All six Cultivators, including Li Yao, were shocked to speechlessness by Xiao Xuance’s craziness.
Although Li Yao had known that the Temple of Immortals must have had great plans, he had never expected that it was purely a disguise to cover the horrifying ‘Imperium of True Human Beings’.
Luo Xingzi took a long breath and said, “Xiao Xuance, this is madness. Wake up!
“No matter how magnificent and glorious your ‘Imperium of True Human Beings’ may be, it has collapsed and vanished into thin air.
“Right now, the coalition squad of the six sects of Heavenly Saints City and the Star Fighters’ Alliance should have taken over the Grand Illusionary Group and Heavenly Phantom. A hunting group made of almost a hundred super experts has arrived in the tenth space ring, too. They will be here in several minutes.
“Surrender, Xiao Xuance.
“We have five Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators right here. Five versus one. Even though you are in the high level of the Nascent Soul Stage and the best expert of the Flying Star Sector, you do not stand a chance.
“Let’s say you can get away today, what then? Your schemes are known to the world, and your organization is now melting like ice. What can you do except kill several more innocent people?
“Allow me to beg you as a representative of the innocent people. If you remember that you once swore to protect the weak as a Cultivator, just give up the meaningless resistance.
“Xiao Xuance, you were the idol for countless Cultivators. Righteous or evil, you are definitely one of the most influential men in the world. Now that you’ve failed, just admit your failure frankly!”
Xiao Xuance was silent.
Li Yao and the other Cultivators’ hearts were all pounding.
This is the most crucial moment.
Xiao Xuance was the best expert of the Flying Star Sector. If he was determined to run away, the five Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators present might not be enough to stop him.
If he went on a rampage in the tenth space ring, it was very likely that he could drag hundreds of Cultivators and tens of thousands of ordinary people to hell before he was killed.
After a minute of silence, bitter laughter echoed inside Xiao Xuance’s crystal suit. He said, “Alright. I took a gamble, and I accept the result. Dragging those ants with me is quite boring, too. I surrender!”
While he was talking, the aura of the Nascent Soul Stage gradually dispersed. His capability fell from the Nascent Soul Stage to the Core Formation Stage, the Building Foundation Stage, and the Refinement State, until in the end he became no different from an ordinary person. It was only with the support of his crystal suit that he managed to stay in midair.
The six Cultivators all took a long breath in relief, with cold sweat on their back.
Strong as Xiao Xuance might have been, it would still take him half a second to ignite the power of his soul and summon the combat ability of the Nascent Soul Stage from the status of an ordinary person.
The five Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators had locked onto him and would not give him such a chance.
It meant that he had really given up all resistance.
Nobody had gotten hurt. It was the best result anybody could have imagined.
“B—Boss Bai, thank you.”
Inside the communication channel, Luo Xing hesitated for a long time but stilled thanked the infamous bandit sincerely.
Xiao Xuance was the previous leader of the Feathered Snakes Brotherhood. His betrayal was a major strike for the prestige of the Feathered Snakes Brotherhood. A great purge was underway.
Today, Luo Xingzi had forced Xiao Xuance to surrender as a representative of the Feathered Snakes Brotherhood. It was sort of a self-purging of the Feathered Snakes Brotherhood.
However many crimes Bai Xinghe had committed in the past, he had done the Feathered Snakes Brotherhood a favor in this matter.
Li Yao felt that a giant rock was finally off his heart. He almost burst into laughter on the spot.
Over the past month, his computational ability had almost been kept at the highest in every second. He had calculated and devised traps incessantly. He walked in the shoes of Xiao Xuance, Si Koulie, the leadership of the six sects of Heavenly Saints City and countless other people. He had carefully considered what other people’s reactions might have been and finally came up with such a neat trap!
He had been anxious almost every second, and every day had been as long as a year for him!
Right now, everything was settled. In the great gamble where the fate of the Flying Star Sector was the prize, he was the winner!
His bargaining chips were few, and his cards could not have been worse. But with the information that Xiao Xuance was not aware of, he had fooled the best expert of the Flying Star Sector!
Li Yao really had the urge to roar and do a hundred and eight backflips in a row!
Even the best expert of the Flying Star Sector has been tricked brutally by me. Hahahaha!
Li Yao wondered whether or not Xiao Xuance would vomit blood and become mentally deranged if he revealed his true face of Li Yao in front of Xiao Xuance right now.
However, it might be a better idea to wait until the four experts had completely controlled Xiao Xuance.
Luo Xingzi walked to Xiao Xuance prudently, preparing to impose barriers on him.
But Xiao Xuance coughed hard.
He coughed, shuddered, and bent down.
His vitality quickly flowed away from him like translucent smoke.
Drops of blood were leaking out of his crystal suit!
Luo Xingzi was greatly shocked. He hurried forward and held Xiao Xuance.
The best expert of the Flying Star Sector was like a dying old man. He clung to his junior brother’s arm and did not have the strength at all.
Luo Xingzi opened his hands and tore off Xiao Xuance’s helmet.
Below the helmet was face that was as slim as a skeleton. Countless flies seemed to be crawling on the face. Even the skull below was twisting, scattering, and condensing, as if a giant hand was shaping it into a completely different appearance.
Although Li Yao and the other Cultivators did not come close, they saw the face clearly through Luo Xingzi’s crystal camera.
It was not Xiao Xuance. Although he was too slender to be recognized, the shape of his bones was entirely different!
The man was not Xiao Xuance!
Li Yao was dumbfounded!
“You are not Xiao Xuance. Who are you exactly?”
Luo Xingzi clutched the man’s hair hard. But hardly had he touched it when the hair mostly all fell out.
There was not the slightest vigor in the man’s body, but his big eyes, which were particularly bright, were full of derision. Weird sounds came from the mouth, where the teeth were all gone.
“I am… the Lotus King.”
Luo Xingzi was greatly alarmed.
“No need to fret.” The man cackled like a crow until everybody felt creepy. Then he continued. “The Lotus King is neither a battle-type Cultivator nor in the Nascent Soul Stage. My only technique is to simulate the aura of the Nascent Soul Stage with the Cultivation of the Core Formation Stage. Nothing else. Haha. Hahahaha!
“Usually, as the Lotus King, I suppress my emotions, feelings, and soul with my secret arts. The CEO’s tremendous telepathic thoughts will enter my body, and I will be the speaker of the CEO’s will!
“Even though I was unfortunately captured by you, the CEO can argue that I am merely a tool that the Temple of Immortals used to frame him and that I have nothing to do with him.
“But right now, it is no longer necessary. The CEO permitted me to tell you everything after I buy twenty minutes for him… as a reward for my lifelong devotion.
“Cough cough. Cough cough cough cough!”
The Lotus King vomited a mouthful of pure black blood and burst into laughter. “Today, I’ve indeed dedicated the best performance of my life. Haha. With the Cultivation of the Core Formation Stage, I triggered a dominating aura higher than the middle level of the Nascent Soul Stage and did not give myself away even though five Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators had locked onto me!
“Totally worth it. After my life as an Immortal Cultivator, I’ve scared five Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators to pale faces. My life has totally been worth it!”
The faces of Li Yao and the rest of the Cultivators blanched.
It was the Lotus King who had fallen into the trap, and the Lotus King was just a stand-in for Xiao Xuance.
Then, where was the real Xiao Xuance?
More importantly, since Xiao Xuance had allowed the Lotus King to tell them everything, he must have made up his mind to stop pretending!
They had wasted almost thirty minutes on the Lotus King. What had happened in the outside world in the meantime?
The Lotus King had been burning his life and soul in order to exude the aura of the middle level of the Nascent Soul Stage. Right now, he was already on the brink of death. At the last moment of his life, he was suddenly refreshed and stared at Li Yao with a weird smile while vomiting blood.
“Bai Xinghe, you truly deserve to be the Pirate Potentate. Your schemes are indeed lethal and sordid. Our cause was nearly jeopardized.
“It is a pity that the CEO sensed danger at the last moment and guessed your intentions, but he pretended that he didn’t and arranged the ‘assassination’ anyway!
“Hehe. You fished us up with two Great Pagoda VII communicators, but in exactly the same way, the CEO fished up all the elites of the Cultivators with three super-heavy crystal cannons and a false ‘Xiao Xuance’!
“You mentioned that a hundred super experts had arrived in the tenth space ring?
“That was great news. It suggests that few experts were left in the central area of Heavenly Saints City and the first space ring, right?
“You were wrong about one thing. Very wrong. Time was not on your side but on ours!
“While we were rambling on, the CEO should have already annihilated the Cultivators who entered the headquarters of the Grand Illusionary Group and Heavenly Phantom!”
Li Yao was rendered speechless. He cursed in the most profane language in his heart, and he felt that his face was hot with pain, as if Xiao Xuance had slapped it so hard from thousands of kilometers away that even his teeth were knocked out.
The Lotus King laughed confidently. “After tonight, the entire Heavenly Saints City will belong to the Immortal Cultivators. The new era has arrived. Nobody is going to stop the rise of the Imperium of True Human Beings!”
Luo Xingzi was infuriated. He pressed the Lotus King’s skull with his five fingers and bellowed, “Shut up. Tell us your whole plan, or I guarantee that you will regret being born into this world!”
There was nothing but contempt deep inside the Lotus King’s eyes. He shook his hard stubbornly under Luo Xingzi’s hands until his neck was almost cracking. “At this moment, do you still think that we are those cowardly false Immortal Cultivators?
“Fellow Cultivators!”
The Lotus King shouted at the loudest of his voice with the last bit of his strength, “The New Era Plan has been initiated. There is no need to hide ourselves anymore!
“Before the dawn of success comes, let the Cultivators see what the real Immortal Cultivators are!”
Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua!
The almost twenty Immortal Cultivators in the Core Formation Stage around were definitely no match for the five Cultivators in the Nascent Soul Stage. But after they heard the declaration, they burnt their life and soul and brought their combat ability to the peak without any hesitation.
Almost twenty torches seemed to be burning furiously in the dark night!
“Our mission has been completed. We’ve stalled the super experts of the Cultivators!”
“Right now, the central area of Heavenly Saints City must’ve been overturned already.
“The new era has come!”
“Fellow Cultivators, march on! Let the timid and hypocritical Cultivators see the demeanor of the real Immortal Cultivators!”
“Long live evolution! Long live the Immortal Cultivators!”
“Long live the civilization of mankind! Long live the Imperium of True Human Beings!”
Amid earsplitting roars, the twenty or so Immortal Cultivators in the Core Formation Stage launched a suicidal charge toward the five Cultivators in the Nascent Soul Stage!