Chapter 202: Bait
A six-winged skylord was a creature of evil at legendary rank, which Xia Fei had only ever read about in the Code of Leaders, and this was the first time he was heading out to kill one.
It had a very vicious personality and was a huge threat to the human race. Most importantly was the poison of the six-winged skylord, which could bring anyone into a state worse than death.
A weapon of Celestial Moon’s grade was extremely sharp and would not need to be sharpened under normal circ.u.mstances, but Xia Fei did not share this a.s.sessment. When facing a completely unknown opponent, no amount of preparation would be too much and failure was not an option this time.
*Tzzt tzzt!*
Celestial Moon was made of superalloy, and the sound it made when it came into contact with the laser buffing machine was ear-splitting. Xia Fei, however, felt that the sound it made was completely sonorous, like the wails of an enemy in its death throes, vaguely causing his blood to pump uncontrollably.
Hunting creatures of evil, Xia Fei was reminded of his life on Heritage Planet. He had been caught up in battles every second he was there, his life hanging by a single thread, risking getting severed at any time.
In fact, to Xia Fei, the importance of sharpening his weapon was to awaken that violent beast lying asleep deep inside him, intending to go head-to-head in the most unhinged fas.h.i.+on against an equally deranged creature of evil.
Xia Fei had always been concealing his killing intent ever since he got back from Heritage Planet. This was a killing intent he already had in him, but it was the experience on that planet that had fully awakened it.
As the screeching sounds continued, Xia Fei’s eyes shone brighter and brighter, even vaguely becoming bloodshot. His turbulent killing intent slowly surrounded him, overflowing greatly over time.
Phantom stood silently at the side. a.s.sa.s.sins emphasized on keeping their killing intent leashed, and what Xia Fei was doing right now indubitably went against this principle. However, this only ascertained Phantom’s belief that Xia Fei was no hitman but a true warrior, instead.
A warrior was born with a savage aura; even after a million years, there was no way Xia Fei would be able to cleanse it completely from his body.
“We’ve arrived, Xia Fei.” The big bearded captain’s voice could be heard from the onboard broadcast system.
Xia Fei unhurriedly put on his combat suit, securing the fastening of Celestial Moon on his right arm, then with the nameless dagger strapped on his waist, he marched right to the command deck.
“How’s the atmospheric reading of this planet?” Xia Fei asked.
The big, bearded captain and his deputy s.h.i.+vered sharply. That thick, killing intent that was emanating from Xia Fei had caused the surrounding air to turn cold the moment he entered.
Handing over an atmospheric monitoring report to Xia Fei, the bearded captain spoke. “Humans can’t survive in the atmosphere here; the pressure is very low, so over exertion will cause a sense of suffocation to build up. There’s nothing too dangerous present as far as toxic gases go, so a simple air purifier is all that is needed to prevent contamination.”
Xia Fei nodded, tapping the microcomputer on his wrist as he handed the electronic privileges to the captain. “This is my authorization code. Register with the s.p.a.ceflight Authority first before we head straight to our destination. I’ll be waiting for your news at the landing bay.”
With that, Xia Fei turned to leave, that icy-cold killing intent dissipating following his departure. Only then were the bearded captain and his deputy finally able to breathe easily.
“Is that killing intent?” the young deputy furtively asked.
“Yup,” the bearded captain answered heavily. “It’s a palpable killing intent yet not at all evil. I have no idea how that could be possible.”
The s.p.a.ceflight Authority was in charge of the operations of all the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps in the Alliance. Actually, there was no need to register for entry over such an uninhabited planet, but they might end up getting lawsuits if it was seen as an intrusion.
In any case, getting permissions as part of the Adjudicator Union was a piece of cake, so Xia Fei did not have any problems with this.
*Whoos.h.!.+*
The Ares-cla.s.s headed for the mountains in the westerm hemisphere at top speed. According to witnesses’ reports, a mineral exploration vessel had sighted a six-winged skylord around this area.
The wars.h.i.+p landed on a mountain peak, then the landing bay’s indicator lights turned from red to green, slowly opening the hatch.
Xia Fei did not bring along any air filter. His nose caught a whiff of the air and proceeded to push a b.u.t.ton on his combat suit, causing a thin filter mask to wrapp around his mouth and nose.
The reason why he had smelled the air first was that any situation could happen during a battle. Xia Fei needed to prepare himself in the case that his air filters got spoiled; he needed to be sure how long he could survive in this sort of toxic air, so he had to check if there was any strange smell to it, if it would affect his breathing, and if it would hinder his hide-and-seek ploy.
Taking large strides off the s.h.i.+p, Xia Fei pushed a b.u.t.ton on his microcomputer and the Ares-cla.s.s interceptor slowly lifted off as it would wait for him above the stratosphere. It was set to come rus.h.i.+ng to Xia Fei’s side the moment he sent the signal.
All sorts of flora and fauna could be seen on this planet that were unsuitable for human habitation, different from the lush greenery on Earth. Here, the plants were colorful—fiery red, bright yellow, and every other imaginable color could be seen.
None of these plants was affected by the toxic air, a clear demonstration of their ability to live in harsh environments.
Xia Fei exhaled and stood on that mountain top, unleas.h.i.+ng his unbridled killing intent.
His killing intent surged out like a rising tiding, collapsing in every direction.
Phantom was stunned. “Xia Fei, what are you doing?”
Xia Fei smirked. “Fis.h.i.+ng.”
“Fis.h.i.+ng?”
“Yup. According to the description in the Beast Spirit Codex, the six-winged skylord is a ferocious creature, aggressive and wildly arrogant; it can be the only existence in a radius of five hundred kilometers from it, so if there happens to be any living creature that dares to get near it and starts a ma.s.sacre, the more powerful this enemy is, the more excited it gets.”
Phantom was speechless. Any six-winged skylords could not stand the existence of any challengers, and Xia Fei was doing precisely that by unleas.h.i.+ng his intense killing intent at full force. Just from their ferocious and aggressive nature, one would not hesitate to come hunting for Xia Fei the moment it detected his presence and would begin fighting him until either one of them died.
“This is too dangerous. Why don’t we quietly skulk around and attack it while it’s unprepared? You’ll be able to take it down in one fell swoop!” Phantom suggested.
By completely exposing one’s self to an enemy’s line of sight and willingly waiting for the other to attack, what else would anyone call this but insane?
Xia Fei shook his head as he wagged his finger to point at a distant valley. “The mountains and forests here are vast. If I try searching for it like that, I’ll probably spend upward to two months here and still come up empty-handed. That’d be fine if it were any other time; we could afford using more time doing this, and it’d truly be much safer, but unfortunately, we just don’t have that time right now.”
Xia Fei was categorically laying out his reasons, and it was hard to deny the truth of his words.
Phantom shook his head. “So you’re really fis.h.i.+ng. Still, there’s no reason for you to use yourself as bait; what if you end up catching a shark instead of a gra.s.s carp; what are you going to do then?”
Xia Fei chuckled, his eyes twinkling with an unparalleled confidence. “Be it a gra.s.s carp or a shark, let them all come to me, then we’ll talk.”
Quick as lightning, Xia Fei followed along the slope and went das.h.i.+ng forward, heading right for the cloud covered peaks some distance away.
His killing intent was completely unleashed, unfettered in the least.
Forbearance was needed sometimes, but that was not Xia Fei’s personality.
Unscrupulously challenging power opponents; such a move would be better suited to a warrior as it would let them feel utter satisfaction.
Phantom sighed, then returned to his own s.p.a.ce, no longer attempting to persuade Xia Fei otherwise. It was evident that there was no one that could convince Xia Fei once he got serious, and there was nothing anyone could do other than let him go crazy as he wished.
Xia Fei continued forward in a straight path. That fierce killing intent he was letting out had not managed to attract the six-winged skylord to him, though the other beasts in that mountain forest were fairly shaken by it.
A spotted antelope with three horns went fleeing, completely unaware that next to him was a uni-horned, white-eyed beast. The two former enemies were now fleeing for their lives like friends, aimlessly avoiding that overwhelming murderous aura.
Such scenes abounded as chaos abruptly spilled throughout the forest. The docile, the aggressive, the large, or the weak—all these beasts were unable to resist Xia Fei’s murderous intent, each of them panicking according to their instinct.
The Ares-cla.s.s interceptor was not far off, hovering in the atmosphere. It was using its high-resolution camera to track Xia Fei the entire time.
Because Xia Fei’s movement was reaching almost 4000m/s, the camera was unable to capture a clear image of him, merely seeing a black blur on the screen as Xia Fei sped off as quick as a flash of lightning.
The bearded captain and his deputy were already dumbfounded. Neither of them could understand just what Xia Fei was doing. It was as if he were the grim reaper sent by the heavens, befouling the entire forest with his very presence.
That was when the communication system’s indicator lights flashed. The captain froze for a while before taking the call from Thuram.
“Mr. Thuram.”
Both the captain and his deputy got up and saluted Thuram respectfully.
“At ease. You may be seated. Where’s Xia Fei?” Thuram asked.
“Xia Fei has disembarked and is now…” The bearded captain was somewhat hesitant, momentarily lost for words to describe what Xia Fei was currently doing.
Thuram coldly harrumphed as his forehead creased. “What is he doing?”
“He is… driving away the beasts in the forest,” the captain bit the bullet and answered.
“Driving away the animals? Could he be thinking of capturing some wild beasts to make a stew for that old fool?” said Thuram aloud to himself.
“I don’t think so. He’s pretty much chased away all the beasts in the forest, yet he hasn’t made a move even now,” the captain reported.
“Did he say what he’s planning to do?”
“Nope. He ordered us here and got off the s.h.i.+p after, heading straight for the forest while releasing this immense killing intent.”
Thuram had one hand stroking his bald chin as he mulled over this piece of information. “Send the visual data to me. I’m curious to see just what that twerp’s up to.”
“Roger that.”
The bearded captain hurriedly sent the signal to Thuram. All they could see was Xia Fei clutching onto Celestial Moon racing through the jungle, his dark and blurry figure contrasting with his silvery weapon, creating a very entrancing image.
“Xia Fei’s speed ain’t bad; almost over 3000m/s?”
The captain glanced at the reading and said, “On average clearing 3851m/s.”
Thuram nodded, not saying another word.
By this time, Xia Fei had already come rus.h.i.+ng out from this fairly large forest, only for his figure to make a sudden turn, his leg kicking up a huge cloud of yellow sand from under his feet, running back the way he had come.
Thuram felt bored after watching this for a while. He was just about to disconnect the call when a strange and lengthy howl exploded that penetrated through the wilds.