Chapter 2685 - Xeno Fatigue
"By the way, how old is this Shi Xiao?" Tianming asked.
"He's almost five hundred. He's been practicing at Creek Martial Academy in the town and he knows many influential people there. I'm done for...." Although Shi Xiao had temporarily left, Beibei still seemed hesitant. Her heart was racing, and she didn't dare to think too deeply about it. The more she thought about it, the more anxious she became.
"Not even five hundred yet?" Tianming was surprised for a moment.
A village tyrant had talent on par with the best of the Infinitum and Skydome Mundi? He was approaching the level of Fu Xun, Lu Xuan, Weisheng Piaopiao, and Weisheng Miaomiao! Luckily, this mysterious continent had a low population. If it had billions of people, it would be disastrous.
From that perspective, the world sandwiched between the Xenoworld and the sea of order was truly astonishing.
Tianming was amazed. Beibei, on the other hand, was in emotional turmoil over her destiny.
Just at that moment, a frail voice emanated from her house. "Beibei, come inside.”
It was likely Beibei's mom.
"Mom, I'm coming." Upon hearing her mom's voice, the sensible young silver fox girl promptly stood up. She picked up the clear spirit grass that she had recently tossed aside. When she reached the doorway, she turned back to Tianming and said, "Tiny Big Brother, you wanted to ask my mom about our world, right? Come in. After you get your answers, you should leave. You injured Shi Xiao, and the villagers won't let you off. I've seen it over the years. After my dad died, my mom and I became their prey. These days have been terrible."
As she spoke, Beibei appeared deeply saddened. The world was vast, but it was also small. It was so small, in fact, that being subject to mistreatment left one with no refuge. In the vast world, there wasn't a single person capable of upholding justice. An enclosed world like this could indeed feel suffocating.
"Beibei, don't talk nonsense in front of guests," the feeble voice admonished her.
"Okay, okay." Beibei obediently nodded.
Tianming followed her inside. To be honest, the house was surprisingly spacious. The pillars were made of a material like the wood of the Azurecloud Divine Tree, allowing the hundreds-of-meters-tall specters to freely move around, and even fight if necessary.
Following the voice, he saw an elderly woman lying on a giant bed in the corner. Her hair was silver, and her fox ears drooped. Her face was wrinkled, her eyes were dim, and she was very thin and even shorter than Beibei.
Seeing her, Tianming thought of Wei Jing, who looked like that while being tormented by Lifesbane. Bedridden and battling a deadly illness, she had no hope. The problem was, how could an astral god get sick?
"Mother, this Tiny Big Brother is called Tianming, and he helped me find clear spirit grass. I'll go refine it for you right away, or else Shi Xiao will come with his men and the clear spirit grass will be gone," the young girl said. The girl was fully aware that in this Silverfox Village, repelling Shi Xiao was by no means equivalent to resolving the trouble. She was extremely anxious now, and tears were welling up in her eyes. She had come to terms with her fate, realizing that it was unchangeable, which left her despondent.
"Senior, what should I call you?" Tianming inquired politely as he approached the bedside.
"Young man, you can call me Auntie Hua," the elderly lady responded.
"Auntie Hua...." Tianming's expression was somewhat peculiar. It was a rather plain form of address, something that he’d use for a village woman. But this was a mysterious continent within the Xenoworld, a place he couldn’t fathom!
Currently, with him as the center, Yin Chen had spread out. He was aware that Shi Xiao had gone to find people, and Yin Chen could pick up fragments of conversations. However, the conversations revolved around Silverfox Village and Creektown. Nobody had said anything yet about what kind of world it was.
Tianming found Auntie Hua's condition rather odd. She was indeed an astral god with a level somewhat higher than Shi Xiao's. Based on Beibei's age, Auntie Hua shouldn't have been approaching her end anytime soon. Furthermore, her ailment seemed to be more of a grave illness than aging, which was impossible for astral gods.
"Auntie Hua, could you tell me how an astral god like you could suffer from such an illness?" he inquired.
Auntie Hua mustered a wry smile and said, "Indeed, this kind of illness is impossible for astral god outworlders, but for us, it's an inescapable fate.”
She was only speaking as she had heard Tianming repelling Shi Xiao, so she wanted to clear up his confusion so he would leave faster. “This illness is called ‘xeno fatigue.’ It’s like a curse, invisible and formless. When it strikes, all the astrons in our bodies rapidly deteriorate. No matter how we cultivate cosmoforce, it all dissipates, turning into xeno source and returning to heaven and earth."
"Is that so...." Tianming found it quite terrifying. Essentially, it was a cycle of dust to dust, earth to earth. They were chosen by the world to rapidly deteriorate and release the power they had cultivated.
"Fortunately, it’s fair to everyone. Whether it's an influential figure from Creektown or us ordinary folks, the chances of falling ill are the same. This curse might befall you some day.... Poor Beibei, her father died from a brawl, and now I've been afflicted. Her future looks bleak," Auntie Hua sighed. Her eyes gazed at Beibei, who was working not far away with a look of sadness on her face.
"Can I take her to my world?" Tianming asked.
"It's impossible. How could that be? We can't leave this place, even if we’re bound by your kind of rope. The Xenoabyss keeps us eternally trapped here. Fortunately, this world is truly vast, vast enough to make people despair."
Auntie Hua looked up at the black boards above her. The xeno fatigue was constantly tormenting her, leaving her eyes forever filled with despair.
"The Xenoabyss?!" Tianming was taken aback. "Auntie Hua, is this world called the Xenoabyss?" he repeated.
"Yes, have you heard of it in your world?" Auntie Hua inquired.
Tianming had indeed heard of it. It was what Sixth had said! It had told him that it was waiting for him in the Xenoabyss! Qingyu, Lingfeng, and the sixth Primordial Chaos Beast were very likely in the same place. So that was why the coordinate marker had brought him here....
Tianming had imagined the so-called Xenoabyss to be within the Xenoworld. It would be a vast deep sea filled with the bizarre and the extraordinary. He had never imagined that it was actually an ancient continent beneath the sea of order!
"I've finally arrived here. Everything is clear now!" The people he wanted to find were in this world. As a result, he was even more eager to search for Lingfeng and Qingyu.
"Auntie Hua, could you help me examine this?" Tianming took out the crescent-shaped dart and said, "This is what brought me to the Xenoabyss. My relatives left it for me. What do I need to do to find them?"
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