Four thin metal patches on which several simple rune arrays were carved were pinned to Ning Wushuang’s chest. Their sole use was to receive the signals of Luo Xingzi and the other experts.
According to the deal, the four Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators would send a signal to him every other second. The metal patches would stay quiet when they received the signal.
But if they failed to receive any signal for three seconds, they would shake feebly.
It meant that the telepathic thoughts of four Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators were jammed at the same time.
Normally speaking, it was impossible.
One second passed after another. Although Ning Wushuang controlled his pores by force, cold sweat was still popping up on his forehead.
At this moment, the negotiation between Si Koulie and Bai Xinghe had already begun. If everything was normal in another ten minutes, it would be evident that Xiao Xuance was not an Immortal Cultivator and that it was a false alarm.
If so, they would retreat quietly after ‘maintaining’ Heavenly Phantom. Xiao Xuance would not know that he had gone through such a test at all.
Maybe after Spider Den was suppressed and the Temple of Immortals was demolished, they would publicize everything. It would not matter at all by then.
Most Cultivators did not believe in deities because, to some extent, they were the ‘deities’ in the eyes of the ordinary people in the past!
But right now, Ning Wushuang, as a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator, started praying in secret, hoping that the gods that were watching over mankind, if there were any, did not get sloppy at the crucial moment.
However, half way through his prayer, the metal patches on his chest started shivering.
There was a moment when Ning Wushuang’s heart almost froze. The metal patches seemed to have turned into hundreds of cold bugs gnawing his heart.
The telepathic thoughts of four Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators have been jammed and cut off!
Xiao Xuance is really an Immortal Cultivator!
Ning Wushuang wanted to curse loudly, but he held back his feeling in the next 0.01 seconds. He snapped his fingers and sent out a command through his crystal processor.
Every member of the ‘maintenance group’ was allocated a crystal processor in which hundreds of commands were preset before the operation.
To avoid any suspicion when they checked their light beam at the same time, a tiny broadcast rune array had been planted to the ears of every team member.
As Ning Wushuang sent out the command, the rune array stimulated their eardrums, and the voice that only they could hear came over.
“An emergency has occurred. Stay calm. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill.
“Xiao Xuance has rebelled and is the leader of the Immortal Cultivators. It is very likely that the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project is a trap!
“Right now, Xiao Xuance is being hunted. Everything is under control. Our task is to control the bridge, take over the star brain, and occupy Heavenly Phantom!”
Ning Wushuang could clearly feel that many people behind him shook slightly and that their spiritual waves were somewhat chaotic.
However, those Cultivators were the most calm and resolute people.
It was also one of the most important reasons why they were selected.
One second later, everybody calmed down.
Ning Wushuang was somewhat relieved, but his fluctuating chest could not calm down.
Right now, Heavenly Saints City, or rather, the fate of the entire Flying Star Sector, was in his hands.
There could not be too many Immortal Cultivators, and they would definitely be no match for the Cultivators in head-on clashes. The only thing that they could make use of was the Grand Illusionary Soldiers.
However, the Grand Illusionary Soldiers had to be connected to the enormous database of the star brain to read the combat data of the Cultivators who had fought in the Grand Illusionary Land before in order to maximize their combat ability.
As long as the star brain was controlled, or destroyed if necessary, the rebellion of the Immortal Cultivators would be extinguished before it began.
With a natural smile, Ning Wushuang walked to the captain of Heavenly Phantom in the most relaxed fashion.
Right now, they were taking the initiative. The opponent would be unaware that their identity had been exposed.
As he expected, there was no alert in the captain’s eyes. He merely frowned with confusion when he saw the strangers coming. He seemed to be baffled why a minor collision would require such a fuss.
There were the last five meters between the two of them.
The bridge suddenly shook slightly, as if another collision had happened, or the starship was caught in a minor cosmic storm.
However, everything went peaceful again in five seconds.
Ning Wushuang was dazed.
Of course, the central area of Heavenly Saints City never had cosmic storms. Also, in their plan, no crystal warships would hit Heavenly Phantom again.
Then what was the shaking about?
The captain of Heavenly Phantom seemed to be dumbfounded by the unexpected shaking, too. He looked at Ning Wushuang in confusion and walked over to him, while he said, “Fellow Cultivator Ning, what is going—”
A tiny broadcast rune array had been planted inside Ning Wushuang’s ears, too. At this moment, somebody was yelling in the loudest voice, “Terrible! An unprecedented explosion took place in the headquarters of the Grand Illusionary Group!
“The blast reached one kilometer away. Two blocks were demolished. The headquarters of the Grand Illusionary Group are now an ocean of flames. The Grand Illusionary Plaza has been entirely destroyed!”
Ning Wushuang felt that his head was dizzy, and he nearly tripped over.
It was very likely that the headquarters of the Grand Illusionary Group was another base of the Immortal Cultivators. At the same time as he entered Heavenly Phantom, another team that was larger in scale, made up of more than twenty experts above the peak of the Core Formation Stage, went into the Grand Illusionary Plaza to take over the Grand Illusionary Group!
But right now, such a horrendous explosion had taken place in the Grand Illusionary Group that a crystal warship floating in the space port dozens of kilometers away was affected by the blast.
How intense was the explosion?
Was it possible that any of the Cultivators who had gone into the Grand Illusionary Group survived?
Ning Wushuang’s head was almost shrieking in shock. It took him 0.1 seconds for him to realize that he must have been exposed, too.
Better to attack first!
Gritting his teeth, Ning Wushuang stepped forward. He launched an attack toward the captain of Heavenly Phantom while he summoned his crystal suit!
However, the moment before he launched his attack, the captain of Heavenly Phantom who was coming over slowly suddenly accelerated into a streak of brightness and initiated an overwhelming attack.
The attack was so powerful that it far exceeded the limits of the peak of the Core Formation Stage, nor did it befit an admit-type Cultivator. All signs suggested that—
The captain was a battle-type Cultivator in the high level of the Nascent Soul Stage!
Shua!
An elegantly-shaped crystal suit gradually covered Ning Wushuang.
But it could not be enclosed when it reached his chest, because a thick, strong arm had pierced into Ning Wushuang’s chest and burnt his heart into ash.
The furious spiritual energy savaged inside Ning Wushuang’s body like a flood and cut off all his vitality before he triggered the capability of the Nascent Soul Stage.
Ning Wushuang did not even have the chance to be surprised before his facial muscles were gradually frozen, and his eyes lost all color.
He had thought that his opponent would at least talk to him for a while.
But his opponent had merely looked at him indifferently. His lips, as thin as the edge of a saber, were held tight and showed no sign of opening.
Before he was consumed by darkness, Ning Wushuang saw that the opponent’s face was twisting and changing. His eyes were long and narrow and extended to his temples.
In the deepest part of his eyes, two bloody lotuses were blossoming.
Pa da!
Ning Wushuang’s body collapsed to the ground, cramping slightly.
Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua!
The killing lasted only one second. Before the operation squad of the Cultivators realized what was going on, the gate of the bridge had been closed, and the maintenance channels above were all opened, from which hundreds of Grand Illusionary Soldiers jumped down.
The Grand Illusionary Soldiers were totally different from those in service of other sects. They were all more than 2.2 meters tall, with a layer of purple, golden brilliance emanating from their shells. It was not dull lights that were blinking in the six crystal cameras on their head but bouncing flames, as if they boasted a real soul.
Since there was no need to accommodate a human being, the Grand Illusionary Soldiers could be loaded with more crystals and bigger crystal reactors. As a result, they could trigger an even more immense storm of spiritual energy!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Every Grand Illusionary Soldier was riddled of dense holes. At this moment, flames of light spurted out of the holes and gradually consolidated into translucent muscles, veins, and nerves, making them even more high and mighty!
The marines who were busy doing their job previously inside the bridge all tore off their disguises, too, unveiling their real faces as battle-type Immortal Cultivators.
The captain of Heavenly Phantom was a totally different person now, one mixed with calmness and frenzy, reality and illusions, and sordidness and brutality!
Xiao Xuance, an Immortal Cultivator!
Xiao Xuance’s eyes did not stop on the operation squad of the Cultivators at all. He stared at the wall of the bridge, as if his eyes could pierce through the thick plate into the sea of stars.
He raised his right hand and pressed down slightly, before he commanded, “Kill them all!”
Three minutes later, the battle was over. A river of blood was flowing inside the bridge.
Xiao Xuance could have floated over in midair, but he still chose to stride forward with his head held high through the pools of blood and the mountains of corpses, leaving a line of bloody footprints, before he entered the control room of the star brain behind the bridge.
Xiao Tianbao was still operating crazily below the star brain with a naïve face.
Xiao Yushan stepped forward. He stood at attention and raised his right arm. “Everything is ready. The ‘New Era Plan’ can be initiated at any moment!”
Pausing for a moment, he lowered his voice and said, “However, it’s a bit too hasty now that we decided to start it in advance. Many Fellow Cultivators are not ready yet. It is not flawless.”
He had been brought up by Xiao Xuance and was almost like his grandson. Right now, he was Xiao Xuance’s right hand man. It was his most important task to voice all his concerns without keeping anything to himself.
“There’s no time.” Xiao Xuance squinted, the lotuses inside his eyes shivering slightly. “It was indeed a critical move that Bai Xinghe played. My fate would have been at his mercy no matter which of the two roads I chose.
“Besides, since Bai Xinghe could influence the Star Fighters’ Alliance and the six sects of Heavenly Saints City, he must be backed by an even more powerful organization!
“I guarantee that, even if I did not arrange the assassination and they did not get any proof about my crime, the organization behind Bai Xinghe would still have put forward a non-confidence motion during the morale-boosting rally and tried to postpone the final battle!
“Right now, our entire organization is exerting all our strength. We are on the verge of being exposed and cannot afford an investigation.
“Therefore, neither to assassinate him nor to stay and do nothing was the right choice. The two roads were both dead ends.
“The only sensible choice was to rebel in advance!
“Hehe. Bai Xinghe is truly the Pirate Potentate. The moves that he has been playing are neat, lethal, and almost flawless!
“It’s a pity that I’m the crownless king of the Flying Star Sector. You are just a bandit, and you think that you are qualified to play chess with me?
“You want to play chess, but I will knock over the board. Not just that, I will smash the chess pieces and the board into smithereens and build a new world on them!”