Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

by <unknown>

  "We will pass the broken wall between the two worlds and land on the Blood Demon Sector like burning dandelions!

  "Perhaps we will be surrounded by the demon beasts before we stand to our feet.

  "Perhaps we will see a hundred, or even a thousand, enormous demon beasts that can be hundreds of meters tall gathering into tides and mountains smashing at us!

  "Perhaps we will all die in the Blood Demon Sector. We may be shredded into pieces by the paws and teeth of the demons, or we may be captured alive and sent back to their nests for the inhumane experiments!

  "Are you scared? Tell me! Are you scared?"

  In the pouring rain, the hundred thousand soldiers replied with silence that was as cold as ice and iron.

  "Let me tell you. I am scared. I am very scared!" Iron Commander Zhou Hengdao bashed his chest hard until it was clattering while he roared, "Same as you, I know clearly that we are not prepared to set foot in the dangerous land right now at all! We are here for a drill, not a war! We are short of ammunition and supplies. Our legs are all shaking. Our hearts are all pounding. Butterflies are flying in our stomachs! We are more than scared!

  "However—

  "Five hours ago, 3,113 soldiers, 3,113 of our brothers, were trapped in the Blood Demon Sector!

  "We are already more than scared when we haven't been faced with anything yet. What about them who are being faced with the nightmare right now? What about the brothers who are trapped in the Blood Demon Sector without reinforcements? Think about it. What are they feeling right now?

  "Let me tell you. They will certainly be very scared. They might feel like throwing up in fear!

  "But however scared they are, they will not be desperate. They will certainly summon all the courage and fight to the end!

  "Because they are very clear that they are not fighting on their own. Behind them, there are hundreds of thousands of brothers from the entire Heaven's Origin Sector who participated in the drill with them! They know that those brothers will be there to save them! Even if there is only one of them left, those brothers will be there to save him!

  "Because they and us carry the same Rising Dragon of the Nine Stars emblem, wear the same black uniform, and boast the same proud name—the federal army!

  "This is going to be the most perilous battle since the federation was founded. It is also going to be the greatest one! Warriors and brothers, I cannot promise you anything, except that I will move forward together with you. Every brother will be rushing forward under my lead. As long as one soldier of the federal army is still lost in the Blood Demon Sector, I will definitely be fighting with the Rising Dragon of the Nine Stars until I am not breathing!

  "Now, do you still feel scared?

  "If you are still scared, then just shout out our name that has been irrigated with the blood of countless heroes over the past five hundred years!"

  "Federal army!"

  "Federal army!"

  "Federal army!"

  In the pouring rain, thunderous roars were echoing from the hundred thousand soldiers. The thunder on the ground was competing against that in the sky and even eclipsed it. Even the lightning was driven away by the soaring killing intent of the hundred thousand soldiers, turning into earthworm-like arcs before it struggled and perished.

  Iron Commander looked at the ignorant soldiers in silence. There was a trance on his face that was mostly covered in steel and rubber.

  He seemed to be embarrassed by everything that he had said just now, but he also seemed to be unwavering because of the hypnotization of a certain force.

  Deep inside the crimson man-made eye, the red spot was frozen, but a drop of dirty tear flowed down from the corner of his other eye.

  Due to the long distance and the pouring rain, none of the soldiers noticed it.

  Right then, a lieutenant rushed close, with mud spluttering, and whispered to him, "Iron Commander, the allies of the Flying Star Sector have agreed to send Burning Prairie to the Blood Demon Sector with us. They are now landing and deploying super short-distance commutation rune arrays so that all three legions can get on board quickly!"

  "Excellent!" Iron Commander Zhou Hengdao's eyes were glittering. "Ask the commanders of the three legions to take action immediately. I want everyone to board within three hours! In three hours, no matter how many soldiers have been accommodated, we will take off immediately!"

  Iron Commander Zhou Hengdao looked at his beloved army for the last time and walked into the storm.

  From the broken sky, the super warship Burning Prairie was landing slowly, opening to the hundred thousand federal soldiers!

  …

  At the same time, on the south of the Grand Desolate Plateau, a Rapid Dragon-level crystal warship, the fastest model in the federal, was rushing toward the Dark Desolate Domain at the highest speed!

  On the warship were Li Yao, Ding Lingdang, and several other experts who had remained in the capital.

  They were all carrying the ultimate order issued by Speaker Jiang Hailiu in person.

  As the nominal commander-in-chief of the federal army, only the order from Jiang Hailiu could override Zhou Hengdao's order, which came from the General Staff!

  The order for the drill be aborted immediately had been spread to more than half of the Grand Desolate Plateau. The troops at the south of the Grand Desolate Plateau had all retreated to their garrison as per the instructions.

  However, the north of the Grand Desolate Plateau and the Dark Desolate Domain seemed to be enshrouded in a thick fog that no orders could penetrate through.

  Occasionally, there were responses from the Dark Desolate Domain, but it was hard to verify whether or not they had been sent by the troops under Zhou Hengdao's control!

  Several teams had been dispatched from the few war bases at the south of the Grand Desolate Plateau to the north to call back the troops in the drill.

  However, after ten years of collisions between the Heaven's Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector, the Dark Desolate Domain at this moment was dozens of times larger than before. It had a coverage of several million square kilometers!

  It was definitely not an easy mission to locate an army that was possibly avoiding them on purpose in the super thunderstorm!

  Besides, even if they did find the target, would the communication teams sent by the military be enough to stop Iron Commander Zhou Hengdao?

  Therefore, Li Yao and the other experts still took off from the capital city and rushed to the Dark Desolate Domain on the fastest crystal warship.

  Boom!

  The crystal warship suddenly uttered fulminations. As it turned out, the power rune arrays broke down again because of prolonged overloading.

  This was the third crystal warship that they had wasted on their way.

  Li Yao could tell from the sound that the warship was hopeless.

  But there was not a second military base in the hundreds of square meters nearby where they could get on a new warship.

  All the Cultivators boarded on the armed shuttle on the warship, prepared to move on to the next military base.

  After looking at the time on his portable crystal processor, Li Yao, however, gritted his teeth and summoned Black Wing.

  In the battle against Diwu Jian, Black Wing had been hit by the attack of 'Five Disintegrations of Heavens and Human'. Cracks were appearing everywhere on the body of the sword. Li Yao was both sorry and angry, but he did not know how to mend it at all.

  Black Wing sensed his need. It shook in his palm, as if it were saying, "That's alright. I'm on it!"

  Seeing that he summoned the flying sword, Ding Lingdang asked in a hurry, "Li Yao, what are you going to do?"

  "It's too slow if we move from one base to another. You bring the main troop and come slowly. I'll simply go there first and check the situation!"

  Touching the cracks on Black Wing, Li Yao squinted and said, "Many guys on Burning Prairie know me. As long as I find Burning Prairie, I can at least stall them for a while unt
il you arrive even if I cannot stop them!"

  Black Wing was the fastest magical equipment within the atmosphere that Li Yao had ever seen. Even the Rapid Dragon-level crystal warship and many super shuttles were no match for it.

  More than ten years ago, when Li Yao was still in the Grand Desolate War Institution, he had often galloped on the Grand Desolate Plateau with Black Wing's speed.

  Today, history was reality again!

  "I'm going with you. I brought my own Furious Flame Armed Shuttle for the mission!" Ding Lingdang said without any hesitation.

  "As long as you can keep up with me, just come!"

  Li Yao smiled and dashed to the exit of the crystal warship. He threw Black Wing to the midair. Immediately, black fog spread out and condensed into two wings dozens of meters long!

  Li Yao leapt up and landed on the sword. The black waves of spiritual energy enveloped him. Integrating with the sword, he roared and rushed north, leaving a long exhaust flame behind him!

  "Wait for me!" Ding Lingdang shrieked behind him. Her Furious Flame Armed Shuttled turned into a streak of redness and went after Li Yao!

  Chapter 1144: A Mouse! |

  In the Dark Desolate Domain, Burning Prairie lowered to an altitude of about a hundred meters from the ground. The spiritual waves raised by the anti-gravity rune arrays were spreading out like tides, blowing many younger trees away.

  The marines on Burning Prairie jumped down and built up temporary commutation rune arrays on the ground. Channels of light seemed to be established between the ground and the super warship.

  The commutation rune arrays were essentially short-distance teleportation rune arrays with fixed destinations. They could move the soldiers, crystal suits, crystal tanks, and other war assets into Burning Prairie from the ground.

  Thousands of crystal suits and armed shuttles were flying in midair against the pouring rain and entering the super warship directly through the docks and airports on the super warship.

  If one were to observe from afar, it was like rows of well-trained ants migrating into the body of a giant fish incessantly.

  In less than an hour, almost half of the soldiers and war assets had boarded.

  At this time, the remaining seventeen legions were still scattered in the Dark Desolate Domain according to the subjects they were training.

  The entire drill plan had neatly been drafted based on Lu Zui's suggestions to make sure that the few legions that he infiltrated most were near Burning Prairie at the 'perilous moment'.

  The other legions that he had less influence on and whose commanders were relatively independent were now training the most arduous and complicated subjects in the mountains in the depths of the Dark Desolate Domain.

  Now that he had control of all the communication bases, the commanders would not become suspicion in the next twelve hours.

  After Burning Prairie jumped to the Blood Demon Sector, the remaining members of the Patriots Partnership in the army would naturally issue new orders and get more and more legions involved in the turbulence of warfare!

  "Hurry up!"

  Zhou Hengdao dragged up a soldier who tripped himself over in the mud and patted the dirty water off his uniform. He roared, "One second sooner, and we save one more life! Get on board now!"

  …

  At the center of the Grand Desolate Plateau, Li Yao darted toward the north at an amazing speed after being integrated with Black Wing!

  On his way, Li Yao continued retrieving crystals from his Cosmos Ring and feeding them to Black Wing, which often guzzled all of them in only several seconds.

  After absorbing enough spiritual energy, Black Wing roared and further accelerated time and time again.

  Far behind him, Ding Lingdang's 'Furious Flame Armed Shuttle' was emitting ear-splitting noises. Steam was popping up from quite a few power rune arrays. All the magical equipment units were beyond their limits and could not hold on any longer!

  "Li Yao, wait a moment, I will put on the crystal suit and follow you!" Ding Lingdang roared in the communication channel.

  "It's useless!" Li Yao replied in the communication channel. "It's impossible for you to catch up with me even if you put on your crystal suit! Also, the crystal suit only has a limited storage of spiritual energy. If you rush for a long distance at the highest speed, not only will the crystal suit be drained, you will consume a lot of your physical strength and spiritual energy, too. When we arrive in the Dark Desolate Domain, you will be exhausted. How do you plan to stop Zhou Hengdao?"

  Ding Lingdang was not an unreasonable person. She knew that she did not have an ultimate flying sword such as Li Yao's. If she were to finish the rest of the journey with her spiritual energy, she would be more or less paralyzed when she reached the Dark Desolate Domain. She would only be Li Yao's burden!

  She gritted her teeth and lowered the speed, "Can you do it alone?"

  "Trust me! I've returned safe and sound from the Flying Star Sector and the Blood Demon Sector!" Li Yao laughed. "How can a minor Dark Desolate Domain trap me?"

  "Okay!" Ding Lingdang instantly made the most sensible choice. "You go and check the situation first. Try to avoid a head-on clash with Zhou Hengdao and just stall him! Me and the fellow Cultivators will contact the military bases nearby and make sure that the 'ultimate order' reaches every troop in the area. Hang in there. We will be joining you in no time!"

  "Alright!" Li Yao stomped on Black Wing. The wings of spiritual energy on its two sides further expanded, only to shrink again. Like an arrow released from the bow, it accelerated to beyond five times the speed of sound the next second!

  Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

  Ominous noises of explosion were echoing inside Black Wing.

  The flying sword that had accompanied Li Yao for more than twenty years seemed to have reached the end of a certain phase, too.

  Li Yao was both sorry and anxious. "Little Black!"

  But Black Wing released more and more spiritual energy time and time again, leaving an exhaust flame that was as thick as an angry dragon behind them and demonstrating its strength in such a way!

  Taking a deep breath, Li Yao felt that tears were rolling in his eyes. He mumbled, "Hang in there, Little Black. Hang in there! After the battle, I will definitely collect the most precious Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures in the Heaven's Origin Sector, the Flying Star Sector, and the Blood Demon Sector and upgrade you into the unparalleled strongest sword in the universe! But right now, please hang in there and be faster!"

  One in the south and one in the north, Li Yao and Zhou Hengdao were engaged in an invisible race.

  Zhou Hengdao, who took action in advance, turned out to be faster than Li Yao. Two hours and fifty-four minutes later, the boarding procedure was completed!

  "Teleportation work completed. A 105,000 soldiers from three legions of the federal army, 7,520 crystal tanks, and 5,500 armed shuttles have boarded Burning Prairie!"

  "The ground has been cleaned!"

  "Burning Prairie is taking off and will float at the altitude of five hundred meters until it is ready to break the barrier of the three-dimensional world!"

  Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

  In the space jump cabin, which was right next to the engine compartment, the super heavy space jump array was functioning slowly. Rune arrays were glittering one after another, pushing the rotors to revolve rapidly and release immense impetus!

  The broad tubes of spiritual energy dozens sent the energy to every part of the super warship. Glamorous brilliance popped up on the outside of the warship. The iron beast was bathed in an amazing ocean of light and was about to vanish from this world!

  On the bridge of Burning Prairie, Zhou Hengdao, Luo Xingzi, and other leadership of the Burning Prairie Fleet stood next to each other and gazed at the changing parameters on the control light beam.

  On the face of the Iron Commander of the Federal Army, the parts made of steel and gel and those made of flesh and blood were showing vastly diffe
rent expressions. He seemed to be both hoping that the space jump could begin as soon as possible and hoping that it would not begin.

  Cracking noises were echoing deep inside his man-made eye, as if two strengths were crashing fiercely in his head.

  "Super space jump array, output efficiency: 20%!"

  "All crew members are in position!"

  "Super space jump array, output efficiency: 40%!"

  "Activate the protective membrane on the magical equipment on board. Prepare to resist the quakes during the space jump!"

  "Super space jump array, output efficiency: 60%!"

  "The coordinates of the destination have been locked. The estimated environment of the landing point has been preset!"

  All the crew members and soldiers were set for the space jump. The brilliance around the warship was brighter and brighter, illuminating Burning Prairie into glamorous transparency like a burning torch of light.

  Tiny swirls were appearing in the air around, crashing, meeting, and merging into larger swirls that were raging and tearing the flame of light around Burning Prairie. The enormous iron beast seemed to be shivering lightly.

  Nothing seemed to be able to stop the ultimate jump of the beast now.

  Li Yao was still rushing thousands of kilometers away, but it was impossible for him to move to the front of Burning Prairie instantaneously.

  On the warship, the soldiers of the federal army who did not really know what was going on scratched their chainswords and storm bolters. Some of them were sighing in silence, and some of them were writing last letters to their family, but none of them were wavering.

  The members of the Patriots Partnership among the soldiers, sensing the shaking of the warship, put on gloating smiles in secret.

  "Super space jump array, output efficiency: 80%!"

  The space jump was about to begin. Even everybody in the bridge sat in the special buffer rune arrays. The hesitation on Iron Commander Zhou Hengdao's face was finally gone, replaced by coldness and determination. He stared at the light beam so hard that his natural eye was even redder than the other!