Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“From the very beginning, you avoided battle and could only watch as the revolutionaries wreaked havoc. Even when they were about to arrive in front of His Majesty, you remained completely indifferent! At that time, it could still be explained as ‘cautiousness’. Right now, our army has the complete

advantage. The enemy army is on the run from defeat, yet we still have to hesitate and delay the opportunity. Vice Marshal Song, what exactly are you thinking?”

“The defenders of Jade Cauldron Planet have sent all the records of the recent battles to us. We can see them clearly from the combat data and even the video files. Bai Xinghe’s subordinates have indeed escaped Lei Chenghu’s control and disappeared into the depths of the sea of stars through space jumps.

The morale of the remaining Lei Chenghu’s subordinates has hit rock bottom, too. They suffered tremendous losses in the chaotic battle over the past day and night. They even lost two super arsenals! Are they fakes, too?”

“If it is a trap, the enemy is too generous. Even if Lei Chenghu has a way to reassemble the chaotic remnants into a solid battle formation, it is impossible for him to fight against our army with such a weak military force. Besides, no one can take care of such remnants instantly, not even the deities!”

“There’s no need to think about it. Lei Chenghu must be planning to run away. Opportunities are fleeting. Once Lei Chenghu’s remaining soldiers flee to the space jump point and return to the capital city with a space jump, it will be difficult to annihilate them!”

“Deputy General Song, do you still have the courage and loyalty of a soldier of the Star Ocean Imperium? If you don’t, what makes you the commander-in-chief of the Heaven’s Return Fleet?”

Song Bugui’s head was bleeding, but he didn’t dare to say anything.

The data that the intelligence and strategic analysis departments sent back verified the words of the leaders of the military.

The guards of Jade Cauldron sent a lot of clear pictures and videos, including the surveillance of the space ripples, to prove that Bai Xinghe had indeed taken away at least one third of the warships and almost all the trophies of the revolutionary rebels as well as the starships that had just been captured.

Besides, their departure was not a pleasant one. The disobedient leader of the space pirates seemed to have had a minor conflict with Lei Chenghu’s subordinates. It was safe to say that he had evacuated by force and exposed Lei Chenghu’s most vulnerable flank. Lei Chenghu had been deployed in the

flank. The defenseless anti-magnetism warships and the comprehensive supply ships had been handed over to the defenders.

After a day and a night of fierce battles, Lei Chenghu had lost a lot of his crystal warships and almost all his comprehensive supply ships, including two super arsenals. In other words, he had lost all the resources that he had prepared for the prolonged battles. If he did not retreat soon, the starships

would run out of supplies!

The military leaders of the four major families judged other people by themselves. If it were them, there was no way that they would invest so much for a trap.

Therefore, Lei Chenghu was truly defeated. He was utterly defeated!

‘The scanning and analysis of the exhaust flames of the starship supported the idea, too.

The starships were driven by the crystal fuel from the working reactors. When they were cruising normally, the streams of flames spurting out of the power spurts contained a lot of radiation and high-energy particles. They would linger in the vacuum for a long time and leave a trajectory hundreds of

thousands of kilometers long that was invisible to the naked eye.

It was like in the ancient wars where tanks left distinctive traces on the muddy ground.

Although it could not be seen with the naked eye, the senses of the Immortal Cultivators and the sophisticated scanning magical equipment could clearly detect the colorful trajectories.

By analyzing the ‘tracks’, they would be able to locate the direction where the enemy was fleeing to and even learn the situation inside the enemy’s base.

Right now, in the vast space from Jade Cauldron to the No. 4 planet, scattered exhaust flames were everywhere, as if countless headless flies were running and even colliding with each other.

It meant that Lei Chenghu’s control over the fleet had been minimized. He could not form a neat formation and retreat in an orderly manner. All the starships under his command were fleeing toward the space jump point.

More importantly, the defenders had locked onto Lei Chenghu’s flagship.

The power units of every starship were different. Even the same model of warship had subtle differences in the exhaust flames it spurted out after continuous battles, maintenance, and upgrades. One could tell the model or even the number of the starship by the difference in the exhaust flames.

Lei Chenghu’s flagship was a target for everyone. Naturally, it was the primary target for the guards.

When the fleet appeared, the defenders had reported the exhaust flames and trajectory data of Lei Chenghu’s flagship to their superiors.

After a full-scale scan, the fleet soon located Lei Chenghu’s flagship. After analyzing the exhaust flames of Lei Chenghu’s flagship and other starships, they came to a shocking conclusion. Lei Chenghu’s flagship seemed to have been seriously damaged and could not run away at 100% cruise speed. It was

even slower than other starships and gradually fell behind the entire fleet.

“Lei Chenghu is crippled!”

“His starship lagged behind and dragged the entire fleet down!

“His flagship has been seriously damaged. Not only is his speed impressive, his firepower and defense ability are likely to be greatly undermined. If we can catch up to him, it is very likely that we will blow up his flagship or even… capture Lei Chenghu alive!”

The news was like an stimulant that had been injected into the brain of every noble, making their heads creak and almost explode.

Neither Song Bugui nor the ‘Ultimate Joint War Meeting’ had issued an order, but a branch of the Yun family in the fleet had already left the main force and rushed out.

“This, this, nonsense, nonsense!”

In the joint meeting, the leader of the military from the Yun family was blowing his beard and glaring at his subordinates. He seemed to be infuriated by the rashness of his subordinates, but he did not intend to recall them at all.

Therefore, after looking at each other in bewilderment for half a second, the other noble families did not have the time to berate the Yun family for their shamelessness. They hinted to their subordinates in various ways and rushed out in a flurry, determined to stop Lei Chenghu’s flagship before other

families did.

For a moment, the hundred thousand starships accelerated abruptly, leaving colorful exhaust flames behind them, and darted toward the fourth planet like arrows released from a bow. They reached the dark space zone enveloped by radiation, turbulence, debris of starships, and stone belts.

They did not have a unified commander, nor did they have effective teamwork. They even sabotaged each other in secret, sabotaged each other, and blocked the routes of their allies without alarming anyone. The battle formation that was neat when the jump was just completed was now messy and

uneven after several hours of high-speed pursuit.

But in the end, they caught up to Lei Chenghu’s remaining troops.

“Do you see him? He is the ‘God of War’!”

The nobles roared in excitement.

It was like the laughter of a hyena when it saw a dying lion.

Lei Chenghu’s subordinates were indeed in a bad situation.

His fleet had consumed too much armor and fuel in the high-intensity battles that had lasted almost a month. The power units had been wrecked, too, making most of the starships unable to reach 100% of their speed. Some of them were fast, and some were slow. They were gradually dragged into a

zigzagging line.

At this moment, the starship at the front of the line had circled to the back of the No. 4 planet’s orbit. Intense space ripples were spreading out, indicating that it had entered the space jump state.

Many large and clumsy starships, including the flagship, the super arsenals, and the comprehensive supply ships, were still lagging behind like bulls that were breathing heavily and soaked in blood.

Theoretically speaking, if the starship was intact and the space jump unit had sufficient fuel, it could jump at any coordinates. It was just a matter of the odds of success and the consumption of fuel.

However, if the starship was full of barely repaired cracks after a fierce battle, its overall structure would be seriously deformed, and its metal fatigue would soar. Also, if the starship was seriously short of fuel, it would not be able to jump randomly unless it wanted to be torn apart by the

four-dimensional storm, or it would lose all its fuel during the jump and fall into the ocean of the four-dimensional universe forever.

Under such circumstances, they could only look for the area where the three-dimensional space was the most unstable and the natural wormholes were densest, which was the so-called ‘jump point’. That was the only way that they could improve their odds of escaping safely.

It was also the reason why Lei Chenghu had to flee to the fourth planet.

“Fire. Fire. Fire all the magical equipment that can be fired. Cover our ‘God of War’ with the strongest firepower!”

The nobles were beaming with joy. They were too proud to care that they had not reached the effective killing range. Countless dazzling pillars of light pierced through the sea of stars like javelins and spears and turned into thousands of expanding bubbles around Lei Chenghu’s remaining subordinates.

Of course, such tactics were not entirely wrong.

Although it was not enough to damage the enemy’s starship, the surging bombardment and the sweeping spiritual energy could not only slow down Lei Chenghu’s escape but also prevent him from performing a space jump.

In other words, the thousands of light beams had hooked Lei Chenghu’s remaining subordinates like thousands of hooks. There was nowhere to run to.

It seemed that Lei Chenghu had realized that he was at a dead end and could not get rid of the pursuers behind him. Therefore, he simply withdrew the battle formation and changed his direction, trying to fight a battle with his back against the fourth planet.

But now that their morale was so low, it was not an easy task for the ‘God of War’ to gather the remaining soldiers and form a solid battle formation!

“Haha. You can’t even finish the most basic troop deployment and can only set up such an incomplete formation. Lei Chenghu, you’ve got this day, too!”

“Don’t be careless. That’s Lei Chenghu after all. Give him another hour. Chances are that he will be able to gather all the remaining soldiers and gather them into an effective combat force. Before that happens, the entire army must charge and completely disperse his broken formation!”

“Charge! With one sprint, Lei Chenghu and the rebels will be doomed!”

“Capture Lei Chenghu alive and sweep across Empyrean Terminus!”

‘The atmosphere inside the meeting was as splendid as fireworks.

“Father—”

As the communication officer, Song Bugui’s eldest son brought the latest news and rushed to the meeting room with an awful face. But he was stopped by his gloomy father at the door of the meeting room.

“What is it?”

Song Bugui asked casually.

“We have further analyzed the space ripples coming from the back of the No. 4 planet. There seems to be something wrong. The data is very messy. They do not seem to be the ripples of a starship breaking away. They seem to be… interference!”

The eldest son said anxiously, “It seems that somebody has set up a large-scale jamming magical equipment on the back of the No. 4 planet to interfere with our monitoring of the space ripples. But it doesn’t make sense. If Lei Chenghu’s fleet was fleeing in a hurry, there is no reason for them to waste

their time setting up a large-scale jamming array!

“Is there something on the back of the No. 4 planet? The fog of war there is too dense. We know nothing about the existence in the darkness. Should we send more scouts and unmanned crystal cameras to go around it and scan it carefully before we make a decision?”

*oh”

Song Bugui swept a glance at the smoke-filled meeting room. He turned around to look at his eldest son and calmly said, “I understand. You may leave now. I will take care of this matter myself. All you need to do is… firmly control the communication room on the flagship and intercept all the

intelligence. Do you understand?”