Chapter 3717 - Scram!

At the northern part of the Middlekin Star Ruin was an astral continent that seemed made up of ancient stone and rock. Nothing about it stood out to most people who passed it by, but should one take a closer look, they would find that the stones and vegetation on the astral continent were actually covered in dense divine celestial patterns. It was actually a high-level illusory formation that kept the prosperous city behind it hidden!

Beneath the illusions were many radiant and opulent buildings. Intricate and beautiful divine astralships were parked in and around the buildings, within which countless mystical treasures were located. The Upper Star Ruin had been isolated from the Lower Star Ruins for most of its history, causing it to develop its own unique culture. As a result, everything from their architecture to astralship design strove for a kind of high-concept elegance. Even the people walking about in the city seemed cultured and civilized, whether they were foundationeers or overflowers, covered in opulent jewelry and magnificent outfits.

At that moment, a spherical ship passed through the illusory formation and descended from the sky, landing with a loud rumble. A man clad in blue robes, Li Aoyue, stood in front of Aoyue Palace with a cohort of overflower servants, ready to welcome their guest. Li Aoyue was around forty meters tall and had a good face and body proportions. Most would agree that he was pleasing to the eyes. His gigantic figure did apply quite a bit of pressure to foundationeers, who were only around two meters tall. Most of them couldn't even look up, feeling that they were weak and inferior lifeforms. Overflowers who were striving to become cosmic gods already seemed like a completely different lifeform.

"Li Aoyue welcomes Ambassador Mu!" Li Aoyue announced as the door to the spherical ship opened. The door itself was hundreds of meters wide. The first to come out was a shapely woman close to forty meters tall, followed by a group of overflower servants. She seemed to be of rather high status and had a sharp, proud gaze that carried a hint of fierceness.

At the Overflow stage, one could easily tell who was stronger based on their height. That also dictated much of the basic etiquette in the Upper Star Ruin, down to their strictly hierarchical nature. It was all too clear what level one was. Putting other factors like status and bloodline aside, an overflower around ten meters tall could easily be crushed by the steps of giants like Li Aoyue or Ambassador Mu, as they only stood as tall as the knees of those two, let alone foundationeers.

Once astral gods reached the Overflow Stage, they would no longer consider foundationeers any serious threat, and size was only a part of it. Based on their astron density, foundationeers and overflowers could almost be considered separate lifeforms altogether. As such, Li Aoyue and Ambassador Mu only seriously regarded each other, nobody else.

"Long time no see, Lord Li," Ambassador Mu said with an enchanting voice and gaze.

"It truly has been a while! Ambassador Mu, thank you for going through so much trouble to come here all the way from Starmoon Haven. Please, come in!"

"You’re too polite, old friend." The two of them entered the palace and took a seat.

Li Aoyue clapped and summoned many foundationeer maidservants, who came in carrying plates much larger than their own bodies, filled with the finest delicacies the Upper Star Ruin had to offer. They were mostly made of ingredients like herbs and beasts from fortuna-class worlds that’d had the benefit of being nourished by good nova source. Food like that did have a slight helpful effect to astral god cultivation.

Despite the delicacies, Ambassador Mu grimaced when she saw the foundationeer maidservants. "We haven't met for more than ten years, yet you're still using these lowly slaves as servants, Lord Li?" There was a deep look of contempt in her expression and the maidservants fearfully huddled together as they shivered, not daring to utter a sound before the giant.

Li Aoyue chuckled, "Ambassador Mu, I had no choice! This is a Middlekin Star Ruin, a mine where we harvest middlekin stars. We aren’t at Starmoon Haven, so it isn’t easy to find servants of decent quality! We can only resort to using these slaves."

"Lord Li, aren't you worried that their heavenly shackles will affect you if you get too close to them? Since ancient times, people who’ve gotten too close to members of the slave race have experienced a drop in their talents. It's best to be more careful with things like heavenly shackles. Most of the Upper Star Ruin only use these slaves for mining, so it's best for them to stay as far away from us as possible," Ambassador Mu sternly said.

"You’re right. Next time I make a trip to Starmoon Haven, I’ll hire some proper maidservants and bring them here," Li Aoyue said, nodding in resignation. He did think that she had a point. And as the host, he really shouldn't be arguing with his guest about hospitality.

It wasn't just him. Since ancient times, slave races had been shunned by the free people of the Upper Star Ruin due to fears of being affected by the heavenly shackles. It was almost, but not quite as bad as their contempt for the 'stench' of people from the Lower Star Ruins. Consequently, most shunned races were kept pure and untouched due to a heavy stigma against interbreeding.

"That's right! Only those kinds of servants will fit your status, Lord Li!" Ambassador Mu said with a smile. Nobles who could only afford slaves as servants tended to not have a high status in Starmoon Haven. That was also why Li Aoyue found it rather awkward for a guest to call him out like that. Fortunately, the ambassador didn't linger on the matter.

"Now scram! Go back to the astral hole!" Li Aoyue said, hatefully glaring at them as he decided their fates. The meek maidservants didn't argue and immediately left with their heads down.

Li Aoyue changed the subject and said, "Ambassador Mu, thank you for all the trouble you've gone through to bring all these ordered manna to the Scorchmoon Cult. Let me toast you."

"You’re too kind—I’m only fulfilling my duty. Come to think of it, I rather envy your cult. You've been doing rather well in the past years based on your increased middlekin star production. Starmoon Haven has rewarded you with quite a lot of ordered manna!"

𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"Quite a lot? How much are we talking about?"

"To be frank, there's more than three million pieces here!"