Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

The high combat ability and survival ability of the Exos and the major contrast of the solidness of the starship’s shell and the vulnerability of the starship’s interior were the reasons the melee battle of the crystal suits was so important.

Both the shield starships that were responsible for defense and the arsenal starships that were responsible for attack, after accommodating the enormous spiritual shield and disruptive force field generators and the warehouses of crystals to power those behemoths, would have barely any room to keep more Exos.

Besides, even if tremendous Exos were deployed inside the starships, the overwhelming spiritual energy that was unleashed after they were engaged with the enemy would cause serious damage to the starship, too.

Therefore, it was quite troublesome if the hostile Exos invaded the starships on one’s own side. Before the intruders were annihilated, it would be easy for them to destroy more than fifty percent of a starship’s combat ability from inside!

Besides, although the Exos seemed to be equipped with nothing but their crystal suits, they could be carrying Cosmos Rings. Who knew what kind of dreadful weapons they could retrieve from their Cosmos Rings?

Once such Exos snuck into the engine compartment, the warehouse of crystals, or the ammunition warehouse without alarming anyone, a tiny crystal suit might be enough to blow up an entire starship, which had been proved repetitively in the ten thousand years of history of war.

Therefore, the outcome of a battle, to a large extent, did not depend on the mutual bombardment of the cannons but on the passionate collision of the Exos. If the groups of Exos on one side could invade the enemy’s starships against the barrage and destroy the enemy’s spiritual shield and warehouses of crystals and ammunitions, or even march to the bridge directly to perform the ‘decapitation strategy’, the giant cannons on their side would have a better chance to bring out 120% of their capabilities!

If the mutual bombardment of the giant cannons could be compared to the ‘line up and shoot’ in the classic wars, the competition between Exos would be ‘charging with bayonets’, which was more gory, thrilling, demanding but also more epic!

When the two torrents of steel and light collided, thousands of fireballs and electric arcs burst out from the middle of them.

No sound could be heard in the vacuum, but the soundlessness only added to the cruelty of the battlefield.

The chainswords were ripping apart flesh and blood, the vibration sabers were shattering bones, and the high-heat axes were burning internal organs to ash. Blood was swallowing blood, and bodies were dragging bodies. Blood red flowers were blossoming slowly like deadly poppy, only to be obliterated into nothingness after they touched one of the hundred thousand spears of flames thrown out by the warships!

In such an enormous and such a gory battle, in the vacuum hell where hundreds of thousands of Exos and space shuttles were engaged in a fierce fight, Cultivation, level, and techniques mattered little.

Even an expert at the peak of the Core Formation Stage such as the Rabid Dog, when watching thousands of destructive light pillars smashing at him and the bleak universe turning into absolutely darkness under the contrast of the dazzling brightness, felt the insignificance of himself as a human being and the rage for such insignificance!

“I’m going to kill you!”

The Rabid Dog was pushed here and there by the broken limbs that were flying quickly in the battlefield. The screams and moans from the communication channel were too disturbing, so he simply turned off the intermittent communication and drove the power rune arrays of the Night Devil, his crystal suit, to lunge at the area where the Exos of the Imperium were densest. The dragon-slaying saber in his hands unleashed a whip-shaped aura more than ten meters long, and he slashed it on an Exo of the Imperium who was wearing a black mirror crystal suit brutally!

The mirror crystal suit of the Exo boasted a very higher defense ability, but it could not resist the Rabid Dog’s vitality that had been burnt to the maximum. The saber and the shield were at an impasse briefly before the saber pushed down unstoppably and cut the Immortal Cultivator in half!

The body that had been cut in half flew to two sides because of the magnetic force, revealing five Immortal Cultivators behind him who were pouring the fiercest firepower upon the Rabid Dog. But the Rabid Dog did not dodge at all and simply jumped on them in creepy laughter.

“For a hundred years, even the wretched heavens have failed to kill me. Do you think a few scumbags such as yourselves are capable of that?”

However, tough monsters in the peak of the Core Formation Stage, such as the Rabid Dog, were only few in the Heaven’s Origin Fleet after all. Compared to the relatively juvenile Exos of the federation, soldiers of the Black Wind Fleet, who had received the harshest training since childhood and considered fighting the greatest pleasure, apparently had a better performance.

Not far away from the Rabid Dog, the squads of the Exos from the Imperium in groups of four gradually secured their advantage. One space shuttle of the federation after another was consumed by fire, and more and more Exos from the federation were blown apart.

Further behind, an overwhelming fireball finally expanded deep inside the Heaven’s Origin Fleet. The most violent storm of spiritual energy rushed out of the fireball, like a fire fiend that had just enjoyed the blood sacrifice of a thousand lives, waving its ugly tentacles crazily. The starships around were all affected, and the battle formation was more or less in disorder. It was the first starship to be completely destroyed in the space battle, but it was certainly, absolutely, definitely not going to be the last!

…

Seventy light seconds away from the battlefield, the Big Bai Fleet was marching forward fast in a cone-shaped battle formation.

On the bridge of Infinite Fire, the picture where the Heaven’s Origin Fleet was struggling under the crush of the Black Wind Fleet was displayed on the ball-shaped light beam through the reconnaissance crystal cameras that were released earlier.

It was like a glamorous and yet cruel firework performance with the lives of a million people as the fuel.

Bai Xingjian was sitting on the commander’s chair like a statue forged out of cold steel. The vibe of a casual, lighthearted playboy around him was entirely gone, replaced by excitement, expectation, and voracity.

“Despite the fire support of the Wall of Heaven’s Origin, the Heaven’s Origin Fleet can’t persist for long.” Xiao Lishui, his Chief of Staff, frowned next to him and said, “It is a local garrison after all. Compared to a Deep Sky Fleet such as the Black Wind Fleet, it is mediocre in terms of armor, firepower, speed, average quality of the Exos, and all other aspects.

“If we don’t reinforce them in time, they will be completely crushed in three hours.”

Right then, the signal officer received an order from the Defense Counsel of the Federal. Xiao Lishui was slightly dazed at the order first. Then, he was overjoyed.

“According to the order from the Defense Counsel, we are asked to arrive at the 25.44.45 space area immediately to defend the No. 2 and the No. 3 space gates and wait for the arrival of the Burning Prairie Fleet. The first wave of attack from the Burning Prairie Fleet will complete the jump in two hours!

“If—if—if so, the situation will be entirely reversed!

“But how is it possible? The Burning Prairie Fleet can’t finish the preparations so fast, unless—”

Xiao Lishui’s eyes were glittering, and every wrinkle on his face was jumping up.

As an experienced general, he soon noticed the anomaly.

The Black Wind Fleet had launched an unexpected assault at the central space zones of the federation because they wanted to take advantage of the Burning Prairie Fleet not being in the Heaven’s Origin Sector. As long as they destroyed the defense system and controlled all the space gates before the Burning Prairie Fleet arrived, they would completely occupy the Heaven’s Origin Sector.

By then, even if the Burning Prairie Fleet were to jump over in different waves, they would simply be asking to be killed.

However, right now, the Black Wind Fleet had only teleported part of the vanguard, which was mired in a fierce battle with the Heaven’s Origin Fleet. It was like a sting in their throat.

If the Burning Prairie Fleet arrived in time before they completely settled the Heaven’s Origin Fleet, the situation would be completely reversed. It would change from the Black Wind Fleet’s assault to the federation’s annihilation.

But how was that possible?

The large-scale space jump of a main-force fleet was as difficult as the march of an army of a million soldiers. It would often take weeks of gathering, preparing, organizing, and surveying!

Only several hours had passed since the ripples when the Black Wind Fleet ripped space apart appeared on the surveillance light beam of the federation. The Burning Prairie Fleet, which was dozens of lightyears away, was perhaps carrying missions, performing regular maintenance in the mother port, or scattered in the vast sea of stars. How could it be gathered so easily and prepared for a jump?

Unless—

Unless the Burning Prairie Fleet had secretly been preparing for the jump since a long time ago. They had known that the Black Wind Fleet would come!

It was not an unexpected assault but a trap carefully devised by the federation to annihilate the Black Wind Fleet once and for all!

“That must be the case!” Xiao Lishui thought that he realized what was going on. “This—this is all part of the plan! Understood. Accelerate to the No. 2 and the No. 3 space gates!”

“Wait.”

The order, however, made the mysterious fire in Bai Xingjian’s eyes even more intense. Gazing at the colorful battlefield on the light beam for a long time, he said, one word after another, “Target, the 25.56.24 space area. Change into the triangle battle formation. Move at one percent of the speed of light. Try to sneak behind the Black Wind Fleet.”

“What?” Xiao Lishui was stunned. Looking at the battlefield again, he said, “The order is clear that we should defend the other space gates. You are not going to defy the highest military order right now, are you? The Heaven’s Origin Fleet is hopeless now. Even if we join the battlefield, nothing can be helped. We may be crushed by the Black Wind Fleet, too. The only method of victory is to wait for the Burning Prairie Fleet to arrive and then attack the enemy together!”

“Carry out my order,” Bai Xingjian said slowly but firmly. Then he added, “Forget the Burning Prairie Fleet. They will not show up. At least, not now.

“On the other hand…

“Enter the radio silence state and block all messages from the outside world, including those from the Defense Counsel of the Federation. Starting from this moment, I want no signal from the outside world to leak into my fleet.”

Before the Chief of Staff came back to himself, he had already jumped off the commander’s chair. With ravenousness beaming out of his face, he patted Xiao Lishui’s shoulder and said, “From now on, we are on our own. Get behind the Black Wind Fleet first and find a chance to give them a shot!”

“Old Bai, what exactly…” Xiao Lishui felt that he was onto something. “What exactly do you know?”

“That old fart was not lying to me after all…” Looking at the dense light spots and the interconnected flames of spiritual energy on the light beam, Bai Xingjian put on a mysterious expression. He did not answer his Chief of Staff’s question. Pondering for a moment, he grinned. “But why do I feel that I’ve still been tricked by him? I shouldn’t have made a deal with the old fart. I’m certainly going to lose every penny in my pocket!”