Plate Eighty-Six: Preparations Before Departure

Kane saw that the energy within his cave-dwelling was so thin it couldn't even form a mist. Though he had anticipated this, he still sighed. Yet when his gaze fell upon Sang Sang, who stood behind the Celestial Emperor, his eyes widened in shock.

Star Level, Fourth Rank?

Sang Hongye’s accumulation was so profound that she had vaulted directly into the mid-stage of the Star Level!

The first three ranks were considered the early phase, focused mainly on the accumulation of star force. The fourth to sixth ranks made up the middle phase, where one refines a law-star core and condenses their astral aspect, while the later stages are devoted to constructing the star path.

When the Celestial Emperor broke through to Star Level and emerged at the peak of the third rank, Kane had thought it normal—after all, the Celestial Emperor had always been extraordinary, as though anything could happen with him. Sang Hongye, naturally, was also outstanding, but every few decades or centuries, one or two such geniuses emerged; none, however, could compare to the unprecedented talent of the Celestial Emperor.

How could someone he deemed inferior to the Celestial Emperor now surpass him? Such reserves—enough to ascend straight to the fourth rank—were more reminiscent of a reincarnated grandmaster!

A chill ran through Kane's heart. Quietly, he accessed the information on Sang Hongye through his portable intelligence core, ignoring all else and going straight for the detailed age records.

"Bone age: initial reading sixty-five, latest reading twenty-two, soul in early infancy."

A soul’s age is even harder to measure than the body’s. Barring special circumstances, only approximate phases are usually detected: infancy (minor), growth (youth), stasis (middle age), and decline (old age), each divided into early, middle, and late stages. For example, in the infancy phase, under thirty is early, thirty to fifty is middle, and fifty to one hundred is late.

Of course, every soul is unique; some are innately more active. Such cases produce some margin of error—a person at the middle stage might register as early stage, but such discrepancies are never more than one sub-phase. It is never possible for a soul in infancy to be mistaken for the growth phase.

If this were a grandmaster’s reincarnation, at the very least the soul would be in the growth phase.

Kane confirmed the data had not been tampered with and breathed a sigh of relief, adjusting the way he regarded Sang Hongye.

Birds of a feather flock together—so it was with the children of the Heavenly Way group, all outstanding, the Celestial Emperor especially so. Now Sang Hongye, too, was a genius on par with the emperor. His Majesty’s judgment was indeed trustworthy. The energy spent on this cave-dwelling was well worth it; clearly, resource allocation should tilt even further in their favor.

All-Life Forest

The secondary selection had long since ended. Those who were not chosen remained students at the Divine Academy but had already moved out of the core district. The selected ones either chose to enter small worlds for further study or sought out mentors to apprentice with. The final selection would be held in nine years. Sang Sang felt that, for advanced civilizations accustomed to competitions spanning centuries, this timeframe was uncommonly urgent.

All-Life Forest was now much quieter. Where once idlers wandered around the mulberry treehouse, now not a soul could be seen.

Sang Sang and the Celestial Emperor had broken through to Star Level almost simultaneously: one rushed directly into the third rank, the other soared to the fourth, exciting everyone from the Milky Way Civilization. By now, all had completed their purification, and though it had consumed vast resources, the logistics group’s lifespan had finally reached the average standard for advanced civilizations.

There was more good news.

A portal to the Milky Way Civilization had at last been established. Though the distance was vast and required thirty-seven transfers en route, with a maximum of one hundred people per transfer, and though the Divine Temple would only reimburse half the energy cost (the rest to be paid by Sang Sang herself), it was, nonetheless, a window into the advanced civilizations—a huge leap for the Milky Way. The neighboring third-level civilizations were green with envy, for not only was there now a portal, but the Milky Way also boasted a new outpost for the Star Knights, providing nearby protection for the families of high-ranking temple staff. They shamelessly claimed that Sang Hongye, who had once concealed her identity, was actually born in their civilization and only later drifted to the Milky Way. However, neither Sang Sang nor the Divine Temple acknowledged this, and neither the portal nor the Star Knight outpost would be moved.

The terminal portal was set in Red Leaf Interstellar City. If not for the city, there were nine planets forming an interstellar complex around the temple, specifically for receiving visitors from other civilizations. The planets were arranged by civilization level. No matter the interstellar city, all visitors had to undergo assessment and obtain a temporary pass before leaving the city.

The temple official responsible for constructing the teleportation array handed Sang Sang a list and over a thousand paintings. “Congratulations, Your Highness Sang, on passing the second selection. I’ve searched through all the neighboring third- and fourth-level civilizations around the Milky Way. I hope nothing was missed. I used some special methods during recovery, and if you wish to compensate the original owners, here’s an inventory of each work’s provenance.”

Whatever methods had been used, nearly everything with records had been reclaimed. Some pieces, auctioned on the star network and lost to the little Third-Level Gold, had been tracked down; others, discarded in the Blue Star Forest by the Celestial Emperor, were also recovered. Even Sang Sang had not expected such completeness, and her gratitude was boundless. As a return gift, she hastily painted a doubled-speed landscape of faith—a work she was most proud of, useful for the recipient or their juniors.

The return of these paintings meant more to Sang Sang than her breakthrough to Star Level. She had all the works, along with those reclaimed by the Heavenly Way, uniformly destroyed, then submitted several faith-paintings that passed the mainframe’s inspection, along with the inventory, to Xiao Lang for delivery to the incoming people of the Milky Way.

The first group of applicants to the Divine Temple was already en route, expected to arrive that night. Unfortunately, the starship to the Danxia Painting Realm was set to depart that afternoon. Besides Sang Sang, knights rotating to the Minor Star District were also bound for it; the schedule could not be altered, and there would be no time to await friends and family from home.

As was tradition, happy events called for a banquet.

This was the last gathering of the Heavenly Way in the mulberry treehouse. Even the usually mischievous Little Dragon Lord and Greenbud were quiet, and Ling Xiao, too, was not causing trouble, having obediently fallen asleep.

Tom and Poplar were now students at the Divine Academy and had received treehouse seeds. Once Sang Sang left, they would move out. Little Dragon Lord was heading to the Knight Academy, where his elders awaited him. Greenbud was considering visiting the ancestral home of the Evergreen Clan, but as Ye Xiu, the group’s treasurer and the newly appointed financial minister of the Saintess’s logistics team, would be stationed at the interstellar city, Greenbud was reluctant to leave him.

“Ye Xiu, you stay with Greenbud. I’ll manage the logistics finances,” said Little Gold.

Everyone looked at Little Gold, then at Sang Sang. Sang Sang froze, her hands pausing in the act of packing. “Little Gold, you’re not coming with me?”

Little Gold tilted his head. “I told you, I need to run major computations. I can’t come with you.”

Sang Sang blinked. “I thought you just meant you wouldn’t accompany us through Star Level advancement. I’m going to the Danxia Painting Realm—it might take years!”

Little Gold curled up, hugging his knees. “I know. But the mainframe has reassigned me; I have to undergo further training. My core will only be back for a few hours today, and tomorrow the computation load doubles. Still, my upgrade speed is one hundred and seventy percent faster than usual.”

“All right, the mainframe clearly values you. It’s grooming you,” Sang Sang said, cupping Little Gold in her hands. “What am I to do? I already miss you, and we haven’t even parted yet.”

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