Ji Xinghuo carefully observed Qing Hong, whose evolution took much longer than expected, as Ether Energy continuously flowed into its body, promoting rapid growth.
The scales on Qing Hong shimmered brilliantly, the light circling around them.
What’s most peculiar was that it became transparent.
Ji Xinghuo was surprised, this state seemed as if it had unfolded from three dimensions into two, presenting its entire body in a way that every detail—blood vessels, muscles, scales, and bones—was laid bare on a flat plane, without any reservation.
"What’s going on here?" he was somewhat puzzled.
Yet it was just another life evolution, which had led to such a strange phenomenon.
Ji Xinghuo then speculated that it likely had to do with spatial dimensions. Qing Hong’s Dimension Stomach and Miniaturization were both Abilities related to space.
The way it looked now was as if a three-dimensional organism was displayed in another dimension!
Gradually, Qing Hong’s snake body grew to four meters.
However, the translucent form caused by its dimensional change grew larger and larger. Its true body remained at four meters, while its shadow quickly expanded past five meters, six meters, seven meters... and continued to grow. After more than half an hour, Qing Hong’s dimensional shadow had surpassed ten meters.
Its snake body passed through walls like a ghost.
Luckily, the room next door was the bathroom of this room and no one else witnessed it. Qing Hong also realized this and coiled its snake tail into position.
The evolution lasted a full five hours!
When Qing Hong’s dimensional shadow ceased lengthening, it had exceeded fifteen meters in length, coiling around the room, shifting from an initially intangible shadow to gradually gaining substance.
Ji Xinghuo waited patiently throughout.
Finally, the radiance dimmed on the scales of Qing Hong, reverting to a half-green, half-golden color, and it truly became a colossal being!
Shock was written all over his face.
This was the wonder and strength of life’s evolution, the mighty power created by Star Realm Nature!
The display of the Wanxiang Star Pupil showed Qing Hong’s information.
[Spiritual Objects: Golden Scale Python]
[Abilities: Dimension Stomach (Second Level 19/5101), Miniaturization (Second Level 32/3049), Golden Scale Iron Spine (Fourth Level 1/5477), Spirit Smell (Fourth Level 16/2273), Ether Affinity (Fourth Level 41/7079), Thunderbolt Hand (Fourth Level 34/2833), Giant Transformation (1/359)]
Ji Xinghuo immediately noticed the new Ability Qing Hong had just awakened.
"Giant Transformation!"
"So it’s this Transcendent Ability!"
A realization dawned on him, Giant Transformation corresponded to Miniaturization; one expanded size and the other reduced it, both involving spatial dimensions.
Giant Transformation was different from common Gigantification.
Gigantification was a Superior Ability, as the core of the Giant General Professional Template; it could enlarge a Mutant’s body to a certain ratio, granting greater strength.
Gigantification couldn’t usually increase body size by more than a third, and even with higher levels, it was hard to double. Its essence was still flesh and blood, limited by the structural components of life, with no production from nothingness, and the weight would not change.
But Giant Transformation was different!
Its mechanism involved changes in spatial dimensions, starting off by enlarging volume more than tenfold, with weight increasing correspondingly.
Ji Xinghuo didn’t fully understand these profound concepts but had a rough idea that both Miniaturization and Giant Transformation involved projecting or hiding one’s true body in other dimensions, entailing complex and vast energy transformations.
And since energy and matter are two sides of the same coin, Qing Hong’s weight could thus lighten or increase remarkably.
At that moment, Qing Hong opened its eyes.
Seeing Ji Xinghuo standing before it, there was some confusion in its eyes; why had Ji Xinghuo become so small? But it affectionately leaned its head closer, wanting to nuzzle him.
Ji Xinghuo was startled as the large snake head approached, the sense of pressure it created was too strong.
"You should shrink back to your original body first."
Qing Hong pondered for a moment before it understood, its huge body instantly shrank back to its true form of about four meters in length.
Then it shrank further to a few centimeters in length, returning to its nimble mini form.
Ji Xinghuo reached out his hand and let it crawl into his palm to play.
Just like before, the mini form of Qing Hong was almost weightless, only about fifteen grams. It was hard to imagine that it could transform into a giant python spanning over fifteen meters.
Superior Spiritual Creatures!
It had transcended its species, no longer a mere Steel Arrow Green.
For non-sentient beings in the Star Realm, whether monsters or Spiritual Objects, transcending their group marked the most important and difficult step in life’s evolution. This evolution was as crucial as a fish leaping through the Dragon Gate; once they crossed it, the sky was the limit, with boundless possibilities.
Ji Xinghuo glanced at the interface again.
"Golden Scale Python!"
The name was suitable, though he wondered whether there were other Golden Scale Pythons in the world or if Qing Hong was unique?
With this advancement, Qing Hong’s strength surged.
Initially not adept at direct combat, only assigned to stealth and ambush missions by Ji Xinghuo, it could now serve as a genuinely powerful ally.
The Defense Power of its Fourth Level Golden Scale Iron Spine was incredibly impressive, on par with the famous Transcendent Ability "Steel Body."
And then there was the Fourth Level Thunderbolt Hand.
When Qing Hong was in its Giant Transformation state, a massive being fifteen meters long, weighing two tons, it could integrate offense and defense. Ordinary Super Mutants would have to turn tail and run upon encountering it.
Ji Xinghuo looked at the information for the "Giant Transformation" Ability; advancing from Level One to Level Two only required 359 points of Spiritual Origin Ability.
He could achieve that with two or three days of hunting.
After resting for a day in the inn, as night fell, Ji Xinghuo checked out of his room and left Yanhuang City.
It didn’t take long before he arrived at East Pole Pass, the easternmost point of the Star Realm’s defenses. He left through the East Pole Pass, entered the territory of the Beiluo Shimen Clan, and then headed southwest along the defensive line, preparing to hunt and return to Sword Valley Fortress, harvesting Spiritual Origin Energy along the way as he had done on the journey here.
Of course, he definitely couldn’t travel the exact same route.
Previously, in order to obtain Spiritual Origin Energy as quickly as possible, he hunted too frequently, which might alert the Beiluo Shimen Clan.
This return trip was not as urgent, so he could afford to expand the hunting area a bit more.
In the depths of a dense forest.
Ji Xinghuo sat at the base of a fallen tree trunk. Within his magnetic field senses, about three hundred meters away, there was a hidden sentry, with several large trees growing densely together, accompanied by a vast number of thorny bushes, and a tree hole that led directly underground, excavated into a subterranean cave.
A troop from the Beiluo Shimen Clan was hidden within the cave, a total of eleven people, led by two Giant Generals.
There were also five Stone Lizard People, one vine spirit, and three Goraks.
In the darkness, Ji Xinghuo looked at Qing Hong in his hand and whispered softly, "You’ve grown up, and it’s time for you to learn how to harvest Spiritual Origin Energy on your own."
Qing Hong’s eyes were somewhat puzzled, not understanding what Spiritual Origin Energy was.
"It’s the thing that can make you stronger," Ji Xinghuo explained with a smile, "You can get Spiritual Origin Energy by killing your enemies."
Qing Hong’s eyes lit up, and he nodded repeatedly.
Ji Xinghuo watched it quickly swim through the grass, moving very fast. He activated his Audio-Visual Bracelet to link its senses with his own, coupled with the heart-to-heart link from Alien Coexistence, guiding it toward the hidden sentry beneath the tree.
Two Goraks were hiding in the trees, but they didn’t notice Qing Hong at all.
The miniature snake quietly crawled into the cave without alarming the Stone Lizard People guarding the entrance, and it made its way deeper inside.
Ji Xinghuo synced up to see the scene inside the sentry post.
Following his command, Qing Hong’s body instantly expanded a million times in size, its huge body almost filling half of the cave, and from its mouth burst a thick bolt of lightning.
The lightning was fierce, and the whole cave shook violently.
The two Goraks in the trees heard the noise, but before they could react, two Invisible Arrows took their lives, and their bodies fell down.
A series of shouts and screams came from inside the cave, which quieted down in less than half a minute.
Spiritual Origin Energy +3
Spiritual Origin Energy +7
Spiritual Origin Energy +6
Ji Xinghuo saw the Spiritual Origin Energy value on the interface jumping constantly, and through his synced vision, he saw the grim death scene of the Beiluo Shimen Clan members in the sentry post. The strongest one of the group, a Giant General, had been struck dead by Thunderbolt Hand. The others were either smashed, strangled, or directly bitten to death by Qing Hong’s massive snake body.
Their weapons and Abilities left only shallow marks on Qing Hong, which couldn’t penetrate the hard scales.
The lone vine spirit managed to escape, only for Ji Xinghuo to shoot an arrow through its plant core.
He stepped into the cave.
Qing Hong shrank back down to its miniature size and climbed onto his palm.
After praising Qing Hong a few times and collecting the spoils of war, Ji Xinghuo left the cave and shortly afterwards, he invested the thirty-some points of Spiritual Origin Energy he had just harvested into "Giant Transformation."
The size of Qing Hong’s Giant Transformation immediately grew even more massive, reaching a length close to sixteen meters!
With such instantly tangible strengthening, it eagerly urged Ji Xinghuo to continue hunting the Beiluo Shimen Clan.
For three consecutive days.
Ji Xinghuo ventured deeper behind the Beiluo Shimen Clan’s defense lines, striking in dispersed locations, hunting the enemy, and harvesting over three hundred points of Spiritual Origin Energy. Ten-odd kilometers away from Sword Valley Fortress, he invested Spiritual Origin Energy to promote Qing Hong’s Giant Transformation to the Second Level.
[Ability: Giant Transformation (Second Level 1/3169)]
"Grow bigger for me to see."
Ji Xinghuo released his hand from Qing Hong, and in a flash, its body expanded, quickly growing beyond twenty meters long!
In the sunlight, each snake scale reflected dazzling light.
The thickest part of the snake’s body in the middle had a diameter of nearly one meter, and by estimation, its weight had already surpassed three tons.
The snake’s head rose high, standing three meters above the ground, eyes cold, its mouth wide enough to gulp down several adults at once, its fangs like sword blades. Deep in its throat was a passageway to a Dimension Stomach, with forked tongues flickering with electricity, ready to emit powerful currents at any moment.
Even Ji Xinghuo, as the master, was taken aback by Qing Hong’s formidable presence.
Surely deserving of being a Superior Spiritual Creature, both beautiful and dangerous!
Ji Xinghuo caressed Qing Hong’s scales, its potential was far greater than he had anticipated. Moreover, a Superior Spiritual Creature could integrate with Alien Species and also use capacity-expanding Strange Objects.
He wasn’t sure what kind of Alien Species Qing Hong should fuse with.
The Strange Objects for capacity expansion also needed to be arranged.
Ji Xinghuo had Qing Hong shrink back to hide on his body as he entered Sword Valley Fortress. He found that the atmosphere in the fortress was different from usual, with a touch of celebration, and people’s smiles were a bit more frequent.
"New Year has arrived!"
Ji Xinghuo finally realized, standing dazedly on the street, "Today is New Year’s Day on Earth, the first day of 2225."
Unknowingly, he had spent so much time in the Star Realm, having experienced two New Years already.
He stood still, a complex expression on his face.
After a while, Ji Xinghuo’s expression regained its calm and he continued to walk, not towards the hotel, but toward the airship landing field of the Sword Valley Fortress. He was going to Olympia, and then back to Earth!