Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

The saber aura, which was as unpredictable as moonlight, as unstoppable as a tide, and as freezing as a blizzard, penetrated into his skin and ripped apart his skin, his veins, and his bones. At the same time, thunder was echoing inside Ye Changkong’s head, and he was illuminated by the lightning in his mind!

He understood everything now!

Li Yao had never trusted the stupid woman. This was a trap since the very beginning, one specially prepared for him!

As the best sniper of the Heaven’s Origin Sector, he was the biggest threat for Li Yao right now with his shooting skills. The guy had learned a good lesson yesterday near the Federal Square!

With his delaying, it would be easier for other experts to surround Li Yao. The difficulty of escape was dozens of times higher!

Therefore, Li Yao had to kill him at any cost in order to run away without hindrance!

It was true that Li Yao and he were the same type of person, lone wolves adept at assassination. Therefore, Li Yao knew his skills and style as clearly as he knew Li Yao’s!

Everybody knew that he was a senior expert who had been famous for more than a hundred years. As the chief coach of gunnery in the federal army, he was not someone working in secret, either. A lot of his most important assassination cases were already publicly known. The courses that he taught in the federal army and several military schools were not top secret, either. He had also published quite a few books on shooting skills. Also, dozens of biographies, which had elaborated on almost all his experiences from when he was born to right now, had been released a long time ago, too. He had even published two personal memoirs!

Over the past hundred years, the information about him in public must have been hundreds of times more than Li Yao’s!

He knew Li Yao very well, but Li Yao could also scrutinize his thinking pattern and combat style in one day!

Therefore, Ye Changkong had every reason to believe that Li Yao had never trusted the idiotic woman named Ding Lingdang. The network chip that he had delivered to Ding Lingdang’s cooling tube in secret was just bait to fish him up!

Perhaps, Li Yao had already snuck out of the underground district into the factory area before sending the first message to Ding Lingdang. He had since been hiding deep inside the chimney, compressing his heartbeat, breathing, and scent, and lurking patiently like a cluster of cold dross.

The guy was very clear that the top of the chimney was the best shooting point in the entire factory area. No sniper would choose a second location when they were there.

As for the ever-moving signal of the crystal processor in the underground district, it was simple, too.

As long as the crystal processor was set earlier to automatically turn on and send the message and to automatically turn off after the message was sent, everybody would be under the illusion that somebody was using the crystal processor.

As for why it was running here and there, it was yet another petty trick. Some remote magical equipment under Li Yao’s control, such as a flying sword or a beast puppet, must be carrying it.

The remote magical equipment with the crystal processor had been pretending to be Li Yao and lured thousands of Secret Sword Agents to chase after them.

Everyone thought that Li Yao had run to the place in a hurry after being discovered and surrounded by the Secret Sword Bureau. They did not know that this place was a trap that he had selected earlier. Every detail had been within his calculations. He had led the Secret Sword Agents to this place!

Tricked!

Guo Chunfeng, the most terrifying demon hunter of the Heaven’s Origin Sector, had been tricked! Thousands of elite Secret Sword Agents had been tricked! Even he, ‘Death Ray’ Ye Changkong, had been completely tricked by Li Yao!

Ye Changkong felt chilled.

It meant that, while he was climbing, examining, squatting, aiming, calculating, and shooting, Li Yao had been hiding in the chimney dozens of meters below him, perhaps sticking to the wall like a giant lizard, the whole time. No breath, no heartbeat, and no stomach movement. Hollower than a ghost and quieter than a corpse, the guy had been lurking and waiting for the best opportunity!

It was not until he blew out the shot with all the spiritual energy in him, which made him at the lowest point in the circulation of spiritual energy, that Li Yao pierced out the most dangerous sting abruptly like a fatal scorpion!

The competition in the Nascent Soul Stage was not just about pure strength or speed. Such competition was always comprehensive, including a lot of factors such as wisdom, terrain, planning, knowledge, deduction, and much more, and the battle between Li Yao and Ye Changkong was a typical example.

In many cases, the outcome of a battle was determined before the two parties began fighting.

This was exactly one of such cases.

Li Yao’s attack concentrated all of Li Yao’s strength, speed, and energy in the entire scheme. Ye Changkong knew that he could not dodge it when the aura of the saber was still underway.

Without blinking his eyes, he threw out Herald, the sniper rifle, toward the depths of the dark chimney brutally. At the same time, a delicate pistol appeared in his left hand and shot out three marrow crystal bullets at the back of the aura!

Now that such a dreadful enemy as Li Yao had approached within a hundred meters of him, it would be committing suicide to use a sniper rifle again. Ye Changkong immediately switched to the most suitable weapon.

Shua!

The invisible saber aura passed his right shoulder like a soft breeze, but the three marrow crystal bullets that he had focused his attention on disappeared into the darkness.

Chi!

Ye Changkong’s right arm, covered in the crystal suit, flew up to the air. The fracture was as smooth as a mirror, as if his arm should never have grown on his body.

One attack, without any unnecessary adornment, and the arm of a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator had been chopped off!

Ye Changkong’s pupils constricted violently again. He did not know that Li Yao’s manipulation over his spiritual energy was so skillful despite his young age.

For a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator, the criterion to gauge their capability was not how awesome-looking their attack was or how glamourous the sound and visual effects were.

It was doubtless that, when a Nascent Soul Stage burnt their life and soul and summoned all their spiritual energy, they would be able to rip apart the clouds in the sky, produce blasts sweeping across several square kilometers, or trigger thunder, lightning, and sandstorms. The sound and visual effects would be grandeur.

But they were entirely useless.

The sound and visual effects were not fatal, just the wasted spiritual energy in an attack. The more attractive the sound and visual effects were, and the more intimidating the attack looked, the more spiritual energy had been wasted during the attack, and the less spiritual energy would be really transformed into damage.

Therefore, unless there were special needs, such as to boost the morale of allies and frighten the enemy on a battlefield, the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators always pursued absolute control over their strength. The less awesome-looking, the better.

Their dream was that, with a snap of their fingers, nothing would appear to happen, but the target several kilometers away would collapse to the ground, with no one knowing the cause of death even after the autopsy.

Naturally, Li Yao’s attack was miles away from such an ultimate level, but he was walking on the right path!

Ye Changkong did not panic at all even though his right arm had been chopped off. He shot out the remaining three bullets calmly.

BOOM!

From the inside of the dark chimney, his Herald was thrown back brutally, followed by a streak of scarlet brightness!

Demonic energy!

The overwhelming demonic energy spread out violently like a volcanic eruption! Along with the surging demonic energy was creepy, screaming background music, which pierced through Ye Changkong’s head like iron nails and disrupted the pace of his spiritual energy circulation!

At this moment, only half a second had passed since Ye Changkong fired the first bullet.

The members of the hunting group ambushing nearby all perceived Li Yao’s demonic energy.

The Secret Sword Agents crowding out of the underground all perceived Li Yao’s demonic energy.

The battle-type Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator several kilometers away perceived the soaring, overwhelming demonic energy, too!

Everybody rushed toward the chimney at the highest speed!

Zi! Zi! Zi! Zi!

Above the chimney, Li Yao was about to be reach a point where he was three meters from Ye Changkong, when six streaks of lightning appeared abruptly around him. They split into a thousand electric arcs and interweaved into a powerful electric net, blocking his lethal attack briefly.

They were the six marrow crystal bullets that Ye Changkong had shot previously. They did not miss the target but enveloped Li Yao and transformed into a barrier of lightning!

Ye Changkong was very clear that he had already failed without any chance of a comeback since the second he climbed on the chimney!

However…

After he abandoned everything and joined Lu Zui’s cause, he had not cared about the meaningless stuff, such as death or honor, at all!

He was a soldier of the federal army, one who considered death his homecoming!

Right now, he was going to create an opportunity with his life as the bait so that Li Yao would be dragged into hell with him!

BOOM!

The electric net did not stop Li Yao for long. Li Yao, wearing the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit and having the maximum combat ability, still approached him in the end. After one punch, the breastplate of his light crystal suit, which was designed for the snipers, was blown into pieces. Scraps of the crystal suit, mixed with terrible spiritual and demonic energy, flooded into his internal organs!

Pu!

Ye Changkong vomited a mouthful of blood and broken flesh as if a volcano was erupting in his throat.

But his handsome face hidden below the facial cover, on the other hand, put on a hideous smile.

He sensed that several intimidating auras were drawing close. Li Yao would not be able to run away if he attacked a second time!

The best outcome would certainly be that other battle-type Cultivators killed Li Yao to save him.

Even if the guy was not killed, he had released overwhelming demonic energy in public, and he was wearing such a weird… demonic suit. He had also slain the chief coach of gunnery of the federal army in front of all the eyewitnesses!

How was he going to explain that?

Would anybody believe him even if he brought out any evidence?

The federation is the human beings’ federation! It is not to be sullied by you evil, filthy beings! Come on. Kill me!

Ye Changkong burst into laughter in his heart. He tossed out his pistol. Spurts bouncing out from his left elbow and his knees, he lunged at Li Yao!

However, Li Yao’s judgement of the situation was beyond his expectations.

Although Li Yao had gone through all the trouble to set up the trap and kill him, he seemed to come to the conclusion that he would not be able to run away after killing the enemy when he scanned the intimidating auras coming close at him.

Without any hesitation, Li Yao abandoned the attack. He kicked his enemy right in the abdomen, blowing him into the air. Then, with the huge counterforce, he dashed back into the chimney again.

BOOM!

A deafening sound echoed at the bottom of the chimney. The dust that had been accumulated for countless years like pozzolana soared up. Li Yao disappeared into the endless dust!