With a light tug, the zombie moved one of Xia Fei’s chess pieces somewhere else.
Xia Fei was shocked. Did these two custodian slaves also understand soul arrays?
When he looked carefully, he found this core adjustment to be very strange. Xia Fei’s array was already dead, the energy unable to link, but the zombie’s alteration had rendered it completely dead.
“Hey, it’s nice that you wanna help and all, but soul arrays may be too difficult for you,” Xia Fei said mildly.
The two undead were so slow in the head that they were ambushed by their own disciples and grand disciples, and the two of them had even required several months to recover. Array simulation, which required a lot of brain power, was very difficult, so Xia Fei did not think that they would be able to comprehend the secrets of soul arrays.
As he spoke, the other undead also reached out a hand and adjusted the soul array.
Xia Fei looked over and laughed. “Impressive. Are you guys doing this just to make me happy? It’s one thing for the first move to kill off the soul array completely, but the second move has doomed it beyond even the redemption of gods. This is a super-dead array now…”
As Xia Fei talked, his voice began to trail off, a confused look surfacing in his eyes.
There was a problem here.
It was very difficult to make a soul array, and even more difficult to overturn one completely. The two custodian slaves had each moved only one piece, but that had been enough to completely doom this array. This did not seem like a coincidence but rather intentional.
“No, I have to recalculate everything,” Xia Fei muttered.
Xia Fei recalculated everything, and he found that while the array was dead, and the energy unable to link, a momentum had formed!
Momentum was very important in a soul array. It was akin to thrusting one’s hand in a basin of water and stirring it. If one continued stirring clockwise, along the flow of the water, a small amount of strength would be injected into the flow until it became a mighty vortex!
This was momentum!
Momentum came from energy, accumulating it into a lethal power!
The two undead had severed the links between cores, but they had also granted this soul array immense momentum!
Xia Fei found this to be very strange. The cores were clearly disconnected, so how could momentum form?
Xia Fei instantly fell into deep thought, his mind completely entranced by the soul array.
…
“It’s been three days now.” Avril had come to Unrestricted Pavilion to see Xia Fei, but she saw him sitting there motionless with the two undead. Thus, all she could do was watch from a distance and worry.
“Big Brother Xia Fei looks really handsome like that.” Xiao Yu could not but say, her face reddening.
In private, Avril had given a lot of support for the relationship between Xiao Yu and Xia Fei, and Xiao Yu already considered Xia Fei as her husband-to-be, to grow old with each other. Xiao Yu was at a time where she needed to find a husband, but Xia Fei refused to agree, leaving both ladies helpless.
“Handsome? He’s more like a block of wood,” Avril said dryly, yet her heart thumped rapidly as well.
“Look at Big Brother Xia’s expression when he’s completely focused! His eyes are so clear, not like when he’s in battle. That sort of murderous energy is really scary,” Xiao Yu said. After some thought, she concluded. “In short, when Big Brother Xia gets serious, he has an aura that surpasses everything else. It’s very special.”
Avril smiled and grabbed Xiao Yu’s hand. “Let’s go. When Xia Fei gets serious, he doesn’t care about anything else. There’s no point in us staying here.”
The two ladies went outside and bumped into Xia Guanghai and Xia Gucheng. Xia Gucheng, who liked Avril, smiled as soon as he saw her. The reason for his fondness of her was him learning that Xia Fei and Avril had been together even way back in the early days. Xia Fei used to be very poor, but Avril had never shunned him for that. This left Xia Gucheng feeling very gratified.
The Skywings had a resounding reputation, and many girls were anxious to marry into their clan, but the Skywings were a very strange lot. They normally married very late and were few in number. One important reason for this was that Xia Gucheng opposed any marriage that was not pure. Women who were trying to get married for their interest could never hope to get into the Skywings.
“Have you been to see Xia Fei?” Xia Gucheng smiled and asked.
“Mm, he’s still like yesterday. He might’ve really found something; in fact, he hasn’t eaten or drunk anything for three days straight now. We were worried about disturbing him, so we just stood there for a while before leaving,” replied Avril very politely.
Xia Gucheng sighed. “Haaa… We’re always giving him trouble, but he’s the only one in the clan capable of shouldering all the heavy responsibilities, and we can’t do anything to help.”
Xia Guanghai also sighed. “Yes, we used to have two zombies, but now we have three! What can you even say about that?”
*Bang!*
Xia Gucheng smacked Xia Guanghai on the head.
“Hey, old man, why did you hit me?!” exclaimed Xia Guanghai, rubbing his head.
“A zombie! If you were half as smart as a zombie like Xia Fei, I’d be able to retire!” Xia Gucheng chastised.
Avril and Xiao Yu could not help but laugh at that. The Skywings were truly amusing, quarreling every day but never fighting. Be it the old or young, all were very close to each other.
…
“Is that how it is!” Not long after Avril left, Xia Fei seemed to have awakened from his stupor, stroking his chin as he muttered this to himself.
“What’s up? Did you have an epiphany?” Radix asked.
Xia Fei did not answer, instead smiling and patting the two undead on their shoulders. “Thank you. You two have been a big help to me this time. I finally understand the true meaning of soul arrays. I really like you guys!”
Xia Fei stood up and walked away fast, his face brimming with energy and confidence.
When Xia Fei left, the two zombies remained motionless.
Suddenly, the face of the undead on the left cracked a smile!
This was definitely a frightening sight. The custodian slaves’ bodies were stiff corpses, and nobody would be happy when they saw a corpse smile at them.
“Xia Fei said he liked us,” said the smiling zombie in a very low voice.
It turned out that they could talk!
…
Xia Fei left the Unrestricted Pavilion and had Xia Gucheng call a clan conference. However, this time, Xia Fei broke precedent and called over Oro, too. Xia Gucheng had no objection to this, as it had already been known that the Lionheart Clan was one of the Skywings’ dear friends.
“You wish to lay down a giant soul array around the Cosmic Gate? Is that really doable?” Oro asked doubtingly. “I know that soul arrays are tools used by Spiritualists. My Lionheart Clan is also good with arrays, but while we can’t compare to the soul arrays made by Spiritualists, we’re not too far off.
“The Cosmic Gate is enormous, so big that four planets side by side could fit through it. Let alone laying down such an array, I’ve never even heard of an array of that size. It’s simply unimaginable! Moreover, besides the Cosmic Gate, don’t we also need to defend our base on the perimeter? What about the Law Realm? Who can operate an array of such scale? Plus, how much energy will it consume?”
Compared to the Skywings, Oro was an array expert. The Skywings were skilled in arrays, but those were meant for combat, which were essentially different from fixed energy arrays. In fact, Xia Fei had learned his basic array theory from Oro.
Everyone looked at Xia Fei, who nodded and said solemnly, “I understand your questions. To be more precise, what I want this time isn’t a traditional array but a mutated array, instead.”
Oro was taken aback. He was just about to ask how exactly Xia Fei wanted to mutate the array when Xia Fei waved his hand and said, “I didn’t ask you here to discuss arrays. Regardless, we at least have to try. I came to find you because I’ll be taking all of the Skywing elites out with me on a trip, so I need you to protect this place while we are out.”
Oro gave a slight nod. “There’s no problem with that. I’ll gather the elite experts from the other clans and then follow the previously drafted combat defense plan. Just leave it all to me.”
Xia Fei added, “The Dark Spiritualists could come at any time. No matter what, you must hold out.”
Oro glared, hollering, “Xia Fei, do you still need to say that?! No matter what comes, Oro and the others will do everything we can to stop them! We won’t retreat even half a step!”
Xia Fei nodded. “That’s good. We’ll be leaving now; this place will be up to you.”
“Go, go,” Oro crossed his legs and said carelessly.
The Skywing wolves immediately assembled and boarded an inconspicuous Pharaoh-class cruiser.
“Is it fine to leave the base to Oro?” Xia Guanghai groaned as he asked this. He and Oro were basically destined foes constantly at odds with each other.
Xia Fei replied, “Oro is the best choice. Don’t forget that Oro and his Lionheart Royals are experts in the Law of Darkness. If the Dark Spiritualists get here before us, Oro’s clan will be the most capable of buying time. Plus, Oro has enough prestige to hold down the great clans of the Law Realm; he is also very unyielding and won’t lose the Cosmic Gate so easily.”
Grand Ancestor Xia Gucheng chimed in. “More importantly, you trust Oro. Ah, you! You’re still not very willing to trust others.”
Xia Fei said nothing. Trust was naturally very important. Leaving the Cosmic Gate at this crucial moment to go elsewhere, Xia Fei naturally needed someone whom he could trust to protect it with their all.
“Really, you could’ve just left the old undying all by himself to guard it. Do you still not trust in the strength of your brothers? You don’t need all of us to go,” Xia Guanghai muttered.
Xia Fei shook his head and said firmly, “No, we all have to go. We’re gonna be doing something very dangerous.”
“You’re acting so mysterious. What exactly are we doing?” several people asked in unison.
“Laying down this soul array requires an astronomical amount of energy, so we need to take this energy.” Xia Fei smiled.
“Looting! I love that sort of activity!”
“My hands have been itching for ages; I wonder which poor soul it is this time?”
The Skywings started rubbing their hands the moment they heard that they would go out looting.
Xia Fei was always one to avenge every wrong done to him! Everyone guessed that some guy must have provoked Xia Fei, and he still had not done anything about it. Now that Xia Fei was in dire need of energy, he had decided to strike against his foe. As his brothers, the Skywings wolves were naturally willing to assist him in dealing with his enemies.
The spatial gates were restricted, but Xia Fei still had the Bixia Orb, which allowed him free access. Twenty-four hours later, the Skywing arrived at Xia Fei’s designated target.
However, the place Xia Fei had targeted left everyone stunned!
