Forty Millenniums of Cultivation - Chapter 400

Chapter 400: New Generation

Early in the morning, in Floating Spear City’s Mining Clan High School, the spacious playground was packed with people.

Floating Spear City’s Mining Clan High School was quite different from three years ago.

After making a fortune through the Demon Beast Detector, he had invested a large sum of money into his hometown’s school. Dormitories were refurbished, the playground was enlarged, a new lab building was built, and a lot of new training facilities were added.

Right now, Floating Spear City’s Mining Clan High School not only accepted the miners’ children from the Limestone District, but also admitted students of no significant background citywide. The school was twice as large right now.

At this moment, thousands of students had assembled on the playground. Everybody was talking and laughing, making the place livelier than ever.

“Tang Xiao, you’re not awake yet? Cheer up! A big shot is coming!”

In a corner of the crowd, a yellow-haired student tapped a drowsy, chubby classmate nearby with his elbow.

The chubby boy named Tang Xiao yawned and said with disdain, “What’s so special about this big shot that they have to summon all the students here? It can’t be the mayor, can it? I was practicing Thirteen Forces of War Beast until three o’clock in the morning. I don’t have time for those douchebags.”

The yellow-haired boy, on the other hand, was beaming with joy. He was so thrilled that even his voice had changed.

“What are you talking about? It’s Li Yao. Vulture Li Yao!”

Tang Xiao’s sleepy eyes had been as narrow as a line, only to be widened open by the shocking news. He almost jumped to the sky in astonishment.

“What? You mean the super genius, Vulture Li Yao?”

Li Yao was the biggest idol for the thousands of students in the Floating Spear City’s Mining Clan High School. All the children from slums considered him as their role model. Besides, many of the buildings and training facilities inside their school were sponsored by Li Yao. They were very proud of him.

Almost every child had watched Li Yao’s videos hundreds of times over. They even formed an association named ‘Vulture Squad’ which collected news about Li Yao.

Tang Xiao and the yellow-haired boy were no exceptions. They were hardcore members of Vulture Squad!

At that moment, they both shivered, feeling that their backs were cold as if someone had soaked their spine in cold water.

Looking up to the sky, an extravagant shuttle enshrouded in silver brightness had stopped overhead quietly without them noticing.

From the perfect shell spread out a dominating aura which enveloped all the students on the spot like an invisible giant net.

“Wow. What is this shuttle? I’ve never seen one like it before! Judging from the appearance, it is even more advanced than the Mystic Bird Armed Shuttle that is worth hundreds of millions!”

“Vulture Li Yao is so intimidating! I can barely breathe right now. Is he really only five years older than us?”

“Cultivators are really rich… and awesome!”

“I’m going to try my best to Cultivate, too, and one day I will be a Cultivator as strong as Li Yao!”

Students were all dazzled. They gazed at the sky in a trance with their mouths wide open.

The silver brightness in the sky blinked, unveiling a tall, thin man who was wearing a white robe. The belts of the robe moved without being affected by the wind, while its owner flew to the platform in the air slowly and elegantly.

It was Li Yao!

“President Mao, Grandpa Wang!”

Li Yao hugged the two old men on the platform warmly.

Although he’d only stayed for a few months in Floating Spear City’s Mining Clan High School, he’d never forgotten that President Mao accepted him against pressure when he was at the lowest point of his life.

Grandpa Wang helped him even more. When he was in high school, he wouldn’t have been able to pay the tuition fees without the support of Grandpa Wang.

If he’d dropped out of school back then, his life would’ve been very different.

Therefore, Li Yao had always considered Floating Spear City’s Mining Clan High School as his mother school and the two old men as his own family.

“The main purpose of my return this time is to see whether or not we can build another training stadium in our school. I am planning to get it done according to the highest standard. It will be as good as any training stadium in the federation. Of course, as the intensity of training increases, the trainees’ bodies are more prone to injuries. Therefore, we will also need to build a brand-new school hospital. It will be completed according to the standard of the field hospitals in the military frontline, which should be enough to fix all the injuries resulting from training,” Li Yao said unhurriedly.

Over the past few months in Occult Orbs Fellowship, he had gained a lot of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures and secret reserves. The invaluable items were all sellable.

Even contribution points could be exchanged for money, too, as a reward for each mission.

This time, he had accepted the extremely dangerous mission to Ultimacy. As a result, he had been prepaid with a large sum. Since he had no home to settle in, and neither himself nor Ding Lingdang lacked money, he decided to invest the money into his school.

Li Yao’s ambition was not just his own success.

He was hoping to build Floating Spear City’s Mining Clan High School into a first-rate super school of the federation where all the underprivileged students with talent for Cultivating could be raised to be Cultivators.

“Li Yao, you’ve offered tremendous help to our school over the past two years. Now you are spending a huge fortune again in constructing two advanced facilities. I really… I really don’t know how I can thank you.”

President Mao felt a plethora of emotions welling up in his chest. “Years ago, I was just doing Old Wang a favor. I did nothing but lift my finger. I never expected that you would make it this far to be one of the youngest Building Foundation Stage Cultivators in the federation!”

Li Yao smiled.

“President, it was just a lift of your finger for you years ago, and it is a lift of my finger for me right now. The money on the training stadium and the school hospital is no big deal. I have talked with Chairman Zhao, the leader of the Disabled Servicemen Association. Later, the Disabled Servicemen Association will send a batch of skilled veterans to work as tutors in our school, who will teach students martial arts and arts of war. All the relevant fees will be paid by me.

“You know that the federation has entered the first-degree state of war. A soldier is the most respected profession. It will do no harm to the students if they can learn some battle skills!”

Li Yao had figured everything out. If he could return from Ultimacy safe and sound, naturally, money was not going to be a problem. Not just a few retired veterans, he would have enough capital to hire a special force troop.

If he failed to come back, the insurance companies endorsed by the top 10 sects of the federation would pay a large sum of compensation, which should be enough to support the construction and operation of the Floating Spear City’s Mining Clan High School.

President Mao nodded his head quickly.

“Li Yao, for the students here, I won’t be polite; I’ll accept gratefully. It will be marvelous if tutors with military background could teach in our school!

“You know that students in our school are mostly from miner families born and raised in slums. Their talents are limited. Their education in the early years is not decent, either. It is quite difficult for them to awaken their spiritual roots and become Cultivators like you. In fact, it will be a miracle if even one of them makes it.

“However, since you started sponsoring our school, every student has been training crazily setting you as their example. Their bodies are much stronger than before. Last year, 174 students passed the test of the military and became soldiers of the federal army!”

Li Yao was amazed.

“174 of them? That’s impressive!”

The Star Glory Federation honored valiance more than anything else. The social status of the federal army was very high and almost stood equal to that of Cultivators. It was quite challenging to be enlisted by the army.

For underprivileged kids, joining the army was a very sensible choice. They could learn many skills in the army for free, receive abundant nutrition drugs and Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures for free, and get a job easily when they retired from the army. They would be respected by other citizens, too. Once they ran into any trouble, the Retired Servicemen Association and Disabled Servicemen Association would stand up for them.

For ordinary people, becoming a Cultivator might be an unreachable dream. But becoming soldiers was an achievable goal with hard work!

In the old days, only a few graduates of the Floating Spear City’s Mining Clan High School would be successfully enrolled by the federal army every year. This time, the number had increase manifold, all thanks to Li Yao’s previous investment!

“Say something to the students. You are the hero of everyone here. They’ve been jumping up and down like restless monkeys since they heard that you were coming.”

President Mao grinned.

Li Yao glanced around. The crowds below the platform fell quiet, while thousands of eyes were fixed on him hungrily. He couldn’t help but smile.

He suddenly recalled that, in the playground of the Crimson Nimbus Second Senior High School three years ago, his old friend Meng Jiang and he used to gaze at Fiend Blade Peng Hai in jealousy and admiration from the far edges of the crowds.

The scene was so familiar. Yet, three years had passed. How time flies!

While he was pondering, Li Yao took a step forward.

There was nothing in front of him, except the ground which was two meters below him.

But he was stepping on invisible stairs ascending to the sky slowly.

Cultivators at the Building Foundation Stage were already able to fly slowly in the air by manipulating the air with the fluctuation of spiritual energy.

It was not very useful in a combat. The Cultivator would become a conspicuous target for the enemy if they just swaggered to the sky.

But right now, all the students were deeply impressed by Li Yao’s performance.

Li Yao remembered the grandeur scene where Fiend Blade Peng Hai showed his strength at the peak of Building Foundation Stage. Taking a deep breath, he spread his spiritual energy out slowly.

His hair was dancing crazily. Violet purple electric arcs and bright blue fire were circling him, flying and colliding while making cracking noises.

Spiritual waves rippled out to every corner of the playground in silver rings.

“He!” Li Yao bellowed. A hurricane out of nowhere seemed to be blowing. None of the students was able to keep their eyes open. Their school uniforms were fluttering in the wind.

“Is this the dominance of Cultivators? So formidable, so terrifying!”

“I’m going to be a Cultivator like this. I’m going to fly freely in the sky, too!”

“We are all from slums. If Vulture Li Yao can do this, so can I!”

Shouts and screams from the students were caught clearly by Li Yao.

He smiled and roared, “You want to be like me?

“Then just try your best to train yourself!”

Chapter 401: Best Friend

At night, in the gourmet street in the underground ghost city of Floating Spear City, a cozy restaurant was filled with flavorful cuisine, lively chitchatting, and colliding sounds of pans and knives. Everyone’s faces were beaming with delight.

This was what one might call the joy of life.

Clink!

Two cups filled with chilled fruit wine clicked. Li Yao and Meng Jiang, his old friend from back when he was in high school, drank up the wine and smacked their lips, enjoying it very much. They looked each other in the eyes and smiled.

“It’s been three years since I last came here. The mulberry wine of Old Du Barbecue is just as scrumptious as the old days!”

Li Yao licked his lip, dwelling on his past.

In the day, after he left Mining Clan High School, he’d gone to see Peng Hai, his Senior Brother. Then, the two of them paid a visit to their Enlightenment Master Sun.

Mister Sun had been just a Cultivator at the Refinement Stage with no exceptional abilities in his early years. However, his eyes were sharp enough to discover Fiend Blade Peng Hai and Vulture Li Yao when he was old. As a result, his position in the Crimson Nimbus Sect had soared.

In order to make friends with Peng Hai and Li Yao, the Crimson Nimbus Sect had been taking care of Mister Sun devotedly over the past few years. It had even arranged an excellent villa in a suburb for the old man to enjoy his retired life.

Yet, Mister Sun had always remembered that Crimson Nimbus Second Senior High School had kicked Li Yao out before. He was never keen about the affairs of Crimson Nimbus Sect. Instead, one of his greatest hobbies was to wander around in slums, hoping to find the next talented kid.

Li Yao had dinner with Peng Hai and Mister Sun together. He entrusted Peng Hai to handle his shares in Dual Dragon Union. After sorting everything out, it was already nine o’clock in the evening.

He happened to hear that his old friend Meng Jiang had graduated from the vocational school after three years of study and successfully acquired the medium credential of beautician. He was idle at present.

Li Yao hadn’t seen Meng Jiang for three years. They took the opportunity and met each other again in their favorite underground gourmet street.

The Goat Oil Fried Noodles with hot steam billowing up, skewers with meat that was even thicker than arms, clams which were so spicy that their tears were dripping, and the extremely fat drumsticks. All the delicious cuisines that they dreamed about in their high school were served on the table.

“I never expected that we would ever meet again. Good for you! Reaching the Building Foundation Stage after only three years. You are as famous as Fiend Blade Peng Hai now!”

With a broad smile, Meng Jiang poured wine into Li Yao’s cup, while he observed, “I’m just an ordinary man, and I doubt I will achieve anything special in my entire life. The only thing that I’m proud of is that I have such a good friend like you! I didn’t expect that you would still remember me as your old friend now that you are a Building Foundation Stage Cultivator, and that you are willing to meet and have dinner with me in such an unattractive place! I’m so happy!”

“Meng Jiang, you will always be my best friend! How can I forget you? Years ago, when I was seriously wounded on Devil Flood Dragon Island during the hunting trip, everybody said that it was impossible for me to wake up again. It was you who had been defending me in the campus. You even had quite a few fights with other people. I never forgot that, not even for a second!”

Holding his cup tightly, Li Yao said, somewhat embarrassedly, “But you know that once you set off on the path of Cultivation, you can only try your best to move forward. I’ve been spending almost 24 hours a day in training. Sometimes, I have been summoned to various battlegrounds where I engage in furious battles that can last for months. There really has been no time for me to reunite with my old friend!”

“I totally understand. The situation is quite intense nowadays. Cultivators are busier than ever! Now that you’ve embarked on this path, just dedicate yourself to it and climb upward! I’m waiting to drink with you again when you reach the Nascent Soul Stage!”

Meng Jiang grinned. “But don’t keep me waiting for too long! If I am already an ugly old man when you become a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator, it will be too embarrassing for me to take a picture with you!”

Li Yao grinned, too. “Rest assured! I won’t keep you waiting for that long!

“Right, what about you?

“I know that your dream is to become the best beautician in the federation. You’ve been working hard enough to acquire the medium credential that many experienced beauticians find difficult to get. What are your plans next? Go job hunting or start your own business?”

Meng Jiang smiled and said proudly, “I’m going to join the army.”

Li Yao was dazed for a moment. “Join the army?”

“Yes.”

Meng Jiang nodded. “Of course, I want to start my salon. But you know my family’s condition. There is barely any money for that. My father has never been supportive about my career, either.

“Now that the federation is in the first-degree state of war, the benefits of the soldiers have significantly improved. The standard of enrollment has been lowered, too. After three years of service, I will be able to apply for a sum of loans to realize my dream!

“I’ll let you in on a secret. I took the military test a few days ago and passed it. As long as the vetting of my files is fine, I will become a glorious soldier of the federation!

“Haha. Even my father doesn’t know it yet. He will be so furious when he hears the news!”

“So, that was the case…”

Thinking for a moment, Li Yao took out a black, dull polish Gold Transfer Card from his pocket, put it on the oily desk, and pushed it over.

Meng Jiang was dazed for a moment. There was hesitation in his eyes. Drinking up the wine in his cup, he pushed the card back after a deep breath.

Li Yao frowned and said, “Meng Jiang, we are best friends. You don’t have to be courteous with me. The money inside should be enough for you to start a medium-size salon. You will be able to save yourself the trouble of serving in the army. It’s really dangerous to be a soldier right now!”

Glancing at the Gold Transfer Card, Meng Jiang seemed somewhat regretful. But his eyes turned determined again, as he smiled and said, “Li Yao, I know you mean well, and the money matters little to you.

“However, I have always considered us to be best friends. Our friendship can be traced back to our high school. It’s the purest of all and I value it more than anything else!

“Therefore, I can’t take your money to run my business. If so, our friendship will not be pure anymore, but flawed and sour.

“What’s more, compared to an effortless success, I’d prefer to build a business of my own with my own hands!

“Only in such a way can I feel confident about myself when I look back at my past after I establish a splendid empire from nothing!

“When you become a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator one day, I will still be able to eat and drink with you confidently with my head held high!”

Li Yao pondered for a long time. Then he scratched his head and smiled.

“Well said, Meng Jiang. You’ve improved a lot over the past three years!”

“Of course!”

Meng Jiang grinned, his eyes beaming with pride. “With such a super genius like you as my best friend, I’m under a lot of pressure. Of course, I need to try my best to improve myself, so that the distance between us won’t be too big!

“Since my talents are limited, I will remain an ordinary man for my entire life because it’s very likely that I will never awaken my spiritual root. I told you when we parted last time that ordinary people can made their own achievements, too, which will be no less impressive than those of Cultivators’!

“Maybe, I cannot become a Cultivator in everyone’s eyes and shock the entire federation with my name. But at the very least, I can be a Cultivator of my own life and steer my own fate!”

Li Yao was greatly touched.

Illuminated by the burning furnace, his old friend Meng Jiang’s face was gleaming, full of hope for a beautiful life in the future, determination to achieve it with everything he could, and confidence to break the shackles of life.

Li Yao was very delighted to see his old friend’s new change. He raised his cup again.

“Remarkable, Meng Jiang. We are all Cultivators of our own life. Now that we’ve set off on the path of our own will, we should spare no effort in walking forward one step after another, never to give up no matter how bitter, no matter how hard, no matter how exhausting the journey is!”

“Cheers!”

“Cheers!”

…

Three days later, at the location of the Heaven’s Artillery on a vast desert in the northwest part of the Star Glory Federation…

The federal army had sealed off five hundred square kilometers nearby. More than five Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators were monitoring the sky and the underground carefully.

In the control center, more than ten research-type Cultivators at the Core Formation Stage, leading almost a hundred Building Foundation Stage experts and hundreds of Refinement Stage ones, were busy operating the facilities.

There were five minutes left before the first launch of the Heaven’s Artillery.

On the wall of the giant hollow on the ground that Li Yao had seen once before, hundreds of thousands of runes were shining. A red sun seemed to be rising up.

Although it was a cloudless day, the brightness triggered by the spiritual waves still eclipsed the radiating sunlight.

In the middle of the round pit, deep down in the silo which lead underground, a cluster of redness was accumulating and roaring like the sound of wind and thunder, as if a behemoth made of magma that had been locked for a long time was ready to break out of its cage.

Bolstered by tectonic movements and fluctuations of spiritual energy, the volcano which had been tranquil for half a year was about to burst out in an unprecedentedly shocking way!

Inside the control center, the Cultivators were calculating the angle and trajectory of the eruption, trying to pour more oil onto it.

“Three minutes to go!”

“108 crystal bomb positions have been triggered simultaneously!”

“Earth fire enhancing array, activate!”

“BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!”

Feeble quakes came from deep underground. Ripples were appearing inside the glasses of water on the desks.

The faces of every Cultivator, including those of the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, were also shivering.

The stratum that blocked the volcano before had been blown to pieces by the crystal bombs. The enhancement array could trigger the enormous energy contained inside the earth fire momentarily.

The launch procedure had been started. Nothing could interrupt it right now. The only thing that they could do was wait.

Modern Cultivators were natural atheists.

They might believe that there were some godly or devilish species which boasted incomparable strength to crumble or create planets.

But they would never believe that there was an unperceivable, unobservable, and unfalsifiable god manipulating everything behind them.

However, in the three minutes that seemed to forever long, many of the firmest atheists started mumbling prayers to nonexistent gods like the ancient Cultivators did forty thousand years ago.

The earth was trembling more and more violently. The redness inside the silo was becoming increasingly bright. Scorching steams were surging up from the cracks on the ground almost a hundred kilometers around, which condensed into wildly-dancing white mist that brought the temperature of the environment up by more than ten degrees.

Heaven’s Artillery was a perfect name that explained the structure of the super teleportation array. The star rails formed a helix inside the silo like rifling in a gun barrel.

Five star shuttles, with a hundred meters in between, were parked at the bottom of the silo.

In one of the star shuttles, the Orb Patrollers were singing aloud. Noisy national anthems and military songs echoed in the shabby cabin.

In another shuttle, the Orb Patrollers were telling ribald jokes to each other, trying to ease their anxiety.

In two of the other star shuttles, every Orb Patroller closed their eyes, while they listened to the roaring of the earth fire under their feet quietly.

One minute to go before the launch!

Chapter 402: Heaven’s Artillery, Launch!

“Heaven’s Artillery, third-degree preparation!”

Millions of octagonal runes carved on the inner wall of the silo started glittering, floating in the air like glowing jellyfish in the deep sea, and were extending their tentacles forming a giant spiritual net.

The star rails that spiraled upwards like the rifling of a gun barrel were also emitting dazzling brilliance piercing up to the sky!

“Heaven’s Artillery, second-degree preparation!”

Thousands of meters underground, the furious earth fire was on an uncontrollable rampage. The redness had been condensed into a half-solid state, ready to jump out of the silo at any moment, only to be blocked by an invisible barrier. There was nothing it could do except savage the thick rock stratum.

The ground was shaking violently. Every pebble on the desert was bouncing.

Inside the silo, the star shuttles which had been fixed on the star rails were also trembling crazily. The Orb Patrollers felt that they were on the back of an infuriated demon beast and their bones were breaking up because of the forceful movements.

“Heaven’s Artillery, first-degree preparation!”

The raging earth fire had gone completely mad. The noises in the underground seemed to be suggesting that ten thousand volcanoes were erupting at the same time. Dozens of kilometers away, the soldiers of the federal army could feel the intermittent hot waves despite the block of the crystal tanks, as if a lot of fiery demon beasts were roaming just outside their vehicles.

Although the roaring earth fire had diminished all other sounds, everyone in the control center was still too anxious to utter any sound. The Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, as well as every other worker on the spot, were clenching their fists tightly, as they murmured the same thing in their minds.

‘Make it!’

‘Make it. You must make it!’

“Heaven’s Artillery, launch!”

As a Core Formation Stage Cultivator shattered a virtual rune inside the control center, the last barrier sealing the earth fire was wrecked. The earth fire which had been suppressed for a long time soared upwards through the silo in a destructive frenzy.

The millions of runes carved on the inner wall of the silo were shinning more brightly than ever. They transformed the furious earth fire into the purest spiritual energy and transmitted it to the star rails.

Boosted by the tremendous spiritual energy, the five star shuttles started gliding.

In the No. 3 star shuttle, Li Yao found himself falling into the foam seat as if someone had kicked him right in his chest.

He had gone cruising through the sea of stars in star shuttles over ten times. But not once had the acceleration been so immense!

Despite the thick super-alloy shell and the seven barriers to ease the heat and quakes, the roaring of the earth fire was still breaking out right beside their ears.

This was the most primitive and ferocious power hidden in the deepest underground of the Heaven’s Origin Sector. There was no way that he could hold it back at all. He had no other choice except to open his mouth as wide as possible and laugh wildly like Captain Hong Tong and his other teammates in order to offset the blast.

“BOOM!”

A pillar of red brightness almost a hundred meters in diameter rose up to the sky from the silo.

All the magical equipment in the one kilometer nearby was seriously jammed. Some of them even lost all functionality.

Snowflake-like streaks appeared on the tens of thousands of light beams inside the control center simultaneously.

Swallowed by the red pillar, the five star shuttles were marching upward inside it at a higher and higher speed, until in the end, they turned into five rapidly-revolving silver threads which interweaved into a giant gyro tearing the clouds apart darting into the heavens.

The five star shuttles were about to break through the atmosphere. At such a distance, even the crystal camera with the highest resolution was not able to capture a clear image. Everyone could only see a giant, white drill inside the red pillar moving upward, upward, and upward!

“Make it! You must make it!”

The atmosphere inside the control center was more intense than ever. The room was like a barrel of gunpowder; a single spark would be enough to make it explode.

“Huala!”

Ten thousand bolts of lightning seemed to have burst out at the same time. Every light beam was blank for a moment, displaying nothing but dazzling brilliance.

Simulated by the flash, Cultivators whose levels were relatively lower were shedding tears.

When they opened their eyes again, the red pillar and the five star shuttles were all gone.

In the middle of the blue sky, an enormous hole more than a hundred kilometers in diameter had appeared, through which one could see the boundless universe and blinking stars.

The hole was healing at an astonishing speed, and ten seconds later, it completely vanished.

The first expedition to ten thousand lightyears away in the history of the Star Glory Federation had official begun!

…

Almost at the same time, in the Blood Demon Sector, pale lightning was exploding in the gloomy, black-and-purple clouds. The shrieking wind sounded like ghosts crying in the sky.

In the middle of the steep mountains was a round lake about ten kilometers in diameter, which used to be a meteor crater.

Because of the minerals contained in the meteor, and after billions of years of decomposition, the lake was blood red in color, making it the biggest blood pool in history.

Right now, the dirty waves inside the blood pool were surging, raising giant swirls one after another. Several crimson tornadoes were blowing on it, as if some giant demon under the lake was extending all its fingers and snatching at the sky.

The shore of the blood lake was occupied by a circle of very weird demon beasts that were more than ten meters in diameter. At first glance, they seemed to be heads, only countless times larger. They were wreathed in transparent soft bones, but they had no faces, bodies, or limbs.

Some of the ‘heads’ were carried to and fro by the insects below them that looked like cockroaches.

Some of the ‘heads’ had organs that could spurt out air. By utilizing the air spurts, they were floating in the sky.

Some of the ‘heads’ were connected to bizarre birds, eagles, and bats with tentacles and were pulled around by them.

The ‘brains’ were actually biochemical brains that the demon race experimented on and optimized over forty thousand years of evolution.

After generations of optimization, their bodies, limbs and internal organs had all retrograded. The brain tissues in charge of self-awareness had been damaged on purpose, too. The brain tissues in charge of computation, on the other hand, proliferated.

Their computational ability was as good as that of the crystal processor refined by mankind.

Some of the biochemical brains maintained part of the sense organs. Their capability was even more impressive.

Connecting thousands of biochemical brains together, with the enormous blood pool created by a meteorite, the demon race had created their super teleportation array—’Eye of Blood Demon’!

On a sharp mountain close to Eye of Blood Demon, five mysterious figures were standing, observing the situation below. They were the demon emperors, the real masters of the Blood Demon Sector and the representatives of the Pantheon of Demons!

Including Elder Blood Robe, all the demon emperors were watching the rolling waves and savaging swirls as they grinned hideously.

“Eye of Blood Demon has been activated!”

“All the secrets buried in Boneyard shall be uncovered by us in no time!”

“Pathetic human beings of the Heaven’s Origin Sector. They don’t even know the real name of Boneyard. They call it ‘Ultimacy’? They are ignorant enough to tread in the forbidden zone!”

“The moment we dig out all the secrets in Boneyard is the moment we conquer the Heaven’s Origin Sector once and for all!”

Accompanied by the terrifying laughter from the demon emperors, the tides inside the blood pool became more frantic than ever. Thousands of small swirls melted into a super swirl several thousand meters in diameter which was still expanding!

In the sky, almost a hundred flying demon beasts were flapping their wings, while they pulled ten giant balls of flesh with lumps, veins, and nerves above the blood pool.

“Release!”

The tentacles were all cut off. The balls which were more than thirty meters in diameter dropped into the blood pool one after another and span inside the swirl.

At this time, the tide on the edge of the swirl had not died down yet. A giant wave dozens of meters high hit one of the balls as well as the ten flying demon beasts carrying it.

The poor flying demon beasts screamed desperately as if they’d been corroded by the most terrible acids in the world, before they fell into the blood pool quickly.

They struggled inside the blood pool but failed to free themselves. Very soon, they were swallowed by the swirl, appearing and disappearing on the surface of the blood pool.

Five seconds later, they turned into piles of bones, which were then torn to pieces and vanished after another five seconds.

The ten balls of flesh were absorbed by the swirl and dragged toward the deepest part of the blood pool while they were spinning rapidly.

Each ball held the nobles and princes of various demon kingdoms, who were silver-blood demons with the purest bloodlines and the most brilliant demon generals in the Blood Demon Sector!

After Building Foundation Stage Cultivators put on crystal suits, common demon generals were no match for them.

Therefore, the silver-blood demons carried a lot of biochemical beasts which could confront crystal suits face-to-face!

They had been promised innumerable rewards by the demon emperors once the exploration of Boneyard succeeded. They were even promised that, after the Heaven’s Origin Sector was conquered, they would be entitled to establish their own kingdoms in the human towns!

What’s more, they were clearer than the humans about the frightening secrets hidden in the depths of Boneyard which could improve their strength to an unimaginable level.

Therefore, although ‘Eye of Blood Demon’ was much more dangerous than Heaven’s Artillery, the silver-blood demons inside the balls were still shouting and screaming excitedly, releasing their built-up tension and anxiety.

But in one of the balls, Wang Ji, prince of the Kingdom of Lion Butchers and the youngest disciple of Elder Blood Robe, was gritting his teeth with a tranquil face.

He was fixed tightly to the inner wall of the ball by countless tentacles, as if he were part of the ball.

Eyeing the hysterical silver-blood demons near him calmly, Wang Ji was much more agitated than he appeared to be. However, his previous failures had taught him a good lesson on hiding his feelings. He was biting his lips so hard that he was drinking his own blood. Yet, the hatred inside his heart was not in the least moderated.

‘The Heaven’s Origin Sector is also sending a large batch of Orb Patrollers to Boneyard.

‘Vulture Li Yao… You’ve been quite active in Occult Orbs Fellowship over the past few months. Your position in the Rank of Stars has been on the rise, too. You are going to Boneyard, too, aren’t you?

‘Then, let’s settle our grudge ten thousand lightyears away from home!’

BOOM!

Before Wang Ji knew it, noises resembling those of a tsunami echoed in his ears. The ball he was in seemed to have been compressed into a marble. His eyes were filled with redness, and then he passed out.

Eye of Blood Demon blinked. A crimson tide soared into the sky almost a kilometer above ground-level from the bottom of the swirl that was thousands of meters deep.

When everything went peaceful again, the ten balls were gone.

Eighty of the best demon generals of the Blood Demon Sector had been teleported to Boneyard ten thousand lightyears away!

Chapter 403: Interstellar

Li Yao felt like he had fallen into an endless dream. He was a drop of water which had plunged into a boundless ocean. The crystal suit and star shuttle that covered him gradually collapsed. In the end, even his body had entirely disappeared.

The only thing left was his soul. It turned into a brilliant star joining the swirl of galaxies constituted by billions of other stars and dived to the depths of the universe.

He had completely forgotten his past and his destiny. He was fascinated by the raging sea of stars.

When he finally reached the center of the swirl and passed through a long, dark channel, he saw a splendid battlefield unfolding in front of him.

Against the dark background, billions of stars were burning furiously. Streaks of redness and streaks of blueness formed two legions that were engaged in a fierce war.

Every nebula was a soldier. The ferocious clouds of stars were the horses that they were riding, the burning brightness was their gunfire, and the spiral arms were their swords and sabers. Every spark resulting from the clashes was a new star!

The fierce war seemed to have lasted millions of years, or perhaps it had only started a moment ago. The legions of redness and blueness perished together and melted into a cluster of chaotic cosmic dust.

Li Yao’s soul was still diving into the cluster of dust deeper and deeper.

After he didn’t know how long, he finally realized that he was not diving, but falling.

But his heart was more tranquil than ever. It seemed to have become part of the universe.

“Li Yao!”

Somebody was calling him. The voice seemed to be from the other end of the galaxy, but it did wake up his soul which had been on the brink of being lost.

Like someone who had just died, his soul was split in two halves. Part of his soul was still inside his body, locked in his crystal suit and bound to the foam seat of the star shuttle.

But the other part of his soul had been tossed lightyears away because of the inertia of the momentum before it was pulled back brutally.

Just like a spring which had been extended fully and suddenly let go, his soul bounced back and forth many times until it finally settled again inside his body.

“Phew…”

Not knowing what was going on, Li Yao was dazed for a long time with his eyes half open. In the end, he remembered everything again. He opened his mouth and found his tongue blurred, because there was a large cluster of sour and bitter liquid inside his mouth, and he couldn’t tell the difference between his blood and saliva.

He cleaned the liquid with the hygiene system of the helmet and rolled his tongue. Then he opened his mouth again. “Have we really crossed ten thousand lightyears?”

“Yes. But we’re not there yet.”

Captain Hong Tong freed himself from his foam seat by force and treated Yan Yangtian together with ‘Dummy’ Ba Weiqi.

A distance of ten thousand lightyears was too much of a burden for both the body and the brain. Yan Yangtian’s soul had been shocked, resulting in minor injuries to her brain.

Li Yao shook his head to refresh himself. Besides a strong sense of nausea, he also felt numbness all over his body now that he regained control over his internal organs, limbs, and fingers.

He turned back and noticed that Ding Lingdang was waking up too. She was extending and folding her fingers one by one to warm herself up.

Li Yao barely had chance to feel relieved as the star shuttle started trembling violently as if someone had punched it right in the face. Ominous red lights were blinking inside the cabin.

Hong Tong and Ba Weiqi both fell over because of the unexpected impact.

Fortunately, after the mental guidance from Ba Weiqi, Yan Yangtian had awoken. Li Yao heard her gasping for almost ten seconds in the communication channel and her desperate cough as if she had just returned from the worst nightmare.

Hong Tong and Ba Weiqi hurried back to their seats and buried themselves in the buffer foam again. The captain bellowed, “Careful! We’ve been captured by the gravity of Ultimacy. But we are passing through a debris belt!”

Li Yao looked at the outside through the cabin window. From his angle, he could only see a deep, dark universe, with no sign of any stars, let alone Ultimacy.

But he did notice that many tiny metal scraps were brushing past the star shuttle.

Li Yao felt like somebody had grabbed him by his neck.

They were not teleported to the surface of Ultimacy directly, but the middle of the atmosphere and the gravity boundary.

Without any guidance of star beacons, this was already a very favorable outcome.

To teleport a star shuttle precisely to the surface of a planet ten thousand lightyears away was as difficult as hitting the wing of a fly hundreds of kilometers away with a needle.

Frankly speaking, it was already a miracle that they weren’t teleported into the mantle of Ultimacy, or a galaxy nearby.

To be prepared for the expedition to ten thousand lightyears away, the five star shuttles for the mission had all been installed with a simple power system which could calculate the best route and landing spot automatically with the advanced crystal processor on board.

But this was as far as their luck went.

They’d been teleported to a debris belt occupied by space garbage in the periphery of the gravity zone of Ultimacy.

The seventy-eight crystal cameras on the outside of the star shuttle scanned the surrounding and sent the image to them.

Therefore, they all saw a space battleground that probably dated back to thousands of years ago.

Scraps of weapons and magical equipment, as well as bodies of Cultivators and demons in all kinds of bizarre shapes, were all around them.

Not far ahead were several starship remnants that were riddled with holes. There was also a lumpy star fortress of the demon race which looked like a super large hermit crab.

“Judging from the scale of the debris here, it seems that humans and demons had a fierce battle in the space around Ultimacy before, which means there must be something very important on Ultimacy!”

While he was talking, Hong Tong turned to Li Yao.

Li Yao observed for a while and commented as the magical equipment expert of the team, “Correct. Although the broken starships ahead are not very clear at this distance, it is not hard to tell from the distribution of cannons and cabins that they should be more powerful than the ‘Tiger Shark’ starships that we excavated before!

“The ‘Tiger Shark’ starships require at least five Core Formation Stage Cultivators to steer. If I had to guess, the starships in front of us can only be driven by Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators!

“Given the amount of debris, there are presumably dozens of such starships nearby. Far ahead, I can see starships of even higher levels!

“Which means, the battle here involved dozens of Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators and even stronger Cultivators!

“Although the Star Ocean Imperium was the peak of the Cultivation civilization and there were countless brilliant Cultivators, a battle including so many Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators was still a rarely-seen one!

“It is the same for the demon race. I’ve never seen a star fortress of such a shape before. But it should be no weaker than the star fortresses recorded in our database. Based on its enormous size, I think it is safe to conclude that it was also a high-level, or even a main force, weapon of the Demon Beast Empire!

“There must be something precious on Ultimacy that led to this great war.”

Hong Tong pondered for a moment and asked, “Are the starships and the star shuttles valuable enough to be retrieved?”

Li Yao thought for a while and shook his head.

“They are not, I’m afraid. They perished together at the end of the battle after using up their spiritual energy. Also, judging from their appearance, they were detonated on purpose, too. After floating in the sea of stars for thousands of years under the scourge of cosmic dust and radiation, even perfect magical equipment turns into garbage, not to mention that they were garbage in the first place.

“I suggest that we focus on the exploration of Ultimacy for now. If we find nothing of value on Ultimacy, we can always come back and clean up this ancient battleground.

“To be honest, they are just a nuisance at the moment!”

Before Li Yao could finish his sentence, another two metal scraps hit the star shuttle heavily, making it tremble like in a storm.

The debris in front of them was becoming denser and denser. The noises of impact turned from the sound of a breeze to that of a gale.

The spiritual shield of the star shuttle was dropping down fast. The 3D model on the light beam turned from green that represented absolute safety to bright yellow that indicated the vehicle was under attack, until in the end it lit up in a dangerously orange color.

In another dozen or so seconds, it turned into desperate crimson!

The mainframe crystal processor was calculating the best dodging route. But since they were tossed into the middle of the debris zone by the inertia of the space teleportation, they were wreathed by debris with no way to escape at all.

The only solution was to accelerate downwards and breach into the atmosphere of Ultimacy as soon as possible!

“BAM!”

Li Yao saw half of the corpse of a hideous demon crashing into the shell of the star shuttle.

The corpse had been weathered by cosmic radiation to the brink of disintegrating in the first place and only managed to maintain the basic appearance. Now after the heavy clash, it immediately broke into smithereens.

“Ahhhhhhhh!”

But his teammates were all screaming.

Li Yao turned around, only to find that the almost ten light beams inside the cabin were showing the same picture, which was a wrecked star shuttle more than three thousand meters in length floating in the path of their descent.

The star shuttle continued diving, trying to pass the barricade through the gaps in the middle of the starship.

Although the route calculated by the crystal processor should be precise, the scraps around them had been stirred by their movement and were flying everywhere. Who knew whether or not new scraps would fill in the gaps because of the new collisions?

The defense ability of the spiritual shield had been reduced to minimum. A minor impact would be deadly for them.

“Beep!”

All the lights inside the star shuttle were turned off. The only feeble brightness was from a light beam. All the spiritual energy was transmitted to the mainframe crystal processor for it to overclock.

Holding their breath and keeping their eyes wide open, everyone watched the wrecked starship growing larger and larger in front of them in silence.

The star shuttle was like a small firefly dancing into the bloody mouth of a tyrannosaur.

The sharp bumps inside the starship was like the interconnecting teeth of the tyrannosaur.

The ten seconds passing through the ‘teeth’ felt even longer than the duration of the space teleportation to Li Yao.

It was not until the lights inside the cabin were turned on and the cabin was bathed in brightness again that everyone finally exhaled a mouthful of air in relief. They fell into their foam seats, not even having the strength to cheer.

The debris belt was left behind. In front of them was a mottled planet, half blue and half red.

The star shuttle proceeded toward the atmosphere of Ultimacy.

The atmosphere of Ultimacy was thinner than that of the Heaven’s Origin Sector. Something unknown in the air cast icy flames on the cabin window, as if thousands of flowers of frost were blossoming.

“BOOM!”

After a shiver, the star shuttle broke through the atmosphere.

The mysterious Ultimacy finally revealed itself to the guests from ten thousand lightyears away!

Chapter 404: Natural Paradise?

This was a planet covered in blue and red. Different from the Heaven’s Origin Sector, the earth here was bright blue, and the ocean was deep red.

The blue continent was devoid of any traces of living creatures. The tectonic movements of Ultimacy were apparently hundreds of times more intense than those of the Heaven’s Origin Sector. The ground seemed to have been torn apart and sewed together countless times. Hills, mountains and valleys were everywhere.

Based on the pictures captured by the crystal cameras, the crystal processor had discovered more than a hundred mountains that were more than ten thousand meters high and dozens of gorges that were thousands of meters below the sea level.

This was a rocky planet.

The territories were too complicated to have naturally formed. They could’ve been the result of a salvo from a piece of ‘planetary magical equipment’.

Maybe ten thousand years ago, this place had been a heaven for animals and plants like the Heaven’s Origin Sector. However, savaged by warfare, glory of the past turned into scattered sand, gone in the passage of time until nothing existed.

Since the land were too unfavorable for landing, the star shuttle searched for a new landing point toward the crimson ocean with brilliant exhaust flames spurting out of the power rune arrays.

They were preparing to land on the ocean.

The surface of the ocean was quite flat. The seawater could serve as a buffer, too. The odds of success would be much higher.

The shell on the stomach of the star shuttle opened quietly, sending out five metal sensors analyzing the components of the air quickly.

In the meantime, another metal ball carved with countless runes was ejected from the star shuttle into the ocean in advance to assess the substituents of the ocean.

Soon, a report was displayed on the light beam.

Except for a very small proportion of demonic energy and impurities, the air of Ultimacy was rather clean. The oxygen percentage here was 5% higher than that in the Heaven’s Origin Sector. Building Foundation Stage Cultivators could breathe the air with no aid.

There were more than 550 kinds of minerals and microelements in the seawater, which was almost as remarkable as the most famous hot spring in the Heaven’s Origin Sector.

Or rather, the ocean was itself a vast ‘hot spring’.

The average temperature of the seawater was 72 degrees.

By preliminary evaluation, many spiritual lodes with amazing reserves were underneath the surface of Ultimacy. Due to the intense crustal movements, the spiritual lodes clashed into one another, forming volcanoes at the bottom of the sea. A huge amount of marrow crystals and ores erupted together with magma and melted into the seawater, until in the end the ocean turned red. The temperature of the seawater was brought up during the process as well.

The conclusion excited all the six of them.

Since there were so many spiritual lodes on Ultimacy, it was quite possible that a lot of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures had been conceived. Perhaps, the battle between the Star Ocean Imperium and the Demon Beast Empire beyond the atmosphere of Ultimacy was to compete for the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures on Ultimacy.

This trip was definitely worthwhile!

“1,200 meters to the surface!”

Everyone stopped staring at Ultimacy and sank into their foam seats. The foam twisted and enveloped them all.

“800 meters to the surface!”

Their heads were their only body part left out of the foam.

“300 meters to the surface!”

At this moment, even their heads were covered by the foam, making them look like six giant cocoons.

“Three seconds left. Prepare to land!”

The plate armor of the star shuttle exploded into pieces after a cracking sound, unveiling a layer of dense, bright-silver runes which were shining dazzlingly. Streaks of silver flowed and formed a translucent white spiritual energy shell which covered the star shuttle.

“BOOM!”

Roaring, the star shuttle crashed into the crimson ocean heavily, stirring up splashes hundreds of meters high with earsplitting noises.

The translucent spiritual energy shell was quite elastic and took most of the force of the collision. After bouncing on the surface of the ocean dozens of times, the star shuttle finally stopped.

The spiritual energy shell vanished. What was left was a broken star shuttle from which black smoke was popping up nonstop.

“We’ve made it!”

After a long while, the cabin door was opened. The six Orb Patrollers of Team Blue Bronze crawled out slowly. They stood on the surface of the ocean, took off their helmets and breathed the air which was even fresher than that of the Heaven’s Origin Sector.

“The air here has a flavor of sweetness. I feel that my spiritual energy flows more fluently after I take a long breath! Amazing!”

“Of course. A lot of spiritual lodes are buried under the surface of Ultimacy with much higher reserve of spiritual energy than those in the Heaven’s Origin Sector. Now that the volcano eruptions have sent them into the air, the particle concentration of spiritual energy in the air is multiple times higher than that of the Heaven’s Origin Sector. Naturally, we’ll find it more comfortable to breathe here!

“This place must be what is known as a ‘natural paradise’. Training here for one day will be more fruitful than training for ten days in the Heaven’s Origin Sector!

“In the Heaven’s Origin Sector, there are natural paradises, too. But the area is quite limited. Only the headquarters of the top 100 sects of the federation, or the personal training clubs of the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, have the privilege to establish residences on such places!

“While in this place… Well well well. The entire ocean, or rather, the entire planet, is a giant natural paradise!

“If one day the technology of teleportation arrays allows, we will be able to build a permanent wormhole between Ultimacy and the Heaven’s Origin Sector, saving us the trouble of travelling here through star shuttles. A giant gate to the starry sky will be constructed; Ultimacy will be conquered; the resources on Ultimacy will be exploited…

“Then the Heaven’s Origin Sector will be hundreds of times stronger than right now!”

Standing on Ultimacy enjoying the inexhaustible spiritual energy, everybody was greatly amazed by the promising future.

Captain Hong Tong was more practical than his teammates. He waved his hands and said, “Alright, let’s focus on the job at hand for now. As the first explorers of Ultimacy, it is our responsibility to bring back as many precious Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures as possible, or a few pieces of magical equipment and Cultivation arts that are far more advanced than what we have in the Heaven’s Origin Sector!

“Let’s get down to business. Vulture, set up the first star beacon!”

They were in the middle of the ocean, about hundreds of kilometers from the seashore. It was quite tranquil nearby. The only thing that could be seen was the endless mountains in the horizon, which were distinguishable although there were hundreds of kilometers in between because of their remarkable height of almost ten thousand meters.

Li Yao scanned the environment through his crystal cameras and found no anomalies.

He retrieved a lot of magical equipment components from his Cosmos Ring, preparing to build the first star beacon.

Star beacons were the lighthouses in the sea of stars. They could broadcast their coordinates in the universe and their specific location to the Heaven’s Origin Sector.

Once a star beacon started burning, it would be much easier to launch a second star shuttle, which would be teleported nearby the star beacon instead of the outside of the atmosphere, provided they were not thwarted by accidents like cosmic storms.

Star beacons were the most important magical equipment for mankind to conquer the sea of stars.

Back in the era of the Star Ocean Imperium, human beings had established gargantuan, permanent star beacons in every corner of the universe, many of which remained active despite the countless wars by absorbing the natural spiritual energy automatically.

Finding the ancient star beacons was also one of the goals of Occult Orbs Fellowship.

It was with the guidance of countless such ancient star beacons that the Heaven’s Origin Sector was able to locate so many Occult Orbs, even though it was still underdeveloped.

The star shuttle which Team Blue Bronze had taken, after the intense collisions in the debris belt and the high-temperature friction while breaking through the atmosphere, was already on the verge of destruction and impossible to bring them back to the Heaven’s Origin Sector.

Therefore, their priority was to deploy a star beacon.

In one month, the Heaven’s Artillery would send five new unmanned star shuttles to Ultimacy. As long as they waited near the star beacon, they would be able to get a new star shuttle.

Since the vehicles had no passengers, they would be filled with abundant crystals, which would provide enough energy for the initial boost to ‘pull’ the vehicles back to the Heaven’s Origin Sector.

While thinking, Li Yao unfolded the units of the star beacon on the surface of the ocean deftly.

To survive in extreme environments, star beacons had a solid fixation system and defense rune arrays that were remarkably strong.

Li Yao adjusted the pedestal to the ocean mode. After a “Chi” sound, the pedestal quickly absorbed air and expanded into sixteen giant airbags floating on the ocean.

In the ocean mode, the star beacon could resist tenth-level strong wind, which should be enough to survive one month without being damaged.

Li Yao’s hands danced up and down, connecting one component to another. An octagonal metal tower about five meters tall with various branches was taking shape.

Li Yao extended four spiritual threads through the gaps in the hand of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit and connected them to the mainframe crystal processor of the star beacon. Then he started setting the coordinates and the environment information on the tiny light beam that had been projected to his retina.

At this moment, he felt that something was shaking the ocean.

The antennas on the star beacon were also trembling.

“Huala! Huala!”

From the crimson ocean jumped up countless weird fish with sharp horns in front of their heads. While uttering eccentric noises in their mouths, they opened their fins into membranes almost one meter long, which allowed them to glide in the air for a long time before they fell into the ocean eventually. Then they sprang and glided again anxiously. They were fleeing in such a flurry that they didn’t even have time to bother the weird-looking intruders that were Li Yao and his teammates.

Li Yao suddenly had a bad feeling. He asked, “Captain, is one of the undersea volcanoes erupting?”

Captain Hong Tong was even more confused than him.

“We have sunk quite a few probe balls undersea. The mountains below are peaceful within a hundred square kilometers with no sign of volcano eruption at all. There’s no undercurrent, either. The shaking seems to be from the seashore. Could it be an earthquake?

“Wait!

“It doesn’t sound right. According to the map drawn by the crystal cameras, the land… should be on the other side!”

Li Yao was greatly alarmed.

The land was on the other side?

Then, what were the continuous mountains almost ten thousand meters high that they saw on the ‘seashore’?

Li Yao’s eyes were twitching violently while he turned around. He didn’t know if it was his imagination or not, but the mountains at the end of the ocean were even higher and more majestic than before. They were swallowing almost half of the sky.

The shaking was becoming more and more intense. Thousands of sharp-horned, gliding fish leapt and cried in desperation passing by them like a group of deserters.

Li Yao blinked his eyes to make sure that what he saw was really happening.

The red mountains at the horizon grew taller still. Two thirds of the sky had been devoured. Destructive roars finally swept over, too.

It was clear now that the sky-blocking existences ten thousand meters high and hundreds of kilometers long were not mountains but a tsunami!

Chapter 405: Tide Rises Like Spears

The dominating tide that was almost ten thousand meters high almost ripped the atmosphere of Ultimacy open. Its tip was reflecting the dazzling brilliance from the stars, while it pushed forward unstoppably like thousands of galloping horses.

The crimson waves formed an all-consuming wall that blocked the sky and eclipsed the sun. It seemed still, but it was enlarging rapidly, consuming the clouds at an unimaginable speed.

This time, not just the gliding fish, but all kinds of weird sea beasts were fleeing to the other side of the ocean crazily. Many of them popped up from the ocean and screamed desperately looking at the overwhelming tide.

“The peak of the wave is around 8,700 meters and still rising!”

“Ultimacy must have one or two giant satellites that are very close to it. They are the reason for such a frightening tide! Maybe the folds we saw on the land were shaped by the enormous pull of the satellites, too!

“The good news is that the speed of the tide is less than half the speed of sound!

“Bad news is that the spiritual energy around us has been stirred into a chaotic state. Invisible spiritual energy turbulence is swirling in the air. Our crystal suits may not be able to reach full speed!

“I have sent the preliminary map to your crystal processors. Run toward the real land now!”

Yan Yangtian, who had been scouting the environment around, shouted in the communication channel as loudly as she could.

Despite the protection of their crystal suits, the roaring tide that sounded like ten thousand cannons shooting at the same time suppressed her voice without any trouble.

“Don’t bother with the star shuttle. The important assets are all in our Cosmos Rings. Let’s leave now!

“Although the tide may not be able to catch up to us, it will be a terrible disaster if our crystal suits lose momentum because of the spiritual energy turbulence!”

Brilliant exhaust flames spurted out from the back of five crystal suits, while they rose up to the sky and fled in the direction of the land hurriedly, leaving ten lines of splashes on the surface of the ocean.

But Li Yao was still on the pedestal of the star beacon on one of his knees. He was dismantling the star beacon into separate units that he had just assembled.

“Vulture, what are you doing?” Captain Hong Tong yelled in the communication channel.

Li Yao glanced at the surging tide which was drawing near and said tranquilly, despite his pale face, “I’m going to recycle the star beacon.”

“Are you out of your mind? We brought three star beacons in total. There are still two of them even if this one is damaged! Just go now!”

Hong Tong was shouting furiously.

“Although we have three star beacons, the natural environment of Ultimacy is too harsh, not to mention that we might be engaged with the exploration squads of the demon race who will also sabotage our star beacon should they come across one! The more star beacons we have, the more likely we can go back successfully!”

Li Yao’s speed was higher and higher. The hundreds of blurred shadows caused by the deft movements of his hands were almost transparent. It seemed like the star beacon was being corroded by invisible acids, because its components disappeared into thin air one by one.

“Then just stuff the star beacon in your Cosmos Ring already! The tide is only five thousand meters away from you!”

Hong Tong and the other teammates were almost going mad.

“I can’t. My Cosmos Ring has been filled with assets and components. The star beacon is too large with too many branches. If I absorb it into the Cosmos Ring by force, the space inside the Cosmos Ring may overlap, which will damage the magical equipment. I have to dismantle the star beacon into the most basic components before putting them back!”

While he was talking, Li Yao pulled the last component apart from the star beacon.

What was left was a giant pedestal of airbags which was no longer needed.

The pedestal was only of use in the ocean anyway, while Li Yao had made up his mind to not build up a star beacon on the ocean again.

At this moment, the raging tide was less than a thousand meters away from him. A prehistoric beast seemed to have opened its bloody mouth. The intersecting tips of waves were like the sharp tusks of the beast.

BOOM! BOOM BOOM! BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!

The exhaust flame of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit left a giant swirl on the surface of the ocean.

Li Yao looked at the tide one last time.

In the middle of the crimson tsunami, many hundreds-of-meters-long sea beasts, which were definitely dominators of the ocean during peacetime, were swimming, struggling and screaming with the current just like fries and shrimps.

The Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit flew up to the sky!

“Swoosh!”

Li Yao turned into a streak of blackness. He rushed forward and left a parting almost a hundred meters deep in the ocean, getting ahead of the tide.

800 meters… 900 meters… 1,000 meters… He was getting further and further away from the wave.

Suddenly!

Li Yao felt that his body was light, as if he had stepped onto nothing. The Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit was pulled by something unknown and fell down to the ocean.

This was a spiritual energy turbulence, the last thing that Cultivators would like to experience when they were flying!

Li Yao widened his eyes and entered the super perspective state. His brain cell activity was brought up to 500%, and his computation ability was maximized!

While his body was moving, the invisible turbulence gradually unveiled its traces in front of him.

After dozens of modification procedures, the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit right now insanely had 354 power rune arrays with six spiritual gas acceleration gadgets. It was truly a monster of speed.

The tide left behind a moment ago was catching up fast. The distance between them was shortened to 1,000 meters… 800 meters… 500 meters…

“Vulture!”

Captain Hong Tong’s voice had been twisted by the roars of the tide.

“Li Yao!!!”

Ding Lingdang was shouting three times louder than Hong Tong. She flew close without bothering about anything. Spiritual energy burst out of her body like a volcano eruption. A small sun seemed to be rising up from the ocean. Much seawater was vaporized by the flames on her body, forming a mushroom cloud in the sky!

It appeared that she was planning to fly to Li Yao and blow the thousands-of-meters-high tides into pieces with her fists!

At this critical moment, Li Yao rumbled and sped up, freeing himself from the turbulence. With his own acceleration and the effect of the centrifugal force, he managed to run away from the tide again.

“I’m fine! I was caught by a turbulence by accident, but I’m out of it now!” shouted Li Yao.

“You are not fine! Next time you act recklessly like this, I will punch your head into pieces personally if the tide doesn’t!” Ding Lingdang was more than angry.

After the harmless yet scary incident, Li Yao did not dare to fly as fast as he could anymore. He kept his speed a bit higher than that of the tide, while he detected and dodged the spiritual energy turbulences in his way.

After ten minutes of fearful flight, they finally saw a broken land.

Countless giant stone pillars were standing on the seashore. Brushed by the waves for thousands of years, they were extremely smooth and looked like a natural bulwark.

Li Yao and his teammates passed by it roaringly. Half a minute later, the tide almost ten thousand meters high smashed down brutally.

Thousands of falling stars seemed to have hit the continent at the same time, raising an enormous blast like a super hurricane with deafening noises. The six of them were shaking in midair like headless flies.

Gritting their teeth, they moved another hundred or so kilometers inland. When they looked back again, they discovered that the seashore had been drowned. The mountains thousands of meters high had turned into lone islands in the middle of the ocean.

The foundation of many mountains had been crushed to smithereens by the tide. Therefore, many of the lone islands sild into the seawater after violent trembles, triggering another round of soaring waves.

The apocalypse-like scene startled the members of Team Blue Bronze.

Natural paradises where spiritual energy was abundant tended to have extreme crustal movements and climate changes. This was the inevitable side effect of the overactive spiritual energy.

To conquer the natural paradises required the hard work of human beings to alter the environment and build it into a place that was favorable for the living and thriving of mankind.

“It seems that neither the ocean nor the shore are good places for star beacons. The relics and ancient battlefields of the Star Ocean Empire and the demon race will not be here even if they do exist. Let’s march further inland.”

Captain Hong Tong commanded, “Yan Zi, analyze the spiritual waves nearby, so that we can move toward where the spiritual energy is the most intense; Vulture, look for a suitable location to establish star beacons; Dummy, try to contact the other Star Teams; the rest of us will stay on guard! Since the spiritual energy is more than lavish in this place, dangerous spiritual beasts might be roaming around, not to mention the demon squads that we might encounter!”

Team Blue Bronze flew hundreds of kilometers westward. The land was still uneven. One moment, it was mountains piercing into the clouds; the next moment, it was canyons that were too deep to see the bottom.

Many of the territories had traces of the scourge of tides.

It seemed that the giant tide that they’d just experienced was not even close to the largest one ever taking place on Ultimacy.

Maybe, the mountains and the canyons were all the work of the super tsunamis.

It was not until they moved more than a thousand kilometers into the land that the traces of tides gradually disappeared. Shallow basins could be found in the middle of the interconnecting mountains.

In one of the basins, Li Yao set up the first star beacon.

With the activation of the runes, the star beacon hummed. A transparent octagonal glass tower appeared, sending a streak of bright gold up to the sky until it dispersed beyond the atmosphere.

It meant that Ultimacy had been ‘illuminated’ on the star map in the control center of Occult Orbs Fellowship in the Heaven’s Origin Sector.

They could’ve moved closer to the center of the land where spiritual energy was more copious and established a star beacon there, but considering that the demon squads might appear at any time, there wouldn’t be enough time to build a second one if the first star beacon was destroyed. Therefore, it was safer to build a star beacon in this place although it was relatively barren.

After assembling the first star beacon, Li Yao established four stealth rune arrays, blending the star beacon in with the surroundings.

Although it was definitely not enough to fool the expert demons at a short distance, the star beacon would be unrecognizable hundreds of kilometers away.

At this moment, Yan Yangtian reported some good news, too.

The spiritual waves in the southwest were extremely intense with a patterned frequency, indicating that their source was not a natural marvel, but relics of certain civilizations.

Taking a brief rest, the six of them feasted upon the high-nutrition food and drugs from their Cosmos Rings and refilled their crystal suits with spiritual energy. Then they continued on their journey westwards.

After a flight of an entire day and night, they finally found a vestige that was apparently the work of intellectual creatures!

Chapter 406: What a Formidable Being!

“Good lord, what is this—”

The six Orb Patrollers all thought that they’d seen a lot of things, but what they saw right now still dumbfounded them. Their hearts seemed to be tossed into the middle of the surging tide, bouncing up and down with no way to calm down.

After passing through the steep mountains, they’d found a vast, black plateau, on which countless absolutely vertical black lines were standing while they pierced into the sky and protruded out of the atmosphere.

As they drew close, they finally realized that the ‘black lines’ were actually giant pillars more than a hundred meters in diameter.

The cylinders were more than a hundred meters in diameter and dozens of kilometers long without the slightest error. There was no telling what the cylinders were made of. They didn’t collapse because of their own weight, nor were they weathered or worn by thousands of years of climate changes and crustal movements; they just stood silently on the rugged land of Ultimacy.

The indifference of the black pillars indicated the formidability of their creator!

Everybody held their breath faced with such an unbelievable splendor. They circled around the black pillars time and time again, only to become more confused than before.

Li Yao drew his dagger and scratched the pillar, trying to retrieve some powder for future research.

But he failed to leave any trace on the black pillar even though he exerted all his strength. The material and the technology making up the giant pillars were indeed too advanced to fathom.

Li Yao clicked his tongue. Whatever those black pillars were made of, it was much solider than many super metals recorded in the classics of the Hundred Smelting Clan. Flying swords, armor, and starships would be indestructible if they were refined out of such materials!

If he could figure out the distribution of the materials and learn the method of refining, the war potential of the Star Glory Federation would be upgraded by many levels.

Ultimacy was indeed a place full of treasure!

Right then, he heard Yan Yangtian’s cry in the communication channel.

Li Yao was greatly alarmed. He quickly moved to where Yan Yangtian was, only to find that she was not in any danger but was floating in front of one of the black pillars in a daze.

Li Yao raised his eyebrow and looked at the black pillar. His eyes immediately widened, and his pupils dilated in shock.

Three scratches that were several meters deep had been left on this particular black pillar which was indestructible in Li Yao’s understanding. A claw more than ten meters in diameter must’ve snatched down from the sky and torn the black pillar apart easily!

“What kind of magnificent being could leave scratch marks like this?!”

Greatly amazed, Li Yao flew toward to the depths of the black pillars.

He noticed that the distribution of the black pillars was apparently in a pattern. They seemed to form a giant array. The closer he got to the center, the more scratches he found on the black pillars.

After their surfaces were broken, the black pillars were not able to withstand the weathering of time despite their unparalleled hardness. Small granules could be found on the edge of the scratches. Li Yao finally gathered some powder.

By preliminary analysis, the powder was neither metal nor stone, but it was emitting intense spiritual waves, indicating that its raw materials were among the best Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.

As for what the raw materials were specifically, it could only be found out when they were back in the Heaven’s Origin Sector’s labs.

Li Yao even found a broken claw inside the hole of one of the scratch marks.

Technically speaking, it was just a talon, but it was already as long as an adult. It was bright gold, somewhat curved, and extremely sharp.

It took them an hour of hard work to pull the talon out of the black pillar.

Li Yao swung the talon gently. Like the most excellent saber, the talon roared and raised immense spiritual waves, unleashing an aura that was almost fifteen meters long.

“Good heavens! This is definitely one of the best Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures! It can enhance my spiritual energy by 200% without being refined. It will definitely be a marvelous saber if it is refined properly!”

Li Yao’s eyes were beaming with joy. He was almost drooling.

His Boiled Blood Wind Slashing Saber was refined out of rarely-seen marrow blood crystals from the Blood Demon Sector and dozens of other marrow crystals and Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures based on the ancient refining technology of the Hundred Smelting Clan. But the blood aura triggered by the saber was no longer than ten meters.

The talon could unleash a fifteen-meters-long aura without being refined whatsoever!

Besides, its shape and weight were very similar to those of a heavy saber, and it felt comfortable in his hands.

If he could refine the talon together with his Boiled Blood Wind Slashing Saber, the strength of his weapon would at least be doubled.

Li Yao stored the talon inside his Cosmos Ring without any hesitation.

As the refiner and the expert in saber arts in the team, he was naturally the most suitable guardian of such a saber-shaped Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasure. Should it be needed, its strength would be maximized in his hands.

Li Yao had made up his mind that he would redeem this talon no matter how many contribution points he had to pay.

As one of the explorers of the item, he had the priority of redemption. Even Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators could not compete with him.

While he was drawing dozens of refining plans in his mind, his teammates made more shocking discoveries.

Among the dozens of black pillars in the center of the giant array, they found countless thick chains, each of which was more than one meter in diameter brimming with runes that were smaller than grain. They were releasing weird dark purple light.

Li Yao scanned all the runes and compared them with the multiple powerful arrays of the Hundred Smelting Clan. Then he mumbled, “Although I don’t understand the specific functioning mechanism of the runes, they should be part of an ancient barrier!

“If my guess is correct, the black pillars do not just protrude out of the atmosphere, but they also extend deep into the underground!

“Beyond the atmosphere, they absorb the violent spiritual energy in the cosmos; in the middle of the atmosphere, they absorb the power of thunder; deep underground, they absorb the energy unbridled from volcano eruptions and crustal movements!

“All the energy has been transmitted to the black pillars in the center of the array in a mysterious way that I cannot comprehend in order to trigger the barrier on the chains!

“What kind of thing was such a splendid barrier trying to contain?”

Soon, they found the answer to their question.

In the center of the black array, they found dozens of bones.

Several of them looked like ribs but were more than three hundred meters long, as if they were the pillars of a splendid temple.

Some other bones seemed to belong to a short and thick arm, if two hundred meters could be called short.

The color of the bones was almost identical to the talon that Li Yao had collected previously. However, they were riddled with holes after thousands of years of savaging from the barrier.

“What is this beast that has ribs more than three hundred meters long and requires such an enormous barrier to suppress?”

“Why is there only such a small proportion of bones? Where are the rest of them? Have they been chewed by the spiritual beasts on Ultimacy or excavated by the adventurers of the Star Ocean Imperium and the demon race?

“Or maybe… the beast tore off its own arm and ran away?”

Everybody looked at each other in bewilderment, while they pictured the same thing in their mind:

Locked by countless black pillars and manacles, curbed by thunder, fire, and interstellar storms, a bright gold beast several kilometers long was roaring, struggling, leaving deep scratches on the black pillars effortlessly.

Eventually, it exerted its strength and freed itself from the shackles at the cost of one of its limbs. Then it hollered and soared to the sky, vanishing in the boundless cosmos.

The picture made all six of them sweat in tremble.

Li Yao flew around the broken bones a few times, trying to store the bright gold bones into his Cosmos Ring.

But the storage technology of the Heaven’s Origin Sector was still quite shabby. Cosmos Rings and Storage Bags were not able to be manufactured.

The Cosmos Rings and the Storage Bags they used were all pickups from the Occult Orbs.

The Cosmos Rings and the Storage Bags were all of low levels with limited space. Even the biggest of them had room no larger than that of a train car.

For the expedition to Ultimacy, the Heaven’s Origin Sector had poured all the resources available. Every Orb Patroller was carrying more than ten Cosmos Rings and Storage Bags.

But they were all helpless when faced with such super large Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures more than a hundred meters long. Unless the items were cut into fragments, there would be no way to take them back in the Cosmos Rings.

Therefore, Li Yao could do nothing except sigh in discontent.

Thankfully, he found several broken rune chains near the bright gold bones. The dark purple chains were like boas in hibernation. Intense spiritual energy could be felt inside them, indicating that they were rarely-seen secret treasures, too.

Li Yao searched and searched. He didn’t stop collecting until one of his Cosmos Rings was full.

At this moment, ‘Dummy’ Ba Weiqi had finally reached out of another Star Team.

It was not a direction communication. He simply received a telepathic thought from the Star Team.

The source of the telepathic thought was 1,500 kilometers away from them to their northwest.

Out of concern for the possible block and detection of the demon squads, the telepathic thought was brief and encrypted.

It was a targeted telepathic thought, indicating that the Star Team had a major discovery and would like other Star Teams to join them as soon as possible.

Everyone was refreshed. After scanning the surroundings and making sure of their coordinates, they rushed northwest without any delay.

The northwest was a mountainous zone with enormous folds here and there. One moment, mountains concealed by clouds blocked their way; the next thing they knew, uncanny gales surged up from the gorges thousands of meters of deep, with an immense force pulling them downwards by their ankles like formless hands.

Due to the extremely complicated territories, they had to tread lightly although they were Cultivators. It took them almost twenty hours to reach the source of the telepathic thought.

In front of them was a giant valley more than 5,700 meters deep.

The valley was too dark to see the bottom. Raging wind was charging to and fro inside the valley like a flood which was finding its way out of a canal.

Countless scattered stones were floating in midair, forming a very special stone belt.

The signal had been sent from the bottom of the valley.

The odd environment seemed too unfavorable for the demon race to set up any traps without a good reason. After discussing for a while, Team Blue Bronze decided to march inside.

“Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!”

Like six torches tossed into an abyss, the six crystal suits roared and broke into the rampant wind and the scattering stones!

Chapter 407: 6,600 Meters Underground

“Huuu!”

BOOM! CRACK!

The furious wind blowing through the entire canyon was carrying countless impurities and invisible spiritual energy turbulences. It used to be known as ‘destructive wind’ to the ancient Cultivators.

Savaged by the destructive winds for hundreds of years, many rocks on the walls of the canyon had fallen down and floated in midair, before crashing into one another and forming a scattering stone belt that was as thick as several kilometers.

The six crystal suits passed through the scattering stone belt carefully, taking care of both the rampant wind and the flying stones.

Some stones, boosted by the spiritual energy turbulences, were almost at the speed of sound. With the exotic crystals inside the rocks, they could break through the spiritual shields easily. It wouldn’t be fun if anyone was smashed by them.

Thankfully, Captain Hong Tong was an expert in gravity manipulation. Controlled by his surging spiritual energy, an invisible defense shell seemed to have formed around the six of them. The stones rushing close to them all took a turn and brushed past them regardless of how short the distance was.

Looking from the ground, the six crystal suits of Team Blue Bronze were glimmering like six light spots, gradually disappearing in the depths of the scattering stone belt.

Ten minutes later, they were finally out of the stone belt.

Other than ‘Dummy’ Ba Weiqi who was burdened by the clumsy crystal suit and had a few scratches on it, everyone was totally safe.

The wind was still blowing hard. They glided downwards on a slant toward the endless, bottomless abyss.

When they looked up, they noticed that the long and narrow sky was entirely blocked by the scattering stones. The last ray of light had already disappeared. They seemed to be in the stomach of a behemoth.

As Building Foundation Stage Cultivators, they were all able to scan the environment with their spiritual threads. Loss of light did not influence them very much. But they did feel a little nervous about what was to come.

The rocks in some places were as smooth as a mirror, whereas some other places were full of crevices. The crags were covered with bumps and hollows that had clearly been made on purpose.

It was almost like some splendid buildings or even towns that once prospered on Ultimacy had been buried thousands of meters underground before being torn apart by crustal movements. That was why the faults was multi-layered.

Li Yao even discovered the faults that contained several giant bone fossils

However, since the wind was too ferocious in this place, they didn’t have the opportunity to stop and survey it thoroughly. They could only take photos of the weird faults with special feedback crystal cameras for future research.

After gliding downward for almost twenty minutes, they still failed to see the bottom of the crevasse. They were now in the middle of a queer black smoke which swallowed the telepathic thoughts silently.

The telepathic thought that the other Star Team sent out was from one side of the wall.

After flying close and checking it out carefully, they discovered that the wall was full of crevices long and short leading deep underground.

Beside the longest crevice, there was a man-made platform several thousand meters both in length and width, emitting a vague metallic aura. The platform was apparently supported by extremely solid metal structures. Judging from the scale, it could allow several small-scale crystal warships or dozens of crystal tanks to land at the same time.

They had descended to more than 6,600 meters underground. To build a platform as enormous as a flying crystal arena was obviously too large a task for any of the other Star Teams to accomplish.

Even the exploration squads from the Blood Demon Sector wouldn’t be able to make such a miracle.

The only possible explanation was that it was the masterpiece of the previous adventurers.

They landed on the platform. Li Yao took off the plate armor on his hand and touched the ground with his fingers. It was smooth like silk with barely any friction. The technology employed in the platform was far more advanced than he had imagined.

The crevice in front of them was more than ten meters wide at the narrowest part, with traces of human modification. It had been reconstructed into an irregular cylinder with certain arcs, making it look like a tunnel leading to the center of the planet.

Very soon, Li Yao found a telepathic thought ball that had been disguised as a stone and left on the edge of the platform by another Star Team.

A telepathic thought ball was a piece of round magical equipment the size of an apple. Similar to jade chips, it could read and output a huge amount of telepathic thoughts and information very quickly, ten times faster than the jade chips did. It could be deemed as an upgraded version of jade chips.

Li Yao activated the ball with his spiritual energy. Hundreds of intersecting lines appeared on the surface of the telepathic thought ball and constituted a complicated pattern.

It was a barrier which would destroy the information that it stored and send a warning to its master who set it up if it was not decrypted within five seconds.

Li Yao’s hands moved up and down. Like a tangram, the pattern on the telepathic thought ball was adjusted to a different one that all the Star Teams had agreed on before.

After a ‘Bo’ sound, the telepathic thought split into two halves from the middle. A sector of greenness scanned over the platform and connected to the crystal processors of the six of them.

In a moment, a lot of information flooded into their crystal processors.

The telepathic thought ball had been left by Team Tiger Deity, who was very fortunate to be teleported into the atmosphere of Ultimacy with abundant spiritual energy left. Therefore, they were able to condense a thick spiritual shield to protect their star shuttle, allowing them to land in the rugged land of mountains and valleys.

Team Tiger Deity was the first of the five Star Teams to start the exploration. But their attention had been attracted by the crags on the two sides of the valley, and they had spent a lot of time studying the different faults on the crags. Therefore, they didn’t discover the black pillars and the bones of the strange beast. Instead, they found the platform and the tunnel leading deep underground where intense spiritual energy was popping up.

Probing with spiritual waves, they had come to the conclusion that there was a spacious hollow concealed under Ultimacy’s surface. Towns and relics were hiding in the boundless dark world.

The discovery corresponded to the environment on the surface of Ultimacy.

81% of the surface of Ultimacy was ocean, where tsunamis thousands of meters high could form out of nowhere at any time. It was hardly possible to survive on land. Even the strong sea beasts must be not particularly fond of the raging tides.

Compared to the surface, the underground world was apparently much safer and more stable.

Therefore, Team Tiger Deity had entered the underground area for exploration in advance.

“Shua!”

A lot of maps and new information were added to their crystal processors, which were the preliminary findings of Team Tiger Deity. There was also a sophisticated map of the cave resembling the root of a tree.

They were currently at the top of the cave, like six ants which were faced with a giant banyan covering dozens of square kilometers.

Yet, it was still only the tip of the iceberg. More unknown areas were still waiting to be explored.

Other than that, Team Tiger Deity brought a piece of bad news.

When they were still exploring the ground, they had received an intermittent telepathic thought from another Star Team named Shadow Moon.

According to the incomplete telepathic thought, Team Shadow Moon was quite unlucky.

They had been teleported to the middle of a space battlefield beyond the atmosphere of Ultimacy, too. But the soul of one of their teammates was seriously shocked during the teleportation, resulting in his derangement.

To make matters worse, the space battlefield that they were in was hundreds of times more tempestuous than the one Team Blue Bronze had arrived at.

The star shuttle was blown to smithereens by the scraps very soon. The crystal suits of several Orb Patrollers were seriously damaged when they were trying to protect their wounded companion.

After breaking into the atmosphere in their crystal suits, they saw a vast ocean.

Because of the serious injuries of their companion, they landed on the ocean directly instead of looking for a land and prepared to treat their companion and repair their crystal suits first.

Then, they encountered a tsunami.

The interference of the furious spiritual energy outbreak jammed the transmission of the telepathic thought. Therefore, Team Tiger Deity were not aware of the final outcome of Team Shadow Moon, nor were they able to locate the ill-fated Orb Patrollers precisely. They could only grit their teeth and carry on with their own exploration.

“This is why five Star Teams have been dispatched in separate ways.

“Let’s double check our crystal suits and have one minute of silence for our comrades.

“After that one minute, we will start the journey to the underground world!

“Only by excavating more Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures from the underground world and building the Star Glory Federation into a stronger nation can we honor the souls of the warriors who have sacrificed themselves ten thousand lightyears away from their home!”

6,600 meters under the ground, six members of Team Blue Bronze fell quiet. They unmasked their helmets. Roaring wind was freezing their faces, but there was not the slightest hint of discomfort.

The flames in the depths of their eyes seemed to be illuminating the entire underground.

A minute later, Li Yao inputted Team Blue Bronze’s discoveries into the telepathic thought ball and reset the barrier, before disguising it as a stone and tossing it into a corner again.

Team Blue Bronze marched toward the depths of the underground!

The crevice gradually turned into wide pathway. There was a circle of lackluster blueish crystals on the wall of the cave every thousand meters.

The crystals were also left by the previous adventurers. Judging from their brightness, they must’ve been established more than five thousand years ago.

The pathway had been built based on a natural cave with additional manual tunnels. Therefore, straight lines occurred every once in a while. It was quite convenient for their journey.

After walking more than seventy kilometers, they finally reached the end of the pathway. In front of them was an enormous cave!

No. It was inappropriate to call a space the size of several flying crystal arenas a ‘cave’. The place itself was a world!

Thousands of meters above their heads, countless bright silver crystal stalagmites were growing and emitting endless light and heat. Looking from afar, they looked like blurry stars.

On the wall and the ground of the underground world, all kinds of creatures were thriving.

Li Yao noticed a lot of giant, bright grey fungi and ferns which looked like an odd primitive forest.

Many vines were wriggling slowly on the walls. Hearing the noise of the newcomers, they were moving faster than before. Almost a hundred lumps protruded from the messy vines and blossomed like a flower, revealing sharp teeth that looked like the fangs of a brutalist serpent.

The underground world had its own unique biological system.

The weirdest thing was the lake in the center of the underground world, which was bright silver and perfectly round.

Chapter 408: Frightening Silver Lake

The silver lake was about a hundred meters in diameter. It was transparent, and its edge was absolutely smooth without any flaws, as if a splendid silver gem had been embedded in the dark world 7,000 meters underground, enshrouded in an enticing air.

Suddenly, a drop of silver liquid fell from the ‘sky’ into the lake, raising layered ripples which spread out into dazzling stripes and didn’t die down until half a minute later.

Li Yao adjusted the resolution of a crystal camera for long-distance detection in the middle of his helmet at the cost of a huge amount of spiritual energy. He observed the dome and discovered that the silver stalagmites hanging from the dome all had drops of liquid on their tips.

Although the speed of the gathering was quite slow, there were tens of thousands of stalagmites in this place.

Therefore, a drop of liquid would fall down thousands of meters about every half a minute.

In the underground world’s air, a weird wind out of nowhere was raging, forming an invisible swirl in the shape of funnel.

The silver liquid dripping from the stalagmites in the periphery was also sent precisely to the center of the lake in a helix. There was not a single drop on the shore.

“The lake was made up by the silver liquid after billions of years of accumulation? Natural paradises are indeed marvelous places!”

Li Yao was greatly amazed.

He had never seen such a marvel in the Heaven’s Origin Sector. The mysterious world of Cultivation had just been revealed to him even more.

“By preliminary analysis, the silver lake contains abundant spiritual energy, with a concentration higher than that of the most advanced strengthening drug produced in the Heaven’s Origin Sector. This is actually a lake of strengthening drug!

“I estimate that there are one or even more spiritual lodes with an amazing reserve of high-purity crystals that are rarely seen in the Heaven’s Origin Sector on the top of the dome. The silver liquid is a result of the chemical reaction. Under high pressure, it is naturally trying to find a way out. Over time, it gradually leaked out and formed this silver lake!

“As for the specific components of the lake water, I need to analyze the sample of the water.

“Wait a moment, the plants surrounding the lake, they are…”

Yan Yangtian, the scout of the team, was wearing a crystal suit similar to the Mournful Mist Battlesuit, which had been specially installed with the most advanced probe and stealth magical equipment in all the six crystal suits here.

Almost ten sensors extended from the gaps of her crystal suit, allowing her to examine the status of the silver lake even if she was just under a thousand meters away.

At this moment, she was taking pictures of the plants near the silver lake and comparing them with the files stored in the database of the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.

“Hiss!”

Very soon, Yan Yangtian’s voice in the communication channel was so thrilled that it almost sounded like someone else. “Two kinds of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures have been detected. One of them has features 99.8% identical to those of the Flowing Brightness Grass, while the other is 99.9% similar to the Heart Locking Flower!

“It is safe to conclude that they are the rarely-seen special Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures in the Heaven’s Origin Sector, Flowing Brightness Grass and Heart Locking Flower!

“This trip is already very rewarding!”

Yan Yangtian was talking loudly and rapidly. Every word was like a sparkle igniting the passion in everyone’s eyes.

Li Yao swallowed uncontrollably.

Flowing Brightness Grass and Heart Locking Flower were both super Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures that ranked in the top 100 of the Heaven’s Origin Sector’s rarest.

Flowing Brightness Grass was not valuable by itself. But it was often rooted in a kind of super marrow crystal named ‘Flowing Brightness Stone’.

Flowing Brightness Stone was known as a marrow crystal of marrow crystals. The spiritual energy stored inside them was ten times more powerful than that from common marrow crystals. The most distinguishing part was that the spiritual energy was extremely mild, making it one of the few marrow crystals that could be absorbed by the Cultivators directly!

Heart Locking Flower, as its name suggested, could free the mind of a Cultivator from foreign disturbances. It was very useful when the Cultivator was practicing a tricky martial art or trying to make a major breakthrough.

According to the calculation, after drinking the Heart Locking Liquid refined out of Heart Locking Flower, the odds of derangement of the Cultivator over the following 72 hours would be reduced by more than 80%.

For low-level Cultivators, it might not be of much value. But for Core Formation Stage Cultivators and Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators who were approaching their limits and on the verge of derangement whenever they wanted to move further, Heart Locking Flower was even more valuable than Flowing Brightness Crystal.

Priceless was not a proper word to describe the two Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. There was nowhere to buy them even if someone had offered a price!

In the largest auctions of the Heaven’s Origin Sector, a Flowing Brightness Crystal of mediocre quality or a broken Heart Locking Flower was already enough to serve as the ultimate treasure for bidding!

Li Yao once saw the records of Occult Orbs Fellowship. In one of the Occult Orbs, to fight for three Heart Locking Flowers, two Star Teams were engaged with the exploration squad of the demon race in a fierce battle. Eventually, two Orb Patrollers perished in order to bring the Heart Locking Flowers back to the Heaven’s Origin Sector.

Right now, there were more than thirty Heart Locking Flowers in this place and as much Flowing Brightness Grass.

This whole area was really tremendously valuable!

“Calm down, we must calm down. There’s no reason such precious Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures would just grow here and wait to be picked so vulnerably. That’s illogical!”

Li Yao bit his lips hard and refreshed his mind with the sharp pain.

Captain Hong Tong said in the communication channel, “Don’t be hasty, guys. I feel that something is wrong with the underground world.

“Look, there is a biological system on Ultimacy with multiple kinds of creatures.

“Even the ancient Cultivators knew that Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures were often guarded by strong spiritual beasts. Those who are bewildered by the treasures will only end up as their food.”

Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures were guarded by strong spiritual beasts. It was not a superstition but a very simple fact.

Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures were usually grown in the natural paradises where spiritual energy was abundant, which were often home to strong spiritual beasts, too.

Even if the spiritual beasts were not strong, their body and blood would be significantly improved after feeding on Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures for generations or even hundreds of generations, even though their absorption efficiency may not be very impressive.

The concentration of spiritual energy in the silver lake was higher than anyone could imagine. Even a flock of pigs would become war boars after drinking the lake water for hundreds of years.

But right now, the underground world was entirely silent, except for the dripping sound of silver liquid. There was no trace of any strong spiritual beasts. It was so quiet that it was almost scary.

Pondering for a moment, Li Yao said, “Let me have a try. The silver lake shouldn’t be too dangerous.

“We were led to this place by Team Tiger Deity. If this place is unsafe, there would definitely be traces of a fight. They would’ve left messages for us even if they were forced to run away.

“But right now, there is nothing informative here, which means Team Tiger Deity passed by the lake without causing trouble. We should keep a safe distance from the lake.”

While he was talking, two bumps on the back of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit opened slowly, releasing ten beast puppets that were no larger than bees toward the silver lake.

Everyone adjusted the resolution of their crystal cameras to the highest and unlocked the safeties of their remote magical equipment. Then, the attack rune arrays were set to the super sensitive state and locked onto the silver lake, ready to be activated at any time.

The ten beast puppets flapped their transparent wings made up of crystals and reached the silver lake quickly.

At first, they flew around the silver lake for a circle, and finding nothing abnormal, they moved toward the Heart Locking Flowers.

The mini crystal cameras on the heads of the beast puppets captured ten different pictures from different angels. Everything was peaceful.

“There seemed to be nothing…” Ba Weiqi couldn’t help but comment.

Half way through his sentence, abrupt changes took place!

Of the fifty or so Heart Locking Flowers, twenty were trembling violently, while more than twenty black shadows dashed out from the earth under the Heart Locking Flowers.

The black shadows were moving at a surprisingly high speed. They almost reached the speed of sound within a moment. Most crystal cameras were only displaying blurred shadows.

Only several of the best crystal cameras were able to capture the image of the black shadows!

They were spiritual reptiles that had bright grey skin much like the color of the earth. Covered by layered scales, they looked like six-legged lizards.

What Team Blue Bronze thought to be ‘Heart Locking Flowers’ were actually the tongues of the six-legged lizards.

The six-legged lizards were moving fast, but their tongues were rolling even faster. The ‘Heart Locking Flowers’ on the tip of their tongues fragmented into four pieces momentarily, each piece with a sharp thorn protruding out. In the middle was an azure spicule!

If the tongue were to lick the body of a living creature, a large part of the flesh would definitely be sliced away!

“Crack!”

Li Yao sent out telepathic thoughts immediately. But there was no time. The ten beast puppets were pierced through by the tongues of the lizards and swallowed by them!

It was indeed a trap!

The lizard spiritual beasts living together with the Heart Locking Flowers had tongues duplicating the appearance of the flowers after thousands of years of evolution. Even the high-resolution crystal cameras had been deceived!

Lying in wait among the real Heart Locking Flowers, they had been hiding themselves under the cover of the spiritual energy released by the flowers. Countless underground creatures must’ve been attracted by the false Heart Locking Flowers and killed by their sharp tongues miserably, even if they were just trying to drink some water from the lake.

But it was not the end yet.

Hardly had the six-legged lizards appeared when bubbles started popping up in the silver lake as if it were boiling.

More than ten limbs riddled with holes that looked both like tentacles and vines whipped at the lizards brutally, producing earsplitting noises.

The lizards shrieked and fled to the underground hurriedly.

Two of them were not fast enough and were snatched by the tentacles from the lake.

A huge amount of green liquid was immediately sprayed out from the holes on the tentacles, which corroded the shells of the six-legged lizards quickly. It seemed to be narcotic, too. The lizards that were struggling desperately a moment ago collapsed like two clusters of mud.

Before the tentacles were able to pull the two preys back to the bottom of the lake, a third accident took place!

An almost transparent silver brightness blinked in the midair. A tentacle was cut off and dragged to the sky by an invisible object.

In the air above the silver lake, unseen predators were still lurking in the darkness!

Chapter 409: All Looted!

Cold sweat was trickling down Li Yao’s back.

It was within his expectations that strong predators might be hiding on the shore and inside the lake. But he didn’t anticipate that there were invisible creatures in the air, too.

A lot of green liquid spurted out from the fracture of the broken tentacle of the strange beast inside the lake. The broken tentacle quickly withered into something like a snake.

Li Yao hurriedly activated all his probe magical equipment and released his telepathic thoughts which rippled out and sensed what was there.

Just now, his attention had been focused on the silver lake and its surroundings. The area above the lake had been overlooked by him. Since the beasts were floating in the air without any action, he hadn’t noticed their existence at all.

Now that the transparent beasts had launched their attacks, naturally, there were biological reactions in their bodies. The circulation of body liquid, the rhythm of muscle movement, and their breathing all left traces.

Therefore, almost ten shadows that looked like giant bats appeared on the light beams of the six crystal suits.

The long, soft tails behind them were sucking the tentacle of the beast in the lake like a straw, while they spat silver lasers from their mouths which seemed as sharp as the swords and sabers of the Cultivators.

The strange beast in the lake had lost one of its tentacles, but it had secured one of the six-legged lizard, too. It seemed to be in no mood to deal with the transparent bats, because its tentacles retreated to the bottom of the lake quickly. After a long series of bubbles, the lake went quiet again.

After hovering for a while, the transparent bats flew to the crags and vanished among the vines.

The six-legged lizards were even faster them. They had camouflaged themselves and lurked under the earth again.

At first glance, the underground world was as peaceful as half a minute ago. The vague stink of blood and acid in the air was the only proof that a soul-stirring hunt had taken place a moment ago.

To hunt and to be hunted. Life underground seemed rather cruel.

Captain Hong Tong frowned and said, “Let’s just bypass the lake. The spiritual beasts here seemed to only be interested in the creatures coming close to the silver lake. There shouldn’t be a problem if we keep a distance from them.

“Team Tiger Deity must’ve circumvented the place, too. More secret treasures are buried deep underground. We ought not waste our spiritual energy in this place.

“If we have no gains, we can always excavate the Flowing Brightness Crystals and the Heart Locking Flowers on our way back.”

The proposal was very practical, but Li Yao disagreed.

“I think we should excavate the Flowing Brightness Crystals and the Heart Locking Flowers right now.

“First of all, the creatures in this underground world aren’t morons. If faked Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures were everything in this place, there wouldn’t be too many prey falling into their traps. Their trick would be seen through very quickly.

“The fact that the six-legged lizards have tongues almost identical to the Heart Locking Flowers is evident enough that most of the Flying Brightness Grass and Heart Locking Flowers here are real. It is the only motivation for the prey to risk coming to the lake, even if they know there might be ambushes.

“Therefore, there’s no need to fear that we will get nothing after a fierce battle.

“In the meantime, the attack pattern and the damage of the three spiritual beasts that we saw just now, although weird, are still comprehensible. They can be blocked and resolved, too.

“Their intelligence seems not very high, either, otherwise they wouldn’t have gobbled up the beast puppets that I sent out without examining what they were.

“I feel that they are just spiritual beasts with strong instincts in hunting, but they haven’t evolved to the level of demon beasts yet. Besides, in a monotonous biological system of an underground world, their methods of attack won’t be very diversified. We should’ve seen most of their skills already.

“Considering the mess that they caused right now, stronger predators would’ve appeared if they existed, but they didn’t. So, I assume that the spiritual beasts we saw were the strongest predators themselves.

“One bird in the hand is better than two in the bush. Our exploration has only just begun. Who knows what kind of weird situation we will be mired in later? Flowing Brightness Crystals can be absorbed directly to improve our strength; Heart Locking Flowers can be taken at critical moments to soothe the soul and prevent us from derangement. They might be very useful for our journey to come!

“Right now, we can collect the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures unhurriedly at our own pace, because the demons are not messing around. But if we are engaged with them in fierce battles, there is no guarantee that we can come back to this place and collect the Flowing Brightness Flowers and the Heart Locking Flowers!

“Therefore, I suggest we clean up the underground spiritual beasts and take the treasures while we can!”

Li Yao’s proposal was seconded by most people.

The duller a biological system was, the fewer the attack skills of the spiritual beasts would be, because they would only have to deal with limited types of enemies.

If they hadn’t seen ‘Cultivators’ in their entire life, there would be no way that they would have a special skill to cope with Cultivators.

Everyone gathered around and studied the battle footage taken just now carefully by stopping at each frame. Very soon, they came up with a tactical plan.

“Vulture, your hands are the fastest of all, and you are more familiar with Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures than anyone else. You will be in charge of the collection; the rest of us will cover you up with firepower!”

Under the command of Captain Hong Tong, everyone activated their Cosmos Rings and summoned dozens of beast puppets from them.

For this mission, every Orb Patroller had brought more than ten beast puppets. Now that they were rallied, they seemed to have made a battalion.

“Let’s move out!”

Covered by the dozens of beast puppets, the six crystal suits turned into six streaks of brilliance darting toward the silver lake.

The beast puppets that they had most were Tarantulas that Li Yao modified based on ‘Mystic Wolves’, a high-speed scouting beast.

After being strengthened by multiple Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, the Tarantulas at this moment were much scarier and were particularly suitable for combat in underground environments.

Before the two parties clashed, Ba Weiqi, who was at the end of the team, launched his first wave of mental attacks.

The intense spiritual waves assaulted the invisible bats on the crags directly, forcing them to activate their brains to counteract.

As a result, their strong brain waves exposed themselves like burning torches in the darkness. Their remarkable stealth abilities didn’t work anymore.

“Zhi Zhi!”

Six-legged lizards had never seen enemies who were wearing metal all over their bodies from which flames were jetting out. They fled out of the earth in consternation.

What embraced them in the outside was a storm of bullets!

Two areas of the lizards’ heads exploded into translucent clouds of blood.

These critical parts had been found out by the six Cultivators through studying the battle video. They had noticed that the six-legged lizards had been protecting these parts judiciously, which should be their important sense organs.

The light was extremely dim in the underground world. Their eyes were definitely not of much use despite the enormous size.

However, in a world of quietness, even the weakest sound could carry a lot of information. Therefore, the hearing organs on the two sides of their heads that looked like ears were their biggest weakness!

As it turned out, after their ‘ears’ were blown to pieces by the shocking bullets, the six-legged lizards started circling around like headless flies.

In the meantime, the transparent bats had sprung from the crags and flew up toward the top of the cave in a panic.

Faced with the mysterious enemies, the transparent bats which had been entirely confused decided to simply run away.

But the silver lake was boiling again, with bubbles popping up nonstop. Dozens of tentacles protruded out and whipped at the six of them roaringly.

“The silver lake is only about a hundred meters in diameter. It’s impossible for super-large spiritual beasts to grow in this small pond. The combat ability of this strange beast is limited however formidable it seems! Let’s block it now so that Vulture can gather the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures!” Captain Hong Tong bellowed and charged at four tentacles.

Ding Lingdang followed him closely. Three dragons of flames in different colors craned up from her back and stabbed at the depths of the silver lake.

She was brutal enough to attack the body of the strange beast inside the lake without bothering with the tentacles!

Li Yao had no time to notice what everyone else was doing. The aura on his Boiled Blood Wind Slashing Saber was extended to more than five meters and slashed a six-legged lizard which was running dizzily into two halves. Then, it was lengthened further and chopped off one of the tentacles of the strange beast!

In the next second, he set the Tarantulas that he carried into the automatic mode to protect himself, before he sprayed out almost a hundred beast puppets the size of a palm which looked like spiders.

He didn’t treat the spiders casually as he did with the Tarantulas. Instead, he extended almost a hundred spiritual threads out of his spiritual root and connected them to the crystal processors of the little spiders. With the calculation of the crystal processors and his own computational ability, he would be able to control the spiders directly!

The little spiders had no combat ability, but they were of tremendous help for his gathering work.

Li Yao’s hands were moving as fast as the wind. Translucent blades as thin as the wings of a cicada stuck out from his fingertips to help him cut off the Heart Locking Flowers.

The little spiders were not as fast as himself. But there were a whole lot of them. His collection efficiency was more than doubled with their help!

Many six-legged lizards nearby lunged at him, shrieking. Li Yao sent out a telepathic thought. Their bellies exploded one after another, before they collapsed to the ground, unable to move anymore.

Li Yao was a lunatic bomber. How could they eat his magical equipment thoughtlessly?

“One… Two… Eighteen… Nineteen… Twenty-one Flowing Brightness Grasses in total!

“And twenty Heart Locking Flowers!”

Five minutes later, all the Flowing Brightness Grasses and the Heart Locking Flowers had been looted by Li Yao.

“Nice!”

Li Yao was more exhilarated than ever from collecting so many precious Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures all at once.

But in the meantime, Team Blue Bronze had lost some twenty beast puppets. There were traces of corrosion on all their crystal suits.

The main reason was that the strange beast inside the lake had a very unusual way of attacking. It had several different types of tentacles which could spurt acids and venom of different attributes. Some of the tentacles would even expand and explode when attacked, spewing super corrosive liquids.

Gudu! Gudu! Gudu! Gudu!

The number of bubbles covering the lake was increasing, as if a volcano under the lake was erupting. An intense spiritual wave soared up to the sky. It appeared that the strange beast inside the lake was ready to reveal itself and play with them for real!

“Let’s go now!”

Since the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures had all been accumulated, no one was interested in fighting this strange beast any longer. After a roar from Captain Hong Tong, the six of them activated all their remote magical equipment and bombarded the silver lake, while they fled quickly to the deeper part of the cave that had been marked on their map without looking back.

Chapter 410: Skeleton Dragon!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Savaged and brutalized by countless kinds of magical equipment, the underground world was wreathed in undying smoke. The temperature hundreds of degrees high vaporized a huge amount of lake water, raising clusters of silver mist above the lake.

The strange beast inside the lake was squeaking angrily. Water pillars rose up and hit the crags. A lot of rocks were falling down. For a moment, the ground was trembling as if an earthquake was occurring.

Li Yao and his teammates moved as quickly as they could as they dashed into a new crevice. The roars of the strange beast didn’t die down until they were thousands of meters away from the silver lake.

“It’s great that Vulture was fast enough to finish the collection of the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures before the strange beast inside the lake revealed its true self!

“It’s possible that the beast was seriously wounded or was shackled by some kind of barrier. That’s why it didn’t float up to fight us in the first place. Now that it has been irked and decided to swim up by force, it must’ve paid a terrible price. Our bombardment in the end only added to its injuries. If we come back the same way, we may even be able to try hunting it down!”

Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures of immeasurable worth had been secured. The six of them were all very excited.

“Team Tiger Deity has left another telepathic thought ball!”

Their crystal processors picked up traces of a faint telepathic thought at the same time. According to the map, it was from an inconspicuous gap about four kilometers ahead of them.

They were all refreshed. Li Yao performed some quick maintenance on everyone’s crystal suits and replaced the plate armor that had been too seriously corroded. Then the team marched forward to the source of the telepathic thought.

Half an hour later, they found themselves in a shabby cave that was devoid of any light.

After scanning with mystic rays and telepathic thoughts, they discovered a skeleton at the end of the cave. It was two meters tall, with bright gold bones. Complicated round stripes could be seen on its arms.

“A body practitioner!”

Ding Lingdang was greatly interested. “Spiritual tattoos into the bones, bright gold body. This is a very advanced body practitioner. It must be no lower than the middle level of the Core Formation Stage. How did it end up in this place? Why did Team Tiger Deity not bury it when they found it?”

Li Yao took a step forward and scanned the skeleton with mystic rays inch by inch. Soft cloths were scattering around the bright gold skeleton, which appeared to be some sort of protective clothing like a mustard suit. But the passage of time had rendered them ragged beyond recognition.

From one of the scraps of cloth, a small part of ‘Red Dragon Swallowing the Sun’, the emblem of the Star Ocean Imperium, could be distinguished.

It seemed that this was a Cultivator from the Star Ocean Imperium.

Li Yao withdrew his gaze and pondered for a while. Then he realized why Team Tiger Deity had left the skeleton in the open air.

If the skeleton used to be a Cultivator of the Star Ocean Imperium, it meant that the dead body had been decaying in this place for more than seven thousand years. Core Formation Stage Cultivators had not reached the level of immortality. Even body practitioners who boasted amazing physical strength and body hardness would rot soon after they died.

The skeleton in this place was already on the verge of dismemberment. With any foreign force, it would definitely crumble into powder. There was no way to absorb it into a Cosmos Ring.

In a corner of the cave, Team Tiger Deity had left the second telepathic thought ball.

The information contained in this ball was ten times more detailed than the previous one.

As it turned out, there had been a lot of magical equipment that was not entirely putrid near the dead body of the Cultivator of the Star Ocean Imperium, including several jade chips. Team Tiger Deity had taken away all the functional items.

But before they left, experts of Team Tiger Deity had decrypted the barrier of the jade chips and translated a lot of information contained inside.

The Star Glory Federation was a succession of the Star Ocean Imperium. Although thousands of years had passed, their languages, cultures, and social forms were very similar.

Team Tiger Deity had a rarely-seen hybrid-type Cultivator talented in both battle and research. Besides an Orb Patroller, he was also an anthropologist who specialized in the history of the Star Ocean Imperium, especially the barriers and encryption systems of the army at that time.

A huge amount of information that he decrypted flooded into the crystal processors of Team Blue Bronze.

The key words of the information stunned each and every one of them.

“What? The real name of Ultimacy is ‘Boneyard’, the residence of Skeleton Dragon who was one of the nineteen strongest demons in the early years of the Great Dark Age?”

The six of them were truly shocked.

“Skeleton Dragon?”

“Search your crystal processors and your own brain and share all the information you find regarding Skeleton Dragon!” ordered Captain Hong Tong hurriedly.

Early years of the Great Dark Age meant almost forty thousand years ago. It was too far away from right now. Most of the files had been lost in the sea of stars as time went by. Most of them had buried the information deep inside their brains even if they had read any books concerning it, and they definitely wouldn’t waste their precious computational ability recalling it every once in a while.

Everyone tried their best to dig out their memories. Finally, they found a thing or two about the monster. Together with the information provided by Team Tiger Deity, they had a basic understanding about what Skeleton Dragon was now.

In the early years of the Great Dark Age, or rather, the twilight of the Ancient Cultivation Civilization, Cultivators had bred billions of demon beasts to attack one another.

After thousands of years of fierce battles, countless strong species had emerged among the demon beasts.

In the strong species, many top experts were born.

Led by the elite demon beasts, the demon race fought against the Cultivators and liberated themselves.

However, the demon race consisted of merely man-made creatures. The disparity within the race was far more severe than that of mankind. Many demons were natural nemeses themselves, and there was no way that they would listen to their enemy’s command.

Therefore, although the ‘Demon Union’, an alliance formed by the nineteen strongest demon species, waged war against the ancient Cultivators and pioneered the Great Dark Age where the ancient world of Cultivation fell apart and human civilization became subservient to the demon civilization, the alliance quickly collapsed when they lost the mutual adversary.

Leaders of the nineteen demon species all hoped to be the sole emperor reigning over the entire sea of stars. Hence, cruel civil wars began!

Skeleton Dragon was one of the leaders.

As of now, the files depicting the wars in the early years of the Great Dark Age were mostly lost. But one thing that everybody knew was that Skeleton Dragon was not the winner who laughed to the end.

Considering the cruelty and brutality of the demon race, it was not hard to fathom what became of the losers!

And the very planet that they were standing on was Skeleton Dragon’s residence…

As the saying went, ‘clever hares have multiple burrows’. Top ancient demons such as Skeleton Dragon apparently wouldn’t have only one place to live in.

This might be a base for the preparation of his counterattack or maybe a villa of seclusion to treat his injuries.

But one way or another, abundant secrets must’ve been buried in this place!

Pondering for a while, Li Yao realized something.

In the early years of the Great Dark Age, expert demons such as Skeleton Dragon must’ve annihilated countless ancient sects while leading their army of billions of demon beasts.

The demon race did not have its own civilization. The training pattern in its beginning phase was rooted in the same paradigm as the ancient world of Cultivation. Therefore, Skeleton Dragon must’ve looted a lot of Cultivation arts and secret treasures in order to improve his own species and strengthen his relatives and descendants.

These treasures might’ve been buried somewhere in Skeleton Dragon’s residence!

The logic was quite simple. Therefore, when the Star Ocean Imperium thrived, and the last demon beast dynasty was on the verge of destruction at the epilogue of the Great Dark Age, the two parties both sent an expedition team when they discovered Boneyard by accident.

The Cultivator who had bright gold bones and spiritual tattoos on his arms must’ve been a member of the expedition team back then.

The enormous platform that Li Yao saw at the bottom of the canyon and the channel almost ten thousand meters long leading to the center of the planet were apparently the work of their predecessors from the Star Ocean Imperium.

According to the journal left in the ancient jade chips, the expedition team of the Star Ocean Imperium had slain countless spiritual beasts while they were marching forward. There had been four strong spiritual beasts inside the silver lake, but they had been wiped out by the expedition team!

“No wonder our trip so far has been easy and smooth, and the spiritual beasts near the Heart Locking Flowers and the Flowing Brightness Grasses are so weak.

“It is because the real strong guardians were killed a long time ago!”

That was almost everything useful contained inside the ancient jade chips. There was much more additional information that had been locked behind sophisticated barriers. The expert from Team Tiger Deity had failed to crack it due to the lack of time.

According to the journal, the expedition team of the Star Ocean Imperium had come across several exploration teams of the Demon Beast Empire. They’d fought several times, with casualties on both sides.

The bones of the body practitioner were intact without being damaged at all. There was no sign that the ancient Cultivator had been killed by an expert demon.

No one could tell what kind of accidents occurred to the expedition team later, or the outcome of the competition between it and the exploration teams of the Demon Beast Empire.

However, it did not matter who had won and who had lost.

Thousands of years had passed. Both the Demon Beast Empire and the Star Ocean Imperium were long gone like dry leaves shattered in a storm.

“This place is the residence of one of the top demons from forty thousand years ago. Even if it is just a temporary house, countless treasures must be lying under the ground. We’re definitely going to get rich!

“It is very fortunate of us. Our capability is not enough to allow us to explore the residence of the ancient demon seven thousand meters under the ground. But the predecessors of the Star Ocean Imperium have already paved a way for us!

“Maybe, this is a blessing for the human civilization!”

The six members of Team Blue Bronze stood up straight and paid homage to the ancient Cultivators seven thousand years ago as followers from the Star Glory Federation.

Right then, their crystal processors received a signal from an independent communication network at the same time.

Perhaps blocked by the underground stratums, the signal was sporadic. They tried many times but still failed to connect the signal to their communication channel. However, they did hear somebody shouting, “MAYDAY!”

“A distress call from Team Tiger Deity!”

Their faces all paled instantly. They took action without delay.

Yan Yangtian activated the probe magical equipment on her crystal suit to search for the source of the signal. Half a minute later, she locked onto something 9,500 meters below them!

“Let’s go!”

To rescue their companions, and for the residence of Skeleton Dragon, they would march downwards even if it was ten thousand meters below the ground!

Chapter 411: Underground Ocean, Undersea Town!

The deeper they went, the more rugged the tunnel became. Most of the tunnel had been blocked by rubble. Team Tiger Deity had dug out holes that allowed one person to pass through with all fours at a time.

In the endless darkness, the feeble brightness leaked out from the tiny gaps near the tunnel now and then, as if thousands of narrow and long eyes were observing the intruders without blinking.

Li Yao and his teammates rapidly proceeded through the tunnel. Half an hour later, they arrived at the end of the tunnel 9,500 meters below the ground.

Although they’d been prepared for unusual things to happen, the splendid scene they were welcomed by still shocked them. At the end of the narrow tunnel was a boundless underground world that was at least a hundred times larger than the previous one they had been in. They could not see the end of it. Everything was enveloped in darkness.

The fact that there was such a large hollow almost ten thousand meters underground had surpassed the limits of their imaginations.

They even doubted that they might’ve arrived at a new world fragment without them knowing anything.

What was most startling was that the bottom of the underground hollow was filled with silver liquid which had gathered to form an enormous ocean.

Yes. An ocean!

It was a lake about one hundred meters in diameter in the first underground world, and it was a boundless silver ocean in front of them right now.

Raging wind was blowing from the darkness nearby, raising surging waves on the surface of the ‘ocean’. It even led to unique microclimates above the ocean where clusters of silver mist resembling clouds had formed.

But there was no hint of any living creatures at all. No Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, no spiritual beasts, and no fungi. Nothing interesting at all.

A surging ocean ten thousand meters below the ground!

The scene was already mind-blowing just thinking of it.

Team Tiger Deity’s distress call had come from the depths of the silver ocean.

Everyone looked at one another. They could feel their companions’ uneasiness despite the thick helmets covering their faces.

“The spiritual waves here are hundreds of times more intense what we sensed on the ground. This should be one of the places where spiritual energy is the most abundant on this planet!

“If there is a residence of Skeleton Dragon here, it is very likely to be in the depths of the silver ocean.

“But look, the silver lake from earlier is much smaller, yet Flowing Brightness Grasses, Heart Locking Flowers, and spiritual beasts have been living around it.

“The silver ocean we are seeing right now is hundreds of times larger. But we can’t feel the existence of any Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures at all.

“There are only two possibilities. Either someone arrived earlier and took all the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures away, or some formidable being in the depths of the ocean consumed all the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures and spiritual beasts nearby.”

Yan Yangtian’s analysis made everyone put on a grave expression.

Captain Hong Tong said calmly, “There are no other choices. We have to go down and find out what is hiding inside the ocean, not to mention that we need to rescue Team Tiger Deity.

“Otherwise, if the exploration squads of the Blood Demon Sector get access to the residence of Skeleton Dragon and receive the ancient demon heritage, the capability of the Blood Demon Sector will definitely soar. The Heaven’s Origin Sector will be doomed forever!

“With valiance comes victory. The federation spent all the resources available to send us here not to let us go back empty-handed as losers!

“Even if strong spiritual beasts are lurking in the silver ocean, we will just slay ’em all!

“Vulture, it’s your time!”

Li Yao nodded his head. He took out hundreds of components from his Cosmos Ring and started modifying his teammates’ crystal suits.

Soon, the arms, legs and backs of the six crystal suits had undersea combat accessories that looked like fins affixed to them.

In the meantime, Yan Yangtian had collected sample liquid from the silver ocean and run a preliminary analysis, concluding that the ocean water was not just harmless but also beneficial for human bodies.

Data regarding the silver liquid was transmitted to everyone’s crystal processor.

“Let’s move out!”

Under the command of Captain Hong Tong, all the six Orb Patrollers dived into the underground silver ocean!

The density of the silver liquid was higher than that of common sea water. Swimming inside it was like swimming in sticky glue.

Crystal cameras almost lost all functionality in the silver liquid. They could only send out telepathic thoughts and sound waves and picture the territories with the feedback in their minds.

“Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep…”

The telepathic thought and sound wave probe system was letting out dull sounds while they were inspecting the undersea terrain.

The six of them dived deeper and deeper. Very soon, they had descended to more than ten thousand meters below the ground.

Yet, the bottom of the ocean was still thousands of meters away. The undersea terrain that their crystal processors drew dazed everyone.

In the middle of the continuous mountains, there were quite a few vast undersea basins. Countless vintage houses and pavilions were standing in some of the basins. There were even several splendid buildings that looked like ancient castles.

The tallest one of all looked like a cone-shaped tower that looked to be more than a thousand meters tall.

An ocean ten thousand meters below the ground!

A city thousands of meters below the ocean!

But had the city been originally built in the underground ocean, or was the city drowned by the ocean due to crustal movements?

“The architecture style of the underground town has distinctive features of the Ancient Cultivation Civilization forty thousand years ago, if not with additional barbarianism and bloodthirst. There are also several giant buildings whose purposes are unknown to us. This doesn’t seem like a place the ancient Cultivators dwelled.

“The only explanation is that these are the remnants of the city where Skeleton Dragon and his tribe once lived.”

The demon civilization was a man-made civilization. In the early years of the Great Dark Age, it did not have its own culture and history at all. Therefore, the cities that the demon race built in the beginning were all duplicates of the counterparts in the human world. Sometimes they simply pulled the headquarters and buildings of Cultivation sects apart and transported them to their own dens.

After thirty thousand years of development, demon culture with idiosyncratic characteristics had thrived. The style of the demons’ buildings, weapons, and magical equipment was entirely different from that of the Cultivators’.

Therefore, by studying the architecture design of the demon households, it was not hard to infer the period when the ancient town had been established.

“The cone tower in the center is more than 1,700 meters tall, with a pedestal more than 500 meters in diameter. It must be the core of the city, if not the residence of Skeleton Dragon!

“Wait… The spiritual waves above the undersea city are quite chaotic. A fierce battle seems to be taking place… It’s Team Tiger Deity!”

Yan Yangtian had located the position of Team Tiger Deity.

However, the other team seemed to be in a bad condition. Their crystal suits were seriously damaged. Together with the interference of the mysterious silver liquid, Team Blue Bronze failed to connect to their communication channel after multiple tries.

“Let’s go there!”

The metal fins on their hands and feet waved gently while they marched close to the undersea city like six swift sharks.

Beep… Beep… Beep Beep… Beep beep beep beep!

The feedback that their probe magical equipment received was getting more and more intense, indicating that there was one or even more beings in front of them that contained enormous spiritual energy.

Their spiritual threads depicted the outlines of the objects quickly.

There were three beasts in total. They looked very similar to the strange beast inside the lake that Team Blue Bronze had met previously, because every one of them had hundreds of tentacles that resembled serpents. But they were at least five times larger than the previous one. Their tentacles were more than half a meter in diameter, even thicker than Li Yao’s thigh!

The undersea beasts were more than a hundred meters long. Their tentacles were connected to a giant cone-shaped shell that looked like freshwater snail. The shell was riddled with holes, from which they could absorb or squirt water to move themselves.

Although their bodies were quite slow, their tentacles were extremely deft, which were waving and whacking like hundreds of sea snakes, stirring the undersea world into utter chaos.

Li Yao searched for a long time, before he finally sensed the five Orb Patrollers of Team Tiger Deity through the gaps of the hundreds of tentacles.

They seemed to have been seriously wounded. Their spiritual waves were quite weak while they were struggling.

“Help them!”

Faced with the net of tentacles constituted by three unknown undersea beasts, Team Blue Bronze sprang forward without any hesitation.

Li Yao was charging at the beast on the left. The Boiled Blood Wind Slashing Saber had an aura of more than ten meters, while Li Yao slashed it down and hit one of the tentacles.

The tentacle of this beast was apparently much more tensile than that of the beast in the lake. It was extremely slippery, with nowhere that one could exert strength on.

Li Yao clutched the handle of his saber. With all his might, and the assistance of the crystal suit, he dragged the saber brutally and chopped off the tentacle. A large cluster of acid spurted out and spread into a green mist in the seawater.

In the meantime, he was hit by another tentacle. Almost a hundred tiny holes the size of the tips of needles appeared on the surface of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit.

The tentacle that had been chopped off didn’t die immediately. Instead, it wriggled forward and lunged at him like an earthworm.

Li Yao raised his eyebrow and was greatly surprised.

“The tentacles of the beast can still attack when they are disconnected to the body?

“It appears that this is the ultimate form of the beast. The one living inside the silver lake must’ve been undernourished due to the limited growing environment!

“Then let’s see if you can still attack after I mince you into pieces!”

Gritting his teeth, Li Yao waved his saber and raised an unstoppable swirl against the hindrance of the silver liquid, which tore the squirming tentacle apart momentarily.

Then, he rushed forward, passing through the gaps of four tentacles at a close distance, before he charged at the body of the undersea beast.

Five brilliant talon auras were formed by the Purple Electric Blue Fire Claw Art, which hit the shell of the undersea beast precisely together with unstoppable, primordial strength.

CRACK!

Dozens of miniature cracks appeared on the shell of the undersea beast.

But very soon, ivory gel leaked out of the cracks and cured the shell like glue!

“What a remarkable self-recovery ability. These beasts are indeed impressive.”

Li Yao frowned, having no idea how to deal with them.

His five teammates were also engaged in fierce fights.

The attack ability and defense ability of the three undersea beasts were both incredibly high. Their tentacles were still aggressive even if they were chopped off. It was going to take forever to clean up the mess.

But in the meantime, countless pairs of bloodthirsty eyes were focused on the battle in the depths of the silver ocean.

“Idiotic Cultivators, how dare you trespass onto Boneyard when you don’t know the first thing about it?

“For three years, the Blood Demon Sector has studied the heritage of an ancient demon who once travelled to Boneyard before we made up our mind to explore and excavate in this place!

“Fine then. Boneyard will be your tomb where the so-called strongest Building Foundation Stage Cultivators will be buried ten thousand lightyears away from your home!”

Chapter 412: Super Green Acid Cannon!

In the bed of the underground silver ocean, under the cover of mud and sand, the gargantuan body of a beast was hiding.

The beast was more than three thousand meters long and looked like a mix of a blue whale and a plesiosaur, with countless lumps and wrinkles on its surface and a row of bone spurs protruding out of its back. There couldn’t be a creature scarier than it.

Inside the body of the beast was a row of spacious chambers. The biggest chamber was in the middle front part of the body, like the cockpit of a warship.

At this moment, a demon squad from the Blood Demon Sector was hiding inside the chamber and observing the fierce battle in the silver ocean coldly.

The one leading the squad was none other than Wang Ji, the prince of the Kingdom of Lion Butchers!

Wang Ji was floating in the midair. Several bloody tentacles extended out of the walls of the chamber and connected to the back of his head.

In such a way, he would be able to monitor the entire battlefield with the demonic warship refined out of the corpse of an enormous beast.

“Huh. The traces of a Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit have been detected?

“There is only one Orb Patroller who wears the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit.

“As I expected, Vulture Li Yao, you really are here.

“But you’ve come for your own death. You just don’t know it yet.

“The Blood Demon Sector has been planning the exploration of Boneyard for three years. From the heritage of the ancient demon, we got a detailed map of the world underneath Boneyard’s surface and the locations of several secret teleportation arrays that could transport us from the surface of the planet into the underground world. We even found a wrecked demonic warship!

“This demonic warship was a super weapon crafted at the end of the Demon Beast Empire ten thousand years ago, filled with amazing demonic technology!

“Even though it is a terrible state of disrepair, it is still not something that you can deal with!

“Everything is within my control. Let’s see what you can do this time!”

Right then, two demons floated over to Wang Ji and respectfully said, “Super Green Acid Cannon is ready!”

“Biochemical beasts are ready!”

Strength meant everything in the Blood Demon Sector. The Kingdom of Lion Butchers was among the most powerful nations, and Elder Blood Robe, Wang Ji’s master, was one of the strongest demon emperors. Therefore, Wang Ji had been chosen to lead the demon squad.

“Excellent!”

Wang Ji smiled hideously. “I didn’t expect that the underground silver ocean would boast such abundant spiritual energy. The demonic warship from thousands of years ago is not entirely rotten yet. A Super Green Acid Cannon and powerful biochemical beasts breeding pools are still functional!”

Wang Ji, together with another fifteen demons, walked to another giant chamber. Some twenty meat balls more than ten meters in diameter were dangling from the ceiling. Glistening nerves and veins could be found on the surfaces of the meat balls. Liquid was flowing in the veins. The membrane was stretched out to the extent that it seemed to be transparent, revealing more than ten extremely ugly beasts in the shape of fetuses inside.

Huala!

After a tremble, the meat balls all split in half from the middle. Stinky liquid was running everywhere. The eccentric beasts fell off and woke up one after another.

Some of the beasts were wearing solid plate armor with sharp bone spurs on it.

Some of the beasts were like lizards but countless times larger, with bloody stripes covering them.

Still some other beasts were completely indistinguishable. They looked like a mix of the most terrible body parts of the most horrible creatures in the worst nightmares. Even the deepest level of hell wouldn’t bear such nasty beings!

All the beasts were alive, but they were entirely still except for their breathing. For the beasts with eyes, their eyeballs seemed to be mere decoration; they were stiff and had no hint of wisdom that belonged to intellectual creatures.

They were like machines, a bunch of killing machines fleshed out with hide and blood!

“As expected of the biochemical beasts created by the Demon Beast Empire ten thousand years ago. They are formidable!”

“Compared to them, the biochemical beasts that we brought are nothing but crabs and shrimps!”

“The biochemical beasts will improve our strength by two or even three levels. Destroying the crystal suits of the Cultivators will be more than easy!”

All the demons were exultant while they danced and laughed.

Glancing around, Wang Ji’s eyes stopped on a black beast.

The beast was relatively smaller in size, less than six meters in length. Its body was slippery, like a mix of black metal and flesh. Its head was disproportionally long and covered by a curved shell which blocked its eyes. A mouthpart with sharp, helical teeth could be seen through the half-open bloody mouth.

The limbs were long and slim, with black bone spurs all around. In the back of the beast was a bone tail ten meters long, concluded by a three-edged sharp blade embedded with thorns.

Wang Ji felt enormous strength, and even more enormous lust for killing, from the beast.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

Below the stomach of the beast, the black ribs opened one by one, unveiling a giant empty chamber inside.

Wang Ji strode forward and crawled into the beast. Then, the ribs closed without leaving the tiniest gap.

Hiss!

The black beast stood up!

The rigid robot a moment ago seemed to have turned into the most brutal predator. The air in front of it was torn apart and twisted after a casual snatch.

Acids more corrosive than vitriol were streaming out of its mouth, which dribbled to the ground and produced burning noises.

Transformed by the beast, Wang Ji’s voice was extremely twisted and high.

“Haha. Hahahaha. Such invincible strength! With this biochemical beast, I can wield the strength of a demon king!

“Hurry up and pick a biochemical beast most suitable for you!

“Prepare the Super Green Acid Cannon!

“Let the hunting begin!”

…

Deep inside the silver ocean, the fierce battle was ongoing.

Li Yao roared and slashed off a 26th tentacle. But his left hand felt off for a moment, causing him to temporarily halt the Purple Electric Blue Fire Claw Art. The tentacle was not smashed into pieces. It hit himself heavily.

Despite the protection of his crystal processor, he felt that somebody had hammered him right in the chest after a dull thunder-like noise.

Thankfully, Ding Lingdang came in time and burnt the tentacle to a crisp with a blazing dragon.

Under the pressure of the silver seawater, her Nona-colored Fire was suppressed. Her capability was seriously undermined. After fighting for such a long time, she was breathing heavily, too.

‘Something is not right!’

For some reason, Li Yao felt uneasy, as if somebody was peeping at him in the bottom of the ocean.

‘The undersea beasts are not trying to eliminate us; they are trying to keep us here!’

Li Yao noticed that, pressed by the hundreds of vigorous tentacles of the undersea beasts, the six members of Team Blue Bronze were drawing closer and closer, and the remaining Orb Patrollers of Team Tiger Deity were assembling, too.

Li Yao couldn’t help but ask in the communication channel, “Yan Zi, do you feel that something odd is watching us from the bottom of the ocean?”

As a scout, Yan Yangtian’s senses were the sharpest of all.

“Something is indeed not right. I have goosebumps all over my back!”

Yan Yangtian gnashed her teeth.

“I feel the same way, too. Take care, everybody. Brace for new enemies!”

Before Captain Hong Tong finished his sentence, abrupt changes took place!

A streak of greenness was shot from the depths of the silver ocean, darted at Team Tiger Deity, and suddenly exploded into a cluster of green fog when it was dozens of meters away from Team Tiger Deity.

The cluster of green fog seemed to be alive. It danced, expanded, and lunged at Team Tiger Deity!

The five Orb Patrollers of Team Tiger Deity sensed that a great danger was coming and prepared to run away, but they were delayed for a second by the tentacles of the undersea beasts.

In that one second, the cluster of green fog tangled the five Orb Patrollers!

The green fog split into many green lines which crawled into gaps of the crystal suits like miniature worms.

A lot of bubbles appeared on the surface of the crystal suits while they were corroded and decomposed. Eventually, shocking holes were taking shape!

Through the holes, the green lines crowded into the inside of the crystal suits and started corroding the bodies of the Orb Patrollers!

The Orb Patrollers struggled to resist the deterioration of their spiritual energy. But they could spare no attention to deal with the undersea beasts now, which snatched them easily with their tentacles one by one.

Team Blue Bronze was completely dumbfounded, especially Li Yao, who was more shocked than everyone else.

He was quite familiar with the crystal suits that Team Tiger Deity wore. They were the most advanced models of the Heaven’s Origin Sector, manually strengthened by the most experienced Armadominuses.

In the war against the Heaven’s Origin Sector, the crystal suits had often survived hours in a battlefield without being damaged by anything.

But right now, the acids in the shape of green lines that looked like weird worms had ruined the crystal suits within several seconds!

‘What kind of acid is this?’

Before Li Yao was back to himself, he had a terrible feeling. Without input from his brain, his body had swum up toward the surface of the ocean!

“There’s no time! Hide behind the undersea beasts!” roared Li Yao.

The six members of Team Blue Bronze dashed behind an undersea beast.

The second streak of greenness appeared and exploded a hundred meters below them, but it hit the monolithic undersea beast first.

The undersea beast seemed to be shrieking desperately, indicated by the violently jumping oscillograph, although they didn’t hear anything. Its tentacles were cramping crazily, before turning into ichor one by one.

The undersea beasts could spurt out acid themselves, which meant that their bodies should have had resistance against acids. But it was utterly pointless faced with the weird green acid.

The solid cone-shaped shell didn’t last long, either. Despite the ivory, sticky serum, it turned mottled after a short moment. Much ichor that used to be the body tissue jetted out!

Half a minute later, the hundred-meters-long undersea beast became an empty, broken shell floating and soaking in the seawater.

The other two undersea beasts were greatly appalled. They fled without a moment’s delay.

Li Yao and his teammates took the opportunity to dash hundreds of meters upward during the precious half a minute.

However—

The streak of greenness transmitted extremely fast inside the seawater when it exploded. Although the six of them used the undersea beast as a shield, a bit of the green fog still splashed on their bodies.

The bits of acid turned into green lines, which tied up everyone’s crystal suits and looked for the gaps in the crystal suits madly.

“Not good. My leg joint has been corroded!”

“What kind of acid are they? The anti-corrosion layer on our crystal suits is completely useless against them!”

“They seem to be living creatures under manipulation of someone. Ah! They’ve dug a hole on my crystal suit and are crawling into my body!”

Exclamations echoed nonstop in the communication channel.

Chapter 413: Formidable Beasts!

Cold sweat was appearing on Li Yao’s forehead. His Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit was smeared by several ‘green lines’, too, which were corroding the surface of the crystal suit at a crazy speed.

Furbished and polished by him repetitively, the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit was extremely solid. Its speed of corrosion was much lower than that of other crystal suits.

But if he were to simply leave it alone, the weird green lines were bound to drill several holes on his crystal suit eventually.

Once the green lines entered his body, he would have to resist them with his spiritual energy, which would be a terrible nuisance.

Ten ultra-thin blades stuck out of Li Yao’s fingertips. His hands moved as fast as wind and cut a layer of metal off the surface of his crystal suit. Then he threw it away into the deep ocean together with the green lines on it.

Twelve green lines were cleaned up quickly.

But two of the green lines had dug into the crystal suit deeply. Li Yao simply pulled off the entire piece of plate armor and tossed it away.

After all, with the amazing framework of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, the loss of one or two pieces of plate armor did not affect its functionality very much.

But his teammates were not as quick as him. In a flurry, many of them dismantled too many corroded components to maintain the performance of their crystal suits.

But Weiqi and Leng Ziming both grunted in the communication channel. Two green lines had penetrated through their crystal suits and crawled into their bodies.

“The green line is like a weird worm. Not only does it corrupt my flesh and blood, it is also crawling deeper into my body through my spiritual veins. My spiritual energy circulation has been seriously jammed!”

Ba Weiqi rasped, “I have to activate my spiritual energy to maximum just in order to resist it. But as a result, 40% of my spiritual energy will be wasted. My combat ability will be greatly undermined!”

“My situation is even worse.”

Leng Ziming said quickly, “The green line is crawling into my brain. I have to focus more than half of my attention to cope with it. I can’t carry out my gunfighting skills as I should!”

“We can’t stay here. Let’s go!”

Captain Hong Tong made the decision immediately. Ding Lingdang and Yan Yangtian swam over and seized the two wounded companions. But as they were going to flee to the surface of the ocean, a huge amount of bubbles popped up around them as if the seawater was boiling. Almost twenty invisible killing scents had locked onto the six of them hard and sure.

“Team Tiger Deity is staying in this place. Why are you in such a hurry to go, Team Blue Bronze?”

It was difficult to hear voice clearly in the rolling seawater. But they all heard a weird soundwave from the depths of the ocean.

Almost twenty black shadows swam up rapidly from the bottom of the ocean at an unimaginable speed. They surpassed the six of them very soon and stopped ahead of them.

“Biochemical beasts!”

“What kind of biochemical beasts are these? They are only less than twenty meters long, yet their terrifying oppression is multiple times stronger than the kraken we killed last time!”

“Since when did the Blood Demon Sector procreate such formidable biochemical beasts? And why have we never seen them before?”

Li Yao’s pupils constricted violently as he stared at the hideous, rampant biochemical beasts carefully.

Five of the biochemical beasts were carrying five Cultivators whose crystal suits were on the verge of destruction. They were the five Orb Patrollers from Team Tiger Deity.

A black beast in the lead had a sharp bone tail which pierced through the back of a Cultivator out of his chest. Dozens of thorns extended from the bone tail and stabbed into the acupoints all around the Cultivator’s body, making him struggle in agony and unable to summon his spiritual energy.

“Vulture Li Yao, we meet for the third time!”

Satisfied laughter burst out from the black beast, while it waved its tail and pushed forward the thorns on the tail. The Cultivator of Team Tiger Deity was torn to pieces immediately. A mist of blood was flowing in the silver ocean.

CRACK!

Li Yao’s eyes were bulging so much and he was biting his teeth so hard that it seemed like they might break apart at any moment.

He had recognized the voice of the demon inside the black beast. It belonged to Wang Ji, the disciple of Elder Blood Robe and the crown prince of the Kingdom of Lion Butchers!

At the same time, the other four Orb Patrollers of Team Tiger Deity were slain mercilessly by the biochemical beasts one after another.

Team Tiger Deity was wiped out!

“Swoosh!”

Without further ado, Wang Ji reined the black beast and charged at Li Yao in a streak of brightness!

The high-intensity silver water had no hindrance on the black beast at all. It appeared right in front of Li Yao’s face within a moment. The bone tail which was stained with blood speared forward faster than many flying swords. The intense killing scent was almost a real thing and penetrated into Li Yao’s heart like a needle!

Li Yao’s eyelids twitched uncontrollably. He dashed backwards while he slashed up with his Boiled Blood Wind Slashing Saber brutally.

Yet, the boil tail grabbed his saber precisely and would’ve snatched it away if he hadn’t reacted quickly enough.

‘So fast! So dominating! Wang Ji is at least five times stronger than when I last met him now that he has entered this biochemical beast!’

Li Yao cursed silently. He had been no match for Wang Ji in the first place. Last time the two of them encountered, he was lucky enough to disrupt Wang Ji’s teleportation half way through it. That was why he could defeat Wang Ji.

But right now, Wang Ji’s capability seemed to have fully recovered. He had even found so many formidable biochemical beasts somewhere. Li Yao had no chance of winning at all!

The primary color of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit was also black. Therefore, two streaks of blackness were colliding brutally against each other inside the silver ocean.

The match seemed to be even. But the crystal processor of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit was sending out warnings crazily. More and more units were overloading. Several components were bordering on fatigue fracture.

In another three to five minutes, the crystal suit would collapse!

Wang Ji was clearly at ease. His scorn penetrated through the seawater and rubbed the soundwave perception unit of the crystal suit like sharp blades.

“Vulture Li Yao, it was you who sabotaged my endeavor in the Thunderous Sound Mountain, it was you who disrupted my teleportation in Red Lotus City, and it was still you who stole my blood saber. As a Building Foundation Stage Cultivator, you are remarkable. Too remarkable!”

Wang Ji laughed. “It will be a shame to kill such a remarkable Cultivator as yourself easily, won’t it? I will dig out your brain and transplant it into the dirtiest swine. Yours shall be the most wretched soul in the world!

“Then, I will capture all the family and friends you have and torture them to death right in front of your face!

“I have all your files. I know everything about your family and friends, too. The girl running the Nona-colored Fire behind you is Ding Lingdang, your girlfriend, isn’t she?

“She will be a start!

“This is your inevitable destiny when you chose to be my enemy! I will make you a pig crouching beside my feet, screaming, cry—Ahhh!”

Li Yao chewed his lips so hard that they were bleeding. His life fire was burning furiously. His spiritual energy cast flames in the color of blood that were almost real out of his Boiled Blood Wind Slashing Saber. At the cost of a heavy blow in his chest, he separated two talons of the black beast from its claw!

After Wang Ji entered the biochemical beast, their senses had melted into one. The excruciating pain of his fingers being cut off made him scream desperately.

Li Yao roared. His fighting will had never been higher.

Every word that Wang Ji said was a bucket of hot oil that had been poured into his wrathfully burning brain, making his each and every brain cell expand and explode!

“You threaten me with my family and friends? Good!

“I will not allow you to step out of Boneyard even if I have to be blown to pieces!

“This place… will be your grave!”

Wang Ji didn’t expect Li Yao to advance so much within several months. He was so pissed off that he was actually laughing.

“Remarkable, truly remarkable. As expected of the strongest newcomer of Occult Orbs Fellowship, Vulture Li Yao!

“But how much can your own remarkableness do? Look behind you!”

Li Yao didn’t need to turn back to know that the situation there must be bad.

With the enhancement of the powerful biochemical beasts, every silver-blood demon had overwhelming strength against the Cultivators, not to mention that the number was in their favor, too. There were sixteen of them in total.

For Team Blue Bronze, Ba Weiqi and Leng Ziming couldn’t carry out their full strength because of the scourge of the weird green lines. There were in effect only four and a half of them!

Wang Ji kept Li Yao occupied. The remaining fifteen demons were challenging his teammates, which meant every three of them versus one Cultivator. The advantage couldn’t be more obvious.

As the maintainer of the team, the information from the six crystal suits was all transmitted to the crystal processor of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit via the local area Spiritual Nexus.

In the 3D light beam, the six translucent figures that represented the status of the six crystal suits turned from green to yellow, from yellow to red, and from red to black eventually one piece after another.

It meant that more and more units of the crystal suits had been completely wrecked.

The specifications of the crystal suits were all unstable and dropping.

“Three of my main power rune arrays are having problems. One is out of control!”

“The joint on my left leg has been hit. 12% of agility lost!”

“I have run out of my flying swords!”

“Bastards, you think you can annihilate Team Blue Bronze so easily? Enjoy this!”

‘Dummy’ Ba Weiqi and ‘Shell’ Leng Ziming bellowed in the communication channel at the same time.

Their unstoppable posture immediately informed Li Yao of what they were going to do.

A moment later, the crystal processor of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit acknowledged two extremely intense spiritual waves which were bursting out like volcano eruptions.

“Bo!”

The silver ocean was raging. Wind and thunder were thriving.

Ba Weiqi and Leng Ziming, two Building Foundation Stage Cultivators, entered the seed explosion state without bothering with anything else and fully activated the spiritual seeds that the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators had bestowed upon them.

In a moment—

Hundreds of gold stripes spurted out of Leng Ziming’s body. The biochemical beast closest to him was minced into pieces together with the demon inside of it!

Ba Weiqi was holding the enormous helmet of his crystal suit with both of his hands. His mental attack formed real circular waves in the seawater which charged at a biochemical beast in front of him that was the largest of all with a body length of almost twenty meters.

The head of the biochemical beast quickly expanded and exploded!

Out of the chamber jumped a demon. But he struggled on his feet for a long time as if he were drunk. Suddenly, his eyes bulged, and blood flooded out from all the holes on his face. He couldn’t be more dead!

Within a moment, two expert demons had been slain!

It was not the end of it.

The hundreds of gold bullets triggered by Leng Ziming, after blowing a biochemical beast and the demon inside into pieces, spread out in unexpected arcs.

Ba Weiqi’s mental attack also dispersed and rippled out in full coverage of the battlefield.

“This is… seed explosion!”

Chapter 414: Left For Dead!

“Get out of their way! These Cultivators are in the seed explosion state!”

Through the vibration organs on the throat of the biochemical beast, Wang Ji sent out weird soundwaves which were transmitted clearly to every demon’s hearing organ despite the high-density seawater.

The demons were all experienced fighters. Without him saying anything, they had already realized that something was not right. They ran away quickly, shrieking, at almost the exact same time as the two demons were slain just a moment ago.

The gold bullets turned into lasers and hit three demons. Their biochemical beasts exploded in a blood red mist.

The circular mental waves caught up to four demons, too, who screamed miserably with their heads in their hands.

However, seed explosion state faded away quickly like the shining falling star in a night sky.

Ba Weiqi and Leng Ziming activated their spiritual seeds when they were seriously wounded by the corrosion of the weird green lines, and therefore failed to enter the perfect seed explosion state.

They carried out only 30% of the capability of a Nascent Soul State Cultivator for merely one second!

In the meantime, the biochemical beasts maneuvered by the demon race were unimaginably sturdy. Under the strike that was almost 30% the strength of a Nascent Soul State Cultivator, they were only seriously injured and didn’t get killed!

Ba Weiqi and Leng Ziming, on the other hand, couldn’t bear the spiritual energy consumption of the Nascent Soul State because of their over-exhausted vitality. After a moment of brilliance, they both vomited blood and became lethargic.

Li Yao’s heart suddenly turned heavy.

Seed explosion state was a double-edged sword. It could endow a Cultivator with dominating damage for a moment, but the recovery after over-exhaustion could be very long and hard.

Ba Weiqi and Leng Ziming would have barely any combat ability for the time being.

Before they set off for the mission, they had run a lot of simulations. In the seed explosion state, they had killed three to five demons with one attack even if the demons were inside biochemical beasts.

But right now, the invincibility of the real-life biochemical beasts was beyond their expectation. Two exploded seeds in exchange for two kills. It was hardly a good deal!

Wang Ji and the other demons fled hundreds of meters away. Several biochemical beasts unleashed an extremely brutal scent, seemingly so brutal that it pushed the silver seawater away. A lot of bubbles were popping up!

“Demon blood boiling!”

There was a technique among the demons similar to the seed explosion of the Cultivators named demon blood boiling. It was performed by melting the blood of the great demons no lower than demon emperors into the body of the low-level demons with secret arts. Once the foreign blood was triggered, it could improve the strength of the acceptant briefly, too.

Compared with spiritual seed explosion, the levels that demon blood boiling could upgrade were much fewer, but its duration was much longer. In most cases, demon blood boiling could last more than thirty seconds.

Unprecedentedly strong biochemical beasts, with thirty seconds of demon blood boiling, were too much for Team Blue Bronze to deal with at this moment.

“Let’s go!”

“Let’s go!”

Li Yao and Captain Hong Tong exclaimed almost simultaneously in the communication channel.

“Shua!”

Li Yao waved his hands and threw out almost twenty Frigid Prison Grenades which froze the seawater between Team Blue Bronze and the demon squad into a silver wall!

He dragged ‘Shell’ Leng Ziming, Ding Lingdang dragged ‘Dummy’ Ba Weiqi, and Captain Hong Tong altered the gravity nearby constantly. The team ran away to the depths of the silver ocean.

BOOM! CRACK!

The Frigid Prison Grenades didn’t stop the demons for long. Earsplitting noises burst out behind them very soon.

The ice wall had been broken through!

But what followed was a second weird wave that froze the seawater hundreds of square meters around again!

His lips curling, Li Yao sniffed.

He had launched twelve Frigid Prison Grenades in total. Only six of them exploded in the beginning. The triggering condition of the remaining six had been reset and they would only explode when they were heavily shaken.

As a result, when the demon squad blew the first ice wall up, they were immediately sealed by the second wave of Frigid Prison Grenades on the spot!

But even the double freezing didn’t hold back the demon squad for long. A moment later, Wang Ji and the other fourteen demons rushed close and caught up to Team Blue Bronze who had been burdened by the wounded companions.

However…

When attacked by them, the six members of Team Blue Bronze turned into six smoke-like phantoms which gradually twisted and dispersed. What was left were six pieces of shining, round magical equipment in the cores of the phantoms.

“Fakes? We’ve been fooled!”

“They didn’t go up to the surface of the ocean!”

In the meantime, Team Blue Bronze was rushing to the depths of the ocean.

“At our current speed, there’s no way that we can escape from the hunting of the demons if we run to the surface of the ocean. Moreover, this place is apparently a long-prepared trap. Maybe there are even more dangerous set-ups waiting for us on the surface of the ocean!

“Therefore, it’s a better choice to run to the bottom of the ocean!

“The bottom of the ocean is boundless. I don’t believe that the demons have explored every inch of it. Let’s run to the ocean floor before we find a way to ascend and contact the other Star Teams!”

“Hurry up, everyone! Scan the terrain and look for a suitable place to hide!”

“Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!”

The six members of Team Blue Bronze dived to the bottom of the ocean thousands of meters deep. Invisible mystic rays scanned the bed of the ocean nonstop, unveiling undersea mountains and trenches one after another.

The pressure in this place was enormous. Their crystal suits had been ragged in the first place, and now with the heavy pressure, screeching, blood-freezing noises were coming from them, as if they would explode at any second.

“Hiss… This is—” Yan Yangtian cried out in the communication channel.

In front of them was a bottomless trench that looked like an abyss leading to the center of the planet. A huge centripetal force was taking effect and pulling them in.

Even their mystic rays couldn’t reach the bottom of the trench.

Behind them, the demon squad was drawing close. Countless blood red light spots were raging on their light beams.

They had no other choice except to dive into the abyss.

Pulled by the absorption force of the abyss, their speed was even higher. It was as if they had jumped off n cliff.

Creak… Creak…

The seawater pressure was huger and huger.

On Li Yao’s light beam, the translucent phantoms that represented the status of the six crystal suits had almost all turned into deep red now.

In a moment, they would be pressed into a meat sandwich.

“We can’t go down any further! Check the two sides of the trench and see if there’s any crevice that we can hide in!” Captain Hong Tong shouted.

The crags on the two sides of the trench were not intact, but full of cracks through which countless undersea spiritual beasts were crawling in and out while they gazed at the unannounced guests in a daze with their big yet useless eyes.

“This crevice is zigzagged and has a lot of branches. It’s a perfect place to hide in!”

“Huh. Weird, weird. I sensed a vague spiritual wave coming from the depths of the crevice, and positive metal reaction!

“The feedback of the metal is quite strange. It seems not a natural mother lode, but some sort of man-made alloy!” Yan Yangtian exclaimed.

“Then this crevice it is. Let’s go inside!” roared Captain Hong Tong.

At this moment, the demons were less than a kilometer from them!

The crevice on the crags of the trench was more than thirty meters wide and four meters tall. It looked like a long, deep, narrow eye, or a half-open mouth through which one could see the interconnecting fangs.

Li Yao and his teammates entered the crevice one by one and swam forward. A moment later, they noticed that something was wrong. Glancing around, they saw no trace of Captain Hong Tong.

Their captain was still outside the crevice!

“Captain!”

Li Yao, Ding Lingdang, Yan Yangtian, Ba Weiqi and Leng Ziming shouted at the same time.

They knew what their captain was going to do.

Captain Hong Tong didn’t say anything. There was nothing but his heavy breath in the communication channel.

He merely waved his hands toward everyone and gestured them to run forward faster.

Then, he exerted his strength and punched the entrance of the crevice.

For a moment, the earth was shaking, and the rocks were falling. The entrance of the crevice was entirely blocked, and so was the communication between Captain Hong Tong and them.

In the last second before the communication was cut off, everyone heard Captain Hong Tong’s furious roars when he detonated his spiritual seed, as if he was incarnated by a god.

His life was burning to maximum like the eruption of an undersea volcano. Seawater billions of tons was not enough to extinguish it.

No gallant words. The roars were the swan song of ‘Mountain Monster’ Hong Tong, the second captain of Team Blue Bronze.

“Captain…”

The eyes of Li Yao and the rest of the team were red. They bit their lips so hard that blood was streaming out. But they did not waste any time swimming to the depths of the crevice.

The shaking inside the crevice, however, got more and more violent, as if an undersea earthquake was taking place.

Cracks were appearing on the crags around them. Bizarre stones with sharp edges were falling down nonstop, brushing past them narrowly.

“It’s been more than half a minute. Captain’s seed explosion state should’ve ended long ago. There is no way that he can persist so long. Maybe… he has perished already!”

“But why is the shaking continuing and getting more intense?”

“Not good!”

“The demons are savaging the rock stratum in the outside. They are trying to collapse the rock stratum and bury us inside alive!”

Li Yao’s blood was almost frozen when he realized what the demons were doing.

If it were hundreds of meters below the ground, being buried alive was not a big deal. They could dig their way up in their crystal suits easily.

But they were now ten thousand meters below the ground and thousands of meters below an ocean. The pressure they were faced with was tremendous!

If a Cultivator at the Refinement Stage were to appear in this place without a crystal suit, he would’ve been crushed into a piece of paper immediately.

Their crystal suits were all seriously damaged and nearing their limits. If they were buried here alive, the odds that they would survive were less than 1%!

Huala! Huala!

More and more stones were falling down over their heads. They seemed to be in the middle of a storm.

The space inside the crevice was too limited for any dodging movements. However hard they tried to avoid the rocks, some of the big ones still hit them precisely.

Their spiritual shields were functioning crazily, mincing the giant rocks into pieces.

But the hardness of their spiritual shields was dropping rapidly, too.

“Hurry up and look for the positive metal reaction that Yan Zi talked about!”

“It’s our only chance!”

The crystal processor automatically scanned the surroundings and generated a map, guiding them the way. Li Yao and Ding Lingdang was in the lead blowing the rocks in their way into smithereens, while Yan Yangtian was gritting her teeth dragging the two wounded teammates.

Behind them, the undercurrent was raging, and the crevice was collapsing. The sea sand and tiny stones were chasing them closely like a ferocious animal.

Half a minute later, they finally arrived at the source of the metal reaction.

But in front of them, there was nothing but an undersea rock stratum that was as smooth as a mirror.

It was a dead end!

Chapter 415: Soaring Killing Intent!

“I sensed very strong spiritual waves and intense metal reactions. Something has got to be hiding inside the rock stratum!” Yan Yangtian shouted in the communication channel.

Li Yao also felt a very familiar wave behind the rock stratum which was as smooth as a mirror.

It was itself a very odd phenomenon that such a flawless rock stratum should appear in a canyon in the deep ocean.

“Hurry and blow up this rock stratum! We cannot give up hope, no matter how slim it is!”

Gritting his teeth, Li Yao summoned Floating Vulcan Machine Guns and crystal cannons. Almost ten lines of burning bullets rained upon the rock stratum.

Deep purple flames surged out of Ding Lingdang’s body, which pushed away seawater and hit the rock stratum.

Yan Yangtian, Ba Weiqi and Leng Ziming all exerted whatever was left of their spiritual energy and bombarded the rock stratum.

CRACK! CRACK!

The rock stratum was not thick. Very soon, cracks resembling spider nets were appearing on it, making it look like a dam that was going to collapse.

However, the rocks falling off above everyone’s heads were more numerous and larger, too.

One of the rocks would’ve hit Yan Yangtian precisely if Ding Lingdang hadn’t pulled her away in time.

“Our attack has accelerated the collapse of the crevice. According to my calculation, this undersea crevice is going to collapse and bury us completely within one minute!

“We have no other choice except to increase our firepower and dig out the metal object hiding inside the rock stratum!”

With rocks falling on their heads from above and more than ten demons lurking outside, Team Blue Bronze barraged with all their might. Ten seconds later, the thin rock stratum finally exploded. A lackluster silver brightness glittered in the darkness.

“This is—”

In front of everyone was a remnant of a crystal warship which was riddled with holes but not plagued by rust. Silver brightness was flowing all over its body.

The crystal warship was not very large. It was less than two hundred meters and streamlined. One could describe its style as ‘unrestrained’. It gave the feeling that it came from an ancient painting drawn with ink in freestyle.

On the ragged shell of the warship was engraved with a Red Dragon Swallowing the Sun emblem, indicating that this was a crystal warship from the Star Ocean Imperium.

Maybe it had been left by the previous expedition team who explored Boneyard thousands of years ago.

Everyone was overjoyed with hope at first, but later, their hope turned into endless desperation while their hearts became heavier than ever.

They had found a crystal warship. But how could they enter it?

A crystal warship from the Star Ocean Imperium wouldn’t be opened easily. Half a minute later, they would be buried forever, ten thousand meters below the surface of Boneyard together with the warship!

The only exception was Li Yao. His eyes were bulging, and his mouth was stretched wide, because he found it hard to acknowledge what was happening.

No wonder he had felt a familiar wave just now.

The crystal warship in front of his eyes, despite the crap-like appearance, was exactly the same as his Neltharion.

Neltharion was a piece of training magical equipment from the Star Ocean Imperium which he had retrieved together with his Cosmos Ring.

He had speculated that the item was meant to train warship pilots.

Over the past year, he had been training with Neltharion all the time and learnt the basic driving skills. He was not familiar with every detail of the warship yet, but he could fly it without much trouble.

As for the operation pattern, internal structure, weapon system… He had learnt a thing or two about them, too.

If the training magical equipment that was Neltharion corresponded to the very crystal warship in front of his eyes, it meant…

“Don’t give up yet! There’s still hope!

“Lingdang, help me block the rocks. Give me… thirty seconds!”

Li Yao turned into a streak of blackness and dashed at the crystal warship. He twisted and dodged countless raging rocks like a loach. Stomping on a giant stone, he accelerated again and landed on the shell of the crystal warship.

Behind him, Ding Lingdang grunted. Thousands of shackles seemed to be broken at the same time, as she entered the seed explosion state!

“BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!”

One, two, three… Seven dragons of flame in different colors roared and rushed out of her body. They circled her and chased each other. All the falling rocks coming close were blown to pieces immediately!

Li Yao’s speed was extremely high, but his mind was more tranquil than ever. His eyes turned into the most precise crystal cameras. Stable, effective, and utterly devoid of feelings.

He had dashed to the back of the remnant crystal warship.

He was well aware of Neltharion’s complicated structure. There were four doors for the crew and six projection platforms for crystal suits, but they were all heavily protected without the slightest gap. It would be impossible to open them without the pertinent spiritual passwords.

Besides, these entrances were all controlled by rune arrays. It was doubtful that the rune arrays were still functional after thousands of years of deterioration.

However, on the left side of the end of the warship, there was an entrance for maintenance staff that could be opened from the outside, so that it would be easier for the staff to get their job done.

The most exciting point about the entrance was that it was controlled by complicated mechanical structure. Since the crystal warship had been forged by more than five thousand kinds of different alloys, and the silver seawater seemed not very corrosive, it could still be working!

Soon, Li Yao found the maintenance entrance.

Beside the round control panel, there were seven holes in different shapes. The panel could only be opened by inserting seven different tools together at the same time.

A silver metal ball appeared in Li Yao’s right hand, which flowed slowly like glue, crawled into the seven holes and coagulated at his telepathic thought.

“CRACK!”

The control panel was opened, revealing a sophisticated, spider-net like mechanical structure.

Li Yao’s brain was functioning fast. The silver metal ball inside his palm turned into four different tools, while he handled the delicate mechanical structure quickly.

Just like a pianist who was fully focused on the instrument in front of him, Li Yao dwelled in his world, forgetting that he was in a cave that was about to collapse.

In the communication channel, Ding Lingdang’s breathing was becoming heavier and heavier. Yet, she didn’t urge him at all, because she totally believed in Li Yao, and if Li Yao said he needed thirty seconds, he would definitely give everyone a miracle thirty seconds later!

24 seconds… 25 seconds…

“BOOM!”

The flame dragons surrounding Ding Lingdang had almost lost all color. But they were as stubborn as their master; they roared out and smashed incoming rocks time and time again.

However, the overwhelming storm of rocks was beyond the capability of any human being. Her actions were slower and slower. Countless smaller rocks escaped the hunting and hit her body heavily.

28 seconds… 29 seconds…

“CRACK!”

Beside Li Yao, the seemingly intact shell suddenly glided open. A cabin door that could allow one person to come through at a time appeared and opened!

Inside the cabin door, there was an ivory brightness that stopped the seawater from flooding in!

“I made it! Come in now!”

Li Yao roared, but he didn’t crawl into the cabin immediately. Instead, he stomped on the shell of the boat and rushed backwards to Ding Lingdang like a shooting arrow.

Ding Lingdang stayed in the seed explosion state for more than ten seconds. Her soul and spiritual energy were almost drained. She was merely carrying on with the last bit of perseverance inside her body.

Li Yao’s arrival eased her. She collapsed in Li Yao’s arms in great relief.

“Thirty seconds. Nailed it!”

Ding Lingdang wanted to laugh, but what came through the communication channel were chesty coughs. Li Yao could feel that her body was shaking even with the block of the thick crystal suits.

“Of course. You are a human-shaped tyrannosaur. What can those pebbles do to you?”

Li Yao smiled drily. He dragged Ding Lingdang toward the crystal warship. One rock after another bashed his back, but he bit his lips and didn’t utter any sound.

The five of them entered into the maintenance channel, half rolling and half crawling. When Li Yao was shutting the cabin door, a giant rock weighing almost a hundred tons knocked the shell of the warship, raising such a loud yet dull noise that their eardrums were almost torn apart.

“BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!”

The world seemed to be swirling. The undersea crevice finally collapsed.

Team Blue Bronze had been locked into an iron coffin ten thousand meters underground.

…

Out of the crevice, in the bottomless trench, fourteen demons were cruising inside the pervading sea sand. But they couldn’t sense the existence of any Cultivators.

“Smashed by billions of tons of rocks, the five Building Foundation Stage Cultivators are dead for sure!” One of the demons grinned hideously.

Yet, Wang Ji’s face was gloomy. The voice that he gnashed through his teeth spread out clearly,

“Vulture Li Yao, such a way of death is too much of a bargain for you.

“My hatred won’t be gone until I skin you, burn you, crush your bones and throw away your ashes!

“Alright. Let me get down to my business for now. I will look for you dead body later after I dig out the secret treasures left by Skeleton Dragon!”

Wang Ji waved his bone tail. The fourteen demons turned around at the same time toward the undersea town relics that belonged to Skeleton Dragon’s tribe.

…

In the darkness, Ding Lingdang, Ba Weiqi, and Leng Ziming were over-exhausted after entering the seed explosion state. They were moaning in excruciating agony.

Li Yao took out three Flowing Brightness Grasses and three Heart Locking Flowers from his Cosmos Ring.

“Yan Zi, the three of them have run out of strength. Separate the Flowing Brightness Crystals from the roots of the Flowing Brightness Grasses, crumble them into powder, mix the No. 14 strengthening drug and the No. 21 recovery drug with a ratio of three to one, and then pour the power into the mixed drug with half a minute of stirring.

“Half will be taken orally, and half will be injected into their veins.

“As for the Heart Locking Flowers, squeeze out its sap and mix it with the No. 6 strengthening drug. Smear some of it on their temples and below their nose. The remaining part should be taken orally, too.

“The Flowing Brightness Crystal can help them recover their spiritual energy. The Heart Locking Flowers will prevent them from becoming deranged. You know the rest of the treating procedures.

“Don’t take off your crystal suits right now. The air here is terrible and unsuitable for the wounded.”

While he was talking, Li Yao crawled deeper into the maintenance duct.

“Wait, where are you going?”

The question was posed by Ding Lingdang and Yan Yangtian at the same time.

Li Yao’s heart suddenly shrank. Ding Lingdang’s voice was extremely frail due to her bad body conditions. The scared little girl in the city besieged by demon beasts seemed to be back.

He crawled back and groped for Ding Lingdang’s hand. He held it tight and said, “Believe in me!

“I will be back soon.

“I’m going to find a way of survival for us, and a way to hell for the scumbags of the demon race.”

While he was talking, he turned around again and crawled into the darkness, never to look back.

Li Yao put away all irrelevant thoughts. Translucent, complicated structure designs popped up inside his brain, which had all been learnt from his Neltharion.

He was going to the cockpit and control center of the warship.

Although he didn’t know whether the crystal warship which had hibernated in the depths of Boneyard for thousands of years was functional or not, the fact that the seawater-resistance rune arrays on the cabin door were still working gave him a sliver of hope.

Even the chance was only 1%, he would not give up; he would make it happen with 10000% of his effort!

“Wang Ji…”

Li Yao’s eyes were cold, his killing intent soaring!

Chapter 416: Spectral Cultivator from 7,000 Years Ago!

At the end of the maintenance duct, Li Yao opened a cover below his body and jumped down.

The cabin was entirely dark, without the vaguest ray of light. But inside his brain, countless structure designs overlapped and constituted a complicated 3D map.

Li Yao’s eyes were gleaming. He saw everything around him clearly as if his eyes were penetrative.

“If this crystal warship is indeed the training target of Neltharion, their internal structures shouldn’t be very different. Maybe it has undergone modification, but key facilities such as the cockpit must still be in their original place.

“My current location… should be the engine compartment!”

Li Yao’s spiritual waves rippled out in the air and touched every inch of the cabin wall. As he expected, he found a lot of magical equipment that could only be found in the engine compartment.

Like a silent cannonball, Li Yao rushed at his full speed in the darkness.

The cabin door which was driven by spiritual energy had been locked, but there was a mechanical device nearby for emergency. After ten seconds of trying, the cabin door squeaked and partly opened slowly.

“Shua!”

Three glimmering green lights suddenly jumped out in front of him. There seemed to be three invisible rays that pierced through his brain and his body and scanned everything inside.

Li Yao suddenly felt extremely terrified. Countless pieces of attack magical equipment seemed ready to fire upon him in the darkness.

The glimmering green lights blinked for a moment. Then a green glow as mild as water appeared on the walls, outlining a narrow and long path and showing him the way.

Li Yao was overjoyed and thought to himself, ‘This must be the screening magical equipment of the crystal warship. It is now automatically opened to me after making sure that I’m a human being!

‘It seems that the crystal warship is not entirely broken yet despite the shabby appearance. Many key components are still functional.

‘Besides, the previous master of the crystal warship must’ve hoped that a human being could find the crystal warship someday. That’s why he set the defense rune arrays to be fully friendly upon the detection of a human being before he left or passed away.

‘If a demon snuck inside, it would’ve been killed already!’

Li Yao moved forward without any hesitation. Through the med bay, crew living area, cafeteria, arsenal, crystal chamber, and two training rooms, he finally arrived at the cockpit, the control center of the warship!

He didn’t find any corpses on his way. There was not much debris or scraps, either. Somebody seemed to have cleaned everything up.

Chi!

The Red Dragon Swallowing the Sun emblem carved on the cabin door stretched out like a blossoming flower. The cabin door glided open quietly, unleashing an intense smell of metal that could only belong to the large-scale crystal processors.

Li Yao swallowed and tiptoed in lightly while holding his breath.

The surroundings of the cockpit were almost identical to the simulation of Neltharion when his telepathic thoughts crowded into it. The operation dashboard was right in front of him.

Suddenly, a “beep” sound came from the corner of the darkness. A strong wind was blowing at him!

Li Yao felt a shiver run down his spine. He retreated immediately and crouched, his right hand grabbing the handle of his Boiled Blood Wind Slashing Saber while activating the Flash Vibration Claw on his left hand at the same time.

In the darkness, two clusters of dim, dying redness were blinking nonstop. A hoarse and sluggish voice was uttered. It took almost ten seconds for a single word to be spoken. The same dull syllables were repeated.

“Trap… Trap… Trap… Trap… Trap…”

Li Yao finally made clear that it was a hunched metal puppet in front of him that looked like a deformed skeleton because of the huge loss of components. Many units had been exposed to the air and seriously rusted.

It had only one arm. Its legs were intact, but one of them was longer and the other shorter. It stumbled close while its only arm was trembling,

“Trap… Trap… Trap… Trap… Trap…”

Its crystal processor seemed to have been wrecked, with 99.9% of its computational ability lost. The word was the only thing that it could articulate.

While it was talking, it moved its sole remaining arm and dug into its own chest, as if it was trying to take something out of its chest.

Li Yao observed for a while and then exclaimed in bewilderment after a shiver.

He realized something unbelievable—that the object in front of him was not a metal puppet but a spectral Cultivator!

Although both of them relied on mechanical structures as their bodies, metal puppets were non-living creatures driven by crystal processors, while spectral Cultivators were Cultivators in a different life form. The latter were alive, and the former were not!

Their structures, as well as the metal materials that made up their bodies, was not exactly the same.

Li Yao could even sense a fading yet still flickering soul inside the incomplete metal skull, just like a candle which was burning up in the middle of a heavy storm.

“How could it be!

“The era of Star Ocean Imperium was more than seven thousand years ago.

“Even this crystal warship belonged to the last batch of imperial fleets after the Armageddon Rebellion, it was still six thousand years ago.

“No spectral Cultivator could live such a long time. What kind of formidable being was this Cultivator?”

CRACK! CRACK!

However formidable the spectral Cultivator had been when he was alive, his thinking ability had deteriorated after thousands of years. He was merely pulling the metal cover on his chest.

“Something seems to be buried inside his chest, and he is planning to give it to me!”

Taking a deep breath, Li Yao tried to extend his hand.

The spectral Cultivator didn’t object; he pushed out his chest.

Li Yao found a gap on his chest and pressed it. A green line suddenly appeared and spread out into a square hollow, lifting up a jade chip inside the chest.

“Hu…”

An exhausted and yet fulfilled moan sounded in the metal throat of the spectral Cultivator. Just like a soldier who had accomplished his mission, he fell to the ground with the heavy burden on his shoulders relieved. The red glow from his eyes gradually dimmed and was entirely gone three seconds later.

The spectral Cultivator had perished.

Li Yao was stunned.

“The fire of life of the spectral Cultivator has no reason to burn for thousands of years. He should’ve died a long time ago, but he simply persisted with some sort of secret art to wait for the arrival of a human being and pass the jade chip on!”

An eternal life might not be a bliss.

Living for thousands of years inside a metal body in a lightless crystal warship buried by billions of tons of rocks ten thousand meters below the ground?

Li Yao was frightened just thinking of the idea.

Life was totally more miserable than death in such an environment!

“The senior spectral Cultivator endured the sufferings in the darkness for thousands of years in order to pass the jade chip on to a human being.

“What kind of things are recorded inside?

“He had lost all his memories. Even his self-awareness was gone. But he kept repeating ‘trap’. What exactly is this trap and who is it targeting?”

Although he didn’t know what had happened to the deceased spectral Cultivator, the guy’s doings gave him a very strong sentimental feeling.

He laid the metal body of the spectral Cultivator in a corner, posed it properly, and paid his respect, before he finally got down to the jade chip.

Jade chips were universally applicable in the military of the Star Ocean Imperium. They were also one of the most solid artifacts. Therefore, many of them had been found in the Heaven’s Origin Sector.

The jade chip scrap that Yuan Manqiu found, which contained the files about the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, was of the same type as the one in Li Yao’s hand.

Therefore, although the interface of the jade chip was different from the standard interface of the Star Glory Federation’s jade chips, Li Yao managed to build up a small commutator with the materials inside his Cosmos Ring.

He inserted the jade chip to the commutator, and then connected the commutator to a port on the back of his helmet. The crystal processor immediately hummed and started working, but it was not until five minutes later that the scanning was completed.

Li Yao was quite surprised. The crystal processor of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit had been modified multiple times by him with the most advanced components. It was even installed with a cooling system retrieved from an Occult Orb. Although it was only the size of a fist, its computational ability was as good as many large-scale crystal processors.

But it had taken the crystal processor five minutes to scan the jade chip. The information stored inside the jade chip must be tremendous!

Finally, the scanning was over!

But his crystal processor reminded him that most of the files recorded in the jade chip had been saved in a very mysterious structure and were unavailable at this moment, and that only a small proportion of data and images could be read.

What appeared first on his light beam was a giant Red Dragon Swallowing the Sun emblem. It gradually faded away, replaced slowly by the information of the owner of the jade chip.

Li Yao finally knew that the owner of the jade chip was named Gao Xingce, who had been a Core Formation Stage Cultivator as well as the chief gunner of the crystal warship.

Also, the name of the crystal warship was ‘Sparkle’!

What followed was Gao Xingce’s personal combat and training journal.

Information streams flooded into Li Yao’s brain one wave after another, telling a tear-triggering story of valiance and sacrifice that happened thousands of years ago, ten thousand meters below the surface of Boneyard.

“July 23, year 899 in the Star Ocean Calendar.

“We just finished clearing Phantom Moon Constellation. There are no organized demon troops in this area anymore. Only demon bandits are still running away.

“I’m told that we have secured many victories in the frontline, too. Three major fleets of the demon race had been annihilated. Our expedition army is marching toward ‘Demons’ Realm’, the last base of the demon race. The Demon Beast Empire will be demolished in no time!”

Li Yao suddenly thought of something.

Year 899 in the Star Ocean Calendar was already toward the end of the Star Ocean Imperium. Later when ‘Hundred-Million Lightyear Expedition’ was about to succeed, the notorious event of ‘Armageddon Rebellion’ took place. The Blood God, supreme commander of the expedition army was corrupted by the extraterrestrial devils and turned into ‘Mad Armageddon’, a demonic Cultivator. The second war of the Cultivation world began soon after, which eventually led to the collapse of the Star Ocean Imperium.

No wonder the crystal warship had been buried in this place without being found by anyone.

It was most likely that, when the universe was caught in a chaotic civil war, the military of the Star Ocean Imperium had been too occupied to look for it.

“July 29, year 899 in the Star Ocean Calendar.

“Today, our captain has brought us a piece of good news. We’re going to carry out a new mission and explore a planet named Boneyard. It is said that the demon race has been secretly active on the planet.

“Our target is to find out the truth and destroy the demons!

“Clearing Phantom Moon Constellation was too boring a task. I feel that my bones are getting rusty. It is said that the new mission will be extremely dangerous. How marvelous!”

Chapter 417: This Is a Trap!

“Aug. 12, year 899 of the Star Ocean Calendar.

“Since this mission dictates that we enter into the depths of Boneyard, Sparkle has to receive tremendous modification in the maintenance base orbiting the planet of Hazy God. Stealth modules for underground engagement and strengthened shell against high temperature and high pressure are going to be added.

“But the most irritating part is that the Sky Dragon, the main gun of Sparkle, is going to be transformed into a super-large optical rock mincer, or a big drill made of mystic rays, if you will.

“Sparkle will dig into the underground with the drill of mystic rays that has been transformed from the main gun.

“Sparkle is the most advanced multipurpose assault warship and entails the possibility of endless modifications. Many warships of the same model have been modified into a mess before. I used to laugh at the comrades on those warships. Never did I expect that I would be a joke myself someday.

“Before, I was an awesome chief main gunner. With a full-strength strike from the Sky Dragon, I can blow a demon emperor into pieces if I’m lucky.

“But today, I have to learn how to maneuver a drill to make the warship wriggle in the underground like an earthworm. I would’ve rooted for staying in the Phantom Star Constellation if I had seen this coming.

“Aug. 15, year 899 in the Star Ocean Calendar.

“This mission is very urgent. We just finished the modifications and didn’t even run a full test yet. But now we have performed a space jump and reached the gravity sphere of Boneyard.

“The great expedition has claimed the best refiners of the imperium. Those left behind are all rookies, who have modified Sparkle into a pile of garbage. The few underground stealth modules that they added are in serious conflict with the space jump system.

“Many crew members are suffering from the sequela of space jump. They are troubled by nausea and diarrhea. More serious patients are even mentally deranged.

“Thankfully, such a sequela is a common disease in a battlefield, and there are standard procedures to treat it. After staying in orbit for half a day, our combat ability has all been restored.

“According to our intelligence, the planet in front of us could be one of the residences of Skeleton Dragon, the top demon in the early years of the Great Dark Age thirty thousand years ago.

“It appears that, since the demon remnants have run into a dead end, they are of a mind to dig out treasures from their ancestor.

“But how can we allow them to do what they want?

“Aug. 16, year 899 in the Star Ocean Calendar.

“We encountered an unprecedented tsunami on Boneyard. A previously unseen terrifying spiritual beast almost a thousand meters long is living inside the ocean. It seems to be a hybrid of a crustacean and a mollusk. Even their huge tentacles are covered by thick armor.

“Our main gun has been transformed into a drill with zero firepower now. The attacks of the secondary cannons were merely scratching the beast.

“The tide out there was too furious. We only had limited members on board. The captain didn’t want to release the crystal suits to fight the beast face to face. The big operation later might be jeopardized if several Exos were injured or killed.

“In the end, I figured out a way. The captain steered Sparkle toward the bastard, while I activated the drill of mystic rays the moment of the collision, which dug a giant hole more than fifty meters in diameter on the body of the bastard. Then we fired the secondary guns upon its internal organs. It was put down very quickly.

“Ha. The Sky Dragon is just as dominating as before even if it is now just a drill. Nice!

“We cut off samples of the body tissues of the giant sea beast for analysis. Its cell structure and the flowing route of the demonic energy are quite different from those of the demons nowadays, but similar to those of the ancient demons thirty thousand years ago.

“According to our analysis, it should be an instance of a demon species that Skeleton Dragon brought back to the planet thirty thousand years ago. When Skeleton Dragon perished, its wisdom declined, and it became a spiritual beast with nothing but survival instincts.

“If so, the likelihood that the residence of Skeleton Dragon exists on this planet has greatly increased.

“Aug. 17, year 899 in the Star Ocean Calendar.

“We have found a tremendous relic, in which a gargantuan corpse of a demon beast was bound to countless high pillars that almost reached the sky. It should be an ancient barrier. Perhaps it was the place where Skeleton Dragon’s tribe tortured their enemy and traitors.

“Not far away from the relic, there is a great canyon leading to ten thousand meters below the ground. In order to save the spiritual energy, we flew Sparkle to the bottom of the canyon. Then we built a temporary platform on the crags and started digging down in a slope from there.

“The surface of Boneyard is sterile. But the underground world is unimaginably fertile. The spiritual lodes of the planet are mostly in the form of liquid. They formed undercurrents and even oceans in the underground, where countless exotic beasts and Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures are flourishing.

“In the afternoon, we were engaged with a demon squad and we captured a fugitive after a brief battle.

“After hundreds of years of war, the demons nowadays are far less proud and ruthless than their compatriots living in the peak of the Demon Beast Empire. We elicited a lot of intelligence from their mouth without too much trouble.

“Our analysis is correct. They were the lucky dogs who got away from the battle in the Phantom Moon Constellation. Discovering the residence inside Boneyard by accident, and because all the constellations nearby are stationed with nowhere to run to, they made up their minds to take a chance in this place.

“Aug. 18, year 899 in the Star Ocean Calendar.

“The demon remnants have almost lost all their fighting will. We crushed them very easily. Their last demonic warship was wrecked and sank down, too.

“We also discovered an extremely spacious underground world, and an undersea ocean that boasts limitless spiritual energy!

“The vastness of the underground world is beyond the limits of any tectonic structure. It should’ve been supported by some sort of ancient secret art.

“The world of Cultivation is indeed intriguing. So many secret arts and technologies from the ancient times are waiting to be excavated by us.

“I kind of like the feeling of driving a huge drill forward in the underground now.

“The den of Skeleton Dragon is in the center of the underground ocean. A vintage town is lying there. The giant cone-shaped building in the middle must be Skeleton Dragon’s residence.

“We are voyaging toward it and ready to conduct the most thorough research.

“Aug. 19, year 899 in the Star Ocean Calendar.

“We are totally wrong! This is a trap! A lethal trap!

“Aug. 23, year 899 in the Star Ocean Calendar.

“We are doomed.

“The total damage of Sparkle has increased to 83%. Most of the key components have been worn-out in the fierce battles. Right now, it is no better than an empty shell.

“95% of the mainframe crystal processor has been damaged, 91% for the space jump system, and 93% for the interstellar communication system. 22 of the 24 main power rune arrays have exploded. We are now stranded on a seabed, utterly trapped in the depths of Boneyard.

“We can’t even send a signal to the nearest base, let alone shattering the void to perform a space jump.

“Seven crew members have died. The survivors are all seriously wounded, including me. There’s no way that we can escape by ourselves without the crystal warship.

“The captain, the chief mate, and the stargazer, three Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, have all perished.

“Even if we manage to repair the steering system miraculously, no one will be able to fly it without three to six months of training in the ‘Tiny Spiritual Ship’.

“The crystal processor is almost destroyed. We’ve lost the stargazer, too. There’s no way that we can locate the star beacons precisely.

“If we repair the space jump system and carry out a space jump aimlessly, God knows where we will be teleported to.

“However, without the sacrifices of the three Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, I’m afraid we would’ve been killed long ago, or come to an even more miserable ending.

“Of the survivors, I’m the highest in Cultivation and military rank. According to the rules of the imperial armed forces, I am the acting captain now.

“Thankfully, we made a deal with our base previously that we would communicate with each other every five days. If the base fails to receive our signal twice, new crystal warships will be deployed to search for us.

“The deal somehow makes me less nervous. I sent more men to repair Sparkle and reflected on our adventure.

“There’s no doubt now that the so-called residence inside Boneyard is an out-and-out scam. This is not a residence of Skeleton Dragon, but… his tomb!

“No. This is the place of his resurrection, a home in which he has been sleeping for tens of thousands of years waiting to be woken up.

“Based on the intelligence we gathered and everything we’ve been through, the following is the whole story that I have inferred.

“Thirty thousand years ago, in the last years of the Great Dark Age, more than ten top elites of the demon race had fought against each other in order to unite and reign the sea of stars alone. Skeleton Dragon’s tribe was among the losers. Skeleton Dragon himself must’ve been seriously injured and bordering on death.

“He did not wish to die just like that. Therefore, he placed himself into the mors putativa state with his secret art and treated himself with the abundant spiritual energy contained in the underground ocean slowly for tens of thousands of years.

“But it was a long time ago after all. A lot of files are missing, and we are not sure about the details of Skeleton Dragon.

“Maybe he can only be resurrected to revisit the sea of stars by possessing some intelligent creatures.

“Soul possession was a very popular technique in the ancient Cultivation world. Since Skeleton Demon was one of the top experts in that era, he must’ve been very familiar with the evil art.

“Anyways, he has been locked underground and is unable to break free with his own strength. So, he could only resort to foreign forces to crash the barrier.

“The demon remnants, and we the fools, have all been lured to this place on purpose!

“Although the demon remnants were cleaned up in time, we have fractured the barrier in our idiocy and freed Skeleton Dragon!”

Chapter 418: Underground Stories!

“If the fearsome demon thirty thousand years ago returns to his peak state, it may eventually lead to dire consequences. Right now, more than seventy percent of the imperial armed forces are engaged in the Hundred-Million Lightyears Expedition. The troops left behind are all mediocre reserves.

“If Skeleton Dragon were to roam for a year and half in the dozens of constellations within the imperium, how much chaos and casualty will be caused? We don’t even dare to think about it!

“Thankfully, the captain discovered the strange phenomenon inside the residence in time and launched deadly attacks with his all might half way through Skeleton Dragon’s escape.

“The demon has been hibernating for thirty thousand years after all. His capability might be only 1% of what it was supposed to be. He was beaten up with serious wounds and bound by the barriers again.

“This time, it will take at least another ten thousand years before he could stir trouble again.

“But he won’t have a second chance. The time when the rescue team comes is the time of his doom!

“Aug. 26, year 899 in the Star Ocean Calendar.

“We are now caught in the worst situation!

“The fierce battle between Sparkle and Skeleton Dragon might have disturbed the spiritual energy balance underground. An appalling undersea volcano eruption took place in the depths of the silver ocean.

“The rock stratum in the bottom of the ocean was torn apart. A super trench tens of thousands of meters deep that seems to be leading to the center of the planet has been created!

“Our Sparkle was stranded right beside the trench and was under the influence of the great undersea volcano eruption!

“Magma, swirls, earthquake, undercurrents… They are coming at us like thousands of ferocious animals!

“Magma thousands of degrees high mixed with all kinds of corrosive impurities surrounded Sparkle. Crazy spiritual waves and radiation pierced through the shell of the warship and went on a rampage inside the cabins and pathways!

“Most of the survivors were killed instantly. Only those who were above the high level of the Building Foundation Stage narrowly escaped death. But our capability hit rock bottom, too!

“My spiritual root and veins have been seriously wounded. The best I can do right now is to summon spiritual energy that befits the Cultivators in the beginning level of the Building Foundation Stage.

“But my conditions are the best of all the remaining five survivors.

“Sparkle has been seriously damaged in the undersea volcanic eruption, and we’ve lost almost all supplies and maintenance materials. It is buried in the deeper undersea rock stratums by the movement of magma and rocks right now.

“The silver lining is that we didn’t fall into the trench directly. Otherwise, we would’ve been crushed long ago.

“The five of us are all seriously wounded, with no food or medication. I don’t know how long we can persist.

“But we can’t waste a single second, and we won’t give up hope when it is still out there!

“In the imperial armed forces, Sparkle is a multipurpose quick exploration warship. Its designing purpose is to allow a tactical squad to explore an unfamiliar constellation. Therefore, although its firepower is not very impressive, its survival limits and self-recovery abilities are even better than those of many main force starships.

“In the shell of Sparkle are countless pieces of mustard-level maintainers that are only a thousandth the size of a grain. With enough spiritual energy, they can absorb the materials nearby and transform them into useful ingredients for maintenance automatically.

“Other than them, two automatic maintenance puppets are still functional.

“However, our spiritual energy has run dry. Blocked by the rock stratums, it is hard to absorb the necessary spiritual energy from the silver ocean. According to the current speed of repair, it will take at least a thousand years before Sparkle returns to the minimum usable state.

“We don’t have too much time to bother about any of that. Setting Sparkle into automatic maintenance mode, we wait for the arrival of the rescue team patiently.

“Sep. 26, year 899 in the Star Ocean Calendar.

“Odd. It is just too odd! We’ve been trapped in the undersea rock stratums for a month, but there is no sign of the rescue teams at all. This is absolutely impossible!

“Unless the military bases in the few constellations around have been demolished at the same time, how could they forget their comrades on Boneyard?

“Is there something terrible happening outside?

“The thought is haunting every survivor like a wraith inside the bleak cabin.

“Over the past month, our physical injuries have been getting better, but due to the lack of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures and source of spiritual energy, our Cultivation levels have failed to recover, if not dropping constantly.

“With our current capability, it is impossible for us to escape.

“During the last month, we have modified the only piece of probe magical equipment on Sparkle that is not too damaged into a large pinger. It can send out special spiritual waves to the outside world penetrating through the rock stratums. I hope someone outside can pick up the signal soon.

“Nov. 15, year 899 in the Star Ocean Calendar.

“I’m already dead.

“The undersea volcano erupted again. Maybe it was just an aftershock of the previous earthquake, but Sparkle was too ragged to resist the rampant spiritual waves at all.

“Although the shell was intact, the spiritual waves swept over like a storm. Not only did they completely wreck the mainframe crystal processor, all the remaining survivors were murdered, too.

“Of course, we were likely to die very soon even without the volcano eruption.

“We’d used up all the food one day earlier.

“As Cultivators, we can wield the strength hundreds of times larger than that of ordinary people, but we have to absorb hundreds of times more food and energy too.

“Without sufficient spiritual energy and food, we will retrograde into ordinary beings quickly, or even worse.

“After all, our brains, body tissues, and cells are used to running rapidly due to abundant spiritual energy. If the brakes are slammed down abruptly, it is very likely that they will collapse all of a sudden.

“Compared with starvation, being killed by a volcano eruption is clean and comfortable. I only hope that the volcano eruption can be even more furious and perhaps destroy Skeleton Dragon’s undersea residence once and for all.

“But surprisingly, my fire of life didn’t die out, even though every cell inside my body stopped functioning, and it turned into a weird, different form.

“I became a spectral Cultivator.

“It is not unusual that Cultivators turn into spectral Cultivators in a battlefield that is often packed with victims. There are ten puppets on Sparkle for spectral Cultivators in case some crew members die and turn into one.

“Luckily, although nine of the puppets were broken, the tenth one was still usable. Controlling my fire of life for a leap of faith, I was back to life again.

“I pondered the situation I was in, sitting in the darkness.

“It was unquestionable that some unexpected changes which involved a large number of troops had taken place in the outside world. That was why the military didn’t send any starships over.

“Ghost is an extremely unstable form of life. Besides, the puppet body that I resided myself in had been damaged in the first place. Therefore, I can only complete the most basic movements, like walking, sitting, or lying. But there is no way that I can get out of Sparkle with this wretched body.

“What I can do is to collect the spiritual energy leaking through the gaps between the rocks and try to recover Sparkle with it. Also, I keep sending warnings to the outside world for the possible new explorers that have come to the underground ocean.

“I really hope that the mess outside can be cleaned up and somebody is sent to pick me up soon.

“Dec. 30, year 999 in the Star Ocean Calendar.

“A hundred years have passed.

“It is quite odd that, when I was trapped in an iron coffin ten thousand meters below the ground faced with a future of darkness, every second was as miserable as hell. I was almost mentally deranged several times and nearly killed myself.

“But when I reminisce about my past, I feel that time is flying and the past hundred years have gone in the blink of an eye.

“Since my only source of spiritual energy is the seawater from the silver ocean that leaks inside through the gaps between the rocks, and most of the little spiritual energy has to be used to supply the mustard-level maintainers, the leftovers for me are far from enough to drive the puppet body to do any activity too intense.

“Therefore, over the past hundred years, the one thing that I have done most was to meditate in a corner quietly.

“Out of pure boredom, I have contemplated and calculated a lot of things. Gunfighting skills was one of them.

“In the military, I was sort of a gunfighting expert among the Core Formation Stage Cultivators, otherwise I wouldn’t have been chosen to serve as the chief gunner of Sparkle.

“However, I am only mediocre compared with the real gunfighting experts who were participating in the Hundred-Million Lightyears Expedition.

“In the past, I was never fully convinced and thought that they were just luckier than me.

“But over the hundred years, I have reflected on every battle that I was ever engaged in and every mission video of the experts that I ever watched billions of times. I have even calculated the trajectory of every bullet that was shot. The gap between them and me is all clear to me now.

“After billions of calculations, my gunfighting theories are getting more and more thorough and delicate. I can declare positively that even the gunfighting experts at the Nascent Soul Stage in the imperial armed forces may not have as deep an understanding about the art of gunfighting as I do.

“Because it is impossible for them to do nothing but to explore the mysteries of gunfighting wholeheartedly for a hundred years uninterruptedly.

“But what’s the use of that? Theories are just theories. I don’t have enough spiritual energy or a powerful body to put the theories into practice.

“Moreover, since the rescue team hasn’t arrived after such a long time, I have come to a heartbreaking conclusion.

“A world-overturning event that involved countless constellations must’ve happened outside. It is even doubtful that the Star Ocean Imperium exists anymore.

“The idea made me lose all hope.

“I was preparing to end my own life and the infinite desperation tomorrow, on January 1 of year 1000 in the Star Ocean Calendar.

“But as a soldier, my last mission hasn’t been completed yet.

“Skeleton Dragon is still hibernating outside. Maybe soon enough, he will wake up again and send temptations to the outside world.

“If new exploration teams come, I have to warn them!

“Therefore, I can’t die for now, because I need to keep the normal functioning of Sparkle and the signal pinger, while hoping that the new exploration teams notice the odd spiritual waves undersea first instead of the residence of Skeleton Dragon.

“Then, I will tell them the truth and destroy Skeleton Dragon together with them!”

Chapter 419: What Is Dead May Never Die!

“May 5, year 1121 in the Star Ocean Calendar.

“I’ve lived alone in the darkness for another hundred years.

“This time, my life is really coming to an end; the fire of life will fade out very soon.

“A spectral Cultivator as a life form is extremely fragile in the first place and is prone to the scourge of radiations and spiritual waves. It is not unusual for a spectral Cultivator to die abruptly without a good reason.

“I’ve already reached my limit after struggling to stay alive for more than two hundred years under the protection of the underground silver ocean.

“I’m not scare of death.

“After living by myself for more than two hundred years in complete darkness ten thousand meters below an uninhabited planet, even hell looks as bright and splendid as heaven for me.

“I’m wandering on the border of mental derangement every second, planning to end my own life.

“For years, I’ve been very, very, very jealous of the repair puppet.

“Because it will sleep forever as long as its rune arrays are turned off.

“But my fire of life can only stay calm for several hours, before it resumes restlessly dancing once again.

“Under the fury that was very close to mental derangement, I smashed the repair puppet into smithereens.

“Right now, the mustard-level maintainers are all there is to fix Sparkle, and I’m afraid it will take ten thousand years for the work to complete.

“After I pass away, who will inform the next explorers of the truth and stop them from opening the residence of Skeleton Dragon recklessly?

“Is there any way that I can keep my fire of life burning for ten thousand years together with Sparkle?

“May 10, year 1121 in the Star Ocean Calendar.

“Immortality is the hilarious pursuit of the idiotic, selfish ancient Cultivators thirty thousand years ago.

“For us the modern Cultivators, we believe in the sufficient burning of a short life. One can die peacefully at dusk if he has learnt the great Dao in the morning.

“But right now, I’m starting to chase an eternal life like those ludicrous ancient Cultivators once did.

“For five days, I’ve been pondering how I can live longer, until a moment ago something stuck me.

“As a Cultivator, my fire of life burns too intensely. It is impossible for my current soul power to support my fire of life to burn 100% for a couple of more years.

“But what if I keep it crackling slowly in 1%, or even 0.1% efficiency?

“In such cases, my remaining soul can provide enough fuel for it to burn for a long time.

“After all, it is only a message that I want to pass on. With 0.01% of my fire of life, and a tiny bit of computational ability, I will be able to achieve the purpose and accomplish my final mission, which doesn’t even require my thinking ability or self-awareness!

“Feelings, memories, computational ability, thinking ability… They are all redundant. I can erase them all so that the consumption of my fire of life will be reduced to minimum.

“Yes, this is my choice. I’m going to destroy my own spiritual root and erase myself!

“May 20, year 1121 in the Star Ocean Calendar.

“I spent ten days taking care of everything on the warship. I switched Sparkle into the hibernation mode. The mustard-level maintainers are the only part of the warship that is functioning normally now.

“In the next thousands of years, it will absorb the spiritual energy leaked in through the gaps and turn the rocks into useful materials that can repair the damage to the warship, perhaps at the speed of a snail.

“In the end, I issued a command as the acting captain of the warship to the mainframe crystal processor whose repair progress has reached 1%. The first human Cultivator to enter Sparkle will be granted all permissions.

“Right now, I will summon my spiritual energy and prepare to expunge myself with my fire of life.

“I will completely obliterate my memories, thinking ability, and self-awareness, so that they will no longer consume the power of my soul.

“The first thing to be deleted are the memories related to Cultivation.

“Growing up in a shadowy, stinky gutter, adopted by an expert of the rebellion army and embarking on the path of Cultivation… Slaying a demon for the first time… Defection and destruction… Escape and counterattack… Everything will be erased once and for all!

“The memories and telepathic thoughts to be erased have been copied in advance to the jade chip. If someone gets it in the future, just consider it to be a special gift of mine.

“May 21, year 1121 in the Star Ocean Calendar.

“After an entire day of erasing yesterday, my computational ability has been suppressed to 70%. My mind is much slower than before. My head feels dizzy and I can’t seem to recall anything. It also feels that somebody has stuck a lot of sticky stuff inside. Everything is a total mess.

“Oh, I almost forgot. I don’t have a head at all.

“Today, I’m going to erase most of my memories, including those about the imperium and the military.

“More than two hundred years have passed. No one has visited Boneyard. Maybe the Star Ocean Imperium is really gone. But it still hurts so much to remove the memories about it as well as the pride as a human being.

“I was born in the Coiling Mountain Sector. My homeland was ruled by the demon race before I was 12. Soldiers of the rebellion army who stood against the tyranny were hiding everywhere like rats.

“There was a time when I hadn’t seen the sun for a whole year.

“It was not until the Cultivators of the Star Ocean Imperium appeared and liberated the Coiling Mountain Sector that I learnt the power of the human civilization and the glory of mankind!

“After joining the imperial armed forces, I finally realized that human beings were not supposed to be rats living in the darkness. We are the best warriors in the entire universe. None shall stop us from marching forward!

“Maybe, the Star Ocean Imperium has perished. But I believe that the flames of the human civilization will dance forever! A thousand years, ten thousand years later, a second or a third Star Ocean Imperium is definitely going to arise!

“Let me cheer one last time as a Cultivator and a guardian of the human civilization.

“Long live humanity! Long live the human civilization!

“Neverber 36, year 11211 in the Star Ocean Calendar.

“compute ability and think ability loss forgets me a lot of things. A day has I spent write these words. I revised hundreds of times, but I still felt something was wrong.

“Memories and self-awareness are deleted basic. The only thing left consuming my power soul be my feelings.”

What came next was no longer words, but a twisted image.

In a beautiful maple forest, gold leaves had covered the paths inside. A short, plain-looking officer and a plump woman in pure white nurse uniform were holding their hands and walking slowly.

The officer was holding a greenish orange in his other hand. Tossing it up and down, he and the woman talked and laughed and drew close to the camera.

Two lovely children, a boy and a girl, were following them. Their hands were covered in mud, indicating that they must’ve been playing in the forest for a while. They bounded toward their parents, shouting about something.

Too bad that it was only a picture without any sound, like a dreamy mummery.

Below the picture, words reappeared.

“Darling, Xiao Guo, Pang Pang, I love you… I love you… I wuv you… Ivyou…”

The words that followed turned into a cluster of messy twisted lines and breakpoints.

In the chaotic graffiti, a new word gradually revealed and repeated itself.

“Trap… Trap… Trap… Trap… Trap… Trap… Trap… Trap…”

And the journal came to an end.

There were a lot of telepathic thoughts and other information, including the activation methods of the key components on Sparkle with their corresponding spiritual codes, the summary of this officer ‘Gao Xingce’s’ life of war, and tremendous notes on gunfighting that he came up with during the long, dull two hundred years.

Yet, Li Yao didn’t even glimpse at them, because he had been truly shocked by Gao Xingce’s journal.

“So, the reason we could sense the weird metal reaction and spiritual waves was because Gao Xingce had been sending the signal out actively!

“In order to keep sending out the signal and the warning, Senior Gao Xingce chose to erase his own computational ability, thinking ability, and even all his feelings, turning himself into a ‘living dead’, just so that his flickering fire of life could burn a tiny bit longer, and a tiny bit longer…”

The broken puppet lying in the corner was thin and small. But in Li Yao’s eyes, it was high and mighty like a god.

“The Star Ocean Imperium is truly the peak of the modern Cultivation civilization. Even an officer in the rear that didn’t join the expedition army already boasted such resolution, courage, and perseverance. I wonder how marvelous the heroes of the expedition army were!

“They are the role models of the Cultivators in our time!”

Li Yao was greatly touched. He walked to Gao Xingce’s body again and bowed three times respectfully.

The senior’s actions had truly earned his admiration.

But the words in his journal got Li Yao thinking.

Before Gao Xingce erased himself, he had reset the mainframe crystal processor of Sparkle, which would be fully open to the next Cultivator to enter it.

Did that mean he would have the opportunity to pilot a real warship from the Star Ocean Imperium?

The thought stirred tides thousands of meters high in Li Yao’s heart. A drop of sweat was appearing on the tip of his nose.

“That’s right. Only after we repair Sparkle and make use of the giant drills of mystic rays can we expect to dig a hole to the surface.

“It’s been almost ten thousand years since Sparkle was stranded here. Skeleton Dragon has hibernated for the same time. Maybe it has regained its destructive ability!

“The demon race discovered Boneyard not early, not late, but precisely at a time when Skeleton Dragon is most likely to be refreshed. Besides, neither us nor the demon exploration squads encountered too many obstacles on our way here, despite the unexpected accidents. Both parties located his residence effortlessly!”

“The smooth progress feels very odd.

“Maybe, this is all the scheme of Skeleton Dragon. Both us and the demons such as Wang Ji are chess pieces that have been led here by Skeleton Dragon!

“No. Senior Gao Xingce paid such a great price just to pass on the message and Sparkle to me. I have to honor his last wish and destroy Skeleton Dragon completely!”

Li Yao was well aware that the Heaven’s Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector were the two worlds closest to Boneyard. Many creatures from the two worlds were wandering on Boneyard at this very moment. In one month, star shuttles from the Heaven’s Origin Sector would show up.

If Skeleton Dragon truly freed himself from the barrier and was desperate to restore his strength, he would definitely go to the Heaven’s Origin Sector!

The Heaven’s Origin Sector would become a living hell. The outcome would be even more horrible than the invasion of the Blood Demon Sector!

“Sparkle is our only chance!”

Li Yao took a deep breath, his eyes brighter than ever. He spoke to the broken puppet in the corner softly.

“Senior Gao Xingce, although I’m not a citizen of the Star Ocean Imperium, I’m part of the human civilization. The Star Glory Federation has always deemed itself as a successor of the Star Ocean Imperium, too.

“Therefore, your glory is my glory, and your destiny is my destiny!

“If your soul is watching over me, then let’s just fight side by side!”

While he was talking, he extended his spiritual thread into the hollowed chest of the broken puppet. Soon, he pulled out a cylinder that was as transparent as a crystal but with a spark dancing vigorously in the middle, emitting endless redness.

The mainframe crystal processor could be activated with this piece of magical equipment!

Chapter 420: New Captain, Li Yao of the Heaven’s Origin

Li Yao focused his full attention while he recalled the simulations inside Neltharion. He walked to the dashboard and groped below it for a panel carved with the runes. After transmitting a telepathic thought into it, Li Yao found the panel gliding open, revealing a round hollow.

Then, Li Yao inserted the red crystal-like cylinder into it.

Beep. Beep beep!

Weak noises of spiritual energy flowing around could be heard inside the dashboard. Although the lights were still off, Li Yao still sensed that a mysterious power was gradually waking up inside the mainframe crystal processor.

His fingertip suddenly ached. The end of the cylinder had released a scarlet mystic ray and pierced his fingertip, through which it absorbed a drop of his blood.

In the meantime, he felt that his brain was itching, as if a feather was sweeping past his every brain cell gently.

He knew that the mainframe crystal processor of Sparkle was identifying him and making sure that he was a human being.

A moment later, crimson mystic rays were shot out from the 108 holes on the dashboard. They formed scattered sparks in the midair. Then the sparks were connected together, constituting a large light beam that seemed to be both right in front of him and embedded on his retina and brain.

It was the operation menu of Sparkle, manifested in the way of Half-step Great Illusionary Land.

Li Yao had seen it countless times in the training sessions with Neltharion. He did not find it strange at all.

Shua!

The intimidating Red Dragon Swallowing the Sun appeared again, which immediately turned into thousands of lasers each representing an information stream and flooded into Li Yao’s brain.

“Human being identified. Cultivator identified.

“Granting full permissions of Sparkle. Progress: 24%… 53%… 87%…”

“According to ‘Wartime Regulations No. 17 of the Star Ocean Imperium’, the military is entitled to enlist all human beings, especially Cultivators, to defend our civilization in emergencies. As per the rule, the ownership of Sparkle, ‘Lone Star’ level multipurpose exploration ship No. 24434552, is now temporarily transferred to you. You will be the acting captain of Sparkle, and you shall transfer the ownership of the warship to the regular army after the crisis is resolved!

“Please enter your identification information and your spiritual fingerprint!”

Li Yao hurriedly typed in his identification information with his telepathic thoughts, including several videos that recorded his battles against the demons, in order to prove his stance and strength.

However, Li Yao hesitated for a while about the field of ‘Sect’.

In the Star Ocean Imperium, all the Cultivators belonged to the twenty Guilds of Provenance. There were few unaffiliated Cultivators.

But Li Yao did not belong to any sect at this moment. The Grand Desolate Institute was not a sect in a traditional sense. He was sort of an unaffiliated Cultivator.

Pondering for a moment, Li Yao finally made up his mind and inputted the sect name as:

“Heaven’s Origin, Li Yao!”

The redness surged. Streams of enormous information turned into thousands of swirls with a higher and higher speed.

“Identification information saved. Cell feature saved. Spiritual fingerprint locked.”

“Li Yao of the Heaven’s Origin, you are now the new captain of Sparkle. Please strive forward!”

Li Yao was biting his teeth so hard that they were squeaking. His blood was seething in exultation. He almost lost control and danced in the darkness.

Captain!

This was not a training model like Neltharion but an authentic warship from the Star Ocean Imperium and one of the greatest inventions in the history of mankind!

Li Yao wasn’t bothered by the fact that he was merely the acting captain of the warship. According to the mainframe crystal processor, he did not have to hand out the ownership of the warship until he met a regular troop of the Star Ocean Imperium.

But the Star Ocean Imperium had been demolished for thousands of years. Where could he possibly run into a regular troop from it?

Therefore, this warship would be his for all eternity!

As a crazy fan of magical equipment, Li Yao felt that his entire body seemed to be melding with Sparkle into one!

Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua!

The streams of information were still crowding into his brain, including the basic introductions to Sparkle.

For the warships of the Star Ocean Imperium, Sparkle was one of the smallest. But it played a very important role.

It was an instance of ‘Lone Star’ level multipurpose exploration warship, a model co-produced by ‘Star Wolf Sect’ and ‘High Peak Pavilion’, two of the Guilds of Provenance, with consideration of the usages of orbital assault warships, extreme exploration warships and even the science study starships.

It was designed with the exploration of unfamiliar constellations in mind. When necessary, it could also be deployed for missions behind enemy lines. Its performances in scouting, guerilla warfare, and bandit-clearing were quite satisfactory, too.

It boasted amazing self-recovery ability, survival-in-isolation ability, and research analysis ability, with a very low demand on the captain as well the crew. It could travel by itself in a foreign constellation for a long time while supplying itself with the spiritual energy and materials from other planets. Therefore, it was known as a ‘Lone Star’ level warship.

In short, this was a model born for adventures.

“I’m really a lucky dog!” Li Yao mumbled to himself. Sparkle was perhaps the best warship for him possible.

If it were a super warship tens of thousands of meters long, naturally, it would boast much more advanced technology and fierce firepower. But the difficult of steering would definitely soar, too. Chances were that it would require Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators or even Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators as captains to make it work normally, not to mention a large dock as a base to ensure the logistics and countless well-training Cultivators as back-up crew.

What good could such a warship do to him even if he had one?

But Sparkle was different. As a multipurpose exploration warship designed for adventures in foreign planets, it had taken into consideration the harshest, the most unfavorable environments. Not only was it ultra-solid and able to repair itself, the difficulty of steering was very low, too.

Li Yao was just a Cultivator at the Building Foundation Stage. But he was already able to get it moving after training with Neltharion for a year and a half!

More importantly, for the exploration of unknown areas, Sparkle had been installed with a space jump system made up by 64 magical equipment units that far exceeded its level.

It was almost like a super teleportation array had been set up inside the warship.

With enough spiritual energy, it could shatter the void and cruise the sea of stars at any time!

“Does that mean I can jump to the center of the universe and explore other worlds with the help of Sparkle?”

Li Yao’s interest was greatly aroused.

The Heaven’s Origin Sector was at the periphery of the sea of stars. It was a world that was relatively bleak and barren. The strongest Cultivators were merely at the Nascent Soul Stage. The Cultivation civilization here was still underdeveloped.

In the center of the cosmos, billions of stars were burning furiously, constituting a surging nebula of stars in which countless worlds with abundant spiritual energy and resources existed.

These worlds were the inland and the most prosperous parts of the Star Ocean Imperium and the Demon Beast Empire.

Although many worlds had been bulldozed by protracted warfare over thousands of years, the remaining worlds must have much more advanced Cultivation civilizations than the Heaven’s Origin Sector had right now, with much more powerful magical equipment and Cultivation arts…

If he could reach those worlds and retrieve several treasures, the scumbags of the Blood Demon Sector would certainly be cleared in no time after he returned to the Heaven’s Origin Sector.

Li Yao was in delirium. He envisioned coming back from the center of the cosmos together with an invincible interstellar fleet, leading countless top experts in supreme crystal suits, and crushing the Blood Demon Sector brutally.

Shaking his head, Li Yao bit the tip of his tongue and kicked away the alluring idea.

The picture was immaculate, if not imaginary.

Li Yao did not have a star map, or a stargazer on board, which meant he couldn’t locate any star beacons. Not to mention that the space jump system had been completely wrecked. Where could he possibly jump to?

The universe was a large place, 99.99% of which was endless void and darkness.

Of thousands of the constellations that had been discovered, few had enough spiritual energy and materials that were mandatory for the survival of life and the training of Cultivators.

Most of the space in the universe was occupied by dangerous radiation, stardust storms, and spiritual energy turbulences. The safe routes were limited.

Also, many other worlds were still reigned by demons, demonic Cultivators, and other species in the sea of stars.

A reckless space jump without a star map was like voyaging through a surging, perilous ocean on a sampan without a compass or experienced sailors.

Those who tried to find an island where there was food and water without a compass on a boundless ocean were not adventurous but suicidal!

“It appears that I’ll have to figure out a way to drag it back to the Heaven’s Origin Sector.”

“Although Sparkle is not a planetary weapon, the magical equipment and the technology that it carries are very powerful, too. If they can be fully analyzed, our trip to Boneyard won’t have been a waste of time.

Li Yao sighed and held back the desire to march into the depths of the sea of stars.

“First of all, I need to overcome the crisis at hand.

“Let me examine the status of Sparkle first!”

One of Li Yao’s telepathic thoughts was extended to the mainframe crystal processor, which analyzed and enhanced it to every corner of Sparkle, testing all the units available.

It was a very mysterious feeling, similar to the feeling when he put on a crystal suit for the first time.

He was added with countless extra organs, and he seemed to have become Sparkle itself. He was caught in a special ‘inward-looking’ state. Endless information was pouring down.

“The situation is bad.

“The spiritual energy leaking through the rock stratum is too weak, resulting to the slow repair progress of the mustard-level maintainers. The warship hasn’t been fully fixed although thousands of years have passed.

“The drill of mystic rays is mostly fixed up; the power rune arrays are restored by 29%; the space jump system, 55%, only enough for one or two jumps; as for the weapon system, only a secondary cannon is ready to use.”

The ecstasy of owning a warship was gone. Li Yao frowned.

The damage that Sparkle had suffered was beyond his expectations. After self-recovering for thousands of years, it was still barely functional with obvious deficiencies.

“Spiritual energy. Spiritual energy. All is because of lack of spiritual energy.

“Both the drill of mystic rays and Sparkle itself require a huge amount of spiritual energy even if they are to be triggered at the minimum level.

“Without spiritual energy, we will still be trapped in this place despite the marvelous vehicle!”

Chapter 421: Sparkle, Awakened!

Team Blue Bronze had planned to stay for one month on Boneyard, or even three to five months should the mission demand. Therefore, they’d all carried a lot of crystals inside their Cosmos Rings.

But they were far from enough to provide impetus for a warship from the Star Ocean Imperium, let alone the drill of mystic rays, the cannons, and the space jump system.

Li Yao thought hard for a long time. Then he suddenly realized something and bumped his fists in joy.

Of course! There were the Flowing Brightness Crystals inside his Cosmos Ring!

The marrow crystals that came into being after billions of years of high temperature and high pressure in the underground were captured by the roots of the Flowing Brightness Grasses, and through esoteric chemical reactions, such super marrow crystals which contained enormous spiritual energy were born!

Even in the notes of the predecessors of the Hundred Smelting Clan, Flowing Brightness Crystals had been treated with great importance and deemed as one of the ultimate treasures.

“As a multipurpose exploration warship, Sparkle must have a very adaptive crystal reactor which can absorb crystals of various kinds as its energy source. Also, Flowing Brightness Crystals are extremely condensed and stable with barely any impurities. Even a human body can absorb it directly, so a crystal reactor should be fine!

“Yes, the Flowing Brightness Crystals shall be the source of spiritual energy!”

Although Flowing Brightness Crystals were invaluable items in the Heaven’s Origin Sector, Li Yao had made up his mind that he wouldn’t hesitate to pour all the Flowing Brightness Crystals he had found into the warship if it was a must to survive and to kill Skeleton Dragon.

“Haha. Skeleton Dragon has fallen victim to his own scheme this time,” sneered Li Yao.

According to his estimation, the abundant Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures in the first underground world they saw should be part of the evil plan of Skeleton Dragon, who had somehow spread a bit of his strength and manipulated the underground creatures to modify the environment into one that was more favorable for the invaluable treasures.

The purpose of the plan was simple: to lure the explorers deeper underground.

The explorers would naturally conclude from the fact that there were so many treasures in the periphery that more precious Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures must be buried in Skeleton Dragon’s residence in the depths of the endless underground ocean.

In such a way, the explorers would be too greedy to notice the anomalies on their way forward, until they opened Skeleton Dragon’s residence in the end!

But right now, Li Yao had received Gao Xingce’s warning. He could use the Flowing Brightness Crystals, the bait of Skeleton Dragon, to destroy the small fries such as Wang Ji and the unparalleled deadly beast that was Skeleton Dragon himself!

Li Yao extended his telepathic thoughts through the crystal wires, toward the engine compartment in the rear of Sparkle, and into the main crystal reactor.

The crystal reactor on a warship was much larger than that used in a crystal suit. Its structure was hundreds of times more complicated, too. Li Yao’s telepathic thought wandered inside the delicately-made crystal reactor and studied its design meticulously.

As he expected, although the efficiency of the crystal reactor was not very impressive, it could accept spiritual energy from extensive sources. Four magical equipment units inside of it could automatically refine the raw crystals with more than 70% of impurities before they were transformed into spiritual energy; super marrow crystals such as Flowing Brightness Crystals would definitely work well enough.

The crystal reactor was the heart of a warship. It was the most heavily protected component. It had suffered the least damage from the fierce battles and was the first item that the mustard-level maintainers repaired.

After thousands of years of maintenance, it was almost brand new. 85% of it had been fully fixed, guaranteeing normal functions.

“Excellent. With a few Flowing Brightness Crystals, the crystal reactor will be able to generate sufficient spiritual energy to wake up Sparkle and improve the speed of the mustard-level maintainers by hundreds of times.

“Many simple components can even be manually repaired by me. In a couple of days, Sparkle will be able to voyage again!”

While thinking to himself, Li Yao scanned the weapon system of Sparkle with his telepathic thought.

The main gun of Sparkle had been modified into a drill of mystic rays. All the secondary cannons and air defense cannons were too seriously damaged in the fierce battles thousands of years ago to be renewed. After such a long time, only an air defense cannon was close to completion.

Li Yao laughed out aloud the moment he saw the holograph of the air defense cannon.

The air defense cannon, named ‘Rogue Meteorite’, had an axis surrounded by eight cylindrical crystal rails. At first glance, it was a Six-barreled Vulcan Machine Gun enlarged dozens of times. The trigger and manipulation methods were very similar, too.

“This is a weapon that is destined for me!”

Li Yao’s blood was boiling into scorching steam surging out from his nostrils.

His hands were shivering, as he couldn’t wait to control the ‘Rogue Meteorite’ in person!

For him, an air defense cannon was a weapon even better than the main gun.

The main gun of the warship was designed to deal with the hostile warships, star fortresses, and orbital defense. Its speed of reloading was slow, its spiritual energy consumption extremely high, and it had a high demanding on the user.

Gao Xingce was a Core Formation Stage Cultivator. It was his qualification as the chief gunner of Sparkle to wield the Sky Dragon, the main gun.

On the other hand, air defense cannons targeted the hostile experts who were approaching the warship. It had a high shooting frequency, with remarkable precision and a low requirement for the expertise of the user. Building Foundation Stage Cultivators were more than capable for the task.

What Li Yao was going to deal with were the demons such as Wang Ji. Air defense cannons would serve the purpose better than the main gun.

“The Rogue Meteorite will consume the spiritual energy very quickly. Let me deeply modify it so that it can directly utilize the Flowing Brightness Crystals as a source of spiritual energy. One attack will be enough to blow the biochemical beasts together with the demons inside into smithereens!”

Other than the Rogue Meteorite, there were no other usable weapons on board. Most of them had been dismantled into maintenance materials.

In a corner of the arsenal, however, Li Yao found a metal statue that had been sealed by barriers and protected carefully.

“This is… a whole set of strengthening plug-ins, the Ares Extension!” Li Yao exclaimed in disbelief.

The sea of stars was an unpredictable place. The conditions of many worlds were the opposite of each other. A crystal suit wouldn’t be applicable for all battlefields.

Therefore, it was not unusual for a crystal suit to be added with a lot of strengthening plug-ins before it was deployed to a battlefield.

For example, before Team Blue Bronze dived into the silver ocean, Li Yao had installed undersea combat plug-ins that resembled fins to all the crystal suits in the team.

Some of the strengthening plug-ins had been manufactured as sets, with a lot of powerful yet high-consumption rune arrays which would also impose heavy blast upon the materials and the human body.

The activation of the rune arrays could improve one’s combat ability instantly, but it would also result in the serious erosion of the materials and the immense backfire to the body and soul of the Exo. Therefore, it was not suitable to carve the rune arrays on a crystal suit.

Such strengthening plug-ins manufactured as sets were like an intensified shell covering the crystal suit. Since erosion was no longer an issue, all kinds of crazy, detrimental rune arrays could be carved on it as far as one’s imagination went.

The strengthening plug-ins produced as set were known as ‘Ares Extensions’.

Ares Extensions were the top confidential magical equipment of the Star Ocean Imperium. Since they would become total loss after being used for once, the Heaven’s Origin Sector had never discovered any of them before, except for some scraps.

Even Li Yao had only read files about them before.

Right now, a legendary Ares Extension was standing right in front of him. Li Yao’s eyes were beaming with joy, his heart pounding.

“Rogue Meteorite, plus an Ares Extension. I’m definitely going to have a nice talk with the scumbags of the demon race such as Wang Ji!”

Li Yao scanned Sparkle from head to tail again. Then he jumped up and ran off to the engine compartment at the rear of the warship.

In the engine compartment, Li Yao retrieved ten Flowing Brightness Grasses from his Cosmos Ring. His hands were moving so fast that they turned into a cluster of grey mist, while he sorted out the thousands of roots tangling the Flowing Brightness Crystals and separated them.

The roots were like the veins of the Flowing Brightness Crystals. They couldn’t be torn off by force or the quality of the Flowing Brightness Crystals would be undermined.

Ten minutes later, pure round crystals that looked like pearls were rolling inside his palm. The intriguing aura was flowing around him like water, putting his mind more at ease than ever. Two brooks were running through his palm into his body and circulated slowly among his internal organs.

A moment later, Li Yao was wreathed in a small cloud cluster. Brilliance was being emitted from the center of the cloud cluster.

“No wonder it is called Flowing Brightness Crystals. The brilliance it unleashed is in the liquid state like water. The Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures in the Cultivation world are truly unbelievable!

“Phew. There are bound to be even more exotic and entertaining Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures in the center of the universe where there are the most shining stars. It’s a shame that I don’t have an opportunity to go there this time.

“If I can dig out a detailed star map in the future, I’m definitely going to explore the depths of the sea of stars!”

While he was thinking, Li Yao tossed the Flowing Brightness Crystals into the crystal reactor and set the operation pattern of the crystal reactor on the mainframe crystal processor with his telepathic thoughts remotely.

At his command, spiritual energy surged out, and the crystal reactor was successfully activated!

Hum!

Centered at the crystal reactor, rounds of scarlet brightness rippled out and evolved into a raging sea. In the blink of an eye, it had turned into an unstoppable, boundless ocean!

Countless runes were illuminated one by one. Virtual runes enveloped in gold, octagonal brightness appeared in midair and surrounded Li Yao, dancing to the brisk sounds of metal.

The crystal reactor was like a ferocious animal which had been starved for thousands of years. It was working at the highest efficiency and gulped the Flowing Brightness Crystals hungrily. They were transformed into the purest spiritual energy by countless rune arrays, which was then transmitted to every corner of Sparkle through the spiritual energy tubes.

Innumerable pieces of magical equipment were woken up simultaneously. Their hums didn’t die down for quite a long time.

Outside, on the smooth shell of Sparkle, thousands of gold lines suddenly popped up. They connected and extended, and very soon, the entire body of the warship was caught in a net of gold brightness.

Then, the shell of the warship split and stood up, like a dragon whose scales had gone erect. Brutality and bloodthirstiness were added to the originally meek-looking warship!

The information flooding into Li Yao’s brain was ten times as much as before. He involuntarily grunted even though he had been training with Neltharion for a long time.

Inside his brain, the lackluster holograph of Sparkle suddenly bounced, before it was lit from the back to the front gradually, until it was bathing in splendid radiance in the end.

Sparkle had been fully awakened!

Chapter 422: You Can Even Sail a Starship?

Inside the maintenance duct, Ding Lingdang and the other two wounded teammates were sitting cross-legged. A water-like mist of brightness flowed slowly from their ears, eyes, nostrils, and mouths and surrounded their bodies at a stable speed, until in the end, it penetrated into their bodies again through the pores, nourished their internal organs, and reached the skull again, finishing the entire circulation.

They had all absorbed a lot of Flowing Brightness Crystals. With the immense spiritual energy stored inside, their injuries were finally suppressed.

Right then, the warship shivered, and they were suddenly enveloped in brightness. Ivory lights on the walls of the maintenance duct were turned on, illuminating the previously dark duct.

“You can get down now.”

Li Yao’s calm voice came through the communication channel, while a map of the maintenance duct was sent to their crystal processors.

…

“What is going on exactly? Is this a warship from the Star Ocean Imperium?”

Standing in the middle of the engine compartment, the four of them observed their surroundings for a long time and finally realized something.

“Correct.”

Li Yao smiled. “This multipurpose exploration warship is named ‘Sparkle’. It’s our salvation today!”

But ‘Dummy’ Ba Weiqi shook his head and said worriedly, “Not necessarily. The skills required to steer a starship can be very complicated, and they are by no means readily learnable. The starship is to us what a shuttle is to the primitive barbarians. We are equally unintelligent in this regard.

“Vulture, you’ve been in Occult Orbs Fellowship for too short a time to know this.

“Before, Occult Orbs Fellowship has excavated a lot of magical equipment, armed shuttles, and even remnants of small starships of the Star Ocean Imperium.

“However, most of the items were so delicate that it took the experts and researchers several years to study them before the mechanism was grasped, and it took another several years to learn how to activate and manipulate them.

“Even though this starship is intact, where can we find a qualified pilot to maneuver it?

“I’m afraid nobody in the entire Heaven’s Origin Sector is able to do that. Even the Core Formation Stage Cultivators and the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators can’t do anything about it!

“Now that we are trapped in this place, it’s barely possible to get out even though we are lucky enough not to have been squashed by the giant rocks.”

“True that!”

Leng Ziming and Yan Yangtian both nodded and sighed.

They were all experienced Orb Patrollers and had excavated countless kinds of magical equipment. They knew better than anyone else the difficulty of controlling a piece of magical equipment from the Star Ocean Imperium.

But Ding Lingdang was still staring at Li Yao in delight.

For some reason, she saw very strong confidence on Li Yao’s face.

Li Yao scratched his hair and said casually, “That is not going to be a problem. I’ve spent a whole year studying how to maneuver starships of this particular model.”

“What?!”

The three of them who were sighing gloomily were all dumbfounded as if they’d been hit by lightning. They gazed at Li Yao in such a strange way that he seemed to be a demon beast with three heads and six arms instead of a human being.

Spending an entire year studying how to maneuver a starship?

That couldn’t be right!

Controlling a starship was not controlling a flying sword. Even if he wanted to learn it, who would teach him that, and how would he train himself?

Besides, who would be so foolish as to study such a powerful yet utterly useless skill?

What had you been doing before you join Occult Orbs Fellowship, Vulture Li Yao?

Staring at Li Yao for a long time, they turned their suspicious and surprised eyes to Ding Lingdang.

Hey, what was the background of your boyfriend? Why was he able to steer a starship from the Star Ocean Imperium? It was just unbelievable!

Ding Lingdang took a breath and said with a smile, “Don’t look at me. We never poked around in regard to each other’s Cultivation. I don’t know how many skills he has, either.

“However, even if he told me that he could manipulate a piece of stellar magical equipment, I would believe him without the slightest doubt.

“Because that’s what my man, Vulture Li Yao, does!”

Everyone was rendered speechless. But very soon, they were excited again.

Correct. It didn’t matter how Li Yao grasped such a skill. What mattered was that they had hope now!

Led by Li Yao, the five of them went to the cockpit.

On the way, Li Yao told them of Gao Xingce’s last words and his theories about the current situation.

It was not until then that everyone learnt that such a scandalous scheme was brewing in Boneyard and that a vexing struggle had been going on in the silver ocean ten thousand meters below the ground for thousands of years.

“Senior Gao Xingce was indeed a role model of all Cultivators. From his doings, I understand why the Star Ocean Imperium could overthrow the demon race’s thirty-thousand-year reign within a thousand years and become the dominators of the sea of stars.”

Inside the cockpit, Ding Lingdang, Ba Weiqi, Leng Ziming, and Yan Yangtian were all greatly moved. They bowed to Gao Xing’s body three times in respect.

“If that is the case, something that has been haunting me is solved now.”

Leng Ziming observed calmly, “Since we landed on Boneyard, I’ve always been ill at ease and felt that things were going too well.

“Hardly had we reached the underground when we discovered so many Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. Also, Skeleton Dragon’s residence was not protected by any traps or barriers. Even Cultivators at the Refinement Stage wouldn’t find it troublesome at all to get inside, let alone us. It did not look like the base of an ancient deadly demon at all, did it?

“Skeleton Dragon has lured us to this place on purpose just so that we can break the barrier and let him loose!

“Not good!

“The demon exploration squad is still out there. They are definitely going to break the barrier at any cost!

“We have to get out of here and stop them as soon as possible!

“Vulture, how long will it take for Sparkle to be fully activated!”

Li Yao’s telepathic thoughts had been docked to the mainframe crystal processor of Sparkle. A huge amount of data and graphs were flooding into his brain every second.

Li Yao brought his computational ability to maximum. His eyeballs were twitching violently, his face flushed, while steam was popping up nonstop from his messy hair.

Breathing heavily for a moment, he replied, “We need to repair at least ten groups of power rune arrays and four groups of anti-gravity rune arrays in order to carry out operations in the lowest standard. Other than that, the drill of mystic rays has to be further maintained to dig through the rock stratum burying us. The Rogue Meteorite has to be modified and strengthened, too. We won’t be able to fight the demons without a proper weapon.

“Moreover, our crystal suits are mostly damaged right now. We have to spare some time to fix them.

“All things considered, it will take at least 65 hours and 48 minutes!”

Leng Ziming frowned.

“65 hours. That’s almost three days. It’s too long. There will be many new changes during the time!”

Yan Yangtian commented, “There indeed will be. But three days is not entirely unacceptable. Don’t forget that two other Star Teams are still travelling outside, including Team Thunder Soul which has the highest combat ability of all!

“If I were to walk in the demon’s shoes, I would certainly not risk opening Skeleton Dragon’s residence when the Star Teams are not cleared up yet.

“By common sense, a lot of traps and barriers must be installed inside the residence of the ancient deadly demon. Chances are that one has to pay a bloody price in order to retrieve the secret treasures stored inside. There will be a lot of casualties.

“If I were to open the residence when my enemy had not been annihilated, it’s very likely that my enemy would claim the fruits when my team suffered setbacks. Why would the selfish demons do something stupid like this?

“Therefore, I estimate that the demons will explore the undersea town and clean up the periphery first while setting up tons of pitfalls, waiting for the Star Teams to step in. They will not open the residence until all the threats are removed!

“In three days, we will still have an opportunity!”

Li Yao said, “I agree with you. Besides, the three of you have not recovered from your injuries yet. We won’t be able to do anything even if we rush out right now. It’s better that you treat your wounds first for three days. I wonder, how are you doing right now?”

“The three of us activated our spiritual seeds by force. Although we unleashed the strength of a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator, our bodies were also seriously wounded and are still extremely weak right now.

“But thankfully, none of us were mentally deranged. Also, after the blast of the spiritual seeds, our veins and internal organs have been greatly widened. Now that we are taking the Flowing Brightness Crystals as nourishments, our Cultivation will definitely soar after we are recovered!

“A phoenix does not die but rises from ashes again. As long as Team Blue Bronze can make it to the end, I’m confident that we will all enter into the Core Formation Stage in ten, or even five, years!

“However, we are only certain that we can try our best to return to the Building Foundation Stage within three days. It’s impossible for us to resume our peak capability,” said Ding Lingdang.

In the seed explosion state, the potential of a Cultivator was triggered infinitely. The immense strength that was levels beyond their own was often unbearable for their body. The side effects were inevitable.

Ding Lingdang and her teammates were just weakened and in the middle of a temporary capability decline. Neither were they mentally deranged nor did they suffer irreversible internal injuries. They were already unbelievably lucky.

It would be too harsh to ask them to return to the peak state within several days.

“Alright. If so, the Ares Extension and the Rogue Meteorite will be in my custody. You will try to Cultivate for the time being and restore your capability as much as possible.

“Three days later, we shall avenge our captain!”

…

65 hours to let the starship that had hibernated for thousands of years bare its fangs again!

The intense maintenance work was begun!

In order to save time, Li Yao fully scanned Sparkle, dismantled most of the magical equipment and components that were not of use at this moment, and used them to fill the places in desperate need of repairing with the help of the mustard-level maintainers.

After all, he didn’t need Sparkle to sail for ten thousand years.

He only required it to burst out the most dazzling brilliance one time, three days later.

His attitude toward the Rogue Meteorite was the same.

There were some twenty other cannons large and small on board. Although they were wrecked, some of their components were still functional. Li Yao tore them all down and added them to the Rogue Meteorite after modifying and upgrading within the maintenance cabin on Sparkle.

The air defense cannon was not very advanced. The technology it employed was essentially the same as what the crystal cannons of the Heaven’s Origin Sector had been using, only much more precise and delicate.

Li Yao did not have any requirements as to longevity or stability. He just ensured that the cannon was good enough to survive one battle. Therefore, many parts of the cannon were completely overlooked when he was modifying it insanely. He even forced the weapon to work by utilizing the ancient refining methods of the Hundred Smelting Clan forty thousand years ago.

After a day of modification, a bizarre-shaped Six-barreled Revolving Crystal Cannon, added with countless accessories and tangled in hundreds of thick crystal wires, which looked like a ferocious animal whose arteries were bulging, was born!

Chapter 423: Vulture Unchained!

This Rogue Meteorite was not particularly special. The only thing unusual about it was that its crystal barrels and activation arrays had been strengthened with the Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining technique, because it was probably the sole crystal cannon in the entire universe that took Flowing Brightness Crystals as its spiritual energy source.

Flowing Brightness Crystal, the invaluable super marrow crystal that other Cultivators would be crazy about, became one-time ammunition.

Firing a cannon with Flowing Brightness Crystals was like slapping someone with cash. It was simple, vulgar, and completely irrational!

“If the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators in the Heaven’s Origin Sector learn that I’m firing a cannon with Flowing Brightness Crystals, they might pass out in shock. It’s too extravagant!

“But this is the only enjoyable way!”

As his telepathic thoughts slowly traversed the six crystal barrels of the Rogue Meteorite, Li Yao was greatly satisfied. The pores all over his body were constricting beyond his control.

Then, there were still the drill of mystic rays and the power system.

Other than that, he would need to repair the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit and connect the Ares Extension to it.

After a day of high-intensity modification work, Li Yao’s fire of life had been burning so brightly that his soul power reached its limit, and he was somewhat tired.

But he had his ‘secret weapon’.

Li Yao raised his hand. A dose of strengthening drug appeared in his palm, in which the powder of half a Flowing Brightness Crystal in the coagulation state was stored. It looked like a transparent jelly unleashing the enjoyable aroma of grass. One would feel that their mind was soothed just by smelling it.

In the Heaven’s Origin Sector, even the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators would find it extremely difficult to get a Flowing Brightness Crystal; when they did get one, they would certainly make thorough plans in order to refine it in the most scientific way, so that they would be able to absorb a hundred percent of the spiritual energy contained inside.

In comparison, Li Yao was like the wasteful son of a rich family. He simply crumbled it into powder, melded it into the strengthening drug, and chugged all the liquid!

The absorption efficiency was definitely not as high. But the good point was that it was straightforward and would take effect immediately.

“Hu…”

Hardly had Li Yao licked the last drop of the Flowing Brightness Crystal liquid on his lips when his eyes suddenly bulged with indescribable brilliance beaming out.

Flowing Brightness Crystal was much more miraculous than any Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures and strengthening drugs that he had ever taken before. Immense spiritual energy was contained inside, yet it did not bring any feeling of uneasiness or repulsion.

He felt that a fountain that was spurting spiritual liquid unstoppably had appeared in his stomach. Coolness was spreading from there to all his internal organs and limbs.

It was like his every cell was being soaked in a refreshing stream; he couldn’t be more comfortable.

Li Yao moaned in great contentment.

When the coolness crowded into his brain, the brain cells that had somewhat shrunk before quickly expanded like dry tea leaves which were put into hot water.

The brilliance in Li Yao’s eyes grew more and more intense. Streams of brightness flowed out of his nostrils, ears, and mouth and were then absorbed by the pores on his body, forming an immaculate circulation.

“Flowing Brightness Crystal is indeed a super marrow crystal. My every cell has been refilled like pomegranate seeds that are full of juice!

“I feel that I’ve touched the boundary of the middle level of the Building Foundation Stage. Maybe after a couple days of training with a few more Flowing Brightness Crystals, I will be able to advance into the high level of the Building Foundation Stage!”

CRACK! CRACK!

A series of clattering noises burst out from Li Yao’s bones and ankles as he stretched out. After each noise, warm brightness would blink on his skin like the reflection of the jade. After thousands of cracks, although he was as tall as he used to be, the spiritual waves surrounding him were ten times stronger than before, casting a halo around him.

The air was twisted by the surging spiritual energy. The figure that was enveloped in the halo became unpredictable and mysterious.

It was the best example of what the ancient Cultivators described a great Daoist to be like.

Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua!

The mainframe crystal processor projected thousands of complicated structure designs and spiritual energy flowcharts in front of Li Yao momentarily, many of which were even overlapping.

Nourished by the Flowing Brightness Crystal, Li Yao’s brain had an exponentially increasing computational ability. He split hundreds of spiritual threads from his spiritual root and operated on the structure designs as fast as lightning, while he contemplated different maintenance plans…

Li Yao dwelled in the world of magical equipment maintenance, and without him knowing anything, two days had passed.

…

Two days later, inside the cockpit, Ding Lingdang, Ba Weiqi and the other two teammates were staring at Li Yao anxiously.

In the middle of the cockpit was a round cover two meters in diameter. Thousands of stripes were carved on it, making it like the most complex maze.

Shua!

The round cover split open like a blossoming flower. From the opening, a seat on which countless calligraphic rune arrays had been engraved was raised up.

It was the captain’s seat, as well as the core of the entire starship.

Li Yao took a deep breath. Unfaltering belief gleamed out of his eyes. He strode forward and sat down without any hesitation.

“Senior Gao Xingce, you’ve passed on the position to me, and I will certainly not disappoint you!

“Someday, the name of Sparkle will reverberate in the entire sea of stars!

“Now get back to work, Sparkle!”

In a moment, all the rune arrays on the captain sea were illuminated. Colorful electric arcs danced among the rune arrays and flooded into Li Yao body, before they sprang to his brain along his veins and nerves and tangled with his very soul!

Almost a hundred overlapping light beams appeared in front of them. Spinning and blinking, they displayed every detail of Sparkle.

“Crystal reaction is being activated at Lv. 2 efficiency.

“Power rune arrays are being activated. One, two, five successes!

“Drill of mystic rays, launch!”

Li Yao’s telepathic thoughts were spread in countless directions. But the thickest of all crowded into the Sky Dragon which was in the front of the warship.

The immense spiritual energy transformed from the Flowing Brightness Crystals was transmitted into the cannon like a raging ocean. Spurred by his telepathic thought, the cannon uttered a soul-stirring roar, releasing an overwhelming electromagnetic blast!

Because of the full modification that the Sky Dragon had received, the electromagnetic blast was not pushed out of the barrel; it was restrained by rune arrays at the front end of the barrel and spread out into nine boa-like streams of brightness.

The streams of brightness revolved rapidly in midair and intertwined with each other. The front half of Sparkle was wreathed in their brilliance. Then, they suddenly expanded and condensed into an extremely splendid drill of mystic rays.

The high-intensity drill of mystic rays was almost a real existence and as transparent as jade. Emitting endless warmth and light, it stared revolving.

The ultra-solid rock stratums were shattered immediately.

Li Yao gritted his teeth. His eyes were bulging so wide that his eyeballs seemed to be squeezed out. The corners of his eyes were torn apart. Two lines of blood were dripping down like tears.

He was merely at the middle level of the Building Foundation Stage after all. Steering Sparkle and the drill of mystic rays was still too much a burden for him.

But according to the reminder on the light beam, the specifications of Sparkle right now was only 9% of its limits!

However, Li Yao was already at his limits!

“Hiss!”

Li Yao raised his head and chugged another dose of strengthening drug that had been mixed with Flowing Brightness Crystal. Real flames seemed to be surging out of Li Yao’s body. The temperature of the cockpit increased by more than five degrees.

Ding Lingdang and the rest of the teammates seemed able to hear the cells inside Li Yao’s body exploding one after another.

“Move forward, Sparkle!”

Li Yao smashed his fists down. Countless telepathic thoughts were let loose from the depths of his brain. The data and information on the light beams in front of him were altering at an unbelievable speed, while figures and runes were dancing crazily!

After a hum, the cockpit shivered. The four of them could feel that the floor had turned into a slope.

Sparkle was perforating the rocks and moving forward and upward!

“We made it!”

“The drill of mystic rays is working well. Two power rune arrays are too hot. Activate the cooling units right now!

“We detected a ‘Black Gold Rock’ area that is extremely solid ahead of us. Resetting the route and bypassing it!

“Maintain the current speed. Pay attention to the spiritual energy supply of the drill! We must keep it stable!

“Forward! Forward! Forward!”

Finally—

After half an hour of thrilling drilling, everyone suddenly felt that their body was light, because the obstruction blocking them was gone.

The seabed that had just been stabilized for a while sprayed out a lot of mud at first. Then countless scattered stones jetted up like a volcanic eruption, forming countless furious swirls of stones.

BOOM!

Like a hidden dragon in an abyss which broke free from the manacles, seals, and barriers that had been constraining it for a lifetime, Sparkle jumped out from the bottom of the ocean and soared into the sky!

…

Dozens of kilometers away, above the undersea town of Skeleton Dragon, savaging spiritual energy formed countless swirls and turbulences.

A group of Cultivators and a group of demons were confronting each other.

There were only eight Cultivators, in crystal suits that were ragged, riddled with holes, and ready to be shattered. They were like the anxious animals that had fallen into a trap.

They were surrounded by forty demons, most of whom were reining biochemical beasts.

Some of the biochemical beasts were more than ten meters long with bizarre, hideous appearances, further reinforcing the desperation and helplessness of the Cultivators.

Although some of the demons were obviously injured, the few elite demons at the edge of the circle were totally fine. They were clearly on the winning side.

The situation was extremely unfavorable for the Cultivators.

Large areas of blood were floating in the seawater nearby. The dead bodies of two Cultivators and more than ten demons and their broken limbs were the best interpreters of the gory battle.

Yan Jun, captain of Team Thunder Soul, the best Star Team in Occult Orbs Fellowship, was breathing heavily. His skin was sweltering as if it were being scorched, but his eyes were as indifferent as ice.

However, there was a hint of fury and vulnerability in the depths of the frozen eyes, leaking the nervousness in his heart.

“Captain, this is a trap!

“We only launched an attack because we thought that the demons had opened Skeleton Dragon’s residence recklessly and suffered tremendous losses because they triggered the barriers inside.

“But as it turned out, they didn’t open the residence at all. The dead bodies we saw were all faked just in order to fool us!

“Wang Ji, prince of the Kingdom of Lion Butchers; Yu Liekong, young master of Castle Grey Falcon; Chi Mingzhu, young leader of Jade Cicada Island… As well-known elite demons on the Deadly Demons List, they are all beyond the high level of demon general and are very close to the level of demon king!

“More than half of the two teams have detonated our spiritual seeds. But the defense ability of the weird biochemical beasts is inconceivable. Only less than twenty of the demons have been killed!

“We are too outnumbered. They can simply swarm and crush us!”

The members of Team Thunder Soul were exclaiming in the communication channel.

Yan Jun was speechless. The scar on his left eye was bouncing and almost torn apart by his fury.

But faced with the siege of dozens of demons, there was nothing he could do except gnash his teeth.

The proud Child of Occult Orbs, the strongest Cultivator in the Occult Orbs Fellowship that never admitted failure, was finally grabbed by desperation!

Chapter 424: Begin the Slaughter!

Sensing the declining fighting will on the Cultivators’ side, the demons grew more and more excited.

“The strongest Star Teams of Occult Orbs Fellowship, and the eminent Children of Occult Orbs including Yan Jun, have been all fished up by this prince!

“Hahahaha. Such tremendous credits, such remarkable achievements. Fabulous. It is indeed fabulous!

“Wait until I tear all the Cultivators into pieces and receive the heritage of the great demon from thirty thousand years ago in the residence of Skeleton Dragon.

“By then, I will be the strongest of the younger generation in the Blood Demon Sector.

“Not just the Kingdom of Lion Butchers, the few demon kingdoms, demon valleys, and demon islands nearby will all have to listen to my command!

“If I’m lucky enough to accept the true enlightenment of Skeleton Dragon in his residence, Elder Blood Robe and the rest of the old farts will be nothing at all!

“Today, I bow to you in courtesy; tomorrow, I will be the ruler of the entire Blood Demon Sector. Those pretentious demon emperors will be my dogs. Haha. Hahahaha!”

Wang Ji burst out in laughter. The biochemical beast in the form of black mantis twitched accordingly. Its bone tail suddenly slashed forward like a guillotine that had been dropped down.

“Kill ’em all!

“After all the Cultivators are cleared, we will open the residence and excavate the treasures of Skeleton Dragon!”

Stimulated by his words, the auras of the demons became multiple times more bloodthirsty than before. Their biochemical beasts expanded in size, while vicious laughter and screams resounded in them.

The undersea would become a hell. The slaughter would begin in five seconds!

Right then—

Twenty kilometers away, the seawater was boiling, and the undercurrent was surging. Sparkle was marching forward at the top speed like a silent killer whale, followed by a brilliant dragon of water that was several kilometers long.

Sitting in the captain’s seat, Li Yao was fully concentrating. The spiritual waves and the dancing electric arcs made his messy hair all stand up. Deep purple brightness mixed with cruelness was beaming out of his eyes, too.

The other four Orb Patrollers, including Ding Lingdang, had been armed to the teeth with the brand-new, fully-upgraded crystal suits, waiting in the assault cabin ready to act.

Li Yao’s telepathic thoughts were extended into the mainframe crystal processor and projected to tens of kilometers away with the enhancement of the probe magical equipment. The battlefield above the undersea town was scanned clearly by him.

“Excellent. Skeleton Dragon’s residence hasn’t been opened yet!

“We’ve come right in time!

“Two star teams are fighting the demons. They seem to be besieged and in a terrible situation!”

Li Yao scowled. The killing scent inside his eyes was savaging like a cold front.

“The Rogue Meteorite, lock! lock! lock!”

In the attack magical equipment platform protruding in the front of Sparkle, an asterisk-shaped hollow was opened, spitting countless bubbles.

Then, a dominating Six-barreled Revolving Crystal Cannon was pushed out straightforwardly.

In the bottoms of the six barrels, a small ball of light appeared at the same time. They were wreathed in dazzling electric arcs and expanding constantly in crazy revolutions. Very soon, they were even bigger than a skull.

The raging seawater was vaporized momentarily into countless bubbles, which floated to the surface of the ocean like a series of balloons.

The probe magical equipment of Sparkle was activated to its maximum. Countless streams of information were fed back. The outlines and positions of the dozens of demons immediately appeared inside Li Yao’s brain.

Possible trajectories, weapon specifications, dodging odds, best shooting routes, and other information popped up, which were analyzed and combined with his amazing computational ability.

“Super Perceptive State. Brain cell activity, 300%!”

Li Yao squinted to the extent that his eyes became two narrow lines. But the surging brightness inside the two narrow lines were like two Milky Ways. He had entered the Super Perceptive State!

Within three seconds, he had calculated the best shooting trajectory and attack plan.

More than ten targets were locked onto by him at the same time.

“Nasty pests, embrace your death!”

Li Yao smiled cruelly. His lips curled, revealing his sharp teeth, while he issued the decree!

The Rogue Meteorite was driven by five Flowing Brightness Crystals in total. It was an unprecedented expenditure in the history of the Heaven’s Origin Sector!

Spurred by such a crazy amount of spiritual energy, the Rogue Meteorite was reloaded very soon. It had far exceeded the standard of the cannon and was bordering on the limits of the components inside.

In the reminder light beam of the mainframe crystal processor, the holograph representing the Rogue Meteorite had become dangerously red, indicating that the magical equipment had been filled with too much spiritual energy and that it could turn into a total wreck at any moment because of the plummeting stability if it was kept in the state for too long.

Li Yao was yearning to kill too much to bother with any of that. He opened his palm and waved it in the air as if it were a saber, while his telepathic thoughts crowded into the triggering rune arrays and exploded there.

“Now begins the slaughter!”

The Rouge Meteorite was activated!

Sparkle trembled violently. Tremendous spiritual waves that were the recoil of the attack crashed toward the back of the warship. The force was so immense that even the hundreds of light beams that the mainframe crystal processor displayed were blinking.

At the same time, ten light balls that were nearly transparent slid out of the crystal barrels. The countless airy electric arcs and runes contained in them were pushing them forward glamorously and crazily. The obstruction of the seawater seemed to be nonexistent, because they surpassed three times the speed of sound instantly and roared toward their respective targets some twenty kilometers way!

The first batch of light balls had barely been shot out when new brightness was brewing at the bottom of the crystal barrels. Half a second later, the new batch of light balls were already as large as tires and were fired again!

In ten seconds, more than a hundred light balls had constituted a turbulence of destruction in the depths of the silver ocean like a shoal of glittering fish.

…

At three times the speed of sound, the distance in between was covered in no time.

The demons who didn’t know what was coming were still wearing cruel and malicious smiles, yet their hearts were suddenly grabbed by freezing coldness at the same time.

All the demons couldn’t help but shiver.

Some high-level demon generals who were relatively stronger had already started dodging or preparing defenses due to their natural instincts, although their consciousness was not able to react yet.

Many of the demons were princes of a kingdom or young masters of the demon congregations in the Blood Demon Sector. They’d all come from noble backgrounds and carried a lot of life-saving treasures with them. Now, many of the treasures were automatically triggered, some forming protective halos or blood fog around them and some stimulating their nerves directly to increase their speed by multiple times instantly!

However, the efforts of the treasures proved in vain faced with a Rogue Meteorite from the Star Ocean Imperium!

“Incoming attack!”

“There are still more ambushes. Not good! Not good!”

The demons, who had thought themselves to be sure winners a moment ago, all freaked out in panic upon sensing that a catastrophic attack beyond their imagination was coming at them.

“Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!”

There was no need for Wang Ji to issue any command. All the demons dispersed and fled in various directions!

“You want to get away from my locking? Not that easy!

“Today, you are all going to die!”

Li Yao’s eyes were like ice pitons. The brightness beaming out from them crossed more than ten kilometers and pinned the escaping demons on the light beam one by one.

At this time, the six light balls that were fired in the beginning had reached the battlefield. But instead of attacking any demons, they simply stopped on the different directions of the battlefield.

Triggered by his telepathic thought, the six light balls exploded abruptly, raising chaotic waves and thousands of streams of brightness that darted toward the demons like a storm of arrows.

The demons who were running away crazily were either pushed back by the blast or blocked by the storm of brightness.

The six light balls had gridlocked the routes of escape for most demons!

“Explode! Explode! Explode!”

The ice pitons in Li Yao’s eyes suddenly exploded into thousands of stars, all of which were burning furiously, dying his eyes into passionate crimson!

The light balls that followed rushed into the crowd of the demons in the blink of an eye and exploded one after another. Thousands of streams of brightness interweaved into a giant net and countless splendid arrows rained down upon the demons ruthlessly.

“Nooooo!” a high-level demon general reining a biochemical beast in the form of a giant crab cried desperately. Hit precisely by one of the light balls, the seemingly solid bright gold shell was as vulnerable as crust. A hole more than one meter in diameter appeared on the abdomen of the biochemical beast.

The upper body of the high-level demon generals that had been hiding inside was blown into a bloody mist immediately. The despairing screams came to an abrupt end.

“Ahhhhh!”

A high-level demon general controlling a biochemical beast in the form of a seven-starred sea snake was dodging swiftly through the gaps of the giant net, only to be swept over by a stream of brightness. As if it had been slashed by the sharpest blade in the universe, the seven-starred sea snake was cut in half down the middle, resulting in its plunging speed. It was soon hit by the arrows and rendered into a sieve together with the demon residing inside.

“What is this magical equipment and why is it so formidable?”

“Has some Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator arrived in person?”

“Ah damn. My heart has been blown up. Five seconds until I die!”

“My lower half—my lower half body is gone! It has been wrecked! Help me! I’m too valuable to die in this place!”

“Yu Liekong, young master of Castle Grey Falcon, has been shot in the head! Deceased!”

“Chi Mingzhu, young leader of Jade Cicada Island, has lost his four arms. His upper body has been deformed, too. He won’t last long!”

“Wang Ji! Wang Ji!”

“It was you who said that this is a risk-free, fatal trap, and that as long as we took down the two Star Teams, we would be able to open Skeleton Dragon’s residence with nobody messing around.

“But why are we being butchered like pigs? Why?!

“Who is it that is attacking us? Who is it?!”

The remaining demons had lost all formations; they were fleeing and struggling under the barrage of the rain of arrows. Now and then, a demon would be captured by the arrows and, after a brief moment of the blood-stirring noise of fleshing being minced, die on the spot!

Colorful mists of blood were slowly drifting above the undersea town.

Cries, screams, heavy breaths, and callous berating drowned Wang Ji.

Wang Ji was completely lost and had no idea what had happened. He was biting his teeth so hard that they were cracking, but he failed to utter any words, just like Yan Jun a moment ago.

Controlling the black biochemical beast, Wang Ji was dodging hastily in the middle of the arrows. But his mind was a mess, and he was about to burst out a cry.

“How? How did everything come to this?

“My assumption can’t be wrong. The Heaven’s Origin Sector is absolutely incapable of projecting so many Core Formation Stage Cultivators and Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators to Boneyard!

“If they were going to teleport the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, there would be no need to plant the spiritual seeds into the bodies of those Building Foundation Stage Cultivators in the first place!

“I was so close to victory. Again!

“Who is it that sabotaged my business? I’m going to cut out your living guts!”

While Wang Ji was rushing here and there in hatred and confusion, a starship that looked like a ferocious dragon from the abyss suddenly dashed out from the depths of the ocean!

“This is—”

Wang Ji pupils shrank to the size of needles. Every one of his nerve endings was twitching uncontrollably, because he couldn’t believe his eyes!