Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Ever since the Grand Illusionary Soldiers were promoted on a large scale and the Immortal Cultivators experienced continuous failures, the Cultivators had locked almost all the space zones. A lot of secret sailing routes and nests had been discovered.

Therefore, unless it was absolutely necessary, the space pirates would not jump out of the Spider Den Space Zone, because other space zones were even more dangerous. It was easy to jump out, but to return to Spider Den would be quite difficult.

“What’s your opinion about the whole event?” the Lotus King asked. “What’s the purpose of the man who seems to be Bai Xinghe?”

“My speculation is that he was trying to hijack a crystal warship in the chaos and escape from the Spider Den Space Zone,” Fengyu Zhong said. “He destroyed two star beacons and tore a giant hole in the defense line of the Cultivators. Our morale was boosted, too.

“At that time, many people did not know who he was and thought that he was an expert from the Temple of Immortals. Therefore, they all charged forward in order to cover him.

“I think that he entered the medical starship openly with the excuse that he was in dire need of treatment because of the heavy wounds he suffered when he destroyed the star beacons.

“After he boarded the medical starship, he invaded the bridge, captured the captain and the sailors, and initiated a space jump.

“If he was really Bai Xinghe’s reincarnation and had a capability close to the Nascent Soul Stage, it would not have been hard for him to control a medical starship.”

The Lotus King gave no comment and simply said, “I need the files of the medical starship, including its number, features, personnel, and all the information about its mainframe crystal processor!”

“Understood. I’ll send over every detail of the medical starship within half a day!”

Fengyu Zhong hesitated for a moment. A drop of cold sweat appeared on the tip of his nose, but he summoned his courage and said, “Lotus King, we’ve been grasped by desperation. Today, we suffered heavy losses and are running out of food and ammunition. Right now, the morale on Spider Den has hit rock bottom. Many people are fighting like caged beasts, and many more are simply waiting to be killed!

“With everything coming this far, do we really need to care about a mysterious expert? Even if he is really Bai Xinghe, can the situation get any worse?”

The Lotus King’s eyes suddenly turned sharp; two lotuses seemed to be blossoming in them. He said, “Captain Fengyu, firm your belief. Do not lose your hope in our victory. Moreover, do not fall in the last darkness before the dawn!”

Fengyu Zhong was dazed. He had hesitated for a long time before he raised his doubts. He had thought that the Lotus King would burst into fury and did not expect such a reassuring reply.

When he looked again, the Lotus King had already vanished in the smoke.

…

Between the central area of Heavenly Saints City and the first space ring, almost a hundred elegantly-shaped new starships that looked like silver flying swords were docked in the vast universe.

The starship in the middle was more than ten kilometers long and looked like a long spear surrounded by nine flying swords, wreathed in a layer of mysterious silver brightness. One could feel both the air of grace and cruelty from it.

It was ‘Heavenly Phantom’, the flagship of the Grand Illusionary Group as well as the command starship of the Grand Illusionary Soldiers. It was one of the strongest crystal warships of the Flying Star Sector!

The performance of the Grand Illusionary Soldiers was highly dependent on the ‘star brain’, which had been developed by the Grand Illusionary Group. Considering the latency and losses in the transmission of telepathic thoughts across space zones, the Grand Illusionary Group had specially built Heavenly Phantom and transferred ‘star brain’, the super crystal processor, to the starship.

When the space gate was fully repaired, before the final battle, Heavenly Phantom would jump to the periphery of the Spider Den Space Zone together with the fleets of dozens of space zones. It would serve at the pivot of the Spiritual Nexus and constantly transmit the enormous data of fighting stored inside the star brain to the reception rune arrays of the Grand Illusionary Soldiers.

Since the ‘star brain’ was the core of the crystal warship, the bridge of Heavenly Phantom was different from that of other starships. In the middle and rear part of the bridge was a yard more than three hundred meters high, which was surrounded by countless crystal chips, disks, and rune arrays that constituted computation matrices. They were glittering like fireflies.

The yard was like a palace, with a translucent phantom floating in the middle. The bright golden rays of light outlined the complicated circuits of a brain, which was fluctuating in a fixed rhythm.

It was both like a brain made of billions of stars and the heart of a devil.

Xiao Tianbao, creator of the star brain, a super genius in crystal processors, and Xiao Xuance’s adopted son, was sitting right below the star brain, which was almost a hundred meters in diameters, drooling, gurgling, and murmuring to himself.

Now and then, golden telepathic thoughts would spread out of the star brain and zigzagged into Xiao Tianbao’s nostrils, mouth, and ears like little snakes.

Xiao Tianbao moaned in great satisfaction. He waved his arms and legs, enjoying everything around him.

Tens of thousands of light beams were floating around the star brain.

Every light beam showed the picture from the main perspective of a Grand Illusionary Soldier.

They were fighting, patrolling, guarding, or undergoing maintenance.

They were the Grand Illusionary Soldiers controlled by the Grand Illusionary Group. Most of them were deployed in Heavenly Saints City.

Standing in a secret chamber at the back of the bridge, Xiao Xuance stared at the unpredictable sparks as billions of data streams were colliding inside the crystal processor through the one-way glass, expressionless and deep in thought.

A young man wearing the green uniform of the Grand Illusionary Group, whose hair was as dense as that of a majestic lion, walked in. He bowed behind Xiao Xuance and said, “CEO.”

The door closed silently behind them. A mystic ray scanned the room.

It was determining whether or not there were detectaphones in the room.

Without turning around, Xiao Xuance asked, “How are the forces of the other space zones?”

“Sixty percent of all the space zones have finished gathering,” the young man replied. “It is estimated that more than eighty percent of the elites of the Flying Star Sector will be gathered in the Spider Den Space Zone, as well as the majority of the Grand Illusionary Soldiers, for the final battle.

“However, we have just lost two star beacons in the Spider Den Space Zone. Although a batch of backup star beacons have been produced, it will take at least a month to ship them to the frontline.”

“Alright,” Xiao Xuance said. “I want you to focus on something else.

“The man who showed up a day ago and is believed to be Bai Xinghe has attracted the attention of all the Cultivators. The important sects are now establishing a rapid-response squad with the man as the sole target.

“I am a member of the rapid-response squad. I’ll put you inside the squad later, too.

“But we must establish our own secret squad to eliminate the person!

“By our estimation, the man has escaped from the Spider Den Space Zone after hijacking a medical starship.

“Right now, we have all the information about the medical starship, including the twelve most likely destinations of the space jumps.

“The Cultivators haven’t grasped this lead yet. We must locate the man before the Cultivators do!”

The young man nodded and said, “Understood!”

Pondering for a moment, Xiao Xuance patted the young man’s shoulder and explained, “It is very possible that your mission concerns the outcome of our cause. You must raise your alert and consider it your top priority. Finish the mission with all the resources and manpower available!

“I don’t believe in coincidences. Not at all.

“Right now, our cause has come to the most crucial moment, and the final victory will be ours if we make another step forward. But a person who seems to be Bai Xinghe jumped out of nowhere for no good reason. Why?

“An unexpected factor. The man is a great unexpected factor. Right now, victory is within our grasp. No unexpected factor is advantageous for us. Therefore, no matter what the unexpected factor is leading to, we must rule it out in advance!

“Later, I’ll talk to Tianbao and ask him to spare part of the computational ability of the star brain to help your operation. As long as the man uses his crystal processor, boards a starship, or has any connection with the Spiritual Nexus, he will be locked onto by us!”

The young man’s pupils constricted suddenly, but he nodded quickly and said, “Understood!”

“Moreover,” Xiao Xuance sighed and said, “after so many years of preparation, we are finally seeing the final battle on the horizon now. Maybe I was a bit too nervous. There might have been loopholes in my reactions when the unexpected factor appeared today. Si Koulie might have felt that something was wrong and become suspicious about me.

“Therefore, we cannot loosen the monitoring of Si Koulie. Rather, we need to tighten it. Whatever the old man says, whoever he meets, especially those he talks to via the Spiritual Nexus, I need to know everything. Also, we must ensure that we can cut in and block his signal at any time!”

“Understood,” the young man replied, his face unchanged. “We have never stopped monitoring Si Koulie, the leadership of the six sects of Heavenly Saints City, the leadership of the Glorious Sunlight Group, and those from Iron Plateau. Should anything go wrong, we can react immediately.

“Although Si Koulie is in the Nascent Soul Stage, he is just a refiner and has no talent in fighting. If the situation demands, it will not be a problem to take him down.”

Xiao Xuance frowned and said, “Don’t do it unless we absolutely have to. He is the second in command of the war after all. If he is killed, there will be too many consequences. The assassination might get us exposed in the end.

“Right now, the most important task for us is to find out the motive and the purpose of the man who seems to be Bai Xinghe. What is he up to exactly?”

Staring at the star brain on the other side of the glass, Xiao Xuance fell into deep thought again. It was not until five minutes had passed that he found that the young man was still standing behind him.

Xiao Xuance waved his hands, somewhat exhaustedly. “Leave now.”

The young man was silent for a moment. Then, like a spear that suddenly pierced into the floor, he raised his right arm and clenched his fists, while he bellowed with the utmost determination, “Long live the civilization of mankind!”

Xiao Xuance was dazed for a moment, knowing that his subordinate had sensed the anxiety in the deepest part of his heart.

He was not infuriated. Instead, he felt slightly moved.

Pa!

Xiao Xuance turned around and closed his legs. His face suddenly turned resolute, and it was glowing. In high spirits, he even appeared slightly younger than before.

He straightened his right arm with all his strength like the young man and clenched his fists.

Xiao Xuance gazed at the young man.

The young man fearlessly stared back at him with a pair of clear eyes. The air was about to be detonated by their enthusiasm.

Taking a deep breath, Xiao Xuance said unwaveringly, “Our cause will succeed. Our cause must succeed. Long live the evolution! Long live the Immortal Cultivators! Long live the civilization of mankind!”