"Hmph! These Gaia people's ambitions are indeed not small! In this light, their plight doesn't deserve sympathy. Because, once their plan succeeds, they will inevitably bring disaster to other civilizations in the future!" Hǎo Yùn complained without mercy.
Tie Zhu continued, "Just when the Gaia people were still debating how to capture the mutated Hēimén, the laboratory's doors suddenly opened. Then, the troops guarding outside the laboratory saw a large number of swiftly moving dry corpses rushing towards them in a frenzy. Seeing this, the heavily armed troops surrounding them naturally didn't hesitate to open fire immediately. To the soldiers' surprise and delight, those fierce-looking dry corpses were not as powerful as they had imagined."
"Because the bodies of those dry corpses were made of a substance similar to dry grass, they were extremely afraid of fire. Therefore, when bullets hit them with high temperatures, their bodies would immediately ignite and quickly turn into charcoal. This sudden boost in morale made the soldiers quickly dispatch flame troops to attack the laboratory. While preparing to besiege the remaining dry corpses, they captured Hēimén and a small number of dry corpses still hiding in the laboratory for further research."
"After the flame troops joined the battle, the Gaia people quickly regained control of the laboratory. However, unfortunately, they did not find the mutated Hēimén. In addition, after the Gaia people's army retook the laboratory, they found many intact dry corpses that had not been attacked by the flames, inexplicably dead on the ground. Puzzled, the Gaia people immediately examined these intact dry corpses and soon discovered that their throats had turned into extra-reinforced passages. Moreover, there was a large amount of lubricating mucus residue in their throats."
"At the same time, the Gaia people quickly found, among those charred dry corpses, a group of deformed dwarfs that had also been burned into charcoal. Finally, after in-depth research by the Gaia people, it was discovered that these deformed dwarfs were likely to have grown from the chests of the Gaia people. Or should I say, these dwarfs might exist parasitically inside the bodies of the deceased Gaia people, and through some extremely dangerous power, transformed the flesh and blood bodies of the Gaia people into dry corpses controlled by them."
"Are you saying that the group of griffins that fought against us were the hosts of those little grass people?" Dream Jia asked curiously upon hearing this.
Tie Zhu shook his head and said, "To be precise, the group of griffins were not the hosts of those little grass people, or the Masutans. Although the overall intelligence level of the Masutans is not high, they only choose life forms with higher intelligence civilizations as hosts. As for those griffins made of grass, they are just flying tools created by the Masutans using their evil ability to transform life forms."
"So what happened next? Did the Gaia people find the missing Hēimén?" Although Hǎo Yùn already had an answer in his heart, he still asked curiously.
"Of course not. It is evident that the mutated Hēimén still retains his original intelligence, which enabled him to use those primitive Masutans as bait. While attracting the attention of the Gaia people, he cleverly escaped through the back door with all the plant specimens brought back by the Gaia people," Tie Zhu said.
"Primitive Masutans?" Dao Lao asked.
"Yes. According to historical records, the location where the Masutans originated is the Gaia Star. They evolved into their current form after many rounds of evolution. However, their appearance has not changed much, and most of the changes are reflected in their survival abilities," Tie Zhu replied.
"I'll digress a bit! I'm very curious, how do you know all this?" Hǎo Yùn couldn't help but ask curiously.
"I just said it, didn't I? According to historical records. Actually, this information was all recorded by a priest living on the Everlong Star, who was specifically responsible for observing the historical events of our lower realm. After joining the Allied Forces of the Spirit Realm, this priest compiled the historical data of the Helian Star system, especially the information about our main enemies, the Masutans, into a book for us. This priest hoped that by fully understanding the history of this star system, understanding the origins of our enemies, we could better assist the Spirit Realm in resisting the invasion of the enemy," Tie Zhu replied.
"Yes, that's right. Both the Spirit Realm and the Shadow Realm have different levels of Lower Realm Observation Centers. The priests there are specifically responsible for observing events in the lower realm, recording them, and uploading them to the Spirit Realm's database for preservation, for the development of the Spirit Realm," Dao Lao explained.
"Of course, these observers only observe and record events in the lower realm, but they do not actively intervene. As long as the events in the lower realm are not affected by forces that violate common sense, they will not report the disasters they observe, but let the beings in the lower realm develop freely according to the laws of nature, regardless of whether the result is thriving or doomed. This prevents special interventions from the upper realm from affecting the autonomous development of the lower realm and causing unnecessary disturbances to the timeline of the lower realm," Dao Lao explained.
"Forces that violate common sense, such as the Mould Spirit energy?" Hǎo Yùn asked again.
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"Yes, forces that violate common sense, such as the Mould Spirit energy. However, before the Great Divine War broke out on a large scale, even we in the Spirit Realm knew very little about Mould Spirit energy. So before the Mould Spirit energy openly wreaked havoc in the lower realm, our observers naturally had no concept of Mould Spirit energy, and could not associate the negative events they observed with Mould Spirit energy. That's why all the current lower realm observers are under the supervision of the priest responsible for capturing Mould Spirit energy in civilian positions," Dao Lao explained.
"Huh? So there are administrative positions for Mould Spirit Energy Pursuit Priests too! Ah! If I had known this earlier, I would have applied for a transfer to the administrative department. Putting aside the danger of fighting everywhere every day, just the hardship of running around everywhere is enough to give me a headache!" Hǎo Yùn exclaimed, scratching his head.
"Hmph! Forget about it! You, my friend, are my designated assistant. Unless you kick the bucket, even if the King of Heaven himself comes, he can't transfer you to an administrative job!" Dao Lao responded proudly, blowing his white beard.
"Sigh! Honestly, I've been working for a while now, but I still don't understand why the Spirit Realm specifically created a position for Mould Spirit Energy Pursuit Priests? Because in my opinion, the Spirit Realm has plenty of strong beings who are obviously more suitable for hunting Mould Spirit Energy!" Hǎo Yùn complained again.
Dream Jia shrugged and said, "What can we do? There's no other way. The massive casualties in the Divine War depleted our priest reserves significantly. Combined with the power demonstrated by Mould Spirit Energy, we must ensure that there are enough powerful forces stationed above at all times to prevent Mould Spirit Energy from invading and launching another large-scale attack against us."
"And you have to understand, the Mould Spirit Energy Pursuit system developed by the Spirit Realm after the Divine War is unique. Not every priest has the ability to match this system. Only those of us who perfectly match this system have the qualifications to become Mould Spirit Energy Pursuit Priests and use this system to better counter Mould Spirit Energy. So, I really don't understand where your luck came from, to rise from a mere assistant of a lower realm to become an assistant to a Mould Spirit Energy Pursuit Priest? I think even God needs to get his eyes checked!"
With Dream Jia's scathing remark of "rising from the mud to meet such great fortune," both Hǎo Yùn and Dao Lao's faces turned pale instantly. Of course, Hǎo Yùn turned pale because Dream Jia's words were full of severe disdain towards him. As for why Dao Lao's face turned pale, it was because he knew that it wasn't mud that led Hǎo Yùn to his good fortune!
After hearing the conversation between Hǎo Yùn and the others, Captain Tie Zhu couldn't help but shudder. So, without considering whether his interruption would offend the three priests, he quickly stepped forward and respectfully asked, "Uh, excuse me, are you three the famous Mould Spirit Energy Pursuit Priests?"
"Yes, we are the Mould Spirit Energy Pursuit Priests from the Spirit Realm. We risked entering this black hole for the purpose of dealing with the escaped Mould Spirit Energy," Dream Jia admitted generously since she had already let it slip during the conversation.
"I never expected! We actually get to witness the famous Mould Spirit Energy Pursuit Priests in person! Please forgive my ignorance! If I have offended you in any way just now, please forgive me for my ignorance!" After confirming the true identities of Hǎo Yùn and the others, Captain Tie Zhu immediately knelt on one knee to pay his respects to the three. The other six soldiers, upon learning the identities of Hǎo Yùn and the others, quickly followed suit and knelt down, respectfully paying their respects to the three.
It wasn't surprising that Captain Tie Zhu and his team would react like this upon learning of Hǎo Yùn and the others' identities as priests from the Spirit Realm. However, their renewed respect upon learning that they were Mould Spirit Energy Pursuit Priests puzzled Hǎo Yùn and the others. Because the Mould Spirit Energy Pursuit Priests only emerged after the end of the Divine War, so how did these people from the Everlong Star, who had been trapped in the black hole VOID—360 due to the explosion at the end of the Divine War, learn of the existence of Mould Spirit Energy Pursuit Priests while being cut off from the world?
However, Dao Lao didn't seem eager to raise this question. He just nodded and made a gesture of understanding towards Captain Tie Zhu and then redirected the conversation back to the Masutans. "So, Tie Zhu, what happened to the Gaia Star later?"
Captain Tie Zhu quickly stood up and, after a slight bow, continued, "Later, Gaia Star naturally never had a peaceful day again. Shortly after the Hēimén escaped with those primitive grass people, news began to emerge from all over the world that Gaia people were being attacked by extraterrestrial grass people and being transformed into terrifying dry corpses. What's more troubling is that the Gaia people quickly discovered that these extraterrestrial grass people seemed to be rapidly evolving during their attacks on the Gaia people. Because the Gaia people transformed into dry corpses by them not only became more and more powerful in attack, but also their resistance, especially their ability to resist high-temperature flames, was becoming stronger."
"Because these terrifying little grass people were all bred from the plants brought back from the Masutan Star, the Gaia people named them Masutans. They also saw them as the biggest obstacle to the survival of the Gaia people, and the entire nation declared war on the Masutans, vowing to eradicate all Masutans hidden on Gaia Star while their weapons were still capable of harming the Masutans."
"Of course, achieving this was extremely difficult for the Gaia people. After undergoing numerous evolutions, those diminutive grass beings were no longer as feeble as before and no longer solely relied on parasitism to engage the Gaia people in battle. The Masutans' bodies also became more potent, equipped with strong resilience against attacks. This meant that even when detached from the hosts that were once Gaia people, although their power might decrease somewhat, they could still hold their own against the Gaia army."
Captain Tie Zhu respectfully accepted a bottle of Peach Blossom Milk Tea from Hao Yun, took a modest sip, and continued, "As the Masutans rapidly grew in strength, the Gaia people's cities continued to fall one after another. More and more Gaia people became tools for the Masutans' reproduction and evolution. Eventually, with their own population rapidly declining while the enemy's numbers and combat prowess soared, the Gaia people were completely overwhelmed. Thus, Gaia Star fell entirely into the hands of the Masutans, becoming a vast nest for their reproduction. With that, the civilization of the Gaia people came to an end."