Xiao Wu had been driven to distraction by Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's noise and finally spoke up in her mind.
"Tian Meng," her voice brimmed with barely contained laughter, "I've received a Divine Examination."
The Spiritual Sea fell silent for a moment.
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's phantom froze in midair. His tiny eyes widened into circles, and his mouth hung slightly open, as though something had fixed him in place.
Only after a long while did his body finally twitch.
"Y-you said what?" His voice was lower than before, carrying a dazed disbelief. "Say that again?"
"I've received a Divine Examination," Xiao Wu repeated. "The Forest Goddess's inheritance."
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm shot into the air.
Like an ignited golden meteor, he spun wildly through Xiao Wu's Spiritual Sea, bouncing from the water's surface to the dome above and then back down again. Every impact sent violent ripples spreading outward.
"A Divine Examination! A Divine Examination! Xiao Wu, you finally received a Divine Examination!"
His voice exploded through the Spiritual Sea, filled with the exhilaration and excitement he had suppressed for far too long. Even Xiao Wu's temples throbbed twice from the force of it.
"I knew it! I knew it from the very first time I saw you! You were bound to receive a Divine Examination! A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast who underwent Human Transformation, with extraordinary talent, and with this Million-Year Wisdom Soul Ring here to assist you—if you don't become a god, who will?"
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm flipped over once in the Spiritual Sea, then again. His golden radiance shone like a tiny sun compressed to the extreme.
"The Forest Goddess... good, good, good!"
He said "good" three times in a row, his tail snapping through the air with sharp crackles.
Xiao Wu's head ached from all