Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 506
Bai Kaixin was lackluster, and his lips seemed to be dyed with chalk. He stared at Bai Xinghe and did not move his eyes away even when Li Yao was destroying the traps.
Bai Xinghe was in a trance. His face grew old at a visible speed, as if the sword was not stabbed in his son's chest but his own.
Shivering, Bai Kaixin extended one of his fingers.
Li Yao and Lei Dalu both turned to Bai Xinghe. They both knew what Bai Kaixin meant. He meant to ask Bai Xinghe a question, one that he had guessed the answer to but would like to hear it from Bai Xinghe's mouth anyway.
Bai Xinghe was silent for a long time. He opened his mouth slowly, his voice so coarse that it seemed to come not from his throat but from his broken heart. "Although your mother was not killed by me, I was to blame for her death! If I didn't force her to stay on Spider Den, she wouldn't have been killed. She wouldn't have!
"It was me who got her killed. It was me!"
Bai Xinghe collapsed to the ground in grief, mumbling. Faced with his heavily wounded son, he lost his demeanor as the Pirate Potentate completely.
Bai Kaixin finally learned the answer. There were tears in his eyes, but the sorrow that had occupied his face for decades faded away all of a sudden as if it had been blown away by a spring breeze.
For the first time, Li Yao discovered that Bai Kaixin was quite a handsome man when he was not wearing a bitter expression.
He shook his hands slightly and allowed his father's rough hands to hold them, before he closed his eyes with a smile in relief.
"The flying sword had been broken. We must head back to the Star Prier's House. The Immortal Cultivators are coming close to the area we are in. They will find us shortly!"
Bai Xinghe treated Bai Kaixin's wounds simply. Then, he asked Li Yao to fix the lower bottom half of the flying sword, while he chopped off the part of the flying sword that was out of Bai Kaixin's body. The only thing left on Bai Kaixin's chest was a slight bulge.
Then, he put a special waterproof suit on Bai Kaixin. Then he carried him and deactivated the water-driving ball. The four of them swam toward the Star Prier's House.
From the surveillance cameras, they could tell that the main troops of the Immortal Cultivators were surrounding them.
The experts above the Core Formation Stage were not something that the underwater beasts could deal with. They would only be slightly harassed by the beasts, but nothing more.
"Hurry up!"
Bai Xinghe was in the lead. They made their way in the flood that was devoid of any light and returned to the Star Prier's House.
After half an hour's journey, they gradually drew close to the Star Prier's House.
However, there was no road forward.
The entire pathway had collapsed due to an intense explosion. Debris and rocks had completely blocked it.
"Well—" Li Yao frowned. When they went down, the pathway had been perfectly fine. He did not expect it to have been destroyed so quickly.
"Is there another way?" Lei Dalu asked.
"Yes!" Bai Xinghe replied.
He glanced at the picture on the mini crystal processor, only to smile bitterly and added, "There are two other ways that we can take, but they are both occupied by the Immortal Cultivators now!"
"Then we can only dig through the pathway!"
Lei Dalu stuck his hands to the debris and rocks before he bellowed and exerted his strength. An enormous rock in front of him was immediately crushed into powder.
However, more rocks slowly fell down and took up most of the space that he had just emptied.
"Let me have a try!"
With Li Yao's telepathic thoughts and his surging spiritual energy, the Feathered Dragon Saber dispersed again and reformed into a giant black drill.
The drill of mystic rays on Sparkle was a piece of powerful magical equipment from the Star Ocean Imperium. Li Yao had killed Skeleton Dragon with the drill of mystic rays and had been particularly fond of the magical equipment ever since then.
Because of his insistence, when the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit was being modified, a small drill of mystic rays had been created and embedded with the Feathered Dragon Saber.
Sha! Sha! Sha! Sha!
The drill made of the Feathered Dragon Saber revolved rapidly, surrounded by brilliance electric arcs and mystic rays that were illuminated the dark water of the river. Soon, a large space was drilled out.
However, the pathway was extremely long, and the tectonic structure above was very unstable. Despite the marvelous tool in Li Yao's hand, he had to work carefully and push forward at a very low speed.
While he drilled forward, Lei Dalu stabilized the pathway behind him. Bai Xinghe watched them in silence while holding Bai Kaixin.
When another twenty meters was drilled through inside the pathway, half of the empty space had a collapse again. Bai Xinghe suddenly said, "You guys take your time to drill forward here. I'm going to investigate the Immortal Cultivators' progress."
Li Yao and Lei Dalu were both dazed for a moment. They both realized what Bai Xinghe was going to do.
Bai Kaixin's eyes shone in the dark water. In response, Bai Xinghe smiled and pressed somewhere behind his son's neck, making his son close his eyes as he fell into a deep sleep.
Shua!
Bai Xinghe took off the Dragon King Battlesuit and stored the crystal suit into one of his Cosmos Rings before he threw the Cosmos Ring to Li Yao. In the meantime, he put on the 'Blood River Battlesuit' that he had worn during the second confrontation with Li Yao!
"Li Yao, consider the Dragon King Battlesuit a gift of mine. It would be a shame if the crystal suit fell into the hands of the Immortal Cultivators," Bai Xinghe said casually. He patted the Blood River Battlesuit on his body and declared, "The crystal suit on my body is enough."
"Boss Bai!"
Li Yao's heart was filled with a mixture of emotions. He did not know what to say.
Bai Xinghe put his son down carefully and touched his forehead for the last time. He waved his hands and vanished into the darkness.
From then on, Li Yao could only talk to Bai Xinghe through the communication channel.
"The latest map of the underground fortress, including the parts that Yan Xinjian changed and the location of his secret training room, has been sent into your crystal processor," Bai Xinghe said. "It is a little gift that I offer you. You are a worthy opponent, Li Yao."
Li Yao gnashed his teeth. "Are you really going, Boss Bai?"
"Is there a second option?" Bai Xinghe asked casually. "I'll give you half an hour. You must break through the pathway within half an hour and get my son out of the place. Otherwise, I won't let you go even if I die and become a ghost!"
Li Yao was silent.
Bai Xinghe smiled bitterly and said gloomily, "I've been lying to you about something. If I don't tell you the truth now, I think I will not die in peace. Just consider it a story if you find it too hard to believe.
"Do you remember how I came to Spider Den?"
Li Yao was dazed. "Is it all false?"
"Everything in the beginning is true," Bai Xinghe mumbled. "We encountered a space storm, ended up in an unknown space zone, were saved by somebody else, and got caught in desperation later. My parents planned to kill our lifesavers so that we could keep ourselves alive… That part is true.
"But then I lied!
"At that time, I was already seven, and I already knew a lot of stuff.
"When my father said, 'Out of two, one will live' and 'If I don't kill him, he will kill me', although I didn't know what he meant, I did sense the soaring killing intent from his tone and his facial expression.
"It was something that I'd never sensed from my father before.
"I was so scared that I cried. I held my father's legs and asked what he was going to do exactly and whether or not he was planning to do something bad.
"I said to my father—'Father, you are a Cultivator; Cultivators don't do bad things!'
"Maybe my father was moved by these words. He was dazed for a long time and suddenly held my mother, both of them crying. He cried and screamed, 'I don't deserve to be a Cultivator!'
"The two of them cried for a long time and gradually calmed down. They agreed that, if they did such things to their lifesavers, who had offered them such great help, they could barely be called humans any longer, much less Cultivators.
"Therefore, they decided that they would try to repair the communication magical equipment with all the remaining resources on the starship one last time. If it didn't work out, they would see what they could do the next day.
"However…
"That night, while they were working hard to repair the communication magical equipment, our lifesavers assaulted us!"
Li Yao couldn't help but cry out, "Say what?"
Bai Xinghe's voice was as cold as that of a ghost, as he said, "Our most trusted lifesavers ambushed us. Everyone on board, including my parents, was killed by them. I only got away from the disaster because my parents put me into an escape capsule in advance and launched it. Then, I was fished up by the space pirates.
"Hehe. My father was right. Out of two, one will live. If I don't kill him, he will kill me. I was the one who got them killed. I killed my own parents!
"If—if I hadn't stopped him, maybe it would have been us that made it to the end, and I wouldn't have fallen into Spider Den and ended up being an inhuman, lawless space pirate!"
"Why did you lie to me in the beginning?" Li Yao asked solemnly. "What could you get by telling such a lie?"
"Because," Bai Xinghe said gravely, "I meant to make you believe in me at that time, and you certainly wouldn't have believed the truth!"
Li Yao found it curious. "Why?"
"Because—"
Bai Xinghe's voice sounded like he had gone mad. "Do you know who our 'lifesaver' was?
"Haha. Hahahaha. The one who rescued us first but also pulled the trigger first, slew everyone on board, and looted all the resources on our starship in the desperate situation was the former leader of the Feathered Snakes Brotherhood, the CEO of the Grand Illusionary Group, the crownless king of the Flying Star Sector, and the unquestionable leader of the Cultivators—Xiao Xuance!"
Chapter 758: Boss Bai! |
The name 'Xiao Xuance' was like an eruption of thunder that broke out inside Li Yao's brain.
It was also like a bolt of lightning that connected all the pieces together!
When Li Yao and Professor Mo Xuan had discussed whether or not there could be something wrong with the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project, they had met an unanswered question, which was Xiao Xuance's motive.
Logically, as the crownless king of the Flying Star Sector and the leader of all Cultivators, Xiao Xuance did not seem to have any motivation to overturn the Flying Star Sector.
The theory that he was trying to change from the 'crownless king' into the 'crowned king' did not seem very satisfactory.
However, if Xiao Xuance had been baptized by the 'dark forest' more than a hundred years ago and killed countless innocent fellow Cultivators and ordinary people for his own survival, then…
Li Yao was instantly soaked in cold sweat. Everything was explainable now!
Bai Xinghe took his long silence for suspicion and smiled bitterly. "You don't believe it, do you? That's right. Nobody is going to believe it! Although Xiao Xuance hadn't advanced into the Nascent Soul Stage a hundred years ago, he was an expert in the Core Formation Stage, the elder of the Feathered Snakes Brotherhood, a man worthy of respect in the world of Cultivators. He punished the outlaws and helped the weak, like any noble man would do!
"When he first rescued our starship, he might not have been vicious at all. He thought that reinforcements were coming very soon. He even offered the resources on his starship to us for free.
"Several of the wounded crew members on our starships were treated on his starship. Some of them were even treated by him in person at the cost of his own spiritual energy.
"At that time, my parents couldn't stop complimenting him. Cultivators from the six major sects of Heavenly Saints City were truly different. That was exactly what an elder of a great sect looked like!
"Hehe. Maybe that was partly why my parents hesitated later.
"It never occurred to them that, however great the sect a person hails from is and however chivalrous they are, they do not have a second option when they are trapped in the dark forest.
"Out of two, one will live. If I don't kill him, he will kill me. The logic is very simple. Since my parents could think of it, Xiao Xuance definitely could, too."
Li Yao took a long breath and asked, "Are you sure it was Xiao Xuance?"
Bai Xinghe laughed bitterly. "I was already seven at that time, and I admired the celebrities in the world of Cultivators. When my parents told me that he was an expert from the six sects of Heavenly Saints City, naturally, I bore his name in mind. How could I be mistaken?
"When I was sold to Spider Den, inside the dark fortress that was full of traps, there was not one moment when I stopped reciting the name 'Xiao Xuance' in my mind!
"Revenge! Revenge for my parents!
"Seeking revenge from Xiao Xuance was the only motivation to keep me alive in the darkness underground!
"It was a pity that I chose a wrong path.
"If I wanted revenge, I had to be stronger. However, there was only one way if I wanted to be stronger, which was to be a space pirate—the strongest, the cruelest, and the most brutal space pirate!
"When I became a space pirate, I had to kill people, a lot of innocent people. I had to pour the blood of the innocent on my unpardonable, inhuman soul!
"After repetitive plundering, slaughtering, and betraying, I became stronger and stronger, but I also became more and more desperate.
"You see, I found that the gap between me and Xiao Xuance was too huge. It was impossible for me to become stronger than him no matter how hard I tried!
"When I became a well-known brutal bandit on Spider Den, Xiao Xuance became the leader of the Feathered Snakes Brotherhood.
"When I established the Abyss Pirate Gang and rose to power on Spider Den, Xiao Xuance became the CEO of the Grand Illusionary Group and controlled most of the Spiritual Nexus!
"When the Abyss Pirate Gang became the most powerful organization on Spider Den and I became the Pirate Potentate, Xiao Xuance became the crownless king of the entire Flying Star Sector and the leader of all Cultivators!
"Haha. Hahahaha. The Pirate Potentate. Sounds cool and awesome, doesn't it? But it is just insignificant crap in front of Xiao Xuance. When I leave Spider Den, I am a rat that everyone spits and stomps on. How am I qualified to fight against Xiao Xuance?"
"Why didn't you state the truth?"
"Who would believe it?" Bai Xinghe responded. "When I sorted through the truth and my voice was loud enough, I had already become an infamous space pirate. Who would believe my story when I didn't have the slightest proof?
"Nobody would believe the truth that I told, but Xiao Xuance would certainly notice it and realize that I was the only survivor of the disaster decades ago!
"He would certain try everything he could to deal with me!
"As the CEO of the Grand Illusionary Group, he had more than half of the Spiritual Nexus under his control. It would be more than easy for him to delete, add, or forge information!"
Li Yao was silent.
It was also why he had never proposed his assumptions on the Spiritual Nexus.
He was afraid that, wherever he posted a thread of the 'truth', it would be deleted instantly, and Xiao Xuance would trace it back to him without any trouble!
"Now, do you understand why I would rather die before I become an Immortal Cultivator?" Bai Xinghe sighed. "Yes. I firmly believe in the Dark Forest Theory, but my parents died because of the Dark Forest Theory. I cannot regard the Dark Forest Theory as the ultimate Dao for me!
"However, although I'm against the Immortal Cultivators, it is impossible for me to embrace the world of Cultivators.
"Hehe. Even Xiao Xuance, the leader of all Cultivators, could easily cross the line of the Cultivators and butcher the innocent when he was trapped in the dark forest.
"After everything he did, he could still keep it as a secret and rise to power in the world of Cultivators until he became the leader of it.
"Then, what is the difference between the Immortal Cultivators and the Cultivators?
"Maybe, righteous and evil, Cultivators and Immortal Cultivators, are just the same thing in the dark forest. The same thing…"
Bai Xinghe's voice was intermittent, becoming weaker and weaker.
Because of the savaging flood and the serial explosions, the communication between the two parties was gradually cut off.
"No. Cultivators and Immortal Cultivators are absolutely different!" Li Yao clenched his fists hard, declaring in such a high voice that it even shocked himself. The fury that he had been suppressing in his mind after he heard the Dark Forest Theory from Bai Xinghe seven days ago fully burst out. "The so-called Dark Forest Theory is just Liu the Prier's own invention after all!
"I don't believe that such a simple theory can depict the truth of the entire universe!
"The universe cannot be so dark!
"Even if it is, are there really no opportunities to change it at all?
"Let me tell you, Boss Bai. Even if the odds are just one billionth, I, as well as all the real Cultivators, will set the dark forest into eternal flames!"
There was nothing but white noise in the communication channel. Bai Xinghe's voice was gone for such a long time that Li Yao thought that the communication had been cut off.
But the Pirate Potentate last words came over in the end.
"I wish you luck. I truly do."
…
In the depths of the underground fortress, inside an empty warehouse, wearing the Blood River Battlesuit, Bai Xinghe released the immense spiritual energy of the Nascent Soul Stage without any disguise.
Stimulated by the surging spiritual energy, the bloody stripes on the surface of the crystal suit seemed to come to life and emitted a boiling aura of blood in various directions.
