Chapter 1122: A Shocking Change
Chapter 1122 A Shocking Change
"They certainly will be prepared. The Cloud Shadow Sky is no pushover. Even if we will fight them, we have to plan it carefully."
"I think we should find an opportunity to seize the Lost Continent," the subordinate who made the report suggested. "They have stationed a fleet of 70 spaceships, including three main vessels. Maybe there are more we haven't discovered. If we want to attack that place, we need to summon more spaceships."
"They have three main vessels and 67 corvettes. How could it be easy to defeat such a fleet? We'll need a fleet of at least 500 spaceships to fight them. But if we send so many spaceships there, our defending forces in other places will be weakened. If the Cloud Shadow Sky makes a move against us then, we can hardly gather up reinforcements."
"You're right. We need to take our time to hatch a plan. The Lost Continent alone isn't worth the risk."
"I suggest observing the situation first. The war won't be finished in a short time anyway."
As the others discussed, Hu Tianshan's face remained calm.
After listening for three minutes, he finally said blandly, "Send more people to observe the Cloud Shadow Sky's movements. If there is a chance, find out where Zhang Hanyang and the others have gone."
"Yes!"
The enormous Tiger Talisman Royal Family began to quietly carry out its operations.
In the Cloud Shadow Sky...
A hundred elders and several hundred elite disciples were sitting cross-legged beside the stone wall.
They were all working hard to comprehend the new cultivation methods carved in the wall.
Li Hao's female disciple, Qingyan, was fully concentrated on comprehending the Ethereal Moving Technique and the Ethereal Illusion Technique. Three secret skills were all laid out on the stone wall. If she could learn the first two, she would have a chance to grasp the Ethereal Battle Technique, which could make her combat ability go off the chart.
She believed that she could make it.
Li Hao and Mrs. Li were standing on the side, looking at these people. Li Hao seemed to be glowing.
He muttered, "The Cloud Shadow Sky has also been peaceful for many years..."
He didn't seem to be very worried, even though he already knew that the Tiger Talisman Royal Family had sent people to the Chaotic Region.
The Cloud Shadow Sky also had its own fundamental strength.
Besides, the Cloud Shadow Sky's allies covered half of the entire Sea Dragon Star Area.
Li Hao believed that if his alliance claimed to be the second strongest, no one would dare to claim to number one!
To deal with the Tiger Talisman Royal Family's moves, Li Hao carried out his plan step by step.
A secret struggle had begun even though Zhang Han and the others were not around.
The only one who was panicking was the King of Elves.
The strange atmosphere in the Sea Dragon Star Area these days had held him in horror.
"They're not going to target us first, are they?"
The King of Elves sighed heavily and groaned, "Sect Leader Li has arranged two allied forces to watch over my clan. If we're attacked, they can arrive here in 20 minutes. But if the Tiger Talisman Royal Family sends out an army, we can't hold out for 20 minutes.
"What should I do?
"Should I tell several groups of my people to go hide in Cloudy Shadow Sky for some time?"
The King of Elves was suddenly tempted by that idea.
He felt that this could be a way out.
What he didn't know was that the Tiger Talisman Royal Family did not regard the Elf Clan as one of their targets at all.
The words "Elemental Elf Clan" didn't even come up in their meetings and discussions.
What they were concerned about was the Cloud Shadow Sky, Zhang Hanyang, and that mysterious master in the God Transformation Realm!
The Tiger Talisman Royal Family had intended to make their move lately.
However, at the auction held by the Koro Sect, even that God Transformation Realm master of the Luo family from the Heavenly Dragon Star Province was subdued by that mysterious old man.
This was a head-on blow to the Tiger Talisman Royal Family.
In the beginning, they only referred to that old man as the suspected God Transformation Realm master. But now, they removed the "suspected".
That old man was absolutely in the God Transformation Realm, who would be an overlord if he appeared in the Sea Dragon Sea Area.
If people from the Chaotic Region didn't come out of seclusion, not a single force would dare to offend a God Transformation Realm master unless there was no choice.
In the current situation, the arrow had been fitted to the string. There could be no turning back.
The good news was, the Grand Master of the Tiger Talisman Royal Family was about to wake up.
It gave them a shot in the arm.
The families in the Chaotic Region could all gain a foothold even in the Heavenly Dragon Star Province.
These people... had been silent for a long time.
The appearance of the elder from the Guang family seemed to have served as a signal.
The Chaotic Region, a place of supreme status in the Sea Dragon Star Region, was like a giant beast in the universe that was about to wake up!
The Chaotic Region was a very special place.
The environment there was terrible.
In that region, too many places had no traces of human beings.
In a certain inconspicuous place, a dark vortex was constantly rotating. Its speed was getting faster and faster. If someone was in the nearby universe, he or she would find that the shape of the vortex resembled that of a devil's eye.
At the center of the vortex, a beam of dark scarlet light was rising.
On the Lost Continent...
Li Mu had been working diligently as the chief supervisor.
He had spent most of his day cultivating the Dragon Shadow on the spaceship. After that, he went to the space station to see the progress of the construction. Then, he went to the Lost Continent to check on the buildings. There were several blocks being constructed there, so he had to run about to see all the construction sites. He had indeed worked very hard for the project.
"With this progress, the construction can be completed in three months."
Li Mu often showed a satisfied look on his face lately.
The construction of the space station was especially challenging. All sorts of materials kept being unloaded from the spaceships and forged together. The workload was heavy.
Seeing the huge project going on here, the forces on the Dal Star couldn't sit still any longer.
"Is the Cloud Shadow Sky going to settle down there?"
"What are they doing there?"
"They're too close to us. If they get into a fight, our Dal Star will definitely be affected."
"Alas, what else can we do? They're from the powerful Cloud Shadow Sky. We can only sit back and watch."
"Judging from the size of their space station, it must be a top-notch one. Why do I feel that the Cloudy Shadow Sky is trying to take away our business?"
"Humph, they're taking away my livelihood. I'm going to kill them!"
"Calm down. We are no match for those from the Lost Continent even if we gather all of our spaceships together."
The final conclusion of their discussion was that they could only stay put and watch.
It was heart-wrenching.
The Cloud Shadow Sky was rich and powerful. But why would they want to snatch their small business?
Their space station was too close to the Dal Star. The representatives of the three forces on the Dal Star held several meetings to discuss this.
They all knew that if the Tiger Talisman Royal Family fought against Zhang Hanyang and the Cloud Shadow Sky, the Lost Continent, as the Cloud Shadow Sky's stronghold, would become a battlefield. The flames of war were likely to spread. In that case, the neighboring Dal Star would definitely be implicated.
That was sad indeed.
The core members of the three forces had even gathered their crystal stones and prepared to go to other places to hide for the time being.
At that moment, undercurrents were surging in the Sea Dragon Star Area. Many related forces were in a tense state.
Many old people in Jianghu couldn't help but sigh with emotion.
"Things always go in the opposite direction when pushed to the extreme. Could it be that the Sea Dragon Star Area, which has been peaceful for a very long time, just has to undergo a great tribulation?
"Perhaps that is the case. Since Zhang Han and his people came to the Sea Dragon Star Area, many things have been destined to happen.
"After all, how could huge waves not be stirred up when a dragon entered the ocean?"
Time passed quickly.
Nina soon adapted to life on Earth.
She was even a little fascinated by it.
"Wow! It turns out that this is what this place is like.
"In the society of ordinary people, there are hidden martial artists, as well as several high-end worldlets. People can even go to the Sea Dragon Star Area from here.
"This place is simply a miracle!"
Nina had taken a liking to this kind of ordinary life.
She felt like... she'd suddenly arrived at a safe harbor in the Cultivation World filled with uncertainty.
It was like an ideal place for vacation.
On this day, Nina, Mengmeng, Yue Xiaonao, and Li Muen walked across the school gate together.
"Nina, you will take today's exam in Class 36," Mengmeng said with a smile. "It's your first exam, so your seat is in a classroom where low-ranking students take their exams. I don't know what kind of grades you will get. Anyway, do your best."
"Okay, I'll do my best." Nina smiled and said, "You've given me private lessons recently. I've learned a lot of new things. I reckon that in this exam... I probably won't rank last in our class."
"Hahaha," Yue Xiaonao laughed. Then, she said, "In fact, the scores of the last one in our class are still very high. If you go to an ordinary class, you can rank top three. The one who ranks last changes with every exam. Those who rank below 20th all have a chance to be the last. It depends on our performance in a specific exam."
That was the case in their class. There wouldn't be a sharp gap between the scores of the first place and the last place.
In an ordinary class, the first place might get 600 points in total, while the last place might only get a few more than 100 points. But in Class Eight, if the first place was 600 points, the last place might get 500 points.
Mengmeng always ranked first, but the one who ranked last changed every time. So far, no one had won last place successively.
"I, I'll try my best to get higher grades," Nina said encouragingly to herself.
In fact, she was very nervous at this time.
It was just an exam. But for some reason, Nina was nervous and excited.
She now understood what advanced class meant. She also learned about the glorious records of Class Eight's test results. She didn't want to drag the others down. Also, she was eager to prove herself.
"You've been studying very well recently," Mengmeng said. "You've learned a lot. The exam won't be a problem for you."
"It's all thanks to Mengmeng. If you hadn't given me lessons, I wouldn't have figured out so many questions."
Nina looked back at the past half a month of school life.
She studied hard in class and only played for a short while during the breaks. Every day, after returning to Mount New Moon, she had dinner and played outside for an hour. Then, she studied with Mengmeng for two hours before going to bed.
Fortunately, she was a quick learner. She started with all the basics. By now, she had learned most of the subjects. She would make mistakes when dealing with those roundabout questions. But her accuracy of answering other basic questions was nearly 100%.
A whole day's examination was soon over. Then, after the weekend, the results of the examination came out.
Bai Yilin was stunned when looking at the transcripts.
"Holy cow!
"Nina actually got the 19th place?
"Was she pretending to be ignorant before? She didn't know anything, but she revealed her true talent in the first exam.
"Alas, this year's students are too difficult to train."
Bai Yilin stared at Nina's transcript and fell into deep thought.
He thought Nina was a silly girl. When she just arrived in this advanced class, she failed to answer all the questions the teachers posed.
As the lead teacher, he had heard several teachers complain that if Nina had been put into Class 8 just for fun, or why she didn't know anything.
But now...
"Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap!"
Looking at the scores Nina gained in each subject, Bai Yilin felt dizzy, as though he had been slapped in the face.
The results were soon released.
When Nina heard her ranking and scores, she let out a sigh of relief and smiled happily.
"Turns out that having good grades in an exam can make me feel great."
"Wow, you're amazing!"
Yue Xiaonao was stunned.
She knew very well how little time Nina had in studying these subjects.
But she even got better grades than her.
When the results came out, some people were happy, while others were worried. But it was just a monthly exam. It was no big deal.
For many people, life was still the same during this month. They went to work from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. After work, they could hit a bar, go to play basketball, go home to play computer games, or go for karaoke.
They had brief entertainment in their busy work life.
Life was busy but fulfilling.
Seeing them, many people began to envy the rich.
In some sense, people were graded after they were born. They said all roads lead to Rome. But some people were just born in Rome, so they didn't need to strive to travel there at all. Thus, comparisons were odious.
Many people dreamed that they could swim in money one day. They could spend money like water and get to enjoy life.
They could drive a luxury car worth tens of millions of yuan, ride their private jet, and occasionally invite a hot model to a romantic night. When they were free, they could go on a trip. They would also be happy even if they stayed at home to play computer games.
Liu Qingfeng was the idol of many people. He built his business empire from scratch and now owned a fortune worth trillion yuan. His life was enviable.
But the others would never know how Liu Qingfeng's life was now.
Would he hit a bar? Date young models? Travel? Or perhaps play computer games at home?
Hell no!
He was too busy to do any of that.
In the past, he had been worried about the group's affairs. He was always on the go for business. Recently, he had much more group affairs to worry about. He was still running about for business.
The group he was building now was the Heavenly Group.
Everything was difficult at the beginning. In order to take the first crucial step, Liu Qingfeng had been working around the clock.
He went to the Boundless Sea in the Ancient Mine to check on everyone's progress in learning how to drive spaceships. They were doing pretty well.
He also held several training sessions for a few of his core subordinates, including Sun Ming and the members who were proficient in business in the Zi family, the Liang family, and the Wang family. No one knew the content of the training, but every session was taught by Liu Qingfeng in person.
He then went to the King's Domain to talk in private with Lord Nan Shan and Lord Dong Gu. He also met Lord Liu and his other loyal subordinates.
The current King's Domain could be said to be in a state of harmony.
After learning about the Cultivation World, Lord Nan Shan and Lord Dong Gu were dumbfounded.
For them, it was hard to imagine that beyond this world, there was another incomparably enormous world.
It was the Cultivation World!
They felt as if every cell in their bodies was excited, and every nerve they had was quivering with thrill.
"Let's go!"
"We're going there!"
"Definitely!"
The three lords agreed resolutely at once.
Liu Qingfeng smiled.
Truthfully, Liu Qingfeng reckoned that the negotiation with the Dark Shadow Clan would be the easiest part. The Dark Shadow Clan would be his biggest weapon.
They had an army of a million strong soldiers!
It was no joking matter.
At the same time, Liu Qingfeng also told Lord Liu and dozens of other Real Kings to take Lord Nan Shan and Lord Dong Gu to see the spaceships.
The scale of the large fleet astounded them.
After that, they were more eager to realize their potential in the Cultivation World.
More importantly, they could ascend to higher realms there.
As for management personnel, which included Lord Nan Shan, Lord Dong Gu, Lord Liu, and dozens of other people, they had been undergoing strict training.
Liu Qingfeng also trained them in person. Several other professional teachers gave them lessons, too.
Indisputably, in order to go to the Cultivation World, Lord Nan Shan and the others exerted themselves to study.
They were working as hard as the students in Mengmeng's class.
They hailed the teachers when the class started.
They also bid goodbye to the teacher when the class was over.
They also had to take tests.
Just when Mengmeng got her transcripts, they also went through a simple test.
"Hahaha!"
Lord Nan Shan jeered and said, "I'm number one. Do you dare believe this? Lord Dong Gu, you're a scoundrel. I thought you were studying in secret these days, but you came last but one."
Lord Dong Gu calmly said, "The results of the first test can't prove anything. Next time, I'll take first place. Just wait and see."
"Like you can do that!" Lord Nan Shan said disdainfully.
"You dog, you wanna have a fight?" Lord Dong Gu couldn't sit still anymore.
Hearing that, their teacher blushed with embarrassment.
"After staying in the secular world for a while, how come the two lords behave like this? Where did they learn this from?"
The teacher scratched his head and fell into deep thoughts while watching them arguing.
These days, apart from the daily cultivation of the Great Void Thunder Scripture, Zhang Han spent the rest of this time accompanying Zi Yan to have fun.
It was like they were dating again.
The two even went on a seven-day trip by themselves.
This invited Mengmeng's bitter complaints.
Thankfully, the little girl had grown up. Now she was more than 13 years old, she was no longer as clingy as she was when she was a little. Still, she called her father every night to chat.
After the tour, they came home, and life became calm and peaceful again.
However, the atmosphere in the Sea Dragon Star Area had turned restless.
Li Mu patrolled their territory every day.
After more than a month, the main part of the city had been built, and half of the whole construction project had been completed.
The building of the space station was almost finished.
"This large space station cost a ton of crystal stones!
"Zhang Han and the others are truly incredibly rich!"
Looking at the space station in the starry void, Li Mu shook his head repeatedly and sighed with emotion.
"Young Master Li!"
"Young Master Li is here to check on us again?"
"I pay my respects to Young Master Li."
At the edge of the city, Li Mu was standing on a flying disc, looking at the work going on below. Many staff members who were coming and going greeted him warmly.
"Young Master Li, you seem to be in a good mood today," said the leader of the construction team with a smile.
"Yeah, I feel good today," Li Mu replied with a smile.
Of course, he was in a good mood.
Today, he just gained a preliminary understanding of the true meaning of the Dragon Shadow.
He was not far from mastering it.
"Beep. Beep. Beep..."
Just as they started to chat, Li Mu's communication device rang wildly.
"Huh?"
Li Mu glanced at it. Then, his expression altered drastically.
The red light on his communication device was on.
It was an extremely urgent call from his father, Li Hao!
He answered the call in an instant.
Li Hao's anxious voice quickly said, "Watch out! The Tiger Talisman Royal Family has sent people to the Lost Continent. That happened five days ago. We just got the news. They can show up there at any time. Retreat immediately."
"What?"
Li Mu was startled. He swiftly answered, "I see."
Then, he quickly ordered, "Turn on the alarm! Retreat now! If you can't retreat, take the aircraft to a more concealed location! Move!"
"Click!"
The leader of the construction team immediately took out a device and pressed a button on it. In an instant, at that the heart of the several construction sites on the Lost Continent, multi-colored light shone, and piercing sirens sounded.
"Squeak. Squeak. Squeak..."
It was the top-level alarm!
It announced the most urgent danger.
People in all the places reacted quickly.
"Oh no!"
"Something bad happened!"
"Gotta go!"
The people living in the Sea Dragon Star Area had an extremely strong crisis awareness. They retreated in an orderly manner. The aircraft all flew to the spaceships parked at the spatial station.
The one who traveled fastest was Li Mu. He needed to go back to the main vessel immediately.
They had installed an alarm system not only on the ground but the entire fleet.
On every spaceship, the charging mode, combat mode, and defensive mode were all activated.
All kinds of scout aircraft were launched from the main vessel in all directions.
They formed a dense mass, which looked as if a colony of ants was moving.
The forces on the Dal Star that noticed the change at once were struck dumb.
"What's going on?"
They reported this to their superiors. A short while later, all the upper echelon of the forces on the Dal Star gathered at their spatial stations and entered various spaceships, ready to set off.
They prepared to flee the moment they found that anything bad occurred.
After all, they really didn't dare to get involved in this war.
"Clatter!"
When Li Mu stepped onto the main vessel, he sighed slightly in relief.
"Scout aircraft, keep expanding the scout area.
"Send signal interference and self-destruct aircraft out. Turn on all the defensive forces within a radius of 5,000 kilometers."
Li Mu gave two orders.
All kinds of aircraft soon zoomed out of the main vessel.