by <unknown>
Fengyu Zhong was dazed. He had hesitated for a long time before he raised his doubts. He had thought that the Lotus King would burst into fury and did not expect such a reassuring reply.
When he looked again, the Lotus King had already vanished in the smoke.
…
Between the central area of Heavenly Saints City and the first space ring, almost a hundred elegantly-shaped new starships that looked like silver flying swords were docked in the vast universe.
The starship in the middle was more than ten kilometers long and looked like a long spear surrounded by nine flying swords, wreathed in a layer of mysterious silver brightness. One could feel both the air of grace and cruelty from it.
It was 'Heavenly Phantom', the flagship of the Grand Illusionary Group as well as the command starship of the Grand Illusionary Soldiers. It was one of the strongest crystal warships of the Flying Star Sector!
The performance of the Grand Illusionary Soldiers was highly dependent on the 'star brain', which had been developed by the Grand Illusionary Group. Considering the latency and losses in the transmission of telepathic thoughts across space zones, the Grand Illusionary Group had specially built Heavenly Phantom and transferred 'star brain', the super crystal processor, to the starship.
When the space gate was fully repaired, before the final battle, Heavenly Phantom would jump to the periphery of the Spider Den Space Zone together with the fleets of dozens of space zones. It would serve at the pivot of the Spiritual Nexus and constantly transmit the enormous data of fighting stored inside the star brain to the reception rune arrays of the Grand Illusionary Soldiers.
Since the 'star brain' was the core of the crystal warship, the bridge of Heavenly Phantom was different from that of other starships. In the middle and rear part of the bridge was a yard more than three hundred meters high, which was surrounded by countless crystal chips, disks, and rune arrays that constituted computation matrices. They were glittering like fireflies.
The yard was like a palace, with a translucent phantom floating in the middle. The bright golden rays of light outlined the complicated circuits of a brain, which was fluctuating in a fixed rhythm.
It was both like a brain made of billions of stars and the heart of a devil.
Xiao Tianbao, creator of the star brain, a super genius in crystal processors, and Xiao Xuance's adopted son, was sitting right below the star brain, which was almost a hundred meters in diameters, drooling, gurgling, and murmuring to himself.
Now and then, golden telepathic thoughts would spread out of the star brain and zigzagged into Xiao Tianbao's nostrils, mouth, and ears like little snakes.
Xiao Tianbao moaned in great satisfaction. He waved his arms and legs, enjoying everything around him.
Tens of thousands of light beams were floating around the star brain.
Every light beam showed the picture from the main perspective of a Grand Illusionary Soldier.
They were fighting, patrolling, guarding, or undergoing maintenance.
They were the Grand Illusionary Soldiers controlled by the Grand Illusionary Group. Most of them were deployed in Heavenly Saints City.
Standing in a secret chamber at the back of the bridge, Xiao Xuance stared at the unpredictable sparks as billions of data streams were colliding inside the crystal processor through the one-way glass, expressionless and deep in thought.
A young man wearing the green uniform of the Grand Illusionary Group, whose hair was as dense as that of a majestic lion, walked in. He bowed behind Xiao Xuance and said, "CEO."
The door closed silently behind them. A mystic ray scanned the room.
It was determining whether or not there were detectaphones in the room.
Without turning around, Xiao Xuance asked, "How are the forces of the other space zones?"
"Sixty percent of all the space zones have finished gathering," the young man replied. "It is estimated that more than eighty percent of the elites of the Flying Star Sector will be gathered in the Spider Den Space Zone, as well as the majority of the Grand Illusionary Soldiers, for the final battle.
"However, we have just lost two star beacons in the Spider Den Space Zone. Although a batch of backup star beacons have been produced, it will take at least a month to ship them to the frontline."
"Alright," Xiao Xuance said. "I want you to focus on something else.
"The man who showed up a day ago and is believed to be Bai Xinghe has attracted the attention of all the Cultivators. The important sects are now establishing a rapid-response squad with the man as the sole target.
"I am a member of the rapid-response squad. I'll put you inside the squad later, too.
"But we must establish our own secret squad to eliminate the person!
"By our estimation, the man has escaped from the Spider Den Space Zone after hijacking a medical starship.
"Right now, we have all the information about the medical starship, including the twelve most likely destinations of the space jumps.
"The Cultivators haven't grasped this lead yet. We must locate the man before the Cultivators do!"
The young man nodded and said, "Understood!"
Pondering for a moment, Xiao Xuance patted the young man's shoulder and explained, "It is very possible that your mission concerns the outcome of our cause. You must raise your alert and consider it your top priority. Finish the mission with all the resources and manpower available!
"I don't believe in coincidences. Not at all.
"Right now, our cause has come to the most crucial moment, and the final victory will be ours if we make another step forward. But a person who seems to be Bai Xinghe jumped out of nowhere for no good reason. Why?
"An unexpected factor. The man is a great unexpected factor. Right now, victory is within our grasp. No unexpected factor is advantageous for us. Therefore, no matter what the unexpected factor is leading to, we must rule it out in advance!
"Later, I'll talk to Tianbao and ask him to spare part of the computational ability of the star brain to help your operation. As long as the man uses his crystal processor, boards a starship, or has any connection with the Spiritual Nexus, he will be locked onto by us!"
The young man's pupils constricted suddenly, but he nodded quickly and said, "Understood!"
"Moreover," Xiao Xuance sighed and said, "after so many years of preparation, we are finally seeing the final battle on the horizon now. Maybe I was a bit too nervous. There might have been loopholes in my reactions when the unexpected factor appeared today. Si Koulie might have felt that something was wrong and become suspicious about me.
"Therefore, we cannot loosen the monitoring of Si Koulie. Rather, we need to tighten it. Whatever the old man says, whoever he meets, especially those he talks to via the Spiritual Nexus, I need to know everything. Also, we must ensure that we can cut in and block his signal at any time!"
"Understood," the young man replied, his face unchanged. "We have never stopped monitoring Si Koulie, the leadership of the six sects of Heavenly Saints City, the leadership of the Glorious Sunlight Group, and those from Iron Plateau. Should anything go wrong, we can react immediately.
"Although Si Koulie is in the Nascent Soul Stage, he is just a refiner and has no talent in fighting. If the situation demands, it will not be a problem to take him down."
Xiao Xuance frowned and said, "Don't do it unless we absolutely have to. He is the second in command of the war after all. If he is killed, there will be too many consequences. The assassination might get us exposed in the end.
"Right now, the most important task for us is to find out the motive and the purpose of the man who seems to be Bai Xinghe. What is he up to exactly?"
Staring at the star brain on the other side of the glass, Xiao Xuance fell into deep thought again. It was not until five minutes had passed that he found that the young man was still standing behind him.
Xiao Xuance waved his hands, somewhat exhaustedly. "Leave now."
The young man was silent for a m
oment. Then, like a spear that suddenly pierced into the floor, he raised his right arm and clenched his fists, while he bellowed with the utmost determination, "Long live the civilization of mankind!"
Xiao Xuance was dazed for a moment, knowing that his subordinate had sensed the anxiety in the deepest part of his heart.
He was not infuriated. Instead, he felt slightly moved.
Pa!
Xiao Xuance turned around and closed his legs. His face suddenly turned resolute, and it was glowing. In high spirits, he even appeared slightly younger than before.
He straightened his right arm with all his strength like the young man and clenched his fists.
Xiao Xuance gazed at the young man.
The young man fearlessly stared back at him with a pair of clear eyes. The air was about to be detonated by their enthusiasm.
Taking a deep breath, Xiao Xuance said unwaveringly, "Our cause will succeed. Our cause must succeed. Long live the evolution! Long live the Immortal Cultivators! Long live the civilization of mankind!"
Chapter 778: The Real Immortal Cultivators |
At the same time, the news that the Dragon King Battlesuit had reappeared in the sea of stars raised unceasing ripples like a giant rock that was tossed into a frozen pond.
Inside the station of the Great Horn Exo Society in the Cross Wind Space Zone…
After five years of development, with the support of the Glorious Sunlight Group and Iron Plateau, the Great Horn Exo Society had changed from a small Exo Society with only one ragged starship into a super large group that boasted dozens of crystal warships and hundreds of carriers.
Except for the lack of top experts, the scale of the Exo Society was definitely the largest in the Flying Star Sector.
It had an assault team that was purely made of the qi-trainers from Iron Plateau. The assault team had been fighting in all kinds of harsh environments such as the remains of starships, asteroids, and stones belts. The qi-trainers had made great contributions over the past five years and often made the space pirates and the Immortal Cultivators lose confidence.
At this moment, on Gold Horn, the flagship of the Great Horn Exo Society, Lei Dalu and Bai Kaixin watched a fuzzy video in a trance, then in excitement, and then in confusion.
"Anyways, he has escaped!"
Lei Dalu took a long breath in relief, with a sincere smile on his face.
"But why did he destroy two star beacons instead of fighting against the Immortal Cultivators?"
Bai Kaixin's white eyebrows were shivering like two long fishing lines.
Lei Dalu scratched his beard and said, "Li Yao is definitely not an Immortal Cultivator. There must be a deeper meaning to his actions. We should be prepared to fight in advance. He will certainly reach out to us one way or another.
"Ask Zuo Xiaohu, Lu Dian, and the rest of them to cheer up. I have a vague feeling that the most important battle of my life is coming!"
…
Five days later, an enormous fleet was sailing slowly between the Cross Wind Space Zone and the Heavenly Saints Space Zone, with the battle emblem of the Glorious Sunlight Group painted in mystic rays at the front.
In the rear part of the fleet, on a round starship for the test of new magical equipment, five spectral Cultivators residing in artificial bodies were faced with hundreds of light beams on which streams of information were pouring down like waterfalls.
There was not much difference on the metal skull, but the shinning spots of light in their eyes indicated the untamable shock and excitement deep inside their souls.
"At 3:52, on the third child board of the 'War Observation' forum, a reply with a special character has been found in the fifth latest post!
"At 4:09, on the website of 'Secret Garden', the username 'UltimateThunder0011' has been registered, as agreed upon in our secret code!
"At 4:41… At 5:35… At 7:18…"
For the last five years, Professor Mo Xuan and the other spectral Cultivators had been browsing through dozens of special websites on the Spiritual Nexus every day, to no avail.
But today, the special reply and the special username that they had agreed a deal on five years ago had finally shown up!
"Li Yao is back!"
"In one of the threads, he recommended other people to listen to a song named…'Homecoming'.
"Does—does it mean that he has found a way to go home? Are we able to go home now?"
There were exclamations in the bridge.
"In another thread, there was the tourism commercial of the Dawn Moon Space Zone. Just as we talked about before, Li Yao does not want to communicate with us via the Spiritual Nexus, which is too unsafe. He wants one of us to go to the Dawn Moon Space Zone and talk to him in person!
"Right. He also asked us about the development of the 'Brain Concussion Plan' with the secret code."
Low chuckles echoed in the metal speaker in Professor Mo Xuan's throat. According to the means of contact that they had agreed upon five years ago, he logged into a website that featured jokes and funny stories and left a reply on the fifth thread of the third child board.
"The brain is open!"
…
It had been twenty days since the appearance of the Dragon King Battlesuit.
During those twenty days, the Flying Star Sector had seemed undisrupted, and everything had gone on normally.
The minor battles at the periphery of the Spider Den Space Zone were continuing. Four new star beacons that had just been refined were moved to the frontline slowly through short-distance space jumps.
In the world of Cultivators, the leadership of the important sects were all on their way to Heavenly Saints City, ready to take part in the strategical meeting and the morale-boosting rally for the second war against Spider Den after five hundred years.
However, in the darkness of the universe beyond the senses of the ordinary people, undercurrents were swirling and colliding heavily, raising shocking black sparks.
Cultivators, Immortal Cultivators, space pirates, spectral Cultivators from the Heaven's Origin Sector… Multiple forces were trying to locate the mysterious man wearing the Dragon King Battlesuit with any methods possible.
However, after the grand appearance twenty days ago, the man was like a piece of ice that had been melted in the water or a dry leaf that was rotting in a swamp. There were no traces of him at all.
But three days ago, interesting changes finally took place.
A group of Grand Illusionary Soldiers that were patrolling near the Swooping Eagle Space Zone found debris of starships that was still relatively intact in a stone belt. It appeared that a great explosion of starship must have happened.
Judging from the remaining radiation, the explosion had taken place quite recently. Chances were that it had happened only days ago.
The sea of stars had an unstable mood. It was not unusual for a starship to get into an accident. After a rescue team was sent out as per tradition, the incident turned into part of the patrol log, and the patrol log was saved in the database as part of the information stream. It did not catch the attention of the Cultivators.
However, the Immortal Cultivators noticed the incident keenly.
Judging from the structure of the remains and the scraps that were still complete, they all belonged to a medical starship.
Also, the Swooping Eagle Space Zone and the Spider Den Space Zone were not far away from each other. One space jump was enough to reach it.
In the places where the Cultivators were not looking, a giant black web covered the Swooping Eagle Space Zone and the three space zones nearby quietly.
…
In Heavenly Saints City, on Heavenly Phantom, the flagship of the Grand Illusionary Group, Wen Wenkang examined the transmission tube of the starship slowly. Occasionally, when other crew members passed by, the white-bearded old man would smile and greet them with his beer belly.
Wen Wenkang was 212 years old. For a Cultivator in the beginning level of the Core Formation Stage, he h
ad passed his prime years and was in the middle of the dusk of depression.
He was not a talented, awe-inspiring Cultivator. The accomplishments he had made were all based on his hard work. He had learned things bit by bit and trained himself dutifully.
In his old age, he seemed to have accepted his fate, and his ambitions had gone entirely. He was ready to enjoy his retired life in a place with splendid natural views when the war was over.
On his chest, the emblem of the Star Fighters' Alliance was obscured by the oil. Yet, he was not bothered by it and had not wiped the emblem for a long time.
To ensure the publicity of the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project, the Grand Illusionary Group and the Star Fighters' Alliance had co-produced Heavenly Phantom. Wen Wenkang was the chief technician that the Star Fighters' Alliance had sent to Heavenly Phantom. He had just finished the day's work.
He put everything back to where it belonged slowly. Then, with his hands behind his back, he whispered a song and entered a lift through the channel below the maintenance room. The lift then moved down slowly and brought him to a common room in the end.
In the middle of the common room was an oily king-sized bed.
Wen Wenkang did not lie on it. Instead, he raised the mattress, revealing a secret teleportation array below.
Five minutes later, Wen Wenkang appeared in a secret chamber in the center of Heavenly Phantom.
Heavenly Phantom had a total length of 37 kilometers. It was essentially a large town. Building several secret chambers inside the starship was more than easy.
When the gate of the secret chamber was slowly closed after a 'chi' sound, Wen Wenkang's slightly hunched back gradually straightened. The laziness and dumbness on his face entirely disappeared. Two ferocious tigers that represented determination and dedications woke up in his eyes.
He had personally built the secret chamber. It was a secret command center with a high computational ability and confidentiality.
Light beams were flashing everywhere. No seats around the six long desks were empty.
As far as one's eyes could reach, the participants were mostly middle-level or high-level officials and the core disciples of the Grand Illusionary Group.
