1469 Prison

Xia Fan met the sly man Griffin one more time before he boarded the ship. He seemed to be the one in charge of this operation and holding a fairly high position within Murder Shrine, seeing as he was standing outside the black cargo ship barking out orders to the others as they went about their work.

What was meant by work was doing a complete examination of every warrior boarding the ship, getting them to strip naked and using a handheld scanner to inspect each of them. That was to prevent any of them from carrying a hidden communication device implanted in their bodies. Their luggage was also opened, and everything tossed to the ground. The inspectors wore gloves and went through what was inside very thoroughly.

historical

The inspection was extremely stringent, but Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha still managed to get through it smoothly. Every one of their important items was stored away in their stealthed spatial rings, which were truly fantastic items that were not detected no matter how the scanners went over them.

Seeing Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha passing the inspection, Griffin strolled over with a grin on his face and clapped Xia Fan on his shoulder, “Not bad, not bad, you’re the one I like the most, so don’t worry. I’ll be sure to send you brothers to the destination.

“Oh right, I have a question I’ve always wanted to ask you, but I’ve been so busy that it slipped from my mind; where does your speed come from? Did it suddenly come from the activation of your seventh brain region, or did your mother or father have the speed special ability, and you inherited it in your genes?”

A random activation of one’s special ability was completely different from inheriting a special ability. The former would be considered a genetic mutation that was pure happenstance, while the latter would be passing on the special ability to their descendants. Take Traveling Buddha: the Holy Buddha clan’s children inherited the Battle Buddha’s Golden Light, and was why their clan ranked in the top of clans in Ashen Moon. It was why a heritage martial clan bore the meaning of inheriting generational martial prowess.

Griffin’s goal was evident by asking Xia Fan such a question. If Xia Fan had inherited his speed ability, then his children would also inherit his special ability and so it would be very beneficial for Murder Shrine to keep Xia Fan. If Xia Fan’s children would also work for them, then they would not just gain one warrior, but an entire lineage of speed-type warriors!

Of course, there were drawbacks to inherited abilities, and that was the difficulty of childbirth. While the distinguished Holy Buddha clan reigned supreme, there were actually just six members who possessed Battle Buddha’s Golden Light, and that was only because of a burst of talent during Traveling Buddha’s generation. Before them, the Holy Buddha Clan had only had a single inheritor each generation, with Grand Old Buddha and Big Old Buddha being only children.

Facing Griffin’s question, Xia Fan answered expressionlessly, “There are people in my village that claim I’m a descendant of the Skywings. Do you believe that?”

Griffin was startled. He looked at Xia Fan in bewilderment, but he very soon burst into laughter once he came back to his senses, “Ah, look at how my question has bewildered you. If you’re a special ability user who inherited your power, then your younger brother should be the same, but he doesn’t have the speed you have, which is why of course you got your ability via genetic mutation.

“A descendant of the Skywings? To think you’d actually have such a sense of humor! Okay, quick, get on the boat. It’ll be time for a meal soon after, and we’ve prepared a scrumptious meal today.”

Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha boarded that cargo ship.

The high speed cargo ship was not particularly large, and could hold approximately five hundred people inside. The cargo hold itself had been modified so that there were row after row of single beds instead, where everyone would be staying on their journey.

Traveling Buddha frowned. Xia Fan knew that he was definitely extremely displeased with such a setting. But they were in the middle of their mission right now, so the two of them would have to bear whatever conditions they found themselves in.

Xia Fan rubbed his nose and then looked up. He saw the presence of a black glass cover on the roof of the cargo hold, which made him feel uneasy.

Traveling Buddha caught Xia Fan’s expression, and the two found two empty beds to sit down on. Traveling Buddha looked up at the black glass ceiling of the cargo hold and asked Xia Fan, “What’s that?”

“A spatial shielding device. Simply put, with that thing there, we will be completely cut off from contact with the universe at large. That spatial shielding device will sever any communication link. After the voyage begins, the ship and us will enter radio silence,” Xia Fan explained to Traveling Buddha in a quiet voice.

Traveling Buddha was stunned. Though he did not know much about electronics or machinery, he could completely understand what the impact of this spatial shielding device would do. Whether it was their contact person Nie Yan, or the Union’s operational headquarters, none of them would be able to get in contact with the two of them for the duration of this journey.

...

Several hours later, on the Black Egg..

Nie Yan faced a large screen, completely pale in the face, as she spoke in a hoarse voice, “It must be spatial shielding! Right now, no matter what any of you say, we have lost contact with our team! Our entire task force, even!

“Why didn’t your intelligence division inform me of this beforehand, that Murder Shrine had installed spatial shielding devices on a large scale? Just what exactly are you people doing!?

“What am I supposed to do if you only tell me that now? What exactly!? Because of your mistake, all our warriors are now in a desperate situation! This is all your responsibility!”

Despite how pretty Nie Yan was, when she was enraged, she looked no different from a mother tiger who could strike fear into anyone’s hearts. The person in charge of the intelligence division displayed on the screen was silent for a good while.

*Bang*

In her rage, Nie Yan ended the video call and then walked to the front viewing window. She was gritting her teeth, and her whole body was trembling.

The situation was getting out of hand; no one had expected Murder Shrine to suddenly whisk away everyone participating in the special ability Tyrant Battle, even making it impossible for anyone to track them down as they left!

...

This ship had no portholes, so Xia Fan had no way of contacting Nie Yan. During the voyage, he had absolutely no idea where he was being brought.

Several days later, it seemed like the cargo ship had landed. Griffin arrived in the front of the ship’s cargo hold, sweeping his gaze over the crowd before clapping his hands together with a smile.

“Look alive, everyone! We’ve now arrived at our destination. Everyone get off!”

With that, the sealed door to the cargo hold slowly opened, and light poured in. No one had seen real sunlight for several days, and being exposed to it so abruptly made it hard for their eyes to adjust. Vision only returned after they blinked several times.

Everyone packed up and made their way out of the cargo ship.

Yellow sandy dunes were all around them. Meanwhile, right across from them were high walls with guideposts on top of them. There were also detectors and aerial drones patrolling the place, and just above the walls they could see a temporary encampment within. Xia Fan felt that this place seemed more like a prison.

After Xia Fan and the others disembarked from the ship, the prison-like gates opened. They saw that within there were many warriors who had already arrived from all over the Outer Frontier inside looking out at them, the expressions on their faces like persons who were being held against their will.

“Everyone, follow me!” Griffin ordered with a wave of his hand.

They formed up two rows and filed into the prison-like place. Xia Fan followed along for a while, and then suddenly heard a woman cry out from inside the ship behind.

Xia Fan turned around to look, only to see several warriors from Murder Shrine escorting a woman out. She was cuffed and had apparently been held captive for the duration of this journey in a crew cabin, since Xia Fan had not once seen her face during his days in the cargo hold.

Xia Fan frowned slightly after he recognized the woman. She was none other than the investigator from Sacred Federation, the strange woman who had a knife stuck in her hair.

Right now, her hair was disheveled and cascading down her shoulders, and the small knife with the golden snake markings was nowhere to be found.