Xiu Zetian departed, leaving Xia Fei with an enormous question.

According to Xiu Zetian, Xia Fei and the Skywing Clan had an inextricable connection to the momentous shift that had taken place in the Annihilation Universe. This was the most suspicious point. Xia Fei had never even been to the Annihilation Universe, so how could the chaos there be related to him?

Regardless, Xia Fei had obtained an important piece of information from Xiu Zetian: He would soon enter the Annihilation Universe as the last Devil Shadow Dragoon, and if everything went as expected, he would come under Xiu Zetian’s covert operation division, Dark Soul!

Just the name of this covert operation division was hair-raising enough. All of the forces in the Annihilation Universe responsible for executing secret missions were under Xiu Zetian’s Dark Soul.

Most bizarrely was that Xiu Zetian had not mentioned what the Dark Soul do, giving Xia Fei a lot of room for imagination.

Radix frowned and asked Xia Fei, “Why do I feel like Xiu Zetian’s Dark Soul is yet another source of trouble? You can tell from the name that it does only those unseemly and shady things.”

Xia Fei was speechless. Trouble, endless trouble, was always following him and had followed him for many years.

Originally, Xia Fei had been quite looking forward to entering the Annihilation Universe as a neophyte Dragoon, but now that things were a fine mess. Before he had even gotten into Annihilator, the Devil Shadow Dragoons had turned traitor, and then this Xiu Zetian guy had come out of nowhere to pull Xia Fei into a covert operation division!

Sighing, Xia Fei said uncaringly, “Forget it. Whatever will come will come. Xiu Zetian is no fool. He must’ve his reasons for saying all that to me. I’m beginning to look forward to joining this covert operations division. After all, this is the only way I can get closer to the truth!”

As Xia Fei talked, he walked into the Unrestricted Pavilion to search for the two custodian slaves.

“You believe that Xiu Zetian is Xiu Yiyi’s father?” Radix asked.

“I do. When true emotions are revealed, a sorrowful aura will engulf a person. Xiu Zetian was telling the truth, and the sequence of events makes logical sense.” Xia Fei nodded.

The two custodian slaves were not just standing around in their usual spots but were instead in a secret room, kneeling in front of the statue of their ancestor.

Smiling, Xia Fei asked, “Why’re you two here? Do you miss the venerable elder who founded the Unrestricted Sect?”

Xia Fei had not been hoping for a response, for the two of them had never talked to him before.

However, to his shock, he heard an immediate response. “Yes… we miss our master.”

*Zing!*

Xia Fei went pale.

He massaged his ears. These two undead could talk? Was he hearing things?

The two of them waved, having Xia Fei sit down next to them so that all three of them were facing the statue of the ancestor.

“My name is… Spirit.”

“My name is… Star.”

The two custodian slaves spoke. Spirit had a pale complexion, while Star was somewhat darker. Together, their names made the Spirit Star. Xia Fei had been with them long enough to see many differences between the two, but others would find it very hard to tell both apart. After all, their faces were both stiff and emotionless.

After a momentary daze, Xia Fei pointed at himself and said, “My name is Xia Fei.”

The two custodian slaves almost instantly made faint smiles simultaneously. Though they were rather ugly smiles, it was clear that they felt amused over Xia Fei’s answer.

“We know… that your name is Xia Fei,” said Spirit.

Star said, “You and your clan… just like our ancestor… have treated us… very well.”

The two of them spoke in a rather fragmented manner, speaking slowly that it often took three minutes to think about what they wanted to say and three more minutes to say it.

Xia Fei felt very excited, not at all minding that they spoke very slowly, very patiently listening nonetheless.

It seemed like the two custodian slaves wanted to express their gratitude to Xia Fei and the Skywings. When the ancestor had passed on his body technique to them, it had come at the price of them guarding the Unrestricted Pavilion until the end of the universe or the end of the Unrestricted lineage.

The old saying said it best: ‘Developing the four limbs make one’s head simple.’

Spirit and Star were once normal people, but as they continuously cultivated their body technique, their brains worked slower and slower, and their bodies became stiffer and stiffer.

When others saw them moving agilely in battle, this was actually because they were using their body technique. When they were not using those techniques, their movements were very slow, as slow as if they were going in slow motion like in movies.

Everything had its price. While that body technique, which did not fear soul injuries, were incredibly powerful, the price was that any practitioners’ minds worked slower, and the more one used it, the stiffer their bodies became.

Later, the custodian slaves ran into the weirdo that was Xia Fei, who spent every day chatting with them, causing their slow minds to think about his words. As time went on, the problem of their slow thought processes had been somewhat alleviated.

The two custodian slaves had needed a long time to understand that the Unrestricted lineage was actually gone, and as a corollary, they were no longer required to keep to the rules set by the ancestor. However, the moment they did, they allowed the Skywing wolves to walk freely through the pavilion.

After another long period, they came to understand that, as they were no longer bound by these restraints, they were no longer custodian slaves and could do what they wanted.

This was why the custodian slaves had left the mountain and helped Xia Fei defeat the Dragoons and also why they had chosen to start a conversation with him.

Xia Fei smiled happily. Although it had required them a long time to understand that they were free, understanding was a good thing. Moreover, the constant pestering from the Skywings had made their minds become more nimble.

As the old saying went, ‘the more one uses the brain, the faster it works.’

The next day, the Skywings circled around Spirit and Star and listened to them talk about themselves.

The Skywings nodded to every sentence, and at certain impressive parts, they even gasped in unison.

Xia Guanghai cheekily put his arms around their shoulders and laughed. “Your body techniques are so formidable that you should just teach them to us! In this way, you can also carry forward the legacy of your ancestor!”

After a long while, Spirit understood what Xia Guanghai had just said and told the other, “Good.”

Star shook his head. “Not good.”

Spirit looked at Star for a while before asking, “Not good? Why?”

After another while, Star replied, “Head, not good.”

After fifteen minutes, Spirit understood and said, “Right, body technique good, but head not good.”

…

As the Skywing wolves clamored around Spirit and Star, asking the two to teach them body technique, Xia Fei obtained a rare moment of peace.

He brought Avril back to the forward base and spent every day either cultivating or with Avril.

Xia Fei knew that his path in life was thorn-covered, and until he reached the end, all peace was temporary.

Avril also knew that whenever Xia Fei spent time with her, a long parting was in the foreseeable future.

Thus, she always cherished and enjoyed rare moments like this with him, and so did he. Their times went by very passionately.

Of course, for Xia Fei, cultivation was still the most important. Only strength could protect himself and the people he loved. This world would always belong to the strong.

In his cultivation room were five crystalline white fruits, the Lasting Draconid Essences that Yang Ji had given to him.

Lasting Draconid Essence was a mystical substance created when a Draconid or a Yggdragon molted. Even the person who had written the Serpent-swallowing Whale manual knew what the effects of eating it were.

Acting cautiously, Xia Fei had not taken the Lasting Draconid Essence yet, even using pharmacological analysis tools to dissect its composition. Alas, this mysterious byproduct of a dragon could not be probed by such tools.

“From how certain Yang Ji appeared, he obviously felt that eating the Lasting Draconid Essence would be extremely useful to the body. It’s worth trying,” Xia Fei stroked his chin and muttered.

Radix frowned. “You can try it once. Still, isn’t it strange that the pharmacological tools can’t analyze its composition.”

Xia Fei replied nonchalantly, “Since it’s a byproduct of a dragon, it’s quite normal for it to be resilient against any probing. Currently, I’m at two key junctures: the threshold to Peak Founder with the attainment of a ninth Soul Mark and my promotion to the Annihilation Universe!

“These two thresholds are far too difficult. If I don’t have some assistance, it’ll take me far too long to get across them!”

Xia Fei currently had eight Soul Marks; the next step was the peak, and after the peak was the Annihilator tier!

Fuchen was so powerful, but he had still been stopped at Peak Founder, unable to advance to Annihilator. It was clear from that that this threshold was not easy to break through.

After all, it was the difference of an entire plane. Without help, Xia Fei might spend decades without any success.

Annihilator was the strongest level in the universe, the apex of the apex!

Xia Fei must confess that becoming an Annihilator was very tempting, particularly after Xiu Zetian had spoken those inexplicable words to him.

Xia Fei sensed that some unfathomable object was waiting for him in the Annihilation Universe.

Smiling, Xia Fei put a Lasting Draconid Essence into his mouth.

Better to try than to keep hesitating. Whatever mysteries these Lasting Draconid Essences held, he would find out when he tried them for himself.

*Clack!*

His teeth bit through the skin of the Lasting Draconid Essence as if he were biting through a pistachio.

An intense fragrance instantly gushed out!

This fragrance was very special, and it was suffocating! Not even the perfume made from one hundred million flowers could compare to one-ten-thousandth of this scent.

Xia Fei quickly shut his mouth. This fragrance, which was incredibly potent, might have some special use, so Xia Fei did not want to waste any bit of it. He quickly swallowed the entire Lasting Draconid Essence.

Strangely, Xia Fei felt his stomach swelling as if it had become bloated from overeating.

All of his pores opened as his stomach began to release the fragrance of the Lasting Draconid Essence.

However, at this point, the intense aroma of the Lasting Draconid Essence had now become odorless as if it were nothing but air.

The change in fragrance and its release seemed to take something out of his body, causing Xia Fei to feel light.

Frowning, Xia Fei muttered, “It seems to be purifying my body, but there’s not much of an effect.”

This left Xia Fei feeling puzzled. Yang Ji had talked up the Lasting Draconid Essence so much; the Lasting Draconid Essence even had such an intense aroma. It was also very bizarre for that aroma to become odorless in the end. How was it that all of these factors had amounted to so little? What was the reason?

As he attempted to draw a Soul Mark, he found that, exactly as he expected, the benefits of eating the Lasting Draconid Essence were pitiful. Even a batch of purifying medicine made by Xia Fei could achieve better results.

Purification was the thing a warrior most needed after energy.

Warriors needed large amounts of energy to grow, and in drawing in large amounts of external energy, they brought impurities into their bodies. Why was it that higher-tier and higher-purity Origin Crystals were more valuable? Why was spirit energy more formidable than soul power?

These were all questions about purity.

Spirit energy was better than soul energy because it was purer. Soul energy could not make soul weapons because it lacked purity.

Warriors needed to constantly take in energy, and they needed to constantly purify it, expelling those impurities.

The Lasting Draconid Essence seemed to be a fruit that could help purify the body, but the level of purification did not make sense at all. Xia Fei was silently cursing Yang Ji for talking up this fruit so much; the man had clearly been exaggerating.

After some thought, Xia Fei threw another Lasting Draconid Essence into his mouth.

He had learned his lesson this time and swallowed it whole without chewing…