Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 365
The Black Spider Death Curse seemed to know that he was in peril. It was restless again and showed signs of another attack.
Li Yao took a deep breath. Yet, he felt that somebody had stuffed an icy block into his chest. The circulation of his spiritual energy was hindered!
Right at that moment, there was no telling whether or not it was because the Incendiary Strengthening Drug had run its course, but the space pirates were suddenly somehow in a mess.
Li Yao was deeply confused. He studied the tiny movements of the space pirates and looked at the boundless sea of stars ahead. Naturally, he saw nothing.
However, the special crystal camera on the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit sensed feeble spiritual waves from thousands of kilometers away.
It was likely a ripple that had reached him after covering the thousands of kilometers of distance in between momentarily.
It was not hard to imagine how intense the surging tides were thousands of kilometers away!
The crystal processor of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit was providing details on the abrupt change.
Deep in thought, Li Yao suddenly beamed with joy. He almost cried in joy.
Something had happened in the rear of the space pirates' fleet. A fierce battle was taking place!
At that moment, the only party that could do such a thing was the Great Horn Exo Society!
Lei Dalu, the lunatic, was truly a lunatic!
Li Yao laughed out aloud and raised his saber. He swept across the space pirates like earsplitting thunders while lightning erupted on his saber.
The lightning-like saber cut both space and his own uneasiness apart.
Li Yao's mind was clearer than ever. He seemed to have grasped something in the life-and-death moment among the shining slashes.
One slash!
The left arm of a space pirate was cut off!
For how long have I been unable to enjoy a good killing spree?
One slash!
A spiritual shield was blown into pieces. A terrible wound deep to the bones suddenly appeared in the chest of a space pirate!
In fact, this is what I desire most subconsciously, isn't it?
Just like this time, I could've run faster and gotten rid of the space pirates, and they wouldn't have necessarily come back to ask for the Great Horn Exo Society's trouble again.
However, I still chose to keep a certain distance from them, neither too far nor too close. Secretly, I was even hoping that they would catch me!
One slash!
A space pirate as heavy as a bull, who was almost three meters tall in his crystal suit, was kicked away and crashed into a meteoroid that was rushing close, turning into a pile of meat!
That's because I've been craving for a bloody fight!
I grew up in a magical equipment graveyard. I had to exploit my every muscle and every brain cell as much as I could in order to live one second longer!
When I try my best to calculate everything and defeat an invincible enemy and even death itself, and I get to live another second, another second, and yet another second, the ecstasy is indeed the most exciting entertainment!
Addicted! Yes. I'm already addicted to the duel with death!
Only when I'm going to die in the next second can I full taste the flavor of life in this second. The feeling of walking beside the abyss is marvelous and incredible!
One slash!
A sniper and his gun were both cut in half, but Li Yao's abdomen was hit brutally, too.
Despite the resistance of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, a mouthful of blood surged to his throat, only to be swallowed by him. He felt that he had chugged the most delicious wine. His face was healthily red, and he couldn't have looked more comfortable!
The day my spiritual root was awakened, and I became a Cultivator, I met Brother Guan Xiong of the Mountain Sea Sect. I ask him why he wanted to become a Cultivator. His reply was—
For the euphoria of one against a thousand!
The path of my Cultivation is exactly the same. I spill my blood in the sea of stars and slash a brilliant way to the heaven between the life of this second and the death of the next!
For a moment, he remembered all the pivotal moments in his past, from when he was hunted by five scavenger groups in the magical equipment graveyard when he was seven, to his encounter with the mutated large-eyed ape that was injected with strengthening drugs, to his narrow escape in the Thunderous Sound Mountain under the pursuit of the demon prince Wang Ji, to the desperate fight against Skeleton Dragon, the deadly demon from forty thousand years ago.
In the end, he recalled the terrifying scenes of the True Fusion and the space swirl in the Dim Flame Belt.
The pictures did not intimidate him. Instead, when he reflected on them, he felt that his life was precious, warm, and beautiful.
All the pictures suddenly exploded into the surging swirl deep inside his brain and slightly changed the way he unleashed his spiritual energy without him knowing.
Originally, his blade was purely sharp, fast, and furious.
However, as his attacks continued, Li Yao's eyes became brighter and brighter, and the aura around his saber was gradually endowed with a feeble attraction force, as if a mini True Fusion was brewing on the edge of his weapon!
His saber was not attacking the enemy; it was more like his enemy was crashing into his saber promptly because of the attraction of the True Fusion.
The effect of the Incendiary Strengthening Drug was finally over.
The biggest side effect of such strengthening drugs was that the user would be in temporary low spirits when the duration was over. Also, after each injection, there must be a gap of half an hour to forty minutes before the next injection. Otherwise, the strengthening drug would have no effect at all because of the rejection of the body.
Right now, the spreading mist of blood and the broken limbs finally cast the surviving space pirates in fear.
Devastated shrills were echoing nonstop inside their communication channel.
"He—he is not in the high level of the Building Foundation Stage, but in the peak!"
One of the space pirates was hit in the chest, but he was not killed. His crystal suit spurted a lot of foam and suppressed the wound temporarily.
But his fighting will had been battered by Li Yao's attack. After a scream, he turned around and rushed toward the edge of the planetary ring.
He was lucky enough to avoid the assault of almost a hundred meteoroids.
However, when he was about to get out of the planetary ring, he exploded into powder after a sudden cry, as if he had been hit brutally by an invisible meteoroid!
An overwhelming killing intent ignored the furious stones and pierced into the gaps of all the space pirates' crystal suits, wreathing their hearts.
They felt that their hearts would be ripped apart if they moved slightly.
The feeling couldn't have been more familiar to them. It was because of—
A tall figure in a crystal suit with weird human faces appeared in the periphery of the planetary ring with a giant assault rocket below his feet. He seemed to be surrounded by gloomy wind, which made his body unpredictable and flickering like ghost fire.
The Core Formation Stage Cultivator, Fengyu Zhong, had finally arrived!
Chapter 540: Devil's Cry |
The soaring killing intent stirred up the sea of stars. A pair of vicious eyes seemed to be piercing through the stones and Li Yao's crystal suit into his heart brutally.
It was not possible for Fengyu Zhong to hate him more than he did at that moment!
He had received an upsetting report when the fuel of his assault rocket ran dry and he was about to arrive at the planetary ring.
Like a haunting ghost, the Great Horn Exo Society had reappeared!
Blood Rain, which was assigned to cover the retreat, was stalled!
Fengyu Zhong immediately felt his head going dizzy.
He didn't have the faintest clue how the Great Horn Exo Society had done it.
The three starships on their side had all been half-wrecked and would have to take a breath every time they cruised for several thousand kilometers. The Exos on those starships had suffered tremendous casualties, too. Any sensible human being would have chosen to stay where they were, treat their wounds, and wait for reinforcements!
But right now, they had launched a counterattack as if they were trying to kill themselves!
The reports that followed further stunned Fengyu Zhong.
Gold Horn was the only starship that caught up to the space pirates.
Since its appearance, every sign had indicated that it was determined to die together with Blood Rain.
The four hundred Exos on Gold Horn were all deployed to the battlefield. Although the defenses of Blood Rain were still intact, they attacked like tides and slowed down Blood Rain miraculously, as if they had been injected with ten doses of the Incendiary Strengthening Drug.
Most elites on Blood Rain had been summoned by Fengyu Zhong to join him before Gold Horn's invasion. They were in an awkward situation on their assault rockets half way through their journey.
Even so, Blood Rain, which boasted enormous firepower, was not something that could be taken over easily by several hundred exhausted and wounded soldiers.
But when Blood Rain's full computational ability was utilized to maneuver the air defense cannons to attack the four hundred Exos, Gold Horn had accelerated to full speed and launched a savage crash.
The heavy weapons on Blood Rain immediately opened fire on Gold Horn.
However, for a war in space, unless the arsenal or fuel chamber were hit precisely or it suffered an internal explosion, it was barely possible to completely blow up a starship.
Countless starship remnants from the Star Ocean Imperium ten thousand years ago were still floating in the sea of stars after so many bloody battles. Most of the remnants were still intact and had left a lot of technologies and magical equipment for the latecomers to study.
Because of the advanced ancient technology, bombarding a starship with a crystal cannon, however large it was, was like stabbing a boiled potato with chopsticks. It was possible that the tomato would be pierced through, but making the potato explode was quite a different matter.
Besides, Gold Horn had made up its mind to perish together with its enemy.
Before the raid, not only had Gold Horn's engine compartment been repaired with the usable units from the other two starships, a lot of plate armor had been dismantled from them and installed to the head of Gold Horn, too.
Under Lei Dalu's command, the air in all the cabins except the engine compartment and several others had been all pumped out so that they were became a vacuum, before a huge amount of inert foam was sprayed into the cabins.
The inert foam was meant to put out fires or mend the shell of a starship temporarily. They were very stable and barely flammable, much less explosive. They were very sticky, too.
As a result, Gold Horn became an iron block full of inert foam. Most of the crew members had charged out in their crystal suits.
How could one hope to blow up such a thing?
The main guns of Blood Rain were indeed powerful. Their precision was remarkable, too. Gold Horn was now riddled with thousands of holes.
If there were still air and crew members inside Gold Horn, a lot of blood would've been spilled.
But at that moment, there was nothing but steel and foam inside the starship.
Although there were countless holes on Gold Horn, its structure was still relatively complete, and it was almost as heavy as before.
The immense mass and the lightning-like speed was destructive enough without resorting to any weapons!
Blood Rain tried to dodge.
However, as the flagship of Storm Prison, it had been the main target for the three starships on the Cultivators' side in the battles of the previous two days. It had suffered a lot of damage, too, and was in the middle of emergency maintenance.
It was also why Fengyu Zhong had ordered Blood Rain to stay at the back to cover the retreat.
Time was too short. Also, four hundred audacious Cultivators were trying to breach the starship's defenses without caring about their own lives. Therefore, Blood Rain could not concentrate its computational ability on dodging movement calculations.
The magnetic interference system was fully functioning, too, trying to deviate Gold Horn from its course.
However, Gold Horn was too heavy. It was hardly possible to entirely change its route. Besides, due to the fierce battles between the Exos of the two parties, several pieces of interference magical equipment on the shell of Blood Rain had been destroyed!
There was not enough time anyway!
Gold Horn crashed into Blood Rain roughly like a crazy bull!
In regard to size, Gold Horn was one third smaller than Blood Rain. The difference was obvious.
However, considering the scale of the collision, the disparity in their sizes could almost be ignored. Gold Horn and Blood Rain had almost melded into one. The two broken horns on the head of Gold Horn stabbed deeply into Blood Rain's body!
Thankfully, due to the crazy measures taken by Gold Horn, its main guns had lost all firepower, and its spiritual energy was running dry. Therefore, no explosions were triggered. The two starships simply collided into one another.
The interference system of Blood Rain finally worked and made Gold Horn miss the critical parts.
As long as the two starships were divided, with a couple of hours of emergency maintenance, Blood Rain would still be able to cruise normally.
However…
Taking advantage of the chaos when Gold Horn crashed into Blood Rain, dozens of members of the Great Horn Exo Society dashed into Blood Rain!
It was indeed terrible news!
Of course, a lot of space pirates were still standing by on Blood Rain. There was nothing but doom waiting for the intruders!
However, just like the rats that had crawled into a gutter, it would be quite a nuisance to find them one by one.
But if they were left alone, they might sabotage the key locations on the starship. Blood Rain would be equally screwed!
Fengyu Zhong hated it so much that he felt that he was having a migraine.
He had known that Lei Dalu was a crazy man, but he had never expected him to be so crazy.
This was the most unreasonable way of fighting. The enemies were determined to die in his starship if they had to!
If Fengyu Zhong had three days' time, he was certain that he would be able to crush the entire Great Horn Exo Society into dust. There wouldn't be a bone of them left.
But he didn't have three days. The reinforcements of the Cultivators could arrive at any moment!
Fengyu Zhong deliberated for a long time. Still, he commanded that the elite Exos who were joining him return to defend Blood Rain, and he continued marching close to finish the hunt by himself.
The one guilty for all the chaos and the awkward situation he was in was right in front of his eyes, the mysterious enemy inside the planetary ring!
"Die!"
Fengyu Zhong's roar seemed to be spreading out even though it was vacuum. The terrifying spiritual energy from his body had swallowed everything in the hundred square meters nearby. All the rushing meteoroids within the range came to a weird halt, as if time near Fengyu Zhong had frozen!
Shua!
A spear three meters long appeared inside Fengyu Zhong's hand. A vivid bronze human head was attached to the front end of the spear, as if the spear had pierced through a head without bothering to shake it off.
Tears and blood were flowing from the bronze head, which was made of liquid metal. It was changing its facial expression all the time. In collaboration with the Blood Face Battlesuit on Fengyu Zhong's body, it launched powerful mental blasts to its surroundings.
When 'Die!' was transmitted inside the communication channel, Fengyu Zhong was still at the edge of the planetary ring.
By the time the sound died down in the communication channel, Fengyu Zhong had already stomped on the assault rocket below his feet and sprinted into the planetary ring like a crimson viper.
The dominating aura of a Core Formation Stage Cultivator affected the trajectories of all the meteoroids. They all drew a weird curve when they approached him and passed by!
Within a breath, Fengyu Zhong had appeared deep inside the planetary ring.
Devil's Cry, the long spear in his hand, thrust forward like an arrow!
Pure black helical spiritual energy was unleashed from the body of the spear. All the meteoroids nearby were attracted and gathered into a spear of stones almost a hundred meters long, which smashed in Li Yao's direction!
Li Yao's heart was beating three times faster than usual from the first second Fengyu Zhong appeared.
The old, cunning, brutal bandit had indeed been infuriated and decided to act personally!
A Core Formation Stage Cultivator's fury was not something that could be underestimated. The very next second after Li Yao sensed the appearance of Fengyu Zhong, a spear of stones almost a hundred meters had already pierced into his face!
The long spear seemed to be emanating the stink of blood, creepy cries, and blood-freezing screams!
Snapping to from his trance, Li Yao found that the spear was gone. The meteoroids in the space nearby seemed to have turned into a hundred extremely painful faces whose miserable memories stabbed into his brain brutally!
Li Yao's hands and feet were cold, his eyes rigid. He felt that he had become the hundred Cultivators simultaneously tortured by the Temple of Immortals, screaming and crying.
"What a terrifying mental attack!"
The very next second, gold brightness was shining inside Li Yao's brain. The brilliance of the tree of memories minced all the picture of pain into pieces.
Li Yao had successfully gotten himself out of the mental attack, but the spear of stones was already next to his eyes. He could only bellow, grip his saber, and slash forward in the spirit of the space swirl!
BOOM!
As if two raging meteoroids had just collided, the light and heat generated from the clash illuminated the surrounding space like broad daylight.
