Chapter 451: Chapter 218: Leng Yanran, Liyang Empire
The mass of Essence Energy they were referring to was the very same ball of pure energy produced when Li Changâanâs Soul Fire incinerated the Sun Emperor.
At the time, Li Changâan had been afraid his Soul Fire wouldnât be able to completely purge the Dark Energy, so he hadnât absorbed the flame directly. Instead, he had stored it in a relatively safe location, planning to take the time to study it thoroughly later on.
Upon closer study, Li Changâan discovered that the energy mass did indeed contain a considerable amount of Dark Energy. If he absorbed it, he would very likely become a new host for the Dark Energy, just as the Sun Emperor had. Thus, the matter had been left unresolved ever since.
He never imagined it would end up attracting the attention of the Liyang Imperial Fleet today.
Of course, on second thought, it wasnât so unbelievable. After all, even Li Changâan had no better way to deal with it than to let it be. The energy massâs very presence on this planet was a ticking time bomb, liable to erupt and cause harm at any moment.
After hearing his explanation, there was a moment of silence from the starship before it replied, "Your response has been logged. We will now proceed to recover the Dark Energy and conduct a full-scale sterilization of this planet. In light of this, I can offer you two options. The first is to relocate you to another planet. Once this world has been thoroughly purged, we will resettle you here. The entire process will most likely take a thousand years..."
A thousand years wasnât a particularly long time for Li Changâan, but for the humans on the planetâs surface, it was nearly a generational spanâa relatively long wait.
Therefore, Li Changâan didnât rush to respond. He simply waited quietly for them to continue.
The Liyang Empireâs ship didnât keep Li Changâan waiting. It paused, ensuring everyone understood its words, before continuing, "The second option is to remain on your home planet and undergo the inspection here. However, during this process, no humans or any other living creatures will be permitted to enter or leave the planet and its surrounding space. Furthermore, due to the presence of life, our detection and sterilization procedures will take much longerâpossibly several thousand years. Taking everything into account, we would recommend the first option. It is better for both our sides."
Li Changâan considered it. âIt doesnât really matter to me either way.â After a momentâs hesitation, he deferred the decision to the Godslayer Alliance.
After all, regardless of the choice, humanity would be the ones to bear the direct consequences. Entrusting them with the decision was the greatest authority Li Changâan could grant them.
After a lengthy internal discussion, the Godslayer Alliance ultimately chose the second option.
No matter how pleasant the Liyang Empireâs starship made it sound, the first option still involved migrating hundreds of millions, nearly a billion, people. For humanity at its current stage, such a concept was simply too incredible to grasp.
Furthermore, even though the Liyang Empire promised to find a planet with a living environment as similar as possible for their relocation, most people still felt a deep attachment to their home soil.
Li Changâan made no comment on their choice, simply relaying the Godslayer Federationâs decision to the starship.
In his opinion, the first option was clearly better than the second.
Not only would the second option take longer, but the restriction on entering or leaving the surrounding Star Realm was tantamount to locking the Godslayer Allianceâs tech tree. Barring any surprises, the Alliance would be plunged into another period of stagnation for the next several thousand years.
After all, the Godslayer Alliance had invested all its technology points into interstellar Exploration. Halting all operations in space would be like breaking one of its own legs, leaving it permanently crippled.
Once the decision was confirmed, the colossal warship from the Liyang Empire retracted its combat configuration. Swarms of drones returned to the mothershipâs fold.
Soon, the warship dispatched several smaller vessels. They descended into the planetâs atmosphere and projected a brilliant beam of light, which quickly drew the energy mass containing the dark substance up into the main starship.
Once this was complete, the central vessel returned to the mothership, while the remaining ships began emitting various beams of light, invisible to the naked eye, to scan and irradiate the area.
Li Changâan watched the entire process in silence.
Only after the ships had returned the Dark Energy to the mothership did he speak again. "What are the coordinates for the Liyang Empire? I have some history tied to this planet and would like to know how to travel to the core region of the Liyang Empire. Alternatively, could you take me there?"
For Li Changâan, this planet no longer held much value for him to remain.
Even if he painstakingly bided his time here, the most he could do was continue to increase his power. There would be no other changes to the trajectory of his destiny.
Conversely, when he eventually returned to the Main World, he might even suffer side effects like mental and memory overload, as his memories from this life would have become too vast.
But if he could travel to the Star Realm where the Liyang Empire resided, that would be another matter entirely. Li Changâan might be able to begin a completely new Chapter of his life.
âOf course, thatâs just the best-case scenario.â
âIn truth, he wasnât very optimistic about his chances.â
The colossal mothership remained silent. Instead, a smaller warship nearby responded to Li Changâan. "The Liyang Empire is incredibly distant from this planetâso far that you could never hope to cross paths with it in your lifetime. How could you possibly have a connection to the Empire?"