Starforce Warriors-Chapter 881: Revived (1)

In the six months following the end of the battle at Stargate Base, the Planet Nock region remained free of conflict. No Reaper armies had emerged again from the spatial anchor points.

For the first time in its history, the Xiao Shi Battle Division, under the command of Xiao Shi, experienced a period of peace that lasted more than a month. Both military strength and civilian infrastructure underwent significant recovery and replenishment.

Li Xiaofei had not appeared before the public eye during this half-year period. The official explanation given by the Xiao Shi Battle Division was that he was still in seclusion, cultivating.

In truth, Li Xiaofei was indeed in seclusion. But it was a false seclusion. He had gone back to Heaven, using the Spatial Point Theft function of the Secret Time Pavilion. He could traverse vast distances in an instant, reaching any place he wished. Even the forbidden Purple Nebula Zone could not block his steps.

***

Heaven. The Thirty-Third Heaven. Doushuai Palace.

Dao sounds rumbled through the air, and immortal light flowed in radiant streams.

“It’s done!” Tan Qingying’s joyful cry echoed from within Doushuai Palace.

A streak of jade-green light shot out from the palace’s highest level, streaking rapidly toward the distant heavens.

“Oh no, the immortal pill is escaping!” Luo Ge’s voice followed swiftly after.

Two figures burst out from Doushuai Palace, chasing after that green stream of light. But it was already too late. They could no longer catch up. Just then, a surge of gold and silver light swept across the sky. A net woven from countless swords of light intercepted the streak of jade-green brilliance.

The green light changed directions multiple times, desperately attempting to flee. But in the end, it was blocked by the intertwined gold and silver sword-light. The dual-colored radiance shrank inward, gradually sealing the green glow into a fist-sized orb of light.

At last, the orb landed gently in a waiting palm. Li Xiaofei had arrived at the critical moment, intervened, and successfully intercepted the pill.

“Brother Xiaofei? You’re back!” Tan Qingying arrived shortly after, fluttering toward him like an excited rainbow-colored sparrow. Ignoring the immortal pill completely, she threw herself into Li Xiaofei’s arms.

Behind her, Luo Ge came to a halt, instantly feeling like she shouldn’t be there.

“This is the Sanqing Dahua Pill?” asked Li Xiaofei as he looked at the green pill resting in his palm.

It was roughly the size of a longan fruit. Its surface wasn’t smooth or lustrous, but rippled with visible patterns. It was twisting and coiling as if several flood dragons were interwoven across its shell, outlining the profound meaning of Yin and Yang energies.

A faint trace of life essence emanated softly from within the pill. It appeared unremarkable. But it was, in fact, a precious treasure capable of resurrecting soul bodies. It was the culmination of over three hundred years of planning and effort by the strategists of Heaven. It was finally completed.

Li Xiaofei let a faint smile curl across his lips. This Sanqing Dahua Pill was a sly little thing. Just moments ago, it had been radiating wild spiritual energy and trying to escape with all its might. And now? It was pretending to be docile. Clearly, it had developed sentience, and had tried to flee the moment the cauldron opened. But Li Xiaofei had seen too much in his life to be fooled by such tricks.

“This was the first batch. Only one pill was successfully formed,” said Tan Qingying, adopting the tone of a seasoned alchemist, carefully following a practiced routine to place the pill into a prepared jade vial.

Only then did she exhale in relief, tilting her delicate face upward with a hopeful expression. She was clearly expecting praise.

“But with this first experience,” she said confidently, “we’ll definitely be able to refine the Sanqing Dahua Pill much more efficiently next time!”

Li Xiaofei gently stroked her hair.

After many days apart, the young lady’s cultivation had advanced once again. Having undergone the baptism of life and death through the Blood-Drinking Sword, the days she spent refining pills in Heaven had also become a form of cultivation for her.

She had already broken through the Three Origin Realm and stepped into the Four Extremes Realm. Moreover, she had reached the third extreme within that realm. Only the final stage, Will remained, and she was still exploring and reflecting on how to break through it.

Beside her, Luo Ge had not encountered the rare and extraordinary opportunities that Tan Qingying had, but her strength had also progressed rapidly after living in the Heaven Realm and receiving the nourishment of spiritual energy and herbs. She had now reached the peak of the Yin-Yang Realm.

The group soon returned to Doushuai Palace. Little Aunt sat at the window, pen in hand, meticulously recording something. Successfully refining a pill for the first time was of critical importance to her.

She had to capture every step and detail of the process as quickly and accurately as possible, turning it into written records for future reflection and reference.

“Sit,” she said upon hearing Li Xiaofei’s return.

That one word was all she offered, since she was racing against time. The sooner they could refine more Sanqing Dahua Pills, the sooner they could begin reviving more heroic spirits.

The more allies she could restore, the faster the human race could seize the upper hand in the war across the Star Battlefield and ultimately defeat the Reapers completely.

At this moment, she wished she could divide herself into a hundred people just to get more done. Over the next thirty days, Li Xiaofei began assisting her in earnest. Little Aunt prepared for the second batch of pills, conducting endless calculations and trials until she finally entered an ideal state for pill refinement.

Forty-nine days passed in the blink of an eye. This time, the success rate was even higher. Three pills were successfully formed.

Having learned from the previous attempt, Li Xiaofei remained by the Eight Trigrams Furnace well in advance. As expected, the moment the furnace lid was lifted, three streams of light shot outward, trying to escape. But they were instantly caught by the prepared Li Xiaofei.

“Excellent!” Miss Tan jumped up in delight. Smiles lit the faces of everyone present.

Four pills were enough for now. They could finally begin considering the next step, which was attempting to resurrect the heroic spirits.

A cool breeze drifted through the air. Li Xiaofei arrived at the Cemetery of the Ancestors, now permanently established within Heaven. He gently knocked on one of the tombstones.

After much discussion among the heroic spirits, they had ultimately chosen Hua Xiangrong to be the first to be resurrected. She was the very same spirit Li Xiaofei had summoned during the battle in the Peach Garden.

As a former supreme goddess who had once governed the Heaven Realm, Hua Xiangrong possessed unparalleled knowledge of its inner workings. Her individual strength was also immense. If she was brought back to life, she would be able to contribute significantly to the reconstruction of Heaven and help prepare the path for the resurrection of other heroic spirits.

Heroic spirits had no physical bodies. Thus, they could not consume the pill. They had to fuse with it. Using the power of their soul form, they would envelop the Sanqing Dahua Pill, gradually digesting its energy until it fully merged into their essence, transforming the intangible into the tangible.

This was a true resurrection, and an act defying the natural order. Even with a cosmic treasure like the Sanqing Dahua Pill, the process remained perilous, as precarious as walking a tightrope above the abyss.

Hua Xiangrong chose to undergo this fusion and rebirth within the Peach Garden. Li Xiaofei stood guard day and night, protecting her without rest. The entire process lasted ten days and ten nights.

Thunderclouds gathered above the Peach Garden, rumbling ominously, as if divine tribulation could strike at any moment. Li Xiaofei’s heart sat in his throat. If a lightning bolt descended, he would have to intervene instantly.

Not even the slightest interference from external forces could be allowed to touch Hua Xiangrong’s forming body. Otherwise, the entire resurrection would fail.

Fortunately, the swelling thunderclouds ultimately dispersed without discharging a single strike by the time Hua Xiangrong finished fusing all four Sanqing Dahua Pills.

The white-robed goddess’s immortal body fully formed as she slowly rose within the Peach Garden. Divine flowers drifted through the air, and celestial music faintly echoed between heaven and earth. It was a scene like those spoken of in ancient legends, when someone achieved enlightenment and ascended to immortality.

Hua Xiangrong had returned to life. It was the first time Li Xiaofei had seen the true, living Hua Xiangrong with his own eyes. And yet, it felt utterly surreal.

How could a woman so exquisitely beautiful, so gentle and refined, truly exist in this world? Her beauty seemed unbounded by mortal limits, as though she belonged to another realm altogether.

Her robes flutter like clouds, her face outshines blooming flowers; spring breeze brushes the threshold, and dew glistens in morning light.

Li Bai’s[1] verse could not have been more fitting, it was as if it had been written solely for her.

“Many thanks to Young Friend Li for protecting me,” Hua Xiangrong spoke, her voice as soft and melodious as immortal music. There seemed to be a faint resonance of Dao itself within her words.

“It was my duty,” Li Xiaofei replied quickly, cupping his fists in respect.

He had already witnessed her grace and strength during the battle at the Peach Garden. Now, standing before her in person, his respect for this elder reached its peak. There wasn’t even the faintest ripple of an impure thought in his heart.

“Your Grace!” Little Aunt dashed forward.

After countless years, she had finally laid eyes upon her former mistress once more. This usually cold and composed woman could no longer contain herself. Tears of joy and overwhelming relief streamed down her face like rain.

“Wuwuwu... Your Grace, I missed you so much...” Little Aunt completely lost control of her emotions.

Hua Xiangrong stroked her hair like a gentle mother and whispered, “Good child, you’ve worked hard.”

The scene brought moisture to Li Xiaofei’s eyes as well. In the end, humans were emotional beings. Beside him, Miss Tan gently took his hand. The wind through the peach grove stirred around them, lifting their long hair, as if nature itself was breathing with joy.

Time passed peacefully. Li Xiaofei soon discovered something peculiar. Hua Xiangrong didn’t have a particularly strong energy aura. In fact, to be precise, it was astonishingly low. She had barely reached the level of a Black Hole level cosmic lifeform. While that rank was considered the absolute pinnacle in places like the Hundred Thousand Base Planets and Chongque City, in the Star Battlefield, especially for someone like Hua Xiangrong, once a supreme powerhouse of the human race, it was practically zero.

A short while later, within Doushuai Palace, Hua Xiangrong addressed the questions lingering in Li Xiaofei’s mind.

“During my previous life, I seldom took lives and accumulated great merit. Combined with my innate Purple Pole Chaos Dao Body, even defying the natural order did not trigger a heavenly tribulation. That’s also why everyone agreed I should be the first to undergo the pill fusion.”

“As for my cultivation,” she said with a gentle smile, “once resurrected, I became a blank slate. I must begin cultivating all over again to return to my former realm. This will take some time.”

Hua Xiangrong spoke with kindness and humility, showing not a hint of the arrogance one might expect from a once-mighty deity. She was warm and soft-spoken, like a gentle elder sister from next door. Every smile and every word felt like a breeze in spring.

She completely embodied the word gentle. Yet the idea of her needing to start her cultivation anew stirred a faint sense of melancholy in Li Xiaofei’s heart. The situation on the Star Battlefield was growing increasingly dire.

How long would it take for a heroic spirit to return to their former strength through cultivation? Centuries? Millennia? Would the ever-evolving and rapidly expanding Reapers grant humanity that kind of time?

He didn’t dare voice such doubts in front of Hua Xiangrong. But reality would soon prove that Li Xiaofei had underestimated her. Hua Xiangrong’s speed of cultivation would far surpass anything he had imagined.

1. Li Bai, also pronounced Li Bo, courtesy name Taibai, was a Chinese poet acclaimed as one of the greatest and most important poets of the Tang dynasty and in Chinese history as a whole. ☜