Chapter 511: The First Investigator Made a Fool of by the Alien Races

"Yes! Yes! This old servant obeys." Chang Yao scrambled to his feet at once.

Yet his every display had already left the three alien-race kings utterly dumbfounded.

They could not understand—Chang Yao was already a Return-to-Void sovereign, so why would he grovel before an investigator sent by the human race?

Before they could think it through, they saw Chang Yao's face darken as he looked toward them, his expression utterly stripped of the fawning from moments ago.

"You lot must do your utmost to cooperate with the investigator, my lord—otherwise I will absolutely not let you off!"

Although he wished he could carve these three wretched beasts into a thousand pieces, he did not dare delay the mission at this point.

In his heart he suspected even more that someone inside the Council wanted to frame him!

Many years ago, the non-human Return-to-Void cultivators of the Fuling Star System had formed the Fuling Interstellar Council; Return-to-Voids like them served as councilors, deliberating and resolving all manner of internal matters among the non-human races of the Fuling Star System.

After all, apart from a few constraints imposed by the Starry Sky Administration Act, the human race basically did not meddle in the internal affairs of the alien races of the starry sky.

Therefore, the room for maneuver in between was enormous.

For instance, preventing other races within the star system from being beguiled, ultimately planting a bioweapon hub and drawing a human cleansing purge.

Mediating internal alien-race conflicts and disputes that even the humans could not be bothered to handle.

Pooling resources, and to a certain extent leveraging the starry-sky routes opened up by the human race to conduct exchanges and trade with races from other star systems, and so on…

All of these fell within the purview of the Fuling Interstellar Council.

Precisely because he knew so much did Chang Yao suspect someone inside the Council wanted to frame him.

After all, before arriving at the Thirty-Seventh Planetary System of Guiling, he had not known the place was currently under human investigation…

After warning the three of them for a while, Chang Yao looked expectantly toward Chi Jiuyu: "Then, Investigator, my lord…"

"…" Chi Jiuyu arched a brow. "Head down to the planet's surface first. I have some questions for you lot."

The miniature psionic satellites he had just released had not detected any trace of bioweapons—or bioweapon hubs—on the seventh planet.

Still, this came as no surprise.

Before a bioweapon hub could begin activation, there was inherently a period of energy storage; during this interval, it was very difficult to detect with the human race's current technology.

After all, although human technology had been advancing all along, bioweapon hubs had also been constantly adjusting and optimizing themselves.

Bioweapon hubs…

No one knew where these things had come from in the first place.

Chi Jiuyu muttered to himself.

Although the current turn of events was somewhat beyond her expectations, she accepted it quickly.

After so many years, through so many dangerous missions, what great storm had her Jiuyu Hehuan Hehuan Laozu not seen!

Moreover, Chang Yao's arrival might yet become the key to breaking the deadlock…

Sigh~

Come to think of it, it really hasn't been easy.

On this mission, his Jiuyu Hehuan Hehuan Laozu had been out of luck for so long—one could say it had been a road of setbacks; now, at last, fortune had turned!

"Yes! I humbly obey the immortal envoy's decree." Chang Yao's expression turned solemn.

Now that things had come to a head, since he was already mixed up in this, there was absolutely no escaping it.

Perhaps when facing these ignorant country bumpkins he could be too lazy to bother, but if a Return-to-Void like him still failed to read the room…

So, better to cooperate properly.

He immediately used his own Return-to-Void magic power to sweep up the three alien-race kings—who could not even speak—and hurtled toward the seventh planet of the Thirty-Seventh Planetary System of Guiling.

Though he himself possessed Return-to-Void cultivation, he consistently trailed half a pace behind Chi Jiuyu, his posture deferential.

……

……

Just as Chi Jiuyu arrived at the mission's destination.

Somewhere in the Fuling Star System.

A palace suspended in the void of space, as large as an entire planet, looking from the outside ancient, unadorned, and elegant.

Looking closer, one could see streams of talisman-script extending outward from within, vanishing into the distance.

Though it had form, it was difficult to touch; its essence was a talisman array laid down by Fuling Zhenjun, used to observe and verify anomalous psionic-wave data throughout the entire Fuling Star System.

After all, the current Southern Star Domain was in a state of war readiness, and the star system he guarded had not long ago erupted in a large-scale bioweapon assault—even a severed claw of a Dao-soldier ghost-beast had appeared…

Inside the palace, at the deepest point.

Pale blue light illuminated the dim chamber; within the floating, semi-transparent screens of light, psionic-wave data flowed in as feedback.

After being filtered, the data was finally sorted through by Fuling Zhenjun himself, then compiled into reports and uploaded to the starry-sky frontline battlefield, to Dao Lord Yanlei.

"Hoo~"

Beneath the streams of data, Fuling Zhenjun rubbed his brow, looking weary.

Dao Lord Yanlei was the Supreme Dao Sect Dongzhen who had succeeded Sword Lord Shengqi in defending the frontline; all psionic-wave reports from the Southern Star Domain were now sent to him…

Because such a major incident had occurred in the star system guarded by Fuling Zhenjun.

So compared to other garrison envoys who reported once every three days, he reported three times a day…

On top of that there were post-battle reports, internal star-system status reports, analyses of the severed ghost-beast claw…

Plus the need to maintain stability across the star system's various resource planets and population-habitation planets, arrange post-war reconstruction work, and a whole series of other matters.

Even for him as a Dao-Unification cultivator, there was a faint sense of utter exhaustion.

And this was merely managing a single star system; then the Sect Master…

The Central Continent, the Four Star Domains, and even frontline deployments all had to be overseen; from people's livelihoods to frontline defense, every major matter required the Sect Master's eye.

Hiss~

He truly found it hard to imagine what grade of ox and horse the Sect Master actually was.

As a newly advanced Dao Merging cultivator of less than a hundred years, he had originally been thinking that after his term of garrison duty ended and he returned to the sect, if he could make it in time for the next Sect Master's election, he would sign up and have a go at it…

Now that he thought about it…

Forget it!

That Sect Master position really isn't something an ordinary person can hold!

【Ding~ You have a communication from the Central Continent, do you wish to connect? Yes/No】

Fuling Zhenjun paused, raised his head, and waved his hand.

"Connect it."

Hum~

A brand-new light screen projected out, and a young man in a Daoist robe appeared in the frame.

"Second Master, are you busy?"

"Cut the crap, get to the point."

The exhausted Fuling Zhenjun couldn't be bothered to waste words with him.

The young man in the Daoist robe hesitated slightly, seemingly puzzled as to why his own Second Master's attitude toward him had become so poor:

"I heard that over at the Gui Ling Thirty-Seventh Planetary System, the Third Investigator has already arrived. I wonder if it's…"

"Get lost!"

He knew this was what he was going to say.

Fuling Zhenjun's face darkened, and he hung up the communication directly.

This little brat didn't know who had put him up to it, but he actually dared to think about competing for the position of 'Dao Child'?!

He*……

He can't even get past the selection for the Xian Sect Grand Competition, and he still wants to compete for Dao Child?

Is that something you can fight for? Take a good look at your own worth — you simply don't know the immensity of heaven and earth!

"Sigh~"

The already headache-plagued Fuling Zhenjun let out a long sigh.

He couldn't help but think of his own elder brother.

Back then, his elder brother had also been a famous prodigy of the Supreme Dao Sect, yet he had to be stubborn and insist on competing with that Sacred Emperor Yuan.

The result was that Sacred Emperor Yuan caught up from behind, and in the end was left far, far behind…

After this ordeal, he was struck down so badly that he never recovered, his spirit utterly broken, trapped at Return-to-Void for many years with no progress.

He could only look after his elder brother's branch more.

But now, in this generation, the only sole seedling is still a good-for-nothing!

Sometimes, Fuling Zhenjun would rather he just learn to follow the popular trends among the sect's younger generation.

Being a bit steady is always better than being egged on by others as a laughingstock to do some stupid things!

Thinking this, Fuling Zhenjun still raised his eyes to look toward the Gui Ling Thirty-Seventh Planetary System.

The vast distance was crossed in an instant the moment he willed it, and every detail within the planetary system was laid bare before his eyes.

Soon, a trace of unusual color surfaced in his eyes.

Previously, he had deliberately intended to let his elder brother's grandson suffer a setback and learn a lesson, so he had given no hints whatsoever.

The result was that the good-for-nothing was actually led around by the nose by a few alien races…

So much so that the alien races within that planetary system had come to look down somewhat on the entire human race.

And the one who came afterward was an alchemist obsessed with alchemy, spending most of his time searching three planets for special spiritual materials to refine pills.

Only in his spare time did he spare a little time to investigate.

Yet even so, he still made the three alien races cough up some resources to compensate for the losses to the starry sky shipping lane.

The result was that shameless good-for-nothing actually used two stalks of rare spiritual herbs to have that alchemist 'optimize' the mission report, recording all of it under his own name…

The total reward for the entire mission doesn't even amount to one-tenth of those two spiritual herbs!

"Chi Jiuyu…"

Fuling Zhenjun tapped the armrest lightly with his fingertip, yet his gaze never shifted away from that Gui Ling Thirty-Seventh Planetary System.

Although he wanted his own junior to suffer a setback and learn a lesson, he was still somewhat displeased by these alien races treating his junior like a fool.

Constrained by the mission period and being busy himself, he hadn't bothered to intervene.

Coincidentally, now a true sword sect prodigy has arrived.

Let her properly discipline these alien races, lest they remain ignorant of the immensity of heaven and earth day after day, entertaining all sorts of messy thoughts.

【Ding! You have a new spiritual energy data report to submit!】

"……"

Sigh~

If only that good-for-nothing of his had half of what this Chi Jiuyu has…

No!

Even if he had one-tenth of Chi Jiuyu's ability, he could lend him a hand and help him fight for that 'Dao Child' position!

……

……

Gui Ling Thirty-Seventh Planetary System, Seventh Planet.

Wang Cheng!

Because the ethnic groups living on the Seventh Planet were of larger builds, all manner of buildings appeared extremely massive.

Royal Palace!

The floor, paved with spirit-jade bricks, was smooth as a mirror and could reflect a person's face.

A gold-threaded red carpet was spread down the center of the great hall, embroidered with patterns.

The leaping flames inside bronze beast-faced lamp stands made the star-chart filigreed into the dome shimmer with flowing light.

The Wang Zuo at the very top was carved from a single block of profound ice; frost-flowers spread across the backrest into a thorn totem, yet the armrests were wrapped in an inch-thick layer of sparrow velvet.

Three figures of varying heights stood beneath the Wang Zuo, heads lowered, looking extremely aggrieved.

Beside the Wang Zuo, a stooped figure with a long beard, pale-yellow fur all over its body, wearing a crimson robe, fawningly gazed up at the seat.

On the Wang Zuo, Chi Jiuyu sat on a freshly changed cushion, grinning as he asked toward the side.

"Isn't this a bit improper of us?"

The few Ge standing below the hall, hearing this, recalled how Chi Jiuyu had spoken up for them along the way here.

They immediately raised their heads and said.

"Our kingdom is small and our people weak, but we are, after all, rulers of a region. If the Immortal Envoy treats us like this and word gets out, the myriad clans of the starry sky will surely say the human race bullies the weak."

These words had once been said to the First Investigator. (End of chapter)