Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

After saying that, Zuo Jingyun stared at the Fist King and Xiahou Wuxin and glanced at Han Te and Liu Li. Instead of waiting for anyone to reply, she returned to the operation cabin of the excavation system and slammed the door, leaving hundreds of upset and confused bandits and thugs.

Those bandits and thugs naturally surrounded the Fist King and Xiahou Wuxin. But thankfully, knowing the toughness of the two experts, and because those bandits had essentially betrayed the two dominators during the Battle of Liberty City, they did not dare act recklessly but simply asked the Fist King and Xiahou Wuxin to explain the situation to them.

After pondering for a moment, the Fist King and Xiahou Wuxin found no reason to hide the information. They simply cut the critical parts that involved their secrets and told everybody the basic background of the Land of Sins as well as the truth behind Manjusaka, the City in the Sky. The bandits and the thugs were all surprised, infuriated, and scared, feeling that they were truly lucky.

Thankfully, they had discovered the truth in time. Otherwise, if they had truly successfully conquered or defended Liberty City and been sent to the City in the Sky to ‘enjoy happiness’, would they not have become test subjects to be sliced and studied in their ignorance?

Many tough bandits glared at Xiahou Wuxin furiously, as if they were about to attack him if he could not explain himself.

However, since ‘Fist King’ Lei Zonglie had not taken any action, they were naturally not bold enough to act before the Fist King.

Besides, Xiahou Wuxin knew a lot about the City in the Sky and even Starlight. He was aware of the intelligence that they did not know.

With that in mind, it was inappropriate to end on bad terms with him.

“Leader Xiahou, are those Immortal Cultivators truly going to annihilate each and every one of us without leaving any chance of survival?” some bandits asked drily, still having hope.

“Just drop your illusions and prepare to fight.” Xiahou Wuxin sighed. “Even if there was a slim chance of survival, now that we have gotten in touch with Starlight, the greatest trouble for Manjusaka, and learned so many things that we shouldn’t have, it is impossible for us to survive.

“Do not fantasize that the Immortal Cultivators will show any mercy and pity. I have been a dog for Manjusaka for decades, but am I now not being cooked because I am no longer useful? Do you have any reason for the Immortal Cultivators to spare you?”

Everybody was silent after hearing that. After a long silence, somebody asked, “Then, what is the strength of this ‘Starlight’? Is it capable enough to resist Manjusaka?”

The sinners in the Land of Sins were all fearless warriors. When they were caught in desperation, they would not hesitate to jump on and bite the deities, not to mention the Immortal Cultivators.

“However weak Starlight may be,” Xiahou Wuxin said, “it has at least struggled for hundreds of years under the suppression of the Immortal Cultivators, and it will not seem strange if the organization struggles for hundreds more years.

“They have rescued us at great risk naturally because we are still of great value. Therefore, you might as well rest in peace for a moment and see what they have to offer before you decide if this is an opportunity of cooperation.

“To be honest, we are already in the worst situation. Nothing worse can possibly happen. Just act as if you were killed in the bloody mouths of the skeleton lizards, and every second since then is a bonus!”

With everything coming to this point, the Fist King and Xiahou Wuxin were not interested in investigating what the bandits and thugs did in the Battle of Liberty City after everything fell into chaos. After all, it was in the nature of the sinners, and something would have been wrong if they had not done it.

The two of them calmed and reorganized everyone with both carrots and sticks.

Meanwhile, Han Te and Liu Li crouched in a corner. The two little fellows were so excited that they were breathing fast. Their eyes that were as clear as water were filled with stars.

“Grandpa Yao, Cultivators! We have found the legendary Cultivators!”

“So, Starlight has been resisting Manjusaka for hundreds of years underground. That is really incredible!”

“With the help of Starlight, we will have a better chance of overthrowing the reign of Manjusaka and changing the entire Land of Sins, won’t we?”

Sensing the flames of the two little fellows’ thrilled souls, Li Yao smiled thoughtfully and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear, “Perhaps. You may share your identity, experience, and ambitions with the female warrior of Starlight and see if she can help you blow up the City in the Sky. But keep one thing in mind. Do not expose my existence.”

“Huh?” Han Te blinked. “Don’t you want to sabotage Manjusaka, too? The Immortal Cultivators are bad guys, so the Cultivators of Starlight must be good guys. We share a common purpose. You revealed your identity to Master Fist King and Leader Xiahou. Why are you hiding yourself from Starlight?”

“Because of my intuition.” Li Yao did not know how he should explain himself. “I vaguely feel that something is off. This ‘Zuo Jingyun’ is not necessarily a bad guy, but as for ‘Starlight’, I need to learn more about it to figure out what moves they have planned.

“The bottom line is, we are getting closer and closer to the truth now. It never hurts to be extra careful.”

The quakes of the ‘earthly dragon’ grew weaker and weaker, and it gradually slowed down.

For most of the time, they were not digging holes on the rocks blindly because there were interconnected natural caves and man-made tunnels below the ground that were as sophisticated as a maze, as well as the debris of the underground cities left from the prime days of the Martial Meritocrats Civilization a thousand years ago. They travelled among the gaps as easily as on the ground at an amazingly high speed.

After driving for more than half a day, the ‘earthly dragon’ finally released gas and came to a stop.

The cabin doors on two sides were folded and opened. Mixed in the middle of the many bandits and thugs, Li Yao, Han Te, and Liu Li got off the vehicle dizzily, only to find themselves in the middle of a vast underground town.

Perhaps the place had been the center of a super enormous underground mine a thousand years ago. All the shacks there had been shattered and emptied, leaving a cave as deep as an abyss. It was impossible to see the end of the cave or the edge of the other side of the cave.

Inside the cave that led downward in the shape of a spiral, countless airborne metal buildings that were connected by chains, hoists, and rails had been established. Around them were channels that made the place look like a honeycomb. A lot of the channels were ablaze with lights, showing that many ‘earthly dragons’ were being maintained.

Some of the ‘earthly dragons’ were hung in midair by chains and connected to other ‘earthly dragons’, forming a chain of earthly dragons thousands of meters long from the head to the tail. They were essentially a mobile town that was narrow and long!

Several thousand workers were busy doing their job. Sparks and electric arcs were spurting, vaporizing their sweat into hazy mist, which was illuminated into different hues by the dim lights.

Li Yao sensed many intimidating Exos lurking in the darkness. There were also firing points whose locations had been carefully calculated. He even smelled the scent of crystal bombs from many forsaken tunnels. It was almost a fully-armed arsenal!

“This place used to be known as ‘Azure City’. A long, long time ago, there was a Blue Crystal Mine here with abundant reserves, but by the time we discovered it, absolutely nothing could be found here.”

Zuo Jingyun had shown up again. This time, she had completely removed the heavy and clumsy crystal suit and put on more convenient, soft armor. The vibration saber was folded on her back like a pair of sharp wings. She said, “In the rock stratums between three thousand and six thousand meters below the ground, there are too many such forsaken mines. It is practically impossible for the Immortal Cultivators to examine all of them one by one. So, this is our temporary base now.

“Even if we are indeed discovered by the Immortal Cultivators, there’s nothing to be worried about. We will simply board our respective ‘earthly dragons’ and run off.

“The truth is, the earthly dragons are our actual bases and homes. Such temporary bases are merely meant for maintenance and supplies.”

Looking at the emotionless workers who were dedicated to maintenance and modification and hearing Zuo Jingyun’s calm description, Li Yao was caught in mixed feelings.

Are they the Cultivators who have resisted for a thousand years stubbornly at the heartland of the Imperium of True Human Beings?

Li Yao had thought that the survival and development of the Cultivators at the edge of the cosmos was already difficult enough. But when he saw the ‘fellow Cultivators’ who had lurked underground for a thousand years and were ready to jump on the ‘earthly dragons’ to escape like shocked rabbits if anything went wrong, he truly understood what dead end meant.

What kind of spirit and belief could possibly have supported the fellow Cultivators to persist in the resistance for hundreds of years in hopeless and lightless desperation?

While he was pondering, the noises of chains being pulled echoed at the edge of the abyss in front of them. A muscular man slowly showed up on a metal lift.

“He is Wei Longtao, the leader of Starlight in the underground world of the Land of Sins.”

Zuo Jingyun did not hide the admiration in her eyes at all. She said, “He is a real hero and a super expert at the ‘earthly dragons’. He has escaped the sieges and blockages of the Immortal Cultivators countless times and killed too many Immortal Cultivators and their accomplices to count. You must be well aware of that, Leader Xiahou, right?”

Xiahou Wuxin trembled and put on a solemn expression. He nodded. “I did not know his name, but it is true that Manjusaka once sent a highly confidential warrant, wanting a man that was a hundred times more dreadful than mutated beasts. We were even asked not to surround and hunt the man recklessly after discovering his tracks. As long as we reported the intelligence, we would be considered the greatest contributor. It was strictly forbidden to make any move that would alarm him. The man on the warrant seems to be… exactly like this.”

“Hehe.” Zuo Jingyun smiled and approached Xiahou Wuxin intentionally. She said in a low voice, “Wei Longtao has assassinated four masters of ‘Elysian Worlds’ who were exactly like you, Leader Xiahou. His success rate is one hundred percent!”