A purple rock sat on the center of the plate. It was shiny and slightly larger than an adult’s fist.
“Purple Heart of Spirit.”
“My goodness; it’s massive.”
“Such a thing actually exists? I thought it’s just a legend.”
After a few quiet moments, everybody got riled up as their greed grew, drooling as they stared at the purple Heart of Spirit.
“Hearts of Spirit can be purple?” Xia Fei asked Phantom in his consciousness.
Phantom seemed to have been reminded of something as he replied with a tone of sadness, “Yes, Hearts of Spirit can be blue or purple. Apparently, purple Hearts of Spirit contain one hundred to one hundred fifty times more energy than their blue counterparts and are exceedingly rare, though purple ones are a lot more volatile than blue ones, so they don’t really have much use. They’re usually collected as rare minerals.
“My master had a purple Heart of Spirit, too. He would always fiddle with it and would never let it out of his sight. My master once told me that blue and purple Hearts of Spirit contain the energy of the universe, but the purple ones are closer to the true face of the universe, mysterious and full of intense energy.
“If you want to understand the ultimate secret of the universe, you will first need to consider the existence of the purple Heart of Spirit.” Phantom sighed. “This purple Heart of Spirit is almost three times larger than the one my master has. If I could bring this thing back to him, he’d be extremely happy.”
Phantom’s eyes were glistening. Xia Fei did not know whether to laugh or to cry; who knew that an incredible assassin known throughout the universe would have a side like this? If somebody else found out, it would surely be treated as a joke.
With a flick of his wrist, old man Ning covered the purple Heart of Spirit with the red cloth again. “Everyone, I, Ning Baichen, is a man of my words. Anyone who wants this purple Heart of Spirit will have to provide me with Scar’s head in exchange.”
Everyone in the hall was excited. With this big payment in front of them, they were eager to get Scar’s head.
“No matter what Scar does this time, his death is all but assured. Old man Ning sure is vicious; ensuring that he’ll get Scar’s head by bringing out this purple Heart of Spirit.”
Ning Baichen was incredibly sly. He thoroughly understood the greed in humans’ hearts. By bringing out this huge reward, it did not only guarantee that Scar would lose his life but also separated the people from each other.
There was only one purple Heart of Spirit, so anyone who wanted a chance at it would need to defeat their competitors. This way, the Ning clan did not need to worry about this bunch banding together to work against him. All he had to do now was sit back and wait to collect Scar’s head.
The purple Heart of Spirit was precious if well hidden, but it was like a hot potato once exposed. However, it was an unlucky item, too, for no matter whose hands it ended up in, the others would surely feel unsatisfied. When the time came, whoever became its eventual possessor would come to regret it.
A simple, dog-eat-dog operation turned into a ruthless life and death situation under the careful planning of old man Ning. It could be said that the old man was truly ruthless with his methods.
The maids then served liquor and dishes to entertain all the big wigs that came from all over the star region. Just as Xia Fei was considering leaving, the eldest son of the Ning clan approached Xia Fei and called him to the yard.
“You’re Allen’s relative?” asked the eldest Ning tentatively.
Xia Fei smiled and answered according to what he and Allen had agreed on.
The eldest son of the Ning clan was about fifty years old. He had a rectangular, wrinkly face. After a few simple questions, he decided to trust Xia Fei’s identity because of how well he answered before going straight into the main topic.
“It wasn’t a small task to help Red Rock Base with the fight. I’d like to thank you on behalf of the thirty thousand residents here.”
Xia Fei waved his hand. “I can’t take the credit. I was being chased by that ship. I almost wet my pants thinking it would be the end of me, but the ship malfunctioned out of nowhere in the last second. Their energy shield broke and couldn’t even shoot back, so I decided to man up and fire back; destroying them was completely an accident. To be honest, I’m still feeling shivers down my spine just thinking about it.”
Xia Fei feigned fright, making sure not to mention that his Anathema-class frigate was equipped with an energy-draining device. He insisted that the enemy ship had malfunctioned, claiming he had only won the fight completely by accident. He even intentionally displayed his weakness in hopes that the Ning clan would not notice his talent.
Only an idiot would reveal all their cards to strangers. Of course, Xia Fei had to withhold some cards when introducing himself to dangerous vicious people like this clan.
The eldest son of the Ning clan was at the command center back then, and he clearly saw how Xia Fei had tried to run away as if his life depended on it, but he was unsure if the ship had actually malfunctioned.
In truth, the eldest Ning totally looked down on Xia Fei, thinking that he was a spineless coward, and after seeing Xia Fei’s behavior with his eyes now, he was even more certain of his judgment. If it had not been for his old man thinking that he should invite Xia Fei, he would not have even considered knowing Xia Fei better.
The eldest Ning took out a small cloth bag from his chest. “No matter what happened, you helped protect the base. The Ning clan will never treat you badly. There are two hundred dollars in there as your reward.”
Xia Fei grabbed the bag like a miser, counting the Hearts of Spirit several times. The eldest Ning could not help but be angered by Xia Fei’s greed. ‘You think the great Ning clan will try and cheat you out of that pitiful amount of money?’
Holding back his anger, the eldest Ning watched Xia Fei count the money in the bag.
Xia Fei was fully committed, since he had decided on acting, he might as well go all out. After counting it thrice, Xia Fei carefully put it away with a big smile on his face.
The eldest Ning scowled. “Xia Fei, I’ll just be frank; I hope you can join the Ning clan’s team in attacking Scar’s base. We won’t count you out in the payments.”
Xia Fei slightly squinted and asked carefully, “How much?”
…
Xia Fei managed to establish himself as an odious person in the other’s mind, so much so that when he said that he would not stay for a meal, the latter did not even make an effort to be courteous and asked him to stay, wishing he would disappear from his sight immediately, instead.
Xia Fei walked out of the Ning clan’s property proudly, humming as he headed to Allen’s place.
“Hey, you’re not going to work for that guy, right?” Phantom asked in his consciousness.
Xia Fei laughed. “Heh, do I even have a choice? Just look behind me.”
Phantom looked back after that and saw two massive blokes walking behind Xia Fei suspiciously.
“I think, in order to make sure that they have enough firepower, everyone with a warship in Red Rock Base is on the Ning clan’s list. It’s just that I’m an outsider, so that sly old man back there doesn’t trust me much, so he invited me over to test me personally.
“Did you notice that while Ning Baichen was addressing everyone, he would look at me from time to time? That old man sure wasn’t easy to deal with.”
Phantom was silent for a bit. He did notice everything Xia Fei had just mentioned, but he did not analyze it as thoroughly as Xia Fei did.
“What do we do now?”
Xia Fei started peeing shamelessly at a wall, observing the two burly men behind out of the corner of his eye. Indeed, the two stopped and pretended to chat while looking out of the corners of their eyes from time to time.
“I remember that you said the energy waves from the base can very well come from a Heart of Spirit. Since a blue Heart of Spirit greatly increases my ability to absorb medication, allowing me to increase my growth rate, won’t a purple Heart of Spirit be even better?” Xia Fei asked as he pulled up his pants.
“It’s merely a possibility. I can’t guarantee the success of that.”
“It’s taking longer and longer to absorb the medication every time I take it. At this rate, when will I actually become strong? I can’t give up an opportunity to improve myself no matter what. Since I’ve encountered the purple Heart of Spirit by chance, there’s no reason for me to give it to anyone else,” said Xia Fei with his determination filling eyes.
Phantom could hardly believe what he was hearing. “Xia Fei, I seem to have underestimated your determination to improve.”
Xia Fei rubbed his head. “It’s not as serious as you made it to be. I just think that opportunities don’t always present themselves, so I must try and grab hold of them every time.”
Xia Fei was now at the residential area where Allen lived. Before entering, he saw through his peripheral vision that the two men were still down on the street with no intention of leaving. Evidently, they were ordered here by the Ning clan.
Allen uncharacteristically filled the table with great dishes and a few bottles of beer. He welcomed Xia Fei back with open arms and a smile on his face.
“Something’s wrong with the old man today; just ignore him,” Sarah said as she stuffed her face with sausage.
Allen ignored Sarah as he enthusiastically dragged Xia Fei to the table and filled his plate with food. Xia Fei sensed that this was completely out of the ordinary. Allen was usually very stingy; every meal Xia Fei had at his house was all so-called pudding made from weeds. He would have lost his mind if it had not been for the leftover food in his spatial ring.
There must have been something wrong. Xia Fei kept his eye on Allen as he ate. The latter urged him to drink some beer, but Xia Fei refused in hopes of finding out what he was planning.
After a few rounds of eating and drinking, Allen’s face was bright red. “Sarah, go back to your room; I have something I want to discuss with Xia Fei.”