by <unknown>
Greatly surprised, Li Yao hurried to set the resolution of his crystal cameras to the highest, only to discover that the 'glittering dragons' were actually made of countless tiny moths!
What was weird that a small crystal was embedded into the stomach of each moth and grasped by their appendages that had already retrograded!
The moths and the crystals were so perfectly integrated that they almost seemed natural.
The two Immortal Cultivators and the spiritual puppets dived down to the ground at a high speed. The glittering dragons behind them became faster and faster, too!
On the ground, the Blood Tide, which fed on spiritual energy, sensing the arrival of intense spiritual waves, rippled out like a greedy, unsatisfiable mouth.
The two Immortal Cultivators controlled their speed and distance perfectly. When they were about to enter the hunting range of the Blood Tide, they suddenly changed direction and dashed to the two sides while turning off most of the units on their crystal suits.
They flew forward purely pushed by inertia. There was not the slightest spiritual wave coming from them anymore.
Most of the spiritual puppets around them hit the brakes and flew horizontally, too. Their spiritual energy output was cut off.
Three of the spiritual puppets, on the other hand, activated the super-compressed crystal reactor to the maximum and unleashed infinite flames of spiritual energy before they leapt into the Blood Tide like three torches in the darkness!
The shining moths in midair seemed to take spiritual energy as their food, too. Attracted by the three spiritual puppets, they ran into the Blood Tide without any hesitation.
In the moment, the dragons were roaring, and the Blood Tide was boiling!
Li Yao saw that the crystals on the abdomens of all the moths were glowing, turning them into tiny suns. Wherever they went, they would burn a large area of Blood Tide into ashes!
However, there was simply too much moss. It was flowing over from various directions in a hurry. However big the hole that the shining moths burnt was, the moss could fill it up instantly!
It was like countless streaks of magma were flowing into an icy ocean. What a rowdy and intense view!
"Such moths that also feed on spiritual energy are known as 'Hellish Light Butterflies'." Su Changfa smiled. "Everything in nature is related. The Blood Tide and the Hellish Light Butterflies, as a pair of mortal enemies, often live relatively close to each other. Although they are usually at peace, they are low-level creatures, and you can incite them to attack each other with appropriate baits."
Very soon, the fierce battle between the Blood Tide and the Hellish Light Butterflies ended.
All the crystals on the Hellish Light Butterflies were drained. They fell into the Blood Tide like moths darting to the fire. The last bit of the brilliance perished.
However, a giant hole almost five kilometers in diameter had been burnt in the Blood Tide, too. All the moss within the area had been consumed, revealing the original appearances of the dead bodies and the puppets below.
The remaining moss retreated far away. For the time being, it did not dare approach the area that was still mixed with the scent of the Hellish Light Butterflies anymore.
Li Yao and the Immortal Cultivators took the opportunity to land and scan the debris on the battlefield.
It was a pity that the Blood Tide was too damaging. All the remains had become riddled with holes because of the corrosion. They were fragile and vulnerable and would collapse at the first touch.
"It seems that nothing here is worth excavating!" Tang Qianhe pouted and sighed.
Li Yao thought for a moment and asked, "What kind of things are worth excavating?"
"For example, the magical equipment that hasn't been affected by the environment or the passage of time, the sabers, swords, and firearms from the primeval era, and the likes," Tang Qianhe said with a smile. "Such things are highly valuable!
"Also, the clear and well-preserved ancient spiritual stripes and rune arrays, if duplicable, are also valuable items for scholars.
"Moreover, if we ever run into the better-preserved bodies of the Pangu Clan, from which living materials can be retrieved, so that we can analyze their gene strands, that will truly be an invaluable treasure!"
"What about the super large puppets almost a hundred meters tall that were piloted by human beings?" Li Yao's heart was racing.
"You are talking about the 'Colossus'!" Kou Ruhuo interjected. "Of course, that is a marvelous weapon and the ultimate treasure that every Cultivator dreams about!"
Chapter 1272: Colossus! |
"Colossus!" Li Yao repeated. The word flowed through his body like electricity, and he felt that his blood was boiling.
Even Little Black inside the Cosmos Ring dangling in front of chest was seething impatiently, sending eagerness into his brain.
"The Colossi were the marvelous weapons that human beings used to dominate the sea of stars in the primeval era. They could trigger the best of a human being's potential! It was exactly with the help of the magnificent Colossi that we were able to compete with the legendary deities and devils and eventually claim the entire universe!"
Infinite excitement and hope were mixed in Kou Ruhuo's voice. "Such ultimate treasures from the primeval era were made through countless techniques that we are unaware of. Many units on them are even not duplicable with our technology!
"In the universe today, every Colossus is a unique, formidable existence. If it is damaged in a battle, we can hardly repair it and will have to replace the broken units with the same units dismantled from other Colossi!
"Therefore, even if we cannot find an intact Colossus here, as long as we can discover the debris of several Colossi that are relatively better preserved, we will still be able to dismantle the useful units and components, which are all invaluable treasures that can significantly improve your citizen level or be redeemed for several powerful Cultivation arts!"
Li Yao gulped, his eyes hidden deep inside the crystal suit glimmering. "Is there anyone still piloting a Colossus today?"
"Of course, but their number is small," Kou Ruhuo said. "On the one hand, few Colossi have been perfectly preserved to this day from the primeval era in the first place. Most of our available Colossi are actually jumbled based on the debris of different Colossi and the modern technology to build large-scale magical equipment.
"As long as they have the slightest chance of being repaired, we will try our best to recover them no matter how cr*ppy that debris looks because they are far stronger than general crystal suits any way you look at it.
"On the other hand, it is terribly difficult to manipulate the Colossus, which can prove to be a huge burden on the soul. Even the Nascent Soul Stage is only just the start line to use the Colossus!
"Today, everybody who is qualified to control a Colossus is among the most influential celebrities, if not legends who have created history. Together with their Colossi, they will live on in the history books forever!
"For example, the Supreme Emperor of the Star Ocean Imperium and his Colossus 'Gold Sun', the 'Blood God' and his Colossus 'Calamitous Doom' and Blackstar the Great with his Colossus 'Blackhole's Heart'. These are the most famous Colossi! "Gold Sun, Calamitous Doom, Blackhole's Heart…"
Li Yao's lips were trembling.
The names alone and the debris of the Colossi on the surface that he had seen were enough for him to imagine how terrifying such marvelous weapons must have been when they exerted their maximum strength!
I am going to control a Colossus one day. I will! Li Yao secretly swore to himself.
Fearing that his overexcitement might be noticed, he asked intentionally, "Right, what about the Book of Revelation? If we can find one volume, it will certainly be more valuable than a Colossus, right?"
All three Immortal Cultivators chuckled at his greed and childishness.
"How can it be so easy to find the Book of Revelation?" Su Changfa smiled. "You must've seen the debris of hundre
ds of Colossi both on the surface and on the primeval battlefield here, right? Although most of the debris has been completely shattered, it is not entirely impossible to retrieve one or two usable units from them.
"On this primeval battlefield alone, there may already be more than a thousand broken Colossi.
"The Book of Revelation, on the other hand, has only eight volumes, less than four of which have yet to be discovered. The universe is too large a place. How can we discover it so easily?
"Besides, the Colossi are enormous in size, and you can notice them at first glance. However, the Book of Revelation can come in various forms. Nobody knows exactly what specific form it has been preserved in. Chances are that we won't notice it even if it is right in front of us!
"Therefore, you might as well not hold too much hope. Our key targets are the relatively intact bodies of the Pangu Clan, the usable units of the Colossi, and the core facilities inside the planetary warship!"
Very soon, Kou Ruhuo finished scanning the details of the battlefield.
The Immortal Cultivators had a profound understanding about the habits of the Blood Tide. They were aware that the residue on the ground, after being sucked and swallowed by the Blood Tide for hundreds of thousands of years, was no longer worth exploring.
However, they still went through the trouble of clearing an area of the Blood Tide because they meant to get a closer look at the fierce battle down there so that they could infer the direction of attack and defense!
"It's here!"
After studying the result of scanning for a long time, Kou Ruhuo pointed in one direction in the darkness and said, "Most of the soldiers of human beings were attacking toward this direction, while the Pangu Clan was defending with the place behind them. Therefore, what the invaders tried to take and the defenders tried to protect must be in that direction!"
Tang Qianhe launched a localizing and probing soundwave in the direction that Kou Ruhuo had pointed out.
The feedback of the soundwave suggested that there was a giant hole leaning downward around forty kilometers away from them.
The hole was highly irregular. There was a circle of rising metal residue around it, indicating that the hole had either been blown out or drilled through.
"Where exactly were the troops of human beings marching to in the primeval war?"
Carefully avoiding the Blood Tide on the ground and the Hellish Light Butterflies on the dome, the four of them located the hole soon. They also discovered dead bodies around the hole that were as high as a hill.
It was obviously a critical location that the two parties struggled over. Although hundreds of thousands of years had passed, the goriness of the fierce battle on that day was still clearly perceivable.
After going down through the hole for another five kilometers, they found themselves in an open space!
It was as if they had 'descended' to the other side of the planet.
No, it was because the underground space was simply too vast, with a width and length both more than a thousand kilometers. At first glance, it was a boundless continent itself!
On the 'continent', a magnificent primitive forest was standing.
Li Yao and all three Immortal Cultivators held their breath.
They had descended from the channel on the dome that was blown out through brute force. Therefore, they found themselves at the center of the primitive forest the moment they arrived.
Through the pictures from various angles taken by the high-resolution crystal cameras, and after inputting all the data into their crystal processors to run analysis and comparison, they finally realized that there should have been a glorious city in front of their eyes.
It was a city that the Pangu Clan had established deep inside Kunlun!
Individuals of the Pangu Clan were more than six times taller than human beings on average. Therefore, their buildings were as high and awe-inspiring as the temples and palaces that human beings had built.
Li Yao discovered that the Pangu civilization seemed to be a civilization that worshipped rules, to the point that it was even a bit monotonous.
All the buildings were the most standard geometric objects. Straight lines were their favorite. Even arcs and cones were hardly ever featured.
Generally speaking, the entire city was a collection of geometric objects large and small. Every corner was a precise right angle, and the edge of every building was as sharp as a razor.
Cubes, cuboids, prismoids… The objects were copied ten thousand times and blocked by the streets that were absolutely straight, constituting the whole city.
It was indeed a magnificent city that everybody would be awed by when they first looked at it.
But it was also a city that nobody would be interested in living in.
Li Yao felt that it was more appropriate to describe it as a factory, a military camp, or a prison than to say it was a city.
However, it was all a long, long time ago.
After the Pangu Clan abandoned the city, the low-level creatures that they left gradually took over the place. The vines spread upward along the dull buildings. Interweaving with each other and nurtured by the overintense spiritual energy, they slowly grew into a messy primitive forest, disordered but vigorous. The traces of the past had been entirely buried.
"Look over there…" Tang Qianhe pointed at a high, monolithic building at the center of the city and called to them.
It was more like an overwhelming black cube than a building.
Judging from the contrast with the buildings nearby, it was at least more than ten kilometers in length, width, and height. The surface of the building was purely black and natural. There was not a single window or gap!
The solemnity and the dominance that the black cube gave him reminded Li Yao of the altars where sacrificial offerings were served to the gods.
After they scanned with mystic rays and measured the length, width, and height of the black cube, they discovered that all the values were the same.
Ten kilometers.
Precisely ten thousand meters!
It was another sign of the Pangu Clan's enthusiasm for rules and regularity.
They also discovered that the black cube was located exactly at the center of the city, where all the streets in the city congregated, without the slightest error.
It was like the entire city was born for the enormous black cube.
Even the primitive plants that had entangled all the buildings nearby did not trespass into the black cube's territory. It was standing, utterly incongruous with the environment, and demonstrating its power silently in such a way.
"It seems that the building was the most important facility in the city of the Pangu Clan. It was also the target that the troops of human beings tried to take over without caring about the cost," Kou Ruhuo said solemnly. "Move forward in battle formation!"
The noise of hundreds of power rune arrays fulminating at the same time ripped apart the silence of the forest in the city. Many shadows were peeking out of the vines and branches.
Li Yao scanned them with the mystic rays, only to discover that they were bizarre-shaped animals, many of which were similar to the primeval creatures recorded in the paleontology textbooks. They must have been the 'living fossils' that had survived to this today from the primeval era.
Zhi! Zhi! Zhi! Zhi!
Hiu! Hiu! Hiu!
As they got closer and closer to the black cube, earsplitting shrieks echoed from the depths of the forest, and hundreds of malicious scents soared into the sky, locking onto all of them!
Chapter 1273: Three Fundamental Laws! |
"Firepower deterrence!" Kou Ruhuo bellowed. The hundreds of spiritual puppets formed a rhombus-shaped battle formation, the crystal cannons on their shoulders opening fire at the same time. More than a thousand clusters of unstoppable mystic rays immediately raised countless blasts and airwaves inside the primitive forest.
Many animals were evaporated before they had the chance to scream. Still mor
e animals fled to the deeper parts of the forest amid devastated cries.
The overwhelming malicious intent a moment ago was entirely gone.
The firepower deterrence lasted a whole minute, paving a wasteland a kilometer wide and dozens of kilometers long in front of them.
Li Yao took the opportunity to record the firepower of the spiritual puppets and evaluate their combat ability.
It was obvious that the spiritual puppets of the Imperium of True Human Beings had a combat ability three to five times higher than Xiao Xuance's Grand Illusionary Soldiers did.
As for the firepower deterrence itself, Li Yao did not have any objection.
He had personally explored many world fragments, too. He knew that one needed to demonstrate their dominating firepower when they were exploring an unvisited land—especially if they were faced with the low-intelligent, primitive animals—so that the ferocious animals would be scared and keep their distance from them.
Otherwise, the ferocious animals that did not know what was best for themselves would likely lunge over one after another. Even if they could not pose a fatal threat, a lot of spiritual energy and ammunition would be wasted, too. It could be quite a nuisance.
With the display of power, whatever the animals lurking inside the primitive forest exactly were, they had been taught a good lesson about respect.
Without the harassment of the animals, there was nothing to stop them from advancing, so they successfully flew over to black cube.
The closer they got to the black cube, the better they felt the splendidness and incredibleness of the building.
Measured from whichever direction, every edge of the building was precisely ten thousand meters, without even an error of one millimeter.
By achieving the best in the largest and smallest scale in such a way, the building was informing the visitors a million years later of the formidability of the Pangu civilization!
Li Yao and the three Immortal Cultivators flew around the black cube. They discovered a slot that pierced through the cube on one of the surfaces. The slot was equally straight, precise, and boring.
