*Whoosh!*

The Silver Specter lifted off into space. Xia Fei was hurrying over to the secret hideaway of the Aurora Clan to meet up with the old monsters of the clan.

Turning on the Bixia communication device, Xia Fei connected to Soza in Annihilation, but for some reason, the Soza today appeared to be very listless. His blue face looked to be pale gray right now.

“Oh, it’s you,” Soza chuckled bitterly and asked, “Is anything the matter?”

Xia Fei broached the subject immediately, “I know that the Alpha Universe has a spatial transference array, and I need to use it right now, so that I can move about fast enough.”

Soza massaged his temples and answered softly, “If that’s the case, then go on ahead. Actually, the Bixia Orb you have in your hand is the credential for the array, but the array in the Alpha Universe extends from point to point, and is not able to send you directly to wherever you wish to go. Even if you activate the array, it’s only more efficient, and there’s no way for you to achieve instant teleportation anywhere.”

Xia Fei nodded. He already knew about that. It seemed the Annihilation Universe always had contingencies in the Alpha Universe, which was why even the spatial array they had installed here was not the most advanced sort, and in fact was even worse than what was available in the Alpha Universe.

Xia Fei would first need to find an array entrance if he wanted to go somewhere. If the location he was headed to was near such a relay point, then this method would work swimmingly, but without a nearby relay point, it might not be the most convenient arrangement!

However, having access to the array was better than not having it at all. Being able to shorten the distance the ship needed to travel was already a vast improvement!

After a pause, Soza mentioned, “Be ready to receive the information. The Alpha Universe has a total of 2,175,849 spatial relay points. Every one of them will be sent to your Bixia Orb, as well as the activation method.”

Xia Fei knitted his eyebrows together very unnaturally. He had already thought about how to explain to Soza why he wanted to use the array, yet Soza simply agreed without even a moment of consideration? Something was off. After all, the spatial array was a secret, something Soza had never told Xia Fei the details of. Why was he being so carefree about it today?

“You don’t look so good. Best if you eat some food that could soothe your nerves,” Xia Fei advised him.

Soza emotionlessly picked up a bottle of medicine from his table and gulped it down. Xia Fei had no way of knowing just what medicine had he taken from behind the screen, but Soza’s eyes were a lot clearer after administering said medicine to himself. Xia Fei supposed it was most likely something that temporarily boosted his focus, though the fact that he just finished an entire bottle indicated just how poor his mental state had been, and there were many empty bottles all over his table, as if he had drunk many of them over a short period of time.

“Got it. Thanks for your concern,” Soza’s eyes looked meaningfully at Xia Fei, “If there’s nothing else, then let’s end the call here. When I’m not around, contact White Haze. He’s an agent for Annihilation that we have posted in the Alpha Universe, is quite clever and understands discretion very well. That is why I had him do all the liaising with the Devil Shadow Dragoons, including you. That was a total of fifteen Devil Shadow Dragoons, and everyone greatly benefited from him.”

He had spoken that like it was a pre-arranged script; Xia Fei could of course hear the disheartened tone underlying Soza’s words, but he could not make sense of what had come over Soza today.

“Are the three Fiend soul weapons you obtained the last time still good?” Soza asked suddenly .

“Pretty good. Why are you suddenly asking about them?” Xia Fei probed curiously.

“Nothing. Have any of the Fiend soul weapons affected you negatively?” Soza continued to ask.

“Not that I know of. They suit me just fine,” Xia Fei answered.

Soza seemed to be a little disappointed. Nodding, “Good to hear. Farewell.”

Turning the screen off, Radix could not help but blurt out, “Just what is wrong with him today? It’s like he had lost his soul, asking all those random questions.”

Xia Fei frowned. He lit a cigarette and said, “Perhaps something has happened over there in the Annihilation Universe, and it was inconvenient for him to speak with us about it.”

‘The Fiend soul weapons affecting warriors? Could this be related to the Fiends?’ Xia Fei could not help but wonder.

Shaking his head, Xia Fei entered a set of coordinates into Silver Specter, and they headed toward the nearest spatial traversal relay. Soza’s words were running through Xia Fei’s mind the entire time, unable to make sense of them even after pondering over the words for a long time.

…..

Nineteen hours later: Dark Photovoltaic Dragon, the hideaway of the group of old undying forefathers from the Aurora Clan…

Xia Fei had traveled across nearly half the entire universe, going from the Law Realm’s outpost to Dark Photovoltaic Dragon. Had it not been for the spatial traversal array, this entire trip would have taken the Silver Specter much longer.

Dark Photovoltaic Dragon was a planet, which had another planet that was blocking it from its sun. This caused a good eighty percent of the planet to be shrouded in darkness, making it look very strange.

“To think those undying old men from the Aurora Clan would stay out here where there’s a lack of sunlight, how hilarious,” Xia Fei mused.

Radix was a warrior of the Aurora Clan, and was of course filled with blind reverence toward this location where his forefathers had hidden themselves in, nearly paying homage to the darkened planet itself.

Xia Fei had a strong distaste for such acts, but he did not say a word. After all, the loyalty Radix had to him was unquestionable, and the same applied toward the Aurora Clan, as well.

—

*Whoosh!*

The warship landed at the designated spot according to the ground signal. Wistful Zaifeng had been waiting for his arrival the moment he alighted from Silver Specter, expressing surprise, “How did you get here so fast?”

“I used the spatial array, so of course it was much faster. However, this place is really quite desolate. The nearest relay point was still a fourteen-hour journey away from here,” Xia Fei answered casually.

“Spatial traversal array? Alpha Universe actually has something like that?” Wistful Zaifeng asked, puzzled.

Xia Fei explained the matter to the old man once, and the latter cursed the people of the Annihilation Universe. This bunch of old men from the Aurora Clan was very different from the Auroreans, living freely. After all, the original Auroreans were the sort that had caused plenty of trouble before the clan itself decided to walk down the path of being Mr. Nice Guys, no longer getting into conflicts with others. The Aurora Clan was actually quite violent back then!

“So what is it that all of you had me come all this way for?” Xia Fei asked.

“It is of something very important, of course. Ancestor Clotho is waiting for us. Let’s head on over and discuss things properly,” Zaifeng beckoned him.

At present, the most senior of the Aurorean forefathers was Wistful Clotho. Even Zaifeng would have to call him an ancestor, and all those elders who had recused themselves from worldly affairs followed Clotho’s lead.

The entrance to where they resided was actually a graveyard. Having left the Sky Devil Tombs not too long ago, Xia Fei could not help but scratch his head and wonder, “Aren’t all of you tired of the darkness, staying for such long periods of time in this hideaway?”

Zaifeng burst into laughter, “Do you treat us ancestors as fools? How could we enjoy our life if we had secluded ourselves in such a place? No, this is just a rendezvous location we use. After a period of time, we will all meet up in this place, to share with each other our experiences and such things.

“Normally, we would lead very good lives. I’m considered to be a bit more vulgar, preferring to stay in the luxury casinos found on planet Corradi. Ancestor Clotho is a lot more refined, staying in the forest of the Great Rift Galaxy; he was fine with just a little bridge and a stream, occasionally spending his time fishing to pass the time.”

Xia Fei nodded along as he listened. It seemed like the retirement that these elderly men led was fairly decent. It was no wonder Xia Gucheng also wanted to retire. There was a saying that life would be easy and enjoyable if one had no cares in the world, and it probably meant living something like this.

Zaifeng’s expression turned grim, “Don’t be mistaken, though; it’s not every day that we recluses get to lead a carefree life. We have to meet here after a period of time, and there would always be people guarding this location because there’s something very important belonging to the Aurora Clan here: Radiance Crown!”

“Radiance Crown?” Xia Fei was startled. “What’s that?”

“It’s something very remarkable. You’ll understand once you see it,” Zaifeng assured him.

….

Entering a passageway and passing through several automated defense systems, Xia Fei arrived at a place similar to that of a grand hall. About a third of the Clan’s recluses were present, while the others might have already returned to their headquarters so as to help with defending it.

The grand hall was vast, but somewhat dark. In the center was a large rectangular table where everyone were seated, waiting for him.

Seeing Xia Fei arrive, these recluses greeted him. Xia Fei looked around intently, but he saw no sign of this Radiance Crown that Wistful Zaifeng had mentioned. Perhaps it was just something that was inconspicuous, and Xia Fei failed to recognize it.

…

Everyone gestured Xia Fei to take a seat, and only when he had did Wistful Flint begin to speak, “Since Xia Fei has arrived, then you should start, Ancestor Clotho.”

Seated at the head of the table was Wistful Clotho. The old man nodded. Despite being fat, he was very self-disciplined, appearing to be fairly old-schooled.

Clearing his throat, Clotho said, “Zaifeng is talkative, so I believe he must have already filled you in on Radiance Crown?”

Xia Fei nodded, while Zaifeng waved his sleeves at Clotho. He was also an ancestor, yet he was still seen as a junior in Clotho’s eyes. This made him rather disgruntled.

Clotho continued, “Then I’ll get right into it. Radiance Crown is a set of star maps, related to the energy remaining here in this universe. As you know as well as I do, warriors need energy; you use Spirit Energy, while we use Soul Energy, but the essence itself isn’t very different. They are still Dark Energy, the only difference being Spirit Energy is purer compared to Soul Energy, that’s all.

“There are two ways to attain Dark Energy. The first is to rely on the cultivation of the self. This is very inefficient, and it might not even be enough to guarantee a warrior’s self-expense. The other way is to retrieve it from the natural world. Though Dark Energy is mental, the universe is vast, and there will always be some Dark Energy that was naturally conceived. Take, for example, the galaxy formed after a blackhole collapses in on itself. Such a galaxy would be filled with plenty of Dark Energy.”

“Radiance Crown refers to a set of resource distribution star maps that recorded down many such locations since ancient times. There is even a built-in detection device, and we are able to sense the situations and what these hidden Dark Energy locations are doing, and whether they have been ruined. This is the important energy reserves for us, the Aurora Clan, and the legacy wealth that we leave behind for our descendants. Because there’s no device out there that could contain and store so much energy, we deemed their continued existence, untapped in the natural world, to be the best method of storage.

“But recently, these energies that were gathering out in the natural world are beginning to be despoiled, one after another, almost as if there’s someone who had found out where they were located, and proceeded to retrieve them all. This has puzzled us immensely, which is why we called for you to come take a look,” Clotho was very gentlemanly, explaining the situation unhurriedly and without much fuss.

Xia Fei was stunned. When talking about a need for energy, the first thing that came to his mind was of course the Dark Spiritualists, how they had sold their soul weapons no matter the low prices, all for the sake of gathering large amounts of energy with unknown ulterior motives.

“Ancestor Clotho, where is this Radiance Crown? I would like to take a look at it,” Xia Fei said grimly.

Clotho pointed around to the entire grand hall and said, “The Radiance Crown is what you’re inside.”

“This entire hall is it?!” Xia Fei gasped in shock. The hall was at least two kilometers wide, and five hundred meters tall.

“That’s right.” With that said, Clotho lifted his hand, and the round dome of the grand hall shone brightly!