Chapter 1 A New Beginning

Li Miaomiao and Xu Lixing were very worried, but they also knew that once the human race issued an order, they had no choice but to accept it.

They didn't log into the virtual world network anymore, but instead spent quality time with Xu Jingming.

"The Tianmang Star System is close to the Prison Clan, so it is often raided and attacked by the Prison Clan Origin Lifeforms." Xu Jingming sat in the courtyard, chatting with his daughter. "In the Tianmang Star System, almost every life-bearing planet is likely to be attacked. Once a Prison Clan Origin Lifeform arrives, it's a catastrophe for those life-bearing planets."

"Almost every life-bearing planet?" Xu Lixing's expression changed slightly. "Is it that serious?"

"Because a star system is so vast, with countless planets, some lucky ones might only encounter an attack once every hundred thousand years! But the life-bearing planets on the front lines will encounter an attack every few hundred years on average," Xu Jingming said.

Xu Lixing was still worried. "Is there almost no hope of escaping a Prison Clan Origin Lifeform attack?"

"Yes."

Xu Jingming nodded.

Even if there happened to be a human Origin Lifeform present, it would generally be difficult to protect the people of a life-bearing planet. When an enemy attack arrives… it's a doomsday catastrophe for the people of that planet!

"That's terrible," Xu Lixing whispered.

"The Hunter Star System is inside human territory, and rarely experiences war. But some star systems on the border have been constantly subjected to inter-racial conflicts," Xu Jingming said. "My job is to intercept those Prison Clan Origin Lifeforms. The number of Prison Clan experts is limited. If they are killed too much, they will naturally be afraid, and there will be less raiding."

Xu Lixing looked at her father and whispered, "Dad, you said you can guarantee your safety, right?"

"Hahaha…" Xu Jingming laughed. "Don't you know who your dad is? Your dad is the fastest genius in the contemporary human race to become an Origin Lifeform! The Primordial Research Institute will of course give me powerful technological weapons."

Xu Lixing nodded. "Dad, even with the most powerful weapons, you still have to be careful."

Xu Jingming could feel his daughter's concern.

"Come and eat." Li Miaomiao called from the dining room.

"Let's go." The father and daughter got up.

This dinner was personally prepared by Li Miaomiao.

…

Night.

Li Miaomiao lay in Xu Jingming's arms, silent for a long time. "Jingming, I'm a little uneasy."

"Life always has different stages. As an Origin Lifeform, I must enter a new stage." Xu Jingming comforted her. "Miaomiao, you have to learn to grow too. You also have to manage Pearwood Group. This is also your new stage."

"Yes."

Li Miaomiao responded softly. "I will definitely manage Pearwood Group well."

The couple enjoyed their rare time together. In the future, they would only be able to see each other in the virtual world network.

As for the next time they would meet in reality? No one knew how many years it would be.

…

Noon the next day.

Li Miaomiao, Xu Lixing, Xu Hong and his wife, Li Chen'an and his wife, and Grandpa Xu had all gathered to see Xu Jingming off.

"If anything happens in the future, contact me on the virtual world network at any time." Xu Jingming smiled. "I'm always online."

"We won't be by your side when you go to a different place," Xu's mother instructed. "You have to take care of yourself."

"Okay, Mom." Xu Jingming looked at his mother with a smile.

Grandpa Xu walked over, patted his grandson on the shoulder, and said, "Grandson, on the battlefield, be cautious and don't be reckless! Only by surviving can you deal damage. If you live to become a tenth-order Origin Lifeform, a cosmic legend, your value will be ten or a hundred times greater than it is now!"

"Got it, Grandpa." Xu Jingming nodded. "I definitely won't be reckless."

Xu Lixing rushed over and hugged Xu Jingming tightly, without saying a word.

"It's time to go."

Xu Jingming released his daughter.

Looking at his family in front of him, Xu Jingming smiled. "Next time we meet, I might be a tenth-order Origin Lifeform. I'm leaving!" With that, he disappeared without a trace.

The family stared blankly.

Had he just disappeared like that?

"Battlefield," Xu Hong muttered to himself. He had lived in a peaceful era since he was a child and had never experienced war. He didn't expect that in the cosmic era, his son would have to go to the battlefield.

"Our son is the most outstanding," Xu's mother said from the side, her eyes full of hope, hoping that her son would survive safely on the alien race battlefield.

******

Xu Jingming stood in the starry sky, looking at the beautiful blue planet in front of him.

"I'm leaving."

Xu Jingming immediately began long-distance traversal.

Although the Primordial Research Institute had equipped him with an ordinary standard spaceship, with the No. 9 Primordial Battle Armor, Xu Jingming was one of the few in the entire Primordial Research Institute whose battle armor traversal distance surpassed that of spaceships.

"I've been studying the spacetime wormhole model for these days, and I have a deeper understanding of it. I can also better utilize the Primordial Battle Armor's 'space traversal' function. The maximum distance I can traverse in one go is 290 million light-years." Xu Jingming only felt the surrounding spacetime distort, and instantly traversed through it. When the surrounding spacetime stabilized, he had already left the Wugou Star Alliance and arrived in a dark area.

"It's truly worthy of being the Primordial Battle Armor that the entire Primordial Research Institute is best at using to escape," Xu Jingming sighed. "According to Chief Secretary Heitian, in terms of escaping and protecting one's life, Vice Dean Chimon's No. 1 Primordial Battle Armor is not as good as No. 9. What I need to do is to maximize its power."

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

Xu Jingming repeatedly performed long-distance space traversals. He only needed to confirm that the approximate area he was landing in was free of fatal dangers.

Wearing the No. 9 Primordial Battle Armor, he could walk as if on flat ground even inside a black hole. There were very few places that could pose a threat to him, and it was easy to avoid them.

"For a spaceship to start, launch, and be fully prepared for wormhole traversal… it all takes time! And after one traversal, it needs a long time to cool down."

"But the Primordial Battle Armor can traverse instantly. After traversing, it only needs to stabilize the surrounding spacetime, which takes only a few seconds, before it can perform the next traversal. The efficiency is much higher."

Xu Jingming, as an individual, crossed countless galaxies, endless dark areas, and star systems one after another.

"I've arrived."

Xu Jingming's speed of cosmic traversal was enough to make 99% of tenth-order Origin Lifeforms envious. In just about ten minutes, he arrived at his destination—the Ansu Star Alliance in the Tianmang Star System.

"The Ansu Star Alliance has a maximum diameter of 830 million light-years. Let me choose a life-bearing planet in the central region." With two space traversals, Xu Jingming saw a blue life-bearing planet.

"That's it, Ji Water Star." With a thought, Xu Jingming rented a house on Ji Water Star through the virtual world network, with a lease term of ten years.

…

Ji Water Star, Ansu Star Alliance, Tianmang Star System.

This was an ordinary life-bearing planet with a population of over three billion. The 'noble district' was located in the most prosperous area of the planet, inhabited by over a hundred million people. The powerful figures in the starry sky were almost all gathered here.

In the evening, the sky was filled with afterglow, painting half the sky red.

"This is it."

Xu Jingming was wearing a light gray close-fitting robe, which was also the traditional clothing of Ji Water Star. When Xu Jingming landed on the planet, he glanced at the clothing of countless people on the planet and slightly changed his own appearance.

On the edge of the noble district, Xu Jingming arrived at a villa. The villa door opened automatically, and a smart robot greeted him.

"Sir Ming, welcome to residence number 1033 of the North Fang Group. For the next ten years, I will serve you wholeheartedly." The smart robot was humble and polite.

Xu Jingming nodded and walked in.

After taking a tour of the residence, Xu Jingming leisurely walked out of the house to stroll around the neighborhood. After all, he would be stationed here in the Ansu Star Alliance, so he should familiarize himself with the place where he would be living in the future.

He saw a sword dojo on the street not far away. There was a name on the front door of the sword dojo.

"Four Seasons Sword Dojo." Xu Jingming nodded slightly.

"The Prison Clan Origin Lifeforms raid and plunder, looting all kinds of resources, and they also focus on looting 'virtual hosts'," Xu Jingming knew this. "The Prison Clan's technological strength is far inferior to that of the human race. Although they can manufacture virtual hosts, the cost is dozens of times higher than it is for the human race. As for buying them? Virtual hosts sold to alien races… are priced at least ten times higher."

"So in the Tianmang Star System, 99% of the life-bearing planets do not have virtual hosts."

"Ordinary planetary lifeforms don't dare to directly learn genetic evolution methods, fearing that their genes will collapse. So they have to learn some simplified training methods." Xu Jingming knew this.

With a virtual host, they could directly try the evolution method in the virtual world, trying again and again until they succeeded.

Without a virtual host?

They had to learn simplified methods, step by step from low to high, until they finally mastered the evolution method.

"Even if it's simplified, even if it's divided into several steps to improve slowly, there are still many failures. If they fail, they will be lightly injured, and if they are severely injured, their bodies will collapse and they will die," Xu Jingming sighed inwardly.

"So in the Tianmang Star System, the vast majority of planetary lifeforms have to risk their lives to evolve from the very beginning."

"And the schools that teach simplified training methods are everywhere, and even many schools of thought have formed," Xu Jingming thought to himself.

After all, too many people were studying 'simplified evolution methods', including Origin Lifeforms. Over a long period of time, many schools of thought naturally formed.

The Four Seasons Sword School…

Was a relatively famous school of thought. The Four Seasons Sword Dojos could be seen on many life-bearing planets in the Tianmang Star System.

"Bring me your restaurant's signature dishes." Xu Jingming came to a nearby restaurant, asked the waiter to prepare dishes for him, and sat in a corner to wait.

Soon the food and drinks were served.

Xu Jingming ate, drank, and savored them.

"Not bad." Xu Jingming was quite surprised. At this time, he saw a teenager with a sword bag on his back walking out of the Four Seasons Sword Dojo in the distance.

"Hmm?"

Xu Jingming glanced over. "This teenager, probably fifteen or sixteen years old, has already mastered the complete evolution method?"

The teenager, Qiu Qingke, carried his sword bag and was still thinking, "I still owe 900,000 in loans, but it's worth it to be able to borrow a virtual room once to take the last step and master the complete evolution method."

"Borrowing a virtual room for one hour costs a million. It's really expensive," the teenager thought to himself. "Fatty has borrowed a virtual room for more than a hundred hours and hasn't mastered the complete evolution method. I only borrowed it twice and succeeded. It's a pity, I'm poor."

"Mom and Dad, you two are really carefree, selling the house and buying two cosmic travel tickets and leaving, completely ignoring your son," the teenager carried his sword bag to Fatty's house. "I have to be Fatty's sparring partner! Fatty's dad is really generous with money."

The teenager suddenly glanced at a customer in a restaurant on the street. It was a man wearing a light gray robe, who was looking at him.

Their eyes met.

The man in the light gray robe nodded slightly.

"Who is this uncle? I come here every day, I've never seen this person before. Could he be from the Sinister Group? My master said that people from the Sinister Group will抓人 (zhua ren - kidnap people) to fight in dark life-and-death matches," the teenager Qiu Qingke thought to himself, and then quickly left.

"This kid, is he a little afraid of me?" Xu Jingming was slightly puzzled. "I've concealed my aura very well, I'm just an ordinary person."

After finishing his food and drinks in a few mouthfuls, Xu Jingming paid the bill and left.

"It's time to practice with the Primordial Battle Armor."

Whoosh.

Walking on the street, Xu Jingming disappeared silently. The entire monitoring system of Ji Water Star did not detect any anomalies.

…

Dozens of light-years away from Ji Water Star, in a starry sky.

"I have to study the various functions of the No. 9 Primordial Battle Armor to make myself fight more effectively against the Prison Clan Origin Lifeforms." Xu Jingming had previously been patiently studying the spacetime wormhole model, but after receiving the transfer order, he focused on 'increasing combat power'.

"In terms of preserving my life and escaping, I'm already very strong. This is the biggest advantage of the No. 9 Primordial Battle Armor, and with some effort, I've achieved good results. Killing enemies, on the other hand, requires more effort."

Xu Jingming stood in the starry sky and began to experiment.