Chapter 1712

After mastering the skill and ending the heavenly punishment, Xiao Feng felt completely at ease.

"Stupid bird, change back." Xiao Feng said to He Xianzi.

He Xianzi, who had just enjoyed being a ninth-rank spirit beast for a while, pouted: "I like being human... Big brother, I want to fly holding your hand!"

Then she wanted to take him back to the Azure Moon Cave Heaven.

This place is only a few hundred thousand kilometers from the Azure Moon Cave Heaven; at her current speed, she'll get there in a moment.

Xiao Feng said with a look of disdain: "Hurry up and change back; your true form is so cool, yet you insist on turning into a woman—I'm speechless."

"Alright..."

He Xianzi sighed helplessly.

Although her looks are second to none in the universe, in front of Xiao Feng she has no presence at all and can only serve as a means of transport.

Sigh, perhaps this is the aloofness that comes after having tasted the beauty of the number one beauty in the virtual universe!

She shifted her form, turning into an immortal crane with a wingspan of six or seven meters.

Xiao Feng landed on the crane's back, sat cross-legged, and said: "Home."

"Okay, big brother!"

He Xianzi responded with a sound and flapped her wings.

Whoosh!

It was almost like teleportation—right from the start she was traveling at tens of kilometers per second, and after a few seconds she accelerated to the extreme, as fast as lightning, too quick for the naked eye to follow.

"Ahhh, big brother I'm too fast, I can't stop, I can't stop!"

A string of panicked screams drifted through the air; the immortal crane's silhouette traced a straight line, shooting diagonally upward into the high sky, unstoppable, flying straight to an altitude of tens of thousands of kilometers above the ground.

"Whoa, that's fast!"

Xiao Feng was also experiencing the speed of a ninth-rank mount for the first time, and this chase-of-lightning speed startled him.

At an altitude of tens of thousands of kilometers, the distance from the ground was already vast, the view extremely broad, and the mountains, rivers, lakes, and deserts on the surface looked much smaller.

However, the firmament of the Myriad Heavens Battlefield is immeasurably high; this altitude is still negligible for the entire battlefield.

"Bai, let's go up and have a look. I've heard that Star Realm Mountain lies deep in the starry sky over a hundred million kilometers from the ground; I don't know what else besides Star Realm Mountain exists in the starry sky." Xiao Feng suddenly had an idea.

He Xianzi, by nature loving chaos, was never afraid of danger; hearing this, she exclaimed excitedly: "Great, great! Big brother, hold on tight—I'm going to speed up!"

Saying this, she flapped her wings, raised her head, changed from flying diagonally forward to flying straight upward.

"Pah, you're a hammer little sister, you're a brother!" Xiao Feng said displeased.

"Sigh, big brother, why do you poke my sore spot? I don't have the equipment a brother should have..."

"Stop the whining, fly faster, or I'll make a sword to stab your real weak spot!" Xiao Feng said menacingly.

He Xianzi is now a ninth-rank spirit beast; upon reaching adulthood she could become a Venerable-realm expert, and even a top-tier divine artifact like the Scarlet Demon Sword cannot pierce her feathers.

But it's fine, because I've just comprehended the 'Heart Sword'—this thing can pierce anyone, absolutely no problem!

He Xianzi pretended to be aggrieved, but she was actually overjoyed.

To have met such a powerful master, who moreover protects her, specially obtaining the primal spirit feathers of an eighth-rank spirit beast for her to ward off the heavenly punishment—she would literally laugh in her dreams.

It's a pity that in this life she chose a female form when transforming; otherwise she would surely have sworn brotherhood with him!

He Xianzi flew at extreme speed, climbing toward the starry sky, and in a short while was already over a million kilometers above the ground.

At this altitude, the field of view expanded enormously; mountains and rivers on the ground shrank into tiny dots and lines, looking blurry, as if one were flipping through a map.

After flying a while, He Xianzi said: "Big brother, it seems there's a suction from the ground; the higher we fly, the stronger it gets, and my speed is decreasing."

"Hmm, I feel it too, but I don't know how high the limit can be. Since the Myriad Heavens era began so long ago, no one has ever been heard of reaching the highest point." Xiao Feng said.

"Then let's give it a try!" He Xianzi said with a hint of anticipation.

She continued flying against the ground's suction.

Xiao Feng opened the big map to check; his 'explored' map showed no change, indicating that the 'y-axis' setting is not reflected on the system map.

He Xianzi's speed is 3 million kilometers per hour, but when flying vertically it suffers some loss, and combined with the hindrance of ground gravity, her actual performance can only reach about 2 million kilometers per hour.

After flying for over three hours, they had gone deep into the high-altitude layer and could no longer sense the presence of spiritual energy.

The spiritual energy of heaven and earth available for cultivation basically exists only below an altitude of 500,000 kilometers; it becomes thinner with height, and above 1,000,000 kilometers it disappears completely.

However, the surroundings showed no change; looking upward, it was still a blue sky, with no entry into the 'space' region.

"Are we really supposed to fly over a hundred million kilometers?" He Xianzi wondered, gazing at the seemingly endless firmament.

At her current speed, if there were no further loss, covering a hundred million kilometers would actually take only a little over two days—not too long.

But with nothing around, flying like this feels a bit foolish.

Moreover, as altitude increased, her mana kept being consumed, with no spiritual energy around to replenish, so she could only take the pills Xiao Feng fed her.

The battlefield of the myriad heavens is vast and boundless; the farthest known distance on its surface already exceeds ten billion kilometers. In our world, the outermost of the eight major planets is only about 4.5 billion kilometers from the Sun, so this map's range surpasses the entire orbital circle of those eight planets. If its height weren't around a hundred million kilometers, it would seem rather "thin." Xiao Feng mused.

The myriad heavens battlefield is truly enormous; to allow enough players to move, explore, and battle freely, it must be vast enough. Otherwise, as players grow stronger and eventually become primordial gods, their speed would exceed even that of the current Crane Immortal, and they'd shoot out of the map in no time, which would be embarrassing.

Compared to its width, this height isn't that outrageous; it's like an LCD TV screen—very wide but not excessively thick.

After several hours of flight, the sky remained blue and the sun was still far off.

The Crane Immortal had lost interest; bored, she said, "This is so dull. Why don't we head back, big brother?"

Xiao Feng replied, "All right, let's head back for now. Next time we'll go to the anchor point near Star Realm Mountain, fly for three to five days, and check out that legendary secret realm."

"Sure thing! I'm worn out."

The Crane Immortal halted and rested in midair.

They are now about ten million kilometers above the ground; looking down, it feels as though they're separated by two worlds.

Xiao Feng gazed upward at the sky, intending to record the view at this altitude.

At that moment, a tiny white dot in the sky caught his attention.

"Bai, look at that little dot over there—doesn't it look like a planet?"

He pointed at the distant sky.

He Xianzi looked in the direction he pointed.

That white speck was tiny, like trying to see a sesame seed from seven or eight meters away; ordinary human eyesight cannot detect it, only those of their high cultivation realm can see it.

He Xianzi's vision reaches farther than Xiao Feng's; after staring for a while, he said, "It seems so, a non-luminous celestial body, its surface somewhat rough, with clear fissures, having a metallic luster."