Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

by <unknown>

  "Well…"

  After a long daze, Li Yao sighed and said, "I did not know that the Imperium had been corrupted to such an extent. As a loyal and devoted patriot, I feel that my heart is broken!

  "Then, if even the ventilation tubes are teeming with jailors, how exactly am I going to sneak into the Godly Might Prison and locate General Lei Chenghu?"

  "This is your operation plan."

  Li Linghai pointed on the 3D light beam and operated quickly. Very soon, the structures of a carrier and a hibernation cabin were retrieved. She explained, "Because the 'special investigation committee' delivered General Lei to the Godly Might Prison in secret and does not want to show any anomaly, the Godly Might Prison has been receiving and releasing prisoners as usual recently.

  "Three days later, a carrier that is fully loaded with frozen prisoners will arrive at the Godly Might Prison. The deputy captain of this carrier joined us a long time ago.

  "Your mission is to approach the carrier when the carrier has just jumped to the Mystic Ice Sector but has not reached the near-planet orbit of the Godly Might Prison yet. Then, you will sneak into the vehicle from here."

  Li Linghai pointed at a complicated structure in the rear of the carrier.

  Li Yao observed carefully and said, "This is the spurt of the exhaust flames on the carrier. The temperature there can be very high. Even if I wear a crystal suit, it will be barely possible for me to sustain one minute. Also, if I break it from the outside, the damage will certainly be reflected on the mainframe crystal processor of the starship."

  "It is true under normal circumstances. However, this deputy captain who belongs to the reformists will sabotage the power unit that this spurt belongs to in advance, making the crystal processor loses senses over it for now and dropping the temperature in the tube to below a thousand degrees. There shouldn't be a problem then."

  Li Linghai went on, "All the prisoners on the carrier have detailed data recorded. However, we will arrange a prisoner that is closest to you in terms of body size and appearance. His blood and even bone marrow will also be prepared, which should be enough to handle all the examinations.

  "After you sneak into the carrier, our deputy captain will meet you and replace the real prisoner with you. Then, you will enter the freezing hibernation cabin as a prisoner.

  "The difficult part here is that you have to reduce your breath, heartbeat, and even brainwaves to the minimum, like you are really hibernating, while your body shows the features of being deeply frozen. However, you cannot really be hibernating, and your soul must be kept at the most active state in order to deal with all the emergencies.

  "To achieve that, we will give you a special freezing drug, which will make your skin, flesh, and internal organs appear to be frozen. But you will still need to have a very precise control over your body."

  Pondering for a moment, Li Yao nodded his head and said, "No problem. I should be able to do that."

  "Excellent. After you pretend to be a frozen prisoner, you will be sent into the Godly Might Prison, where you will naturally receive thorough examinations. The first examination will happen while you are still in hibernation. There shouldn't be a problem when our guys cover you in secret. The second examination will be an interrogation carried out by three jailors after you are unfrozen and woken up.

  "The mission is set to three days later because it will be the time when our deputy warden is on duty. He will be fully in charge of the entire jailor system for two hours, and as long as his orders are not too outrageous, they will all be carried out dutifully.

  "When you are cross-interrogated by three jailors, our deputy warden will find an excuse to get two of them away, before he moves the surveillance cameras that are everywhere in the interrogation room.

  "You have to kill the only jailor during the eight seconds when the surveillance cameras are away, put on his uniform, and let him wear your prison uniform and your identification band. In the end, you will need to blow up his entire head with a storm bolter.

  "In the meantime, you will wear the skin membrane that we have prepared in advance and change the appearance of your muscles, pretending to be exactly like the jailor.

  "It won't matter even if you are not exactly the same due to the limited time, because you can fake some devastating wounds on your face and your body and cover yourself in blood.

  "As a result, it will seem that a bloodthirsty, disobedient prisoner launched an assault when there was only one jailor in the interrogation room, only to be killed by the jailor's counterattack.

  "The whole thing will naturally look quite uncanny. Thankfully, we do not need to hide for long. Under the command of our deputy warden, you will be sent to the medical room. It's right here."

  Li Linghai retrieved the internal map of the Godly Might Prison and enlarged the 3D image that was as sophisticated as a maze.

  Li Yao looked at the ventilation tubes that were as thick as arteries with great affection before he focused his eyes on where Li Linghai was pointing at.

  "Our deputy warden will meet you in the medical room in person to ask about the 'highly-rare assault case'. Then, he will cover you to leave the medical room in secret."

  Li Linghai continued, "Then, in the surveillance system of the Godly Might Prison, the prisoner that you pretend to be should still be inquired by the deputy warden in the medical room. Within the clearances of the deputy warden, he can earn twenty-eight minutes and thirty seconds for you.

  "The medical room is here, and the secret cells where General Lei Chenghu is suspected to be locked in are here. The two areas are 3.5 kilometers away in a straight line.

  "It seems not very long, but the critical things are the complicated pathways as well as the surveillance cameras and sentry posts in them. There are also the invisible rays that fill the entire space. Those rays are highly sensitive. So much as one of your hair cuts the rays, the scanning system will be activated, notifying all the sentry posts nearby of your existence.

  "Once it is discovered that your body figure and your posture are not in the database, and you are a jailor who is not supposed to be here, alarms of the highest level will be raised and sent to the warden's office and the control center. There will be nothing the deputy warden can do about it."

  Looking at the zigzagging, complicated, up-and-down "shortest route", Li Yao said, "So, in twenty-eight minutes, I have to dodge 188 jailors, avoid the sight of 2,544 surveillance cameras, and blink past the invisible rays with my body movement skills, before I arrive at the area where General Lei Chenghu is locked?"

  "Exactly."

  Li Linghai nodded her head. "Of course, there are our men among the jailors too, who will do their best to safeguard you. So, it is not as difficult as it appears. According to my precise calculation, for experts like you or Yue Wushuang, the odds of success will be very high."

  Frowning, Li Yao asked, "How high is very high?"

  "At least above 50%."

  Li Linghai smiled, with crazy flames burning inside her eyes again. "That's about 100%, right?"

  Li Yao sniffed and said, "If I can indeed arrive at the special area, then what? How do I know which cell General Lei Chenghu is locked in?"

  "If everything goes well, the moment you reach the secret area will be the moment when we leap out of the void and attack the Godly Might Prison furiously under the guidance of our spies in the Godly Might Prison."

  Li Linghai said, "By then, the Godly Might Prison will certainly be a great mess. The enemy will definitely transfer or execute General Lei Chenghu at the earliest time. Whether he is to be transferred or executed, the order will be carried out by the people with the highest combat ability. So, you will find General Lei Chenghu by following those people.

  "After the meeting is over, I will send the data and the battle videos of the best warriors in the Godly Might Prison to you for your reference. The Godly Might Prison is not extravagant enough to use battle-type experts in the Divinity Transformation Stage as jailors. The
refore, it won't be a problem for you to get the situation under control and rescue General Lei Chenghu quickly.

  "There is no telling if the enemy has impounded General Lei Chenghu's Cosmos Rings. So, we will prepare a crystal suit and all kinds of magical equipment for General Lei. General Lei is a seasoned expert himself. As long as he is equipped with the top-tier crystal suit and makes up his mind to kill, it won't be a problem for him to protect himself.

  "The crucial thing is to talk General Lei into cooperating with us and joining the cause of the reformists so that he can really defend the Imperium!

  "But I'm very confident in your ability of persuasion. I believe that you will certainly not disappoint me, right?"

  "Please rest assured, Your Grace!"

  Li Yao held his chest high and said, full of dignity, "I will certainly do my best to convince General Lei so that General Lei will fight for the Imperium together with all of us! Long live the Imperium! Long live the true path of immortality! Long live His Majesty!"

  Chapter 2210: Everybody Has a Plan |

  "That is really enough, Bodyguard Li."

  Li Linghai said, "All the maps of the Godly Might Prison, as well as the locations and ranges of all the sentry posts, surveillance cameras, and invisible rays, will be sent to your crystal processor immediately. The infiltration mission this time is highly difficult and requires 100% precision. So, I think you should seize every second and go back to start mock training right now."

  "Understood!"

  Li Yao rose quickly. "I will go back and start training immediately. However…"

  Li Linghai frowned hard. "Any problem?"

  "I did not expect the mission this time to be so arduous. The secret weapon that I've been refining seems to be in need of full upgrading."

  Li Yao said solemnly, "But the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures allocated to me last time have been used up. I fear that the secret weapon cannot be whetted to the perfect form."

  "Got it."

  Li Linghai took a deep breath. "Whatever materials you need, just take them. As long as you can accomplish the mission of sneaking into the Godly Might Prison and protecting General Lei, you can have whatever you want!"

  "Thank you, Your Grace!"

  Li Yao was ecstatic. "I promise you, Your Grace, that the secret weapon will be a great surprise for everyone!"

  …

  Three hours later, Li Yao returned to the No. 1 maintenance workshop of the Deep Sea Palace.

  Since a week ago, the maintenance workshop that was the largest and with the most advanced facilities for the maintenance of the Colossi had entered an unprecedented alert state.

  Not only were all the irrelevant personnel blocked hundreds of meters away, but the refiners who had been working in the place were also mobilized to other workshops. Also, a strict order was given in the Deep Sea Fleet that whoever approached the maintenance workshop would be executed immediately!

  All that was because of the Colossus that was lying at the center of the maintenance workshop quietly. It was the Tartarean Skeleton, which had been torn apart and utterly deformed.

  The Tartarean Skeleton had already revealed itself in the slaughter stream that covered the entire Imperium. Everybody knew that it was the ultimate weapon of the Cultivators.

  To show the Colossus publicly in the capital of the Imperium, it must be modified beyond anyone's recognition.

  As it happened, Li Yao had received many rare Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures from Li Linghai that originated from the mausoleum of the Supreme Emperor. It was not his style to keep treasures for collection. Naturally, he stuffed all of them into the Tartarean Skeleton.

  For safety reasons, Li Yao only used Li Jialing as his assistant in the entire process. The heavy and clumsy work was mostly shouldered by the engineering spiritual puppets in the shape of spiders.

  After Li Yao advanced into the Divinity Transformation Stage, his computational ability was tougher than ever. With the assistance of the super crystal processors, it was not a big problem for him at all to control a hundred spider-shaped puppets to perform the most delicate work on the Colossus at the same time.

  Other than that, he had discussed with Master Jin Tianzong on the power system design of the Tartarean Skeleton, trying to apply the hybrid model of energy transmission and power output to the Colossus.

  In the first place, Master Jin Tianzong was one of the best specialists in power units in the Imperium of True Human Beings. He was unparalleled in terms of theories, and he stagnated for a while only because of the accident that crippled his hands.

  Now, Li Yao had treated his hands with secret techniques and offered him a liquid metal formula that could produce strengthened gloves. Not just his career but also his life had been saved.

  Naturally, Master Jin Tianzong gave all the help he could provide and came up with a lot of innovative ideas for Li Yao on the upgrade of the power units.

  The brand-new Tartarean Skeleton had been made by the joint work of the two masters of refining in the Divinity Transformation Stage.

  It was a… fancy, tycoon-like Colossus.

  The predominant black and red that was filled with mysteriousness and invincibility had been modified into a dazzlingly light gold camouflage by Li Yao. Such camouflage was made from a material taken from the mausoleum of the Supreme Emperor named "Star Silicon", which boasted a very high performance to resist spiritual and magnetic interferences. Also, the mirror effect could reflect the radiations and mystic rays very effectively. More than 80% of the mystic ray attacks could be reflected without the spiritual shield.

  The only problem was that it looked too luxury, high-key, and swanky.

  As it happened, Li Yao had also produced tremendous highly-rising, unbelievably eye-catching components that had been attached to the plate armor of the Tartarean Skeleton densely. There was even a tall hat or a fin on the head that was also in the dazzling gold color, as if he were worried that people might not notice him from dozens of kilometers away.

  It couldn't be helped. The Tartarean Skeleton in the past had too distinctive a style. If it were not modified to be even more idiosyncratic and unforgettable, the marks of the past would not be completely erased.

  "The new pose… will do for now."

  On the control panel, Li Yao controlled the hundred spider puppets to perform the last polishing and painting, while he pondered and said, "This should be called 'Tartarean Skeleton, Gold Special Edition', right?"

  Li Jialing, the young man who looked like a gold lion, helped him while looking at him in hesitation.

  "What are you trying to say?"

  Li Yao looked at the control menu to adjust the connectivity among the magical equipment units subtly while he asked, "You have been unsettled ever since I came back here."

  "Brother Yao—"

  Li Jialing couldn't help but say, "Are you really going to sneak into the Godly Might Prison and rescue General Lei Chenghu? It's too dangerous."

  "Of course it is dangerous. That is why it requires a smart, brave, responsive, and invincible expert such as myself!"

  Li Yao replied casually, "Also, I believe in your beloved mother. Although your mother is an insane gambler, she will never take part in the games that she will surely lose. Now that she is confident to rescue General Lei, she will certainly give the most support she has!"

  "Stop calling the woman my 'beloved mother'."

  Li Jialing complained in a low voice, "Do you trust her?"

  "Why not?"

  Li Yao said matter-of-factly, "If the battle to conquer the Godly Might Prison fails, it will be your mother who suffers the heaviest losses, not me. Is there any reason why she wouldn't do her best?"

  After a long daze, Li Jialing said, "It does make sense. That is a good reason to trust her. But I am still perplexed. Does she have any reason to trust you and ask you to carry out such a critical mission? Isn't Yue Wushuang, leader of the Tribunal of Extraterrestrial Devils, more suitable than you?"<
br />
  "I'm afraid that you are wrong about that. In fact, leaving aside our abilities, I am, in fact, more trustworthy to your mother than Yue Wushuang is, or anybody else for that matter."

  Li Yao said with a smile, "Yue Wushuang, Jin Yuyan, and Dongfang Sheng are more like Li Linghai's political allies than her subordinates. They have joined each other and established the group of 'reformists' because of common interests.

  "But interests may change at any moment. Your allies this second may become your enemies in the next second. If the four Kurfürst families can offer more interests than Li Linghai does, anybody may betray her at any moment.

  "After all, what your mother can present right now are mostly empty promises. However great the rewards may be, they are not necessarily comparable to the real gold from the four Kurfürst families.

  "But I am different. Leaving my personal relation with Li Linghai, I am a Cultivator of honor and integrity. As long as your mother abides by her promises and treats the ordinary people in the Imperium more kindly than the four Kurfürst families do, I will indeed support her all the time!"

  "Right, speaking of which, I have another question."

  Li Jialing was greatly baffled. "General Lei Chenghu is an Immortal Cultivator. I have heard countless tales about him from Li Lingfeng. That is a heartless and merciless man who would do anything to achieve his purpose. Are you sure you are going to rescue him?"

  "Well, about that…"

  Li Yao blinked his eyes and said, "Yes, from the perspective of a Cultivator, Lei Chenghu is indeed an unpardonable Immortal Cultivator and an out-and-out villain.

  "However, from the same perspective, your mother is a great villain full of schemes of ambitions too.

  "Do you think it is better to face one villain or two villains at the same time?"

  Thinking hard for a long time, Li Jialing was greatly enlightened. "Brother Yao, are you suggesting that General Lei Chenghu might not be on the same boat as the queen?"