If Xia Fei were present, he would very quickly identify that man with the mustache, for he was none other than Li Mo’s most powerful underling.
The relationship between the mustachioed man and Clean Knife was very intriguing as well. It was as if the two had known each other long before, with how familiar either was with the other. The ever-present bodyguard of Li Mo and the famous killer knowing each other? How could it be a simple encounter?
Even Xia Fei would not have guessed that he had actually been followed during this secret operation to transport military hardware to Black Abyss. It looked like the Li family was not about to let him off so easily.
“Why did you let Xia Fei off if you already knew that?” the mustachioed man asked, annoyed.
“I didn’t let him off. It’s just two hands and a pair of eyes. I’ll give them to you sooner or later,” Clean Knife lightly answered. “Mongrel bro, have you been to the DeathTri-region before?”
The mustachioed man shook his head. “Why?”
Clean Knife cracked a slight smile. “I heard that the Death Tri-region is a very interesting place, and it’s also Xia Fei’s destination. Why don’t the two of us head toward the forbidden place?”
The mustachioed man was speechless. Seeing that Clean Knife was unwilling to do the deed here, he once more pushed his hat even lower. “No matter where you follow that man to, you will still have to make your move. You ought to be very clear on that point.”
*Whoosh!*
That silver butterfly knife that Clean Knife had hidden away was once more in his hand. “With my knife in hand, you can rest easy.”
The mustachioed man nodded, leaving without making a sound as he took the road which led northward.
Clean Knife played with the butterfly knife in hand, whistling as he went southbound.
Once the mustachioed man disappeared from his line of sight, Clean Knife suddenly revealed a mysterious smile as he said under his breath, “Xia Fei, oh Xia Fei. To think you have also been to Heritage Planet. Big brother shall let you off this one time; consider this a gift to a man who managed to escape from hell.”
…
Xia Fei splashed some cool water on his face while in a bathroom to recover quickly from the anaesthesia. Warriors must never let their guard down no matter when.
“I seem to have sensed someone entering and leaving earlier,” Xia Fei said as he looked at himself in the mirror.
Phantom pouted. “I say, you’re so tense at all times. I’ve been keeping watch by your side this entire time, and not even a shadow of a ghost entered the room. Besides, didn’t you already set up a layer of mental defenses, so you ought to have discovered anything peculiar if someone did intrude.”
Xia Fei shrugged. “My instincts have always been correct. Perhaps it’s because I’ve been feeling a little tired recently, so I ended up feeling overly nervous. Sometimes, I really wonder what’s the point of having you around. You’re clearly a spirit, so you can’t possibly kill anyone who gets near without me realizing it first, can you?”
…
Phantom somewhat proudly lifted his head
“Don’t forget how you managed to survive back when you took that Purple Jade in the bathtub; don’t look down on the strength a spirit has; I just might be able to save your life at crucial moments.”
Xia Fei smirked. “This grand elder shall leave my life in your hands then, disciple.”
Phantom’s expression changed. Xia Fei was Shadowless’s unacknowledged disciple, so in terms of seniority, even Phantom’s master had to call Xia Fei a grand elder. He had always seen Xia Fei as someone of a younger generation, yet he had somehow turned into a disciple in one night. Phantom did not find this satisfactory, but he was also helpless against it.
Paying the bill with his credit card, Xia Fei returned to his Impaler, immediately getting the warship up and into space, hurrying onward to the rendezvous point he had set with Sarah. The Alliance Military stationed in Black Abyss was up against foes with greater numbers, and the successive losses in the war meant that they were constantly losing ground. There were already signs of unrest within the army, and Yawei had urged Xia Fei several times, hoping that the energy-shield boosters would arrive quickly and grant them aid.
Once more reading the Delusion manual he had copied, Xia Fei could already see the difference having the FXX-5 translation chip. Not only did it accurately and rapidly translate the text, it even used far more plain and unpretentious words in the process, so even a old lady would have no trouble understanding what was written.
Perusing the entire manual twice, Xia Fei set it down and heaved a sigh. “Oh, my god. Delusion is actually a cloning technique.”
Because Phantom was still unable to understand the original text, he anxiously asked, “What do you mean ‘cloning technique’? Quick explain it to me.”
Xia Fei patiently gave Phantom a clear and concise overview of the Delusion manual. The former saw the latter’s eyes glow in recognition as a look of glee plastered over his face.
Shock.
Extreme shock.
Xia Fei and Phantom were both completely shocked by the incredible cloning technique, Delusion.
“Delusion is really too powerful. Most cloning techniques can only use one’s mental energy to create an illusion exactly like the user themselves. While this will confuse the enemy, it won’t be able to pose any threat on the enemy in any sense—not to mention the substantial mental expenditure such a technique requires. The moment the user becomes exhausted, the clone will deform as its flaws become apparent.
“In any case, the usual cloning technique out there is just a trick to baffle the enemy when used, yet Delusion is something entirely different; the technique can be used on other people and exotic beasts, making someone else appear to be exactly like the user, even to the point where it will even be able to get past voice systems. In terms of the technique’s usage or the clone created, this is simply as good as a perfect clone of the real person.
“Plus, the mental energy expenditure of this cloning technique is extremely low, essentially allowing the clone to be kept in form for a very long time, achieving the capability of a long-term replacement.
“Most importantly, the Delusion technique can be utilized in real combat. If used on a combat-capable entity, it will be possible to execute an even greater combat strength in a fight, dealing a double blow to the enemy.
“Take for example if you manage to clone a powerful ice ability user like Chen Dong, with a speed ability and an ice ability, you can attack the enemy in a completely different manner with the same look. This will allow you to deal such massive damage to the enemy that they may even die without realizing what has happened. Or you can get someone else to appear as you to the public, while you can hide in the shadows with Sly Thrust; there’s no way anyone could stop you from killing the enemy without anyone even realizing it.”
Xia Fei nodded. “I of course understand what you’re saying, so let’s begin cultivating it now… By then, let’s see who can stop two Xia Feis at the same time.”
The last part of the Delusion manual detailed the grades. Delusion had a total of nine grades, and every improvement would increase the length of time and the cumulative power of the cloning technique.
Grade 1 of Delusion allowed a user to create a clone which was an exact copy of themselves, and both could share ten percent of energy. That was to say, when one of them ran out of energy, the other entity’s energy could supplement the former. Meanwhile, the clone could last for an hour in standard alliance time.
Grade 2 doubled the time to two hours, and the transferable energy increased to twenty percent as well. Grade 3 went up to four hours, and the transferable energy went up to thirty percent.
Going by this trajectory, by the time Xia Fei cultivated Delusion to Grade 9, his clone would be able to last for a full 256 hours, which was well over ten days, and the original body and clone could transfer as much as ninety percent of their energy with each other.
Thus, if for example the two had an energy value of one hundred, the original body could borrow ninety percent of the energy at Grade 9, instantly reaching 1.9 times their energy value to unleash a far more powerful attack this way.
Furthermore, if Xia Fei’s clone was a Beast-king-grade beast, and it had a thousand energy value, Xia Fei could very well allow his clone to use ten times his combat strength through the ninety percent energy transfer.
That one hundred energy value would instantly turn into one thousand; the brutality of such an attack was simply hard to imagine.
Action spoke louder than words.
Xia Fei was still about four days away from meeting Sarah and the others. He did not waste even a second of time and immediately began reclusing himself to cultivate Delusion, devoting his whole heart into learning this super cloning technique.
…
Four days later, inside that cultivation room of the warship.
Because Impaler was a cruiser, the space it had was far larger than the inside of Vampire. This was why, no matter how much Xia Fei had requested for the mechanics to pack the warship with as many weapon systems as possible, there was still enough space for him to have dedicated rooms for dining, cultivation, and other such daily activities.
Coupled with the indescribable subtle feelings Nicole had for Xia Fei, the equipment onboard was all swapped out for the very best available on the market regardless of the cost, such that everything was comprehensive yet spartan.
…
“I did it! I’ve finally done it.” Xia Fei leaped up to his feet as he declared his success with excitement.
“Awesome! To think you would manage to cultivate to Delusion Grade 2 in just four days ; you’re progressing very quickly.” Phantom was also visibly excited by this.
Xia Fei shrugged. “I did not expect myself to be able to progress so quickly, either. Forget it; I’ll go take a shower first and have a huge feast to celebrate.”
“Well, I think I know why,” Phantom mysteriously offered. “Aside from Sly Thrust, both your cultivation of the Beast Spirit Codex and psychokinesis are mental-type abilities, so you’ve subconsciously accumulated plenty of experience, forming a very good foundation for mental-type techniques.
“The Delusion cloning technique is similarly a mental-type technique, so cultivating it while having plenty of experience in the said field naturally means that you’ll be able to achieve results with half the effort.”
Xia Fei nodded. “What you said makes a lot of sense. My progress while cultivating the Beast Spirit Codex has been the slowest, and the effect isn’t exactly obvious, but it becomes much easier when cultivating my range control technique; plus, I’ve seen the same thing these last few days when cultivating the Delusion cloning technique. The speed of my progress has become fast.”
Phantom continued speaking. “Facts have proven that you’re very suited for cultivating such mental-type techniques. Of course, your speed ability can’t be neglected; now, your seventh brain region has started to show signs of recovery. I even realized that, the more you spend cultivating, plus the more variety of techniques you cultivate, your seventh brain region also becomes faster at repairing itself.”
Taking a cold shower as quickly as he could, Xia Fei stood in front of the refrigerator and took out plenty of food from within.
“I originally planned to absorb the energy source within the Purple Heart of Spirit to raise my speed ability, but now that Furball has taken that to be its food, does that mean that I’ll have to continue drinking these nasty medicinal concoctions of yours?” Xia Fei asked as he began devouring the food before him.
Phantom shook his head. “It’s not that simple. Your speed ability has pretty much been raised to Legendary rank. I’m afraid that normal medicinal concoctions will hardly work on you, while those with precious medicinal ingredients are very hard to come by.”
Xia Fei chuckled. “Guess we’ll just have to go with the flow; there’s nothing we can do much about this situation, anyway. It’s as the old saying goes: ‘We’ll cross the bridge when we get there.’ I still plan to test my Delusion cloning technique later after I’m done with my meal.”
Phantom furrowed his brows. “The Delusion cloning technique requires coordination with an exotic beast or human to work, and you’re the only living being aboard this ship.”
Xia Fei was speechless, but an idea abruptly came to him. He stuck his hand into his bosom pocket and pulled out the still sleeping Furball, staring at it with ill intent.
Furball slightly opened its eyes and rubbed against Xia Fei all friendly-like. It was completely unaware of what it was about to experience.
