1524 A Mysterious Village. The Birth of Divine Weapons!
Xia Fan opened the case which he had stored the weapons and beast crystals in, and his eyes instantly widened. In just one night, every single beast crystal in the case had gone transparent, devoid of any hue of color. It seemed all the energy had been absorbed by the two blades!

Xia Fan was skeptical. He took a beast crystal in hand, but the moment he held it, the crystal dissolved into dust. He could not feel a hint of energy contained within it any longer.

‘So that’s how it is. Cosmic Iron will increase the rate of absorbing the energy inside beast crystals, starting out slow but becoming faster and faster over time,’ Xia Fan thought to himself.

Next, Xia Fan took out the two black daggers and weighed them in his hands. He discovered that they were heavier than before, and he could sense a mysterious energy vaguely emanating from within. They glowed with a faint yet enigmatic glow, almost as they were prehistoric monsters that had been dormant for millions of years, slowly waking up. The light contained an intense killing intent that penetrated his entire body, enough to make anybody’s hair stand on its ends.

“What is that?!” Traveling Buddha’s asked, puzzled. His eyes glowed with astonishment. “Why do I feel those two daggers are trying to present their sharpness to me, trying to threaten me?”

Xia Fan frowned. “You’re not mistaken. These are weapons that I recently forged, and they seem to be hiding some sort of mysterious quality within them, which was awakened by my beast crystals.”

Traveling Buddha was dumbfounded. “You had a really big chunk of Cosmic Iron, yet these two small daggers were all that you ended up making out of it?”

Xia Fan nodded, “Yes. Though small in size, the purity of their metal is very high. It took me two whole days to complete the work, even with my speed.”

Traveling Buddha was skeptical. He stroked his chin and asked, “I’ve seen plenty of divine weapons in my time, but these two daggers are really uncanny. I’ve never even heard of anything like them. So, what next?”

Xia Fan gave the method some thought and answered, “Since we can’t absorb the beast crystals anyway, why don’t we just give them all to the daggers? Let’s see just what sort of final form they take in the end.”

Xia Fan transferred all the beast crystals he had recently collected into the case without another word. He stored the case back into his spatial ring, and the two of them headed to the rental office, where they flashed the keepsake they were given by Dragon Dou to the staff.

——

Someone having such a token meant that they were on business on behalf of their master. No management personnel anywhere would stop them, and due to the absolute trust the local tyrant’s foolish son had placed in Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha, he had handed over his own keepsake to the two for safety.

Successfully renting a shuttle, Xia Fan piloted the vehicle and swiftly departed from God Metropolis. They entered space and headed toward the coordinates Hidden Feng had given them.

In the God Metropolis region, a large number of Stargates had been established, allowing people to reach plenty of planets elsewhere. However, there were still some planets that Stargates could not reach without the use of transportation. The planets that had no Stargates were usually due to the fact that they had only been ‘born’ not too long ago, and the technicians had yet to find the time to begin work on them. Meanwhile, the location that Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha were headed toward happened to be one of the planets that had experienced fission at the very beginning, Planet 4.

“Look! The trees here are simply far too tall and big! They must reach well over several thousand meters high!” Soon, Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha reached their destination, and were orbiting over Planet 4.

“The trees in the forest here are practically taller than mountains. This is indeed very peculiar.”

“Look there. What is that huge shadow in the lake? A crocodile? Could it be a Golden Crocodile?”

“And that cherry tree over there. Why are its berries even bigger than watermelons? Look at how crystal clear they appear, it’s as if they were carved out from agates!”

As Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha flew through the skies of Planet 4, they discovered more and more strange sightings. There was a foreboding feeling that welling up inside Xia Fan’s heart. This was one of the first few planets where strange mutations had occurred, yet there were no Stargates built here. He had an inkling that this might not be coincidence, but the result of someone who did not want others to approach this place.

The shuttle landed by a stream in the middle of a forest. The water was clear, but there was no fish swimming in it. There was a strong smell of sulfur to it, most likely because it had been contaminated by lava that had flowed down after an eruption, making it toxic and unfit for consumption.

Xia Fan opened his case once more, and discovered that in just the two hours since he had last checked it, the two daggers had actually absorbed all the beast crystal energy inside, no different from ravenous monsters. The rate at which they were absorbing the beast crystals was increasing over time!

Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha each took out a dagger and examined them repeatedly as they brandishing them.

Traveling Buddha grew impatient. “What’s the point of just looking at them! Let’s just test it out and we’ll know!”

*Boom*

In a blink of an eye, Traveling Buddha raised his arm and threw the dagger out with all his might. The black dagger streaked through the air like a bolt of lightning, cutting through the air cleanly until it struck into the tree trunk of a big tree that was nearly five thousand meters tall.

The deafeningly loud crack. The sound of thunder rang out as a terrifying bolt of lightning struck down from the sky at the same time, splitting the big tree right down the middle!

Instantly, flames raged as the temperature increased. The big tree that was almost five thousand meters tall turned into two huge charcoal blocks in an instant. Both halves came crashing down to the ground, smashing countless other small trees that were in its path. The wild animals ranging through the forest were frightened by that, scattering about and fleeing wildly from the commotion.

“What did I just do?” Traveling Buddha’s eyes were wide, an incredulous look on his face. He simply could not believe that was an attack he had unleashed. Was his attack able to contain lightning now?

Xia Fan was equally dumbfounded. It was almost as if the instant the dagger made contact with the big tree, it triggered some mysterious power that caused a lightning to strike and ignite the tree, destroying the huge tree just like that.

“Ah!”

The excited voice of Pearl echoed in Xia Fan’s ear, as the little Frost Dragon gushed in elation. “Haha, you’ve created an incredible weapon! It looks like after tempering the Cosmic Iron, it now contains the ability to absorb and release energy. It’s able to absorb the beast crystals and store it within itself, and the moment you attack with it, it can unleash everything all at once! Yes, that must be it!”

Xia Fan was astonished. He hurriedly sped over into the forest to pick the dagger up.

Sure enough, the energy fluctuation inside the dagger was reduced after this one use. Even the mysterious glimmer that surrounded it was slightly dimmer.

Traveling Buddha exclaimed, “Why does it look like it has degraded? It was still giving off such a fearsome and sinister aura just before now…”

Xia Fan felt that Pearl’s conjecture was logical, so he explained to Traveling Buddha what happened. Traveling Buddha simply could not believe his ears after he heard it.

“Oh damn. It feels like this dagger absorbs the essence of the beast, and turns itself into a monster!” Traveling Buddha gasped, a shocked expression on his face.

Xia Fan nodded, “What you said is correct, too! After it absorbed the crystals, it now contains the characteristics of the beasts that it absorbed. Seeing as we are brothers, I’ll gift this dagger to you.”

Traveling Buddha was elated. He took that dagger and could barely put it down. He claimed that he would bring Xia Fan to the Holy Buddha Clan’s treasury and let him have the pick of the place. But at present, given that they were unable to return to Ashen Moon, this promise was moot.

Let’s head into the mountain, see for ourselves just what secret Hidden Wind wishes for us to learn,” Xia Fan said.

“Alright!” Traveling Buddha nodded.

And so, the two held hands, and relying on Xia Fan’s speed, they shot toward the mountain.

——

In the beginning, aside from the plants being much bigger, and the flora being rather peculiar, neither noticed anything out of the ordinary. But as they ventured deeper and deeper into the forest, they slowly discovered some straight sights. There was actually a road in the middle of all this wilderness?

Xia Fan came to a stop and began inspecting the place. There was a little road that was carefully paved with cobblestones meandering into the forest. It was headed in the direction of a valley covered in green moss. The wild flowers that were growing on both sides of the path were obviously not randomly grown, but had been intentionally planted by someone. This meant that there was actually someone inhabiting this primeval forest?

Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha were shocked. They quickly slowed down and began to slowly sneak their way in. They entered the valley, and not too long after, they were shocked once more.

What greeted their sight was a row of wooden houses facing sunward. These were simply constructed and there was wood piled outside of them. Beast skins and fish were being dried in the open, looking like a small village. There were wooden stumps in the middle of the village, looking like a palace where the villagers would gather to hold discussions, and there was a bonfire surrounded by stones, so the people could come together and chat and cook.

Xia Fan took a quick breath. This place was simply far too strange. It was fairly primitive and crude. People living in God Metropolis were either from the Four Great Clans, or the warriors and servants of the Four Great Clans. There was no need for anyone to run off and live out here on such an uncultivated planet, and besides, what would the people do if they encountered some scary exotic beasts?

Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha hid outside the village and observed the place, their faces clouded with uncertainty. Just as they were trying to make sense of just who could be living out here, a dark figure suddenly walked out from one of the wooden houses.

Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha trained their eyes and stared, and were immediately shocked to the extreme. Their eyes widened and their chins nearly dropped to the ground!