Duabi was depressed. He was a distinguished guildmaster of the Sacred Warrior Guild, yet he had been sent by Uti to pursue a human, who had invaded their territory. Even if Xia Fei was of a formidable rank, was there even a need for him to act personally?
Besides, Uti had not just requested for the death of Xia Fei but also to snatch back the Blood Demon Claw, completely intact! That made things somewhat difficult. Forget about knowing if Xia Fei had already ruined the Blood Demon Claw; just locating where this human was hiding was already a tall task for Duabi; the universe was vast, and searching for a plant in the expanse of space was several magnitudes harder than finding a needle in the middle of an ocean.
Duabi had given the matter plenty of thought. The only solution for him to hold onto his dear life was to capture Xia Fei alive and then subject him to intense interrogation. He simply could not come up with any other idea aside from that. As long as he could capture Xia Fei alive, with the humans not being the sort to remain mute even until death, there was still a possibility of success.
Uti sending out Duabi on this mission seemed like a praise for his capabilities, but it could also be seen as a test. If he was able to accomplish this mission, there would of course be nothing left to be said. Promotion and nobility would be entrusted, greater responsibility, prosperity, and wealth awaiting him, but if he were to fail, the result would be unimaginable. The people around Uti knew this well. This short mite would not demonstrate the average maliciousness, or else he would not have become the master of the Golden Tent.
With that thought in mind, Duabi let out a heavy sigh. His eyes roamed around the command deck of his warship, his closest confidant, Twelve Wings, were still playing a never ending game of flight chess. These warriors were considered the greatest of their species, with the worst of them possessing a cultivation of advanced grade 4, about the same level as an Advanced Star River rank warrior of the Alliance.
Unfortunately, though the Twelve Wings had high cultivation, their brains were hardly as agile. They were able to play with the little flying chess so happily, not even resting consecutively for dozens of days, spending all that time clamoring excitedly, no different from a human child.
Now that Mengen was dead, only six out of the seven champions were left, and there would most likely be another open struggle and covert infighting for the spot in the Golden Tent. However, these underlings of his would not have the chance, for they were all half-wits!
Uti was extremely smart, and he valued intelligence above everything else with his underlings. Just having martial arts prowess and no intelligence would hardly register in his eyes. These years, insectoids had been evolving toward greater intelligent species, but there was a very clear trend in this: Intelligent species would hardly be formidable in terms of martial arts, and those who were simply lacked enough intelligence. The disparity between the two was severe, and it was very difficult to find any species both smart and physically capable.
Uti and his brother, the Great General Tanini, were both of the intelligent species but severely lacking in martial arts prowess. Meanwhile, the Twelve Wings were strong but lacking in the intelligence department. Duabi sighed again. He could not be bothered with the Twelve Wings now. With their intelligence, it was no use even if he had personally disciplined them, forgetting what they were being punished for the moment they turned their heads away. It was best to find another candidate among his men to insert into the Golden Tent.
Dozens of soldiers in charge of the operation and monitoring of the warship were leaning back in their chairs lazily. Though they did not dare to sleep on their post blatantly with Duabi around, all of them looked completely insouciant. The warship had been stationary here in this piece of space, not at all making a move for more than ten days, so the soldiers had all grown bored. Patience was not a trait associated with the insectoids. Words like explosive, impulsive and bloodthirsty were all great descriptors with the insectoids.
“All of you, wake up! Just look at yourselves! One more listless than the other! If you yawn another time, yours truly will have you all chopped and fed to the thorn beast!”
Duabi turned around and saw one of the Seven Champions of the Golden Tent, Laresh, standing by the entrance of the command deck, loudly castigating everyone in the room.
The Twelve Wings, as well as the soldiers all straightened, their postures in fright. Duabi had never seen a single one of them so obedient while he was around, yet it was the Champion Laresh’s appearance that had frightened everyone like mice.
Pursing his lips, Duabi deprecated himself in his mind, ‘The name, Golden Tent, sure is powerful… Even my title as the guildmaster is an incomparable deterrent to being a Champion of the Golden Tent.”
Laresh unceremoniously grabbed a seat and sat right beside Duabi. “Guildmaster, you ought to teach these underlings of yours properly. Uti assigned us with a great responsibility, and we must not drop our guard so easily. We ought to repay our emperor with the utmost passion!”
Duabi was feeling dissatisfied deep down. Laresh was evidently teaching his men a lesson, so would that not be slapping him on the face as well? He was mocking him for his lax discipline, leading these insectoids astray!
He mentally noted. ‘Hmph! Just because the seven of you have Uti supporting you, you think you can just disregard me, the guildmaster? Complaining about how lenient I am with my discipline? Then, what have you all been doing this whole time?’
Actually, Laresh was considered decent among the Seven Champions; he had been shutting himself in his cabin cultivating ever since he boarded the ship, occasionally taking a stroll around the command deck to put on airs. In contrast, the philandering Goxan and Kikiger immediately hooked up with each other the moment they got onboard and spent all their time fighting laterally in their rooms; anyone who walked by their rooms could even clearly hear what was going on inside, not at all observing any discretion at all.
In any case, Duabi had been absolutely bothered by these three men, though he did not dare to show any disrespect outwardly. After all, they were Uti’s men, and though he was not of a higher position than them, he could at least see them as equals.
Duabi forcibly flashed him a rare smile. “After camping out here for more than ten days, it’s normal for soldiers to somewhat slack a little. Don’t worry; I’ll be sure to be stricter with my subordinates from today onward.”
Laresh nodded, not saying another word. He had originally come to show off anyway, so now that he was done, he began making his way back to focus on his business inside his room. The Champion Laresh felt that he was cheapening himself hanging around with these lowly soldiers.
That was when the radar suddenly sounded the alert that they had been waiting for all this time. Everyone’s heart in the command decks went still. Perhaps it was because it had been a long time since they heard any news, but when the radar system rang out its alert upon pinging the strange energy fluctuation given by the Impaler, none of them was able to react in the first instance.
“Guildmaster! That was a signal! It must be created from the strange energy fluctuation of that human warship!” A still thinking soldier nervously reported.
Duabi was elated as he rushed to give out the order. “Track his destination and chase after him. We must not let him escape!”
……
The two experts Yujiang and Yuhua had boarded the Impaler all of a sudden, and Xia Fei was in great dismal.
Xia Fei was originally in such a hurry to leave precisely because he wanted to avoid interacting with these monster-level existences, but he never would have thought that they were capable of transcending across space to reach his location. Xia Fei hypothesized that this might be because they had grasped the Law of Space, so the vast universe was no different from their own backyard, allowing them to wander about arbitrarily.
Xia Fei was of course extremely envious of such a bewildering superability, but now all he wished was for the other party not to have any ill-intention toward him. Unless it was his last resort, Xia Fei had no intention of becoming enemies to these monsters.
Yujiang had already tested Xia Fei and found the young man to be agreeable, smart, and insightful, fulfilling his selection criteria. However, due to his overly damaged seventh brain region, the elderly man had deemed Xia Fei’s cultivation to be crippled to the point of no repair; it was his opinion that the young man was already nearing the limit of his possible achievement, noting how much sweat and hard work he had put in to reach his current state.
Yujiang nodded and was about to discuss with Xia Fei about bringing him and Furball away.
That was when the radar system of the Impaler suddenly flashed its red alert!
An energy fluctuation had been detected in this peaceful space!
“Alert! A wormhole had been opened. Enemy warships are closing in! Prepare for battle!”
Soon, a humongous insectoid warship exited a wormhole and appeared some ten thousand kilometers away from the Impaler—a black behemoth that bore the unique ferocity of insectoid warship design!
Xia Fei barely had time to explain to Yujiang. He quickly went up to the Impaler’s console and piloted it away from the enemy. It was simply impossible for Xia Fei to take down this insectoid battleship with the insane firepower of the Impaler alone. Xia Fei was the most surprised by the fact that the enemy had even located him! Could his warship have been bugged by a tracking device?
“Direction 11537, maintain stealth and break out at full speed!”
*Whoosh!*
The Impaler attempted to flee as it accelerated, avoiding a direct confrontation with the insectoid battleship. The ship’s stealth system had a unique characteristic: It would lose its effect if it was too near the enemy!
Yujiang did not even glance at the insectoid warship. It was nothing but a toy in his eyes as he smiled at Xia Fei. “Young man, have you ever wondered how far you can go in this life?”
Xia Fei was presently worried about being bugged by some tracking device, so of course he was not at all bothered by the old monster’s question. Yujiang was an expert who had mastery over the Law of Space, meaning that he could just flee millions of lightyears away at the drop of a hat, but Xia Fei still needed to face the unending harassment from the insectoids.
“We’ll talk about this later. Enemies are around us.”
Xia Fei was flustered, so he was not too courteous in his speech. Even a fool could tell that he was unhappy about Yujiang interfering with his work.
Xia Fei was good all around, but he would set aside relations or emotions when it was time to work. Having such a serious attitude ought to have been his virtue, yet the expert Yujiang saw it as insolence.
He furrowed his brows. He originally wanted to burst into anger, but it was as if Furball could sense the change of intent in Yujiang’s heart, for it opened its two eyes and looked right at the elder, a hint of alertness in its orbs.
Yujiang sighed. For the sake of acquiring the rare holy beast Shatterstar, it was best if he kept his mouth shut.
“Scanning strange energy fluctuations in the enemy, speculated to be an explosive weapon!” announced the computer’s ice cold feminine voice.
“Actually, there’s no need for you to be so nervous—” Yuhua wanted to dissuade Xia Fei. It was not reflecting well on Yuhua seeing how Xia Fei was so focused on the ship console that he was seemingly ignoring the family patriarch, Yujiang.
There was no way for him to know that Xia Fei was someone who would forget everything around him when duty called; he was whole-heartedly invested in what was happening that he had forgotten that there were two experts still seated in this command deck with him. Without a moment’s thought, he immediately turned around and blurted out at Yuhua.
“EVERYONE, SHUT UP!” Xia Fei yelled.
Yuhua’s expression paled, not saying a word. His nostrils flaring in anger.
Suddenly!
A blue light shone from within the darkness of space, and everyone could see this glow increasing in size, covering hundreds of kilometers in a blink of an eye!
“Alert! The enemy had used a large-scale electromagnetic bomb; the warship will be forced out of stealth in 3.4 seconds. May all crew brace yourselves for impact!”
Xia Fei was panicking. An electromagnetic blast would instantly damage the warship’s stealth system. It seemed that the enemy came prepared!
Seated in the captain’s seat, Yujiang was even more vexed than Xia Fei!
Who was Yujiang? The man was on a plane of existence even higher than Xia Fei!
First was the fact that Xia Fei had ignored him, then there was these shameless insectoids who actually dared to toss a bomb at him!
He was seething in rage!
All he did was wave his arm, and the entire space around them suddenly turned black, while the distant starlights had all but disappeared!
