Chapter 199: 199

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.

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.”