Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

With their cooperation, the maintenance work of the Tempest God was pushed forward fast. The preliminary maintenance procedures had been drafted in only half a day.

The maintenance and adjustment work of the crystal suits also moved on smoothly.

Li Linghai had opened almost all the maintenance clearances on the crystal suits in the Deep Sea Fleet.

Experts such as Tu Zhengdao also came to visit Li Yao, asking Li Yao to help them adjust their crystal suits earnestly.

After all, the crystal suit was the Exo’s life. On the battlefield, even an improvement of 1% in performance would significantly increase the final odds of survival.

In only one day, Li Yao had got in touch with more than thirty most advanced high-level crystal suits.

Through their crystal suits, he made acquaintances with the myriad of experts and commanders in the Deep Sea Fleet and grew a profound understanding of their battle styles and basic levels according to the tiny scratches on their crystal suits and their own narrations.

Master Jin Tianzong observed Li Yao’s adjustments on the crystal suits carefully nearby. After watching Li Yao adjust more than thirty crystal suits in different styles and models, he was completely awed by the dexterity and precision of Li Yao’s hands. After the day’s work was done, he offered to present a lot of structural designs of the “hybrid crystal suit” for Li Yao to study.

It was exactly what Li Yao wanted.

However, after studying them carefully for a night, Li Yao could tell why Master Jin Tianzong’s research stagnated.

The design of “hybrid crystal suits” was too advanced after all, with too many complicated rune arrays and structures, which meant that they absolutely could not be manufactured on a large scale under current technological circumstances.

In many cases, the precision demand on many details was appallingly 0.05 threads, which was not only beyond the abilities of the tools on the assembly lines but also barely possible for experienced refiners with their manual work.

The crystal reactor, on the other hand, was the most important unit on the crystal suit. Even an error of 0.1 threads might result in the loss of control, paralysis, and even the explosion of the crystal suit.

No wonder the Imperial Polytechnical University scorned at Master Jin Tianzong’s design, and he even lost his reputation in the entire circle of refiners, who regarded him as a liar fishing for fame.

It also explained why Master Jin Tianzong offered the structure designs that he deemed most valuable to Li Yao the first day they met. That was because only Li Yao’s astonishing hand speed and senses could possibly produce the special components and the ultra-thin chips that Master Jin Tianzong needed.

“Fellow Cultivator Li, I have tried all the methods possible, and they all failed.”

Brilliance as thick as magma was spurting out of Master Jin Tianzong’s eyes, and thick veins were wandering on the back of his hands, his neck, and his forehead. He was almost roaring as he said, “Right now, your hands are my only hope! I believe that fate has sent you here, and the experiment this time will definitely be a success! Let’s join our hands and shock all the refiners of the Imperium!”

…

Twelve hours later, in the test field for crystal suits on Dragon Abyss, three crystal suits were fighting fiercely in three streaks of brilliance; one red, one yellow, and one black. Occasionally, ripples of spiritual energy were raised in collisions and spread to the defense rune arrays around the test field like overwhelming tides, causing deafening noises.

In the battle, the two crystal suits that were surrounded by yellow and black haloes were attacking the red crystal suit from the left and the right at the same time.

But the red crystal suit was not intimidated by the opponent’s aggressive and incessant attacks. It was simply wandering between the two opponents at ease.

The red crystal suit was tall, heavy, and thick, with a highly-rising protrusion on the back. It was a standard heavy crystal suit.

However, as the crimson exhaust flames spurted out dazzlingly, its movement was as unpredictable as a ghost and as agile as a butterfly that was hovering among flowers.

It was not stalled by the two opponents at all. Instead, taking advantage of the flawed teamwork of the two opponents, it dodged to the opponents’ back and used them as its shield again and again.

Aooooo!

The opponent in the yellow crystal suit finally could not withstand such “tease” anymore. In crazy roars, his body expanded nonstop, and even the Cosmos Rings embedded to the crystal suit spurted out even more units and components, which were gathered by the electromagnetic forces and made the crystal suit even bigger, fiercer, and more hideous. The sharp battle spurts appeared on the shoulders, the breastplate, the elbows, and the knees, truly making it look like a fully-armored, dominating crab!

Exhaust flames that looked like a tsunami burst out of the back of the black crystal suit too, improving its level to a higher level. Almost a hundred blurred shadows trapped the red crystal suit tightly.

The glittering “crab” was about to pinch the red crystal suit’s arms with its “pincers”.

The super-alloy high-frequency vibration blade in the hands of the black crystal suit was also slashed at the spiritual energy tube at the back of the red crystal suit from bottom to top sordidly.

Either of the attacks from the two crystal suits would be enough to cripple the red crystal suit if they hit the target.

The red crystal suit, however, was enshrouded into a dazzling ball of lightning by the exhaust flames that spurted out of its body crazily.

The deafening noises raised by the ball of lightning even stunned the two crystal suits that were performing the attack for a moment.

In the middle of the roaring lightning, countless streaks of brightness split apart and dodged all the attacks from the two crystal suits at ease, only to condense again at the back of the yellow crystal suit.

One heavy and aggressive kick, as unstoppable as the barrage of the main guns of a crystal warship, hit the waist of the yellow crystal suit brutally, blowing the plate armor into pieces immediately. The crystal suit that weighed several tons crashed into the defense rune arrays like a kite whose string had been cut off. Taking advantage of the moment when the broken pieces disrupted the vision and probe the magical equipment of the black crystal suit, the red crystal suit sprinted forward. The brilliance condensed by spiritual energy pierced into the chest of the black crystal suit like a bloodred saber, and flames entangled the black crystal suit like crimson vipers, completely paralyzing every rune array on the surface of the black crystal suit!

The yellow crystal suit collapsed to the ground, unable to rise again, with sparks spurting out crazily. Lubricants and the user’s blood were everywhere on the ground.

The black crystal suit kept the attacking posture, like a statue that had been frozen, and did not fall until three seconds later.

BOOM!

The red crystal suit had serious faults after crushing the two formidable enemies in the counterattack. Fulminations burst out of the highly-rising unit on the back, and disgusting black smoke popped up too.

Shua! Shua! Shua!

The yellow crystal suit and the black crystal suit split apart, and Li Jialing and Tu Zhengdao crawled out of them. They eyed the red crystal suit in disbelief.

The red crystal suit dissected like a blossoming flower too. Li Yao walked out in deep thought.

“Master Jin Tianzong is quite right. The hybrid structure is indeed the next-generation power output pattern that is more advanced than the parallel structure. It represents the future of crystal suits. However, it is indeed technologically tricky to craft them. This prototype has been worked on by Master Jin Tianzong for years and polished by me carefully, but it is still not steady enough. Faults were already happening when I just moved it casually. What do you think?”

Li Yao looked at Tu Zhengdao and Li Jialing, who were sweating hard, their chests moving up and down quickly.

“I think you are a monster,” Tu Zhengdao panted and said.

Li Jialing shook his furry big head and nodded heavily.

Right then, the starship slightly shivered, and there was a brief slowdown.

The “Deep Sea Palace”, the nest of the Deep Sea Fleet and home camp of Queen Li Linghai, was not far away!

…

On the bridge of Dragon Abyss, Li Yao and Li Jialing observed the broken, ragged planet that had almost been entirely modified into machines on Li Linghai’s left and right sides respectively.

The planet was somewhat similar to the “Ice King Project” that Li Yao had seen in the Flying Star Sector. The purpose of the project was to hollow an entire planet, install a great number of power rune arrays, and transform it into an enormous star fortress.

The Ice King Project of the Flying Star Sector originated from a magnificent project of the Star Ocean Imperium. The planetary fortress that had been highly modified was left from the age of the Star Ocean Imperium too.

Otherwise, with the technological power of the Cultivators of the Flying Star Sector at that time, it was absolutely impossible to perform such grand and complicated modifications on a planet.

The small planet at the edge of the cosmos was certainly not the only target involved in the magnificent projects of the Star Ocean Imperium.

The planet that Li Jialing used as her nest had been through similar modifications, and the modifications were even more thorough. More than 80% of the surface of the planet had been mechanized and militarized and could be used for real battles.

But it too was heavily damaged in the bloody battles ten thousand years ago, like a skull that was hollowed and riddled with holes.

The planet and the vast space zones around were not recorded in any space map of the Imperium. Barely anyone knew their existence.

They had spent the past ten thousand years in silence and loneliness deep inside the dark and profound universe.

However, in the recent century, and especially in the recent thirty to fifty years, countless rebels who were discontented, ambitious, and hated the authorities of the Imperium had come to this place, excavating the spaceports, arsenals, and relics from the Star Ocean Imperium ten thousand years ago. They had also recruited the highly dangerous schemers and desperadoes from everywhere and built the place into an impenetrable base together!

Dragon Abyss slowly sailed into the planetary fortress that was known as “Dragon Palace”. Activating his eyesight to the maximum, Li Yao saw that hundreds of starships were docked in the space neatly, and the highly-rising command towers looked like the fins on the back of sharks.

A lot of starships and crystal suit groups were practicing cooperative battles on the orbit. Their remarkable performance and tactics were as good as the Burning Prairie Fleet, the top-tier deep-sky fleet in the federation.

“The Deep Sea Fleet is not made of common mobsters. Even in my most difficult times, I never considered recruiting the infamous space bandits to increase my power. Just like my attitude toward Li Lingfeng, what matters is quality and not quantity. I would rather fight on my own than to recruit a bunch of ‘pig teammates’ to hamstring me!”

Faced with her army, Queen Li Linghai couldn’t help but feel proud. “More than 80% of the commanders in the Deep Sea Fleet in various levels came from the elite fleets in the Imperium’s army. One might even say that the most distinguished talents in hundreds of Sectors of the Imperium have been gathered here!”