Chapter 1 A Homecoming with an Epic Quest

Hao Ren returned home with an epic mission, and Lily immediately crowded around, peppering him with questions. This carefree husky was less concerned with the specifics of Hao Ren's task and more interested in the sheer fun of asking questions and creating chaos. However, Hao Ren earnestly explained the epic mission that Raven 12345 had assigned him, which even managed to stun the usually scatterbrained husky.

"Wow! You're going to build the Genesis Engine?" Lily bounced onto the sofa, her tail wagging furiously in the air. "And you already have the blueprints?!"

"Just a portion of the blueprints, and I'm not building the entire engine, just its core. Then I'll go to the dark domain, find the remaining engine structure, and assemble the two parts," Hao Ren explained patiently. "I'm about to head to the Plane of Dreams to discuss this with Mu'lu and the others, and also to tell them about Mimir."

"Oh, right! There's Mimir too," Lily smacked her forehead, suddenly remembering something else. "Speaking of Mimir, I just remembered—has Yggdrasil been found yet?"

Hao Ren was immediately reminded, and he pulled out the data terminal. "What's the progress on the search for Yggdrasil?"

The data terminal displayed a galactic star chart, densely marked with grids and gradient color bands. "The entire galaxy's inspectorate and the data networks of various civilizations are mobilized, and we're still constantly tracking that resonance signal. It's not a complete loss: the Suha satellite station and several nearby civilizations have captured some faint signal reactions. Gala卓尔 sent a message saying they 'might' have tracked Yggdrasil, but the target is constantly moving rapidly and appears to be very alert. Radar stations across the galaxy can only capture a series of constantly jumping feed waves."

Hao Ren saw a prominent trajectory marked on the galactic star chart, covering the radiation range of thousands upon thousands of stars. It was hard to imagine that Yggdrasil could drag nine entire other dimensions and jump such a vast distance in the vast universe. But the increasingly clear trajectory also revealed good news: as more and more radar stations joined the search, Yggdrasil's movements were gradually being pinpointed.

"As long as Yggdrasil doesn't stop, we can't communicate with it, but its recent jump speed has clearly slowed down, so this is a test of patience," the data terminal wobbled. "We can roughly determine its transfer patterns. Several thousand radar stations and mage towers are gradually narrowing the search range. In a week or two, or a month or two at most, Yggdrasil will definitely be resting under the noses of some monitoring posts."

Hao Ren breathed a sigh of relief. Although they hadn't caught the "World Tree" yet, it basically couldn't escape.

So, after confirming that the Yggdrasil tracking operation was proceeding smoothly, he took Vivian and Lily, who couldn't stay idle at home, to the Plane of Dreams.

Planet Tana古斯.

The crystal core research station shone in space like an eternal lighthouse, and the "Ark of Life" in the lower half of the station was like an alert eye, constantly watching the situation on the pale gold planet below. Even standing on the planet's surface, one could see the bright blue dot in the sky, and a hint of red in the center of the blue dot. The Zolm, reborn on this planet, now called the crystal core research station the "Heavenly Ark," symbolizing their successful escape from their fiery home world through the ark's transfer. They affectionately called the Ark of Life on the ark "Our Elder Brother," because they knew that their long-time guardian had been reborn and gained eternal life inside the Ark of Life. Although the eldest son had lost his past form and could no longer directly contact humans as before, the Zolm knew that the guardian of life was still with them.

This spiritual pillar, similar to religious belief but more pragmatic, was supporting the Zolm through the most difficult years of rebuilding their home.

The ecological adjustment process of Tana古斯 was almost complete today. The source-blood containers released by the eldest son Zolm formed thousands of "Springs of Life" on the planet's surface. Centered on these Springs of Life, large areas of new ecosystems flourished. The flora and fauna restored from the gene storage library emerged rapidly from the source-blood as if growing in the wind, and within a few months, they had spread almost throughout the entire planet. Although Zolm was a young eldest son, his control over the ecosystem was still amazing. Under his precise regulation, the new ecosystem perfectly integrated with the original ecosystem of Tana古斯, and a vibrant planet could be said to have been reborn.

Hao Ren and his group found the three guardian giants near a Spring of Life near the North Pole of the planet. They were checking the operation of the new ecosystem in the cold regions today. As soon as Hao Ren arrived, Mu'lu and the others immediately put down their work: they had received the news beforehand and knew very well what Hao Ren had brought this time.

Lie Mendusa leveled a huge rock platform next to the Spring of Life, on which the guardians' observation tools and resting places were placed. This platform might become some kind of sacred relic or tourist attraction in the local legends many years later, but now, Hao Ren used it as a place to hold meetings.

He first took out the God-slaying Sword: "This is the sword that killed the Goddess of Creation back then. But let me make it clear in advance—calm down, this sword was just a tool back then. The debtor has his creditor, so don't get angry and break it."

Unexpectedly, after seeing the God-slaying Sword, Lie Mendusa and the others only had a moment of trance and excitement, and then the three giants showed calm expressions. Mu'lu just nodded slightly: "I didn't expect to see it in this situation."

Lie Mendusa sighed softly (although his soft sigh was enough to stir up a gust of wind): "This sword looks so unremarkable..."

Hao Ren looked at the three giants in surprise: "I thought you guys would go berserk as soon as you saw this thing. I was mentally prepared."

"No one in this universe understands the importance of staying rational better than us," Xi Fu lowered her head to look at Hao Ren. "And we wouldn't hold a weapon responsible. To be unable to kill the enemy with one's own hands and vent anger on a tool is the escapist path chosen by incompetent cowards."

At this time, the God-slaying Sword had awakened under Hao Ren's mental stimulation. It found itself in a new environment again, and there were strangers in front of it, so it immediately greeted enthusiastically: "Ah, hello, my name is..."

Hao Ren interrupted it without saying a word: "Don't say that string of titles!!"

The God-slaying Sword choked and quickly changed its words: "Oh, oh, in short, I'm called Tong Ren Jushi..." (Pinyin explanation: Tong Ren = stab people; Jushi = lay Buddhist)

Hao Ren: "..."

This thing actually said the one thing it shouldn't have said!

Mu'lu's eyes instantly sharpened after hearing the God-slaying Sword's voice: "This sword has a soul?"

Hao Ren quickly explained: "I was just about to tell you this: this sword does have the ability to think, but its mind is a bit special, and its mind was in a dormant state during the God-slaying War..."

Hao Ren told the three guardians about the situation of the God-slaying Sword in detail, first to prevent the guardians from misunderstanding the sword—after all, an unconscious tool is innocent, but a weapon with its own ideas is a different matter; secondly, he hoped that the knowledge of the three guardians could help.

The God-slaying Sword's unique "echo wall" mental power was very concerning. It was the culprit that caused the God-slaying Heretic and the Demon Hunters to fall into madness, and it was also the source of the God-slaying Sword's own mind. Hao Ren believed that this special phenomenon might be a clue to finding the mastermind behind the conspiracy back then: turning a fragment of the universe into a weapon and imbuing it with the power of the "echo wall" was a shocking feat that couldn't have left no trace. Mu'lu and the others were the oldest lives in this universe besides the Goddess of Creation, and they might be able to associate something from the source of the God-slaying Sword.

"Echo?" Lie Mendusa frowned slightly and exchanged a glance with Xi Fu. "There is no life in our memory bank that thinks in this way, and no one has created this form of artificial intelligence. Hmm, there is no information in the database about the universe's original life either."

Mu'lu frowned tightly and didn't speak for a long time. Then he suddenly broke the silence: "I haven't heard of this 'echo' either, but I remembered something... Do you still remember the ancient race called the 'Starry Sky People'?"