When Xia Fei finally left his room, the sun was setting.

Xia Fei lit a cigarette and headed to a pavilion in the courtyard. Ulan and Furball were both there. While Xia Fei had been getting in touch with everyone he could, Ulan had been making sure that no one was eavesdropping on him.

Pouring Xia Fei a cup of tea, Ulan said, “If Fuchen were here, he wouldn’t let you make such a crazy decision.”

Xia Fei blew out a smoke ring and chuckled. “This isn’t just for Fuchen, but for ourselves. Do you think those senior brothers of yours will come?”

“They will,” Ulan sternly said, “Our Plant lineage, if you count me, has five people in total, and we don’t have that many commitments. Since we’re going to go extinct if this keeps up anyway, we might as well put in all our effort to make our final stand. But I have to warn you, the Plant lineage has always been extremely weak in combat power, so they might not be of much help.”

Xia Fei gave him an eerie smile and stared at Ulan’s sleeve. “Who said that the Plant lineage doesn’t have combat power? I saw that Bittervine Sky Entangler of yours with my own eyes. It was just as powerful as my Peacock Blue!”

Ulan quickly hid his sleeve. “You’d better not try and take it! This Bittervine Sky Entangler is the ultimate treasure of our Plant lineage. Moreover, your Peacock Blue and my Bittervine Sky Entangler aren’t even on the same level of existence. Peacock Blue has intelligence and can attack on its own, while my Bittervine Sky Entangler is a pure plant. Every time I use it, I exhaust myself half to death.

“Moreover, Peacock Blue hasn’t reached its limit and can still improve, but the Bittervine Sky Entangler has already reached its peak and has no hope of further improvement!”

Xia Fei chuckled and patted Ulan on the shoulder. “You’re saying all this so that I don’t have Peacock Blue devour your Bittervine Sky Entangler, right? Don’t worry, while Peacock Blue has the ability to absorb other plants, I still haven’t found what the rules behind that are. Rather than defending against Peacock Blue, you should defend against Furball. That creature eats anything, and I’ve seen him drooling while looking at your sleeve quite a few times now. Right, then there’s also Little Goldie. He’s got an appetite even worse than Furball’s, and he’s not a picky eater!”

Ulan’s face went white. Xia Fei’s Nirvana Fiend Blade was of the devouring type, Furball was of the energy-devouring type, Peacock Blue was of the nature-devouring type, and as for Little Goldie, he was a freak who devoured everything!

They were a pack of gluttons!

Ulan was truly worried that his precious Bittervine Sky Entangler might really be eaten up by these gluttons one day!

…

As night fell, Xia Fei left without telling Ulan and went alone to the foot of Spirit Mountain. Opening his map, he compared it to the mountain before him.

“What is that?” Radix asked curiously.

“A map of Spirit Mountain. I got it from the Unrestricted Pavilion. With it, I can penetrate this massive Soul Formation,” Xia Fei softly said.

Spirit Mountain was itself a Formation; trying to break into it was certain death. By getting this map, Xia Fei had the means to enter and exit Spirit Mountain whenever he wanted!

“You’re going up the mountain again?” Radix asked, surprised.

“I must. I need to get a grasp of every path in case I need to make an attack on this mountain! I don’t want to put my own brothers in danger!” Xia Fei replied.

Radix didn’t try to argue. Xia Fei would inevitably have to battle Fuchen’s disciples and grand disciples. When that time came, the Skywing Wolves would be Xia Fei’s trump card, and they would need to ascend Spirit Mountain. Thus, Xia Fei mapping out all the paths in advance would be highly beneficial.

Whoosh!

Xia Fei put away the map and disappeared silently into the mountain forest.

…

Xia Fei’s first attempt up the mountain took an entire hour. By following the map he had a rather safe journey, but it wasn’t fast enough, and Xia Fei wasn’t satisfied.

Upon entering Unrestricted Pavilion, he saw the two custodian slaves guarding the pavilion and waved his Golden Seal at them. He then went inside with the two zombies following him.

Once the two custodian slaves had stopped, Xia Fei closed the door and said with a smile, “The two of you, please stand guard for me. Thanks.”

Once the door was closed, Radix asked, “Why did you have those two zombies stand guard?”

Xia Fei replied casually, “Ulan is old and needs to rest at night, and I couldn’t find a better place to cultivate than this. With these two extremely powerful custodian slaves standing watch, who would be able to come in? Moreover, the most dangerous place is the safest. They would never think that I was right under their eyes. I’ll be able to see everything that they do!”

Radix was startled by how reasonable Xia Fei’s argument was. The Unrestricted Pavilion was not just an excellent place to keep an eye on Lingxing’s group, it was also an excellent place to cultivate. Cultivating while spying at the same time; was there any better place?

Xia Fei had never stopped cultivating. Whether it was on his warship or in breaks between battles, Xia Fei was always cultivating. In this age, the toughest fists had the most authority. Having understood this long ago, Xia Fei worked even more diligently. Everyone saw Xia Fei’s cultivation rising crazily, but few of them noticed the effort he put into it!

…

After spending a quiet night in the pavilion, two hours before daybreak, Xia Fei ended his session. When he came out of the room, the two zombies were still quietly standing guard, showing no sign of activity when they saw Xia Fei.

Xia Fei pulled aside their hair and carefully looked at their faces. These two zombies did not reject him, nor were they happy. Like two corpses, they had no reactions.

Their complexions were like those of people who had been dead for a very long time, ashen white, and their eyes were empty and devoid of thought.

From their faces, it appeared that they had been quite old when they had lost their souls, as they had many wrinkles. It appeared that they had become fixed in age after losing their souls, and had stopped aging. While their hair was long, it had actually started out quite neat. It was only messy because it hadn’t been combed in a while. Their fingernails were also very neat, as if they had been clipped not too long ago.

‘A sapient lifeform without a soul will stop aging? Interesting,’ Xia Fei thought to himself.

After doing that, Xia Fei started to tell stories to the zombies, even a few jokes about some of the awkward incidents he had gotten into with his pals.

Alas, for some reason, Xia Fei’s jokes did not seem that effective today, and the zombies were not smiling like they had yesterday.

Xia Fei was rather disappointed, but since it was getting late, he left the Unrestricted Pavilion and headed down the mountain.

…

The next day, Xia Fei went up the mountain and did the same thing as the day before, cultivating and telling the zombies jokes. The third day was the same.

“Today is the last day I’ve given the Aurora Clan. After today, I’ll have to give up on them,” Xia Fei said once he had gotten back, lighting a cigarette for himself.

Radix was a guard of the Aurora Clan, so he said hastily, “Give up on them? What does that mean? The Aurora Clan is your family, you know!”

Xia Fei shook his head. “Only those who fight and die together with you count as family. Since the Aurora Clan doesn’t trust me, I won’t waste any more effort on them. But you can rest easy. I just won’t spend too much energy on the Aurora Clan. If something really does happen, I will still do all I can to help them.”

Radix nodded, appearing somewhat disappointed.

Suddenly, Xia Fei’s communication device sounded. It was a call from Wistful Heizus.

Turning on the screen, he saw that Wistful Heizus was in some dark place.

“Xia Fei, activate your 4D communication. Someone wants to meet with you,” Wistful Heizus said sternly.

Xia Fei messed with his screen a little. 4D communication was also known as 3D conferencing. Xia Fei guessed that those secluded old monsters of the Aurora Clan wanted to talk with him, so he didn’t question the request

Whoosh!

As if Xia Fei had been pulled into the screen, his surroundings suddenly changed into a gloomy hall. He was in the center, and around him were ten or so people, all of them linked to this place through 4D communication.

Wistful Heizus cleared his throat and said, “Xia Fei, the people around you are the surname-less people of the Aurora Clan. Some of these seniors have been secluded for eons. I’ve relayed your message to the seniors. They hope to hear from you personally why the Aurora Clan should be swept into this Spiritualist conflict, and why you want all of the clan’s trump cards to be used for this conflict.”

Wistful Heizus stood to the side and awaited Xia Fei’s explanation. While he was the current head, he was still just a junior compared to those old monsters.

Xia Fei smiled. Bowing to the audience, he said, “For the Aurora Clan of today, Xia Fei requests that all Grand Ancestors present go to your deaths!”

Whoosh!

Wistful Heizus paled, and cries of shock came from the audience.

None had expected Xia Fei’s first words to be to ask these Grand Ancestors to go to their deaths!

…

“For the Aurora Clan of today, Xia Fei requests that all Grand Ancestors present go to your deaths!”

The entire hall was dumbstruck by these words!

Wistful Heizus’s face went stiff. “Xia Fei, what nonsense are you saying?!”

Shaking his head, Xia Fei firmly said, “Xia Fei is not speaking any sort of nonsense. If none of you die, the Aurora will never thrive. Thus, Xia Fei boldly asks all the ancestors present to go to your deaths!”

Wistful Heizus was very angry that Xia Fei had once again repeated such treasonous words. He was about to say something when someone in the darkness laughed, “Hold on. Let Xia Fei keep speaking, and we will listen. Why do you want us old things to die?”

Xia Fei looked around and said, “All of you remain hidden partially to remain as a hidden ace for the clan, to step forward and give the enemy an unexpected blow when the Aurora Clan is in danger.

“Another reason for your seclusion is that you have failed to break through the mental barrier and become Annihilators, and so you have become discouraged. Is Xia Fei right about this?”

There was some murmuring from the crowd. Xia Fei’s words had struck true, and while they were words that were hard to take, they had to admit that Xia Fei was right. If they could become Annihilators, who would sit around and do nothing in seclusion?

“Keep talking,” that voice in the darkness prodded him.

Xia Fei smiled. “I don’t know too much, but I do know that you have to pay to get results, and that a person needs a killer resolve in order to survive!

“In my view, it’s best to take things to the extreme! Take out your sword and never look back! If you get in a quarrel, kill their entire family! All of you set down rules for the Aurora Clan that required them to be kind, but this has been the Aurora Clan’s greatest shackle!

“No one can do everything. You want to protect the clan while also keeping its reputation intact. You want the clan to stand on its own while also not offending anyone, but how is that possible!? This universe isn’t so perfect as to allow you to hold up the heavens while not offending anyone!

“That is why all of you should go and die! Since you were the ones who made these dumb rules that enforced kindness upon the Aurora Clan, then please go and break them! Return the killing resolve a warrior should have back to the Aurora Clan!”

Xia Fei’s sharp words were all aimed at the ancestors of the Aurora Clan!