Chapter 1153: The Willow is Dark, and the Flower is Bright

“Xia Fei, are you afraid of death?” Fuchen whispered.

Xia Fei was taken aback. He chuckled and countered, “What sort of joke is that? Is there anyone who isn’t afraid of death? Why’re you asking me something like that all of a sudden?”

Fuchen’s face was very grave as he said, “I’m not joking around with you. This half-man half-monster woman was none other than a survivor of the legendary Searing Eye, the Shana Clan; her eye can be used to create a very formidable soul weapon, but we have to act quickly and do it before the dying Searing Scion completely exhausts its lifeforce. Just Ulan and I won’t be enough to make the soul weapon in time; we need your help, too.”

Xia Fei got Fuchen’s meaning quickly and asked with much curiosity, “Is making this soul weapon very dangerous?”

“Extremely dangerous.” Ulan shrugged his shoulders.

“Will the soul weapon produced be as formidable as a Soul Eye?” Xia Fei asked.

Fuchen shook his head. “You think that something like a Soul Eye needs the full effort of me and Ulan?! Let me tell you: The final product will be a hundred times more formidable than a mere Soul Eye!”

Xia Fei finally turned serious, appearing to be very shocked.

He had seen Fuchen use a Soul Eye before, and heavens paled when a Soul Eye appeared. As for this revolting eye, it could be made into a soul weapon a hundred times more powerful than a Soul Eye? This was indubitably an opportunity!

Xia Fei had always passionately subscribed to the price theory. He did not know what an ultimate weapon, which was a hundred times more powerful than a Soul Eye, could offer him, but something of that level was definitely worth risking his life to make!

“Alright, what should I do?” Xia Fei asked seriously.

“First, we need a safe place. The three of us working together may end up producing powerful aftereffects that can harm others,” Ulan said.

“Let’s go to the Silver Specter. That warship is very tough,” Xia Fei nodded and said.

“Alright, to the Silver Specter then! We have to be quick; the Searing Scion is on its last breath.”

…

*Whoosh!*

Fuchen swiftly extracted the Inverse empress’s ugly eye, and then the Skywing wolves used their speed to deliver Fuchen and Ulan to the Silver Specter as fast as they could.

“I’m trusting you to keep watch for us,” said Xia Fei. Upon which, he closed the cabin door so that he could get to work with Fuchen and Ulan. The Skywings, personally led by Xia Gucheng, stood guard outside.

Fuchen and Ulan, who shared a very close understanding, quickly took out a large number of soul weapons from their spatial rings and assembled them into a formation. Xia Fei had no place to butt in, so he could only sit on the floor and inspect that repulsive eye.

“What’s this bug inside called?” Xia Fei frowned and asked. This thing was like a maggot in a rotting body and was truly disgusting.

“The Searing Scion. It’s no bug but rather the remnants of countless devoured warriors,” Fuchen said as he worked.

Xia Fei was shocked. Ulan then commented, “Yes, the Searing Eye Clan consists entirely of females, for their women eat all men! They’ll then become the other half of the body just like poison spiders.”

There was anger in Ulan’s voice. Fuchen had once mentioned that Ulan held a grudge against the Searing Eye Clan, and now, Xia Fei could somewhat understand his resentment.

“You’re saying that the Inverse were originally the Searing Eye Clan?” Xia Fei asked. “If the Inverse were the Searing Eye, then they should be very famous. How was it that they had lived for so long on the fringe without anyone noticing them?”

Fuchen replied, “I don’t know about the Inverse, but that woman was truly a survivor of the Searing Clan. Her left side was normal, but her right side had seriously mutated, which matched exactly the Searing Eye Clan’s special traits.

“She became like this because devouring her kind caused intense biological mutations. There are rules in nature, and members of the same species normally aren’t allowed to devour one another. The higher the level of a lifeform, the more that becomes the case. In contrast, lower-level lifeforms aren’t affected by such law.”

Xia Fei nodded. On Earth, for a time, a plague called Mad Cow Disease had once propagated, and it came to be because humans had fed cows some bones, which were made using the bone marrow of cows. Thus, members of the cow species, which had fed on one another, resulted in all sorts of unpredictable biological mutations.

Mad Cow Disease served as the best precedent for not having a species feed on itself. If even cows could be like that, what more of the higher-level humans?

After pausing, Fuchen said, “I’m guessing that while that woman was a descendant of the Searing Eye Clan, she suffered from serious mutations, which had affected her reproductive abilities. I’ve seen a sapient species whose women can give birth to several hundred childrens in the form of eggs.”

The vast universe had everything in it, and the more Xia Fei experienced, the more he believed such. A mutated woman could use her reproductive capabilities to create an entire race! This sort of thing was truly incredible.

Fortunately, this mutated woman with her inexplicable powers was now dead, or else she would have given birth to countless more wicked progeny.

Nonetheless, her death did leave Xia Fei very confused, and who was that mysterious person that so desperately wanted to kill her?

Through Fuchen and Ulan’s explanation, Xia Fei finally understood that it was no coincidence that he had been able to injure that mysterious assailant. That fellow had decided to risk their life just so they could kill the Searing Eye woman, even forgoing offense in favor of unleashing their ultimate technique, which was what had given Xia Fei the opportunity to strike.

Pursing his lips, Xia Fei massaged his temples. Far too many strange things had taken place, and he was somewhat unable to handle everything. That expert who had escaped had no substance, which made Xia Fei very curious. Also, the Inverse empress, who had come from the Searing Eye Clan, was even connected to the death of Ulan’s master. There was even that matter of Radix, as well as the fiendish blade Nirvana, mysteriously vanishing! These incidents had come one after another; Xia Fei felt his head swelling from immense confusion, but all he could do was sigh.

The universe was the universe, full of existences that one could not possibly imagine. After leaving Earth, Xia Fei felt like a frog at the bottom of a well, and as he walked farther on the road, the things he saw grew increasingly bizarre.

“We don’t have the time to talk about these things. Now, listen closely.” Fuchen and Ulan, who had finished making the arrangements, came up to Xia Fei and spoke seriously. “We will be the main force here, but you will play an extremely important role.”

“What role?” Xia Fei frowned. Fuchen did not seem like he was joking in the slightest.

“The savior,” Fuchen whispered.

“Savior? Who am I saving?” Xia Fei asked.

“What you don’t know is how wicked the Searing Eye Clan is. They devour members of their own species, thereby gaining their compatriots’ dark energy and mental energy. As we’re about to make a soul weapon out of the woman’s eye, we can easily end up losing ourselves into madness. You are a Spiritualist of Healing, and presently the only one that I know of, so at the critical moment, you must pull us back. Wait at the side and observe things calmly,” Fuchen said solemnly.

Xia Fei nodded. Ulan sighed and said, “If things don’t go well, you may have to sacrifice one of us. I trust that no one else possesses better judgment and a cooler head than you.”

Xia Fei was flabbergasted. Forging a soul weapon carried such an enormous risk? He might even need to sacrifice either Fuchen or Ulan?!

Even so, the two Great Spiritualists persisted in their course of action. This was just how great the Searing Eye’s allure was. Xia Fei could not help but suspect this ugly eye of holding some unspeakable secret.

“Understood. At the critical moment, I can sacrifice one of you, and if the situation continues to worsen, I’ll send you both on the road so as to avoid an even greater tragedy,” Xia Fei said calmly, his eyes as tough as steel.

This was Xia Fei, terrifyingly calm and collected!

Fuchen and Ulan both felt an unpleasant sensation. They knew that Xia Fei was ruthless, but not to a point that he could sacrifice both of them.

In this universe where danger lurked everywhere, it was probably because of this incomparable resolve to kill that Xia Fei had been able to live this long and also why he had stirred up so much trouble.

…

“Incredible. Even I’m no match for the current Xia Fei,” Xia Gucheng said as he stood watch outside the Silver Spectre.

Xia Guanghai mischievously smiled. “Stubborn old man, don’t debase yourself. You’re still an old monster with two Fiendwings and a peak speed ability! No matter how strong Xia Fei is right now, he’s still much weaker than you.”

They were all bored with nothing to do, so the carefree personality of the Skywings began to show itself, and they started teasing each other.

Xia Gucheng shook his head. “You think that I’m joking? Xia Fei’s fiendish aura can’t compare to mine, nor can his speed, but he has a lot of strange tricks that nobody can guess. Just look at this ship; it blew apart that enormous Inverse mothership, yet it emerged unharmed! This is definitely some heaven-defying ship.

“I certainly don’t have anything like this. Besides, even if I did have any, I wouldn’t keep it hidden like Xia Fei, only using it at key moments. Xia Fei has already taken a stroll through the Alpha Universe, so who knows how many treasures he has now?”

A bit of envy could be detected in Xia Gucheng’s voice as he spoke. It was hard to blame him for feeling this way, though. Everyone knew that Xia Fei liked keeping his trump cards hidden, and whenever someone thought that he was finally scraping the bottom of the barrel, he would stroke his spatial ring, and some other inexplicable ultimate weapon would appear.

The taciturn and grim Great Soul Hunter Hosu sighed and said, “Xia Fei is different from us. He got to where he is now all on his own, so he has a very strong sense for danger and doesn’t easily trust others. He’s quite a cruel and ruthless fellow. These are all things rooted in his bones, and no one can just imitate them.”

Xia Guanghai very seriously nodded. “Makes sense. As for me, I only ever bullied people around me while growing up, and no one has been able to bully me even once, for whenever I encountered someone who didn’t know what’s good for them, everyone would rush up with me and obliterate them. Xia Fei, meanwhile, never had the protection of others and had to deal with problems all on his own. That’s why he’s very different from us and paid far more to get to where he is today.”

Everyone sighed emotionally. Xia Fei’s background was truly without compare!

Alas, in an unexpected turn of events, this descendant of the Aurora and Skywing clans still thought like a minor figure from Earth, having an intense desire for survival and dealing with things the way a bit character would.

“Come on. Let’s go look around Xia Fei’s new ship. It’s so tough. When we get the chance, we should ask Xia Fei if he has an extra one of these.”

Xia Gucheng waved his hand, leading the Skywing wolves and Hosu onto the Silver Specter. The unrelated people tactfully chose to stay behind as guards.

Just like all of Xia Fei’s warships, the inside of the Silver Specter was very messy, which made everyone frown. Xia Fei was a real madman, only seeking ability and completely caring nothing about comfort.

As they entered the Silver Specter’s command deck, the stone carving hanging overhead immediately drew their attention.

“Haha! Why does Xia Fei have the map to the Heaven’s Eye Mountain Constellation over here? Does he plan to go to that barren land to look for treasure?” Xia Guanghai laughed.

Everyone else laughed as well. The Skywings were very adventurous people, and many of them had traveled the sea of stars and seen many bizarre and interesting things. Thus, quite a few of them recognized this starmap.

Xia Fei, including Fuchen and Ulan, could never have imagined that this mysterious starmap, which had left them utterly baffled, actually pointed to a location in the Law Realm!