by <unknown>
Soon, the latest news popped up at the bottom of the light beam. Everybody's eyes were stung by the blood red.
"Team Dragon Slayers, originally 6th in the Rank of Stars, was ambushed by the demon clan during a mission in Forest Sea; there were no survivors. All six members, including the captain who ranked 2441st on the Stars to Destroy List, have perished!"
…
Ten days later, in the Temple of Fallen Stars, a building of solemnity and reverence in front of the central square of Empyreal Star City.
During the ten days, Team Blue Bronze had poured all the resources available to purchase a large batch of secret treasures. They had also completed another mission, securing tenth place on the Rank of Stars to this day and leaving no chance for the Star Teams behind to catch up to them.
Explorations of the Occult Orbs were extremely perilous endeavors. Orb Patrollers died every month.
In the middle of each month, all the Orb Patrollers in Empyreal Star City would congregate in the Temple of Fallen Stars to pay their respects to the Orb Patrollers who were gone.
Over the past few months, the resource competition between the Heaven's Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector had gotten fiercer and fiercer.
Many names on the Deadly Demons List had been eradicated.
On the other hand, thirty-one Orb Patrollers had fallen, including Team Dragon Slayers which had been eliminated as a team. It was a great loss for Occult Orbs Fellowship.
Therefore, the Temple of Fallen Stars was extraordinarily grave today.
In the temple, Li Yao bowed to the 3D portraits of the Cultivators who'd passed away over the last month deferentially three times, left the line, and mourned silently, with mixed feelings rolling over in his heart.
Although the accident of Team Dragon Slayers had emptied room for Team Blue Bronze to return to the top 10 of the Ranks of Stars effortlessly, it was not a result that Li Yao desired.
On one hand, reaching the top ten in such a way felt like cheating.
On the other hand, although Team Dragon Slayers was exclusively made of Children of Occult Orbs and they'd never seen eye to eye with Team Blue Bronze, they were Cultivators of the Heaven's Origin Sector after all. The conflicts between them seemed trivial when a war concerning the future of the human race was drawing near.
Li Yao couldn't help but feel sad for the demise of so many fellow Orb Patrollers.
Seeing from the 3D portraits the vivid figures, some of whom had been training with him, some of whom had been on the same mission as him, and still some of whom had asked him to modify magical equipment for them, Li Yao was clenching his fists tighter and tighter.
Chapter 388: Best Warriors, Three Nascent Souls! |
"Today is the day when the secret operation will be revealed. The top ten teams on the Rank of Stars are all here!" Captain Hong Tong said softly.
Li Yao retreated his gaze and glanced around.
The super teams ranking in top ten usually wouldn't stay too long in Empyreal Star City. They were either in an Occult Orb or on their way to one. So, Team Blue Bronze had barely seen them in reality before.
However, Li Yao had watched their mission videos hundreds of times to learn lessons from them. Therefore, he recognized them without any trouble.
Team Nine Cauldrons, whose six members were all above the middle level of the Building Foundation Stage. Their melee combat ability was the best in Occult Orbs Fellowship.
Team Permanent Apparition. Four out of its six members were adept at mental attacks; they could make their enemy's brain crumble without drawing their weapons.
Team White Fang. All six of its members were gun experts who were best at gunfighting. Once their fire net took form, even a demon king might be minced instantly.
Of course, there was also Team Thunder Soul led by Yan Jun, the first on the Rank of Stars for an entire year and the unquestionable king of Occult Orbs Fellowship.
While Li Yao was eyeing the other nine teams, they were also observing him quietly.
Team Blue Bronze was once a top 5 team. Its return was not very surprising. The old members such as Hong Tong and Ba Weiqi were all skilled Orb Patrollers whose capabilities were well acknowledged.
On the other hand, the eye-opening performance of the two newcomers, namely Vulture Li Yao and Inferno Witch Ding Lingdang, had attracted the attention of quite a few Orb Patrollers and Cultivation sects.
It was going to take a long time before two worlds were fully merged. According to the astronomers, the process could be as protracted as twenty or even thirty years.
Since the development levels of the two worlds were similar to each other, there was a good chance that neither of them would be able to defeat its nemesis before the final war, not without some extremely lucky accidents.
Which meant that this war could linger on for decades.
The young Cultivators who were full of potential such as Li Yao and Ding Lingdang might still be at the beginning level or middle level of the Building Foundation Stage at present. But after twenty to thirty years of training and killing, they would likely become first-rate experts as long as they were lucky enough to not get killed.
While the two parties were spotting each other, a breeze without any sign started drifting inside the temple.
In the blink of an eye, three shadows appeared in front of the temple before they consolidated, as if they'd been standing there the whole time.
Li Yao was entirely refreshed. The real experts were here!
On the left, it was a bald, athletic man more than two meters tall. His bulging muscles left the illusion that his black tuxedo was one size too slim and that it was going to be torn apart at any time. There was an extremely tiny flying sword on his back, which was so small that it looked like a child's toy.
For a muscular man of his height and weight, it was only reasonable that he wielded chainswords that were two meters or even three meters long. Yet, his weapon was a flying sword that had a length of no more than twenty centimeters, which was like an iron toothpick compared to his appearance. The contrast was somewhat hilarious.
The one in the middle was a plain-looking old man who was wearing ordinary clothes. The drowsy countenance and the messy grey hair could be found everywhere in a town on the retired old men who were idling around every day.
On the right, it was a graceful, middle-aged lady. Since they were here to pay respect to the sacrificed warriors, she was wearing a white dress, naturally bringing an air that she was an angle who did not belong to this world.
The auras of the three experts were locked into their body without any bit being leaked out. But still, one could feel the overwhelming dominance from them. This must be what the poets called 'traceless suppression'.
"Nascent Soul! Three Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators!"
Li Yao's eyes were full of passion. He was thinking of holding up his eyelids with his fingers, so that he wouldn't miss anything that the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators said or did.
In the entire Heaven's Origin Sector, there were only a few dozen Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, and less than a thousand Core Formation Stage Cultivators.
Among the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, there were fewer than ten battle-type Cultivators. Most of the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators were admin-type and research-type Cultivators.
After all, the advancement of battle-type Cultivators often required fierce combat. Their death rate was far higher than the death rate of Cultivators of other types.
The three Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators were all Councilors of Occult Orbs Fellowship. Li Yao had paid a great many contribution points for their tutorial videos before. Therefore, he recognized them instantly.
They were all battle-type Cultivators!
A third of the best warriors of the Heaven's Origin Sector were standing right in front of him!
In veneration and deference, Li Yao held his breath and recalled the stories about the three Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators.
The
inconspicuous messy old man in the middle was 'Iron God' Yan Ba, known as the best body practitioner in the Heaven's Origin Sector, who was the former leader of Marvelous Fist Sect and also a 'body fundamentalist' that despised all sorts of magical equipment and resorted to nothing but his own fists during combat.
Li Yao had studied one of his combat videos before, in which he beat a demon king to death bare-handed in less than five seconds. Li Yao had to admit that his fists were the most formidable weapons in the world, sharper than any magical equipment could ever be.
The middle-aged lady on the right was 'Sevenfold Dreams' Meng Weiyang, a hybrid-type Cultivator both talented in combat and culture.
She was a Grand Illusionist, one of the most mysterious professions in the world of Cultivators. She was best at creating an illusionary wonderland with her pen in which her enemy would be trapped in endless scenes dominated by the rules written by her.
The bald, muscular man on the left who was using a weapon that was the very opposite of his size had a nickname that was equally in discordance to his stature—'Sand'.
'Sand' Sha Tianqing, 192 years old, founder of 'School of Sand'.
'School of Sand' was also known as 'Quicksand'. It was not a real sect but a regularly-held seminar where Cultivators of different sects with similar beliefs gathered together and exchanged their ideas and thoughts.
Cultivators participating in the School of Sand maintained that speed was the decisive factor for strength. As long as the speed was high enough, a grain of sand was enough to kill a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator!
Therefore, magical equipment, mystic rays, and all other trivial technologies were all unnecessary. There was one and only one thing that School of Sand studied, which was how to accelerate an ordinary item to a super-high speed beyond limits.
As a result, School of Sand was also known as 'School of Acceleration'. Some of the believers even held that, when its momentum broke the ultimate limit, a grain of sand could blow a planet into pieces effortlessly, let alone Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators.
Of course, it was a different matter entirely to keep the sand intact at such high speeds.
Although countless Cultivators had openly declared that the principles of School of Sand were nothing but a joke, none of them ever dared to look down upon Sha Tianqing himself. In quarrels as to what 'the right path of Cultivation' was, Sha Tianqing had proved his theories time and time again with the extraordinary speed of the ordinary-looking flying sword on his back.
The appearance of the three Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators cast the entire temple into an odd silence. Everyone was staring at them with passion and admiration like Li Yao.
The three Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators paid respect to the sacrificed Orb Patrollers solemnly first. After mourning in silence for one minute, they turned around and glanced over the crowd with sharp eyes.
Meng Weiyang said seriously, "Three months ago, Occult Orbs Fellowship proclaimed a secret operation which required ten candidate teams. The teams we choose will receive the unreserved enlightenment of the Nine Councilors of Occult Orbs Fellowship as well as Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators in the Heaven's Origin Sector.
"I believe most of you have heard of a thing or two about the secret operation. We're about to commence the exploration of Ultimacy!
"According to our latest intelligence, the Blood Demon Sector is also pouring all the resources they have into the construction of an unprecedented super teleportation array named 'Eye of Blood Demon'. In the meantime, they have been winnowing out the promising princes and nobles from all the demon kingdoms, building up the candidates' bodies with the cruelest, bloodiest methods, and preparing to send them to Ultimacy.
"What I'm saying is that the Orb Patrollers taking part in the mission to Ultimacy will most likely be engaged with the most formidable enemies in history.
"The opportunities and dangers have been stated clearly to you. If any of you wishes to withdraw, please step back so that the subsequent teams can fill up your place. If you've made up your mind, the mission to Ultimacy will officially begin now!"
…
One day later, in a rocky valley three hundred kilometers away from Empyreal Star City…
Six military bases were in the periphery, with countless flying sword positions and surface-to-air defense rune arrays. There were even more than a hundred crystal warships stationed in this area.
Inside the valley, there was a giant crater almost five hundred meters in diameters. The inner wall of the crater was as smooth as a mirror, as if it had been made of glass. The entire pit seemed to be a result of a gargantuan meteorite.
Passing multiple checkpoints, a few crystal airships flew toward the crater.
With his nose pressed firmly against the cabin window, Li Yao observed the crater carefully.
The closer he got, the more he was impressed by the splendor of the crater. It gave the feeling that he was an ant crawling in an enormous pan.
When he was five hundred meters from it, he noticed that the wall of the crater was covered in runes the size of a palm.
To cover such a giant crater with such small runes, what a marvelous project it was!
In the middle of the crater was a hole more than ten meters in diameter leading to the deep underground, which made the crater look somewhat like a funnel.
Li Yao could vaguely feel the furious spiritual waves of the fire class being emitted from the depths of the funnel.
"This is the super teleportation array that can send Cultivators to Ultimacy nearly ten thousand lightyears away, our Heaven's Artillery."
Standing at the front of the cabin, Meng Weiyang said proudly, "Since the scale of the teleportation array was too large and the star rails demanded are too long, it is impossible to fix the problem regarding the hardness of star rails and the spiritual energy supply on the ground. Therefore, the Heaven's Artillery has been established under the ground.
"The pit you can see right now is the silo of the Heaven's Artillery.
"We chose this valley because there is a very active magma belt underground. It is filled with intense spiritual energy and is desperate to rush to the surface.
"Transformed by tens of thousands of rune arrays, the furious fiery spiritual energy has become pure and stable which will be used to activate the Heaven's Artillery. When the time comes, the star shuttle will be launched by a volcanic eruption!"
Chapter 389: My Cup of Tea |
"However, the underground magma belt does not explode every day. According to the specialists, it goes into its medium eruptive state every half month and its super eruptive state every half a year.
"The next super eruptive state is coming in one and a half months from now. Only with the energy released from the big magma explosion can the Heaven's Artillery be full activated to fire five star shuttles to Ultimacy."
Meng Weiyang went into even greater detail.
The federal government was planning to select five out of the top ten Star Teams as the first batch of explorers. They would cruise through the sea of stars in one and a half months' time, travelling a distance of almost ten thousand lightyears for the first time ever in history.
But since Ultimacy was too far away from the Heaven's Origin Sector, the spiritual connection between the star shuttles and their homeland would be quite feeble after they were launched. In no more than 24 hours, the connection would be lost.
Therefore, the five star shuttles setting off on the journey were not recoverable. The thirty Orb Patrollers would have to persist by themselves for one month in Ultimacy.
One month later, with the energy of a medium magma explosion, the Heaven's Artillery could be activated to 50%, which was not enough to launch manned star shuttles but more than capable of sending five empty star shuttles over.
The thirty Orb Patrollers would have to locate the five empty star shuttles within the next day and return to the Heaven's Origin Sector through them.
As for the five eliminated Star Teams, the
y would be second-tier candidates to explore Ultimacy again half a year later when the magma belt entered the super eruptive state again.
Listening to the briefing from Meng Weiyang, everyone in the cabin put on impatient, aggressive expressions. Orb Patrollers from different Star Teams were eyeing each other with unmistakable hostility.
"Five out of ten. It's going to be a fierce competition."
Ding Lingdang spoke to Li Yao in a low voice, full of eagerness.
Li Yao was not as light-hearted as her.
None of the top ten teams would be easy to cope with. Everybody was fighting for the supreme honor with all they had.
They were currently at the tenth place. It was almost their limit. Any step upward would be extremely difficult.
An Orb Patroller from Team White Fang raised his hand and asked, "Councilor Meng, I would like to ask, what kind of training will we receive in the coming month, and how will the final examination be conducted?"
Meng Weiyang answered emotionlessly, "In order to give you the abilities needed to survive at least one month in Ultimacy against the best elites of the Blood Demon Sector, Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators will teach you in person for the coming month.
"However, the capability of Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators is often unfathomable. Even their true disciples may not be able to learn much from them in a year, not to mention that you only have one month of time.
"If possible, we would like very much to give you another half year and keep you studying until then.
"But times waits for no one. 'Eye of Blood Demon', the super teleportation array of the Blood Demon Sector, is almost completed. It is estimated that the first teleportation will be performed very soon.
"If we wait until the next year, the demon clan will have stolen all the treasures in Ultimacy by then.
"Therefore, we have to make do with whatever we have.
"To improve your strength as much as possible and as shortly as possible for you to become the strongest Building Foundation Stage Cultivators in the history of the Star Glory Federation, Occult Orbs Fellowship has specially initiated a special training facility from the Star Ocean Imperium.
