164: Sweeping across the sea of ​​stars

Time, like the flowing sand of a star river, quietly slipped by for three years.

Emperor Guangyao, once full of youthful vigor, who had effortlessly “lain down and won” the throne thanks to his one hundred and seventy-two innate martial physique offspring—

was now sprawled on the grand throne, crafted from “Aurora Divine Wood,” symbolizing imperial power.

His posture… bore a striking resemblance to that of his great-grandfather, Chen Jun, who was far away at the Pillar of Leadership.

However, Chen Jun’s sprawl was one of enjoyment, of transcendence;

while Guangyao’s sprawl was one of exhaustion, of having nothing left to live for.

His hair, inherited from his mother Chen Yuanhua, once lustrous and vibrant, now appeared somewhat… withered?

Beneath his eyes, once sharp as stars, hung heavy shadows that even the imperial secret cultivation methods struggled to dispel.

Most noticeably, his once upright, pine-like back would now, upon hearing the eunuch’s shrill voice announce, “Your Majesty, it’s time to choose a consort”—

reflexively soften, wishing he could instantly transform into stardust and vanish without a trace.

“Seven thousand two hundred consorts… and only three years have passed!” Guangyao stared blankly at the core of the array embedded in the dome, designed to gather starlight for “cultivation,” his eyes empty:

“Father Emperor… no, the Retired Emperor, what did he say back then? ‘Yao’er, this throne is yours, just focus on contributing to the civilization from now on’…”

He recalled three years ago, when the Retired Emperor Guangyin had held his hand, earnestly and with paternal satisfaction, pressed the Imperial Seal into his grasp, and then… fled faster than a spatial warp!

Then, he frantically arranged for him to take consorts everywhere, until… seven thousand two hundred imperial consorts!

The Retired Emperor must have foreseen what would happen to me! Or rather, heard something from the Human Federation!

And his seven thousand two hundred consorts, along with the family factions behind them, whose eyes glowed green with eagerness to lavish all their resources upon him… they were no longer tender beauties, but seven thousand two hundred ceaseless, self-upgrading “Innate Martial Physique manufacturing machines”!

Internal competition?

The internal competition in the Harem of the Light and Shadow Civilization had reached new heights, new dimensions!

Before, it was about whose family offered more resources, whose family had better fertility-boosting secret recipes.

Now?

It was about whose family could persuade a stellar-level ancestor to personally set up a “Star Seed Array”!

It was about whose family could acquire the latest “Gene Optimization Transmitter” from the Imperial Academy of Sciences!

It was about whose consort could be the first to comprehend the “One Mind, Multiple Uses, Dual Cultivation Mental Method,” achieving simultaneous “conscious communication” and “physical practice,” doubling the pregnancy rate!

Guangyao felt he was no longer an emperor, but a… biological reactor, surrounded by countless top engineers, constantly undergoing “performance optimization” and “overclocking tests”?!

“Your Majesty~” A beautiful consort with a graceful figure entered the hall, carrying a jade plate, her voice sickly sweet:

“This is the ‘Nine Revolutions Reincarnation Star Marrow’ that my family just sent. They say it strengthens the foundation, cultivates vitality, and stimulates potential. Please try it~”

Guangyao looked at the bowl of “marrow,” so rich in spiritual energy it had almost solidified, radiating colorful light, and his mouth twitched… He had already drunk eight hundred bowls of this stuff this week!

He felt like he could burp and taste star marrow!

“Beloved consort… I… I just had the ‘Myriad Ages Empty Green Dew’ a moment ago, it’s truly…” Guangyao tried to resist.

The consort immediately looked on the verge of tears, her beautiful eyes shimmering with moisture:

“Your Majesty~ Are you displeased with your concubine? My father expended great effort to personally collect this for you from ‘Reincarnation Star’… If you don’t drink it, your concubine… your concubine will go tell father not to waste his efforts anymore…”

Guangyao: “!!!”

Here we go again!

Here we go again!

Always bringing out a stellar-level ancestor from her family at the drop of a hat?!

Bullying him, a weak planetary-level junior?

Could he dare not drink it?

If he dared to say “no,” wouldn’t that stellar-level ancestor come to “visit” him during tomorrow’s morning court, under the pretext of “caring for the imperial bloodline succession,” and coincidentally use stellar-level pressure to help him “digest” the medicine?

Guangyao resignedly took the jade bowl and, with a look of facing death, drank it all in one gulp.

A majestic energy, like a star sea exploding, instantly detonated within him, flushing through his limbs and bones, and also impacting his already tottering… mental defenses.

Seeing him finish, the consort immediately broke into a smile, leaned closer, her breath like orchids:

“Your Majesty~ Last night, I observed the stars and divined that tonight, at the third quarter of theHai hour, is the auspicious ‘Purple Star Illumination’ moment, a rare occurrence in ten thousand years, most suitable for… hmm~ for expanding the imperial lineage~”

Guangyao looked at the consort’s “you know what I mean” gaze, then glanced at the thick “Consort Bedside Duty Roster” in the eunuch’s hand, thick enough to bludgeon a star beast, and felt his vision darken again… “Beloved consort… I… I suddenly remembered that there are still several memorials concerning national welfare that I haven’t reviewed today…” Guangyao attempted a final resistance.

“Your Majesty~” another consort, who had entered at some point, interjected, holding a stack of documents:

“Your concubine has already helped you categorize and organize the memorials, and the key points have been highlighted in red. Look, this one is about increasing the budget for the ‘Imperial Offspring Rearing Special Fund,’ and this one is about expanding the land for the ‘Innate Martial Physique Enlightenment Academy’… all related to expanding the lineage! Your Majesty, why not… handle state affairs while ‘resting’? Your concubine can add fragrance to your sleeves and interpret the memorials for you~”

Guangyao: “…”

Inside, millions of star beasts stampeded… Similar to the Light and Shadow Civilization, the Crown Prince of the Sea Song Civilization, the son of Chen Yuanlin, also fell into a “quagmire of happiness.”

Although the number of his consorts was “only” two thousand eight hundred, the imperial tradition of the Sea Song Civilization was even more… uninhibited?

His sleeping chambers had been transformed into a gigantic “deep-sea resonance field,” with consorts surrounding him, weaving a vast, pervasive “procreation field” with their ethereal singing and mental fluctuations.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince felt like a sponge soaked in top-grade nutrient solution, constantly being nourished, and also… squeezed… “Your Highness, it’s time for today’s ‘Tidal Resonance’ cultivation.” A consort of peerless beauty walked over, her voice like deep-sea ripples.

The Crown Prince looked at the “resonance field,” adorned with countless rare marine treasures, its effect comparable to a stellar-level spirit gathering array, and sighed, resignedly walking over.

He knew that this “Tidal Resonance,” while sounding mystical, was essentially a collective dual cultivation ritual developed by the Sea Song Civilization that could greatly increase the probability of conception!

...In the Xuanji Civilization, at the top floor of the “Tower of Truth” in the Royal Academy… the scene here was slightly different.

The Crown Prince of the Xuanji Civilization, the son of Chen Yuanjing, was an erudite imperial prince, wearing glasses and possessing a refined scholarly demeanor.

The number of his consorts was relatively “streamlined,” fifteen hundred, but each was a highly intelligent female scholar or scientist, proficient in various disciplines.

Their method of “internal competition” was full of academic flavor… “Your Highness, this is your concubine’s latest ‘Optimal Life Factor Combination Model.’ According to calculations, when conducting… exchanges while operating in the third orbit of the Wuchen Quadrant, the probability of offspring developing special mental abilities can increase by zero point seven eight percent.”

“Your Highness, don’t listen to her! Her model doesn’t account for dark matter wave interference! According to your concubine’s ‘Hyperspace Conception Probability Cloud Map,’ conducting it in the Hai-Mao confluence zone yields better aptitude enhancement!”

“Both younger sisters’ models are too idealized, ignoring real-world environmental variables. Your concubine has already deployed three observation satellites to monitor the energy flow around Your Highness’s sleeping chambers in real-time. Here are the latest data; it is recommended to proceed at the beginning of the Chou hour, zero point three seconds after the energy flow peak, to leverage the momentum…”

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince pushed up his glasses, looking at the dense formulas, data, and three-dimensional models on the screen before him, feeling his head was bigger than when facing three thousand cosmic problems.

He hadn’t married consorts; he had married fifteen hundred walking supercomputers plus academicians of the life sciences!

This wasn’t a harem; this was clearly an academic seminar at the Life Science Branch of the Federal Academy of Sciences!

And what they were discussing was… how to make him “dedicate himself” to scientific research more efficiently?!!!

...Similar scenes were simultaneously unfolding in countless civilizations that had accepted the Chen family bloodline… Those once high and mighty princes and crown princes, under the immense temptation of “guaranteed innate martial physiques” and “innate nourishment feedback,” willingly or unwillingly threw themselves into this grand and vigorous procreation endeavor… The scale of their harems expanded at an astonishing rate, with all sorts of unheard-of fertility technologies and mystical methods being developed, and the degree of internal competition constantly breaking through the heavens!

And the initiator of all this, the “core family values” of the Chen family, also spread “cleverly” by Chen Jun, were “practiced personally” by these princes… in a strange yet efficient way, rapidly spreading, taking root, and even… being revered as sacred texts in these civilizations!

“Expand the lineage, may the bloodline prosper forever!”

“Many children, many blessings, the foundation of civilization!”

“Strive to procreate, live up to your youth!”

...These slogans were engraved in the enlightenment textbooks of imperial education, set to stirring court music, and served as fixed blessings after every grand sacrifice.

The original values and life ideals of those civilizations seemed so pale and powerless in the face of the golden signboard of “guaranteed innate martial physiques”?

What art, what philosophy, what exploration of the unknown… in the face of—

“Bear one innate martial physique, bring glory to ancestors! Bear a group, civilization takes flight!”—absolute reality, all must give way!

Civilizations with Chen family female bloodlines began to spontaneously organize “Fertility Model Commendation Conferences,” awarding “Civilization Contribution Medals” to families with numerous offspring.

Even among the populace, a craze for learning from the imperial family and striving to procreate was ignited; although they couldn’t produce innate martial physiques, the atmosphere was there… The entire social ethos, under the “subtle influence” of the Chen family bloodline, was rushing towards a common direction—

Procreate, procreate, procreate!

...At Chen Jun’s manor, Chen Jun looked at the summary report on the “fertility boom” and “value changes” in various civilizations, presented by Chu Yueyao, and his expression was quite something.

While munching on a newly offered “twisted fritter,” said to be from a strange plant on the edge of a black hole, he clicked his tongue in wonder:

“Good heavens! Am I… single-handedly leading the entire Azure Dome’s civilization in a crooked direction?”

“Before, everyone competed in technology and military might, but now? They’re directly competing in fertility and harem management efficiency?”

“This ‘core family values’ export… is it a bit too successful?”

Yun Qinglan, beside him, quietly peeled a “star core lotus seed,” and hearing this, she looked up, her clear, cold voice chiming in: “Father sows, the star sea blossoms. As expected.”

Chen Jun was amused by his daughter’s concise summary: “Hahaha! Yes! Sowing! Blossoming! Qinglan, you truly know how to speak!”

He happily took another bite of the twisted fritter, savoring the peculiar sensation of his teeth repeatedly oscillating between “twisted” and “normal,” and sighed in a self-congratulatory manner:

“Alas, I originally just wanted to comfortably lie down and win, but who would have thought, I also managed a wave of cultural output and reshaped the values of the star sea civilizations along the way…”

“Is this what you call… an unintentional act leading to unexpected success?”

Chu Yueyao suppressed a smile and respectfully said:

“Great Ancestor Chen’s wisdom is as vast as the sea, and his plans are far-reaching; how can we fathom them? Now, millions of nations in the star sea consider it an honor to be allied with the Chen family and a merit to have many descendants. This is an unprecedented spectacle, all thanks to Great Ancestor Chen’s blessings!”

“Alright, alright, no more flattery.” Chen Jun waved his hand, though he quite enjoyed it. “Let them compete among themselves; we’ll just watch the show.”

He seemed to recall something and asked, “By the way, have Zhaojing, Yuanhai, and the others successfully ‘camped’ any princesses?”

Chu Yueyao replied, “To Great Ancestor Chen, as per your instructions, His Highness Zhaojing and the qualified Yuan-generation members have been frequently arranged for ‘official business trips’ recently. Many of those princesses… have been successfully approached.”

Chen Jun nodded with satisfaction: “Hmm, well done. Let them experience the ‘troubles of being sought after,’ lest they just lie around idle all day. Young people are at the age to strive.”

Chen Jun contentedly popped the last bit of twisted fritter into his mouth and once again sprawled into his most comfortable position.

The star sea was bustling, civilizations changed, all related to him, yet seemingly unrelated to him… He lay in his comfortable chair, quietly watching the clouds drift by, happily accepting the homage of countless nations, waiting for things to fall into place…