Then, Long Yun and his group were also drawn into the hectic war preparations of the Sanjinghai star system. The vast armadas filled the skies and lands, rivaling the might of the Empire’s invincible iron army. So much so that the dreadnought Endbringer accidentally strayed into the core zone of the Sanjinghai system and was soon surrounded by over a thousand warships who mistook it for an aggressor.
Fortunately, Elder Hertz appeared and prevented a major misunderstanding. From Hertz’s explanation, Long Yun and his companions learned that Yang Hao had already been elected the leader of the Anti-Empire Alliance and had entered the Divine Realm Trial. This group of people finally felt reassured and decided to temporarily reside in the Sanjinghai system, awaiting Yang Hao’s return from the Divine Realm.
Of course, Elder Hertz did not reveal to them that Yang Hao’s journey was practically a death sentence. Therefore, Long Yun and his group stayed in peace. Especially the Hao Sword Corps, under Long Yun’s and Maya’s guidance, experienced rapid growth in strength and began to resemble a true sword corps.
It must be said that the universe is ever-changing; thus, peace could not last. While Yang Hao was enduring life-and-death trials in the Divine Realm, a major event occurred in the Sanjinghai star system.
Sometimes, history is both unpredictable and fascinating. Events may seem accidental when they occur, but in hindsight, they are revealed as truly significant—without them, history might have taken an entirely different course.
Now was such a moment. An incident, both accidental and inevitable, occurred in the Sanjinghai star system, one that would reshape the entire cosmic balance. Its occurrence directly propelled the Anti-Empire Alliance onto the historical stage, initiating a prolonged and genuine war against the Galactic Empire.
One could say that the flames of war across the universe were ignited precisely by this event.
Though it sounds mysterious, the incident itself was quite simple. On that day, another fleet arrived in the Sanjinghai star system—a fleet belonging to the Empire.
Several months earlier, this would have been the most ordinary occurrence. Within the Galactic Empire, due to its vast territory, two primary human-technology centers had been established, both based on Earth-origin humans. One was the Galactic Core, the Empire’s central ruling region. The other was the Sanjinghai star system, which, relying on the rich silicon-based resources of the Sanjinghai star cluster and benefiting from generations of top-tier technological talent transferred by the Empire, had developed over the past century into another massive technology hub. It had become the largest warship manufacturing and supply base outside the Galactic Core, as well as the strongest base in the outer territories.
In fact, the Galactic Empire used the Sanjinghai star system as a boundary line: everything within it was considered the inner domain of the Empire, while everything beyond was classified as outer territory.
Due to Sanjinghai’s strategic importance, most Imperial fleets stationed in outer space would dock here for resupply. Only after being replenished at Sanjinghai could the mighty Imperial fleets travel from the outer territories back to the Galactic Core.
Such routine resupply missions had been standard for a century and were considered nothing out of the ordinary. But now, things had changed.
The first to change, of course, was the Sanjinghai star system itself. Over the past hundred years, the technological immigrants from Earth had gone through several generations, increasingly integrating with various alien races in the outer territories. They no longer felt connected to their ancestral home, instead feeling abandoned by it, and thus their love for the Galactic Empire had transformed into hatred. Meanwhile, the Empire’s attitude toward Sanjinghai remained extremely passive. From the Emperor down to the Privy Council and even the Senate, they regarded Sanjinghai merely as a colony—exploiting it relentlessly without ever considering sharing power.
The current governor of Sanjinghai, Steve, was already a third-generation technological immigrant, raised entirely within Sanjinghai. He had witnessed the Empire’s cruel exploitation of countless star systems in the outer territories. The Privy Council’s military, the Senate’s envoys, and even the fleets of the Lingfei Star Sea and merchant caravans all treated these systems like slaves.
Sanjinghai served as a midway rest and supply station for all these forces, a fact that deeply pained Steve. He did not wish for his own star system, the world he led, to become an accomplice to slaughter and exploitation—especially since Sanjinghai itself was also among the exploited.
Steve was a man of both talent and foresight. He understood that although the Galactic Empire appeared powerful, technologically advanced, and supported by countless fleets and powerful cultivation families, its internal organs had already rotted. The infighting between the Senate and the Privy Council had intensified, to the point where even the Emperor struggled to mediate. With the rise of resistance movements, the Empire’s expeditionary forces were increasingly stretched thin. Especially after losing the major recruitment base of the Bear Star System, it was easy to imagine that for a long time to come, the Empire would have to recruit new soldiers directly from the Galactic Core. For the population-starved Galactic Core, this would only exacerbate an already dire situation.
Diplomatically, the Empire was also in a bind. The long-standing system of military occupation and suppression had rendered civilian officials nearly useless. As a result, most officials had joined merchant groups, causing the power of the merchant class to grow rapidly—so much so that some had even established their own star systems, territories, and private armies. Once the Empire’s vanguard and spies during its expansion, these merchants had now become a new rising force, using political connections to entrench themselves. If left unchecked, they would undoubtedly become another major threat.
Therefore, Steve believed that the Galactic Empire was already terminally ill, and this was Sanjinghai’s greatest opportunity. If Sanjinghai joined the Resistance Alliance, it could immediately become the Alliance’s core force. With Sanjinghai’s technological and manufacturing capabilities rivaling the Empire’s, the Alliance’s strength would grow more than tenfold. Looking ahead, whether or not the Resistance Alliance could successfully overthrow the Empire, at the very least, it could carve out its own territory. Sanjinghai would naturally become the core of another empire, fully capable of standing on equal footing with the Galactic Core.
Because of this, Steve reached out to the previously scattered resistance groups spread across the outer territories and organized them into a tightly-knit structure. This organization had existed for many years, though it had previously taken no major action. But now, Steve believed the time was ripe—the Resistance Alliance was finally ready to challenge the Empire.
But just as Sanjinghai was preparing for war with great fervor, and Yang Hao was enduring life-and-death trials in the Divine Realm, an Imperial fleet suddenly appeared.
To others, this fleet might have seemed unfamiliar, but to Long Yun and his group, it was all too familiar—even painfully so. Not long ago, they had encountered it, fought against it, and witnessed one of the most spectacular and tragic spectacles of self-destruction in the cosmos.
The Sunset Fleet!!
This was the elite fleet directly under the Imperial Privy Council—the most powerful and arrogant force in outer space. Yet now, it had arrived in Sanjinghai battered and humiliated.
A month earlier, the Sunset Fleet would still have been swaggering arrogantly through the outer territories. Its commander, Lordonjie, even believed that all the military forces of the outer star systems combined could not rival the Sunset Fleet. He had a Titan-class flagship, over a thousand well-equipped warships, and coordination and combat capabilities that, while perhaps not reaching the pinnacle of the Imperial military, were unmatched in the outer territories.
Yet no one could have predicted that this invincible fleet would suffer heavy losses attacking Bear Star, nearly being wiped out entirely. Even more humiliating for Lordonjie was that they had teamed up with the Heaven King Fleet—one of the ten most elite family fleets—to fight Bear Star, a nearly technology-less, backward agricultural planet.
Yet Lordonjie still lost—catastrophically. The Heaven King Fleet was nearly annihilated, the Royal Sword Corps lost most of its members, and even Wang Mu, the top martial expert of the Wang family’s rising generation, was killed.
Lordonjie had originally believed that the Eclipse Weapon aboard the Titan-class flagship would turn the tide of battle. But unexpectedly, a strange ship appeared and caused the Eclipse Weapon to go haywire. The immensely powerful weapon, meant to be unmatched, ended up devastating the Sunset Fleet itself.
In the end, only a few hundred ships remained of the once-mighty fleet. With no strength left to maintain a presence in the outer territories, Lordonjie had no choice but to retreat to the Sanjinghai star system for resupply before deciding how to face the Empire’s high lords and explain his failure.
However, Sanjinghai’s greatest trouble had just begun.
A few people, still unaware of the coming storm, were summoned to the Governor’s Mansion in the Sanjinghai star system—Long Yun, Maya, XII, and those closest to them.
Having stayed in Sanjinghai for many days without seeing Yang Hao, they had already grown impatient. They had assumed this meeting would finally bring them face to face with Yang Hao. But who could have guessed that in that room crowned with a sapphire dome, several unexpected figures awaited them.
As Long Yun entered, he paused, then quickly stepped forward, kneeling on one knee and kissing the fingertips of one individual: “Great Ming Empress!”
The Ming Empress smiled. Though her complexion was pale, her noble aura remained undiminished: “General Long, you are no longer a minister of the Raymoon System. There is no need for such formalities.”
Long Yun stood and glanced around the room. Among those seated, he recognized only Elder Hertz, whom he had always disliked, so he merely nodded.
The Ming Empress introduced them one by one: “You already know Elder Hertz of Bear Star. This is Governor Steve of the Sanjinghai star system, and the man standing by with a gun on his back is Captain Lei of the Third Outer Mongol Column.”
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