Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

The space swirl that was previously stable and even became warped and violent because of the storm. Part of the reinforcing starships of the Imperium had passed the wormhole but were stuck in the depths of the overlapping ripples at the last moment.

Some of them were stretched to hundreds of kilometers long from several kilometers. Some starships superimposed other starships, raising intense explosions when all the materials appeared at the same coordinates. Some were forever trapped in the void and could not be condensed again, like clusters of glittering mists in space.

Almost none of the starships were able to escape from the fatal swirl. The few starships that were lucky enough to run out were also contorted into spirals, losing all their spiritual energy and power. Judging from the broken shells and the gaps that almost pierced through the body of the entire starship, most of the crew members inside must have died.

The star beacons that constituted the space gate exploded one after another. The enormous fireball illuminated almost half of the universe, which only made it easier for people to clearly see the chaos and misery at the center of the space swirl.

It was like a masterpiece of a Fauvist artist when he was well drunk. The nightmare-like picture lasted about half a minute, and the colorful, messed-up space swirl finally collapsed inwardly beyond control and perished at a visible speed. A few seconds later, the only things left behind were shiny ripples that looked like drifting jellyfish.

That was a real wormhole bomb!

The space gate had completely collapsed, and all the star beacons lost their brilliance, like the eyes of the blind. The enormous reinforcing troops of the Imperium, those raging, well-prepared dinosaurs in space, vanished into nothingness together with the wormhole!

The entire battlefield in space was caught in a weird silence.

None of the soldiers, commanders, generals, Cultivators, and Immortal Cultivators on either side could say anything.

Everybody just gazed at the coordinates where the wormhole had perished, watching the colorful, glittering ripples.

Even the fleet commanders with the highest computational ability also went blank. Disbelief, ecstasy, or desperation, all kinds of emotions were sealed inside their frozen nerves!

“How—how did this happen?”

Ding Lingdang, Bai Xingjian, Bai Xinghe, Jin Xinyue, Wu Mayan, Guo Chunfeng, and Heiye Ming, as well as thousands of soldiers of the federal army and the Black Wind Fleet, were all carpet bombarded by the deafening question inside their brain!

Regardless of their side, a lot of people exclaimed in shock at the same time, “What is that?”

Sensing an unseen force surging close from the debris of the space gate, they all shifted the scanning direction of their probe magical equipment.

In the coordinates where the reinforcing fleet of the Imperium and the wormhole perished together, deep inside the colorful space ripples, a majestic shadow gradually revealed itself.

General Colossi were no taller than fifty meters. Even the largest model was only slightly more than a hundred meters tall. Compared to the scale of the universe, they were just a grain of sand. Logically, it should have been difficult to observe them with the naked eye.

However, the magnificent, dominating shadow was not the Colossus itself, and not even entirely the flames of spiritual energy that it triggered, but space tempests raised by the collision of its spiritual shield and the space ripples that had not completely dissipated!

The overwhelming radiation was its cape. The high-energy particles were like crazily-dancing, fiery snakes around its body. Electric arcs thousands of kilometers long interweaved behind the Colossus, congregating into a path that pierced deep into the Black Wind Fleet!

The giant made of space tempests shredded the space ripples, stomped on the path of lightning, and spurted out high-energy particles crazily. Its aura rushed higher and higher in space. A hundred meters, a thousand meters, ten thousand meters, a hundred thousand meters… It left an ineffaceable mark on every crystal camera, every piece of surveillance magical equipment, and everyone’s pupils!

Invisible threads seemed to have darted out of the giant’s body and tangled with the heart of everybody on the battlefield.

Everyone sensed the suffocating waves of spiritual energy. In their confusion, they even heard the thuds of the giant’s footsteps when it strode through the lightning and stars.

Was it friend or foe? What was it exactly?

Were the footsteps the drumming of march or a knell that would claim everyone’s life?

Everybody waited nervously and helplessly while they tried to catch their breath.

Ding Lingdang stared at the form of the radiation of the stranger’s spiritual energy that was scanned by her crystal processor.

For some reason, her heart was beating faster and faster, and her chest and cheeks were burningly hot. She felt that her lips were numb, and her eyes gradually filled with tears.

Clink! Clink! Clink! Clink! Clink!

She seemed to hear the wind chimes ringing when the blood raged against her eardrums.

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

Emergency intelligence was sent from the highest command center.

The moment she saw the two words that were so familiar that they were almost unrecognizable, the windchimes in her ears were ten times louder than before. Her nose seemed to have been twisted hard, and she could not help but burst into tears.

“You—you’re finally back!”

…

I’m finally back, and thankfully, in time!

Inside the cockpit of the Tartarean Skeleton, despite the thorough protection of Little Black, Li Yao’s muscles and veins were still ripped apart by the space ripples, and his face was bleeding hard.

It could not be helped. In order to boost the morale and build the impressive sound and visual effect, he gritted his teeth to barge into the center of the ripples of spiritual energy that had not become peaceful yet. He had even summoned his spiritual energy to compete with the universe!

Although he did achieve the awesome effect of a whole path of sparks and lightning, he had suffered major backlash.

But it was all worth it!

He did not know how Ding Lingdang, Jin Xinyue, and the millions of soldiers of the federal army managed it, but they had truly resisted the Black Wind Fleet that was strengthened by the extraterrestrial devils miraculously long enough for the twelve experts from the Ancient Sages Sector and their twelve Colossi to arrive!

Thank you, Jin Xinyue, Guo Chunfeng, Wu Mayan, Ding Lingdang… and everybody else for bringing me this ‘miracle’. Now, let me give a new miracle back to you!

“Hooo!”

The Tartarean Skeleton uttered a soundless roar. The overwhelming radiation and high-energy particles around its body expanded and brightened more than ten times over like solar flares, leaving an enormous silhouette in the dark universe that was almost pure white!

Three unfortunate starships of the Imperium happened to be in Li Yao’s way.

They had already been terribly damaged by the hyperspace shock raised by the collapse of the wormhole. The gaps that were everywhere on the bodies of the starships were spurting out fire nonstop.

Having no time to dodge at all, they were drawn by the magnetic field of the Tartarean Skeleton into its range of attack before they exploded all of a sudden and turned into three brilliant fireballs behind the Tartarean Skeleton.

With the instant illumination of the fireballs, some of the starships of the Imperium at a closer distance finally captured the hideous appearance of the Colossus that looked like a lord of darkness.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The crystal processors of the Tartarean Skeleton received a new request to connect to the communication channel.

Judging from the token received, it was exactly the passcode that they had agreed upon in the Hundred Flowers Space Zone.

Who would be the first one to speak to him after a hundred years? Would it be… her?

Holding back his excitement, Li Yao sent out a shivering telepathic thought, connecting the ports of the two parties on the Spiritual Nexus.

“Li Yao!”

Ding Lingdang’s voice immediately raised thunderstorms in his ears, nerve endings, brain, and deep inside his soul.

Li Yao did not feel as suffocated even when he gritted his teeth to break into the center of the space ripples a moment ago.

Although he was a renowned Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator and the dominator of three Sectors, he felt that his eyes and nose were almost filled with tears. Taking a deep breath, he reminded himself to calm down and regain the grand returning aura instead of falling into the sensational dramas again.

Li Yao forced him to tighten his lips and burst into laughter. “Dear wife, I’m back. Are you happy? Are you excited?”

Ding Lingdang was silent for a while, probably too excited to control herself. Even her voice sounded weird. “Well…”

“You don’t need to say a word. I feel you, honey!” Even such a straightforward woman like Ding Lingdang had fallen silent. When he thought of the tears on his wife’s face, Li Yao was so thrilled that he almost could not contain himself. Holding back the roiling emotions in his chest, he quickly said, “I know that you must’ve missed me dearly. I just want to tell you that I missed you so much, too. But now is not the time for romance. Just step aside and rest well. Your husband is going to blow up all those Immortal Cultivators and extraterrestrial devils as quickly as possible. After those scumbags are taken care of, we will be able to do whatever we want. We haven’t had a competition of beliefs for a hundred years!”

“Would you please stop?”

“Huh? Something is wrong. You are not my wife! My wife should be a passionate and straightforward woman. Since when have you become so shy?”

“I am your wife. But this is not a point-to-point private communication channel. Just now, I opened the port of communication on my end to all the troops on our side. All the soldiers of the federal army can hear our conversation.”

“…”

“Hello? Li Yao? Can you still hear me?”

“Zi! Zi! Zi! Zi! Zi! Zi!”

“Li Yao! Li Yao!”

“What did you say?” Li Yao asked innocently. “I didn’t hear anything. Just now, the extraterrestrial devils seemed to have hacked my Spiritual Nexus and sent out some messy voices. But I’ve already taken care of them! This is the real me talking right now. What did you say, honey?”

“…Your grand return has shocked the entire battlefield,” Ding Lingdang said, unamused. “Everybody can’t wait to hear the voice of ‘Vulture’ Li Yao, the dominator of the three sectors. Is there anything you want to say to the soldiers of the federal army?”

“We are in the middle of a military emergency,” Li Yao said. “I don’t have much to say right now. Besides, I hate those people who give a long, dull speech before every battle more than anything! Soldiers of the federal army, I am Vulture Li Yao, but I am not the ‘dominator of three Sectors’. I am a common warrior, just like every one of you! Let’s not say a word but fight side by side and march toward the enemy’s flagship, Black Swirl! Every explosion you are going to see will be my voice!”