One? One? Little bastard

"What are you thinking about?"

Seeing Lu Chen's smiling face, Wind Dragon playfully flicked its tail against his head, causing Lu Chen to stumble.

"Energy vortexes are treasures to them. Even with the Beast King's legacy, obtaining one isn't easy."

Wind Dragon's words were like a bucket of ice water poured over Lu Chen.

His joy instantly vanished, leaving him feeling utterly disappointed.

"Wuwu… my hundred thousand times happiness is gone."

"No way, a goose leaves its feathers, a rabbit leaves its fur. I want my happiness back."

Lu Chen, feeling indignant, began searching the entire level.

"I'll use other treasures to exchange for the hundred thousand times happiness I lost."

However, after searching for a long time, he couldn't find anything decent.

It was as if the first floor of the Tower of Time only existed to house this stone tablet and the planet.

"Why isn't there anything? My hundred thousand times happiness, come out."

Just then, Lu Chen noticed the small planet suspended in mid-air.

From the outside, the planet appeared hazy, with something seemingly developing within.

"Hmm, Wind Dragon, I just thought of something. Didn't you say we could enter the planets in the Tower of Time to temper our minds? How do I do that now?"

Lu Chen stopped searching and looked at Wind Dragon, his mind focused on this question.

"You need to collect enough essence, or perhaps some other item, to enter the small planet."

"Well, emmm, to be honest, I'm not too sure either."

Wind Dragon's voice was hesitant and jumbled. "Oh, right! I heard the Beast King mention that you can touch the stone tablet."

"Huh? The stone tablet? Are you serious?"

"Yes, the stone tablet."

"Wind Dragon, I suspect you're the silly dragon. You just said the stone tablet was damaged, and now you're telling me to touch it."

Lu Chen seized the opportunity to mock Wind Dragon upon noticing the contradiction in its words.

Hearing Lu Chen's mockery, Wind Dragon felt a bit embarrassed and retorted, "Don't I have moments where my memory gets mixed up?"

"Why don't you try using your new skill, 'Kamen Rider'? Maybe you can merge with the stone tablet, becoming one with it, and enter the planet?"

"This? I'll try."

"Kamen Rider!"

Lu Chen whispered, placing his hand on the hilt of the Primal Chaos Greatsword and circulating his Spiritual Energy.

Slowly, Lu Chen's will aligned with the stone tablet and the Primal Chaos Greatsword.

The stone tablet and the Primal Chaos Greatsword became the bridge connecting Lu Chen to the planet.

Lu Chen's consciousness could now touch the small planet through this bridge.

"Creak… creak"

As if sensing Lu Chen's consciousness, or perhaps for some other reason, the small planet suspended in mid-air emitted a sense of intimacy towards Lu Chen.

"It's working! Wind Dragon, let's go."

Lu Chen said softly, and with Wind Dragon, he prepared to enter the small planet via the stone tablet bridge.

"Creak creak… creak creak"

Before he could enter, Lu Chen felt a sense of rejection emanating from the small planet.

Lu Chen was puzzled. "I can't go in?"

Before Lu Chen could react, a gentle force kicked him out of the stone tablet bridge.

"@&...!*, Wind Dragon, what's going on? It kicked me out!"

Lu Chen, seeing himself and Wind Dragon ejected from the bridge, felt a surge of anger.

"The planet was so intimate just now, why is it so violent now?"

"It's probably because we didn't provide enough energy tribute. The will of the planet perceived us as a threat and is instinctively resisting our entry."

"Consciousness? Can a planet develop consciousness?"

Lu Chen listened to Wind Dragon, scratching his head in confusion.

"However, this planet's reaction is indeed unusual. I thought it was the creatures inside responding to me earlier, but now I realize it must have been the planet's consciousness."

"Yes, I remember the Beast King mentioning that all things can develop consciousness. Once consciousness appears, it's called a Demonic Beast, and it can then begin to cultivate."

Wind Dragon, hearing Lu Chen's confusion, recalled the Beast King's records on the evolution of all things into Demonic Beasts.

"If a planet develops consciousness and successfully cultivates, it becomes the Heavenly Dao of that planet. It controls the development of everything within the planet and protects the beings within it."

"So, what do we do now? Should we try to communicate with it and see what it needs?"

Lu Chen reached out, wanting to touch the planet.

Lu Chen's earlier attempt to barge into the small planet's interior had given it a bad impression.

Now, facing Lu Chen's touch.

The planet seemed a little afraid and dodged backward a short distance.

"Hey, I don't believe this. Wind Dragon, have you heard of the Pavlovian conditioning experiment with dogs drooling?"

Seeing the small planet constantly evading him, Lu Chen refused to believe it.

Wind Dragon heard Lu Chen's voice and sounded confused, "Dogs drooling? What's that? I don't think I've heard of it."

"This is something I heard from a storyteller when I was a child. It's an experiment used to train canine demonic beasts and can increase the familiarity between humans and demonic beasts."

Lu Chen recalled the storyteller's method.

He circulated Spiritual Energy with both hands, forming dozens of extremely dense Spiritual Energy orbs in front of him.

Grabbing the Spiritual Energy orbs, he controlled his Movement Technique, following behind the small planet and relentlessly chasing it.

He continuously linked his consciousness with the planet, using the Spiritual Energy orbs to attract it, conveying goodwill.

Every time he caught up, Lu Chen would pet the planet.

At the same time, he quickly fed one Spiritual Energy orb from his hands into the planet.

The Spiritual Energy generated within Lu Chen's body was all innate Spiritual Energy produced by the Azure Emperor Divine Tree.

For the planet, these Spiritual Energy orbs were extremely nourishing.

After a few rounds of this.

The planet began to become docile, gradually and cautiously approaching Lu Chen.

The planet allowed Lu Chen to pet it, no longer evading him.

Lu Chen petted the small planet, continuing to feed it Spiritual Energy orbs.

He then looked at Wind Dragon with a hint of showing off, "Wind Dragon, what do you think? My experiment isn't bad, is it?"

"I shouldn't have expected anything from your experiments. Isn't this just like using a meat bun to tease a dog?"

Wind Dragon understood the essence of the experiment from Lu Chen's actions and felt a bit helpless.

"Even if it is, so what? Didn't I succeed?"

Lu Chen looked at the small planet, dangling a Spiritual Energy orb in his hand to tease it, "Don't you agree?"

"Squeak…"

The small planet let out a happy sound and swallowed the Spiritual Energy orb from Lu Chen's hand.

Its plump spherical body rubbed against Lu Chen's arm, expressing affection.

Lu Chen looked at the small planet's actions and became even more delighted, "See? It agrees itself."

Wind Dragon covered its eyes with its tail, unable to bear watching Lu Chen's behavior, and quickly changed the subject.

"Why don't you try again? Can you get inside?"

"Okay, I'll try again."

Lu Chen heard Wind Dragon's voice and saw that the planet was no longer evading him.

He tossed a Spiritual Energy orb at the small planet and, grabbing Wind Dragon, prepared to rush inside.

The small planet sensed Lu Chen's intention, swallowed the Spiritual Energy orb in one gulp, and instantly fled.

As expected.

Lu Chen was once again thrown out by the small planet.

"Pfft, wasting so much of my Spiritual Energy." Lu Chen was a bit annoyed that he still couldn't get in, "Looks like I need to find another way to appease this little brat."

"Squeak squeak… chirp."

Hearing Lu Chen call it a "little brat," the planet seemed curious and slowly drifted over.

"Huh? It's reacting to 'little brat'?"

"Little brat?"

Lu Chen tried saying it again.

"Chirp."

"'Little brat,' come here."

The planet clearly liked this name, immediately showing joy and rushing towards Lu Chen.

Lu Chen seized this opportunity and hugged the small planet.

"Little brat, is it okay if I call you that?"

"Chirp."

Hearing these words, this time, the little planet surprisingly didn't resist.

Its movements clearly expressed joy.

"It's so cute! Wan'er will definitely like him."

Lu Chen looked at the little planet's appearance and felt a fondness for it. He temporarily abandoned the idea of forcing his way in and continuously stroked the little planet with both hands.

"Hmph... still calling it a little bastard? It's truly bizarre. After all this time, it's never been this nice to me."

Watching Lu Chen's actions, Wind Dragon's mood turned somewhat unpleasant.

"Jeejeejee"

The little planet felt comfortable being stroked by Lu Chen and let out joyful chirps.

"Oh, Wind Dragon, how old are you? Why are you still bothered by these things? At worst, I'll pet you too later. Hahaha!"

Hearing Wind Dragon's words, which were full of jealousy, Lu Chen burst into loud laughter.

"Who wants you to pet me? Go pet your little bastard."

Wind Dragon's tone became even more intense.

Seeing Wind Dragon's increasingly jealous emotions, Lu Chen said, "Wind Dragon, I'm serious. Given our relationship, I definitely won't play favorites. If I find any treasures in the future, I won't forget you."

"Treasures? Are you serious?"

Lu Chen immediately held out his hand and promised, "Absolutely not lying."

"Hahaha, good... cough, I'm not considering myself, I'm considering Wan'er."

Upon hearing Lu Chen's words, Wind Dragon's speech slowly stabilized, but it still took the opportunity to put on airs and brought up Nantian Wan'er.

"By the way, Wind Dragon, I have another question."

"That's for sure. You're so powerful, Wind Dragon, you must be very knowledgeable."

Seeing that Wind Dragon's emotions had stabilized, Lu Chen praised it profusely, intending to tease it.

"Naturally. What other questions do you have? Ask away."

Lu Chen looked at Wind Dragon, which had put on its airs, and asked its question: "Do you know if every planet develops a will?"

"Umm, well, I'm not sure about that. I'm not powerful enough to touch the will of a planet."

Hearing Lu Chen's question, Wind Dragon's face immediately showed some difficulty, and cold sweat dripped uncontrollably.

But it then saw Lu Chen's contorted face, his cheeks already flushed red from holding back.

"Ahem, although I'm not sure about that, I do know about another secret history."

Wind Dragon had already put on airs and, to save face, coughed and prepared to reveal a secret it had recorded.