Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Like the sharpest tusks, they bit into the depths of the Black Wind Fleet, surrounded by an overwhelming tide of crystal suits and starships of the Imperium. As the God of War and a competitive candidate for the next Supreme Speaker of the Federation, she certainly deserved the Black Wind Fleet to dispatch tremendous forces to besiege or even capture her alive.

At this moment, not one inch of the plate armor on the Draconic Phoenix was intact, and the crystals and spiritual energy had been exhausted, too. It could no longer take another barrage of the main guns of the hostile starships.

Inside the communication channel, the warriors whom she was familiar with were desperately shouting, “Long live the federation! Long live Iron Plateau! Long live the qi-trainers!”

Amid their roars, they tackled the enemy and burst into brilliant flames, their life eternalized in the most dazzling brightness.

Ding Lingdang could even tell the specific identity of every warrior from the features of the roars and recall the scenes when she practiced with them in peacetime.

Tears filled her eyes, but the smile on her face became more intense.

No matter how arduous it was, she hoped that as many crystal suits, Colossi, and starships of the Imperium as possible could be attracted to her.

The more enemies were distracted by her, the less pressure Burning Prairie would be under, and the more likely it would be to deliver the wormhole bomb within the fatal distance!

Three shooting stars rushed at her.

They were three long-prepared Colossi with full ammunition and spiritual energy that had just been released from Black Swirl.

The total number of Colossi the two parties invested on the battlefield had reached almost forty. The Imperium had obvious advantages in both quality and quantity.

At least, based on the blossoming spiritual energy of the three Colossi which were rushing at the highest speed, Ding Lingdang, who had run out of supplies and strength, was definitely no match for them.

“Bai Kaixin, Jin Xinyue, did you…”

Ding Lingdang’s nostrils widened, and she put her last hopes on the Burning Prairie Fleet and Moth. After tearing a crystal suit of the Imperium in half by brute force, she could not help but look at where Burning Prairie was again.

Despite the multiple eye-protection measures, her pupils were reduced to the limits in that moment, and she could not keep her eyes open under the stimulation of strong light.

She saw that countless light balls were expanding in front of the cone-shaped battle formation of the Burning Prairie Fleet like mini suns. The sources of such ‘suns’ were the invisible space torpedoes laid right in front of Black Swirl. Right when all the space torpedoes were detonated, the fire from Black Swirl and other warships of the federation also suddenly increased to a higher level. Most of the attacks were concentrated inside the Burning Prairie Fleet, not on Burning Prairie itself but a certain point that was deeper!

It was difficult for a blast to spread in the vacuum, but when all the starships opened their spiritual shields to the limits because of the explosion, the surging spiritual energy that they unleashed still gathered into a tsunami that was even more violent than a blast!

The main-force warships of the Burning Prairie Fleet were shaking hard in the tsunami of furious flames. The previously accurate and determined battle formation was gradually loosened.

Ding Lingdang felt that her heart was grabbed.

“Advisor Bai. Bai Kaixin!”

She and Bai Kaixin were both members of ‘Li Yao’s group’ and could be counted as political companions who were already in a close relationship previously. In the emergency, she directly called him by his name. “What happened? How is Moth? Moth!”

Ear-splitting background noises were echoing inside the secret communication channel, suggesting that Burning Prairie had not entirely recovered from the intense spiritual and magnetic interference caused by the big explosion. It was not until a long time later than Bai Kaixin’s intermittent and twisted voice came over. “Fall back now, Ding Lingdang. It’s hopeless. Moth has been destroyed!”

“What!” Ding Lingdang felt her head go dizzy, and the whole universe seemed to be collapsing before her eyes.

“In the last round of mutual barrage, hundreds of starships on the enemy’s side concentrated their fire on Moth’s course, as if they had learned of Moth’s important destiny in advance!” Bai Kaixin replied angrily. “Damn it. I don’t know how it ended like this. Moth has been completely vaporized, and the wormhole bomb was obliterated before it could be activated! Without the wormhole bomb, and just counting on the available forces right now, we can never break through Black Swirl, which is enhanced by the extraterrestrial devils!

“Not good. According to detection, five Colossi of the Imperium are lunging at Burning Prairie. So many more Colossi are hidden inside the Black Wind Fleet! This—this is a trap! They intentionally lured us in! Everyone on-board, prepare for a boarding battle. They are about to crawl in!

“Listen, Ding Lingdang. Our plan has failed. It will be meaningless even if you persist stubbornly. Retreat now!

“Even if… even if the Heaven’s Origin Sector is really lost, we still have another six Sectors, and we can still play a game with the Black Wind Fleet! But a game requires leverage. You are our leverage! You must not die here for nothing!

“Retreat. That’s an order!”

The communication in the secret channel was cut off violently.

There was no telling if it was because the five Colossi deployed by the enemy most recently had invaded Burning Prairie.

As if hit by lightning, Ding Lingdang did not come back to herself for a long time.

She was about to issue the order of retreat when Wu Mayan sent a classified file to her, claiming that the file had been received from Jin Xinyue.

Ding Lingdang was slightly dazed. She did not understand why Jin Xinyue did not communicate with her directly through the private channel but chose to transfer through Wu Mayan, or why the classified file had been locked with double verification of retinas. Only after the retinas of both Wu Mayan and Ding Lingdang were scanned would the file be decrypted.

Beep!

Ding Lingdang soon passed the retina test and opened the tiny classified file.

Jin Xinyue’s clever and determined face immediately appeared before her eyes.

“Retreat now, Masteress. Your mission has been completed successfully. The wormhole bomb has been launched. As for exactly whether or not it can reach somewhere near Black Swirl, it will solely depend on our luck!”

Ding Lingdang was dumbfounded. Did they not say that Moth had been vaporized and the wormhole bomb had been obliterated before it was activated? What was this supposed to mean?

Although she was often criticized for having more brawn than brains, she had the computational ability of the peak of the Nascent Soul Stage after all. Looking at Jin Xinyue’s cunning smile in the picture, she immediately realized what had happened. “Damn it. The wormhole bomb was not loaded on Moth!”

It was not real-time communication, only a video clip sent by Jin Xinyue. Naturally, her roars were not heard by anybody.

But Jin Xinyue in the video seemed to have foreseen Ding Lingdang’s reaction. She paused for a moment and went on. “You must’ve guessed it, Masteress. Yes. There was indeed a wormhole bomb inside Moth, but it was a fake one.

“Don’t blame me, Masteress. When our Spiritual Nexus and space gates crashed, I realized that I had been caught in a bottomless trap. An enemy must be out there who is of a higher level than the commander of the Black Wind Fleet and boasts strong abilities to infiltrate and control the Spiritual Nexus, and the enemy knew everything about us!

“Then, if the enemy had learned the existence of the Dim Moon Plan a long time ago and decided that they could take advantage of it, they must know every detail of the Dim Moon Plan. How could the wormhole bomb, our most critical trump card, have been a secret for them?

“Although the wormhole bomb was a top secret, a lot of people from both the Secret Sword Bureau and the Dim Moon Fund were involved in the research and modification process, and many crystal processors were utilized, too. It was impossible to keep it a secret completely.

“Since the enemy had been long aware of the wormhole bomb, they would certainly pay special attention to the protection of the central starships and the crucial areas. Since we deployed so many starships to march forward, even an idiot could’ve guessed that we were about to resort to our trump card. So, how could it ever work out?

“Thankfully, one week before the Dim Moon Plan was activated, I… received some unexpected enlightenment and realized that it was too direct, simple, and risky to ask one carrier to carry the wormhole bomb.

“Therefore, I secretly produced two fake wormhole bombs and designated three carriers to perform the mission together, one carrying the real bomb and the other two carrying the false ones, in order to improve the odds of survival and the inconspicuousness.

“The production of the real wormhole bomb involved a lot of work. Some traces were bound to be left behind.

“Faking the wormhole bomb, on the other hand, only required a similar appearance. It was quite simple and could be done even without the help of crystal processors and the Spiritual Nexus.

“I knew that our Spiritual Nexus had been highly compromised. Although we had switched to the backup network, and it was impossible for the enemy to monitor the crystal processors of every soldier, they would certainly find a way to eavesdrop the conversations of the core persons of the federation such as you and me.

“Therefore, before the launch of the Heaven’s Artillery, I spoke to you intentionally, Masteress, and revealed the message that the wormhole bomb was on Moth to you. It was meant to be a revelation to whoever was eavesdropping us, too.

“Don’t they think that they are almighty and can hear everything? Well, they can just hear however much they want!

“Now, the enemy are under the impression that the wormhole bomb has been vaporized together with Moth. Our flagship, Burning Prairie, has been stalled and surrounded by the Black Wind Fleet, too. The enemy have deployed major forces including five Colossi to besiege Burning Prairie and focused most of the attacks on it. It is inevitable that they will neglect the areas that are slightly further away.

“With Burning Prairie as the bait, we hope to rip an invisible gap. The real wormhole bomb is passing through the gap at full speed and flying toward Black Swirl!

“Right now, nobody can do anything except pray to the heavens that the Star Glory Federation can be granted more luck.

“Retreat now, Masteress. You cannot win a war solely by yourself. You’ve accomplished your mission. We will take it from here!

“Hehe… Nobody has ever tricked Jin Xinyue so viciously before. An eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. I am definitely not the most clement person in the world. Whoever the enemy that is hiding in the darkness is, I will teach them the true meaning of being screwed up by their own scheme word by word!”