by <unknown>
"Besides, although his critical parts were not hurt, he has still shed a lot of blood, and the outer injury was bad, too. His combat ability must've hit rock bottom at that time. How would someone place themselves in such a dangerous situation if they had other plans?
"By my analysis, there is only one type of person who could fake such wounds on purpose and maintain more than 90% of their combat ability after the accident."
Huangpu Shiyi asked, "What kind of person is that?"
Su Jiuzhen replied, "Those who reject magical equipment and weapons and build up their bodies to strike the genetic chain in order to unleash the primordial force—the body practitioners!"
Huangpu Shiyi was dazed for a moment. He took a long breath in relief.
Li Yao was a crazy refiner, a lunatic bomber, and a specialist of saber refining. There was no way that he was a body practitioner who hated magical equipment most.
It was obvious and self-explanatory.
Pondering for a moment, he said, "I'm going to ask what that was all about. But the bottom line is, he didn't know that Duan Hu was one of us. Everything is a misunderstanding."
"I, of course, know that it is a misunderstanding, and that he has proved himself determined enough to join us. Otherwise, I would've stabbed the guy's heart long ago!" Su Jiuzhen was seething with anger, yet he couldn't find anybody to vent it on.
He had pinched himself multiple times, because he couldn't figure out how a thoroughly-planned test ended up like this.
Even if the starships of Furious Bears Union had really caught up with them and had a big fight them with them, the damage couldn't have been more than this.
Huangpu Shiyi took a deep breath and walked into the med bay with a smile.
When Li Yao saw him come in, his pale face that was apparently a result of the massive loss of blood was beaming with agitation. He struggled and sneered, "Isn't the Temple of Immortals an awesome organization? You seemed to have everything under your control, but how did all the Cultivators sneak in? Is that how you usually protect people? The guy said, before he left, that he wouldn't let go of me because I was a 'traitor'! What am I going to do in the future? I don't want to live in darkness and hide on Spider Den for the rest of my life!"
"Calm down. The accident was partly on you, too. Why did you leave a piece of alarm magical equipment in your room?" Huangpu Shiyi frowned.
Li Yao sniffed heavily, but he was less elaborate and murmured, "At that time, I didn't know what was coming for me at all. Isn't it normal to leave a piece of alarm magical equipment in case anything goes wrong?
"Right."
Li Yao's eyeballs rolled fast, while he asked earnestly, "After I reached the med bay, I seemed to have heard an earsplitting explosion. The entire starship seemed like it was falling apart. What happened? Were the Cultivators defeated? How about Huangpu Xiaoya?"
"Ke, Ke Ke Ke Ke!"
Huangpu Shiyi coughed uncontrollably. He managed to reply, "Huangpu Xiaoya is still under our control. The Cultivators have been driven away. But before they left, the main gun of their starship bombarded us for one last time. Our starship was somewhat affected by the attack. But it's… not a problem. Yes. Not a problem.
"In another few days, we will meet with Fengyu Zhong. By then, everything will be back on track. There won't be any accidents again!"
Now that Li Yao had proved himself loyal to the Temple of Immortals, Huangpu Shiyi did not mind sharing some confidential information with his 'future disciple' in order to leave a good impression on him. That way, he might be able to squeeze more secret arts of refining out of him.
Li Yao was apparently relieved and cursed, "These bastards ran fast enough!"
While he was talking, he touched the wound on his abdomen, which was healing quickly. He narrowed his eyes and grinned hideously. "The scumbags were indeed brutal enough. I almost kicked the bucket because of them!
"However, they won't be any better than myself right now. Before the Cultivator retreated, I gave him a little something. Hahahaha. I'm pretty sure that they are going to love it!"
Huangpu Shiyi couldn't help but quiver. He asked, "What—what did you give him?"
Li Yao laughed evilly and replied, "Over the past few days, based on the techniques that you taught me and my own experience in crystal bomb refining, I have finally devised a new model of anti-crystal-suit bomb that I have named 'Crystal Suit Killer'!
"Crystal Suit Killer has three distinguished characteristics.
"Firstly, it is extremely small, light, and unobtrusive!
"I developed a deeper understanding about the engravement of tiny rune arrays through my experience of carving a chip with my bare hands in the Skyhill Sword Seminar. The size of many attack and explosion rune arrays can be reduced to one third of their usual size now. Based on that, the crystal bombs that I refine are one third the size of bombs of the same type or even smaller!
"Secondly, since the bombs are small, there is bound to be less gunpowder. But it doesn't matter. I'll simply install Crystal Suit Killer to the back of the enemy's crystal suit where the crystal reactor is located!
"Once triggered, all the power of Crystal Suit Killer will be condensed into a line of spiritual energy and pierce through the enemy's crystal reactor!
"More exactly, Crystal Suit Killer is in fact just a 'catalyst', whose sole effect is to transform the crystal reactor on the enemy's crystal suit into a real bomb! I believe you understand the nastiness of the explosion of a crystal reactor as clearly as I do."
Li Yao was smiling scarily. "Thirdly, and also the point that I'm most proud of, the trigger system!
"Crystal Suit Killer is not triggered by a countdown, nor by remote telepathic thoughts, but by a condition.
"The triggering condition for Crystal Suit Killer is when around 50% of the crystal suit has been taken off.
"You see, if the enemy is in a crystal suit, most of the explosion will be resisted by the crystal suit. There will be little real damage.
"But if they are not in their crystal suits, they will naturally be much more fragile.
"The billion-dollar question is, when will an Exo take off their crystal suit?
"They will only take off their crystal suit when they feel secure and most relaxed!
"It is possible that many of their companions, refiners, and mechanics will be with them in such scenarios, and they will be equally unalert themselves!
"If an explosion takes place right then, hahahaha, how many of them do you think can put on their crystal suit or summon their spiritual shield in time?"
Li Yao suddenly rose up from the medication drugs. Clutching the edge of the capsule he was in, he craned his head and sent his wet face right in front of Huangpu Shiyi's head. His eyes were as sharp as knives, penetrating deep into Huangpu Shiyi's head, as he said, one word after another, "Revenge is a dish best served cold, and I, Li Yao, happen to be a man with an excellent memory!
"Whoever, or whatever, decides to be my enemy must be ready to pay a good price!
"I wonder, is the guy named Hu Guohao going to take off his crystal suit when he is back on Furious Bears Union's starship surrounded by his senior brothers and junior brothers?
"I get really excited whenever I think about what will become of them! Haha, hahahaha!"
Chapter 515: Natural-born Immortal Cultivator! |
Huangpu Shiyi's face was pale. Li Yao's laughter seemed to be punching him right his chest, and he felt that he was having a heart attack. Moaning for a moment, he asked, "How did you plant the bomb on the back of the enemy's crystal suit?"
Li Yao answered delightedly, "Did you forget? I threw the crystal bombs on the platform at the enemy in the beginning. Then I snuck below the platform and ran to the front.
"It appeared that I was in too much of a hurry to find a way out. But in fact, I'd dashed to the back of the enemy when the other bombs exploded.
"The small training room was filled with smoke and dust at that time. His vision was limi
ted.
"Was it really difficult for me to pin such a small crystal bomb to the back of his crystal suit with my hands that can reach subsonic speed casually?
"Huh. Huangpu Shiyi, why does your face look so awful? Somebody seemed to have slapped you in the face! What, were you ambushed and wounded by the Cultivators?
"You'd better not die! There are many other things that I'm hoping to learn from you!"
Huangpu Shiyi took quite a few long breaths to recover his face color. Then he gnashed his teeth and said, "I—I am fine. I was merely feeling dizzy due to the previous explosion."
"That's good. That's good. After all, I wouldn't have successfully devised and created Crystal Suit Killer without your tutelage. If some Cultivators are indeed blown to pieces, you should be credited for our accomplishment. Greatly credited!" said Li Yao solemnly.
Huangpu Shiyi felt like vomiting blood. He held his chest and said, difficultly, "As—as long as you are sincere about becoming my disciple, everything—everything is alright."
Li Yao grinned. "Let's talk about that later. Since the Cultivators considered me a traitor and want me killed so much, then as their wish, I will embark on the path to immortality and become an Immortal Cultivator!"
Huangpu Shiyi had been looking forward to Li Yao's renouncement for a long time, but he was not expecting to hear it in such an awkward situation. Pausing for a moment, he replied, "Take a good rest now. When you recover, we might need you for the maintenance work of the starship."
"Is that so?"
Brilliance blinked in Li Yao's eyes, as he nodded quickly. "That's not a problem. Repairing a starship—is my thing!"
…
Leaving the med bay Li Yao was in, Huangpu Shiyi and Su Jiuzhen went to another med bay that was larger in size on the second floor of the starship.
Compared to the cleanness and tranquility of Li Yao's room, this med bay was truly a living hell.
The entire med bay reeked of burnt flesh and blood, which could not be entirely driven away no matter how much the ventilation system worked. The screams of countless Immortal Cultivators consolidated into gloomy clouds that enshrouded them.
Many broken, burnt bodies, whose arms or legs were gone, were in fact still alive because of the tough vitality of the Immortal Cultivators. They were floating inside the medication drugs as if they were chopped meat. Faint breaths could be heard occasionally. It was truly a blood-freezing scene.
Resolute and iron-willed as Su Jiuzhen and Huangpu Shiyi were, they couldn't help but sigh when they saw such tragedies.
"Master Su. This is horrible. Too horrible!" Black Stone and White Dew exclaimed in grief and anger.
They were the captain and deputy captain of the assault team on the starship. The Exos killed in the explosion were mostly their subordinates.
The two of them had not been in the zone of the explosion and therefore had not been affected by it. But they were still more than infuriated seeing that their loyal subordinates whom they had carefully trained for a long time were now disabled or even dropped dead!
White Dew, the dark, long-necked, woman, shouted shrilly, "I'll just leave everybody else alone. The three brothers of the Duan family were triplets whose minds were connected. They had been trained in Black Spider Tower since they were young!
"Although they were merely in the beginning level of the Building Foundation Stage, they had taken care of a lot of high-level Building Foundation Stage Cultivators with the assassination skills that they were adept at and the seamless cooperation that was based on their bloodline bond.
"Moreover, they were all showing signs of advancement lately. If they could have advanced into the middle level of the Building Foundation Stage; they could even have been assigned to deal with Cultivators in the beginning level of the Core Formation Stage after a few years of training!
"Such triples are indeed rarely-seen! If they had been killed in a real battlefield, so be it. But now, they've been killed absurdly! More than ten years of effort has been wasted. All wasted!"
"Oh?"
Su Jiuzhen replied peacefully, "Are you insinuating that it was wrong of me to have arranged the test?"
White Dew quivered and immediately stopped. Her body was shaking like a sieve, and she dared not say another word.
Su Jiuzhen scoffed and said, "The Duan triplets were indeed useful and hard to come by. But are they really more precious than Li Yao?
"You've all seen that Li Yao is cruel and cunning without any moral standard. He does not care about the righteous path of Cultivation that other Cultivators deem most important, and he simply asks what benefits he can get from joining us.
"Besides, there was not the slightest hesitation when he assaulted Huangpu Xiaoya. Attacking a woman seemed as natural as breathing air for him!
"A guy of no restrictions with profound skills in refining who has crafted such an excellent piece of magical equipment like 'Crystal Suit Killer'!
"He was born to be an Immortal Cultivator, one that only appears once in a hundred years! He is the Immortal Cultivator of Immortal Cultivators!
"Let's me give you a few reminders.
"I don't care if some of you are discontented today and go looking for trouble with him.
"However, you'd better bear in mind that, for a guy like Li Yao, with his expertise and his personality, his position in our organization will definitely shoot up quickly.
"He is definitely not the most lenient man in the world. In fact, he was petty enough to set up a bomb hoping to blow up his enemy and his enemy's companions just because the guy slashed him!
"If you are determined to piss off such a merciless man, just follow your heart! I will not stand in your way if you want to kill yourself!"
His words rendered everybody speechless. A cold wind seemed to be sweeping inside the med bay. Even the moaning and screaming injured Immortal Cultivators lowered their voices subconsciously.
"Li Yao…"
Everybody was reciting the upsetting name. They shivered as if they were tied up by a viper.
…
Half a day later, Li Yao was fully recovered. He was immediately asked to fix the starship.
According to Huangpu Shiyi, the starship had been seriously damaged by Furious Bears Union in the battle yesterday. A lot of refiners had been killed, too.
Li Yao didn't ask any further. He did what he was asked to dutifully without any complaints.
Now that he had gained the trust of Huangpu Shiyi, he was granted with part of the permissions to the crystal processor of the starship, which allowed him to browse and download its structural designs.
After analyzing the structural designs carefully, he discovered that the starship was actually an 'Ox-level' middle-sized carrier. This model of carrier was simple-structured and sturdy and often used for transportation of tremendous goods. It was one of the most commonly-seen business starships of the Flying Star Sector.
Although it had been upgraded with some firearms, they were all regular modifications. Most Cultivation sects often upgraded their starships in similar ways. There was nothing special about this particular starship.
It was exactly as he had speculated.
Li Yao estimated that, as an underground organization, the Temple of Immortals must've considered intelligence collection as one of its top priorities. If so, the majority of their starships were very likely to be such carriers, which wouldn't even raise an eyebrow, unlike armed starships.
It was even possible that this carrier had once been registered to a Cultivation sect before. It would be under the Cultivation's name. Even if it were stopped at certain checkpoints in the sea of stars and searched on the Spiritual Nexus, nobody would be able to find anything wrong about it.
Such a starship had entered the Skyhill Domain in broad daylight because it was completely legal.
If it were a warship that had been armed to teeth, everybody would have noticed it coming distances away.
'Stormy Sword', the manual of robb
ery for space pirates written by Fengyu Zhong, was stored inside Li Yao's brain. It had detailed descriptions on how to sabotage various kinds of starships.
'Ox-level' carriers, as one of the most popular business starships, were of course taken special care of by Fengyu Zhong.
There were more than a hundred methods recorded in 'Stormy Sword' that could dismantle the 'ox' into several parts like a butcher.
Other than the structural design of the starship, Li Yao had also received part of the simplified information about the space zone they were in and the cruising status of the next few days.
The information was necessary.
Refiners had to foresee what was coming in the future in order to perform the necessary strengthening procedures.
For example, if the starship was passing through a stone belt of the fire class, the refiners would have to cover the shell of the starship with patches of anti-heat rune arrays.
If they were going through a stone belt of the ice class, the refiners would have to do it the other way around.
Before Huangpu Shiyi and Su Jiuzhen set off, they had thought that it would be a simple task to capture two refiners.
Therefore, they had picked a middle-sized carrier and did not bring too many battle-type Immortal Cultivators along.
As for refiners, since there was already a super expert named Huangpu Shiyi, it would be highly redundant to bring too many of them!
As it turned out, quite a few refiners were involved in the gory explosion. Unlike the battle-type Immortal Cultivators who summoned spiritual shields in time, they were mostly killed on the spot. Those who had survived had suffered heavy wounds.
Therefore, Li Yao became the most proficient refiner aboard, other than Huangpu Shiyi. Besides, everybody knew that he was partly in charge of the maintenance of the Great Horn Exo Society's starship and therefore must have a lot of experience.
At this critical moment, who else was more fit for the job other than him?