Chapter 611: Imminent Peril
Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97
Over the three months he had spent on Iron Plateau, Li Yao had lived in the wilderness in the beginning and trained himself in the craziest ways after he reached the Furious Bears Tribe. Therefore, his looks had changed a lot.
To avoid being seen through, he had also been adjusting his facial muscles slightly day after day. After two months of hard work, he looked like a totally different person now.
At this moment, he relaxed all the muscles that he had been twisting by force and resumed his original appearance.
Lei Dalu was confused briefly. But seeing Li Yao's cunning countenance, Lei Dalu's eyes grew wider and wider, as if he had seen a ghost. "You—you—"
Li Yao lowered his voice and said, "Captain once offered me an Eight Arm Suit as a gift. You were the one who saw me off when I left the Great Horn Exo Society, too. We were chitchatting while we watched Gold Horn undergoing maintenance in the port. I remember clearly what the conversation was. Should I repeat it to convince you of my identity?"
Lei Dalu took a long breath and smiled. "That's unnecessary. It's not that I don't believe you. I was just a bit surprised. How did you end up here dressed like this?"
"You know what planet we are on as well. Do I want to get myself killed by dressing like a Cultivator? It's you who are dressing weirdly here. A bunch of fully-armed Cultivators landing on Iron Plateau and getting into conflict with Iron Plateau natives? You must feel that you've lived long enough! "Li Yao said.
Lei Dalu frowned. "Some important hostages are hidden on Iron Plateau; we're here to rescue them. But, it seems that you were faster than us!"
Li Yao waved his hand and said, "Our time is short. The main troops of Iron Plateau natives will surround us shortly. They are all elites above the 50th level of the Refinement Stage. Common low-level Building Foundation Stage Cultivators are but toys to them! I'll explain the details to you later. Right now, I only need to know two things.
"Firstly, why were you the first to come to the hostages' rescue?
"Secondly, are the Cultivators' main troops on their way to Iron Plateau?"
Lei Dalu nodded. "The hostages are all college students of Flying Star University and Heavenly Saints Institute. Their family members are mostly the pillars of the major sects and noble families. One of them is even the granddaughter of the leader of the Burning Sun Alliance! The news that they were kidnapped shook the world of Cultivators. The consequences would have been dire if the hostages were not rescued!
"Therefore, the six major sects and the various noble families have all sent their best warriors. Should the rescue mission fail, a brutal reprisal will immediately be launched!
"As for us, we were already in the Iron Plateau Space Zone. Therefore, they contacted us and asked us to try to rescue them first."
Li Yao was curious. "Why did you come to the Iron Plateau Space Zone? Besides, wasn't the Great Horn Exo Society crippled a couple of months ago? Has it been rebuilt successfully in such a short time? The new members look rather unfamiliar, but they are quite capable despite their lack of experience in combat."
Lei Dalu coughed and scratched his head. "They are all kids dismissed from the Tiger Killer Camp long ago and orphans that we fostered earlier. They've gathered and reestablished the Great Horn Exo Society since they heard that we were nearly wiped out.
"As for the reason we came to the Iron Plateau Space Zone in advance… We were here for you in the beginning."
Li Yao was dazed for a moment, but he thought everything through in the next moment. He felt his eyes were hot.
No wonder the Great Horn Exo Society was the first to appear on Iron Plateau.
Their original purpose was not to rescue the hostages but to rescue him!
Taking a long breath and calming himself down, Li Yao spoke fast. "Alright. Let's talk more later. I would rather not expose my identity at this moment. So, please give orders on behalf of me, captain. Right now, we are in a tricky situation. One step wrong, and the fire of war will be ignited and consume us all! There's only one way if we want to save our asses and resolve the conflict in front of us!"
Lei Dalu asked nervously, "What is it?"
Li Yao squinted and replied, "Digging pits!"
…
At the same time, in the periphery of the Iron Plateau Space Zone, amid the deep and boundless sea of stars, more than ten colorful exhaust flames were interweaved and extended toward the end of the cosmos.
At the front of the exhaust flames were more than ten magnificent, domineering warships!
Different battle emblems were painted on the head of the warships. Some of the battle emblems were like suns and moons, some were like rampant bears, some were giant serpents that had grown wings, and one of them was two crossed great axes.
Furious Bears Union! Burning Sun Alliance! Feathered Snakes Brotherhood! Heavenly Wolves Fortress! Silver Moon Clan! Giant Axe Hall!
The main warships of the six sects of Heavenly Saints City, the strongest sects of the Flying Star Sector, had rushed to the Iron Plateau Space Zone!
Since the granddaughter of the leader of the Burning Sun Alliance had been kidnapped, 'Proud Sun', a warship of the highest level in the Burning Sun Alliance, had been sent out for the mission and served as the flagship of the fleet.
Proud Sun was a sister starship to 'Burning Sun', the commanding starship of the Burning Sun Alliance. It was not hard to imagine its formidability!
Right now, inside a meeting room on Proud Sun, more than ten members from the six major sects and the noble families were having a discussion.
A middle-aged man in the captain uniform, whose eyes were hollowed and whose hair was spotted with redness, mumbled, "There's still no news from the Great Horn Exo Society."
He was Wan Liyun, captain of Proud Sun, son of the leader of the Burning Sun Alliance, and father of Wan Hongying, who was one of the hostages!
"Iron Plateau has a complicated natural environment. Strong sources of interference are both in the atmosphere and in the planetary ring. It's hard to transmit telepathic thoughts from inside. The Great Horn Exo Society might have already rescued the hostages successfully and be on their way out of Iron Plateau!"
A Cultivator from the Furious Bears Union comforted him, although he was quite worried himself.
His blood nephew had also been imprisoned with no telling of life or death.
Wan Liyun clenched his fists hard and gnashed his teeth. "According to the intelligence we collected, Iron Plateau is very likely an important base for the Temple of Immortals. Maybe the Iron Plateau natives have colluded with Immortal Cultivators since long ago!
"If that's true, I am going to turn Iron Plateau into an ocean of flames!"
…
On Iron Plateau, in the Dark Continent, not far away from the valley where the Oasis Tribe was located, a small drill protruded out of the ground and observed the surroundings cautiously like a clever marmot.
The rod below the drill carried crystal cameras and a lot of other probe magical equipment that could search for the feeble spiritual waves nearby.
Deep below the drill, fifty meters into the underground, Sparkle was hiding in the earth silently.
"Let me take a look! Let me take a look!"
"Odd. We just sensed that a bunch of Cultivators were fighting the natives hard. Why are they gone all of a sudden?
"They must be hiding somewhere nearby. Enlarge the search area. Do not overlook the feeblest spiritual waves."
Mo Xuan and the other four spectral Cultivators had snuck onto Iron Plateau three days ago.
As a multipurpose exploration starship, Sparkle was designed for missions on planets. The best stage for it was always within the atmosphere.
Since it was an exploration starship, it was very small in size and carried much magical equipment that could help it pass through dangerous areas. After treading lightly inside the planetary ring for four days, the starship had crossed treacherous zone without being damaged at all.
The previous mission of Sparkle was to explore Boneyard, which had required it to sneak thousands of meters below ground. Therefore, the main gun of the starship was replaced by a drill of mystical rays, and a lot of magical equipment suitable for digging holes below ground had been installed, too.
Over the past two months, the five spectral Cultivators had gathered a lot of files from the Spiritual Nexus, too, and were aware that Iron Plateau was a forbidden area for Cultivators. Therefore, they did not dare fly in the sky openly. Instead, they chose to dig underground with the drill of mystic rays and kept moving in stealth mode.
One day ago, they had detected the existence of the Great Horn Exo Society and found that it was engaged in a battle with the Oasis Tribe. They were quite curious and followed the newcomers.
However, they seemed to have lost the Great Horn Exo Society.
"Professor, feeble spiritual waves are coming from southwest. But the distance is too long for us to tell whether or not they are man-made. We cannot calculate the accurate distance, either."
"What else can we do? Let's go there and check!"
"Not good. Professor, several giant sandworms are coming at us. It appears that we've dug into their nest!"
"What? Prepare to fight!"
…
DUM! DUM DUM DUM DUM!
The drumming tanks of the Giant Axe Tribe were playing exciting battle hymns that were echoing in the sky.
Thousands of the best warriors of the six tribes, riding on hundreds of tanks, were charging at the valley where Li Yao was hiding, their blood so hot that it was almost burning.
"War! War! A war against the space residents!"
"The space residents are asking to be killed now that they've trespassed on our homeland!"
In the carriage of a heavy tank, Yan Xibei, the chiefs of Giant Axe, Feathered Snakes, Silver Moon, and Heaven Wolves, and an elder from the Furious Bears Tribe, as well as Xiong Zhenzhen and Shi Meng, gathered together and listened to Yan Chifeng's speech solemnly.
Shi Meng's eyeballs were about to explode. He bashed the desk and roared, "Yan Chifeng, say again!"
"Brother Shi Meng, I'm not lying to you. Sand Scorpion is truly a space resident and a spy that his compatriots sent to monitor us!"
Yan Chifeng maintained the same poker face as before, but there was grief inside his eyes while he said seriously, "A while ago, I chased after a tank of the Burning Sun Tribe with more than ten brothers and found that the driver was exactly Sand Scorpion. He opened fire mercilessly the moment he saw us. If the knights of the Burning Sun Tribe were less skilled in racing, many of them would've been killed instantly! You are free to ask anyone who went with me. They all saw it with their own eyes!
"I was fortunate enough to dash to the bottom of the tank, escaping his attention while he was too concentrated on other people. He didn't notice my existence!
"I hid myself for a long time. He seemed to think that he had gotten rid of all the pursuers and laughed in great satisfaction. Then he started talking with the passengers on board.
"It was not until then that I learned that the everyone on the vehicle was a spy sent by the space residents to examine the terrain of Iron Plateau for the next step of their operations!
"Their plan was to hide in the valley in front of us. Other stronger Cultivators seem to be backing them up there. Also, before long, an enormous fleet of the space residents will arrive and invade Iron Plateau!"