I Bound Myself to a Destructive Witch
Chapter 596 - 596: 564. Purpose?

The dim vision was left only with the roar of a malevolent spirit's gunshots.

Jin Jili's consciousness faded in the soul-tearing agony.

He couldn't understand why the boy, who was supposed to be a Divine Rank Half-Dragon slave raised by Jiang Qiue, escaped capture by Jing Jiu's mere glance.

Who exactly is this guy...?!

"Bang—!" With the final gunshot, his forehead was completely pierced, and Jin Jili's head tilted backward, reflected in his lifeless eyes was the boy holding up the hunting rifle.

The boy still calmly sat by the window, leisurely putting the hunting rifle away.

This was the last scene Jin Jili saw before his consciousness, filled with indignant rage, completely disintegrated.

Jing Jiu ignited a blaze of ice-green flame in his palm and, upon touching Jin Jili's corpse's forehead, vaporized it instantly, eradicating all traces of his body.

After handling this criminal who attempted to assault civilians, he didn't look at the civilian holding the hunting rifle; he simply turned and left this train car.

The passengers, who had their senses sealed, gradually woke up.

Investigators and knights from a forward car who were puzzled and heading their way were stopped by Jing Jiu. After a few words, the forces sealing off this star iron began to retreat.

Holy Department investigators boarded their warships, as did the Apocalypse Knights onto their private vessels.

Was the crisis resolved that easily? Feng Jianyi was stunned, watching everything outside the window. Jing Jiu's ship gradually moved away until it disappeared completely like a speck of starlight.

Had he really left? Feng Jianyi came back to reality, finally accepting this outrageous fact, and slowly turned his neck to look at the boy across from him.

The boy hadn't moved an inch from the beginning to the end, facing everything indifferently as if he knew that the Apocalypse Knights wouldn't dare investigate him.

Feng Jianyi fully realized that Xia Feng's previous confident demeanor was not an act of bravado; he genuinely had the power to save both him and his daughter.

So effortlessly!

So, just who was this boy? The more Feng Jianyi contemplated, the more he was astonished.

Before talking to the boy, he had already checked his background.

Xia Feng, a B-level fugitive, was originally a freshman at Weiyang Academy in Zone 51, one of the masterminds behind the Garden tragedy, and after being accused by the Black Moon Church as the Eternal Day Saint Child, he had disappeared for a year.

According to Feng Jianyi's understanding of those at the top of the Empire, he could tell at a glance that Xia Feng had been framed and was certainly not the Saint Heir of the Burning Heaven Temple.

Of course, these details were unimportant.

What mattered was that Xia Feng's descent from being framed to becoming a fugitive revealed that the boy came from an ordinary background with no powerful forces protecting him.

That's what Feng Jianyi originally thought.

But the current situation refuted his assumptions.

His observation skills were extraordinary, and he had keenly noticed that Jing Jiu had made a slight bending motion with his right knee when he stood before Xia Feng, as if he was about to kneel!

Even when facing a Pillar Country, an Apocalypse Knight didn't need to kneel, unless it was in front of the Empress, who had slept for millennia.

This boy obviously wasn't Her Majesty.

Yet, when facing the boy, not only did the Apocalypse Knight not dare to proceed with the investigation, but he also turned and left. Furthermore, he covertly protected the boy even when he wanted to kill Jin Jili, controlling Jin Jili to let Xia Feng murder at will.

All these actions were beyond Feng Jianyi's expectations, completely cloaked in mystery, and he couldn't fathom the boy's identity.

But no matter what, this boy named Xia Feng surely had an extraordinary background.

It was certainly right to befriend him.

"Sir, it seems that you, too, have quite the significant background."

Feng Jianyi mulled quietly in his heart, and with a smile, he slid the card in his hand across to Xia Feng, "True to my word, the card contains the third level password for the laboratory."

At the same time, Cha Naixue and Jiang Qiue fixed Xia Feng with peculiar gazes, equally astonished and puzzled.

How did he manage to do that?

Mu Qingtong's beautiful eyes also held some doubt as she frowned in thought.

She had thought a tough battle was imminent, but the outcome was completely unexpected.

An Apocalypse Knight had actually given up on the inspection and even cooperated with Mr. Xia to kill Jin Jili... Could it be that Mr. Xia had already secretly infiltrated the Apocalypse Knight Order?

Mu Qingtong's beautiful eyes narrowed slightly—if that were the case, then Mr. Xia's infiltration into the high echelons of the Empire was indeed somewhat more impressive than hers.

After all, an authoritative organization like the Apocalypse Knight Order, which stood above all other powers, was not something any other force could easily penetrate.

Watching the varying expressions of shock and doubt directed at him, Xia Feng smiled without saying a word, his lips carrying an enigmatic pose.

In truth, inside... he was panicking quite a bit.

Judging from the reactions of the Apocalypse Knights, his previous speculation was not wrong; the Eighth Life was indeed that Empress who had slumbered in the Apocalypse Temple for ten thousand years.

Now, she had awakened!

Fortunately, the Empress seemed able to use the Apocalypse Knights as eyes, ignoring distance constraints and descending her will, yet without taking further action, which indicated that her range of activity was still limited.

Only within the range of ten major zones.

Perhaps her physical body couldn't even leave the Apocalypse Temple?

With his superficial understanding of Divine Level beings, Xia Feng felt that such existences, even if they couldn't instantly traverse the entire Empire, should be able to cross twenty major zones in a few seconds...

But after waiting so long, the Pale Seal had shown no sign of activity.

From this, it seemed that the Eighth Life was still unable to deal with him at present.

This was indeed good news, but it also contributed to Xia Feng's confusion. Previously, in the Evil Dragon Space, the Eighth Life had declared that she would find him and let him experience what true despair was like.

She would have surely tried every possible method to capture him.

Given the previous situation, wouldn't it have been more trouble-free for her to simply have the Apocalypse Knights apprehend him and deliver him to the Apocalypse Temple in Zone 1?

Unless...

Xia Feng's dark pupils harbored thoughtful reflection, unless the Empress knew that having Jing Jiu take direct action would likely not capture him, so she chose to let him go for now and plan for the long term?

Or perhaps, the Empress knew that he could use the Pale Seal to counter her and, having just awakened with insufficient power, the little Empress was afraid to approach?

Hmm... Well, it probably was impossible to intimidate the Eighth Life, Xia Feng surmised from his brief interaction with her in the Evil Dragon Space; the Evil Dragon Miss's character was very tough.

She wouldn't shrink back in the face of difficulty.

Thoughts flashed incessantly in Xia Feng's mind, the more he pondered, the more perplexed he grew, somewhat at his wits' end.

The Eighth Life had saved him, yet she had not sent any message through Jing Jiu, which was truly odd.

Unable to discern the Empress's motives, he had no choice but to temporarily put it out of his mind.

In any case, with the Pale Seal, if the Empress dared to come looking for trouble, it was anybody's guess who would win or lose!

...

Apocalypse Temple.

Countless ethereal and pale golden steps rose from the obscure deep abyss, one layer after another, forming the stairs for an audience, connecting to the Dome Sky Temple.

Texius reported respectfully at the base of the Divine Rank about recent events spanning ten thousand years but, receiving no response, he couldn't help but look up in confusion, "Your Highness?"

The Empress withdrew her gaze from the distant horizon, her divine eyes indifferent and majestic, and she suddenly asked:

"What powers currently exist in the fifteenth major zone?"