Forty millenniums of cul.., p.484
Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 484
On the Wild Tide Pirate Gang's side, they were well-prepared and had been on a winning streak recently. Therefore, they had high morale. The longer they fought, the braver they became.
Due to the length of the battle and the unexpected casualties, the temporarily recruited mobs were all hesitating to charge forward and were planning to retreat.
Yin She sighed. "It's a pity that two starships of our elites were chased after by Cultivators in the Silver Brilliance Space Zone. They are still playing hide-and-seek in the stone belts there and haven't returned to Spider Den yet. We can only count on those scumbags that we hired recently. I estimate that our attack will prove to be futile."
"It doesn't matter. Few of them are our own. What we lose is just a bit of money," the leader said slowly. "The most important thing is to show our attitude to Fengyu Zhong and the Temple of Immortals. As long as our stance is confirmed, no matter how heavy our losses are, Fengyu Zhong and the Temple of Immortals will cover them."
While the two of them were talking about the battle, a gray shadow blinked close to the wall like a chameleon. Before they knew it, it had reached their side.
The leader and the advisor immediately furrowed their brows with a gloomy face.
Recently, the Split Sun Pirate Gang had hired a lot of soldiers in Silver Wing City and the few cities nearby. Of all the mercenaries, the guy 'Bloody Vulture' was paid the most. His ability to escape from the Wild Tide Pirate Gang nine times that day was highly valued.
Today was his first battle. They had thought that he would demonstrate an amazing performance and did not expect that he would retreat so quickly.
"You—"
Before Yin She had the time to finish his sentence, the newcomer threw a helmet to his feet.
Yin She's pupils constricted violently as he exclaimed, "Gui Feng's helmet?"
Li Yao gave no reply and simply crouched behind a bunker.
While the leader and the advisor were in a daze, an earthshaking explosion suddenly broke out above their heads. When they looked up, they discovered that a great fireball almost a hundred meters in diameter was rising up from the engine compartment of the starship that was being maintained in the dock. The fireball almost blocked the entire mining hole now.
The scorching air currents swept over more than half of the dock instantly. After a period of screeching noises, the starship broke apart and was stuck in the mining hole!
As the air currents swept over, intense explosions continued breaking out in every corner of the dock. Fireballs were growing out of thin air like orange mushrooms.
The space pirates of the Split Sun Pirate Gang and those of the Wild Tide were caught unprepared alike. They were all screaming in the ocean of flames!
The blast came over like an overwhelming tsunami. Yin She, as an advisor, was not a combat-type Cultivator. The blast knocked him over directly.
Even the leader of the Split Sun Pirate Gang was slightly shaking in the blast.
Lightheaded, two ferocious bandits looked at Li Yao in bewilderment.
Li Yao brushed off the dust on his shoulder, and a calm voice came from beneath his cold mask. "The obstacles have all been cleared. Your main troops may attack now."
"But—"
Yin She was of a mind to jump and shout. They were planning to take back the maintenance dock instead of destroying it completely. Such insane explosions had essentially blown the entire dock up. Even though it was taken back, it would not function normally without a year and a half's reconstruction!
Besides, there were so many their people inside the dock!
"You—"
Yin She was about to burst into fury, but for some reason, when he looked at the facial cover on the newcomer's helmet, even though he could not see them, he felt as if two cold eyes had brushed past by his heart.
Yin She secretly shuddered and looked at the leader.
The leader of the Split Sun Pirate Gang was dazed for a long time, too. In the end, he waved his hands helplessly and gnashed his teeth. "Attack!"
Chapter 723: Terror Bomb |
As more and more space pirates on the Temple of Immortals' side retreated to Spider Den from Heavenly Saints City, Fengyu Zhong's counterattack pushed forward continuously.
In the various mining pit cities on Spider Den, the scattered battles grew larger in number and scale, showing signs that a great war was about to break out.
On the Nexus, both true and false news about the open and secret competitions of the two parties were spreading crazily like wildfire.
In the dynasty-changing battles, many brutal bandits whose notorious names once reached afar died miserably and quietly in the dark gutters at the bottom of the mining pits.
In the meantime, many new-generation bandits who had never been heard of before replaced their predecessors and rose to fame.
Bloody Vulture was one of them.
In a short month, not only did the name of 'Bloody Vulture' become well-known in Silver Wing City, it had also attracted much attention in the other cities of Spider Den.
On December 17, during the attack of a crystal suit maintenance center under the Wild Tide Pirate Gang's control, Bloody Vulture slew two space pirates in the Building Foundation Stage and nine in the Refinement Stage. He also blew more than half of the center into smithereens.
On December 19, the Split Sun Pirate Gang assassinated the chief accountant of the Wild Tide Pirate Gang. In the end, Bloody Vulture's serial bombs separated the chief account from his body guards and exposed his traces. The chief account was then beheaded by a flying sword launched from 1,300 meters away.
On December 25, the secret treasury of the Wild Tide Pirate Gang, which stored not only most of the cash of the gang but also the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures for the space pirates' training, was blown up by Bloody Vulture within only five minutes, despite the fact that it was said to be made of an extremely sturdy alloy and installed with countless defense rune arrays. The resources were all plundered by Bloody Vulture and the Split Sun Pirate Gang!
On December 27…
On December 31…
In less than one month, Bloody Vulture participated in almost twenty battles and played a vital role in every one of them. Even if the Split Sun Pirate Gang's attack failed, he could often accomplish something on his own. Therefore, he became the most hated target for the Wild Tide Pirate Gang and rose to fame in the circle of space pirates!
According to the files on the Nexus, the man was brutal, merciless, and never considered the consequences of his actions. Once he went mad, he would not be able to tell friend from foe at all.
As a result, he often planted crystal bombs all over the battlefield without thinking about anything else. Even in daily life, he was not someone that other people could mess around with.
According to sources, another lone wolf who was also hired by the Split Sun Pirate Gang was dissatisfied about Bloody Vulture's rewards and had a conflict with him during a feast.
Bloody Vulture did not fight back on the spot and simply left. All the other space pirates thought that he was scared and mocked him hard.
But the next day, when the lone wolf was doing his training, the crystal reactor of his crystal suit had an uncanny explosion.
The famous brutal bandit who had once killed dozens of Cultivators died miserably on the spot without even having the chance to scream.
After that incident, no space pirates dared to question why Bloody Vulture's rewards were the highest of all.
…
Lying on the bed comfortably, Li Yao tapped the light beam and browsed through the information about himself on the dark net.
Since Spider Den and Heavenly Saints City were mortal enemies, it was impossible for the Grand Illusionary Group to have established Spiritual Towers in this place. For the sake of safety, the Spiritual Towers built by Spider Den were not compatible with the standard Spiritual Towers of the Cultivators.
Therefore, it was impossible to connect to the Spiritual Nexus of the outside world on Spider Den.
However, the local area network of Spider Den had abundant content, too, and most of the content was exactly what the space pirates were interested in.
Through the local area network, Li Yao was not only able to browse through the remarks that other space pirates gave him but also able to collect valuable information about the moves that Fengyu Zhong and Bai Xinghe were going to make.
In order to recruit more subordinates and expand their forces, the two parties did not conceal their schemes at all. They were both boasting about themselves on the network, bluffing that they were the sun in the middle of a day while their opponent was a dying sun that was about to set.
Fengyu Zhong and Bai Xinghe's head-on clash should be within the next couple of days, concluded Li Yao.
He had seen Bai Xinghe a month ago. Such a great man definitely understood the importance of timing.
Before, Bai Xinghe's ambushes had only succeeded because most of the strength of the Temple of Immortals was not on Spider Den.
Once the focus of the Temple of Immortals returned to Spider Den, he would stand no chance at all.
The only choice he had was to take down Fengyu Zhong before the enemy's main force returned and force the Temple of Immortals to sit down and negotiate with him!
On the Temple of Immortals' side, their capability was naturally much higher than Bai Xinghe's. But their target was the entire Flying Star Sector, and it was impossible to concentrate all their attention on Bai Xinghe.
Take down Bai Xinghe, or accept his conditions, however unwilling they were, if it was impossible to take him down. The choice had to be made quickly. It was unwise to spend most of the resources and manpower on the old bastard Bai Xinghe.
It was one of the most important reasons that Li Yao had shown off crazily.
He had to prove his value with all methods available. He had to prove that he was qualified to participate in the final battle between Fengyu Zhong and Bai Xinghe!
According to the news on the dark net, the battles between the secondary pirate gangs culminated five days ago. Since then, both parties have been keeping a low profile. There have been no big operations for days.
As for the Split Sun Pirate Gang, another starship fully loaded with elites returned to Spider Den the other day, but no new attacks were carried out.
Besides, many other famous assassins, mercenaries, and lone wolves have disappeared. They must be working in secret right now.
This is the calm before the storm. A great war is about to break out!
I wonder, will my performance over the past month be noticed by Fengyu Zhong?
Li Yao turned off the light beam. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, starting his daily training.
Over the past month, the Split Sun Pirate Gang had changed Li Yao's residence three times, each more extravagant than the last.
However, Li Yao was very clear that crystal cameras must have been installed in secret nooks and crannies to monitor him.
He was not willing to do any real training while being watching by somebody. Therefore, he simply refined and perfect the 'terror bombs' inside his brain.
Terror bombs were mental weapons condensed by his telepathic thoughts. They could bewilder and intimidate the enemy with a world of illusions.
In order to trap an enemy with a solid soul in a world of illusions, the illusions had to be built in a vivid and flawless fashion.
Building a life-like world from scratch was a job that would consume a lot of mental power and computational ability.
The flowers and woods, the bouncing flames, the ripples when a breeze passed by a lake… Every detail had to be modelled, scripted, and rendered.
If the computational ability was insufficient, the illusions rendered would be very lousy. When the flames were bouncing too rigidly, the enemy caught in the illusions would immediately notice that everything was fake.
In the field of mental attacks, Li Yao was just a beginner. Although he had tested it on many space pirates, he still found it complicated and extremely difficult to grasp.
It took him two hours to condense a 'terror bomb' that could last three seconds. When he finished the job, his sheets were soaked in sweat.
The rendering is still not good enough. If the enemy is above the middle level of the Building Foundation Stage, when their soul shakes violently, the three methods of rendering that I current employ might have conflicts. The entire world of illusions will collapse immediately.
I have to find several rendering methods that are more powerful. Maybe I should buy a few books on the construction of illusions as well as some on modelling and rendering techniques.
Li Yao concluded the lessons of his training.
Right then, somebody knocked the door lightly.
Click!
Li Yao waved his hand. His spiritual energy reached the defense rune arrays and opened the door automatically.
Yin She, the advisor, walked in cautiously.
After a month of battles, Yin She had a profound understanding of how dangerous Bloody Vulture was. He also remembered how miserably the mercenary who had conflicts with Bloody Vulture during the feast had died the day after during his training.
More importantly, the crystal suit whose crystal reactor went wrong was the mercenary's own.
Nobody had any idea how Bloody Vulture got the crystal suit and set up traps on the crystal reactor without alarming its owner!
From that day on, the advisor had always felt lucky that he was courteous and did not offend the dangerous person when he recruited Bloody Vulture.
"Another mission?" Li Yao sat straight on the bed.
"Congratulations, Brother Bloody Vulture. Your career is about to soar!" Yin She smiled delightedly. "Brother Bloody Vulture has been on a kill spree in Silver Wing City over the past month. Not only is the Wild Tide Pirate Gang awed by your name, it has also been heard by Boss Fengyu Zhong, the new dominator in the circle of space pirates!
"Boss Fengyu Zhong has watched a lot of your battle videos and is very interested in you. He would like to invite you for a real big operation!
"It is not the child's play between the Split Sun Pirate Gang and the Wild Tide Pirate Gang, but a great war that can potentially turn the whole of Spider Den upside down! The question remains, is Brother Bloody Vulture willing to take the risk?"
It's finally here!
Li Yao felt thrilled. But he replied, showing no sign of his excitement, "Fengyu Zhong is starting a final battle against Boss Bai now?"
Everybody on Spider Den had learned of the matter. It was not odd for Li Yao to ask that.
Yin She blinked and said, "We all know what is going on. There's no need to say it out loud. After all, you are paid for what you do, Brother Bloody Vulture, and I guarantee that you will gain a lot of benefits by working for Boss Fengyu Zhong directly, that is, if you are bold enough to do so."
"Since the day I killed the son of the captain of the Wild Tide Pirate Gang, there has been no turning back for me."
Li Yao jumped up from his bed and stretched out arms. Cracking noises echoed all over his body, as if a bloodstained eagle was opening its wings behind him.
Li Yao smiled. "Bring me to Boss Fengyu Zhong. I will surprise him."
Chapter 724: Four Brutal Bandits |
Capital Nest, the biggest city on Spider Den, was where the mother lodes had been densest on Spider Den ten thousand years ago, and it was the mining city that the Star Ocean Imperium developed in the earliest stage.
Looking down through the window of the crystal warship, Li Yao noticed that there was nothing except jam-packed mining pits over the hundreds of square kilometers of desolate land, which made it look like an enormous honeycomb.
In the complicated underground tunnels, countless magical equipment centers, starship maintenance centers, and purification plants for Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures were hidden. Together with the underground city that could accommodate millions of workers and Cultivators and the underground fortress that was concealed below the underground city, even the locals who had lived in the city for generations did not have the slightest clue how enormous the city made of interconnecting mazes was!
Capital Nest was the center of Spider Den. It was home to Bai Xinghe, the Pirate Potentate, and also where Black Spider Tower was headquartered.
Right now, both parties were preparing their soldiers and supplies, ready for the last battle that could break out at any moment.
The city was divided into two zones, one in the east and the other in the west, with a clear boundary. The air was so intense that a single spark could detonate hundreds of mining pits at the same time.
The crystal warship that Li Yao was on flew into the zone that was under the Temple of Immortals' control slowly through a giant hole slanted downward.
Capital Nest was entirely different from Silver Wing City in style.
Although the Wild Tide Pirate Gang and the Split Sun Pirate Gang had been fighting hard in Silver Wing City, most people's daily lives had not been affected. The black market, the hotels, and the magical equipment stores opened as usual, and the underground arenas and the strip clubs were packed with space pirates, too.
Capital Nest, on the other hand, had turned into a grave military fortress. Most of the stores were closed, and few lone space pirates could be seen on the street. Most of the space pirates were in neat groups and wearing standard crystal suits, leaving the impression that they were actually an army.
The space pirates were mostly wearing red crystal suits and white ones.
Those in red crystal suits had the mark of an angry black spider on their chests. The mark of their leader had a few gold stripes painted on the outside.
According to the introduction of Yin She, the advisor, they were all soldiers commanded by Black Spider Tower.
Those Exos in white crystal suits seemed to be in a higher position than the soldiers. Their crystal suits were more elegant and streamlined, giving a feeling of a perfect 'waterdrop' from head to toe. Certain half-stealth rune arrays seemed to have been utilized, because the crystal suits were entangled by invisible waves and appeared to be partially melded with the air. They looked extraordinary and seemed to belong to a different world.
