Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 1430
Wei Yuanjia was choked for a moment. But he simply held his head high and looked back at his father. "Everything I've been doing is for the Red Nimbus Sector and the Wei family instead of my selfish interests. The reason I did not tell Father was for your own safety and to separate me from the family. Should what I did be exposed, I would've taken all the blame and punishment!
"No matter what, the Wei family is an honorable family of Immortal Cultivators. We are all supposed to be high and mighty, dominating Immortal Cultivators! We are born to rage in the sea of stars and accomplish something great, not to hold ourselves back and be dogs! Not to mention that we cannot even be dogs now even if we want to. They are about to butcher us and eat our flesh!
"Father, you are at the high level of the Nascent Soul Stage. Are you willing to live your entire life whining and die miserably like a hairless dog? Now that the four Kurfürst families are not giving us a chance to live, let's just go and fight with General Lei! The worst we can expect is just death. Having fought hundreds of battles against the Covenant Alliance for ten years, are we scared of death?"
Wei Guanghui, unexpectedly, did not scold his son for comparing him to a "hairless dog". He simply considered the situation with a gloomy face.
After a long consideration like a wooden statue, he seemed to have grown older by ten years. He asked hoarsely, "Are you certain that General Lei has returned to the Astounding Thunder Fleet?"
"It should be true."
Wei Yuanjia hesitated for a moment and said, "Tell you the truth, Father, the Red Nimbus Fleet is not the only one seething in impatience. All the local fleets in the Third Battle Area are rioting. Even the brother troops in the neighboring battle areas who used to fight with General Lei are ready to move. It is now or never!"
"I don't want probability; I want certainty!"
Wei Guanghui said gravely, "Investigate more. You must figure out if General Lei has returned to the Astounding Thunder Fleet and what helped him get out of the control of the four Kurfürst families exactly!"
"Understood!"
Realizing that his father was not as determined as before, Wei Yuanjia was overjoyed. "I am doing my best to establish the secret communication channel between the No. 233 resource planet and the command center of the Third Battle Area. The fellow Cultivators of the Business Alliance of the Ten Thousand Sectors have shipped a super device of communication, and it is now being set up. The latest news will soon be over."
"As for right now and the people on the name list…
"Well—"
Pondering for a moment, Wei Guanghui said, "Summon everybody on the list first, including Tianxiao, and show him the list. Tell them that they are in serious trouble.
"If General Lei Chenghu has not returned, don't blame me for being too cruel. We can only tie those people up and deliver them in exchange for a brief period of peace for us.
"But if General Lei has indeed returned, those people will be the best and most daring team. Hehe. I will let the little bas*ard of the special investigation committee know the consequences of pissing off an Immortal Cultivator in the Nascent Soul Stage…"
Chapter 2240: Terrifying Gold Colossus! |
Starting from that moment, the Red Nimbus Fleet began to take action busily. On the surface, it was peaceful and quiet, but undercurrents were in fact flowing everywhere. Countless invisible tusks were extended at the carrier sent by the special investigation committee, blocking all of the intruder's retreats.
As the latest communication device was set up, the center of the Third Battle Area and the fleets that were stationed in various space zones delivered the latest intelligence.
By cross-checking the information from the sources, the same theory had been proven—General Lei Chenghu was really back!
Not just that, the process of General Lei Chenghu's return was a hundred times more soul-stirring than the father and the son of the Wei family!
During the half month when Lei Chenghu was away from the Astounding Thunder Fleet, the situation in the Astounding Thunder Fleet worsened after each day. It was already in the peril to be dissected into pieces.
The four Kurfürst families were highly vigilant of the fleet that had made remarkable achievements and boasted a high combat ability. They were not so careless as to send just a carrier to bend the fleet like they did to the Red Nimbus Fleet.
The Council of Elders authorized the special investigation committee to summon part of the elite forces from the few best fleets deployed in the regions nearby and surround the Astounding Thunder Fleet.
In name, they were merely exchanging the defense area with the Astounding Thunder Fleet, but in fact, they were forcing the key persons of the Astounding Thunder Fleet to get out and receive the separate investigation of the special investigation committee.
The Astounding Thunder Fleet itself, on the other hand, would be dismembered into ten or so branch fleets and deployed to different worlds thousands of lightyears away from each other.
If the scheme did work out, the Astounding Thunder Fleet would fall apart and the key persons would be held in custody. There would be no hope for them at all.
The proud and battle-tested soldiers of the Astounding Thunder Fleet were naturally unwilling to wait to die.
In terms of combat ability, they were not necessarily worse than the elite forces of the four Kurfürst families that had been temporarily gathered, and they could've turned the Third Battle Area upside down.
But they were faced with three critical problems.
First of all, Lei Chenghu, their leader, had gone missing, and the whole fleet was in a panic.
Secondly, the Council of Elders, which was controlled by the four Kurfürst families, had a legitimate excuse that they were investigating the incident of the Blood Oath Alliance.
Going against the special investigation committee would mean going against the Council of Elders, which meant going against the Imperium and His Majesty. They would forever be "traitors".
Most of the soldiers could not make up their minds for that.
Thirdly, and most importantly, the logistics.
When the Covenant Alliance fell back, they burned everything to the ground. The entire newly-recovered area was made of seriously-wrecked ruins and polluted areas. They were not enough to meet the daily demand of the top fleets such as the Astounding Thunder Fleet. 80% of the supplies were dependent on the rear.
Aside from everything else, the crystals, the high-energy nutrition, and the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures that the Immortal Cultivators of the Astounding Thunder Fleet consumed every day were already an astronomical burden.
In order to keep the current level, they had to train themselves hard every day. A couple of days without training would make their senses sluggish and their spiritual root wither. They would slowly retrograde and fall to lower levels.
It was like even the strongest warrior must have food every day. Also, the stronger they were, the better appetite they would have. How could a brawny man weighing a hundred and fifty kilograms carry out all his strength without having half a roasted pig first?
If the rear cut off their supplies, in less than half a month, the Astounding Thunder Fleet would have been stranded in the vast space like a lake that lost all the water.
Therefore…
The many generals of the Astounding Thunder Fleet, after struggling in pain for a few days, could only bend to the Council of Elders like the Red Nimbus Fleet did, agreeing to all the terms of the special investigation committee helplessly.
It was exactly at such a perilous moment that General Lei Chenghu returned to the Third Battle Area.
It was said that he only brought three starships back with him, but he seemed to boast immeasurable charisma, and he revived the lifeless fleet with a powerful excitant immediately.
He regained control over the fleet immediately, imprisoned the people who gave in, and ordered the officers who were stubborn to the last moment to secretly dispatch the most mobile and stealthy warships to form a special team.
At this moment, the starships of the special investigation committee were unaware that he had secretly returned to the Astounding Thunder Fleet. They were still dispersed in various parts of the Third Battle Area, arresting the radicals and warning the commanders of the local fleets, exactly like what they did to the Red Nimbus Fleet.
Taking advantage of the precious opportunity that the enemy's troops were unfocused, Lei Chenghu led the special team to assault the area where the enemy's flagship was at and captured it without any trouble!
The fleet temporarily summoned by the special investigation committee was only bluffing under the banner of the Council of Elders and not prepared to fight a hard battle with the Astounding Thunder Fleet at all.
When Lei Chenghu came aggressively and showed his determination that he would die together with the enemy, those cowardly guys soon collapsed and surrendered to the Astounding Thunder Fleet instead.
As a result, not only did the four Kurfürst families' plan to dissect the Astounding Thunder Fleet step by step fail to work out, the Astounding Thunder Fleet was also able to capture a large batch of new warships with abundant crystals, fuel, magical equipment, and ammunition!
It was exactly what happened at the center of the Third Battle Area in the past two days.
Because the No. 233 resource planet was too remote, the astounding news did not come over until this moment.
The news was so appalling that the father and the son of the Wei family were too shocked to know what was happening for a long time.
But aside from their astonishment, they couldn't help but grow suspicious—was the news true at all?
General Lei Chenghu's victory seemed too smooth and unbelievable. Were there more to it?
After waiting in uneasiness for another three hours, the truth was finally out.
Quite a few battle videos captured from multiple perspectives with high-resolution cameras were sent over from the center of the Third Battle Area. All of them could prove that the flagship and the core warships of the investigators' fleet had been disarmed and captured by the Astounding Thunder Fleet!
"Father, please take a look at the video files that were just sent over. We have probably gained access to the crucial evidence earlier than the investigator does!"
In excitement, Wei Yuanjia activated the light beam with shivering hands. "It's true. General Lei has truly made it. Also—"
Wei Guanghui waved his hands to stop his chattering son. Narrowing his eyes, he observed the war in space taken from a hundred different perspectives.
Although it was a "war", the two parties in fact did not have any fierce engagement of fire. The investigators' fleet seemed to be taken aback by General Lei Chenghu's special team when it suddenly leaped out of the void, but they did not have the courage to attack Marquis Liaohai of the Imperium.
The lightning trident emblem of the Imperium of True Human Beings was carved on the starships of both parties. They were at loggerheads and had even released the crystal suit groups, but they still maintained the last bit of their rationality and did not attack each other. They simply confronted each other in cold, desperate silence.
The soundless confrontation in the vacuum of space seemed even more suffocating than the bombardments and barrages.
Wei Guanghui could totally imagine that the communication channels of the two parties were filled with desperate roars despite the ostensible silence, demanding each other to lay down the weapons and surrender or there would be dire consequences.
It was a competition of willpower. All that mattered was which of them collapsed earlier.
Right then, a gold brilliance that was even more dazzling than the supernova outbreak suddenly flashed on the flagship of the investigators' fleet!
"This is—"
Wei Guanghui shuddered hard and almost couldn't believe his eyes.
A glamorous, gold Colossus appeared on the picture. It must have reached the flagship of the investigators' fleet without alarming anyone while the two parties were confronting coldly before it was summoned at an amazing speed.
What a Colossus it was!
Even though the picture on the light beam had been reduced to one hundredth proportionally, the gold Colossus was still releasing the dominance as if it were the king of the universe.
The moment it showed up, the crazy spurting exhaust flames of the hundreds of starships were immediately eclipsed. Even the light of all the stars in the universe was swallowed, turning the Colossus into the only player on the battlefield!
Wei Guanghui had never seen such a delicate, glamorous, and perfect Colossus before. Compared with the gold Colossus, the two jumbled products in his own fleet were as annoying as garbage.
The gold Colossus was holding a narrow, long starship-slashing saber. The body of the saber seemed to be made of infinite gold feathers, while the handle was sixteen overlapping wings.
The gold Colossus' saber, drawing a flawless curve, ignored the spiritual shield and the seven layers of plate armor on the flagship of the fleet and pierced into a protrusion at the front part of the flagship more than easily.
Wei Guanghui knew the structure of such a model of warships, and he knew that it was the bridge behind the protrusion.
The gold Colossus that arrived out of nowhere pierced into the heart of the flagship in one attack. Perhaps everybody on the bridge was observing the edge of the saber in shock and cold sweat!
With the combat ability of the gold Colossus, as long as it boosted the slightest spiritual energy, the aura from the blade would have been enough to burn everybody on the bridge into ashes.
The competition that followed no longer had any suspense.
The investigators' fleet, threatened by the gold Colossus, collapsed immediately, and Lei Chenghu's special team secured a triumph with no bloodshed.
"This—"
Pointing at the gold Colossus, Wei Guanghui asked in disbelief, "What exactly is this Colossus? Who is using it?"
"According to the intelligence, the Colossus's name is 'Gold Vulture'. It is used by 'Vulture Li Yao'."
After watching the gold Colossus' unbelievable performance that deterred the entire investigators' fleet in one attack, Wei Yuanjia was apparently intimidated too. He said respectfully, "Vulture Li Yao is the greatest contributor to the war. It is said that even General Lei Chenghu was saved by him alone from dangers!"
Chapter 2241: Expert From the Palace! |
"Gold Vulture… Li Yao…"
Wei Guanghui pondered on the name for quite a while and could not come up with the guy's background at all. Frowning, he asked, "Who is this guy? Since when does the Imperium have such an unparalleled expert who could use such a super Colossus?"
"You may not know this, Father, but according to sources, Vulture Li Yao is from the capital."
Wei Yuanjia blinked his eyes. Although there were only the two of them, he still covered his mouth with his palm and said in a low voice, "Not only is he from the capital, but he is also someone who has escaped from the royal palace. He used to be around His Majesty."
"Around His Majesty?"
Wei Guanghui bulged his eyes. "He has escaped all the way from the capital? How did it happen?"
"According to the sources, this Vulture Li Yao comes from a very secret family of Immortal Cultivators which has been loyal to the emperor since the age of Blackstar the Great a thousand years ago."
Wei Yuanjia said, "The offspring of Vulture Li Yao's family are few. It seems that the weird techniques that they practice can only be passed on to one heir in each generation. So, it is perfect for them to be the emperors' personal bodyguards. They have been deeply trusted by the emperors.
"However, as you know, Father, the royal authority has been declining in the past five hundred years. The monarch of the Imperium of True Human Beings that should be supreme has been reduced into a 'figurehead'. The corrupted lords and officials, on the other hand, dominated politics. Therefore, Vulture Li Yao's family was not as distinguished as the old days and could only lay low in the royal palace. Nobody in the outside world knew their existence.
"This time, the four Kurfürst families pushed too far. Because His Majesty disagreed with them on the government of the newly recovered territory and was persistent in his opinion, they have heisted Emperor Shenwu from the royal palace and even plotted to kill Her Grace!
"This is too much for anyone to tolerate. Emperor Shenwu has decided to remove the scoundrels and to take back the power. Therefore, he asked Vulture Li Yao to escape from the capital with the jade chip that stored his decree, hoping to summon all the righteous men in the world to attack the insubordinate rogues!"
"Well…"
Fascinated, Wei Guanghui couldn't help but hesitate.
For the remote worlds that did not join the Imperium until five to six hundred years ago, they had complicated feelings for the emperor of the Imperium of True Human Beings.
On one hand, in the official propaganda of the Imperium, the emperor was naturally described as brilliant, smart, invincible, supreme, and almost a living god.
As time went by, the general public of the Imperium had unrealistic illusions about the emperor. They believed that the reality, however dark and cruel, was just a temporary suffering, and that the emperor would lead all the people of the Imperium out of the trouble to the dawn someday.
But on the other hand, for the rulers of a whole Sector such as the Wei family, they had a rather deep understanding of the politics in the capital and the awkward situation of the emperor as a "figurehead".
The emperor seemed high and mighty, but he was also exploited and oppressed by the noble families, just like the Immortal Cultivators from the remote worlds!
Such an understanding made them more or less sympathetic to the emperor.
