The Silver Specter, on its return journey.
“Why did you decide to get engaged at this point? Is this the right moment that you’ve been waiting for the entire time?!” After hearing Xia Fei’s words, Fuchen could not help but ask this in his puzzlement.
He had pestered Xia Fei for quite some time and finally learned why he was so happy, but Fuchen could not understand in the end. He had already previously heard from Xia Fei that matter with Avril, how he had never been able to give her a peaceful life owing to the fact that his life was always in danger and his time was spent dancing with death. This resulted in the matter of their marriage getting postponed time and again.
Evidently, Xia Fei’s troubles were still as plentiful today as they had been before, so his sudden decision to go ahead and tie the knot with Avril left Fuchen befuddled.
Lighting a cheap cigarette, Xia Fei smiled. “Everyone has their path to take; when have I ever been able to lead a peaceful life? Even heading to the repair dock to fix my warship resulted in me running into a Dark Spiritualist’s ambush. What is there left to say?
“Since trouble is ever present in my life, I should just let it come at me. I couldn’t possibly remain single all my life because of it, could I? That would be too unfair to Avril.”
Fuchen was taken aback but soon burst out laughing.
“The hardest thing for a human to do is be conscious of their reality. This is fine, too. At the very least, you ought to leave a descendant behind with Avril. Besides, given your current strength, it doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to keep her protected,” Fuchen said, still chuckling.
The two had been sharing a rare moment of joy when Zesyr Night suddenly appeared before them.
The lady was the only survivor from the repair dock incident aside from Xia Fei and Fuchen. Even the unlucky Rock Chime had been taken care of by Shu Yuhe and Fuchen combined. As such, Xia Fei brought her aboard the ship, with the intention of escorting her back home.
Zesyr asked inquisitively, “What is it that got the two of you so elated?”
Fuchen pointed to Xia Fei and smiled. “This kid here is getting married.”
Xia Fei waved his hand. “It’s just an engagement. It’ll still be quite some time before the actual marriage.”
Zesyr was quite shocked to hear this and felt an inexplicable ache in her heart. In truth, she had not known Xia Fei long, but for some reason, she felt like she had known her for a really long time.
This was especially true for the day-to-day Xia Fei. Humorous, unpretentious, carefree—he very easily sowed seeds of trust in others. Of course, Xia Fei was completely different when in fighting mode and would practically turn into a demon each time.
“Congratulations, Big Brother Xia Fei! I’ll be sure to give you a wedding gift when I get back. After all, you saved both me and my grandfather’s lives,” Zesyr said absentmindedly.
Xia Fei nodded his head nonchalantly as he said cheekily, “Then I shan’t be disrespectful. I’ve always been someone who doesn’t reject any gifts offered to me. It’ll be to my benefit regardless of its price.”
Zesyr sighed. The one thing that made it even harder for her to stand was this happy-go-lucky attitude of Xia Fei. In most cases, when a warrior’s cultivation improved, the air they put on would be all the more enormous, but Xia Fei did not suffer from this problem. Being around him was never dull and had always been a very interesting experience.
It was as the saying went: ‘Women love bad boys.’ Despite Xia Fei’s perpetual flippancy, it was this carefree attitude of his that left so many ladies smitten.
Seemingly holding plenty of thoughts in her mind, Zesyr sat down between Xia Fei and Fuchen and asked, “I prepared some snacks. Would you two be interested in trying some?”
She had put all her heart into making these snacks, yet somehow, she simply could not muster the wherewithal to be enthusiastic right now.
“We must of course try the snacks that Miss Zesyr prepared.” Fuchen stroked his beard and chuckled.
Zesyr got up. She was about to head to the kitchen when the command deck’s alarm blared.
“It’s here! The message we’ve been waiting for!”
Xia Fei and Fuchen were startled, the expression on their faces turning somber.
“Turn on the screen. Let’s see what those people have to say,” Xia Fei ordered. Zesyr also halted in her footsteps, curious to know just what could matter to Xia Fei and Fuchen so deeply.
*Bzzt*
The screen appeared, and there was only a row of words displayed on it.
“A Midnight Massacre Emergency Communications,” Zesyr read softly. Curious, she asked, “What organization is this Midnight Massacre? Why have I never heard of it before. Also, that countdown right under it, what does it mean?”
Fuchen grimaced. “The Midnight Massacre should be the new organization name that the Dark Spiritualists came up with. The Dark Spiritualists are making a comeback, and when the counter reaches zero, they shall send a public announcement to the entire Alpha Universe.”
“Dark Spiritualists…” Zesyr ground her teeth. “If I must say, as someone from a distinguished clan, this will likely create a huge wave, especially when the Alpha Universe’s current state is taken into the equation.”
It was time. The screen immediately changed and an elder with sharp, triangular eyes appeared. His background was a gloomy forest, with light filtering through the leaves, creating this very peculiar and shadowy forest.
This person did not say a word, either. All he did was stare at the screen for three seconds with an ominous expression, almost as though he intended on letting the other person get a good look at him.
“Yes. You all guessed it correctly. I’m Nan Shazi, and I’m not dead yet.” This elderly man spoke smugly in a hoarse voice.
Xia Fei turned to look at Fuchen and saw the latter’s eyebrows tightly knitting together, a solemn expression on his face.
“Not only that, I have something important to announce to everyone: The Dark Spiritualists , of the Devouring lineage that I represent will be staging a comeback in the Alpha Universe! This is an announcement and also a declaration of war! Spiritualists of Purity, Purple Jade, and Unrestricted. All of you famous or nameless sects of Spiritualist lineages can wait for your death!”
Nan Shazi’s expression turned fierce as he projected his voice. “I’ll use that line that we used to say in the past: ‘All of you, do your best to kill me, for if I live, none of you shall remain alive!’ Hmph! The Collapsed Expanse of Founders will soon open. We’ll see you all then!”
Nan Shazi was not a man of many words, but every word he spoke was like a sharpened knife, stabbing into each person’s heart. It was especially true for his final parting line, ‘If I live, none of you shall remain alive’, which was truly brimming with arrogance and ruthlessness! It was proof enough that the old man meant business and was definitely not someone easy to deal with.
*Bzzt*
Xia Fei waved his hand, a gesture to get Radix to turn off the screen. He turned around, only to see the expression on Fuchen’s face turning frigid, his right hand subconsciously closing into a fist.
“Just what’s the story of that Nan Shazi? He’s got quite the appetite there,” Xia Fei asked with a chuckle.
Before Fuchen could reply, Zesyr Night spoke first. “I heard from my grandfather that Nan Shazi has lived for who knows how many generations. Since way back, for as long as he could remember, that man, a Peak Spiritualist, has been the leader of the Dark Spiritualists.
Later, he was reportedly killed via some unknown method and was vaunted among the major forces as a godly individual. Before he died, his parting epitaph had been: ‘If I live, none of you shall remain alive’. Now, it seems like it’s all staged, for Nan Shazi is actually still alive.”
Fuchen nodded, a silent agreement to Zesyr’s words. As someone born from a major clan, she was of course a lot more knowledgeable compared to most, so what Zesyr Night knew could already be deemed as precious intel among her peers.
Xia Fei sipped his tea nonchalantly, wondering to himself, “Then what about The Collapsed Expanse of Founders? What did he mean by that place opening soon?”
Zesyr shook her head. “That, I have no idea, either. From its name, the place sounds like a hidden star region.”
Fuchen laughed and glanced over at Zesyr. “This little lady sure knows a lot. The Collapsed Expanse of Founders is indeed a hidden star region. It’s a fairly important location to Spiritualists.
“There are plenty of hidden star regions—usually vast regions of space that have no path available because sentient beings need to live in nature—in the Alpha Universe. Only every handful of years, when the timing is right, will such places open.
“Many of those hidden places are located in remote star regions, desolate and barren, but some contain secrets to the origin of life; The Collapsed Expanse of Founders is one such place. It got its name due to the entrance requirement being very high, where only people with Founder cultivation, or basically those soul practitioners and Spiritualists who have grasped dark energy, can gain entry.
“If I describe The Collapsed Expanse of Founders in simple terms, it’s a fantastical place, which for some reason, has plenty of legacies hidden within. Some Soul Hunters will go in and inexplicably come out as Spiritualists, while some Spiritualists will go in and return with their seventh brain regions sealed up, turning into regular folks.
“All in all, it’s a very weird and mystical star region. Most spirit sects in the Alpha Universe have ancestral grandmasters who found legacies left by the ancients in there, thereby prompting the establishment of their sects.
“At present, Spiritualists’ lineages are gradually thinning, and so everyone has now attached even greater importance to The Collapsed Expanse of Founders. The various clans will all send disciples with the best potential in there without fail, and the Spiritualists are of course no exception. Still, the truly-high-level Spiritualists won’t take the risk themselves. After all, they already have very decent cultivation; it would be terrible if their seventh brain regions ended up getting sealed during their visit to The Collapsed Expanse of Founders. Those who usually go are from the younger generation willing to take risks or low level Spiritualists.”
Xia Fei found it to be a curious thing. It was not rare for a star region to contain legacies. The universe was too old, so there was no telling that that place could have been a long-forgotten battlefield, where plenty of useful spoils were left behind.
It was just that The Collapsed Expanse of Founders had this inexplicable ability to change a person’s attributes and even could forcibly close someone’s seventh brain region. This was something Xia Fei had never heard of before. Aside from an actual god existing in this universe who came down to perform miracles, how was it possible to change one’s attribute just like that?
Xia Fei could not help but shake his head. Reality had proven, time and again, that there was never such an existence as a god; rather, they were simply various groups of experts, whose powers were simply beyond the reach of the common folks that they seemed like gods to them whenever both sides encountered each other.
“I’ve always been curious about the seventh brain region. From special abilities and law powers to dark energy now, everything is related to that small region in our brain. Without this seventh brain region, there wouldn’t be any warriors. How, then, did this small brain region even come to be? Why is it that some people have it while others don’t—have either really wide or very small seventh brain regions. There are also those with brains that have unique attributes—altogether contributing to the mystery of the matter?” Xia Fei wondered.
Fuchen shrugged helplessly. “You’re asking me questions I don’t have the answers to, but who am I going to ask in return? There are two ultimate questions to this life: First is ‘What is the universe?’ How did it come to be? How wide is it? How many are there? Are these universes connected to one another? Second is what you just asked. What even is life? Where did it originate? Where will it lead? Why is it that sapient lifeforms are so drastically different from one another? Is the seventh brain region something humans innately possess or is it something that we eventually develop?
“Are there any answers to such questions? If I had the answers to them, I wouldn’t be wasting my time here.”
Xia Fei got quiet. When he first got to the Alpha Universe, Xia Fei thought that he had taken a step closer to the answers to those questions, but reality had proven that he was still as confused as before. Even this old man, Fuchen, was helpless regarding such issues; how could Xia Fei fare any better?
His mind raced. Xia Fei contemplated for quite some time before saying, “Did you notice the flaw in Nan Shazi’s wording earlier? He said that he’s staging a comeback in the Alpha Universe. Doesn’t that mean that he’s left this place before…”
