Chapter 383: Master Yuanhao

Deep in the valley, near the Black Forest, Xinggang.

With the heavy infusion of black-tech from the Special Bureau's engineering team, the construction progress here was almost unimaginable—the once barren, bare foundation of Xinggang that Yu Sheng had "grown" directly from the earth now bore the faint shape of a high-tech starship base.

Centered on the "Otherworld Inn," massive starship berths had been surrounded by automated beacon towers and storage stations; power had been connected; two roads—from Xinggang to the Black Forest and to the Fairy Tale Town—now had streetlights; at night, the platform glowed brightly, with holographic guidance markers circling Xinggang, looking surprisingly legitimate.

Of course, given that the Inn itself had virtually no personnel, it could never handle the daily operations or long-term maintenance of a true starport—even with all the automated systems and maintenance-free designs—so future upkeep and management would still be outsourced to the Special Bureau's technical teams.

Now, Yu Sheng's group and the Qianfeng Spirit Mountain contingent had all arrived on the Xinggang platform, gazing up at the towering "Otherworld Inn."

The re-painted and externally modified ship still primarily featured a deep, solemn black hue, but all previous ominous, oppressive crimson coatings had been replaced with white, and large white patterns added along the ship's midsection armor to make it at least resemble the aesthetic of a righteous organization; the dark, gothic spires at the bow (tower top) could not be directly removed—mainly because they were packed with antennas and hyperspace generators and other critical components, even serving as part of the antenna array itself—so Engineer Sun and Engineer Liu, responsible for the hull modifications, decided not to remove them, instead adding continuous, roof-like outer structures over those clearly evil-looking spires, turning the spires into "miniature towers" between the roofs.

After all this tinkering, the ship—which had already carried a faint religious aura in its dark, oppressive style—now fully leaned into the aesthetic of a "church," standing on the ground like a church twisted, stretched, and deformed into a colossal tower, with a chapel perched atop its peak…

As for the secondary towers, originally floating around the main tower via anti-gravity devices (carrying shield generators and hyperspace subsystems), Sun and Liu had also "consulted" and repainted them, added shells, transforming them into bell towers encircling the "church-ship."

How to put it? Perhaps by coincidence, when Yu Sheng looked at the modified "Otherworld Inn," his first thought was of the "Great Fireguard Cathedral" built by Luna and her knightly order in the Protected Wastelands—only to realize that the Holy Veneration Ascetic Order had at least some architectural taste; things modified from this base displayed a high degree of aesthetic consistency.

The main feature of this aesthetic was that just looking at it made you feel an epic BGM would immediately blare, and some object before you would suddenly sprout an absurdly exaggerated health bar…

And clearly, Yu Sheng was not the only one with this thought.

"I feel like I've seen something similar in one of the games I've played recently," said Ailin, perched on Yu Sheng's shoulder, craning her neck for a long time before muttering, "The opening scene of that game had this exact style—I even suspect that in the next second, some ridiculously hard boss will come charging out, with feet taller than a person, and I'll be rolling around under its feet, wielding a toothpick to trim its toenails, hacking away for ages without even denting its health bar…"

The little doll's detailed description was so vivid it carried an unmistakable sense of visceral truth, prompting Yu Sheng to remark: "You've clearly been through it."

Luna, meanwhile, had quietly gazed upward for a long while before letting out a soft sigh: "Now it's much more pleasant to look at."

"The star chart and navigation parameters of the Feiyu Star Region have been synced to the main system," said a Special Bureau technician in uniform, holding a transparent tablet that looked distinctly black-tech, reporting to Yu Sheng; "Additionally, due to the operational core reset, all subsystems of the 'Otherworld Inn' are currently offline—including the weapons subsystem—please take special care to avoid danger."

"Don't worry, we're not taking this thing out to fight," Yu Sheng waved his hand. "This ship's main purpose is to carry me to uncharted locations to 'open coordinates'—once we arrive, we'll disembark and act on our own."

The Special Bureau technician opened his mouth as if to offer more technical warnings—after all, this ship was nowhere near ready for deep-space missions; all subsystems were offline, the main system hadn't even finished flashing its firmware; professionally speaking, this vessel was little more than a washing machine with an engine installed…

But after hesitating for a long time, he said nothing.

Because Baili Qing's reminder still echoed in his ears—"The Inn" was a place brimming with extraordinary talent; everyone had their own way of doing things; just mind your own business…

While Yu Sheng was conversing with the Special Bureau technician, Yuan Ling and the others who had come along to "tour" were astonished by the valley serving as the Inn's headquarters.

"I never expected Yu Sheng to possess such a self-contained 'cave-dwelling,'" said the tall, slender Master Yuanhe, stroking a strand of his beard as he gazed toward the Black Forest; "Though I'd heard Xuanche mention it, I never imagined this 'valley' would be like this—the valley floor subtly circulated over ten distinct types of qi, interconnected yet seemingly independent like ten separate celestial caverns… Marvelous! If this place could be rented for breeding spirit beasts, it would make experiments vastly more convenient!"

"Stop dragging your cursed beasts around to cause havoc," Master Yuanling shot his younger brother a glance; "Besides, this valley was originally an 'otherworld'—it maintains this state solely through Yu Sheng's abilities; as far as I know, any living thing that reproduces within this valley must be bound by Yu Sheng's 'blood curse,' becoming part of the Inn—if you truly wish to surrender your hard-won rare beasts, feel free to bring them here."

Master Yuanhe's expression froze, then he lowered his head, pondered for a moment, and leaned in to whisper: "Second brother, this doesn't sound like orthodox cultivation."

"The borderlands don't care about that," Master Yuanling replied sternly; "And if we must say it, I'd say your disciples who breed cockroaches and mosquitoes are more like dark cultivators."

Master Yuanhe chuckled awkwardly: "I've already punished them. I've already punished them… Anyone using this method to cheat the final exam will be graded 'D-.'"

On the other side, Master Yuanhao stood with Xuanche; the uncle and nephew murmured quietly about something, occasionally glancing up at the sky-piercing church-ship; after a long while, they walked over just as Yu Sheng finished his handover with the technician. Master Yuanhao stepped forward, clasped his hands, and said: "I've discussed this with Xuanche—we're joining you on this border journey."

No sooner had he spoken than Master Yuanling's face immediately showed he had something to say; Yuanhao quickly raised a hand to interrupt him and added: "I won't let Xuanche cause trouble this time—you can rest assured, younger brother."

"It's not about causing trouble or not," Master Yuanling snapped, his tone dripping with deep distrust; "I'm afraid you'll suddenly get the urge to 'travel the world' again and vanish for years without a trace!"

Master Yuanhao's expression turned awkward: "Th-this, younger brother, you speak unfairly—when has the elder brother ever been so irresponsible…?"

"One hundred and twenty years ago, you went down the mountain to buy two jugs of wine—and vanished for seven years!" Master Yuanling glared. "Later, we got word from the Bamasan star outpost that you'd been digging into their ancestral graves!"

"Cough, cough—let's not bring up old matters," Master Yuanhao quickly cleared his throat; this usually dignified, imposing elder brother turned into a flustered fool before his younger brother; "I have real reasons for this trip—listen: do you recall what the black-robed cultivator described? Yunqingzi resides on the border, but not on the planet 'Shuji'—he's on a similar planet, one that rains constantly. I've been thinking about this all day, but after careful consideration, there's no such place near Shuji…"

Seeing his brother's serious expression, Master Yuanling finally dropped his distrust, frowning slightly: "You mean…"

"Ancient masters who survived the Re-casting of History possessed all manner of strange and bizarre methods. Yunqingzi vanished a thousand years ago; no one knows what he did in the past millennium. And Shuji is far from Grand Void—information reaches us with delays… I'm now concerned that after years of cultivation there, Shuji and its surrounding regions… may no longer resemble what we know."

Master Yuanling said nothing, only nodded slightly, urging his brother to continue.

"I've long dealt with strange and mysterious realms and understand various illusionary and secret realm techniques; I dare not claim to surpass the ancient sages, but at least—if Yunqingzi truly established an unobservable 'secret realm' as his base near Shuji—I should be able to find it," Master Yuanhao said earnestly; "On the other hand, ancient masters are extremely difficult to confront. Though Yu Sheng and his group are highly capable, they lack experience fighting top-tier cultivators, especially unfamiliar with such experts' many strange techniques. My presence with them will be a help."

Here, Master Yuanhao paused, then looked up again at the "Otherworld Inn" standing on the platform, his expression hesitating slightly: "Finally, there's another reason."

Yu Sheng, seeing the old bastard's hesitant expression, couldn't help but interject: "What reason?"

"... I have considerable experience with space travel accidents."

Yu Sheng: "...?"

(End of Chapter)