"Now, let's go home first."

A halo of light flashed over Shesha, and in the next second, Sheshe was back on Lu Xing's shoulder—[Imaginary Link] wasn't simply a matter of connecting to the Imaginary Space to obtain Honkai energy. The advancement of [Blazing Star] to [Subspace Lance] indicated that the weakened authority Lu Xing had obtained this time originally belonged to the Second Herrscher, the Herrscher of the Void.

In other words.

Lu Xing's spatial abilities, inherited from the Old Emperor, had received an extremely massive enhancement.

The issue was, although Shesha was still in its original position, considering Lu Xing's current exaggerated size—

"Sheshe."

"This little one is here!"

"..."

Lu Xing felt Shesha's tone was respectful to a strange degree, but it didn't matter; Lu Xing wouldn't comment on private hobbies.

"It's time for you to recover some of your strength."

After advancing to an Imaginary Emperor, Lu Xing considered himself to be at a level where he could spar a little with humanity's top-tier combatants.

The pressing matter now.

Was to supplement the high-end combat power of his legion.

Aside from Lu Xing himself.

The only higher-tier Honkai Beast in the entire legion currently was Cheche. As the saying goes, one hand can't clap alone, and a single tree doesn't make a forest. Lu Xing decided to help Shesha recover its strength—whether it could return to Judgement-class was uncertain, but at the very least, it needed to reach Emperor-class level... This was definitely not because the Sheshe on his shoulder was too small, making Lu Xing feel a bit unaccustomed, hmm, absolutely not.

For this purpose.

Lu Xing urgently needed the help of a Honkai Energy Rift.

"...!?"

Hearing these words, Shesha's excitement was palpable—the speed at which its tongue flicked out increased (after all, it couldn't make many expressions)—it had initially thought this was just the Emperor stringing it along, with no telling when it would actually recover.

Who would have thought this day would come so quickly!

Of course.

The increasingly intelligent Shesha soon figured out the reason.

The Emperor was willing to help it recover its strength; from another perspective, it also meant that... a Judgement-class, at least a Judgement-class of its level, probably posed little threat to the Emperor anymore.

————

"Big Crab!"

Lu Xing descended towards the ground with Cheche and Shesha.

Although it seemed like a long time had passed, in reality, less than half an hour had gone by since Kevin and Su left.

Lu Xing's spiritual power swept across the entire great river.

A full half-minute later.

Following a churning and trembling beneath the riverbed, the massive Variant Tide-class revealed its head—

"Emperor."

Lu Xing looked at the Big Crab currently bowing to him in respect.

This fellow... compared to when he had dispatched it on its mission, it had become stronger, no, more "underhanded."

To prevent the Flame-Chasers from launching a surprise counterattack, Lu Xing's [Super Perception] had been active the entire time.

Even so.

If not for the point of light representing the Big Crab in his mind indicating its coordinates, Lu Xing almost wouldn't have found a trace of this fellow... Merely submerging into the riverbed couldn't block Lu Xing's search.

His gaze swept over the Big Crab.

[Spiritual Perception] clearly fed the information into Lu Xing's mind.

The Big Crab, already proficient to some extent in mental attacks—the Tide-class possessed two non-physical skills, [Eye of Stunning] and [Eye of Bewilderment]—had actually comprehended a new move:

[Submerged Concealment].

[Submerged Concealment: When stationary, greatly reduces the chance of being perceived.]

That's right.

Lu Xing had been somewhat worried before, as the task he assigned the Big Crab—protecting the nascent rift—could very likely expose it to the Flame-Chasers' sight.

As it turned out, the Big Crab, relying on this extremely special skill, had successfully avoided all gazes, including his own.

As a Tide-class, which, like the Chariot-class, excelled at frontal combat, to be learning such unorthodox skills all day...

One could only wonder who taught (or forced) it.

"Your mission ends here."

"I know you haven't been very comfortable by my side."

A part of the Space-Time Ring separated from Lu Xing's side. After detaching from the main body, six crystals began to slowly revolve around the Tide-class.

"Two directions."

"Either go to the Central Pacific region and continue to gather wild Honkai Beasts, striving to assemble an aquatic Honkai Beast unit affiliated with the legion near the northern coast of the Mu Continent."

"Or go to the Eastern Pacific region and rendezvous with a Variant Cruise-class. You two will train the legion's aquatic forces together."

"Choose one."

"Jiji gugu..."

Purple bubbles emerged from the Tide-class's mouth; the Big Crab waved its pincers very excitedly.

"Alright, no need for your display of loyalty."

"Since you choose the first option, I'll send you directly to the Central Pacific—time may not be abundant. When needed... you'd better let me see that you've achieved sufficient results."

"Voom!"

"Tzzt!"

Blue smoke rose.

The crystals surrounding the Big Crab suddenly shot out a dazzling ray of light, carving a gateway-like mark onto the Big Crab's shell.

"When you encounter an enemy you cannot resist, use this mark to call me."

"If it's not that urgent, you can also infuse Honkai energy into this mark to [Traverse]. It will teleport you towards the coordinates I've anchored."

"Regardless of which method you use, the mark can only be activated once."

"Go."

"Shoo—"

The crystals surrounding the Big Crab began to rotate at high speed.

In less than five seconds, the Tide-class, with a body the size of a baseball field, disappeared within the distorted space.

At the same time.

Ten more crystals flew towards Cheche and Shesha respectively.

"You two go ahead first as well."

"This rift... the first attempt might cause a bit of a large commotion. It wouldn't be good if problems arise with you two around."

"I'll be there shortly."

"Shoo—"

Amidst a similar flash of light, the figures of Cheche and Shesha disappeared simultaneously.

After sending off the other Honkai Beasts.

Lu Xing focused all his attention on the rift at the bottom of the river.

With incidents occurring twice on the riverbank, if not for the fact that the Flame-Chasers' personnel numbers had been drastically reduced, coupled with the urgent circumstances at the time, this nascent rift would likely have been discovered by them long ago.

Even now.

Once the Flame-Chasers caught their breath, they would definitely send people to investigate immediately.

The rift certainly couldn't be kept safe if left here, so...

Lu Xing prepared to move it!

Just as the Old Emperor had once moved the great rift to Sydney.

Lu Xing was going to transform his form into a portal, thereby enveloping the Honkai Energy Rift, and move this future "fountain" to the legion's encampment!

There was no time to lose!

"Kcha!"

The Space-Time Ring began to disassemble.

The crystal units, having split from the whole, flew rapidly towards the water, and under the guidance of spatial fluctuations, adhered tightly to the surface of the rift.

"It seems it doesn't need to be that troublesome..."

Lu Xing, possessing the [Imaginary Link] ability, found this task much simpler than it had been for the Ice Emperor. The Space-Time Ring very easily temporarily severed the rift's connection with the Imaginary Space, which drastically reduced the pressure of the transfer.

As the spatial fluctuations intensified, the entire river began to experience large-scale distortions and vibrations.

Immediately following—

"Swoosh!!"