Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Li Yao swallowed somewhat greedily.

The Dragon King Battlesuit, known as the strongest crystal suit on Spider Den, was now right in his hands.

He was yearning to know how formidable the crystal suit was exactly!

“Star Basher, Divine Anvil!”

Li Yao raised his hands and retrieved two pieces of magical equipment for refining.

In the next few days, Li Yao and Bai Xinghe each occupied half of the palace. Li Yao focused his attention on the research and maintenance of the Dragon King Battlesuit, while Bai Xinghe spent most of his time working on the three hundred super crystal processors when he was not treating his wounds.

After ten thousand years, those crystal processors were mostly broken despite the protective rune arrays in the Star Prier’s House. Bai Xinghe could only combine the components of multiple crystal processors into a brand new one.

As a result, the number of the normally functioning crystal processors had been greatly reduced. Less than fifty of them were successfully turned on by Bai Xinghe in the end.

Li Yao did not bother to check what Bai Xinghe was doing because all his attention was focused on the Dragon King Battlesuit.

The crystal suit was refined in an unmistakable style of the Star Ocean Imperium. The nine dragon heads were built with components from the Star Ocean Imperium and could not integrate with the modern crystal suits perfectly. Therefore, they could only be attached to the back of the crystal suit in the form of ‘dragon heads’.

The Dragon King Battlesuit was a collection of the wisdom of the evil geniuses on Spider Den. The complicated structural designs and spiritual energy flowcharts fascinated Li Yao.

One of the structural designs was enough for him to study wholeheartedly in the labyrinth of thought for hours.

Repairing such a high-end crystal suit was a great challenge even for Li Yao.

It was an even more thrilling game to set up backdoors without alarming its owner or affecting the performance of the Dragon King Battlesuit.

Li Yao greatly enjoyed himself in those five days.

Two of the dragon heads of the crystal suit had been completely destroyed. There was nothing Li Yao could do about them without large maintenance magical equipment.

However, his amazing manual-forging skills basically recovered their structure. Besides, Li Yao even devoted some of the precious materials he had retrieved on Iron Plateau to the upgrade of the Dragon King Battlesuit in order to make up for the parts that were beyond repair.

In the end, every part of the Dragon King Battlesuit, from the crystal processor to the power rune arrays, and from the crystal reactor to the defense system, was full of backdoors. Li Yao could easily influence the Dragon King Battlesuit with his telepathic thoughts now.

After putting on the Dragon King Battlesuit maintained by him, whatever ill intentions Bai Xinghe had, he would have to behave and cooperate with him obediently.

The whole maintenance job only took three days, but Li Yao did not intend to return the Dragon King Battlesuit to Bai Xinghe so fast.

Before the Immortal Cultivators stepped underground, he would, of course, seize every second to study and grasp every detail of the Dragon King Battlesuit!

The Dragon King Battlesuit employed a lot of technologies from the Star Ocean Imperium.

As for the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, no matter how many times it had been modified and how many Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures had been applied to it, its framework was based on a model of crystal suits in the Star Ocean Imperium, too.

Therefore, the two crystal suits shared unbelievable similarities in many regards.

The more Li Yao studied, the more he drooled and the less he was willing to return the Dragon King Battlesuit to Bai Xinghe.

He had fantasized, more than once, about tearing apart the Dragon King Battlesuit and applying most of the components, especially the seven remaining dragon heads, to the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit—his own crystal suit would definitely become much more magnificent.

During their fourth day in the Star Prier’s House, Bai Xinghe finally finished debugging the super crystal processors and triggered immense telepathic thoughts.

More than a thousand light beams were immediately projected by the super crystal processors, which displayed the footage of the thousands of crucial areas of the underground fortress.

There was also a complicated map of the underground fortress that looked both like a honeycomb and an ants’ nest. It was floating between the two of them, with bright golden brilliance blinking slowly.

It was the overall picture of the underground fortress.

Right now, they had thousands of ‘eyes’ in the fortress.

The Immortal Cultivators were even more cautious than they expected and did not come until the seventh day.

The surveillance crystal cameras deployed in the secret corners sent the pictures back to the Star Prier’s House. Just like two assassins lurking in darkness, Li Yao and Bai Xinghe looked at the prey in silence as they gradually walked into the trap.

To their credit, the intruders could not have been more prudent.

The first echelon to show up in the core area of the underground fortress was not made of human beings but scouting crystal cameras that were engraved with anti-gravity rune arrays and could float in midair.

Through the observation of the crystal cameras, and after making sure that their map was accurate, the Immortal Cultivators then sent out a large batch of beast puppets.

Most of the beast puppets were only the size of mice, which allowed them to appear in every gap and every corner of the fortress.

The reconnaissance of the vanguard lasted a whole day.

The intruders waiting at the entrance were wearing crystal suits in various colors and models. The battle emblems on their breastplates differed, too. They were obviously from different pirate gangs.

There was no telling what approaches the Temple of Immortals had resorted to, but the space pirates were all obedient and able to contain their greed during an entire day of patient waiting, as if they were a well-trained army.

One day later, the Immortal Cultivators and the space pirates treaded lightly into the underground fortress.

On the bright golden map, the red spots that represented the intruders gradually spread out, as if a bag of red beans had been sprayed on the ground.

The Immortal Cultivators and the space pirates gradually gained control over every pathway, corridor, lift, and chamber, as well as the warehouses of magical equipment and the arsenals on every floor.

However, through the surveillance crystal cameras, Li Yao saw that the space pirates were cursing in anger because they found nothing.

“Idiots,” Bai Xinghe said coldly. “They never think with their heads. How much of the magical equipment and weapons from ten thousand years ago is still working today? The items that I brought to the ground to entice them were almost all of the usable goods here. How could a large batch of magical equipment be waiting for them to excavate?”

Different from the shrimps, the Black King, Bai Wulei, Fengyu Zhong, and the other important persons of the Temple of Immortals did not stop by the warehouses near the entrance of the underground fortress. They cracked one trap after another according to the guidance of the map and went straightly to the depths of the underground fortress.

At the bottom of the bright golden map, which represented the deepest level of the fortress, was the largest warehouse of magical equipment here.

Bai Xinghe had once told Bai Wulei that the most important secret treasures were hidden there.

When Bai Wulei, Fengyu Zhong, and the Black King marched into the deepest level of the underground fortress together with abundant soldiers of the Immortal Army and Black Spider Tower, Bai Xinghe stretched his arms and warmed up his body. He extended his hands to Li Yao and said, “Alright. We’ve been resting for quite a few days. It’s time for us to make our move.

“You’ve studied the Dragon King Battlesuit for a long time. Shouldn’t you give it back to me now?

“Also, my hands have been tied up in the rope over the last couple of days. We are about to fight the Immortal Cultivators soon. Can I tear apart the rope and warm up my hands?”

Li Yao stuffed the Cosmos Ring that stored the Dragon King Battlesuit into the breastplate of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, before he shook his head and said, “Wait a moment. Tell me your plan first. I have to hear your whole plan and our roles in it to make sure that everything is reasonable before I give your Dragon King Battlesuit back to you.”

Bai Xinghe narrowed his eyes and stared at Li Yao for a long time. He smiled, revealing his white teeth, as he said, one word after another, “My young friend Li Yao, did you know that there were many times when I was tempted to rip apart the peace and perish together with you?”

Before Li Yao replied, he sighed and said, somewhat frustratedly, “Forget it. None of that crap makes any sense now with everything coming to this point.

“Alright. In fact, my plan is very simple. All the traps of the Star Ocean Imperium have been wasted, and I indeed don’t have the ability to reestablish the raps.

“But it doesn’t mean that nobody before me made arrangements in the underground fortress!”

Li Yao rolled his eyes and asked subconsciously, “Who?”

Bai Xinghe smiled and said, “Who do you think—”

Half way through his sentence, Bai Xinghe attacked all of a sudden!

At such a moment!

Both of his hands were tied up in a rope. His Dragon King Battlesuit had been hidden by Li Yao. The Immortal Cultivators had barged in and infiltrated every corner of the fortress.

This was the least likely moment for Bai Xinghe to attack!

But he had chosen this exact moment to launch an attack on Li Yao!

In that moment, the dominating aura of a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator reached every corner of the Star Prier’s House. It swallowed Li Yao like an exasperated ocean!

The rope on Bai Xinghe’s hands was easily torn apart!

Every hair on the back of Li Yao’s head was standing up.

He did not see it coming at all and was literally caught unprepared!

He did not have the vaguest clue why Bai Xinghe would attack resolutely at a moment that was most inappropriate for an attack!

Li Yao was not slow to respond. The moment Bai Xinghe attacked, he made the dodging movements in time.

But lightning suddenly struck inside his brain.

No! That was not a real attack but a mental one. He was fooling me into dodging so that he would have more time!

Too late. Li Yao realized what was going on too late.

When his Feathered Dragon Saber swept over, Bai Xinghe’s fierce attack was suddenly gone, and he vanished into unpredictable smoke and dispersed!

When the smoke was condensed again ten meters away, Bai Xinghe had put on a new crystal suit, one that was silver but full of crimson strips that looked like flowing blood!

“Huchi. Huchi…” Li Yao was breathing heavily.

The daunting aura of a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator made him sweat nonstop, as if he was experiencing the most intense attack!

Li Yao’s heart continued to fall.

The crystal suit Bai Xinghe was wearing right now was named ‘Blood River’. It was also one of the most classical, high-end crystal suits of the Flying Star Sector. Although it was not as invincible as the Dragon King Battlesuit, the gap in performance between it and the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit was not much.

Li Yao finally understood something. From the moment Bai Xinghe tossed the Cosmos Ring that stored the Dragon King Battlesuit over, the man had never intended to put on the crystal suit that was destined to be riddled with backdoors again!

The Dragon King Battlesuit was just a disguise, one that could ease Li Yao’s wariness.

Before, Li Yao had one more second than Bai Xinghe. The valuable one second placed them in a balance due to the ‘mutual deterrence’!

But now, Li Yao had been fooled by him and did not launch a fatal attack during the one second while he tore apart the rope and put on the new crystal suit.

The mutual deterrence had been broken yet again!