by <unknown>
The vice-captain was relieved. Li Yao's demands were not outrageous. He was hoping to catch up to Fengyu Zhong as soon as possible, too, so that he could be rid of the hot potato. Therefore, he quickly nodded and replied, "Alright. We'll go at full speed and join Fengyu Zhong!"
"Excellent!"
Li Yao strode forward without looking at him and commanded, "I need several doctors to give me simple treatment. Be quick. I have other things to do."
The vice-captain was dazed. He asked, "What things?"
Li Yao glared at him and raised his voice. "Perform a full examination on the carrier, of course!
"Huangpu Shiyi is a crazy man who used to be the strongest refiner on the carrier. He had in his possession the structural design of the entire starship. Who knows how many crystal bombs he has planted since he was seized by desperation?
"Thankfully, he was already beaten to the brink of death before he had the chance to trigger all the bombs. Otherwise, all of us would've been burnt to ash and become dust in the sea of stars!
"Bring me the detailed structural design of the starship. I've been training with the old bastard for a couple of days and know a thing or two about the style of his crystal bombs. Within half a day, I'm going to find out all the treasures that he hid in the corners of the starship!
"What are you waiting for? Hurry and move out! If Huangpu Shiyi has installed time bombs on the starship, which could be detonated automatically in, say, thirty minutes, we will all be screwed!"
Chapter 527: Bleeding Space |
After all the crew members had been dismissed and the vice-captain had returned to the cockpit, having been scolded, Li Yao finally heaved a long sigh of relief with his eyes half closed.
He knew that he had won the gamble, for now.
He was not worried that the vice-captain and the crew members would question his words. After all, his capability was higher than anybody else's, and he was apparently so infuriated that he was going to kill everyone who disobeyed him.
Driven by their survival instincts, they could only believe him to be a real Immortal Cultivator in order to get a chance of escape, however illusionary it was.
The only thing that had concerned Li Yao was that, if there was a surveillance system inside the warehouse, the cockpit would have been able to see what was happening there via the crystal cameras instantly. Then, his carefully composed story would have been seen through before it had even been told.
But the odds were very low.
The warehouse was the place where Huangpu Shiyi refined his crystal bombs. Crystal bombs were what he was best at. It was very possible that many confidential techniques were employed during the refining, and the structure, formula, and the ratio of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures in many crystal bombs were top secrets.
As a refiner himself, Li Yao was well aware of the taboo when refiners were doing their work. They often hated the spying of other people when they were busy creating magical equipment.
The Skyhill Sword Seminar was a competition for young refiners below the age of forty, and it was already the most professional contest of refining in the Flying Star Sector.
One of the biggest reasons was that the famous, experienced refiners above the age of forty who had more expertise were not willing to expose their best skills in front of everyone.
Communication on the Spiritual Nexus was one thing, but showing their true skills in the real world was another. Even the most open-minded refiners were possibly keeping several secret arts to themselves. It was completely reasonable.
Moreover, Huangpu Shiyi was not a simple Cultivator but a selfish Immortal Cultivator. How could he risk his personal techniques being leaked?
If footage of him refining crystal bombs was copied and sent to other refiners in the Temple of Immortals, they were very likely to extrapolate Huangpu Shiyi's best techniques from said footage!
Therefore, Li Yao estimated that, even if there was a surveillance system inside the warehouse, the picture would only be sent to Huangpu Shiyi's own crystal processor. Other people would have no access to it at all.
That was why he was bold enough to tell such a blatant lie.
At the moment his estimation proved to be correct, Li Yao was greatly relieved. But soon after, he grunted, with dark colors appearing on his face.
The curse that the sharp-jawed old man created after his death was raging and sabotaging Li Yao's body.
Li Yao bit his teeth so hard that they were almost cracking. Cold sweat was dripping off his forehead. He felt that nine black snakes were tearing apart and devouring his veins and nerves. Thousands of arrows seemed to be piercing through his heart, and he couldn't be more agonized.
Li Yao had opened his brain on purpose several times, hoping to attract the nine snakes into his head and deal with them by utilizing Ou Yezi's enormous soul power.
However, the curse seemed to be a living thing and had a strong sense of danger. The snakes wandered at the edge of his brain and, sensing the threat there, returned to his limbs and internal organs without any hesitation, continuing their havoc.
Thankfully, Li Yao had inherited the spiritual seed of 'Iron God' Yan Ba, a body fundamentalist, and had been building up his body with the Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining technique, a secret skill from forty thousand years ago. His body was so sturdy that he could almost be called a half body practitioner. Otherwise, he would have been rolling on the ground due to the excruciating pain.
Black Spider Evil Spirit, death before curse. It was indeed impressive!
Li Yao clenched his fists and punched his own chest and abdomen. His spiritual energy surged out and suppressed the curse temporarily.
He had a lot of work to do next. There was no time to take care of the nasty curse. He could only suppress it temporarily!
After he received the detailed structural design of the entire carrier, Li Yao browsed through it and scrutinized the starship.
When he did 'find' a crystal bomb from a gap between two tubes in a certain cabin, which had been timed to explode fifteen minutes later, the vice-captain and the crew members were all perspiring in fear. They completely let go of their wariness and trusted Li Yao.
Li Yao seized the opportunity and took over the authority of the maintenance of the carrier. He sent the remaining refiners on board to unimportant locations for repair work.
Twenty minutes later, feeble fulmination was heard above the cockpit.
The place had just been examined by Li Yao, who had discovered three powerful crystal bombs there.
"Not good. An explosion took place in the telepathic thought transmission chamber. Our telepathic thought rune arrays have been destroyed. We cannot send messages to the outside world now!"
The vice-captain frowned the moment he read the damage report.
Beside him, Li Yao, as the acting manager of maintenance, received the same report. His face was awful, too, as he gnashed his teeth. "Damn Huangpu Shiyi. I never expected him to be so cunning. One of the crystal bombs he hid must've escaped my attention!"
Hearing that, the vice-captain immediately comforted him. "Master Li Yao, you've discovered so many crystal bombs. It is unavoidable that several of them were overlooked! Without Master Li Yao, the entire cockpit would've been blown away, and not just an insignificant telepathic thought transmission chamber!"
Li Yao snorted and continued. "What's our current status? We cannot send messages to the outside world anymore?"
The vice-captain said, "That's right. We can receive the telepathic thoughts from Storm Prison, but we cannot send detailed telepathic thought messages over such a long distance against the interferences in the sea of stars.
"However, you don't have to worry about it, Master Li Yao. We can turn on a sizable light beam around the carrier. By displaying mystic rays in different colors and in different frequencies, we can send out simple messages.
"This is known as semaphore.
"Through specially-made, super-large crystal c
ameras, other starships can read our signs as long as they know our specific location even though we are tens of thousands of kilometers away from each other.
"But semaphore is usually very simple. It can only describe dozens of specific states we are in."
Li Yao nodded and asked again, "What are the updates about Fengyu Zhong?"
The vice-captain answered, "We've been receiving Storm Prison's messages nonstop. In a battle half an hour ago, five warships of Storm Prison, including 'Blood Rain', the flagship of the pirate gang commanded by Fengyu Zhong himself, have bitten Gold Horn of the Great Horn Exo Society tightly!
"Gold Horn is not fighting alone. Another two warships from Cultivation sects did not return to defend their bases and formed a small fleet together with Gold Horn. They are still trying to resist.
"However, we've been long prepared for the assault. After an ambush, one of the hostile warships was basically wrecked, and the other two starships were seriously damaged, too. Their power systems have been greatly undermined. They could neither perform a space jump nor increase their speed; there's no way that they can run away.
"We have detected abundant telepathic thoughts being sent to various directions. They must be sending distress signals.
"However, the Cultivators who were lurking near them have all been blindsided by our previous strikes and have returned to defend their mother ports or headquarters. In a hurry to return, they wasted a lot of spiritual energy and fuel.
"Even if these Cultivators turn back right now, they'll have to refill their supplies. It will take at least three days for the first wave of reinforcements to arrive.
"But we will devour the three starships within two days!
"Knowing that they have no alternatives, the Great Horn Exo Society's last strikes were quite intense. Storm Prison has suffered a lot of damage, too. They are hoping for us to join them as quickly as possible so that Huangpu Shiyi can repair the damaged crystal suits and restore their combat ability with his proficient skills. They also planned for Su Jiuzhen to sneak into the hostile starships and assassinate the important figures with his stealth abilities. He could also have sabotaged the key parts of the starships and destroyed the enemy's defense from inside!
"However, as it turns out…"
The vice-captain laughed embarrassedly.
Taking a deep breath, Li Yao closed his eyes, his eyeballs flicking from side to side. He nodded and said, "Understood. Huangpu Shiyi may have been disabled, but there's still me! I can repair crystal suits, too. It will be my show time! How long till we join Fengyu Zhong?"
"Soon. In about ten hours, we will be in touch."
"In fact, the distance between us is already short enough for us to detect feeble spiritual waves from the picture fed back by super-large crystal cameras. Please have a look, Master Li Yao!"
The vice-captain brought Li Yao to the control panel and pointed at a giant light beam.
Perhaps due to the filtering of the crystal camera, the universe demonstrated in the light beam was vaguely red, as if the stars were all bleeding.
In the deepest part of the universe, weak light spots were breaking out every once in a while, bouncing stubbornly like countless sparks.
"Is that our battlefield?" Dazzling brilliance was shining inside Li Yao's deep, dark eyes.
The vice-captain grinned. "Yes, and the graveyard for the Great Horn Exo Society!"
Li Yao was even busier in the following six hours.
He wandered about every corner of the carrier, trying his best to search for the possible crystal bombs left by Huangpu Shiyi.
He paid special attention to the critical parts of the carrier, such as the engine compartment, the chamber that stored crystals, and the arsenal, among other places.
He even drove out the staff working inside the cabins many times, claiming that he was going to conduct full examinations on the cabin with his secret arts, which were not to be witnessed by anyone else.
He had just slain the captain. The killing intent on his body had not entirely dispersed. The ordinary crew members, who were in the Refinement Stage at best, did not dare question him at all even though they were somewhat suspicious.
They discussed secretly and reached the conclusion that, since Storm Prison was not far away, Fengyu Zhong would naturally take care of everything when they joined him. Pawns like themselves really should focus on their own business.
Six hours later, Li Yao locked himself inside Huangpu Shiyi's refining workshop.
He smashed the ant nest and the monkey on the desk and swept the pieces to the ground. Then, he started his own refining work.
Nine and a half hours later, the carrier finally finished its prolonged journey and reached the periphery of the bleeding battlefield!
Chapter 528: Fengyu Zhong's Senses |
Battles in the sea of stars were not like the wars on the oceans in ancient times, where thousands of cannons were shooting at the same time and smoke and fire were soaring.
The two parties engaged in battle were more like two hunters lurking in the corners of a dark abyss.
They held their breath and skulked about cautiously. They trod lightly, without letting out any sound. They treasured every bit of their strength as if it were their life. They considered every opportunity of attack carefully and wouldn't act at full strength unless they were absolutely certain.
It was because the sea of stars was too vast a place. A battlefield could easily be thousands of square kilometers. If the two parties were a few hundred kilometers away from each other, it could almost be called a head-on battle.
In such a large battlefield, the damage of any attack launched by the warships would be greatly diminished because of the long distance in between. The enemy could calculate the trajectory of the attack without any trouble, too.
As the spiritual shield technology and the technology of magnetic interference developed, the defense ability of crystal warships became higher than the attack ability. The 'shield' was stronger than the 'spear'.
For an intense bombardment, if it were attack of pure spiritual energy, it could be offset by the spiritual shield of the warship easily, and if it were a real-entity attack like cannonballs, its trajectory could be altered by twisting the magnetic field so that it would only brush past the warship.
In such a battlefield, ten units of resources to launch an attack could be resolved by one unit of resources.
If the crystal warships of the two parties were on a par, the resources they carried would be roughly the same. Those who attacked would only be wasting their resources and committing suicide.
The enemy warships could maximize their spiritual shields and magnetic interference system and wait until the attackers ran out of spiritual energy, ammunitions, and other resources before they launched their deadly counterattack.
Crystal warships in the sea of stars were like herbivores that had extremely solid shells but blunt, clumsy claws.
Only one thing could breach the solid defense of the 'herbivores'—crystal suits.
Compared to crystal warships, crystal suits were smaller in size and higher in agility. They consumed fewer resources, too.
Invading the enemy's defensive perimeter with a large number of crystal suits was a game-changer for the attacker.
Crystal warships were usually equipped with air defense cannons. But dealing with crystal suits with air defense cannons was like shooting mosquitoes with snipers. It would often take forty units of resources to hit one crystal suit, which would have merely consumed one unit of recourses.
Even though the crystal suit was damaged, as long as the Exo was not killed instantly, they could be pulled back to their motherships. The Exos could be treated in the med bays, and the crystal suits could be repaired in the workshops. Within ten hours, they could be sent to the frontline again.
The defender had only two endings when faced with such a situation.
If the defender chose not to bother about the large batches of crystal sui
ts attacking them, they would tear open the defense time and time again and sneak into the warships to sabotage the internal systems. When the shell of the warship was destroyed and the activity of the warship was limited, the main gun on the attacker's warship would bare its fangs and launch its deadliest attack.
If the defender sent most of their resources to the air defense cannons to clear the attacker's crystal suits, they would still be at the mercy of the attacker when they ran out of their resources in the end.
In the vast sea of stars, when a crystal warship was engaged with crystal suits, these were its only possible endings.
The only exception was that the defender carried a lot of crystal suits, too.
Crystal suits versus crystal suits. They were the critical factors for the wars in the sea of stars.
Crystal suits were the kings in a battle of the cosmic level!
The crystal warships equipped with magnificent cannons were nothing but the supply centers for crystal suits, the bases of rest for Exos, and the vehicles that could perform a long space jump with a great number of crystal suits!
This was a world where crystal suits mattered most.
This was a world where the strongest could rage and roar in the universe with equally strong crystal suits!
Fengyu Zhong was standing inside the cockpit of Blood Rain, the flagship of the fleet. The glass on three sides of the cockpit was translucent, making him seem to be in the middle of the bleeding stars.
The other four crystal warships of Storm Prison and the three hostile crystal warships were all more than a thousand kilometers away from each other. They seemed somewhat lonely, surrounded by bright spiritual shields that looked like dense, solid armor. The main guns of the crystal warships were silent, as if they were bystanders of the battle nearby.
In the middle of the bystanders, with the sea of stars as the battlefield, almost a thousand crystal suits were fighting brutally.