Swallowing the Stars: Analyzing All Things

Inside the spacecraft control room.

The information displayed on the screen remained silently arranged; the power distribution map of the Yilan family resembled an intricate spider web.

Centered on the planet Yilan, it radiates outwards to thousands of surrounding planets, with mines, trade routes, networks, and profit chains forming an intricate web.

Lin Yan's gaze lingered on the picture for a moment, finally settling on one of the names.

Yilanyuan.

The direct descendants of the old patriarch, Yi Lanyi.

In fact, with Lin Yan's current strength, he is fully capable of crushing a ninth-tier cosmic-level opponent head-on.

But he did not rush to take action.

This is not cowardice, but an instinct that seems to be etched into the soul.

Leaning back in his chair in the command room, Lin Yan's gaze passed through the exterior simulation and looked towards the eternal ocean of light in the dark universe.

He is the awakened memory of his past life.

It's not time travel or possession, nor is it soul taking over—

He is Lin Yan, the orphan that Uncle Chen picked up from the ruins, the boy who wandered around and desperately cultivated, and the warrior who fought bloody battles on the battlefield outside the realm.

All of this was something he experienced firsthand.

Every scar, every near-death experience, every moment of gritting his teeth and persevering in his training—all of these are his own.

only……

After the memories of the past life are awakened, everything changes.

It was an indescribable feeling, as if someone who could only see a two-dimensional plane had suddenly gained a three-dimensional perspective.

His way of thinking, his logic of action, and his judgment of the situation all underwent a qualitative transformation under the influence of that higher-dimensional memory.

The past life was only a few decades long, but it dominates the memories of this life spanning hundreds of years.

Better safe than sorry.

This is an ironclad rule etched into my memories of my past life.

According to Lin Yan's original plan, he should have broken through to the Domain Lord level in the extraterritorial battlefield before returning to Ningxuan Kingdom to seek revenge.

At that time, crushing a universe-level family with the strength of a domain lord will be as easy as crushing an ant.

But things didn't go as planned.

The eruption of Fengli Star disrupted all plans, and the turbulent cycle that would last for hundreds or even thousands of years forced him to return ahead of schedule.

Returning early means being unprepared, and being unprepared means increased risk.

And the risks...

It was the thing Lin Yan least wanted to face.

More importantly, he was unsure whether there were other people behind the Yilan family or whether other forces were involved.

Back then, Uncle Chen lived in seclusion on Lanyu Star. He and Lin Yan did not show any trace of themselves. However, not long after Uncle Chen passed on the Mirage Feather to him, the Yilan family came knocking on their door.

That's too fast.

It's abnormally fast.

Lanyu Star was just a remote planet with very few cultivators, and no one knew of their existence.

So how did the Yilan family obtain such accurate information in such a short time? This is simply not something a cosmic-level family could do.

There must be someone else behind this.

Lin Yan was almost certain of this.

That person is the real target he needs to deal with. The Yilan family is just a pawn. The most important thing is to follow the lines of the game and find the hand that holds the pieces.

"Domain Lord level".

Lin Yan muttered to himself, his gaze slightly fixed, "It's not that safe either."

Ideally, he would become the Lord of the Realm before seeking revenge.

At that time, with the strength of a Realm Lord, he could wipe out the entire Yilan family with a flick of his hand, and even the forces behind them would have to think twice about whether they were worth provoking.

However, the path to becoming a Realm Lord is extremely long. Even with the cheat code of the Broken Stone Slab, becoming a Realm Lord is not something that can be achieved in a short time.

However, the fact that the mastermind only mobilized a single cosmic-level family to deal with him and Uncle Chen reveals some information in itself.

Either the opponent's strength is not formidable, and there is no Domain Lord level to mobilize, or they are subject to some kind of restriction, unable to act openly, and can only use the Yilan family as a tool to carry out their tasks.

Whichever it is.

This implies that the other party is not invincible.

This return is just a small act of revenge, not the time for true retribution.

"The World of the Realm Lord..."

Lin Yan turned off the data screen, leaned back in his chair, and unconsciously rubbed the mirage feather in his palm with his fingers.

Is this psychic weapon with an extremely mysterious origin really just a key to a world master's realm?

He wasn't sure.

But Lin Yan knew that the secret of the Mirage Feather was far more profound than what Chen Bo knew in his lifetime, because Chen Bo was just a martial artist who had never truly refined and activated the weapon, the Mirage Feather.

……

The spaceship traveled through the dark universe for several days before finally returning and arriving at an inconspicuous planet within the Ningxuan Empire.

Rock Star!

This grayish-white planet is named for its abundance of rock minerals.

Rock Mine is a refining material for second-tier weapons. Although it is insignificant in the Ningxuan Empire, it is an important pillar of the Yilan family's industry.

The person in charge of managing these mines is one of the core members of the Yilan family, a direct descendant of the former patriarch Yilan Yi.

Yi Lanyuan, Hengxing level nine.

One of the few powerful figures in the Yilan family.

He has been operating on Rock Star for over a thousand years, keeping everything under his control, from mining to ore sales, from personnel management to profit distribution.

Lin Yan didn't want to directly attack the Yilan family's stronghold, Yilan Star, because doing so would alert the mastermind, making his revenge more difficult.

He needs a starting point.

A loophole that can both probe the Yilan family's trump cards and avoid alerting the real big fish.

And the Rock Star is that gap.

He will start from here, step by step, targeting the Yilan family's key industries and their core members, slowly cutting away at their flesh.

Cutting away piece by piece, until the Yilan family felt the pain to their very core, until they had no choice but to beg for help from the person behind the scenes, until the hand that held the chess pieces reached out from the shadows on its own.

Lin Yan's spaceship, although only a C4-class spaceship, was equipped with a D9-class detector, which was a spoil of war from an extraterritorial battlefield.

Even if the Ilan family values ​​Rock Star highly, it's impossible for them to install a D9-class probe there.

The spaceship quietly glided into the atmosphere of the planet Rock Star and eventually landed on a barren wasteland in the northern hemisphere.

It was dusk, local time. The setting sun had painted the sky a dark red, like congealed blood.

"Whoosh~"

Lin Yan stepped out of the cabin.

He raised his hand and put the spaceship into his spatial ring.

He then took out a jet-black battle sword from his spatial storage. The sword was long and narrow, with a slightly cold gleam at the edge. It was a third-tier weapon that he had obtained by chance while wandering the starry sky.

"Phew~"

After glancing around and confirming his location, Lin Yan quietly disappeared into the twilight.

Night falls.

The planet Panshi has no moon, and only sparse starlight shrouds the earth in darkness.

……