From star gatherer to leader of humanity

Shattered Star Sea.

After Xu Bai piloted the spaceship two hundred million miles into the Shattered Star Sea, he activated the mineral exploration fluctuation.

"Huh~"

The energy feedback from the mineral exploration fluctuations was extremely strong, as if it were right next to the spaceship.

"What's going on?"

Xu Bai slowly slowed down the spaceship, observing the changes in the mineral exploration fluctuations.

It was eventually discovered that the source of the wave feedback was outside the spaceship.

"Hakimi, scan the outer layer of the spaceship." Xu Bai placed one hand on the screen.

"Yes, sir!"

Before long, a beam of light appeared in front of Xu Bai, with a small diamond-shaped crystal ore stuck on the outer shell of the cabin.

"Frosty Marrow Crystal! One gram contains one thousand strands of spiritual energy!"

While marveling at the sight, Xu Bai thought of the spaceship's lucky attribute.

"This works so fast!"

A slender robotic arm deftly pulled the Frost Marrow Crystal from the spaceship's hull and placed it into the storage compartment.

"80 grams! Not bad!"

Xu Bai was in a great mood and was about to start the spaceship when he suddenly seemed to remember something and took out the slip of paper that the salesman had given him from his pocket and opened it.

The note contained a simple coordinate and a sentence.

"Shattered Star City, a lawless city that has broken free from the control of the Immortal Sect?"

Xu Bai memorized the coordinates on the note, then crumpled it into pieces and scattered them into the Shattered Star Sea.

"The areas controlled by the Thirty-Six Immortal Sects are treacherous, but they are orderly. However, this city outside the law is not for the faint of heart; going there would be suicide."

The spaceship accelerated and continued its journey into deeper waters.

A day later, the mining spaceship reached the same depth where it had first encountered the Golden Core stage white jade giant serpent, but in a different location.

Along the way, Xu Baikai's exploration revealed many valuable mineral deposits, but he didn't stop there. Instead, he silently noted down the coordinates, planning to use them to fill any gaps in the ship's hold when he returned.

"Azure Stone!"

Before long, Xu Bai detected a rare mineral.

"One ton of 400 strands of spiritual energy, open the door for good fortune!"

Xu Bai maneuvered the spaceship and carefully approached it. It was a broken celestial body with blue veins on its surface, and the longest distance between them was only about 80 miles.

"78 tons, half a day, get started!"

The mining spacecraft firmly attached itself to the broken celestial body, and the hatches on both sides opened, allowing twenty intermediate mining engineering robots to leap out of the spacecraft and begin their work.

Xu Bai deployed 10 surveillance drones, activated automatic surveillance, and began his cultivation.

Half a day later, 78 tons of Qingming Stone were stored in the ship's hold, and Xu Bai continued mining.

"Azure Stone is one of the important materials for talisman masters to inscribe talismans. My father spent over a hundred strands of spiritual energy to buy 10 grams of it."

"Placed here, a ton only yields four hundred strands of spiritual energy, truly..."

Before Xu Bai could finish complaining, the spaceship discovered another spirit mine tens of thousands of miles away from the mining site.

"Moonstone, 600 strands of spiritual energy per ton, 62 tons!"

"Let's go!"

Only two Foundation Establishment stage Starry Sky Beasts were found nearby, but they were scared away by a single machine gun shot fired by Xu Bai.

"I have exactly half a day; let me cultivate for a while!"

For the next month, Xu Bai worked like a diligent little bee deep within the Shattered Star Sea, collecting high-value spiritual ores.

Only after filling the ship's hold with 4500 tons did they reluctantly return.

At the public port, Xu Bai unloaded the cargo and parked the spaceship there.

He leaned back in the spaceship's control chair, looking at the mineral list and the calculated spiritual energy on his personal terminal.

"Frosty Marrow Crystal, Azure Nether Stone, Moonstone, Burning Star Sand, Wind Extreme Gold..."

Xu Bai collected very few ordinary spirit ores this time; they were all rare ores with a unit price of over 100 silk.

"The total price is 880,000 strands of spiritual energy, which seems auspicious, but after half of it is taxed, it becomes 440,000."

Checking his balance, Xu Bai decided to grind twice more to directly give the mining ship a green attribute.

Sensing the 336 strands of spiritual energy stored in his dantian, Xu Bai silently calculated that at his current speed, if he continued mining and cultivating in the Shattered Star Sea, he should be able to reach the Qi Refining Perfection stage within thirty years.

Xu Bai was quite satisfied with this speed, since he could cultivate in the Shattered Star Sea, saving a lot of cultivation resources.

"Now that we have money, we can take out a little to improve our lives."

Whether in his past life or this one, Xu Bai has never been a frugal person; his previous frugality was only due to the pressures of life.

In the Space City commercial street, Xu Bai spent 3 strands of spiritual energy to buy the most popular and cost-effective personal terminal on the market. Its computing power was more than ten times higher than the personal terminal he was currently using. He then transferred the data from his previous second-hand personal terminal to the latest personal terminal.

"Xiao Ai, at your service!" a sweet, intelligent voice rang out.

"As expected, the computing power has improved, and the voice has become sweeter."

Xu Bai then went to the personal bank, took out sixty spirit stones, and paid a tax of three thousand strands of spiritual energy. He had some experiments to conduct.

Back in his small single room, Xu Bai glanced around and then had Xiao Ai contact the rental agency.

In a nearly 100-square-meter apartment facing the starry sky, the real estate agent was enthusiastically introducing the property to Xu Bai.

"One bedroom, one living room, one bathroom, and one kitchen, just one kilometer away from the Space City Business District, facing the starry sky."

"All the smart devices inside are mid-to-high-end, including a living robot and a smart companion robot, all provided free of charge."

"The most advanced of these is the special environment simulation system."

The agent suddenly shouted something.

"Switch to sea view~"

The entire living room began to blur, and Xu Bai and the real estate agent stood by the sea, as if a sea breeze was blowing in their faces.

"Although the virtualization level is not very high, it can alleviate some of the claustrophobia caused by space."

"No need for introductions, just tell me how much spiritual energy I get per month." Xu Bai felt satisfied as he enjoyed the simulated sea breeze.

"Four thousand strands of spiritual energy, daily updates on the latest news about the space city. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me anytime." The agent rubbed his hands together as he looked at Xu Bai.

"In that case, let's start with six months."

Xu Bai signed a six-month contract directly.

After entering the access control information for the suite, the agent left happily.

Xu Bai sat on the flexible sofa chair, looking at the virtual sea, feeling the sea breeze, and sat there for a long time.

"Xiao Ai, please retrieve my parents' information."

A screen of light projected onto Xu Bai's face, displaying messages sent to him by his parents.

"That brat Xu Jun actually has top-tier aptitude! He's already signed a training agreement with a listed company. Not bad!"

"My parents also received a signing fee of 10 strands of spiritual energy."

"Life is getting better and better, no wonder you're sending me so many messages."

Looking at the light screen, a smile appeared on Xu Bai's face. The two places were separated by countless light-years. It would take hundreds of strands of spiritual energy to transmit just one message. Therefore, Xu Bai could only receive one or two messages a month before, and there was also a word limit.

This time, however, Xu Bai received seven or eight messages at once, and he could see his parents' joy in every single one.

Furthermore, the parents stated in the letter that once Xu Jun was able to establish himself in the sect and earn spirit stones, they would redeem Xu Bai and allow him to leave the Star Gathering Team.