CH 102.1

The Chu family’s army stationed at the nearby mining planet rushed over the next morning, and several professional mining teams also arrived one after another.

After preliminary exploration, the head of the mining team expressed that cleaning the entire planet would be a massive project. Even if they only excavated the surface and mobilized all available manpower to work overtime, it would still take at least ten days to half a month to complete the cleanup of this small planet.

This news made Chu Rong frown. In the end, he decided to go back to Capital Planet first to finish the public trial and then return to this planet for further investigation. 

In the afternoon of the same day, after storing enough stones for Qiao Zhiya to experiment, the flagship set sail and flew towards the Capital Planet.

Qiao Zhiya laid on the table, staring distressedly at the two black stones in front of him, puzzled.

“What happened?”

Chu Rong did not go out to work, but changed into casual clothes to accompany him to rest in the room.

Qiao Zhiya returned to his thoughts, and once again placed his hands on one of the black stones , and asked with anticipation, “Do you feel it?”

Chu Rong thought Qiao Zhiya wanted him to absorb the stone’s power again, so he pulled out his spiritual strength and drilled into the stone.

“No, no.” Qiao Zhiya hurriedly opened his hand, and put an ink jade next to him, and asked, “What about this one, you still don’t feel any power fluctuations?”

Chu Rong glanced at the ink jade in his hand, moved to hold his hand, and shook his head: “No, the ink jade is just a stone to me.”

After learning that Qiao Zhiya could replenish his energy with emerald jades and ink jades,  he had researchers study all types of jade stones. Ultimately, they concluded that while these jade stones might indeed contain some mysterious natural forces, humans couldn’t sense or absorb them.

To them, jade was just pure stone, and Qiao Zhiya was the only special one.

Back on the primitive planet, Qiao Zhiya was persistent and once asked him to try to touch the green dots floating in the Yellow Leaf Tree forest at night, claiming that they were the things that gave birth to jadeite. Unfortunately, he still couldn’t sense them. Those green dots were like some mysterious and beautiful natural phenomenon to him, devoid of any practical significance.

All the power related to jadeite, he could only sense what emanated from Qiao Zhiya, and that was likely due to their long-term companionship, where their powers unknowingly blended, becoming increasingly familiar with each other.

“How could this be?” Qiao Zhiya grew more distressed, holding two different stones, frowning and muttering, “Can’t sense this one, can’t sense that one, but you can absorb this one, and not that one. It’s impossible. These stones belong to you humans. How could you not sense them…”

“Not ‘you humans’, it’s us.”

Chu Rong corrected his notion of excluding himself from the human race, pinching his ear gently and comforting him, “The current state of this ‘spiritual stone’ may not be its original form. The fact that the mastermind confidently placed it under the noses of the Ning family suggests that they have likely tampered with these stones long ago and are very confident that no one will discover the secrets hidden within.”

The Ning family hasn’t produced anyone with a spiritual power level exceeding SS-grade in recent years. In fact, there hasn’t even been anyone surpassing S-grade in this generation. This indicates that they are unaware of and haven’t utilized these stones.

Those who seek power dread the possibility of their puppets becoming more powerful than themselves one day. These stones are too extraordinary. Even if the mastermind doesn’t need them, they would never generously offer them to others.

In any case, the mysterious person is very cunning and selfish. They exploit the Ning family while also guarding against them.

“Is it not its original form?”

Qiao Zhiya questioned. Then, his expression changed as he grabbed his hand in a hurry, his face straining as he used his magic power to poke into the black stone.

Chu Rong allowed him to move, raised his hand to his perked-up ears, and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I made you absorb this stone yesterday. If it has indeed been tampered with, then haven’t I harmed you?” Qiao Zhiya explained anxiously while driving the magic to circulate within him, eager to explore his spiritual sea with the burgeoning power.

Blending their powers in the intimate setting of the spiritual sea, while both parties were conscious, produced sensations akin to engaging in intimate activities under the covers at night.

Chu Rong looked at Qiao Zhiya’s anxious look, fully oblivious to this aspect of spiritual power blending. He opened his spiritual sea access to let his magical power in, and then wrapped him with his spiritual energy for a moment.

“Well……”

Qiao Zhiya couldn’t help but let out a soft moan, finally realizing what he had done. His face flushed crimson, and he quickly withdrew his power, avoiding eye contact with Chu Rong. As he awkwardly withdrew his hand and shuffled backward, he stammered, “N-No problem, it’s just… strange. Surprisingly, there weren’t any issues…”

“Because what you gave me to absorb yesterday was the essence extracted from the stone, and the stone you absorbed afterward was also scanned by your power,” Chu Rong chuckled, pulling him back into his arms and gently touching his slightly warm ear. With an amused smile, he planted a kiss and continued, “Did you forget? The impurities in the stone that were scanned by your power would be partially cleaned out, and I only absorbed the energy inside, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

Qiao Zhiya then remembered the details of yesterday. His face became redder, and he proceeded to bury it in his arms with embarrassment.

After understanding why Chu Rong couldn’t sense the stone, Qiao Zhiya began to think of ways to strip out possible impurities in the stone.

The stone Chu Rong absorbed yesterday was only preliminary cleaned up, and there should be some left-over impurities inside. 

Using the comprehensive purification array that was originally used to create the secondary mutated red tin ore, Qiao Zhiya requested an isolation room from Chu Rong. After setting up the array, he dumped a pile of stones into the center of the array with a clatter, then squatted down to observe the reaction of the stones.

The array quickly started to operate. In the first ten minutes, there was no reaction from the pile of stones, leaving Qiao Zhiya puzzled. Just as he was about to step forward to check if there was a problem with the array, a more pronounced power fluctuation emanated from the center of the array.

His eyes lit up, and he rushed forward.

The black color on the stones within the array gradually faded away, wisps of black smoke released by the array. These were then collected by a supplementary collection array set up behind it. The power fluctuations, akin to spiritual energy, in the air grew increasingly intense.

In just five minutes, the color of the black stones in the array was lightened. It became a clear dark green, while a small collection of black powder was separated. 

Qiao Zhiya’s eyes widened.

It’s actually green! And judging by the patterns revealed on the stones after the impurities disappeared, these stones are indeed a type of material evolved from trees. In essence, they are wood, not stone!

Suppressing his excitement, he waited for a few more minutes, but the stones in the array showed no further changes. He carefully removed them and then tossed a bunch of new stones into the array for further purification. Meanwhile, he cradled the purified stones in his hands and began to study them carefully.

The deep green color, along with its strong yet gentle fluctuations reminiscent of spiritual energy, differentiated it from the pure energy essence nurtured by trees like jade. This mineral, neither wood nor stone but something in between, seemed to have evolved and accumulated through the power of certain types of trees.

Thinking of this, he frowned again.

There were so many humans, but the source of energy stones that could be used by humans was so limited. This felt not in line with the law of nature. 

Something that could be absorbed as an energy stone must be sustainable, healthy, and widely accessible to the public. However, this stone in hand doesn’t meet any of these criteria. It relied on some unknown trees for its formation and is bound to become a luxury item in the future.

He held the stone and examined it for a while, unable to resist his curiosity. Eventually, he cautiously tried to absorb some of its energy by placing his palm on it. Unlike typical human inability to absorb magic, he found himself capable of absorbing this spiritual power-like energy.

A gentle force, distinct from magic, seeped into him. It felt like a curious child exploring a foreign world within him. After a brief exploration, it seamlessly melded with the native energies within him.

The sensation was even more pleasant than when he drank the spiritual purifying fluid. He shook his ears, confirming that this energy was gentle and wouldn’t cause any adverse reactions with his magic. Feeling reassured, he abandoned his reservations and pressed his entire body against the stone, absorbing its energy with abandon. His face flushed, resembling a drunk alcoholic.

Chu Rong hurried over after finishing his work and was met with the sight of Qiao Zhiya looking dazed, as if he had overdosed on some drug. His face darkened, and he stepped forward to lift him off the now-faded stone. Pinching his ear, he chided, “Didn’t I tell you not to eat random stuff?”

Qiao Zhiya snapped back to reality, turning to Chu Rong with wide eyes and a smile that bordered on foolishness, brimming with excitement. “I’ve figured it out! This mineral is formed from the Yellow Leaf Tree! And it’s a variant of Yellow Leaf Tree. I can try to cultivate it! The energy it contains should be a reaction between the inherent power of Yellow Leaf Tree and the magical energy, gradually evolving away the parts of magic that humans can’t perceive, leaving only the spiritual power-like energy we see now! It’s an evolution, an evolution of trees, an evolution towards humanity!”

And if his guess was correct, this evolution should be gradual, spreading from Yellow Leaf Tree to other trees, then to minerals, soil, and eventually to all things in the world! In short, they were about to witness the evolution of the Blue Galaxy! 

“Right, the impurities extracted from the minerals should be things from the Zerg, which have a suppressing effect on spiritual power reactions, just like their terrible neural waves,” Qiao Zhiya added excitedly, not forgetting to mention his subsequent discovery.

Upon Hearing this, Chu Rong’s face only grew darker. Qiao Zhiya was obviously “drunk” now.

He frowned at the comprehensive purification array, picked up Qiao Zhiya, who was still talking nonsense, turned around and walked back to the room, forced him into a quilt, and put a lot of jade to his pillow.

“Sleep, tell me if there is something uncomfortable.” He instructed, and touched Qiao Zhiya’s forehead with his hand, only a little relief after confirming that the temperature was normal.

After feeling excited, Qiao Zhiya felt a little sleepy, so he nodded obediently and closed his eyes, his body buried in the quilt. 

Chu Rong waited until he fell asleep before retracting his hand, sitting on the bed and thinking carefully about what Qiao Zhiya had just said.

The fact that the minerals are formed from Yellow Leaf Tree suggests that the premature extinction of the said tree might not be the result of natural selection or caused by the Zerg, but rather the intentional actions of the mastermind long before the appearance of the Zerg. Perhaps the purpose was to prevent others from discovering the special properties of this tree. 

Then this mastermind must have lived in the Federation or the Empire before the extinction of the Yellow Leaf Tree.

Such a large quantity of minerals requires an astronomical number of Yellow Leaf Trees, and then there are those fake Zergs. Before they were released, they definitely needed a spacious and secretive place for cultivation. And to avoid attracting attention while producing these, a secret base that ensures it won’t be discovered by anyone was necessary.

The mastermind should have their own planet. 

He nodded at himself. Then, he patted Qiao Zhiya’s sleeping face before walking towards the isolation room. 

Qiao Zhiya felt that his magic pool was a bit hot – the heat was not uncomfortable, but warm and comfortable.

His consciousness floated in and out like drifting off to sleep, yet not quite. The newly absorbed power, unable to fill the magic pool, circulated around his body instead. In a daze, the vine pattern on his wrist suddenly grew warm again, and then the warmth extended up the arm, reaching all the way to the brow. From there, it moved to the forehead, lingering there.

Gradually, the warmth on the wrist disappeared. Only the warmth on the forehead remained unrelenting, and his magic pool fluctuated slightly.

The sound of his own beating heart echoed loudly in his ears. And under the intensifying heat, he could even feel the movement of the blood flowing inside his veins. 

A faint, lingering roar echoed in his ears, reminiscent of a call from the Magic Continent to his bloodline. Then, all the strange sensations suddenly vanished, and his consciousness plunged into true darkness.