The result of evolution? Everyone was still in a daze, but Yi Jue reacted quickly. She nodded, "Just targeted cultivation."

The Spirit Plant Path excels at this. Compared to it, the Beast Taming Path can do no more than cross-species breeding, but the Spirit Plant Path can do much more: grafting, accelerated breeding, selective cutting, repeated grafting, and so on.

"It’s not necessarily targeted," Feng Jun explained solemnly. "Their survival methods have always been evolving in this direction. Over time, their heads will become larger, their limbs short and thick; there must be a reason."

Though cultivators have little contact with evolution theory, everyone’s understanding wouldn’t be minimal, especially those present who are at least in the Golden Core stage, with a lifespan of a thousand years. They will encounter some species with short lifespans. The cultivation of Spirit Rice and Spirit Valley can exemplify this.

Thus, it’s not difficult for them to understand this theory. However, True Sage Old Fisherman thought for a bit and then expressed, "Some feel they are taking the martial master’s path, but I’m not very familiar with this. You can analyze it yourselves later."

It’s perfectly normal for a True Sage not to be familiar with martial masters, right? True Immortal Chen Xi nodded immediately to support his sect’s ancestor. "Discovering the Vitality Stone confirms that this world supports the cultivation system of martial masters."

Yi Jue then looked at Feng Jun, an obvious question in her eyes—rescue or not?

Feng Jun pretended not to notice her gaze. From the depths of his heart, he wished to help those people. But Elder Qinghuang’s words being understood by everyone also demonstrate one problem—that being overly kind-hearted is not advisable.

Earth Realm is rather abundant in creatures like the Holy Mother, but among Tianqin’s cultivators, this concept doesn’t exist at all.

Moreover, Feng Jun had to consider one issue: What if, after the rescue, he ended up encountering treachery? Wouldn’t others laugh at him to death?

So he ignored Yi Jue’s gaze—they were too tacit, and she knew he would definitely be touched in his heart.

Feng Jun pretended to be blind, but True Immortal Huo Liu was not blind. Seeing this, he spoke out, "Mountain Master Feng, the Elder is looking at you."

Feng Jun, upon hearing this, glared at him fiercely and then snorted, "For this battle, I don’t suggest we intervene prematurely. Our strength is fairly strong, but facing a war of this scale, meddling recklessly would be self-destructive."

"I agree with this statement," Elder Qinghuang, who governs the Blazing Flame Plate, surely lacks no decisiveness, though this makes him appear rather cold. "Since the battle strategy is already set, it should not be changed casually."

Yaoyang Elder also nodded, "There are no small matters in battle; rules must be followed. If not following rules, even winning is losing."

At this moment, Elder Cang Jing, responsible for observation, spoke up, "The Insect Race... seems to be charging towards those planets."

The Insect Race in battle divided its forces, leaving some holding up these thousands of disc-shaped flying devices, while the main force continued flying towards the star system.

Southgate is the commander of the Third Legion, and the intercepting forces this time belong to his Seventh Army, leaping out of the star system to battle preemptively, precisely to prevent these overwhelming Insect Races from ravaging the star system, thus choosing to hold the enemy outside the star system.

However, he didn’t expect the sheer number of Insect Races to be so massive, far beyond what a mere Third Legion could stop.

The Seventh Army commander has already issued an inquiry, "The Insect Race has divided its forces; should we retreat to defend?"

Corps Commander Southgate thought for a moment, then answered in a deep voice, "Organize free sniper attacks; do not retreat to defend. The planet has its own defense systems. If you retreat, the defensive pressure will be greater. However... make sure to protect yourselves."

Fang Yingwu, the commander of the Seventh Army, immediately understood. His force would become a lonely battalion. It’s not that the Third Legion was abandoning them; rather, they had a huge responsibility—to disperse the firepower of the Insect Race.

Thus, he called out directly in the fleet channel, "Received orders from legion command: Each ship resist freely, do not retreat or leave the battle... Comrades, I am with you."

"Damn, I don’t need you with me!" a coarse voice rang out. "Resistance is fine, not leaving the battle is fine too, dying on the battlefield is no big deal. But damn, where’s the ammo, where’s the energy? Being abandoned, this old man can’t bear!"

"Captain Garen, who are you calling an old man?" Fang Yingwu was furious. "In the face of a great enemy, you keep spouting nonsense and distracting the military mind. Believe it or not, I’ll enforce battlefield military law on you!"

"Then go ahead and enforce it!" Captain Garen, too, had a fiery temper. "My ship is at the forefront; there’s still some ammo left, but the energy consumption is too fast. If there’s no replenishment, I’ll have to drive the destroyer to ram them... save the ammo for enforcing military law."

Fang Yingwu fell silent; Garen’s destroyer being at the forefront is actually a common space combat tactic called "lead goose." It’s just like the flying formation of wild geese—the foremost goose in the V formation is definitely the strongest and most tiring.

The ship at the forefront can shelter a considerable number of ships behind it. When encountering dense fire, the energy shield’s consumption might be several times higher than that of the ships behind!

During the dense attack from the Insect Race just now, Garen’s ship held its ground. Next, they should retreat for brief recovery, replenish energy and ammo, and have new leaders take the front.

This rotation of leaders can make the defense shield’s effect apply to the entire group, thus it’s a very practical method. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

But now, the rear base forbids them to retreat, and the Seventh Army did not prepare much supplies for battle—not a cross-star system expedition, just defense at the doorstep, after all.

But when the Insect Race split its forces, the Corps Commander of the Third Legion wouldn’t allow the Seventh Army to fall back, which made Garen so angry he cursed loudly.

It wasn’t just his ship that was at the forefront, but he was targeted more severely, causing his energy to deplete faster. Other similar ships, hearing him speak, also chimed in, "That’s right, we’re ready to fight to the death, but what about the energy, the ammunition?"

Fang Yingwu had no choice. The "leading goose" at the front lines when the battle began were among the bravest warriors in the military. They hadn’t said they wouldn’t fight anymore; they were just saying they were running out of ammo and energy. Could he really enforce military law on them?

So he had to change his approach, "We’re maneuvering around the outer galaxy not because we’ve been abandoned, but to support the defensive forces on the galaxy. ’Without an army that must be rescued, there is no city that must be defended’...We are their hope too."

"Cut the crap with me," Garen was still shouting, "My energy reserve is already below forty percent; I need energy, I need ammunition...I don’t want your empty promises!"

"When your energy drops to twenty percent, you’ll be prioritized for replenishment," Fang Yingwu coldly declared, then suddenly shouted, "Now, shut your damn mouth! Disturb the troops again, and I’ll really enforce military law!"

The fleet channel instantly fell into a deadly silence, partly because of Fang Yingwu’s outburst, but also because his made-up reasons actually sounded somewhat convincing.

After a long pause, Garen’s voice came out again, now with a hint of sycophantic flattery, "Boss Fang, it’s good to get energy replenishment, thank you, but as a military leader, how can you speak so crudely?"

"You damn well can curse, and I can’t?" Fang Yingwu snorted irritably, "There’s no reasoning with you, you brat!"

"I am reasonable," Garen answered timidly, paused, and then said in a private channel, "When cursing, you can do it in a private channel so it doesn’t affect your great image."

"Get lost!" Fang Yingwu cursed angrily again, then took a deep breath, "All units, attention. Free sniping in skirmish line, watch your positioning, now...it’s no longer the time to stubbornly fight with energy."

The leading goose formation does save energy to some extent, but it’s still a hard-fought battle style. Without continuous logistical support, such tactics are impractical.

"Charlie Zero One understands," "Delta Zero Five understands," "Recon Forty-Two understands," "Patrol Curved Hole understands"...

Feng Jun and his group weren’t aware that the detached fleet ahead was already in dire straits; they only saw huge hordes of the Insect Race heading into the galaxy.

Soon after, a large number of warships also took off from two planets; it was the other two fleets of the Third Legion preparing for battle. No matter how you look at it, warships are meant to fight in space. Even if you win while hiding on a planet, the planet would be destroyed.

Meanwhile, the defensive shields on three planets activated.

Soon, a massive chaotic battle began. Two fleets, two spherical structures, and countless ground-based weapons started fiercely bombarding the Insect Race, who in turn used all their means to attack different targets in waves.

Elder Cang Jing observed for a while and pointed at a massive spherical structure, "That thing has quite a powerful firepower, capable of killing Nascent Soul Bug Race...What’s that called?"

"I don’t know what it’s called either," Feng Jun answered gloomily, "But it feels...a bit like a Space Fortress."

Elder Cang Jing gave him a sideways glance, "See, you still claim to have no ties with them."

"I really don’t!" Feng Jun sighed in frustration, "Have you ever seen me use this kind of sphere in the Kunhao Realm?"

"Bah," Elder Cang Jing liked to retort, "Maybe because you don’t have Vitality Stones for energy."

Feng Jun couldn’t even be bothered to speak—it’s not just that I don’t have Vitality Stones, I don’t even have a Space Fortress! If I had that thing, I would’ve sent it to Huaxia long ago!

The True Sage Fisherman remained silent, observing quietly. After a long period, he spoke suddenly, "These mortal weapons aren’t without power, but they are too clumsy and unsuitable for us cultivators."

Feng Jun nodded, answering seriously, "They’re simply not part of the same system, at most they can serve as some reference."

The True Sage Fisherman wasn’t in the mood to joke with Feng Jun. He also believed the young guy had nothing to do with the other side. As for why this guy knew so much...couldn’t his Sect Elders have seen similar worlds?

So he asked in a low voice, "Do your Sect Elders also think they’re not very useful?"

Feng Jun thought for a moment and responded, "Cultivators cultivate themselves, not external objects."

"Then we won’t target them," the True Sage Fisherman decided, "Let’s kill some Insect Race instead, at least gather some materials."

(Updated to, summoning monthly tickets.)