by <unknown>
The battle-type Immortal Cultivators who had survived thousands of bloody battles for hundreds of years and who had even entered the Divinity Transformation Stage, no matter how macho and candid they looked like, were certainly cowardly and shameless in their hearts.
However, even cowardliness and shamelessness had different levels. "Acyclic Earth" Yun Kuohai, on the other hand, was the king of cowardliness and shamelessness!
If someone among "Devilish Abyss", "Acyclic Earth", and "Star Breaker" bent under the pressure and shifted to Li Linghai's side, it could only be "Acyclic Earth" Yun Kuohai!
Dongfang Sheng had not been confident in the first place. Furthermore, his combat ability was far from Yun Kuohai's, which meant that he had little time to think everything through.
If he were to spend one more second thinking, it was possible that his Colossus would be torn into halves by Yun Kuohai's "Earth Shocker", and his head would be punched into a pulp by Yun Kuohai's iron fists!
Before his head figured everything out, his soul and his body already had natural reactions. The spiritual shield around his body expanded by three times, and the saber that he had been holding in his hand unleashed an aura dozens of meters long at Yun Kuohai!
As a result, if Yun Kuohai did not change his direction, he would be stabbing himself into Dongfang Sheng's saber with his lightning-like speed.
Dongfang Sheng's logic was simple and clear. His pose was only the most fundamental, defensive movement. If Yun Kuohai was still on the four Kurfürst families' side, he certainly would turn his direction and dodge the saber after recognizing the Colossus "Smilodon" and realizing that Dongfang Sheng was an ally.
As for why Dongfang Sheng did not get out of the way himself? The reason was even simpler. It was because Li Linghai's "Hellstar" was coveting him from sideways, and however he moved, he would inevitably reveal loopholes, which might allow "Hellstar" to swallow him entirely!
From the perspective of self-protection, the policies that they chose were absolutely correct.
However, when the two correct policies cooccurred, they became the greatest joke and tragedy.
Dongfang Sheng and Yun Kuohai both realized each other's movements and misunderstood each other's intentions.
Although they were both in the Divinity Transformation Stage, Dongfang Sheng's level was slightly lower than Yun Kuohai's, and his combat ability was even lower.
However, Yun Kuohai just had a huge fight with Li Linghai. His Colossus "Earth Shocker" had been deformed by "Hellstar", and one of its arms was gone. Its combat performance had plummeted. Due to the heavy damage, their real combat abilities were actually similar.
In other words, they posed a fatal threat to each other at this moment, and they both had a slim chance of winning if they attacked the enemy first.
The opportunity would be gone for good if not grasped in the next 0.01 seconds.
When one party's saber unleashed dazzling brilliance, it was hard for the other party to not join the "arms race" by intensifying his own spiritual energy and firepower.
There was no telling who attacked first, but driven by their instincts, Dongfang Sheng's saber "naturally" slashed forward, and all of Yun Kuohai's aggressive magical equipment was bombarded at Dongfang Sheng.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
"Earth Shocker" and "Smilodon", the two Colossi, collided brutally. Blasts were immediately surging out like tides. It was often the case that the first round of blast had already been caught up by the second round even before it dispersed. A colorful rainbow seemed to be taking shape on the intense battlefield.
In the middle of the rainbow-like blasts, hundreds of interconnected cracks appeared on the shells of the two Colossi. The longest and deepest damage almost pierced through the entire "spiritual residences", i.e., the cockpits. As the battle intensified, the two Colossi were like two magnets that were stuck together, and there was simply no separating them.
"Traitor!"
Yun Kuohai let out the most furious roars. He was an expert at the peak of the Divinity Transformation Stage who specialized in fighting after all. Despite the exhaustion of his soul and the disability of his Colossus, he was not to be beaten easily by a fleet commander such as Dongfang Sheng in a duel.
"Earth Shocker" kicked "Smilodon" right in the chest brutally, almost blowing the breastplate as well as the spiritual shield up at the same time. In the meantime, the balance system of "Smilodon" was disrupted, forcing the Colossus to stagger in the midair. Its speed, mobility, and dodging ability were almost reduced to zero. Then, the remaining arm of "Earth Shocker" glowed with spiritual energy, which transformed the entire arm into a heavy cannon or a battering ram. It was about to punch the broken breastplate of "Smilodon"!
Every magical equipment unit on "Smilodon" was moaning in desperation. Under the overwhelming pressure, the cockpit was almost on fire.
His head entirely blank, Dongfang Sheng simply stabbed his saber forward without considering anything under the motivation of his natural brutality.
He thought that he was dead for sure, but halfway during Yun Kuohai's bombardment, dozens of tentacles from "Hellstar" pierced into the back of "Earth Shocker" and completely penetrated the Colossus.
Even the arm that was smashed at "Smilodon" brutally was stalled by more than ten tentacles.
Yun Kuohai's punch condensed all of his fury. It was unstoppable and magnificent. Even the metal tentacles could not stop its entire momentum. It was not until more than ten metal tentacles were ripped apart that his attack was finally slowed down.
The result of the other dozens of metal tentacles sabotaging the body of "Earth Shocker" was that the spiritual shield around the Colossus was immediately gone.
Having no time to consider, Dongfang Sheng simply pressed his burning saber forward.
Having lost the protection of the spiritual shield, and because the frontal plate armor had been broken in the battle against "Hellstar" a moment ago, how could "Earth Shocker" withstand Dongfang Sheng's desperate counterattack?
After a crack, the super enormous saber dozens of meters long with a temperature of thousands of degrees submerged in the breastplate, penetrated through the cockpit, and almost blew the left side of Yun Kuohai's body up!
Chapter 2322: Token of Trust! |
The blades that the Colossi used were mostly known as "starship-slashing sabers", whose length varied from ten meters to a hundred meters. When the auras were unleashed to the maximum, the edges of the sabers could be pushed to hundreds of meters away. It was certainly no exaggeration that such weapons could cut apart a starship.
Even though Yun Kuohai was an expert at the peak of the Divinity Transformation Stage, he was a man made of flesh and blood after all. The "starship-slashing saber" could cut a warship into halves, not to mention his body that had been seriously worn out in the battle against Li Linghai just now.
He could've avoided the attack, but the dozens of metal tentacles from "Hellstar", which had pierced into the cockpit from the rear, blocked all the places that he could possibly dodge to. Several of them were tied to his limbs. When the thorns were activated at the same time, the dark forces corroded his spiritual energy and flooded into his body, depriving him of his resistance.
Dongfang Sheng was an expert in the Divinity Transformation Stage too. Although he was not a maniac leading the charge, he was a seasoned warrior. When a battle was most intense, it was not unusual for him to fight in his Colossus on the battlefield in person. Naturally, he was not one of the research-type or admin-type Immortal Cultivators in the Divinity Transformation Stage who could not deal any damage.
After only one attack, half of Yun Kuohai's body was almost burnt up, and he let out the most painful roars.
Li Linghai took the opportunity to wave the metal tentacles of "Hellstar" and urged them to move forward along his wounds, attacking his bones, veins, and nerves all the way. His burnt internal organs were immediately minced into a mess.
"W…
Why!"
Due to the heavy wounds, Yun Kuohai's brain was almost boiling, and his computational ability had hit rock bottom. He could only let out blurred roars in confusion, wondering why Li Linghai attacked him from his back when she was trying to recruit him a moment ago.
"Very simple. Dongfang Sheng is more useful than you. He is an excellent fleet commander, while you are just a simpleminded warrior."
Li Linghai delivered a telepathic thought to the broken "Earth Shocker" and sneered, "The simpleminded warriors such as you are pawns that can be abandoned anywhere and anytime!"
Before the waves of the telepathic completely dispersed, the dozens of metal tentacles had strangled and ripped Yun Kuohai's broken body into pieces. Then, they retreated and tied up the power units of the "Earth Shocker". From the sharp end of every tentacle, orange brilliance was emitted, implying that they had been heated to thousands of degrees.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Part of Yun Kuohai's soul survived and escaped from his broken body, but it was immediately wreathed in the overwhelming tides caused by the serial explosions of the Colossus, which entirely devoured it in the next second.
The expert at the peak of the Divinity Transformation Stage was completely obliterated just like that, both physically and spiritually!
Right when the "Earth Shocker" exploded, the thick black fog around suddenly turned thinner, like a black tide ebbing, revealing a large space. More than ten hunters in the Nascent Soul Stage were exposed.
Of the ten or so experts in the Nascent Soul Stage, five were also using Colossi, and the rest were equipped with the most advanced crystal suits. At first look, they were rather glamorous and dominating.
However, their hearts were colder than ever when they could not find a way out in the dark fog because the navigation systems on the Colossi and the crystal suits were seriously damaged and when they had vaguely guessed Li Linghai's identity or her source of strength.
While they were still in a panic, the black fog around them suddenly dispersed. Before they reached out to their partners, their eyes had been attracted by the intense explosions.
When the explosions took place, "Hellstar" stabbed the metal tentacles in the back of "Earth Shocker", and "Smilodon" had cut into the cockpit of "Earth Shocker" with his saber. It appeared that Li Linghai and Dongfang Sheng had joined their hands and killed Yun Kuohai together.
As Yun Kuohai's soul was vaporized in the explosion, Dongfang Sheng was no longer able to explain himself at all!
Seeing that, all the Nascent Soul Stage experts were so shocked that their blood was almost frozen.
Thinking quickly, how could they not know that was going on?
Li Linghai's traces were reported by Dongfang Sheng, the "riskless battlefield for an ambush" was selected by Dongfang Sheng, and the guards around Li Linghai were personally arranged by Dongfang Sheng so that they would not be on the spot during the operation.
But right now, they had been tricked into such a weird, dark space, which was likely to be the most treacherous world fragment. It was all part of Dongfang Sheng's plan!
Dongfang Sheng did not betray Li Linghai at all! They had been tricked!
When the Nascent Soul Stage experts had the "epiphany", thousands of lightning bolts were striking in Dongfang Sheng's head too. Thinking everything through, he couldn't help but moan in pain.
"General Dongfang, so many people have witnessed you killing Yun Kuohai in person, including many from the Yun family."
Li Linghai's creepy voice came over in time. "No family can stand the loss of an expert at the peak of the Divinity Transformation Stage. Even if you can escape today, you cannot get away from the wrath of the Yun family. They might not kill you, but you will never be the commander of the Dongfang family's fleet. To appease the Yun family, Li Jiande will certainly kick you away without any hesitation!"
"Your Grace—"
Dongfang Sheng couldn't have looked more painful. Thinking for a moment, he changed his way of addressing. "Your Majesty…"
"Have you seen those guys who each have their own malicious plans?"
Li Linghai said, "I will only keep three of you alive. Besides 'Devilish Abyss' Li Jianyi and 'Star Breaker' Song Huanzhen who have the highest combat ability, there is one last opening. Take a guess. If those people are kneeling before me and fighting for the last opening, will they try to kill Li Jianyi and Song Huanzhen, or will they try to kill you?
"Your only way of survival is either to lead those guys in the Nascent Soul Stage to kill Li Jianyi or Song Huanzhen, or to convince Li Jianyi and Song Huanzhen to kill all of them. Otherwise, you will end up exactly like Yun Kuohai. I assure you that you will certainly be killed even if no one else here dies, because they did not betray me, did they?"
"No—"
Dongfang Sheng's mind completely collapsed. He defended himself in panic, "I—I did not know that Your Majesty… was Your Majesty!"
"Fair enough. It was an honest mistake. You betrayed Li Linghai, not me, which was why I was willing to give you one last opportunity to correct your mistake, and why I killed Yun Kuohai instead of you a moment ago!"
Li Linghai sneered, "Now that you have recognized who I am, do you not foresee what magnificent strength I can grant you? Can the commander of the Deep Sea Fleet or the Dongfang family's fleet be compared to the commander of the fleets of the entire Imperium of True Human Beings?"
Dongfang Sheng's breath halted. Although he knew that it was not as simple as that, he was still exhaling flames because of Li Linghai's instigation—the flames of desire and ambition!
"You have ten seconds."
Li Linghai said, "Right now, 'Devilish Abyss' Li Jianyi and 'Star Breaker' Song Huanzhen are still trapped by my great array and stalled by my branched souls. In ten seconds, I will remove the array and expose them before you. Make a judicious decision!"
The looks on Dongfang Sheng's face changed nonstop, until it was entirely covered by darkness in the end. Howling like a ghost, he snatched a broken fragment of "Earth Shocker" from the flames and raised it high before he jumped to be above all the experts in the Nascent Soul Stage.
"You've been fooled!"
His eyes bloodshot, Dongfang Sheng roared at the many experts in the Nascent Soul Stage like a hideous monster, "His Majesty and I have long made the plan to catch all his opposition in the four Kurfürst families. Right now, a fierce battle is going on outside, and all the people you brought are being annihilated by the Deep Sea Fleet. You are trapped here without any chance to escape too.
"Look at what has become of 'Acyclic Earth' Yun Kuohai and his Colossus. Can any of you resist His Majesty's dominance?"
Dongfang Sheng threw the remains of "Earth Shocker" at everybody. All of them dodged in such a hurry as if it were not remains but a corpse filled with viruses.
"Yun Kuohai was obstinate enough to resist. Not only has he been killed, but his entire family will also be executed soon. Do you all want to end up like him?"
Dongfang Sheng demanded aggressively, "Right now, His Majesty is lenient enough to give you one last chance of survival by attacking 'Devilish Abyss' Li Jianyi and 'Star Breaker' Song Huanzhen together with me. As long as the two of them are killed, you and your families will all survive. You can even take it a step further and become the most renowned noble families in the Imperium!"
Staring at the remains of "Earth Shocker", the many experts in the Nascent Soul Stage all thought hard and analyzed Dongfang Sheng's words nervously.
A lot of them were indeed tempted.
"However—"
Grinning hideously, Dongfang Sheng said, "It is going to be useless without a Colossus in the fierce battle to come. Clean up all the useless guys that are not equipped with a Colossus first!"
Hardly had he concluded his sentence when he slashed his saber that had been long prepared. The aura of the blade covered a distance of hundreds of meters within a breath and ripped a Nascent Soul Stage expert only in a crystal
suit into pieces!
One of them was a Divinity Transformation Stage expert in a Colossus, and the other was in the Nascent Soul Stage only wearing a crystal suit. It was also an unexpected attack. Naturally, nobody could save him at all.
"Why are you still standing?"
Dongfang Sheng bulged his eyes and roared, "If we can kill Yun Kuohai, we can also kill Li Jianyi and Song Huanzhen. The greatest opportunity is right before your eyes. If you are not doing anything, your entire family will die together with Yun Kuohai. Is that what you want?"
After hearing that, while those in Colossi did not do anything yet, those only wearing crystal suits already screamed and escaped to all directions.
Their escape, however, triggered the brutality of their companions behind them. There was no telling who opened fire first, but very soon, all the Nascent Soul Stage experts in Colossi were venting their fear and cruelty to all directions.
It was needless to describe the difference between the Colossi and the crystal suits. Besides, in terms of combat ability, those who were qualified to use a Colossus were mostly much stronger than those who were only wearing crystal suits. Also, there was still a malicious expert in the Divinity Transformation Stage that was Dongfang Sheng, who was supervising the situation. Who among them could escape the slaughter?
Very soon, ten or so Nascent Soul Stage experts who were only wearing crystal suits ended up in struggling fireballs, only to be swallowed by the black fog and obliterated!
Chapter 2323: Kneel Before Me! |
The five Nascent Soul Stage experts in Colossi, having been stained by the blood of their partners a moment ago, thought differently from a moment ago.