Illustration 117: Returning Home with the Whole Family

“Begin. Fire, Ranen.org.”

Before Sang Sang’s words had even faded, the Heavenly Emperor’s consciousness was still challenging the limits of extreme gravity. Yet the spatial-temporal devouring force left behind at Sang Sang’s location suddenly surged, biting off a chunk of the barrier in the spatial-temporal cross-section.

The power of the past, under Sang Sang’s control, struggled violently but was forcibly suppressed.

Inside the quiet chamber, Aslan suddenly opened his eyes.

He sensed the origin star core.

Boya placed a hand on him to keep him from rising. “Don’t move. Little Hongye and the Heavenly Emperor are treating you.”

Aslan also saw Sang Sang and the Heavenly Emperor seated cross-legged beside him. He glared at Boya, then closed his eyes to trace the star core’s signal. As the sensation grew stronger, his consciousness was able to slip into the origin star core through the signal.

Then he realized he was trapped in an isolated space-time, cut off from the outside. He saw the consciousness forms of his student and the Heavenly Emperor.

Student Sang Hongye thought she was a balloon; her consciousness expanded, enveloping the entire miniature space-time. Looking up, she saw her gigantic face shielding the sky. Meanwhile, the Heavenly Emperor crawled at the foot of Aslan’s mountain-like dharma form, a long tail extending from his back. The tip of the tail had a large mouth, tearing at the spatial-temporal barrier.

The reason Aslan could sense the origin star core and return his consciousness to it was due to the hole the Heavenly Emperor had bitten open.

Above in the sky, Sang Sang widened her eyes. “Teacher, you’re here! Move quickly, pull the star core back to the main body. Heavenly Emperor, stop playing around, hurry!”

“I know. Sang Sang, you look terrifying right now—opening your mouth like a dinosaur.” The Heavenly Emperor arched his body like a leopard, sprang backward, and launched himself at the spatial-temporal barrier. He spread his limbs wide, transforming into a devouring black hole, instantly widening the gap.

Aslan’s origin star core mountain dharma form shrank, gravity fluctuating wildly—from extreme heaviness to lightness and back—passing through the breach.

“Retrieve!”

Sang Sang opened her mouth, sucking in the suppressed power of the past.

“Let’s go.” Sang Sang disengaged from the barrier. Without support, the cross-sectional space-time began collapsing, forming a small temporal storm. The Heavenly Emperor greedily devoured the spatial-temporal power generated by the storm, catching up swiftly.

Once Aslan’s origin star core left the cross-sectional space-time, the resonance with his body vanished again, nearly lost in the multidimensional space-time. Sang Sang arrived just in time, opening a spatial-temporal passage to guide the way. When the Heavenly Emperor caught up, he curled up on the gravity-converged Aslan mountain form, hitching a ride.

Inside the quiet chamber, Boya paced back and forth, grinding a circle into the floor.

Suddenly, he stopped and floated like the wind across the room to Aslan’s side. Placing his hand on Aslan’s forehead, he tried to sense whether the familiar fluctuations he had just discovered were real or an illusion.

Aslan opened his eyes but didn’t brush off the hand. Instead, he sat up and looked toward the two children nearby.

Sang Sang also opened her eyes, smiling at him. “Congratulations, Teacher, on reclaiming your power and being reborn.”

“Congratulations, congratulations,” the Heavenly Emperor said with his eyes closed, belching contentedly before collapsing into Sang Sang’s arms.

Aslan and Boya both exclaimed urgently, “Heavenly Emperor!”

“It’s fine.” Sang Sang waved her hand, laying the Heavenly Emperor down. “He’s just overeaten and indigestion will pass. Teacher, how do you feel?”

“As good as never before,” Aslan replied.

Someone approached outside the door. Boya opened it to find Sena standing there.

“The teleportation array is set up. Ready to leave?”

“Yes, let’s go.”

Sang Sang reached for the Heavenly Emperor’s belt, intending to lift him.

Aslan’s hand was quicker by a second. Cradling the Heavenly Emperor like a child, he let him rest his head on his shoulder, steadying him as he got down from the stone couch.

Sang Sang watched silently for a few seconds, having Black Butterfly record the scene, then rose to follow.

The priest Keen, skilled in managing faith districts, reported progress to Sang Sang. With the cooperation of the Lord of Danxia, the transformation was proceeding smoothly, but more faith charts still needed to be prepared soon.

“Faith charts for stabilizing emotions, tranquility, and peace have been selected and sent by Jun Shi from Hongye Interstellar City for cultivation and healing purposes. You don’t have them yet, but the most urgent need is for nurturing faith charts. The Danxia people haven’t developed the habit of nurturing themselves, and a population gap could cause severe social unrest.”

Sang Sang skimmed the report, then looked up at Sena. “Understood. I will send more when available. Please trouble the seniors in the Danxia painting realm.”

“It’s our duty. It would be even better if Your Highness could create resurrection-type faith charts,” Keen smiled as he saw off his temporary employer.

Sang Sang was reasonably satisfied. When they were first ordered by Bishop Anthony to lend their intern saint, Sang Hongye, none of the ten of them were pleased. Mostly because the child was unsettled, lacking self-awareness, interfering recklessly, crying or complaining whenever disagreements arose, as if the whole world revolved around her—truly troublesome.

If not for Bishop Anthony’s insistence and the three-year internship, after which they could replace her if dissatisfied, they wouldn’t have come.

Now, after a few meetings with Sang Hongye, their favorability skyrocketed. Such a clever, obedient, diligent, and talented child was rare. They would help however they could, and as long as she didn’t experience a personality split or drastically change her demeanor midway, no one would want to leave after three years.

Perhaps after a hundred years, the temporary assignment would become permanent because no one would want to leave.

After all, staying in the temple meant needing someone to assist, and finding someone suitable was difficult. Sang Hongye was likely to have a bright future.

Returning to the temple, Cain had to return to Bishop Anthony after being away too long. Aslan urgently needed to enter seclusion for recuperation, with Boya as his attendant. Sena had official duties to handle, and Sang Sang received the Danxia painting realm faith district. Numerous congratulatory cards flooded in, celebrating intern saint Sang Hongye’s acquisition of her first faith district—a crucial step forward. Sang Sang’s star network space was nearly overwhelmed.

So when Sang Sang returned to Hongye Interstellar City, she carried the Heavenly Emperor in her right hand, cradled a child in her left, looking like she was dragging the whole family—stunning those who came to meet her.

Bai Ci murmured, “Gone for a year, and now there’s a child? What about the Little Golden God?”

Little Dragon King rubbed his eyes. “So it wasn’t my imagination. But what does the child have to do with Little Golden God? Is he in charge of raising the child? Aren’t we all under the Heavenly Emperor?”

“The Heavenly Emperor doesn’t take care of us. He’s just playing,” Green Sprout jumped out heavily with a scolding “Fool!” “Little Golden God and Sang Sang are close. The Heavenly Emperor is super bossy and unreasonable—always fighting us for things.”

Smack! Tom slapped the heads of the three outspoken children, covering his own embarrassment. His thoughts matched Bai Ci’s exactly, just unspoken.

Little Golden God flew a circle around the Heavenly Emperor before landing on Sang Sang’s shoulder, curiously collecting data on the child. He was among the first to know the child’s origin, having been a reviewer for the promotional documentary of Sang Sang’s conquest of the Danxia painting realm.

“This is Duoduo, my biological child,” Sang Sang introduced to everyone, then taught the child to call out “Uncle,” “Brother,” and “Sister” in turn. Finally, she solemnly introduced Little Golden God—not as an uncle, but as an uncle by maternal side.

“If you ever can’t find me, just look for Uncle Little Golden God, okay?”

Duoduo obediently called each one by name and nodded at Sang Sang in a babyish voice: “Okay, Mommy.”

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