by <unknown>
Therefore, for them right now, the Heaven's Origin Sector was a complete black box. They had no idea what had happened there over the past three months!
The longer they delayed, the more unpredictable factors would emerge. Li Yao had planned to return to the Heaven's Origin Sector from the moment he learned the whole truth of the Red Tide Plan. However, the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit had not been repaired at that time, and his cooperation with Jin Tuyi had only just begun. Therefore, he had to postpone his departure.
Today, the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit had been fixed, and the new Skyfire had also taken shape. Jin Tuyi and Jin Xinyue had basically got the control of the Blood Demon Sector. Li Yao was now able to go home without worries!
"Let me go back with you!" Han Tuhu said in a hurry. "My voice is not low in the federation army. Also, I know a lot of leaders in the military. They will certainly believe the information if I am there!"
Han Tuhu was the supreme commander of one of the sixteen crystal suit legions of the federation. Naturally, he had a lot of connections and boasted tremendous influence in the federal army.
It had been more than one year since he had been to the Blood Demon Sector by Elder Nether Spring. He could not wait to go back to his motherland, which was now in great peril!
However, Li Yao shook his head after considering for a moment. "I think that it will be better if I go back alone and figure out the situation first."
Han Tuhu was surprised. "Why?"
Li Yao glimpsed at Jin Tuyi and said, "If Elder Nether Spring is really trying to raise a world war between the Heaven's Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector, the most crucial task for him is to cut off the communication between the two Sectors! Only if there is no direct dialogue between the two Sectors will he be able to fan the flames in the middle and escalate the situation!
"Therefore, assuming that the Children of the Nether World have already taken action, they must be prepared for everyone who's going to jump from the Blood Demon Sector to the Heaven's Origin Sector, especially the guys such as us!
"From the intelligence we have, we can infer that the Children of the Nether World have infiltrated the federation to a shocking degree. Even the commander of one of the crystal suit legions might be one of them. They will certainly try everything they can to stop us and even… wipe us out!
"The hatred between the Heaven's Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector is too deep. It cannot be resolved with a few empty words. Also, General Han, your current appearance happens to be…"
Dazed, Han Tuhu put on a bitter smile.
Suo Chaolong and he had been the most important experiment subjects for Elder Nether Spring. In the depths of the Nether World on the Gloomy Wind Islands in the North Pole, they had both gone through one year of devastating experiments. The cells in their bodies had greatly mutated. Eventually, he had become more and more like a demon, and Suo Chaolong had become more and more like a human being.
After the Serum of Chaos was successfully manufactured, Han Tuhu and the soldiers of the Flying Tiger Legion had volunteered to take the first shot, but the effect had not been very satisfactory.
It was because the Serum of Chaos was based not on the original Divine Blood of Chaos but Jin Xinyue's blood.
Although Jin Xinyue turned from a demon into a human being because of the excessive Divine Blood of Chaos, her blood was still different from the original Divine Blood of Chaos. Therefore, the effect could not possibly be the same.
Moreover, they were not planning to duplicate the purest Divine Blood of Chaos, at least not for now.
The venomous fog in the Blood Demon Sector was not suitable for the normal human beings. After she was transformed into a Core Formation Stage Cultivator, Jin Xinyue could resist the hazard with the immense spiritual energy. But if regular demons were transformed into the purest human beings, they would no longer be adapted to the venomous fog. The procedure would be killing them instead of saving them.
Therefore, in the first batch of serum, the reduction of the cells was kept to a certain degree. Features of the demon race were more or less removed, but a lot of primeval cells remained in their internal organs.
Han Tuhu and the other soldiers of the federal army were the survivors of the repetitive experiments. They had undergone deep mutations. The primeval cells in their body were deeply rooted, so they could not be restored after one or two injections.
After taking three shots, Han Tuhu was no longer the hideous demon he used to be, but the features of the demon race were still obvious. Pure natural shells covered his critical parts, and the long bone tail was still wagging behind him.
He would not be able to defend himself at all if the Children of the Nether World smeared him after he returned to the Heaven's Origin Sector in such an appearance.
In fact, Li Yao had similar problems, too.
Although he could maintain the appearance of a standard human being with the help of the mental devil, the primeval cells that had been completely activated could not be restored to their original state.
It meant that he could barely pass the test for demons when he was back.
However, his manipulation over the demonic energy was defter than Han Tuhu's, and it was more difficult to smear an Ultra-Level Federal Hero than to smear the commander of a crystal suit legion.
Besides, with the combat ability of the superlative height of the Core Formation Stage, his ability to survive in the Heaven's Origin Sector was much higher than Han Tuhu's, too.
"It's decided then. I will go to the federation to gather intelligence. After I make sure that everything is fine, General Han and the other soldiers will come back home. It will be safer this way. What do you think, everybody?"
Li Yao suddenly rose up. As he glanced over the crowd, his eyes that were as sharp as blades. He did not flinch at all when he met Jin Tuyi's eyes!
Chapter 1063: Three Key Persons! |
Three days later, in the northeast of the Blood Demon Sector, on a vast plateau known as Nine Voids…
The place was covered in colorful, hazy mist all year around. Occasionally, weird auroras would soar into the sky and rip bizarre-looking gaps there.
The creatures that trespassed into the auroras by accident would disappear and emerge in another world.
This was the melding point in the Blood Demon Sector, which was equivalent to the Dark Desolate Domain in the Heaven's Origin Sector. It was also the traditional route of attack for the coalition army of demons.
Therefore, outside of the Nine Voids, military camps and defense lines had been established over a span of hundreds of kilometers. Inside the Nine Voids, enormous teleportation arrays had also been set up, which were enough to send the devilish warships and the experts in the level of demon emperor to the Heaven's Origin Sector.
After Jin Tuyi seized power and decided to work toward a truce with the Heaven's Origin Sector, the teleportation arrays had been left unused for three months, covered in a layer of dust. But today, the largest teleportation array of all was shining with a weird brilliance and exhaling mysterious auroras.
Vulture Li Yao was about to go home!
In the military camp, he checked his gear for the last time.
Considering that he was not home for battle but to deliver the instrument of surrender for the demon race, it was best that the newborn Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, which was brimming with demonic energy, be kept away from the world. Therefore, Jin Tuyi specially prepared an MP Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit for Li Yao.
The Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit was standard gear for the federal army. It was almost identical to the version that Li Yao had helped design more than ten years ago. The familiar interface and manipulation system reminded Li Yao of the good old times. He recalled the time when Ding Lingdang and he were punching each other brutally in the campus.
Besides the necessary magical equipment, the items that he carried most were letters, including a secret letter with the signatures of more than ten demon emperors and
the stamp of the commander-in-chief of the coalition army of demons and Jin Tuyi's personal letter that had his own mark.
Other than the demons' documents, he also carried letters from Han Tuhu and the soldiers of the Flying Tiger Legion. On the letters were the things that only they knew about, with their hair and blood samples as attachments.
It would be very easy to determine the validity of the letters and the attachments so that people of the Heaven's Origin Sector would be convinced that the federal soldiers were still alive in the foreign land!
In order to reveal the Spore Stratagem and the Children of the Nether World to the leadership of the federation, Li Yao, Jin Tuyi, and Jin Xinyue had discussed and sorted through everything from beginning to the end. Taking all the intelligence that Lu Wuxin confessed into account, they compressed all the information into a secret document.
The document also included the sample of the Demon God Virus developed in the laboratory, the infected blood that was frozen in ice, and many video clips of the uncontrollable mutants.
The undeniable facts were totally enough to prove the Spore Stratagem and the Children of the Nether World!
The only question that remained was how to deliver the crucial document to the key persons!
"Master, are you ready?"
Jin Xinyue looked at Li Yao full of expectation. The teleportation arrays had been prepared.
Li Yao smiled and, finishing the test for the last group of specifications on the rudimental version of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, stored the gear into a Cosmos Ring before nodding.
"Alright. Let's review the files of the key people in the Star Glory Federation one the last time. The three key people here, like the four giants of the Blood Demon Sector, have the power to change the fate of the nation!"
Jin Xinyue triggered a light beam from her mini crystal processor.
The light shone until the brightness formed the shape of a human being in the end. It was a tall, energetic, and magnificent-looking man!
His forehead was massive, as if two horns were about to crawl out of his eyebrow. His hands were enormous, and his joints were as thick as burls. But there was not the tiniest gap when he closed his hands. When he was waving them, it felt as if he was summoning a storm!
In the picture, he was doing an impromptu speech. Although Jin Xinyue had turned off the sound, his earnest countenance and resolute demeanor were enough to make the blood of the audience boil and fill them with the urge to follow him no matter what!
"Jiang Hailiu, an admin-type Cultivator in the Nascent Soul Stage and the Speaker of Parliament in the Star Glory Federation. He was born in the Horizonless Sect, one of the top ten sects in the Heaven's Origin Sector. During the thirty-three years that he was the leader, the Horizonless Sect ranked the top in the top five hundred sects of the federation for nineteen years, which has been praised to be a miracle that nobody will ever surpass. After he resigned, he turned into a politician and started from scratch. As the former leader of the Horizonless Sect, he was elected as the mayor of Prime Mountain City, a remote town in the depths of the Grand Desolate Plateau. It was quite a shocking piece of news back then.
"In the nine years that he was the mayor, he developed Prime Mountain City from a small town into one of the four biggest cities on the Grand Desolate Plateau. It was even on par with Wild Wave City, where the Grand Desolate War Institution was located in the past. With those impressive accomplishments, he returned inland and defeated many competitors until he was elected as the mayor of the capital city. Four years ago, he resigned as the mayor of the capital city and campaigned for the Speaker of the Parliaments. He made it in his first attempt!
"While Jiang Hailiu was the Speaker, the Blood Demon Sector attacked the Heaven's Origin Sector on a large scale in the battle known as Battle of Dawn. In the end, because of the mutiny of the low-level demons, the Star Glory Federation secured a full triumph.
"This is the first glorious victory for the Star Glory Federation over the past century. Jiang Hailiu's prestige has risen to the peak, too. Many citizens consider him the hope for the federation. There is no doubt that he will win the re-election!
"Jiang Hailiu's career as a politician began from Prime Mountain City on the Grand Desolate Plateau, which he has always held a special feeling for. When the coalition army of demons destroyed the Grand Desolate Plateau, Prime Mountain City was demolished, too. Therefore, Jiang Hailiu is one of the firmest hawks. It is not going to be easy to persuade him.
"However, I believe that the Speaker of Parliament will certainly not make decisions based on his emotions. He will definitely do the right thing when he sees the document."
Li Yao bit his fingernail. "So, I'll have to meet the Speaker of Parliament in person?"
"Exactly, like how you met my father in Heavenly Path City. This is what master has been best at. It won't be a problem for you, will it?"
Then Jin Xinyue added, "The Pantheon of Demons has drafted hundreds of infiltration and assassination plans targeting the Speaker of Parliament. The plans have all been inputted in master's crystal processor. You can take a look at them when you are free and see how you can get close to him.
"The good news is that Jiang Hailiu is definitely not Abyss—he is 177 years old. However, we don't know much about his staff and his bodyguards. Therefore, if you choose him, Master, you'd better meet him in person instead of handing the document over to his secretary."
Li Yao nodded. Of course, he would not make such a silly mistake.
Jin Xinyue made a gesture. The light beam suddenly broke into thousands of stars. After revolving for a moment, they congregated into a new image.
This time, it was an old general whose hair and beard were both white. Wearing the uniform of the commander of the federal army, he was glaring at the camera with a pair of eyes that were as huge as goose eggs. It seemed as if he would jump out of the light beam at Li Yao at any moment!
"The Speaker of Parliament is too obvious a target and too heavily guarded. Therefore, it might not be the perfect choice. Your service in the federal army has been restored right now, and you are an Ultra-Level Federal Hero who has a lot of fans in the army. Therefore, it may be easier for you to address the issue through the military!
"Zhou Hengdao, 226 years old, a hybrid Cultivator talented in both combat and administration, now in the Nascent Soul Stage.
"He is sort of an eccentric one in the world of Cultivators in the Heaven's Origin Sector. He is not a graduate of the Nine Elite Universities, and his parents were not Cultivators. Before he was twenty, he was just an ordinary person and a pawn in the federal army.
"He made his way up to great general from a private through the conquests on the Grand Desolate Plateau and the mountains of dead bodies. He has worked in almost every commanding post in the federal army, and his footprints have been left on all the roughest battlefields. He has been wounded 925 times, a record in the federation. Today, 77% of the organs inside his body have been replaced by the artificial counterparts. Therefore, he is nicknamed Iron Commander!
"Iron Commander Zhou Hengdao is the incumbent chief of staff in the federation. He is the unquestionable soul of the federal army and the biggest of big shots in the military."
Li Yao nodded. Iron Commander Zhou Hengdao was a hero of the older generation who had been famous for almost a hundred years. He did not need Jin Xinyue's introduction at all. Every teenager in the federation knew Zhou Hengdao's life story.
In the system of the Star Glory Federation, the Speaker of Parliament were the nominal supreme commander of all the armed forces. However, it was more of a symbolic identity.
Everybody had their specialty. The Speaker of Parliament was mostly responsible for the domestic affairs. He might have decided whether to fight or not, but the actual command was often passed onto the commander-in-chief of the federal army.
Before Li Yao became a Cultivator, he had already been deeply involved with the federal army and considered himself a part
of it. Also, he had the letters of Han Tuhu and other federal soldiers. Therefore, it would be a more convenient choice to persuade Iron Commander Zhou Hengdao.
"The only problem with Iron Commander Zhou Hengdao is that he is a fanatical hawk and extremely obstinate," Jin Xinyue said. "Many people call him 'Iron Commander' to his face but 'Iron Head' behind his back. However, his personality is understandable since he is a warrior.
"Therefore, you can decide according to the actual situation in the Heaven's Origin Sector whether to go to Jiang Hailiu or Zhou Hengdao.
"Or maybe, neither of them. There's a third option that is more direct. Lu Zui, director of the Federal Bureau of Intelligence."
On the light beam, Iron Commander Zhou Hengdao's dominating image was replaced by a middle-aged man who had a hawk nose and whose eyes were deeply hollowed.
The man was neither as charismatic as Jiang Hailiu nor as intimidating as Zhou Hengdao. He was like the most mundane white-collar worker. His hair was lackluster, and one of the buttons was missing on his sleeve. There was not the slightest hint of an expert on him at all.
Li Yao had a vague feeling that he would not notice Lu Zui, the director of the Federal Bureau of Intelligence, at all if they passed by each other!
Chapter 1064: Secret Sword Bureau! |
Lu Zui's image faded away, replaced by a mysterious and yet graceful badge.
Different from the popular patterns of guns, blades, or ferocious beasts, there was only a colorful cloud covering the moon on the badge. Only if one observed the flowing stripes that constituted the cloud would they be able to discover two crossed, almost transparent flying swords between the cloud and the moonlight.
It was the symbol of the Federal Bureau of Intelligence—a colorful cloud, a silver moon, and secret swords!
Because of the uniqueness of the badge, the Federal Bureau of Intelligence was also known as the Secret Sword Bureau by most of the citizens of the federation.
Since its establishment five hundred years ago, the Star Glory Federation had not only been faced with the threats from the front. Demons in the disguise of human beings, demonic Cultivators who had embraced evil, Cultivators who committed felonies… all of them were walking bombs. If they snuck into the federation, any one of them could have caused unbelievable damage to a populated town.
