by <unknown>
Mutiny was always shocking news. All the Cultivators felt that their heart was pounding.
Iron Commander Zhou Hengdao said coldly, "Rest assured, everyone. The rogue legion is now under control. All the commanders have been captured. They will be trialed in the military court."
The Cultivators finally took a breath in relief.
Now, even the most inert and the most conservative Cultivators clearly realized that the federation had turned into a volcano that was about to erupt. Nobody could stop it anymore.
Zhou Hengdao glanced at everyone and said, "Obedience is obligatory for soldiers. As the Chief of General Staff of the federal army, I hereby promise that the federal army will not take any action until the final decision is made by parliament. Whoever moves without permission will be punished as per the military law!
"However—"
Changing the topic, the veteran gnashed his teeth, his words darting out like hot bullets. "As a spokesperson of the 125 military representatives in parliament, I demand another special meeting tomorrow meeting where the 'expedition motion' will be re-discussed!
"Cough cough. Cough cough cough cough. My body has been seriously wounded in the explosion. I'm afraid that my health might not allow me to work any longer.
"If the expedition motion is not passed, I will resign as the Chief of General Staff, leave the army, and return to my identity as a civilian.
"Then, I will establish a volunteer army as a civilian and march into the Blood Demon Sector!"
It was almost a shameless move, but it was something that only Iron Commander Zhou Hengdao, who had been wounded for the federation more than a thousand times, was qualified to make.
His unreasonable declaration almost froze the blood of many of the Cultivators, but it boiled the blood of the rest!
"Iron Commander!" A Cultivator once in service suddenly rose up and clenched his fists. "The Green Lotus Sect will absolutely support the federal army. If the expedition motion is passed tomorrow, the Green Lotus Sect will spare nothing and give all the manpower and resources to Iron Commander's hands in the unprecedented great expedition!"
"And us, the Fighting Dragon Mountain!" another Cultivator stood up and declared. "If the expedition motion is still not passed tomorrow, the Fighting Dragon Mountain will join Iron Commander's volunteer army as a whole. We will march into the Blood Demon Sector next to the Iron Commander!
"Without the approval of parliament, naturally, the federal army cannot take any action. But we are not bound by the military rules as Cultivators. Can anybody stop us if we volunteer to seek vengeance from the Blood Demon Sector?"
"And us!"
"Us, too!"
"We cannot tolerate such humiliation. The demons must answer blood with blood!"
Frantic air was sweeping across the entire meeting room. The atmosphere there was soon no different from any class in the high schools of the federation right now.
Luo Xingzi, Professor Mo Xuan, and few other people were the only ones who remained calm, but there was nothing they could do under the overwhelming passion of the zealots.
Luo Xingzi looked at Zhou Hengdao desperately. "Iron Commander, do you believe that Li Yao has turned into the Blood Demon?"
Zhou Hengdao shook his head. "I don't like to bother about the details. I only know that the demons have raised two inhumane attacks in the capital city of the federation in just a hundred days!
"The criminals can run away, but their lair is always there. What I want is not Li Yao but the demon race and the Blood Demon Sector. They must pay the price for the two assaults!"
Luo Xingzi was anxious. "What about the apocalypse? What about the Imperium of True Human Beings? It is peace that we need right now!"
Zhou Hengdao's eyes were suddenly glittering five times more brilliantly than before as he stared at Luo Xingzi and said, one word after another, "Fellow Cultivator Luo Xingzi, I have to remind you of something. We didn't choose the war; the war chose us! Peace? There will never be peace until the last drop of blood of the last demon dries!"
Chapter 1091: Trust |
Luo Xingzi was lost for words. He thought hard for a long time, only to come up with no rebuttal.
The brilliance in Iron Commander Zhou Hengdao's eyes dimmed, but it constricted into a red pot that was smaller and solider, like burning firewood. He said toughly, "Fellow Cultivator Luo Xingzi, I am a soldier, and I do not like fancy talk. So, let's get everything straight here.
"The Flying Star Sector hopes that the three Sectors can work together to resist the Imperium of True Human Beings, but the previous two assaults have proven that it is just a one-sided dream and a childish fantasy!
"The Blood Demon Sector is never going to cooperate. Even if they pretend to, it must be part of their greater scheme!
"In a war, the only thing more dangerous than a terrible enemy is a terrible teammate. Do you really want a teammate like the Blood Demon Sector behind your back when the Imperium of True Human Beings comes?
"The only solution is to occupy the Blood Demon Sector as quickly as possible!
"The Blood Demon Sector is unstable right now and unprecedently weak. On the other hand, with the help of Burning Prairie and the Grand Illusionary Soldiers, we are unprecedently strong!
"If we attack now, it is very likely that we can occupy the entire Blood Demon Sector soon. We will be able to capture all the demons and send them to the resource planets in your Sector!
"This is the only righteous path to compete with the Imperium of True Human Beings. This is the brightest path of survival in front of us!
"The window will soon close. There's no time for hesitation. When the Blood Demon Sector recovers from the chaos, we will have to wait twenty to thirty years before we get another shot. How much time will be left for us to collect resources?
"All in all, the Heaven's Origin Sector is certainly going to attack the Blood Demon Sector with our best. If the Flying Star Sector gives us a hand, we will naturally be more confident, but even without the Flying Star Sector's help, we will never look back even if the last of us collapses!
"Please consider the best choice for the Flying Star Sector, Fellow Cultivators from the Flying Star Sector. We will certainly respect your opinion and not force you into anything!"
Luo Xingzi was completely overwhelmed.
Although he was the nominal leader of the Flying Star Sector, since the Flying Star Sector had not had a central government before, he had only managed a sect and a city in the universe. How big a picture could he see?
Pushed by such a seasoned warrior, Luo Xingzi found it hard to resist. Sweating, he said, "We… we will certainly consider it carefully.
Zhou Hengdao's suddenly arrival made it impossible, nor necessary, to proceed with the meeting anymore.
Li Yao was not the key point—the Blood Demon Sector was. An expedition to the Blood Demon Sector. Blood for blood!
In the riot, nobody noticed that a stubborn, red shadow suddenly rose up and stormed out of the meeting room.
But Wu Mayan caught Ding Lingdang's anomaly. He called "Masteress!" but got no reply. Scared that she might do something stupid, he hurried behind her.
Hiu!
On the front deck of Burning Prairie, Ding Lingdang, with a flying sword under her feet, stomped on the floor so hard that she almost broke the shell. She turned into a streak of crimson brilliance and darted into the sky!
Wu Mayan hurried to summon his crystal suit and followed her. The two of them flew higher and higher until they were above the atmosphere where the air was thin.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Ding Lingdang was venting her anger like an enormous dragon that was spurting fire. She looked so intimidating that it even seemed that the atmosphere was about to be blown up by her.
"*sshole. B*stard. Scumbag. I'm going to blow up your head!"
Ding Lingdang bombarded as she bellowed.
Although he was hundreds of meters away, Wu Mayan was still shaking violent
ly because of the blast. He was rather frightened when he shouted, "Ma—masteress. Please calm—calm down. Master might have been wronged. Don't rush into anything!"
Shua!
Ding Lingdang dashed up to his face instantly and glared at him. Sweat immediately drowned his back, only to be dried by the cold wind the next second.
Ding Lingdang took a deep breath and blew out the fire on her fists. She said coldly, "Who says that I am going to blow up your master's head?"
Wu Mayan was dumbfounded. "Huh. Then, who were you angry at, Masteress?"
Ding Lingdang sniffed and said, "Lu Zui, the director of the Secret Sword Bureau, of course. I've been doing my best to contain myself, but I just couldn't hold it any second longer. If I stayed there for one more second, I'm afraid I would've rushed to the front and blown up his head!"
Wu Mayan was stunned. "Why?"
"Because he is a bad guy who is vilifying your master," Ding Lingdang replied matter-of-factly.
Wu Mayan felt that his head was larger than usual. "How did you know that, Masteress?"
Ding Lingdang sneered, "It's true that I am incapable of analyzing all the complicated issues, but I remember one thing clearly.
"Didn't you mention before that the Blood Devil Yan Xibei on Iron Plateau kept all the memories, emotions, and habits of the real Yan Xibei and that nobody knew that he was possessed by the Blood Devil until he was exposed?"
Wu Mayan nodded. "That's right. So what?"
"So," Ding Lingdang continued, "before the Blood Devil Yan Xibei was exposed, his behavior was identical to the real Yan Xibei's, right?"
Wu Mayan nodded again. "Yes. That's the only way he could fool everyone."
"So, assuming that Li Yao was swallowed by the Blood Devil and turned into Blood Devil Li Yao, in order to fool everyone, he would have acted exactly like the real Li Yao in every regard, right?"
Wu Mayan thought carefully for a while and answered, "I think he would!"
"Then, here is the problem." Ding Lingdang narrowed her eyes and declared, "This Blood Devil Li Yao did something that the real Li Yao would never ever, ever do!"
Wu Mayan blinked. "What is it?"
"Look for another woman!" Ding Lingdang said.
"…" Wu Mayan.
"The real Li Yao promised me ten years ago that he would be back and asked me to wait for him!
"You said yourself that he never looked at any other woman, not even once, in the Flying Star Sector over the past ten years when countless girls must've come to him enthusiastically considering his capability and influence!
"How could such a Li Yao look at another woman even if he turned into the Blood Devil? He knows that I would kill him the moment he returned to the Blood Demon Sector if he found a second woman!
"Therefore, for those who are unfamiliar with Li Yao, it may be a flawless trap, but in my eyes, there is a giant loophole in it!"
"Cough, cough. That explains a lot. Masteress, you are truly… smart."
"Come here." Ding Lingdang curled her fingers at him.
Wu Mayan leaned in close. "What are your orders, Masteress?"
Ding Lingdang bashed his forehead hard. "Little brat, don't you think that I don't understand the meaning in your eyes. Your eyes were clearly saying 'how incredible it is that such a stupid woman has a eureka moment', weren't they?"
Wu Mayan was dumbfounded. He did not expect that Ding Lingdang would be so perceptive and so… intelligent today.
"Tell you what. I might be short-tempered, but short-tempered doesn't mean idiotic!" Ding Lingdang warmed up her fingers until her joints were cracking. She grinned hideously. "Usually, I do not like to use my head because most issues do not require my head. My fists are enough to resolve them!
"However, if someone thinks that I'm strong but stupid and that they can play tricks on me regarding issues that involve Li Yao, they will find themselves seriously mistaken!"
Wu Mayan was almost in tears. He exclaimed, "So, you finally believe in Master now?"
"Wrong," Ding Lingdang said casually. "I have never doubted him. Not even for a second."
Wu Mayan was baffled again. "Why not?"
Ding Lingdang put on a reminiscing smile as she said softly, "Do you know why your master loves me? I'll give you a hint. It's a word that starts with the letter 't'."
It was perhaps the most difficult question in the entire universe. Wu Mayan tilted his head and thought hard for a moment before he answered prudently, "Toughness?"
"Toughness, my ass!"
Ding Lingdang bashed his forehead again. "It's trust. Trust! You little brat.
"Your master was picked by me with my keen eyes and trained by me in person.
"Ding Lingdang's man must be the most awesome hero in the sea of stars. How could he be so weak as to be devoured by an insignificant Blood Devil?"
Wu Mayan could hardly catch his breath. He finally understood why his magnificent master had found such a woman. Calming himself down, he said, "If you trust master, why didn't you say it earlier, Masteress?"
"I said it. Weren't Professor Mo Xuan and I questioning him all the time?" Ding Lingdang said. "However, given the circumstances, what else could we say? Should I have said that Li Yao is my man, so he is never going to be possessed by the Blood Devil? Does such a defense really mean anything?"
Wu Mayan thought for a moment and realized that it did make sense.
"Also," Ding Lingdang said solemnly, "all the intelligence comes from the Secret Sword Bureau, but it turns out to be false. So, there is certainly a big villain in the leadership of the Secret Sword Bureau. My profession is to beat someone up, not to cope with such a great schemer.
"I want to find Li Yao, too, but there are so many people in the world. Where can I find him if the Secret Sword Bureau can't?
"Moreover, my relationship with Li Yao is not a secret. The villain hiding in the Secret Sword Bureau must be monitoring me closely!
"I am not afraid of danger, but I'm scared that my reckless moves will attract the villain's attention and prompt him to deal with me through some dirty methods!
"For example, what if the villain realizes that I'm suspicious of him and decides to smear me as a Child of the Nether World before I can do anything? Who can help Li Yao if I cannot protect myself?"
Wu Mayan nodded quickly. Such concerns never occurred to him. It appeared that his masteress had learned something from his master after all!
Ding Lingdang clenched her fists and gnashed her teeth. "However, I never expected that the enemy would make it so big! There are a lot of suspicious points that are still bothering me. If Director Lu Zui is really behind the scheme, why is he doing this?"
Wu Mayan scratched his head. "Then, what do we do now?"
Ding Lingdang smashed her fists hard. "There's nothing we can do now except try to find your master. He should be the one considering such complicated things. As for me, I will be responsible for the fighting part.
"Whoever frames my man, I swear that they will die the most miserable death!"
Chapter 1092: Patriots! |
In the plaza next to the Federal Square, inside the field command center of the Demon Execution Division, Guo Chunfeng almost buried his face into the window when he stared at the messy, bloodstained square in a daze.
Countless light beams were flashing behind him, which were displaying the injured people and their confusion, but there was not a trace of Li Yao.
Lu Zui, the director of the Secret Sword Bureau, walked through the light beams and handed him a cigarette that was filled with Heavenly Fragrance Grass and designed to pacify Cultivators and ease their fatigue.
"Ah Feng. It was not your fault. Don't blame yourself." Lu Zui sighed and said, "We'd all underestimated the formidability of our enemy. Recently, we were too focused on Li Yao to care about the bigger picture. Now that I think about it, Li Yao might've left traces on purpose as a distraction so that his accomplices could take the opportunity to make a move!"
"I'm f
ine." Guo Chunfeng's fingers that held the cigarette was slightly trembling. He said in a hoarse voice, "Director, let me ask you something. When we moved to capture Li Yao, my brothers and I were attacked by snipers at the same time. Later, we found a few bodies on the commanding heights nearby. They should be Li Yao's accomplices.
"However, just when we were shot, Li Yao suffered a perilous attack, too, which must've been made by a super expert!
"It was his accomplices who shot us, but who was it that shot him?"
Lu Zui blew a ring of blue smoke and admitted frankly, "It was 'Death Ray' Ye Changkong."
Guo Chunfeng's pupils constricted violently!
'Death Ray' Ye Changkong was the chief firearms coach in the federal army, the best expert in gunnery in the Heaven's Origin Sector, and a 'Gun Cultivator' in the Nascent Soul Stage!
Generally speaking, the high-level Cultivators in the Core Formation Stage and the Nascent Soul Stage would select cold weapons such as sabers or swords as their primary weapon.
Because of their immense spiritual energy, they could launch their blades and metal scraps like bullets with a telepathic thought. There was no need for them to use firearms.
Even if they did use firearms, the firearms would mostly serve as the 'secondary weapon' like Li Yao's 'Six-Barreled Vulcan Machine Cannon'. It was their sabers and swords that mattered most in combat.
However, some of the extremists of firearms inherited the skills of the ancient Cultivators in their manipulation of the 'sword aura' and insisted on using firearms as their primary weapon.
'Death Ray' Ye Changkong was the best among them. The saying that 'the fastest martial art is the best martial art' proved to be true for him.
In the entire Heaven's Origin Sector, not a single Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator dared to say that they could escape from the gun of 'Death Ray'!
"So, besides my Demon Execution Division, there was a second squad that was hunting Vulture?" Guo Chunfeng narrowed his eyes and gnashed his teeth. "Why?"