Interstellar Farming: I Make Potions and Climb to the Top

"Yun Han, this is the last time. If your men ever approach me again, you can just pack your bags and move into the Training Institute." Ning Xuan tossed out the words and turned to leave.

Chen Nan looked at Yun Han, at a loss, then hurried after Ning Xuan. He asked her what kind of whip to use. A hundred lashes with the punishment whip. As far as he knew, there were punishment whips back at the Qinglan Mountain villa, but they hadn’t brought any with them.

Chen Nan’s persistent question made Ning Xuan stop. "Use this." Ning Xuan handed a pure black vine to Chen Nan. This vine was one of the nine branches of the Ghost-faced Red Vine. It was straight yet flexible, dark and glossy, with a chilling appearance.

The Black Vine felt surprisingly heavy in his hand, and Chen Nan found himself growing a little nervous as he held it.

Chen Nan looked closer and saw that the surface of the Black Vine was covered in fine, scale-like patterns. It shimmered with a cold, metallic light under the moon and even seemed to pulse faintly with his heartbeat, as if it were alive.

Seeing Ning Xuan walk off into the distance, Chen Nan turned to find Yun Han, who was standing right behind him. Chen Nan awkwardly hid the Black Vine behind his back. "Young Master Yun, I’m just following orders. Please forgive my offense in a moment."

Yun Han glanced at him. "It’s fine. You were just with the Contractor. Do you know what Qiao Yu said to her? And how did he say it?"

Chen Nan looked at him hesitantly for a moment, but then recounted everything he had heard, down to the last detail. It wasn’t as if any of it were a secret that couldn’t be told.

Yun Han sighed after hearing the story. "Don’t hold back later. I truly failed to manage my subordinate."

’It’s for the best that Qiao Yu sees this with his own eyes,’ Yun Han thought. ’After this, unless he’s truly determined to see me dead, he should know not to bother Ning Xuan again.’

He knew exactly what Qiao Yu had been thinking. On the New Star Body, Federation laws weren’t as effectively enforced. He must have seen that Ning Xuan had only brought a few people with her for the assessment and figured that if the Heavenly Might Corps offered their men, it would be a great help to her. That’s what made him bold enough to go before Ning Xuan and make demands.

The two of them soon arrived at the security zone’s military command post. When Qiao Yu saw Yun Han approach, he came forward, his face etched with anxiety. "Boss..." he began, stammering.

Yun Han ignored him. He scanned the empty hall of the command post, moved the chair from the head of the room out into the open, and began to unbutton his shirt.

"Boss, what... what are you doing?" Qiao Yu asked in a panic when he saw Yun Han taking off his clothes.

"This is all thanks to you, Qiao Yu. Now watch closely." As Yun Han spoke, he finished taking off his top. He tossed the moon-white shirt aside, exposing his powerful, well-built torso to everyone present.

His eight-pack abs were like rolling hills, and his taut waist promised explosive power. The V-lines of his hips disappeared into the waistband of his tactical pants, tracing an alluring curve.

Qiao Yu had a bad feeling. He quickly dismissed the others and had someone close the doors to the command post.

Yun Han placed the bracelet Ning Xuan had worn on the chair before him. He knelt in front of the chair and said to Chen Nan, "You may begin."

"Boss, it’s my fault! Punish me instead!" Qiao Yu cried, moving to pull him up.

"Get back! You watch closely. I won’t be letting you off the hook later," Yun Han snapped coldly.

"Strike," Yun Han said to Chen Nan.

Chen Nan raised the black vine and swung it. With a sharp CRACK, it struck Yun Han’s back, instantly splitting the skin.

Cold sweat broke out on Yun Han’s forehead, and the muscles of his upper body tensed. The first lash stretched from his shoulder blade to his waist. The sound of the second whip strike followed, and the bloody welt on his shoulder blade burst open. Drops of blood trickled down his spine, splattering on the floor like crimson blossoms.

Yun Han gritted his teeth, not making a sound. But his clenched fists were corded with bulging veins, a clear sign of the immense pain he was enduring.

Qiao Yu couldn’t bear it any longer and threw himself over Yun Han. "If you’re going to hit someone, hit me! Marshal Yun, it’s all my fault! If Miss Ning is angry, I, Qiao Yu, am willing to accept any punishment from her! This has nothing to do with you! How can she punish you so indiscriminately?"

Qiao Yu yelled, on the verge of a breakdown.

"Stop hitting him! I’ll go plead with Miss Ning!" Qiao Yu shouted, trying to snatch the whip from Chen Nan.

"Qin Muxi, Zhang Chao, get in here," Yun Han called out towards the door.

Two uniformed military officers entered and gave a fist-and-palm salute. "Marshal Yun."

"Restrain Qiao Yu. Don’t let him interfere," Yun Han ordered.

The two showed not a sliver of hesitation at Yun Han’s command. They moved forward and restrained Qiao Yu, preventing him from struggling.

The command post echoed with the CRACK of the whip and the sound of Qiao Yu’s anguished cries.

After a hundred lashes, Chen Nan’s arm was exhausted. Despite Yun Han’s immense strength and resilient constitution, there wasn’t a single patch of unscathed flesh left on his back. Qiao Yu had cried himself hoarse.

Yun Han had originally intended to punish Qiao Yu himself, but after taking a hundred lashes, he was in too much pain to even stand.

"Qin Muxi, drag him outside and give him a hundred strokes with the military rod," Yun Han commanded, pointing at Qiao Yu.

Qiao Yu didn’t resist or beg for mercy. With a sense of relief, he allowed Qin Muxi to drag him out to the plaza.

Chen Nan looked at Yun Han with a measure of pity, his own nerves tightening. Not long ago, Ning Xuan had clearly doted on Yun Han, yet when she turned on him, she was utterly merciless.

’Thank goodness my own family situation is simple, and I don’t have such clueless subordinates.’

On the way back, soldiers from the Heavenly Might Corps drove Chen Nan and Yun Han to their accommodations.

After they returned to their lodgings, Ning Xuan never again brought up Yun Han’s injuries or the matter with Qiao Yu.

Early the next morning, Ning Xuan and her party left the Jiujiang Security Zone and set out on a new journey.

This time, using the latest regional information released by the military, Ning Xuan headed east.

The eastern region contained vast primeval forests, rich in resources but also fraught with unknown dangers.

On this new leg of their journey, Di Youlin took advantage of his ability to fly, often inviting Ning Xuan to ride on his back and look down upon the scenery below.

After his recent period of Cultivation in the Oasis Fairyland, Di Youlin could now freely extend and retract his wings, and both the altitude and distance he could fly had increased dramatically.

Di Youlin’s wings unfurled in the morning light like flowing gold. Ning Xuan clutched the feathers on the back of his neck, pressing close as the sound of the wind in her ears suddenly stretched into a long, drawn-out hum. With the fourth beat of his powerful, metallic-gold wings, they passed through a wisp of a cloud.

"The scenery below is so beautiful!" Ning Xuan’s gasp of wonder was caught in the airflow, turning into the sound of tinkling silver bells.

Ten thousand feet below, the sleeping continent was being gently combed by the fine teeth of the dawn. The tips of the snowy peaks were the first to catch a faint golden glow. Then, where the glaciers snaked down, tens of thousands of golden threads burst forth—streams of snowmelt catching the first rays of the rising sun.

Di Youlin banked and circled, carrying her over a primeval forest that was just beginning to stir. Flocks of large, white-winged birds startled from the dark green canopy, their wingbeats echoing clearly up through the clouds.