Chapter 682: The Mist Plan
Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97
Whispers immediately filled the command center.
Li Yao was quite startled, too.
He had long known that a secret squad made by the elite members of the six sects of Heavenly Saints City were investigating and striking the Temple of Immortals on a hidden battlefield. But he did not know that the squad had made such a remarkable achievement as to learn the code name of the Temple of Immortals' next operation.
"Many fellow Cultivators know that we established a rapid response force named 'Immortal Slayers' with the core disciples of the six sects of Heavenly Saints City as pillars after the appearance of the Temple of Immortals to cope with the unprecedented change," Xiao Xuance said.
"However, for the sake of confidentiality, few knew that the Immortal Slayers were actually divided into two squads. On the surface, they were a rapid response force. But in fact, quite a lot of members of the Immortal Slayers infiltrated the Temple of Immortals.
"The underground frontline was bloody and cruel. Over the past year, a hundred and thirty-two Immortal Slayers have sacrificed themselves in the darkness.
"It is based on their endeavor and sacrifice that we gradually grasped some of the secrets of the Temple of Immortals, including the general picture of the 'Mist Plan'!
"Therefore, before the formal introduction of the Mist Plan, let's express our sincerest gratitude for the martyrs!"
All the Cultivators lowered their heads and had a moment of silence.
"Other than them, there is a special Cultivator that we shouldn't forget."
Xiao Xuance continued his speech touchingly. "Fellow Cultivator Li Yao, the unaffiliated Cultivator who was the first to unveil the secrets of the Temple of Immortals.
"Although Fellow Cultivator Li was merely an unaffiliated Cultivator in the Building Foundation Stage, he sabotaged the first great scheme of the Temple of Immortals with his unparalleled wisdom and courage and informed us of the existence of Immortal Cultivators so that we could make preparations sooner."
Li Yao was almost moved.
He found it harder and harder to tell whether Xiao Xuance was a good man or a bad one.
After a minute of silence for Li Yao and the deceased Immortal Slayers, the gloom on Xiao Xuance's face was entirely gone. He put on a shrewd and determined face again and waved his hands, summoning hundreds of light beams behind him on which detailed profiles of the members of the Temple of Immortals were listed.
"Since the battle in the Iron Plateau Space Zone was over one year ago, the Temple of Immortals has never planned any big operations. They seemed to have vanished in the sea of stars and simply asked the space pirates to continue harassing our sailing routes.
"We suspected that the Temple of Immortals were accumulating its strength in secret and planning an earthshaking operation. Therefore, we dedicated a lot of manpower to investigate and finally discovered the 'Mist Plan'."
Shua!
About ten pictures on the light beam behind Xiao Xuance were enlarged.
Most of the pictures were quite fuzzy or captured from a special angle. It was very hard to distinguish the faces of the people in the pictures.
"According to our investigation, the eight people in the pictures are all high-level killers of Spider's Thorn, an assassin group of Black Spider Tower. They are known as the 'Eight Blades'.
"The Eight Blades of Black Spider are all super experts above the Core Formation Stage. They have arrived in Heavenly Saints City and snuck in right next to us!"
Gasps were echoing inside the command center again.
Eight Core Formation Stage Cultivators, who were adept at stealth and assassination, had teamed up. Even a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator would have a headache if he ran into them.
No wonder so many experts had been summoned for the meeting today!
Xiao Xuance waved his hands. The light beam changed into a black shadow with a big blood-red question mark in the middle.
"Eight Blades of Black Spider are not leaders of the Mist Plan, despite all being in the Core Formation Stage.
"Four Kings of Immortality: Mountain, Sea, Black, Lotus. Of them, Yan Xibei, the Mountain King, was in charge of fanning the flames in the six tribes of Iron Plateau and has been slain by Fellow Cultivator Sand.
"Right now, the 'Mist Plan' is probably supervised by the Black King, another leader of the Temple of Immortals.
"We don't have the first clue as to who the Black King is exactly. Our best guess is that he is probably 'Hellsword' Zhuang Ziyou, one of the two top experts on Spider Den who is equally famous as Bai Xinghe, the 'Pirate Potentate'.
"However, 'Hellsword' Zhuang Ziyou is an unpredictable lone wolf all the time and wanders separately from the pirate gangs. He does not even listen to the orders of the 'Pirate Potentate' Bai Xinghe. We truly do not know much about him.
"Of course, it is not appropriate to say that the Pirate Potentate and the Hellsword are the top two experts right now. According to the latest news, Fengyu Zhong, captain of Storm Prison, has advanced into the Nascent Soul Stage recently!
"It is quite possible that there are three Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators among the space pirates!"
Li Yao raised his eyebrow.
Fengyu Zhong was now a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator, too?
He had killed Fengyu Zhong's only son. The two of them were mortal enemies and would not stop hunting each other until one of them was killed.
Li Yao was eager to find out whether or not he could take down a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator with the help of the reborn Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit now that he was in the superlative height of the Building Foundation Stage and had a capability almost twenty times higher than common Cultivators in the peak of the Building Foundation Stage.
"The Black King, who is possibly in the Nascent Soul Stage; the 'Eight Blades of Black Spider, who are in the Core Formation Stage; and other experts hiding in the darkness that we do not know yet are the operatives of the 'Mist Plan'!
"Even for the Temple of Immortals, such an elite team must be made up their top warriors.
"In other words, as long as we can fish them up, the Temple of Immortals will suffer heavy losses, and we will get more precious time for the planning and building of our stellar-level magical equipment!"
Xiao Xuance paused for a moment and looked at everybody.
A Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator who had wrinkles all over his face and looked to be three hundred years old observed casually, "This is the center of Heavenly Saints City, the most heavily guarded place in the entire Flying Star Sector. Even if they have a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator and eight or more Core Formation Stage Cultivators, can they do whatever they want and kill anybody here?"
"Of course not."
The light beam behind Xiao Xuance changed yet again. Three big words—Heart Gnawing Mist—popped up along with a large number of files.
"The Heart Gnawing Mist is the new-generation poison that the Temple of Immortals condensed based on countless ancient books by mixing nine different common poisons and purifying them with modern technology. It can attack flesh, cells, nerves, and the soul at the same time!
"We don't know the power of the Heart Gnawing Mist as of now. But by our rough estimates, one spoonful of Heart Gnawing Mist should be enough to kill tens of thousands of people when it is released into the air!"
The 300-year-old Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator was not moved. "We've all seen better poison. Is the Temple of Immortals trying to kill so many Core Formation Stage Cultivators and Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators with venom?"
"The Heart Gnawing Poison is not designed for you." Xiao Xuance shook his head and replied calmly, "It is prepared for ordinary people and low-level Cultivators."
"What?"
Everyone, including Li Yao, was shocked.
"Heavenly Saints City is a star fortress. Our central area is essentially an enclosed iron ball. All the fresh air is provided by an artificial circulating system.
"When the Edge Sharpeners' Meeting began, experts, scholars, and visitors from other space zones all came to enjoy the gala. Up until the day before yesterday, the population of the central area of Heavenly Saints City was three times the usual, a new record!
"All these people need to breath oxygen. Our air recycling system is now already overloaded.
"If the Temple of Immortals infiltrates one of the procedures of the air recycling system and injects abundant Heart Gnawing Mist, it will definitely fill the entire central area of Heavenly Saints City. What will the consequences be, if I may ask?
"Perhaps Cultivators above the Building Foundation Stage will be able to resist the poison. But the ordinary people and low-level Cultivators are bound to be affected by the mist.
"At that time, the central area of Heavenly Saints City will be in chaos. All the Core Formation Stage Cultivators and the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators will be busy rescuing the people.
"The 'Black King' and the 'Eight Blades of Black Spider' will naturally take the opportunity to assassinate the targets whom they deem of value and who are least prepared.
"Even if the assassination fails, the chaos they make in the central area of Heavenly Saints City will be a major strike for people's confidence in Cultivators and, therefore, shake the foundation of the world!
"This is the general picture of the Mist Plan."
There was half a minute of silence in the command center.
Although the ventilation rune arrays were fully functioning and releasing fresh air that even carried the aroma of soil after a rain, the Core Formation Stage Cultivators and the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators all felt short of breath, as if they had already been poisoned by the mist.
Coldness beamed out of the eyes of the 300-year-old Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator, while he raised his voice and asked, "Fellow Cultivator Xiao, are you sure that the Immortal Slayers have fully grasped the Mist Plan and we have the Black King and the Eight Blades of Black Spider on our radar?"
"No. The Black King and the Eight Blades of Black Spider are not important. The Heart Gnawing Poison is the key."
Greasy sweat was pouring down the forehead of another Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator, who was a bit obese, while he asked, "Have we located all of the Heart Gnawing Mist?"
"We have." Xiao Xuance nodded calmly. "After several months of hard work, we have found out the residences of the Black King and the Eight Blades of Black Spider in Heavenly Saints City and how they are preparing to breach in the air recycling system!
"The Mist Plan started several years ago. Two Immortal Cultivators snuck into the central area of Heavenly Saints City two years ago and have been working in the air recycling stations.
"Of course, it is also possible that the Temple of Immortals bewildered the Cultivators who used to work in the air recycling station and turned them into emotionless Immortal Cultivators."
"What!"
A Core Formation Stage Cultivator rose up and exclaimed in shock. Half a second later, he blushed and sat down again.
"There's no need to be worried, everybody. We have everybody on the list under our control. The coordinates of all the Immortal Cultivators and the Heart Gnawing Mist are in our hands.
"The net has been thrown, and the fish will be picked up before midnight.
"However, we did not expect that the Temple of Immortals would send so many experts for the mission. The soldiers of the six sects of Heavenly Saints City and the Immortal Slayers may not be capable enough to annihilate all of them.
"Therefore, we need you to give us a hand. There is no way that such a tragedy can be allowed to take place in the central area of Heavenly Saints City!"