The universe was getting more and more interesting. The Thousand Soul Ranking, which had been unchanged for eons, had just gone through three momentous changes in a row, shocking everyone. Countless eyes were fixed on their screens, numerous terminals linking to the server that published the Thousand Soul Ranking. Everyone wanted to see what was going on with Chu Jingfeng’s ranking.
Ten minutes or so later, the third ranking, completely new, appeared before the world!
“First place in the Anticipated Ranking: The Earth Ghost legend is in the process of being forged by the supreme smithing clan, the Nalan Clan. Their old patriarch, Nalan Thousand Hand, has recently returned to the clan after many years of seclusion and is presently performing the work himself, using a piece of Blood Soul-seizing Metal, which the Nalans have kept for many years, as a material. This one boldly speculated that if the Earth Ghost is successfully created, it’ll have the strength to enter the top ten of the Thousand Soul Ranking!
“Second place in the Anticipated Ranking! Divine Engine is a rare concealed soul weapon. The Blackblood White Clan is currently devoting considerable strength toward forging it. It is said that the blueprints from Divine Engine came from the former long-time 100th place holder of the Thousand Soul Ranking, the Three Thousand Comets. Ever since the Three Thousand Comets got destroyed, the White Clan hasn’t been able to get another heavy-weight mystical armament onto the Thousand Soul Ranking. However, this time, the design of the Three Thousand Comets has undergone great modification, and it may just occupy a high ranking within the top thirty of the Thousand Soul Ranking eventually!”
*Whoosh!*
Fuchen and Chu Jingfeng’s disciple both gasped. If there was still someone who did not understand why all these hidden Mystical Armaments had suddenly appeared on the Thousand Soul Ranking, then once they saw the Anticipation Ranking, even a fool would be able to tell that an arms race was taking place in the Annihilator.
The Nalan Clan was a clan renowned in the Annihilator Universe for their forging of Mystical Armaments, and they had at least twenty of such on the Thousand Soul Ranking. While the Nalan Clan could make the best weapons, it was never for their use, and they never took part in any sort of wars or struggles. In that aspect, they were rather similar to the Aurora Clan.
Which clan had commissioned the brand-new mystical armament, Earth Ghost? Even the old patriarch, Nalan Thousand Hand, whom everyone had thought long-dead, was participating in its forging. The commissioner of the Earth Ghost could not be some minor character if they could request the services of such an esteemed figure.
As for Chu Jingfeng’s evaluation of Earth Ghost, it was very high. He was certain that if it was successfully forged, it would take a spot in the top ten of the Thousand Soul Ranking!
The Blackblood White Clan also could not be underestimated. The White Clan was made of sinister folk, who used poisons and concealed weapons. Normally, at the level of Annihilator, concealed weapons were not very useful. After all, everyone was an expert, and it was not absurd at all for one to say that they were impervious to most weapons.
However, the White Clan’s concealed weapons were combined with soul weapons! Traditional concealed weapons combined with traditional knowledge of poisons made for a potent combination! They were called Blackblood because these people were so ruthless that the people that they killed would bleed black blood.
The Three Thousand Comets had been a mystical armament of a generation. It was said that when activated, three thousand meteors would arise to destroy a location. Alas, it was said that the Three Thousand Comets was destroyed in a war with a Blueblood guardian clan, the Velens; this caused the White Clan’s strength to plunge. Of course, while the Velen Clan had succeeded in destroying the Three Thousand Comets, it had suffered heavy losses and had, thus, begun to decline.
Now, they were making a king of concealed weapons based off the designs of the Three Thousand Comets. This Divine Engine would presumably be at least as strong as the Three Thousand Comets, so it made sense for Chu Jingfeng to expect it to get into the top thirty.
After looking through these two most anticipated Immemorial Mystical Armaments, Fuchen and Chu Jingfeng’s disciple turned strange, for they were very familiar with the third weapon. At least, Fuchen was as familiar as one could be with it, for it was none other than Xia Fei’s Immemorial Five Elements Mystical Armament!
“‘The Five Elemental Mystical Armament, of unknown origin, unknown combat power, and unknown function. After multiple on-site investigations, it has been determined that the Five Elemental Mystical Armament is not a pure combat type and should have some other function. Its origins are mysterious and its future is unfathomable. Out of caution it is ranked third on the Anticipation Ranking,’” Fuchen read out Chu Jingfeng’s words.
“Multiple on-site investigations? Senior Chu has been watching Xia Fei in secret for a long time then!” exclaimed Fuchen in surprise.
“What’s so strange about that? Master has always been untrackable, and not even I, his disciple, know what he does everyday. Finding interesting mystical armaments and investigating such has always been his job and hobby,” the disciple said, shrugging.
“The combat armor ranked 31st on the Thousand Soul Ranking, a fiend blade with infinite potential, an Immemorial Mystical Armament with an unknown future and strength, a Fiend Clan soul weapon with the strength to enter the Thousand Soul Ranking that he doesn’t know how to use—why does Xia Fei have all these mystical armaments, yet I don’t have a single one?” Fuchen laughed, both envious and gratified.
Chu Jingfeng’s disciple raised his head, placed his arms behind his head, and leaned back. Only at this point was his face revealed, and it was not an old one at all. Judging from his face alone, he could not be much older than Xia Fei. Currently, he had a stalk of grass sloppily hanging from his mouth.
“You think it’s just you? I’m Chu Jingfeng’s disciple, and I don’t have anything to my name, either!”
…
Xia Fei had no idea that a storm in the Annihilator was sweeping up all the clans.
Chu Jingfeng’s ranking told everyone very clearly that an arms race had begun. The clans were taking out their old mystical armaments and forging new ones. Anyone not getting ready was just waiting for death.
Thus, the Annihilator Universe was in chaos. On one end, they were trying to find out who the traitor was; on another end, they were desperately increasing their fighting power. As for the crisis facing the Lower Five Stars, it was far back in the minds of these selfish people.
Xia Fei was in a difficult spot. He clearly lacked the strength to contend against the Dark Spiritualists. Counting Nan Shazi, there were fourteen Annihilator experts on the enemy’s side. Putting aside the terrifying beast flood, he did not even know whether those Annihilator experts were Dragoons or not, and if they were, which force they belonged to that they had somehow managed to leave Annihilator. Moreover, this was only what Xia Fei had seen. He still did not know what other forces were in hiding.
As for the Annihilator Universe’s inaction, Xia Fei had many theories, but there was no doubt that the Annihilators had left the Lower Five Stars to their fate.
Xia Fei had always said that it was better to rely on oneself rather than on others, but the gap in strength was just too big. Even if he pulled out the entire strength of the Law Realm, he would be unable to stop even one percent of the beast flood!
Avril, who was very good at reading people, knew that Xia Fei was worried about something, so she left him alone with his thoughts. Still, something had seemingly stimulated her recently, as she was asking for it every night. This bit of strenuous activity was not a problem to Xia Fei, and he was naturally more than happy to comply.
The day after they returned from the beast flood, Xia Gucheng gathered all the powerful clans of the Law Realm and held a meeting.
The Dark Spiritualists clearly intended to destroy everything. It was not as if they would be safe by giving up on Alpha and retreating into their respective territories. In fact, if they did just that, they would be met with a calamity.
At that point, the Cosmic Gate would become the main base of the beast flood, countless monsters pouring from there to the Law Realm. The universe’s destruction would be inevitable at that point. Concentrating their power at the Cosmic Gate and holding out was the only solution. Alas, holding the Cosmic Gate was really very difficult, especially when they lacked allies and had no idea of their enemy’s real strength.
The clans got nowhere in the conference, placing all their hopes on the Skywings. The Law Realm was already accustomed to relying on the Skywings and Xia Fei for everything.
Xia Fei found the conference boring, so he left it to wander around in the darkness. He saw Spirit Mountain in the distance and decided to visit the Unrestricted Pavilion so that he could have a chat with the two zombies. The two undead, who could not talk, were very willing to listen to Xia Fei’s sorrows.
*Whoosh!*
Xia Fei shot into the Unrestricted Spirit Pavilion. The two zombies were as they usually were, seated on the ground and staring at each other.
Smiling, Xia Fei sat down with them and said, “Venerable Sirs, I’ve come to visit.”
Their stiff faces did not even look at Xia Fei, as if they were just blocks of stone.
Xia Fei did not care, pouring out his woes to the duo.
It could be sensed that these two actually quite liked it when Xia Fei talked about random things. Their world was very simple, all about guarding the empty Unrestricted Pavilion, and Xia Fei had a magical storytelling ability, capable of turning uninteresting minor affairs into vivid tales. As for that soul array and those countless exotic beasts flooding toward them, that was the real exciting stuff.
Xia Fei had no idea that these two custodian slaves had already taken him as an important entertainer. Every day, they hoped that Xia Fei would come and talk about something. The custodian slaves also liked the Skywings, who did not care about how weird they were. It was only when spending time with such people that the custodian slaves could recall a little of what it felt like to be human.
Nonetheless, they still preferred hearing Xia Fei talk. The first reason was that this young man was the successor of the Unrestricted lineage, one of their own; the second reason was that Xia Fei’s stories were exciting.
For many years now, not even the masters of the Unrestricted Sect had treated them as people. In the end, it was from the completely unrelated Skywing wolves that they finally found a little humanity. It was quite tragic if one thought about it.
A person with many worries was easily annoyed, and Xia Fei did not want to go back too early. This was because Avril had seemingly been enchanted by Xia Guanghai’s words and was set on having a child, insisting that Xia Fei should bed her every night.
Xia Fei was of the speed type and a Great Spiritualist, so this naturally put no burden on his body. Frankly, Xia Fei could easily handle ten thousand wives, but Avirl could not handle him. His speed was just too much…
After some thought, Xia Fei took out the soul array simulation board while he chatted with the custodian slaves and simulated soul arrays. He planned on going back when Avril had gone to bed so that she could get a break tonight.
Soul arrays were difficult to understand, particularly the enormous soul array Xia Fei needed to construct in order to protect the Cosmic Gate.
All the pieces he played ended up at a dead end. It seemed like a soul array with too many cores became difficult to control. With Xia Fei’s current control ability, constructing arrays with three hundred to four hundred cores was his limit. There was no way of expanding the soul array, and this was still far from enough from covering the entire Cosmic Gate.
Xia Fei was very focused, his mind immersed in simulating arrays. He fell silent as if he were in another world.
His head was lowered, so he did not notice the two zombies looking over. They were staring at Xia Fei’s soul array as if they could understand it!
“It’s still no good…” Xia Fei said in annoyance, lighting a cigarette. There were already numerous cigarette butts on the ground next to him, a sign of the passage of time.
Suddenly, Xia Fei noticed another finger on the board, a stiff, gray, and bloodless finger!
With a light tug, the zombie shifted one of Xia Fei’s pieces to another part of the board…
