The moment the two characters [Sacred Code] appeared, everyone’s spiritual energy rose a small notch together.
Even the Giant Sound Whales sensed the subtle, indescribable change.
Lin Xiaohe withdrew her spiritual energy and only then realized that the entire breakthrough process had taken a full year.
The good news was that after Old Brother Black conducted a full physical examination of everyone, he found that the year’s time had a negligible effect on their bodies—the rate of cellular aging was extremely slow.
This meant that the stardust path they had chosen did, indeed, offset the impact of the Dark Domain’s accelerated time flow to some extent.
Kyushu Star had also changed dramatically.
The entire Pangea continent had revealed its original appearance.
A brilliant blue ocean now covered more than seventy percent of Kyushu Star’s surface, making it a truly blue planet.
The oxygen content in the air was fifteen percent, and the nitrogen content was eighty-two percent. Everyone could survive while wearing oxygen masks.
Wesley also gave Lin Xiaohe another piece of good news: “The soil across Pangea is all natural and completely uncontaminated by stardust.”
They had immediately built a sky dome protective cover over Pangea as soon as possible.
Lin Xiaohe stood in the void, gazing down at the beautiful blue planet beneath her feet.
The plowing robots had thoroughly tilled Pangea. All that was left was to sow the seeds and let them take root and sprout!
Like a celestial maiden scattering blossoms, Lin Xiaohe scattered the seeds across the continent.
The area near the Jianmu tree was, of course, reserved for planting the seeds of Xinbao, Tiantian, and the others.
Around the outermost edge of Pangea, she scattered grass seeds.
In the middle zone, she planted natural vegetables. Here, she would use the purchased intelligent temperature and humidity control system.
Everything was going more smoothly than planned. A bright tomorrow seemed to be waving at everyone from just ahead.
Adding joy to joy, the Elder Giant Sound Whale had returned!
The Giant Sound whales swam joyfully around it, their overlapping songs of celebration composing a welcome melody.
The Elder Giant Sound Whale’s benevolence lasted less than half an hour.
After half an hour, it grew irritated and flicked its tail, sending the overly exuberant Giant Sound Whale calves flying far away.
“Wah wah wah.” The calves cried pitifully, which broke Wesley and the others’ hearts.
Ever since they had become Stardust Humans with spiritual energy above 3S, their relationship with the Giant Sound Whale calves had reached a new level.
Wesley and the others put down their work and played a round of “run-with-the-humans” racing games with the calves, finally managing to cheer them up.
The Elder Giant Sound Whale watched this scene in amazement. “Meimei has told me before that they get along well, but I didn’t expect it to be this good. Xiaohe, our friendship is no worse than theirs, right?”
Lin Xiaohe guessed what it wanted to do and spread her hands. “No, it’s not. Give them to me. Are you craving spicy crawfish again?”
“Hehehe. I’ve been craving that taste this whole time but just haven’t gotten to have any.”
It opened its huge mouth wide, and the crawfish scrambled over each other trying to climb out.
Lin Xiaohe spread open her left hand. The green pea shooter went poof-poof-poof, shooting peas.
Each pea precisely hit a crawfish right on the head, a perfect headshot.
“Wow!” The watching Giant Sound Whale calves exclaimed in amazement.
The crawfish corpses floated in space.
Lin Xiaohe didn’t want to dirty the environment of Kyushu Star or Taiyin Star, so she decided to use the universe as her kitchen. She went near Fuguang Star, using its heat to set up a pot and heat the oil.
Because of the lack of gravity in space, the poured oil wouldn’t stay at the bottom of the pot and kept wanting to float upward. So the Elder Giant Sound Whale simply flicked out a small gravitational wave to simulate a gravity environment.
Sizzle!
One by one, the crawfish went into the pot and turned bright red as they fried.
The Giant Sound Whales crowded around the area, completely blocking it off, watching Lin Xiaohe cook with intense curiosity.
Lin Xiaohe snapped her fingers. The Elder Giant Sound Whale cooperated by using gravity to lift the crawfish out of the pot.
Only then did Lin Xiaohe pour her precious chili peppers into the pot.
Instantly, a pungent, spicy aroma filled the entire space.
“Achoo!” The Giant Sound Whales had never smelled anything so pungent before. The spiciness rushed straight to their heads. One by one, they sneezed while staring blankly and foolishly at the big iron wok.
What is this stuff?! It’s even more powerful than what humans call biological weapons.
No need for knives to kill—just one fried chili pepper is enough.
When the spicy crawfish came out of the wok, only the Elder Giant Sound Whale dared to try them. And it still remembered to set aside half for Chang Qing.
“Wesley, don’t you want to try some?” Lin Meimei was curious about the taste of the spicy crawfish, but she didn’t dare eat them herself, so she egged on Wesley and the others to try.
Wesley and the others shook their heads like rattles. Even though they were already above 3S and had become Stardust Humans, Marshal Chu’s cautionary tale was right there. They didn’t want to be the ones to test those waters.
Lin Meimei watched regretfully as the Elder, carrying a full serving of spicy crawfish, disappeared into the void.
Inside Whale Sea, the Elder Giant Sound Whale and Chang Qing sat facing each other, eating one crawfish after another without even spitting out the shells.
“Hiss, Xiaohe, are you really not going to try one? Hiss.”
Lin Xiaohe’s mouth watered. After a flicker of struggle in her eyes, she picked up a crawfish and shelled it.
Chang Qing’s eyes were full of distress. “How can you not eat the shell? The shell is the most delicious part!”
Lin Xiaohe tuned him out. Her eyes were fixed intently on the tender, white, bouncy crawfish meat as she described the dimension-ascending process.
The Elder Giant Sound Whale was so overcome by the spiciness that it was hissing and gasping. “Congratulations. You now have a Sacred Domain for your species.”
“Sacred Domain?” Lin Xiaohe stopped moving.
“That’s right. For us Giant Sound Whales, our Sacred Domain is Whale Sea. In the name of your species, with your most loyal faith as the core, you gather the power of your species to establish a Sacred Domain.”
Chang Qing nodded. This meal of spicy crawfish had satisfied him, and he didn’t mind sharing more. “Your species is still small, so your Sacred Domain isn’t as large as Whale Sea. As for those few who failed, it should be because their faith wasn’t pure enough.”
Lin Xiaohe was puzzled. What was their faith?
The Elder Giant Sound Whale chuckled. “You, of course. The fact that they revolve around you means that you are their most steadfast faith. Though it’s quite rare to have a person as the object of faith like this.”
Lin Xiaohe’s expression turned serious. “What if I die?”
The Elder Giant Sound Whale gave her a look that said, [How can you be so dense?] “If you die, the faith collapses. Of course the Sacred Domain won’t exist anymore.”
Oh my gosh!
Lin Xiaohe was shocked. Was she really that important?
The Elder Giant Sound Whale asked gossipily, “By the way, Xiaohe, what exactly is your species? You have humans, stardust-mutated plants, and even Zerg. Does that make you a hybrid?”
Lin Xiaohe’s face darkened with exasperation. “You’re the hybrid. Your whole family is hybrid.”
The Elder Giant Sound Whale looked wronged. “No, we’re not. Our Giant Sound Whale aesthetic is very focused. We only love other Giant Sound Whales.”
Lin Xiaohe took a deep breath and asked another question. “What’s the use of a Sacred Domain?”
The Elder Giant Sound Whale shook its head. “How would I know? All I know is that our Whale Sea is the cradle of life. Every calf is born from Whale Sea.”
“And your faith?”
“Continuation. Continuing the species. Continuing life.”
So, Whale Sea is the cradle of life.
Then what about herself?
Their faith was her. So that’s why she had the [Sacred Code] in her hands?
Her will was the will of her species.
While lost in thought, Lin Xiaohe ate another crawfish.
