by <unknown>
Watching as Luo Qisheng was consumed by clusters of liquid metal and turned into a silver hill, Li Yao was unable to stop it because he and Long Yangjun were in trouble, too!
In front of the two Colossi, tremendous liquid metal flowed over and piled up into a mountain almost twenty meters tall.
Limbs and organs grew out of the mountains, transforming them into two silver giants that were almost as tall as the two Colossi!
"Colossi—symbols of war, massacre, and humanity's brutal nature!" the two silver giants declared at the same time. "After human beings enter the new world of absolute peace, they will not need the Colossi anymore!"
The two giants sprinted at the Tartarean Skeleton and the Yin Yang. Despite their enormous size, they were even more agile than the small puppets on the ground. Extending and changing their forms, they evaded the sword and saber auras launched by Li Yao and Long Yangjun. Even if some of the attacks cut narrow, long slits on them, they were still utterly unharmed!
Pu!
After they reached the two of them, the silver giants leapt up into two torrents of liquid metal in midair, trying to directly lunge at the two Colossi and perform the same swallowing and infiltration.
Li Yao sniffed. He retreated almost a hundred meters quickly, leaving dozens of blurred shadows of the Tartarean Skeleton behind. All the bloody thorns on its body deeply stabbed into the liquid metal.
Under the surging spiritual energy and the high-frequency vibration, the silver giant collapsed abruptly into silver balls the size of fingernail, which hit the ground like a silver raindrop.
Next to him, Long Yangjun also activated almost a hundred black-and-white light blades that could easily be heated to more than a thousand degrees. She minced the silver giant that jumped at him into scorching pieces, making it unable to be condensed again for a long time.
However, it was not the solution to their current problem.
It was true that the silver balls scattered on the ground failed to condense into a giant dozens of meters tall. But they were consolidated into tiny figurines the size of a hand while they wriggled weirdly. Despite the small size, they each had arms, legs, a torso, a head and all the other necessary organs. There was the same hole in their heads that could be twisted randomly into all kinds of creepy expressions.
"Even the strongest violence cannot solve all problems!" All the tiny figurines, the number of which must have surpassed a hundred thousand, were letting out the same devastated voice while waving their pointy arms. "You can't kill me because I represent peace. However cruel a war can be, you can never kill peace!"
Gritting his teeth, Li Yao could not help but bellow, "You're mad!"
"I'm not mad. Those people who are trying to soak the civilization of mankind in war for another million years and even make it self-destruct in war, it is they who are mad!"
The hundred thousand tiny figurines were shrieking at the same time. "Are you such people, too? Are you among those goddamned war fanatics? Why can't you understand? Why are you so reluctant to join hands with me and create a new world of absolute peace?"
In ear-splitting shrieks, the tiny figurines hopped at Li Yao and Long Yangjun again.
Faced with the overwhelming silver figurines, even Li Yao and Long Yangjun felt that it was tricky despite the two Colossi.
The most critical problem was that they could not bring out the Colossi's full combat ability. Not only was this place a central hub of the Spiritual Nexus, millions of hostages inside the space station might also have been kidnapped by Professor Mo Xuan. It was possible that their bodies were enshrouded by the weird liquid metal, and their souls were trapped in the Spiriters' Realm!
If the two Colossi carried out the maximum of their combat ability, it might be possible for them to completely blow District 01 space station into smithereens. But as a result, millions of lives would be lost, and Professor Mo Xuan's plan might not be stopped at all. With so many hindrances, Li Yao could not make up his mind to attack at all.
Besides, he had noticed that the ocean of liquid metal below his feet was getting deeper and deeper. It was almost drowning the ankles of the two Colossi.
"Something's wrong below our feet. Hurry and fly up!"
In Li Yao's roars, the two Colossi ascended quickly. Almost at the same time, countless 'tentacles' dashed out of the silver ocean below their feet and reached for their legs with ear-splitting shrieks, only to be melted by the exhaust flames spurted from the power rune arrays below their feet. The tentacles fell back into the silver ocean into orange spots that were blossoming like buds.
However, in midair, the hundreds of thousands of silver figurines were already coming at the two of them relentlessly and crashing into their spiritual shields. As colorful ripples spread out on their spiritual shields, they were constantly shattered, splashing and falling, but they simply wriggled, melted, and condensed again and again until they were blown into pieces again!
"Peace! Absolute peace is about to come!
"Stop now! Let's not fight each other anymore. I love you deeply, human compatriots!
"Enter the new world together with me, where there is not war but tranquility, not pain but delight and happiness!
"In the new world, mankind will evolve into a purer, more advanced, and more civilized species. That is our only future!"
The silver figurines were creaking nonstop while they were destroyed and remade incessantly. In the end, they even turned into vivid faces of men and women, old and young.
"Young man, why are you so into war?" A silver figurine that put on the appearance of an old grandma with wrinkles all over the face was truly speaking like a weather-beaten woman who was full of pain. "Wars are the worst things in the world. How much pain has war brought to us?"
"It hurts. It hurts so much. Uncle, don't kill me. Don't!"
Another silver figurine that looked like a young girl was truly shedding tears, like pearls from the corner of its eyes. While crying, it crashed into the spiritual shield of the Tartarean Skeleton. Naturally, it was immediately ripped into pieces by the spiritual shield that had been activated to the maximum.
"My daughter! My daughter!"
Another two silver figurines seemed to have turned into the parents of the former one. Seeing the miserable death of their 'daughter', they were screaming desperately and charged at him, too. "Devils. You war lunatics are the real devils. Give me my daughter!"
Naturally, they were all blown to smithereens and reduced to the most fundamental particles.
Very soon, all the silver figurines seemed to have turned into victims who were tormented in wars, especially the people who were ravaged by top experts in fierce battles. They lunged at the spiritual shield of the two Colossi again.
Alarms each louder than the last were ringing deep inside the two Colossi. Their spiritual shields had both been weakened to the limits and were about to collapse under the scourge of the silver figurines!
Li Yao's mind… was also deeply stimulated by the vivid expressions and the painful voices of the silver figurines.
"Save me, uncle!"
"It hurts so much. Mom, mom, mom!"
"Wars. Goddamn wars!"
"Why do we have to kill each other? Aren't we the same kind? Why can't there be eternal tranquility and absolute peace within the civilization of mankind?"
"Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!"
The voices of men and women, old and young—filled with fear, pain, expectation, hope, and desperation—blasted Li Yao's brain like enchantments and seemed to be creating real wars in his head as well as the victims who shouldered real pain in those real wars and died helplessly!
Li Yao's mind was greatly disturbed by the voices. His spiritual shield immediately became riddled with holes.
Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua!
A thousand silver figurines flew in. Although thousands of saber auras were blowing around Li Yao's Colossus, they could do nothing except mince the silver figurines into smaller parts. Those silver figuri
nes simply turned into round balls and attached themselves to the plate armor of the Tartarean Skeleton, blocking the gaps of all the rune arrays and the spiritual stripes!
The flames of spiritual energy that were burning around the Tartarean Skeleton immediately turned dim.
It was like a dam was cracking, and the flood was breaking free inevitable. More and more silver figurines jumped at the Colossus enthusiastically, trying to entirely enshroud the Tartarean Skeleton.
On the other side, the Yin Yang, the Colossus used by Long Yangjun, was not in any better condition. She was also fighting against the liquid metal that had fixed itself to the surface of the Colossus.
The technology of the Colossus was levels higher than the technology of the most advanced crystal suit. There was definitely not a single gap for infiltration on the surface. Also, the intensity of the plate armor was often high enough to take the barrage of the main guns of the warships the hard way. It was barely possible for the liquid metal to dig a hole on the surface of the Colossus.
The internal life sustaining system in the Colossus was also more advanced than the general circulation system on the starships. Nothing would happen even if they spent a month in the vacuum or in an environment of lethal poison.
Therefore, although they had been completely swallowed by the liquid metal, Li Yao's and Long Yangjun's real bodies would not be in too much danger anytime soon.
However, it was not necessarily the case for their brains or their souls!
When the two Colossi were struggling hard in the silver ocean, enormous flowers suddenly blossomed in the silver world. All the flowers were moved toward the two Colossi, and the 'pistils' made of hundreds of silver antennae shivered rapidly and aimed at Li Yao and Long Yangjun.
"Give up the futile struggle and the passion for war!" Professor Mo Xuan's inhuman, unsubstantial voice was echoing from all directions again. "Your companions have all been invited to the Spiriters' Realm as guests. Their life is great there. Why don't you let go of your prejudice and explore the real Spiriters' Realm for yourselves?"
Shua!
All the silver flowers expanded, and every 'pistil' straightened out, unleashing invisible but massive mental waves. Those waves were based on the brainwaves of the Cultivators, but their frequency had been increased to more than a hundred times!
In only twelve hours, Li Yao had gone through the blast of the four-dimensional ripples, the sudden assault of the extraterrestrial devils in Deep Blue Super Brain Hospital, and the fatal fight with the army of ghosts. His mental power was already running dry, and he was merely persisting with the support of medication.
Therefore, when Professor Mo Xuan launched his most powerful mental attack, he could not shoulder it at all. He merely felt that silver brightness was leaking into the Colossus, like amniotic fluid in a mother's womb, which enshrouded him softly and dragged him into a dreamland.
At this point, there were 0 hours, 0 minutes, and 0 seconds to go before the Black Wind Fleet arrived at the core space zone in the Heaven's Origin Sector.
Chapter 1762: Black Wind Arrives! |
The office of the 'Defense Counsel of the Federation' was located in the southern suburb of the capital city in the Heaven's Origin Sector, right next to the General Staff and the Command Center of the federal army.
As a civilization of Cultivators that had strong individuals, the Star Glory Federation had been carrying on a 'parallel policy' in terms of national military power since the Old Federation six hundred years ago. While a powerful regular army was maintained, the sects and the individuals, on the premise that they abided by the 'Constitution of Cultivators', were allowed to boast an extremely high personal combat ability.
In many cases, the supreme experts from the major sects had a personal combat ability far more advanced than the federal army, but when it came to 'profoundness' and 'durability', they were certainly no match for the federal army.
During the six hundred years of development in the federation, the military and Cultivators once had contradictions. There was even a dark period known as the Age of Red Dragon Army where one party completely suppressed the other. However, the drawbacks of such a system were soon revealed and rectified. The parallel regime of two fists was restored. The two parties had been supervising each other to achieve a dynamic balance.
After six hundred years of cooperation, and faced with the threat of the Imperium of True Human Beings, the military and the Association of Cultivators, which represented the interests of the Cultivators, had been combined. Today, the highest decision-making and war command center in the federation was not the Department of Defense, the General Staff of the military, or the National Strategies Institute in the parliament, but this place—the Defense Counsel of the Federation, made of the leadership of the military, the leadership of the Secret Sword Bureau, and the many Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators and even Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators in the Association of Cultivators.
According to tradition, the position of president of the Defense Counsel would be taken by the Speaker of the Federation, and the three vice-presidents were assumed by the big shots from the military, the Secret Sword Bureau, and the Association of Cultivators respectively.
The series of gray, egg-like buildings in the southern suburb of the capital city was the command center of the most fatal armed forces of the seven Sectors in the federation!
At this moment, countless shuttles and fully-armed Exos were milling about inside the gray eggs, like bees that had been infuriated. Alarms were echoing nonstop within the Defense Counsel, too. Everything was a mess!
The military, Secret Sword Bureau, Association of Cultivators, parliament… The giants of various parties came one after another. Even a lot of mysterious people who barely showed up in the news had revealed themselves, but they were obviously anxious, too.
They had every reason to be anxious, because something devastating had just happened.
Two hours ago, more than ten starships disguised as supply ships had launched assaults on three space gates in the periphery of the Heaven's Origin Sector simultaneously. They had successfully seized one of the space gates and blocked the other two with bombs that contained tremendous interferential materials, including Gold Graphite.
It meant that, for the time being, of the three enormous lighthouses in the Heaven's Origin Sector that were supposed to guide the external starships to jump in, two had been entirely turned off, and the brightness from the last had been redirected to the unknown darkness.
Who knew what kind of stuff would pop out from the darkness?
Because of the internal infiltration, the assault was fluent and soundless. It was completed in only half an hour. Also, the assaulters adopted very advanced technology to hack the Spiritual Nexus. They intercepted and replaced the communication between the three space gates and the space jump control center on the ground in advance. Therefore, it was not until half an hour ago that the accident was finally noticed and reported.
The federation today boasted seven boundless Sectors at the edge of the cosmos. It could more or less be counted as a 'dinosaur', although not a gigantic one. Naturally, the reaction speed of its central nerves could not be as high as the reaction speed of a mouse.
After the Defense Counsel of the Federation confirmed the seriousness of the issue and sent out the Heaven's Origin Fleet, the local fleet stationed at the capital, to march at the three space gates, ripples from the four-dimensional space had already raised a turbulence of spiritual energy of an enormous scale near the biggest space gate. A bloody mouth seemed to slowly open and was about to consume the entire space zone!
When Wan Guqing, the Supreme Speaker of the Star Glory Federation, stepped into the command center of the Defense Counsel, the first thing he saw was exactly the colorful, devastating images displayed on hundreds of light beams after the 'bloody mouth' was scanned in various ways.
Wan Guqing was two hundred and twenty-five years old. Of all the Speakers of the
federation, he was not certainly among the most brilliant. He lacked personal charisma, and his connections with the major sects and the military were not deep enough, either. He was purely a dutiful, hardworking civil official, nothing more.
Many people called him 'camel' behind his back. Even his wife and his children sometimes called him that to his face, half-jokingly.
Including himself, everybody knew that he was not one of the Speakers who could dominate the world and be respected as 'heroes', but a worker who set the stage, prepared the armor, honed the weapons for the heroes in silence, and sent the heroes to the stage with his shoulder as the stairs. From the Old Federation to this day, six hundred years had passed with almost a hundred Speakers. But only a few had a description of half a chapter in the history textbooks. Most of the Speakers showed up in the appendices with their names and the dates of their birth and death. It was doubtless that Wan Guqing would be one of them. Even his photograph would not be added to the history books, and even the pickiest examination officers would not trick the students with his life events as the questions.
On the other hand, he never complained about his destiny. During his two five-year terms, he had done everything that he could to mobilize all the forces that could be mobilized, accumulating the war potential of the federation coin after coin to lay a foundation for the 'highest warring state' to come and to provide armor, swords, and a stage for the real heroic figures such as Ding Lingdang or Jin Xinyue.
In the past decade, he seemed to have grown older by a hundred years. He had originally lacked the vibe of a compelling leader, and now he looked even more clumsy and dumb, like a piece of rotten wood that had been burnt in fire for too many times.
According to the calendar, the new Speaker of the Federation would be elected in another two weeks. From that day on, the various powers of the federation would be transferred one after another. In one and a half months, the new Speaker would swear in right before the Rising Dragon of the Nine Stars flag and billions of people of the federation. After that, he would be completely relieved of the heavy burden that had been deeply buried into his flesh and bones. But then, the real problem now was—