Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

In District 109 of Hundred Flowers City, at the core of Deep Blue Super Brain Hospital, Li Yao, Long Yangjun, Luo Qisheng, and the other commanders of the 414 troop of various levels gathered before a 3D structure map of Hundred Flowers City and discussed their plan.

“This is District 01 of Hundred Flowers City, the central area where the ‘Grand-Unified Spiritual Nexus Information Processing Center’ was located.”

Luo Qisheng tapped on the computer softly. The hundred silver, ball-shaped space stations that constituted Hundred Flowers City together immediately dispersed, revealing the big, round ball at the center that was the largest in size and carved with infinite runes on the surface.

With a laser launcher, he shot out a mystic ray and analyzed the structure of the big round ball as if he were peeling an onion. “Hundred Flowers City is the research, utilization, and interaction center of the Spiritual Nexus of the federation. Although no strong troops such as the ‘Burning Prairie Fleet’ are stationed here, the defense system—made of the automatic magical equipment, including defense rune arrays, battle puppets, autopiloting flying swords, and many others—is state-of-the-art nationwide. A lot of automatic defensive magical equipment is actually tested in Hundred Flowers City first before the devices are shipped to strategic locations in the capital, the Flying Star Sector, and the Uranian Ring Sector.

“District 01 is the core of everything.

“The whole of District 01 is a forbidden military area. It is divided into two functional modules. One of the two modules is the command and administration center of Hundred Flowers City, or rather, the local government of this place.

“Through the center, it is possible to control the artificial gravity, light and energy supplies, air and assets supplies, and the like in the hundred ball-shaped space stations.

“The other module is the Grand-Unified Spiritual Nexus Information Processing Center. It is responsible for processing the information from the seven Sectors before encrypting, compressing, and redistributing the information so that the information can reach their destination more efficiently. Of course, the information of Hundred Flowers City itself also needs to be sent from the center to the ‘Hyperspace Information Launching Bases’ around to reach the reception bases dozens of lightyears away instantly by way of four-dimensional space travel.

“Therefore—”

The old general of the federal army, who had been going through mud and trenches his entire life but never achieved any accomplishments that were worth bragging about, and who had been promoted to the place of colonel purely with blood and sweat and was about to retire in peace, glanced at Li Yao, Long Yangjun, and his subordinates. He tapped the big silver ball that represented District 01 and said, “Whoever controls District 01 controls Hundred Flowers City. If their computational ability is high enough, they can intercept, monitor, and even modify all the information on the Spiritual Nexus freely!

“But right now, every sign indicates that Professor Mo Xuan is very likely to have bypassed the automatic defense system and seized District 01. Therefore, our mission is to break into District 01 and take back control of the Grand-Unified Spiritual Nexus Information Processing Center!

“Just now, somebody asked if we could contact the fleets that were cruising outside of the Hundred Flowers Space Zone. Unfortunately, we can’t, because our connection with the fleets is based on the Spiritual Nexus, which is no longer reliable. Even the military network that seems to be independent is also the same. There’s no way that our real voice will be transmitted to their bridge.

“Besides, starships are different from ground troops. The ground troops can fight independently, and every soldier can act on their own. But on the starships, as long as the bridge is under control, even if the sailors down below start a mutiny, it is unlikely for them to seize the starship.

“Most importantly of all, Hundred Flowers City is in a dense distribution right now. District 01 is closely surrounded by almost a hundred districts. It’s equivalent to saying that the millions of civilians in those space stations are being held hostage. Powerful as the guns on the starships may be, it is impossible to expose District 01 without destroying dozens of districts.

“So, there is no need to count on the reinforcement of the starships. We can only attack as infantries!”

The eyes of the old colonel suddenly turned sharper than he had ever looked in his hundred years of service in the army. All his subordinates were slightly dazed under his stare. They breathed heavily, waiting for instructions.

“Starting from this moment, abandon the Spiritual Nexus!” the old colonel declared resolutely. “Just consider us to be under high-intensity interference of all bands. Return to the primitive state of squad battle. Now, we are going to split. Part of us will go to other troops to inform them of the latest situation and ask for their aid. Let’s hope that they can make the right choice, too. The rest of us will follow the two fellow Cultivators from the Ancient Sages Sector and stab into District 01!”

“Somebody is definitely going to believe us!” Li Yao raised his voice and interjected. “Because Professor Mo Xuan couldn’t have anticipated that the two of us would escape the moment before the space jump, or that we could resist the mental assault of the extraterrestrial devils inside Deep Blue Super Brain Hospital. His whole scheme is already disrupted after miscalculating the two things. So, he has been forced to activate his plan in advance or to control the situation through more radical approaches.

“Blocking District 109 by force is the best evidence. I believe that District 109 can’t be the only area that has been blocked by him.

“In order to prevent the outside world from noticing such an enormous blockade, Professor Mo Xuan needs to fabricate endless false information and send it out. A lie can only be covered with greater lies. When the lies grow too huge, even Professor Mo Xuan will have to crash despite the computational ability under his control!

“A lot of people out there must’ve already grown suspicious. Other than the federal army, there are also the free fighters, members of Exo Societies, and battle-type Cultivators in the universities. All we need to do is tell them the truth and gather more warriors!”

“I’m not too worried about that.” Luo Qisheng smiled somewhat bitterly and said, “It’s been a hundred and three years since I joined the federal army and twenty-two years since I served in Hundred Flowers City. I do know a few friends in this place.

“However…

“The 414 troop is just a common troop that does not even have a special title. My old friends are basically the same. Most of the soldiers in the troop are just ordinary fighters. The Building Foundation Stage Cultivators haven’t reached the bottom level as officers yet. If even the Spiritual Nexus is untrustworthy right now, let’s be honest here, we are just a tray of loose sand with mediocre combat ability.

“In comparison, according to what you said just now, it is very possible that the enemy controls all the automatic defensive magical equipment in District 01 and has turned the bodies of a thousand experts into ‘battle shells’. This is going to be a tough battle!

“No. We are not afraid of death, but we fear that we cannot accomplish the mission! In order to break into the Grand-Unified Spiritual Nexus Information Processing Center against the bombardment of a thousand experts, we will need a point of attack, an arrow that can focus the ‘sand’ into a ‘rock’!”

The old colonel stared at Li Yao and Long Yangjun with a complicated expression.

There was both hesitation and expectation in his eyes.

Li Yao and Long Yangjun looked at each other and nodded heavily.

“Rest assured, colonel. We know the famous slogan in the federation—the blood of the strong must be shed first!” Li Yao declared. “Since the two of us are the strongest of all people here, we will definitely run at the front and lead the charge!”

Luo Qisheng stared at them for a long time. Then, he laughed and opened his arms.

“Welcome to the federation!” the old colonel said earnestly.

…

Twenty minutes later, on the lawn outside of Deep Blue Super Brain Hospital…

District 109 had been fully closed. Not only was any transportation and communication with the outside world entirely cut off, the 3D light beams nearby that simulated blue sky, white clouds, mountains, and rivers had been shut down. The lackluster silver cabin wall was revealed. Even the air was humid and suffocating, making everyone feel that they were in the middle of a steamer.

A thousand soldiers of the federal army, in their crystal suits, were like a thousand iron statues that had been stabbed into the grass. They listened to Luo Qisheng’s instructions.

In the federation a hundred years ago, the so-called ‘crystal suit legions’ were the elite troops of the elite troops. Only the ace troops exclusively made of Cultivators had the privilege of equipping every soldier with a battlesuit.

After the technological boom in the golden period of development, the crystal suit production and the skill card assembly technology from the Flying Star Sector had made significant progress. In the federation today, even regular troops and miscellaneous troops without special titles had been equipped with crystal suits.

Yes. The 414 troop was a troop in the second tier, only slightly better than a miscellaneous troop.

The soldiers of the 414 troop were either too old or too young. Some of them were veterans who had served in the army of almost a hundred years. They were very experienced, but their physical strength was declining. Some of the soldiers were rookies who had recently enlisted. Although most of the squads had been allocated with a Cultivator, the quality of the Cultivators was quite low. Most of them were in the Refinement Stage, and few were in the Building Foundation Stage. Those in the Core Formation Stage were too rare to be seen.

However, at this moment, the intimidating fighting will released from them was as impressive as the ace troops of the federal army that had their glorious titles, such as Flying Tiger or Eagle Strike.

Every soldier tried to stand as straight as possible, even if they were just ordinary fighters whose spiritual root had not been awakened.

“This is the brief of the situation right now. The 414 troop is now faced with the most arduous task since it was founded!” Luo Qisheng roared. “I’m not going to lie to you. This is not a mission issued by the superiors. It is not even an authorized one but an operation of insubordination and desertion!

“It is a soldier’s responsibility to obey orders. Maybe we shouldn’t do this, but soldiers should also consider protecting their country as their responsibility. They should answer the call of their motherland!

“Do you hear the wind? The federation is now in unprecedented peril. The motherland is summoning us. That is an order of the highest level! We are the soldiers of the New Federation. We are warriors with brains and hearts. We are not cold slaughtering machines!

“So, the 414 troop of the eighteenth group army, listen to my command and carry out the urgent task immediately. We will break into District 01 and take back the Grand-Unified Spiritual Nexus Information Processing Center from the enemy’s hands!

“As the highest commander of the 414 troop, I can’t promise you anything right now except that after the battle, even if only one soldier survives, the 414 troop will boast its own unique flag, emblem, and title, like the ace legions exclusively made of Cultivators!”