1496 Law Power
Xia Fan controlled the hijacked dreadnought and fired several blasts at the nameless planet, obliterating the Murder Shrine base and venting some of his rage. Only then did he hand the reins over to Jin Yu so that they could return to the Inner Territories.
Headquarters had already sent word that they had received the coordinates to the Demon Chasm. This matter was extremely important to the union, as the Special Investigation Bureaus and militaries of all three Federations were desperately searching for the Demon Chasm’s location.
After all, the Demon Chasm’s appearance verified the Skywing prophecy from forty thousand years ago. That sort of frightening disaster wasn’t something the Starcloud Union could deal with by itself. All three Federations needed to work together!
As for the orders Xia Fan’s group received, they were to immediately meet up with the reinforcements and then return to the Inner Territories to rest and recuperate. The Demon Chasm and the follow-up investigation of the Murder Shrine would be left to the powerful divisions of the Three Great Federations to handle.
Xia Fan cast aside all the thoughts in his mind, found himself an empty cabin, and told his brothers that he was going to rest. Once he was in the room, Xia Fan hastily took out a micro terminal and attached the drive Drunken Buddha had given him into the reader.
There was a hum as the projector on the wrist-shaped terminal was activated, and a screen appeared. Xia Fan frowned as he read the words on the screen. It turned out that this drive could only be read once. The moment the contents were read, the device’s self-destruction function would activate.
Xia Fan didn’t rush to read the contents. He first took a bath and recovered his spiritual energy before returning to the room and pressing the confirmation button on the screen.
Hummmmm…
The screen blinked, and Xia Fan saw a star map’s display. On it were many special symbols; in the center of the star map was a door.
Xia Fan looked at the description below the star map and realized that that was actually a star map of the Three Federations’ core Forbidden Region. The door in the center was the symbol of the legendary Cosmic Gate which the Skywings had once used to invade Ashen Moon.
There was also a symbol in the shape of an energy shield. That was probably the dome where Xia Fan and the Disasters had once lived. The dome wasn’t too far from the Cosmic Gate, only separated by a single star system.
Xia Fan couldn’t help but shudder when he saw the dome symbol. The scenes of his life with the Disasters replayed in his mind like a movie. As he didn’t have the authority to enter the Forbidden Region, Xia Fan had yet to return to the land beneath the dome. He didn’t know if the Disasters had truly been killed by that mysterious foe or not.
Xia Fan suppressed the sorrow in his heart and continued to study the star map. Besides the symbols for the Cosmic Gate and the dome, there were many other symbols with unknown meanings, like that white building. It appeared to be some sort of lab. There was also a bizarre seven-colored flower. When studying pharmacology, Xia Fan had never come across a plant like that.
In short, it was a very complicated and mysterious star map. There were several hundred marks on the forbidden region, and Xia Fan made certain to memorize all the marks and the star map itself before reading the contents below it.
His boost in speed had also given Xia Fan faster reading speed and memorization ability. After around one hour, he had read the contents of the drive three times through and memorized every word in it. After doing all that, Xia Fan closed the screen.
Clack~
The fingernail-sized drive popped out of the terminal’s reader. The moment it left the terminal, the drive went up in flames, burning all of its secrets to ash.
Xia Fan’s mouth was dry, so he took a bottle of spring water from the refrigerator and took a few drinks from it. He then massaged his temples and organized his thoughts.
To put it simply, Drunken Buddha had told Xia Fan two things: One, Drunken Buddha no longer trusted the upper echelons of the Three Federations. He suspected that there was a traitor among them; and two, Drunken Buddha wanted Xia Fan to go to the Forbidden Region to find a person. That person was someone who might know the secrets of the Four Great Clans.
Xia Fan looked up at the ceiling and muttered, “It’s related to the Four Great Clans?”
At that time, Pearl had also finished taking a bath. Flapping her little wings, she flew onto Xia Fan’s shoulder, cocked her head, and looked curiously at Xia Fan.
Xia Fan had initially planned to take a bath with her, but she was actually very bashful, her little white face turning as red as an apple. Xia Fan had found her embarrassed face back then rather amusing. It turned out that this bothersome little monster also had times where she was flustered.
“What are the Four Great Clans?” Pearl asked curiously after hearing Xia Fan’s mumbling.
Xia Fan replied, “The Four Great Clans were Ashen, Dragon, Moon, and Hidden. After being defeated by the Skywings, the four clans did not participate in the establishment of the Three Federations. Instead, they completely disappeared. It has been forty thousand years since then, but there is still no news about them, and nobody knows what they’re doing.”
“Tsk.” Pearl grumbled. “Those guys were considered the Four Great Clans? Nothing but a bunch of losers. Not only did they lack combat power, they had bad hearts, too. Originally, we didn’t plan to start a massacre in Ashen Moon, but those guys started a war. Their complete defeat was deserved.”Xia Fan suddenly remembered something and asked Pearl, “Right, apparently, before my father left, he left behind a Skywing token. Could that item be in the hands of the Four Great Clans?”
Pearl shook her head and regretfully said, “I don’t know, because I was already in a feigned death state when the Demon Chasm was discovered. Your father leaving behind the Skywing Token and Xia Chen’s death in battle were all things that happened afterward.
“But I’m guessing that Xia Chen’s death was definitely related to the Four Great Clans. They aren’t good people. Your father had said that he didn’t want to fight with any other humans while the Ant Demons remained a threat, but Ashen Dragon and Hidden Moon broke their promises again and again, thoroughly enraging your dad.”
Xia Fan felt like that was correct. Xia Chen’s memorial stele had noted that Ashen Dragon had ambushed the Skywings using the pretext of negotiations, ending with Xia Chen to die in battle. At that time, the Four Great Clans had been the leaders of Ashen Dragon and Hidden Moon, so they must have given the order for the ambush!
With that thought in mind, Xia Fan had a very poor opinion of the Four Great Clans.
Pearl stood on Xia Fan’s shoulder and slapped Xia Fan’s neck with her little wings. “Now that things have come to this, I might as well tell you the truth. Even if you find the Skywing Token, it’s pointless!”
Xia Fan was stunned. “What? Why?!”
Pearl jumped onto the table, her body emitting a faint white light as she turned back into a little girl. Propping a hand under her chin, she told him, “Because both time and space are in chaos within the Great Chiliocosm. In any case, it’s a whole lot of trouble. Even if the Skywings were to return to Ashen Moon, it’s not certain WHEN they would arrive. It could be in the past, or sometime in the future!
“The only function of the Skywing Token is to inform your dad that you’re still alive. But if he wants to come and get you, unless he can control the time nodes of the Cosmic Gate, he will have to depend on luck.
“But you don’t need to worry too much. The Skywings have been studying this whole time. The Skywing Token of the past was just a simple energy emitter, unable to penetrate through the barriers between universes. But later Skywing Tokens had the ability to send signals between universal spaces. It was a result of them studying the Law of Space.”
“Haaa…” Xia Fan sighed. The chaotic time nodes truly were a problem. From what Pearl had said, going back home was truly very difficult!
Suddenly, Xia Fan started and quickly asked, “You said the Law of Space? What’s that?”
Pearl crossed her legs, acting as if it was a common question. “That is the power of Law, a power of eternity above special abilities. If you want to be as fast as your dad, a special ability isn’t enough. You also need to master the Law of Speed!
“Alas, I’m not a member of your clan, so I can’t tell you about the Law of Speed. We dragons exist beyond all power systems, so we don’t need special abilities or Laws. We are born powerful.”
Pearl seemed very proud about that, but she truly did have the right to be proud. After all, she was a dragon, a species that was born incredibly powerful. The Skywings needed to constantly study and cultivate, while the dragons just needed to eat and live!
Xia Fan stroked his spatial ring and took out the Golden Law for Pearl to look at.
“Do you remember those Disasters who raised me? The most formidable of them was Blind Grandpa. Before he left, he gave me this. It seems to be very valuable, but strangely, there’s not a single word on it. Is this the so-called Law power you spoke of?”
Pearl looked down at that ancient book, and her eyes turned round and bright. “The Law of Gold! You actually have the Law of Gold! So many people are desperate for this thing. Why didn’t you tell me about it earlier?”
Xia Fan shrugged. “Look carefully. Only its name is the Law of Gold. There’s nothing inside it.”
Pearl rolled her eyes and swore viciously, “You country bumpkin, you’ll make me die from anger! Law power is a supreme existence. You think it can be described using words?”
Xia Fan frowned. “It can’t?”
“Of course not!” Pearl placed a hand on her hip and spoke like a teacher. “Why don’t you go and describe the universe to me with words?”
“Uh…” Xia Fan shook his head. “That’s probably not possible. The universe is too big, too mysterious, and too complex.”
Pearl said, “That’s what I’m saying! The descriptive power of words is extremely limited, and what’s important about studying laws is comprehending, comprehending the powerful rules of the universe!
“Although I’ve never studied Laws before, I do know that no Law is passed down through words, only through mental energy. This Law of Gold doesn’t seem to have any words, but that’s because you haven’t found the proper method to read it yet!”
Xia Fan sat up in shock, muttering, “If I can find the right method to read it, I can learn the Law of Gold?”
Pearl said casually, “Of course! Tell me, what special ability did that Blind Grandpa of yours have?”
Xia Fan thought it over and said, “Blind Grandpa didn’t seem to have any sort of special ability. Except, his eyes were very special. They flashed like gold.”
Pearl nodded. “Then he probably had a vision-type special ability. So you see, if even a vision ability user can grasp the Law of Gold, you can as well!
“Moreover, the Law of Gold is an all-purpose Law power. It is extremely powerful, and it can get you an almost invincible Golden Body!”