by <unknown>
Such a suffocating scene would have staggered any other expert at the peak of the Nascent Soul Stage or in the Divinity Transformation Stage.
Li Yao, however, was utterly unmoved. Looking at the flames that were licking him like vipers, Li Yao remarked helplessly, "If I may ask, madam, why do you all have to be so extreme? The Pangu Clan wants to abandon all the feelings and desires and turn themselves into cold, walking dead, but you of the Nuwa Clan appear to indulge yourselves so much in your pursuit of 'absolute freedom' that you do not have any concept of rule at all. You don't even hesitate to destroy the universe… I finally understand why you fought each other."
"Huh?"
Every scale on the snake tail of the bloody shadow erected and vibrated quickly in weird noises, as if she was both surprised that Li Yao was not overwhelmed by her daunting aura and that Li Yao said what he did just now.
"My warrior, what happened to you? Why have you not perceived the true meaning of 'absolute freedom'? The universe is born for us in the first place. As long as we activate our will to the maximum, what is wrong even if the entire universe is destroyed? We will still be able to ascend to higher levels!"
The snake tail of the bloody shadow waved crazily, whipping out ripples and delivering the blatant and relentless information.
Pausing for a moment, the bloody shadow's eyes shook crazily. As if she had seen through Li Yao's soul, she immediately said, "You human beings are rather interesting. You do not seem to be the same as the original warriors. Are some of the barriers of the 'three fundamental laws' still lingering inside your body? Interesting. It seems that a lot of interesting things happened outside in the years I was sleeping!
"It explains why you cannot understand the true meaning of 'absolute freedom' and why you are so resistant to my soul.
"Hahaha. Don't resist it. I'm going to completely shatter the barriers deep inside your soul and integrate with you. I will allow you to unleash the most powerful strength of desires and feelings. By then, you will understand the taste of 'absolute freedom' by yourself!"
The bloody shadow cackled and turned into a streak of redness, lunging at the depths of Li Yao's soul.
"Don't do that, madam. Don't come here!" Li Yao shouted. "Don't touch that seal. It is not—"
There was already no time.
Before he was able to finish his warning, the bloody shadow crashed into the barrier in the deepest part of his soul that sealed the secrets of Earth.
The barrier had once been hit hard by Director Lei Yuqin of Deep Blue Super Brain Hospital in Hundred Flowers City before, but Lei Yuqin had been obliterated immediately after the collision.
Li Yao had spent tremendous spiritual energy and soul power trying to break it many times, too, only to make himself dizzy after every collision.
The bloody shadow contained much more energy than the devil that resided in Lei Yuqin's body. Her craziness and determination were much greater than Li Yao's own during his training, too.
After a cracking sound, the whole universe seemed to have fallen apart.
The bloody shadow together with the entire ocean of fire and blood turned into magnificent battlefields, devastating pictures, desperate roars, gratifying laughter, and sorrowful cries.
All the most intense feelings, displayed in colorful images, congregated into surging tides and bombarded the deepest part of Li Yao's soul hard.
On the seal, the crack caused by the collisions of Lei Yuqin and Li Yao himself was finally widened into a bottomless valley.
From the depths of the valley, the blue Earth popped up slowly again, only to wither and decay within a breath, enveloped by furious flames.
"Run now. Run to the end of the world, to the edge of the cosmos. The Vulture Plan has failed. It is invincible and indestructible!"
"No. The Vulture Plan has not failed yet. Whatever the cost, and however many formidable enemies stand in my way, I will come back one day to finish the Vulture Plan. I will destroy it, destroy—"
The soundwaves that swept across the universe, together with the fiendish fire that burnt the Earth, interweaved into strength countless times more powerful than the commander of the Nuwa Clan, or the 'chaos' that resided inside her body, who had just woken up.
Two tsunamis of furious flames collided heavily. The smaller one was immediately swallowed by the enormous tides and blown back to where it came from.
"Argh!" Li Yao sensed that the bloody shadow with a human head and a snake body sent out the most appalled waves, which were condensed into intense information streams. "It's impossible. It's impossible. Impo—"
The Nuwa Clan and the Pangu Clan were indeed two extremities.
The member of the Pangu Clan that Li Yao had come across on Kunlun had suppressed his fury and pretended to be solemn and nonchalant even when he was most exasperated.
The member of the Nuwa Clan, however, did not have the demeanor of an expert at all, although she was obviously a commander. She was more like a three-year-old who did not know self-restraint and would release the tiniest emotional fluctuations blatantly.
The best description to describe everything that Li Yao saw before his eyes was certainly 'the moon is not seen where the sun shines'.
Radiation would attenuate, and energy would wear out, often at a speed faster than the attrition of materials. It was even less steady in form.
The remaining soul of the commander of the Nuwa Clan had only survived to this day after hundreds of thousands of years of ordeals. No matter how dominating and rampant she appeared, she was in fact not half as strong as she seemed.
Perhaps, if she had encountered a common Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator, when the opponent was overwhelmed in panic, it would have been possible for her to successfully possess the body and 'integrate' with the Cultivator.
However, Li Yao had too many experiences when it came to 'possession', and he had gone through more trials than anybody else. Also, the enemy had touched the mysterious seal of Earth in the deepest part of Li Yao's soul. It was almost like the enemy was determined to get herself killed.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
It was not explosions but surging, overwhelming tides, unleashed from the seals in the deepest part of Li Yao's soul!
The huge tides blew apart the soul of the commander of the Nuwa Clan immediately. Most of the bloody flames were extinguished. The broken soul fragments squeaked like shocked rats and flew into the air, trying to disperse and run away.
However, the force of corrosion that had been accumulated for hundreds of thousands of years inside the broken soul fragments was too powerful after all. The attacks from Li Yao only made things worse. They could not hold their steady form any longer and turned into the most brilliant fireworks everywhere in the sky!
Chapter 1914: Are You Actually— |
Li Yao did not feel very well.
A bottomless valley had appeared deep inside his brain, releasing boundless waves. It was a pain insufferable for most people.
The ubiquitous fireworks in his sight seemed to have turned into the stars of the entire universe, before they shot down and bombarded his soul heavily.
"Vulture Plan!"
"Don't forget the Vulture Plan!"
"This is my destiny. I will complete the Vulture Plan. I will destroy the—"
Every word smashed down heavily like a supernova outbreak, soaking his soul in an exploding ocean of fire and making it impossible for him to free himself!
There was no telling how long had passed before Li Yao finally woke up again. He felt that somebody had indeed stuffed an entire planet into his head by brute force.
There was a damp feeling from his nostrils, ears, and eyes. He did not need to look at the mirror to know that his face must be bleeding from every orifice in the most horrendous way.
His limbs seemed to have been melted in the air, and it was not until a long time later that he finally felt them again, with the most excruciating pain as if they were being bitten by ten thousand ants.
Li Yao crouched inside the Tartarean Skeleton under the protection of Little Black. He coughed so hard that he vomited blood or some other suspicious liquids. "So, why did you have to be so rash and get both of us hurt? Could we really not sit down and talk to each other nicely to work everything out?"
He finally focused his attention to scan the environment, only to discover that the other four Colossi had all collapsed to the ground, and the feedback of telepathic thoughts from the Colossi was rather feeble and disordered.
Li Yao could feel his heart palpitating. "Senior Meng, Fellow Cultivator Wan, Fellow Cultivator Yan, Master Bitter Cicada—what happened just now? Are you alright?"
Coughs and gasps echoed inside the communication channel. It was not until a long time later that Master Bitter Cicada finally smiled bitterly. "We would like to know what happened just now, too. We only perceived that a streak of redness dashed out of the ashes and the bones abruptly and darted into the chest of the Tartarean Skeleton. The next moment, the most powerful blast burst out of the cockpit of the Tartarean Skeleton. The blast hit everybody's soul like a burning tornado. Even Senior Meng's soul in the Divinity Transformation Stage almost failed to resist it.
"Therefore, Fellow Cultivator Li, would you care to explain to us what exactly happened?"
"Well…" Li Yao scratched his chin hard, his head in a mess, not because he was troubled by how to explain the seal of Earth but because he had an ominous feeling.
The animalistic instincts that he had been born with had helped him survive a lot of fatal traps that should have killed him. Every time he had such a feeling, it meant that something terrible was happening.
He was not as frightened even when the remaining soul of the Nuwa commander showed up just now. So, something greatly wrong must have happened. But what exactly was it?
Li Yao considered for a long time while scratching his chin. Then, he was suddenly frozen, with his every pore open, like a hen whose hair had been plucked!
"It's unreasonable. We're doomed!"
Having no time to bother about his headache and his fatigue, he attempted to stand on his feet. But he was unable to control the enormous Tartarean Skeleton and fell to the ground in a deafening noise.
Everybody looked at him in astonishment, but he did not have time to care about the Colossus at all and simply crawled out of the breastplate of the Tartarean Skeleton, trying to reach out to the Nuwa warship above through the communication channel on his portable crystal processor.
However, after the collisions of souls and the explosion just now, the wireless communication had been jammed and destroyed. The signals of the outside could not be found at all after a long search.
Li Yao shrieked and turned into a tornado when he ran outward. Finding a crystal processor that was connected to a cable, he was finally able to connect to Long Yangjun's private channel.
"Long Yangjun!" Li Yao shouted aloud.
"Hiss! What are you yelling? You almost scared me." Long Yangjun did not seem to be scared at all. She even yawned and slowly said, "Why did your signals disappear all of a sudden just now? They seemed to be under serious interference. Even the Spiritual Nexus was cut off. What happened?"
"A lot!" Li Yao said in a hurry. "In fact, the Nuwa Clan was in the same gang as chaos. The Pangu Civilization was corrupted or infected by chaos. That was how the Nuwa Civilization came into being… All in all, you have learned it from the specialists of the 'decryption team', haven't you?"
"Indeed. I'm reading the first report from the specialists of the 'decryption group'. What refreshing and eye-opening 'last words'!" Long Yangjun continued smiling. "Well, you sound rather cranky. You are not calling me to blame me for taking a bath comfortably here instead of fighting with you in the arduous battle down there at the critical moment, are you?"
Despite the long cable, Li Yao seemed able to see her enjoyable and carefree smile.
"Cut the cr*p. I have suddenly discovered a self-contradictory issue, one that calls for great suspicion. I would like to study it with you!"
Before Long Yangjun wandered off the topic again, Li Yao simply went on without any stop. "Assuming the Pangu commander's last words are true, the Nuwa Clan and chaos are accomplices, and some of them were even directly invaded and corrupted by chaos. The so-called 'chaos' is an 'extraterrestrial devil' today. In that case, what kind of being are you as an elite warrior of the Nuwa civilization?"
"Chiliu. Chiliu. Chiliu. Chiliu."
"What is that sound?"
"Well, I'm drinking the tropical fruit juice that you brought from the federal. It doesn't taste bad at all. Iced juice and a hot bath of high-energy nutrition liquids. Could anybody ask for more in life?"
"…Asshole," Li Yao snarled. "How did you get my juice? Did you sneak into my room? No. That doesn't matter. What matters right now is what you are exactly! If you are an 'elite warrior of the Nuwa Civilization', you should be on the same side as the extraterrestrial devils. Then, why did you stand on my side and help me deal with other extraterrestrial devils in Hundred Flowers City and the space battle?
"If you had stood on Lu Qingchen's side, it would've been more than easy to finish me as well as the entire federation. The fire of the extraterrestrial devils would've at least consumed the whole edge of the cosmos, wouldn't it?
"What exactly happened? Tell me the truth. Tell me!"
"Chiliu. Chiliu. Chiliu. Chiliu."
"I only have limited patience, and it has run out in the last second!"
Long Yangjun: "Tsk. The juice is up. It is so delicious. I will feel sorry when I can't drink the juice of such a brand in the future!"
Li Yao took a deep breath and said, "Hey, we've been friends for a while. Just tell me the truth. I can deal with it. You won't tell me that you're actually the ultimate supervillain who has been hiding behind the curtain in the game the whole time, will you?"
"Well. Hehehe…" Long Yangjun seemed to be chuckling. In the end, she said cunningly, "About that question, I'll tell you later."
She cut off the communication quickly.
Li Yao was dumbfounded for half a second looking at the dark light beam. Then, he dialed all the communication ports on the Nuwa warship that could be connected as quickly as possible.
"The medical cabin, the Exo teams, the Grand Illusionary Soldiers control squads, the bridge, and fire control teams of all starships—where is Long Yangjun right now? Capture her!"
Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua!
The surveillance pictures in dozens of medical cabins were displayed in front of Li Yao, but the pool of dark green liquid in which Long Yangjun had lain comfortably to heal her wounds half a minute ago was now empty.
The pathways that led to the medical cabin were closely monitored and blocked, too. Even a fly would not be able to make it through.
However, there were still complicated, narrow pathways, tubes, and traps in the Nuwa warship that were beyond the reach and investigation of Li Yao and other human beings.
Perhaps…
Only a member of the Nuwa warship would know how to make use of the secret tunnels, teleportation arrays, and escape capsules, right?
"No discovery in the medical cabin!"
"All the pathways nearby have been investigated. Nothing has been found!"
"No discovery!"
"Negative! Negative! Negative!"
In the end, it was a crystal camera deployed in the corner of a remote pathway that captured a shadow that flashed like lightning… three minutes ago.
In other words, before Li Yao spoke to Long Yangjun, Long Yangjun had already left the medical cabin and disappeared.
"Damn it!"
Li Yao bashed the wall hard in fury, and his entire arm stabbed into the wall that was as tough as iron.
Right then, a communication request was sent from the channel of the specialists of the 'decryption team'.
It was still the same linguistics expert, except that h
e sounded very confused right now. "President Li, we have made new discoveries. But it's not about the last words of the two commanders. It's about the 'warning' sent from the Nuwa warship to the Heaven's Origin Sector and the Flying Star Sector a hundred years ago…"
Li Yao was refreshed. The warning was the key to their discovery of the dark nebula and the reason for his hundred years of hibernation. It was the beginning of everything that had happened later!
"What about it?" Li Yao asked in a hurry.
"In the past hundred years, we have tried to decipher the warning, but it was compressed in such a unique way that it sounded like a 'beep'. We were unable to unravel the secrets in it at all." The linguist naturally did not know how anxious Li Yao was; he simply rambled on. "Things remained unchanged until today when we found two different 'dictionaries'. With the new tools of decryption, we naturally wanted to figure out the secrets contained inside the warning. After all, it is the origin of everything!"
Li Yao took a deep, deep breath. Like plucking a carrot, he drew his arm from the wall. While shaking his arm, he gnashed his teeth and asked, "Professor Wang, can we get to the point? What is the meaning of the warning after it is uncompressed and deciphered?"
"It means something very strange," Professor Wang, the linguist, replied in confusion. "It seems to suggest that an 'original body' or 'embryo' of a warrior on the Nuwa warship was released. But the 'original body' was contaminated by the forces of the Pangu Clan when it was still in the fetus state. It was no longer a loyal warrior of the Nuwa Clan but a dangerous accomplice of the Pangu Clan. The warning was sent to alarm all members of the Nuwa Clan nearby to be wary of the patient, or rather, the 'spy' of the Pangu Clan who pretended to be a member of the Nuwa Clan."
Chapter 1915: Two in One! |
Every vein inside Li Yao's body seemed to have turned into a hollow cone of ice, with the most scorching magma flowing inside. His face was now grim and now blushing, while he lowered his voice with his best, "Anything—Anything else?"