by <unknown>
Over-the-horizon attacks were always what the Cultivators were best at. However, once he was within thirty kilometers from the enemy, and when a close-distance dogfight began, it would be showtime of the demons!
Bring it on. My 'Gold Eagles' are entirely different from the Ghost Face Silver Mosquitoes and Colorful Locusts that you dealt with in the past!
Swoosh!
Jin Luanyun rushed exactly toward the 'Mystic Moon III' flying sword at the full speed. In the end, he was even able to see the shining edge of the flying sword with his own eyes!
When the flying sword was about the pierce through the biochemical beast and him, he suddenly plummeted, manipulating the Gold Eagle as if he had hit an invisible wall. He dived toward the ground vertically, but he left dozens of golden, glittering feathers in the sky, which were simulating the demonic energy of a Gold Eagle!
A clone of demonic energy as a decoy!
However, the 'Mystic Moon III' flying sword also turned a sharp turn in front of the false clone of demonic energy and came after him again!
This is an expert!
Jin Luanyun was excited.
The enemy truly deserved to be a Core Formation Stage Cultivator. At the last moment, he adjusted the direction of the flying sword with his telepathic thoughts. Also, the performance of the 'Mystic Moon III' flying sword was rather impressive. It was travelling at three times the speed of sound, and the distance was so short. Still, it managed to make the turn!
Jin Luanyun was doing his best. The Gold Eagle dashed rapidly in midair as if it had been caught in an invisible swirl.
The flying sword surrounded by purple electric arcs closely followed him. It was shrieking and rushing in circles behind his back, too.
Suddenly—
The 'Mystic Moon III' flying sword staggered, and the tip of the sword trembled violently like a spring.
Jin Luanyun smiled and took the opportunity to release a cluster of scarlet venomous gas, wreathing the 'Mystic Moon III' flying sword.
Corroded by the venomous gas, the crystals stored inside the flying sword were detonated very quickly, and the blade broke into a dazzling fireball in the sky.
Everything was superb about the 'Mystic Moon III' flying sword, except that it had a great weakness. When it was hovering rapidly in small circles, the performance of its sensation rune arrays would drop significantly, thereby hindering the sword from perceiving the subtle changes in the air.
Jin Luanyun took the advantage of the weakness and led the 'Mystic Moon III' flying sword to a turbulent area that he had discovered earlier. In such a way, he successfully resolved the over-the-horizon attack from a Core Formation Stage Cultivator!
While he was dealing with the flying sword, his teammates had already lunged close and attacked the human beings' scouts.
They were exclusively silver-blood demons riding their biochemical beasts. They were definitely the most terrifying existences in the sky!
The ordinary soldiers piloting the 'Venomous Bee Armed Shuttles' were no match for them at all. The few Refinement Stage Cultivators were retreating quickly under their attack, too. Only the three Cultivators in the Building Foundation Stage and the Core Formation Stage who were wearing crystal suits could still fight back.
However, after Jin Luanyun, as a demon king, dodged another three flying swords and blew up two, and when he was finally ten kilometers away from the Core Formation Stage Cultivator, the brief impasse was completely shattered.
When Jin Luanyun lunged toward the Core Formation Stage Cultivator with every feather on the Gold Eagle standing up like daggers, he happened to see that a red sun was rising slowly amid the magnificent clouds in the east, dying the sky into a plateau of blood and an ocean of fire.
The spurting red sun was as brilliant and glorious as the future of the Blood Demon Sector!
…
Yuwen Jiubian stood above the clouds, staring down at the earth coldly with his hands behind his back.
As a demon emperor, he was the supreme commander of the coalition army of demons in the north during the all-in national war.
Below the clouds, his troops were pushing forward unstoppably.
The Gold Eagle Troop of the Feather Clan had cleared the airspace a thousand square kilometers nearby. The Heavenly Might Bronze Bull Legion of the Horn Clan had crushed the biggest stronghold of the federal army in the north of the Grand Desolate Plateau. The Fierce Wind Fiery Leopard Legion of the Clan had even marched five hundred kilometers ahead as if nobody were in their way.
However, Yuwen Jiubian knew clearly that all their endeavors were futile.
The Gold Eagle Troop, the Heavenly Might Bronze Bull Legion, and the Fierce Wind Fiery Leopard Legion were all the elite troops he had right now. The remaining insects and beasts, which seemed hideous and overwhelming, were nothing but neatly-camouflaged cannon fodder.
He was commanding a suicidal attack that was destined to fail.
His sole mission was to lead the false main force and march toward the Giant Blade Pass 'rampantly' so that all the elite troops of the Heaven's Origin Sector would be nailed to the Giant Blade Pass. He was even expected to bait the enemy into the Grand Desolate Plateau and 'crush' his own army.
Everything was meant to pave the way for the real main force in the southern battlefield and the Red Tide Plan!
"So what?"
Yuwen Jiubian smiled while he was watching. He mumbled, "Even if the Gold Eagle Troop, the Heavenly Might Bronze Bull Legion, and the Fierce Wind Fiery Leopard Legion are all that I have, I will still make every soldier and Cultivator of the Star Glory Federation remember my name, Yuwen Jiubian, in the thousand years to come!"
He was amused by his own declaration the moment he said it. He shook his head in self-mockery.
He almost forgot that there would be no more 'Star Glory Federation' in a thousand years. It would be completely devoured by the Blood Demon Sector, with no bones left.
Yuwen Jiubian had every faith in that. He believed that the slowly-rising, splendid sun not far away would soon belong to them and the demon race!
Chapter 994: The Most Crucial Information |
While Yuwen Jiubian was rushing forward with the fake main force of the coalition army of demons, Heavenly Path City, the heart of the Blood Demon Sector, was in chaos.
In the dark night, seven devilish warships were like tiger sharks that suddenly leapt out of the black water and bared the sharpest tusks after lurking in the deep sea for a long time.
Five demon emperors also unleashed thunderous demonic energy both in the sky and on the ground while they locked onto the place where vague spiritual waves were being sent out.
'Ape Fiend' Yuan Riyue was three meters tall. He was an out-and-out ancient ape which had burst into fury. Turning into a streak of brightness, he darted toward Vulture Li Yao's shelter first!
However, the moment he rushed into the ragged valley, a cottage that was deep inside the valley suddenly emitted the most dazzling brilliance like a supernova outbreak!
For a moment, the dark night of Heavenly Path City was illuminated into broad daylight. Mystic rays soared into the sky like a volcanic eruption. The light blossomed into sparks that enveloped both the five demon emperors and the seven devilish warships!
The five demon emperors did not foresee that 'Vulture Li Yao' would be so determined. Caught unprepared, they hurried to retreat!
Thankfully, the bombs had been arranged in such a way that the damage was focused in the enemy's nest and did not hurt them at all. After a series of earsplitting explosions, both the demon emperors and the devilish warships were totally unharmed. The only thing left was a steaming crater almost ten meters deep on the ground.
It appeared as if a shooting star had smashed down vertically from the sky and demolished the shabby building without dealing any damage to the houses nearby!
The five demon emperors looked at each other in bewilderment. They released their telepathic thoughts carefully to explore the debris, only to discov
er that the bottom of the deep pit was still thousands of degrees hot!
"Seeing that it was not good, he detonated such a powerful bomb to kill himself. He didn't even leave a bone to us!"
"The guy was so brutal even to himself!"
"What a shame. If he had hesitated for several seconds, we would've had a chance to capture him alive!"
"The commander-in-chief was too incautious. How could the enemy have been a regular Cultivator when he had stirred trouble in the Blood Demon Sector for such a long time without being captured? Reminding the enemy at the critical moment? What was the commander-in-chief thinking?"
His face gloomy, 'Ape Fiend' Yuan Riyue clenched his fists hard, and cracking noises echoed from the bones. His canine teeth pierced deep into his lips, but he did not say anything.
He did not except the outcome to be like this.
Such an outcome was even more unacceptable than one in which he was killed by the enemy after a fierce battle!
Hoooo!
'Ape Fiend' Yuan Riyue finally could not contain himself any longer. The golden hair all around the demon emperor's body was standing up, and his chest was expanding like a balloon while he bashed his heart hard and uttered deafening roars.
The blast swept over like a hurricane and collapsed the houses hundreds of square meters nearby!
…
Thirty kilometers away, at the highest point in another messy, dilapidated neighborhood, Li Yao opened the window slightly and observed the view far away through crystal cameras with super high resolutions with great interest.
"We seem to have been discovered."
His lips curled up. "You father did indeed dispatch tremendous soldiers to block and kill us. Thankfully, they are all distracted by the decoy right now. Let's take the opportunity to escape out of the city according to Evacuation Plan D!"
Li Yao threw everything in the room that was indicative of their identity into his Cosmos Rings in three seconds before he dragged Jin Xinyue to rush in the dirty lower district of the city.
The coalition army of demons had only just examined the area. Also, their attention was distracted by the great explosions far away. Therefore, their vigilance was very low.
The two of them did not meet any obstacles while they were moving forward in the ragged alleys. Fifteen minutes, they had already made their way to the suburbs of Heavenly Path City.
Half an hour later, they appeared in a spacious cave deep inside a hill.
It was not until this moment that Li Yao took a long breath in relief and grinned at Jin Xinyue. "Thankfully, we've got out. It was not a complete failure at all!"
Jin Xinyue, on the other hand, was eyeing her master as if he were a ghost.
Half a day ago, Jin Xinyue had been rather doubtful.
She wondered why Li Yao went through the unnecessary trouble and spent two days making a 'decoy' when their 'persuasion plan' was already very thorough.
It was true that the point-to-point communicator for miners through which they talked to Jin Tuyi was hidden in the half-basement in the depths of Heavenly Path City.
However, Li Yao had modified the point-to-point communicator and connected it to a biochemical brain.
The biochemical brain was connected to another biochemical brain in another shelter thirty kilometers away through brainwaves.
Just like crystal processors could be connected wirelessly into a local area network, biochemical brains could be connected to each other, too.
The mechanism they adopted was the 'magnification of brainwaves', which was similar to telepathy. The information could be transmitted through the mutual oscillation and interaction of the brainwaves.
In Heavenly Path City, the biochemical brains of countless demons were releasing such 'brainwaves' to the outside world incessantly in 'brain nets' large and small.
It was difficult to lock onto a certain brainwave if the frequency of the brainwave was unknown.
Li Yao sent his telepathic thoughts to the secret hideout thirty kilometers away through the biochemical brain next him before the signals were translated into spiritual waves and delivered into the commander-in-chief's residence by the crystal processor.
Jin Tuyi might have thought that Li Yao was talking to him in the very secret bureau, while the truth was that the secret bureau was just a platform and a 'transfer station'. It was not their real shelter.
Of course, Li Yao did not forget to leave certain 'toys' in the 'transfer station', including powerful crystal bombs and everyday items that were contaminated by their blood and cells.
What Jin Tuyi was searching for was a feeble spiritual wave. Never would he have guessed that he should be actually looking for a weird brainwave!
Jin Xinyue was rather baffled. Was Li Yao not a refiner? He should be adept at magical equipment. But how did he know how to connect a biochemical brain to a crystal processor?
However, Jin Xinyue was baffled more by the fact that Li Yao's awareness that the negotiation would fall apart than by the technical details.
Jin Xinyue was a saintess of the Pantheon of Demons. Naturally, she was very prudent, too. If she had plenty of time, she would not hesitate to deploy ten, or maybe twenty, 'transfer stations' to hide her tracks.
But the situation was already urgent at that time, and every second counted. Yet, Li Yao wasted too much time preparing the decoy. He seemed to have foreseen that the negotiation would certainly fail, and her father would certainly attack them mercilessly.
But the real question was, if he had foreseen that her father could not be persuaded, why did he waste so much time and risk sneaking into Heavenly Path City?
Had he come here for nothing more than a sincere conversation with her father?
That was highly likely!
Jin Xinyue had thought that she completely understood Li Yao's plan, but right now, she realized that she had only seen the tip of the iceberg before and did not know Li Yao's real plan at all.
"Master!" Hesitating for a long time, Jin Xinyue could not help but ask, "You knew that you would not be able to convince my father?"
Li Yao's hands turned into a cluster of brightness on the light beam as he was analyzing the files that he collected a moment ago. He replied casually, "More or less. But everything is possible. Your father perhaps would've been convinced if he had a brain concussion a moment before our dialogue."
Jin Xinyue was even more confused. "Master, you seem to know my father very well, and you have predicted his every move, haven't you?"
"Wrong. I do not know your father well." Li Yao stared at the light beam without blinking his eyes. "I only know myself very well. I know exactly what I can do and what I can't.
"I am a refiner. I have a shallow understanding of combat and explosion. They are my advantages.
"But my advantages certainly do not include the expertise in convincing other people in a debate!
"However, your father is different. He has been the leader of the Feather Clan for many years. He controls one of the four superpowers of the Blood Demon Sector. He has been elected by so many demon emperors as the commander-in-chief of the coalition army of demons. He has also managed to talk all the demons into uniting and carrying out his highly risky Red Tide Plan.
"Taking all the factors into consideration, your father's expertise in persuasion and propaganda must be so awesome that they border on terrifying, right?"
"Let's say that the full mark is 100. Then, my ability in persuasion is 30 points, at best, while your father's is 95, at least!
"It would've been easier if we had undeniable proof, but we have none. Everything is just our deduction and speculation!
"You wanted me to convince your father to believe in 'peace' with empty words? That is like asking me to be humiliated!
"That was the same as you asking your father to compete with me about the arts of refining, in which case he would stand absolutely no chance of winning!
"To be honest, I have already done an excellent job by shouldering
the pressure and not being brainwashed by your father.
"Let's leave your father, a great man of the time, aside. My hollow opinions, such as 'peace' or 'unification', couldn't have convinced a few middle school students who happened to have read a few novels, could they?"
Jin Xinyue was utterly dumbfounded. She stammered, "Then—then, what was everything we did for? Why were we talking to my father at all?"
Blinking his eyes, Li Yao replied unhurriedly, "Like I said earlier, to communicate with your father, of course."
"But you knew that my father would not be convinced!"
"The purpose of communication is not necessarily to convince the other party. One will be able to collect information of paramount importance from the process of communication!
"In fact, through the communication just now, I have retrieved the most crucial information from your father!"
Chapter 995: Truth of the Red Tide Plan! |
Jin Xinyue found it hard to believe. "Have you?"
"Of course!" Li Yao finished the preliminary analysis of the information and was able to focus his attention on talking to his disciple. "Do you not feel that we have come back with loads of important intelligence after sneaking into Heavenly Path City even though our persuasion plan failed?"
"Forgive my stupidity. I only vaguely felt that you were completely overwhelmed by my father. It was like—it was like—"
"It was like that I was hung up and whipped hard in the face by your dad, right?"
"I dare not think like that, Master!"
Li Yao waved his arm in excitement and snapped his finger. "It was exactly my purpose to be whipped by your father!
"After we delivered the oyster to your father, he must've studied my background carefully. But all the files about me that can be found in the Blood Demon Sector stop ten years ago on Boneyard!
"At that time, I was nothing more than a Building Foundation Stage Cultivator in my twenties. I was too young, too naïve, and too simple-minded.
"It means that your father did not know exactly what I am right now. Nor did he know what drastic changes I have gone through in the past decade!
