Forty Millenniums of Cultivation - Chapter 525

Chapter 525: New Scheme

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Huangpu Xiaoya was truly shocked. She blurted, “What kind of good man are you?”

Li Yao blinked and remarked, “Our society is witnessing dishonesty and moral decline nowadays. There are too many bad people in the sea of stars who are all surreptitious and unscrupulous. How can good people defeat them without being a hundred times more unscrupulous than them?

“Therefore, you may consider me an unscrupulous good man. That will be enough.

“I’m talking to you because I want to ask you something. Are you capable of steering a ‘Wild Butterfly VII’ escape capsule?”

An ‘Ox-level’ carrier would usually bring two midsize escape capsules and more than ten small-scale escape capsules. The small-scale escape capsules were, in fact, shuttles that could cruise in the vacuum and boasted certain self-circulation technologies.

Li Yao had discovered during his maintenance work yesterday that the small-scale escape capsules deployed on this particular carrier were Wild Butterfly VIIs.

Such escape capsules were modified from armed shuttles. Each of them could accommodate three passengers and drift through space for more than a month. Their speed and agility were also very satisfactory. Except that their working time was relatively short, there were no significant drawbacks to them.

It seemed that the Immortal Cultivators were worried that Cultivators might be chasing after them. Therefore, they had brought the best escape capsules with them.

“Unscrupulous good man…”

Huangpu Xiaoya was somewhat lost. She nodded subconsciously. “Yes, of course. Why did you ask that? Did you kill all of them? Isn’t your combat ability in the beginning level of the Building Foundation Stage? How did you slay Black Stone and White Dow? If you are really a good man, why are you still keeping my barriers?”

Li Yao turned around and started decorating the warehouse. He dragged the dead bodies to appropriate location first. Then, he retrieved a lot of crystal bombs from his Cosmos Ring.

As a lunatic bomber, these crystal bombs had been prepared long ago and stored inside his Cosmos Ring in case he ever needed. But since Su Jiuzhen had been watching him closely after he got on board, he’d never had the opportunity to access his Cosmos Ring.

Right now, he was finally free to set them up the way he wanted.

While working busily, Li Yao explained, “I cannot set you free right now. If I do, the other people will grow suspicious. Just stay inside for a while longer. Wait until we are engaged with Fengyu Zhong and the Great Horn Exo Society tomorrow.”

Huangpu Xiaoya bulged her eyes and exclaimed in shocked, “What? You are going to ask for Fengyu Zhong’s trouble and reunite with the Great Horn Exo Society?

“Don’t be silly!

“Even if you are strong enough to take down all the enemies here, so what?

“The Great Horn Exo Society is surrounded by at least five ships on which there are not only savage space pirates but also a lot of other mysterious Immortal Cultivators!

“Not to mention that Fengyu Zhong himself is a Cultivator in the middle level, if not high level, of the Core Formation Stage!

“Are you expecting to fight all of them alone? What difference does it make for the outcome of the battle?

“Moreover, do you think that the crew members on this carrier are blind? They will simply ignore the murders here and listen to your command nicely?

“Maybe you are capable of slaying them all, but then what? Without a map, how can you locate Storm Prison in the vast sea of stars?

“Even if you miraculously find it, do you think that they don’t have secure words or other safety measures? I’m afraid that you will be bombarded before you even draw close!

“What—what are you thinking exactly?”

Li Yao was not moved. He was as busy as bee for almost twenty minutes and finally finished all the decoration. He dragged whatever was left of Huangpu Shiyi into the anti-explosion room that Black Stone and White Dew were in, before he kicked him to a corner and set the defense rune arrays at the highest level.

“Shua!”

Seven layers of gold shields immediately appeared outside of the anti-explosion room.

“You said something this morning that I like very much.”

Li Yao narrowed his eyes and looked outside, as he calculated the locations, angles, and after effects of the explosions that were going to take place. He said softly, “Even if this universe is truly nothing more than a brutal, bloody, shadowy forest, we Cultivators will burn all that we have just to give off a single weak flickering spark in the darkness!

“No matter how weak each spark is, how short-lived, how small… As long as the sparks flow unabated, then one day, one of those sparks will light some tinder, and that tinder shall light some fallen branches, and those branches shall set ablaze each and every last tree of the forest!

“In the end, even the smallest sparks will eventually ignite the shadowy forest and illuminate the whole world!

“Even if the odds are only one billionth, I will still summon ten thousand percent of my courage to bring about the fire!

BOOM!

With a telepathic thought, crystal bombs that had been planted in various locations of the warehouse were triggered at the same time. A series of earsplitting explosions echoed nonstop.

Although she was inside the anti-explosion room, Huangpu Xiaoya still felt that her head was dizzy, and her hearing was temporarily lost.

Huangpu Xiaoya’s heart was beating fast.

She had said those exact words in the morning. But it felt totally different when they were spoken from Li Yao’s mouth with a low, coarse, male voice.

Her declaration sounded groundless and just something to cheer herself up in her desperation.

However, when Li Yao spoke them, she somewhat felt that he was really going to make it. It was really possible that they could illuminate the entire universe!

“What—what is he exactly?”

Li Yao’s outline was the only thing distinguishable in the darkness.

Looking at the outline, Huangpu Xiaoya was somewhat startled.

A moment later, when the fire triggered by the explosion was still sabotaging the warehouse, Li Yao dashed out.

He checked the dead bodies first. They had all been blown to pieces. Nobody would be able to tell the cause of their death without examining them carefully.

He then picked up a battle saber that had almost been melted and carried it on his shoulder. He also collected much dust and ash by the way and dyed his face grey. At last, he strode to a corner, opened the alarm on the wall and smashed it!

Alarms were ringing all over the carrier.

Three minutes later, urgent knocking sounded from the gate of the warehouse.

Taking a deep breath, Li Yao took out another crystal bomb. He weighed it and put it next to himself. Then, he gritted his teeth and triggered it!

BOOM!

He was immediately enveloped in real flames. Half of his body was burning furiously!

“Ah!”

Huangpu Xiaoya cried in shock. She had never seen anybody brutal enough to bomb themself before!

What—what was he going to do?

After a grunt, Li Yao staggered to the gate with his body on fire and opened it, summoning the last bit of his strength!

Immortal Cultivators were crammed on the doorstep. They were all crew members of the carrier. Most of them were not battle-type Immortal Cultivators. They were merely in charge of piloting the starship and analyzing the sailing route.

They were all astounded by the ghastly scene inside the warehouse.

“Ah!”

Li Yao screamed nonstop and rolled on the ground in front of them.

“Hurry up and put out the fire!” yelled the captain of the carrier.

A moment later, clusters of icy fog were sprayed at Li Yao, which soon suppressed the flames over his body.

At first glance, Li Yao was already half cooked. Half of his face was burnt and blackened. He couldn’t look more awful.

“What happened? Was there something wrong with the crystal bombs they refined?”

The captain’s head was in a mess. He was well aware of the match between Huangpu Shiyi and Li Yao. However, the two of them were both experienced experts of refining. A lot of safety measures had also been implemented inside the warehouse. There shouldn’t have been any accident at all!

Judging from the damage of the warehouse, it must have been a result of a serial explosion with dozens of bombs!

“It was not a mistake. It was on purpose! It was betrayal!”

Li Yao shouted desperately, “Huangpu Shiyi betrayed the Temple of Immortals. He installed so many bombs on purpose in order to blow all of us up!”

All the crew members were dumbfounded.

The captain was even more shocked. He took a step back subconsciously and gripped the saber hanging on his waist, while he said resolutely, “That’s impossible! Master Huangpu has always been loyal to the Temple of Immortals during his years of service. He has long made up his mind to walk on the path of immortality. There is no way that he would defect from our cause! What has happened? Speak now!”

“Ouch—ouch!”

Li Yao grimaced and cried, “How would I know what happened? Half way through the competition between Huangpu Shiyi and I, an intense explosion suddenly took place. A sharp-jawed old man was blown out of thin air!

“Then, the heavily wounded old man accused Huangpu Shiyi furiously, saying that he was deceiving our organization for his own good!

“After I listened for a long time, I basically figured out the whole story—

“Huangpu Shiyi had brought everyone out ostensibly for the purpose of recruiting new members for our organization. Huangpu Xiaoya was one of the candidates.

“But in fact, what he wanted was merely Huangpu Xiaoya’s hands. He was simply hoping to get himself a new pair of hands!

“This trip cost the organization tremendous resources, but it turned out to be for his own benefits, which he had not explained earlier. It was strictly forbidden in our organization!

“But for some reason, the sharp-jawed old man discovered his secret!

“The two of them seemed to have made a certain clandestine deal. The old man covered it up for Huangpu Shiyi, and Huangpu Shiyi was to give him something in return.

“But as it turned out, Huangpu Shiyi was merely tricking and stalling him. He was actually making other plans to shut the old man’s mouth once and forever!

“However, the old man was more vigilante than Huangpu Shiyi had expected. This explosion did not kill him but only heavily wounded him!

“In fury and embarrassment, the old man told everybody present what happened. He also said that Huangpu Shiyi was doomed for sure! When they returned to the headquarters and met the Lotus King, the Lotus King would make him beg to be executed!

“Huangpu Shiyi turned extremely terrifying when he heard that. He burst into laughter and said that, if he was doomed, he could use some company on his way to hell!

“In the end, I couldn’t see anything for a moment. When I was back to myself again, everything had already become as it is right now.”

Chapter 526: Scaring Everyone

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Li Yao’s words raised a riot among the crew members.

The captain’s face was gloomy, but he wasn’t holding his saber as tightly as before.

In fact, he had found this recruiting mission somewhat weird long ago.

The Temple of Immortals had lurked in the shadows of the Flying Star Sector for many years. It had a standard procedure with a success rate was quite satisfactory when it came to converting Cultivators.

But this time, to recruit such an important figure like Huangpu Xiaoya, the entire process had been quite hurried.

Also, the fact that Huangpu Shiyi was in a hurry to chop off Huangpu Xiaoya’s hands and take them as him own was also clear to the captain as well as the leadership of the starship.

The captain had been doubting him for a while, but he had chosen to not interfere with the renowned refiner and did not think too much of it.

However, hearing Li Yao’s words, he thought through the whole thing and realized that it was probably true that Huangpu Shiyi was taking advantage of the organization’s resources for his own good.

But even so, was it really enough to cause internal strife?

The captain was well aware that Su Jiuzhen was very smart and loyal to the Lotus King. Blackmailing Huangpu Shiyi did not seem something that he would do.

Also, the serial explosion was so powerful that everyone was blown up?

This accident reeked of suspicion.

At this moment, one of the crew members who had gone in to check on the situation yelled, “Captain, Master Huangpu is still alive!”

Li Yao paused and took a moment of rest, before he continued. “That sharp-jawed old man beat Huangpu Shiyi to the ground, but Huangpu Shiyi was not killed.

“As far as I can see, the medical equipment on board is not enough to cure him. We need to get back to Fengyu Zhong as soon as possible and treat him with the medical facilities on a large warship. You can interrogate him then, and you will know that I’m telling the truth!”

The captain squinted and hesitated. “This is only your side of the story. There is not enough evidence at all…”

“That’s why I said that we must find Fengyu Zhong and treat Huangpu Shiyi in a proper medical facility!”

Li Yao was irked, his fingers trembling and pointing at his blackened body and face, while he cried, “Just look at what the explosion has done to me. Am I feigning all my wounds?”

The captain was a considerate man. He still felt that there was something wrong about the situation. Pondering for a moment, he shook his head and said, “I’m not saying that you are lying. However, the accident does carry a lot of suspicious points. Maybe there is still some backstory that neither of us know about. I suggest we drop anchor for a couple of days and give preliminary treatment to Huangpu Shiyi with whatever we have on board first.

“What’s his status now? Huh, all his bones are broken? Then, in a couple of days, some of his bones can definitely be recovered. He will be able to transmit some information out by then!

“If there is nothing wrong with what you’ve said, we can go and catch up with Fengyu Zhong by then. We won’t be late.”

“That’s not good enough. We will be in too much of a hurry.

“Why don’t I brief everything that happened here to Fengyu Zhong and ask him to decide? It will all be fixed.”

Li Yao stared at the captain for a long time, before he suddenly burst into fury and lunged at the captain, waving his saber. He shouted like a wild animal, “I joined the Temple of Immortals at the risk of being hunted by Cultivators. I haven’t gotten any benefits yet, but I have nearly been blown to pieces, and you motherfu*ckers are doubting me!”

The saber was slashed forward, the aura of the blade raging.

The captain was an admin-type Immortal Cultivator; there was no way that he could resist such an insane attack.

His big head soared into the air. Blood was springing from his neck. He did not put on a shocked expression until his head fell to the ground.

“He—he has murdered the captain!”

All the crew members nearby were soaked in the shower of blood. They were all astounded and intimidated. Retreating, they looked at Li Yao fearfully. Many of them had taken out their aggressive magical equipment.

Li Yao waved the saber to clean the blood stain on it. He was wreathed in an extremely furious vibe that belonged to a Cultivator in the high level of the Building Foundation Stage. With a hideous face, he pointed his fingers at the crew members and yelled, “Where is vice-captain? Come and talk to me!”

Many of the experts on the carrier had been killed by Li Yao’s ‘Crystal Suit Killer’ in the faked ambush of the Furious Bears Union.

Just now, a lot of them had been blown up in the warehouse, too.

Almost all the best experts and the leadership had been executed. Even the captain had died. The remaining crew members were merely small fries.

Everyone looked at one another in bewilderment, not having the first clue what was on Li Yao’s mind and whether he was a friend or a foe. However, there was one thing that they were sure about: they were definitely no match for this coldblooded butcher.

For a moment, the two parties reached an impasse.

Li Yao was more than angry. He threw his saber to the floor and pointed at everyone’s noses, yelling, “Are you all idiots? If I was lying just now and it was in fact me who slayed everyone inside the warehouse, why wouldn’t I clean up all of you once and for all now that I have taken care of the captain?

“If I really was capable enough of finishing Black Stone and White Dew, which of you could possibly resist one of my strikes?

“Useless! Totally useless! How exactly were you trained in the Temple of Immortals? I’m really regretting my choice now!”

The crew members blinked and thought about his words; it made sense. If Li Yao was really an enemy who had slayed Black Stone, White Dew, Huangpu Shiyi, and even Su Jiuzhen, did he have any reason to keep them alive?

It was completely illogical!

Within a moment, a stout, meatball-like man ran close, breathing heavily.

The headless corpse of his captain made him exclaim in shock, anxious.

As a carrier without sufficient firepower, this starship ranked relatively low even in the Temple of Immortals. The captain and vice-captain were naturally not the best experts.

In fact, the vice-captain was merely an admin-type Immortal Cultivator in the beginning level of the Building Foundation Stage. Such a tricky situation had already soaked him in greasy sweat.

“Are you the vice-captain? Do you know who I am?” demanded Li Yao coldly, whose gloom and anger swallowed the vice-captain instantly.

The right half of his face was black and red, with steam popping up nonstop. He couldn’t have looked more terrifying. Together with his fury, which seemed to constantly be on the verge of erupting again, the vice-captain was petrified. His legs shaking, he stammered, “Ma—Master Li Yao!”

Of course he knew who Li Yao was.

He had witnessed Li Yao’s crazy performance in the Skyhill Sword Seminar in person. He was so astonished that his jaw nearly dropped the ground.

How could he not know such a lunatic who could carve a crystal chip with supersonic hands?

Besides, since Li Yao had been involved in the maintenance work of the starship, his loyalty must’ve passed the test without any problems.

Li Yao sniffed and looked at the vice-captain down his nose. The aura around him was surging like a volcanic eruption as he did not hide the immensity of the spiritual energy of a Cultivator in the high level of the Building Foundation Stage at all. He bellowed, “My Cultivation in the arts of refining has reached the high level of the Building Foundation Stage! When I eat well and sleep well, it can even soar to the peak of the Building Foundation Stage! I’m an unparalleled genius and totally different from you useless craps!

“Right now, I am the one with the highest Cultivation on board, am I not? If so, you will all listen to my commands from now on!

“Hehe. So many people have been killed in the accident. Even Huangpu Shiyi has become a disabled man. How many proficient refiners does the Lotus King still have right now?

“Tell you what, when I return to the headquarters of the Temple of Immortals, I will definitely be appreciated by the Lotus King, and I will advance into the Core Formation Stage within several years!

“I may have wrongly killed the captain of a carrier in a spur of the moment, but so what? Listen to me carefully, losers. Right now, my wounds are aching, and I’m not in my best mood. Whoever pisses me off again, I’m going to kill!”

As if a cold front just blew through the pathway, the air was almost frozen. Everyone quivered uncontrollably.

Li Yao was not wrong. With his expertise in the arts of refining, if he became a member of the Temple of Immortals, he would definitely become an important figure in the organization.

Besides, different from other professions, it was particularly easy for refiners to make friends with or seek protection from other experts.

Li Yao was adept at refining sabers. Quite a few experts under the Lotus King’s command used sabers as their weapons. If Li Yao spent some time crafting several incomparable sabers for them, he would definitely gain their fondness. Within several months, he would find a lot of connections in the organization and become a powerful, influential man!

The vice-captain and crew members were at the bottom of the hierarchy. Could they afford to mess around with such an irritated and deadly person?

Judging from the arrogance and narrowmindedness of the man, even if he did not slay them right on the spot, there would definitely be reprisals later.

Stared at by Li Yao’s ominous eyes for more than half a minute, the vice-captain finally couldn’t bear it any longer and asked hesitatingly, “What do you want?”

Li Yao gnashed his teeth. “What do I want? I want to meet Fengyu Zhong as quickly as possible! Also, toss Huangpu Shiyi into the med bay. As long as he is kept alive, it will be fine. When we meet Fengyu Zhong, we can deliver him and see how to treat him!”

The vice-captain was relieved. Li Yao’s demands were not outrageous. He was hoping to catch up to Fengyu Zhong as soon as possible, too, so that he could be rid of the hot potato. Therefore, he quickly nodded and replied, “Alright. We’ll go at full speed and join Fengyu Zhong!”

“Excellent!”

Li Yao strode forward without looking at him and commanded, “I need several doctors to give me simple treatment. Be quick. I have other things to do.”

The vice-captain was dazed. He asked, “What things?”

Li Yao glared at him and raised his voice. “Perform a full examination on the carrier, of course!

“Huangpu Shiyi is a crazy man who used to be the strongest refiner on the carrier. He had in his possession the structural design of the entire starship. Who knows how many crystal bombs he has planted since he was seized by desperation?

“Thankfully, he was already beaten to the brink of death before he had the chance to trigger all the bombs. Otherwise, all of us would’ve been burnt to ash and become dust in the sea of stars!

“Bring me the detailed structural design of the starship. I’ve been training with the old bastard for a couple of days and know a thing or two about the style of his crystal bombs. Within half a day, I’m going to find out all the treasures that he hid in the corners of the starship!

“What are you waiting for? Hurry and move out! If Huangpu Shiyi has installed time bombs on the starship, which could be detonated automatically in, say, thirty minutes, we will all be screwed!”

Chapter 527: Bleeding Space

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

After all the crew members had been dismissed and the vice-captain had returned to the cockpit, having been scolded, Li Yao finally heaved a long sigh of relief with his eyes half closed.

He knew that he had won the gamble, for now.

He was not worried that the vice-captain and the crew members would question his words. After all, his capability was higher than anybody else’s, and he was apparently so infuriated that he was going to kill everyone who disobeyed him.

Driven by their survival instincts, they could only believe him to be a real Immortal Cultivator in order to get a chance of escape, however illusionary it was.

The only thing that had concerned Li Yao was that, if there was a surveillance system inside the warehouse, the cockpit would have been able to see what was happening there via the crystal cameras instantly. Then, his carefully composed story would have been seen through before it had even been told.

But the odds were very low.

The warehouse was the place where Huangpu Shiyi refined his crystal bombs. Crystal bombs were what he was best at. It was very possible that many confidential techniques were employed during the refining, and the structure, formula, and the ratio of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures in many crystal bombs were top secrets.

As a refiner himself, Li Yao was well aware of the taboo when refiners were doing their work. They often hated the spying of other people when they were busy creating magical equipment.

The Skyhill Sword Seminar was a competition for young refiners below the age of forty, and it was already the most professional contest of refining in the Flying Star Sector.

One of the biggest reasons was that the famous, experienced refiners above the age of forty who had more expertise were not willing to expose their best skills in front of everyone.

Communication on the Spiritual Nexus was one thing, but showing their true skills in the real world was another. Even the most open-minded refiners were possibly keeping several secret arts to themselves. It was completely reasonable.

Moreover, Huangpu Shiyi was not a simple Cultivator but a selfish Immortal Cultivator. How could he risk his personal techniques being leaked?

If footage of him refining crystal bombs was copied and sent to other refiners in the Temple of Immortals, they were very likely to extrapolate Huangpu Shiyi’s best techniques from said footage!

Therefore, Li Yao estimated that, even if there was a surveillance system inside the warehouse, the picture would only be sent to Huangpu Shiyi’s own crystal processor. Other people would have no access to it at all.

That was why he was bold enough to tell such a blatant lie.

At the moment his estimation proved to be correct, Li Yao was greatly relieved. But soon after, he grunted, with dark colors appearing on his face.

The curse that the sharp-jawed old man created after his death was raging and sabotaging Li Yao’s body.

Li Yao bit his teeth so hard that they were almost cracking. Cold sweat was dripping off his forehead. He felt that nine black snakes were tearing apart and devouring his veins and nerves. Thousands of arrows seemed to be piercing through his heart, and he couldn’t be more agonized.

Li Yao had opened his brain on purpose several times, hoping to attract the nine snakes into his head and deal with them by utilizing Ou Yezi’s enormous soul power.

However, the curse seemed to be a living thing and had a strong sense of danger. The snakes wandered at the edge of his brain and, sensing the threat there, returned to his limbs and internal organs without any hesitation, continuing their havoc.

Thankfully, Li Yao had inherited the spiritual seed of ‘Iron God’ Yan Ba, a body fundamentalist, and had been building up his body with the Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining technique, a secret skill from forty thousand years ago. His body was so sturdy that he could almost be called a half body practitioner. Otherwise, he would have been rolling on the ground due to the excruciating pain.

Black Spider Evil Spirit, death before curse. It was indeed impressive!

Li Yao clenched his fists and punched his own chest and abdomen. His spiritual energy surged out and suppressed the curse temporarily.

He had a lot of work to do next. There was no time to take care of the nasty curse. He could only suppress it temporarily!

After he received the detailed structural design of the entire carrier, Li Yao browsed through it and scrutinized the starship.

When he did ‘find’ a crystal bomb from a gap between two tubes in a certain cabin, which had been timed to explode fifteen minutes later, the vice-captain and the crew members were all perspiring in fear. They completely let go of their wariness and trusted Li Yao.

Li Yao seized the opportunity and took over the authority of the maintenance of the carrier. He sent the remaining refiners on board to unimportant locations for repair work.

Twenty minutes later, feeble fulmination was heard above the cockpit.

The place had just been examined by Li Yao, who had discovered three powerful crystal bombs there.

“Not good. An explosion took place in the telepathic thought transmission chamber. Our telepathic thought rune arrays have been destroyed. We cannot send messages to the outside world now!”

The vice-captain frowned the moment he read the damage report.

Beside him, Li Yao, as the acting manager of maintenance, received the same report. His face was awful, too, as he gnashed his teeth. “Damn Huangpu Shiyi. I never expected him to be so cunning. One of the crystal bombs he hid must’ve escaped my attention!”

Hearing that, the vice-captain immediately comforted him. “Master Li Yao, you’ve discovered so many crystal bombs. It is unavoidable that several of them were overlooked! Without Master Li Yao, the entire cockpit would’ve been blown away, and not just an insignificant telepathic thought transmission chamber!”

Li Yao snorted and continued. “What’s our current status? We cannot send messages to the outside world anymore?”

The vice-captain said, “That’s right. We can receive the telepathic thoughts from Storm Prison, but we cannot send detailed telepathic thought messages over such a long distance against the interferences in the sea of stars.

“However, you don’t have to worry about it, Master Li Yao. We can turn on a sizable light beam around the carrier. By displaying mystic rays in different colors and in different frequencies, we can send out simple messages.

“This is known as semaphore.

“Through specially-made, super-large crystal cameras, other starships can read our signs as long as they know our specific location even though we are tens of thousands of kilometers away from each other.

“But semaphore is usually very simple. It can only describe dozens of specific states we are in.”

Li Yao nodded and asked again, “What are the updates about Fengyu Zhong?”

The vice-captain answered, “We’ve been receiving Storm Prison’s messages nonstop. In a battle half an hour ago, five warships of Storm Prison, including ‘Blood Rain’, the flagship of the pirate gang commanded by Fengyu Zhong himself, have bitten Gold Horn of the Great Horn Exo Society tightly!

“Gold Horn is not fighting alone. Another two warships from Cultivation sects did not return to defend their bases and formed a small fleet together with Gold Horn. They are still trying to resist.

“However, we’ve been long prepared for the assault. After an ambush, one of the hostile warships was basically wrecked, and the other two starships were seriously damaged, too. Their power systems have been greatly undermined. They could neither perform a space jump nor increase their speed; there’s no way that they can run away.

“We have detected abundant telepathic thoughts being sent to various directions. They must be sending distress signals.

“However, the Cultivators who were lurking near them have all been blindsided by our previous strikes and have returned to defend their mother ports or headquarters. In a hurry to return, they wasted a lot of spiritual energy and fuel.

“Even if these Cultivators turn back right now, they’ll have to refill their supplies. It will take at least three days for the first wave of reinforcements to arrive.

“But we will devour the three starships within two days!

“Knowing that they have no alternatives, the Great Horn Exo Society’s last strikes were quite intense. Storm Prison has suffered a lot of damage, too. They are hoping for us to join them as quickly as possible so that Huangpu Shiyi can repair the damaged crystal suits and restore their combat ability with his proficient skills. They also planned for Su Jiuzhen to sneak into the hostile starships and assassinate the important figures with his stealth abilities. He could also have sabotaged the key parts of the starships and destroyed the enemy’s defense from inside!

“However, as it turns out…”

The vice-captain laughed embarrassedly.

Taking a deep breath, Li Yao closed his eyes, his eyeballs flicking from side to side. He nodded and said, “Understood. Huangpu Shiyi may have been disabled, but there’s still me! I can repair crystal suits, too. It will be my show time! How long till we join Fengyu Zhong?”

“Soon. In about ten hours, we will be in touch.”

“In fact, the distance between us is already short enough for us to detect feeble spiritual waves from the picture fed back by super-large crystal cameras. Please have a look, Master Li Yao!”

The vice-captain brought Li Yao to the control panel and pointed at a giant light beam.

Perhaps due to the filtering of the crystal camera, the universe demonstrated in the light beam was vaguely red, as if the stars were all bleeding.

In the deepest part of the universe, weak light spots were breaking out every once in a while, bouncing stubbornly like countless sparks.

“Is that our battlefield?” Dazzling brilliance was shining inside Li Yao’s deep, dark eyes.

The vice-captain grinned. “Yes, and the graveyard for the Great Horn Exo Society!”

Li Yao was even busier in the following six hours.

He wandered about every corner of the carrier, trying his best to search for the possible crystal bombs left by Huangpu Shiyi.

He paid special attention to the critical parts of the carrier, such as the engine compartment, the chamber that stored crystals, and the arsenal, among other places.

He even drove out the staff working inside the cabins many times, claiming that he was going to conduct full examinations on the cabin with his secret arts, which were not to be witnessed by anyone else.

He had just slain the captain. The killing intent on his body had not entirely dispersed. The ordinary crew members, who were in the Refinement Stage at best, did not dare question him at all even though they were somewhat suspicious.

They discussed secretly and reached the conclusion that, since Storm Prison was not far away, Fengyu Zhong would naturally take care of everything when they joined him. Pawns like themselves really should focus on their own business.

Six hours later, Li Yao locked himself inside Huangpu Shiyi’s refining workshop.

He smashed the ant nest and the monkey on the desk and swept the pieces to the ground. Then, he started his own refining work.

Nine and a half hours later, the carrier finally finished its prolonged journey and reached the periphery of the bleeding battlefield!

Chapter 528: Fengyu Zhong’s Senses

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Battles in the sea of stars were not like the wars on the oceans in ancient times, where thousands of cannons were shooting at the same time and smoke and fire were soaring.

The two parties engaged in battle were more like two hunters lurking in the corners of a dark abyss.

They held their breath and skulked about cautiously. They trod lightly, without letting out any sound. They treasured every bit of their strength as if it were their life. They considered every opportunity of attack carefully and wouldn’t act at full strength unless they were absolutely certain.

It was because the sea of stars was too vast a place. A battlefield could easily be thousands of square kilometers. If the two parties were a few hundred kilometers away from each other, it could almost be called a head-on battle.

In such a large battlefield, the damage of any attack launched by the warships would be greatly diminished because of the long distance in between. The enemy could calculate the trajectory of the attack without any trouble, too.

As the spiritual shield technology and the technology of magnetic interference developed, the defense ability of crystal warships became higher than the attack ability. The ‘shield’ was stronger than the ‘spear’.

For an intense bombardment, if it were attack of pure spiritual energy, it could be offset by the spiritual shield of the warship easily, and if it were a real-entity attack like cannonballs, its trajectory could be altered by twisting the magnetic field so that it would only brush past the warship.

In such a battlefield, ten units of resources to launch an attack could be resolved by one unit of resources.

If the crystal warships of the two parties were on a par, the resources they carried would be roughly the same. Those who attacked would only be wasting their resources and committing suicide.

The enemy warships could maximize their spiritual shields and magnetic interference system and wait until the attackers ran out of spiritual energy, ammunitions, and other resources before they launched their deadly counterattack.

Crystal warships in the sea of stars were like herbivores that had extremely solid shells but blunt, clumsy claws.

Only one thing could breach the solid defense of the ‘herbivores’—crystal suits.

Compared to crystal warships, crystal suits were smaller in size and higher in agility. They consumed fewer resources, too.

Invading the enemy’s defensive perimeter with a large number of crystal suits was a game-changer for the attacker.

Crystal warships were usually equipped with air defense cannons. But dealing with crystal suits with air defense cannons was like shooting mosquitoes with snipers. It would often take forty units of resources to hit one crystal suit, which would have merely consumed one unit of recourses.

Even though the crystal suit was damaged, as long as the Exo was not killed instantly, they could be pulled back to their motherships. The Exos could be treated in the med bays, and the crystal suits could be repaired in the workshops. Within ten hours, they could be sent to the frontline again.

The defender had only two endings when faced with such a situation.

If the defender chose not to bother about the large batches of crystal suits attacking them, they would tear open the defense time and time again and sneak into the warships to sabotage the internal systems. When the shell of the warship was destroyed and the activity of the warship was limited, the main gun on the attacker’s warship would bare its fangs and launch its deadliest attack.

If the defender sent most of their resources to the air defense cannons to clear the attacker’s crystal suits, they would still be at the mercy of the attacker when they ran out of their resources in the end.

In the vast sea of stars, when a crystal warship was engaged with crystal suits, these were its only possible endings.

The only exception was that the defender carried a lot of crystal suits, too.

Crystal suits versus crystal suits. They were the critical factors for the wars in the sea of stars.

Crystal suits were the kings in a battle of the cosmic level!

The crystal warships equipped with magnificent cannons were nothing but the supply centers for crystal suits, the bases of rest for Exos, and the vehicles that could perform a long space jump with a great number of crystal suits!

This was a world where crystal suits mattered most.

This was a world where the strongest could rage and roar in the universe with equally strong crystal suits!

Fengyu Zhong was standing inside the cockpit of Blood Rain, the flagship of the fleet. The glass on three sides of the cockpit was translucent, making him seem to be in the middle of the bleeding stars.

The other four crystal warships of Storm Prison and the three hostile crystal warships were all more than a thousand kilometers away from each other. They seemed somewhat lonely, surrounded by bright spiritual shields that looked like dense, solid armor. The main guns of the crystal warships were silent, as if they were bystanders of the battle nearby.

In the middle of the bystanders, with the sea of stars as the battlefield, almost a thousand crystal suits were fighting brutally.

Through the special crystal cameras for cosmic wars with super-high resolutions, the picture of the center of the battlefield was magnified and displayed on the light beam. Flowers of flames blossomed silently one after another, each consuming countless Exos and turning them into dust.

Although the light beam was quiet, Fengyu Zhong seemed able to hear the desperate screams, the crazy roars, and the noise of metal and fists colliding.

The sounds made him flush in excitement. He suddenly experienced a shortness of breath.

Although he had witnessed the black tide of death sweeping across the sea of stars countless times, Fengyu Zhong still felt that he was back to when he stabbed a rusty knife into someone else’s heart when he was eleven. The thrill of murder was swirling around in his mind and didn’t die down until a long time later.

This were the seventh large-scale clash over the past three days between the two parties.

The Cultivators finally couldn’t bear it any longer and showed signs of failure. Before they beat the Exos of Storm Prison back, some of them had already retreated into the defenses of the starship.

Including Gold Horn, the crystal warships of the Cultivators barraged crazily and managed to maintain their formation.

However, in the eyes of an experienced hunter such as Fengyu Zhong, such a decision was merely a waste of resources, indicating that they had no better choices.

As long as the war of attrition continued, the enemy’s resources would run out very soon, and barely any crystal suits would be able to be deployed.

By that time, when the final attack was launched, the three starships would be swallowed from skin to bones. There wouldn’t be the slightest trace of them left.

“Finally—”

Taking a deep breath, Fengyu Zhong felt that his growing ambition had puffed up his body, giving him unparalleled pleasure.

Annihilating the Great Horn Exo Society would be a perfect full stop for the battle that marked the rise of the Temple of Immortals from darkness.

Although the Great Horn Exo Society was unimportant per se, the symbolic significance of destroying them could not be underestimated.

Half a month ago, crystal warships from dozens of Cultivation sects, a handful of Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, and abundant Core Formation Stage Cultivators had surrounded the Great Horn Exo Society, partly hoping to ambush Storm Prison and partly to protect the Great Horn Exo Society so that the Exo Society, which had just completed a legendary crusade, was not reprised.

But right now, by the deceptive plans and careful arrangements of the Temple of Immortals, many Cultivation sects had found their homes on fire and had to return to resolve the crisis immediately.

If the Great Horn Exo Society was eventually demolished, the entire world of Cultivators would be disgraced. More Cultivators would inevitably doubt themselves.

“Even three Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators and dozens of Core Formation Stage Cultivators failed to protect the Great Horn Exo Society. Are Cultivators as strong as we thought it to be?”

The self-suspicion was exactly what the Temple of Immortals needed.

On the other hand, Fengyu Zhong needed to establish his authority on Spider Den.

Not all the space pirates on Spider Den were Immortal Cultivators.

Some of the space pirates were better than the rest. But most of them were simply mobs.

The Temple of Immortals had been lurking in darkness for hundreds of years and knew the importance of confidentiality better than anything else. If everybody on Spider Den knew about the existence of such an organization, some of them were definitely going to leak it to the public when they were captured and interrogated by Cultivators.

The Temple of Immortals was not ready to walk in broad daylight yet.

Therefore, the Temple of Immortals were even more prudent when recruiting Immortal Cultivators on Spider Den than converting normal Cultivators.

Only the really brutal, experienced space pirates who had bloody grudges against Cultivators would be in the Temple of Immortals’ eyesight after they were thoroughly investigated in secret.

Most space pirates, including most of the middle- and low-level space pirates of Storm Prison, did not know about the Temple of Immortals at all.

In the foreseeable future, Spider Den would still be the representative that fought against Cultivators on the surface.

Fengyu Zhong had gathered so many space pirates for the mission under the pretext of avenging his only son.

If he went back in disgrace, it would be a great strike to his prestige. He would find it harder to expand his forces on Spider Den in the future.

Therefore, the Great Horn Exo Society had to be destroyed!

Right then, a slender, pale young man walked up to Fengyu Zhong quickly and said in a low voice, “Behemoth-19 has arrived!”

The young man, who looked innocent but was in fact cold-hearted, was his advisor and also a member of the Temple of Immortals.

Fengyu Zhong was refreshed.

After three days of fierce battles, many crystal suits of Storm Prison had been seriously damaged. Behemoth-19, which carried a master of refining and an expert of assassination, had finally arrived to reinforce them. It would be a great help to finish the enemy sooner.

But the advisor had a weird expression. “But Behemoth-19 seems to have had an accident. Their telepathic thought transmission chamber is down, and they can only communicate with us through semaphore. They claim that they suffered tremendous internal explosions in which several important figures, including Huangpu Shiyi, were seriously wounded. They are hoping to dock to Blood Rain and deliver the wounded for better treatment ASAP.”

“Explosions? Huangpu Shiyi was seriously wounded? What happened?” Fengyu Zhong’s eyes immediately narrowed, his nose flapping like that of an old dog that had smelt something wrong.

“Semaphore is just for emergency communication. Detailed information cannot be transferred. They want to be docked first and talk about it later,” replied the advisor.

Deep in thought, Fengyu Zhong looked at the battlefield and said a moment later, “Tell them that Red Lightning has just been upgraded with the most advanced med bays and maintenance equipment. Ask them to dock at Red Lightning! In the meantime, prepare all the main guns and lock onto Behemoth-19. If Behemoth-19 remains on its current trajectory toward us in three minutes, accept its dock request and, when it reaches the best distance for attack, blow it up!”

Red Lightning was the furthest crystal warship away from Blood Rain, the flagship, on the battlefield.

The advisor was dumbfounded. He stammered, “General Feng. But Huangpu Shiyi is still on Behemoth-19!”

Fengyu Zhong smiled vaguely. “If they don’t change their route in three minutes, Huangpu Shiyi is no longer on Behemoth-19!”

Chapter 529: Such a Fool

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

The advisor gasped and mumbled, “Has Behemoth-19 been hijacked? That’s impossible! There was nothing wrong with their authentication tokens!”

Authentication tokens were a special method to determine the status among space pirates. Before their every mission, they would change their authentication tokens and mix them into their messages. Outsiders wouldn’t notice anything abnormal.

Only the space pirates could discover the authentication tokens from the messages and decide whether the messages were sent under coercion or at free will.

Authentication tokens could be included in the semaphore, too.

The authentication tokens of each starship were different. Only the leadership such as the captains and vice-captains knew what they were. Even if other people hijacked the starship and threatened the captain or vice-captain to send out messages, the hostage could mix an authentication token that represented danger into the message before sending it out. The space pirates who received the message would immediately know what to do.

However, the authentication tokens in the semaphore that Behemoth-19 had transmitted were clear and consistent. There was not the slightest error in them.

Fengyu Zhong said coldly, “It is precisely because their authentication tokens were good that I gave him three minutes. Otherwise, I would’ve issued the command to blow it up a moment ago!

“Right, give me a detailed file on Behemoth-19. This is a carrier. There are not any fatal weapons on it, is there?”

The advisor quickly retrieved Behemoth-19’s files from his crystal processor and shook his head. “No. Behemoth-19 is a legal business starship registered under the Thunder Cloud Sect and has been annually examined in its headquarters. To avoid unnecessary suspicion, it was not deeply modified. There are only a few regular crystal cannons on it. Also, since it was carrying out a recruitment mission in the Skyhill Domain, the starship was naturally kept as normal as possible.

“It is just the most ordinary half-armed carrier with barely any firepower.”

Fengyu Zhong pondered for a moment and nodded his head slightly. “That’s good. Ask all the soldiers on Red Lightning to put on their crystal suits and be prepared to fight. When Behemoth-19 is docked, scrutinize everyone on board from inside to outside. Remember, their identity must be a hundred percent confirmed!

“I have every reason to doubt that someone has broken into Behemoth-19 and pretended to be wounded in order to sneak into Blood Rain with the carrier as a platform!

“Ask the soldiers to pay special attention to the wounded!

“Also, when everyone is off the ship, with hygiene as an excuse, flood Behemoth-19 with the deadliest venomous gas and the nerve-paralyzing gas that can make Cultivators lose the ability to summon their soul power. The process will last an entire hour and must not be one second short!

“After that, perform a thorough examination of Behemoth-19. Pluck every toilet and see if someone is hiding inside!”

The advisor stood straight, admiration beaming out of his eyes, as he shouted, “Understood! Wise decision, General Feng! After that, it’s impossible for even a mouse to sneak into our starship through the carrier!”

…

Inside the cockpit of Behemoth-19, Li Yao was somewhat startled. He looked at the crimson light spot that was still very far away on the light beam in a daze and asked, “Say that again?”

The vice-captain of Behemoth-19 said, “We’ve received a reply from Blood Rain. The med bay on it was hit in the battle previously and is still unrepaired. The medical treatment that it could provide is limited. In the meantime, Red Lightning has just been upgraded with the most advanced medical devices and bountiful Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures before the operation. Therefore, we have been asked to dock at Red Lightning instead!”

“Where is Red Lightning?”

“Please take a look at the star map. This is Red Lightning!”

Li Yao’s pupils suddenly shrank to the size of two needles.

Red Lightning was the furthest crystal warship from the flagship, Blood Rain.

Fengyu Zhong was indeed a cunning fox. No wonder he had survived the ambushes of Core Formation Stage Cultivators so many times. His sense of danger was indeed sharp!

What to do now?

Li Yao had originally planned to draw close to Blood Rain with a pretext. As long as the distance between them was short enough, he would be out of the best attack range and even enter the blind angles of the cannons on the starship.

When he was out of the best attack range, even if the cannons were still able to fire, their firepower would be greatly undermined due to the limited time and distance. The spiritual shield on the carrier should be enough to last dozens of seconds.

Within the dozens of seconds, the carrier would accelerate to the maximum speed and crash into Blood Rain brutally!

With the explosion techniques that Huangpu Shiyi had taught him, Li Yao had planted a great number of bombs on every corner of the carrier, especially the engine compartment and the arsenal.

Once the serial explosion was triggered, the carrier would turn into a terrifying super bomb. The flagship would definitely be seriously damaged, if not blown up on the spot.

Li Yao was aware that the Great Horn Exo Society’s distress signals had floated in the sea of stars for a long time.

At this moment, countless crystal warships of Cultivators were coming to the location from various directions.

Fengyu Zhong needed to seize the moment and take down his enemy as quickly as possible.

If his flagship was greatly damaged, he wouldn’t be able to destroy the Great Horn Exo Society in a short time. Then, Fengyu Zhong’s only choice would be to withdraw from the battlefield as soon as possible.

The longer he delayed, the more likely he would be surrounded by Cultivators instead. If he was unlucky, the scheme that the Cultivators had made in the beginning would become reality!

It was Li Yao’s original plan.

But the plan had been seen through before it was implemented.

No, it was not seen through. But Fengyu Zhong, as a sly, seasoned space pirate, smelled the scent of danger from him.

What to do now?

Li Yao pondered whether or not he should pretend that someone important, say, Huangpu Shiyi or Su Jiuzhen, had burst into a rage and dashed at Blood Rain, ignoring the orders.

But in the next second, when he stared at Blood Rain in the sea of stars, which was as tiny as a freckle, he suddenly quivered and abandoned the idea.

Fengyu Zhong would open fire. He definitely would.

Chances were that he would even accept Behemoth-19’s obligatory dock request ‘helplessly’ and, when it reached the best attack range, order a barrage to blow it up ruthlessly!

In this unpredictable war, Fengyu Zhong was at an overwhelming advantage. He had five warships, with countless space pirates under his command, not to mention that he was a Core Formation Stage Cultivator himself!

But Li Yao had a great advantage, too.

He knew Fengyu Zhong.

It was even safe to say that, other than Fengyu Zhong himself, Li Yao was the one who knew him best in this world.

Such a merciless, astute, brutal bandit who had escaped countless pursuits and traps had never revealed his true thoughts to anyone. It was possible that his personality, emotions and fighting style were all faked.

He had opened his heart to only one person, his only son Fengyu Ming.

Fengyu Zhong had written his knowledge of plundering, escaping, and surviving in ‘Stormy Sword’. In order to make his only son grow into a distinguished space pirate sooner, he had poured a lot of effort into the notes. His real personality and emotions could be felt in between the lines.

However, ‘Stormy Sword’ had fallen into Li Yao’s hands. While he had learned many space pirate tactics, Li Yao had a much deeper understanding of the infamous bandit now!

Therefore, Li Yao realized that, if he continued marching on without altering the route, Fengyu Zhong’s suspicion would be confirmed. He would stand no chance at all!

But what about Red Lightning?

Li Yao studied the data more carefully and realized that, not only was Red Lightning furthest to Blood Rain, it was much smaller than the flagship, too. It was only approximately half the weight of Blood Rain.

Damaging Blood Rain seriously would be able to push the space pirates to stop the battle and retreat.

However, even if Red Lightning was blown up, the situation still wouldn’t be reversed.

Currently, three starships on the Great Horn Exo Society’s side were half wrecked. The casualties of the Exos were severe, too. Even if Storm Prison only had four crystal warships, they could still finish the battle within one day if they were determined to and retreat into endless darkness comfortably before the reinforcing Cultivators arrived.

Cold sweat appeared on Li Yao’s forehead, as he said in a low voice, “What’s the battle situation now?”

The vice-captain was ecstatic. “It is definitely in our favor! According to the latest report, the two starships beside the Great Horn Exo Society did not stay to protect it on purpose. It was because they experienced a serious space storm ten days ago. The shells of the starships were torn open by the meteoroids, and they were not able to perform a space jump.

“The headquarters of the sects that the two starships belonged to were both on the other side of the Flying Star Sector. Without a space jump, it would have taken them more than two months to cruise back.

“Since the journey was too long, there was barely any difference whether they went back in a hurry or took their time. They chose to stay with the Great Horn Exo Society and planned to find a port to repair the shells of their starships. But they were blocked half way through!

“The firepower of the starships was not strong enough. The Exos on board are mediocre warriors, too. After being attacked repeatedly, they are now on the verge of collapse!

“Also, it has just been confirmed that Lei Dalu, captain of the Great Horn Exo Society, suffered heavy wounds. He may already be dead right now. Haha!”

“What!”

Li Yao squinted, coldness shining in his eyes, as he asked, “How was it done?”

The vice-captain grinned hideously. “It was his own folly! In the battle just now, the Great Horn Exo Society was not able to resist and prepare to fall back. Some of the injured Exos volunteered to cover the retreat so that the rest of them would be able to run back into the defenses of their starship!

“The injured that stayed would’ve died for sure.

“However, as the captain of the Great Horn Exo Society and the supreme commander of the three starships, Lei Dalu charged out with a bunch of guys and tried to rescue the soldiers who had stayed!

“Naturally, he was heavily besieged!

“The guy was brutal enough for a Cultivator in the beginning level of the Core Formation Stage. He slayed more than forty space pirates within a breath.

“But when there are enough ants, they can bring down an elephant. Under the consecutive attacks of several Building Foundation Stage Cultivators and Core Formation Stage Cultivators, his crystal suit was almost blown off, and he was seriously wounded!

“The injured who had stayed in the first place were mostly killed. Only one tenth was eventually rescued by him!

“Hehe. General Feng hasn’t acted yet, and the commander of our enemies has already nearly killed himself just for several injured persons. He is truly the biggest fool of the Flying Star Sector! I am very curious. How did such a clown end up being a captain of the Exo Society?”

“Indeed.”

Li Yao closed his eyes, smiled, and sighed, his head shaking. “It’s quite uncanny how such a stupid guy led the Great Horn Exo Society to this day.

“Maybe, fate always favors fools.”

Chapter 530: Another Scheme

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

After saying that, Li Yao suddenly opened his eyes. The brilliance in them somehow intimidated the vice-captain, who took a step back uncontrollably.

Li Yao waved his hands and said resolutely, “Reply to Blood Rain in semaphore that we will obey the orders and alter our trajectory to Red Lightning right now.”

“Understood!”

The vice-captain returned to the control panel and sent the corresponding message mixed with authentication tokens. Then, he turned on the control menu and changed the sailing route to the direction of Red Lightning.

Watching him from behind for a while quietly, Li Yao suddenly spoke. “Get out of the way. Let me do it.”

Before the vice-captain realized what was going on, Li Yao had picked up his collar and put him down aside.

Li Yao’s two hands immediately turned into two clusters of grey mist while he operated on the control menu rapidly.

As he proceeded, a simpler, somewhat curved route was set, and so were all the parameters for sailing in the next hour.

The vice-captain was so shocked that his eyes widened. He exclaimed in disbelief, “Master Li Yao, I didn’t know that you were able to pilot a starship!”

Li Yao smiled and said, “I’ve spent a year studying the skills to steer an authentic warship of the Star Ocean Imperium. It was ten times more difficult and complicated than this civil carrier! If I can maneuver a warship, a civil carrier is definitely not going to be a problem!

“Besides, what I did was not complicated. I merely chose the best route to… crash into it straightforwardly!”

The vice-captain did not catch the last part of Li Yao’s words.

His attention was fully attracted to the parameters that Li Yao set at last.

According to the parameters, when the carrier was two hundred kilometers away from Red Lightning, it would automatically adjust the spiritual shield to the maximum and accelerate to the highest speed possible!

In such a case, there was no way that the two starships would successfully dock; they would crash into each other in the end!

“Master Li Yao, you—”

Every pore on the vice-captain’s body was constricting. He suddenly felt that there was nothing but dead silence behind him. All the crew members inside the room seemed to be holding their breath. It was so quiet that the sound of a needle falling to the ground would be as earsplitting as a thunderclap.

The vice-captain turned around, only to be stiffened by what he saw.

Four coldly-shining, terrifying weapons had appeared out of thin air at some point!

They were four Floating Triple-head Six-barrel Revolving Cannons!

“Da!”

Li Yao inputted the last parameter and finished the setting for destruction!

…

Ten minutes later, the door of the suite where Huangpu Xiaoya was locked was kicked open. Li Yao barged in, his arms tangled by brightly shining spiritual energy, which swept across her body. With a flash of Li Yao’s saber, all the barriers that locked her were cut off!

“Warm up your fingers while we are walking. I need your help!”

Without further ado, Li Yao gave Huangpu Xiaoya a hand and took her away.

The killing intent around him and the intense stink of blood made Huangpu Xiaoya swallow all her questions. She followed him quickly.

Li Yao took Huangpu Xiaoya to the rear part of the starship, where the escape capsules were located. Two ‘Wild Butterfly’ capsules were floating in midair, supported by anti-gravity rune arrays, waiting to be temporarily modified.

Li Yao retrieved a great number of magical equipment units that he refined yesterday from his Cosmos Ring. He then turned on his crystal processor and handed over almost a hundred structural designs to Huangpu Xiaoya, while he asked, “I don’t know how proficient you are in the modification of shuttles, but as the most talented heir of the Huangpu family, you must know something other than the refinement of melee weapons, right?

“This kind of escape capsule was modified based on ‘Wild Butterfly Shuttle’. Its structure is not complicated. Just further modify them according to the structural designs. Fill in three times more crystals as fuels. The working time of the escape capsules should be doubled after that.

“Remember, you have 32 minutes and 57 seconds to finish your job.”

While talking, Li Yao was devoted to his modification work.

The magical equipment units on his side were three times more than what he had offered Huangpu Xiaoya. Thousands of structural designs and blueprints were floating around him.

Huangpu Xiaoya took a deep breath to calm herself down.

The talented heir of the Huangpu family finally showed extraordinary reactions in this moment. She immediately started working while she asked peacefully, “What’s your plan?”

Li Yao’s hands seemed to be flying. He pondered for a moment and said, “It’s simple. The space pirates’ biggest advantage is time. Their biggest weakness is also time. They have to finish the battle real quick and eliminate the Great Horn Exo Society completely in one to two days. That’s the only way that they can get out of here before the main troops of Cultivators arrive.

“With my capability and such a weaponless carrier, it’s impossible for me to change the outcome of the battle directly. The only thing I can do is stall the space pirates!

“As long as they are delayed for one to two days, we will win! Fengyu Zhong is a cunning old dog. His nose for danger is too sharp. He definitely won’t dare to gamble! When the Cultivators’ reinforcements arrive, he will be a victim of his own scheme and suffer a great loss from it!

“Later, our carrier will crash into one of the crystal warships of Storm Prison. But before the clash, the two of us will be away from the carrier in escape capsules.

“After my modification, the escape capsule should be enough to carry you to drift for ten to fifteen days in the sea of stars. I will give you a large amount of sealed food and water in a moment. Three days later, you can send out distress signals. I believe somebody will hear it by then!”

Huangpu Xiaoya’s eyes glittered as she asked, “Which crystal warship are we crashing into? Fengyu Zhong’s flagship Blood Rain?”

Li Yao shook his head. “No. Fengyu Zhong was very prudent. I didn’t have the opportunity to get close to Blood Rain.

“Anyways, just rest assured. Fengyu Zhong is trying his best to annihilate the Great Horn Exo Society at present. Besides, most of his forces will be chasing the other escape capsule in a moment. He will have neither the interest nor the manpower to hunt down a shrimp like you. It’s very likely that you can run away successfully!

“When you’re out of here, you must inform all the Cultivators of the existence of the Temple of Immortals. Everybody will know that the demonic Cultivators have evolved into a brand-new form named ‘Immortal Cultivators’ in the darkness and that they are already strictly organized. The Cultivators will know what a formidable enemy they are faced with!”

Huangpu Xiaoya was dazed for a moment. She asked, “What if I can’t run away?”

Li Yao grinned and replied confidently, “That is the least of your concern. I’ve taken every detail into consideration! Look, after your modification, the escape capsule you are taking will boast the most remarkable self-detonation system of the Flying Star Sector. With a telepathic thought, you will be blown into pieces, your soul shattered. There won’t be one cell left intact. You will be as dead as anyone will ever be. The Immortal Cultivators will never have the chance to take advantage of your soul should it still exist. How about it? Not bad, huh?”

Huangpu Xiaoya was speechless for a long time. Then she opened her mouth again. “Your nose, ears, and eyes are all bleeding. The blood is all black.”

“I know.”

Li Yao wiped off the black blood on his lips and flicked it to the ground. To Huangpu Xiaoya’s surprise, white smoke was popping up where the blood hit the ground.

“This is an evil spell. I’ve been cursed, but I don’t have time to deal with such minor affairs right now.” Li Yao held back the burning pain inside his veins and dedicated himself to the modification of the escape capsule.

Under his modification, the escape capsule was restored to a shuttle, its original version, before quite a lot of other units were added to it.

Huangpu Xiaoya could tell that all the units were meant to increase the speed and agility of the escape capsule.

The fat, round escape cabin was being transformed into a super shuttle under Li Yao’s crazy modification.

A super shuttle that was born for speed and meant to break the limits of limits!

Huangpu Xiaoya mumbled, “What do you want? You said that Fengyu Zhong would summon most of his men to hunt the other escape capsule. What do you mean by that?”

Li Yao answered, “Literally what I said. I’m going to attract Fengyu Zhong’s main troops and even Blood Rain itself so that I can buy more time for the Great Horn Exo Society and eventually save it!”

Huangpu Xiaoya’s eyes bulged, and she exclaimed in a low voice, “You are crazy! Why do you think that Fengyu Zhong will pursue an unimportant escape capsule while letting go of the Great Horn Exo Society? Just because you blew up one of his crystal warships? Besides, what can you do if he does come after you?”

Li Yao smiled confidently and turned on the star map of the Iron Plateau Space Zone. He explained, “Look. We are now at the edge of the Iron Plateau Space Zone, which is best known for the great number of stone belts in it. As we can see, the stone belts here are already dense enough even though we are not even close to the center of the space zone. The meteoroids nearby are heavy, hard, and often mixed with furious spiritual waves.

“If we go deeper into the space zone, we will find that ‘Iron Plateau’, the main planet of the space zone, is surrounded by almost a hundred interconnected orbital rings of broken stones. They were almost like the super defense systems made of ‘star rings’ in the ancient times!

“Fengyu Zhong must’ve pushed the Great Horn Exo Society into this place in the hope that he could take advantage of the terrain. But right now, the chaotic space zone is the best environment for guerilla warfare and survival for me!

“My escape capsule is very small in size. When I hide in the stone belts, I will be like a blade of grass in a forest. Other people will find it barely possible to locate me in the boundless ocean of stones. It will take them ten to fifteen days to find me!

“Does Fengyu Zhong have so much time? Not to mention that some stone belts are so dense that his crystal warships won’t dare to barge through in the first place!

“As long as I can last for three to five days in the stone belts until the reinforcements arrive, I will win!”

Huangpu Xiaoya’s face was weird as she said suspiciously, “If you can think of all that, Fengyu Zhong definitely can, too. What makes you think that he will go after you knowing that the odds of his success are only one in ten thousand? It doesn’t make any sense!”

Li Yao said, “That’s why I said I’m only 30% sure. However, if he does not chase after me, I’m 90% sure that I will leave a giant, irrecoverable wound in his mind. If I’m lucky enough, the Cultivation of this Core Formation Stage Cultivator will stagnate forever! One day, I will come back and pay homage to the heroes of the Great Horn Exo Society with his head as the sacrificial offering!”

Huangpu Xiaoya’s lips moved, but she didn’t know what to say after seeing the determination and assurance on his face.

She stared at Li Yao and remembered the mysterious, unpredictable man in her heart. Then she said, “If so, you must be very cautious. You’re right about one thing. The hundred planet rings surrounding Iron Plateau are not natural stone belts but a super defense system. Many of the ‘stones’ are actually explosive!”

“What?”

It was Li Yao’s turn to be shocked. “A super defense system? Targeting whom?”

With a bitter smile, Huangpu Xiaoya replied somewhat hoarsely, “Iron Plateau used to be the capital planet of mankind in the Flying Star Sector. The super defense system was established to resist ‘apocalypses’. But right now, its target is… us!”

Translator’s Thoughts

flycrane01 flycrane01

Weekend Bonus #1

Chapter 531: Unbelievable Luck

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

The capital planet was the main planet or the mother planet of a sector or civilization. Generally speaking, it was the place that boasted the largest population, the densest spiritual energy, the most advanced technology, and the greatest number of experts. It was also often where the major Cultivation sects were headquartered.

For example, in the Flying Star Sector, ‘Heavenly Saints City’, the metropolis in space, was effectively the capital planet.

In comparison, the Iron Plateau Space Zone in front of them was full of stone belts. It was barren and desolate. Nobody could tell that it had once been the capital planet.

“To resist apocalypses? To resist us?”

Li Yao quickly thought of the conversation between Huangpu Xiaoya and Huangpu Shiyi days ago. He couldn’t help but ask, “What happened in the Flying Star Sector five thousand years ago? Why did the human beings of the Flying Star Sector run from the planets into space? Did an apocalypse take place here? What are qi-trainers exactly?”

Huangpu Xiaoya was silent for a moment, before she replied, “This is part of the dark story that no Cultivators are willing to talk about. I only learned a thing or two about it from the leader of my family when I became one of the stars of my generation. It’s quite understandable that you don’t know anything about it since you grew up in a remote town.

“Yes. Five thousand years ago, a destructive apocalypse fell upon the Flying Star Sector, to wit, the Iron Plateau Space Zone, the center of our civilization at the time. It turned the prosperous Iron Plateau Space Zone into what you see right now.

“However, there are many twists and turns to the story…”

Right then, Li Yao’s mini crystal processor started beeping.

“Half a minute to go!”

Li Yao plugged the last magical equipment unit into the shell of the escape capsule.

The escape capsule modified crazily by him was now completely different from before. All the units and tubes were exposed to the air and looked ugly and jumbled. Yet, they brought a weird sense of swiftness. Huangpu Xiaoya was somewhat dazed looking at the vehicle!

“Prepare to go now! We will be affected by the explosion if we don’t. If we both make it, I will come back and listen to your story later!”

Li Yao patted the solid shell of the escape capsule in satisfaction and grinned at the hideous steel beast.

“Alright. But you must not flee to the center of the Iron Plateau Space Zone if you have a choice. Also, try to keep distance from the gravity sphere of Iron Plateau. If you are captured by the gravity of Iron Plateau and land on its surface…”

Huangpu Xiaoya paused for a moment, looking for the best way to phrase it. “Let’s just say that Cultivators are not the qi-trainers’ favorites.”

“Understood.”

Li Yao reflected on the meaning between her lines, while the two of them pushed the escape cabins into the launch rails.

They seated themselves in their respective escape capsules.

“Hey!”

Five seconds before the launch, Huangpu Xiaoya suddenly shouted, “What are you exactly?”

Li Yao shut the cabin door of the super shuttle slowly, his last words rushing out of the gap before it was fully closed.

“A good man!”

…

The cockpit of Gold Horn was a mess.

Thousands of holes had burned through the control panel. Tubes were fracturing on the ceiling. Scorching steam was spurting out. Dozens of crystal wires had been torn apart by explosions, which were dancing crazily, stimulated by the spiritual energy like headless snakes.

It was indeed the picture of doom.

Everyone inside the room seemed to have just climbed out of an underground cave. All their clothes were blackened, with dried blood stains. The only things that were clean were their teeth and eyes, which were emitting cold brilliance.

They were trying their best to repair the starship. Occasionally, one of the crew members would fall to the ground silently during their work, but someone else would immediately take over their position without any surprise.

Lei Dalu’s chest was hollowed, his right arm almost entirely shattered. Scraps of his crystal suit had been embedded into his flesh and blood like broken blades.

Although simple medical procedures had been performed, some of the scraps could not be removed at present because they were too deeply embedded in his internal organs and critical nerves.

His face pale, Lei Dalu collapsed in the captain seat and grinned at Bai Kaixin. “Old Bai. Cough cough cough cough. Do you think that I should ask a fortune teller whether or not I’m born to not have brand new starships? When we were steering second-hand starships, our decades of journeying always proceeded smoothly. How come that, when we were driving starships specially made for Great Horn, we have been beaten the s*hit out of twice?”

Before Bai Kaixin opened his mouth, a brawny man who was tied up in bandages was already in tears as he cried, “Captain, why did you come out and rescue us? Everybody could tell that we were already hopeless back then!”

Lei Dalu grinned, and then grunted, as he had accidentally pulled the muscle around one of his wounds. He spat a mouthful of blood and said, “Do you know the most important thing about us Cultivators? That’s bravery! Although I’m the captain, I won’t be able to catch up with Bai Kaixin in regards of strategies and skills to command even if I study for another eight lives. How am I qualified to be your captain if I am not brave enough?”

“You were not brave. You were brainless! Too brainless!” roared the brawny man.

Lei Dalu coughed and continued speaking. “It’s not the first day of my brainlessness. You guys should not feel surprised, either. You are unfortunate enough to have to listen to such an idiotic captain’s command! Old Bai, what’s our current status?”

“Very terrible.”

The Great Horn Exo Society was on the brink of doom, but the sorrow on Bai Kaixin’s face was reduced by a lot. What replaced it was madness and solemnness. He was like a brilliant chess player faced with the worst situation in a game, which he was trying to resolve with his maximum computational ability.

“The power rune arrays of the three starships are all more or less damaged. There’s no way that we can shake off the pursuing space pirates.

“The Exos on the starships have suffered great casualties. Seventy percent of the manpower has been lost.

“If the space pirates launch another assault with Exos, we can only expect to resist them with the air cannons. If so, our resources will be consumed at an unbelievably high speed. Very soon, all our crystals and fuel will run out.

“If the situation continues, our enemy will initiate the real final attack within one day. We will turn to dust in the sea of stars within several hours after that!

“But it will take at least two and a half days for the nearest reinforcements to arrive!”

Lei Dalu was silent for a long time. He took a long breath and put on a carefree smile again. “The conclusion is that we are dead anyway?”

“Yes.”

Bai Kaixin replied calmly, “The only thing I can calculate right now is how to give the space pirates the biggest strike before our eventual doom. We will drag one or two starships to the hell with us anyway!”

The heavily wounded man who had been rescued by Lei Dalu bellowed, “Captain, you were too stupid. If you were not injured, you would have been able to run away with Advisor Bai! This is the Iron Plateau Space Zone with stone belts everywhere. Your chance of escape is not slim!”

Lei Dalu scratched his greasy hair, which was soaked in blood and sweat, and said, “I didn’t expect that the space pirates would have so much manpower that, not only did they assault the headquarters of so many Cultivation sects, they also had the entire Storm Prison spare to deal with us!

“This time, I’ve really fallen into their trap!

“Song Laosi, don’t cry here as if I’m already dead! Tell you what, cough cough cough cough, I’m as vigor—cough cough cough cough—ous as I will ever be! I can even slay a few more enemies now! I’m not dead yet! If you want to cry, cry at my funeral!”

Lei Dalu rose up suddenly, not caring that the wounds all over his body were bleeding. He stared at Blood Rain, the flagship of Storm Prison, while he gnashed his teeth. “I’ve been making a living in the sea of stars for decades. There are more space pirates that want to kill me than I can count. Yet, I’m still standing here!

“Fengyu Zhong, you want to put me down? Then you’d better prepare to pay a good price!

“Old Bai, Song Laosi, ask everyone to be ready for the last battle. We will not give up until our blood runs dry and our last crystal suits are blown up!

“As long as we are breathing, miracles might occur!

“Don’t forget that how unbelievably lucky I am! Last time, when we were chasing after Fengyu Ming, you all thought that we wouldn’t catch him, and he would run away. But at the crucial moment, his Ghost Jail exploded right in front of our eyes. Hahahaha!

“Chances are that this captain of yours is destiny’s son, who was born for a special purpose. With a cough, the starship in front of us will explode! Cough cough cough cough!”

Lei Dalu finished his sentence and coughed loudly. His body bent like a shrimp. The blood was all over the ground. The guy nearly coughed his lung out.

Everything was normal on the light beam. The five starships of Storm Prison were still showing their muscles.

Bai Kaixin and Song Laosi looked at each other and sighed.

Bai Kaixin patted Song Laosi’s shoulder and said, “Go and tell our brothers to be prepared. Men of the Great Horn must die an extraordinary death!”

“Understood!”

Hardly had Song Laosi turned around when he suddenly felt that the room was illuminated. Bai Kaixin, who was best known for his serenity, was exclaiming in shock like a wuss who had seen a cockroach!

Song Laosi turned around to check what was going on, only to be dazed by what he saw.

On the light beam, Red Lightning, one of the crystal warships of Storm Prison, suddenly burst into a series of giant light balls, which raged and spread from the engine compartment at the rear of the starship. The entire starship was swallowed within a breath!

A moment later, the crystals inside the engine compartment of Red Lightning were detonated. Even more dazzling brightness broke out!

The bleeding stars were illuminated in that moment. The dark universe was as clear as daylight.

Red Lightning had exploded!

Bai Kaixin and Song Laosi were both dumbfounded. They looked at each other in bewilderment and turned their head toward Lei Dalu although their necks were basically stiffened.

Lei Dalu was staring at the light beam in disbelief. His mouth was opened so wide that an ostrich egg could be stuffed inside. He wasn’t back to himself for a long time. In the end, his lips curled as he said casually, “Like I said, I’m destiny’s son born with a special purpose. With a cough of mine—”

“Cut the nonsense!”

Bai Kaixin pushed him away and dashed to the control panel, which was still burning. “Check the replay of the explosion. Zoom in the picture and see exactly what was going on!”

Chapter 532: You Will Regret It

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

The picture on the light beam was rewound to half a minute earlier. After being magnified by ten times, it was somewhat fuzzy.

One could only see four interconnected exhaust flames in the form of helixes that belonged to a carrier that was only one third the size of Red Lightning.

At the beginning, the two starships seemed to be performing the regular docking work. The carrier decelerated at a fixed speed and kept parallel to Red Lightning’s route.

But soon, something seemed to be wrong with the power system of the carrier. Its exhaust flames were ten times brighter than before, and it suddenly accelerated!

Red Lightning noticed its abnormality very quickly. A lot of rays of light spurted out and rained upon the carrier.

However, it had missed the best attack range. The carrier had cut inside its defense circle.

At this distance, the carrier was in most cannons’ blind spot. The few weapons that could attack it were not able to maximize their damage.

The spiritual shield surrounding the carrier took all the attacks. Some of the attacks that penetrated through the spiritual shield by luck were not enough to deal critical damage.

After a soul-stirring fifteen seconds, the carrier’s speed was higher than ever and crashed into Red Lightning brutally!

The point of impact was exactly the engine compartment in the rear of Red Lightning.

Generally speaking, crystal warships all boasted very advanced damage management systems. They rarely exploded even if they collided into anything.

However, the carrier seemed to have been neatly set. It completely broke apart from the rear to the front. The spiritual energy resulting from the explosion congregated into a long needle of flames and penetrated into Red Lightning’s engine compartment. The fuel crystals inside the engine compartment were all triggered and detonated!

Judging from the scale of the explosion, the middle to rear parts of Red Lightning near the engine compartment had been burnt to the ground. If Red Lightning was not entirely wrecked already, it would never recover the ability to cruise without major maintenance.

Red Lightning had lost all impetus and become an iron coffin floating in the sea of stars!

“That was not an accident.”

Bai Kaixin came to that conclusion. He kept rewinding the video and concentrated all the computational ability of the crystal processor on it in order to improve the quality of the picture.

Finally, when he reached about fifteen minutes ago, he found the carrier again and two light spots, which snuck out of the carrier without anybody knowing.

Lei Dalu’s eyes bulged and gazed at the two light spots. He clicked his tongue and observed, “This feeling is very familiar. I seemed to have seen such a scene from somewhere else. It reminds me of a certain someone…”

Bai Kaixin had rarely smiled, but now he was smiling. “I know exactly whom you are referring to. But I’m more curious about something else. What’s the expression on Fengyu Zhong’s face right now?”

…

Inside the cockpit of Blood Rain, the light beam turned palely white because of the continuous explosions. Its color was almost identical to what was on Fengyu Zhong’s face.

The unparalleled bandit who had scourged the sea of stars for decades watched the replay time and time again emotionlessly. Even his eyebrow was entirely still.

But the bulging and twisting veins on his clenched fists leaked the anger in his mind.

“It was my fault.”

Fengyu Zhong squinted, his cold voice forced out through gritted teeth. “I guessed that our enemies were lurking on Behemoth-19, but I didn’t anticipate that they would be so vicious!

“I had thought that the enemies were trying to sneak into my flagship via Behemoth-19 in order to impair my starship or even assassinate me. Therefore, I pretended that I didn’t see through their trick. The enemies might’ve still felt hopeful, but they would be dealt with mercilessly when they reached Red Lightning!

“I didn’t know that the enemies would be so insane and decisive! If they could not damage my flagship, they might as well blow off one of my arms!”

The advisor was sweating hard as he said, “Thankfully, General Feng did not give it the chance to come close to the flagship. If it was the flagship that was seriously damaged, we would’ve had to retreat from the battle as quickly as possible! The enemy was quite malicious. How did he turn an ordinary carrier into such a terrifying giant bomb?

“General Feng, we have just detected that two escape capsules were launched from Behemoth-19 and went in different directions before it was detonated.

“They must be behind the explosion. Should we hunt them down?”

Fengyu Zhong returned to his usual self after the shock of Red Lightning’s explosion very quickly. He studied the video and the star map while he calculated all the parameters involved carefully. Half a minute later, he shook his head and said, “That will be unnecessary.

“Think about it. Experts such as Huangpu Shiyi and Su Jiuzhen were on Behemoth-19. How formidable were our enemies if they could take down such experts without alarming anyone before gaining control over the entire carrier as well as the authentication tokens? They must be at least in the peak of the Building Foundation Stage. Chances are that there was one or even more Core Formation Stage Cultivators.

“To cope with one or even more Core Formation Stage Cultivators, how many people should we send?

“If we send too few, it’s very possible that they will become prey instead of predators when they catch up to our enemies, who will slay them effortlessly.

“Therefore, to capture the two escape capsules, we need at least one crystal warship. But right now, they are running in different directions. So, we need two crystal warships for the task.

“It’s the worst decision to divide one’s troops in a battle. We only have four crystal warships in total. If we send two of them away, how can we expect to annihilate the Great Horn Exo Society?

“I think this is exactly what our enemies want. The detonation of Red Lightning was meant to infuriate me. They were hoping that I would make wrong judgement and change the main direction of attack!

“He. The Iron Plateau Space Zone is such a chaotic place. Stone belts are everywhere. Even multiple crystal warships might not be able to catch an escape capsule. The enemies seemed to be audacious desperadoes. But in fact, they were quite thoughtful and took everything into consideration!

“Don’t be affected by our enemy. Our target is the Great Horn Exo Society. We are very close to annihilating them. We cannot be distracted at the critical moment of the battle!

“Most of the Exos on Red Lightning had been sent to fight in space earlier. The destruction of Red Lighting does not have much influence on the overall combat ability of our side. We can still hope to finish the battle within one and a half days.

“These enemies are indeed hateful, but we must not be blinded by hatred. We must keep our minds clear. Just let them go!

“When we return to Spider Den, after we destroy the Great Horn Exo Society, we can ask Black Spider Tower to look into who they are. Then, we can settle our grievances with them!”

There was admiration on the advisor’s face. He praised, “How wise of you, General Feng! Clever as our enemies are, they wouldn’t expect that General Feng is so iron-willed that you are not affected by the incident at all! In such a case, the enemies’ tricks will all be in vain. They can only stand by and watch us blow up the Great Horn Exo Society. It will be revenge for Red Lightning, too!”

Fengyu Zhong smiled vaguely and glanced at the disappearing escape capsules in the deep sea of stars. He commented, “It’s been a long time since I last met such an unconventional opponent. I have a feeling that I will be meeting them again in the sea of stars!

“I really want to see how frustrated he is when they discover that I don’t bite their bait!”

In the dark and boundless space, Li Yao drove forward in the escape capsule that had been modified crazily by him. He was like a dry leaf floating on a raging ocean and couldn’t look more insignificant.

But he was not lonely.

He turned on the video that he had watched countless times from his crystal processor. Ding Lingdang’s hologram appeared beside him again. She was glaring at him, her mouth pouting and her fists waving, as if she was going to punch his chest.

“Li Yao, I believe in you. You are going to make it!”

“Of course, I’m going to make it!”

Li Yao punched his own chest and suppressed the excruciating pain of the curse with all his strength. He swallowed a mouthful of black blood back down, feeling that his lungs were burning, as if ten thousand ants were nibbling on it.

The pain, on the other hand, made his soul burn more furiously than ever and his brain clearer than ever.

Focusing his attention, he condensed his telepathic thoughts and wrote all the events from the moment he entered the Skyhill Domain to the appearance of the Temple of Immortals onto a special jade chip.

Then, he released the jade chip into space.

The jade chip was a specially-made gadget that had the ability of automatically detecting the signal of the Spiritual Nexus. When it was in the nexus’ coverage, it would send the information it stored to a secret address on the Spiritual Nexus.

It was one of the almost twenty methods for him to communicate with Sparkle.

He had to inform the Cultivators from the Heaven’s Origin Sector on Sparkle of the rise of Immoral Cultivators so that they could be better prepared.

After that, Li Yao slightly altered the route and went deep into the Iron Plateau Space Zone.

Blood Rain did not chase after him. It was quite understandable. Fengyu Zhong was too cunning a dog to be irked to easily.

With a cruel smile, Li Yao sent a plain message to Blood Rain.

In order to attract the rescuers’ attention, escape capsules all carried very powerful magical equipment to transmit telepathic thoughts. Therefore, the message was delivered to the mainframe crystal processor of Blood Rain within several minutes.

Inside the cockpit of Blood Rain…

“General Feng, one of the escape capsules has sent us a plain message!” the advisor said with a weird expression and displayed the message on the main light beam of the cockpit.

The message was very simple. In fact, it only had two words: ‘Catch me!’

Fengyu Zhong was dazed for a long time. He mocked, his head shaking, “I thought that this was a terrifying enemy. I didn’t expect him to be so naïve! He doesn’t think that he can provoke me with a few words and force me to chase after him without considering the big picture, does he?”

The advisor agreed, “The fact that the guy is playing such childish moves suggests that he has no other options right now!”

Five minutes later, the second message arrived.

“There’s still time to pursue me before I run into the stone belts. Really. Come and catch me, or you’re going to regret it!”

The advisor was startled. “What’s wrong with the guy? One time was not enough, and he just did it again?”

Fengyu Zhong sneered, “Don’t bother about him. Ask everyone to take a good rest while we still can. Let the maintenance workshops repair the crystal suits as fast as possible. When 60% of our combat ability is restored, we will launch another attack to drain Great Horn!”

Another five minutes passed. The third message was sent over.

“Don’t say that I didn’t give you the opportunity. You let loose of it yourself. In another five minutes, you will burst into fury and roll on the ground, Fengyu Zhong!”

The advisor did not know what to say.

He had never seen such an annoying enemy before.

But Fengyu Zhong gazed at the words, deep in thought.

The advisor was shocked. “General Feng, you are not planning to mobilize all the troops to chase after a small escape capsule, are you? Let me see. The man has reached the periphery of the stone belts. It’s already too late for us to turn back and go after him. The odds of success are not very high…”

Fengyu Zhong yelled, “Of course I wouldn’t do such stupid things! I was just wondering why the enemy was so immature! Ask everyone to be prepared. We will launch a full-scale raid in half an hour!”

Five minutes later, the fourth message was received.

“General Feng, the enemy sent yet another message. This time, it’s not text, but… a very large video!” said the advisor with a weird expression.

Translator’s Thoughts

 flycrane01

Weekend Bonus #2

Chapter 533: Fury of Core Formation

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

“A video?”

For some reason, Fengyu Zhong had a terrible feeling. He quickly thought over everything and yet failed to figure out where the problem was. He waved his hands and said, “Play the video on the main light beam. Let’s see what is it that the guy wants to sell!”

Soon, the video was on. A ten-second storm of blood was begun!

The video seemed to have been shot by the crystal camera of a crystal suit from the main perspective inside a dim cabin.

Black smoke was spreading. Intense flames were jumping. The picture was flicking between light and dark, bringing a strong sense of mystery.

The picture was not clear yet, but everybody could hear the screams that resembled those of a pig being butchered alive. The somewhat familiar voice made Fengyu Zhong blanch; the same went for the advisor and everyone else inside the room.

In the very next second, Fengyu Zhong saw… Fengyu Ming, his only son!

Fengyu Ming was crouching inside a broken crystal suit. He seemed to have endured the cruelest suffering. The bones all over his body had been fractured. He had been stuffed into a giant tube by force as if he were a fat worm.

For a moment, Fengyu Zhong did not realize what the tube was for; he only thought that it looked familiar.

In the top right corner of the light beam, there was a countdown as red as blood.

Ten seconds.

Fengyu Ming was struggling desperately like fish on a chopping block. His broken bones pierced through his skin, and his blood was flooding out. He couldn’t have looked more miserable.

He was shouting and begging as loud as he could. “No! You can’t kill me! I can give you whatever you want! Anything you want!”

Fengyu Zhong exclaimed in shocked. The expression on his face turned from confusion to abhorrence!

Nine seconds, eight seconds.

“I know the coordinates of quite a few other treasures. I’ve found the residences of ancient Cultivators in two asteroids. I also know three top secret smuggling routes. I can tell you all of them as long as you spare my life!”

Cracking noises were bursting out of Fengyu Zhong’s fists, as if several crystal bombs were exploding inside his palms simultaneously!

Seven seconds, six seconds.

“Who are you? Who are you exactly? We have no grudges. Why do you have to kill me? Why?”

CRACK. CRACK.

Below Fengyu Zhong’s feet, the floor made of super alloys collapsed. A giant pit almost one meter in diameter appeared! The entire deck was almost stomped through!

Five seconds, four seconds, three seconds.

“Is this for those ninety ordinary people? You are crazy. You are a rabid dog, too! My father will not let go of you. Storm Prison will not let go of you. None of the pirate gangs on Spider Den will let go of you!”

“Ah Ming!”

Fengyu Zhong cried like a wounded animal!

Two seconds, one second, zero seconds.

As the countdown reached zero, it clicked and dispersed into thousands of streaks of redness.

“NOOO! NOOO! NOOO!”

Fengyu Ming completely went mad. He rolled over and over and uttered meaningless screams.

The rune arrays of the wind class deep inside the fuel transmission tube grew louder and louder, motivated by the incoming spiritual energy.

As a result, the attraction force inside the tube grew stronger and stronger, pulling Fengyu Ming, together with his shattered crystal suit, further into it.

It was not until this moment that Fengyu Zhong finally realized what the tube was.

As if somebody had stabbed a knife into his chest brutally, Fengyu Zhong’s face did not have the slightest hint of blood. He looked like a dead person who had just climbed out of the deepest level of hell in furious desperation for revenge!

Fengyu Zhong was like a piglet that was about to be sent into a mincer. He struggled vigorously and frantically, his right arm clinging to the wall of the tube. Five clear traces were left on the tube, but they did not help the situation. Fengyu Ming was dragged deeper and deeper into the tube.

His screams were louder and louder, as he was pulled into the bottom of the tube.

Before he was entirely swallowed by darkness, he raised his head and looked at his murderer for one last time.

Misery, desperation, hatred, anger… The expression on his face was so complicated that it was beyond the description of any words.

“Ugh!”

Fengyu Zhong was exasperated!

At the turn of the tube, Fengyu Ming made the last attempt.

It could be seen clearly from the picture that the strong attraction force pulled his flesh, fractured bones, internal organs, and the scraps of his crystal suit through his wounds.

Fengyu Ming’s screams were even louder than the fulminations of four fully-functioning rune arrays of the wind class.

After several seconds, he finally couldn’t bear it any longer and was pulled to the end of the fuel transmission tube where the burning crystal reactor embraced him.

That was the end of the video.

No… It was not ended yet.

Three bloody words appeared on the dark light beam, as if they were written by the innocent victims of Fengyu Zhong and Fengyu Ming with their blood.

‘One more time?’

Fengyu Zhong did not have a choice. The picture jumped to the very beginning when the ten-second countdown had just begun.

Fengyu Ming, at this moment, was still struggling hard. But everything was the past now. Fengyu Zhong could not change anything, even though he was a Core Formation Stage Cultivator. He was not even able to keep the hair of his son and could only watch him be thrown into the crystal reactor helplessly.

Fengyu Zhong did not even know who the true murderer was!

“Ahh! Ahh! Ahh!”

Fengyu Zhong’s eyes turned crimson. His hair grew longer and longer until it stood up in the end. Glittering spiritual energy was bursting out at the end of his hair, as if it were burning!

“Zi zi! Zi zi zi zi!”

Centering at Fengyu Zhong, a shining purple light ball appeared out of nowhere and quickly expanded, surrounded by lightning that was almost purely black!

The light ball boasted tremendous attraction force and pulled many small objects inside the room over. When the objects reached the light ball, they were all torn to pieces and crushed to powder by the terrifying force!

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Several illumination rune arrays on the ceiling of the cockpit could not bear the intimidating strength and exploded one after another.

The room was immediately cast into darkness.

The purple light ball was still expanding.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

The mini crystal processors of the crew members inside the room exploded on their wrists due to the unbearable fury from Fengyu Zhong.

However, none of the crew members noticed that their wrists were bleeding in great pain.

Everybody was enshrouded in sheer shock and fear.

In their eyes, Fengyu Zhong was an invincible man who had savaged the sea of stars for decades.

But the mysterious enemy was insane enough to transmit the video of him slaying Fengyu Zhong’s only son in a plain message.

Was he not afraid of the wrath of a Core Formation Stage Cultivator?

On the light beam, the video had been played twice and was about to be played for the third time.

Intimidated by Fengyu Zhong’s overwhelming anger, everybody secretly retreated to the corners of the room. None of them dared turn off the light beam.

The space pirates had been scared the heck out of!

Finally, the purple light ball and the black electric arcs stopped expanding. They gradually shrank in size, but Fengyu Zhong’s aura soared exponentially in the meantime, as if the skin covering his flesh was being torn open, revealing the true identity of a ferocious animal behind it!

“Hehe! Hehehehe!”

Fengyu Zhong grinned hideously. He spat a mouthful of red, burning mist!

The video had made him lose control over his mind and caused him internal injuries. But before he vomited the blood, it had already been vaporized into steam by his fury!

“General Feng!”

The advisor could tell that it was not a good sign. He hesitated for a while. But in the end, he gritted his teeth and dashed forward with his spiritual shield maximized. He concentrated his voice into a narrow thread and pierced it into Fengyu Zhong’s ears.

“General Feng, don’t be rash. We are going to eliminate the Great Horn Exo Society. If we change our direction now, all our endeavors will have been in vain. The neat scheme that we have prepared for such a long time, the resources that we summoned, and the spies who exposed themselves will all have been wasted!

“General Feng, the enemy is trying to infuriate you on purpose so that we chase after him instead of the Great Horn Exo Society! We cannot be fooled by him!

“General Feng, we are both members of the Temple of Immortals! When we embarked on the path of immortality, we all understood that the feelings of the mortals are just illusions and that immortality is the only reality!

“The relationship of father and son, husband and wife, brothers and sisters are all mortal feelings that we Immortal Cultivators must cut off! General Feng, cut the mortal feelings, strengthen your beliefs, and seek the ultimate immortality. Don’t be affected by the mundane affairs, General Feng!

The words ‘cut the mortal feelings’ struck inside Fengyu Zhong’s brain like lightning. His eyes were finally clearer. He breathed heavily and mumbled to himself, “Yes, yes. Cut the mortal feelings. I’m going to cut the moral feelings. Only ants and monkeys which are driven by their primitive instincts value such feelings. I’m going to cut—cut—”

The video had finished for the third time.

This time, it was not played again. Two lines of text appeared on the light beam instead.

‘Fengyu Zhong, like I said, you would regret it.

‘Ha—Ha—Ha—’

Hardly had Fengyu Zhong’s eyes gone clear when they were wreathed in animalistic brutality again after a painful, prolonged struggle. He kicked his advisor right in the chest and yelled, “The f*ck am I cutting! That’s my son you’re taking about!”

The advisor was kicked more than ten meters away. But before he hit the ground, he was pulled back by an uncanny attraction force, and his collar was clenched by Fengyu Zhong.

Fengyu Zhong’s face was as horrifying as that of the craziest devil. His coarse voice also condensed into a thread and pierced into the advisor’s ears.

“Don’t forget what banner we initiated the assault under.

“We went out for the revenge of Ah Ming!

“Right now, the man has sent the video of him killing my son to us and every other space pirate of Storm Prison!

“This is like sh*tting on my head! My face is being smacked in front of everyone on Spider Den!

“If I don’t capture the guy, skin him, and mince him, how am I going to lead Storm Prison in the future? How am I going to establish my authority on Spider Den?

“Survival of the fittest is the ultimate truth of Spider Den. The winners are kings, and the strongest are emperors! If I don’t defend my honor today, none of the space pirates will be awed by me again! Other bandits in the Core Formation Stage will look down upon me and even make plans to absorb Storm Prison!

“In short, if I don’t act, I will become the biggest joke of Spider Den!”

The advisor was smart enough to quickly get what Fengyu Zhong was trying to say. He gasped when he thought everything through.

The enemy was indeed vicious and sordid!

Such provocation was an open trap. Even if Fengyu Zhong was determined enough to cut off the mortal feelings, he would still have to close his eyes and bite the bait, knowing that it was bait, in order to defend his honor!

Chapter 534: Great Horn’s Decision

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Fengyu Zhong took a deep, deep breath.

A tornado seemed to be sweeping inside the room. Many crew members saw two white lines appearing suddenly before they were absorbed into Fengyu Zhong’s nostrils.

They felt that the air in the room was thin, as if Fengyu Zhong had inhaled all the air within room.

The breath made Fengyu Zhong’s head clear again. Cold brilliance was blinking in his murderous eyes as he asked, “Do we have any chance to catch the enemy now?”

The advisor ran calculations quickly and answered five seconds later. “The enemy is fleeing toward the center of the Iron Plateau Space Domain. Judging from its route, he is planning to run into the circular stone belts around Iron Plateau. It will be tricky if he gets there.

“However, the enemy is on a ‘Wild Butterfly’ escape capsule whose speed is not very high.

“Red Lightning has just been compromised. Of the other four crystal warships, three have power rune arrays damaged in different levels. Their speed is relatively low, and they are in dire need of maintenance.

“However, the engine compartment of Squid is still intact. Also, as a quick assault starship, it boasts amazing speed. If it goes at full speed, even though the escape capsule is fleeing at its top speed, Squid will still be able to catch up to it in three hours!

“But there are not many experts on Squid. Our enemy is vicious and sordid. He might still have other backup plans. I’m afraid that Squid alone is not enough to capture him!

“Besides, such an extreme chase will consume enormous fuel. Once it changes its direction, there is no way to turn back!”

Steering a crystal warship thousands of meters long was totally different from steering a shuttle. Although cruising at a fixed speed did not cost much fuel, acceleration, deceleration, and alteration of the route would burn a lot of energy.

Decelerating a crystal warship whose speed had reached its maximum to complete stop would cost astronomical fuel.

Therefore, once Squid changed its direction to pursue the escape capsule, it was not likely to come back again to join the battle against the Great Horn Exo Society.

Without any hesitation, Fengyu Zhong commanded, “Not one. All the remaining four crystal warships will go after the new enemy now!

“If Squid is sent away, the remaining three crystal warships might not be able to finish the battle within one day and a half. When the reinforcing Cultivators arrive, we will be caught in an awkward situation.

“In the meantime, Squid is only a quick assault starship which carries no Core Formation Stage Cultivators. I’m very suspicious whether or not it is capable of capturing such a brutal, insane enemy!

“If the enemy sets up another trap and takes down Squid, we will really be doomed.

“If we don’t do it, we don’t do it; but if we do it, we do it with our best. Ask Squid to go after the escape capsule first. Remember, their task is to harass the enemy and slow him down. If the enemy charges out of the escape capsule in his crystal suit, retreat to the defense circle of the starship immediately. Don’t be headstrong!

“I have every reason to believe that the enemy is in the peak of the Building Foundation Stage or even the beginning level of the Core Formation Stage. He might put up a good fight in a crystal suit. Chances are that he is in possession of a super crystal suit. Otherwise, how could he sneak into Ah Ming’s Ghost Jail without alarming anyone and murder him?

“The other three starships will clean up the mess here and launch another raid on the Great Horn Exo Society. When the enemy is disrupted, we will retreat from the battlefield and follow Squid!

“Blood Rain will cover the retreat later!

“Carry out the commands!”

…

Two hours later, inside the broken cockpit of Gold Horn.

Lei Dalu, Bai Kaixin, and all the other members of the Great Horn Exo Society were dumbfounded.

The picture inside the light beam was the most unbelievable miracle in the world, which had rendered all of them speechless for a long time.

An hour earlier, they had suffered the most intense attack since the battle started. The enemy had assaulted them belligerently as if determined to finish the battle once and for all. Almost all the hostile Exos were deployed for the assault.

The three starships on the Great Horn Exo Society’s side tried their best to hold back the attack. Their blood had almost run dry.

Thankfully, the enemy’s final attack was a bit hasty. The defense network of the three starships still boasted abundant firepower and managed to resist the attack eventually.

But before they were back to themselves, they suddenly noticed that the space pirates were retreating from the battlefield in an orderly manner.

Looking at the three starships on their side, which were riddled with holes, the spiritual energy and ammunitions that was all running out, and the countless Exos who had suffered heavy wounds, everyone found it hard to believe their eyes.

It was almost like a hungry tiger that had put down a bull and torn open its throat—the bull was bleeding, and its death was only a matter of time—but the hungry tiger then backed off without a reason.

“What’s going on?”

Lei Dalu did not understand at all. He and the other warriors of the Great Horn Exo Society, who had more muscles than brains, looked at each other in bewilderment.

Bai Kaixin pondered for a moment and ran some calculations on the light beam. He made the conclusion half a minute later. “They must be chasing after one of the two escape capsules.”

Lei Dalu was even more confused. “Why? Just because the one inside the escape capsule sabotaged one of Storm Prison’s starships, Fengyu Zhong went mad and decided to hunt him down and let us go?

“If Fengyu Zhong is such an emotional man, how did he secure his fame on Spider Den for decades?”

Bai Kaixin was baffled, too. He frowned and said, “I find it very odd, too. Logically, we are Fengyu Zhong’s sole target at present. For a resolute and cunning man like him, he wouldn’t change his target easily, much less forgetting the big picture just because one of his starships was destroyed, unless…”

Bai Kaixin examined the information the starship collected carefully. His eyes suddenly shone as he continued speaking. “Unless the one inside the escape capsule incited Fengyu Zhong in a way that we don’t know, or the man gave Fengyu Zhong a good reason to shift his attention to him!

“Captain, look, a few hours ago, the escape capsule had sent four precisely-oriented information streams to Blood Rain. Although we don’t know the content yet, Fengyu Zhong did have a short ‘conversation’ with him. Maybe that is the reason Fengyu Zhong burst into fury.”

The room fell into prolonged silence. The only thing that could be heard was the spluttering noises of the sparks.

Lei Dalu suddenly asked, “Old Bai, why do you think the man inside the escape capsule irritated Fengyu Zhong without a reason?”

With a bitter smile, Bai Kaixin replied, “Isn’t it obvious? He took down one of Storm Prison’s starships at first and then lured all of Fengyu Zhong’s troops to go after him. His sole purpose was apparently to rescue us!”

“To rescue us…”

Lei Dalu scratched his blood-stained beard and murmured, “I seem to know who is inside the escape capsule now.”

Bai Kaixin squinted, sharpness beaming out of his eyes. He remarked, “It all makes sense now. I’ve guessed it, too. And if it really is the guy we think it is, I also know how he managed to piss off Fengyu Zhong now.

“Captain, it appears that luck is truly on your side!”

Lei Dalu grinned. He laughed so loud that his tears were flowing on his big, greasy face. He mumbled, “I don’t know whether or not luck is on my side. But I do know that my brothers are on my side!

“Old Bai, do you think we can let our good brother fight alone and be pushed to the desolate land when he has come such a long way here to rescue us after hearing that the Great Horn Exo Society was in danger?”

Bai Kaixin blinked quickly and maximized his computational ability. A moment later, his eyes were glittering with confidence again. He replied, “Indeed. I’ve thought of a plan. If it works out, our good brother’s pressure will be reduced to minimum, and we can even tear a big chunk of flesh off Fengyu Zhong’s body!”

Five minutes later, they were connected to the communication channel of the other two starships.

Appearing on the light beam were another two faces that were equally blood-stained and stubborn.

They were Xin Hongde, an elder of the Flying Flower Sect, and Jing Yong, First Deacon of the Swooping Eagle Sect.

Flying Flower Sect and Swooping Eagle Sect were two medium-sized sects at the edge of the constellation. Xin Hongde and Jing Yong were both in the beginning level of the Core Formation Stage, just like Lei Dalu.

They had joined the collective operation of the major sects to ambush the space pirates under the impression that they could cheer for the strong Cultivators and fish for the small fries at the back.

However, they encountered a space storm due to bad luck. The shells of their warships were seriously damaged, and they were not able to perform a space jump.

When the crystal warships of other sects were returning to their homes via space jumps, they could only form a fleet with Gold Horn, hoping to find a port to repair their shells so that they could jump to their homes.

Never did they anticipate that they would be assaulted by large troops of space pirates on the way. They suffered great losses, and their men had nearly all been killed.

Compared to the Great Horn Exo Society, which was the space pirates’ main target, these two sects could almost be called ‘collateral damage’. Therefore, their anger was so obvious that it was written on their faces.

“Captain Lei, we were meaning to contact you a moment ago. Did the space pirates retreat because our reinforcements are coming?” asked Xin Hongde.

Xin Hongde was in his nineties. For a Core Formation Stage Cultivator, he was in his prime years. His eyes were vigorous, but he was apparently a very prudent man.

Lei Dalu replied, “The reinforcement have not arrived yet. The space pirates have shifted their routes because they are chasing after another Cultivator with their full might!”

“What?”

Xin Hongde couldn’t have been more surprised. “Who is this guy? Is he more valuable than three crystal warships that are about to be blown up?”

Lei Dalu said, “Right now, we don’t know for sure who the guy is, but it is obvious that he has come to our rescue after a very long journey at the risk of his own life! Now, we have a new plan that can help him and fight side by side with him!

“Please take a look. The engine compartment of the remaining four crystal warships of the space pirates have been damaged to different extents. Their maximum speeds are not the same.

“Fengyu Zhong must’ve ordered the four crystal warships to chase after the escape capsule at full speed. As a result, the four crystal warships are now in a long line. The one with the most damaged engine compartment has been left far behind.

“Fengyu Zhong thinks that we’ve been daunted by him and we will only cheer for his retreat. He thinks that, while he is gone, we will stay here to recover and wait for the reinforcements. He thinks, we will never be bold enough to fight against him again!

“But in fact, we are going to take advantage of his assumption. We will follow him quietly and knock down the last starship at an appropriate time!”

Chapter 535: Planetary Rings

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Audacious was not enough to describe the plan; it was nuts. Purely nuts!

Xin Hongde and Jing Yong both fell silent.

Jing Yong was only in his sixties. For a Core Formation Stage Cultivator, he was still very young. He couldn’t help but ask, “The power rune arrays of the three starships on our side have all been seriously wrecked. We don’t have sufficient backup components, and there is no way that we can restore the full speed of the starships in several days. How are we going to catch our enemy?”

Fengyu Zhong had, of course, calculated everything before he summoned all his troops to attack the escape capsule. He was well aware that the three starships on the Great Horn Exo Society’s side were all exhausted and damaged. They wouldn’t be able to counterattack even if they wanted to.

Bai Kaixin blinked, and with a mysterious smile, he observed, “Of course, we cannot afford to maintain all of the three starships. But what if we gather the usable units and components of the three starships into one starship?

“After all, we don’t have so many soldiers at present. Fixing up three starships would be wasteful for us. We can consider dismantling the units and components from your starships and use them to repair Gold Horn.

“If so, we can definitely restore the speed of this starship to an acceptable speed!

“Then, we will leave all the wounded to your starships where they will wait for the reinforcements.

“All the men who can still fight will gather on Gold Horn. We will launch a counterattack and catch them off guard!”

Jing Yong gasped and said, “But the space pirates have four starships, and we will only have one.”

Bai Kaixin narrowed his eyes and sneered, “But time is on our side.

“This is the most dangerous gamble, with time as the wager!

“Think about it. Now that Fengyu Zhong is chasing the Cultivator at full speed, his starships must be consuming fuel crazily at the moment.

“When he discovers that the starship left behind has been attacked by us, he will be caught in a dilemma.

“If the starship is to turn back, it has to decelerate from the rushing state slowly and reset the sailing route. Twice as much fuel and time will be wasted!

“By that time, our reinforcements could show up at any moment. Fengyu Zhong must keep enough fuel spare to run away. If he cannot finish us quickly, he will be stalled by us and even fail to get away. Do you think he will risk that?

“Fengyu Zhong values his life more than anything else. He definitely won’t dare come back and fight us. His only option will be abandoning the last starship in order to keep himself safe!

“This is our plan. Of course, it is very risky. But we cannot stand by and watch the Cultivator be surrounded by space pirates while doing nothing about it!

“If Flying Flower and Swooping Eagle do not wish to continue the battle, that’s alright, too, as long as you can provide the usable components in your engine compartments so that we can repair Gold Horn.

“You are free to stay and treat your wounded. We will take care of the rest!

“Time is of the greatest importance. Please make a decision soon. We are in a hurry to catch up with our brother and fight side by side with him!”

Xin Hongde and Jing Yong both fell silent.

But the surging flames inside their eyes were burning more and more furiously.

The flames were thick and solid. They did not look like flames, but the flowing, boiling blood inside the two Cultivators’ bodies!

…

In the middle of the boundless sea of stars, a weird hunt was taking place.

Fleeing quickly in the lead was a tiny escape capsule. Despite the bright exhaust flames exiting its rear, it was nothing but an insignificant speck of dust in the desolate universe.

Four murderous, aggressive starships were closely behind that speck. They were going at full speed in a line. The dazzling brilliance emitted from their power rune arrays tore apart the darkness of the vacuum like the roars of a ferocious animal.

One starship as sharp as an arrowhead was at the front. It getting closer and closer to the escape capsule.

Li Yao lay inside the escape capsule comfortably as he analyzed the speed and various parameters of his pursuers with the scanning of the crystal cameras.

Even though he was being hunted by a Core Formation Stage Cultivator who was leading four starships and more than a thousand Exos, a weird smile appeared on his face, as if he was quite enjoying the thrill and excitement.

Music from the Heaven’s Origin Sector was echoing inside the sealed escape capsule. It was a popular song that every household in the Heaven’s Origin Sector had listened to named ‘Conquering the Universe’.

“Look, the dense clouds cannot stop the running sea of stars.

“Endless darkness will disperse. Lights of life will illuminate the sky.

“When I feel desperate, I always hear a song played in my heart.

“The meaner fate is to you, the tougher you will become!”

The bouncing number on the light beam indicated that the hunters were drawing closer and closer. The giant beast had opened its bloody mouth, ready to launch its fatal attack.

Li Yao smiled and triggered a telepathic thought to activate a gadget.

…

Inside the cockpit of Blood Rain, Fengyu Zhong and his advisor were also observing the situation of the battle through the most advanced probe magical equipment.

After half a day’s crazy hunting without bothering about the cost of fuel, the distance between them and the escape capsule had been greatly shortened.

Squid, at the front, could almost catch the tail of the escape capsule now.

“General Feng, one of the enemy’s power rune arrays has exploded!”

On the light beam, the fuzzy light spot that represented the escape capsule was suddenly much brighter. The advisor exclaimed in excitement after he improved the quality of the picture by concentrating his computational ability.

Fengyu Zhong sneered, “That’s inevitable. It is an escape capsule after all. After rushing for such a long time at full speed, the power rune arrays must have already surpassed their limits. It’s only normal that they have exploded now.

“Even if the power rune arrays were fine, he won’t have much fuel left. Very soon, he will be in our pocket!

“Ask Squid to deploy the assault team and harass the enemy!”

Almost a hundred crystal suits flew out of the arrowhead-like starship in the front as if it were a honeycomb.

They were riding specially-made cylindrical magical equipment known as ‘Assault Rockets’. Bright orange exhaust flames spurted out of their vehicles as they dashed at the escape capsule at the maximum speed!

The main guns around the starship started glittering, too. Spiritual energy was being condensed. Once the escape capsule entered the best attack range, they would immediately open fire.

Right then, at the tail of the escape capsule, which had supposedly run out of spiritual energy and suffered the explosion of multiple power rune arrays, a glamorous flower of spiritual energy suddenly blossomed. Seven-colored mystic rays spurted out. The escape capsule was given an unbelievable speed boost and leapt forward!

The escape capsule ran away again before it entered the best attack range of the starship!

Inside the cockpit, the advisor was dumbfounded. He tapped on the light beam crazily. Sweat was dripping from his nose as he said, “That’s impossible. The instantaneous acceleration and the maximum speed of the escape capsule have far exceeded the limits of ‘Wild Butterfly’! How could he get such a high speed?”

“Don’t you see?”

Fengyu Zhong closed his eyes and took a long breath. He gnashed his teeth. “Our enemy has modified the escape capsule and improved its speed and instantaneous acceleration. But he pretended that it was a normal escape capsule so that we would come after it!

“According to his current speed, it’s very likely that he will run into the stone belts around Iron Plateau before we catch up to him!”

The advisor paused for a moment. “Then, should we abort the pursuit?”

Fengyu Zhong grinned hideously. “Such a delicate scheme, so many resources, and the victory so close to us have all been disrupted by the mysterious man!

“Not to mention that he murdered my son and humiliated me in front of everyone!

“We’ve gone too far to abort anything now! Just keep on chasing! Don’t stop even if we have to trespass into the stone belts! Stop him, whatever the cost!

“This time, I’m going to tear off his head myself!”

The advisor was greatly shocked.

Fengyu Zhong, a Core Formation Stage Cultivator, was about to personally act!

The following five hours were just repeating what had happened.

The escape capsule was always in front of Squid, neither too far away nor too close.

Its speed was not very high. When Squid went at full speed, the distance between the two parties would be gradually shortened.

However, when the main guns of Squid refilled spiritual energy and the Exos on board were launched for battle, the escape capsule would suddenly accelerate under the spurt of unbelievable exhaust flames. The distance between them would return to what it had been originally.

One chasing and the other running, the two parties gradually entered the nearby of Iron Plateau in the center of the Iron Plateau Space Zone.

The splendid scenes in front of Li Yao’s eyes made him momentarily forget to breath.

Iron Plateau seemed to be a hundred times larger than the planet of Heaven’s Origin.

However, with careful observation, one would discover that it was because of the brilliant halos emitted by the hundreds of rings surrounding Iron Plateau.

The rings were made of the tremendous materials spinning around the planet. Generally speaking, only when the planets boasted sufficient gravity could they form rings. One planet usually had only one ring.

The planets with atmosphere and suitable conditions for human beings were usually too small in quality. They did not have a strong enough attraction force to generate rings.

However, Iron Plateau was surrounded by rings on an enormous scale. It was not one, but a super ring system made of hundreds of interconnected rings. It looked like a solid armor for the planet and made the size of the planet a hundred times larger than it should have been!

“Such intense and patterned spiritual waves! They do not seem to be from regular meteoroids!”

Li Yao sensed a mysterious and yet irresistible force from the hundreds of interconnected rings, which made him immediately realize that the rings were not natural-born, but a piece of large defensive magical equipment crafted by the Cultivators thousands of years ago to protect Iron Plateau based on unfathomable technology!

This was really a piece of planetary-level magical equipment that was bordering on the stellar level!

“A piece of defensive magical equipment made up of hundreds of rings? Magnificent! Splendid! Incredible!

“The Flying Star Sector had an extraordinary Cultivation civilization in the past!

“Was this magical equipment meant to resist what Huangpu Xiaoya described to be ‘apocalypses’? It’s a pity that the system seemed to fail its job. Iron Plateau was destroyed anyway!”

Li Yao snuck into one of the stone belts without any hesitation.

Translator’s Thoughts

 flycrane01

Hi, guys. We are pleased to announce that we will restore double release after six months of daily release. From today on, new chapters will be released at 9:00 and 21:00 (UTC +8) every day. In the meantime, we would like to introduce our new incentive plan in which the power ranking of the novel at the end of each week decides the number of chapters to be published in the next week:

Power Ranking 16-20 –> 17 chapters/week (14 basic + 3 bonus)

Power Ranking 11-15 –> 19 chapters/week (14 basic + 5 bonus)

Power Ranking 4-10 –> 21 chapters/week (triple release)

Power Ranking 1-3 –> 28 chapters/week (quadruple release)

Happy reading!

Chapter 536: Space Steles

Translator: flycrane01 | Editor: Millman97

Compared with the vastness of space, human beings couldn’t be more insignificant.

The seemingly thin rings turned out to be boundless worlds once one entered them.

Roaring stones and glimmering dust were everywhere. Invisible turbulences and radiation rays were rushing and raging like a flooding river.

Li Yao was floating on such a rampant river. Although he had experienced something similar when he cruised through the Dim Flame Belt, he still felt that his head was dizzy and the scenes were bizarre.

The stones inside the planetary ring were extremely dense. As small as the escape capsule was, he still had to calculate the angles and trajectories of the stones precisely in order to pass through the gaps.

Li Yao also discovered that, among the sweeping, nonuniform stones, there were occasionally rectangular objects that emitted a metallic glow.

These objects were not reflecting the brilliance of the star but emanating brightness by themselves.

Judging from the color of the objects, they were not natural minerals but more like man-made alloys.

These metal objects were space steles.

If one were to adjust the resolution and the observation distance of their crystal camera to the maximum, one would be able to notice that complicated runes had been carved on the steles.

Many steles were hollow. Translucent crystals were floating inside them.

After thousands of years, the crystals were still glittering and releasing spiritual energy.

Li Yao shut his eyes and extended his spiritual threads from his spiritual root, perceiving the steles with his mind.

He could feel clearly that each stele sent out almost a hundred spiritual waves, which tied up the stones nearby and formed a solid shield of stones.

Every stele was the core of such a shield. When thousands of shields of stones were combined, they constituted a planetary ring. Right now, hundreds of planetary rings were interconnected, but there was not the slightest mutual interference.

It was indeed a piece of formidable magical equipment almost bordering on the stellar level!

Li Yao breathed softly and focused his full attention. The escape capsule flew among the stones as if it were a weightless feather.

Although the magical equipment had existed for five thousand years and it had failed to resist the legendary apocalypse five thousand years ago, Li Yao was not sure that it had entirely lost its power, nor was he willing to test it with his life.

However, other people were not as prudent as he was.

Not far behind Li Yao, Squid had finally reached the edge of the planetary ring.

The stones in the area were too dense for a starship of Squid’s size to enter. Otherwise, it would be attacked by countless stones.

If it were to resist all the stones, it would have to keep its spiritual shield at the maximum all the time. The spiritual energy cost would be shockingly high.

Therefore, Squid could only float in orbit along the planetary ring and release a lot of crystal suits.

Almost a hundred crystal suits leaked into the planetary ring from different angles in battle formation, trying to surround Li Yao.

“Come on. I’ve waited for a long time!”

Li Yao smiled and rubbed his burning hands. Then he tapped on the operation light beam.

Instantly after a cracking noise, the escape capsule became a different form again. Four sharp-edged fins made of super alloys extended out of the tail of the escape capsule and formed what seemed to be a cross.

In space, the cross-shaped fins were usually meant to cut apart the tiny stones so that they wouldn’t hit the escape capsule directly.

In the middle of the cross-shaped fins, four micro units that could accelerate the spinning, turning, and small-scale movements gradually revealed themselves.

This was the ultimate form of the Wild Butterfly escape capsule after Li Yao’s modification!

It was no longer an escape capsule; it was an out-and-out super shuttle, one that could fly freely within the stone belts!

The operation menu in front of Li Yao’s eyes gradually changed, too. The number of buttons to control the direction, speed, and angle increased by five times. There were now five operation menus instead of three.

The small cabin was glittering in gold, as if it were the operation platform of the most professional super shuttle.

“Let the game begin!”

Running away was not Li Yao’s style. Even though his opponent was a Core Formation Stage Cultivator, he was still trying to make counterattacks, however feeble they were!

This planetary ring was the graveyard that he had chosen for the space pirates!

Li Yao whistled as his hands turned into two clusters of mist on the shining light beam. Torrents suddenly erupted out of the bottom of the escape capsule. As if someone had kicked it from behind, the escape capsule continued fleeing forward in a weird curve.

The space pirates couldn’t have been angrier. They didn’t expect their enemy to be crazy enough to rush at such a high speed inside a planetary ring where there was nothing but a raging storm of stones!

But Fengyu Zhong had stated in his fury that the enemy must be stopped at all costs. Whoever captured the enemy alive would be granted a crystal warship immediately. Every contributor of the hunt would be given a super crystal suit crafted by the top experts on Spider Den!

Space pirates were all desperadoes in the first place. Now, they were even more motivated by the enticing reward!

Countless space pirates flooded in and sprinted among the stones fearlessly!

The planetary ring seemed still, but it was, in fact, spinning around the planet at an extremely high speed. The stones inside were also running and colliding into each other without any pattern. All the routes and angles had to be calculated on the spot. It was impossible to foresee anything!

In their urgency, more than ten space pirates were smashed by passing stones!

Although they were defended by their spiritual shields, many of them had broken bones. The less fortunate ones were even hit on the back of their head, where the crystal processor was located, or on their spine, where the crystal reactor was. They almost lost all of their combat ability and had to withdraw from the battle.

On the other hand, Li Yao was steering the escape capsule to perform unbelievable small-scale movements unhurriedly. He was like a feather near a swirl. Although he seemed to be swallowed by the stones many times, he always showed up again a moment later. The space pirates couldn’t have been madder and cursed loudly.

Some of the more impatient space pirates had even launched attacks at him, triggering their flying swords and crystal cannons without caring for anything else.

Due to the long distance between the two parties and the blockade of the stones in the way, all the attacks missed their target.

Not only did they fail to hit the escape capsule, they even lead to more terrifying consequences!

Li Yao was calculating the position and route of the escape capsule carefully, when he suddenly sensed that an extremely furious spiritual tide was surging toward his back. He was greatly surprised and replayed what had happened while he dodged the spiritual tide.

He saw that, when several space pirates were attacking him wholeheartedly, a glittering stele drew close to them without them noticing. One of the space pirates was hit precisely by the stele when he was launching his flying swords!

The space pirates were immediately heavily injured. But in the meantime, the barrier of the stele seemed to be triggered. The dark green object suddenly emitted dazzling brilliance and became as eye-catching as jade!

The spiritual waves released from the center of the stele was hundreds of times more intense than before. They spread out like nerves and veins and penetrated into all the stones nearby.

The previously loose stones were then concentrated into a giant beast with more than ten tentacles made of stones, which were spinning crazily!

Caught off guard, more than ten space pirates were snatched by the tentacles and torn to shreds before they even had the chance to struggle!

Clouds of blood mist were exploding. The scraps of the space pirates’ crystal suits were propelled out by the tentacles to other space pirates in various directions.

The other space pirates all ran far away with their heads in their hands while they screamed and yelled in their communication channel.

Li Yao was greatly alarmed. He felt that he was lucky not to have messed around with the steles.

It appeared that the super defense array five thousand years ago had not entirely lost its power yet and was still fulfilling its duty.

After five thousand years, under the scourge of so many meteoroids, the steles could still unleash such formidable strength. It was not hard to imagine how magnificent they had been when they had just been refined and filled with sufficient spiritual energy!

Li Yao was fascinated by the thought. He looked at the space pirates behind him and noticed that there were less than seventy of them after the outbreak of the stele.

Li Yao grinned and was meaning to accelerate again when he suddenly felt lightheaded and his heart seemed to be bitten by nine snakes at the same time. The pain was truly excruciating!

…

Inside the cockpit of Blood Rain, Fengyu Zhong’s face was gloomy.

The Iron Plateau Space Zone was a battlefield of his choosing. Since the space zone was a forbidden area for Cultivators, there were no large star beacons or ports and bases of the Cultivators. Even the signal of the Spiritual Nexus was extremely weak. One could only hope to be connected to the Spiritual Nexus when they were at the edge of the space zone.

Also, the dense stone belts there would be a great help to him during his escape.

Therefore, he had gone through all the trouble and employed all possible methods to drive the Great Horn Exo Society to the Iron Plateau Space Zone before the final deadly attack.

But at that moment, he felt that he had become a victim of his own scheme.

Although his enemy was merely in an escape capsule, it would be barely possible to destroy it if it snuck into the planetary rings near Iron Plateau. The search would be long and hard and might prove futile later.

Time was what he needed most.

“General Feng, Squid has gotten in touch with the enemy, but the enemy hasn’t been stopped yet,” said the advisor in a low voice.

Fengyu Zhong didn’t respond.

He was faced with a tough decision.

At that moment, Blood Rain was at the back of his fleet. He was covering the rear personally in order to resist the possible counterattack of the Great Horn Exo Society.

By logic, since his enemy had been heavily damaged, their starships almost entirely paralyzed, there was no reason they would catch up to him again.

However, the people of the Great Horn Exo Society were all crazy. They were anything but logical.

But if he did not act in person, his subordinates might not be able to capture the sly enemy in the stone belts at all.

Fengyu Zhong pondered for a long time.

For the whole time, the sea of stars behind him had been tranquil. There was no hint of the Great Horn Exo Society whatsoever.

“Those lunatics must’ve reached their limits, too. It’s not likely that they will come and commit suicide.”

Fengyu Zhong finally made up his mind.

Shua!

An extremely hideous crystal suit appeared around him!

Chapter 537: Desperadoes

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

What a terrifying crystal suit it was!

In a lackluster red color, the crystal suit seemed to be made of dried blood. Human faces were everywhere on the surface of the armor, including the chest, shoulder, back, arms, and legs.

Most of the faces were screaming in agony, some of them were angry or grinning hideously, but all of them were life-like. Even the tiniest muscles had been carved out. Countless restless souls seemed to be haunting the crystal suit. One would be able to hear endless screams with a look at it.

What was weirder was that, as Fengyu Zhong burned his soul and spiritual energy, the painful faces were twisting and changing their expressions, as if the faces were really sealed inside the crystal suit!

This crystal suit was named ‘Blood Face’, made in the Temple of Immortals. A hundred Cultivators had been tossed into the furnace as blood sacrifices before it had finally been forged. It boasted extremely powerful ability in mental attacks!

When the Blood Face Battlesuit appeared, the cockpit was immediately wreathed in gloom and depression. Everyone was gripped in utmost terror.

Even the space pirates of Storm Prison felt that their heads were dizzy and were not willing to look at the twisted faces on the crystal suit.

Many crew members whose mental power was relatively weak were shivering with pale faces. They felt that they were about to throw up.

Ten minutes later, Fengyu Zhong floating in space, outside of Blood Rain.

He was wearing the Blood Face Battlesuit, with a special super assault rocket below his feet.

BOOM!

An extremely furious purple light ball suddenly appeared around him, surrounded by black lighting that seemed able to tear everything apart. It enveloped both him and the assault rocket under his feet!

Motivated by spiritual energy, the spiritual stripes on the assault rocket were glittering, and the exhaust flames in its back surged out!

Although it was merely an assault rocket, the exhaust flames behind it were as brilliant as those in the back of Blood Rain. It was instantly accelerated to the maximum speed, which was ten times higher than that of the assault rockets for ordinary space pirates!

Just like the ancient Cultivators who rode their flying swords, Fengyu Zhong rode his assault rocket and turned into a streak of brightness, darting toward the planetary ring in rage!

…

Exactly when Fengyu Zhong charged at the planetary ring to try to stop and kill Li Yao, a ragged starship was moving in stealth mode behind Storm Prison. Two broken horns pierced out of the two sides of the starship. Undying fighting will could be felt from the coldly-shining factures on them.

Gold Horn had caught up!

Gold Horn at present couldn’t look more wretched. It had regained the ability to cruise at high-speed for now after the emergency maintenance with the components and units from the other two starships. But on the surface, it was unattractive, and there were patches everywhere. It was probably the ugliest starship in the universe.

On the main deck of Gold Horn, four hundred silent Cultivators were standing, like four hundred dented, broken, but unbent battle sabers.

What Cultivators they were!

Their faces were all stained with blood. Most of them were tied up in bandages, some of which were still leaking blood. Some of them were even missing limbs!

The crystal suits on their body were also shabby and disintegrated. Almost every crystal suit had been fixed up with a component from other crystal suits. Some of the crystal suits were even piled up by the wreckages of several crystal suits.

Mottled, messy, and multi-colored, the crystal suits seemed to be for beggars.

But right now, the beggar-like soldiers in tatty crystal suits who had just endured brutal failure were all holding their heads high, their killing intent soaring. Their broken crystal suits could not withstand the burning ambiance and were all rattling chaotically.

Lei Dalu stood in front of the four hundred Cultivators and looked around.

His crystal suit might well have been the worst of the four hundred crystal suits there.

But his face was the proudest and most confident, as if he were a great general who had just secured an unparalleled victory.

“Brothers, allow me to briefly repeat what has happened in the past few days!

“At first, we were ambushing the space pirates with quite a bunch of people, only to be fooled by the space pirates, who took the opportunity to break into our homes!

“In the Skyhill Domain alone, more than forty thousand people were killed. Forty thousand people!

“Then, the three starships of ours were ambushed by Fengyu Zhong, who beat us up terribly. Every one of us has suffered miserable wounds. To be honest, we were beaten the s*hit out of!

“In the end, when we were desperate, and the space pirates were going to butcher us like pigs, one person, yes, only one, came after a long journey in the sea of stars and reversed the situation by himself. Not only did he sink one of Storm Prison’s starships, he also attracted the attention of the main troops of the space pirates, thereby saving our lives!

“Right now, the man is surrounded by four crystal warships, a thousand brutal bandits, and one Core Formation Stage Cultivator!

“We have only two choices right now!

“We can wait and watch the space pirates on the four crystal warships enfold the man who came to our rescue from distances away and kill him.

“When our reinforcements arrive, and we return to the peaceful land, we will hold a solemn ceremony in memory of the valiant and fearless hero. We will shed tears and swear to avenge him!

“Nobody will blame us. Except for the occasional guilt that we may feel when we are alone late at night, we will be totally fine.

“It is definitely the most regular, rational, and reasonable choice that we should make right now.

“Or, if you don’t want to make such a choice, one that seems to be sane but is, in fact, ballless nonetheless, and if you prefer a crazier but more manly choice, you can also charge forward with me and fight side by side with the man who decided to come to our rescue all by himself!

“Yes. Your eyes are not deceiving you. The starship that our enemy deployed to cover their retreat, the one right in front of us, is the flagship of Storm Prison, Blood Rain, which is the largest and possesses the highest combat ability!

“It’s very possible that Fengyu Zhong, a Core Formation Stage Cultivator, is on his flagship right now!

“However, it’s been four days since we sent out our first distress call!

“I guarantee that countless reinforcements are marching toward the Iron Plateau Space Zone at this very moment. Chances are that some of them will show up in the next second!

“Even though we cannot destroy Blood Rain, as long as we can bite it hard for one day, one hour, one minute, or even as short as one second, we may be able to buy enough time for the reinforcements to reach us. At that time, Fengyu Zhong will be surrounded, and his sorry life will end in this bleak space zone!

“This operation is very dangerous. Maybe after all our blood runs dry, the reinforcements still won’t show up. Everybody will die in vain!

“Therefore, it’s perfectly normal and reasonable if anybody wants to quit. Just step back now and stay in the starship!

“All the remaining brothers will come with me and crash into Blood Rain!

“Don’t forget that a Cultivator is fighting alone at the front!

“Even if we may not be able to save him, at least our hot blood should flow together with our good brother’s in this cold universe!”

The four hundred Cultivators, who looked like unbent battle sabers, were all breathing heavily, but it sounded almost metallic, as if the edge of a saber was rubbing against its sheath.

Nobody stepped back.

Instead, many people unconsciously made a step forward.

“Listen to me, Cultivators from Swooping Eagle!”

Jing Yong, First Deacon of the Swooping Eagle Sect, stepped forward and looked at the dozens of Cultivators on the left. He then spoke. “When we started our expedition from our hometown, many of our compatriots bade us farewell and wished that we spread the name of the Swooping Eagle Space Zone in the sea of stars!

“However, we came to this place across dozens of space zones, only to be stomped on and slaughtered like pigs!

“Of the five hundred warriors who set off, three hundred have perished, and a hundred have been heavily wounded. Our starship is on the verge of destruction, too.

“Are we going to return to our hometown like losers?

“By that time, when the folks in our hometown see our devastated appearance and our brothers whose bodies are gone with only their spiritual nameplates left, how will we answer their inquiries?

“What if somebody asks us how many space pirates we have slain and how many warships we destroyed? How are we going to answer that?

“We are the greatest sect of the Swooping Eagle Space Zone!

“Now, we have one last chance to avenge our brothers and show the space pirates what the Cultivators of Swooping Eagle truly are!”

“Ho!”

The dozens of remaining soldiers of Swooping Eagle roared at the same time. Their spiritual energy surged out of their broken crystal suits and formed glamourous wings on their backs, making them look like eagles that were about to soar into the sky!

“Listen to me, disciples of Flowing Flower!”

Xin Hongde, an elder of the Flowing Flower Sect, took a step forward, too. His voice was not loud, but it was resolute and pierced into the deck under everyone’s feet like needles. He said, “A month ago, were you not curious why the Great Horn Exo Society could rise to fame like lightning within half a year even though it was a medium-sized Exo Society whose only Core Formation Stage Cultivator was in the beginning level?

“You should know the answer now!

“Our Flowing Flower Sect is just an ordinary second-rate sect in the Flowing Flower Space Zone. Many Cultivators in Heavenly Saints City have never heard our name before!

“However, after today’s battle, the name of the Flowing Flower Sect will resound in the sea of stars together with the Great Horn Exo Society and the Swooping Eagle Sect!

“Let my blood be the soil of Flowing Flower!”

“He!”

The dozens of Cultivators on the right side, who were wearing badges in the shape of a red flower, bellowed. The spiritual energy around them burst out into blossoming chrysanthemums.

“Captain Lei!”

Jing Yong and Xin Hongde stared at Lei Dalu with their eyes shining and said simultaneously, “The Great Horn Exo Society are not the only people that get to play heroes today!

“If you want to go crazy today, let’s all go crazy!”

Lei Dalu burst into laughter. He slashed his heavy battle saber down. The wound on his shoulder was broken again and blood spurted out. However, he couldn’t care less about it and simply rumbled in a louder voice, “Regardless of whether or not Fengyu Zhong is expecting our counterattack and whether or not he has prepared other traps, we have no time to bother him!

“The most important thing about us, the Cultivators, is craziness and boldness!

“Fengyu Zhong, let’s see now which side has the more unflinching desperadoes!

“Go forward, Cultivators!”

Chapter 538: Bloody Cloak!

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

“Pu!”

Li Yao vomited a mouthful of black blood, which wriggled around as if it were a living thing. The control panel was corroded amid cracking noises and seemed like it could burst into flames at any moment.

Li Yao’s eyes were bloodshot, yet the blood was queerly black, making his face oddly hideous.

He didn’t anticipate that the curse lurking inside his body would be so strange as to conceal its true power until this moment. Nine black snakes seemed to have torn open his heart, crawled inside, and bitten each other’s tails. They formed a solid shackle that was about to lock his heart!

Black Spider Evil Spirit, death before curse!

Had Li Yao’s body not been sturdy enough with the spiritual seed from Iron God Yan Ba, a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator, the previous attack would’ve crushed his heart!

If it were peacetime, Li Yao would naturally have concentrated his attention and dispelled the curse before it broke out with his tough body built up by the spiritual seed from a body fundamentalist and Ou Yezi’s immense soul power inside his brain.

It was also the biggest reason Li Yao had slayed Su Jiuzhen unhesitatingly without being bothered by his threat before his death.

However, Li Yao had spent every second making up plans and traps ever since. He could only manage to suppress the curse and did not have the time to dispel it. It never occurred to him that the Black Spider Death Curse would be smart enough to break out at the most critical moment after protracted hiding!

At this moment, Li Yao was calculating the route of his escape every second with his highest computational ability among the gaps of countless stones and space steles in the middle of a planetary ring. His flight seemed to be easy and elegant, but it cost as much of his soul power as a life-and-death battle would.

The attack of the Black Spider Death Curse made his soul shrink suddenly. His computational ability was greatly undermined. He felt that his head was dizzy, and, because of a few wrong calculations, almost five stones scratched past the escape capsule.

The strengthened glass window at the front of the escape capsule was immediately covered in a lot of terrible cracks, as if it were going to explode in the very next second. It was indeed blood-freezing.

The cross-shaped fins at the tail of the escape capsule were broken off by a weird stone.

Li Yao roared. The spiritual energy all over his body turned into hot stream and flooded into his heart, which instantly constricted to the size of a baby’s fist. Yet, gold stripes were shining on the surface of his heart. A moment later, his heart expanded violently to three times the size of a regular heart. The left part of his chest was heaved high!

After the absorption and the enlargement, the Black Spider Death Curse screamed deep inside Li Yao’s brain as if it had been burnt by the boiling blood and the surging spiritual energy. It was temporarily suppressed again.

However, the pain, as if thousands of ants were gnawing at his heart, still lingered in his chest.

Before Li Yao had time to take a rest, an earsplitting buzz was already echoing inside the escape capsule.

The report on the light beam was redundant. Li Yao only needed to look up to know that an enormous meteoroid, more than thirty meters in diameter, emitting vague metallic colors, with sharp edges all around its body, was crashing toward him precisely and brutally!

It was because he had been harassed and distracted by the Black Spider Death Curse that he had been half a second too slow to calculate the best route!

Li Yao gritted his teeth while his hands operated fast. The small-scale movement performance of the escape capsule was fully carried out. The dozens of power rune arrays on board released intense brilliance one after another, deviating the escape capsule from the trajectory of the giant meteoroid.

However, serious rubbing was unavoidable. One of the sharp, protruding parts on the meteoroid scraped the surface of the escape capsule savagely and tore open its shell without any trouble. The magical equipment units plugged into the vehicle were mostly destroyed. The scraps spread out like a blossoming flower!

The escape capsule immediately started spinning rapidly beyond control, only to be hit by yet another ten meteoroids. It was riddled with holes and about to break part!

The specifications of the escape capsule had hit rock bottom. Ninety percent of the power rune arrays had collapsed.

The space pirates took the opportunity to march forward and surrounded Li Yao.

Although he was not connected in the enemy’s communication channel, it was not hard for Li Yao to imagine that the space pirates must be laughing to their hearts’ content at that moment.

Li Yao was laughing, too, coldly.

You think this escape capsule is my biggest reliance to challenge Storm Prison by myself?

You want to die? So be it!

BOOM!

Another meteoroid rushed close and darted into the fuel chamber of the escape capsule. It immediately became a large, bright fireball.

The moment before the explosion, a streak of black brightness had dashed out in advance from the escape capsule. With the stones as the steps and space as the stage, a bizarre-shaped crystal suit with a dominating aura revealed itself!

“Hu!”

Before the crystal cameras of the space pirates captured the details of the crystal suit, a cluster of red flames surged out from the shoulder of the crystal suit and zigzagged around its critical parts, before it moved to his back and extended out dozens of meters!

There was no wind in the space, but the red flames seemed to be fluttering flags in a billowing wind. It was waving unpredictably, like a bloody cloak dozens of meters long, and roaring in full spirits, motivated by its master’s soaring fighting will!

Black suit, red cloak, the Boiled Blood Wind Slashing Saber in his right hand, and the Purple Electric Blue Hellfire Claw that could be condensed into a drill of mystic rays any time in his left hand, Li Yao appeared like a God of Killing!

The space pirates had never seen a crystal suit with a cloak of flames dozens of meters long before. They were all dazed for a moment and felt that the cloak seemed to be made of endless blood, which wreathed them in untamable horror.

Li Yao sneered, with killing intent beaming out of his eyes.

The red cloak was a piece of experimental magical equipment based on the ancient techniques of refining forty thousand years ago and the essence of modern refining arts. He had been trying to take the advantage of both the traditional and the modern technology.

His original purpose was to craft a piece of magical equipment to cover the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit so that other people wouldn’t be able to see the secret materials on it.

At first, he had thought of the ‘flag’-like magical equipment in the ancient Cultivation world, such as the Seven Star Soul Guidance Flag and the White Bone Dark Ghost Flag.

When the flag-like magical equipment was activated, they would immediately emit a lot of mist or venom to cover the user.

In the meantime, the flag-like magical equipment was often large enough to cover a crystal suit like a cloak.

However, in the modern Cultivation world, flag-like magical equipment had become obsolete. The technology entailed in such magical equipment had been transplanted into battle emblems and the camouflage for weapons and vehicles.

Flag-like magical equipment with a real entity was not easy to be combined with a crystal suit. Also, for a battle in the universe, it seemed rather hilarious and cumbersome to have a flag attached to the back of a crystal suit.

After prolonged studying, by taking into consideration more than thirty kinds of ancient flag-like magical equipment recorded in the classics on the second floor of the Heavenly Refining Tower, together with modern illumination technology, Li Yao had finally crafted such a crimson cloak of light flames after many tests!

The cloak did not have an entity; it was purely initiated by the two light flame generators under the shoulders of the crystal suit.

But a lot of structures of ancient flag-like magical equipment and technology had been applied to the framework of the light flames, which made it a virtual ‘blood flag’. It could either be turned invisible or be extended to dozens of meters away to become an intimidating, super-long cloak completely at Li Yao’s will.

The biggest function of the cloak was, of course, to cover the critical parts on the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit that were made of Skeleton Dragon’s body tissue and scraps of ancient magical equipment.

With the coverage of the blood-red cloak, other people could only tell that the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit was an extremely powerful crystal suit at best; they would never be able to clearly see its details.

Other than that, the cloak made of light flames boasted a certain mental attack ability. When it was released to its full length, it would be able to rage and flap in the vacuum, even though there was no wind, at Li Yao’s command. The soaring fighting will that the cloak demonstrated would be very intimidating to the enemy!

However, Li Yao’s current Cultivation was not good enough. The mental attack was only slightly better than nothing.

But Li Yao believed that he would refine the cloak of light flames into an ultimate treasure in mental warfare one day!

With his battle saber and his sharp claw roaring, the blood-red cloak wafting up and down, Li Yao’s face was now filled with eagerness, as if he had been looking forward to this moment for a long time!

“Die!”

The space pirates hadn’t taken any action yet, but Li Yao had stomped on a meteoroid and launched his attack promptly!

When all the space pirates thought that he was going to flee toward the center of the planetary ring, Li Yao went the opposite way and charged at the edge of the planetary ring where he had come from!

The few space pirates guarding the edge of the planetary ring did not realize what was going on at all. They felt that some sort of redness blinked in front of their eyes before they saw a crimson cloak, which looked like a rampant dragon soaked in blood. The very next second, a murderous crystal suit dashed to their front!

Caught unprepared, the space pirate in the lead hurried to activate his spiritual shield at full power. Three layers of spiritual shields in red, yellow, and azure respectively formed a zone three meters in diameter and enveloped him!

Between the spiritual shields, countless octagonal runes were glittering in a gold brightness!

The Cultivation of this particular space pirate was not very high, but his physique was very good, and his resistance to attacks was impressive. Therefore, the pirate gang had tutored him specially in this regard and equipped him with a crystal suit that boasted remarkable defensive ability. He was meant to be a ‘tank’ to block the enemy’s attack.

Li Yao bellowed and raised his battler saber high. Bloody aura spurted out and dyed all the stones within one hundred square meters crimson. The slash as earsplitting as roaring thunder cut through the three spiritual shields straightforwardly!

Zi! Zi! Zi! Zi!

The three spiritual shields twisted, struggled, cramped, and crumbled!

As if chopping through bamboo, the battle saber continued marching forward and eventually ripped the space pirate together with his crystal suit into two halves, his blood spreading in the sea of stars!

The Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit passed through the middle of the broken bodies, dispersing the mist of blood in between. Then it stood in the middle of space, looking for its next target.

The dead space pirate’s blood seemed to be attracted by Li Yao’s red cloak and circled around Li Yao, highlighting his every bit of savage killing intent!

Chapter 539: Slaughterhouse in Space

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

All the space pirates gasped, especially those near the unlucky guy, whose dead body almost crashed into them.

They had all received Fengyu Zhong’s heads-up and knew that the enemy they were chasing after could prove to be a tricky man.

However, Li Yao had been running away crazily all the time, leaving them the impression that he was merely a cunning man. Also, his unpredictable routes inside the stone belts gave the feeling that he was an oily rat.

No one had anticipated that he would be as crazy and brutal when he suddenly burst out!

However, the members of Storm Prison had been trained by Fengyu Zhong for a long time. They were all bold desperadoes. Blood and death had triggered the ruthlessness deep inside their bones.

Even though some of them were hesitating, their crystal suits had automatically injected strengthening drugs into their spines under the control of their squad leader.

The strengthening drug was named ‘Incendiary Strengthening Drug’. It was a battle stimulant specially cooked on Spider Den for the space pirates.

When ‘Incendiary Strengthening Drug’ was injected before a battle, the space pirates would have a heartbeat five times faster than usual. The hormones inside their bodies would be greatly stirred, too. Not only would their combat ability be doubled, they would also become unwavering and unstoppable!

Motivated by the Incendiary Strengthening Drug, the space pirates shouted and yelled and lunged at Li Yao from various directions.

Li Yao waved his battle saber. His body turned into a streak of black brightness instantly as he leapt among the stones.

The blood-red cloak, dozens of meters long, on his back seemed to turn into a crimson cage that captured all the space pirates after he took a few turns.

Blade auras were surging in the sea of stars. The stone belts that were chaotic enough in the beginning now turned into a boiling ocean of blood!

Li Yao lunged forward and slayed seven space pirates in a row like a tiger attacking sheep. The most unfortunate one was drilled through right in the chest by his claw. At first glance, the guy seemed to have been pierced through by a meteoroid!

But Li Yao was heavily surrounded by the space pirates.

The space pirates had the advantage in numbers after all. Also, their experience in fighting was quite abundant. None of them were easy to deal with.

Even the space pirates in the Refinement Stage were not easy to kill when they were in proper crystal suits and had activated their spiritual shields on full power without caring for the spiritual energy consumption.

The space pirates were all brutal men. Not only were they brutal to their enemy, they were brutal to themselves, too. When Li Yao hit them precisely and they knew they were dead for sure, they would clutch his saber with all their strength while they were still breathing, just in order to make him waste more of his spiritual energy.

The few leaders of the space pirates were all in the Building Foundation Stage. They were very good at collaboration. Two of them were launching remote attacks while hiding behind the stones far away, while the rest of them were distracting him at a close distance.

It would be extremely difficult to kill them once and for all!

Moreover, there was still the meteoroids.

The meteoroids in the planetary ring were like an ever-surging river and treated everybody the same.

Li Yao had spent a lot of his computational ability in the battle against the space pirates. Therefore, his calculations on the trajectories of the meteoroids was often untimely.

As a result, he was hit by multiple meteoroids.

Despite the defense of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, Li Yao felt that he was suppressed by the stormy attacks and found it hard to breathe.

Swoosh!

After he slayed the eleventh space pirate, a three-edged flying sword finally penetrated through his spiritual shield and pierced into the gap of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit. His first drop of blood in that day’s battle flowed out.

The Black Spider Death Curse seemed to know that he was in peril. It was restless again and showed signs of another attack.

Li Yao took a deep breath. Yet, he felt that somebody had stuffed an icy block into his chest. The circulation of his spiritual energy was hindered!

Right at that moment, there was no telling whether or not it was because the Incendiary Strengthening Drug had run its course, but the space pirates were suddenly somehow in a mess.

Li Yao was deeply confused. He studied the tiny movements of the space pirates and looked at the boundless sea of stars ahead. Naturally, he saw nothing.

However, the special crystal camera on the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit sensed feeble spiritual waves from thousands of kilometers away.

It was likely a ripple that had reached him after covering the thousands of kilometers of distance in between momentarily.

It was not hard to imagine how intense the surging tides were thousands of kilometers away!

The crystal processor of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit was providing details on the abrupt change.

Deep in thought, Li Yao suddenly beamed with joy. He almost cried in joy.

Something had happened in the rear of the space pirates’ fleet. A fierce battle was taking place!

At that moment, the only party that could do such a thing was the Great Horn Exo Society!

Lei Dalu, the lunatic, was truly a lunatic!

Li Yao laughed out aloud and raised his saber. He swept across the space pirates like earsplitting thunders while lightning erupted on his saber.

The lightning-like saber cut both space and his own uneasiness apart.

Li Yao’s mind was clearer than ever. He seemed to have grasped something in the life-and-death moment among the shining slashes.

One slash!

The left arm of a space pirate was cut off!

For how long have I been unable to enjoy a good killing spree?

One slash!

A spiritual shield was blown into pieces. A terrible wound deep to the bones suddenly appeared in the chest of a space pirate!

In fact, this is what I desire most subconsciously, isn’t it?

Just like this time, I could’ve run faster and gotten rid of the space pirates, and they wouldn’t have necessarily come back to ask for the Great Horn Exo Society’s trouble again.

However, I still chose to keep a certain distance from them, neither too far nor too close. Secretly, I was even hoping that they would catch me!

One slash!

A space pirate as heavy as a bull, who was almost three meters tall in his crystal suit, was kicked away and crashed into a meteoroid that was rushing close, turning into a pile of meat!

That’s because I’ve been craving for a bloody fight!

I grew up in a magical equipment graveyard. I had to exploit my every muscle and every brain cell as much as I could in order to live one second longer!

When I try my best to calculate everything and defeat an invincible enemy and even death itself, and I get to live another second, another second, and yet another second, the ecstasy is indeed the most exciting entertainment!

Addicted! Yes. I’m already addicted to the duel with death!

Only when I’m going to die in the next second can I full taste the flavor of life in this second. The feeling of walking beside the abyss is marvelous and incredible!

One slash!

A sniper and his gun were both cut in half, but Li Yao’s abdomen was hit brutally, too.

Despite the resistance of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, a mouthful of blood surged to his throat, only to be swallowed by him. He felt that he had chugged the most delicious wine. His face was healthily red, and he couldn’t have looked more comfortable!

The day my spiritual root was awakened, and I became a Cultivator, I met Brother Guan Xiong of the Mountain Sea Sect. I ask him why he wanted to become a Cultivator. His reply was—

For the euphoria of one against a thousand!

The path of my Cultivation is exactly the same. I spill my blood in the sea of stars and slash a brilliant way to the heaven between the life of this second and the death of the next!

For a moment, he remembered all the pivotal moments in his past, from when he was hunted by five scavenger groups in the magical equipment graveyard when he was seven, to his encounter with the mutated large-eyed ape that was injected with strengthening drugs, to his narrow escape in the Thunderous Sound Mountain under the pursuit of the demon prince Wang Ji, to the desperate fight against Skeleton Dragon, the deadly demon from forty thousand years ago.

In the end, he recalled the terrifying scenes of the True Fusion and the space swirl in the Dim Flame Belt.

The pictures did not intimidate him. Instead, when he reflected on them, he felt that his life was precious, warm, and beautiful.

All the pictures suddenly exploded into the surging swirl deep inside his brain and slightly changed the way he unleashed his spiritual energy without him knowing.

Originally, his blade was purely sharp, fast, and furious.

However, as his attacks continued, Li Yao’s eyes became brighter and brighter, and the aura around his saber was gradually endowed with a feeble attraction force, as if a mini True Fusion was brewing on the edge of his weapon!

His saber was not attacking the enemy; it was more like his enemy was crashing into his saber promptly because of the attraction of the True Fusion.

The effect of the Incendiary Strengthening Drug was finally over.

The biggest side effect of such strengthening drugs was that the user would be in temporary low spirits when the duration was over. Also, after each injection, there must be a gap of half an hour to forty minutes before the next injection. Otherwise, the strengthening drug would have no effect at all because of the rejection of the body.

Right now, the spreading mist of blood and the broken limbs finally cast the surviving space pirates in fear.

Devastated shrills were echoing nonstop inside their communication channel.

“He—he is not in the high level of the Building Foundation Stage, but in the peak!”

One of the space pirates was hit in the chest, but he was not killed. His crystal suit spurted a lot of foam and suppressed the wound temporarily.

But his fighting will had been battered by Li Yao’s attack. After a scream, he turned around and rushed toward the edge of the planetary ring.

He was lucky enough to avoid the assault of almost a hundred meteoroids.

However, when he was about to get out of the planetary ring, he exploded into powder after a sudden cry, as if he had been hit brutally by an invisible meteoroid!

An overwhelming killing intent ignored the furious stones and pierced into the gaps of all the space pirates’ crystal suits, wreathing their hearts.

They felt that their hearts would be ripped apart if they moved slightly.

The feeling couldn’t have been more familiar to them. It was because of—

A tall figure in a crystal suit with weird human faces appeared in the periphery of the planetary ring with a giant assault rocket below his feet. He seemed to be surrounded by gloomy wind, which made his body unpredictable and flickering like ghost fire.

The Core Formation Stage Cultivator, Fengyu Zhong, had finally arrived!

Chapter 540: Devil’s Cry

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

The soaring killing intent stirred up the sea of stars. A pair of vicious eyes seemed to be piercing through the stones and Li Yao’s crystal suit into his heart brutally.

It was not possible for Fengyu Zhong to hate him more than he did at that moment!

He had received an upsetting report when the fuel of his assault rocket ran dry and he was about to arrive at the planetary ring.

Like a haunting ghost, the Great Horn Exo Society had reappeared!

Blood Rain, which was assigned to cover the retreat, was stalled!

Fengyu Zhong immediately felt his head going dizzy.

He didn’t have the faintest clue how the Great Horn Exo Society had done it.

The three starships on their side had all been half-wrecked and would have to take a breath every time they cruised for several thousand kilometers. The Exos on those starships had suffered tremendous casualties, too. Any sensible human being would have chosen to stay where they were, treat their wounds, and wait for reinforcements!

But right now, they had launched a counterattack as if they were trying to kill themselves!

The reports that followed further stunned Fengyu Zhong.

Gold Horn was the only starship that caught up to the space pirates.

Since its appearance, every sign had indicated that it was determined to die together with Blood Rain.

The four hundred Exos on Gold Horn were all deployed to the battlefield. Although the defenses of Blood Rain were still intact, they attacked like tides and slowed down Blood Rain miraculously, as if they had been injected with ten doses of the Incendiary Strengthening Drug.

Most elites on Blood Rain had been summoned by Fengyu Zhong to join him before Gold Horn’s invasion. They were in an awkward situation on their assault rockets half way through their journey.

Even so, Blood Rain, which boasted enormous firepower, was not something that could be taken over easily by several hundred exhausted and wounded soldiers.

But when Blood Rain’s full computational ability was utilized to maneuver the air defense cannons to attack the four hundred Exos, Gold Horn had accelerated to full speed and launched a savage crash.

The heavy weapons on Blood Rain immediately opened fire on Gold Horn.

However, for a war in space, unless the arsenal or fuel chamber were hit precisely or it suffered an internal explosion, it was barely possible to completely blow up a starship.

Countless starship remnants from the Star Ocean Imperium ten thousand years ago were still floating in the sea of stars after so many bloody battles. Most of the remnants were still intact and had left a lot of technologies and magical equipment for the latecomers to study.

Because of the advanced ancient technology, bombarding a starship with a crystal cannon, however large it was, was like stabbing a boiled potato with chopsticks. It was possible that the tomato would be pierced through, but making the potato explode was quite a different matter.

Besides, Gold Horn had made up its mind to perish together with its enemy.

Before the raid, not only had Gold Horn’s engine compartment been repaired with the usable units from the other two starships, a lot of plate armor had been dismantled from them and installed to the head of Gold Horn, too.

Under Lei Dalu’s command, the air in all the cabins except the engine compartment and several others had been all pumped out so that they were became a vacuum, before a huge amount of inert foam was sprayed into the cabins.

The inert foam was meant to put out fires or mend the shell of a starship temporarily. They were very stable and barely flammable, much less explosive. They were very sticky, too.

As a result, Gold Horn became an iron block full of inert foam. Most of the crew members had charged out in their crystal suits.

How could one hope to blow up such a thing?

The main guns of Blood Rain were indeed powerful. Their precision was remarkable, too. Gold Horn was now riddled with thousands of holes.

If there were still air and crew members inside Gold Horn, a lot of blood would’ve been spilled.

But at that moment, there was nothing but steel and foam inside the starship.

Although there were countless holes on Gold Horn, its structure was still relatively complete, and it was almost as heavy as before.

The immense mass and the lightning-like speed was destructive enough without resorting to any weapons!

Blood Rain tried to dodge.

However, as the flagship of Storm Prison, it had been the main target for the three starships on the Cultivators’ side in the battles of the previous two days. It had suffered a lot of damage, too, and was in the middle of emergency maintenance.

It was also why Fengyu Zhong had ordered Blood Rain to stay at the back to cover the retreat.

Time was too short. Also, four hundred audacious Cultivators were trying to breach the starship’s defenses without caring about their own lives. Therefore, Blood Rain could not concentrate its computational ability on dodging movement calculations.

The magnetic interference system was fully functioning, too, trying to deviate Gold Horn from its course.

However, Gold Horn was too heavy. It was hardly possible to entirely change its route. Besides, due to the fierce battles between the Exos of the two parties, several pieces of interference magical equipment on the shell of Blood Rain had been destroyed!

There was not enough time anyway!

Gold Horn crashed into Blood Rain roughly like a crazy bull!

In regard to size, Gold Horn was one third smaller than Blood Rain. The difference was obvious.

However, considering the scale of the collision, the disparity in their sizes could almost be ignored. Gold Horn and Blood Rain had almost melded into one. The two broken horns on the head of Gold Horn stabbed deeply into Blood Rain’s body!

Thankfully, due to the crazy measures taken by Gold Horn, its main guns had lost all firepower, and its spiritual energy was running dry. Therefore, no explosions were triggered. The two starships simply collided into one another.

The interference system of Blood Rain finally worked and made Gold Horn miss the critical parts.

As long as the two starships were divided, with a couple of hours of emergency maintenance, Blood Rain would still be able to cruise normally.

However…

Taking advantage of the chaos when Gold Horn crashed into Blood Rain, dozens of members of the Great Horn Exo Society dashed into Blood Rain!

It was indeed terrible news!

Of course, a lot of space pirates were still standing by on Blood Rain. There was nothing but doom waiting for the intruders!

However, just like the rats that had crawled into a gutter, it would be quite a nuisance to find them one by one.

But if they were left alone, they might sabotage the key locations on the starship. Blood Rain would be equally screwed!

Fengyu Zhong hated it so much that he felt that he was having a migraine.

He had known that Lei Dalu was a crazy man, but he had never expected him to be so crazy.

This was the most unreasonable way of fighting. The enemies were determined to die in his starship if they had to!

If Fengyu Zhong had three days’ time, he was certain that he would be able to crush the entire Great Horn Exo Society into dust. There wouldn’t be a bone of them left.

But he didn’t have three days. The reinforcements of the Cultivators could arrive at any moment!

Fengyu Zhong deliberated for a long time. Still, he commanded that the elite Exos who were joining him return to defend Blood Rain, and he continued marching close to finish the hunt by himself.

The one guilty for all the chaos and the awkward situation he was in was right in front of his eyes, the mysterious enemy inside the planetary ring!

“Die!”

Fengyu Zhong’s roar seemed to be spreading out even though it was vacuum. The terrifying spiritual energy from his body had swallowed everything in the hundred square meters nearby. All the rushing meteoroids within the range came to a weird halt, as if time near Fengyu Zhong had frozen!

Shua!

A spear three meters long appeared inside Fengyu Zhong’s hand. A vivid bronze human head was attached to the front end of the spear, as if the spear had pierced through a head without bothering to shake it off.

Tears and blood were flowing from the bronze head, which was made of liquid metal. It was changing its facial expression all the time. In collaboration with the Blood Face Battlesuit on Fengyu Zhong’s body, it launched powerful mental blasts to its surroundings.

When ‘Die!’ was transmitted inside the communication channel, Fengyu Zhong was still at the edge of the planetary ring.

By the time the sound died down in the communication channel, Fengyu Zhong had already stomped on the assault rocket below his feet and sprinted into the planetary ring like a crimson viper.

The dominating aura of a Core Formation Stage Cultivator affected the trajectories of all the meteoroids. They all drew a weird curve when they approached him and passed by!

Within a breath, Fengyu Zhong had appeared deep inside the planetary ring.

Devil’s Cry, the long spear in his hand, thrust forward like an arrow!

Pure black helical spiritual energy was unleashed from the body of the spear. All the meteoroids nearby were attracted and gathered into a spear of stones almost a hundred meters long, which smashed in Li Yao’s direction!

Li Yao’s heart was beating three times faster than usual from the first second Fengyu Zhong appeared.

The old, cunning, brutal bandit had indeed been infuriated and decided to act personally!

A Core Formation Stage Cultivator’s fury was not something that could be underestimated. The very next second after Li Yao sensed the appearance of Fengyu Zhong, a spear of stones almost a hundred meters had already pierced into his face!

The long spear seemed to be emanating the stink of blood, creepy cries, and blood-freezing screams!

Snapping to from his trance, Li Yao found that the spear was gone. The meteoroids in the space nearby seemed to have turned into a hundred extremely painful faces whose miserable memories stabbed into his brain brutally!

Li Yao’s hands and feet were cold, his eyes rigid. He felt that he had become the hundred Cultivators simultaneously tortured by the Temple of Immortals, screaming and crying.

“What a terrifying mental attack!”

The very next second, gold brightness was shining inside Li Yao’s brain. The brilliance of the tree of memories minced all the picture of pain into pieces.

Li Yao had successfully gotten himself out of the mental attack, but the spear of stones was already next to his eyes. He could only bellow, grip his saber, and slash forward in the spirit of the space swirl!

BOOM!

As if two raging meteoroids had just collided, the light and heat generated from the clash illuminated the surrounding space like broad daylight.

The blast drove away all the meteoroids in the one hundred square kilometers nearby. There was a moment when it became an absolute vacuum without any materials.

Li Yao threw up a mouthful of blood. For 0.1 seconds, he could not feel his arms at all. His Boiled Blood Wind Slashing Saber nearly flew away. He was blown back dozens of kilometers by the blast and continued falling toward the depths of the planetary ring. Countless broken stones were raining upon him, making it hard for him to even distinguish the directions.

The full-strength strike of a Core Formation Stage Cultivator was truly unbelievable!

Li Yao had thought that, now that he had advanced into the high level of the Building Foundation Stage, it was possible for him to enter the peak of the Building Foundation Stage briefly if he could seize the moment when his fighting willing soared. With the assistance of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, he was not surely on the losing side when faced with a Core Formation Stage Cultivator.

But now, he finally understood that Building Foundation Stage Cultivators and Core Formation Stage Cultivators were vastly different!

The Cultivators in the high level of the Core Formation Stage were much stronger than what he had imagined!

Besides, awesome as his crystal suit might be, a Core Formation Stage Cultivator wouldn’t select a random crystal suit, either.

Their crystal suits were equally powerful and endowed with equally special technology!

Without any hesitation, Li Yao turned around and ran away even though he had seemed determined to fight until he died a moment ago!

Chapter 541: A Hundred Times Crazier!

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

The deeper Li Yao went into the planetary ring, the denser and faster the stones became.

The giant meteoroids, dozens of meters in diameter, with immense spiritual energy stored inside, were all rushing toward him.

Despite the sturdy body of Cultivators, it would be a major headache if one of the meteoroids hit them.

Li Yao fled among the meteoroids with incredible agility.

He brushed past a meteoroid at a close distance; the next moment, he stomped on a meteoroid, altering his own direction and triggering a chain reaction behind the meteoroid to affect the hunter not far away; following that, he turned off all the power rune arrays and clutched onto a meteoroid, which carried him deeper inside the planetary ring, and the hunter was not able to locate him even when scanning with mystic rays.

The cloak of light flames dozens of meters long had long been retreated. What was left was a layer of vague scarlet mist that concealed all the critical parts of the crystal suit.

The hide-and-seek inside the planetary ring lasted half an hour.

Without them knowing, the two parties had almost reached the other side of the planetary ring.

On the hunter’s side, all the space pirates had been left far behind, except for Fengyu Zhong.

The old dog who had a keen nose had remembered Li Yao’s scent clearly. Whatever tricks Li Yao resorted to, he was not able to escape from Fengyu Zhong’s tracking.

The distance between them became shorter and shorter. Li Yao was about to enter Fengyu Zhong’s attack range.

If it went on like that, Li Yao would be completely locked onto by Fengyu Zhong within five minutes, no matter how he hid himself.

Li Yao seemed to have realized it, too. The cloak of light flames dozens of meters long reappeared and covered all the meteoroids nearby as he blinked backward like a phantom and slashed out, the aura of his blade extending to more than twenty meters away!

Under the pursuit of a Core Formation Stage Cultivator, he had fought back with his full strength!

Fengyu Zhong grinned hideously. He accelerated to his maximum speed. The Blood Face Battlesuit dashed at Li Yao like a crimson viper!

At the moment the blades collided, Li Yao’s body suddenly turned fuzzy because of the dazzling brilliance on Devil’s Cry. In the meantime, a plain-looking meteoroid behind Fengyu Zhong suddenly exploded, from which a second Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit jumped out of nowhere with its battle saber roaring!

The Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit with the cloak of light flames stretching dozens of meters that attacked first had merely been a phantom triggered by magical equipment!

“Hahahaha!”

Fengyu Zhong, who should’ve been caught unprepared, was actually sneering, indicating that he had seen through Li Yao’s trap a long time ago. Devil’s Cry had been pushed far away, but hundreds of light flames suddenly dashed out of the end of the spear where they revolved and interweaved into a new tip!

His weapon was a double-tipped spear. The two ends were equally destructive!

It was even possible that what seemed to be the back end of the spear was the real tip of the weapon!

Fengyu Zhong had seen through Li Yao’s plan long ago. However, he had pretended he hadn’t in order to lure his enemy to reveal himself!

The long spear, which seemed to be piercing forward, suddenly bounced back like an arrow that had been released from a bow.

BOOM!

The long spear crashed into the battle saber and broke all of Li Yao’s defense without being hindered at all!

Li Yao seemed to have been penetrated through by a rushing stone. A beam of highly-condensed light broke into his chest and burst out of his back!

He only had time to stomp on a meteoroid to kick it at Fengyu Zhong. Then, he activated his power rune arrays to full power as he fell toward Iron Plateau at a high speed.

After only one clash, Li Yao had experienced a brutal failure and suffered heavy wounds. He was truly running like a rabbit now!

Hehe. You think that I dare not trespass into the so-called ‘forbidden area for Cultivators’?

Fengyu Zhong quickly understood what was on Li Yao’s mind. His enemy was trying to avoid his hunting by escaping to Iron Plateau.

You are not going to have it your way! Fengyu Zhong scorned.

His crystal processor had calculated that, if he accelerated to his maximum speed without bothering about anything else, he would be able to block and kill his enemy before he entered the atmosphere of Iron Plateau!

In the blink of an eye, Fengyu Zhong had accelerated to more than three times the speed of sound. But suddenly, he felt greatly alarmed, as if he had ignored something vital!

For some reason, the picture of Red Lightning being hit by Behemoth-19 and exploding suddenly popped up in Fengyu Zhong’s brain.

Not good! The enemy is an explosions expert!

For a moment, the Core Formation Stage Cultivator was drenched in sweat.

He had charged at Li Yao’s direction at the highest speed for 0.3 seconds.

But in the next 0.1 seconds, he came to an abrupt halt by brute force, at the cost of torn muscles, fractured bones, and even an internal injury!

Then, he fled in the opposite direction desperately without looking back, as if he had just run into a ghost.

Fengyu Zhong had only just run away in a flurry when almost a hundred giant light balls quickly expanded in the place where Li Yao and him had just fought and along the way of Li Yao’s escape!

A hundred crystal bombs that had been hidden in the meteoroids were detonated at the same time!

The phantom just now was merely a disguise for Li Yao’s trap. His full-strength strike and wounded escape were bait to attract Fengyu Zhong.

The crystal bombs were the real traps!

The explosion of the crystal bombs was not terrifying per se. As a Core Formation Stage Cultivator, Fengyu Zhong would only find that his search might be somewhat affected by the explosion, but he definitely wouldn’t suffer any injuries.

However, this was not a normal stone belt but the planetary ring of Iron Plateau. He was in the middle of a piece of great defensive magical equipment that bordered on the stellar level!

Even though the great magical equipment had lost 99% of its power after five thousand years, the remaining 1% was still too much for a human body made of flesh and blood!

Shua!

Woken up by the explosion of the hundred crystal bombs, the dozens of space steles floating inside the planetary ring suddenly shone. Spiritual energy spurted out and assembled all the stones nearby into dozens of terrifying stone swirls!

The ostensibly peaceful ocean, despite the undercurrents, had now torn off the last bit of its disguise. Crazy tides and waves were surging, revealing the most horrendous appearance of the defensive magical equipment!

With a pale face, Fengyu Zhong did not dare to check his crystal camera until he was almost a thousand meters away, only to discover that the area where he had been moments earlier had become enshrouded in black cosmic dust. Dazzling electric arcs, dozens of kilometers long, were flashing inside the black dust, as if a thunderstorm on a cosmic scale was raging in the place!

The black dust was a result of countless meteoroids crashing and crumbling each other.

If I had chased after him, or if I had hesitated for half a second, I would’ve fallen into the cluster of black dust…

Fengyu Zhong’s eyelids were twitching. At this moment, he finally realized something.

The mysterious enemy he was hunting was a pure lunatic, one that was a hundred times crazier than Lei Dalu!

The mysterious enemy was at the peak of the Building Foundation Stage at best. But the guy had lured him all the way there, not just to distract his attention from the Great Horn Exo Society, but to try to kill him!

Yes. The mysterious enemy who was no higher than the peak of the Building Foundation Stage was not merely taking advantage of the terrifying territory of the planetary ring to run away. He was hoping to take down a Core Formation Stage Cultivator with that!

Who is he? Who is this lunatic!

The Core Formation Stage Cultivator, whose face color had remained unchanged when he was hunted by seven Core Formation Stage Cultivators and hundreds of Building Foundation Stage Cultivators, the brutal bandit who was most infamous for his ruthlessness, finally felt that coldness was surging out of his spine beyond his control!

The planetary ring in front of him was still enveloped in black dust that his crystal camera could not see through.

The chaotic spiritual energy contained inside the black dust rendered other probe methods useless, too.

Fengyu Zhong had completely lost Li Yao.

He stayed where he was for a long time, hesitating over whether or not to continue the hunt or to give up, until a shocking report came in through the communication channel.

“General Feng!”

The advisor sounded a little bit nervous. “The detection crystal cameras we deployed at the edge of the Iron Plateau Space Zone have discovered two Cultivators’ starships. They are approaching at a high speed!”

“What?”

Fengyu Zhong suddenly trembled and was almost hit by a meteoroid. “How come they are so fast?”

Then, it suddenly occurred to him that the reinforcements of the Cultivators were not fast. The real reason was that he had wasted too much time on this mysterious enemy!

According to his original plan, he should’ve blown up the Great Horn Exo Society half a day ago. Then, he would’ve bypassed the Iron Plateau Space Zone and lurked in the stone belts deeper within the area. After the shells of their starships were repaired, his fleet would return to the secret base of space pirates via space jumps.

However, when his plan was 99% complete, the mysterious enemy appeared and ruined everything!

Fengyu Zhong gnashed his teeth. “What’s the situation of Blood Rain now?”

“It’s a mess!”

The advisor cried, “General Feng, you also know that, when the enemies are inside a starship and start a street battle, our advantage in numbers and capability is no longer important! The bunch of lunatics are running everywhere on Blood Rain like rats that have been set on fire. An assault team of around ten persons almost breached into the cockpit!

“Affected by them, we cannot even separate the two starships, much less repairing the shell and the power system of Blood Rain!

“General Feng! The only solution right now is to ask the other three starships on our side to stop the two recently-arrived starships!

“The two starships are not large ones. They are not the main warships of major sects, either. It shouldn’t be hard to deal with them!

“One day! I’ve calculated that we will eliminate the Great Horn Exo Society within one day!”

“One day…”

Fengyu Zhong’s face was dry and yellow. He said gloomily, “Are you sure that the second wave of reinforcements won’t arrive during the day?”

The advisor stammered, “About that—”

Fengyu Zhong continued speaking coldly. “The Great Horn Exo Society’s distress signal has been sent for several days. Now that the first batch of reinforcements has arrived, the second, the third, and more must be on their way, too. Who knows when they will show up in the Iron Plateau Space Zone and from which direction?

“Let me ask you, are you confident that we can eliminate all the enemies from Great Horn that have sneaked into Blood Rain in three hours at whatever cost?”

The advisor was dazed for a moment. He calculated for a moment and replied, “Three hours? If we don’t care about the cost, at the risk of serious internal damages, the odds of success are fifty percent!”

“Fifty percent…”

Fengyu Zhong’s face was cloudy. A moment later, as if somebody had cut off part of his heart, he said, one word after another, with a hideous expression, “Abandon Blood Rain. You and the other key personnel will return to your respective secondary mothership according to Plan D. Also, be prepared to detonate Blood Rain when all the key personnel have evacuated!”

“What!”

The advisor was shocked. He wanted to say more, only to discover that Fengyu Zhong had cut off the communication.

Fengyu Zhong glared taciturnly in the direction Li Yao had vanished. His lips trembled, but he didn’t say anything and turned into a streak of brightness, disappearing among the meteoroids.

Chapter 542: Homecoming

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

A month of blood and darkness had finally passed.

Over the one month, the Flying Star Sector was like a wide, peaceful river that had fallen off a cliff and turned into a narrow, zigzagging torrent.

Assassinations, plots, traps, and explosions. More than half of the world of Cultivators had been involved in the abrupt changes. Not only had the space pirates demonstrated their immense power in the sea of stars, the Immortal Cultivators and the Temple of Immortals behind the space pirates had shocked all the Cultivators even if they were not struck personally.

For most of the time during the month, the Cultivators’ performance had been less than satisfactory. Their biggest weakness had been revealed.

Cultivators who were scattered in the sea of stars and based on starships and star fortresses were too far away from each other. The transportation lines and the supply lines were too long. The fragile sailing routes between space zones and world fragments were like fat lambs. The wolves lurking in darkness could choose to attack the weakest of them any time they wanted.

Even a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator could only yell in anger when they ran here and there exhaustedly and in vain when they were faced with the boundless cosmos and a supply line that could easily be millions of kilometers long.

When the month was about to come to an end, and when countless experts and top-tier organizations, including the six major sects in Heavenly Saints City, were greatly frustrated, a brilliant battle report came from the Iron Plateau Space Zone in a corner of the sector.

The Great Horn Exo Society, the Swooping Eagle Sect, and the Flowing Flower Sect, three second-rate organizations in the Flying Star Sector, had fought an unbelievable battle with their courage and craziness!

In the beginning, their three starships were ambushed by the long-prepared Storm Prison. They should’ve been demolished at that time.

But in the end, Storm Prison paid a price of two starships, even including Blood Rain, the flagship of the fleet!

Although Fengyu Zhong had gotten away, forcing him to abandon his flagship was like cutting off one of his arms!

The entire Spider Den fell silent, while Cultivators and ordinary citizens of the Flying Star Sector were dancing in joy upon hearing the wonderful news.

The terrible cloud over their heads for the last month had cleared!

Of course, such a victory was at a great cost, too.

Of the four hundred Exos who had joined the suicidal attack in the end, less than one fifth of them had survived, while the rest had all perished in the sea of stars.

Blood Rain’s final self-detonation had dragged Gold Horn into the swirl of destruction, too. Both of the two starships were almost torn into pieces simultaneously!

The Swooping Eagle Sect and the Flowing Flower Sect both had their bases and headquarters. Their losses were heavy but acceptable.

However, for the Great Horn Exo Society, Lei Dalu had narrowly escaped death because he had failed to break into Blood Rain after suffering severe wounds when he led the charge at the beginning of the battle. Other than him, Bai Kaixin, the advisor, and the other non-combat staff, as well as other heavily-wounded members, stayed in the starships of the Swooping Eagle Sect and the Flowing Flower Sect and therefore survived the battle.

After the battle, the Great Horn Exo Society had only the old, the weak, the sick, and the disabled left. Even its mothership had been blown up. It was half a step away from its destruction.

But a named related to the Great Horn Exo Society was spreading among the Cultivators of higher levels quickly and secretly.

It was said that the man had been an ordinary mechanic in the Great Horn Exo Society.

It was said that the man distinguished himself in the Skyhill Sword Seminar and might well have become the darkest horse after Huangpu Shiyi. However, he was kidnapped by the space pirates when he was about to reach the peak.

It was said that the man was much more than a simple refiner. He had stirred up the battle all by himself and sabotaged Fengyu Zhong’s success when it was close at hand. Fengyu Zhong had suffered heavy wounds and excruciating pain!

It was said that the man had asked Huangpu Xiaoya to deliver a precious message and to inform the Cultivators of the existence of the Temple of Immortals.

It was said that, after the battle, Cultivators had sent multiple starships to search the edge of the Iron Plateau Space Zone and even risked approaching the planetary ring of Iron Plateau, only to find no traces of him whatsoever, as if he had been buried inside the planetary ring and become space dust.

Lei Dalu, Bai Kaixin, Huangpu Xiaoya… Many Cultivators of the Flying Star Sector were asking the same question.

“Li Yao, are you still alive?”

“Where are you exactly?”

…

In the headquarters of the Great Flourishment Sect in the East Continent Space Zone, a heated debate had lasted three hours and reached the most intense moment.

The debate was unavoidable.

To cope with the menace of the space pirates and the Temple of Immortals, all the Cultivation sects had taken actions to prepare themselves for the war to come.

One of the measures they were taking was to bring out the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures and the best Cultivation arts that they had been kept secret in their respective sects for hundreds of years in order to better train the young disciples of their sects. They were hoping to bring up the best warriors as soon as possible!

Of course, there was only a limited number of people who could have such privileges.

It was not hard to understand that whoever got chosen and became the core disciples of the sect would have a promising future!

The Great Flourishment Sect had prepared a hundred third-degree positions, thirty second-degree positions, and three first-degree positions. Disciples of each degree would be invested with different amounts of resources and tutored personally by experts of different levels such as elders or even the sect leader.

For the three first-degree positions, they were all the absolutely important future stars of the Great Flourishment Sect and would be mentored by the previous leader of the Great Flourishment Sect, a Cultivator in the peak of the Core Formation Stage bordering on the Nascent Soul Stage!

Therefore, the competition for the three first-degree positions had been extremely intense since the beginning. Every candidate was questioned from various angles, including experience, talents, personality, and credits… Their every aspect was scrutinized and judged. Only after tedious arguments, negotiations, and compromises could one person be determined.

However, when a name appeared on the light beam, the elders, deacons, and executive board members who were all mean and sharp-tongued a moment ago coughed and failed to express any disapproval.

The leader of the Great Flourishment Sect looked around and declared, “Zuo Xiaohu is to become the third ‘core disciple’ that will receive special education. Is there a problem?”

No.

Zuo Xiaohu was the well-deserved number one of the younger generation of the Great Flourishment Sect in terms of credits, talents, and capability. He was at an overwhelming advantage against the other two ‘core disciples’.

There was a long silence. Then, one of the elders hesitatingly said, “But Zuo Xiaohu only signed a ten-year contract with our sect.”

The leader smiled. “If he has the opportunity to be the core disciple, he will get the real secret Cultivation arts of our sect as well as abundant resources. There won’t be any trouble asking him to sign another contract of thirty to fifty years, will th—”

Before he had completed his sentence, the gate of the meeting room was pushed open softly.

A young man with a pair of sunglasses so large that they were almost hilarious and in a fur coat appeared in front of the elders, who were all staring at him with a weird expression.

The young man whistled and slid across an envelope, which span and stopped in front of the leader.

The leader frowned. He found a continuously changing, paper-like light beam inside the envelop and gasped after glancing at it. “Zuo Xiaohu, you want to cancel the contract and quit the Great Flourishment Sect?”

Zuo Xiaohu took off his sunglasses. Two ultra-clear eyes revealed themselves, as their owner blew at the glasses and wiped them. He replied, “Yes. When I joined the Great Flourishment Sect, we had made it clear that I would only stay in the Great Flourishment Sect for ten years. During the ten years, you helped me train myself, and I helped you fight your battles. It was a fair deal.”

The leader squinted and said, “But it’s only been seven years. Besides, we’ve decided that you will be promoted to a ‘core disciple’. You will receive the wholehearted enlightenment of the Cultivators who are close to the Nascent Soul Stage, and you will enjoy resources a hundred times more abundant than before! It’s very likely that you will become a Core Formation Stage Cultivator before fifty!

“All that is required of you is to serve the Great Flourishment for another thirty to fifty years. Your payment during the time will be given according to the highest standard!”

Zuo Xiaohu vaguely smiled, his two shallow dimples appearing.

Other than his bizarre clothing, he was indeed a handsome and attractive young man.

“Leader, I remember there is a clause in our contract which states that, whenever the Great Horn Exo Society is in danger or in need, I am free to go as long as I pay a fine.”

Shua!

Zuo Xiaohu threw a silver card over. It fell in front of the leader gently, as he continued speaking. “The fine is all inside, with every coin calculated. You can examine it with your crystal processor.”

The leader’s face color changed. “Zuo Xiaohu, you’d better think about it more carefully. The Great Flourishment is one of the strongest sects in the Flying Star Sector other than those in Heavenly Saints City!

“You’ve made great accomplishments by slaying demon beasts, space pirates, and Demonic Cultivators since you joined the Great Flourishment Sect!

“Right now, everyone in the East Continent Space Zone knows the name of ‘Bright-colored Tiger’. Countless young men consider you their role model. The leaders of two sects have come to propose marriages for you!

“You should be well aware of what a great place the Great Flourishment Sect is and how friendly people here are now that you’ve spent seven years with us!

“Stay here! Stay in the Great Flourishment Sect, and your future will be nothing but bright! You will have access to the most powerful Cultivation arts. Countless hotblooded men will cross the sea of stars under your lead! One day, you may gain the shares of the Great Flourishment Sect as everyone else does here and become one of the real controllers of our sect!

“I know that you are from the Tiger Camp of the Great Horn Exo Society, and you were one of the orphans rescued by Lei Dalu. But there are more ways to return the favor if you insist!

“I promise you that, as long as you stay in the Great Flourishment Sect, we will try our best to help rebuild the Great Horn Exo Society. How about it?”

Zuo Xiaohu listened quietly the whole time. It was not until the leader finished his speech that he put on his sunglasses again and walked outside.

When he reached the door, he said softly, “I’m sorry, leader. I know that everyone in the Great Flourishment Sect has treated me well. I like everything in the East Continent Space Zone, too, especially the girls here.

“I also believe that you meant what you said. Someday, when the timing is appropriate, you will definitely help rebuild the Great Horn Exo Society.

“However, I can’t wait for the ‘someday’ to come. In fact, I can’t even wait for one second right now.”

“I’m going home. Leader, elders, farewell.”

Chapter 543: White-Haired Gun King

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Inside the No. 1 Range of Wild Goose Academy in the Long Bow Space Zone…

Although Flying Star University and Heavenly Saints Institute were in the lead in the rank of all the colleges of the Flying Star Sector, the two supreme colleges were both comprehensive colleges with various majors.

There were also many specialized academies in the countless space zones of the Flying Star Sector.

Even though their overall capability was no match for the two supreme colleges, they boasted abundant expertise in their specialized fields after hundreds of years of experience.

Wild Goose Academy was a specialized college that was most famous for its expertise in guns and the ‘Gun Cultivators’ it had raised. The rank of the academy in regard to shooting was only secondary to the two supreme colleges and always among the top five in the Flying Star Sector.

The No. 1 Range was seething with noises and spiritual energy. Countless bullets were roaring as many students were practicing their shooting skills.

“Is he the ‘White-haired Gun King’?”

An innocent girl in the uniform of another college curiously eyed the janitor who was crouching in a corner.

The janitor was mainly responsible for the examination of the guns inside the field and to provide gears and ammunition for the trainers. Occasionally, he was in charge of guiding the green hands.

However, there were not many green hands in a place such as Wild Goose Academy. Most of the trainers carried their own guns, too, and did not need his adjustment.

As for the delivery of gears and ammunition, the crystal processor and artificial arms could take care of the job automatically.

Therefore, the janitor spent most of his time crouching in a corner, wearing an oily, dirty, large coat, with a bottle of the worst alcohol in his hand. He was always untidy and half drunk.

His hands would shake all the time when he was sober, and they shook even more violently when he enjoyed enough alcohol. Often, he was not able to hold anything except the bottle of his alcohol at that time.

“Yes. He is Lu Dian, ‘White-haired Gun King’, the legendary top expert of Wild Goose Academy. However, that was two years ago!”

Beside the innocent girl, a young man in flamboyant clothes and with a greasy face laughed and commented, “Three years ago, when the guy was just admitted into Wild Goose Academy, he was on a rampage and crushed everyone standing in his way. Even the experts who had trained in the academy for almost ten years were no match for him! Look, on the rank of the No. 1 Range, the record of ‘One-minute Quick Shooting with Obstacles’ is 8,345 points. It was created by him!”

The girl exclaimed, “In a One-minute Quick Shooting with Obstacles, one must distinguish a hundred real targets from a hundred fake ones against the interference of spiritual energy and magnetic fields. It is the most difficult subject of quick shooting! My personal record is only 3,322 points. How did he manage to get more than eight thousand points? But his hair is not white. It is dry and yellow. Like a bird nest.”

The man sneered, “His hair would only turn white rapidly when his spiritual energy surged out during his wholehearted shooting! But that’s all history now! You see what he is right now. His hands were wrecked in the explosion due to an accident in his training two years ago. He has been depressed ever since and has become a drunk cat who knows nothing but drinking! The genius who could shoot more than eight thousand points is not even able to assemble the simplest of guns now. He is totally useless. What a pity!”

The girl looked at Lu Dian sympathetically, only to discover that the ‘White-haired Gun King’ was gazing at his crystal processor while drinking.

There was no telling what he was reading, but he was apparently in deep sorrow. Tears flowed out of his dirty eyes.

He was drinking faster and faster. It seemed that he was not drinking but trying to cool down his burning heart with the cold alcohol.

Somehow, his grief touched the girl.

She was curious and thought to herself, I wonder what news the genius of the past read just now. It must be distressing and devastating.

The man had finished adjusting his storm bolter. He selected the ‘One-Minute Quick Shooting with Obstacles’ subject in his shooting spot and looked back, only to find his companion staring at Lu Dian, the useless crap. He couldn’t have been more furious.

For a moment, his memory of the brutal failure two years ago when he was savaged, crumbled, and eventually ignored by Lu Dian occurred to him again and crashed his heart.

The man walked forward and clutched his companion. He smiled as he said, “White-haired Gun King, do you still remember me? Two years ago, we had a match. You scored more than two thousand points higher than me at that time. What a loser I was! Hahahaha. But in the past two years, I did not drink and waste my life away. Instead, I’ve trained myself crazily and dedicated myself to the world of guns and bullets! How about another competition, White-haired Gun King?

“Oh, I’m sorry. I almost forget that the legend of Wild Goose Academy, the renowned White-haired Gun King, has sealed his gun for a long time. Mediocre gunners such as myself are not qualified to challenge you at all, are they? Hahahaha!”

Lu Dian showed no reaction. He burped as he wallowed in his sadness!

The man sniffed and glanced at him in despise. He pulled his companion back and smiled. “Don’t bother with that useless crap. Come on. Let me show you how to adjust the gesture of holding your gun. I guarantee that your One-minute Quick Shooting with Obstacles will be improved by at least a thousand points. Look, you need to—”

Before he finished his sentence, he suddenly discovered that the storm bolter in his hand was gone!

A stinky smell suddenly flooded into his nostrils before he realized what was going on!

Lu Dian, who was completely drunk, appeared beside him at God knows when, with the man’s storm bolter in his hand.

However, the gun was still shaking violently like his hands.

“Ge!”

Lu Dian burped in satisfaction.

Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua!

It was possible that he touched the trigger by accident. He shot out the bullets that were meant to be carefully locked onto the target and shot out throughout one minute within only ten seconds without bothering to aim at all!

The man was dumbfounded. He was about to curse, when Lu Dian threw his storm bolter back to him, smacked his lips, and staggered to the gate of the field.

A moment later, the result was displayed.

That casual One-minute Quick Shooting with Obstacles run turned out to be 16,553 points!

This result was almost double of the record Lu Dian had created himself in the No. 1 Range. It was even better than the performance of many gun tutors in Wild Goose Academy!

The crystal processor saved the result and displayed it on the rankings of the No. 1 Range.

In the meantime, passionate music was played, informing everyone that a record had been broken.

Inside the No. 1 Range, gasps and exclamations were echoing nonstop.

“More than sixteen thousand points? Are you kidding me? Has an elite tutor come here to mess around with us?”

“It is double of Lu Dian’s record. How incredible is that!”

“Who—who—who made it?”

The man who challenged Lu Dian just now was more shocked than anyone else. He looked at the storm bolter in his hand that was still burningly hot and noticed that it was adjusted to the ‘suppression mode’ in which the firepower was fiercest, the shooting speed was the highest, but the precision was the worst, and the backlash was the strongest!

“In the su—suppression mode, his shooting is still so accurate?

“White-haired Gun King, Lu Dian, he—”

The man felt that his legs were like jelly, and he almost collapsed to the ground.

The innocent girl who had come with him was greatly interested. She ran to Lu Dian and asked curiously, “Senior Brother Lu. Nice to meet you. I’m from the Firearm Department of Micro Star University. I’ve heard your name a long time ago. I’m aware that you are an awesome gunfighter and that you had an accident in which your hands were seriously damaged more than one year ago. But right now, it seems that you are as good as the old days. Why have you been concealing your capability?

Lu Dian’s hands were still shivering. He drank his alcohol one mouthful after another nonstop. Now and then, he would pick up an oily peanut from his dirty pocket and toss into his mouth. He glanced at the girl and said, “I came to Wild Goose Academy because I wanted to find a place with infinite guns and bullets, where I could practice shooting quietly.

“But after I accidentally defeated everyone here, they started calling me Gun God. Many people came to my door to challenge me every day. There were many forces and families that tried to recruit me, and when they failed, they even threatened me. All the harassment was annoying.”

The girl was somewhat stunned. “However, only by communicating with each other can we improve our capability.”

Lu Dian answered calmly, “A match between a tiger and a tiger is communication. A match between a tiger and a cat is only a waste of time. It would only stagnate your capability.”

The girl was dazed for a long time. “So, you’ve been pretending that you were a useless man in order to avoid such nuisances? But, it is said that you are drunk, and your hands shake all day long. You can barely hold a gun. Besides, no one has ever seen you practicing shooting.”

Lu Dian tapped his temples with his tremoring fingers and said, “As the janitor here, I see so many targets and so many flying bullets every day. Then, I practice shooting in my head. I meditate and imagine that countless myselves were standing in the shooting ranges. In the end, it was me who was holding the guns and opening fire, revising and rectifying.

“In such a way, although I seem to be lying here drunk, I was in fact training in more than ten shooting spots at the same time. It’s very efficient.”

The girl was startled, not having the slightest idea what kind of training method it was. Seeing that Lu Dian was about to walk out of the gate, she couldn’t help but shout, “Lu Dian, everybody calls you White-haired Gun King. But your hair didn’t turn white just now. Why?”

Lu Dian replied, “It was just a game. No need to get serious.”

The girl was speechless. Seeing that Lu Dian was about to disappear, she shouted, “Lu Dian, where are you going? Do you have time for dinner? My name is—”

“That will be unnecessary.”

A cold voice came from outside and interrupted her, “I’m in a hurry to go home now.”

Chapter 544: I Need You!

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Inside the Thousand Springs Space Zone, there was a space town named ‘Exhilaration’.

The spiritual energy of the Thousand Springs Space Zone was not very abundant. Therefore, there were not many Cultivation sects in the area, and it was mostly ordinary people who lived there.

Deep inside the town, on a plain-looking street, there was a small restaurant with a signboard saying ‘Great Happiness Beef Noodles’ on the top of the door and a fat, smiling bull head beside it.

It was not meal time yet. A plump girl in her twenties, who had freckles on the two sides of her nose, was washing cabbages in the back of the restaurant.

She seemed to be venting her anger onto the crisp vegetables and almost washed them into powder.

A young man in plain clothes, who had nothing worth mentioning about him except for his exceptionally long fingers, was standing in front of her silently with a suitcase in his hand. He seemed to be all set to go, if he could figure out how to bid the girl farewell.

“Leave! Leave! Leave now! I’ve got many vegetables to wash and plenty of beef to chop! Stop being an eyesore here!”

The freckled girl suddenly burst into fury and threw one of the cabbages into the basin hard.

Water splashed out into the young man’s red eyes.

The young man was quiet for a long time, before he opened his mouth and said softly, “I’m sorry. Zuo Xiaohu is back. Lu Dian is back. They are my best friends. The Great Horn Exo Society is my home. I must go back, too.”

The freckled girl wiped her eyes with the back of her hands. Her eyes must’ve been wet because of the water on her hands. She shouted, “Xiao Gao, I’ve listened to you talking about the stories of your past since the first day you worked in this restaurant. How happy your days in the Tiger Killer Camp were, how fast Zuo Xiaohu’s saber was, what an amazing gunfighter Lu Dian was… I know that they are your good brothers. But—

“You and they are different!

“They are Cultivators who can soar into the sky or dive down a cliff freely!

“What about you? You are just an ordinary person. You are so weak that you cannot even defeat me. The only thing you can ever do well is cook beef noodles! Why are you joining them? What can you do even if you go back?”

Xiao Gao failed to respond promptly. It was not until a moment later that he replied, “Maybe I’m just an ordinary person who can only make beef noodles and omelets. But I figure that the Great Horn Exo Society can always use some chefs, and not all chefs are Cultivators.

“Zuo Xiaohu and Lu Dian are my brothers. They once said that the beef noodles and chicken wings I made were the most delicious food of the Flying Star Sector. They always found themselves full of spirits and their training efficiency greatly improved after they ate them. A meal of mine was more motivating for them than Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures were!

“Maybe this is the contribution I can make for the Great Horn Exo Society.”

The freckled girl finally couldn’t hold it any longer and started crying. “They were all lying. The food you make is awful. The worst in the world! Just stay here, alright? In another few years, when my father retires, he will definitely give the restaurant to you…”

Xiao Gao took a deep breath. Then he suddenly threw away his suitcase, strode toward the freckled girl, and hugged her!

The freckled girl was startled. She struggled out of natural instinct, only to find that the usually soft Xiao Gao was as tough as iron that day.

The freckled girl panicked and yelled, “Xiao Gao, what—what do you want?!”

Xiao Gao said, “Firstly, I believe in my brothers. If they say that the beef noodles I make are the most delicious noodles of the Flying Star Sector, my noodles are definitely so.

“Secondly, I am not weak. The three gangsters who harassed our restaurant last time never showed up again because I broke all their bones and kicked them away.

“I was merely being gentle to you.”

While talking, Xiao Gao pushed the girl to a wall and kissed her hard.

“Ah! No! No! Xiao Gao, you—”

The freckled girl felt that her head was dizzy, and she lost all her strength. Blushing, she struggled for a moment. She was about to give up and admit her failure when Xiao Gao suddenly released her.

“What’s wrong with you?”

The freckled girl was so irritated that she tossed the water together with the vegetables at Xiao Gao.

Xiao Gao was immediately soaked in water. He was wearing a bailer on his head, his face covered by a slice of a cabbage.

“Three years.”

Xiao Gao extended three fingers and said, “In three years, if I’m still alive, I will marry you.”

The freckled girl became more than angry. “Who says that I’m going to marry you? I’m going to marry my next-door neighbor, Er Niu, tomorrow!”

Xiao Gao picked up his suitcase and walked toward the door without looking back, as he replied, “Er Niu is not interested in you. He likes Bai Guizhi who sells salt fish at the end of the street and thinks that your ass is too big.”

“What?!”

“But I like big asses. More exactly, I like your big ass very, very much.”

“Excuse me?!”

…

Half a month later, inside a nursing home in the Thousand Sails Space Zone, the home camp of all Exos…

Lei Dalu was lying on the bed exhaustedly. He had lost so much weight that he was like a different person now. Dozens of tubes pierced into his body, through which countless kinds of strengthening drugs were being injected to repair the nerves and veins in the deepest parts.

Although he couldn’t look more terrible, Lei Dalu was still glaring at the people in front of him, his eyes as sharp as blades.

More precisely, he was glaring at the one hundred and seventy-nine young men in front of him.

The one hundred and seventy-nine young men stood inside and outside the nursing home like a hundred and seventy-nine young pine trees rooted there.

Although their clothes were different, their Cultivation levels greatly varied, and some of them were simply ordinary people, they all gave other people the same impression.

A new-born calf is not afraid of a tiger. If there is a chance, they can even kill one. All the young men carried the fearlessness of the Tiger Killer Camp!

Lei Dalu was furious, if his eyes were telling the truth.

Zuo Xiaohu, Lu Dian, and Xiao Gao, on the other hand, were all winking at him, with ‘what-can-you-do-with-us’ written on their faces.

Lei Dalu said coldly, “What are you doing here? I thought I told you long ago that the Great Horn Exo Society was too small a temple to enshrine so many crazy devils and that you should get lost as far away as possible and fly as high as possible. Why have you come back?”

Zuo Xiaohu smiled and replied, “Uncle Captain, we’ve flown far and long. We experienced a splendid world and encountered many experts. But after a while, we all agree that the Great Horn Exo Society is slightly better than anywhere else. Therefore, we kicked each other’s asses to this place to ask you whether or not you are short of hands and if you are willing to hire us.”

Lei Dalu gnashed his teeth and cursed, “No and no. Right now, the Great Horn Exo Society does not even have one starship. I don’t even have a bag of crystals. Even the fees that the nursing home charges have to paid by someone else. I cannot afford you animals! Just go back to where you came from!”

Lu Dian said calmly, “We are not leaving, unless you beat us away. However, I’m told that you are seriously wounded, and you are at the weakest right now. I don’t think that you are capable of beating almost two hundred of us! Right now, you have two options. You can either accept us now, or you can accept us after we beat you up and force you to do so.”

Lei Dalu was speechless.

Zuo Xiaohu was beaming with joy as he said, “Uncle Captain, do you know the biggest wish of the orphans in the Tiger Killer Camp such as myself?

“Our biggest wish is to beat you up!

“You’re a wretched old man who pushed and savaged us too hard when you asked us to train ourselves. I still having nightmares to this day.

“I’ve been training myself so hard just so that I can surpass and defeat you one day!

“Although you are a half-dead patient at this moment, and it seems not a justified victory if we join our hands to beat you up, do you think we will be bothered by that?

“Therefore, stop glaring at us like that. Old man, you have to admit that you are too old, and it’s time to retire. We are here for the Great Horn Exo Society!”

Lei Dalu seemed to be shivering in anger. He turned his red eyes to Xiao Gao, who had been making his living by selling noodles, and asked solemnly, “Xiao Gao, why did you come here? Why are you horsing around with them?”

Xiao Gao looked at Lei Dalu in the eyes and answered calmly, “I want to come back to the Great Horn Exo Society, too. At least, I should help it survive the toughest years to come. However, I’m just an ordinary person, and I’m capable of nothing except making beef noodles, which I can make in thirty-four different ways.

“I can never defeat you. If you make up your mind to kick me away, I can only go away.

“Captain, I only want to ask you one question, and I hope that you can answer it truthfully. Can I be of any use to the Great Horn Exo Society right now? Does the Great Horn Exo Society need me?

“If I am of no use and the Great Horn Exo Society does not need me, I will leave right now.”

Everyone fixed their eyes on Xiao Gao.

Zuo Xiaohu shouted loudly, “Xiao Gao, who dares to say that you are useless to the Great Horn Exo Society? I remember that, whenever I was tortured and exhausted because of Uncle Captain’s crazy training, I would always be energetic again after eating the chicken wings you made. I felt that I could do another day and night’s training!”

“Indeed!”

Lu Dian said seriously, “I found all the food I had during my years of travelling flavorless compared with Xiao Gao’s chicken wings and beef noodles. Even Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures were no match for them. I often felt discouraging due to the lack of nice food! One of the major reasons for my return is to taste your secret ‘Super Awesome Luxurious Training Food Package’!”

“But—” Xiao Gao’s voice was shaking. “I’m just an ordinary person, and I can only make the most primitive food. I have no idea how to cook the delicious food made of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.”

Zuo Xiaohu consoled him. “Just mince the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures into pieces. I can eat them raw.”

Lu Dian observed, “That’s highly unnecessary. You can simply bring me an intact one and a cruet.”

“Captain!”

All the orphans originating from the Tiger Killer Camp stared at Lei Dalu quietly.

Lei Dalu finally couldn’t bear it any longer.

The tough man, whose face color had remained unchanged even when he was faced with Fengyu Zhong, a Core Formation Stage Cultivator, and countless space pirates, finally collapsed. Tears were flowing on his dry face, as he said, “Xiao Gao, Lu Dian, Zuo Xiaohu, and everyone else…

“I—I need you!

“Now is the time when the Great Horn Exo Society needs you most!

“Every one of you, whatever your Cultivation is and regardless of whether you are a Cultivator or an ordinary person, is of use to the Great Horn Exo Society!

“Welcome to the Great Horn Exo Society. Welcome home!”

“Hooray!”

“We are home now. Everybody is together again!”

“Long live Great Horn! Long Live the Tiger Killer Camp!”

Excited exclamations were echoing inside and outside the ward.

Lei Dalu was laughing, too, with tears in his eyes. “Alright. Now that we have so many hands, the next mission for Great Horn can be started immediately!”

Zuo Xiaohu was surprised. “We’ve got a new mission so shortly? But we don’t even have a starship right now. Who hired us?”

Lei Dalu replied, “It’s not a contracted mission, but one of our own. We need to go to a place and look for a certain someone.”

Lu Dian raised his eyebrow. “What place? Which someone?”

Lei Dalu’s smile was gone. His eyes narrowed, his face grave. “The forbidden area for Cultivators. Someone whom you can trust as your brother for your entire life.”

Chapter 545: He Is Asking to Be Killed

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Deep down in a ragged space town where spiritual energy had almost run dry, near a raucous vegetable market that was filled with broken sewers, a bald man was sipping and enjoying a bowl of bean curd jelly in a small booth that sold breakfast.

The booth was very close to the booths that sold chicken and fish, and therefore, was corrupted by the fishy stink. The smell was quite unpleasant.

The breakfast hour had long passed. The bean curd jelly was mostly sold out. Whatever was left in the big bucket was cold with too much salt and soy sauce. It was definitely not anything close to tasteful.

But the bald man was enjoying it as if it were the most delicious food in the world. He focused his attention on the bowl and completely dwelled in it.

The bald man looked plain. He was wearing grey, like most of the ordinary people in the market. However, his eyes were long, narrow, and almost extended to his temples. His pupils were the size of needle tips, and if one were to draw close and observe carefully, one would vaguely see that two bloody lotuses seemed to be floating inside the man’s eyes.

Fengyu Zhong was sitting across him with a completely different appearance. His face was wrinkled, the hair on his temples spotted. He was wearing rubber shoes and a leather apron. He was acting like a fish dealer and gave every feeling that he was one who seemed to be outspoken and yet would take advantage of the customers at the earliest chance when they didn’t notice.

As if sitting on a carpet made of pins, Fengyu Zhong was moving uneasily and finally spoke hesitantly. “Lotus King…”

“Why are you not eating anything? One won’t have the strength to work until their stomach is full.”

The Lotus King chewed the floating scum and swallowed it, before he continued. “The food here is indeed bad. But for the seekers of the greatest Dao, everything in the mortal world is but fleeting cloud and dust. Bean curd jelly is dust. Lobsters and abalones are dust, too. Is it necessary to be picky about food when they are all dust? Just take it.”

Fengyu Zhong swallowed. The brutal bandit who had committed countless murders did not dare defy the Lotus King at all and simply ate the cold, awful bean curd jelly.

The Lotus King played with his spoon and said, “The failure at the end of the battle was not your fault. You carried out the plan perfectly on the tactical level. The problem was that factors out of the picture suddenly meddled in our affairs, which was a mistake in the strategical level. I should take full responsibility for the failure! You don’t need to blame yourself. In fact, I owe you an apology. Because of my miscalculation, you lost two starships, and your prestige on Spider Den has plunged.”

“Lotus King!”

Fengyu Zhong did not expect the Lotus King to be so benevolent. He was lost for words for a moment.

The two Immortal Cultivators from the Temple of Immortals were discussing world-shaking events near an ordinary vegetable market.

But the other customers beside them, the boss of the breakfast booth, and the passers-by seemed to be hypnotized or in a dream. They were talking and laughing as if they’d heard nothing wrong.

The two red lotuses inside the Lotus King’s eyes were bouncing like fire, as he continued speaking. “What bothers me is not the loss of two starships, but the fact that you are still troubled by your only son’s murder, and you let your sentiments affect your judgement! When we were preparing, I had thought that you had already cut off all your mortal feelings and that your fury was all faked. As it turned out, that was not the case.”

Fengyu Zhong’s face was lackluster when he thought of his only son. He replied hoarsely, “Lotus King, it’s true that I failed to cut off all the mortal feelings. The decision I made was half rational and half driven by my fury. I lost my mind and—”

“Forget it.” The Lotus King sighed. “Everybody knows that immortality will be achieved the moment they cut off all their mortal feelings. But mortal feelings are not that easy to cut off, and the ultimate Dao can only be pursued with hard work!

“We are human beings essentially. Human beings are animals. Animals are prone to the vexation of natural instincts, which are controlled by our cells, our genes, and all the hormones inside our body. They constitute a solid cage that we cannot free ourselves from easily.

“What is the path of immortality?

“The path of immortality is to fight against the natural instincts and shatter the cage!

“Love of entertainment is a natural instinct, and so is the bond between father and son! Only by cutting off the natural instincts completely can we evolve from hairless monkeys into a more advanced life form so as to survive longer in the dark forest and even become the king of it!

“The natural instinct for enjoyment is easy to cut off. But those regarding blood relationships are like parasites. One might find it impossible to cut them off after a thousand or even ten thousand slashes. Even I cannot say for sure that I’ve successfully cut off all my mortal feelings!

“Therefore, although you were blinded by mortal feelings, I don’t think that I’m qualified to blame you for that.

“However, the mortal feeling of father and son is to be cut off eventually. You will not be able to view the true path of immortality until you cut off such a natural instinct!”

Fengyu Zhong was dazed for a moment. He said, “But I only have one son who is already dead. How am I going to cut off such a mortal feeling?”

The Lotus King smiled. “You can always have more sons.”

Fengyu Zhong was startled. He pondered for a moment and was awed by the infinite coldness and cruelty within those six words. He was speechless for a long time, before he managed to change the topic.

“About Li Yao…”

The intelligence system of the Temple of Immortals was very sophisticated. Now that Li Yao’s name was spreading among the Cultivators, it was only reasonable that the Temple of Immortals had picked up on it.

The Lotus King replied, “Leave the guy alone. You have more important work to do, which is to expand your forces on Spider Den and become the real tyrant of space pirates!”

Fengyu Zhong was stunned. “But right now, my manpower and reputation have hit rock bottom.”

The Lotus King explained, “Weakness is strength in disguise. Take Li Yao for example. As a Building Foundation Stage Cultivator, wasn’t he weak as hell compared to you? But he caused you a great fiasco and a huge loss of subordinates. Even yourself were almost trapped by him. You behaved better when you were chased by almost ten Core Formation Stage Cultivators before!

“Why? Because you thought that he was weak!

“If he were a Core Formation Stage, or even a Nascent Soul Stage, Cultivator, would you have been fooled?”

Fengyu Zhong was deep in thought.

The Lotus King continued. “Right now, the entire Spider Den is aware that Storm Prison has just endured a storm. You’ve also released the fake news that you are seriously wounded. Those who have second thoughts should be making plans now, and those who have been lurking in the darkness will show up shortly!

“Your wife is the daughter of the leader of Black Spider Tower. Other people may hesitate to act if she’s still on your side. So, the two of you can act like she’s betrayed you and make everyone think that you are all by yourself now. When your opponents have shown all their trump cards, we will counterattack and finish them once and for all!

“This is the move we are going to make. You can take your time to settle the details when you’re back. Draw up a proposal with the estimated budget in three days. Whatever manpower, money, or magical equipment you need, you will have them.

“In short, make it big and worry about nothing. I’m very confident in you!”

Fengyu Zhong took a deep breath and replied, “Alright. With Lotus King’s promise, I’m definitely going to take down Spider Den. However, you can never be too careful about that guy, Li Yao. It’s not just because of my personal hatred. The guy is truly cruel, crazy, and cunning. He is even more dangerous than the most brutal bandit! The organization must not regard him as an ordinary Building Foundation Stage Cultivator. I suggest that we mark him as an enemy in the Core Formation Stage level and ask the experts of Black Spider Den to assassinate him as a priority!”

The Lotus King smiled vaguely. “You don’t need to worry about that. Do you know why I asked you to choose the Iron Plateau Space Zone as your battlefield?”

Fengyu Zhong was dazed for a moment. The Iron Plateau Space Zone was a forbidden area for Cultivators, where all kinds of perils were looming. Even he had almost fallen into the traps. He had thought that the Lotus King was merely trying to take advantage of the territory there. But now that the Lotus King had brought it up again, could it be—

Fengyu Zhong beamed with joy. He exclaimed in surprise and excitement, “Do we have men on Iron Plateau?”

The Lotus King smiled but gave no replies. He sipped the remaining bean curd jelly and smacked his lips. “Landing on Iron Plateau? He is asking to be killed!”

…

At the periphery of the constellation, an encounter had just ended.

A starship of space pirates discovered a broken ‘Ox-level’ carrier in a remote route.

Judging from the appearance, it seemed to have been brought there by a severe space storm and had barely any impetus left. The shell of the starship was torn apart; the crystal cannons on the surface were askew. It was unable to move at all, like an animal that was mired in a swamp.

The overjoyed space pirates immediately jumped forward and docked to the starship while threatening it with the fearsome crystal cannons. A lot of space pirates boarded on the unfamiliar starship.

They were surprised that the carrier was empty without a single human being.

Right then, the cabin door was locked. Deadly gas was released nonstop and killed all the intruders instantly.

In the meantime, the shell of the carrier glittered. The peaceful appearance of a carrier was torn apart, revealing almost a hundred dense cannons that made the starship look like a hideous steel hedgehog.

The Rising Dragon of the Nine Stars flag rose up on the light beam projected by the head of the starship.

Sparkle had revealed itself!

Since the two parties were next to each other and docked by magnetic field, there was no way to avoid the bombardment at all. After twenty minutes of barraging, the starship of the space pirates had completely lost all combat ability.

The remaining space pirates fled in their crystal suits. But the current route was too remote and far away. Without the support of a starship, their crystal suits did not have enough fuel to support themselves to fly to the next supply point. They would become space dust half way through their trip.

It did not take long before the space pirates realized the situation.

Ten minutes later, all the space pirates who had surrendered were shot dead.

The Cultivators from the depths of the Grand Desolate Plateau of the Heaven’s Origin Sector who had fought the demon race for five hundred years did not know what ‘mercy’ was at all.

“The first hunting in disguise has succeeded.”

“But it took us too much time. We suppressed a starship of the lowest level in over twenty minutes. The distribution of our cannons is not accurate enough. We need to redesign the positions of the fire points.”

“The space pirates that were attracted into our starship were not many, either. The scheme to lure the enemy needs to be further revised.”

Inside the empty Sparkle, four clusters of liquid metal shivered and occasionally formed human faces.

The ‘Four Kings’ of the Refining Department of the Grand Desolate War Institution in the old days, four spectral Cultivators today, had grown accustomed to the training of their souls. They could simulate the shape of humans once in a while now.

An even larger cluster of liquid metal rolled inside and bulged into a silver human figure. But it was only half a meter tall and looked like an uncolored statue. It was Professor Mo Xuan, the previous dean of the Refining Department of the Grand Desolate War Institution and the founder of Project Mystic Skeleton.

“Li Yao has been found!”

Chapter 546: Rough Iron Plateau

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Ten minutes later, the five spectral Cultivators from the Heaven’s Origin Sector finished analyzing the information that Li Yao had transmitted to them.

Sparkle fell into a brief silence.

Mo Xuan said, “According to Li Yao’s message, and the information we collected from the Spiritual Nexus recently, we have two options right now.

“Firstly, we can stand by and watch because it’s none of our business. We can continue hiding in the periphery of the sea of stars and let the Cultivators and Immortal Cultivators of the Flying Star Sector fight each other. We won’t do anything about it even if the Flying Star Sector might be occupied by the Immortal Cultivators.

“Secondly, we can get us involved and fight against the Immortal Cultivators together with the Cultivators of the Flying Star Sector in some way!”

The ‘Four Kings’ slightly shivered. The liquid metal was shrinking and expanding, as they began talking enthusiastically,

“It appears that the Temple of Immortals is a very large organization that has been hiding its capability in the shadow for a thousand years. Now that it has decided to act, it definitely has backup plans. This is not the end of everything yet!”

“We have nothing but a tiny Sparkle. The odds of success when fighting against such a giant are not very high. We might be destroyed if we are reckless for a moment!”

“The Heaven’s Origin Sector is still waiting for us. We cannot afford to die in this place.”

“But Li Yao has already become a sworn enemy of the Temple of Immortals. If the Immortal Cultivators really take over the Flying Star Sector, they will absolutely try everything they can to dig us out!”

“Then we should run. To a different world!”

“Which world? We were already unbelievably lucky to have jumped into a world with abundant resources. Who knows whether or not we can find a similar world in our next jump?”

“Even if we find a new world, who can be certain that it will be a peaceful one? For all we know, it might be even more chaotic than the Flying Star Sector!”

“Fight! We should stay and fight! These so-called Immortal Cultivators are in fact demonic Cultivators, who are our sworn enemies! Don’t forget that the demon race that savages the Heaven’s Origin Sector nowadays was on the same boat as the demonic Cultivators before!”

Mo Xuan listened to everyone’s opinions quietly. In the end, he remarked, “Everybody has made good points. Allow me to make a conclusion.

“Firstly, the Flying Star Sector is a world with bountiful resources and spiritual energy. Besides, the remnants of all kinds of starships can be found in this place, which makes it the best place for us to build up ourselves at this moment. It’s highly unlikely that we find a similar world again after another super-long space jump. It’s more likely that we will be lost in the four-dimensional space and torn into pieces.

“Therefore, before we find our way home, we can only stay in the Flying Star Sector.

“Secondly, we cannot count on the remnants to strengthen ourselves forever. As Sparkle grows stronger and more advanced, cutting-edge technology and magical equipment will have to be applied to it one day.

“Such things are not available in the ancient battlefield at the periphery of the sea of stars. We can only expect to find them in the central part of the Flying Star Sector.

“The central part of the Flying Star Sector is definitely the place that Cultivators and Immortal Cultivators are going to fight over.

“It means that we will have to get in touch with one of the two sides someday if we keep building up ourselves. We will communicate with them, learn their techniques, receive their assistance, and even form an alliance with them.

“The only question remains, which of the two sides are we going to get in touch with? Cultivators or Immortal Cultivators?

“I think the answer to the question is obvious.

“I said just now that we had two options. But in fact, we have only one. If the Flying Star Sector really turns into a great swirl of war, we will definitely be involved. The only thing we can choose is how to be involved. Do we accept whatever happens to us, or strike our way forward?

“Yes. The Heaven’s Origin Sector is waiting for us. But how do you envision our return? Are we coming home alone, with nothing but Sparkle, or with countless allies and thousands of starships?

“I believe that, if the Cultivators of the Heaven’s Origin Sector resist the Immortal Cultivators together with the Cultivators of the Flying Star Sector today, the Cultivators of the Flying Star Sector will stand side by side with the Cultivators of the Heaven’s Origin Sector and demolish the Blood Demon Sector tomorrow!”

The ‘Four Kings’ were silent for a moment. Then, they each extended a small metal sprout from the center of the metal balls and shook.

It was a gesture of consent among them.

“Alright. It’s decided then. We will cruise slowly toward the Iron Plateau Space Zone now while we explore more ancient battlegrounds on the way in order to further modify Sparkle so that it will boast a higher combat ability within the atmosphere.

“In the meantime, we can disguise ourselves as a business starship and continue hunting space pirates in order to accumulate more battle experience!

“According to the messages from various sources, Li Yao has probably been forced to land on Iron Plateau. When the moment comes, we might have to break into Iron Plateau to rescue him!

“Let’s just hope that he is not dead by then!”

…

“I’m going to die!” Li Yao shouted and leaned backwards, his arms waving.

He stomped on the ground and dashed back weirdly like a leaf that was being swept away by furious wind.

The moment he jumped back, a cluster of black, stinky air hit where he had been standing brutally. Countless iron ores were mixed in with the stinky air and blew hundreds of holes in the ground from which blue smoke was popping up.

“HOOO!”

A gargantuan worm that looked like an earthworm, only billions of times larger, was roaring scarily. It was more than ten meters long and one meter in diameter. The front end of its body was a bloody mouthpart where countless sharp, circular teeth were spinning rapidly.

Li Yao turned back and slashed his saber. The aura of his blade spurted out, only to leave a shallow trace on the skin of the bizarre worm, which was emitting a metallic glow, as if the worm was made of super alloys.

Li Yao’s attack further infuriated the bizarre worm. The front end of its body blossomed, expanding its mouthpart to more than three meters in diameter. A cluster of even more vicious, venomous gas was being condensed rapidly inside its body!

When the cluster of black gas was compressed to the bare minimum, Li Yao snapped his fingers.

Four Floating Six-barreled Machine Guns appeared weirdly deep inside the bizarre worm’s throat and opened fire!

In an instant, more than ten burning lines of bullets barraged and triggered the high-pressure gas inside the bizarre worm’s body.

The surface of the bizarre worm was as tough as steel, but the interior of its body was extremely soft and stored a huge amount of water. It was blown into smithereens immediately. The worm was split in two, and yet it was not killed, still struggling crazily, driven by natural instincts, stirring the environment nearby into chaos.

Li Yao fled with his face hidden in his palms.

He did not return until half an hour later, by which time the bizarre worm had turned completely rigid. Then, he dissected the worm prudently and collected the materials that he needed.

“My bullets are running out.”

Li Yao sighed and eyed his surroundings helplessly. He finally understood why the residents of the Flying Star Sector would rather live on cold, shallow starships than return to the planets.

Iron Plateau was not a place for human beings at all!

There was nothing but a desert the color of rust all the way to the horizon. Weirdly-shaped plants could be found occasionally, but they were all withered and half-dead.

The environment there was similar to that of the Grand Desolate Plateau in the Heaven’s Origin Sector.

However, the Grand Desolate Plateau was a boundless plateau that could be reconstructed manually after all.

But on the surface of Iron Plateau, huge mountains, hundreds and even thousands of meters high, were standing next to each other!

The mountains defied the tectonic laws. They were separate from each other and simply protruded from the ground. Multi-colored and bumpy, they were similar to the commonly-seen meteoroids in the space.

In some places, mountains were replaced by giant pits, hundreds of meters in diameter. Many such pits were enveloped by black fog all the time. If one were to look at them from afar, they were the darkest abysses.

The altitude gap between the mountains and the abysses was extremely large, which made the climate on Iron Plateau disjointed and without any patterns. It was not unusual for a furious thunderstorm to be succeeded by scorching weather just a moment later.

Such an environment was definitely not natural.

Li Yao speculated that an enormous meteor shower had assaulted Iron Plateau thousands of years ago.

The bigger meteorites had landed on the surface of Iron Plateau and turned into the uncanny peaks of stones.

The meteorites that were smaller, on the other hand, were directly vaporized due to the intense impact, the blast of which swept across everything, leaving the bottomless craters on the ground.

The meteorites looked very odd and unnatural. Li Yao had seen many interconnected spiritual stripes on many meteorite mountains that constituted what seemed to be rune arrays.

Li Yao had never seen such circuits before. But he was sure that it was a model that could absorb and utilize spiritual energy.

The meteorites must have been made by certain intellectual creatures on purpose. They were some sort of ‘magical equipment’!

The meteorites seemed to boast a strange power that had completely reshaped the environment of Iron Plateau. Not only was the land desolate, the demon beasts there had undergone unbelievable mutations, too.

The giant sand worm that had assaulted Li Yao a while ago was a frequently-seen low-level demon beast that was often used by high-level demon beasts as vehicles.

But on Iron Plateau, it had mutated in a terrifying way. Its skin was thick and weapon-proof, and it could absorb metals and pulverize them into ores inside its body. During a battle, it could spurt out the ores with high-pressure air like a storm of bullets!

However, this giant worm was one of the most ‘docile’ demon beasts that Li Yao had seen during his one-month stay on Iron Plateau.

“What kind of place is this? It is even rougher than the Dark Desolate Domain in the depths of the Grand Desolate Plateau!”

Looking at the ragged Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit on his body, the Boiled Blood Wind Slashing Saber, which was riddled with cracks, and the crystals inside his Cosmos Ring, which were about to run dry, Li Yao cursed loudly.

Chapter 547: Path to Core Formation

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

An hour later, Li Yao appeared at the foot of a majestic meteorite mountain.

The meteorites from space were apparently of different origins. Some of them contain abundant spiritual energy and resources that were necessary for living creatures. This majestic meteorite mountain was a good example. Although it was surrounded by a bleak desert, a lot of green plants were thriving on the mountain, making it seem like an oasis in the desert.

However, the ‘oasis’ was not as peaceful as it appeared to be.

Li Yao lunged forward and climbed up to the middle of the mountain. There was an inconspicuous crevice covered by bushes and grass.

The bushes beside the crevice, noticing that a stranger was drawing near, suddenly wriggled as if they were animals. A cluster of bright grey thorns danced like hundreds of vipers. Their front ends blossomed and spewed dirty sap as they hissed like snakes.

Li Yao held his saber tightly and put on a dangerous look. He yelled, “Do you want to die?”

The thorns shook for a moment. There was no telling whether they understood what Li Yao said or they perceived the killing intent from him, but they did not dare get closer to him anymore.

Li Yao raised his hand and tossed a slice of worm meat to the thorns. It was immediately bound up by dozens of thorns and melted by their corrosive sap. Very soon, it became a delicious meal for the thorns.

Li Yao took the opportunity to dash past the thorns into the crevice behind them.

There was quite a spacious cave behind the crevice.

Li Yao had paved the ground with ash and sand. Therefore, the cave was quite clean and dry.

The cave was not the largest one on this meteorite mountain, nor did it boast the most abundant spiritual energy. There were several other caves with better conditions.

But Li Yao had chosen this cave because of the thorns growing outside the cave.

They were greedy carnivores that would not let any intruder past. Also, whenever they were alarmed, they would always make rattling noises, which made them the best watch dogs at present.

Deep inside the cave, where the thorns could not reach, Li Yao took off his Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit and lay down, stretching out in relief.

Then, he suddenly jerked up and, unwilling to admit his failure, tried to break his limits with the ‘Soul Igniting Law’!

BOOM!

A glittering rune array seemed to have been formed inside the cave. Mysterious rays of light were flowing around Li Yao’s body!

“Refinement Stage Level One! Level Four! Level Seven!

“Refinement Stage Level Nine! Level Eleven! Level Thirteen!

“Peak of the Refinement Stage!”

When he reached the peak of the Refinement Stage, the spiritual gas surrounding Li Yao had reached the maximum. The whole cave was soaked in an ocean of gold brightness. Even the most ordinary rock was glittering like the most precious diamond.

However, just when the spiritual gas was about to be compressed and liquefied as he approached the Building Foundation Stage, nine black streaks suddenly popped around Li Yao heart. They bit each other’s tails and locked up his heart like a vicious shackle!

Li Yao grunted in pain. Cold sweat was pouring off his forehead, but he could not condense his spiritual gas anyhow.

A moment later, Li Yao let go of his spiritual gas helplessly and maintained his spiritual energy in the third level of the Refinement Stage with the Soul Converging Technique.

“Black Spider Death Curse, what a creepy one!”

Li Yao tore open his mustard-seed battle suit and observed his stomach. Nine black stripes that interweaved into a weird chain of nine snakes were looming on his left chest. It was deep into his skin and flesh and tied up his heart.

Scratching the ‘tattoo’ softly, Li Yao felt that it was directly connected to his heart. A gentle touch was enough to make his heart race. It was not hard to guess what would happen if it was removed by force.

Li Yao had complicated feelings as he looked at the tattoo, wondering whether or not he should regret joining the battle a month ago.

It was true that, when he had learned that Storm Prison was ambushing the Great Horn Exo Society, an untamable, crazy notion had occurred to him, which was to take down the Core Formation Stage Cultivator Fengyu Zhong!

The reason was simple. Li Yao had never believed that any secret was safe forever.

Although few clues had been left to link him to Fengyu Ming’s death, there were still too many coincidences.

Before, he had not been known for his capabilities yet, and other people might not have associated him with the event.

But as he appeared out of nowhere in the Skyhill Sword Seminar, and when he rose to fame in Heavenly Saints City in the future, his capabilities would become known by the world sooner or later.

By then, with Fengyu Zhong’s wisdom and Black Spider Tower’s intelligence network, some traces would definitely be found.

Li Yao had never been a passive man.

Neither was he willing to bear the thought that a Core Formation Stage Cultivator would be making plans against him in secret someday in the future.

It was to kill or to be killed. It seemed to be a better option to slay the father before he found out the truth about his son’s death than to wait for Fengyu Zhong to figure everything out.

Li Yao had not been aware of the existence of the planetary ring before; he only knew that the Iron Plateau Space Zone was full of stone belts.

Therefore, his plan had been to hide inside the stone belts while planting all the crystal bombs he carried during his escape. Then, the environment inside the stone belts would be completely disrupted, and Fengyu Zhong would be stalled.

He was wagering on the hope that the reinforcements of Cultivators would arrive in time and surround Fengyu Zhong. If so, Fengyu Zhong would certainly have died!

The chance was slim. But how could a Building Foundation Stage Cultivator kill a Core Formation Stage Cultivator without taking his chances?

When he’d discovered that the planetary ring around Iron Plateau was a piece of powerful defensive magical equipment, he had changed his plan and decided to activate the defensive magical equipment with the crystal bombs as triggers!

In order to fully convince Fengyu Zhong, he had even fought Fengyu Zhong the hard way once and suffered heavy wounds because of it.

He had taken every detail into consideration.

It had never occurred to him that Fengyu Zhong’s nose would be so sharp. There were no loopholes at all, but he had still sensed danger and run away beforehand.

Li Yao had also failed to anticipate that the blast released by the planetary ring when it was triggered to be as strong!

His original plan was to hide in the interior side of the planetary ring while he waited for the reinforcements.

As it turned out, the blast was like a surging tide and easily blew him into the gravitational pull of Iron Plateau. The Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit had been seriously damaged, too, and lost most of its impetus. He was not able to alter his route and could only perform an emergency landing on Iron Plateau.

After he fell onto the planet that was even harsher than the Grand Desolate Plateau, the trickiest issue Li Yao was faced with was not the brutal demon beasts, but the Black Spider Death Curse, which Su Jiuzhen had cast upon him on his death with the power of his soul.

If the weird curse targeted his brain and tried to kill him, Li Yao could resist it by relying on Ou Yezi’s soul power and eliminate it directly.

Yet, the Black Spider Death Curse seemed to be alive and was very adaptive to the environment. It was even able to select the most suitable method of attack.

After the previous outbreak when it was almost banished by him, the curse seemed to know that it was not strong enough to kill him and had been lurking near his heart where it had stabilized into a weird shackle.

The shackle was intangible in peacetime, and it did not affect him during a battle. But every time when he was about to rise into the Building Foundation Stage by liquefying his spiritual gas with the Soul Igniting Law, the vicious power of the curse would be triggered at the critical moment and pierce into his heart!

He was locked in the Refinement Stage by nine invisible chains. Over the past month, however hard he tried and burnt his soul, he had not been able to break this limit.

Li Yao was not depressed at yet another failure. He smacked his lips and leaned against the wall of the cave, meditating.

The stubbornness inside his eyes was as bright as before, not in the least diminished.

It might not be a bad thing now that I’m confined in the Refinement Stage by the Black Spider Death Curse!

From the time when his spiritual root awakened, a mark that he became a Cultivator, to the time when he advanced into the high level of the Building Foundation Stage and boasted combat ability at the peak of the Building Foundation Stage occasionally, it had taken less than five years.

Five years, from an ordinary person to a Cultivator in the high level of the Building Foundation Stage. Such a speed of advancement was appalling in the Heaven’s Origin Sector, the Flying Star Sector, the Star Ocean Imperium, and even the ancient Cultivation world!

Advancing too fast was not necessarily a good thing. Breaking into the next level hastily without consolidating one’s current knowledge might prove to be a hinderance in the future training.

Since he had stepped into the high level of the Building Foundation Stage, Li Yao had always been a bit lost as to how to further proceed in his path of Cultivation.

The training of his hands with Purple Ring Sword Ants and the building of his body with the Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining technique were just improvements in specific areas.

As to his overall Cultivation, he hadn’t made any progress recently and felt like that he was trapped in a maze.

The advancement from the beginning level of the Building Foundation Stage to the middle level was based on the spiritual seed of Iron God Yan Ba, a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator.

The breakthrough from the middle level of the Building Foundation Stage to the high level was because of the adventure inside the True Fusion and the space swirl.

How was he going to progress further?

The Black Spider Death Curse and the shackle it imposed on him might prove to be of great help.

Li Yao’s Soul Igniting Law was known as ‘Soaring into Heaven in One Leap’. The main trick of the method was to imagine oneself as a proud king of eagles that had been caged inside a valley from a young age and never tasted the feeling of flying freely. It could only watch countless ordinary birds swooping past itself.

Just like that. Anger, patience, struggle, concealment. Then, one day, the shackle was broken, and the king of sky ascended to its throne!

It was the core of ‘Soaring into Heaven in One Leap’.

Wasn’t Li Yao an eagle king who was locked up in a deep valley? It was exactly the scenario inside his Soul Igniting Law.

Maybe, this is going to be my turning point.

It took me only four years to advance into the high level of the Building Foundation Stage from an ordinary person. The speed was too high for me to lay a solid foundation.

If I train myself with the regular methods according to traditions, I might have to spend another four years building myself up and consolidating my knowledge. Then, it would take me twenty years to solidify my spiritual energy in order to enter the Core Formation Stage!

To be honest, it was already incredible to form the core in one’s forties. For other Cultivators, they can only make such an achievement if they are extremely lucky and everything goes their way.

But I cannot wait that long!

Five years! In five years, I’m going to succeed in forming the core so that I will be qualified to fight for the planetary-level magical equipment, which will be the biggest guarantee for the final war when I return to the Heaven’s Origin Sector!

The fight against Fengyu Zhong had taught Li Yao a good lesson about his weakness. Plots, calculations, and schemes were absolutely useless when faced with overwhelming strength.

If one wants to get rich quick, one must take risks. It is not an easy task to form the core in five years!

The Black Spider Death Curse may have shackled me to the Refinement Stage for now, but isn’t it a great opportunity for me to form the core?

As long as I attack the Black Spider Death Curse with ‘Soaring into Heaven in One Leap’ continuously and shatter it one day, I will definitely be able to experience the ultimate feeling of the eagle who soars in the sky. Even if I cannot form the core, I will at least be able to stand firmly at the peak of the Building Foundation Stage and see clearly how I am going to break into the Core Formation Stage!

Chapter 548: Appearance of Qi-trainers!

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Now that his belief was firm again and he knew what he was aiming for, Li Yao felt that he was no longer lost, although he was wandering on a perilous, unknown planet all by himself. He retrieved the objects inside his Cosmos Rings and accessed them while he pondered what he was going to do next.

Firstly, the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit.

During the fierce battle with Fengyu Zhong, the breastplate of the crystal suit had been pierced by Fengyu Zhong’s spear, which left a terrifying hole there. The two pieces of plate armor had completely lost all functionality.

Then, he was blown brutally by the blast from the outbreak of the planetary ring. Thankfully, Li Yao had not been facing the planetary ring, or the blast might have charged into his body through the hole on his chest and minced him into pieces!

Although his life had been saved, the power rune arrays and the crystal reactor on the back of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit had all been seriously damaged and were on the brink of destruction. It would not resume its combat ability without major maintenance.

The Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit was no longer as awesome as it had been in the planetary ring. Shocking traces of claw marks could be found on the surface of the lackluster armor, as if the crystal suit had been savaged brutally by a deadly beast.

Li Yao felt his heart pounding the moment he saw the traces.

They were the result of horrifying demon beasts lurking inside the atmosphere of Iron Plateau when he was falling through it.

The atmosphere of Iron Plateau was like a layer of thin, grey mist. Such demon beasts had been hiding inside the grey mist and blending themselves in with it. Their speed was also too high for Li Yao to see what they looked like clearly. Moreover, more than ten of them had appeared at the same time and hunted the prey collaboratively. They were quite difficult to deal with.

To escape from the demon beasts, Li Yao had exploited the last bit of potential of his Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit at the risk of breaking down in the sky. He was lucky enough to have gotten rid of the predators.

The crystal reactor has to be replaced. More than half of the crystal processor has been blown up, too. I have to find a place to fully maintain the crystal suit and give it a rebirth!

Li Yao scratched his head. Where could he repair his crystal suit on such a desolate, uninhabited planet?

There were no Spiritual Towers in space near Iron Plateau Space Zone, which meant that the area had no network.

The atmosphere of Iron Plateau seemed a bit odd, too. It was extremely difficult to receive the messages of the outside world, not to mention sending signals out.

This planet was like a lone island in the boundless sea of stars that was completely isolated from the rest of the universe.

Li Yao could only rely to himself to repair the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit so that he could rush out of Iron Plateau with no fear of the flying demon beasts living inside the atmosphere.

But even if he rushed out of Iron Plateau, he might not be able to find a starship to board on because there were very few sailing routes in the Iron Plateau Space Zone, which had always known to be a forbidden area for Cultivators.

Crystal suits were perfect for short-distance battles in space, but a long journey from one space zone to another one? That would be a joke!

It meant that he would also need a starship that could at least cruise across space zones. He couldn’t help but wonder whether or not there had ever been such a thing on Iron Plateau.

Li Yao sighed and focused his attention on examining the other items.

The good news was that he was not short of food and clean water.

The large quality of supplies he had looted from Fengyu Ming had never been used however hard his life was, even if he had to buy leek pies in a vegetable market. Now, his frugalness had given him a great return. The food was sufficient for him to survive for quite a few years.

A moment ago, he had gone out to hunt the giant worm not because he lacked food, but because he needed the super alloys that the giant worm condensed inside its body.

The giant worms were like natural furnaces. They could swallow all kinds of minerals and transform them into hard super alloys, which looked like pearls, after a series of complicated chemical reactions inside their bodies. When they were attacking, the super alloys would be spurted as bullets.

When Li Yao discovered the habit, he had risked hunting several such giant worms and gathered a lot of alloys, hoping that the materials would be of use to his maintenance work later.

Although he had excessive food and clean water, the tremendous crystals that Fengyu Ming had kept inside his Cosmos Ring had run out a long time ago. Half of them were used for his personal training, and the other half were refined into crystal bombs. There weren’t any left.

After the previous consumptions, especially the spendthrift uses in the planetary ring at the end of the battle, his storage of crystal bombs was running low, too. There were only a few of them left now.

As for his weapons, the Boiled Blood Wind Slashing Saber had suffered the most damage because of the head-on clash with Fengyu Zhong’s Devil’s cry. Both the surface and the interior of the blade were riddled with small cracks. If it was not examined and repaired in time, the saber would crumble after another few clashes.

There was a tiny dent on his Purple Electric Blue Fire Claw, too. The light flames right now were much feebler when it was condensed into a drill of mystic rays.

“This must be what is called ‘no ammo and no food’,” muttered Li Yao with a self-mocking smile.

Two streaks of brightness, one black and the other red, flew out of his Cosmos Ring and circled him.

The black one wagged its tail while it was flying in a cocky manner, as if it were saying, “Hey, do you know who the most reliable one is now?”

“Little Black, stop horsing around!”

Li Yao’s mood finally got better when he saw Black Wing.

The mysterious flying sword that his foster father had passed on to him had not been of much use after he left the Heaven’s Origin Sector. He had merely installed it to the back of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit. When necessary, it could provide additional momentum to improve the speed and agility of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit.

However, the flying sword seemed to be very unsatisfied about Li Yao’s arrangement. When he landed on Iron Plateau, his flying sword had been coming out once in a while by itself and hit Li Yao. Yes. It had been hitting Li Yao’s head with the handle of the sword. Li Yao was more than pissed!

As for the red streak, it was ‘Neltharion’, a piece of magical equipment used to train its users to steer a starship.

Neltharion had proved to be extremely useful in such a strange environment like Iron Plateau because it was the perfect probe magical equipment. As long as Li Yao attached part of his soul to Neltharion, he could observe the surroundings from the perspective of Neltharion. Also, the magical equipment boasted certain stealth ability and was very hard to find when it snuck into the air without anybody knowing.

“You are my only company now.”

Gripping Black Wing and waving the sword, Li Yao suddenly recalled the life of struggles in the magical equipment graveyard together with Little Black five years ago.

He remembered how ambitious and audacious he had been, even though he had been an unknown middle-school student, and how he had been willing to walk on the seemingly hard and dangerous path. He was immediately cheered up again.

“I’ve passed through so much wind and storm. The demon prince failed to kill me, and the unparalleled deadly demon from forty thousand years ago was drilled right through by me! How can a small Iron Plateau trap me?

“Come on! I’m going to fix the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, find a starship, and get out of Iron Plateau!”

Right at this moment, the alarm magical equipment deployed in the depths of the cave emitted feeble redness.

“Somebody is here!”

Li Yao was refreshed. He put all the objects back to his Cosmos Rings but let Black Wing and Neltharion follow him. Then he dashed out of the cave.

When he reached the entrance of the cave, Li Yao tossed another slice of worm meat to the corrosive thorns guarding the cave. While the thorns were enjoying the new meal, Li Yao rushed to the peak of the meteorite mountain.

Li Yao crouched inside a cluster of grass and lay low before he extended his telepathic thoughts to Neltharion.

“Neltharion, strike forward!”

After entering a trance, Li Yao’s vision completely changed, as if Neltharion became his new eyes!

Swoosh!

Neltharion darted out, leaving red traces behind.

Li Yao did not dare to fly Neltharion too high. Iron Plateau was a place hundreds of times more dangerous than the Grand Desolate Plateau. It would be committing suicide to fly too high here because many demon beasts boasted keen anti-stealth abilities.

Therefore, Li Yao flew Neltharion toward the southeast, at such a low altitude that it almost kissed the ground, until it reached the foot of another meteorite mountain. Then, Li Yao hid it in the crown of a giant tree and kept it still.

Neltharion turned around and peeped at the southwest.

Even if someone in the southwest discovered that they were being observed, they wouldn’t be able to trace it back to Li Yao.

One could never be too cautious in a foreign land.

Many vehicles were driving over intimidatingly from the southwest. The sand they raised was like a raging yellow dragon.

Every three days, almost twenty vehicles would show up and go hunting in the desert.

It was almost the most important reason Li Yao had chosen to hide himself in this meteorite mountain.

He was trying to observe the natives of Iron Plateau at a close distance.

Although he did not dare draw too close to the vehicles, as he feared that they might have anti-stealth methods, he had still gathered a lot of information after so many days.

Many files he read stated that the few habitable planets of the Flying Star Sector were occupied by demon beasts and primitive barbarians.

From what he had seen, the place was indeed frequented by demon beasts, but the so-called barbarians were not necessarily savages.

The natives of Iron Plateau were not as civilized as the residents in space, but they knew how to drive tanks, and they employed a lot of magical equipment when they were hunting demon beasts. Besides, they were clear about when to attack and when to retreat. The collaboration of the team members was flawless. They were definitely not barbarians but citizens of a highly developed civilization.

They should be what Huangpu Xiaoya addressed as ‘qi-trainers’.

Li Yao was aware that ‘qi-trainer’ was an alternative name for Cultivators in the ancient Cultivation world forty thousand years ago. Many traditional Cultivators preferred to be called qi-trainers.

The question remained: what kind of people were the qi-trainers on Iron Plateau?

However, the wind on the desert was too furious. Whenever they appeared, they would raise a small sandstorm. Everything was obscured by the dust, and Li Yao was not able to watch them clearly.

Li Yao did not dare drive Neltharion too close to the vehicles, because he feared that the anti-stealth methods the qi-trainers had might destroy his treasure.

Li Yao stopped looking at the strangers and focused on studying the messages sent back by Neltharion.

They were the parameters of the airwaves that Neltharion detected.

By analyzing the change of the parameters, Li Yao could evaluate the intensity of a battle and the combat ability of the qi-trainers.

It was like inferring the size of a stone that was tossed into the center of a pond from the ripples at the edge of the pond.

These guys are merely in the Refinement Stage.

Li Yao analyzed the data carefully. Then he retrieved the report of the previous investigations and studied them together.

So far, he had observed six battles. However, Neltharion had never sensed the liquefication of spiritual gas in the air, not even once.

From the beginning to end, they had never showed any signs of having any Building Foundation Stage Cultivators, not even when they were in emergencies.

They are simply a bunch of Refinement Stage Cultivators. Although they are all battle-type, they are nothing to be scared of.

After ascertaining his conclusion, Li Yao smiled and was fully relieved.

Chapter 549: First Interaction!

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

He planned to get in touch with the qi-trainers despite the risk involved.

Repairing the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit not only required very advanced furnaces but also a fully-equipped maintenance workshop as well as almost a hundred indispensable strengthened alloys and Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.

In the barren, desolate wilderness, even Ou Yezi would not have been able to fix the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit with stones and twigs if he came back to life.

Besides, Li Yao needed a starship to help him leave the Iron Plateau Space Zone, and it was not like he could pick one up in the wasteland.

Since the hunting team of the qi-trainers had such so many vehicles and used magical equipment frequently during battles, it was safe to assume that they must have facilities to create and maintain the magical equipment in their bases.

If he reached the qi-trainers’ town, there was a very good chance he would be able to mend the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit and even find a starship.

Of course, Li Yao wouldn’t be so reckless as to walk out and greet them like an old friend.

All the files of the Flying Star Sector affirmed that the barbarians living on the planets feasted upon raw meat and blood and loathed the residents in the space.

Some starships had been forced to land on the planets due to space storms, only to never be heard from again. There was no telling whether they ended up in demon beasts’ stomachs or were captured by the barbarians.

Huangpu Xiaoya had also said that qi-trainers were not particularly fond of the Cultivators from the outside world.

Therefore, Li Yao had been lurking for an entire month in order to determine the capability of the hunting team of the qi-trainers.

Although most of my capability has been locked by the Black Spider Death Curse, I can easily reach the peak of the Refinement Stage. Moreover, my ‘battle awareness’ is still in the high level of the Building Foundation Stage!

Therefore, I’m definitely invincible among Refinement Stage Cultivators!

Realistically speaking, it’s not like the twenty qi-trainers are all at the peak of the Refinement Stage, is it? Most of them should be in the middle level and high level of the Refinement Stage. Their leader might be the only one at the peak of the Refinement Stage!

Let’s say that I’m unlucky enough and that a once-in-a-billion-years event happens to me. If the twenty qi-trainers are all at the peak of the Refinement Stage, I can always run away from them if I can’t beat them, can’t I?

The odds of such a coincidence were so low that they could always be ignored.

Li Yao thought through the whole plan again and realized that he would have to get in touch with qi-trainers anyway in his current situation.

Right now, the qi-trainers in front of them were not strong enough. The pace of the communication would be within his control. He could decide whether to negotiate or to attack and whether to fight or to flee.

If he did not get in touch with them right now, it would be quite awkward if he ran into qi-trainers that were equal to Building Foundation Stage Cultivators.

Thinking about that, Li Yao carried Black Wing on his back and dashed out like a bolt of lightning.

He did not rush to the qi-trainers directly, but took a large turn around the meteorite mountain and left messy traces around the cave where he had been hiding.

Then, he neatly deployed the last few crystal bombs in a valley that he had chosen a long time ago.

When he was fully prepared, he walked toward the qi-trainers neither too fast nor too slowly.

The qi-trainers seemed very interested in the giant worms that could absorbed metal ores in the desert. They had been chasing the giant worms for more than half a day and eventually slayed six of them.

Li Yao was hoping to borrow the maintenance equipment of the qi-trainers, so he was unwilling to get on bad terms with the natives of Iron Plateau. Thus, he did not hide himself and reached them openly.

While he came close, he was able to observe the strangers more carefully, only to be startled by what he saw.

The qi-trainers were using True Qi 1 magical equipment!

True Qi was condensed by Cultivators through absorbing the natural spiritual gas. Then, the True Qi could be launched to drive the complicated mechanical devices and deal great damage!

As the magical equipment in the exploration phase at the early stage of the modern Cultivation civilization, the True Qi magical equipment was heavy, clumsy, and sophisticated in structure. They were all silly, thick, and stupid steel beasts.

Also, the transformation efficiency when the True Qi was turned into energy and damage was too low with too much loss, not to mention the wasted gas, black smoke, and earsplitting noises!

Therefore, True Qi magical equipment was soon replaced by the next-generation magical equipment, which was smaller, neater, and had a higher efficiency rate of spiritual energy.

Right now, the qi-trainers in front of him were driving single tanks that had two giant wheels, one at the front and the other at the rear, which were embedded with sharp thorns. The two wheels were more than one meter in diameter. The power rune arrays carved on them were askew and disordered. They were like the drawings of a new-born baby!

Rolls of bronze tubes extended from the core of True Qi in the middle of the tank to the front and the rear, covering the entire tank. All the tubes were connected by rivets, but the joints were loose. Dense black smoke was surging out from the gaps of the tubes, as if almost twenty chimneys were stuck in the tanks. Fulminations resembling the noise of a waterfall made Li Yao feel that his ears were numb.

Such a steel beast was more than seven meters long and three meters high. It could only accommodate three knights at best. Compared to the shuttles commonly-seen among Cultivators, it was truly ineffective. But the daunting aura of antiquity couldn’t have been better demonstrated!

All the tanks were of a similar style to the single tank.

In short, they were steel structures driven by smoking True Qi, connected by rough rivets, armed with turrets using True Qi as cannonballs, with zero suspension components, so that those on board would feel every bit of the bump and blast and exert all their strength.

“Hoo! Hoo! Hoooooo!”

Every tank of the qi-trainers was like a hungry animal, sending out earsplitting roars!

The qi-trainers discovered Li Yao very soon. The tube of one of the single tanks suddenly spurted two clusters of large and intense black smoke, before it accelerated and rushed toward Li Yao at a high speed!

Li Yao narrowed his eyes and gazed at the single tank, ready to fight.

The single tank was painted a crude red in the shape of burning fire, which seemed to be made of the blood of demon beasts. There was only one knight on it.

The knight was in his twenties, but he was more than two meters tall, mighty and muscular. His shoulders were twice as wide as Li Yao’s. He was wearing a fearsome helmet crafted out of the skull of a demon beast, and leather armor and a pair of trousers refined out of the hide of a black demon beast. There were protective pads on his shoulders and wrists.

The pads were embedded with bone spurs more than one inch long, which were emanating a dominating aura!

Two giant rivets protruded out of the knight’s chin. They were carved with two round runes, suggesting that they were some sort of magical equipment.

Li Yao was somewhat relieved.

Despite the eccentric clothes, they did not look very different from the residents in space, except that they were taller and more muscular.

Among the space residents, due to the cosmic radiation, tall, brawny men more than two meters tall were not very uncommon.

Even Li Yao could turn into such a giant with the secret arts to trigger the primordial powers in his cells and expand his muscles, which he inherited from the spiritual seed of Iron God Yan Ba, a body fundamentalist.

Li Yao had been worried that the qi-trainers might be a different species with red hair, blue eyebrow, and green teeth. It would have been difficult to communicate with them if so.

Hardly had he taken a breath in relief when he was stunned by the two flags flying at the rear of the tank of the qi-trainer.

Those qi-trainers seemed to be rather ostentatious. Several flags were stabbed at the rear of each tank and were all rattling in the wind.

Before, Li Yao had not been able to see them clearly via Neltharion due to the long distance. It was not until this moment that he discovered that what was drawn on the two flags was an angrily roaring face resembling the sun, which was spraying flames of fury to the surroundings.

That is—the battle emblem of the Burning Sun Alliance!

Li Yao was shocked.

The Burning Sun Alliance was one of the six major sects in Heavenly Saints City and one of the strongest Cultivation sects of the Flying Star Sector!

How come their battle emblem had shown up on the flags of qi-trainers?

While he was pondering, the iron horse of the qi-trainer had sprinted at Li Yao, preparing to crush him directly.

Li Yao sniffed. He lowered his body and was ready to slash the hostile tank into two halves.

The knight roared in fury. The black smoke emitted from his tank soared into the sky together with his killing intent, as if a brutal tornado was brewing!

However, Li Yao remained as solid as a stone in the center of a tornado, except that the coldness in his eyes was becoming brighter and brighter.

He was not scared at all, because he had even slain a real tornado before!

Eventually, the iron knight was awed by Li Yao’s serenity and intimidating aura. He came to a sudden halt when he was some ten meters away from Li Yao.

Unpleasant noises echoed inside his tank, as if it were discontent that its master did not charge into the enemy directly.

“Who are you exactly?”

The iron knight was waving a large saber, which was more than three meters long and made of three blocks joined by rivets. The edge of the saber did not look sharp, either.

Li Yao was highly suspicious that the blades were meant to bash the enemy instead of slashing the enemy.

Although the iron knight’s voice was extremely hoarse and unclear, it was the same language as the residents in space. He was speaking the standard language passed on from the ancient Cultivators and normalized by the Star Ocean Imperium.

At this time, the rest of the qi-trainers yelled and surrounded him.

Li Yao was not in his crystal suit, but he was wearing his mustard-seed battle suit, which was neat, tidy, and streamlined, not at all similar to the crude black leather clothes of the qi-trainers.

The eyes of the iron knight in the lead were beaming like beacons as he stared at Li Yao’s mustard-seed battle suit. Suddenly, he bellowed, “You are not an Iron Plateau citizen; you are from the space!”