Chapter 587: Planning a Starship

One sword, and the insect before him collapsed in a heap, a tiny blood hole appearing on its body.

“Tiny” was not quite accurate—the blood hole was about the thickness of a human thumb, piercing straight through to the insect’s brain, spearing through and extinguishing its life force.

“Another one,” Lu Ke said, leaping off the insect’s corpse and staring at the fallen creature, his face expressionless.

In the past, killing an insect would have filled him with pride, proof of his martial prowess—he would have smiled. But now, he had reached a state of perfect stillness.

He was numb. He had killed countless insects—hundreds, if not thousands—and had learned to find their weak points, greatly increasing his slaughter efficiency.

Yes, slaughter. In his eyes, the insect race, which relied only on brute force, posed no real threat—he could kill one with a simple swing of his lightsaber.

“Lu Ke, you’re doing well,” Ye Nan clapped and praised.

“No matter how good I am, I still can’t beat you,” Lu Ke said, his mind twisting with unease. Though he believed himself stronger now, even with a lightsaber in hand, he could not defeat Ye Nan—let alone barehanded.

He, a Jedi Knight, was likely the weakest in history—a Jedi who couldn’t even defeat an ordinary person.

“If I were defeated by you, what right would I have to be your master and teach you?” Ye Nan smiled lightly, while inwardly thinking, “Even with just ordinary human strength, you can’t beat me—let alone when my body is fully activated. If you ever faced my true form, you’d die far worse.”

Since he killed Obi-Wan Kenobi and acquired some basic Jedi knowledge through sharing, his main body had also gained access to those insights—and had since sunk into the deepest sleep, with all bodily functions and most of his consciousness in stasis.

The greatest benefit of this stasis was that he could now freely consume mental energy, because every bit consumed was automatically replenished by the sleeping Ye Nan—now acting like a vast machine, endlessly generating mental energy for him to squander.

But this stasis had a drawback: he could no longer contact his true body. In a sense, their connection had been severed—not completely, but faintly, all because his true body was asleep.

“That’s true,” Lu Ke scratched the back of his head, smiling awkwardly.

He was torn inside: Ye Nan had been chosen by Obi-Wan Kenobi to be his teacher, possessing Obi-Wan’s knowledge. If Lu Ke defeated him, Ye Nan would lose face.

Yet he was a Jedi Knight—a Jedi who had barely grasped the Force—and here he was, unable to defeat a barehanded ordinary man. He felt his Jedi dignity insulted.

Two opposing thoughts battled within him: the former occasionally gained the upper hand, but the latter usually dominated—especially during sparring, when the feeling was strongest.

But no matter how much he wished it, he was destined to lose to Ye Nan—so his thoughts remained only budding, never truly acted upon.

“According to your prediction, how long until we encounter a starship from another planet?” Ye Nan changed the subject.

He believed Lu Ke had learned all the basic knowledge he needed—these were merely rudimentary teachings. The true profound knowledge resided with Master Yoda; only by seeking Yoda could he learn the deeper arts and, under Yoda’s protection, sense the pervasive light side of the Force throughout the galaxy, not the dark iron curtain that shrouded it.

“Hard to say,” Lu Ke shook his head. “Typically, a starship arrives every half-month to deliver essentials like food. But look at the environment now.”

Lu Ke pointed at the insects and grimaced. “The insect race terrifies every civilization in the galaxy. No one dares land to investigate.”

He himself, having fought the insects, feared them no more—but others, who had never faced them, clung to the highest fear through whispered tales.

And honestly, it made sense: when insects appeared, they came in swarms, their grotesque faces alone enough to terrify entire populations—no wonder they had earned such a fearsome reputation.

“These insects,” Ye Nan sighed. According to his plan—“Landing 1994, Chapter 597: Planning a Starship”—he and Lu Ke should have encountered a starship sent to investigate why this planet’s signals had suddenly ceased, then boarded it to leave and find Master Yoda.

But now, it was impossible. A planet swarming with insects? No starship would dare land—and the only ones who would land would be Imperial forces.

He couldn’t possibly approach the Imperials to negotiate passage off this planet. He knew if he showed himself, they’d kill him on sight.

“Actually, there’s another possibility: the Cosmic Emperor’s people might come looking for me,” Ye Nan suddenly smiled, then shook his head inwardly. “What am I? To the Cosmic Emperor, I’m probably just a minor native emperor. They may have already held grand ceremonies—but judging by now, they’re in trouble.”

The galaxy had now descended into chaos. Planets declared independence one after another; low-level civilizations flocked to join the fray, hoping to profit. But high-level civilizations refused to share their technology or resources with the lower ones—and a brutal war was about to erupt.

Frankly, Ye Nan had little faith in the Cosmic Emperor. He didn’t know how the Emperor controlled the high-ranking officials, but did he truly believe a simple declaration of merger would succeed?

For low-level civilizations, maybe—but many still suffered from deep contradictions, extreme wealth gaps, and poverty. High-level civilizations, however, had largely eliminated hunger and cold. The only differences were minor: “I use the good ones, you use the ugly ones”—mere class distinctions.

“Landing 1994” For high-level civilizations, merging with low-level ones meant diluting their own resources and losing the pride they held over the inferior—something they could not accept.

Besides, this world never lacked ambitious schemers. Already discontented populations, once stirred by such figures, would turn rebellious. And with the galaxy’s vastness, quelling these uprisings would take years—perhaps a decade or more—since not everyone had access to the Subspace Network to travel freely across the galaxy.

“Wait,” Lu Ke said lazily. “Mulling over here and training myself isn’t bad.”

This was the insect race’s stronghold—and his paradise. He could feel himself improving rapidly through each battle.

“But what you’ve learned are only low-level Force techniques. The true high-level ones still lie with Master Yoda. And you must, under his protection, sense the pervasive light side of the Force throughout the galaxy—not the dark side.”

The dark side has crowded out the light side of the Force, making the latter obscure and hard to perceive. Meanwhile, the dark side appears vastly stronger on the surface—that’s why so many Jedi fall.

Lu Ke now faced this very problem. He could sense the dark side with a mere thought, and its presence tempted him, making it impossible to focus on the light side of the Force. One misstep, and he would fall to the dark side of the Force.

“But if we can’t leave, what can we do?” Lu Ke shrugged, his face filled with helplessness. “We can’t just cross the universe on foot.”

“I do know one place—but it might be troublesome,” Ye Nan paused, then proposed an idea. “When I was captured by the black-robed dwarf, I spoke with those two for a while. From what I gathered, they have a starship.”

“Of course!” Lu Ke leapt up. “They destroyed all the starships—but they couldn’t destroy their own. Without a starship, they couldn’t leave either.”

Then Lu Ke’s head drooped again, his expression gloomy. “But their starship must have tight security. We can’t possibly seize it.”

Superman Clark and Hancock’s abilities were still fresh in his mind—even his master couldn’t defeat them, let alone him.

As for Ye Nan, though he admitted his techniques were superb, no technique could overcome absolute power.

Ye Nan pondered, then said: “I’ll draw them away. You seize the starship.”

“No!” Lu Ke immediately jumped up. “You can’t.”

Hancock had demonstrated incredible physical durability and regenerative power. Superman Clark possessed super-speed and even greater durability than Hancock.

From Hancock, Lu Ke had also learned Clark had super-hearing, super-vision, and could fire lasers from his eyes—lasers that had pierced Obi-Wan Kenobi’s shoulder in an instant, disabling him.

He had seen it all. To him, Ye Nan going to lure those two was pure suicide.

“Listen to me—you must find Princess Leia. Not just her—other subjects are waiting for you to rescue them. You are the savior who will defeat the Sith Lord.” (To be continued.)