In that strange deep sea, everything around them was pitch-black.
But at the bottom of the ocean, there was a quiet city lying in the dark. The city was nestled in the darkness like a jewel. It glowed like a beacon of holy light.
This underwater town was far different from the one Han Sen had seen before. This holy town actually looked like a statue. All the buildings were pieces of a single structure.
There were statues that were a few dozen stories high, and every brick was made of jade. The town looked like a jade statue that came from another world.
What shocked Han Sen the most was the shape of the giant underwater town; the statue was shaped like a sleeping beast with the end of its tail tucked under its head.
And the face of the beast startled Han Sen badly.
“The Nine-Life Cat!” Han Sen almost screamed aloud. The town was shaped just like the Nine-Life Cat pendant Han Sen used to own.
Aside from the white color of the town, it was just an incredibly large version of the Nine-Life Cat pendant.
When Han Sen and the others approached the jade town, the town started to look bigger in their eyes. And when they touched the holy light coming from it, the stone plate’s light suddenly exploded.
Tiny cracks spread across the stone plate. Not long after, the stone plate crumbled away in Han Sen’s hands, leaving behind a crystal that had rested in the center of the tablet. The crystal was shaped like a waterdrop, and it rose into the water. It shone with a holy light. It left Han Sen’s fingers and drifted towards the jade town.
Han Sen reached his hand out to grab it, but the waterdrop crystal was too fast for him. Han Sen snatched at empty water behind it. The crystal flew towards the cat statue’s head.
In the Nine-Life Cat’s forehead, there was a jade statue. The jade statue looked like a sleeping Nine-Life Cat as well, although a smaller one. That Nine-Life Cat statue’s forehead had a waterdrop slot in it. It looked like the socket of a third eye.
The crystal fitted itself perfectly into that waterdrop-shaped slot. The fit was so tight that it was practically seamless, and the Nine-Life Cat statue suddenly looked complete. It then underwent some weird changes.
The sleeping Nine-Life Cat statue suddenly opened its eyes. It laid there lazily for a minute, and its paws moved to run its sleepy-looking cat eyes. It raised its head to look at Han Sen and the others floating over the jade town. The three of them wondered if they should enter, but the Nine-Life Cat suddenly raised its paw and waved at them like a lucky cat charm.
They felt some irresistible power come upon them. All of them, including the blood kirin, were then sucked into the jade town as if by magnetic attraction. They used all their powers to resist the pull, but their efforts were in vain and they were still pulled down anyway.
Pang! Pang! Pang! Pang!
Four loud booms rang out as they dropped into the town. They landed in front of a palace that stood before the jade cat statue.
“Welcome to Holy Town, you poor guys.” The Nine-Life Cat statue was now looking at them from above. Its teeth were bared in something like a smile, but the face didn’t seem to possess much mirth.
The three of them looked at each other. They didn’t know what this was all about, but they made sure to remain alert. They stared at the Nine-Life Cat statue.
“Don’t be afraid. I am just a guardian spirit that protects the town. I will not hurt any of you.” The jade cat still possessed that smile that wasn’t actually a smile.
Then, the tone of its voice changed. “But since you guys are in the Holy Town, if you cannot pass the tests of the Sacred Leader, they will probably kill you.”
“Why do we even have to accept your tests?” Crime asked coldly.
Despite being a statue, the Nine-Life Cat seemed to have no trouble thinking for itself. It smiled at Crime and said, “It is okay if you don’t want to take the test. That means you give up, and you can die right now.”
Crime frowned. He started to say something more, but Mister White stopped him.
Mister White looked at the jade cat statue and quietly asked, “What kind of tests are we expected to perform? And if we succeed, what will our rewards be?”
The jade cat looked at Mister White, smiled, and said, “It is simple. Live. Live in the Holy Town. If you can survive for ten days, you can win something from the Sacred Leader’s surprise goodie bag. Good luck! Try not to die too soon.”
After the jade cat statue finished speaking, every palace and room across the town opened its doors. Many scary xenogeneics began to slowly crawl out of their dens. The blood kirin’s scales straightened up like a dog raising its hackles. Its blood air rose. It growled in warning at the approaching creatures, but the growl warbled slightly as if the blood kirin was scared.
The xenogeneic beasts acted as if they hadn’t heard the blood kirin at all. All of them emerged from the palace and headed for the plaza.
They approached without making any noise. They looked impassively at Han Sen, the blood kirin, Mister White, and Crime.
So many xenogeneics had emerged, and they were of a variety Han Sen knew little about. A few of them looked familiar, but even that familiarity was vague and undefined.
There was a feathered creature with six golden wings and a Ghana with draconic horns. But most of them were xenogeneics Han Sen had never seen before. They moved slowly and steadily across the ground. The power of the creatures was overwhelming, and simply sensing their presence made Han Sen feel as if he was shouldering a mountain.
“A deified Thunderbird… A deified Sky Spirit… A deified Six-Winged Gold Angel… A deified Ghana Dragon…” Crime screamed.
Every name Crime shouted out made Han Sen’s heart feel worse and worse. Seeing the creatures had raised a lot of questions for Han Sen, but as Crime spoke, those questions died on his lips.
All of the xenogeneic beasts that were walking out of the palaces were deified.
“How is this possible…” Han Sen was floored. There were around one hundred of the xenogeneics circling the plaza.
With that many deified xenogeneics, the entirety of the geno universe could be conquered. Not even the combined might of the three most powerful races could fend off this army.
Using such amazing power to conduct a mere test was like using a nuclear bomb to kill a mosquito.
Not a mosquito, actually. Perhaps a flea. Or a mite. The combined power of these xenogeneics could destroy the whole world.
“This is a trick. It HAS to be a trick. Maybe Some kind of illusion? Sacred cannot have this many deified creatures… And even if they did, the creatures cannot all be here…” Han Sen couldn’t help but rub his eyes. He summoned his Purple-Eye Butterfly to get a proper look at the beings in front of him.
And when he did, Han Sen saw enough power to suppress every creature in the entire universe.
When these creatures gathered together, they could destroy anything. Those xenogeneic creatures had all the casual power of demon kings. Han Sen suddenly felt like a little girl entering the throneroom of hell. He felt weak and vulnerable, while malicious eyes watched him from the dark.
