The bronze gate opened slowly, and a chilling wind blew out from within. The eyes of those Dark Spiritualists around Chalodi widened in shock.

Chalodi smiled. Pointing at the entrance, he said, “There’s no need to rush inside. It’s still too early. We’ll first use this bait to kill Fuchen’s group.”

“What sort of entrance is this?”

“Where does it go?”

The Dark Spiritualists asked all sorts of questions. In their minds, killing Xia Fei and Fuchen was a trivial matter; what was more important was what they needed to do. Was sacrificing one of their comrades really worth opening this door?

Chalodi waved his hand, indicating that his subordinates should stop talking.

“All of you, listen up: The Collapsed Expanse of Founders is so mysterious precisely because of all of such entrances. These entrances are linked to an absurdly abstruse system. Not just the Alpha Universe, sufficient evidence shows that at least one other completely different universe is using this system.

“Teacher expended much effort to gather all the necessary conditions: Select the entrances with the greatest possibility of success and enter them early. Everyone should now understand why we entered the Collapsed Expanse of Founders fourteen days early, taking a detour to our neighbor, the Law Realm, yes?”

Chalodi’s words were very simple, but they shook his subordinates to their core. Chalodi added lightly, “I know that you have many questions; you can ask them now while we still have time. I’ll do my best to answer them, but you must understand that not even the teacher himself fully comprehends the system. After all, it’s too mysterious and too powerful, far above our ability to comprehend.”

“Where will we be sent?” someone asked immediately.

“Anywhere,” Chalodi replied.

“What will happen once we enter the system? Will we get a lot of treasures?”

With a sinister laugh, Chalodi replied, “Anything. Over the many years, some people have become famous while others have died violent deaths, but there’s been no record of a group of more than two people emerging victorious.

“I’m sure that you don’t need me to tell you this, but people are inherently selfish. If there’s only one treasure, yet you and I find it at the same time, I’ll definitely kill you without question and take it for myself.”

The person who had asked the question frowned slightly but did not object. Chalodi was completely right. The Dark Spiritualists did not share particularly strong connections with one another. None of them had even given a second glance to that junior of theirs who Chalodi had killed to open the Azurewing Tiger Gate. In their minds, he had died because he was not strong enough.

After a brief pause, Chalodi swept his gaze across his juniors. “Remember: A general’s success is made on a mountain of bones! Teacher has endeavored to provide us with the best of conditions! Fourteen days! A whole fourteen days before those idiots of Alpha! This is a huge chance!

“According to the teacher’s research, all those people who had become strong managed to do so because of the system’s rewards, but there are records that the rewards are limited. The number of people who can rise out of the Collapsed Expanse of Founders has never surpassed three!

“What I mean is a true ascendance to heaven with a single jump! I’m talking about Han Ziyu, Qiu Xingbang, and even that dog chairman, Big Dipper, of the Spiritualist Association! They all came out from the Collapsed Expanse of Founders! Even more of them are those old monsters who retired from the public view ages ago!

“This time! Our Dark Spiritualist lineage has all the advantages! We’ll definitely take all three spots, and then, no one will be able to stop us!”

Chalodi spoke passionately. It turned out that the Dark Spiritualists had never intended to fight the Alpha Universe fairly. Just like in a race, the person who got to the finish line first would be acknowledged as the strongest! Nan Shazi’s goal was to have all his subordinates get to the finish line!

If the Collapsed Expanse of Founders could let a group of warriors rise up, granting them numerous benefits, then the Dark Spiritualists wanted to take everything!

The Dark Spiritualists grew excited. The opportunity was right before their eyes, and all they needed to do was go in and do their best! That would be enough for them to become divine figures.

Alas, they had momentarily forgotten about Xia Fei’s group, that it was not just the Dark Spiritualists who had entered early.

The same scene played out at five other points in the Collapsed Expanse of Founders. Through varying methods, five gates were opened, and the Dark Spiritualists waited quietly. It would be only a few more hours until they could go inside.

As Chalodi had been followed by Xia Fei, his group had the responsibility of killing Xia Fei and Fuchen. However, Chalodi did not consider this to be a big deal. He had twenty Dark Spiritualists and more than three hundred warriors on the two warships. Killing Xia Fei was something easily accomplished.

The minutes continued to go by, but there was still no sign of Xia Fei. The Dark Spiritualists began to grow anxious. After all, only a few minutes were left until the great feast began. Everyone knew that the people who went in first would have a better chance! Moreover, Nan Shazi had expended considerable effort to find these five entrances with the greatest hope. Nobody wanted to fall behind others. Even among fellow Dark Spiritualists, the competition was fierce.

“Fuchen still isn’t showing up?” someone stomped their feet and asked.

“Impossible. We’re right here, the door is open, and there aren’t many of us. There’s no way that he won’t be interested,” Chalodi shook his head and said. In truth, he was not too confident. It was very possible that Fuchen had considered his chances not to be good and decided not to attack.

There were still soul warriors on the warships. They were not Dark Spiritualists, so they did not have the right to follow Chalodi in. The original plan was to send these Soul Masters into the system at the very last phase to see how lucky they might get. It would be great if someone among them emerged victorious, and it was fine even if they died in the process. After all, the Alpha Universe was a place where Spiritualists reigned.

‘Why don’t we also call the warriors over?’ Chalodi wondered to himself.

Everyone was selfish. Those Soul practitioners left on the ships had had their souls branded by Chalodi to prevent betrayal; they were essentially his slaves. If one of them managed to survive, they would automatically be a powerful general under him. Sending them earlier would only benefit him. Alas, Chalodi did not dare to disobey Nan Shazi’s orders. It would be terrible if Fuchen followed their trail and also entered the system early.

As Chalodi mused to himself, somebody suddenly whispered, “There’s not much time left, but the teacher wants us to deal with Fuchen. Isn’t this a little selfish?!”

Chalodi gasped at those words. He had not been so suspicious before, but there were now only a few minutes until the system activated!

If they kept waiting like this, he and his subordinates would definitely enter the system later than the other teams, which meant that they would be running an unfair race from the very start!

Chalodi’s face darkened in anger. He roared, “Cut the nonsensical chatter! Our teacher is the most peerless individual in the universe, and it’s not our place to doubt his venerable self! Plus, it’s Fuchen’s choice to follow us. What does that have to do with teacher?!

‘Such rotten luck!’ Chalodi cursed inwardly after rebuking his men.

Several minutes later, the entrance began to emit a rainbow glow. This was a sign of the system activating!

The Collapsed Expanse of Founders had finally opened!

As the Dark Spiritualists celebrated, a countdown appeared on the gate.

Ten!

Nine!

Eight!

Chalodi went pale, and he shouted, “Oh, no! It seems to be time-restricted! Teacher must’ve not realized this! A gate can only be opened once; let’s hurry and go in!”

*Hwooo~*

Chalodi did not even need to say anything. The moment the countdown appeared, someone had rushed in. In this day and age, who would care about their fellow disciples?

“What about our brothers on the ship?” a dark-skinned and bulky man asked. His older brother was on the ship, so he cared a little more about those Soul Masters.

“Stop thinking about it and go in!”

Chalodi grabbed him and threw him to the entrance. Just moments after he stepped in himself, the entrance closed. In the distance, a calamitous flame soared into the sky.

Xia Fei had suddenly attacked the two waiting warships!

*Hwooo~*

Chalodi discovered that the inside was pitch-black, and those people who had entered with him had all vanished without a trace.

This was very strange. It had only been a few seconds, so where were they?

“Master, my older brother is still on that ship!” said the dark-skinned disciple, his head drooping in sorrow.

Chalodi lit a lantern and sighed. “It’s too late. Didn’t you sense it? In that second, there was an intense spirit energy shockwave from where the ships were docked. Fuchen’s group must’ve attacked them.”

He looked around and said, “Rather than worrying about the people on the ship, why don’t you think about where your junior brothers are?”

Chalodi saw that there was no reply and turned around; upon which, his face turned green!

He was the only one standing at the entrance, but just a few seconds ago, his disciple had clearly been talking to him, and now he was gone! What was going on?!

Silence!

Deathly silence!

A passage stretched into the distance. There were no lights, no sound, and no telling where everything went!

Chalodi swallowed and strode forward.

*Hwooo~*

On his first step into the Collapsed Expanse of Founders’ system, Chalodi felt his feet stepping on air and then he dropped straight down!

“Dealing with warships of this level is only an appetizer,” Xia Fei said, patting on the sturdy exterior of the Silver Specter and smiling.

Xia Fei had not used any particularly sophisticated tactics. He had merely calculated the distance between him and the Chalodi’s warships and then simulated the acceleration of the Silver Specter. He discovered that his ship traveling at top speed could take down those two enemy ships without giving them the slightest chance of counterattack.

Thus, Xia Fei accelerated the Silver Specter right into those two ships.

It had worked, but Xia Fei realized to his surprise that the Dark Spiritualists were nowhere to be found. They did not show themselves even after their subordinates had been killed. It was truly strange.

They disembarked onto the planet, hoping to find out what had happened.

“Where’s Oro?” Xia Fei turned and glanced at the group behind.

“His stomach doesn’t feel good, so he ran off into those shrubs to our left,” Xia Guanghai said, a naughty smile on his face.

Xia Fei shrugged. He did not even need to ask so he could know that this was Xia Guanghai’s doing. For some reason, he could not get along with Oro, and the two were constantly playing tricks on each other.

“No! Go and check! Oro’s energy signature has disappeared!” Xia Fei’s smile froze on his lips, and then he spoke grimly.