High Martial Arts: Slay enemies to become stronger, forge invincibility from billions of corpses.

Halfway through its laughter, Clavisu suddenly stopped. It looked down at the light screen, and the smile in its eyes vanished completely, leaving only a thick killing intent.

"But he is my son, my own son. No matter how much I think he's useless, no one in this galaxy can touch him."

"A native genius dared to kill my son, Clavisu."

It stood up from its skeletal base, and as its hundreds-of-meters-tall body straightened, the blood mist in the entire hall converged on it.

Behind it emerged an unimaginably huge, dark star phantom, the core of the true star, the most essential symbol of a ninth-order life form.

The phantom of the star core slowly rotated behind it, surrounded by a thick halo of dark red psionic energy.

"Okay, very good."

It walked to the screen, extended a giant claw, and slowly scratched across Song Chen's image, leaving three deep grooves on the metal floor.

"So what if he's from the Cangxing Alliance? He's just a brat from the Disciplinary Department. He has to die. I not only want him to die, but I want him to die knowing why, and to die without leaving a trace."

The attendant whispered a reminder: "Sir, that person has connections to the Cangxing Alliance. Shouldn't we inform our superiors first?"

"No need." Clavisu turned around, walked back to the bone seat, and sat down, making the entire hall sink an inch.

"I should have a part in the battlefield. The higher-ups are constantly urging me to reach milestones and reduce losses. I'm just going to the front lines for a quick look, maybe crush a bug on the side, and nobody can say anything about it."

"Go and get me the latest news about their transfers. Tell me as soon as Song Chen leaves."

The attendant acknowledged and left.

Clavisu sat alone in the darkness, looking at the young man's face on the screen.

It stopped speaking; only the phantom of the true star core behind it continued to slowly rotate, accompanied by muffled thunderous sounds.

Under the same starry sky, at the Fire Platform.

The 68th War Zone was unusually relaxed today.

In the mess hall of the military post north of Lihuotai, several rows of long metal tables were joined together to form an even longer table, which was filled with food brought from various civilizations.

There was seaweed jelly from the Moonshadow Clan, roasted spirit wheat cakes from the Radiant Sun Civilization, obsidian fruit that the Rock Iron Civilization loved to gnaw on, and some other things that Song Chen couldn't even name, which smelled both sweet and spicy.

This was a very small celebration banquet.

As small as three teams.

Turik led the Nine Stars Fleet officers, Karen's elite squad, and Song Chen.

There were quite a few people in the canteen, but compared to the overwhelming battlefield outside, this number was nothing more than a ripple.

Even with such a small number of people, it already seems like a luxury in a place like Li Huotai.

Because while this banquet was taking place, another military post hundreds of kilometers away was distributing life-sustaining medications, preparing for the next batch to be sent to the front lines.

"Come, let's toast our great hero." Turik stood up, holding a glass of dark yellow liquor that smelled like sizzling metal.

He had a very loud voice, and as soon as he opened his mouth, he drew everyone's attention.

"I drank it."

"Here's to Mr. Song Chen!"

"The Azure Star Alliance is indeed full of monsters."

……

A cacophony of responses erupted in the canteen as several Nine Stars officers slammed their wine glasses down on the table with a loud bang.

The burly men of the Ironclad Civilization, who didn't drink alcohol, picked up pieces of metal ore and banged them together, creating sparks—their simplest form of cheering.

Karen leaned against the wall, holding a glass of pale blue wine in her hand.

Song Chen sat next to the main seat, her expression calm, and did not refuse.

He picked up the cup in front of him and took a sip.

The liquor was extremely strong; it felt like a burning thread going down my throat, even causing the star core to tremble slightly.

He put down his cup and nodded to Turik.

Turik poured himself another full glass: "Alright, stop just drinking."

"Let's get down to business. This time, our three teams went to intercept that mothership, and the results have been reported. The theater command is very satisfied."

"In terms of firepower contribution, Song Chen alone accounted for nearly half of the entire team. Do you know what that means? He single-handedly took on the firepower of our entire fleet plus the special operations team."

"So this time, when the rewards came out, the command center made a special approval and Song Chen took the lion's share. Don't be envious. If you guys can solo an eighth-tier enemy, I'll apply for one for you too."

One of the Nine Luminaries officers laughed loudly: "No way, we don't have that kind of luck. Killing an eighth-tier character solo? Maybe in our next life."

Karen walked up to Song Chen and raised her glass: "I owe you one. There are four of us in my team. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't be back today."

Song Chen also stood up, and the two clinked glasses: "It's what we should do on the battlefield."

Karen didn't say anything more, tilted her head back and drank the wine, then turned and walked back to the wall.

Several of her team members sat in the corner; those who were injured had already gone to the medical pod, while the remaining two raised their glasses to Song Chen—a small gesture, but the sentiment was clear.

The banquet didn't last long.

Since it wasn't the rear area, no one dared to get truly drunk.

Half an hour later, Turik called for everyone to disperse.

As Song Chen got up to leave, Turik chased after him and shoved a metal plaque into his hand.

"The reward has been sent to your battle account. This time it's a big one, guess how much?"

Song Chen shook his head: "How much?"

Turik held up two fingers and made an exaggerated gesture: "Two million two hundred thousand cosmic crystals. I'm envious of you even if they throw money at you. Damn it, why don't you teach me your swordsmanship? I'll kowtow and become your apprentice."

"Just go back and practice more."

"Isn't that obvious?" Turik cursed, then laughed, patted Song Chen on the back, and left.

Song Chen returned to his barracks, picked up the metal plaque, and saw that it was a small spatial storage device with 2.2 million cosmic crystals lying quietly inside.

This amount of money is indeed substantial. He recalled that when Lars paid off Blue Star's debts, it was only 1.2 million cosmic crystals.

Now, his reward for a single mission is enough to match that amount.

But for Song Chen himself, the cosmic crystal was not very useful. His strength mainly came from the system and from killing points.

In reality, its uses are limited to buying intelligence, acquiring resources, and cultivating relationships.

However, Earth does need it.

Earth is currently developing, and humanity has only been exposed to the psionic era for less than a century, which is precisely when it is most lacking in cosmic resources.

If these cosmic crystals were exchanged for psionic ores, cultivation techniques, and basic starships, and sent back to Earth, it would be a qualitative leap for the entire human civilization.

Song Chen felt it was time to make proper arrangements for these things, but now was the time to spend them.

He found a quiet place.

There is a weapons maintenance area that has not yet been put into use in Taipei, and no one usually comes here.

Song Chen passed through several automatic gates and entered a cabin that had been temporarily converted into a training room.

The cabin was small, with thick silver-gray alloy walls and a cushioning layer on the floor.

He locked the door, then used his Star Source Power to create a simple perception barrier at the entrance before sitting down cross-legged.

Then he opened the system panel.

The data on the panel is completely different from that at level seven; there are no options to exchange for Qi or Spirit.

There is only one option left: exchanging Star Source Power. One hundred billion Kill Points can be exchanged for one point of Star Source Power.

Song Chen glanced at the kill count again: four trillion.

This number is larger than ever before, so large that looking at it brings a sense of calm.