Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

by <unknown>

  "What makes you think that you are qualified for 'cooperation'?

  "As for the items in your head, whether they are truly there or simply made-up, we'll definitely get them out with the wisdom of the entire Blood Demon Sector!

  "By then, hehe… Let's put aside how many people you have murdered by helping Elder Nether Spring produce the Demon God Virus for a while. More than ten years ago, how many people were killed by you when you were still the 'Mad Medic'? I would very much like to find out what will become of you if you are handed over to the families of the victims!"

  "Haha. Hahahaha!" Lu Wuxin burst into such crazy laughter that he ran out of breath. Tears were flowing, and his face was red.

  His eyes suddenly turned extremely mysterious, and he mumbled creepily, "You think that the sixteen main biochemical brains and the Spore Stratagem are all of Elder Nether Spring's trump cards?

  "You've thought too little of Elder Nether Spring. Too little!

  "Believe it or not, some critical information, which has been by no means recorded in any of the main biochemical brains, is now still in my head. The top confidential files may concern the fate of the Blood Demon Sector!

  "Hehe. You think that everything is over now that you've disrupted the Spore Stratagem?

  "Idiot!

  "Death is awaiting not me, but you, every one of you, and even the entire Blood Demon Sector! Hahahaha!"

  "What do you mean?" The Fire Ant King's antennae stood up as he bellowed, "Where is Elder Nether Spring exactly?"

  "How would I know?" Lu Wuxin stared at him in great satisfaction. "However, the most crucial thing right now is not where he is but what trump cards he has, isn't it? Why don't you loosen my restraints a little bit so that I can talk to you?"

  The Fire Ant King glared. "You—"

  Li Yao, who had been observing aside, suddenly interrupted. "How would you like to cooperate?"

  Lu Wuxin's eyes suddenly shone. "Apparently, Vulture Li Yao is the more flexible one here. You've noticed something, too, haven't you?

  "Think about it. Jin Tuyi, who ranks the third in the four giants of the Blood Demon Sector, has prepared such a flawless and overwhelming scheme. Why was Elder Nether Spring, whose position is obviously higher, defeated so easily? It is completely unreasonable!"

  "Tell me your conditions," Li Yao said coldly.

  "Very simple." Lu Wuxin licked his lips and said, "I have never yearned for fame or fortune. The one thing I like best is academic research.

  "I will tell you all of Elder Nether Spring's secrets. Also, I will help you conduct the studies about the Demon God Virus. You must know that I've been the supervisor of the laboratory of the Demon God Virus for the past five years, right? With my help, you will be able to get the plague under control more quickly.

  "As for my reward, I will be kept alive, and you will prepare a research room with all the necessary facilities for me.

  "I can change my name and never show up in public anymore. You can claim that I have been executed.

  "Such cooperation will do us both good, won't it?"

  Li Yao looked at the Fire Ant King and pondered for a moment. Then, he shook his head. "I am sure that, like a centipede whose feet are still moving when it is killed, Elder Nether Spring might have other plans even though his Spore Stratagem has failed. But a centipede is a bug after all. There is no way that a bug can raise much chaos. How can we know that you are not bluffing?"

  "That's very easy." Lu Wuxin smiled. "I can tell you the general picture of the 'Children of the Nether World'. You can determine its validity yourself."

  "Children of the Nether World?" Li Yao could not help but question that. "The Spore Stratagem hasn't been concluded yet, and now 'Children of the Nether World' are popping up? What the heck is that?"

  Lu Wuxin blinked and said with a smile, "The last time we met, Elder Nether Spring put a set of Venomous Scorpion Bone Biting Shackle on the Fire Ant King. It was a masterpiece of 'Solar Eclipse' Jiang Shaoyang, one of the best refiners of the Heaven's Origin Sector.

  "At that time, both Elder Nether Spring and I thought that it was absolutely safe. Nobody can ever crack Jiang Shaoyang's delicate work of genius.

  "However, everything can go wrong. The magical equipment was cracked in the end, which led to the failure of our entire plan.

  "Hehe. Who would've thought that Vulture Li Yao, who beat 'Solar Eclipse' Jin Xinyue ten years ago in the arts of refining, was lurking right beside us?

  "However, Vulture Li Yao, have you never been curious about one thing?

  "How on earth would a piece of magical equipment crafted by the best master of refining in the Heaven's Origin Sector for the special purpose of confining a demon emperor appear in the Blood Demon Sector? Who was it exactly that smuggled the magical equipment over?

  "It might not be a big deal for normal chainswords, crystal tanks, or even crystal suits to be shipped to the Blood Demon Sector, but such an ultimate treasure has also been smuggled. What does that indicate? How influential is Elder Nether Spring in the Heaven's Origin Sector?"

  The Fire Ant King's eyes almost froze, and he let out a yelp in surprise.

  Li Yao narrowed his eyes, and a drop of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.

  Ever since he saw the Venomous Scorpion Bone Biting Shackle, the question had bothered him for quite a long time.

  However, later, he had been too busy sabotaging the Eye of Blood Demon, helping Jin Tuyi seize power, leading Skyfire to rise, and controlling the plague. He had barely had any time to rest and simply put the issue aside.

  Now that Lu Wuxin mentioned it, Li Yao felt as if a poisonous needle had pierced into the back of his head!

  "Does Elder Nether Spring know someone in the Heaven's Origin Sector?" Li Yao demanded.

  Instead of giving a direct answer, Lu Wuxin said unhurriedly, "I'm told that Saintess Jin Xinyue has risen to fame in the Blood Demon Sector recently. Most of the low-level demons have been won over by her. Her experience of transforming from a demon into a human being is quite legendary, too.

  "No matter what the idiotic country folk say, we are both clear that Jin Xinyue was turned into a human being because she swallowed too much Divine Blood of Chaos by accident, and the Divine Blood of Chaos that she took was actually stolen from Elder Nether Spring's lab.

  "Hehe. Here comes the question. Do you think that what Jin Xinyue took was the only bottle of Divine Blood of Chaos?

  "It was indeed the last bottle of Divine Blood of Chaos. Elder Nether Spring kept it for the purpose of unraveling the mysteries in the blood and finding a way to manufacture it.

  "However, his research had to be kept clandestine, which meant that he could not make use of the largest biochemical factories in the Blood Demon Sector. Therefore, the studies on manufacturing it didn't make much progress.

  "The fact is, Elder Nether Spring has discovered dozens of relics of Chaos over the past hundred years. Did he only find one bottle of Divine Blood of Chaos?"

  Li Yao and the Fire Ant King both gulped.

  With a sunny smile, Lu Wuxin concluded, "Now that Jin Xinyue has turned into a human being because the excessive Divine Blood of Chaos that she took reduced and stabilized her cells, it is possible that other demons will have similar transformations after they overly absorb the Divine Blood of Chaos, right? They will become pure human beings, and no test methods will ever detect anything wrong about them. Isn't is so?

  "What if I tell you that, perhaps decades ago, some of Elder Nether Spring's trusted subordinates absorbed excessive Divine Blood of Chaos, transformed into human beings, and infiltrated into the Heaven's Origin Sector without anybody knowing? What if, after their infiltration, they slowly made a career on their own, and those trusted subordinates are known as Children of the Nether World? Would you believe me?"

  Chapter 1057: Fatal Infiltration! |

  Li Yao and the Fire Ant King looked at each other in bewilderment. After calming himself down for a moment, Li Yao turned back t
o look at Lu Wuxin expressionlessly although thousands of thoughts were rolling on his mind. "I'm starting to believe you. If you give me more details and prove your value, perhaps it is possible for us to strike a deal."

  One of Lu Wuxin's eyes was like a rotten goose egg while the other looked like a bean that was sprouting. Staring at Li Yao with the pair of weird, asymmetric eyes, he said, "Fine. What harm is there in telling you more details?

  "The Children of the Nether World Project is not an independent plan. It is supposed to support the Spore Stratagem, or rather, it is a prerequisite project for the Spore Stratagem. The purpose of the project was to ensure that the Spore Stratagem went smoothly.

  "In fact, it was one of the earliest projects that Elder Nether Spring initiated, much earlier than the development of the Demon God Virus and the establishment of the Nether World Watch. I estimate that the project might've been kicked off seventy to eighty years ago.

  "The reason is simple. Both the development of the Demon God Virus and the establishment of the Nether World Watch required a huge amount of manpower and resources. Also, secret bases of enormous scales needed to be created as disguises. Everything suggested that he could only accomplish his goal after he became the supreme leader of the Nether Spring Kingdom.

  "The Children of the Nether World Project, in the meantime, is very easy from a technological point of view. All he needed was a batch of Divine Blood of Chaos and some trusted subordinates.

  "Even Jin Xinyue could be transformed into a human being without her doing anything, right?

  "My speculation is that Elder Nether Spring discovered a relic of Chaos, which happened to be the warehouse of the Divine Blood of Chaos, by accident years ago. He retrieved a huge amount of Divine Blood of Chaos and discovered its shocking effect.

  "After that, Elder Nether Spring suddenly came up with an amazing infiltration plan. He asked his subordinates to swallow excessive Divine Blood of Chaos and infiltrate the Heaven's Origin Sector after they were human beings through and through!"

  "Wait!" The Fire Ant King frowned and asked, "Even if they had been transformed into human beings, how exactly did they sneak into the Heaven's Origin Sector?"

  "That's very easy." Lu Wuxin grinned. "Most of the 'beast tide outbreaks' that the Blood Demon Sector launched against the Heaven's Origin Sector were actually implemented by the Nether Spring Kingdom. Wasn't it more than easy for Elder Nether Spring's subordinates to hide among the beasts?"

  "Then, what is his goal?" Li Yao was deep in thought. "It's not like Elder Nether Spring had already come up with the Spore Stratagem and was determined to put it into practice decades ago, right?"

  Lu Wuxin shook his head and said, "According to my analysis, Elder Nether Spring did not have any special goal in the beginning.

  "At first, he sent the Children of the Nether World to the Heaven's Origin Sector perhaps only because he wanted to know the intelligence on the Grand Desolate Plateau and to smuggle the advanced crystal processors and magical equipment of the Heaven's Origin Sector.

  "We all know that human beings of the Heaven's Origin Sector developed countless types of magical equipment targeting demons after five hundred years of warfare. Many kinds of magical equipment are much more fatal than the demonic artifacts.

  "The crystal processors of the Heaven's Origin Sector are vastly different from the biochemical brains in terms of functioning mechanisms and computation models. They are highly complementary, too.

  "At that time, Elder Nether Spring hadn't seized the highest power of the Nether Spring Kingdom yet. He was engaged in the cruel internal strife with other experts of the Insect Clan.

  "If he had a few spies in the Heaven's Origin Sector, the 'beast tides' that he launched would be more adaptive and more likely to accomplish brilliant results. He would be able to prove his value to the seniors of the Insect Clan.

  "The crystal processors and magical equipment that were smuggled over could help him increase his influence and win the internal struggles, too.

  "Moreover, if the spies he sent out rose to power in the federal army or the main sects on the Grand Desolate Plateau, he could even release the news about the beast tides initiated by his competitors in the Nether Spring Kingdom in advance. Thus, their beast tides would suffer brutal failure. In such a way, he would be able to eliminate his opponents and seize all control.

  "I estimate that this was Elder Nether Spring's purpose in the beginning."

  Li Yao nodded.

  That was quite a reasonable deduction. If he were Elder Nether Spring, and he had a batch of mysterious drugs that could transform demons into human beings, such an endeavor would certainly make the best use of the drugs.

  "However," Lu Wuxin continued, "as time went by, the Children of the Nether World Project slowly changed. Supported by the messages sent by Elder Nether Spring intentionally or unintentionally, many Children of the Nether World slowly infiltrated the critical, and sometimes the highest, posts in the major sects and the army of the Heaven's Origin Sector!

  "At that time, Elder Nether Spring had already become the leader of the Nether Spring Kingdom and one of the four giants of the Blood Demon Sector. He established the Nether World Watch and, for the first time, had the idea of creating a third life form that was perfect.

  "Then, the importance of the Children of the Nether World couldn't be more obvious.

  "By then, the Children of the Nether World were meant to ensure the smooth implementation of the Spore Stratagem. They also had the mission to take control of the Heaven's Origin Sector and seize the power of the Star Glory Federation in the chaotic world after the outbreak of the virus, paving the way for Elder Nether Spring's 'new world'!"

  Li Yao felt that his heart was pounding.

  If that was true, everything would make much more sense now!

  The key procedure of the Spore Stratagem was that the elite troops of the coalition army of demons and those of the federal army needed to be concentrated somewhere for a killing spree, which required the effort of both sides.

  In the Blood Demon Sector, Elder Nether Spring was under the illusion that Jin Tuyi was manipulated by him and that his scheme was working out.

  But how was he so certain that the situation in the Heaven's Origin Sector would be exactly what he expected?

  If the federal army had not acted as he planned, the Spore Stratagem might have been doomed to fail before it started!

  Elder Nether Spring had been considering the plan carefully for decades. It was highly unlikely that he would count on hope and guesses for his success.

  But if Elder Nether Spring had spies in the Star Glory Federation who could make the influential decisions or, at the very least, had access to the top secrets…

  According to the original plan, the Children of the Nether World would stir up trouble and disrupt the Star Glory Federation at the last phase of the Spore Stratagem, when the Demon God Virus was spreading out uncontrollably.

  Now, although the Spore Stratagem had failed, the Children of the Nether World had not yet been unearthed. They were still lurking in the heart of the Star Glory Federation!

  "How did you know all this?" Li Yao's voice was cold. "Do you have the name list of the Children of the Nether World?"

  "Of course I don't," Lu Wuxin said unhurriedly. "The Children of the Nether World Project was activated more than seventy years ago. It is a key project under Elder Nether Spring's direct control. Nobody except himself—not even Despot and Swirl, who were his most trusted subordinates—knew anything about the project. I was only recruited by Elder Nether Spring for the refinement of the Demon God Virus ten years ago. Why would he give me the name list of the Children of the Nether World?"

  Li Yao thought for a moment and realized that it was probably true. It would take at least twenty to thirty years for a Child of the Nether World to rise to power in the Star Glory Federation after they sneaked in. The most important batch of the Children of the Nether World had probably been sent out si
xty years ago.

  With Lu Wuxin's experience, he could not have known much about the details.

  Li Yao frowned. "Then, how did you uncover the project?"

  Lu Wuxin smiled. "I don't have many shortcomings, except that I am very scared of death. How could I not prepare myself when I was working for such a brutal man as Elder Nether Spring? The information was collected after arduous efforts over the past decade for the single purpose of trading for my life when the situation demands."

  Li Yao sniffed. "What a shame. Without the name list of the Children of the Nether World, everything you said is still groundless. Who can tell whether it is true or not?

  "Also, even if it is true, does it mean anything?

  "We are both clear that, after absorbing excessive Divine Blood of Chaos, a demon will be completely transformed into a human being. So, there is no way that we can prove someone is a Child of the Nether World, is there?"

  "That's not necessarily the case," Lu Wuxin said slowly. "Although I don't have the name list of the Children of the Nether World, I actually have a large batch of intelligence that the Children of the Nether World sent back to Elder Nether Spring, much of which is the top secrets of the federation army and the major sects.

  "Not too many people would have had access to the top secrets at the time the intelligence was sent back. As long as you list everybody who knew the information and check out their background, you will soon find the Children of the Nether World!

  "For example, here I have a piece of intelligence about the Dragon Scale Sect's purchase of the mainframe crystal processors for their headquarters nine years ago, including the specifications of the crystal processors and the ways to crack the barriers and hack into them.

  "Then, everything is easy. Nine years ago, few disciples of the Dragon Scale Sect had access to the top confidential information. You only need to trace back their life and see if they had ever been to the Grand Desolate Plateau, if they had any relatives, or if they had been born in a big family… Then, you will certainly find the Children of the Nether World among them!"