Chapter 114: Volcanic Eruption
Translator: Ash Editor: Geoffrey
After a moment, a violent roar reverberated above Li Yao’s head as a chill gradually descended, suppressing everything around it.
It was as though a towering, giant mountain was flying above the crystal train, suppressing every living being between the heaven and earth in a 50 kilometer radius.
Li Yao, who was glued to the window to the point that his nose was almost squeezed flat, looked at the sky with wide-open eyes.
And in the sky, he saw hundreds of meter long crystal battleship passing over the crystal train with irresistible momentum as it rolled towards the beast tide.
From the colorful ripples that overflowed from the anti-gravity array glyphs under the battleship, Li Yao suddenly recognized the battleship:
"It's the Federation Army's 'Dragonslayer-class', mid-size destroyer that is specially designed to suppress beast tide outbreaks! Its front deck is equipped with a triple barrel 'Primeval True Fire Cannon[1]' whose three barrels could respectively imitate the three basic energies—'Essence 精', 'Energy 气', and 'Soul 神' [2]. When the three barrels are simultaneously activated, the terrifying True Samadhi Fire would be shot out. The True Samadi Fire could use the corpses of demon beasts as fuel to continuously proliferate and spread—it would only be extinguished after completely burning the beast tide!"
"Whiz! Whiz! Whiz!"
Dozens of battle shuttles flew out from the crystal battleships, giving off the impression as if several dozen giant flying swords were cruising around the beast tide.
Once a Ghost Face Mosquito trying to flee the range of the True Samadhi Fire was found, the shuttles would swarm over and relentlessly pressure the Ghost Face Mosquito to fly back.
The Ghost Face Silver Mosquitoes, who were all high and mighty as if nothing in the world could stop them a moment ago, had now turned pretty miserable. The Giant Python had completely collapsed into thin and long "earthworms" that were contorting and wailing as they struggled inside the flames.
At the same time, the red-as-blood, fiendish eye in the sky had also, god knows when, silently closed, returning the world to its previous picturesque appearance and painting a beautiful night sky where the bright, round moon struggled to reveal its brilliant and beautiful figure from within the clouds.
The wormhole between the Heaven Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector had completely closed.
"We won!"
Li Yao closed his eyes; his eyes were extremely sore.
Something burning hot began to appear at the rim of his eyes, as if it was lava that had been suppressed for far too long and was about to erupt with nothing being able to stop it.
Only now did he open his palm, revealing the four holes dripping with blood on his palm as the bones of fingers made “Crack Crack” sounds like rusty gears.
"Of course, we will win!"
A heavily injured soldier who had lost both legs from the thigh and had barely stopped his bleeding with the assistance of spirit glyphs had his lips parted as he said with a smile spread across his face, "We are the strongest battle race in the endless space, so how could a few tiny mosquitoes be our opponent?"
...
After three hours, the crystal train came to a halt at a nameless, abandoned station in the Wasteland that was tightly surrounded by hundreds of temporary-built barracks.
Thousand of soldiers carrying Boltguns encircled the crystal train so tightly that not even a fly could pass through.
While the "Dragonslayer-class" crystal battleship floated above the crystal train, several dozen cultivators continued to circle around the crystal battleship so meticulously that it was as though they were about to confront a great enemy.
It was a routine inspection after each beast tide outbreak.
It was all because there were precedents where some powerful, high-ranked demons with profound wisdom had quietly sneaked into the Heaven Origin Sector using the beast tide outbreak by disguising themselves as humans, causing a great deal of damage.
After suffering a few losses, the federation had become extremely responsive to the beast tide outbreak. The federation had even started using a set of rigorous inspection procedures, due to which the demon clan had never been able to find another opportunity to sneak into the Heaven Origin Sector.
However, all of this could not be clearly explained to the passengers.
Naturally, it was impossible to completely hide the earthshaking battle, so the ordinary passengers were formally informed that when the crystal train was about to leave the Thunderstorm Zone, they had encountered an attack from a small group of demon beasts that were very quickly thwarted by the train soldiers.
However, the crystal train had also suffered serious damage and needed to stop to undergo a thorough maintenance. Only then would it be possible to continue the journey.
Perhaps one day, the secret files would be declassified and everything would come to light.
The passengers would then come to know that there were seven cultivators who had traded their valuable lives for glittering thunderstorms to buy them three minutes.
The passengers would then come to know that there were some young and immature federation soldiers who, in order to buy even one more second, had destroyed their Boltguns and raised their Chainswords in preparations to charge into the terrifying beast tide.
The passenger would then come to know that there was a low-level cultivator from the Mountain Sea Sect cruising nearby who immediately rushed over without regards for his life upon hearing their distress signal and faced the turbulent waves of Ghost Face Mosquitoes as he hoisted the Anti-Ship Swords of Flames.
But at this hour and at this moment—they were completely oblivious to everything.
Inside the temporary tents, some of the passengers were rather indignant and were constantly complaining.
"Wasn't it just a small scuffle with demon beasts? How come it had drawn such a big scene? Who knows how long it will take!"
And their loved ones, those weak and frail seniors, the mothers embracing their babies... were already drifting to sleep under the protection of the federation army and the cultivators.
Whereas, inside a few white tents nearby, surgical operations were being intensely carried out as a dozen young and immature soldiers, who were about the same age as Li Yao, had some of their limbs removed and replaced with spiritual prosthetics, becoming a “Federation Disabled Serviceman”.
And despite being completely blind to what the brutal future had in store for them, these soldiers were, nevertheless, glowing with a calm smile.
In contrast, Li Yao was curled up in a corner of a platform in the station as he looked at the passengers and the federation army with an extremely confused expression in his eyes.
Although not the slightest bit of change could be found on his exterior, his brain had already been burning for three hours. Currently, it was as if he was only a curled up shell, while his spirit was still immersed in those soul-stirring three minutes…
Where seven cultivators had come forward and took the armored coach into the beast tide!
Where the red-eyed officer with a half-naked body and wings of light spread across his back carried the Taiyi Lightning Railgun on his shoulder and transformed into a ball of lightning that tore away the heaven and the earth!
Where the soldiers from the federation army had destroyed their Thunderfire Boltguns, hoisted their Chainsword, and emitted a final battle cry with soaring murderous aura!
Where the Mountain Sea Sect's cultivator had brandished the Anti-Ship Swords of Flames with indomitable will and charged forward towards the demon clan giant at full speed!
Blood seething scenes, one by one, like bright stars, constantly flashed in the depths of Li Yao's mind.
Whereas, tsunami-like roars resounded in his ears:
"Ladies and gentlemen, let's fight side by side!"
"Evil bastards, cultivators are here! Come here to die!"
These scenes… these roars… had congealed into an inexplicable wave that fiercely attacked the depths of his brain, so much that his mouth became parched and his tongue felt scorched, his breathing became erratic, his heart rate had accelerated to ten times than the usual, and his "Pineal Gland" was aching in pain to the point that he had an urge to use the Black Wing Sword to split open the top of his head.
"Ah..."
Li Yao could not help but let out a roar as he involuntarily clenched his fists tightly. All the muscles in his body started contracting, and each of his bones made "Crack Crack" noises as if they were about to pierce his skin and come out!
"What's going on? My brain seems to be frantically secreting an unknown hormone which is making my internal organs, each strand of my muscles, every blood vessel, and even every cell operate in madness! The frequency of their movements is getting faster and faster—I might not be able to hold on any longer!"
"I-is this—"
Li Yao clenched his teeth, line after line of bulging blue veins as thick as earthworms appeared as power frantically surged into his veins like a torrential tide, cleaning his body round after round!
"Brother Tao, I didn't expect you to be so formidable. You have actually repaired the Taiyi Lightning Railgun at the critical moment, allowing the soldiers to repulse the demon beasts' attack and save the entire train!"
Just as Li Yao’s spirit was burning and his blood was boiling, a sharp and clear female voice suddenly floated into his ear.
"Taiyi Lightning Railgun"—these three words had taken Li Yao by surprise for a moment. He narrowed his eyes to look towards the source of the sound.
It was Jiang Tao and Gu Lili.
Jiang Tao slightly smiled. Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly noticed the nearby Li Yao as a sliver of embarrassment appeared on his face. After a bit of thinking, he walked towards Li Yao in large strides.
"Brother, I could have never imagined that even though you have such an ordinary appearance, you would have such quick hand speed and would even be able to repair the Thunderfire Boltgun. Sure enough, a still tongue makes a wise head [3]. I am Jiang Tao from the Jiang Family. Let's be friends!"
Jiang Tao extended his hand towards Li Yao with a smile.
Although Jiang Tao was a descendant of the Jiang Family, he was from a branch family. Since there were many competitors in the family, he had limited resources in his hands.
Whereas, even though Gu Lili was not a cultivator, her father was a local tyrant who owned several crystal mines. Once their relationship was completely fixed, Gu Lili's family would provide him with massive amounts of resources to help him cultivate.
Therefore, Jiang Tao was pursuing Gu Lili with everything he had.
When it was time to "step forward", he only did so in order to show off his heroic spirit in front of Gu Lili, but little did he expect that it was the beast tide outbreak they had encountered, one which almost caused him to pee his pants.
And as luck would have it, Gu Lili didn't know the truth and it was impossible for the army to declassify everything in such a short period of time, so in order to brag about himself in front of his girlfriend, Jiang Tao had shoved everything that Li Yao had done unto himself.
But he had never imagined that he would encounter the person who had truly done it at such a timely moment; his bragging was almost exposed.
"After all, as a cultivator, to get cold feet is certainly nothing glorious. Perhaps several competitors in the family would even hype it up without restraint, which would certainly ruin my reputation."
"The train soldiers are insignificant, but this hick is going to be a little troublesome. Although he may be rustic, he is still a new student of the Grand Desolate War Institution's Refining Department and is, after all, a student of the Nine Elite Universities. Not to mention that his hand speed is so quick, one would never know when he could soar to the top and become an influential figure."
"For such a person, it would be better to become friends before he gains fame. Once we are friends, everything will naturally be settled!"
Usually, Jiang Tao would flaunt a little, but he was, after all, still a descendant of a big family, thus he was not too stupid. After analyzing the gains and losses clearly, he immediately thought of becoming friends with Li Yao.
But, Li Yao's mind was in chaos; it was as if a volcano was about to erupt. His seven emotions and six desires[4] were heightened to the extreme, as such he simply could not control himself.
Before the brain had issued any command, four words, like flying swords, shot out like lightning from the depths of his throat:
"Get the hell out!"
Jiang Tao's complexion changed. Not so long ago, on the crystal train, the seven cultivators had a contemptuous look in their eyes towards him, as they had regarded him as a deserter, which already brought him extreme shame and anger.
He had never thought that even an ordinary person would dare to yell at him.
Glancing around, he discovered many soldiers patrolling. Forcing back his anger, Jiang Tao pulled out a blank gold transfer card from his bosom and handed it over.
"We are both learning to refine, so why do you keep people away? From the way you dress, your family should be a commoner family. Otherwise, you would not have ended up in the Grand Desolate War Institution's Refining Department. However, learning to refine requires a great deal of money. If you want to rise above the others, you need to take private lessons on top of the normal studies. This card has 200,000 bucks. Take it and spend it as you wish. Think of it as me supporting a junior. Hahaha."
Jiang Tao stuffed the gold transfer card into Li Yao's bosom and moved closer to his ear as he spoke in a suppressed voice, "But you can not talk about what happened on the train. ‘Misfortune comes from the mouth’—as a student of the Nine Elite Universities, you should know what these four words mean, right?"
TLN:
[1] True Fire - The fire that can be produced by the cultivator himself using his internal core or qi/energy.
[2] The three essential energies are the basic energies required to sustain human life. They are also known as Jing Qi Shen or three treasures.
- Jing 精 - The basic essence which is related to the physical aspect of the body.
- Qi 气 - The energy or breath which propels the body. It is what moves the body.
- Shen 神 - Soul, spirit, mind - the spiritual or psychic aspect of the body. In other words, the command center of the body.
[3] A person who is wise does not speak much.
[4] Seven Emotions - pleasure, anger, sorrow, joy, love, hate, and desire. Six Desires - The desires associated with the six sensory organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind)—lust, vanity, dignity, pleasant sounds, good life/death, and sensual pleasures.