Chapter 815: The Show
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The mental energy of the female priests was exhausted to a great degree, so they aged faster than regular humans and lived shorter lives, something that could be easily calculated. As such, a few or even a dozen female priests would return to the sea of stars each year, meaning that a few or a dozen successors of the female priests would come to the praying hall on the Main Planet for training.
Since it was a regular occurrence, the populace of the Federation of the Milky Way was not particularly interested in the arrival of the successors of the female priests on the Main Planet. However, the female priest of the Stargate had a very high status in the praying hall, who was only the second to the one on the Main Planet and had the same status as the female priests of the other six planetary regions. As a result, the successor of the female Stargate priest was often treated differently.
Moreover, the successor of the female priest of the Stargate was a poor girl from the underground neighborhood. Her legendary story had already spread to many planets from the Stargate Base, which is why so much of the news media came to report her arrival, with some TV stations even opting to broadcast it live.
However, the TV stations didn’t expect that the viewer rate of their live broadcasting to increase gradually in the beginning and then had climb steeply, an occurrence beyond their wildest dreams
What was going on?
The directors and reporters of the news media were remarkably sensitive to views, similar to the sensitivity of the fairy men to the changes of heaven and earth. All the news media seemed to have received the order at the same time to train their cameras on the youth behind the red-haired girl priest.
A dozen drones lowered down from the sky and seemed to shoot close a close-up of that youth’s face. They flew up reluctantly only after the battleship gave warning that they were at dangerously low elevation.
The youth wore a regular blue tracksuit with a hoodie. He didn’t look fashionable, nor did he put on any make-up. He didn’t even tailor his hair properly, which was tied up casually behind his head.
Yet, nobody cared about these details; all of their gazes were fixed on his face.
How could they describe this face?
It was impossible to do.
All of them, be it the government officials, the reporters and the main preachers of the praying hall at the harbor, or the audiences in front of the TV screens, uttered surprised cries or praised him simply by saying, “He’s so handsome”.
It would be a mistake to think that he was not beautiful enough since not so many words were used to depict him. In fact, besides praising him simply, what else could they do to describe a perfect beauty?
Could they describe him as the lotus flower with dew on it? Or the desolate and beautiful tree outside the lotus pond? Or the rainbow atop trees? Or the Southern Cross Star at the end of the rainbow?
No, any of these descriptions would have some shortcomings and would be proven to be inadequate. Those lotus flowers, trees, rainbows, and stars were all not as beautiful as Jing Jiu.
One shouldn’t even mention something like the spring wind of ten miles.
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Flanked by Jiang Yuxia and Hua Xi, Zong Lizi walked toward the outside of the battleship.
The three girls were all good-looking, and they were pretty in a different way. However, compared with Jing Jiu when they walked together with him, their beauty was ignored by the onlookers.
The government officials and the reporters of the news media who came to welcome the group and the populace in front of the TV sets were all guessing the identity of the youth in blue clothing. Many of the curious types had browsed through the related forums on the Stargate Base and attempted to find out the answer.
The main preachers and female caretakers of the praying hall and the College of Priests displayed a hint of delighted surprise in their eyes and soon subsided. It was believed that they had already been informed of the identity of Jing Jiu and were reminded ahead of time.
The flooding of the forums, the discussions before the TV sets and the delighted expressions of the female reporters didn’t abate until Jing Jiu and the others got in a car.
The Main Planet was a place adhering to the traditional values. However, air traffic was restricted mostly for the sake of security.
The civilian flying devices could take off and descend in a designated site and fly along a designated route only after they were permitted by the government and the military; it was extremely inconvenient. A vast majority of the populace chose to use the high-speed floating trains as their transportation means. The high-level officials of the government and the heads of the famous clans also opted to use the floating trains for their transportation. Furthermore, the floating trains were not allowed to float more than five meters off the ground.
The vehicle fleet receiving Zong Lizi and her group were rather large that day. In addition to the government, the praying hall and the College of Priests, a member of the Federation Administration Committee had sent his special car to the occasion, though unfortunately, the vehicle was forgotten outside the crowd.
The ridiculous scene of fighting over receiving the guests hadn’t occurred, because the arrangement was made ahead of time. Zong Lizi, Jing Jiu, Jiang Yuxia, Hua Xi and the main preacher entered the vehicle arranged by the praying hall; and the rest got on the vehicles of the government.
The reporters of the news media noticed the large size of the vehicle fleet, feeling rather surprised. In the next moment, they found that the security was much tighter that day than usual.
A gust of wind in the high sky blew away the drifting clouds, exposing the blue sky that was nearly purple because of its deep color, a few battleships hovering in the sky…
Hundreds of armored elite soldiers encircled the Scorching-Sun Battleship and blocked the reporters and residents who came to spectate the occasion. A path toward the mountains was quickly created for the fleet.
A dozen mechas of the latest model descended from the sky, their engines emitting a cold and gloomy flame. They flew about at a low elevation along with buzzing sound, following closely over the vehicle fleet; their laser guns aimed at the surroundings of the fleet. It was evident that the safety of the guns was off.
Why was the military so cautious? Was it because the Scorching-Sun Battleship had encountered some mishaps during its space trip to the Main Planet?
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The name of the main preacher who was in the same car with Jing Jiu and the others was Tai Yang. It was he who tried to preach to Jing Jiu in the Fire-Passing Pagoda of Shou’er City.
“The attack on the Scorching-Sun Battleship is still top-secret. The officers and soldiers of the battleship will be quarantined on the ship and investigated for a while. The military headquarters are under tremendous pressure right now, but they won’t come to disturb the priest, or you,” said the main preacher, Tai Yang, in a low voice.
Jiang Yuxia had noticed that both the female priest of the Stargate and the main preacher showed a reverential attitude toward Jing Jiu and guessed something, but she pretended to know nothing.
Hua Xi was a very smart girl, but she was more interested in other matters, like this guest vehicle of the praying hall.
She had been surveying the vehicle since she got on it, which had a living room with a few comfortable soft chairs and a special bar, which reminded the mansion of her family.
There were so many luxurious facilities in this vehicle that it must have a large space inside it.
Zong Lizi had learned something from the female priest before she left the Stargate, and the Main Preacher Tai told her the rest when they were on the way to the Main Planet.
She spoke less and less from that day now.
As they sat in the vehicle, she poured tea and straightened the collar for Jing Jiu, saying nothing.
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After the vehicle fleet left the harbor, it didn’t take long before they arrived in the mountains in the northwest seven hundred kilometers away.
In the compound were the buildings of the College of Priests. The praying hall would be seen after cresting two more large mountains. It was said that the tightly guarded remnants of the distant ancient civilization were somewhere further north.
The Main Preacher Tai led other preachers in taking care of some miscellaneous affairs. Jing Jiu and the three girls went up to the second floor.
The teapot was placed on a small stove; the water was not boiling yet. The sharp questioning was heard outside the building, as well as the faint buzzing electric sound of the automatic guns being loaded.
Jiang Yuxia walked to the window and looked down. She saw a dozen elite soldiers with full armors and an officer outside the building.
The soldiers guarding the vehicle fleet of the College of Priests didn’t dare to block him when they saw the military pads on his shoulders.
The Main Preacher Tai and the officials of the College of Priests stood on the stone steps expressionlessly, demanding sternly, “What are you people doing here?”
The officer replied, “The military headquarters are investigating the case of the Scorching-Sun Battleship being attacked. Please don’t stop us.”
An official of the College of Priests sneered, “You should know that this is none other than the College of Priests!”
“You should know that it is the Internal Affairs that are investigating the case,” retorted the officer.
Hearing the name, the Internal Affairs, the expression on Jiang Yuxia’s face changed slightly; but Hua Xi had a perplexed expression on her face.
Zong Lizi came next to Jing Jiu and asked in a whisper while staring into his eyes, “Try to escape?”
Jing Jiu was gazing at the marks on the iron kettle at the moment. Upon hearing this, he inquired by uttering, “Hmm?”
“Let’s escape together,” Zong Lizi urged in a lower voice.
It was believed that nobody in the Federation of the Milky Way would forget this face from that day on.
The Immortal Tan remained silent for a long time while staring at the TV screen, and then sighed, “Immortal Jing Yang…what do you think you’re doing?”