Chapter 132: Bai's Reflection

So many living, breathing lives, so many flesh-and-blood beings, instantly reduced to nothingness because of a sudden alien attack...

This universe...

Is truly cruel, isn't it?

Lantian’s gaze lost focus slightly, completely ignoring the bits of flesh and blood that occasionally brushed against his body from time to time, as a nameless wave of emotion welled up in his heart.

"Alright, alright, stop feeling so sentimental. Where does this even rank? You haven't even seen the true cruelty of the universe yet!" Bai's projection manifested, offering consolation in a rather unconventional way. "Whether the universe is cruel or not is actually relative. If you have the strength, this universe is a paradise for you. If you don't have the strength... just wait to face the cruelty of the universe."

"Indeed, Master. In this cold universe, whatever wealth or status you have is fake; strength is the absolute truth!" Qipeng chimed in from the side. "With your young age, Master, you possess such terrifying strength and even practice the legendary mental secret arts. You are definitely a proud darling of the heavens. In time, you will surely become a hegemon of a region!"

"Heh, I'd only give your flattery a passing grade. What do you mean by becoming a regional hegemon? Your master here is destined to become the hegemon of the entire universe! Bad review!" Lantian was amused by Qipeng's words, shaking his head with a chuckle.

"Uh..." Qipeng touched his nose, feeling somewhat awkward. Although his loyalty to Lantian was now from the bottom of his heart, facing such a thick-skinned master, a being with complete consciousness like him really found it a bit... hard to swallow.

"Alright, alright, stop talking nonsense. You still need to hurry to Huidu Star; you can't afford to delay any longer," Bai timely reminded him.

"Fine. How do we get there? This place is probably millions of light-years away from Huidu Star!" Lantian stared blankly at the vast distance indicated on the star map.

"Of course, by using the Chixin Divine Armor for spatial jumping. As long as you withdraw the Chixin Divine Armor before the spatial fluctuations calm down, the probability of being discovered is virtually zero," Bai replied.

"Of course I know we can use the Chixin Divine Armor, but the energy storage device inside it was basically drained after our last teleportation from near Earth to Lanque Star..." Lantian inspected the Chixin Divine Armor and said with a depressed tone.

"The... the Chixin Divine Armor!" Hearing this legendary name, Qipeng's pupils shrank violently, and he said in disbelief, "Master, your Chixin Divine Armor... is that Chixin Divine Armor?!"

"What this and that? The Chixin Divine Armor is just the Chixin Divine Armor," Lantian rolled his eyes and said.

"No, Master, could this Chixin Divine Armor of yours be the very same one belonging to Lord Douzhan Shen Mangfeng?" Qipeng still found it hard to believe.

One had to know that Lord Douzhan Shen Mangfeng’s disappearance for tens of thousands of years was a matter known to almost everyone in the Yuanlan Empire. His cosmic battle armor had vanished along with him, and it was never heard that anyone had ever found it.

There had always been rumors whispering that Lord Douzhan Shen Mangfeng had already fallen, but this was never officially confirmed by the empire. Everyone sneered at it, believing that Lord Douzhan Shen Mangfeng had simply sought out some secret realm and was adventuring within it!

Hearing abruptly now that his cosmic battle armor had been acquired by someone, Qipeng instantly plunged into a state of panic.

Could it be... that the Battle God had truly fallen?

Could his master have inherited his legacy?

It must be so! Otherwise, given his master's age and strength, how could he casually possess such an expensive cosmic battle armor, and even master the legendary mental secret arts?!

Qipeng fell deep into shock...

With this guess, everything suddenly made complete sense!

"It doesn't matter. You can completely use your own cosmic astral force to perform spatial jumps now." Bai cast a contemptuous glance at Qipeng, showing utter disdain for his ignorance, and turned back to say to Lantian: "Before, it was because you hadn't yet cultivated cosmic astral force, so you were forced to use the energy stored in the energy storage device. Now that your strength has reached the peak of the advanced nebula tier, I won't say ultra-long distances, but jumping for tens of thousands of years—ah, tens of thousands of light-years—is at least feasible."

"Only tens of thousands of light-years?! Doesn't that mean it's going to take forever?!" Lantian was left speechless. What did tens of thousands of light-years even count for in the universe? Millions of light-years would mean hundreds of jumps?!

Even with his terrifying primordial universe, whose recovery speed was considered extremely fast, recovering from a state of having zero cosmic astral force back to his peak condition still took about two hours each time.

Hundreds of two-hour cycles?!

That's insane!

It would delay him for nearly another month!

Time was so precious to him; how could he possibly afford to wait?

"Just look at you. Can you have some composure? You don't even need to speak; just looking at your expression gives away everything inside you. I've told you so many times, yet you're still so rash and impatient!" Bai felt a mix of frustration and high expectations. Watching Lantian step by step grow from an ignorant, poor native into a cultivation genius who could independently trick Qipeng amidst an endless sea of bugs, probably no one understood Lantian better than it did.

Lantian was undeniably smart—otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to possess such heaven-defying comprehension. His plasticity was also very strong, and his learning ability was exceptional. However, he lacked a sense of inner tranquility. Whenever he encountered emergencies, he always grew somewhat impatient. He had been told this several times, yet he repeatedly failed to mend his ways and kept making the same mistakes.

Perhaps he had truly relied on himself too much from the very beginning. From the time they met until now, it had constantly helped him and taught him. Basically, all major crises they encountered involved its strategic planning behind the scenes. Because of this, he lacked a degree of independence—or rather, it wasn't that he lacked it, but that it had been too proactive, leaving him no chance to display it. Over time, he had developed the bad habit of always consulting it for everything.

So it couldn't entirely be blamed on him; it bore unshakable responsibility as well. If it had appeared a bit more passive, instead of rushing every time to make plans and even direct decisions before Lantian could independently think things through, perhaps his capacity for independent thought would be much stronger than it appeared now.

Take the time he tricked Qipeng, for instance. Even it hadn't figured out a good countermeasure then, yet after pondering for a long time by himself, Lantian had come up with a flawless plan.

When inferior in strength, feign weakness, play along, stall the opponent, buy time for oneself, and once the cultivation of the technique succeeds, take down the enemy in one fell swoop!

That entire sequence of events could be described as truly breathtaking!

So, it wasn't that he lacked the capability, but rather that it had genuinely overlooked this point in the past, failing to give him much opportunity to showcase or unearth his own potential.

While lecturing Lantian, halfway through its reprimand, Bai suddenly plunged into deep self-reflection. After a long while, it made a decision.

From now on, aside from some basic knowledge of the universe, unless it was an absolute necessity or a life-or-death crisis, it would no longer offer him even the slightest hint!

"Figure it out yourself. If you can't think of a way, then recover step by step and make your spatial jumps one by one."