by <unknown>
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Two clusters of energy that were billions of more furious than the sun collided in the space battle thousands of times in that moment, burning all the starships, primeval beasts, and remnants of prehistoric lives to ash. Both clusters of energy were dimming and shrinking at a visible speed. After every collision, tremendous telepathic thoughts and broken souls would be thrown away, raising surging swirls around them.
Li Yao and Lu Qingchen, two souls that each had their own mysterious background, collided to the limits!
Li Yao's mind, however, was disrupted by Lu Qingchen's unexpected words, and a tiny crack appeared in the chest of the red giant.
The black star took the opportunity to wave the colossal tentacles and whipped the crack precisely, blowing away the red giant and nearly making it fall apart.
"Have you ever heard of 'collective wisdom'? A single ant or bee has neither intelligence nor self-awareness. They even barely have any senses!"
The dancing fire from the black star was even more crazy, but Lu Qingchen's voice became unusually calm.
"However, when many ants or bees gather, they can communicate in a mysterious way and act in patterns that are similar to wisdom and self-awareness.
"That is exactly the relationship between human beings and extraterrestrial devils. A minor devil is even more insignificant than an ant or a bee. It is just like a minor cell and does not have any self-awareness or wisdom, but when thousands of cells gather, it is possible for them to constitute the brain and generate the 'soul' that you are so proud of!
"Do you see now? This is just the most superficial layer of the mysteries of the origins of mankind. The real secrets are hidden at the center of the cosmos deep inside the Imperium of True Human Beings and the Alliance of the Holy Covenant, waiting to be excavated by us!
"Come and join with me. We will look for the ultimate 'answer' together and find out what real human beings should look like!"
The red giant struggled to its feet in the middle of the stars.
"In your dreams…" Li Yao spat in disdain, only to discover that the surface of the Colossus had been contaminated by giant black spots at some point. The black spots were even expanding like a rampant flood!
Chapter 1827: I am the Winner! |
"This… this is…"
Li Yao felt as if his soul was mired in a swamp and that countless invisible leeches were slithering into his soul in the swamp, injecting acid and venom into his head. He could not have been more alarmed.
The red giant seemed to have been bound by invisible shackles. It struggled hard but could not stop the black spots from expanding and joining each other. The body of the giant was blackened, and the stain was even dropping like melted mud.
"Don't struggle anymore. It's futile," Lu Qingchen said casually. "A human's body can be infected by viruses, and the Spiritual Nexus and the crystal processors can be infected by viruses, too. Naturally, the souls of human beings can also contract a certain fatal virus.
"My antecedent, the extraterrestrial devil, lurked for ten thousand years in the Flying Star Sector. It evolved from a certain virus that could corrupt crystal processors in the first place. Is it strange at all that the virus has gained the ability to invade and corrupt a human's soul?
"Did you know? Regardless of whether you are an ordinary person, a Cultivator, or an Immortal Cultivator, and no matter whether you are in the Refinement Stage, the Building Foundation Stage, the Nascent Soul Stage, or the Divinity Transformation Stage, and despite the toughness of your soul, the souls of all human beings are shockingly similar in their fundamental architecture!
"Nobody can escape from the virus attack targeting the deepest structure of the soul as long as you are a human being!
"I've focused all the tenebrum energy and poured it into your soul in the form of a virus. All your struggles are in vain. Give up, accept my path, and embark on… a brand-new journey!"
Hardly had he concluded his sentence when the black star crushed over overwhelmingly. Its body size expanded again and occupied almost half of the universe or the entirety of Li Yao's sight!
Gravity! The black star was so enormous that the gravity it generated absorbed all the starships and debris on the space battlefield into its body as part of itself, which made the tenebrum energy reactions on its surface even more chaotic and violent.
In front of Li Yao's eyes, countless black flames congregated into enormous swirls, and the enormous swirls further congregated into an even more enormous ocean. The furious ocean was pouring right above his head!
"Ahhh!"
All the joints of the red giant were spurting out crimson particles similar to bloody mist. The black spots continued invading Li Yao's shining soul that was residing at the chest of the red giant. Black bugs appeared on his soul and crawled everywhere randomly, riddling his soul with holes!
The red giant fell to one knee again, but its arms were raised high stubbornly and struggled to hold back the monolithic black star!
"I… will not let things go your way!" Li Yao's angry voice echoed from the red giant's head that was almost crushed. "However glorious you make your purpose and your destiny sound, you are not entitled to play with the feelings, will, and soul of any human being, no matter how insignificant and ordinary they are!"
"Idiot! Human beings are supposed to boast the most magnificent force in the entire universe, and yet most people are addicted to the mundane, tranquil life, wasting the precious resources and their even more precious lives away!" Lu Qingchen declared. "I'm trying to help them awaken their real strength so that they can be truly alive!"
"We are already really alive. Everything you see is the future that we have chosen. No one other than ourselves, not even all the gods and devils in the universe, will make a choice in our stead!"
Amid Li Yao's roars, the red giant stood straight again while holding the black star on the shoulder, as if it were about to throw away the enemy toward the edge of the universe.
But the black spots that had contaminated the joints of the giant significantly affected the hardness of Li Yao's soul. The red giant could not withstand the enormous gravity of the black star anymore, and its four limbs broke apart at the same time!
It happened faster than could be described. Hundreds of black pillars darted out of the black star in an instant, piercing through the red giant's limbs, torso, and skull and confining its whole body!
"Ahhh!" Li Yao cried miserably.
The surface of the red giant had been entirely covered in black spots, exactly like Heiye Ming a while back when he was swallowed by the black jellyfish in the Spiriters' Realm.
"Hehehe. Do you feel the virus running deep inside your soul? I didn't lie to you. As long as you are a human, you won't be able to resist such a virus."
A gap millions of kilometers long suddenly opened on the black star like a bloody mouth that was going to swallow the whole universe. The arms of flames spurting out of the mouth extended like tentacles and tore apart the chest of the red giant unhurriedly, revealing the core of the soul that was glittering like a diamond.
Li Yao's soul was completely drowned by the black spots. His struggles grew weaker until he was not even able to cut off one pillar of light that pierced through his body. His screams became moans, and the moans turned into murmurs. In the end, there was nothing but obscure, meaningless gasps.
He seemed to have been bent by the power of the virus. His soul was corrupted so crazily that the flames of his spirit and will were weakened to the minimum and could die out at any point!
"Come on and meld with me. It doesn't matter if we continue using the identity of 'Vulture' Li Yao. We will find the mysteries of the origins of mankind. We will see the future and destiny of our civilization. We will be… truly alive!"
From the bloody mouth, the arms of flames wriggled and split apart, allowing what appeared to be a black serpent to slither out slowly.
Some of Lu Qingchen's features c
ould be found on the surface of the serpent. The beast carried both animalistic brutality and godly reverence. Boundless ambition, lust, and curiosity beamed out of its eyes.
The black serpent slid toward the chest of the red giant and appreciated Li Yao's soul greedily.
The limbs of the red giant were broken, and its body was riddled with holes because of the corruption of the virus. Li Yao was only able to trigger the feeblest soul waves that were nothing more than a gentle breeze. He could not stop the 'integration' at all.
The black serpent crawled into the red giant's chest while grinning hideously. Li Yao's soul was about to become part of the enemy's, when—
The black spots that invaded the red giant, the black pillars that nailed through the limbs and torso, and even the thousands of squirming arms of flames and the black star itself all emitted a weird hue.
No words could describe the brilliance of the hue. Even the number of all the stars in the universe would be enough to measure the colors contained in the brightness.
"Not good!" Lu Qingchen's long, narrow snake eyes immediately turned into two holes. "What—what are you exactly? How can you resist the corruption of my virus and even counterattack?"
When he realized that he had been fooled, it was already too late.
From the chest of the red giant that was wide open, the sharpest redness darted out like a crimson flying sword, piercing Lu Qingchen's head and stabbing into the core of the black star that was not closed yet!
A shockingly big hole appeared at the center of Lu Qingchen's snake head. He finally screamed miserably, but no matter how he tried to fill it with devilish fire, it was impossible for him to fix it any time soon.
The black star was like a balloon whose air had been released. It collapsed at a visible rate, with explosions echoing nonstop from inside. The surging swirls and arms of flames on its surface were all consolidated under the glow of the glamorous brightness, as if they had all become solid rocks. But very soon, the rocks were blown into smithereens by another blood red force from inside!
Blood red springs ran out from the surface of the dying black star and turned into a raging bloody devil that was even more hideous and evil than Lu Qingchen.
"Hahaha. When the snipe and the clam grapple, it's the fisherman who stands to benefit. I am the final winner after all, you two dumbasses!"
The mental devil opened the broad wings made of blood and skeletons and enveloped Lu Qingchen, whose soul had almost been dried, and Li Yao himself, who was dying, laughing in the most arrogant way.
Flapping its wings, it lunged at the black star that bordered on destruction again. Even the black serpent that was the core of Li Yao's soul was snatched without any mercy and twisted brutally as if it were a towel.
Lu Qingchen and the mental devil, two extraterrestrial devils that could both be called 'devil lords', mauled each other, showing no compassion or hesitation to beings of the same kind. Instead, they tried their best to swallow each other and prevent the swallowing of themselves, like tigers and wolves who were competing for prey.
Lu Qingchen's soul had been exhausted in the competition against Li Yao just now. More critically, he had devoted almost all the tenebrum energy into the depths of Li Yao's soul in the form of a virus.
However, the virus that was supposedly effective against all human beings somehow did not work well on Li Yao. It was even countered by a certain mysterious force deep at the core of Li Yao's soul.
Never had he dreamed that Li Yao's soul would be so weird. At the last moment, in order to completely swallow the core of Li Yao's soul, he had needed to expose the core of his own soul. As a result, the mental devil's ambush had succeeded!
Although the mental devil had used up a lot of strength in the battle against Extraterrestrial Devil Mo Xuan, it had reserved part of its strength back then and had merely been acting before Li Yao. Besides, it had lurked in secret and rested well for a long time. Since its ambush had worked out, how could it leave any chance for Lu Qingchen to make a comeback?
The two devil lords swallowed each other, like two behemothic beasts that had bitten each other's throats. It was a pure collision of souls that was devoid of any fancy tricks. All the mattered was whose soul power was drained first!
Finally, Lu Qingchen tore off the two bloody wings of the mental devil and even dug a shockingly huge hole in its abdomen.
But his head was twisted and blown away by the sharp claws of the mental devil!
The black star became a completely lifeless planet of rocks before it was completely blown up by the redness that the mental devil shot out with the last bit of its strength!
Chapter 1828: What Are You Exactly? |
The whole world began to collapse.
The flickering stars far away seemed to have become dim light bulbs. The profound universe showed its rough, black texture, too. They were no longer in the middle of the infinite sea of stars but seemed to be trapped in a tiny cave that was shaking violently. Shining cracks were appearing in every corner of the cave, indicating that it might completely collapse any second.
Losing the enhancement of the black star, the core of Lu Qingchen's soul was like a rotten earthworm, with blood red foam packed all over his body. As each bit of foam broke apart, a stream of black air would dash out and flee in a hurry, only to be pushed back by the mental devil time and time again.
Lu Qingchen's head was like a drop of ink that fell into clear water, slowly dispersing and losing the contours of his facial organs and expression. He moaned with the utmost regret and discontent as he was continuously disintegrated and melted.
The mental devil, on the other hand, could not have been more satisfied. Dragging the incomplete body, it shook its hands and legs in excitement and chuckled. "You didn't see this coming, did you? You've been fooled! As the saying goes, when the cicada is hunting a mantis, the sparrow lurks behind to take them both. Despite all your tricks, methods, and schemes—cough, cough, cough, cough, I am the final victor!
"You want to meld with me? That's totally fine. I'll certainly meld with the two of you. Hehehe. After absorbing such abundant tenebrum energy from you and suppressing the personality of Li Yao No. 2, I will reclaim the control of this body and seize the federation as 'Vulture' Li Yao. Who else can ever be a match for me at the edge of the cosmos… Huh?"
The mental devil's laughter came to an abrupt end. It jumped hard as if it were cramping and looked back in utmost bewilderment.
Behind him, the dying red giant whose limbs were broken and whose abdomen was torn apart got to its feet again.
Although the body size was indeed reduced significantly, and the flames of spiritual energy were dimmer and more lackluster, the core of Li Yao's soul right at the center of the chest was still glittering. The last bit of firm strength was still glimmering!
"How—how did you get back on your feet? Wasn't your soul so heavily wounded that it could barely keep shape?"
The mental devil gnashed its teeth hard in rage.
"Yes. But I feel that I'm more or less back to myself now after a brief rest."
Li Yao struggled to catch his breath while he looked at the mental devil that had been covered in wounds after the battle with Lu Qingchen. He said, "I don't think that I'm fully recovered, except that I'm slightly stronger than you right now."
"You—You tricked me. You reserved your strength!"
The mental devil burst into rage.
"That's exactly what you did. Didn't you reserve your strength when you dealt with Extraterrestrial Devil Mo Xuan?" Li Yao sniffed.
"You—You guessed it?" The mental devil could not have felt more wronged. "How can we be the same? I am a mental devil. Such a sordid, shameless, and despicable method is exactly my style! But you are the renowned dominator of three Sectors and an upright hero of the federation. Yet, you reserved your strength during the fatal battle with the supervillain? That is outrageous! How did you know that I would certainly take the opportunity to ambush him? What if
I didn't reserve my strength and I couldn't take shape in the Spiriters' Realm because I was really blown apart by Extraterrestrial Devil Mo Xuan?"
"Bro…" Li Yao sighed and helplessly replied, "I didn't want to guess so, either. But look at what you did in the fierce battle with Extraterrestrial Devil Mo Xuan. Like you said, your style has always been sordid, shameless, and despicable. Yet, during the battle, you acted with so much comradery and hot blood that you were charging even faster than me! Did you have to be so valiant? Could there have been a second possibility other than you intended to reserve your strength by acting and faking your death in a suicidal attack?
"This isn't the first time you've made plans to seize my body. During the fierce battle with Extraterrestrial Devil Mo Xuan, the situation was still unclear. It was obvious that the extraterrestrial devils had arrangements on the Black Wind Fleet's side. Therefore, even if you successfully suppressed me at that time and took over my body, it wouldn't necessarily help. Chances were that you would be blown up by the Black Wind Fleet even before you were adapted to this body. That's why you contained yourself and pretended to be obedient and docile while waiting for new changes.
"But right now, the Black Wind Fleet has suffered a crushing defeat, and the last extraterrestrial devil has revealed itself. Now that a great opportunity has been presented for you to ambush the enemy and swallow the souls of both Lu Qingchen and me, can you even refrain yourself from jumping out to stir trouble?
"We are too familiar with each other. Do I not know what is on your mind?"
The mental devil was so furious that crimson steam was spurting out all over its body, making it look like a leaky boiler.
Rendered speechless, it narrowed its eyes and stared at Li Yao, as if it were going to lunge at him at any moment.