Chapter 700: Assassination and Assassination

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

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Hellsword’s facial expression remained absolutely unchanged. He asked his subordinate, “Where did he show up? Is it a trap? Are there any Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators near him?”

“It doesn’t seem like a trap,” his subordinate replied. “We have basically locked onto all the hostile Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators that have entered the battlefield. The summoning of extraterrestrial devils in the West Lake District is the largest one in our plan. Most of the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators’ have directed their attention to it.

“Meanwhile, Sand Scorpion is going in the opposite way of all the hostile Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators. He seems to have burst into fury and is on a killing spree without a destination!

“The key information has been transmitted to your crystal processor via the ‘dark net’!”

Communication was of paramount importance for space pirates during a hunt. In order to not be monitored by the Spiritual Nexus of the Cultivators, they had gradually developed certain technology to establish a temporary network on a battlefield during their thousands of years of struggle.

The temporary networks were unpredictable and hard to capture. They boasted strong anti-jamming abilities, too, and were also known as the dark net.

The light beam in front of Hellsword’s eyes was changing its content at a frequency of ten slides per second. His eyeballs were flickering up and down nonstop as if a vibration rune array had been installed in them.

Five seconds later, Hellsword narrowed his eyes and issued his command.

“Ghost Sting, Grey Fox ,and Thorny Shadow, stop your assassination immediately.”

Hellsword then gave his orders to those three members of the Eight Blades of Black Spider. “Sand Scorpion has shown up. He is an important target who is of the highest value relative to his capability.

“Before, he was hiding in Flying Star University where there are a lot of experts. It was quite difficult to deal with him. Our previous assassinations all failed. Even a Core Formation Stage Cultivator on our side was compromised.

“It will be best if we take the guy down before our retreat!

“Ghost Sting and Grey Fox, your task is not to assassinate him but to cruise and stay on alert in the ten square kilometers around him. As long as there are signs that the hostile Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators are going toward Sand Scorpion—remember, so much as signs—abandon the assassination immediately and retreat in separate directions.

“Thorny Shadow, you will do the job!

“Although Sand Scorpion is not weak, he is still wearing a beginner-level crystal suit. There’s no evidence that he is an expert in crystal suits. Therefore, his capability must have declined a lot!”

On the light beam, a man whose face was covered in black fog nodded. “Understood, Master Zhuang!”

Pausing for a moment, he asked again, somewhat in hesitation, “Sand Scorpion slew the Mountain King. Do you not want to take him down in person?”

Hellsword coughed for a moment. Then he smiled and said, “I’m seriously wounded right now, and I need to take a rest in the base. You can claim the credit.”

Hellsword cut off the communication. On the light beam, he saw the three assassins of the Eight Blades of Black Spider in the Core Formation Stage rush at Sand Scorpion’s location.

Hellsword smiled and walked out of the darkness, too.

He did not move toward the secret base but snuck toward the direction of Sand Scorpion.

…

Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho!

On a blood-drenched street, amid the burning debris of the city, Li Yao, wearing the Gold Wolf Battlesuit, was on a rampage with one super anti-ship saber more than two meters long in each hand.

Such a terrifying weapon was designed for super muscular Cultivators. It was said that it could chop the plate of small starships in half, which said volumes of its formidability!

That was not all of it. Around Li Yao, sixteen Floating Six-barrel Vulcan Machine Guns were moving everywhere, unleashing a storm of burning bullets!

Two sabers and sixteen guns drove almost a thousand squeaking devils away.

Li Yao’s crazy laughter leaked out of the gaps of the Gold Wolf Battlesuit. The flames of spiritual energy around him were fluctuating wildly, not steady at all.

All signs suggested that he was delirious!

From the dark windows on the high buildings nearby, three sniper rifles secretly protruded out and locked onto him.

When the bullets of the sixteen Floating Six-barrel Vulcan Machine Guns ran out, the last devil was ripped apart, and Li Yao was the most relaxed, the three sniper rifles were triggered at the same time!

Two black bullets and a rushing electric arc dashed to his front from three different angles instantly!

Li Yao seemed to have grown eyes on the back of his head. He was long prepared for the attack. His body blinked weirdly, and two bullets passed through his shadows, collided, and exploded!

The electric arc hit precisely on Li Yao’s breastplate.

Li Yao did not shake at all even though the electric arcs were covering his body. He stowed the sixteen guns into his Cosmos Ring as quickly as a lightning, while he turned into a streak of brightness and leapt forward in zigzags to avoid the snipers, sprinting for the turn of the street.

Huala!

When he reached the corner of the street, four melee-combat crystal suits suddenly appeared from the debris, the collapsed buildings, and the wells.

Two heavy crystal suits that looked like shields lunged close and tried to stall him without worrying about the damage sustained while the other two light crystal suits stabbed two sharp daggers at the gaps below the abdomen of the Gold Wolf Battlesuit, one from the left and one from the right.

Li Yao roared. The wolf head embedded on the breastplate of the Gold Wolf Battlesuit suddenly opened its mouth. A cluster of spiritual energy, which had been stored for a long time, rushed out and left a shocking giant hole in the chest of the first heavy crystal suit!

Meanwhile, he shook his left hand. The lengthy saber broke into pieces and rained upon the assassin on the left side.

There was a short sword about half a meter long in Li Yao’s hand!

A sword in a saber. As it turned out, the anti-ship saber was merely a sheath that contained a deadly weapon!

The shorter the distance of a battle was, the more dangerous it would be. The assassin had drawn close to Li Yao, and it was difficult to wield the anti-ship saber at such a distance.

However, it was the perfect range of attack for a short sword.

The attention of the assassin was distracted by the pieces of the broken saber. When he was back to himself, he felt his chest turn cold. The short sword pierced deep into his heart and exploded brutally after a ‘beep’ sound!

Crystal bombs were planted inside the short sword that would be triggered as soon as it entered a body. Although it could only be used once, it was definitely a sordid and deadly weapon!

The entire stomach of the assassin together with the left side of his chest were blown to smithereens!

Within a breath, both assassins had been killed.

The remaining two assassins were dazed for a moment, not knowing what to do.

Li Yao sneered and leapt forward, preparing to execute the two of them.

However, from the shadows of the two assassins, the two dead bodies, and even Li Yao himself, weird phantoms suddenly dashed out.

It seemed that their shadows were all alive. They formed sharp venomous stings and pierced at the vital parts on Li Yao’s body!

Li Yao was caught unprepared by the attack. He dodged three stings, but the other two still stabbed into his flesh. He grunted miserably.

The five phantoms condensed in midair into a crystal suit that was almost pure black.

The crystal suit was made of special light-absorption materials. Everybody’s vision was blurred and could not see the details of the crystal suit. It looked like a black sketch.

The two stings that stabbed into the gaps of the Gold Wolf Battlesuit were thin daggers that extended out of the arms of the black crystal suit.

That was the performance of ‘Thorny Shadow’, a top assassin of Black Spider Tower and one of the Eight Blades of Black Spider!

Li Yao seemed to be in agony. The wolf head in front of his breastplate opened its bloody mouth again and launched a dazzling cannonball of spiritual energy. Simultaneously, he waved the other saber of his, raising a tornado.

However, before the aura of the blade passed through the black crystal suit, it had split into almost ten shadows and dispersed.

The shadow blades were retreated, and two arrows of blood immediately jetted out of the wounds!

Li Yao changed from attack to defense very quickly. Seeing that he had missed the target, he turned around and ran away without hesitating.

He did not flee to the street but crashed through the wall of a building.

Against the surging spiritual energy, the walls made of bricks, stones, and rebars were no better than toilet paper.

Five shadows converged into one again. Thorny Shadow sneered and chased after him.

The Gold Wolf Battlesuit destroyed one wall after another as Li Yao fled hastily in the labyrinth-like buildings.

The black crystal suit blinked about, sometimes appearing in midair, sometimes appearing in the darkness. It ran after the prey neither fast nor slowly, like a haunting ghost.

The distance between the two parties was gradually reduced.

Huala!

Suddenly, there was nothing but brightness in front of the Gold Wolf Battlesuit. Li Yao had crashed out of the building from the other side and entered a new street!

Thorny Shadow was overjoyed and accelerated to his maximum speed!

Within that moment—

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

In the building behind Li Yao, countless oriented crystal bombs that he had planted in advance were detonated. Hundreds of furious flames burst out and wreathed Thorny Shadow.

The crystal bombs naturally dealt little damage to the assassin, who was in the Core Formation Stage. However, they exposed his location and jammed his crystal cameras and crystal processor.

Caught unprepared, his speed and reaction were both slower than they should have been.

In the chaos, Thorny Shadow felt that an undersea volcano was erupting violently. Countless hot streams and magma were spurted out and raised a hurricane on the surface of the ocean!

The alarms that his crystal processor sent almost deafened him.

The speed, agility, and strength of his target improved exponentially!

In 0.5 seconds, his crystal camera captured what the enemy’s crystal suit looked like.

The enormous size, the cold weapons, and the intimidating aura. Everything indicated that it was not the Gold Wolf Battlesuit!

Air change!

Thorny Shadow was shocked.

He did not expect that the Iron Plateau native who was in no way well trained in the arts of crystal suit, according to his intelligence, was actually an expert who had grasped such a remarkable skill as ‘air change’. His opponent had put on a faster, stronger, more fearsome crystal suit in the blink of an eye.

In that moment, Thorny Shadow realized that it was a trap, a fatal trap specially prepared for the Eight Blades of Black Spider!

It was a pity that his epiphany came too late.

Shua!

The twisted, unpredictable aura of Li Yao’s saber stabbed into the breastplate and the facial cover of the black crystal suit like a butcher’s cleaver. The blood hesitated for half a second before it spurted out, forming a giant red tree in midair!

However, one other thing flew up into the sky together with Thorny Shadow’s head.

Li Yao’s right arm!

While Li Yao launched a fatal attack toward Thorny Shadow, a mysterious shadow suddenly lunged out from his back and darted at Li Yao’s heart!

Li Yao had summoned all his strength, and there was no time for him to do anything. In his haste, he could only block the incoming attack and protect his heart with his left arm.

However, the enemy’s attack was unbelievably brutal. While he chopped off Thorny Shadow’s head, his left arm, which was protected by the crystal suit, was cut off from the elbow together with the thick, heavy crystal suit!

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Chapter 701: Trump Card and Trump Card ##

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

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” Ahhh! ”

This time, Li Yao really screamed desperately.

Blood jetted out of his broken arm shockingly, only to be sealed by his spiritual energy a moment later like a faucet that had been closed.

Before the first explosion died down, the second explosion, which was even fiercer, took place. Intense black and scorching venomous gas were mixed inside the bombs, too.

Li Yao ran away crazily in the middle of the smoke and the venomous gas!

Shua!

Covering his broken arm, Li Yao rushed into the street and threw aside a manhole cover. He stuffed his heavy crystal suit into the narrow sewer. Then, a series of explosions took place inside the sewer, with smoke and dust flying everywhere. The sewer collapsed and stopped the enemy from further hunting.

Li Yao fled like a stray dog in the labyrinth of the sewer system. Three minutes later, he appeared in the construction site of a skyscraper nine kilometers away.

Since the tenth space ring was still being expanded, such construction sites were everywhere.

Before, a few workers had lived in this place. But after the arrival of the extraterrestrial devils, all of them had run away. The place had become empty.

Hollow sounds were echoing in the empty building as the crystal suit stepped on the hard ground.

Li Yao could not hold it any longer and collapsed. He held the ground with his only hand and observed his broken left arm, moaning in disbelief.

Right then, cold footsteps came over behind him.

Li Yao’s body was stiffened. He felt like he was standing in the cold wind naked and shivering even though he was protected by a heavy crystal suit.

What appeared in the stairs was also a black crystal suit that utilized light-absorption materials.

The crystal suit boasted a giant vibration blade that was directly connected to the right arm. The helmet and the facial cover were specially designed. Three swirling demonic horns pierced toward the sky.

That was ‘Black Horn’, a special crystal suit for mental attacks developed by the Silver Heart School. The three black horns were actually three antennas that could significantly boost the power of the soul and improve one’s strength in mental attacks.

The Black Horn Battlesuit was already a top-tier crystal suits in the Flying Star Sector. After being crazily modified by the experts on Spider Den, it now boasted impressive specifications in melee combats, too.

In the database of the Cultivators, there was only one person who was capable enough of using such a modified Black Horn.

‘Hellsword’ Zhuang Ziyou, a Nascent Soul Stage!

Holding his broken arm, Li Yao asked, his voice shaking, “How did you see through me?”

Hellsword was silent briefly. He walked toward Li Yao unhurriedly while he answered with a faked voice. “Your disguise was very good, but your acting was a bit too exaggerating.

“In my eyes, you have at least three loopholes.

“Firstly, according to the files we gathered in the war on Iron Plateau, you are cunning, brutal, and thoughtful. You are definitely not a common Iron Plateau native, nor are you a reckless man who has nothing but courage.

“For a man like you, if you were not good enough in a crystal suit, how could you even consider a crystal suit that you are not familiar with to be your trump card? Why didn’t you store a few True Qi armors in your Cosmos Ring?

“The answer is obvious. Your crystal suit skills are not as bad as you claimed. You are an expert of crystal suits!

“Secondly, even if you are using a crystal suit as your trump card, why would you choose a ‘Gold Wolf Battlesuit’?

“Although it is an upgraded model of the Green Wolf Battlesuit enhanced by abundant Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, its framework is quite old-fashioned. The improvement would not be too significant at all!

“With your wealth, it’s perfectly possible for you to purchase a more advanced crystal suit and ask a master to simplify the operation system so that you can use it at your will. That’s the more reasonable choice.

“Don’t you know masters of crystal suits such as Xue Yuanxin and Huangpu Bo? Right, I almost forgot. According to our latest intelligence, you are an excellent crystal suits master yourself. Simplifying the operation system is just a piece of cake. No trouble for you at all.

“Thirdly, you acted too rashly. Just because you were infuriated by our shamelessness, you went on a rampage in the downtown area alone without caring about anything?

“That did not sound like something that the sly Sand Scorpion in our files would do.

“Your acting crossed the line.

“With consideration of the three loopholes, I was totally sure that the Gold Wolf Battlesuit was definitely not your trump card!

“You put on the Gold Wolf Battlesuit in front of everywhere because you wanted us to underestimate you so that you could set up your traps more conveniently.”

Li Yao’s voice was both calm and frustrated as he said, “Therefore, you pretended that you were fooled and asked somebody else to step into my traps, didn’t you? The guy was quite capable, and he was adept at shadow arts. If I am not mistaken, he was ‘Thorny Shadow’ of the Eight Blades of Black Spider, right?

“In order to push me to reveal my trump card, you were cruel enough to sacrifice one of the Eight Blades of Black Spider. Hellsword’s methods are indeed impressive!”

Hellsword smiled casually. “How could a bait any weaker than ‘Thorny Shadow’ force you to resort to your trump card?

“Although your combat ability is merely in the Core Formation Stage, your value is much higher than common Core Formation Stage Cultivators and even some Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators who know nothing but fighting. You are definitely one of the greatest troublemakers for us!

“Thorny Shadow is dead, but I have learned that your real trump card is the most advanced heavy crystal suit, ‘Fire Tyrant’, developed by the Red Line School.

“The ‘Fire Tyrant Battlesuit’ of yours seems to have been modified with abundant Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. The seven materials that I recognized right now are all invaluable.

“Such a crystal suit befits the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau more!

“Well well well. On a different occasion, if you are wearing the ‘Fire Tyrant Battlesuit’, there is a 90% likelihood that you might have gotten away even if I attacked with my full strength!

“Only one of the Eight Blades of Black Spider in exchange for all of your trump cards and one of your arms. That’s a good bargain.

“All in all, in this hunting game, Thorny Shadow is a cicada, you are a mantis that devours him, and I’m a sparrow that devours you!”

Killing intent was soaring in Hellsword’s voice.

“Wait!” Li Yao cried, pressing his broken arm. “I don’t want to die. Give me a chance. I would like to surrender?”

Hellsword chuckled. “You would?”

Li Yao breathed heavily. “I know you won’t believe it, but since I’m so valuable and I’m very influential on Iron Plateau, you should at least give it a try. After all, one of my arms has been chopped off, and all my trump cards have been seen through. I can never get away from the hands of a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator like you, can I?”

Hellsword nodded and stepped forward softly. “It seems so.”

Li Yao breathed heavily and struggled to his feet. He staggered toward Hellsword while he murmured, “Therefore—”

His voice suddenly turned high and sharp. “Let’s die together!”

Before the sentence was concluded, the crystal bombs that had been planted in every corner of the construction site were detonated at the same time and turned the building into an ocean of flames!

The points of the explosion had been carefully selected so that the power of the explosion could be gathered and sweep across everything!

After Li Yao made the declaration, however, he did not lunge forward hoping to perish together with his enemy. Instead, he stomped on the ground and fell to the floor below!

The floor where he had been standing on had already been weakened beforehand. It was stomped into dust without any trouble!

All the declarations such as ‘die together’ were deceptive moves.

He was still trying to run away!

However—

The serial scheme was all within the expectations of Hellsword. The Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator had seen through everything since a long time ago!

“Hehe. This construction site is indeed a place of escape that you have prepared.

“I knew that you wouldn’t surrender!

“But so what?

“After two minutes of chitchatting, another 4% of my liver has been repaired. It will be more than easy for me to slay a Building Foundation Stage Cultivator who claims to be in the superlative height!”

The moment the explosion took place, Hellsword stomped on the floor as if he had seen it coming and fell onto the floor below almost at exactly the same time as Li Yao did.

Before he reached the ground, Hellsword had already lunged at where Li Yao was falling accelerated by the power rune arrays. His right hand turned into a streak of blackness and stabbed at the chest of the ‘Fire Tyrant Battlesuit’ at an amazingly high speed!

“Even the ‘Super Bendable Steel’ is not going to save you today!”

Pu!

His right hand pierced into the chest of the heavy crystal suit easily as if it were tofu.

However, the weird feedback made Hellsword’s pupils shrink suddenly.

In the next second, the Fire Tyrant Battlesuit exploded in midair!

Until this second, everything had been under Hellsword’s control.

But he did not expect that the Fire Tyrant Battlesuit would explode, nor did he expect that it was not smoke and fire that came with the explosion but glue!

The super sticky glue made of twenty-eight kinds of resins and the body fluids of demon beasts!

With Hellsword’s Cultivation, even though the super sticky glue was showered over his face, his movement was not hindered much at all.

Then, all the glue was burnt into ash by his spiritual energy.

However, at exactly this moment, Hellsword saw feathers.

Thousands of black feathered, condensed by the purest spiritual energy, were deep, light, and sharp and danced in midair like snowflakes from the dark ceiling.

Six enormous wings of spiritual energy covered more than half of the floor, turning it into a dark abyss.

In the center of the dark abyss was a crystal suit that looked like a black hole. Three crimson crystal cameras were in an upside-down triangular distribution. Gloomy rays were emitting from there, as if they were laughing silently.

Isn’t the speed of his air change 2.59 seconds?

How did he put on a different crystal suit in less than one second?

What is this damn crystal suit exactly?

The sprinting speed of the blackhole-like crystal suit was definitely more than seven times the speed of sound, because Hellsword did not hear any sound.

But for some reason, he felt as if he could hear the shriek of a vulture!

At the moment of life and death, Hellsword summoned the unparalleled capability of a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator. He twisted his body into such an unbelievable angle that his bones and his crystal suit were all cracking. Several rune arrays on his crystal suit broke down in that moment because it could not withstand his explosive strength.

Within that moment, at the cost of destroying rune arrays, breaking bones, and battering his liver, Hellsword moved half a step to the right and avoided the crying saber in Li Yao’s right hand!

In the meantime, his left leg kicked at Li Yao’s abdomen in a weird curve, while a short blade that was lighter and thinner than a feather ejected silently from the tip of his foot!

In the database of space pirates and Cultivators, it was recorded that the lone wolf Zhuang Ziyou was called ‘Hellsword’ because the name of the marvelous weapon with which he secured his fame was ‘Hellsword’.

However, except for dead people, few knew that ‘Hellsword’ was not the eye-catching vibration saber on his right arm but the invisible venomous dagger hidden below his foot!

While the ‘Hellsword’ rushed out, Hellsword summoned all his soul power and triggered the strongest mental attack of his life.

Hiu!

For a moment, countless ghosts were lunging out from the dagger, as if the attack knocked down the wall between Hell and the human world!

However—

Li Yao’s speed increased again and surpassed the limits in Hellsword’s calculation instantly!

The dangling arm on the left of the crystal suit that seemed empty before was now back to life like a snake that had crawled out of a crevice!

When countless black feathers interweaved into flames and flashed past Hellsword ‘s eyes, there was only one thought in the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator’s brain, which was almost boiling now.

Didn’t I now chop off his left hand?

Why does he still have it?

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Chapter 702: Feathered Dragon Saber

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

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Shua!

Two black crystal suits turned into translucent shadows at the same time and passed through each other.

In midair, the raging ghosts and the unpredictable black feathers collided like a storm.

The ghosts, in their desperate screams, vanished into black smoke.

The flying black feathers were melted like snow under the sun, too.

However, the 999 black feathers were physical entities. They entangled the left arm of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit without a gap and formed a weird-shaped saber that looked like a giant feather.

It was Feathered Dragon Saber, a piece of tailor-made magical equipment that Li Yao, Professor Mo Xuan, and the other spectral Cultivators from the Heaven’s Origin Sector had invented based on the feature that Li Yao’s spiritual energy could be transformed between the gas form and the liquid form freely at will.

The saber was refined based on the scraps of ancient magical equipment, the bones of Skeleton Dragon and the apocalyptic beasts, and the pieces of the Boiled Blood Wind Slashing Saber. Because of its modular structure, with a telepathic thought, Li Yao could turn the saber into 999 sharp feathers and hid them in thousands of illusions of black feathers formed by his spiritual energy, so they could attack the enemy from utterly unpredictable angles.

The last remnants of the shadows of the ghosts were gone.

The construction site returned to peace again. Wind was blowing past the empty floor, raising a storm of dust that looked like a fog.

The two crystal suits were ten meters away from each other, in the same posture of their final attack, like perfect statues.

Clang!

Feathered Dragon Saber fell to the ground.

Huala!

A shocking wound appeared on the breastplate of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, as if a devil that opened its blood mouth.

Chi! Chi!

Blood mist exploded out of Li Yao’s chest as he staggered and fell to one of his knees. A deep hollow was left on the floor, and he coughed loudly.

“Cough cough. Cough cough cough cough. A Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator is indeed a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator!”

His face as pale as paper, Li Yao breathed heavily for a long time. He managed to constrict his muscles and sealed the veins near his wound. Then he gritted his teeth to stand up and walk toward Hellsword.

Hellsword was absolutely still.

“Including the Sky Scorpion Amor, I’ve used four sets of suits altogether and deployed thirteen serial traps. All the crystal bombs and magical equipment on my body are now gone.

“I didn’t know that—Cough Cough. Cough cough cough cough—”

Li Yao coughed hard and walked to Hellsword’s front. He stood face to face and helmet to helmet with the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator.

Hellsword could kill him easily as long as he raised his hand. Yet, he kept still and did not move at all.

Li Yao breathed hard and managed to finish the sentence. “I didn’t know that I would have to pay such a high price in order to kill you!”

Li Yao opened his fingers and pressed the helmet of Hellsword’s crystal suit. He suddenly exerted his strength!

Huala!

‘Hellsword’ Zhuang Ziyou, the scary Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator on Spider Den, could not withstand the pressure and kneeled down before Li Yao!

“You are the first Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator that I slew.”

Looking down at Hellsword, Li Yao remarked, one word after another, “But you won’t be the last.”

Ka!

A terrifying explosion suddenly burst out in Hellsword’s neck, as his entire spine was blown into powder.

When the Feathered Dragon Saber passed by, Hellsword’s neck had been swept through by the aura of Li Yao’s saber. His head seemed to be connected to his body, but the link between them had been entirely cut off. It was no different than beheading him.

Even a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator could not survive their head being separated from their body.

Besides, Li Yao’s final pressing had poured a huge amount of spiritual energy into Hellsword’s brain through the helmet of the crystal suit, which had completely wrecked his brain.

The dominating Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator finally bowed below Li Yao’s feet and lowered his head, as dead as anyone could ever be!

Li Yao sniffed and rubbed his hands. He kicked down Hellsword’s dead body. Greedy laughter echoed below his crystal suit, as if he were planning to rip off Hellsword’s ‘Black Horn’ and search for trophies.

The moment he touched the Black Horn Battlesuit, however, Li Yao suddenly shrieked. The Feathered Dragon Saber that was left aside exploded into 999 sharp feathers instantly and raised a black storm on the floor again!

“Ahhh!”

A weird scream suddenly echoed in the air of the southeast corner. It sounded like the screams of ten thousand tortured souls in the deepest level of hell combined. Like a scorching iron needle, the sound stung Li Yao’s brain!

A dark red phantom that looked both like dim fire and weird flowers gradually emerged in the air. As it formed, the phantom condensed into the shape of a human more than half a meter tall that looked both like a dwarf and like an infant.

Pierced repetitively by the Feathered Dragon Saber, the phantom was twisting in agony and gazing at Li Yao with the utmost hatred and fear!

“You—you knew that I was not dead!” shouted the dark red phantom.

Li Yao smiled. “The soul power of the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators is far stronger than common Cultivators. It is more likely for them to turn into a spectral Cultivator.

“As for you, the well-known ‘Hellsword’ Zhuang Ziyou, mental attacks are your specialty, and you have a profound understanding about the studies of brains. Other than being a brutal bandit, you are also a great ‘Meditation Healer’.

“Therefore, it is even more likely for you to turn into a spectral Cultivator than common Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators.

“I was merely testing, and I didn’t expect that you would jump out so quickly.”

Hellsword was squeaking in anger like fire onto which oil had just been poured. The flames of the phantom suddenly rose and almost licked the ceiling.

It was a pity that he had just died, and his soul had only managed to escape from his body through secret arts. His current state was very unstable because he was not a real spectral Cultivator yet. His capability was only one percent compared to when he was alive!

Although Li Yao was heavily wounded, the guy was still much stronger than he was.

He could only stall for a while longer so that his soul could stabilize. With a few minutes, he would be transformed into a spectral Cultivator from a wandering ghost. By then…

Hellsword pretended that he was deeply regretful and shouted, “What I chopped off just now was a false hand?”

“Of course, it was a real hand. For a lone wolf like you, it would have been impossible for you to not notice the difference between cutting into muscles, veins, and bones and chopping off a false hand, right?”

Li Yao opened his hands and replied, “It’s just that the hand was not mine.”

Hellsword was so furious that he was shaking violently. He shrieked, “So, your target since the very beginning has not been the Eight Blades of Black Spider but me? Crazy! You are crazy! Your maximum combat ability is in the Core Formation Stage at best, and you are insane enough to hunt a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator! Maniac! You are an out-and-out maniac!”

“If you don’t have anything constructive to say, let’s begin,” Li Yao replied calmly.

He waved his right hand. Spiritual energy flooded over like a tide and formed a shining silver hand, grasping Hellsword’s ghost by the throat.

When the wolf grows old, the crows ride him. If he were in his peak state, Hellsword, as a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator, would have kicked Li Yao away like driving a stray dog, if not killing him instantly!

However, right now, Hellsword’s ghost was like a hen whose throat was cut off. No matter how hard he struggled and shrieked, he could only be dragged to Li Yao in the end.

“What do you want?” shouted Hellsword in panic, half faked and half in real fear.

Every move that Li Yao took was beyond his expectation. He was no longer confident in the situation now.

Li Yao bound Hellsword’s ghost to the front of his breastplate with his spiritual energy, making it a ‘shield’. Then he smiled and said, “A Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator must be hiding a lot of precious Cultivation arts, techniques, magical equipment, and Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures on their body.

“I went through all the trouble and drained all my crystal suits and magical equipment to kill a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator. Naturally, I want to search his body thoroughly and see what trophies I have earned.

“However, from a different point of view, if I were a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator, I wouldn’t want my body to be insulted by the successors and my collections to be looted by my enemy.

“Therefore, I would certainly set up all kinds of traps inside my crystal suit and even hide aggressive magical equipment inside my body. If anybody was going to tear open my crystal suit by brute force and damage my body, then… BOOM! They would pay a good price!

“In the meantime, I would also deploy numerous self-destruction programs in all my Cosmos Rings. If anybody opened the Cosmos Rings by force, the programs would be automatically activated and turn the Cosmos Rings into useless stones!

“The hunters are coming close, and my time is limited. As a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator, you are probably not scared by my threats and interrogation. So, I will save the nonsense and simply use you as my shield.

“If there are any traps on your crystal suit and your body, you will be the first to take their blow once they are triggered!

“After all, I am protected by this super crystal suit that boasts amazing specifications, with a lot of additional layers of Super Bendable Steel at the critical areas. With the ghost of a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator as my shield, I will not necessarily die even if the traps are triggered.

“However, you are in front of me, and you have no crystal suit or clothes to protect you. The adventure might not be as safe for you, no?”

“Wait. Stop now!” shouted Hellsword, who was struggling crazily.

But Li Yao did not care about him at all. He crouched on one of his knees. The Feathered Dragon Saber flew back to his left arm, but almost a hundred feathers were left and protruded to the front, forming three sharp claws.

Taking a deep breath, Li Yao raised his left arm high and was about to stab the claws into the breastplate of Hellsword’s crystal suit.

“No. There are traps in my crystal suit and my body. They will explode if you tear them apart!” screamed Hellsword desperately, having no other options.

---

Chapter 703: You May Die Now

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

“I don’t like to force people to do anything.”

The claws extended by the Feathered Dragon Saber scratched on Hellsword’s crystal suit in screeching noises, as Li Yao replied casually, “Say it or not, the choice is all yours. I will get the trophies either way.”

“I will. I will.”

Hellsword was about to burst into tears.

If he had teeth right now, he would be biting them so hard that they would have crumbled to nothing.

It was true that powerful magical equipment and attack rune arrays had been deployed on his crystal suit and his body. The enemy was bound to trigger the traps once they looted them.

His original plan had been to hide in the darkness as a ghost and attack Li Yao’s brain when Li Yao was wounded while searching his body.

But he did not know that the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau was so cunning that the guy not only guessed that he might become a ghost but also took him as a shield!

Is this maniac really an Iron Plateau native who has more brawns than brains?

Hellsword felt like crying.

Deep in thought, he quickly worked out a new scheme now that the previous one had failed. He listed all the traps hesitantly.

“Below the left side of the breastplate, there is a poison vesicle that is controlled by a rune array. If it is touched, it would explode and vaporize all the venom. The solution is…”

“The helmet cannot be ripped off, too. If it is ripped off by brute force, the entire super compressed crystal reactor will explode. The power of the explosion should be enough to blow up the entire building…”

Hellsword suddenly turned obedient and revealed all the traps on the Black Horn Battlesuit.

He had thought that, even if he pointed out all the traps, it would take Li Yao twenty minutes or even longer to dismantle such a complicated and precise crystal suit.

Yet, Li Yao’s hands turned into two clusters of black mist in which countless black feathers were flying. After a series of clanging sounds, the Black Horn Battlesuit turned into the most fundamental components and covered on the ground in less than one minute.

Looking at his dead body, Hellsword’s ghost shuddered and further concealed his killing intent.

Li Yao eyed the magical equipment on the ground in great satisfaction and complimented, “You do have a lot of treasures with you. The ‘Black Horn Battlesuit’ is already one of the most expensive crystal suits of the Flying Star Sector, but judging from the plugins here, the money you spent on modifications is almost twice its original price!”

Hellsword was furious, but he noticed the greed in Li Yao’s voice. He thought of something and suddenly asked, “I would like to surrender!”

Li Yao could not help but chuckle. “I said exactly the same thing a few minutes back, and we both saw what happened next, didn’t we?”

“I know you find it hard to believe, but I’m different from you,” Hellsword replied quickly. “You are a big hero with no fear of death, but I am just a selfish Immortal Cultivator. I will do anything in order to survive!

“What I’m about to say is exactly the same as you said. As a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator, not only am I familiar with many secrets on Spider Den, I am also aware of the details of the Temple of Immortals. I am very valuable and definitely worth giving a chance!

“If you do not believe me, I can tell you a big secret first as a signal of my sincerity!

“Mountain Sea Black Lotus, the four kings of immortality. The assault on Heavenly Saints City is supervised by the ‘Black King’, but I am not the Black King!”

Li Yao raised his eyebrow. “Is that so?”

Hellsword’s ghost bounced weirdly and condensed hard without alarming anyone, trying to transform into a real spectral Cultivator, while he threw out a piece of shocking news to shift Li Yao’s attention. “Just think about it. Although I’m in the Nascent Soul Stage, I always come and go alone, and I don’t have any skills in management and administration. How could I plan and implement such a large-scale operation?

“As for who the Black King is exactly, naturally I can’t tell you right now. But as long as you accept my surrender and give me a chance to make things right, I will definitely tell you everything that I know.”

Li Yao smiled. His hands moved as quickly as wind as he searched Hellsword’s body carefully. Eventually, he found four Cosmos Rings.

Li Yao said unhurriedly, “Senior Zhuang, I fear that you’re mistaken about something.

“I’m from Iron Plateau. I do not feel very happy that you are causing a mayhem in Heavenly Saints City, but it is not enough for me to burst into outrage without caring about anything.

“You want to make things right, but does it have anything to do with me? I don’t care about who the real Black King is at all, either!

“Right now, as a tiny ghost, you are completely at my mercy. I can spare your life or kill you instantly!

“If you want to surrender, give me something I’m interested in!”

“You are not interested in the Black King’s identity?” Hellsword shrieked.

“Cultivators may be, but not for me,” Li Yao replied. “How about this. The ‘Hellsword Arts’, your ultimate skill, is indeed marvelous. Despite all the unfavorable circumstances, you managed to cut open such a giant wound on my chest. If I didn’t have my left hand, you definitely would have beaten me!

“The sword arts of yours are very creative. I like it!

“Give me your arts, and I will consider your request.

“However, listen up. You only have once chance. Do not try to fool me. The Hellsword is hidden below your foot. Therefore, the sword arts probably originated from a weird kicking skill and are totally different from normal sword arts. I can see through it immediately.

“You said yourself that I am an out-and-out maniac. You don’t want to know what a maniac will do when he gets mad, do you?”

Hellsword was dumbfounded, as if Li Yao had dug a hole on his chest and cut his heart away.

Li Yao frowned. “If you would rather not, forget it. A true gentleman does not take away other people’s favorites.”

“I—I’m willing to!” Hellsword was secretly overjoyed, and yet he shrieked in depression. “My sword arts are in the Cosmos Ring that you found in my hair.

“But the Cosmos Ring has been set with a password and divided into three overlapping rooms. Only after you open the first room can you open the second, and there’s a secret rune array below the third room. The passwords for each room are different.

“One wrong password, and the Cosmos Ring will destroy itself immediately. Nobody will get anything from it!

“My sword arts are not kept in the innermost room, but in the jade chip of the ledger in the outermost room after being encrypted!”

Li Yao chuckled and said, “A trick to fool the smart. Normal people would think that the most valuable treasure was hidden in the most inconspicuous room, but you have placed it in the very first room. How cunning of you!”

“Not as cunning as you!” Hellsword replied unhappily. He paused for a moment, and as if admitting his failure completely, he said, “Fine. Struggles are futile now that I’ve fallen into the hands of such a brutal man like you. I can tell you the passwords of the four Cosmos Rings, they are…

“You can try them yourselves and see if I’m lying.

“Come on. Try the Cosmos Rings, and you will know that I’m genuine. But don’t regret. You must accept my request if you take my treasures. You will garner fame and fortune and do other Cultivators a great favor by doing that.

“If you go back on your words, I will not let go of you even if I die!”

Li Yao pondered for a moment and nodded. “Alright!”

While ‘alright’ was still echoing in the air, the Feathered Dragon Saber suddenly exploded into dozens of black feathers and darted at Hellsword’s ghost!

The attack far exceeded Hellsword’s expectation. He had thought that Li Yao would not attack him until he verified all the passwords of the Cosmos Rings!

Why now?

The ghost was split into multiple parts before it had the chance to scream. It was not until ten seconds later that the divided ghost was condensed again. But he was feebler than ever now.

Hellsword was dumbfounded. He did not believe that Li Yao was brutal enough to attack without any warning!

Hellsword was totally confused. He shouted angrily, “What—what are you doing?”

“I have a few best friends who are spectral Cultivators.”

Li Yao’s voice turned extremely calm with no sign of greed at all. He said, “Through them, I have learned a lot of secrets about spectral Cultivators.

“For example, it takes less than ten minutes for an expert like you to transform from a ghost into a spectral Cultivator and restore part of your combat ability. Since you do not have a real body, your attacks will become weirder and more unpredictable than when you were alive.

“Therefore, I made a bold assumption that you did not mean to surrender.

“Since the very beginning, you’ve been rambling on, and you gave up all the traps on the crystal suit and your body without much struggling.

“In the end, you even told me the secrets of the Hellsword Arts and the passwords of your Cosmos Rings…

“Your only purpose was to buy you more time so that you could be transformed into a real spectral Cultivator. Then, you would launch a fatal attack and reverse the situation!

“Three minutes and fifty-eight seconds have passed since your soul left your body. I was in much more danger right and did not dare to let you condense it any longer.”

Hellsword had worked hard for four minutes and was about to be transformed into a real spectral Cultivator, only to be slashed back to the starting line. He was so mad that blue smoke was popping up. “You—you knew it since the beginning. You’ve been acting!”

“Indeed. You are not the only one who can pretend.” Li Yao smiled. “The Hellsword Arts are indeed marvelous. Why would you tell me the passwords of all your Cosmos Rings and the location of the Hellsword Arts honestly if I did not act?

“Right now, I have got everything I want. You may die now. As for your threat, hehe, you think you can ever come back to me now that you’ve fallen into my hands?”

Li Yao raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

After every snap, a Six-barrel Vulcan Machine Guns would appear in the air. Sixteen guns surrounded Hellsword’s ghost, and the bullets were jumping maliciously inside the magazines.

This time, Hellsword was really desperate. “You can’t kill me. I know countless secrets and treasures. Do not kill me. They are all yours. All yours!”

Li Yao heard none of it. His right hand snatched one of the guns while he examined the bullet clips and the barrels.

“Don’t—don’t kill me! You can imagine the immensity of the Temple of Immortals! We will have the entire Flying Star Sector under our control eventually! You will have nowhere to run!

“Join us. Your personality and your shrewdness indicate that you are a natural-born Immortal Cultivator. Join the Temple of Immortals, and your future is nothing but bright!

“Maybe—maybe you can become the new ‘Mountain King’. I will support you. We will work together and explore the true path of immortality!

“Immortality! That’s immortality I’m talking about! Endless life, endless Cultivation arts, endless power and wealth, endless mysteries in the endless universe!”

Hellsword was so scared that he did not even know what he was saying.

Crack!

Li Yao inserted a thick bullet clip. Each of the bullets was the size of one of his fingers.

Holding the gun with both of his hands and stepping on the head of Hellsword’s corpse, he aimed at the ghost.

The other fifteen guns also revolved fast, stimulated by his telepathic thoughts. A storm of bullets was looming.

Li Yao smiled, a shallow dimple appearing on his face. While he pulled the trigger brutally, he opened his mouth and spurted three words at the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator.

“Go to hell!”

Chapter 704: End of the First War

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

---

Sixteen interconnecting lines of burning bullets dissected the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator’s soul like jigsaws!

Hellsword screamed miserably and struggled hard. A waning voice echoed from the writhing ghost.

“Immortality… Immortality… Immortality…”

However, the feeble voice was eclipsed by the roaring bullets. It was like a tiny spark that was overwhelmed by an enormous tide.

The fire of Hellsword’s soul shrank and diminished at a visible speed until it was thinner than ever.

One minute later, Li Yao stopped shooting.

Huala!

The floor of the upper level could not withstand the barrage and collapsed, raising a storm of dust.

Gloomily, Li Yao carried the gun on his shoulder as he paced slowly in the debris, searching.

Suddenly, he halted and gazed at several broken bricks in the debris with a cruel smile.

His spiritual energy swept over and dragged out the remaining soul that was no larger than a cockroach.

The remaining soul was only the size of fingernail. But it had limbs and a face, and it looked exactly like Hellsword except countless times smaller.

The remaining soul was uttering high-pitched noises and struggling under Li Yao’s pressure.

However, nobody was able to tell what he was talking about. He might have begging for mercy, screaming, browbeating, or cursing.

Looking at the remaining soul, Li Yao said, one word after another, “Since the moment you became an Immortal Cultivator and assaulted ordinary people, you should have seen this day coming.

“Listen up. You may have many Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators. Your organization may be powerful. Your plan may be very thorough. Your infiltration to the world of Cultivators may be quite deep.

“You can choose to start the war at any time, at any place, and in any way you want.

“However, you don’t have a say in when and how the war will end. I, Li Yao, will make the call!”

The name ‘Li Yao’ dazed the remaining soul of Hellsword, which was writhing hard. There was epiphany, regret, and fury on his face.

The next second, Li Yao poured all of his spiritual energy into his right foot and stomped on the remaining soul.

Hellsword, as a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator, could not even utter a final scream. After a dull noise, both his body and his soul were exterminated by Li Yao!

At this moment, less than ten minutes had passed since the two of them entered the construction site.

Li Yao raised his hands and placed Hellsword’s dead body and the Black Horn Battlesuit into the Cosmos Ring. He did not feel any hinderance.

It indicated that Hellsword was not lying. There were no more Cosmos Rings on his body.

Cosmos Rings were refined based on the mechanism of space collapse and transference. They could store almost any object, but there were two restrictions that came with them.

Firstly, living creatures could not be stored because they would crumble into a pile of meat when they were folded and unfolded.

Secondly, one Cosmos Ring could not store another Cosmos Ring. It had to do with the interference and rejection of two collapse fields. The mechanism was quite complicated, and even Li Yao did not know much about it.

Therefore, if there were more Cosmos Rings on Hellsword’s body, Li Yao’s movement would have hit an invisible wall, and he would not have been able to store them.

On second thought, there were no reason why Hellsword would lie to him. He must have handed over all the Cosmos Rings partly to reduce his wariness and partly to stall him longer so that his soul could be further consolidated.

If Li Yao were not such a weirdo that attacked him without verifying any of the Cosmos Rings’ passwords, the plan of Hellsword’s counterattack would have likely worked.

Li Yao studied the crystal processor dismantled from the head of the Black Horn Battlesuit.

In order to win his trust, and more importantly, to buy himself more time, Hellsword had told Li Yao the password of his crystal processor a moment ago.

According to the crystal processor, several experts of the Temple of Immortals were lunging toward the building.

Li Yao licked his lips and finished the preparation inside the building in one minute and a half. Then, he glided to the first floor through the elevator shaft, before he removed his crystal suit and put on clothes that were riddled with holes and stained with blood and mud. With a dumb-looking countenance, he staggered out of the construction site.

BOOM!

Half a minute later, an earsplitting explosion took place in the building behind him. It collapsed from the middle, as if an invisible giant hand had pressed it down into the ground!

The blast raised a furious wind and passed Li Yao, making his messy hair even messier.

Li Yao did not turn back to watch the explosion.

He kept looking at the front, searching for his next prey.

Right then, weird humming sounds echoed in the sky and attracted his attention.

He raised his head, only to discover that a cluster of objects that looked both like a dark cloud and a swarm of locusts had flown in through the damaged places on the dome.

Li Yao looked carefully and realized that they were crystal suits that were smaller and more concise than normal crystal suits!

Green lights were shining through the gaps of all the crystal suits. They extended to their faces and formed three lines that were twisting and jumping into simple facial expressions.

Li Yao pupils constricted violently. They were not crystal suits, but—

The Grand Illusionary Soldiers!

Thousands of Grand Illusionary Soldiers lunged into the tenth space ring. The newcomers immediately attracted the attention of a lot of devils.

Countless devils formed tornadoes and swept at the Grand Illusionary Soldiers!

Dark clouds collided in midair, but the outcome was quite surprising.

Although the combat ability of one Grand Illusionary Solider was weak, as could be seen in the demo last time where ten Grand Illusionary Soldiers were no match for one Exo, they were cold machines and did not have a brain that devils could invade, nor did they have the notion of fear or any other negative emotions.

Therefore, countless devils hovered around the Grand Illusionary Soldiers, jumping and bouncing, only to find no gaps they could enter into.

On the other hand, the Grand Illusionary Soldiers had been equipped with spiritual energy weapons targeting energy entities. After a flash of light sabers, several devils were immediately cut into pieces!

The devils could only heave the debris from the ground and smash it at the Grand Illusionary Soldiers by way of remote control.

However, such a way of attack was merely an ancillary approach and nowhere near as powerful as their mental attacks.

Only several thousand Grand Illusionary Soldiers defeated devils that were ten times more than themselves and drove them away from the battlefield. Soon, the block was cleared. The Grand Illusionary Soldiers immediately moved on to the next block.

Li Yao narrowed his eyes and looked at the retreating Grand Illusionary Soldiers, deep in thought.

In the deep, dark sky, a solemn voice came over. “Citizens of the tenth space ring of Heavenly Saints City, don’t panic. I am Xiao Xuance, a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator and the CEO of the Grand Illusionary Group!

“I, as well as all the other Cultivators in Heavenly Saints City, have devoted ourselves to the battle to slay the devils!

“Not just that, prototypes of the Grand Illusionary Soldiers, the latest invention of the Grand Illusionary Group that is still being tested, have been deployed!

“Six thousand Grand Illusionary Soldiers are now fighting against the extraterrestrial devils!

“Please stay safe in the shelters. We will clear all the devils and rescue you shortly!”

In countless shelters of the tenth space ring, all the citizens waved their arms and exclaimed silently.

“Hooray!”

“Cultivators have arrived with their latest magical equipment!”

“We are saved. We are saved!”

The six thousand Grand Illusionary Soldiers, after clearing four blocks collectively, dispersed in various directions.

The Grand Illusionary Soldiers were the best tools to deal with the extraterrestrial devils. They played an important role in every battlefield.

In the fierce battles, the Grand Illusionary Soldiers, which were made of common materials and therefore were very weak, suffered tremendous damage, too.

However, the slaughter machines that did not know fear, pain, or exhaustion would crawl on the ground and lunge at the devils in the sky boosted by the power rune arrays even though their legs were broken.

The picture of the Grand Illusionary Soldier fighting until the last breath left a deep impression on Cultivators and ordinary citizens alike.

An hour after the Grand Illusionary Soldiers were deployed to the battlefield, the chaos in the tenth space ring was basically under control. The Temple of Immortals’ scheme was already doomed.

Lurking alone in the darkness, Li Yao stared at a small shop whose gate was closed.

According to Hellsword’s crystal processor, it was a secret base of the Temple of Immortals.

“Cultivators have utilized new magical equipment never seen before. The extraterrestrial devils are about to be annihilated. Carry out Plan C and evacuate immediately!”

“After the assault of Heavenly Saints City, Cultivators will definitely seek retaliations crazily in the near future. Don’t wander about in the outside world and return to Spider Den as soon as you can!”

On the dark net, messages and commands were continuously sent, detailing the closest routes of escape for the Immortal Cultivators and the space pirates that were scattered everywhere in Heavenly Saints City.

The tenth space ring was too large, even larger than many asteroids. At this moment, riots and explosions were still taking place everywhere. Countless starships anchored in the docks were leaving and fleeing away from the place.

The Cultivators were too busy saving the people to bother about them. The tenth space ring was now filled with debris both inside and outside. Once the starships passed through the debris, they would be like waterdrops in an ocean, and it would be impossible to lock onto them.

The starships anchored in the hundreds of space ports of the tenth space ring seemed to have come from various space zones of the Flying Star Sector for the Edge Sharpeners’ Meeting.

However, a lot of the space pirates’ starships were actually mixed in them. Once they were loaded with space pirates and Immortal Cultivators, they would soar into the sky and run away from Heavenly Saints City.

Spider Den?

Li Yao chewed on the name.

Spider Den, the home camp of all the space pirates and the most terrifying place of the Flying Star Sector, might be where the secrets of the Temple of Immortals were buried.

Why would the Cultivators who were supposed to protect ordinary people end up being cruel, lawless space pirates?

Where did the Temple of Immortals come from?

How were Immortal Cultivators and demonic Cultivators related, and how were they different?

Li Yao scratched his chin.

He knew where he should look for his answers now.

---

Chapter 705: Death of Sand Scorpion

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

---

One month passed after the battle in the tenth space ring.

Heavenly Saints City was the center of the world of Cultivators after all. When large batches of Cultivators crowded into the tenth space ring and slaughtered the devils together with the Grand Illusionary Soldiers, the only thing awaiting the extraterrestrial devils was doom.

One altar was destroyed after another, and the devils vanished into black smoke following each other.

However, since the environment of the tenth space ring was too complicated and too many citizens had been possessed by the devils, it took three days and three nights to finish off the remaining devils that were hiding among the broken walls and sewer systems, and it took another ten days before the last devil was finally killed.

During that time, most Immortal Cultivators retreated from the tenth space ring successfully and ran to space with the help of space pirates, before vanishing into thin air through space jumps.

The aftershock of the arrival of the extraterrestrial devils still echoed in the dozens of space zones of the Flying Star Sector one month later.

During the unprecedented catastrophe, not only had the ordinary citizens living in the tenth space ring suffered heavy casualties, the Cultivators who went to reinforce them had also witnessed a huge loss. Almost a hundred experts in the Core Formation Stage were injured or even killed. As for those below the Core Formation Stage, there were too many to count.

Many Cultivators had gone missing during the chaos. It was very likely that they self-detonated and died together with their enemy.

Sand Scorpion, the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau, was one of them.

After more than half month of extensive searches, there was still no trace of him.

Cultivation was a dangerous profession. Every Cultivator had a habit of buying a huge amount of insurance and leaving a will.

The will not only applied to the cases where the Cultivators died, but also took effect when the Cultivators went missing, became mentally deranged, or secluded themselves for a long time.

When the Cultivators returned, recovered from their mental derangement, or broke their seclusion, the testament would expire immediately.

It was based on the special circumstances of Cultivators. After all, even the strongest expert was not certain that they would be perfectly safe during their daily training and that they could maintain their rationality forever.

Li Yao had managed to survive several attempted assassinations by the Temple of Immortals while he was in Flying Star University. One of the assassinations had even been conducted by an expert in the Core Formation Stage.

Therefore, he had made detailed arrangements to make sure that the Glorious Sunlight Group would not be affected when something happened to him.

In the central area of Heavenly Saints City, in the corridor outside the main meeting room, Xie Anan was pacing back and forth anxiously until she saw a grave young man. She hurried to run to him, almost tripping herself over.

“What about it? They said that they’d found traces of master. Is it true?”

Wu Mayan was much more solemn than a month ago and much more mature for his age.

He bit his lips hard, and his eyes were slightly red. He breathed heavily for a moment and nodded, but then he shook it after thinking for a moment.

Xie Anan bulged her eyes. “What happened? Say something?”

“The Rescue Committee found master’s crystal suit.” Wu Mayan took a long breath before he continued. “It was not the Gold Wolf Battlesuit but the debris of a ‘Fire Tyrant Battlesuit’, a crystal suit that is ten times more advanced than the Gold Wolf Battlesuit!”

Xie Anan almost jumped to her feet when she heard the first half of the sentence, but she felt her head go dizzy when she heard the latter half. “Debris? How bad is the debris?”

“Very bad.” Wu Mayan gnashed his teeth. “More exactly, it is not debris but some tiny pieces.”

Xie Anan stumbled a few steps back. Her face lost all color, and she asked, her voice shivering, “How did they know that it was master’s crystal suit?”

Wu Mayan replied gravely, “Master Xue Yuanxin and Master Huangpu Bo ran detailed analysis on the scraps of the crystal suit and found traces of a special manual forging method from them. Such a method was of master’s own invention. He was the only one in the entire Flying Star Sector who knew it. You should be clearer about that than I am.”

Xie Anan’s face was even paler. She mumbled, “But—but they didn’t find master’s body, did they?”

“Of course, there was no body.” Wu Mayan smiled bitterly. “Experts of the Rescue Committee found master’s Gold Wolf Battlesuit ten kilometers away from where the scraps were found. They came to a conclusion after preliminary investigation and analysis.

“The Gold Wolf Battlesuit that master showed in front of everyone was not his real trump card. His real trump card was the Fire Tyrant Battlesuit, which was ten times stronger!

“The Gold Wolf Battlesuit was modified by master and Master Xue Yuanxin together. But master also hid a Fire Tyrant Battlesuit in secret and strengthened its key parts with his special technique. Maybe he even lowered the difficulty of operation. Nobody knew anything about it!

“It was not a spur-of-the-moment thing that master went to the central area of the tenth space ring. He made thorough plans, hoping to catch a big fish with himself as the bait and slay the fish with the ‘Fire Tyrant Battlesuit’!

“But as it turned out…

“He indeed caught a big fish, but the fish was so big that it was essentially a whale!”

“What!” Xie Anan exclaimed.

Wu Mayan continued he story. “Master and the big fish fought hard for a while and found that he was no match for the enemy. It was also possible that he was heavily wounded by the big fish and about to be killed.

“Having no other options, master had to activate the self-detonation system of the ‘Fire Tyrant Battlesuit’ and turned the super-compressed crystal reactor into a giant bomb, dying together with the enemy!”

Xie Anan was about to cry out. As a refiner, she knew the terrible outcome when the crystal reactor of such a high-level crystal suit like the ‘Fire Tyrant Battlesuit’ was detonated better than anybody else.

Not the slightest flesh and blood would be left. Everything would be obliterated!

Biting her lips hard, Xie Anan asked, “How was it possible? Who could have pushed master to that far?”

“According to the traces on the spot and the pictures captured by the crystal cameras,” Wu Mayan explained solemnly, “the one who forced master to reveal all his trump cards and even detonate himself was most likely ‘Hellsword’ Zhuang Ziyou, a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator!”

Xie Anan was immediately dumbfounded!

Admiration beamed out of Wu Mayan’s eyes as he remarked, “Master truly deserved to be the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau. To think that he fought a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator for such a long time! Although we don’t know whether or not Hellsword was killed in the end, he must at least have been heavily wounded.

“The Immortal Cultivators’ quick retreat had a lot to do with Hellsword’s accident, too!

“Master is a great hero. As his true disciples, we must not be looked down upon by other people and dishonor him!

“Regardless of whether master is missing or dead, we must train ourselves hard and disseminate his knowledge!”

Xie Anan nodded her head in a daze. Tears were running on her cheeks.

Wu Mayan sighed and said, “A lot of experts are still running the analysis right now. If master’s opponent was really ‘Hellsword’ Zhuang Ziyou, he will be the greatest hero of the entire Flying Star Sector! A detailed report will be published after the investigation. I believe that all our questions will be answered in the report.

“Now, let’s go back to the meeting!”

…

In the hall of the Millennium Meeting, tens of thousands of people were seated in the super large room established by the Half-step Grand Illusionary Land like a deep well.

Other than Cultivators, a lot of ordinary people attended the meeting, too. They were either the representatives from other space zones or the survivors of the tenth space ring.

Right now, a memorial for the deceased during the catastrophe of extraterrestrial devils was being held.

The memorial was the end of a disaster but the beginning of their revenge!

Xiao Xuance, CEO of the Grand Illusionary Group, was floating in the middle of the vague smoke in the center of the Grand Illusionary Land.

He seemed to be a hundred years older than one months ago. His face and skin that was not covered by his ivory robe were covered in wrinkles and aged-marks, as if he could not withstand the loss of his son. With a heartbroken face, he was making a speech.

“…During the disaster, I lost my dear son.

“But my grief is not just for him.

“I was not the only one who lost a son. Thousands of fathers and mothers lost their dear sons and daughters, thousands of wives and husbands lost the one they were supposed to grow old with, and thousands of innocent kids lost their parents, who loved them most and who sheltered them from the wind and storm. Thousands of families will not laugh as much in the future!

“I’m not just grieving. I feel ashamed, too, so ashamed that it is beyond description!

“I am guilty. All Cultivators are guilty!

“We underestimated the Immortal Cultivators, or the demons who call themselves Immortal Cultivators. We did not know that they would be insane and inhuman enough to attract extraterrestrial devils to such a populated metropolis as Heavenly Saints City and cause such a tragedy!

“If we had realized the brutality of the Immortal Cultivators sooner, if we had activated the planetary-level magical equipment projects earlier and entered a war state earlier, and if we had refined the strongest Grand Illusionary Soldiers with real Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures instead of common metals when we initiated the ‘Grand Illusionary Soldier Project’, the catastrophe might not have happened at all, and even if it did, we would have been able to save more people!

“How I wish I knew a technique that could alter the flow of time, even at the cost of all my techniques and the last bit of my soul power!

“But it is a pity that history cannot be changed, and the deceased cannot be revived. Our regrets are entirely useless. Useless!

“The one thing we can do right now is not regret, not grieve, not devastate, but take revenge!

“Revenge! Revenge! Revenge!

“Nobody shall be unpunished after slaughtering so many ordinary people! The fear and destruction they imposed on ordinary people will be paid back ten times and a hundred times more fiercely tomorrow!

“Let’s take action, Cultivators of the Flying Star Sector!”

Xiao Xuance opened his arms. An intimidating aura flowed out of his body and boiled all the spectators’ blood, although none of them were watching him in person. He declared, “I beg everyone to join me and summon all the resources available to destroy the Temple of Immortals whatever the cost!”

---

Chapter 706: [Chapter 706?]

 

Chapter 706: New Era

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Together with the declaration, a hundred Grand Illusionary Soldiers appeared in the darkness behind Xiao Xuance. Illuminated by the dim light, they appeared particularly high and mighty.

Different from the prototypes that had appeared in the tenth space ring a month ago, these Grand Illusionary Soldiers were much tougher and more agile. Bright gold flames were flowing on their surface like the hair of ferocious animals.

“Better late than never. After all the prototypes of the Grand Illusionary Soldiers were damaged or destroyed in the tenth space ring a month ago, all my colleagues in the Grand Illusionary Group worked day and night and built a hundred new Grand Illusionary Soldiers with tremendous Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures without caring about the cost!

“The stronger, steadier, and more aggressive Grand Illusionary Soldiers will be the standard model to be manufactured in place of the earlier prototypes!

“Meanwhile, I, Xiao Xuance, would like to make an announcement in front all the fellow Cultivators and compatriots of the Flying Star Sector!

“In order to destroy the Temple of Immortals, I will donate all my belongings to establish a fund under the name of my son Xiao Tianyang. The fund will be dedicated to the production of the Grand Illusionary Soldiers!

“It’s a great misfortune that one’s son dies when one is old. But I believe that my son Xiao Tianyang’s soul will live in thousands of Grand Illusionary Soldiers in such a way and keep on fighting the good fight!

“Compatriots and Fellow Cultivators, my personal strength is limited. The Grand Illusionary Soldier Project needs your support. The future of the Flying Star Sector needs your support!

“We are running out of time!

“What happened in the tenth space ring was unfortunate, but it might have been fortunate too. It happened to be in the periphery of Heavenly Saints City, and a lot of Cultivators were nearby during the Edge Sharpeners’ Meeting. Therefore, we reacted immediately after the arrival of the extraterrestrial devils and stopped chaos soon after.

“However, what if the extraterrestrial devils do not visit Heavenly Saints City but drop by your hometown or a remote space zone?

“An entire space town might be absorbed by the devils in a day and a night. Until the last innocent victim is possessed by the devils, not enough warriors will be able to rescue them!

“The Grand Illusionary Soldiers are the bane for the extraterrestrial devils. Only the Grand Illusionary Soldiers can rescue the Flying Star Sector!”

Xiao Xuance’s words raised whispers in the small, independent meeting rooms.

The Grand Illusionary Soldiers were different from traditional planetary-level magical equipment such as the ‘Ice God Project’.

The super projects such as the Ice God Project, which meant to build a planet into a piece of magical equipment, required a huge investment and a long working period. There would be too many unexpected factors during the project. If so much as only one tenth of the sects objected to it, the project would immediately be suspended.

In comparison, every sect and every space town could decide whether or not to join the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project on their own. It could be implemented immediately as long as one tenth of the sects were willing to give it a try.

It was the greatest feature for such a piece of ‘cloud magical equipment’.

Xiao Xuance glanced at the light beam and replied, “Many fellow Cultivators asked whether or not they could refine the Grand Illusionary Soldiers on their own.

“Allow me to repeat myself.

“The Grand Illusionary Soldier Project is a real non-profit project. The Grand Illusionary Group are pushing the project at a great cost and risk willingly!

“In fact, the productivity of the Grand Illusionary Group is limited. It is impossible for us to produce all the Grand Illusionary Soldiers!

“Therefore, we welcome all the Exos, refiners, and experts of crystal processors in the Flying Star Sector to contribute your wisdom to the research of more advanced models of the Grand Illusionary Soldiers, as long as these models can be connected to the enormous database ‘star brain’ provided by the Grand Illusionary Group.

“If you want to purchase them from the Grand Illusionary Group, you can buy them at the price of the cost to help us cover the necessary cost of labor, transportation, and waste of materials. We will not be making any profit during the process!

“The Grand Illusionary Group will list all the costs in our monthly report. I guarantee that every cent of your money can be tracked clearly!”

Many Cultivators inside the meeting rooms were greatly interested.

“The Dragon Sea Sect has two mining bases in the Overly Blue Space Zone. The environment is too harsh for Cultivators to be stationed for long. We can buy five hundred Grand Illusionary Soldiers to defend the mining bases and the transportation routes!”

“The Red Heart Sect lost an elder in the Core Formation Stage and several core disciples in the Building Foundation Stage. Right now, our strength has plummeted. We don’t have enough warriors to defend the twelve space towns under our protection. If the space pirates and the Immortal Cultivators assault us while we are weak and summon extraterrestrial devils in our space towns, the outcome will be terrible. We should buy a batch of Grand Illusionary Soldiers and increase our defense, too!”

“The Furious Flames Island has our own refining center. Although we are not capable of producing high-quality crystal suits, we have abundant experience in refining beast puppets. Right now, with slight modifications, we will be able to build a batch of soldier puppets whose cost is about the same as that of beast puppets. After they are connected to the ‘star brain’, the combat data of countless seasoned Exos will be shared with them and enhance their combat ability exponentially! This is quite a fair deal. We’re in!”

“The Green Feather Sect is in, too! Our mentor programs in the past decades did not go well. We have two experts in the Core Formation Stage in our sect and many Refinement Stage Cultivators, but we have few Building Foundation Stage Cultivators who are pillars of a sect.

“There are dozens of trading routes under the name of the Green Feather Sect. How can two Core Formation Stage Cultivators protect all of them? Because of the assaults of space pirates, our trading routes have been frequently targeted in the last year. The two Core Formation Stage Cultivators have continually been on the move and almost became mentally deranged. With the Grand Illusionary Soldiers, they can share the pressure of defense even if they cannot clear the enemy promptly and give the Core Formation Stage Cultivators of our sect a rest!”

“Indeed, the Flying Star Sector is too chaotic these days. Space pirates, extraterrestrial devils, Immortal Cultivators… All kinds of enemies have been showing up. After all, the Grand Illusionary Soldiers can be manufactured by ourselves. If we implement the project, we can not only boost domestic consumption, stimulate the economy, and increase jobs, but also increase the sense of safety for ordinary people and their confidence in Cultivators!”

“We’re in! The seventeen sects of the Swooping Eagle Space Zone have agreed unanimously to join the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project!”

On the light beam of Xiao Xuance’s crystal processor, the spots that represented different sects started blinking one after another.

“Everyone—”

Xiao Xuance pressed his hands and said, “Every piece of new magical equipment will be questioned and criticized when it is just born. Therefore, it is perfectly normal if any fellow Cultivators are still suspicious about the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project. I will not urge you to make any decision without full consideration!

“However, for those sects who are willing to join the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project but are in lack of funding, you can rest assured, too!

“I know that it’s been a rough year for many sects because of the savaging space pirates. Everybody has been thrifty, and no one has money to spare.

“Therefore, under my advisement, all the banks under the names of the six sects of Heavenly Saints City have introduced a new program called ‘Grand Illusionary Soldier Special Loan’, which is financed by the six sects of Heavenly Saints City to support the middle and small sects that are going through difficulties.

“As long as it is confirmed that your sect was savaged by the space pirates multiple times over the past year and is short of capital, you can apply for a loan and bring a batch of Grand Illusionary Soldiers back first to solve any urgent issues. When your trading routes are peaceful again, you can pay the loan back slowly!”

The words raised a riot among the Cultivators from many sects, especially those in the remote towns.

Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua!

On the light beam, more and more light spots that represented ‘In’ were shining like gold scales.

Suddenly, Xiao Xuance’s eyebrow raised high. Ecstasy beamed out of his eyes but was soon concealed.

“Everyone, allow me to tell you a piece of great news. Leader Si of the Star Fighters Alliance has agreed to join the Grand Illusionary Project, too!”

The light beam suddenly blinked, and an old man appeared next to Xiao Xuance.

It was Si Koulie, leader of the Star Fighters Alliance and a master in starship designs, who had confronted him in the very hall with the proposal to convert a planet into an invincible warship!

“Today, I still maintain that the ‘Ice God Project’ is a great project worthy of the resources of the entire Flying Star Sector and the endeavors of countless Cultivators!”

Expressionlessly, Si Koulie sighed. “However, the situation today has changed. The threats of the Immortal Cultivators are too imminent. We do not have several decades to build a planetary-level warship.

“Maybe, when everything is settled, we will still have chance to carry out the Ice God Project slowly.

“But right now, all the sects in the Star Fighters Alliance decided unanimously that the resources we planned to devote to the Ice God Project should be devoted to the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project in order to build an invincible legion and wage war on the Immortal Cultivators in the cruelest way!”

Si Koulie cut off the communication. His image gradually disappeared.

The somewhat depressed old man knew that the Grand Illusionary Soldiers were the most suitable magical equipment for the Flying Star Sector right now.

But with mixed feelings, he did not want to talk about it anymore.

Before his image vanished into darkness, more sects were shocked by the news and decided to join in.

“More than sixty percent of all the sects have decided to join the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project. Everybody, please bear today in mind, because it will be the most important day in the history of the Flying Star Sector!”

Xiao Xuance was so excited that he could not hold himself back any longer. He bellowed, “The Immortal Cultivators think that they can bend us with terror and slaughter!

“But they forget that human beings are the strongest fighting species in the sea of stars. We may die, but we will not be bent or scared!

“Today is the rebirth of humanity of the Flying Star Sector. From today on, the entire Flying Star Sector will be united. Everyone, Cultivators and ordinary people alike, will contribute all our wisdom, strength, sweat, and resources to establish a brand new era!”

Xiao Xuance glanced at a blinking picture on the bottom-left corner of his light beam.

It was a tall and strong middle-aged man who was grinning carefreely.

It was Xiao Tianyang, Xiao Xuance’s deceased son, as well as the agent ‘Apollo’ who had snuck into the Temple of Immortals.

Deep, complicated brilliance beamed out of Xiao Xuance’s long and narrow eyes. Tears suddenly flowed out, as he murmured to himself, “Ah Yang, your sacrifice will not be in vain.

“A new era has finally come. Our civilization has embarked on the true path. We will be greater, stronger, and more beautiful!”

Chapter 707: Undercurrents Everywhere

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

---

Several hundred meters below the hall of the Millennium Meeting, in a room of crystal processors and light beams, humming noises and scorching air filled the area.

The room was dim. Xiao Xuance’s determined face was on every light beam.

His roar was echoing inside the small room.

“New era… New era… New era… New era…”

Xiao Tianbao, ‘star child’ and Xiao Xuance’s foster son, was like a mountain of meat standing in the center of the room. Almost ten big bowls were placed in front of him, in which various kinds of candies were packed.

Xiao Tianbao was grimacing. Every time he blinked, a piece of candy would slowly fly into the air into his mouth.

Crack. Crack.

Xiao Tianbao was eating the candies faster than other people ate a meal. While chewing the candies happily, he calculated the sum of resources that all the sects were willing to devote.

Complicated numbers were blinking rapidly in front of him, and his expression was one of extreme joy.

Around him, starry brilliance popped up like gold fireflies. Glamorous rays of light emanated from him and interconnected into a translucent structure, wreathing himself inside.

It was a golden brain, one that seemed to be made of billions of stars in the boundless cosmos.

Suddenly—

“Dad!”

Xiao Tianbao suddenly burst into tears because he had bitten his own tongue.

…

Three days later, at the edge of the Flying Star Sector, in an unknown place, the Black King was pacing anxiously like a black viper that had fallen into a trap. His bloodshot eyes hiding behind the black mask seemed as if they would spurt venom at any moment.

“It’s been a month. You finally responded, Lotus King!”

Ripples spread out on the light beam before the Black King and gradually formed a phantom that was wearing a white robe.

The phantom was wearing a mask just like him, except that the mask was shaped like a blossoming lotus. Two long and narrow eyes that looked like sickles were exposed on the above of the mask.

The Lotus King chuckled. “What’s all the fuss about? Haven’t we made a deal?

“After the assault of Heavenly Saints City, the Cultivators were always going to be mad and would search for us with all their manpower.

“Long-distance communication across space zones has to be established on the Spiritual Nexus. There are many experts of crystal processors in the world of Cultivators, so it’s possible that they will track us and lock onto us.

“Therefore, we agreed to not get in contact with each other in the one month after the attack. Why were you so desperate to contact me? Wasn’t it a successful assault?”

The Black King gnashed his teeth. “Successful?”

“Of course,” the Lotus King replied casually. “We tricked the Cultivators with the Mist Plan at first. Then, the extraterrestrial devils arrived in Heavenly Saints City, the heart of the Flying Star Sector, for the first time in the thousands of years. A lot of Core Formation Stage Cultivators and Building Foundation Stage Cultivators were slain. As for those in the Refinement Stage, there were too many to count.

“The operation was a major strike for the fame of Cultivators. We planted seeds of doubt and fear in the heart of countless Cultivators and ordinary people. Of course, it was a very successful mission!”

“But we’ve lost a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator!”

The Black King burst into fury and smashed the desk hard, as if he were trying to cross the space and smash the Lotus King’s head into pieces, while he said, “We failed to reach out to Hellsword when we were retreating. There was no response when we sent messages to him through the dark net. In fact, there has been no response from him even to this day!

“In the meantime, Cultivators have confirmed that Sand Scorpion, the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau, detonated the crystal reactor of a ‘Fire Tyrant Battlesuit’ at a close distance during the battle with Hellsword in hope of dying together with him.

“Right now, the world of Cultivators has gone crazy and regard Sand Scorpion as a great hero and a fearless warrior. It is said that statues of Sand Scorpion will be built in Heavenly Saints City, and that movies featuring him will soon be made!

“Damn. In such a case, they must be very confident about their conclusion.”

The Lotus King observed calmly, “I’ve read the report myself, but they didn’t find Hellsword’s crystal suit and his body.”

The Black King glared at him. “It’s simple. Hellsword was heavily wounded during the explosion and was not able to retreat with us. He could only hide himself and treat his wounds first!

“But it’s been more than a month. Even the most serious wounds should be partly recovered now!

“We agreed on a secret code. As long as he posted several absolutely normal threads on certain websites, we would know his situation immediately.

“But until now, there’s been nothing!

“Then, the only possibility is that he was so heavily wounded that he died eventually after he fled from the battlefield!

“A Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator. Nascent Soul Stage! Although at the beginning level, he was still a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator!

“Do you know how much time and effort I spent on him and how many benefits I promised him in order to recruit the lone wolf in the Nascent Soul Stage?

“But now, he has died an uncanny death, killed by a junior who was in the high level of the Core Formation Stage at best!”

The Lotus King was as calm as before. “Think about it positively. At least, he killed Sand Scorpion, too. Although Sand Scorpion’s combat ability was in the Core Formation Stage at best, he was cruel and cunning, and he influenced enormous resources in space and on Iron Plateau. He should never be underestimated.

“In my mind, he was one of the top five troublemakers for our cause!

“Thankfully, he is dead now, with no ashes left whatsoever. I felt greatly relieved when I heard the news.”

The Black King raise his voice. “What can Sand Scorpion’s death help with anything? The real problem is that the Cultivators have initiated the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project ready to launch a counterattack!”

The Lotus King smiled. “Of course there is going to be counterattack. You didn’t think that a visit of extraterrestrial devils could intimidate all the Cultivators and make them beg for mercy, did you?”

“I knew there would be counterattack, but I did not know that it was going to be so tricky, nor did I know that there would be such a thing as ‘star brain’ that could turn the puppets that were no better than scrap iron into reasonably good soldiers,” the Black King replied gloomily. “If the Grand Illusionary Soldiers are stationed in every space zone and important trading route, the activities of the space pirates and us will face major problems.

“Over the past few days, I’ve even been wondering if we jumped out too early.”

“Huh?”

The Lotus King’s eyes turned narrower, longer, and sharper.

“Tactically speaking,” the Black King said, “we secured one victory after another. We stagnated business, we ambushed towns, we assassinated Cultivators, and we even savaged Heavenly Saints City, the heart of the Flying Star Sector.

“However, the world of Cultivators is too large, and there are too many Cultivators. Maybe, we underestimated them. We exposed ourselves too early and infuriated them too early!

“Have we been too radical from a strategical point of view? Should we have kept hiding in the darkness for another several hundred years before we took any action?”

The Lotus King leaned forward, as if he was crawling out of the virtual light beam to the Black King’s face. He asked coldly, one word after another, “Are you questioning our path?”

The Black King’s body shook slightly before he burst into fury and yelled, “Of course not! The Immortal Cultivators are the only direction of mankind’s evolution. I have never doubted that!”

“That’s good.” The Lotus King retreated and said, “Anyways, the battle of Heavenly Saints City has passed. For now, let’s focus our attention on Spider Den. We must control the entirety of Spider Den and every space pirate!”

The Black King sniffed. “Control the entirety of Spider Den? The place is a total mess right now! Bai Xinghe is an out-and-out lunatic and does not know what is good for him at all. He refused the great path of immortality. The man is destined to be a bandit for the rest of his life!

“Now, Hellsword is dead, too!

“Before, of the three Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, namely Hellsword, Fengyu Zhong, and Bai Xinghe, we had two under control.

“But Hellsword is dead. Fengyu Zhong is a newly-risen Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator. Even though he is supported by us, it will be an arduous task for him to defeat Bai Xinghe, the seasoned Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator and the notorious, wealthy ‘Pirate Potentate’ who has dominated Spider Den for thirty years!”

“Spider Den is must more than a nest for space pirates,” the Lotus King said. “It is of paramount importance for us and must be under our full control!

“Kill Bai Xinghe whatever the cost!”

…

Meanwhile, in a secret dock somewhere in the Cross Wind Space Zone, Sparkle had been upgraded yet another time.

The purpose of the modification was not to increase the firepower or the speed, but to increase the computational ability of the mainframe crystal processor.

Right now, the mainframe crystal processor of Sparkle was even more advanced and sophisticated than that of the super space towns that could accommodate millions of people.

On the bridge, the shells of the five spectral Cultivators were standing aside, while their real entities, which were the mustard-seed level liquid metals, were rolling on the ground.

That was their favorite form.

“They found the scraps of Li Yao’s crystal suit and concluded that Li Yao died after detonating his own crystal suit.”

“However, it was not the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit but a Fire Tyrant Battlesuit that Li Yao modified himself.”

“If Li Yao was truly at his wit’s end, he would have been wearing the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit. Even if he detonated himself, it should have been the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit that has exploded!”

“So, Li Yao is not dead yet. Not dead. Hahahaha!”

Four clusters of liquid metals were twisting on the ground excitedly.

“Everyone!”

The largest cluster of liquid metal extended two hands that looked like sprouts and clapped them.

Mo Xuan said solemnly, “Right now, the speculations of Li Yao and me before the event have become reality one after another. Cultivators have indeed initiated the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project.

“Whatever secret motives are behind the project, we must take action immediately!

“The Immortal Cultivators are absolutely inhuman. Their creed is the opposite of ours.

“Besides, they have a deep grudge with Li Yao.

“If the Immortal Cultivators have the Flying Star Sector under their control, ordinary people will certainly be butchered, and we will be mired in trouble, too. There will be no telling when we can go back home.

“Therefore, from the perspectives of both ideology and personal interest, we must fight against the Immortal Cultivators until the end!

“In three days’ time, the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project will open the original data and source code of the ‘star brain’. That will be our best shot.

“I hereby announce that the ‘Brain Concussion Plan’ is officially activated!

“One day, Li Yao will be back. I hope that we can give him our full support when he is here!”

---

Chapter 708: Reborn in a Labyrinth ##

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

---

In the depths of the Flying Star Sector, through more than ten fatal stone belts and areas where cosmic storms were active, somewhere near the Spider Den Space Zone, a fat ‘black-behemoth’ level carrier was avoiding the meteoroids at an amazing speed while flying toward Spider Den along a secret route.

The black-behemoth-level carrier was one of the thousand starships that had fled out of the tenth space ring of Heavenly Saints City a month ago.

Developed more than 180 years ago, the black-behemoth-level carrier was an old model. Since they were simple in structure and sturdy, many such carriers were purchased by dealers of second-hand starships when they were declared total losses, before they were repaired, modified, and sold again.

Many black-behemoth-level carriers were sold and resold almost ten times. After multiple times of modification, they often looked entirely different from what they were supposed to be.

That was exactly the case for this black-behemoth-level carrier.

In the space port of Heavenly Saints City, it was registered under a perfectly legal identity and claimed to be from a remote space town of a remote space zone.

There were few Cultivators in the space town. Most of the folks there were bumpkins who never went to cities.

All the files and data were real. If the Cultivators of Heavenly Saints City really went to the edge of the Flying Star Sector where the starship was registered, a bunch of farmers there would stand out and admit that they did own such a starship.

But in fact, the black-behemoth-level carrier belonged to the space pirates.

Hiding behind the plate armor that was full of patches were the deadliest crystal cannons and the most advanced, vigorous, and fastest power rune arrays.

After fleeing out of Heavenly Saints City, the starship returned to the remote space zone where it was registered after seven space jumps. Then, it hid itself on the back of a desolate planet for ten days to make sure that it had no followers before it performed another space jump and left the place.

During the twenty days after that, it had been cruising along a secret sailing route that only the space pirates knew.

Today, the carrier had finally reached the periphery of the Spider Den Space Zone.

The black-behemoth-level carrier, which had undergone tremendous modifications, boasted enormous power rune arrays that were disproportionate to its size. It had eighteen main power rune arrays, each of which was ten meters in diameter.

Other than them, there were more than five hundred ancillary power rune arrays to help the giant object move more swiftly.

Such an enormous group of rune arrays was stuffed into a carrier that was not designed to be so fast. Naturally, a complicated heat-emitting system was mandatory.

The black-behemoth-level carrier was installed with an air cooling system. A circle of cooling tubes that looked like a labyrinth surrounded the engine compartment and took up five times more space than the engine itself did.

As different power rune arrays functioned or halted, the tubes would spurt burning air currents hundreds of degrees high one moment and then freeze into a frigid hell of minus a hundred degrees the next moment. It was truly the roughest place in the world.

It appeared that no creature could survive in such a cruel world.

Right now, it was 4:33 p.m. in the standard time of the Flying Star Sector.

Li Yao turned off the refreshing music in his crystal processor and stretched his arms comfortably in the frost of one of the cooling tubes.

He sensed that the No.12 main power rune array in the engine compartment below him was functioning at 75% of its capacity.

It meant that the cooling tube he was hiding in would be filled with scorching air of 2,400 degrees in 13.3 seconds.

Besides, the air currents contained very corrosive components, which consisted of the waste gas from when the cooling liquids that the rune arrays employed were vaporized.

Even with the protection of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, he would not be able to last for half an hour in such a high temperature and such fatal venomous gas.

On the other hand, the No.7 and No.8 power rune arrays on his right side had just spurted rapidly for acceleration.

According to the pattern that he discovered over the past month, the two power rune arrays would rest for at least an hour and function at only 30% of their capacity.

It meant that, as long as he passed the intersection 37 meters behind him in ten seconds and changed his position, he would be granted with at least another 49 minutes of peace.

Of course, that was only if the carrier did not run into any accident.

Li Yao still felt scared as he remembered the scene three days ago when the carrier was in a cosmic storm.

At that time, all the power rune arrays had been activated to the maximum. Sweltering venomous gas had raged inside the cooling tubes without any pattern.

He could only improve the activity of all the cells on his body to their maximum while holding back the excruciating pain of his bottom being roasted. He rushed among the cooling tubes and searched for a chance of survival in the deadly flames.

Compared to the adventure three days ago, the heat right now that was licking his face was merely a cool breeze during an autumn dusk.

Before the entire cooling liquid was consumed by fire, Li Yao turned into a streak of blackness and zigzagged to a new area that was temporarily safe.

“Hehe.”

Sensing that burning air currents had rushed past him as if they were doing him a massage, Li Yao felt that his every cell stretched out like unfolding tea leaves that were put into hot water. He could not help but smile.

He had been lurking for a month in the cooling tubes of the carrier.

Over the past month, he would move in the cooling liquids every hour to dodge the hot stream and venomous gas in order to look for new place of survival.

Sometimes, he had to sprint every few minutes and search for the small area that was safe when 99% of the cooling tubes were filled with flames.

However, for some reason, struggling in such a harsh environment made Li Yao feel cheerier than when he was living a peaceful, carefree life in Flying Star University.

The peaceful life in Flying Star University was good, but it was short of something.

Maybe, he was born to live such a life, a life of walking beside a bottomless abyss and seeking safety amid peril.

“I’m alive again,” Li Yao mumbled and took a long breath.

The air was smelly despite the multiple filters of the crystal suit, but it was no less intoxicating for him. With a fascinated expression, he repeated, “I’m alive again!”

Swoosh!

Li Yao crouched and turned into a black ball lightning, flashing inside the narrow cooling tubes. Now and then, he would draw a deadly curve with the tip of his left foot!

The sword art he had been practicing was different from his saber arts. It was more sordid and mysterious, like a viper without bones.

It was ‘Hellsword Arts’, the ultimate skill of ‘Hellsword’, a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator!

Spider Den was home to all the unparalleled brutal bandits of the Flying Star Sector. It was much more perilous than Iron Plateau.

Since Li Yao was sneaking into Spider Den alone, he had to increase his capability as much as he could.

‘Hellsword Arts’ was originally a kicking skill, but Hellsword had added elements of mental attacks to it and transformed it into a deadly sword art. It was quite complicated and had a lot of variations. Naturally, it was impossible for Li Yao to grasp all of it within one month.

However, Li Yao had a great advantage. His soul power was very strong because his brain had been blasted and cleansed by Ou Yezi.

Before, he had never practiced any mental attack skills and merely solidified his soul for defense.

But a lot of tricks of mental attacks were recorded in the ‘Hellsword Arts’, as well as the techniques to build illusions and affect the enemy’s senses with one’s mental power.

After a month of wholehearted study, he had learned a thing or two about their usage.

In regard to mental attack, everybody’s approach was different. Hellsword was best at picturing gloomy, terrifying ghosts, but Li Yao did not have to be the same.

Hiu!

Li Yao’s left foot kicked forward together with a flash of a dagger. In the meantime, he pictured a horrendous image in his mind, before he compressed the picture into a ball the size of a bean with his soul and batted it out with his mental power!

Bo!

The ball exploded in midair, unfolding the picture that was an enormous, furiously-burning furnace.

Inside the crystal reactor, the wind was blowing, and the flames were roaring!

If the enemy was hit by Li Yao’s mental attack, they would feel as if they had been placed in a gargantuan furnace being cooked in a temperature of thousands of degrees.

With no entrances or exits, they could only be heated to death. Such an illusion was as intimidating as the illusion of ghosts built by Hellsword.

So much as the enemy was dazed for a moment, Li Yao could come close and cut into their throat!

“The assets that I brought have mostly run out, especially clean water. Thankfully, I’ll be arriving at Spider Den shortly. There’s no need to look for water now.

“In the battle of Heavenly Saints City, I used up all my crystal bombs and materials for magical equipment. I looted some materials from Hellsword’s Cosmos Rings, but they do not meet my needs right now.

“It is great that I stored the Star Basher and the Divine Anvil inside my Cosmos Ring and carried them with me earlier. With enough materials, I will be able to build a batch of desirable magical equipment on my own!

“It’s not difficult to sneak into Spider Den. The tricky problem is how to approach the heads of the space pirates so that I can investigate the secrets of the Temple of Immortals.”

Li Yao opened ‘Stormy Sword’, Fengyu Zhong’s notebook, on his crystal processor and started reading carefully.

The notebook recorded Fengyu Zhong’s lifelong expertise. It was an extremely thorough tutorial for robbery that he had prepared for his only son, Fengyu Ming.

Other than the hunting methods, ‘Stormy Sword’ also recorded a lot of rules, anecdotes, and analysis of the major forces on Spider Den. It even listed the most ferocious and cunning bandits on Spider Den and rated them according to how dangerous they were.

Those people were all brutal bandits that Fengyu Zhong would rather his son not mess around with.

After slaying Fengyu Ming, Li Yao had looted the Space Pirate 101 from him. At that time, he had no idea that the book would prove to be so useful later.

---

Chapter 709: Rules of Darkness

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Normal people would think that, since space pirates committed all kinds of crimes, Spider Den, their home camp, must be a chaotic and lawless place.

However, according to Fengyu Zhong’s notes, that was far from the truth.

Although countless brutal bandits were gathered on Spider Den, a set of effective rules of darkness had been established after thousands of years of cruel competition.

Restricted by the rules, few open fights had ever broken out on Spider Den, although competitions in secret were not uncommon. At first glance, Spider Den was a peaceful and ordered place.

But it was quite understandable on second thought. Since so many lawless, ferocious space pirates gathered in the same place, if they were not restricted by a set of unquestionable rules, they would have attacked each other until all the other people died and turned Spider Den into a mess. It would have been impossible for them to go out and rob other starships at all.

Li Yao heard that many seasoned bandits allowed their subordinates to do all kinds of cruel things during their operations. However, when they were back to their nest, or even the villages near the nest, they would abide by strict rules and forbid their subordinates from even touching the belongings of the villagers.

As the saying went, the fox preys farthest from his hole. It was not because of their sense of justice but a necessity for their survival.

It was exactly the same for Spider Den. Under the tough rules of darkness, the space pirates were divided into three classes.

The bottom class, as well as the class that boasted the largest number, was made of people who could barely be called space pirates.

They were the reserves of the space pirates.

Some of them were fighters and Cultivators who committed felonies such as murder or robbery and violated the laws of their space zones. They had nowhere to run to except Spider Den.

Some of them were the victims who had been kidnapped and brought back to Spider Den after all of their belongs had been looted by space pirates. Having no other options, they turned from victims into persecutors.

Some of them were the offspring of the space pirates on Spider Den over the past hundreds of years.

Living in such an environment, they learned nothing other than the arts of robbery. After they grew up, they often had no alternatives except to walk on the path of darkness, too.

Those people were in the bottom of the food chain of Spider Den.

They had to prove their capability in places such as underground arenas in order to be hired by a certain pirate gang.

After all, all the space pirates were risking their lives when they were doing their job. Even if the newcomers were not real experts, they had to prove themselves to be brutal and fearless of death in order to participate in the hunting game.

After they were picked, they were still not counted as real members of the pirate gang. The pirate gang was merely taking them to loot the lambs together.

Most of the trophies belonged to the pirate gang that took them for the mission. It was considered the ticket fee for keeping them aboard.

It was the unspoken rule of Spider Den.

There were no other ways. Without a starship, even a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator would barely loot any victims in space.

After a few life-and-death battles, the survivors of the newcomers would become official members of the pirate gang.

Then, some of the trophies would be allocated to them, and they could exchange them for more advanced Cultivation arts and techniques on the black market.

For the people in the bottom class, it was sort of the starting line of their career.

But there were some weirdoes among them who went on their own when they had the chance to join a pirate gang. They would board other space pirates’ starships but not work together with them.

Such people were the lone wolves among space pirates. ‘Hellsword’ Zhuang Ziyou was one of the best of them.

However, most people still preferred to join a pirate gang. They would then be in the middle class of the space pirates and become real bandits.

Real space pirates and reserve space pirates differed in whether or not they had their own starships.

With a starship, they could perform free hunting and would be the owner of most of their trophies. It was vastly different from the shrimps of the bottom class.

But these bandits were still not at the top of the food chain of Spider Den. Above their heads were the real dominators of space pirates.

Space pirates came and went like the wind, their paths unpredictable. They were only limited by two factors.

Firstly, supply bases, where they could repair and modify their starships, refill their fuel, and purchase new crystal suits.

Secondly, intelligence and money-laundering network, or in other words, large-scale black markets. It would be better if extravagant places for entertainment were in such places where they could forget the risk of everyday life in cold, dark space.

Both factors could be found on Spider Den. They were controlled by the real dominators of the space pirates!

Take ‘Pirate Potentate’ Bai Xinghe for example. Under his control, he had forty percent of the docks on Spider Den, almost ten crystal suit centers, and a secret arsenal allegedly left by the Star Ocean Imperium.

Although most of the magical equipment in the arsenal was now debris, some of the units were still functional and could boost the performance of modern magical equipment when they were activated!

If the starship of a space pirate was damaged, they had to repair it in the docks that belonged to Bai Xinghe in most cases because some of the maintenance facilities could not be found anywhere else.

Naturally, Bai Xinghe could ask for whatever price he wanted. After he earned a huge amount of money from the brutal bandits, the bandits could only swallow their anger and express their gratitude.

That was the real space pirate of the space pirates and the king on Spider Den.

The three classes were clearly divided. The bottom class did not have their starships. The middle class had their starships but could not maintain or supply them. The top class had starships and could maintain, modify, and refine crystal suits on their own, to the point that they were almost an army.

There were nine such dominators who boasted their own docks and crystal suit centers on Spider Den. They formed an organization named ‘Nine Dragons Union’ to enforce the rules of darkness.

The rules were simple. Everybody was free to do whatever they wanted on Spider Den. Assassination, robbery, betrayal, massacre… Anything they wanted could be done.

But no matter what they did, no evidence was to be left behind.

Without evidence, even if all of Spider Den knew that a certain massacre was done by a certain space pirate, nobody would bother about it.

On the contrary, they would praise the space pirate for their marvelous skills in secret.

However, if the victims luckily survived the accidents and brought undeniable proof with them, then the nine biggest pirate gangs would say sorry and eliminate the unfortunate criminal.

It was not because of the crime he committed, but because he was idiotic enough to leave an eyewitness after the crime.

Restricted by such rules, the dark society of Spider Den had functioned smoothly for a thousand years even though countless brutal bandits were gathered in the place.

Over the past thirty years, the leader of the Nine Dragons Union had always been ‘Pirate Potentate’ Bai Xinghe.

It was not the first time that Li Yao had seen the name ‘Bai Xinghe’.

In the entire ‘Stormy Sword’, the name appeared 136 times.

In most paragraphs where ‘Bai Xinghe’ was mentioned, Fengyu Zhong wrote with a tone mixed with hatred, jealousy, fear, and respect.

At the end of the notebook, Fengyu Zhong even specially wrote a biography for Bai Xinghe and recorded his marvelous rise on Spider Den, hoping to set a role model for his son.

In the biography, Fengyu Zhong even mentioned ‘Yan Xinjian’, the legendary ancestor of space pirates five hundred years ago!

In the history of the Flying Star Sector, Yan Xinjian was a rarely-seen capable man.

He had originally been the elder of the Heaven Wolves Fortress, one of the six sects of Heavenly Saints City, and the vice commander of the joint fleet of the six sects of Heavenly Saints City.

His boss and his wife were both disciples of the Silver Moon Clan and were involved in a relationship.

After learning of the matter, Yan Xinjian made thorough plans without alarming everyone. He butchered his wife, his boss, and every other member of his boss’s family before he joined Spider Den with a bunch of loyal followers and became one of the most troublesome bandits in the world.

Five hundred years ago, the Flying Star Sector was short of anything but heroes. The Cultivators formed a super fleet of almost a thousand starships, hoping to take over Spider Den and annihilate all the space pirates.

When the fleet drew close, all the space pirates panicked. It was Yan Xinjian who organized the mobs who were essentially loose sand and waged a war against Cultivators for several years until a cosmic storm destroyed a lot of the starships on the Cultivators’ side. The assault was thereby aborted, and the myth that ‘Spider Den is never to be breached from the front’ was left.

From then on, Yan Xinjian was respected as the emperor of all space pirates. It was even said that he boasted the technique of summoning cosmic storms.

Aside from his personality and integrity, in regard to Cultivation and capability in administration, Yan Xinjian was definitely one of the most distinguished people in the thousands of years of history of the Flying Star Sector.

Fengyu Zhong did not go so far as to compare Bai Xinghe to such a legendary person, but it was evident enough that he thought very highly of Bai Xinghe.

Bai Xinghe’s rise was another shocking story.

He was not a native of Spider Den. It was said that, when he was seven, the starship he boarded on was engaged in a cosmic storm. He was discovered by space pirates and sold to Spider Den, only to become a ‘treasure hunter’ later.

‘Treasure hunter’ sounded like a cool title, but it actually entailed endless sweat and blood.

Spider Den was a planet of resources and industry in the days of the Star Ocean Imperium. Although most of the resources were drained during the civil war, a lot of secret treasures and facilities were still left behind.

It was said that, at the end of the war, to deal with the enemy, the whole of Spider Den was hollowed, and an extremely complicated underground labyrinth was built.

The underground labyrinth was a fortress whose size was unimaginable. Countless arsenals and shelters were built inside, and tremendous invaluable secret treasures as well as unbelievable Cultivation arts, techniques, and training facilities were hidden.

With the technology of the Flying Star Sector nowadays, the space pirates never went deeper than two hundred meters, a far distance away from the center of the underground labyrinth, even though they’d been working for a thousand years.

Traps, secret tunnels, and automatic defensive magical equipment had been deployed in the deeper parts of the labyrinth so that the guards could continue the fight after they retreated into the fortress when the enemy invaded.

The space pirates wanted to excavate the arsenals, magical equipment, and techniques and did not want to be hurt by the traps. Therefore, they would hire ‘treasure hunters’ to explore the underground.

Sometimes, when nobody answered their call, they would buy slaves for the mission.

They were more like suicide missions than treasure-hunting missions. The death rate was shockingly high. The treasure hunters were essentially experimental mice.

It was said that Bai Xinghe had the ability to soften his bones. Also, since he was only seven years old, his body size was small, allowing him to crawl into tunnels no larger than mouseholes. He was the best treasure hunter.

For five years, he worked as a treasure hunter. He crawled below the ground of Spider Den and narrowly escaped death countless times, as if he were blessed by a deity.

In the end, the space pirates who owned him were amazed and moved him out of the dark place. He was promoted to be an official space pirate from a dead-for-sure treasure hunter.

It was said that many space pirates believed that he had unbelievable luck, and that if they kept him on board, their starships would not be blown up by Cultivators.

---

---

Chapter 710: Man of the Time

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Bai Xinghe was recruited to a starship when he was eleven. Talented as he might have been, he was merely an ordinary person and could only serve as a sailor.

Maybe the deities were indeed watching over him. His luck continued, and he survived the fierce battles one time after another. His experience in fighting grew more and more abundant. He became stronger and stronger.

When he was fourteen, his spiritual root was awakened, and he became a Cultivator.

Then, his life was unstoppable like a flooding river.

At first, nearly at the cost of his own life, he rescued the leader of the pirate gang who bought him and pushed him into the abyss of Spider Den. He gradually won the leader’s trust and became his right-hand man.

Then, he conspired with a bigger pirate gang and buried the leader once and for all in a perfect betrayal.

However, he did not take the opportunity to take over the pirate gang. Instead, he joined the bigger pirate gang together with the pirate gang he used to be in.

Several years later, the leader of the bigger pirate gang died abruptly.

What was weirder was that Bai Xinghe, who had only begun his career a few years earlier and had no expertise or connections, was appointed as the new leader of the pirate gang.

Everybody agreed to the decision unanimously, except for the dozens of dead people whose throats were cut in the night.

In the decades that followed, there was a series of schemes, treacheries, massacres, alliances, and betrayals.

Bai Xinghe, the orphan who survived the cosmic storm and the treasure hunter who struggled to survive in the underground abyss of Spider Den, grasped one starship after another, and then crystal suit centers, and then docks.

In the end, the ‘Abyss Pirate Gang’, governed by him, became the strongest pirate gang on Spider Den, and he personally gained control over the largest number of docks and crystal suit centers, thereby known as the well-deserved ‘Pirate Potentate’!

During the decades of his rise, even the most ferocious space pirates would cry when they heard his name. The destruction of countless pirate gangs seemed to be related to him, but every operation had been clean without any traces. Therefore, the guardians of the rules of darkness could do nothing about it.

However, when he became the Pirate Potentate, he suddenly turned into the most loyal enforcer of the rules of darkness and started talking about ‘traditions’ with everybody.

He collected the evidence of the pirate gang’s previous crimes diligently and revealed it in public in the meetings of the Nine Dragons Union. Then, he struck the pirate gangs under the name of the Nine Dragons Union and took over their assets and manpower matter-of-factly. His forces further expanded.

As a result, not only was Bai Xinghe’s personal strength getting higher and higher, other space pirates also became dutiful and obedient, intimidated by him.

It was not exaggerating to say that the recent decades were the golden era for Spider Den, when the society was most stable, and the crimes were fewest.

With so many docks and crystal suit centers, it had been a long time since the Abyss Pirate Gang went looting personally. They could lord over other pirate gangs and absorb blood from them.

It was one of the benefits of staying at the top of the food chain.

Even Fengyu Zhong, the old, cunning fox, is so wary of Bai Xinghe. It seems that he is not going to be easy to deal with.

Pondering for a moment, Li Yao meant to scratch his hair, only to touch his solid helmet. He then realized that he had been the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit all the time over the past month and had not taken it off other than when he was refilling spiritual energy.

Other than the information, Fengyu Zhong also recorded a very interesting anecdote.

It was a secret about Bai Xinghe’s rise.

Even in a place where personal ability was valued and familial background was overlooked such as Spider Den, Bai Xinghe was still a living legend to have risen from a rat-like treasure hunter into the greatest king of space pirates in only a hundred years.

When people analyzed Bai Xinghe’s skyrocketing rise, they found that he was always able to take out a huge amount of powerful magical equipment.

Then, word on the street was that Bai Xinghe had a ‘Spider Key’ in his possession.

The underground of Spider Den was a complicated fortress. Such a fortress naturally had a control center, a map, and a key to turn off all the traps.

Over the past thousand years, no space pirate had been able to locate the control center or the key.

Many space pirates suspected that Bai Xinghe had crawled into certain secret tunnels and found the center of the underground fortress with the help of his tiny body size during his early years when he was still a treasure hunter. He must have retrieved a detailed map and a key to enter every room of the underground fortress!

In such a case, the arsenals, magical equipment, and techniques buried for ten thousand years were naturally all his!

With such extensive resources, and also because he was an unparalleled genius himself, it was only reasonable that Bai Xinghe became the dominator of Spider Den!

When the rumor was out, all the space pirates were grasped by jealousy. Some planned to steal, and some planned to rob. Seven pirate gangs joined hands, hoping to annihilate the Abyss Pirate Gang and take the Spider Key.

In the end, Bai Xinghe destroyed all the seven pirate gangs and swallowed them instead!

Then, it was said that the Spider Key did not exist and that it was a false message released by Bai Xinghe’s opponent so that everybody would turn against him.

But a more terrifying theory was that, although the Spider Key did not exist, it was Bai Xinghe who released the false message. His purpose was to lure other pirate gangs into attacking him so that he could launch a counterattack justifiably. In such a case, he would still be abiding by the rules of darkness on Spider Den and swallowing other pirate gangs to expand his forces at the same time.

After the seven pirate gangs were exterminated by Bai Xinghe, no more space pirates dared to mess around with him anymore.

Another point of interest was that Bai Xinghe, the Pirate Potentate, had a weird sense of humor.

He had truly refined a giant pendant that both looked like a spider and like a key and put it on his neck, showing it to everybody. The pendent was waving in front of chest wherever he went.

But no space pirates ever dared to ask him whether or not it was the Spider Key that could control the entire underground fortress of Spider Den and the countless kinds of magical equipment, techniques, and arsenals inside!

For a space pirate, his achievements could not be more remarkable.

Li Yao turned off his crystal processor and inwardly sighed.

On his journey to Spider Den, he would be faced with both Fengyu Zhong, an old, cunning fox who was now in the Nascent Soul Stage, and Bai Xinghe, the most distinguished space pirate alive.

If Hellsword was not lying, the real Black King should be at least in the Nascent Soul Stage, too.

Three Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators. And that was not counting the other experts of the Temple of Immortals such as the Lotus King.

For a moment, Li Yao had the urge to go back home immediately.

This trip to Spider Den will be different from my visit to Iron Plateau. I must change my style and focus more on investigation without alarming anyone. I should not fight unless it is absolutely necessary. I must keep a low profile! Otherwise, if three Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators are angered by me, the outcome won’t be good!

Li Yao scratched the iron skull of the crystal suit and pondered. The carrier has cruised in the sea of stars for more than a month and crossed multiple stone belts. Many parts on the carrier have been damaged. When it arrives in Spider Den, it will certainly be examined in a certain dock. At that time, I will sneak out and hang around with the reserve space pirates in the bottom class who are waiting to be employed.

The questions remains, how am I going to approach the leadership of Spider Den?

While Li Yao was thinking hard, the cooling tubes all started shivering slightly.

Li Yao was dazed. He leaned against the wall of the tube and heightened the sensitivity of his soundwave reception rune array to the maximum, only to hear earsplitting roars from every direction.

Not good!

Li Yao’s pupils constricted violently. Again!

There was no telling what accident the carrier had run into, but it was zigzagging and performing the craziest dodging movements.

In such a state, all the power rune arrays were fully activated. Naturally, the hot stream inside the cooling tubes was disordered and lost all patterns!

BOOM!

In the next moment, Li Yao was blown away by a cluster of air more than two thousand degrees high and extremely corrosive!

The crystal processor of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit was buzzing crazily. The damaged part on the breastplate, which had temporarily been repaired by materials from the Black Horn Battlesuit, was ripped open again. Endless flames leaked into his crystal suit through the holes. He felt that he was slashed in the chest again!

I’m going to die!

Li Yao ran forward crazily and improved his senses to the limits, looking for a shelter in the labyrinth of cooling tubes.

However, the fully-functioning power rune arrays were even more fierce than three days ago when the carrier was caught by a cosmic storm. Of all the cooling tubes, there was not one whose temperature was low enough for him to stay in briefly.

What’s happening? Another cosmic storm?

It can’t be! We’re already in Spider Den Space Zone, and they are travelling in the sailing route that they are most familiar with. It’s not likely that they are unfortunate enough to run into such a large-scale cosmic storm. Or are they?

The alarms on the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit were louder and louder. In his anxiety and finding that he had nowhere to run to, Li Yao gritted his teeth and blew up part of the cooling tube, crawling out!

He appeared in the maintenance room next to the engine compartment. It was empty for now.

However, dangerous red lights were blinking on the wall of the cabin.

Broadcast rune arrays were sending out hasty alarms, too.

Li Yao had chosen the starship to lurk in after full deliberation. He had examined the few starships he found and selected the most ragged-looking one.

According to the plan on Hellsword’s crystal processor, there were no important people of the Temple of Immortals on this starship. It was merely transporting the trivial assets and low-level Immortal Cultivators.

The journey was very long. Li Yao did not intend to stay on the same starship with dangerous people such as the Black King for a month.

Even so, he could not be too careful.

Looking around, Li Yao removed the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit and put on a mechanic’s uniform after picking one from the closet of the room.

At this moment, the carrier was shaking more and more violently, like a lonely boat at the mercy of the surging ocean, one that had a giant hole on the bottom.

Li Yao’s head almost crashed into the ceiling several times.

Sticking his ear to the cabin door, Li Yao listened carefully for a while. When he was sure that there was only one person’s footsteps, Li Yao opened the door suddenly.

“What—what has happened?” Li Yao stammered, pretending to panic.

There was indeed only one space pirate in the pathway who hadn’t got the opportunity to put on his crystal suit. His face was even paler than that of a dead person, as he shrieked, “Bo—Boss Bai is here!”

---

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Chapter 711: Two Tigers on One Mountain

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Li Yao was dumbfounded.

Theoretically speaking, the leader of any pirate gang could be addressed as ‘Boss Bai’ as long as their surname was Bai.

However, over the past few decades, there had been only one Boss Bai on Spider Den. None of the other space pirates dared to call themselves ‘Boss Bai’. They did not even have the courage to call themselves ‘Brother Bai’.

Li Yao did not expect that Bai Xinghe, whose legendary life had left a deep impression on him a moment ago, would attack the carrier he was on so quickly.

Confused, Li Yao blurted out, “Isn’t Boss Bai on our side? We are all working for the Temple of Immortals. Why is he assaulting us?”

It was not unusual for space pirates to attack each other when they encountered in the space. But it mostly happened when a pirate gang had just finished a job and their trophies attracted other pirates’ attention.

The carrier Li Yao snuck in, on the other hand, was commanded by the Temple of Immortals and had just finished the assault on Heavenly Saints City. It had been cruising in stealth mode and had not robbed anybody. Naturally, there were no valuable goods on the starship.

What was wrong with Bai Xinghe? Why did he do such a thing so close to Spider Den, everybody’s home camp?

Li Yao thought that the question he raised was perfectly reasonable. But the panicked space pirate grew suspicious the moment he heard the question. He eyed Li Yao up and down and asked, “Who are you?”

Li Yao frowned. He had been seen through.

Li Yao sighed. Spiritual energy surged out of his body and condensed into an invisible giant hand, which grabbed the space pirate’s throat and raised him into the air.

The space pirate was quite weak. Now that he was choked by the hand, his face immediately turned black, and his eyeballs were rolling crazily. However, he could not scream or cry for help.

Li Yao dragged him back to the maintenance room and threw him to the ground heavily.

After a click, Li Yao locked the door with his spiritual energy, and he eyed the man coldly. He did not release his throat until he was almost in a state of shock.

The space pirate squirmed and coughed loudly like a half-dead lobster.

Li Yao extended one of his fingers. Invisible spiritual energy turned into a sharp cone on his fingertip and poked the man’s chest softly, as he asked, “I will ask questions, and you will answer them. If you tell the truth, I will spare your life.”

The space pirate was quite a quick-minded guy. Feeling the throbbing pain on his chest, he knew that his kidnapper was not someone he could deal with. He quickly nodded and said, “Don’t kill me. Whatever you want to know, senior, I will tell anything!”

“The situation was quite a mess when the starship left Heavenly Saints City,” Li Yao said. “Other than members of the Tiger Teeth Pirate Gang, some of the space pirates from several other gangs were evacuated to this starship, too.

“It’s impossible that you know the hundreds of space pirates. Why did you grow suspicious about me? Is there anything wrong with the question I asked?”

The space pirate breathed heavily for a while and felt like crying. “Everybody on Spider Den knows that Boss Bai and Fengyu Zhong, who only rose to fame recently, do not see eye to eye with each other.

“Two tigers cannot live on the same mountain, and two kings cannot rule Spider Den at the same time.

“Before, ‘Hellsword’ Zhuang Ziyou, the other Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator on Spider Den, had many conflicts with Boss Bai, too. They reached a deal in the end. Hellsword would be a lone wolf and never establish his own pirate gang. In return, Boss Bai would provide a huge number of resources for Hellsword every year.

“With such a deal in place, the two space pirates in the Nascent Soul Stage were at peace again.

“But it is different for Fengyu Zhong. He has always been ambitious, and now with the support of the Temple of Immortals, he has swallowed quite a few pirate gangs over the past year. His strength is ten times higher than before. Naturally, clashes between Boss Bai and him are inevitable.

“Although the two of them had not begun fighting yet when we left Spider Den, it was perfectly normal for them to lose patience and decide to attack the other party. Therefore, it is quite abnormal that you were so surprised.

“Your second question is even more weird.”

Li Yao raised his eyebrow. “I said everybody was working for the Temple of Immortals. Isn’t it so?”

“Of course not.” The space pirate smiled miserably. “Everybody on Spider Den knows that other people work for Boss Bai. Boss Bai does not work for anybody.”

Li Yao was dazed. He pondered for a moment and realized that he had been wrong about something all the time.

From the moment he first came into contact with the Immortal Cultivators, space pirates had been their accomplices. Fengyu Zhong was personally involved in the Immortal Cultivators’ first scheme and was a loyal dog for them.

In the battle of Heavenly Saints City, a lot of space pirates had participated and helped with the transportation.

Therefore, Li Yao had the impression that all the space pirates were partners of the Immortal Cultivators.

But it appeared now that space pirates and Immortal Cultivators were not necessarily on the same boat.

At the very least, Bai Xinghe, the ‘Pirate Potentate’, did not seem to be a guy willing to bow to somebody else, according to his life experience.

Thinking for a moment, Li Yao asked, “Is Boss Bai in a bad relationship with the Temple of Immortals? What are their conflicts?”

The space pirate replied helplessly, “What can the pawns such as us know about the specific conflicts? But over the past year, there have indeed been a number of rumors saying that Boss Bai does not like the Immortal Cultivators of the Temple of Immortals, who jumped out of nowhere.”

Li Yao was going to ask the reason, but he swallowed the question and realized that he was being silly.

An emperor would not allow somebody else to covet his empire. Who was Bai Xinghe? He was the underground emperor of Spider Den!

As the Pirate Potentate, Bai Xinghe suddenly discovered that an enormous organization was lurking right under his nose. It had ill intentions and concocted various evil plans.

Li Yao felt that it was alarming enough if he were Bai Xinghe.

“Didn’t the Temple of Immortals try to buy over Boss Bai?” Li Yao asked.

The space pirate quickly replied, “Maybe. But Boss Bai buys other people. How can anybody buy Boss Bai? In short, over the past year, Boss Bai has not thought highly of many things that the Temple of Immortals did. It is said that they had conflicts in secret many times. The Temple of Immortals’ full support for Fengyu Zhong had a lot to do with those conflicts, too.”

Li Yao pondered for a moment and thought everything through.

For such a distinguished man as Bai Xinghe, it was extremely difficult to buy him. The price would be very high, and even if he was bought, it would be hard to manipulate him. Nobody could anticipate if he would swallow the Temple of Immortals instead.

Therefore, the Temple of Immortals decided to bring up their own ‘Pirate Potentate’.

In the past, Fengyu Zhong was also a well-known brutal bandit in the circle of space pirates. But he did not have his own docks or crystal suit centers. In other words, he was only among the best ones in the middle class of space pirates.

Such people were the most ambitions and the easiest to buy over. As long as he was promised Bai Xinghe’s position as the new ruler of space pirates when the endeavors succeeded, he would be the most loyal warrior for the Temple of Immortals and do what he was ordered to wholeheartedly.

Naturally, it hurt the interests of Bai Xinghe, the incumbent ‘Pirate Potentate’. The conflicts between the two parties were not strange at all.

Li Yao sorted through all the information in his head and asked a few more questions.

However, the man was a pawn in his pirate gang in the first place, and he had been away from Spider Den for almost half a year for the mission. Therefore, he did not know the latest situation on Spider Den. Li Yao’s questions proved futile.

“Last question. Answer it honestly, and I will not kill you.” Li Yao did not give him time to think. He asked straightforwardly, “How many ordinary people have you killed?”

The space pirate was dazed for a moment. His eyeballs rolled to the up.

It was a micro-expression suggesting that he was recalling and counting.

It also meant that he had killed ordinary people.

Li Yao’s lips curled. His eyes turned cold.

The space pirate shuddered and shouted crazily, “You said you wouldn’t kill me! You said you wouldn’t kill me!”

Scratching his chin, Li Yao smiled. “Do I look like someone who honors his words?”

Five minutes later, Li Yao appeared among the overlapping wires of spiritual energy above the cabin that stored the escape capsules.

Unless absolutely necessary, Li Yao did not want to run into space in an escape capsule, especially at a moment when Bai Xinghe’s starships were possibly patrolling nearby.

The explosions gradually died down, and the carrier became stable again.

Li Yao hid himself and released Neltharion silently. He attached half of his telepathic thoughts to Neltharion and commanded it to fly along the pathway in stealth mode.

It was obvious that every zone of the carrier had been taken over by another group of space pirates.

The intruders were well-trained and looked sharp. Intense killing intent was flowing out of their eyes. It was not simply boldness on the surface, but a toughness deep to the bones indicating that they did not care for the lives of other people or their own.

Faced with the intruders, the space pirates on the carrier did not have the courage to fight back at all. They all sat in the corners of each cabin with their hands on their heads.

Li Yao thought of something. The intruders were likely from Bai Xinghe’s Abyss Pirate Gang.

Right then, a large batch of space pirates crowded toward the bridge.

Since Neltharion was no larger than a finger and it was in the stealth mode, it followed the space pirates into the bridge easily.

In the middle of the bridge, there were two space pirates, one standing and the other on his knees.

The standing pirate was wearing colorful casual clothes. He was slightly bold, and his hawk nose protruded forward high. A blinking, eye-catching pendent in the shape of a spider was hanging on his neck.

It seemed that he was not here for a fight, but for a vacation.

He stared at the space pirate who was kneeling before him in pure boredom. There was pity and scorn in his indifferent eyes.

The space pirate who was on his knees was wearing a glamorous coat made of bear hide, with a bear head sewn onto its shoulder. He could not have looked more intimidating.

Yet, sweat and tears covered his face. He was going to move forward and hold the other person’s leg, but he did not have the courage and simply cried. “Boss Bai, I was wrong. I was really wrong. Please do spare me!”

The two words ‘Boss Bai’ nearly made Li Yao’s heart skip a beat.

He did not know that the legendary Pirate Potentate would assault the carrier in person. No wonder the bridge had been taken over so easily.

If he had known that Bai Xinghe, a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator, was in this place, Li Yao would never have dared to send Neltharion in.

However, it was easier to come in than to get out. The cabin door had been closed. Members of the Abyss Pirate Gang was everywhere. Li Yao did not dare to move at all, fearing that Bai Xinghe would discover him.

He could only hide Neltharion in a corner and eavesdropped anyway.

Li Yao knew the space pirate who was begging on the ground. He was Luo Jinhu, the owner of the carrier and the captain of the Tiger Teeth Pirate Gang.

The man was an expert in the beginning level of the Core Formation Stage. His name was on the wanted list of Heavenly Saints City for his countless crimes.

However, such a brutal bandit in the Core Formation Stage was like a stray dog whose three legs had been broken before Bai Xinghe. He was crying buckets and could not have looked more miserable!

---

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Chapter 712: Bai Xinghe’s Charisma!

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

“Ah Hu, many pirate gangs answered Fengyu Zhong’s call to assault Heavenly Saints City under the lead of the Temple of Immortals. Do you know why I came to talk to you instead of anybody else?” asked Bai Xinghe politely.

His voice was neither coarse or sharp. It sounded comfortable and reliable, and it made those who heard his words feel refreshed.

His smile was natural and genuine, too, as if he were really chitchatting with one of his followers.

However, for some reason, with his saber-like hawk nose, the words gave everybody a creepy feeling.

Li Yao felt scared even though he was merely observing through Neltharion, as if his spine was clenched by a pair of cold hands that he could not get rid of.

Luo Jinhu, captain of the Tiger Teeth Pirate Gang, was shuddering in fear, not knowing what to do.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

His hands on his back, Bai Xinghe started pacing. Weird sounds came from his feet while he walked.

It was then that Li Yao noticed that the Pirate Potentate was wearing a pair of slippers below his fancy beach shorts.

What an awesome man! Li Yao secretly complimented.

Casual clothes, beach shorts, and slippers. In such a next-door-neighbor style, the man had crossed the sea of stars and taken over a hostile starship. He stood before a brutal bandit in the Core Formation Stage casually, and the brutal bandit was sweating as if sitting on a thorny carpet.

That was truly the demeanor of a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator and the dominating aura of the Pirate Potentate!

Li Yao was fascinated by his attire and made up his mind that he would wear exactly the same when he advanced into the Nascent Soul Stage someday.

Roaming space in beach shorts and slippers. That was what a real expert should do!

“Thirty-one years ago, your pirate gang was ambushed by other space pirates, and you had only one starship left. Who helped you defeat your enemy?”

Bai Xinghe paced behind Luo Jinhu and patted his shoulder neither softly nor heavily, while he asked casually, “Twenty-two years ago, you killed the son of the Surpassing Cloud Sect and were hunted by three Exo Societies. Who helped you escape and rescued you?

“Seventeen years ago, who provided a lot of resources for you to advance into the Core Formation Stage?”

Luo Jinhu was shaking even more violently.

Despite the long distance, Li Yao could almost hear the trembling noises of his bones.

Bai Xinghe sighed softly and said, “Ah Hu, I know that the Temple of Immortals revealed itself and Fengyu Zhong rose up quickly over the past year. He seemed like the new king of space pirates. Therefore, many people joined his cause. It is not strange.

“However, I did not expect that you, Luo Jinhu, would betray me, too!

“Betrayal is nothing unusual on Spider Den. My heart did not hurt much, either. I merely wondered whether or not my sight had impaired because of my old age.

“Therefore, I paid a visit to your starship personally to see if you are really a traitor. Do you think you are a traitor?”

“I’m not!”

Bai Xinghe’s accusation was like three burning stings that stabbed into Luo Jinhu’s coccyx.

Luo Jinhu jumped to his feet after a shiver while he shouted, “Boss Bai! Brother Bai! I’ve always born the great favors that you did me in mind! What am I if I betray my brother?

“But you know that my business hasn’t been running well over the past two years. I lost two armed carriers in the South Mouth Space Zone. One of my old brothers in the high level of the Building Foundation Stage was heavily wounded and required a lot of resources to recover. Our income failed to meet our needs.

“This time, the Temple of Immortals offered a very high price. Therefore, we agreed to be hired by them and went to Heavenly Saints City.

“It’s all about business and does not hurt Boss Bai’s interests. It’s not betrayal at all!”

Bai Xinghe chuckled. “Right. You did not betray me. You had a deal with the Temple of Immortals and shipped some people to Heavenly Saints City. What about your journey? Was Heavenly Saints City an enjoyable place?”

Luo Jinhu was dazed for a moment. He soon realized what Bai Xinghe meant.

His face pale, cold sweat was popping up all over his body. He stammered, “Bo—Boss Bai, none of the dozens of pirate gangs knew that the Temple of Immortals would be so crazy when we signed the contract.

“We—we thought that there would be assassinations and explosions in Heavenly Saints City at best.

“Nobody knew that they would do such an inhuman thing as to attract extraterrestrial devils!

“Honest to God, we were just Mr. Nobodies and did not know their plan at all. We merely helped them transport the goods and the soldiers.

“All the goods were packed in boxes with barriers on the outside. Most of the people of the Temple of Immortals were wearing masks, too. We couldn’t see their faces!

“Nobody knew what they were up to!

“Although we don’t care about life and death as space pirates, everybody is scared of the devils. If we knew that they were planning an arrival of extraterrestrial devils, nobody would’ve gone with them!

“Everyone was shocked when the extraterrestrial devils arrived, but there was no turning back at that point. We could only struggle on to make it to the end.

“Truth be told, Boss Bai, although people of the Temple of Immortals gave us magical equipment and tools to resist the extraterrestrial devils, those things sometimes worked and sometimes didn’t.

“Many space pirates were swallowed by extraterrestrial devils. It’s said that an accident happened to one of the altars, and the brothers of an entire pirate gang were turned into devilized people!

“Everybody has been complaining that we were fooled by the Temple of Immortals. We were thinking that we should demand for more rewards from Black Spider Town and Fengyu Zhong. We hate their guts right now. Why would we betray Boss Bai?”

“That explains a lot. You were fooled by other people. You did not mean to betray me. You did not hurt my interest… Bullsh*t! ”

Bai Xinghe suddenly burst into a rage. A hurricane seemed to have formed inside the bridge. Dozens of light beams on the control panels broke apart and perished!

Bai Xinghe jabbed Luo Jinhu’s back hard and roared, “You greedy idiots haven’t seen through the Temple of Immortal’s intentions even to this day?

“Fooling you to assault Heavenly Saints City without telling you their real intentions was a stone that kills two birds!

“Before, space pirates were merely the skin disease for the Cultivators. We could not stir much trouble. Therefore, they could barely made up their mind to gather all the elites to destroy us at a high price!

“But now, space pirates, extraterrestrial devils, and Immortal Cultivators have been combined. We are now a fatal disease to the Cultivators! They are going to come at us for real even if they have to pawn their pants!

“From the moment the extraterrestrial devils arrived, the space pirates who were part of the battle have been labelled as ‘the Temple of Immortals’ and added to the must-kill list of Cultivators. You are not going to get away!

“No. Not just you. Cultivators won’t care exactly which pirate gangs participated in the battle of Heavenly Saints City and which ones didn’t. They will form a great army and attack Spider Den. They will slay all the space pirates and eliminate every one of us!

“Do you want me to explain the matter to the Cultivators then? I’m truly sorry, Fellow Cultivators. Although I have committed a great number of crimes, I never took part in the battle of Heavenly Saints City or the arrival of extraterrestrial devils. I am different from the Temple of Immortals. How about you letting me go, Fellow Cultivators?

“Does that explanation sound good to you? Is it good, huh?

“You idiots can always kill yourselves if you want to, but why did you have to drag me down with you? And you said you did not hurt my interest or betray me?

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier if you didn’t intend to betray me?

“If you had any trouble, I could’ve helped you. Have I never refused your request? Why did you choose to act on your own? Why!”

Luo Jinhu’s spine was almost broken because of the jabbing. He collapsed to the ground like a dead dog, breathing heavily.

After the catharsis, Bai Xinghe’s countenance suddenly changed. He became calm and casual again, like a totally different person, before he asked, “Ah Hu, how old are you?”

Luo Jinhu was dazed, not having any clue why Bai Xinghe was asking that. He managed to reply, “A hundred—a hundred and three.”

“Oh.”

Bai Xinghe smiled, as if the harangue just now had nothing to do with him. He remarked, “A hundred and three years old and in the Core Formation Stage, you can almost be called an adult now, and you still believe in bullsh*t like immortality?”

In a gloomy face, Luo Jinhu replied, “Of course I don’t believe such crap like immortality; even I’m not that foolish.”

“Then what was their bait?” Bai Xinghe’s face turned cold again, as he asked, “If you needed money or goods, you could’ve asked for my help. But since you signed a contract with the Temple of Immortals without telling me, they must’ve offered you something more valuable, something that I could not provide. What was it?”

Luo Jinhu hesitated for a moment. He gritted his teeth and confessed, “Boss Bai, truth be told, both me and our brothers of the other pirate gangs make our living in the most dangerous way every day. Unpredictable notions such as immortality can only fool three-year-olds. We won’t buy that anyway.

“Besides, the people of the Temple of Immortals do not look like seniors who have lived for hundreds of years!

“However—

“Boss Fengyu—Ugh, the bastard Fengyu Zhong said that the Temple of Immortals was a vast organization. A lot of Immortal Cultivators were lurking in every space zone of the Flying Star Sector. When the timing was appropriate, they would strike together to overturn the rule of Cultivators. A kingdom of immortals on earth would be established!

“In the brand-new country, the Immortal Cultivators would be the dominators, and the ordinary people would be their slaves who would be driven, exploited, and incarcerated. They would do whatever they wanted!

“We space pirates are rats that everybody stomps on and have lived our lives in fear and darkness.

“But as long as we helped the Temple of Immortals’ cause, when the Immortal Cultivators ruled the Flying Star Sector, we would be the regular army of the new kingdom!

“Based on the size of my Tiger Teeth Pirate Gang, if I did my part, I had a good chance of becoming the commander of the fleet of a space zone.”

Bai Xinghe nodded and smiled. “That explains a lot. Kingdom of immortals. That sounds much more reasonable than an eternal life.

“How about this? Ah Hu, it’s better to work with someone you are familiar with than to work with a stranger. Instead of helping the Temple of Immortals, why don’t you help me to build a great Flying Star Empire? I will decree you to be the Great General of the Universe. How does that sound?”

Luo Jinhu observed Bai Xinghe’s face and managed a smile. “Bo—Boss Bai, you must be joking…”

“You know I’m joking, too!”

Bai Xinghe changed his expression again and kicked right in Luo Jinhu’s big pale face, his slippers embedded inside. Luo Jinhu was knocked to the ground!

Bai Xinghe stomped on him and bellowed, “You know that I can’t build a Flying Star Empire. You know that an idiot like you does not deserve to be the Great General of Universe. You know that I was making fun of you.

“Why were you not so clever when you were fooled by the Temple of Immortals’ bullsh*t?

“Kingdom of immortals on earth? Command of a fleet? Are they qualified? Are you qualified?”

“A bunch of cultists whose brains are all damaged and a swarm of mobs who know nothing but robbing are trying to overthrow Cultivators who have reigned for thousands of years? In your f*cking dreams!”

---

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Chapter 713: Buy Me, Sell Me

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Luo Jinhu struggled below Bai Xinghe’s slippers like a cockroach. He screamed, “I was wrong. Boss Bai, I know I was wrong!”

“Of course you were wrong.”

Bai Xinghe stomped hard several times before he moved his slippers away from Luo Jinhu’s face, where dozens of slipper prints had been left.

Luo Jinhu’s face looked like a potato that had been thoroughly mashed.

Bai Xinghe took a breath in relief. His voice turned comforting and reliable again as he asked, “Ah Gou, what kind of criminals do you think can always go unpunished?”

Luo Jinhu had become used to Bai Xing’s sudden change of topics. He thought hard for a moment and hesitated. “The real smart ones?”

“No. The most cunning fox is still no match for a hunter. Even the smartest criminal will be caught sooner or later as long as they keep doing their job,” Bai Xinghe replied casually. “Only one kind of bad guys can get away from justice forever, when the damage they cause is far lower than the cost in order to capture them. Do you understand?

“Forget it. I can tell from your ignorant eyes that you don’t understand.

“Let me change my question. Do you know what Senior Yan Xinjian, the supreme space pirate five hundred years ago, did after he defeated the fleet of Cultivators?”

Luo Jinhu shook his head helplessly.

Narrowing his eyes, Bai Xinghe said gravely, “The supreme space pirate Yan Xinjian rose to power during the war and gathered a bunch of soldiers who were absolutely loyal to him. After he defeated the fleet of Cultivators, he immediately swept Spider Den unstoppably!

“With consideration of the crimes that the space pirates committed, he sentenced the space pirates who were hated by a lot of people to death, those who had killed the important disciples of major sects and who were disobedient!

“Later, he sent the videos of the space pirates’ executions to Cultivators through underground channels.

“Later, he summoned all the space pirates for a meeting and established ten rules, which are known as ‘Ten Sword Rules’ today.

“In every robbery, take away two thirds of the trophies and leave one third for the victims.

“If there’s no resistance, don’t hurt the ordinary people on board and the armed soldiers if they lay down their weapons and surrender.

“No rapes. Never kill pregnant women and kids below ten.

“Never plunder carriers that have just experienced a cosmic storm!

“Never plunder a carrier twice in one journey. Do not touch anything and retreat immediately if you find that the starship has been looted before!

“There are five more rules besides those. Whichever pirate gang violated the rules, Yan Xinjian would be the first to ask for their trouble until they admitted to their guilt.

“At that time, everybody said that Yan Xinjian was a fool. Cultivators were their mortal enemies anyway. The self-restricting rules were completely redundant for them.

“There were even people who thought that Yan Xinjian was a spy sent by the Cultivators, even if he had caused the Cultivators a crushing defeat in the battle to protect Spider Den.

“However, despite the doubts, there was not a second fleet waging a second war on space pirates in the hundred years after Yan Xinjian passed away.

“Why? Do you think that they were really scared of Spider Den?

“Of course not. Senior Yan Xinjian merely gave Cultivators a clear message: You will pay a high price if you attack me, and your damage is very low if you leave me alone. I am just a minor disease and not worth your trouble.

“Yan Xinjian is the greatest precursor of the robbing industry in my mind.

“However, now that he has been dead for hundreds of years, you greedy, short-sighted idiots know no self-restrictions at all. The Ten Sword Rules have long been left behind!

“Today, you are even asking for your own death by promoting yourself from dermatitis into cancer for the Cultivators.

“How does it feel, Captain Luo? Your wish has been fulfilled. Great crimes have been committed, and you are a crazy devil now. All the Cultivators will come after you. You must feel comfortable and satisfied with a strong sense of accomplishment. Your life is worth it, is it not?”

Luo Jinhu felt like crying. “Boss Bai, please stop making fun of me. Help me find a way to survive!”

Bai Xinghe snorted and said, “Way to survive? We have only two ways ahead of us.

“Firstly, in several years, when the Immortal Cultivators’ cause fails, Spider Den will be destroyed by Cultivators. The space pirates, who are their mortal enemies on the surface, will be the best targets. We will all be executed.

“In the meantime, the Immortal Cultivators will use our dead bodies as cover and continue lurking for their next chance.

“It is quite possible that while we are fighting a bloody battle with Cultivators on Spider Den, they will be drinking orange juice on a sunny beach in a certain world fragment and watching the live stream of the battle news.

“Secondly, despite all the unfavorable circumstances, the Immortal Cultivators might succeed, but vanguards like you won’t end any better!

“They could even do such a thing as attracting extraterrestrial devils. Do you think they will honor their promise for thieves such as you and me? Hilarious!”

“Boss Bai, we had the same doubts before.” Luo Jinhu finally rose from the ground. He kept kneeling on the ground and said, “But you also know that the most important thing for space pirates is the intelligence network. Our trophies can only be sold through the black market, too!

“Over the past hundreds of years, Black Spider Tower has risen up. The intelligence network and black market of Spider Den are both controlled by them. They are our eyes, ears, and mouths!

“It was not until one year ago that we learned that Black Spider Tower was a branch of the Temple of Immortals. The previous leader of Black Spider Tower is very likely the ‘Black King’, one of the four kings of the Temple of Immortals!

“Right now, our eyes, ears, and mouths are all in the Temple of Immortals’ control. It is difficult for us to run our business without cooperating with the Temple of Immortals.

“Boss Bai, you have a lot of docks, crystal suits, and… possibly underground industries on Spider Den. Naturally, you can refuse to work with Black Spider Tower.

“But we are too poor and need to do a job every few days. We have to sell the stolen goods in exchange for resources. Without Black Spider Tower, our ears are deaf, and our eyes are blind. Our source of income will be cut off. How are we going to feed ourselves?

“Therefore, we were accidentally trapped by them. It is impossible to do without them now. We can only sell ourselves to the Temple of Immortals!”

Bai Xinghe was silent briefly. He patted Luo Jinhu’s shoulder and said solemnly, “I know your difficulties, too. Otherwise, I would have crushed you instead of wasting so much time talking to you.

“These bastards are indeed clever. They’ve weaved such a giant net on Spider Den with Black Spider Tower. Even I fell into the net without knowing it.

“A year ago, when their real faces were revealed, the space pirates were already on their boat. The only choice we had was to sell ourselves to them.

“However, there are two ways of selling ourselves.”

Luo Jinhu was dazed. “Two?”

Bai Xinghe extended two fingers and waved his index finger as he said. “Firstly, sell ourselves like Fengyu Zhong. Bite and bawl for the Temple of Immortals. The more we do, the better we are paid.”

Luo Jinhu was suspicious. “Is there a second way of selling?”

“Secondly…”

Bai Xinghe retreated his index finger, leaving his middle finger pointing at the ceiling. “We tell the Temple of Immortals to give us certain benefits here and now! Otherwise, we will sabotage their cause even at the risk of our own lives!

“It is easier to wreck something than to complete it. The Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators are no gods. There are many things we can’t accomplish.

“However, in this world, there are few things that a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator cannot wreck if they are determined to even at the cost of their own life!”

Bai Xinghe smiled. “How could I? They are very capable and have a lot of trump cards. There are several Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators in their pocket, too. How do I dare to piss them off?

“I will merely annihilate Fengyu Zhong.”

Luo Jinhu almost choked.

Bai Xinghe narrowed his eyes and said coldly, “Do you know the difference between me and Fengyu Zhong?

“The rabid dog only had several starships a year ago and barely any industries on Spider Den.

“Spider Den has never been his. If he is the one to sell it, naturally, he will sell it at a low price!

“If Spider Den is worth ten thousand dollars, he will still be making profit if he sells it at a hundred dollars.

“In such a way of selling, none of the pirate gangs will end up well if they join him. They will all become cannon fodder. Some of them more advanced and some rudimental, but cannon fodder all the same.

“I am different. Spider Den is mine. If it is worth ten thousand dollars, I’m going to sell it at a hundred thousand dollars, a million dollars!

“Right now, we are selling ourselves, not cabbages. Ah Hu, tell me, do you want the rabid dog to sell you, or do you want me?”

Luo Jinhu breathed heavily. “I—I understand, Boss Bai. You are going to take down Fengyu Zhong. When he is down, the Temple of Immortals can only count on you. You will certainly sell us at a great price!”

Bai Xinghe smiled kindly. “Ah Hu, you are finally clever now. I’m very happy!

“However, I am different from the Immortal Cultivators such as Fengyu Zhong. We’ve know each other for decades. You should know that I never make empty promises or write rubber checks. Eternal life, commander of a fleet. Such nonexistent things are jokes!

“Let’s talk about benefits that are more materialistic.”

Luo Jinhu held his head high and declared, “Boss Bai has been lenient to me. You are essentially my new parent. I don’t ask for any benefits if I can die for you!”

“Bullsh*t!” Bai Xinghe kicked Luo Jinhu down again. “Cut the crap! With a decent price, you wouldn’t even blink before selling your family! Also, for a decent price, I guarantee that I will sell your mother to the brothel tomorrow! We are all lawless space pirates. Are you pretending that you are a loyal knight?

“Look here! Do you know what this is?”

Bai Xinghe waved the spider pendent in front of his chest.

Luo Jinhu spat out a broken tooth, dazed. Greedy brilliance was glimmering in his eyes.

Bai Xinghe smiled. “It seems you do.

“It’s understandable, the whole of Spider Den knows that I was a treasure hunter before I made a name of myself.

“It is said that I once entered the control center of the underground fortress of Spider Den and retrieved a detailed map.

“With the map, and the ‘Spider Key’ that can open all the secret tunnels, I have in my hands the arsenals, magical equipment, and techniques of Spider Den!

“The ‘Spider Key’ might not be real, but I definitely have my trump cards, considering that I could build such a large business from scratch in only a hundred years, right?”

Luo Jinhu’s voice changed, like a girl who saw a diamond weighing four kilograms. “Boss Bai, what do you mean?”

Shaking the ‘Spider Key’, Bai Xinghe said softly, “Tell you what, in the civil war of the Star Ocean Imperium ten thousand years ago, Spider Den was so much more than a simple industrial planet. A great secret was buried deep below the ground.

“The secret has nothing to do with you.

“But the magical equipment and techniques scattered around the secret might have a lot to do with you, right?”

Luo Jinhu swallowed and cried in joy, “Boss Bai, are you planning to—”

“Bravery comes with a high reward!”

Bai Xinghe retracted his Spider Key and raised his voice, “I’m not going to lie to you now. Supported by the Temple of Immortals, Fengyu Zhong’s forces are quickly expanding. A lot of pirate gangs have joined him!

“I’m not confident that I can win the fight!

“Although I’m not willing to share my trump cards with everybody, wealth, magical equipment, and techniques are merely belongings. They are only useful when I’m alive!

“Therefore, I will call for a secret meeting in a few days. All the space pirates who decide to back me will share the Cultivation arts and secret treasures I brought out from the arsenals of Spider Den!

“Half of them will be split before the battle, and the others will be divided evenly after Fengyu Zhong is dead. All the goods will be examined beforehand. They are definitely real!

“This is what Boss Bai is going to do!

“I, Bai Xinghe, always buy people and sell people honestly!”

Chapter 714: Carrot and Stick

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

While talking, Bai Xinghe took out something from his pocket and tossed it to Luo Jinhu’s. It rolled on the ground crazily.

Li Yao observed through Neltharion and discovered that it was a vintage jade chip as well as five shining silver metal balls.

“Ah Hu,” Bai Xinghe said, “I know that you’ve been training with the Tiger Stripe Divine Fire Art over the past few years, but it is hard to improve when you reached the sixth level.

“This jade chip was excavated by me from the underground arsenals. It is the ‘Devilish Tiger Crushing Bones’ art that an elite troop of the Star Ocean Imperium trained with ten thousand years ago. It is quite similar to the Tiger Stripe Divine Fire Art that you have been training with, and you should find it very easy to get started. Your combat ability will be significantly improved if you train yourself hard!

“The Cultivation art itself is not very attractive. Right now, there are many similar versions on the Spiritual Nexus. Everybody is free to practice them as long as they do not fear mental derangement.

“However, what was stored with the Devilish Tiger Crushing Bones were nine pills that were made of the cores of dozens tiger-type demon beasts. Even in the elite troop ten thousand years ago, only those who made great contributions had the privilege to take them!

“There were nine pills corresponding to the nine levels of the Devilish Tiger Crushing Bones. Take one after you advance into each level, and you will bring out all the potential of the art and wield the strength of a tiger slayer!

“Here are the arts of the first five levels and five pills. Train with them first. After Fengyu Zhong is down, I will give you the remaining arts and the last four pills!”

Luo Jinhu exclaimed in joy and was so excited that he did not know what to say.

Bai Xinghe patted his shoulder and lowered his body, whispering, “Ah Hu, we are all in the robbing business. Our way of making money is quite dangerous. It is very important that we seize the day. Only your own strength is real; everything else is false.

“Cut off the heads of those who claim that they can live forever and mince their body into pieces! Can they stay alive? Even if you are appointed as the commander of a fleet, other people can blow up your head with a flying sword easily if you are not strong enough. Isn’t that right?

“I can neither grant you an eternal life nor appoint you as a fleet commander, but I do have a lot of arts and pills that can improve your Cultivation!”

“Boss Bai!”

Luo Jinhu’s eyes were burning with greed. His neck was almost twice as thick while he put the arts and the pills back into his pocket carefully. He then shouted, “I don’t have anything to say except that I’m all yours, Boss Bai! Damn it. Let’s fight the rabid dog Fengyu Zhong hard! Kill him and let the Temple of Immortals know who the real boss of Spider Den is! Even the Immortal Cultivators must bow and cooperate with Boss Bai!

“When you decide to take action, Boss Bai, just give me a call. The men and the guns of the Tiger Teeth Pirate Gang will fight until there are none left!”

Bai Xinghe smiled. “Alright. I’ll see how you fight your battle, then.

“Remember, I can always tell who is fighting for me for real, who is merely cheering for me, and who is colluding with my enemy behind me.

“For those who fight for me for real, no matter how heavy the losses they suffer during the battle are, I will compensate all of them! Other than that, it’s also possible that I will bring them to the secret arsenals that I discovered below Spider Den!”

Luo Jinhu’s eyes beamed with interest. “Are you serious?”

Bai Xinghe chuckled. He raised his right hand and curled his finger.

A brutal bandit almost three meters tall, who looked like an iron tower in his crystal suit, bowed and handed over… a cup of cold juice respectfully!

Bai Xinghe sipped the juice and sighed in satisfaction.

Luo Jinhu was dumbfounded, not knowing what was going on.

In a moment, two space pirates escorted two prisoners to the bridge and threw them between Bai Xinghe and Luo Jinhu as if they were dead pigs.

Both prisoners were from the Tiger Teeth Pirate Gang. Although they were not tied up, barriers had been imposed upon them. The wrists and ankles were twisted weirdly, and their chins were essentially two balls as their jaw bone had been battered. They could not utter a single syllable now.

The moment they saw Bai Xinghe, they started writhing crazily. The utmost fear beamed out of their eyes.

Bai Xinghe smacked his lips and said casually, “These two are the core members of your gang. One of them is the accountant who manages the entire flow of your capital. However, according to my investigation, they have joined the Temple of Immortals in secret.

“Unlike you, who was simply running errands for the Temple of Immortals for money, they have been brainwashed and become Immortal Cultivators!

“They have been instigating your subordinates to join the Temple of Immortals. There is even a whole set of follow-up plans to gradually steal your power. If they were exposed, or they found that your stance was unsteady, they would immediately take you and lead the Tiger Teeth Pirate Gang to join Fengyu Zhong’s Storm Prison!

“All the evidence is in the crystal processor. Read it carefully. Don’t say that I’ve wronged a good guy.”

One space pirate pushed a crystal processor to Luo Jinhu.

Luo Jinhu hesitated for a moment. He then turned on five light beams and browsed through the information quickly, his sweat pouring. In a moment, he burst into fury and lunged forward like a lunatic before he kicked the two of them in their groins.

“Bao Xueyi, Gong Laojiu, you two bastards betrayed me?”

They shook their heads hard. They seemed to have a lot to say, and even their tears were flowing out, and yet they could not open their mouths and explain themselves.

Bai Xinghe narrowed his eyes and enjoyed the juice, as if he did not care about what was happening at all.

Luo Jinhu rolled his eyes. He gritted his teeth and stomped on the ground. Opening his hands, he condensed his spiritual energy on his fingertips into sharp talons before he stabbed them into the two prisoners’ chests and crushed their hearts!

The two Immortal Cultivators, who dreamed for an eternal life, were killed immediately.

Luo Jinhu heaved a long sigh of relief. He wiped his cold sweat and said dutifully, “Thank you for digging out the two bastards for me, Boss Bai. From today on, I will only listen to your command. I will do whatever you ask me to and kill whoever you want dead!”

Bai Xinghe finally put on a smile of comfort. He craned his neck and drank all the juice before he smashed the glass cup into pieces against the control panel.

“Remember your words today. I will find you when the time is right. Drag your boat to the Sanpao’s dock for maintenance. As for the damage on the starship, just find an excuse to cover them.

“After all, you’ve slain two Immortal Cultivators. The Temple of Immortals will doubt you however hard you explain yourself. Therefore, you might as well save the trouble.”

His sweat pouring, Luo Jinhu was grasped by desperation. In despair, he bowed and said, “Fare well, Boss Bai.

“However, if I can be so bold to ask, how did you know that spies of the Temple of Immortals are in the Tiger Teeth Pirate Gang, Boss Bai?”

Bai Xinghe replied without looking back, “Idiot. You don’t know the answer to such a simple question?

“Of course it’s because my own spies are in the Tiger Teeth Pirate Gang, too!”

“Haha. Hahahahahaha!”

In the laughter, the Abyss Pirate Gang vanished like an ebbing tide. Soon, all the intruders were gone.

Luo Jinhu, a Core Formation Stage expert, was shuddering in fear, alone in the bridge.

No. Technically speaking, someone else was crouching among the tubes in the rear part of the carrier and shuddering with him.

After making sure that Bai Xinghe had indeed left the carrier, Li Yao took a long breath in relief.

He warmed up limbs that were somewhat numb now and noticed that his mustard-seed suit was soaked in cold sweat.

Although the two of them were merely talking, Li Yao felt that he had witnessed a fierce fight between top experts, and he was completely overwhelmed by Bai Xinghe.

No wonder Fengyu Zhong, as an old cunning fox himself, is so wary of him. Bai Xinghe, the Pirate Potentate, is truly impressive!

The captain of the Tiger Teeth Pirate Gang, Luo Jinhu, is clearly not as innocent as he claimed to be. It’s possible that he joined the Temple of Immortals long ago!

When Bai Xinghe dragged the two Immortal Cultivators out, Luo Jinhu’s surprise was half faked. He must’ve known their identities from the start!

Maybe the two Immortal Cultivators were the officers of communication between him and the Temple of Immortals!

Bai Xinghe clearly knew that, too.

But he pretended that he didn’t and blamed everything on the two Immortal Cultivators. Moreover, he broke their jaws beforehand and made them unable to talk. They could only serve as scapegoats!

After the two Immortal Cultivators died, whatever deals Luo Jinhu had made with the Temple of Immortals would be no more.

In less than twenty minutes, Bai Xinghe coerced Luo Jinhu into killing two Immortal Cultivators personally with both a carrot and a stick, and he made the guy take his side again. From now on, Luo Jinhu can only work hard for him!

He truly deserves his fame. A man who has dominated Spider Den for decades is definitely not to be underestimated!

‘Hellsword’ Zhuang Ziyou was also in the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator, but he was a pure fighter and far from a charismatic leader such as Bai Xinghe.

However, it was not within Bai Xinghe’s expectations that a freak named Li Yao happened to be lurking inside the carrier.

As a result, Li Yao heard a lot of secrets he was not supposed to know.

It appears to me that Bai Xinghe is in a subtle relationship with the Temple of Immortals.

He might not wage a total war on the Temple of Immortals, but if he takes down Fengyu Zhong, he will both stabilize his position as the ruler of Spider Den and have more bargaining chips when he negotiates with the Temple of Immortals. That part should be true.

Bai Xinghe and Fengyu Zhong are going to have a fight. Great shows will begin on Spider Den soon. It will be an opportunity for me!

For a moment, Li Yao even considered whether or not he could sneak to Bai Xinghe’s side.

He had one trump card, which was his identity.

As the murderer of Fengyu Zhong’s only son, Li Yao was Fengyu Zhong’s mortal enemy and would in no way cooperate with him.

Therefore, if his real identity was revealed, Bai Xinghe might not necessarily kill him. It was even possible that he would extend his hand to Li Yao and deal with Fengyu Zhong together.

However, Li Yao disapproved of the plan just a second later.

Bai Xinghe was indeed too scary.

Li Yao could not tell which of his words were true and which were false even at this moment.

Li Yao knew exactly what the outcome would be if he stepped too close to a ruthless tiger. His intuition told him to keep his distance from strong experts such as Bai Xinghe.

I might as well land on Spider Den first before I decide what to do next.

Chapter 715: Spider Den

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Ten thousand years ago, Spider Den had been an ordinary planet at the edge of the Flying Star Sector, far away from the star and without atmosphere, until one of the fleets of the Star Ocean Imperium landed accidentally to avoid a cosmic storm.

While waiting for the prolonged cosmic storm to pass, one of the bored Cultivators in the imperial army, who was adept at the spiritual energy of the earth class, considered roaming below the surface great entertainment.

But when he performed his techniques again and cruised below the ground as if he were sailing, he hit an invisible wall.

The Cultivator, who was almost buried alive, after being dug out, shouted to his rescuers without even having the time to care about his swollen head. “There’s a mountain below the ground, a mountain made entirely of Divine Cloud Stones!”

The Divine Cloud Stones were not among the most expensive Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, but they were what the imperial army needed most.

When a large number of Divine Cloud Stones were refined into alloys and installed on starships as plate armor, its absorption of spiritual energy would be significantly enhanced, and it would boast certain stealth ability.

An exploration team made of countless research-type Cultivators soon arrived. They were mostly geologists and material scientists.

The outcome of their study was beyond anyone’s expectations. Other than the Divine Cloud Stones, there were also hundreds of different mother lodes below the ground in which copious amounts of high-purity crystals were stored!

The planet was priceless!

Modification immediately began.

At first, star beacons were established on a large scale in this remote space zone. More than a hundred super star beacons were activated at the same time and formed a great array in space. A great ‘space gate’ was opened.

Through the space gate, every space zone in the Flying Star Sector could send carriers to this place. They would then gather in the orbit of Spider Den!

Cultivators descended on Spider Den like rainwater. One rune array after another was constructed. Ivory pillars of light soared into the sky and dispersed into an artificial atmosphere.

The biological system of the planet improved after the atmosphere was established. The air became suitable for human beings, too.

Then, billions of workers and heavy mining magical equipment were transported to the place by starships incessantly from the Flying Star Sector and even other parts of the Star Ocean Imperium.

The drills dug down, and explosions echoed nonstop. Humanity marched toward the core of the planet and eventually conquered it.

At first, Spider Den was a simple resource planet. The crystals and raw minerals were all packed into carriers and shipped to the important refining towns of the Flying Star Sector through the space gate.

But soon, people realized that it was too inefficient. The raw crystals and minerals were too large in size and cost a lot of fuel during their transportation, not to mention the potential damage on the way.

Since there were so many resources on the planet, after prolonged exploration and calculation, it was ascertained that building refining factories on Spider Den was a better choice in terms of cost.

Iron forests rose up around the giant mining holes that were more than a thousand meters in diameter. Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures purification centers, assembly lines of various kinds of magical equipment, and even a test center for the latest inventions were all established on the planet.

In just a thousand years, the previous rocky planet turned into an iron one that was riddled with holes and shining in metallic colors.

The planet was full of mining holes. Even the smallest holes were almost a thousand meters in diameter, and the largest holes were more than a hundred kilometers in diameter and extended to hundreds of meters down the ground.

All kinds of refining facilities were around the mining holes. Deep down in the mining holes were interconnected tunnels that led to the bottomless abyss in the deepest part of the underground.

Later, after the Armageddon Rebellion, various frontlines were in crisis during the last years of the civil war.

The planet, which was about to be forsaken since its resources were running out, was prioritized by the military because of its industrial foundations and the endless tunnels below the ground.

The complicated, interweaving tunnels that looked like a spider net were a natural fortress.

The military shipped countless pieces of magical equipment, resources, and assets from the big space zones of the Flying Star Sector and modified Spider Den completely, determined to wage a final battle against the rebels with this planet as one of the last strongholds.

However, before the final battle began, the ‘Supreme Emperor’ and the ‘Mad Armageddon’ had an ultimate competition in Empyrean Terminus, the capital planet of the imperium.

After the battle that had no winners, the Star Ocean Imperium fell apart. All the preparations were rendered meaningless.

In the thousands of years that followed, Spider Den was hidden in darkness.

Even after the remaining troops of the Star Ocean Imperium reestablished a coalition government on Iron Plateau, the planet at the edge of the Flying Star Sector was still undiscovered.

It was not until thousands of years later, when the apocalypse arrived and Cultivators together with countless ordinary people fled into space only to be assaulted by meteoroids, that some roamers found Spider Den as well as the resources, debris, and abandoned starships that had been left on the planet.

These people were the earliest space pirates.

That was the history of Spider Den.

At least, it was the history that Cultivators told to the public.

On Spider Den today, the artificial atmosphere created ten thousand years ago was already battered. The dim sky was riddled with holes. Fatal venomous gas was everywhere in the wilderness. It was very unfavorable for the survival of human beings.

The giant mining pits that could more dozens of kilometers in diameter became new cities. Translucent domes covered the cities where they were exposed to the ground and blocked the air inside and outside from exchanging, thereby building micro biological systems inside the cities.

Social classes were obvious in the cities of the mining pits in regard to their altitude.

Those who lived in the highest places, which were closest to the ground and could enjoy sunlight, however rarely, were the rulers of space pirates that had their own bases, docks, and crystal suit centers and could make profit without doing anything such as Bai Xinghe.

In the deeper part of the mining pits were neighborhoods hiding in the tubes and the conveyors. They were places of entertainment where the space pirates enjoyed wine and whores. The largest black market of the Flying Star Sector was hidden in such places, too.

The middle class in the food chain of the space pirates, namely those like Fengyu Zhong in his old days who did not have their own bases, would often vacation and enjoy themselves there while having their starships maintained after a job.

In the bottom of the mining pits, there was no sunlight at all. Every street could only be illuminated by the rune arrays. The largest number of space pirates lived in this place.

Most of those who were struggling there were not strong enough. They were not qualified even if they would like to be space pirates and could only live off the charity that the upper levels donated to them.

However, they were not the most miserable people on Spider Den, because they still had hope.

In the world of darkness, the pirate gangs large and small would hold competitions regularly and select the stronger ones as the new blood of their organization.

With any luck, one day, they could be roaring in space on a starship, even if they had been nibbling stones ten thousand meters below the ground the day before.

What was more miserable than them were the slaves deeper inside the tunnels and the treasure hunters who were exploring the underground fortress.

Although most of the resources on Spider Den had run dry, that was only for the army of the Star Ocean Imperium’s needs.

The scale of space pirates was much smaller than the imperial army, and so was their demand for resources. If they did not care about the cost, they could always exploit some resources from the dried-up mother lodes.

As for the underground fortress, there was no need to stress its importance.

Since Bai Xinghe’s rise over the past hundred years, rumors about the secret treasures that the Star Ocean Imperium left in the depths of Spider Den had become more prevalent. The pirate gangs all worked harder to explore the underground.

However, the underground fortress was like a stomach that was forever hungry. The lives of countless treasure hunters were devoured, and still a second Bai Xinghe was not born!

At this moment, in ‘Silver Wing City’, the fifth largest city on Spider Den, 1,600 meters below the ground, Li Yao, in an old coat and with his hands in his pockets, was unhurriedly walking across a rusted bridge.

Below him was an abyss of raging black smoke. Above his head was a colorful forest of steel. Wind that carried the stink of rust and blood swirled up from the bottom of the pits and passed by him, raising his coat high and revealing a dagger and the handle of a gun tucked into his trousers.

He looked completely different right now.

After Li Yao reformed his facial muscles with his spiritual energy, his face was longer, and his jaw was slightly protruding. His eyes were sunken and bloodshot. There was not one second when his eyeballs were still; they were scanning the environment around him all the time.

His back was slightly hunched. His shoulders were narrowed, and his arms were enlengthened. When he put his hands back to his pockets, they looked like two folded sabers.

Everybody could tell that such a guy must have murdered countless people and was a brutal, ruthless man.

That was the new image that Li Yao came up for himself after reading through the entire book of ‘Stormy Sword’.

After sneaking out of the dock of space pirates, he showed up on the streets of Silver Wing City in the daylight with the brand-new appearance.

Li Yao was not worried that somebody would question who he was.

This place was Spider Den, the holy land of criminals in the Flying Star Sector as well as the well-acknowledged dirtiest place in the world.

Countless desperadoes were smuggled to Spider Den through various channels after they committed unpardonable crimes in their hometown.

Some of them killed people who must not be killed, some stole things that nobody was supposed to steal, some were looking for an opportunity for revenge, and some had unimaginable secrets in their hands.

Moreover, the thousands of pirate gangs were in a complicated relationship, too.

In such an environment where the last thing in short supply was brutal men, how could one investigate whether or not another person’s identity was real?

If they were too curious, it was quite possible that the person would simply stab their knives into the interrogator’s chest!

Therefore, it was a matter of course to use fake names, identities, and faces on Spider Den.

It was both a basic courtesy and the need of survival to not ask about someone else’s background and real identity.

Chapter 716: Black Market of Silver Wing

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

---

*I didn’t know that the previous leader of Black Spider Tower was the real Black King. No wonder Black Spider Tower and the Temple of Immortals cooperated so flawlessly and it worked so hard for the Temple of Immortals. As it turns out, the two of them are essentially the same thing. Black Spider Tower is a branch of the Temple of Immortals!*

Black Spider Tower controls the intelligence and the money-laundering networks of the space pirates. Just like Luo Jinhu said, when Black Spider Tower is controlled, most space pirates are controlled. Other than the tough and ambitious guys like Bai Xinghe, common space pirates can only bend their knees and listen to the Temple of Immortals’ commands.

Right now, Bai Xinghe is waging a war on Fengyu Zhong. However many trump cards he has, it seems to me that Fengyu Zhong, who is supported by the Temple of Immortals and Black Spider Tower, is on the winning side.

From the perspective of a Cultivator, naturally, I hope the war to be bigger and to last longer so that the strength of both sides will be more wasted. It will be best if both parties suffer heavy losses during their competition.

With that in mind, my strategy is to help the weak side.

For now, it seems that I should help Bai Xinghe.

However, Bai Xinghe is not an ignorant man. He is the brutal and cunning Pirate Potentate.

Although he seems to have strictly abided by the ‘Ten Sword Rules’ coined by Yan Xinjian, the supreme space pirate, I’m quite sure that he won’t hesitate to kill anybody when it is necessary!

I need to think carefully as to how to help the brutal bandit.

But in order to intervene in the strife, I have to know the details of the strife no matter what and try to place myself in a relatively important position.

While Li Yao was pondering, a great explosion suddenly took place above his head. He looked up, only to discover that the buildings on the upper levels close to the ground were lit up with sparks. The next moment, countless tubes, shelves, and bridges rained down amid roaring noises!

Li Yao’s pupils shrank violently. Like a blurred shadow that was blown away by wind, his body suddenly dispersed and condensed into a real identity in the pathway close to the edge of the pit.

Screeching noises were echoing behind him, as the objects from the sky smashed the corridor that he had been walking on. Many space pirates who were also passing by were crushed to a pulp.

In a moment, the corridor was cut off. Countless space pirates fell into the abyss in screams together with the broken bridge.

More than half a minute later, faint collisions came over from the depths of the black smoke.

“Another battle!”

“Damn it. I thought that I would have several peaceful days after I returned to Spider Den. But I’m now living in fear every day! It’s even more dangerous than floating in the space!”

“Yesterday, Black Moon fought Senior Fungus. Who’s fighting who today?”

“No idea. One of Fengyu Zhong’s lackeys versus one of Bai Xinghe’s lackeys, that’s for sure!”

Many space pirates were hiding in a corner just like Li Yao did. They watched the sky with their bloodshot eyes hard, fearing that the debris might fall on their heads while they cursed in low voices.

Li Yao narrowed his eyes and maximized his vision. He could vaguely see several hundred crystal suits were jumping and attacking each other in the steel forest.

Every now and then, one of the space pirates would be struck on a critical point and fall down into the depths of the abyss, crashing into countless bridges, tubes, and tunnels during the freefall.

They would be surely dead when they fell into the bottom of the mining pit that was almost ten thousand meters deep, even if their previous wounds did not kill them.

Li Yao frowned and thought fast. In the past, there was only one king on Spider Den. His words were the truth. It was possible for order to be maintained. But now that a new king named Fengyu Zhong is rising, the stability in the past has naturally been ripped apart during their competition!

I’m now in a complicated environment. The most important task for me right now is to fill my Cosmos Rings with assets. Food, water, and materials are all necessary.

Also, I need to get a reasonably good crystal suit. My Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit and Hellsword’s Black Horn Battlesuit are both too eye-catching and must not be revealed easily.

After thinking the matter through, Li Yao looked around and noticed a bunch of space pirates crouching in a corner.

There were three space pirates in the gang. Judging from their ragged clothes, they were not anything related to tough.

With a vague killing intent, Li Yao clutched the one in the middle who looked like their leader and slapped his face almost twenty times without saying anything. Then, he tossed the space pirate to the ground heavily and stomped on his chest, before he said casually, “Bastard, this is my first day in Silver Wing City. I need a crystal suit for self-defense. Where can I buy one?”

Those space pirates were just the shrimps of the shrimps. Seeing that Li Yao was so brutal, none of them dared fight back or attempt to reason with him.

The space pirate whose chest was stomped on, with detestation in his eyes, shrieked, “Go to Brother Yi! Brother Yi has the most powerful modified crystal suits in Silver Wing City. I’m sure you will be satisfied, senior!”

Half an hour later, Li Yao found the man who was referred to as ‘Brother Yi’ in the black market of Silver Wing City. The merchant’s proper name was ‘Niu Youyi’.

The black market of Silver Wing City was in the depths of a zigzagging tunnel.

In the dim lights, a lot of holes were dug out on the walls. Countless merchants of the black market were sitting inside them in boredom.

They were all carrying their mini crystal processors and would display their goods through light beams. When their customer was satisfied, they would go to somewhere secret for the real exchange.

Most of the goods were naturally magical equipment, Cultivation arts, and materials.

But many merchants also sold the latest information and introduced ‘jobs’ to different space pirates as intermediaries.

Niu Youyi was exactly such a merchant who sold magical equipment, information, and, when the price was good enough, his own wife, without batting an eye.

“I need a modified crystal suit, at least as powerful as the ‘Fire Dragon Battlesuit’. Heavy firepower is preferred. Money is not going to be a problem!”

Li Yao retrieved a silk bag from his Cosmos Ring and opened a gap. Brilliance immediately darted out.

Inside the bag were high-purity crystals. One gram was enough for a high-level Cultivator to train for a long time. They were the best and most reliable currency anywhere.

Niu Youyi glanced at the bag, and his eyes were practically burning with greed. He grinned and said, “Not a problem. Definitely not a problem. Everybody in the black market knows that I have the best range of modified crystal suits. Come here. You are my big client today. Please follow me to the crystal suit warehouse at the back. You are free to choose anything you want!”

Niu Youyi rubbed his hands and bowed. He took quite a few turns and reached an abandoned tunnel far away from the black market.

He opened a rusted gate. A rather spacious room greeted them. It must have been the warehouse where the raw minerals were temporarily stored in the old days.

Right now, almost a hundred crystal suits were piled neatly in the warehouse.

Although most of the crystal suits were damaged and looked secondhand, Li Yao could tell as a professional that they had been repaired and maintained reasonably well. Moreover, practical modifications had been performed. They were definitely very helpful.

Creak.

Niu Youyi closed the gate of the warehouse and smiled. “One of your friends must have introduced you to my business. I am the most well-known trustworthy man in the black market of Silver Wing City. Since this is our first deal, price is not important. What is important is that you are satisfied! Just examine them and pick one. Take your time.”

Li Yao put his two fingers on the surface of the crystal suit and touched it carefully, inferring the technology level of the crystal suits by the camouflage on the shell. He asked without turning back, “I’m told that you sell information, too? I’ve been doing business in space for two years. How is Spider Den so chaotic nowadays? It was not like this in the old days!”

Niu Youyi grinned. “You’ve got keen eyes, sir. Today is different from the past. Spider Den is now no longer the peaceful paradise for space pirates!

“Right now, everything is a mess. A minor battle every three days, and a major one every five. Many great space pirates were not killed in space but died uncanny deaths in their homes!

“Since it’s been a long time since you were here, it is indeed necessary for you to learn the latest situation.

“Of course, mess has merits, too. The messier the world is, the more flourishing our business will be, and the more new pirates can replace the old ones, isn’t that so? I can tell from your appearance that you are a capable one. I have a number of missions to introduce to you. The major pirate gangs today like the foreign space pirates best, those who are capable and do not have deep ties to Spider Den such as yourself. If you are willing to take the risk, it is not unreasonable to assume that you will soar into the heaven in just one leap!”

Li Yao snapped a blinging crystal the size of a bean to Niu Youyi’s feet, while he said coldly, “Tell me the news first. If I’m satisfied, I’ll give you another one.

“As for my choice of crystal suit, let’s hear your story first.

“Common sense is unnecessary. Tell me the important things. I know that the Temple of Immortals supported Fengyu Zhong to be the new king of pirates and had a major conflict with Bai Xinghe. The two parties are in an intense relationship today and will start a total war at any moment.

“But I’m baffled why the Temple of Immortals did not deal with Bai Xinghe when it just revealed itself last year.”

Niu Youyi picked up the crystal, observed it and whistled, before he replied unhurriedly, “The Temple of Immortals is indeed impressive, but Boss Bai is not a guy to be underestimated, either!

“When the Temple of Immortals first showed up, all the space pirates were shocked. Many people did not trust them. Boss Bai was one of them. He even cursed them in public many times!”

Li Yao raised his eyebrow. “And the Temple of Immortals did not take care of him?”

Niu Youyi smiled. “That was the first clue of Boss Bai’s wisdom. As the saying goes, the dogs that bite don’t bark. With Boss Bai’s capability and personality, he was bound to be discontented about the Temple of Immortals either way. If he showed no response and even acted cooperatively when he learned of the Temple of Immortals’ existence, there must have been something wrong with him, and he must have been planning something in secret. Isn’t it so?”

Li Yao pondered and replied, “That’s true.”

“Boss Bai pretended that he was angry and yet had to cooperate with the Temple of Immortals because of their tremendous capability,” Niu Youyi said. “As a result, the Temple of Immortals’ suspicion was reduced a lot.

“Then, Fengyu Zhong rose under the support of the Temple of Immortals and swallowed a lot of other pirate gangs. Boss Bai bluffed and made quite a few declarations, but he never took any action.

“Right. He did take action once. Boss Bai attacked Fengyu Zhong one time, only to suffer a brutal failure and a heavy loss of soldiers because of the intervention of the Temple of Immortals.

“From then on, Boss Bai kept lying low and launched no counterattacks except cursing.

“At the time, everybody thought that Boss Bai was doomed and that Fengyu Zhong was about to suppress him.

“But we didn’t know that everything was Boss Bai’s plan!”

---

Chapter 717: Fake It Until You Make It!

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Recently, Spider Den had been particularly lively. Scumbags in every corner of Flying Star Sector had gathered in this place. Niu Youyi, the black market merchant, told Li Yao a concise summary of the events that had taken place over the past year, and it seemed he had told a lot of people about the events before.

More than a year ago, the Temple of Immortals suddenly revealed itself. Not only were the Cultivators greatly shocked, most space pirates were caught unprepared, too.

In the beginning, Bai Xinghe did not start on bad terms with the Temple of Immortals, because he knew that the Temple of Immortals must have prepared a lot of schemes during their hundreds of years of hiding in darkness. Besides, most of the personnel of the organization was still lurking. It was not time to take action yet.

Therefore, he pretended to be a guy who tried to defend his position and yet did not have enough strength. He was very stubborn about the Temple of Immortals’ recruitment on the surface, but he kept a close relationship with Black Spider Tower, a branch of the Temple of Immortals. A lot of his business operated through the channels of Black Spider Tower. When people of the Temple of Immortals reached out to him and invited him to join it, he did not turn down the offer, although he did not agree on the spot, leaving room for negotiation.

When the Temple of Immortals supported Fengyu Zhong to be the second king of space pirates in order to marginalize him, he burst into fury and planned multiple operations targeting Fengyu Zhong.

However, the operations were all unsuccessful and crushed by Fengyu Zhong easily.

As a result, he gave Fengyu Zhong and people of the Temple of Immortals the impression that he was ‘just so-so’.

For the Temple of Immortals, they did not want to completely alienate Bai Xinghe.

After all, a lean camel is still bigger than a horse. Since Bai Xinghe had been running his business on Spider Den for almost a hundred years, he had grasped immeasurable resources and subordinates in secret. It would have done nobody any good if they were determined to eliminate Bai Xinghe.

The best solution was to boil the frog in warm water. On one hand, they made various promises to Bai Xinghe and even tempted him with the title of the fifth king of the Temple of Immortals. On the other hand, they fully supported the rise of Fengyu Zhong in order to gradually reduce Bai Xinghe’s power. When Fengyu Zhong was as influential as Bai Xinghe among the common space pirates, there would be no other alternatives except to lower his head.

Over the past year, the strategy proved to be very successful.

Bai Xinghe gave other people the feeling that he was too old and no longer the striving young man he used to me. He treasured his accomplishments over the past decades too much and did not dare fight a head-on battle with the ambitious latecomer Fengyu Zhong. At the same time, he was greedily negotiating with the Temple of Immortals on every detail as to his position, power, and resources after he joined the Temple of Immortals, as if he would really become the fifth king of the Temple of Immortals as long as the Temple of Immortals agreed to his conditions!

As a result, many pirate gangs that supported Bai Xinghe gradually took Fengyu Zhong’s side.

Even within the Abyss Pirate Gang, many space pirates who built the enterprise from scratch together with him gradually became involved in the Temple of Immortals, too.

Bai Xinghe seemed to know none of it. He was still making ridiculous plans one after another and even gave people the feeling that he was trying to win the Temple of Immortals’ favor against Fengyu Zhong.

Later, everybody on Spider Den would learn his newly-drafted plan the moment he announced it.

After several times of failure, Bai Xinghe seemed to be intimidated. He completely backed off and became more unfriendly than ever, as if he had abandoned all hope.

He did not make a move when Fengyu Zhong secluded himself for one month to break into the Nascent Soul Stage.

“Boss Bai is really old now, and the Temple of Immortals is too strong!”

For a moment, all the space pirates were whispering in secret.

If it were one year ago, nobody would even have dared to think about that, much less whisper about it.

However, none of the space pirates knew that Bai Xinghe had not taken any real action yet.

The man who could spend a fortnight in the underground world of Spider Den and melt the darkness into his blood knew clearly that, even though Fengyu Zhong was advancing into the Nascent Soul Stage in seclusion, the strength of the Temple of Immortals on Spider Den was still much higher than his.

He stood no chance of winning if he acted now.

He had to wait no matter what.

He knew that the Temple of Immortals would not lurk on Spider Den forever. No matter how they planned to overthrow the Cultivators, they would have to mobilize most of their strength into space to fight against the Cultivators.

His guess was correct.

The battle of Heavenly Saints City was the largest operation since the Temple of Immortals revealed itself. It required even more manpower and resources than the battle of Iron Plateau did.

The Immortal Cultivators who belonged to the Temple of Immortals, the assassins of Black Spider Tower, and the space pirates who joined Fengyu Zhong’s side gradually moved on to Heavenly Saints City for the mission over the few months.

The intelligence network under the control of Black Spider Tower was also fighting hard with the ‘Immortal Slayers’ sent by the Cultivators, trying to dig out spies that were hiding inside the Temple of Immortals such as ‘Apollo’.

With all the emergencies, the half-boiled old frog really did not deserve much attention.

However, at exactly the same time when the battle of Heavenly Saints City broke out, Bai Xinghe took action!

Fake it until you make it.

Within one night, six bureaus of Black Spider Tower were uprooted, seven black markets under the control of Black Spider Tower were looted and burnt to the ground, and twelve docks and crystal suit centers under the name of Fengyu Zhong were assaulted simultaneously. Not only were all the facilities destroyed, a lot of refiners also went missing. Many of them were even beheaded on the spot!

Everything changed overnight.

Before dawn, the leaders of eleven pirate gangs lost their heads without a reason.

All of them had been loyal to and were greatly helped by Bai Xinghe, but they joined Fengyu Zhong’s side when Bai Xinghe showed that he was weak.

The strength that the Temple of Immortals had left on Spider Den was mostly wiped out during the night.

Just like that, Bai Xinghe took advantage of the situation with one year of forbearing and one night of outbreak. He proved with his brutal methods that the Pirate Potentate might not achieve anything but was certain able to sabotage many things!

Right now, the situation on Spider Den was utter chaos.

Many space pirates were awed and returned to Bai Xinghe.

However, many other space pirates held that the Temple of Immortals were deeply rooted and extremely wealthy. Even though Bai Xinghe was on the winning side right now, it was impossible for him to last long against the Temple of Immortals. He was merely trying to get more bargaining chips for his negotiation with the Temple of Immortals.

Therefore, these people were determined to stand with Fengyu Zhong, Black Spider Tower, and the Temple of Immortals, with the thought ‘difficult times are when one’s loyalty is proved’ in mind, and worked even harder.

Although Bai Xinghe’s Abyss Pirate Gang and Fengyu Zhong’s Storm Prison Pirate Gang had not engaged in battle yet, the secondary pirate gangs had already started fighting.

They were like the scouts sent by two great armies who were involved in brutal combat.

“Right now, Spider Den is a chaotic place. Almost every city is on fire!

“But this is also the time when foreign space pirates like you earn your fame!

“Many pirate gangs are hiring talents with a decent price. Daily contracts and result-based contracts are all available! If you distinguish yourself and Boss Bai or Fengyu Zhong notices you, your future will be nothing but bright!”

Niu Youyi spoke touchingly, as if he were really thinking of Li Yao’s interests.

Li Yao asked, showing neither approval nor disapproval, “You know a guy?”

“Of course!” Niu Youyi smiled. “Although I cannot introduce you to the Abyss Pirate Gang or the Storm Prison Pirate Gang, I do know some guys in the middle-sized pirate gangs on both sides.”

“Is that so?”

Li Yao blinked and asked, “I wonder, which side is more likely to win? I have never liked to stand on the loser’s side.”

Niu Youyi replied, “In terms of odds of success, Fengyu Zhong’s side is obviously higher. He is supported by Black Spider Tower and the Temple of Immortals after all! However, Boss Bai has his own advantages, too, which are the secret treasures below ground!”

Li Yao’s eyes suddenly shone as he asked, “What secret treasures?”

The gate of the warehouse had been closed, but Niu Youyi still looked around to make sure nobody was eavesdropping, before he lowered his voice and said, “You must know a thing or two about Boss Bai’s rise even though you are not a native of Spider Den. But I’m afraid you don’t know the details.

“It is said that Yan Xinjian, the supreme space pirate from five hundred years ago, went deep down underground and found the control center of the underground fortress of Spider Den before the fleet of Cultivators arrived. It was only because he activated the defense system of Spider Den to 50% that the army of Cultivators was stopped!

“In his early days as a treasure hunter, Boss Bai found Yan Xinjian’s notebook by accident and learned his knowledge. He then grasped all the secrets below the earth of Spider Den!

“Think about it. In the Star Ocean Imperium ten thousand years ago, the military constructed Spider Den as the last castle of the Flying Star Sector! Unbelievable resources, Cultivation arts, and magical equipment were buried inside! Bring several items out, and everybody will benefit a lot!”

Li Yao sniffed. “Even though Boss Bai received the heritage of Yan Xinjian, how can everybody know such a big secret?”

Niu Youyi replied, his face unchanged, “It is hard to tell if the story is true, but the Cultivation arts and magical equipment that Boss Bai presented are definitely real!

“In short, Boss Bai has decided to bring out all his belongings to fight a last battle!

“This is basically the situation right now. If you join Fengyu Zhong’s side, you will be more likely to win with the support of Black Spider Tower and the Temple of Immortals, but your gains will be relatively fewer. Many of their promises are empty and can only be redeemed a long time in the future.

“If you stand on Boss Bai’s side, naturally, the chances of winning are slim, but you will receive your rewards on the spot and won’t need to wait at all.

“Since you are planning to buy a high-end crystal suit like ‘Fire Dragon Battlesuit’, I assume you are an expert perhaps in the Building Foundation Stage. Both sides are running out of hands and are in desperate need of experts like you. Think about it. I’ll introduce you to them and give you a 70% discount on the intermediary fee!”

Chapter 718: You Know Too Much

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Li Yao snapped the second crystal to him and said, “Cut the crap. I want to know the top ten pirate gangs that are based in Silver Wing City or often come here for maintenance and supplies, especially the information about the three biggest. Their leaders, their leaders’ relatives, the relationship between them. I want to know every detail.

“It’s the same rule. If I’m satisfied, I’ll give you another crystal and buy a crystal suit of the highest specifications from you. Perhaps I will need your help in my business in the future, too. Now, let us begin!”

Niu Youyi swallowed hard and glanced at the gate of the warehouse subconsciously, but he soon retreated his eyes and elaborated. “The two biggest pirate gangs in Silver Wing City are naturally ‘Split Sun’ and ‘Wild Tide’. The two pirate gangs have been in a bad relationship due to a conflict some twenty years ago. Quite a few people on both sides have been killed in the fierce battles. Their hatred toward each other is unresolvable right now. Before, when Boss Bai was on the top of everybody, they did not dare start an open fight on Spider Den.

“More than one year ago, when the Temple of Immortals revealed itself, the leader of the Split Sun Pirate Gang joined their side without any hesitation.

“On the Wild Tide Pirate Gang’s side, since they are deeply involved in Boss Bai’s business, they failed to join the new giant promptly, and as a result, they were suppressed by the Split Sun Pirate Gang and had a rough year.

“A few months ago, the majority of the soldiers of the Split Sun Pirate Gang were summoned by the Temple of Immortals to Heavenly Saints City. Few of them were left on Spider Den.

“After Boss Bai suddenly declared war on the Temple of Immortals, the Wild Tide Pirate Gang took the opportunity to fight back and seized almost all the assets that the Split Sun Pirate Gang left in Silver Wing City. Most of the space pirates in the Split Sun Pirate Gang were killed or driven away. They have indeed gotten their revenge.

“However, during the past half month, the space pirates who were sent to Heavenly Saints City have mostly returned. The strength of the space pirates on the Temple of Immortals’ side has grown significantly, too. They must be planning a counterattack right now.

“The fierce battle that took place above our heads just now should be the main force of the Split Sun Pirate Gang, who just returned from Heavenly Saints City, attacking the Wild Tide Pirate Gang.

“However, hehe, a piece of complementary news. It seems that the attack plan was known by the Wild Tide Pirate Gang earlier. The Split Sun Pirate Gang will probably suffer a heavy loss and won’t take back their assets.”

Li Yao nodded. “Tell me their important members and the zones where they are most active.”

Niu Youyi widened his eyes and licked his lips, beginning a long speech.

After he talked for ten minutes, dull knocks on the door echoed.

Niu Youyi suddenly grew nervous. He gestured Li Yao and, holding the sword he carried, shouted, “Who is it?”

The stranger out of the door replied, “Old Eight. I’m here to take my crystal suit.”

Niu Youyi was relieved. He nodded at Li Yao, indicating that it was all good, and said in a low voice, “It’s a friend. He’s here to take a crystal suit that has undergone maintenance.”

Li Yao move slightly and got out of the way.

Niu Youyi opened the door slightly. Three gloomy, muscular men walked in one after another. They seemed a bit surprised and frowned when they saw Li Yao, too.

“This is a client my friend introduced to me, and an expert possibly in the Building Foundation Stage. We are all good friends here,” Niu Youyi said in a hurry. “With the chaos in Silver Wing City, there’s really no need to give yourselves additional trouble, is there, everybody? Hold on a second. I’m going to bring your crystal suit in a moment!”

While talking, he locked the gate of the warehouse again. Wiping the rust with his clothes, the merchant walked toward the crystal suit shelves.

The three newcomers glanced at Li Yao and soon shifted their attention to the crystal suits in the warehouse.

One of the space pirates, who was slender and had a cross-shaped scar on his face, said, “Old Yi, I was talking about the brand-new ‘Racing Fire’ strengthening plugin for power rune arrays. Don’t you dare mess around with us with the secondhand goods you recycled from the battlefield. If we find out that you did, we’ll skin you alive!”

“How could I?” Niu Youyi immediately defended himself in great dissatisfaction. “Everybody in the black market of Silver Wing City knows that I’m always the most honest one in business. Otherwise, the three of you would not have asked me to maintain your crystal suits, would you? I guarantee that it is an authentic, brand-new ‘Racing Fire’. If you so much as find one scratch on it, tear me apart!”

“That’s good!” the space pirate said coldly. “We all have examination magical equipment with us. Open the cover of the power rune arrays on the crystal suit. We will take a closer look!”

“Of course!”

Niu Youyi bowed his head and walked to the shelves while talking about the details of the crystal suit with the three space pirates.

Maybe it was a coincidence, but the crystal suit they were talking about was right behind Li Yao.

Therefore, including Niu Youyi, the four space pirates were gradually surrounding Li Yao.

The moment before Li Yao was completely surrounded, he suddenly took a big step back and smiled. “It seems that my guess was correct.”

The four space pirates were dazed for a moment. They exchanged a look quietly. Niu Youyi managed a smile and said, “What do you mean, sir?”

His hands behind his back, Li Yao said unhurriedly, “Just now, I captured a space pirate and humiliated him right in front of his friends. But then I asked him who the most reliable crystal suit merchant in Silver Wing City was, a question that indicated that I am a stranger to the city.

“I assumed that, since he hated me and did not know my background, although he did not dare to fight back on the spot, he would definitely try to seek retaliations in other ways.

“Therefore, the guy he introduced me would most certainly be the most untrustworthy and the most unsafe crystal suit merchant in Silver Wing City.

“It was quite possible that the guy would be the most dishonest, cunning, and dangerous one.

“Besides, the crystal suit merchant might also have some bad habits. For example, when he noticed the tremendous wealth that a non-native customer accidentally showed, he would try to kill the customer and loot his corpse.

“I also assumed that, since the crystal suit merchant was always doing such clandestine jobs, the nest of his operations must be very inconspicuous.

“Besides, when he saw that I was a fat lamb and decided to butcher me, he wouldn’t tell anyone about me, except his accomplices.

“Therefore, nobody would know anything that happened in his nest for the time being.

“More importantly—”

Li Yao glanced at the crystal suits on the shelves and remarked, “The crystal suits you have in stock are too lousy. I’m interested in none of them.

“But since you are always robbing other space pirates, and it’s inevitable that you run into some tough guys occasionally, your own crystal suits must be more advanced than the crystal suits displayed here, mustn’t they?”

Li Yao’s words made the lips of the four space pirates dry.

The space pirate who had a cross-shaped scar on his face narrowed his eyes, with intense killing intent flowing out!

Niu Youyi, on the other hand, rolled his eyes and mumbled, “You’ve known that I would rob you since the beginning, and you still came with me?”

His sweat suddenly poured down and he nearly collapsed to the ground, while he shrieked, “Senior, spare—”

There was no time!

His three companions were not as quick-minded as him. Seeing that their identity had been exposed, they started retrieving their crystal suits from their Cosmos Rings!

Li Yao sighed and shook his head. “You really shouldn’t have worn nothing when you entered the warehouse just in order to ease my wariness.”

It took him one second to finish the sentence, not enough time for the three space pirates to fully equip their crystal suits.

In that time, Li Yao had vanished!

Like an unpredictable cloud, he turned into black smoke and flashed past the three space pirates!

Niu Youyi’s eyes widened. He could not see any trace of Li Yao at all and could only sense Li Yao’s existence by the movements and reactions of the three space pirates!

The first space pirate had just put on the breastplate and the skirt armor when his face twisted beyond the limits as if he had seen the greatest horror. In the next second, he vomited a mouthful of blood that was mixed with his broken internal organs, and he collapsed to the ground as if all his bones had been removed.

The second space pirate took the opportunity to put on most of the crystal suit. But when he retrieved the helmet from his Cosmos Ring, his head suddenly soared into the sky, spraying a torrent of blood!

The third space pirate, who was the guy with a cross-shaped scar on his face, was the fastest one to put on all of his crystal suit.

After a roar, his vibration saber rushed out, only to come to an abrupt halt in midair. He turned into a frozen statue, unable to move anymore.

Niu Youyi was horrified. He gazed at the space pirate for a long time before he finally discovered that dozens of threads thinner than hair seemed to have stabbed into the gaps of the third space pirate’s crystal suit.

The threads were almost transparent. There was no telling what they were made of.

Had the blood not been leaking out along the threads and condensing into pearls, he would not have recognized that there was such a piece of weird magical equipment at all!

The dozens of threads did no damage to the crystal suit but killed the space pirate inside instantly!

And the source of all three deaths was… right behind him!

Niu Youyi nearly defecated in his pants. He kneeled down on the ground and shouted at the top of his voice, “Spare my life, senior! Take whatever crystal suits you want! Whatever you want to know, I will tell you everything that I know, no more and no less!”

Li Yao’s casual voice came behind him. “You didn’t finish your introduction just now. I’ll give you five minutes. Go on.”

Niu Youyi took a long breath. His tongue had never worked harder in his entire life.

Li Yao listened attentively while checking the time. When five minutes were over, although Niu Youyi had not finished his introduction, he still stopped talking for the sake of his own safety.

“That’s enough. I’m satisfied by your performance. One last thing. Why did you mess around with me? Did you know who I am?”

Niu Youyi shook his head hard and replied, “I—I don’t know who you are, senior. If I did, I wouldn’t have dared rob you even if I was drunk!”

“Then remember this. My name is—”

Li Yao paused suddenly. He blinked and then continued. “My name is ‘Bloody Vulture’. Do you remember it now?”

Niu Youyi nodded vigorously and replied, “I do. I do. I will always bear Senior Bloody Vulture’s name in mind and never ask for your trouble in the future! Whatever you need me to do, just tell me!”

“Very good.”

Li Yao’s lips gradually curled, as he put on a creepy smile that made goosebumps rise all over Niu Youyi’s body.

“Right now, you know too much.”

Chapter 719: Bite the Bait

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

It was dusk when Nie Feijun stepped into the Dancing Phoenix Pavilion.

Mysterious lights were shimmering in the countless mining holes of Silver Wing City from top to bottom. Illumination rune arrays were installed inside crystals that had been hollowed. Such lamps were bringing brightness to a world of relaxation and entertainment.

The Dancing Phoenix Pavilion was one of the most luxurious hotels in Silver Wing City. The fantastic and rarely-seen treasures of the Flying Star Sector had been transported to the place through the underground channels of Black Spider Tower, making the place as extravagant as the high-level hotels of Heavenly Saints City, if not more so.

“Young Master Jun!”

Seeing that Nie Feijun had brought quite a few friends here, the manager of the Dancing Phoenix Pavilion immediately greeted him, in such an adulating way that it seemed as if he would not mind kneeling down and cleaning his shoes.

What a bunch of fickle people. You were not like this half a year ago!

Nie Feijun sneered.

His father was the captain of the Wild Tide Pirate Gang. In the past year, since the Split Sun Pirate Gang, their old nemesis, joined the Temple of Immortals’ side, the Wild Tide Pirate Gang had gritted their teeth and stayed on Bai Xinghe’s side. They were constantly suppressed by their mortal enemy. Nobody in Silver Wing City had high hopes for them.

As a result, Young Master Nie had been mocked and questioned everywhere.

But everything was good now. After Bai Xinghe’s declaration of war, the Wild Tide Pirate Gang initiated full-scale counterattack. A lot of the Split Sun Pirate Gang’s bases were destroyed, and one of the most important crystal suit modification centers was also burnt to the ground.

Over the past few days, since they learned of the Split Sun Pirate Gang’s counterattack plan in advance, they had made thorough preparations and secured another major victory today. Even one of the vice captains of the Split Sun Pirate Gang had been killed. It was an unprecedented success!

Right now, the Wild Tide Pirate Gang’s prestige in Silver Wing City was at its peak. The other pirate gangs large and small all expressed their submissiveness and acknowledged them as the owners of the docks and the crystal suit centers. Every member of the Split Sun Pirate Gang had fled and hidden themselves thousands of meters below the ground, having no courage to show up at all.

No wonder the manager of the Dancing Phoenix Pavilion was so humble today.

Nie Feijun was in a good mood. He had come to the Dancing Phoenix Pavilion today after inviting several good friends who helped him during the battle in the day for dinner. He did not bother to talk to the manager and simply waved his hand at him before he went into the lobby.

Hardly had he entered the lobby when he heard a drunkard yelling, “Are you made of jade or what? Why can’t I touch you? I have all the money in the world. Bring—burp—bring me your manager!”

Then, the weeps of a waitress came over.

Nie Feijun frowned.

The Dancing Phoenix Pavilion was one of the most luxurious hotels in Silver Wing City. The space pirates who were wealthy enough to be a customer in this place were definitely not the shabby thieves but the formally-dressed great bandits. No matter how brutal and merciless they were in space, they often pretended that they were gentlemen in this place.

If the guy was looking for sexual entertainment, there were countless places for that in Silver Wing City. Why must he yell and shout in this place where everybody was enjoying their dinner?

“Young Master Jun?”

The manager rubbed his hands and looked at Nie Feijun helplessly.

In order to run a business in a nest of pirates such as Silver Wing City, the Dancing Phoenix Pavilion was naturally backed by somebody else. Before, it was the Split Sun Pirate Gang. But naturally, the supporter of the hotel was the Wild Tide Pirate Gang now.

Right now, the Wild Tide Pirate Gang was in its peak days. Since somebody was making a fuss right in front of his face, Nie Feijun felt obliged to take care of it. He asked solemnly, “Who is he?”

“A wealthy magnate who doesn’t look familiar. It seems that he is new to Spider Den and does not know the conventions here,” the manager said in a low voice. “Just now, he proposed a lot of outrageous demands. Young Master Jun, you also know that the Dancing Phoenix Pavilion is just a peaceful place for dinner and does not do any other business. But the customer simply wouldn’t let it go and kept harassing us.”

Nie Feijun nodded as he realized what was going on.

It must be a space pirate who had done a major job and fled to Spider Den with the stolen goods. Chances were that he had a few coins in his pocket because he had just sold the stolen goods through the black market and felt that it was hard to contain his libido.

With the chaos in the Flying Star Sector and the continuous battles between Cultivators and Immortal Cultivators, many people had decided to take advantage of the havoc. A ‘space pirate’ did not need to be registered in a labor union, nor did it require any work experience. As long as the evil thoughts prevailed, anybody could turn into a space pirate after they made up their mind and committed major crimes for money and treasures.

Therefore, there had been quite a few foreign magnates emerging on Spider Den over the past half year.

However, those people usually did not end well. Most of them were devoured by the local space pirates of Spider Den with even no bones left.

But Nie Feijun did not intend to rob the fat lamb today. He nodded and spoke to his two tough-looking subordinates. “Take him to the pit around the back. Break his knees and knock out all his teeth. That should be enough. I’m in a good mood today and will spare his life.”

His subordinates acknowledged and strode forward. After noises of utensils being broken apart, somebody yelled, “Do—do you know who I am? The fu—Ouch, ouch!”

A smelly drunkard was dragged out by Nie Feijun’s subordinates.

The waitress who was harassed just now hurried to thank him.

Nie Feijun smiled and did not think too much of the incident. After his friends and him were seated, they talked and laughed and toasted merrily.

However, half an hour passed, and his subordinates still had not returned.

Nie Feijun felt alarmed. He was quite familiar with the environment of the Dancing Phoenix Pavilion. There were complicated forsaken tunnels right behind the hotel. It should not have taken them as much time even if they were torturing the drunkard slowly.

He hurried to contact his subordinates, but nobody replied in the communication channel.

After prolonged ‘beep-beep-beep’ sounds, Nie Feijun and the other space pirates at the dinner table looked at each other in bewilderment, all putting on solemn expressions.

“Let’s go!”

As the son of the captain of the Wild Tide Pirate Gang, Nie Feijun had abundant experience in combat. Now that he had a sense of danger, his very first reaction was not to go to the tunnels to check but to leave the hotel immediately!

Nie Feijun crawled into his own ‘Rapid Dragon Armed Shuttle’ outside the Dancing Phoenix Pavilion and heaved a long sigh of relief.

The Rapid Dragon Armed Shuttle boasted amazing performance in vertical rising and landing and was designed to fight in tunnels that had a lot of vertical sections. The 128 flying swords it carried could be released simultaneously and manipulated by the crystal processor on the top of the armed shuttle automatically in order to rectify the trajectory of attack before they reached the body of the enemy. The firepower was extreme fierce!

Moreover, the seven layers of spiritual shields of the armed shuttle were unbreakable even when face with the most advanced crystal suit. The defense ability was very impressive!

However, the moment when Nie Feijun activated the Rapid Dragon Armed Shuttle, the vehicle, which was as valuable as a high-end crystal suit, turned into a furiously-burning fireball after an earsplitting explosion!

“Ouch!”

Nie Feijun was an expert in the Building Foundation Stage. The explosion did not kill him instantly, but his skin was all charred. With a scream, he soared to the sky and summoned his crystal suit while holding back the excruciating pain!

Right then, a black shadow blinked to Nie Feijun’s side like lightning, as if it had calculated the angle and the direction precisely earlier!

“You dared to anger me? Whoever you are—die now!”

Nie Feijun, son of the captain of the Wild Tide Pirate Gang and an expert in the Building Foundation Stage, was killed!

The entire city was shocked in half an hour.

After striking the Split Sun Pirate Gang heavily twice consecutively, the Wild Tide Pirate Gang had become the well-deserved dominator of Silver Wing City. Under such circumstances, the son of the captain of the Split Sun Pirate Gang was killed in public!

Moreover, the murderer broke out of the siege and ran away!

For a moment, the Wild Tide Pirate Gang indeed turned into a wild tide. Inside Silver Wing City, countless space pirates received orders to search for the mysterious assassin.

Five hours later, Li Yao crawled out of a stinky gutter and lay on the ground. He opened the facial cover and the breastplate of his crystal suit while he coughed hard.

The wound in front of his chest was still bleeding, but the pain had calmed down and did not affect his fighting.

He had just escaped from the nine waves of blocking.

With his maximum combat ability close to that of the peak of the Core Formation Stage, it was more than easy for him to run away from the space pirates.

If he were mad, he could even have charged into the headquarters of the Wild Tide Pirate Gang and go on a killing spree.

But right now, he was playing the role of a tough bandit who had done a job and come to Spider Den for entertainment.

He suppressed his capability to the high level of the Building Foundation Stage.

It was because experts in the peak of the Building Foundation Stage were rare both on the Cultivators’ side and on the space pirates’ side. They were all well-known. A random guy with such a high Cultivation would easily raise suspicion.

He had fought against a lot of people in the Storm Prison Pirate Gang and even had a brief battle with Fengyu Zhong himself. Storm Prison must have had a lot of his combat videos from which his habits of fighting could be analyzed.

Therefore, he had completely changed his approach to fighting and abandoned the skills that he was most familiar with. He mainly used guns and the weird kicking skill transformed from the ‘Hellsword Arts’.

With the double restraints, it was not usual that he was wounded.

Moreover, the wounds were exactly what he needed.

He even felt that the wounds were not serious enough and was planning to expose his traces on purpose in order to fight the pursuers one more time, when he heard soft footsteps nearby.

Li Yao smiled, knowing that the fish had bitten the bait.

When he looked back, seven fully-armed space pirates were scattered near the gutter. They seemed to be blocking all his ways of escape, but they did not come any closer, a subtle sign of their friendliness.

An Exo who was wearing an ivory crystal suit with a mask that looked like a fox face chuckled. “New to the place, unfamiliar with the terrain, and yet successfully escaping from the hunting of the Wild Tide Pirate Gang multiple times, while slaying more than ten experts during the counterattack. You will be famous after the battle.

“However, are you not curious why these people are chasing you so persistently and without bothering about the cost?

“Tell you what, my friend, you are in serious trouble!

“Do you have any idea who the guy you killed in the beginning was?”

Brutality beaming out of his eyes, Li Yao replied in a coarse voice, “I don’t care who he was. He is dead because I wanted him dead!”

Chapter 720: Progressive Concession

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

The man who was wearing a silver mask of a fox face chuckled and said unhurriedly, “With your expertise, it is quite possible that you can kill whoever you want. But you have to pay a price when you kill some of them.

“Let me tell you the truth. The guy you killed just now is the eldest son of the captain of the Wild Tide Pirate Gang!

“You don’t need me to explain the position and power of the Wild Tide Pirate Gang in Silver Wing City, do you?”

Li Yao suddenly shivered, his face twisting. He cursed, “No wonder so many scumbags were chasing after me. How f*cking unlucky I was. I just killed a random guy, and I hit the jackpot!”

While he was talking, strong killing intent flowed out of Li Yao’s body. His eyes started at the strangers like flying swords, as he asked solemnly, “So, you are trying to capture me to claim the rewards from the Wild Tide Pirate Gang?

“If so, just bring it on!”

The masked man hurriedly stepped back and raised his hands, indicating that he was not malicious. He said, “Make no mistake, sir. We’re not here to capture you. On the contrary, we might be the only people in Silver Wing City who can help you!”

“Cut the nonsense!” Li Yao spat and grinned. “I’ve seen too many such tricks. Everybody knows that the Wild Tide Pirate Group is now the dominator of Silver Wing City after defeating the Split Sun Pirate Gang. All the space pirates are now trying to please the Wild Tide Pirate Gang. You sons of b*tches are merely trying to win my trust before you find an opportunity to tie me up and send me to the Wild Tide Pirate Gang!

“Help me? Why would you be so kind to help me?

“Stop wasting my time. If you want a fight, so be it. I cannot guarantee that you will all stay here forever, but I’m 90% sure that you will be buried together with me!”

The masked man took another step back and asked his subordinates to keep distance from Li Yao. He bowed and said, “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Yin She, the advisor of the Split Sun Pirate Gang.”

Li Yao was dazed for a moment. He grunted and went back to the gutter.

It was beyond Yin She’s expectation. He was somewhat anxious. “What’s the meaning of this, mister?”

Li Yao grinned. “If you are indeed from the Split Sun Pirate Gang, I do believe that you mean no harm for me.

“However, I also believe that you are about to try to recruit me. I’m sorry, but I’m not interested at all. With that in mind, we might as well go our separate ways here and now!”

Yin She was dumbfounded. “Are you not even willing to hear what I have to offer?”

“No,” Li Yao replied without even turning back. “Everybody in Silver Wing City knows that the Split Sun Pirate Gang has been beaten to the ground. Whatever’s left of your members are merely stray dogs now. Whatever great offers you give me, I can only enjoy them if I’m alive. I do not intend to play hide-and-seek in the depths together with you!”

Yin She’s voice was now mixed with anger. “You are now being hunted by more than half of the people of Silver Wing City. Everyone in the Wild Tide Pirate Gang is determined to skin you and eat you alive. You are now no better than a stray dog! How are you expecting to run away if you don’t cooperate with the Split Sun Pirate Gang?”

Li Yao sneered. “I have my own approaches, and I don’t need to explain them to you and ask for your approval.”

“I know what your approaches are even if you tell me nothing,” Yin She said disdainfully. “Three hundred meters above the gutter is the biggest magical equipment store for wilderness survival in Silver Wing City. All kinds of magical equipment that can help you live in the fatal environment on the surface of Spider Den can be purchased there.

“You are planning to sneak into the store and get loads of magical equipment to help you survive in the wilderness. Then, you will find a way out of Silver Wing City, travel through the wilderness, and enter into another city, right?

“However, I suggest you think before you leap.

“Since I know what is on your mind, people of the Wild Tide Pirate Gang must know what is on your mind, too. I estimate that a lot of space pirates of the Wild Tide Pirate Gang are planning on ambushing you in the store. As long as you show up there, you will be dead for sure!”

Li Yao suddenly froze.

Yin She smiled. “I know that you must be used to doing your job alone and never trusting anybody. However, in the current situation, you killed the son of the captain of Wild Tide Pirate Gang, which is something you can never make up for, and the Split Sun Pirate Gang has been a mortal enemy for the Wild Tide Pirate Gang all the time because we are on different sides.

“Cooperating with us may be your best option right now, sir.”

Li Yao turned around. Pondering for a moment, he said coldly, “I’m told that the bureaus and bases that the Split Sun Pirate Gang established in Silver Wing City have all been destroyed by the Wild Tide Pirate Gang. The attack you recently planned was crushed, too!

“Moreover, I’m told that, after Boss Bai demonstrated his strength again, many space pirates rejoined his side, too. He now has an overwhelming advantage in numbers and is unstoppable!

“Meanwhile, the Split Sun Pirate Gang is on Fengyu Zhong’s side. Although Fengyu Zhong has advanced into the Nascent Soul Stage, he is still the newcomer in the competition. I fear that he is no match for Boss Bai!”

Yin She burst into laughter. “Of course, Bai Xinghe is an extraordinary man. But Fengyu Zhong is backed by Black Spider Tower and the Temple of Immortals! Recently, our strength has been mostly concentrated in Heavenly Saints City. Bai Kaixin only managed to take advantage of us while we were weak. Right now, our people are returning to Spider Den, and our strength is growing day after day!

“Tell you what, the battle today was merely a minor test. The big picture was not affected whether it succeeded or not! The real thunderous attack has yet to break out!”

“Oh?” Li Yao looked down, deep in thought.

Yin Shen took the chance to persuade him. “You have nowhere to run in Silver Wing City. Even if you flee to the wilderness, you will be faced with the hunting of the Wild Tide Pirate Gang forever! Besides, the Wild Tide Pirate Gang is a loyal subject of Bai Xinghe, and you must know a thing or two about Bai Xinghe’s intimidating strength on Spider Den!

“Even if you successfully run to a second city, you might not necessarily be safe!

“You might get a moment to catch your breath only if you flee into space.

“However, since you have come to Spider Den, you must have committed felonies in space. How can you go back and ask to be captured?

“Therefore, there is absolutely nowhere to run to for you now!

“Your only choice is to cooperate with us. We will work together and eliminate the Wild Tide Pirate Gang and even Bai Xinghe himself. After that, not only will your head be safe and secure again, your position will also rise higher!

“It’s indeed a bit hasty to ask you to join the Split Sun Pirate Gang so suddenly, but we can cooperate on equal terms. The operations we’ve been planning recently could really use experts like you!”

Li Yao observed Yin She for a long time with a pair of eyes that resembled hooks. He smiled. “You want to hire me? My salary is very high!”

Yin She smiled, too. “Backed by the Temple of Immortals and Black Spider Tower, we are lacking anything but resources. Whatever you demand, just say it out!”

“My requirements are not outrageous.”

Li Yao extended three fingers and said, “If you want to hire me, you will give me a basic salary every day and a ‘movement fee’ after every battle I take part in. You will also give me a ‘headcount fee’ for every person I kill on the battlefield according to their Cultivation, as well as a ‘maintenance fee’ according to the damages to my magical equipment on the battle. Is there a problem?”

Yin She was dazed for a long time. He pondered for a moment and said, “As long as you prove yourself to be worthy, naturally, we won’t hesitate to offer you money and resources. But I’m curious about one thing.

“Nie Feijun was merely between the low level and the middle level of the Building Foundation Stage. It is not unusual that you could slay him instantly when you were wearing a crystal suit.

“However, according to the combat videos of yours that I just watched, I assume that you are no higher than the high level of the Building Foundation Stage.

“How did you escape from the serial hunting of so many space pirates?

“Honestly speaking, if you were merely a combat-type Cultivator in the high level of the Building Foundation Stage, I wouldn’t have risked showing up and recruiting you.

“It was your ‘ability’ that attracted my attention. I wonder, can you explain it to me?”

Li Yao licked his lips and replied casually, “Other than knowing some shallow fighting techniques, I’m also an explosions expert.”

“Explosions expert?” Yin She’s interest was greatly aroused. He nodded and said, “Very good. We are in dire need of such an expert right now. Then, how should we address you?”

Li Yao squinted. There was wariness in his eyes again.

“We are not interested in your past, and we know that you are not likely to tell us your real name,” Yin She explained. “What we need is just a code name for the sake of easier communication.”

Li Yao replied coldly, “Call me ‘Bloody Vulture’.”

…

“Bloody Vulture, a combat-type Cultivator between the middle level and the high level of the Building Foundation Stage, is good at movement techniques and kicking techniques, the production and deployment of crystal bombs, and various tactics to cooperate with his crystal bombs.

“He is both bold and brutal and killed somebody without thinking about the consequences when he was angry. Judging from his tone, he must have committed major crimes in space.

“In our database, no names or nicknames similar to ‘Bloody Vulture’ were found. There were no search results on his face and appearance, either. It is estimated that he has disguised himself, but that is quite normal on Spider Den. Nothing to be surprised at.

“After analyzing the combat videos in which he escaped from the hunting of the Wild Tide Pirate Gang, I have ascertained that he is truly a very skilled explosion expert. He will be of high value for our operations in the future.

“Also, after multiple checks, Nie Feijun has indeed been slain by this guy. It is impossible that the death was faked. Therefore, it is impossible that he is an undercover member of the Wild Tide Pirate Gang. There’s no doubt about that.”

In the deepest part of Silver Wing City, more than six thousand meters below the around, inside a secret chamber established in the zigzagging tunnels, You Dongsheng, the leader of the Split Sun Pirate Gang, narrowed his eyes and studied a case file carefully.

“In such a case, this Bloody Vulture can’t be an undercover member of the Wild Tide Pirate Gang, can he?”

The boss of the Split Sun Pirate Gang tapped his crystal processor slowly and told Yin Shen, his advisor who was standing solemnly aside, “However, there is still something suspicious about the guy.”

Chapter 721: No Innocent Souls Under My Saber!

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

The Leader of the Split Sun Pirate Gang tapped the crystal processor quickly and divided the light beam into five sections, each displaying different footage. They were all captured by somebody else when Li Yao was breaking out of the siege.

The leader’s eyes were as thick as the venom retrieved from the teeth of a viper. He said calmly, “Judging from his reactions during his escape, Bloody Vulture is a prudent, calm man.

“Also, as an explosion expert, he has to deal with crystal bombs that are extremely precise every day. One moment of carelessness, and he will be blown into pieces. Therefore, it is impossible that he is a reckless man.

“Then, why was such a calm man involved in a conflict with Nie Feijun in the Dancing Phoenix Pavilion in the first place?”

“Many people have confirmed that it was Nie Feijun who demanded that his knees be broken and his teeth be plucked first,” Yin She explained. “Even the calmest person would burst into fury when they ran into something like that, not to mention a brutal bandit who has zero respect for life.”

“No. I was not talking about that.” The leader shook his head slowly and said, “I was talking about him harassing the waitress of the Dancing Phoenix Pavilion half-drunk before that.

“It is a basic skill of survival for a space pirate to notice their surroundings. As a lone wolf, it is all the more important for him to observe the environment he is in.

“As you said, he was a very calm space pirate who acted on his own. When he came to a place like the Dancing Phoenix Pavilion, he should have known that it was not a random hotel where he could horse around and that he would be in trouble if he did.

“Then why did he horse around anyway?

“That is why I’m suspicious about him. I think that harassing the waitress does not fit the calmness that he demonstrated later!”

Yin She smiled. He thought for a moment and replied, “Big brother, I never like to use the word ‘coincidence’, but what happened might really be just a coincidence.

“After the assassination, we found that the nest of Niu Youyi, a black market merchant in the center of Silver Wing City, had been blown up earlier. The traces of explosion were very similar to the methods Bloody Vulture showed later.”

The leader of the Split Sun Pirate Gang sneered, “Niu Youyi? The scumbag who liked to rob other space pirates finally had his karma!

“I assume that Bloody Vulture went to Niu Youyi to purchase magical equipment, but the merchant had ill intentions and played dirty tricks again, only to piss off someone he should not have pissed off and be slain mercilessly!

“However, what does it have to do with my suspicion?”

“Your assumption is right. Our preliminary analysis is that Bloody Vulture went to buy magical equipment from Niu Youyi since he was new to the place. In the end, Niu Youyi was killed by Bloody Vulture when he planned to rob him,” Yin She explained. “Bloody Vulture must have sacked his shop by the way.

“Bloody Vulture made a fortune after looting Niu Youyi. It was only reasonable for him to enjoy himself in the most luxurious hotel of Silver Wing City.”

“Enjoyment was reasonable,” the leader observed coldly, “but harassing the waitress was reckless.”

Yin She blinked and said, “It would’ve been reckless if he were sober, but it was nothing odd when he had drunk an entire bottle of ‘Drunk Deity’.

“Big Brother, you also know that ‘Drunk Deity’ is a popular refined wine in the Flying Star Sector. It is made of ‘Drunk Deity Vine’, a valuable Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasure, as well as dozens of other herbs. It is said that the wind can cleanse the veins, refresh the soul, and even improve one’s Cultivation!

“Naturally, after having ‘Drunk Deity’, he lost control of himself when his blood boiled and his nerves were excited. Even an expert in the Core Formation Stage might find it unbearable, not to mention a Building Foundation Stage one.

“The ‘Drunk Deity’ wine in the outside world is mostly made of the powder of the Drunk Deity Vine, or even counterfeits that are other vine-type herbs. Such wine is absolutely useless!

“In comparison, the Drunk Deity wine that the Dancing Phoenix Pavilion provided is brewed by the hotel itself. It is the unique feature of the hotel and one of the best Drunk Deity wines in the entire Flying Star Sector!

“We estimate that Bloody Vulture must’ve had a lot of Drunk Deity wine in space and thus did not think too much of it. Therefore, he ordered a bottle with no concern when he reached the Dancing Phoenix Pavilion.

“He must’ve regarded the Drunk Deity wine here as the lousy wine he drank in space. He didn’t know that the Drunk Deity wine would be so potent!

“Also, the biggest feature of the Drunk Deity wine is that it is sweet and tastes as smooth as silk. There will not be the slightest hinderance. The wine will only take effect one to two hours later.

“Captain, look, this is the surveillance video we stole from the Dancing Phoenix Pavilion, and Bloody Vulture’s order clearly listed that it was Drunk Deity he demanded.

“This is the picture at the first few hours of his drinking. It is obvious that he is drinking the Drunk Deity wine.

“He was indeed calm and stayed alert in the beginning. He was looked around warily while he was drinking.

“However, as he drank more and more wine and finished the entire bottle, he was no longer the master of himself when the wine took effect!

“His harassment of the waitress and his encounter with Nie Feijun both happened after that.

“Therefore, everything should be a coincidence.”

The leader frowned. “I don’t like the word ‘should’. Can you find the files of the crimes Bloody Vulture committed in space?”

“That will be tricky.” Yin Shen opened his hands helplessly. “In the dozens of space zones, thousands of Cultivation sects, and millions of space towns, who knows what case he did in which town? Such desperadoes are the most careful with their tongue. They will never tell other people what they did. Otherwise, other people might threaten them with the information someday.

“The more skilled an expert is, the more secrets they have. We are now in desperate need of hands. If we only employ people after we fully vet their ancestors, they will all join Bai Xinghe’s side!

“After all, we are only hiring him for battles. He will never touch our top secrets. I think our investigation is good enough.”

“You do have a point. Observe him in secret for another three days. If everything is alright, ask him to take part in the operation in three days’ time!”

The leader pondered for a moment and turned on another light beam.

It was the picture of Li Yao at exactly that moment, taken from a very weird angle.

Lying on his bed, with his hands as the pillow, Li Yao was whispering a weird song, as if he had no idea that such an inconspicuous camera was hidden in his room.

Neither the leader nor the advisor knew that Li Yao was whispering a song from a different world named ‘Forty Millenniums of Cultivation’.

…

Li Yao lay on his bed comfortably. The terrible wounds on his chest had been treated with an ointment, and he had done some recovery training with the facilities provided by the Split Sun Pirate Gang.

Thus, he could focus his attention on the current situation.

With the information that Niu Youyi provided, he had basically understood the status of the major pirate gangs in Silver Wing City and found a suitable target.

Then, he went to the Dancing Phoenix Pavilion and had a whole bottle of the Drunk Deity Wine, making an excuse for his rashness and the assassination resulting from his recklessness.

Up until now, everything went quite smooth. He had been hired by the Split Sun Pirate Gang as he had planned.

Working as a mercenary instead of joining the Split Sun Pirate Gang was a choice that could not be helped.

Standing in the middle of the competition between Bai Xinghe and Fengyu Zhong, two brutal bandits, was like struggling to survive between two great swirls. One would be smashed into pieces if they were imprudent for one moment.

Even though the leader of the Split Sun Pirate Gang was a moron, Li Yao did not dare to underestimate Fengyu Zhong’s wisdom. During the head-on clash with Fengyu Zhong in the periphery of the Iron Plateau Space Zone, the traps that he had set up were seen through by Fengyu Zhong multiple times. The old, cunning fox had an intuitional sense of danger.

If Li Yao acted in a hurry to join the Split Sun Pirate Gang and get in touch with the core secrets, even a pig would know that there was something wrong with him, not to mention Fengyu Zhong!

The identity of a mercenary could maintain his independency and help him avoid the most thorough investigations.

The identity of an ‘explosions expert’, on the other hand, was both a disguise and the best role to reach the center of the competition.

Li Yao believed that, for such a large-scale battle in such a complicated terrain as Spider Den, an explosions expert was definitely an indispensable figure.

As long as he can proved himself to be an out-and-out explosions expert, there would certainly be a vast stage for him to show off. Later, he would be able to influence the outcome of the battle to some degree and make Spider Den an even more chaotic place than right now!

Soon, I will have to prove my ‘value’!

Li Yao had knocked open the door of the Split Sun Pirate Gang with Nie Feijun’s head. A lot of other space pirates would die at his hands in future, too.

But he did not hesitate at all.

Both the Split Sun and the Wild Tide were among the top twenty pirate gangs on Spider Den.

On the wanted list that the major Cultivation sects provided, the crimes they had committed were recorded in great detail. They were all wicked criminals and deserved death penalties.

Nie Feijun, who had been killed by him earlier, had once hijacked nine carriers in a row in the Flowing Flower Space Zone, and to prevent the news from leaking out, he slew every crew member on board after he looted the carriers!

It was just one of the insignificant crimes that the space pirates committed.

After all, the space pirates—be they part of the Split Sun or the Wild Tide, be they on Fengyu Zhong’s side or on Bai Xinghe’s side, and whether they followed the rules on the surface or completely disregarded them—were merely demon beasts wearing human skin.

No. Demon beasts fought against human beings due to natural instincts and for their own survival.

The space pirates, in comparison, were mostly strong Cultivators themselves. Yet, they forgot the responsibilities on their shoulders and did things that were even worse than the demon beasts’ actions!

This is why I like Spider Den.

In this place, there are no innocent souls under my saber. Every scumbag I kill is revenge for the endless restless ghosts in space!

I can kill anybody blatantly without caring about anything!”

Chapter 722: Li Yao’s Methods

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Three days later, in a secondary mining hole hundreds of meters in diameter on the east side of Silver Wing City…

After hundreds of years of construction, this place had been built into a minor maintenance dock for starships.

The vertical wells led to the ground and up into the bright purple sky. The small assault starships no longer than a hundred meters could be maintained and launched into space by the helical ejection rune arrays deployed on the wall of the mining hole. It was safer and more confidential than to have the starship maintained in the orbit of the planet, and such a way often consumed less fuel.

Right now, an assault starship was being maintained inside the dock.

Countless mechanics were crawling up and down under the command of refiners. Sparks were bursting out everywhere. It was quite a lively scene.

Suddenly—

Dozens of ceramic balls that contained flashing rune arrays were tossed into the place from the tunnels in various directions. They exploded in midair consecutively and constituted a dazzling array of brightness, dying the dock pure white.

Everybody could see nothing except whiteness. They could only hear furious roars,

“The Split Sun Pirate Gang is doing our job here. Lie low if you don’t want to get killed!”

Hundreds of ferocious space pirates lunged out of the shadows of the mining pits.

They had put on their crystal suits a long time ago, and their crystal cameras were installed with a special protection membrane. Therefore, they were not affected by the flash bangs while they charged at the important locations.

A brutal combat instantly began!

Over the past three days, a lot of space pirates of the Split Sun Pirate Gun had returned from Heavenly Saints City to Spider Den and regrouped. The leader of the gang, with the support of Fengyu Zhong, also summoned a lot of resources and recruited new subordinates on Spider Den. Countless brutal bandits had joined his cause. Therefore, his attack right now was much fiercer than the one three days ago!

In the blink of an eye, the front side of the dock was wreathed in flames.

Outside the main battlefield, where it seemed quiet, Li Yao started his attack, too.

He was wearing a grey, light crystal suit that had ancillary wings made of the skins of demon beasts behind the arms and the legs. When they were opened together, the crystal suit would look like a giant bat.

The mining holes, which could easily be thousands of meters deep, often had chaotic vertical air currents. With such ancillary wings, the air currents could be made best use of to make the crystal suit even more mysterious and unpredictable.

The crystal suit was named ‘Drunk Bat’. It was a special crystal suit built for the unique environment of Spider Den. The difficulty in operating it was quite high, too.

Swoosh!

After putting on the Drunk Bat Battlesuit, Li Yao seemed to have really turned into a bat that had drunk too much wine. While everybody’s attention was focused on the main battlefield, he slipped into the dock without alarming anyone.

Beep! Beep!

Right then, the crystal processor of the Drunk Bat Battlesuit displayed that it had detected a hostile expert named Gui Feng, the deputy captain of the assault team of the Wild Tide Pirate Gang!

The crystal processor immediately displayed all the information regarding Gui Feng in the database, including several of his battle videos.

It was said that the man was in the middle level of the Building Foundation Stage and adept in wind-class spiritual energy. He also had a piece of air-controlling magical equipment in his possession that could compress the air into invisible ‘air blades’ and kill people in a breath!

While the files were blinking on Li Yao’s light beam, some other bloodstained information popped up in Li Yao’s brain, too.

Space pirate Gui Feng was wanted by more than five hundred space towns. His bounty on the wanted list of space pirates published by Heavenly Saints City ranked in the top thousand, too. More than twenty bloody cases in space were associated with him based on solid evidence.

Li Yao sneered. The information streams of the bloody cases seemed to have turned into magma and flooded into his legs. His speed was further accelerated. With the help of the chaotic air currents, he blinked and split off into seven clones, which all lunged at Gui Feng simultaneously!

As a seasoned space pirate, Gui Feng had keen senses. When the dock was breached from the front, he had immediately focused his attention on the rear part.

Hardly had Li Yao’s seven clones appeared when he triggered almost twenty air blades quietly and slashed them over. In the meantime, he raised four spiritual shields in front of him!

However, although his spiritual shields could resist Li Yao’s physical attack, they could not block Li Yao’s telepathic thoughts!

One of Li Yao’s telepathic thoughts was condensed to the size of a mustard seed and pierced through Gui Feng’s spiritual shields, through his crystal suit, and into his brain without any trouble.

Then, it exploded brutally!

It was a method of mental attack that Li Yao had invented himself. He called it a terror bomb.

Li Yao’s expertise in mental attacks was based on Hellsword’s ‘Hellsword Arts’.

However, the structure of his mental power was totally different from Hellsword’s.

His soul was much more solid, but it was not as mysterious and erratic as Hellsword’s.

Li Yao had tried learning all of the methods of mental attack from Hellsword, but the outcome of the training had not been satisfactory.

He had thought hard for a long time. Then one day, it suddenly occurred to him that he could simulate the mechanism of crystal bombs.

At first, he would compress a telepathic thought that stored immense mental power into a tiny bomb with his ultra-solid soul. Then, he blew the telepathic thought into the enemy’s brain at a high speed and detonated it brutally there!

Such an approach to mental attacks was much less mysterious and unpredictable, but it was rough and straightforward!

For a moment, the thousands of information streams stored inside the telepathic thought exploded inside Gui Feng’s brain like a real bomb!

Gui Feng’s eyes blinked. He fell into a world of illusions knitted by Li Yao carefully. He felt that he was placed in the middle of a furnace whose walls were as smooth as a mirror. Endless fire was crowding in and setting him in an eternal furnace of doom!

” Ah! ”

Such illusions were even more terrifying than the thousands of ghosts that Hellsword created. Gui Feng was soaked in sweat, even though he was a brutal bandit who had committed countless murders.

Not good. He’s an expert in mental attacks!

Stimulated by his cold sweat, Gui Feng came back to himself instantly. The world of illusions collapsed like a sand tower in a blowing wind, but in the world of reality—

His heart had been stabbed through by Li Yao’s saber!

Li Yao’s spiritual energy surged out. Real flames burst out and burnt Gui Feng’s heart into ashes with a breath!

…

“The attack is not going well.”

In the shadow of the mining hole, the leader of the Split Sun Pirate Gang and Yin She, his advisor, were monitoring the entire battlefield.

His newly-recruited subordinates were mostly mobs that had been summoned hastily not long ago. They had only trained with each other several times in the virtual world.

The dock used to belong to the Split Sun Pirate Gang, but after the Wild Tide Pirate Gang took it over, a series of modification had been carried out, and countless hidden forts and firing points had been added. Now that their attack was organized according to the old map, naturally, they suffered heavy casualties.

On the Wild Tide Pirate Gang’s side, they were well-prepared and had been on a winning streak recently. Therefore, they had high morale. The longer they fought, the braver they became.

Due to the length of the battle and the unexpected casualties, the temporarily recruited mobs were all hesitating to charge forward and were planning to retreat.

Yin She sighed. “It’s a pity that two starships of our elites were chased after by Cultivators in the Silver Brilliance Space Zone. They are still playing hide-and-seek in the stone belts there and haven’t returned to Spider Den yet. We can only count on those scumbags that we hired recently. I estimate that our attack will prove to be futile.”

“It doesn’t matter. Few of them are our own. What we lose is just a bit of money,” the leader said slowly. “The most important thing is to show our attitude to Fengyu Zhong and the Temple of Immortals. As long as our stance is confirmed, no matter how heavy our losses are, Fengyu Zhong and the Temple of Immortals will cover them.”

While the two of them were talking about the battle, a gray shadow blinked close to the wall like a chameleon. Before they knew it, it had reached their side.

The leader and the advisor immediately furrowed their brows with a gloomy face.

Recently, the Split Sun Pirate Gang had hired a lot of soldiers in Silver Wing City and the few cities nearby. Of all the mercenaries, the guy ‘Bloody Vulture’ was paid the most. His ability to escape from the Wild Tide Pirate Gang nine times that day was highly valued.

Today was his first battle. They had thought that he would demonstrate an amazing performance and did not expect that he would retreat so quickly.

“You—”

Before Yin She had the time to finish his sentence, the newcomer threw a helmet to his feet.

Yin She’s pupils constricted violently as he exclaimed, “Gui Feng’s helmet?”

Li Yao gave no reply and simply crouched behind a bunker.

While the leader and the advisor were in a daze, an earthshaking explosion suddenly broke out above their heads. When they looked up, they discovered that a great fireball almost a hundred meters in diameter was rising up from the engine compartment of the starship that was being maintained in the dock. The fireball almost blocked the entire mining hole now.

The scorching air currents swept over more than half of the dock instantly. After a period of screeching noises, the starship broke apart and was stuck in the mining hole!

As the air currents swept over, intense explosions continued breaking out in every corner of the dock. Fireballs were growing out of thin air like orange mushrooms.

The space pirates of the Split Sun Pirate Gang and those of the Wild Tide were caught unprepared alike. They were all screaming in the ocean of flames!

The blast came over like an overwhelming tsunami. Yin She, as an advisor, was not a combat-type Cultivator. The blast knocked him over directly.

Even the leader of the Split Sun Pirate Gang was slightly shaking in the blast.

Lightheaded, two ferocious bandits looked at Li Yao in bewilderment.

Li Yao brushed off the dust on his shoulder, and a calm voice came from beneath his cold mask. “The obstacles have all been cleared. Your main troops may attack now.”

“But—”

Yin She was of a mind to jump and shout. They were planning to take back the maintenance dock instead of destroying it completely. Such insane explosions had essentially blown the entire dock up. Even though it was taken back, it would not function normally without a year and a half’s reconstruction!

Besides, there were so many their people inside the dock!

“You—”

Yin She was about to burst into fury, but for some reason, when he looked at the facial cover on the newcomer’s helmet, even though he could not see them, he felt as if two cold eyes had brushed past by his heart.

Yin She secretly shuddered and looked at the leader.

The leader of the Split Sun Pirate Gang was dazed for a long time, too. In the end, he waved his hands helplessly and gnashed his teeth. “Attack!”

Chapter 723: Terror Bomb

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

As more and more space pirates on the Temple of Immortals’ side retreated to Spider Den from Heavenly Saints City, Fengyu Zhong’s counterattack pushed forward continuously.

In the various mining pit cities on Spider Den, the scattered battles grew larger in number and scale, showing signs that a great war was about to break out.

On the Nexus, both true and false news about the open and secret competitions of the two parties were spreading crazily like wildfire.

In the dynasty-changing battles, many brutal bandits whose notorious names once reached afar died miserably and quietly in the dark gutters at the bottom of the mining pits.

In the meantime, many new-generation bandits who had never been heard of before replaced their predecessors and rose to fame.

Bloody Vulture was one of them.

In a short month, not only did the name of ‘Bloody Vulture’ become well-known in Silver Wing City, it had also attracted much attention in the other cities of Spider Den.

On December 17, during the attack of a crystal suit maintenance center under the Wild Tide Pirate Gang’s control, Bloody Vulture slew two space pirates in the Building Foundation Stage and nine in the Refinement Stage. He also blew more than half of the center into smithereens.

On December 19, the Split Sun Pirate Gang assassinated the chief accountant of the Wild Tide Pirate Gang. In the end, Bloody Vulture’s serial bombs separated the chief account from his body guards and exposed his traces. The chief account was then beheaded by a flying sword launched from 1,300 meters away.

On December 25, the secret treasury of the Wild Tide Pirate Gang, which stored not only most of the cash of the gang but also the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures for the space pirates’ training, was blown up by Bloody Vulture within only five minutes, despite the fact that it was said to be made of an extremely sturdy alloy and installed with countless defense rune arrays. The resources were all plundered by Bloody Vulture and the Split Sun Pirate Gang!

On December 27…

On December 31…

In less than one month, Bloody Vulture participated in almost twenty battles and played a vital role in every one of them. Even if the Split Sun Pirate Gang’s attack failed, he could often accomplish something on his own. Therefore, he became the most hated target for the Wild Tide Pirate Gang and rose to fame in the circle of space pirates!

According to the files on the Nexus, the man was brutal, merciless, and never considered the consequences of his actions. Once he went mad, he would not be able to tell friend from foe at all.

As a result, he often planted crystal bombs all over the battlefield without thinking about anything else. Even in daily life, he was not someone that other people could mess around with.

According to sources, another lone wolf who was also hired by the Split Sun Pirate Gang was dissatisfied about Bloody Vulture’s rewards and had a conflict with him during a feast.

Bloody Vulture did not fight back on the spot and simply left. All the other space pirates thought that he was scared and mocked him hard.

But the next day, when the lone wolf was doing his training, the crystal reactor of his crystal suit had an uncanny explosion.

The famous brutal bandit who had once killed dozens of Cultivators died miserably on the spot without even having the chance to scream.

After that incident, no space pirates dared to question why Bloody Vulture’s rewards were the highest of all.

…

Lying on the bed comfortably, Li Yao tapped the light beam and browsed through the information about himself on the dark net.

Since Spider Den and Heavenly Saints City were mortal enemies, it was impossible for the Grand Illusionary Group to have established Spiritual Towers in this place. For the sake of safety, the Spiritual Towers built by Spider Den were not compatible with the standard Spiritual Towers of the Cultivators.

Therefore, it was impossible to connect to the Spiritual Nexus of the outside world on Spider Den.

However, the local area network of Spider Den had abundant content, too, and most of the content was exactly what the space pirates were interested in.

Through the local area network, Li Yao was not only able to browse through the remarks that other space pirates gave him but also able to collect valuable information about the moves that Fengyu Zhong and Bai Xinghe were going to make.

In order to recruit more subordinates and expand their forces, the two parties did not conceal their schemes at all. They were both boasting about themselves on the network, bluffing that they were the sun in the middle of a day while their opponent was a dying sun that was about to set.

Fengyu Zhong and Bai Xinghe’s head-on clash should be within the next couple of days, concluded Li Yao.

He had seen Bai Xinghe a month ago. Such a great man definitely understood the importance of timing.

Before, Bai Xinghe’s ambushes had only succeeded because most of the strength of the Temple of Immortals was not on Spider Den.

Once the focus of the Temple of Immortals returned to Spider Den, he would stand no chance at all.

The only choice he had was to take down Fengyu Zhong before the enemy’s main force returned and force the Temple of Immortals to sit down and negotiate with him!

On the Temple of Immortals’ side, their capability was naturally much higher than Bai Xinghe’s. But their target was the entire Flying Star Sector, and it was impossible to concentrate all their attention on Bai Xinghe.

Take down Bai Xinghe, or accept his conditions, however unwilling they were, if it was impossible to take him down. The choice had to be made quickly. It was unwise to spend most of the resources and manpower on the old bastard Bai Xinghe.

It was one of the most important reasons that Li Yao had shown off crazily.

He had to prove his value with all methods available. He had to prove that he was qualified to participate in the final battle between Fengyu Zhong and Bai Xinghe!

According to the news on the dark net, the battles between the secondary pirate gangs culminated five days ago. Since then, both parties have been keeping a low profile. There have been no big operations for days.

As for the Split Sun Pirate Gang, another starship fully loaded with elites returned to Spider Den the other day, but no new attacks were carried out.

Besides, many other famous assassins, mercenaries, and lone wolves have disappeared. They must be working in secret right now.

This is the calm before the storm. A great war is about to break out!

I wonder, will my performance over the past month be noticed by Fengyu Zhong?

Li Yao turned off the light beam. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, starting his daily training.

Over the past month, the Split Sun Pirate Gang had changed Li Yao’s residence three times, each more extravagant than the last.

However, Li Yao was very clear that crystal cameras must have been installed in secret nooks and crannies to monitor him.

He was not willing to do any real training while being watching by somebody. Therefore, he simply refined and perfect the ‘terror bombs’ inside his brain.

Terror bombs were mental weapons condensed by his telepathic thoughts. They could bewilder and intimidate the enemy with a world of illusions.

In order to trap an enemy with a solid soul in a world of illusions, the illusions had to be built in a vivid and flawless fashion.

Building a life-like world from scratch was a job that would consume a lot of mental power and computational ability.

The flowers and woods, the bouncing flames, the ripples when a breeze passed by a lake… Every detail had to be modelled, scripted, and rendered.

If the computational ability was insufficient, the illusions rendered would be very lousy. When the flames were bouncing too rigidly, the enemy caught in the illusions would immediately notice that everything was fake.

In the field of mental attacks, Li Yao was just a beginner. Although he had tested it on many space pirates, he still found it complicated and extremely difficult to grasp.

It took him two hours to condense a ‘terror bomb’ that could last three seconds. When he finished the job, his sheets were soaked in sweat.

The rendering is still not good enough. If the enemy is above the middle level of the Building Foundation Stage, when their soul shakes violently, the three methods of rendering that I current employ might have conflicts. The entire world of illusions will collapse immediately.

I have to find several rendering methods that are more powerful. Maybe I should buy a few books on the construction of illusions as well as some on modelling and rendering techniques.

Li Yao concluded the lessons of his training.

Right then, somebody knocked the door lightly.

Click!

Li Yao waved his hand. His spiritual energy reached the defense rune arrays and opened the door automatically.

Yin She, the advisor, walked in cautiously.

After a month of battles, Yin She had a profound understanding of how dangerous Bloody Vulture was. He also remembered how miserably the mercenary who had conflicts with Bloody Vulture during the feast had died the day after during his training.

More importantly, the crystal suit whose crystal reactor went wrong was the mercenary’s own.

Nobody had any idea how Bloody Vulture got the crystal suit and set up traps on the crystal reactor without alarming its owner!

From that day on, the advisor had always felt lucky that he was courteous and did not offend the dangerous person when he recruited Bloody Vulture.

“Another mission?” Li Yao sat straight on the bed.

“Congratulations, Brother Bloody Vulture. Your career is about to soar!” Yin She smiled delightedly. “Brother Bloody Vulture has been on a kill spree in Silver Wing City over the past month. Not only is the Wild Tide Pirate Gang awed by your name, it has also been heard by Boss Fengyu Zhong, the new dominator in the circle of space pirates!

“Boss Fengyu Zhong has watched a lot of your battle videos and is very interested in you. He would like to invite you for a real big operation!

“It is not the child’s play between the Split Sun Pirate Gang and the Wild Tide Pirate Gang, but a great war that can potentially turn the whole of Spider Den upside down! The question remains, is Brother Bloody Vulture willing to take the risk?”

It’s finally here!

Li Yao felt thrilled. But he replied, showing no sign of his excitement, “Fengyu Zhong is starting a final battle against Boss Bai now?”

Everybody on Spider Den had learned of the matter. It was not odd for Li Yao to ask that.

Yin She blinked and said, “We all know what is going on. There’s no need to say it out loud. After all, you are paid for what you do, Brother Bloody Vulture, and I guarantee that you will gain a lot of benefits by working for Boss Fengyu Zhong directly, that is, if you are bold enough to do so.”

“Since the day I killed the son of the captain of the Wild Tide Pirate Gang, there has been no turning back for me.”

Li Yao jumped up from his bed and stretched out arms. Cracking noises echoed all over his body, as if a bloodstained eagle was opening its wings behind him.

Li Yao smiled. “Bring me to Boss Fengyu Zhong. I will surprise him.”

Chapter 724: Four Brutal Bandits

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Capital Nest, the biggest city on Spider Den, was where the mother lodes had been densest on Spider Den ten thousand years ago, and it was the mining city that the Star Ocean Imperium developed in the earliest stage.

Looking down through the window of the crystal warship, Li Yao noticed that there was nothing except jam-packed mining pits over the hundreds of square kilometers of desolate land, which made it look like an enormous honeycomb.

In the complicated underground tunnels, countless magical equipment centers, starship maintenance centers, and purification plants for Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures were hidden. Together with the underground city that could accommodate millions of workers and Cultivators and the underground fortress that was concealed below the underground city, even the locals who had lived in the city for generations did not have the slightest clue how enormous the city made of interconnecting mazes was!

Capital Nest was the center of Spider Den. It was home to Bai Xinghe, the Pirate Potentate, and also where Black Spider Tower was headquartered.

Right now, both parties were preparing their soldiers and supplies, ready for the last battle that could break out at any moment.

The city was divided into two zones, one in the east and the other in the west, with a clear boundary. The air was so intense that a single spark could detonate hundreds of mining pits at the same time.

The crystal warship that Li Yao was on flew into the zone that was under the Temple of Immortals’ control slowly through a giant hole slanted downward.

Capital Nest was entirely different from Silver Wing City in style.

Although the Wild Tide Pirate Gang and the Split Sun Pirate Gang had been fighting hard in Silver Wing City, most people’s daily lives had not been affected. The black market, the hotels, and the magical equipment stores opened as usual, and the underground arenas and the strip clubs were packed with space pirates, too.

Capital Nest, on the other hand, had turned into a grave military fortress. Most of the stores were closed, and few lone space pirates could be seen on the street. Most of the space pirates were in neat groups and wearing standard crystal suits, leaving the impression that they were actually an army.

The space pirates were mostly wearing red crystal suits and white ones.

Those in red crystal suits had the mark of an angry black spider on their chests. The mark of their leader had a few gold stripes painted on the outside.

According to the introduction of Yin She, the advisor, they were all soldiers commanded by Black Spider Tower.

Those Exos in white crystal suits seemed to be in a higher position than the soldiers. Their crystal suits were more elegant and streamlined, giving a feeling of a perfect ‘waterdrop’ from head to toe. Certain half-stealth rune arrays seemed to have been utilized, because the crystal suits were entangled by invisible waves and appeared to be partially melded with the air. They looked extraordinary and seemed to belong to a different world.

On the left side of their breastplates, ‘Immortality’ was painted in an ancient style.

Those people were not space pirates but the armed forces directly under the command of the Temple of Immortals. It was sort of the regular army of the Immortal Cultivators.

More than one year ago, when the Temple of Immortals revealed itself on Spider Den, it had recruited a lot of talents for its regular army.

However, the requirements of the ‘Immortal Army’ was quite rigorous. Most of the candidates were screened because they could not complete the tests.

Those who passed the tests were all one-in-a-thousand experts.

It was said that they had been further trained and cleansed by the Temple of Immortals after they were recruited with many secret arts from the era of the Flying Star coalition government that had been lost for thousands of years. After only a few months, they would be transformed completely!

Fengyu Zhong had summoned Li Yao to a training camp of Black Spider Tower.

There were already dozens of space pirates in the hall when Li Yao went into the training camp.

When they saw him, they did not hide the wariness and hostility in their eyes at all.

The most notorious bandits on Spider Den are all here!

Li Yao glanced around and found his heart beating faster.

After a quick look, he noticed several brutal persons who were not only on the top of the wanted lists of Cultivators but also intimidating enough even in the circle of space pirates.

A kind-looking old man whose hair and beard were white was standing on his left side. His name was Master Phantom Sea, and he had originally been an elder of the Silver Moon Clan, one of the six sects of Heavenly Saints City.

However, when his campaign to become the leader of the sect failed, he dealt with the new leader with poison in secret out of hatred. However, his scheme failed. The Silver Moon Clan sent quite a few experts to capture him. He slew one Core Formation Stage Cultivators and almost twenty Building Foundation Stage Cultivators, before he ran away from Heavenly Saints City to Spider Den.

From then on, he had become a great bandit roaming through space. He was absolutely merciless during his jobs, especially when he ran into the carriers under the name of the Silver Moon Clan. No living creatures would be left!

Standing next to Master Phantom Sea was a muscular man more than 2.3 meters tall. His muscles bulged out to an unbelievable degree, and his eyes looked like burning bronze bells. White air currents were spurting out of his nostrils nonstop. He looked like an infuriated ox that had been stuffed into the shell of a human being!

The man was carrying two crossed giant axes that were even broader than doors on his back. The edges of the axes were covered in dents and blood stains, a signal that they had devoured countless innocent souls. Just one glance at them was enough to make people feel creepy.

The muscular man was named ‘Bloody Axe’. He was the champion of the underground arenas of Spider Den.

Space pirates were all brutal, but the underground arenas thousands of meters below the surface were lawless, cruel places, even for them. Even the strongest fighter might not be able to survive ten competitions when they were sent to the arenas.

‘Bloody Axe’, on the other hand, was the only expert who had fought a hundred battles in the underground arenas and retired alive over the past several decades.

Although he was merely in the beginning level of the Core Formation Stage, he would slash ruthlessly at those in the middle level of the Core Formation Stage or even at the peak when he went mad!

A short, lovely girl was hiding in the shadow behind Bloody Axe. Her clear eyes and her slender body made her absolutely unfit for the dirty environment. She was almost like a hostage that the space pirates had brought here.

But Li Yao knew for a fact that the woman who looked like a teenager in high school was at least seventy years old. She was known as ‘Fairy Coral’, and she was even more dangerous than the awe-inspiring ‘Bloody Axe’.

The coral snake was the most beautiful and the most fatal!

When she first showed up, she was merely a mistress of the leader of a pirate gang. Everybody considered her to be a simple toy and did not think too much of her.

But soon, the pirate gang she stayed in had a clash with a bigger pirate gang. After the pirate gang was swallowed, she was naturally a trophy to serve the new leader.

Then, all the leaders of the pirate gangs who accepted her would suffer a uncanny disaster within the next year, as if she had been cursed. They were either swallowed by other pirate gangs, or assassinated, or executed by Cultivators when their hunting jobs were leaked out and they were captured.

In short, whichever pirate gang she stayed in, it would be destroyed soon after, and she was always able to take the most valuable treasures of the pirate gang.

Rumor had it that she was adept at the skills of enchantment and had been practicing a certain evil technique that could absorb other people’s vitality to maintain her youth.

Many space pirates who were bewildered and fooled by her once united and went looking for vengeance, only to never be found again.

Therefore, the space pirates all honored her as ‘Fairy Coral’ when she was present and called her ‘Witch Coral’ behind her back.

Li Yao’s most attention was focused on four space pirates. Other than the three of them, the fourth space pirate was a dwarf no higher than 1.3 meters with extremely short limbs.

The dwarf named ‘Wang Haha’ had a rarely-seen profession on Spider Den.

He was a thief.

Spider Den was a congregation of bandits. Yet, a thief had appeared in the home of the bandits, and he was not a random thief but a famous one. Everybody knew how he made his living, but he had still lived his life happily for decades.

Two things were obvious.

Firstly, his skills were good, to the point that other people could not catch him even though they knew that he was a thief.

Secondly, he was very strong. Even if a space pirate knew that their items had been stolen by him, they did not dare ask for them back.

Everybody on Spider Den knew that Wang Haha stole everything, including heads, especially those on necks that could still talk and laugh.

Li Yao looked around and was somewhat relieved.

Those who had been invited there were all lone wolves that did not belong to any organization and mercenaries who did their jobs for rewards.

For the pure combat-type Cultivators there, they were no lower than the peak of the Building Foundation Stage. Many of the experts there were in the high level of the Core Formation Stage, too.

For those lower than the peak of the Building Foundation Stage, they all had a certain specialty other than combat.

For example, he was an explosion expert, Fairy Coral was good at enchanting skills, and Wang Haha was an all-stealing thief.

While he was pondering, Wang Haha moved his stout body toward him in a very troublesome way.

As he was observing other people, other people were observing him, too.

Over the past month, ‘Bloody Vulture’ had been quite a resounding name in the circle of space pirates. Seeing that the newly-risen brutal guy had been summoned by Fengyu Zhong, too, those seasoned bandits were quite surprised.

“You are Bloody Vulture from Silver Wing City. Then you must know who I am. Hahahaha!”

Wang Haha extended his short hands and blinked, while he said, “I’m told that your hands are very fast, and you can plant crystal bombs on other people without them knowing. As it happens, my hands are fast, too, and I can take out anything from other people without them knowing!

“You put things inside, and I take them out. The two of us should hang out together more!”

Wang Haha’s voice was high and sharp. He immediately attracted all the space pirates’ attention.

The seasoned bandits all looked at them with great interest, looking forward to the competition between the two ‘quick-hands’.

Fairy Coral observed Li Yao from top to bottom carefully. Weird brilliance beamed out of her eyes, as she tried to lean close to Bloody Axe.

But Bloody Axe quickly retreated as if she were a ghost. It was obvious that he did not want to have physical contact with the woman who could absorb other people’s vitality.

Li Yao narrowed his eyes. His lips curled up into a smile while he extended his right hand to Wang Haha.