Chapter 550 - 330: The Irony of Fate

Chapter 550: Chapter 330: The Irony of Fate

These paths were mutually exclusive.

Yu Fei’s current strength, to be precise, was the result of a combination of the Martial Artist and Esper paths.

It was just that he hadn’t deeply developed his Esper path; he was still at an introductory stage, relying solely on his innate talent.

And the talent he’d acquired, Electromagnetic Induction, was one of the entry requirements for a Mechanist.

With this, Yu Fei started to understand a few things. No wonder he always felt a creeping sense of dread from the parts of his talent’s description concerning the planet’s will, and why it was always subtly influencing his emotions.

He had even perceived emotions from the world’s primal energy—joy upon seeing him, and when he chose not to use it for his breakthrough, the verdant primal energy had actually shown a sense of regret.

Owylis had become the Gaia Consciousness, turning the entire planet into her personal pasture. She had sealed the upper limits of advancement for all living beings, waiting to harvest the soul essence of every Martial Artist at the Grandmaster level and above. After ten thousand years, there was no telling to what extent that thing had accumulated power.

According to the information Cheng Yu had transmitted to him, the process for a Gaia Consciousness to transform back into a living being was exceptionally difficult, with an extremely high risk of failure.

In the Star Sea, any life-bearing planet would give birth to a Gaia Consciousness. With a bit of luck, it could become an existence closest to a god. However, if discovered by a Priest organization like the Void God Sect, it would be captured, manifested as a Void Deity, and used as a resource for their cultivation.

Only in extremely rare cases would a Gaia Consciousness manifest a physical body, becoming a creature of exceptional talent, breaking free from the planet’s shackles to become an independent individual.

This was the path Owylis was currently taking. Over a vast stretch of time, she had lost her original self-awareness. In that chaotic state, she had been absorbing the soul essence of human Martial Artists. If she ever succeeded in reviving, she would be born as a B-rank lifeform.

Furthermore, the cosmic treasure that the Yuanchen people and the Void God Sect had fought over back then was named the [Fate-Reversing Pearl]. It was said to be able to work miracles, causing a person’s strength to undergo an earth-shattering transformation. It was very likely a true form of higher-dimensional power...

After Cheng Shi obtained this treasure, the Fate-Reversing Pearl vanished. It was said that this treasure would bind itself to a race and reveal itself at the opportune moment...

’The Fate-Reversing Pearl...’

When Yu Fei came across this piece of information in his mind, he felt as if he’d been struck by lightning.

He had always thought the Fate-Reversing Pearl was his personal cheat, but it turned out that wasn’t the case at all.

In the information left by Cheng Yu, cosmic treasures were the most miraculous products of the Star Sea, worthy of being called cosmic wonders.

Each of these treasures had its own rules. Some favored a race, some favored an individual, and some even possessed wish-granting abilities.

The [Fate-Reversing Pearl] was one such case. It would bind to a race, appearing cyclically. Only when that race was completely wiped out would it reveal its true form again.

The Void God Sect had intended to exterminate the Yuanchen people, which was the true trigger for the great war.

Yu Fei lay on the rubble-strewn ruins for a full day, thinking about many things, constantly cross-referencing the information Cheng Yu had transmitted to him.

The most important part was the intelligence about the Star Sea.

The Star Sea... was a general term for the known universe. It was boundlessly vast, home to countless intelligent species, a supermassive cosmic niche that integrated order, chaos, destruction, and rebirth.

In the Star Sea, the standard base power level was C-rank, which corresponded to the range from a human Grandmaster to a Martial Saint.

The living beings in the universe were innumerable, but any who could survive in space by their own power were the elites of their species.

Yu Fei’s current combat power was barely sufficient, but his life-form level was not.

Moreover, the intelligence Cheng Yu provided was from forty thousand Yuanchen years ago, so it was bound to be inaccurate by now.

Cheng Yu had also left him two treasures. The first was a star chart with a spatial protection ability. With it, Yu Fei could exit the Creation Scroll: Eternal Concealment Curtain. Under the star chart’s protection, he could traverse the void realm to reach the true Star Sea, and there, find a true path to a breakthrough, avoiding Owylis’s corruption.

The second gift was a language comprehension Magic that Cheng Yu had permanently imbued in Yu Fei.

The innumerable different species in the universe each had their own cultures and languages. For anyone wanting to traverse the Star Sea, language was the greatest barrier. A person could learn hundreds of languages, but they could never learn all the languages in the universe.

However, for those on the path of a Mage or a Mechanist, this problem was easily solved.

Combining all this with Cheng Yu’s information, there were still many things that were hard to explain.

’First, how exactly did Sima Hong fake his death? And what was his purpose in watching the Ruins of Xuyuan?’

’Who... who exactly was he?’

’Then there was Owylis. Having become the Gaia Consciousness of the Yuanchen home world, what was her current state? Was she conscious? And how could he save the tainted Martial Artists of the Yu Kingdom at the Grandmaster level and above, like Ye Shuping?’

’Thinking back further, the Great Ancestor... what kind of person was he?’

’His actions had greatly increased the Yu Kingdom’s strength, but they had also significantly accelerated Owylis’s recovery. Who exactly was this suspected system-holder?’

All sorts of mysteries churned in Yu Fei’s mind. There were too many unknowns.

It wasn’t until the next day that he tuned into the beacons and went to find Ye Shuping and the others.

Due to the peculiar nature of the Mysterious Realm, one of the four beacons was constantly shifting, while the other three had stopped moving after a single teleportation.

Yu Fei guessed that the ones who had stopped were his teacher and his senior sister. As for the third, he wasn’t sure.

Following the signal, Yu Fei took a step forward, and in the blink of an eye, the world around him had changed.

Pristine white snow lay beneath his feet. This was a winter snowfield.

The pale earth stretched endlessly. With a graceful posture, Zhuo Feiming was practicing a set of basic spear techniques, her long spear whistling through the air.

Yu Fei waited to the side, not wanting to disturb her.

Zhuo Feiming didn’t stop either. Her spear’s momentum was profound and mysterious. As the black-gold spear danced, it stirred ripples in space, despite clearly not being infused with any power.

After a long while, Zhuo Feiming retracted her spear with a look of regret.

"Yu Fei, am I the first one you’ve found?"

"Yes."

"Quick, tell me, what happened after? Why did you suddenly disappear?"

Looking at his eager senior sister, Yu Fei felt an indescribable emotion in his heart.

’Zhuo Feiming’s talent was extraordinary, but anyone who had used the world’s primal energy to advance to Grandmaster had long since had their soul shackled. After death, their soul essence would be plundered by Owylis.’

’In this process, the Martial Artist’s own important memories and spiritual insight would also be taken. This was why Cheng Yu had made him swear an oath of secrecy.’

Yu Fei had already prepared an excuse. He said calmly:

"Senior Sister, I was suppressed by an incomprehensible spatial power and passed out. I’ve only just woken up.

The Ruins of Xuyuan have vanished. There’s nothing left but a wasteland, and the lake is gone too.

I only just woke up, noticed the beacon’s position had changed, and teleported here right away."

Zhuo Feiming sighed. "I see..."

"After the seal on the Ruins of Xuyuan was broken, the power that erupted was definitely above the Martial Saint level. We exchanged a few moves as we escaped. After arriving here, I had a flash of insight, but I didn’t expect it to all come to nothing in the end."

The black-gold spear dissolved into a flash of fire. Zhuo Feiming stood with her hands behind her back, her sharp, bright eyes gazing out at the snowfield. Her aura still filled the air, but Yu Fei could sense a bewilderedness about her.

She said to herself, "Every time I’m on the verge of an epiphany, it always ends up like trying to scoop the moon from the water or see flowers in a fog. It just gets blurrier and blurrier until I’m left with nothing..."

’Of course it does,’ Yu Fei thought. ’Owylis tampered with the world’s primal energy. Priests are masters of manipulating souls, and she was once an A-rank powerhouse, no less.’

’By the Star Sea’s universal standards, Senior Sister would be considered a high C-rank Martial Artist at best. Her upper limit had been completely sealed.’

’For forty thousand years, countless brilliant and stunningly talented Martial Artists of the Yuanchen people had all ended up as fodder for Owylis.’

’But there was still a puzzle in all this. Back when Owylis was just a remnant soul, how did she manage to influence the present world and bury the entire history of the Yuanchen people?’

Setting those thoughts aside, Yu Fei stepped forward to comfort her. "Senior Sister, look on the bright side. At least we’ve witnessed power beyond the Martial Saint level. Maybe one day, you’ll be able to understand it thoroughly and completely break free of your shackles."

Zhuo Feiming turned and smiled, her bright eyes seeming to blossom with light.

"I’ll take that good omen, then. The future...

Yu Fei, you need to grow up fast!"

She instinctively sensed that Yu Fei wasn’t telling the whole truth, that there was something deliberate in his words, but his original intentions remained unchanged.