“What?”
Xiao Tianbao, the ‘star child’, was the creator and the first operator of the star brain. If the Cultivators wanted to gain control over the star brain, their best choice was to coerce him. After all, other than his talent with crystal processors, his IQ was very low. It would not be a problem to force him to give up the keys of the star brain.
Luo Xingzi and the other Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators were about to charge at Xiao Tianbao, only to came to an abrupt halt when they heard Li Yao’s words.
After everything that had happened, especially when Li Yao finished Xiao Xuance quickly and neatly in one move at the last moment, none of the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators dared to disregard his opinions, despite the mysteries surrounding him.
“Stop pretending, Xiao Tianbao. I don’t believe that you are a retard!” Li Yao extended his right arm. A deep purple light ball, surrounded by pale, spluttering electric arcs, was being condensed inside his palm. He remarked, “For a man of your Cultivation who is capable of producing a super crystal processor like the star brain, how can you really be a retard?
“The Immortal Cultivators are too few. Your entire plan is dependent on the Grand Illusionary Soldiers, and you are the key to the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project. I don’t think that is a coincidence!
“Since the very beginning, you Immortal Cultivators have been doing things in an onion-like style. Mask after mask, and camouflage after camouflage. The space pirates are a disguise for the Temple of Immortals, and the Temple of Immortals is a disguise for the Imperium of True Human Beings!
“Both on Iron Plateau and on Spider Den, the greatest villain did not show up easily until the last moment!
“However, Xiao Xuance, as the commander-in-chief of the Imperium of True Human Beings, violated the pattern!
“He was the one to put forward the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project, not to mention that he was the CEO of the Grand Illusionary Group. He kept himself in the spotlight almost since the very beginning!
“As it turned out, when the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project was proposed, many people, including me, grew suspicious of the project and even doubted that Xiao Xuance had other ill intentions!
“Although Xiao Xuance managed to win the other Cultivators’ trust by sacrificing one of his sons and throwing out a series of false conspiracy theories, all of which were quite effective, his actions were too risky. They did not seem to be the real style of the Immortal Cultivators!
“Therefore, I made a bold assumption that Xiao Xuance is not the real commander-in-chief of the Imperium of True Human Beings, at least not the only one. You, Xiao Tianbao, the ‘star child’, the creator of the star brain, and the pivot of the entire plan, are the real controller of the Imperium of True Human Beings behind Xiao Xuance!”
His deductions were reasonable and logical. All the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators were nodding their heads in approval, convinced.
But Xiao Tianbao burst into tears, his legs kicking crazily and his fat shivering.
Li Yao was not fooled. He sneered and said, “Do you feel that it is funny to keep acting when everything has reached this point? If you do not reveal your true face, don’t blame me for my brutality!”
Xiao Tianbao was still crying and even farted loudly.
Li Yao sneered. Redness suddenly beamed out of his eyes, and he threw out the purple light ball in his hand, which hit Xiao Tianbao’s chest precisely.
After a thunderous sound, Xiao Tianbao turned into a pile of ash before he had the chance to grunt. What a quick, clean death!
“…” Li Yao.
“…” Luo Xingzi.
“…” All the other Cultivators.
Everybody was looking at Li Yao in silence.
Blinking rapidly, Li Yao quickly made certain gestures with his hands. Deep green flames of spiritual energy flew out into the air, dispersing into a bright green mist.
It was a technique to detect ghosts and spectral Cultivators. If the remaining soul of a dead person ran away, it would leave traces on the green mist.
However, Li Yao searched far and wide, only to find no traces of any lingering souls at all. Xiao Tianbao was as dead as anyone could ever be. There was no way that he could cause trouble anymore.
Luo Xingzi couldn’t help but observe, “Well, Fellow Cultivator Li, have you overthought the whole thing? Maybe Xiao Tianbao was really a retard… that was particularly handy with crystal processors?”
Li Yao ground his teeth so hard that sparks were almost bursting out. He frowned hard and murmured to himself, “It’s unreasonable. Xiao Tianbao must have been an important person of the Imperium of the True Human Beings even if he wasn’t the controller of it. How—how could he have been killed by such a harmless attack?
“There’s no other choices now. Xiao Tianbao is dead. We cannot turn off the star brain through him; we can only demolish the big guy now!”
In the urgency, Li Yao did not have too much time to think. Together with the other six Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, they flew into the ‘shaft’ in the center of the control room.
Above their heads, the translucent, golden brain was fluctuating like a heart.
The brain cells were flashing and then dwindling. They looked both like stars and eyes that were staring at the unannounced visitors indifferently.
Li Yao gritted his teeth and summoned the sixteen Six-barreled Revolving Vulcan Machine Guns again. After a series of cracking noises, the magazines of super bullets made of marrow crystals were locked and loaded!
Right then, Professor Mo Xuan suddenly shrieked in the communication channel, “Not good! Run away quickly!”
Abrupt changes took place!
In a moment, countless bubbles began popping up in the depths of the translucent brain. The dead gray area that had been invaded by the virus suddenly shone brilliantly!
The translucent brain kept expanding until it passed through Li Yao’s body like a weird wind!
Li Yao suddenly felt greatly alarmed. He pulled the triggers subconsciously and raised sixteen fire snakes.
However, all the fire snakes seemed to hit a black swamp like statues made of mud being pushed into an ocean. They did not even raise any ripples!
“This is—”
When Li Yao soared up in the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, he seemed to break dozens of invisible walls and break out of Heavenly Phantom instantly.
What appeared before him was a universe in a fierce battle, but not around Heavenly Saints City and in a completely foreign space zone.
Thousands of enormous starships were fighting against a fleet of a hideous-looking alien civilization. Blood was shed in space, and countless souls perished!
Li Yao had never felt feebler. He lowered his head and noticed that black materials were being secreted by the dark universe and quickly crawled on the legs of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit. They wriggled upwards and spread out like a combination of leeches and centipedes.
“What is this place?”
Behind Li Yao, Luo Xingzi and the other Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators appeared in the weird space, too. They were also wreathed, drowned, and swallowed by the black liquids leaking from the universe!
“Weren’t we attacking the star brain? How did we end up in this place?”
Looking at the weird scenes around them, the crystal warships that were more splendid than palaces and the ferocious beasts larger than starships that were attacking each other, even the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators felt that their blood was freezing and exclaimed in shock.
Countless stars rushed close from various directions and condensed into a deformed kid whose head was extremely huge and whose body was as slim as a skeleton. The kid looked at them and said casually, “This is the world of my brain. Didn’t you want to destroy me? You are welcome to try!”
His words made all the Cultivators feel horrid.
“The world of your brain…” Li Yao pondered for a moment, only to shudder violently and realize why he had shown up here all of a sudden. “You are the star brain! The star brain is alive. Xiao Xuance was not the real controller of the Imperium of True Human Beings, nor was Xiao Tianbao. It is you who has been controlling the organization all along!
“You’ve launched a mental attack at us!
“This is not a real world but an illusion that you made up!”
Li Yao suddenly felt extremely cold.
The fact that the star brain had self-awareness was already dreadful enough. He had never expected that the star brain would boast enough soul power to trap him and the other six Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators in an illusion without alarming them!
Li Yao could not even begin to fathom how immense the star brain’s soul power was.
The star child looked at Li Yao for a while. There was a hint of praise in his indifferent voice, as he said, “Li Yao, you are very smart. You’ve almost guessed everything right. I assume that the virus in my head must have something to do with you, right?
“Five years ago, when the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project was just activated and all the Cultivators were allowed to scan my brain, I sensed that some reprobates seemed to have other plans with my brain.
“As it turned out, your ‘virus’ really took effect at the critical moment. It took me quite a long time at a cost of astronomical computational ability and spiritual energy to annihilate the virus and fix the loopholes. I did not even have the time to rescue Xiao Xuance!
“However, I am much more than the star brain. I am also Xiao Tianbao, the Sea King of the Temple of Immortals, as well as another dozen roles.
“All in all, you may call me… the star child.
“This is my name in the Imperium of True Human Beings. Star Child No.19.”
Li Yao was genuinely stunned. He finally realized that his suspicions about Xiao Tianbao were not groundless. However, Xiao Tianbao was merely a reincarnation of the star child, and the loss of a reincarnation mattered little to the star child!
As it turned out, the Mountain King, the Sea King, the Black King, and the Lotus King of the Temple of Immortals all existed, and the Sea King was actually the real supervisor of the entire scheme!
However, what was the meaning of ‘Star Child No.19’? Were there another eighteen terrifying creatures such as the one right in front of him?
Li Yao’s mind was in a mess as he considered the question. Luo Xingzi, on the other hand, burst into laughter and said, “It matters not whether you are Xiao Tianbao, the Sea King, or the so-called star child, the scheme of the Immortal Cultivators has been foiled. We will not allow the so-called ‘Imperium of True Human Beings’ to be established even at the cost of our lives!”
Star Child No.19 looked at the seven Cultivators calmly. Although his face and eyes were all made of stars, Li Yao could easily distinguish the amusement and contempt in them.
“There’s something that all of you, including Xiao Xuance, have mistaken. Completely mistaken,” Star Child No.19 said calmly. “The New Era Plan launched by the Immortal Cultivators was not meant to establish the Imperium of True Human Beings but to bathe Flying Star Sector in the glory of the imperium.
“In fact, a thousand years ago, the Imperium of True Human Beings, the second magnificent imperium that is going to lead the civilization of mankind, was already established in the Empyreal Terminus Sector, the old capital of the Star Ocean Imperium!”