After successfully breaking through to become Undying, Chen Ao was in no hurry to visit the Ancestral God Religion. Instead, he calmly settled down to sleep right where he was.
His sleep was an act, intended to make it seem as though he had just been born.
Newborn special lifeforms had relatively weak consciousnesses, especially plants. Wouldn't a plant wandering around everywhere seem strange?
So he pretended he really had just been born.
He wasn't worried that the Ancestral God Religion would fail to discover him. His breakthrough to Undying had caused an enormous disturbance, especially when he absorbed divine power. It could have been detected from tens of thousands of light-years away.
Someone from the Ancestral God Religion would discover him before long.
Of course, an inheritor might find him instead, but that didn't matter. All he needed was to be discovered.
To be safe, he had tossed out a spacetime gray crystal the moment he appeared. For a period after it exploded, the spacetime here would be disrupted, making it impossible to look back into the past.
Even a Universe Master would be unable to look back into the past.
That way, he wouldn't have to fear an Ancestral God investigating him. Of course, spacetime proceeded normally after the crystal's explosion, so an Ancestral God looking back through time here could still see him "being born and instantly breaking through to Undying."
The spacetime gray crystal had another use: preventing resurrection through Reverse Time and Space.
Of course, it wasn't that powerful. Its effect lasted only a short while. If the target wasn't killed during that window, it would lose its ability to interfere with spacetime.
Moreover, a single spacetime gray crystal cost as much as a valuable treasure, so people generally didn't use them frivolously.
"If not for Yanzhu King's contribution, I wouldn't have had the chance to put together an even better setup!"
Thanks to Yanzhu King for his generous sponsorship!
Now he only needed to wait a while.
Chen Ao began sleeping, while his consciousness continued studying his Innate Secret Technique.
A few days later, a burly man was the first to arrive in the region of spacetime where Chen Ao was.
"That enormous disturbance earlier seemed like someone breaking through to Undying. Who would break through out here on the outskirts?"
His name was Cangshi King, and he was a special lifeform known as a "Cangshi." However, Cangshi special lifeforms weren't particularly outstanding. His gene multiplier was only a little over six hundred.
His only distinguishing feature was his enormous size. At the Immortal Level, he already measured nearly a million kilometers.
Because his potential wasn't particularly great, he had failed to enter the Ancestral God Religion's core and had only become one of its Outer Members.
However, he differed from Outer Members who were inheritors. He served the Aoshi Master, the Controller of one of the thirteen great secret realms, and was a subordinate of a Guardian Divine Lord.
Within the Guardian Divine Lord Aoshi's branch, he counted as a core member.
This region was also very close to the Aoshi Secret Realm. Cangshi King had noticed the disturbance from Chen Ao's breakthrough, which was why he had come to investigate.
As Cangshi King approached, the sight before him stunned him.
An enormous Plant Life appeared before him.
This Plant Life likely measured no less than ten million kilometers, with over a thousand vines, each radiating a powerful aura.
"Th-this is an Undying lifeform? A newborn?"
Cangshi King was stunned!
Special lifeforms ranged from weak to strong. The weakest had a gene multiplier of only 101 and were most likely only at the Apprentice Level when born.
Those with high gene multipliers, such as natural-born Beast Gods, were born as Universe Masters with perfect genes.
Yet this creature before him had been born at the Immortal Level?
That meant its level of life was extremely high.
"Being born Undying proves its gene level is at least two thousand times!"
As far as he knew, no lifeform born Undying had a gene multiplier below two thousand.
Two thousand times was extraordinarily powerful even among special lifeforms.
"What an opportunity! I actually discovered a newborn special lifeform!"
Those in the guardian branches all had missions. One of their most important missions, for instance, was to guide powerful special lifeforms into joining the Ancestral God Religion.
This was a long-term mission with extremely generous rewards.
The greater a special lifeform's talent and the stronger its genes, the more the Ancestral God Religion liked it.
As its guide, he would also receive a great deal of contribution credit.
"I'll ask about its situation first!" Cangshi King had extensive experience dealing with special lifeforms.
Special lifeforms were frequently born in the Ancestral God Religion, but most were merely ordinary special lifeforms.
A lifeform born Undying might not appear even once in tens of thousands of eras.
The universe was fair.
Chen Ao had long since noticed Cangshi King opposite him, and through information from the Virtual Universe, he already knew about him.
But he remained still, pretending to sleep.
Cangshi King impatiently rushed up to Chen Ao and began examining him closely.
"This lifeform looks a little like a Sunken Water Vine? But Sunken Water Vines aren't this powerful. Although their gene multiplier is high, they lack souls and have average talent, so they only start at the Universe Level!"
Moreover, Sunken Water Vines didn't have this many vines, nor were they this large.
He had seen an Immortal Level Sunken Water Vine. Another Guardian Divine Lord had one, but it only had a little over a hundred and thirty vines and measured just over three million kilometers. It couldn't compare with the lifeform before him.
Suppressing his excitement, Cangshi King began emitting faint life fluctuations.
This was how one communicated with newborn special lifeforms. After all, their consciousnesses were weak, and they had no concept of written language. Communication was only possible through the most primitive life fluctuations.
"Hello there, I'm Cangshi King!"
A friendly aura spread out, and Chen Ao quickly sensed it.
Barely suppressing the urge to vomit, Chen Ao replied with life fluctuations.
The reason he had to suppress that urge was that, translated into words, these fluctuations amounted to toddler talk.
"Hello there! What's a Cangshi King? Can I eat it?"
Upon sensing Chen Ao's response, Cangshi King wasn't angry at all. Instead, he was even happier. As long as they could communicate, that was good.
These special lifeforms were truly unusual. Some were bloodthirsty and had terrible tempers.
Most plant and rock lifeforms, however, had very good temperaments.
"My name is Cangshi King. You can't eat it!"
"Name? What's a name?"
Much as though he were teaching a toddler about the world, Cangshi King spent a full three months communicating with Chen Ao.
During that time, Chen Ao felt mortified countless times. His own behavior was simply too nauseating.
"Ten-Thousand-Wood Vine, come with me. I'll take you somewhere nice!"
"No! I don't want to move!"
Ten-Thousand-Wood Vine was the name Cangshi King had given Chen Ao. After all, Chen Ao "knew nothing about the world" and couldn't possibly name himself.
Hearing that Chen Ao didn't want to move, Cangshi King wasn't impatient. Plants were all like this, so he began persuading him again.
In truth, Chen Ao had wanted to go with him long ago, but agreeing so easily wouldn't fit his act.
And so, Cangshi King spent another month or so persuading him.
"Ten-Thousand-Wood Vine, come with me, and I'll give you lots of tasty food!"
"Really?"
"Of course!" Cangshi King wore a smug smile, looking like a middle-aged man tricking a child.
Of course, Chen Ao had already been laughing inwardly. Finally, he wouldn't have to fucking act like a baby anymore.
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