Chapter 406

Chapter 407: Dark Shadows

Hearing those words, Xuan Che slowly nodded, his face half grave and half blank.

The blank part was because half his face was still numb.

“Dark Angels are the only thing that could tie two unrelated sides together through shared interest,” Yu Sheng said, doing his best to ignore the occasional twitch in Xuan Che’s numb cheek and keeping his tone steady. “The most direct reason the Holy Revere Hermitage has stirred from years of quiet and started acting in the open is this.”

Xuan Che nodded again: “I’ve heard this from my master. That faction believes the power of an Angel Catalyst can ‘heal’ the universe. Besides that, nothing else would make people who think of themselves as saints stoop to cooperate with other forces.”

With the clues linked at last, the blocked path of thought opened up. Yu Sheng followed along: “On the other hand, Yun Qing Zi disappeared for a thousand years, and the last time he was seen in public was near Sentinel Silence, locked in battle with an unknown strong enemy.”

The two looked at each other and saw the same answer in each other’s eyes.

Even Zheng Zhi, who had been quietly listening, caught up: “You’re saying the one fighting Yun Qing Zi back then was a Dark Angel?”

“Very possible,” Xuan Che said in a low voice. “If not for that level of enemy, how would an ancient powerhouse who had lived through the age of reforged years fall so hard? People who surveyed the field found fragments of corpse with the essence burned dry. Normally even if a peak expert is defeated, they do not fall that far.”

“But he didn’t die,” Yu Sheng said, frowning. “And judging from his cooperation with the Holy Revere Hermitage now, he must have done more than simply survive.”

Zheng Zhi blinked, then sucked in a breath as he understood: “He has an Angel Catalyst!”

“Is that possible?” Xuan Che murmured, disbelief written on the half of his face that could still move. “There are cases of people surviving an encounter with a Dark Angel. But to fight one at close range, survive, and then strip off pieces…”

His voice trailed off and his eyes slid to Yu Sheng.

“Don’t look at me. My case doesn’t count,” Yu Sheng said at once, raising both hands. “And I’ve said this many times. I didn’t fight Anka Aila. We had a Therapeutic Dialogue. They chose peaceful sleep fully informed and willingly.”

“Ahem, I know,” Xuan Che coughed twice, then nodded. “I mean, with Mr. Yu as an ‘example,’ taking an Angel Catalyst from a Dark Angel isn’t impossible. If Yun Qing Zi and a Dark Angel injured each other a thousand years ago, then he could indeed cooperate with the Hermitage Order now, even letting their Great Sage charge ahead for him.”

“I just wonder what terms the Holy Revere Hermitage offered,” Yu Sheng said, rubbing his chin. “Cooperation is an exchange of interests. If Yun Qing Zi can give them an Angel Catalyst, what can they give him?”

Silence hung for two or three seconds before Immortal Yuan Hao’s calm voice broke it: “For example, resolving or suppressing the ‘hidden danger’ left by a Dark Angel.”

Several gazes landed on the old hunk.

“An easy conclusion,” Immortal Yuan Hao said evenly. “From the traces found on that battlefield, Yun Qing Zi’s fight must have been brutal. Surviving such a war cannot be without a price. His thousand years out of sight supports this. The Hermitage Order has specialized in Dark Angels for years. I have heard they even possess an Angel corpse as a sample. They likely have real results in that field.”

“I agree,” Yu Sheng said, nodding as he rapidly reorganized what they knew and lined up the next questions. “So here’s another problem. We can guess the shape of Yun Qing Zi’s cooperation with the Holy Revere Hermitage, but what about his other target? What is this ‘Sovereign’s Legacy’? Why does he want it?”

“I have no clue,” Immortal Yuan Hao said, shaking his head. “In truth, we don’t even know what the Sovereign’s Legacy is, much less what it does.”

“What if it is also meant to deal with the Dark Angel’s hidden danger?” Xuan Che thought hard, then said, three quarters of his face grave: “The Hermitage Order is sly and extreme. Its doctrine is harsh, and it shows no morality or good faith toward outsiders. Someone like Yun Qing Zi would see that. Their cooperation is unlikely to be sincere. So he must be looking for another way to fix himself. The Sovereign’s Legacy might be a spell that splits heaven and earth, a divine weapon that cuts time and space, or an artifact that can reverse cause and effect. A name like that needs weight. He likely wants to use its power to settle the old problem once and for all.”

Xuan Che’s guess had no hard proof, but the logic held together. Yu Sheng felt it was not that simple, but he did not argue. After a moment of thought, he reminded them: “All of this rests on one premise, that Yun Qing Zi fought a Dark Angel a thousand years ago and was left with a major hidden danger. So what we need next is to confirm that premise.”

He paused, then continued: “If he really met a Dark Angel, which Angel was it? And now, after so many years, where is that Angel?”

“Is there another possibility,” Zheng Zhi asked, glancing around at Yu Sheng, Xuan Che, and Immortal Yuan Hao, “that Yun Qing Zi won? Maybe the Dark Angel was completely destroyed.”

The moment he said it, Xuan Che and Yuan Hao fixed him with steady stares. He shrank his neck and said quickly: “I’m just putting it out there. I only finished training and haven’t passed probation yet. I just thought Brother Yu already triggered an Angel Fall once, so Dark Angels aren’t invincible.”

“I get your point, but honestly the chance is small,” Xuan Che said after thinking, five sixths of his face earnest. “No need to repeat how strange and dangerous Dark Angels are. From current intel, an Angel Fall can’t be hidden. When Anka Aila died, it came with a huge energy release and sky lighting visions, and afterward there were piles of weird ‘Anka Aila crystals.’ The Hermitage Order’s Shadowless Skeleton was already a remnant when it was found, yet there were massive ‘minerals’ all around it, and a sky pit visible even from space at the site. Its fall must also have been grand. By that, the death of a Dark Angel is usually accompanied by changes on a massive scale, and by obvious remains you can’t miss. But on the battlefield where Yun Qing Zi vanished, nothing like that was found.”

“A thousand years ago…” Yu Sheng muttered with a frown. “Are there records around Sentinel Silence from back then about unusual natural events or mass mental contamination?”

“You mean…” Xuan Che looked up.

“The Special Affairs Bureau holds a lot of data on Dark Angel traits and sightings,” Yu Sheng said seriously. “They might be able to analyze reports from a thousand years ago around Sentinel Silence and tease out some clues to identify which Dark Angel appeared there, if it really was a Dark Angel. You can’t hide the noise of a Dark Angel’s death, and you can’t hide the noise when one descends either. Wide area psychic contamination, supernatural phenomena, even Otherworld failures. If an Angel showed up back then, those signs should be there.”

Xuan Che pondered, then spoke slowly: “That makes sense. But a thousand years ago, Sentinel Silence was still early in development. Besides a few garrisons and towns on the main star, there were only simple mechanical outposts on the moons and in orbit. The site of Yun Qing Zi’s battle was on an uninhabited planet near Sentinel Silence. Back then, it was a monitoring blind spot. I’m afraid there won’t be much useful data.”

“An uninhabited planet near Sentinel Silence?” Yu Sheng frowned. “How far is it from here?”

“A Celestial Ship can go there and back in one day,” Xuan Che said after thinking. “You want to go see it? To be frank, you won’t find clues now. It’s been a thousand years. Even if something was left and missed, it should have faded by now. And if anything important remained, Yun Qing Zi and his followers would have cleaned it already. They would never leave it lying around.”

“We’ll still go take a look. A quick trip costs us nothing,” Yu Sheng said lightly. “If this really involves Dark Angels, we can’t miss any possible clue. When you deal with entities like this, gathering intel is the most important step.”