Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 614
"Elder—" Swirl hesitated.
Elder Nether Spring glanced at her. "There's no need to persuade me. We have been discovered. Although we do not know the stance of the mysterious expert under Jin Xinyue's command, we cannot establish research centers inside the Mausoleum of Chaos and continue our studies as we planned before. Our enemy will gladly take our trophies if we do!
"We must prepare for the worst. Let's simply consider that we have been completely exposed at this second.
"There's no need for useless talk now. As of now, activate Plan B and accelerate our operation. Let's do it as soon as all the valuable treasures and the captives are sent back to the 'Nether World'!"
Despot and Swirl looked at each other in bewilderment. Swirl faltered for a moment but still struggled to suggest, "We are activating our plan so quickly? But our secret weapon is still imperfect right now. We'll pay a high price if we rush into it."
"Indeed, elder," Despot said with a deep voice. "The more days we have, the more flawless our secret weapon will be, and the more strength it will be able to trigger. Our plan's odds of success will be much higher!"
"Give up your impractical illusions already!" Gloomy flames were burning deep inside Elder Nether Spring's eyes. He declared resolutely, "Don't be too greedy. There is no such thing as a perfect plan in the world. If we postpone, it is true that we weapon will be sharper, but the risk that we are exposed will be higher, too!
"The key to our victory is speed. We must activate the plan before anybody realizes what is going on!
"I have made up my mind to initiate the plan right now. The day when the millions of demon soldiers march into the Heaven's Origin Sector will be the day of our rise. There will be absolutely nobody that can stop me!"
…
Elder Nether Spring is running way. But where to?
In the desert almost a hundred kilometers away, Li Yao lurked inside the sand like a rattlesnake. He boosted his optical cells to the maximum while he observed the black spots inside the Star Swallowing Sea.
Elder Nether Spring's attack on the Mausoleum of Chaos with the Nether World Watch was definitely top secret. He planned to establish research centers in the desolate place, but now that he knows he has been discovered by me, it is not strange that he has decided to leave off with all the trophies to avoid risks.
His devilish warships are packed with the soldiers of the 'Nether World Watch' that have never been seen in the Blood Demon Sector. They are also carrying a lot of the corpses and pieces of magical equipment excavated from the Mausoleum of Chaos, even including the fossilized member of the Pangu Clan. It is obvious that he cannot ship the stuff back to the Nether Spring Kingdom openly.
After all, he kept everything a secret from the silver-blood nobles of the Nether Spring Kingdom. If we get to the bottom of it, the grudge between him and his brother, the Fire Ant King, and the secret of the 'hidden-blood demons' are both clandestine.
Therefore—
Li Yao clapped his hands. Elder Nether Spring will certainly be shipping the Nether World Watch and the treasures of Chaos back to his secret base!
Didn't he tell the Fire Ant King that he had also excavated a lot of residences of Chaos? They must be the other war bases that Ba Yanzhi left on the planet.
It is only natural that Elder Nether Spring transformed one of the bases into his nest!
A crazy idea suddenly occurred to Li Yao.
Sneak into Elder Nether Spring's nest to investigate all his secrets and his true purpose!
The idea seemed to be implausible, but on second thought, it was actually quite feasible.
Elder Nether Spring was a big shot of the Pantheon of Demons. Right now, it was the critical moment in the war between the Blood Demon Sector and the Heaven's Origin Sector. If the 'Red Tide Plan' of Jin Tuyi, who was the current commander-in-chief of the coalition army of the demon race, was really endorsed by Elder Nether Spring, it would be implemented very soon. By then, Elder Nether Spring would be too occupied to bother anything else.
He had already spent a lot of time in the Mausoleum of Chaos, and it was unreasonable for him to still be absent from the Pantheon of Demons.
Therefore, he could only return to his nest to check that the important facilities and captives were properly handled at best. Then, he would have to leave for the headquarters of the Pantheon of Demons immediately.
When the tiger is away from a mountain, the monkeys will be kings. As long as Li Yao could sneak into one of Elder Nether Spring's vehicles and go to his nest with him, Li Yao would certainly be able to do whatever he wanted after Elder Nether Spring left.
Besides, Li Yao was still short of hands right now. To strike the big shots of the Blood Demon Sector, just Jin Xinyue and Li Yao were far from enough.
The Fire Ant King was the key to his cause. He had to be rescued.
First of all, the Fire Ant King is the leader of the Blade of Chaos and the most influential one among the low-level demons. The organization has a lot of secret branches in the Blood Demon Sector, which could prove useful later.
Secondly, the Fire Ant King himself is an expert in developing demonic plants and refining strengthening drugs. The Blade of Chaos has conducted profound research on cells and genes.
If I want to produce 'reduction drugs' that can turn demons back into human beings, I will have to ask for the Fire Ant King's help.
But there remains one question. How will the leader of the Blade of Chaos view his identity after he learns the truth of the origins of the demon race?
Anyways, I guess I'll have to get him out first!
Li Yao was still a hundred kilometers away from the devilish warship where the Fire Ant King was locked. The longer the distance was, the stronger the spiritual waves when he manipulated Neltharion would be.
Due to the long distance, Li Yao did not dare contact Neltharion easily.
I have to sneak into one of Elder Nether Spring's devilish warships!
But how am I going to do it?
Looking at the Star Swallowing Sea where tides were surging, Li Yao frowned.
At least a thousand highly-vigilant soldiers of the Nether World Watch were defending the Mausoleum of Chaos' perimeter. It was certainly not a good idea to swim to them.
Besides, although he had a lot of experience in sneaking into starships, they were all crystal warships.
The crystal warships were full of spiritual energy transmission tubes, ventilation tubes, maintenance cabins, and engine compartments. As a magical equipment expert, even if Li Yao did not know the detailed structure of a starship, he could guess a thing or two when he saw the distribution of some of the cabins. If he was not able to tell, he could still explore and examine the starship with his magical equipment.
But the devilish warships were something completely different. Their working mechanism, distribution of cabins, methods of information transmission, and mostly importantly, the alert system were vastly different from those of crystal warships!
Many devilish warships were produced out of enormous demon beasts. If he snuck into a random hole inside the warships, he might actually be entering the navel of the demon beast and got caught instantly!
This is rather tricky!
Li Yao buried himself in the sand and thought hard for a while. He drafted a hundred infiltration plans in his head, but the enemy discovered him and blew up him with their demon cores in the end.
He scratched his hair hard helplessly.
When he raised his head again, he suddenly noticed a small black spot on the southeast coast of the Star Swallowing Sea.
What is that?
Li Yao took out a telescope from his Cosmos Ring and observed, only to discover that a small devilish warship was docked at the edge of the Star Swallowing Sea, with cargo the size of a hill next to it.
Almost a hundred soldiers were busy repairing and modifying the vehicle.
A moment later, Li Yao realized what it was.
It's a light sky-hunting warship of the Blade of Chaos!
Chapter 926: Li Yao in Darkness |
When Li Yao reached the place, he realized that it was the sky-hunting warship that he had arrived on. The Nether World Watch had clearly damaged the warship that was docked above the Star Swallowing Sea when it assaulted the Mausoleum of Chaos.
Maybe, the sky-hunting warship had not been part of Elder Nether Spring's original plan, but now that he was abandoning the Mausoleum of Chaos, naturally, he wished to take away as many items as possible. Therefore, he made use of the sky-hunting warship again.
If I choose the sky-hunting warship as my target, I won't have to swim to the center of the Star Swallowing Sea. It is much safer!
Li Yao observed the terrain and took a huge turn, approaching the sky-hunting warship from the east.
When he was fifty kilometers away from the sky-hunting warship, he completely sank into the sand and snuck forward like a sandworm.
In case there were any anomalies on the surface of the desert, he was moving at an extremely low speed. It took him five hours before he finally came within three kilometers of the sky-hunting warship.
Pu!
On the desert, a long, narrow crystal tube pierced out like a bean sprout. At the end of the tube was a small crystal camera.
Li Yao lurked deep inside the desert. He closed his right eye and observed the surroundings by sticking his left eye to the other end of the crystal tube as if it were a periscope.
The main force of the Nether World Watch had been concentrated at the center the Star Swallowing Sea. There were not many soldiers around the sky-hunting warship. Judging from the number and volume of the demon cores embedded in their bodies, their level was much lower than the elites who hunted the Fire Ant King.
The majority of the soldiers there were busy moving the goods that looked like a hill compared to the sky-hunting warship. Less than twenty of them were patrolling on alert.
Li Yao calculated quickly and concluded that, with his speed and stealth ability, there was a 99.7% likelihood that he could avoid the attention of the Nether World Watch and sneak into the sky-hunting warship.
However, the same old question was back again. Where could he hide himself after he snuck into the sky-hunting warship?
Li Yao was not familiar with the structure of the sky-hunting warship at all. He had no idea where he could hide inside the sky-hunting warship or what kind of defense system it boasted. Chances were that Elder Nether Spring had even installed a new alert system in the warship.
Sneaking in recklessly was like feeding himself to the enemy. Li Yao would rather not wager on the possibility that Elder Nether Spring was careless a second time!
How should I sneak into it?
The crystal tube that protruded out of the ground suddenly stopped. Li Yao gazed at the silver biochemical slots among the massive goods that were carved with patterns of skulls on their surface.
As he recalled, the biochemical slots were containers for biochemical beasts.
The strong biochemical beasts were sometimes even more valuable than many top-tier crystal suits. Now that they had become Elder Nether Spring's trophies, he was certainly not giving them away easily.
Li Yao's heart was pounding faster and faster. A new plan soon ignited most of his braincells like a bouncing spark. The fire condensed into ever-changing pictures as he simulated the plan deep inside his brain hundreds of times. The odds of success were quite high!
It's decided then. I'm going to do it!
Li Yao licked his dry lips and continued sneaking forward.
When he reached beneath the sky-hunting warship, he retrieved a series of handy tools from his Cosmos Ring and started conducting minor modifications for the rapidly actions later.
Half an hour later, all the preparations were done.
Then, Li Yao started waiting.
Five meters above his head, teams of the soldiers of the Nether World Watch were dragging the heavy cargo boxes to and from the warship, not having the slightest clue that the most dangerous hunter was lurking below their feet.
Li Yao was like a stele buried deep into the sand. He reduced his breathing and heartbeat to the minimum, and every muscle on his face seemed to have fallen asleep.
He waited without moving at all for 6 hours, 32 minutes, and 55 seconds. Finally, the thing that he had been waiting for appeared.
It was a blowing wind.
In the White Silver Death Desert, which had no obstacles, even a breeze could turn into a sandstorm after it moved forward a thousand kilometers.
Blowing winds were happening every day. The only difference was that some of them were more serious than others.
The blowing wind that Li Yao finally met after a long wait was perhaps merely an afternoon autumn breeze by the standards of the White Silver Death Desert. Still, it was enough to block the sight of the soldiers of the Nether World Watch and disrupt their job. More importantly, it could cover up his scent.
Now is the time!
Li Yao suddenly widened his eyes, which had been half closed. His telepathic thoughts rushed out of the ground and spread out along with the sand and the pebbles, allowing him to precisely sense all the changes in the one square kilometer around him!
Thirty-seven soldiers of the Nether World Watch are on the other side of the sky-hunting warship. Their vision is blocked by the sky-hunting warship. Besides, they are busy focusing the warship and avoiding the storm. It is impossible for them to appear on this side of the warship in forty-two seconds!
Thirteen soldiers of the Nether World Watch are now strengthening the goods that are about to fall with ropes and chains. It will probably take them thirty-three seconds!
Huh. They are gesturing for five soldiers who are patrolling nearby to give them a hand?
If so, they will finish the work in twenty-six seconds. But there are only nine soldiers left for patrolling right now. Their vision is seriously jammed by the sandstorm, and their monitoring range has been significantly reduced!
Near the containers of the biochemical beasts, only three soldiers are patrolling. Judging from their route and angle, there will be a blind angle in 3.3 seconds!
Li Yao took a deep breath and wriggled upwards silently while holding the tools that were as thin as hair among his fingers.
3.3 seconds later, of the three soldiers of the Nether World Watch who were patrolling above his head, two happened to shift their heads in the other direction, and the last one's eyes were blocked by an enormous container of a biochemical beast!
Li Yao was like a crocodile that was surfacing in a swamp while pretending to be a piece of rotten wood. He waved his left arm, blowing out a strong wind with his spiritual energy toward the cargo boxes that were about to fall.
The cargo boxes that had been piled up were packed with the corpses and pieces of magical equipment that were retrieved from the Mausoleum of Chaos. They had not been steady in the first place and were about to collapse under the savaging wind, only to be pulled hard by the Nether World Watch with chains and ropes.
But the strong wind that Li Yao blew out was aimed at the unsteadiest part of the cargo boxes. In the outburst, a robe cracked, and a huge cargo box smashed to the ground!
"Not good! A cargo box has been blown off!"
The soldiers of the Nether World Watch were all attracted by the exclamation. Three of the patrolling soldiers were summoned to help heave the box back.
The alert range of the Nether World Watch further shrank, and the routes of their patrolling became much sparser, like a broken web.
Li Yao took the opportunity to jump up and crawl onto the biggest container of the biochemical beasts like a pool of mercury that was flowing backwards.
I have three seconds before the enemy patrols a location where they can see me!
On the top of the biochemical slot, almost ten covers were densely distributed. Some of the covers were used to toss drugs, and some others were for the replacement of nutrition liquids. All the covers had been locked up.
Li Yao's hands turned into two clusters of brightness. His movement was both fast and soft, as if he were plucking a white hair on the top of a tiger's head. One of the covers was unlocked immediately!
The cover was opened, revealing thick liquids the color of amber, and an enormous creature that was lying in it, which turned out to be a hibernating biochemical beast.
At this moment, there was still one second to go before the Nether World Watch patrolled to a location where they could see him!
Without any hesitation, Li Yao held his breath and snuck into the biochemical beast container. He then softly closed the cover and locked it up again on the other side of the cover with the magnetic magical equipment in his hand.
He was now enshrouded by darkness.
He stuck his ear to the wall of the container and listened carefully. There were no abnormal sounds other than the roaring wind.
Half of his plan had worked out.
But the other half of his plan could still fail.
Li Yao groped carefully in the darkness. It was a dragon-like biochemical beast around him. Judging from the shape of the skull of the biochemical beast, it was the lightning boa that Electric Boa, one of his tutors on the Skeleton Island, used to ride.
Li Yao remembered that the lightning boa had been wounded by several soldiers of the Nether World Watch in the battle of the underground temple. It must have been captured after the battle.
The lightning boa was indeed one of the best biochemical beasts in the world. It had perhaps been specially refined by the Fire Ant King, too. Therefore, the secret arts and modification methods of the Blade of Chaos could be inferred from it.
No wonder Elder Nether Spring was unwilling to abandon it and was going through so much trouble to move it back to his nest.
Then, the most critical step came!
Li Yao groped for the bloody mouth of the lightning boa and slightly opened the mouth of the beast that was full of long tusks.
He crept into its body while trying his best to hold back the stink!
The lightning boa was almost a hundred meters long and five meters in diameter. It was more than easy to hide someone inside its body.
