Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 305
Shua!
Li Yao's arms turned into more than ten blurred shadows and swallowed fourteen iron tubes like whips. The last iron tube hit the ground where nobody was standing with an earsplitting noise.
Although no one was hurt by the iron tubes, they were truly shocked. The crowds that just went tranquil were seething again. The old, the young, the disabled were falling over due to the intense pushing. Helpless cries of a little girl could be heard not far head.
CRACK!
Li Yao clenched the iron tubes so hard that imprints of his hands were left on them.
Li Yao's face was emotionless, but flames of fury were bursting out of his eyes.
He squinted and observed the situation of the battle through the light beams in the air.
Appearing abruptly in space was a hideous starship more than a thousand meters long that looked like a crocodile. The giant turrets on the back of the crocodile were spurting dazzling clusters of spiritual energy nonstop, bombarding Star Lord Temple.
However, the defense of Star Lord Temple was apparently beyond the expectations of the space pirates.
The defense ring of Star Lord Temple quickly spun. The spiritual shield it released absorbed all the energy of the attack. Its gravity interference system caused all the incoming attacks with real entities to deviate from their flight path; the rushing bullets and cannonballs all brushed past Star Lord Temple and darted elsewhere into the dark depths of space.
A moment later, the space pirates reduced the frequency of the bombardment. Instead, a lot of crystal suits jetted out from the stomach of the warship, trying to breach the defenses themselves.
The guardians of Star Lord Temple flew into space, too. Hundreds of Exos were engaged together. The cold sea of stars seemed to be boiling. Spiritual energy rippled out crazily like floods.
The space pirates did not have the advantage in numbers.
Since the local area was too remote to be protected by any Cultivation sects, the men of almost every family knew how to wear a crystal suit and the simple combat skills.
However, most of the residents in this place were ordinary people after all. Even of the guardians of Star Lord Temple, there were only several Refinement Stage Cultivators, who had retired to their hometown because of old age or disability.
In comparison, the space pirates were all ruthlessly desperadoes, most of whom were in the high level of the Refinement Stage or even the Building Foundation Stage. They were experienced in fighting and equipped with specialized battlesuits that had armed themselves to teeth. It was as easy as chopping wood when they were engaged with the amateurs.
The guardians of Star Lord Temple could only struggle to stall the enemies with the help of the powerful defense ring.
Everybody could tell that it was only a matter of time before the defense ring was broken.
But Li Yao was somewhat confused. He narrowed his eyes and scanned the crocodile-shaped warship.
Two enormous words were engraved on the head of the warship: 'Storm Prison'!
Li Yao quickly searched the latest information he collected for the name.
Storm Prison was a large space pirate gang ranking in the top twenty in the Flying Star Sector. It was unpredictable and merciless, known as one of the most notorious criminal organizations in this world.
Fengyu Zhong, the leader of the gang, was a Cultivator at the Core Formation Stage. He was both smart and quick-minded. The Heavenly Saints Alliance had convened several sieges against Storm Prison and even summoned a Cultivator at the peak of the Core Formation Stage once.
Members of Storm Prison were all wiped out after each siege. But Fengyu Zhong somehow survived each hunt, and before they knew it, he would have gathered another bunch of outlaws and rise again, with even more lackeys and even nastier reprisals!
It was possible that, when the management of Star Lord Temple saw the name of Storm Prison whose destination was clear to them, they immediately started preparing active defense without even considering surrendering at all.
This is odd. Why is a space pirate gang ranking the top twenty in the Flying Star Sector wandering in such a poor area?
Studying the light beams carefully, Li Yao was deep in thought.
He found that, despite the intimidating appearance of the crocodile-shaped warship, many damages and fractures could be found on it. Several turrets had been already blown apart, too. The exhaust flames on its back were blinking intermittently, suggesting that there was something seriously wrong with the power rune arrays of the warship.
The space pirates fighting were clumsy and hasty, and they seemed to be lacking spiritual energy and ammo, evidenced by the fact that they hardly performed remote attacks and preferred head-on combat.
In short, the guardians of Star Lord Temple were, of course, no better than the meat on a chopping block. But the space pirates of Storm Prison were swinging rather blunt cleavers, and it would be quite troublesome for them to mince the meat even if they could cut it.
They must've experienced a fierce battle just now and are running out of supplies.
Li Yao came to that conclusion. The Guardians of Star Lord Temple are but mobs made of ordinary people and low-level Cultivators. In other words, farmers with armor.
With Storm Prison's expertise, by logic, they should've settled the battle easily a long time ago, even if they are affected by the defense ring. How come they have been caught in a stalemate?
The Core Formation Stage Cultivator Fengyu Zhong, the boss of the gang, must either be away from the warship or have suffered such serious injuries that he couldn't even stand up. Otherwise, with the strength of a Core Formation Stage Cultivator, he could've broken the defense effortlessly with just one leg and one foot.
The Flying Star Sector is indeed an interesting place. Not only do the supposedly upright Cultivators refuse to protect the ordinary people, they even turn into space pirates and butcher those weaker than themselves?
Li Yao recalled the crimes and felonies of Storm Prison recorded in the database. Brilliance sharper and colder than icy pitons beamed out of his eyes as he dashed forward to No. 1 deck.
No. 1 deck was in an utter mess.
Without the protection and guidance of Cultivation sects, the ordinary people and the low-level unaffiliated Cultivators were but loose sand. They simply roared, put on their crystal suits, and charged into space with their hot blood.
Li Yao found himself in a dilemma.
If somebody were to quantify his abilities and set his combat ability as 60, then his commanding ability… was approximately zero. He had no idea how to organize the headstrong fighters at all.
Li Yao sighed. Having no alternative, he summoned the Rockman and leapt into space, too.
But instead of roaring and rushing into the battlefield like everybody else, Li Yao observed the situation carefully and soon discovered that several space pirates seemed to know what they were doing. He estimated that they were at least at the Building Foundation Stage.
He might have been able to cope with two of three of them. But if five or more of them came at him together, he would definitely be stalled.
The turrets on their crocodile-shaped warship, on the other hand, were definitely not decorative. They might not be powerful enough to blow up the defense ring of Star Lord Temple, but it wouldn't be a different task for them to blow himself up at all.
"Li Yao, what is going on there? We sensed immense spiritual waves from Star Lord Temple and nearby. Do you need us to come over to you?"
Mo Xuan's anxious voice came through the communication channel.
"Not for now."
Li Yao pondered a moment and said, "We are now under the attack of space pirates who have a warship with tremendous firepower. Sparkle is a multipurpose exploration starship with only a few auxiliary cannons repaired right now. It would be completely disadvantaged against the warship.
"It is a total mess here right now. I don't know whether or not they have backup. Sparkle is not to be exposed yet.
"You guys keep drifting in disguise and mute the spiritual communication channel. When we are safe again, I will contact you from my side.
"As for this particular warship… Let me take care of it!"
Until today, Li Yao had hardly fought in the space with zero gravity; he was used to the ubiquitous restriction of the earth.
He slowly warmed up the power rune arrays as well as his own limbs as he watched and thought of possible combat plans one after another.
It would be hard to break into the crocodile-shaped warship from the outside even for the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, let alone the Rockman that I'm wearing. I have to find a way to sneak inside.
What do I do?
Although the warship's shell is full of holes, the space pirates are apparently well aware of that, too. All the open areas were specially attended to by the air defense cannons. Whoever gets too close will be greeted by a dense barrage.
Even if the barrage can be breached through, the enemies inside the warship will definitely notice the intruder. The whole point of stealth will be meaningless.
Where can I sneak into the warship without anybody noticing?
The starry brilliance inside Li Yao's eyes was trembling violently as he had brought his computational ability to its peak, thinking hard for a solution. Suddenly, he noticed a weird phenomenon. His face was immediately filled with joy.
At the tail of the crocodile-shaped warship, there were ten groups of spurts in two rows from which scorching exhaust flames were spraying out providing incessant impetus for the warship.
However, due to the unknown serious injuries, the flames from four groups of the spurts were sporadic.
The group with the longest gap spewed flames every nineteen seconds for a duration of five seconds.
By his preliminary estimation, the tubes in each group of spurts were all more than three meters in diameter.
"I should be able to make use of that."
Although Li Yao had never seen a warship in such a shape before, its inner structure shouldn't be very different from other crystal warships whose engine systems were located in the rear.
The tubes transmitting exhaust flames were often extended to the bottom of the engine compartment in the middle-rear part of the warship. To better dissipate the heat, a lot of room would be spared near the tubes. Sometimes, there were even cooling pools filled with special cooling liquid around the tubes.
The engine compartment was often heavily guarded. But nobody would watch over the cooling pools as long as they did not malfunction.
This is the spot!
Storm Prison has come to such a poor area without a good reason and launched attacks against a town which is apparently the opposite of wealthy, and yet they failed to take it down after such a long time. For them, it must be a great shame.
If they had additional forces, they would have already sent them out to join the raid of the defense ring.
Therefore, those in battle right now should be most of their manpower.
There shouldn't be too many experts within the warship!
Inside Li Yao brain's, everything he saw turned into translucent phantoms, and then billions of numbers. He calculated the distances, speeds and angles crazily. A moment later, the Rockman waved its four arms and charged into the battlefield, somewhat clumsily!
Chapter 449: Sneaking In |
Just like a newbie taking part in his first battle, he completely lost control over the power rune arrays perhaps because of panic and dashed at a space pirate awkwardly like a dancing crab.
The space pirate was wearing a crimson crystal suit shaped like a lobster whose two arms were attached to giant pincers. He was fighting two Exos of Star Lord Temple and seemed to be unaware that Li Yao was coming.
But when Li Yao reached his back, the space pirate suddenly turned around and kicked him with explosive spiritual energy right in his chest. More than ten high-frequency vibrating thorns stuck out from his shoes, too!
In a moment, the plate armor on the chest of the Rockman broke apart, before it was blown away like a cannonball. Li Yao struggled for a while and gradually turned rigid, unable to move anymore.
Other space pirates who saw the scene would naturally think that an idiotic bumpkin had tried to ambush a seasoned bandit only to be discovered by the enemy who had set up a trap and killed him without any trouble.
Judging from the quick movement and the brutal kick, the bandit was at least in the high level of the Refinement Stage, not something that a bumpkin wearing a Rockman could deal with!
Flowers of death were blossoming in the battlefield. No one paid any additional attention to the Rockman whose chest had been shattered, including the space pirate who made it so.
Inside the destructed Rockman, Li Yao's lips curled cruelly.
For his monster-like body built up by the Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining technique, the strike from a Refinement Stage Cultivator dealt absolutely no damage to him except to make his heart beat a bit faster for a moment.
Like a hibernating animal, he kept his arms and legs still and drifted through space silently.
However, a lot of steam was popping up from his forehead. His sweat was vaporized before it came into being.
His soaring computational ability allowed him to see thousands of interrelated rays of light in front of his eyes. The course of the crocodile-shaped warship, the direction to which he was drifting, and all the interferences standing in his route had all been taken into consideration.
Chi… Chi…
Li Yao adjusted the power rune array to the minimum level. Only when his body was not in anybody's sight would the crystal suit spurt out a wave of lackluster exhaust flames occasionally to change course slightly.
Sometimes, he crashed into other Exos who were still fighting or the remnant crystal suits which had been torn into pieces. His direction would be changed again.
There were quite a lot of other corpses and remnants floating in the battleground just like himself.
Nobody seemed to notice that, impact after impact, he was gradually drifting to the tail of the crocodile-shaped warship.
Last five hundred meters.
Li Yao stared at the crimson flames jetting out of the back of the crocodile-shaped warship like volcanic eruptions. His eyelids were shivering as he swallowed uncontrollably.
He was well aware that the power rune arrays to drive a crystal warship more than a thousand meters long would be enormous and that the exhaust flames they let out had a scarily high temperature mixed with intense, furious spiritual energy.
The Rockman sent out warnings. Such an engineering crystal suit could barely withstand the high temperature of the exhaust flames. As it drew close, some units and components that were not well-sealed had already started melting.
Last three hundred meters.
Li Yao felt that he was in the middle of a furnace. His hair was burning and his mouth dry.
On the Rockman's light beam, the specifications of many units had hit rock bottom, suggesting that they had lost their functions.
Li Yao gritted his teeth and continued dashing toward the exhaust flames.
Last hundred meters!
If the trajectory of his movement remained unchanged, a giant exhaust flame would sweep over and obliterate him in three seconds.
This was the most critical hundred meters!
When the exhaust flame erupted, Li Yao activated all the working power rune arrays on his crystal suit which was shining crazily as if it had been hit by a lightning. The Rockman sprinted instantly at a speed that almost tore itself apart, making it brush past the exhaust flame at a close distance and stop above a group of intermittent spurts!
Even if somebody in the battlefield was observing this, their eyes would be attracted by the suddenly bursting exhaust flame and fail to notice that a crystal suit was moving unbelievably fast below the surging, scorching fire.
They would have naturally thought that the Rockman was swallowed by the exhaust flames and melted tragically.
Huchi… Huchi… Huchi…
Li Yao breathed heavily. But the air circulation system of the Rockman had been wrecked by the high temperature. The air he was inhaling felt like sweltering magma, making him moan briefly.
The next step was the most difficult one.
The group of spurts below Li Yao was only activated every nineteen seconds. So, the temperature around here was relatively lower than elsewhere.
However, 'low' was still almost a thousand degrees!
"Hu…"
A flare reminiscent of one tossed out of the sun was ejected from the tail of the ship.
Li Yao suddenly gritted his teeth and freed himself from the Rockman!
Right then, the only thing standing between him and the heat of a thousand degrees was a thin mustard suit!
In a moment, Li Yao was on fire, his skin chapping and his eyes red.
Shua!
In the very next moment, a weird, black crystal suit appeared on his body. Streaks of redness were flowing slowly among the gaps of the suit. Deep silver brightness could be found on many of its critical parts.
Li Yao had put on the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit!
With the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit which had been strengthened by the body tissue of Skeleton Dragon and the scraps of ancient magical equipment, the heat of a thousand degrees was not entirely irresistible. Li Yao crouched above the spurt holding back the hotness like a black ghost. The crazy operation he was going to carry out made his heart race and his blood boil!
"HU—"
After another round of brilliant exhaust flame eruption, Li Yao roared and charged into the spurt like a black laser even though the flames hadn't died down yet.
The countdown now began. Nineteen seconds left!
Inside the spurt was a high temperature of thousands of degrees, which was not something that the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit could entirely overlook.
