Chapter 337: The Eldest Senior Uncle is an Extraordinary Person

Yu Sheng briefly recounted the intelligence he had gathered from the Special Operations Bureau to Xuan Che, including the fact that those cultists had excavated a "Shadowless Bone" at their ancestral home and that their small vessel had gone missing while attempting to transport the Ankara Crystal. He knew these details would soon be relayed by Bai Liqing to the major factions, so there was no need to keep such information secret before a "young talent of the Thousand Peaks Lingshan" like Xuan Che.

The expression on Xuan Che's face visibly shifted from calm to serious, then from serious to grave, until his eyebrows nearly stood on end.

"... You suspect that Fei Yu-13b may also have been parasitized by the Dark Angel?!" Although Xuan Che tried to control his aura and emotions while speaking, he could not conceal the gravity and tension in his tone.

"It is merely a possibility," Yu Sheng waved his hand. "After all, we do not fully understand what the Order of the Hidden Cultists use the 'Pillars of Order' for. The only cultist capable of speaking had poor physical constitution and fainted halfway through. However, considering that ship clearly cost a fortune and even featured a 'chapel' explicitly designed for religious ceremonies, they certainly did not build such a thing for fun in your region... Even if it wasn't targeting the Dark Angel, it must be a mission of similar magnitude."

"... A mission of similar magnitude to the Dark Angel?" Xuan Che immediately wore an expression as if he had a toothache. "I truly cannot imagine it, cannot imagine it."

Immediately after, he lowered his head to ponder for a moment, then his complexion changed slightly for some reason. Suddenly, he looked up and asked, "You just mentioned they had a small vessel go missing?"

"Yes. While attempting to send the Angel Catalyst out of the 'City in the Mist', it emitted a string of eerie audio like it was possessed, and then vanished after warping out," Yu Sheng nodded. "What? Do you have any thoughts on this matter?"

Xuan Che hesitated for a while before speaking: "I wouldn't call it thoughts, but it suddenly occurred to me that my Eldest Senior Uncle once mentioned another strange encounter he experienced during his travels in his early years..."

Upon hearing this opening, Yu Sheng instinctively widened his eyes: "What did your Eldest Senior Uncle encounter back then?"

"Uh... ahem, my Eldest Senior Uncle is enthusiastic about traveling the world, so he has indeed encountered a few more strange tales than most," Xuan Che coughed twice awkwardly, adjusted his sitting posture, and continued, "He said that once, while crossing the Star River, his Immortal Vessel suddenly malfunctioned as he traversed a 'Great Void' devoid of any celestial navigation beacons. That Great Void spanned hundreds of millions of light-years and contained nothing. My Eldest Senior Uncle exhausted his cultivation, managing only to barely prevent the Immortal Vessel's Spirit Compass from scattering and to send out a faint distress signal, yet he could not move a single inch. The situation was dire, with no way out..."

"But just when he had no solution and was prepared to face the destruction of his body and the dissolution of his Dao, a signal suddenly came from that empty void, responding to his distress call."

"Three days later, he saw the wreckage of a massive spaceship appear near his Immortal Vessel..."

Yu Sheng, who had been listening intently, suddenly froze: "Wreckage?"

"Yes, wreckage. It was impossible to tell where it was made, but it was clearly enormous, more than ten times larger than the Immortal Vessel my Eldest Senior Uncle was aboard—yet it had been torn into fragments by some unknown force, drifting in a void. And from that wreckage, responses to the distress signal were constantly being transmitted."

"My Eldest Senior Uncle felt something was amiss and dared not rashly respond to that strange 'ship'. He barely managed to keep the Immortal Vessel at a distance from the wreckage. After a day of such stalemate, suddenly... he saw the wreckage instantly repair itself, becoming a gray, misty large ship. Lights were on board, and people could be seen walking and chatting inside the portholes."

"But that large ship, which appeared to have 'fully recovered', began emitting signals that were bizarre and terrifying from the very moment of its 'restoration'. My Eldest Senior Uncle said the Immortal Vessel received the cries for help of countless people from that ship, along with the wails of those on their deathbeds and the sounds of the hull tearing apart."

"Then, in an instant, the large ship turned back into the fragmented wreckage, flying behind the Immortal Vessel while transmitting communications saying 'Distress signal received, proceeding to provide support'..."

Xuan Che stopped speaking here. Irene, sitting on the tea table, stared blankly for a moment before letting out a shriek: "Oh my god! That's terrifying—"

"I read horror stories with similar themes when I was young!" Hu Li chimed in. "Everyone on that ship died later."

"... It is terrifying. Even my Eldest Senior Uncle found it terrifying," Xuan Che nodded. "So at that time, he dared not respond to any communications from that strange ship. Yet because the Immortal Vessel was damaged and he could not move far away from the large ship that kept trying to catch up to 'provide rescue', they remained in stalemate for a full ten days. That ship kept shifting between wreckage and intact form until, on the final day, the situation suddenly changed."

"That large ship suddenly stopped, then sent one final communication to my Eldest Senior Uncle, saying only one sentence:"

"You must prevent the Lapis Lazuli from departing from Soma-4 on June 12, 2044."

Yu Sheng stared with wide eyes: "... And then?"

"Then that large ship suddenly vanished. It seemed to enter a warp state, but without generating any of the space-time turbulence that should accompany warping. It was as if it had simply 'fallen' into an invisible 'hole' that suddenly appeared in the universe. It was never heard from again. After my Eldest Senior Uncle escaped, he even specifically investigated everywhere, but could not find any trace of that ship."

Listening to this bizarre "space adventure story", Yu Sheng couldn't help but ask again: "So how did your Eldest Senior Uncle escape?"

"He told me that he suddenly attained enlightenment at that moment, his immortal arts entered a state of divine absorption, the Great Dao became clear to him, and with great wisdom he shattered the void, sending the Immortal Vessel out of the Great Void. However, later, the senior brothers from the Divine Weapon Peak checked the Immortal Vessel's logs and said that when the large ship left, the Immortal Vessel had inexplicably repaired itself. They advised my Eldest Senior Uncle to properly worship the Artifact Spirit... Oh, according to the terminology here in the Borderland, it's called a 'Machine Soul'."

Yu Sheng: "..."

He blinked, deciding to ignore the slightly subtle part of the story's ending for now: "So, about the Lapis Lazuli's departure..."

"There is no large spaceship in the world named 'Lapis Lazuli', at least not among registered legal vessels. Either the name matches but the ship type does not, or the ship type matches but the name is wrong," Xuan Che shook his head. "That ship... no one knows where it came from."

Yu Sheng frowned slightly, thought for a moment, then looked up: "Are you implying that you think the 'strange ship' your Eldest Senior Uncle encountered is similar to that Order of the Hidden Cultists' small boat which was transporting the Ankara Crystal but suffered a bizarre accident?"

"Both suddenly transmitted a monitoring signal indicating total crew annihilation under seemingly completely normal circumstances, and both vanished as if from this world after a single warp. The only difference is that the ship my Eldest Senior Uncle encountered confronted him for over ten days, allowing him to witness the many bizarre transformations of that strange ship, whereas the Order of the Hidden Cultists' small boat went from showing anomalies to warping away in just three minutes, not having time to display its various abnormalities."

Xuan Che spoke with clear logic, then suddenly changed the subject: "Speaking of my Eldest Senior Uncle, he might actually be returning to the Thousand Peaks Lingshan soon."

That "Eldest Senior Uncle", who was always wandering the world and had experienced countless bizarre stories, was going to return to the Thousand Peaks Lingshan soon?

Yu Sheng's heart stirred involuntarily: "He's coming back? Didn't they say he was wandering and unreachable?"

"Oh, my master told me yesterday that they got in touch," Xuan Che nodded quickly. "It turns out that twelve years ago, while going down the mountain to go clubbing, he ran into a former beloved from his youth, was kidnapped to fulfill a marriage bond, and was only rescued with the help of the Immortal Alliance's Rectification Working Group. He will return to the sect in two days..."

Pausing here, he wore an expression of deep emotion: "My master spoke of this matter with great relief, saying he had misunderstood his Eldest Senior Uncle all these years. He thought his brother had once again abandoned the sect's affairs and left without notice to face danger, but it turned out he was kidnapped due to issues with his lifestyle, allowing that Fairy to vent her anger, which actually saved some merit."

Yu Sheng: "...?"

Irene & Hu Li & Luna: "..."

Silence fell in the living room, so deep that a needle could be heard dropping.

"Ah, why is everyone silent?" Xuan Che looked around, somewhat puzzled.

Yu Sheng finally snapped out of his daze, staring at the handsome man before him as if seeing a ghost. Still unable to believe what the other had just said with such calmness, he scrutinized Xuan Che several times before hesitantly speaking: "I... you... well, you just said your Eldest Senior Uncle went down the mountain..."

"To go clubbing."

"And then encountered..."

"A former beloved," Xuan Che nodded calmly. "He was kidnapped to fulfill a marriage bond—it actually smoothed out a hurdle in his Dao heart."

"You can say this so calmly..." Cold sweat broke out on Yu Sheng's forehead. He felt a belly full of complaints stuck right under his tonsils, his train of thought completely shattered. "Wait, no, your Eldest Senior Uncle... that extraordinary person, wandering the world, right? Seeking secret realms, right? A life full of legendary experiences, right? —"

He couldn't continue speaking there, because he didn't know whether to criticize going down the mountain to go clubbing first, or being kidnapped by a former beloved to get married, or the appearance of the Immortal Alliance's Rectification Working Group afterwards. As for the subtle attitude of Xuan Che's master regarding this matter, he didn't even have the spare mental energy to consider it.

As it turned out, Xuan Che looked just as calm, speaking with a tone of some emotion: "Sigh, my Eldest Senior Uncle is indeed... good in every way, except that fate has bound him with emotional debts. Since he embarked on the path of cultivation until now, he hasn't encountered any Heavenly Tribulations; they have all been exchanged for Emotional Tribulations..."

Yu Sheng: "..."

A moment later, Yu Sheng, with a wooden expression, glanced at Irene, who was sitting on the tea table in a daze, at the fox beside him turning its head to look at him with clear eyes, and at Luna opposite him, who was rebooting after a system crash.

"I feel there is some cultural difference involved here."

He said with grave seriousness.

Irene and Hu Li deeply agreed.

Luna also nodded: "Mm, yes."

(End of Chapter)