Chapter 128: A Familiar Soul Fluctuation

The laws contained within that painted card were at most at the fifth level. The four levels of space-time within it were quite unique, yet the attributes lacked any offensive inclination. Unless the opponent were a complete fool who voluntarily lowered their defenses, received the painting into their consciousness, and offered no resistance, they would remain completely unaffected.

Upon receiving the detailed appraisal report, the Saintess of Hundred Flowers immediately laughed.

"As expected of a brat from a low-level civilization. She doesn't know the meaning of low-key luxury. What is the point of wearing top-tier custom clothing when her stature is too small to carry it off? She just looks childish. Only a nouveau riche would fuse all their laws into a single piece of wearable art. Carrying a faith-map without an origin point isn't showcasing one's strength; it's exposing one's weaknesses."

"It seems Sena’s affection for her is merely a facade if he didn't even warn her about this. If she truly wanted to intimidate others, she should have displayed the Annihilation Spear..."

"Wait, the time is too short for her to have fully refined the Annihilation Spear. Why is there no aura fluctuation? It’s impossible she’s hidden such a dangerous artifact in her consciousness. Could it be that the space-time tremor caused by the last experiment with the spear led to a ban, rendering her unable to use it again?"

"The attributes of the faith-map are positive enough, just too chaotic. Calm, reason, decisiveness, diligence, effort, persistence, hard work, benevolence, beauty, along with healing, purification, and cultivation-boosting series—if you add all those laws together, the only thing that makes them worth a second glance is the space-time aspect."

"The painting itself is somewhat interesting. The Great Way is simple. The translation of the text reads: 'The mountain of knowledge has a path, and diligence is the way to open it; the sea of learning is boundless, and hard work serves as the vessel.' Sang Hongye does have self-awareness; she knows her foundation is poor and that no matter how good her comprehension is, she cannot slack off. She can only work hard, harder, and hardest. That alone is enough to make one take notice."

The Saintess of Hundred Flowers let out a cold snort and flicked her finger, causing the appraisal report to vanish into thin air like wisps of smoke. She sat in silence, her previously restless mood strangely calm. Perhaps it was because she had seen Sena and trusted in his talent; after all, before they parted, Sena had never disappointed her.

The Palace of Hundred Flowers was called a palace, but in reality, it was a small interstellar city named after one. Although it carried the word "small," it was several times larger than Sang Sang’s Red Leaf Interstellar City. The main planet, residential planets, auxiliary planets, and cultivation planets were arranged in an orderly fashion.

Sena deserved seventy percent of the credit for the scale the Palace of Hundred Flowers had achieved today.

Now, with Sena returning as a guest, he saw traces of himself everywhere in the place he had painstakingly built, bit by bit. Yet, the people here would no longer affectionately call him "My Lord," nor would they come to him with reports of how the Saintess had acted foolishly, and no one would come to beg for his help when the Saintess’s temper flared.

Sena took Sang Sang to familiarize her with the environment. Most of the people they encountered in the familiar scenery were strangers. Over the past few years, anyone who had been on good terms with him had left—some resigned, some were dismissed, and others were transferred to the Faith District for long-term assignments.

It was hard to tell if the people in the Palace of Hundred Flowers had been influenced by their boss's intellect, but whenever the Saintess of Hundred Flowers wasn't around, Sang Sang and Sena often overheard discussions about the Holy Son, Jian Kong. The conversations seemed to take it for granted that the Holy Son would marry the Saintess and engage in dual cultivation. They were merely waiting for the child to be born so the Palace of Hundred Flowers could rise to power; at that point, let alone an intern Saintess, even those in high seats would have to bow to the Saintess of Hundred Flowers.

There were still rational people, however, who would sneakily drop hints to Sena, hoping to return to work under his leadership.

Sena could only shake his head. Bai Xing lacked management skills and had failed to select a capable chief assistant to run the household. The successor was either incompetent or deliberately slacking off, leaving the attendants and guards in a state of disarray.

With Bai Xing having halted all promotional activities, the subordinates had plenty of free time. The atmosphere of the Palace of Hundred Flowers had always been heavy with the air of a "lovers' city." Outside of the main planet, one could see couples everywhere, some engaging in unsightly displays. Fearing it would taint the eyes of his young mistress, Sena didn't even finish the tour before bringing her back to the main planet. While the air here was also heavy with languor and intoxicating perfumes, at least most people were only exchanging glances; no one dared to engage in excessive physical displays in the presence of the Saintess.

Sena didn't know how to explain what they had seen to Sang Sang. He chose his words carefully, terrified of contaminating the cub's innocence.

Sang Sang remained silent on the matter. In the Palace of Hundred Flowers, aside from her spiritual senses being too sharp—often causing her to see or hear "harmonious" activities that were hard on the eyes—life was generally calm and stable. Those who secretly hoped she would clash with the Saintess of Hundred Flowers were destined to be disappointed.

The official news station of the Temple conducted several surprise visits, and the scenes captured were always harmonious. The two appeared as intimate as sisters or mother and daughter, which left many of Sang Hongye's fans sweating in secret, fearing she was being deceived by the Saintess and would suffer for it. This led to a resurgence in the trend of people applying to adopt Sang Hongye.

Had Sang Sang truly been deceived by the Saintess of Hundred Flowers?

Although she had not inherited the supernatural ability of the Primordial Demon Master to see through a person's heart, she could vaguely sense the sincerity and deceit in others, so naturally, she would not be fooled.

The truth was exactly the opposite: it was the Saintess of Hundred Flowers who was being deceived by her.

When Sang Sang came into close contact with the Saintess, she realized why Ye Xiu had sent her a data string of soul fluctuations, saying he hoped it would be useful to her.

"Useful" was an understatement; it was immensely valuable.

Sang Sang had previously been troubled by how to obtain the Law of Gestation. The best strategy was to do it silently without the Saintess knowing; the middle strategy was to ask for guidance; the worst was to force it through coercion.

The best strategy involved her "Anti-Synchronization" skill. She had tested it on Sena, discovering she could simulate the target's soul fluctuations to enter their consciousness silently during synchronization, provided she didn't disrupt anything or affect the flow of their profound energy.

The problem lay in the simulation itself: it required perfect synchronization to enter silently. The slightest discord would be detected. Even with Sena, whom she knew well, it had taken a dozen attempts to achieve perfect synchronization. With the Saintess, whom she didn't know at all, it would take at least twenty or thirty attempts.

But now, she didn't need to settle for less. The Saintess's aura fluctuations matched the data Ye Xiu had given her perfectly, even containing more detailed soul wave information. All she had to do was tune her own soul waves to that data to achieve perfect, silent synchronization, and then seize the opportunity to invade the Saintess's consciousness to steal the laws.

Almost the moment they met, Sang Sang had set her persona for the next month: precocious, affection-starved, sensitive, resilient, hardworking, grateful, and suffering from mild social anxiety.

A perfect persona required perfect acting. If Sang Sang could simulate soul waves, a small emotional temperament was child's play. She split her consciousness in two: one half simulated the Saintess's soul fluctuations, waiting for the moment to act, while the other controlled her behavior and emotions according to the persona—her expressions, the look in her eyes, the racing of her heart and the warming of her blood when "touched"—ensuring not a single detail was missed.