At this moment, a grand banquet was taking place in the magnificent castle hall of Thunderstorm Star.
Sitting at the head of the table was naturally the master of Thunderstorm Star, Hu Ge, a young man with a single horn.
Across from him sat a beautiful woman in red tight-fitting combat armor, her aura cold and imposing, and a round, slightly chubby young man dressed in black, his hair slightly curly.
At this moment, the chubby young man was devouring the delicious food laid out before him while muttering unclear words to compliment Hu Ge.
"Haha, Brother 19, you really know how to enjoy life! The roasted meat made from the Star-level Purple Lin Beast, the wine brewed from White Jade Essence, and the Ice Pattern Spirit Fruit from the Yuquan Star System. This entire table must be worth at least a million Eternal Coins!"
"No wonder you're a big shot with an entire high-grade resource planet under your control! Haha, now this is the life!"
Hu Ge took a sip of the wine brewed from White Jade Essence, smiling with a bit of pride as he responded, "Haha, what's this? If you stay here a bit longer, I'll get you some meat from a Star-level Ninth-Stage Dragon to try!"
The chubby young man's eyes lit up, "Really? Brother 19, you better keep your word!"
"Shut up, both of you!"
The woman in red armor, with a cold expression, gave them both a glare and scolded, "You two are so focused on eating and drinking, but when it comes to cultivation, you're completely ignoring it! Especially you, Little 19!"
She turned to glare at Hu Ge.
"Mom worked so hard to secure the ownership of Thunderstorm Star for you, and instead of using its resources to improve your cultivation, you're just studying trivial things? Don't you want to take revenge on those people anymore?"
"Ahem."
Hu Ge seemed to be somewhat intimidated by her. After being glared at, he immediately shrank his neck and mumbled, "Thirteenth Sister, it's not like that. It's just that you and Hu Ya came here… I'm usually not like this. I haven't neglected my cultivation. Look, I've already reached Star-level!"
"Hm, more than half a year… from Planet-level 8th stage to Star-level 1st stage. Seems like you've been putting in the effort."
The woman in red armor's cold expression softened a little, though her tone was still stern as she continued to remind him,
"Mom worked hard to secure Thunderstorm Star for you, and you must use it well to quickly improve your strength. You wouldn't want to experience the same trouble as last time, would you?"
"I understand, Thirteenth Sister. I got it!"
Hu Ge nodded repeatedly and quickly changed the subject, "Hehe, Thirteenth Sister, don't worry. I bought a batch of good stuff from Bibo Star last time, and now Thunderstorm Star's output has increased significantly!"
"And among them, one of the leaders was only at Star-level 2 when I bought him. But within just half a year, he's broken through two levels, and I can sell him for an extra tens of millions of Eternal Coins!"
"Oh? Two stages in half a year?"
The woman in red armor appeared intrigued, "You can find such a genius in the slave market? How much did you pay for him?"
"Hehe, just the normal price for a Star-level 2 warrior!"
Hu Ge smiled proudly, "These slaves come from a newly discovered native planet. They've never practiced any significant secret techniques, so I just gave one of them the Nine Radiance technique. I didn't expect it to turn out to be such a big surprise!"
"Hmm, you're lucky."
The woman in red nodded, "Such a slave with potential shouldn't be sold so easily. If you nurture him a bit, you might get some unexpected surprises."
"Haha, don't worry, Thirteenth Sister, I understand!" Hu Ge replied hastily.
"Alright, get Thunderstorm Star in order. We need to depart as soon as possible. If we're late, those people might be up to something again!"
Lanca Star was a bustling planet in the Eternal Empire's territory, ranked within the top 50.
As the ancestral home of the Ortega Family, more than half of the family's elite members resided here.
In the past six months, many core members who had been residing on other planets began to return to Lanca Star.
The Ortega Family had developed for over hundreds of thousands of years, and the number of family members had reached billions. Even just the core members formed an enormous, terrifying number!
At one point, the entire starport of Lanca Star was overcrowded, and some of the non-direct descendants had to park their ships in space.
The reason for the recent bustle on Lanca Star was that the family's founder, the master of the planet, had recently broken through a significant bottleneck and successfully advanced to a level where he could create his own world, becoming a Realm Lord!
At the exclusive docking port for the Ortega family members on Lanca Star,
Hu Ge and his party exited the ship and walked straight down the designated corridor towards the outside.
At that moment—
A ship with red and white swirling patterns descended slowly to a nearby docking port.
As the ship's door opened, a young man dressed in dark golden armor, with a dark red horn on his head and a strikingly similar appearance to Hu Ge, flew out first.
Behind him followed a group of around ten Star-level bodyguards in black alloy armor.
"Oh? Isn't this little Hu Ge?"
The young man's eyes lit up as he saw Hu Ge's party. He immediately flew over and landed in their path.
Looking at the silver-gray spaceship behind Hu Ge, he smiled with an ambiguous expression,
"Heh, little Hu Ge, you can even afford a C9-class spaceship now. Looks like you've made a fortune on Thunderstorm Star!"
"Well, aren't you going to thank us? After all, we helped you get to Thunderstorm Star, didn't we?"
The moment Hu Ge saw this person, his eyes involuntarily narrowed.
This person was his Sixth Brother, from the same branch of the Ortega family, but their relationship was far from friendly.
Even in a family as powerful and long-established as the Ortega Family, infighting over resources and interests was common.
Hu Ge had once had a major falling out with this Sixth Brother over such matters.
In fact, the reason Hu Ge, a direct descendant of the Ortega family, wasn't living on Lanca Star but instead went to the harsh environment of Thunderstorm Star was precisely because of this conflict.
Looking at the smug smile on his Sixth Brother's face, Hu Ge almost wanted to punch him.
But considering the current special circumstances and wanting to avoid trouble with their elders, he forced himself to hold back.
However, he wasn't going to let his mouth suffer.
"Thank you? I'll thank your mother!"
"Get lost! I'm sick of seeing you!"
With that, Hu Ge ignored the young man and walked around him.
The red-armored woman, the chubby young man, and the rest of Hu Ge's Star-level bodyguards followed him, not stopping to linger.
A large group of them moved swiftly, scattering the other party's team and heading straight towards the port's exit.
"That Hu Ge... even after being driven out of Lanca Star, he's still so arrogant!"
The young man in dark golden armor stared at their departing figures, his expression shifting repeatedly. Finally, a cold smile appeared on his face.
"Hmph, keep acting arrogant! I heard you've reached the Star-level now. I hope you can still be this arrogant when you participate in the family trials!"
End of Chapter