Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 1480
The sounds of metals being torn apart, bones being minced, and flesh exploding immediately came from the fog.
Then, a cluster of plasma mixed with metals, broken bones, and blood was spat out from the darkness.
Li Linghai laughed aloud. "Another traitor whose family will be wiped out! Whoever wants to surrender, help me remember the names of those who have died. Remind me later that their entire families are to be executed!"
The devastating picture and the creepy laughter made all the experts in the Nascent Soul Stage palpitate although they were all seasoned warriors. Losing the courage to march forward, they wasted no time hiding behind the Colossi of the four experts in the Divinity Transformation Stage.
"Don't believe her! She has already been exhausted and cannot persist for long!"
"Silver Fox" Li Jiande roared, infuriated by their uselessness, "Go now! Attack together! She will certainly be suppressed!"
"Haha. Hahahaha!"
Li Linghai laughed with utmost disdain. The black fog was suddenly rolling ten times faster and dispersing, revealing Li Linghai in a Colossus before everyone again!
Everybody including the four experts in the Divinity Transformation Stage gasped hard.
What a weird and terrifying Colossus it was!
At first look, it did not have a regular torso that looked like a human being's at all. Instead, it resembled an enormous iron ball fifty meters in diameter.
Around the iron ball, six gigantic but twisted faces had been engraved. Some were solemn, some angry, and some mysterious. Six faces and six enormous swirls overlapped and covered the surface of the iron ball.
A hundred metal tentacles were also waving crazily around the iron ball. Each of the tentacles could be stretched to hundreds of meters away freely. It was exactly one of such tentacles that swallowed an Immortal Cultivator in the Nascent Soul Stage a moment ago.
The main color of the "Colossus" was the depressing dark, but the shining purple flames around it enshrouded it in the most intimidating aura. The moment it showed up, the overwhelming air spread out to the entire dark space again!
"Come on."
Li Linghai said casually, "Whoever wants to be the first victim of 'Hellstar' after a thousand years, just come!"
Chapter 2320: Divide and Conquer! |
Together with Li Linghai's declaration, the black fog around was immediately a hundred times denser than before. It was truly like clusters of dark ink that were drowning all the crystal suits and Colossi.
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
The navigation systems of all the crystal suits and Colossi were shrieking. The data was jumping, and the indicators were spinning crazily. They felt that they were in the middle of the vacuum in space, unable to tell the direction at all.
The black fog had even blocked their communication channels with each other. There was nothing but the background noise in the communication channels, and they were unable to hear a single word from their partners.
Li Linghai had activated the magnetic interferential arrays in the underground palace and imposed the most intense interferences on all the crystal suits and Colossi, disrupting the navigation systems as well as the localization ability in the human brain. She had even constructed illusions inside everyone's head with mental attacks. In the meantime, by turning on multiple world fragments in a row, she had dragged everybody into the mysterious, twisted space!
Here, nobody could find the traces of their companions. They seemed to be faced with the boundless darkness as well as the unbelievably tough Colossus "Hellstar" entirely on their own!
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Including the three experts at the peak of the Divinity Transformation Stage, everybody felt that their blood was freezing. They all boosted the speed of their crystal suits and Colossi to the highest. They intended to escape from the underground palace and free themselves from the overwhelming darkness.
However, when the interferential arrays that Blackstar the Great had carefully worked on a thousand years ago were fully functioning, the navigation abilities of both the crystal processors and the human brains were greatly undermined.
They thought that they were rushing skyward in a straight line, but they were actually dancing an 8-shaped dance nonstop as if they were drunk, returning to the same location every once in a while. They were only getting further and further away from their companions.
Li Linghai's laughter was still coming over from every corner of the darkness and squeezing into their Colossi, crystal suits, and their mustard-seed combat suits. It was crawling into their ears like bugs and eating their brains!
"Acyclic Earth" Yun Kuohai couldn't have looked more awful. Trying to drive away the panic in his heart by angry roars, he accelerated again and again, not knowing that he was further and further away from his companions at all, until "Hellstar" slowly surfaced in the darkness and shot a hundred tentacles at him!
BOOM!
"Earth Shocker", Yun Kuohai's Colossus, unleashed a dazzling spiritual shield, burning up the hundred tentacles.
Li Linghai, however, felt none of it. The burning tentacles were still clinging to the thick arms of the "Earth Shocker", shortening the distance between the two Colossi.
The giant face on "Hellstar" that was aimed at the "Earth Shocker" grinned hideously while the eyes glittered. Two of its most powerful and lethal attacks were apparently being prepared.
Crack!
Sensing the high-energy reactions from "Hellstar", Yun Kuohai roared desperately. Having no time to care about the fatigue of the elbow joints of his Colossus, he broke a few tentacles with brute force and managed to tilt his head to one side.
Hardly had he tilted the head of his Colossus when two crimson rays darted out of the enormous face of "Hellstar" and brushed past the shoulder of the "Earth Shocker", leaving a ravine on the shoulder of the Colossus that was deep to the bones. All the plate around had been melted.
Had he not dodged in time, the attack would've seriously damaged the detection and information processing units on the head!
At the moment of life and death, Yun Kuohai finally fully carried out the peak of the Divinity Transformation Stage as a battle-type expert. Without caring about the damage on the shoulders and the arms of his Colossus, he blinked to the back of "Hellstar" with an agility that was utterly disproportionate to his gigantic body size. On his shoulders, his chest, his abdomen, and his arms, all the weapons were activated, shooting hundreds of furious torrents at "Hellstar"!
However, "Hellstar" was not a Colossus in the shape of a human or a deadly beast, but a round iron ball. Naturally, there was no difference between its front and rear.
The black fog around that was as intense as venom significantly diminished the power of his attacks too.
His hundreds of attacks were all blocked by the spiritual shield of "Hellstar". Although "Hellstar" was blown backward nonstop by his bombardment, he never succeeded in breaking Li Linghai's last defense.
Li Linghai did not bother to dodge his attacks at all. Instead, dozens of lethal mystic rays darted out of the enormous face that was in his direction, and a hundred tentacles that were still on fire whacked at him. She was defending herself by attacking aggressively, as if she were determined to die together with the enemy!
Under the crazy barrages, both the Colossi had been enshrouded in the colorful, ever-expanding fireballs. The spiritual shields of both parties were being consumed quickly, and the magical equipment units were all seriously worn out. Their mainframe crystal processors were both screaming.
Accompanied by the earsplitting sounds of metal fatigue, the arms of the "Earth Shocker" that were as thick as the main guns of a starship finally had astounding cracks.
The tentacles of "Hellstar" fell apart one after another too. However, the broken tentacles all seemed to boast independent fighting abilities. Turning into metal vipers, they slithered around the "Earth Shocker" continuously.
In a one-versus-one battle, Li Linghai in "Hellstar" was stronger than Yun Kuohai in the "Earth Shocker" in terms of absolute capability.
But of course, the gap between the two parties was not so huge that Yun Kuohai was destined to fail.
Such a head-on, close-up battle meant the consumption of energy and soul power that was devoid of any trick. All that mattered was their determination to fight.
If Yun Kuohai was really determined to sacrifice himself in the battle against Li Linghai, Li Linghai would certainly have to pay a gory price when he was entirely obliterated in the end, and the performance parameters of "Hellstar" would be lowered by at least a half.
In that case, "Devilish Abyss" Li Jianyi and "Star Breaker" Song Huanzhen would be able to take the advantage and easily suppress Li Linghai whose soul had been exhausted and whose Colossus was seriously damaged.
But… Why would he do that?
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
The left arm of the "Earth Shocker" finally could not withstand the intense collisions anymore and entirely exploded.
The heavy damage exceeded what Yun Kuohai could tolerate. He bellowed and blew out the last barrage in a seemingly magnificent way before he poured all his spiritual energy on the power rune arrays, turned around, and escaped.
Li Linghai chuckled and stopped bombarding him remotely. She simply tailed Yun Kuohai neither too far away nor too close, like a haunting ghost.
Yun Kuohai's "Earth Shocker" was not a speed-type Colossus that highlighted mobility in the first place. In the environment that was filled with black fog and chaotic magnetic fields, it was naturally impossible for him to get rid of Li Linghai's pursuit. When the locking waves hit the shell of the "Earth Shocker" again and again, he was more and more disturbed.
He accelerated and turned multiple times but could not lose "Hellstar" behind him at all. In shock and fury, he threw a telepathic thought backward. "Why are you only chasing me?"
"Because you are the dumbest!"
Li Linghai sneered, "Other people have guessed who I am and are all hiding in the deepest parts of the world fragments, waiting to take the advantage when the situation is clearer. Only you are the most 'fearless' one who was bold enough to challenge my authority. How can I intimidate all of them without cutting you into pieces?"
I didn't!
Yun Kuohai couldn't feel more wronged. He was neither "fearless" nor "bold enough to challenge her authority"; it was she who had been chasing him the whole time!
However, the implication between Li Linghai's lines made Yun Kuohai even more shocked and suspicious. He couldn't help but ask, "Are… are you really?"
"How dare you!"
Li Linghai suddenly roared, "Now that you have recognized who I am, why are you still not kneeling before me? Are you really determined to be a rebellion and have your entire family wiped out?"
Yun Kuohai grunted and accelerated again, but he could not beat "Hellstar" in speed at all. He could almost vaguely hear the metal tentacles of "Hellstar" scratching the back of his Colossus!
"Yun Kuohai, other people were scared off once they realized that I had arrived in person. None of them had the courage to fight me, but you were audacious enough to challenge me?
"Yun Kuohai, you are only a third-ranked elder in the Yun family because you are not good at operation and leadership despite the magnificent strength. Your offspring are all simple warriors with more brawns than brains too. Your branch is entirely supported by your invincible strength! If I kill you without a care about the cost, the enterprise that you have built for hundreds of years through hard work will be entirely gone tomorrow, with all your offspring killed!
"Yun Kuohai, do you really think that today's battle is your sudden ambush on me and that I did not have any spy among you? Do you really think that General Dongfang Sheng betrayed me? Haha. Hahahaha. The entire plan and all the arrangements were all meant to attract you to the battlefield that was most suitable for me to carry out all my strength so that you would all be fished up!
"Yun Kuohai, 'Devilish Abyss' Li Jianyi and 'Star Breaker' Song Huanzhen are already wavering. Together with Dongfang Sheng, the three survivors that I will keep alive are enough. Make a decision fast, or you will have to embrace the broken souls of your wife and your children and cry with them in hell!
"Yun Kuohai, do you not crave more strength? Do you not want to unlock the energy form that is more advanced than spiritual energy? Do you not want to break into the Divinity Branching Stage or even higher levels in your life?
"Yun Kuohai! Yun Kuohai! Yun Kuohai!"
Thousands of thoughts, like thousands of invisible vipers, found their way into Yun Kuohai's brain through the gaps on the Colossus.
Yun Kuohai was immediately disturbed; his mind reduced to a mess. Even his Colossus was shaking violently.
For some reason, the black fog before him suddenly dispersed, revealing a brand-new Colossus.
It was a medium-sized Colossus in a bronze camouflage and an ancient style. The greatest feature of the Colossus was the breastplate that was in the stripes of a tiger, as well as the rising shoulders that were like two enormous tusks.
Yun Kuohai recognized after the first glance that it was "Smilodon", Dongfang Sheng's Colossus!
"General Dongfang—"
Li Linghai grinned hideously. "Do it now!"
Chapter 2321: The Most Correct Survival Policy |
To be honest, Yun Kuohai was an Immortal Cultivator at the peak of the Divinity Transformation Stage with extraordinary computational ability. However Li Linghai disturbed his mind, he was not entirely convinced by Li Linghai that Dongfang Sheng's betrayal was pretended.
However, Li Linghai's words were mixed with the dark spiritual energy that had been condensed for a thousand years. When his brain was invaded, he was not entirely free from its influence either.
Seeing that Dongfang Sheng suddenly charged out with his "Smilodon", Yun Kuohai was suddenly alarmed. His natural intuition was to condense all his spiritual energy and activate all his attack magical equipment, covering all the critical parts of his body.
Being chased by "Hellstar", he had already accelerated to the highest speed. The "Earth Shocker" was an enormous, super-heavy Colossus, and it was difficult for the Colossus to change direction. Naturally, it was not easy for him to dodge Dongfang Sheng.
Besides, Yun Kuohai did not intend to alter his direction either. Altering the direction at such high speed would only further rip apart the Colossus that was already on the brink of destruction, which would give Dongfang Sheng a perfect opportunity to attack. Chances were that "Hellstar" would catch up to him too.
Yun Kuohai was 90% sure that Dongfang Sheng was on his side, but… what if the odds beat him?
Despite Li Linghai's bulls*it, she was quite right about one thing. The position of Yun Kuohai's branch in the Yun family was entirely supported by his unparalleled strength. He could not die. If he died, his branch would soon decline, and his unworthy offspring could not defend the enterprise that he had created at all. They would even kill each other in internal strife. It would be no different from his entire family being wiped out!
Therefore, although hundreds of contingency plans popped up in his head, Yun Kuohai finally gritted his teeth and chose the plan that guaranteed the highest odds of survival for himself.
The plan was to continue to rush unstoppably at Dongfang Sheng who was on his way without changing his speed!
If Dongfang Sheng is on our side, he will certainly jump away voluntarily!
Yun Kuohai thought to himself.
Dongfang Sheng, however, was greatly shocked by Yun Kuohai's aggressive "assault".
He had been confused by the black fog just now, and the navigation system on his Colossus was almost entirely wasted. He did not even reach the edge of the world fragments after wandering in the darkness for a long time, much less figuring out a way to escape from the realm of horror.
But however he called other people, he was responded with either the background noises or creepy laughter in the communication channel.
Deep down his heart, Dongfang Sheng already more or less regretted it.
He regretted that he was reckless enough to have been persuaded by "Silver Fox" Li Jiande with only a few words before he saw all of Li Linghai's trump cards. Had he known better, he wouldn't have fallen into such an awkward situation.
If Li Linghai was not simply "Li Linghai" but…"that emperor", or someone who had inherited the strength of "that emperor", he certainly had made the most terrible decision of his life. He couldn't have regretted it more.
However, there was little he could do about it right now. He had just betrayed Li Linghai to take the four Kurfürst families' side. Could he just betray the four Kurfürst families and return to Li Linghai after only ten minutes? That seemed too—
While his head was in a mess, the fog around him was suddenly driven away by a dazzling light. In the next moment, he saw that "Acyclic Earth" Yun Kuohai was lunging at him, screaming and shouting, in his Colossus "Earth Shocker" that was best known for its toughness and sturdiness. In the meantime, Li Linghai's "Hellstar" was covering the back of the "Earth Shocker", as if the two of them were going to attack and kill him together!
For some reason, Li Linghai's shriek echoed next to his ears. "Yun Kuohai, kill the traitor!"
Every one of Dongfang Sheng's nerve endings almost protruded out of his body in shock!
Dongfang Sheng couldn't have known "Acyclic Earth" Yun Kuohai's personality and battle style. The man seemed to be simple and straightforward, and the arts that he had been practicing were all open and masculine too, giving the feeling that he was just a reckless man. But in fact, he was sordid, shameless, and selfish. He would not let go of the slightest interests and would not get involved in the tiniest danger.
Naturally, the experts in the Divinity Transformation Stage, particularly the battle-type ones, were mostly like this. As the saying went, "there are fearless battle-type Immortal Cultivators, and there are battle-type Immortal Cultivators in the Divinity Transformation Stage, but there are no fearless battle-type Immortal Cultivators in the Divinity Transformation Stage". Why? The reason was simple. Blades and guns on a battlefield did not know who you were. The real bold and fearless guys had all been killed before they advanced to the Nascent Soul Stage!
