Stepping into the corridor, Xia Fei followed it to the Military Tactical Office.
The entire fortress had been built for the interim, so the office was rather simple in design and build. However, Xia Fei still admired the kind of strict regimentation that the Fiends followed. While it was a temporary encampment, they still planned for the worst case scenario. It was a testament to just how great the execution strengths of these master strategists were.
The room was adequately sized, and arranged like what anyone would expect of a standard conference room. Despite the years that passed, the furniture inside was still solid, and there was even a provisional tactical board hung on the wall.
Xia Fei looked around and said somewhat animatedly, “To think all those years back, the commanders of the Devil Shadow Dragoons were all here playing out their stratagems, formulating the sequences of offense or defense!”
As the strategist for the Skywings, troops capable of executing excellent tactical maneuvers were held in high esteem by Xia Fei, and the Devil Shadow Dragoons were acknowledged to be the best among them, well worthy of praise!
Radix tilted his head to the side and asked in puzzlement, “I wonder what changed? After the Devil Shadow Dragoons left this place, they ended up not joining in on the united assault with the Hero Alliance. While this place here is simple and crude, it holds great commemorative significance. It was here that the Fiends parted ways from the Alliance.”
Xia Fei nodded silently. History was always both mysterious and complicated. No one would have guessed that the all important decisions that ultimately led to the complete eradication of the Fiends had been made here in this small conference room.
It was as the saying went, ‘A single stumble can turn into a thousand year grudge’. This one slip-up from the Fiend Clan, who had been known as the greatest strategists throughout history, meant that they did not end up dominating the Universe with the Draconids. Of course, the pyrrhic victory that the Hero Alliance ended up obtaining was tragic. The Annihilation Universe had yet to fully recover from that last battle!
There was a microarray still active in the corner of the room, the sort of device that could produce an irresistible flame. Anyone who did not have a birthright of the Fiends would not be able to enter this room.
The Fiends were not stupid. They would of course not leave any traces behind in their secret conference room, or they would not be worthy of the title as master strategists!
Xia Fei examined the surroundings, but there was nothing worth noting. So, he squatted down and was prepared to break the microarray, so that Xiu Zetian could come in and take a look.
Sometimes, ancient sayings made the most sense. Seeing was believing, and there was no way Xia Fei could convince Xiu Zetian that this was just an abandoned conference room with just words alone. Better to let him in and see that there was really nothing inside, so that he could definitely give up on the idea.
In all fairness, Xia Fei was not really influenced by Xiu Zetian’s fanaticism. At the end of the day, the one dead was Xiu Zetian’s wife, and not Xia Fei’s. Xia Fei was keenly aware of the opportunity to stand by Xiu Zetian’s side, and was merely taking advantage of it while he could.
The Skywings were the last remaining bloodline of the Fiends. They would be in danger if that was revealed to the rest of the world. Xia Fei planned to get hold of the final two Immemorial Mystical Armaments, plundering the Annihilation Universe once over, then pay a visit to the remaining two sect seniors from the Unrestricted to seek their understanding. Those were the tasks Xia Fei currently had in mind.
The microarray was a kind of control array, which needed to be installed by an Array master. It utilized rare metallic materials that allowed it to randomly set arrays. It could easily be placed wherever it was needed as long there was enough power injected into it, and was thus very flexible.
This microarray was a very high-level item with the Fiends. It was like a scale, with only two array cores, yet it could exert a powerful restriction that could prevent or even bar an Annihilator-tier expert from entry.
Xia Fei squatted on the ground and mulled over the issue for a good while before finally deciding to absorb the energy inside the microarray, naturally undoing the restriction.
In terms of energy, Xia Fei was truly very confident with such things now. Xia Fei had improved by leaps and bounds ever since he took the Lasting Draconid Essences. The energy that he received from the Draconids had brought about tremendous changes to Xia Fei’s constitution. It had also doubled the energy storage limit in his seventh brain region!
1.2 million standard units of Spirit Energy! Since this was energy derived from the Draconids, the purity of his energy was far higher than other Spiritualists!
With this powerful trump card, Xia Fei believed that as long as he was in the Annihilation Universe, anyone who dared try and deal with him would first have to consider his frightening level of energy reserves! If Xia Fei went crazy and unleashed everything he had inside, he could definitely dish out an absolutely devastating attack!
*Whoosh*
Xia Fei’s eyes shone. The Triclopean legacy eye Technique, Origin of Heaven, came into use, helping Xia Fei analyze the structure of the microarray’s energy structure, finding the weakest point for him to tap into. Xia Fei was then able to slice into it, sapping out the energy in the device and causing it to collapse on itself.
*Bang!*
The device had a defensive system of its own, but by using the Law of Primal Chaos, Xia Fei was able to first crack a small path through the protective layer and slide his Fiendish blade Nirvana into it.
*Swoosh!*
Energy moved like an electrical current, traveling straight into Xia Fei’s body through the Fiendish blade, causing every cell in Xia Fei’s body to tremble.
“Heavens! This small device actually contains so much energy! No wonder it’s still working even after all these eons. Looks like the Fiends spent a lot on all the equipment here!” Radix exclaimed while staring at the energy count in Xia Fei’s brain region.
At the same time, Xia Fei was actually thinking about something else. Xia Fei was someone who was adept at contrarian thinking, and he could not figure out, given how powerful the equipment was, why the Fiend Clan would just leave it behind? Was that not too much of a waste?
Suddenly, as that microarray transferred its energy into Xia Fei’s brain, two other peculiar incidents occurred.
First, the black birthright ring that Xia Fei wore that seemed to be transforming along with the energy being absorbed. It appeared to be accepting some kind of signal, and the originally pitch-black ring alternated between glowing and dimming.
Very soon, that mysterious ring was no longer flickering, but Xia Fei could very clearly sense that the ring had received some form of signal!
Dark Energy was also Soul power, and a form of mental energy. From the moment a warrior crossed into the Founder Tier, their sensitivity to mental signals would heighten.
Xia Fei had worn this ring on his finger for a long time, so he could clearly sense the changes to it.
*Whoosh!*
The situation changed. This birthright ring was actually helping Xia Fei extract energy now! It was as if everything he was doing had been planned a very long time ago, and the ring would have management capabilities over the device!
‘A ring that can manage the internal affairs of the Fiends?!’ Xia Fei exclaimed to himself.
*Rumble!*
A sound abruptly rang out, but it was not from an explosion. Instead, it came from the Fiendish blade Nirvana!
The moment the energy from that microarray had been all but drained, Nirvana underwent an unexpected promotion!
Xia Fei had killed plenty of people in recent times, and had extracted quite a lot of energy from them as well. However, there hadnot seemed to be any activity with the Fiendish blade.
The Fiendish blade had been anything but constant. Aside from needing to absorb energy, it also needed a bit of luck! Perhaps it was because the energy in the device came from the Fiends, different from the energy that he usually came across, that Nirvana immediately transformed after taking in their energy!
The six snowflake blades shone in the indescribable glow, almost as if the sword had been thrown into the cauldron of heaven and earth, being recast into something else entirely!
In the midst of this glaring light, the appearance of Nirvana changed! Even more frightening was the Fiendish Aura it now exuded!
*Swoosh!*
The restriction had been removed, so Xiu Zetian came rushing in when he sensed the changes.
Xiu Zetian looked at the glowing Nirvana and asked, “What happened?!”
“There was a microarray in this room, and I attempted to use Nirvana to break it. This was the result,” Xia Fei explained.
Having anyone else witness Nirvana promote was not a good thing. Xiu Zetian had already been keeping his eye on Xia Fei, and was already aware that he owned a Fiendish blade that could drain others, but Xia Fei was still uneasy watching as Nirvana was promoted.
*Whoosh!*
The glow disappeared as fast as it came, and the Fiendish Aura dissipated along with it.
*clank*
Nirvana dropped to the ground. After its promotion, Nirvana had turned into a circular weapon, looking somewhat like the dharmachakra from the legends! Only, this weapon was too circular, looking more like a wave.
The room also became very quiet at the same time, like nothing had happened.
Xia Fei’s back broke out in cold sweat as he stared fixedly at the black ring on his finger. Only he knew that there was a moment just now, when Xiu Zetian came rushing in, that it was his ring that had absorbed the energy Nirvana gave off during its transformation!
It was like this ring had a mind of its own, and was intentionally hiding something.
“What a pity. I’m afraid that this sword of yours is now trash,” Xiu Zetian said after examining Nirvana. With that, he began to carefully inspect the room, leaving Xia Fei to pick up Nirvana from the ground.
Was the Fiendish blade Nirvana really turned into scrap?
Definitely not! It was that strange black ring that had instantly sucked away Nirvana’s power! It had forcibly restricted Nirvana!
Right now, it was as clear as day that Nirvana was very weak, but all its energy was contained in the Fiend’s birthright ring!
*swish-swish*
The sudden changes happening in the basement of the fortress had also alerted the other 29th place warriors who were searching the place above. Shane and others made a beeline over, but no traces could be found. There were no more energy fluctuations, and the room was absolutely normal.
“What happened just now?!” the big baldie Gangcha asked in his deep rumbling voice.
Xiu Zetian did not want to let everyone know his purpose for coming here was to search for clues, rather than deal with traitors to the Annihilation universe. As such, he pointed toward the microarray on the ground and said, “There was a defensive array, most likely something Yabu and his people set up while they were resting. Xia Fei did not realize what it was and broke it.”
Everyone nodded. Xia Fei was new, and everyone felt that this was very normal.
How could any of them know that among all those present, probably no one knew arrays better than Xia Fei! This energy array that even Xiu Zetian could not break had actually been destroyed by Xia Fei’s hands!
Xia Fei was a good actor, nonetheless, and kicked that device, picking it up from the ground before anyone else in the room could intervene and exclaiming, “This thing gave me a fright! Leader, why don’t you let me keep this as a souvenir, since this is my first operation with the 29th Place.”
Xiu Zetian cursed darkly at Xia Fei’s craftiness. This was something of the Fiend Clan, and he naturally had no desire for others to find that out. There was no way he could reject Xia Fei’s offer of taking it, since Shane and the others would surely become suspicious if it ended up in their hands.
“Fine. It’s just a micro-energy array. You can have it,” Xiu Zetian said dismissively.
Xia Fei brushed his palm over it and stored the device in his spatial ring.
Xiu Zetian looked longingly in this empty room before he turned to his men and declared, “Looks like we’ve gotten wrong information; we were one step too late. Yaba and the others are no longer around. Let’s head back to the ship.”
The men of the 29th Place began to file back in an orderly formation. Xia Fei was at the back, frowning slightly.
This had been a very weird day, and the Fiend’s birthright ring that the Grand Ancestor had given him was most definitely a very strange ring!
At that moment, that strange ring began to play a video in Xia Fei’s mind!
The images shown were none other than the final battle plan that those commanders that had gathered in the Military Tactic Office had come up with!
This was forgotten history being played in Xia Fei’s mind, seeing the light of day once more!
