by <unknown>
Every day, the warehouses of tremendous Cultivation sects were either opened 'voluntarily' or taken down by the Exos from the federation by force. The abundant food stored in the warehouses dumbfounded even the Cultivators from the federation, who found it hard to believe their own eyes.
Li Yao was very satisfied about the paradigm-shifting changes in the Ancient Sages Sector.
He naturally knew that a lot of Cultivators of the Ancient Sages Sector were secretly cursing him behind his back, labeling him a vicious, unreasonable, and lawless fiend.
Indeed, from the perspective of the Cultivators of the Ancient Sages Sector, and faced with the never-changing traditions of the Ancient Sages Sector, he was indeed a lawless, unparalleled fiend.
However…
Abiding by the existent rules was a virtue of the weak.
For real experts, only abiding by the current rules was not enough. Human beings were always making progress, unveiling the truth of the universe, and mastering patterns of nature of a deeper level.
The current laws, systems, and rules would forever be behind humanity's knowledge about the ultimate truth of the universe.
It was the virtue and obligation of experts to remove obsolete laws and systems and to establish new laws and 'reasons' that better fitted the development of mankind!
After one's Cultivation, combat ability, wisdom, and power reached a certain level, they would indeed be 'lawless'. Whatever they did was not to be gauged by a certain partial and rigid law. Perhaps, exactly as Jin Tuyi had said in the past, only history was qualified to judge them.
In the past, Li Yao did not quite understand what Jin Tuyi meant.
But right now, he was beginning to understand it.
He could almost perceive Blackstar the Great Wuying Qi's past state of mind.
"I firmly believe that I'm right, and I will dedicate all my efforts, strength, soul, and resources to carry out my belief in every corner and every grain of dust in the universe.
"Right now, no force, law, or moral can judge what I do because those things are exactly what I'm about to smash!
"Only history billions of years in the future can be the final judge for what I am doing today.
"Even if history rules that I am wrong, I will not accept it. As long as part of my soul is still wandering in the infinite sea of stars, as long as there is the slightest possibility, I will come back again and fight a bloody battle to the end, until all my strength, will, and life is entirely obliterated!"
Chapter 1902: One Inch from the Divinity Transformation Stage! |
Li Yao finally understood why Blackstar the Great could sacrifice the almost ten million civilians on Karan in the past as if they were nothing worth mentioning.
Perhaps, in his eyes back then, the civilians were no longer human beings but the embodiments of a decayed, corrupted, outdated system, and the barricades that stood in his way.
If he wanted to smash the old order, establish a new Imperium, and save the civilization of mankind, it was necessary for him to crush everything in his way without any mercy!
Was Blackstar the Great right or wrong in doing what he did?
At the very least, the Imperium of True Human Beings still stood for the rightful succession and the central force of the civilization of mankind right now. Deeply rooted at the center of the three thousand Sectors, it resisted the Covenant Alliance, the extraterrestrial devils, the Pangu Civilization, and all kinds of bizarre, ever-emerging alien species that were even fouler.
Wuying Qi's final ruling had yet to come. What Li Yao was going to do was make the Star Glory Federation expand and grow quickly with his ideas and beliefs, until the laws and morals of the federation replaced the Imperium's in a fair and square competition, and the ideology of the Cultivators would be sprayed to every corner of the universe again!
That would be the real trial for 'Blackstar the Great' Wuying Qi!
I understand it now.
In the past, I always talked about the Constitution of Cultivators and thought that I couldn't be wrong if I did everything by following the law.
But that was only the justice of the Refinement Stage, the Building Foundation Stage, and the Core Formation Stage at best.
After one reaches the peak of the Nascent Soul Stage, or even surpasses the Nascent Soul Stage and enters the Divinity Transformation Stage that barely anyone has ever reached in the federation's history, 'justice' will have brand-new explanations.
Laws are always behind changes. When our ancestors drafted the Constitution of Cultivators, the federation only occupied part of the Heaven's Origin Sector, and the greatest threat for them was the demons in the Blood Demon Sector. They did not have a single Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivator. It was beyond their imagination that the Imperium of True Human Beings, the Alliance of the Holy Covenant, the Pangu Civilization, the Nuwa Civilization, the Blood Stripe Virus, and thousands more alien species existed in the vast universe, too.
How can laws like the Constitution of Cultivators made under such circumstances always be correct?
For example, our operation to land in the Ancient Sages Sector and rescue the common folk on a large scale couldn't have been foreseen by the pioneers who drafted the Constitution of Cultivators. If they hadn't foreseen such a scenario, how could they possibly offer us guidance?
Therefore, there is no existing path ahead. We have to travel on our own, create a new path, and come up with new rules and 'reasons'. That is perhaps the true meaning of 'lawless', isn't it?
Li Yao vaguely felt that he was stepping into a brand-new temple, or a battlefield that was completely unknown.
Jin Tuyi and Wuying Qi were both members of the temple and the battlefield. Right now, he was following the steps of his predecessors and stepping into the domain of real 'lawless' experts.
Li Yao's heart was clearer than ever. His soul blossomed slowly like a transparent crystal bud. His every thought was sharp and pure.
Right then, he slightly raised his head and glanced at 'Sword Maniac' Yan Liren, who had appeared at the door of the training room at some point with 'the fourth sword' in his arms, leaning against the wall in silence.
"There's a murderous aura around you. You want to kill me?" Li Yao asked calmly, as if he had known that Yan Liren would come.
"Yes." Yan Liren nodded frankly. "In the past two years, when we trained on the starship together while we were lost in the sea of stars, your improvement was limited to brute force although your spiritual energy grew more massive after each day, which was not enough to attract my full interest.
"However, after you landed in the Ancient Sages Sector, together with the drastic changes here in the past month, your heart has been through the most amazing transformations, too, and your level is even more immeasurable than before!
"Three years ago, I encountered Bai Xingjian, the commander of the Big Bai Fleet. At that time, although Bai Xingjian tried to disguise his level and Cultivation, my fighting will and killing intent were triggered. All I wanted was to wave my ultimate sword at him without caring about anything.
"At that time, you were far from qualified for me to kill with all my strength.
"But you are today. Also, you are even showing signs that you are exceeding Bai Xingjian in the past. I can hardly hold back the killing intent in my heart right now and only want to brandish the sword that has concentrated all my spirit!"
"Understood. But please don't be rash. We have known each other for many years as good friends. I don't want to lose you." Li Yao stood up and walked up to Yan Liren casually without looking at 'the fourth sword' in his arms at all. "You are uncommitted right now. If you attack recklessly, you will only be killed by me. Although I can prepare an artificial body for you in advance, it will not be half as perfectly integrated with your soul as your natural fleshly body. I'm afraid that you won't be used to it."
"What? You said that I'm uncommitted?" Yan Liren's pupils constricted violently. "Over the past few years, from the Anc
ient Sages Sector to space, I have indeed appreciated a lot of bizarre views and unimaginable magical equipment and techniques. I even have my own Colossus right now. But if you think that I was too enchanted by the distractions to keep my loyalty to my sword, you will be terribly mistaken!
"You are not the only one who has been training in the past two years. Did any of the eleven Cultivators from the Ancient Sages Sector not melt their understanding from our journey into their soul and improve their level significantly? The universe is a boundless place, but I have sealed everything that I perceived in the past few years into my sword. And you said that I'm uncommitted? Ridiculous!"
"You're wrong. That's not what I meant by saying 'uncommitted'."
Li Yao stood right in front of Yan Liren, only one arm away from him.
At such a distance, not just an unparalleled sword master, even a gangster on the street could have drawn the sword and sent it into the enemy's chest in the blink of an eye.
But Li Yao still ignored Yan Liren's 'fourth sword' and went on. "By 'uncommitted', I meant that there are too many people that you want to kill.
"Meng Chixin and Wu Suiyun, as two Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators, must be on your list, right?
"Fellow Cultivator Long Yangjun, or Eunuch Wang Xi in the past, has always been mysterious. There's no telling how high her Cultivation is. Although she has always been known to be secondary to you, you definitely would like to know if she has been pretending to be weak, wouldn't you?
"There's also Bai Xingjian, the commander of the Big Bai Fleet, who turned out to be a combination of the 'Supreme Space Pirate' Yan Xinjian and 'Pirate Potentate' Bai Xinghe. He has run to the center of the cosmos. Will you be satisfied if you never get to attack him with your full strength?
"Look. There are so many experts whom you want to slay with all your might. They tend to dazzle and distract you.
"When you slash your sword at me without any reserve, will you suddenly think of Meng Chixin, Wu Suiyun, Long Yangjun, Bai Xingjian, and many other experts?
"Even if that wasn't the case, now that I've reminded you, they will certainly pop up in your head, never to be erased, won't they? What you want to kill is me, but they occupy your head. Do you think that your mind is really pure and focused?
"It must be noted that for experts of our level, even the most insignificant irrelevant thought can possibly change the outcome of a battle!
"Therefore…"
Li Yao finally looked at Yan Liren's 'fourth sword' and said, "According to my calculation, with your state of mind and your disordered killing intent, you would be killed before you draw your 'fourth sword' twenty-three centimeters. So, why bother?"
As if struck by lightning, Yan Liren became frozen, and his eyes turned hollow.
"Haha…"
A crisp chuckle of mockery echoed from a corner of the room, and Long Yangjun appeared out of nowhere.
Li Yao was so greatly shocked that his faked mysteriousness entirely vanished. "Huh? When did you slide in? Why didn't I notice you?"
"Didn't Fellow Cultivator Yan say just now? Everybody has been training crazily on the starships in the past two years. Our Cultivation skyrocketed. Do you think that he was kidding?" Long Yangjun said with a smile. "If your conversation just now, which gave me a feeling that you were two third-rate actors, hadn't been so ridiculously funny that I failed to contain myself, you wouldn't have discovered me even if I hid here for another three days."
"Well…" Li Yao put on a solemn expression, somewhat embarrassed. "What are you doing here? Is there any progress on the Nuwa warship?"
"Yes." Long Yangjun nodded. Then she frowned and said, "However, before we get to our business, can you lower your level a little bit? Is it not tiresome to stay at the peak of the peak of the Nascent Soul Stage all day? Look at your glittering hair, your shining eyes, your skin that is as clear as jade. How mysterious and unpredictable you are. It's like… you have turned on the highest effects in a video game. It really hurts my eyes."
"Do excuse me for my lack of control of myself, fellow Cultivators."
Li Yao took a deep breath and concealed his spiritual energy that was as vast as an ocean, as violent as a waterfall, and as deep as a valley into the depths of his soul through the Soul Converging Technique.
As if a fully-blown balloon was jabbed by a needle, the dominance that eclipsed everything around him had entirely gone. Li Yao regained his casual, ordinary, and lazy look.
Long Yangjun eyed him up and down for a moment.
"Right. Such an informal Monster Li looks much more agreeable." Satisfied, she spoke in a hurry. "The route to the depths of the Land of Eternal Night has been broken through. A lot of weather stabilization rune arrays have been deployed to resist the local blizzards and the quick-freezing tempests. The vanguards have already set off to explore the environment five hundred square kilometers around the Nuwa warship. As for us, we can leave tomorrow. With the all-weather combat ability of the starships of the federation, we will reach the Nuwa warship and the Pangu laboratory in no more than three days!"
Chapter 1903: Operation Archaeology |
Seven days later, in the depths of the Land of Eternal Night, which was frozen, unpopulated, and had always been the most dangerous area in the Ancient Sages Sector…
The ice clouds that were frozen in the sky were melted and shattered by the exhaust flames of the starships. On the rocks that were more solid than diamonds, engineering crystal suits and mechanical spiders were digging roads and runes, establishing hundreds of enormous arrays.
From the central plateau to the prairies, and from the prairies to the ice field, countless supply points and half-permanent rest areas had been set up. Those strongholds that extended deep underground were enough to keep the ordinary soldiers whose spiritual roots had not awakened safe and sound in the most freezing wind so that they could join the enormous project to excavate the Nuwa warship and the Pangu laboratory again after a good rest.
The scenes that almost appeared to be miracles were completed by the most experienced engineering troops in the federation.
In the past hundred years, the troops had been involved in the development of Kunlun, the modifications in the Water Crystal Sector and the Nether World Sector, and the reconstruction of the Uranian Ring Sector, accumulating tremendous experience in altering nature. Conquering the ice field that was brimming with freezing winds, despite all its difficulties, was not enough to intimidate the ambitious workers from the federation.
The Nuwa warship and the Pangu laboratory were the keys of the operation.
The desire for the primeval technology and magical equipment on the Nuwa warship, in order to combine them with the remains in Kunlun to figure out a lot of unresolved enigmas to boost the technological development of the federation, was only a secondary motivation.
The more critical reason was that countless uncanny 'giant crabs' were still sealed in the dangerous Pangu laboratory.
Those monsters that looked like giant crabs were the test subjects of the Pangu Civilization that contained lethal poison. Once it was injected into a human's body, the victim would be transformed into a terrible member of the Pangu Clan. Even Meng Chixin and Wu Suiyun, two Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators, had been hit in their ignorance and had to abandon their physical bodies, turning into spectral Cultivators.
After hundreds of thousands of years of corrosion, the seals that the Nuwa Clan had imposed on the Pangu laboratory were already riddled with holes. They had accidentally been opened by Meng Chixin and Wu Suiyun.
After that, although the two Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators and the ten Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators including Li Yao imposed multiple layers of new seals, the gap was still there. The problem could not be resolved by just blocking it but had to be addressed from the source.
Li Yao and the rest of them all felt lucky that the seals did not break apart during the three years when they were away from the Ancient Sages Sector a
nd that the giant crabs domesticated by the Pangu Civilization had not run loose.
If the seals had broken apart and some of the giant crabs escaped, sneaking into the Dark Cloud Prairies or even the central plateau and transforming countless people into members of the Pangu Clan…
Then, the fleet of the federation would have seen countless giants looking at them with a fake smile after they landed. It would certainly have been quite awkward.
The issue was too urgent to be delayed by one second. Almost at the same time when the drastic reforms on the Dark Cloud Prairies and in the central plateau began, a fleet that carried large engineering troops had already set off to the depths of the Land of Eternal Night.
By the time a new order began to take shape in the Great Qian Dynasty and the Dark Cloud Prairies, the twelve experts of the Ancient Sages Sector could not hold back any longer and gathered above the Nuwa warship.
They had gathered on exactly the same spot three years prior. But at that time, they had been plagued by the tempests and the freezing ice winds. They also each had their own intentions and were fighting each other. Had it not been for the fortuitous incidents and the guidance of Li Yao and Long Yangjun, almost all of them would have been buried in the Land of Eternal Night.
But everything was absolutely different this time.
Centered at the Nuwa warship, multiple defense lines had been established in the five hundred square kilometers around, partly to prevent the ignorant fellows who did not know what they were doing to cause any trouble, and partly to resist the 'giant crabs' and the members of the Pangu Clan who were transformed by the 'giant crabs' in the worst-case scenario.
Within a hundred kilometers from the Nuwa warship, hundreds of weather stabilization rune arrays, powered by tremendous crystals, had even been set up, building a natural protective membrane.
The most advanced biochemical labs, genetic labs, and primeval relics study centers were paved inside the protective membrane, forming a temporary town.
