Warhammer, I really didn't intend to form a second empire!

Zhao Zheng stood in front of one of the simplified prototypes, slowly raised his right hand, and pressed his fingertips against the spirit bone composite area on the front of the breastplate. A faint arc of dark golden light formed between his fingertips and the armor plate.

After receiving the infusion of psionic energy, the skeletal fiber network generated an extremely weak resonance, which spread the psionic energy fluctuations evenly outward along the plane of the armor plate, with almost no noticeable energy loss in the process.

Zhao Zheng withdrew his hand, but the low-frequency vibrations of spiritual energy spreading through his spiritual bones still lingered on his fingertips for a moment.

"Good, very good," Zhao Zheng nodded. "This level is more than enough for actual combat."

In his vision, the true value of this spirit-bone composite armor would only be fully revealed after the psionic offspring donned it.

The combat style of psionicists relies more on the fluidity of psionic energy focusing and release than that of ordinary Astartes. The psionic bone + living metal composite armor provides an additional channel for the conduction and amplification of psionic energy without weakening frontal protection.

If subsequent test data proves this design direction is feasible, Zhao Zheng plans to adopt this structure on a large scale in the next generation of Astartes armor.

Upgrade plans for the Great Wall-class battleships are also being implemented concurrently.

The first batch of four Great Wall-class battleships, having completed their live metal outer armor modifications, were successfully launched from the Qian Yuan Shipyard and immediately incorporated into an experimental mixed formation. They then embarked on a month-long cruise and live-fire test in a completely conquered star system on the edge of the Empire's territory.

When the test results were transmitted back to the Lishan via encrypted communication, Zhao Zheng was reviewing the latest data from the third phase of the psionic pulse field experiment on the bridge.

He opened the test report, his eyes quickly scanning the various parameters, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

When faced with continuous impacts from standard kinetic energy projectiles and energy weapons, the living metal outer armor exhibits a protection efficiency seven times higher than that of ceramic steel alloys. Furthermore, its self-repairing properties ensure that the ship's armor maintains structural integrity even under continuous damage, effectively extending the ship's firing efficiency and survivability during sustained firefights.

The commander of the experimental fleet added a sentence to the report: "The self-repair function of the living metal armor layer has performed outstandingly in actual combat testing, and it is recommended that it be extended to the entire fleet as soon as possible."

Zhao Zheng saved the report in the approval folder and added a brief confirmation reply at the end.

As he closed the report, he glanced at the edge of the star map. The gray area had been covered by the expanding light blue map. The coordinates of the Tomb World now lay quietly within the Empire's territory, marked as a mining world that had been stably colonized.

Time flies, and the achievements during this period have been very fruitful.

Zhao Zheng estimated that in a few years, he would be able to use the fully upgraded version of the living metal warships and armor.

Even if the Emperor's fleet is elite, he might still be able to put up a fight. Zhao Zheng could finally relax, knowing that he wouldn't be in the same situation as in the official history.

Zhao Zheng was well aware of this, because he was getting stronger and improving every day, and this feeling was truly wonderful—the feeling of being able to control his own destiny.

But just as Zhao Zheng began to envision the future, kicking aliens and punching the Empire, a familiar psionic energy fluctuation appeared once again on the edge of his perception.

When that familiar golden spiritual energy appeared at the edge of Zhao Zheng's perception, his expression turned somewhat ugly.

In an instant, the spiritual vision was drawn to the gaze that had crossed subspace. The bridge of the Lishan remained quiet as usual, with officers on duty working at their respective stations, heads down processing data. No one noticed that their emperor was now casting his gaze toward a direction hundreds of light-years away in the depths of the galaxy.

The intensity of that golden spiritual energy was stronger than he could remember, and it was approaching his location at an extremely steady pace.

Over the past few years, the Emperor's psychic gaze would occasionally brush past Zhao Zheng's perception, sometimes as a fleeting confirmation scan, sometimes as a very brief message transmission, usually only a sentence or two, either urging him to accelerate his conquest or to develop as quickly as possible.

But this time it was different. The psionic energy was no longer a distant glimpse across countless light-years, nor was it a flat pulse transmitted through subspace.

This time, it is leading a massive fleet across the galaxy at a steady subspace speed, heading in this direction.

The Emperor's fleet is approaching, and the massive ship at the head is at least ten times larger than the Lishan, the current flagship of the Qin Empire under Zhao Zheng.

Zhao Zheng recognized it; it was the Emperor's Dream, the Emperor's flagship.

The tide of the Great Expedition is surging in this direction, and the fact that the Emperor is only arriving now proves that the Great Expedition now needs to open a sea route here, and then open another front from here.

The golden spiritual energy approached very quickly.

From the moment the Emperor Fleet's trajectory in subspace was detected to the appearance of the Emperor Dream in the remote sensing array's field of vision on the outer edge of the Qin Empire's star system, less than half a month had passed.

Zhao Zheng stood in front of the observation porthole on the bridge of the Lishan ship, his gaze passing through the void illuminated by starlight and landing on a ship's silhouette that was slowly enlarging in the distance.

The ship's silhouette was so enormous that it defied conventional understanding. The double-headed eagle emblem on its bow was still clearly visible tens of thousands of kilometers away. It was surrounded by dozens of capital-class warships and thousands of escort ships, forming an extremely orderly sailing formation in the vacuum of space.

The Lishan looked like a small boat in front of this fleet. Marshal Xu Da, who was on the periphery, was frantically issuing warnings. After all, Zhao Zheng had told them something, and now everyone under the Qin command was "hiding".

However, Zhao Zheng did not order the forward fleet to enter a state of alert, nor did he activate any weapon system warm-up procedures. He simply stood in front of the observation window for a while, then turned around and looked at the communication panel on the side of the main control console on the bridge.

The Emperor is coming, so he needs to make some preparations. The Qiankun Star must not be discovered, and those technologies, living metals, and spirit bones must be hidden very well.

Now all that's left is to face the Emperor directly. Zhao Zheng isn't really interested in this meeting, nor does he want to go to Terra. What he's truly interested in is the technology and materials from the Empire.

Less than twelve hours passed between the appearance of the Emperor Dream ship at the edge of the remote sensing array and its entry into the visual range of the Qin Empire's front-line outpost.

Standing in front of the observation porthole on the bridge of the Lishan, Zhao Zheng was able to clearly see the giant ship in the distance with the Primarch's spiritual vision. The emblem on its front shone with a brilliant golden luster under the starlight.

He did not order the fleet to assemble and greet them, nor did he initiate any ceremonial formation. He simply stood quietly by the window, his fingers resting on the edge of the windowsill, his gaze piercing through the void hundreds of light-years away to fall on the approaching ship's silhouette.

A confirmation message came through the communication channel from the outpost: the signal strength was normal. The Emperor Dream's communication system had not enabled encrypted broadcasting; it had only sent an identification signal at a standard frequency. The content was very simple: only a set of coordinates and an identifier marked "non-threat".

Zhao Zheng's gaze never left the window; the powerful fleet remained stationary at a certain coordinate on the edge of the Qin Empire's territory, without advancing any further.

This is a restrained gesture, indicating that his purpose in coming here is not to use force to intimidate, but to make contact, and it also has the air of reaching out to invite the child back.

It was a contradiction; Xu Da didn't know how he had figured it out, and his brothers seemed to have had a premonition as well.

As my father said before, this fleet has no ill intentions; it's just that they might be incorporated into a larger empire.

Judging from the current situation, this fleet is indeed very strong, but Xu Da doesn't think it's much stronger than the Qin Empire. It seems that this empire is not very strong either, or rather, like their Qin Empire, it is a newly established interstellar empire.

The Emperor didn't seem to have any ill intentions towards him, at least not yet. Xu Da wasn't sure about this, as he wasn't an expert in psychic energy.

Zhao Zheng maintained his psychic energy convergence, using his black hole nature to conceal Qiankun Star and the surrounding star systems from subspace psychic perception.

The Emperor's psychic powers seemed to notice his deliberate attempt to conceal his actions, but he did not make any further moves.

The golden spiritual energy only lingered near the Lishan for a moment, without attempting to penetrate the spiritual energy shield he had set up. It seemed that after confirming Zhao Zheng's location, it retreated back into the hull of the Emperor's Dream.

The Imperial Dream is spacious and luxurious, with golden decorations and ancient Terran artifacts filling the bedroom. The Emperor sits on the throne behind the main control unit, relaxed, his gaze fixed on the huge holographic star map in front of him.

The pale blue halo of the Qin Empire's map occupied only a small area on the projection, and the emperor's gaze lingered there for some time.

Horus stood a step behind the throne, his arms crossed over his chest, his gaze following the emperor as he looked at the pale blue halo.

A barely perceptible hint of jealousy and resentment lurked in his eyes.

He was the first Primarch to return. He knew from the moment he saw his father on Corsonia that this was the man he would follow for the rest of his life.

Horus cherished this time alone with his son. Every instruction from his father was filled with his deep love for his children, because although he had never been a father, he wanted to give these children the best education and love.

Horus did not want to share this with any of his brothers. When the emperor told him that he was going to bring another brother back, his first reaction was not happiness, but dissatisfaction.

Someone wants to come and share everything about him.

At that moment, Horus suddenly had a strong urge to secretly lead his legions here and blow up his brother's homeworld, without the Emperor's knowledge!

But he only thought about it and quickly dismissed the evil idea from his mind; after all, it was his own brother.

As the eldest son, he should give his brothers the best tolerance and care, as his father had told him personally.

He said, “My son, you are the first Primarch I have found and the first son to return. You will need to take my place as their guide when I am unable to teach your brothers in the future. Your responsibility is heavy.”

So Horus decided to be a good elder brother and to adjust his mindset to warmly welcome his brother's impending return.

"He actually returned earlier than you. When I found him, he had already completed the preliminary preparations for interstellar expansion, which coincided with the start of my Great Expedition."

The Emperor's sudden words caused Horus's eyes to twitch slightly, and his lips to twitch unnaturally.

“But Father, you said that I was the first original body you found.”

"Yes, but you still have brothers waiting to be found throughout the galaxy, Horus. I have only confirmed his existence and observed his development."

"He adapted to your abilities much earlier than most of you, and he was very powerful. His psychic powers extended from here all the way to Terra to speak with me, something Magnus couldn't do. By the way, that's your other brother."

Two veins were already bulging on Horus's forehead.

Chapter Thirty Unreasonable Demands

"Prepare a ship; I need to go over there."

The officer on duty was taken aback for a moment, but his well-trained instincts allowed him to quickly suppress any unnecessary expressions and turn to the communications panel to relay the instructions.

Kongming walked out from the passageway on the side of the bridge, his steps quicker than usual, clearly already aware of the Imperial Fleet's arrival.

He stood beside Zhao Zheng and bowed slightly.

"Your Majesty, should we bring the guards?"

"No need, just take you."

Zhao Zheng hesitated for a moment, then continued.

"Forget it, take Shubao and Jingde with you, and let Zilong and Youping come along too. They can stay by your side then."

Zhao Zheng walked towards the elevator shaft, with Kong Ming following half a step behind him.

He knew why Zhao Zheng didn't bring his guards; at this level of contact, it made no difference whether he brought his guards or not.

If the other party is truly hostile, no guard of the Qin Empire can play a substantial role in the face of that being.

……

Zhao Zheng stood at the porthole of the Great Wall-class warship, his gaze passing over the deep starry sky outside and landing on the outline of the golden behemoth in the distance.

The size of the Imperial Dream was slowly increasing in the field of vision, gradually unfolding from a golden dot into a giant warship with extremely exquisite lines, exaggeratedly thick armor, and a surface covered with radiant gold and refined gold, and a double-headed eagle emblem.

When the ship was tens of thousands of kilometers away from the Imperial Dream, it received a guidance signal and a precise landing coordinate was sent to the captain's navigation panel.

"His Majesty."

The captain glanced at Zhao Zheng and asked, seeing him nod, before leading his several offspring onto their private Stormbird.

The Stormbird slowed down as it followed the signal-guided path and approached a hangar entrance on the massive side of the Imperial Dream.

The hangar was exceptionally spacious, housing hundreds of Stormbirds of various shapes and exquisite craftsmanship. The walls and ceiling were trimmed with fine gold and shimmering gold, giving off a warm, pale golden glow under the lights.

It must be said that the craftsmanship of the Golden Age was truly top-notch, capable of producing such a large quantity of refined gold and shimmering gold.

Looking at the Emperor Dream, whose hangar was so magnificent, Zhao Zheng couldn't help but feel a sense of nostalgia for the golden age, and the Mountain Array, which returned with Dorn decades later. What advanced technology those were!

When the Stormbird's gangway landed on the hangar deck of the Emperor Dream, Zhao Zheng was the first to step onto the ground covered with adamantite and radiant gold.

The ground beneath my feet felt solid and dense. Beneath this layer of metal, within the deep structure of the entire giant ship, an immense energy flowed steadily, like a star compressed to its limit pulsating silently.

The power source of the Imperial Dream may be the same as the gift the Emperor gave to Sanguis: a massive compressed star.

Zhao Zheng suddenly felt that he should also try it. He just didn't know if he could control his spiritual energy well. Otherwise, if he "squeezed" too much and a star exploded, it would be a waste of resources, even though resources are the least of all resources in the Milky Way and the universe.

Behind Zhao Zheng, Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong stood guard on either side, their power maces at their waists pressed tightly against the outside of their armor, their eyes scanning every corner of the hangar with vigilance.

Zhao Yun and Zhou Tai followed closely behind, their figures upright and their faces stern, their longswords held at an angle ready to be drawn at any moment and thrust forward in a fraction of a second.

Kongming walked in the middle of the four, his posture relaxed, his gaze calmly observing everything around him, but his fingertips had already very slightly touched the edge of the data board with the miniature detection array embedded in the inner layer of his robe.

He was using his powerful psychic abilities to explore everything here.

Kongming could sense that there was a huge golden sun inside this massive ship. It was very powerful and did not hinder his exploration on the Emperor's Dream. On the contrary, it generously guided Kongming's spiritual vision to explore the interior to his heart's content.

This made Kongming less resistant to the trip, indicating that the rulers here were quite tolerant and magnanimous towards his father, which made things easier from there.

Zhao Zheng stopped in the center of the hangar, where several Imperial Guards clad in gleaming gold power armor were already waiting.

They were smaller than their sons, but these imperial guards were not simple. At least in the eyes of Zhao Zheng's sons, they would have to put in a lot of effort to defeat these imperial guards who were not much smaller than themselves.

"Your Highness."

The tallest of the imperial guards walked over; he was already almost as tall as his own son.

"The Emperor has ordered me to welcome you here. I am the commander of His Majesty's Imperial Guard. You may call me Waldo."

Zhao Zheng's gaze lingered on Waldo for a moment.

The commander of the Imperial Guard was more imposing than he remembered. The surface of his golden power armor was free of scratches or wear, and the entire suit of armor looked brand new, as if it had just been taken out of the foundry. However, Zhao Zheng could tell from the subtle color differences in the joint gaps that the armor had already been through many battles.

Waldo turned slightly to the side and gestured with his right hand toward the end of the hangar.

"Please come with me."

Zhao Zheng took a step forward and followed Waldo about two meters behind.

Their offspring followed behind, with several imperial guards trailing behind them, creating a somewhat strange situation.

Zhao Zheng and Kong Ming remained completely calm, but the other four and the imperial guards were on high alert, each with their hands gripping the hilts of their swords.

The hangar is separated from the main corridor by three airtight doors, each edge of which is inlaid with expensive glittering gold trim, gleaming softly under the overhead lights.

The interior decoration style of the corridor is consistent with that of the hangar. The main visual elements of the walls and ceiling are the fine gold frames and shimmering gold trim. At intervals, there is a semi-transparent glass display case embedded in the wall, which is full of artworks from the ancient Terra period.

Portraits, sculptures, and commemorative items were on display. Zhao Zheng even saw the cross on which Jesus was crucified and the guillotine of Louis XVI.

It must be said that the emperor was also a man of "taste".