Fifty years have passed since Xiao Fei publicly announced his victory over a Nascent Soul stage demon.
In these fifty years, all territories on the Eastern Continent have fallen into the hands of the demons.
The majority of the human race on the continent were massacred by the demons. The survivors were either captured and enslaved or taken to be breeding stock for the demons.
A portion of the population also fled to the Eastern Sea, settling on some of its islands.
However, the resistance of human cultivators never ceased. Led by Xiao Fei, the cultivators of Meteor Island had implicitly become a banner for humanity's fight against the demons.
Unable to defeat the demons in direct confrontation, they dispersed and infiltrated the demon rear lines, engaging in guerrilla warfare and ambushes, gradually whittling down the demon forces.
Yet, the demons' advancement and growth speed were inherently faster than humans. Coupled with the vast number of demon seeds transmitted through the dimensional rift and occasional strong individuals crossing directly between realms, humanity remained at a disadvantage.
Furthermore, if this trend continued, the disparity in strength between the two sides would only grow.
For this reason, the human powerhouses had no solution, only regretting that the former great powers, by occupying high positions, had blocked the paths of others. Otherwise, humanity would not be suffering such a great loss today.
In the past few decades, although Xiao Fei had fought alongside the Flying Sky Giant Boat in campaigns, whenever he did not encounter a Nascent Soul stage demon, he remained in his secluded chamber, focusing on cultivation, and did not show himself.
Occasionally, when encountering Nascent Soul stage demons, he would still engage them, holding them off until their demonic energy was depleted, allowing him to escape.
Although his strength was steadily increasing, and he was becoming more adept at dealing with Nascent Soul stage demons, this tactic was becoming unsustainable.
The reason was simple: the number of Nascent Soul stage demons was growing. To his knowledge, there were at least fifteen Nascent Soul stage demons now.
Previously, when Nascent Soul stage demons were scarce, he could employ this strategy. But now, the probability of encountering two Nascent Soul stage demons in the same region had greatly increased.
If he were to encounter two Nascent Soul stage demons simultaneously, he might be able to escape, but the Flying Sky Giant Boat would certainly be destroyed, and the cultivators on board would not survive.
Xiao Fei sat in his secluded chamber, his primordial spirit having entered his spatial realm.
Within the realm, he was refining a batch of pills.
The primary and secondary medicinal ingredients for the Nascent Soul Pill, cultivated within the realm, had matured, and seeds had been preserved. He then harvested the ingredients and began the alchemical process.
This was his first time refining the Nascent Soul Pill, and it was the moment of completion.
Xiao Fei gently lifted the lid of the alchemical furnace. Inside, six thumb-sized pills lay quietly.
He now possessed six Nascent Soul Pills, a treasure that was rare and sought after in the cultivation world.
Holding the six Nascent Soul Pills, Xiao Fei's heart surged with emotion, an unprecedented sense of happiness washing over him.
After a long while, he shook his head and temporarily stored the pills in a bottle.
"It's a pity I can't use them myself right now!"
Although he now had the Nascent Soul Pills, he still lacked sufficient spirit stones.
In his previous advancements to each major realm, the cracked jade disk within his body would desperately absorb his internal mana or spiritual energy to repair itself.
He had to stockpile a large amount of spirit stones in advance to supply the jade disk's absorption.
Based on his past experiences, the spirit stones required for each major realm advancement would increase by at least a hundredfold, if not more.
His last advancement to the Nascent Soul stage consumed over a hundred million spirit stones. Multiplying that by a hundred, breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage would require at least tens of billions of spirit stones.
Such a vast sum of spirit stones was not easy to acquire. Despite his diligent efforts in collecting spirit stones over the years, he only had eight hundred million spirit stones in his possession.
He even doubted that turning over the entire Eastern Continent would yield so many spirit stones.
Xiao Fei sighed, a hint of helplessness in his expression as he exited the spatial realm.
He held six Nascent Soul Pills, but he couldn't use them.
It was akin to spending a large dowry to marry a beautiful wife, only to be able to gaze upon her daily, a melancholy that those who haven't experienced it cannot understand.
Upon exiting the spatial realm, Xiao Fei immediately sent a communication talisman to Huang Feifei.
For the sake of the human race's overall situation, he couldn't use them himself, nor could he simply watch them go to waste. He could let someone else use them first.
Huang Feifei was naturally the most suitable candidate.
If he gave the Nascent Soul Pills to someone of unknown background, they might seek him out for trouble after breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage, possibly even killing him with a single strike.
At the very least, Huang Feifei was one of his own. Years of experience had proven that Huang Feifei was trustworthy.
"Young Master! You sent for me?"
When Huang Feifei entered, she was holding a round disk, a magical artifact used to control the flight of the giant boat.
A red dot on the disk indicated the current position of the Flying Sky Giant Boat.
"Yes! I have something important to discuss with you this time. Please put down the jade disk first."
Upon hearing this, Huang Feifei immediately deactivated the array on the jade disk. She was not the only one controlling the flying boat; by deactivating her control, others would automatically take over her permissions.
"Feifei, you've been at the late Nascent Soul stage for some time now. I'm giving you a Nascent Soul Pill to try and see if you can successfully break through to the Nascent Soul stage!"
Huang Feifei's eyes widened in surprise, her mouth agape enough to swallow a whole egg.
"Young Master! Why give it to me? Don't you need the Nascent Soul Pill more than I do?"
Huang Feifei's heart was filled with excitement. Only a small part of her excitement was due to the Nascent Soul Pill itself.
The greater reason was that the Young Master, upon obtaining the Nascent Soul Pill, had thought of her immediately, before even having a chance to use it himself.
The Young Master treated her better than he treated himself, how could she not be moved?
She was not someone who failed to appreciate kindness; how could she use something that the Young Master himself had not yet used?
"Take it, I need you to protect me after you advance to the Nascent Soul stage."
Without further ado, Xiao Fei forcefully placed a Nascent Soul Pill into Huang Feifei's arms.
He himself was unable to advance to the Nascent Soul stage due to a lack of spirit stones, but the human race desperately needed a Nascent Soul stage expert at this time.
Let Huang Feifei be the first to achieve the Nascent Soul stage.
Unable to refuse, Huang Feifei accepted the Nascent Soul Pill.
As she left Xiao Fei's secluded chamber, her eyes were red, and she secretly vowed that once she broke through to the Nascent Soul stage, no one would be able to harm her Young Master even by a single hair.