by <unknown>
"Enemy incoming!"
It was not until this moment that desperate roars and alarms each higher than the last came from the sentry posts at the highest part of the masts.
The entire village was simmering. The clicking sounds of bullets being locked and loaded and the humming of the chainswords and the vibration sabers were echoing everywhere, mixed with roars of shock and anger. Hundreds of boots that had been embedded with iron plates stomped on the deck and every panicked heart!
Crouching on the gunwale, Han Te and Liu Li set up the high-performance telescopes that Li Yao specially made for them. Li Yao adjusted the array of thirty-six crystal cameras that had just been installed on his iron head. They saw the invaders that ripped apart the mist and the water and charged at the Village of Peace like a beast tide at the same time.
They were not members of the Black Water Gang but the sinners that were spared during the Bliss Ceremony!
The sinners somehow found thousands of shuttles and charged at the village while roaring nonstop.
They lowered the shuttles to a very low altitude, raising huge waves on the surface of the lake as if they were dragging long tails behind them. In such a way, they were boosted by the air currents, and their speed was accelerated to the maximum.
A lot of other sinners did not have shuttles, but they were also sailing forward at an amazing speed on tiny boats.
They were like combinations of sea monsters and headless flies, and they could not have looked crazier and more hideous!
"Those *ssholes. We spared their lives out of kindness, and yet they are bold enough to come back to the Village of Peace to be killed!"
Han Te's face contorted in anger. He felt regretful for his master's mercy that day and could not help but wonder if Zhao Lie was right after all and they should have annihilated all the enemies.
"No," Li Yao said solemnly. "Look at their shuttles more carefully."
Han Te was slightly dazed. Thanks to the telescope that Li Yao had crafted carefully, he was able to clearly see every detail on the incoming tanks despite the dark night. Bulging his eyes, he observed for a long time and suddenly exclaimed, "Those—those sinners have been tied up by iron chains to the armed shuttles!"
Chapter 1977: My Will Begins Here! |
It could be clearly seen through the high-resolution telescopes that all the sinners who were charging at the front were tied up by more than one chain, which was connected to the iron rings that had been welded to the shuttles.
In case they ran off, several narrow and long chains even pierced through their shoulder blades or ankles, completely joining them to the shuttles.
Han Te and Liu Li could clearly see their wretched appearance when the chains penetrated through their bodies resulting in bleeding wounds. The wounds were even gray, dark colored, implying that the flesh had started to rot.
However, there was not much pain on their faces. Instead, their eyes were bloodshot, their faces twisted, and they were twitching. Black veins were even protruding.
Although they were in the middle of splashing waves and surging lake water, some black air currents were still darting out of their pores and rising into the sky, congregating into a raging black cloud.
It seemed to be both infinite aggressiveness and infinite sorrow and helplessness!
"This is…"
Every hair on Han Te and Liu Li's head was rising and shivering.
"Those sinners have been bound to the shuttles and injected with tremendous exhilarants, which have corrupted their minds and turned them more bloodthirsty and frenzy than ever." Li Yao's voice was mixed with the fury like magma and the chill of ice. "Also, their shuttles have carried abundant crystal bombs that will explode at first touch. As long as they hit the boats of the Village of Peace hard, they will immediately create holes several meters in diameter on the shells of the boats and shock or kill the defenders.
"They are the members of a daring team—or rather, cannon fodder that have been forced to die here—on a suicide charge. The real invaders are hiding behind them like weasels!"
Li Yao's soul pierced through countless sinners as he looked at the far distance with eyes as sharp as a hawk's.
He saw that five bizarre-shaped balloons were floating on the surface of the lake that was half covered by the waves. At first glance, they seemed to be hot-air balloons that had fallen to the lake. But their surfaces were made of metal that was as smooth as a mirror. It also boasted a very remarkable mimetic effect, allowing them to melt with the lake water. It was practically impossible to notice them without careful observation.
Dozens of well-connected, extendable mechanical arms extended out of the five 'hot-air balloons' and waved about on the lake. Whichever sinner hesitated would immediately be grabbed by the neck and torn in half before their broken bodies were thrown ahead.
The upper half of the 'hot-air balloons' were filled with shooting holes that made it look like a beehive. They shot out lines of fire, raising a wall of destruction behind the sinners and forcing them to move forward.
Inside the five 'hot-air balloons' that looked like metal octopi, almost a hundred people who had rather daunting auras were hiding. They were the real members of the Black Water Gang.
Perhaps they had threatened all the adult warriors of the dozens of villages with the old and weak to tie themselves to the iron tanks that had been packed up with crystal bombs. The captives were then injected with excitants and struggled for a slim chance of survival for their family with their own death in the dizziness and madness!
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
Below Li Yao's tracks, the deck made of iron was torn apart with a few shocking holes!
His array of crystal cameras bypassed the sad and anxious sinners and the gangsters hiding behind the sinners, extending all the way to the end of the Heavenly Rails in the middle of the gray clouds beyond the dark night sky.
At the end of the Heavenly Rails, the Flower of the Other Shore blossomed. The dim redness looked like strange eyes that were staring at everything on the ground with a smile, at the land that was filled with slaughter, sin, and war.
If Li Yao had fists, he certainly would have clenched them in his fury.
Even though he did not have fists, his drills and jigsaws were thirstier than ever!
Countless suicide teams swarmed toward them.
Da! Da! Da! Da! Da!
The turrets and shooting holes of the Village of Peace released colorful snakes of fire, raising a dance of destruction made of electricity, magma, ice, and wind.
Countless sinners were hit by the bullets. Their shuttles carried abundant highly unstable crystal bombs, which were immediately detonated and turned into the most brilliant fireballs.
Flames occupied the eyes of all the other sinners, but they could not burn the bouncing bloody streaks on their eyeballs. They still roared and charged forward.
Hiu! Hiu! Hiu! Hiu! Hiu!
Right then, five dark holes slowly opened on top of the five 'hot-air balloons', which shot out dozens of cannonballs.
Those cannonballs started burning the moment they reached the peak of the parabolas. Like shooting stars from the sky, at least a third of them landed on the fleet of the Village of Peace precisely!
In hasty roars, a lot of warriors of the Village of Peace aimed their guns and cannons at the sky, blowing the 'shooting stars' into pieces. However, the broken 'shooting stars' still smashed down overwhelming and left countless holes on the shell and the deck of the boats. Some of them even pierced through multiple decks, raising fire inside and outside of the ships.
The cannonballs that fell to the surface of the lake, after raising water pillars dozens of meters high, also released intense smoke and seriously blocked the vision of the shooters of the Village of Peace.
For a moment, screams, moans, explosions, and cries for help echoed at the same time. The Village of Peace's thorough fire network had been disrupted.
The suicide teams were getting c
loser and closer to the Village of Peace. Right now, one did not need a telescope to see their eyes that were filled with bloody tears but had lost all humanity.
Seeing that an overwhelming number of burning shots were heading toward them, Han Te and Liu Li were about to lower their heads to dodge, when an invisible barrier seemed to have appeared above their heads and froze all the burning shots in midair. They were stunned for a long time before they finally called Li Yao.
"Grandpa Yao!"
"I'll deal with the situation in this place. You go and find Leader Gu." Li Yao's soul glanced at the seemingly peaceful lake behind the Village of Peace. "Give me… five minutes."
"What?"
Han Te and Liu Li were both slightly dazed. Recalling what Li Yao had said a few days ago, they nodded heavily and hurried to reinforce Gu Zhengyang.
Creak! Creak! Creak! Creak!
It was not until the two little fellows left the deck that Li Yao moved the covers of the compartments on the two sides of his body and extended the drill on the left side and the jigsaw on the right.
The two pieces of 'civil magical equipment' that had been well-tempered by him were now bursting out orange brilliance that seemed like a burning star!
"What are you going to do?" the mental devil asked.
"I want to find out what the limits of the Divinity Transformation Stage are!"
"Just—Just think before you leap," the mental devil stammered. "You can detonate the crystal bombs that have been tied to the sinners in advance to destroy all of them while they are still on the lake. You are not planning to rescue them, are you? Look at them! Look at their eyes! They are no longer human beings but animals and beasts!"
"Yes," Li Yao said, "but in any case… they used to be human beings that were as noble and proud as myself!"
"…Need I remind you that even a 'Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivator' is far from omnipotent, especially when your soul and your original body are separated and you are managing a pile of garbage? Your soul has limits, too. Things will be very awkward if the strength of your soul is exhausted!
"Besides, even if you can temporarily save those people, so what? The sinners of almost all the villages in the hundred square kilometers around are here. So many people with so little food will still die eventually! You can save them now, but you cannot save them forever! Even if you can save the Village of Peace and all the other villages in the hundred square kilometers around, you cannot save the entire Land of Sins! Let's consider the big picture and not forget our mission!"
"You do have a point," Li Yao said. "However… if I cannot carry out my will without any restriction, what is the difference between the Divinity Transformation Stage and a useless fish? Isn't our mission to spread the ideology of the Cultivators to the center of the cosmos?
"Then, let it begin here!"
Li Yao's soul unleashed the most aggressive waves!
The hundred crystal bombs hidden at the bottom of the lake exploded instantly!
After a series of dull explosions, the lake seemed to become an ocean that had been stricken by a tornado. The surging tides dozens of meters tall blocked the entire sky and consumed countless suicide shuttles.
Li Yao activated his soul power without caring about anything. His soul spread out like a tide and was attenuated to the limits of his control.
He could sense the fundamental structures of the hundreds of shuttles and the discontent, fury and sorrow of the sinners who were working as cannon fodder.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
Li Yao's computational ability was boosted to the maximum. Even the crystal processor that accommodated his soul could not bear it any longer and uttered feeble noises.
In Li Yao's perception, the whole world turned into the purest energy flow and infinite data torrents. He could even conclude that there were 7,322 bullets flying crazily within five hundred meters of him.
He calculated the trajectories of 1,324 of the bullets as well as their final landing points with consideration of the wind and tide.
His soul immediately released 1,324 telepathic thoughts, imposing subtle interference on the bullets.
Hiu! Hiu! Hiu! Hiu! Hiu! Hiu! Hiu!
All the bullets deviated from their original targets and hit the chains on the cannon fodder precisely. Countless chains were directly blown apart. Even those that were not blown apart were shaking quickly and barely connected to the tanks.
Being washed by the cold lake water, the cannon fodder's frantic nerves immediately constricted hard. The broken chains raised their instinct to counterattack. They began to struggle violently. A lot of them got rid of the control of the shuttles!
With a smile, Li Yao accurately controlled the crystal bombs that had been buried at the bottom of the lake and unleashed the second blast!
Chapter 1978: Fury of the Divinity Transformation Stage! |
The crystal bombs that had been carefully modified by him did not pursue the maximal damage but had been perfectly melded with his soul, allowing him to control the turbulence and the swirls as if they were his arms and fingers. He condensed a hundred raging waterspouts on the lake water, separating the sinners from the shuttles and blowing the shuttles backward!
Countless sinners broke away from the chains and fell into the cold water.
The adult warriors had much better body builds than the ordinary people of the Star Glory Federation did and were almost on the same level as the federation's warriors. With the assistance of spiritual energy, it should not be a problem for them to float in the lake for an hour or two.
Only a few of them who were terribly unlucky sank into the lake because they were unable to untie the chains in time.
With the power of his soul, Li Yao raised tides each higher than the last, which attracted hundreds of shuttles that were fully loaded with crystal bombs and smashed them at the enormous 'hot-air balloons' that were floating on the lake!
All the people in the Village of Peace were dumbfounded by the unbelievable scene.
They had lived on the lake for decades, but they had never seen such a fierce and weird wind that could blow back the enemy's ferocious attacks before.
Was it because some supernatural power was watching over the Village of Peace in secret?
The five huge 'hot-air balloons' spurted out hundreds of snakes of fire, trying to detonate the crystal bombs before the shuttles hit them.
However, under the enhancement of Li Yao's soul, the shuttles generated barriers that were similar to spiritual shields and resisted most of the attacks.
Li Yao also secretly boosted the water in the lake, causing the five 'hot-air balloons' to bob up and down, making it practically impossible for them to aim.
Finally, the hundreds of shuttles hit the five enormous 'hot-air balloons' brutally. Hundreds of ugly fireballs that looked like tumors immediately rose amid deafening explosions, dying the surface of the lake into the most glamorous orange colors!
The hundreds of mechanical arms on them waved crazily up and down in the ocean of fire, like the dying struggles of five metal octopi.
It was a classic example of falling victim to one's own scheme!
Li Yao grunted, and the indicator on his chest slowly dimmed. Controlling the lake water that weighed thousands of tons as well as hundreds of shuttles simultaneous was too burdensome a task. Despite the powerful soul in the Divinity Transformation Stage, he still felt that the world was swirling before him, and his vitality was drained. The dazzling data before his eyes became more chaotic than ever.
However, it was truly gratifying to fight a thousand enemies on one's own and defeat them!
"It seems Liu Li's mother was right," the mental devil concluded. "The Cultivators are indeed… hopeless idiots!"
Hiu!
A streak of redness flashed out of Li Yao's chassis into the lake, vanishing.
It was Neltharion!
"Where are you going?" Li Yao asked.
"To wipe your ass for you, of course," the
mental devil said lazily. "Make no mistake, I am not moved by your idiotic behavior. However, now that we are dependent on each other, I will be affected if the Immortal Cultivators notice something's wrong or even kill you in this chaotic Land of Sins. I do not intend to be locked in a laboratory or the so-called 'Hall of Trial'!"
…
One minute ago, inside the five enormous metal balls, the tough bandits from the Black Water Gang did not consider attacking the Village of Peace a big deal at all.
"Could the Village of Peace have been safe in the past twenty years without the advantageous terrain?"
"But little do they know that the Black Water Gang makes our living on the lake. Do they think they can stop us with such a pond?"
"In my opinion, boss was overcautious. Why did we bother to capture so many swine and make them lead the charge? It was utterly unnecessary! We could've swum over from the bottom of the lake and detonate their ships. The 'Sky Breaking Hammer' will be nothing more than a dead pig then!"
"Go now! Go now! You filthy swine. Work harder! And harder! Hahaha!"
The intimidating brawny men who had tattoos all over their bodies controlled hundreds of mechanical arms to drive the cannon fodder. They appreciated the moans and struggles coming from the front while they mocked hideously.
It was not until the series of explosions echoed from the bottom of the lake and the waterspout mixed with countless demolition shuttles came at them aggressively that their arrogant laughter came to a sudden stop.
"What the damn hell?"
"How is it possible? Why is this happening?"
"Is this a violent wind or—"
All the tough bandits looked as pale as dead bodies. Their pupils were entirely occupied by the expanding fireballs.
The metal octopi that they were aboard were naturally not real hot-air balloons. The surface that was as smooth as a mirror was actually made of the strengthened porcelain and the composite materials of the latest invention. It could effectively resist the attacks of radiation, heat, high-energy particles, and all kinds of mystic rays.
