Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Every word Li Yao roared raised a tide in the dead sea of stars along with the high-pitched drumming at the center of his soul.

Every feather on the golden wings turned into a minor power rune array. Together, the power rune arrays spurted dazzling sparks that reached hundreds of kilometers away, making him look like a rushing meteor shower coming from the end of the endless universe!

Boosted by the countless power rune arrays, Li Yao’s speed was accelerated to the maximum instantly. His soul and his saber of stars melded into one as he stabbed the hideous face on the chest of the star child.

Chi!

Like a burning blade stabbing snow, all the debris of starships on the star child’s chest was melted, vaporized, and driven apart!

The enormous face grimaced, apparently in excruciating pain.

Li Yao’s soul twisted crazily. The wound soon turned into an enormous swirl that gradually expanded to the star child’s entire body, mincing the thousands of crystal warships that made up the body into smithereens!

“Ahhh!”

The star child screamed miserably. The real face of his soul was exposed. It was waving hundreds of thick tentacles like a gargantuan, mutated octopus.

The illusions of the deities and devils in the universe all crowded to him and melted into his body.

After every illusion was absorbed, his soul grew stronger, and his tentacles became thicker. Dense sucking discs, fangs, thorns, and hooks appeared on the tentacles, too. The front ends of many tentacles were opening like blossoming flowers, making them look like bloody mouths.

A soul in the shape of a purple octopus almost ten thousand meters tall versus golden wings that were equally tall!

The universe was the battlefield, the stars were their weapons, the galaxy turned into sabers and swords, and their roars became the daunting cosmic storms!

“Even if there are still Cultivators in the Heaven’s Origin Sector, you are just lucky dogs below the saber of the imperium. None of you ants are going to stop the march of the imperium however many of you there are!” the star child roared.

His hundreds of tentacles extended infinitely and dragged the debris of crystal warships close again. They then crushed and pressed the crystal warships brutally, turning them into crystal bombs that boasted highly-compressed spiritual energy and were extremely unstable. The bombs made of crystal warships were then tossed at Li Yao!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Li Yao was swallowed by countless destructive walls of fire, but in only 0.01 seconds, he had broken through the ocean of fire and sprinted forward. His soul also released thousands of threads and attracted all the crystal warships nearby to him, before he compressed them into giant golden feathers, each of which was dozens of meters long with delicate spiritual stripes on the surface and flames of spiritual energy dancing on them.

BAM!

The two immense souls that were Li Yao and the star child had a head-on clash!

Chi! Chi! Chi! Chi! Chi! Chi! Chi!

Hundreds of purple tentacles tied Li Yao up. The thorns and the hooks trapped him in excruciating pain, while the sucking disc was absorbing his soul power crazily!

Li Yao gritted his teeth, but he could not free himself from them for the moment.

The star child burst into laughter, only to be interrupted by an overwhelming storm of debris. The giant face of the octopus was now riddled with holes.

It was Luo Xingzi and the other Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators!

Their souls had expanded to more than a thousand meters, too, while they attacked the raging monstrous octopus!

“Li Yao, we are here!”

“Cultivators from the Flying Star Sector and the Heaven’s Origin Sector will fight side by side and make our own path in the dark forest!”

When Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators were infuriated, the world could be overturned. Right now, the entire mind palace was shaking violently. Cracks were appearing at the end of the deep, dark universe, expanding quickly like spider webs. The background was falling apart, only to reveal the black chaos behind!

Li Yao’s eyes were burning. Feathers were flying crazily and cutting the star child’s tentacles and body like thousands of golden daggers.

“You pushed me to this!”

The star child was more than exasperated. His soul expanded quickly. More tentacles were protruding out of his round body, making him look even more hideous and bloodthirsty.

“I meant to keep you alive so that you can help stabilize the situation of the Flying Star Sector and contribute to the imperium.

“But since you are too obstinate, you’ve left me no choice except to eradicate your souls!”

Luo Xingzi gasped. “How could it be? His soul power is still soaring incessantly. Was he not doing his best a moment ago?”

“This is his last shot!” Li Yao shouted. “He must’ve relinquished the control over most of the Grand Illusionary Soldiers and the space gate and shifted all his computational ability to this mind place!

“As long as we can survive the attack, he will be doomed!”

The star child grinned hideously. Thousands of tentacles were slithering around him like thousands of vipers. Their sharp ends aimed at the seven of them at the same time, before bloody mouths were split apart on them.

“Li Yao, you are indeed very smart!

“However, how will you survive the attack?”

…

In the real world, at the periphery of the Spider Den Space Zone, the star beacons on the space gate, which was now in a lozenge shape, were being illuminated one by one. They were blinking in a mysterious rhythm. Their invisible brilliance was transmitting short messages to billions of lightyears away through the four-dimensional space.

70% of the star beacons had been illuminated. The blinking mystic rays would soon constitute a complete pattern and send out the precise coordinates of the Flying Star Sector.

But the process came to an abrupt halt.

In the meantime, most of the Grand Illusionary Soldiers were attacking the hall of the Meeting of the Next Millennium and the important warehouses of magical equipment, only to calm down weirdly and simultaneously enter the idle mode again.

The Cultivators were all breathing hard in confusion, not entirely recovered from their fear.

The star child had abandoned its control of the space gate and most of the Grand Illusionary Soldiers temporarily. He only kept a tiny portion of them to protect his real body.

In such a case, he would be able to concentrate most of computational ability on Li Yao and the rest of the Cultivators!

Inside the control room of the star brain, the real bodies of Li Yao and the other Cultivators were floating in the middle of the ever-changing golden brain dragged by an invisible force. Their four limbs dangled down helplessly as if they were in a deep coma. Their occasionally cramping hands and feet were the only sign that they were still alive.

The computation rune arrays and processing chips nearby, which looked like skyscrapers, were all emitting flashing red lights. The cooling rune arrays were also functioning at the highest efficiency in hissing sounds, too. Frost and fog were being spurted out nonstop.

Even so, some of the rune arrays were still exploding every now and then.

The star brain had reached its limits, too.

At this moment, in an inconspicuous corner of the ‘skyscrapers’, five clusters of round, fat liquid metal were rippling on the surface while they communicated with each other in a secret way.

“What’s going on? Why has the outer defense of the star brain dropped by 95%?”

“Most of the defensive barriers have malfunctioned!”

“The Grand Illusionary Soldiers guarding the star brain have mostly entered the idle mode. There are barely any defenses right now!”

“Is it a trap?”

Professor Mo Xuan made the call. “We cannot hesitate anymore. It is now or never. We will start the invasion immediately!”

Hiu! Hiu! Hiu! Hiu! Hiu!

The five clusters of liquid metal were like all-pervasive mercury and snuck to the inside of the brain. They looked for the most critical computational rune arrays and processing chips before they devoured and sabotaged the units.

“Hiss. Such high computational ability. What a delicious meal!”

“Wow. I have never seen the structures or circuits of such processing chips. They are far more advanced than the technology of the Heaven’s Origin Sector and the Flying Star Sector. I must devour them now so that I will be able to simulate them virtually!”

“Damn. Those few rune arrays are not edible. We will destroy them, then!”

The five star spirits were like mice that had fallen into a tank of rice. They moved anywhere they wanted without being stopped at all, enjoying the most scrumptious meal of their lives!

…

Deep inside the star brain, in the middle of the mind place, the enormous soul of the star child had completely overwhelmed those of the seven Cultivators. Thousands of tentacles tied them up like vipers and thorns. The sucking discs continued absorbing their soul power, while the fangs injected endless fear into the depths of their souls.

“He—he is too strong. His real ‘star brain’ is the most advanced super crystal processor of the Flying Star Sector. It is also supported by the spiritual energy generated by the main power rune array of Heavenly Phantom. We are no match for him!”

“Don’t waver. Such a consumption rate must be a heavy burden for him too. It all depends on which of the two parties is more tenacious!”

“Ahhh!”

The souls of the seven Cultivators were being savaged by the star child. They were about to collapse at any point!

“Hahahahahahaha!” The star child laughed crazily. “Do you regret it now? It’s too late!

“No. I’m not going to let you die now. That would be too easy a death for you!

“I will keep part of your consciousness. You will see the outcome of the Flying Star Sector in person. You will watch as the Flying Star Sector is drowned in an ocean of flames and everybody ends up as the most humble slaves and test subjects of the imperium!

“Right. There’s also the Heaven’s Origin Sector! A population of tens of billions? Well, well, well. Isn’t it very nice? You will be the best fuel for the torch of our civilization!”

Illusions appeared behind the star child again. Countless pictures emerged in which the ordinary people were mining in the rough resource planets or being tested on with new Cultivation arts and techniques in the laboratories until they were tortured to death.

The six Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators gritted their teeth in fury and sorrow. Affected by the prospect of such misery, their souls were shaken again.

However, Li Yao was emotionless. There was nothing but coldness in his eyes. Even the last bit of redness in the deepest part of his eyes had almost frozen into red crystals now right.

He was waiting for the last opportunity.

Laugh as you will now. I’m indeed no match for you.

But I’m not fighting alone!

I believe that Professor Mo Xuan must be fighting together with me from the outside in a certain way!

Keep it up. Keep it up and never give up. A miracle is going to occur!

Suppressed by the star child, Li Yao’s soul was becoming more and more lackluster. The edge of every feather was enshrouded in a layer of black venom.

The six Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators were all struggling hard, too. They could not utter any sounds except grunts.

The star child’s hideous laughter grew more and more earsplitting. It replaced the drumming from the center of Li Yao’s soul and seemed to fill the entire universe.

Suddenly—

The star child’s hideous laughter came to an abrupt end, substituted by an exclamation.

Five wriggling lumps suddenly protruded on his body, as if something was trying to rush out of his body!

Chi!

Finally, the five lumps all broke free. Five fat, golden silkworms crawled out of his body and devoured his soul and computational ability as if they were chomping on mulberry leaves!

They were the projections of Professor Mo Xuan and the other star spirits in the mind palace!