by <unknown>
The left leg was also blocking the right leg, preventing the body from approaching Li Yao. As a result, Wuying Qi, or Li Linghai, hopped weirdly with the half red and half white hair.
"Your Highness, is that really you?"
Li Yao was touched by Li Linghai's courage and determination. He clenched his fists, but he did not know how to give Li Linghai a hand. He could only shout, "I know that this is not your intention. You were fooled and threatened by Wuying Qi. I don't believe that you're crazy enough to destroy the capital!
"I believe that you really meant to renew the Imperium, and I speculate that you're only working with Wuying Qi because he threatens you with your children.
"But look around and see what Wuying Qi has done! He's not a real reformist. He's only trying to turn the Imperium from a country of Immortal Cultivators into his own country, which will be worse than right now!
"If he's threatening you with your children, you don't need to fear him. Li Jialing is confined in the tank behind us, and your other children must be in the royal palace. If the solar storm escalates infinitely, all your children will die!
"To save your children, there's only one thing you can do; kick him out from your head as best as you can!
"Wake up, Your Highness, wake up! The fate of all your children and the Imperium is really up to you now! I still remember how confident you were when you described the New Imperium to me when we just met. I was fascinated by your ideology even though I was a Cultivator. It is your belief, isn't it? You didn't lie to me, did you? You are still the Li Linghai one year ago, as well as the Li Linghai from a hundred years ago, aren't you?
"If you are, it's time to wake up now!"
Chapter 2647: Flower on the Cliff |
As Li Yao roared, the face of Wuying Qi, or Li Linghai, was more and more twisted, until it was impossible to tell who he or she was anymore!
The domination and cruelty of an emperor on the face where veins were bulging were replaced by demonic madness, and then by the gentleness and firmness of a mother.
His, or her, left hand grabbed the right hand and reached for Li Yao's neck, as if it was trying to choke Li Yao.
However, the right arm cracked and dangled down, unwilling to attack Li Yao at all.
Even the raging long hair was divided into two armies, one red and the other white. Like snakes of different groups, they bit each other hard.
"You're betraying me too?"
Wuying Qi's roar of disbelief burst out, "You ungrateful wench! It was me who rescued you, it was me who taught you your skills, it was me who enabled you to seek revenge, and it was me who allowed you to dominate the royal palace, and this is how you're repaying me?"
Li Linghai's high-pitched voice burst out from the same throat as she snapped, "You promised me that you would let go of Li Jialing's soul! You promised me!"
"That was if everything went well!"
Wuying Qi's devastating voice came again. "But our plan has been ruined by Li Yao. It's all his fault. If you want to preserve your son's soul, don't stand in my way as I try to kill him!"
"You can kiss my a*s!"
While Wuying Qi and Li Linghai were struggling with each other, Li Yao gathered the last bit of his strength and crashed into their chest. His spiritual energy surged into their body like sharp daggers!
"Ah!"
Wuying Qi and Li Linghai's chest collapsed deeply, and the two souls both screamed.
"Well…"
Blinking his eyes quickly, Li Yao was anxious. "Your Highness, tell me what I can do to help you kill this jerk!"
"Hehehehe, that's impossible!"
The cruelest countenance emerged on the hideous face again. Wuying Qi laughed. "My soul and this bi*ch's have been so deeply entangled that killing me means killing her. What will you do, Cultivator Li Yao?"
Then, Li Linghai took charge of the face again. She stammered, "Kill… Kill… Kill me. Kill me!"
Li Yao's face changed again and again. He had just grabbed three sabers from the ground through remote manipulation, but he couldn't cut down.
He was an orphan who had no family except his foster father. Now, he had truly regarded Li Jialing as his little brother.
Although Li Linghai and he weren't very close, she was the only woman that his pop ever loved, and she was Li Jialing's mother.
Li Jialing risked everything to sneak into the capital just to save his mother, didn't he?
It would've been easier if Li Linghai weren't woken up, but now that she had free will again, Li Yao hesitated whether or not he should kill Wuying Qi and Li Linghai right now.
While he hesitated, his chest was pummeled again, as Wuying Qi had regained control over the body and flung him away.
"Hahahahahaha. This is exactly the Cultivators' biggest problem. You're too softhearted and undetermined!"
The bloody hair on the back of Wuying Qi and Li Linghai's head was winning the competition of willpower and swallowing the newly-grown white hair. Wuying Qi laughed aloud. "You are too weak to lead mankind!"
"You're right. He's exactly a softhearted idiot."
Someone called from Wuying Qi's back, "But I'm not!"
It was Long Yangjun, who had congregated hundreds of sabers, swords, and magic items and darted them at Wuying Qi.
The struggle between Wuying Qi and Li Linghai significantly weakened Wuying Qi's control over the bald experts who were not saturated with tenebrum energy yet. Without Wuying Qi's control, they were crying in pain and could not resist Long Yangjun at all.
Long Yangjun finished the bald experts easily and attacked Wuying Qi's critical parts with their weapons like a furious storm.
Long Yangjun was technically not a Cultivator. There was no bond between her and Li Linghai either. Naturally, she launched the deadliest moves as a swordmaster without any hesitation.
Wuying Qi was too busy resisting Li Linghai and Li Yao to take precautions against Long Yangjun on his back. By the time he sensed Long Yangjun's array of blades, it was already too late. He could only wave his left arm and unleash a spring of blood from his body, which stood before him like a shield and stopped the incoming weapons.
Zi! Zi! Zi! Zi! Zi! Zi!
Dazzling electric arcs roamed in the fog. The flying blades were frozen, but their tips were shivering crazily, as if they would break the obstacle and proceed to Wuying Qi anytime.
Chi! Chi! Chi! Chi! Chi! Chi!
The fog of blood, as if scorched under high temperature, was dimming and restricting, exactly like Wuying Qi's soul.
Long Yangjun and Wuying Qi immediately became pale. Wounds exploded near their eyes and spread out, making them look like two statues that were falling apart.
It was a pure competition of soul, energy, and vitality that was devoid of any trick. They were tearing at each other as they rolled to the abyss of doom.
Li Yao could even sense that their vitality was fading from not far away—no, it was not fading, but cascading!
After three seconds that felt as long as three years, the bloody fog and the flying swords between them finally exploded after a rapid constriction. The blast mixed with broken pieces of blades filled the place. Even Li Yao was blown back too.
"Long Yangjun!"
It was an aftermath after all and did not really hurt Li Yao. He searched and soon found Long Yangjun, only to discover that she was pale and her suit had cracked. She was barely breathing.
Li Yao hurried to take out a dose of medicine from his Cosmos Ring and injected it into Long Yangjun before he helped her digest the medical power with his spiritual energy.
Then, he looked back at Wuying Qi, only to see the most unforgettable scene.
The bloody fog was dispersing, and Wuying Qi, or Li Linghai, seemed to be standing on a cliff, with indescribable regret and resolution on her face.
Her long hair became flawlessly white again without the tiniest impurities, containing neither black nor red.
Her eyes were as pure as before too, which could see bea
uty and kindness in the dirtiest and darkest world.
It was not the eyes of the Li Linghai from a year ago, but those from a hundred years ago when she was still a girl who did not know her destiny in the next hundred years yet.
She smiled, like a flower that was falling from a cliff.
There was a certain power struggling at her throat and her chest, trying to regain control over her body, but she managed to use her left hand to grab a broken blade that was still sharp.
She looked at Li Yao thoughtfully, with indescribable regret and apology in her eyes.
"No—"
His blood freezing, Li Yao shouted subconsciously.
Li Linghai, however, turned a deaf ear to it. Her fingers were cut by the blade and hot blood flowed out, but she simply clenched its edge and stabbed it into her chest.
Chi!
She did not leave any hope for herself. The blade entered her chest and protruded from her back. She even twisted the blade to ensure that her heart was completely destroyed.
Her vitality had been greatly consumed to power the Gold Crystal Pyramid in the first place. Now that the heart was destroyed by her, her body was no longer usable for Wuying Qi even if the other organs were still intact.
"Ah!"
The serenity on her face was suddenly replaced by miseries. Wuying Qi's scream burst out from the throat.
All the bulging veins seemed to be breaking free from the muscles. They were falling apart and spewing out pillars of blood.
Even the blade that minced her heart had been pulled out, and tremendous blood squirted from her chest.
The blood gradually gathered into a mist in midair in the shape of Wuying Qi's angry face.
"This is Wuying Qi's remaining soul!"
Long Yangjun struggled to shout, "Kill him! Don't let him run away!"
Before she finished, the bloody face had glared at Li Yao and split into hundreds of streaks of light, dashing into the depths of the Gold Crystal Pyramid.
Li Yao reacted fast enough. He darted thousands of pieces of blades to the bloody streaks but only managed to block some fifty of them.
He was about to chase after Wuying Qi when the last batch of the bald experts arrived. They had lost Wuying Qi's control, but they could still stall Li Yao for a while.
Li Yao was quick enough to kick them away and got back Li Linghai's broken body.
"Your Highness, you can't die like this!"
Holding Li Linghai's body, Li Yao inputted spiritual energy into her crazily. "Li Jialing needs you. The future of the Imperium needs you. There's also the secret of the Supreme Emperor's mausoleum… Come on, hang in there. It's just a minor heart explosion. Not a big deal!"
Chapter 2648: Cut the Darkness of the Whole Universe! |
Crazily, Li Yao retrieved medicines and medical tools from his Cosmos Ring.
Firstly, he injected a lot of fragrant green gel into the hole on Li Linghai's chest with a glittering syringe to stop the blood from squirting out.
Then, he injected a nutrition drug around Li Linghai's neck, which could provide oxygen and nutrition for the brain as a microcycle.
In such a way, even if her body was destroyed, her brain would still be intact.
After everything was done, he pressed Li Linghai's temples softly and stimulated her brain cells with feeble electricity so that her soul would not fall into eternal sleep.
Li Linghai's eyebrows finally shivered, and she opened her eyes.
When she saw Li Yao, shame, regret, worry, and relief flashed in turns in her eyes.
"Don't talk. Take a rest!"
Li Yao read Li Linghai's eyes and declared resolutely, "I'm definitely going to save Li Jialing and the Empyreal Terminus Sector!"
The ripples in Li Linghai's eyes gathered into two tears that dripped onto her cheeks. She said weakly with her last strength, "I was wrong. I was… really wrong!"
"It's true that you made an unforgivable mistake."
Li Yao took out a freezing spray from his Cosmos Ring, which could temporarily hibernate the brain of the injured until reinforcements arrived. "So, you better make up for it for the rest of your life!"
Li Yao softly put Li Linghai on the ground and covered her wounds with a broken robe, before he rose and gazed at where Wuying Qi's soul disappeared.
At this moment, Long Yangjun had also finished the last of the bald experts. They searched every inch of the Gold Crystal Pyramid with their telepathic thoughts.
They did not find Wuying Qi's remaining soul or any sign of it.
But they found a terrible thing—the cocoon where Li Jialing was imprisoned had exploded.
Like a blooming flower, its tough iron shell was curled and dangled down, but Li Jialing was no longer inside.
Li Jialing's body had been taken away by Wuying Qi's remaining soul!
Li Yao and Long Yangjun looked at each other. They both saw the fear and the burning fighting will in each other's eyes.
"In any case, we must repair the Cosmos Rings first!"
Long Yangjun said, "Even if he has truly possessed Li Jialing, he can't stabilize himself so quickly!"
Li Yao nodded quickly. He searched for the maintenance tools that had been scattered just now.
Every maintenance tool had been baptized with his blood and marked with his soul. Thanks to the mysterious connection between them, he was able to retrieve the tools very soon.
While Long Yangjun stayed on alert, Li Yao sat cross-legged with the two Cosmos Rings floating before him and glowing more and more dazzlingly.
Low laughter came from the depths of the Gold Crystal Pyramid again.
It sounded both like Li Jialing and more and more like Wuying Qi.
The infinite bloody and black fog came back again.
Li Yao, however, ignored it. He focused his full attention on the tiny Cosmos Rings while he dredged the retrieval rune arrays and constructed new spatial circuits with telepathic thoughts.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The whole Gold Crystal Pyramid was trembling, as if a gargantuan beast had crawled out of the tower and was about to swallow the whole universe.
"This power can't be just possession. It's…"
Sensing the ripples from the depths of the Gold Crystal Pyramid, Long Yangjun couldn't have looked more awful. "It's a Colossus!"
A weird scene happened in Li Yao and Long Yangjun's visions.
The depths of the Gold Crystal Pyramid was twisted, and indescribable darkness was appearing.
The edge of the darkness was blurry, and it was still expanding. Wherever it reached, it would contaminate everything into darkness, the darkness that even light would be absorbed and no matter could escape!
It was like the world had been bitten by an invisible animal, and the missing part turned into a… black hole!
When Li Yao and Long Yangjun scanned the dark area, their eyes, senses, and telepathic thoughts could not detect anything in the darkness at all. Or maybe, there was nothing in it at all. It was merely absolute darkness!
Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua!
Long Yangjun stomped on the ground, and hundreds of broken pieces of blades were darted into the darkness. But they were also instantly absorbed when they touched the darkness, as if they had sunk into the sticky gel.
The phenomenon reminded Li Yao and Long Yangjun a super Colossus, one that was definitely among the top five in the history of war. It was Blackhole's Heart, Blackstar the Great's special weapon!
Blackhole's Heart was naturally not a real black hole.
Yet, it boasted the best designs in distortion, stealth, and energy absorption, allowing it to block 99.99% of hostile scanning and swallow most of the damage. It was truly like a deadly black hole that would absorb all lives on the battlefield!
A thousand years ago when Wuying Qi was active, the arrival of Blackhole's Heart meant the end of a battle and the start of a slaughter.
A thousand years later, the storm of blood had started again!
> "Hehehehehehe!"
Wuying Qi's crazy laughter echoed in the darkness again.
"Nailed it!"
Li Yao sensed nothing about the black hole. He dripped his blood on the two Cosmos Rings and gave one of them back to Long Yangjun. In the meantime, he activated his own Cosmos Ring.
Space ripples raged out. Another two Colossi, "Arsonist" and "Heavenly Crystal", which also ranked top among all Colossi, emerged from the void and arrived at the human world!
Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua!
Staying in the spiritual residence of Arsonist, Li Yao allowed Little Black to envelop him as liquid metal. Infinite streams of information flooded in his brain and his body. He felt so comfortable that he was almost roaring.
With Arsonist in his hand, he would blow it up even if a real black hole were in his way!
"You are more stupid than you are shameless. Do you really think I would completely bind my soul to Li Linghai's body?"
From Blackhole's Heart, the mixed voice of Wuying Qi and Li Jialing was coming over. "Powering the Gold Crystal Pyramid will significantly damage the body, particularly the brain cells. Even a Divinity Transformation Stage expert cannot bear the recoil. I was already planning to look for a new body before the massive inculcation, and you brought Li Jialing's body to me in one piece!
"Just now, I was only talking to you so that I can assimilate Li Jialing's body faster. The body was perfectly modified to accommodate my soul in the first place, and thanks to the cleansing of the Transformation Cocoon, it is even more powerful and perfect!
"Hehe, hehehehe! Now that I'm capable of using Blackhole's Heart, your Colossi are nothing but garbage in my eyes!"
"Save your strength. We know each other too well. Let's not insult each other's wisdom with such lowly lies."
Li Yao said casually, "Soul possession is too dangerous. Besides, your soul was not complete in the first place, and it had been brutalized by us before your possession.
"I don't believe that you can 100% occupy Li Jialing's body in half a minute with your incomplete soul. If it's so convenient, you would've done it a long time ago!
"And I don't believe that Li Jialing, my brother, will be suppressed by you so easily. He came to the capital to save his mother even though he might die. He is more determined than anyone. He's our final weapon!
