Chapter 571 — The Most Cowardly God and the Return (Thanks to Vera and Zhaicai)

[Description]: A special-type skill that can open up a devouring space; by devouring and digesting all things, it raises one's race grade and growth grade, completing endless evolution and growth.

[Name]: Cosmic Hole

[Grade]: Quasi-divine

[Description]: Can open a Cosmic Hole to perform spatial jumps.

From the battle with the Starry Void Bug, Shi Jin had copied only two skills. The first appeared to be the superior version of Infinite Devouring—Susu's Infinite Devouring had been stuck at the peak mastery tier for a long time, and despite devouring many divine-tier and even super-divine resources in that time, it had never risen in grade.

This time, at last, he had directly copied a divine-tier devouring skill.

This was the very foundation of the Starry Void Bug's power.

As for the second, Shi Jin had copied the opponent's Cosmic Hole skill. Although this Starry Void Bug had inherited the Cosmic Hole of the Cosmic Behemoth, it clearly had not honed it to the level of a divine skill, so what Shi Jin copied was also merely a quasi-divine skill.

Fortunately, the opponent's training was not high; otherwise, if Buggy had tried to use Creation Domain to isolate the enemy from opening a Cosmic Hole, it likely would not have been so easy.

Unfortunately, however, neither Endless Devouring nor Cosmic Hole had much compatibility with any of Shi Tan's many pets. The former was too high-level to teach, and the latter, as an exclusive skill of the Cosmic Behemoth race, was quite difficult to learn—there truly was no compatibility.

So after the whole fight, Shi Jin scratched his head and felt as though he had gained nothing at all, apart from a pile of support equipment gifted by Kong Di and Lin Feng.

He had no idea when he would ever get to use these skills himself.

"My umbrella, my umbrella, wuuu." While Shi Jin was summing up his gains, the other pets were also discussing the battle just now.

Qi held the tattered Star Umbrella, looking a little aggrieved. The umbrella's durability had first been worn down by Buggy and Baby Ginseng before refining, and now the Starry Void Bug had beaten it to shreds—it was heartbroken.

"We'll just fix it again," Shi Jin consoled.

"Mainly, this umbrella of yours just doesn't look as sturdy as something like a dragon pearl. How about switching to a spiked club? A spiked-club loli would look pretty dashing too."

"No!"

"Yiya." Baby Ginseng spoke up: the Starry Void Bug had not been killed by Susu, but sent to reincarnation by its own Fruit of Reincarnation, so shouldn't the first divine-tier kill belong to Baby Ginseng?

"Chirp!!" Buggy told Ginseng Baby to have some self-respect—the one you just sent off isn't even Transcendent-tier anymore.

"Hmph, hmph." Ginseng Baby made it clear that self-respect was something it had long since tossed away.

"Ginseng Baby has done very well—at the very least, it managed to hold out this long without self-detonating," Shi Yan said. "Once the God-Sealing War comes, you can blow yourself up to your heart's content. No one will stop you then."

Ginseng Baby was brimming with fighting spirit. It wanted to fight that Cosmic Crow Kahn!

With the Star Void Bug dealt with, it was time for Shi Cen to leave Blue Star. Fearing he would hold Shi Yun up, Shi Jin, eager to return, said his farewells to Lin Shuo and the others and hurried back to King's World Star.

If all went well, they would see each other again soon enough.

The Gem Cat still had things to tidy up, so Shi Cen did not wait for her.

King's World Star.

The Floating Realm, Lingxiao City.

The place was buzzing with excitement now, because the annual God-Sealing War was about to begin. At present, the prodigies and second-generation scions of the Floating Star and the Floating Realm had all gathered in Lingxiao City, planning to use its teleportation facilities to travel to a nearby first-tier realm and register for the competition.

Generally speaking, the people of the Floating Realm went to the neighboring Eastern Mystic Realm or the Heavenly Demon Realm to register—after all, those two were realm allies of the Floating Realm.

The Eastern Mystic Realm was governed by the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin clans, while the Heavenly Demon Realm was controlled by the Angel and Demon clans.

Of course, since the God-Sealing War was held so frequently, many people did not go to the same place every year. Using the war as an excuse to travel to other realms—such as the Canglan Realm or even the Central Realm—was a common enough occurrence. The greater the distance, though, the fatter the purse one needed.

At this moment, inside a great hall in Lingxiao City, the young prodigies had gathered together, listening to a passionate speech from Lord Lin Feng.

To encourage the prodigies of the Floating Realm, every year before the God-Sealing War, Lin Feng and the Void Emperor would choose one person to rally these young talents, hoping they might achieve better results.

This year, it was Lin Feng's turn.

"Hey, Sister Zilan, Shi Yu hasn't come back?" the Phoenix Man asked, sitting beside Zilan. "Looks like he's not planning to take part in this year's God-Sealing War after all."

"With his strength, even if he joined this year, I think he'd achieve some pretty impressive results."

He had also learned from Zilan that Shi Jin had gone to Blue Star to deal with a mid-tier god. But, like Zilan, although he believed Shi Ying was no weakling, wasn't it a bit too absurd for a level-nine beastmaster to go and deal with a mid-tier god?

A mid-tier god was a figure of considerable renown even in the Floating Realm.

"I don't know either. If that mid-tier god is the same as the one in the prophecy, it should appear soon. But whether Shi Jin can actually kill it... whether he can return in one piece... I can't say," Zilan said.

Over the past half year, she had also been directed by the Void Emperor to travel back and forth to Blue Star exchanging intelligence. The people in Lingxiao City had likewise learned that the alien bugs had gone into hiding and might not show themselves for half a year.

"That's all I have to say. I hope your rankings this year will improve on last year's," Lin Feng said with a smile, standing at the front and looking down at the hundred-odd prodigy beastmasters of the Floating Realm and their contracted beasts.

"Grandfather." At that moment, a young man rose from among the crowd of prodigies. "Are we the only ones representing the Floating Realm in the competition this year?"

"That Shi Jin from Blue Star—he's not competing? His strength... it's pretty formidable too, isn't it?"

After Lin Feng's grandson Lin Rui finished speaking, many of the prodigies present began murmuring among themselves. Lu Ran, the prodigy of the Lu family, Wang Qingqing, the Void Emperor's granddaughter—these second-generation scions who had once been beaten soundly by Shi Jin at the Sky Arena—were all drawn in by Lin Rui's question.

That was right. That Shi Jin, who had shone so briefly in Lingxiao City, why had he been gone so long? Would he be competing?

These young prodigies had no idea that Shi Jin had gone to the Canglan Realm. Their memory of Shi Ying was still stuck on that scene at the Sky Arena, where he commanded a giant dragon inheriting the power of the Ancestral Dragon and swept aside every prodigy in his path.

"Shi Jin, huh..." Lin Feng felt a slight headache coming on. "He was sent by me and the Realm Master to the mother planet on a special mission. I don't know whether he'll be able to make it back in time..."

"Hm?" Lin Feng had barely finished speaking when he suddenly looked outside the hall, delight flashing across his face. "What a coincidence—he's back. That being the case, your team will have one more member."

"Barring any surprises, he'll be joining you all in the God-Sealing War."