Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 655
"Your real plan is to teleport the elite troops of the coalition army and all the demon emperors to the offshore counterattack bases left by the Far East Demon Kingdom in the past through the 'Eye of Blood Demon' before you stab into the heart of the federation, right?"
Jin Tuyi did not even bother to blink his eyes. His every facial nerve seemed to be frozen, and there was absolutely no change of emotions. He said casually, "Don't try to elicit anything from me. I will not talk about any detail of the war plan."
"Whatever your plan is," Li Yao roared, "it won't work out! Your 'Red Tide Plan' is just a stepping stone for Elder Nether Spring's Spore Stratagem!"
Jin Tuyi sighed and said, "Young man, you may find it hard to believe, but the Blood Demon Sector actually has rules. Aside from the clandestine assassinations and setups, public accusations must be supported by evidence! How can I believe you when you are accusing a demon emperor without any valid proof? How will the other ten demon emperors believe you? How will the Insect Clan of the Nether Spring Kingdom believe you? After all, Elder Nether Spring is still the leader of the Insect Clan!"
Li Yao hurried to say, "I don't any direct proof yet, but let me ask you this—has Elder Nether Spring left you with a troop that will march into the Heaven's Origin Sector with you? I'm 100% certain that the soldiers he left are spores, or rather, 'genetic bombs'!"
Jin Tuyi pondered for a moment. His eyelids suddenly bounced as he mumbled, "When Elder Nether Spring left the Pantheon of Demons, he handed over the Nether Shadow Guardians, his best troop, to us…"
Li Yao was so excited that he almost jumped to his feet. He snapped his fingers and said, "That's right. I dare say that the Nether Shadow Guardians are the spores! Perform a full examination on them, and you will certain find something very unusual from their cells!"
Jin Tuyi eyed Li Yao weirdly.
Li Yao burst into anger. "After everything we've talked about, can't you believe me just once?"
"I have been believing you all the time, young man, when you said the 'same-origin' theory or the Imperium of True Human Beings," Jin Tuyi said casually.
"But I cannot believe you anymore because I have already performed a full examination on them."
"Huh?"
"Young man, don't presume that you are the only smart person in the world. Would I be so foolish as to assign the key tasks of the Pantheon of Demons to some random foreigners easily?
"Elder Nether Spring has indeed been acting weird recently, and it was quite unexpected for him to hand over his Nether Shadow Guardians to me. Considering the rumors about the Demon God Virus, I performed the most profound investigation on the Nether Shadow Guardians with an excuse at the earliest chance.
"My investigation included not only their cellular mutations but also their whereabouts over the past couple of years.
"The conclusion is that they are absolutely normal and not carriers of any virus. Also, they have been on duty around the Nether Spring Kingdom over the past couple of years. There's no way that they went to the Gloomy Wind Islands in the North Pole!
"Even if your spores do exist and were produced in the Nether World in the North Pole, the Nether Shadow Guardians are certainly not carriers."
Dumbfounded, Li Yao felt that his face was burningly hot from being slapped. "I—I got it now. This is Elder Nether Spring's trap! Elder Nether Spring already knew that we would grow suspicious about the Nether Shadow Guardians. So, the Nether Shadow Guardians are just a smoke screen, a disguise! Just because the Nether Shadow Guardians are good doesn't mean Elder Nether Spring is good! Believe me. Believe me. The spores must be hiding in the coalition army right now!"
Jin Tuyi was looking at Li Yao and Jin Xinyue with pity, as if he wanted to extend his hand out of the light beam and pat on Li Yao's shoulder to comfort him.
"Young man, you do have a lot of insights. I would be very interested in having a longer conversation with you, but there is no time now."
Li Yao was dazed. "What do you mean?"
Jin Tuyi smiled. "There are two things that I haven't told you yet.
"Firstly, all your endeavors were futile. Nothing can be changed even if you convince me because the 'final war' between the Blood Demon Sector and the Heaven's Origin Sector has already broken out—one minute ago to be precise!
"The invincible coalition army of demons has marched into the Grand Desolate Plateau through the Dark Desolate Domain and is about to attack the Giant Blade Pass for a second time. This time, we will win!"
The air that Li Yao exhaled was almost directly frozen.
"Secondly, while we were having a sincere dialogue, my subordinates have finally determined your precise coordinates!
"I have to say that you are indeed a marvelous genius in refining. Such a jumbled point-to-point communicator turned out to boast advanced anti-jamming and anti-localizing techniques that allow it to fake hundreds of false coordinates within a breath. Also, because of the interference in the sky, it took the experts of the Pantheon of Demons such a long time to lock onto you!"
Li Yao changed his face color greatly. "You—you've been tracing us since the beginning?"
"Of course," Jin Tuyi replied calmly. "Why would I waste so much of my time talking to you if I wasn't? You do not really think that I was appreciating you, do you?
"You don't need to look around thinking about your escape plan. Now that I'm telling you this, I have certainly imposed an impregnable dragnet about you that you can never breach.
"Right now, seven devilish warships and five demon emperors have surrounded you, including 'Ape Fiend' Yuan Riyue, one of the strongest demon emperors of the Blood Demon Sector.
"His son whom he had highest hope in was killed by you a few days ago.
"Ape Fiend versus Vulture. It's going to be an amazing battle! Capturing an 'Ultra-Level Federal Hero' before the ultimate battles takes place… Well, well, well. I really can't think of a better way to boost the morale of our army!"
Li Yao's face suddenly turned pale, and blood seemed to be spurting out of his eyes.
He looked around crazily, as if he was sensing the warships and demon emperors in the sky. A moment later, his face was more determined and crazier!
Desperation! Li Yao's face was brimming with the heaviest desperation!
He seemed to envision that he, his family and his enemy were slowly falling into a black swamp.
If everybody was helping each other, it was still possible to crawl out of the swamp.
However, although everybody was deeply mired in the swamp, they were still attacking each other, hoping to jump out of the swamp on the enemy's body.
"I will not let you capture me alive."
Li Yao laughed miserably. The last bit of vigor inside his eyes gradually dispersed. What appeared in front of Jin Tuyi was nothing better than a walking zombie.
The zombie softly repeated with his remaining strength, "I will not let you capture me alive."
The light beam in front of Jin Xinyue's eyes suddenly shone brilliantly like a supernova outbreak!
Chapter 991: Black Fire Stone and the Sentinel (I) |
When the dark night of Heavenly Path City was illuminated by the brilliant fireworks, on the Grand Desolate Plateau in the Heaven's Origin Sector, Black Fire Stone felt that his head was rather dizzy because of the overly bright moonlight.
The soft sand below his feet made him feel that he was stepping on the cotton. Staggering for a long time, he finally managed to keep his enormous body steady with his two hooves.
Black Fire Stone took a long breath. The faintness that had only just faded away flooded back again. The air of the Heaven's Origin Sector was so fresh and sweet that it was almost intoxicating for him. He kept inhaling and forgot to exhale until his lungs were about to explode.
Holding his pounding heart, Black Fire Stone cringed and eyed the new world carefully with the companions around him.
As a black-blood soldier at the bottom level, he had visited the Heaven's Origin Sector countless times in the illusions with his companions of the same troop, but the real feelings he had after he was teleported to the world could not be simulated by any narcotic drugs.
The sky was so stable, the moon was so bright, the breeze was so gentle, and the air was so sweet. Even the dust that was rolled up by the wind did not seem to carry any venom or poison, much less the hateful blood-sucking gadflies!
Black Fire Stone could not understand why human beings call the place 'Grand Desolate Plateau'. Compared to the Blood Demon Sector, was it 'desolate' at all?
In Black Fire Stone's opinion, the place should be called… should be called… called…
Black Fire Stone extended his four thick, short fingers and scratched his tough scalp, grinning and leaving the question behind.
As Black-Horned Loading Bulls, a branch of the black-blood demons, Black Fire Stone and his brothers had never been good at thinking. It was their habit to not think about the things that they could not figure out. All they had to do was to listen to the lord's command.
Black Fire Stone bulged his big eyes and looked for his lord.
He found himself in the middle of a white, overwhelming desert. Behind him was the stormy, volatile Dark Desolate Domain. But in front of him, it was a flat plateau without the least hinderance, except for the few lone sentry posts where lights of panic were flashing.
After the merging of the Heaven's Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector accelerated, the Dark Desolate Domain, as the melding point of the two Sectors, grew larger and larger. Right now, it had already taken up one third of the Grand Desolate Plateau from the north.
It was much easier to rip apart a wormhole in the sky of the Grand Desolate Plateau, too. At the cost of an insignificant number of crystals, it would be enough to send a devilish warship or a demon emperor to the Heaven's Origin Sector!
Of course, Black Fire Stone did not know such complicated issues. He only noticed that colorful light balls were appearing in the air all around him.
At first, the light balls were shivering like fireflies, but very soon, they expanded into giant torches more than ten meters in diameter. When the dazzling brilliance dispersed and faded away, countless demons had already shown up in the Heaven's Origin Sector!
Black Fire Stone was too unintelligent to remember the names of the demons. He had never seen so many bizarre-looking companions, either.
Sometimes, he even doubted whether or not the newcomers were his companions because they looked too strange. Some of them were hybrids of lions and tigers. Some had four wings and almost ten eyes with long tail made of colorful feathers behind them. Some were round like balloons floating in the air with layers of sharp thorns on their bodies. When other demons accidentally touched them, they would shriek earsplittingly, and their body size would significantly expand, with their sharp thorns turning into red.
Those guys did not seem easy to deal with. If he ran into them in a forest, Black Fire Stone would certainly run away as fast as possible.
But right now, Black Fire Stone knew that they were on the same side.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Fulminations that sounded like dull thunder broke out in midair. Dozens of light spots resembling fireflies condensed into a magnetic field of mystic rays almost a hundred meters in diameter.
An enormous object was taking shape quickly in the magnetic field.
When the mystic rays dispersed, under the pale moonlight, an enormous insect that was almost five floors tall, with black shells all over its body and a long horn dozens of meters long at the center of its forehead, appeared!
Hum!
The black shells all over the insect's body were shivering rapidly, spurting out streams of intense demonic energy, as if a hundred awe-inspiring flags were flapping on his body.
Black Fire Stone could not help but tremble.
Although he did not know what the name of the insect was, as a member of the Horn Clan, it was his natural instinct to revere and worship the divine beasts with great horns.
"Moo!"
"Moo! Moo! Moo!"
Black Fire Stone and his companions of the same troop echoed with the giant insect.
A while back, Black Fire Stone had still been a little bit scared of the brutal human beings, but he was fearless now.
Such an awesome insect whose horn was dozens of meters long was here. Could the enemy ever defeat such a godly beast however brutal they were?
"Hurry up! Hurry up! Hurry up!"
The lord who had golden horns and was wearing a black combat suit and dark red armor finally showed up. He waved the super large hammer carved with beautiful patterns hard and roared, "Brute Hammer Troop, gather immediately! What are you stupid bulls dawdling for? Are you f*cking planning on living here forever?
"The evil human beings have occupied the Grand Desolate Plateau, the territory of demons, for two hundred years! They burnt out cities to the ground, annihilated our compatriots, and destroyed our civilization on the Grand Desolate Plateau!
"Right now, after destroying the Grand Desolate Plateau, they are trying to extend their evil hand to our home, the Blood Demon Sector!
"The evil human beings are launching an invasion against the Blood Demon Sector in secret!
"They are going to destroy the Blood Demon Sector in the same way they destroyed the Grand Desolate Plateau! They are going to kill our family the way they kill the demons of the Far East Demon Kingdom and the Grand Desolate Plateau!
"To protect our family, and to defend our homeland, we must cut off the evil hand and eliminate all the malicious human beings!
"Human beings are cowards who only dare launch their flying swords and crystal cannons from behind their city walls!
"But we are the blood descendants of the Pangu Clan. We are the children of Kuafu, Gonggong, and Nuwa!
"This is our last war. The glorious Pantheon of Demons is awaiting us in the clouds!
"Even if our body is destroyed, our soul shall be resurrected in the glorious Pantheon of Demons to realize the eternal immortality!
"Obliteration, rebirth, immortality!"
"Obliteration, rebirth, immortality!"
Black Fire Stone's tiny ears pricked up as he tried hard to listen.
To be honest, he did not really know what the lord was talking about.
He glanced at his friend, One Ear, who had grown up in the same village with him and was enlisted together with him half a year ago, and noticed that his friend was grimacing at him in confusion, too.
Black Fire Stone grinned in amusement. He was quite happy knowing that his friend was as silly as him.
After living in the military camp for half a year, Black Fire Stone, who was naturally endowed with enormous physically strength, did not have many complaints. But the propaganda three times a day and all the talks about 'evil human beings' and 'glorious Pantheon of Demons' were giving him quite a headache.
He did not know exactly what the complicated words meant. He only vaguely learned that human beings were not satisfied when they had the best land in the universe—they were still trying to burn down his cottage, kill his wife, and cook his children for supper.
Before, Black Fire Stone did not know exactly what the best land in the universe was.
But right now, breathing the fresh air on the Grand Desolate Plateau, he seemed to have realized what it meant.
Human beings were calling such a wonderland 'Grand Desolate Plateau'; what would the places that were not desolate in their eyes look like?
Black Fire Stone was suddenly grabbed by fury.
Although he had worked hard in the military camp for half a year, he had never forgotten his experience when he looked for food in the barren land.
He could not understand why human beings would be unsatisfied and still want to take over his small, pitiful village when they already had such a fabulous place.
Look. The aspens here did not bite, and the cacti would not shoot out venomous thorns. What a beautiful place!
If he could build a village with his brothers in this place, there would not be a second place in the universe that he would want to go to.
Black Fire Stone could not understand it. Then again, it was his habit to not think about things that he could not understand.
He only knew that he did not want human beings to burn his cottage, kill his wife, and make his ugly children into soup.
"Bring forth the scarabs!" the golden-horned lord suddenly shrieked.
All the Blue-Horned Loading Bulls were excited. The scarab was a treasure when they were in the military camp. Only the black-blood demons who trained themselves hardest and fought the craziest would have the privilege of getting a dosage. They did not expect that every one of them would have one shot.
A fat, round, translucent green beetle was given to Black Fire Stone. Black Fire Stone moved his nose over and took a greedy breath of the scarab after slightly rubbing its bottom, then he stuck the scarab to the back of his head.
Chi!
The mouthpart of the scarab pierced into his head like lightning, injecting a tremendous amount of nervous stimulant into his brain. The stimulation on his brain nerves made Black Fire Stone roar loudly, and his body size expand. His skin was shattered, and yet he did not feel the slightest pain. He had never been more comfortable in his entire life!
In a trance, he was seeing all kinds of illusions.
Poor village… Purple sky… Three bloody moons… The shrieks of his kids at night because of hunger… His wife's warm body…
The golden-horned lord pointed at the sky and shouted, "Do you see it? The glorious Pantheon of Demons is awaiting us in the clouds!"
"I see it now!"
"I see it now!"
"Moo! Moo! Moo!"
Everybody in the Brute Hammer Troop was echoing.
Black Fire Stone did not see it.
Ever since his wife appeared in the illusions, he could not see anything else.
He bit his tongue hard and gritted his teeth to kick away his wife from his brain. Then, he bulged his eyes, which were completely bloodshot, while he stared at the gray, gloomy clouds.
