Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“Excellent!” Looking at the streaks of brilliance that were crystal suits darting at them, Li Yao complimented in amazement, with joy beaming out of his eyes. “The first wave of attacks is made of the black hole bombs, which destroy the enemy’s magical equipment and crystal processors and disrupt the circulation of spiritual energy in the enemy’s body. The second wave of attacks is made of meteoroids that are devoid of spiritual energy and deal damage purely with their speed, numbers, and impact, which will further diminish the spiritual shield that the enemy managed to summon and even drain the enemy’s physical strength and computational ability. When the magnetic pulses released by the black hole bombs are almost over, the third wave of attacks will be deployed and lunge at the enemy at the perfect timing!

“Such tactical cooperation is truly fluent and immaculate. Even the ‘black hole bombs’, as a new piece of magical equipment with many shortcomings, have been made best use of in a real battle! They are enough to cause a major headache to two legendary Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators! Marvelous. Really marvelous!

“I feel that I’m greatly reassured seeing that the federation is just a badass.”

“Monster Li,” Long Yangjun said, “you are not teaming up with the enemy and screwing with me, right?”

“Fellow Cultivator Long, don’t be hasty. In case you have forgotten, we still have a trump card, me!

“Now that we have been caught in such a passive situation because of one moment of carelessness, it seems to me that I’m left with no choice except to stop keeping a low profile and reveal the real appearance of Vulture Li Yao, dominator of three Sectors, in order to reverse the outcome and unveil Professor Mo Xuan’s evil scheme!”

While dodging the meteoroids that were coming at her as rapidly as lightning, Long Yangjun asked suspiciously, “Are you sure? You’ve been away from the New Federation for a hundred years. You are nothing more than a picture in the history books now, one on which the elementary and middle school students will scribble for fun. Try to stand in the shoes of the soldiers that are coming for us. If you were carrying out a mission issued by your superior, and a random guy suddenly jumped out of nowhere claiming that he is ‘father of the federation’, would you believe such absurdities?”

Hesitating, Li Yao replied, “Well…”

“Professor Mo Xuan has obviously got his eyes on us!” Long Yangjun analyzed quickly. “Perhaps he was only partly suspicious of you at the beginning, and he was not entirely certain of his doubts despite the test in the second Spiriters’ Realm. However, you ordered the carrier to perform the space jump in advance, which made him even more leery. Therefore, he hacked the control tower in the spaceport and the mainframe crystal processors of our carrier, interfered with our jump coordinates, and attacked our brains when we were about to complete the jump!

“But out of his expectations, we saw through his scheme at the last moment and even escaped from the carrier that was in the middle of a space jump. That is not something that normal people or even normal Cultivators could’ve done!

“Team Red Lotus definitely shouldn’t have been capable of that. Whatever our real identity is, it certainly poses a great threat to his plan. That’s one thing that he knows for sure right now. Therefore, he will certainly take us as critical targets to strike. Otherwise, the two ivory starships wouldn’t have come so fast or attacked with magical equipment as cutting-edge as the ‘black hole bombs’ the moment they arrived!”

Thinking quickly, Li Yao was greatly alarmed. “It also means that our deduction just now is correct. It is very possible that Professor Mo Xuan has taken control of the leadership of the military, the Secret Sword Bureau, and the government departments of the Hundred Flowers Space Zone through the Spiriters’ Realm.”

“He does not need to control every soldier,” Long Yangjun observed coldly. “All he needs to do is control the leadership and then issue false orders through the leadership. For example, by claiming that the two of us are ‘spies from the Imperium’, he will be justified in mobilizing the garrison and the Secret Sword Agents in the Hundred Flowers Space Zone to besiege us!

“The Exos of the federal army who are lunging at us furiously have probably received a notification that we are highly dangerous special agents from the Imperium. You are thinking of telling them that you are the father of the federation? Why don’t you say that you are His Majesty of the Imperium of True Human Beings?”

“Give me time,” Li Yao said in a hurry. “I can prove it!”

“Time is what we are most short of right now!” Gritting her teeth, Long Yangjun said, “Didn’t you say that the war would break out in twenty-four hours? Also, it is definitely not going to be a skirmish or reconnaissance but a major battle that involves the main-force fleets of both parties. Do you really have the time to prove your identity?

“Besides, how can you prove yourself? I expect that you can do nothing except display certain magical equipment and techniques that are unique to Vulture Li Yao. However, magical equipment can be duplicated, techniques can be simulated, and one’s past can be elicited through interrogation!

“Yes. There are other ways such as soul tests or gene tests, but they will only be conducted on the premise that you will behave and surrender first. Then, when you are under their rigorous surveillance, there may be a slim chance that they believe what you say and run said tests. Take a guess. Will Professor Mo Xuan do anything to the test results? After all, he moved here when Hundred Flowers City was just built. How much has he infiltrated this city?

“Right. You might also be able to contact your acquaintances, say, Ding Lingdang, Jin Xinyue, and such. But they are all too far away and must communicate with you through the Spiritual Nexus. Then, do you think that Professor Mo Xuan will give you the opportunity? Is it possible that he will build a false Ding Lingdang or Jin Xinyue on the light beam to issue false commands? After all, he already simulated me, Ling Xiaole, and Wei Qingqing in the Spiriters’ Realm!”

Li Yao thought quickly, only to discover that what Long Yangjun said was true. It seemed that every way to prove his identity in twenty-four hours had been blocked!

The third wave of attacks made of hundreds of Exos would meet them in less than ten seconds.

“If you tell them who you are, you will merely be asking to be caught, because other than Ding Lingdang and Jin Xinyue, there happens to be one person in the Hundred Flowers Space Zone who is most familiar with Li Yao and most qualified to decide whether you are authentic or fake. That person is Professor Mo Xuan!” Long Yangjun said. “Professor Mo Xuan’s entire plan is just our assumption, and not just any random assumption but a seemingly ridiculous one. We don’t have any proof at all. Why would they believe the two of us, whose backgrounds are unclear?

“If you claim you are Li Yao, they will only ask Professor Mo Xuan to identify you, because you are his student! What can you do if Professor Mo Xuan says you are a fake from the Imperium? After the two of you bicker for a while, the war will have long broken out!”

Li Yao could not help but spit. He realized that the trap was even more troublesome than his last homecoming to the federation.

Last time, at least he had almost half a month. He could take his time to run deductions and make preparations.

But this time, he had only twenty-four hours at most. There was a good chance that a war that decided the fate of the country would break out in twelve hours!

“Unless it is absolutely necessary, I don’t suggest you expose your identity right now.”

Staring at the group of Exos that was getting closer and closer to them, Long Yangjun said, “I’ve thought about it carefully just now. Professor Mo Xuan’s Spiriters’ Realm equals a large-scale, in-depth mental attack. The thing about mental attacks is that the better your enemy knows you, the more powerful their attacks will be!”

Li Yao was quite good at mental attacks himself. Years ago, in the tenth space ring of Heavenly Saints City in the Flying Star Sector, ‘Hellsword’ Zhuang Ziyou, the very first Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator that he killed in his entire life, was adept at mental attacks. Li Yao had also practiced sophisticated mental attack skills from the jade chip that Zhuang Ziyou had dropped.

He immediately understood what Long Yangjun meant.

During a mental attack, the more profoundly he understood his opponent, the more likely he would be able to construct a vivid illusionary world with false images that both attracted and frightened the opponent.

For example, if he learned that the target was scared of snakes or rats, he could fabricate certain fake snakes and rats during the mental attack. Naturally, the opponent would be devastated.

However, if the opponent was a freak who was best at manipulating snakes and rats, what could he expect to achieve by constructing the illusions of snakes and rats? To cheer for the opponent?

Just now, Professor Mo Xuan only knew Li Yao as Lin Jiu, captain of Team Red Lotus. Therefore, the Long Yangjun that he built had been seen through very quickly.

However, if Professor Mo Xuan had more knowledge and learned the identity and information regarding Master Spiritual Vulture from the Ancient Sages Sector, the illusionary world created by him would have been much more vivid!

Then, if he knew Li Yao’s real identity, he would have been able to construct a more pertinent illusionary world based on Li Yao’s personality, Cultivation, and social network, and even install a virtual Ding Lingdang, Jin Xinyue, Wu Mayan, and the rest of them in the illusionary world!

By then, even if Li Yao knew that the virtual images were all fake, it was still possible that his mind would be disturbed!

In mental warfare, one’s ‘real identity’ was the deciding factor that was of paramount importance for the final victory. Li Yao and Long Yangjun seemed to have been caught in the most passive situation, but they had seen through the real mastermind behind the whole scheme, whereas Professor Mo Xuan did not know who they really were yet.

It was their greatest advantage right now!

“We’re going to have a head-on confrontation with Professor Mo Xuan sooner or later,” Long Yangjun said. “Your identity is a ‘trump card’. Who throws out the trump card at the beginning of a game?”

“Exactly. Now is not the time yet. We probably should give my professor a surprise later, shouldn’t we?” Li Yao licked his lips. His eyes passed the group of Exos who were about to reach them and stared at the artificial celestial bodies that were scattered in the Hundred Flowers Space Zone like stars. Then, he suddenly said, “Whatever Professor Mo Xuan’s scheme is, as long as he intends to control the grand-unified Spiritual Nexus, he has to transmit his telepathic thoughts and instructions through the nodes of the Spiritual Nexus that are deployed everywhere in the Hundred Flowers Space Zone.

“How about we summon the Colossi right now, destroy all the nodes, and bathe Hundred Flowers Space Zone and the seven Sectors in a blackout?”

Long Yangjun glanced at him and remarked, “The Hundred Flowers Space Zone is the center of the Spiritual Nexus of the whole federation. If you sabotage this place, the net speed in the entire federation will be lowered by at least a half. Are you sure you want to do this when the Black Wind Fleet may arrive anytime?”

Li Yao thought for a moment and sighed. “It makes sense. Then, we have only one last solution now. Come on, Colossus!”