Xia Fei suddenly entered a very strange state. Seemingly having passed through a giant blob of jelly, his surroundings became eerily silent and slick, and his speed even dropped drastically.

*Whoosh!*

Xia Fei stopped in his tracks, for he discovered that he had entered a different space! Beneath his feet were white clouds like soft cotton candies, and they bounced under him. Farther off was a bridge made of white jade; white pavilions, and fountains, and even an artificial lake with white liquid, which gave off the scent of milk, could be seen, too.

“What is this place?” Xia Fei muttered in surprise.

“My home!” Around one hundred meters away from Xia Fei, a tall and slender figure appeared and smiled at him.

This was a refined young master with a white face and rosy-red lips. He wore simple clothes, and his head was almost completely bald, bearing only a small little braid.

He held a white creature about the size of a rabbit in his hand, which turned around and naughtily smiled at Xia Fei.

No doubt that this creature was the swift exotic beast Xia Fei had been chasing! It had a master, and by the looks of it, it was a white fox…

“You’re not chasing my little baby because you wanted to eat him, were you?” this young master smiled and asked.

Xia Fei replied coolly, “I don’t know whether your little baby tastes good or not, but he ate a lot of high-ranking exotic beasts while outside, and he’s very picky, only eating those of the Divine Beast rank!”

The young master frowned and pointed at the white fox. “You! I really can’t relax around you! You ran out to steal food again! What if you run into a bad person? That would be a disaster!”

The silver fox seemed to have realized that Xia Fei had told on him and bared his teeth at him, a savage glint in his eyes!

His cute appearance instantly disappeared, replaced by a row of sharp teeth and eyes that were spitting flame, and a murderous aura exploded from him!

“Awoooo!”

Furball was a Holy Beast, and he reacted very quickly to this attitude. He poked his head and growled at the silver fox and his master, making the murderous intent in this dimension even more concentrated!

Furball and the silver fox were both white, and they both put on cute pretenses, but once they got angry, they would reveal their innate savagery, and their murderous intents rammed against each other in an invisible clash!

The young master saw Furball and nodded. “Oh, so it’s Holy Beast Shatterstar. I didn’t think that your personal exotic beast would have so much weight.”

As he spoke, Little Goldie also poked out its head, a dumb look on its face. The demon chrysalis clearly did not know what was going on.

The young master’s eyes brightened, and he appeared even more delighted. “Hm? This is a rare one. It’s truly rare to see such a high degree of genetic mutation.”

With a flip of his hand, the white fox disappeared. The man made an inviting gesture and said, “Since you’re here at my home, you can be a guest. Please, come inside.”

Xia Fei thought it over and decided to follow the man to the clearing in the center of the white lake. There was a table and chairs made from white jade there, and next to those were a row of strange trees. They were all white and sparkling, and small white fruit hung from them.

The young master picked a white fruit from a tree and placed it on the table. “Please eat. Right, my name is Yang Ji. You?”

“Xia Fei,” he replied casually. Xia Fei then grabbed a white fruit and inspected it.

Yang Ji remarked unhappily, “Really, I mean you no harm, so why are you still so cautious? You don’t eat the fruit I give you, you hide a weapon in your hand, and you’ve even had that plant weapon of yours burrow underground.”

Xia Fei put down the white fruit and smiled. “This space of yours inexplicably appeared in the middle of the sea of stars, and I still have no idea how I got in here or how I’m going to get out. Plus, your exotic beast ate my combat spoils and has shown hostility toward me. How can I not be on my guard in this situation?”

“You’re really complicated!” Yang Ji shook his head. “I invited you to eat some fruit, so how could I hold any hostility to you?”

Xia Fei was rendered speechless. Was this Yang Ji stupid or simple, treating inviting someone to eat fruit as the greatest kindness? What if the fruit was poisoned?

After some thought, Yang Ji asked, “Are all the people of Alpha as complicated as you? Do you guys like killing exotic beasts?”

Xia Fei replied, “Sapient lifeforms are complicated existences. As for exotic beasts, that depends on the kind of exotic beasts. I don’t care about the lives of those savage ones outside, but if anyone touches my Furball, I won’t let them go!”

“Furball? It’s quite the affectionate name. A pity that he’s a Holy Beast.” Yang Ji sighed.

“What’s wrong with him being a Holy Beast?” Xia Fei asked in displeasure. It appeared that Yang Ji did not like Furball very much.

“While Holy Beasts are unique, they don’t follow the rules. They’re like wandering warriors, going around all by themselves and refusing to be controlled,” Yang Ji replied very seriously.

Xia Fei lit a cigarette and countered, “Isn’t it good not to be controlled? We’re not born in this universe to be controlled by others!”

When it came toward refusing to be controlled by others, the Skywings were all restless fellows, and Xia Fei was famous for breaking the rules. Thus, he found nothing wrong with that.

Such a simple argument had Yang Ji falling into deep thought. He rubbed his nose very hard—he was very sensitive to the scent of Xia Fei’s tobacco—and muttered, “I ran away from home, and while I was afraid, I also felt very excited. Could it be for a reason like this?”

Xia Fei frowned. Yang Ji had raised an extremely high-ranking exotic beast as a pet, proving that he had an extraordinary background. A young master like this had run away from home? Xia Fei could not help but be baffled?

The universe was so vast, so why had he come to this Red Pine Nebula? This place was in the grips of the beast flood and was not a good place to be. If he wanted a taste of excitement, he should have gone to the core regions.

Was Yang Ji appearing here some kind of inevitability?

Xia Fei smiled and asked, “What species is that Baby of yours, for him to be capable of running so fast!”

Yang Ji boasted, “Baby is a Shadow Fox! Unless you’re a speedster, you’ll never be able to catch him. Still, you absolutely can’t hurt him. Baby only eats ordinary exotic beasts and won’t attack sapient lifeforms, not unless you threaten him.”

Xia Fei pursed his lips. “Ordinary exotic beasts? I saw with my two eyes your little fox biting off the head of a Shortbite Burst Snake! That’s a rank 2 Divine Beast!”

Yang Ji smiled. “It’s nothing but a Shortbite Burst Snake! That’s only an ordinary exotic beast. Baby just told me that you’re planning to kill the snake and absorb its soul; alas, that snake’s rank was too low! Your energy system simply couldn’t sense its soul. My baby couldn’t stand to see you waste the good food, so he boldly rushed past you and took it for himself.”

Xia Fei was left speechless. Where did Yang Ji come from that he regarded Divine Beasts as ordinary creatures? As for communicating with his personal exotic beast, that was quite normal. Even Furball, who could not speak, could understand what Xia Fei was saying. The minds of exotic beasts and their masters had always been linked.

“You’re saying that I couldn’t sense the Shortbite Burst Snake’s soul because its rank was too low?” Xia Fei asked curiously.

“Correct. Ah! Aren’t you one of those legendary Spiritualists? You have the Unrestricted Soul Spirit Mark. That kind of ancient Soul Mark has the ability to absorb souls. You currently have eight Soul Marks, so a Divine Beast must be at least rank 8 for you to be able to sense it. Even if you have somewhat stronger senses, you need at least rank 7. You naturally can’t sense a mere rank 2 Divine Beast!” Yang Ji said in a very matter-of-fact tone.

This person did not seem to have any ulterior motives, speaking very directly. Xia Fei was flabbergasted. He had only speculated that the Unrestricted lineage had the ability to absorb souls, but Yang Ji seemed dead certain, as if he had a deep understanding of the history behind Xia Fei’s Soul Marks!

He inspected Yang Ji and found him to lack the aura of a warrior. This meant that there were only two possibilities: Yang Ji’s level was too high for Xia Fei to comprehend his existence, or Yang Ji simply was not a warrior!

Both possibilities left Xia Fei terrified. The vastness of the universe was filled with unknowns, but this encounter left him very weirded out. It seemed like this simple man across from him was not so simple at all!

“Do you know Chu Jingfeng?” Yang Ji asked abruptly.

Xia Fei replied, “Senior Chu is the master who drafts the Thousand Soul Ranking. I only know of his name but have had no opportunity to meet him.”

Yang Ji nodded. “So Chu Jingfeng is still alive? I’ll be honest. My clan is friends with Chu Jingfeng. We don’t have many friends, and he is considered a very good one. The entire clan likes him.”

Xia Fei asked, “Does your clan live in the Annihilator? How else could you know Senior Chu?”

Yang Ji grimaced. “Apparently, the people of the Annihilator don’t like us that much. I certainly don’t dare to go there. As for Chu Jingfeng, he’s quite the strange person. Many years ago, he ran over to our clan and asked to fight with my dad. My dad ended up beating him pretty badly, and since then, he’s lived in our clan and became friends with all of us!”

Yang Ji sighed. “My dad said that if everyone is like Chu Jingfeng, we won’t need to hide. You’re pretty good. At least, Baby doesn’t hate you. He said that you have an aura very similar to some of our clan’s friends from many years ago.”

Xia Fei felt rather baffled. Yang Ji had a very poor grasp of conversation flow, and his random questions and digressions left one very confused.

“Friends? What sort of friends of your clan am I like?” Xia Fei asked.

“Friends from many years ago. Apparently, they were on very good terms with our clan. Alas, something happened to them, and something also happened to our clan. From that day forward, we’ve gone our separate ways and have had no chances of meeting again. My dad always gets very sad whenever he talks about them. I feel like, if they’re people that my father still thinks about so much, they shouldn’t be bad people.

“Baby’s grandfather met them before, so Baby took a liking to you the moment he saw you. This kid is very smart. He stole your exotic beast so that you would chase him on purpose and he could bring you here. Baby can’t hide such things from me, you know,” Yang Ji said smugly.

Yang Ji suddenly reached out and rapped on Xia Fei’s chest. Xia Fei was very nervous, but he did not stop him.

*Bang bang!*

The hard Sky Devil plate armor let out a clang. Yang Ji asked curiously, “What’s under your clothes?”

Xia Fei’s mind rapidly worked, and finally, his intense curiosity overcame everything else. He pulled aside his clothes, revealing the Sky Devil armor, Flying Eagleplume.

With delight in his eyes, Yang Ji said excitedly, “This plate armor has an aura very similar to that of the friends my dad spoke of! Let me call Baby and have him confirm!”

Xia Fei’s jaw dropped. Flying Eagleplume was one of the legacies of the Four Great Sky Devils of the Fiend Clan! Was the clan friend Yang Ji had spoken of the Fiend Clan?