1544 Information and the Infiltration of Darkness
“According to what we currently know, the Celestial Pathways are the only constant time, while the various universes are considered chaotic timelines.
“Simply put, if we were to head back to Ashen Moon now, there’s no guarantee that we will return to the time when we left. It could be in the past, or in the future,” Tamu explained to Xia Fan. The group had found a table near the window of the big restaurant on the Waystation, and had settled in.
Traveling Buddha furrowed his brow, “That is to say that there’s a possibility that when I next return home, I’d find my family are all already dead?”
Tamu replied, “That’s not a guarantee. Perhaps when you return, it might be a time period when your grandfather has not even been born yet. The moment you pass through a Cosmic Gate, you’re also crossing time, entering a distorted timeline.”
Xia Fan nodded, “It sounds like the distorted timeline is related to the Cosmic Gates.”
!!
“Indeed, that is the case,” Tamu shrugged. “Your father speculated that the Cosmic Gates should have the ability to make temporal adjustments, but no one has found a way to control them yet.”
Xia Fan did not understand and expressed his doubts, “Since every universal timeline is in chaos, then why is my father fighting? There’s no way to control a chaotic timeline, so even if he eradicates the Demonic Ants for a time, they will just appear at another point of time. Isn’t such a war meaningless?”
Tamu’s eyes shone as his entire person became excited, animatedly stating, “And that is the reason why I admire Xia Fei and the Skywings the most! Skywings never give up! They believe there will come a day when they will find the origin of darkness. Stopping at the slightest difficulty is not the Skywings’ style!”
Bright Pearl nodded her head in vigorous agreement. The dragons also showed great admiration when speaking of the Skywings’ headstrongness. A group of obstinate madmen that would do anything and everything to the extreme, persisting until the end. It did not matter that there was no chance of victory; the Skywings would never give up!
The Skywings firmly believed that behind every coincidence in this world, there existed some kind of inevitability. Behind how these dark lifeforms were getting stronger and stronger, there had to be some unknown mastermind working behind the veil. It did not matter how arduous the journey was, the Skywings were determined to tear open the curtains and reveal the truth behind the darkness.
—
The boss of the Waystation came over to greet Xia Fan. His name was Carlos, appearing to be a fairly skinny yet sharp-eyed old man. It was said that he had already broken past his third Law Barrier. It was impossible for anyone to run a business here on the Celestial Path if they lacked the strength to stand their ground.
“The Celestial Path is also a road for wanderers, as anyone that leaves their universe will find it very difficult to return home after arriving here. Given how chaotic the timelines get, returning home could mean arriving in ancient times or the future; the scenery may be the same, but everything else would be different.”
Carlos was quite restrained, and talking to him, hearing about what he had to say about life and what he had seen, was quite a pleasant experience.
Carlos had met Xia Fan’s father before, and just like everyone else, admired him and the Skywings greatly.
In no time at all, Carlos’ men brought a female warrior over. She had short black hair and a heroic appearance about her. A red longbow was strapped across her back, so it seemed she was an archer.
“I’ve helped you investigate; this is the only one who has seen your fellow kin recently,” Carlos said.
The short haired woman was called Canai, and she was a hunter. Here in the Celestial Path, hunters was one of the more common professions. Due to the abrupt changes across the Great Chiliocosm, there were all sorts of crystals appearing endlessly. Hunters were like treasure hunters, going deep into the universes to find these precious resources. They were more than willing to play the role of a mercenary if the pay was good.
“A team of Skywings recently asked me for directions,” Canai informed them.
Xia Fan’s interest was promptly piqued, and he carefully asked for more details.
“Unfortunately, I did not see the Lord Xia Fei; the one leading them was Xia Geng.”
Bright Pearl hurriedly said, “Xia Geng is one of the best trackers of the Skywing Clan, a super law war god that has broken past the fourth Law Barrier! If he’s leading a team, then they must be searching for some very important clue.”
Xia Fan nodded. With how vast the Great Chiliocosm was, the Skywings would often act separately. If they managed to locate Xia Geng, they could very well learn where the clan was headed. Xia Fan was very excited after learning this piece of news.
“Where did they go?”
“They were headed somewhere called the Despair Valley Universe.”
*huuu~*
The moment Carlos heard this name, he subconsciously sucked in a mouth of cold air. Despair Valley was short for The Valley of Despair, presently acknowledged as one of the most dangerous universes around. Dark energy had completely consumed it, and it was like a living hell. Rumors went that there was nothing else there aside from fire and brimstone, as well as demonic lifeforms and exotic beasts. To think Xia Geng would be headed to such a place!
Xia Fan asked a few more other things, but it was a pity that there was a limit to what Canai knew. She only saw the people of Skywing infrequently, and was just an ordinary hunter in this place. She hardly had any contact with anyone from the Skywing Clan.
Xia Fan thought deeply. He tapped his finger on the table, when all of a sudden, he sensed a sharpness from behind him. He turned around to find a group of warriors staring at him from afar with unfriendly gazes.
The leader of these men were a pair of twins. They were about middle-age, with slight paunches and rather prominent ears.
There were all kinds of forces out here in the Celestial Path, and it did not seem as if everyone was afraid of the Skywings. It also looked like not everyone was friendly toward the Skywings, and it seemed the twins shared a dislike of Xia Fan.
Rubbing his nose a little, Xia Fan turned back and spoke to Carlos, “I am very interested to know just how you prevent the dark lifeforms from invading, as someone managing an inn here in the Celestial Paths.”
Carlos laughed and happily obliged, “I won’t lie to you, but I have a well-equipped and very experienced security team on staff. They keep the peace here on this Waystation. It helps that I am a little bit famous here in the Celestial Path, so most people would not dare cause a ruckus here.”
Xia Fan shrugged, “That sounds pretty good on paper, but I’m afraid you might have to change a new set of security system.”
*Whoosh*
Just Xia Fan made this comment, he suddenly darted off and charged toward a table of guests. Moving at a speed over four thousand meters a second, he was like a deadly gust of wind that instantly arrived at his destination.
In the next moment, Xia Fan raised the weapon in his hand, a short blade made from styx gold, and cleanly slashed it through the throats of several warriors, cleanly slicing open their arteries, fresh blood spurting everywhere.
The place was in turmoil. Carlos’ men had not expected Xia Fan to suddenly attack others. First they were startled, but they soon scrambled into action, trying to stop Xia Fan.
That was when Tamu flexed his legs and leapt up onto the table, shouting the signature cry of the Skywings, “Skywing’s business, those uninvolved can scram!”
*Zing*
The entire restaurant went silent. It was like there was magic in those words, as everyone’s expressions changed. Carlos’ men went as pale as ghosts. Everyone accepted Xia Fan’s murderous acts, and none dared to stop him!
By now, the battle was already over. Xia Fan had blades in both hands and had pressed them right against the throats of those two big-eared warriors. He turned to Carlos and flashed him a cheeky smile, “These people are with the Darkness, and they have been monitoring your Waystation this entire time.”
Carlos was stunned. He quickly paced over and with a light flick of his wrist, produced an intricate genetic test stick that he used to take a sample of blood from the ground. The red indicator light lit up immediately, and a sharp warning trill sounded.
“It really is Darkness-attributed!”
Carlos did not want to believe his eyes. These people were no different from humans, so he would not have known this if not for Xia Fan!
Carlos was now seeing Xia Fan in a completely different light. He was originally suspicious about why Xia Fan, as a member of the Skywings, would be looking for his kin everywhere.
But now, he was absolutely convinced of his identity. Xia Fan had been able to discover a Darkness warrior just from his special abilities alone! That only impressed Carlos even more, wondering just what sort of impressive ability he possessed that allowed him to do so!
The truth was that Xia Fan’s ability in play here was nothing too impressive: it was only his heightened sense of smell at work. Because his nose was a lot more sensitive than others, he remembered the unique smell that the Darkness carried.
“Damn! Apprehend them all! I want to know who the one in charge was!” Carlos was so angry that his entire being shuddered. It was embarrassing to learn that his Waystation had actually been infiltrated by Darkness forces, and he was very displeased about it.
Xia Fan wrinkled his brow. “When I had my blades pressed against their throats, their expressions remained unchanged. How will you be able to get them to spill the beans?”
Carlos shook his head and let out a sinister chuckle, “We might not be able to get them to speak, but I can enter their minds and retrieve the information I require.”
