by <unknown>
Hiu! Hiu! Hiu! Hiu!
As the two of them looked at each other and fought hard in their "domains", "Star Breaker" Song Huanzhen had already injected all her spiritual energy into the thousands of "sword balls" around her. Those sword balls were all made of soft metals and liquid alloys, which had a high memory ability. Under the boost of spiritual energy, they were immediately unfolded into the narrow, sharp blades like willow leaves.
The surface of every narrow blade was glamorous and teeming with complicated spiritual stripes. As the blades passed each other, the sounds of wind and thunder were rising.
When the narrow blades were flying at the highest speed, boosted by Song Huanzhen with all of her strength, they could turn into metal torrents that could pierce through the thickest plate of the space warships.
Hardly had "Devilish Abyss" Li Jianyi backed off when Song Huanzhen's swords rushed over like broken shooting stars. One third of them attacked Li Linghai's hands, preventing her from retrieving any magical equipment, crystal suit, or Colossus. One third were aimed at her critical acupoints and body parts. The last one third blocked all the space around her where she could possibly dodge!
Any of the thousands of narrow blades that looked like willow leaves carried the speed and damage of the best flying sword. Their trajectories that were as unpredictable as mists almost suggested that a hundred most distinguished swordmasters were controlling them together. The chief tutor of sword arts of the Song family certainly deserved her name!
However, the moment when the swords were unleashed, the black dragons that hovered above everyone's head gathered around Li Linghai, as if they were enshrouding her in an indestructible spiritual shield. When thousands of narrow blades hit the spiritual shields, they could not press any further but simply shivered nonstop.
Chi! Chi! Chi! Chi!
Song Huanzhen roared miserably. Thousands of electric arcs were triggered from her fingers and hit the rear of the narrow blades, allowing all the blades to be significantly brighter than just now.
But however she summoned her spiritual energy, it was impossible for her to pierce in. Many of the narrow blades were contorted from the back to the front into metal blocks, but they were still held back by Li Linghai's spiritual shield.
Narrowing her eyes, Li Linghai shook her head and extended her hand at Song Huanzhen slowly. Then, she closed her hand hard, as if she were suffocating Song Huanzhen's throat remotely.
Song Huanzhen bulged her eyes, and five black marks did appear on her neck. They were so deep that her throat seemed about to be torn apart and her neck was going to be broken!
Song Huanzhen's face was immediately paler than that of a dead person. Not even having the time to scream, she hurried to retreat.
She did not have the faintest clue how the enemy's strength penetrated her spiritual shield without being blocked. Naturally, she had no time to care about her narrow blades.
All the narrow blades fell to Li Linghai's control. They were all thrown back at "Acyclic Earth" Yun Kuohai behind her.
While Yun Kuohai's arts were the most masculine and straightforward ones, his combat style was stealthy and sordid. Seeing that Li Linghai was distracted by "Devilish Abyss" Li Jianyi and "Star Breaker" Song Huanzhen, he intended to sneak to Li Linghai's back for an ambush.
But out of his expectation, Li Linghai had locked onto him since a long time ago. When thousands of sharp blades were thrown at him, their speed and their damage were as good as Song Huanzhen's own performance. He hurried to dodge the attacks.
"What are you waiting for?"
Li Jiande howled, "Those who do not have a Colossus, stall her together with Yun Kuohai. The rest of you, activate your Colossus immediately!"
It actually only took several seconds for Li Linghai to force the three experts at the peak of the Divinity Transformation Stage to retreat. The Nascent Soul Stage experts at the edge did not realize what was going on until this moment. Then, they all activated their crystal suits and lunged at Li Linghai in sonic booms.
"You are rather bold for a few juniors in the Nascent Soul Stage!"
When dozens of Nascent Soul Stage experts rushed to Li Linghai like arrows, Li Linghai suddenly burst into laughter and raised her hands abruptly. From the cracks on the ground, countless high-pressure black gas erupted again.
There was no telling what foul and evil forces were hidden in the black gas, but when a few Nascent Soul Stage experts were hit by the black gas in their carelessness, not only were their spiritual shields collapsing immediately, even their crystal suits were blackened at a visible speed as if the crystal suits had contracted a virus. The dark forces leaked into the gaps of the crystal suits and corroded their skin and flesh, resulting in their painful screams.
Li Linghai took the opportunity to open her fingers and grab the helmets of the few experts in the Nascent Soul Stage, while she grinned hideously and declared, "You and your family shall all be executed!"
The helmet of a crystal suit was theoretically the unit with the toughest materials that offered the best protection.
Those experts in the Nascent Soul Stage were all powerful people too. Naturally, the crystal suits they were using were the best products. The helmets were so solid that even the full-strength blow from a crystal cannon that was stuck to their heads should've been offset.
However, Li Linghai's remote grab left a few black marks on the helmets of those Nascent Soul Stage experts. The black marks seemed to be alive and groped for the gaps on the helmets in squeaky noises, before they found their way into the helmets in the end.
Everybody else could only hear the inhuman screams of the few victims coming over in the communication channel, followed by the noises of bone cracking. In the blink of an eye, the few experts fell down as if their bones had all been plucked.
Everybody was appalled. Their courage had already been diminished by the terrible scenes where Li Linghai defeated three experts at the peak of the Divinity Transformation Stage at first and broke the skulls of several experts in the Nascent Soul Stage on her own. They all thought to themselves, There are five experts in the Divinity Transformation Stage here. They can certainly take her down with their Colossi. Why do I have to get myself killed and even possibly involve my family in the trouble?
So many people are attacking her at the same time. Nobody can tell it if I slow down while I am in the middle of the crowd!
Since they were all in the Nascent Soul Stage, they were naturally specialists in controlling their speeds and postures. For a moment, all the experts slightly adjusted the power rune arrays of their crystal suits. Not only were they slowing down, but they also changed the directions of their sprinting. Instead of charging at Li Linghai, they tried to alter their routes so that they could hide behind somebody else.
If only one of them was doing that, it might be impossible to tell the difference.
However, since all of the experts in the Nascent Soul Stage were doing the same thing, it was almost like an aggressive tide suddenly lost momentum. Some people almost crashed into each other when they tried to hide behind each other's back. It was rather awkward.
Even "Acyclic Earth" Yun Kuohai was no exception. Being at the peak of the Divinity Transformation Stage, if he had lunged at Li Linghai and stalled her without caring for anything, he would certainly have bought enough time for "Devilish Abyss" Li Jianyi and "Star Breaker" Song Huanzhen to retrieve their Colossi.
Or rather, if he were not afraid of sacrificing himself and fought Li Linghai in the spirit of dying together with the enemy, chances were that all the experts in the Nascent Soul Stage would lunge forward and settle Li Linghai once and for all.
But how was it possible to ask a high-level Immortal Cultivator like Yun Kuohai to devote themself selflessly?
The four Kurfürst families each had their own plans in the first place and only initiated the arrest under the persuasion of "Silver Fox" Li Jiande, even though many people within the four families did not second to Li Ji
ande's opinion.
Yun Kuohai, Li Jianyi, Song Huanzhen, and Dongfang Sheng were half allies and half competitors in the first place. They thought that Li Linghai was at the high level of the Divinity Transformation Stage at best, and it wouldn't be a problem for three experts at the peak of the Divinity Transformation Stage to suppress her together at all. The risks were not high, and the returns were copious. Therefore, they did not think that the mission was a big deal.
But as it turned out, Li Linghai was much stronger than expected. Why would Yun Kuohai sacrifice himself and let the Li family and the Song family take the advantage? Not a chance!
Therefore, "Acyclic Earth" Yun Kuohai did not care about "Silver Fox" Li Jiande's roar asking him to stop Li Linghai. Instead, he simply retreated and summoned his own Colossus. It was certainly a top priority to summon his own Colossus in such a treacherous situation. As for the life and death of other people, was it his problem at all?
Chapter 2319: Hellstar! |
The air was burning, the earth was shaking, and the dark clouds were roaring. Even the splendid buildings in the royal palace seemed to be falling apart into broken pieces that were swallowed by the battlefield!
By paying their lives, several experts in the Nascent Soul Stage finally bought enough time for the three experts at the peak of the Divinity Transformation Stage to retrieve their Colossi.
It was like three chaotic swirls suddenly appeared from the void, spreading out into magnificent giants that were clearer and clearer.
When the space ripples gradually dispersed, the swirls turned into three ultimate slaughter weapons in different shapes but equally appalling!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The flames of light unleashed by the power rune arrays of the three Colossi broke the night sky of infinite darkness. The earsplitting roars they let out were also shocking the air of the entire royal palace.
Through the enhancement of their Colossi, the three experts at the peak of the Divinity Transformation Stage were finally able to completely suppress Li Linghai's dark air.
At this moment, "Devilish Abyss", "Acyclic Earth", and "Star Breaker" finally revealed their most aggressive form. Passing the many experts in the Nascent Soul Stage, they attacked Li Linghai with their full strength at the same time.
Many experts in the Nascent Soul Stage involved in this operation were also equipped with inferior Colossi. Those inferior Colossi were mostly made of the broken parts of the original Colossi after fierce battles or even installed with more than fifty percent of magical equipment units that were crafted by human beings. Naturally, their battle efficiency was not as good as the original goods left from the primeval battlefields. But however inferior they were, they were Colossi after all!
For a moment, chaotic swirls were surging out of the void nonstop. Under the illumination of the colorful light, iron giants appeared one after another, turning the center of the royal palace into the place where the densest Colossi in the entire universe could be seen!
However…
The Nascent Soul Stage experts' concerns just now slowed down their attacks for a moment, which left a tiny gap on the supposedly impenetrable siege.
In the meantime, "Acyclic Earth" Yun Kuohai summoned his Colossus after retreating quickly. He seemed to be ten times more daunting than before, but his retreat left enough time for Li Linghai to perform her skills too.
Therefore, while many Colossi leaped out of the void, the two black holes on Li Linghai's face had spread out to the maximum too, and they almost swallowed her entire face. Her arms were entirely mired in black streaks while they cramped weirdly in the midair as she cast her spells.
A spell was nothing more than a gesture of order to activate a certain field.
The fields that were being activated by Li Linghai at this moment, however, filled the entire royal palace!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The violent beasts' roars below the ground were immediately a hundred times louder than before. The cracks that were as dense as a spider web all expanded into dark gorges and abysses. All the gorges and abysses were melting at a visible speed, swallowing the whole ground and transforming it into a… black hole more than five kilometers in diameter, a terrifying "crater"!
"How is it possible!"
Everybody was shocked and intimidated.
The earth below them was no more. Looking downward, they could only see the black fog rolling like boiling ink, as if the gate to hell had been opened and countless monsters were about to lunge out.
Not only were their bare eyes unable to see through the truth deep inside the "crater", but even the crystal cameras as well as the many kinds of detection magical equipment on the crystal suits and the Colossi, including the senses of the experts in the Nascent Soul Stage and the Divinity Transformation Stage, could not reach the bottom of the crater through the hundreds of meters of black fog.
But it was absolutely impossible!
In the past five hundred years, the four Kurfürst families had been trying to unveil the secrets of the "underground palace". Although they did not excavate the royal palace for a large-scale development due to technological limitations and their competition, they had still scanned everything several hundred meters into the ground clearly as preparatory work.
Even though there were the underground parts below every building in the palace, including the secret tunnels and arsenals that were as complicated as mazes, it was impossible that such a huge, terrifying space just appeared out of nowhere.
Where were the buildings and rocks that weighed billions of tons a moment ago? How could they just vanish?
If there was such a huge empty chamber below the ground, how could it have avoided their attention for five hundred years? Were they all blind?
Unless—
Unless there were really nine "world fragments" below the royal palace, which were connected to the three-dimensional universe in mysterious, cutting-edge technologies! They were activated just now and swallowed all the rocks, foundations, and underground buildings!
In other words, the swamp-like abyss did not really lead to the underground world but to the nine world fragments that Blackstar the Great had carefully prepared a thousand years ago!
Everybody thought quickly. Those who were keener had realized what was going on. Recalling Li Linghai's weird way of addressing herself and her unbelievable strength, they were so shocked that they almost cried out aloud.
Those who were less responsive, however, were still in ignorance. Staring at the abyss below their feet, they managed to float in the midair by boosting their power rune arrays, but they were at a loss of what to do.
The underground black hole that was five kilometers in diameter was erupting tremendous black fog like a volcano eruption, enshrouding the entire sky and earth. It had also generated a weird force of attraction that was dragging all of them into the black hole.
They could not even see their own fingers in the darkness. Their communication with the outside world had been cut off too. They seemed to have been snatched into a cage that could never be broken.
The penetrative black fog, on the other hand, was also corroding their spiritual shields nonstop and sabotaging the joints on the Colossi. Their vitality fields were greatly disrupted too.
It was not just a mysterious, unpredictable dark space below the ground, but also a ubiquitous, terrifying array. They had even lost their senses of direction, and they did not know where to run even if they intended to escape!
The three experts at the peak of the Divinity Transformation Stage were naturally among the people who had the highest computational ability and fastest response.
The moment Li Linghai turned from white to black, they had already felt a vague alarm. The infinite dominating air around Li Linghai gave them quite a familiar feeling.
It was also one of the reasons why they backed off instead of fighting Li Linghai with their lives.
At this moment, associating Li Linghai's weird behavior
and the uncanny changes in the royal palace, they couldn't help but come up with a horrifying name.
Could it be… him?
The three experts at the peak of the Divinity Transformation Stage found themselves caught in an extremely awkward and dangerous situation.
It was something that they never expected when they accepted the mission that they thought was absolutely riskless.
"Kill her! She will not let go of you! She will certainly execute every last member of the four Kurfürst families! Don't have any illusion! She's certainly going to kill us all!"
"Silver Fox" Li Jiande was perhaps the most conscious one here. He was still struggling in the overwhelming black fog and roaring futilely.
But the three experts at the peak of the Divinity Transformation Stage were naturally on full alert when they had just fallen into such a weird "underground black hole". Who was willing to charge at Li Linghai, or… him, without caring about their own life?
Besides, the moment the underground black hole took shape, Li Linghai had disappeared.
Under the cover of the falling rocks, the spreading dust, and the erupting black fog, her air had been entirely concealed, and she ran out of the siege in advance, escaping to the deepest part of the underground black hole.
But her mad and dominating laughter was still echoing from the deepest part of the black hole, or rather, from every direction of the black fog. "You could've chosen heaven, but you've come to hell! Fighting your emperor at the royal palace is the greatest mistake that you've ever made. It's time to regret what you did. I will only keep three of you alive. Three!"
Her laughter was still echoing when the thickest metal tentacle suddenly extended out of the black fog and darted at the dozens of Immortal Cultivators in the Nascent Soul Stage without a sound. Before anybody realized what was going on, it had already tied up one of the Immortal Cultivators together with his crystal suit!
The metal tentacle was about one meter in diameter and filled with dense thorns and suction discs on the surface. When it strangled the victim like a boa, the Immortal Cultivator in the Nascent Soul Stage couldn't struggle at all before he was dragged into the fog.
