Jiang Li’s heart sunk.

He didn’t want to face cultivators but as a student of Astral University, this was the reality he had to face. He was unable to even reject it now. The cultivators took students away. This was something so serious that Astral University had to go for the rescue.

On the Emperor Planet, the human battleships would frequently sneak attack the cultivator’s land. Meanwhile, the cultivators would also sneak-attack the students of the university. There were always long term battles and assassinations.

Cultivators weren’t beasts. They had similarities with earthly humans, and were also an intelligent life form. In the clash between the two, earthly humans were unable to let go of their grudges with the cultivators, and so began a long period of feudalism between the two.

“The student caught is called Lu Jin. He is an old student and is very strong. His life force is 4. But he encountered a group of cultivators that broke his mecha and captured him alive.” Ji Qingwu opened the computer and the screen displayed other information regarding the mission. She continued: “It is presumed that that group of cultivators are sending him into the depth of the Da Qian empire for interrogation. The school has already announced the mission to rescue him at all costs.”

“What if we fail?” Jiang Li heard that there was another level of meaning in Ji Qingwu’s words.

“If we cannot save him, then we must kill him!” Ji Qingwu’s tone became cold: “If we let that group of cultivators take him into the depth of the Da Qian empire and let their masters study his memories, they would soon acquire control over a lot of our technology. That way, the native cultivators would advance. Before, the cultivators were contemptuous towards our Earthly technology, but after suffering heavily in the hands of such technology, they are starting to realise its potential. And so, they start abducting our students and hypnotise them to gain more knowledge about technology. The school has declared that students in captivity with no hope of escape must be killed! The same goes for us too. Therefore, we must avoid capture by the cultivators at all costs.”

“The rewards and points from rescuing Lu Jin and killing Lu Jin differ greatly, so it is best to rescue him.” Lei Zhen said: “When we go, we may face large numbers of cultivators and maybe even those in possession of magical weapons. We must be careful and deal the lethal blow on first sight so that they don’t even have a chance to react. Every cultivator we kill or capture can also get us hefty rewards and points; these cultivators are very beneficial for scientific research.”

“The cultivators do have a weakness, which is their flying speed. They cannot compare with battleships or even mechas. Only the strongest cultivators have the power to destroy battleship, but we do need to be careful of their flying sword.” Another old student planned the battle.

Then, the group stopped discussing. Half an hour later after finalizing the location, they entered the battleship and started flying.

“The battleship must fly above the atmosphere. Only then would we be invisible to the cultivators and not fall prey to their senses, so we can avoid getting attacked by magical weapons. When we arrive, we can fly down in mechas. This increases our agility; meanwhile, our battleship must be stationed high in the air. I heard a while ago, that the seemingly strong Big River Squad was attacked by cultivators. The magical weapon they used easily destroyed the battleship and decimated the entire team.”

Lei Zhen was in the battleship, clad in shining sound speed mecha gear. His body was alluringly handsome. Everyone in the team wore this sound speed mecha, and only Jiang Li went without it. Even Lara and Liana got their hands on a set of sound speed mecha.

“Jiang Li, don’t you have mecha?” Lara asked.

“No.” Jiang Li has seldomly been reliant on things other than himself recently. With the Emperor Relic, he could do anything easily. Battleships and mechas couldn’t compare with that little piece of rock.

Other students, however, would still buy mechas although they couldn’t afford battleships.

“You don’t buy mechas?” Ji Qingwu was curious: “But you are a new student, I suppose it is no wonder you can’t afford it. I supplied Lara and Liana with their mechas. It is temporarily loaned to them. After all, a mecha costs quite a lot. Normally, it would be very hard for a student to buy it without the support of his family. Nevertheless, we cannot do this mission without a mecha. I have a spare one here, you can use it.”

“Thanks.” Jiang Li took the mecha that Ji Qingwu passed over. This mecha wasn’t made out of metal, so it was very light yet firm, constructed from high tech materials. It’s silvery colour made people look more potent and energetic after wearing the mecha. It could be seen from how Ji QIngwu could easily loan mechas to people that she had made quite a reputation and wealth for herself.

“Sound speed mechas are excellent. We could sell them out for a good fortune.. If I can get a few back to Xu Hua city black market, our forces will be invincible.” Jiang Li thought to himself: “The Sun and Moon Corporation is planning on a massive invasion. I’m afraid that Big Black won’t be able to stop them.”

Everything was cheap at Astral University. However, the downside was that it couldn’t be removed from University premises. Every student was checked rigorously before boarding the wormhole travelling battleship; they were all forbidden to taken special items with them, much less mechas.

“Say, I do have my own storage dimension! I can buy a few mechas and some resources when I go back. They will never find out. Then, I’ll see how the Sun and Moon Corporation can fight against me.” Jiang Li had a sudden idea.

Rumble! The battleship flew quickly into the air. Air rushed ferociously as the battleship rocked continuously. Jiang Li could see the outside through the computer screen where the fierce winds whipped and howled as if it was going to rip the battleship apart.

The wind was too strong. Even metal could be pulverized. Humans who flew into the higher atmosphere would instantly be reduced to a bloody mess. Blades of wind sliced upon the battleship, creating many sparks. However, this did not damage the ship at all; it was clear from this that the ship was close to indestructible.

Last time, Jiang Tianhe’s ship didn’t fly high enough and was therefore destroyed by the golden hand. If it flew higher into the atmosphere, this would’ve been prevented. The intense hurricane could blow apart the golden hand, dispersing the energy into harmless particles.

“Chasing, tracking, target, lock, chase...”

The battleship sent waves of electromagnetic waves, searching for signs of human activity in a few hundred miles radius. While these waves were absolutely traceless, they would leave no rock unturned in the search for human activity.

In a valley, the trees reflected in the waters of the stream. There was the occasional chirp of birds. It was very quiet.

Seven fire god birds descended suddenly. Each one of them had a human rider. These people wore ancient clothes and didn’t fit in at all with the modern society. It could easily be seen that they were the natives of the Emperor Planet, but each of them was strong!

The leader jumped off the fire god bird back and dragged a person with him.

This person had ragged clothes and many bloody marks and wounds, and his Astral University uniform could barely be made out. His face was hideous and it was evident that he had suffered a lot in these people’s hands.

“Nie Shi Xiong, why did we stop? The foreign demons have something called a battleship. It flies many times faster than the fire god bird and could easily catch up to us. We must get back to the Da Qian Empire immediately.” One lady was worried and asked the leader anxiously. The leader, whom everyone called him Nie Shi Xiong.

“Let’s rest. The fire god birds are tired from flying for so long. If they continue flying, they won’t be able to cope with the stress.” Nie Shi Xiong waved his hand and thud, the captured Astral University student was thrown hard on the ground.

“Evil demon!” The woman saw the student and rage instantly boiled up within her again. She came forth and sliced this student’s wrists. Blood spewed out. However, the student moved slightly and the bleeding stopped immediately, showing his strong control over his blood flow.

“Tell me, demon, why did you rape and kill my shi mei!” This lady was still going to slice him with her sword but was stopped by Nie Shi Xiong: “Don’t kill him, he still has his use. After we take him to the academy we can force him to surrender the so-called technology of the foreign demons, making our empire stronger. Of course, it wouldn’t be enough to have him alone. We still need to capture more foreign demons and absorb all their knowledge.”

TL note: for students under the same master:

Shi Xiong: means elder male student

Shi Di: means younger male student

Shi Jie: means older female student

Shi Mei: means younger female student

“However, there are people in the empire disagreeing with what we’re doing right now.” Another student stood out: “Although our principal support learning from the foreign demons, our prime minister, general, kings and even the emperor all disagree with developing technology because it would shake the foundations of the empire.”

“Short sighted! Those people revelling in the luxuries of the palace are short-sighted. Technology is indeed strong and can make the empire develop rapidly, but it would move the control of the palace over the empire. The current powers yearn to rule forever, therefore closing the country and restricting their own progress. Sigh.. Now, the foreign demons are invading. We must acquire all the power we can to strengthen ourselves!” Nie Shi Xiong said.

“But, Shi Xiong. If we really study the evil arts of technology, will we really fall into the demon path of no return, just as the palace says?” The lady was worried. However, this did not at all extinguish the hate and fury she had against the student, and she went up to kick him several times. The student endured silently.

“There are no evil arts. If we use it for good, it is just, if we use it for bad, it is evil. If we really fall into the demon path, I will take responsibility. Even if I will be eternally doomed, I will still protect my Shi Xiong, Di, Jie Mei!” Nie Shi Xiong’s eyes shot out a sharp frosty light and glared at the captured Astral University student: “You’re called Lu Jin, right? You’re really psychotic, first you capture my Shi Mei, but why did you then rape and kill her? I know you foreign demons have another name called Earthlings. You have your laws and morals. What you did is also unforgivable under your earthling laws; it is enough for you to be sentenced to death.” Nie Shi Xiong said these words, proving his familiarity with Earthlings.

“Hmp! As if you bunch of primitives have a judicial system like ours!” Lu Jin spat contemptuously. “You are the targets of our conquistador and raids. You are and will always be the low-classed civilization. The only way out for you is to become our slaves.” Lu Jin’s looked arrogantly up at them from the ground: “Your Shi Mei dared to resist after I captured her, so I let her experience the greatest pain in the world. So what if I raped and killed her? I tell you, our battleships are almost here. With your pitiful power and your miserable affiliation with these fire god birds, there’s no way you can surpass the speed of our battleships.”

“You’re still so stubborn, even after I captured you?” Nie Shi Xiong was expressionless: “Your evil arts of technology are indeed strong, but your mecha was still sliced open by my flying sword, allowing me to capture you. You’re enraging me so that I can kill you, but I will not do that. You still have many uses; after we return to the academy, I will make you become our slave, giving you a taste of living hell.”

“Haha, you wish! You bunch of lowly natives actually want to research our Earthly technology? What a joke! Do you know how many industrial revolutions our civilization has undergone? Even if we give you our technology, you would be terrified and unable to take it on. Besides, even your little emperor seems to be against it.” Lu Jin laughed and wasn’t the least scared.

ED Carolin Cao