by <unknown>
Hu!
He pressed his chest softly. An enormous airbag immediately ejected out of his back, giving him a strong buoyancy inside the Star Swallowing Sea whose water was extremely dense.
"Little Black, come on out!"
Inside the Star Swallowing Ocean that was full of heavy metals, Li Yao was not worried that the traces of spiritual waves would be found. Even if the traces were really detected, it was not unusual for demons to make use of magical equipment.
Black Wing leapt out of his Cosmos Ring. Like a puppy that had been confined at home for too long, it was shrieking both in delight and discontent. After circling Li Yao three times, it opened black wings of spiritual energy inside the lake water.
Powerful ripples spread out in the lake, as if Black Wing had been expanded to hundreds of meters long.
Li Yao seemed to be back to ten years ago. Grabbing the handle of Black Wing, he blew a whistle and rushed inside the dark lake!
Elder Nether Spring was only twenty seconds late.
But in those twenty seconds, the space inside the crystal barrier had flooded.
There were still a lot of important relics inside the Mausoleum of Chaos. Naturally, Elder Nether Spring could not allow it to be consumed by the Star Swallowing Sea.
Helplessly, he could only command the Nether World Watch to repair the crystal barrier immediately, and he asked one of the devilish warships that were docked above the Star Swallowing Ocean to rise and monitor a larger range.
Twenty minutes later, an anomaly was detected. A vague shadow fled from the southwest side of the Star Swallowing Sea and rushed westward.
"Despot, gather the elites. We'll chase after him!"
Elder Nether Spring's voice sounded like a saber that was rubbing a bone. Everybody who heard it felt chilly.
Swirl, who was heavily wounded, struggled to say, "The southwest of the White Silver Death Desert is a turbulent area that is frequented by violent winds. All the sand will be blown into the sky and forms terrifying sandstorms!"
"There's no time to bother that. The item is of paramount importance for our plan, and we must capture the mysterious expert, too!" Elder Nether Spring replied with a gloomy face.
Fifteen minutes later, the exploration team made of two devilish warships marched to the southwest of the White Silver Death Desert.
"If the target is running at full speed, he will certain trigger intense demonic energy and leave a clear trace. If he does not want to leave any trace, his speed won't be too high!"
"Chase him. Chase him now!"
The speed and efficiency of the devilish warships were far higher than those of living creatures. With the advanced demonic artifacts and the 'demonic energy detector' from the Star Glory Federation on the warships, Elder Nether Spring soon located a clear trace of demonic energy that extended to the southwest.
"It is the ocean at the end of the southwest direction. We will not be able to capture him if he flees into the ocean!'
Elder Nether Spring frowned. Both devilish warships were triggered to the highest efficiency. The engine compartments in the rear were all expanding, spurting such high-pressure air currents that almost set the sky on fire!
Inside the White Silver Death Desert, there was nothing but monotonous, desolate sand. Every place was shining in silver colors, leaving no shelters for anybody. However, after three hours of pursuing, the environment nearby changed abruptly. The desert seemed to have become an ocean with surging tides and earsplitting roars!
It was the turbulent area!
Inside the White Silver Death Desert, without the blockage of mountains and canyons, the strong winds from the ocean were able to march into the land unstoppably. Blowing away sand and dust that could be billions of tons of weight, the wind generated an ocean inside the desert!
"Our devilish warship can resist a level-thirteen gale. Go over now!" Elder Nether Spring commanded unhesitatingly.
Hum! Hum!
On the surface of the two devilish warships, the gray protective membranes that looked like bone armor were torn apart, revealing enormous organs made of countless demon cores that looked like eyes.
Translucent demonic energy spurted out of the artificial organs and formed a solid barrier of demonic energy outside the warships!
The devilish warships barged into the turbulent area. The sandstorm hit the warships one wave after another, causing no consequences at all except for the flashing of the 'eyes' on the warships and the slight shaking.
However—
After the two devilish warships both went deep into the turbulent area, dozens of explosions suddenly echoed on the ground.
Almost a hundred crystal bombs were shot into the sky, blossoming like the most brilliant fireworks.
The crystal bombs were still very far away from the devilish warships and could deal no damage to them whatsoever.
But Elder Nether Spring frowned deeply.
Every action of the mysterious enemy had been beyond his expectations since the beginning. It was unlikely that the guy would perform meaningless attacks. What could the crystal bombs do even if they were detonated right below the devilish warships, considering their insignificant damage?
Why was he doing that?
Right at that moment, the devilish warships began shaking more forcefully, and the intensity of the sandstorm outside significantly increased. Everybody on board could hear the roaring gust despite the thick shell of the warships.
"What happened? The force of the wind has suddenly soared. The spiritual energy of the wind class is in disorder!"
"Not good!
"The crystal bombs that the enemy launched were not damaging at all; they carried a lot of rune arrays that could boost the spiritual energy of the wind class!
"As long as the direction and pressure of the wind are calculated well, dozens of crystal bombs that can boost the force of the wind are enough to focus the force of the sandstorm in the same location and create an extremely terrifying zone of furious wind!"
"How is it possible? Even the Feather Clan that is born in the wind and naturally adaptive to the spiritual energy of the wind class cannot grasp the pulse of the sandstorm so well!
"How did the monster do it?"
"Get out of the place now!" Along with Elder Nether Spring's roar, the devilish warship seemed to have been smashed hard by a giant, invisible hammer, and the bridge leaned to the left side seriously.
Quite a few crew members were knocked away and crashed into their companions. The bridge was in a mess.
Three hundred meters in front of him, more than ten tornadoes were getting thicker and larger after absorbing more and more sand from the desert. The color of the tornadoes gradually darkened into a dreadful deep black, too.
The tornadoes were eyeing them maliciously like giant serpents that could swallow the sky and the earth. The earsplitting noises made the solid shell of the warships as thin as the wing of a cicada.
BOOM!
The main gun of the devilish warships opened fire, blowing the head of one of the 'serpents' into pieces. But the remaining body was soon torn apart and swallowed by the rest of the 'serpents', making them even thicker and more hideous than before.
In the meantime, on the flanks of and behind the devilish warships, more tornadoes that looked like giant snakes were gradually taking shape!
Chapter 915: Origins of Demons! |
Three hours later, the two devilish warships that were stalled for a long time in the super sandstorms finally staggered to a stop in the sky of the southwest coastline of the White Silver Continent.
Because of the hinderance of the sandstorm, it had taken them one and a half hours longer than expected. They lost the traces of the target multiple times on the way, too, and did not lock onto him again until twenty minutes ago.
On the demonic energy detector, a streak of brightness extended into the ocean and vanished in the depths of the surging seawater.
Judging from the dispersion of the demonic ene
rgy, the target must have dashed into the ocean half an hour ago.
It was an extremely tricky moment.
If the target had no backup and was swimming on his own, he would not have gone too far in only half an hour. They might have had a chance to catch up with him if they searched the area carefully.
However, judging from the delicate traps that the target had placed on the way, it was hard to believe that he had not prepared a few pieces of magical equipment that could make him move in the seawater fast.
Elder Nether Spring, Despot, and the experts of the Nether World Watch all stared at the boundless ocean, deep in thought.
Although they had suffered a number of setbacks on their way, the anger on Elder Nether Spring's face had entirely disappeared. It was now utterly tranquil, without the slightest hint of emotion.
Elder Nether Spring suddenly raised his voice. "Go back now."
"What?" Despot was stunned. "Are we letting go of the target just like this?"
"With the cunningness of the target, he must've prepared more traps at the bottom of the ocean, in which case, we will never be able to catch him," Elder Nether Spring explained quickly. "But I'm more concerned that the target is actually distracting our attention!
"Right now, most of the elites of the Nether World Watch have been brought out by us. The only expert left in the Mausoleum of Chaos is Swirl, who has been heavily wounded!
"What if the purpose of the target was not to run away but to distract our attention and rescue the Fire Ant King when we were out?"
Despot gasped, his solid shells shivering slightly.
"If that is the case, we still have an opportunity to capture him!"
Elder Nether Spring grinned so hideously that somebody might have stamped on his face!
…
In the north of the White Silver Death Desert, thousands of kilometers away from the turbulent area and the Mausoleum of Chaos, a black shadow rushed while sticking close to the desert, drawing a huge arc and moving closer and closer to the Mausoleum of Chaos.
It was exactly Li Yao.
If his purpose was to run away, he would not have been so troubled.
His plan was exactly as Elder Nether Spring had guessed. He hoped to direct Elder Nether Spring and the elites of the Nether World watch to the west coast of the White Silver Death Desert with himself as the bait. It would have been even better if they had been tricked into searching for him offshore.
As long as they were postponed for half a day, it would be enough for him to return to the Mausoleum of Chaos and rescue the Fire Ant King!
With any luck, they would even be able to capture a devilish warship and free a large batch of captives before they figured out what to do next.
However—
Li Yao's rapid movement came to an abrupt half when something in his pocket shivered slightly.
On one of his knees, he took off his glasses and spat out a mouthful of sand. He took out a metal chip that was carved with stripes resembling clouds from his pocket.
Right now, the metal chip was shaking feebly, driven by rune arrays.
Have I been seen through?
It was a surveillance device that Li Yao had arranged earlier.
When he was fleeing to the west coast of the White Silver Death Desert, he had sprayed almost a hundred pieces of magical equipment that could sense demonic energy into the desert. The silver magical equipment was the size of a pebble and utterly indistinguishable in the silver desert.
The magical equipment, like the crystal bombs, had been thrown together him with the materials inside his Cosmos Ring and from the Mausoleum of Chaos over the last three days. The usage of the magical equipment was simple. As long as it detected immense demonic energy passing by, it would release an extremely feeble spiritual wave so that the reception rune array inside his pocket would shake.
In the boundless White Silver Death Desert where there were no obstacles, the distance of transmission could be thousands of kilometers.
The reception rune array shook for the first time half a day ago, when Elder Nether Spring was coming after him.
But right now, the reception rune array was shaking again, indicating that another wave of immense demonic energy was flying past the magical equipment.
The elites of Elder Nether Spring had been mobilized. It was impossible that a second echelon of reinforcements had been sent.
The only possibility was that Elder Nether Spring had sensed that something was wrong and returned to defend his base.
What a tricky opponent!
Li Yao slightly frowned. He opened his hands, releasing hundreds of streaks of spiritual gas while he ran calculations with the desert as his paper.
The result of the series of complicated computations was that, even if he rushed at the highest speed, there was only a 7.1% likelihood that he could rescue the Fire Ant King before Elder Nether Spring returned to the Mausoleum of Chaos.
The last thing Li Yao wanted to be faced with right now was an infuriated Elder Nether Spring and hundreds of elites of the Nether World Watch.
It's a pity that Elder Nether Spring has seen through me. Thankfully, however, my effort was not in vain.
Li Yao smiled and licked his dried lips. He retrieved the ancient magical equipment that he had stolen from the tomb of Chaos half a day ago from his Cosmos Ring and played with it.
The ancient magical equipment looked like a brain that was made of agate and bloody diamond. But it was only the size of an apple and could be held with one hand perfectly.
Li Yao had seen similar magical equipment in Ou Yezi's memory pieces.
Such magical equipment named 'Hidden Star Box' could be called an upgraded version of jade chips. It could store a lot of information, telepathic thoughts, and even vivid illusions.
Many ancient sages had been fond of pouring their lifelong knowledge and their most intense feeling into magical equipment like the Hidden Star Box as a legacy for the posterity before their death.
It was some sort of special 'last will'.
Li Yao was almost certain that it was the 'last will' of Chaos when he discovered the item in the crystal pool at the center of the tomb of Chaos. Also, at that time, he noticed that the heart of Swirl had been beating fast, her breath hastier, and her blood flow had been 11% faster than a minute earlier. He had immediately realized that the item must be Elder Nether Spring's real target.
Therefore, Li Yao had taken actions brutally and ambushed her, stealing the 'last will' of Chaos.
Based on Elder Nether Spring's moves and his talk, this is very likely the ultimate purpose of his operation here!
What kind of secrets are hidden in the 'last will' of Chaos?
Maybe I will only be able to make out what Elder Nether Spring is up to exactly after I crack the secrets inside the 'last will'!
Li Yao took a long breath. Covered in a thin layer of spiritual energy, he gradually sank into the quicksand and dived deeper and deeper until he was almost a hundred meters below the desert.
Bo! Bo! Bo!
After he was so deep below the ground, Li Yao was finally able to release his spiritual energy blatantly. His spiritual energy in the liquid form gradually pushed the sand around him away like expanding seawater, creating a round space that was two meters in diameter.
Li Yao sat cross-legged in the space, with the Hidden Star Box that looked like an agate floating in front of him. He snapped his fingers and summoned almost a hundred dissection tools from his Cosmos Ring.
Since the Hidden Star Box is meant to be a legacy for the latecomers, it is certainly not completely locked. There must be a secret method to open it.
Although I don't know the secret method, I can still crack it with brute force. It should be fine as long as I am cautious enough.
Li Yao was an expert in ancient magical equipment. 'Chaos' might have been more knowledgeable than him in terms of the arts of poison, but when it came to the refinement and the decryption of magical equipment, how cou
ld he have been match for Li Yao?
Li Yao narrowed his eyes. His fingers seemed to be pulling hundreds of invisible strings, and he manipulated tiny needles the width of hair to brush the Hidden Star Box quickly.
A gray mist immediately enveloped the Hidden Star Box. After a period of cracking noises, a glamorous red color surfaced on the Hidden Star Box, and sparks were bouncing deep inside the 'brain' that was made of agate, as if somebody's thoughts were being triggered and ignited.
Sweat was pouring out on Li Yao's forehead. Before it dripped down, it had already been vaporized by his skin, which was burningly hot now. The narrow space was enshrouded in a hazy mist.
Inside the mist, the brilliance emitted by the Hidden Star Box was even more blurred. Outside of the 'brain' the size of an apple, a brain of mystic rays the size of a real brain was generated.
The intersections of the rays of light were like synapses. Flames of telepathic thoughts were jumping up and down.
I've made it!
After a click that sounded like a pebble hitting the ground, a bloody diamond that resembled an eyeball protruded out of the center of the Hidden Star Box slowly.
From the bloody diamond beamed out a scarlet mystic ray that darted at Li Yao's brain.
Li Yao was a person who had been possessed multiple times and therefore was quite familiar with the procedure. He had examined the Hidden Star Box thoroughly in case an old ghost from forty thousand years ago was hiding inside trying to steal his body.
Besides, if there were really a ghost trying to possess him, it would be hard to tell who would be possessed by whom in the end!
At that moment, Li Yao moved closer without hesitation and bathed his spiritual root in the mystic rays!
Hum!
Prolonged, weird noises echoed deep inside his brain suddenly. Countless emotions filled his braincells.
Li Yao had never tasted such complicated emotions before. There was the most devoted love and the deepest abhorrence, the highest hope for the future and the gloomiest desperation about the darkness of the world.
The complicated feelings stabbed him like iron sabers, which was multiple times more painful during Ou Yezi's possession. He could not help but exclaim in a low voice.
