She was a young woman. Her face was like something from a dream — beautiful to the point of near unreality, with a head of blue-black hair shimmering with starlight, luminous at every strand. Her entire being shone likewise — immortal radiance flowing, lending a crystalline glow to her snow-white skin.

“Who are you, and what gives you the right to order me around?” Ye Fan lay on the bed with complete composure, glancing at her sidelong with an utterly untroubled expression, showing no inclination whatsoever to get up.

Qi Meng’s forehead immediately filled with dark lines. She had not expected this person to be so calm — having clearly barged into her bed, he was behaving as though she were the one who’d walked into the wrong room.

“Who exactly are you? Get up immediately — how did you sneak in here?” A beautiful woman was a beautiful woman even in anger. The peerless elegance of her bearing made even that light rebuke carry a unique kind of charm.

Her features were heavenly — her shapely, luminous form radiated light, her jade-like body draped as though in a layer of moonlight, hazy and transcendent, elusive and graceful. She was filled with an immortal-like air.

“Didn’t I just say? The head of the Qi Family has temporarily lent me this room. You’re welcome to choose a different one.” Ye Fan said this in all seriousness.

“Nonsense!” Qi Meng could hold herself back no longer. Even more dark lines appeared on her smooth, fair brow, her delicate eyebrows twitching. She bit her silver teeth and said: “You are the first person of your kind I have ever encountered. You barge in to harass me and now you’re actually flirting with me — would you like to be permanently cast adrift in the deepest reaches of the desolate cosmic void?”

In this stellar domain, a particularly distinctive punishment was reserved for serious offenders of contested status: every treasure on their person would be confiscated — effectively stripped bare — and they would be cast into the deepest reaches of the cosmos to fend for themselves.

Below the level of Saint, no cultivator could cross the boundless star sea. Most would exhaust every shred of their divine energy and perish — especially in the Eternal Kingdom, where everything depended on external instruments.

“Don’t be so harsh — I only want a ride. Once we reach the Immortal Feather Star, I’ll leave immediately.” Ye Fan said lazily, lying back on the soft bed with obvious pleasure.

After so many years of living the life of an ascetic cultivator, it had been a very long time since he had lain in a bed like this. He studied the young woman in front of him and began to piece together her identity.

In this star sea, there were only two jewels that shone brightest: the heavenly beauty Fan Xian of Heaven, with her unrivaled legs, and the immortal-like Qi Meng.

Suddenly, Qi Meng’s expression froze. “You’re… Ye Fan? The domain-foreign ascetic cultivator who caused havoc in Heaven’s Pure Land and left the Brahma clan humiliated and disgraced?”

She was remarkably sharp. Though she had never met Ye Fan before, she quickly made the connection based on recent events, confirmed his identity, and trusted her judgment.

Ye Fan said, “That’s right — it’s me. The enemy of your enemy is your ally. You have a grudge against Heaven, so we should be allies. Therefore, my commandeering your bed is entirely reasonable. Let me rest for a while.”

Qi Meng was pure and beautiful — ethereal as a celestial being, seemingly unreachable. But at this moment she was grinding her teeth. She looked like a divine maiden who had descended to the mortal world and been thoroughly contaminated by its red-dust ways.

“You — you really make me want to beat you senseless!” She said through clenched teeth.

Ye Fan’s name had been circulating throughout Heaven’s Pure Land recently, and had reached even her ears. A man who had single-handedly destroyed multiple ancient-saint mechanized armors of the Brahma clan — that was truly astonishing, enough to shake even certain great leaders of the Immortal Feather Star.

He was a powerful ascetic cultivator whom every faction would notice and seek to win over. Yet right now he was like this — careless and devil-may-care. No matter how she looked at him, he didn’t seem like a good person, more like someone who didn’t take anything seriously.

Boom!

The mothership suddenly shuddered and lurched violently — clearly under heavy attack.

“Hey, miss — is this mothership of yours up to the task? The Brahma clan is fighting for their lives out there. Don’t let your stolen evolution fluid end up getting everyone sunk in the process.” Ye Fan said.

Qi Meng rolled her eyes at him, studying him carefully. No matter how she looked at him, he didn’t seem like an ascetic cultivator — he lacked that tenacious, cold, composed temperament. He seemed, rather, frivolous.

Quickly she recalled a rumor, that this ascetic cultivator apparently had a very special constitution and the Brahma clan desperately wanted to get their hands on him. A strange light crossed her expression.

Qi Meng was suspicious. “The fleet behind us had already given up, yet suddenly they’re pursuing us with no intention of stopping, to the death — could it be because you are here?”

“What a thing to say. It’s clearly because you stole their evolution fluid, and somehow that gets blamed on me? I am your ally. Don’t be so suspicious of a good person, all right?” Ye Fan maintained his completely unconcerned, frivolous manner.

“What kind of person is this? Completely out of nowhere, crawls into my bed, and acts like it’s perfectly natural.” Qi Meng muttered to herself, then raised her head and glared at him with fierce menace: “Whatever the case, you first get up out of that bed and leave this room, or every piece of firepower on this mothership will be directed right here!”

She was pristine and beautiful — like an immortal, pure and intangible, her whole body wrapped in the light gauze of starlight and moonbeams, misty and otherworldly, intoxicatingly lovely. And yet in that expression, there was a particular charm of a different kind altogether.

“Very well — then let me go take a look around elsewhere. As your ally, you should fulfill your duties as host and give me a proper welcome. Lead the way.” Ye Fan said. He was completely in a traveler’s mindset — worst case he’d slap his rear end and leave. For now there was nothing he particularly cared about.

“You… you actually think you’re a guest now? You barged in uninvited. Go and present yourself for judgment immediately, or you’ll be lawfully annihilated in the middle of this battle!” Qi Meng threatened fiercely.

Ye Fan stepped out of the room and walked along with her, treating himself as an ally without the slightest ceremony.

“Young lady — who is he? What is he doing here?” Several young powerhouses approached and appeared in the corridor. Seeing Ye Fan, every face registered bewilderment. Some among them were guards’ commanders, others were long-standing family acquaintances.

“Pardon the intrusion, everyone. Though I only just boarded, we are all allies.” Ye Fan said.

“You — who are you? Where were you just now? How did you suddenly appear?” A young man asked with suspicion.

“I was resting in Miss Qi’s room for a while. She’s now taking me on a tour to familiarize myself with the ship.” Ye Fan said.

“What? You were resting in the young lady’s room?” A group of young people all stared wide-eyed.

“Indeed.” Ye Fan spread his hands and gestured toward the room door, which had been left open behind him, by way of confirmation.

The group immediately saw the disheveled bed. In an instant, mouths fell open. Then one by one, they looked like furious guardian deities, as though they wanted to bite him.

“You were in Qi Meng’s bed?!” One young man’s face went as white as snow, his fists clenched, while two others nearby nearly spun off their feet and toppled over.

Qi Meng had initially said nothing, wanting to gauge this person’s character through his reactions. But now she could hold herself together no longer.

Hearing this, her body trembled involuntarily. She nearly fainted from sheer fury. The man had been in her bed — if this rumor spread, the entire Immortal Feather Star would be rocked by it. Many would certainly wail and lament, and even if she jumped into the ocean she couldn’t wash herself clean.

Qi Meng’s brow veins were visibly throbbing. She bit her teeth. “Don’t listen to his nonsense. This is a very unusual intruder — and a complete scoundrel. Detain him and bring him for judgment!”

“Friends, don’t be alarmed. I only crossed the stellar domain and inadvertently entered your mothership. That was just a joke. The truth is that Heaven is my enemy too — two months ago I destroyed several of the Brahma clan’s ancient-saint mechanized armors.” Ye Fan explained, giving an unusually earnest expression.

The young men trained every thermal weapon and Dao weapon on him, interrogating him with strict seriousness. They ground their teeth throughout, but eventually their expressions began to ease somewhat.

“I said so — how could he possibly be that comfortable lying in the young lady’s room? So he really did stumble in by mistake.” One of them exhaled a long breath.

Another said venomously: “Youngster, you’d better pray for yourself. If word gets back to the Immortal Feather Star that you were in the young lady’s bed, every young talent on the whole ancient star will surely come after you with everything they’ve got!”

“Enough!” Qi Meng’s brow veins were practically bursting. Her luminous, beautiful form radiated blazing light, and her lovely eyes looked as though they could kill.

She warned everyone present not to breathe a word. On its own, there was nothing to it. But if this kept being talked about, it would only get worse. If it reached the Immortal Feather Star, it would be explosive news — especially in the hands of unscrupulous papers and star network sites, who for the sake of traffic would fan the flames without mercy.

After a round of questioning, Ye Fan nearly had his freedom restricted by a few elders. Just as he was about to burst his way out, an important figure arrived and changed their minds, allowing him to continue hitching his ride.

The battle in the cosmic star sea continued. The Brahma clan clung to them relentlessly; the Qi Family dared not execute a large-scale spatial jump, fearing that if the star gate was shattered mid-transit, the casualties would be severe.

“Xiao Meng — you all head back first. We’ll hold down the enemy’s mothership — that’s no problem. We can absolutely shake them off. But just to be safe, take the evolution fluid back to the home star first, and avoid any accidents.” One of the great leaders issued the command.

Ye Fan was fortunately able to depart together with Qi Meng and the others. Aboard a smaller spacecraft, they passed through the opened star gate within the mothership and vanished from sight.

“Hey — did you really single-handedly destroy the Brahma clan’s five-element divine armors? Those are the legendary killing kings — ancient-saint war instruments!”

Among those departing, most were young people of sensitive status. One couldn’t hold back the question.

Ye Fan smiled and said it had been a stroke of luck.

“I heard that before this, you killed Cao Qing — a noble young master of the Eternal Main Star. Very few dare to provoke the Cao Family, a colossus of that magnitude.”

“Indeed — that is absolutely a terrifying great power, one that holds a position even within the Eternal Kingdom!”

Everyone was discussing it.

“Is it really true? I find it a little hard to believe — can an ascetic cultivator really be that powerful?” Some held skeptical views.

Boom!

A violent shudder struck. The spacecraft of just over a hundred zhang burst out of the star gate, arriving in open space. Not far ahead was a life-sustaining planet — they were sailing directly for it, and in no great time would land upon its surface.

“We’re back — and it all went smoothly.” Everyone exhaled in relief.

But then Qi Meng’s expression rapidly changed. She fixed her eyes on the main screen. In the frozen void ahead, a great mothership had appeared and was blocking their path.

It was another Brahma clan mothership — and it had gone directly to wait outside the Immortal Feather Star, coming right to their doorstep. Clearly it had only recently performed a spatial jump and had been guarding this position all along.

“Damn them — we’ve been tracked!”

“Not to worry — we’ve already reached the doorstep of the Immortal Feather Star. They wouldn’t dare linger for long. If we can evade them we’ll be safe!”

The group was in turmoil, unable to calm themselves. Everyone was tense.

Boom!

An enormous beam of divine light shot toward them, swift as lightning, fierce and overwhelming, shattering the star sea itself.

Whoosh!

The hundred-zhang spacecraft was agile. It evaded on the instant, fleeing with all speed.

Rumble!

The Dao rune attacks and thermal weapons grew ever more violent, beam upon beam of fierce light crisscrossing the void, flooding this space, turning it into an ocean of fire.

“Trouble — they’re sealing off the forward path. Flying like this, we’ll only get farther and farther from the Immortal Feather Star.” Faces filled with apprehension.

“I’ll hold them off. All of you prepare to break through!” Qi Meng stood up. She withdrew a mechanized armor, preparing to engage the enemy.

“You can’t — how could we let the young lady go? I’ll hold them!” The other three young men stood up almost simultaneously, their expressions resolute. None of them were of ordinary status — all came from distinguished great clans. Each possessed a mechanized armor. They had come here for no other reason than to court Qi Meng.

Two of them charged out. Before long both were struck by intense beams of light and retreated in disarray. Despite possessing ancient-saint mechanized armors, they could not bring their power fully to bear.

“Whoever will lend me a mechanized armor — I’ll drive back the enemy for you.” Ye Fan spoke up, still in that not-quite-serious manner of his.

The group looked at one another. Recalling his track record, every heart stirred. But was it really true?

Ye Fan didn’t wait for them to respond. He stood up on his own, pushed Qi Meng’s mechanized armor out through the hatch, climbed into it himself, and charged toward the enemy ahead.

Boom!

Another dozen or more divine beams came sweeping in, thermal weapons and Dao armaments launched simultaneously, pounding this area into devastation.

Swoosh!

Behind Ye Fan, the five-colored divine radiance flashed and blazed skyward, sweeping away every single attack. He entered the ancient-saint mechanized armor and unleashed a towering power, standing alone against everything ahead.

“It’s him!” Aboard the mothership opposite, Fan Xian stared at that five-colored divine radiance and tightened her fist.