Those words awoke everyone from their dreams.

Only after Xia Geng opened his mouth did the Skywing Wolfpack suddenly realize what that meant. Everyone had been so preoccupied after seeing Xia Fei’s miraculous Unrestricted Soul Spirit Mark that they had forgotten something very important: Now that Xia Fei had achieved a seven-sided Soul Mark, it meant he was officially a Great Spiritualist!

Rising from level six to seven was just one level, but it was a qualitative leap in power!

The Intermediate Spiritualist Xia Fei no longer existed. Right before their eyes was the new Great Spiritualist Xia Fei!

“This is wonderful! The Skywing Clan has our very own Great Spiritualist now!”

“Does that mean our brothers will not have any lack for soul weapons from now on?”

“But of course! When has Xia Fei ever forgotten about giving us soul weapons? We’ll only be getting even more from now on!”

The Skywing Wolfpack laughed uproariously, showering their congratulations onto Xia Fei. Only their Grand Ancestor Xia Gucheng was staying very calm as he growled, “No. This time is very different!”

*Zing!*

Everyone hurriedly turned around to face him. They had no idea what was wrong with the Grand Ancestor that he would actually sound rather emotional.

“All of you better not forget that Xia Fei was only promoted because he absorbed some unknown Evil Spirit. This might be a very risky move on his part! As for that hundred-meter set of Fiendwings that he unfurled just now, even I have no idea what’s going on there,” Xia Gucheng said, more to himself than anyone else.

Xia Fei had been promoted under very strange circumstances. It had been like he had gone mad, grabbing hold of that Evil Spirit to pummel. But Xia Fei had always been very unconventional, and countless weird occurrences had happened to him. No one had thought Xia Fei defeating this Evil Spirit and his subsequent promotion to be that big a deal.

In the distance, they heard Xia Fei let out a sigh, and he flashed a friendly smile to the Skywing Wolfpack standing across from him.

*Whoosh!*

The whole Skywing Wolfpack swiftly dashed over, showering Xia Fei with a myriad of questions as they surrounded him.

“Look, I’m fine aren’t I? I’ve just accidentally advanced, that’s all,” Xia Fei shrugged.

*Thud!* Xia Guanghai delivered a playful punch to Xia Fei’s shoulder and said unhappily, “An accident again, huh?! Rascal, you’re always claiming you promote by accident. You’re clearly trying to provoke us!”

Everyone shared a raucous laugh. No doubt the stronger Xia Fei grew, the happier his comrades became. The members of the Skywing Clan had always shared a close-knit bond with one another, and none of them thought Xia Fei’s promotion was a bad thing. It was still unavoidable for them to feel the need to work even harder, given the fact that none of them were willing to have Xia Fei leave them in the dust.

Radix came over and spoke up, “Xia Fei, it’s best if you go and take a look at Xiu Yiyi.”

Xia Fei nodded. He made his way over to Xiu Yiyi and took her up in his arms. The girl was far too frail, making him feel as if he was lifting a little chick; it hardly took any of his strength at all.

Her cheeks were rosy and flushed, and her breathing was even. Xiu Yiyi did not appear to be dealing with any complications, looking completely relaxed as she slept.

“A large portion of her brain region remains damaged like before, but at least it isn’t fatal. She’s now far too physically weak, and needs a while to recuperate before I can help her with the second attempt to reactivate her brain region,” Xia Fei said after a brief examination of her condition. “Let’s go, it’s time we headed back,” Xia Fei added with a wave of his hand.

…

The troops split up. Xia Gucheng led the Skywing Wolfpack away, while Xia Fei reboarded the Silver Specter. Xia Fei had no desire to let Xiu Qian know that the Skywings were capable of forming a Soul Array now. Though this was the first time it had been put into use, the Skywing Soul Array had demonstrated powerful combat power and had huge potential. That sort of combat power was not to be used for bragging rights.

Xia Fei knew very well that no matter how anyone showered him with praises, it was ultimately just lip service. What Xia Fei wanted was guaranteed fatality! He wanted to keep the Skywing Soul Array a secret until there came a day when it was really needed, allowing him to break the very heavens in one go!

A warrior would be powerful not merely because they were strong, but often because they understood the value in keeping things secret. It was no different from how Xia Fei would often use a harmless smile that had tricked countless enemies.

…

“Your granddaughter is fine, take her to go rest,” Xia Fei said as he handed Xiu Yiyi over to Xiu Qian.

Xiu Qian hugged Xiu Yiyi tightly in his arms. Tears rolled down his face, while the two bodyguards next to him were absolutely shocked, sharing a dumbfounded look between them.

Xiu Qian carried Xiu Yiyi back to the room, while that pale-faced bodyguard remained behind. He waited until Xiu Qian was far away before he performed a deep bow to Xia Fei and said, “Our deepest gratitude cannot be fully expressed with words alone, but you did save the young missus’ life, and no matter what, I must indeed offer a word of thanks for that.”

“Don’t speak so soon. I’ve yet to heal Xiu Yiyi,” Xia Fei said with a light chuckle. This person was at least genuine, unlike the dark-faced companion of his who always had a glum look on his face.

“If you’re able to keep our young missus alive, then I believe you won’t have any problem mending her brain region, either,” the man replied sincerely.

Xia Fei was a little taken aback, so he asked, “So that means you could tell what happened?”

“Yes. The young missus’ brain region is missing something.”

“What is it?” Xia Fei’s eyes glazed as he pressed for details.

“I’m not sure. Had we any idea what it was, we wouldn’t have sought your help.”

“I see,” Xia Fei pouted. He was a little disappointed, because he had failed to understand just what that Evil Spirit was; it was still a riddle to him.

“No matter the case, we of the White Qilin Clan surely owe you a huge favor this time!” the bodyguard swore.

“Speaking of which, is the White Qilin Clan that amazing? I seem to have heard of your name before, so is a favor from your people really valuable? If you must know, I’ve always been fond of more practical things,” Xia Fei said with a smile. In his eyes, favors were too empty. It was far better to be practical and get something material!

That bodyguard laughed and answered him in a low voice, “Don’t you worry, since we’ve stated that we owe you a favor, then everything else will of course not be a problem. As for whether a favor with the White Qilin clan is worth how much, I’m sure you’ll have the opportunity to learn about that in the future.”

Xia Fei waved his hand, indicating that he could leave, so the bodyguard with decent cultivation stood up and left without showing arrogance or inferiority.

Radix rubbed his chin, “Look, that person seems to be in a clan with Xiu Qian and Xiu Yiyi, sharing their equally pale features. Meanwhile, that dark-faced bodyguard doesn’t seem to be part of their clan, seeing how he lacks any sort of graciousness in his demeanor.”

Xia Fei did not agree with Radix’s observation, “Demeanor isn’t something that can feed anyone. I’ll be thanking the heavens if they can just send us something good after all this.”

——

Switching to autopilot, the Silver Specter began its journey back. Furball and Little Goldie did not join Xia Fei in the later operation this time. While the latter was flying happily around Xia Fei, Furball instead threw a petty little fit to express his dissatisfaction, resulting in a gruff kick from Xia Fei.

“Are you really fine?” Radix was concerned. “Nirvana did not take in even a bit of that Evil Spirit, and sent all its energy to you. I found the entire situation to be very odd.”

Xia Fei lit a cigarette and pulled out the Fiendish Blade Nirvana. Placing it on the table, he said to Radix, “have a look for yourself.”

Radix was elated and proceeded to dive back in.

In their previous battle with the Broken Wing Devil’s armor, because Radix had not been decisive enough in killing their enemy, Xia Fei had rescinded his privilege of controlling Nirvana, and he had been feeling guilty ever since. Now that Xia Fei was letting Radix control the blade again, that meant the punishment was over, and he could help pull his weight for his master again.

Clearly defined rewards and punishments had always been a principle that Xia Fei followed. Even if Radix, Furball, and Little Goldie were all the most loyal arms of Xia Fei, any mistake they made still meant Xia Fei would mete out the appropriate punishment.

*Whoosh!*

Radix took Nirvana for a spin in the air for a few times before poking his head out, his expression one of incredulous surprise, “It seems like Nirvana absorbed a bit of that Evil Spirit’s energy after all, but it seems to dislike it a lot, and the little bit of energy it absorbed has been intentionally isolated.”

Xia Fei puffed out a smoke ring and said softly, “Nirvana is very strange, to actually shove all that energy to me. Honestly, when that happened, I also had no idea what I was doing. My one desire then was to kill, and it was like I had been driven to madness.”

Radix nodded repeatedly. Xia Fei had used his head to headbutt that Evil Spirit, and then ripped its head off. That brutal action was a frightening sight to behold!

After a momentary pause, Xia Fei continued, “It was a good thing my Soul Mark is the Unrestricted Soul Spirit Mark, so it was still crazily absorbing this external energy. It was only near the end of the fight that I regained consciousness somewhat, though the external energy was still rampant inside me, leaving me feeling very exhausted. That was why I decided to make an attempt to promote right there and then, unleashing all that newly obtained energy without any reservation! I still had my own energy mixed in it as well, and only then did I manage to regain my equilibrium, and even managed to make a breakthrough at the same time.

“It sounds easy now, but the situation was extremely critical. That Evil Spirit’s energy was also technically dark energy, and an important mental energy, but what he had was different from mine, like a spirit that was completely different from mine.”

What Xia Fei elaborated on was somewhat complex, and Radix could not help but furrow his brow.

“Simply put, its energy was incompatible. When the Evil Spirit was alive, I’m certain it was something different from us sapient lifeforms, which is why its soul was different, too!” Xia Fei explained when he saw how confused Radix looked.

“Then it and Wraith?” Radix asked again.

“They are also slightly different. Wraith isn’t anywhere near as strong as it was, sharing only fifty percent similarities at most,” Xia Fei answered.

Radix pondered on that thought, then said, “The universe doesn’t seem to have only a handful of sapient species. That Evil Spirit could perhaps have been from some rarely seen race when it was still alive, just like the Triclopean Fiends we saw! Wasn’t that person rather unique? Growing out a third eye and being good at energy surveillance arts.”

Xia Fei extinguished his cigarette. What Radix said made sense. The universe was complex beyond what anyone could imagine. There were so many different kinds of living creatures that existed that it was very normal to encounter some weird freaks from time to time. Xia Fei’s Terror Genesis was no doubt one such existence.

“Look here.”

Xia Fei carefully rolled up his pants leg. There on his left leg the image of a black water droplet resided. It was already melded into his body, and was none other than his other Immemorial Mystical Armament, Terror Genesis.

In the past, Terror Genesis was unresponsive, but today, Radix seemed to see an eye looking back at him curiously! It looked like it was a living creature!

“Terror Genesis is alive?!” Radix was shocked.

Xia Fei rolled his pants leg back down and replied, “I reckon it is related to when I absorbed that Evil Spirit. Sometimes, I really don’t get it. With how mysterious the five Elemental Mystical Armaments are, just what exactly do they do?”

Radix was speechless. Honestly, the uses for the Immemorial Mystical Armaments had always been shrouded in mystery this whole time. They could be called natural weapons used in combat, but the five Elemental Immemorial Mystical Armaments all had many strange attributes. Take Terror Genesis, for example. It was willing to stick with Xia Fei, but it refused to merge with Peacock Blue. Occasionally, it would spring out and protect Xia Fei, and clean up some weird things.

“Well, there’s no need to dwell on this further,” Radix mused. “Aren’t you always saying about how different means do not matter as long as the destination is the same? This time, you’ve not only subdued an Evil Spirit, saved Xiu Yiyi’s life, and become a Great Spiritualist, you even came up with the Skywing Soul Array by yourself! That itself is a historical achievement!

“From today onwards, the Skywing Clan will no longer just have to rely on their Wolfpack Formation, and will have a fatal new tool in their arsenal! Even if they face off against Annihilator-tier experts, they will have no problems putting up a fight!” Radix was excited. “Seeing that we’re nearing the moment when the Dark Spiritualists will be launching their final assault, this Soul Array would definitely be of great use!”