Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 1437
The Astounding Thunder Fleet was exactly their opposite.
It was a fleet of destruction that was a living example of the Immortal Cultivators' creed, "survival of the fittest".
Every starship of the fleet had been surrounded by at least ten starships of the Covenant Alliance once, before they broke the enemy's siege with broken bodies.
Every person on the starships knew clearly that they had nothing to count on except for their fists, teeth, and blades.
They did not break into the Building Foundation Stage, the Core Formation Stage or even the Nascent Soul Stage in the training bases of their families that had a whole set of facilities and a standing-by medical team, but on the rough battlefield where they ate the enemy's flesh, drank their blood, and perhaps with the enemy's saber stabbed in their chest.
Ninety-nine of every hundred Immortal Cultivators who used to join the fleet had died in the onerous, ruthless battlefield, but their haunting will and their ravenous desires had turned into dark blessings that went to the last survivor, allowing the last of them to crawl back from the door of hell to swallow the whole world again!
Such a Divine Rain Fleet watched such an Astounding Thunder Fleet show up aggressively in astonishment.
"Enemy incoming!"
"Enemy incoming!"
"Enemy incoming!"
Such meaningless talks were echoing on every starship of the Divine Rain Fleet. Mixed with the alarms of the surveillance magical equipment, they were even more disturbing.
The natural reaction of the flagship was to ask for reinforcements from other worlds and the capital. But all the external communication was under serious interferences, and all the distress calls were mired in the chaotic whirlpools. There was no telling if they were delivered to the outside world.
Lei Chenghu was too experienced to let the garrison of the Divine Rain Sector send out distress calls easily. The first batch of troops to jump to the place already included a lot of interferential starships.
Li Linghai had also compromised a lot of signal bases of the Divine Rain Sector earlier and asked Li Yao to forward the accurate coordinates of the bases to Lei Chenghu. So, the first wave of interferential attacks was highly effective. The communication between the Divine Rain Sector and the outside world was almost immediately cut off.
When the Divine Rain Fleet finally gathered into battle formation in a haste and charged at the Astounding Thunder Fleet, one-fourth of the Astounding Thunder Fleet had recovered from the surging space-time ripples, one-fourth were slowly passing the gap of the four-dimensional space, and the other half were still being teleported.
Even the dumbest commander knew that it was the best if not the only opportunity to annihilate the Astounding Thunder Fleet.
But at this moment, the dozens of streaks of brilliance that the manager of the No. 3 space gate saw earlier, after leaving exhaust flames almost a thousand kilometers long in the vast space, appeared before the Divine Rain Fleet like a small meteor shower!
Chapter 2251: Too Fancy an Entrance! |
As the dozens of streaks of brilliance approached, the objects hidden at their cores became clear too. They were metal cylinders more than a hundred meters long and around twenty meters in diameter. They were made of different sections, and the few sections in the rear were all power units and fuel cabins.
After they were shot out by the magnificence helical force on the rails of the starships, the fuel cabins were reacting crazily at an intensity close to an explosion, releasing brightness that was even more dazzling than the stars.
Every once in a while, part of the fuel cabin and the power units would break off and ignite new and more powerful explosion fuel, both expanding the size of the exhaust flame and accelerating the speed of the cylinders significantly.
In the end, all the fuel cabins and power units broke off, and the cylinders turned into the perfect shape that looked like a metal waterdrop. Their speed was pushed to higher than ever too, as they pierced into the defense circle of the Divine Rain Fleet brutally and exploded against the glittering barrage.
The enormous giants, which were as daunting as gods, were displayed on the surveillance light beam of every starship of the Divine Rain Fleet clearly.
The broken metal shell became the best decoy that attracted most of the bullets and cannonballs. Those giants, on the other hand, simply pressed forward under the boost of the powerful inertia, stabbing into the heart of the Divine Rain Fleet.
"Colossi!"
Desperate roars were echoing on every starship of the Divine Rain Fleet.
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
The Colossi of the rebellions just distinguished themselves on the frontline of the Imperium's counterattack. Naturally, the Divine Rain Fleet's database stored their detailed data. By scanning the appearance of the Colossi and analyzing the unique performance parameters such as the features of the exhaust flames, it would be easy to tell their models and identities.
Every astounding, intimidating name that slowly manifested on the light beam cast the commanders of the Divine Rain Fleet into a prolonged silence.
One of the two Colossi in the lead was named "Fiery Riven", driven by "Lei Wuya", a seasoned expert in the Divinity Transformation Stage in the Astounding Thunder Fleet.
Lei Wuya was a rarely-seen Divinity Transformation Stage expert that was purely battle-type. He had the terrifying feat of destroying twelve starships of the Covenant Alliance in a row in the frontline. In terms of combat ability, he was almost the top expert in the Astounding Thunder Fleet, and he might not necessarily be on the losing side even if he encountered the best experts of the four Kurfürst families!
Had he not been a sheer maniac in martial arts who did not know the first thing about commanding, planning, and resource allocation and who had neither the time nor the interest to learn the knowledge, even Lei Chenghu wouldn't have been able to dispatch the super expert easily.
The other Colossus, named "Nether Star", was used by an infamous lunatic "Shen Tumeng".
Shen Tumeng was perhaps the most typical example of the lowborn, low-level Immortal Cultivators from the peripherical worlds of the Imperium.
Without a noble background, it meant that there were no sufficient resources and an excellent environment for training. Despite the amazing gifts one might have, one could only fight on a battlefield as cannon fodder and struggle to grow up through the hellish battles.
Of ten thousand rookies, 9,999 had died the most miserable death, but Shen Tumeng was the survivor who managed to survive and thrive with the dark blessings of his compatriots, entering from the Refinement Stage to the Building Foundation Stage, from the Building Foundation Stage to the Core Formation Stage, and from the Core Formation Stage to the Nascent Soul Stage in the ocean of blood!
It was a shame that every person had their limitations. A guy in the Nascent Soul Stage was no different than an ant in the vast sea of stars. However crazily Shen Tumeng trained and fought, he could not prevent the fleet from his hometown from being annihilated, while the survivors were berated by the base of the expedition army for "defection".
When Shen Tumeng was almost sent to court for a trial, it was Lei Chenghu who found a way to save him.
Ever since then, the maniac who had lost his hometown and his compatriots pledged unquestionable loyalty to Lei Chenghu. He also proved that he was absolutely not a flinching coward and that he could crush any enemy as long as he had enough training resources, supplies, and reliable allies. Finally, he advanced into the Divinity Transformation Stage successfully after more than ten years of bloody battles!
Both Lei Wuya and Shen Tumeng were generals who had survived hundreds of life-blighting battles. Hardly had their Colossi appeared in the universe when the most aggressive killing intent was released from the gaps on the shell, which immediately covered the distance in between and raged on the bridges of the various starships of the Divine Rain Fleet.
However, Lei Wuya and Shen Tumeng did not lead the thirty or so Colossi to lunge at the Divine Rain Fleet's flagship. Instead, they marched at the flanks of the Divine Rain Fleet, each leading a team of Colossi, like a pair of scissors that was slowly opening.
"What's going on? Why is the highest combat ability of the rebellions not coming at the core of our army?"
While the commander of the Divine Rain Fleet was confused, the probe magical equipment screamed again.
It was not until then that everybody discovered that one of the metal waterdrops had not exploded yet under the cover of the surging exhaust flames when other Colossi of the rebellions went on a rampage.
This metal waterdrop was smeared with stealth materials that could absorb all waves and radiations. It seemed to have been melted with the dark universe while it flew forward based on the high inertia without releasing any waves or ripples, which was why it was not detected until this moment.
From the guardian starships, the arsenal warships, and the cruisers of the Divine Rain Fleet, hundreds of pillars of light immediately ripped apart the universe and darted at the rushing black waterdrop at the same time!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Enormous noises echoed inside all the starships while the main guns barraged. The deafening explosions brought an illusionary sense of security, and the overlapping, dazzling light balls seemed to have established a gold, glittering, impenetrable wall before the Divine Rain Fleet, which further reassured the commanders of the Divine Rain Fleet. They thought that they had finally bought themselves a few minutes to prepare for the battle.
However—
The dazzling light balls made of various cannonballs did not perish instantly as usual but seemed to have been given a new life. Wriggling, twisting, condensing, and changing, they slowly extended to the two sides, with a weird protrusion rising on the top.
Ten seconds later, the dazzling brilliant formed an overwhelming gold vulture that was at least a hundred kilometers long!
"This… This… This is—"
On the bridge of the Divine Rain Fleet's flagship, everybody gasped nonstop in shock. The gold vulture before them that was condensed by their own barrage was still flapping its wings slowly while staring at them in derision of all laws and rules!
"Tremendous energy reaction has been detected!"
"A Colossus! A new Colossus!"
"The energy reaction is even more intense than the 'Fiery Riven' and the 'Nether Star' just now. Also, there is absolutely no data about this Colossus at all in our database. How is it possible?"
In the exclamations of disbelief, the overwhelming gold vulture constricted and transformed again. But, however it was constricted, the gold brilliance that it emanated was still more than ten kilometers long. The streaks of brightness formed a cape that looked like wings, flying on the back of a gold Colossus majestically!
Before the commanders on the starships of the Divine Rain Fleet stopped gasping, the bright cape behind the gold Colossus more than ten kilometers had other mysterious changes. All the light zigzagged into complicated runes, and the runes were then focused into three lines of splendid, shining words that the entire space zone could see easily.
On the left side of the Colossus, it was "Gold Vulture", and on the right side, "Vulture Li Yao". On the top, however, was a calligraphic and unquestionable declaration: "Surrender now!"
Every word was more than one kilometer in diameter. Although it was not very eye-catching in the vast space, they were duly displayed on every light beam under the scanning of all the probe magical equipment while they flew like flags.
"…"
All the commanders of the Divine Rain Fleet who saw the three lines were rendered speechless.
"Gold Vulture, Vulture Li Yao… What-what the heck is this?"
The highest commander on the flagship found it hard to believe. "Painting his own name with spiritual energy before the battle? What's wrong with this guy? Is he trying to disturb us with such a lousy strategy?
"Where are our Colossi? Deploy them now and blow up this guy! We must not allow the enemy to disrupt our battle formation!"
In the competition between warships and Colossi, the only advantage of the warships was the incessant and destructive remote firepower.
In order to fully carry out the advantage of the remote firepower, the distance of the two parties must be maximized. In other words, the enemy's Colossi must not approach one's own warships. Otherwise, not only would there be blind angles in shooting, but the allies would tend to be accidentally hurt in the damage.
It was needless to say that once the Colossi broke the armor and the shell and entered the warships, it would be an even more destructive blow.
The only solution that could prevent the attacks of the enemy's Colossi effectively, other than the stalling of the fearless crystal suits and armed shuttles, would be one's own Colossi.
As an elite force of the Li family defending a central world, the Divine Rain Fleet naturally boasted tremendous Colossi too. Even though most of the Colossi had reinforced the capital, there were still a dozen Colossi left.
Immediately, the war machines that looked like iron gods leaped out of the starships, accompanied by the crystal suit groups that were as dense as bees and ants. The exhaust flames darted out by the power units enshrouded them into colorful clouds, which split into three groups and lunged at Li Yao, Lei Wuya, and Shen Tumeng respectively.
Behind them, the Divine Rain Fleet tried its best to transform into an arc-shaped battle formation that was most suitable for collective bombardment, before it aimed at Li Yao and the other incoming Colossi like a shining pan. The glittering barrage was immediately ten times denser than before, and a thunderstorm seemed to be pouring in the universe!
Inside the spiritual residence of the Gold Vulture, Li Yao was entirely enshrouded by Little Black as if he had sunk into a black swamp. His body of flesh and blood seemed to have been completely melted with the Colossus.
Faced with three hostile Colossi, thousands of crystal suits, and the overwhelming barrage that were coming at him, Li Yao put on a vague smile.
"For a Cultivator, is there anything more satisfying than using the resources of a bunch of Immortal Cultivators to take down another bunch of Immortal Cultivators, with the cheers of the Immortal Cultivators who are unaware of the truth?"
Chapter 2252: Set Up the Brand of Vulture! |
Li Yao was not sitting cross-legged but majestically with his legs open in a weird posture, as if the most magnificent throne made of the light of all the stars in the universe was below his bottom!
The Imperial Fire Pearl that Li Linghai offered him was glittering above his head. Thick gold brilliance flowed out of the Imperial Fire Pearl and poured on his head and his body like a waterfall, only to be absorbed by all the pores around his body.
It could be clearly seen that every vein and every nerve on his body was rising high. The energy in the shape of the sphere was running at his heart, his abdomen, and his brain nonstop. His veins and his nerves had lost their original colors and all turned to gold. Even his body of flesh and blood became translucent, like a hybrid of gold and glass.
The infinite dominance and fighting will of the "Supreme Emperor", the strongest expert of mankind ten thousand years ago, ran into Li Yao's internal organs, limbs, and soul incessantly, cleansing and polishing him again and again to the point that he was almost reborn!
It was perhaps not the scene that Li Linghai wanted to see.
It would not be so easy for a regular trainer to swallow the enormous energy and will that were hidden deep inside the Imperial Fire Pearl either.
However, Li Yao was an heir of the ancient Cultivators who had inherited abundant memory pieces of Ou Yezi, a grandmaster of refining forty thousand years ago!
Although there was not a piece of magical equipment as queer as "Imperial Fire Pearl" in Ou Yezi's memory pieces, there were a lot of treasures that contained the spirits of the experts and shared similar characteristics and purposes.
Most of the experts of the ancient Cultivators hoped to pass on their strength and will by storing them in a certain artifact.
Some of the malicious guys perhaps even wanted to use the heritage as a bait for them to possess somebody else and be reborn.
The Hundred Smelting Clan, as the best refining sect in the world, naturally had a lot of secret techniques that could remove the impurities and traps in the treasures and activate the most strength in them!
Li Yao did not know the first thing about commanding. Therefore, he simply focused his attention on polishing the Imperial Fire Pearl in the last couple of days. Thankfully, he asked for a lot of rare materials from Li Linghai brazenly and found a few prescriptions of polishing fluids. After trying them one by one, he indeed made significant breakthroughs and found the safest and fastest way to activate the Imperial Fire Pearl stably and swallow the strength within.
In the next moment, he would completely purge and absorb the strength in the fiercest battlefield with the fighting will that could burn up the entire universe!
"Hu—"
The strength flowing out of the Imperial Fire Pearl truly formed a majestic gold throne behind Li Yao, which then turned into a gold armor that enshrouded Li Yao tightly like petals.
Two gold rings had even appeared outside of Li Yao's pupils on the right eye that was as dark as ink and the left eye that was in the weird blood-red color.
Li Yao's soul shook violently, and he was seeing all kinds of illusions. It was not one battlefield in front of him anymore, but three battlefields from different time and space.
The first one was naturally the fierce battle between the Astounding Thunder Fleet and the Divine Rain Fleet.
The second battlefield was the bloody war between the army of the Star Ocean Imperium commanded by the Supreme Emperor and the coalition army of devils and demons commanded by the Mad Armageddon. Even the stars were shuddering in fear in the war, and the universe might have been broken at any moment.
