It was night. The Yu family’s Patriarch Yujiang was playing chess with the shrewd merchant Yuhua. Three rounds, and Yuhua’s chess pieces were all decimated each time. Yujiang had no interest in continuing the battle; though Yuhua was clever and was a good businessman, it did not translate to his chess skills.
Lifting a cup of tea, Yuhua chuckled. “Patriarch’s chess skills are too outstanding. Yuhua here admits his defeat.”
Yujiang laughed as he waved his hand dismissively and the chess set on the table between them disappeared. In its place were several plates of nuts.
“Chess is a reflection of a person’s character. You are crafty in your chess, but you lack the decisiveness to deliver killing blows. You’ll always be indecisive at every crucial point of the game, which is why you lost.”
Yuhua chuckled. “Patriarch is exactly right. I have no idea why I just don’t have any interest when it comes to killing, or else I wouldn’t have chosen to go down this route of being a merchant.”
Yujiang sighed. “Honestly, out of all the people in this family, you’re the most I favor, but you’re also the most disappointing, wasting your talent. There are over a million people in the Yu family, and only four of you have a completely open seventh brain region besides me.
“Yu Xiaobei is still young, and he’s reckless and not wise enough. Yu Jin has an insidious personality and only acts in the face of profit. Xia Fei’s an outsider, not one of us in name. Besides, his brain region is severely damaged, most likely never able to be repaired in this lifetime. Only you are exceptional both in terms of martial arts ability and character. Unfortunately, you don’t seek wealth or fame, with a distaste for killing, so I have no choice but to let you run freely.
“The Yu family of today is no longer like before. I’m afraid that the family will be in for a decline after I leave.”
Yuhua hurriedly stated, “Patriarch is being overly worried. You’re still hale and hearty; with you around, the Yu family won’t fall. Speaking of which, Xia Fei has already been with the family for half a month; I wonder how he’s doing now?”
Yujiang answered, “The man suffered quite a bit of humiliation, and his nickname as a cripple has already gotten cemented.”
Yuhua frowned. “Patriarch, don’t forget that Xia Fei still has the Skywing bloodline. We have no idea how one managed to get to human territory. In any case, since the Skywing Clan’s speed ability is unparalleled, they can be called a top familiar clan in the circle. If they were to learn that Xia Fei’s been suffering such hardships with us, there’s no telling if they would come bashing our door. Everyone knows that the Skywings are the most free and unreasonable bunch who stir trouble wherever they go. This won’t be good for our family.”
Yujiang burst into laughter. “That doesn’t matter. The Skywings are always elusive and rarely ever turn up, spending their days wandering about in the universe. Xia Fei doesn’t know of his origin, so how can he so easily recognize his ancestors and make his return?”
“There’s a reason why I chose not to interfere as well. The decay of the Yu family is unavoidable, and if that young Shatterstar of his can be utilized by me, it’ll be a huge aid to the family. Let him suffer a bit first, and later when I show him some kindness, Xia Fei will surely be so grateful there’s no doubt he’ll work hard for the family. With the Holy Beast on hand, our family might perhaps be saved for a while.”
Yuhua nodded, though he still thought that what Yujiang had said was hardly appropriate. It was the former’s belief that they should be treating Xia Fei much better, trying to foster stronger kinship with the lad, but unfortunately his words held no weight in the Yu family, and no one could go against Patriarch Yujiang’s decisions.
However, what neither man knew was that any attempts to win over Xia Fei were no longer applicable. While they had been playing chess, Xia Fei had managed to repair his seventh brain region and was now about to take his rightful place anew!
…
Xia Fei had a whole new experience now that his seventh brain region had been repaired. When he tried to use that energy thread from his seventh brain region to trace the pattern of the Law of Space, he no longer felt any heartrending pain, and the energy thread could be easily manipulated as how he liked without any impediments whatsoever.
“A 100% recovery!” This was the delighted conclusion that Phantom came to after repeated examination of Xia Fei’s internal body.
“From here on out, you don’t have to drag your crippled seventh brain region and cultivate. Plus, since your seventh brain region is fully open, no one will dare look down on you, either!”
Getting up, Xia Fei lit a cheap cigarette and suddenly found the night sky today to be exceptionally brilliant. Even the usually indolent Furball also seemed cuter than usual.
After a slight rest, Xia Fei began cultivating the Law of Space. In the last three years, Xia Fei had not made any improvement be it in terms of his special ability or Law; now, he was looking to get back all the time he had lost!
Sitting down cross legged, that mystical energy thread began to draw out the pattern in his mind. Xia Fei had viewed the first level of the Law of Space many times, and so the pattern had already been etched in his memory.
This thread went from simple to complex, and a mysterious drawing slowly appeared in Xia Fei’s brain region.
“Hmm?” Xia Fei hummed as he discovered with pleasant surprise that drawing the pattern was like a form of cultivation, and as the image of the pattern became clearer, that energy thread in his brain region also gradually became longer.
However, this form of cultivation expended massive amounts of energy from Xia Fei. Though he was seated on this bed and not moving, in truth he was rapidly using up energy comparable to if he was running at his top speed with his special ability.
Xia Fei could not help but stop his training that he had started not too long ago, sweating profusely.
“No wonder Origin Crystals are so precious. Turns out that the cultivating process will expend so much energy,” Xia Fei muttered to himself.
With a light brush of his spatial ring, Xia Fei took out a grade 2 Origin Crystal.
Beginning his cultivation anew, the pattern in his mind slowly came to be while he steadily drew out the energy inside the Origin Crystal in his hand.
Xia Fei’s cultivation process was made much easier now that he had an Origin Crystal in hand. Quickly recovering the energy he used, Xia Fei again discovered that not only would he feel physically tired from such an expenditure, more importantly was the fact that his seventh brain region would also be burdened by it. It was as if the Origin Energy was specially prepared for the brain region as it would be first absorbed by the seventh brain region without any impedance. Had it been any other source of energy, replenishment would not have been so direct and effective.
…
Three days. Three days and nights of tireless effort.
The twenty-four grade 2 Origin Crystals beside Xia Fei’s hand was the greatest evidence of his hard work!
It had to be mentioned that the monthly stipend was merely three crystals, and Xia Fei had essentially used up eight months of stipend in just three days. Xia Fei’s hard work at the same time seemed to be suspiciously wasteful.
However, Xia Fei did not see it like that; he had a complete pattern in his brain region now, and it was the pattern for the Law of Space!
“Success! Xia Fei, you’ve become a Law Warrior! You’ve cultivated the first level of the Law of Space in just three days! You’re basically a genius!” Phantom excitedly cheered.
Xia Fei did not let his speedy promotion get to him and tried adding the Law of Space to his attack.
It was a simple assassination move, the most basic foundation of his Sly Thrust technique, something Xia Fei had practiced many times over long ago.
*Whoosh!*
The tip of the blade was as quick as lightning, and his one attack struck the only wardrobe in the room, leaving a deep cut in the thick wood.
“Nothing’s different about it?” Phantom furrowed his brows. “It’s as if adding Law to your attack did not produce too great a power.”
Just as he finished saying this, the door to that wooden wardrobe shattered into splinters!
It was like a car’s glass windshield that had shattered, as thin lines splintered the wood into tiny pieces!
*Crash!*
Wooden splinters flew as it formed a pile on the ground. An entire piece of wood had been completely reduced to splinters!
“What a powerful additional attack! This is merely the effect of adding the Law of Space to a normal attack, so if you synchronize Law into your combat techniques, the eventual power will simply be unmatched!”
Xia Fei nodded heavily. “The strength of Law sure is powerful, that one stab seemingly tore everything around in space, which is why such a powerful aftereffect was generated!”
After that moment of excitement, Xia Fei began trying out the pattern of the Law of Primal Chaos on his left arm. Xia Fei was already familiar with this Law, so he would not make any mistake even if it was upside down.
Three years. It had been three years since he first obtained the Law, and Xia Fei was finally able to learn the mysterious Law of Primal Chaos. He could not help but look forward to it.
“Learning two major Laws when you’re just starting out, are you not biting off more than you can chew?” Phantom had his doubts.
Xia Fei answered, “There shouldn’t be any problems just trying it out first. Those two birds kept bragging about how amazing the Law of Primal Chaos is as if it’s even better than the Three Great Laws. I want to see for myself if it truly is so profound or if the two dumb birds were just blowing hot air.”
The image of the pattern slowly formed in his mindscape. After learning the basics from the Law of Space, he should not encounter too much of a problem learning other Laws, but it was unfortunate that this was merely Xia Fei’s wistful thinking as a feeling of dread slowly grew in his heart.
The completely patternless line was arranged completely randomly in his mindscape. When cultivating the Law of Space, Xia Fei could feel it gradually grow in complexity, mounting in difficulty.
However, this Law of Primal Chaos indeed lived up to its name to the extreme; there was no order or rule to speak of, and it even required the thread in his brain region to make sharp turns. This reminded Xia Fei of the Crafty Approach which similarly observed no rules; both were completely unreasonable, achieving the greatest combat efficacy through great distortion.
The reason why the construction of the pattern in the mind could be called cultivation was that, while the action was happening in the seventh brain region, the body would also involuntarily match the fluctuations. Energy would also be flowing rapidly in the body, and it created a balance with the outside world, as if the body was the universe and the Law was the river of stars that existed in it.
The movement of Law was strange and fast, and the body would be strengthened amid this invisible flow. Xia Fei gradually had an epiphany over the trick to attacking, and it was as if the Law of Primal Chaos was informing Xia Fei to include a twisting motion to his moves…
“Twist?” Xia Fei was muttering to himself. “That’s an interesting idea.”
…
That boulder where the pattern for the first level of the Law of Space was still standing in the center of the dirt field, and Xia Fei was staring at the pattern with his two hands in his pockets, making sure that he did not make any mistake during his private training.
Xia Fei was still feeling very excited after having learned the Law of Space, but his cultivation efforts with the Law of Primal Chaos thereafter had left him very puzzled. It was as if this Law was a subversion of everything he had learned from before.
The short-haired lady was looking at him from a distance away, and there were also the various looks of disdain from others. Perhaps it was because he had managed to repair his seventh brain region, but Xia Fei was in a good mood today, so he took the initiative to greet the girl.
“Hello.”
“Hi,” the short-haired girl said somewhat awkwardly, “have you noticed me?”
Xia Fei nodded. “Of course, I noticed your kind looks, especially when everyone else around is only showing contempt toward me.”
“My name’s..”
Just as the lady was about to introduce herself, a muscular man reached out and pulled her to the side from out of nowhere. His action was very barbaric, and the arm of the girl abruptly got bruised.
“Julie, don’t talk to that trash!”
Julie was evidently very angry, yelling, “Stop bothering me! Stop butting in on what I do! He’s Xia Fei! Were it not for him, my parents would already die by the iron mandibles of the insectoids!”
“Who cares?” That muscular man did not care to see reason. “This isn’t the alliance. He might’ve been somebody in the alliance, but he’s nothing but a useless cripple here!”
Xia Fei let out a bitter laugh. It seemed that this short-haired lady had also come from the Alliance, which was why she was so grateful toward him, but there were simply not too many people like that, and barely anyone cared to remember what he had done in the past. Instead, many of them chose to deride Xia Fei the moment they set their eyes on him, with even more taking the chance to kick him while he was down.
“What are you laughing for?” That muscular man pulled his arm back, miming as if he wanted to beat Xia Fei up. “Hmph. If not for the rules that disallow Law Warriors to put hands on disciples, yours truly will surely beat you to the ground!”
Xia Fei’s expression turned cold as he remarked icily, “You don’t have to worry about the rules because I’m now a Law Warrior, just like yourself.”
Such a short sentence yet everything went silent.
Completely silent.
