Chapter 1318: Return to Furnace Citadel

Translator: Exodus Tales  Editor: Exodus Tales

A week later, a warship took off. This was Xia Fei’s second time making his way to Furnace Citadel, where the Neophyte Dragoon’s assessment and review ceremony would be taking place. Anyone who made it past the assessment this round would get their first Dragoon medal, becoming an official Dragoon.

Xia Fei was not alone, as for some unknown reason, Xiu Zetian had sent Shane with him, almost like he was acting in the capacity of a nanny.

“It’s just a ceremony, is there a need to trouble you to follow me?” Xia Fei asked courteously, when actually he had already had several sleepless nights just thinking about how he could confront You Man the, the holder of the fire element Immemorial Mystical Armament, this time.

“Do you think I want to do this? You ended up in an altercation the last time you were sent here to pick up a form… The leader is just uneasy, so he told me to accompany you,” Shane shrugged in resignation.

‘There are many pairs of eyes here… it’s more likely he’s worried I’ll expose my identity, right?’, Xia Fei thought to himself.

!!

To kill or not to kill, that was a serious problem!

Many sources of information had all corroborated the fact that only when all five elements of the Immemorial Mystical Armament were combined together would it be able to demonstrate its true strength. Furthermore, it seemed like the weapon had other uses beyond simple combat. Xia Fei could not guess what they could be, but what he was aware of was the fact that this elemental Mystical Armament was very different from the rest.

If Xia Fei managed to encounter You Man during the evaluation, according to the rule that Immemorial Mystical Armaments would clash immediately upon meeting, the two would surely have a fight to the death. As it had been demonstrated with Shui Shengsheng and Fengyu, as long as they were hosts of an Immemorial Mystical Armament, they would surely end up fighting!

It was just that the time and place was highly inappropriate; they were going to be attending the Dragoon Medal Ceremony, and there were plenty of eyes from all over the universe watching. Fighting with You Man there was definitely not good. There was even the possibility that if he was not quick enough, he might even expose his identity!

The situation could be even worse than that, given how many experts would be present for the Dragoon Medal Ceremony. If the Fiendish energy of his Inner Demon were to appear during their fight, he could very well be identified, and even the Arhat Fruit would not be able to mask him!

Xia Fei was left with two options: either he withstood the intent to fight until it was all over, and looked for You Man afterward, or he chose to strike first! He needed to leverage his advantage in speed to assassinate his target!

The former was difficult, given that the Mystical Armaments would see red the moment they sensed the presence of the other. Even if Xia Fei could control himself, could You Man do the same?

The idea to immediately assassinate the man was, on the other hand, quite a decent choice. But even if Xia Fei succeeded, he would surely face endless troubles afterwards. The Devil Shadow Dragoons were already recognized as an aberration by the other Dragoons. If he were to strike during the Ceremony, perhaps even Xiu Zetian might not be able to protect him from the repercussions!

“This is really so troublesome,” Xia Fei heaved a sigh as he thought about all that.

Shane was nonplussed. “What’s so troublesome? I already made things clear with you before we departed. The moment the evaluation begins, use your speed to reach that location that I told you about, and then just hide. The Destiny and Holy Light Dragoons will surely use this opportunity to punish the Dark Moons. That has always been the convention.

“After all, the Dark Moons are a motley crew of Annihilators here. Their status is low and though Destiny and Holy Light Dragoons aren’t able to directly point their weapons at them, they use Dark Moons as their test; the side that can beat up Dark Moon the worst will be the one with more face.

“There’s no need for you to participate in this. Just wait for them to finish fighting and for that final whistle to sound, and you can leave your hiding spot and collect your medal.

“As for the ceremony, that’s even simpler. Everyone will form up in a row, and be given a single Dragoon medal in accordance with the results of the evaluation. There might even be some major figures that will come to watch the fight live, so as to have their pick from this batch of dragoon combatants of those that they would like to join their departments.

“You’re a Devil Shadow Dragoon, and these people could not be more eager to avoid you. Who’s going to take you into their department? Just leave with me after receiving your medal, and we can find some random place to have a drink or two. It’s that simple.”

Shane was afraid that Xia Fei was unclear about the plan, so he went through it step by step once more.

According to the plan, there was nothing difficultfor Xia Fei to do. The key here was that his target was with the Destiny Dragoons!

If Xia Fei was given the choice, he would rather resolve this problem during the strength evaluation.After all, the evaluation would be held out in the wilderness, likely broadcast to the evaluation committee with high-speed cameras. The chances of him being discovered would be miniscule.

But if Xia Fei and You Man were to face off right in front of countless major figures of Annihilation, Xia Fei was afraid that there would be a good chance someone could see through his true identity.

Shane had no idea the reason why Xia Fei was being so depressed was because of the strong desire he had for the fire-type Immemorial Mystical Armament. He swallowed audibly and continued, “I noticed you’ve been very serious with your training recently, and you’ve shown great power, but this is ultimately the Annihilation Universe! There are many descendants of heroes who had their seventh brain region open the moment they were born! They reached the Law Power stage at six after they were done with special abilities, interacted with Dark Energy once they reached twelve, and became high-level Annihilators before even they were eighteen!”

Xia Fei was shocked. He had no idea why Shane mentioned all that to him, but those geniuses that Shane spoke of cultivated at a rate that made others break out in a cold sweat just hearing about it. High-level Annihilators before becoming eighteen?! Wasn’t that a bit too ridiculous?

“You don’t have to believe me. When we arrive at Furnace Citadel, you’ll immediately understand what I mean when you see all the Neophyte Dragoons assembled. Those who were made to undergo enhancement training in Furnace Citadel were all commoners. In other words, they were the least qualified. The experts and geniuses I speak of are all in their own clans and families!

“Though the strength evaluation allows people to engage in combat, I simply don’t think you can get too high of a ranking on the battlefield, because there’s simply too many descendants of heroes! Their ancestors were all immortal gods and goddesses who fought against the Ancient Dragon all those years back, during the sundering of the Universes!”

*cough*…

Xia Fei nearly laughed out loud. It turned out Shane had mistakenly thought that Xia Fei was seeking the limelight, and was looking to obtain a high ranking in this strength evaluation.

According to the plan that Xia Fei had laid out for Xia Fei, he would not be required to fight, and surely he would rank in the back. Shane had thought that Xia Fei did not want to see his name too far back, so he was nagging and coaxing him from diverging from the plan.

Xia Fei shook his head. He of course had no plans of seeking the limelight. Not getting into trouble was enough for him already, but Xia Fei was left lamenting after hearing about those descendants of heroes. He was also a warrior, yet the difference in talent was far too huge!

Radix could tell what Xia Fei was thinking, so he spoke up, “What are you being so surprised about? Don’t forget that you only began on the path of the warrior at the age of seventeen, and now you’re already a level One Annihilator. That was just a total of seven years spent cultivating! These so-called descendants of heroes can’t even hold a candle to you.”

Somewhat taken aback, Xia Fei chuckled. He had only considered that he was twenty-four years of age, but his level was incomparable to these younglings who were barely eighteen or seventeen years old.

Thus he had ignored the more important point: his seventh brain region was only opened when he was seventeen!

In terms of the time spent on his road of cultivation, Xia Fei was definitely the fastest!

…

Whoosh~

The warship landed upon the sand dunes beyond Furnace Citadel, and Xia Fei alighted from the warship with Shane.

The weather today was a lot hotter than when Xia Fei had first registered. There were a few warships of varying sizes parked around, looking like there were a good number of Neophyte Dragoons in this batch.

The official warship from Dark Soul had its own unique insignia, and everyone looked at Xia Fei and Shane with a different gaze when they came walking off the ship, choosing to stay as far from the pair as far as they could.

Shane was unperturbed by their reaction, chuckling, “We of the 29th Place usually offend far too many people. These people are used to being on guard against us, but not to worry. As long as our leader is there to hold the skies up, if you see anyone that rubs you the wrong way, you can just invite them back for a cup of tea!”

Arriving at the entrance, Shane flashed his 29th place badge, while Xia Fei kept a low profile and merely showed his identification as a Neophyte Dragoon. No one obstructed the two as they entered the Furnace Citadel courtyard.

There seemed to be people pointing and staring behind their backs. When Xia Fei turned around to look, all he saw was Kane, the one whose arm he had broken a handful of days ago, who was staring at him with a group of Destiny Dragoon Neophytes. The moment they saw Xia Fei turn around, Kane immediately turned his face away, while the others maintained their unfriendly stares at Xia Fei.

Shane shook his head, “This is why I said that you shouldn’t have caused any trouble. That rascal has gathered some men, and it seems like he’s planning something sinister for you during the evaluation. It’s a good thing you’re a speedster, so you shouldn’t have any trouble leaving them in your dust.”

Xia Fei nodded his head nonchalantly. Xia Fei knew Kane’s type very well; he was nothing more than an embroidered pillow that had cultivation, but no actual combat experience. Though he was at the same level as Xia Fei, their disparity became as clear as day the moment they exchanged blows with one another. He was a warrior that had not seen blood spilt, going up against someone like Xia Fei, who clawed his way up from a pile of corpses. Forget their auras, their difference was like heaven and earth from experience alone!

The handful that he was with looked to be the same type, too. Xia Fei felt that he would have no problem dealing with them even if they ganged up on him, so he did not mind them at all.

Shane pursed his lips and left Xia Fei to join the crowd participating in the evaluation, while he left for the spectator stands. There were live screens everywhere, showing that the ages of many of the Dragoons were not very old. There were parents or fellow clansmen who had come to watch the fighting. It was an honor for any clan or family to have someone who could join the strongest fighting force in all of Annihilation.

There were between two to three thousand people gathered here today, with plaques erected in the yellow sands all across the compound where all the Dragoons would head toward their allocated spots.

As usual, it was the human-dominant Holy Light Dragoons and the Bluebloods’ Destiny Dragoons who occupied the most conspicuous locations, with the inferior Dark Moon Dragoons right after. As for the Devil Shadow Dragoons who had betrayed Annihilation twice, there was no plaque at all!

Xia Fei frowned. He surreptitiously stood by the back of the crowd, spotting Lone Peak Shen and Turbid Shadow Lin not too far away. The two were unlucky enough to have been assigned to Dark Moon Dragoon despite both being humans, and they stood out among the assortment of other sapient races.

Exchanging nods with them, Xia Fei walked past both Lone Peak Shen and Turbid Shadow Lin. A good majority of people were young, and Xia Fei could still pass as one too, but the middle-aged Lone Peak Shen and Turbid Shadow Lin were already considered some of the older ones in this batch.

Watching Xia Fei head to the back of the crowd, Turbid Shadow Lin remarked, “I always find myself feeling a bit easier after seeing Xia Fei. We’re unlucky, but Xia Fei is even more unlucky than us! A Devil Shadow Dragoon? How ridiculous is that…”

Lone Peak Shen furrowed his brow, “Xia Fei is ultimately still someone who helped us. Without him, would we have gained enough merit to join Annihilation after challenging the Dark Spiritualists? We ought to lend him a hand if he finds himself in a quandary.”

“Alright,” Turbid Shadow Lin nodded in agreement.

The two of them somewhat sympathized with Xia Fei, and when they looked around, it was just people from Annihilation everywhere! These youths of the Annihilation Universe already had their strength at the Annihilator tier, while people from the lower-tier universes like Xia Fei and Lone Peak Turbid Shadow were in the minority. All of them stood out like solitary figures.

Breath Control covered Xia Fei’s Aura. Xia Fei did not wish to make a move against You Man here, and even if they fought, it would be best if he dragged it out until the strength evaluation started.

Sweeping his gaze around the crowd, Xia Fei searched for You Man’s figure. Given his stature, it ought to be easy locating him, but Xia Fei did not find a trace of him after looking around.

*Rumble*…

That was when a mid-sized warship landed rudely right in the middle of Furnace Citadel! Others had their ships parked outside, while the owner of this warship was obviously not of low status, actually daring to land right in Furnace Citadel!

The doors opened, and first a long row of bodyguards exited, before a Blueblood warrior well over two meters tall came striding out!

*Zing!*

The Water Mystical Armament Terror Genesis! Plant Mystical Armament Cloudsea! The Earth Mystical Armament Southern Star!

The three Immemorial Mystical Armaments on Xia Fei all became agitated at the same time!