Chapter 1216: Dark Flame Gold!
Li Yao's opinion was supported by most of the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators.
Right now, the details about the enemy were still unclear. If more Building Foundation Stage Cultivators and Core Formation Stage Cultivators were sent though, they would risk being caught by the Immortal Cultivators, who might interrogate them through methods such as the Soul Searching Technique and elicit the latest situation of the federation from them. That would be a disaster.
"Fellow Cultivators!"
His eyes glittering, Jiang Hailiu loudly declared, "This is doubtlessly the most critical moment for the Heaven's Origin Sector, the Blood Demon Sector, and the Flying Star Sector! If we pass the test, we will gain the immense forces within the relic of the Pangu civilization. We will also be able to retrieve tremendous techniques from the Imperium of True Human Beings' minor apocalypse, which can potentially improve our capability by five years, a hundred years, or even several centuries. Moreover, we will have a golden period of development that can be as long as two hundred years!
"If we don't pass the test, the army of the Imperium of True Human Beings will arrive here within three to five years!
"It will be a catastrophe for all three Sectors. We will be meat on a chopping block, with our fate and future submitted to someone else!
"Whether we were friends or foes in the past, and no matter what differences and concerns we have regarding our future development, at the very least, we share the same goal right now, which is to survive!
"Fellow Cultivators, let's fight for survival. Kunlun is ours and must not be stolen away by the Immortal Cultivators!"
...
Three days later, in the depths of the Grand Desolate Plateau, countless refiners and workers were as busy as bees on the concave surface of the Heaven's Artillery that was dozens of kilometers in diameter.
Sparkle was ready in the deepest part of Heaven's Artillery.
In the preparation room down below the Heaven's Artillery, Li Yao put on the most advance mustard-seed combat suit with Ding Lingdang's help.
The combat suit had adopted the biochemical technology of the Blood Demon Sector. Super tensile synthesized spider threads had been implanted to the critical parts, granting the suit a higher defense ability than the special porcelain plates although it was thin and barely carried any weight. After the suit was broken, the synthesized spider threads would even release a special, sticky material that would block the damage automatically.
Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua!
Li Yao punched hundreds of times easily without even breathing any faster. With the force of his fists, the air became twisted and orange, but the extension and tenacity of the mustard-seed combat suit were not lowered at all.
Sensing spiritual energy flowing in and out of the super tiny fiber holes on the combat suit, Li Yao calculated in silence for a moment and then smiled. He was very satisfied with the new material.
As he had been told, the mustard-seed combat suit boasted a unique technique to block and stabilize spiritual energy by adjusting the fiber holes automatically. The Cultivators would be able to find the most optimal way to manipulate their spiritual energy and reduce the necessary cost, thereby extending the duration of their combat ability in a battle.
Li Yao estimated that the combat suit would extend his fighting duration by at least ten percent. Also, the air circulation system and temperature adjustment system in the mustard-seed level were most suitable for outer space where the temperature difference was huge. It truly deserved to be a super combat suit that was even more expensive than a crystal suit!
For the Kunlun mission, the entire world of Cultivators spared no efforts. It was needless to say that the three Cultivators who were the first batch to go to Kunlun brought out their best equipment. Even other Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators were all generous enough to provide their own collections. The mustard-seed combat suit was the most common one of them.
Li Yao examined the magical equipment that he was carrying again and could not help but feel that he had been armed to the hair on his legs!
He was the captain of Sparkle and boasted dual talents in fighting and refining, which allowed him to perform maintenance on starships and star beacons in emergencies. Naturally, it was only reasonable that he was in the first echelon.
Other than him, the second member of the team was the Fire Ant King.
The Fire Ant King was a demon emperor himself with remarkable combat ability. But more importantly, he was one of the best specialists in regard of the refinement of demonic plants in the Blood Demon Sector. In his decades of life as the leader of the Blade of Chaos, he had profoundly researched cytology and genetics.
Also, over the past decades, he had developed countless relics of Chaos, which proved him to be a qualified, if not distinguished, archeologist, or rather, a grave robber!
Also, Ba Yanzhi was deeply associated with the Pangu civilization. There was even a corpse of the Pangu Clan inside Ba Yanzhi's Mausoleum of Chaos. The corpse was now in the Fire Ant King's hands, and he had been researching on it for a while.
The Fire Ant King's understanding of Ba Yanzhi and the Pangu civilization was better than most Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators', perhaps even Li Yao's. It was only reasonable that he was the second explorer of the team.
The third member of the team was Professor Mo Xuan.
Compared to Li Yao and the Fire Ant King, Professor Mo Xuan's combat ability was little to none, but his special body of liquid metal endowed him with excellent self-protection abilities. He could always run away if the enemy was too strong for him!
In fact, the biggest reason that he had been selected was not related to the relic of the Pangu civilization itself but the Imperium of True Human Beings.
In the battle to suppress the riot of the Immortal Cultivators, Professor Mo Xuan and the other four star spirits had broken into Xiao Xuance's flagship and devoured tremendous computational ability from the star child. They had a preliminary understanding about the crystal processor system of the Imperium of True Human Beings. In the years that followed, they had also developed several techniques that resembled the viruses on the crystal processors.
Once the team was engaged with the Immortal Cultivators from the Imperium of True Human Beings, Professor Mo Xuan's viruses might prove to have amazing effects!
Besides, Professor Mo Xuan was a special spectral Cultivator with a unique form. He was weightless. Not just him, even the other four star spirits, who were Li Yao's four senior brothers, known as the 'Four Kings' of the Refining Department of the Grand Desolate War Institution in the old days, could be brought to the trip!
The four of them had already been melded with Sparkle back when they were in the Flying Star Sector. After so many years of training, their skills in maneuvering the starship had become even more adept. They did not need any more crew members to exploit the most potential of Sparkle!
In such a case, while the four star spirits collected the astronomical parameters near Kunlun on Sparkle and cleared the sailing routes and the landing point, Li Yao and the other two Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators would be able to explore Kunlun simultaneously. A lot of time could be saved.
The three main members of the exploration team all boasted abilities in multiple areas. They had cooperated with each other many times before, too, and their teamwork was flawless. Very soon, all the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators agreed with the arrangement.
"I'm sorry. I'm leaving again after only several months of peace at home!"
While Li Yao was trying to hold back his eagerness, he suddenly thought of his wife. He scratched his head and said to Ding Lingdang, somewhat awkwardly, "You won't blame me, right?"
Ding Lingdang chuckled and bashed his chest hard. "Enough already. Stop being pretentious. I know you better than anybody else. You have been itching for an adventure, haven't you? We are not home people at all. Why would I blame you?"
Li Yao was greatly moved. He held Ding Lingdang's hands and said solemnly, "I'll be back!"
"Of course. If you don't come back, I will drag you back from Kunlun myself!"
Li Yao and the rest of them were just the vanguard to deploy star beacons, clear the sailing routes, and scout for the main force to come.
The real main face would go to Kunlun on Burning Prairie. Ding Lingdang, as an enthusiastic warrior, certainly would not miss out on such an opportunity.
She was rubbing her fists, too, and could not wait to jump to Kunlun. Therefore, she understood Li Yao's feelings quite well.
Both of them were the most passionate Cultivators. Instead of an emotional farewell, they talked and laughed and left the preparation room for the magical equipment maintenance room next door.
The Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, which had been fully upgraded—or rather, rebuilt from scratch with the best technologies of the three Sectors—was the most important magical equipment for the mission. It was now undergoing its final tests!
The most distinguished Armadominus of the Heaven's Origin Sector and the Flying Star Sector were gathered around the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit and adjusting every tiny parameter, trying to make it perfect and flawless.
Li Yao triggered the surveillance light beam and read all the parameters. He was quite amazed by the significant improvement of the specifications. The world of refining truly had no end. Before, he had thought that the potential of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit had been fully exploited. It had never occurred to him that the crystal suit could still be improved so much.
The brand-new Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit had maintained the translucent black as the main color, but dark golden streaks were embedded to the black armor like the majestic stripes on a tiger.
Therefore, the crystal suit had been named as Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, Dark Flame Gold!
On the surface, the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, Dark Flame Gold was not very different from the past. Its greatest feature was that a Cosmos Ring had been embedded to the shoulders, chest, back and legs. A lot of components were stored inside the Cosmos Rings.
With a telepathic thought, Li Yao could retrieve tremendous components from the Cosmos Rings at any time and restrain them through the force field, thereby changing the form of the crystal suit.
From the high mobility mode, in which the crystal suit was streamlined and fastest, to the melee mode, in which the crystal suit was covered in daggers and thorns from head to toe, to the heavy firepower mode, which included more than a hundred Six-Barreled Vulcan Machine Cannons... The Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, Dark Flame Gold could change between five different modes freely. It was very adaptive to any battlefield and was an out-and-out all-purpose crystal suit!
Li Yao was very satisfied with the crystal suit. The only shortcoming was that, since the flying sword that covered Little Black was broken, there was no place to keep Little Black on the new Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit.
He felt a little uncomfortable about that.
Thinking about that, Li Yao summoned Little Black from his Cosmos Ring again.
The little guy that looked like a fat meatball had been eating and sleeping throughout the past months. It had devoured a lot of crystals every day, and after it was full, it would either go back to the Cosmos Ring to sleep or floated in midair in a daze.
In the past, Black Wing could at least rush fast. After the seal was removed, it could not do anything anymore. Even when it was flying, it was so lazy that it seemed to be wriggling.
Having no other choice, Li Yao could only let it do whatever it wanted. After all, he was rich enough to feed the little guy right now.
"Little Black, do you still remember the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit? In the past, you liked to melt into the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit and fight with me best! Take a look. Can you still melt into it?" Li Yao asked expectantly.
Outside his expectations, the black meatball extended a few tentacles and touched the crystal suit before they shook and retreated lazily.
Judging from its uninterested response, the super crystal suit that had adopted the best technology of the federation was not something to be appreciated for Little Black!