Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
“The mantis stalks the cicada, aware of the oriole behind: This was the method Xia Fei often used, but this time, his enemy was the oriole, while Xia Fei, whose attention was on the Laz Clan, had become the mantis, and this person took a vicious bite out of him by turning that life array he had so
arduously changed into a death array again!
“This isn’t good! I’m up against an expert!” Xia Fei hissed. “The entire Aurora Clan has been sealed up right now!”
It was still the same array, except that there was now another soul vessel on top, which Xia Fei could not clearly identify. An ominous white light was swiftly released from within the Aurora Clan’s residence, which enveloped a hundred-mile radius in the blink of an eye. The life array had been turned back
into a death array with the activation of that additional soul vessel!
Evidently, the Spiritualist was already aware that another Spiritualist had taken to defending the Aurorean, but although determined to eradicate the clan, they were willing to confront him head on!
Far away, in the darkness, Wraith asked grimly, “Should we help Xia Fei?”
Fuchen shook his head and replied calmly, “I already said that I intend to check if Xia Fei has potential. The Aurora Clan won’t be in any danger over the next hour; in that time, I wanna see if Xia Fei can turn the tables on his enemy! Is he worthy of me going up against that old witch?”
“Tm afraid that you’ll be disappointed. Xia Fei only has one and a half Soul Marks, while the enemy has at least two. Also, that mass-killing soul vessel his opponent is using should be at least a grade 4.. Xia Fei will likely have a hard time charging into the array and destroying it.” Wraith sighed.
Just as he said that, an ethereal sound rang out!
Late at night, the shrill sound of the flute drifted out elegantly, mysterious and very powerful!
This was completely outside of Wraith’s expectations! Xia Fei did not charge into the array; instead, he pulled out his Eight Tunes Golden Falcon from a distance!
Fuchen’s eyes shone as he exclaimed, “What a crazy choice, using a sonic soul weapon to deal with a mass-killing soul vessel! The two are competing with their Spirit Energy now, and whoever withdraws first will end up losing this fight! The only choice for either combatant is to fight to the end!”
This unseen battle was already well underway; that Spiritualist had used the mass-killing soul vessel to create an energy pulse strong enough to obliterate the clan members’ souls, while Xia Fei had activated his healing sonic soul vessel to calm the energy fluctuations! This was akin to a clash of a spear
and a shield just to see who could hold on until the end!
“Go find that Spiritualist!” Xia Fei bellowed while he utilized the Eight Tunes Golden Falcon.
Furball and Nirvana rapidly sailed through the skies in search of the enemy within the vicinity. The benefits of having Radix and Furball as his helpers at times like this were apparent; Xia Fei was locked in a silent contest with the enemy, and he could not split himself, but Furball and Radix could!
‘The reason why Xia Fei was recklessly devoting all his energy to this fight was his mentality that, as long as he could keep the opponent occupied, Furball and Radix could find and kill the enemy!
Such a sinister enemy, to have taken advantage of the brief period when Xia Fei’s attention was on the Laz Clan to launch his arrow from the darkness. Furthermore, he was clearly looking to doom all the Aurorean! Xia Fei refused to let such an enemy off!
“Hold on! We’ll need several minutes; since a Spiritualist is different from a soul warrior, it’s very strenuous for us to locate him,” Radix said.
“You don’t have to strain yourself; I’ll force him out!” Xia Fei bellowed.
*Rumble*
Allhis Spirit Energy came to bear!
Ashrill pitch could be heard from the Eight Tunes Golden Falcon as Xia Fei’s mysterious Soul Mark ran wild! Spirit Energy, in the form of sound, enveloped the land and swept across the entire city!
The enemy, who had not expected Xia Fei to devote 200% of his combat strength at that moment, felt their entire body shuddering, weakening their control over the soul vessel by quite a bit.
*Crack*
An imperceptible sound could be heard as a miniscule crack appeared on the soul vessel’s surface. Though it was a hardly noticeable crack, it was emblematic of how Xia Fei’s attack could break the enemy’s soul vessel!
Instantly, the enemy saw a drastic drop in their attack power, and their control over the soul vessel decreased by a lot!
Fuchen was stunned, muttering, “The spirit sound ruined the soul vessel! Just how did Xia Fei achieve that?!”
‘That Spiritualist knew that they were at a disadvantage now, so they did their best to retreat. The Spirit Energy backlash was shocking, and they needed to give it their all just to reduce the damage they would take from this retreat.
This was when something peculiar occurred!
Xia Fei gave chase after emerging victorious, while that mysterious Spiritualist was now in full retreat, the two entering a stalemate. This was when a third, even more powerful energy, burst forth from the center of the Aurora Clan’s compound!
It was not Spirit Energy, but Soul Power!
Someone had struck! They were using Soul Power to forcibly heave away the two Spiritualists’ Spirit Energy!
Soul Power was inferior to Spirit Energy. The fact that this was a critical juncture of the fight between the two Spiritualists, where Spirit Energy from one was looking to overwhelm the other, to push off such immense concentration of energy required that the third party’s cultivation was high enough it
could bring destruction to the world!
However, this person from the Aurora Clan did indeed possess such tremendous power!
“Disperse!” Xia Fei felt his body waver as he loudly uttered his command. It was clear that the third joiner had superior strength. Even though he was a Spiritualist, he could not resist the joiner completely!
‘Though Furball and Radix did not know what had just happened, they quickly disappeared into the dark night out of their trust to Xia Fei.
“Retreat!” Almost at the same time, Fuchen rapidly withdrew from the scene. He muttered, “Well well well… The Aurora Clan no doubt has Soul Hunter Arts heritage spanning tens of thousands years; it’s even hiding an old monster.”
Fuchen was naturally not afraid, but since Xia Fei was related to the Aurora Clan, it would be hard for him to explain his presence if he got discovered, so he decided to leave for now.
Anight with a dim moon and chilling winds. Serenity.
On a bridge made of white jadestone, which ran across an artificial pond in the center of the Aurora Clan’s residence, an elder with long white hair and a ruddy complexion stood with his hands on his back. Puzzlement filled his eyes.
*Whoosh whoosh whoosh*
Very soon, several elders arrived to flank the bridge. This included Xia Fei’s great-grandfather, Wistful Northgaze.
“Patriarch, is something the matter?” asked Northgaze in haste. “Earlier, an enormous pulse seemed to have exploded from our clan’s residence.”
This elderly gentleman was the present patriarch of the Aurora Clan, Wistful Heizus. Ever since the previous patriarch went on a journey many years ago, Heizus had been leading the Aurora Clan. As someone who kept a low profile and had few words to say, he was very much a hidden figure.
“Idon’t know exactly what happened, either,” Heizus shook his head and said. Despite the Aurora Clan having many warriors, with several of them being experts, none of them enjoyed lying, Even a powerful figure like Wistful Heizus spoke plainly with his fellow clansmen, not one to ever tell lies.
Everyone was taken aback. For even the old patriarch to have no idea of what had happened just showed the severity of their current situation.
After a puse, Heizus wondered, “I’ve been feeling off these last few days, but I can’t pinpoint why or what is making me feel so out of sorts. It got a lot more complex tonight, but the uncomfortable energy pulse in the first half of the night disappeared, turning into this immeasurable warmth, but several
minutes ago, the situation changed drastically again. Someone used a mass-killing spirit art to take the lives of us, Aurorean.”
The leaders of the clan were frightened after hearing this statement. Spirit art? That was to say, a Spiritualist sought to harm their clan!
“That’s when another Spiritualist’s sonic soul vessel mounted a counterattack, sending that Spiritualist who tried to harm us retreating. The fight between the two greatly intensified till it crescendoed into a contest, which wouldn’t end without the death of the other!
“Seeing as they’re fighting to such a degree, I gave the matter some thought and decided to use Soul Power to heave off their Spirit Energy. Forget about that Spiritualist who was trying to harm us, I’m afraid that the Spiritualist who secretly helped our clan got injured, too. A Spirit Energy clash is far
harsher than a Soul Power confrontation. The moment they get on, a victor will have to be decided before the fight ceases.
“The Spiritualist on our side held the upper hand earlier, so he shouldn’t be too injured by my intervention, but that Spiritualist who secretly tried to harm us should’ve fallen victim to spiritual backlash. I reckon that they’re disabled right now.”
Xia Fei would seriously feel annoyed if he heard all this, for if Wistful Heizus had not intervened, the enemy would have been dead by now! His two killer weapons, Furball and Nirvana, had already been sent out, and they would have located the enemy in a short while. That person would not have just
ended being half-crippled.
Alas, Heizus was too stubborn. He thought that he had found a safe opportunity to shove the two away, without injuring their helper, but his untimely intervention only let the enemy escape Xia Fei’s grasp. If Xia Fei could choose, he would rather be injured just to ensure that all the weeds, roots and all,
had been pulled out! When dealing with his enemies, Xia Fei never resorted to half-ass measures, nor would he give them half a leg to stand on.
“Patriarch, should we give chase?”
Heizus shook his head. “Show mercy in everything you do so that there’s a chance to meet on better terms in the future. That Spiritualist who tried to harm us had already gotten the payback they deserved. Besides, none of you will be able to find that Spiritualist even if you go search for them, since
they’ve already fled. What I am more interested in is knowing just which Spiritualist out there lent us a hand this time.”
As he spoke, Heizus casually raised his hand and a soul vessel floated from the bottom of the pond. It was shaped like a strange coral, with a nearly imperceptible crack right across its surface, the damage from Xia Fei’s Eight Tunes Golden Falcon.
“Let’s keep this thing first,” instructed Heizus softly.
“A soul vessel! That’s a soul vessel!” everyone exclaimed.
Wistful Heizus pointed at the crack on the metal coral and said, “This soul vessel was what that enemy Spiritualist had been using, and this crack was created by that friendly Spiritualist. To have caused a crack on the soul vessel, this just shows that they used all their strength to help us.”
Everyone nodded and sighed, extremely grateful to the stranger.
“I wonder who that esteemed Spiritualist is? Why would this person help us to such an extent?”
“We must show our gratitude to that person when we have the chance.”
“| fear that we may not get such a chance. If that esteemed Spiritualist wanted us to know their identity, they would’ve already revealed themselves by now. They have kept everything under wraps likely because they don’t wish to have any interaction with us.”
They animatedly discussed this matter among themselves, commending Xia Fei’s timely aid.
Eighteen miles away, the Aurora Clan’s external compound.
While the clan was commending his actions, Xia Fei, for his part, found the Aurora Clan’s Mr. Nice Guy style to be extremely unwelcome.
“It’s truly a case of kind intention being mistaken for something sinister! I risked my life to kill the enemy, only for an old coot of the Aurora Clan to screw things up! If that old man hadn’t intervened, I would have succeeded in taking down that Spiritualist! There’s that soul vessel as well.” Xia Fei huffed
angrily.
*Whoosh*
Xia Fei hopped on his bed and got under the covers, venting in his anger, “Looks like the Aurora Clan and me simply can’t coexist; it’s best if we walk our separate ways from here on out!”
Radix pursed his lips. Xia Fei was currently feeling frustrated, so it would be useless to try and coax him. Thus, Radix decided to keep mum. Even he was a little irked by the Aurorean constantly being the Mr. Nice Guy.
The nerve-wracking confrontation between the two Spiritualists had caused them to forget about the Laz Clan still being in turmoil
