Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

At the edge of the Empyrean Terminus Sector and the planet, in the boundless darkness, a lot of round crystal cameras and self-detonating magnetic mines were scattered. The runes carved on their surfaces were emitting lackluster colors while they transmitted simple data and commands. Sometimes,

they congregated into a cluster, and sometimes, they spread out into a splendid network, floating, cruising, and wriggling.

If the universe was a warm and humid ancient ocean, the cold lumps made of metal and crystals might have met the definition of ‘cells’ in the beginning. They were like a blanket made of primitive fungi that gradually grew into multiple-cell life forms and embarked on a new, marvelous journey of

evolution.

If the universe could be compared to the interior of a gargantuan ‘super creature’, the lumps would be like vigilant white blood cells that were monitoring the slightest anomaly in the space within millions of square kilometers without missing the tiniest ripple.

“Chirp chirp chirp.”

“Squeak squeak squeak.”

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

‘The commands that the human beings gave them were dissected into complicated waves and simple symbols, which flowed in the thousands of circuits of the crystal chips that they controlled and transmitted to a place far away.

Occasionally, when they left the coverage of the Spiritual Nexus and entered the desolate land without a network, the special instructions and programs stored in their memory chips would be automatically activated and grant them a certain degree of autonomy, so that the iron lumps without

consciousness could carry out all kinds of ‘mission’.

—f we get rid of the limitations of carbon-based intelligent life and look at it from a higher perspective, why can’t the scene in front of us be the beginning of a certain primitive life form that is slowly awakening and stepping onto the road of life?

However, such a start was interrupted by the sudden alarms.

In the depths of the sea of stars more than 74 million kilometers away from the Empyrean Terminus Sector—as far as the universe was concerned—it was only the distance of a finger. The previously stable three-dimensional vacuum seemed to have been assaulted by the Hellfire-fire from the

four-dimensional space. Red, orange, blue, and green halos of different colors appeared out of thin air. The halos on the plane quickly bulged into bubbles, which expanded and expanded rapidly. In the end, they exploded silently, revealing immeasurable black holes at the center of which were scattered

stars that seemed to lead to another universe billions of lightyears away.

A cluster of wormholes millions of kilometers in diameter was born and grew larger and larger.

Space ripples spread out like surging tides.

A lot of materials were about to break the impulse and arrive at the periphery of the Empyrean Terminus Sector.

Ina moment, sensing the intense waves of the space ripples and the abnormal data that a high-density object was about to arrive, all the scout crystal cameras and magnetic mines nearby were woken up.

Like fungi that had discovered their prey or the white blood cells of the intruders, they fully activated their power units and spurted dazzling exhaust flames toward the coordinates of the wormhole.

The scout crystal cameras were trying to get as close to the enemy as possible so that more data could be collected and sent back to the rear before they were torn apart by the space ripples. The magnetic mines were rushing to the center of the cluster of wormholes and melted into the magnetic field of

the high-mass, high-density objects. They exploded at the last moment, releasing the most brilliant brilliance of their ‘life’ and disrupting the enemy’s jump.

Right now, the scout crystal cameras and the magnetic mines did not understand the significance of ‘life’. They were merely carrying out the orders from the depths of Empyrean Terminus dutifully.

Just like the fungi, bacteria, and cells in the beginning, it was impossible for them to understand what ‘life’ was. They simply obeyed the instructions named ‘instincts’.

The wormholes appeared in various directions of the Empyreal Terminus Sector. Tens of thousands of magnetic mines were activated at the same time and charged at the wormholes closest to them, turning themselves into brilliant fireballs like the warriors who had risked their lives to stop the

wormholes from expanding further and tearing apart the starships that had only jumped halfway.

For a moment, the entire sea of stars was illuminated. The super radiation resulting from the destruction of the wormholes eclipsed billions of stars. Even the observatory on the surface of Empyrean Terminus could observe the burning Heavenly Fire in the periphery of the galaxy, which had congregated

into a burning river!

In just one hour, countless wormholes that had just been opened were seriously jammed or even annihilated.

But for the biggest invasion in the past thousand years, such automatic defense was far from enough.

Fuxi had collected a lot of intelligence about the defense system of the capital city and inferred thousands of different changes. Such regular tactics were within its calculation.

As a result, the first batch of starships to jump through the wormholes were not the main force warships such as the super arsenals. They were not even starships. They were just small-scale self-detonation magical equipment similar to the self-driving space shuttles and fully-automatic magnetic

mines.

They were also made of cold metals and crystals. Their cost was low, and they were abundant. They could search for and approach the densest coordinates of the enemy automatically before they exploded. The only difference was that there was a small cockpit in the batch of ‘self-detonating mines’

refined by the Fuxis. The living, flesh-and-blood puppet warriors could crouch inside like babies, lock onto the enemy, and sprint forward. Considering the simplicity of such magical equipment, the lack of fuel, and the mode of attack, it was almost impossible to retrieve them once they were launched

into the sea of stars from the mothership. The death rate of the pilot was 100%. Therefore, even the brutal imperial army was not equipped with similar magical equipment. Only the system of the Sanctuary Alliance could find enough soldiers who were highly brainwashed and did not fear death.

It was a silent war, not to mention an ‘unhuman’ war. When the warriors of the Holy Alliance sat on dozens of tons of high-explosive crystals and charged at the iron defense line opposite them emotionlessly, detonating the crystals and their own flesh and blood, their souls were highly frozen and sealed,

too. They did not fear death at all.

On the other hand, the self-detonation of a magnetic mine on the side of the Sanctuary could trigger overwhelming tides of spiritual energy, which would interfere with the transmission of information and the spiritual energy circuits nearby and disable all the high-precision magical equipment nearby.

‘The magnetic mines, scout crystal cameras, and self-driving shuttles of the imperium were all eclipsed by the magnetic storm. They lost their impetus and could only move forward based on inertia until they left the target area and turned into lonely dust.

However, the magnetic mines of the members of the Star Glory Federation were controlled by a suicide squad member. Even though most of the automatic functions had been lost, it did not stop the squad member from rushing to the general attack zone. Then, another spiritual tsunami came!

Through such insane tactics, the main fleet of the Sanctuary Alliance managed to maintain the normal opening and expansion of most of the wormholes and established solid beachheads outside of the wormholes. No matter how hard the defenders bombarded them, the biggest wormholes were finally

broken through. They were like the eyes of a devil that were constantly opening, allowing the largest main force warship to pass through.

Therefore, the eyes of the demon quickly drew complicated, transparent lines that constituted the outline and structure of a warship. They were delicate and clear. In the end, they were torn apart like thin black gauze, and magnificent starships appeared one after another.

The spiritual interference starships, the super arsenals, the cruising motherships, and the star fortresses were still affected by the ripples when they passed through the four-dimensional space, making their appearances in the three-dimensional universe even more unpredictable. They seemed to be

wreathed in intense smoke and the dominating aura of the space beasts. The dominating aura alone was enough to tear apart several layers of defense lines and reach Empyrean Terminus effortlessly.

When the five supreme fortresses, which represented the highest combat ability of the Holy Accord Alliance, marched out of the periphery of the Empyreal Terminus Sector under the protection of many starships and unleashed their killing intent, there was no doubt anymore.

It was not a feint, a distraction, or a trick to fool the enemy. It was indeed the main fleet of the Star Glory Federation that was coming at the imperium in full strength!

In the control center deep below the Gold Crystal Tower of Empyrean Terminus.

Xiao Ming and Wen Wen were both sitting on a control chair made of countless crystal processors and crystal cables. Their eyes were glittering as if endless data was flashing in them.

Li Yao’s body was still intact in the hibernation cabin, but there was a thick crystal cable connected to the back of his head. The crystal cable extended all the way to the ground and connected to the countless communication stations floating in space through a transmitter. In such a way, if Li Yao’s soul

returned to the Empyrean Terminus Sector, it would be possible to return to his body through the stations, which was a slim hope for Xiao Ming and Wen Wen.

However, right now, the two little guys could not care less where Li Yao’s soul was.

They were all deeply awed by the shocking number of the main fleet of the Sanctuary Alliance and their determination to fight.

“How many starships are there exactly? Our crystal cameras can’t calculate all of them!

Xiao Ming exclaimed.

“The people of the Sanctuary seem to have gathered all their starships in a small battlefield. What are they up to exactly? Have they abandoned the defense of all the worlds behind them?”

Wen Wen did not understand, either.

According to the preliminary estimation of the number and combat ability, the capital city alone is definitely not enough to defend the place. It seems that they are not here to attack but to destroy the place!

Xiao Ming came to a desperate conclusion.

The two little guys looked at each other and saw the rapidly exploding blood vessels in the bottom of their eyes. Such a complicated and chaotic situation had surpassed the limits of their computational ability in the blink of an eye. They were barely able to maintain it on their own. The heads of the two

little guys were about to explode.

“Inform the young emperor and the queen mother that the main fleet of the Star Glory Federation has really shown up.. Their strength is far beyond our imagination!