Williams walked away, but Xia Fei remained, sitting by the beach as he leisurely admired the view.
“I’m afraid the insectoid territory will be easy to get in but hard to get out.” Phantom sighed. “This plan is too risky; you really ought to think this through.”
Xia Fei smiled. “The risk is there, but it is also a rare opportunity. Obtaining the right to rule an entire star region, this is the first time I’m faced with such a huge temptation in my life.”
“Don’t forget; this is also the most dangerous thing you’re about to attempt,” Phantom said. “You’ll have to construct a fleet and, later, enter the insectoid territory with soldiers, conducting trade in name but actually acting as a spy behind closed doors.
“I’m not worried about you, since I know very well what you’re capable of, but what if someone from the military makes a mistake and you end up taking the blame? Who can guarantee that the soldiers with you are experts as well?”
“That is why I’ve been given the authority to manage an entire fleet: to help prevent fools from exposing my role if they disregard orders.”
Phantom remarked, “Though Williams awarded you with the highest authority, there will still be someone overseeing the military, who has the same level of authority as you do. What if neither of you could come to an agreement? What would you do if the military men disobeyed your orders?”
Xia Fei chuckled. “I know you’re worried, since the standards will be askew once the numbers increase. You’re afraid that I’ll end up getting dragged down by the others, but since I already accepted the conditions that the military had set, I of course have my own countermeasures.”
Phantom was puzzled. “What countermeasures? You can’t just kill the person the military assigned to you, can you?”
Xia Fei was curious. “How d’you know that?”
Phantom was flabbergasted. Xia Fei was truly too domineering, even planning to kill someone from the military. Tai would not have let Xia Fei off for even saying something like that.
Xia Fei paused before continuing. “For this operation, only what I say goes. I have no intention of losing my life due to other people’s mistakes, so I must hold the ultimate control.”
Phantom snorted. “A fleet will have a crew that numbers in the tens of thousands, and most of them will be from the military. If you don’t see eye to eye with that commander from the military, I’m afraid you’ll be the one who ends up dead.”
Xia Fei pulled out the nether bell from his spatial ring and dangled it. This was a device that could establish a direct connection with the Assassin Sect. Phantom was curious, but he had no idea what Xia Fei meant.
“I’ll borrow a squad of Deathguards from the Assassin Sect to follow me into the insectoid territory. The moment the military men and I become conflicted in terms of our action plan, I’ll get them to help me clear all obstacles,” Xia Fei said nonchalantly.
Phantom was slightly surprised. “Is that a joke? You’re just going to kill them if they don’t listen to you?”
Xia Fei arched his eyebrows. “Joke? Why would I joke about such things? I’m not afraid of a godly foe but a pig-like teammate, instead; if the men going to be sent by the military are such fools, then I’ll just send them on a one-way ticket to hell. In any case, though I already agreed to the operation, I want full control of my life.”
Phantom countered. “Even if the quality of men the military is going to send is decent, and they won’t cause you any undue trouble, the fact remains that you’ll be venturing deep into the insectoid territory. The moment war breaks out, you’ll be expected to lead the paltry handful of men you have and attempt to take them out from the inside. Have you not considered just how hard it will be for you to eliminate the insectoid warchief and tribal council in one fell swoop?”
Xia Fei responded. “Of course, I did. It isn’t easy, but it isn’t completely impossible. If we are able to stalk the insectoids on the sly, no one will be able to guess that we’re doing such a surprising and direct way of removing the insectoid leadership. Our only chance lies in attacking while they are unprepared.”
Phantom asked, “So what are you going to do after you drop the leadership in one move? Don’t forget that you’ll still have to escape from deep within the insectoid territory—a completely foreign space. There’s no telling just what will happen there.”
Xia Fei understood Phantom’s worries very well. First, they must not make any mistakes within the group; second, the plan to take out the insectoid leadership had to be kept secret; third, there was the immense difficulty in escaping with their lives intact.
Most would have a migraine just thinking about these three big problems, and Xia Fei was no different, but he had already decided to give this a try, taking on such a huge risk to obtain an entire star region for himself.
Actually, Xia Fei could also stay in the Alliance and be a rich man who no longer had to worry about food or drink, kicking back and enjoying the rest of his life, but Xia Fei was not that kind of person. If he were, he would not have gotten to where he was today.
Phantom had also calmed down a little, knowing that his complaints were not about to make Xia Fei change his mind.
“Best to seize what time we have now to make preparations. This trip to the insectoid territory is far from ordinary, and there are plenty of things we will need.”
Xia Fei got up and stored a bank card into his spatial ring. The military had given Xia Fei a sum of money in advance, for the same reason that Williams had informed Xia Fei before the news was made known to the public: It was all so Xia Fei could make preparations in advance. After all, Quantum Holdings did not have a deeply rooted foundation in terms of warships, personnel, and goods; each and everything that he would need to acquire required money.
That was why Williams had very carefully gifted Xia Fei an astronomical amount of money and ample time to get everything in order.
“What pieces of equipment are the Deathguards using? What grade are we looking at?” Xia Fei asked.
Phantom scoffed. “The Assassin Sect isn’t some small organization. There’s no need for you to worry about their equipment. If you do want to make preparations for them, just get some drugs and medicinal ingredients for emergency use.”
Xia Fei nodded. He happened to be at a top-tier auction in the Alliance, so this made it convenient for him to make such purchases.
…
Xia Fei spent a whole day shopping, getting his hands on all the medicinal ingredients he would need for the long journey. He did not spend a lot on these, barely reaching a hundred million star coins in total.
…
The information booth had a long line in front of it, for in a few minutes time, the carnival’s auction catalog on this final day would be officially announced, and since it was the most important event of this trade fair, everyone was enthusiastically looking forward to its release.
Soon, staff took the fresh catalogs out and the crowd swarmed to get one. Xia Fei got one, too, and moved to read it as he made his way back to his hotel.
It was a rare sight to see Bean, Monkey, and all the others equally quiet, conscientiously reading the catalog they had in hand.
Xia Fei could not help but gasp as he casually flipped through some of the pages.
The final day of The Brotherhood’s triennial carnival was essentially an opportune congregation for everything, where all sorts of precious items and goods were put on display.
On the second page, Xia Fei saw that there was a set of ancient civilization relic tools, and his eyes sparkled subconsciously.
Phantom looked at the notes on the catalog and curiously wondered out loud. “Everchange? Is that tool really amazing?”
Xia Fei nodded. “It’s not just amazing; it’s the highest grade of tool that the ancient civilization ever invented.”
Phantom was confused. “Highest grade? No matter how I look,at it, it just looks like a brick. Better to just bash someone’s head in.”
Xia Fei elaborated. “The amazing thing about the tool isn’t how it looks but the myriad of forms it can change into.”
“It can change forms?” Phantom asked, astonished.
“That’s right. Everchange was made of a magical molding metal; no matter what tool is needed, even something that the user hasn’t seen before, Everchange is able to replicate it.”
Phantom mused. “That means that, as long as you have this item on you, it’ll be as good as a complete set of tools? That’s not bad. If you end up coming across something that needs a specialized tool, Everchange will be able to replicate it at once.”
The starting bid for this tool was at a hundred million star coins, and it was listed as one of the more lowly priced items in the auction. The cheapest valued item on the last day of the auction was priced at a hundred million star coins, which was why Everchange was one of the first few items listed on the second page of the catalog. The further down the list, the higher the starting bid.
“With the starting bid set at a hundred million star coins, it’ll most likely be sold for two hundred or three hundred million star coins…. Is spending so much money on a set of tools worth it?” Phantom asked.
Xia Fei laughed. “You still haven’t grasped the true value of the tool. It’s greatest use will be against the machinery that the ancient civilization left behind, so while ordinary tools are able to activate them, any difficult contraption or anything that is very hard to repair will prove to be a big obstacle. With this Everchange, any machinery or device from the ancient civilization era will no longer be a problem.”
Phantom finally understood. “So that’s how it is. This ancient civilization tool is practically priceless, so it is well worth two hundred or three hundred million star coins.”
Xia Fei circled the Everchange and continued looking.
The starting bid of a hundred million star coins rapidly increased, and soon, they were at items that started at one billion star coins. It must be mentioned that such items would most likely end up being sold for several billion star coins, maybe even reaching over ten billion star coins.
On the twenty-seventh page of the catalog, Xia Fei finally spotted a second item that he needed. The ten-thousand-year-old Spirit Cloudmother. This Cloudmother looked like a mushroom, entirely snowy white in color, sans a single spot or blemish. Its leaves had very obvious, overlapping cloud imprints, which looked extremely pretty.
“Cloudmother!” Phantom gasped. “It’s ten thousand years old to boot; ingesting this will be very helpful to the promotion of your speed ability.”
“Can it raise me by an entire rank?” Xia Fei asked.
“From Intermediate Star River to Advanced Star River rank for sure. If you’re lucky, you may even cross right into Legendary rank.”
Xia Fei was stunned. Before reaching Legendary, be it Star River or Star Domain rank, all had theaccompanying word ‘Star’, but from Legendary rank onward, it forwent this entirely, and the reason was simple: A warrior with a Legendary rank cultivation would already be recognized as a truly elite warrior who could even be called a battle god.
It was supremely important to a warrior to make the crossing from Star River rank to Legendary rank. It was like a threshold, where a whole wide world would open up upon getting past it. Everything that people looked forward to—prestige, status and fortune—would quickly follow.
To Xia Fei, what he was most drawn toward this promotion was the circle he would have access to. The moment he became a warrior of Legendary rank, he would qualify to be part of the elite warrior’s circle, allowing him to know even more top-rank combat experts, which would be a great help in expanding Xia Fei’s learning or his future.
The starting bid for this ten-thousand-year-old Cloudmother was as high as twelve billion star coins, which most likely meant that Xia Fei would need tens of billion star coins for the final going price, maybe even cracking into the hundred billion.
Xia Fei clenched his fists and muttered to himself, “This is really very expensive, but in order to cross into Legendary rank, I must have this ten-thousand-year-old Cloudmother.”
