Chapter 354: 354

Hauling Stars, Pushing Planets

Ling Jiu brought the 9527 spacecraft, as well as 9527, to Earth and allowed 9527 to set up the test program.

After that, Ling Jiu left and arrived at his first stop, Whitehole 1.

Having left the Flame Astral Behemoth’s egg on Whitehole 1 for 1,959 years, Leoux believed that it should have hatched by now.

It was likely wreaking havoc on Whitehole 1 right then, so Ling Jiu was eager to check it out.l

“I have detected the Flame Astral Behemoth and locked its position, Ling Jiu.”

“How about Emperor Might and Vulcan? Are they alright?”

“They are all alive.”

“Glad to know. I was worried that they might have bumped into it and been killed by the Flame Astral Behemoth. All right, let’s check out the Flame Astral Behemoth first.”

The next second, he teleported near a volcano.

This volcano that stood in the middle of an endless desert was massive. It was dozens of times larger than huge and dozens of times larger than Olympus Mons on Mars.

But unlike Olympus Mons, it was apparently an active volcano.

Thick, billowing smoke and ash were rising from the volcano spreading in all directions.

“Is the Flame Astral Behemoth here?” Ling Jiu arrived above the volcano.

The billowing smoke and volcanic ash bounced away as he got closer.

“That’s right,” Leoux replied.

“Is it hiding within the volcano? That fits the behavior of a Flame Astral Behemoth. Let’s check it out.”

Ling Jiu nodded and jumped into the volcano.

For an ordinary person, entering an active volcano was as good as suicide.

If the extreme temperate did not kill Ling Jiu, the billowing smoke and choking volcanic ash would.

Yet, Ling Jiu was not afraid. With his current strength, he would survive a plunge into the sun’s surface, more so magma.

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He dived all the way down and soon descended to the deepest part of the volcano, where magma was constantly bubbling at incredibly high temperatures.

There was a giant beast resembling a male lion but covered with flaming scales. It had a pair of wings that were covered in the same flaming scales on its back, as well as nine spiral horns. The beast lay in the hot magma.

It was purring loudly and stirring magma all over the place as it slept.

“It looks badass.” Ling Jiu could not help but exclaim.

“It doesn’t just look badass,” Leoux said, “but it is also a Level 7 super-clustered being. With the Flame Astral Behemoth’s strength, it can beat any ordinary-apex super-clustered being without breaking a sweat.”

“Indeed! It is not a Flame Astral Behemoth for nothing.”

Ling Jiu exclaimed and stepped out of the hidden dimension.

The Flame Astral Behemoth had keen senses and immediately sensed Ling Jiu the moment he exited the hidden dimension.

A pair of vicious eyes larger than cabs locked on Ling Jiu instantly.

However, after it saw Ling Jiu’s face, the viciousness in its eyes disappeared and was replaced by excitement.

“M-Master!”

The Flame Astral Behemoth roared twice before a crisp and pleasant rang in Ling Jiu’s mind.

“A female?” Ling Jiu was startled.

“It sure looks like it is a female Flame Astral Behemoth.” Leoux chortled. “You would hardly associate it with a Flame Astral Behemoth just from her voice alone. Her appearance is simply too badass.”

Ling Jiu forced a smile and looked at the Flame Astral Behemoth. “I am sorry. I am late, Flame Astral Behemoth.”

“I have been waiting for you for a long time. I thought you abandoned me.” The Flame Astral Behemoth wept with joy.

She burst into tears and plunged into Ling Jiu’s arms, rubbing her head against his chest.

It was a bizarre sight as the Flame Astral Behemoth was over ten thousand meters tall, and her head was as massive as a ten-story building. It just looked incredibly weird when she nuzzled her head against Ling Jiu’s chest.

To comfort the Flame Astral Behemoth, Ling Jiu deactivated his Size Reduction Arcana, and his body returned to normal size.

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Swish!

He became a 30,000-meter giant in the blink of an eye.

Whumpf!

He suddenly became so tall that his head broke through the volcano’s dome above. Massive rocks fell and splashed into the magma lake below.

“Boohoo… Master! Boohoo!”

The Flame Astral Behemoth consequently snuggled up to Ling Jiu’s chest.

She only calmed down after a long while. She then followed Ling Jiu out of the volcano and stepped outside.

“How about I give you a name, Flame Astral Behemoth?” Ling Jiu asked.

“Okey-dokey!”

“How about you use my surname, Ling, and Flame from your name, as in Flame Astral Behemoth, from now on?”

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“Flame Ling? My name is Flame Ling! Yeah, I have a name now!”

Flame Ling was as excited as Ling Jiu was because she finally had a name.

It was clear that Flame Ling was a cheerful and extroverted girl. She might have been a Flame Astral Behemoth on the outside, but deep down, she had the heart of a twelve- or thirteen-year-old girl.

She had youth, vigor, and vitality—it was hard to imagine that such a cheerful and cute “little girl” was over a thousand years old.

“Is there any ideal place for Flame to practice self-cultivation, Leoux?”

“The Flame Astral Behemoths feed on stars. The most ideal place for them is none other than the core of a star,” Leoux replied. “You just need to find a star and let her absorb its energy.”

“Are there stars around here?”

“The closest star to Whitehole 1 is about five light-years away. But the gravity of the white hole there is infinitely low. The white hole has little effect on it, and the time flow is anything but fast.”

This chapter is scrapped from readlightnovel.org

Ling Jiu frowned. A faster time flow was helpful in self-cultivation. The aforementioned star was close to Whitehole 1, but its flow of time was too slow for it to be an ideal place for self-cultivation.

“Are there other ideal stars?”

“Nope.” Leoux shook its head. “A white hole is a celestial body that continuously ejects energy particles. Theoretically, it is almost impossible for other celestial bodies to exist around a white hole. Any celestial bodies that approach a white hole are mostly wandering planets. Stars have enormous masses with strong gravitational pulls. There are few wandering planets, and even fewer stars can wander to the vicinity of a white hole. At least, there are no stars near the eight white holes that are connected to Earth.”

“In other words, there is no ideal star for Flame to practice self-cultivation, right?”

“There is none, but I can haul the nearest star over.”

“Umm… did you just say ‘haul’? How is that even possible?”

“Why not?” Leoux broke into a smile. “A star is just a celestial body with a higher mass and a higher temperature. For lower-level civilizations, its high temperature makes it unapproachable. But for higher-level civilizations, it is a source of fuel.”

“In fact, you can now land on the surface of the Sun and absorb its energy to improve your strength.”

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“I’m that strong now?” Ling Jiu blinked.

“Super-clustered beings are extremely strong. Under normal circumstances, a large galaxy can only produce one super-clustered being. You have met too many super-clustered beings, so you think that super-clustered beings are common. However, that is a wrong perception,” Leoux said. “Let’s go. Let me bring you along as I haul a star.”

“Righto.”

The distance of five light-years was far, but for Leoux, it was just as close as going to a neighboring village.

“This is an orange dwarf with a diameter slightly smaller than that of the Sun. Its mass is about 90% of the sun, while its radius is about 86%. It has a surface temperature of 4,000℃. Under normal circumstances, its life span would be as long as a millennium,” Leoux explained with a smile. “For living creatures, the bigger the body, the better. The bigger the body, the more competitive and stronger. As for a star, the smaller the mass, the larger the body and the longer the life span. Of course, the breeding of life requires the most stable environment. So, life can breed the easiest near a stable and long-lived star.”

“I learned something new today.” Ling Jiu nodded.

“There’s more.” Leoux guffawed. It steered the Leoux and went up to the star before it launched thousands of space shuttles.

The space shuttles surrounded the star and were of equal distance from each other. Then, they released their black chains.

Countless black chains were connected, forming a massive, impenetrable net that enveloped the star.

Immediately after, a black chain was fastened to the Leoux.

Leoux gave the chain an abrupt pull and slowly jerked the star forward, hauling it like an old donkey pulling a carriage.

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“Holy moly, it’s really moving!”

It was a sight. As experienced and widely traveled as Ling Jiu was, he still could not believe his eyes.

He had never even dared to think about hauling a star before this. But it was really happening right now, and the one doing it was his friend.

Unbelievable.

As the Leoux hauled the star and came up to Ling Jiu, Leoux’s voice followed. “We may go home now, Ling Jiu.”

“There is a planet orbiting this star, Leoux,” Ling Jiu said as he pointed at a planet that was left in the distance.

That planet originally orbited the star, but as the star was being hauled away faster and faster, the planet could not keep up. Hence, it was left behind in space.

“It is a rocky planet, about the size of Mars. There is not much value in it. Just leave it there,” Leoux said indifferently.

“It will be a waste to just leave it like that. Why don’t we bring it along? We can place it around a white hole and make little modifications here and there. Then voilà! We will have another habitable planet.”

Ling Jiu licked his lips and flew toward the planet. When he was in front of the planet, he teleported to the other side.

He then gave it a hard push, and the planet started to move.

He pushed it harder, and the planet continued to speed forward.

“Lead the way, Leoux.”

“I have no problem if you want to bring it along. Even so, I have got to remind you that it is going to slow us down and take us eight to ten years to get to the white hole.”

“It doesn’t matter. The flow of time is fast here, and time is what we have here.”

“Very well, whatever.”

Just like that, Leoux hauled the star forward while Ling Jiu pushed the planet as he followed it from behind.

They started to pick up speed along the way.