In the center of the Starry River, atop a massive floating millstone rock, Lin Lei and Bei Bei stood.
"If they're nearby, it's dangerous," Bei Bei said, quickly scanning their surroundings.
"Hiding among the rocks in the center of the Starry River?" Lin Lei couldn't help but glance into the distance in all directions, then chuckled. "Bei Bei, stop imagining things. No commander would fight here in the center. One wrong move and you could be sucked into a spatial rift or caught in a space storm. That would be truly miserable."
"Oh, true," Bei Bei agreed, rubbing his nose with a sheepish grin.
"Alright, we can't stay here in the open for long. We need to find a path and get to the opposite bank as quickly as possible," Lin Lei urged.
"Mhm," Bei Bei immediately focused, scanning for spatial rifts and storms ahead.
In the center of the Starry River, anyone watching from the opposite bank could easily spot them.
"No, this one won't work," Lin Lei shook his head, dismissing a path he'd just identified. Sometimes a passage looked clear, but after following it for a hundred miles, a spatial rift might completely block the way, offering no chance of passage.
Lin Lei and Bei Bei scanned frantically.
"Boss, I found a way!" Bei Bei exclaimed with delight.
"Oh? Which one?" Lin Lei felt a surge of hope.
"Right here! See this line? It goes this way, then makes a big turn over there. The route below looks much clearer," Bei Bei explained excitedly.
Lin Lei's gaze raced from their position to the opposite bank, confirming the path was viable.
"Let's go," Lin Lei commanded immediately.
The longer they lingered in the open, the greater the risk of being spotted. The crossing itself was the most perilous moment, when one was most vulnerable to ambush.
*Whoosh!* *Whoosh!*
Two afterimages streaked through the Starry River like lightning, twisting, shooting forward, and contorting... narrowly dodging one dangerous area after another.
"Captain, look! Over there! Two people," a soldier on the opposite bank shouted, spotting Lin Lei and Bei Bei as they hurtled through the void.
"Just those two?" The silver-haired, pointed-eared youth leading the patrol glanced over and immediately ordered, "One of them must be a commander, or maybe both are. We need to pull back. And... Second Brother, go report to the Commander immediately. Do we let them pass or attack?"
"Understood."
A figure darted away at high speed.
Lin Lei and Bei Bei had no idea that a military camp was located right next to the spot they'd chosen to land. Unfortunately, hills blocked the view, and their attention was entirely focused on the treacherous path, so they never noticed the distant figures watching them.
"Brothers, fall back! Don't engage directly. With just our few dozen men, we can't stop them," the silver-haired youth ordered. "Wait for the main force or the Commander himself." They were just the outermost patrol squad, stationed over ten miles from the main camp.
They weren't fools. Charging a commander-level expert with only a few dozen men? That was suicide.
If they had hundreds or thousands of soldiers, they might have the confidence.
"They're almost here," the soldiers whispered, already having retreated into the tall grass near the hills bordering the camp.
"Commander's orders: Kill them!" The command finally came down.
"Brothers, charge!" the silver-haired youth yelled. Now it wasn't just their patrol; a large number of soldiers from the camp were also arriving.
*Rumble...*
Additional troops from the camp had been mobilized and were now converging alongside the patrol squad to attack the enemy. The total number of soldiers exceeded a thousand.
*Whoosh!* *Whoosh!* Lin Lei and Bei Bei landed on the opposite bank like bolts of lightning.
"Boss, people! Lots of them!" Bei Bei cried in alarm. Lin Lei had seen them too—numerous figures were rapidly closing in from the grassy area ahead, and beyond them, low tents dotted the landscape, with more hidden behind the hills. "No good, this is an enemy camp! Let's move!"
Lin Lei didn't hesitate, and he and Bei Bei prepared to flee.
"Attack!" came the command. There was no point in chasing; few of these soldiers could match Lin Lei and Bei Bei's speed. A pursuit would only see the distance between them grow. It was better to strike now.
The command rang out, and instantly—
*Hum...*
*Boom!*
A dazzling array of lights, and even transparent soul attacks, shot through the air, covering several miles in an instant to target Lin Lei and Bei Bei.
Lin Lei and Bei Bei fled even faster.
*Thud!* *Thud!*
The attacks rained down like a storm upon the pair. Several strikes found their mark, hitting Lin Lei and Bei Bei.
Amid the explosions, the two fled even more swiftly and soon vanished from the pursuers' sight.
"Commander!" Over a thousand soldiers bowed as a single figure arrived.
He had golden hair as radiant as the sun and a face as pale as a woman's, clad in a golden robe. He glanced casually toward the distance. "They got away?"
"We didn't catch them," the officer who had ordered the attack reported.
"So be it. The crossing over the Starry River is brief at a commander's speed. The fact that we encountered them at all was just luck. If I could kill one or two commanders just like that, I'd be impossibly fortunate. Alright, return to camp!" the golden-haired commander said with a faint smile.
Deep in a patch of wild grass, Lin Lei and Bei Bei caught their breath.
"That was truly terrible luck," Bei Bei muttered. "Boss, are you okay?"
"Fine. Just four physical attacks and one soul attack. Not a big deal," Lin Lei replied, feeling his own bad luck. The banks of the Starry River stretched for millions of miles, and he'd randomly chosen this spot to cross—who would have thought there'd be an enemy camp right there?
Then Lin Lei smiled. "Still, we've finally made it safely to the enemy's side."
"Yeah!" Bei Bei's eyes lit up. "Boss, do we start looking for our target now?"