Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 834
The enormous space was both a relic of the ancient battlefield and an invaluable treasury.
Because of the protection of the super alloy walls, there was neither intense interference nor the invasion of the Blood Tide, the Hellish Light Butterflies, and other mutated animals. Most of the remains had been perfectly preserved!
Although most of the dead bodies of the Pangu Clan and human beings from hundreds of thousands of years ago had turned into dry corpses and bones, and there was not the slightest sign of living cells, glimmering light was still emanating from the armor and the blades of some of the soldiers, suggesting that they had not entirely corroded yet!
When Li Yao approached the magical equipment and tested them with a few telepathic thoughts, the flames of light on the surface of the magical equipment suddenly soared, obviously responding to his telepathic thoughts!
The magical equipment is not totally broken yet! Li Yao was about to cry tears of joy!
For a specialist of magical equipment, was there a more wonderful thing than to swim in an ocean of ancient magical equipment of the primeval age?
Shua!
At the center of the enormous space, Tang Qianhe must have touched a certain piece of magical equipment. Intense ripples of spiritual energy were triggered. A golden ball of light expanded suddenly from a small spot that bordered on nothingness to more than a thousand meters in diameter!
On the translucent golden ball were starry spots of light that were linked to each other with the thinnest of lines, with detailed information noted next to them!
Li Yao carefully adjusted the power rune arrays of the crystal suit. Spurting out feeble exhaust flames, he flew into the golden ball slowly and observed the world inside the golden ball.
He found himself in a small and yet specific universe. The stars and everything in the sky were slowly swirling around him.
This is… the navigation map of the Pangu civilization!
Li Yao almost cried out in shock!
The star maps that recorded all the celestial bodies in the three thousand Sectors had many categories.
Some of the star maps paid special attention to the stars, some were focused on the resourceful, habitable planets, and some highlighted the location of every black hole.
The star map inside the Star Prier's House, for example, was designed to lock onto all abnormal celestial bodies in the entire universe. It was essentially a depiction of the running apocalypses.
So, not any random star map could support a voyage in the sea of stars.
It was like travelling the world with a global map the size of a palm, which would barely be of any help in providing guidance.
The Heaven's Origin Sector, the Flying Star Sector, and the Blood Demon Sector's understanding about the universe was still shallow. All the star maps under their control, except for the Star Map of Kunlun left by Ba Yanzhi and the depiction of the running apocalypses in the Star Prier's House, were essentially no different from a global map the size of a palm. They could not be used to guide voyages in space at all.
The star map in front of Li Yao, however, was different.
Not only did it include tremendous information about black holes, neutron stars, red giants, geomagnetic nebulas, and safe sailing routes, it also specifically marked countless space zones that had abundant spiritual energy and stable astronomical parameters and were therefore suitable for space jumps!
Other than that, there were also thousands more types of information that were dazzling and utterly incomprehensible to Li Yao!
It was the most professional space navigation map designed to guide the starships!
Although Li Yao failed to understand most of the information, he still managed to recognize the Heaven's Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector, which were in the bottom left corner of the picture, and the Flying Star Sector, which was in the center!
Judging from the relative relation of the three Sectors and the scale of the whole map, the range of the star map was not very large, but it still included dozens of Sectors around the Heaven's Origin Sector, the Flying Star Sector, and the Blood Demon Sector!
This is a priceless treasure!
Li Yao only hated that he could not stuff the star map into his stomach.
Although it was a product of almost a million years ago, from an astronomical point of view, the time elapsed was just a blink of an eye. The macroscopic environment would not be too different!
It meant that the detailed space navigation map where the Heaven's Origin Sector, the Blood Demon Sector, the Flying Star Sector, and the nearby worlds were included could provide enlightenment for the universal development even today!
The three Immortal Cultivators were also shivering in excitement. It was obvious that a lot of information contained in the space navigation map was not even grasped by the Imperium of True Human Beings!
Not good!
Li Yao suddenly thought of something. The value of the star map was simply too high. There would be dire consequences if it fell to the hands of the Imperium of True Human Beings.
Whatever the price was, he had to prevent the three Immortal Cultivators from having the star map!
"This place is an escape center."
Tang Qianhe made a professional judgement based on her abundant space travel experience. Pointing at the empty 'honeycomb', she said, "Those dense holes should've been filled with escape capsules in the beginning.
"Perhaps, the Pangu Clan realized that their failure was inevitable. Therefore, they were teleported to the place through the teleportation arrays deployed everywhere on the planetary warship before they boarded the escape capsules and fled from the planetary warship!
"Escape capsules wouldn't have possessed much power, and it's difficult for them to change their sailing route. Therefore, their destinations were set through a certain piece of control magical equipment in the escape center. That's why there is such a clear and detailed space navigation map here!"
"Escape capsules?"
All four of them were fascinated.
If they could find an escape capsule left by the Pangu civilization, it would be possible for them to figure out the universal sailing technology and the space jump technology entailed in the artifact. The treasure would be invaluable!
"Explore the 'honeycomb' right now and see if there's any escape capsule left!"
Even the cunning Su Changfa could not hold his excitement back anymore. Li Yao could clearly hear his heavy breath in the communication channel.
All of spiritual puppets dispersed and started searching the walls that were almost infinitely long.
Li Yao was receiving almost a thousand pictures through the spiritual puppets simultaneously. He did not need to explore personally but only had to analyze and process the pictures.
Most of the hexagonal holes were empty, with dark tubes behind them leading to nobody knew where.
Some of the holes had been completely ruined in the explosions together with the escape capsules inside. They had turned into dark scraps and lost all their value.
Half an hour later, the spiritual puppets controlled by Tang Qianhe finally found the first intact escape capsule.
What surprised them even more was that—
Somebody was inside the escape capsule!
Chapter 1277: A Living God! |
The members of the Pangu Clan were often six times taller than regular human beings. Therefore, their single escape capsules were more like the small-scale crystal warships for human beings. This particular escape capsule was more than thirty meters long and fusiform, bulging at the middle and tapering at each end. It looked like a brilliant lozenge that had sharp edges.
The middle part of the 'spindle' adopted certain translucent materials. Thick, deep-blue fluids could be vaguely seen inside the lozenge. Despite the scourge of time after hundreds of thousands of years, it was still in the most glamorous colors.
In the escape center that was utterly dim, the intact escape capsule was as eye-catching as a firefly on a dark night. Therefore, the Immortal Cultivators found it without any trouble.
Inside the deep-blue fluids, a giant was floating, or rather, embedded!
He was around fifteen meters tall and the color of white jade. His skin was fair and smooth. Generally speaking, he was very similar to the members of the Pangu Clan who disintegrated themselves and facilitated the evolution of all creatures in the primeval memories that Li Yao had experienced, except that his skin was less rough than theirs.
He was just like a human being that had been enlarged multiple times. There were no bizarre features such as additional heads and limbs or long tusks. Even the number of his fingers and toes was precisely ten.
Although his eyes were half-closed, there was still an aura of solemnity, perfectness, and inviolability on his face. He was like a magnificent statue in a temple and imposed upon anyone who saw him the urge to worship him and obey his orders.
Other than the thick, deep-blue fluids that he was submerged in, he was also covered in a 'skin membrane' that looked similar to a mustard-level combat suit.
Li Yao observed from various angles. The skin membrane was reflecting thousands of complicated colors that were swirling and colliding crazily like tornadoes until they condensed into esoteric runes in the end.
At first, Li Yao meant to focus his attention and parse the runes.
However, after reading for only a few seconds, he felt that the world was turning upside down, and he could not persist any longer. The complexity of the rune arrays far exceeded the limitation of his computation ability.
Perhaps, it was the skin membrane where billions of rune arrays were compiled that preserved the body of flesh and blood from the primeval age to this today and kept it fresh, intact, and full!
Compared to other dead bodies on the primeval battlefield, the member of the Pangu Clan was athletic with bulging muscles. Deep below the gray skin, there were also vague traces of veins.
He did not look like a body that had been dead for hundreds of thousands of years; he seemed to have just fallen asleep the day before and would wake up at any moment.
The three Immortal Cultivators and the Cultivator looked at each other. Despite the blockage of the thick helmet, they still felt the shock and ecstasy in each other's eyes!
"An authentic member of the Pangu Clan!"
"Not a fossil, not a corpse, not pieces of light and shadow, but a real existence with flesh and blood!"
"Is he dead? Or is he—"
"It's hibernation technology! He is in the middle of a hibernation that has lasted hundreds of thousands of years!"
"I get it. I get it now! The single escape capsules of the Pangu civilization were hibernation cabins at the same time! Because the single escape capsules were weak and could not change the route easily, accidents were very likely to happen, causing them to brush past their destination. If so, they would float in the universe for a very long time!
"Therefore, the moment that they entered the escape capsule, they would enter the hibernation state. Even if they were launched into the depths of the universe aimlessly, they would be sustained long enough until they reached their destination or were found by rescuers!
"By doing so, their odds of survival would be significantly increased!
"The navigation system and the launch system must have been destroyed by the invading human troops who followed them to the place, when the member of the Pangu Clan had just crawled into the escape capsule and entered the hibernation state. He never got the opportunity to be launched. As a result, he was stuck to the place, unable to move at all!
"Look here. His escape capsule is connected to the escape center through tubes. The entire planetary warship is still providing energy for it. No wonder the hibernation state has lasted hundreds of thousands of years!"
The four of them could not have been more excited. Proposing their respective opinions, they managed to infer what had happened on the battlefield that day.
The key point right now, however, was—
"Is the member of the Pangu Clan still alive?"
It was a complicated issue.
Judging from the appearance, he did not seem to have breath or a heartbeat. There were no vital signs on him at all.
However, the most advanced hibernation technology could achieve the same purpose by compressing the life activities of the body to the minimum and reducing all the consumption of energy. Otherwise, how could anybody survive a long time in the hibernation state without aging?
Yet, even if the member of the Pangu was dead, at the very least, his body was still very healthy. It was certainly possible to retrieve living souls from the body, which would help them to crack the secrets of the Pangu civilization!
"Let's tread lightly. The Pangu Clan was a very dangerous existence!"
Su Changfa swallowed and said, "If he truly is dead, everything will be easier, but if he is alive and awakened, it… might not be anything good for us!"
Li Yao recalled the warriors of the Pangu Clan on the primeval battlefield who could fight the 'Colossi' dozens of meters tall on their own. Instantly, he felt an ache in his head.
He agreed with Su Changfa's judgement.
The half-dead member of the Pangu Clan was not only an invaluable treasure but also a red-hot potato.
"I suggest that we keep everything around the escape capsule exactly as it is and deploy fifty spiritual puppets to guard it to ensure that no pieces will hit it," Su Changfa said softly, somewhat scared. "Right now, there are only two possibilities. The soldier of the Pangu Clan is either dead or hibernating!
"We are not clear of the structure of the escape capsule or the way to open it. If he is already dead and we act rashly, it is possible that we will destroy the hibernation rune array inside the escape capsule. His body will rot and decompose instantly. We won't be able to retrieve a single cell!"
Li Yao recalled the vivid body of the Pangu Clan that he and Professor Mo Xuan had run into in space just outside Kunlun.
Sparkle had only approached it a little bit, when it was already obliterated into smithereens, nowhere to be found again.
Such dead bodies that had decayed for hundreds of thousands of years might be extremely vulnerable despite their glamorous appearance. Anything could happen when they were exposed to the air, so it was indeed important that they acted cautiously.
"If he is still alive, and we are reckless enough to free him in our carelessness, it will be even more terrible! Nobody wants to be faced with an infuriated soldier of the Pangu Clan without preparation!"
With a bitter smile, Su Changfa said, "Now that we have likely discovered a 'living' member of the Pangu Clan, we might as well slightly change our plan.
"Since all kinds of resources can be found on the planetary warship, we can totally postpone… communicating with the Flying Star Sector and focus on the development in this place first.
"Maybe, in a year and a half, we will be able to collect enough resources to upgrade the base toward the 'war form' so that we will be able to build stronger spiritual puppets and magical equipment with heavy firepower designed to deal with the huge enemies!
"After all, the member of the Pangu Clan has already slept for hundreds of thousands of years, and he is not likely to wake up any time soon. Once we have enough troops that are strong enough, we can come back and figure out how to open the escape capsule. What do you say?"
Li Yao's interest was piqued.
Su Changfa's words revealed a piece of key information.
The Imperium of True Human Beings' space exploration base turned out to be upgradable and developable to different directions.
Since there was a 'war form', there must be other directions such as 'resource collection form', 'space teleportation form', and 'research and exploration form'.
Maybe, in certain forms, the base could be unfolded into an enormous space gate itself so that a great army in a foreign world would appear out of nowhere and occupy the new Sector!
However, the upgrades of the base would obviously cost both time and resources, considering that the preliminary upgrade would not be finished in a year and a half when Kunlun was already such a resource-intensive place!
You can take your time to upgrade! Li Yao chuckled to himself. For the exploration mission, they had already dawdled too long. Burning Prairie would bring the top-tier experts of the Heaven's Origin Sector, the Flying Star Sector, and the Blood Demon Sector to the place at any moment. By then, the whole of Kunlun, as well as the half-dead member of the Pangu Clan, would be the trophies of the Cultivators!
However—
He suddenly felt alarmed without a good reason. Something did not seem right!
Su Changfa's suggestion was one that carried the least risk. Also, a presumably dead body of the Pangu Clan was not enough to resolve the three Immortal Cultivators' imminent peril. What they were in desperate need of was battle magical equipment such as a 'Colossus'.
After recovering from their initial shock and excitement, Tang Qianhe and Kou Ruhuo both agreed with Su Changfa's decision. After leaving dozens of spiritual puppets to watch over the member of the Pangu Clan whose status was unknown, they continued exploring around.
This time, they paid special attention to the enormous, human-shaped puppets more than ten meters tall, no matter how broken the puppets were.
Kou Ruhuo was the specialist of magical equipment among the Immortal Cultivators. With the debris of the broken Colossi, it was possible for him to assemble a makeshift Colossus!
Moving forward in the remains of magical equipment, which were floating everywhere, Li Yao felt that he was back in the magical equipment graveyard twenty years ago.
The only difference was that the 'garbage' around him was countless times more advanced!
Li Yao discovered sophisticated components inside the simplest-looking sabers and swords when he extended his spiritual threads to explore them. They were a hundred times more precise than the chainswords employed by the Imperium or the federation!
Li Yao was both surprised and delighted.
He was surprised at the incredibleness of the magical equipment of the Pangu civilization.
