Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

The fearless Exos and pilots of space shuttles became sensitive and vulnerable. All kinds of bizarre creatures from nightmares and the illusions of the deceased family and friends corroded their retinas and brain cells. The keen and calm fire control officers, battle analysts, and magical equipment specialists in the engine compartments on the starships were disturbed, too. Their ears were humming, their vision was clouded, and the world was shaking around them. They were all suffering the symptoms of claustrophobia.

The vastness and darkness of the universe was magnified countless times. They were no longer warriors who were piloting the most magnificent starships of mankind but more like ants that were caged inside metal matchboxes.

Some of the soldiers crouched like babies and sobbed gloomily. Some other people even had bloodshot eyes and grim faces, with black air flowing around their heads and bodies. Thick, black liquids ran out of their facial organs before they bawled and gnawed crazily.

The determined charge previously became hesitant and sluggish. The well-organized battle formation of starships was disrupted, too. Somebody even cut into somebody else’s sailing route when they were retreating under the overwhelming fear. When the starships were moving at more than one percent the speed of light, it was terribly difficult for them to alter the sailing route quickly. As a result, a lot of starships of the federation crashed into each other or even entered the area of friendly fire by accident.

The bullets of spiritual energy could change course, but the high-energy mystic rays’ course could not change. To make matters worse, while the starships of the federation were performing ugly emergency evasions, the Black Wind Fleet’s attacks that were ten times more violent and dense than before swept over like a storm.

The entire federal fleet seemed to be restrained by an enormous aura of fear. If one observed the battlefield with a special lens, they would see countless devils that looked like jellyfish, specters, and shooting stars on the battlefield tying up the crystal suits and space shuttles of the federation, before the monsters crawled into the equipment quickly through gaps that were torn open by the enemy’s fire.

With one side rising and the other side declining, the situation was reversed again.

The ‘arrival of extraterrestrial devils’ that Lu Qingchen had summoned was just a momentary outburst. The energy level of the devils was very low, and they could barely be called real ‘energy life’. They could do nothing except slightly activate the fear and other negative emotions in one’s heart and create minor chaos.

However, on a battlefield where the two parties were at an impasse, such chaos was enough to decide the outcome of the battle and the life and death of everyone involved.

The Black Wind Fleet’s overall capabilities were no lower than the federal fleet’s in the first place. It was just that the federation had taken the initiative in the battle, and they had to take care of the defenseless star beacon troop in the rear. They were not free to fight the way they wanted. That was why they had been stopped and suppressed.

The chaos caused by the arrival of the extraterrestrial devils, on the other hand, gave them a precious opportunity to catch their breath and ripped gaps that looked like abysses inside the federal fleet.

Heiye Ming was too experienced to let go of such a rare opportunity.

The Immortal Cultivators whose brain cells were filled by the desire to sabotage, destroy, and slaughter carried out the order of their commander dutifully and surged toward the ‘gaps’ like lunatics.

Countless crystal suits and space shuttles of the federation were destroyed in an instant. Without their protection, the clumsy starships of the federation immediately became the most succulent meat.

The Exos of the Imperium swarmed through the federation’s sparse fire net fearlessly like a bunch of locusts. They stuck themselves to the shells of the federal fleets. Fireballs expanded soundlessly one after another, and the composite plate armor several meters thick blossomed like orange flowers.

The Exos of the Imperium flooded in. The cruel boarding battles began!

‘Never allow a war to take place in one’s own territory’—that was the ultimate truth for every general that had passed on for thousands of years. In terms of space battles, it meant that the boarding battles must not be fought on one’s own starships because, whether the boarding battles were won or not, the starships would definitely be destroyed internally.

The performance of the crystal suits of the Imperium was higher than the federation’s in the first place. The Immortal Cultivators’ insanity, violence, and fearlessness were among the top tier in the whole universe, too. Even if they were annihilated in the starships of the federation, they would still detonate all their crystal bombs, their super-compressed crystal reactor, and even themselves before their death.

‘Self-detonation’ was a tactic that was well elaborated on in the tutorials for the middle- and high-level officers of the Imperium. Real Immortal Cultivators were certainly no cowards!

An irreversible chain reaction began.

The two parties were too deeply mixed up with each other to break away from the battlefield and regroup. They could only grit their teeth and fight the bloody battle to the end no matter how chaotic the battle was.

Tremendous crystal suits and space shuttles on the federation’s side were destroyed. Without their protection, it was barely possible to prevent the groups of crystal suits of the Imperium from invading the starships of the federation.

After starships were destroyed one after another from inside, they could provide less and less fire support for the crystal suits and space shuttles at the front, and it was more unlikely to stop the massacre.

In the end, although the influence of the arrival of extraterrestrial devils was gradually negated, and the soldiers of the federal army gradually broke free from the aura of fear, the Black Wind Fleet was already on the winning side of the battle!

“How is this happening?”

Ding Lingdang, who was piloting the Draconic Phoenix as the arrowhead of the assault team of Colossi; Bai Kaixin, who was commanding the battle on Burning Prairie; Bai Xingjian on Infinite Fire; and Jin Xinyue, who had just arrived in space with the reinforcements from the ground, were all caught in brief bewilderment.

With their Cultivation and determination, the ranged attacks of the devils could barely affect them.

However, the appearance of the devils and their obviously discriminative attack on only the fleet of the federation implied the most dreadful fact.

“The Black Wind Fleet has joined hands with the extraterrestrial devils!”

Ding Lingdang, Jin Xinyue, Bai Kaixin, Bai Xingjian, and everybody in the highest command center on the ground felt their hearts fall into a bottomless cave of ice.

The extraterrestrial devils were not rare in the universe. In most cases, they were just a minor harassment. Even though the Flying Star Sector in the past had suffered a lot from the arrival of the extraterrestrial devils, mankind’s government of the Flying Star Sector had never been shaken.

In other worlds, despite the occasional incidents of attack, they had never really posed a real threat.

Ever since the arrival of extraterrestrial devils in the tenth space ring of Heavenly Saints City in the Flying Star Sector more than a hundred years prior, the extraterrestrial devils had never caused any major trouble. Everybody thought that the soil in which the extraterrestrial devils grew had been removed after the New Federation was founded and the society grew more positive and promising, and that the extraterrestrial devils had left the bright land for good.

None of them expected the extraterrestrial devils to choose to show up at such a critical time.

Although the devils were not so strong by themselves and could easily be ripped into shreds by weapons of mystic rays and interferential magical equipment, one moment of chaos that they caused was enough to declare the doom of the entire federation!

“Look at the back of the Black Wind Fleet!”

On the bridges of Burning Prairie and Infinite Fire, in the highest command center on the ground, and inside Ding Lingdang, Jin Xinyue, and other people’s communication channel, desperate cries were echoing at the same time.

On the Imperium’s side, taking advantage of the vacuum created by the chaos and the destruction of tremendous starships of the federation just now, the most elite forces of the Black Wind Fleet, led by Black Swirl, were finally unfolded into a solid battle formation. Like dozens of glittering tusks, they joined the same location from all directions.

Behind those ‘tusks’, one star beacon after another spurted out bright exhaust flames before they attached to and combined with each other as if they were pulled by invisible hands.

The enormous force field continued expanding, enshrouding all the star beacons. The star beacons were flashing in a fixed rhythm as if they were breathing and were soon adjusted to the same frequency.

The assembly of the space gate of the Black Wind Fleet had begun.

Once the assembly was completed, it would send signals to the brown dwarf dozens of lightyears away and navigate the main force of the Black Wind Fleet to arrive!

Before, the Big Bai Fleet had been marching in and out of the enemy’s rear time and time again to stop the assembly of the space gate.

But the Big Bai Fleet was under the scourge of countless devils, too, and was quite devastated by the crystal suits and space shuttles of the Imperium that came at them quickly. It was more like they were fleeing than fighting at this moment.

The Big Bai Fleet had been engaged in the battle under the enemy’s siege for too long and was reaching its limits in every respect. Despite the brilliant command of Bai Xingjian, it was impossible for him to summon more starships, crystals, and ammunition out of thin air, heal the soldiers’ wounds and fatigue in a moment, or repair the starships that were shaking and riddled with holes to make them as good as new!

“The space gate of the Black Wind Fleet must not be assembled!”

From the soldiers to the generals, everybody on the federation’s side realized the point.

However, Black Swirl and the few strongest warships had stopped in front of the space gate and regrouped into an arc-shaped defensive battle formation.

The federal fleet was at the periphery. If it bypassed the defense, it would have to sail for a much longer distance than the Imperium’s army would, and its vulnerable flanks would be exposed!

“The defense of Black Swirl must be breached no matter the cost in order to blow up the space gate!”

Gritting her teeth, Ding Lingdang held back the vigorous magma inside her head and stared at Black Swirl.

Under her scorching gaze, the super warship of the Imperium made of hundreds of cubes that looked like black crystals gradually turned transparent, allowing her eyes to pass through it and reach the space gate further away!

Chi!

An ear-splitting explosion echoed deep inside the Draconic Phoenix, and the body trembled unnaturally. On the light beam of the crystal processor that was flashing rapidly, another few runes dimmed before a lot of parameters hit rock bottom and turned into unmoving straight lines.

Even her own brain nerves received a series of excruciating feedback, informing her that three critical magical equipment units had been completely wasted.

Ding Lingdang grinned.

Blowing up one Colossus on the enemy’s side, heavily damaging two, and taking down four starships and hundreds of crystal suits directly, the Draconic Phoenix had only paid the price of a fifty percent reduction in combat ability, and she could still move her fingers. It was already far better than she had expected.

As long as her fingers could still move and be clenched into a fist, she would never fall down!