Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Not all the individuals of the destroyed carbon-based civilizations had necessarily perished. They were more likely to have been modified into slaves and new biochemical weapons by the alliance of the Pangu Civilization, just like human beings domesticated wolves into dogs, wild animals into livestock, and broncos into war horses.

After the Nuwa Clan broke away from the alliance of the Pangu Civilization and raised a war that inevitably led to the destruction of both the Pangu and the Nuwa civilizations, the past ‘cattle’ naturally ran away. A tiny proportion of them slowly regained their wildness.

Deep inside their genes, it was possible that the memories of their ancestors from millions of years ago were stored, which allowed them to generate high wisdom and boast powerful techniques far exceeding the understanding of human beings.

However, due to the barriers and the domestication of the Pangu and the Nuwa civilizations, they were merely animals with survival instincts, which meant that they had all kinds of fatal weaknesses.

Countless ‘beasts’ like that were modified into biochemical weapons by the Pangu Civilization and the Nuwa Civilization in the final years of the primeval war. They were set to the automatic reproduction and hunting mode so that they could be engaged in incessant killing.

That was the truth of the ‘alien species’.

Despite their past glorious civilization, they were nothing more than beasts that were slightly stronger. It was impossible for them to compete with the civilization of mankind as a whole.

But the vastness of the universe did give them a chance of survival. However powerful the civilization of mankind was, it was unlikely for them to locate all the alien species hiding in the sea of stars and annihilate the beasts.

It was not unusual for such creatures to assault a fleet or even a resource plant of human beings under certain circumstances, resulting in the demolition of towns and the demise of hundreds of civilians.

There were in fact alien species at the edge of the cosmos, too.

The ‘spiritual beasts’, ‘demon beasts’, ‘foreign beasts’, ‘monsters’, and so on that the Cultivators often talked about were mostly not the aboriginal species in the local area but the relatively weak branches of the alien species. After being domesticated by mankind for a hundred thousand years, their living habits and even appearance had gone through drastic changes.

The spiritual energy at the edge of the cosmos was very thin. It was not the main battlefield of the primeval war, either. The Pangu and the Nuwa civilizations did not project a great number of ‘biochemical weapons’ in this place. Therefore, the alien species within the borders of the federation were of the level of ‘pheasants’ and ‘mallards’ at best.

But the cases were different at the center of the cosmos.

The resources there were more abundant, the spiritual energy was in excess, and the environment was complicated. The place had been the main battlefield in the primeval war. All kinds of ‘biochemical weapons’ that could automatically reproduce and kill could be found there and had continued their mutations and evolutions during the hundreds of thousands of years after the collapse of the alliance of the Pangu Civilization. After they cross-fertilized other wild alien species, there was simply no telling how many kinds of such creatures were out there.

In the eras of the ancient Cultivators, the Great Dark Age, the Star Ocean Imperium, the Star Ocean Republic, or the Imperium of True Human Beings, the war where human beings resisted alien species had never stopped.

The hundred thousand years of war had resulted in the decline of alien species, which were no longer a fatal threat for the civilization of mankind as a whole.

However, it was also like a sieve that had filtered out all the weak and idiotic alien species. Those who had survived the hunts and slaughters of human beings were all the most dangerous, cunning, and brutal creatures.

For the fleets of a smaller scale and the weakly guarded space towns, the alien species were the most dreadful threats.

In the heartland of the Imperium of True Human Beings, such a threat even far exceeded the shadow of war brought by the Covenant Alliance.

However, the Covenant Alliance was merely devoid of emotions. They were not entirely lunatics out of their mind. The two parties were engaged in a fierce war at the borderland, but few of them had ever jumped to the enemy’s rear to launch suicidal attacks.

The alien species, on the other hand, were utterly unpredictable. They could appear at any place at any time to start the most ruthless massacre.

Many alien species boasted the abilities to survive and travel through space. They also had a very keen sense of the space ripples.

It was said that they could sense the space ripples like the sharks could sense blood.

There was a terribly fierce mutated shark in the Heaven’s Origin Sector that could smell one drop of blood that was sprayed into the ocean hundreds of kilometers away.

Some of the alien species that lurked in the sea of stars and preyed on the passing-by fleets boasted senses much better than that.

If he encountered patrolling fleets of the Imperium of True Human Beings or unmanned satellites, Li Yao could still try to disguise and argue for himself.

However, if the alien species got their eyes on him, there would be absolutely no option except to fight with all his strength!

Therefore, the moment he jumped to the Devilish Scorpion Galaxy in the Imperium of True Human Beings, Li Yao increased the probe abilities of ‘Jingle Bell’ and his own level to the maximum.

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

As it turned out, before he finished the search for the astronomical parameters around, the crystal processor sent out ear-splitting warnings. Unknown high-energy reactions were approaching quickly.

It was a seemingly gargantuan meteoroid that was coming at ‘Jingle Bell’ precisely.

Li Yao, however, snorted to himself. What were the odds of running into a meteoroid the moment he jumped over? Something had to be behind it, and it had to have been attracted by the space ripples released when he travelled through the wormhole.

“Bring it on, then. Let me see how strong creatures at the center of the cosmos are!”

Li Yao had never expected to arrive at the center of the cosmos peacefully and smoothly. There were always unexpected factors.

Since the traces of an alien species had been found, he was reassured and was more eager to fight than ever.

The spiritual shield of ‘Jingle Bell’ was increased to the highest level as it braced for the crazy collisions from the meteoroids, raising the colorful, erratic sparks of destruction.

Li Yao finished the implementation of his crystal suit. The Colossus was standing by and ready to be activated, too. The powerful telepathic thoughts close to the Divinity Transformation Stage were released in rings as he searched for the enemies deep inside the stone belt.

Right then…

Zhi! Zhi! Zhi! Zhi!

Li Yao felt as if he ‘heard’ shrieks and screams from deep inside his brain. Sharp waves burst out of the meteoroids around him, which penetrated through ‘Jingle Bell’ like gloomy winds and caused the malfunction of a lot of components on ‘Jingle Bell’.

The spiritual shield and the power rune arrays of Jingle Bell dimmed at the same time, and about fifty percent of the impetus was lost. It had been going against the current in the stone belt previously, but it was now following the trend and flying further away, mired in the middle of the meteoroids.

In the meantime, the seemingly cold, lifeless meteoroids, after wriggling weirdly for a moment, slowly opened their limbs with sharp teeth and thorns, unfolding themselves into the shape of stars.

At first glance, they appeared to be dull-brown starfish of different sizes. Some were more than three meters in diameter, much greater than human beings, and some were delicate and only the size of a palm.

At the center of the five limbs was a mouthpart that had three rings of circular teeth. Regardless of their size, their sharp teeth were all revolving rapidly, shredding any metal, rocks, and minerals.

Those ‘starfish’ that were pretending to be meteoroids expanded nonstop, as if a certain high-energy reaction inside their body generated tremendous gas. The gas spurted out of their body, boosting them with a great acceleration. Together with the previous inertia, they lunged at ‘Jingle Bell’ brutally.

The starfish the size of a palm jumped at the shell of ‘Jingle Bell’ first. While their rapidly revolving teeth were not enough to break the plate armor, they were enough to disrupt most of the rune arrays carved on the shell of ‘Jingle Bell’, dropping the speed and defense of ‘Jingle Bell’ nonstop.

The starfish greater than three meters in diameter were following closely. If they attacked the starship, the problem would be much graver than the damage of the shell.

“What an impressive alien species!”

Li Yao complimented them in great amazement. Such ‘universal starfish’ clearly had two different living forms. When they gathered into meteoroids, it would not only provide the best disguise for them but also minimize all the resources that a carbon-based life required, including air, water, food, and everything else, thereby allowing them to survive and lurk for a long time in the cold, dark vacuum of space.

Once they discovered their prey, they would immediately go into the hunting state. Judging from the scale of their group and their neat cooperation, if they encountered a normal fleet of human beings, it was very possible that the starships would be swallowed completely by the creatures without leaving the slightest residue behind.

“No wonder you have survived such a long time in the heartland of the Imperium of True Human Beings.

“However, you have picked the wrong prey this time!”

Licking his lips, Li Yao turned into a streak of blackness and leapt out of the emergency exit of ‘Jingle Bell’.

With a telepathic thought, dozens of powerful streams of energy hit the ‘universal starfish’ that were attached to the shell of the starship.

Li Yao knew that the pointy thorns of the ‘universal starfish’ had deeply embedded themselves into the shell of ‘Jingle Bell’. If they were separated by brute force, chances were that it would cause further damage to the starship.

Therefore, he had to stimulate their nerve endings first—if they had any—in order to force them to retract their thorns before he got them off the starship.

As he expected, however weird those ‘universal starfish’ were, they were a carbon-based life, and they began cramping uncontrollably under Li Yao’s attack.

The spiritual shield and the force field disruption system on ‘Jingle Bell’ were activated to the maximum in that moment, blowing away all the universal starfish that were attached to its surface!

Hiu! Hiu! Hiu! Hiu! Hiu! Hiu!

Behind Li Yao’s crystal suit, a pair of enormous black wings were stretched to the maximum and unleashed hundreds of daggers of light, piercing through all the universal starfish and leaving holes through their mouthparts.

Those universal starfish all withered before they had time to cramp, as if they were flowers that were decaying because of an insect attack.

The universal starfish that were more than three meters in diameter, on the other hand, uttered soundless shrieks, raising surging tides inside Li Yao’s brain, as they lunged at Li Yao brutally with air masses flowing out behind them.

Li Yao sneered. The black wings were gathered into a hundred arcs in front of his face, like the string of a bow that was tightened to the limits. Then, they bounced forward abruptly, chopping the universal starfish into meat blocks large and small with the least effort.

In space, where the temperature was terribly low, without the protection of a solid shell, bodily fluids that were yet to spurt out from the fracture were frozen into ice immediately.