Chapter 390

Chapter 391: Sentinel Silence, Under the Weather

Ink City sits near the equator of Sentinel Silence. Most of the planet is not great for long term living. Ink City is one of the few big cities left in the original habitable band, and it rains there almost all year. It’s also where the key clue pulled from that captured black robed cultivator’s memory pointed them.

Yu Sheng’s expression changed a little at the guide’s hint. He asked: “Unsettled how? Worse public safety?”

“It isn’t crime,” the guide said, using the tone locals use to spook outsiders. “People say a lot of strange things have happened. Cases of qi deviation have shot up. Folks hear and see terrifying things while meditating, or even while asleep and dreaming. Even cultivators with deep foundations can’t avoid it. Some rumors say people went into meditation and died of fright. Lately they’ve been debunking that last bit.”

Another guide chimed in and added: “Ordinary people like us who learned only basic Qi Inhalation or Spirit Nurturing Breath don’t seem affected much. The rumor on the street is it’s a ‘heart demons plague’ that targets cultivators above a certain level. Either way, everyone’s on edge.”

“Wide spread qi deviation and mass hallucinations,” Yu Sheng repeated, frowning. He glanced at Xuan Che. “And on a border planet at that.”

Xuan Che stepped forward and asked, serious: “What has the Immortal Guardian Elder said?”

“The likes of that lord don’t spare time for city sized small stuff,” the guide said with a wave. “The Ink City lord did put an Organization team on it. The news says they don’t have much. The public notices tell people to protect themselves while meditating, sleep early, avoid anger, and stay out of disputes that shake the heart. That last line doesn’t work. Rumors and debunkers are going at each other nonstop, and no one’s heart is steady.”

Yu Sheng ran out of lines for that and fell silent. [What am I supposed to say to that?]

Thankfully, Xuan Che and Immortal Yuan Hao could carry this kind of talk. They asked a few more smart questions, picked up recent news about Ink City, and asked about Sentinel Silence’s overall state. They didn’t push too deep. Ordinary spaceport staff only know so much.

Even so, Yu Sheng’s picture of this border planet grew clearer.

Calm. Ordinary. Far from the capital at the Grand Void Spiritual Axis, with little to offer beyond a few resources, Sentinel Silence is one of countless border planets with low presence in the Featherwing star region. It isn’t even an important hub. Just 1.25 light years away, the Yaolu star has a grand gate built a little over a decade ago that links straight to the Alglade region and the Deep Space region, and that route has pulled away almost all the traffic.

Sentinel Silence lives up to its name. A quiet place on the long Border.

“Still, it used to be lively,” one guide said with a sigh. “When this world and a few nearby ones still had spirit ore, it was booming. Cargo ships lined up across high orbit every day. In one solar year of a bit more than four hundred days, they launched seventeen heavy lift platforms to orbit. Now the ore is not gone, but most sites are off limits. They say the digging hit the earth veins and must be protected.”

He shook his head and caught himself: “Enough small talk. You want to head straight down, right? I’ll check your window. Your big ship’s docking fees are paid. She can stay here safe. Atmospheric entry windows are open across the zone right now. I just need to register your in atmosphere vehicle. Shuttle or small Celestial Ship?”

Before Yu Sheng could answer, Foxy bounced forward and waved a paw: “Me, me, me.”

The guide blinked: “Uh?”

Foxy dropped to the deck and turned into a giant Nine Tailed Fox, then trotted back, tugging at the “Temporary Mobile Immortal Operating License” hanging on her neck to show it off with both paws.

“Ah, got it,” the guide said at last, nodding fast. He took out a mirror like tool to check and register the Jade Token on Foxy’s collar, then gave Yu Sheng the standard reminders: “Please follow traffic rules. Do not speed at low altitude. No alcohol while operating vehicles inside the atmosphere.”

Yu Sheng nodded along, then asked with sudden curiosity: “Am I banned, or is she banned?”

The guide thought for a second and said: “Both of you. Don’t drink.”

Immortal Yuan Hao stepped up next. With a casual sweep of his hand he produced his Chainsaw Sword and said: “Register me too. I usually travel by sword flight.”

The guide stared at the Immortal Elder who had just pulled out a Chainsaw Sword like it was normal. For a local of the Featherwing region, someone riding a Chainsaw Sword was even wilder than someone riding a Nine Tailed Fox. He peered through the spirit mirror for a long moment, then raised his head and ventured: “Immortal Elder, your ‘Flying Sword’… it isn’t a spiritual treasure, is it?”

Immortal Yuan Hao didn’t bother to explain. He tossed the Chainsaw Sword into the air and hopped onto it, standing steady. “Just write down that I can sword flight.”

The guide’s eyelid twitched. As an ordinary person, his cultivation was shallow, but as a spaceport employee his knowledge was decent. With the mirror’s help, he could tell the Elder’s Chainsaw Sword didn’t have any Flying Sword functions at all. The only reason it could be “ridden” was that the Elder’s spiritual power was strong enough to force it to hover.

Numbers win, though.

He registered Immortal Yuan Hao’s Chainsaw Sword as a Flying Sword, then registered Xuan Che’s Frost Flying Sword, which was finally a normal vehicle. With that, all the sign offs were complete. Yu Sheng’s group left the orbital spaceport.

A silver giant Nine Tailed Fox drew a bright plume as she pushed off from the station. Nine jets burned in the dark, and she arrowed toward the gray blue planet below.

Beside the fox ran Immortal Yuan Hao on his Chainsaw Sword, and next to him flew Xuan Che on his Frost Flying Sword, the one member whose style looked at least a little normal.

Back on the platform, the guides watched the flashes sweep across space and sighed.

“No wonder they call her a silver fox High Immortal from the Grand Void Spiritual Axis,” one said. “Is that how Immortal Foxes from the Immortal Capital fly these days? So grand. Not like our local foxes at all.”

Another shook his head: “Not quite. Two days ago, a Five Tailed Golden Fox from the Grand Void came through and looked normal. Her tail didn’t spit fire.”

A third guide shrugged: “Maybe it’s a nine tail style. If you’ve got nine tails and you’re a High Immortal, anything you do reads as normal.”

Someone else lowered his voice: “Then what about that Borderland man? Even a Nine Tailed Silver Fox listens to him.”

“Who knows? His two papers are something. His captain license is signed by Director Bai Li Qing of the Special Affairs Bureau. His pass is signed by Immortal Yuan Ling of Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain. I think we shouldn’t ask more.”

…

After a stretch of fast flight, the thick atmosphere of Sentinel Silence filled more and more of the view.

Light from the orange red star washed over the top of the air and made the limb of the world glow.

Yu Sheng could tell there were far fewer orbital facilities and ships here than around the Grand Void Spiritual Axis.

That made sense. The Grand Void is the Immortal Capital of the whole Featherwing region. This place is a fading mining planet at the far end of the Border.

Yet something still felt off. As the gray blue planet swelled in the window, the world gave off a kind of weak smell.

It wasn’t about fewer stations or a quieter traffic lane. This was a fully developed biosphere. Even if the place felt “quiet,” its surface should look much more alive than any bare rock. At least to the eye, it did.

But that visible life couldn’t cancel out the “weakness” Yu Sheng felt for no obvious reason.

This planet did not seem well.

Yu Sheng frowned. He wasn’t sure how to explain how he could feel that a planet was in a subhealthy state. After a moment, he turned to his large nephew.

Zheng Zhi sat stiff as a board, clutching a fistful of fox fur and not daring to move.

As a guy who had spent over twenty years living like a normal person in Boundary City, his first space trip was already a lot. Riding a Nine Tailed Fox with fire spraying tails straight into atmosphere was a bit too much.

Yu Sheng asked gently: “Do you see anything wrong?”

Zheng Zhi jolted, and only reacted after Yu Sheng repeated himself. Still holding tight to the fox fur, he leaned out and took a careful look at the rushing gray blue world and said: “No, I don’t see anything.”

“Mm.” Yu Sheng nodded, thinking. He shared his feeling anyway.

As expected, no one could understand what he meant.

They didn’t dismiss it, though.

They couldn’t explain it, but one thing was plain.

Something about this planet’s condition was not normal.