Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

At the same time, the news that the Dragon King Battlesuit had reappeared in the sea of stars raised unceasing ripples like a giant rock that was tossed into a frozen pond.

Inside the station of the Great Horn Exo Society in the Cross Wind Space Zone…

After five years of development, with the support of the Glorious Sunlight Group and Iron Plateau, the Great Horn Exo Society had changed from a small Exo Society with only one ragged starship into a super large group that boasted dozens of crystal warships and hundreds of carriers.

Except for the lack of top experts, the scale of the Exo Society was definitely the largest in the Flying Star Sector.

It had an assault team that was purely made of the qi-trainers from Iron Plateau. The assault team had been fighting in all kinds of harsh environments such as the remains of starships, asteroids, and stones belts. The qi-trainers had made great contributions over the past five years and often made the space pirates and the Immortal Cultivators lose confidence.

At this moment, on Gold Horn, the flagship of the Great Horn Exo Society, Lei Dalu and Bai Kaixin watched a fuzzy video in a trance, then in excitement, and then in confusion.

“Anyways, he has escaped!”

Lei Dalu took a long breath in relief, with a sincere smile on his face.

“But why did he destroy two star beacons instead of fighting against the Immortal Cultivators?”

Bai Kaixin’s white eyebrows were shivering like two long fishing lines.

Lei Dalu scratched his beard and said, “Li Yao is definitely not an Immortal Cultivator. There must be a deeper meaning to his actions. We should be prepared to fight in advance. He will certainly reach out to us one way or another.

“Ask Zuo Xiaohu, Lu Dian, and the rest of them to cheer up. I have a vague feeling that the most important battle of my life is coming!”

…

Five days later, an enormous fleet was sailing slowly between the Cross Wind Space Zone and the Heavenly Saints Space Zone, with the battle emblem of the Glorious Sunlight Group painted in mystic rays at the front.

In the rear part of the fleet, on a round starship for the test of new magical equipment, five spectral Cultivators residing in artificial bodies were faced with hundreds of light beams on which streams of information were pouring down like waterfalls.

There was not much difference on the metal skull, but the shinning spots of light in their eyes indicated the untamable shock and excitement deep inside their souls.

“At 3:52, on the third child board of the ‘War Observation’ forum, a reply with a special character has been found in the fifth latest post!

“At 4:09, on the website of ‘Secret Garden’, the username ‘UltimateThunder0011′ has been registered, as agreed upon in our secret code!

“At 4:41… At 5:35… At 7:18…”

For the last five years, Professor Mo Xuan and the other spectral Cultivators had been browsing through dozens of special websites on the Spiritual Nexus every day, to no avail.

But today, the special reply and the special username that they had agreed a deal on five years ago had finally shown up!

“Li Yao is back!”

“In one of the threads, he recommended other people to listen to a song named…’Homecoming’.

“Does—does it mean that he has found a way to go home? Are we able to go home now?”

There were exclamations in the bridge.

“In another thread, there was the tourism commercial of the Dawn Moon Space Zone. Just as we talked about before, Li Yao does not want to communicate with us via the Spiritual Nexus, which is too unsafe. He wants one of us to go to the Dawn Moon Space Zone and talk to him in person!

“Right. He also asked us about the development of the ‘Brain Concussion Plan’ with the secret code.”

Low chuckles echoed in the metal speaker in Professor Mo Xuan’s throat. According to the means of contact that they had agreed upon five years ago, he logged into a website that featured jokes and funny stories and left a reply on the fifth thread of the third child board.

“The brain is open!”

…

It had been twenty days since the appearance of the Dragon King Battlesuit.

During those twenty days, the Flying Star Sector had seemed undisrupted, and everything had gone on normally.

The minor battles at the periphery of the Spider Den Space Zone were continuing. Four new star beacons that had just been refined were moved to the frontline slowly through short-distance space jumps.

In the world of Cultivators, the leadership of the important sects were all on their way to Heavenly Saints City, ready to take part in the strategical meeting and the morale-boosting rally for the second war against Spider Den after five hundred years.

However, in the darkness of the universe beyond the senses of the ordinary people, undercurrents were swirling and colliding heavily, raising shocking black sparks.

Cultivators, Immortal Cultivators, space pirates, spectral Cultivators from the Heaven’s Origin Sector… Multiple forces were trying to locate the mysterious man wearing the Dragon King Battlesuit with any methods possible.

However, after the grand appearance twenty days ago, the man was like a piece of ice that had been melted in the water or a dry leaf that was rotting in a swamp. There were no traces of him at all.

But three days ago, interesting changes finally took place.

A group of Grand Illusionary Soldiers that were patrolling near the Swooping Eagle Space Zone found debris of starships that was still relatively intact in a stone belt. It appeared that a great explosion of starship must have happened.

Judging from the remaining radiation, the explosion had taken place quite recently. Chances were that it had happened only days ago.

The sea of stars had an unstable mood. It was not unusual for a starship to get into an accident. After a rescue team was sent out as per tradition, the incident turned into part of the patrol log, and the patrol log was saved in the database as part of the information stream. It did not catch the attention of the Cultivators.

However, the Immortal Cultivators noticed the incident keenly.

Judging from the structure of the remains and the scraps that were still complete, they all belonged to a medical starship.

Also, the Swooping Eagle Space Zone and the Spider Den Space Zone were not far away from each other. One space jump was enough to reach it.

In the places where the Cultivators were not looking, a giant black web covered the Swooping Eagle Space Zone and the three space zones nearby quietly.

…

In Heavenly Saints City, on Heavenly Phantom, the flagship of the Grand Illusionary Group, Wen Wenkang examined the transmission tube of the starship slowly. Occasionally, when other crew members passed by, the white-bearded old man would smile and greet them with his beer belly.

Wen Wenkang was 212 years old. For a Cultivator in the beginning level of the Core Formation Stage, he had passed his prime years and was in the middle of the dusk of depression.

He was not a talented, awe-inspiring Cultivator. The accomplishments he had made were all based on his hard work. He had learned things bit by bit and trained himself dutifully.

In his old age, he seemed to have accepted his fate, and his ambitions had gone entirely. He was ready to enjoy his retired life in a place with splendid natural views when the war was over.

On his chest, the emblem of the Star Fighters’ Alliance was obscured by the oil. Yet, he was not bothered by it and had not wiped the emblem for a long time.

To ensure the publicity of the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project, the Grand Illusionary Group and the Star Fighters’ Alliance had co-produced Heavenly Phantom. Wen Wenkang was the chief technician that the Star Fighters’ Alliance had sent to Heavenly Phantom. He had just finished the day’s work.

He put everything back to where it belonged slowly. Then, with his hands behind his back, he whispered a song and entered a lift through the channel below the maintenance room. The lift then moved down slowly and brought him to a common room in the end.

In the middle of the common room was an oily king-sized bed.

Wen Wenkang did not lie on it. Instead, he raised the mattress, revealing a secret teleportation array below.

Five minutes later, Wen Wenkang appeared in a secret chamber in the center of Heavenly Phantom.

Heavenly Phantom had a total length of 37 kilometers. It was essentially a large town. Building several secret chambers inside the starship was more than easy.

When the gate of the secret chamber was slowly closed after a ‘chi’ sound, Wen Wenkang’s slightly hunched back gradually straightened. The laziness and dumbness on his face entirely disappeared. Two ferocious tigers that represented determination and dedications woke up in his eyes.

He had personally built the secret chamber. It was a secret command center with a high computational ability and confidentiality.

Light beams were flashing everywhere. No seats around the six long desks were empty.

As far as one’s eyes could reach, the participants were mostly middle-level or high-level officials and the core disciples of the Grand Illusionary Group.

Others were the core members of the six sects of Heavenly Saints City and the Star Fighters’ Alliance. But most of them were young people and the radicals in their respective sects.

Everybody was wearing the same expression as Wen Wenkang’s. Determination, fanaticism, and slight anxiety because of the upcoming great war.

Wen Wenkang nodded at Xiao Xuance, who was sitting at the end of the long desk, indicating that he had examined the room and there were no detectaphones or other surveillance magical equipment.

Xiao Xuance stood up and tapped the desk softly. When everybody quieted down, he said calmly, “Yesterday, fellow Cultivator Cui Zongping of the Silver Moon Clan unfortunately perished.

“Fellow Cultivator Cui was an expert in data mining. In order to dig out the information of our target from the data of the Swooping Eagle Space Zone, which was as tremendous as ocean, he performed the ninth level of the ‘Wind Catching Algorithm’ for nine hours, even though he was merely in the high level of the Building Foundation Stage. He became mentally deranged in the end.

“He could’ve been saved, but in order to keep the secret of our organization, he held back the excruciating pain, sent the valuable information to us, and deleted all traces inside his crystal processor, before he cried out for help in the end.

“When help came, it was already too late. Fellow Cultivator Cui had perished!

“Fellow Cultivator Cui sacrificed himself for the renaissance of mankind, the greatest cause in the entire universe. Now, let’s have one minute of silence for Fellow Cultivator Cui!”

Shua!

Everybody including Wen Wenkang stood up. They extended their right arms and clenched their fists, before they folded their arms and stuck their fists to their chests. They all mourned in silence and solemnity.

After a minute, Xiao Xuance looked around and said seriously, “We are different from the counterfeits of the Temple of Immortals. We are the real Immortal Cultivators.

“The real Immortal Cultivators are not scared of death. To sacrifice for the civilization of mankind is our greatest happiness and glory!

“For decades, countless predecessors have sacrificed themselves unhesitatingly and unwaveringly, in order to build our cause to what it is today. The Flying Star Sector, which has been divided by five thousand years, will be reunited by our hands. One civilization, one leader, and one true path!

“However, the moment before our final victory, our cause has met a fatal threat!”