by <unknown>
Such sound and visual effects and such a gory battle could only deceive the common Cultivators but not the senses of a Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivator.
Li Yao focused his attention on analyzing the endless data that he had collected, building new models deep inside his soul until the whole battlefield was reconstructed virtually.
Firstly, he analyzed the spiritual puppets on the Immortal Cultivators' side in terms of speed, ballistic trajectories and firepower, thereby reaching a value of standard battle performance for the spiritual puppets.
Then, based on the squad tactics of the Grand Illusionary Soldiers in the Star Glory Federation, he estimated the comprehensive combat ability when the hundred spiritual puppets were teamed up.
In the end, he compared the result of his deduction to the performance of the Immortal Cultivators when they were besieging Wei Longtao. He immediately noticed that something was wrong.
Assuming that the value of the combat ability of the battle puppets is one hundred when they are dealing with the regular resistance warriors, it has dropped to eighty-two when they are fighting Wei Longtao.
To put it more simply, they are slower, more sluggish, and weaker in firepower. Even the accuracy of their shooting has plummeted by at least thirty percent.
In the meantime, they are wasting more spiritual energy on sound and visual effects that are utterly unnecessary. The shocking mystic rays, electric arcs, and fireballs they trigger indeed look cool, but it's not like they're in the middle of a play.
Even with the squads of Grand Illusionary Soldiers in the Star Glory Federation, I could've heavily wounded or even killed Wei Longtao in the virtual battlefield. It is even possible to capture him alive.
The Grand Illusionary Soldiers of the Star Glory Federation originated from the star child who came from the Imperium of True Human Beings. In other words, in terms of the production and organization of spiritual puppets, the Imperium can't be any worse than the federation, even though it might not be too advanced.
There's no reason the Imperium can't achieve what the federation can.
Same goes for the living Immortal Cultivators. The soldiers of the regular army who have an eye carved on their crystal suits are ruthless, merciless, and pitiless when they deal with the common resistance warriors, but they become clumsy and hesitant when their opponent is Wei Longtao.
Also, in order to cover their clumsiness, they are also triggering dazzling airwaves, fireballs, spiritual flames, and blasts, interfering with the eyesight and the senses of the witnesses as much as possible.
Not just the common resistance warriors, even the experts in the Core Formation Stage or even the Nascent Soul Stage couldn't have discovered it at all if they were not suspicious of it beforehand.
Only those 'live streamers' are charging forward like idiots. Naturally, they are no match for Wei Longtao, and they only make the play vivid and lifelike!
Li Yao's soul grew colder and colder. It was almost frozen into a block of ice.
After analyzing everything, he and the mental devil were both absolutely certain that the Immortal Cultivators were going easy on Wei Longtao.
Wei Longtao's crystal suit seemed broken, filled with the traces of bullets and tears. He was heavily wounded, too, with blood leaking out of the gaps of his crystal suit. He was like a bloodstained iron statue.
However, when Li Yao analyzed his every wound, he discovered that the devastating explosions did not hurt him very much.
Or rather, because of the interference on the ballistic trajectories from some insignificant attacks, Wei Longtao was even able to evade a lot of fatal attacks.
It was not because Wei Longtao could predict the enemy's attacks and present the glamorous performance in the storm of bullets unhurriedly but the very contrary. The Immortal Cultivators' attacks were guiding Wei Longtao to perform the dazzling, complicated dodging movements, as if he were a marionette.
Due to Wei Longtao's 'valiant fighting', most of the resistance warriors had fallen back safely.
A hundred balls of lightning suddenly burst out in midair, illuminating the underground world as if it were day, followed by thunderous explosions.
Wei Longtao is about to break out of the siege!
Li Yao's soul was naturally not affected by the sound and visual effects but kept locking onto Wei Longtao.
Or rather, he is going to 'act' to break the siege!
As he expected, boosted by the might of the lightning, Wei Longtao's flames of spiritual energy were ten times more overwhelming than before. His ravaged Ares Extension turned into pieces that were exploding nonstop when he threw them in all directions.
The next moment, he turned into a streak of green brilliance and dashed to the depths of the forsaken mine not far away from Li Yao.
Quite a few Immortal Cultivators were following him closely. They seemed unstoppable and determined to catch the enemy, but with the senses of the Divinity Transformation Stage, Li Yao could vaguely tell that they did not really mean to accomplish that.
The few live streamers and trial-takers among them were the only ones who were roaring crazily and really wanted Wei Longtao dead.
However, under the intentional or unintentional blockage and interference of the regular army, their fatal attacks all missed the target and only caused tremendous scorching fireballs around Wei Longtao, making the scene even more soul-stirring than before.
Shua!
One of the live streamers or trial-takers was extremely fast and approached Wei Longtao before anybody else did.
But Wei Longtao simply turned around and slashed him in half from the waist. His internal organs had been burnt into ash by the heated axes before they were spurted out.
The gruesome scene made all the Immortal Cultivators dazed for a moment, or at the very least, the regular army appeared to be dazed.
The regular army became sluggish and panicked, and they 'happened' to stand before the trial-takers and live streamers, delaying them for half a second.
Wei Longtao took the opportunity to accelerate and sprint into an inconspicuous tunnel at the bottom level of the forsaken mine. Then, explosions echoed from the tunnel, and it completely collapsed!
The Immortal Cultivators rushed over, only to see that flames were soaring from the collapsed tunnel. They gnashed their teeth and whined in fury, but it never occurred to them than an enemy ten thousand times more dangerous than Wei Longtao was lurking right next to them.
The brief but ghastly battle in the underground world was finally over.
The bodies of the resistance warriors and the burning turrets were melted into burning garbage, rolling down from the top and crashing at the bottom of the mine, turning the place into an anonymous graveyard.
The Immortal Cultivators had controlled the entire forsaken mine. They seemed to be rebuilding the place into a temporary command center. All kinds of engineering facilities and materials were shipped, and many renovation projects were already underway up above.
As for the earthly dragons that had fled into the depths of the underground world, they did not seem to be chasing after them. Or rather, there was even no sign that they were preparing to chase after the enemy.
It was almost like… they were already certain where they could wait for the resistance warriors to step into the trap on their own. They were not in a hurry to chase after the enemy at all.
Li Yao locked onto the few trial-takers and live streamers who had tried hard to kill and capture Wei Longtao just now.
He vaguely had a feeling that he could gather critical information from those guys.
As he expected, the young and arrogant Immortal Cultivators thought that all the resistance warriors in the forsaken mine had been hunted. They took off their helmets and breathed in the air that was filled with the stink of blood while they looked at the messy battlefield, not without regret.
"Is this the legendary epic quest?" One of the Immortal Cultivators who was handsome and looked rather you
ng licked his bloodstained lips and smiled. "It does not seem to be much an improvement compared to the platinum quest in Liberty City. This is just another Whac-A-Mole game."
"Why are you so impatient?" A female Immortal Cultivator, who had a blood mole at the center of her forehead, eyed him and said, "The first level is just an appetizer. Isn't there still the Battle of the Temple later? Even that is not the final level. I'm told that a splendid and thrilling battle in space has been arranged at the end. That will be the real great meal. There will be a time that you will enjoy enough killing!"
"It makes sense." The first Immortal Cultivator rubbed his hands. "Come to think of it, you can kill as many people of the Covenant Alliance who are emotionless and as cold as wood as possible today, but the naïve and idiotic creatures like Cultivators are harder to come by than three-legged toads. They are definitely state-level endangered animals.
"Killing endangered animals feels different from butchering chicken and dogs. Did you see their looks before they were killed? They could cry, burst into fury, or roar out gallant words. Hahaha. How soul-stirring and poignant. Killing them is much more thrilling than killing the people of the Covenant Alliance who are like dead fish. In short, this feels much better!"
"Indeed." When she thought of the picture just now, the frost on the female Immortal Cultivator's face melted. She could not help but chuckle. "Long live the Cultivators? Tsk, tsk, tsk. It's been years since I last heard such an outdated and ridiculous line. My hands were shaking so hard that I could barely aim just now because of those bumpkins. I almost laughed aloud."
"Hey!" Another fat Immortal Cultivator joined him in delight. "There's a rather interesting branch quest, which is to catch the wandering earthly dragons. Did any of you not have enough fun just now and want to have more?"
"Great. Let's go together. The Battle of the Temple will not start for a few days. We have nothing to do anyway."
The many Immortal Cultivators talked and laughed and flew skyward, leaving Li Yao below their feet alone in the darkness.
Chapter 2059: We're Back! |
Li Yao's voice was like the gloomy wind blowing in hell. "Therefore, the so-called 'temple' is indeed a scheme to attract all the enemies and capture them together!"
"It's not much of a 'scheme' but a large-scale 'game' at best." The mental devil grimaced. "You've seen it with your own eyes. For the Imperium of True Human Beings and the Immortal Cultivators today, Cultivators are an obsolete and insignificant concept. It can barely be counted as a threat.
"Compared to the pressure caused by the Alliance of the Holy Covenant on the frontal battlefield, Starlight, even if it does exist, is nothing more than a skin disease.
"In other words, while the Cultivators like you regard the Imperium of True Human Beings and the Immortal Cultivators as sworn enemies and want to prove that your ideology is correct, the Immortal Cultivators do not bother to look at you properly. They simply take you for flies and mosquitoes, or endangered species at best!"
"Yes. In the eyes of the Immortal Cultivators, the Cultivators are exactly like flies and mosquitoes, which, although unable to cause much harm, can be quite annoying when they keep humming around you. Therefore, the Immortal Cultivators are paving a sticky pad and attracting all of us to land on it so that they can burn us up once and for all. Then, the whole world will be at peace!"
Li Yao pondered for a moment and said, "Such a plan is exactly the same as how the Star Glory Federation established the Dragon Snake Space Zone and sent Lu Qingchen to set up CFIA.
"Wei Longtao of Starlight in the Land of Sins is exactly like Lu Qingchen of the CFIA in the federation. He is not a legendary hero who fights hard in the underground world at all but a puppet idol that the Immortal Cultivators have intentionally fabricated!
"He elaborated on the 'temple of Cultivators' and the 'control center of the global sword network' as if they were real. Even if they are, the place must've been heavily surrounded by the Immortal Cultivators, who are waiting for the ignorant members of Starlight to enter it and be killed.
"No. We have to save them!"
"Of course, they must be saved," the mental devil said slowly. "Not those in the underground temple but those in space."
"The space?" Li Yao was deep in thought. "That's right. Are you suggesting that of the two branches of Starlight, the space one is the key?"
"Obviously," the mental devil said. "As the saying goes, you cannot raise a huge turtle in a small can. It is impossible for a dragon to dash out of a little pond.
"The Martial Meritocrats Sector in the past and the Land of Sins today are such little ponds and fully-sealed cans. How developed can Starlight possibly be even if it has the leadership of an unparalleled genius?
"With the overall capabilities of the Imperium of True Human Beings and the cunningness of the Immortal Cultivators, if they had truly wanted to demolish the underground branch of Starlight, were they unable to accomplish it in the past hundreds of years? Even if a few small fries did escape, there would've been little that they could do.
"But not only did the Immortal Cultivators fail to completely destroy the underground branch of Starlight, they also sent a legendary hero that was Wei Longtao in secret, helping the dying underground branch of Starlight to revive and flourish again. If everything is just meant to be a game, the cost and the risks are too high, aren't they?
"Therefore, this is only a plan to loosen the trotline in order to catch the big fish. The underground branch of Starlight is just a big, fat bait. The real target of the Immortal Cultivators is the space forces of Starlight!"
"Fair point." Li Yao's eyes were opened, too. He added quickly, "First of all, Blackstar the Great returned to the Martial Meritocrats Sector for revenge with an overwhelming fleet a thousand years ago, launching what Wei Longtao and Zuo Jingyun called the Judgment War. That was probably real.
"However, the Martial Meritocrats Civilization had arrived at its peak, too, and was mixed with the bloodthirst and ruthlessness of the Sand Primitive Sector. Technologically speaking, it couldn't have been much worse than the Imperium. At the very least, there was not a generation gap, like stone axes versus assault rifles. It was only weaker than the Imperium in terms of scale and comprehensive national strength.
"Then, even if it suffered a crushing defeat on the frontal defeat and was no match for the Imperium at all, it was not entirely unlikely that a few starships broke out of the siege in the middle of the chaos and escaped into space, right?"
"It's certainly possible," the mental devil said. "In fact, the Martial Meritocrats Civilization we talk about today was a twin civilization that involved both the Martial Meritocrats Sector and the Sand Primitive Sector. Considering the frequent communication between the two Sectors, they must've grasped very advanced space sailing technology.
"Also, don't forget that the Fist King mentioned that the Martial Meritocrats Sector and the Sand Primitive Sector had a minor war before the arrival of Blackstar the Great.
"War would naturally greatly damage the comprehensive strength of the Martial Meritocrats Civilization, but it would also boost part of the cutting-edge technology and weapons. For example, the forces of the entire world might be focused in order to produce a few extremely advanced super starships, whose comprehensive battle performance might reach seventy to eighty percent of what the starships of the Imperium had. It seems to be a reasonable assumption.
"If such advanced starships did exist, it's very possible that a few survivors escaped from the siege even though they could not defeat the fleet of the Imperium.
"The universe is boundless. Once they escaped from the planet, they would be like dragons unchained. It would be practically impossible for them to be locked onto and annihilated."
"The space pirates in the Flying Star Sector were on a rampage for thousands of years," Li Yao said solemnly. "Firefly of the government-in-exile of the Star Ocean Republic fled for a thousand years. So, it's not entirely impossible for 'Starlight',
a resistance organization of the Cultivators of the Martial Meritocrats Sector, to act unpredictably in the peripheral space zones of the Imperium and shine for hundreds of years, which also agrees with the intelligence that Di Feiwen shared with us.
"Think about it. Di Feiwen and the Black Wind Fleet took off more than a hundred years ago, at which time the Land of Sins was entirely different from what it is today. But rumors of Starlight already existed at that time. It is highly unlikely that the Immortal Cultivators have planned the game for a hundred years, right?
"All in all, the Starlight in space should be the real deal. It also boasts certain forces that caused some trouble for the Immortal Cultivators before.
"In order to resolve the headache once and for all, the Immortal Cultivators have fabricated the legendary hero that is 'Wei Longtao'. They supported the underground branch of Starlight and made them try to reach out to the fellow Cultivators in space. Then, a magnificent plan for an ultimate counterattack with all the available forces was proposed. After the main forces of Starlight are all mobilized, they will be annihilated completely!
"Just like the Immortal Cultivators said, the Battle of the Temple will not begin for several days. But it was still not going to be the 'final level'. A battle in space that follows it will be the star of the show."
"Therefore," the mental devil said, "it is useless to catch up to Han Te and Liu Li right now. On one hand, we are of unknown origins, and the resistance warriors including Zuo Jingyun have seen Wei Longtao sacrificing himself to cover the retreat fearlessly with their own eyes. It is impossible that they will believe a mysterious freak like you and doubt their general commander.
"On the other hand, even if you do break Wei Longtao's mask with all the tricks possible, so what?
"Wei Longtao is just a puppet. It won't solve the problem even if he is minced into pieces. Or rather, the entire underground branch of Starlight, including the temple, does not matter. Space is the key to the conundrum!
"It's just like I said before. We are now no better than ghosts, with only the level of the Divinity Transformation Stage but not the corresponding combat ability. It is not like we can simply blow up all the Immortal Cultivators and Manjusaka with just our tongues, right?
