Chapter 690: Death of Apollo
Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97
Seeing that Li Yao could still sit straight, the other Cultivators who participated in the Mist Clearing Operation were all overjoyed. Many of them took out medication drugs and magical equipment.
"Fellow Cultivator Sand, are you alright?"
Li Yao's eyes suddenly split, and his face turned extremely pale and slightly green. Sweat the size of beans was smashing the ground like rainwater.
His hands shivering, he ripped open the mustard-seed suit on his body. In front of his chest was a black and purple bruise that seemed to have been caused by a venomous centipede. It was swollen, and it looked as if pus would burst out as soon as anybody touched it.
"I—Ke ke ke ke—I'm fine."
Of course, he was fine.
Everything was a disguise. He destroyed his skin with spiritual energy and faked the seemingly terrible wounds that in fact did not matter at all.
'Hellsword' was best at mental attacks. Since Li Yao's soul had been cleansed by Ou Yezi, the last thing he was scared of was a mental attack.
Therefore, when he learned that the Black King, one of the four kings of the Temple of Immortals, was possibly the lone wolf 'Hellsword', he came up with such a risky plan.
If it were another Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator who was best at not mental attack but strength, speed, or computational ability, Li Yao would not have dared wear the Sky Scorpion Armor and use 80% of his maximum speed at all.
He would have donned the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit and summoned Black Wing to boost his combat ability long ago!
"Senior Cai, I—I'm fine." Li Yao breathed heavily and asked, "What's the current status?"
He recognized that the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator in the lead was Cai Qi, an old, renowned professor of the Flying Sword Department of Flying Star University. Professor Cai was also an elder of the Silver Moon Clan, one of the six sects of Heavenly Saints City.
Different from the 'leak-filling team' who joined the Mist Clearing Operation at the last moment, Professor Cai was a key member of the operation and had been part of it since the beginning.
Naturally, he knew much more information than Li Yao and the rest of them did.
Cai Yi, a sword Cultivator in the Nascent Soul Stage, was wearing a plain, light crystal suit, but he was surrounded by more than ten weird flying swords that had no handles and looked like silver crescent moons. The flying swords were circling him at a seemingly low speed, and they were not emitting any dazzling brilliance. Yet, their trajectories were extremely uncanny. After just a few glances at them, Li Yao already felt short of breath.
Calculating inside his brain silently, Li Yao discovered that, if the two of them were to fight right now, he would not be able to calculate the possible attack routes of the flying swords or dodge them at all!
He felt like he was bathing in cold moonlight. Wherever he went, the moonlight would be after him.
Cai Qi waved his left hand. A crystal processor ejected out of the arm of the crystal suit and projected almost a hundred light beams.
As a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator and a key member of the Mist Clearing Operation, Cai Qi had a far more advanced crystal processor than Li Yao. After all the light beams spread out, the area practically turned into a temporary command center.
It was exactly what had been designed in the plan of the Mist Clearing Operation. Once the situation got out of control and Hellsword or the Eight Blades of Black Spider ran away, the siege network would immediately be enlarged. All the Core Formation Stage Cultivators, Building Foundation Stage Cultivators and Refinement Stage Cultivators would listen to the command of the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator that was closest to themselves.
Cai Qi's voice was calm, but Li Yao could tell that he was somewhat relieved.
"All the secret bases of the Immortal Cultivators have been occupied!
"More than fifty Immortal Cultivators were slain on the spot. More than a hundred were captured. Some of them are still on the run, but they are still within the siege!
"As for the Eight Blades of Black Spider. Five were killed, two were captured alive, and one escaped!
"All the liquefied Heart Gnawing Mist is now in our control. Our specialists are currently analyzing its components.
"Other than that, we have also controlled a batch of powerful explosive magical equipment!
"It has been confirmed that 'Hellsword' Zhuang Ziyou, the lone wolf on Spider Den, is the Black King and the leader of the Mist Plan. He is still on the run. It is not unlikely that he has fled out of the central area of Heavenly Saints City!"
Good news came one after another.
Although it was not a great victory, the Mist Plan had definitely been disrupted.
Hellsword had got away, but it was never going to be an easy task to capture a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator who was desperate to run away in such complicated terrain with such a great population.
But seven of the Eight Blades of Black Spider had been taken down!
Seven Core Formation Stage Cultivators adept at the arts of assassination could not be brought up by any organization easily. This operation was definitely a great blow for the Temple of Immortals!
Was my guess wrong?
Leaning against the ventilation tube, Li Yao was quite confused while he pretended to smear the ointment on his chest.
The Mist Clearing Operation was going very well. All the nests of the Immortal Cultivators had been demolished. Right now, the central area of Heavenly Saints City was packed with Cultivators whose vigilance was higher than ever.
It was safe to say that the central area of Heavenly Saints City had never been more heavily guarded in history.
Even if the Immortal Cultivators had any backup plans, the best time to activate them seemed to have already passed.
"Don't celebrate yet, everybody. It's still possible that other Immortal Cultivators are lurking in the central area of Heavenly Saints City. Besides, many ordinary people are not at ease and might get into trouble again," said Cai Qi solemnly.
"Besides, Hellsword is still on the run. If he goes on a rampage, he can turn into a human-skinned animal at any time and murder countless innocent people!
"Right now, all the connection tubes between the three internal space rings and the seven outer space rings have been cut off. All the commuting carriers have stopped running, too. The internal space ring is now fully enclosed!
"Cheer up, everybody, and fear no sacrifice. We must find Hellsword!"
Li Yao's heart was pounding. The strategies that the decision-makers of the Mist Clearing Operation adopted were proper and flawless.
Heavenly Saints City was a metropolis in space consisting of a star fortress in the center and ten super large circular space stations. There was nothing between the space rings. They were connected to each other by logistic tubes and carriers.
Now, the tubes were sealed, and the carriers had been called off. Even if Hellsword broke out of the space rings and fled into space, he would become a very conspicuous target that would be locked onto easily.
But why did he still feel vaguely ill at ease?
"Master Ye." Li Yao's eyelids suddenly twitched. He asked Ye Hongfei in a low voice, "The Mist Clearing Operation is the biggest operation that you've seen in your life, and almost all the experts in the world of Cultivators have gathered, even including many Refinement Stage Cultivators, correct?"
Ye Hongfei was dazed for a moment, before he replied, "Indeed. The central area of Heavenly Saints City is too populated and has a complicated environment. Not only do we need to annihilate all the Immortal Cultivators, we also have to protect ordinary people and avoid as many casualties as we can. Therefore, including the six sects of Heavenly Saints City, almost all the organizations in Heavenly Saints City large and small have been summoned and deployed to the three inner rings!
"Just rest assured. Although Hellsword is still running, the three inner rings have now been sealed. The vigilance in the city is now the highest in history. He won't be able to get away even if he is a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator!"
"That's true," Li Yao mumbled. "All the strength of Heavenly Saints City has been mobilized to the three inner rings whose connection to the seven outer rings has been cut off.
"Then, what about the seven outer rings?
"The defense of the seven outer rings must be the weakest in history, is it not?"
Ye Hongfei blinked, somewhat in confusion. "Well, I suppose. With the chaos in the three inner rings, all the Cultivators are carrying out the Mist Clearing Operation here. Naturally, few people are guarding the seven outer rings.
"However, there are not many targets worth attacking in the seven outer rings."
In Heavenly Saints City, the further a space ring was from the center, the less important it was.
The headquarters of the six sects of Heavenly Saints City, the Grand Illusionary Group, the three main crystal suit centers, Flying Star University, and Heavenly Saints Institute… Every important organization was established in the central area and within the first three space rings.
As for the space rings beyond, only the less important organizations such as smaller sects or arenas were located there.
The rings after the fourth space ring were mostly the living areas of ordinary people.
Li Yao rubbed his face so hard that it was almost smoking. He pondered for a moment and asked, "The ten space rings of Heavenly Saints City each encapsulate the last one. Therefore, the second ring is larger than the first ring, and the third ring is larger than the second ring, right?"
Ye Hongfei laughed. "Isn't it obvious?"
Li Yao continued. "So, the ninth ring is larger than the eighth ring, and the tenth ring is the largest and most populated one of all the space rings!"
Ye Hongfei nodded. "True that!"
Li Yao's voice became gloomier and gloomier. "When I came to Heavenly Saints City, I noticed that the construction of the tenth ring was not done yet. It was continuously expanding outwards.
"In other words, other than being the largest, most populated district of Heavenly Saints City, the tenth ring is also a super chaotic construction site.
"There are bound to be a lot of vulnerabilities in such a big construction site and many places that might conceal dirt. It is very easy to be infiltrated, isn't it?"
Ye Hongfei turned solemn, too. He pondered for a moment and agreed. "That's true. However, there are no targets worth attacking in the seven outer rings."
"You're quite right," Li Yao said. "With the Edge Sharpeners' Meeting that is only held once every five years, all the experts and scholars of the Flying Star Sector have gathered in the central area. Cultivators who usually live in the seven outer rings have come to the central area for the meeting, too.
"With the 'Mist Clearing Operation' this year, more Cultivators have gathered in the central area.
"Therefore, the number of Cultivators in the seven outer rings, especially the tenth ring, has hit rock bottom. Everybody's eyes are focused on the central area and the three inner rings, on the 'Mist Plan' and the 'Mist Clearing Operation', and on the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator 'Hellsword'!
"Nobody will bother to look at the tenth ring.
"After all, there are no targets worth attacking at all, only tens of millions of ordinary people!"
"Ah!"
Right then, exclamations came over in the communication channel.
Li Yao raised his head and noticed that all the Cultivators had opened their facial covers. There was shock and fury on their faces, suggesting that something important had happened.
There was chaos on the hundred light beams that Cai Qi projected. A major twist seemed to have taken place.
Li Yao felt that his heart was tightened as he asked, "What happened?"
"We have discovered Apollo's body," Cai Qi replied in anguish. "It was in 'Hellsword' Zhuang Ziyou's bed in his hotel room. Three lines of words were left on the chest of the body.
" Of the billions of paths of Cultivation,
" I only ask you this…
" Do you want to walk on the immortal one?
"This is clearly a message to all Cultivators!"
"Who is Apollo?" Li Yao asked.
Cai Qi requested permission from the command center. After he was authorized, he glanced over everybody and sighed. "Apollo is the secret code name for a Cultivator. He was the first agent of the Immortal Slayers to infiltrate the Temple of Immortals. It was through the vital intelligence provided by Apollo that we gradually grasped the general picture of the Mist Plan.
"However, Apollo has been killed by the Immortal Cultivators!
"Thus, the Immortal Cultivators have seen through Apollo's identity since long ago but kept him passing on false information to us!"