by <unknown>
"The liquid metal secreted from the trunk is itself a kind of Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasure with a high purity. It can be directly used to produce magical equipment without any further processing or be sent into the 3D printers to be built into other products.
"Of the one hundred and eighty common metals and crystals that we are aware of and five hundred or so rare metals and crystals, ninety percent can be collected and purified by such trees.
"In some of mining areas whose environment is harsh and whose tectonic structure is complicated, the traditional ways of mining may pose severe safety threats. It will be best to collect the resources with such trees!"
Naturally, Xie Anan knew everything about her master's work.
In fact, such a weird plant was not of Li Yao's own invention.
Li Yao was not a botanist in the first place, and he did not know the first thing about the refinement of demonic plants. It was impossible for him to study such things, which were in a completely different category from what he was familiar with.
But back when he was on Iron Plateau, the apocalyptic beasts produced by the eggs of apocalypse had been major problems for Li Yao.
The eggs of apocalypse were weird beings between creatures and non-creatures that were driven by a mysterious microorganism.
The eggs of apocalypse looked like hills on the surface. However, the parts revealed above the ground were just the tip of the iceberg. Most of them were hidden deep underground. They were also able to extend their 'roots' deep down to absorb the mother lodes, metal minerals, and other nutrients, which would be used to produce 'apocalyptic beasts' with various metal structures in their body.
Despite the trouble that they had caused Li Yao, the eggs of apocalypse were indeed highly efficient in collecting and utilizing resources. They were particularly suitable for the areas where the resources on the shallow surface had been exhausted and those deep underground were extremely difficult and costly to collect.
After Li Yao advanced into the Nascent Soul Stage, and especially after he experienced many unbelievable ideologies, civilizations, and worlds on the trip to Kunlun, he had changed his previous mindset more or less.
All the techniques and technologies were double-edged swords. Whether they were righteous or evil depended on how they were applied.
Before, he had been too scared by the techniques of the Blood Stripe Virus and kept all the evil arts deep inside his brain, unwilling to take them out for his own use.
Right now, he was willing to experiment on a small scale to see whether or not the seemingly 'evil' techniques could benefit people.
Li Yao did not dare produce an 'egg of apocalypse' recklessly, but he invited the Fire Ant King to a project where the techniques to build the eggs of apocalypse and the technologies to refine demonic plants were combined. After a few years of testing, such a weird plant that could suck resources from the ground was finally invented!
Naturally, Long Yunxin was unaware of the backstory. She simply felt that Li Yao was truly a monster. Not only was he a great warrior and an expert in the arts of refining, he was even able to work on demonic plants. He was truly omnipotent!
When she thought of Li Yao, Long Yunxin felt that her mind was disturbed again. She sniffed and asked, "Right. Where's your master?"
Xie Anan blinked and said, "He's in the Colossi Demonstration Area."
As the ultimate magical equipment that could literally kill a god should it run into one on its way, the Colossi were definitely the greatest focus of attention in the entire Magical Equipment Exposition.
When the competition of two Colossi began, which was always the show of the day, the million or so tourists throughout park were attracted!
Below the blue sky and the white clouds, a spherical arena almost a thousand meters in diameter, which was made of defense rune arrays and arc-shaped electric nets, was floating in midair.
Two Colossi, one red and the other black, were confronting each other.
Before they took action, the burning flames around the two Colossi already raised tides of exclamations.
The burning flames around the red Colossus made it look like a crimson falcon, entwined with a few hideous, raging dragons, that was about to soar into the sky ferociously.
The black Colossus was relatively smaller and only about fifteen meters tall, but the fire of spiritual energy from it rose to hundreds of meters high, too, forming calligraphic spells and sophisticated primeval stripes!
Swoosh!
In two streaks of brightness, the two Colossi crashed into each other brutally!
Despite the buffer rune arrays installed around the arena, which could weaken the spiritual waves and the noises, the deafening collisions and the hurricane-like spiritual waves still made a lot of the audience close their eyes with their facial muscles twisting. They could not help but cover their ears and open their mouths to the maximum, exclaiming in sheer shock.
The two Colossi were both extremely fast. With her bare eyes, Long Yunxin could only see the redness and the blackness splitting, proliferating, and expanding, until they entangled each other and turned into a red and black cluster of light!
Only through the picture captured by the high-speed crystal cameras that had been slowed to almost one twentieth the normal speed could they manage to see that two fuzzy shadows were having a soul-stirring competition!
Although the Colossi were both almost five floors tall and were out-and-out iron giants, their movements were even quicker and more agile than the high-speed scouting crystal suits.
The plate armor of the two Colossi had many keen sensors installed, recording the damage of their every attack and displaying the parameters on the light beam in midair.
The outsiders were merely having fun, but the insiders were reading the details. Seeing that the parameters of damage surpassed the limits unbelievably time and time again, Long Yunxin could not help but gasp.
"Such terrifying damage!
"With such an enormous size, they can perform eighty-seven random dodging movements in a limited space in only one second? How can their joints and transmission shafts survive the friction?
"For a Cultivator in such a Colossus, even ten Cultivators of the same level wearing the latest crystal suits may be no match for him, right?"
Standing nearby, Xie Anan introduced the Colossi. "The red Colossus is Draconic Phoenix, the first Colossus that we discovered on Kunlun! Although it was broken into smithereens in the very first battle, the most critical control unit, or rather the spiritual residence, was not damaged. After a year of maintenance, it was ready to be put back to use!
"Later, our relic development team explored Kunlun on a large scale and found hundreds of units that were more or less usable. We have assembled a few new Colossi with them!
"The black Colossus is the one that we assembled most recently. It is named 'Fancy Phantom'!"
Before Xie Anan finished her sentence, the battle between the two Colossi in the sky was concluded.
The hundreds of spells that were floating around the black Colossus, Fancy Phantom, suddenly surged toward Draconic Phoenix like tentacles. When they touched Draconic Phoenix's fire of spiritual energy, they immediately expanded into clusters of black smoke!
Dark clouds seemed to be swallowing Draconic Phoenix!
Based on the changes of parameters on the light beam, it could be seen that the black smoke seemed to be highly corrosive and narcotic. It was breaking into Draconic Phoenix and attacking the user's brain directly!
However, Draconic Phoenix was only rigid for one second before the black smoke was ripped apart by the erupting spiritual energy!
On Draconic Phoenix's back, six furiously burning dragons seemed to be raising their heads and charging toward Fancy Phantom, piercing the Colossus' chest instantly!
Cracking sounds were echoing from all over Fancy Phantom. Its every joint was tied up by the fiery dragons tightly while it fell down from the sky. It floated in midair with the supp
ort of the anti-gravity rune arrays, unable to move anymore.
Draconic Phoenix slowly landed on the ground and raised the arms, accepting the cheers from the colossal audience.
The fiery dragons returned to the arms of the Colossus again and hovered around it slowly, making the iron giant, which was only twenty meters tall, as magnificent as a pillar piercing into the sky!
After a long silence, Long Yunxin said, with a complicated expression, "Your master… is truly a super monster!
"Not only is he so adept at refining and fighting in a crystal suit, even the legendary Colossus is but a toy in his hands."
"Yes. Master is indeed an out-and-out monster," Xie Anan said, somewhat embarrassed. "However, you seem to be mistaken about something, Sister Long. The guy in Fancy Phantom who is lying on the ground right now is my master. It is my masteress who is piloting Draconic Phoenix!"
Chapter 1304: The Most Dangerous Woman in the Federation! |
Right below the area of Colossi, there was a maintenance warehouse that extended hundreds of meters into the underground.
The two Colossi that had just battled so fiercely slowly landed in the warehouse through enormous shafts.
Boom!
Draconic Phoenix fell onto one of its knees. Red holes mixed with the smell of sulfur immediately appeared on the joints all over the Colossus' body and gaps of the plate armor. It seemed to be an active volcano that had just erupted violently and was in the middle of a half-time break, preparing for the next eruption that would be even crazier!
More than ten refiners in engineering crystal suits immediately flew close. They were as busy as bees, jumping up and down Draconic Phoenix.
Two of them, holding two enormous transparent utensils that looked like giant syringes, stabbed the utensils into the active valves on the two sides of Draconic Phoenix's breastplate.
From the 'spiritual residence' of Draconic Phoenix, a lot of thick, amber-like liquids immediately flowed out, filling the two 'syringes' like glittering honey.
It was the Nerve Connection Liquids, also known as man-made cerebrospinal fluid, which was developed after three years by applying the liquid metal technology of the Heaven's Origin Sector, the biochemical neuron technology of the Blood Demon Sector, and the 'skill card' technology of the Flying Star Sector at the same time.
If the user crawled into the spiritual residence of a Colossus after it was filled with such liquids, the user would be able to spread out their brainwaves into the man-made cerebrospinal fluid and better integrate with the Colossus.
Meanwhile, the liquids boasted high buffer and protection abilities, too, and could serve as an airbag or a shield. However crazy the Colossus' movements were, and no matter how serious the wounds it suffered, the user inside would be protected as best as possible by such liquids.
The Nerve Connection Liquids were the most precious materials co-developed by the three Sectors in the past five years. It would be understating its value if it was called 'liquid gold'.
Every drop of the Nerve Connection Liquid was ten times more precious than marrow crystals of the same volume. Therefore, after every fierce battle, all of it had to be properly recycled without missing any.
Chi!
After the pumping magical equipment extracted most of the Nerve Connection Liquids out of Draconic Phoenix's spiritual residence, the breastplate, which was carved with a pattern of a falcon stretching out its wings, slowly moved upward. A sophisticated rune at the center rotated 180 degrees, splitting the breastplate in half.
With a head of burning long hair, Ding Lingdang leapt off Draconic Phoenix!
She was exactly as she used to be. Brilliance bordering on provocation was always shining inside her big eyes. Her honey-colored skin was smoother than even the best silk. Her heaving breasts were shivering like two heavy crystal bombs, and the tightened sports vest seemed unable to support them. One could not help but feel nervous that it would burst at any moment. Her long, straight legs almost took up half of her height. The explosive strength that they demonstrated made her one foot taller than she actually was.
Such a perfect body figure that was built up after high-intensity exercises all year around would put even the most professional female model to shame.
Ding Lingdang was perhaps not beautiful in the traditional sense.
Her mouth was too big, and her skin was not fair enough. The intimidating vibe that flowed out of her from time to time was unbearable for most people, who felt that it was already tremendous pressure to stand next to her.
However, the smooth, wheat-colored skin had an advantage, which was that time could hardly leave any trace on her body. It seemed that all the corrosion force was blown away by her elastic skin.
Today, she was as young and vigorous as when she first saw Li Yao on Distant Expanse almost twenty years ago.
It seemed that her appearance would not change at all even in another hundred years.
If she covered her signature fiery long hair with a hat and walked on a street, chances were that she would also be mistaken for a college student just like Xie Anan would!
Of course, that was before she advanced into the Nascent Soul Stage.
Right now, in the Heaven's Origin Sector, the Blood Demon Sector, and the Flying Star Sector, everybody knew that she was the youngest, pure battle-type Cultivator in the Nascent Soul Stage and the most dangerous woman in the entire federation!
Ding Lingdang had advanced into the Nascent Soul Stage half a year ago.
She owed her quick breakthrough to the 'Three-Five Plan'.
The so-called 'Three-Five' meant 'three years of preparation and five years of sprinting'.
It was a super warrior raising program that had been brought to the agenda when the great development on Kunlun first began.
In the first meeting of the Nascent Soul Stage, some of the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators proposed raising 'solar soldiers', who would train themselves through the spiritual waves released by the star.
After the great development on Kunlun began, the specialists had suddenly discovered that they had a better source of spiritual energy than a stable star—the pulsar that was unleashing spiritual wavs crazily and Kunlun itself, which had absorbed the spiritual energy for hundreds of thousands of years!
There were countless broken power rune arrays on Kunlun. The tubes that connected those power rune arrays were mostly filled with spiritual energy of a high intensity.
If anybody got into the tubes without protection, the high-intensity spiritual energy would very likely cause the disorder of electrolytes inside their body, their enchylema to leak, and even the over-expansion of their mitochondria. Eventually, they might be mentally deranged, and their life would be threatened!
However, if they had taken the corresponding medication and potential activation drugs in advance and put on the appropriate macromolecule-membrane training suit, with the help of the specialists and the doctors, they would be able to absorb the high-intensity spiritual energy incessantly when they trained themselves deep inside the tubes, thereby significantly increasing their training efficiency!
The training was both miserable and perilous.
It was a game for the brave!
Ding Lingdang was in the first batch of Cultivators to participate in the 'Three-Five Plan'.
Or rather, she was the very first one to sign up for the project.
Many training subjects were actually developed by her along with the specialists and masters of spiritual energy together. Then, she would add burdens and more burdens to the subjects and train herself so crazily that everybody was shocked.
To quote a specialist who had been involved in the Three-Five Plan since the very beginning, Ding Lingdang had been training in the eternal flames of the inferno all the time.
And that was only the training during the day.
Every night, when her companions in the Three-Five Plan were sound asleep, Ding Lingdang would go to Li Yao, who was also working on Kunlun. Th
e two of them would find a place that was uninhabited but boasted intense spiritual energy and have the fiercest competition of beliefs!
They had competitions of beliefs on the primeval battlefield that was scattered with the war debris from hundreds of thousands of years ago!
They had competitions of beliefs deep inside the tubes where the spiritual energy was scorching!
They had competitions of beliefs in the infinite metal torrents that Kunlun spurted out and in the turbulence that could rip apart the stars!
They even had competitions of beliefs in the orbit of the pulsar right at the tipping point where they would be attracted by the pulsar and crushed into smithereens if they took one step further!
Five years. For five years!
Just like that, Ding Lingdang trained crazily during the day and had competitions of beliefs at night even more crazily. Finally, at the most intense moment during one competition of beliefs, in the boundless universe, right at the center of the surging tides unleashed by the pulsar, she had a breakthrough and advanced into the Nascent Soul Stage successfully!
After she marched into the Nascent Soul Stage, she immediately showed astonishing talent with Colossi.
Her body was born with fire, and her spiritual root seemed to be made of magma. She was also in possession of an ancient fire art named 'Nona-Colored Fire'.
Draconic Phoenix was like a Colossus tailor-made for her.
In the competition for the ownership of Draconic Phoenix, she emerged beyond everyone's expectation and defeated quite a few famous Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators in a row. Finally, she had been acknowledged as the first user of Draconic Phoenix.
Ding Lingdang was realizing her vow in the past slowly but surely.
It was destined that she would leave her mark in the sea of stars under the name of 'Ding Lingdang', instead of ending up being an unknown vase like 'Li Yao's wife'!
Perhaps, it was the greatest momentum for her training.