The beautiful clear bright blue radiance of the planet Earth was far more beautiful in person than it was through pictures or images.
As the Sky Destroyer slowly but surely drifted away from Earth in the direction of the Sun, those aboard the warship could not help but stare in wonder at the giant screen on the back wall through which the clear image of their world, their home, was displayed.
"So beautiful..." Meng Qi whispered softly as she gazed with amazed eyes at the oceans and lands of her place.
Bai Delan hugged his daughter and wife as he slowly said, "... I never thought that a member of our family could have such a wonderful view of our world live and direct."
"Now not only is he a member of our family but the four of us can see him, together. Even our little Shilin can appreciate this view from the other room besides Bing Xue." Ye Linger smiled gratefully as she looked back at the little not-so-little young man who not so long ago was running disobediently all over the place with his face covered in dirt.
Her son really had grown up... It was just that like any mother in the world, her children would always be kids.
The fact that Bai Zemin was now the highest authority in China with the power to decide on the life and death of millions did not change anything for Ye Linger.
The fact that Bai Zemin was a soul evolver who had surpassed any movie superhero capable of wrecking entire countries and continents with a few attacks had not changed things for Ye Linger either.
Strangely enough, however, what made her realize that her little man had grown into a great and wonderful man was seeing him standing in front of the throne-like seat.
Bai Zemin was slightly dazed as he watched his home becoming a little more distant every second. Despite all his accomplishments to date, for some reason, he felt extremely proud and a sense of accomplishment washed over him as he realized he was doing something very few humans had ever achieved in their lives.
For someone like him who came from an ordinary family of salaried parents who worked hard to make ends meet, the view of his homeworld from outer space was something he could only dream of but never touch... and yet here he was; leading a team of geniuses and powerhouses on an extremely advanced warship.
"You have become a great man, my handsome child."
Bai Zemin snapped out of his daze at the sound of his mother's voice, and when he turned his face slightly to look at her he was slightly surprised to see the soft gaze she was looking at him with.
Ye Linger smiled with pride and at the same time with some nostalgia as she slowly said, "Tall, strong, handsome, talented... Who would have thought that crybaby brat would one day grow up like this?"
"Crying brat..." Bai Zemin couldn't help but roll his eyes before chuckling and shaking his head.
"Mother, I'm sure many young girls who ignored him in the past would definitely tear their hair out in frustration if they saw your son right now." Lilith in her Lili form giggled softly from the side.
Ye Linger laughed in amusement as she nodded, "I'm absolutely sure of it girl."
Bai Zemin shook his head and let everyone marvel at the beautiful sight. His expression turned serious as he ordered Lin Shaoyan, "Head straight towards the target, get as close as possible, and when the Sky Destroyer's shell starts to overheat activate the full magic barrier."
"Roger." Lin Shaoyan nodded, returning to his serious appearance from before. After a brief pause, he hesitantly said, "Leader, if I may..."
"Go ahead." Bai Zemin nodded.
Lin Shaoyan took a deep breath and while looking at the small column where the Soul Stones that powered the ship was, he said in a deep voice, "We now have a fully powered Fourth Order Soul Stone feeding the Sky Destroyer, we can even fire the main cannon if necessary. But the number of Third Order Soul Stones... is still too low."
Bai Zemin looked at the column that had been named Cornerstone and in fact, what he saw was something he already knew.
"We don't even have 60% of all the spaces covered and more than half of Third Order Soul Stones are half empty at this point." Lin Shaoysan frowned slightly and continued, "Most of the Sky Destroyer's power is powered by the Fourth Order Soul Stone you brought... I'm afraid if we're not careful with the energy we expend we might waste the Fourth Order Soul Stone too much, and if that happens..."
Lin Shaoyan did not continue, but Bai Zemin knew what he meant.
The main engine's power was precisely the Fourth Order Soul Stone that was supposed to focus solely on powering the ship to move and fire the main cannon. However, there were many functions of the Sky Destroyer that were being used through the power of the Fourth Order Soul Stone, so it would naturally wear out much faster in the absence of Third Order Soul Stones.
"It's fine, we'll only be here for less than two hours if everything goes well. As long as we don't fire the main cannon we should have enough energy for a whole day. There's no need to worry." Bai Zemin gave him a few pats on his shoulder.
Lin Shaoyan took a deep breath and nodded feeling a little more relaxed.
Bai Zemin exchanged glances with Lilith before looking at his family, the Wen twins, and Xia Ya, "I'll go check on Bing Xue to see how she's doing and if she needs help with anything. You all just relax and enjoy yourselves for now."
Soon, Bai Zemin walked out of the control room with Lilith following close behind him and once the door closed behind Fire Sorrow appeared on his other side.
"... This ship can kill even maximum-level Fourth Order soul evolvers. Where did you get it from?" Fire Sorrow asked trying to keep her awe under control.
The Sky Destroyer itself was not something that would normally surprise her, the real problem was that its technology was too advanced compared to the technology that Earth's humanity had developed in this era.
Bai Zemin knew that the Sky Destroyer's cameras couldn't catch Fire Sorrow if she didn't want to be caught so he wasn't too worried, but just as he was about to answer her question Lilith beat him to it.
"Fire Sorrow, haven't you used scanning magic all over Earth?" Lilith looked at her with weird eyes before adding perplexed, "Don't tell me you haven't really visited the rest of the world at all."
"Not at all." Fire Sorrow replied with a faint warm smile, "I've only been by Bai Zemin's side as long as I could and didn't wander away. Why do you ask the obvious?"
"...Forget it." Lilith looked forward and she could feel the corner of her mouth trembling slightly as she muttered to herself.
Bai Zemin gave Lilith a sidelong glance before focusing again on the corridor before him, "The Sky Destroyer was in an ancient ruin left behind by an ancient King. Brother Kang was the previous owner of the Sky Destroyer, as for who created it or how old it is... I'm afraid I can't answer since not even I know."
"Ancient King? Brother Kang?" Fire Sorrow looked at him in confusion.
"Long story." Bai Zemin stopped in front of a firmly closed alloy door, but even then he could feel the temperature rising in the surroundings. "In short, Brother Kang was the previous King of China just that the kingdom had another name back then. We fought and became sworn brothers before his soul faded away."
"Oh." Fire Sorrow nodded a little understanding and a little not understanding.
Bai Zemin took a deep breath and subconsciously stroked the chest area of his new armor.
The color of the armor was dark blue with streaks of silver color. In the center, what appeared to be a blood-red gem occasionally glowed ominously.
The commander's ring glowed faintly, and at the same time as the alloy door opened to either side Bai Zemin's body was enveloped by the beautiful deep blue blaze of the Endless Blue Lotus Flame.
Just as the doors opened, a great surge of heat that threatened to melt the ship assaulted Bai Zemin but he stepped forward at the same time as a large amount of frost shot out from his armor.
Swoosh!!! The heat cooled, creating a large amount of steam that was soon nullified after crashing into the once again closed doors.
In the room, Bai Zemin immediately focused his eyes on the woman with her eyes closed inside what appeared to be a large ice box before looking at Shangguan Bing Xue.
"Bing Xue, can you go on?" he asked worriedly as he saw her sweaty face.
"... For another three hours at most." Shangguan Bing Xue replied weakly. "Three hours later I will have consumed all the Mana I was saving for this, so if you don't want the Sky Destroyer to be destroyed by this woman think of something before the time runs out."
From Inner Mongolia to the Changping District base where the Sky Destroyer was located there was a distance that it took Bai Zemin 10 hours to cover as he was not in too much of a hurry.
During those 10 hours, Shangguan Bing Xue was in the Collector's Pocket World accumulating Mana inside an Epic grade treasure called Mana Stone which allowed her to store up to 70.000 Mana points for the user to use in times of crisis.
She was using that Mana to fuel the power of her Ice Maker skill and not let Feng Tian Wu's flames kill everyone present.
"Father." Bai Shilin walked towards Bai Zemin and hugged him demurely.
"Mm? My dear Shilin, is something wrong?" Bai Zemin noticed that his ever-cheerful daughter seemed somewhat subdued for some reason.
She wasn't even appreciating the view and wasn't even paying attention to Shangguan Bing Xue or Feng Tian Wu.
Bai Shilin raised her head and looked at him with her big black eyes filled with worry, "Shilin doesn't like it here. Can we go back home?"
"Uh?" Bai Zemin was a little surprised but soon nodded, "Of course... Shilin wants to wait in our family's world in the meantime?"
However, Bai Shilin shook her head and then hugged him tightly again as if she didn't want to detach herself from his body.
Bai Zemin looked at Shangguan Bing Xue with puzzled eyes.
"...She's been like this ever since we started approaching the sun." Shangguan Bing Xue shook her head to indicate that she had no idea what was happening.
"Mmmm..." Lilith looked at Bai Shilin and after a moment of silence nodded, "Maybe it's the Third Order fire spirit that's protecting that fruit?"
"Third Order fire spirit?" Bai Zemin's ears immediately perked up upon hearing this.
"Oh, there's a Third Order fire spirit there." Lilith nodded calmly. "It hasn't stopped releasing its aura all this time. Probably because it's built up too much temperature after being in the sun for who knows how long."
"Third Order..." Bai Zemin sighed in relief. "If it's just Third Order then there won't be a problem."
Forget Third Order, Bai Zemin was confident that he could fight practically anything below the Fifth Order.
However, as he looked at Bai Shilin and felt her body trembling more and more as she hugged him tightly Bai Zemin couldn't help but feel that something was wrong. But strange as it seemed, Bai Zemin could not sense any danger or anything particularly unusual.
Still, Bai Zemin's instinct told him that it was right to pay attention to Bai Shilin. She had the records of the strongest weaver ant after all, and weaver ants were known for their ability to detect danger apart from their monstrous physical strength.
Approximately 40 minutes later, several alarms lit up throughout the ship but only for a brief second as they immediately shut off automatically.
Bai Zemin was about to ask what was going on when Lin Shaoyan's voice came from the walls.
"Leader, we are just above the highest point reached by the drawing force of our sun. We have activated the total magic defensive barrier to protect the Sky Destroyer's hull. What should we do next?"
Bai Zemin looked at Shangguan Bing Xue, and after a brief moment of looking at each other in silence she said softly, " e careful please."
"I will." He smiled slightly and nodded. Bai Zemin squatted down and gently kissed his daughter's forehead while caressing her face tenderly, "My little baby, you wait here obediently okay? Father will be back very soon and then we will return home even faster."
Bai Shilin looked at him with extreme worry and if it wasn't for Bai Zemin holding her in the place she would have already pounced on him.
"Father, do you really have to go? Shilin doesn't like it here. Can we go now, pretty please..."
Bai Zemin continued to smile kindly, but hearing the tremor in Bai Shilin's voice he couldn't help but frown slightly as the wariness in his heart grew more than just a little.
* * * * * * * * * * * * We have been in the top 1 GT for 10 months in a row, and it means a lot to me to see that my effort pays off. Many thanks to you, who still donate your golden tickets and support Blood Warlock <3

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