Roderick sent Xia Fei back to the 29th Place. Sure enough, Xiu Zetian immediately called for Xia Fei and commended him, “You’ve done very well this time, even better than I expected! From today onwards, I’ll be giving you the highest pass clearance, allowing you to use the warships here whenever, as well as access to a variety of data resources.
“Of course, this is all so you can find what you need as soon as possible, to help that venerable elder make a full recovery. Don’t abuse it!”
Xia Fei nodded with a smile, “It won’t be an abuse of my authority if I wander around the Annihilation Universe, would it?”
Xiu Zetian froze, but soon laughed out loud. “Of course not! I nearly forgot that you’ve only just arrived in Annihilation, and there are still plenty of places you’ve not yet been. But you must remember, helping treat the venerable elder is of the utmost priority. If you achieve that, there will be benefits coming your way beyond what you currently enjoy.”
Xia Fei did not care. His goal was to get freedom to move about the Annihilation Universe, as that was the only way he could visit God’s Eden. As for Old Ye and his little illness, Xia Fei was already confident he could cure it. He merely wanted to intentionally drag things out a bit, so he could fight for better conditions.
With that, Xia Fei pulled up a large screen, first letting Xia Fei see if there was anything in the black ops warehouse that Xia Fei needed. After all, there would not be any need for him to run around the universe if it was right there in their backyard.
Xia Fei glanced through it once over and said, “Sorry, there’s nothing in the warehouse that I need.”
“What exactly are you searching for that even the black ops warehouse doesn’t have?” Xiu Zetian asked, curious.
Xia Fei answered, embarrassed, “My pharmacology knowledge is unorthodox, so all I know is how what I need looks like, but I have no idea what they are called. Let’s do it like this: I’ll write down what I need here and you can help me look too. Perhaps we can gather what’s needed sooner if we adopt a two-prong approach to this.”
“That works, too,” Xiu Zetian agreed.
Xia Fei wrote down a few descriptive sentences and handed it over to Xiu Zetian. Xiu Zetian read through it and immediately knitted his eyebrows together, “Are there such things in this world?”
Xia Fei had randomly come up with a few items, so of course they do not exist. Xia Fei had done this so as to deal with his errands.
Xia Fei firmly assured him that they are definitely real, and the depressed Xiu Zetian had no choice but to accept the list.
…
God’s Eden…
Xia Fei arrived three days later than Chu Jingfeng and Xu Luanbu. The latter was all panicked since the pool of Lifewater did indeed appear to show signs of drying up while Xia Fei was away.
Xia Fei related what had happened to Chu Jingfeng before finally saying, “Even if I now have gotten the authority to come and go freely in 29th Place, I still need to be careful. That is why I have swapped two ships outside, and arrived here after many transits.”
Chu Jingfeng nodded, “You did good. It’s never bad to be cautious. We must not let others learn that God’s Eden is rejuvenating. Are you confident that you can treat that old man that Xiu Zetian made you diagnose?”
Xia Fei answered softly, “The old man calls himself Old Ye1, and his cultivation is incredible. I reckon he must at least be standing at the peak of the Annihilation Universe… The fall of a leaf, and you know it’s autumn… My guess is he is one of the Five Ancient Apexes, Autumn Erudite!”
“Autumn Erudite?!” Chu Jingfeng and Xu Luanbu gasped, looking very surprised.
Xia Fei asked, “How much do you two know about Autumn Erudite?”
Chu Jingfeng thought about it before answering, “Autumn Erudite is a remarkable person. He’s the most orthodox out of the Five Ancient Apexes. Back in the day, he held the number one spot in the logistics division, and it was because he needed to take charge of the logistics division that he did not show up in the front lines of the final battle.
“Others, like Vandez or Gregory, have plenty of rumors flying behind their backs, but Autumn Erudite is the only one who everyone only had praises for! Even the other Ancient Apex who was also part of the logistics division, Thunder, was Autumn Erudite’s underling back then!
“If your conjecture is right, then that means Xiu Zetian has Autumn Erudite as his backer. It is no wonder he dares to be so bold in how he deals with everything. So it turns out that it’s the most powerful member of the Five Ancient Apexes that has his back,” Chu Jingfeng analyzed.
Xu Luanbu stroked his chin and muttered, “Master, I think Xia Fei’s conjecture is reliable. I also recall something; Autumn Erudite’s daughter seemed to have married a Fiend, who then disappeared without any trace after the Great Cleansing.
“Speaking of which, if there was anyone among the Five Ancient Apexes who would not be disgusted with the Fiends, it would be Autumn Erudite. That is why Xia Fei’s identity could be kept under wraps so well, even going so far as to let him inherit the rank as a member of the Devil Shadow Dragoons.”
Chu Jingfeng also felt that this made a lot of sense after their discussion, saying to Xia Fei, “No matter the case, this person who calls himself Old Ye is someone worth paying close attention to. As a Fiend, you’re destined not to have too many friends, so you can’t let anyone who could accept you go, especially an existence like the Five Ancient Apexes.”
Xia Fei understood what Chu Jingfeng meant. In his view, Xia Fei’s identity should have been exposed long ago; though Xia Fei and his relationship with the Yggdragon Clan and Yangguang’s family were good, and while Chu Jingfeng could also be considered a friend of Xia Fei’s, having more support could never be considered a bad thing.
With that said, Chu Jingfeng excitedly retrieved a small botanical preservation canister and said to Xia Fei, “These are seeds from God’s Eden! The Medicinal Cauldron Prince gifted these to my grandfather, and they include some of the seeds to plants that will bear miracle fruits. As long as we are able to nurture all of them, God’s Eden will surely be able to make a comeback!”
Xia Fei was stunned. God’s Eden had been languishing for eons, and being able to find the seeds of those miracle fruits was hardly an easy feat! Though there were not many of these seeds, they nevertheless held all the hope Xia Fei had for the place!
“Then what are we waiting for, let’s hurry up and plant these seeds!” Xia Fei urged.
…
The speedster Xia Fei was now a gardener, learning from Chu Jingfeng how to tend to the plants. Xia Fei was someone who would often dabble in a miscellaneous spread of knowledge, and had now added yet another skill to his repertoire: Plant Cultivation!
Xia Fei regretted somewhat that he did not learn anything from the Botany Spiritualist Ulan when they were traveling together, since that could have been conveniently put to good use now.
Xia Fei missed Ulan quite a bit the moment he thought of this. The Spiritualists of Botany had since dwindled, and he had no idea where Ulan had ended up. It would be great if he was able to find him and his fellow botanists and invite them to come tend to God’s Eden.
Ulan was not a fighter, but he was loyal like a sturdy oak tree, and was someone dependable.
—
Soon, the first plot of God’s Eden had been re-established. Besides the Grand Silken White Rain Lotus, over a hundred other seeds were also planted. Unfortunately, these seeds belonged to Chu Jingfeng’s grandfather, and Chu Jingfeng himself had no idea what they were, or just what they would look like when grown.
Furthermore, there were several miracle fruits that had been harvested to be seeds. Those fruits had all been edible, but for the sake of the long term, they had no choice but to abandon the idea of eating them.
In any case, God’s Eden was looking more like its name, it was just too bad that those seeds would need time to sprout and blossom. The Grand Silken White Rain Lotus was the only one visible when Xia Fei looked on from outside the garden, while the rest were still buried deep in the soil.
Suddenly, Xia Fei had an idea, recalling that when Ulan first followed Xia Fei, it was because Xia Fei’s Spirit Energy was the rare Healing type, which was beneficial to the growth of plants!
The Xia Fei of today was incomparable to how he was then, and there was an ocean’s worth of spirit energy all stored up inside his seventh brain region. If this energy were to be unleashed, would it help the plants of God’s Eden experience rapid growth?
Xia Fei told his idea to Chu Jingfeng, who felt that it was worth a try.
Thus, they individually transplanted the Grand Silken White Rain Lotus away, doing the experiment on it. This way, even if it failed, it would not affect all the other seedlings.
The little white flowers were very pretty. Xia Fei took a deep breath and shut his eyes. He placed one hand on the ground and injected spirit energy into the ground, which was then gently diffused through the soil.
Xia Fei was being very careful. It was not easy for God’s Eden to recover, so every plant was immensely precious. Xia Fei was unwilling to lose even a single one of them!
His spirit energy was like earthworms burrowing into the ground, before turning into water droplets that proceed to melt into the soil.
Soon, that Grand Silken White Rain Lotus felt Xia Fei’s spirit energy, and gave off a faint glow.
“It worked! It’s actually effective!” Xu Luanbu exclaimed in shock. Xia Fei’s spirit energy and plants were originally irrelevant existences, yet the former was actually effective on the plants. It was absolutely incredible!
Not to mention that this spirit energy could drive the rapid growth of the plants found in God’s Eden!
After some time, the sound of water could be heard beside them. It was like there was a group of earthworms swimming in the water. It was not anything loud, but Xia Fei and Chu Jingfeng could hear it flowing very clearly, given how the warriors at their cultivation tier had keen hearing.
Chu Jingfeng hesitantly walked over to the side of the pool to take a look, and soon cried out in delight, “Amazing! Truly amazing! The speed at which the Lifewater is spouting out from the spring is at least twice as fast as before!”
Xia Fei and Xu Luanbu also rushed over to look. Sure enough, it had not even been a full hour and the pool of Lifewater had increased by an entire inch in diameter. Even more Lifewater was being generated!
*Clap!*
Chu Jingfeng grasped Xia Fei’s hand and gushed excitedly, “This is Heaven’s Will! To think that the trick to help God’s Eden come alive is actually in your hands! As long as you keep sending your spirit energy into the garden, it will help the springs reemerge, revitalizing the entire garden!”
…
The three men were very excited. For two whole days Xia Fei sat on the ground, placing one hand on the soil and slowly releasing his spirit energy.
He did not rush the process. While Xia Fei’s spirit energy was the Healing type, it was still an absurd amount of energy. The biosphere beneath God’s Eden was still very weak, and all it would take was a minor accident for the powerful spirit energy to just overwhelm it entirely.
Having nothing else to do in the meantime, Xia Fei took one of Chu Jingfeng’s grandfather’s diaries and read it. The grandfather lived up to his name as the gardener of God’s Eden; he was very conscientious about what he did. While it was just a daily record of what he did, the pile of diaries was as tall as a little mountain, which just went to show how much effort the man had put into maintaining the garden!
Xia Fei’s right hand did not leave the ground at all, his left hand flipping through the diary. He was a speedster, so he was able to read through the diary very quickly. Chu Jing Feng and Xu Luanbu were also beside Xia Fei, the three working together to search for any clues regarding God’s Eden.
Xia Fei glanced at a few pages after opening the next diary, and then let out a puzzled sound, “Hmm? Hey, come over and take a look,” Xia Fei called out.
Chu Jingfeng and Xu Luanbu closed their diaries and leaned over. Xia Fei pointed at what was recorded in his book, reading out, “On X year, X month X day, the first batch of Jade Dragon Frost was delivered from the nursery. Their quality was terrible, so it looks like the photosynthesis in the nursery needs to be strengthened.”
“Medicinal Cauldron Prince is beginning to worry a little. He feels that he might not finish cultivating the Jade Dragon Frost before he leaves. I have no way of helping him, so all I can do is be anxious beside him.”
After reading the passage, the three were left stunned, with Xu Luanbu asking, “Why does it sound like the Medicinal Cauldron Prince was cultivating some plant that needed its seedlings to first grow in the nursery, before being transplanted to the garden proper?”
Xia Fei wondered out loud, “Where is the nursery? I’ve searched the entirety of God’s Eden, and I saw no signs of any nursery!”
