Chapter 1165: The a.s.sembly of Dark Spiritualists
Some things just happened to coincide perfectly, just like now. Xia Fei was about to head into the Collapsed Expanse of Founders when another force arrived.
About a dozen or so s.h.i.+ps of various sizes had appeared so suddenly, and it was easy to see that they had the standard form of the Alpha Universe wars.h.i.+ps. They were also equipped with rather advanced cloaking devices and overload protectors to resist the electromagnetic storm.
The opened Cosmic Gate had made it easier to go between the two universes. The goal of these people, who had presumably worked around the defensive line of the Cosmic Gate and infiltrated into the Law Realm, was undoubtedly the Collapsed Expanse of Founders.
Perhaps because they had not expected to run into Xia Fei’s group at Heaven’s Eye Mountain, these wars.h.i.+ps froze for a moment. With his Ocular Cognition, Xia Fei could see the startled faces of the people in their respective command decks; their eyes were even filled with confusion.
“Silver Specter, leave at once!” After a brief second of confusion, Xia Fei shouted.
Fuchen and Ulan, who were both aboard the s.h.i.+p, broke out of their stupor and started up the Silver Specter. By then, Xia Fei had grabbed Xia Guanghai and was shooting toward the universal fissure.
*Whoos.h.!.+*
In front of him was an endless sea of stars, but there was also a formidable spirit energy pressing down on him.
“Scatter!” ordered Xia Fei loudly. He and Xia Guanghai shot off to the left and right, using their speed, which exceeded ten million meters per second. In a flash, they had positioned themselves behind the universal fissure.
*Rumble!*
Mere moments after they had gotten their footing, laser fire pierced through the fissure, The enemy had started attacking!
After all, the Alpha Universe was more advanced than the Law Realm. The moment these wars.h.i.+ps started firing, they unleashed impressive firepower, brilliant beams of light sweeping through the river of stars.
Xia Guanghai swallowed. These guys clearly were not nice people. If Xia Fei had not chosen the right time to dodge, the results from this barrage would have been utterly tragic!
Outside the fissure, the Silver Specter started up. As the fastest s.h.i.+p in the universe, possessing the greatest horsepower, when it launched, the flames from its thrusters could slice through half a planet.
*Whoosh~*
Oro piloted the s.h.i.+p into the universal fissure as Xia Fei had commanded, not caring at all about the dozen or so wars.h.i.+ps in front of him.
...
The wars.h.i.+ps turned rather slowly. Now that Xia Fei was inside the fissure, these s.h.i.+ps began to turn to deal with the Silver Specter, but by this time, the Silver Specter had launched and was approaching at astonis.h.i.+ng speed.
“Charging right through! Right through!” Oro stared as he shouted. These wars.h.i.+ps on the other side were like a s.h.i.+eld wall, and the Silver Specter needed to tear an opening in this s.h.i.+eld wall to get through.
Oro knew that this s.h.i.+p of Xia Fei’s was very st.u.r.dy, but he had never piloted it before, so he was unsure what would happen if he charged at high speeds into the enemy wars.h.i.+ps.
*Rumble!*
Oro nervously closed his eyes, and the Silver Specter shuddered. When Oro opened his eyes again, he saw that the Silver Specter was completely unharmed, whereas an enemy cruiser was cut straight through as if it had been hacked open by an axe!
“Wonderful! This s.h.i.+p is truly divine!” Oro shouted happily.
*Whoosh~*
The Silver Specter followed Xia Fei into the universal fissure; upon which, Oro pulled hard on the brake, causing the Silver Specter to decelerate.
“Let’s go back!” Xia Fei waved at Xia Guanghai and said.
*Whoos.h.!.+*
The two were speedsters and could move as fast as lightning. They instantly boarded the s.h.i.+p, and then the Silver Specter accelerated to maximum speed, quickly escaping the range of the enemy s.h.i.+ps.
…
The Silver Specter, the command deck.
Xia Fei and Xia Guanghai came in from the corridor and exhaled.
“Well now, it seems like there’s no need to inspect the nature of the s.p.a.ce now, as we all decided to come in,” Oro mumbled as he piloted the s.h.i.+p.
“Why didn’t we fight with them? Do you really think we couldn’t take them?” Xia Guanghai asked Xia Fei.
It was Xia Fei who had made the decision to retreat. While the Skywings were no fools, it was not their style to fall back without putting up a fight.
What was the composition of their force that they had to take a step back? They had four Founders, and three of them were Spiritualists, with Fuchen and Ulan being top-cla.s.s Spiritualists and Xia Fei being a battle maniac. Even Oro, whose cultivation level was not very high, was a master among masters when it came to the Law of Darkness. This small team possessed top-tier strength!
Xia Guanghai did not really understand it. Why had Xia Fei immediately ordered a retreat? This also was not his style at all.
Xia Fei lit a cigarette and said slowly, “It’s not that we couldn’t fight them, but I wasn’t completely sure of victory. We’re all brothers here, so it wouldn’t be good to sacrifice anyone.”
“Sacrifice?” Fuchen asked, curious. “Did you already get a measure of their strength? How’s that possible?! You only got a glance at them.”
“That one glance was more than enough,” Xia Fei said indifferently. “Quite a few of the other side are Spiritualists, Dark Spiritualists.”
*Whoos.h.!.+*
Fuchen and Ulan went pale. There were Dark Spiritualists...o...b..ard the wars.h.i.+ps! This was a force that could go against the heavens!
Spiritualists were already rare in number, and the Dark Spiritualists had been exiled long ago, so they should have been even smaller in number, but now, all those Dark Spiritualists had appeared! This was alarming news!
“You’re sure that they were Dark Spiritualists?” Ulan asked.
Xia Fei nodded. “I’m pretty sure, which is why I changed the plan. I take it that you don’t want to fight against more than a hundred Dark Spiritualists, or do you?”
“More than a hundred!”
Fuchen and Ulan were rendered speechless. They thought about Shu Yuhe and Nan Shazi. They would never believe that the gathering of so many Dark Spiritualists had nothing to do with those two.
“There’s no need to think. This place is definitely the Collapsed Expanse of Founders.” Xia Fei lit a cigarette and said uncaringly. “You guys probably remember Shu Yuhe saying that the Dark Spiritualists will make their comeback with the opening of the Collapsed Expanse of Founders and teach the Alpha Universe a harsh lesson. What we’ve seen today is probably the source of their confidence.”
He glanced at the time and said solemnly, “There are still fourteen days and three hours until the Collapsed Expanse of Founders opens, but the Dark Spiritualists have arrived early. Presumably, they’re going to set up some traps so that when the Alpha Universe’s warriors and Spiritualists enter fourteen days from now, they can commence a ma.s.sacre.”
Everyone fell silent at Xia Fei’s a.n.a.lysis.
Behind that simple retreat order had been tons of data and a.n.a.lysis. In that situation, if Xia Fei had hesitated even a little, it would have been an absolute disaster! After all, the enemies had more than one hundred Dark Spiritualists and had been attending to take on the entire Alpha Universe!
One had to admire Xia Fei’s decisiveness. He knew when it was time to fight to the death and also when it was time to retreat. Nonetheless, Fuchen and Ulan really did not understand how Xia Fei could determine the enemies’ background with that glance.
With his eyes twinkling, Xia Fei said, “The Dark Spiritualists calculated everything very well, but they didn’t account for us! Just like them, we also arrived at the Collapsed Expanse of Founders early! We can’t let those Dark Spiritualists succeed!”
Fuchen and Ulan, both were grandmasters very concerned about the Alpha Universe, were deeply moved at Xia Fei’s resolve to fight against the Dark Spiritualists to protect the Alpha Universe. When it came to these big questions of right and wrong, he would never show hesitation. Such heroic air!
“That’s right! As members of the Alpha Universe, we have to do what’s right when the time comes! That’s what it means to be a hero!”
“For our comrades, even death is worth it!” The two Spiritualists spoke pa.s.sionately.
Xia Fei frowned, saying in surprise, “What does this have to do with the Alpha Universe? I certainly don’t care about them, but those Dark Spiritualists are our enemies, and since they’re my enemies, I can’t just let them have their way! Those who want to can act like heroes, but I don’t at all.”
“Uh…”
Fuchen and Ulan were left in an awkward spot. The Alpha Universe? The welfare of the common folks? The bearing of a hero? None of this mattered to Xia Fei. Seizing every chance to strike at his enemy was his style! No matter what, Xia Fei’s enemies could not be allowed to succeed.
…
Outside the universal fissure.
While the Silver Specter had blasted through that s.h.i.+p, none of the people on the s.h.i.+p had died. One of them was a Dark Spiritualist who had once fought a decisive battle with Fuchen over the universe, Shu Yuhe!
His clothes had been burned away, revealing the close-fitting armor that Shu Yuhe was wearing. Standing at the edge of the wreck, he looked out at the universal fissure and coldly chortled.
“Surprising. Truly surprising. To think we would meet again.”
An elder came from another s.h.i.+p, crossing the empty void as if it were solid ground. In just a few steps, he had arrived at Shu Yuhe’s side.
This man with hawkish eyes was none other than the Dark Spiritualists’ leader, the mysterious figure known as Nan Shazi!
“Yuhe, do you recognize those people?” Nan Shazi asked darkly.
“Not only do I know them, I fought with them not too long ago. There’s this very interesting young man called Xia Fei with them. Right, he’s also among those people guarding the Cosmic Gate,” Shu Yuhe bowed and reported, showing extreme obedience to Nan Shazi.
“Oh.” Nan Shazi seemed to have little interest in Xia Fei. Instead, he thought of Fuchen and asked, “I remember you saying that he’s with the sect master of the Orthodox Spiritualist path. Then Fuchen is also on that s.h.i.+p, yes?”
“It’s very possible, but Fuchen is no longer the sect master of the Orthodox Spiritualist. Those incompetent sect brothers and disciples of his have long driven him out and chose to seek shelter with the Spiritualist a.s.sociation,” Shu Yuhe replied respectfully.
Nan Shazi made a sinister smile and snorted. “Hmph, the Orthodox Spiritualist lineage that had always thought of themselves was the best still ended up joining the Spiritualist a.s.sociation, anyway. What a pity! If they had kept their neutrality, I might have let them off. As they say, mistakes committed by the heavens are forgivable, but mistakes committed by mortals are irredeemable!”
Shu Yuhe replied hastily, “As you say, there’s nothing bad about removing the Orthodox Spiritualist path. After all, those guys are very strange. Among the major spirit paths, the Orthodox Spiritualists are the only ones incapable of reincarnating, which is also why they are the strongest and the only one who can pose a threat to us. On top of all that, this is a self-inflicted discord that led to the exile of their strongest fighter, Fuchen. Things will be much easier if we strike now.”
Sure enough, Shu Yuhe who hated Fuchen had taken this chance the belittle the Orthodox Spiritualist lineage.
Nan Shazi was a man who grew sharper with age; he could clearly see Shu Yuhe’s selfishness. Coldly laughing, Nan Shazi walked away while saying, “Relax. As I once said, as long as I live, none of those people shall live.”
Shu Yuhe followed Nan Shazi off the s.h.i.+p. Behind him was a dark figure… some sort of semi-human, ghoulish monster?