“I don’t need to elaborate on the potential of this Esper ability. With just this one ability, it’s worth hundreds or thousands of others. Develop it with care.”

Han Xiao smiled at Evans.

“Understood.” Evans nodded, feeling the weight on his shoulders increase.

Hela and the others beside him secretly marveled at Evans’ good fortune. Not only was he exceptionally talented, but he also received the tutelage and protection of Black Star. He didn’t have to grow savagely like the Otherworldly Deities. He was destined to have a place among the future Beyond Grade A group, with limitless prospects.

The group couldn’t help but turn their heads to look at Gode, who was locked up, a trace of pity flashing in their eyes.

Regardless of whether this guy had anything to do with the Otherworldly Deities or not, this experience alone was tragic enough. He thought that after advancing to Beyond Grade A, the sky would be the limit, but he was targeted by Black Star, deprived of his ability, and became someone else’s stepping stone. In the future, he could only watch others rise to prominence in the universe with his Esper ability, taking away the achievements that should have belonged to him…

The group’s impression of Gode wasn’t deep to begin with, and now that they thought of him, they almost replaced his facial features with a large, capital “PITIABLE.”

“What do you plan to do with him? Just hand him over to the Empire and leave it at that?” Hela suddenly frowned.

“I’ll hand him over to the Empire, explain his identity and background, and let the Empire handle the rest.” Han Xiao didn’t care.

Hela shook her head. “I don’t think that’s appropriate. If the Empire executes Gode, he might be able to revive through the Sanctuary and regain his ability. Since we’ve already made an enemy, it’s better to prevent future troubles.”

“Tsk, you’re ruthless…”

Han Xiao raised an eyebrow and waved his hand.

“According to the Sanctuary’s revival mechanism, Gode will most likely be able to regain his ability, but now the quota for Sanctuary revival is decided by me. Whether he can be revived or not is up to me. Even if the three great civilizations master the revival method in the future, it’s not a big problem. Who knows what the future holds? If there’s a situation, I can just send him to the Netherworld and have another thug.”

Fortunately, Gode was already locked in the imprisonment device and couldn’t hear the outside world, otherwise he would have been even more despondent.

At this time, Han Xiao changed the subject and smiled at the crowd.

“Alright, everyone knows each other now. After a while, I’ll promote him to vice legion commander, let him join the Association, and announce it to the interstellar society.”

“Isn’t that a little too early?” Evans couldn’t help but say, “My ability is easily envied. Should I continue to hide my identity?”

“You’re already a Beyond Grade A, and it’s time to make a name for yourself. Besides, you’re going to participate in the war, and it’s useful to practice cooperation with others in advance.” Han Xiao squeezed his shoulder and said, “Besides, with me around, you don’t have to worry about hidden arrows. Apart from external enemies, no one can do anything to you.”

“Alright.”

Evans nodded.

Decades of secret cultivation were naturally very difficult to endure, and having just advanced to Beyond Grade A, it was the time to make a name for himself. Although he thought that continuing to hide his identity was the best choice from Black Star’s point of view, he didn’t want to continue hiding. He was happy to hear that he could finally make his debut.

The others naturally had no objections, but they were secretly muttering that with such a powerful man with a strong Esper ability joining, he might be the strongest vice legion commander in the future, and they would all have to stand aside.

Even Hela strongly suspected that she would not be able to beat Evans after he grew up.

“No, if this continues, my position will be in danger!”

Hela became alert, and a burst of inspirational mentality erupted in her chest.

It was fine to be inferior to Black Star in the legion, but she didn’t want to see others standing on her head.

If Black Star hadn’t asked her to do something, she would have wanted to return to the Land of Lingering Souls and seclude herself for ten or eight years.

…

Central Star Sea, border of the EsGod civilization.

A massive official fleet dominated the border哨所, welcoming a ship with the Black Star Army logo slowly entering.

The ship docked at the spaceport terminal, and Han Xiao walked down with Hela and Evans, and saw Urnos waiting for him, with an EsGod high official next to him.

“I didn’t expect you to pick me up. Is this little matter enough to trouble you?” Han Xiao raised an eyebrow.

“After all, the Universal Treasure is a weapon that EsGod equips me with. Since it’s going to be unsealed, I naturally have to be present.” Urnos nodded slowly.

Han Xiao glanced at him, tsked, and teased, “Stop spouting nonsense, I think EsGod is obviously worried that I’ll do something, so they called you over to hold down the fort. It’s really hurtful. I said I’ll fulfill the transaction, so I’ll definitely return the Universal Treasure to you. Are you so untrusting of my credibility?”

Urnos secretly rolled his eyes and didn’t bother to respond.

You only just revealed the Gode incident a few days ago, can we rest assured?

Besides, your credibility is inherently erratic, neither high nor low. Who in the universe doesn’t know that your temperament is elusive, sometimes good and sometimes bad? Before things are settled, who dares to completely trust you? You’re really thick-skinned…

Urnos slandered him a few times, waved his hand, and had the EsGod soldiers carry over a piece of Temporal Amber, which was the one sealing the Universal Treasure.

“Your Excellency Black Star, please.” The EsGod official coughed and raised his hand to make an inviting gesture.

Han Xiao glanced at him, didn’t say anything, and flipped his hand to take out the Temporal Amber itself and poked it lightly.

In the next moment, the Temporal Amber, which the Light Federation and the EsGod civilization had researched for many years but had never been able to break, shattered like a bubble, making a “pop” sound.

The Universal Treasure fixed in mid-air immediately fell. Before it could land, it was grabbed by Urnos, who quickly checked it to make sure there were no problems before nodding to the EsGod official beside him.

Seeing this, the EsGod official’s tense body relaxed, exhaled, and smiled. “Thank you, Your Excellency Black Star.”

“Thank you for what? It’s just a transaction.” Han Xiao didn’t care, but instead teased, “Why don’t you check a little more? Don’t forget that I’m the only Transcendent Grade now. Maybe I did something that you won’t be able to detect for a while?”

“… Cough, you’re really joking.”

The EsGod official’s expression stiffened. He said that, but he wasn’t sure in his heart, and secretly gave Urnos a look.

Urnos’s eyes twitched, and he had to lower his head to check carefully again.

“Don’t rush, check slowly, we have plenty of time. If you suspect, you have to suspect to the end.” Han Xiao chuckled from the side.

“You’re being too serious…”

The EsGod official smiled awkwardly.

After a dozen seconds, Urnos raised his head again, glared at the EsGod official, and said in a deep voice, “There’s no problem.”

“That’s good. I’m leaving if there’s nothing else.”

Han Xiao nodded, took the two of them on the ship, took off, and left for the Crimson Dynasty. This trip was just to unseal the Universal Treasure on the way.

Watching the ship leave, the EsGod official finally breathed a sigh of relief, took the Universal Treasure from Urnos, solemnly put it in a special container, and had the soldiers take it to the main ship to store it, waiting to be transported back to the mother planet… This thing was nominally Urnos’s weapon, but in reality it still belonged to the EsGod.

“After nearly a century, the Universal Treasure has finally returned to our hands…”

The EsGod official sighed, but found that he wasn’t as excited as he imagined.

The Universal Treasure was a single-target assassin’s weapon aimed at individual power. In the past, it was indeed terrifying, but now that the era has completely changed, Beyond Grade As have the benefits of Sanctuary revival, and the role of this thing has been greatly weakened.

In addition, Black Star has also pioneered a new level of power. The lethality of the Universal Treasure is probably not a threat to this guy at all, let alone the fact that he has the Temporal Amber, a defensive treasure…

The situation is so grim that it’s impossible to be happy!

The EsGod official’s expression was complicated. He turned his head to look at Urnos and sighed. “You must succeed in advancing. In terms of individual power, the EsGod will rely on you to compete with Black Star in the future.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t fail this time.”

Urnos nodded lightly, answering casually. His mind wasn’t on this, but on recalling Evans, who had just been following Han Xiao.

From this unfamiliar guy, he also felt the aura of a Beyond Grade A, and even faintly felt that this guy was not simple.

‘Strange, when did Black Star have this unfamiliar Beyond Grade A by his side? He seems to be his subordinate…’

…

Crimson Dynasty, a secret military base.

This was the Dynasty’s prison for imprisoning Otherworldy Deities. At this time, a batch of Dynasty fleets was gathered here, and the commander of the team was Han Xiao’s old acquaintance, Tarrokov.

The frontline harassment war didn’t require entanglement, only indiscriminate bombing of the World Tree army. Therefore, most of the high-level military officers were out of missions, and all of them had been transferred back to attend the special military training courses opened by the three great civilizations.

The courses of study were new tactical ideas specially formulated based on the tactical habits displayed by the World Tree civilization in the past two years of war. These things were constantly summarized experiences as understanding deepened, so as to continuously strengthen the tactical capabilities of high-level military officers against the World Tree.

Today was the moment to fulfill the transaction and let Black Star deal with the Otherworldy Deity, so Tarrokov, who happened to be free, was pulled over to be in charge of commanding the defense fleet to prevent accidents.

“I really didn’t expect that in the blink of an eye, Black Star would create a new level of power…”

In the main ship’s command room, Tarrokov browsed the intelligence data these days and couldn’t help but let out a low sigh. His thoughts drifted away, and he thought of the first time he met Black Star.

Back then, Black Star had just entered Beyond Grade A, and he was only a colonel in the Dynasty’s military. They had a pleasant conversation, and he even asked him for technical advice. When they parted, Black Star even gave him mechanical weapons. At that time, how could he have imagined that what was just a newly joined Beyond Grade A who joined the Dynasty as usual would become such a big figure in less than a hundred years? He was not only a confidant of the three great civilizations but also their backing for foreign wars.

At the beginning, the two of them would occasionally send messages back and forth, but later, as their positions became higher and higher, everyone became very busy, and contact gradually decreased. Although he had now become an important high-level military officer in the Dynasty, having been promoted countless times and almost reaching the top of the Dynasty’s system, his status was still worlds apart from Black Star.

Tarrokov shook his head and couldn’t help but ponder.

“Power beyond Beyond Grade A… I wonder how many troops it would take to kill a Transcendent Grade individual power…”

Tactical deduction of using the army to kill individual power had always been an important course for Dynasty military officers. Although large-scale fleets could encircle and kill Beyond Grade As, it also emphasized efficiency and success rate. After all, individual power was very flexible, and only by using reasonable targeted tactics could individual power be killed efficiently at the lowest cost.

Tarrokov had been studying these tactics for many years, using each Beyond Grade A as a hypothetical enemy and formulating many targeted tactics according to different abilities to improve the Dynasty’s tactical inventory. Deducing these tactics had almost become his instinct.

Even Dynasty’s direct descendants were his simulation combat targets. This was based on considerations of position and professional ability and did not involve personal grudges.

Therefore, although the two were friends, Tarrokov’s first consideration, besides admiration, was how to kill Black Star. Business was business.

“Unfortunately, without enough information, I can’t conduct new deductions and simulations… But this guy has advanced, and he’s only stronger than before. I estimate that the success rate is still zero.”

After thinking for a while, Tarrokov helplessly gave up on the deduction.

He had made Black Star a hypothetical enemy more than once. Even before Han Xiao advanced, all of his thousands of simulations had ended in failure. Black Star was one of the very few Beyond Grade A hypothetical enemies with a zero success rate of killing. It should be known that even troublesome guys like Manison and Kasuyi had a few ten thousandths of a success rate of killing in tactical deductions that didn’t consider casualties.

“I hope I can collect enough information this time…”

Tarrokov shook his head.

In addition to preventing accidents, he also had the task of collecting Black Star’s intelligence. Since Black Star was going to kill the Otherworldy Deity, he would definitely take action, so he could take the opportunity to observe what level the Transcendent Grade power was at.

As he was thinking, the reconnaissance outpost sent intelligence that the fleet that went out to meet them had brought Han Xiao and his party in.

He looked up and saw several Dynasty battleships leading the way at the edge of the military base, followed by a Black Star Army ship. The radar showed that there were three high-energy-level powerful individuals inside.

Soon, the ship entered the main ship, and Han Xiao brought Hela and Evans to the command room.

“Hello, Your Excellency Black Star, we meet again.” Tarrokov took the initiative to step forward and extended his hand.

“We’re old acquaintances, there’s no need to be so polite.” Han Xiao didn’t put on airs and shook his hand with a smile.

“We’ve already opened the Otherworldy Deity’s prison, and you can unseal him at any time.”

Tarrokov nodded and subtly glanced at the two people next to him, a hint of doubt flashing in his eyes.

Black Star’s goal this time was to send the Otherworldy Deity to the Netherworld, so he could understand why he brought Hela, but who was this other unfamiliar Beyond Grade A?

Noticing Tarrokov’s gaze, Han Xiao let Evans come over and introduced him.

“This is Evans, the new vice legion commander of the Black Star Army, a promising Beyond Grade A Esper who has been secretly training in the legion for many years.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Evans politely nodded in greeting.

Tarrokov also returned the greeting slightly, but he was surprised in his heart.

Why hadn’t he seen this person’s information before? It seemed like he had popped out of nowhere. He should have left some records when he was at the Calamity Grade, right? Could it be that this guy had never been active in the outside world and had been secretly cultivated to Beyond Grade A by the legion?

Tarrokov was secretly shocked, feeling that the hidden power of the Black Star Army was deeper than he had imagined.

However, he didn’t forget the goal of this transaction and tentatively asked.

“Your Excellency Black Star, it’s said that you will use Gode to exchange for the Otherworldy Deity’s life. I wonder if you’re ready?”

“Don’t worry, I brought him here.”

Han Xiao raised his finger, and several mechanical assistants walked into the room carrying an imprisonment device and placed it beside him.

With a movement of his strength, the imprisonment device immediately turned into mechanical particles and was all taken away by him. Gode inside immediately fell to the ground.

Hela expressionlessly took a few steps forward, grabbed the back of Gode’s collar, and lifted him up, revealing a hollow and lifeless appearance.

“Your Excellency Gode!”

Tarrokov’s expression changed, and he hurriedly stepped forward to observe.

However, Evans took the lead and reached out to stop him, saying slowly, “The transaction hasn’t been completed yet, so we can’t give you the person.”

Hearing this, Tarrokov had to stop, looking at Gode’s extremely weak appearance, as if he had been abused a lot. Anger couldn’t help but erupt in his heart, and he said in a deep voice.

“Black Star, don’t forget that after the transaction is completed, the Dynasty is still waiting for your explanation!”

The Dynasty had been played around in the beginning, and even let Black Star be the leader of the special team to investigate the real culprit. It was simply a farce, and Black Star was probably laughing at them behind their backs.

Thinking of this, Tarrokov couldn’t help but feel the anger of his country being humiliated, and his tone became impolite.

Hearing this, Han Xiao smiled and ignored him. Instead, he came to Gode, and his shadow covered the other person’s entire body.

“This is… the Crimson Dynasty? What are you trying to do by bringing me here?”

Gode’s wooden gaze turned slightly, and suddenly there was a bit of spirit again.

“Of course, it’s to return you to the Dynasty.”

Hearing this, Gode was stunned for a moment and was subconsciously happy, but suddenly he reacted and his mood fell back to the bottom.

If it were in the past, he would have been happy, but now that his ability had been taken away, what could he do even if he returned to the Dynasty?

First, he took away his hope, and now he was giving him another meaningless hope. Gode only felt that Black Star was playing with him, killing him mentally.

“… Do you think you can fool the Dynasty by giving me a strange identity? I’m a pure Dynasty direct descendant. What you did to me will always be your stain, and you will pay the price sooner or later!”

Gode cheered up and put on a righteous and indignant look, feeling resentful in his heart.

In his opinion, Han Xiao was sending him back to the Dynasty just to force him to admit the identity of the Otherworldy Deity and whitewash the behavior of attacking the Dynasty’s direct descendants. He would never let the other party get what they wanted.

Han Xiao didn’t care, “I know you won’t admit it, it doesn’t matter. I didn’t bring you here this time to ask you to explain anything. I mainly want to let you see how I’m going to kill your main body.”

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a commotion outside the window. A huge base prison unfolded layer by layer, revealing the Otherworldy Deity locked in amber.

Gode subconsciously looked over, and his heart suddenly tightened.

Not only did you take away my Esper ability, but you also want to ravage my original body in front of me?!

F*ck your ancestor, do you have to be so extreme? Can you please just kill me?!

You said I’m a villain, but you’re more like a villain than me!