1533 Searching Planet One
“Look there! It’s Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha!”
As they were walking along the streets of Four Kings City, people quickly identified Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha. Everyone had big flattering smiles on their faces, nodding and bowing at them.
Life was so capricious at times; the last time Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha were here they were captives, but now they had become major figures in the hearts of everyone!
“I already guessed that you two would be coming over. The Black Egg is already repaired, and though it could not be made as good as new, it should have no problems being flight-worthy,” Luolin smiled and said the moment he saw Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha. He was wearing his sunglasses like always, covering the scar he over his eyes.
“We’re about to see that huge secret you mentioned when we first met. The Four Great Clans have informed us to depart for Planet One in three days, and we plan to leave right afterwards,” Xia Fan told Luolin.
“Luolin used a hand to lightly rub at a corner of his eye. He had once possessed a pair of unique eyes, the Yin-Yang Omniscient Eyes, but he was now a blind man because he saw something that he should not have seen.
“Please bring Jane with you if the two of you are about to leave,” Luolin asked them.
Xia Fan frowned, “Uncle, it is best if you join us too. If anything were to happen, we’ll be able to fly off on the Black Egg and leave this place.”
Luolin shook his head and let out a bitter chuckle, “You have your plan, and I also have my plan, too. Go and investigate what you need to, and then bring the truth back to Ashen Moon.”
Luolin looked to have already made up his mind about the matter. He was once a famed warrior himself, a Legendary-ranked expert. That was especially true for his Yin-Yang Omniscient Eyes, a unique special ability that had allowed Luolin to force his enemies into a state of confusion if they unwittingly looked into his eyes.
That was until one day after he had been called to Planet One, and had accidentally seen something that he should not have seen. After that, his eyes had been cruelly gouged out, and he was sent from God Metropolis to Four Kings City, becoming a mere gardener.
…
Xia Fan could not convince Luolin to change his mind, so he had no choice but to give up.
The three of them chatted in the study for a very long time. As they left, Xia Fan could see that Jane had already finished making dinner, and had even prepared a small set of luggage containing what few clothes she owned.
After learning that Xia Fan would be taking her away, Jane did not panic and was even slightly excited, on top of being slightly shy.
—
When dinner was done, Xia Fan left Four Kings City that night and returned to God Metropolis, parking Black Egg at Hidden Wind’s training grounds.
“Oh its you, long time no see,” It seemed like Hidden Wind recognized Luolin. He was at first startled when he saw the sunglasses-wearing Luolin, but then extended his right hand, the two men shaking their hands tightly, as if they were old friends.
Sitting in Hidden Wind’s little wooden hut, Xia Fan looked out and saw Hidden Wind and Jane hitting it off, the two girls chatting animatedly with each other.
Turning his head back, Xia Fan said in a serious tone, ” Since that’s the case, we should operate separately from tomorrow onward. Traveling Buddha and I will go to Planet One, enacting the original plan to investigate that planet. The two of you will remain in the periphery; be ready to respond at any time.”
“On top of that, we need to bring Dragon Dou with us as well. I’ve promised his mother to take care of him.”
Hidden Wind and Luolin nodded. Luolin had his own plan: His eyes were buried on Planet One, which had been his lifelong regret. He could never forgive the person who had done the evil deed, and though he did not explicitly state so, Xia Fan could guess that Luolin was taking this chance to take his revenge.
Additionally, Hidden Wind had already accepted his fate. Given Hidden Water’s attachment to Traveling Buddha, even if the latter went to Hell, the former would follow him without a trace of doubt in her heart. Thus, Hidden Wind had no choice but to accompany his only granddaughter.
…
Three days later, at the agreed-upon time, Xia Fan and the others warriors were gathered and herded aboard a destroyer that was bringing everyone to Planet One.
God Metropolis was actually made up of two regions. The first was the outer region, which included God Metropolis and all the other big and small planets. Then, there was the interior region, which was where Planet One was located.
After the destroyer passed through a space node, the surrounding scenery abruptly changed. The artificial sun of the outer region did not exist here, so it was very dark. In the distance was a dimly glowing planet, the rumored Planet One.
——
The warriors plastered themselves against the ship’s windows, exclaiming loudly,”So this is Planet One!” Planet One was top secret, and outsiders rarely set foot there. It was practically everyone’s first time coming.
The destroyer landed in a clearing in a forest. Everyone was dumbfounded when they disembarked, looking around in shock.
Though there was no artificial sun here in the interior region, there were still trees and flowers in the forest, all of them giving off a mild luminescence, so no one found it to be exceptionally dark. Aside from the flora, there were also various species that none of them had seen before.
A rose redder than fire boomed atop a palm tree, while Artemisia plants taller than an adult human bore kumquat fruits. A large number of the organisms of Planet One had mixed genes, and they could not be treated as normal, making the place seem like a strange world from a fairytale.
“This way!”
Someone led the way, and soon, everyone arrived at a nearby red cliff. There was a cave under the cliff, and everyone bowed in its direction.
The elders of the Four Great Clans lived in that cave, as well as the strongest existences of the sapient beasts. They were no longer recognizable, becoming a group of monsters that could not face others. That was why they could only stay far away, and relay information through voice transmission.
*Whoosh*
While everyone was kneeling down on the ground, bowing toward the cave, Xia Fan grabbed Traveling Buddha and the two sprinted off into the forest. At the same time, Xia Fan pushed a red button on his belt, unleashing a shield around himself.
One old monster among the elders of the Four Great Clans went by the name of Ashen Abyss. He was able to scan the entire planet with his mind alone, and was also the same person who had kept Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha spatially suspended the last time.
Nevertheless, his special abilities had a weakness; Ashen Abyss depended on his seventh brain region to differentiate between humans and beasts, so Xia Fan had placed a beast crystal inside his shield generator as its power source. In that way Ashen Abyss would be misled into seeing Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha as beasts, letting them be. It was a trick that Luolin had taught Xia Fan.
According to the map Luolin had drawn for them, Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha traveled frantically across Planet One, and in no time at all, arrived at the canyon marked on the map. The canyon was ten thousand meters deep, and there was a big river raging endlessly along the bottom.
“This should be the place!” Xia Fan stored the map away and said to Traveling Buddha, “We’re going to go along the river, and we will arrive at the deepest part of Planet One. Are you ready?”
Traveling Buddha nodded. All those years back, Luolin had entered from this place to learn the elders’ secret, and lost his eyes as a result, paying a painful price for it.
The two leaped off and cannonballed down into the river below, splashing loudly. The water was ice cold, and the current was urgent. They were pushed along by the river and descending rapidly. It was like sitting on a rollercoaster, as the huge drops only made the river water rush ever faster and faster!
Pearl appeared, standing vigilantly on Xia Fan’s shoulder, a cold glimmer of light radiating from her body, shining ahead for Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha.
“It should be just up ahead. Luolin left markings by the brick wall,” Xia Fan said.
They jumped out from the river. In front of them was a stone bridge, with a cave on each end.
“To the right is the living quarters of the elders, while the left leads to who knows where. Luolin went to the right, so we will be going left this time,” Xia Fan told Traveling Buddha and Pearl.