by <unknown>
He looked at his withered hands with mixed feelings and said gloomily, "It's high time that this pair of useless hands are changed!"
…
Inside a well-decorated cabin that was almost similar to the room of a luxury hotel, two single beds were on opposite sides of room. In the middle of the room was a barrier.
At night, when the barrier was triggered, the room would be split into two independent halves. No one could see or hear what was happening on the other side of the room.
In the day, when the barrier was canceled, the room would become a large suite again.
Huangpu Xiaoya had been pacing to and fro ever since she was locked into the room. At one point, she was gritting her teeth angrily, then sobbing in a low voice, and then screaming and yelling. In the end, she couldn't bear it any longer and put a Cosmos Ring on her finger.
Li Yao had been lying on his bed quietly with his hands as the pillow and his eyes closed. He seemed to be sleeping, but he suddenly interrupted before Huangpu Xiaoya took action. "If I were you, I wouldn't touch the Cosmos Ring."
Huangpu Xiaoya was dazed. "Why?"
Li Yao replied, "Why do you think they didn't ask us to submit all our Cosmos Rings? As Cultivators, we have dozens of secret arts that can hide Cosmos Rings everywhere inside our body. Unless they mince us into pieces and dig into our every bone, they can never be certain that we are clean of Cosmos Rings.
"But right now, we are still of use to them, and they cannot resort to such violent methods. So, they could only pretend to be generous.
"I'm sure that there are more crystal cameras and detectaphones in this suite than hairs on my legs. If you are so desperate to reveal your Cosmos Rings, why don't you just speak to Huangpu Shiyi and tell him how many Cosmos Rings you've brought and what kind of items are inside?"
Huangpu Xiaoya was a gifted genius but only in refining. She was quite inexperienced when it came to dealing with people. Realizing that Li Yao's words did make sense, she was at a loss and wept silently on her bed.
Li Yao stopped talking to her and resumed his meditation. He seized every second of every minute to make his cells seethe with fury!
Huangpu Shiyi was right about one thing.
In a few days, many people would die, and much blood would be shed.
Huangpu Xiaoya sobbed for a long while. Seeing that Li Yao was indifferent the whole time, she gnashed her teeth. "Do you have any idea how many people were killed in the explosions of the Skyhill Domain just now? The two fallen floating mountains alone were enough to cause tremendous casualties! Why are you so calm? Do you not feel sorry for them at all?"
Li Yao seemed to be asleep. He didn't reply until a long while later. "I grew up in the relics of the ancient battlegrounds at the edge of the sea of stars. I didn't know who my parents were. It was nothing unusual for me to not see another living soul for a couple of months. The only things that accompanied me were cold scraps of magical equipment and a dead silent universe.
"It was not until I came to the Skyhill Domain that I saw such a large number of people. There were even more than all the people I'd ever met in my entire life.
"Should I feel sorry that these people died? Maybe I should.
"But the thing about sadness is that it cannot be forced. I have no tears. Should I try to squeeze some out?"
"You—"
Huangpu Xiaoya was so angry that she didn't know what to say.
Li Yao's eyes suddenly shone. He rose up, walked to a table, and groped around its edge. With a fascinated face, he leaned down and started operating carefully.
Huangpu Xiaoya was surprised. "What are you doing?"
Li Yao made a 'shh' sound and said, "Don't disturb me. I've found a detectaphone. But it is very delicately embedded into a complicated alarm system. If I make an error, the alarm system will be triggered, and everybody on the starship will hear it!"
Huangpu Xiaoya was dazed. "Didn't you say just now that there are countless crystal cameras and detectaphones inside the room? If so, won't all our actions be monitored by them? What's the point of dismantling it?"
Li Yao chuckled and said, "You don't understand. This is a game that Huangpu Shiyi is playing with us. He, of course, knew that we would discover the crystal cameras and detectaphones. He also set up a labyrinth-like alarm system on purpose. He intends to see how good we are and whether or not we can dismantle the crystal cameras and detectaphones without triggering the alarm system!
"Hehe. Huangpu Shiyi is a genius that you only get to see once in your life. I've always dreamed about competing with experts such as him!
"I didn't expect that my dream would come true today. Let me see with my own eyes how magnificent Huangpu Shiyi's methods are!"
Huangpu Xiaoya was about to go mad. "So many people died right in front of your eyes just now, and a lot more will be involved in the schemes of the Temple of Immortals. And all you're thinking about is a competition with Huangpu Shiyi?"
Li Yao raised his head. He glared at Huangpu Xiaoya like an infuriated animal. She was too scared to continue.
Li Yao scoffed and said, "Huangpu Xiaoya, I'm very disappointed in you.
"As a refiner, magical equipment is the most important thing in the world. No matter how the outside world changes, your belief and determination must not falter!
"Your mind is so easily stirred, and you don't even know better than that. How were you planning to defeat me?
"I was kind of looking forward to the match against you. But right now, it is lucky that we were captured by the Temple of Immortals. I have found an opponent who is more suitable and won't waste my time, unlike a useless person such as you!
"Besides, my trump cards have all been seen through. Even half of my crystal suit has been taken away. I can defeat neither Black Stone nor White Dew, and now there are two of them. What else can I do except study the magical equipment?
"If you are bored, you can come and study it together with me."
Huangpu Xiaoya blurted, "Uninterested!"
Li Yao was still peaceful. "It's fine that you don't want to study the magical equipment. Why don't you tell me the event that took place five thousand years ago, which Huangpu Shiyi mentioned just now? Was the human civilization of the Flying Star Sector based on planets in the beginning? I am not familiar with that part of history."
It was something that had baffled Li Yao for a long time.
In the territory of the Star Ocean Imperium ten thousand years ago, the Heaven's Origin Sector was at its edge. It was the poorest and the most undeveloped area in the entire imperium. Therefore, few relics and heritages from the Star Ocean Imperium had been discovered in the Heaven's Origin Sector.
It had taken the Cultivators of the Heaven's Origin Sector ten thousand years to gather and analyze the treasures from various Occult Orbs so that the civilization could be developed to such an extent.
Different from the Heaven's Origin Sector, the Flying Star Sector was almost the center of the Star Ocean Imperium. Since an important military base had been established here, a lot of debris of ancient battlegrounds resulting from the war that caused the fall of the Star Ocean Imperium could be found. It would be logical to assume that many relics and heritages could be easily discovered.
By common sense, the humans here should've been able to restore their civilization to the glory of the Star Ocean Imperium after grasping the knowledge of the past. At the vest least, it should have been much more developed than the Heaven's Origin Sector.
However, after staying in the Flying Star Sector for such a long time, Li Yao had realized that the Flying Star Sector was on par with the Heaven's Origin Sector. In regard to crystal processors and crystal suits, the Flying Star Sector had a slim advantage. But the Heaven's Origin Sector had quite a lot of technology that the Flying Star Sector didn't know about, too.
As for the crystal warships and star fortresses of the Flying Star Sector, they were indeed more powerful than their counterparts in the Heaven's Origin Sector.
But they were merely larger in size and firepower. Their fundamental technologies were still the same.
What was it that had stagnated the development of the Flying Star Sector and made it as underdeveloped as the Heaven's Origin Sector, which was in a poor and remote constellation?
Li Yao had studied it carefully, only to find that all the records about the events of the Flying Star Sector five thousand years ago were ambiguous. There seemed to be a missing two thousand years in the Flying Star Sector's history.
Files were few about what happened during the time. But after two thousand years of blankness, just like a big bang, countless crystal warships and space towns appeared out of nowhere in the universe!
It seemed that the Flying Star Sector had a major decline five thousand years ago.
According to Huangpu Shiyi, the human civilization of the Flying Star Sector used to be based on planets. So why did they flee into space five thousand years ago? What did it have to do with the decline of the civilization?
Huangpu Shiyi also declared that Cultivators and Immortal Cultivators were ravens and crows, to which Huangpu Xiaoya had no rebuttals. That was quite odd, too.
The history of the Flying Star Sector was indeed full of secrets after secrets!
Chapter 509: Great Era of Chaos |
Li Yao said, "I know that the few inhabitable planets that have atmospheres generally have harsh environments. They are frequented by demon beasts and barbarians. Where did the barbarians come from?"
Huangpu Xiaoya bit her lips and said softly, "They are not barbarians."
Li Yao raised an eyebrow. "Then what are they?"
Huangpu Xiaoya said, loudly, "They are—qi trainers!"
"Qi trainers?"
Li Yao chewed on the name for a while, and he couldn't be more curious. "I know the difference between regular Cultivators and Immortal Cultivators. But what are 'qi trainers' exactly? Judging from your reaction, I suppose that the Cultivators at that time did something they were not particularly proud of, which you are ashamed of even to this day.
"Why did so many Cultivators degrade themselves and abandon their duties as Cultivators to become 'space pirates' who rage in the sea of stars and raise chaos? According to Huangpu Shiyi, there seems to be more to the story!"
However, Huangpu Xiaoya stopped explaining further. Her eyes were somewhat at a loss. She gazed at the wall, as if she was watching the cold, bleak vacuum of the cosmos outside of the metal cabin.
"Did you know?"
After speechless for a moment, Huangpu Xiaoya said gloomily, "The universe is dark. Too dark."
Having said what she had to say, she lay on her bed, too, and stopped talking, as if all the strength inside her bones had been pumped away.
Li Yao didn't make much of it. He devoted himself to the competition against the detectaphone again.
Half a day later, the floor under their feet quivered. Spluttering sounds of electric currents could be heard. The hair of both of them was floating in the air beyond their control.
The starship had finished preparation and was about to perform a space jump!
Through a space jump, a starship could reach lightyears away within a moment through the four-dimension, but there were a lot of restrictions to it.
In the Heaven's Origin Sector, to teleport a star shuttle less than twenty meters long to hundreds of lightyears away, it already required special rails and would cost a huge amount of spiritual energy.
The civilization of the Flying Star Sector was a bit more developed than that of the Heaven's Origin Sector, and the space jump technologies were more advanced. But the starships here were larger in size and often carried more goods and passengers.
In essence, although the catapult had been upgraded, the stones being sent were larger and heavier. As a result, the distance and precision of the launch were not improved by much.
To shatter the void with such a large starship would consume astronomical spiritual energy, not to mention the preparation procedures that could take hours.
In addition, there could not be serious cracks or damages on the shell of the starship. Otherwise, it might break apart in the four-dimensional space during the space jump. If so, everyone on board would be ripped open.
It was why no starships ever attempted to escape via a space jump when they were engaged with enemies. That would be a suicidal action.
It was also why Gold Horn had spent several months, and even risked passing through the Dim Flame Belt, in order to return to the Thousand Sails Space Zone, instead of being teleported right back. Gold Horn was too seriously damaged to withstand the tearing force when shattering the void.
For space pirates or members of the Temple of Immortals, it was even more complicated.
The sea of stars seemed peaceful, but it was, in fact, full of fatal traps, including swirls and storms. Not every place was suitable for star beacons.
Most of the places tolerable for star beacons had been occupied by various sects, who gradually spread out with the star beacons at the center. The star beacons were intersections of the universal highways.
The so-called 'space zones' were actually settlements that had expanded around the large-scale star beacons.
Since this particular starship belonged to the Temple of Immortals, it was not likely that it would jump to a space beacon of the Cultivators. The starship would be turning itself in if so.
During their thousands of years of hiding and running, space pirates had built many smaller star beacons in secret in the remote, less populated areas, too. However, they were often attacked by the Exo Societies and the Cultivation sects.
Therefore, they were not able to be teleported somewhere near the Great Horn Exo Society directly.
After performing the first space jump, the starship sailed in the sea of stars for several days more.
Li Yao estimated that they'd jumped to the secret star beacon that was closest to the Great Horn Exo Society and they would cruise the rest of the way to the Great Horn Exo Society in stealth mode.
During that time, White Dew and Black Stone brought them food every day, but Huangpu Shiyi never showed up. He seemed to be rather patient.
Li Yao seemed to have really become a maniac of magical equipment. He was completely dedicated to the competition against the hidden crystal cameras and detectaphones that Huangpu Shiyi had set up.
During the three days, he had dismantled 25 crystal cameras and 18 detectaphones, but the alarm system had been triggered nine times, too.
He was completely dwelled in the world of magical equipment. He was more and more enthusiastic about it and didn't feel tired in the least.
Huangpu Xiaoya, on the other hand, was getting increasingly anxious each day.
Every day, besides food, Black Stone and White Dew would bring them a crystal processor that had been denied access to the Spiritual Nexus. There was the latest news that the Temple of Immortals and Black Spider Tower had gathered on it.
According to the information, a lot of important things had happened over the past three days!
During his decades of lawless life as a space pirate, Fengyu Zhong had slaughtered more Cultivators than anybody could count, including disciples of major sects and many family members of Core Formation Stage Cultivators and Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators.
Even the grandson of a Nascent Soul Stage had been killed by him twelve years ago!
Besides, Fengyu Zhong was not alone. From various sources, the Cultivators had gathered that several large-scale gangs on Spider Den had marched at the Great Horn Exo Society with their full strength.
Therefore, all the Cultivators considered the battle to be a great opportunity to strike the space pirates.
Gold Horn seemed to be voyaging in the space alone. But more than eighty heavy starships were hiding in the few space zones and world fragments nearby. More than fifty Core Formation Stage Cultivators and three Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, including the one whose grandson had been killed by Fengyu Zhong a
nd the friends that he asked to help with his revenge, had been ready.
As for Building Foundation Stage Cultivators and Refinement Stage Cultivators, there were simply too many of them. They were all the elites of the major sects and had been summoned to this place in secret.
The battle was definitely the biggest operation in the world of Cultivators in the last thirty years.
However, wherever Gold Horn wandered in the sea of stars, the said main force of the space pirates never showed up.
After mobilizing most of their elites, many bases of the sects found themselves unable to protect themselves, especially those who had deep grudges with the space pirates and had sent out all their Core Formation Stage Cultivators and Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators!
As it turned out, an important mining base of the Endless Sea Sect was assaulted!
All the stored Gold Tide Stones, which could only be produced in this particular mining base, had been looted. A lot of disciples of Endless Sea Sect as well a few specialists adept at distinguishing raw stones had been captured!
The space pirates had even blown up the entire mining base. The production wouldn't be restored without two to three years of reconstruction!
In the meantime, the base of Red Dragon Union, which had sent its only two Core Formation Stage Cultivators and a large number of battle-type Cultivators to clear the bandits, were ambushed by space pirates. Many disciples were killed, and more were held as hostages!
The only Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator of Destructive Wind Hall went to take care of the bandits. The remaining three non-battle-type elders were assassinated at the same time!
Blood was flowing everywhere in the sea of stars.
For hundreds of years, Cultivators of the Flying Star Sector had considered space pirates to be nothing more than dermatitis.
Although space pirates meant catastrophe for the lone space towns, they could only run away like rats when faced with massive Cultivators and hide themselves in stone belts or behind space storms, hoping in desperation that they would not be caught.
It was not until this moment that the Cultivators realized how powerful the space pirates really were and how enormous their intelligence network was. Every step that the Cultivators made had been predicted by them!