Chapter 770: Miss Ellen
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Without a doubt, Hua Hei and Hua Bai’s suggestion was very tempting, and Xia Fei was moved. Xia Fei had not put the Blood Crystal down since he got it, and none of the weapons he had before was comparable. Be it the October Flying Snow or Dragonscale Hectoslasher, all were good, well-known weapons, but the Blood Crystal’s insane vampiric capabilities were just significantly better than the rest.
Xia Fei would no doubt seize the opportunity to activate a Celestial Zerohammer again and forge a divine weapon. Though there was a great risk that must be undertaken when forging a divine weapon and that there was no telling how it would turn out after the fact, at least the possibility of him obtaining another divine weapon as overpowered as the wicked Blood Crystal dagger existed.
With this thought in mind, Xia Fei nodded and took the slip of paper that Hua Hei handed to him, saying, “I’ll surely consider it, but I wonder if this artificer you’re recommending is reliable…”
Hua Hei burst into laughter and shook his head. “Of course not. The more skilled an artificer or an apothecary is, the trickier a character they have. Me introducing you to this person is one thing, but whether or not you can convince him to help you is an entirely separate matter altogether.. It’ll all depend on your luck.”
Xia Fei was mildly unamused. The construction of a Celestial Zerohammer was complex, and he was afraid that it might consume the life savings and energy of a highly skilled artificer. There was no reason for it to be activated randomly, but he would not really be losing anything giving it a shot.
“Okay, there’s no banquet that won’t end. It’s truly fate that we brothers ran into you here, but the Ancient Battlefield isn’t as safe as we originally thought, so we’ll be leaving this place, too, after you depart,” Hua Hei and Hua Bai chuckled as they remarked.
Xia Fei asked, “Till the next time we meet then. I wish you two the best of luck.”
“You, too,” Hua Hei and Hua Bei said in unison. “I’ll pa.s.s any message I may have through your compa.s.s, as with your current capabilities, you can’t find us.”
…..
After seeing Xia Fei off, Hua Hei muttered to himself, “He’s a decent young man. Should we recruit him, too?”
Hua Bai shook his head. “It’s still too early to say. Our goal is the Cosmic Gate. Perhaps, in the future, Xia Fei will have his own standing in the universe, but he won’t be of any help to us yet, though he’s a good seedling. Let’s nurture this seedling first.”
Hua Hei laughed. “So you’ve got your eye on him, too?”
Hua Bai nodded. “Having my eye on him is one thing; whether or not he can stand on the same ground with us is another. Weren’t there many geniuses who died prematurely these few years? I feel that Xia Fei’s personality is far too independent and he’s not the sort to rely on others. Be it us or those old fogeys, trying to recruit him will be a tall task.”
Hua Hei sighed as he solemnly noted this. “Yeah, yet another strange fellow. Time for us to go as well. This Ancient Battlefield has been invaded by an expert and isn’t suitable for us to stay any longer.”
Hua Bai was apparently very vexed, though he did not say another word. Their homeless days had yet to come to an end, and all of this was due to his own brother kicking up the hornet’s nest.
…
Wind Garden.
Xia Fei returned just as quickly as he departed. Overall, he had a bountiful harvest from this trip of his to the Ancient Battlefield, not only increasing his cultivation but also obtaining a Heavenly Beast Spirit Pearl. He had even made gradual progress in the mystery regarding the ident.i.ty of the Black and White G.o.ds, and the only unfortunate thing was that he had failed to obtain the Law of Time, a law power that the G.o.d Race lost.
“Where did you go off to?” Xia Fei b.u.mped into Xia Zonghai the moment he entered. It was early in the morning in White Horse Constellation. Xia Zonghai was in the middle of packing up; it seemed that he was off to the Law Enforcement Board.
“Oh. Just wandering about,” Xia Fei casually replied, not mentioning a word about the Ancient Battlefield.
All of a sudden, Xia Fei thought of something and turned around, leaving with Xia Zonghai.
“It just so happens that I also need to make a trip to the Law Enforcement Board; let’s set off together,” Xia Fei said.
Xia Zonghai smiled. “That’s well and good. Are you off to see the Wolf family’s rascal?”
Xia Fei nodded. “I have to talk to Wolf Shunye, but I want to meet with Old Woods first.”
Xia Zonghai was puzzled. “Woods? He’s not often at the Law Enforcement Board. You’ll have to visit his residence directly if you wanna see him. Forget it. Since I don’t have anything to do, I’ll take you there.”
Xia Fei agreed and so the two walked off together.
White Horse Constellation had already returned to the bustling city that it was, almost as if the expulsion of the Moonward Clan had not impacted the place too much.
“You know, humanity lost again,” Xia Zonghai shrugged as he began a conversation.
Xia Fei curiously asked, “What did we lose again?”
Xia Zonghai replied, “Don’t you know? Did that rascal from the Feng family not call you to join?”
Xia Fei recalled that Zanian Feng had indeed approached him two months ago, but he never did mention what the matter was about.
“Dragon Ascension Martial Hall hosts a tournament every three years, and every year, humans will draw the lot that pits them against the mighty Sunnis. Zanian Feng went around recruiting talented warriors, but they still ended up defeated. Every major clan was disgraced and respectively stepped up on their discipline of the younger generations. The streets of White Horse Constellation today are much more deserted than before.”
Plenty of other species lived in the Law Realm, not just humans. The Dragon Ascension Martial Hall’s tournament, thus, pitted the various species against one another. Zanian Feng originally hoped that Xia Fei would join the Dragon Ascension precisely because of this tournament.
Xia Zonghai shrugged. “Actually, humans are considered average among the species residing in the Law Realm; the fact that the Feng family has monopolized Dragon Ascension Martial Hall for so long is all due to the grace shown by those above. Without this grace, the Feng family’s reign in White Horse Constellation will also come to an end. It didn’t concern the Skywings much, so it’s fine that you didn’t go. Our clan doesn’t need to show respect to others.”
Xia Zonghai said these words with great verve, and Xia Fei had no choice but to shrug.
Just as their conversation ended, they arrived at the entrance to Old Woods’ residence. It was a rather impressive mansion, though the courtyard itself was quite deserted, looking quite desolate.
“This is where Old Woods reside. I won’t be going in with you. Ever since he lost his daughter, he’s been completely listless. I have no wish to see him sobbing so early in the morning,” Xia Zonghai wagged his finger and said. “Come back home earlier tonight. I have some things I need to instruct you on.”
The two said their farewells, and Xia Zonghai left for the Law Enforcement Board to seek people whom he could play chess with. As for Xia Fei, he rattled the gates of Old Woods’ residence.
An elderly person came to open the gates, his eyebrows drawn in a deep frown, looking like he was completely weighed down with worries. He led Xia Fei into the guestroom, ordering a servant to bring tea before he hurried off into an inner courtyard to invite Old Woods over.
Left with nothing to do for the moment, Xia Fei stood there as he looked around the room. The wall to the side hung several pictures, and there was one taken of Old Woods with his own daughter Ellen; the lady depicted in this picture was a lot happier and younger than what she looked like now.
“Doesn’t she look familiar?” Xia Fei pointed to Miss Ellen in the picture and asked.
Oro was quite surprised as he mumbled to himself, “What? I really do find her familiar, though I can’t quite put my finger on where I’ve seen her before…”
Xia Fei chuckled. “Do you still remember that I once deciphered Woods’ fractal geometry painting, which turned out to be a tune called the Vicissitudes of Stars.h.i.+ne?”
Oro mulled this over for some time before suddenly exclaiming, “I remember now! That woman we saw on the Ancient Battlefield looks very much like her. That strange tune must’ve been the Vicissitudes of Stars.h.i.+ne!”
Xia Fei nodded, not saying a word more.
At that time, Xia Fei had found the tune to be very familiar, but he forgot where he had heard it. Not until later did he realize that the woman was Woods’ daughter, Ellen, while that tune she was humming then should be the Vicissitudes of Stars.h.i.+ne.
To think that Woods’ daughter would be related to the lost Law of Time, Xia Fei could not help but feel that the universe was both large and very small at the same time. Two seemingly unrelated events actually had such a coincidental connection to each other.
Old Woods came walking into the guest room with a sigh at this time. The man first felt his heart warm a little upon seeing Xia Fei; after all, it was Xia Fei who had helped ease the knot that had been on his heart for many years when he solved the endlessly profound fractal geometry painting.
With the host and guest taking to their respective seats, Xia Fei did not delve into the matter straight away; instead, he first took a detour and asked about the results of Old Woods’ search for his daughter.
Sure enough, when Xia Fei mentioned this topic, Old Woods began to vent his frustrations to Xia Fei. Xia Zonghai truly could not be blamed for not joining him in this visit, as most would hardly be able to stand seeing Old Woods cry in such sorrow while he spoke of the matter.
It was unavoidable for people to wrestle with sadness, and this was an emotion that had been the norm for Old Woods. Even if he came across a stranger who knew nothing about him, this old man would not hesitate to pour his heart out to them. This was all in a bid to alleviate the depression he felt. This was especially so with Xia Fei, being someone who had helped him before.
Xia Fei patiently listened, taking mental notes of all the valuable information he could find from his words. It seemed to have been a long time since Old Woods had such a refres.h.i.+ng chance to voice his lamentations, chatting with Xia Fei as if the young man was a confidant, discussing anything and everything under the sun.
…
Xia Fei only departed from the Woods household in the afternoon. If not for Xia Fei making an excuse to leave, Old Woods might have made him stay for three days and three nights just so the elderly man would have someone to hear him out.
“It seems like the disappearance of Woods’ daughter isn’t at all related to the Law of Time,” Oro shook his head and said. At first, he had been eagerly listening to Woods as he described every little detail about Miss Ellen, but as time went by, the old demon lord grew impatient, something that was the opposite of what he needed when listening to someone lament.
XIa Fei shook his head. “There are three important details. First, Ellen is a musical genius with a very high IQ. Second, she’s fond of the occult. Third, many years before Ellen disappeared, she’s already begun acting strange. She even showed no desire to a.s.sociate with people her age.”
Oro was puzzled. “What has any of that got to do with our purpose for coming over? Just what could you infer from those three points?”
Xia Fei smiled. “Religion. I think that Miss Ellen’s disappearance has got something to do with religion.”
“Religion?” Oro was even more confused as he spoke in a low voice. “The biggest religion in this circle is law power. Everyone loves it. Aside from that, I’ve never heard of anything related to religion.”
Xia Fei responded. “These various signs indicate that Ellen was born religious. Because she’s smart, she’s got plenty of worries in her heart, and with her indecisiveness and lack of obsession, she’s very easily exploited by religion.”
Oro shook his head. “To think that you have such understanding toward religion, even knowing what sort of people are more likely to join such. Why don’t you tell me what kind of people will never find religion then?”
With a smirk, Xia Fei answered, “People like me.”
Oro was left quite speechless. Saying that Xia Fei was the kind to transform himself into a magical figure just so he could trick others would be more appropriate. Saying that Xia Fei could be fooled by some magical figure, Oro would not believe it even if he was beaten to death. After all, never in his very long life had he met such an obstinate person like this young man.