A sound tore through the heavens, its force enough to shatter peaks.
Chen Lin never imagined that the moment he mentioned the Artisanship Commission, something truly catastrophic would occur there in the next instant.
“Damn it! My ears almost burst—what’s that noise?”
“No idea. I was just bandaging Old Six’s wounds when that explosion nearly scared my soul out of my body!”
“Same here! I even tore the gauze in half…”
“….”
The Cloud Knights, busy with their tasks, burst into chatter as all eyes turned toward the golden radiance stretching out from the Arbor’s branches in the distance. The Artisanship Commission’s once-dark night now shone like daylight, even the shadiest alleys were bathed in an otherworldly glow.
For the ordinary Xianzhou people, this spectacle might as well have been divine intervention.
It wasn’t until the commanding officers barked out sharp reprimands that the troops returned to their disciplined state.
In truth, this was understandable. Most of the Cloud Knights were ordinary humans. The reason they could fight evenly against powerful Abundant Beasts and easily cut down the corrupted Disciple Sanctus members was thanks to the advanced equipment they carried.
Though the knights relied on their swords in melee combat, their arsenal was full of surprises. At a moment’s notice, a wrist-mounted energy beam could shoot from their sleeves, or they might activate a mechanism to release a sword-shaped energy wave to cut through enemies. Some weapons even contained hidden explosives, capable of blasting foes away in close combat.
These peculiar techniques came from the Artisanship Commission’s collaboration with the Divination Commission. By combining mechanical ingenuity with array formations, they stumbled upon unique forms of weaponry. Over millennia, the Xianzhou refined these techniques into the Cloud Knights’ modern arsenal.
Thus, it was natural for the younger knights, untested in battles against the Abundance, to be momentarily awed by the Arbor’s miraculous phenomena. However, their unwavering loyalty to the Xianzhou and disciplined training ensured no one would be swayed toward sympathy for their eternal enemy.
Under their officers’ orders, the Cloud Knights resumed their sweeps and medical treatments without delay.
Fu Xuan, her expression grim, gazed at the distant display. She spoke slowly, “What sort of Arbor-born abomination could cause such a phenomenon?”
“I’ll try to contact them and find out,” Chen Lin replied.
“That’ll be difficult. The chaotic energy over there makes communication tricky.”
“I have other methods—I don’t need the shared perception beacons.”
As Chen Lin spoke, he began establishing contact with the Astral Express.
However, the Artisanship Commission was far away, and being near the Arbor closest to the revived Stellaron made his psionic connection highly unstable. Left with no better option, he turned to the newly obtained Zroni Void Realm for assistance.
He recalled clearly what the last warrior of the Zroni race had said: the Void Realm was connected to any coordinate in the universe. Given that its activation tied into warp technology, it should also allow communication, provided he had the proper coordinates.
Coordinates…
In this chaotic environment, the shared perception beacons could easily give inaccurate coordinates. Even manually tweaking the position would be time-consuming and inefficient.
After deliberating, Chen Lin decided to use the consciousness essence locked in his mental space to pinpoint the location.
This essence didn’t belong to Chen Lin himself—he had no such thing. Instead, it was collateral forcibly taken from Phantylia, serving as a means to track her life and death.
Using Phantylia’s consciousness essence as a guide, Chen Lin quickly locked onto her current position. Coupled with the psionic vision he had left near the Artisanship Commission, he determined her exact coordinates.
“Sis, I’ll leave things here to you. I need to check what’s going on over there.”
Fu Xuan instinctively nodded but immediately realized something odd in his phrasing.
You’re going to check? How?
Curiosity bubbled in her heart—just how far could imperial psionics go in communication? But the situation was urgent, so she didn’t ask and simply said, “Leave it to me.”
Before her words were even finished, a deep purple vortex appeared before Chen Lin, swallowing him whole before vanishing without a trace. Fu Xuan stood there, hands on her hips, her expression bemused.
“Forget it. I can’t even begin to understand whatever this psionic thing is…”
Inside the Zroni Void Realm, Chen Lin immediately began spending psionic energy to “cast stones and test the way.” After hundreds of failed attempts, he finally locked onto the intended coordinates.
Using the mental link he established, he swiftly opened a view of the Artisanship Commission. The scene zoomed in rapidly until it focused on Phantylia.
As expected, the cunning fox was far from the battlefield, lounging on a wooden walkway and grinning as she watched the Astral Express team struggle on a nearby platform.
“Phantylia.”
“?!”
Startled, Phantylia jolted upright at the sound of Chen Lin’s voice, her head darting left and right in search of the source.
“Don’t bother looking. You won’t see me. Just step back and talk.”
“L-Lord Chen?” Phantylia, though well-versed in such matters, was visibly shaken. While her consciousness essence tied her fate to Chen Lin, she knew its capabilities better than anyone. It wasn’t meant for communication. Hearing his voice reverberate around her was unnerving. She stammered, “Aren’t you at the Alchemy Commission?”
“I am. But the commotion from the Artisanship Commission was too loud to ignore, so I came to see what’s going on. What’s the deal with that stag?”
Phantylia’s expression stiffened. She had no idea how Chen Lin could see the situation here but didn’t dare test his patience. Backing away several steps, she lowered her voice and said, “My lord, that stag is one of the Arbor’s spirit beasts. No matter how grievous the injury, it heals instantly. Beyond that, I’m not sure.”
On the platform, the Astral Express crew was locked in a grueling battle against the massive stag. Even March 7, who managed to land a precise arrow in its eye, watched in horror as the wound closed in seconds. Her moment of triumph nearly turned disastrous when the stag charged, almost tearing her skirt apart at the seams.
Everyone in the Artisanship Commission was preoccupied, each member of the Astral Express team scrambling to hold their ground.
“My lord,” Phantylia continued, “do you see the golden shrub beneath its hooves? Especially the fruit?”
Chen Lin followed her direction and spotted a golden bush about a meter tall. Hanging from its branches was a large, luscious fruit, its appearance temptingly vibrant.
“That fruit feels… unnatural.”
“It is. Legend has it that the ancestors of the Xianzhou gained their immortal bodies by consuming the divine fruit borne of the Arbor. This is likely such a fruit.”
This lord can see everything here, Phantylia marveled internally, though she didn’t dare say it aloud.
“Forget it. I’m not interested in that thing. And I doubt you are either. Just tell me—do you know how to kill that stag?”
“Not at all,” Phantylia admitted.
When silence fell, she grew nervous, fearing Chen Lin’s displeasure. Hurriedly, she added, “But my lord, do you know what’s entangled by the Arbor’s roots behind the stag? That’s the Creation Forge, a great furnace where Artisanship Commission artisans forged divine weapons. Sealed within it is a race called Heliobi, beings like myself. They were punished long ago for their crimes against the Xianzhou.”
Heliobi…
Like Phantylia, the Heliobi were spiritual entities capable of easily forming symbiotic relationships with organic beings. However, the Heliobi were far from benevolent. Initially, their parasitic bond seemed harmless, but once established, the Heliobi would seize complete control of their host.
In the past, many Xianzhou people had fallen victim to the Heliobi’s parasitism, leading to a massive crisis. Ultimately, the Xianzhou retaliated with such ferocity that the Heliobi were nearly exterminated. Their leader was defeated, and the remnants of their race were sealed within each Xianzhou vessel, forced into eternal servitude as reparations for the damage they had caused.
Effectively, the Heliobi were sentenced to “lifelong labor,” reduced to slaves working endlessly to atone for their past crimes.
Phantylia noticed Chen Lin’s thoughtful silence and eagerly chimed in, “It seems you’re familiar with the Heliobi, my lord! You truly are knowledgeable! While I don’t know everything, I can tell you this: if anything happens to the Creation Forge, the Luofu may suffer catastrophic retaliation from the Heliobi, and the death toll will be unimaginable. Perhaps this situation could be leveraged to secure favors, and even I might benefit from it!”
Leverage my ass, Chen Lin thought grimly. When this blows up, the Xianzhou won’t even bother granting you a quick death.
Instead of responding to her flattery, he looked at her with mild disdain. “Enough. I’ll consult with Fu Xuan to see if she knows how to handle this. Your job is to make sure nothing happens until I give you the solution. Got it?”
Phantylia wanted to protest, but with her life in his hands, she had no choice but to nod submissively.
“No problem!”
“I’ll contact you again after I gather more information.”
As Chen Lin’s voice faded, the eerie sensation of his presence dissipated. The all-encompassing sound, as though it had surrounded her from all directions, vanished. Phantylia let out an involuntary sigh of relief but couldn’t shake a lingering sense of dread.
If Chen Lin could monitor her so closely while they were both on the Xianzhou, that was one thing—she had already resigned herself to the idea that every aspect of her existence was laid bare to him.
But what if this extended beyond the Xianzhou?
Could he still watch me if I left?
Even now, Phantylia didn’t know how Chen Lin had managed to communicate with her or see her surroundings. The way his voice seemed to envelop her, as if she were trapped in some strange auditory bubble, was unnerving.
If I’m under constant surveillance even after leaving the Xianzhou, won’t I be completely at his mercy? Any plot to reclaim my consciousness essence would be impossible.
Her face grew ashen. Damn it… These methods are utterly unreasonable!
Back at the Alchemy Commission’s, Fu Xuan remained stationed at the rear lines, unaware of the developments on Chen Lin’s end. She focused instead on the strategist Qingzu’s report.
The more Fu Xuan listened, the more her unease grew, until she could no longer suppress her alarm. She followed Qingzu into a makeshift mortuary where the bodies of fallen Cloud Knights were laid out.
Nine corpses were arranged neatly on the ground, but each bore signs of severe physical deformities. The most extreme case had sprouted a third, twisted arm from its waist. Though entirely lifeless, their wounds were visibly healing—an eerie and unnatural sight.
“This… this is a sign of demonic corruption!” Fu Xuan exclaimed, her voice tinged with disbelief. “Bring me their records immediately!”
Qingzu, well-prepared, handed her a jade tablet. “Master Diviner, the oldest of these knights was only 537 years old—far from the age threshold for demonic corruption. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been assigned to this critical battle.”
Fu Xuan studied the records in silence. The jade tablet confirmed Qingzu’s words: the knights were all in their prime years. Yet judging by their corrupted state, they might as well have been centuries older.
It was as baffling as a young mortal suddenly afflicted with diseases typical of old age.
“Their health reports from earlier show nothing out of the ordinary,” Qingzu added, passing another jade tablet to Fu Xuan. “All indicators were well within normal ranges.”
BANG!
The door burst open as a young officer rushed in, his excitement palpable.
“Master Diviner! We’ve made a new discovery! In the northwest warehouse cellar, our brothers found more than a dozen malnourished survivors!”
—
T/N: what is suiyang yknow what ill just rename it to Heliobi
This is a fan translation of 在星穹铁道点群星科技树真的没问题吗? by 杏雨诗韵 All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!
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