Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

  A steady stream of CO2 poured into Mars. In just a few days, trainees in the matriculation camp on Mars could feel that Mars was warming up.

  Yes, it was warm, and getting warmer by the day.

  In the beginning, the temperature was -70°C or -80°C at night. It rose to minus 40°C in just three days. The increase was so astonishing that the temperature during the day had exceeded 0°C.

  The frozen ground at the polar cap started to melt, releasing the frozen CO2.

  Everything was going in the direction that people expected. This made the team of scientists in charge of the Mars terraforming program extremely excited.

  It was one step closer to terraform Mars.

  Of course, all of this had nothing to do with Ling Jiu for the time being. Early this morning, Ling Jiu left the forest after eating breakfast prepared by Bai Ya.

  His purpose was simple: Venus.

  After passing through the dimensional passage and arriving at the hellish Venus, his first feeling was that Venus was cooler.

  When he was in Venus before this, he could still feel the heat even with his Venom Suit on. But now it felt much better.

  “The CO2 content has reduced considerably, the greenhouse effect has weakened, and the temperature has dropped. This is something entirely expected.”

  Ling Jiu muttered to himself and took a deep breath as he came in front of a massive lava flow.

  The hot magma flew into his mouth like a flowing black river, forming a rare scene, much like a dragon drinking water above the lava flow.

  A few minutes later, the lava river had almost dried up. Ling Jiu burped and stopped swallowing. He then sank his consciousness into the Inner World inside his body.

  The Flame Astral Behemoths fed on magma, flames, and stellar energy so they could grow rapidly.

  So Ling Jiu wanted to know what would happen if he drank this magma, too.

  Of course, his real purpose was the Direbeasts on Venus. He wanted to devour them to strengthen himself. Drinking the magma was just an impromptu idea.

  To his surprise, as the magma entered his Inner World, it did not transform into vitality like the monsters Rodan and others. Instead, it turned into another form of energy in the burning flames.

  It then vanished from the Inner World.

  “It disappeared?”

  Ling Jiu blinked, shaking his head. “No! It didn’t disappear. It must have been infused into the Inner World. I can feel the Inner World expanding a little.

  “Wait a minute. Expanding?”

  “Could it result from absorbing magma?”

  Ling Jiu’s eyes lit up. He came to the source of this lava flow: a huge volcano.

  This was obviously an active volcano. It was spewing massive amounts of ash and black smoke from the crater, much like a chimney putting out exhaust gas.

  Ling Jiu entered the crater and saw a vast magma lake. It was bubbling like a bowl of boiling soup, which immediately aroused Ling Jiu’s appetite.

  He could not wait any longer. Opening his mouth with a terrifying swallowing force, he started sucking, and the boiling magma flew into the black hole.

  It was an incredible scene. If it were to happen on Earth, it would definitely shock everyone. How could someone drink hot magma as if drinking soup?

  \r \r \r

  Unfortunately, this was Venus.

  No one was going to know it, no matter how mind-blowing the thing was on a dead planet like Venus.

  Time passed and the magma level in the lake dropped.

  Ten minutes later, the magma lake had bottomed out as Ling Jiu had swallowed all the magma in the volcano.

  Ling Jiu burped with a few wisps of hydrogen sulfide gas coming out of his mouth. It smelled as horrible as a fart.

  He took a look at his Inner World.

  It was indeed expanding outward at a slow rate after drinking a tremendous amount of magma. The continent became wider, and the sky was higher.

  Finally, the expansion stopped.

  “The diameter of the continent has expanded by one kilometer?”

  The light of joy flashed in Ling Jiu’s eyes. To his surprise, mysterious energy poured out of the Inner World and dispersed throughout his body at the end of the expansion.

  “This is……”

  Ling Jiu felt that a boiling, heavy, and thick energy enveloped him as if he was in an oven.

  The next moment, he felt that his body was growing rapidly, from 1.8 to 1.9, and from 1.9 to 2 meters.

  Ling Jiu felt he had grown to 10 meters and then stopped in a matter of a few breaths.

  “My hands! My Legs!”

  He looked in disbelief at his hands that had grown bigger and his legs that were several meters longer. “How come I grew taller?”

  “What the heck is going on?”

  Shocked. Puzzled.

  He could not wrap his brain around this.

  “After absorbing the magma, my Inner World expanded, and a mysterious energy was activated in my body before I grew taller. What the heck? How did this work?”

  Ling Jiu frowned. He felt he had to figure out what had caused this before deciding whether to continue drinking the magma.

  Half an hour later, Ling Jiu found 9527, and then told of what had just happened. 9527 smiled as it started to answer Ling Jiu’s questions.

  “The Astral Behemoths are massive creatures. The Flame Astral Behemoths that possess the acme of bloodlines are among the best. A newly born Flame Astral Behemoth has a body size of 100 meters. As it continues to grow, it will become larger and larger until they reach adulthood.”

  “How big is a Flame Astral Behemoth in adulthood?” Ling Jiu asked with curiosity.

  “There is no one standard size for an adult Flame Astral Behemoth. It could range from over 100 million to over 1 billion light-years. Its strength is linked to its strength,” 9527 said.

  Ling Jiu gasped as he listened. Over 100 million to 1 billion light-years…… He had a hard time visualizing it.

  The diameter of the solar system is only 1 light-year. So this creature was bigger than the solar system?

  Ling Jiu could not wrap his brain around it.

  “You have replicated the Ultimate Physique of the Flame Astral Behemoth. But you will only become stronger and not bigger since you do not possess the Flame Astral Behemoth’s bloodline,” 9527 said. “But you have later replicated the Inner World of the Flame Astral Behemoth and is the reason for the change in your body shape!”

  “I am none the wiser.” Ling Jiu knitted his brows together.

  “As you know, the Inner World is the core of the Flame Astral Behemoth,” 9527 said. “The Flame Astral Behemoth’s Inner World is akin to the human soul, heart, and other important organs. If you replicate the Inner World, you are essentially replicating the Flame Astral Behemoth’s core.”

  “Coupled with the Ultimate Physique, you have practically replicated everything about the Flame Astral Behemoth. It can be said that you have become a shrunken version of the Flame Astral Behemoth.”

  “A shrunken version of the Flame Astral Behemoth?” Ling Jiu was dumbfounded.

  “Yes.” 9527 nodded. “After swallowing magma and stellar energy, a Flame Astral behemoth’s Inner World will expand, and its body will grow correspondingly. The fundamental reason for your height change is the same.”

  “Now I know.” Ling Jiu still did not understand it all, but at least he knew one thing. “In other words, if I continue to swallow magma, my body will continue to grow taller.”

  “Exactly.” 9527’s reply was affirmative. “One more thing, like I said earlier, you have replicated the Ultimate Physique of the Flame Astral Behemoth, but you cannot be like the Flame Astral Behemoth having one million times higher in attribute index because of your body size.”

  Ling Jiu nodded; his attribute index was 100,000 times.

  “But now you can,” 9527 said. “As long as your body keeps growing and eventually reaches the same level as the Flame Astral Behemoth, your attribute index will also reach 1 million times.”

  “Seriously?” Ling Jiu was struck dumb.

  “Of course,” 9527 said. “As I said before, it is your body size that’s limiting your attribute index. But as your body grows, this problem will be solved.”

  “You mean, as long as I have the same body size as the Flame Astral Behemoth, my attribute index will reach one million times?” Ling Jiu swallowed.

  “You are right.” 9527 nodded with a smile.

  “This will be great if this is the case.” Ling Jiu rubbed his hands. “One million times the attribute index. Unimaginable!”

  “The only thing is, the Flame Astral Behemoths don’t possess the ability to change their body size freely. So once they have grown, they return to their previous sizes. The same applies to you,” 9527 warned. “If you don’t want to become an alien among the humans on Earth, you have to replicate the ability to change your body shape.”

  “It’s simple.” Ling Jiu was not worried as he had thought of Celeste, which possessed the ability to shrink objects.

  He could just replicate Celeste’s ability.

  “In a few days, the cooldown period of my Arcana Replication will end. I can then go home and replicate this ability from Celeste. Thanks, 9527.”

  Ling Jiu left Pandora and then returned to Venus.

  Knowing that swallowing magma could increase his strength, Ling Jiu would not let go of such a wonderful opportunity.

  He swallowed magma for the second time as he came to a volcano.

  Ten minutes later, the magma lake of this active volcano had bottomed out, and his Inner World had expanded and his height increased as desired.

  Following that, Ling Jiu was like a hardworking bee, traveling around Venus, looking for volcanoes and lava flow that he could swallow.

  The Inner World continued to expand. So his height kept increasing.

  Of course, this also had an enormous impact on Venus.

  The magma in all volcanoes came from the inner layer of the planet. After he had swallowed that massive amount of magma, the level of magma within Venus had dropped tremendously.

  The most direct side effect was that most volcanoes of Venus died down, or more appropriately, became dormant.

  As the volcanoes became dormant, the emission of volcanic ash, CO2, sulfur dioxide, and other greenhouse gases reduced.

  The temperature of Venus dropped rapidly.

  A week had passed.

  Ling Jiu finally left Venus and returned to Lantian Base City on Earth.

  He found no one at home.

  He knew Xiaotong had gone to school, but what about his dad, mom, and Celeste?

  With a massive question mark over his head, Ling Jiu dialed his dad’s number.

  “Ling Jiu!”

  “Dad, where are you? Why is no one home?”

  “Your mother and I are having fun hunting Direbeasts in the wilderness.”


  Chapter 199: The Fairy Comes to Earth, Opposite the Wormhole

  Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

  Ling Jiu followed the address and came to the place where his dad and mom were. It turned out that the two were hunting Direbeasts in Qianyang.

  He had not seen them for nearly a month. Both of their strengths had skyrocketed, with his mom at Level 5 and his dad, a Level 4 Arcanist now.

  The speed of their improvement was nothing short of amazing, faster than when Ling Jiu was first awakened.

  However, this was entirely normal. Ling Jiu’s circumstances had been much more difficult back then. He had a low-level Gene Arcana secret technique with no Treasure of Heaven and Earth, so naturally, his progress had been relatively slow.

  At this moment, his parents were resting next to a Qianyang reservoir, grilling Direbeast legs and drinking tea. They were having a good life.

  Meanwhile, Celeste was lying on the side and enjoying the nutritious jerky, like a dog tagging along with its master. No one would have thought that Celeste was a Class 9 Beast Emperor.

  Ling Jiu was not in a hurry to reveal himself, but first quietly replicated and installed Celeste’s ability to shrink objects. He shrank himself to his normal size, only then he emerged to meet them.

  “Mom, Dad, you two really know how to enjoy life, eh?” Ling Jiu quipped.

  “One sows, another reaps.”

  Ling Tianci laughed. “With an Optimus Prime1 like you to take care of the family, there is no pressure on me and your mom. We can take it easy.”

  “You still have the nerve to say this. Don’t you feel ashamed of yourself?” Yang Su rolled her eyes at her husband.

  “Although it feels shameless to depend on our son, I can’t help it. I have a wonderful son.”

  Ling Tianci was nonchalant. He had seen through it; when his wife left him last time, he bit the bullet and worked his butt off, trying to go up in the world.

  Now that his wife was back, the family was reunited. Their three children had all done well, and he felt that his life was complete. He needed nothing more. He just wanted to spend time with his wife and was content being unaspiring.

  Make money?

  Screw it.

  Ling Jiu shook his head and said nothing upon hearing what his dad said.

  It did not matter how unaspiring the idea was, the most important thing was that they were happy. The money he made was more than enough to support them. They could live however they wanted.

  Ling Jiu spent the afternoon with the two of them before returning to Mars. When he finally arrived back on Mars, he received several missed calls.

  They were all calls from Bai Ya.

  “What happened this time?”

  Ling Jiu dialed Bai Ya’s number.

  “Bai Ya?”

  “Are you back on Mars?” Bai Ya asked.

  “I just arrived. What’s up?” Ling Jiu asked in puzzlement.

  “Our forest has been destroyed!” Bai Ya said.

  Her voice seemed calm, but Ling Jiu could still hear a slight tremble. Was that anger, grief, or sadness?

  Ling Jiu could not tell, but he could imagine how Bai Ya felt now.

  The forest was Bai Ya’s most precious treasure.

  “Wait for me to come back.”

  Ling Jiu hung up, then sensed the dimensional mark, and returned to the forest.

  Several sections of the 100-meter-tall barrier had collapsed. He looked at the forest; it was in ruin with massive holes everywhere, the saplings all destroyed.

  “Damn it!”

  Anger brewed within him. The trees that they had worked so hard planting for the past month had been uprooted. He could not tolerate this.

  Bai Ya was standing next to him and staring at the uprooted trees. Her eyes were blank as she stood motionless, like a piece of deadwood. There were bloodstains at the corners of her mouth. She had been injured during a fight with the monsters.

  “Are you okay?” Ling Jiu asked.

  “I’m fine.”

  Bai Ya sounded calm, but her eyes were red. It could be have been anger, or sadness, or both.

  \r \r \r

  Ling Jiu knew how she felt. She had woken up early in the morning and worked into the night to plant the trees. Those Arcana trees were her hope.

  “It’s okay.”

  Ling Jiu turned to her. “It’s okay to lose the trees. The most important thing is you’re all right.”

  Bai Ya suddenly fell into Ling Jiu’s arms and burst into tears, as though she wanted to vent all of her grievances, anger, and sadness in one go.

  Ling Jiu froze. Bai Ya broke down in front of him for the first time. She had been a stubborn and cold woman. He didn’t see this coming.

  From this, he knew the destruction of the forest had dealt a serious blow to her.

  “Cry if you want.”

  Ling Jiu sighed and gently hugged her waist.

  After a long while, Bai Ya eventually calmed down. She pushed Ling Jiu away, turned, and went to one side.

  “Are you okay now?”

  “Don’t tell the others about today, or else…… or else……”

  Bai Ya seemed to feel embarrassed, squeezing her hands tightly with her back facing him.

  “Or else, what will you do?” Ling Jiu approached her from behind.

  “Or else…… Or else……”

  Before Bai Ya could finish, Ling Jiu suddenly grabbed her from behind and turned her around to face him. Then he planted his lips on hers.

  “What are you doing?” Startled, Bai Ya struggled frantically.

  “Since the high and mighty fairy has come to Earth, let’s stay in the mortal world forever.”

  Ling Jiu kissed Bai Ya vehemently, but their Venom Suits were getting in the way. He carried her into the airship, took off their Venom Suits, and launched a fierce “attack”.

  “What are you doing? Don’t touch me!” Bai Ya kept resisting.

  Yet, Ling Jiu did not let up.

  Gradually…… ……

  After a long, long while.

  The two slumped on the sofa with Bai Ya hugging Ling Jiu tightly, her smitten cheeks on Ling Jiu’s chest.

  “You’re okay now?”

  Ling Jiu stroked her face.

  “You bullied me!”

  Bai Ya blushed some more, her cheeks resembling a monkey’s butt.

  “I’ve wanted to bully you a long time ago.” Ling Jiu teased.

  “Didn’t you realize how sour your face was previously?”

  “You’re shameless!”

  “I wouldn’t have won your heart if I hadn’t been thick-skinned,” Ling Jiu said. “You’re my woman from now on.”

  “Who wants to be your woman?”

  Bai Ya looked up and glared at Ling Jiu. But Ling Jiu’s smiling eyes defeated her. “You’ve never courted me.”

  “Do I have to? We’ve been in the same room for so long. Who else will you marry if not me?”

  “Nonsense! We’ve just been staying in the same airship, but we have done nothing!”

  “Who would believe that? Anyway, as far as I know, everyone in the matriculation camp knows that we have been sleeping together.”

  The two bickered for a while, and Bai Ya’s attitude was as icy as ever. But Ling Jiu knew that their relationship had changed.

  The fairy had come down to Earth after all, and she would never go back to heaven again.

  “The forest has been destroyed.” Bai Ya went outside. Looking at the devastation across the sandy land, her face was filled with sadness and fury again. “Damn those monsters!”

  “It’s okay. We will regrow the forest quickly.”

  Ling Jiu smiled and tried to comfort her, then wrapped his arm around her shoulder. Bai Ya’s body stiffened, but she did not resist.

  “Shall we plant the forest together?” Ling Jiu whispered.

  Bai Ya was silent for a moment. “This is not fair to you. You are much quicker than I am.”

  “I don’t mind.” Ling Jiu shook his head with a smile. “Let’s go!”

  “Go where?” Bai Ya was baffled.

  “Those monsters destroyed my things. How could I let them off just like that?” Ling Jiu sneered with a stern look in his eyes. “They are not going to get off so easily.”

  “You want to look for those monsters and take revenge?”

  “Yup.” Ling Jiu nodded, then followed the trace that the monsters left behind.

  Not long after, the two came to Wormhole 51, which was the nearest to them.

  “I knew it, they got out of here.”

  Ling Jiu squinted. “Wait here Bai Ya. I’ll take a look at the other side.”

  “No!”

  Bai Ya shook her head quickly. “You know nothing about the world opposite the wormhole. It is too dangerous!”

  “Don’t worry. I have the Dimensional Arcana. No one can do anything to me,” Ling Jiu said. “Besides, it’s not that no one has entered Wormhole 51 before.”

  “Huh?” Bai Ya was taken aback. “Someone has entered Wormhole 51 before?”

  “That’s right.”

  Ling Jiu nodded. “Senior Niu Ben told me that it’s dangerous on the other end of Wormhole 51, but a trainee has gone there before. It’s said that he attended the matriculation camp for less than two years, but his points quickly surpassed one million, and he successfully left. It’s also said that his points increased so fast because he often entered the wormhole and hunted the monsters on the other side.”

  Bai Ya understood now. “Can you take me there?”

  “No problem,” Ling Jiu said. “But you have to listen to me!”

  “Okay.”

  Ling Jiu took a deep breath and brought Bai Ya into the wormhole. They traveled all the way and finally reached the world on the other side.

  It was a yellow world.

  However, unlike the orange-yellow color of Venus, it was light yellow here.

  The pale-yellow sky was covered with dark clouds, and an extremely pungent gas filled the air. If Ling Jiu took off his Venom Suit, he would definitely smell rotten eggs—or fart—everywhere.

  Obviously, the atmosphere of this planet was full of hydrogen sulfide gas.

  The land was light yellow, dry, and cracked. It was not the desert color of Mars but a barren earthen yellow. There were exposed rock formations and light yellow boulders everywhere.

  “Another barren world.” Ling Jiu could not help shaking his head. “I wonder how a barren world like this could harbor life such as those massive monsters.”

  “It is hard to fathom the mysteries of the universe. We can’t know in what else form life exists other than life as we know it. There must be a reason life can thrive here.” Bai Ya was seeing things rather objectively.

  “You have a point.” Ling Jiu nodded.

  Although this planet was barren, at least not as hot as Venus. So long as they wore a Venom Suit, they could continue to stay there.

  This was a good sign.

  “Ling Jiu, look over there!” Bai Ya suddenly said.

  He followed where Bai Ya pointed and saw many pits on the ground. These things were all too familiar to him. They were the footprints left of the monsters.

  “Now let’s see where else all of you can escape!” Ling Jiu said. “We will go after them now!”

  They followed the footprints and soon came to a massive mountain peak. They were stunned at seeing what was in front of them.

  Arcana trees were everywhere.

  To be precise, it was a forest of Arcana trees.

  “Someone is planting Arcana trees here?”

  Bai Ya looked at Ling Jiu, a glint flashing in her eyes. “Could it be that those monsters were after our Arcana trees?”

  “Very likely.”

  Ling Jiu nodded. It was obvious that the Arcana trees had existed there for some time. Not only did all the Arcana trees survive but they also grew tall.

  This was not something that could be planted in a day or two.

  “Who planted this? The monsters?”

  “Let’s conduct a test, then we’ll know.”