First Step

After blasting the Giant King, Lin Shen felt the surging Sacrifice to Heaven power within his body recede like a tide, and he couldn't help but frown.

"No wonder it's an imperfect Super Gene talent spark. After sacrificing so many lives, it only killed one Giant King and then it was gone. It really isn't perfect enough." Lin Shen didn't dare to linger. He turned around, pushed the Gene Mutation Egg, and then went down the path he had come from behind the mountain.

The giants who had rushed halfway up the mountain didn't dare to pursue him, watching helplessly as Lin Shen disappeared behind the mountaintop.

The Gene Mutation Egg rolled down, and Lin Shen couldn't quite keep up with it, worried that it might break if it rolled down like this.

Fortunately, that Gene Mutation Egg was much harder than he had imagined. It rolled faster and faster all the way down the mountain, hitting a giant rock over ten feet high and shattering it into pieces, while the Gene Mutation Egg itself was completely unharmed.

Lin Shen came down from the mountain, wiped off the rock dust on the Gene Mutation Egg, and found no trace of damage.

"As expected of the Crystal Gene Level," Lin Shen praised in his heart, pushing the Gene Mutation Egg back in the direction he had come from.

Before reaching the beach, he encountered Wei Wufu in the Steel Forest. At this time, Wei Wufu was actually able to walk, but he didn't seem to have fully recovered, and his legs and feet looked a bit clumsy.

"Why did you come over?" Lin Shen thought something had happened over there and quickly asked.

"Noise, looking for you," Wei Wufu said.

Lin Shen felt relieved upon hearing this. He guessed that Wei Wufu had heard the sound of him blasting the Giant King and was worried, so he had come looking for him following the sound.

"Let's go back and talk," Lin Shen said as he pushed the Gene Mutation Egg forward.

When the two returned to the pile of rocks, Tian Xin was still there, motionless. The effect of the Seven Steps of Conflict was still ongoing.

"Crystal Gene Egg?" Tian Xin was slightly surprised when he saw the Gene Mutation Egg that Lin Shen had pushed back.

Gene Mutation Creatures were not rare, but finding a Crystal Gene Egg was not so easy. Lin Shen had managed to get a Crystal Gene Egg back in such a short time; he didn't know where he had found it.

Lin Shen didn't say that it was a mutated Crystal Gene Egg. He pushed it to a corner nearby and hid it first.

"Friend, what do you think about what I said before? If we cooperate, there's a high probability we can get the treasure chest left by the Ancient World King..." Tian Xin persuaded Lin Shen more eagerly.

Now he no longer believed that Lin Shen was just Steel Grade. He thought Lin Shen's Steel Body was just an illusion, and that he was actually a Crystal Gene Level, and not just an ordinary Crystal Gene Level.

"After all that, what kind of existence was that Ancient World King?" Lin Shen chatted with Tian Xin casually.

Over the next period of time, Lin Shen learned a lot about the universe from Tian Xin, and the more he listened, the more he was shocked.

Before, Lin Shen thought that the Crystal Gene Level was already a big shot, but for the races in the universe, there was not much difference between the Crystal Gene Level and the Steel Grade.

Steel, Alloy, and Crystal Gene were collectively referred to as Gene Mutation Creatures in the universe, belonging to the lowest level of existence.

However, this did not mean that the Gene Mutation stage was not important. According to Tian Xin, the Gene Mutation stage was precisely very important; it was the stage of building a foundation. Only with a sufficiently high foundation could one go further and become stronger in the future.

Like the Celestial Race, they were born at the Crystal Gene Level, and only a very small probability of newborns were born at the Steel Grade and Alloy Grade, which were considered congenitally underdeveloped.

Lin Shen kept chatting with Tian Xin, but he didn't mention going to find the Ancient World King's remains.

He was still very clear in his heart that with their current strength, compared to an existence like the Ancient World King, there was a difference between heaven and earth. If the Ancient World King had left behind some means, they might not even know how they died.

Lin Shen still adhered to his previous decision. After the teleportation device could be used, he would directly teleport back. Saving his life was the top priority; everything else could be done slowly.

Now, the whereabouts of his third and fourth brothers were unknown. They should have also come to this planet, but a planet was so huge that finding them was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

If they died here, Lin Shen would have to bear the heavy responsibility of continuing the Lin Family's lineage even more, and he could not use his useful body to do adventurous things that he had no confidence in.

Tian Xin also saw that Lin Shen didn't want to find the Ancient World King's remains at all and only wanted to get information from him.

But with his life in Lin Shen's hands, he didn't dare to stay silent, feeling so stifled he almost wanted to vomit blood.

Under Lin Shen's threats and inducements, he managed to extract quite a few secrets from Tian Xin.

According to Tian Xin, gene mutation was just the first small step out of the planet.

Humans are carbon-based life forms and highly dependent on oxygen and environment. Without gene mutation, it would be difficult to survive on other planets in the universe.

This planet only had stronger gravity; the environment was similar to where humans lived.

Some planets had very thin oxygen, or even no oxygen at all. Humans without gene mutation simply couldn't survive in such places.

There were also environments with various high and low temperatures, and various radiations, none of which were places ordinary humans could go.

They talked until the countdown on the watch was almost over. Lin Shen had gained a relatively macroscopic understanding of the universe.

"Are you really not going to look for the Ancient World King's treasure chest? That's a supreme treasure that can allow you to directly cross racial strata..." Tian Xin still wanted to persuade Lin Shen.

"The item is good, but you need to be alive to enjoy it. I have no fortune to enjoy the Ancient World King's treasure chest, you can go find it yourself." Seeing that the countdown on the watch had ended and showed that he could teleport again, Lin Shen greeted Wei Wufu, picked up the Gene Mutation Egg, and prepared to teleport back.

"Don't go... Untie me first..." Tian Xin said anxiously.

"It will naturally be untied when the time comes," Lin Shen said, and together with Wei Wufu, they activated the teleportation device and left.

He didn't kill Tian Xin, firstly because it wasn't easy to kill him. Without the blessing of Sacrifice to Heaven, his power was not enough to kill Tian Xin, who was comparable to a mutated Crystal Gene. Secondly, Lin Shen had other plans and never intended to kill Tian Xin.

By the time Tian Xin regained control of his body, Lin Shen and Wei Wufu had already been gone for a long time.

Light and shadow spun before Lin Shen's eyes. When his vision recovered, he found himself in a pitch-black cave. Besides a bright light resembling a window far ahead, he couldn't see anything else.

"Old Wei..." Lin Shen called out several times but received no response. He could only push the Gene Mutation Egg and tentatively walk towards the bright light. The bright light gradually grew larger, like an open door.

Despite the bright light and being very close to the door, it was still pitch black nearby, and he couldn't see the scene outside the door.

After several attempts, Lin Shen found that passing through the light door was not dangerous, so he pushed the Gene Mutation Egg and walked out.

The scenery before his eyes changed again. Lin Shen found himself back in the mountain range outside the previous canyon, but the wristwatch on his hand was gone.

He looked back, but there was no light door, no pitch-black cave. There was only a small mountain peak several hundred meters away, empty. Such a small mountain peak didn't seem like it could have such a long cave.

Seeing Wei Wufu standing not far away, with no one else nearby, Lin Shen walked a few more steps towards him, but there was still nothing, and he couldn't go back to the pitch-black cave.

"It seems that if I want to go in again next time, I must find the Mystic Bird to guide the way." Lin Shen exchanged a few words with Wei Wufu, and the two took turns pushing the Gene Mutation Egg towards the canyon.

When they reached the Flower Road, Lin Shen suddenly heard a cracking sound, and cracks actually appeared on the Gene Mutation Egg.