Chapter 993: Breaking out of the Coc.o.o.n and Rebirth
“With how things are, there’s just one method left!” Hosu stated solemnly.
“What method?” Radix was a little panicked. Xia Fei was the reckless sort when in combat, and he required even more energy to maintain this crazy battle, which was why he was constantly absorbing whatever energy he could obtain from his fiendish blade Nirvana. He would surely harbor designs upon Radix the moment he emptied out the fragment souls inside.
“Superimpose your cultivation onto Xia Fei!” Hosu rumbled.
Radix was shocked as he cried out in disbelief, “Are you serious?! Will Xia Fei be able to control all my cultivation?! Despite the fact that I’m just an immortal soul right now, my foundation is still there; what if the little young master’s brain experiences ruin from soul backlash? Could you bear the responsibility if this were to happen?!”
Radix was once a great expert. Even beyond the Cosmic Gate he would be considered a significant character, and while it was true that Radix was a lot weaker now that he was in his soul form, he still had his foundation, and it would be quite a feat if he were to stack his own strength onto Xia Fei.
“Well, then do whatever you want. I won’t be intervening, in any case,” Hosu sniffed very irresponsibly.
At this very moment, the intense battle between Xia Fei and the two Founders had already reached a fevered pitch! Dissatisfied with the impending results of the battle, Xia Fei was in the process of closing the distance between both parties, bringing the fight into close combat! He was determined to take Smile and Atrophy’s lives!
Through gritted teeth, perhaps having been affected by Xia Fei’s zeal to fight to the death, Radix hissed, “Fine! Then I’ll let Xia Fei have an early taste of the dignity befitting a Soul Hunter!”
*Whoos.h.!.+*
Xia Fei suddenly felt that energy that had been unwilling to submit to him inside Nirvana taking the initiative and relenting, joining in the fight in a peculiar yet brutal manner!
*Boom!*
With a casual wave of his fist, Xia Fei’s punch could actually stir up a storm that shook the very galaxy!
Xia Fei was deeply surprised as he muttered in awe under his breath, “What power!”
Smile and Atrophy were absolutely flabbergasted!
They had already been infinitely close to killing Xia Fei, yet they had ended up battered and bruised by this insane counterattack from him, and it even appeared as if it was far from over. They had no idea just how Xia Fei had managed to borrow some sort of celestial might, but he was attempting to use this power to slay them, two Founders!
An unimaginable scene was unfolding out there in s.p.a.ce. Xia Fei was beating up two Founders after he gained Soul Power!
It had to be stated that Xia Fei merely had a Law Sage’s cultivation! He was just a level 5 Law Sage who could actually turn the tide of the battle after wielding Radix’s Soul Power, able to beat up two Founders black and blue! It just went to show just how terrifying the power of the Soul Mark was!
Not only was there an increase in his strength, even Xia Fei’s speed surged!
Five million!
Six million!
Seven million!
Eight million!
In a short span of time, Xia Fei’s speed was already nearing ten million meters per second!
Even a Founder with their heightened neural response could not make up for such a great increase in speed. All they saw was Xia Fei’s figure blurring and appearing to Smile and Atrophy’s left, driving a hard fist right into Smile’s face!
The amount of power in that one punch was staggering!
The Founder Smile was sent flying the moment the punch landed. The man went sailing across s.p.a.ce, spurting out a trail of blood behind him!
Before Smile could react, the fiendish blade Nirvana came cras.h.i.+ng through from above him like a bolt of lightning!
*Crash~*
A ma.s.s of white light covered the s.p.a.ce. After it dissipated, Smile was seen grasping at what remained of his left arm, staring at Xia Fei with an expression of extreme shock. His right arm had directly been severed by Nirvana!
Atrophy wrinkled his forehead and said in a somewhat tragic yet stirring voice, “We have no choice but to go all out against him!”
*Boom!*
The two Founders began to burn their own lifeforce at the same time!
Xia Fei had already managed to do something that no ordinary person would have been able to accomplish, forcing a Founder to reach a point where they needed to burn their own lifeforce!
The intense battle continued, as lights shot forth in every direction!
This fiery battle was fierce! As the fighting progressed, the very s.p.a.ce around them began to twist and fold! Both sides gave their all as they gambled with their lives in a devastating death match!
Gradually, the side effects of using Soul Power began to appear. Xia Fei’s mind began to fall into chaos, as he lost all awareness.
Kill!
Kill them all!
This was the voice that rang in Xia Fei’s ears. Xia Fei could not hear anything else aside from that, and even his vision was beginning to blur.
In the end, Xia Fei actually managed to fall unconscious while in the middle of the fight!
…
*Zing*
Xia Fei was jolted away from his dreams. He felt that he had just been caught in a nightmare, a dream where he was drawn into an intense fight with two Founders! All thanks to this inexplicable power of his, the Founders were left dead and injured, respectively.
This feeling of this kind of fierce battle invigorated Xia Fei greatly, so much so that the first thing he did waking up was frantically wave his arms about!
His arm was in mid air when he suddenly stopped and listened intently. He had suddenly realized that his surroundings were very familiar, as if he was back in the Hidden Realm!
Looking around, he noticed that he had been lying under a withered tree, and that tree was the Tree of Life that he had planted all those years back!
The previously lush tree had withered, and the trunk of the tree was split right down the middle, like it had been struck by a heavenly thunderbolt!
Xia Fei scratched his head and mumbled to himself, “What is going on here? Could everything have been just a dream?!”
“It really wasn’t. Everything was real. You slew Atrophy by relying on your Soul Power, and grievously wounded Smile.”
This voice came from a distance away, and Xia Fei lifted his head up, only to find the stranger standing before him, the one who had familiarized him with the thirteen Founders!
“Since I’ve won, why am I here? And why are you here, as well?!”
Hosu chuckled, “You’re here because you failed to control the powerful Soul Mark during battle. That loss of control ultimately triggered your Tree of Life, and you broke through your coc.o.o.n and were reborn.”
Xia Fei patted his war armor. Sin Raksha has already been ruined to the point it was out of shape after that intense fighting. The fiendish blade Nirvana was inside his ring, seemingly no different from before.
Smiling, Xia Fei said, “You’re lying. I know how rebirth works. The old demon lord Oro was resurrected, and he had nothing on him, naked as a newborn babe. But look at me now, how am I anywhere near a new rebirth?”
Hosu shook his head, “What that person planted was a Life Seed, while what you have just experienced was the replacement effect of a Tree of Life. You understand replacement, right? Rebirth requires you to die before you can be reborn, while replacement requires you to be in a precarious situation, when your life is hanging by a thread, and the Tree of Life will die in your stead. You’ll remain completely fine, just like before.”
Taking a look at Furball beside him soundly asleep, Xia Fei asked, “Then how do you explain Furball being here as well? Even if I’ve been replaced by the Tree of Life, Furball hasn’t planted any Tree of Life.”
Hosu answered, “I was the one who brought Furball back, the same as Nirvana. As for your war armor and Peac.o.c.k Blue, they came back with you, as they were already on your person.”
Xia Fei swallowed hard. Hosu’s explanation seemed sensible. The Tree of Life had replaced him, and it was also logical that Hosu brought back Nirvana and Furball.
“Why are you helping me?” Xia Fei had to ask.
“I didn’t. If I had helped you, both Smile and Atrophy would already be dead, and you wouldn’t have had to expend something as precious as your Tree of Life. Honestly, between the Tree of Life and the Life Seed, I prefer the former, because the Life Seed can help warriors experience countless rebirths, but their cultivation will be lost each time it happens. Meanwhile, the Tree of Life can only be used just once, but there will not be any losses incurred. Of course, the best is if you have both together. Too bad that you’ve used up your one Tree of Life. I’m afraid it’ll be very hard for you to find another amazing plant like it again,” Hosu commented, somewhat critically.
Xia Fei suddenly felt that this person standing before him was very strange. Not only had he not made any requests, he was even helping Xia Fei to no benefit. It was almost as if they shared some mysterious connection that made him keep doing this.
That was when Radix abruptly appeared before Xia Fei, as real as life, like he had just been reborn.
He took a peculiar bow before solemnly stating, “Xia Fei. From the bottom of my heart, forgive me for keeping you in the dark all this time, but this has been Hosu’s idea the entire time!”
Hosu was floored! Radix had not only learned to be as cunning as Xia Fei, he had even learned how to s.h.i.+rk responsibilities and throw someone under the bus without a second thought?! Was this still the same Radix from before?
“Hosu?!” Xia Fei was stunned.
Radix pointed at Hosu and exclaimed, “That’s right, this is actually Hosu! I wanted to tell you this when you met him at the Palace of G.o.ds, but he forbade me to say a word, which was why you’re only learning about this now!”
Hosu furrowed his brow and was about to explain, when Radix suddenly continued, “Hosu, the little young master has managed to break out of his coc.o.o.n and be reborn, acquiring his first Soul Mark! You cannot keep anything from him anymore; you have to hand over everything, even the young master’s inheritance!”
There was no need to mention the anger Hosu was feeling inside, but he suddenly realized that this was Radix’s way of teaching Hosu a lesson for not lending aid after he had nearly been used up by Xia Fei like a bomb. He had learned this from Xia Fei, as well!
Heaving a long sigh, Hosu went down on the ground with one knee and said to Xia Fei, “Soul Hunter Hosu, of the Aurora Clan, greets the little young master!”
Radix was no exception, as he went down on his knee and repeated the same line, as well. That was when Xia Fei realized that Radix was not really there, but that he could not see him clearly whenever he wanted!
Radix was an Immortal Soul. In the past, Xia Fei could only see a very obvious transparent form of him, but now, Xia Fei was seeing Radix like he was alive!
Xia Fei was startled, as he was not used to this sudden change. It was like an ordinary person opening their third eye, and abruptly realizing that aside from the humans all around him, there were also ghosts and spirits floating about. Of course he was shocked!
He was also surprised to find that his seventh brain region was different from before. It’s breadth had increased by an astonis.h.i.+ng fifty percent, and the rainbow energy ball had been supplanted by a golden mark.
*Whoosh*
Xia Fei could feel a headache coming on as confusion overtook him.
Xia Fei clutched his head with one hand and demanded, “Tell me, just what exactly is going on? Why has this inconceivable change taken place to my body, and why are the both of you calling me ‘young master’?”
Radix was about to speak when Xia Fei promptly added, “Then there’s also that thing about my inheritance, are you supposed to hand it over?”
Hosu could only feel indignant sorrow flood his heart. What sort of character was Xia Fei’s grandfather? He was well-respected, and did everything with panache. Even if someone had shown mountains of wealth to him, he was not the sort who would even lift a finger to covet them.
But just look at Xia Fei; Radix had casually mentioned the matter of an inheritance and the young man had etched it into his mind. The tone he took seemingly said, ‘What is mine is mine, what is yours is also mine. As long as I have heard about it, it then belongs to me!”
‘To think the distinguished Aurora Clan would have such an outlandish individual like Xia Fei!’ Hosu sighed to himself..