by <unknown>
"Such tactical cooperation is truly fluent and immaculate. Even the 'black hole bombs', as a new piece of magical equipment with many shortcomings, have been made best use of in a real battle! They are enough to cause a major headache to two legendary Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators! Marvelous. Really marvelous!
"I feel that I'm greatly reassured seeing that the federation is just a badass."
"Monster Li," Long Yangjun said, "you are not teaming up with the enemy and screwing with me, right?"
"Fellow Cultivator Long, don't be hasty. In case you have forgotten, we still have a trump card, me!
"Now that we have been caught in such a passive situation because of one moment of carelessness, it seems to me that I'm left with no choice except to stop keeping a low profile and reveal the real appearance of Vulture Li Yao, dominator of three Sectors, in order to reverse the outcome and unveil Professor Mo Xuan's evil scheme!"
While dodging the meteoroids that were coming at her as rapidly as lightning, Long Yangjun asked suspiciously, "Are you sure? You've been away from the New Federation for a hundred years. You are nothing more than a picture in the history books now, one on which the elementary and middle school students will scribble for fun. Try to stand in the shoes of the soldiers that are coming for us. If you were carrying out a mission issued by your superior, and a random guy suddenly jumped out of nowhere claiming that he is 'father of the federation', would you believe such absurdities?"
Hesitating, Li Yao replied, "Well…"
"Professor Mo Xuan has obviously got his eyes on us!" Long Yangjun analyzed quickly. "Perhaps he was only partly suspicious of you at the beginning, and he was not entirely certain of his doubts despite the test in the second Spiriters' Realm. However, you ordered the carrier to perform the space jump in advance, which made him even more leery. Therefore, he hacked the control tower in the spaceport and the mainframe crystal processors of our carrier, interfered with our jump coordinates, and attacked our brains when we were about to complete the jump!
"But out of his expectations, we saw through his scheme at the last moment and even escaped from the carrier that was in the middle of a space jump. That is not something that normal people or even normal Cultivators could've done!
"Team Red Lotus definitely shouldn't have been capable of that. Whatever our real identity is, it certainly poses a great threat to his plan. That's one thing that he knows for sure right now. Therefore, he will certainly take us as critical targets to strike. Otherwise, the two ivory starships wouldn't have come so fast or attacked with magical equipment as cutting-edge as the 'black hole bombs' the moment they arrived!"
Thinking quickly, Li Yao was greatly alarmed. "It also means that our deduction just now is correct. It is very possible that Professor Mo Xuan has taken control of the leadership of the military, the Secret Sword Bureau, and the government departments of the Hundred Flowers Space Zone through the Spiriters' Realm."
"He does not need to control every soldier," Long Yangjun observed coldly. "All he needs to do is control the leadership and then issue false orders through the leadership. For example, by claiming that the two of us are 'spies from the Imperium', he will be justified in mobilizing the garrison and the Secret Sword Agents in the Hundred Flowers Space Zone to besiege us!
"The Exos of the federal army who are lunging at us furiously have probably received a notification that we are highly dangerous special agents from the Imperium. You are thinking of telling them that you are the father of the federation? Why don't you say that you are His Majesty of the Imperium of True Human Beings?"
"Give me time," Li Yao said in a hurry. "I can prove it!"
"Time is what we are most short of right now!" Gritting her teeth, Long Yangjun said, "Didn't you say that the war would break out in twenty-four hours? Also, it is definitely not going to be a skirmish or reconnaissance but a major battle that involves the main-force fleets of both parties. Do you really have the time to prove your identity?
"Besides, how can you prove yourself? I expect that you can do nothing except display certain magical equipment and techniques that are unique to Vulture Li Yao. However, magical equipment can be duplicated, techniques can be simulated, and one's past can be elicited through interrogation!
"Yes. There are other ways such as soul tests or gene tests, but they will only be conducted on the premise that you will behave and surrender first. Then, when you are under their rigorous surveillance, there may be a slim chance that they believe what you say and run said tests. Take a guess. Will Professor Mo Xuan do anything to the test results? After all, he moved here when Hundred Flowers City was just built. How much has he infiltrated this city?
"Right. You might also be able to contact your acquaintances, say, Ding Lingdang, Jin Xinyue, and such. But they are all too far away and must communicate with you through the Spiritual Nexus. Then, do you think that Professor Mo Xuan will give you the opportunity? Is it possible that he will build a false Ding Lingdang or Jin Xinyue on the light beam to issue false commands? After all, he already simulated me, Ling Xiaole, and Wei Qingqing in the Spiriters' Realm!"
Li Yao thought quickly, only to discover that what Long Yangjun said was true. It seemed that every way to prove his identity in twenty-four hours had been blocked!
The third wave of attacks made of hundreds of Exos would meet them in less than ten seconds.
"If you tell them who you are, you will merely be asking to be caught, because other than Ding Lingdang and Jin Xinyue, there happens to be one person in the Hundred Flowers Space Zone who is most familiar with Li Yao and most qualified to decide whether you are authentic or fake. That person is Professor Mo Xuan!" Long Yangjun said. "Professor Mo Xuan's entire plan is just our assumption, and not just any random assumption but a seemingly ridiculous one. We don't have any proof at all. Why would they believe the two of us, whose backgrounds are unclear?
"If you claim you are Li Yao, they will only ask Professor Mo Xuan to identify you, because you are his student! What can you do if Professor Mo Xuan says you are a fake from the Imperium? After the two of you bicker for a while, the war will have long broken out!"
Li Yao could not help but spit. He realized that the trap was even more troublesome than his last homecoming to the federation.
Last time, at least he had almost half a month. He could take his time to run deductions and make preparations.
But this time, he had only twenty-four hours at most. There was a good chance that a war that decided the fate of the country would break out in twelve hours!
"Unless it is absolutely necessary, I don't suggest you expose your identity right now."
Staring at the group of Exos that was getting closer and closer to them, Long Yangjun said, "I've thought about it carefully just now. Professor Mo Xuan's Spiriters' Realm equals a large-scale, in-depth mental attack. The thing about mental attacks is that the better your enemy knows you, the more powerful their attacks will be!"
Li Yao was quite good at mental attacks himself. Years ago, in the tenth space ring of Heavenly Saints City in the Flying Star Sector, 'Hellsword' Zhuang Ziyou, the very first Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator that he killed in his entire life, was adept at mental attacks. Li Yao had also practiced sophisticated mental attack skills from the jade chip that Zhuang Ziyou had dropped.
He immediately understood what Long Yangjun meant.
During a mental attack, the more profoundly he understood his opponent, the more likely he would be able to construct a vivid illusionary world with false images that both attracted and frightened the opponent.
For example, if he learned that the target was scared of snakes or rats, he could fabricate certain fake snakes and rats during the mental attack. Naturally, the opponent would be devastated.
However, if the opponent was a freak who was best at manipulating snakes and rats, what could he expect to achieve by constructing the illusions of snakes and rats? To cheer for the opponent?
Just now, Professor Mo Xuan only
knew Li Yao as Lin Jiu, captain of Team Red Lotus. Therefore, the Long Yangjun that he built had been seen through very quickly.
However, if Professor Mo Xuan had more knowledge and learned the identity and information regarding Master Spiritual Vulture from the Ancient Sages Sector, the illusionary world created by him would have been much more vivid!
Then, if he knew Li Yao's real identity, he would have been able to construct a more pertinent illusionary world based on Li Yao's personality, Cultivation, and social network, and even install a virtual Ding Lingdang, Jin Xinyue, Wu Mayan, and the rest of them in the illusionary world!
By then, even if Li Yao knew that the virtual images were all fake, it was still possible that his mind would be disturbed!
In mental warfare, one's 'real identity' was the deciding factor that was of paramount importance for the final victory. Li Yao and Long Yangjun seemed to have been caught in the most passive situation, but they had seen through the real mastermind behind the whole scheme, whereas Professor Mo Xuan did not know who they really were yet.
It was their greatest advantage right now!
"We're going to have a head-on confrontation with Professor Mo Xuan sooner or later," Long Yangjun said. "Your identity is a 'trump card'. Who throws out the trump card at the beginning of a game?"
"Exactly. Now is not the time yet. We probably should give my professor a surprise later, shouldn't we?" Li Yao licked his lips. His eyes passed the group of Exos who were about to reach them and stared at the artificial celestial bodies that were scattered in the Hundred Flowers Space Zone like stars. Then, he suddenly said, "Whatever Professor Mo Xuan's scheme is, as long as he intends to control the grand-unified Spiritual Nexus, he has to transmit his telepathic thoughts and instructions through the nodes of the Spiritual Nexus that are deployed everywhere in the Hundred Flowers Space Zone.
"How about we summon the Colossi right now, destroy all the nodes, and bathe Hundred Flowers Space Zone and the seven Sectors in a blackout?"
Long Yangjun glanced at him and remarked, "The Hundred Flowers Space Zone is the center of the Spiritual Nexus of the whole federation. If you sabotage this place, the net speed in the entire federation will be lowered by at least a half. Are you sure you want to do this when the Black Wind Fleet may arrive anytime?"
Li Yao thought for a moment and sighed. "It makes sense. Then, we have only one last solution now. Come on, Colossus!"
Chapter 1727: Disguises in Disguises! |
With the silver, glowing Hundred Flowers City as the background, the universe was even more profound and dark than usual. However, in the middle of the darkness that seemed capable of absorbing everything, two intense ripples spread out after a flash of strong light.
Following the ripples, two colorful springs of spiritual energy appeared out of nowhere, radiating their splendor to the entire universe. Supported by the 'springs', two Colossi, ultimate weapons in the primeval war invented by mankind which were tough enough to blow up the gods that created human beings, slowly surfaced in the sea of stars from the gaps of the void!
Two Colossi, one on the left and the other on the right, gazed at the incoming enemies coldly.
One of them was covered in black fire, with spurs that looked like thorns all over the body. There was an enormous cross on its head. At the center of the cross was a sole eye that looked like a bloody heart, making it look like an undead warrior condensed by the will of the deceased soldiers in a gory battle that had crawled out of the deepest level of hell. It was the Tartarean Skeleton!
The other Colossus was covered in black and white mist. It was as mysterious and unpredictable as a viper. Countless antennae that could enhance spiritual energy extended out of the skull. It was the Yin Yang, a super high-speed and light Colossus!
The two Colossi were no more than fifty meters tall when combined. In the universal scale, they were nothing more than a grain of sand.
However, the daunting auras unleashed from them incessantly somehow slowed down the hundreds of Exos of the federation, the ivory starships behind them, and even the entire space further behind the starships.
Colossi, ultimate weapons of which there were only less than a hundred in the entire federation!
More importantly, those who were capable of using the Colossi were at least in the Nascent Soul Stage!
In comparison, they were only the sentinel troop whose job was to project the third spaceport. They were mostly in the Building Foundation Stage and the Core Formation Stage and only launched an emergency attack after receiving an order from their superior. There were no Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators among them!
Two Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators equipped with the Colossi were not a force that they could resist.
The group of Exos were like flies that had hit a piece of glass. Tremendous flames of spiritual energy spurted out in front of them, and they came to an abrupt halt with the counterforce, having no time to worry about their flesh and crystal suits being torn apart.
A moment later, thousands of streaks of brilliance burst out of them and attacked the two Colossi in complicated curves!
The Exos of the federation launched the most powerful remote attacks almost at the same time. Missiles, flying swords, and autopiloting grenades all rushed out. Almost all the ammunition in stock was used up.
On the other hand, they retreated quickly under the cover of the remote attacks and fled toward the two ivory starships.
However…
They expected the two Colossi to block the remote attacks causally and march into their battle formation to maul them like hungry tigers jumping on lambs. However, such a scene did not happen.
On the contrary, the thousand remote attacks raised a surging tide of blasts and explosions, drowning, shredding and swallowing the two Colossi completely!
The two Colossi were so feeble that they seemed to be made of paper. They did not even open their spiritual shield or perform any dodging movement before they were blown into smithereens!
Behind the ocean of blasts and explosions, it could be clearly seen that two small, hasty, if not desperate people were running away under the cover of the so-called Colossi while generating powerful impetus by boosting all their spiritual energy.
"We've been had!"
"It's false. There are no Colossi at all!"
"They are just two iron shells that look like Colossi, plus several vivid 3D light beams and the sound and visual effects transformed by feeble spiritual energy!"
"Their sole purpose was to cover the two guys to escape!"
"What cunning spies of the Imperium! That's more like it. How can two spies of the Imperium be equipped with Colossi?"
The Exos of the federation realized what was going on. They burst into fury because they were fooled by just two spies of the Imperium when there were hundreds of soldiers on their side. All their probe magical equipment locked onto the two spiritual waves that were running away. Together with the two ivory starships, they chased after the escaping enemy.
From the depths of the third spaceport of Hundred Flowers City and the federal fleets that were cruising at the edge of the Hundred Flowers Space Zone, a lot of troops were mobilized to chase and block the two uncanny waves of spiritual energy!
Three minutes passed after they went after the enemy.
From the spot of the explosion of the two fake Colossi, which was still brimming with chaotic spiritual energy like a pot of boiling soup, Li Yao and Long Yangjun slightly extended their heads out of the debris of the fake Colossi that had been blown away by the fierce remote attacks just now. They observed the tracks of the attackers.
As they expected, the attackers were moving further and further away from them.
"Hehe!" Li Yao grinned in great satisfaction.
The Colossi were naturally fake, but the two crystal suits that had fled under the cover of the Colossi were fake, too. The real Li Yao and Long Yangjun had hidden themselves inside the fake Colossi the moment they deployed the decoys and sho
uldered the bombardment of the chasers with the magnificent capabilities of the Nascent Soul Stage. Then, taking advantage of the surging tides caused by the explosion, they broke out of the siege in the middle of the debris without alerting anyone!
Li Yao and Long Yangjun were both experts in disguising themselves. Their control over their breathing, heartbeat, body temperature, and spiritual waves was the highest. As long as they wanted, they could easily turn their bodies into cold meteoroids and melt into the background of the universe.
Also, the hundreds of Exos opened fire in a haste just now and blew the place where the 'false Colossi' were at into a simmering pool of magma. Even the most brilliant scanning magical equipment could not find their traces from the ripples of the boiling radiation!
It was the tactic of cooperative escape that Li Yao and Long Yangjun had practiced countless times in secret!
"How about it? Not bad, right?" Li Yao narrowed his eyes. "I told you that the tactical arrangement would definitely come in handy someday. Now, it has played a critical role, hasn't it?"
Long Yangjun stared at him for a long time and sighed. "I admit my failure. I can't figure out what is on your mind at all. You are one of the top experts in the Nascent Soul Stage, and you have an authentic Colossus in your hands. You could've finished those fellows casually, and yet you chose to run away disgracefully. Not only did you just run away, you are even so proud of it. You consider it not your shame but your glory?"