Deep inside the central building, Feifei was looking around to see what was happening. Suddenly, an ethereal project of a man appeared in front of her.
"Hello there. Your name is Feifei, right?"
Feifei didn't seem surprised that he knew her name, this guy was the one who managed this dimensional realm, so he definitely had eyes everywhere.
"Why did you bring me here?"
Xanio then answered.
"I finally found an inheritor, so I brought you here to pass on my knowledge."
Feifei heard that and then laughed.
"Did you know? I'm a direct descendant of the Wang Clan, so I don't think there is anything you can give me that I can't get already. In fact, I might have even better sources."
Xanio wasn't angry with that remark, though.
"You say that, but your Destiny Core is saying the opposite, isn't that right?"
Feifei narrowed her eyes when she heard that.
"What do you mean?"
Xanio continued.
"Let's start with the legend about the Heavenly Core. It is said that the Heavenly Core always appeared after one of the 9 Major Cores evolved into it. This much you already know, right?"
Feifei nodded and waited for Xanio to continue talking.
"I dedicated my life trying to give birth to a Heavenly Core, but during most of it, I've seen my research turned into a fruitless effort. I thought that I would really leave this place before I could get an answer. I tried several things, both with my own Destiny Core and the other Major Cores. Still, nothing much changed. It was then that I thought about a possibility."
Xanio's face turned serious at this point.
"Is it really the 9 Major Cores the ones capable of evolving? What if the previous Heavenly Core owners didn't have a Major Core to start with? Or to be more precise, what if their Major Cores were not the same as the ones that I knew?"
Feifei's heart skipped a bit at that point. After all, both her and Krune seem to have a Major Core that is different from the others of the same type.
"Following this logic, I changed the focus of my research. I went after records of the 9 Major Cores that had appeared until that point. As you know, Major Cores are extremely rare. Still, with the number of cultivators and demons beasts in the universe, there are quite a few appearing every year. Remember that we are talking about the entire universe here, not the Western Protectorate alone."
"I spent thousands of years traveling around the universe and collecting records of the past Major Core owners. Finally, I stopped somewhere and started my studies."
"After going through all the information, I noticed one thing. During the time that a Heavenly Core owner appeared, quite a few Major Core owners showed some kind of 'peculiarity.' To make things easy, let's call them Advanced Major Cores. One time, there was a Black Hole Major Core that cultivated even faster than the others. Another time, there was a Life Core owner who was even able to bring a dead person back to life as long as he hasn't died for too long. At some point, there was a Yang Core Owner with the capability of changing Yang Energy itself."
"Another thing that I noticed is that no more than one of each showed those peculiarities. What I mean is that, during the time a Heavenly Core appeared, only a single one of each Major Core type showed those changes. Or at least, I didn't find any records of two Advanced Major Cores of the same type during the same age."
"If my research isn't wrong, every time those Advanced Major Cores show themselves, a Heavenly Core has a chance of appearing."
Feifei got confused at that point and asked.
"A chance? Does it mean that even if those Advanced Major Core owners appear, a Heavenly Core isn't guaranteed to appear too?"
Xanio nodded.
"Correct. You must remember this, there is very little information about the Heavenly Core, and that is because it doesn't always come to be. In fact, the chances are still low even during those times."
Feifei seemed to understand something.
"Wait, are you telling me that the Heavenly Core is a combination of those 9 Advanced Major Cores?"
Xanio showed a smile after heard that.
"Smart! That is also the reason why a Heavenly Core rarely appears. From what I found, each of those 9 Advanced Major Cores carries with them a fragment of the Heavenly Core. In fact, I'm almost 100% sure about that. Do you remember the thing that had been calling you inside this place?"
Feifei nodded, it was evident that Xanio knew that she had a Major Core different from the others.
Xanio smiled and said.
"That is the Heavenly Core Fragment of an Advanced Destiny Core. That's why you can feel its presence. No, to be more exact, it 'was' a Heavenly Core Fragment, but it is not the case anymore."
Although Feifei was already expecting it, she still was surprised to hear that.
"What do you mean with 'was?'"
Xanio sighed and said.
"That is just a projection of the real thing that I made with the help of a friend who had the Time Core. We spent hundreds of years until we pinpointed the right time when it appeared. You probably noticed it already since you have one of the Advanced Major Cores. It's impossible to ready the Destiny Energy of an Advanced Major Core. Because of that, it was really hard to get this projection working. Simply put, this Heavenly Core Fragnament of an Advanced Destiny Core doesn't really exist anymore. Remember this, I'm almost sure that there will never be two Advanced Major Cores of the same type at the same time in the same Universe."
Feifei heard this last part and made a question that was bothering her for a long time already.
"How did you know that I was coming? You said it yourself, the actions of an Advanced Major Core owner can't be read. In that case, it should have been impossible for you to find that I was coming."
Xanio laughed after hearing that.
"Exactly! That's why I didn't predict that you would come. First of all, I didn't even know if you would be human or not. What I predicted was that I would receive an inheritor as long as I waited here, that was all. Also, I was sure that this person or demon beast would have an Advanced Destiny Major Core."
Feifei is very intelligent herself, so she only needed those words to understand the entire situation.
"I see! You used prediction on yourself! As for the reason that you knew that your inheritor would be an Advanced Major Core, I think I understand that too. Basically, even though you knew that an inheritor would appear, you couldn't see anything about him or her. You couldn't predict the time, gender, race, or anything like that. Still, that was all the proof that you needed. Since you know that you will get an inheritor, but can't see anything about him or her, that can only mean that an Advanced Major Core is the only possibility. In the end, the Advanced Major Core special anti-destiny-energy-trait worked against itself."
Xanio was feeling happier and happier with this girl, she was a lot smart than he thought. Just a few words, and she was able to unveil everything by herself.
"Impressive!"
That wasn't all that Feifei thought.
Feifei now understood what was happening here. Why assassins that seemed to come from outside the Western Protectorate wanted her dead. Feifei is only 17 years old, and the rumors that she might have a Heavenly Core only started a few years ago. Also, only the high echelon of each of the big four knew about this rumor. So it makes sense that it took a few years to reach the ears of those from outside. But now that they did, that power wanted her Heavenly Fragment from her Destiny Core.
"How do you obtain the Heavenly Fragment of an Advanced Major Core?"
Xanio sighed and said.
"I'm not sure. As I said, there is too little information about the Heavenly Cores. Still, I believe that the Three Sacred Lands of the Central Region definitely have some information themselves. After all, most of the Heavenly Core owners in the past had been part of their powers. Unfortunately, it doesn't matter what I did, I couldn't take any information from them. In fact, there was even a time that I got pursued because of that."
Feifei's conjecture that those assassins came for her Heavenly Core fragment got even stronger now.
Xanio then continued.
"Still, thanks to those guys coming after you outside, I have some ideas now."
Xanio's eyes became cold when he talked about the assassins.
"When they first appeared in my realm, I heard they commenting about having to kill you and take something back. I don't believe that anyone of the assassins is an Advanced Major Core owner. That means that once you are dead, your Heavenly Core fragment can still be taken away."
"Most likely, it can be absorbed by anyone of the Advanced major Core Owners even if it wasn't they who killed you. This also proves another thing, the power behind those guys probably has an Advanced Major Core owner already. Otherwise, it would have been better to try to make you one of them. But it seems like they are dead set on taking your life."
Feifei agreed with Xanio's words.
"Can't you do something about them? After all, they are after my Heavenly Core Fragment. Also, I don't want my friends outside to die."
Xanio shook his head.
"The rules left behind by my real self didn't consider anyone else other than the Advanced Core owner, so I can't help them. They even asked me if I could tell them where the other teleport formations to the inner core region were. Still, I told them that it would be useless since the light barrier will disappear anytime now."
Xanio then explained the same thing as he did for Krune and the others.
Feifei was taken aback by that.
"In that case, I'm leaving. I have no need for your inheritance, nor do I want a Heavenly Core. If what I need to do to get that is to leave Krune behind, then I might as well pretend that it doesn't even exist."
There was another thing too. Feifei knows that Krune is probably another Advanced Major Core owner, so if she wanted a Heavenly Core, Krune had to die. That is completely out of the question for her. Fortunately, any comments about it were made through Divine Sense, so no one could have heard.
Xanio didn't expect that someone would simply give up the chance of getting a Heavenly Core like that. So he panicked a little when Feifei started to move away. Even though she can't leave without his agreement, if Feifei is not willing to do 'that' for him, then there is no point in it.
"Wait, wait! I can do a little bit about that."
Feifei showed a smile and then turned back.
"Oh, is that so? Let's hear your ideas then."
Xanio felt like he was being played with, but at the moment, he had no other choice. He must get Feifei's trust no matter what.