by <unknown>
Li Yao narrowed his eyes even though his eyelids were twitching. He seemed to have recalled some painful pictures that he would rather forget, but he gritted his teeth and declared resolutely, "As the saying goes, a Cultivator must not hesitate to fight! Will I still deserve to be called a Cultivator if I run in the face of a battle?"
Watching Li Yao's lackluster face, his ragged breathing, and his shaking legs, Jin Xinyue's could not help but feel that her eyes were wet.
She had learned the true meaning of 'Cultivator' from her master again!
"Forget it. Let's change a topic." Li Yao asked, "How is your father?"
According to the messages sent by Skyfire recently, Jin Tuyi's situation was rather bad. It seemed that his brain sclerosis had escalated far faster than expected. There was no telling how long the commander-in-chief of the coalition army of demons would last.
Thankfully, he had acted quickly, if not insanely, in the previous months to remove the dissidents. Now, he had seized all power and reached a deal of interests with most of the demon emperors. Skyfire was now one of the most influential forces in the Blood Demon Sector, too. Jin Xinyue was also the life-saving Dark Lady of the Nine Heavens in the heart of the bottom-level demons due to the resistance against the plague.
After the federal army and the fleet of the Flying Star Sector marched into the Nine Voids and established the special military area, it would be impossible for the Blood Demon Sector to attack the Heaven's Origin Sector directly.
Even if some guys in the Blood Demon Sector were still set on war, they would be hard pressed to find any opportunity to stir trouble.
Jin Xinyue's eyes suddenly dimmed. She shook her head and said, "Father has… lost his normal thinking ability and his memories. He cannot attend to himself now. We invited more than ten brain doctors to assess him. The result of their examination was that his wisdom was no different from a three-year-old's, if not worse, and it would continue dropping in the future."
Li Yao was dazed. "So fast?"
Something was not right. Jin Tuyi clearly said that he would persist to the day of trial so that the war would be properly concluded.
With his capability as a demon emperor, even if he could not stop the escalation of the brain sclerosis, it should not have been difficult for him to slow it.
How did he end up like this? Did he want to stand in court like a regard and bring insult to both himself and the Blood Demon Sector?
"Father's situation got worse when he was reading some news one night," Jin Xinyue said. "He was silent at first. Then he burst into such laughter that he fell off the chair and smacked his head. In the end, he became this."
"News? What news?"
Li Yao sensed the smell of a scheme keenly.
Chapter 1176: Era of the Great Universal Development! |
Jin Xinyue handed over a mini crystal processor and said, "He was reading this."
Li Yao took over the crystal processor and triggered the light beam, only to discover that it was an introduction to some cutting-edge medical technology.
"Recently, the Capital Medical College and the Mystic Ice Sect of the Flying Star Sector have sent out a joint team and successfully parsed tremendous files and training techniques about the Mystic Ice Force from the relics in a certain world fragment in the Heaven's Origin Sector.
"The Mystic Ice Force is a technique to manipulate the spiritual energy of the ice class passed on from the Star Ocean Imperium. The Mystic Ice Sect had a lot of classics regarding the Mystic Ice Force in the first place. From the relics of the Heaven's Origin Sector, they finally found the critical, missing piece of the art and cracked all the mysteries of the Mystic Ice Force. With the help of the specialists of the Capital Medical College, they have successfully developed a new, practical application of the Mystic Ice Force—Human Instant Freezing, which is also commonly known as Human Hibernation Technology!
"According to the specialists on the team, the technology allows the temperature of a human body to drop to around minus fifty degrees from normal temperature in only 0.01 seconds. Inside the special liquid, the metabolism and the cell activity will be reduced to the minimum. The normal functions of the human body are not damaged, and the level of a Cultivator will not be affected at all.
"For the hibernators, it's like time has been frozen for them. Their cells age at such a slow speed that it can be ignored.
"After living years or even decades in hibernation, their cells will restore their original vitality soon after a brief recovery period when they are unfrozen!
"In today's world, there are a lot of fields that the technology can be applied to.
"Other than the normal medical usages, most importantly, for the experts who are already old and perhaps can't live another hundred years but are eager to fight against the Imperium of True Human Beings, sealing themselves with the Human Hibernation Technology until the Imperium of True Human Beings arrives is not actually not an unfeasible choice."
Li Yao put down the crystal processor. Looking at the ever-changing view out of the window, he thought of Jin Tuyi's unpredictable face, which seemed to indicate that everything was under his control. Pondering for a long time, he was amused.
Jin Tuyi, oh, Jin Tuyi. This is what you are thinking, right? You have found a possibility to compete with the experts of the Imperium of True Human Beings. So, you don't want to die now, right?
Then, should I let things go your way?
Li Yao was deep in thought while he stared at the city skyline far away.
…
Ten days later, on Distant Expanse—known as the eternal flagship of the federal army—Jin Xinyue submitted the instrument of surrender and the box of soil that was soaked with her father's blood officially as the Dark Lady of the Nine Heavens on behalf of the entire Blood Demon Sector.
On the other side, the representative of the Star Glory Federation to accept the instrument of surrender and the bloody soil was not the Speaker but his 'special envoy' Li Yao.
It was partly because the Dark Lady of the Nine Heavens was not the supreme leader of the Blood Demon Sector but just the spokesperson of the twelve demon emperors. In terms of position, the Speaker of Parliament and the Chief of the General Staff of the federal army would be degrading themselves if they went in person.
It was also because the federal army did not really crush the coalition army of demons, and the Blood Demon Sector's surrender was a conditional one instead of an unconditional surrender after a huge defeat.
In fact, for the disobedient demon emperors of the Blood Demon Sector, they were not contented with those Cultivators who did not really defeat them in person.
Li Yao was different.
Li Yao had travelled through the Blood Demon Sector, snuck into the army, destroyed the Eye of Blood Demon, and killed countless demons and elite troops of the demons indirectly on his own!
In the Blood Demon Sector, where survival of the fittest was the highest law, all the demon emperors showed respect, if not awe, for a brutal person like Li Yao, even if he was an enemy.
Besides, by destroying the Eye of Blood Demon, he was certainly guilty of killing countless demons, which made him a great enemy of the Blood Demon Sector.
However, he also stopped the Spore Stratagem and helped more demons survive the catastrophe.
Otherwise, those demons would have been infected by the Demon God Virus and ended up as walking dead and uncontrollable mutants even if they were not killed in the destruction of the Eye of Blood Demon!
Right now, the plague was spreading on a large scale in the Blood Demon Sector. The tragedies caused by the Demon God Virus could be seen anywhere. Even the most stubborn demons, after seeing the gory scenes, had to admit that Li Yao had truly rescued countless demons and even the future of the Blood Demon Sector!
Therefore, in that regard, he was a great savior for the Blood Demon Sector.
With his appalling accomplishments, his contributions to the Blood Demon Sector, and his deep
connections with the Flying Star Sector, which was now an important ally for the Heaven's Origin Sector, it was definitely the most agreeable choice for all the three parties for Li Yao to accept the instrument of surrender.
Of course, it was perhaps also the compensation that the Speaker and most of the representatives made for wronging him in the past.
Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua!
When Li Yao took over the wooden box that contained the bloody soil, hundreds of crystal cameras were flashing at them nonstop. The epoch-making scene turned into pictures, videos, and text, spreading to every corner of the Star Glory Federation!
…
Almost at the same time as Li Yao took over the instrument of surrender from Jin Xinyue, thousands of kilometers away from the much-anticipated surrender ceremony, in the east district of the capital city, the first trial targeting the members of the Patriots Partnership had come to an end despite the lack of attention.
Twenty criminals in total were found guilty of treason, dereliction of duty, endangering public security, and other crimes—sentenced to imprisonment for thirty to fifty years.
In the federal law, thirty to fifty years was a heavy penalty only below death penalty and life imprisonment.
However, considering that the criminals tried were all experienced Cultivators whose longevity was far longer than ordinary people, such a penalty was not too harsh for them.
Besides, the judge had declared that, since the federation would enter the era of universal development soon and would require a lot of hands in the remote space zones, the criminals could either choose to idle by in the local prisons of the federation for decades or work with the federal government in the experimental projects. They could be sent to the far-flung, desolate space zones where they would atone for what they had done in the past. If they chose to do so, their imprisonment would be shortened, and they might be released in advance.
The twenty criminals in the first batch to be trialed were all carefully selected. They were all the members of the Patriots Partnership who had been fooled by Lu Zui and Zhou Hengdao. They had no idea that everything they had done was for the purpose of assassinating the Speaker, nor did they foresee such gruesome explosions in the Federal Square.
After learning the truth, they had almost collapsed the very next second and confessed everything they knew. They had even helped Guo Chunfeng's special squads convince more members of the organization to surrender.
After one month of observation, it was determined that they truly regretted what they had done. Therefore, they were selected as the first echelon to be trialed.
The twenty criminals all chose to work with the federal government and go to the frontier of the universal development!
After the crime and penalty of the last person were announced, the twenty criminals who used to be celebrities in the circle of Cultivators were all greatly relieved. They seemed to be reborn and could not wait to dedicate themselves to the blood-boiling construction of the new era.
In the public gallery, their families heaved long sighs of relief, too. Many of them had tears in their eyes as they were happy to hear the rulings.
The thirty or so family members sitting on the left side of the public gallery, although in different clothing, were wearing the same round badge on their chest.
On the badge was a slightly weird pattern. There was a double-edged sword full of thorns at the center of the pattern. What was weird was that it did not have any grip, only the body.
A giant hand extended from the bottom of the pattern and grasped the sword hard.
Because there was not a grip, the edges of the sword and the thorns on its body pierced deep into the palm, making the giant hand bleed. The blood was flowing among the fingers and on the back of the hand.
On the back of the hand, in the middle of the blood, there was a big eye that was wide open, which was staring at everything with cold, yet sharp brilliance.
Below the badge were two small, cursive words—Patriots Front!
They sat in the public gallery for a long time until all the criminals were taken away by bailiffs. Then, they gathered outside of the court.
Ding Lingdang stepped out of the crowd. She was wearing a badge of the Patriots Front on her rising chest, too.
Compared to a month ago, there was an uncanny force added to her body now. It was not based on her fists but generated from the bottom of her heart, which made her calmer, firmer, and more unwavering.
Glancing around, Ding Lingdang said, "The trial of the Patriots Partnership will soon end, but the battle of the Patriots Front has only just begun!
"To be honest, like everybody here, I never thought that I would establish such an organization. I don't have any experience in management, and my foresight is often not long enough. To this moment, I still haven't figured out what incredible things the Patriots Front will be doing!
"However, I do believe in one point. The most incredible things must start from the most insignificant things.
"The war between the Heaven's Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector is over now. In the future, the Grand Desolate Plateau will be developed again, and so will be the space zones of the Flying Star Sector and even the distant universe beyond the Heaven's Origin Sector, the Flying Star Sector, and the Blood Demon Sector!
"Such places are now rough, desolate, and full of dangers.
"Without a doubt, the demons who are physically strong and are more adaptive to the environment will be sent to those places first.
"But the Patriots Front will not stand by and simply watch them. We must dedicate our own forces to those places, working and building with the demons!
"On one hand, we must keep an eye on them closely to see if they are sincerely cooperating with us.
"But on the other hand, and more importantly, we must prove that we can do the things that demons can, and we can survive where demons can! Not only can we survive, we will also develop those godforsaken wastelands into new paradises!
"Patriot is a good word. Although it has been stained now, it doesn't matter. Fellow Cultivators, and fellow 'patriots', we have a hundred years to clean away the stains slowly!
"Let's work together, everybody!"
Chapter 1177: Double Swirl |
The signing of the peace agreement between the Heaven's Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector marked both the end of the war and the arrival of a new era.
The delegation headed by Jin Xinyue, after signing the peace agreement on Distant Expanse, immediately shifted to Burning Prairie, the crystal warship from the Flying Star Sector, and began the discussion about the trilateral universal development of the Heaven's Origin Sector, the Flying Star Sector, and the Blood Demon Sector.
In the sea of stars, a hundred years was nothing more than a snap of one's fingers. Faced with the threat of the Imperium of True Human Beings, they needed to seize every second!
However, such intricate, boring details were not what Li Yao was really into.
On the front desk of Burning Prairie, Li Yao, Wu Mayan, Xie Anan, and Luo Xingzi were saying farewell.
"Senior Luo Xingzi, I'm truly sorry for what has happened," Li Yao said, somewhat embarrassed. "I hope you are not disappointed in the federation."
In the scheme of the Patriots Partnership, the people from the Flying Star Sector were certainly the most unfortunate ones.
Honestly speaking, the Flying Star Sector was friendly enough for them. Not only did they bring the latest technology as well as tremendous warships, Cultivators, and even Grand Illusionary Soldiers, they were even prepared to fight side by side with the Cultivators of the Heaven's Origin Sector if the demon race invaded.
Li Yao knew full well that it was a huge cost for the Flying Star Sector, which had just quelled a ten-year riot of the Immortal Cultivators and was battered by war itself.
Although the Flying Star Sector was doing all this hoping to better resist the Imperium of True Human Beings later, their sincerity in the alliance with the Hea
ven's Origin Sector was beyond any doubt.
But as it turned out, after the Flying Star Sector sent the strongest warship and the best Cultivators to the Heaven's Origin Sector, the leaders on the federation's side, such as Lu Zui and Zhou Hengdao, were trying to seize Burning Prairie and sacrifice the elite soldiers of the Flying Star Sector to begin the war!
If Li Yao had not stopped it at the last moment, perhaps the people from the Flying Star Sector would have been killed by the savaging Demon God Virus, and Burning Prairie would have been nothing more than a piece of broken, rusted garbage now.
Li Yao considered the situation from the Flying Star Sector's point of view and thought, if he were in the same situation, he certainly would have burst into fury because somebody had stabbed him in the back, and he would have reevaluated the alliance with the Heaven's Origin Sector, if there was still an alliance to reevaluate at all.
Therefore, after the incident, he had been rather anxious, and he did not even know how he should face Wu Mayan and Xie Anan, both of whom were from the Flying Star Sector.
But as it turned out, the Flying Star Sector reacted much more calmly than he had expected. After learning everything, they had announced that they believed it was the personal action of the few criminals, not the stance of the federal government. The incident would not affect the cooperation and the alliance later.
Such a forgiving attitude was almost the most important premise for the collaboration of the three Sectors and the quick kick-off of the universal development.
Li Yao was very moved, if not slightly confused, by the Flying Star Sector's magnanimity.
"Fellow Cultivator Li, you are overthinking. What's there to be disappointed at?"
Luo Xingzi was amused. Under the setting sun, his face was illuminated with a layer of vague brilliance.
The junior brother of Xiao Xuance, who had been the leader of the Immortal Cultivators and a great man of the Flying Star Sector, after the baptism of the numerous tides, was gradually assuming his senior brother's aura. Looking at the rolling red clouds on the horizon, he said slowly, "The Flying Star Sector and the Heaven's Origin Sector are different.