Night of Despair

In addition, Yu Hong also bought some snacks and nibbles, intending to pass the time on the road by eating them.

Life is not just about cultivation; it also needs some adjustments and relaxation.

On Jade Island, for a moment, he was the only one quietly exploring the use of the Transmission Book.

The bonfire flickered continuously in the sea breeze, and the once lively Black Black Spirit now left him alone.

Early the next morning.

Yu Hong stuffed the things he bought into the ship, stood at the doorway, and took one last look at this pure and spacious little island.

He sighed, hesitated no longer, and turned to walk inside.

"Captain!!!"

Suddenly, a familiar voice floated over from afar.

It was Ku Chan.

Yu Hong turned to follow the sound and saw him and Yiyi standing on a flying carpet, flying back here together with Harvey.

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"Wait!" Ku Chan waved towards him.

"Weren’t you all going for the examination?" Yu Hong, feeling better, smiled and asked.

"Yes." Ku Chan flew closer and said, "We passed."

He jumped off the flying carpet and thrust a black handheld box into Yu Hong’s arms.

"A farewell gift we prepared for you, a piece of our hearts from Yiyi and me."

"Yes, our heartfelt intentions!" Yiyi nodded earnestly beside him.

"I appreciate your kindness, but you should take it back. Compared to me, you are more in need of money." Yu Hong’s heart warmed as he attempted to return the box to Ku Chan.

"Just accept it. As for the matter with the teacher, it was unfair of her." Harvey sighed on the side, "I found out and helped Ku Chan contact the seller. It took quite an effort to acquire this.... Honestly, I’m a bit shocked that Ku Chan even had the means to buy it."

"Though it’s not much, it is still part of my heartfelt intentions." Ku Chan said earnestly, once again handing the box to Yu Hong.

"This item is only suitable for you, Captain. It serves no purpose for me now that it’s bought and paid for, so don’t waste my intentions."

Yu Hong had a vague guess and immediately accepted the box, quickly opening the lid.

Inside was a small, irregular metal piece with a rainbow sheen.

Beside it was a note that read: Secondary Star Spirit Alloy (self-healing capability is one-fifth to one-tenth of a complete form. Contains many impurities and is relatively weak).

Yu Hong looked at this small box of metal chunks and raised his head to see Ku Chan turning his gaze away in embarrassment, not daring to look at him.

"Where did you get so much money to buy this!?" He had seen this thing in the Transmission Book too; even if it’s secondary, one kilogram costs over ten thousand crystal coins!

It seemed to weigh at least seven or eight kilograms here!

"Why fuss over so much, Captain? Compared to the magic skill you gave me, this is nothing." Ku Chan immediately showed an impatient posture.

"He sold all the meditation resources that his teacher gave him..." Harvey muttered softly beside them.

"You don’t know anything!" Ku Chan barked uncharacteristically, "I passed the examination in one attempt, with full marks in all! Ranked second to the highest tier genius! With such aptitude, I don’t need these resources!"

"I can get the same back anytime!"

"Is the welfare that good?" Yu Hong’s hands trembled a bit, and after a moment of silence, he suddenly joked, "Can I also take the test?"

"You can, Captain; you’re definitely stronger than me, but... the second test might not be something you’d want...." Ku Chan hesitated a moment.

"Ku Chan took the examination by Dean Liu Chixuan of the Aus Academy. It’s incredibly difficult..." Harvey continued explaining quietly, "In the first test, only 100 people are selected from 300,000, and the second test is even trickier; it requires opening all memories from young to old for inspection, with no concealment allowed."

"...." Yu Hong didn’t need to think to know that he wouldn’t pass the second test, only someone like Ku Chan, who is honest and with a clear conscience, would have the qualification and the courage to take it.

Thinking carefully, this guy is upright and distinguished between love and hate, with excellent aptitude and a sense of duty; he always rushes to the forefront in situations, brave and unafraid of danger.

If he had to accept a disciple, he would probably pick such a guy first.

Yu Hong didn’t want to be such a person but didn’t mind spending time with such people.

Or rather, no one would avoid befriending someone like Ku Chan.

"I’ll accept this." Yu Hong wasn’t sure what he felt at this moment, looking at the box of metal in his hands, he fell silent for a moment.

"Can the aftereffects on your body be resolved?" he asked.

"The teacher said it won’t be a problem. Besides, having the Red Food Method to suppress and delay helped; otherwise, without this magic skill, I might not have been able to hold on until now," Ku Chan earnestly replied.

He finished speaking, looking at Yu Hong, hesitating to speak further.

He really wanted Yu Hong to stay too, but... Agrius’s situation, he had also asked the teacher....

"Captain, if you encounter trouble, remember to find me!"

Yu Hong didn’t say more, merely reached out to pat him on the shoulder and then moved forward to embrace Yiyi.

"Take care."

"Can’t you come back occasionally?" Yiyi asked, a bit dazed.

"Uh... it seems, I can." Yu Hong blinked; a slightly somber atmosphere of parting was completely disrupted by such a sentence.

"Okay, I’m off then. I’ll come back to see you later." He said no more, turned, and walked into the gate.

The gate slowly closed.

Shielding the waving silhouettes of Ku Chan and Yiyi.

The Black Black Spirit ascended, turned around, and without even finishing the repairs, chose to leave once again.

With a swoosh, the ship disappeared at the teleportation exit of the sky.

Leaving Ku Chan and Yiyi standing blankly in the air.

"Since we’re done seeing him off, it’s time to return with me."

A vague blue figure silently coalesced and appeared behind Ku Chan.

"Teacher! What brings you here?" Ku Chan exclaimed in surprise, immediately turning and saluting along with Yiyi.

Harvey also hurried to bow in greeting.

"Inspector Mage Harvey, greets Dean Liu."

"Is it worth it?" The blue figure ignored Harvey, merely gazing at Ku Chan and asked gravely.

"The meeting gifts I gave you, they’re equivalent to a few decades of savings for an ordinary mage, and you sold them all to exchange for such a box of secondary Star Spirit Alloy. Do you realize how much value you lost in between?"

"It is worth it," Ku Chan replied earnestly.

"Just for a captain of the Savior Ship, who has no future and is destined to be imprisoned by Agrius until death?" the figure inquired again.

"The captain is one of the people I admire most in my life. If it weren’t for him, I would have died in my own world back then." Ku Chan responded.

Looking at his determined and sincere eyes, the figure remained silent for a while.

"I’m a bit doubtful whether taking you on as my disciple was a correct decision... Arcane requires reason, absolute rationality, not to act impulsively upon things that may cause regret in the future."

"I will not regret it. Neither now, nor in the future." Ku Chan said decisively.

The figure said no more, merely snorted coldly, and turned away, heading towards the teleportation array.

"Let’s go, back to the academy."

"Yes." Ku Chan, pulling Yiyi, saluted Harvey in thanks before hurriedly chasing after the blue figure.

Only after taking a few steps did he feel something black and heavy flying towards him.

Smack, he caught the object, which turned out to be another black box wrapped in blue and black cloth, identical to the one he had just given to Yu Hong.

"Is this....!?" Ku Chan glanced at the teacher in confusion.

"There are two parts to the meeting gift; this is the second part. Fortunately, I didn’t give them all to you at once, otherwise, if you sold everything, you would have lost big time?!" The blue figure snorted coldly as it continued forward, vanishing within the teleportation array in the blink of an eye. Though he did not consider wasting resources on someone like Yu Hong, who seemed to have no future, to be a wise thing, since it was what his disciple wanted to do, he could only acquiesce.

After all, though people with aptitude like Ku Chan’s are rare, they can still be found here and there; however, those with comparable integrity and resolute will... It’s been few and far between over the past century.

Ku Chan blinked, looking confusedly at the box in his hands, and walked away with Yiyi.

Leaving Harvey to watch their disappearing figures and sighed wordlessly.

"Truly eye-opening..." He lifted his head to the sky, recalling his own experience of apprenticing with Margaret, it was all him gifting the teacher.

"I’ve never seen a teacher give a student gifts, two at once no less...."

*

*

*

In the heart of the Wind Disaster, amid the flowing rainbow threads.

Yu Hong controlled the Black Black Spirit floating amid the threads, no longer advancing.

He stood alone at the window, gazing at the colossal sunflower-like human faces floating by outside, unemotional.

"Everyone’s gone, and now there’s no one to disturb me...."

He took out the strengthening Outer Eye.

The countdown showed there were 33 hours and 12 minutes remaining.

Just over a day.

"I’ll wait here till the strengthening finishes, repair Black Black Spirit, and then set off again." He decided; here, adjacent to the Floating City Absolute Balance, the surroundings were actually safer.

He didn’t need to force himself to set off now. Though Black Black Spirit had strong concealment even without activating Isolation State, its defense ability had decreased significantly; if bad luck coincidently brought them in front of a perceptive behemoth, that would be troublesome.

Yu Hong thus sat cross-legged before the window, bathed in the colorful light streaming in from outside, entering the cultivation state of Chaotic God Sky Eye Skill.

Oddly enough, usually, when cultivating the Chaotic God Heavenly Eye Scripture, he only entered a meditative state and never fell asleep, but this time, unconsciously, he actually drifted off.

"Yu Hong....."

"Yu Hong..."

A deep and grand voice echoed continuously in his ears.

Yu Hong gradually came to his senses in a daze, realizing he was floating in a boundless, vast starry sky.

Above, below, all around, the space was filled with silver stars in the black expanse.

And that voice was coming from directly above him.

Above?

Yu Hong looked up, his pupils suddenly contracting.

He saw an enormous black giant lizard clinging to a yellowish-brown planet.

The giant lizard’s head rested on the planet’s surface, its body coiled around the planet.

At this moment, this pitch-black giant lizard, with platinum eyes, was calmly observing him.

Watching Yu Hong, small as a dust particle.

"Nice to meet you, I am Agrius." The giant lizard’s deep voice, akin to thunder, echoed in Yu Hong’s ears.

Agrius? The main body!?

Yu Hong was stunned; gazing at the counterpart, an inexplicable chill rose from his heart.

"The time hasn’t arrived yet, right?" He suppressed his innate fear aroused by the immense status gap and said gravely.

"Of course not. I am here because just now, all the other Savior Ships under my jurisdiction have been annihilated; only yours survives." Agrius stated calmly.

"You must have seen the message left by the Space-time Demon before its annihilation. It was a scene from three thousand years ago, at the onset of the Great Cataclysm."