1534 Skywing’s Comrade-in-Arms, Tamu the Chosen!
Taking the path to the right would lead straight to the elders from the Four Great Clans. Luolin had once tried that way and ended up being caught by them. That was how his eyes had been cruelly gouged out, and what made Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha decide to go the opposite direction, heading for the core of Planet One.
The rocky wall on both sides showed signs of man-made excavation, with many luminous particles mixed in with the granite. It was hard to imagine this planet had actually pa.s.sed through the Cosmic Gate and into Ashen Moon, and had managed to remain intact. Plants, animals, water, mountains, and everything had survived the great destructive energies of the Cosmic Gate!
Xia Fan was extremely fast, and it did not take long for him to discover a strange location. A sealed door appeared in the cave. Like the landing module of a wars.h.i.+p, its thick alloy doors were shut vertically, and there was an electronic console on the side that controlled it.
Traveling Buddha pushed the b.u.t.ton, and the door automatically opened up with a loud clunking. A very modern corridor appeared before them, white metal alloy plating covering the floor and the walls around. Spotlights were fit to the ceiling, along with air filtration devices. It was as if they had stepped onto a wars.h.i.+p!
“A s.h.i.+p? Planet One is actually a wars.h.i.+p from beyond Ashen Moon?” Traveling Buddha could not keep calm at this point, blurting that out in shock. Pearl crooked her head to the side, curiously examining everything around them.
!!
Xia Fan knit his eyebrows together. “We can’t be sure just yet. We might understand better if we go deeper.”
They found a crew cabin, a virtual cabin, an activity cabin, and a storage bay. Going deeper along the corridor, Xia Fan came to a conclusion. This was indeed a s.h.i.+p, and it was a s.h.i.+p that could pa.s.s through the Cosmic Gate and sustain biological evolution!
“Since this is a s.h.i.+p, then there ought to be a crew?” Traveling Buddha shrugged.
The size of the s.h.i.+p was huge. Hidden in the core of Planet One, there was no way for them to know its specific appearance, but from its design and craftsmans.h.i.+p, it was obvious it was at a higher technological level than Ashen Moon, or perhaps it belonged to an advanced civilization from beyond the known territories.
Xia Fan used his speed to forge ahead along the corridor, until he finally arrived at the s.h.i.+p’s command deck.
Aside from the various controls that a command deck would have, there was also a large ceiling-to-floor window, except because the s.h.i.+p was in the planet’s core, all they could see beyond the window was just hard rock and not any particular scenes.
“I’ll retrieve the voyage logs here, and the two of you can search around nearby. See if there’s anything suspicious,” Xia Fan told them.
—
And so the trio split up. Xia Fan checked the logs, while Traveling Buddha and Pearl entered the lower levels of the wars.h.i.+p, searching the cabins.
‘Prepare to break out. No matter what happens, we must not just stay still.’
‘The disguise was a great success. Hiding the wars.h.i.+p inside the planet’s core was a great idea, and they believe its just an exoplanet, easily letting me off.’
‘The situation is beginning to go awry. This planet is evolving on its own, it must have been infected.’
‘Demonic energy has invaded the planet’s core. This powerful demonic energy once created the terrifying Demonic Ant race, so perhaps a new Demonic race might be born.’
‘The spores accelerated fission, evolving into low-level organisms, but this is definitely not the end!’
‘I am still shuttling through the chaotic corridors of time and s.p.a.ce, encountering enemy patrols from time to time. What should I do? Which universe has everyone gone to now?’
‘The situation is getting from bad to worse. I need to find somewhere to land and purge the evil energy that has invaded.”
‘I’ve decided to risk traveling through the nearest Cosmic Gate. G.o.d, please wish me luck! I am missing my brothers very much right now, missing the monsters of Skywing!’
Xia Fan was shocked when he read to that point. His eyes widened as the hair on his back stood on end.
The owner of this s.h.i.+p was very likely a comrade of the Skywings. But because he had encountered danger, he had no choice but to duck into Ashen Moon for refuge?!
It was a pity that the log ended there, and the person in question did not record anything that had happened after arriving at Ashen Moon.
Reading its contents, a clearer picture gradually formed in Xia Fan’s mind. This expert that had once fought side by side with the Skywings, for some unknown reason found himself surrounded. In order to escape the encirclement, he thought up a plan to hide the wars.h.i.+p in the core of a planet, disguising itself as an exoplanet.
With that disguise, he had managed to break out from the encirclement, but unfortunately for him, in the process of escaping, he was infected by something called Demonic Energy that could cause genetic mutation, changing the biological composition of the planet.
Thus, this person had managed to enter another universe at the last minute, purge the genetic mutagen, and get on his way afterwards. Meanwhile, it just so happened that the nearest universe he went into at that last minute was Ashen Moon!
When he went through the Cosmic Gate, the wars.h.i.+p lost control and barreled straight into the hidden realm of G.o.d Metropolis. This was quite lucky, as the s.p.a.ce which G.o.d Metropolis resided in was sealed, and so the infection did not spread to the majority of Ashen Moon.
Based on that line of thinking, the elders from the Four Great Clans should have met this survivor, but why had he not heard anything about this?
That was when Pearl came flying to the command deck, her voice barely containing her excitement. “Xia Fan, you better come quick and look!”
“What did you two find?” Xia Fan asked her.
“A person, one of our own! Not only did he recognize me right away, he had even heard of you!” Pearl gushed.
Xia Fan was stunned. He immediately followed Pearl down one level, taking a corner and a spiral stairway down. Everything around him changed. The walls of the corridor were now overgrown in a moss-like plant. A noxious smell was being given off by this colorful moss, reminiscent of lumps of cancerous cells.
There was a lot of moss on the ground too. Stepping on it, a slimy liquid could be seen oozing out, like the vomit of a drunkard, making everyone uncomfortable.
Going forward a bit more, Xia Fan and Pearl entered a room like a big hall, with a strange jail cell built atop an altar. The steel cage was on the set of steps, with eight metal columns at the bottom.
Pearl pointed to the cage on the altar and said, “That’s him! He’s the one I’m referring to!”
Looking over to the cage, he saw a savage locked in it. His blonde hair hung down to his knees, and his beard was almost half a meter long. At the moment his head was lowered, so Xia Fan had no way of making out his face.
The savage was completely naked, and there were many scars all over his body. It was a frightening sight. People often said that scars were the medals of warriors, but the amount of medals hanging on his body right now was simply too great. Xia Fan had never seen anyone who was still alive after having so many wounds on their body.
The savage suddenly lifted his head, and his eyes locked onto Xia Fan’s. It was the face of a middle-aged man, but the wrinkles on his forehead looked like they had been carved into his face, deeply marking his skin.
“Are you the son of the Sky Wing Patriarch Xia Fan, the King of the Demon Sealing Fiendish Blade?” the savage man asked in a deep yet formal tone, most likely because Pearl had told him prior.
Traveling Buddha frowned and scratched his head. He slapped his face, to make sure he was not dreaming. The style in which this person had addressed Xia Fan was very shocking to Traveling Buddha.
Xia Fan flashed TB his usual smile and reached a hand out to pull out the blanket that he was wrapped in when he was a baby from his spatial ring. He opened it to show the two characters ‘Xia Fan’ embroidered on it. It was the only thing in the world that was evidence of his true ident.i.ty, and Xia Fan had taken very good care of it this entire time.
The man trembled in his excitement, as tears rolled down his cheeks uncontrollably. “It’s you. It really is you!
“The heavens have eyes! To think I would meet the daughter of the Frost Dragon, and Xia Fan’s son! Hahahaha!~”
The expression on the man’s face twitched as he let out an uproarious laugh, but this laughter soon turned into a baleful wail, the sound of his crying so heart wrenching, as if he was absolutely aggrieved.
“And who are you?” Xia Fan probed.
*thump*
The man did not give an answer, but merely fell to his knees and muttered words as if he was saying a prayer to his G.o.d.
The man then wiped his tears dry and stood up once more, “I am Tamu the Chosen, your father’s comrade-in-arms. We of the Chosen are all followers of your father and the Skywings.”
Xia Fan was surprised. Pearl had mentioned before that the Skywings had become one of the most powerful forces across the Great Chiliocosm, with plenty of comrades and followers. Even the Dragons were willing to be ridden by the Skywings, so it made sense the Chosen would be followers of the Skywing Clan. What was unknown was just how Tamu actually ended up here, locked up while following the Skywings?