Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Li Yao’s soul rippled for a long time, but he still could not figure out what was going on. “Did the guy set up a trap on purpose to lure the yaksha squad to Eternal Brightness? In fact, he has already turned Eternal Brightness into a perilous battlefield?”

“But that can’t be right. The yaksha squad is just a special combat unit under the command of the Heresy Interrogation Bureau. There are not many of them. They are not the core strength of the Holy Alliance. In fact, they are the ‘experiments’ that are being monitored in the first place. Even if the yaksha

squad is entirely wiped out, they will not be able to hurt a single hair of the five great masters. There is no reason for the puppet king to go through all the trouble and use himself as bait to annihilate a mere yaksha squad, is there?

“Therefore, if everything was within his plan, he must have a deeper purpose!

“Maybe. There’s something else that I need to remind you of. Think about it carefully. What are we talking about when we are talking about the real ‘Puppet King’?”

The mental devil replied, “We both know that, if the puppet king is really Lu Qingchen, he must’ve gotten rid of his shell a few years ago and turned into a pure Heavenly Demon of the Spiritual Nexus. Or according to him—the third form of human beings after human beings and demons, the ‘Spirit Clan’!

“The body of flesh and blood that he brought out of his mother’s womb was lost in the war when the Black Wind Fleet assaulted the Star Glory Federation. It was blown to smithereens on ‘Black Swirl’, the flagship of the Black Wind Fleet. From then on, he was granted absolute freedom and was no longer

bound by any shell.

“Therefore, it is very likely that there is no ‘true self that can be captured by the yaksha squad!”

“Right!”

Li Yao said, “Lu Qingchen is an astral being without a shell. Or rather, the entire Spiritual Nexus is his shell… But then again, consciousness cannot exist without matter for a long time. Even though he is in the form of an information life-form just like us, he still needs something to rely on so that his

soul power can be fully released!

“Just like we have to use the mainframe crystal processor and the limbs of the spider tank, Lu Qingchen has to be attached to something in order to wield his strength!

“Yes. But in such a case, Lu Qingchen’s real face might be completely different from what the yaksha squad imagined.

“At this moment, the yaksha squad, the Heresy Interrogation Bureau, and the Grand Master all think that they are trying to capture someone,” the mental devil said. “But in fact, it is very likely that Lu Qingchen does not exist, or that he has more than one body of a human being. His real body might be the

mainframe crystal processor of Eternal Brightness, or a fast shuttle inside the starship city, or… anything.”

Li Yao pondered for a moment. “Damn. Why do I feel that the more we discuss, the more difficult it will be to capture the puppet king? Should we think of a way to remind Chu Zhixiao and the rest of them of the real form of the puppet king?”

“How?”

The mental devil asked back, “Are you going to tell Chu Zhixiao that the puppet king is actually not a human being but some kind of… Spirit Clan, Super Spiritual Entities, Heavenly Demons of the Spiritual Nexus? What? How do you know that? It’s simple. Since you and the puppet king are old

acquaintances, and you are his elder, you watched the puppet king grow up. You even patted the puppet king’s hair and kindly encouraged him to study hard and improve himself every day. You even saw him when he was still wet behind the ears. He even served you tea and was very respectful to you!”

“Alright.”

Li Yao surrendered. “Forget it. It seems that we can only play by ear again. Thankfully, playing by ear has always been our specialty!”

While the two of them were talking to themselves, the assault starship went through another four-dimensional jump and left the Golden Lion Sector, arriving in a new world.

It was a barren world far away from the frontline. Most of the space around it that was suitable for space jumps was wreathed in stone belts and high-energy nebulae. It was as blocked as a basin on a planet.

Other than a dying, lackluster star and a few lethargic planets, there was nothing of value here.

Eternal Brightness was stationed in the orbit of the largest planet in the world.

The people of the Star Glory Federation had lied to the ignorant residents of Eternal Brightness that their ‘recycling machine’ had absorbed endless, inexhaustible resources from the planet, and that they could live a carefree life for tens of thousands of years before the star entered its decline.

In fact, the planet with an extremely harsh environment was full of crumbly rocks. Even though it was tens of thousands of meters below the ground, there was not even the shadow of a crystal the size of a fingernail, let alone the atmosphere and the ecosystem.

Even if all the residents on Eternal Brightness were awakened, they would not be able to run away with the resources of the planet.

Li Yao had thought that the people of the Star Glory Federation were all ruthless machines.

But at the very least, the names of the Sectors had a cruel sense of humor and named the place ‘Beyond the Well’.

Wasn’t the life of the residents of Eternal Brightness like the moon in a well? No matter how splendid it was, it was just a dream. If one were to pick it up with their hands, it would immediately crumble into vague ripples.

‘When the assault starship reached the boundary of the well, a rarely-seen meteor shower was attacking Eternal Brightness, leaving colorful, fireworks-like circles on the spiritual shield of the starship.

Naturally, it was also part of the plan.

It was because the tentacles of the puppet king had probably infiltrated every corner of Eternal Brightness and infiltrated the mainframe crystal processor and the crystal cameras and sensors installed around the starship.

If they did not do anything and allowed the assault starships, hunting starships, and interference starships, including the yaksha squad and the special forces of the God Bless Army, to jump to the ‘well world’, it was very likely that the puppet king would notice them immediately. In the next second, the

puppet king would run away through the Spiritual Nexus or simply commit suicide.

Therefore, such a meteor shower was arranged so that a lot of pieces of the meteorites would bombard the shell of Eternal Brightness. Some of the larger meteorites would even pierce through the spiritual shield and the alloy shell of the starship precisely.

In such a way, the ‘eyes’ and ‘ears’ that were scattered on the shell of the starship would have to be tumed off for a while. Even the mainframe crystal processor would have to be fully repaired and examined. He believed that the puppet king would not dare hide inside during the time.

It was the best opportunity for the hunting squads of the ‘Ghost Catching Operation’ to jump to the middle of the well and draw close to Eternal Brightness.

It was also the only way to implement the ‘Spiritual Nexus Blockage’ and lock the puppet king within a square inch.

Eternal Brightness was divided into two layers. They were two zones that did not interfere with each other.

Most of the crew members who stayed in the cockpit and the outer layer of the starship were from the Sanctuary Alliance.

Some of them were Meditation Healers who had a deep understanding of human nature and brains, some were priests who were extremely devoted to the gods, and some of them were spies in the training. The first lesson of the spies was to fool the residents on Eternal Brightness before they were sent to

the real battlefield to be tested by the imperium.

The inner layer, on the other hand, was enveloped by the 3D light beams and the Grand Illusionary Land. The people living in the starship cities did not know where they were and only knew that they were the real subjects of the experiments.

‘The inner layer and the outer layer were usually isolated. The residents on board had been told since they were young that the bridge and the outer cabin were full of intense radiation and high-energy particle streams. They were not allowed to go out easily unless they had received the harshest training

and injected countless drugs. Otherwise, they might get incurable diseases.

After decades of dangerous education, 99% of the residents often abandoned the idea of exploring the bridge and the outer cabins and enjoyed themselves in the small paradise.

Of course, there were also a few people who, no matter how they were warned and educated, had always dreamed of becoming a qualified starship operator and seeing the real cockpit, the real thrusters, the real engine compartment, and the real weapon platform.

There was a school in the starship city that was specially prepared for such brave people.

99% of the brave ones would be eliminated in the rigorous tests. Their dreams would be cut off, and their ambitions would be wasted in the sea of stars in the Grand Illusionary Land.

Only one in ten thousand people had a slim chance to break through all the obstacles and become a glorious crew member. They would have to go to the bridge or the outer cabins and see the truth. Of course, before that, they would have to go through a minor procedure called brainwashing.

Therefore, the yaksha squad, the cleaners, and the purifiers, as well as the special forces of the God Bless Army, could not sneak in with such honor.

After three hundred years of seclusion, the features of the residents of Eternal Brightness had changed a lot from those of the outside world. Their clothes and manners were vastly different, too. If they broke into the forbidden area recklessly, a riot would definitely break out, which would be equivalent

to informing the puppet king of their arrival.

Therefore, when the assault starships, hunting starships, and interference starships approached Eternal Brightness under the cover of the meteor shower, the first thing they did was disguise themselves with the help of the staff of Eternal Brightness.

It was mainly about sticking some fat, soft man-made muscles and fats that were known as ‘biochemical muscles’ to the body.

Very soon, Chu Zhixiao and Yun Haixin finished their disguises and turned into two plump, red, and translucent men.

Li Yao and Guan Qixing, on the other hand, were quite simple. After all, there were spiritual puppets in the form of spiders and artificial bodies on Eternal Brightness. All they needed to do was to modify them and replace them with local-style shells.

Only the stocky monster named ‘Titan’ Yuan Kuo was more troublesome to deal with. He could not hide his height of four to five meters no matter how hard he tried. In the end, he had no choice but to curl up in a closed truck and lock his restless strength with rune arrays while he followed the squad..