98 Adorability Is Worthless Before Allure【Four-in-One, Please Subscribe!】

Moving like a startled rabbit, a sudden surge of crashing waves...

For a fleeting moment, Lu Chen felt as if he were driving at night, blinded by the glare of high beams from an oncoming vehicle. Although he knew Golia didn't mean to seduce him, she had always treated the starship like her own home and disliked being constrained by rules or underwear. If it weren't for the fact that he was a man, she might well have been walking around "blinding everyone with her high beams" all day long.

Lu Chen was, after all, a hot-blooded young man, and this woman was a succubus, a dominant queen, a bombshell with a figure that defied gravity, and she played the "going commando" game far too often. Her damp hair was tied into a simple ponytail, emitting the floral scent of some distant planet. Her plump, straight legs were crossed, her right foot propped up high, sporting glittering nail polish as if she were terrified Lu Chen wouldn't notice that even her toes were fragrant. It also blocked Lu Chen’s line of sight, preventing him from seeing any more of the "hidden paid content."

"You're a tease, truly a tease," he thought. "But you won't let me touch. I get it—you're trying to play me!"

Lu Chen felt that if he kept chatting with her like this, he would suffer from blood loss.

"You take the pilot’s seat and fly the ship; I’m going to the rear hold to check on the star-ray carcass. Something feels off about this monster..."

With that, he rose and headed to the rear. Upon arriving, he discovered Aili climbing all over the star-ray's body. She was using a small knife to carve off some scales and the flesh beneath them, sniffing it closely, even looking like she wanted to take a bite.

Lu Chen teased, "What’s wrong? Not full from the bug meat, looking for star-beast meat now?"

Aili, however, said with a grave expression, "Captain, I feel that even if the star-ray was severely wounded, lost its beast core, and was shrouded by the Nether Realm for a moment, its body is shrinking far too quickly."

She held out a piece of the meat toward Lu Chen. "Captain, smell this. Even though it's condensed, it doesn't feel as nutritious as the lower-tier bug meat."

Lu Chen took the meat and sniffed it carefully. There was a faint metallic scent of blood, but none of the gamey stench typical of beast meat. He, too, began to frown, finding it extremely strange. It was clear that Aili was very sensitive to spirit beasts.

Golia was too sexy, and her penchant for "giving out benefits" made Lu Chen feel like blood was rushing to his head whenever he was around her. While "cuteness is worthless in the face of sexiness," being with Aili always gave him a sense of intellectual curiosity—a feeling of exploring and seriously decoding the truth. This was part of the adventure.

"Hmm, I find it strange too. It’s not just a lack of spiritual nourishment. Logically, meat from a beast this large should have a strong, gamy odor, but this star-ray meat is like injected beef or artificially farmed chicken pumped with growth hormones—it only has a faint bloody scent."

Aili thought this might be related to the bone-carved spirit patterns the captain had mentioned earlier. "Captain, what are those spirit patterns carved into the star-beast's bones for?"

Lu Chen had only sensed their existence at the time and hadn't looked closely. Now that Aili brought it up, he grew interested. "Let's cut it open and see."

Aili quickly reminded him, "Won't cutting into the bones affect the resale value?"

Lu Chen realized she was right. He stood on the beast's back, crouched down, and pressed his hand onto the scales along the spine. Closing his eyes, he released his resonant spiritual power, seeping it into the star-ray's body. "Let me sense the details."

Even with resonance perception, the view through layers of shriveled flesh was blurry. Fortunately, the spirit patterns on the bones were carved very coarsely and deeply. It took Lu Chen half an hour to finally map out all the spirit patterns on the bones onto his light-screen notepad.

Aili took one look and frowned. "Captain, this isn't any spirit pattern language we recognize."

"It’s actually written in some kind of original, encrypted language... but that won't stop me."

Saying this, Lu Chen returned to the cockpit and spent two hours at the leisure table successfully decrypting it.

"It really is a control-type spirit pattern, very similar to the internal patterns of star-beast ships, perhaps an earlier version. For example, controlling star-beasts to participate in various game plots designed for the park. Or, for instance, fighting spectacularly against tourists without actually harming them. Or forcing the star-beast to eat the most nutritious feed instead of what it likes best... Star-beasts are hard to tame, so it’s normal for ordinary beast tamers to struggle and need extra assistance. Besides, carving patterns into the beast’s body beforehand makes it easier to convert them into star-beast ships later."

Aili sat beside Lu Chen, assisting him throughout the decryption process. "I actually feel that these star-beasts are smarter than I imagined, and their emotions are quite complex... That’s hard to achieve just with control-type spirit patterns."

Lu Chen was surprised. "You can tell that, too?"

Aili nodded. "Yes, and I’ve heard that star-beasts are solitary animals, yet in the Zuan Nebula, there are reports of them grouping up to attack hunting fleets or adventure ships... Perhaps, and I’m just saying perhaps, they might possess higher intelligence."

Lu Chen felt the topic becoming a bit heavy, so he smiled and patted Aili’s head. "Even if they possess intelligence, the star-beasts that attack us only have one path: death. You don’t need to carry that burden."

Aili replied, "Mm."

However, what Lu Chen didn't say out loud was: The encoding method of these spirit patterns was incredibly complex. It was very similar to the chips that some overly ambitious parents in recent years had implanted into their children's spines to treat ADHD, improve focus, or break internet and gaming addictions. If it were just for subduing ordinary star-beasts, the intensity of the control should be increased, not the precision.

In other words, Aili was right—these star-beasts were smarter than the average ones!

...

The *Leoning* traveled through the Zuan Nebula. Along the way, Lu Chen avoided several ambushes by star-beasts and the tracking of other adventure ships. It was evident that the Zuan Nebula was truly dangerous. Generally, a Level 30 adventure ship like the *Leoning* would be dead on arrival. Even Level 40 ships were at the bottom of the food chain in the current Zuan Nebula. Even a Level 50 ship had been pierced through by a beast’s tooth!

Compared to when things were at their busiest, the number of both adventure ships and star-beasts had dwindled significantly. The remaining ones in the Zuan Nebula were the strongest of the strong.

On the journey, Aili took the opportunity to study, and Golia went back to playing games. Lu Chen poured a cup of tea and went online to check the news. There were livestream replays from the Helium Flash Network, discussions on the Adventurers' Forum, and rolling news from the Association regarding the Zuan Nebula.

Lu Chen browsed through and found that several old acquaintances had come to the Zuan Nebula. For instance, Prince Tally’s Dragon-Seeking Adventure Group had wandered through for a few days half a month ago and left after hunting one star-beast, not lingering for long. This likely meant that, in Prince Tally’s view, that black dragon was not here.

Lu Chen’s arch-rival, the Righteous Hunter Adventure Group, arrived about ten days ago, seemingly looking to replace their heavily damaged鲲-shaped ship with a star-beast ship. Currently, their whereabouts were unknown. Additionally, the Evil Spirit Bounty Hunter Group had arrived in the Zuan Nebula about five days ago, but soon went missing after sending a distress signal claiming they were attacked by a herd of beasts... Nothing had been heard from them since. They were likely dead.

Lu Chen didn't have any deep friendship with the Evil Spirit Bounty Hunter Group; they were just passing acquaintances who fought and then shook hands. He felt little grief or regret.

Interestingly, at the beginning, Beast Paradise even charged every adventure ship entering the Zuan Nebula a hunting fee—as high as two thousand spirit stones per ship! Yet, that couldn't stop the enthusiasm of the adventure ships flocking in. Later, when the adventurers realized that even after paying, their safety couldn't be guaranteed and many ships still met their end in the jaws of beasts, they reported the matter to the Adventurers' Association. Only then was Beast Paradise forced to cancel the fee and change it to warnings and alerts. Furthermore, Beast Paradise remained tight-lipped about the star-beasts grouping up to attack ships, stating they were still investigating...

"It seems Beast Paradise still holds many secrets!"

...

Half a day later, the *Leoning* finally arrived at its supply destination: Big Longevity Star.

This was a solid planet orbiting a star stably. Big Longevity Star wasn't the territory of the Star-Beast Shepherds, but rather the domain of an adventurer who had settled here many years ago, currently engaged in industries related to star-beasts. The ecology of Big Longevity Star was also primitive jungle, but a large-scale planetary formation was laid out underground. The surface had independent farms and large cities; agriculture was self-sufficient, and commerce was fairly developed.

The *Leoning* flew over the largest city. It didn't even require landing approval or registration...

Lu Chen disembarked and entered the city. He visited several shops that bought star-beast meat. It turned out they only accepted star-beasts that still had their beast cores. Not to mention that the star-ray had shrunk so much, the shopkeepers would just wave their hands at the sight of the light-screen image, not even bothering to ask for the price.

Lu Chen ran around for over half an hour before finally finding a shop willing to buy the star-ray meat. The shop was quite remote and looked like it had just opened. The proprietor was a portly young man with a stylish goatee. As it turned out, he was a fan of Aili; he specifically asked for her autograph and a photo with her before agreeing to buy Lu Chen’s shrunken star-ray for a thousand spirit stones.

After completing the transaction, he said to Lu Chen, "This is a Level 46 Thunder Star-Ray. Its name is Yaoyao. It flies very fast, has powerful electricity, and has a strong interference effect on laser cannons and guided missiles, which is why it was never captured. If I hadn't been following your news, I really wouldn't believe you killed Yaoyao rather than just finding a carcass. The shriveled meat can only be made into jerky, but its bones can be sold to power plants to manufacture bio-electric generators."

Lu Chen smiled. "There are people willing to do even the most dangerous jobs, but nobody does business at a loss."

The goateed young man chuckled. "I can only make a bit of labor money at this price, and only a young guy like me who just opened the shop is willing to do it. By the way, are you planning to keep the star-ray's beast core for refining medicine yourself? If you sell it to me, I can offer a high price."

Since the beast core was mentioned, Lu Chen probed, "How high a price can you offer?"

The young man blurted out, "If you've kept it fresh in a storage bag, I can go up to eleven thousand. You’d likely not get ten thousand from anyone else."

The price was decent, but Lu Chen had other plans. "I want to keep it for cultivation."

The young man was stunned, looking at Lu Chen in astonishment for a long while before explaining seriously, "Cultivate with a beast core? You can't just swallow a beast core this big, can you? Grinding it into powder for cultivation isn't efficient; you need to combine it with alchemy. Unless you are an alchemist and have high-end medicinal equipment and recipes on your ship, it's more cost-effective to trade it for spirit stones and buy high-level pills at a pharmacy."

This... touched a blind spot in Lu Chen's knowledge. Fortunately, Aili whispered a reminder via the ship's audio through his wristband: "Captain, he's right."

Lu Chen looked embarrassed and quickly changed the subject. "Can I buy Nether Cores on this planet?"

The young man was even more surprised. "Nether Cores are imperial controlled goods. If you’re lucky enough to kill a Nether Demon and get a core, you can only sell it to the Empire; private circulation is prohibited... Besides, this stuff has no effect on the cultivation of ordinary people; it's only useful for Nether Demons."

As he said this, he suddenly turned his head to look at the *Leoning*. "Wait, could it be..."

Lu Chen quickly took out the massive star-ray beast core. "Fine, I'll sell the beast core to you too."

A fully alive Thunder Star-Ray was worth thirty thousand. A freshly dead one with a well-preserved, fresh carcass was fifteen thousand. If the beast core was separated from the carcass, the core generally only sold for ten thousand, and the meat was basically unsellable. Lu Chen was forced to split them, but selling them together for twelve thousand was still a deal made because the man was a fan.

After the transaction was complete and he had a box of spirit stone cash, Lu Chen asked the young man before leaving, "Let me ask you something: who carved the spirit patterns on the star-beast bones, and why are they encrypted?"

The young man was startled. "What, you cut it open to look? You can't have done that for a thousand spirit stones!"

Lu Chen waved his hand. "I have a special detection method."

The young man checked carefully and saw no cutting marks on the star-ray's carcass, so he breathed a sigh of relief. "Those spirit patterns are Beast Paradise’s control mechanism; otherwise, star-beasts would be too dangerous for tourists. Obedient star-beasts stay in the park, while disobedient ones are forcibly converted into star-beast ships, with chips implanted in their bones and warp engines installed in their rears... The Star-Beast Shepherds’ star-beast ships sell well across the universe; even Federation adventurers buy ships from them. To be honest, Beast Paradise has made way too much money over the years. Even with this recent mess, they still wanted to charge adventurers a fee at first! They've made a fortune! Fortunately, this accident has also allowed us business owners to make a bit of money. If it weren't for this, I would have had to close shop."

It seemed many people had grievances against Beast Paradise...

Lu Chen asked again, "Is there a result regarding the cause of this incident, or do you have any gossip you can share with me?"

The young man said, "The authorities have certainly found out, but they’ve blocked the news. The mainstream view is that it has something to do with the Black Dragon or the Guernica Beast-Taming Group."

Lu Chen nodded. He had tracked them here because he read the *Bullhorn* ship's log, and the *Bullhorn* had a deep connection with the Guernica Beast-Taming Group.

"There are still star-beasts and adventure ships lurking nearby. Is this planet safe enough?"

The young man smiled and said proudly, "Of course. The Star Lord was an adventurer himself, with Level 60 cultivation. Otherwise, would he dare to settle here?"

Level 60 cultivation—even in the dangerous Zuan Nebula, that was enough to guard a planet.

"Thanks."

Lu Chen turned to leave, but the young man was reluctant to see him go. "Stay a while longer, why not have a meal before you go? My pot is super big; I can stew some star-beast meat."

Let his idol accompany him for a meal? Lu Chen shook his head. "Sorry, that’s a paid service."

With that, he carried the box back to the ship, leaving the young man at the shop entrance, staring blankly at the *Leoning* as it ascended, muttering to himself: "But you didn't even say how much it would cost! How stingy. It’s like Aili is your wife or something!"

...

Back in the cockpit, Lu Chen placed the suitcase containing twelve thousand spirit stones on the leisure table. "We made twelve thousand. It was worth our teamwork, even though the armor is corroded beyond use and we almost lost our lives."

Golia took off her gaming glasses and sprang up, coming over at the smell of money. "You said I was the primary contributor this time. Twelve thousand—splitting it half-and-half is fair, right?"

As she spoke, she reached for Lu Chen’s suitcase. Lu Chen slapped her hand away. "I have more than twelve thousand; altogether, I have about thirty thousand in cash. But right now, there’s a huge opportunity in the Zuan Nebula, yet it’s also too dangerous. I need to upgrade the ship and armor so we can make even more money."

Golia pouted, pulling the lollipop stick from her mouth—all that was left was the plastic. "Being a captain and just painting a pretty picture won't work, you know? Isn't 'living in the moment' something you said yourself!"

Lu Chen felt helpless. Thinking about it, Golia had indeed put in great effort, even using her mouth to bite the star-ray's tail. So, he opened the suitcase and divided the loot early.

"Take two thousand spirit stones; you two can spend it however you want on this planet. It’s best to buy things that improve your abilities. Take another two thousand, and Aili, you're responsible for helping me buy some high-level pills. Not just any high-level pills—buy ones tailored to our physical characteristics for directed cultivation."

Aili nodded. "Mm."

With the spirit stones in hand, Golia excitedly changed clothes, hopped on a jet ski, and went shopping with Aili.

Lu Chen drove the ship to the industrial district and found a large star-beast ship conversion factory in the suburbs. Dozens of ships were parked at the entrance. Business was booming! In the massive open-air warehouse, besides various bio-chips and specialized warp engines for star-beast ships, there were piles of wrecks and parts from adventure ships.

Business was too hot; the owner was extremely busy and had no time to attend to Lu Chen. A young intern spirit-mechanic greeted him. He was a thin, bespectacled young man in blue overalls, around Lu Chen's age. Upon seeing Lu Chen, he felt a sense of familiarity, then looked at the *Leoning* and immediately understood.

"Are you the captain of the Primitive Firmament Adventure Group?"

Lu Chen was stunned. Another fan? It made him a bit embarrassed. "Am I that famous?"

"Of course." The intern smiled and explained, "Actually, half a month ago, I was an adventurer who had just gone out to sea. My adventure group was capsized by a star-beast; the captain and my teammates were all eaten. I was the only one rescued, and later I was taken in by the boss to work here. For us newcomers, your exploits are nothing short of a miracle. You, Aili, and Golia are all our idols."

As he spoke, he looked at the *Leoning*, but didn't see the two beauties disembark after a long while. Lu Chen probed, "Since my exploits are a miracle, then what is my name?"

The young man was taken aback. He only remembered the captain's surname was Lu; he had forgotten his first name, or rather, never bothered to remember it. He had to stammer a guess: "Lu... Lu... Luffy? Or Lu Mingfei? It seems to have a 'fei' in it, since you excel at flying."

As expected, Lu Chen knew he couldn't possibly have male fans. "My name is Lu Chen."

The young man suddenly realized, looking embarrassed. "Oh, oh, right, right, I remember now, it’s Lu Chen, like the dust on the land, playing the pig to eat the tiger, hiding your cultivation... I always thought you were hiding your cultivation, but I didn't expect you to only have Level 30-something cultivation, if I’m not mistaken."

Lu Chen nodded. "You’re not mistaken. I only reached Level 30-something recently."

The young man sighed. "Sigh, with Level 30-something cultivation and no powerful ship, it’s very dangerous in the Zuan Nebula, especially now that there are no star-beasts below Level 40 here."

"I’ve already witnessed that; I almost died."

Saying this, Lu Chen remotely controlled his corroded armor, which walked out of the ship and stood before them. The young man stared at the battle-damaged armor, dumbfounded, and guessed, "The armor shell is corroded like this—don't tell me you escaped from a star-beast's belly."

Lu Chen reminded him, "Not escaped, I killed my way out of a star-beast's belly, and that’s how I managed to hunt one."

The young man was speechless for a long time before saying, "You are truly bold and skilled. I always thought you were playing the pig to eat the tiger; I didn't expect you to be fighting for your life!"

Saying this, he suddenly remembered something and added, "I heard you have a twenty-thousand spirit stone bounty on your head from the Wolf-Tooth Company. This time, the Wolf-Tooth Company also sent a fleet to help hunt star-beasts. Besides that, the Righteous Hunter Adventure Group, which just entered the Top 100,000 New Generation, is also said to have come to the Zuan Nebula looking for you... And you just ran here so openly?"

Lu Chen spread his hands and said calmly, "What else? Even if they want to catch us, it's impossible for losers to do so."

"As expected of you!"

The young man was convinced by Lu Chen’s courage and reminded him, "However, this planet specializes in star-beast ship modifications. It’s only because we’ve salvaged so many parts recently that we have business modifying ordinary ships and armor. I see your armor is intact inside, but it’s hard to find similar materials for the shell. Why not buy a star-beast to fight alongside your ship, or just buy a modified star-beast ship... Isn't Aili a beast tamer? She must be able to fly a star-beast ship well!"

Lu Chen waved his hand. "I don't have a fixed direction for buying or modifying. Take me to your warehouse to see what high-end goods you have, and I’ll decide how to modify based on that."

"Alright, I’ll take you to see right now."

Led by the intern, Lu Chen scoured the warehouse inside and out. There were many types of ship engines, from Level 30 to 50, of various brands, but most were damaged. If the engine wasn't broken... at least he could run away! There were no intact combat armors, but the armor engines were relatively sound. There were many laser cannon parts—for ships, for armor, Level 40, Level 50, all available.

Lu Chen’s favorite, the light saber... he didn't see one. Fortunately, there were Level 40 and 50 overclocked laser drivers, which could forcibly drive a light saber. Additionally, Lu Chen found a spirit pressure amplifier specifically for beast tamers. It could connect to the ship’s spiritual energy output device, allowing the beast tamer's spiritual power to be amplified. This was similar to the principle of Aili manually piloting the ship to indirectly tame beasts, but with much higher efficiency.

Walking out of the warehouse, Lu Chen designed a temporary modification plan based on the equipment currently in the shop:

1. Replace the ship's current Level 30 defensive array with an old Level 50 defensive array... although it would be hard for a Level 30 ship engine to power it, it could still withstand a hit. If he had encountered the Level 50 star-ray before, the first bolt of lightning would have pierced the hull.
2. Prepare the beast tamer's spirit pressure amplifier for Aili. The rest of the ship remained unchanged.
3. Replace the armor with a Level 40 drive engine.
4. Equip the armor with a Level 40 laser overclocking driver.
5. Replace the blade of the cutter that had been corroded by mushroom juice.
6. Cover the armor shell directly with a layer of beast-bone alloy.

The armor changed from cyan to a dilapidated beige. Big Longevity Star’s metallurgical capabilities weren't enough, so Lu Chen had to use rivets to piece it together; it would barely suffice.

All of this required Lu Chen to help with the modifications himself! Lu Chen wrote down the list and talked with the boss for a long while before setting the price: eight thousand spirit stones. There was no way around it; the Level 40 drive engine and beast-bone alloy were too expensive. Although the Level 50 defensive array was old, it wasn't cheap either. Outside, Lu Chen would have been confident getting these things for five thousand. Unfortunately, the Zuan Nebula was essentially a tourist zone, and prices couldn't be brought down.

After agreeing on the price, Lu Chen, the intern, and another veteran employee went to work. Half a day later, it was finally finished!

Lu Chen looked at the sun; it was already evening. He had arrived in the morning... Lu Chen wiped his sweat. Tired as he was, he was excited to see the newly upgraded "Treasure-Hunting Armor." The dilapidated yellow shell, draped in the sunset's glow, had a real "wasteland knight" feel to it.

He climbed into the armor and flexed his muscles, testing his mobility. He also tried the Level 40 laser driver... the Level 40 laser cannon blasts and light saber strikes released were quite sharp. In Lu Chen’s view, the most powerful of all his weapons was the light saber in close combat. If he encountered a star-ray again, Lu Chen could use the light saber at close range, combined with the power of resonance, to break through its defenses from the outside.

The intern spirit-mechanic who worked with Lu Chen was shocked by his manual modification skills; he barely did any work, just standing by to record and learn.

"Captain Lu, you truly are a genius!"

Lu Chen shook his head. "Genius or not, you didn't put in your share of the labor. I think you should pay some tuition."

The young man said embarrassedly, "My first month’s salary hasn't arrived yet. How about this: Captain Lu, take me out to sea with you. I won't ask for a penny, just cover my food and drink."

"Dream on. Forget it, I won't ask for tuition."

Everything settled, Lu Chen called Golia and Aili. "You two are done playing, right? We’re setting sail!"

From the other end came Golia’s drunken voice. "We’re coming back now."

Lu Chen was speechless. This woman got drunk every time she went out; fortunately, Aili was with her, otherwise, she’d get lost.

Just then! A massive triangular-sailed ship slowly descended at the entrance of the conversion factory. It parked right next to the *Leoning*. A half-section of a huge beast tooth remained embedded in the top of the ship; it couldn't be pulled out, or it would leak air. It was like someone stabbed in the chest with a sword—pull it out and you bleed out, leave it in and you can hold on for a while.

Lu Chen remembered this ship; it was the very first adventure ship that tracked the *Leoning* when they first entered the Zuan Nebula! At the time, Lu Chen had steered the ship to cloak and shake off the tracking, even circling behind to observe for a while before leaving. Lu Chen thought to himself that this ship was missing supplies, its hull was severely damaged, and it couldn't have been easy to fly it here.

At this moment, the triangular-sailed ship's hatch slowly opened. A one-eyed man in a wheelchair, surrounded by a group of crew members, disembarked. He was a middle-aged man who looked a bit aged, with a thin, long face, extremely pale complexion, and sinister features, radiating a very dangerous aura. His cultivation was: Level 51! None of the surrounding crew members were below Level 30. All dozen or so people looked quite exhausted.

Lu Chen was slightly surprised that he had received an "avoidance alert" when this ship tracked them earlier. Now, seeing them face-to-face, there was no alert. It seemed... this was the deterrent power of the Star Lord of Big Longevity Star.

The one-eyed man caught sight of the docked *Leoning* at a glance. He pushed his own wheelchair over to the *Leoning* and stopped, observing it for a long time.

"I remember a ship that escaped from our hands without a scratch. Is this the one?"

The sword-wielding adjutant beside him replied, "Exactly."

The one-eyed man frowned slightly, puzzled. "A *Fiondi-Zhou* modified ship. Besides installing a Level 50 defensive array, I don't see anything special. There’s no stealth coating—could it be that it knows illusions?"

Fortunately, the captain of the *Leoning* was right there in the yellow armor across from him, less than ten meters away. He could patiently explain it to him.

"Your ship was bitten through by a beast tooth and can still hold on until now—that’s not easy... Whether it’s a ship or a person, severe injury is because you have unrealistic fantasies about your own strength. So don't ask why the *Leoning* can cloak; think about whether you're just too weak and shouldn't have come to this nebula."

The one-eyed man was slightly startled, a flash of blood-red light passing through his hollow left eye, but his face didn't show anger because of it.

"Are you the owner of this ship?"

Before Lu Chen could answer, the sword-wielding adjutant replied, "This is the captain of the Primitive Firmament Adventure Group, Lu Chen. His popularity at the Adventurers' Association has been very high over the past month. The Righteous Hunter Adventure Group only重创 (heavily damaged) the *Uncrowned Fleet* because they were chasing them, finally escaping death and ascending to the sky, advancing to the Top 100,000 New Generation a step ahead of us."

Lu Chen laughed out loud. "What do you mean 'a step ahead'? It could be two, three, a hundred, or a thousand steps... If you challenge me again, it might become an infinite number of steps."

The one-eyed man let out a dry laugh. It sounded truly chilling.

"So, as long as one attacks you and manages to survive, there’s a possibility of entering the Top 100,000 New Generation, is that it?"

Lu Chen replied with a cold voice, "Qundi Augustus at least never lost a leg or an eye. You've encountered so many dangerous situations one after another and still haven't entered the Top 100,000 New Generation—do you really want to lose your life too?"

The one-eyed man suddenly fell into deep thought, saying nothing. Having been out at sea for so many years, he had truly never seen such a young man in such a hurry to reincarnate. Even he himself, back in the day, thought he was reckless, but compared to the young man before him, he was far behind.

"With that level of cultivation, to get this far—I suspect you’re hiding your strength. Why not show us a few moves so we can broaden our horizons?"

Lu Chen panicked a little. But magically, there was still no avoidance alert. As long as no avoidance alert popped up, even if it were a god, he’d talk back to them!

Thinking this, he gave a cold smile, turned off the armor’s voice modulator, and spoke in his natural voice:

"A leaf hides the mountain, and you cannot see the grandeur. I don't disdain hiding my strength; it’s just how can you see the whole picture with only one eye?"

The one-eyed man suddenly burst into laughter, actually reaching up to cover his intact right eye.

"One eye is enough."