Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 625
One of the components, pulling a long crystal wire behind it, was connected to one of the slots of his mini crystal processor under the manipulation of Li Yao's telepathic thoughts.
Hum!
The garbage shook violently, as if it would fall apart at any moment.
The Fire Ant King panted and sweated hard.
More than ten light beams were unfolded in front of Li Yao again, each of which was brimming with shining control runes.
In that moment, his hands turned into ten streaks of brightness, piercing through and ripping apart all the light beams!
Nineteen seconds, eighteen seconds, seventeen seconds…
The number on the countdown light beam was still decreasing, slowly but surely, and the Fire Ant King was almost grasped by desperation.
Li Yao's hands were moving faster and faster. At first, there was a vague scent of something being burnt. Then, all ten streaks of brightness were mixed with redness, with sparks spluttering right around them, as if countless crimson fireflies were all dancing crazily in midair!
The Fire Ant King was greatly appalled. He knew that it was a sign that the hands were being ignited in the air because of the high-speed friction.
It was like the ten fingers of the young Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator had turned into ten meteors that had broken into the atmosphere and were burning fast because of the friction!
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
Crimson waves were appearing on all the light beams. All the spiritual stripes and data were twisted and deformed.
The Fire Ant King was even more dumbfounded. He did not expect that the hands of the young Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator could be so fast that even the spiritual waves that constituted the light beams had been jammed!
Nine seconds, eight seconds, seven seconds!
Pa! Pa! Pa!
The cloak of the Nether World Watch that Li Yao wore on upper half of his body was ripped into shreds starting from the sleeves, to the shoulders, and then to the chest!
It was because the cloak could not withstand the prolonged high-speed movement anymore. The fibers were all aging and breaking apart!
Six seconds, five seconds, four seconds!
Even the combat outfit that he wore close to his body, which could be extended to dozens of meters long and boasted a high durability and defense ability, was not able to hold on any longer. As if it were being cut by invisible blades, narrow cracks appeared on the outfit!
The last three seconds!
The ten streaks of brightness were condensed again and returned into ten fingers, except that they were now translucent and orange, as if they were ten iron bars that had been heated in a furnace!
Two seconds!
Li Yao bit his lips softly and turned on a brand-new light beam.
The Fire Ant King noticed that it was the control menu of a piece of certain magical equipment.
The last second!
The Fire Ant King's heart was suddenly beating faster than ever. He remembered a lot of things in that moment.
The radiance of God Chaos, Elder Nether Spring's scheme, the fate of the low-level demons, his own negligence and stupidity, the uncanny young Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators who jumped out of nowhere, and the future of Void Turmoil City that he had built from scratch.
His own death did not matter, but what about the future of Void Turmoil City?
How would the Blade of Chaos fare? What was the Elder Nether Spring's ultimate plan? What was his so-called 'the third life form', gods that were above human beings and demons, exactly?
The Fire Ant King was finally dazed.
He realized that the second was longer than it should have been.
He looked at the light beam again, only to discover that the number on the light beam had been stopped on '1' stably. It seemed to be pulled by an invisible chain and could not jump to '0' no matter how close it was!
"You've made it? You have successfully cracked the Venomous Scorpion Bone Biting Shackle?" The Fire Ant King mumbled with mixed feelings.
He was not sure whether he was alive or dead.
Maybe, it was just an illusion created by the last bit of his remaining soul?
"No. As I said, Jiang Shaoyang's masterpiece is impeccable and cannot be cracked by brute force." Li Yao blew at his fingers to extinguish a tiny flame on his thumb. "Maybe, if I had three days and three nights, I would be able to think hard and deal with the magical equipment, hoping to crack it by brute force.
"But it is impossible to finish the job in five minutes!"
The Fire Ant King frowned. "Then, how did you—"
"I did not crack the magical equipment by brute force; I merely crafted a new controller for it."
Li Yao shook the mini crystal processor on his wrist that was connected to the pile of garbage. "The controller and the Venomous Scorpion Bone Biting Shackle are now connected again, and the magical equipment was switched to the 'remote control mode'. Naturally, the countdown stopped."
The Fire Ant King was dumbfounded. "You crafted a new controller? Is it even possible?"
"Of course it is," Li Yao explained patiently. "The fundamental things are always the same despite all apparent changes. No matter how the remote control is constructed exactly, the process is one in where spiritual waves of a certain frequency and certain attributes are sent to a certain reception chip of the Venomous Scorpion Bone Biting Shackle. Everything becomes simple from there. I can figure out the overall framework of the magical equipment by the leaking spiritual energy and redraw its structural design in my head. In the end, it is very convenient for me to locate the reception chip.
"After I locate the chip, according to the stripes on it, I calculate what attributes the spiritual waves it receives will have and how the spiritual waves will be vibrated.
"It goes without saying that, as soon as I grasp the attributes and the frequency of the spiritual waves, I will know the structure of the controller. The last step is the simplest one. I will only need to build a controller on my own and carve a few launchers with the mica threads to simulate the identical spiritual waves. Then, everything is done!"
Chapter 943: Fire Ant King's Amazement! |
Li Yao's explanation made the Fire Ant King open his mouth bigger and bigger until it was wide enough to stuff a watermelon inside.
"All in all, I have reverse engineered a counterfeit controller. Since the real controller is already blocked, the 'counterfeit controller' of mine is naturally determined to be the real controller by the Venomous Scorpion Bone Biting Lock."
Li Yao was smiling cunningly. "In the meantime, since it is crafted by me, there are certainly no verification methods such as 'blood examination' or 'soul binding'."
Violent waves were surging in the Fire Ant King's heart. His understanding about magical equipment that he had held for decades collapsed in that moment.
Are—are you kidding me? You figured out the basic structure of the ultimate treasure made by Jiang Shaoyang, who is almost the best refiner in the Star Glory Federation, in only five minutes by way of spiritual energy infiltration, and you can even sense the stripes on the crystal chip?
How can anybody have such sharp senses?
Also, what do you mean by 'carving magical equipment with the mica threads'? Don't think that the demon race has no expertise in magical equipment at all! How can you build a crystal chip where a hundred rune arrays might be established within a square inch with the mica threads?
If he hadn't seen the crazy thing that happened next, the Fire Ant King would've burst out those questions.
However, right in front of him, more than ten crystal chips flew out from behind Li Yao while the mica threads that were as thin as hairs were engraving the tiny chips at a speed more than three times the speed of sound. As the powder fell, spiritual energy slowly spread out of the crystal chips.
It really is possible to engrave crystal chips manually without resorting to any microscope magical equipment or even looking at them!
The Fire Ant King could not have been more shocked. Moreover, twelve crystal chips are being carved at the same time!
Li Yao dedicated eighty percent of his computational ability to the mica threads in order to carve the chips, but his hands were not idling by, either. He tapped softly on the control menu of the 'counterfeit controller', and the Venomous Scorpion Bone Biting Lock disconnected from the Fire Ant King after a few hisses of spiritual energy.
The blade limbs and the tail that were all stained with blood retreated from his body. Although nine shocking, bloody holes had been left, they were merely external injuries and did not affect his nerves and marrow.
The Fire Ant King breathed hard, not sure how he should feel at present.
The Venomous Scorpion Bone Biting Lock was an ultimate treasure, crafted by one of the best masters of refining of the Star Glory Federation, that no one in the Heaven's Origin Sector or Blood Demon Sector had been able to crack, not even when the Refining Department of Deep Sea University and that of the Grand Desolate War Institution collaborated. Such a treasure had now been 'bypassed' by the guy in such a weird way in only five minutes?
Not only had he bypassed it, he had even stolen the control of the magical equipment!
What an unreasonable solution!
Who is he exactly?
The Fire Ant King slowly triggered the strengthening drugs that were hidden inside his body to drive away the poison Elder Nether Spring had left inside his veins.
When the defense cells inside his body that had been hibernating were awakened and started attacking and swallowing the poison and the foreign cells, the 'vein shackles' that constrained him quickly withered and broke apart, like thorns that had been burnt.
But the Fire Ant King's attention was not on himself. He couldn't help but glimpse at Li Yao.
He noticed that more and more components were appearing beside the young Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator. The tens of thousands of components were like a well-disciplined army that was continuously changing its battle formation and regrouping.
"Thank you for saving my life… Fellow Cultivator."
The Fire Ant King pondered for a long time and chose a general way of addressing in the world of Cultivators. Pausing for a moment, he said, "Although we are on different sides, I believe that most of the low-level demons are not willing to be driven into the Heaven's Origin Sector as cannon fodder. The purpose of the Blade of Chaos is to allow more low-level demons to live a life of dignity. At least for now, I don't see any unmediatable contradiction between the Blade of Chaos and the Star Glory Federation.
"Besides, the most dreadful enemy right now is perhaps not the Pantheon of Demons but Elder Nether Spring. If his scheme comes true, it will not only be the human beings of the Star Glory Federation that are going to be enslaved by him but also all the demons in the Blood Demon Sector!
"Therefore, until Elder Nether Spring's scheme is foiled, I believe that there is a basis for our cooperation."
Li Yao glanced at him and nodded solemnly before devoting himself to the operations again.
The Fire Ant King could not suppress his curiosity any longer. "What are you doing, Fellow Cultivator?"
"I am performing modifications on the 'Venomous Scorpion Bone Biting Lock'."
In midair, more and more units were assembled. Li Yao pulled the ugly units with crystal wires and connected them to the 'Venomous Scorpion' carefully.
After the glamorous, streamlined 'Venomous Scorpion' was attached to the units that were ugly and of a whole different style, it looked like it was growing a lot of obnoxious lumps.
Li Yao installed the control chips that he had carved into the core parts of the units while he explained, "Jiang Shaoyang's arts of refining are indeed awesome, but he is not best at crystal bombs after all. He has embedded a lot of marrow crystals of the highest level into the 'Venomous Scorpion', but the triggering pattern of the marrow crystals is not perfect. By my calculation, only 71.7% of their power would be activated.
"Although such a percentage is enough to blow up a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator or a demon emperor, it is still insufficient for my plan.
"Therefore, I am perfecting his design by adding external circuits to the magical equipment.
"My ultimate purpose is to assemble a super oriented crystal bomb with the 'Venomous Scorpion' as the core."
The Fire Ant King's jaw nearly hit the ground again.
What was the guy saying?
He declared that Jiang Shaoyang's triggering pattern was not perfect and could not fully activate the power of the marrow crystals?
And he is modifying Jiang Shaoyang's magical equipment?
If it were five minutes ago, the Fire Ant King would have made the call to stop any cooperation with the guy because he was apparently an out-and-out lunatic.
However, at this moment, the Fire Ant King had no idea whether it was the guy who was insane, himself, or maybe the entire world!
Li Yao was not troubled by the Fire Ant King's astonishment. He was wholeheartedly dedicated to the modification of the magical equipment. The 'Venomous Scorpion' that Jiang Shaoyang designed was indeed an unparalleled artwork. Modifying the device was not only thrilling but also entertaining!
Just because he could not crack the magical equipment by brute force did not mean that Li Yao could not fully release its potential by adding external units!
Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua!
As more and more metal 'lumps' were installed to the 'Venomous Scorpion', the magical equipment seemed to have gone through a certain crazy mutation.
Li Yao retrieved dozens of crystal bombs from his Cosmos Ring before he held his breath and connected them to the 'Venomous Scorpion' with crystal wires.
The Fire Ant King was rather confused. "Why are you doing that?"
"I have investigated the entire 'Nether World' over the past two days. I discovered that the crystal tubes and the biochemical nerves of most of the core floors lead to the same location.
"According to their routes, I have basically drawn up the general map of the distribution of tubes for the building. Based on my analysis, most of the important crystal tubes and the biochemical nerves led to the nineteenth floor.
"It is likely where the mainframe crystal processor and the biochemical brains are kept, which means that the place is the control center of the 'Nether World'.
"If Elder Nether Spring really has a confidential scheme, it will certainly be stored there, along with all the precious experiment data and virus files!" Li Yao explained unhurriedly.
"However, the nineteenth floor is further divided into multiple divisions, all of which are heavily guarded by the Nether World Watch. The regular lift and teleportation array do not go there. The lift that does lead to the place has the strictest security measures. It is impossible for us to sneak in.
"If we attack it by force, it will be a great waste of time. When hundreds of soldiers of the Nether World Watch block the pathway, there will be nothing we can do even you are a demon emperor and I am a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator.
"Therefore, I am preparing to…"
Li Yao pointed at the ground.
"… build a bomb and blow through all the floors between us and the control center so that we can reach it!"
"Blow through more than ten floors?" The Fire Ant King could not help but suspect that Li Yao was a lunatic again. "Elder Nether Spring is not an idiot. If his top secrets are stored inside the control center, the defense rune arrays of the highest level must've been installed on the floors in all the directions! No. Chances are that he has deployed defense rune arrays on every floor. When your bomb blows up the floors in the middle, it will run out of momentum very soon!"
"There are no defense rune arrays in the world that crystal bombs cannot take care of." Li Yao licked his lips and said, "If you ever meet one, that is because you don't have enough crystal bombs."
The Fire Ant King was meaning to ask him how many crystal bombs he had brought with him.
However, when Li Yao retrieved almost a hundred semi crystal bombs in a row and connected them together as if he were doing a magic trick, he shut his mouth very quickly.
The guy is essentially a walking arsenal. Has he come to the Blood Demon Sector to start a world war by himself?
After Li Yao retrieved a piece of cylindrical magical equipment that was long and glittering, the Fire Ant King finally could not help but ask again, "What's this?"
"This is a cannonball for the main gun of the 'Glory'-level super-heavy crystal warships. It stores more than five hundred kilograms of high-purity crystals that are controlled and triggered by 1,925 rune arrays. The designing purpose of the cannonball was to precisely bombard a planet named 'Spider Den' from its orbit. Therefore, it boasts a high penetrability. With any luck, one explosion will be enough to blow up the most solid underground fortress into the sky!"
Li Yao touched the curved shell of the cannonball, with fascination beaming out of his eyes.
"I know that it is a cannonball for the main gun of a heavy crystal warship. I was asking you why you would carry such a thing with you."
"For fun," Li Yao replied
"…"
Chapter 944: Grand Cannon! Grand Cannon! |
Li Yao hid the real reason because he did not want the Fire Ant King to think that he was too crazy.
The reason real he carried the cannonball for the main gun of a heavy crystal warship, which had been added with even more gunpowder by him, was that he could take it out and die with his enemy when there was no other choice.
It was a good habit that Li Yao had developed when he was still in the Refinement Stage. At that time, he had become fond of walking around on the battlefield with a box of powerful bombs named Hellfire-Lightnings. It was exactly with an entire box of Hellfire-Lightnings that he had slain an enemy beyond his level for the first in his life, which was a 'Six-Armed Naga' in the demon general level.
Right now, his Cultivation had soared. The level of his 'suicidal bomb' naturally increased, too.
