Chapter 78
The Temple of Kanya was the place where the prophets and numerous priests of the saen race conducted prayer and perception everyday . For the saen race, it was the most solemn and sacred place on their planet .
There was an opening at the top of the temple’s dome . Light would penetrate through the aperture, allowing a beam of light to appear in the temple hall .
Enveloped in this circle of shimmering light was an altar on a high platform . Placed upright on the altar was an open book made of jade-like stone .
It was the central part of the temple, and also the heart of the whole temple . The three prophets of the saen race were all present . There were also many priests and scholars moving about inside the temple, in the middle of working or conducting research .
The nox entered the temple . The energetic saen who were active in the temple, one after another, stopped moving and focused their gazes on the nox as he passed by .
“Is this the one?” Being led into the temple hall, Xie Luan raised his head and looked at the large crystal floating above .
The crystal had irregular shape, and was colorless and translucent . It was encircled by a golden ring and ever so slightly floated up and down in a rhythmic pattern .
One of the three elders on the high platform nodded at him in answer to his question . Xie Luan had not seen the elder before, but the elder was wearing a white prophet robe . Following the high-ranking priest who was responsible for leading them, Xie Luan and Ya Yi approached the stone book on the stand together .
After he approached, Xie Luan could clearly see the whole book .
The left page of the opened book was engraved with complex runes, while the right page was deeply embedded with a smaller version of the large crystal above their head .
“Just place your hand on this crystal . ”
Kelái, standing together with the other two prophets, pointed to the page on the right for the two who approached .
Ya Yi stepped forward with a dull expression . Before the other could put his hand over, Xie Luan took a step forward and pulled him back . He raised his eyes and looked towards the elders in front of him, “It shouldn’t be dangerous, right?”
When lightly pulled by Xie Luan, the nox smoothly stopped in place and made no extra movements .
As soon as one of the prophets confirmed with a nod, Xie Luan let go of the hand he was holding .
“Then… go on . ”
When Ya Yi turned back and met his gaze, Xie Luan nodded encouragingly .
Continuing ahead with his silver tail calmly hanging, the nox raised his right hand and placed it on the small crystal .
Almost as soon as the nox touched this small crystal, the large crystal floating above responded, and within a split-second, many golden vein-like lines appeared on the surface of the transparent crystal .
These golden lines began to flow toward each other, and in a short while, they had interwoven into magnificent runes on the crystal’s surface .
As they waited for the construction of the runes to be completed, the large crystal began to calibrate accordingly— The hand Ya Yi had placed on the right page did not move; and, as time went on, the increasing number of golden lines on the large crystal gradually changed .
The original dazzling gold gradually dimmed, and, soon after, it became a dark gold . The flow of lines then became stagnant, like silt, without the light and quick movements from before .
Seeing this scene, the three prophets who were observing nearby had already more or less come to a decision .
The soulstone was able to reflect a person’s heart . The heart was the essence of a person and this essence could not be concealed .
The lines on the crystal still continued to darken . What would ultimately happen in the end? All the saen in the hall actually felt there was no suspense .
In line with their imagination, the golden lines on the surface of the large crystal gradually became darker and darker, and finally turned completely black as expected .
The large crystal shrouded in black no longer gave people a magnificent and beautiful feeling . It hung pitch black in the air above their heads, filling them with an exceptionally heavy feeling .
According to this result, they could not give back the necklace to the other .
It was not like this… Also watching as the large crystal changed, Xie Luan, from beginning to end, paid attention to the speck of beautiful gold that continued to remain in the center of the crystal .
He took one step closer to Ya Yi, who was still touching the right page . From this angle, Xie Luan by chance happened to see the black mark partially peeking out from behind the other’s shirt collar at the bottom of his neck . This black seemed to be of the same shade as the current color of the vein-like lines on the soulstone .
Unable to think much of anything during this short interval, Xie Luan now passively faced a pair of vertical pupils .
For the saen in this hall, the following development now unfolding before their eyes was completely beyond their expectations .
With the remaining gold in the center of the crystal as the origin, this speck of gold suddenly spread outwards at an extremely high speed . It quickly confronted the previous black, and it took only a few minutes for it to gain the advantage .
Watching this change in a daze, the three saen prophets present saw that, on the large crystal floating above, the lines on the surface of the crystal seemed to be divided into two .
One-third was black, the remaining two-thirds were gold .
This was the final result after the stabilization was over .
Seeing this result, Xie Luan’s eyebrows slightly relaxed . Then, without warning, he was encircled and pulled closer by the silver tail around his waist, the whole person was then immediately embraced by the owner of the tail .
He was hugged a little tightly; Xie Luan was somewhat unable to move . Vaguely sensing the nox’s state of mind, he raised his hand and lightly stroked the tail to appease him .
There existed an objective darkness in this nox’s heart . Xie Luan didn’t believe it could be easily erased, but he had been convinced, from the beginning, that the other would be able pass the soulstone test .
And he did, indeed, pass .
The three prophets discussed in a low voice for a while . Finally, Kelái stood up and said, “You have passed . ”
He beckoned for a high-ranking priest holding a peculiarly shaped metal case to come over . Opening it himself, Kelái took out the necklace in the case and passed it to Ya Yi standing in front of him .
It was returned to its rightful owner .
Handing this extremely unusual item back to its original owner, Kelái took a deep breath . He hoped they had made the right choice .
The instance Ya Yi touched the necklace, the ring strung on the necklace seemed to have a discreet reaction .
“This ring is the key to activate a dangerous weapon . Forgive us for having to test you first . ”
Since the item had already been returned, Kelái could tell them the truth about the item . For this reason, he also especially cautioned the nox, “If you want to see the thing that is hidden away in the ring, please leave the temple first . ”
They naturally did as he said and walked outside, but why tell them this? The moment when Xie Luan truly saw the “weapon” the other had spoken of he at once understood .
A huge battleship, large enough to easily hide the sky and cover the earth, like a real version of Noah’s Ark . Unlike any battleship ever created by any race, this huge ark battleship was built to be very imposing and magnificent . From a certain perspective, it was even like a work of art . [1]
But while they marveled at the sight of it, the saen, who had studied this battleship, also had a profound understanding of how truly dreadful and terrifying the ark battleship was .
The top-of-the-line jump system allowed this ark battleship to easily make consecutive jumps, all while maintaining a very low energy consumption rate . The defense shield was no different from a copper wall, iron bastion; and the battleship also had a variety of other defenses that would take incalculable firepower to breach . [2]
However, what really made the saen engineers feel their scalps go numb was the core weapon of this ark warship .
According to their research, they believe this core weapon could only be used three times at most and was then consumed .
But just one charge alone had enough power to destroy a planet; not to mention three charges .
This ark battleship was, without a doubt, a great masterpiece created by the nox race, and as for its user— Only one of the nox race could utilize the ring .
Now that the ring had been returned to its original owner, it had been activated for the first time, and the ark battleship called Gaiya had truly seen the light again .
[1] – Hiding the sky and covering the earth/sun is an idiom, it means earth-shattering, omnipresent, of universal importance .
[2] – 铜墙铁壁 Copper wall, iron bastion is an idiom, it means impenetrable defense .