Exquisite didn’t answer, and the two of them continued on toward the heavenly land.
Flocks of phoenixes flew overhead, and holy springs were suspended in the air, surrounded by clouds. Giant dragons walked majestically across the ground, which was covered with many strange flowers and rich green grass. There were many rare animals, too. There were strange and exotic things everywhere that Han Sen looked.
Within seconds of landing, Han Sen had seen three deified xenogeneics. One of them was a deified plant.
“This is so scary… I understand now why the Very High are regarded as the greatest race in the universe. There are so many resources here. The mighty Extreme King have far less than this… No… They can’t even be compared. Put side by side with the Very High, the Extreme King would look like a group of hobos.”
Han Sen was in too much shock to speak. Countless powerful xenogeneics were roaming about. And in the nearby forest, deified xenogeneics were everywhere.
Still aboard Equisite’s ship, they flew onward for tens of thousands of miles. There were countless deified xenogeneics nearby, but they had yet to encounter any of the Very High.
“Ever since our race found this place in ancient times, our elders have been bringing interesting xenogeneics here. After god knows how many billions of years, this is what has become of the place. But my people reproduce very slowly. There are only two hundred of us left now, and we cannot use the vast majority of the resources that we have gathered over the ages. However, the creatures we have collected breed and breed; they are the fruits of our labor,” Exquisite said.
SO
Han Sen understood why the Very High could make so many deified elites now. This place was like an organic treasury. With the resources available, creating deified elites would be easy.
Bao’er was lying comfortably on the floor of the ship, looking around at the weird flowers and strange grasses. They didn’t look special, but Han Sen knew Bao’er. He could tell she was prepared to take action.
The small boat continued to fly forward. After a while, Han Sen started to think that there was a problem with the flow of time in this place. He couldn’t accurately determine how much time had passed since he first saw land.
Their ship was drawing close to some cloud-covered mountains, and when they came within range, Han Sen finally saw that the mountains held a collection of palaces. They had been built into and around the mountains, fitting perfectly between them. Faintly obscured by the haze of the clouds, it was like a picture of heaven.
When the ship landed at the foot of the mountains, Han Sen noticed a stone staircase. It led all the way up to the stone palace at the mountain’s peak. There was a Very High man descending the steps.
“Exquisite, you have returned!”
Perhaps there was such a thing as a place where the grass was greener, for being born in such a heavenly environment seemed to breed people gracious enough to befit it.
“Second Brother.” Exquisite stepped off the ship and bowed before the man.
The man waved his hand, signaling for her to refrain from such politeness. He looked at Han Sen and saw Bao’er sitting on his shoulder. He frowned. “Third Sister, why have you brought two people? Which one is your silkworm?”
“He is Han Sen. I selected him. That is his daughter. He had to bring her with him because there was no one else willing to look after her in his absence,” Exquisite explained.
The man nodded and stopped looking at Han Sen and Bao’er. He told Exquisite, “Go. The altar is ready. We may complete the contracts now.”
Exquisite nodded and told Han Sen, “You guys follow me. Don’t stray too far.”
Han Sen nodded. He stepped off the ship. As soon as he left the boarding ramp, his body felt as if it was being crushed by a mountain. He moved a bit slower than usual.
“The environment of Outer Sky is different from that of the outside universe. You’ll just have to get used to it,” Exquisite told Han Sen.
Han Sen nodded. He remained silent and followed Exquisite up the grand staircase. He glanced around.
“Sister, you could have chosen Lone Bamboo of the Sky. Why did you pick a crystallizer? Crystallizer bodies are unremarkable. They cannot amount to much…” the man said to Exquisite as they ascended the steps. He certainly didn’t beat around the bush.
“Why does this guy not look like one of the Very High?” Han Sen wondered as he inspected the man. The man’s insult hadn’t bothered him.
The fellow looked different from Li Keer, Bixi, and Exquisite. He looked fairly average, in truth. He didn’t appear to be as cold as the other Very High that Han Sen had encountered so far.
Exquisite said something non-committal, clearly not interested in the conversation.
The four of them reached the halfway point on their journey up the mountain. There, they found a stone pavilion residing on a stone platform. The stone pavilion’s name was written as “Half-Life Fate.”
Han Sen didn’t know what it meant, but another man soon approached. He waved his hand at Han Sen and said, “You’ve come here to be Exquisite’s silkworm? According to the rules of the Very High, only someone with a nine armor talent is eligible to sign the contract. Allow me to test you.”
The man didn’t seem to know Han Sen had already been tested. He walked him to the pavilion and opened a stone canister that was cradled by a stone table. When the lid was removed, Han Sen could see another God Spirit Touch lying inside the canister.
“Give the God Spirit Touch a drop of your blood and wait for the results.” The man pointed at the God Spirit Touch for Han Sen.
“Second Brother, there is no need to test him. Brother Bixi has already tested him with a God Spirit Touch. He has an armor talent figure of eleven. He is more than suitable to be a silkworm,” Exquisite said.“An eleven armor talent? He’s just a crystallizer. He cannot have an eleven armor talent. You’re joking with us, surely. Or did Bixi make a mistake? The meager talents of crystallizers aside, even we of the Very High very rarely produce offspring with an armor talent of eleven… So he still needs to undergo this test. I don’t want a mistaken test result to delay this process.” The man’s mouth was like a machine gun as he kept talking.
Han Sen didn’t bother paying attention to the man’s rambling. He approached the stone canister and lifted the middle finger of his right hand. He squeezed out a drop of blood and gave it to the God Spirit’s Touch.
Exquisite’s eyes locked on the God Spirit Touch. Despite what she had said earlier, she did want to find out if the test conducted before was legitimate. Saying Han Sen had an eleven armor talent still seemed ludicrous, so a second test was warranted.
The man stared at the God Spirit Touch, too. He didn’t believe a crystallizer could have an eleven armor talent. He thought something must have happened when Bixi tested Han Sen, and that was why the result was incorrect.
They all stared at the God Spirit Touch intensely. But after the God Spirit Touch consumed the blood, it stopped moving. They kept watching for some time, but the creature remained completely still. It didn’t even shed a single shell.
Exquisite was surprised, and the men thought this was strange. No matter how bad a crystallizer was, there was no way the bug wouldn’t discard a single shell.
“Weird. Is there a problem with the God Spirit Touch?” The man reached out a finger and brushed it against the God Spirit Touch’s head. His face twisted with confusion as he said, “There’s nothing wrong with the creature. It is just the same as before. How could this happen?”
“Feed him another drop of blood,” the man told Han Sen after he examined the God Spirit Touch.Han Sen didn’t know what to make of this turn of events. He did just as he was instructed and squeezed out another droplet of blood to feed the God Spirit Touch.
