Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

While Speaker Jiang Hailiu was struggling in the furious flames, the blast along with thousands sharp shrapnel swept across everything like a tide!

Standing right behind Speaker Jiang Hailiu were the government officials including Iron Commander Zhou Hengdao and Director Lu Zui.

Other than Iron Commander Zhou Hengdao, most of them worked in the office, not on the battlefield.

Although they were all high-level Cultivators, and some of them were in the Core Formation Stage and the Nascent Soul Stage, they were mostly admin-type or research-type ones just like Speaker Jiang Hailiu. They could not even protect themselves!

At the critical moment, Iron Commander Zhou Hengdao demonstrated the unparalleled abilities of a seasoned warrior. The moment that the blast expanded, hundreds of hexagonal super-alloy armored plates unfolded right in front of his face. Together with his thick spiritual shield, they constituted a wall of steel and resisted all the blast!

BOOM!

The blast crashed into Zhou Hengdao’s spiritual shield and raised the second explosion. Zhou Hengdao was thrown far away, too.

Seventy percent of his organs were artificial and could not endure such an intense impact. They broke apart while he was still in midair!

Thankfully, because of Iron Commander Zhou Hengdao’s valiance, the blast and the shrapnel were mostly subdued. The civil officials such as Director Lu Zui behind him were not seriously injured!

It was not until this moment that their bodyguards realized what was going on. They lunged close in a hurry and activated all their defensive magical equipment, blocking the government officials. The Speaker, soaked in blood with no signs of life, was grabbed by a few bodyguards in midair, too.

The scene was delivered to billions of citizens of the federation through the media.

It was perhaps the most silent second on the entire planet since the Star Glory Federation was founded.

Even Li Yao was stunned for a moment.

Before he resumed the ability of thinking, as a bomb expert, he had already analyzed the level of the crystal bomb through its fire and the distribution of its shrapnel with his instincts!

It was a super bomb made of several demon cores and marrow crystals of the highest quality!

Judging from the color and the bouncing of the fire, the crystal bomb adopted at least a hundred and thirty complicated rune arrays to restrain the power of explosion so that all the damage of the marrow crystals and the demon cores would be focused on one point!

Even a battle-type Cultivator in the Nascent Soul Stage might have been heavily wounded if he was not prepared, not to mention Speaker Jiang Hailiu who was merely an admin-type Cultivator!

The one who manufactured the crystal bomb was definitely the best of the best. Also, the bomb was unlikely to have been made in a small workshop. Only an enormous center of magical equipment could make such a terrible product!

That was only the first bomb.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Only half a second after the first bomb exploded, before everybody came back to themselves from shock, another four bombs were detonated around the square.

This time, it was not just the government officials and the Cultivators who were involved, but also the ordinary citizens that were joining the ceremony!

For a moment, the Federal Square was consumed by surging smoke. The Rising Dragon of the Nine Stars flag, which had been flapping in midair previously, was burnt and blackened, too.

The millions of civilians were in chaos!

Cries, screams, and moans!

They were pushing and stomping on each other while fleeing in a hurry!

Panic was spreading out crazily just like the blast of the crystal bombs, raising a tsunami of terror!

Li Yao’s pupils constricted into two shining needle tips. He felt that he had fallen into a deep, cold cave of ice, but he did not have time to curse or moan. Thinking quickly, he squatted deeply and was about to fly to Burning Prairie!

It was a trap!

With everything coming to this point, explanation would be meaningless. The only way to resolve the ruse was to break out of the siege and fly to Burning Prairie.

If he had to be captured, he needed to give himself to the Cultivators from the Flying Star Sector. Only in such a way would he have a chance to explain everything!

However—

The moment before he jumped up, his heart seemed to be dug out and pinched hard. He was in such excruciating pain that he almost cried out.

It was the omen of danger of the highest degree!

There was a sniper!

His heart had been locked onto!

The trigger had been pulled!

It was definitely a top-tier expert, perhaps someone who deserve to be called ‘gun god’. The man was likely to be in the Nascent Soul Stage because his ability to manipulate the bullet was too incredible!

Li Yao could not hear the sound of the bullet, nor could he see the glimmer when the bullet was rubbing the air. Therefore, he could not predict the trajectory of the bullet. He did not even know where the sniper was hiding!

The only thing that he could feel was that the scent of death was piercing through his heart brutally!

Li Yao was about to dodge out of natural instinct.

But he was surrounded by panicked, innocent civilians. Right behind him, a helpless mother was holding her two daughters!

If he jumped away, the bullet would certainly rip apart dozens of ordinary people!

Li Yao roared. Several clusters of gel and a few shields instantly blinked out of his Cosmos Rings. He also activated his spiritual shield to the maximum!

Shua!

The gel was pierced through, and the shields were shattered. A streak of crimson, devastating brilliance finally appeared. Breaking through Li Yao’s spiritual shield easily, it darted toward his chest!

In his haste, Li Yao only had the time to grab a Bright Gold Stone, which was the solidest material that he had, and put it before his chest.

The bullet was deeply embedded into the Bright Gold Stone, its impact unreduced. Somebody seemed to have punched Li Yao’s chest heavily and fractured his ribs. The broken bones were pierced into his heart!

Li Yao’s eyes were bloodshot, his lips purple. He finally realized that the opponent did not mean to capture him at all; the guy was trying to kill him!

Also, it was a super gunman with a sniper rifle who deserved to be an ultimate treasure that was hiding on the top of a certain skyscraper and shooting at him from the high ground!

Everything was excellent about the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit of the Blood Demon Form, except that it took too long to be equipped.

After he retrieved the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit from his Cosmos Ring and activated the strengthened cells on the surface, he would have been shot dead by the mysterious sniper a hundred times!

Li Yao’s teeth bit into his lips. He was thinking about whether or not he should summon Black Wing and dash to Burning Prairie even at the risk of getting shot.

Right then—

After a hum, a layer of splendid brilliance was flashing around Burning Prairie in the sky, as if thousands of dazzling light swords were glittering and rotating rapidly around the warship.

Li Yao cursed to himself holding his broken heart.

Burning Prairie had activated the self-defense array of the highest level.

The purpose of such a defense array was to stop the enemy from sneaking in during a fierce battle.

Right now, anybody who dared to draw close to Burning Prairie would be pierced through mercilessly by the light swords.

Why?

Why would Burning Prairie activate the self-defense array of the highest level? Why was it not allowing anybody to come close?

Li Yao could not figure out the reason at all.

But the situation did not allow him to think any further.

The hundreds of Secret Sword Agents led by Guo Chunfeng had surrounded him, and he still could not find the ‘gun god’ sniper lurking among the skyscrapers.

The omen of death was stimulating Li Yao’s heart and eyebrow like parasites!

Li Yao resisted the first shot, at the cost of fractured ribs, a damaged heart, and hindrance in his spiritual energy circulation.

Would he be able to resist a second shot?

Li Yao had no choice except to break out of the siege before the Secret Sword Agents completely surrounded him!

Like a cicada out of its shell, he dashed out of the broken artificial body. He crouched to the ground and slithered forward like a slippery loach!

Before he escaped, he did one last thing.

He threw the spotlight that he had not activated to where he was.

Hundreds of meters away from Li Yao, Guo Chunfeng almost went mad.

“Who’s shooting? Who ordered that shot?

“There are so many innocent victims here. Do you want to kill them together with Li Yao?”

“Position One did not shoot!”

“Position Two is still standing by!”

“Position Three is standing by. Losing the trace of the target!”

“Boss, it isn’t our guy. Some other sniper is out there!”

The reports of his subordinates made Guo Chunfeng’s eyes as cold as Li Yao’s.

Before he realized what was going on, he felt that a wind was blowing at him!

In the communication channel, exclamations were echoing nonstop. The few Secret Sword Agents closest to Li Yao were shot at the same time!

It took them three seconds to finish the snipers. The three seconds, and the chaos on the spot, were more than enough for the target to flee and vanish into the crowd.

“Boss, what do we do now?”

Guo Chunfeng was silent for a few seconds. The square had completely gone out of control. In every second, countless civilians were being stepped upon during their escape.

Guo Chunfeng was quick enough to snatch out a dying old man from the crowd’s feet. No longer hesitating, he urged his agents, “Save the people!”

But his eyes penetrated through the crowd and stopped where Li Yao had been standing.

He sensed that something was there.

Against the crowd, he struggled to move close and picked up the object.

He was a monster of training who had quadruple talents. He was an excellent warrior, a shrewd manager, and also a knowledgeable scholar and expert in magical equipment.

Sending his telepathic thoughts into the spotlight, he probed for a moment and immediately understood the structure and usage of the magical equipment.

“I am Li Yao. I am still alive!”

Guo Chunfeng blinked in confusion. What was the meaning of those eight words exactly?

He raised his big, greasy head. His eyes that were clear previously lost focus again. The skyscrapers around him seemed to have constituted an impregnable maze without an exit, which had caged him, Li Yao, and perhaps more people inside!

…

The chaos did not die down until noon.

Before the chaos was settled, all the Cultivators were dedicated to the rescue work. There was no time for them to bother anything else.

The preliminary statistics as of one o’clock in the afternoon suggested that more than seven thousand civilians had been killed or injured in the explosions and chaos. A lot more were missing. The number of casualties would certainly surpass ten thousand eventually.

A hundred days ago, the intimidating assault from the Blood Demon Sector had taken place at midnight and been disrupted half way through. More than four thousand civilians had been killed or injured.

But this time, in the ceremony for the victims, casualties that were three times more had been caused.

After being slapped in the face brutally a hundred days ago, the Star Glory Federation had been slapped even harder, when the swelling from the previous slap was not gone yet. The dignity, pride, and sense of security of the federation had all been slapped away with nothing left!