After the ‘Brain Concussion Plan’ was activated five years ago, Professor Mo Xuan and the other spectral Cultivators had gathered critical data during a full-scale examination of the star brain while running pertinent cracking and research. They had found out methods to hack the crystal processor and paralyze it instantly!
There was short-distance, point-to-point communication between Li Yao and Sparkle via a mechanism that was similar to that of the Great Pagoda VII. It was encrypted seven times and barely monitorable.
However, such a way of communication would trigger very immense spiritual waves, which could be noticed by other people easily.
It was why Li Yao had not reached out to Sparkle in the past day.
But right now, Heavenly Saints City was in chaos. Countless spiritual waves were flooding in space disorderedly. He did not need to worry that somebody might notice the anomaly anymore.
“Professor, what is your status? Unharmed from the Grand Illusionary Soldiers, I presume? When can you hack Heavenly Phantom and paralyze the star brain?”
There was intense anxiety in Professor Mo Xuan’s voice as he replied, “The fleet of the Glorious Sunlight Group and the Great Horn Exo Society are fighting hard against the Grand Illusionary Soldiers near the fourth space ring, but since the third space ring is a base of the Grand Illusionary Soldiers, the place has now been locked down. It will take us some time to break through the space ring.
“As for the star brain… We are working hard to crack the barrier of Heavenly Phantom now!”
Li Yao was greatly alarmed. “Say what? Didn’t you say a couple of days ago that the thirteen barriers of Heavenly Phantom had been deciphered and you could hack the star brain in five minutes?”
“Yes. That was the case a few days ago,” Professor Mo Xuan said helplessly. “However, the moment the rebellion took place in Heavenly Saints City, a new, almost flawless barrier appeared on the surface of Heavenly Phantom. It is like a one-sided reflection membrane that has covered the entire crystal warship. The information and telepathic thoughts inside can be sent out without the slightest hinderance, but any signals from the outside world are reflected when they reach the shell!”
Li Yao was dazed. “Reflected?”
“I have no time to explain the specific mechanism to you right now. You can imagine that Xiao Xuance decorated the shell of Heavenly Phantom with a ‘mirror’ that simply reflects all the ‘rays of light’ that we sent to it!” Professor Mo Xuan said bitterly. “Xiao Xuance truly deserves to be known as the best expert of the Flying Star Sector. He had made thorough plans. I only realized just now that the thirteen complicated barriers previously were just bait that he let out intentionally for other people to crack! The mirror-like, one-sided reflection membrane is his real defensive measure!”
“How long do you expect you will need to break through the one-sided reflection membrane?” Li Yao asked in a hurry.
“Hard to say,” Professor Mo Xuan replied. “The barrier is completely different from all the defense approaches for crystal processors that we’ve met before. I have a feeling that it is in a different style from that of the barriers of both the Heaven’s Origin Sector and the Flying Star Sector!
“I’ve never seen such a weird barrier before. I’m doing my best to calculate and analyze it. However, in the best case-scenario, it will take six to eight hours for us to figure out the structure of the one-sided reflection membrane and another six to eight hours for us to program our virus into a form that can penetrate through the ‘mirror’!”
“That will be a whole night!” Li Yao’s face immediately turned greener than a cucumber. He gnashed his teeth and said, “Absolutely no way. The central area will be smashed into smithereens by the Immortal Cultivators in one night!
“We don’t have so much time. We have to waste the star brain within three hours!”
“The computational ability of the five ‘star spirits’, including me, is already higher than that of most super crystal processors,” Professor Mo Xuan replied, “but we cannot destroy the star brain in three hours even if we join our hands, unless we attack the star brain from the inside. The previously-unseen one-side reflection membrane is so weird!”
“Attack the star brain from inside?” Li Yao was dazed for a moment. Then, his lips cured into a smile of determination. He said, “Professor, please pilot Sparkle to the tenth space ring as quickly as possible!
“Try not to catch the Grand Illusionary Soldiers’ attention by maintaining the appearance of a ragged carrier. Their primary targets will be the crystal warships with high firepower!
“In the meantime, warm up the rigs and prepare to trigger the real form of Sparkle, especially the drill of mystic rays that we’ve been modifying for seven years!”
After a moment of silence, Professor Mo Xuan raised his voice and said, “Understood!”
Li Yao took a deep breath. He felt as if every inch of his skin was burning.
His two fists were even scorching as if he were holding two clusters of flames.
Heavenly Phantom was the flagship of the Grand Illusionary Group, the control center of all the Grand Illusionary Soldiers, and the command starship of the coalition army of the Cultivators in the battle of Spider Den to come. It was indubitably the strongest crystal warship of the Flying Star Sector!
Heavenly Phantom was also one of Xiao Xuance’s trump cards for his rebellion.
One Heavenly Phantom was enough to suppress half of the central area. Even if dozens of regular crystal warships bombarded it at the same time, it would not bother to hide at all!
What would happen when such a behemoth ran into Sparkle, which had been modified with the body materials of Skeleton Dragon and scraps of ancient magical equipment by the spectral Cultivators from the Heaven’s Origin Sector?
Li Yao was going to discuss the details with Professor Mo Xuan, when noises suddenly occurred in the communication channel.
Li Yao was dazed for a moment. “What happened?”
Professor Mo Xuan sounded grave. “The Immortal Cultivators and the Grand Illusionary Soldiers just broke into ‘Cloud’, one of the crystal warships of the Surpassing Sky Sect. Master Sky Spirit, leader of the sect, happened to be on board. He led the remaining disciples into the engine compartment and detonated all the fuel, blowing up the starship and perishing together with the enemy. He has sacrificed himself for his belief!”
After a moment of silence, Li Yao asked softly, “What’s the situation inside the city? Give me the most important information.”
Professor Mo Xuan stopped talking and sent an enormous stream of information into Li Yao’s crystal processor.
Right now, Heavenly Saints City was like a groundless pavilion that was quickly being dissected in the swirl of steel and flames!
Ever since the secret code ‘the Flying Star Sector is peaceful tonight’ was sent out, all the Grand Illusionary Soldiers had become the sharpest blades of the Immortal Cultivators.
Most of the Grand Illusionary Soldiers had been packed into crystal warships ready to be shipped to the battlefield.
Therefore, the crystal warships took the first blow and suffered the heaviest losses.
Head-on clashes were taking place inside the dozens of enormous fleets. The seemingly tranquil starships were bursting out dazzling flames and fireballs, as if they were being attacked by an invisible army.
The crystal warships that went out of control bombarded the allies next to them. Because of the limited room in the space port, the victims could not dodge, and almost every attack hit its target.
Some of the starships were detonated by the Cultivators or the Immortal Cultivators. The blast swept everything. Every space port was like a furiously-burning iron graveyard!
Outside the central area, the moment he issued the secret code, Xiao Xuance had commanded Heavenly Phantom to open fire at the crystal warships nearby that had not been infiltrated by the Immortal Cultivators.
Caught unprepared, many crystal warships lost their combat ability after flowers of destruction blossomed.
However, the crystal warships were too large anyway. Although they were riddled with holes, their billions of tons of weight were not going anywhere.
The debris of countless crystal warships blocked every sailing route and Heavenly Phantom’s way.
Besides, not all the crystal warships were affected by the Grand Illusionary Soldiers.
Many assault starships and attack starships were not large but boasted tremendous firepower. To increase their capacity for magical equipment and ammunition, there were not warehouses on them. So, they did not carry any Grand Illusionary Soldiers.
They came back to themselves from the riot quickly.
Although they did not know what had happened, they counterattacked intuitionally when they were attacked by Heavenly Phantom.
Because of the fierce bombardment, Heavenly Phantom could not perform a space jump to move to a more secret and secure location.
Overall, the battle in space was in the Immortal Cultivators’ favor.
As they had planned, they messed up the Cultivators’ crystal warships and basically blocked the traffic between the third space ring and the fourth space ring so that the Immortal Cultivators and the Grand Illusionary Soldiers within the third space ring could attack the hall of the Meeting of the Next Millennium unhurriedly.
However, the attack on the ground did not go as smoothly as planned.
The biggest trouble came from the Glorious Sunlight Group.
Li Yao and Professor Mo Xuan had speculated that there might be something wrong with the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project five years ago. During those five years, although Professor Mo Xuan could not stop the Grand Illusionary Soldiers from being equipped on a large scale, he had secretly been developing magical equipment that could jam the Spiritual Nexus.
With the enormous resources of the Glorious Sunlight Group, Professor Mo Xuan had manufactured a batch of special bombs in secret. They were the size of grenades and shared the same usage. When they were tossed away and detonated, they would jam the Spiritual Nexus dozens square meters nearby for several seconds.
Several seconds were enough for a well-trained Cultivator or qi-trainer to do many things!
Therefore, when the Immortal Cultivators attacked the hall of the Meeting of the Next Millennium with a large back of Grand Illusionary Soldiers, they discovered that the defense was better than they had expected because of the two Exo Societies that appeared out of nowhere.
Then, when they fought hard against the two Exo Societies, three thousand qi-trainers marched close from the flank. Those barbaric warriors from Iron Plateau were not only carrying heavy sabers but also the jamming bombs that they had just been offered.
Similar things happened in the first space ring.
The three large warehouses of magical equipment and crystals were the arsenals for the last battle. In Xiao Xuance’s plan, they were also the most important locations that must be taken over.
However, when the Immortal Cultivators and the Grand Illusionary Soldiers attacked the arsenals, they encountered the qi-trainers from Iron Plateau, too.
The commander of the qi-trainers was Yan Chihuo from the Burning Sun Tribe.
Five years ago, Yan Chifeng, his brother, and Yan Xibei, his uncle, conspired to murder Yan Zhengdong, his father, who was also the chief of the Burning Sun Tribe. A total war between Iron Plateau and the six sects of Heavenly Saints City had nearly been caused.
During the incident, Yan Chihuo, who was uncalm and bad-tempered, had been the first to suspect Xiong Wuji, which almost led to a great disaster.
When the truth was out, guilt had grasped Yan Chihuo. He had even tried killing himself once to wash away his disgrace!
After Xiong Wuji learned of the matter, he had gone to Yan Chihuo and talked to him overnight many times. Later, he had even recruited as Yan Chihuo as his true disciple.
During the five years that followed, under the tutelage of Xiong Wuji, the irascible young man’s personality had greatly changed. He had also been training crazily and considered it an act of repentance for himself.
At this moment, with the guidance of his master and the help of the drugs, resources, and training facilities provided by the Glorious Sunlight Group, Yan Chihuo had advanced into the 95th level of the Refinement State and become one of the best experts on Iron Plateau!