Chapter 121
Qiu Chi's trip to wreak havoc on the Mermaid Planet indeed bought Blue Star more time.
At the time when the mermaids were supposed to arrive according to the original plot, Blue Star remained safe and sound.
Thanks to the advanced technology and cultivation techniques provided by Qiu Chi, Xia Country's technology had already surpassed other nations by a wide margin. However, they were currently keeping a low profile, quietly amassing wealth.
The technology was not disclosed, but the cultivation techniques could be.
They had been studying the Spirit Testing Disk all this time.
Before anyone had successfully drawn qi into their body, the research yielded little. But once they succeeded, studying it again was a completely different matter.
Although they couldn't perfectly replicate the Spirit Testing Disk, they did manage to develop a similar device—a detector that could test for spirit roots. While it couldn't identify the specific type of spirit root, it was still an impressive achievement.
Li Ming had told her all this via text message.
When Qiu Chi heard this, she was quite impressed.
Developing a detector in such a short time made her even more certain that, after Qu Letong's death, the people of Blue Star would be able to unite and drive the mermaids off their planet.
While Xia Country was hard at work, Qiu Chi found herself with nothing to do.
Although Blue Star had spiritual qi, it was only average and clearly unsuitable for cultivation in the same way as a cultivation realm. Therefore, technology would ultimately remain the primary focus.
They now had techniques for both qi refining and body tempering, which might evolve into something else in the future. For now, however, the existence of these techniques meant the average human lifespan was expected to increase significantly.
It was just a matter of when Xia Country planned to publicly announce the existence of these cultivation techniques.
Just as Qiu Chi was pondering this, news broke online that stunned the citizens of Xia Country.
“Holy crap, holy crap, tell me I'm not dreaming! Cultivation is real?!”
“Oh my god, is this real? Are you sure their account wasn't hacked?”
“Ahhhh, it's like a novel coming to life!!”
That's right. After developing the spirit root detector, Xia Country officially announced that cultivation was possible.
Even those without a spirit root could still practice body tempering.
This move by Xia Country shocked the other nations.
Yet Xia Country continued its quiet development.
Although the initial information from Qiu Chi had been inaccurate—after all, five months had passed and the mermaids had not arrived—the advanced technology and cultivation techniques she provided were undeniably real.
Regardless of when the mermaids might arrive, the most urgent task was to focus on development, striving to be strong enough to repel the invading species when the time came.
However, Blue Star was a large planet, and they couldn't do it alone. Cooperation with other nations was a must.
These were not matters for Qiu Chi to concern herself with.
After all, Xia Country was no fool. Even if they shared something in a collaboration, they would certainly not allow themselves to get the short end of the stick.
It was only a matter of time before Xia Country became Blue Star's foremost power.
The mermaids finally arrived, fashionably late, more than a year later.
By this time, however, Blue Star was no longer the planet it once was.
They were all on high alert. The moment the spaceship appeared, it immediately drew the attention of every nation.
They didn't stop the mermaid spaceship from landing on Blue Star.
But the moment the mermaid spaceship touched down, they unleashed a merciless barrage with the weapons they had developed.
Before the mermaids could even react, the entire ship's crew was brought under control.
The Mermaid Planet was quite distant from Blue Star. Initially, they had only set up a signal beacon. To avoid getting lost, their plan this time was to establish a permanent marker and create a rapid transit channel between the two planets, facilitating the arrival of more mermaids.
The mermaids who had returned from Blue Star remembered it as a backward planet. Even with an anomaly like Qiu Chi, they didn't believe she was a native. They speculated she must have accidentally fallen onto Blue Star from another planet and was now unable to return home.
Besides, they had stayed on Blue Star for so long and eaten plenty of humans, yet they had returned unscathed, hadn't they?
Even if they were somewhat wary of Qiu Chi, that apprehension meant little when compared to an entire planet ripe for the taking.
So, after dealing with the issue of the theft, they stubbornly came anyway.
As for Wenren Xiu's claim that Qiu Chi had reached their planet, they dismissed it. He must have been so traumatized by his ugliness that he'd gone mad.
No one took Wenren Xiu's words seriously.
The other mermaids who had been to Blue Star also resented Wenren Xiu because of the fishtail incident, which made them even more desperate to earn merit so they wouldn't be expelled from the safe zone.
They described Blue Star as a place overflowing with delicacies and completely devoid of danger.
As for Qiu Chi? She was just a single anomaly.
All the mermaids from the first expedition were part of the group that came to Blue Star the second time.
They had all vehemently requested to go, knowing full well that in their current state, they would only be ostracized on the Mermaid Planet.
Wenren Xiu, however, was reluctant to go. After all, Qiu Chi had managed to pursue him all the way to the Mermaid Planet alone. He was now deeply wary of her, terrified that she would kill him the moment he set foot on Blue Star.
But though he didn't want to go, someone forced his hand.
“You don't want to go? Are you trying to get kicked out of the safe zone? In your current state, even if you get credit for finding Blue Star, so what? Do you think you'll have a good life if you stay here?”
“Look at how proactive the others who've been to Blue Star are. Why can't you be a little more sensible?”
“You're an adult now anyway. If you insist on staying on our planet, then you can live on your own.”
On the Mermaid Planet, the fishtail was paramount.
A beautiful fishtail commanded great respect among mermaids. Their king, for instance, possessed a rainbow-colored tail.
Conversely, a tail that bore any wounds was met with all kinds of disdain.
The reverence for fishtails wasn't purely for aesthetics; their tails were covered in scales that were nearly impossible to injure.
If one was injured, it could only mean one was too weak.
They valued martial strength above all else and naturally despised weaklings.
The more beautiful the tail, the tougher its scales.
And so Wenren Xiu, his tail now covered in scars, was scorned by his entire family. Even though he was one of Blue Star's discoverers, they still found his injured tail disgraceful.
Wenren Xiu still had his pride, however. In the end, he relented and agreed to go to Blue Star.
He harbored a sliver of cruel hope in his heart:
With so many mermaids this time, surely they could kill her, right?
Among the mermaids on this trip was one with a five-colored tail. What if such a beautiful tail also ended up covered in wounds?
Post a Comment