The Return of Stars to the Jianghu

In the southeastern corner of this floating continent lies the Southern Han Kingdom, which has always been confined to a remote corner. In the western part of the Southern Han Kingdom, there are dense forests and crisscrossing rivers. Occasionally, in places with flat terrain, towns and villages of varying sizes have formed.

This place is not isolated from the world because of the mountains and forests; on the contrary, the natural rivers have become the best transportation network.

This also allowed people from all over the Floating Life Continent to come here to buy and sell goods and conduct business.

Besides merchants from various countries in the Eastern Continent, Western merchants also frequently came here to sell spices and glass, and would purchase tea and porcelain to take back to the Western Continent.

In the next few days, a group of Western merchants will be traveling from Lanxi County to Tongren County.

Strangely enough, since the Southern Han Dynasty imposed a ban on foreign merchants, most of them have tried to return to the West.

This group of merchants was originally going back to the West, but now they have turned back, apparently to buy some tea in Tongren County to take back to the West.

Fan Ye has been very troubled these past few days. After finishing that job at Taihe Money Exchange in Tongren County, he has been hiding and has not dared to make another move.

Unfortunately, the government has been investigating the matter for more than ten days, and most of the bandits in the vicinity have suffered heavy losses as a result.

Fan Ye originally intended to escape from Nanhan after completing this job, but now it was too late to escape.

Furthermore, because of the burden of taking on the Sanmu (a type of livestock), they lost a lot of grain, and no one came to redeem it.

He had already instructed his men to spread the word in the Wind and Sound Society that Fan Ye was waiting for Qi Yuan to redeem him, but now there was no news at all.

"Boss, why don't we just give him a quick death with one stab?" one of the subordinates suggested to Fan Ye.

"Do you know why we're still alive despite our terrible reputation?" Fan Ye asked this question in his rough and unrefined manner, as if he really didn't know why he was asking his subordinate.

"I don't know. Why?" This subordinate had been with Fan Ye for many years, so he naturally knew that Fan Ye was asking a question in return.

"Because we only seek wealth, not lives. Besides, Qi Yuan not only once squandered his entire fortune in the martial world, but he also always seeks revenge." Fan Ye's words, spoken beneath his rugged exterior, must have seemed incredibly contradictory to outsiders, making them hard to accept.

"So, boss, what should we do next? We can't spend any money right now, and the brothers have been eating vegetarian food for over ten days."

"Don't worry, I already have a plan. In a few more days, the brothers will be able to eat meat. If nothing unexpected happens, a caravan will pass through Zhulin Village tomorrow. We will take their place, disguise ourselves as Westerners, and escape from Nanhan."

……

At this time, the caravan had just boarded a ship in Lanxi County. The caravan leader was a blond foreigner wearing iron-rimmed glasses.

Most of the people on the ships on the shore had already heard about this Western merchant caravan and knew what they were going to do, so not many people paid much attention to them.

"John, we can set off now," an old man on the ship said to the blond man.

"Okay, let's go."

……

Not long after John's merchant ship set sail.

The three warships of the Nanzhao Kingdom in the southern waters of An Island left Wangjungui Island, the last island of the Tiansha Islands.

The people on the ship picked up a Western telescope and spotted a pirate ship that shouldn't have been there.

Meanwhile, the captain on the pirate ship, who was preparing to search for treasure, also discovered the three Nanzhao Kingdom warships.

The pirate ship captain was preparing to lure the three Nanzhao Kingdom warships into the open sea for battle when he discovered that the three warships had suddenly vanished without a trace from the surface of the water.

Meanwhile, four years ago, three wooden ships suddenly appeared in the South China Sea.

……

An island in the South China Sea.

"General, there's an anomaly in the South China Sea Tunnel." A soldier rushed into General Ma's office.

General Ma has been working with the paranormal response team for many years. Upon hearing the soldier's report, he immediately rushed to the central control room.

"How is the situation now?"

“A whirlpool appeared below the tunnel, and a tornado appeared on the sea. This is footage from the monitoring warship.”

"Be on high alert, something is coming."

After General Ma finished speaking, he picked up his phone.

"Captain Zhang, the situation is urgent. There's something unusual about the South China Sea Tunnel. I suspect enemy forces are approaching. Do you have any plans?"

"The Phoenix Team has organized an interdepartmental meeting, which decided that if the other side has no intention of attacking, scientific experts will establish communication. If there is an intention to attack, the military will take over." This reply came from Captain Zhang, the joint leader of the Phoenix Forest Paranormal Phenomenon Response Team.

After hanging up the phone, General Ma asked the scouts at the command post where the children were.

"We passed Hainan Island twenty minutes ago. We're on a plane heading this way now," the scout replied, looking at the flight path and estimated arrival time on the screen.

Which flight route did they take?

"General, rest assured, the NH180 route has avoided the time tunnel."

General Ma stopped talking. He saw the satellite weather map on the big screen, which showed that the airflow was getting stronger and stronger.

"Inform them to change course and take a longer route."

"The planes bring these children from all over the country, and if we take a longer route, we might not have enough fuel."

"Send refueling aircraft over there, quickly."

"General, the typhoon is getting stronger. Should the warships retreat?"

"hold on."

"General, the underwater vortex is rising."

"Deploy drones and withdraw warships."

On the South China Sea.

"The Spratly Islands are just ahead."

Everyone stood on the deck gazing into the distance.

“Look ahead,” said Chen Ming, a member of the Phoenix Team.

A dark cloud appeared in the sky ahead.

"It looks like it's going to rain, let's all go back to the cabin," said Captain Feng of Phoenix Team One.

"Wait, look down at that dark cloud," said Captain Huang of Phoenix Team Two.

“White sail, a boat,” said Luo Yan, a member of Phoenix Team Two.

Just then, a soldier ran over: "The satellites and radar have suddenly detected a ship. The captain wants you to go and take a look."

The group walked to the captain's cabin.

"Lin Fan, what's going on?" Luo Yan asked impatiently.

"I'm not sure, a radar signal suddenly appeared," the boy named Lin Fan replied.

"The wooden boat has a radar signal. Why don't we chase after it and take a look?" Chen Ming, Luo Yifei's uncle, was unaware of what he was about to face and only wanted to see what was going on.

The warship had entered the waters of the Spratly Islands. Just then, the phone in the captain's cabin rang.

A voice came from the other end of the phone: "Captain Feng, Captain Huang, this is Ma Ying from the South China Sea. There is an unidentified warship that looks like it's from another planet directly in front of you. Approach quickly and prepare for battle. We'll be there soon."

......

Earth Space Agency, Earth-like Planets Survey Team.

"Team leader, based on the probes we deployed to Planet Z, we discovered that the moon on one of the outermost planets in the Z star system is not natural. It contains various metals. Our initial suspicion is that it's a probe from another cosmic civilization. Moreover, we hadn't detected it before; this discovery is because it transmitted information," Huo Changqing reported.

"What information?"

"One image is a picture of the explosion in the Z galaxy," Hu Tian added in his report.

"So, the people from Planet Z came to Earth because their planet was about to be destroyed, and they came to Earth to escape?"