Rowan could not be bothered to argue with Babata anymore. With the full soul inheritance of the Golden-Horned Beast inside him, Babata ought to be able to check the truth for herself. And, as expected, the moment she sensed the several-hundredfold burst of strength coursing through him, her eyes widened. A trace of familiarity flickered across her mind, and after a moment of frantic thought, she suddenly stared at Rowan in shock.
"Wait. Several-hundredfold strength... could that be the immediate inheritance of a King-level Immortal? The Flash Spirit King's inheritance method?"
Rowan smiled faintly. "Looks like you're not completely clueless."
Babata gasped. "You absorbed the Golden-Horned Beast's entire soul inheritance. And you even took in all of its innate secret techniques and every standard technique it possessed?"
The tiny AI shrieked in disbelief.
Rowan chuckled. "Of course. You think Luo Feng didn't trust you too much? You tricked him. The Golden-Horned Beast's inheritance contains a massive amount of advanced human techniques, including many King-level Immortal ones and even a handful of Marquis-level Immortal methods. The Golden-Horned Beast births multiple incarnations and often selects human bodies as vessels. Naturally it had to collect powerful human techniques to ensure its avatars matched its own strength. But you kept all of that from Luo Feng. You pushed him into the Yunmo lineage, which only reaches Marquis-level Immortal. That gap is like heaven and earth."
He exposed her schemes without hesitation.
Babata's bravado deflated in an instant. Her shoulders hunched, and she refused to meet his gaze.
The truth was simple. The Golden-Horned Beast's inheritance contained countless techniques from multiple races. It had battled on the outer battlefield, slaughtered many insectoid warriors, human elites, and even some mechanical lifeforms. Yet insectoid techniques were nearly impossible to obtain, and mechanical race techniques were more data than skill. Only human techniques were easy to acquire.
The Golden-Horned Beast collected them for its future avatars.
Yet Babata never told Luo Feng any of this. She fed him only the Yunmo lineage's methods. Even in the original storyline, she never shared these techniques with Hong or Thunder God either. She feared being exposed.
Two prodigies lost years of potential because of her.
Had Hong possessed genuine King-level Immortal techniques from the start, his rise would have been meteoric. Entering the Virtual Universe Company's top talents ranking would have been trivial. Thunder God as well.
Instead, Babata had silently sabotaged their potential.
"I... I..." Babata stammered helplessly, unable to find words. Her little calculations had been laid bare in their entirety.
Rowan waved a hand dismissively. "Forget it. No point hiding it. You Yunmo followers were always going to push Luo Feng onto that path. With your guidance, you believed he could eventually reach King-level Immortal anyway, right?"
Babata straightened up indignantly, arms crossed, pretending she still had dignity left. "Your planet's cultivation methods are far too primitive. Not even Domain Lord techniques exist there, let alone World Lord ones. My teacher's methods are already far beyond what you can dream of. You have no right to complain."
Rowan simply looked at her. Babata had lived for tens of millions of years yet still behaved like a child throwing a tantrum.
Fortunately, Rowan had the foresight to examine the Golden-Horned Beast's inheritance carefully. Had he followed Babata blindly, he would have ended up just like Luo Feng in the original timeline.
"Anyway, where are we going?" Rowan finally asked.
"Qiulong Star, one of the principal planets of the Black Dragon Mountain Empire. I doubt you've ever seen a true interstellar civilization before. I'll show you just how vast the outside world is."
Babata eagerly shifted the topic, hoping to escape further interrogation.
"Then stop talking and start flying."
Rowan folded his legs beneath him and began cultivating again. He was eager to get moving. The sooner they reached Qiulong Star, the sooner he could search for materials for his second avatar. Though the Black Dragon Mountain Empire was only a mid-tier civilization with limited resources, there was always a chance.
If not, he'd need to travel all the way to the Qianwu Universe Nation... a trip that would take more than a decade from Earth.
Far too long.
So he would simply have to rely on luck for now.
The journey from Earth to Qiulong Star required ten days of travel. Babata activated the Black Dragon ship's dark-universe shuttle system. Instruments lit up one after another, and a ripple opened in the void, expanding into a swirling black vortex.
The ship plunged into it.
Inside the passage, the dark universe shimmered in cascading colors, its structures weaving like a colossal neural network extending endlessly into the horizon. Rowan opened his eyes briefly, watching the brilliance pass by. Compared to the Marvel universe he had once traveled through, this dark-universe corridor was far more intricate and refined. The laws of the Devouring Star Cosmos were simply more complete.
When the ten days concluded, the ship emerged into open space before Qiulong Star.
Countless spacecraft came and went from the massive planet, each following strict flight paths under the jurisdiction of the Black Dragon Mountain Empire. Qiulong Star dwarfed Earth in size, its cities sprawling like continents. Interstellar warriors crossed the void on foot, streaking through the darkness with planetary-level and star-level auras.
Even so, the strongest Rowan could sense were Star-level warriors. Universe-level fighters were so rare here they might as well be myths.
Babata docked the Black Dragon ship at the port. The port alone was the size of a city. As soon as Rowan stepped off the ship, he felt the dense flow of people, ships and armored warriors moving through the bustling complex.
Compared to the Marvel world, this universe's technology and civilization were overwhelmingly more advanced. Even a standard B-rank weapon here could obliterate a Star-level fighter with ease. Dropping one into the Marvel universe would be like arming a god. Thanos without an Infinity Stone would barely survive a single blast.
"Give me some money," Rowan said immediately after touching down.
Babata blinked. "Huh?"
"Huh my ass. Every universe uses some kind of currency. My teacher's accounts are locked until I open them. Right now I have nothing."
She grumbled under her breath but still produced a hundred Qianwu Coins.
One Qianwu Coin equaled ten thousand Black Dragon Coins. The port fee alone cost six hundred.
A blue-skinned administrator with Star-level Seven strength approached to collect the docking fee. In the Marvel universe, someone of this strength would rival Thanos himself. Here, he was barely a civil servant, a glorified parking attendant.
Rowan tossed him a single Qianwu Coin. "Keep the change."
The man nearly fainted in gratitude.
To ensure no one mistook him for easy prey, Rowan summoned three Liquid-Silver Guardians. Each guardian was a star-level peak defense machine worth seventy billion Black Dragon Coins. Three of them, together, were enough to make him appear like a high-status heir of some powerful faction.
In the universe, that status mattered. Lone wanderers were often hunted for their equipment and wealth. A symbol of affiliation or a clearly expensive escort squad reduced the danger significantly.
With the guardians behind him, Rowan followed Babata toward the city's registration office. He quickly completed the paperwork and obtained his official Black Dragon Mountain Empire identity card.
Next on the list was accessing Huyan Bo's accounts. That required visiting the Galaxy Bank.
As they traveled toward the financial district, Rowan passed an extravagant hotel. The building shimmered like liquid gold, and twelve Star-level Nine warriors stood guard at the entrance. The pressure they emitted made ordinary passersby instinctively avoid the area.
Babata floated beside him, whispering, "The Azure-Shark Clan. Famous across the universe. Their water-affinity bloodline ranks seventh among all known species. Their homeworld is completely submerged, and their combat techniques all revolve around manipulating water."
Rowan gave the guards a casual glance. He felt their spiritual senses sweep over him, then abruptly retreat once they noticed the three Liquid-Silver Guardians. No one wanted to provoke someone backed by wealth or power.
Just as Rowan prepared to walk past the hotel, a violent explosion shattered a third-floor window.
Three figures burst out into the open air.
And Rowan's expression sharpened.
The trouble had just begun.