Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 642
"We must note that his colleagues will not be random guys but the keenest and most quick-minded demon emperors! Somebody will suspect him as long as he shows the slightest irregularity!
"Therefore, Elder Nether Spring must stay away from the decision-making circle. More exactly, he must stay away from the cage named 'highest command center' and get out of the sight of the demon emperors.
"It is true that a series of investigations targeting him will be conducted, but right now, the attention of all the demon emperors is focused on the war against the Heaven's Origin Sector. The investigations will not be thorough and careful at all.
"After all, he has lost his power and become a stray dog. Nobody will choose to beat a stray dog at such a moment!
"As a result, Elder Nether Spring will have time and space to carry out the Spore Stratagem without worries.
"Besides, the greatest benefit of keeping his distance from the decision-making circle is that, when the Blood Demon Sector and the Heaven's Origin Sector are fighting, Elder Nether Spring, who has been kicked out of office humiliatingly, will not be leading the charge!
"When other demon emperors are galloping in the Heaven's Origin Sector with great armies, Elder Nether Spring, who is 'downhearted' because of 'loss of power', will be responsible for the logistics work in the rear 'despondently'. That is perfect reasonable, isn't it?
"It is highly unlikely that Elder Nether Spring will resign from the Pantheon of Demons himself, which would be super weird. Therefore, he exposed the Fire Ant King's real identity through Master Hollow Wind's mouth so that he would get involved and be kicked out of office!
"Everybody knows the grudge between Master Hollow Wind and Elder Nether Spring. There will be no suspicion at all!"
There was a long silence.
Han Tuhu and Suo Chaolong both took a long breath and eyed Li Yao in a weird way.
"Elder Nether Spring is too dreadful," Han Tuhu mumbled. "He has been manipulating everybody in the Pantheon of Demons!"
Suo Chaolong's eyelids were twitching crazily. "Why do I feel that Li Yao is even more dreadful than him?"
"If that is the case, everything is unchangeable now. What should we do?" Yuchi Ba asked earnestly.
Li Yao thought for a moment and said, "We are more in need of Jin Xinyue now!
"If a national war between the Blood Demon Sector and the Heaven's Origin Sector breaks out, we must know how the war will be fought in order to stop it in advance!
"As daughter of the commander-in-chief of the coalition army, it is possible that Jin Xinyue can help us infer what her father is thinking.
"Besides, we are all wanted criminals right now. It is barely possible to reach out to any demon emperor through legal channels.
"Jin Xinyue is a saintess of the Pantheon of Demons. She must be familiar with the terrain of the headquarters of the Pantheon of Demons and know a way to sneak in and show up right in front of the faces of the demon emperors without alarming anyone!"
"Sneak into the headquarters of the Pantheon of Demons!" Everybody was completely shocked by Li Yao's bodacious idea.
After a long daze, Yuchi Ba struggled to say, "However, when we approached Void Turmoil City, it was already surrounded by the coalition army of demons. They were apparently ready to attack the city at any moment. Chances are that it is already occupied at this moment.
"I was seriously short of hands back then and could not sneak into Void Turmoil City to look for Jin Xinyue."
"Now that the Fire Ant King's identity has been exposed," Li Yao said, "it is only natural that Void Turmoil City cannot get away. It may have already been burned to the ground.
"However, I am confident in Jin Xinyue's survival ability. She will not have been killed so easily.
"Since we need her, I will have to go to Void Turmoil City and get her out!"
Chapter 970: Rebirth of Mystic Skeleton |
Inside the Mysterious Shadow Domain, the biggest development lab of biochemical beasts for the Blade of Chaos was a hundred meters below the ground.
Li Yao looked ahead and discovered that the place was like a forest dominated by venomous fog. Standing on the fertile, red soil were enormous flowers, some of which were three to five meters tall, and some were above ten.
All the flowers were translucent. They were like weird eggs of devils. While they were fluctuating, the breathing holes that were surrounded by complicated stripes would spurt out colorful air.
If one were to examine the flowers with special mystic rays, they would clearly see that sophisticated veins and nerves were packed on the inner wall of the flowers and that biochemical beasts in the form of fetuses were taking shape quickly inside.
Every flower was connected to countless tubes of nutrition liquids and neural electricity, and the tubes further led to the biochemical brains that boasted high computational ability.
In the world of Cultivators, a refiner who was capable of creating a crystal suit on their own was known as an Armadominus, which was the highest level that every refiner dreamed of.
In the world of demons, the specialists who were adept at refining biochemical beasts were called Originators. Their job was to originate lives and to create new, strong life forms that were built for killing!
After decades of development in darkness, the Blade of Chaos naturally had a large batch of Originators. After analyzing the legacies of Chaos, they were almost as knowledgeable as their counterparts in the Pantheon of Demons.
Right now, they were manipulating the growth of the biochemical beasts precisely through the biochemical brains.
After receiving the tremendous experiment data and key files from Elder Nether Spring, the Blade of Chaos was now much better at the production of biochemical beasts. Right now, a batch of new biochemical beasts were being refined for the warriors of Skyfire.
Li Yao participated in the refinement of the biochemical beasts in person.
They were perhaps the weirdest biochemical beasts in the history of the Blood Demon Sector.
They barely shared any similarities with demon beasts. Instead, they were like fully-closed armor that enclosed the body, except that they were all built by biochemical materials.
They were specially prepared for the federal soldiers under Han Tuhu's command.
The federal soldiers had never received training to harness biochemical beasts. They were more used to battles where they were in crystal suits.
However, due to the lack of facilities and fundamental materials, even Li Yao could not make hundreds of crystal suits out of thin air.
Li Yao had thought about a brand-new path of combining crystal suits with biochemical beasts before.
He took the opportunity and suggested it to the Fire Ant King, asking whether or not it was possible to create a crystal suit with biochemical materials so that a new 'biochemical suit' could be built.
The crystal processor would be replaced by the biochemical brain, the tubes of spiritual energy would be substituted for biochemical nerves, and the super alloys would turn into bones of the mutated demon beasts. The biochemical suit created in such a way might fit the definition of crystal suit when the ultimate weapon had been invented at the very beginning.
The 'crystal suit' at that time was also known as 'strengthened external skeleton'!
Of course, such a biochemical suit was destined to be different from a crystal suit in terms of maneuvering and combat patterns.
However, most of the federal soldiers, including Han Tuhu, were different from before, too. After a lot of their primeval cells were activated, their limbs and internal organs had all gone through drastic mutations, and the old circulation of spiritual energy inside their bodies was already seriously twisted, making it difficult for them to wield the strength of their crystal suits like before.
In the meantime, the significant improvement in the output of their mitochondria and the formidable mutations on the outside of their body endowed them with new techniques.
There was no doubt that, after a period of familiarization, they would be perfectly able to demonstrate brand new techniques that had never seen in either the Heaven's Origin Sector or the Blood Demon Sector with the biochemical suits.
I hope there is enough time!
Taking a deep breath, Li Yao passed through the forest of hundreds of flowers and entered a special chamber at the deepest part of the development lab of biochemical beasts.
It was a secret chamber that belonged to himself and the modification room for the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit!
At first glance, the decoration of the modification room was more or less the same as that of a regular refining room, except that the Divine Anvil and the Star Basher, two tools that were used in manual forging, were placed in a corner. A thousand components that were manually forged by Li Yao were now floating in midair through anti-gravity rune arrays, revolving and reducing the inner stress.
However, at the center of the modification room, an enormous biochemical culture tank was standing.
Looking through the transparent glass, one would see that the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit was floating in the dark red culture solution quietly.
Countless tentacles were 'pecking' its body softly. All the tentacles were hollow. After every 'peck', they would spurt out high-density, mutated bone cells onto the surface of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, which would form a bone membrane that was of a high tenacity and hardness.
Above the bone membrane, nerves, flesh, and blood were piled up.
Judging from the left arm, whose modification had finished…
It was a perfect combination of a machine and a living creature. The transition from the metal part to the flesh part was so seamless that it seemed natural.
The spiritual stripes and rune arrays that were exposed to the air before were safer and more inconspicuous after being covered by the bone membrane and the flesh and blood. The biochemical nerves that entangled the tubes of spiritual energy increased the speed of signal transmission and feedback of the units. On many occasions, it was no longer necessary to calculate through the data on the retina. One would only need to count on the intuitional reaction that was triggered deep inside their brain after a fuzzy calculation.
The dark red biochemical muscles were hidden amid the black shells. Occasionally, the bone spurs in dim metal colors could be seen hibernating in the gaps of the shells. The crazily proliferating cells decorated the surface of the left arm with a layer of scattered bubbles. Li Yao suddenly had an illusion in his trance, wondering whether the object in front of his was a cold machine or a real life.
Holding his breath, Li Yao stared and communicated with the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit in silence.
A long time later, he placed his left hand on the biochemical brain that controlled the culture tank. His fingers slightly moved and gradually sank into the biochemical brain before he adjusted the direction of the propagation of the cells carefully.
"A piece of perfect artwork, isn't it?" the mental devil observed deep inside his brain.
Li Yao's understanding about the biochemistry was still very shallow. The modification on the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit had mostly been conducted by the mental devil. The guy was an expert in the field in the first place. With the experiment files and the knowledge of the Blade of Chaos and Elder Nether Spring, it had been exclaiming in great satisfaction and was completely dedicated to the training, having no time to bother Li Yao for a long time.
Li Yao slightly frowned. The Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit was indeed impeccable. However—
"You seem to have been too obedient recently."
The mental devil pouted and held its chest, as if it had been greatly wronged. "Why are you saying that? Is it not good that I am obedient? Would you feel better if I went on a rampage from dawn to dusk so that you can suppress me brutally?"
Li Yao blinked. "Of course not. However, I do feel that you are up to something even though you seem to be helping me wholeheartedly."
Leaning against Ou Yezi's memory tree, the mental devil picked a gold leaf from the tree.
It was one of Ou Yezi's memory pieces.
The mental devil stuffed the memory piece into his mouth and chewed slowly. It shook its index finger and said, "Let me repeat. You are me, and I am you. Helping you is helping myself. Why are you always so paranoid?
"As the saying goes, an eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind. If you are always wary of me and I always plan to murder you, our mutual mistrust will not be solved until the body dies. Won't we be turning our brain into a small dark forest?
"I know that you hate the Dark Forest Theory, but is it enough to only break the dark forest among the different civilizations in the universe? The dark forest is right in your heart. Should you break it apart too?
"Therefore, the two of us should be united instead of divided. We should be at peace instead of war. We should help each other and grow together instead of suspecting each other and dying together, right?"
"Why do I feel that you are stealing my lines?" Li Yao pondered.
The mental devil chewed apart Ou Yezi's memory piece and devoured it. Licking its lips, not entirely satisfied, the mental devil chuckled. "Now you see how difficult it is for people to trust each other. You've misunderstood me greatly again!
"As I explained earlier, the Blood Stripe Virus is an extremely weird life form. Perhaps according to the standard of human beings, it is not a life form at all. It is invisible, bodiless, natural, and pollution-free. It will cause no damage to the universe whatsoever.
"All it needs are your insignificant feelings.
"Any feeling can be the energy source for the Blood Stripe Virus. Desire for slaughter, yes. Friendship, love, and earnestness to protect one's home work, too.
"However, for most species, their most intense feelings are about slaughter and destruction. Whose fault is that?
"What if I say that the Blood Stripe Virus has been feasting upon the intense lust for killing and that it has grown tired of the feeling because it was too violent and monotonous. What if I say that it is interested in tasting some new feelings, such as love, protectiveness, friendship, and sacrifice?
"Like a glutton who has had fish and meat for billions of years and grown bored of food, it is now willing to taste porridge and see what its flavor is. Will you believe that?"
"No."
"Hahahaha. You are truly my mental devil. You've seen through me so quickly. Alright. Let's change to a different theory. If what I desire most is killing, then the more killing, the more satisfied I will be, right?"
"Yes," Li Yao answered.
"Then what kind of killing is larger in scale? Wars, of course, especially the wars between two evenly matched Sectors that are going to destroy each other!"
"Exactly." Li Yao frowned. "That's why I find it odd that you've been behaving so dutifully. You didn't even play any tricks on the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit. Why?
"I can feel that you are really meaning to stop the world war between the Heaven's Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector. Why?"
Chapter 971: Paving a Brilliant Path! |
The mental devil cut off a bare branch from Ou Yezi's memory tree and scratched its back with it. It yawned and said, "I am going to formally protest regarding the matter. You pretended that you didn't know the first thing about biochemistry and had to hand over the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit to me for modification. But in fact, it was a trap of yours to test whether or not I would play any tricks, wasn't it?
"As a matter of fact, you have made significant progress in biochemistry recently, and you are certainly not as ignorant as you appear to be. Besides, you have made a lot of arrangements inside the modification room, waiting for me to show up, haven't you?
"That is too outrageous of you.
"I'm not saying that you cannot 'wipe out the mental devil', but with our identity and position today, can you please at leasy improve the level of our competition and stop setting up traps that insult both your wisdom and mine?
"Play tricks on the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit? Do I look like such a dishonorable mental devil?"
"Alright. I apologize. I have misunderstood you. You are a metal devil of honor and integrity. So, why are you helping me exactly?"
"For the world peace of the Heaven's Origin Sector, the Blood Demon Sector, and the Flying Star Sector, of course," the mental devil said solemnly.
"And?"
"… And a more glorious war!" the mental devil declared.
"What do you mean?"
The mental devil smiled. "The Blood Demon Sector and the Heaven's Origin Sector are just two barren worlds at the edge of the universe. They are utterly insignificant, even taking the Flying Star Sector into consideration. You don't think that the fight of a few countryfolk is enough to satisfy me, do you?
"Yes. I could interfere with you right now and even hamstring you at a critical moment so that a total war between the Blood Demon Sector and the Heaven's Origin Sector breaks out, leading to the destruction and ruination of both worlds.
"Then what?
"When the expedition army of the Imperium of True Human Beings arrives, the Heaven's Origin Sector, the Blood Demon Sector, and the Flying Star Sector will be crushed thunderously into smithereens without any ability to fight back!
"A war between two evenly matched parties is the most entertaining and can trigger the most drastic feelings. If one party has no ability to fight back and is suppressed within a breath, it will be like an ant that is stomped upon by a boot. The ant does not even know how it was killed, and the guy who stomps on it has no sense of satisfaction and achievement, either. How can there be intense lust for killing?"
Li Yao was dazed. He took a deep breath in relief.
The mental devil chuckled and said, "Therefore, even if I am indeed craving for a war, it will not be a brawl between three villages. Instead, what I yearn for is a universal war that is more splendid, spectacular, and soul-stirring and will ignite all of the three thousand Sectors!
