Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 1322
Twins usually had a weird telepathic connection between them, like a certain state of entanglement.
Li Yao and the mental devil were two halves of the same soul that had split apart. They were also entangled with each other in a very mysterious way. However far away they were from each other, there was an amazing connection between the two of them.
Li Yao's telepathic thoughts continued spreading out. He seemed to have heard a calling from somewhere he did not know, which led him to run inside the maze-like pathways on Manjusaka. Eventually, the entanglement of the two parties became clearer and clearer.
Li Yao finally saw the obscure picture taken by Neltharion again and heard the mental devil's voice.
"This is rather splendid," the mental devil mumbled.
The picture before their eyes indeed could not have been creepier or more splendid.
Neltharion seemed to be above a hollow, cylindrical plaza. Below it were holes that were as dense as those on a beehive. Every hole was embedded with a hibernation cabin. The number of the holes that they had seen alone had surpassed ten thousand!
Inside most of the hibernation cabins, a statue that was struggling in pain had been frozen.
Some of them stuck their faces against the translucent observation hole tightly. Their miseries and desperation were deeply etched into Li Yao's heart through the ice and tempered glass.
Some other hibernation cabins were flashing with ominous red lights while they were surrounded and operated on by countless spiritual puppets. There were also hundreds of Immortal Cultivators who were fully armed and floating in the sky as supervisors.
The nutrition liquids inside the hibernation cabins were bubbling as if they had been boiled. The prisoners who gradually woke up from their hibernation were struggling, screaming, and moaning like goblins that had been thrown into a tank of seething oil, trying to break free from the cold nightmare.
But their spine and their limbs were all bound to shackles tightly. The shackles, which were as sharp as nails, even pierced into their spine deeply, turning all their resistance into the most hilarious dance.
After every Immortal Cultivator criminal was completely woken up, their hibernation cabin would be opened, and their shackles would be connected to several spiritual puppets before they were shipped to the darkness further down on the floating discs under the close surveillance of the other Immortal Cultivators.
They were probably going to be experimented on or have surgical procedures to remove the memory section inside their brain and implant crystal chips or similar things before they were thrown into the Land of Sins.
"No matter how many evil things the Immortal Cultivators have done, they should at least be complimented for one thing, which is that they are absolutely fair," the mental devil remarked in amazement. "They are as cruel to the ordinary people and the Cultivators as they are to their own kind. Are you not impressed?"
"Follow the few guys who were just unfrozen. Let's see what's down there!"
Li Yao's heart was slightly thumping. He focused his attention to maneuver Neltharion to crawl out of the grill of the hibernation cabin, pass the Immortal Cultivator guards in midair, and sink to the bottom of the beehive prison.
In the past, even when he was at the peak of the Nascent Soul Stage, he would not have been bold enough to break into the facility so blatantly. Despite the stealth functions of Neltharion, there might still be loopholes when it was faced with the full scanning of an expert.
But after advancing into the Divinity Transformation Stage, and especially after his soul and his body were perfectly melted, his expertise in hiding and concealing his tracks had drastically improved. The Immortal Cultivator guards were in the Core Formation Stage at best. Naturally, it was impossible for them to discover Neltharion that was remotely controlled by him!
He followed one of the floating discs from above neither too far away nor too close and descended at the same pace as the floating disc. At first, there was nothing but hibernation cabins and frozen prisoners around him. But after hundreds of meters, some regular prison cells began to show up, in which many intimidating, despondent prisoners with bloodthirsty eyes were locked. There were even a few fairly large common areas where dozens of prisoners were caged together.
Chapter 2065: Terrible Prisoners! |
"Those people are quite strong!"
Under the perception of Li Yao's soul, all the prisoners turned into clusters of colorful flames and vitality fields.
From the ignition and bouncing of the flames, Li Yao had a basic evaluation of their capability.
Those prisoners were all highly dangerous with Cultivation at the peak of the Building Foundation Stage and even the Core Formation Stage on average. Many of them even had a burning existence that was particularly condensed like a small sun revolving slowly at the center of their vitality fields. It was their second brain and the legendary 'gold core'!
"Even the experts with gold cores are kept as prisoners and test subjects here. The owner of Manjusaka is truly extravagant!"
Li Yao focused on observation. He discovered that the prisoners were much more than simply in the Building Foundation Stage or the Core Formation Stage. The bodies of most of them had been modified in bizarre ways. Some had bone spurs all over their bodies, some had metal-like scales covering their brawny arms, and some had composite armor directly melted into their chests, which turned them into half-human and half-machine monsters. There was no telling how the Immortal Cultivators fixed the problem of the conflicts between the metal and the fleshly body, but their integration seemed to be even more perfect than 'Iron Commander' Zhou Hengdao of the old federation.
Li Yao vaguely smelled a familiar feeling from the prisoners.
Yes. The mutations and modifications that happened to the prisoners were almost the same as the bandits in the Land of Sins that he saw in the Fist King's army, except that it was less flawed and more natural, as if it were their upgraded version. It felt like…
"It feels like Manjusaka runs experiments on the tough bandits in the Land of Sins with all kinds of crazy technology and techniques first, and after enough data is recorded, it is applied to the test subjects of a higher level in order to produce the 'ultimate subjects' that are much more advanced," said the mental devil casually.
"Exactly!" Li Yao felt cold. That should be the truth. It was a complete 'pipeline of new techniques and modification technology'. From the bottom to the top, from the sinners in the Land of Sins to the Immortal Cultivator criminals, everybody was a test subject!
Li Yao focused and carefully observed. Although the prisoners were very strong and received the most cutting-edge modifications, they did not feel like experts at all. They were all lethargic, with the looks of frustration and desperation on their faces. Some of them were bulging their eyes and glaring at the guards outside of the prison cells with hysterical fury and hatred.
Their hands, legs, and necks were locked by heavy shackles. Every shackle was carved with dense rune arrays and functioning crazily, with flashing crystal embedded in them.
Li Yao narrowed his eyes. He immediately 'saw' the thick electric arcs and magnetic fields among the shackles and between the shackles and the walls around them.
The slightly weird posture when the prisoners moved about made Li Yao immediately realize what was going on.
"The entire beehive prison must've been installed with a certain super magnetic field control system, which generates a powerful magnetic field on the shackles and the walls. So, the prisoners can only struggle to move despite their unbelievable physical strength, as if they are carrying rocks that weigh ten thousand tons.
"The intensity of the magnetic field can certainly be adjusted. Once it is raised to the maximum, all their shackles will likely be pulled to the ground or the walls, or a couple of prisoners may be attracted to each other. In that case, they would not be able to move anywhere but be at anybody's mercy!"
"It seems that the Immortal Cultivators are quite wary of the prisoners and have to suppress them through the most rigorous approaches." The mental devil grimaced. "Hey. Do you think the prisoners enjoy their days in Manjusaka?"
Li Yao frowned. "Is that even a question?"
The mental devil continued. "Therefore, although they are all Immortal Cultivators, they must bear the deepest grudge against the owner of Manjusaka, and they will not hesitate to skin and mince the owner of this place when they have an opportunity to, will they?"
Li Yao immediately realized where the conversation was going. "Exactly. The Immortal Cultivators are all rancorous, brutal, and violent. Once the highly-dangerous criminals are unchained and given freedom again, and the Immortal Cultivators in the hibernation cabins up above are all unfrozen… it would be a miracle if they do not turn the whole of Manjusaka upside down!
"But what exactly do we need to do in order to free all those people?"
"It's simple," the mental devil said. "With the bodies of the dangerous criminals that have been strengthened and modified and their combat ability in the Core Formation Stage, it is practically impossible to trap them with a prison cell. The main control method should still be the ubiquitous super magnetic field system.
"The super magnetic field system certainly has a control center. It requires an enormous supply of energy, too.
"If we can sneak into the control center, hack and seize the mainframe crystal processor of the place, and take control of the entire super magnetic field system, wouldn't we be able to do whatever we want?"
Li Yao blinked quickly. "Is it possible?"
"As long as we can locate the control center and the mainframe crystal processor, it will be more or less possible," the mental devil said. "Don't forget that we have swallowed most of the pieces of tenebrum energy of the extraterrestrial devil, and we received the complete legacy of Professor Mo Xuan. We have entered the Divinity Transformation Stage, too!
"It may be too hard for us to 'create' in cyberspace, but 'destruction' is always ten thousand times simpler than 'creation'. Is it really a problem to plant a few viruses and completely sabotage the entire system?
"Then again, even if we cannot achieve that, we can always resort to the most simple and straightforward way, which is to directly blow up the power center that provides energy for the super magnetic field control system. Let's see what they can use to generate the magnetic barriers without energy!"
"Now that you put it that way…" Li Yao mumbled. "I almost can't wait to watch the entire beehive prison going out of control, and all the exasperated, ferocious criminals flooding out and lunging at the depths of Manjusaka."
Neltharion continued downward. The prison cells gradually turned into an enormous circular space that was hidden in darkness. A lot of human-shaped objects were vaguely standing in the black fog. They were all naked but entangled by tubes and syringes.
"They are humans who are in the deep sleep state." Li Yao was confused. "Their aura is very intimidating, but their brain activity is extremely weak, as if it has been suppressed by some sort of barrier. Who are they exactly?"
"They may be the army of the owner of the place," the mental devil said coldly. "The man maintains such an enormous laboratory and runs so many experiments at such a great cost. It is only reasonable that he has some results, isn't it?
"After the most advanced and cutting-edge achievements are secured, isn't it perfectly normal for him to apply them to his own armed forces?"
Staring at the shadows in the black fog that were covered in tubes and wires, Li Yao felt that coldness was spreading out of his soul.
"Ho! Hooooo!"
Right then, feeble roars echoed from the bottom level of the beehive prison, which attracted the attention of Li Yao and the mental devil.
It was an extremely spacious prison cell or test field, where two ferocious creatures were engaged in a battle of life and death.
One of the creatures looked like the combination of spiders, scorpions, and crocodiles, but enlarged to almost five meters long. It was covered in sharp bone spurs and scales, as if a forest of blades had grown out of its flesh and blood.
The other creature was a freak that looked like a monster.
The creature could have been a human being, or an abnormally mutated gorilla. He was covered in green hair that was like iron needles, and the big eyes that bulged out were on the two sides of the head, with flames of spiritual energy that were more chaotic than a tsunami burning inside.
Although the enemy was twice its size, his air had completely dwarfed the enemy's.
When Li Yao saw the battle, the freak that looked like a great-haired gorilla was sitting on the crocodile creature despite the sharp scales and bone spurs on the enemy body. Then, he opened the enemy's mouth by brute force and rippled its head in half!
Crack!
In an explosion, blood burst out everywhere. But the green-haired gorilla was still not satisfied. He stabbed his fingers, which were sharper than chainswords, into the back of the crocodile creature and groped for a moment before yanking the heart out!
The crocodile creature boasted great vitality and was still struggling before its death. However, the green-haired gorilla already put on a smile of satisfaction and began to devour the bleeding, damp heart of the enemy.
Outside of the test room, a dozen Immortal Cultivators in sealed gowns were pointing and recording the data.
"This guy is rather tough!"vEven Li Yao was somewhat shocked to see it. "Almost zero drops of spiritual energy leaked out of his body. All of it was used to nurture the cells so that the body would release the optimum combat ability. This is the core principle of the 'body fundamentalists' in their training and fighting. This green-haired gorilla should be a 'body fundamentalist' that has trained or been modified to the highest level!"
Right then, the researchers seemed to have received a command. After whispering to each other for a while, they began to operate on the crystal processors quickly.
Dozens of red spots suddenly appeared on the green-haired gorilla. Then dozens of streams of scarlet liquids were injected into his body like water arrows.
At first, Li Yao thought that the Immortal Cultivators were going to destroy the test subject, but the green-haired gorilla simply staggered and collapsed onto the ground as if drunk after jumping up and down for a while.
It was not until then that Li Yao finally realized that what was injected into his body just now must have been anesthetics of a high intensity and dose.
After making sure that he had been heavily sedated, a few vigilant Immortal Cultivators in crystal suits tied him up, carried him into an enormous metal bag, and delivered it to a floating disc, which then slowly descended.
It was by far the strongest test subject that Li Yao had seen.
Since he had the highest combat ability, he must be related to the most advanced strengthening and modification technology, the most important labs, and the most influential big shots in Manjusaka.
Li Yao's interest was aroused. "Let's follow them and see where they are shipping him to."
Chapter 2066: Who's the Acquaintance? |
Like a haunting ghost, Neltharion stayed on top of the green-haired gorilla and the eight Immortal Cultivator guards and followed their floating disc into the immeasurable darkness.
On their way, they transferred between floating discs twice and changed guard shifts twice. The six guards who showed up at the end were all in the Core Formation Stage.
The trainers in the Core Formation Stage were more than enough to work as a mayor of a city, a dean in a college, or a major in the army in the Star Glory Federation.
Even though the Imperium of True Human Beings was a hundred times stronger than the Star Glory Federation in terms of the comprehensive national power, the experts in the Core Formation Stage and the Nascent Soul Stage were still rare.
Now that six Immortal Cultivators in the Core Formation Stage had been deployed to escort the green-haired gorilla, the place that they were going to must be very important.
But when it came to the green-haired gorilla itself, even though he was a 'body fundamentalist' above average, he did not seem to boast that much value or require so many security measures.
So…
While Li Yao was pondering, more than ten round metal balls flew out of the darkness nearby and shot out dark red rays, scanning the floating disc from every perspective.
"It seems to be some sort of 'anti-stealth magical equipment'." The mental devil grimaced. "It is just a petty trick to us right now."
Li Yao and the mental devil both boosted their computational ability to the highest, like a 'dual cores' system in super crystal processors. They analyzed the wavelength and frequency of the incoming rays and adjusted the invisible flames of spiritual energy from Neltharion to the same frequency.
It was like a drop of water melting into an ocean. The enemy's detecting rays passed Neltharion again and again but noticed nothing wrong.
The six guards in the Core Formation Stage and the green-haired gorilla who had fallen asleep were thoroughly scrutinized to make sure of their identities and that they were not carrying any forbidden objects with them.
Then, the dozen metal balls began to revolve at a high speed and emit ultrasound that human ears could not hear, posing severe interference.
"Those guys are indeed meticulous. They still have such powerful interferential soundwaves!" The mental devil was as relaxed as before. "If our Cultivation were lower by a level and we had maneuvered Neltharion in the Nascent Soul Stage, it would've been impossible to resist such intense interference. The crystal chips would've certainly exploded and revealed where we were."
As for the reality, a Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivator would not be discovered so easily.
It was not because Manjusaka did not have enough security checks.
