Forty millenniums of cul.., p.736
Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 736
"I am very, very curious how superlative the so-called 'superlative height of the Core Formation Stage' is, and whether or not a Cultivator in the superlative height of the Core Formation Stage can kill a Cultivator who has reached the limits in every aspect of the peak of the Core Formation Stage."
"Don't move." Li Yao opened one of the buttons on his coat, revealing the glittering crystals and components on his chest. "You've hunted me long enough to know what business I like best, haven't you? I am certainly not unprepared now that I have broken into the headquarters of the Secret Sword Bureau when I am already heavily wounded!
"Now, I am wrapped in the most powerful crystal bombs, which are all made of the marrow crystals and demon cores of the highest quality. At such a close distance, I guarantee that you will not have a chance to summon your crystal suit or establish your spiritual shield of the highest density. The chances of us dying together will be above 95%."
Guo Chunfeng was amused. "Hey, Li Yao, you don't think that people of my trade are scared of death, do you? Being blown up by crystal bombs is quick and painless. It is almost a way of death that all the Secret Sword Agents dream about!"
Li Yao smiled, baring his sharp teeth. "Perhaps you are not, but while I was infiltrating this place, I planted numerous crystal bombs in every corner of the headquarters of the Secret Sword Bureau.
"You must know that all the best agents of the Secret Sword Bureau are hunting after me outside. Only the strengthless admin-type and research-type Cultivators, most of whom are crystal processor specialists and data analysts, are left in the headquarters. What are their odds of survival if hundreds of crystal bombs are detonated at the same time?"
Guo Chunfeng narrowed his eyes. "Do you think I'm a three-year-old? The headquarters of the Secret Sword Bureau are heavily guarded. It is already your limit to sneak in without alarming anyone. How could you have possibly planted crystal bombs everywhere? Do you think our defense system is a sifter that has nothing but holes in it?"
Li Yao smiled. "I don't care. I have done what I should. Now, it's all up to you. You may take your chances."
Guo Chunfeng was silent.
Li Yao waved his hands and showed a ring on one of his fingers. "You may think that the very inconspicuous interphone on you can send out the conversation that we are having right now, right? It won't. I am wearing a piece of magical equipment that can jam the spiritual waves of communication magical equipment. In the next couple of minutes, you won't be able to send out any message.
"You'd better make a decision soon. If somebody enters the restroom right now, it will be quite unlucky for us and the federation because I will detonate the crystal bombs immediately and blow myself, you, and the headquarters of the Secret Sword Bureau up into the sky!"
Guo Chunfeng took a deep breath. "What do you want?"
"I have evidence that suggests that the explosions in the Federal Square were committed by not the demon race but your boss Lu Zui, director of the Secret Sword Bureau," Li Yao replied quickly. "I would like to show you the evidence!"
Guo Chunfeng's eyelash shivered. "Alright. Show it to me."
"The evidence is locked in a Jade Crystal Disc. Bring me to Professor Mo Xuan," Li Yao said. "I know that he is definitely not in the Red Dream Dragon Mall but locked somewhere in the headquarters of the Secret Sword Bureau! Ask the professor to crack the Jade Crystal Disc, and you will have all the evidence!"
"Why you I believe you?" Guo Chunfeng sneered.
"Because you will in no way suffer a loss. If the evidence is true, you will have made the correct choice to save the entire federation.
"If the evidence is false, I will still have been brought to the prison in the headquarters of the Secret Sword Bureau, and it will be much more difficult for me to escape.
"Your biggest loss will be a waste of several minutes of time, but you will have the chance to reveal a great scheme. Isn't it the fairest deal?"
"You seem to have a point," Guo Chunfeng remarked.
"Yes, I do have a point."
Right then, the door of the restroom was opened. Two Secret Sword Agents walked in. They both stood at attention when they saw Guo Chunfeng!
Li Yao's pupils constricted all of a sudden. He watched them coldly aside.
Guo Chunfeng wiped his face and waved at them. "As I have said millions of times, do not salute me when you see me in the restroom. Will you salute me, too, when you are holding you dick?"
Both of the two Secret Sword Agents laughed and were relieved.
Guo Chunfeng smiled, too, and said to Li Yao, "Let's go. It suddenly occurred to me that I have to ask Professor Mo Xuan about something important."
Leaving the restroom, the two of them walked to the lift, one at the front and one at the back, talking in a low voice like a regular boss and his subordinate.
"Boss?"
Several Secret Sword Agents saw Guo Chunfeng and were all a bit surprised, wondering where Guo Chunfeng was going instead of staying in the command center to supervise the situation.
"Mind your own business. I am going to bring Professor Mo Xuan to the command center!" Guo Chunfeng said. "After Li Yao shows up, he will probably ask the 'false Professor Mo Xuan' some sensitive questions. Without the real Professor Mo Xuan giving him guidance, he will likely give himself away!"
He was the supervisor of the first division and the chief commander for the operation to capture the Blood Devil. When Lu Zui was on Hidden Star in the sky, he was the highest official in the headquarters of the Secret Sword Bureau. Naturally, nobody was suspicious about him.
The prison where Professor Mo Xuan was locked up was on the minus thirteenth floor.
On the two sides of the pathway where cold wind was blowing were transparent prison cells that were blocked by tempered glass. People outside could clearly see what the prisoners were doing inside.
Professor Mo Xuan, Ding Lingdang, Wu Mayan, and Xie Anan were locked up in four different cells. The glass was transparent from only one direction and could block all the spiritual waves.
Everything inside could be clearly seen from the outside, but all that could be seen from inside was a blinking mirror.
Seeing that the four of them were tied up in barriers and that Professor Mo Xuan, whose real body was just liquid metal, was being suppressed by the rune arrays that were unleashing ultrasound waves, Li Yao was suddenly breathing heavily.
Guo Chunfeng had the door of Professor Mo Xuan's cell opened and walked in with Li Yao.
Professor Mo Xuan was dazed for a moment, but he seemed to realize something when he saw the mysterious eyes of the Secret Sword Agent next to Guo Chunfeng. "You—"
Guo Chunfeng raised his head and looked at the surveillance cameras on the wall. Moving his lips, he said without a sound, "I'll give you ten minutes at most."
Li Yao nodded. Adjusting the interference ring on his middle finger, he jammed the surveillance cameras to freeze the picture to a moment ago.
He walked up to Professor Mo Xuan, retrieved the Jade Crystal Disc from his Cosmos Ring, and was about to hand it over when—
Professor Mo Xuan suddenly shouted at the top of his voice, "Dodge!"
Li Yao's pupils, pores, nostrils… and every other hole on his body all shrank to the minimum at that moment as he felt his internal organs being minced into pieces by an invisible saber!
He turned around, only to see Guo Chunfeng's hideous face, and a sword aura that was hundreds of times more dazzling than a flash of lightning!
…
On Hidden Star in the sky of the capital city, more than ten core members of the Patriots Partnership were sitting next to Lu Zui. Almost a hundred light beams were floating in front of them, displaying the surveillance pictures of the Red Dream Dragon Mall clearly.
On a corner of the light beams, there were the surveillance pictures in the command center in the headquarters of the Secret Sword Bureau, too.
The time of Li Yao's appearance was drawing near. All the members of the hunting team were in position. The three snipers in the Core Formation Stage finished preparing the settings of hundreds of shooting parameters, too!
Even Hidden Star and the other few warships of the Secret Sword Bureau had approached the Red Dream Dragon Mall, ready to fill in any possible vacancy and kill Li Yao at any cost!
His eyebrow furrowed, Lu Zui gazed at the crowd on the light beams.
However, his eyes were unfocused as if he was absent-minded. A moment later, he suddenly shivered. "Where is Guo Chunfeng?"
Everybody looked at each other in bewilderment, not knowing what Lu Zui meant. Should Li Yao not be their center of attention? Guo Chunfeng was of course in the command center on the ground.
Lu Zui suddenly rose up. He snapped his fingers in midair and enlarged the surveillance pictures of the headquarters of the Secret Sword Bureau. "Something is not wrong. Guo Chunfeng hasn't sent any messages for a long time. Where did he go?
"It's also strange that the interphone on him is now also jammed. There's only background noise!
"Hurry up. Ask the voiceprint analysts to diagnose the noise. Find out what Guo Chunfeng heard and said just now!
"All 'patriots' around Guo Chunfeng, report the status right now. Where is Guo Chunfeng? Where is he?"
Very soon, the voiceprint analysts removed all the interference and retrieved Guo Chunfeng and Li Yao's conversation from a moment ago.
"You're finally here."
"Yes. Haven't you been looking for me? I'm feeding myself to you."
The color of the faces of Lu Zui and all the 'patriots' changed!
The surveillance cameras in the Secret Sword Bureau also clearly captured Guo Chunfeng entering the underground prison with a Secret Sword Agent named Black Panther.
It was definitely abnormal!
"Vulture Li Yao has snuck into our headquarters and kidnapped Guo Chunfeng!"
Lu Zui's face was utterly twisted, and he shouted desperately, "Hurry up. Ask all the 'patriots' in the headquarters to go to the underground prison immediately and kill him. He must be killed!"
Hardly had he issued the order when fulminations were echoing from the broadcast rune arrays. Almost all the surveillance pictures from the headquarters were shaking!
Judging from the data sent back several seconds later, an overwhelming explosion had taken place in the prison cells on the minus thirteenth floor of the headquarters of the Secret Sword Bureau!
Chapter 1120: Capture Guo Chunfeng! |
"A serial explosion took place in the prison cell where Professor Mo Xuan was locked. The bombs were so powerful that almost half of the minus thirteenth floor was blown up!"
"Supervisor Guo was heavily wounded in the explosion, but he luckily escaped in time. There were no other casualties!"
"According to Supervisor Guo, Blood Devil Li Yao snuck into the headquarters of the Secret Sword Bureau and intended to sneak Professor Mo Xuan and the rest of them out. However, Supervisor Guo discovered him in time. Desperately, Blood Devil Li Yao detonated the crystal bombs hoping to die together with them!"
"Supervisor Guo also said that Blood Devil Li Yao had probably planted crystal bombs all over the headquarters of the Secret Sword Bureau. So, he issued the 'emergency evacuation' command and asked everybody in the headquarters to move out!"
"Director!"
Several Secret Sword Agents who were directly under his command were overjoyed. "Supervisor Guo took down Li Yao!"
"Don't talk!" Lu Zui snapped. "Let me think. Let me think carefully. Fly Hidden Star back to the headquarters right now!"
The crystal warship was amazingly fast. After only one moment, it arrived in the east suburbs of the capital city, where the Secret Sword Bureau was headquartered.
The headquarters of the Secret Sword Bureau were an utter mess right now. Countless people were running out in a panic like ants whose nest had been drowned.
For an enormous intelligence agency such as the Secret Sword Bureau, only a tiny proportion of its members were warriors fighting in the frontline.
Most of the Secret Sword Agents were responsible for data analysis, signal tracing, intelligence collection, and other office work. They did not have the ability to fight.
Moreover, to capture Blood Devil Li Yao, the Secret Sword Bureau had invited a lot of crystal processor specialists to help the battle. Those specialists were not Secret Sword Agents in the first place. Naturally, they were even less willing to be buried in the headquarters of the Secret Sword Bureau!
Therefore, after the great explosion in the prison, and when Guo Chunfeng, whose head had been burnt and blackened, claimed that the entire headquarters were likely to have been planted with powerful bombs by Blood Devil Li Yao and everyone must be evacuated, the tens of thousands of workers in the place all fled in a hurry.
It was definitely not a joke. Even Guo Chunfeng, the strongest Core Formation Stage Cultivator of the Heaven's Origin Sector, had almost been swallowed by the explosion. Would they not be blown into ashes if there were another hundreds of bombs?
After all, Blood Devil was already dead. There was no reason they should stay here and be buried in the same grave as him!
Therefore, all the workers flooded to the surface as fast as they could and dispersed. It was an utter mess that nobody could control!
Lu Zui narrowed his eyes while he observed everything through the surveillance camera. His eyes were colder and colder.
"Director, surveillance footage from Professor Mo Xuan's prison cell after the explosion has been recovered!"
A Secret Sword Agent projected the footage to a light beam. All the 'patriots' held their breath.
There were three people on the picture, namely Professor Mo Xuan, who was locked by the barriers; Li Yao, who was pretending to be the Secret Sword Agent 'Black Panther'; and Guo Chunfeng, who was standing by the door.
When Li Yao retrieved the Jade Crystal Disc out of his Cosmos Ring, even Lu Zui's breath was disordered.
However, the next second, Guo Chunfeng suddenly attacked!
Nobody saw how Guo Chunfeng drew his sword. Nobody even saw where he kept his sword, just as nobody knew where he had been keeping an old, ragged tea cup.
Even when the picture was played at one tenth the original speed, Guo Chunfeng's sword was still like the gentlest breeze in spring that one could not notice until their face was kissed.
Li Yao was caught unprepared. It could be clearly seen from the surveillance picture that, when he turned around, he was too shocked to maintain his disguise. His muscles all went out of control, and he revealed his real face!
It seemed that Li Yao had never expected that Guo Chunfeng would attack at the last possible moment.
Even if he did, due to the heavy wounds caused by Diwu Jian's 'Five Disintegrations of Heavens and Human', it was impossible for him to dodge the critical strike of Guo Chunfeng, the strongest Core Formation Stage Cultivator of the Heaven's Origin Sector!
The sword aura flashed. Li Yao cried miserably, his arm flying up and his blood spurting out!
Without a word, Guo Chunfeng slashed immediately after the first attack. In a glimmering arc that resembled a ring of stars, he cut from Li Yao's shoulder to his abdomen!
The attack was so fast that there was nothing wrong on the surface although the aura of the blade should have torn apart Li Yao's internal organs.
Only the indescribable expression on Li Yao's face could tell the heavy wounds that the previous attack had caused him.
Shock, sadness, devastation. Li Yao's soul seemed to be slashed apart by the sword!
He seemed not desperate about his own death but about the dark future of the federation!
Then, while the upper half of his body was still able to move, he made a gesture and detonated all the bombs!
The explosion happened.
The blast swept across everything. All the surveillance pictures, including those in the corridor, vanished at the same time, melted in the ocean of flames.
All the 'patriots' were at a loss after watching the video.
"Vulture Li Yao… has truly been slain by Supervisor Guo!"
One of the 'patriots' took a long breath in relief and said, still not entirely calm, "Thankfully, Supervisor Guo was not bewildered by him and executed him before he told him everything. He was forced to kill himself in the explosion!
"Although the price was high, the nuisance is finally resolved now!"
The other 'patriots' also beamed with joy. "Now, nothing can stop our plan!"
But Lu Zui was still frowning, deep in thought. A moment later, he replayed the video and jumped to the moment before Li Yao detonated the crystal bombs.
"Look!" Lu Zui pointed at a vague, black spot in front of Li Yao when the fire and blast just rose. "Li Yao tossed an object to Guo Chunfeng before he killed himself. What is that?"
The Secret Sword Agents leaned closer and observed. After enlarging the picture countless times and enhancing the quality with the mainframe crystal processor, they finally distinguished that it was a cubic item the size of a fist.
Everybody gasped. "The Jade Crystal Disc!"
"Exactly!" Lu Zui gnashed his teeth, his face more twisted than ever. "Li Yao threw the Jade Crystal Disc to Guo Chunfeng before his death. But even now… Guo Chunfeng hasn't reported the matter!
"Where is he now? Contact him!"
Instead of waiting for the reply of his subordinate, Lu Zui dialed Guo Chunfeng directly. "Ah Feng, where are you?"
"Cough. Cough. Cough. Cough!"
Guo Chunfeng sounded extremely feeble. "I—I am on a temporary ambulance. It is very chaotic here. The explosion seemed to have affected…"
The communication was cut off, maybe due to the aftershock of the explosion, or maybe because Guo Chunfeng cut it off himself.
He did not mention anything about the Jade Crystal Disc. Not even one word.
Lu Zui turned off the crystal processor solemnly and glanced at everyone, before he said, one word after another, "Now, our target is no longer Li Yao but Guo Chunfeng. Activate the emergency plan and bring Guo Chunfeng as well as the Jade Crystal Disc to me!"
