Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 1653
"Unless it is absolutely necessary, we must not let Wuying Qi know that we have done such a thing with his standard image."
Li Yao said solemnly, "Otherwise, I'm pretty sure that he will be so infuriated that his combat ability will soar by twenty times, allowing him to burn each and every one of our brain cells into ashes. In that case, we will be the victims of our own scheme.
"All in all, I have set up a psychological hint for myself. Whenever I sincerely adore and submit to Wuying Qi, shouting 'long live Wuying Qi, long live Blackstar the Great, and long live the Imperium of True Human Beings', a certain area in the deepest part of my brain will be automatically activated and play the pictures just now to my entire brain. I hope such intense stimulation can disrupt Wuying Qi's brainwashing.
"Alright, you must be getting back to yourselves now. Are you cool now? Especially you, Jialing, considering your rigorousness, is everything alright?"
Chapter 2608: The Real Power of the Gold Crystal Pyramid! |
"No!"
Bulging his eyes, Li Jialing asked in fury, "Why were you so sure that there were such things in my portal crystal processor?"
"Jialing, you are a passionate, hotblooded young man in your twenties, and unlike Han Te, you don't have so many girls around you all the time. Isn't it perfectly normal that you have such things in your crystal processor?"
Li Yao patted the young man's shoulder considerately. "There's no need to feel embarrassed. Your Sister Long and I both went through the phase before. We understand you."
"Cut the crap!"
Li Jialing blew Li Yao's hand away. "I am a passionate, hotblooded young man, but you are a middle-aged uncle who is somewhere far away from your wife. Don't you have any of those things in your own portal crystal processor?"
"Like I said just now, with the level I am at right now, I don't need such vivid things anymore."
Li Yao said casually, "Nothing is everything, and everything is nothing. I know it is too sophisticated for you to understand right now, so let me translate it in a way that you can understand—I prefer to delete them after I watch them. Do you understand?"
"…"
Li Jialing massaged his neck and mumbled, "Are the three of us really qualified to save the civilization of mankind and even the Pangu universe?"
"Let's cut the crap and concentrate!"
Li Yao suddenly changed his facial expression and hinted to Li Jialing and Long Yangjun to be quiet. "The few remote crystal cameras that I sent into the heavy tractors have entered the underground hole along with the tractors. We'll see what Wuying Qi is up to in a minute!"
Li Jialing and Long Yangjun immediately dropped the minor episode a moment ago.
Fine. It was perhaps not a "minor episode", and it could not be completely dropped behind. All in all, they managed to focus 90% of their attention on the hologram that Li Yao displayed just now.
The hologram this time, however, was mottled and blurry. The details were obscure.
"So unclear?"
Li Jialing asked, "Is it possible to make it clearer?"
"No. Wuying Qi must've deployed certain defense rune arrays that can disrupt and block unusual waves in his secret base. Our signals have been terribly affected."
Li Yao said, "If I were to increase the power output by force to increase the clarity, we would likely be discovered by the defense rune arrays. So, let's deal with it!"
The three of them calmed down and observed, all shocked at the scale of the underground hole and the boundless darkness.
Even though they had foreseen that Wuying Qi would dig the underground base regardless of the cost, they did not see it coming that he would almost dig through the entire shell of the planet in only a couple of months.
When the crystal cameras were used to the new environment and sent back clearer pictures, a vague, magnificent building was gradually revealed.
It could be seen that Wuying Qi had asked the Imperial Guards to dig quite a few spiral channels on the cliff. Every channel was wide enough for two heavy tractors to pass at the same time. They extended all the way to the top of the cave.
Many heavy tractors unloaded the crystals on the top of the gigantic cave.
"Wuying Qi must've dug countless holes in the rocks above this gigantic cave and planted tremendous crystal bombs into them."
Li Yao analyzed, "When the time is ripe, the rocks between the cave and the ground will be blown up. Together with the carefully calculated tectonic movements, it will be indeed possible to lift the secret base up to the surface of the planet."
The few crystal cameras that arrived at the top of the cave with the tractors observed the general picture of the gigantic cave from the high stance, and they soon discovered an oval building with various floors. It was like a huge and abnormal iron heart. Countless tubes that were as thick as boas extended out of the "heart". Smoke was also popping up from the joints of the tubes and the building.
Many heavy tractors entered the building slowly.
"This… seems to be a massive energy center."
Pondering for a moment, Li Yao snapped his fingers. "Got it. The crystals that Wuying Qi has gathered by draining the whole capital planet are of different sources and qualities. They cannot be used directly. Therefore, they have to be shipped to this energy center to be purified and melted, before they are supplied to his brainwashing factory.
"Judging from the size of this energy center and the number of tractors that enter it every minute, the energy that it can steadily output is almost astronomical. Is Wuying Qi out of his mind to wager all his chances on a brainwashing factory below the ground?"
In the next moment, the crystal cameras scanned the platforms and the caves deployed on the cliff. The three of them all clicked their tongues when they saw the cubic defense system and the garrisons in the place.
"The defense here is almost flawless and impenetrable."
Li Yao vaguely felt a toothache. "How many soldiers did Wuying Qi summon to defend the underground base? An Imperial Guard is basically squatting on every stalagmite! It is needless to mention the dense crystal cannons. Even if we activate our Colossi and march over at the same time, we will only be blown back by the overwhelming firepower. The firepower density here is higher than that of an Adamantine Super Arsenal Warship!"
"It seems that Wuying Qi has almost given up the defense on the ground and the orbit. He's betting his future on this secret weapon."
Long Yangjun glanced at Li Yao and smiled. "Has Wuying Qi established any massive ventilation system that supports the oxygen of the Imperial Guards living in this place?"
"Forget it. There's no chance."
Li Yao sighed and said helplessly, "The plan to attack the Godly Might Prison was made by me and Li Linghai together. Li Linghai knew very well that there was nothing I could do about the ventilation tubes of the Godly Might Prison, so Wuying Qi must know it too. Do you think he will not adopt the same design?"
"It does make sense. It seems that we have to find a different way."
Long Yangjun said, "However, let's locate the brainwashing factory by the tubes that extend from the energy center first… Huh?"
As the few crystal cameras were turned to the deepest part of the cave, the glittering pyramid with esoteric runes carved on the surface was displayed in front of them.
It was glowing so splendidly that even the space around was illuminated clearly.
"What's this?"
Li Yao couldn't help but get hooked by the mysterious, vintage building that was filled with power. For some reason, the runes carved on it reminded him of billions of pieces of the sun. "Is that… the brainwashing factory. It seems entirely different from the 'human manufacture center' that we discovered in Kunlun."
"Judging from the structure, it looks like some sort of massive cannon."
Li Jialing also said, "The kind of cannon that is designed to penetrate through the atmosphere and deal with starships."
Long Yangjun, however, fell silent and was in a trance. The runes on the pyramid seemed to have been carved on her retina and then leaked into her soul.
"I… remember the building."
Her pupils and her eyes were melted together, turning her eyes into two glittering swirls. She said gloomily, "Or rather, my previous self saw similar magical equipment somewhere else and accepted the mission to destroy it!"
"Huh?"
Li Yao and Li Jialing looked at each other and hurried to ask, "What is that? A piece of brainwashing magical equipment to perform massive mental attacks?"
"No, no, it doesn't seem to be one. Let me think. Let me think carefully…"
Long Yangjun held her forehead in great pain. She breathed heavily, and hundreds of lights seemed to have travelled hundreds of thousands of years and glowed in her eyes, making her utter broken moans. "The Houyi Clan… the sun… the song of the stars, fire, the eternal fire that burns up a whole space zone… Gold… Gold Crystal Pyramid. Yes, I remember it now. This is a Gold Crystal Pyramid, a piece of super magical equipment that can boost the energy of the star for a battle. Its power can sweep across the whole space zone. It's an out-and-out stellar-level weapon!"
"A piece of stellar-level magical equipment?"
Li Yao and Li Jialing were both greatly alarmed.
However, they were rather puzzled too, because the magical equipment had nothing to do with brainwashing but was related to the stars, or more specifically, the sun.
"The Gold Crystal Pyramid was an invention of the Houyi Clan, a member of the Pangu civilizations' alliance. It can cast minor interferences to the magnetic field of a star and increase the star's activity, allowing the ultra-intense radiations, spiritual waves, particles, and heat to spread throughout the space zone. All the magical equipment in the range will be paralyzed. The Spiritual Nexus and the spiritual roots of the trainers will be affected. The carbon-based lives may even be wiped out directly. It is a rather dominating weapon."
The gate deep inside Long Yangjun's memories was opened, spurting out infinite information, but her face was filled with fear. "However, while the superweapon is very powerful, it has obvious shortcomings. First of all, the attack it launches aims at everybody in the range indiscriminately. It is barely possible for the allies to defend against it.
"In other words, once the Gold Crystal Pyramid ignites the fury of a star, it will usually lead to a lose-lose outcome. After a solar storm, it is possible that half of the troops of both sides, as well as the civilians living in the stellar system, will be killed instantly. It will be a war that has no winners.
"What is more dreadful is that such a superweapon has a terrible controllability. It is easy to start a fire, but it is not as easy to distinguish one. While infuriating a star was not difficult, restoring the calmness of the star was beyond the technological limits of the Pangu civilization.
"Once a certain star enters the intensely active period because of the Gold Crystal Pyramid, it may last dozens if not hundreds of years. During the hundreds of years, the star will spurt powerful radiations and high-energy particles incessantly, reducing the previously vigorous Sector into a burning inferno where no intelligent lives can be found. Even the Houyi Clan and the Kuafu Clan who worshipped the sun couldn't have survived in such a rigorous environment!
"Do you understand it now? Using the Gold Crystal Pyramid once may be enough to destroy one Sector. At least within several hundred years, the Sector will not be able to be used by any civilization again!"
Chapter 2609: Politics in the Primeval Age |
Li Yao had never seen such a look on Long Yangjun's face before.
It was even hard for him to imagine that Long Yangjun, reincarnated from the primeval age with the heritages of both Pangu and Nuwa, could look as dreadful as now.
"Is it really so horrible?"
Influenced by Long Yangjun, Li Yao grew anxious too. "The superweapon is really so intimidating?"
"It is not the Gold Crystal Pyramid that is intimidating, but the star. Neither the civilization of mankind nor the Pangu civilization has figured out 1% of the mysteries of stars. Infuriating a sun recklessly under such circumstances is exactly like playing with fire. You will only get burnt!"
Taking a deep breath, Long Yangjun said in a shivering voice, "When a three-year-old throws a pebble into a pond, it is always easy to raise a few ripples, but can he control the number of the ripples he raised or the spreading speed and distance of the ripples? It's absolutely impossible, right?
"Now, we are not talking about a 'pond', but the most violent pool of magma!
"The mechanism of the Gold Crystal Pyramid equals tossing a 'pebble' into the sun to raise the ripples. Once a chain reaction is triggered, the destructive waves will spread out incessantly. There will be no stopping it!
"Don't think that it is a long period when I say that the active period of a star may last several hundred years. It must be noted that every star has a life of tens of billions of years. From the perspective of a star, extending the active period from several months to several hundred years, and increasing the power output in the meantime by one percent, are just insignificant, unperceivable changes.
"However, for a civilization that lives and prospers based on the star, such 'insignificant changes' will be a catastrophe!
"When the radiation of a star is increased by one percent—no, even if only one thousandth—the ocean on the habitable planets will be vaporized, the atmosphere will be gone, the percentage of oxygen and carbon dioxide will change drastically, the magnetic fields will be disrupted, the ecological circles will be destroyed, and billions of creatures will die in the most miserable ways!"
Li Yao was creeped out, not by what Long Yangjun said but by her freezing tone.
After a long daze, he raised a meaningless question. "You said just now that the Gold Crystal Pyramid was built by the Houyi Clan? Why would the Houyi Clan build such a dreadful thing that may likely destroy themselves?"
"Don't human beings have a lot of super magical equipment that can destroy themselves too?"
Long Yangjun smiled. "It seems to be a common disease for all carbon-based intelligent lives. They all have the tendencies to self-destruct. Do you know how the Pangu civilizations' alliance defined 'civilization' and accepted new members?
"In the eyes of the Pangu Clan, only when a carbon-based intelligent life created a weapon that could destroy themselves could they be called a 'civilization'."
Li Yao was silent.
He was going to argue that such a definition was ridiculous, but on second thought, he realized that it was very reasonable.
Weapons were the best essence of the abilities of a lifeform in addition to wisdom, physical strength, logical thinking, social division, etc.
If an intelligent life created a weapon that could destroy themselves but was not destroyed by such a weapon in the next hundreds of years, it would suggest that they had contained their tendencies to self-destruct, and that they were a mature, powerful civilization.
"At first, the Houyi Clan did not expect that the Gold Crystal Pyramid could be so powerful. Or rather, the specialists of the Houyi Clan were so arrogant that they thought they had completely grasped a 'simple and clear energy model', which allowed them to control every sun 100%."
Long Yangjun sighed and said, "Therefore, after the primeval war began, the Houyi Clan built a lot of Gold Crystal Pyramids in the three thousand Sectors.
"Of course, it remains a mystery whether or not the Houyi Clan hoped to expand their influence in the alliance with the super weapon that was the Gold Crystal Pyramid, or even to replace the Pangu Clan as the leader of the alliance.
"The Houyi Clan was best known for their craziness, toughness, fearlessness, and recklessness in the Pangu civilizations' alliance. Their origin was a life that was similar to moths but had a shell that could absorb solar energy. 'Moths darting at the fire' was an idea that was written in their genes.
"It was said that a long, long time ago, before the Pangu civilizations' alliance was established, the Houyi Clan and the Kuafu Clan nearly died with each other in competition for several steady stars. The Houyi Clan would rather destroy the stars, which were extremely precious for themselves, than give them away to the Kuafu Clan. It was indicative enough of the Houyi Clan's bloodthirst and madness.
"Later, the Pangu Clan arrived. With a civilization thousands of years more advanced, they forced the Houyi Clan to surrender and accept the mediation however reluctantly. The Houyi Clan were in fact tamed and diminished by the Pangu Clan.
"Therefore, the Houyi Clan had been strongly biased against the Kuafu Clan and dissatisfied with the Pangu Clan. They jumped out now and then to challenge the authority of the Pangu Clan after the establishment. Of course, those are just tales.
"All in all, when the Gold Crystal Pyramids were activated in the space battlefield and the fire of destruction from the stars savaged countless Sectors, both parties involved in the war were deeply awed by the horror of the super weapon.
"The purpose of a war is to loot resources and bend the enemy.
"However, the Gold Crystal Pyramid destroyed all the resources in a Sector and blew friends and foes alike into smithereens, wasting all the value of a Sector for the next hundreds of years. Could such a weapon help anything, however 'super' it was?
"That was still the early stage of the primeval war. Compared with the lone Nuwa Clan, the other twelve clans in the Pangu civilizations' alliance had obvious advantages. There was no need to resort to such a horrible weapon.
"Besides, the superweapon was too destructive for the ideology of the Pangu civilizations' alliance. As we all know, it was the purpose of the Pangu civilizations' alliance to make use of every drop of resources reasonably, and to make the carbon-based intelligent lives live in this tiny universe as long as possible.
"However, the Gold Crystal Pyramid could destroy a whole Sector whenever it was activated, obliterating astronomical resources. Wouldn't it be the opposite of the Pangu civilization's purpose?
