.

Though he hated to admit it, he might… possibly… really not be a match for Chi Jiuyu.

Twenty-three years old…

No!

She attained Spirit Transformation at twenty-two!

Sometimes he just couldn't understand—same as humans, how could the gap be so huge?

Two minutes later, the three reached the ground floor.

Chi Jiuyu deliberately stepped back to give the siblings enough space for their farewell.

As always, she disliked such farewell scenes.

So she only approached after Zhang Xiu had finished his instructions and left.

But before she could speak, Zhang Yunlu beat her to it: "Sister, did you hear that news from Master too?"

"Huh?"

"The news about this year's Xian Sect Grand Competition being different."

"No, I first found it on the Spirit Net, then confirmed it with Yue Ling."

Yue Ling…

Master's soul blade.

Sister once joked behind her back that Yue Ling was easy to fool, and after Yue Ling found out, she came specifically to give Sister a beating.

"Can we just spread this around?"

"It's fine—after all, it's already on the Spirit Net, so clearly this news was meant to be released."

If it were truly confidential, the Spirit Net wouldn't have a single whisper about it.

Zhang Yunlu nodded, clearly having just realized this.

Lately, because of her parents' affairs, she hadn't paid much attention to the Spirit Net.

"Then why did you just…"

If it's on the Spirit Net, why were you being so careful just now?

"Hmm… I watched a movie recently."

No wonder…

Ding dong!

Zhang Yunlu's phone suddenly popped up a message—

【Dear customer, your starship's ship spirit has been activated. Please proceed to…】

The message came from her dedicated customer service.

This was a starship!

And since Chi Jiuyu had selected the optimal package for her, a dedicated staff member was assigned to handle the coordination.

"Huh? The ship spirit activated this fast?" Chi Jiuyu leaned over. "Shall we go now?"

"Mm."

…

…

Half an hour later.

Inner Sect of the Xiang Jianzong, Starship Comprehensive Service Zone.

Dozens of staff members were bustling around a starship with a streamlined hull, performing final adjustments.

The deep blue spiritual energy particle streams gleamed brilliantly. Compared to Chi Jiuyu's, it looked even more "slender," its hull etched with simpler cultivation arrays, most of which were concealed beneath the armor plating.

Starships are constantly evolving; this small starship's overall performance surpassed Chi Jiuyu's.

"Looks like I need to get a new one too," Chi Jiuyu leaned back in her recliner, stroking her chin.

She planned to sell her old one after the Xian Sect Grand Competition, once she received her ranking reward.

Her uncle was especially generous—she'd gone with him to Ling Yin Fang twice and received three storage rings, a ton of spirit stones!

Plus, she'd recently sold those Phoenix feathers…

If the Xian Sect Grand Competition rewards are good enough, counting it all up, she should still have plenty left over!

As for not winning a prize?

What nonsense—she was Chi Jiuyu!

The youngest Soul Transformation cultivator in history, the Sword Sovereign's personal eldest disciple…

Of course, the best method would be to go straight to Master.

But she felt that now that she'd reached Soul Transformation, she should show more independence.

She was now an independent Yu!

No mistake, one sentence, one post, one piece of content, one look!

Zhang Yunlu stood ahead, hearing Chi Jiuyu wanted to switch starships, opened her mouth but held back.

Just as she was about to say something, a staff member approached.

"Little Xiao Shu Zu, your starship's ship spirit has been fully activated. You may now begin naming and voice tuning."

Yes, everyone in the Xiang Jianzong now knew the sect had gained another little Xiao Shu Zu.

But perhaps due to Chi Jiuyu's earlier "preparation," acceptance came easily.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, it's our duty," the staff member smiled.

Not only was she as unassuming as the last one, but this little Xiao Shu Zu was even less bizarre than the previous one!

"Let's go take a look inside."

Zhang Yunlu turned her head and found Chi Jiuyu had somehow appeared beside her.

"Mm."

Under the staff member's guidance, the two entered the starship's interior.

The corridor leading to the main control room was lined with large white metal panels, its ceiling engraved with illumination arrays; the engine's roar had been dampened to near silence.

Seeing all this, Chi Jiuyu became even more determined to replace her starship.

"By the way, Xiao Yunlu, what name are you planning to give your ship spirit?"

"Do you have any suggestions, Ye Shijie?"

"Xiao Ning!"

She answered with absolute decisiveness, as if she had already decided beforehand.

"Fine." Zhang Yunlu nodded slightly.

"Huh?"

She agreed outright, catching Chi Jiuyu completely off guard—her entire prepared speech of persuasion was swallowed back before it could leave her mouth.

"That way, others will know we are Master's disciples," Zhang Yunlu added.

Chi Jiuyu: "..."

That was all she meant to say.

As they spoke, the two arrived before the main control room's door.

Zhang Yunlu stepped forward, infused a thread of magic power into the lock, and recorded her spiritual essence into the device above.

"Identity confirmed!"

Since it had not yet been calibrated, the voice was cold and mechanical.

"Welcome, Captain."

Hummm~

The metal door slowly opened, and one by one, lights ignited within the dim control room.

"Modern starship iterations really move fast—I'll probably be upgrading again by the time I next need one," Chi Jiuyu muttered as she stepped into the main control room.

Zhang Yunlu hesitated, then spoke: "Actually... Master originally planned to replace yours."

"Huh?" Chi Jiuyu looked at Zhang Yunlu in confusion.

"When you and Uncle went to Ling Yin Fang last time, she told me."

"I see..."

Chi Jiuyu scratched her head, but showed no great regret.

Seeing the slightly puzzled gaze directed at her, she explained: "I did consider asking Master, but ultimately decided to be more independent!"

Zhang Yunlu regarded her with solemn admiration: "No wonder you're Ye Shijie."

"Hehe, it's nothing much." She lowered her hand, then grew curious, "So, did Master say why he changed his mind about replacing it?"

"Master said your previous starship was fitted with too many modules—there's no need to replace it."

Indeed, that made sense.

Those modules weren't cheap, and their functionality won't fall behind for a long time.

"Otherwise, he was going to give you a medium-sized starship—you're Soul Transformation now, and a small one might not be enough."

"Oh oh."

Chi Jiuyu nodded, stepped inside, and glanced at the control room's layout.

Really good...

Huh?

She suddenly realized: "Wait—what kind of starship was Master planning to give me?"

"A medium-sized starship."

"..."

The main control room fell into an unnaturally silent stretch.

After several seconds.

A piercing "Aaaah!" tore through the starship's armor and soundproofing arrays—so clearly that the crew outside heard it too.

Huh?!

What happened?!

Did something go wrong?!

The starscape—Yǔ Líng Interstellar Hotel.

Though called a hotel, its size was no less than that of a true planet.

It sat within a peculiar heavenly realm; without an invitation, even a Return to Void cultivator could not detect its location.

The top floor.

Xu Xing stood before a wide floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the "River of Stars" ahead.

A "river" formed by countless bright stars clustered together, embedded in the profound cosmos, flowing slowly, magnificent and dreamlike.

It was a true "River of Stars"—in every instant, tens of thousands of stars perished and were born, yet the total remained constant.

Starlight flickered, its radiance flowing like solid matter, swift or slow, as if composing a melodious symphony.

Anyone who had tried would realize: no matter from which angle one looked, the scene was always identical.

"Yǔ Líng... the Marvelous Art of Star Refining."

The "Yǔ Líng Marvelous Art of Star Refining," an ultimate technique of Star Refiners, had been inscribed into that River of Stars by a great being through methods incomprehensible to ordinary mortals.

Even the "River of Stars" itself was "placed" within a strange space, solely so guests of the Yǔ Líng Interstellar Hotel could admire it at any time.

Even if one could not comprehend the "Yǔ Líng Marvelous Art of Star Refining," one's cultivation would still benefit somewhat.

And this was merely one of the most ordinary "services" offered by the Yǔ Líng Interstellar Hotel.

Withdrawing his gaze, Xu Xing walked to a chair nearby and sat down.

In this age, unless tied to cultivation, even the finest achievements were destined to hold little value—and vice versa.

He came here because he heard from his senior sister that Jiuyu and Yunlu would also be staying here.

After walking around without finding anything, he prepared to return.

He might as well look after the two junior disciples, then return with them—perhaps there would be some unexpected gains.

After all, his senior sister's disciples, influenced by the ferocity of the Killing Path, were bound to encounter unforeseen events.